  I present a new framework for modeling the dynamics of tidal streams. The
framework consists of simple models for the initial action-angle distribution
of tidal debris, which can be straightforwardly evolved forward in time. Taking
advantage of the essentially one-dimensional nature of tidal streams, the
transformation to position-velocity coordinates can be linearized and
interpolated near a small number of points along the stream, thus allowing for
efficient computations of a stream's properties in observable quantities. I
illustrate how to calculate the stream's average location (its "track"') in
different coordinate systems, how to quickly estimate the dispersion around its
track, and how to draw mock stream data. As a generative model, this framework
allows one to compute the full probability distribution function and
marginalize over or condition it on certain phase-space dimensions as well as
convolve it with observational uncertainties. This will be instrumental in
proper data analysis of stream data. In addition to providing a
computationally-efficient practical tool for modeling the dynamics of tidal
streams, the action-angle nature of the framework helps elucidate how the
observed width of the stream relates to the velocity dispersion or mass of the
progenitor, and how the progenitors of "orphan"' streams could be located.
  The practical usefulness of the proposed framework crucially depends on the
ability to calculate action-angle variables for any orbit in any gravitational
potential. A novel method for calculating actions, frequencies, and angles in
any static potential using a single orbit integration is described in an
Appendix.
