The Long Way Home is set on the outskirts of Kars in Eastern Anatolia in the winter of 1915 and takes us to the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Sarikamis. The film follows a group of seven people from different walks of life on their quest to escape the war zone and find a safe path back home.
The Battle of Sarikamis, an engagement between the Russian and Ottoman empires during World War I, resulted with the defeat of the Ottomans, 109.274 soldiers were martyred. The Eastern Anatolia region happened to be a place of uncertainty and chaos by January 1915.
Neither the Russians nor the Ottomans had control over the area. Due to absence of authority, the people were left to their own fate in a battle of survival.
Saci Efendi, who is an officer in Hariciye Nazirligi accompanies Gul Hanim, the wife of the Principal Clerk of Hariciye Nazirligi (equivalent of Foreign Affairs) and her daughter, Nihan, on their way to Erzurum. They try to find their way in the terrible winter. On their first night in this deserted village in the middle of nowhere, they realize that they are not alone. Passing through a deserted village in the mountains of East Anatolia, 8 people from different walks of life try to endure the terrible winter conditions as well as starvation while attempting to make their way back to home.
