This film tells the US story of the AIDS epidemic starting in the early 1980's. Scientists and activists, both pioneers and youths of today, talk about research, prevention, treatment and care. They also discuss stigma, homophobia and poverty as closely related to HIV and AIDS.

In the last part of the interview with Dr Anthony Fauci he reflects on the global HIV/AIDS situation and response. He also compares AIDS to other diseases such as the Bird Flu, and discusses the specific social and socioeconomic factors of HIV/AIDS.

Annual HIV research conference arranged by IHV. Dr Robert Gallo holds a lecture on the history of medical research on human retroviruses. He also talks about the early discoveries of t-cell leukemia in Japanese patients, which led to the discovery of HTLV-1.

Gary Nabel, from the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) talks about engaging the scientific community and health personnel in HIV research and about the importance of international conferences to create these kinds of collaborations.

Marc Girard who is the general director of the Mérieux Foundation, talks about Cent Gardes and the collaboration between France and the USA, mainly represented by the Pasteur Institute and NIH, and about why HIV is such a complicated virus to find a vaccine for.