Twenty-one-year-old Bartle (Alden Ehrenreich, soon to play the young Han Solo) and 18-year-old Murph (Tye Sheridan) become fast friends in army training before shipping off to fight insurgents in Iraq. Taken under the wing of a hot-headed sergeant (Jack Huston), they wander into the fog of war, but Murph never comes back.

Bartle returns home with the secrets of Murph's disappearance held close to his aching chest, while a shrewd military investigator (Jason Patric) and Murph's anguished mom (Jennifer Aniston) demand answers.