The film is based on the real life experiences of novelist Armistead Maupin over contact he had with a young boy named Anthony Godby Johnson who claimed to have AIDS through systematic childhood abuse through his biological parents and many of their friends. Johnson had written an autobiography of his experiences which was published as "A Rock and a Hard Place: One Boy's Triumphant Story".
Many investigations were set in motion to locate Anthony, but investigators failed to bring up any substantial evidence of his existence, leading many to believe that the book and his contact with Maupin had been an elaborate hoax cleverly run by Vicki Johnson, the woman who claimed to be Anthony's adoptive mother. To date, there is still a huge controversy whether Anthony ever existed.
