Jake Huard wakes up after being knocked down during a boxing match. After beating his opponent, he returns to the home he shares with his distant father, who is also his employer at a naval shipyard, building vessels for the
Navy and doubts Jake's ability to amount to anything. Huard is visited by
Lieutenant Commander Burton, telling Jake that his application to the
U.S. Naval Academy at
Annapolis, Maryland has been recently accepted. At a bar where Huard and his friends are celebrating, his friends introduce him to a young woman named Ali, whom they claim is a
prostitute hired as a going-away present. Huard's attempts to seduce Ali are unsuccessful, and his farewell with his father leaves him frustrated. On his first day at the academy, Huard discovers that one of his instructors Ali, a
Midshipman 2nd Class (an
upperclassman), is the same woman that his friends introduced him to. She and her fellow instructor, Whitaker, begin
hazing Huard's class of
plebes. The strain of the program causes Huard to fall to the bottom of the class academically. Their
company commander, Midshipman Lieutenant Cole, had been an enlisted
Marine prior to joining the academy, and he announces his intent to run out any midshipman he deems unfit to be an officer. Huard's roommates include overweight Nance (nicknamed Twins), Loo, and Estrada, who is being singled out by Whitaker because of his ethnicity. Estrada is ordered to cleanse himself of a perceived stench. Although unable to do so, he nonetheless reports he completed the task. Loo informs Cole of Estrada's dishonesty, and Estrada is processed out of the Naval Academy. Meanwhile, Huard's class becomes increasingly frustrated from suffering due to his failures, as evidenced by Loo moving out of the room. Nance explains his refusal to leave by noting that the instructors are so focused on Huard that they are leaving him alone. While home on winter leave, Huard intends not to return until he discovers that his father made a wager, expecting Huard to fail. Upon his return, the class begins instruction in
boxing, and it is announced that a midshipman tournament, the Brigades, will occur at the end of the year. After Huard angers the boxing instructor with some
unsportsmanlike conduct toward Cole in the ring, he is forced to train by himself. During an after-hours match with Burton, Huard swallows his pride and admits he needs help training, enlisting Ali and Burton for physical training, and Nance to gain enough weight to be in Cole's
weight class. In his match with Loo, he endures some taunting and returns with a single-punch
knockout, earning him Loo's respect and support. Huard also begins to excel in his classes, gaining respect with the rest of his class when he proves capable of performing academically. During the tournament, Jake progresses and defeats Whitaker in the semifinals, leaving him and Cole for the final match. After Nance fails by just four seconds to successfully complete the obstacle course, Cole informs Nance that he will be kicked out from the academy. Nance attempts
suicide, prompting Huard to tackle Cole in anger. Expecting to be kicked out as well, Huard begins to pack up and leave, until Cole approaches him and informs him that his discplinary hearing will take place after the final Brigades match. After some encouragement from the recovering Nance, Huard steps into the ring to fight Cole, lasting a full three rounds. Although Cole wins
by decision, Huard's boxing ability earns him the respect of the entire Academy, as well as his father, who has come to see the fight. At his hearing, the disciplinary board decides to retain Huard, based on Cole's recommendation. The Class of 2008 celebrates the end of their Plebe year, while Huard and Ali finally express their mutual attraction openly. Huard approaches newly-
commissioned Second Lieutenant Cole to ask who would have won if the fight had continued, to which Cole challenges Huard to join the Marines to find out. ==Cast==