The Donner Party plot
"Survival lies within"
During the westward expansion in the 1840s, a group of emigrants, now known as 'The Donner Party', are trapped in the high mountains of Sierra Nevada by heavy snowfall of early winter. When the food supply threatens to run out, tensions arise between William Eddy (Clayne Crawford) and his employee William Foster (Crispin Glover) over distributing the last food. When Charles Stanton (Christian Kane) returns with the news that food supplies have been stored along the route to Sutter Fort, it is decided to form a small group to try to reach California on snowshoes. After getting lost in the mountains and running out of food, they face the impossible task of survival.