TheAmericansandRussianseachhaveatwo-personbaseontheMoonTheAmericanshavehadtokeepreplacingtheirastronautteamsbecausetheyquicklygocrazy;theyhavebeenusingonlymaleastronautsontheunspokenassumptionthatthiswouldavoidanypossibilityofimpropriety.TheRussians, asgodlessCommunists, areundernosuchconstraints, andtheirmale-femaleteamhasremainedwell-adjustedAtthestartofthefilm, amaleandfemaleAmericanastronautteamissentuptoreplacethesex-starvedall-maleteam.Thegovernmentinsistsonthembeingmarriedfirsttopreservemorality.Mostofthestoryrevolvesaroundtheeventualconsummationofthismarriageofconvenience, andaroundtheirrelationshipwiththeirRussianneighbors, whokeepcasuallydroppingby.