Knight is a middle-aged Army Reserve Soldier, an experienced veteran now facing physical and spiritual decline. Upon reporting for a month of training at a desolate Wisconsin base he fails his Army 'fat test'. Now he has a week to lose weight or lose his rank and be sent home. Ahmad is a native Iraqi who claims to be the motel maintenance man (at least that's what his uniform says), but doesn't seem to know how to fix anything, including the heat in Knight's room. These two men form an unlikely bond as they struggle to stay warm, confront painful questions about the past, and try to make sense of why they've been brought together.