On August 11, 1965, a routine traffic stop on a hot summer night sparks years of pent-up frustration within Los Angeles' African American community into a race riot that shocks the United States as it rages out of control for days. In this true story, when the all-white staff of main newspaper in the city, The Los Angeles Times, cannot get into work, a young, black trainee Robert Richardson writes a series of Pulitzer prize-winning articles covering the riots. But as Richardson witnesses the excessive violence used by the police and national guard, he is torn between the impartiality required of a reporter and his need to rage against injustice.
