Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire), a dedicated Marine Corps officer, prepares to deploy for a mission in Afghanistan, leaving behind his wife, Grace (Natalie Portman), and their two young daughters, Isabelle and Maggie. The family shares bittersweet moments as they bid farewell, but the tension in Sam’s family runs deeper than just his departure. Days before he leaves, Sam’s younger brother, Tommy, is released from prison after serving time for armed robbery. At a family dinner hosted by their parents, Hank and Elsie, old wounds resurface. Hank, a hardened Vietnam veteran, berates Tommy for his troubled past and accuses him of lacking the integrity that Sam embodies. Tommy, resentful of his father’s favoritism, endures the verbal jabs in silence.
In Afghanistan, tragedy strikes when Sam’s helicopter is shot down. Believed to be the only survivors, Sam and Private Joe Willis are captured by the Taliban. Back home, the news of Sam’s presumed death devastates Grace and the Cahill family. Stricken by guilt and anger, Tommy lashes out at Grace, blaming her for letting Sam go to war. At the memorial service, emotions boil over when Hank, drunk and grieving, attempts to take his family home but is intercepted by Tommy. Their argument turns bitter as Tommy accuses Hank of pushing Sam into the Marines to fulfill his own unfulfilled ideals from the Vietnam War.
Struggling to navigate his grief, Tommy decides to step up for Grace and her daughters. He takes on the unfinished remodeling of their kitchen, a project Sam had left behind, as a way to help Grace. Slowly, Tommy begins to bond with Isabelle and Maggie, building a connection he had never imagined possible. He even makes amends with a bank teller he once held at gunpoint, signaling his efforts to redeem himself. Meanwhile, a subtle attraction develops between Tommy and Grace, culminating in a single kiss. They pull back before things go further, but the moment lingers between them.
Unbeknownst to the family, Sam and Joe are enduring brutal captivity. The Taliban subjects them to relentless torture, and Sam is forced to make an unimaginable choice—beat Joe to death with a metal pipe to stay alive. This act haunts Sam, leaving scars that will follow him long after his rescue.
Months later, Sam is freed and returns home to a family that has learned to function without him. But the man who comes back is not the same. Wracked with post-traumatic stress and guilt, Sam struggles to reconnect with Grace and his daughters. Isabelle and Maggie, once overjoyed by Tommy’s presence, now find their father unpredictable and frightening. Sam, burdened by secrets, lies to Joe’s widow about the circumstances of her husband’s death. His paranoia festers, leading him to suspect that Grace and Tommy developed a relationship in his absence. When Grace tries to reassure him, admitting they shared only a single kiss, Sam refuses to believe her, consumed by jealousy and self-loathing.
The tension reaches a breaking point at Maggie’s birthday party. Tommy arrives with a date, Tina, and the festive atmosphere quickly unravels. Isabelle, frustrated by her father’s absence from her own birthday and the attention given to others, begins playing with a balloon loudly, testing Sam’s fragile patience. When he snaps and pops the balloon in anger, Isabelle screams that Grace and Tommy are having an affair and yells that she wishes Sam had died in Afghanistan. Her words cut deep, and Sam, already spiraling, descends further into his torment.
That night, Grace tries to reassure her daughters, promising them that Sam will get better. But her own fears grow, and she calls Elsie for help, worried about their safety. As Elsie convinces Hank to call the police, Tommy rushes to the house to calm his brother. By the time Tommy arrives, Sam is in full breakdown mode, smashing the kitchen with a fire poker in a desperate, chaotic release of emotion. Tommy embraces Sam, trying to soothe him, but Sam turns defensive and pulls a gun on his brother. The standoff intensifies as Department of Defense police arrive, surrounding the house. Sam fires a shot into the air, begging the officers to kill him. Tommy pleads with him, stepping closer as Sam holds the gun to his own head. Through tears, Sam confesses that he is “drowning,” unable to escape the weight of his guilt. Finally, he surrenders to the authorities.
Sam is arrested and admitted to a Veterans’ Affairs hospital for treatment. Grace, still reeling from the events, finds and reads a letter Sam had written for her to receive in the event of his death. The letter reveals a side of Sam that she hadn’t seen—a man torn between duty and love, haunted by the possibility of leaving his family behind. The words deepen her resolve to help him heal.
In the hospital, Grace visits Sam, giving him an ultimatum: if he doesn’t open up and share the truth, he risks losing her and their daughters forever. Sam finally breaks, confessing the horrifying truth of what happened in Afghanistan—that he killed Joe. In that moment, Grace embraces him, her support unwavering despite the magnitude of his revelation. But for Sam, the road ahead remains uncertain. He wonders if he can ever find peace, or if the weight of his trauma will shadow him for the rest of his life.
