Based on the true childhood experiences of Noah Baumbach and his brother, The Squid and the Whale tells the touching story of two young boys dealing with their parents' divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980s.
Once a top rising comedian, Topper quickly falls from grace and finds himself struggling to get by in the cutthroat comedy scene of LA. His inability to face and accept his childhood has kept him from progressing. After an unexpected visit from a ghost of his past, Topper must return to Detroit to face his past and come to terms with his demons, before his dream and possibly himself dies off.
During her latest elopement, Liliane immerses herself in her family memories. Shattered by regret, loneliness and family pain, she tries to reach Paris, but to no avail. Her faith, inherited then abandoned, comes to her at decisive moments, calling forth the profane despair of a woman rejected and invariably “in hell” for eternity.
A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.
After a confrontation with one of his idols dashes his dreams of studying public speaking in college, Richard Pimentel joins the Army and ships off to Vietnam. During his service, Richard loses nearly all of his hearing. Joining a new circle of friends, including a man with cerebral palsy and an alcoholic war veteran, Richard discovers his gift for motivational speaking and becomes an advocate for people with disabilities.
Martin, a young blind photographer, is divided between his friendship with restaurant worker Andy and the exclusive love that Celia—who is terribly jealous of this new friendship—has for him.
A young American soldier, rendered in pseudocoma from an artillery shell from WWI, recalls his life leading up to that point.
A man's life seems to be falling apart. He's bored with his job, gets passed over for a promotion and, when the pressures get to be too much, he tries to commit suicide, but he even fails at that and manages only to cripple himself instead of killing himself. Forced to stay at home, he finds the role of "househusband" enjoyable--until his wife takes a low-paying job with his old company, and rapidly rises up the corporate ladder.
In one night, Lucas, Luiza and Bia remember the pains and delights of being who they are.
Freckles, a one-armed orphan tired of being tormented by others runs away eventually finding a place as a watchman in the timber camp, The Limberlost. He falls in love with Angel but feeling unworthy of her keeps his feelings silent until a near catastrophic incident reveals the bond between them.
A look at the relationship between a young blind samurai and his wife, who will make a sacrifice in order to defend her husband's honor.
One day Sammy and his younger sister Ellie happen upon a cabin where Alice, a young, partially deaf girl with epilepsy is being kept by her abusive stepfather. The three soon become friends and hope to get Alice an education and help her escape from the torture she undergoes daily. However, Alice's stepfather soon finds out about the friendship Alice has struck up and punishes her brutally. This story of friendship and youth shows that everyone is human and deserves to be treated so, no matter their disability or weakness.
Singer is a deaf-mute whose small world brings him in contact with a young girl, Mick, who cherishes a seemingly hopeless dream of becoming a concert pianist. At first hostile, Mick soon becomes friends with Singer, hoping to enlarge his small world. Three other central characters come to Singer for help also, each of them seeing in him a powerful force.
Lucas is a 19 years old deaf animator who explores life through his sketchbook. He encounters a handsome young man at his favorite library, leading him to seek a creative way to communicate with him. He chooses to set aside his beliefs and insecurities to ask him out on a date.
Margaret MacLean, who has been saved from life in a wheelchair by the miracle of medicine, vows to devote her life to caring for crippled children. She becomes a nurse in the children's ward of Dr. MacLean's hospital, but after the beloved doctor's death, his son Bob returns home from abroad and decrees that he is closing the ward and that Margaret's little charges must leave the hospital. Furious, Margaret quits her job and storms out, with Bob in pursuit. As he rushes across the street, Bob is struck by a car and must be hospitalized. During his convalescence, he realizes that he is in love with Margaret and decides to have a home built for her and her patients. Unable to locate Margaret, Bob hires detectives, who find her and bring her to the home. There Margaret finds that all her dreams have come true as she sees her little charges happily living in their new home and gladly accepts Bob's proposal of marriage
Lily has saved up a large sum of money to fulfill her dream of studying acting at an American university. On the day she receives confirmation that she has been accepted, her dysfunctional mother returns to Lily's life and tells her that she has a huge debt that needs to be paid off immediately. In one day, Lily tries to find a way to help her mother without using her savings. Lily is faced with the choice of buying her future and remaining a bad daughter, or letting it go, bending to the needs of others.
As the only surviving member of her family, deaf guitarist Kaya is sent deep into the forest to hide and learn the mysterious melody passed down through generations. In order to survive the mercenaries assigned to kill her, she must learn to play the tune to awaken a mythological power from another realm.
A deaf garbage collector happens upon a broken and discarded surfboard. The discovery plants in him dreams of becoming a surf champion. Encouraged by his also deaf girlfriend, he persists against all odds.
Ana has always been told what to do, what to wear, and what to believe. Everything changes when she forms a strong bond with her new friend Camila, much to the dismay of Ana's demanding father.
Hazuki and Aoi are classmates but their relationship outside class is fraught, and outside school non-existent. But when both girls are drawn to helping an elderly woman, they're forced to interact, confronting their differences and similarities as well as their deepest secrets.