Bill Martin, the son of a career enlisted Navy man, earns high marks in his first year at Annapolis, shining in both academics and crew. His only rival, the well-to-do Clay Parker, scorns Bill's ambitions and ridicules the Navy, claiming that he entered the academy just to escape his grandfather's tyranny. As midshipmen, Bill and Clay, who uses the rivalry as an excuse to stay at the academy, find themselves competing for the same woman, Julia Clemens, the attractive sister of thick-headed cadet Cuthbert A. "Tex" Clemens, whom they meet at the June Week hop. After a shaky start, Julia and Bill quickly fall in love, much to Clay's disappointment. Although Bill has promised his father that he will be a "red mike," or woman hater, and attend school for the required five years, he contemplates marrying Julia, which he cannot do without quitting his assignment. When Julia meets Bill's father at the dress parade and finds out about the sacrifices he made to get Bill into the academy, however, she sacrifices her love and sends Bill a curt rejection letter. Distraught, Bill violates his curfew and rushes to Julia's hotel room just as Clay is calling on her. Julia, aware of the penalties that Bill will suffer if he is found, forces him to leave, but he is caught while escaping. Because his cap is found in the wrecked car of Bunny Oliver, a frustrated cadet chaser, Bill is implicated in the crash, which has sent Bunny to the hospital with head injuries. To protect Julia's reputation, Clay refuses to say that Bill was in her room at the time of the crash, but when Bill tells him that he is resigning his assignment, he runs to the hospital and extracts a career-saving admission from Bunny. Julia then promises Bill that she will wait for him.