Paul Radford does not belong in Alaska. He is fluent in Spanish, Portugese, and Quecha, the native language of Peru, and he knows the Andes. He has friends there and a wife and child, and he knows the native people well. Then war breaks out and the US Navy calls Paul to active duty. He is assigned to a clandestine operation and when he is forced to flee the country, he must leave his family behind. Nor is he allowed to tell them where he is or even that he is alive. Doing so would put them in danger. Not knowing what else to do with him, the Navy assigns Paul to the Construction Corps working out of Kodiak, Alaska. There he does well and when the Japanese attack Dutch Harbor, he earns a Purple Heart and a Navy Cross. Then the war claims the life of Paul's best friend and soon after he learns it has taken his wife and child, too. Not caring whether he lives or dies, he accepts assignment to a tough combat intelligence unit known as the Alaksa Scouts. Quickly earning the respect of the men in the platoon, Paul is chosen to lead the reconnaissance of Attu, a worthless mix of ice, volcanic rock and the worst storms in the world. Yet Attu is American soil and the Japanese captured it early in the war. Now the Republic wants it back at any cost, and for Paul Radford, Attu becomes the foundry that forges his rage into a weapon and tempers his soul to use it.