A college student shoots a documentary about his colorful aunt, an aspiring cabaret star from New York City, and learns more about his family than he ever wanted to know.

Director Chris Brown creates a hybrid of fiction and non-fiction in which he collaborates with real high school seniors to tell their personal stories. The result is a portrait of six teens on the threshold of adulthood and how each is dealing with his or her impending future.

With AIDS ravaging the gay community in 1985 New York City, Franco engages in reckless behavior after the love of his life falls ill with the virus.