It's 1968, and Vietnam War Army Sergeants Ian Alexander and John Reese heroically lead their squad in a desperate attempt to survive and complete a CIA Phoenix mission after their platoon was overrun by NVA forces. Just prior to the Tet Offensive, the squad - Rangers Alexander and Reese, who are also exploring and fighting their own identities and attraction to each other, along with Doc, Thumper, Burd, and their disturbed Captain Henrick prep to kidnap a Viet Cong Leader. They face trauma and betrayal, then mere survival as they endure gut-wrenching combat near the DMZ. *Although queer people of many stripes have served in military conflicts from the American Revolution until today, many of these troops fought and gave the ultimate sacrifice for their nation but were prohibited to love legally or openly.*
Two young point men, in love in the midst of the Vietnam War, lead their squad in a desperate attempt to survive a botched Phoenix Mission, despite their Captain who has lost his humanity & who will use any means to win, including sacrificing the squad.
1968, a few days before Tet (the Vietnamese Lunar New Year), a squad of combat soldiers prepares for leave away from war in Vietnam. Ian and Reese, professional soldiers both are non-commissioned officers, highly trained Army Rangers, along with three other squad members, are the only survivors of their platoon after it was overrun by the North Vietnamese months before. They relax in anticipation of R&R. Ian and Reese have fallen in love with each other during the intimacy of combat, trauma, and survival as they have faced nearly continual combat near the DMZ in South Vietnam. Their relationship is an open secret in the squad with varying degrees of acceptance, conflict and rejection. The other members of the squad, Doc, Thumper, and Burd, have more important issues to deal with than this couple's unconventional sexuality: survival and doing their job.
Just before the Tet holiday, the squad's leave is abruptly canceled and they are given a Phoenix Program mission to kidnap a village official thought to be a Viet Cong operative and agent of the North Vietnamese. With this mission comes a new officer, Captain John Tower Heinrick, an expert in Asian philosophy, culture, and insurgency warfare, who has open secrets of his own. Captain Heinrick only values obedience to his goal of destroying the Communists using any method available. He changes the mission on his own, which challenges each of the squad members to decide what acceptable behavior is for an American soldier and ultimately threatens their survival.
