The Grenadier Guards, the oldest Foot Guards regiment in the British Army, lose many of their most experienced men to deployment in Afghanistan just as Major Thorold Sullivan and Sergeant Major Steve Munro are trying to hold the line on standards at Buckingham Palace. New recruit Steven Cooper wants a posting to the frontline more than a sentry box outside the palace gates, and the film follows him through drilling and boot-polishing that make clear how far he has to go. A separate thread follows Conway Seymore, the oldest soldier in the regimental band, marking 38 years of service; his last performance ends with the band playing 'Auld Lang Syne' as his fellow soldiers watch him go. The camera stays close on the small procedures that make up the job, from positioning sentry boxes to folding the flag, and on the two men trying to keep those procedures intact while their unit is stretched thin by a war overseas.