It is directed by Hans Petter Moland and starring Damien Nguyen, Nick Nolte, Bai Ling, Chau Thi Kim Xuan, Tim Roth, Anh Thu, Temuera Morrison and John Hussey.

Stuck in a refugee camp, Binh and Tam adapt to their new circumstances and meet Ling, a Chinese prostitute whose passage to America was also detoured to Malaysia.

A gambling game (two contenders shout off American brand names in succession) threatens the other passengers by unfairly winning their food, water, and money.

The immigrants finally reach the United States, but are quickly rushed into transport trucks, bound for Chinatown in New York City.

Binh finds out (over a poker game with his friends) that Vietnamese children born to American fathers are allowed free airplane passage to the United States and granted citizenship.

Angry because he didn't have to lose his brother, he promptly leaves his job and hitch hikes toward Houston, Texas, meeting amputee Vietnam War veterans and a Hispanic family along the way.

The site's critical consensus reads, "The plight of Asian refugees is sensitively rendered, and the movie builds, with the help of Nolte, to a wrenchingly poignant conclusion.