Eager to impress his boss, musician Private Willie Little presents Marine Corps Band composer John Philip Sousa with a rejiggered instrument he's dubbed the ``sousaphone.'' When the composer exits the Corps, Little joins Sousa's new band. Sousa wants to play more than just his famed marches, and Little is preoccupied by his performer girlfriend, but when the Spanish-American War starts, both men concentrate on giving all they can to the war effort.
