In 1973, 15-year-old William Miller's unabashed love of music and aspiration to become a rock journalist lands him an assignment from Rolling Stone magazine to interview and tour with the up-and-coming band, Stillwater.
TV cameraman Harry Hinkle is injured while filming a football game. Seeing big dollar signs, his unscrupulous ambulance-chasing lawyer brother-in-law Willie Gingrich enters the picture, and convinces Harry to overstate his injuries and claim $1 million in pain and suffering. Harry's similarly-minded ex-wife suddenly reappears in an attempt to rekindle their relationship.
The lives of Ted and Marion Cole are thrown into disarray when their two adolescent sons die in a car wreck. Marion withdraws from Ted and Ruth, the couple's daughter. Ted, a well-known writer, hires as his assistant a student named Eddie, who looks oddly similar to one of the Coles' dead sons. The couple separate, and Marion begins an affair with Eddie, while Ted has a dalliance with his neighbor Evelyn.
After his long-time girlfriend dumps him, a thirty-year-old record store owner seeks to understand why he is unlucky in love while recounting his "top five breakups of all time".
New York layabout Willie forms an unexpected bond with his young Hungarian cousin Eva when she pays him a surprise visit. Later, Eva moves in with their aunt in Cleveland, and Willie takes his best friend Eddie to see her—a visit that culminates in a strange, eventful trip to Florida.
The history of American popular music runs parallel with the history of a Russian Jewish immigrant family, with each male descendant possessing different musical abilities.
In late 1980s Los Angeles, Jacki and her all-girl punk rock band, Clam Dandy, are trying to make it big. On the verge of turning 40, Jacki decides that if the band's one last shot at the big time is unsuccessful, she will give up her dreams of stardom.
The Herlihys are a working class family from Chicago whose three children take wildly divergent paths: Brian joins the Marines right out of High School and goes to Vietnam, Michael becomes involved in the civil rights movement and after campaigning for Bobby Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy becomes involved in radical politics, and Katie gets pregnant, moves to San Francisco and joins a hippie commune. Meanwhile, the Taylors are an African-American family living in the deep South. When Willie Taylor, a minister and civil rights organizer, is shot to death, his son Emmet moves to the city and eventually joins the Black Panthers, serving as a bodyguard for Fred Hampton.
Ten strangers are summoned to a remote island and while they are waiting for the mysterious host to appear, a recording levels serious accusations at each of the guests. Soon they start being murdered, one by one. As the survivors try to keep their wits, they reach a disturbing conclusion: one of them must be the killer.
An original mix of fiction and reality illuminates the life of comic book hero everyman Harvey Pekar.
As her marriage dissolves, a Manhattan writer takes driving lessons from a Sikh instructor with marriage troubles of his own. In each other's company they find the courage to get back on the road and the strength to take the wheel.
A young Tokyo salary man and his wife struggle within the confines of their passionless relationship while he has an extramarital affair.
The marriage between Claudia and David has ended due to Claudia's addiction problems, in addition to the different psychological disorders she suffers from. Despite the dire state of their relationship, David does everything possible so that his beloved is happy and manages to lead as healthy a life as possible. That is why they both move to Galicia, where they will build a new and better life, and rediscover buried feelings.
Suburbia 1967. Eleven-year-old Susan Bradley has only one thing on her mind, and it's not schoolwork. It's Mike Nesmith of The Monkees, the popular pop group made famous in the television sitcom of the same name. Susan, with "boyfriend" Nesmith, lives in a daydream, a sixties riot of psychedelic colors and goofy, soft-focus, teenage-girl love scenes. Her well-meaning parents try to snap her back to reality, but it takes an informative copy of Teen Life to finally open Susan's eyes.
Joan Jett and Cherie Currie, two rebellious teenagers from Southern California, become the frontwomen for The Runaways -- the now-legendary group that paved the way for future generations of female rockers. Under the Svengali-like influence of impresario Kim Fowley, the band becomes a huge success.
After 15 years of marriage, Katie and her husband, Ben, have grown apart. While they keep up the facade of having a contented marriage, mostly to not worry their children, they aren't happy together and argue frequently. While the kids are away at camp, Katie and Ben decide to separate and try to reassess their relationship to see if they should stay together or split up for good.
An egotistical saxophone player and a young singer meet on V-J Day and embark upon a strained and rocky romance, even as their careers begin a long uphill climb.
Sharon Curley is a 20-year-old living with her parents and many brothers and sisters in Dublin. When she gets pregnant and refuses to name the father, she becomes the talk of the town.
A depressed rock star, maimed in an accident, is encouraged by his manager to start a new worldwide trend.
Working extremely hard to keep his hotel afloat, Paul begins hearing voices in his head. Convinced that his wife has been unfaithful, he begins to see every male guest as a potential threat. What follows is Paul's downward spiral into the madness of deranged jealousy where he finally discovers that hell is not a state of mind – hell is himself.