1916, Mesopotamia. The Turks order prisoners from the siege of Kut to march the hundreds of miles to Baghdad. The men are weak from starvation after the five-month siege, with many suffering from dysentery, scabies, and malaria. They have no medical supplies - and then the hot weather begins... Hundreds of men die on the march, the stragglers killed by Arab tribesmen; those too ill to move are left behind to die. Soon, though, the tide of war turns, and eventually the British march victorious into Baghdad.