The film tells the story of American military advisors in Vietnam before the US's major involvement, who discover parallels between their futile fight against the Viet Cong and the ill-fated efforts of a French unit at the same location a decade earlier, offering a gritty portrayal of the early days of the Vietnam War.

Go Tell the Spartans
The US military faces similar challenges in South Vietnam as the French army did a decade earlier in Indochina, amidst the early 1960s.