A soft-spoken Vietnam vet drifts into a small town looking for no trouble, but finds it in the form of a psychotic local sheriff who finds pleasure in hating him for no reason. After being locked up in the local jail, he escapes into the nearby forest where he becomes a one-man army bent on revenge. When things get out of hand, the vet's ex-Colonel comes in with the military to convince him to give up the stand-off.