In 1981, an American medical journal reported on a mysterious disease affecting young men in apparent good health. In France, the infectious diseases specialist Willy Rozenbaum discovered the description of these cases and believed he recognized the same type of symptoms in one of his patients. This was the beginning of the frightening epidemic of what would eventually be called AIDS. In France, for nearly fifteen years, different spheres of society fought relentlessly. Doctors, nurses, researchers, patient associations, journalists and artists each threw themselves into this fight in their own way.