The Last Detail

While on base in Norfolk, Virginia awaiting their next sea assignment, naval seamen Petty Officers Billy Buddusky and Richard Mulhall - nicknamed Badass and Mule respectively - are given a short term shore assignment by their Master at Arms: escort a prisoner to Portsmouth Naval Prison in New Hampshire by bus and train via Washington DC, New York City and Boston. That prisoner is eighteen year old seaman Larry Meadows, who has received a dishonorable discharge and an eight year prison sentence for the $40 theft of a charity box. The severity of the sentence is because the polio charity is the high profile pet project of the commanding officer's wife. They have to get Meadows to Portsmouth in five days, a trip they can accomplish in two. As such, Badass suggests to Mule that they milk the system by taking the five days, collecting on the per diems, and whooping it up on their way back to Norfolk with that per diem money in hand. The focus of their trip changes when they learn of the harshness of the sentence in relation to the crime, and after they meet Meadows, who they can see is an inexperienced, naive, somewhat simple and trustworthy boy whose young adulthood will be taken away from him. So, they decide to take the handcuffs off and give Meadows those adult experiences in the next five days that he has so far not had in his short adult life, as well as allow him to get some closure regarding issues in his personal life. They get into one misadventure after another en route. But as they get closer and closer to Portsmouth and the reality of the situation settles in, Badass, Mule and Meadows may look at the situation in a clearer light for themselves individually and for the other two.