Dr James Curran, mostly known for his work at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the 1980's, pinpoints several key events and persons linked with the very first years of discoveries on HIV and AIDS.

XIX International AIDS Conference in Washington D.C. The speakers are the HIV/AIDS activists Phil Wilson and Cornelius Baker, Dr Sheldon Fields and Gregorio Millet from CDC who is also the Senior Advisor in the US Office of National AIDS Policy.

The primary focus of this documentary is on the history of how the AIDS epidemic started in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York in 1981. Many different stories are told about people affected or surrounded by HIV and AIDS in the early years of the epidemic.