In the wake of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the United States government begins rounding up some 110,000 persons of Japanese ancestry for relocation to designated internment camps. Among them are young Jeanne Wakatsuki (Nobu McCarthy) and her family, who are confined to the Manzanar camp for the remainder of the war. The conditions in the camp are abysmal, and the family begins to fall apart owing to hunger, riots and Jeanne's father's (Yuki Shimoda) growing alcoholism.