A theoretical procedure is developed in an effort to solve the acoustic propagation problem in the ocean in the presence of stochastic boundaries. This theory is believed to be an improvement over past efforts that treated the surface as a separate problem. My result for the mean or mean‐squared potential function can be used to calculate the effects of a stochastic surface including mode coupling, attenuation, scattering into a shadow region, etc., without recourse to the approximations of past theoretical efforts. While this theory is complex in structure, it is my opinion that the difficulties are justified in that less is neglected. The usual plane‐wave surface scattering theories may suffice in certain applications; however, it is evident that they must be used in conjunction with ray tracing. A mode theory is a step in the right direction in that the limitations of the ray theory are overcome.