The film opens with a rapid montage of visuals that transport people back to the 1970s in and around Greenwich Village. Driving disco music of the time sets the pace. Using intimate interviews, the story of gay sex in the 1970s develops through characters such as Larry Kramer, Scott Bromley, Barton Lidice Beneš, and Rodger McFarlane. These characters begin to expand the elements that were visually introduced. They talk about the public sex: the streets, the piers, and the trucks.