MacReady, a gay former soldier who was stationed in Antarctica, is struggling to remember and come to terms with the attack which took many of his friends' lives. He struggles with thinking it was a Russian inside job, or an alien attack or so many other things, but it has left him feeling like a monster. When he returns to New York City, he finds a world swamped with injustice and joins a group of mostly former Black Panthers. It is there that a secret plan to bring justice is developed. MacReady decides to go out to a remote cabin and clear his head, and when he returns, he learns that many of his friends are dying of AIDS. In a final act of power, he walks into an NYPD precinct, requests a block-party form, and the leader of their group calls a bombthreat. Macready walks away.