One day at his office, happily married homophobic lawyer Joe Miller is visited in his office by Andy Beckett, a gifted homosexual lawyer and Miller is shocked when Beckett reveals to him that he has been infected with AIDS. Beckett tells Miller that he wants to hire him to defend him in court and claims that his former employer Charles Wheeler and his business partners wrongly dismissed him from their corporate law firm because he has AIDS and believes Wheeler and his associates had deliberately erased his paperwork on a new court case on his computer which he managed to find a copy of his paperwork and that Wheeler and his associates did this so they could get rid of him. Miller refuses to take the case leaving Andy disappointed and months later, Miller runs into Andy at the library and Miller agrees to take the case when himself and Andy reads a book about AIDS discrimination. At the trial, a determined Miller puts aside his prejudice and sets out to prove that Wheeler and his associates conspired to have Andy fired from the corporate law firm and that they fired him because he has AIDS and that they discovered he is a homosexual which Andy for unknown reasons decided not to tell Wheeler. As the trial develops and becomes controversial, Miller clashes with Wheeler and his business partner's lawyer Belinda Conine who tries to convince the judge and the jury that Wheeler and his business partners did nothing wrong and that Andy is the villain and is not the victim and Miller confronts and questions Wheeler and his business partners about their own sexualities and as Andy's illness worsens, Andy is forced to reveal to his lover Miguel Alvarez. His family. The judge. The jury. Miller. Conine. Wheeler and his business partners that he had sex with another man at a pornographic cinema in 1984 and also reveals the real reason why he decided not to tell Wheeler that he is gay and that is was because Wheeler and his business partners made crude and offensive homosexual jokes. With time running out for Andy. Will Miller succeed in proving that Andy's claims about his wrongful dismissal from the corporate law firm is true? or will Wheeler and his business partners get away with their crime and leave a dying former employee defeated and humiliated?
Charles Wheeler takes the stand at the trial and tells Miller that the reason he fired Andy was because he worked when he wanted to and bent the rules and brought AIDS into the office. But, Andy collapses and is rushed to hospital. At the trial, Miller questions Bob Seidman and Seidman admits that he knew Andy had AIDS and that he didn't discuss it with Andy and didn't give Andy the chance to explain and that he is going to regret it for the rest of his life and the trial concludes and the jury votes in favour of Beckett and they reward Beckett $5 million for pain and suffering and punitive damages. At the hospital, the family have gathered around a frail and dying Andy and are celebrating. Miller arrives and Andy thanks Miller and Miller says goodbye and Miller and the family leaves and Andy is left alone with Miguel. Later that night, Miller is woken up by a phone-call from Miguel informing him Andy passed away. At the Beckett family home, the Becketts, Miller and Miguel gather together after Andy's funeral and they watch old home movies of Andy when he was a healthy child.
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No, but it bears similarities to events in the lives of attorneys Geoffrey Bowers and Clarence B. Cain.
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