A tuneful, heartwarming story, based on the real life story of the Von Trapp Family singers, and their harrowing escape from Austria after the Nazi takeover of the country. Maria, a postulant, is sent to be the governess for a naval captain's seven musically talented children. She finds their father's worries, about the Nazi takeover and the sadness he endures at loss of his wife, have left the household in sadness and gloom. Maria, brings her eternal optimism and joy back into the home and in the process, falls in love with the children and they her, but that's not all who do. The captain is pressured to become one of Hitler's naval commanders which he resists to the point of the endangerment of his whole family. They are prompted to make a dangerous nighttime escape.