In 1941, Joseph "Mac" McConnell, Jr. (Alan Ladd), a private in the Army medical corps near Fitchburg, Massachusetts, aspires to be a pilot, even going Desertion to take private lessons. While flying with his instructor, he realizes that military police are waiting for him at the airport and to avoid arrest, he parachutes out of the aircraft and hitches a ride with teenager Bob Brown (Robert Ellis (actor born 1933)). Bob takes Mac home with him where he meets Bob's mother (Sarah Selby), young brother Ronnie (Ray Ferrell) and sister Pearl (June Allyson), whom Mac nicknames "Butch".