in may, 1931, during the british raj in india, 80 white residents were evacuated to peshawar because of a revolution. conway, the british consul, age 37; mallinson, his young vice-consul; an american, barnard; and a british missionary, miss brinklow are in an airplane. the plane is hijacked and flown over the mountains to tibet. after a crash landing, the pilot dies. but, he told the four to get help at the nearby lamasery of shangri-la. they do not know where they are, but conway thinks they passed the himalayas and are near the kuen-lun (i.e. kunlun).