On Thanksgiving Day 2004, Bravo Squad — heroes of a firefight in Iraq captured on video and broadcast nationally — is brought to Texas Stadium as part of a Victory Tour, paraded at halftime before 70,000 fans. Ben Fountain's novel unfolds over the course of this single afternoon as nineteen-year-old Billy Lynn watches his squad be cheered, patronized, and fundamentally unseen by a country that prefers the spectacle of its soldiers to the reality.