Told through a loose narrative of protests, sketches, fantasies, "be-ins," "love-ins" and rare moments of lucidity, Hair tells the story of "the Tribe," a collective of Vietnam-era youths exuberantly creating their own rite of passage through the anti-war and counter culture movement of the late 1960s. Among them are Claude and Berger, a pair of friends struggling over Claude's draft notice, and Sheila, who is in love with both of them, but her politically-active lifestyle leaves her little time to act on her feelings. Ultimately, Claude succumbs to the pressures of conservative America, and goes to war in Vietnam, compromising his pacifist ideals and risking his life for a war he does not believe in.