Jessica Fostin attempts to come to terms with her past while her life is plunged into the world of high-end sex work, human trafficking, and sexual disclosure; as she discovers what it truly means to live in society as a trans woman of color.

SYNOPSIS:

JESSICA FOSTIN, a 21-year old black transwoman from Alabama (fresh out of college), awaits to be interviewed to become sex worker for an illegal Las Vegas brothel, XPRESS, by the manager, LESLIE.

Leslie warns Jessica of the type of environment she is walking into. This is not your typical drug-dealing street walking prostitute story. This is demanding, high-end, luxury sex work in a brothel setting that is reflective of the multi-billion-dollar sex industry. Only strong women can survive. Jessica persists that she can take on any of the burdens and is in desperate need of the job to ease her growing financial burdens.

Jessica walks into the brothel on her first day, located at the bottom of a casino, and meets her mentor BIG SIS, the oldest and most experienced sex worker at XPRESS. Big Sis gives Jessica a tour and a crash course on all the information she needs to know before her first line-up. They both bump into AMANDA, a young bisexual Latina, who’s bubbly and feisty personality quickly draws Jessica’s attention.

Big Sis and Amanda bombard Jessica with various details from rent prices, online-services, and brothel etiquette until they get side tracked and talk about the sudden disappearance of one of their workers, Penny. They quickly change the subject as they want to continue welcoming their new employee. Jessica, the next day, is nervous as she walks onto the stage with the rest of the women and introduces herself to the main for the first time as Mrs. Foster.

Act One ends with the beginning of the first flashback where we are introduced to TRISTAN FOSTIN, Jessica’s male name when she was five years old, an energetic and charismatic child. He lives in Elchester, Alabama with a fairly middle class family. Tension amongst KITA and JAMES, Tristan’s parents, arise at dinner when Tristan reveals that he was beginning to be abused in school and inquired as to what the word “gay” meant.

After dinner, Kita and James argue as James blames Kita’s feminization of Tristan as the root of his weird behavior. MARIE, a family friend that lives with the Fostin’s, defends Tristan’s behavior and believes that it is all being blown out of proportion and they are blaming the victim for the abusive behavior of his classmates. The argument ends there, but, unknowing to them, Tristan was listening to the whole conversation. The next day at school, Tristan shows his first signs of rejecting masculinity when a guest speaker insists that they all sit according to gender, and Tristan sits in the way that was instructed for the women.

Back at the brothel, Jessica is rejecting all the men that come up to her and makes her offers until Amanda comes and gives her some tough love as to the reality of the world that she signed up for. She has to have sex with them if she wants to keep working there and not be out in the streets like before. Jessica, infuriated with Amanda’s claims, proves she can handle the work by succumbing to the first man that she sees afterwards.

After Jessica’s first paid sexual encounter, Amanda grabs Jessica and they both sneak out of the brothel, even though the rules state they are not supposed to have unauthorized departures. Amanda refuses to disclose their destination, however, she reveals to Jessica her dark past of how she ended up at XPRESS. Her parents kicked her out when she came out as being bisexual, her mother almost killed her, and she was homeless on the streets of Chicago. Luckily, LUIS, her pimp, found her and managed to hook her up with some jobs drug dealing and working at safe brothels. With the money she makes, she sends money to her brothers. She has been working overtime the past few weeks, however, because she wants her youngest brother, who has a medical condition where he was born in a vegetative state, to have an all expense paid trip to Disney world.

They arrive to the location, a dark alley way in the outskirts of Las Vegas, filled with street walkers, the complete opposite image of XPRESS. Amanda meets with MIGUEL, one of Luis’s right hand men, and pays him her week’s worth. Jessica walks behind her confused as to the purpose of them being there. Amanda told her to remain quiet. However, after Miguel tries to manhandle Amanda, Jessica steps in and gets grabbed by the neck until they both manage to escape.

Back at the brothel, Jessica is furious at the dangers that Amanda put her in, and in her rage slaps Amanda. Big Sis, then, sits Jessica down and reveals to her that the woman who disappeared, Penny, was a worker for Luis, as well. Luis has started getting involved in sex-trafficking circles, and he traded Penny in just like he is about to trade in Amanda, who is next on his list. Amanda didn’t know what other way to avoid it. She panicked and brought Jessica because she thought maybe that will save her from being taken. Her fate is sealed. If she leaves, her family would be killed. She can’t warn them because they won’t talk to her. The only option she had was to buy herself more time of freedom.

