While on their way to the airport at the end of their stay in Mali, a Spanish family is being pursued by members of a Salafist group. Before their father's very eyes, the two children, Alejandra and Mario, are kidnapped by the Salafists, who flee with the children into the dangerous Sahel desert, south of the Sahara. In response, the Spanish Army's elite Special Operations Forces unit, nicknamed "The Green Berets", led by Captain Alberto Sánchez, is sent to Mali to perform a friendly extraction, the safe retrieval of the two children. However the parents, fearful of the risks involved, strongly oppose this, but are nonetheless forced to follow protocol in case of kidnapping in this country. The mission, though perilous, is then launched through the Sahel desert to retrieve the two hostages... The Special Operations Forces have 72 hours.

Sanchez's team survives an ambush but the convoy has to be separated after being chased by Rashid's Salafist men. Targeted by a rocket launcher, the elite unit suffers heavy losses and Captain Sánchez finds himself alone with Isabel in the desert to protect the children. Refugees at the Spanish Embassy, Alejandra and Mario's parents are anxiously following this turn of events; their mother Montse, feeling helpless, asks the help of an imam from Bamako to get in touch with the terrorists.

Captain Sánchez, Isabel and the children are imprisoned by the jihadists and hidden in a village, while the terrorists prepare the conditions to transfer them to the Algerian desert. Captain Sánchez knows that if that happens, there will be no way to rescue them and they will spend years as prisoners, so they must take advantage of the first opportunity they have to escape. To do this, they must agree with Isabel, put aside all their differences, reproaches, resentments, and work together. Their life, and that of the children depends on it. Captain Sánchez does not know that his unit has been looking for them for two days and are about to enter the village where they remain hidden. The jihadists know it, and they await them. The final battle is about to begin.