Three years later...Vietnam veteran John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) is offered a prison pardon in exchange for a perilous mission: infiltrating communist Vietnam under deep cover to hunt for evidence of missing American serviceman. His CIA handler Marshall Murdock (Charles Napier) insists that it is merely a reconnaissance operation. "Do not engage the enemy", Rambo is ordered, "Just take pictures".

After a disastrous parachute drop, Rambo is left stranded in the jungles with only his combat knife and bow and arrows to protect him...