
After the death of his father, young dandy Charles Grandet (Rudolph Valentino) is taken under the care of his uncle, Monsieur Grandet (Ralph Lewis). The miserly Grandet, despite being the wealthiest man in his province, forces his family to live in poverty and schemes to cheat his nephew out of his inheritance from his father.
Charles falls in love with Grandet's daughter Eugenie (Alice Terry) but Grandet condemns their love, and sends Charles away. While Charles is away, Grandet kills Eugenie's mother, which sends him further into a maddened state. Later, it is revealed that Eugenie is not really Monsieur Grandet's daughter; if she knew, then she could reclaim all of the gold that originally belonged to her mother, leaving her father penniless. Monsieur Grandet has a violent argument with Eugenie, after she finds letters sent by Charles that her father had hidden, and Monsieur Grandet accidentally locks himself in a small room where he keeps his gold. He starts hallucinating and is eventually killed after becoming frantic.
Eugenie is now left an extremely wealthy young lady, which only intensifies the pressure put on her by two competing families to marry one of the suitors. She announces her engagement, but shortly after is reunited with Charles.

As described in a film magazine, after her drunken husband Tom Eastman (Gerard) brings home three cabaret women, Lucretia (Lake) can no longer bear the abuse and turns to arctic explorer Frank Underwood (Valentino), who has long loved her and promised to come whenever she needs his help. Urging her husband to become a man and do something worth wile, Lucretia goes with him to the North seas in search of a treasure ship. Tom becomes panic stricken and turns back, while she goes on with Frank, who is on the same mission in his own ship. The two fight against temptation and win, and when their ship is destroyed on the ice they set off to civilization with a dog sled. They are saved by a government cruiser.

Marie St. Clair and her beau, aspiring artist Jean Millet, plan to leave their small French village for Paris, where they will marry. On the night before their scheduled departure, Marie leaves her house for a rendezvous with Jean. Marie's stepfather locks her out of the house, telling her to find shelter elsewhere.
Jean invites Marie to his parents' home, but his father also refuses to let her stay. Jean escorts Marie to the train station, and promises to return after going home to pack. When he arrives at home, he discovers his father has died. When Jean telephones Marie at the station to tell her they most postpone their trip, she gets on the train without him.
One year later in Paris, Marie enjoys a life of luxury as the mistress of wealthy businessman Pierre Revel. A friend calls and invites Marie to a raucous party in the Latin Quarter. She gives Marie the address but can't remember whether the apartment is in the building on the right or the left. Marie enters the wrong building and is surprised to be greeted by Jean Millet, who shares a modest apartment with his mother. Marie tells Jean she would like for him to paint her portrait and gives him a card with her address.
Jean calls on Marie at her apartment to begin the painting. Marie notices he is wearing a black armband and asks why he is in mourning. Jean tells Marie his father died the night she left without him.
Marie and Jean revive their romance, and Marie distances herself from Pierre Revel. Jean finishes Marie's portrait, but instead of painting her wearing the elegant outfit she chose for the sitting, he paints her in the simple dress she wore on the night she left for Paris.
Jean proposes to Marie. Jean's mother fights with him over the proposal. Marie arrives unexpectedly outside Jean's apartment just in time to overhear Jean pacify his mother, telling her that he proposed in a moment of weakness. Jean fails to convince Marie he didn't mean what she overheard, and she returns to Pierre Revel.
The following night, Jean slips a gun into his coat pocket and goes to the exclusive restaurant where Marie and Pierre are dining. Jean and Pierre get into a scuffle, and Jean is ejected from the dining room. Jean fatally shoots himself in the foyer of the restaurant.
The police carry Jean's body to his apartment. Jean's mother retrieves the gun and goes to Marie's apartment, but Marie has gone to Jean's studio. Jean's mother returns and finds Marie sobbing by Jean's body. The two women reconcile and return to the French countryside, where they open a home for orphans in a country cottage.
One morning, Marie and one of the girls in her care walk down the lane to get a pail of milk. Marie and the girl meet a group of sharecroppers who offer them a ride back in their horse-drawn wagon. At the same time, Pierre Revel and another gentleman are riding through the French countryside in a chauffeur-driven automobile. Pierre's companion asks him, "What ever happened to that Marie St. Clair?" Pierre replies that he doesn't know. The automobile and the horse-drawn wagon pass each other, heading in opposite directions.

American millionaire Samuel C. Adams brings his daughter Dorothy to England to see a specialist about her heart trouble. So that she will not be hounded by the press and fortune hunters, Dorothy makes herself up to look extremely plain. Impoverished Lord Paul Menford spies her without the hideous disguise and falls in love with her immediately. When he is mistaken for his uncle, the heart specialist Adams seeks, he goes along in order to meet her. Meanwhile, his agent sells the Menford family estate to Adams. When Menford finally admits the ruse, Dorothy sends him away.
Later that night, he gets drunk and goes home, only he has forgotten that he no longer lives at the Menford estate. He crawls into his old room, only to find Dorothy there. Frightened, she makes him leave and barricades the door for good measure. However, he just reenters the room through another door. When she faints, he picks her up and carries her into another bedroom. The butler, his old former servant, sees him do this.
The next morning, Dorothy comes down for breakfast, and is annoyed to find the butler has put out two table settings. When one of Paul's friends shows up unexpectedly and finds them dining together, Paul introduces Dorothy as his wife to avoid a scandal. The butler overhears, and soon the joyous "news" has spread to the village. Dorothy's father arrives. When the villagers gather outside to loudly wish the newlyweds well, Mr. Adams believes that his daughter has married as well. Paul eventually tries to clear things up, but Adams thinks he is just joking. Adams is finally convinced when he finds Paul preparing to sleep in a different bedroom from his "wife".
Having gotten over her initial dislike for Paul, she agrees to his suggestion that they get married for real. However, when she overhears Joe Diamond congratulating Paul for landing a wealthy heiress and demanding 10% as promised, the wedding is off. Paul sadly leaves.
Dorothy's father sees that she is heartbroken without Paul. Paul returns, having received a letter from her, apologizing for her behaviour and asking him to come see her before he leaves for Paris. She is puzzled (but secretly overjoyed), as she did not write it. While Paul packs some of his belongings, she goes to consult her father, who confesses that he is responsible. She begs him to do something to keep Paul from leaving. He has Paul's car sent away and creates a fake rainstorm using a hose. Paul is taken in at first, but then sees that it is only raining on one side of the house. Realizing Dorothy still loves him, Paul kisses her.

Madame L'Enigme (Laurette Taylor) is a fortune-teller whose client Mario (Warner Oland) recognises her as a woman who disappeared in a cloud of scandal after her husband's suicide.

The film takes a behind-the-scenes look at the romantic lives of three chorus girls and the way their preferences in men affect their lives. Sally is brassy, self-assured chorine in search of a sugar daddy. Irene is a romantic girl easily seduced by con men. Whereas Mary is the true heroine of the story, leaving the sordidness behind to settle down 

A baby boy is found abandoned in a Hell's Kitchen tenement and subsequently is raised by three men: a German delicatessen owner (Sterling), a Jewish tailor (Sidney), and an Irish street cleaner (Cameron). They adopt the boy and raise him as their own. The timeline jumps 20 years into their future. The now-grown Mike (Lyon) resists going to college because he does not wish to be a financial burden to his adoptive fathers, however a pretty Italian girl, Mary (Colbert) working at the delicatessen convinces him to go.
Mike enrolls at Yale and gains a reputation as a sports hero. He disavows his three fathers, which leads to the Irishman giving him a thrashing in front of the boy's best friends. He begins to associate with gamblers and ends up owing them money. To settle his debts, they demand he purposely lose the school's big rowing match with Harvard. His three fathers and the girl come to support him during the race, and he defies the gamblers and wins the race. His three fathers then come forward to confront and deal with the gamblers.

In 1857, Joel Shore (Ramon Novarro), the carefree youngest son of a seafaring family, has a flirtatious friendship with Priscilla Crowninshield (Joan Crawford), and he eventually falls in love with her. However, unbeknownst to him, Priscilla has been betrothed to Joel's much older brother, Mark (Ernest Torrence). The wedding is announced in church as a surprise, and Joel and Priscilla are both shocked, with Priscilla refusing to kiss her new husband after the ceremony.
Mark, a ship's captain, sails to Singapore, accompanied by Joel and their other brothers. Priscilla tells Joel she had no idea about the marriage and tries to kiss him, but Joel is hurt and rebuffs Priscilla's advances before he leaves. At the same time, Mark, mad about Priscilla spurning him, drinks heavily during the voyage and begins to see hallucinations of Priscilla. He senses that Priscilla loves someone else and threatens to harm whoever it is, but Joel tells him she does not love anyone but Mark. Mark continues to drink once they arrive in Singapore, but a conspiratorial crew led by Finch (Jim Mason) sails from Singapore without him, with Mark killed in a bar fight. Joel is put in handcuffs for allegedly not coming to his brother's aid during the fight.
Reaching home, Joel is freed; he finds Priscilla, and, taking her with him, he returns to Singapore for Mark, as he does not believe Mark is dead. They arrive in Singapore six months after having left, and find Mark a drunken mess. Mark sees that Priscilla does not love him, and he steps aside for his brother.

Buster (Buster Keaton), a sidewalk tintype portrait photographer in New York City, develops a crush on Sally (Marceline Day), a secretary who works for MGM Newsreels. To be near her, he purchases an old film camera, emptying his bank account, and attempts to get a job as one of MGM's filmers. Harold (Harold Goodwin), an MGM cameraman who has designs on Sally himself, mocks his ambition.
Sally, however, encourages Buster and suggests he film anything and everything. Buster's first attempts show his total lack of experience. He double exposes or over exposes much of the footage, and the rest is simply no good. Despite this setback, Sally agrees to go out with Buster, after her Sunday date cancels. They go to the city plunge (pool), where Buster gets involved in numerous mishaps. Later, Harold offers Sally a ride home; Buster has to sit in the rumble seat, where he gets drenched in the rain.
The next day, Sally gives him a hot tip she has just received that something big is going to happen in Chinatown. In his rush to get there, he accidentally runs into an organ grinder, who falls and apparently kills his monkey. A nearby cop makes Buster pay for the monkey and take its body with him. The monkey turns out only to be dazed and joins Buster on his venture.
In Chinatown, Buster films the outbreak of a Tong War, narrowly escaping death on several occasions. At the end, he is rescued from Tong members by the timely arrival of the police, led by a cop (Harry Gribbon) who had been the unintentional victim of several of Buster's antics over the last few days. The cop tries to have him committed to the mental hospital, but Buster makes his escape with his camera intact.
Returning to MGM, Buster and the newsreel company's boss are dismayed to find that he apparently forgot to load film into his camera. When Sally finds herself in trouble for giving Buster the tip, Buster offers to make amends by leaving MGM alone once and for all.
Buster returns to his old job, but does not give up on filming, setting up to record a boat race. He then discovers that he has Tong footage after all; the mischievous monkey had switched the reels. Sally and Harold are speeding along in one of the boats. When Harold makes too sharp a turn, the two are thrown into the river. Harold saves himself, but Sally is trapped by the circling boat. Buster stops filming to jump in and rescues her. The monkey gets behind the camera to film the daring rescue. When Buster rushes to a drug store to get medical supplies to revive her, Harold returns and takes credit for the rescue. The two go off, leaving the broken-hearted Buster behind.
Buster decides to send his Tong footage to MGM free of charge. The boss decides to screen it for Harold and Sally for laughs, but is thrilled by what he sees, calling it the best camerawork he has seen in years. They also see footage of Buster's boat footage and the monkey's shot of Buster's rescue of Sally. The boss sends Sally to get Buster. She tells him he is in for a great reception. Buster assumes a ticker-tape parade is in his honor, whereas it is really for Charles Lindbergh.

After finding out her father and his estate is in danger, Princess Emanuella saves his life by marrying Duke Cathos de Alvia, a grotesque hunchback. She actually is in love with Leonardo, his attractive younger brother. They already had an affair before the marriage, but continue secretly meeting each other. In the end, Cathos finds out about his wife's unfaithfulness and stabs both his wife and brother to death.

Patience Winslow (Esther Ralston) is an impulsive thrill-seeking heiress who spends most of her time going from one wild party to another. One night after attending several parties, she smashes her car and spends the rest of the night in jail. The following morning, she comes home and announces to her father (William Worthington) that she just entered into a trial marriage with one of her party companions, a much older man. Concerned about her well-being, her father abducts her aboard his private yacht and sets sail in order to prevent the ill-advised marriage.
Angered by her father's actions and determined to escape, Patience arranges for a motor boat to be lowered to the water and she soon takes off across the waves. Captain Edmunds (Gary Cooper), the young skipper of the yacht, follows after her in another motor boat. After catching up to her, Edmunds makes a daring leap into her boat. Just then a storm engulfs the small boat and the helpless couple end up swept ashore and marooned on a desert island in the Pacific.
Filled with fashionable notions she learned from popular radio dramas, Patience insists that she and Edmunds enter into a "companionate marriage" (in name only) and live together as a couple, but without the sexual entanglements. Edmunds agrees, and for three months they live out this "civilized" arrangement. Over time, however, Patience grows to love the young captain who in turn develops feelings for her. About to declare his love for her, Edmunds reconsiders because of her past actions, despite her insistence that she is no longer the spoiled thrill-seeker she once was.
One day they spot a ship which comes to rescue them. After returning to civilization, the young captain wished Patience well, now that she is back among her wealthy friends. Later that night, however, as Edmunds prepares to set sail, Patience returns to him with a minister in tow. Realizing that Patience has changed and that her feelings for him are sincere, Edmunds and Patience are married.


Dolly "Angel Face" Morgan is a parolee out to fleece any wealthy man who is taken in by her looks. She is recognized by two fellow con artists, Gwen and Brad. Since she needs some help, she allows them to help "pull a job," shaking down a wealthy man for $10,000 after her outraged "husband" (Brad) breaks in and finds them in a compromising situation. But when Brad has Gwen hide the money, and tells Dolly that their victim stopped payment on his check, Dolly takes all of the money and makes a quick getaway.
Soon after, Dolly meets a young man named Steve Crandall in Atlantic City for a cement convention. Believing that he is a wealthy plantation owner, she flirts with him. When he proposes they get married that very night, Dolly is shocked, but accepts. She is packing to leave with Steve when Brad shows up, demanding his share of the $10,000. Once again, Dolly uses her wits to escape.
Dolly and Steve take the train south to his home town of Winthrop, Alabama. There Dolly is rudely surprised to discover that Steve is far from rich, nor does he own a plantation (though he lives next door to one). He is certain his invention, Enduro cement, will make his fortune, but his new wife is not so sure. Dolly has grown fond of Steve, but cannot hide her disappointment from him. That evening, she has him take her to a train for New York. The next morning, however, Steve returns to his room to find Dolly curled up in a chair. She is in love with him and has decided to reform, though she keeps her past a secret.
Brad and Gwen track her down, certain she has landed yet another rich sucker. They are surprised to find her living in modest circumstances. Dolly tells them that she has fallen for a poor man, but they do not believe her. To get rid of them, she gives them the $10,000. However, Steve receives a telegram informing him that a company has bought his cement formula for $100,000. Overjoyed, he rushes home and tells Dolly, his mother, and "cousins" Brad and Gwen.
Brad and Gwen blackmail Dolly into a scheme to part Steve from his new-found riches. Brad invites the couple to stay with him in New York City. Just as Steve is about to sign Brad's contract, Dolly cannot take it anymore. She telephones the police, then tells Steve that the contract is nothing but a scam; she then confesses to Steve that she herself is a crook and that she only married him in order to fleece him. Steve is devastated.
The cops show up and take her away. Steve begs Dolly to come back to him, but she says that he would be better off without her. Dolly is taken to prison. Steve, however, manages to get the warden to parole her into his custody.

Hannerl (Philbin) is a young woman growing up in Old Vienna. She falls in love with two men: A young army officer who can provide her love and security and an old wealthy man who can provide her a high-class life. She doesn't know who she wants to spend her life with, but must make her decision.

Don Wilson, a famous blackface comedian, is preparing to headline a new show. Arnold Wingate, his manager, persuades him to take a weekend off in the country. When their car breaks down, they go off in search of a mechanic.
Don happens upon a ramshackle traveling theatrical stock company run by Jasper Bolivar and his daughter Ginger. One of the actors has quit, so Ginger is holding an audition. When Don asks the hopefuls in line about a garage, Ginger mistakes him for one of the applicants and chooses him as the best of a bad lot. Amused (and attracted to Ginger), he accepts the job, giving his name as "Harry Mann". Playing a dying Union soldier, Don has one line ("I love you.") and gets kissed by Ginger's character.
The show, an American Civil War melodrama, is terribly amateurish, but the audience does not know any better and applauds appreciatively. Don's friends attend the show and laugh, particularly at his hijinks. (Don repeats his line several times, forcing Ginger to kiss him over and over again.) Afterward, Ginger fires him for his bad acting.
Wingate has an idea; he signs the company for his Broadway show as a comedy act, though the Bolivars and the rest of the actors are deceived into believing their play has been appreciated. Don has Wingate stipulate that the entire cast be included, so Ginger reluctantly rehires him. He insists on a raise.
During rehearsals, Don maintains his disguise by wearing blackface. Even so, he is nearly caught out by Ginger; hurriedly putting on a costume to hide his face, Don has to invent a masquerade party as a reason, and invites her and her troupe to attend. During the party, he tries to seduce her. When she rejects him, he is pleased, certain that she has feelings for his alter-ego.
On opening night, Don has second thoughts about the humiliation the Bolivar troupe is about to face, but it is too late to do anything about it. When "Harry Mann" cannot be found, Don offers to take his place. All goes as Wingate had anticipated; the audience laughs wildly, as the confused actors continue performing. At the end, Ginger finally realizes what is going on and berates the audience, then walks out into the rain. When Don follows to console her, the rain washes away his makeup and reveals his true identity.
She and her father return to their old work. A contrite Don shows up at the audition for a replacement actor. Though Ginger turns away from him, he follows her into the tent and takes her in his arms.

In Vienna, Captain Karl von Raden (Conrad Nagel) purchases a returned ticket to a sold-out opera and finds himself sharing a loge with a lovely woman (Greta Garbo). Though she repulses his first advance, she does spend an idyllic day with him in the countryside.
Karl is called away to duty, however. Colonel Eric von Raden (Edward Connelly), his uncle and the chief of the secret police, gives him secret plans to deliver to Berlin. He also warns his nephew that the woman is Tania Fedorova, a Russian spy. Tania comes to him aboard the train, professing to love him, but he tells her he knows who she is. Dejected, she leaves.
The next morning, when Karl wakes up, he finds the plans have been stolen. As a result, he is sentenced to military degradation and imprisonment for treason. However, Colonel von Raden visits him in prison and arranges for his release. He sends his nephew to Warsaw, posing as a Serbian pianist, to seek out the identity of the real traitor and thus exonerate himself.
In Warsaw, by chance, Karl is asked to play at a private party where he once again crosses paths with Tania. She is being escorted by General Boris Alexandroff (Gustav von Seyffertitz), the infatuated head of the Russian Military Intelligence Department. Foolhardily, Karl plays a tune from the opera they attended together. She recognizes it, but does not betray him. As the party goers are leaving, she slips away for a few stolen moments with her love. The jealous Alexandroff suspects their feelings for each other. He hires Karl to play the next day at a ball he is giving at his mansion for Tania's birthday.
While Alexandroff and Tania are alone in his home office, he receives a parcel containing the latest secrets stolen by the traitor, whom he casually identifies as Max Heinrich. Later, Tania steals the documents, gives them to Karl, and sends him out via a secret passage. However, it is all a trap. Alexandroff comes in and tells Tania that what she stole was mere blank paper; he shows her the real documents. He pulls out a gun and announces that he intends to use it on Karl, who has been captured outside. She struggles with Alexandroff and manages to fatally shoot him; the sound goes unheard amidst the merriment of the party. When the guards bring the prisoner, she pretends the general is still alive and wants to see him alone. She and Karl escape with the incriminating documents and get married.

After the United States enters World War I in 1917, the limousine carrying Daisy Heath (Margaret Sullavan), a sophisticated Broadway musical theatre star, knocks down Bill Pettigrew (James Stewart), a naive young soldier from Texas. A policeman orders the chauffeur to take Bill back to camp. During the ride, he becomes slightly acquainted with the cynical, but not cold-hearted Daisy.
Upon their arrive at the army camp, Bill lets his buddies assume that Daisy is the date he had lied about. In fact, he has no one. When they find out the truth, they decide to get even. On their next leave, they take Bill to Daisy's show, so he can introduce them. However, Daisy pretends that she is Bill's girl. As they spend more time together, she begins to warm to him, much to the increasing jealousy of her wealthy real boyfriend, Sam Bailey (Walter Pidgeon), who is financing Daisy's show.
When Sam takes Daisy out for an afternoon at his Connecticut estate for the first time, she tells him that Bill has shown her what true love looks like and made her realize she actually does love Sam. She also believes that the rivalry has also given new depth to Sam's love for her.
That same day, Bill learns that his unit is finally going to ship out for the fighting in Europe. When he cannot get a leave, he goes AWOL so he can propose marriage. Daisy opts to accept so that he can sail for France with something to look forward to. Sam objects to the odd arrangement privately to Daisy, but kindly refrains from telling Bill the truth. The two marry; then Bill has to leave immediately.
He sends her cheerful letters every day. Then, a letter comes from the War Department. As Daisy is in the middle of a performance, her maid Martha takes it to Sam, sitting in the audience. When Sam opens the letter, Bill's ID tag falls out. Daisy sees it, tears fill her eyes as she realizes that Bill has been killed, but she bravely finishes singing "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile".

Although being engaged against her will with a wealthy man, Princess Orsolini (Catherine Dale Owen) is in love with Captain Kovacs (John Gilbert), a cavalry officer she is secretly meeting. Her mother Eugenie (Nance O'Neil), who has found out about the affair forces her to dump Kovacs and take part in the arranged marriage. Though not believing her own words, Orsolini reluctantly tells Kovacs she cannot ever fall in love with a man with his social position, being the son of a peasant.
Feeling deeply hurt, Kovacs decides to take revenge by indulging in blackmail, spreading a rumor that he is an imposter and a swindler. The queen fears a scandal and invites herself over to his apartment to retrieve any proof of Orsolini and Kovacs' affair, including love letters. In the end, Kovacs agrees on remaining quiet by having Orsolini spend the night with him. True love is finally reconciled.

Trader Henry Slater (Donald Crisp) stops at a South Pacific island looking to obtain a cargo of copra. He is informed that half-caste Henry Shoesmith, Jr. (Ramon Novarro) owns the largest plantation, but is rather indolent.
Meanwhile, Shoesmith is lolling around, while admirer Madge (Renée Adorée), wishes she had met him before she became a fallen woman. Then the young man hears a woman singing aboard a ship. He swims out and is strongly attracted to Tito (Dorothy Janis). She, however, rebuffs him.
When the narrow-minded Slater first meets Shoesmith, he is quite rude to the native, but soon changes his manner when he learns who the young man is. The easygoing Shoesmith does not take offense, and is delighted to be formally introduced to Tito, Slater's half-caste ward. Slater starts to bargain for copra and is pleasantly surprised when Shoesmith offers him as much as he wants for free. He takes the precaution of having Shoesmith sign a contract to that effect.
Tito eventually falls in love with Shoesmith, but Slater has other plans for her. He tells Shoesmith to stay away from his ward, using the excuse that Shoesmith has no ambition. He suggests to the naive younger man that he take out a bank loan and build up his business. Then he sails away with Tito and his copra.
Shoesmith follows Slater's advice and runs a store, but Madge warns him he does not know what he is doing (he allows every customer to buy on credit). When Slater returns, Shoesmith asks Tito to marry him. She agrees. However, Slater informs the puzzled Shoesmith that the loan payments are overdue and that he is foreclosing on all of Shoesmith's property. In addition, Slater informs his ward that he will "sacrifice" himself to protect her by marrying her himself. Shoesmith is too late to stop the wedding, but while Madge distracts the guests, he carries Tito off to his native home.
Slater finds Tito while Shoesmith is away, takes her back to his ship and starts to beat her. Shoesmith follows, and a fight ensues. The younger man wins, and he and Tito swim back toward the island. However, when they spot approaching sharks, they have no choice but to head back to Slater, pursuing in his dinghy. Slater takes Tito aboard, but keeps his rival at bay with a sword. Shoesmith swims under the boat to the other side and topples Slater into the water, where the sharks get him. The young couple return to their idyllic home.

Arden Stuart (Greta Garbo) believes that a single standard of conduct should apply to both sexes. She strives for a combination of freedom, equality, and honesty in love. Her first attempt is with chauffeur Anthony Kendall, who is secretly a disillusioned "ace aviator" and son of a lord. However their romance ends in disaster; he commits suicide when he is fired because of it.
Her longtime admirer Tommy Hewlett (Johnny Mack Brown) wants to marry her, but Arden finds fulfillment in a chance encounter with Packy Cannon (Nils Asther), a wealthy ex-prizefighter turned painter. He had planned to cruise the South Seas on his yacht alone, but she impulsively goes with him. After months of idyllic bliss however, he turns around and takes her home, explaining that he needs his full attention for his painting.
Though Tommy knows of Arden's love for Packy, he begs her to marry him anyway. She agrees. Several years go by, and they have a much-beloved son.
However, Packy returns and admits to Arden that he could not stop thinking about her. She is swept away and agrees to sail away with him. Tommy confronts his rival with a gun; he orders Packy to pretend to reject Arden, promising to arrange a hunting "accident" for himself, so that Arden can be with Packy without a scandal that would hurt his son. Meanwhile, Arden comes to realize that their child means more to her than anyone else. She tells Packy she cannot go with him. Tommy, unaware of this latest development, arranges his shooting accident, but Arden figures it out in time.

