In 1961, shortly after the Bay of Pigs invasion, another world crisis with the Soviets looms in Berlin. A motley group of Hollywood actors, writers, stuntmen, makeup artists, and various studio personnel have avoided being conscription into regular military service: The misfit group, led by Hollywood screenwriter Vince Tucker (Chris Lemmon), have joined the California Air National Guard's air transport wing, "the Fighting 73rd", volunteering one weekend a month as "weekend warriors" in order to keep themselves at home.