In the course of one long, relentless day--Reception Day--the incoming cadets are initiated into the demanding ways of West Point.
During six weeks of Cadet Basic Training, the new cadets are pushed to the edge and beyond.
Cadet Basic Training is all about orders--both following them and giving them.
During the final week of Cadet Basic Training, the new cadets face the fiercest test yet. If they can't learn to struggle and survive together, they won't make it through the obstacles that await them.
The cadets' world is turned upside down on September 11, 2001, as they face a world at war and an uncertain future.
The days and weeks after September 11 are uncharted territory for the cadets at West Point--many of the graduating class may find themselves in combat, while the new cadets struggle to make sense of serving their country.
Whether it's jumping from a plane with your teammates in the sky or playing in the Army-Navy game watched by millions, sports are mandatory for every cadet. At West Point, playing on the athletic field is considered good training for waging war on the battlefield.
Life at West Point is very different from the ordinary world. For cadets, Christmas vacation brings pleasure and pain as they visit the lives they left behind--and their family and friends discover just how much West Point has changed them.
As classrooms transform into war rooms during Military Intercession, the cadets role play as leaders, studying the campaigns of the past and military strategy.
Conformity is the first rule at West Point, but leaders cannot be robots--beneath each uniform is a human being struggling to find a balance between the demands of duty and the call of personal freedom.
The women at West Point pride themselves on being the equal of any male cadet--but are they? Members of the first class of female graduates remember when doors were slammed in their faces. Now the doors are opening slowly, as women cadets prove that they deserve their own place in the military.
While seniors prepare to graduate into a world in conflict as leaders in the U.S. Army, plebes are learning what it means to break the rules at West Point.
In a changing world of war, cadets will have to rely on subtle skills to survive and sometimes, the best that West Point can teach them is to expect the unexpected.
It's the final countdown--graduation is days away and the seniors are itching to leave while the plebes are preparing for another summer of soldiering.