On its last leg homeward, from Pearl Harbour (Hawaii) to San Diego, the USS Constellation hosts a jolly ‘tiger cruise’ for USNavy, Marines and USNAF relatives, mainly minors (‘Navy brats’). Attitudes and emotions vary from simple joy to open frustration, the worst brat being XO commander Gary Dolan’s daughter Maddie, who wants him to refuse a promotion to command for a shore job. Then the news of the WCC terror crisis changes everything, as the crew is recalled to war footing.

Maddie, a reporter for a Norfolk newspaper, embarks on a Tiger Cruise during Christmastime where she meets a handsome naval officer and stumbles upon a mystery in the ship’s archive room.