In World War II, American soldiers battle it out in France. Captain Cooney (Eddie Albert) is in command, but Lt. Costa (Jack Palance) finds that Cooney is not up to the task because he freezes during combat and causes death in his own company. Costa and his buddy Woodruff (Bill Smithers) try to tell Col. Bartlett (Lee Marvin) that Cooney is incompetent, but Bartlett will not listen; he wants to let Cooney look heroic so that Bartlett himself will have a good reputation back in the States. More soldiers perish later because Cooney is a coward. Costa then decides to deal with the problem himself.