"Arlen's Gun" centers on an alienated and angry young man from the worst streets of Baltimore. The Vietnam War is raging and certain to be drafted, he's persuaded by a friend to avoid that fate by volunteering for the Air Force. They escape the draft but both end up in Vietnam, his friend in an administrative job while he is assigned as a gunner on an AC-47 gunship. His attitude isolates him from other crew members, and the nature of the gunship's mission keeps the harsh realities of war remote until his plane is hit and crash lands in no-man's land. It is the monsoon season, the weather grounds rescue helicopters, and the crew is rescued by an Army unit. Events strand the airman with his rescuers, soon caught up in desperate battles where the airman finds himself a key to their survival and gradually discovers in his rescuers a path from self-centered alienation to brotherhood.