Many of Max's friends told him he looked sickly before he was hospitalized for HIV/AIDS in New York in the 1980s, but he always brushed off their comments, saying it had to do with his smoking. When Max is first hospitalized, his friends— including Quentin, Kate, Stephen, Paolo, Wesley, Ursula, and Xavier— visit him, reflecting on the disease itself and how the media treats it. The group tells their friend Aileen that she must visit Max in the hospital, that she will not contract the virus, but she says that is not why she does not visit; other friends assume it is because she is in love with Max and he has rejected her. Kate asks what Max would like besides flowers since Max has so many, and Quentin replies chocolate. So Kate buys Max chocolate, and Max constantly eats it.

Lewis, one of Max's ex-lovers, finds out about Max's diagnosis later on and is devastated but begins visiting Max. The friends discuss the mortality rate of Max's diagnosis and try to be optimistic, noting that the scientists have been rapidly and efficiently searching for a cure. After over three weeks in the hospital, Max is discharged and begins rooming with Quentin, who makes sure he is okay and helps him with tasks. Max feels tired but always tells people he is fine. Not long after, he begins trials of experimental drugs, and the friend group thinks that Max might make it, that he might not die. Friends keep visiting and new ones come in, including Yvonne who is visiting from London, making sure that Max is never lonely and has a support system.

One night after Max has been feeling fine for a while, he wakes up with a 105 degree fever in the middle of the night and is re-hospitalized. His friends continue visiting him, and Quentin keeps a notebook of who can come when. Everyone begins preparing for the worst, and Kate notes that the friends have started talking about Max as if he has already died. Max's mother flies in and stays in a hotel next to the hospital. The group notes how Nora, an ex-lover who left Max a few years back, has never visited Max. Max says how he almost likes being in the hospital and he feels fortunate to have the disease because all the love he has been shown, though the symptoms themselves are difficult and painful— though, he says, that might be the drugs talking. The friend group becomes comfortable calling it HIV/AIDS once Max starts referring to its name himself— previously, they talked about it illusive and vague terms. Eventually, the prognosis begins to look up, Max's mom returns to her home, and Max moves back into his own apartment. His friends note how sweet Max has become. Quentin and Ursula have a conversation, and Ursula mentions how in a painting you cannot convey that someone is "still" alive, only that they are alive. Quentin responds that Max is still alive.