Eric Marsh, superintendent of Fire and Rescue Crew 7 in Prescott, Arizona, receives a call to a wildfire. Due to Crew 7’s status as municipal firefighters, Eric’s prediction that the fire will threaten a nearby neighborhood is ignored by a hotshot crew from California. The fire behaves as Eric anticipated, and the neighborhood is destroyed.Only the Brave
Eric’s wife Amanda suggests that he should talk to Duane Steinbrink, the town’s fire chief, to complete Crew 7’s certification as wildfire hotshots. Duane warns that the crew will now have to commit to a longer working season. This frustrates Amanda, who resents how the time commitment already keeps Eric from wanting to start a family.
Brendan McDonough is unemployed, listless, and abuses drugs. His ex-girlfriend Natalie is pregnant with his baby, but she feels that he is too irresponsible to be in her life. When he is arrested for larceny, his mother kicks him out of the house. When his daughter is born, he wants to provide for her, so he interviews with Eric, who hires him despite the reservations of some of the crew. The crew trains hard and is finally deployed to a wildfire for evaluation. They pass and become the Granite Mountain Hotshots. Natalie begins to accept Brendan and lets him spend time with their daughter. The crew fights several fires, including saving a historic juniper tree, but Brendan is bitten by a rattlesnake while walking a fire line. While he recovers in the hospital, his mother suggests that Brendan should reconsider his career for his daughter’s sake. Brendan later approaches Eric about transferring to a different station within the department, joining a structural firefighting crew.
Eric snaps, suggesting that Brendan’s criminal past makes a transfer nearly impossible, and that he will return to drugs without the purpose being a hotshot provides. Eric and Amanda argue about Eric’s attitude towards Brendan’s sense of priorities, and his reluctance to start a family. Eric has a heartfelt talk with Duane, apologizes to Brendan and then returns home and tells Amanda he’s ready to start a family.