During the early 1980s, Jewish-American writer and
gay activist Ned Weeks struggles to pull together an organization focused on raising awareness about the fact that an
unidentified disease is killing off a specific group of people:
gay men, largely in
New York City. Dr. Emma Brookner, a physician and survivor of
polio (as a consequence of which she is using a wheelchair), has the most experience with this strange new disease. She bemoans the lack of medical knowledge about the illness, and encourages gay men to practice abstinence for their own safety, since it is still unknown how the disease is spread. Ned, a patient and friend of Brookner's, calls upon his lawyer brother, Ben, to help fund his crisis organization; however, Ben's attitude toward his brother is one of merely passive support, which ultimately exposes his
homophobia. For the first time in his life, meanwhile, Ned falls in love, beginning a relationship with
New York Times writer Felix Turner. The increasing death toll raises the unknown illness, by this time correctly believed to be caused by a
virus, to the status of an
epidemic, though the press remains largely silent on the issue. A sense of urgency guides Ned, who realizes that Ben is more interested in buying a two-million-dollar house than in backing Ned's activism. Ned explosively breaks off ties with his brother, not wanting further interaction until Ben can fully accept Ned's
homosexuality. Ned next looks to Mayor
Ed Koch's administration for help in financing research about the epidemic, which has now killed hundreds of gay men, including some of Ned's personal friends. Ned's organization elects as its president Bruce Niles, who is described as the "good cop" of
gay activism in implicit comparison to Ned: while Bruce is cautious, polite, deferential, and closeted, Ned is vociferous, confrontational, incendiary, openly gay, and supportive only of
direct action. Tensions between the two are clear, though they must work together to effectively promote their organization. Felix, meanwhile, reveals to Ned his belief that he is now infected with the mysterious virus. Although he continues to try to strengthen interactions with the mayor, Ned ruins his chances when his relentless and fiery personality appalls a representative sent by the mayor. Dr. Brookner gradually takes on the role of activist herself, and notes the epidemic's appearance in other countries and among
heterosexuals. Although she desperately seeks government funding for further research, her request is denied; the rejection prompts her to unleash a passionate tirade against those who allow the persistence of an epidemic that is taking the lives of homosexuals, who are already marginalized by the government. In the meantime, Ned's conflict with Bruce comes to a head, and their organization's board of directors ultimately expels Ned from the group, believing his unstable vehemence to be a threat to the group's attempts to engage in calmer diplomacy. As Felix's condition worsens, he visits Ben in order to make his
will, and in the hope of effecting a reconciliation between Ben and his brother. All of them, along with Emma, meet at Felix's deathbed. Emma unofficially weds Felix and Ned, and Felix dies immediately after. Ned blames himself for his lover's death, lamenting that he did not fight hard enough to make his voice heard. The play ends with Ned and Ben embracing. As the stage fades to black, the rate of mortality from
HIV/AIDS is shown to be continuing to increase. ==Autobiographical parallels==