Next day, Jessica meets DANNY, a white high school graduate from a lower class family. Her first client to pay for the “Girlfriend Experience.” He was very antagonistic at first as he didn’t want to be there. His brother JAKE, however, felt it was a necessary experience for his 18-year-old brother to become more sexually fluent. After Jessica is fed up with Danny’s attitude and kicks him out, Danny caves and confesses that he doesn’t want to be there because he’s gay and doesn’t know how to come out to his family and deal with his homophobic brother.

In the second flashback, Tristan (12) is going through parent teacher conferences with his dad. All of the teachers seem to have an issue with Tristan’s attitude as he is constantly getting into fights and arguments with his bullies. James defends his son and condemns the teachers for taking it out on the victim for standing up to the people that are devaluing him.

Back home, Tristan talks to his sister BRITNEY about how he doesn’t know how to handle his situation at school in any other way other than violence. Britney tries to make her brother feel better by showing him her new make-up kit one of her friends gave her. Marie walks in and she is pulled into giving them both a make-up tutorial.

Tristan volunteers to be the model. He has first glimpse of seeing himself fully transformed until his parents walk in and all hell breaks loose. James drags a crying Tristan to the bathroom and tries to force the make up off until the tension builds and Tristan blurts out, “I wish I was a girl.” James almost beats Tristan until Marie interferes while a screaming Britney confronts her mother in the hallway until she is slapped and silenced. Marie is kicked out of the house for coercing Tristan’s mind, and Tristan is put into conversion therapy.

Back in the present, Jessica is getting her monthly STD checkup and makes up with Amanda over ice cream. At the brothel, Jessica helps Danny confronts his fears about talking and being involved with other men by helping set up an account at an online dating website. Danny’s anxiety increases when the guy he is hitting it off with asks for a face picture. Jessica eases his tension, and, with Jessica’s support, Danny comes out to his first person online. Next working day, Jessica and Amanda have sex after a client pays to see both of them together.

In the third flashback, Tristan’s (16) world is falling apart as he is suffering from major depression and is trying to maintain his grip on the world. He gives a heart shattering monologue about his suicidal mind to his psychiatrist that is intercut with Tristan cutting himself to the bathroom. He almost reaches death until Britney (18) breaks in and saves him. At the hospital, Britney confronts her transphobic parents who are at fault for Tristan’s suicide attempt. Kita agrees and stands up to James who has been leading the charge against Tristan’s identity and she is done with feeling at fault for her child’s gender performance. James agrees to take the steps in excepting Tristan’s desired identity and Britney suggests that he should start by addressing Tristan with the correct gender pronoun.

In the present, Jessica says what feels like a final goodbye to Amanda as she goes with Danny to a special dinner at his house for him to finally come out to his parents. On the way there, Jessica calls her parents, who she apparently hasn’t talked to since graduation, and tells them how much she loves them. James tells her how proud he is of her and how much he loves her. It is not so accepting at Danny’s house, however, as Jake feels threatened with Jessica’s presence and tries to kick them out before they reveal to much. He did not expect Danny would come out as gay over dinner. Danny’s parents, MARK AND AMY, accept Danny with opened arms and love. Jake not so much. He looks at Jessica, who he paid for to set Danny straight. So, when Jessica tells them she’s transgender, Jake bursts out of the house.

Danny and Jessica go to the park where Danny finally asks Jessica why did she go into prostitution. Jessica begins to get emotional as she states that no one wanted to hire a transwoman. They would reject her at the sight of her.

In the final flashback, Jessica, in her early stages of transitioning in college, gives a powerful spoken word about what it means to be a transwoman of color that becomes a voice over during a montage where we see Tristan surgically become Jessica and glowing with excitement and happiness. She walks the stage during her graduation with her parents and sister cheering in the crowd. The montage grows dark as, after a graduation party, she gets sexually assaulted on the street, and comes home distraught and rips up her graduation present from her sister: a new official birth certificate with her changed name and gender.

The film quickly heads to an end when a drunk Jake, and two of his drunk friends, attack Danny and Jessica in the park. Jake brutally beats up Danny. Jessica puts up a fight against his friends until they eventually stab her to death. Meanwhile, at the brothel, Amanda receives a cryptic message from a stranger. It’s a picture of her family at Disneyworld. Amanda realizes she’s out of time. She tries to escape and call her parents, but no one answers the phone. She ends up getting swooped up by Luis’s men on the streets and dragged off.

The final scene is a news broadcast that reports Jessica’s death after a sober Jake turns himself in. Danny is in the hospital, and the little media attention Jessica receives is plagued with misgendering, slut-shaming, and lack of discussion of transphobic violence. The film ends with the two news anchors smiling to the camera, waiting for the commercials to roll on.

UNTOLD