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Anthony Mackie (She Hate Me, 8 Mile, Manchurian Candidate) plays Perry Williams, a young African-American art student in New York City. After being found in an intimate, sexual encounter with another young man, Perry is thrown out of his house by his family who won’t even see him now. As he struggles to hold on by working in a homeless shelter and trying to maintain a college scholarship, he becomes rootless and withdrawn as he tries to find an identity and a place to belong.

One day after a poetry reading, Perry meets Bruce Nugent, a legendary Harlem Renaissance poet of the 1920’s and 30’s. A gay man himself, Bruce and Perry become friends and as Bruce regales with fascinating reminiscences we are transported through the landscape of Bruce’s memories of the glory days of the Harlem Renaissance. Perry learns about the lives and personalities of Wallac Thurman, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and Aaron Douglas and sees how they became a surrogate family for Bruce. Perry begins to recognize this era as his history. As the story progresses, we witness the transformative power that they have on each other’s lves through their shared
passion for art and storytelling.