Widower and professor Porter Waide has his life turned upside down with the arrival of his football player brother, Bobby, who's gotten into so much trouble that he's been contracted to live with a responsible relative. This move also disrupts the lives of Porter's impressionable son, Oscar, and Bobby's perpetually annoyed agent, Dena.

During the summer of 1981, a group of friends in New York are completely unprepared for the onslaught of AIDS. What starts as a rumor about a mysterious "gay cancer" soon turns into a major crisis as, one by one, some of the friends begin to fall ill, leaving the others to panic about who will be next. As death takes its toll, the lives of these friends are forever redefined by an unconditional display of love, hope and courage.