Winnie Smith was a 21-year-old student nurse and the Vietnam War was still being enthusiastically supported when she joined the army to see the world. Filled with romantic fantasies about tending wounded soldiers, she eagerly began her tour of duty in Saigon. She alternated between bouts of raucous drinking, dating young fighter pilots and caring for the injured soldiers. But as she went nearer the Front Line her idealism vanished, to be replaced by a dragging, numbing fatigue that came from seeing too many dying men, too many fixed, dilated pupils. This book tells an extraordinary story of how a romantic young nurse was transformed into a thoughtful, yet battle-scarred adult; a mirror of how America dealt with the shattering experiences and aftermath of war.