The war zone of Southern Afghanistan is the workplace for the doctors, nurses and medics of the Role 3 Medical Unit, a Canadian-led NATO team delivering the highest level of care available in Kandahar. Leading the hospital staff on behalf of the Canadian forces is Col. Xavier Marks, a career military surgeon. His new recruits include Maj. Rebecca Gordon, a trauma surgeon who is eager to get noticed, and Capt. Bobby Trang, who is given a tough team leader assignment upon his arrival to the unit. Australian psychiatrist Maj. Grace Pedersen looks after the troops' mental well being, and Dr. Simon Hill is considered a brilliant neurosurgeon, although others wonder what the nonmilitary staffer was thinking when he volunteered to work in a war zone.