Rod Steiger stars in this moving, sensitive military drama shot in France about the relationship of two soldiers. Stationed at a U.S. Armybase in France in 1952, World War II hero Master Sergeant Albert Callan(Steiger) turns the outpost from a shambles run by the alcoholic Captain Loring (Frank Latimore) into a model of efficiency and discipline--although the lazy troops resent Callan for his efforts. When Callan's attraction to men surfaces upon meeting his attractive clerk,Tom Swanson (John Phillip Law), Callan jealously refuses to grantSwanson permission to visit his French girlfriend (Ludmila Mikael). Atfirst, Swanson interprets Callan's odd behavior as loneliness and forgives it, but after Callan kisses him, Swanson understands that his superior's attentions are sexual. Rebuffed, Callan tortures Swanson with unfair punishments and criticisms, eventually earning his subordinate's animus.