During World War II, white people in Los Angeles harboring a distrust of Mexican Americans find a target for their discontent in fashion, as bootleg tailors defy wartime fabric rationing to supply pachucos with big, flamboyant and trendy zoot suits. On the evening of June 3, 1943, a group of Navy sailors on shore leave scuffles with zoot suited pachucos on Main Street. The next day, 200 sailors enter East L.A. and beat up every man they can find in a zoot suit, stripping and burning the clothing in the streets. In the following days, thousands of soldiers are joined by police and other white citizens, roaming Mexican-American neighborhoods and assaulting zoot suiters. Hundreds of people of color are injured and arrested. The riots end when Los Angeles is declared off-limits to military personnel on leave.