At the age of sixteen, transgender adolescent Kelly Van Ryan left her rural origins in search of proverbial Hollywood fame and fortune. She arrived on the West Coast accompanied only by a childhood friend and a long-harbored desire for love and acceptance. Without a proper support network, Kelly was quickly thrust into a survival struggle that often typifies the quest for stardom in Los Angeles. Financial and personal frustrations eventually led to prostitution and drug abuse.
Kelly follows our protagonist as she confronts legal charges for drugs and prostitution, dwindling financial resources and clientele, and eventually homelessness. She revisits her hometown at the climax of her Hollywood misfortune, and must face the life and family she left behind. Through her travails, we see the tremendous, and tragically misguided lengths to which one will go to escape intolerance and pain.