Billy Collier, played by Sean Hayes, is an aspiring photographer in Los Angeles who has had little artistic success and plenty of romantic frustration. He works through those frustrations with a quirky idea born over coffee: recreating iconic screen kisses from Hollywood’s past. Over coffee with his roommate Georgiana, Meredith Scott Lynn, the concept begins to take shape, and their discussions attract the attention of Perry, Richard Ganoung, a friend who agrees to finance the project.
Billy’s professional ambitions collide with his growing attraction to a wandering waiter he meets by chance, Gabriel, Brad Rowe. Billy becomes smitten and wonders if Gabriel might be interested in more than modeling. Gabriel keeps things mysterious, hinting at a girlfriend in San Francisco while sending signals that keep Billy unsure about where he stands. At the same time, [Rex Webster], Paul Bartel, a photographer Billy attends an exhibit with, tries to recruit Gabriel for an underwear ad shoot and even offers to whisk him away to Catalina Island for the job, fueling Billy’s jealousy and insecurity.
Their complicated dynamic deepens when Billy learns more about Gabriel’s life and relationships. Gabriel admits that his relationship with Natalie, Kimberly Campoli, is not straightforward, complicating Billy’s feelings and the reality of what it means to come out. The two men shoot Billy’s first setup, a recreation of Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr’s kiss on the beach in From Here to Eternity, and afterward Gabriel tells Billy that Natalie is no longer in the picture. Billy, who has described himself on the Kinsey scale as a “perfect six,” finds that Gabriel’s own self-knowledge remains unsettled. In Billy’s apartment, the mood grows intimate as they discuss comfort, vulnerability, and the possibility of sleeping together; a tentative invitation becomes tension as Gabriel shifts and ultimately withdraws.
The story moves to Catalina, where Gabriel lands the underwear modeling job and Billy follows with Georgiana, who is newly reevaluating her fling with the drug-addled island resident Gundy, Carmine Giovinazzo. On the island, Billy intrudes on Rex Webster’s shoot in search of Gabriel and, that night, locates him at Rex’s party, where they finally talk in the moonlit beach air. Their conversation reveals Billy’s fear of heartbreak and his longing to be there for someone, even if the future remains unclear. >I swore to myself that if I could ever be there for somebody, I would, so that that person wouldn't have to go through all the shit I went through. What I'm trying to say is, if you're having problems figuring out where you stand, even if you're not sure of what you're supposed to want-<
The emotional tension resolves slowly. Perry consoles Billy by revealing that he, too, once fell for someone who didn’t return the feeling, the identity of which Billy discovers is himself. The next morning, Georgiana has left Gundy behind, and she and Billy return home, carrying new perspectives on love, art, and the risks of exposing private lives to public gaze. Months pass, and Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss exhibit opens in Los Angeles, featuring his photographs of Gabriel. The show is a success, and Billy receives warm congratulations from visitors; Perry even shows him a magazine with an underwear ad featuring Gabriel, prompting Billy to consider calling him but choosing not to. In the close, a handsome young man named Joshua, Robbie Cain, admires Billy’s work with genuine enthusiasm, suggesting that, alongside artistic triumph, romantic fulfillment may finally be within reach. Meanwhile, a young version of Billy, Young Billy, looks on with the quiet sense that the journey toward love and art is only beginning.
