The fall of Singapore; a boat full of refugees is strafed and sunk and the female survivors become the inmates of a Japanese camp for women. With the double stigma of being both women and POWs they endure a desperate struggle for survival, including such ingenious devices as forming a morale boosting orchestra. Very few of the women survive in this heart rending tale of every day folk in the proverbial. Aka 'Tenko hits the big screen'.