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Two strangers meet at a gay bathhouse in New York City. Both Thomas (Gerald Jacuzzo) and Mr. Jaffe (Robert Dahdah) are first-time visitors to the baths and feel a little uneasy, but they find comfort with each other. After a bit of clumsy flirting, Mr. Jaffe opens up about his marital difficulties and some disturbing dreams he's had about his wife. Eventually he breaks down and tells Thomas that it's the anniversary of his only son's death. The drama of their intense conversation is juxtaposed with scenes of the other bathhouse denizens, who cavort and gossip in the hallways outside their room. Vapors is one of the earliest commercially released films to deal explicitly with the lifestyles of homosexual men; the film's director, Andy Milligan, knew that world intimately but is better known for his subsequent career in low-budget horror pictures.