A clean-up crew of American soldiers has been sent to the Persian Gulf after the end of the Gulf War. There is no real action to be had, and the soldiers are bored and frustrated. Their only entertainment is the parties they thrown for themselves every night. During the disarming of an Iraqi officer, U.S. Army Reserve Sergeant First Class Troy Barlow, Privat First Class Conrad Vig, and their unit find a map secreted between the officer's buttocks. Staff Sergeant Chief Elgin speaks the language, and he translates the map for the men. Major Archie Gates also looks at the map and tells the men it is a treasure map, of sorts; it shows the location of a series of bunkers near Karbala which are filled with stolen gold bullion smuggled out of Kuwait. They decide amongst themselves that they are going to find the bunkers and steal the bullion.
The escapade is not without its dangers; it is Iraqi Republican Guard territory, presided over by Saddam sympathizers, including his close relatives. The soldiers find the gold rather easily, as well as other treasures stolen from Kuwait. They also stumble upon the active interrogation of an anti-Saddam dissident called Amir Abdullah. His wife is executed by the Iraqi guard whilst the soldiers are still close by, and so they decide to free the imprisoned dissidents, which escalates into a firefight with their captors. The Republican Guard signal for reinforcements which forces the American soldiers to retreat; unfortunately they retreat onto a mine field, which means they have to separate. They are rescued by rebels who whisk them away quickly to a hide-out they have under the ground, but Troy is taken by enemy forces after a CS gas attack.
Troy is thrown into a bunker but his captors have given very little thought to his location as he is in a room that contains thousands of Kuwaiti cellphones. He uses one to call his wife at home, telling her to report his location to the local Army Reserve unit. He is caught using the phone and taken to an interrogation room where Iraqi Captain Saad interrogates him.
The rebels take the American soldiers to meet a group of Iraqi deserters. They are willing to sell them luxury cars that they have stolen from Kuwait. They make the cars look as though they are part of Saddam's entourage, hoping that this will frighten the Iraqis guarding the bunker where Troy is imprisoned. They storm the bunker and the guards flee in terror; however, after they spring Troy from his interrogation cell and also release a number of imprisoned dissidents, they are confronted by a handful of Iraqis who have returned to their posts. Conrad is killed and Troy is shot, but although the bullet punctures a lung, he survives the attack.
The rebels who aided them and helped them to evade capture are each given a gold bar by the soldiers. They bury the rest as they wait for their rescue transport to arrive. At the border, the Americans intend to escort the rebels so that they can escape to safety but the American officers stop the group, arrest the trio of soldiers and recapture the rebels. Archie tries to buy freedom for the rebels by offering the officers a bar of gold for every one they allow to cross the border. They agree and the rebels are allowed to enter Iran, but the three Americans are still in trouble; Archie, Troy and Chief Elgin all face court marshall.
Ultimately, they are cleared of all charges, and thanks to the benevolent reporting of Adriana Cruz, the television anchor shadowing, and sleeping with, Archie, they are all honorably discharged from the military. Archie heads to Hollywood, to become a military advisor to movie production companies. Chief Elgin quits his day job to work with Archie, whilst Troy returns to his wife and child, opening up a carpet store. When the gold is returned to the Kuwaiti government, there are murmurs from officials that some of it is missing. It seems that the rebels found a way to keep their spoils after all.
