Just before Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year), a squad of combat soldiers prepares for leave away from war in Vietnam. SGT's Ian Alexander and John Reese, professional soldiers both are non-commissioned officers. Both are highly trained Army Rangers they, along with three other squad members, are the only survivors of their platoon after it was overrun by the North Vietnamese months earlier. They relax in anticipation of R&R. Ian and Reese have fallen in love with each 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.

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     The squad’s leave is abruptly cancelled & 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. With secrets of his own. Captain Heinrick only values obedience to his goal of destroying the Communists using any "available method." He changes the mission on his own, which challenges each of the squad members to decide what is "acceptable behavior" for an American Army soldier, ultimately the decision could threaten their own survival.