Lt. Billy Straw is at war with an enemy of shadows, his commanders and himself. Born into a religion that runs bone-deep, the struggles to reconcile his love for God with his duty to kill. His combat commanders label him a "misfit" and relieve him of command. His religion and love for Laura, his girl back home, hold him together. As a new Liaison officer. he meets a beautiful Vietnamese secretary, Thuy. On the eve of his furlough to Hawaii and Laura, his best buddy dies in an ambush. Billy goes berserk and is coerced into betraying the trust and friend-ship of Thuy to gain his R&R leave. In Hawaii, Billy is pulled apart by the riptides of Laura's irresistible love and his own self-loathing. Billy returns to a tangle of river villages dubbed the "Medusas." An American military "PsyOps" mission threatens the lives of Thuy, her brother, and the terrified peasants. Armed and dangerous, Billy stands between his old combat platoon and the villages on the killing grounds to salvage something noble from the war.