An attempt to encapsulate the whole of the 1960's through the experiences of two families, one white and one black, who are torn apart by the social forces of the time: the civil rights movement, the student revolution, and the Vietnam War. The Herlihy's are a white, middle class, Catholic family in Chicago. The Taylor's are the family of a black preacher in Mississippi. The eldest Herlihy son (O'Connell) enlists in the Marines on graduation from high school, is sent to Vietnam, and returns as a disillusioned head case. His younger brother (Hamilton), becomes a freedom rider and later, in college, an anti-war activist. Their sister (Stiles), winds up pregnant and unmarried on the streets of Haight Asbury. The black family, active in civil rights protests in the South, moves to Los Angeles where the father (Dutton) is killed during the Watts riots. His son Emmet (Roberts), eventually becomes a bodyguard for Black Panther leader Fred Hampton (Grier). In the end, everyone who survives finds a modicum of happiness. The Herlihy children are reunited at Woodstock and reconcile with their parents who accept their children for what they have become. Emmet Taylor returns to Watts to organize a breakfast program for needy children.
