Stationed on the Italian island of Pianosa during World War II, young American pilot, Capt. John Yossarian (Alan Arkin) is finding himself disillusioned with the war and its absurdity. Desperate to get out of flying pointless missions, he finds himself concocting ever-more elaborate schemes to get grounded from flying by being declared insane. Yossarian finds out, however, that no matter what he tries, the bureaucratic loophole called "Catch-22" always declare him sane. Hair-brained ideas to keep the missions going are perpetuated by the higher-ranking officers Col. Cathcart (Martin Balsam) and Gen. Dreedle (Orson Welles), and Yossarian slowly watches his friends die off in the follies of war. Sometimes insanity is the only sane method to cope with a crazy world.