This is the story of a young sailor who is on a eleven-month deployment to the Mediterranean, where he stops in different ports every ten days. In Naples, Italy he meets and falls in love with an American girl who is traveling Europe before college. She is waiting at every port for him. The last port was Rio de Janeiro, where he takes her to the airport.

When he gets back to the ship, he has to go right back to the airport. He has orders to field med school, then Vietnam. He is captured, but he doesn't know that the navy had listed him as killed in action after only thirty days. He ends up losing everything he loved.

They are reunited thirty-three years later by their daughters after both their spouses die.

When Mike's friend finds out he is dying, he never agrees with Mike about telling Daniele that he is alive. So he tells Danielle's daughter who, in turn, calls Mike's daughter...