A U.S. Marine Combined Action Platoon in Vietnam; a single Marine squad is located in Khung Toi, a Vietnamese village, working with the Popular Forces -- the local militia. Together, the Marines and PFs form CAP Whiskey 8. Three of the Marines, using the nom de guerres of Socrates, Captain Hook, and Sneaky Pete, get involved with a secretive and mysterious project, assigned to assassinate NVA cadre in villages other than their own. The corporal known as Socrates is disturbed by the project and tries to backtrack it, but finds nothing but more unanswered questions. On one mission, he and his two men find documents detailing a planned major NVA attack on CAP Whiskey 8. The Marines and their Vietnamese counterparts barely have time to prepare for the biggest fight any of them have ever been in.