Far inland from San Francisco, surrounded by farmland, is the humble city of Modesto. Parts are pastoral, while others are more gritty because of gangs, drug trafficking and addiction, with rising crime.
There are reports all over the news about a young couple who were attacked in their homes. A war veteran, Matt Skokie, was killed, and his wife, Lily, was raped and subconsciously beaten. This tragedy sends shock waves into the community, stirring tensions across racial lines and connecting victims, suspects and their families with each other.
Matt’s father, Chuck (Timothy Hutton), has flown in from Arizona to identify the body of his son for the grim job. He and his ex-wife Barb (Felicity Huffman) haven’t seen each other in a long time, and because of their gambling addiction that destroyed their family, she is still angry with Chuck. Barb became a struggling single mother and regrets having to raise Matt and his brother in public housing – they were poorly treated as the only white children there. Chuck got the help he needed to overcome his addiction, but it took his relationship with his sons a lot of time to repair it.
They are in the hospital, watching over their unconscious daughter, with Lily’s parents, Tom, and a tearful Eve. They still believe that there is life in her, but they are told by the doctors that they are pessimistic that even if she wakes up, she will always recover.
Both couples need to decide if they’re talking to the press. Tom and Eve are not ready, but Barb wants the front page of the story to be kept so that the people who did this to their children are arrested. Several days have passed, and no arrests. But that’s going to change soon. The police are on the brink of charging four offenders.
Teenager Tony Gutierrez, adopted by his single parent, Alonzo, is here. He was insisting that Tony and his daughter, Jenny, should keep away from gangs and trouble. But, Tony leased a vehicle from the garage of his father to a thug called Hector Tontz… It was mostly that he was too frightened to decline. Tony is arrested when the vehicle was at the site of the crime. Then, when he was found using the credit card of victim Matt, Hector is arrested with force.
The cops are trying to get Hector, who proclaims his innocence, to give up Carter, the tiny crook. He and his white girlfriend Aubry, 20 years old, are methheads and still looking to purchase. They are broken and desperate and have the potential to find trouble, as when black girls beat Aubrey for being with a ‘mate’ in a bar.