Dr Selma Dritz tells the story of how the AIDS epidemic started in Los Angeles and San Francisco in the early 80's and how AIDS was connected to the gay liberation movement. She also talks about the government and community responses at that time.

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.

Jonathan Mann, was a US medical doctor and influential within the World Health Organization (WHO). Here he talks about the global understanding of the disease between 1981 and 1988.

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