The four-time Oscar winning director Robert Wise is best known for The Sound of Music. Here, he turns his attention to World War II. Richard Widmark accompanies a group of US military meteorologists, sent to Inner Mongolia during World War II, serving as a weather station monitoring conditions for the Navy. When their commanding officer is killed during a Japanese attack, Chief Petty Officer Sam McHale (Widmark) takes the reins and leads the men on an 800-mile trek in the intense arid Gobi Desert to safety. When their convoy comes under attack from the Japanese, they are forced to seek the help of a group of Mongol tribesmen.