It was the time of the Cold War and the bloodiest and most lossy military confrontation within it. Vietnam, a country of almost 30 million inhabitants at the time, became the location of a thirty-year period of war from 1945, including the Indochina War (1946 - 1954) and the Vietnam War (1955 - 1975). In the latter war, US warplanes dropped more bombs here than in all World War II locations together. According to official doctrine, the GIs defend an outpost of the free world in Southeast Asia in the distant jungles and swamps. They should stop the advance of communism at any cost. But instead of swiftly victorious, the most powerful military machine in the West is drawn deeper and deeper into a confusing jungle war in the fight against North Vietnam's guerilla fighters, which soon reaches the streets of America. The everyday television news carry the violence down to the living room of the Americans and eventually lead to the largest anti-war demonstrations that Washington has seen until then. The documentary mini-series recounts the background of the tragedy in Southeast Asia.