1950s heartthrobs Tab Hunter and Natalie Wood star as a spoiled fraternity boy who's drafted into the peacetime army and as the young woman he loves--The Girl He Left Behind. University student Andy Shaeffer (Hunter--Damn Yankees!, Polyester) has been doing everything he can to avoid being drafted into the military, even though the United States is not at war. But when his girlfriend, Susan Daniels (Wood--Rebel Without a Cause, Splendor in the Grass), becomes so upset at what she regards as his cowardice that she breaks up with him, Andy's grades fall and he loses his draft deferment. And when Andy arrives in basic training, his commanding officer makes it a personal mission to turn Andy from a spoiled, immature boy into a man.