Stationed on the modern aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, Uly is deployed when Operation Desert Storm is ordered by the president. During the counterattack at the battle of Khafji, Uly is seriously wounded protecting a wounded Marine with his own body against a mortar explosion. Paralyzed from the waist down, Uly's career is cut short but not without winning the Medal of Honor.

  Suffering depression, alcoholism and unemployment, Uly's best friend convinces him to run for Mayor in the small town of Welaka. With a landslide election, Uly is thrust into the mayor seat that becomes the pivotal point in Uly's rehabilitation to a better way of life in politics that ultimately leads him to the Oval Office.