Competitors in one of the movie's featured balls walk a runway as if they were fashion models. They are judged on several criteria: they must be talented dancers, they must be wearing the finest of fashions, and most importantly they must look as much like the gender they are purporting to be. They are also judged on whether or not they could pass as this gender outside in the world, away from ball culture.
The director interviews many of the leading lights of the ball scene. Angie Xtravaganza is the founder of House of Xtravaganza, and she changed her name so that her last name is Xtravaganza too. Angie is a transgender singer and dancer, and is a superstar within the ball scene. Angie adopted a number of street children and all became influential performers in their own right. Pepper LaBeija was almost as famous as Angie; a fashion designer, she was behind many of the costumes worn by contestants, and she was also the last remaining member of the underground ball scene after most others had passed away. Most of her performances had an Egyptian theme to them, and she won more than 250 trophies.
The movie has no specific plot; instead, each of the main performers in it reminisces about their lives, and they also try to explain the subculture of the balls, and its importance in the LGBTQ pantheon. The movie explores the fluidity of gender roles while also delving into the semantics of ball culture.
A more sobering element of the film is its study of how the AIDS epidemic affected the leading performers and ball contestants. Angie X'travaganza would die three years after the film was released, passing away from a liver disease caused by the HIV virus. Her daughter, Venus, would become a sex worker, putting herself in even greater danger of disease. Towards the end of the film, news of Venus' murder reaches Angie; Venus was strangled to death and it is Angie's belief that a client became enraged with her and killed her.
Many of the contestants in balls are disowned by their own families, which is why so many "houses" sprang up. Each house was really a substitute family for those who had been rejected by their own family, or suffered homophobia at home. Ultimately, as the ball scene disintegrates, many of the participants find their lives disintegrating too, or spiraling downwards as their support system disappears.
