A group of US Navy weathermen taking measurements in the Gobi desert in World War II are forced to seek the help of Mongol nomads to regain their ship while under attack from the Japanese.
Five passengers in a stagecoach are abandoned by their driver in the desert. Trying to survive, they struggle with illness, thirst, hunger, and the threats posed both by one another and the local Indigenous peoples.
During the Korean War, a glory-hunting sergeant leads his platoon on a mission against the enemy--not telling them that a cease-fire has just been declared--so that he can win medals. Trouble arises when some members of platoon begin to suspect that something is fishy.
A selfish and prideful young Dutch doctor, through a series of circumstances, comes to learn that he does indeed "need" a higher spiritual being and other people.