In 1969, a U.S. Army team is ordered to secure a village against North Vietnamese forces. Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude Van Damme) discovers members of his squad and villagers murdered, all with their ears removed. Deveraux finds his sergeant, Andrew Scott (Dolph Lundgren), who has gone insane and made a necklace of severed ears and who is holding a young couple hostage. Deveraux, nearing the end of his tour of duty, tries to reason with Scott, who executes the man and orders Deveraux to shoot the girl to prove his loyalty. Deveraux refuses and tries to save the girl, but she is killed by a grenade thrown by Scott. After shooting each other to death, Deveraux and Scott's corpses are recovered by a second squad and cryogenically frozen, their deaths classified as "missing in action".