One of the more unlikely war heroes you are ever likely to meet is Captain John Boyd (Guy Pearce). This is because Captain Boyd is only a war hero because he is a coward. When he went to battle, he was so scared he played dead, and was carried into a pile of bodies. Later, he managed to pull himself out from the pile of bodies and found himself behind enemy lines, which allowed him to capture the enemy fort. Instant war hero.
Alas, the General knows that something is amiss, and he doesn't like it, so he sends the intrepid Captain Boyd to Fort Spencer in California, and because it is the middle of the winter, this fort nestled high in the Sierras isn't likely to see much action at all. It's the perfect place to get rid of him. But that's not likely to happen to someone like Captain Boyd.
For when Captain Boyd was in the pile of bodies, something changed. The blood of his fellow soldiers was dripping into his face and even into his mouth for hours, as he feared to even move. This has a way of changing a man - even a cowardly man. Though it is unlikely that this will change your fate, it can certainly affect how you behave. At first, it turns Captain Boyd into himself. But that will change with time.
As he first arrives in Fort Spencer, he finds that it is a bit of an odd place, with a strange assortment of characters. This is to be expected, as there isn't much happening at this time of year. It is, in fact, strange that even he comes to visit. But then one night another visitor happens upon the fort - two in one week is very odd indeed.
And this visitor has a very odd story to tell. What is odd isn't so much the story, but that it has strange echoes about it that are familiar to Captain Boyd. For this stranger when he recovers tells about a wagon train that was heading West, and when they became stranded in the mountains, they were forced to turn to the one forbidden action to survive. They turned on each other and became cannibals. This man survived only by running from the last two - the "guide" and a woman - because he figured that he was next.
On hearing this, the soldiers of the fort decide that they must try to find the cave and see if they can rescue the other members of the party, so they head out at once. What they find in the cave, however, is not the survivors - it is a trap. And Boyd learns that he will be next unless he does what he does best - he runs. Eventually he makes it back to Fort Spencer, but he is the only one who left that does. And who who should come to check on him but the General, and he doesn't want to hear stories of a cannibal.
He has a new commanding officer to install, and it turns out that this is none other than the stranger who showed up - the one who led them to the trap. Boyd tries to tell him, but this falls on deaf ears. And this is finally when the change in Captain Boyd takes place. He sets a trap for the cannibal and brings him down - but not without costing him his own life in the process.
Rated R for graphic violence and brief drug references.
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