Uptight lawyer Peter Sanderson wants to dive back into dating after his divorce and has a hard time meeting the right women. He tries online dating and lucks out when he starts chatting with a fellow lawyer. The two agree to meet in the flesh, but the woman he meets — an escaped African-American convict named Charlene — is not what he expected. Peter is freaked out, but Charlene tries to convince him to take her case and prove her innocence. Along the way, she wreaks havoc on his middle-class life as he gets a lesson in learning to lighten up.
A look at a few chapters in the life of Poppy, a cheery, colorful, North London schoolteacher whose optimism tends to exasperate those around her.
The three friends Ertan, Kemal and Mehdi live in Kiel. They are foreigners, "Kanaks", as they proudly call themselves. For them, this term is an expression of their attitude to life. The trio keeps their heads above water with small-time crooks, but over time they are drawn deeper and deeper into a maelstrom of violence and crime. On a whim, Erkan acts as the protector of two prostitutes and makes enemies of two unscrupulous pimps. After a failed robbery, Ertan ends up in prison for a short time and Kemal is deported to Turkey. However, the two proud "Kanaks" don't let this get them down, on the contrary: together, the friends now want to build a drug air bridge between Istanbul and Germany. But the dream of quick money ends in death and grief for Kemal and Ertan.
The lives of several individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts which society as a whole might find disturbing in a desperate search for human connection.
Arriving in Chicago, Henry moves in with ex-con acquaintance Otis and starts schooling him in the ways of the serial killer.
Carlo, a former mobster, is abducted by five privileged young men desperate to raise a $2 million ransom to save the sister of a friend. As Carlo plays mind games, however, his captors splinter -- each wondering whether one of their own had a hand in the crime.
With her life crashing down around her, Linda attempts to navigate her child's mysterious illness, her absent husband, a missing person, and an increasingly hostile relationship with her therapist.
A leukemia patient attempts to end a 20-year feud with her sister to get her bone marrow.
A computer programmer's dream job at a hot Portland-based firm turns nightmarish when he discovers his boss has a secret and ruthless means of dispatching anti-trust problems.
Fledgling screenwriters retreat to a quiet country manor to work on their script, but a constellation of needy characters produces constant interruptions.
In 1972, disenchanted about the dreary conventions of English life, 25-year-old Julia heads for Morocco with her daughters, six-year-old Lucy and precocious eight-year-old Bea.
Berlin, Germany. A cruel murder took place in an appartment building. Somebody bit off quite a piece of the victim's penis, who then, of course, lost a lot of blood, before being struck down at the head. Leading investigator Bernhard Kominka, being in stress due to a mentally retarded son and a problematic wife, seems to be the only one to see a lady in a red coat. After a while, his theory of her being the murderer may prove to be true, but the Cop also kind of fell in love with this new, interesting person in both of his lives: professional and private as well. Borders dissolve. His decision may be disastrous in any way.
As Agnes slowly dies of cancer, her sisters are so immersed in their own psychic pains that they are unable to offer her the support she needs.
A former vaudeville child star viciously torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.
Marion is about to divorce from her husband and takes her 15-year-old niece, Pauline, on a vacation to Granville. There, she meets an old love...
A pregnant single mother, with two children in foster care, embraces her Bay Area community as she fights to reclaim her family.
The two twelve-year-old girls Charlotte Palfy and Louise Kröger meet on a language trip to Scotland and discover that they are twins who were separated shortly after birth. Charlotte, the daughter of a music hall composer, is cool, self-confident and cheeky, dresses accordingly and listens to techno music. Louise, who grew up with her mother, an advertising executive, wears more "old-fashioned" clothes, is shy and reserved, but conscientious and orderly. Determined to play fate, the two swap roles - at the end of the journey, Louise travels as Charlie to her father, who works as a composer in Berlin-Kreuzberg, while Charlie travels as Louise to her mother in Hamburg, where she works in an advertising agency. The girls realize that getting their parents back together is not as easy as they thought.
A wealthy industrialist's wife gets into a big argument with him; to cool off, she goes on an ocean trip. He thinks she's left him for good, so he marries another woman. When his first wife returns, complications ensue.
A teenage summer in a small town in the desert, a dysfunctional family, a rock band, a can full of glue, two boys, one girl, loads of tongue kisses, dry heat, wind in Patagonia, existential angst... A teenage story in the middle of nowhere.
On the day of Karo's first communion, her parents' marital problems come to light. The ensuing separation hits her hard. Karo complains to God about her desperate situation via walkie-talkie. A gruff voice answers, eventually identifying itself as God and unwittingly providing proof of this. When Karo sees the man behind the voice, she is overcome with doubt. With the goal of reconciling her parents in mind, she forces the man into his divine role and thus to help her. The attempts staged by Karo and God to save her parents' marriage trigger a rollercoaster of emotions. In the end, Karo has grown from her failed goal and has not only found new friends for her life, but also a new perspective.