A Private's Affair

Two men from New York—Luigi, a hip wanna-be beatnik, and Jerry, who's from Long Island—end up in Army basic training in New Jersey, as does Mike, who's a rancher from Oregon.

At a dance, Luigi falls for Marie, a neighbor of Jerry, who in turn develops a romantic interest in Luigi's friend Louise. A WAC named Katie ends up accompanying Mike to the dance. The three G.I.s can sing and end up invited to perform on a New York television program, but Jerry becomes ill and is hospitalized.

Assistant Secretary to the Army Elizabeth Chapman, meanwhile, wants to keep a 6-year-old Dutch girl from being sent back to Holland after the girl's mother dies. Elizabeth decides to marry the girl's gravely injured father so she can assume custody of the child. By mistake, an unconscious Jerry is wheeled in and ends up wed to Elizabeth, who had no idea what the girl's dad looked like.

Chaos ensues, as Jerry is repeatedly arrested or brought to see psychiatrists when he claims to have been accidentally married to one of the top officers in the U.S. Army.