To keep his mother, Tala, and himself going, fourteen-year-old Filipino-American boy Angelo takes up with American sailors near the 1973 Subic Bay, Philippines, naval complex when his B-girl mother is too ill to turn tricks. They have had a hardscrabble existence in the Olongapo City slums since Angelo's sailor father shipped out thirteen years earlier. Angelo is ready to service sailors, but being handed around proves to be a rough, loveless life.
Stan and Tracy are a couple of middle-class intellectuals. They consider their attitude towards sex and marriage liberal, maybe even adventurous. However, reading Stan's account carefully makes us wonder whether they are really any different from the average middle-class couple. Everything changes when they meet Helen Joe, a woman they both are strongly attracted to. Helen seems to be able to detect and satisfy their hidden desires.