An unnamed man, in the wake of a breakup, begins frequenting a peepshow arcade where closeted men meet for anonymous sex. The arcade is a strange world, one where questions of power, race, and class collide with unhinged sexual desire, with fetishes, fantasies, and even occasionally love.

The protagonist explores this curious new place, where many of society's rules are thrown out and replaced with a very specific code of conduct. After being driven to the arcade by a break-up and subsequent obsession with a cop who left him due to his fear of coming out, he compulsively returns, neurotically cataloguing the sights and sounds of the arcade, its overwhelming sleaziness, its safety and dangers.

As his adventures both within the arcade and beyond continue to escalate, he must eventually confront whether his time at the arcade is just the passing phase that his small town Texas family insists it is, or perhaps, the gateway to a new way of life.

Drew Nellins Smith's writing has appeared in Bookslut, The Believer, Tin House, The Rumpus, The Daily Beast, The Millions, and elsewhere. Arcade is his first novel. He lives in Austin, TX.