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After he is paralyzed from the waist down while serving during World War II, Army Lieutenant Ken "Bud" Wilozek is sent to the paraplegic ward at a hospital in his hometown.  When Bud's fiancée Ellen meets the ward physician, Dr.  Brock, she tells him that since his injury, Bud has become depressed and broken their engagement.  Brock asks Ellen to give Bud some time to adjust to his paralysis, but while other patients at the hospital make friends, Bud remains bitter and withdrawn.

Later, Brock tells Bud about his conversation with Ellen, but Bud reacts angrily, declaring that he does not wish to see her.  Brock later instructs Nurse Robbins to take Bud to the exercise room, where he is forced to interact with the others.  There, Bud meets fellow patients Leo, Norm Butler, and a Mexican American named Angel.  At Ellen's urging, Brock decides to let her in to see Bud, who has refused to cooperate with his rehabilitation.  Brock instructs her to come to the ward the following evening, when everyone else will be attending a wedding.

The next evening, after Ellen finds Bud lying alone in the darkness, he shouts at her to leave and then begins weeping when his call for a nurse goes unanswered.  Eventually, Bud befriends Angel, who persuades him to fight back against his condition and begin training to build his upper body strength.  Soon, Norm starts seeing a woman named Laverne and brings her to the hospital to meet the others.

Soon after, Angel dies suddenly of spinal meningitis, and Bud is thrust back into depression.  Nevertheless, he perseveres and begins to see Ellen again.  When Ellen pleads with Bud to marry her, he agrees to give marriage a try.  Norm, meanwhile, returns to the ward after an evening of drinking and tells Bud that Laverne stole $900 from him and fled to Canada.  In the weeks before the wedding, Bud trains vigorously, hoping to be able to pull himself up and stand for his vows by holding onto a railing.

On the big day, Bud manages to stand, but when he lets go of the rail to put the ring on Ellen's finger, he slumps helplessly to the floor.  Bud is so wounded by this humiliation, that when they return home from the ceremony on their wedding night, he is cruel and argumentative.  When Ellen admits that she is unhappy, Bud decides to return to the ward in the car that she had customized for his use.  Later, Leo persuades Bud to sneak out for a drink at a local bar, after which Bud wrecks his car.

The next day, a report of the crash appears in the newspaper, and the head of the hospital comes down hard on Bud for his behavior.  Brock, however, convinces the administrator to allow the Paralyzed Veterans Association, the ward's self -governing body, to decide on Bud's punishment.  When she reads about the crash, Ellen rushes to the hospital to apologize and asks Bud to return home, but he refuses.  After the association votes to discharge Bud, Brock urges him to give his marriage another try.  With a renewed appreciation for life, Bud drives his damaged car home, where Ellen is waiting to help him up the front steps.