During a Memorial Day visit to his grandfather's Iowa farm in 1993, 13-year-old Kyle Vogel discovers his Grandpa Bud's World War II footlocker and persuades him to share stories linked to the contents of the trunk. Despite Bud's initial reluctance, he agrees to tell Kyle the histories behind three objects from the locker on the condition that Kyle chooses them blindly. As Bud recounts his wartime memories, the film transitions to his past, diving into his experience as a young soldier fighting across Europe during the war.

Parallel to the 1993 narrative, the film follows the adult Kyle in the year 2003, now a soldier himself, deployed in Iraq. The storytelling from Memorial Day echoes in his own experiences as he faces the brutality of war. While he navigates the perilous terrain and the moral complexities of modern combat, the tales from his grandfather begin to shed light on the universal challenges of warfare and heroism, contrasting the varied landscapes and eras of military service but finding common ground in valor, sacrifice, and the burdens carried by soldiers of all generations.