Actress Raihaanun plays the female lead role as Cahaya, Syaiful's long-lost 19-year-old daughter who comes to the city to look for him and learns that her father is a transgender woman.

Lovely Man tells the story of Cahaya, a 19-year-old girl with strong Islamic values, who discovers that her long lost father Syaiful/Ipuy is a transgender woman working on the streets of Jakarta.

The story unfolds over that one night as they walk the streets of Jakarta and explains how the encounter changes their lives, as they learn about love, loss and redemption.

When they finally figure out she means Ipuy, they point her in the right direction and say he's "working" around Taman Lawang (Jakarta's infamous spot for transgender sex workers).

Other films screened were Paul Agusta's Parts of the Heart, Eugene Panji's Cita-Citaku Setinggi Tanah, Rahung Nasution's Mentawai Tattoo Revival, Yosep Anggi Noen's Peculiar Vacation and Other Illnesses, and Riri Riza's three features: Kuldesak, 3 Hari untuk Selamanya, and Atambua 39 Celsius.

Ipuy is in trouble with some local gangsters and after he sends Cahaya home with a promise never to contact him again, it's clear how the story truly ends.

"[5] Los Angeles Times film critic Betsy Sharkey praised Soeriaatmadja's work, calling it "a moving one-act play on human connections and the power of love and forgiveness to change lives".

He further noted that the film does not overcrowd itself with social context, instead letting the viewers make their own conclusions about transgender people and Muslims.