Trama

A widowed Coast Guard Admiral and a widowed handbag designer fall in love and marry, much to the dismay of his 8 and her 10 children.

Two high-school sweethearts reunite and choose to get together and get married. Each one of them has multiple kids. After moving in together, it is all mayhem when all of the kids do not get along and try to break up their parents' relationship.—RECB3

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 children long for a permanent home. Helen North is a widowed free spirit handbag designer whose 10 children live in loving chaos, with occasional group hugs. She and Frank, who were high-school sweethearts, reconnect at a reunion, it's love at first re-sighting, and they marry on the spot. Then the problems start as the two sets of children, the free spirits and the disciplined preppies, must live together. The warring factions agree to work together to end the marriage.—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

High-school sweethearts Frank Beardsley and Helen North are reunited when Frank and his family move back to his hometown of New London. They are instantly attracted to each other and quickly decide to marry. They are quite cognizant of the fact that he already has eight children from his first marriage, and she has 10 from hers, which are a mixture of her biological offspring and rainbow of adopted children. What could be more problematic is that he is an admiral with the Coast Guard, so he has a very regimented view of how things should be done, whereas she, a handbag designer, is a free spirit with a more lackadaisical attitude. Their respective children, who are a product of their parents' views, hate one another other, but feel that they can better rid themselves of their new situation by joining forces to show their parents their respective philosophical differences about life. Whether or not they achieve this goal, their plan could have some unexpected consequences.—Huggo

High school sweethearts Frank Beardsley (Dennis Quaid), a widowed Coast Guard Admiral and Helen North (Rene Russo), a widowed handbag designer, are reunited when Frank and his family move back to his hometown of New London. This is the 12th move for Frank's kids and this time they moved from San Diego. Frank has the ambition to be the head of the entire US coast guard someday.

Helen is working with Maxwell "Max" Algrant (Jerry O'Connell) to launch her business around hand crafted fashion accessories. Max is bringing a buyer from New York, which will really help Helen's business. Helen's daughter Phoebe encourages her to go on a date with Max.

Captain Darrell Edwards (David Koechner) is Frank's junior at work. Darrell sets Frank up with Claudia (Jenica Bergere ) for a date. Christina prepares Frank for the date and asks him to hold off on revealing that he has eight kids. Darrell doesn't mention that he and Claudia had been married for 7 years.

After unexpectedly encountering each other at a restaurant while on separate dates, Frank and Helen run into each other again at their 30-year class reunion (class of 1975). The reunion was organized on a cruise ship. Helen was the one Frank was going to marry right out of college. At the cruise Frank learns that Helen lost her husband to a car crash 4 years ago, and Helen learns that Frank lost his wife a few years ago.

Instantly rekindling their old sparks and even share a dance at the cruise. The two quickly decide to marry in a private ceremony. They are quite cognizant of the fact that Frank already has eight children from his first marriage, and Helen has ten from her first marriage (a mixture of her biological offspring and adopted children: four biological and six adopted). Helen says that she and her husband were foster parents and they just fell in love with the kids.

The family moves into a new home, on the same property as the lighthouse where Frank and Helen shared their first kiss, joined by the North children's numerous pets (including a pot-bellied pig) and Frank's housekeeper, Mrs. Munion (Linda Hunt).

The Beardsley Children include William (Sean Faris), Christina (Katija Pevec), Harrison "Harry" Beardsley (Dean Collins), Michael (Tyler Patrick Jones), Kelly (Haley Ramm), Ely (Brecken Palmer), Otter (Bridger Palmer) and Ethan (Ty Panitz). The North Children include Dylan (Drake Bell), Phoebe (Danielle Panabaker), Jimi (Lil' JJ), Naoko (Miki Ishikawa), Joni (Miranda Cosgrove), Mick (Slade Pearce), Lau (Andrew Vo), Bina (Jennifer Habib), Marisa (Jessica Habib) and Aldo (Nicholas Roget-King).

It soon becomes apparent that, as a Coast Guard Admiral, Frank has a very regimented view of how things should be done, whereas Helen is an artist (a designer by trade) with a more free-spirited, lackadaisical attitude. Frank has numbered the room assigned and color coded the bathroom schedules, and the North children simply laugh at him.

The Beardsley Children are disciplined, organized, self-sufficient and even take permission when they have to play. The North Children are agents of chaos, who do as they please, are not organized but have a lot of creative freedom to pursue their interests.

The children from the 2 families are given mixed room assignments to help them bond with each other. To accelerate the bonding, Frank takes all the kids on a yacht to teach them about teamwork. Frank sees the kids as his execution arm, being guided by his brain. But Helen says that her kids have their own brains and can think for themselves. The kids soon go about sabotaging each other and the yacht trip is a disaster.

Frank and Helen cannot even have sex as everybody can hear everything and half the kids end up in their bed anyways. Their respective children, who are a product of their parents' views, are shocked by the news of their parents' quickie wedding and don't get along well at first, even turning a planned lighthouse renovation project into an all-out paint fight.

However, Frank's oldest son William calls a meeting among the kids and explains that they can better rid themselves of their new situation by joining forces to make their parents' respective philosophical differences apparent, and effectively cause them to start fighting. During this time, the kids gradually begin to bond, taking part in such activities as attending their siblings' soccer games and helping William in his campaign for class president.

A short time later, Frank and Helen attend a formal Coast Guard dinner where Frank's superior, Commandant Sherman (Rip Torn), officially offers Frank the opportunity to be his successor. However, citing both his obligation to the Coast Guard Academy and his new family, Frank respectfully declines the offer.

Meanwhile, the older kids throw an all-out party that quickly grows out of control, and when the couple returns home to find their place in total chaos, Frank is furious, while Helen takes a more laid-back approach, which only angers Frank further and causes their worst fight yet. Realizing just how happy their parents have been together, the kids begin to sense that maybe they pushed things too far.

The next day, Frank informs Helen that he has decided to take the position as Commandant after all, and the pair schedule a family meeting to inform the kids of this new development. As they return from school, jubilant over having defended their younger siblings from bullies and with the news of William having won the class election, Frank quickly deflates the mood by telling the kids of his decision to accept the new position.

Feeling guilty for having torn their parents apart, the kids set about undoing their mistakes, even enlisting Helen to aid in their efforts. Together, the older kids launch the family's boat in an effort to catch Frank, but he is convinced that Helen no longer wants to be with him, until he sees her turn on the lighthouse spotlight (a reference to a story Frank had told Helen about a beautiful female light-keeper). Successfully reunited, the pair tie the knot once again, but this time with the rest of the family involved.