The First Violin

Shipped off to a Romanian orphanage to finish his sentence, a British criminal finds romance but also discovers corruption inside the facility.

Many years after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, the survivors (called hibakusha in Japanese) are still physically and emotionally devastated by the event. Kuroi Ame ni Utarete tells the interlocking stories of a group of survivors who frequent Stand Akauma, a bar: Takeshi, who lost his entire family; Tomoko, a prostitute horribly burned in the bombing; her younger brother Junji, who scrabbles on the fringes of society; Eiko, a pregnant young woman whom he loves; and Yuri, another prostitute who is determined to secure a brighter future for her blind son.

A wild boy is found in the woods by a solitary hunter and brought back to civilization. Alienated by a strange new environment, the boy tries to adapt by using the same strategies that kept him safe in the forest.

The life and journey of Hameed to find his biological mother and how his life changes when Aisha comes into his life.

When 9-year-old orphan Oliver Twist dares to ask his cruel taskmaster, Mr. Bumble, for a second serving of gruel, he's hired out as an apprentice. Escaping that dismal fate, young Oliver falls in with the street urchin known as the Artful Dodger and his criminal mentor, Fagin. When kindly Mr. Brownlow takes Oliver in, Fagin's evil henchman Bill Sikes plots to kidnap the boy.

A minister and his wife take in poor and troubled children that nobody else wants and soon they find themselves with a family of a dozen kids.

Eleven-year-old petty criminal Maroa lives with her violent grandmother Brigida in Caracas. After her boyfriend Carlos is involved in a shooting, Maroa is arrested and sent to a school where Joaquin conducts the youth orchestra, and he asks the naturally talented Maroa to join. Days now revolve around the classes that Joaquin, the shy and unconventional teacher, gives her. He is immediately interested in this talented young girl, who lacks all notion of discipline. Joaquin, the only person to offer hope in the midst of her rejection, finds that through Maroa, his world has also changed forever.

Jack Crabb, looking back from extreme old age, tells of his life being raised by Indians and fighting with General Custer.

J.C. Wiatt is a talented and ambitious New York City career woman who is married to her job and working towards partner at her firm. She has a live-in relationship with Steven, a successful investment broker who, along with J.C., agreed children aren't part of the plan. J.C.'s life takes an unexpected turn when a distant relative dies and the will appoints her the caretaker of their baby girl, Elizabeth. The baby's sudden arrival causes Steven to leave, breaking off their relationship. Juggling power lunches and powdered formula, she is soon forced off the fast track by a conniving colleague and a bigoted boss. But she won't stay down for long. She'll prove to the world that a woman can have it all and on her own terms too!

A young British girl born and reared in India loses her neglectful parents in an earthquake. She is returned to England to live at her uncle's castle. Her uncle is very distant due to the loss of his wife ten years before. Neglected once again, she begins exploring the estate and discovers a garden that has been locked and forgotten. Aided by one of the servants' boys, she begins restoring the garden, and eventually discovers some other secrets of the manor.

During the Vietnam War, Brian Anderson, a young Army medic, is stationed in Saigon. Initially apathetic and self-serving, he eventually has his heart won over by the children at a nearby orphanage where he does volunteer work. At first, a doctor named Katherine Cross has to persuade him to help the children. But soon, Brian willingly puts his career and safety on the line to provide the orphans with the food and medical supplies they need.

A sensitive girl is sent to an all-girls boarding school and develops a romantic attachment to one of her teachers.

Annie, left orphaned after the death of her mother, goes to live in an orphanage where she tells her fellow orphans stories of ghosts and goblins. The matron of the orphanage finds Annie's closest relative, the abusive Uncle Thomp. Her uncle who puts her to hard work doing hard labor on his farm, belittling her all the while. Big Dave, a neighbor and tough cow-poke sees this and comes to her aid. Dave becomes her protector. Eventually Annie goes to live with Squire Goode and his large family. There, she entertains the children of the household with her stories, but sees her abusive aunt and uncle as her chief tormentors. She tells stories of how the goblins will take away the children if they are not good. Each story she tells is illustrated. War breaks out and Dave, who Annie adores, enlists. Uncle Thomp, hearing that Dave has been killed in action, takes pleasure in telling Annie the news. Broken-hearted, Annie falls ill and dies in bed, surrounded by family.

A nun is called upon to adopt her 15-year-old nephew, and as a consequence religious, familial and sensual love become entangled.

Lah is a mahout who works his elephant at an illegal logging site in Burma. When they're about to get busted, he sends his son Saeng and his elephant to relatives in Bangkok. Saeng ends up begging the streets of Bangkok with his elephant and he comes in contact with the local mafia who wants their cut or else.

Saeng is helping his friend Nual repay her family debt by once again taking his elephant on the streets. But the money isn't any good so they decide to enter an elephant competition with a prize money more than enough to repay the debt.

After a socially conscience reporter adopts a slum orphan after she causes his brother's gang to go to prison.

After the accidental death of his son on a racetrack, Edward Milan, a wealthy industrialist, asks his nephew to find his grandson, who has been living in an orphanage for eleven years and whose existence he has just learned. But the boy, named Martineau, is suspicious of the police since he has been unjustly accused of shoplifting. He runs away when the two uniforms in charge of taking him back to his grandfather's house appear. He manages to find lodging with an old lady, a kleptomaniac at times, then with a theater prop master who is persecuted by his fiancée and finally with a lonely veterinarian.

Isolated bell-ringer Quasimodo wishes to leave Notre Dame tower against the wishes of Judge Claude Frollo, his stern guardian and Paris' strait-laced Minister of Justice. His first venture to the outside world finds him Esmeralda, a kind-hearted and fearless Romani woman who openly stands up to Frollo's tyranny.

When sixteen-year old Andy inherits her grandfather's orchard and becomes the ward of her aunt from the city, she must navigate the path to her future from a small town where choice and agency have never been options for young women.