Inspired by true events, Splinters is an American family tragedy infused with love and hope. After witnessing a horrific murder by their own mother in rural West Virginia, brilliant young Gerald and his baby sister Stephanie become orphans and find very different fates. Stephanie is quickly adopted, while Gerald languishes in a series of schools for boys. Eventually Gerald joins the Army and is recruited for intelligence work in a secret facility, where he becomes addicted to stimulants. When he gets thrown out of the Army for sexual impropriety, Gerald makes his way to Los Angeles, where he finds work as a go-go dancer and meets Aziah. Young, gay, and Black, Aziah identifies with Gerald's loneliness and difficulty fitting in. The two fall in love. Then Gerald's addiction and the ghosts of his past begin to surface, and he vanishes. When Stephanie shows up in Los Angeles, she and Aziah must confront the question of whether Gerald is so far gone that he can't recover.