A blazing meteorite crashes into a glacier in the midst of an alpine wilderness, bringing back to life a frozen Neanderthal boy. The boy, whose name is Bataa (Clarence John Ryan) meets Sophie (Julia Krombach), a girl who has run away from a holiday chalet in the mountains. At first their communication is hampered by the divisions of language and time, but before long, they discover that they have something in common - for Sophie, she has lost her mother and cannot get along with her new patchwork family, and Bataa feels very lonely and longs for his own family. Both in need of each other, a special friendship soon evolves that is jeopardised when they are discovered by scientists determined to track down and capture Bataa. The two children hide in an ancient, secret cave that was once a holy site for Neanderthals. When Bataa falls ill, Sophie persuades him to go down into the valley. But the closer they get to modern civilisation, the more his condition deteriorates.