Publisher Larry Fellowes (Lewis Stone) believes that his stenographer/secretary (played by Dale Fuller) spends more time with him and makes more decisions than a wife would for her husband. He persuades author Kate Halsey (Blanche Friderici) to write a novel based on this premise.
When Larry's secretary learns of his plans to marry Linda (Natalie Moorhead), the secretary has a nervous breakdown because she is in love with him herself. A new attractive, intelligent and efficient secretary, Anne Murdock (Dorothy Mackaill), is hired while Larry is on his honeymoon. Larry, a workaholic, begins to neglect his wife working with his secretary, and they both fall in love. Meanwhile, his wife is seeing another man (played by Brooks Benedict), with whom she falls in love.
Eventually, Larry kisses Anne while they are working together at his apartment, while Linda makes love with her young gigolo, who gives her the key to his apartment and says goodnight. Linda returns to her husband (after giving them enough time to compose themselves) and tells Larry that they should go to bed as it is very late. Anne watches as Larry goes to the bedroom with his wife and closes the door behind him. She is heartbroken and decides she will give him her resignation in the morning.
Linda decides to divorce Larry. Anne agrees to marry her long-time admirer Ted O'Hara after giving her resignation. On the final day of work, Anne's sister Katherine Murdock (Joan Blondell) phones the confused Larry and explains everything, bringing about a happy ending.

Vallery Grove (Costello) is in love with Don Warren (Morris), but her mother opposes the match because he is poor and has no social standing. Don decides to terminate his engagement to Vallery after attending a party where he meets a spoiled rich girl who is interested in him.
Dolores is later introduced to Owen Mallory (Mulhall) who informs her that Don is now planning to marry the spoiled rich girl. Mallory, who has himself been recently jilted, and Vallery find comfort in each other and eventually Owen proposes to Vallery. She finally accepts, and they elope.
Once she is married, Vallery discovers that Don has broken off his engagement. She becomes uncertain about her love for Mallory and while her husband is away on business, she invites Don, who is drunk, into her house.

On an ocean liner from Colombo to Singapore, black sheep Hugh Dawltry tries, but fails to become better acquainted with fellow passenger Philippa Crosby. He is pleasantly surprised to find that they are both getting off at Khota. Ashore, she rebuffs his advances again, informing him that she has come to marry Dr. George March, Dawltry's neighbor.
Philippa is sorely disappointed by her marriage, however. George is utterly wrapped up in his work, and does not even take her on a honeymoon. As time goes by, the neglected, unhappy woman begins to find Dawltry more and more attractive. So does George's 18-year-old sister Rene. Most of the expatriate community shuns him for his involvement in a scandalous, widely publicized divorce.
One day, George plans to take a patient with a very rare disease to Colombo. Dawltry takes the opportunity to invite Philippa to dinner. Before that time, Rene invites herself into his bungalow. When she refuses to leave, Dawltry frightens her into fleeing by sweeping her up in his arms and carrying her into his bedroom.
Philippa shows up at the appointed time. Unfortunately, the patient dies and George cancels his trip. Returning home, he finds Dawltry's invitation, takes his pistol and goes to retrieve his wife. She tells him she is leaving him and drives off in their car. Dawltry sets out after her. As he leaves, he tells George it is his last chance, but George is unable to pull the trigger.


South of the U.S. border, Don José Tostado, a Mexican cabellero, falls in love with Dolores Romero, a dance-hall girl. Owning one of the larger ranches in the area, Tostado is not used to people telling him no. When Romero resists his advances, using a fictional boyfriend as her excuse, this only increases his interest in her, and his attempts to win her favor. As part of that attempt, he plans to throw a gala in her honor.
Meanwhile, Romero falls for Johnny Powell, a dealer at a nearby casino. She confides in him that she has no interest in Romero, but doesn't know how to get him to leave her alone. Powell offers to take her away and get married. They make their plans, but before they can carry them out, Tostado learns of them and hatches a plot of his own: he frames Powell for a murder and has him arrested. When Dolores hears that Tostado has paid the jailer to kill Johnny during an escape attempt, she makes a deal with Tostado to give herself to him in exchange for Johnny's life and freedom. Tostado agrees.
When Johnny is freed, Dolores makes it clear that she is no longer interested in him, and that she intends to marry Tostado. Dolores leaves with Tostado, heading for his ranch. On the way, she attempts to commit suicide, but is stopped by Tostado, who is startled to discover that she would rather be dead than be stuck with him for the rest of her life. When they arrive back at his hacienda, they are surprised by Johnny, who fights Tostado. When they police arrive, they arrest Johnny, and are ready to execute him summarily, on Tostado's orders. Dolores intercedes on Johnny's behalf, and her pleas have their desired effect. Realizing that he's beaten, Tostado calls off the police, and lets Dolores leave with Johnny.

Lois Ames (Kay Francis) is the editor of 400 Magazine, whose wealthy husband, Fred (Kenneth Thomson), pays her little attention. His interests are polo and partying. When her personal secretary, (Charlotte Merriam), can no longer take the long hours of work and quits, Lois hires Tom Sheridan (David Manners), a handsome man who happens to come by the office to demonstrate a rowing machine, as her new secretary.
Tom soon makes himself indispensable to Lois, and their long hours spent together leads them to fall in love with each other. Tom's fiancée, Ruth Holman (Una Merkel), senses something is going on and isn't happy about it. Tom's roommate, Andy Doyle (Andy Devine), uses Tom's absences and Ruth's distress to try to romance Ruth himself. Meanwhile, Lois's husband, Fred, is having an affair with Anna Le Maire (Claire Dodd). Lois finds out when she discovers a key to Anna's room in Fred's vest pocket, which she puts on Fred's pillow; nothing is said between them, but Fred now knows that Lois knows about his infidelity.
After things go too far between Tom and Lois, Tom quits and begins to plan a wedding with Ruth. Lois tries to smooth things over with Fred, but instead they agree on an amicable divorce. On Tom's last day of work, Lois keeps him busy until very late, and he misses a dinner engagement with Ruth and Andy. Ruth storms into the office, with Andy in tow, and threatens to tell Fred about the affair. Lois tells everyone about the divorce, Ruth breaks her engagement with Tom and threatens to marry Andy in revenge, and Tom asks Lois to marry him.

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas are affluent New Yorkers who are unhappy that their adult children, Ralph Thomas (Robert Young) and Phyl Thomas (Margaret Perry), spend so many evenings at parties instead of spending time with family. Their disapproval deepens when they discover both children want to move out to pursue lifestyles that the parents deem unacceptable: Phyl moves into her own apartment so that she can conduct an affair with a married man, Duff Wilson (David Newell). Her brother, Ralph, goes to Paris to pursue his dream of being a painter, thus disappointing his father who expected him to remain in the family wallpaper business. Mrs. Thomas repeatedly tries to invoke guilt in both children for not being with her, especially after Mr. Thomas dies of a stroke.
Eventually, Phyl marries her paramour and Ralph returns to New York, having failed as an artist. Mrs. Thomas dies shortly after Ralph’s return. At the end of the film, Phyl, her twin infants, her husband Duff, and her brother Ralph are all living in the family home, with a newfound appreciation for the benefits of family life. In the film’s last scene, Ralph and Duff are laughing together about how Phyl has evolved into a protective maternal figure, much like her own mother.

The departure of an ocean liner is held up to wait for spoiled heiress Anne Holt (Carole Lombard). Tony Gage (Lyle Talbot) expresses his contempt of her inconsiderate behavior to a fellow passenger, who agrees with him, even though she is the woman's paternal grandmother, Gran Holt (Louise Closser Hale). During the voyage, Anne and Tony become acquainted and fall in love, but he refuses to marry her because she is already engaged to Prince Carlos (Jameson Thomas) and because of the enormous financial gulf between them. He is too poor to even afford to buy her orchids.
Anne's father Bill (Walter Connolly) finds out and invites the man to dinner. He likes Tony very much. Eventually, Anne breaks down Tony's resistance and they become engaged.
However, there is a formidable obstacle - her grandfather Jerome Cedric (C. Aubrey Smith). He had already been foiled once before in his ambition to have royalty in the family, when his daughter married Bill against his wishes. The richest man in America, Cedric had arranged the marriage to Carlos, going so far as to finance a revolution to restore the prince to his position. When he learns of the danger to his plans, he first threatens to disinherit his granddaughter; when that does not work, he informs Anne that Bill's bank is on the verge of bankruptcy and that he will not prop it up unless she marries his choice. Heartbroken, Anne gives in and breaks off her engagement to Tony without telling him why.
When Bill finds out, he lies to Anne, telling her that he has found alternate financing to save the bank. He arranges an impromptu wedding for Anne and Tony. Then, he flies off in his plane, supposedly on business, but in reality to commit suicide.

Waitress Kitty Lane (Stanwyck) and wealthy David Livingston (Toomey) fall in love. However his overly protective mother Helen (Clara Blandick) does not approve and does everything she can to break them up. She has her friend Judge Forbes (Oscar Apfel) first try bribery; when that fails, he arranges to have her jailed on a bogus morals charge. Meanwhile, Mrs. Livingston convinces her son that Kitty took the $5000 bribe.
As the years pass, Kitty becomes a successful showgirl, with numerous admirers, while David is a doctor. When their paths cross again, their love is rekindled, though Kitty is skeptical of David's resolve in the face of his mother's unwavering opposition. David finally convinces her to marry him.
Alarmed, Mrs. Livingston goes to see Kitty. She begs her to break off the engagement, fearing her son's career will be ruined, but Kitty is unmoved. In desperation, the distraught mother pulls out a gun. Kitty manages to take it away from the confused woman, but is touched by her pleas. When David shows up, Mrs. Livingston hides while Kitty puts on an act, pretending that she only agreed to marry him to get back at his mother. David is finally convinced, but then a repentant Mrs. Livingston stops him from leaving and confesses the truth.

Marlene Underwood is a star circus performer, whose husband Walt buys the circus while their son Jimmie worships everything his mother does. Marlene leaves them both to go join a larger show, then is killed in a fire, resulting in Walt going into a downward spiral of alcohol and sorrow.
A woman called Lou helps restore Walt's faith in human nature, but she is resented by young Jimmie, who feels she is trying to take his mother's place. Walt gets back on his feet, but now must try to stop Jimmie from joining the circus himself.



Well-dressed Bill (Spencer Tracy) takes pity on Trina (Loretta Young), a hungry young woman he meets in a city park and treats her to a dinner in a fancy restaurant. After she is finished, he informs the manager he has no money. He then raises such a ruckus that the manager is all too willing to let them go. When Bill learns that Trina is also homeless, he lets her stay at his ramshackle home in a shanty town. Among their neighbors and friends are widowed former preacher Ira (Walter Connolly) and Flossie (Marjorie Rambeau), an alcoholic older woman Ira is trying to reform.
Bill is a wandering sort, unwilling to live in the same place too long. Trina falls in love with him, but wisely makes no demands that will make him feel trapped in their developing relationship. When she longs for a new stove, he raises the down payment by serving a summons on Fay La Rue (Glenda Farrell), the star of a show. Far from resenting it, Fay wants him for a playmate. He is tempted, but turns her down. Just as Bill's restless nature starts becoming too much for him, Trina tells him she is pregnant. Ira presides at Bill and Trina's wedding.
Before hitting the road by himself, Bill decides to get enough money to support his wife and future child. He agrees to help slimy neighbor Bragg (Arthur Hohl) rob the payroll from a toy factory where Bragg used to work. Ira, the night watchman, shoots Bill before recognizing him. Fortunately, it is only a flesh wound. Wanting Trina for himself, Bragg turns on the burglar alarm, but Bill gets away with Ira's help. Back home, Trina dresses the wound. Flossie suggests that Bill take Trina away with him, solving Bill's dilemma. After they leave, Bragg threatens to set the police on their track, but Flossie silences him with Ira's gun.

When Sylvia Day (Mae Clarke) is caught trying to pull a scam on the Taylor Department Store in New York City, she pleads with the store manager to let her go, but his boss, Joe Smith (Ralph Bellamy), insists on following store policy, and she is handed over to the police, convicted and sentenced to a year in prison. Sylvia is consumed with the idea of getting revenge on Joe.
She becomes friends with chatty fellow inmate Jeanie Vance (Marie Prevost), who offers to team up with her (and commit more crimes) once they have served their time. When Sylvia learns that Jeanie has a surprising connection to Joe, she decides to get out early. She sets a fire, then passes out from the smoke while trying to put it out. For her "heroism", she is granted parole.
Tony Gratton (Hale Hamilton), her partner in the failed con, tries to talk her into marrying him and going to Chicago to continue their life of crime, but she is determined to avenge herself. Besides, she knows that Tony is already married.
Sylvia stalks Joe, learning all she can about him. Then, she pretends to be an old acquaintance at a nightclub where Joe is celebrating his promotion to general manager by getting drunk. The next morning, Joe discovers her in his apartment. She informs him that they have gotten married. Joe laughs, then tells her that he already has a wife. She tells him she knows (it is Jeanie), then reveals her motives. Tony shows up, masquerading as the person who married them; he gives Joe the marriage license the couple supposedly left behind. Threatened with a charge of bigamy, Joe reluctantly agrees to support Sylvia for a year, the length of her parole.
Tony tries again to get Sylvia to be his partner in crime. When she refuses, he slips a counterfeit $20 bill in her purse. Sylvia goes on a shopping spree and pays for some of her purchases with the bill. It is traced back to her, but when a policeman shows up to take her back to jail, Joe pretends that she took the money out of his pants pocket. As a store manager, he deals with counterfeit money all the time. The ploy works, and Jeanie sends back her extravagant purchases.
Later, Joe calls her from the office and asks her for a favor. Mr. Taylor (Ferdinand Gottschalk), the store's somewhat eccentric owner, has found out that Joe is married, so he is coming to dinner at their apartment. While Sylvia is cooking, Jeanie shows up. Her friend has been released early and intends to blackmail her husband (whom she married long ago while he was in college and then lost track of), once she can locate him, before heading to Florida with Sylvia. Sylvia gets her to leave before Joe and Mr. Taylor show up (early) by promising to give her a decision the next day. Taylor insists on doing the cooking; he is fed up with being waited on by servants. He becomes very fond of the couple and hints at a promotion to vice president if they were to have a baby.
The next day, Sylvia persuades Jeanie that it is too dangerous to try blackmail in New York because of her record and agrees to go with her to Florida. Sylvia leaves a letter for Joe explaining everything, ending with the admission "I love you". On the train, however, Jeanie reveals that she divorced Joe without his knowledge. Sylvia gets off and rushes back to the apartment; Joe has already read the letter and takes her in his arms.

During World War I, Diana "Ann" Boyce-Smith (Joan Crawford) is an English girl living on her father's estate in Kent. The estate is bought by a wealthy American, Richard Bogard (Gary Cooper), who seeks to move into his new property. Right as Bogard arrives, Ann and the house's servants find out that her father has been killed in action, but Ann projects calm and brave graciousness and moves to the guest cottage without complaint. Bogard finds her strength attractive and quickly falls in love with her.
Meanwhile, her brother Lt. Ronnie Boyce-Smith (Franchot Tone) and Lt. Claude Hope (Robert Young) are both British Naval officers going off to fight in the war. Ann believes she is love with Claude, and consents to marry him. However, she soon realizes she is in true love when meeting Bogard. Though Bogard originally proclaimed his neutrality and indifference to the war, he soon joins as a fighter pilot. Ann goes to London, and though Claude is unaware of Diana's true feelings for Bogard, Ann admits her feelings for Bogard to Ronnie. Ronnie advises her to tell Claude the truth, but Ann is intent on keeping her marriage pledge. Then Ronnie shows an announcement in the paper informing her that Bogard was reported dead during a training accident.
However, there had been a mistake, and Bogard comes back unharmed. Though she is happy to see him, she disappears soon after he arrives. Bogard comes across a drunken Claude in a bar and takes him home—a home he shares with Ann. Bogard becomes jealous, and a rivalry for Ann develops between Bogard and Claude. Claude agrees to accompany Bogard on an air fight, and Bogard is surprised by Claude's expert shooting. Bogard takes a turn at Claude's shift on a boat, and Claude is blinded when hand-launching a torpedo against a German battleship.
Ann learns of Claude's blindness and says a final goodbye to Bogard, but he realizes Diana and Bogard's true feelings for one another. Diana feels it is her duty to care for Claude, and when an aerial suicide mission comes up, all three men participate, with the outcome being that both Claude and Ronnie die in action, although their boat successfully makes a torpedo run. Their sacrifice allows Bogard to survive, and although Diana is sad to lose both Ronnie and Claude, she and Bogard are reunited.

Ever since Jeff Williams (Clark Gable) was a child, he has been in love with Mary Clay (Joan Crawford). Returning from Madrid, Spain, he wants to propose to her firsthand. However, he comes to a halt, as he finds out that she is being married to Dillon 'Dill' Todd (Robert Montgomery) the very next day. The three had been friends since childhood, but no one besides the butler realized Jeff's feelings. So instead, he wishes all the best for the couple.
However, the next day, Dill doesn't show up to the altar, as it turns out that the night before the wedding, he ran off and married Connie Barnes (Frances Drake), a woman with whom he had had an affair in Europe some months before. Mary quickly gets out of her wedding dress and projects strength instead of fainting.
Although what Dill did to Mary was terrible, she still has a soft spot for him. Jeff and Mary are invited to a party at Dill and Connie's house, and the two decide to attend in order to cause some havoc and shock the newlywed couple. While the tension between Mary and Connie is palpable, Dill is shocked to see Mary. Dill and Mary share a romantic moment outside, and Connie awkwardly walks in on them. Jeff tries to smooth the situation over, but Connie remains furious.
Later, Dill calls Mary and Jeff finds out they intend to see each other. Mary knows she should not go, but the two go up to Aunt Paula's (Billie Burke) country house in Phoenicia, New York. The two share a romantic day, and they profess their love for each other. Dill calls his butler to tell him to pick them up tomorrow morning, but Connie overhears and sets off for Phoenicia. Aunt Paula also realizes the two are at her house, and goes there with Jeff in order to prevent the scandal from getting worse. In fact, the night previously, Dill accidentally burned himself, and the two did not sleep together.
As Connie arrives, Jeff and Mary pretend to be a couple, but Connie does not buy it. She wants to punish Dill for his perceived unfaithfulness, while Aunt Paula wants to avoid scandal. Connie accepts a lucrative settlement and leaves for Europe, thus leaving Dill free to marry Mary. Right before the ceremony, Jeff proclaims his love for Mary and tells her that he is leaving on a boat back to Spain. When the butler, Shep (Charles Butterworth), tells her the cornflowers sent to her last wedding were from Jeff and not Dill, Mary realizes she loves Jeff instead. She breaks off her marriage with Dill and joins Jeff on the boat—when Dill arrives at the wharf, the ship has already sailed.

At its core, The Fountain is the story of a 21st-century doctor, Tom Creo (Hugh Jackman), losing his wife Izzi (Rachel Weisz) to cancer in 2005. As she is dying, Izzi begs Tom to share what time they have left together, but he is focused on his quest to find a cure for her.
While he's working in the lab, she writes the story entitled the "fountain" about 16th century Queen Isabella losing her kingdom to the Inquisition while her betrothed, conquistador Tomás Verde, plunges through the Central America forest in Mayan territory, searching for the Tree of Life offering immortality for his Queen and their love.
As she does not expect to see it, Izzi asks Tom to finish the outcome of the story for her. As they look out to the star of a nebula, she imagines, as the mayans did, that their souls will meet there after life and when the star goes supernova. In the 26th century, future space traveler Tommy travels there for the event, in a spaceship made of an enclosed biosphere containing the Tree of Life he seeded above her grave.
The three story lines are told nonlinearly, each separated by five centuries. The three periods are interwoven with match cuts and recurring visual motifs; Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz play the main characters in all three narratives. Even within a given narrative, the elements of that particular story are not told in chronological order.
Whether the actions in these stories are actual events, or symbolic, is not clarified; and, director Darren Aronofsky emphasized that the storylines in their time periods and their respective convergences were open to interpretation. The director has said of The Fountain's intricacy and underlying message, "[The film is] very much like a Rubik's Cube, where you can solve it in several different ways, but ultimately there's only one solution at the end." In a 2012 interview outlining the path of life depicted, Aronofsky stated that "ultimately the film is about coming to terms with your own death" oftentimes driven by love.

Riveter "Chesty" O'Conner (James Cagney) and his best friend, "Droopy" (Frank McHugh), join the US Navy to annoy O'Connor's nemesis, Chief Petty Officer "Biff" Martin (Pat O'Brien). O'Conner gets himself court-martialled for being AWOL while visiting Martin's sister Dorothy (Gloria Stuart). Disgruntled at his treatment, O'Connor angrily derides the Navy and finds himself ostracized by his fellow sailors.
During gunnery practice, O'Conner helps put out a fire in a gun room and receives the Navy Cross medal, but is still determined to get out of the Navy. Later. O'Conner transfers to the US Naval Air Service and is assigned to the rigid airship USS Macon. When the Macon tries to dock, Martin is accidentally caught on a guide rope and is hoisted into the air.  Despite orders, O'Conner climbs down the rope and saves Martin's life by parachuting both of them to the ground.
Later, at the wedding of O'Conner to Dorothy, Martin finds out that O'Conner has been promoted to boatswain and now outranks him.

Spoiled heiress Ellen "Ellie" Andrews has eloped with pilot and fortune-hunter "King" Westley against the wishes of her extremely wealthy father, Alexander. Alexander wants to have the marriage annulled because he knows that Westley is really only interested in her money. Jumping ship in Florida, she runs away boarding a bus to New York City to reunite with her new spouse. She meets fellow bus passenger Peter Warne, a freshly out-of-work newspaper reporter. Soon Warne recognizes her and gives her a choice: If she will give him an exclusive on her story, he will help her reunite with Westley. If not, he will tell her father where she is. Ellie agrees to the first choice.
As they go through several adventures together, Ellie loses her initial disdain for him and begins to fall in love. When they have to hitchhike, Peter fails to draw attention until Ellie displays a shapely leg to Danker, the next driver. When they stop en route, Danker tries to steal their luggage, but Peter seizes his car. Nearing the end of their journey, Ellie confesses her love to Peter. When the owners of the motel in which they are staying notice that Peter's car is gone, they expel Ellie. Believing Peter has deserted her, Ellie telephones her father, who agrees to let her marry Westley. Meanwhile, Peter has obtained money from his editor to marry Ellie, but misses her on the road. Although Ellie has no desire to be with Westley, she believes Peter has betrayed her for the reward money, and agrees to have a second, formal wedding to Westley.
On her wedding day, she finally reveals the whole story. When Peter comes to Ellie's home, Mr. Andrews offers him the reward money, but Peter insists on being paid only his expenses: a paltry $39.60. When Ellie's father presses him for an explanation of his odd behavior, Peter admits he loves Ellie, and storms out. Westley arrives for his wedding via autogyro but at the wedding ceremony, Mr. Andrews reveals Peter's refusal of the reward money to Ellie, sends her to Peter, and pays Westley off.

Rosie Sturges (Joan Blondell) is a Kansas City manicurist, who has a gangster boyfriend name Dynamite Carson (Robert Armstrong). Rosie's friend Marie Callahan (Glenda Farrell) a fellow manicurist and roommate, urges Rosie to drop Dynamite and go after the three things a girl really needs "money, fur and diamonds". While Dynamite is away on business, Rosie goes on a date with a customer, Jimmy the Duke (Gordon Westcott) and he steals the diamond engagement ring Dynamite gave to Rosie.
Fearing Dynamite's anger, Rosie and Marie travel by train to New York and disguises themselves as Girl Scouts of America. In New York, Rosie and Marie meet two businessmen, Samuel Warren (Hobart Cavanaugh) and Jim Cameron (T. Roy Barnes) and follow them on board a ship bound for Paris. Rosie and Marie persuade the two men into paying for their ship fares and also buying them new clothes. Dynamite, who has followed the women to New York and on board the ship, is hiding in the stateroom of millionaire Junior Ashcraft (Hugh Herbert). Junior has hired detective Marcel Duryea (Osgood Perkins) to investigate his wife, who is having an affair in Paris with Dr. Sascha Pilnakoff (Ivan Lebedeff).
Rosie and Marie learn that a millionaire is on board the ship, and they pose as French manicurists to enter his room. When Dynamite exposes them, they fall into hysterics. Junior decides to give them a check to calm them down, and repay Samuel and Jim for the fare. In Paris, Marcel reports to Junior, and Rosie agrees to pose as Dr. Sascha's lover to make Junior's wife jealous. Marcel, who is in league with Junior's wife, double-crosses him. However, instead of his wife finding Rosie with Dr. Sascha, she finds Junior with Marie instead. Junior decides to get a divorce and marry Marie and Rosie promised Dynamite to return to Kansas City with him.

