When the USS Enterprise leaves Pearl Harbor on its way to the Persian Gulf, deckhand Christopher Marlow stays behind on medical hold. Between appointments with doctors who evaluate his medical and mental condition, Chris parties at nightclubs on Waikiki, surfs the north shore's big waves and goes diving on a shark-infested shipwreck. But, it’s not booze and excess fun that have this sailor hospitalized in Hawaii, it’s a horrible accident he witnessed while loading bombs and refueling jets on the flight deck. As he acclimates to island life, Chris discovers that his surfing and scuba instructors are better at diagnosing his condition than his doctors are with their x-rays and EKGs. Ultimately, a danger-taunting medical records clerk named Deirdre Stone prescribes a rigorous course of tropical therapy that works as a cure.