越战期间美国克莱顿镇5个经常一起打猎野鹿的好朋友中的三人尼克(克里斯托弗•沃肯 Christopher Walken 饰)、史蒂芬(约翰•萨维奇 John Savage 饰)和迈克尔(罗伯特•德尼罗 Robert De Niro 饰)即将奔赴前线离开前夕史蒂芬和另一个好友兼女友安吉拉结了婚婚礼就是他们的告别会 三个年轻人在战场上被越军俘虏了残忍的越军逼他们玩“俄罗斯轮盘”游戏迈克尔乘机夺了越军士兵的枪虽然顺利三个好友逃了出来但在逃亡过程中他们失散了迈克尔和史蒂芬最终顺利回到了美国但史蒂芬终身残废了住在疗养院不愿回家拖累家人越战结束前夕迈克尔从史蒂芬处得知他经常受到从西贡寄来的匿名的汇款迈克尔断定一定是尼克为了找回好兄弟迈克尔决定再次冒险闯荡越南
John Steinbeck // A fellow ain't got a soul of his own, just little piece of a big soul, the one big soul that belongs to everybody...I'll be all around in the dark - I'll be everywhere. // A man lives sorta - well, in jerks. Baby's born or somebody dies, and that's a jerk. With a woman, it's all in one flow, like a stream - little eddies and waterfalls - but the river, it goes right on. // Human being wouldn't live the way they do. Human being couldn't stand to be so miserable. // They're workin' away our spirits, tryin' to make us cringe and crawl, takin' away our decency.