On a planet somewhere in the galaxy, the last free nation has fallen. A tyrant rules with an iron fist, and his regime plans and governs the very lives of all citizens. Those who disagree with the tyrant are charged with sedition and severely punished. Armo Torndale, a senior officer with State Security, loyally serves the tyrant, but as the regime's oppression of the people tightens, he starts having doubts. When he is forced to witness the brutal killing of a helpless woman by the tyrant's most vicious henchmen, he has had enough. He leaps from his cozy, privileged life into the unknown of leading a group of freedom refugees on a long trek away from oppression. But there is nowhere to go on their planet: tyranny reigns everywhere. Their last hope is to set up camp on a mountaintop and wait for the Danori, an alien race who have pledged to come rescue them. While they endure enormous hardship and run down their last food supplies, the tyrant sends out a group of commandos to track them down and kill them.