The story takes place in New York in the mid-1980s. The first scene of Millennium introduces the central character Louis Ironson. He is a Jew who lives with his gay lover Prior Walter. But Prior later finds out that he has AIDS, which is still little known in society at the time. Louis can't bear the huge pressure and abandons him and moves out. At the same time, on the other side of the city, there is a Republican lawyer named Joe Pitt. He is a Mormon and is also trying to suppress his homosexual tendencies. In the play, the notorious McCarthyist Roy Cohn offers him a very promising job, but Joe does not accept it immediately because he is worried about his wife Harper, who is addicted to Valium. As the plot progresses, Pryor finds that ghosts and angels often visit him, and they call him a prophet; Joe struggles painfully with the contradiction between his religious beliefs and sexual orientation; Louis regrets abandoning his lover and is tortured by his conscience all the time; Joe's mother Hannah moves to New York to take care of her daughter-in-law after learning that her son is a homosexual; and Roy Kahn himself is also a homosexual who is hospitalized for AIDS. The nurse who takes care of him is a black homosexual named Belize, who is a good friend of Pryor and used to be a cross-dresser; finally, Ethel Rosenberg, a communist who was executed by the US judiciary during the Cold War because of Roy Kahn's behind-the-scenes manipulation, also turns into a ghost to avenge him. The whole play is full of black humor and tragedy, with excellent dialogues, and a strong dramatic style in some places that need special effects. Most actors play several roles, such as the actor who plays Pryor's nurse, who also plays an American angel. The play contains many references to the Bible and American politics, economy, culture, race, and environmental phenomena. There are also scenes that take place in Antarctica and heaven, as well as the San Francisco earthquake and the Bethesda angel statue in New York's Central Park. Many viewers and critics believe that this play is one of the most influential dramas in the United States in recent years.