Karen and Barry Mason were struggling to feed their young family when they answered an ad in the Los Angeles Times in 1976. Hustler Magazine's publisher, Larry Flynt, was looking for distributors. When they took over a local bookstore, Circus of Books, what was supposed to be a sideline turned into a full-fledged immersion in the LGBT community. They were the leading homosexual porn distributors in the United States a decade later. The film focuses on their dual lives as parents and activists at a time when LGBT culture was still taboo. Among their numerous challenges were serving time in prison for a federal obscenity charge and allowing their business to serve as a safe haven during the AIDS crisis. Circus of Books provides a rare view into an untold piece of gay history, as narrated by the proprietors' own daughter, Rachel Mason, an artist, filmmaker, and singer.