Kaptajn John Boyd er blevet udråbt som kujon, da han gemte sig under et angreb i den mexicansk-amerikanske krig. Han er derfor nu blevet forvist, sammen med en gruppe soldater, til det øde Fort Spencer i Sierra Nevada-bjergene. Her støder de på den fremmede mand, Colqhoun, som viser sig at have en helt særlig appetit, for kannibalisme.
Ægteparret Michael og Dafna er dybt fortvivlet, da forsvarsmyndighederne opsøger dem i deres hjem for at oplyse dem om, at deres søn Jonathan er omkommet i krigen. For Dafna bliver det et så voldsomt chok, at hun øjeblikkelig får noget stærkt beroligende, mens Michael reagerer ved at overmandes af et voldsomt raseri. Den grusomme besked bliver for ham også et opgør med fortiden og ikke mindst sin mor.
In 1897, little Priscilla Williams, along with her widowed mother, goes to live with her army colonel paternal grandfather on the British outpost he commands in northern India.
Mens Spanien giver afkald på sine sidste kolonier, involveres en kamptræt forpost i en lang, brutal og indimellem bizar kamp med filippinske oprørere.
Rome, AD 303. Emperor Diocletian demotes his favourite, Sebastian, from captain of the palace guard to the rank of common soldier and banishes him to a remote coastal outpost where his fellow soldiers, weakened by their desires, turn to homosexual activities to satisfy their needs. Sebastian becomes the target of lust for the officer Severus, but repeatedly rejects the man's advances. Castigated for his Christian faith, he is tortured, humiliated and ultimately killed.
Fort Mysang, southern Philippine Islands, under US rule, 1906. A small group of army officers and native troops resist the fierce and treacherous attacks of the ruthless Alisang and his fanatical followers.
Col. Cooper leads a group of American P.O.W.s, battling their way to freedom as Saigon falls to the Viet Cong.
The Philippines, 1898, during the Spanish-American War. Fifty Spanish soldiers guarding the outpost established in the small village of Baler endure the cruel siege of the Filipino rebels for eleven months, although the war is almost lost…