The story of WINDHORSE begins eighteen years ago in the mountains of western Tibet. There, on a crisp autumn morning, a tiny village awakes. And three small children play at jump-rope -- a brother and sister, Dorjee and Dolkar, and their cousin, Pema. But the idyllic scene is shattered by a sudden gunshot that takes the life of the children's grandfather.

Abruptly, the scene shifts to present day Lhasa, the capitol city of Tibet where we get a triple portrait of the threesome as young adults. The sister, Dolkar, is a taltented singer who has attracted a boyfriend -- a successful young Chinese man named Duan-ping. With his help, Dolkar gets the attention of a high-ranking Chinese government official who can make her a recording star. It would mean money and security for her and her family. But her brother is totally disgusted. Dorjee spends his days with friends in a snooker hall and his nights getting drunk. We also see fleeting aspects of a Tibetan underground political movement in the person of Dorjee's old friend, Lobsang.

Since their days in the village, Dolkar and Dorjee have lost contact with their cousin, Pema, who has become a Buddhist nun. In an early scene, Pema listens in disbelief as Chinese officials ban the display of photos of their spiritual leader, the exiled Dalai Lama. Within days, one of the nuns is arrested for defying the ban. Pema's anger and frustration leads her to spontaneously shout "Free Tibet" in the square in front of the central Buddhist temple in Lhasa. Immediately she is arrested and thrown in prison.

Dolkar and her boyfriend meet with the government official, Mr. Du, who agrees to launch Dolkar's singing career only after eliciting her promise that she will stay out of political trouble. Dorjee nearly ruins everything with a drunken outburst at the disco where she is singing for Mr. Du. But Duan-ping helps cover up the problem and Dolkar records several songs for her CD/tape, including a reverential anthem to Chairman Mao. So successful is her recording that Duan-ping and Mr. Du arrange for her to sing on national Chinese television.

Dorjee, meanwhile, has met a young American woman named Amy. Shooting everything with her video camera, Amy is literally just off the tourist bus, and Dorjee becomes her unofficial guide to the clashing Tibetan and Chinese cultures of Lhasa. All this transpires under the watchful eyes of the police surveillance cameras scanning the streets for suspicious activity.

Late one night, Dorjee and Dolkar's family are informed by the police that their cousin has been arrested for protest activities and that she is being released from prison into their custody. Seeing that Pema has been brutally tortured, they take her into their home. Faced with this serious political situation, Dorjee redeems himself by seeking the help of Lobsang, his old friend from the Tibetan underground.

Dolkar continues to pursue her dream of pop stardom even as she cares for her tortured cousin. Her crisis of conscience comes the night of the televised concert, as she refuses to sing, walks off the stage, and leaves Duan-ping and Mr. Du slack-jawed. Her defiant act triggers an investigation of the family by the Chinese secret police. But it also gives her the courage to enlist Dorjee, Lobsang, and Amy in a bold plot to bring Pema's story of human rights abuse to the world outside Tibet.

But within hours, Pema is dead, Amy's camcorder is confiscated at customs, and the police are hot on the family's trail. The noble Duan-ping arrives just in time to help them escape. As Dolkar and Dorjee head out across the Himalayas to join the tens of thousands of other Tibetans exiled from their homeland, they set aloft in the mountain breeze countless bits of paper inscribed with the prayers and hopes for freedom of the Tibetan people, their Windhorses.