Simon, a deeply religious man living in the 4th century, wants to be nearer to God so he climbs a column. The Devil wants him come down to Earth and is trying to seduce him.
A farmer and his wife live in a rural part of Inner Mongolia with their three children. Chinese population control policies prevent them from having any more. The farmer sets out for the nearest town to obtain birth control. He comes upon a Russian truck driver who has ended up in a lake. The farmer takes the man back to his farm, and after initially being appalled, the Russian becomes enchanted with the peaceful life of the countryside and decides to stay. But his presence presages big changes for the peasants.
Through a series of flashbacks, four Chinese women born in America and their respective mothers born in feudal China explore their pasts.
When Tyler Davidson brings his college buddy Chase home for the summer holidays a secret is revealed that threatens to tear his perfect family apart.
A divorcee has a passionate affair with a much younger surfing instructor in Hawaii.
On Christmas Eve, Dejair, a former resistance fighter against the military dictatorship, gathers with his family in the backyard. During a Secret Santa game, the contrast between appearances and private truths emerges. A water gun gift leads Dejair to denounce the absurdity of giving a child a weapon.
Maria suffers from the strangest illness; it resembles cancer but with one distinct difference: it somehow connects Maria to the fate of a 15th century woman named Donna Maria. Maria begins to time travel, gradually discovering the absolute brutality of history. She learns that Donna Maria was a Hungarian princess taken to a Bursa harem as a concubine of Ottoman's Sultan.
Warner lives in a cramped townhouse with his wife, Claire, and their two children. While buying a house in Calgary's competitive real estate market, he learns his job isn't as secure as he'd like, and when he asks Claire to reconsider, they fight. On the same afternoon, Claire is attacked; Warner emerges as the prime suspect.
Two young brothers are abandoned by their mother during summer of 1948, they run into the forest and survive there for seven years.
15-year old Klaus Kambor, called Kurbel, is living in a village in Lusatia and already thinks of himself as an adult. He can hold a lot of rhubarb wine and has already kissed a girl. But with his new method of lawn mowing, which he thinks is brilliant, Klaus makes a big mistake: He causes a wild fire in the forest. Then he does not react adult-like at all, but shirks the responsibility, which leads to the break-up with his girlfriend Daniela. Furthermore, Klaus does not realize that several of the places he likes the most in his environment are now going to be sacrificed to mining. When Klaus becomes friends with the teacher Konzak and with the construction worker Jule, he feels understood for the first time and starts to take more responsibility.
Vincent, a reckless French boy, travels to Hungary to liquidate the home of a relative he has never seen. In an apartment cluttered with dusty objects and furniture, he is confronted not only with the past of others, but also with his own present.
Kai Wodar is the son of a German-Yugoslav couple in Vienna. His father works as Milan coach in professional football and has at the time in Austria a commitment. But Kai, the name his friends Fips, his mother can hardly know, they killed in a traffic accident. For several years he brings to a boarding school before his father, now married to the Yugoslav Gordana, brings him back to himself. For Fips begin restless years; Milan Wodar constantly changes clubs.
A rising music producer lands a career-defining record deal with everything on the line — but as the deadline looms, so does the risk of losing his family. Caught between chasing his dreams and the chaos at home, he must choose what matters most before it all falls apart.
A story about a dysfunctional father and son who are still coping with a loss, the other with a highly-stigmatized illness who are compelled to talk to one another to make ends meet and heal the wounds of their relationship.
Viridiana is preparing to start her life as a nun when she is sent, somewhat unwillingly, to visit her aging uncle, Don Jaime. He supports her; but the two have met only once. Jaime thinks Viridiana resembles his dead wife. Viridiana has secretly despised this man all her life and finds her worst fears proven when Jaime grows determined to seduce his pure niece. Viridiana becomes undone as her uncle upends the plans she had made to join the convent.
Outlaw Jesse James is rumored to be the 'fastest gun in the West'. An eager recruit into James' notorious gang, Robert Ford eventually grows jealous of the famed outlaw and, when Robert and his brother sense an opportunity to kill James, their murderous action elevates their target to near mythical status.
Promising fund manager Jae-hoon is at the brink of losing everything when his company goes bankrupt. Overwhelmed by despair, he takes an impulsive trip to Australia where his wife and son live. As his trip nears its unexpected end, Jae-hoon gets a chance to look back on his life.
Lucas and Mateo are brothers and have a distant and somewhat conflictive relationship. What seems to be just another morning becomes the beginning of a new stage in their lives. When they wake up, they notice that their mother is not at home and they wait for her to return, but that moment will never come.
Humble and introvert Muharrem lives in a solitary and meager existence of a prayer and sexual abstinence adhering strictly to the most severe Islamic doctrines.His extraordinary devotion attracts the attention of the leader of a rich and powerful Istanbul religious group and he offers him an administrative post as a rent collector for their numerous properties. Muharrem's new job throws him into the modern outside world he has successfully avoided for so long. He soon witnesses conflict attitude toward alcohol consumption and goodwill.He notices that he himself has become proud, domineering and even dishonest.To make matters worse, Muharrem's inner peace is unnerved by the tormenting image of seductive woman who tempts him in his dreams,both night and day.With the balance of his devotion now upset,his fear of God begins to eat away at his senses.
Set during the Rodney King riots, a robbery homicide investigation triggers a series of events that will cause a corrupt LAPD officer to question his tactics.