An Australian teenage choir, instead of representing their country at the centenary of a WWI battle in Turkey, is arrested immediately on arrival at Ataturk Airport, Istanbul, suspected of terrorist sympathies. It takes their Australian sponsors and two Turkish police officers every minute between their detention and the Centenary concert to free them in time for an awe-inspiring multiethnic choral performance on the Dardanelles Straits. Their young Armenian-Australian choir mistress, separately incarcerated, and a young Turkish police inspector discover each other on an Persian after everything is over.