Rent (film) - Plot

Plot

On Christmas Eve, 1989, aspiring filmmaker Mark Cohen, and his roommate, Roger Davis, learn that the rent previously waived by their former friend and landlord, Benjamin “Benny” Coffin III, is due. At the same time, their former roommate Tom Collins shows up and gets mugged in an alleyway. Meanwhile, Mark and Roger meet with Benny, who tells them he plans to evict the homeless from the nearby lot and build a cyber studio in its place. He offers them free rent if they can get Maureen, Mark's ex-girlfriend, to cancel her protest against his plans, but they refuse.

A street drummer and drag queen, Angel, finds Collins in the alleyway and helps him up. They bond once they find out they both have AIDS. Later that night, Roger, who is HIV-positive and an ex-druggie, tries to compose his one last great song. He's then visited by his downstairs neighbour, Mimi, an exotic dancer and heroin addict, who flirts with him.

The next day, Mark and Roger are visited by Collins and Angel, who arrive bearing gifts. They invite Mark and Roger to attend Life Support, a local AIDS support group meeting. Roger turns them down, while Mark heads off to help fix Maureen's sound equipment for the protest. He runs into Joanne, Maureen's new girlfriend, who bonds with him as they discuss Maureen's promiscuity. Afterwards, Mark arrives, slightly late, at the Life Support meeting.

That night, after Mimi finishes dancing, she returns home and flirts with Roger. Roger, whose ex-girlfriend killed herself after learning she was HIV-positive, rebukes her advances and throws her out. The next day, he arrives at another Life Support meeting, much to the joy of his friends. Later, they attend Maureen's protest, while Benny has the police on standby. A riot ensues, which Mark films and sells the footage to Buzzline, a local news program. At the Life Cafe after the show, Benny criticizes the groups' Bohemian lifestyle, to which they respond with a joyous celebration of it. During the commotion, Mimi and Roger both learn that the other is HIV-positive. Roger and Mimi express their interest in each other outside the cafe.

On New Years Day, the group finds that Benny has had them padlocked from their apartment, but Angel solves the problem by breaking the lock with a garbage can. To support himself, Mark takes a job at Buzzline. After another fight, Maureen proposes to Joanne; the relationship quickly ends when Maureen flirts with another woman at the commitment ceremony. After being persuaded by Mimi, his ex-girlfriend, Benny gives the group back their apartment. Roger quickly grows distrustful of Mimi, and their relationship ends. Meanwhile, Angel's condition gets worse and she dies in Collins' arms. At Angel's funeral, the group goes their separate ways after a bitter argument.

Roger sells his guitar, buys a car, and moves to Santa Fe. He returns once he realizes he still loves Mimi. Meanwhile, Mark quits his job at Buzzline to pursue his own film. On Christmas Eve, 1990, Mark and Roger reunite with Collins, who reveals he has reprogrammed an ATM to dispense cash when someone inputs A-N-G-E-L. However, Joanne and Maureen find Mimi on the streets, near death. Mimi and Roger reconcile and he sings the song he has written over the past year. Mimi appears to die, but suddenly awakens. She tells them that she was heading to the light, but Angel told her to go back. As Mark's documentary is shown for the first time, the friends all reaffirm that there is "no day but today".