Operational Detachment Alpha 053 finds itself at the scene of a fatal night firefight between newly arrived personnel from the British Army and the Taliban and rogue Afghan National Police elements near the town of Sangin in Helmand Province.

Colonel Phil Sambrook, a veteran of 1st Special Forces Detachment-Delta and Colonel Kurt Richter, a former commander of Joint Task Force 2 are dispatched to investigate the circumstances of the incident. Their mission leads them into the ever changing environment along the key rivers of Southern Afghanistan during the time when British and Canadian troops from NATO are taking over responsibility from the Americans at the same time that the Taliban and their foreign allies are surging into the region for a major decisive operation.

The action moves from a series of major battles along the Afghan rivers to the halls of power in Washington on the banks of the Potomac. Along the way their eyes are opened to evidence of corruption carried out by their Afghan allies, a US government official and private contractors and a threat that will come to their very homes.