Only a few years after the all-out guerrilla war in First Blood (1982), John Rambo's former commanding officer, Colonel Sam Trautman, pulls him out of jail, only to send him back to a place he swore never to return: the impenetrable jungles of Vietnam. Entrusted with the dangerous task of collecting evidence that American POWs are still being held captive, Rambo agrees to infiltrate the unknown zone, and before long, he finds himself double-crossed, marooned behind the enemy lines. Once, John...

Hayes Hodges finds his career aspirations dashed when he's wounded in Vietnam combat. He then returns to America and becomes a disillusioned lawyer who goes up against the service to defend Colonel Terry Childers, who is accused of inciting an incident that leaves many demonstrators dead. Hodges in no position to decline: Childers heroically saved his life back in Vietnam.