On June 15, 1904, the ship General Slocum catches fire and sinks in New York's East River. Two boys, Blackie Gallagher (Mickey Rooney) and Jim Wade (Jimmy Butler), are rescued by a priest, Father Joe (Leo Carrillo), but are orphaned by the disaster. They are taken in by another survivor, Poppa Rosen (George Sidney), who lost his young son in the sinking. The boys live with Poppa Rosen for a short while; then Rosen, a Russian Jew, is trampled to death by a policeman's horse after he heckles Leon Trotsky at a Communist rally and a melee breaks out.
The boys remain close friends, though their lives diverge. Studious from the very beginning, Jim (played as an adult by William Powell) gets his law degree and eventually becomes the assistant district attorney. Blackie is a cheerful, happy-go-lucky kid who loves to throw dice and trick other kids out of their money; he (Clark Gable) becomes the owner of a fancy, if illegal, casino. Though his casino is regularly "raided", the cops have been paid off and business resumes immediately after they leave. Blackie's girlfriend Eleanor (Myrna Loy) loves him, but pleads with him in vain to marry her and give up his dangerous life.
Jim is elected district attorney. Blackie, always a supporter and admirer of Jim's, knowing that he is incorruptible, arranges to meet him for a celebration, but something comes up, and he sends Eleanor to keep Jim company at the Cotton Club until he can join them. Jim and Eleanor talk the night away. Afterward, she gives Blackie one last chance to marry her and settle down. When Blackie refuses, she leaves him.
Months later, Jim and Eleanor meet by chance and start keeping company (she informs Jim that she has not seen Blackie for months). Meanwhile, Blackie kills Manny Arnold (Noel Madison) for not paying his gambling debts. Jim summons him to his office, where he tells him that he and Eleanor are going to get married. Blackie is sincerely happy for both of them. Jim also informs his friend that he is a suspect in the Arnold murder. However, there is no real evidence, so the crime goes unsolved.
Though Jim invites him to be the best man at his wedding, Blackie discreetly turns him down. After returning from his honeymoon, Jim runs for governor of New York. Snow (Thomas E. Jackson), who had been his chief assistant until Jim fired him for corruption, threatens to tell reporters that Jim covered up for Blackie in the Arnold case. Though untrue, this would lose Jim a close race for the governorship. By chance, Blackie and Eleanor meet at the horse track. Eleanor tells Blackie about Snow. Blackie shoots Snow dead in a washroom of Madison Square Garden during a hockey game. A beggar who pretends to be blind sees him leave the scene of the crime. Jim has no choice but to prosecute Blackie. Blackie is convicted and sentenced to death.
Jim wins the election, partly because the public knows that Jim is so honest he prosecuted his childhood friend. Eleanor tries to get him to commute the sentence to life imprisonment, revealing Blackie's selfless motive for killing Snow, but that only makes things worse. When Jim remains steadfast, Eleanor leaves him. At the last moment, Jim hurries to Sing Sing Prison and meets Blackie, together with Father Joe, who is now the prison's chaplain. Jim finally offers to commute the death sentence, but Blackie turns him down. Father Joe leads Blackie to the electric chair while saying last rites.
A few days later Jim calls a special joint session of the New York Legislature. He reveals how the murder helped him win the election and how at the end he compromised his principles and was willing to commute his friend's sentence. He then tenders his resignation. When he leaves, Eleanor is waiting for him. She tells him that she was wrong about him, and they leave together to start a new life.


Ellen Garfield refuses to marry fellow reporter Curt Devlin until he admits she is as good at her craft as any man. The two work for rival newspapers, and their ongoing efforts to better each other eventually leads to Ellen getting fired when Curt tricks her into misreporting the verdict of a murder trial. The tables are turned when she scoops him by getting the real perpetrator, Inez Cordoza, to confess to the crime. Forced to admit Ellen is a good reporter, he finally wins her hand.

Kay Parrish is the daughter of a former millionaire who lost everything in the stock market crash in 1929. She works as a waitress in a small country diner, where she meets Terrence Gallagher and Chuck Ahearn. Gallagher runs a speakeasy in New York City, where Ahearn works as his bouncer. Gallagher gives Kay his card, and tells him to look him up, but she scoffs at the idea. After they leave, Kay is told that her father has committed suicide. Determined to make something of her life, she travels to New York City to "make it big".
Once in New York, however, she is unable to find a job. Desperate, she looks up Gallagher, who hires her as a "gigolette", a young prostitute to entertain male clients at his club the "Hee Haw". Not in love with her work, and having a budding romantic interest between her and Gallagher, she repeatedly attempts to get him to open a "legit" club. He refuses, and during her work, Kay meets the wealthy Gregg Emerson, who she becomes romantically involved with. Shortly after, Gallagher is forced by the new liquor license laws, but he declares his intention to open up a new club.
Meanwhile, despite Kay being snubbed by his parents, Emerson declares his love for Kay and his intention to marry her. However, when Gallagher is in danger of losing his new club due to the extortion tactics of the gangster, Vanie Rourke, Kay gives Gallagher money to save the new club. The money was part of an engagement gift, and when he finds out, Emerson believes that Kay is in cahoots with Gallagher to defraud him. However, Gallagher is able to convince Emerson of Kay's fidelity, and the two are reunited.

Laura Bayles has been a devoted educator for 38 years. Over that time she has risen to become the principal of Avondale High School. When a local petty gambler, "Click" Dade, begins to prey on her students, she takes a leading position in an attempt to force the gambling location to close down. Dade had been one of her former pupils. Her efforts are opposed by two local politicians, Holland and Joseph Killaine. Holland is a small time political boss, while Killaine is the superintendent of schools. So Bayles decides to fight fire with fire. With a stake of $250, and a pair of Dade's own loaded dice, she wins enough money to open a club to compete with Dade's, taking away his business. However, after an incident in which Killaine's daughter, Gerry, causes a fight at Bayles' club, causing the club's closure. Killaine then presses his advantage, demanding that Bayles also resign as principal, which will make her ineligible for a pension, being two years short of retirement.
Upon hearing of her fate, Gerry goes to Bayles to apologize for her actions, and their end result. An apology which Bayles accepts. Meanwhile, Dade has contacted another one of Bayles' former pupils, Gavin Gordon, who has risen to become President of the United States. Gordon is on a tour of the country and is in the area of his old hometown. After Dade also apologizes to Bayles, the President arrives at the school and delivers a sentimental speech extolling the virtues of the education profession, motherhood, and Mrs. Bayles. Her job is saved.


One day, Terry Parker, an airplane pilot is in a plane crash that kills his family. He feels guilty for their death and feels like he should have died in the crash as well. Terry continues to get into trouble until his friend, Walter Pritcham, known as Gibraltar for his steady nature, brings him to a party. Terry meets the beautiful Amy Prentiss and they both fall in love.
Terry realizes that Amy is Gibraltar's girl and tries to leave Amy, but Gibraltar reunites the couple wanting Amy to be happy. Amy and Terry get married and Gibraltar gives them a house in the country on Long Island. Terry is unemployed for some time until he get the idea to fly commuters into New York.
However, Amy believes that Terry will not act responsibly and leaves him. Gibraltar tries to get Amy to go back to Terry, but she refuses. Terry is in a car crash and Amy and Gibraltar rush to see him. Terry and Amy realize that they do love each other and vow never leave each other ever again.


In 1773, young English beauty Maria Bonnyfeather (Anita Louise) is the new bride of the cruel and devious middle-aged Spanish nobleman Marquis Don Luis (Claude Rains). However, she is pregnant by Denis Moore (Louis Hayward), the man she loved before being forced to marry Don Luis. After the marquis learns of his wife's affair, Don Luis takes her across Europe but Denis tracks them down at an inn, where Don Luis treacherously kills him in a sword duel.
Months later Maria dies giving birth to her son at a chalet in the Alps in northern Italy. Don Luis leaves the infant in the foundling wheel of a convent near the port city of Leghorn (Livorno), Italy, where the nuns christen him Anthony, as he was found on January 17, the feast day of St. Anthony the Great. Don Luis lies to Maria's father, wealthy Leghorn-based merchant John Bonnyfeather (Edmund Gwenn), telling him that the infant is also dead. Ten years later, completely by coincidence, Anthony (Billy Mauch) is apprenticed to Bonnyfeather, his real grandfather, who discovers his relationship to the boy but keeps it a secret from him. He gives the boy the surname Adverse in acknowledgement of the difficult life he has led.
As an adult, Anthony (Fredric March) falls in love with Angela Giuseppe (Olivia de Havilland), the cook's daughter, and the couple wed. Soon after the ceremony, Anthony is asked by Bonnyfeather to depart for Havana to save Bonnyfeather's fortune from a laggard debtor, the merchant trading firm Gallego & Sons. On the day his ship is supposed to set sail he and Angela are supposed to meet at the convent before departing together, but she arrives first while he is late. Unable to wait any longer, she leaves a note outside the convent to inform him that she is leaving for Rome with her opera company. But the note Angela leaves Anthony is blown away and he is unaware that she has gone to Rome. Confused and upset, he departs on the ship without her. Meanwhile, assuming he has abandoned her, she departs and continues her career as an opera singer.
Learning that Gallego has quit Havana, Anthony leaves to take control of Gallego & Sons only remaining asset—a slave trading post on the Pongo River in Africa. Three years in the slave trade (so he can recover Bonnyfeather's debt) corrupts him, and he takes slave girl Neleta into his bed. Anthony is eventually redeemed by his friendship with Brother François (Pedro de Córdoba). After the monk is crucified and killed by the natives, Anthony returns to Italy to find Bonnyfeather has died. His housekeeper, Faith Paleologus (Gale Sondergaard) (Don Luis' longtime co-conspirator, and now wife), has inherited Bonnyfeather's fortune. Anthony reaches Paris to rectify the situation and claim his inheritance.
In Paris, Anthony is reunited with his friend, prominent banker Vincent Nolte (Donald Woods), whom he saves from bankruptcy by giving him his fortune, having learned from Brother François that "there's something besides money and power". Through the intercession of impresario Debrulle (Ralph Morgan), Anthony finds Angela and discovers she bore him a son. His wife fails to reveal she is now Mademoiselle Georges, a famous opera star and the mistress of Napoleon Bonaparte. When Anthony learns her secret, she sends him their son, stating that he is better suited to raise the boy. Anthony departs for America with his son, Anthony Jr. (Scotty Beckett), in search of a better life.

Three young women share the rent for a fashionable apartment in Budapest. Martha insists the other two follow a gypsy superstition when moving into a new place, counting the corners of a room and then making a wish: Susie wishes for a hat shop and to be independent of men, Yoli for a rich husband, and Martha for "the impossible", a good home, a man and children.

Wealthy Connie Allenbury (Myrna Loy) is falsely accused of breaking up a marriage and sues the New York Evening Star newspaper for $5,000,000 for libel. Warren Haggerty (Spencer Tracy), the managing editor, turns in desperation to former reporter and suave ladies' man Bill Chandler (William Powell) for help. His scheme is to maneuver Connie into being alone with him when his wife shows up, so the suit will have to be dropped. Chandler is not married, so Warren volunteers his long-suffering fiancée, Gladys Benton (Jean Harlow), over her loud protests.
Bill arranges to return to America from England on the same ocean liner as Connie and her father J. B. (Walter Connolly). He pays some men to pose as reporters and harass Connie at the dock, so that he can "rescue" her and become acquainted. On the voyage, Connie initially treats him with contempt, assuming that he is just the latest in a long line of fortune hunters after her money, but Bill gradually overcomes her suspicions.
Complications arise when Connie and Bill actually fall in love. They get married, but Gladys decides that she prefers Bill to a marriage-averse newspaperman and interrupts their honeymoon to reclaim her husband. Bill reveals that he found out that Gladys' Yucatán divorce was not valid, but Gladys states she got a second divorce in Reno, so she and Bill are actually man and wife. Fortunately, Connie and Bill manage to show Gladys that she really loves Warren.

Ms. Baldwin (Jean Arthur) and Ms. Davis (Ruth Donnelly) are owners and instructors of the Supreme Secretarial School. Ms. Baldwin is fighting Spring Fever and daydreams while teaching her class. They take pride in turning out well trained secretaries. They are having problems teaching a secretarial student, named Maizie (Dorothea Kent) who cannot spell, take dictation or type. When the instructors ask her what she is doing at the school, she replies with, “I‘m here for the same reason that every other smart girl’s here - to, uh, get a chance to meet nice men.”
Ms. Davis tells her, “This doesn’t happen to be a matrimonial agency.” Next, a former student drops by with a prospective student and informs the owners that she is getting married to a Junior Vice President (due to her job as a secretary). This leads Ms. Baldwin to wonder if these young ladies are onto something.
Meanwhile, a client, Mr. Gilbert (George Brent) who is the editor of Body and Brain magazine continues to fire secretarial graduates from the Supreme Secretarial School. He calls the school and over the phone, Mr. Gilbert complains to Ms. Baldwin about inept secretaries. Ms. Baldwin covers the phone receiver and repeats what he is saying to Ms. Davis. Ms. Baldwin says to Ms. Davis, “He wants to know what’s wrong with the modern woman?” Ms. Davis replies, “.. the modern man.”
Ms. Baldwin decides to go to Mr. Gilbert’s office to see what he expects of a secretary. When they meet, he inadvertently thinks she is a secretary rather than the owner of the school and tells her to report to work in the morning. She is immediately smitten with Mr. Gilbert and decides to work as his secretary.

During the Great Depression, Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper), the co-owner of a tallow works, part-time greeting card poet, and tuba-playing inhabitant of the (fictional) hamlet of Mandrake Falls, Vermont, inherits 20 million dollars from his late uncle, Martin Semple. Semple's scheming attorney, John Cedar (Douglass Dumbrille), locates Deeds and takes him to New York City. Cedar gives his cynical troubleshooter, ex-newspaperman Cornelius Cobb (Lionel Stander), the task of keeping reporters away from Deeds. Cobb is outfoxed, however, by star reporter Louise "Babe" Bennett (Jean Arthur), who appeals to Deeds' romantic fantasy of rescuing a damsel in distress by masquerading as a poor worker named Mary Dawson. She pretends to faint from exhaustion after "walking all day to find a job" and worms her way into his confidence. Bennett proceeds to write a series of enormously popular articles mocking Longfellow's hick ways and odd behavior, giving him the nickname "Cinderella Man".
Cedar tries to get Deeds' power of attorney in order to keep his own financial misdeeds secret. Deeds, however, proves to be a shrewd judge of character, easily fending off Cedar and other greedy opportunists. He wins Cobb's wholehearted respect and eventually Babe's love. She quits her job in shame, but before she can tell Deeds the truth about herself, Cobb finds it out and tells Deeds. Deeds is left heartbroken, and, in disgust, he decides to return to Mandrake Falls.
After he has packed and is about to leave, a dispossessed farmer (John Wray) stomps into his mansion and threatens him with a gun. He expresses his scorn for the seemingly heartless, ultra-rich man, who will not lift a finger to help the multitudes of desperate poor. After the intruder comes to his senses, Deeds realizes what he can do with his troublesome fortune. He decides to provide fully equipped 10-acre farms free to thousands of homeless families if they will work the land for three years.
Alarmed at the prospect of losing control of the fortune, Cedar joins forces with Deeds' only other relative (and the man's grasping, domineering wife) in seeking to have Deeds declared mentally incompetent. Along with Babe's betrayal, this finally breaks Deeds' spirit, and he sinks into a deep depression. A sanity hearing is scheduled to determine who should control the Deeds' fortune.
During the hearing. Cedar calls an expert who diagnoses manic depression based on Babe's articles and Deeds' current behavior; he gets Deeds' Mandrake Falls tenants, eccentric elderly sisters Jane and Amy Faulkner (Margaret Seddon and Margaret McWade), to testify that Deeds is "pixilated". Deeds is too depressed to defend himself and the situation looks bleak when Babe finally speaks up passionately on his behalf, castigating herself for what she did to him. When he realizes that she truly loves him, he begins speaking, systematically punching holes in Cedar's case—when he asks the Faulkners who else is pixilated, they reply, "Why everyone, but us"—before actually punching Cedar in the face. In the end the judge declares him to be "the sanest man who ever walked into this courtroom."

During the Great Depression, Godfrey "Smith" Parke (William Powell) is living alongside other men down on their luck at a New York City dump on the East River near the 59th Street Bridge. One night, spoiled socialite Cornelia Bullock (Gail Patrick) offers him five dollars to be her "forgotten man" for a scavenger hunt. Annoyed, he advances on her, causing her to retreat and fall on a pile of ashes. She leaves in a fury, much to the glee of her younger sister, Irene (Carole Lombard). After talking with her, Godfrey finds her to be kind, if a bit scatter-brained. He offers to go with Irene to help her beat Cornelia.
In the ballroom of the Waldorf-Ritz Hotel, Irene's long-suffering businessman father, Alexander Bullock (Eugene Pallette), waits resignedly as his ditsy wife, Angelica (Alice Brady), and her mooching "protégé" Carlo (Mischa Auer) play the game. Godfrey arrives and is authenticated as a "forgotten man". He then addresses the crowd, expressing his contempt for their antics. Irene is apologetic and offers him a job as the family butler, which he gratefully accepts.
The next morning, Godfrey is shown what to do by the Bullocks' sardonic, wise-cracking maid, Molly (Jean Dixon), the only servant who has been able to put up with the antics of the family. She warns him that he is merely the latest in a long line of butlers. Only slightly daunted, he proves to be surprisingly competent, although Cornelia holds a grudge against him. On the other hand, Irene considers Godfrey to be her protégé.
A complication arises when Tommy Gray (Alan Mowbray), a lifelong friend of Godfrey's, recognizes him at a tea party thrown by Irene. Godfrey quickly ad-libs that he was Tommy's valet at Harvard. Tommy plays along, embellishing Godfrey's story with a nonexistent wife and five children. Dismayed, Irene impulsively announces her engagement to the surprised Charlie Van Rumple (Grady Sutton), but she soon breaks down in tears and flees after being congratulated by Godfrey.
Over lunch the next day, Tommy is curious to know what one of the elite "Parkes of Boston" is doing as a servant. Godfrey explains that a broken love affair had left him considering suicide, but the undaunted attitude of the men living at the dump rekindled his spirits. During lunch, Cornelia has her longstanding boyfriend "Faithful George" (Robert Light) call Tommy away to the telephone. She takes a seat at Godfrey's table and attempts to negotiate a peace with him — but only on her terms. Godfrey declines and Cornelia leaves in a huff.
When everything she does to make Godfrey's life miserable fails, Cornelia plants her pearl necklace under his mattress. She then calls the police to report her missing jewelry. To Cornelia's surprise, the pearls do not turn up when Godfrey's suite is searched. Mr. Bullock realizes his daughter has orchestrated the whole thing and sees the policemen out. After they have gone, he informs Cornelia she had better find her pearls herself, as they are not insured.
The Bullocks then send their daughters off to Europe to get Irene away from her now-broken engagement. When they return, Cornelia implies that she intends to seduce Godfrey. Worried, Irene stages a fainting spell and falls into Godfrey's arms. He carries her to her bed, but while searching for smelling salts, he realizes she is faking when he sees her (in a mirror) sit up briefly. In revenge, he puts her in the shower and turns on the cold water full blast. Far from quenching her attraction, this merely confirms her hopes: "Oh Godfrey, now I know you love me ... You do or you wouldn't have lost your temper." Godfrey resigns as the Bullocks' butler.
However, Mr. Bullock has more pressing concerns. He first throws Carlo out, then announces to his family and Godfrey that his business is in dire straits and that he might even face criminal charges. Godfrey interrupts with good news: he had sold short, using money raised by pawning Cornelia's necklace, and bought the stock that Bullock had sold. He gives the endorsed stock certificates to the stunned Mr. Bullock, saving the family. He also returns the necklace to a humbled Cornelia, who apologizes. Godfrey then leaves.
With his stock profits and reluctant business partner Tommy Gray's backing, Godfrey has built a fashionable nightclub at the now-closed East River dump called "The Dump", "...giving food and shelter to fifty people in the winter, and giving them employment in the summer." Godfrey tells Tommy he quit the Bullocks because "he felt that foolish feeling coming along again." However, a determined Irene tracks him down in his manager's apartment at The Dump and bulldozes him into marriage, saying, "Stand still, Godfrey, it'll all be over in a minute."

Aspiring actress Cicely Tyler (Margaret Sullavan) marries ambitious newsman Christopher Tyler (James Stewart) but their life together is interrupted when he is assigned to a good position in his newspaper's Rome bureau, and she stays behind, confiding to her rich secret admirer, Tommy Abbott (Ray Milland), that she is pregnant. Separations, reunions and reconciliations follow as Cicely and Christopher struggle to balance their romance and their careers.

Lauralee Curtis is introduced to a Navy lieutenant, pilot Sam "Stony" Gilchrist, at her 20th-birthday party. It is love at first sight. Two days later, they are husband and wife.
Stony's next base will be in Honolulu, Hawaii, but at the last minute, he receives orders to drop everything and fly to Washington, D.C.. He kisses his new bride goodbye and she boards a ship to Honolulu by herself. On board, Lauralee encounters an admiral's daughter, Rosalind Furness, who treats her coldly. The admiral explains that everyone had assumed Rosalind would be the one to marry Stony.
By the time the ship reaches port, Rosalind has made it abundantly clear to Lauralee that she is standing by in case the marriage doesn't work out. Lauralee becomes lonely in Honolulu until she runs into an old friend, Greg, and begins socializing with him.
Complications ensue until Lauralee ultimately believes she must leave Stony because she is harmful to his career. When she and Greg are aboard a sailboat, Stony buzzes them in his plane and ends up in a military courtroom, his career at risk. Rosalind gloats that now Stony can be hers, but he goes after Lauralee and all ends well.

Reporter Jean Christy (Rosalind Russell) works for a newspaper in danger of being thrown away by its young owner, Pat Buckley (Patric Knowles), after Buckley has a falling-out with the editor-in-chief, Robert Lansford (Errol Flynn). Meanwhile, Lansford hopes to gain tycoon John Dillingwell's (Walter Connolly) business for his public relations firm, and uses his position at Buckley's paper to drum up good press for Dillingwell. In the process, he discovers that Dillingwell's granddaughter Lorri (Olivia de Havilland) is Buckley's fiancée. Lansford decides to try to charm Lorri while Christy makes a play for Buckley.

Travel agency clerk Tommy Bradford (Dennis O'Keefe) delivers tickets to wealthy J. Westley Piermont (George Barbier) at the lavish wedding of his daughter. Piermont introduces him to model June Evans (Maureen O'Sullivan), but neglects to mention neither one is a guest. June is there to help the daughter with her wedding dress. Both pretend to be rich. Tommy gives June his telephone number, but neither expects anything to come of their momentary attraction to each other.
That night, after she tells her family about her adventure, her obnoxious, younger, musician brother Chick (Mickey Rooney) phones Tommy, pretending to be June's servant, and forces his sister to continue the charade. Tommy is pressured to maintain the masquerade as well by his roommate Al (Edward Brophy), an insurance salesman who dreams of making contacts in New York high society.
They begin seeing each other. Their first date is at the Westminster Dog Show, where they run into Piermont again. He has two dogs entered in the competition. Piermont insists his Pomeranian will win, but Tommy champions his other entry, a St. Bernard. Sure of himself, the millionaire promises to give the St. Bernard to Tommy if it wins. It does, and he does. With no place to keep it, Tommy makes a present of it to June.
Their second date is at a movie theater where another of June's brothers (Phillip Terry) works. By this point, June's family is anxious to meet her boyfriend. Her aunt Lucy (Jessie Ralph) is the housekeeper for a wealthy family, so while her employers are away, she borrows their home to host a dinner. Afterward, Tommy tries to confess to June, but she misunderstands and thinks he has found her out instead. Outraged by what she thinks are insults aimed at her family, she breaks up with him.
Fortunately, Aunt Lucy recognizes Tommy and sets her niece straight. June shows up at Tommy's workplace and gives him a hard time, pretending to be a potential customer. When she leaves, Tommy sees her get into a delivery van with her employer's name on it. Realizing the truth, he goes to her workplace and returns the favor, forcing her to model dress after dress. In the end though, they decide to restart their relationship afresh.

