Based on a true story, the film focuses on the brief life of Teena Brandon (
Hilary Swank) who becomes Brandon Teena and claims a new male identity in the rural town of Falls City, Nebraska. There, Brandon successfully pulls off portraying a man unbeknownst to the women he's dating, eventually falling in love with Lana (
Chloe Sevigny).
He also befriends Lana's friends John and Tom. At first, Brandon's new friends like him and treat him as a buddy. But when Brandon's sexual identity is revealed, the deception triggers a spiral of horrific violence that ends in homicide.