Maureen Trant and her younger sibling Dani share a strong connection, but local boy Court Foster threatens to throw their bond off balance. Dani and Court meet first and have a flirtatious rapport -- but when he meets Maureen, he falls hard and they begin a passionate affair. The new couple try to keep their love hidden from Dani, but she soon learns the truth, disavowing her sister. But a heartbreaking accident later reunites the girls.
While setting up a school pageant, the parents at an elite private academy in New York City with contrastive lifestyles and professional paths reflect on their lives and marriages.
An upper-middle class family in Washington state deals with failures, infidelities and troubling secrets. Charley is 26 and still lives at home, despite his simmering anger at his father, Edward. Charley's younger brother, Tom, just dropped out of college and returned home to live. Tom's unstable new girlfriend, Marriet, has designs on joining the family, but she's hardly a calming influence on the crumbling home.
Tom McHugh quickly learns that his perfect big brother Craig isn't all he's cracked up to be while on a night on the town with the girl next door, during which Tom is harassed by unpleasant strangers, threatened by mobsters, pursued by police, attacked by an irate florist, accused of murder, and has his date kidnapped—all because everyone thinks he's Craig...and the classic 1959 DeSoto Firesweep he borrowed off his brother has two dead bodies in the trunk.
Bayou La Teche, Louisiana sizzles as the Cajun town celebrates the wedding of Splendid and Dolan. The trouble comes on the wedding night when Splendid is determined to maintain her innocence. On the other side of town Splendids' cousin has her own problems. Her man has been sleeping with Thais, the town hooker. She heads to the Tiger Cafe with gun in hand to get back her man.
Although Jason works as a department store clerk, he is also a reincarnated prince. Long ago, his beloved Jessie was snatched away from him by an evil wizard who used his powers to transform her into wooden statue. Now Jessie is in Jason's department store as a mannequin. When he encounters her, she awakens from her thousand-year sleep. They quickly revive their romance, but the evil wizard has been reincarnated as well, and he's up to no good.
Francis Ashby, a senior Oxford don on holiday alone in the Alps, meets holidaying American Caroline and her companion Elinor, the blossoming Irish-American girl she adopted many years before. Ashby finds he enjoys their company, particularly that of Elinor, and both the women are drawn to him. Back at Oxford he is nevertheless taken aback when they arrive unannounced. Women are not allowed in the College grounds, let alone the rooms. Indeed any liaison, however innocent, is frowned on by the upstanding Fellows.
Alice Tate, mother of two, with a marriage of 16 years, finds herself falling for a handsome sax player, Joe. Stricken with a backache, she consults herbalist Dr. Yang, who realizes that her problems are not related to her back, but in her mind and heart. Dr. Yang's magical herbs give Alice wondrous powers, taking her out of her well-established rut.
Barley Scott Blair, a Lisbon-based editor of Russian literature who unexpectedly begins working for British intelligence, is commissioned to investigate the purposes of Dante, a dissident scientist trapped in the decaying Soviet Union that is crumbling under the new open-minded policies.
An aging school teacher (Lansbury) at a Catholic grammar school in Minnesota questions her life's existence when she has to start battling a new bishop (Prosky). As a result she retires and moves to Ireland where she seeks an admirer (Elliott) with whom she has been corresponding for five years.
Gus is a fat cartoonist that recently won a battle against cancer, which explains his baldness. But he is also lonely. Therefore, his caring sister tries to set him up with suitable woman. But to do so, she must turn him into an irresistible man. When he falls in love with Emily, Gus takes the identity of a mysterious biker from New Zealand.
Carlos has failed in show-biz and currently works as a waiter in a Mexican restaurant. There he meets Alex and dumb footballer Bruce celebrating their engagement with her parents. Alex' father is less than thrilled of her fiancée and says he'd rather accept anybody else. Eventually Alex hires Carlos to present him as her new fiancée.
Inept private investigator Harry Dobbs meets vampish new client Miss Dolan, who wants him to follow her abusive lover. But Dobbs sets about tailing a different person entirely – a mysterious character leading a double life. Harry, however, discovers that he himself is being followed by a distaff gumshoe.
Dustin, an aspiring painter meets this woman named Christiane. Dustin is on a search for love, sex, and inspiration. When Christiane dumps him and disapears as quickly as she dropped in, Dustin embarks on an obsessive search in Southern California to search for her.
Ralph is a sexually frustrated vampire who suffers from a peculiar curse. He's condemned for eternity to watch his one true love, Mona, be murdered by a pirate wielding a ham bone. But now? Now it's 1990, and Ralph is determined to break Mona's cycle of reincarnation. His first order of business is winning her affections, which he does by starting Rockula: a rock band that's sure to stake a claim on her heart.
An illiterate cook at a company cafeteria tries for the attention of a newly widowed woman. As they get to know one another, she discovers his inability to read. When he is fired, she takes on trying to teach him to read in her kitchen each night.