Sixteen-year-old Joe Key, turned away by the girl that he loves, joins the U.S. Marines using someone elses identification. Joe soon finds himself in the foreign land of Vietnam. A place of strange people and danger. Joe is no longer shooting at paper targets; here he is shooting at people, and the people are shooting back trying to kill him. Wounded, he finds himself caught up in a fierce battle. A battle between the VC and a machine gun outpost and one of sure death. Their sergeant dead and the officer gone, Joe, only a corporal, takes command. As the fighting turns into a hand-to-hand battle, Joe, with only one good arm, stands against the enemy, brandishing a rifle, using it as a club, the bandages around his body dirty and soaked with blood, his blood. A battle that has a unique ending with strange circumstances to follow. A battle that makes big changes in Joes young life.