North Korea's prison camps, the most secure camps in the world, which have existed more than twice as long as Stalin's gulags, are a one-way ticket to death. In over sixty years, only a handful of people have escaped them. Chae, Jae, and Park--three camp-bred boys whose existence the government denies--overhear rumors from the guards about the outside world and begin to piece together the building blocks for an escape, that is, until Chae unwittingly runs over a guard with a runaway mining cart. Within days, Chae's execution is set. Will he be executed, or will his friends Jae and Park succeed in getting him--and themselves--out alive?