Seven Years in Tibet tells the story of Austrian mountain climber Heinrich Harrer, who at the start of World War II escaped from a British POW camp in India, fleeing north across the Himalayan mountains into Tibet. There he met and befriended the young Dalai Lama, only to have to escape back into India some years later when the Red Chinese Army invaded his adopted home. The film includes the 16 mm color footage shot by Harrer during 1939 and 1940 while in Tibet. There are also a substantial number of recreated scenes dramatizing parts of Harrer's journey that were not originally recorded by camera.