Michael Palin embarks on a 1000-mile adventure into Iraq, a country he has never been to before. He boards a train in the spectacular snow-capped mountains of Lake Hazar in eastern Turkey, the source of the river Tigris, which Michael will follow until he reaches the Persian Gulf on the southern most coast of Iraq.

Michael continues his journey into the heart of Iraq on his way to Baghdad, and arrives in Kirkuk and the exact spot where the British discovered oil in 1927, when they also ruled the country.

As he starts the final part of his journey deep into Iraq, Michael finds a local school in Baghdad, where he talks to the children about life in Iraq and what they hope to do in the future, and how they see the rest of the world.