New York City teenager Eugene Jerome enlists in the United States Army and is sent to basic training in Biloxi, Mississippi during the last year of World War II. Expecting the army to be dolls, donuts and USO dances, he instead encounters a sadistic drill sergeant and a platoon of often hostile recruits. He learns the hardships of war through boot camp, to accept other people's differences, falls in love and loses his virginity to a prostitute. Armed with only his sense of humor, he is determined to leave camp with everything he came with, as he and the other recruits must endure the rigorous training and abuse from their instructor.