Leaving Metropolis

David McMillan, a gay man, is a Winnipeg-based artist with some local renown. His mutual confidantes are his pre-op male-to-female transsexual roommate Shannon, who will probably never have the operation as her HIV+ status precludes it, and middle-aged fag-hag Kryla, a Winnipeg Tribune newspaper columnist who is not averse to promoting David. David is currently facing artists' block, he believing it due to being cooped up in his studio apartment without outside stimulation. To get some artistic inspiration, he decides to wait tables part-time, something he's done in the past which should make it easy to get such a job. He ends up at the Main St. Diner, owned and operated by husband and wife Matt and Violet, the only other waiter and the chef respectively. Each other and the diner take up most of Matt and Violet's time and energies. Although David tells them that he is an artist, he does not tell them how successful he is at it. Although both Matt and Violet befriend David, Matt, who once dreamed of being a cartoonist, and David form a closer bond based on that shared artistic sensibility and Matt's need for some stimulation outside of the diner and away from home. Through that friendship, David finds a muse in Matt, with who he falls in love. The resulting erotic paintings David does of Matt are arguably the best works he's ever produced. In turn, Matt, who has identified as straight all his life, falls in love with the entire package that is David despite still being in love with Violet. Both David and Matt have to decide if they will act upon their feelings, especially in light of the complications that would arise if they did. David also has to decide if the paintings of Matt will become part of his professional portfolio, which if they do would expose a part of Matt's life Matt probably would not want exposed. What happens between the two is ultimately affected by David's friendships with both Shannon and Kryla.