影片根据真实事件改编,1983-2005年间,有许多平民在苏丹的战火中流离失所,幸存者被当时的援救人员称为“苏丹的迷途男孩”(Lost Boys of Sudan),其中有一部分人,后来以难民的身份来到美国。片中威瑟斯彭扮演的凯瑞,帮助四位苏丹难民寻找工作,为他们争取合法权益,想方设法让他们与亲人团聚,并同他们结下了深厚的友谊。 影片的导演,曾执导过《拉扎老师》的菲利普·法拉迪约,坚持到非洲实地拍摄,坚持让真正的苏丹人来演。片中的演员Ger曾在难民营生活多年,另一位来自苏丹的演员Emmanuel则表示,电影就像是在讲他自己的故事。Four Sudanese children are orphaned after their village is massacred in the Second Sudanese Civil War. Consequently, they make an arduous and dangerous trek through the plains, enduring hardship, death and sacrifice all the way until they reach safety in a refugee camp in Kenya. Years later, these youths are among 3600 selected for resettlement in America, only to have the one girl among them sent to Boston, while the three boys must to make a new life in Kansas City. Together, these young men must adjust to an alien culture even as the emotional baggage of their past haunts them. However, these newcomers, and their new friends like employment counselor Carrie Davis, strive to understand each other in this new home, as they make peace with their histories in a challenge that will change all their lives.