It is December 1938 in the town of Carvel. Andy Hardy (Mickey Rooney) is putting a $12 down payment on a used car. Andy, desperate to take his girlfriend Polly Benedict (Ann Rutherford) to the Christmas Eve dance in his own car, must pay an additional $8 by December 23 for it to be his.
When Polly tells Andy she will be visiting her grandmother for the next three weeks and will not be able to attend the Christmas Eve dance with him, Andy vows to attend the dance alone.
Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone) later encounters his son, Andy, and Andy broaches the subject of car ownership, but Judge Hardy tells Andy that he cannot have his own car.
Returning home for the evening, Judge Hardy runs into 12-year-old Betsy Booth (Judy Garland), who is staying with her grandparents for the Christmas holiday. Betsy’s grandmother has been effusive about Andy Hardy and Betsy is thrilled to learn he will be her next door neighbor during her stay.
Judge Hardy’s wife, Emily (Fay Holden), receives a telegram that evening informing her that her mother had a serious stroke. Emily and her sister leave immediately for rural Canada to care for their mother.
Andy Hardy meets Betsy Booth while delivering some of his mother’s freshly canned preserves. Betsy is obviously taken with Andy but he does not reciprocate her admiration; he leaves as quickly as possible.
Beezy (George P. Breakston), Andy’s friend, asks Andy to date Cynthia (Lana Turner), Beezy’s girlfriend, while Beezy is out of town over the Christmas holiday period, so that she will avoid other men. Beezy promises to pay Andy $8 plus 50 cents a week for expenses for his efforts. Andy needs the money to purchase his car, so he agrees.
Andy starts going out with Cynthia, but she is bored by sports activities, and they find they only get along when they are busy kissing; after walking Cynthia home Andy stops in to visit Betsy Booth—only he’s covered in Cynthia’s lipstick. Betsy gives Andy a handsome new radiator cap for his anticipated car, and after he leaves she sadly sings “In-Between.”
One morning Andy receives a telegram from Polly saying she will be home for the Christmas Eve dance after all. Andy telephones her saying he can’t take her to the dance because of a previous engagement. He thereafter opens a letter from Beezy. Beezy wrote saying he found a new girlfriend so he wasn’t going to pay Andy for dating Cynthia.
Betsy, from a moneyed family, offers to help Andy pay for his car, but he refuses her aid. That evening he tells his father about the mess he made. Judge Hardy explains his point of view about spending money on a car versus putting it aside as savings—and then discloses his deep concern for Andy’s mother. Judge Hardy would like to convey a message to his wife, but there is no telephone at her mother’s home and Emily finds telegrams unnerving.
Andy suggests a message be sent to their mother via ham radio in lieu of sending her a telegram. Andy brings Judge Hardy to the home of twelve-year-old ham radio operator James McMann Jr (Gene Reynolds) and he sends a message to Mrs. Hardy. Judge Hardy is so impressed with James’ help and his son’s ingenuity that he pays the last $8 for Andy’s car.
Betsy deceives Cynthia into thinking that Andy’s car is an absolute wreck; Cynthia haughtily refuses to go to the Christmas Eve dance with Andy. Andy feels relieved to be able to date Polly again. Andy tries to clear things up with Polly but, having learned of his fling with Cynthia, she angrily tells Andy that she won’t go to the dance with him because she has a date with a college boy.
Christmas Eve finds Andy wholly dejected at the prospect of not having a date for the dance—but when Betsy comes over in her evening gown he decides to take her to the dance.
At the dance Polly’s date recognizes Betsy as an accomplished singer and asks her to perform; Andy is scared that she will embarrass him, but she proves to be a fantastic singer and quickly wins over the crowd with “It Never Rains But it Pours” and encores with “Meet the Beat of My Heart.” Betsy and Andy lead the dance in a grand march after Polly leaves in tears.
Late that evening at home after the dance, Betsy Booth and the Hardy family are gathered together around the Christmas tree when Mrs. Hardy unexpectedly returns home—her mother is getting better.
On Christmas Day Betsy explains everything to Polly. Polly and her date from the dance come over to the Hardy home, and Polly’s date turns out to be her cousin. Betsy expresses her gratitude to Andy for a wonderful evening and leaves. Polly and Andy make up.

Unhappy in his marriage, attorney Stephen Holland decides to get a divorce from his pretentious wife Cynthia, despite concern over how it will affect Ellen, their young daughter.
Cynthia sets out to make her ex-husband's life miserable. She first deceives Stephen's mother into siding with her, Mrs. Holland suggesting that Stephen let the little girl remain solely in Cynthia's custody for a while. Stephen must leave on a work-related trip to Washington, D.C., so he reluctantly agrees.
At a reception for his friend Senator Kingsley, he meets Maris Kent and becomes smitten. They are soon married and move back to Stephen's hometown, but Cynthia conspires to ruin their lives any way she can, even having friends snub Maris at the local country club.
Away with her daughter at a remote inn, Cynthia schemes to make Stephen abandon his wife by pretending that their daughter Ellen is seriously ill and needs him. Stephen's wife and mother decide to accompany him to the inn, where all three discover a carefree Cynthia dancing while Ellen is perfectly fine. Cynthia is revealed to all what kind of person she is.

Hotel mogul's son Ted Hartley simply wants to start his own band, but his father sends him to Hawaii to help run one of his properties there. Ted takes his musicians along and is offered free room and board by Lonnie Lane, the daughter of a rival hotel chain's owner, to perform at her family's inn.
Ted's dad flies over, intending to buy out his rival. He finds out what's going on and intends to put a stop to it, but watching Ted's band perform makes him appreciate that his son actually has found his true calling.


A beautiful young violinist named Amelia Cornell (Olivia de Havilland) is a student at the prestigious Brissac Academy of Music in New York City. Unable to support her mother on her meager scholarship stipend, she is forced to provide music lessons in her spare time—something strictly forbidden by the school and enforced zealously by the dean of the school, Dr. Kobbe (Grant Mitchell). Frustrated by her financial constraints and at being treated like a child by the dean, Amelia decides to leave the academy and join a jazz group led by her fellow student and swing bandleader Dusty Rhodes (Eddie Albert).
Meanwhile, after seeing Amelia perform at a concert, a distinguished wealthy patron of the arts, Julius Malette (Charles Winninger), finally accepts the academy's offer to make him president of the school—an offer inspired by Julius' wealth and influence. When he learns that Amelia is planning to leave the academy for financial reasons, Julius—who has a crush on the much younger violinist—secretly arranges for a second scholarship that will allow her to continue her studies. After Amelia meets her patron, the kind and gentlemanly president sends her a phonograph player and records, and escorts her to concerts to broaden her musical experience.
One evening, Julius is unable to attend a concert with Amelia and sends his young business manager, Tony Baldwin (Jeffrey Lynn), to the concert hall to explain his absence. In the coming days, Tony and Amelia begin to fall in love, but Tony does not reveal his feelings, believing that Amelia is his boss's mistress.
The budding relationship between Tony and Amelia is further complicated when Julius' brash son Paul (William T. Orr) discovers that Tony has been mailing company checks to Amelia, unaware that these "scholarship" checks were mailed at his father's request. When Paul accuses Tony of misappropriating company funds, Tony protects his boss with his silence. Later, Paul sees his Julius entering Amelia's apartment, he believes that his father is being unfaithful to his mother. He apologizes to Tony and thanks him for trying to shield his family from the sordid news. When Paul tells Tony that Julius is with Amelia, Tony decides not to see Amelia again, nor answer her calls. His distrust is reinforced when he learns that the checks sent to Amelia have been cashed—he doesn't know that her friend Dusty "borrowed" the money.
Soon after, Julius and his wife organize a party and hire Amelia's roommate, Joy O'Keefe (Jane Wyman), and her boyfriend, Dusty Rhodes, to provide an evening of innovative classical and swing music. At the party, Amelia confesses everything to Mrs. Malette, and then plays swing violin with the band, shocking Julius and her teacher. The music critic at the party, however, is impressed, which gives her new style legitimacy. When Amelia learns that Dusty "borrowed" her check, and how that must have looked to Tony, she demands that Dusty explain to Tony what had been going on. Afterwards, Tony approaches Amelia in the garden, apologizes for his suspicions, and kisses her passionately.

Georges Iscovescu (Boyer) recounts his story to a Hollywood film director at Paramount. He is a Romanian-born gigolo who arrived in a Mexican border town seeking entry to the US. He endures a waiting period to obtain a quota number of up to eight years with other hopeful immigrants in the Esperanza Hotel. After six months he is broke and unhappy. He runs into his former professional "dance partner" Anita Dixon (Goddard) who explains she obtained US residency by marrying an American, who she then quickly divorced.
Georges therefore seeks an American wife, soon targeting visiting school teacher Miss Emmy Brown (de Havilland). They marry the same day. Emmy unexpectedly returns a few days later, but immigration inspector Hammock (Abel) appears, hunting for con artists such as Georges. In order to evade Hammock, Georges drives Emmy to a small village, where they participate in romantic traditional rituals for newlyweds. Georges becomes increasingly bothered by his conscience as he sees how happy and unsuspecting Emmy is.
Iscovescu develops genuine affection for Emmy. However this jeopardizes the plans of Anita, long in love with Georges, for them to work together in the US. Anita informs Emmy of the entire scheme. Emmy does not turn him in when questioned by Hammock, but nevertheless leaves Georges. Returning to the US she is seriously injured in a car accident. A distraught Georges learns of this and jeopardizes his imminent US visa by illegally entering the country to go to Emmy. On hearing his voice she begins to emerge from her coma. Georges sees police arriving so leaves for Paramount to sell his story to director Dwight Saxon (Mitchell Leisen) to get the money to care for Emmy, where Hammock catches up with him.
Some weeks later Hammock returns to the Border town. Anita has a new sugar daddy. Hammock tells Georges that he didn't report Georges for illegal entry and his visa has been approved. In addition Emmy has recovered and is at the border to meet him. Georges sees Emmy happily waving to him from across the border and goes to meet her.

In 1940, American-built North American Harvard training aircraft are flown to just outside Canada, where they are towed across the border for use by Britain. (The procedure is necessary to avoid violating the Neutrality Acts, as the United States is still neutral.) Cocky American pilot Tim Baker (Tyrone Power) decides to fly across the border to Trenton, Ontario, and winds up in trouble with the military authorities, unconvincingly claiming he was looking for Trenton, New Jersey. Baker ferries a Lockheed Hudson bomber to Britain, pocketing $1,000 for his work.
In London, he runs into his on-again off-again girlfriend Carol Brown (Betty Grable), who works in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force by day and stars in a nightclub by night. She is none too pleased to see him, calling him a "worm" for his womanizing ways, lying, and long absence, but he is confident she still harbors strong feelings for him.
He decides to enlist in the Royal Air Force (RAF). Meanwhile, Brown attracts the appreciative attention of two RAF officers, Wing Commander John Morley (John Sutton) and Flying Officer Roger Pillby (Reginald Gardiner). Morley persists in seeing Brown, despite being told at the outset that there is another man. Pillby is unable to persuade either Baker or Morley to introduce him.
After completing training, Baker is disappointed to be assigned to Morley's bomber squadron, rather than to a fighter. He becomes further disgruntled when his first mission is to "bomb" Berlin with propaganda leaflets as Morley's co-pilot during the Phoney War. Pillby pilots another bomber in the raid.
When Baker is late for their date (sidetracked by meeting an old buddy from America), Brown accepts Morley's invitation to spend a weekend at his country estate. There, Morley asks her to marry him. When she tells Baker about it (without revealing who her suitor is), he offers to marry her himself, but in an insultingly casual way. She tells him that they are through. Back at the base, the two rivals learn of each other's involvement with the same woman. Before they can do anything about it, however, the Germans invade the Netherlands and Belgium, and they are given an urgent mission to bomb Dortmund, Germany, this time with real ordnance.
During the nighttime raid, their bomber is hit, disabling one of their two engines. Pillby descends to their aid, knocking out searchlights, but is shot down in flames and perishes. Morley orders his crew to bail out, but Baker disobeys and lands the aircraft on a Dutch beach. Spotting a line of German soldiers, they hide in a nearby building, only to be taken prisoner by a German officer there. A crewman sacrifices himself, enabling the other two to dispatch the German and escape by motorboat.
Baker wakes up in a British hospital, the victim of exposure. Once discharged, he goes to see Brown, pretending to have a broken arm, but blunders and shows himself to be a liar once more. Nonetheless, he produces an engagement ring and forces it onto her finger. After receiving a telephone call from Morley breaking their date, Brown informs Baker that all leaves have been canceled.
Reserves are called up to make up fighter pilot losses, and Baker is reassigned to a Spitfire for the Battle of Dunkirk. He downs two Luftwaffe fighters before being shot down. Carol cannot hide her distress when she cannot find out whether he is alive or not. Morley takes her to the docks, where ships returning from the Dunkirk beaches are bringing back survivors. When Baker debarks, Carol rushes to him and shows him she is still wearing his ring.

The peace and quiet enjoyed by the residents of the exclusive neighborhood of Rock Bay, Long Island is disturbed by a newspaper gossip column tidbit that one of their maids is writing a tell-all book about her employers. Since the author is not identified, each family fears that its secrets will be aired in public. Among those confused and distraught are Dr. Sommerfield (Melville Cooper) and his wife Sophia (Spring Byington). Their teenage daughter Miranda (Virginia Weidler), however, is thrilled. Their longtime cook Mrs. McKessic (Marjorie Main) arranges a meeting of the neighborhood servants, in which they decide to band together against the attempts by many of their employers to spy on them to learn who the writer is.
The author is the Sommerfields' young maid Martha Lindstrom (Marsha Hunt). She secretly visits her publisher, Joel Archer (Allyn Joslyn), to try to get him to stop planting stories in the newspapers to generate interest in the upcoming book.
When the Sommerfields' son, Jeff (Richard Carlson), returns unexpectedly after a year and a half away studying the Eskimos, he introduces the family to his new fiancee, mathematician Sylvia Norwood (Frances Drake). This upsets Martha greatly, although she manages to hide it. It turns out that just before he left on his expedition, Jeff got drunk and married Martha. When he sobered up, he had second thoughts. As he had to leave almost immediately, he gave Martha money to get an annulment or a divorce. Unbeknownst to him, she did not do so, as she was in love with him. Instead, she took night classes to make herself more acceptable to his social class. Jeff is surprised to find her still working for his family. When he discovers they are still married, he insists she get the marriage dissolved so he can wed Sylvia.
To complicate her life even further, both Archer and local Casanova and handyman Danny O'Brien (Barry Nelson) are strongly attracted to Martha. She is tempted by Archer, as Jeff shows no signs of returning her feelings for him.
Finally, Archer crashes the Sommerfields' dinner party, and is provoked by the guests' harsh comments into stating first that he will be publishing the book and then that Martha is the author. After the last revelation, Martha flees with Archer in his car. Jeff realizes he loves her; he chases and catches her, and they are reconciled.

In October 1941, war correspondents and brothers "Jonny" (Clark Gable) and Kirk Davis (Robert Sterling) return to the still-neutral United States after being kicked out of Germany. Jonny's boss, isolationist New York Daily Chronicle publisher George L. Stafford (Charles Dingle), refuses to print his story about Japan and Germany's plans for the world, but Jonny tricks him into doing so, and gets fired for his trouble.
When Jonny goes to reclaim his old room from friends and landlords "Evie" (Lee Patrick) and Willie Manning (Reginald Owen), he is annoyed (despite having been away for years) to find they have rented it out to Paula Lane (Lana Turner), an aspiring reporter who wants to work as a foreign correspondent. Ladies man Jonny is very interested in the beautiful blonde, but then finds that his brother already has a relationship with her. A romantic triangle ensues. Despite being in love with her himself, Jonny tries to arrange it so that Paula chooses Kirk.
Eventually, they are all reunited in Manila ... on Sunday, December 7, the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor, which brings America into the war. Jonny insists that the other two leave on a ship for Australia, while he remains behind to report for the Chronicle, but they sneak back on the pilot boat after he sees them off. Kirk enlists, while Paula joins the Red Cross.
When the Japanese invade the Philippines, Jonny encounters his brother by chance; Kirk is part of a detachment under the command of Lieutenant Wade Hall (Van Johnson) that is assigned to repel a Japanese amphibious landing. Kirk and most of the other defenders die in the fierce fighting. Jonny believes that Paula was also killed, when the hospital where she was working was wiped out, but it turns out she was out escorting a party of wounded there. When they find each other, Jonny sets her at a typewriter and starts dictating the rest of his newspaper story.

Spending leave together on the South Coast during the Battle of Britain and the beginning of the blitz, Clive and Prudence have an affair. Having survived Dunkirk, but having a crisis of conscience over what the war is being fought for and disgusted at the incompetence of the ruling elite, Clive decides not to return to the Army and to go absent without leave.

The plot tells of Penny's going to work in a munitions factory during World War II and falling in love with Joseph Cotten.

Due to limited wartime housing, Army lieutenant Danny Ferguson (Frank Latimore) and fiancée Maggie Preston (Jeanne Crain) must postpone their wedding until a room in the Craig Hotel, where married officers stationed at nearby Camp Fielding live with their wives, becomes available. When their accommodations are ready, Maggie arrives with her wealthy parents Henry and Vera (Eugene Pallette and Mary Nash), who are unhappy about the living conditions their daughter will be forced to endure. Initially Maggie is too happy to care, but once the newlywed is left alone during the day while her husband is on the base, she begins to become disenchanted with her surroundings and the lack of service her privileged background has groomed her to expect.
Unaware of what is expected of her in her new capacity of army wife, Maggie quickly becomes an outcast among the other women. Not helping her situation is an obvious lack of any domestic skills that would allow her to assist in the daily routine at the hotel. Increasingly upset with her situation, she lashes out at hotel manager Mrs. Jerry Armstrong (Jane Randolph). Her mood softens when she learns Jerry's husband was killed in battle overseas and she has remained at the hotel to honor his memory.
Maggie's attitude changes and she befriends some of the other wives, particularly Shirley (Gale Robbins), who is married to Danny's best friend Lt. Red Pianatowski (Stanley Prager). When Danny finds himself the target of snide remarks made by his fellow officers, he discovers Maggie asked her father to use his influence to keep his son-in-law based in the States instead of being shipped overseas. Infuriated by her interference, he angrily storms out of their room, and Maggie prepares to return to her parents in Philadelphia.
When Danny returns with Philip, they discover a book about infant care Maggie had purchased to help her assist the expectant mothers, and he assumes she is pregnant. Rushing to the train station, he begs her to return. That night, at a dance honoring a visiting general, Red tells Shirley Maggie is expecting a baby. As Maggie tries to tell her husband the truth, he receives word his company is being sent overseas. Danny is disappointed to learn he is not going to be a father after all, but Maggie reassures him she will be anxious to start a family as soon as he returns. After Danny and Red ship out, Maggie and Shirley decide to find jobs in the defense industry and do what they can to support their husbands and the rest of the troops.

A young defense worker Kathie Aumont (Simone Simon) comes to Washington DC only to find that her friend Sally, with whom she was going to live, is newly married. This leaves Kathie with nowhere to sleep. Luckily she falls in love with a newly inducted Marine, who gives her the key to his apartment. Unluckily he's also given keys to all his friends.
The wartime housing shortage in various large urban areas was a recurrent subject for American comedies during The Second World War. This film was distinctive in that it was a comedy-fantasy. On a train headed from her home province of Quebec to New York City at the film's beginning, Simon accidentally spills salt. Deeply superstitious, she believes this condemns her to seven weeks of bad luck. She is correct, as she is thereafter pursued by a mischievous gremlin whom only she can see who does things such as tamper with her alarm clock.
The film's interest and charm derives in large part from its extremely varied cast of supporting players. Although Robert Mitchum's role in the film has come to be emphasized for marketing purposes, he was not yet a star and only appears in the last twenty minutes or so of the movie. Horror film staple Rondo Hatton speaks no lines and gets a laugh merely by appearing on screen briefly in a surprise appearance. Billy Laughlin, playing a child who lives in Simon's apartment building, was better known at the time as Froggy in the Our Gang shorts.

A poor family in Florida saves all the money they can in order to plan a Sunday dinner for a soldier at a local Army airbase. They don't realize that their request to invite the soldier never got mailed. On the day of the scheduled dinner, another soldier is brought to their home and love soon blossoms between him (Hodiak) and Tessa (Baxter), the young woman who runs the home.

Cynthia Glenn (Esther Williams) is a swimming instructor in Los Angeles, California, where she lives with her scatterbrained aunt and uncle Nona and Hobart (Spring Byington and Henry Travers). While demonstrating a dive, she catches the eye of an interested stranger, Bob Delbar (Carleton G. Young). Cynthia receives flowers from the stranger. The two court for one month, then get married.
On their honeymoon at the hotel Monte Belva, they encounter the famous opera singer, Nils Knudsen (Lauritz Melchior). Major Thomas Milvaine (Van Johnson), also staying at the hotel, notices Cynthia. A rich colleague, J. P. Bancroft, insists that Bob come to Washington, D.C. to complete a deal. While Cynthia cries over Bob's departure, Tommy, staying next door, comforts her.
Next day by the pool, she and Bancroft's daughter, Maude (Frances Gifford) speculate as to which hotel guest is Major Thomas Milvaine, the decorated war hero, who shot down "16... or was it 26 war planes?" and was stuck on a deserted island for a month. After Maude teases Cynthia about being at the hotel without her husband, Cynthia performs an elaborate dive and runs into Major Milvaine himself, who can't actually swim, so she teaches him how.

Jeff (Tom Drake) arrives home to New York City after being away in the Navy for several years. Unaware that his fiancée, Jean (Donna Reed), is now dating a man (Warner Anderson) at the department store where she works, Jeff assumes she is still intends to marry him. In order to save Jeff from heartache, several employees at Jean's store set up a ruse to keep Jeff unaware of Jean's new man until he is deployed again. Jean cooperates with the ruse, but it isn't long before secrets get revealed.



Successful pediatrician Perry Ashwell (Dana Andrews) takes his attractive wife April (Lilli Palmer) and their conservative lifestyle for granted. When he allows artist Octavio Quaglini (Louis Jourdan) into their lives to sketch their "inner selves", Octavio becomes enamoured with April and tries to steal her away from Perry.

In 1934, impoverished painter Eben Adams (Joseph Cotten) meets a fey little girl named Jennie Appleton (Jennifer Jones) in Central Park, New York City. She is wearing old-fashioned clothing. He makes a sketch of her from memory which involves him with art dealer Miss Spinney (Ethel Barrymore), who sees potential in him. This inspires him to paint a portrait of Jennie.
Eben encounters Jennie at intermittent intervals. Strangely, she appears to be growing up much more rapidly than is possible. He soon falls in love with her but is puzzled by the fact that she seems to be experiencing events that he discovers took place many years previously as if they had just happened. Eventually he learns the truth about Jennie and though inevitable tragedy ensues, she continues to be an inspiration to Eben's life and art, and his career makes a remarkable upturn, commencing with his portrait of Jennie.

Eddie Tayloe (Madison) is a reporter assigned to the Ft. Worth desk of a Dallas newspaper, and as the two neighboring cities are feuding, therefore has nothing to do. He dreams of becoming a New York City playwright, and a small inheritance from his grandfather gives him his chance. Quitting his job, he begins the long drive. Picking up hitchhiker Perry Denklin (Lynn), also looking for fame and fortune in New York, he shares with her encounters with various eccentric characters. The big city does not work out for either of them, and when Eddie finds Perry working in a Coney Island girlie show, he pulls her out and they find happiness together, buying a ranch back in Texas.

Marianne "Manina" Stuart (Joan Fontaine), a prominent concert pianist, meets David Lawrence (Joseph Cotten), a businessman, on a flight from Rome to New York. Their plane is diverted to Naples for engine repairs, and they decide to kill time by doing some sight-seeing.
At lunch, a recording of the Kurt Weill/Maxwell Anderson song "September Song", sung by Walter Huston, is playing. Manina is single, and David is unhappily married with a son in his late teens. They talk too long and miss their flight, and decide to stay on for a few days, getting to know each other. They quickly fall in love.
Then they hear that the plane they were scheduled to catch has crashed into the ocean, and all on board are presumed dead. Due to a clerical mixup, they were believed to have been among those aboard. A list of the victims is published in a newspaper they pick up. Thinking their absences won't make any difference to the larger world, they decide to "stay dead" and begin a new life together in Florence. They make no contact with their families or friends, including Lawrence's wife Catherine (Jessica Tandy) and son David Jr (Robert Arthur).
Manina had been originally intending to play Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in New York, and she keeps up her practice during the secret affair. She also has contact with piano teacher Maria Salvatini (Françoise Rosay), who agrees not to reveal Manina is very much alive, but continues to tutor her.
David transfers a large sum of money to Maria Salvatini by issuing a check dated prior to the flight. They use the money as a nest egg for their life in Florence. Catherine and her son travel to Florence after hearing of this transfer to try to find out any more on David's fate from the woman he gave the money to. David Jr recognizes Manina's face from the list of presumed dead and puts two and two together that his father is alive. After this David's wife writes him a note and then leaves. Knowing their secret is out, Manina goes on to perform the Rachmaninoff concerto as originally planned in New York. In the end, Manina realizes she can't stay with David, that they tried to hide from the past but it caught up with them, and after her concert leaves, bidding David goodbye at the airport.

Harry Bogen is an ambitious, unscrupulous young businessman in the 1930s New York City garment industry. He will stop at nothing to get to the top: he lies to his mother and his girlfriend, Ruthie Rivkin, who try to help him become a better person, but he embezzles company funds from Apex Modes and betrays his friends and partners. Harry leaves Ruthie to take up with Martha Mills, a dancer in Club Rio Rhumba, but when he loses his friends and goes bankrupt, his mother and Ruthie stand by him.

In Italy in 1939, a European man calling himself Mr. Imperium (Ezio Pinza) uses a ruse to meet an attractive American woman, Frederica Brown (Lana Turner). He eventually is revealed to be Prince Alexis, an heir to the throne and a widower with a six-year-old son. He nicknames her "Fredda", so she calls him "Al".
When his father becomes gravely ill, he must rush to be with him, but asks prime minister Bernand (Cedric Hardwicke) to deliver to Fredda a note of explanation. Bernand instead tells her the prince is gone for good, that this is his usual method of seducing and abandoning women.
Twelve years go by. One day in Paris, a cinema's marquee makes it clear that "Fredda Barlo" is now a movie star. Fredda's former love travels to California, where film producer Paul Hunter (Barry Sullivan) is now in love with her and proposing marriage.
Fredda decides to drive to Palm Springs to think about his proposal, as well as to decide which actor should co-star in her next film, about a girl who falls in love with a king. "Mr. Imperium" takes a room next to hers, and soon they meet and embrace. He explains the crisis that took place at home during the war and prevented him from looking for her. Now he wants a new life, and Fredda believes he could even portray a king in her film.
Bernand turns up, however, to say that his son is preparing to ascend to the throne. Mr. Imperium realizes he is needed there, so he must say goodbye to the woman he loves once more.

