Men lined on a bench turkey plucking competition at Ottman and Company building in New York. Plucked turkeys piled in front of them. The winner plucking 30 turkeys in 50 minutes is presented a turkey. The turkey flaps in his hands. A slow motion segment shows a man in the competition yawning while pulling off turkey feathers.
Man behind a rafter of turkeys in Sudbury, Massachusetts. A turkey with its wattle neck and fan shaped tails. View of roasted turkey. Chef slices the cooked turkey, and he along with two guests eats a slice of the roasted turkey.
Describes European immigration to America from 1880 to 1914. Elderly European immigrants recall their experiences to interviewers in 1975. Still photo montage scenes circa 1900: Immigration officer with a woman. Large number of immigrants wait for immigration check at Ellis Island. Children lined up. Immigrants at port and going through health examinations. During physical examination, immigrants with disease of Trachoma marked and segregated. In 1975 an old lady describes her experience of being misdiagnosed with Trachoma and almost sent back to Russia. She was reexamined and allowed to remain in America.
Vietnamese refugees soon after arriving in the United States after the Vietnam War fall of Saigon. A Vietnamese girl seated next to a man using a radio to communicate. In the Refugee Center, a man writes names of refugees with their tent assignments. Air Force personnel and volunteers at work in the Center.
Soviet Union warship underway in the ocean. Naval officer announces alert. Sailors run to battle stations. Soviet Naval pilots rush on the flight deck of Kiev class aircraft carrier and climb aboard their Yak-38 fighter aircraft. View of Tu-16 bomber taking off. Radar antennas rotate. Yak-38 fighter aircraft demonstrates vertical takeoff capability. Warships cruising in a line. Formation of Tu-16s flies overhead. Soviet submarines cruise in a lne on the surface. Soviet Naval Officers confer in control room. Soviet Kara class (Soviet designation 1134B) Guided Missile Cruiser underway, with number "530" painted on its hull. Aboard the ship, a missile is raised from below deck into vertical firing position. A formation of three aircraft fly overhead. The ship launches antiaircraft missiles. View of an aircraft being struck and destroyed by missiles. Ships fire barrages of missiles. One ship is covered by a cloud of fire and smoke due to the intensity of the barrage. Depth charges explode off the stern of a ship. Flames and smoke rises up due to explosions. Splashes in the sea due to explosions. View of convoy of warships underway.
Mix of period footage circa 1910, retrospective interviews in 1975, and some still images. European immigration in bad travel conditions to America. View from rail on deck of a ship in heavy seas. An elderly European immigrant recalls his experiences of the journey on ship to America. Ship in Atlantic Ocean. Picture of European immigrants on ship deck. Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Early 1900s period footage of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island and disembarking from ship, then walking with luggage for processing at Ellis Island. Some immigrants peer across New York Harbor at the skyline of New York city. Scene change to 1975 and views of interiors of a no longer used building in Ellis Island. Names of persons carved on walls. A man shares his experience as an immigrant passing through Ellis Island, and then as an immigration inspector reviewing new immigrants as they arrived.