After a brief liaison ends, Navy Lieutenant Scott Oliver moves into an apartment of mostly enlisted couples and decides to mask his rank. Maintaining the deception becomes a challenge, especially as he develops friendships and begins a relationship with a beautiful visitor, who is initially hesitant after the recent death of her fiancé. The unexpected public revelation of his officer status thwarts his coming clean. The other tenants display their anger at the deception. The relationship with the young woman, which had intensified, is damaged and she shuns him, feeling betrayed by the secrecy.

Oliver has little time to make amends as he will soon receive shipboard orders. Seeking the counsel of a female friend and pleading intervention from the sister of the woman he loved, the young officer is unable to win her back and the situation is further complicated when the woman in his brief affair returns. The orders arrive, and the couple reunite, spending the remaining days together. While at sea, the long separation threatens the strength of their love, and their lives are drawn further apart. Oliver must decide: commit or continue with separate lives.