In April 1939, Victor 'Pug' Henry and his wife Rhoda set sail for Europe where he is to take up his post as a Naval Attache at the U.S Embassy in Berlin. Aboard ship, they meet General Von Roon and Pamela Tudsbury, who is traveling with her journalist father. Their youngest son Byron is abroad while eldest son Warren is also in the Navy learning to become an aviator; daughter Madeleine is left on her own in New York and as soon as her parents leave, starts looking for a job.