An ex-con moves to L.A. to find work and creates a disturbance by fighting for a position. More importantly he touches the lives of many of his neighbors including an older man dying of cancer, a young married couple whose husband is too proud to accept a lesser position which causes strife with his wife, and a young boy on the verge of getting in trouble with street gangs.

The hitting record of Joe Di Maggio is about to broken by a black player. However a person who feels that it is sacred threatens the player if he breaks the record. Lou Mattoni, a detective who is a little racist, is assigned to the case.

Spurred by a white woman's lie, vigilantes destroy a black Florida town and slay inhabitants in 1923.

A young man takes over as the head of a crack dealing outfit after his brother, the gang's leader, is murdered.