Maddie Dolan, a teenager from San Diego, wants to convince her father Gary Dolan, a U.S. Navy commander, to give up his career and come home. Maddie accepts her father's offer to participate in Operation Tiger, a week-long cruise for military families and their friends aboard his aircraft carrier. She meets two other teenagers boarding the Tiger cruise, Tina and Anthony. Tina is fascinated by military life; her older sister Grace is a United States Naval Aviator. Anthony, whose older brother Kenny is a sailor, is a drummer who prefers to have nothing to do with military life.