BIG JOY is the story of James Broughton, a Modesto boy who grew up under a domineering mother who said that his birth was the "orgasmic highlight of her life" and appeared to hate him from that point on, especially after she caught him in one of her dresses. Fleeing to the Bay Area – where artistic expression had exploded after WWII – he developed an interest in poetry and filmmaking, making THE POTTED PSALM with avant-garde filmmaker Sidney Peterson and a few others before embarking on Maya Deren/Jean Cocteau-influenced MOTHER'S DAY on his own. He had a tumultuous relationship with future film critic, then-costume designer Pauline Kael that produced a child, before becoming very close to actor/playwright Kermit Sheets. Amidst McCarthy's persecution of homosexuals in the early fifties, Broughton and Sheets went overseas when four of his films had been accepted by the Edinburgh Film Festival. They stayed in Europe and traveled, during which Broughton would film THE PLEASURE GARDEN in 1953 which would play at Cannes where Cocteau would praise him as an "American who made a French film in England".

Returning to the San Francisco, he found himself an outsider – or rather, a precursor – to the Beat Movement which had taken hold during his absence, and in need of reinventing himself. Having broken up with Sheets, he went into Jungian psychoanalysis and became fascinated with the concept of the Androgyne and its concept of masculine and feminine parts of the individual psyche. He would end up getting married to "straighten himself out" at the encouragement of his analyst as well as filmmaker Stan Brakhage. During this period, he embraced Zen philosophy by way of British philosopher Alan Watts who "married" both Broughton and his wife. Broughton also started teaching filmmaking classes at the San Francisco Art Institute, appearing in his student films and directing THE BED which became a counterculture success. During this period, he would begin a relationship with student Joel Singer – who produced the film, partially funded through Kickstarter – with whom he would spend the rest of his days, finding and embracing his own joy and encouraging others to "follow your own weird." The narrative is interspersed with the stories of his collaborators and students – including dancer/choreographer Anna Halperin, writer Armistead Maupin, and filmmakers George Kuchar and Sharon Wood – his former wife (as well as Pauline Kael via archival recordings) and son, as well as poets, dancers, performance artists, and filmmakers that he has subsequently inspired.