"One of the most brutal features of news media is their ability to and success in depersonalising brutality. reducing it to the realm of 'events'."

In its director's words, Part of the Family "is an attempt to remind , . . people that the political tragedies they watch on their television sets actually do happen and involve real people just like them."

The film centres on three families, each of which has lost a member under different circumstances: Phillip Gibbs, killed on the grounds of Jackson State University; Carmine Macedonio, killed in Vietnam; and Allison Krause, killed on the campus of Kent State University. Members of their families talk to the camera (i.e. the audience) about the meaning of the loss to to them.