In late 1943, an American squad engages in a skirmish with German soldiers along the Winter Line in central Italy. As artillery shells rain down, the Americans must honor the rules of war and protect their wounded prisoners. Huddled together in a cave and made to see the enemy as human, the soldiers wrestle with unimaginable moral questions outside the boundaries of nationality and allegiance.

Growing up in post-World War II era Arizona, young Sammy Fabelman aspires to become a filmmaker as he reaches adolescence, but soon discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power of films can help him see the truth.