Jackson Brooks realizes at a young age that he was alone in a cold, harsh world. After he loses both parents and spends time in prison, he immerses himself in hard work, putting himself ahead of everyone else. By the time he is thirty-one, Jackson has cars, money, and a prestigious job with one of the largest art dealers on the East Coast. As Jackson focuses on attaining wealth, power, and respect, fate places the wrong circumstances at the right time in his life, changing everything in an instant.
When Jackson's careless actions and love for women leads him to contract AIDS, he becomes suicidal and blinded with rage. After he is overcome with the desire to hurt someone-anyone, without a care in the world he inserts a clip into his gun and before he even leaves his apartment building, initiates a ruthless killing spree that will take him across the city in search of the one who gave him a death sentence. Unfortunately for everyone in Philadelphia, the more Jackson kills, the more he likes it.
Circumstances is the gripping tale of one man's quest for success and then for vengeance after he is diagnosed with AIDS.