In cinéma vérité style, without music or narration, the film documents the day-to-day ordeal of a Marine point squad working to resist the occupation of a South Vietnamese village by Viet Cong forces. The footage was captured in summer and fall 1966, following Mike Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines (3/7)[3] participating in a series of counterinsurgency operations in Bình Sơn District along the Song Tra Bong River.