故事发生在1945年,抗日战争刚刚结束,全世界都洋溢着重回和平的喜悦。茜斯特护士(帕德里夏·妮尔 Patricia Neal 饰)的病房里转来了一个名叫麦克劳拉(理查德·托德 Richard Todd 饰)的特殊病人,他被弹片击中的肾脏,时日无多,而茜斯特护士的工作并不是使他回复健康,而是希望他能够在快乐和温暖之中离开人世。 麦克劳拉从小就失去了父母沦为孤儿,爱在他颠沛流离的生命中极为稀缺。麦克劳拉不懂得如何去爱,也不懂得如何接受别人对他的爱,因此,对于茜斯特护士的关怀,麦克劳拉总是拒之于千里之外。随着时间的推移,锲而不舍的茜斯特护士终于融化了麦克劳拉内心里的坚冰。It's 1945, Burma, the day the war is over! For many this means they've survived and will be going home. But not for everyone. A Scottish soldier, Corporal Lachlan "Lachie" MacLachlan is the victim of a wound to the lower back on this day. He's moved to a M.A.S.H. unit and undergoes surgery. As time goes by he begins to recover and watches, in dismay as soldiers pack up and head for home. The doctors have told him he needs to remain "for observation". The Colonel takes Sister Parker, the unit head nurse, into his confidence and tells her that the real reason Cpl. MacLachlan can't go home is because the wound he sustained destroyed one of his kidneys and the other one is defective and will shut down in three to four weeks. He asks her to put Lachlan up with some other soldiers she has waiting to go home so that he can spend his last days with friends. But Cpl. MacLachlan wants nothing to do with friends and prefers his own privacy to "idle chat". He's a hard nut to crack and their work is cut out for them to make him as comfortable as possible.