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"A young peace activist escapes his repressive life in Phoenix and heads to San Francisco, hoping to find refuge and community, but finds that the struggle for survival is just as difficult as it was back home."

"Roma is a dedicated member of the women's movement who has not come to terms with her sexuality. When NOW purges lesbians from its ranks, Roma moves to San Francisco and dedicates herself to opening the first women's center in the country by women, for women."

"Part IV. 1992. The gay male and lesbian movements are merging closer and closer to being one cohesive and supportive family. The AIDS epidemic has devastated the gay male community, with Cleve, Ricardo, Ken and Richard all having tested positive for the virus, some having been close to death, but all who have watched most of their gay friends die. Both Cleve and Ricardo, and Ken and Richard have vowed to each other that they will stay with each other to the end, through what will most likely be a painful death. Those vows may be difficult to keep if and when the time comes. In their own individual health situations, Cleve has so far refused to take AZT, wanting to feel better without the drug than feel crappy with the drug, with no real proven evidence that the drug will prolong life. Cleve may have to go to \"the other side\" to get access to more promising experimental drugs. He will get some unexpected support in the matter. And under changing circumstances, Ken decides he has no other option but to request VA medical services. Ken and Richard in particular will discover what their rights are as individuals in the life and death decisions for the other. Cleve has continued to fight for gay rights, his calls having fallen on deaf ears in the White House through the Reagan and Bush administrations. He is now touring with the AIDS quilt, it not only a symbol to the memory of the fallen gay men, but what Cleve hopes will be visual reminder of what gay men are fighting for. The organized gay community does not all have the same perspective of the quilt that Cleve does, some who want to burn it. Incoming President Clinton has promised many of those rights for which Cleve has been fighting. The gay and lesbian communities will discover how much Clinton will keep to his promises in these political times. Roma and Diane have now been living together for a few years with Diane's now ten year old daughter, Annie. Although Diane has been able truthfully to tell Annie that she does not know who the sperm donor was, Annie wanting to know who her father definitively is comes much earlier than Diane or Roma had expected. If they oblige Annie's request to try and discover his identity, they may not like the outcome. And Cecilia goes through some emotional highs and lows in her desire to become a full fledged female. Part V. 1997. Annie, now in her mid-teens, is acting out, feeling like an outsider, but wanting to fit in as she sees it. That's why she dresses and acts like a Latina, to mimic her friends in their Mission neighborhood. Her outward anger is largely directed at her mothers, in they living like a \"normal\" family when she sees they aren't. When Diane and Roma discover the extent of Annie's misbehavior, they decide to take what they consider extreme action. Annie, who does see life a little differently in her new environment, decides to take a direction that she feels will get her to a short term goal. Ken is still in the VA hospital. Against regulations, he has been drinking and using illicit drugs, which may place Cecilia at risk as his sponsor, she having gotten her life on track following her gender reassignment surgery. Ken does find a kindred spirit in fellow support group member David, who Ken will discover is going through his own issues beyond the HIV. And Cleve, having moved to Palm Springs for health reasons, has felt one disappointment with the Clinton administration after another, most specifically Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act. Clinton creating a new position of Senior Advisor on Gay and Lesbian Issues does not placate Cleve. The person in that position is well-intentioned Richard Socarides. Cleve will learn that Richard is the son of Dr. Charles Socaridies, who has worked his life in the study of homosexuality being caused by an overbearing mother and absent father, and whose testimony has partly been the reason for the success of a multitude of anti-gay legal cases. Cleve will also learn that Richard is gay, and has a \"don't ask, don't tell\" relationship with his father, despite Richard knowing that his father knows he's gay. Richard also divulges to Cleve that his own growing up does not support his father's thesis, Richard who has done nothing professionally to discredit his father. In his personal life, Cleve makes an unexpected connection with a neighbor named Courtenay, a relationship with her which is a first of its kind in his life, but one which may have a difficult road because of his HIV status."

"Part VI. 2008. The legalization of same-sex marriage has had a roller coaster of a ride. The latest victory was the California Supreme Court ruling that it is a constitutional right for people of the same sex to marry each other. That led to Proposition 8 on the November ballot in California, that proposition which would overturn the Supreme Court of California ruling if it passes, which it does by a narrow margin. While the younger generation of the LGBT community have a renewed energy in taking up the fight following the Prop 8 defeat, Cleve, who saw what happened during the AIDS crisis in gay and lesbian partners having no legal rights when it came to issues of their significant other, sees a bigger picture in that there should be civil liberties for all, a fight which he sees at the national congressional level. Chad Griffin, who entered the Prop 8 fight late in the game and who is aware of Cleve's intention, tries to confirm an unfounded rumor in taking a meeting with who would traditionally be seen as the enemy, conservative lawyer Ted Olson. Confirming that rumor, Chad enters the fray with a riskier but more expeditious idea to get to Cleve's end goal. Roma, a Board of Health commissioner in San Francisco, meets one of Diane's poor cancer patients at the hospital, she unable to receive health care because she can't pay for it. As such, Roma's new civil liberties fight is to work toward universal health care in the city, and not only have subsidized health care on a disease by disease basis which is currently the case. Annie, who now has a good relationship with her mothers, has just given birth for the first time, to a daughter named Justice. Annie and her long term boyfriend Jandro are finding that they are facing financial pressures which leads to a request by Annie which she would not even have considered ten years earlier. And Ken long ago rediscovered God in his life, the church which saved him during a crisis. The City of Refuge Church, which rents out space once a week in the church Ken attends, leads Ken to what he feels is his next mission, as much for himself as for the people on the receiving end: providing meaningful support to the trans community. Part VII. 2010. \"Words have meaning\" is stated by a few characters which will play specifically into Cleve, Diane, Roma and Annie's lives. With David Boies and Ted Olson at the legal helm, the fight to bring the results of Prop 8 to the US Supreme Court first has to be fought in a front of a judge at a California District Court. If that fight is lost, their journey ends in failure. If that fight is won and is successful in the US Supreme Court, it would mean civil liberties for the LGBT community in all fifty states, and not just California. As the pro Prop 8 side has hired a powerful and astute lawyer in Charles Cooper, Cleve is concerned that he has only called one marriage expert to testify, Cleve who cannot help but believe there being a surprise twist in their argument. Boies has his more knowledgeable theory on Cooper's reasons for having only one expert witness, which may be confirmed or refuted with the testimony of that expert, Dr. David Blankenhorn. David, Ted, Cleve and Chad's fight takes an unexpected turn when Roberta Kaplan enters the fray, she representing Edie Windsor, who was presented with a $363,000 estate tax bill upon the death of her female spouse. Windsor's case aims to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act itself. In the fight, David, Ted, Cleve, Chad and now Roberta know that they have to win the hearts of Americans, most specifically the one occupying the White House, he who they hope will make a public statement in support, which may be their most difficult challenge. Meanwhile Roma seems to be in a funk despite she having won the fight for universal health care in San Francisco. Annie is the one who can see what Roma needs. That result leads to Roma and Diane being even more invested in the fight at the Supreme Court. And Ken is dismayed that many of what he would like to accomplish at the City of Refuge Church, such as the provision of food and shelter, cannot happen within their limited funds. He turns to some old friends for help in that matter, and hopes to bring his new and old churches together in that fight for more comprehensive supports for the marginalized in the name of Christian love and acceptance."

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