Skeptical lawyer Barney Greenwald (Eric Bogosian) grudgingly defends Lt. Steve Maryk (Jeff Daniels), a navy man who wrestled control of a ship from its domineering captain, Lt. Cmdr. Philip Francis Queeg (Brad Davis), in the midst of a violent storm at sea. As the court martial progresses, Greenwald begins to wonder if the events aboard the U.S.S. Caine were truly a mutiny, or merely the brave acts of a faithful group of sailors who could no longer trust their unstable leader.