Howard Cage (Swayze) and Rhett Marcus (Fahey) are with a team of elite commandoes on an elite mission to Vietnam to liberate a group of American POWs. The mission goes badly wrong and there are many casualities on both sides as a result. Marcus is presumed dead and Cage survives, only to be imprisoned because of the illegal nature of his mission. Cage is shown to have a hostile relationship with the brutal warden, Stamper (Jon Voight), who secretly has big plans. Stamper is about to be forced into early retirement, and is planning revenge against the city he deems responsible.