San

San tells the life story of esteemed Mardi Gras designer Calvin San Nicholas. Growing up in poverty in the 1930s in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Calvin discovers his love for art and creation, despite adversity. After a childhood and adolescence filled with loss and trauma, San Nicholas works at a costume shop to pay for a one-way ticket to New York City to pursue an education in fashion design, with the hope of never returning to New Orleans.

Immediately, Calvin San Nicholas is swept away into the hustle of New York City. After run-ins with notable faces of the 1940s, a period of self-discovery, sexual exploration, and ultimately his first taste of success, Calvin, now calling himself by his designer name “San Nicholas”, receives a call from home. Unexpected tragedy strikes his family forcing San Nicholas to leave everything in New York behind and return to New Orleans.

San Nicholas finds himself back in New Orleans, back to being penniless, and back at square one, when, after reconnecting with an old friend and taking back his old job at the costume shop, an opportunity to work in Mardi Gras comes his way, putting his design skills to the test in ways he never thought existed in New Orleans. San Nicholas finds that Mardi Gras is where he is truly able to be himself and express himself through his art, eventually leading to his crowning as King of Mardi Gras.