It is 1971, just two years after the Stonewall Riots ushered in the modern gay rights movement, and the Gay Activist Alliance (G.A.A.) has already grown into a substantial organization large enough to purchase a firehouse in Soho as their headquarters and community center. Buoyed by the first flush of gay activism, Archie Cain, a rookie New York City cop, has come out at work as gay, only to find himself driven off the police force. Trying to start his life over and setting up shop as a private investigator in Greenwich Village, Archie meets Max—a vice president of G.A.A.-- one night at the waterfront.
But before they could get to know each other, Max is murdered and Archie sets out to find his killer. Following the trail that leads through the arcane politics of the early gay movement, Archie confronts FBI infiltration of the G.A.A. Organization, and the burning of the firehouse.