Burnt out Captain Willard is sent into the jungle with orders to find and kill Colonel Kurtz who has set up his own army within the jungle. As he descends into the jungle he is slowly over taken by the jungles mesmerizing powers and the battles and insanity which surround him. His crew succumbs to drugs and is slowly killed off one by one. As Willard continues his journey he becomes more and more like the man he was sent to kill.