Ron Kovic joins the Marines immediately after high school with patriotic intentions to serve his country, only to be sent to Vietnam where his experience becomes traumatic. During combat, he becomes partially responsible for a massacre born of negligence and accidentally shoots a fellow soldier, ultimately returning home paralyzed from the chest down. The physical and psychological toll of war leaves him forever wheelchair-bound as he reunites with family and friends.
Initially, Kovic defends the military operation and his own involvement in it, but his perspective gradually undergoes a dramatic transformation. His journey from a naive young patriot to someone who fundamentally questions the war reflects a deep personal reckoning with the consequences of combat and his role in it.