After surviving the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Barney Freeman, U.S. Navy, is sent to Japan in 1944 on a covert operation to observe the enemy. His mission was supposed to last two weeks, but the submarine scheduled to retrieve him never comes. He finds himself alone and stranded in enemy territory on the island of Kyushu. The only thing he has going for him is that he's fluent in Japanese. Resigning himself to his plight and longing for human contact, Barney makes a habit of watching what he thinks is an old Japanese man tending his garden. One day a soldier assaults the man and Barney comes to his rescue. What he finds upon closer inspection isn't an old man, it's a beautiful Japanese woman named Myko. The two establish a shaky dialogue and eventually become friends. As time goes by, Barney and Myoko find they have deep feelings for each other and, against all odds, begin a loving journey that will last the rest of their lives.