In Los Angeles in 1976, Christopher Isherwood begins writing his memoir. The film Flashback (narrative) to 1931 as Christopher prepares to leave England for Germany, against the wishes of his mother Kathleen. On the train he meets Gerald Hamilton, an English ne'er-do-well of Irish people descent, who suggests that Christopher take a room at the boarding house where he lives. Upon his arrival in Berlin, Christopher meets his friend W. H. Auden, who takes him to the Cosy Corner, a seedy Homosexual club populated by Male prostitution.