Luke and Emma and a Gas Station Franklin Ave is a semi-autobiographical short film. Luke is mixed Asian-American, and Emma is white, and they live in 1986 small town America. They have an incidental meeting in the parking lot of a local convenience store while waiting for Luke's Thai mother and Emma's white American father to shop. It's clear they both have crushes on each other, but they proceed with caution as they have an innate understanding of the community 's prejudices reflected by their parents' interactions inside.