U.S. policy forbids women from serving in military units whose primary objective is direct ground combat. This documentary makes public, for the first time, the hidden history of a group of female Army support soldiers who became the first women in American history to be sent into direct ground combat, fighting alongside their male comrades in some of the most violent counterinsurgency battles. Told through intimate accounts and interviews with military commanders, the film follows five 'lioness' women who served together for a year in Iraq. Together the women's narratives form a portrait of the emotional and psychological effects of war from a female point of view.