The Princess & the Marine plot
When the US Marine Jason Johnson is stationed in Bahrain (an island off the coast of Saudi Arabia), he meets the Arab princess Meriam Al-Khalifa. Even though he is Christian (still Mormon, so quite strict) and she is Muslim, the two put aside their religious differences and fall madly in love. This to the great dissatisfaction of Meriam's family. Jason decides to smuggle her to America at the end of his military service with false identification. The pair caused a lot of publicity in America, but Johnson was demoted and subsequently fired from the army.