A Buddhist monk, Lama Norbu (Ying Ruocheng), believes that a 10-year-old American boy, Jesse (Alex Wiesendanger), is the reincarnation of his spiritual teacher, Lama Dorje. Jesse's father, Dean (Chris Isaak), and mother, Lisa (Bridget Fonda), are dubious, but following his business partner's suicide, a transformed Dean relents and allows his son to travel to Bhutan. However, there are two other children who the monk thinks may also be the reincarnation of Lama Dorje.