Pier Kids' interrogates the meaning of community, both within at-risk LGBT youth of color and in the larger gay community as well. Casper, a trans-attracted young black man, is left vulnerable in his pursuit for true love, all the while navigating homelessness.

Desean is at a critical point in his life: he must navigate whether the best alternative to escaping homelessness is to commit a crime or become HIV+. Krystal utilizes the ballroom scene as a way to survive, but when her gay family proves unable to help her, she is forced to go back to her blood family for support. When Krystal and her birth mother are face to face, they realize that the only thing they can agree on when it comes to Krystal’s identity is their mutual love of gospel. Pier Kids puts the viewer in the skin of the pier kids it depicts, and shows what happens to gay youth when they are kicked out. The film follows these youth over the course of five years to understand what it means to be black and queer 50 years after Stonewall.