Hardcharging army lieutenant Bickham Deth's only desire is to do what he trained for his entire adult life: lead soldiers in combat. In the bloody winter of 2006, with the US embroiled in two foreign wars, he expects to finally earn his baptism by fire. But instead of fighting on the streets of Kabul or Baghdad, he finds himself trapped in Oklahoma, on a seemingly permanent funeral detail.

Deth considers himself privileged to present honors for the veterans of Vietnam and World War II. But his patience is pushed to the breaking point as he deals with a mortician who gets lost on the way to the cemetery, a family feud over who will receive the flag, and a mishap with the wrong color of socks that threatens to derail his entire career.

As the Kafkaesque "needs of the army" turn a three-day chore into a seemingly endless odyssey, Deth finds the only solace from his grim work in the gallows humor of his partner, Sergeant Bela Packs. Packs has seen it all in his fifteen years of service, and only his war stories keep the two distracted from the painful task of burying the dead.

The honors team weaves its way through the American heartland, seeing both the sublime and ugly sides of small town life, as Packs unravels his spellbinding tale of fighting in Iraq alongside the worst Soldier who ever lived...