A soldier returns from a tour of duty in Iraq, only to find his life turned upside down when he is ordered to go back. Writer/director Kimberly Peirce remade her short film Boys Don't Cry (1995) into an Oscar-winning success starring Hillary Swank. She then went on to direct an episode of TV series The L Word (2006) before making Stop-Loss. Writer Mark Richard estimated that there were no less than 65 drafts of the script.