The United Earth Forces have been at war with the Jovians, who appear to be a hostile alien race from Jupiter, for years. The Jovians have destroyed the Martian colony and military base and have all but wiped out Earth's space fleet. The future of Earth depends on the high-tech space battleship Nadesico, constructed by the independent arms manufacturer Nergal after the repeated failures of Earth's military. Commanded by an Admiral's daughter and crewed with a number of unorthodox civilians, the battleship defies both the Jovians and the United Earth Forces as it struggles to end the war and solve the mysteries behind the Martian colony's destruction.