In the immediate aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Captain Victor 'Pug' Henry finds himself in command of a cruiser, the USS Northampton. His son Warren is a naval aviator on the USS Enterprise and son Byron continues his service on a submarine, the USS Swordfish. Pug's wife Rhoda continues her affair with Palmer Kirby and Byron's wife Natalie has a difficult decision to make when a German Foreign Office official suggests that she and her uncle Aaron Jastrow stay in Italy rather than travel to Palestine. Pamela Tudsbury and her father start a world tour where he will report for the BBC from the far reaches of the British Empire. She is quick to let Pug know that they will also be stopping in Hawaii.