The story of a platoon of young Americans soldiers as they pick their way through treacherous terrain across the Japanese-held island of Anopopei Caught up in the confusion of close-armed combat, preyed upon by snipers, the men are pushed to the limit of human endurance Held together only by the raw will to survive and barely sustained dreams of life beyond the maelstrom, each man finds his innermost hopes and deepest fears laid bare by the unrelenting stress of battle