Geshe Lama Konchog, a Tibetan Buddhist teacher who spent decades in meditation retreat, dies in Nepal, and his devoted disciple Tenzin Zopa sets out to find the child believed to carry his reincarnation. The search leads to the remote Tsum Valley, where a toddler reacts to Konchog's personal belongings, including his rosary and bell, in ways the monks read as recognition. The film follows the boy through the traditional tests used to confirm a reincarnate lama, then to an audience with the Dalai Lama, who examines the case before ruling on it himself. Cameras stay close on the relationship between Tenzin and the child as the process moves from mountain village to monastery, and on the boy's parents, who must decide whether to give their son up to a religious life neither they nor he fully chose. The camera work is patient rather than dramatic, letting rituals, interviews, and the child's own reactions carry the story without narration pushing an interpretation.