The film deals with the harsh realities of village life and the problems of landholding The film, in an almost documentary style.
Johan and his family are Mennonites from the north of Mexico. Against the law of God and Man, Johan falls in love with another woman.
The unborn child of Mamlakat is telling her story. She is 17, beautiful and vivacious, and dreaming secretly of becoming an actress. She lives with her father and brother in a small village in Central Asia. One night she is seduced by an actor from a travelling troupe, who poses as a friend of Tom Cruise, and gets her pregnant. She tries to abort, but her father and brother become determined to find the seducer, setting in motion a cascade of comic adventures.
A woman on the run from the mob is reluctantly accepted in a small Colorado community in exchange for labor, but when a search visits the town, she learns that their support has a price.
In a small farming valley in Austria in the beginning of the 20th century a tyrannical farmer is found dead, and all the farmhands are relieved to be free of their tyrant. But the farmer was childless, so suddenly they all inherit the farm together. Now conflicts begin, as nobody is the boss and nobody has to obey.
Set in the South just after the US Civil War, Laurel Sommersby is just managing to work the farm without her husband, believed killed in battle. By all accounts, Jack Sommersby was not a pleasant man, thus when he suddenly returns, Laurel has mixed emotions. It appears that Jack has changed a great deal, leading some people to believe that this is not actually Jack but an imposter. Laurel herself is unsure, but willing to take the man into her home, and perhaps later into her heart.
After World War II, Antonia and her daughter, Danielle, go back to their Dutch hometown, where Antonia's late mother has bestowed a small farm upon her. There, Antonia settles down and joins a tightly-knit but unusual community. Those around her include quirky friend Crooked Finger, would-be suitor Bas and, eventually for Antonia, a granddaughter and great-granddaughter who help create a strong family of empowered women.
In the beginning of the 19th century, Johannes Elias Alder is born in a small village in the Austrian mountains. While growing up he is considered strange by the other villagers and discovers his love of music, especially rebuilding and playing the organ at the village church. After experiencing an "acoustic wonder", his eye color changes and he can hear even the most subtle sounds.
War journalist Paul Prior returns to his New Zealand hometown after his father’s death, rekindling strained relationships with his brother and memories of a troubled past. He befriends Celia, a curious and aspiring writer, who shares a fascination with his world. When Celia mysteriously disappears, Paul becomes the prime suspect, forcing him to confront buried secrets and uncover the dark truths of his family and community.
An American oil company sends a man to Scotland to buy up an entire village where they want to build a refinery. But things don't go as expected.
An average, everyday metalworker and volunteer firefighter content in his marriage to his childhood sweetheart finds his emotions unexpectedly stirred when he falls for a pretty waitress from a nearby town.
In May of 1983, a man turns 49 and, with his 17-year old son, journeys to the village in Baden that he left 40 years before. He wants to discover what happened then, the truth about an affair his mother had with a young Polish prisoner of war, how the authorities came to learn of it, the lovers' arrest, and the aftermath. While his son takes Polaroid photographs, he retraces the steps of his childhood and interviews those who should remember. The story is disclosed in flashbacks that focus on the lovers (Paulina and Stanislaus), on a jealous and conniving neighbor, and on Mayer, the local SS commander who wants to find a way out of inevitable consequences.
The story takes place in Ohrid, at the end of XI century. Slavic population gives resistance to Byzantium and the Christian dogma leads to the persecutions and murders. The villages are plagued with outbreak of smallpox, and all the people with the symptoms were thrown into the lime. The film follows the fate of Abraham's family as the story of survival in the Balkan intersections.
Simon, a prison guard at St. Mau, loses the trust of his inmates after a tragic accident during a routine chase. Years later, haunted by his damaged reputation, he falls into self-destructive habits in a desperate bid to reclaim his lost esteem. Unexpectedly, he reunites with Lena in a dangerous, abandoned site, forcing him to confront his past mistakes.
The arrival of the young teacher Damjan in one village in western Macedonia shakes the usual daily life of its inhabitants who belong to different religions.
60 year old woman leaves urban life and goes to live in a village to take care of her grandchildren whose parents now live in America. There she faces lots of financial hardships as the family doesn't send any money, and tries her best to provide all for their happier childhood.
The circularity of violence seen in a story that circles on itself. In Macedonia, during the war in Bosnia, Christians hunt an ethnic Albanian girl who may have murdered one of their own. A young monk who's taken a vow of silence offers her protection. In London, a photographic editor who's pregnant needs to talk it out with her estranged husband and chooses a toney restaurant.
A young man who lives and works in the big town, comes to his native village to visit his family. He meets his old love, who had finished school but can’t find job. He spends his time with old friends in the bars. At the same time, one of his friends comes from Germany full of money.
An apparently happy wife in an English village has a relationship with a local aristocrat's daughter.
After her son's tragic death, Helena abducts her employee, Lucian, and travels with him and her husband to scatter her son's ashes in Macedonia. Meanwhile, Lucian's lover struggles to provide for their son and break free from her dictatorial father.