Tommy is a 28-year-old man who escaped his hellish childhood by murdering his abusive father. After a prison stint, Tommy's work release program gives him a shot at a new life when he is placed as a cook at St. Michael's School in L.A, There he meets Guillermo, a neighborhood kid who is committed to keeping him out of trouble, and Sophia, a schoolteacher who educates him in a subject he knows nothing about--love.

Set in the future, the story follows a young soldier named Johnny Rico and his exploits in the Mobile Infantry. Rico's military career progresses from recruit to non-commissioned officer and finally to officer against the backdrop of an interstellar war between mankind and an arachnoid species known as "the Bugs".