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In the mid-1930s, high-schooler Joe Sullivan, slightly crippled by a childhood accident and therefore ineligible for enlistment in the US Armed forces feels his future is very dim. Befriended by a Japanese maritime radio officer, Takeo Okada, Joe decides to become a ship's radioman. After obtaining an amateur radio operator's license and a commercial op's certificate, Joe maintains radio contact with his Japanese benefactor until he hears from another Japanese amateur that Takeo was lost in a ship wreck. Applying for a shipboard radio job just before his 18th birthday, Joe meets and is seduced by Kate Nelson, the company president's secretary. He becomes involved in a continuing feud with "Bull" Taylor, the ship's first mate. He learns that both his parents are killed in an auto accident. Joe, despondent over the loss of Takeo and his parents turns too whiskey and women. In a stop-over in Hawaii he meets and falls in love with a nisei, Myoshi. After a short-lived affair, Joe departs Hawaii. When his ship strikes a Japanese mine near Makin Island, Joe is the sole survivor. Rescued by native fishermen he is taken to a hospital on a French controlled island. Regaining his health, he is taken to Australia where he is induced by the officer in charge of coast watchers to serve a half-year stint on an isolated island. After reporting enemy ship movement during the Battle of the Coral Sea, Joe is unnerved when he sees a one- armed man put ashore on the opposite end of the island by Japanese navy men. He later discovers that the one armed man is his old friend. Takeo had lost an arm when attacked by sharks, and was no longer an asset to the IJN as a fighting man. The two renew their old friendship even though their countries are at war - friend and foe. They enjoy their island life even though alarmed by several incidents that threatened discovery. When the time comes for Joe to be relieved of his duty, he sadly leaves his friend alone on the island.