Peter Kepler

18-year-old Angelina shuffles between school, a dead-end job, her exploitative boyfriend, and home, where her life consists of cleaning up after her alcoholic mother and protecting her younger sister from their menacing stepfather. After arranging an escape to San Francisco with her best friend Andrew, she soon finds herself dating a coke-addicted attorney and becoming immersed in the local porn industry, mentored by lesbian director Margaret, who has more than just a professional interest in Angelina's talents.

Marvin, a young aspiring writer from New York, moves to California to write a novel. He ends up rooming with a chaotic, bohemian musician named Jay. Marvin finds himself inexorably drawn into the vibrant youth culture of San Francisco's Mission District as both Jay and himself watch their worlds disintegrate. They discover that each has a lot to learn from the other. Mission is a coming-of-age story casting a spotlight on a place and time, moments before artistic aspiring types yielded the Mission to the dotcom entrepreneurs.