A story of two best friends, Rafe (Ben Affleck) and Danny (Josh Hartnett), who join the airforce as fighter pilots and fall for the same girl, against a backdrop of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 that caused America to enter the war.

Rafe comes to terms with Danny stealing his girl when he hears from Evelyn that she is pregnant with Danny's baby.  Commended for their defence of Pearl Harbor where they shot down enemy fighters, they are called up for a secret mission by Lt Colonel Doolittle (a semi-young looking Baldwin - he's aged a lot in the last 10 years) - the type where "medals are posted to your relatives" as the soldiers are unlikely to return alive.
  The plan is to carry out an attack on Tokyo, but they must launch the heavy bombers off aircraft carriers designed for faster and lighter planes.  Gradually taking enough out of the planes to get them airbourne in time, they are awoken by sirens as the carriers have been discovered by the Japanese.  Still a long distance from their targets, the decision is made to launch anyway and the bombers complete their run.

With fuel quickly burning up, Rafe's team crash land in China and are soon under fire from a Japanese patrol.  Danny flies over a few minutes later and takes out some bad guys before crashing badly.  Rafe runs to his friend, but they are captured by another Japanese patrol.  Choosing to fight back, Danny is shot several times before the rest of the guys kill their enemy with the help of a grenade.  As Danny is dying, Rafe tells his best friend that he is to be a father.  Danny dies suddenly from this excitement as the Chinese show up.

Back in the US, Rafe is awarded a silver cross for his bravery - with Doolittle in the background who obviously must have survived too.  Cuba Gooding Jnr is given a mention as that's a very worthy story in itself which the director just forgot about and is wasted in this movie.

Evelyn doesn't seem too upset and at least her mind is made up now as she starts a happy, complicated family with her first love Rafe, who she thought was dead, and her son - called Danny - from the father who was the best friend of her first love.