After his kid brother is killed in a street race, a champion drag-racer quits racing. However, a new kid comes to town determined to force him back into racing so he can take his title--and he's already taken his girlfriend.When his younger brother, Steve, is killed racing a hot-rod, Jeff Northup blames himself for the accident since he had built the car for his brother and had encouraged him to race it, with other boys on a special course provided by police detective Ben Merrill, who is working to reduce the city's hot-rod fatalities by providing supervision for the dangerous hobby. Jeff withdraws from participating in races on Merrill's course and, without his leadership, reverts to racing on the streets. "Bronc" Talbott, a newcomer, makes a play for Jeff's girlfriend, Lisa Vernon. Eventually, the taunting-Talbott forces Jeff into a race which results in the death of a bicycling child, and evidence seems to indicate Jeff was at fault.
Raphael is an ex-boxing champ who now trains his young brother Manu. Tony, Raphael's ex-rival, returns to town to wed his reluctant fiance Chinh. As soon as Chinh and Raphael meet, sparks fly, and soon the two are sneaking out together.
Lee Plenty is an almost broke would-be novelist and Havilland Savage is a rich and very beautiful woman and his friend. When she invites him to her home for New Year's Eve, they start to build up a romance.
Brendan is an earnest, introverted schoolteacher who, aside from his participation in the local choir, has only one passion in his life -- the movies. That is until he meets Trudy, a woman who is gregarious and adventurous beyond his imagination. His entire persona changes as he becomes enveloped in her carefree and sometimes dangerous world.
A womanizing New York adman attempts to identify the causes of, and find a remedy for, his so-called addiction to sex, in order to win the love of a woman he respects.
Roland Dane finally retires to the house he was brought up in. Lost in thoughts of his lost love Lark, he does not want to be disturbed in his last days. However, the appearance of his niece and her subsequent romance with Lark's nephew causes him to reevaluate his life and offer some advice so the young couple doesn't make the same mistake he did, all those years ago.
A budding, forbidden romance lays bare the tensions between two black communities, both descended from slaves but of disparate opportunity—the light-skinned, property-owning Creoles and the darker-skinned, more disenfranchised families of the area.
Brian Hartley has finally found the girl of his dreams in Linda. Unfortunately, he can't convince her or himself that it's really true. When she catches him with another woman, she finally decides she's had enough and vows to never see him again. Frenzied from the loss, Brian breaks into her house to try to talk her into seeing him again, but Linda and her roommates Kim and Sharon instead bind him to the bed.
As a little girl, Cindy had to witness how the shady estate agent Jason Laurence killed her mother. In the 22 years since then, he was never called to account for this crime. So Cindy decides to take vengeance herself.
Bernice, a shy young woman, leaves her safe home to go visit her flapper cousin. When her cousin tries to teach Bernice how to be much more modern, Bernice gives her much more than she bargained for.
Wealthy widower Richard Keaton engages young widow Elizabeth 'Liz' Guinness as the 4th consecutive nanny for his pre-teen, equally science-devoted son Andrew, with instructions to disturb neither. She learns of mother Alycia's fatal fall, an official suicide but was probably murder. Dad keeps Andy at a distance, so he draws towards Liz. Real danger starts when Richard's brother, novelist Blain, arrives with his friend Jillian, to sell the ancestral estate against Richard's will.
In 1880s China, young Lalu is sold into marriage by her impoverished father. Rather than becoming a bride, Lalu ends up in an Idaho gold-mining town, the property of a saloon owner who renames her China Polly and plans to sell her as entertainment for the locals. Refusing to become a whore, Lalu ultimately finds her own way in this strange country filled with white demons.
On the isle of Rhodes, Katherine, an expatriate English photographer, lives with her daughter. A young local wants to encourage tourism, so he commissions a sculpture of the Unknown Tourist for the town square; the sculptor he brings to Rhodes is Kate's ex-husband. Also there to see Kate is Sharp, an aging antiquarian and her dear friend. He has something important to tell her. As Kate, her ex, and Sharp sort out things that go back years, two English tourists bumble about, one thinking he's fallen in love with Kate, his wife thinking she's found her own lover. A rare vase, a spy, old friendships, the statue's unveiling, and off-hand English sorting-out play into the resolution.
After being given a 24-hour leave from prison, in exchange for which she’ll agree to testify against her mobster boyfriend, Cocoa hits the streets, but quickly discovers that violence lurks around every corner.
When Casey Cantrell's mother died, her last wish was that her daughter would give a letter to Lord Richard Bredon, living in the UK. When Casey arrives in London, Lord Bredon denies ever having known her mother.
Harry and Sue Lewis met in the 40s as teenagers living in the Bronx. He was an aspiring architect, she was the most beautiful girl in school, and both had a fondness for bran muffins. They fell in love, got married, moved to Los Angeles, and had two kids. While struggling with his midlife crisis, Harry receives an invitation for his high school's reunion back so he takes Sue and their teenage kids on a cross-country car trip back to the Big Apple. Will they see in the Bronx what they expected? Will the good memories from their past help rekindle their fading love? Is it too late to dream?