Based on Maxwell Anderson¹s Broadway play, William Eythe and Anne Baxter are young lovers Quizz and Janet whose plans for the future are interrupted by a pre-war military draft during World War II. Eythe is shipped to the Philippines, where he is trapped on a small and desolate island after reinforcements are called away by the attack on Pearl Harbor. Down but not out, West and his buddies undergo numerous grueling and uplifting experiences. He is sustained by Janet's letters from home, which give him courage to persevere. The film ends with West's ultimate fate still unresolved, a reflection of the fact that the war was far from over in 1944.

The Eve of St. Mark features Vincent Price in the uncharacteristic role of a poetic Georgia private and is one of his best performances of his long career.