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.

Steve Sjöquist comments on the play "Ömheten" at Stadsteatern in Stockholm.

XIX International AIDS Conference in Washington D.C. Brazilian musical performance Carnival Champs in Rhythm of Prevention.

XIX International AIDS Conference in Washington D.C. Cutaways from the Global Village section of the conference.

Opening ceremony of the Global Village at the XIX International AIDS Conference in Washington D.C. in 2012. The Jamaican musical group The Ashe Company performs an educational musical called Safe Stupid or What. It is about youth, love, sex and HIV.

XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. Drama performance in the Global Village.

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.