Sgt. [Michael Ransom](/actor/brent-h Huff) and his team of Strike Commandos slip into a Vietnamese base, intent on planting explosives, while Major Vic Jenkins (Richard Harris) and Colonel Radek watch from a nearby vantage. A sentry spots the intruders and raises the alarm, and Radek—who is in charge—orders the explosives set as the commandos begin to retreat. The ensuing blast kills a soldier and hurls Ransom into a river.
Unconscious, he is found by a village boy who nurses him back to health. The boy’s village used to be a church, until the Viet Cong kept attacking, and Ransom soon learns that a Soviet presence operates in Vietnam. He agrees to guide the villagers to safety, moving them toward an unknown destination. As they travel, they stumble upon a decomposed dead soldier with a radio; Ransom uses it to contact his home base and tells Radek that he’s alive and where he could be picked up, while also asserting that the Strike team demands justice and vengeance. A helicopter is dispatched to retrieve him, heightening the tension between mercy and retribution.
The next day, crossing a river brings resistance: a patrol boat and a group of Viet Cong attack. With help from Le Due, a retired French soldier who had lived in the village, Ransom destroys the boat and defeats the Viet Cong force. The retreat continues through the jungle, but tragedy follows—Le Due is killed by a Soviet soldier. Ransom discovers the fallen veteran’s body and a torn Soviet patch on the uniform, a symbol that deepens his resolve as the Soviets sweep for the villagers.
Ransom answers the Soviet onslaught by fighting back, killing them one by one, though the numbers overwhelm him and force a withdrawal. He orders the helicopter to return to base, but his major persuades him to stay for extraction. Instead, Ransom volunteers to return later to take photographs of the base to prove the Soviet presence.
In Vietnam, Ransom finds that the village has been slaughtered and learns the name Jakoda. A Soviet soldier’s patchwork clues lead him to Jakoda’s location, and Ransom’s fury explodes as he fires on the village with a stolen machine gun. Jakoda captures a civilian hostage to force a surrender, and the Soviets imprison Ransom, torturing him for months in a cell with a corpse nearby. He pretends to break under pressure and even programs a demoralizing radio broadcast, but his plan turns the tables, and he kills the torturers. He then takes Jakoda’s girlfriend Olga hostage, using her as bait to reach a pickup point. Olga’s attempt on his life triggers a chaotic gunfight as a helicopter fires on them, killing Olga and nearly taking Ransom with it. He shoots another gunman and the helicopter retreats.
After blowing up an army boat, Ransom returns to shore to face Jakoda, who challenges him to a duel. Ransom wins by throwing Jakoda into a waterfall, a decisive moment that marks a turning point in his vengeance.
Back at base, rage drives him to fire at Radek’s office, though Radek is absent. After going AWOL, Radek becomes an importer/exporter in Manila. At the building where Radek works, Ransom places a two-minute grenade on an ash tray at the front desk. The front desk clerk raises the alarm, and as Ransom roams the halls, he mows down the men inside, finally killing Radek with the grenade.
Outside, Ransom corners Jakoda again, who now sports metal teeth from their last encounter. In a final, brutal moment, Ransom plants a grenade in Jakoda’s mouth; the blast leaves only the metal teeth behind.
