- A soldier assigned to Guantanamo Bay befriends a man who has been imprisoned there.
- A young soldier escapes her suffocating small town by joining the military, only to find that she isn't going for a tour of duty in Iraq as she hoped. Instead, she's sent to Guantanamo. Met with hatred and abuse from the men in her charge, she forges an odd friendship with a young man who has been imprisoned at Gitmo for eight years.—Deadline
- Ali Amir enters a house and begins to perform Salah (Islamic prayer) when he is kidnapped and taken to Guantanamo Bay detention camp, Camp Delta. This was after the 9/11 attacks. Ali and the other captives are kept in cages in open ground, like animals.
Eight years later, Army private first-class Amy Cole (Kristen Stewart) is placed as a guard at Guantanamo Bay detention camp, specifically Camp Delta. The guards are instructed to refer to the inmates as detainees and not prisoners. As prisoners are subject to the Geneva convention, but detainees are not.
On her first day she volunteers as the Initial Reaction Force on the Walk to subdue an errant "detainee". The Arab knocks Amy out with his hands & then spits on her after he has been subdued by her colleagues. Cole has major issues early on as the Arab detainees refuse to give her any respect and specifically ask to be handled by men, instead of a woman. The other guards are PFC Raymond Jackson (Ser'Darius Blain), PFC Rico Cruz (Joseph Julian Soria), PFC Mary Winters (Tara Holt) and PFC Bergen (Cory Michael Smith).
Ali Amir (Peyman Moaadi) is the first detainee to strike up a conversation with Cole, when she is on her library run. Ali tells Cole that he wants to read the 7th Harry Potter book, which is not part of the library selection. Ali says that he has been asking for the book for 2 years now. Ali refers to Cole as "Blondie". Ali lures Amy to bring him a glass of water to his cell & then pours feces on her when she does. Ali is sent on a "frequent flyer" program because of his antics. His cell is changed every two hours to cause severe sleep depression and exhaustion. Amy starts to get sympathetic towards the detainees after seeing the hard conditions of their incarceration.
Cole enters Ali's cell while it is being searched and notices suicide-prevention pamphlets on the floor. She finds Ali's file, which reveals that he has a history of self-harm and discipline, becoming more and more violent as time passed. When Ali returns to his cell, he apologizes to Amy for his actions. He confides to her that he was born in Bremen, Germany and was not involved with terrorist groups, and a relationship forms between the two.
Amy's company Corporal "Randy" Ransdell (Lane Garrison) tries to get her drunk & have sex with her, but she refuses. Her convictions become less certain after she strikes up a tenuous friendship with Ali. Ali entices the other detainees to go on a hunger strike to get access to a gym machine. Eventually the Gitmo high command agrees to the request. Randy notices Amy talking to Ali. The corporal is angry at Amy & makes Amy take the shower shift (against standard operating procedures) by lying to her that the rest of the company is involved in cleaning the cells after a feces cocktail. Amy squirms uncomfortably as Ali is forced to get naked and take a shower in front of her. Amy later finds out that Randy was lying about the feces cocktail.
Amy files a report and her commanding officer Colonel James Drummond (John Carroll) says that he believes her corporal's side of the story that Amy is trying to be friendly with Ali. Ransdell and Cole must both attend a board of inquiry (not shown nor later referred to). Cole begins to become more isolated from the other guards and is reassigned to the night shift.
Amy looks up Ali's record & finds a history of aggressive behavior, which has always gotten Ali into trouble. Amy counsels Ali to give acting up, so that he can enjoy more privileges in Gitmo.
The corporal arranges to get Amy transferred permanently to the night shift which is infinitely more uncomfortable for her. Ali and Amy continue their friendship in the night shifts. Amy tells Ali about how tattling on corporal got her the night shift. Ali knows that Amy will be rotated out of Gitmo in a month, since guards are always rotated in the month of August. Amy says that she will return home and not sign up for Gitmo again.
Ali somehow manages to get a pocketknife inside his cell & threatens to commit suicide. Amy talks him out of it, by revealing her name and stories of her childhood to Ali. She gives Ali hope. In a few months Amy is rotated out of Gitmo & Ali has to contend with a new batch of guards. Amy sends a copy of Ali's favorite book to Gitmo library, and it finds its way to Ali.
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