Plot

Zachary "Zack" Mayo (Richard Gere) has been living with his father Byron (Robert Loggia), a U.S. Navy boatswain's mate, since early adolescence, after Zack's mother committed suicide. Zack's mother died waiting for Byron to return home, which he never did. Eventually, Zack was "delivered" to Byron in the Philippines, where he was posted, and stayed with 2 prostitutes. Byron was not happy to be with Zack and even told him so. Devoid of any father figure, Zack joined a street gang. But he is robbed and beaten up instead.

Now, back in the US, they live together in a squalid place where Zack feels suffocated and restricted. Hoping to put his life on a different path, Zack signs up for the Navy's Aviator Officer Candidate (AOC) School. Byron simply laughs at Zack and says that Zack does not have an officer background or education. Byron believes that Zack will never make it through the Officer Training school. As officers don't have tattoos, Zack puts a patch to cover his.

Zack and his fellow OCs are "welcomed" by their head drill instructor, Marine Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley (Louis Gossett, Jr.). Foley makes it clear that the 13 weeks program is designed to eliminate any cadets who are not suitable to earn their "prize", a commission in the Navy and a $1,000,000 flight education. Foley also warns the men about local "Puget Sound Debs" (poor girls who come to town on a ferry every weekend), who aspire to marry a Naval Aviator and who will fake pregnancy to entrap an OC. Zack hits it off with fellow recruit Sid Worley (David Keith) and female recruit Casey Seeger (Lisa Eilbacher). Other recruits include AOC Emiliano Santos Della Serra (Tony Plana), AOC Lionel Perryman (Harold Sylvester), AOC Topper Daniels (David Caruso) and others. Only 2 AOCs from every class go to jet fighter training school each year.

Zack and Sid meet two local girls - factory workers - at a Navy-hosted dance. Zack begins a romantic relationship with Paula Pokrifki (Debra Winger) and Sid with Lynette Pomeroy (Lisa Blount). Sid has sex with Lynette right after the Navy dance. Foley rides Zack mercilessly, believing that he lacks motivation and is not a team player. Zack is fast around the obstacle course, but after finishing other AOCs encourage the recruits bringing up the rear, while Zack just sits in the corner, alone with his own thoughts. Zack and Paula have sex after their second date at a motel.

When Zack's side business of selling already shined shoes and belt buckles ($15 for the shoes and $10 for the buckles) is discovered, Foley hazes him for an entire weekend in an attempt to make him DOR (drop on request), but Zack refuses to give in. Foley then tells Zack that he will simply have him thrown out; Zack finally breaks down, telling Foley that he has nowhere else to go and has nothing else in his life. Satisfied that Zack has come to a crucial self-realization, Foley lets up on him. Zack applies himself; he starts by distributing his entire stash of uniform accessories among the other OCs for free.

While Zack and Paula spend the next weekend together, she takes him home to meet and have dinner with her family. After dinner, she shows Zack an old picture of her real father. He was also an Officer Candidate who simply deserted her mother, refusing to marry her when she became pregnant with Paula. Zack ends the relationship by refusing to take her phone call, and Paula reluctantly accepts the fact when her mother warns that if she does see Zack, she will do anything to keep him, she loves him so.

Later, Zack has a chance to break the record time for negotiating the obstacle course; meanwhile, Seeger will be disqualified if she can't negotiate the Wall which she lacks the upper-body strength to climb easily. Zack abandons his attempt to break the course record in order to coach Seeger over the wall, and she makes it.

Following dinner with Sid and his parents in town, Zack learns that Sid has a long-time girlfriend back home, whom he plans to marry after being commissioned. Meanwhile, Lynette has been dropping hints to Sid that she may be pregnant. During a high-altitude simulation in a pressure chamber, Sid has a sudden anxiety attack. Realizing that he joined up out of a sense of obligation to his family, Sid DORs. Sid then leaves the base without saying goodbye, and Zack and Paula go out to look for him.

Sid goes to Lynette's house and proposes marriage to her. She turns him down, but not before confessing she wasn't pregnant. She wanted him to graduate in order to fulfill her dream of marrying a Naval aviator, and all but curses him for dropping out. She is later cursed by both Zack and Paula when they come to see her about Sid's whereabouts. Despondent over Lynette's rejection, Sid checks into a motel and commits suicide. Zack decides to DOR himself, but Foley won't let him go so close to graduation. He and Zack clash in an unofficial martial arts bout with the platoon looking on.

Although Zack dominates for most of the fight (mostly fueled by his anger at Foley, who he believed played a part in Sid's suicide by not stopping him from leaving), Foley manages to win by kicking Zack in the groin. Foley tells him he can quit if he wants to.

Zack does show up for graduation and is sworn into the Navy with his class. Following Naval tradition, he seeks out and receives his first salute from Foley in exchange for a US silver dollar. While tradition calls for the drill instructor to place the coin in his left shirt pocket, Foley places the coin in his right pocket and gives Zack a picture-perfect salute, acknowledging that Zack was a special candidate. Zack tells him he will never forget him and that he never would have made it through without his guidance. In uniform, on his motorcycle, Zack pauses to watch Foley welcoming new recruits with exactly the same routine he used on Zack's class.

Zack, now Ensign Mayo, seeks out Paula at the factory where she works. He picks her up and walks out with her in his arms to the applause and cheers of her co-workers.