Sgt. Jim Burton, a disgraced ex-soldier living in the mountains of Utah, comes back to civilization only to find America gutted and torched, its citizens in hiding from a hostile occupying Chinese force.
For years the American government and the CIA had turned a blind eye to China’s ever growing encroachment into the country’s political and socio-economic affairs, until one day it was too late.
Sgt. Jim Burton, a disgraced ex-soldier living in the mountains of Utah, comes back to civilization only to find America gutted and torched, its citizens in hiding from a hostile occupying Chinese force.
Thrust into this barren landscape, he relies on his skills as a seasoned combat veteran to elude enemy soldiers and make his way further into occupied territory.
After a high speed car chase, Sgt. Burton is surprisingly aided by a small band of American renegades. Following them to their hidden encampment near an old mine, he finds that they protect a small community, the remnants of a small town he had traveled through earlier in the story. There he finds Addie, a waitress from before, who talks him into helping the nearly leaderless band.
Along the course of training this motley group of soldiers, made up of average citizens and a few nursing home residents, Sgt. Burton tries to regain the self respect he lost during his exit from the military – a haunting secret comes to light after he’s wounded on a raid into a Chinese camp.
After learning of more Americans holed up in a nearby military base, Sgt. Burton and the others formulate a plan to join them. But before they can leave tragedy occurs when the Chinese swarm into their encampment. An evacuation into the mine comes too late for some including an aged army veteran who sacrifices himself to save Sgt. Burton.
With Sgt. Burton presumed dead, the others have to figure a way out of the mine and onward to the American held military base. Along the way they encounter the still very much alive Sgt. Burton, and soon after, a roaming Chinese army. It becomes a race to get to the safety of the military base before the Chinese catch up to them.
Sgt. Burton’s never give up message is put to the test during the climactic battle between an overwhelming horde of Chinese soldiers and his small band of warriors amid the ruins of the deserted military base. But any illusion of a happy ending, coming with the surprise intervention of an American army, is shattered by the report of a hostile Russian force entering the country.