Joshua Lacour and Nicholas Beaulieu are close friends from school. However, that's where their similarities end. Nicholas, the son of a wealthy and highly decorated World War II hero, fulfills his deepest dream of becoming a combat pilot in the Vietnam War. Joshua can only avoid a looming prison sentence by reluctantly volunteering for a deployment in Vietnam. While Nicholas soars high in the skies over Vietnam, trying to earn his stripes as a pilot, Joshua, as a simple infantryman in the 1st Cavalry Division, encounters the horrors of jungle warfare face to face. During a mission to destroy the Thanh Hoa Bridge, a crucial strategic supply point for the Vietcong, the two friends unknowingly cross paths again, one in the sky and the other on the ground.