The year is 1928. Samuel Fulton (Charles Coburn) is an old and lonely New York millionaire who has decided to leave his fortune to the family of the late Millicent Blaisdell. Millicent is the only woman he has ever been in love with and they briefly dated, until she dumped him because she did not return his love. Samuel explains to his lawyer Edward Norton (Frank Ferguson) that losing the love of his life was what inspired him to build up a career as a wealthy businessman, eventually becoming the richest man in the world. Fearing the family will spend the money the wrong way, he decides to visit them in a small Vermont town, faking a newspaper advertisement to board a room under the alias John Smith.
The family is initially reluctant to take in Samuel, but Roberta, the youngest daughter, (Gigi Perreau) wastes no time and makes him feel as welcome as possible. He notices that the Blaisdells are a happy family who, although poor, are proud of their background. Father Charles (Larry Gates) has taught the family not to put a value on materialistic products. Nevertheless, mother Harriet (Lynn Bari) wishes for her daughter Millicent (Piper Laurie) to marry Carl Pennock (Skip Homeier), a wealthy but snobbish young man who could buy Millicent everything that Harriet never had. Millicent, however, is not keen on Carl and prefers to marry Dan Stebbins (Rock Hudson), a charming but poor soda jerk. While staying at the Blaisdells, 'John' is given a job at Dan's store as soda jerk.
One night, Millie and Dan announce their engagement, which upsets Harriet. Shortly after, Norton arrives, announcing the family has inherited $100,000 from an unknown man. When realizing Norton is not joking, the family – especially Harriet – immediately gives up their humble life for the upper-class life style. Charles is not enthusiastic of his wife's sudden craze of materialism, but allows her to buy whatever she wants. The oldest son Howard (William Reynolds (actor)) immediately starts gambling a large amount of money and lands a debt, which prompts Samuel to help him. Meanwhile, Dan, feeling he could never live up to Millie's expectations, breaks off their engagement. Afterwards, Millie reluctantly starts dating Carl again, much under the pressure of her mother.
Samuel helps both Millie and Howard escape from a raid, which results in his being jailed. Soon, Harriet feels that Samuel's presence is ruining the family image, unaware of the reason why he ended up in jail. In this period, he is supported only by Dan, who admits his intentions of leaving town to build a career. Trying to prevent Millie and Dan from disappearing out of each other's life, he sets up a meeting at the cinema. There, an argument follows, and Millie exclaims her hatred for the family's sudden wealth, complaining that it is the cause of all bad things happening to her. She is comforted by Samuel, and thereby attracts the attention of other theatre-goers, who suspect that Sam and Millie were necking.
During the ongoing social party at Blaisdells house, there is gossip of the necking in the cinema, which prompts Harriet to force Millie to announce her engagement to Carl. Meanwhile, Charles announces he has lost his investments, which makes Samuel realize that the Blaisdells are in no position of making wise financial decisions. Obligated by Samuel, Norton refuses a loan, after which Charles begs the Pennocks for money. Pennock Senior (Paul McVey) refuses the loan to Charles and leaves with wife and son Carl the party, which makes clear that the engagement is off. Much to Harriet's distress, the Blaisdell family returns to their old lifestyle. At the end, Roberta reveals that 'John' has won the first prize at an art show, having secretly entered his paintings. Samuel immediately leaves the house to avoid the press, and realizes that the Blaisdells now think of him as the grandfather he could have been.

Three men, reared together in New Orleans, but whose paths have drifted apart, each face a crisis during the last weekend of Mardi Gras: Dr. Jason Kent must decide between accepting a chance to become famous as a research scientist, which will mean leaving New Orleans and giving up the girl he loves, Susan Corvier, or staying in his father's practice among the poor; Father Victor Carducci is refused permission to open an independent clinic and is thinking of leaving the Church; Punch-drunk prizefighter Joe Piavi is mainly operating in a survival mode and is trying to collect $1500 owed to him by his former manager Mike Hennighan. When he finds out about the debt, brash reporter Danny Farber, not above a double-cross when it means gain for him, needles Hennighan about Joe, and then tells Joe that Henninghan is threatening to send him to an asylum.

Confirmed bachelor Jud Parker (Larry Parks) likes his life the way it is. A talent agent, he goes to New Haven, Connecticut on a client's behalf and meets Anastacia "Stacie" Macaboy (Elizabeth Taylor), who owns a dance school.
Stacie then runs into him in New York when she goes to a convention. Jud takes her to a New York Giants baseball game and to dinner and dancing. Stacie falls in love, but Jud is furious when a story in the New Haven paper claims they are engaged.
Mrs. Levoy and her daughter, who run a rival dance school, sully Stacie's reputation and cause students to drop out. Stacie and Jud disagree on how to explain their relationship until Stacie ultimately bets everything on the outcome of the Giants' next game.

Qualifying to play in the illustrious Rose Bowl football game on New Year's Day, a Midwestern college's quarterback, Steve Davis, isn't as happy as he should be because playing football doesn't excite him, but his teammate Bronc Buttram is thrilled. Their coach, Jim Hadley, is equally pleased because his ill wife has gone to warmer Glendale, California for her health, so he will now be able to spend more time with her.
Steve perks up in Pasadena while meeting the Rose Bowl's committee and particularly the tournament's queen, Denny Burke, a beauty in a fur coat. Steve believes she's wealthy as well as beautiful and manages to get her telephone number. He can't get through, however, because Denny's younger sister Sally is always tying up the phone.
Finding her house, Steve learns she's a middle-class girl whose dad, "Iron Mike" Burke, once played in a Rose Bowl game himself. Denny takes exception to Steve's disappointment that she's not rich and to his blasé attitude toward the Rose Bowl, a tradition her family loves. The self-involved Steve develops a guilty conscience.
Agreeing to spend New Year's Eve with her family, Steve stands up Denny because he's at the hospital, where Coach Hadley's wife has taken a turn for the worse. He gets busy signals phoning because Sally's hogging it again. Next morning, Bronc explains to Denny and she is relieved. At the game, the coach announces his wife's going to be all right. Steve leads the team to victory, unselfishly letting Bronc score the winning touchdown. He and Denny are in love and plan to marry.

A nurse, Katie (Jane Greer), must decide whether she should marry for love or money. She is pursued by Tony, a wealthy but irresponsible sportsman, and Jeff, a handsome, if conventional, doctor. Tony's ex-wife complicates matters.

In the mid-fourteenth century, Boccaccio seeks his true love, the recently widowed Fiametta (Joan Fontaine), and finds that she has fled Florence, plague-ridden and being sacked by an invading army, for a villa in the countryside with several female companions. When he shows up on her doorstep, Fiametta does not want to invite him to stay, but her friends, bored and lacking male companionship, override her objections. To entertain the ladies (and further his courtship of Fiametta), Boccaccio tells stories of the pursuit of love.
Bartolomea (Fontaine) is frustrated by her marriage to the wealthy, much older Ricciardo (Godfrey Tearle). The latter's strong belief in astrology dictates how they live. One day, the stars are favorable for fishing. However, a pirate ship appears suddenly and captures the ladies. The captain, Paganino (Jourdan), inspects his prisoners and releases all but Bartolomea. He sends her husband a demand for 50,000 gold florins ransom to be paid at Majorca. By the time Ricciardo shows up however, Bartolomea has fallen in love with the pirate. She denies knowing Ricciardo and, when he is unable to answer a simple question (the color of her eyes in the dark), Paganino's friend, the larcenous Governor of Majorca (Eliot Makeham), orders Ricciardo to pay a fine for his lies: the sum of 50,000 florins. Paganino and Bartolomea get married and he promises to give up pirating.
Fiametta is not amused by the "moral" of the story, but the others beg Boccaccio for another. Instead, Fiametta decides to recount a more uplifting tale, to her friends' disappointment.
Giulio (Jourdan) goads Bernabo (Tearle) into betting on the virtue of his wife Ginevra (Fontaine). Giulio wagers 1000 florins against Bernabo's 5000 that he can seduce Ginevra within a month. However, Giulio merely bribes the woman's maid Nerina (Binnie Barnes) into letting him hide in her mistress's bedchamber. Later, while Ginevra sleeps, he steals a locket with Bernabo's likeness in it and cuts off a lock of her hair, noticing as he does so a birthmark on her shoulder. When Giulio provides all three as "proof", Bernabo pays up. He then recruits two assassins to do away with his wife. The killers are discomfited by Ginevra's lack of fear and let her go.
She disguises herself as a man and becomes a sailor on a merchant ship. A potential customer, the Sultan (Meinhart Maur), becomes fascinated by Ginevra's pet talking parrot and agrees to buy the merchant's wares if he can also have the bird. Since the parrot will only speak for Ginevra, she agrees to enter the Sultan's service.
Then one day, she spots her locket in a marketplace stall manned by Giulio. Still in disguise, she coaxes the story out of him and finally learns why her husband wanted her dead. She then has the Sultan invite both Giulio and Bernabo (now working for Giulio) to dinner. Later, with the Sultan and Bernabo within earshot but out of sight, she appears dressed as a woman and asks Giulio if he knows her. When he repeatedly denies it, she is vindicated, and reunited with her husband.
Boccaccio does not like the tale, and starts another.
Spanish Don Bertrando (Jourdan) is sent to fetch a female doctor, Isabella (Fontaine), for his master, the seriously ill King (Hugh Morton). On the trip, he has to defend her against two highwaymen.
When she is able to cure the King, he offers her anything she wants. She asks for a husband: Bertrando. Dismayed, Bertrando agrees, but immediately after their wedding, he leaves her, as that was all that he had promised to do, and resumes his playboy ways. Before he departs, he tells his new wife that he will only live with her if she obtains the ring on his finger and bears him a child. Determined, she sets out to do just that.
Learning that Bertrando is trying to seduce an innkeeper's daughter Maria (Joan Collins), Isabella has the aggrieved innkeeper send Bertrando a message supposedly from Maria agreeing to spend the night with him. Instead, Isabella keeps the rendezvous in the dark, unlit bedroom. She later steals Bertrando's ring while he is sleeping and leaves before her deception is revealed. Months later, she gives birth to a son. Bertrando shows up, having heard that she claims the child is his. After she tells her story, Bertrando embraces her.
When Fiametta is again critical of Boccaccio's story, he gives up and leaves the villa. However, he returns, takes Fiametta in his arms, and kisses her. She resists at first, then gives in.


As World War II ends in Europe, Stars and Stripes journalist Charles Wills (Van Johnson) is on the streets of Paris, covering the celebrations. He is suddenly grabbed by a beautiful woman, who kisses him and disappears. Charles follows the crowd to Café Dhingo and meets another pretty woman named Marion Ellswirth (Donna Reed). The mutual attraction is instant and she invites him to join her father's celebration of the end of the war in Europe. Charles, Marion and her persistent French suitor Claude Matine (George Dolenz) arrive at the Ellswirth household, and we find that the woman who had kissed Charles is Marion's younger sister Helen (Elizabeth Taylor).
Their father, James Ellswirth (Walter Pidgeon), had survived World War I and promptly joined the Lost Generation. Unlike most drifters, he never grew out of it; raising his two daughters to desire such a lifestyle. Helen takes after her father and uses her beauty to sustain a life of luxury even though they are flat broke. Marion goes the other way and looks for serious-minded and conventional young men such as Claude, an aspiring prosecutor, and Charles, the future novelist.
Charles and Helen fall in love and start dating. After Helen recovers from a near-death case of pneumonia, they get married and settle in Paris. James good-naturedly joins the happy family of Charles, with Helen eventually having a daughter Vickie (Sandy Descher). Marion, having lost Charles to Helen, agrees to marry Claude. Charles struggles to make ends meet with his meagre salary, unsuccessfully works on his novels and looks after Vickie.
At about this time, the barren oil fields in Texas James had bought years before finally begin to produce. Charles, to whom James had given the oil fields as a dowry, quits his job, and Helen and James begin to host parties instead of going to them. Sudden wealth changes Helen, who becomes more responsible, while Charles parties his wealth away after quitting his newspaper job and having all his novels rejected by publishers. They also each start to pursue other interests: Helen flirts with handsome tennis player Paul Lane (Roger Moore), while Charles competes in a local Paris-to-Monte Carlo race with professional divorcee Lorraine Quarl (Eva Gabor).
After the race Charles returns to Paris, only to find Helen sitting in Café Dhingo with Paul. A fight breaks out between Paul and Charles, and an angry Charles goes home first and puts the chain on the door, preventing it from being opened all the way. When Helen comes home and tries to enter she can't. She calls out to him, but Charles is in a drunken stupor on the staircase and we hear the bottle drop from his hands as Helen calls. Helen ends up having to walk all the way to her sister's in the snow and rain. She catches pneumonia again and dies.
Marion petitions for and gets full custody of Vickie, while Charles returns home to America. A few years later, having straightened himself out, published a book, and stopped boozing, Charles returns to Paris, hoping his reform will persuade Marion to give Vickie back to him. Charles tells Marion that he only has one drink a day now. Marion refuses, still feeling resentful towards Charles for having fallen for Helen instead of her. Seeing that Charles and Vickie belong together, Claude steps in and tells Marion that she is punishing Charles for his not realizing that Marion loved him. It is painful for him to tell her that he, Claude, could not have all of her love, but Charles should not be punished any more.
Marion goes into Café Dhingo (on whose main wall is a big picture of Helen) to look for Charles (who is gazing at the painting) and tells him that Helen would not have wanted him to be alone. Outside the cafe, Claude is with Vickie. The child runs to Charles and Charles and the child walk off together as the movie ends.

Cary Scott (Jane Wyman) is an affluent widow in suburban New England, whose social life involves her country club peers, college-age children, and a few men vying for her affection.
She becomes interested in Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson), her gardener, an intelligent, down-to-earth and respectful yet passionate younger man. Ron is content with his simple life outside the materialistic society and the two fall in love. Ron introduces her to people who seem to have no need for wealth and status and she responds positively. Cary accepts his proposal of marriage, but becomes distressed when her friends and college-age children are angry. They look down upon Ron and his friends and reject their mother for this socially unacceptable arrangement. Eventually, bowing to this pressure, she breaks off the engagement.
Cary and Ron continue their separate lives, both with many regrets, but Cary's children soon announce they are moving out. Having destroyed her chance at happiness, her son buys her a television set to keep her company. Before doing so, however, her daughter apologizes to her mother for her prior impulsive and foolish reaction to Ron, saying that there is still time if she really does love Ron. Cary's doctor points out that Cary is now lonelier than she was before meeting Ron.
When Ron has a life-threatening accident, Cary realizes how wrong she had been to allow other people's opinions and superficial social conventions to dictate her life choices and decides to accept the life Ron offers her. As he recovers, Cary is by his bedside telling him that she has come home.

Andy Schaeffer is a spoiled mama's boy who usually gets his way. He breezes through college while girlfriend Susan Daniels studies hard while also working at a job to pay for her education.
She isn't sure where their relationship is going. Where it's going for Andy is the Army, because his grades have become so poor at school, he's being drafted. Andy reports for basic training at Fort Ord, making it clear to everybody there that he'd rather be anyplace else.

In 1942, a few months after America's entry into World War II, secretary Ruth Wood (Jane Wyman) lives quietly in Manhattan with her physically and emotionally fragile mother, Agnes (Josephine Hutchinson). Ruth's co-workers at Excelsior Shoe Manufacturing Company are her best friend Grace Ullman (Eileen Heckart) and Millie Kranz (Peggie Castle), an attractive blonde involved in an affair with her married boss, Stephen Jalonik (Fred Clark). Also in the office is Monty (Arte Johnson), a young shipping clerk classified by the draft as 4-F, who monitors the war's campaigns on a world map pinned to the wall.
One evening after work, when a cloudburst forces Ruth and other pedestrians to take shelter in the vestibule of an office building, Arthur Hugenon (Van Johnson), a cheerful, talkative G.I. stationed in the area, surprises the shy Ruth by starting a conversation. When he invites her to dinner, she declines, saying that her housebound mother is expecting her. Undeterred, Art buys food for three at a delicatessen and accompanies Ruth home. Agnes, who has distrusted men since her husband Harry left her for another woman ten years earlier, receives Art with little enthusiasm. During the meal, Art, who grew up on a Tennessee farm, captivates Ruth with his stories and afterward entertains them by playing Harry's piano. Upon finding the manuscript of an unfinished melody Harry composed, Art asks permission to take it back to camp, where he and his army buddy Dixie will write lyrics for it. When weekend arrives, Art takes Ruth and Grace to a matinee and, as they afterwards walk to a restaurant, passing an auction, Ruth impulsively bids on an antique Roman coin, which she gives to Art for good luck. While the trio is enjoying dinner at the Café Normandy, Ruth is unaware that the piano player is her father (William Gargan), whom she has not seen since he left Agnes. However, Harry recognizes Ruth and confides to his bartender friend Andy that he has been too ashamed to return to his family.
Later, Ruth tells Art that Agnes tried to kill herself after Harry left and still hopes for his return. Art arrives late for their next Sunday date, but brings the lyrics he and Dixie have written to Harry's music, entitled "I'll Always Believe in You", which he sings together with Ruth. As they go out and walk through Central Park, Ruth voices fears about the war and Art tells her she must have faith. They then encounter Sergeant Gil Parker (Alan King), while he takes snapshots of his new bride, Arlene Witchy (Barbara Nichols), who works as a singer. Gil asks Art to take their picture and then offers to photograph Art and Ruth. In private, Gil warns Art that his division will soon be shipped overseas, but Art refuses to believe the rumor. At the lagoon, where children are sailing toy boats, Art recognizes the name of an elderly man, Commodore Eli B. Windgate (Halliwell Hobbes), nicknamed "Windy", a former yachtsman who owned many of the surrounding buildings before losing his fortune in the Crash of '29. Hoping to be a reporter after the war, Art senses a good story and interviews Windy on the spot. He then goes with Ruth to The New York Times Building and convinces the city editor (unbilled Grandon Rhodes) to let him write it as a human interest story. Instead of taking payment, Art asks to be considered for a reporting job after the war. A couple of days later, as Ruth waits to meet him for their pre-arranged date, Art arrives late, riding on a truck filled with other soldiers, including Dixie (unbilled Paul Smith). With only a brief moment remaining before the truck's departure for the port where the troop ship awaits, he asks Ruth to marry him when he returns and, to allay her fears, says he still has the lucky Roman coin.
For three months, Ruth writes to Art every day, but receives no letters in return. Finally, a special delivery man knocks on the apartment door and hands a letter from a battlefield chaplain informing her that Art died in combat and that his dying wish was that she be told about his love for her. Ruth's tear drops on the letter and, in the following days and weeks, she is inconsolable despite the best efforts of her friends and co-workers. Millie, moved by Ruth's misfortune, feels the need for a fresh and pure start, drops Jalonik as her lover and leaves the firm. Grace finds Ruth consumed by grief, sitting on a bench in Central Park, and takes her to St. Patrick's Cathedral, where Ruth lights candles under the statue of Saint Andrew. Jalonik, hoping Ruth will fill the void left in his extra-marital life by Millie, takes her to Café Normandy and attempts to engage in a warm-up conversation, but Ruth is in such a despairing state that she pays no attention as he kisses her on the cheek. A few feet to the side, at the bar, Harry has the radio on and hears the familiar strains of his music since, before shipping out, Dixie made suggestions to Art as to the possibility of marketing Harry's music with Art's lyrics as a professional song. Puzzled, Harry dials Agnes' number but, at the sound of her voice, his resolve falters and he hangs up without speaking. Having written numerous letters of explanation and contrition to Agnes, he continually found himself tearing them to bits, because of inability to face the hurt he caused her.
Ruth has been returning to the statue of St. Andrew and talking to the cathedral's young priest (Paul Picerni). Losing interest in life, she ignores a cold, which turns into pneumonia. Mrs. Hamer, the upstairs neighbor who has often helped Ruth care for Agnes, now helps Agnes nurse the bedridden Ruth. One rainy night, while Agnes has dozed off near her bedside, the feverish Ruth leaves the apartment just before Harry finally musters the courage to walk in with the intention of asking Agnes' forgiveness for leaving. Stunned at seeing him, Agnes also realizes that Ruth is missing, just as Grace telephones. Upon being told that Ruth has left her sickbed, Grace realizes that she must be heading for the cathedral.
Standing on the cathedral steps, consumed by fever, Ruth hears Art's voice speaking her name. Delirious, she sees Art materialize and slowly approach close enough for an embrace or a kiss as he tells her that love never dies. No longer possessing earthly means of holding on to the Roman coin she gifted to him, Art returns it to Ruth. A moment later, in the midst of the heavy, late evening rain, the priest finds Ruth unconscious on the steps, just as Grace arrives. Seeing the coin clasped in Ruth's hand, he shows it to Grace, who recognizes it and realizes that, for a brief moment, Art had returned to Ruth, whose own tenuous hold on life remains clouded in uncertainty at the final fadeout.

Nickie Ferrante (Cary Grant), a well-known playboy and dilettante in the arts, meets Terry McKay (Deborah Kerr) aboard the Transatlantic ocean liner SS Constitution en route from Europe to New York. Each is involved with someone else. After a series of chance meetings aboard the ship, they establish a friendship. When Terry joins Nickie on a brief visit to his grandmother when the ship anchors near her home at Villefranche-sur-Mer on the Mediterranean coast, she sees Nickie with new eyes and their feelings blossom into love. During their visit, it is revealed that Nickie has had a talent for painting, but has dropped said trait due to his critical attitude towards his own art. As the ship returns to New York City, they agree to reunite at the top of the Empire State Building in six months' time, if they have succeeded in ending their relationships and starting new careers.
On the day of their rendezvous, Terry, in her haste to reach the Empire State Building, is struck down by a car while crossing a street. Gravely injured, she is rushed to the hospital. Meanwhile, Nickie, waiting for her at the observation deck at the top of the building, is unaware of the accident and, after many hours, finally concedes at midnight that she will not arrive, believing that she has rejected him.
After the accident Terry, now unable to walk, refuses to contact Nickie, wanting to conceal her disability. Instead, she finds work as a music teacher. Nickie has pursued his talent as a painter and has his work displayed by an old friend, an art shop owner. Six months after the accident, she sees Nickie with his former fiancée at the ballet, which she herself is attending with her former boyfriend. Nickie does not notice her condition because she is seated and only says hello as he passes her.
Nickie finally learns Terry's address and, on Christmas Eve, makes a surprise visit to her. Although he steers the conversation to make her explain her actions, Terry merely dodges the subject, never leaving the couch on which she sits. He gives her a shawl that his grandmother left for Terry after she died. As he is leaving, Nickie mentions a painting that he had been working on when they originally met, and that it was just given away at the art shop to a woman who liked it but had no money. He is about to say that the woman was in a wheelchair when he pauses, suddenly suspecting why Terry has been sitting unmoving on the couch. He walks into her bedroom and sees his painting hanging on the wall, and a wheelchair concealed there. He now knows why she did not keep their appointment. The film ends with the two in a tight embrace, each realizing that the other's love endures. In closing, Terry says, "If you can paint, I can walk; anything can happen, don't you think?"

Two high school seniors from different social groups go on a date. He begins to fall for her when she resists his amorous advances and decides they should get married immediately. Both sets of parents object to the sudden nature of the proposal. He talks her into going to Mexico to get married, but they finally decide it is best to wait until they are older.

Daredevil pilot Mike Dandridge goes into a business partnership with flight-school pal Al Reynolds and meets Maggie Colby, who's also a pilot.
The two flyers take cargo to Japan, where they become romantically involved. Al is best man at their wedding, then joins the Air Force.
Mike hires new pilot Nikki Taylor and might be having an affair with her during business trips while Maggie stays home with their new baby. Maggie decides to fly a shipment herself and let Mike care of their daughter for a change. He and co-pilot Phil take a risk by bringing the baby along on a flight to London. Their plane has difficulty landing in a fog, angering Maggie, whose own plane barely got there safely. But at least Mike and Maggie are brought closer by the experience.

Robert Lomax is a young Englishman who, after completing his National Service, goes to work on a plantation in British Malaya. During his time in Malaya, Lomax decides to pursue a new career as an artist for a year.
Lomax visits Hong Kong in search of inspiration for his paintings. He checks into the Nam Kok Hotel, not realizing at first that it is a brothel catering mainly to British and American sailors. However, this only makes the hotel more charming in Lomax's eyes, and a better source of subject matter for his paintings.
Lomax quickly befriends most of the hotel's bargirls, but is fascinated by the archetypal "hooker with a heart of gold", Suzie Wong. Wong previously introduced herself to him as Wong Mee-ling, a rich virgin whose father owns four houses and more cars than she can count, and who later pretends not to recognize him at the hotel. Lomax had originally decided that he would not have sex with any of the bargirls at the hotel because he lacks the funds to pay for their services. However, it soon emerges that Suzie Wong is interested in him not as a customer but as a serious love interest. Although Wong becomes the kept woman of two other men, and Robert Lomax briefly becomes attracted to a young British nurse, Lomax and Wong are eventually united and the novel ends happily with them marrying.

