In 1941 America, Kay and her husband are happy enough until he enlists after Pearl Harbor. Against his wishes, she takes a job at the local aircraft plant where she meets Hazel, the singer from across the way. The two soon become firm friends and with the other girls become increasingly expert workers. As the war drags on, Kay finally dates her trumpet-playing foreman and life gets more complicated.
Jesse, a small-time criminal, high-tails it to Los Angeles to rendezvous with a French exchange student. Stealing a car and accidentally killing a highway patrolman, he becomes the most wanted fugitive in L.A.
After witnessing her lover being murdered by his jealous wife, Angela seeks refuge in a church where she encounters a young priest named Michael, who gives her sanctuary. But the killing was not a simple act of passion, as the victim had ties to organized crime, and, surprisingly, so does Michael, whose father is a powerful don. When the priest finds himself falling in love with Angela, his religious vows and family ties are both severely tested.
An Inuit hunter races his sled home with a fresh-caught halibut. This fish pervades the entire film, in real and imaginary form. Meanwhile, Axel tags fish in New York as a naturalist's gofer. He's happy there, but a messenger arrives to bring him to Arizona for his uncle's wedding. It's a ruse to get Axel into the family business. In Arizona, Axel meets two odd women: vivacious, needy, and plagued by neuroses and familial discord. He gets romantically involved with one, while the other, rich but depressed, plays accordion tunes to a gaggle of pet turtles.
Ones works as a taxi driver in Jakarta. But his modest income does not discourage him in looking after his elderly grand father who really wishes to die soon. To make his grandpa happy, he buys him an automatic massage chair although he has to borrow the money from the boss, Rambo. However, the bills remain unpaid, so boss Rambo threatens to take his cab. Ningsih, who has just returned from Saudi Arabia, rents his taxi to return to her hometown in Indramayu by offering a big fare. Tempted by the huge sum of money he immediately agrees. But when they stop for dinner, Ones has to pay as Ningsih claims that she forgot to change her dollars. Then his car breaks down so Ones has to carry Ningsih all the way home.
An unemployed loafer who spends his time playing pool decides he's ready to look for a job so he can secure his girlfriend's parents' approval for their marriage.
Set over a single day and night in a small, Manhattan hotel, this story leads us through the lives of its temporary inhabitants. As the paths of these strangers cross, they become connected.
Yvonne is a young woman living in Quebec in the latter half of the 19th century, under the controlling influence of both her elder sister, Hélène, and the repressive Victorian society that pervades the area. Yvonne has a sensual passion that her sister hopes to extinguish by placing her in a convent. As summer arrives, a strange dream suggests a different future, and Yvonne confronts the unexpected return of both her mother and her first love.
Set in the South just after the US Civil War, Laurel Sommersby is just managing to work the farm without her husband, believed killed in battle. By all accounts, Jack Sommersby was not a pleasant man, thus when he suddenly returns, Laurel has mixed emotions. It appears that Jack has changed a great deal, leading some people to believe that this is not actually Jack but an imposter. Laurel herself is unsure, but willing to take the man into her home, and perhaps later into her heart.
Ben, an arrogant, hustling property developer is wrongly arrested and things from bad to worse when he accidentally punches a policeman at the station. Sentenced to community service at a local day centre, Ben's influence with a young tearaway forces him to question his values and he learns to see life from a different angle when he falls in love with Wendy, the centre's formidable and devoted manager...
A young woman, Tara Maguire (Robin Wright) scandalizes her provincial Irish village in the 1950s by having a baby out of a wedlock, and refusing to name the father. She has a rare beauty and every man in town desires her, especially Sergeant Hegarty (Albert Finney). The arrival of a dramatic troupe stirs things up even more, especially when she falls in love with one f the "Playboys", Tom Casey (Aidan Quinn).
Jenna Hudson and Kevin Jenner are polar opposites working for the same online publication in New York City. With both having nowhere they want to be for Christmas, they volunteer for a special writing assignment. After a snowstorm forces their plane to land in none other than Santa Claus, Indiana, the two are placed in a Christmas Wonderland and the focus of their story shifts to saving the historic town inn run by Carol and Christopher Winters. As the two overcome their differences, they also rediscover the magic of Christmas. But with the inn's fate in jeopardy and the return of someone from Jenna's past, Carol and Christopher lend a helping hand to bring Jenna and Kevin together.
Jo is chained down in a dead end supermarket job while all her friends are all out on their own separate adventures. But a chance encounter with some diamond thieves sends their separate worlds on a collision course with not only each other, but fate itself.
Three couples are followed as they struggle to have children. Pilar and Brad Coleman are both very mature, Brad already has grown up a daughter and Pilar wants to have a baby of her own. Diana and Andy Douglas are a newlywed couple with great careers. It would be difficult for Diana to conceive, so they explore other options, like surrogacy and adoption.
Charlie Winwood is an orphan who, like Diana, always wanted to have children. He is married to Barbie, an aspiring actress who isn't too enthusiastic to become a mother.