The musical begins with a young man in present day san francisco who finds an old diary in a junk shop through the journal we learn the story of stu a scared midwestern kid who gets drafted in 1943 and who like most guys spends basic training wrestling with fears of whether he has what it takes to make it in the army but unlike most guys stu also falls in love with a fellow private a handsome all american guy named mitch yank tells stus mitchs and arties stories as well as