在这部友谊长存剧情片中,1945年，抗日战争在缅甸战场全线停火。就在士兵们互相传递着战争结束的喜讯并准备起程回国时，茜斯特护士的病房里又送来一个叫麦克劳拉的病人。上校将麦克劳拉交给茜斯特时介绍了他的情况，他是苏格兰人，因弹片击中了他的肾脏，留给他的时间或许只有几个星期。为此，上校交给住在病房里的雅克、迪戈、汤米、布拉索和简尼斯一个特殊的任务就是保证让麦克劳拉带着快乐和友谊离开。
麦克劳拉的到来却让这个本来快乐的集体犯了难。原来，麦克劳拉从小就是一个弃婴，他并不知道自己将不久于人世。为了保持苏格兰军人的骄傲，麦克劳拉抵制任何人传递给他的友谊、包括茜斯特为他发起的生日的聚会。即便如此，雅克和茜斯特并没有放弃对他的帮助。经过一段时间的坚持，麦克劳拉在获悉病情的真相并感悟到病友们友谊的真诚后，他穿起苏格兰的民族服装勇敢地迎接死亡，在朋友的陪伴下，带着快乐和友谊度过了生命中最后的一段旅程。
精彩视点：
因维护尊严而苛刻、因保持骄傲而内敛。罗纳德·里根的成功表演把一个濒临死亡人复杂的情感变化塑造得真实感人。
It's 1945, Burma, the day the war is over! For many this means they've survived and will be going home. But not for everyone. A Scottish soldier, Corporal Lachlan "Lachie" MacLachlan is the victim of a wound to the lower back on this day. He's moved to a M.A.S.H. unit and undergoes surgery. As time goes by he begins to recover and watches, in dismay as soldiers pack up and head for home. The doctors have told him he needs to remain "for observation". The Colonel takes Sister Parker, the unit head nurse, into his confidence and tells her that the real reason Cpl. MacLachlan can't go home is because the wound he sustained destroyed one of his kidneys and the other one is defective and will shut down in three to four weeks. He asks her to put Lachlan up with some other soldiers she has waiting to go home so that he can spend his last days with friends. But Cpl. MacLachlan wants nothing to do with friends and prefers his own privacy to "idle chat". He's a hard nut to crack and their work is cut out for them to make him as comfortable as possible.
