 Black art student Perry (Anthony Mackie) is thrown out by his parents for his homosexuality and is further disturbed by a potential romantic entanglement with a white boy in his class.He befriends an elderly homeless man named Bruce Nugent (Roger Robinson), who turns out to have been an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance.Through recalling his friendships with other important Harlem Renaissance figures Langston Hughes (Daniel Sunjata), Aaron Douglas (Leith M. Burke), Wallace Thurman (Ray Ford) and Zora Neale Hurston (Aunjanue Ellis).