An Irish Catholic family returns to 1930s Limerick after a child's death in America. The unemployed I.R.A. veteran father struggles with poverty, prejudice, and alcoholism as the family endures harsh slum conditions.
A former child star torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.
With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years, a desperate man seeks revenge on his captors.
Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his drinking, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera.
A woman who runs a bar with her older sister has her life disrupted when she has a chance meeting with an old lover.
Buddy Amaral, a successful and self-absorbed Los Angeles advertising executive, switches airline tickets with a stranger just before boarding a long-delayed flight so that he might enjoy an overnight fling with a pretty Dallas businesswoman. When the plane goes down, killing all aboard, Buddy's guilt soon turns into an alcohol problem. As part of his 12-step program, Buddy seeks atonement and decides to seek out the woman he thinks he's left a widow.
Downtrodden writer Henry and distressed goddess Wanda aren't exactly husband and wife: they're wedded to their bar stools. But, they like each other's company—and Barfly captures their giddy, gin-soaked attempts to make a go of life on the skids.
A bunch of homeless people becomes interested in a rehab facility for alcoholics, run by a religious foundation. They think it will be an easy and comfortable stay/cure to sober up and get fat. But they don't know what they are getting themselves into. The staff at the foundation are very eager to treat the newcomers.
After getting into a car accident while drunk on the day of her sister's wedding, Gwen Cummings is given a choice between prison or a rehab center. She chooses rehab, but is extremely resistant to taking part in any of the treatment programs they have to offer, refusing to admit that she has an alcohol addiction.
This drama centers on Hank Chinaski, the fictional alter-ego of "Factotum" author Charles Bukowski, who wanders around Los Angeles, CA trying to live off jobs which don't interfere with his primary interest, which is writing. Along the way, he fends off the distractions offered by women, drinking and gambling.
A young man tries to get away from his disfunctional family by working with his friend, a rich boy who lives in excess and sleaze, but he will soon realize how reckless his friend is and that he is submerged in a life of crime, vice and deadly bets.
Once called "Father Frank" for his efforts to rescue lives, Frank Pierce sees the ghosts of those he failed to save around every turn. He has tried everything he can to get fired, calling in sick, delaying taking calls where he might have to face one more victim he couldn't help, yet cannot quit the job on his own.
When their regal matriarch falls ill, the troubled Vuillard family come together for a hesitant Christmastime reunion. Among them is rebellious ne'er-do-well Henri and the uptight Elizabeth. Together under the same roof for the first time in many years, their intricate, long denied resentments and yearnings emerge again.
Charlotte is an alcoholic trying to complete her first year of sobriety. One evening, when the urge to drink is so strong that she fears a relapse, Charlotte goes to see her sponsor, Jeanne, an alcoholic who has been sober for over five years. However, when Charlotte arrives at Jeanne's, she finds her sponsor in a state of drunkenness. With the roles of helper and cared-for now reversed, Charlotte decides to step in.
Penny Addams lives in a constant state of depression stemming from the trauma of her father's death when she was just a young girl. Her brother, Chase, and stepmother, Lee, work to help Penny process her grief through psychotherapy and revisiting their past, but only the revelation of long-buried family secrets -- including her mother's secret lover and the true nature of her father's death -- can bring Penny out of her intense despair.
A young man aspiring for recognition of his talents battles against his estranged father's sentiment towards him as the father deals with his own demons.
A movie star helps a young singer-actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.
Debbie was already pregnant in Indonesia before she was married to Taiwan. Her useless husband has no doubt till Debbie’s Indonesian friend visit the family...
After a night of intoxication in Glasgow, a hungover and hysterical Nick wakes up next to his boyfriend Charlie and must conceal him from his own homophobic and dysfunctional family.
Marvin, a heavy-drinking widower meets Tige, an 11-year-old orphan. With nowhere else to go, Tige moves in with Marvin and they develop a close friendship. Marvin wants to adopt Tige but knows that he is too poor to give him a good home. Then he discovers who Tige's father is a rich suburbanite who doesn't even know Tige exists. Should Marvin, and can he, give up the boy he loves, and who loves him, in favor of a stranger with the right genes and bank balance?