David, Troy Ruptash is a well-known artist who feels creatively blocked and adrift. In a bid to rekindle his imagination, he takes a job as a waiter, hoping the change of pace will spark new ideas. His roommate and friend, Shannon, Thom Allison, a pre-op male-to-female transsexual whose sex-reassignment surgery has been repeatedly delayed because of an HIV-positive status, drifts into the same diner as a place to find some sense of direction. They stumble upon the Main St. Diner, run by Matt Vince Corazza and Violet Cherilee Taylor, who are actively looking for a waiter to join their small, bustling operation. David is hired quickly and forms a close bond with the pair, though they’re surprised to learn that he is gay.
Kryla, Lynda Boyd, a blunt columnist for the Winnipeg Tribune, tracks David down at the diner despite his protests and gets the story into the press. The resulting attention helps the diner’s business surge, and David’s growing notoriety begins to spread beyond the small circle he’s found at the restaurant. Amid the swirl of new fame, Shannon’s health continues to deteriorate, casting a darker shade over the brightening mood around them.
David becomes drawn to Matt, and the two men grow closer after a hesitant start. Matt, who once toyed with drawing comics, presses David to share his paintings, but David resists. Matt confesses that he once fell in love with another man in college, a revelation that complicates their budding connection. Despite the tension, David paints Matt—first in a nude form he has not directly posed for, then in a series of later portraits—works that Kryla and Shannon hail as David’s strongest yet. Matt is both drawn to the art and unsettled by what it could mean for his life, especially with Violet in the background who is unaware of the personal entanglements forming around them.
As the relationship deepens, Matt warns David not to exhibit the paintings, fearing Violet’s reaction, and both men insist on secrecy. Each of them tells the other that they love them, even as Kryla expresses vehement disapproval, worrying aloud about the consequences of a relationship that defies expectations. The tension comes to a head when Kryla discovers the lovers in an intimate moment; Matt panics, insisting that his confession of love was a lie and that he never intended to act on it. He flees, leaving the others to pick up the pieces.
David, feeling the strain of the lie and recognizing the necessity of honesty, defies the promise of secrecy and decides to exhibit the portraits. He titles the collection "Straightman," a bold choice that challenges the taboos surrounding his relationship with Matt. When Matt learns of the show, he confronts David with anger and a dangerous mix of desire, first threatening to destroy the paintings and then offering himself again sexually. David rebuffs him with cold contempt, setting a clear boundary. Matt confesses to Violet that he is in love with David, which leads her to demand a divorce as the relationship fractures further.
Shannon’s illness worsens, and she decides to take her life. In a bar after this crisis, David and Kryla have a bitter confrontation, each holding on to their own version of the truth and the hurt it has caused.
The opening night of the exhibition marks a pivot point. Violet attends and, while she concedes that the paintings are very good, she refuses to forgive Matt, denying him another chance. Matt reappears to David after the show, again seeking reconciliation, but David remains distant, choosing to keep his distance from the man he once trusted.
In the aftermath, Violet sells the Main St. Diner, and Matt leaves town to escape the fallout of his decisions. David, too, decides to move on, though the final image is one of reconciliation, as he and Kryla repair their friendship and begin to navigate a more hopeful future together. The film closes on a note of cautious optimism, emphasizing how art, love, and truth can collide and shape people in unexpected ways.
