The play opens with a soldier, Martin, having cut his wrist in an attempt to kill himself. He is terrified to go to war and is looking for a way out of having to go to battle. Richie has to make Martin leave the room once Carlyle, a fresh out of bootcamp soldier who seems out of place with his greasy uniform and fearful yet dangerous demeanor, enters. Next into the barracks is Billy, a young midwestern kid from Wisconsin. The first Act relates to Carlyle searching for Roger, another African American soldier in the unit that he can become friends with. Carlyle feels alone and certain that he is going to be sent over to fight in the war because he doesn't have any tie to people.
The barracks are lived in by Roger, Richie and Billy. Billy suspects Richie of being a homosexual and it seems that Billy is highly uncomfortable with this. Billy tells a story about a friend of his in high school, Frankie who went on to become gay after the two of them would go to bars and let older gay men hit on them in order to get free drinks all night. Frankie decided to go home with on of the guys one night and tried to convince Billy to do the same. Once Billy finishes his story Richie tells him that he is a good storyteller, indicating that Richie believes Frankie is a made up name used to cover the fact that Billy could possibly be to main character in his story. Billy resents this thought from Richie.
Soon after Rooney and Cokes, two Sergeants who served in WWII come in to the barracks. They have been drinking heavily and the pair begin to go into how they lost men in the Airborne who lost their parachutes. One in particular, O'Flanagan, who attempted to release his parachute during training and catch in 500 feet above the ground, and wasn't successful. He plummeted to the earth like a knife thrown in the dirt. They sing a song called "Streamers" which is about a parachute not opening as the soldier descends hopelessly to his death.
In Act II Roger and Billy go to play basketball, but Billy is sick. He isn't feeling well after Richie believes him to be a closeted homosexual. Roger convinces him to get some exercise with him and when they return they go out into Washington D.C. for the night to drink and party. Once they return they are all drunk and Richie and Carlyle want Roger and Billy to leave so that they can hook up, but Billy won't go. He is not okay with them having gay sex and decides not to leave. Roger ends up just trying to go to sleep and letting Richie and Carlyle go at it, but Billy won't have it and his protest turns into a one-sided knife fight where Carlyle ends up slicing Billy's hand in order to show him he can't get away with treating him like trash. But, after Billy attempts a retaliation Carlyle stabs him with his switchblade. Once everyone else in the barracks figures out that Billy has been stabbed, Rooney comes into the barracks. He's drunk and looking for Cokes as they are playing hide and seek. He works out that Carlyle has stabbed Billy and in a feeble attempt to stop Carlyle, Rooney is stabbed multiple times by Carlyle. Military Police end up arresting Carlyle and demand that Richie and Roger come in for question the following morning at 8am. Billy and Rooney die and are carried off on stretchers and Richie and Roger are left alone. Roger attempts to mop the floor of the blood that was spilled. Soon after, Cokes comes in. He's drunk and looking for Rooney as he's still playing hide and go seek.
Roger and Richie don't have the heart nor guts to tell Cokes that his best friend is dead. Instead, they let him tell the story about the wild day the pair had where they were in four car accidents and didn't get hurt. Cokes then decides to stay in the barracks to wait for Rooney as he more than likely will come looking for him there at some point. Cokes tells the story of how he killed a man in battle and as the lights fade he sings "Streamers" but with words that he makes up for Korean in order to sing the song for the man he killed while in Korea.
