In World War II, famed World War I pilot Eddie Rickenbacker (Fred MacMurray), while serving as a United States Army Air Forces officer, is assigned to tour South Pacific bases. On October 21, 1942, his Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress has to ditch at sea, forcing Rickenbacker, pilot Lt. James Whittaker (Lloyd Nolan), co-pilot Capt. Bill Cherry (Richard Crane (actor)) and other crew members to survive for 19 days on a tiny rubber raft.