Joe Enders is a gung-ho Marine assigned to protect a "windtalker" - one of several Navajo Indians who were used to relay messages during World War II because their spoken language was indecipherable to Japanese code breakers.

Nicolas Cage
as Sergeant Joe Enders

Adam Beach
as Private Ben Yahzee

Peter Stormare
as Sergeant Eric Hjelmstad

Noah Emmerich
as Corporal Charles Rogers

Mark Ruffalo
as Pappas

Brian Van Holt
as Harrigan

Martin Henderson
as Private Nellie

Roger Willie
as Charlie Whitehorse

Frances O'Connor
as Rita Swelton

Christian Slater
as Sergeant Peter Henderson