When civilians arehuged in a bombing raid, an International Criminal Court charges the United States with war crimes and the SecNav is the one on trial representing the USA. The SecNav is defended by Harm, Mac & Bud who find they must also defend the United States decision for waging the war. At the end, the court finds the USA on the following charges: Crimes against humanity - Not Guilty War Crimes - Not Guilty Intentionally targeting non-combatants - Not Guilty Willful destruction of civilian property - Guilty.
After being diagnosed with night blindness, Lt. Cmdr. Harmon Rabb, an F-14 Tomcat fighter pilot, is forced to change careers. Cmdr. Rabb chooses to join the Navy's Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps. There he both defends and sometimes prosecutes Navy and Marine Corps defendants. He is sometimes assisted by fellow lawyer, Lt. Sarah "Mac" MacKenzie, and his other fellow JAG staff.
Many of Rabb's cases require him to both keep up his F-14 qualifications and travel the world, in order to bring justice to the cases he is trying.
Rabb must also deal with the fact that his father, also a former Navy pilot, never returned home after being held prisoner after he was shot down in North Vietnam. Rabb believing his father is still alive continues the search he has pursued to find his father, since his teens.