Pemba, who used to climb, returns to his native village Khumbu, in the foothills of Everest, after spending ten years abroad.

To his surprise he finds tremendous changes have taken place due to tourism and mountaineering.

One-day Pemba goes to the Tengboche Monastery to pray and to his amazement he meets his old girlfriend Yangjin dressed as a Buddhist nun.

Deeply distressed, Pemba promises to meet her again and then he goes to Namche Bazaar where he finds Lhakpa Doma, the wife of an old colleague whose husband died in a mountaineering accident, which Pemba survived.

Pemba is now convinced that the changes in the Sherpas' life and society are inevitable and that tourism and mountaineering have brought many benefits to the Khumbu region.