It is the early 1940s. India is struggling to break free of British rule, and the Second World War is at its peak. The famed Great Kanchana International Circus is touring Burma when Japanese fighter planes bomb Rangoon and Mandalay, razing the British administrative and military installations to the ground and killing the local population in hundreds of thousands.As their foot soldiers approach to take occupation, Kanchana Sarang Shine, proprietor of the circus company, risks her life and limb to ensure a safe passage back to India for her three-hundred-strong troupe, walking thousands of kilometers through treacherous mountains and jungles.