As a twelve-year-old boy growing up in South Vietnam, Thòo has heard of other boys disappearing from time to time, smuggled out of the country so they wouldn't have to be conscripted into the Communist army. But Thòo is too young to worry about any of that. He spends his afternoons cricket fighting and playing soccer with his friends. Until one day, he finds out that his parents have arranged for him to leave the country -- alone. What follows is a harrowing journey on the South China Sea, as Thòo encounters pirate attacks, hunger and loneliness, not knowing where he will end up or if he will ever see his family again.