Based on a true story, Surviving Earth follows Vlad, a talented harmonica player who arrived in the UK in the 1990s after fleeing the conflict in Yugoslavia. Vlad, now living in Bristol and working as a counsellor, has brought his roots and love for Balkan music to the city by forming a band with his friends from work. The band strives for success, but as they do, Vlad is revisited by the traumas of his past life. His carefully rebuilt world starts to fracture, with the hardest hit being his only daughter Maria, the most important person in his life.