A young twenty-something artist who lives with his boyfriend Liam in New York loses his job at a bookstore. He likes Liam because he’s caring and stable, whereas he has been institutionalized several times and always struggled to make money. But Liam discovers that he has been working as a prostitute and kicks him out. The artist takes a greyhound bus to Phoenix where he moves in with his friend Esther. She’s also an artist and has two other roommates: a Chicano cowboy who’s caring for orphaned kittens and a woman with an autoimmune disorder. He is surprised by their warmth and openness. They all complain about their lives and being stuck in a capitalist system. The artist starts to paint people from his past, making portraits of family members and friends, all of them working-class. He decides to create a portfolio and apply to MFA programs. He gets a job as a shot boy at a gay bar, but it doesn’t pay well so he posts an ad on Craigslist. A man invites him to come over and pee into his mouth. The artist tells his roommates about the encounter and Ester is disappointed. She asks if he’s finished his portfolio. He hasn’t so, she helps him write his application essay. One of his images gets picked up by a magazine, but the editor asks him to change the paintings significantly. Because of what they’re offering to pay him, he makes the changes. After the images are published, he gets invited to do a talk at a university with a famous author who writes about the working class but is middle class herself. She tries to call him out for exploiting narratives about the poor. After he discusses his pieces, she realizes her mistake. During the Q&A, he feels he’s been able to be honest about his work and the people who inspired it. He sends the work to Liam, who praises it. He decides to stay in New York. He gets a steady job and has a regular commute. On the subway home from work one day, he hears a man singing Stevie Wonder and decides he’s done making art about emptiness. He wants to sing about being full.