A French unit on patrol in Vietnam in 1954, during the final year of the First Indochina War, is

ambushed by Viet Minh forces. Viet Minh commander Nguyen Huu An orders his soldiers to "kill all
they send, and they will stop coming".
Eleven years later, the United States is fighting the Vietnam War. U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Hal
Moore (Mel Gibson) is chosen to train and lead a battalion. After arriving in Vietnam, he learns that
an American base has been attacked, and is ordered to take his 400 men after the enemy and
eliminate the Vietnamese attackers, despite the fact that intelligence has no idea of the number of
enemy troops. As the haunting lament "Sgt. MacKenzie" plays, Moore leads a newly created air
cavalry unit into the Ia Drang Valley. After landing in the "Valley of Death", the soldiers learn that the
location they were sent to is actually the base camp for a veteran North Vietnamese Army division of
4,000 men.
Upon arrival in the area with a platoon of soldiers, 2nd Lt. Henry Herrick spots an enemy scout, runs
after him, and orders reluctant soldiers to follow. The Vietnamese scout lures them into an ambush,
resulting in several men being killed, including Lt. Herrick and his subordinates. The surviving
platoon members are surrounded with no chance of retreat. Sgt. Savage assumes command, calls
in artillery, and uses the cover of night to keep the Vietnamese from overrunning their small
defensive position. Meanwhile, with helicopters constantly dropping off units, Lt. Col. Moore
manages to secure weak points before the Vietnamese can take advantage of them.
On the second day, despite being trapped and desperately outnumbered, the main U.S. force
manages to hold off the Vietnamese with artillery, mortars, and helicopter airlifts of supplies and
reinforcements. Eventually, Vietnamese commander Nguyen Huu An orders a large-scale attack on
the American position.
At the point of being overrun by the enemy and with no options left, Moore orders 1st Lt. Charlie
Hastings, his Forward Air Controller, to call in "Broken Arrow" (a call for all available combat aircraft
to assist and attack enemy positions, even those close to the U.S. troops' position, because a
position is being overrun and can no longer be defended). The aircraft attack with bombs, napalm,
and machine guns, killing many PAVN and Viet Cong troops; but a friendly fire incident results in
American deaths. The second Vietnamese attack is repelled, and the surviving U.S. soldiers, led by
Sgt. Savage, are rescued.
Meanwhile, back in the U.S., Julia Moore (Madeleine Stowe) has become the leader of the American
wives living on the base. When the Army begins to use yellow cab drivers to deliver telegrams
notifying the next of kin of soldiers' deaths in combat, Julia personally assumes that emotional
responsibility instead.

Moore's troops regroup, secure the area, and stop at the base of a hill. The Vietnamese commander
plans a final assault on the Americans and sends most of his troops to carry out the attack. The
Vietnamese have set up strong emplacements near the hidden entrance of the underground
passage to the command post, spoken of by the scout. Hal and his men charge at them, but before
the Vietnamese can fire, Major Bruce "Snakeshit" Crandall and others in helicopter gunships attack
the Vietnamese, destroying the bulk of the enemy force.
Nguyen Huu An, the Vietnamese Commander, is alerted that the Americans have broken through
their lines, and there are no soldiers between the Americans and their command post. Since the
Commander had deployed his reserve forces to a final offensive, and the base camp has no troops
to call upon for defense, the Vietnamese commander quickly orders the headquarters evacuated.
Moore, having achieved his objective, returns to the helicopter landing zone to be picked up. Only
after everyone (including the dead and wounded) is removed from the battlefield does he fly out of
the valley.
At the end of the film, it is revealed that the landing zone immediately reverted to North Vietnamese
hands after the American troops were airlifted out. Hal Moore continued the battle in a different
landing zone, and after nearly a year he returns home safely to Julia and his family. His superiors
congratulate him for killing over 1,800 North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong soldiers. An older
Moore visits the Vietnam war memorial and sees the names of soldiers who fell at Ia Drang.