It was the turbulent era of the sixties and the age of hippies, drugs, and protests. Jack Reynolds graduates from high school and enlists in the navy at the beginning of the decade. Follow him through boot camp and out into the fleet as he copes with life in military service while stationed in the Far East. Upon discharge, he returns to the west coast and enters college where he encounters a different scenario than that which he experienced in the navy. During this time, he enrolls in flight school and learns to fly while helping a friend distribute marijuana and others to cheat their way through college. After college, he accepts a job with the government which takes him to the rivers of Vietnam where he experiences war as a civilian and finds that the conflict in Southeast Asia is vastly different from that which the government would have the country believe. For many, fighting the war takes a back seat to profiteering and currency manipulation and Reynolds finds that the military is at war with itself and that the actual war is nothing more than a sideshow.