As communist forces close in on the isolated Marine outpost at Khe Sanh, the 1968 Tet Offensive explodes across Vietnam. Shot down in Hue City while scouting for bases to move the 1st Air Cavalry to break the siege, U.S. Navy Seabee Officer Kevin Corcoran takes shelter with South Vietnamese holdouts. Intense enemy fire drives off rescue helicopters, leaving Kevin and a wounded friend isolated in Vietcong territory. As battle rages around him, Kevin ponders the fate of his Vietnamese lover, Linh, whom he knows is on a Vietcong hit list. To ease his anguish, he reflects on his battalion's efforts to build the bases, roads and air facilities the combat forces need to operate in an undeveloped country.U.S. Marines rush in to retake Hue. Trained for counterinsurgency warfare, the young "grunts" quickly adapt to urban combat and begin to wrest the old imperial capital from the North Vietnamese Army. Will they get to Kevin in time? And what fate awaits Linh at the hands of the vicious enemy? Asphalt and Blood is replete with scenes of fierce combat, Seabee ingenuity and "can do" spirit, and whirlwind wartime romance.