This is the story about Steve Sjöquist - writer, HIV activist and deacon at Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset in Stockholm. Steve was diagnosed with HIV in 1987 and he was one of the first Swedish AIDS patients to get the new antiretroviral therapy in 1996. It saved his life.

Staffan Hildebrand returns to Australia, where he started his project of documenting the AIDS epidemic in 1988, and to Cambodia where he first arrived in 1998. He interviews some of the scientists and activists who he met back then and displays some footage from the archive.

American actress Sharon Stone talks about her memories of Rock Hudson and her work with amfAR. She reflects on AIDS and stigma, how to reach out to young people, and the importance of communication in order to change the sexual behaviors of young people.

Katharina Lindahl, Secretary General of RFSU, talks about the Swedish HIV prevention campaigns by RFSU and Aidsdelegationen in the early 1990's, and the importance of targeting youth of today with messages of HIV prevention.

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.

Quarraisha Abdool Karim is an epidemiologist in Durban. She talks about the start of the South African AIDS epidemic and the South African AIDS response, health policies and campaigns. She explains why women are more susceptible to HIV than men are.

Nobel Prize Laureate Luc Montagnier answers questions on the origin of HIV, the spreading of the virus, prevention, and the possibility of a vaccine.