When Allos arrives in San Diego with his new friend, José, anti-Filipino hysteria is at a high, thanks to the recent illegal marriage between a Filipino man and a white woman in Pasadena. As a result, Allos suffers several racially-motivated beatings at the hands of white men. Allos and José take a train to a small town called Holtville where they learn that a Filipino labor organizer was found dead. Allos wants to leave immediately, but José convinces him to work through the season. One night, a Filipino man enters a restaurant with his American wife and baby. The owner insults the Filipino man, who assaults the owner in response. Consequently, the white men in the restaurant nearly beat the Filipino man to death.

Allos and José leave for Bakersfield with a man named Frank. After hearing that white men burned a nearby Filipino camp to the ground, the trio flees to the freight yard. There, detectives pull men off of the train and beat them with blackjacks. José tries to escape but falls off the train. When Frank and Allos find him, one of his feet is severed and the other is dangling by a thread of flesh.