本片是根据Stephen Peters的畅销小说所改编,由知名动作导演约翰·弗兰克海默执导。故事是关于一位美国上校(罗伊·施奈德 Roy Scheider)和他的俄国对头(尤尔根·普洛斯诺 Jürgen Prochnow),他们两位敌对阵营的军官擅自动用军队,在德国与捷克边境交进行一场私人战役以解决私怨。Can a war veteran survive when there is no war? Hardly so. And it is all the more difficult when there are two war heroes! Posted on each side of the Czech-West German border, US colonel Jack Knowles and his Soviet counterpart Colonel Valachev, have been champing at the bit since Gorbachev launched his Glasnost policy. Fortunately for them, a serious border incident (the killing of a defector) will allow them to resume war. A private war first, but a war that will involve a serious troop confrontation. Bad for Gorbachev, good for the two sworn enemies who had been craving for action...