When Seth and Dave, both on the staff of Leatherneck, the Marine Corps magazine, flew toward the Philippines on their first assignment, they had no premonition of what lay before them. Seth, for instance, had no idea that he would be able to watch a battle in the sky by radar; Dave, the young photographer, did not know that he would actually catch a photograph of a Japanese spy, and neither boy realized how very, very close they came to being killed after they were taken prisoner by the Japanese.

The entire action takes place during the last month of World War II, and its drama and the continuous exploits by the two boys as they go from adventure to adventure, give a promising foretaste of the Seth Rantoul books to come.