A Czech boy Szolda (nickname "Soldier") overhears some men speaking in Czech plotting an assassination of a cripple. Distraught and unbelieved, he persuades his only friend Wilcott to accompany him, late at night, to the execution site.

The two boys break in and hide as the henchmen and later, cripple arrive. They overhear an argument and the cripple is shot. They manage to escape and call the police but a further surprise awaits them that will change their lives forever

Aware the Czech gang know where they live, the boys are in fear of their lives. After the police dismiss their story as a time wasting hoax, one of the henchman, "Smiler" finds them and the boys are forced to make a desperate decision.

The boys go on the run North hoping to reach refuge with a friend of Wiloctt's. However they are hotly pursued by Smiler and the rest of the gang and are forced to cut their plan short by jumping off their train in the middle of nowhere

Lost, cold and hungry the boys stay the night in an abandoned quarry where they find an OS map and try to navigate a route to Wilcott's friend's farm and safety. However the gang relentlessly pursue them to the point of exhaustion

The gang have put the word out that the boys are escapees from borstal. The ruse works when a farmer rings them after scaring the boys from his hayloft. Exhausted but with refuge within reach they are unaware how close the gang is.

The boys make it to the refuge of their friend's farm only to discover it's the wrong one. The owner takes pity on them and gives them some food but secretly he too has heard of the runaways and calls the gang. All looks lost for the boys

As the truth about the cripple and his connection to the gang is revealed and with no-one knowing where they are, the boys realise that their fate is doomed.