William has known he was gay since he was a teenager but, because of his family and upbringing, tried to hide it. He's now getting a divorce and moves into a former mental hospital to work as a caretaker and finish his dissertation. He meets Colby, a young man from the nearby town who is very "out". 
 William finds a tin box full of letters written by a young man named Bill who had been incarcerated for homosexuality in the 1930's. Reading about Bill's struggles gives William the courage to take advantage of the freedom he now has with Colby and steers him into an avenue of research he'd never considered, telling the stories of the asylum's inmates.