Fourth-generation Army Col. William McNamara is imprisoned in a brutal German POW camp. Still, since the senior-ranking American officer, he commands his fellow inmates, keeping a sense of honor alive in a place where honor is easy to destroy, all under the dangerous eye of this Luftwafe vetran Col. Wilhelm Visser. Never stopping the struggle to win against the war, McNamara is silently planning, waiting for his moment. A murder in the camp gives him the chance to set a risky plan. With a court martial to keep Visser and the Germans distracted, McNamara orchestrates a cunning scheme to escape and destroy a nearby munitions plant, enlisting the unwitting help of young Lt. Tommy Hart. Together with his men, McNamara uses a hero's resolve to carry out his mission, ultimately forced to weigh the value of his entire own life contrary to the good of his country.