Adaptation of Anne Holm's famed novel 'North To Freedom' about a 12 year-old prison camp escapee and his voyage across Europe. David is an intelligent 12-year-old escapee who has lost his parents in a post-WWII communist labour camp in Bulgaria. He makes good his escape armed only with a loaf, a compass and a sealed letter he's been told to take to Copenhagen. His fearful journey takes him past prison commando guards, under barbed wire and finally on board an Italy bound ship as a stowaway. Having grown up imprisoned, the outside world is a place of wonderment and mystery to David and he struggles with the notion of freedom, to say nothing of everyday things like money, cutlery and happiness. The in-bred tendency to trust nobody causes him no end of trouble but begins to break down as he is forced to rely on the kindness of strangers to get to his destination. His journey brings him into contact with Sophie (Joan Plowright) an ageing artist who's getting over her own personal tragedy and under whose guidance David finally starts to move forward.