Lillie Lightship is sad. Moored out of the harbour to guide boats and keep them out of danger, she never gets to see the Regatta. In spite of Lillie's warnings, a tramper sees her too late and hits her, making a large hole in her side. The Star tugs rescue her and she is towed into the yard to be mended, from where she sees the exciting, colourful regatta parade, with barges decorated by dockland firms, cranes, and buildings festooned with banners.

During the annual manoeuvers, both Bigg City tug fleets service the navy. It is a dangerous job, handling ammunition and explosive barges. All is going smoothly until Bluenose, a bossy naval boat demands immediate priority with a barge-load of gasoline barrels. OJ, the oldest of the Star Tug fleet, warns that it's dangerous to stop the operation half-way through, but Bluenose insists and pushes in roughly. The movement knocks barrels of gasoline off the barge and they split open, spilling their dangerous contents. A spark from Bluenose's stack starts a series of fires and explosions which puts all the tugs in great danger.

The Stars and the Z-Stacks are both competing for a big steel contract. the fleet which can transport the most steel in one day, wins the contract. The canal is a short cut through Bigg City but Big Mac of the Stars decides to go round the bay and let Zebedee and Zak of the Z-Stacks take the short cut through the canal. At first Warrior of the Stars is confused by Big Mac's idea for both of them to go round the bay, but as you'll see the short cut through the canal wasn't necessarily the best route.

Old sea stories - especially about ghosts - are favourites amongst the tugs of Bigg City Harbour. No one will admit to taking them too seriously; so when Big Mac rushes back to the Star Pier one foggy night the other tugs laugh when he tells them he actually saw the "Ghost Fleet" looking for lost tows. However, mysterious things happen the very next night that make the Star Tugs uncertain as to whether the Ghost story is true or not.

In the estuary late one evening Ten Cents and Sunshine came across a tug named Boomer, who was just drifting along hoping to be run down by a big ship and sunk because he was extremely unhappy. Things were always going wrong for Boomer and he felt sure that he was jinxed. Ten Cents and Sunshine do everything they can to help Boomer but the jinx always strikes and nothing goes right. One day Captain Star's patience runs out and he orders Boomer to be taken to Lucky's Yard, where tugs are either repaired or scrapped. As Boomer no longer needs any repairs Ten Cents and Sunshine fear the worst.

Towing huge piles of logs was always a very dangerous operation. When the snows began to melt and the rivers swelled it added to the danger. Because of the sudden rush of water that it could cause, log jams had to be carefully untangled. One day, a particularly nasty log jam had occurred and Big Mac was being helped by Sunshine to try and clear it. Before Big Mac could stop him, Sunshine rammed into the high log jam and found himself trapped. Ten Cents arrives to help Big Mac free Sunshine, but one false move could spell disaster.