Based on a story by Vietnam veteran Paul Staples, the film concerns six American Green Berets, held for 17 years in a Vietnamese POW camp. They are finally released in secret, during a delicate trade-talk session between Vietnam and the United States. Captain Tom Watkins, the ex-prisoners' CO, begins to suspect that government-man Adam Roth, who is in charge of the debriefing, may be pursuing a hidden agenda that will result in the early deaths of Watkins and the five men under his command.\
The origins, exploits and the ultimate fate of the James gang is told in a sympathetic portrayal of the bank robbers made up of brothers who begin their legendary bank raids because of revenge.
The lives of an ex-con, a coffee-shop owner, and a young couple looking to make it rich intersect in the fictional and hypnotic Rain City.
Emperor Tiberius sends his adviser named Taurus to Palestine to investigate the disappearance of the body of Jesus of Nazareth, crucified three years earlier. Rumors are spreading throughout the country about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and the arrival of the imperial envoy causes panic among local officials, especially the Roman governor Pontius Pilate.