1989. The Berlin Wall is about to fall, and the word is about to be made safe for the new order. But outside of Stuttgart, West Germany, at TheodorenRoosevelt Army Base, Specialist Ray Elwood of the 317th Supply Battalion (Joaquin Phoenix) is about to find his own cold war turn white hot. Elwood's a loveable rogue, a conscript who's managed to turn his military servitude into a blossoming network of blsck market deals, more out of boredom than ambition. Officially, there's his day job as battalion secretary to the inept but caring Commander Wallace Berman (Ed Harris). On the side, there's everything from selling the locals stolen Mop'N'Glo to cooking heroin fofr the base's ruthless head of Military Police, Sgt.Saad. When a new top sergeant (Scott Glenn) arrives, with the avowed intention of cleaning the base up, Elwood thinks the new blood is nothing he can't handle, especially after he lays eyes on the top's daughter, rebellious Robyn (Anna Paquin). But that was before he figured in the $5 million in stolen arms that just landed on his lap, Berman's jealous wife, an insane Turkish drug dealer, and, of course, the resulting lust, betrayal, and murder.