As the Korean War rages, efforts being led to recapture Pork Chop Hill are thwarted at every turn. While leading his infantry forward to gain control of the hill, Lieutenant Joe Clemons (Gregory Peck) finds himself standing at a crossroad: with only twenty-five soldiers remaining out of an original one-hundred and thirty-five man unit, he is faced with abandoning the mission (a mission that his superiors are unwilling to concede) or face what may well be certain death.