New England librarian Prudence Bell (Suzanne Pleshette) recommended a book, Lovers Must Learn, to one of her students. After defending herself and the book, she resigns telling the school board she's going to Rome where she will encounter people who really know the meaning of love. Sailing from New York she picks the wrong man as a protective consort, providing two potential romantic interests. Albert Stillwell, a student of Etruscan history is a perfect gentleman, while Roberto Orlandi (Rossano Brazzi) is the perfect mature Roman lover.
In Rome, Prudence checks into her boarding house and meets a self-centered American architect, Don Porter (Troy Donahue) whose former lover is the manipulative Lyda Kent (Angie Dickinson). Prudence lands a job at The American Book Shop near one of Rome's famous fountains,working for Constance Ford and her sheepdog.
Don is a confidant of Roberto and discusses his troubled relationship with Lyda, an artist staying in Italy with financial support from her wealthy father. Before Lyda leaves, Don confronts her on a train, but she is unmovable, finally saying she may return to Italy later. Coincidentally, Lyda leaves for Switzerland just hours after Prudence arrives at the villa (boarding house) in Rome where she and Porter reside.
While in Switzerland, Lyda meets a wealthy older man in exile there. Mr. Barkely asked Lyda to accompany him on his yacht to "paint his portrait". Lyda soon loses interest in this romance and returned to Italy, followed by a spy on Barkley's payroll.
Meanwhile, Prudence runs into Don at an outdoor cafe near the American Bookshop. Prudence cheers Don up with her fresh perspective on the beauty of the Roman square, and they go sightseeing around Rome in horse-drawn carriages and his Vespa scooter. While at lunch late in the afternoon overlooking Rome, Don buys a candelabra from a peddler, a symbol of Don's integrity because the candelabra appears to be pure gold.
At dinner, Emilio Pericoli sings "Al Di Là" (a song that reached number 6 after the movie's release in 1962). They find themselves holding hands and cuddling during the performance, then meet a musician (played by trumpeter Al Hirt) who Don knows, who invites them to a jazz joint for a late evening performance, at the end of which Al Hirt and a patron get into a fistfight over a beautiful woman. Don and Prudence leave in a horse-drawn carriage and kiss in the darkness, arriving home at 3 AM.
The bookstore closes for summer holidays, and Don and Prudence leave on a bus tour, where Prudence grows closer to Don as she understands his passion to become an architect. They continue on by themselves to Lago Maggiore for a tour of the garden spots of northern Italy, the Italian Alps with "Al Di Là" playing over the chairlift speakers, and Verona with its Romeo and Juliet balcony. At the market place, Prudence coincidentally runs into Albert and his mother, and is concerned that this woman will report to her mother back in the U.S. that she is no longer on the bus tour, but on a romantic trip with Don. Prudence quickly excuses herself, telling Albert and his mother that she must leave, and fleeing with Don out of the market then and on a night train to Rome.
Back in Rome, Lyda has got into more trouble and has an urgent need to see Don. She kisses Don in front of the window while the private eye watches. Although Don knows he has to break off his relationship with her, Lyda meets Prudence in Don's room back at the boarding house and Lyda invites Prudence and Albert to dinner at her studio.
Not hearing from Don for three days, Prudence decides to move on, and become a sophisticated woman during the remaining time in Italy. She decides to have a sexual relationship with Roberto Orlandi, the Italian man who had pursued her at the beginning of her stay in Italy. She packs an overnight bag, ready to "practice" love with him. When Prudence comes downstairs to be a student of Roberto's seduction "lessons", Roberto plays along, then stops the action, confessing that Don had stayed with him for the previous three days to think things through. Don had decided that he loved Prudence, but then he received an urgent telegram to rescue Lyda. Don is summoned to a fancy hotel where Lyda confesses she has married a possessive rich older man, Bentley, and needs Don to free her from her palatial prison. Don realizes that Lyda is just using him, that she does not love him or even care about him. Don heads back to Rome. Convinced that Don wants to be with Lyda, Prudence plans to return to the States, with a chaotic good-bye in the train station from all the friends she has made in Rome. On the train, Albert asks Prudence to marry him and confesses that he had fallen in love with her since the first day they met, but she evades him while the other passengers board the train.
Sailing back to New York City, Prudence sees her parents from the ship's rail and begins to disembark. Then she sees a candelabra and roses weaving their way through the crowd, behind her parents, and it is Don. They embrace as Don tells her of his love and asks her to marry him.

Lancelot is King Arthur's most valued Knight of the Round Table and a paragon of courage and virtue. Things change, however, when he falls in love with Queen Guinevere. A sub-plot concerns Arthur's effort to forestall a challenge from a rival king, a problem that will inevitably catch Lancelot up in a personal conflict.
In order to marry Guinevere, King Leodogran's daughter, King Arthur must find a knight to defeat Leodogran's champion. Arthur chooses Lancelot, who mortally wounds his opponent. On the way back to Camelot, Lancelot foils an attempt on Guinevere's life by Sir Modred, Arthur's illegitimate son; and before the end of the journey Lancelot and Guinevere realize their love for each other. Though Lancelot is loyal to Arthur and Guinevere's marriage to the King takes place as planned, it is not long before the two become lovers.
Modred spies on them and informs Arthur of his wife's infidelity. Lancelot escapes, but Guinevere is condemned to be burned at the stake. He returns in time to save her and then offers to give himself up provided there will be no retaliation. Nevertheless, Arthur banishes him and sends Guinevere to a convent. Years later, Modred murders Arthur for his throne, and Lancelot returns to defeat him, thus ending the civil war that has been raging in Britain. He then finds Guinevere about to take the vows of a nun.

Frances "Fanny" Hill is a rich Englishwoman in her middle age, who leads a life of contentment with her loving husband Charles and their children. The novel consists of two long letters (which appear as volumes I and II of the original edition) addressed by Fanny to an unnamed acquaintance, who is only identified as ‘Madam.’ Fanny has been prevailed upon by the ‘Madam’ to recount the ’scandalous stages’ of her earlier life, which she proceeds to do with ‘stark naked truth’ as her governing principle.
Fanny’s account begins with the loss of her parents at the age of fourteen followed by a journey to London, and ends with her eventual union with Charles about five years later. The intermediate narrative is filled with an immense variety of sexual experiences, which are described with a clinical degree of vividness, whimsy, wit and humour. A rich store of imaginative metaphors and outlandish similies is brought to bear upon the sexual organs and actions of several participants, both male and female, in their various states of arousal and exertion (cf. the 'Excerpts' below). The plot has been described as ‘operatic’ by John Hollander, who opines that “the book’s language and its protagonist’s character are its greatest virtues.” 
The first letter begins with a short account of Fanny’s impoverished childhood in a village in Lancashire. She loses her parents to small-pox, arrives in London to look for domestic work, and gets lured into a brothel. She is a clandestine witness to two separate sexual encounters (one between an ugly older couple and another between a young pretty pair), and is a far from unwilling participant in a lesbian dalliance with a bisexual prostitute named Phoebe. Charles (who is a customer at the brothel) induces Fanny to make an escape, which she manages to do with her virginity intact. Soon thereafter, she loses it to Charles and becomes his lover. Charles is sent away by deception to the South Seas, and Fanny is driven by her desperation and destitution to become the kept woman of a rich merchant named Mr H—. After enjoying a brief period of stability, she espies Mr H— in casual congress with her own maid, and goes on to seduce Will (the young footman of Mr H—) as an act of calculated revenge. However, she is soon discovered by Mr H— in flagrante delicto with Will. After being abandoned by Mr H—, Fanny becomes a prostitute for wealthy and discerning clients in a pleasure-house run by Mrs Cole. This marks the end of the first letter.
The second letter begins with a rumination on the tedium of writing about sex and the difficulty of driving a middle course between vulgarity of language on the one hand, and `mincing metaphors and affected circumlocutions’ on the other. Fanny goes on to describe her adventures in the house of Mrs Cole, which include a public orgy, an elaborately orchestrated bogus sale of her ’virginity’ to an enervate rich dupe called Mr Norbert, and a sado-masochistic session with one Mr Barville involving mutual flagellation with birch-rods. These are interspersed with narratives which do not involve Fanny directly; for instance, three of her companion girls in the house (Emily, Louisa and Harriett) describe their own losses of virginity, and the nyphomaniac Louisa seduces the immensely endowed but imbecile ‘good-natured Dick’. The only scene in the novel involving male homosexuality occurs towards the end, when Fanny espies upon a scene of anal intercourse between two young boys. (This episode was expurgated from several later editions.) Eventually Fanny retires from prostitution and becomes the lover of a rich and worldly-wise man of sixty (described by Fanny as a ‘rational pleasurist’). This phase of Fanny’s life brings about her intellectual development, and leaves her prodigiously wealthy when her lover dies of a sudden cold. Shortly thereafter, she has a chance encounter with Charles, who has returned as a poor man to England after being shipwrecked. Fanny offers her fortune to Charles unconditionally, but he insists on marrying her.
The novel contains several sharply drawn characters, such as Charles, Mrs Jones (Fanny’s landlady), Mrs Cole, Will, Mr H— and Mr Norbert. The prose is richly textured and consists of long sinuous sentences containing a profusion of subordinate clauses. Its morality is conventional, in that it denounces sodomy, frowns upon vice and approves of only heterosexual unions based upon mutual love. However, there are sly hints in the concluding paragraphs of the book (“You laugh perhaps at this tail-piece of morality…”) which tend to cast doubt on the sincerity of these moral pronouncements.

The story concerns a veteran playboy screenwriter named Richard Benson (William Holden) who has been paid to write a screenplay for his boss, Mr. Alexander Myerheim (Noël Coward). Overly set in his playboy and carousing ways, he procrastinates the writing of the screenplay until just two days before it is due. Gabrielle Simpson (Audrey Hepburn), a temp secretary hired by Benson to type the script, comes to Richard's hotel room where they are to work on the script, only then finding out about their tight deadline and that not one page or line of script had yet been written. The desperate and self-loathing writer, Richard, begins to be awakened and inspired by the beautiful Gabrielle, and starts to come up with various scenarios for his screenplay, called The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower, which is based on their unfolding romance. The screenplay, with small but inspired and comedic roles for Noël Coward, Tony Curtis, and other famous stars of the day, makes fun of the movie business, actors, studio heads and itself, and is rife with allusions to the iconic earlier roles of the two main stars.

The story follows surfers Jody Wallis (Fabian), Steamer Lane (Tab Hunter), and Chase Colton (Peter Brown), who come to Hawaii's Oahu Island to ride the world's biggest waves and compete against surfers from all over the world.
Steamer falls in love with Lily Kilua (Susan Hart), whose mother objects to the romance because she considers surfers to be "beach bums," since her husband—a surfer—left home and family to follow the surf circuit. Self-described college dropout and surf bum Jody falls for the demure Brie Matthews (Shelley Fabares), who challenges him to return to college. In the case of the relatively strait-laced Chase, he finds himself pursued by the adventurous Augie Poole (Barbara Eden).
The main story, though, is the challenge to surf the monster waves at Waimea Bay, and fit in among the champion surfers there such as Eskimo (James Mitchum). Despite conflicts, injuries and rocky romances, Wallis, Chase and Steamer prove themselves brave—or crazy—enough to try to be the last one to ride in the highest wave.

Close friends Anne Carr (Mary Ann Mobley) and Helen Todd (Lana Wood) move into a singles complex where every tenant must be unmarried and under 30.
A couple of neighbors make a wager with bachelor playboy Bret Hendley (John Saxon) that he can't seduce Anne successfully. Bret is too much a gentleman to accept, but when Anne learns the money would pay for Bret's college education, she willingly goes along with a romance.
Mr. Parker (Milton Berle), the building's manager, throws an engagement party for Bret and Anne, then proceeds to evict them from the premises. While they work through their issues, Helen endures a traumatic experience, making her consider giving up men for good.

The stories are set mainly in the Berkshire countryside, at the farmhouse home of the children's grandmother, a Scottish-born woman named Mrs Hawthorne. The farm is called Smockfarthing, and is near to an imaginary village called Smockfarthing Wick, which in turn is close to a town called Riverton. Although these places are not real, James uses names of real places such as Oxford and Drayton, so it is possible that the area could be somewhere around Abingdon. John and Mary's parents live in Rome, as their father is Italian and works there apparently as a diplomat (his work is described in John and Mary Revisit Rome as "involving a great deal of travelling about to far-off places"). His wife is Mrs. Hawthorne's daughter, and her sister is named Push, who also lives at Smockfarthing. John and Mary are educated at home by a governess called Miss Rose Brown, although they spend about half their time in Rome, and indeed are bilingual in English and Italian. Smockfarthing carries a full complement of servants, including Mrs. Dyer the cook, Ellen the parlourmaid, Lizzie (whom the children call Lisetta) the maid, and Edie Kittiwake, the nurse. Edie's father Kittiwake looks after the farm with his son Reggie, and they and Mrs. Kittiwake live in a house on the farm called the Round House. Other characters, such as schoolmasters, vicars, postmistresses and so on, crop up in the books from time to time as well.
Although the series covers about thirty years, John and Mary are never allowed to grow up (only from about the ages of four to twelve) and nothing ever changes very much in their surroundings. This leads to situations such as the war and rationing being discussed during the 1940s, and television and washing machines being mentioned in the 1960s. (One can only assume that Grace James wished to appeal to a constantly fresh readership, although children of the 1960s would probably have found it rather odd that John and Mary would still have a governess and maids running around after them.)
The John and Mary stories involve the children doing fairly normal and day-to-day things within their environment (mainly the countryside), although James makes sure that they meet unusual people and have adventures along the way. The stories are written in a realistic way and the adventures are the kind of adventures that any children might have under the same circumstances.
John and Mary's Aunt is not about John and Mary at all, but is about James herself and her upbringing as a child in Japan. We learn that she was born in Tokyo and lived there until she was about twelve, although no exact dates are given. She does mention that her father was part of a naval mission and was there as an instructor - this seems to fit in with the time of the 'Douglas Mission' to Japan, which commenced in 1873 (hence the photographs in the book of her and her siblings in Victorian children's clothing).
The books were published by Frederick Muller and were illustrated by Mary Gardiner.

Libby Meredith (Ingrid Bergman) and her law professor husband, Roger (Fritz Weaver), move from New York to a small house in the backwoods of Tennessee. Their neighbor, Will Cade (Anthony Quinn), is very helpful and friendly to them, and to Libby especially. While her intellectual husband is busy writing a book, Libby comes to like the country life and finds herself attracted to Will's rural sensibilities, culminating in a brief middle-aged affair (although Will himself is married too).
Meanwhile, Libby's daughter, Ellen (Katharine Crawford), arrives asking for help in raising her son, Bucky, while she attends Harvard law school. Shortly after, Will's hot-tempered son (Tom Holland), who has found out about their romantic relationship, molests Libby when she is out walking. Though Libby is rescued by Will, he accidentally kills his own son while defending her. After attending the funeral, the disillusioned Merediths decide to return to New York (Roger having drifted away from his wife and grown depressed, failing to finish his book). When Libby bids goodbye to Will at his house, he says he will be waiting for her if she ever returns, but Libby replies that she no longer believes in miracles. The last scene shows Libby picking up Bucky from school, and part of the song "A Walk in the Spring Rain" plays over the end credits.

The first scene begins with a young couple awakening in bed, after a one-night stand. An older teen, Edith Alice “Breezy” Breezerman (Kay Lenz) hops out of bed, gets dressed, and steps into the daylight. Breezy lost her parents years before in an auto accident, and has taken the lifestyle of a homeless free-spirited hippie in California.
That same morning, Frank Harmon (William Holden) is bidding farewell to his overnight guest, a very beautiful blonde that openly shows interest in him. He is only humoring her as she leaves, and the audience gets the first sense of how detached he is emotionally. Middle-aged, divorced and wealthy from his work in real estate, Frank lacks for nothing material. His beautiful post-modern home is the setting for much of the movie.
After escaping a bad hitchhiked ride with an unstable stranger, Breezy loiters near Frank’s home, and runs to him as he’s leaving for work. She invites herself into his car and happily insists that he give her a ride to her destination. Again, we see the never-smiling Frank who is now annoyed by the insistence of this young and loquacious girl. Carefree and true to her name, Breezy steals the show with both her charm and her lack of self-awareness.
The next scenes develop their friendship, showing Frank’s jaded personality as he becomes slowly more loving toward Breezy. He takes a fatherly approach and gives her room/board, but never acts on sexual opportunities. In a separate side story, he’s conflicted about love lost: a woman named Betty Tobin (Marj Dusay). There is no formal backstory, but it’s clear that they have a history romantically. Betty seems to gently explain she is getting married to a man she very much loves, and Frank pensively accepts this news. There are discussions at their business lunch of how she has made certain life realizations, with an unsaid declaration that Frank is stunted emotionally. As Betty puts it, he’s “lost”. They part as friends, clearly showing that they have mutual respect.
Frank and Breezy’s relationship continues to strengthen platonically, and he protects her from trouble. He introduces her to the finer things in life, while Breezy stays true to her humility and charm. On a side note, Frank’s friend and workout buddy Bob Henderson (Roger C. Carmel) is grappling with his own mid-life crisis. He’s not able to end his devoid marriage, which could be perceived as proof that a constrained life is no life at all. Frank takes this into consideration, while still growing closer to Breezy. They consummate their relationship at his home, which is now the protective fortress that allows them to freely express their relationship.
Some of the conflicts in this plot are that Breezy maintains friendships with her own peers who are starkly opposite of Frank; they are hippies and carefree, “unwashed” as referenced by Frank. Frank’s friends are established and successful, and while they never seem to question his relationship with her, the imploring question of guilt is rampant in Frank’s mind. He cannot abide that he, at approximate age 50, is in a relationship with a teenager.
These conflicts eventually break him, after a sobering discussion with Bob in a sauna. Bob reveals that there is no way he himself could embark on such a relationship, as he might feel like a “child molester”. He has no intention of being insulting, and is in fact admiring Frank, but Frank’s facial expressions convey his own self-loathing. All of his shared joys with Breezy, such as their adopted stray dog and “us against the world” mentality, don’t stop them from parting ways. Frank simply cannot cope with the age issue.
Time goes on, and the final dramatic twist involves a death. It is this experience that brings Frank to an epiphany: life is short, and his own projected insecurities are his true enemies. He finds Breezy at a park, where they reunite and start their new life together.

Told partly in flashback, it is the story of Katie Morosky (Barbra Streisand) and Hubbell Gardiner (Robert Redford). Their differences are immense: she is a stridently vocal Marxist Jew with strong anti-war opinions, and he is a carefree WASP with no particular political bent. While attending the same college, she is drawn to him because of his boyish good looks and his natural writing skill, which she finds captivating, although he doesn't work very hard at it. He is intrigued by her conviction and her determination to persuade others to take up social causes. Their attraction is evident, but neither of them acts upon it, and they lose touch after graduation.
The two meet again towards the end of World War II while Katie is working at a radio station, and Hubbell, having served as a naval officer in the South Pacific, is trying to return to civilian life. They fall in love despite the differences in their background and temperament. Soon, however, Katie is incensed by the cynical jokes Hubbell's friends make at the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and is unable to understand his indifference towards their insensitivity and shallow dismissal of political engagement. At the same time, his serenity is disturbed by her lack of social graces and her polarizing postures. Hubbell breaks it off with Katie, but soon agrees to work things out, at least for a time.
When Hubbell seeks a job as a Hollywood screenwriter, Katie believes he's wasting his talent and encourages him to pursue writing as a serious challenge instead. Despite her growing frustration, they move to California, where, without much effort, he becomes a successful screenwriter, and the couple enjoy an affluent lifestyle. As the Hollywood blacklist grows and McCarthyism begins to encroach on their lives, Katie's political activism resurfaces, jeopardizing Hubbell's position and reputation.
Alienated by Katie's persistent abrasiveness, Hubbell has a liaison with Carol Ann, his college girlfriend and the departing ex-wife of his best friend J.J., even though Katie is pregnant. After the birth, however, Katie and Hubbell decide to part when she finally understands he is not the man she idealized when she fell in love with him and will always choose the easiest way out, whether it is cheating in his marriage or writing predictable stories for sitcoms. Hubbell, on the other hand, is exhausted, unable to live on the pedestal Katie erected for him and face her disappointment in his decision to compromise his potential.
Katie and Hubbell meet by chance some years after their divorce, in front of the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Hubbell, who is with a stylish beauty and apparently content, is now writing for a popular sitcom as one of a group of nameless writers. Katie, now remarried, invites Hubbell to come for a drink with his lady friend, but he confesses he can't. He does inquire how their daughter Rachel is doing, just to ascertain that Katie's new husband is a good father, but shows no intention to meet her.
Katie has remained faithful to who she is: flyers in hand, she is agitating for the newest political causes. Their past is behind them and all the two share now (besides their daughter, Rachel) is a missing sensation and the memory of the way they were.

After being released from a mental hospital, Jesse (Bridges) sets out to find and rejoin his off-beat family. While doing so, he meets a pretty young woman named Chloe (Sarandon) who works in a movie theatre, and they fall in love, which resolves his psychological problems.

College student Wes (Gary Busey) who comes from Oklahoma to a university in Minnesota, signs up to participate in a psychological experiment where he meets Susan (Annette O'Toole). The two are instantly attracted to each other. Besides the problem of their differing socio-economic backgrounds, Susan is also engaged. However, Susan's grandfather recognizes her fiance's opportunism and when he sides with Wes, their relationship is given more of a chance, in spite of the concern Susan's mother has about social status.
Susan's fiancee is Whitley (John Calvin). As events unfold, her grandfather (Eddie Albert) places his millions on Wes' side of the table since Whitley's opportunistic streak is as apparent as the white stripe on a skunk. Maybe the lovers have a chance after all, even if Susan's mother (Cloris Leachman) is hung up on social status.

Roberta (Rosanna Arquette) is an unfulfilled suburban housewife living in Fort Lee, New Jersey who is fascinated with a woman she only knows about by reading messages to and from her in the personals section of a New York City tabloid. This fascination reaches a peak when an ad with the headline "Desperately Seeking Susan" seeks a rendezvous in Battery Park with the man who regularly seeks her (i.e. Jim, played by Robert Joy). Roberta goes to Battery Park too, sees the woman (Madonna), and in a series of events involving mistaken identity, amnesia, and other farcical elements, Roberta goes from voyeur to participant in an Alice in Wonderland–style plot, ostensibly motivated by the search for a pair of stolen Egyptian earrings. With both of them trying to locate Roberta, her husband Gary (Mark Blum) encounters the wild Susan.

In the summer of 1963, 17 year-old Frances "Baby" Houseman (Jennifer Grey) is vacationing with her affluent family at Kellerman's, a resort in the Catskill Mountains. Baby is the younger of two daughters, and plans to attend Mount Holyoke College to study economics in underdeveloped countries and then enter the Peace Corps. Her father, Jake (Jerry Orbach), is the doctor and friend of Max Kellerman (Jack Weston), the resort proprietor. Baby is befriended by Max's grandson Neil (Lonny Price). Baby develops a crush on the resort's dance instructor, Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze). Johnny is the leader of the resort's working-class entertainment staff. Baby encounters Johnny's cousin Billy on a walk through the resort grounds, and helps him carry watermelons to the staff quarters. The staff hold secret after-hours parties in their quarters, and Baby is surprised by the "dirty dancing" they engage in. Intrigued, Baby receives a brief, impromptu dance lesson from Johnny.
After Baby discovers that Johnny's dance partner, Penny Johnson (Cynthia Rhodes), is pregnant by Robbie Gould (Max Cantor), a womanizing waiter who is also dating and cheating on Baby's older sister, Lisa (Jane Brucker) and several other female guests, she borrows money from her father to pay for an illegal abortion for Penny. Jake agrees to give the money to Baby even though she says she can't tell him what it's for. Penny eventually accepts the money, but says there is another issue. Johnny and Penny perform a weekly dance at the Sheldrake, another nearby resort. Penny will miss her performance if she goes for the abortion, and they will forfeit their salary for the season. Billy suggests that Baby fill in for her. Johnny scoffs at this, which overcomes Baby's initial resistance. Billy and Penny insist that Johnny can teach anyone to dance. Johnny begins to teach Baby the mambo, and the two spend several awkward practice sessions together. Baby gradually begins to improve, and a romantic attraction grows between them.
Billy takes Penny to a traveling abortionist while Baby and Johnny perform at the Sheldrake Hotel. Their performance is mostly successful, although Baby is too nervous to accomplish the dance's climactic lift. Johnny and Baby return to Kellerman's and find Penny in agony. Billy explains that the "doctor" turned out to be a back-alley hack who caused severe damage to Penny. Baby brings her father to help Penny, but when Johnny takes responsibility for Penny, Jake mistakenly assumes Johnny is the father. Jake treats Penny, but is angry that Baby used his money to pay for the procedure, and forbids Baby to associate with Johnny or his friends. Baby goes to Johnny to apologize for her father's behavior. They dance, and afterwards have sex. Jake tells his family they'll be leaving early over breakfast. Lisa protests, because she wants to sing at the end-of-season talent show. Jake gives in, and Baby continues to see Johnny despite her father's warning. She pulls Johnny off the footpath when her father is nearby, and Johnny is hurt that she won't stand up for him to her father. Robbie sees them during their argument and makes a derisive remark about "going slumming" with the staff. Johnny assaults him.

