Shawn Axelrod, a 39 year old Navy Commander fighter test pilot, is literally cut in half during a crash in an experimental airplane, but lives long enough to give permission to a new surgery that could give him another chance at life. He wakes up and finds himself with the body of a 21 year old Marine helicopter mechanic. A female mechanic Shawn, now called Shawna, also known by the call sign "Axeman," or "Axe," copes with the radical change in his, her, life and having to prove she is still just as capable as she was as a male. Her journey back into service finds her facing the same Russian pilot her father shot down over Vietnam. Bailey Lianae was a young attorney whose Army career was just getting started when she crashed her car into a guardrail that entered her chest and went through a corner of her heart. Knowing she would die as soon as the metal was removed from her chest, she also gave permission to the same surgical team that saved Axe and wakes traumatized to find herself as a male who requires Axe's help to adjust. Together, they made history, and together they help each other through it all.