Set during the chaotic and deadly final days of the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, Warhorse One is a gripping war drama that explores sacrifice, survival, and the unexpected bond formed between a battle-hardened Navy SEAL and an innocent child.
The story centers on Master Chief Richard Mirko (played by Johnny Strong), an elite Navy SEAL operator tasked with a high-risk mission deep behind enemy lines. His objective: to extract a group of American missionaries trapped in Taliban-controlled territory. As the situation on the ground deteriorates and insurgent forces tighten their grip, the mission quickly goes awry.
During a transport helicopter flight into the danger zone, Mirko's SEAL team is ambushed and shot down by Taliban forces. He emerges as the sole survivor of the crash, injured but alive, in a remote and hostile landscape teeming with enemies. Undeterred by the overwhelming odds, Mirko presses on with the mission, guided by duty, instinct, and years of combat experience.
When he arrives at the missionaries' last known location, he discovers that they were intercepted in a brutal assault. Everyone has been killed—except for a six-year-old girl named Zoe Walters (Athena Durner), who witnessed the massacre and is left traumatized, frightened, and alone.
With no backup and communications cut off, Mirko makes a fateful decision: to protect Zoe at all costs and get her to safety. Thus begins a harrowing journey through the rugged Afghan wilderness, as the pair must outwit and outrun an increasingly determined enemy force. Along the way, they face relentless gunfire, drone surveillance, ambushes, and the unforgiving elements of the mountains.
Mirko, scarred by years of warfare and carrying emotional wounds of his own, begins to form a powerful emotional connection with the girl. Through their shared struggle for survival, Zoe becomes not just a mission objective but a symbol of innocence and hope—a reminder of what he is truly fighting for.