San Francisco's edgy lesbian culture is the backdrop for this exploration of identity and secret lives. Alta Corral is a butch girl who makes her living as a body piercer. She's tough, wild, and hung up on her first love, a girl nicknamed Shy who was her secret lover in high school. Now in her early twenties, Alta is still searching for Shy, whose reluctant visit home to her dying mother uncovers a hidden, harrowing past. Shy Girl explores the dark territory of silence.