Sayonara

In this book, Sayonara, Fighter ace Major Lloyd "Ace" Gruver (Marlon Brando), of the United States Air Force, the son of a U.S. Army general, is stationed at Itami Air Force Base near Kobe, Japan. He has been reassigned from combat duties in Korea by General Webster (Kent Smith), the father of his fiancée, Eileen (Patricia Owens).

Airman Joe Kelly (Red Buttons), who is Ace's enlisted crew chief, is about to wed a Japanese woman, Katsumi (Miyoshi Umeki), in spite of the disapproval of the United States military establishment, which will not recognize the interracial marriage because it is generally illegal under American law. The Air Force, including Ace, is against the marriage. Ace and Joe have an argument during which Ace uses a racial slur to describe Katsumi. Ace eventually apologizes, then agrees to be Joe's best man at the wedding.

Ace falls in love with a Japanese entertainer, Hana-ogi (Miiko Taka), who is a performer for a Takarazuka-like theater company, whom he meets through Katsumi. Eileen realizes that Ace's attentions are no longer focused on her and begins a friendship with a famous Kabuki performer, Nakamura. When she overhears that Joe's house has been under surveillance by the Army, she believes that Ace is in danger and goes there to warn him, where she realizes he is seeing a local woman.