Plot

When a revered diplomat's plane is diverted and crashes in the peaks of Tibet, he and the other survivors are guided to an isolated monastery at Shangri-La, where they wrestle with the invitation to stay.

British diplomat Robert Conway and a small group of civilians crash land in the Himalayas, and are rescued by the people of the mysterious, Eden-like valley of Shangri-la. Protected by the mountains from the world outside, where the clouds of World War II are gathering, Shangri-la provides a seductive escape for the world-weary Conway.—Marg Baskin <marg@asd.raytheon.ca>

In 1935, seasoned diplomat Robert Conway is sent to rescue a group of British nationals who find themselves in China the midst of a rebellion. Conway manages to get them all out and also to escape with his brother George and several others on the last airplane only to find that they are being flown far into the Himalayas. They eventually find themselves in Shangri-La, a Tibetan monastery in a beautiful mountain valley. It soon becomes clear that they are not there by chance and that were in fact kidnapped. Conway and his fellow travelers are keen on leaving but slowly, they all come to appreciate their new surroundings. Everyone that is except George Conway who is desperate to leave. As Robert learns the true secret of Shangri-La and his reason for being there, he is faced with having to leave in order to protect his brother who will be setting off with or without him.—garykmcd

Brit Robert Conway is a writer, humanitarian, diplomat, and former military man, all of which have made him a public hero. But he is remarkably unfulfilled in his life, something he does not tell anyone. On March 10, 1935, he is in Baskul, China, where a violent revolution is taking place. It is his job to evacuate the ninety British subjects in the area, before he himself heads back to London to become British Foreign Secretary. He is able to complete the evacuation, with him, his overly pragmatic brother George Conway, paleontologist Alexander Lovett (a fussbudget of a man), secretive Henry Barnard (who later states why he is so secretive about himself), and terminally ill American Gloria Stone his fellow passengers on the last flight out. What they are initially unaware of is that the plane has been hijacked, and eventually crash lands high in the Himalayas, killing the hijacking pilot. But instead of what seems a probable death for them, they are rescued by a band of men who take them back to their community hidden behind the mountains, a seemingly Utopian community named Shangrila, where the overall belief is to be kind. Aging is also a seemingly unknown concept. Each of the five has different feelings about their new sanctuary, where they eventually learn they were not brought by accident. On one end of the spectrum is George, who does whatever he can to get back to civilization as he knows it, despite the probable hardship of doing so, especially since there is no means of communication in and out. He believes what they have been told are all lies and that they are being held prisoners against their will. On the other end is Bob, who believes that Shangrila is exactly what he's been looking for in life. With no proof one way or another, the five have differing views of staying in Shangrila forever or trying to make their way out. It may be not until they receive that "proof" that a definitive decision can be made, but by that time it may be too late for some.—Huggo

On 10 March 1935, the pacifist British diplomat and future Foreign Secretary Robert Conway helps a group of ninety Westerns white people to escape from the Chinese city of Baskul after the beginning of a revolution. He leaves the airport in the last plane with his brother George, the geologist Alexander P. Lovett, the rogue trader Henry Barnard and the sick and bitter Gloria Stone. However, the plane is skyjacked and crashes in a remote area in Tibet. When they have no further hope of surviving, they are rescued and brought to the utopistic paradise Shangri-La, a peaceful and plentiful place without illness, war or any type of dispute. Their first sensation is that they are prisoners but along the days, each survivor loves and has no intention to leave the place except George that tries to convince the group to leave Shangri-la.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil