The year is 1962 on a remote naval station on Kodiak Island, Alaska. But HOLIDAY BEACH is anything but a beach or holiday. Navy radiomen count off every day until they leave. Mostly due to Seaman Deuce Harding – a psychopath who promises each new radioman a beating before his tour is up. Going to the Lieutenant is not an option because he is afraid of Harding and lives off-base, which effectively leaves Harding in charge every night.

Into this enters Miller, who immediately finds himself in Harding’s crosshairs because he reads books and believes in President Kennedy’s vision of a good and just world. Harding seems determined to show Miller the world is not so good or just as he would believe.

And speaking of the world, the Cuban Missile Crisis is beginning. As tensions rise between the U.S. and Soviets, so do they on Holiday Beach. True to form, Harding sees the impending apocalypse as an opportunity. Stuck in remote Alaska, there is a good chance Holiday Beach will survive. Someone will need to take over, once the world is blown to bits. Who better than he, Harding, to lead a “New World”? Armed with this responsibility, he becomes even more dangerous. Holiday Beach takes on a “Lord of the Flies” aura and Miller finds himself emerging as Harding’s rival.

The story climaxes with the culmination of the Missile Crisis. We know how it ended. But what about Harding, Miller and the radiomen of Holiday Beach?