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The Men Who Stare at Goats

In a short prelude, U.S. Army General Dean Hopgood is painfully thwarted in an attempt to pass paranormally through a solid wall by simply running into it.

Ann Arbor Daily Telegram reporter Bob Wilton's wife leaves him for his editor. To prove himself, Bob flies to Kuwait to report on the Iraq War. He stumbles onto the story of a lifetime when he meets retired U.S. Army Special Forces operator Lyn Cassady, who claims he was part of a unit called the "New Earth Army" training "psychic" spies in parapsychological skills including invisibility, remote viewing, and phasing.

Lyn explains the origins of his unit: in 1972, Army officer Bill Django, after falling out of a helicopter in Vietnam, found his newly recruited men unable or unwilling to fire on a Viet Cong soldier before being shot in the chest himself. He experienced a vision of a female Viet Cong soldier who said "their gentleness is their strength," prompting him to go to Northern California to explore how gentleness could make better soldiers. He participated in various activities across California including "naked hot tub encounter sessions" in Santa Rosa, "primal arm wrestling" in Sacramento, and the "beyond jogging movement" in Stockton. Django returned to Fort Bragg in 1980 immersed in the New Age movement, with long braided hair and a tattoo of an All-seeing Eye surmounting a pyramid on his chest. Facilitated by the credulous General Hopgood, Django led the training of a New Earth Army, with Lyn Cassady and Larry Hooper as his top students. The two developed a rivalry over their opposing views on implementing the New Earth Army's philosophy. Lyn wanted to emphasize the teachings' positive side, such as resolving conflict peacefully, whereas Larry was interested in the "dark side" of its military application.

Lyn takes Bob into Iraq. Kidnapped by armed locals, who want to sell them to insurgents, they escape with fellow hostage Mahmud Daash and are rescued by a private security detail led by Todd Nixon. Fleeing when the detail is caught in a friendly fire engagement with another American security detail, Bob and Lyn continue their mission prompted by Lyn's vision of Bill Django.

After their car is disabled by an IED, Bob and Lyn wander in the desert. Lyn reveals he had stopped a goat's heart to test the limit of his mental abilities, and believes this evil deed has cursed him and the New Earth Army. It is also revealed that Hooper conducted an unauthorized LSD experiment in which a soldier killed himself, forcing Django out of the Army.

Bob and Lyn are rescued and taken to a camp run by PSIC, a private research firm engaged in cruel "psychic" and psychological experiments on captured locals and a herd of goats. To Lyn's dismay, Larry runs the firm and employs Django, now a depressed alcoholic. Bob learns the ways of the New Earth Army, and they spike the base's food and water with LSD. Attempting to free themselves of the curse, they free the goats and captured locals. Lyn and Django fly off in a helicopter, disappearing into the sky "like all shamans ".

Returning to work as a reporter, Bob writes an article about his experience with Lyn but is frustrated that the only portion to be aired is a segment about the captives being forced to listen to the Barney & Friends theme song for 24 hours, diluting his story to a mere joke. Bob vows to continue trying to get the bigger story out and, following intense concentration, seemingly runs through a solid wall in his office.