After signing up for the US army in the 1850s, Irishman Thomas McNulty and his brother-in-arms, John Cole, fight in the American Frontier Wars and the Civil War. Having both fled terrible hardships, their days are now vivid and filled with wonder, despite the horrors they both see and are complicit in. But when a young Indian girl crosses their path, Thomas and John must decide on the best way of life for them all in the face of dangerous odd.