Italian Stefano arrives on Dolphin Island off the coast of Georgia and gets a job as a handyman at a motel. He strikes up a romance with an emotionally troubled young woman, who works as a motel maid/laundress and stripper in a small coastal town in Georgia.

As the Space Race ensues, seven pilots set off on a path to become the first American astronauts to enter space. However, the road to making history brings forth momentous challenges.