Aspiring Navy pilot Zack Mayo is an aloof, uncommunicative man. Mayo has a run-in with gruff, no-nonsense drill Sergeant Emil Foley after he arrives at training camp for his 13-week officer's course. If the young man had not been so self-obsessed with his ambitions, Foley believes Mayo could be a great officer, and so he trains him to the point of exhaustion. Zack's relationship with a working girl is also jeopardized by his reluctance to give up his own time and attention.