Inspired by true events, the musical illustrates how war divided the Kimura family after President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Sam Kimura, played by Telly Leung, seeks to demonstrate his patriotism to the United States by enlisting in the military, while his sister Kei, played by Lea Salonga, protests the government's discriminatory actions.

Takei, who was five years old when he and his family were incarcerated at the Rohwer War Relocation Center in Arkansas, spoke to students about the importance of learning history as a means of understanding the current political climate.