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Journalism on the eve of World War II as experienced by Benjamin Hamilton, a young reporter for New England's Great Breakfast Table Newspaper. Ben lives on picturesque T Wharf on Boston's waterfront and falls in love with a French ballerina on tour in America. He covers the sinking of the submarine Squalus off Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the dramatic rescue of the survivors and drawn-out salvage of the submarine. World War II starts with Germany invading Poland and the dancer returns to Paris. She promises to return in the spring to marry Ben, but is caught in German-occupied Paris. America prepares for war with a peacetime draft, and a bitter debate rages over whether this country should intervene. President Roosevelt is granted unlimited war powers by Congress, and Ben receives a commission in the Navy and leaves T Wharf.