In the early 1960s, Communism is sweeping through Asia, and Australia responds by sending an elite unit called the Australian Army Training Team to Vietnam to train the South Vietnamese Army. Soon, they’re fighting and dying on the front line and working under the direct command of the shadowy CIA. This is the war before the war, the untold story of Australia’s first contingent of soldiers who would ultimately become the most highly decorated of their time.

From 1965 onwards, the war in Vietnam becomes more vicious and indiscriminate as casualties on both sides pile up. But the war is about to take a decisive turn with the advent of the Tet Offensive, and members of the Team find themselves at the heart of its carnage.

1969. Australia and the US are pulling out of the Vietnam War and the Australian Army Training Team must leave behind the Vietnamese with whom they’ve fought for almost ten years. But the Team’s bond with the Vietnamese remains unbroken as they help refugees to settle in Australia and play their part in transforming Australia into a modern, multicultural society.