In 1968 Mike Kelly's chopper is shot down over the jungles of Vietnam. The crew is dead. Most of his team are dead and Mike makes a life altering decision. Now it's 2004 and Mike is a successful author and journalist, living in a big house on the lake with his wife Claire, twenty year old daughter Katie and son Jake, a senior in high school. Life looks great but Mike is still haunted by Vietnam and the war in Iraq is raging. Claire is threatening to leave if he doesn't get therapy, Katie is depressed and feels like he doesn't love her and Jake is tired of him controlling his life. When Jake and his best friend Griff join the marines and are sent to Iraq, Mike implodes. He travels to Iraq as an embedded reporter in a desperate attempt to save his son.