The story centers on Yoshio, a poor and struggling manga artist who lives in Kitamachi. He is sent by Oyaji, the landlord of his apartment who is also engaged in other shady businesses, to help a novelist called Imori move in, and meets a recently-divorced woman named Fukuko. Yoshio is immediately bewitched by her beauty, even though she is already seeing someone else. In the meantime, Imori establishes an advertising agency, borrowing the name of a larger agency from the wealthier Minamicho, in order to sell his novel. Yoshio ends up helping with Imori's efforts, and somehow Imori and Fukuko come to live together with Yoshio.
"The Hours" is the story of three women searching for more potent, meaningful lives. Each is alive at a different time and place, all are linked by their yearnings and their fears. Their stories intertwine, and finally come together in a surprising, transcendent moment of shared recognition.
Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.
1779. Eight-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven, called "Louis", is already known as a musical prodigy. He learns to go his own way - much to the dismay of the people around him. Some years later, he meets Mozart during times of political upheaval. The unconventional genius and French Revolution are sparking a fire in Louis' heart; he doesn't want to serve a master - only the arts. Facing times of family tragedies and unrequited love, he almost gives up. However, Louis makes it to Vienna to study under Haydn in 1792, and the rest is history. Who was this man, whose music has since touched countless hearts and minds? At the end of his life, the master is isolated by loss of loved ones and hearing. Surely though, he was way ahead of his times.
Sam is a 19-year-old artist drifting through post-high school adolescence in a drug-fuelled haze, doing anything to avoid actually painting. Her art used to bring her joy, but now it wants her to destroy herself. So she does. As her insecurity spirals into a surreal nightmare, Sam's mother Penelope loses patience with her daughter's tumultuous lifestyle and gives her an ultimatum.
A dying man in his forties recalls his childhood, his mother, the war and personal moments that tell of and juxtapose pivotal moments in Soviet history with daily life.
During China's Tang dynasty the emperor has taken the princess of a neighboring province as his wife. She has borne him two sons and raised his eldest. Now his control over his dominion is complete, including the royal family itself.
A ruthless real estate agent discovers a passion for piano and auditions with help from a young virtuoso, but the pressures of his corrupt career threaten to derail his musical aspirations.
City girl marries country doctor, meets prejudice and exclusion when she tries to befriend the townspeople.
A small suburban town receives a visit from a castaway unfinished science experiment named Edward.
At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of the stern headmaster.