he Showtime movie "Soldier's Girl" is — like "Boys Don't Cry," "The Matthew Shepard Story" and "The Laramie Project" — based on a true and terrible story. In 1999 Barry Winchell, a decent, ordinary guy from Missouri nominated for Soldier of the Month in a crack Army infantry unit, fell in love with Calpernia Addams, a glamorous and warm-hearted transgendered nightclub performer. And he paid a grisly price for that love.

Would any of these films work as well for audiences if they didn't bear the "true story" stamp of approval? I suspect not. The first sign of growing tolerance for outsiders among television viewers is the willingness to sympathize with proof of their abuse and of their basic decency. As Calpernia tells us in the opening voice-over, "This is a love story." And in America, wanting love and happiness, having dreams, always proves that whoever "they" are, they are a lot like "us."

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When Barry Winchell (Troy Garity) is transferred to the Army's famed Screaming Eagles division, he plans a career in the military. He has had his troubles; a little misbehaving, a bit of a drinking problem. But that's all over now, he tells Sergeant Diaz, (André Braugher). The Screaming Eagles boast about their history — they were there on D-Day; they were at Hamburger Hill. Their physical drills are merciless. So are their psychological ones. The first thing Barry's roommate, Justin Fisher, tells him — with a sneer — is that he must always introduce himself as "Winchell." First names are wimpy. (As is my language here, compared with what Justin really said).

Shawn Hatosy's Justin is short, hyper and terrifying. He has a strident voice and a nervously defiant strut. He pops pills and gets drunk. He engages in machismo maneuvers; throws out boasts and insults, then claims he's kidding — the other fellow's just too dumb to take a joke. He rants about unit discipline and how army buddies should be ready to live and die for one another. It's Barry who sees his fits of rage, Barry who gets his whispered confessions of misery, Barry who becomes the object of his military-erotic obsessions.

Justin's the type (all too familiar) who lurches from angry Puritanism to angry walks on any wild side. The nearest wild side he can find near Fort Campbell, Ky., is the Nashville nightclub where transvestite and transsexual performers lip-sync pop songs in scanty, glittery costumes. This is where Barry meets Calpernia (Lee Pace). She is a tall, well-proportioned redhead with a slinky walk. She's what people used to call "a real looker." She is saving up for the sex-change operation that will make her a biological woman. She is seductive and laconic. That's why she wins Tennessee's "Miss Entertainer of the Year" contest with her sly interpretation of Peggy Lee's "Fever."

For many people, the preferred word for Calpernia right now is "transgendered." I respect the shift in terms, but I want the brute force of the old words to stand, because the story is based on brutal reactions to what those words signify.

Frank Pierson directs "Soldier's Girl" with forthright naturalism. We get suspense and tenderness. We feel the violence and the sexiness. The scenes in which Barry and Calpernia move from wary attraction to love and easy talk are charming. They have more in common than first appears: for one thing Calpernia, as the young man Scottie, served in the Navy in the Persian Gulf (with a higher rank than Barry's).

Troy Garity's Winchell is a decent, everyday guy. Mr. Garity doesn't show off — he's not afraid to be quiet, to watch and listen. This is just right for a man Calpernia calls "quiet and solid as a Chanel suit." What's missing is that streak of independence, (humor, restlessness), that would let this everyday guy take a leap into forbidden love.

The cast does fine ensemble work. Every bit player has his or her moment; for better and worse, we glimpse the men inside the sergeants played by Mr. Braugher and Barclay Hope. As the twisted 17-year-old boy who becomes the instrument of Justin's rage against Barry, Philip Eddolls is certainly scary. Since he also played one of the killers in "The Matthew Shepard Story," it might be time to strike a different note.

I save the best — Lee Pace's Calpernia — for last. Mr. Pace gives us wholly confident femininity, wit and old-time movie star power without over-easy flamboyance. It's thrilling to see how illusion and realism fuse. "I'm just the rhinestones in this story," Calpernia tells us. But these rhinestones are forever.

SOLDIER'S GIRL

Showtime, Tonight at 8, Eastern and Pacific times; 7, Central time.

Directed by Frank Pierson; Linda Gottlieb and Doro Bachrach, producers; Ron Nyswaner, screenwriter; Katina Zinner, editor.

WITH: Tory Garity (Barry Winchell), Lee Pace (Calpernia Addams), Shawn Hatosy (Justin Fisher), André Braugher (Sgt. Carlos Diaz) and Phillip Eddolls (Calvin Glover).