Not so much a "slow-burn thriller" with its warnings about online relationships (as it has been promoted), bwoy is a meditative character study of emotional vulnerability and escapism that both travels into some uncomfortable areas where grief and lust are in close proximity but does not really come together in spite of the studied performances of its leads. Still reeling from the accidental drowning death of his son Benjamin, Dr. Brad O'Connor (Anthony Rapp, DAZED AND CONFUSED) starts exploring his closeted sexuality via online dating. He signs up for a hook-up site, but his initial, somewhat honest profile does not attract any interest. When he recasts himself as a butch daddy and sets his current location to Jamaica, he makes contact with island youth Yenny (Jimmy Brooks) who seems to both buy into his persona yet see a gentler soul underneath. Living with intolerant relatives, Yenny finds escape in his online sessions with Brad (who has left his practice and taken a job as a telephone debt collector). Brad starts sending money to Yenny who seems reluctant to take it, but it facilitates their ability to text each other, for Yenny to purchase sexy underwear, and (to convince Brad that Yenny is not selling him a sob story for money and sympathy) a pet to assuage the younger man's loneliness. As Brad casts himself as Yenny's rescuer, he starts sending more money to him and getting into debt as he makes the promise to either come see Yenny in Jamaica or help facilitate ability to come to America and live with him; but their greater degree of emotional intimacy demands that both confront emotions and secrets that they have been keeping from each other.