Lieutenant Tommy W. Hart (COLIN FARRELL) is a young officer from a privileged background working in an Allied field headquarters in 1944 Belgium. Ordered to drive another officer to another location, the two are ambushed and Tommy is captured and imprisoned by the Germans. Briefly interrogated by officials interested in the location of Allied fuel dumps, Tommy is eventually sent to the POW camp in Augsburg, Germany.
There, he meets the German commandant, Col. Werner Visser (MARCEL IURES), who has no problem executing prisoners, as well as the ranking American officer, Colonel William McNamara (BRUCE WILLIS), who's in charge of the POWs. Sent to bunk with the enlisted men due to McNamara's belief that he ratted out secret information to the Germans, Tommy tries to fit in, especially with Staff Sgt. Vic W. Bedford (COLE HAUSER) who seems to have connections to get him whatever he needs.
When Lieutenants Lincoln A. Scott (TERRENCE HOWARD) and Lamar T. Archer (VICELLOUS SHANNON), two downed black pilots from Tuskegee are assigned to the same barracks, however, things go from bad to worse for Tommy. That's because Bedford and many others share racist attitudes and aren't happy to have two black men bunking with them.
After a related execution, a white soldier ends up dead and Scott is charged with the crime. McNamara manages to convince Visser that they must have a military trial, and that Tommy, who has two years under his belt at Yale Law School, should defend the accused. From that point on, Tommy tries to prevent Scott from being found guilty and executed, all while uncovering all sorts of interesting clues and facts about the truth.