Claude Kogan has a big dream. She wants to be the first woman to stand on the summit of an 8,000 metre peak. The Frenchwoman was a well-known alpinist in the 1950s and earned the title "highest woman in the world" for her ascents of 7,000-metre peaks. 

But she wants to go even higher. In 1959, Kogan organised the first women's expedition to an 8,000-metre peak, Cho Oyu in the Tibetan Himalayas. At the time, mountaineering, and even more so high-altitude mountaineering, was firmly in the hands of men. Kogan and her fellow women not only wrestled with the mountain, but also fought against social prejudice and hostility. The world public observed the endeavour with a mixture of sensationalism and rigorous rejection. The pressure on the women is enormous.

But now they have arrived at the base camp at 5,600 metres. From here, the adventurers climb up and down the mountain to acclimatise in the thin air and set up their high-altitude camps. With each day, the women get to know each other better, friendships develop, but the pressure also reveals character traits that lead to strong tensions. The female mountaineers come from very different backgrounds: there is Claudine van der Straten, the top athlete from the Belgian royal family. There is the "red Loulou", a communist from Geneva and a world-renowned alpinist. There is the motherly Dorothea Gravina from England, who warns the women not to underestimate the risks. And there is the young, inexperienced Micheline Rambaud, who is there as a film-maker. She admires Claude Kogan, but increasingly senses that this strong woman harbours a sad story that could have more influence on the end of the expedition than they all suspect.

The central theme of the film focuses on the last evening and the last night before the ascent, in which the women share their memories and fears that led to this all-decisive moment.