In this true story of courage and ingenuity featuring an all-star cast, American pilots under Doolittle's (Spencer Tracy) command make the seemingly impossible one-way flight by launching fully loaded bombers for the first time ever from the deck of an aircraft carrier and landing in China. The cost in pilots and aircraft for the Americans may be staggering, but the raid forever shatters the Japanese people's belief that the vast Pacific Ocean protects them from American counterattack.