After several highly disruptive stunts, a cadet must prove himself academically or be dismissed. He works out a scientific demonstration showing the strength of the academy's aged water system-with destructive results.
A snobbish cadet resents a new roommate, a southerner who competes with him in track meets, but he becomes truly infuriated when the roommate starts dating his sister.
To see his girl across the Hudson river, a cadet crosses on foot when it freezes over. To get him back in time, two fellow class-men follow, but the ice is broken up by a cutter, and they desperately try returning in a rickety row boat.
Just as a cadet receives a major promotion, he learns of health problems of his father. He debates leaving the Academy to take over the family business for his father, but tries to orchestrate a transition for the business and the family.
A program to expose West Pointers to flying takes a reluctant cadet on a jet flight with an older pilot. Later, he decides he wasn't cut out for flying, but must take one more mission. He does, but this time, the pilot blacks out in flight.
An uncontrolled temper outburst causes a cadet is confined to quarters for the weekend his girlfriend comes to the Point unannounced. Enlisting his roommate to show her around exposes his jealousy and damages the cadets' friendship.