Susan King is a psychiatric doctor working with military families. Her marriage to Major King of the US Army may not seem to be anything out of the ordinary except that her husband is African American and she is a white woman from the deep rural south. Her father makes it very clear he is not supportive of the relationship and the drama explodes when Major King and his family are reassigned to Fort Rucker, AL, where Susan's family was the original settlers. Not long after being there, Major King is called for duties in Iraq, serving a few deployments in the Gulf War. While away, his wife continues her work in psychiatric care and post combat treatment, counseling soldiers returning from war. Left alone while her husband's away, she meets her former lover from high school -- now a sergeant diagnosed with post-combat syndrome. His attempts at extra counseling sessions between the sheets are resisted by Susan as they are both married. Weeks after Major King's heroic return to Fort Rucker, he is ambushed and senselessly killed while out with Susan who was the last person to see him alive.