Sam Cahill is a United States Marine Corps captain, about to embark on his fourth combat deployment. He is a steadfast family man married to his high school sweetheart, Grace, and together, they raise two young daughters, Isabelle and Maggie. Sam's brother Tommy is being released from jail for an armed robbery, before Sam departs to Afghanistan in October 2007. Sam deploys and after a bit of time, news comes that Sam's Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter has crashed during an operation in the Helmand Province, killing all of the Marines aboard. In reality, he and a hometown friend, Private Joe Willis, have been taken prisoner of war in a mountain village by Taliban fighters.