Examining the poem "Howl" using only words from its obscenity trial, from an interview Allen Ginsberg gave then, and from the poem itself. The film intercuts a 1955 reading Ginsburg gives to an increasingly enthusiastic audience, the interview, scenes from his life described in the interview, surreal animation of segments of the poem, and scenes from the 1957 trial of Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who published "Howl" in 1956. Pivotal are his mother's mental illness and early death, friendship with Neal Cassady, struggles with homosexuality before embracing it, falling in love with Peter Orlovsky, and Ginsberg's take on the poem's theme - freedom of expression.