Set in a present that feels more like the past, Harry Dobbs is a private detective surrounded by mysterious and dangerous dames. Among them is his angry girlfriend, Doris, and the suspicious women he encounters on his latest case.
In a nightclub, the sultry Miss Dolan hires the private eye to follow her lover, Rick, who might be trying to kill her. The trail takes Harry to women like Mrs. King and Mrs. McGraw, who apparently are wed to the same man.
A female investigator named Stella Wynkowski turns up. Harry teams up with her, never entirely certain whether she is friend or foe.

A series of unrelated amorous lovers are connected by a chain of desire. It begins when a woman named Alma flees from a would-be lover. She runs into a church, where she meets a man named Jesus and they eventually make love.
Jesus goes home to wife Isa and they make love. Isa leaves for an appointment with Dr. Buckley, with whom she is having an affair. Buckley then visits Linda, a dominatrix. Linda goes home to husband Hubert, a television commentator. Hubert has sex without her knowledge with a male teen, Keith.
Keith is introduced to exotic dancer Diana, who then has a fling with a much older artist, Mel. He goes home to an angry wife, Cleo. And that night, all of these people end up at a nightclub where Alma is performing. Alma has just learned that the lover she fled has been diagnosed with AIDS.

Kate Moseley is a world-class figure skater representing the United States in the pairs event at the 1988 Winter Olympics. She has genuine talent, but years of being spoiled by her wealthy father Jack have made her all but impossible to work with.
Doug Dorsey is captain of the U.S. ice hockey team at the same Winter Olympics. Just minutes before a game, he and Kate literally run into each other at the arena. During the game Doug suffers a head injury which damages his peripheral vision, and he is forced to retire. Later in the Games, Kate's partner drops her during their program, costing them a chance at the gold medal.
In the next two years, while training for the 1992 Winter Olympics, Kate has driven away all potential skating partners with her attitude and perfectionism; her coach, Anton Pamchenko, needs to find another replacement, an outsider who doesn't know that Kate is spoiled and nearly impossible to work with. He proceeds to track down Doug, who is back home in Minnesota, working in a steel mill and a carpenter on the side, living with his brother and playing in a semi-professional hockey league or hockey bar league on the side. Desperate for another chance at Olympic glory, Doug agrees to work as Kate's partner, even though he has a macho contempt for figure skating.
However, Kate's snooty, prima donna behavior gets on his nerves immediately. Their first few practices do not go well. In time, though, their relationship grows warmer, and they learn to work together and become a pair to be reckoned with both on and off the ice. They advance to the U.S. Nationals, and despite strong performances in the short program and long program, they are on track to come in third-place, which does not advance them to the Olympics. However, when one of the leading pairs falls during the competition, they advance.
At the finals at the Albertville Olympics, they look to be one of the top pairs competing for the gold. Everything is going well until they realize that they have fallen in love with each other.

In 1961 Long Island, Alice Bloom (Eliza Dushku) is a ten-year-old girl who is trying to understand how love works. She is infatuated with the girl across the street, 17-year-old Sheryl O' Connor (Juliette Lewis). She often looks at her from across the street, as their bedroom windows are level with each other. Alice starts to copy every detail about Sheryl, including her perfume and the record she listens to. As Alice and her mother pick up her father from work, she notices Sheryl speeding up to the train station to pick up her own father. She admires the affection that Sheryl's father gives her, as she doesn't receive the same from her own father. She then tells her mother about how amazing Sheryl is: how she could travel long distances in her car in no time at all, how she was slapped in the face by one of her Catholic School teachers and never cried, and how she ran the mile in gym and never broke a sweat. Alice's mother does not believe what she is saying.
One day she goes bowling with some of her friends and is ridiculed by them when she rolls a ball into the lane next to hers, and her friends award her with a score of "minus zero" and call her a dufus. Reeling from comments made to her, she immediately becomes excited when Sheryl walks into the bowling alley along with a group of guys trying to win her affection. Sheryl, seemingly innocent and moral, rejects their advances. She rings the bell at the front desk, and from under the counter a boy named Rick (C. Thomas Howell) appears. They are instantly attracted to each other. As Alice continues to bowl with her friends, she constantly watches Sheryl's every move. Her friends then mention that they think Sheryl's breasts are fake, because they do not move. Alice insists they are real, and says that they are friends. They make her go over to talk to Sheryl and get Sheryl to take a drink of her soda, thereby proving that they are friends. But before she can get there, Rick pages her to come back to the desk, and a police officer tells her that her father just died.
During the funeral, Sheryl is obviously upset. As she is sitting in the bathroom, she notices her bowling shoes on the floor and goes to the bowling alley to return them. There she finds Rick repairing one of the pin returns. He tells her they are closed, and she starts crying over her father. After some conversation, Rick walks Sheryl home, and leads to their first kiss. This is observed by Alice, who earlier had spotted Sheryl running to go to the bowling alley. The next day Rick comes back with his gang, and they take Sheryl to the beach, where they have oysters and tequila and Sheryl pours her heart out over her father's death. They spend the whole day and night together.
All is not well, however. Sheryl's mother disapproves of the relationship between her and Rick. Eventually, she bars her from seeing him, and the neighborhood begins to revile Rick. Sheryl refused to stop seeing him however, even as her mother attempts to put her on lockdown. She gets her chance again as she addresses a coughing Alice laying in her grass. Alice was victim of a prank at a boy's birthday party during a game of spin the bottle. Sheryl babysits Alice (with Alice's parents being out, as they had dropped her off at the party), and the two begin to take root in their friendship, with Sheryl imparting wisdom about the boy's bullying of her being typical traits of young boys who crush on young girls. Alice offers also to help Sheryl sneak out and see Rick. The three of them spend much of the night together which includes bringing Alice to seedy places like dive bars and under the boardwalk. She also makes a record in a booth detailing everything that happened that night. Sheryl suggests that she bury it in a time capsule to dig up many years later.
Alice continues to help Sheryl and Rick hide their relationship. She goes to the bowling alley to explain to Rick why Sheryl couldn't make it to see him one day, even yelling at her father in his anger as he advises her to stay away from him, feeling that her father didn't understand love. It's revealed that Sheryl is pregnant. Her mother decides to send her to an unwed mother's home 300 miles or so from Long Island. Despite Sheryl's protests (including her suggestion of abortion, and still wanting to see Rick), she eventually does what her mother says. Rick repeatedly calls Sheryl's house, only to have her mother tell him not to call, and hang up on him. Finally, he and his gang drive to her house, where Rick pleads to speak to Sheryl. This captures the attention of most of the immediate neighbors. Her mother informs him that Sheryl has gone, and that he is to leave as well. He refuses to believe her (looking at Sheryl's still-open window), and pushes her aside to go into the house. The neighborhood fathers then rush to help her, and a brawl ensues between Rick's gang and them, with Rick getting hit in the head with a snow shovel. He spends a week in jail, although it's assumed that no serious charges are filed.
Alice becomes withdrawn from the incident. Once she walks in on her parents listening to the record she made that night, she decides to run away. She ends up under the boardwalk, where Rick finds her, and the two talk. Reluctantly, Rick agrees to drive upstate with Alice to meet Sheryl at the unwed mother's home. After some bartering with a few other occupants of the home, she is snuck inside to meet Sheryl and arranges for her to sneak out to a restaurant at midnight to meet Rick.
The two meet, but Sheryl seems to have come to an understanding regarding her situation. She decides that she wants to put the baby up for adoption. She also suggests that her situation is too complicated for a young woman such as herself to realistically see through a life with Rick, a baby, and no money or viable career opportunities for either of them. Rick is upset, and hands her an engagement ring that he planned to propose with, suggesting that she could pawn it. Alice then talks to Sheryl, asking her what happened to her earlier views regarding how nothing could stop true love. Sheryl tells her that she is simply too young to understand. As Alice suggests the three of them running away together, Sheryl tells Alice that she mustn't leave her loved ones. As Alice is put on a bus back to Long Island and stares out the window at Rick, Sheryl comes out, and the two embrace.
Alice makes it home, and her parents are relieved to have her back. She states that despite the gossip about Sheryl that went on afterward, she received a postcard telling her the truth: That Sheryl and Rick were well on their way to the west coast, and they were doing well. She follows up on her promise to bury her record of that night, and plans to dig it up in 1999. She then meets up with one of her male friends from earlier. They discuss her running away, and it's made clear that Sheryl's earlier suggestion to Alice (that the boy was mean due to his affection towards her) was true. Alice then reveals that she learned some things that summer that she would never forget.

The play was inspired by Giacomo Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly. The first act introduces the main character, Rene Gallimard, who is a civil servant attached to the French embassy in China. He falls in love with a beautiful Chinese opera diva, Song Liling, who is actually a man masquerading as a woman. In traditional Beijing opera, females were banned from the stage; all female roles (dan) were played by males. The first act ends with Gallimard returning to France in shame and living alone after his wife, Helga, finds out about his affair with Song and leaves him.
Act two begins with Song coming to France and resuming the affair with Gallimard. They stay together for 20 years until the truth is revealed, and Gallimard is convicted of treason and imprisoned. Unable to face the fact that his "perfect woman" is actually a man, that has been posing as a woman for 20 years to be able to spy, he retreats deep within himself and his memories. The action of the play is depicted as his disordered, distorted recollection of the events surrounding their affair.
The third act portrays Gallimard committing seppuku (also known as harakiri, ritual Japanese suicide through self-disembowelment) while Song watches and smokes a cigarette.

Jason (Allen Payne) is a responsible young man who has a job in a television repair shop and lives at home with his hard-working mom (Suzzanne Douglas). Joshua (Bokeem Woodbine) is the younger brother just released from prison. He is a volatile, disturbed ex-con who is obviously bound for a violent end. Joshua deals drugs for short-term cash and joins a crew plotting a bank robbery.
When Lyric (Jada Pinkett Smith) walks into the shop to buy a television, Jason meets his perfect match. She has dreams of escape, and inspires Jason to do romantic things like borrow a city bus to take her on a date. Their relationship continually grows and blossoms into love. The height comes when Jason and Lyric take a romantic ride in a rowboat, then make love in the woods.
In a series of flashbacks, Forest Whitaker plays the boys' father, Mad Dog. Throughout the film, Jason has nightmares about a tragedy in his childhood. Either Jason or Joshua killed Mad Dog while he was drunkenly attacking their mother. After being comforted by Lyric, he learns to deal with his past. Alonzo tells his gang and Joshua about the bank robbery plan. Lyric, eavesdropping on their conversation, tells Jason about the bank robbery.
The robbery does not go as planned; Joshua comes late. Most significantly, he causes bedlam by independently terrorizing and beating the customers of the bank, nor promptly gets in the getaway car when the heist is over. As punishment, Joshua is flogged by the rest of his gang. Joshua returns home. Jason realizes how badly he's been beaten, so he confronts the leader of the gang, Alonzo (Treach), who is Lyric's brother, and the two have a vicious fight in a public restroom.
Jason then meets Lyric at the bayou and tells her that he can't leave with her. His nightmares occur because Jason took a gun from Joshua and accidentally shot Mad Dog in the chest, which is why he feels obligated to his family.
Things get worse when Joshua hears his mother tell Jason to leave town with Lyric because he doesn't owe her or Joshua anything. Joshua believes that Jason is leaving not only because of Lyric, but because Alonzo may take revenge. Joshua plans to kill them all in order to keep his brother from leaving.
Jason hears about Joshua's plan and heads to Alonzo/Lyric's house, but he's too late. He sees what has happened and rushes upstairs looking for Lyric. He finds that Joshua has a gun pointed at her neck. He draws a gun as well and is able to convince Joshua not to kill her. However Joshua's arm moves, causing him to accidentally pull the trigger and shoots Lyric. Jason carries her out of the home to a growing crowd outside the house. Lyric is injured, but still alive. Joshua is fed up with his life and decides to end it all by killing himself (off screen), in earshot of everyone outside. The film ends with Jason and Lyric riding a bus, leaving town; however, some versions do not show this part.

The film starts on June 16, 1994 with Jesse meeting Céline on a train from Budapest and striking up a conversation with her. Jesse is going to Vienna to catch a flight back to the United States, whereas Céline is returning to university in Paris after visiting her grandmother. When they reach Vienna, Jesse convinces Céline to disembark with him, saying that 10 or 20 years down the road, she might not be happy with her marriage and might wonder how her life would have been different if she had picked another guy, and this is a chance to realize that he himself is not that different from the rest; in his words, he is "the same boring, unmotivated guy." Jesse has to catch a flight early in the morning and does not have enough money to rent a room for the night, so they decide to roam around in Vienna.
After visiting a few landmarks in Vienna, they share a kiss at the top of the Wiener Riesenrad at sunset and start to feel a romantic connection. As they continue to roam around the city, they begin to talk more openly with each other, with conversations ranging from topics about love, life, religion, and their observations of the city. Céline tells Jesse that her last boyfriend broke up with her six months ago, claiming that she "loved him too much". When questioned, Jesse reveals he had initially come to Europe to spend time with his girlfriend who was studying in Madrid, but they had broken up when she was avoiding him while he was there. He decided to take a cheap flight home, via Vienna, but it did not leave for two weeks so he bought a Eurail pass and traveled around Europe.
When they are walking alongside the Donaukanal (Danube canal) they are approached by a man who, instead of begging, offers to write them a poem with a word of their choice in it. Jesse and Céline decide on the word "milkshake", and are soon presented with the poem Delusion Angel (written for the film by the poet David Jewell). In a traditional Viennese café, Jesse and Céline stage fake phone conversations with each other, playing each other's friends they pretend to call. Céline reveals that she was ready to get off the train with Jesse before he convinced her. Jesse reveals that after he broke up with his girlfriend, he bought a flight that really was not much cheaper, and all he really wanted was an escape from his life.
They admit their attraction to each other and how the night has made them feel, though they understand that they probably will not see each other again when they leave. They simply decide to make the best of what time they have left, ending the night with the implication of a sexual encounter between them. At that point, Jesse explains that if given the choice, he would marry her instead of never seeing her again. The film ends the next day at the train station, where, just as Céline's train is about to leave, the couple decides not to exchange any contact information but instead to meet at the same place in six months.

Rose Morgan (Streisand), a shy, plain, middle-aged English literature professor at Columbia University, shares a home with her vain, overbearing mother Hannah (Bacall). When her attractive sister Claire (Rogers) starts making preparations for her third wedding to Alex (Brosnan), who used to date Rose, she begins to feel her loveless life is empty.
Gregory Larkin (Bridges), a Columbia Mathematics teacher, feels sex complicates matters between men and women, since he seems to lose all his rational perspective as soon as he is aroused. After his last girlfriend dumps him after a last one night stand before she gets married, he decides to look for a relationship based on the intellectual rather than the physical, based on a suggestion by a sex-phone service, and places an ad in a newspaper.
Claire reads the ad and answers on behalf of Rose. Gregory is intrigued when Claire tells him that Rose teaches English literature at Columbia, so he creeps in to Rose's lecture about chaste love in literature, missing entirely the point she was making. After a series of mishaps, they begin dating and he is impressed by her wit and knowledge and seems to be fascinated by her quirks and mannerisms, which usually drive people crazy. She is also fascinated by the dashing math professor and even helps him improve his teaching techniques. He proposes marriage, on condition that it will be largely platonic, with occasional sex only if she needs it. The prospect of spending the rest of her life as a lonely spinster living with her mother seems far worse than a marriage on those conditions, so Rose accepts.
Rose's attraction to Gregory grows, and one night she attempts to seduce him, much to his annoyance. He had hoped that by then she had given up on the idea of sex, though he admits he initially raised its possibility. He abruptly breaks off their attempt at physical intimacy when he finds himself becoming truly aroused and fears that it will change the safe comfortable feelings he has towards Rose.
When Gregory departs on a lengthy lecture tour, Rose embarks on a crash course in self-improvement: she diets, exercises, changes her hairstyle, learns to use makeup, and outfits herself in an updated wardrobe. When her husband returns, he finds a very different woman waiting for him and is too startled to express his feelings. She admits that she made a mistake in accepting their passionless marriage, and leaves him. All the while, Rose realizes that everyone, including herself, is now behaving differently towards her altered self, though not always to her liking. Gregory and Rose realize their mutual love has been hindered, not by Rose's appearance, but by Gregory's unusual theories on marriage and sex, and finally recognize their deep affection.

Anastasia "Ana" Steele is a 21-year-old college senior attending Washington State University in Vancouver, Washington. Her best friend is Katherine "Kate" Kavanagh, who writes for the college newspaper. Due to an illness, Kate is unable to interview 27-year-old Christian Grey, a successful and wealthy Seattle entrepreneur, and asks Ana to take her place. Ana finds Christian attractive as well as intimidating. As a result, she stumbles through the interview and leaves Christian's office believing it went poorly. Ana does not expect to meet Christian again, but he appears at the hardware store where she works. While he purchases various items including cable ties, masking tape, and rope, Ana informs Christian that Kate would like some photographs to illustrate her article about him. Christian gives Ana his phone number. Later, Kate urges Ana to call Christian and arrange a photo shoot with their photographer friend, José Rodriguez.
The next day José, Kate, and Ana arrive for the photo shoot at the Heathman Hotel, where Christian is staying. Christian asks Ana out for coffee and asks if she's dating anyone, specifically José. Ana replies that she is not dating anyone. During the conversation, Ana learns that Christian is also single, but he says he is no romantic. Ana is intrigued but believes she is not attractive enough for Christian. Later, Ana receives a package from Christian containing first edition copies of Tess of the d'Urbervilles, which stuns her. Later that night, Ana goes out drinking with her friends and ends up drunk dialling Christian, who informs her that he will be coming to pick her up because of her inebriated state. Ana goes outside to get some fresh air, and José attempts to kiss her, but he is stopped by Christian's arrival. Ana leaves with Christian, but not before she discovers that Kate has been flirting with Christian's brother, Elliot. Later, Ana wakes to find herself in Christian's hotel room, where he scolds her for not taking proper care of herself. Christian then reveals that he would like to have sex with her. He initially says that Ana will first have to fill out paperwork, but later goes back on this statement after making out with her in the elevator.
Ana goes on a date with Christian, on which he takes her in his helicopter, Charlie Tango, to his apartment. Once there, Christian insists that she sign a non-disclosure agreement forbidding her from discussing anything they do together, which Ana agrees to sign. He also mentions other paperwork, but first takes her to his playroom full of BDSM toys and gear. There, Christian informs her that the second contract will be one of dominance and submission, and there will be no romantic relationship, only a sexual one. The contract even forbids Ana from touching Christian or making eye contact with him. At this point, Christian realises that Ana is a virgin and agrees to take her virginity without making her sign the contract. The two then have sex. The following morning, Ana and Christian again have sex. His mother arrives moments after their sexual encounter and is surprised by the meeting, having previously thought Christian was homosexual, because he was never seen with a woman. Christian later takes Ana out to eat, and he reveals that he lost his virginity at age 15 to one of his mother's friends, Elena Lincoln, and that his previous dominant/submissive relationships failed due to incompatibility. Christian also reveals that in his first dominant/submissive relationship he was the submissive. Christian and Ana plan to meet again, and he takes Ana home, where she discovers several job offers and admits to Kate that she and Christian had sex.
Over the next few days, Ana receives several packages from Christian. These include a laptop to enable her to research the BDSM lifestyle in consideration of the contract; to communicate with him, since she has never previously owned a computer; and to receive a more detailed version of the dominant/submissive contract. She and Christian email each other, with Ana teasing him and refusing to honour parts of the contract, such as only eating foods from a specific list. Ana later meets with Christian to discuss the contract and becomes overwhelmed by the potential BDSM arrangement and the potential of having a sexual relationship with Christian that is not romantic in nature. Because of these feelings, Ana runs away from Christian and does not see him again until her college graduation, where he is a guest speaker. During this time, Ana agrees to sign the dominant/submissive contract. Ana and Christian once again meet to further discuss the contract, and they go over Ana's hard and soft limits. Christian spanks Ana for the first time, and the experience leaves her both enticed and slightly confused. This confusion is exacerbated by Christian's lavish gifts and the fact that he brings her to meet his family. The two continue with the arrangement without Ana's having yet signed the contract. After successfully landing a job with Seattle Independent Publishing (SIP), Ana further bristles under the restrictions of the non-disclosure agreement and her complex relationship with Christian. The tension between Ana and Christian eventually comes to a head after Ana asks Christian to punish her in order to show her how extreme a BDSM relationship with him could be. Christian fulfils Ana's request, beating her with a belt, and Ana realises they are incompatible. Devastated, she leaves Christian and returns to the apartment she shares with Kate.

One afternoon in San Francisco, Adaline Bowman purchases fake IDs at an apartment before returning home to feed her dog. She then goes to work and opens a box of film reels, including one that explains her life. She was born on New Years Day 1908, then later married and gave birth to a daughter, only to become a widow after her husband died in a tragic accident. Years later, in 1937, Adaline crashed her car when she swerved into a ravine during a freak snowstorm and died in the freezing lake nearby, but a lightning strike suddenly revived her. From that moment, Adaline has stayed physically 29 years old.
Ever since, she has changed her identification and address according to the era, while her daughter Flemming ages normally, appearing older than Adaline. One night, two suspicious FBI agents attempt to force her onto an airplane for study, but she escapes captivity and realizes that she will have to spend the rest of her life on the run.
On New Year's Eve in the present year, she attends a party where she meets Ellis Jones, introducing herself as her current alias, Jennifer. He asks to see her again but she refuses, knowing she can never fall in love because she can never have a normal future with someone. The next day at work, Ellis arrives and again asks Adaline to go on a date with him. Finally she accepts, and after a second date they spend the night together.
In a flashback, Adaline is shown pulling up in a cab to a park where a man is waiting, holding an engagement ring. Scared, she asks the cab driver to keep going. Back in the present day, Adaline's dog falls ill and she begins to ignore Ellis' calls. He shows up at her apartment but she pushes him away, only to have a change of heart while looking through some old photographs and realizing she doesn't want to live the same year a hundred times without having a natural life.
They later resolve their argument and Ellis asks Adaline to attend the party at his parents' house celebrating his parents' fortieth anniversary, and she says yes. Upon their arrival, Ellis introduces her to his father, William, who recognizes her instantly and calls her Adaline. She appears to recognize him, too, but lies, telling him that Adaline was her mother, who has since died. A flashback shows how they met and came to be in love, soon revealing that he was the man with the engagement ring she stood up that afternoon. One night, Ellis tells Adaline he is falling in love with her and she is unsure of how to react.
The following day, Adaline talks with William outside and he notices a scar on her left hand, and becomes shaken. Another flashback reveals that Adaline cut her hand while they were hiking decades ago and he had stitched it up himself. He realizes that she is truly Adaline and confronts her. She becomes upset, claiming she used to be "normal" and doesn't know what changed her. He begs her not to run, for Ellis' sake, but she says she doesn't know how to stay. She flees and returns to the house, writing a note to Ellis while he showers, then she packs her things and leaves. Moments later, Ellis finds the letter and confronts his father, who refuses to explain.
While driving home, Adaline thinks of all the times she has run and suddenly has a change of heart about the way she lives her life. She stops and calls her daughter to tell her she is going to stop running. As she turns the car around, a tow truck plows into her in a hit-and-run accident, leaving her to die. Freezing and helpless, Adaline dies again. An ambulance arrives and she is revived by the electricity of the defibrillator. Later in the hospital, she wakes up to Ellis, and the two profess their love for one another. Adaline then tells him of her 107 years of life.
One year later, Ellis and Adaline are going to a New Year's Eve party. As she is leaving, she notices something strange in the hallway mirror: her first grey hair, proving she has begun to age naturally again. When Ellis asks if she is okay, she responds: "Yes... Perfect."

