Bent is a story of living versus survival. It concerns Max, a gay "wheeler-dealer" who leads a dissolute life of alcohol, drugs, and sporadic sex in prewar Berlin. One night he and his lover Rudy pick up the wrong man--someone who's on the Nazi's wanted list. Max and Rudy are forced to flee Berlin and live underground. Ultimately they are arrested, and sent to Dachau. En route, Rudy is murdered, but Max survives with the help of a "pink triangle" prisoner, Horst. Once in Dachau, Max makes a deal to wear a Jewish star, therefore avoiding the pink triangle, the badge of exhausting--but not dangerous--labor. As time goes by, Max and Horst fall in love. However, they can only become lovers through their imagination, and through their words. When Horst is threatened with death, Max understands, at last, that life is more than just mere survival.