Wolff recollects the time he spent in the army during the Vietnam War. He was stationed in My Tho for the majority of the war. Although Wolff has no personal qualms about violence specifically, he does take a critical stance of the war because of his observations in the service. He laments both how the Vietnamese citizens were treated and how the U.S. government demonstrated no regard for distinguishing between Vietnamese citizens and the Viet Cong.
Looking back, Wolff introduces his younger self as a sordid character. He was a frustrated soldier. On Thanksgiving 1967, Wolff and his buddy, Sergeant Benet, engage in an elaborate scheme to deceive their superior officer into allowing them a color TV set. They want to watch Bonanza. By the end of the event, Wolff has his TV, but he's promised to give it to a Vietnamese woman and her son. He never does. In retrospect, Wolff derides himself for being so dishonorably as to acquire the set deceptively and then to make promises he had no intention of keeping.
Wolff gets a dog at some point, Canh Cho as the locals call him. To Wolff it appears as if the Vietnamese allies are determined to single-handedly humiliate him for all of his numerous character flaws, one of which apparently is sentiment. They make fun of Wolff for his aversion to eating dog, as is customary in Vietnam. Consequently they name his dog Canh Cho which means "dog stew," their own private joke. Before leaving Canh Cho, Wolff is distraught for having to leave his dog behind because he was a noble companion. The locals cook a meal in his honor, but Wolff quickly learns that it is his dog which they've prepared for him. Nevertheless he bites his tongue and continues eating.
During his time in the service, Wolff devotes his attention largely to his relationships, both near and far. In flight school he befriends Hugh Pierce. Pierce is a wild, vivacious person who once jumped out of the airplane and shouted about how fun the whole affair was to him. Before shipping out, Wolff learns that Pierce has already been killed in action. Although many friends come and go in the service, Wolff notes how he still thinks of Pierce all the time, remembering his relish for life.
In contrast, he agonizes over his painful relationship to his father, whom both Wolff and his brother, Geoffrey, have kept at arms length for years. Apparently Wolff's father is serving time in prison for fraud. Upon his return home Wolff witnesses his buddy, Stu Hoffman, reunite with his own father in San Francisco. Hoffman's dad had become a hippy and long-since lamented his son's participation in the war. The next day Hoffman fails to report for duty. Although Wolff desires a similar bond between himself and his own father, he is grossly disappointment when he does see the man again. The awkwardness is symptomatic of their long years of estrangement, but Wolff can't help but feel like his father will never approve of him because he is too immature and too careless.
Wolff ends the book with a discussion of his growth since that point in time, when he felt valorous for fighting in the war. While writing the book, Wolff regrets his hubris of younger years, but he celebrates that in this recognition he has already grown. He writes to set his own record straight, to explain to himself and others that every soldier is not a hero. Additionally he lays out the shameful management of the U.S. Army abroad and decries the war in Vietnam for its needless violence and disrespect toward the Vietnamese people.
