The lives of several individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts which society as a whole might find disturbing in a desperate search for human connection.
At Pacific Palisades High, a poor Latino falls hard for a troubled girl from the affluent neighborhood.
Unpolished and ultra-pragmatic industrialist Jean-Jacques Castella reluctantly attends Racine's tragedy "Berenice" in order to see his niece play a bit part. He is taken with the play's strangely familiar-looking leading lady Clara Devaux. During the course of the show, Castella soon remembers that he once hired and then promptly fired the actress as an English language tutor. He immediately goes out and signs up for language lessons. Thinking that he is nothing but an ill-tempered philistine with bad taste, Clara rejects him until Castella charms her off her feet.
In 1950s Connecticut, a housewife's life is upended by a marital crisis and mounting racial tensions in society.
Mary’s life has been defined by a string of temp jobs and a half-hearted attempt to become a writer. But all that changes when she comes home to find her boyfriend dead in front of the TV set. During her misadventures in trying to get rid of his ashes, Mary discovers that there was much more to her couch potato boyfriend than she ever thought imaginable.
A young barista with Mild Intellectual Disorder realizes he has untapped potential, and decides that the key to reaching his goal is... a key.
When the hard-working bread-winner Katja and Hendrik the intellectual meet Saida, an illegal immigrant from Algeria, and accept to organize a "passport marriage" between her and Hendrik, they are caught up in a chain of events and feelings over which they have no control.
Love blossoms for Lily over double Meaty Boy burgers at mid-day when uber-computer nerd Jarrod comes in and leaves with free extra large fries. After gatecrashing Jarrod's party and proving her skills on the game console, Lily goes down to Jarrod's home town with him so he can settle an old score with a past school bully.
Ruthless silver miner, turned oil prospector, Daniel Plainview, moves to oil-rich California. Using his son to project a trustworthy, family-man image, Plainview cons local landowners into selling him their valuable properties for a pittance. However, local preacher Eli Sunday suspects Plainview's motives and intentions, starting a slow-burning feud that threatens both their lives.