A civil war has engulfed the United States, with an authoritarian federal government led by a third-term president facing fierce resistance from secessionist movements. Despite the president’s claims of imminent victory, it is widely expected that Washington, D.C. will fall to the “Western Forces” (WF) led by Texas and California. After surviving a suicide bombing in New Jersey, jaded veteran war photographer Lee Smith and her journalist colleague Joel meet with their mentor Sammy to discuss their plan to interview the isolated president. Sammy tries to dissuade them from heading to the capital but eventually joins them to reach the frontline at Charlottesville, Virginia. The next morning, Lee discovers that Joel has allowed a young aspiring photojournalist, Jessie Cullen, whom Lee encountered at the bombing, to join them.

After departing the city, the group stops at a gas station protected by armed men. Jessie explores a nearby car wash and finds the men torturing two alleged looters. One of the guards follows Jessie, but Lee defuses the situation by taking a photo of the man posing with his victims. Later, Jessie berates herself for being too scared to take photos. Following an overnight stop near ongoing fighting, the group documents combat the next day as secessionist militiamen successfully assault a loyalist-held building. Lee recognizes Jessie’s potential as a war photographer and begins to mentor her, while Jessie photographs the secessionists executing prisoners. The group spends the night at a refugee camp before passing through a small town where, under watchful guard, residents attempt to live in blissful ignorance of the war.

Later, they are caught in a sniper battle amid the remains of a Christmas fair. Nearby snipers mock Joel’s questioning of which side they are fighting for or against, summarizing the situation as killing those trying to kill them. Jessie’s nerve and photography skills improve as she becomes increasingly desensitized to violence. Jessie asks if Lee would photograph her being killed, to which Lee responds in the affirmative. While driving, the four encounter two foreign reporters they know, Tony and Bohai. Tony and Jessie switch vehicles before Bohai drives off ahead with Jessie in his car. The others catch up to find the pair held at gunpoint by unknown uniformed militia who are burying civilians in a mass grave. Sammy stays behind as the other three approach to negotiate their release, but the militia leader executes both Bohai and Tony for not being “American.” The others are saved by Sammy after he rams the group’s truck into militia members, but he is mortally wounded in doing so.

Traumatized, the remaining three arrive at the Charlottesville WF base and find most of the remaining loyalists have surrendered, leaving Washington, D.C. undefended except for fanatical remnants of the armed forces and Secret Service. Joel drunkenly lashes out at what he views as Sammy’s pointless death, while Lee tries to console Jessie that Sammy would’ve liked to die on the job. Lee finds herself unable to document Sammy’s death, quickly deleting a photo she took of his body. The trio embeds themselves with the WF as they assault D.C., where Jessie repeatedly endangers herself during fighting to capture photographs, while Lee struggles with combat fatigue. When the WF breach the White House’s fortified perimeter, the presidential limousine flees but is quickly intercepted, and its occupants are killed. Understanding it to be a distraction, the trio instead heads inside with five WF soldiers.

Advancing through the largely-abandoned building, an abortive attempt by the few remaining Secret Service agents still guarding the president to negotiate his surrender and safe passage turns into a firefight. Jessie steps into the line of fire while taking photos, capturing Lee’s death as she pushes Jessie to safety. Jessie unemotionally continues into the Oval Office, watching soldiers drag the president from under his desk and prepare to execute him summarily. Joel momentarily stops them to get a quote from the president, who replies, “Don’t let them kill me.” Satisfied, Joel stops delaying the soldiers, while Jessie photographs WF soldiers posing with the president’s corpse.