It’s the story of two men who save each other. U.S. Army Master Sergeant John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a platoon leader who’s fair-minded but more than a bit rigid in his by-the-book temperament. Ahmed (Dar Salim) is an Afghan mechanic who becomes the platoon’s latest interpreter (in the opening scene, we see their previous one get blown to bits). Ahmed was once sympathetic to the Taliban, but he turned on them after they killed his son. He’s working for the Americans because he wants out — of the war, and of his country. The U.S. has promised visas to its Afghan interpreters; that’s the end game for Ahmed — winning a right to go to the United States. But the visa approval process is a bureaucratic nightmare, and until then he’s poised between the two countries. As the Americans go door-to-door, hunting for clues to where the Taliban are manufacturing IEDs, Ahmed isn’t just translating words — he’s interpreting moods, what people are saying between the lines. The impulse to do that can make him the master of a situation, and Kinley doesn’t much like that.