妻子突然离世的消息让弗兰克（丹尼斯·奎德 Dennis Quaid 饰）陷入了悲伤的情绪中无法自拔，可现实容不得他的沉沦，因为妻子带走了他的幸福和快乐，留下的却是八个古灵精怪的孩子。为了照顾这些孩子，弗兰克可谓绞尽了脑汁，事已至此他才发现，想要驯服一个孩子，可远比在军队中对自己的下属发号施令要复杂和困难的多。 丧妻之痛随着时间的流逝渐渐化为了稀薄的记忆，海伦（蕾妮·罗素 Rene Russo 饰）的出现让弗兰克重新找到了爱情的感觉。海伦是一个带着十个孩子的单身母亲，她和弗兰克的结合意味着他们即将共同抚养十八个性格迥异年龄各不相同的熊孩子！而对于孩子们来说，他们的好戏开始了。Admiral Frank Beardsley returns to New London to run the Coast Guard Academy, his last stop before a probable promotion to head the Guard. A widower with eight children, he runs a loving but tight ship, with charts and salutes. The kids long for a permanent home. Helen North is a free spirit, a designer whose ten children live in loving chaos, with occasional group hugs. Helen and Frank, high school sweethearts, reconnect at a reunion, and it's love at first re-sighting. They marry on the spot. Then the problems start as two sets of kids, the free spirits and the disciplined preppies, must live together. The warring factions agree to work together to end the marriage.
