In the days leading up to Pearl Harbor, Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt transfers to G Company at Schofield Barracks on the island of Oahu. An accomplished bugler and boxer, Prewitt is pressured by Captain Dana Holmes to join the company's boxing team. However, Prewitt steadfastly refuses to box due to a traumatic incident in the past. Captain Holmes, frustrated by Prewitt's resistance, subjects him to a regime of harsh treatment in an attempt to break his spirit and force him into the boxing ring. Meanwhile, Prewitt's friend, Private Angelo Maggio, faces his own challenges dealing with the aggressive and abusive stockade Sergeant 'Fatso' Judson.

Amidst the tension and military discipline, romances blossom. Prewitt becomes involved with a local club girl named Lorene, who dreams of a better life on the mainland. Simultaneously, Sergeant Milton Warden embarks on a risky affair with Karen Holmes, the unhappy wife of Captain Holmes, seeking solace from her troubled marriage. The relationship between Karen and Warden is marked by intense passion and the shared knowledge of their situation's precariousness. As the characters navigate personal conflicts and looming war, their lives become increasingly intertwined, setting the stage for dramatic transformations and confrontations that will alter their paths forever.