Doris Miller (Sally Field) is a shy, eccentric 60-something woman, living alone following the death of her mother, whom she has lived with for her whole life. At the funeral, her brother Todd (Stephen Root) and his wife (Wendi McLendon-Covey) try to persuade her to sell the house, especially the possessions, as she is a hoarder and has a habit of keeping discarded furniture she finds on the street. Her only close friend is the fiery Roz (Tyne Daly), though she also gets along with Roz's granddaughter. On her way to work, where she has been doing data entry for decades, she meets a younger co-worker, John (Max Greenfield), whom she is immediately infatuated with. Empowered and inspired by cliched self-improvement tapes, Doris decides to go after him.
Doris finds ways to get John's attention, though the attempts are frequently combined with daydream fantasies about a passionate love affair between them. With the help of Roz's granddaughter (Isabella Acres), she creates a fake social media profile in order to find information about him, and discovers that he loves an electropop band that is planning an upcoming concert in the area. Doris buys a CD for the band, which gets John's attention, and attends the concert, where she meets him and they spend time together. The band is intrigued by Doris and invite her backstage, where they spend a fun evening meeting young artists in the area. John tells her that he and his girlfriend recently broke up over text, and asks her about her love life. She reveals that she was engaged in the past, but when her fiance left for a job in Arizona, she had to decline in order to take care of her mother. When they part for the night, John gives her a friendly kiss goodnight, and Doris is in love.
John is distracted for the next week, and Doris discovers that he has a girlfriend, Brooklyn. Though Brooklyn is friendly and charming, and John likes her, Doris is devastated. She spends the night drinking wine, and in a drunken fit of anguish, she posts a comment on John's social media wall while using her fake profile, posing as a scorned young woman with whom he had a torrid love affair. The next morning, Todd arrives with her therapist, planning on decluttering Doris's house, but when his wife tries to throw out a pencil Doris stole from John, she angrily throws them out of her house. Todd tells her that he's disappointed in her, and she retorts that he was never around when their mother needed help. He says that it was what worked out the best for his success, and she tells him that she could have had those opportunities, too.
At work, Brooklyn arrives and has a fight with John before breaking up with him; Brooklyn tells Doris later that she had seen the comment on his wall and accused him of cheating on her, and she admits that she was cheated on in the past. After work, John tells her about the incident and invites her to his Thanksgiving for friends. She agrees, and when he asks her if she'd ever be interested in dating a younger man, she is elated at this indication he is interested in her.
Roz tells Doris that she's deluded and that she's making a huge mistake by going after John, but an infatuated Doris refuses to listen. She dresses up and goes to the Thanksgiving party, where she meets John's uncle, who is clearly interested in her. During the party, she asks to talk to John in his bedroom. While trying to come onto him, she reveals that she's always liked him and that she was the one to put up the comment that drove him and Brooklyn apart. Upset, John rebuffs her, and is shocked that his friend would break him up with a girlfriend he was so fond of. When a flustered Doris asks him what he meant by asking her if she was interested in younger men, he admits he was trying to set her up with his uncle, who is a decade younger than Doris -- thus, a younger man. A hurt Doris leaves and invites Roz over for comfort.
Doris invites her therapist over to declutter her house, and she succeeds getting it cleaned up. She also quits her job, and says good-bye to John before she leaves. When Doris goes to the elevator to leave on her last day, John calls her name, races out of his office, and tells her that he really is interested in her and wants to sincerely begin a relationship with her. They kiss, but this is all revealed to be yet another one of Doris's fantasies. In reality, alone, she enters the elevator to leave. After hesitating, John calls out her name and runs toward the elevator. The doors close.

Twenty-six-year-old Louisa Clark lives with her working-class family. Unambitious and with few qualifications, she feels constantly outshone by her younger sister, Treena, an outgoing single mother. Louisa, who helps support her family, loses her job at a local cafe. She goes to the Job Centre and, after several failed attempts, is offered a unique employment opportunity: help care for Will Traynor, a successful, wealthy, and once-active young man who was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident two years earlier. Will's mother, Camilla, hires Louisa despite her lack of experience, believing Louisa can brighten his spirit. Louisa meets Nathan, who cares for Will's medical needs, and Will's father, Steven, a friendly upper-class businessman whose marriage to Camilla is strained.
Louisa and Will's relationship starts out rocky due to his bitterness and resentment over being disabled. Things worsen after Will's ex-girlfriend, Alicia, and best friend Rupert reveal that they are getting married. Under Louisa's care, Will gradually becomes more communicative and open-minded as they share experiences together. Louisa notices Will's scarred wrists and later overhears his mother and sister discussing how he attempted suicide shortly after Camilla refused his request to end his life through Dignitas, a Swiss-based assisted suicide organization. Horrified by his attempt, Camilla promised to honour her son's wish, but only if he agreed to live six more months. Camilla intends to prove that, in time, he will believe his life's worth living.
Louisa conceals knowing about Will and Camilla's agreement. However, she tells Treena, and together they devise ways that will help convince Will to abandon his death wish. Over the next few weeks, Will loosens up and lets Louisa shave his beard and cut his shaggy hair. Louisa begins taking Will on outings and the two grow closer.
Through their frequent talks, Louisa learns that Will has travelled extensively; his favourite place is a cafe in Paris. Noticing how limited her life is and that she has few ambitions, Will tries to motivate Louisa to change.
Louisa continues seeing her longtime boyfriend, Patrick, though they eventually break up due to her relationship with Will. Meanwhile, Louisa's father loses his job, causing more financial difficulties. Fortunately, Mr. Traynor offers Mr. Clark a position. Louisa realises that Will is trying to help her secure her freedom from her family. The two attend Alicia and Rupert's wedding where they dance and flirt. Will tells Louisa that she is the only reason he wakes in the morning.
Louisa convinces Will to go on a holiday with her, but before they can leave, Will contracts near fatal pneumonia. Louisa cancels the plans for a whirlwind trip. Instead, she takes Will to the island of Mauritius. The night before returning home, Louisa tells Will that she loves him. Will says he wants to confide something, but she admits that she already knows about his plans with Dignitas. Will says their time together has been special, but he cannot bear to live in a wheelchair. He will be following through with his plans. Angry and hurt, Louisa storms off and does not speak to him for the remainder of the trip. When they return home, Will's parents are pleasantly surprised by his good physical condition. Louisa, however, resigns as his caretaker, and they understand that Will intends to end his life.
On the night of Will's flight to Switzerland, Louisa visits him one last time. They agree that the past six months have been the best in their lives. He dies shortly after in the clinic, and it is revealed that he left Louisa a considerable inheritance, meant to continue her education and to fully experience life. The novel ends with Louisa at a cafe in Paris, reading Will's last words to her in a letter, that tell her to 'live well'.

As summarised in a film publication, Georgette Verlaine (Duke) is a favourite stage actress that Dr. John Longden (Buckler), who is in love with her, persuades to recuperate in the country as her life is ruining her health. He selects a pretty place called "Crooning Water" where she stays with Horace Dornblazer (Newall), his wife Rachel (Dibley), and their three children. The fact that there is one man who does not fall for her smiles drives her to try and win the admiration of Horace. When she finally gets him where she wants him, she leaves and returns to London. Horace leaves his family and follows her to the city, but she tells him that she did not love him but only admired him for the things he stood for: honour, fidelity, etc. Georgette starts her gay life anew and Horace goes back to his family where he is forgiven. The actress soon tires of her frivolous life and returns to Crooning Water, where she too is forgiven, and then returns to London to marry the doctor.


The story is told through episodes of memories by the woman (Mary, played by Ann Todd) while on holiday in Switzerland waiting for her banker husband Howard (Claude Rains) to join her from his business. It has been nine years since they have been on holiday, but also nine years since she last talked to the man she is in love with (Steven, played by Trevor Howard), who unknowing to her has been booked into the adjoining room.
The narrative then goes into the past and tells of the love between Mary and Steven. While Mary loves Steven, she refuses to marry him, believing that a marriage of love would be too stifling, while Steven tells her that two people in love should want to 'belong to each other'. Mary insists that she wants only to 'belong to herself' and runs away as Steven tells her that her life would then be 'a failure'. She then marries Howard, who gives her affection, stability and security. When they meet again nine years later on New Year's Eve, Steven is with his-then girlfriend while Mary is with Howard. Howard dryly pretends not to recognise Steven 'So the enemy wouldn't know he was being observed'.
Steven later pursues Mary again and almost persuades her to change her mind and leave Howard. While Howard accepts his wife's socialising with Steven, he notices they have forgotten their tickets for the theatre. They then lie to him when he inquires of their evening. In a dramatic scene Steven tells Howard Mary is in love with him and Howard should step aside, while Mary asks him to leave so she can talk things over with Howard.
Mary sends Steven a letter, but Steven goes to their residence and demands to see Mary. He sees Howard first, who tells him he knows and understands Mary, while Steven, despite being in love, hardly knows Mary at all. Howard understands that their marriage is not one of love, but one of affection and mutual freedom. Howard is confident that a marriage of love, where partners 'belong' to each other, was not what Mary wants, and all that is needed is for Mary and Steven to stay away from each other. Mary later confirms what Howard said and runs away before Steven can dissuade her.
The narrative returns to the holiday in the Swiss Alps as Mary and Steven innocently meet again. Howard is once more absent due to banking work, and with Steven having a half a day before he has to return to London, they go by boat and cable car to picnic on a mountain. They talk of their lives and Steven reveals that he has two children with his wife. Mary asks him if he is happy, and seems happier herself that he is, but mixed expressions tell of regrets, as if she wishes herself in his wife's place.
When they return from the mountain, Howard has arrived early and happens to see them disembarking the boat together. As he goes to the couple's suite, he notices the porter taking Steven's suitcase from the adjoining room and is filled with suspicion. His pride is further hurt when Mary rushes by him to the terrace, not realising he is there, to wave goodbye enthusiastically to Steven. He storms out when Mary turns and sees him, her feelings revealed on her face, and soon files for divorce against her, alleging adultery.
Mary tries to warn Steven about the divorce action, but he is served with process just as Steven's wife goes to see Steven off a train. Steven's family life is plunged into havoc. Mary decides she must save Steven and, meeting him for the last time, pretends that Howard has withdrawn the divorce, so that Steven can go back to his wife and happy life. She goes to Howard, asking him to stop the divorce by telling him nothing happened in the Swiss hotel and she was innocent of the adjoining room to Steven. Howard then tells her the divorce is not about that. He had not expected love from their marriage, but only affection and some loyalty. Instead he was given 'the love you'd give a dog, the kindness you'd show a beggar, and the loyalty of a bad servant'. Yelling for Mary to get out, he loses his temper and breaks a vase. He quickly calms down and retracts what he said in genuine remorse, revealing that he has developed the very type of romantic love for Mary that he has always disdained, but Mary has already left.
Mary runs from the house and walked through a London Underground station in a trance. Standing on a platform with an incoming train heading West London, she dazedly contemplates the tracks. As the train approaches she draws dangerously close to the platform edge, but just as she is about to leap, someone catches her round the waist. It is Howard (her husband), who has come after her. He holds her as she shakes and the couple reconcile on the platform.

Overbearing husband separates his wife from her children but is reconciled to her after he has accidentally killed their son.

Astronauts William Fletcher, the can-do captain, and Peter Craig, the malcontent co-pilot, set down in a canyon on an alien planet to repair their ship. While arguing, Fletcher asks Craig what he would want if he had things his way, and Craig responds that he'd like to be the one giving the orders. Shortly after, Craig hears a sound, though Fletcher does not.
Craig goes scouting over a period of days, leaving Fletcher to repair the ship. One day Craig returns, strutting a bit, and Fletcher asks why he does not seem to have drunk any water in the past two days. Fletcher discovers that Craig has found water. Pressed, Craig reveals that he found a city populated by people no bigger than ants, and takes Fletcher to see them, revealing that he used mathematics to communicate with them. He says he loves having an entire population terrified of him, and refers to himself as a god. Craig begins terrorizing the population by crushing three of their buildings. Fletcher knocks him out and apologizes to the tiny folk.
Later, Fletcher finds that Craig had coerced the tiny people to build a life-size statue of him. Fletcher tells Craig that the repairs are done and they can depart. Craig pulls a gun on Fletcher and orders Fletcher to leave the planet without him. Fletcher does his best to talk Craig into coming along, telling him he'll be lonely, but Craig fires at the statue, blowing off the head, and again orders him to leave. Fletcher leaves in disgust. Craig gloats and throws the broken-off head of the statue at the city, cackling maniacally as tiny voices cry out in panic and tiny sirens wail.
Another ship lands. Two spacemen, taller than the mountains, emerge. One of them picks Craig up to examine him, unintentionally crushing him to death. He casually discards the body. The little people rejoice at his death, pulling the statue of Craig down on top of his lifeless body.

Astronauts William Fletcher, the can-do captain, and Peter Craig, the malcontent co-pilot, set down in a canyon on an alien planet to repair their ship. While arguing, Fletcher asks Craig what he would want if he had things his way, and Craig responds that he'd like to be the one giving the orders. Shortly after, Craig hears a sound, though Fletcher does not.
Craig goes scouting over a period of days, leaving Fletcher to repair the ship. One day Craig returns, strutting a bit, and Fletcher asks why he does not seem to have drunk any water in the past two days. Fletcher discovers that Craig has found water. Pressed, Craig reveals that he found a city populated by people no bigger than ants, and takes Fletcher to see them, revealing that he used mathematics to communicate with them. He says he loves having an entire population terrified of him, and refers to himself as a god. Craig begins terrorizing the population by crushing three of their buildings. Fletcher knocks him out and apologizes to the tiny folk.
Later, Fletcher finds that Craig had coerced the tiny people to build a life-size statue of him. Fletcher tells Craig that the repairs are done and they can depart. Craig pulls a gun on Fletcher and orders Fletcher to leave the planet without him. Fletcher does his best to talk Craig into coming along, telling him he'll be lonely, but Craig fires at the statue, blowing off the head, and again orders him to leave. Fletcher leaves in disgust. Craig gloats and throws the broken-off head of the statue at the city, cackling maniacally as tiny voices cry out in panic and tiny sirens wail.
Another ship lands. Two spacemen, taller than the mountains, emerge. One of them picks Craig up to examine him, unintentionally crushing him to death. He casually discards the body. The little people rejoice at his death, pulling the statue of Craig down on top of his lifeless body.

A tourist guide in Naples is taken on by an English woman impressed by his singing, and who regards him as her protege.

A young man returns from Europe after several years' estrangement from his family caused by his disapproval of his father's remarrying after his mother's death. At the family reunion he learns that his stepmother is the woman with whom he had a shipboard romance on the voyage home.

Robert Dean (Clifton Webb) is an old-fashioned psychologist who reluctantly allows his oldest daughter Meg (Jill St. John) to join a four-week tour in São Paulo before returning to college in America. When he finds out she is planning on six more weeks, he immediately books a ticket to Brazil to find out what her true motives for staying are. He is accompanied by his loving wife Mary (Jane Wyman) and youngest daughter, the wise-cracking, joyful Betsy (Carol Lynley). Upon arriving, Robert is unamused by the notable character change in a daughter. She looks to be very much interested in her older mentor Eduardo Barroso (Paul Henreid), and has taken up habits which are shocking to Robert, including smoking.
Unaware of her daughter's engagement with Barroso's son Carlos (Nico Minardos), Robert mistakes Eduardo for being Meg's love interest. Meanwhile, Betsy is enjoying the attention she is receiving from the United States Air Force, and falls in love with Sgt. Paul Gattling (Gary Crosby). Back at the hotel, Carlos is reluctant to meet Meg's parents, thinking they will disapprove of his bohemian lifestyle. By assuming the worst, Carlos makes a horrible impression on Robert, who tries to prohibit his daughter from seeing them by booking a flight to Rio de Janeiro and then Lima for the family.
Feeling betrayed by her father, Meg calls Carlos to tell him goodbye, and he responds by confronting her with leading her father's life. Nevertheless, he and Eduardo follow her to Lima, where Carlos and Meg are reunited at a bull fight. Soon after, Paul, who has set out to Lima as well, proposes to Betsy, but she rejects him, explaining she is not ready to marry. Later that night, Eduardo and Carlos announce they are returning to São Paulo the following day. Robert eventually reluctantly allows his daughter to accompany her future husband.
After bidding her daughter farewell, Robert goes to a bar and gets drunk. He ends up lying unconscious on the street and is mistaken for being a member of a Spanish tour group. Upon awaking, Robert finds out he is on a plane heading for Madrid and is eventually dropped off in Trinidad. There, he phones Meg to give her his sincere blessing for marrying Carlos, but she announces she is not in love with Carlos any longer. Betsy, on the other hand, desires to marry Paul. Upon asking her father for permission, he declares that she is old enough to make her own decisions, after which she is officially engaged to Paul.

Judy (Swanson) and Nicholas Randall (Olivier) are a newly married couple who agree to a marriage based on "perfect understanding." This agreement is meant to rule out any form of jealousy. During their honeymoon they are called away to Cannes to spend time with their friends. Judy chooses to go back to London to decorate their home but insists that Nicholas spend time with their friends. While in Cannes, Nicholas becomes drunk and ends up sleeping with Stephanie (Swinburne), his former mistress. Nicholas is guilt-stricken and immediately returns home and confesses to Judy his sin. Judy forgives him due to their prior agreement of a perfect understanding. However, while Nicholas is away on business she confesses to her friend Ivan (Halliday) that she is still upset with Nicholas. Ivan then declare his love for Judy and tells her that if she would like, he would be willing to spend the night with her. Judy leaves Ivan to consider her options and ends up wandering the streets at night. Meanwhile, Nicholas has been outside Ivan's apartment and does not realize that Judy has left. He concludes that the two are having an affair. When Judy returns from walking the streets she leaves a letter for Ivan, thanking him for his love.
When she arrives home, she is confronted by Nicholas who accuses her of an affair. She denies this and an argument ensues. Nicholas later drives to Ivan's apartment and finds the letter. He and Judy eventually separate. A month later, Judy finds that she is pregnant. She informs Nicholas who questions whether the baby is his. Angrily, she declares that their marriage is over and chooses to initiate divorce proceedings.
Nicholas is distraught over his failed relationship with Judy and confers with his lawyer over preventing the divorce. Unfortunately, due to Nicholas's infidelity the judge will grant the divorce for Judy unless he can prove that Judy was also unfaithful. During the court proceedings, Nicholas' lawyer displays her letter to Ivan. The judge dismisses the divorce due to the appearance of Judy's unfaithfulness. Afterward, Nicholas tells Judy he believes her and the couple promise to make amends and create a new life together.

Vera Hart lives with her parents. Her father is an antiques salesman who loves his stock too much to sell it and therefore doesn't make any money. Through her friend Molly, Vera manages to get a menial job at Miller's music instrument factory.
Vera has a habit of going into shops and trying on expensive clothes and jewellery which she could never hope to pay for. On her way home from work she stops in a car dealer and sits in a new luxury car. Robert Miller, the young son of the owner of Miller's factory, sees Vera and falls instantly in love with her. He pretends to be an employee at the car showroom and they bond together. On a whim, he decides to buy Vera the car and pretends she has won it as the 10,000th customer to visit the shop. Vera's father is delighted by the new car, but her mother is more suspicious.
Miller wants to spend more time with Vera, but he is uncertain about telling her his true identity in part because he is constantly harassed by women who are interested in his inheritance. He approaches the Hart family and offers to chauffeur the car for them, doing jobs such as weddings to pay for it. As none of them can drive, they accept his offer. Miller gets into the habit of driving Vera to work at the factory, still not revealing the truth that his family owns the business.
When he discovers how little she is paid, he has her salary raised to five pounds a week. Unfortunately this leads to bad feeling amongst Vera's colleagues, in particular her superior Henry Butterworth and Anne Fisher who has a crush on Miller, who suspect that Vera is the fancy woman of Miller. Vera is bemused by her pay rise because she is under the impression that she has never met Miller.
When Vera comes to his office to confront Miller about her increased salary, he hides and gets his friend Peters to pretend to be him. Peters takes a shine to Vera, and tries to persuade her to go out on a date with him. Once she has gone, Miller and Peters get into an argument over whether each of them have a shot with her and whether she is more interested in love or money. The debate is put to the test when Vera, Miller and Peters all head down to a country hotel for an ice-skating carnival. A concerned Mr Butterworth and Miss Fisher also head down to the hotel to keep an eye on Vera, and are shocked when they see her separately with both Peters and Miller, believing that she is two timing them.
Still without revealing his true identity, Miller asks Vera to live with him for ever in a couple of rooms over a garage. She joyfully accepts, but when Butterworth tells her who Miller really is she is hurt - thinking that his offer was not one of marriage but one of a kept woman. She then pretends to be uninterested in Miller and instead focuses her attention on Peters. Eventually however the confusion is resolved and Miller and Vera drive off together in their "car of dreams".

Jeanne is a milliner courted by aristocrats. She first has an affair with René, a young writer for Count du Barry. She then marries the Count in order to become Louis XV's mistress.

In 1943, a WREN (Phyllis Calvert) and an RAF pilot (Stewart Granger) meet at an auction of Rohan family heirlooms, now all being sold off after the last of the Rohan male line was killed at Dunkirk. After the RAF pilot inadvertently casts aspersions on the Rohan family, the WREN reveals that the last male Rohan was in fact her brother. The RAF man apologises, and reveals that his family are connected to the Rohans in a way, and so they arrange to meet for lunch and at the auction the following day.
Back in the Regency period, a new teacher arrives at Miss Patchett's school for young ladies at Bath. This is Hesther (Margaret Lockwood), whose family in Manchester has fallen on hard times and are being done a favour by Miss Patchett. She, however, resents living off charity and so she soon afterwards comes into friction with Clarissa (also played by Phyllis Calvert), a minor heiress who is a pupil at the school. In time, Clarissa and Hesther patch up their differences and become friends, soon before Hesther runs away with Barbary, a penniless ensign. Miss Patchett forbids the disgraced name of Hesther to be mentioned at the school as a result and so Clarissa, out of loyalty to her friend, leaves the school.
In London, Clarissa's godmother arranges for her to meet the eponymous man in grey (after his grey clothes), Lord Rohan (James Mason), a notorious rake, misanthrope and duelist with a huge fortune. He marries her, though neither of them does so out of love – she does so to please her godmother, and he to gain an heir to the Rohan line – and they live separate lives. Clarissa sees an advertisement for a production of Othello in Saint Albans featuring a "Mrs Barbary", whom she rightly takes to be Hesther under her married name. On the way there in her coach, she is waylaid by a mysterious man (also played by Stewart Granger) who hitches a ride with them to St Albans and turns out to be Rokeby, the actor playing Othello. Hesther is invited to supper after the play by Clarissa, and tells her that Ensign Barbary died in her arms some time past, leaving her penniless. Clarissa promises to get her a position as her son's governess and, though Lord Rohan refuses to grant this position, he does allow Hesther to stay on as Clarissa's companion. Shortly afterwards, when Rohan and Hesther are together, he reveals that he knows she has deceived Clarissa – Hesther in fact left her dissolute husband soon after marrying him, and he had in fact then died in the Fleet Prison – out of ruthless ambition. Rohan admires this and the two begin an affair.
Attending the racing at Epsom Downs, Clarissa and Rokeby meet again and fall further in love. Hesther gets Rohan to give Rokeby a job on his country estate so as to draw Rokeby and Clarissa away from London and, though Rokeby warns Hesther that he knows what she is trying to do, the ploy succeeds. Later, Rokeby and Clarissa return to London separately and then attempt to elope together to recover his estates in Jamaica (lost to slave rebellions), but Rohan stops them and a duel between him and Rokeby ensues in the Vauxhall Gardens, which is broken up by the Prince Regent. Mrs Fitzherbert persuades Rokeby to embark alone, and wait for Rohan to be persuaded into a separation, but Clarissa pursues him to the port to say farewell. In staying out in the rain watching his ship sail away, she catches a fever and, worse still, is taken back to Lord Rohan's London house and not to the place of safety Rokeby had promised. The fever is not necessarily fatal but Hesther – putting Clarissa into a drugged sleep, opening the windows and dousing the fire in her room – ensures that it proves so, so clearing the way for herself to marry Rohan. Shortly after the funeral, Hesther manages to get Rohan to offer her marriage but then Clarissa's page boy Toby reveals Hesther's murder to Rohan. Though he did not love his wife, she was still his wife and a Rohan, and so he beats Hesther to death – for, as his family motto goes, "Who Dishonours Us, Dies."
Back in 1943, it is revealed that the RAF man was the descendent of Rokeby. He and Miss Rohan arrive just too late to buy the item they were looking to purchase at the auction, but they do not mind as they have found each other and fallen in love. They then rush for a London bus, with their love-affair seeming better-fated than that of their ancestors.

John Bradshaw (Robert Griffith), a young naval officer, attends a lunchtime concert at Westminster Central Hall where he meets Reverend Peter Britton (G.H. Mulcaster) and his daughter Katherine (Brook). After the concert the three share a taxi, and after seeing her father off on the train to a conference Katherine agrees to have tea with John. They enjoy each other's company and later go to see a film, followed by dinner and a stroll along the Thames Embankment. John impulsively tells Katherine that he has fallen in love with her, but she reminds him that they hardly know one another, and since her brother's death in the Far East she has to devote herself to her father.
The couple finally part, agreeing to meet again the following day. However Katherine receives a telegram at her hotel, stating that her brother Dennis (Hanley) has turned up alive and will be arriving home the next day. She returns home early the next morning, leaving a note of explanation for John. Unfortunately John forgets the name of Katherine's hotel, so does not receive the note and is distraught when she fails to turn up for their rendezvous. Meanwhile, back at home, Katherine finds that Dennis is accompanied by Max Borrow (Manning Whiley), an old admirer who still wants to marry her. He has sustained serious eye injuries while saving Dennis' life, and Katherine as a result feels she must accept him. Dennis himself immediately rekindles his courtship with local schoolteacher Stella White (Sheridan).
John remembers that Katherine's father is due to return to London from the conference and waits at the station until he arrives. They learn from the hotel why Katherine departed so hurriedly, and Rev. Britton invites John back to their village where he knows the local squire is looking for help in cataloguing his library. John is deeply upset to discover Katherine is engaged, and also resentful towards Dennis and Stella for their obvious happiness together. Katherine finally admits to John the reason she and Max are engaged, and John agrees to not pursue matters unless Max can be cured.
Max goes off for a medical examination, and John is recalled to his ship. As he is about to leave, a fire breaks out in a storage shed where children are playing. Max, having been told that his sight is safe, arrives back while the drama is in progress, and John is injured as he rescues the children. Katherine's reaction leaves Max in no doubt as to her feelings. That evening he tells her that he knows the situation, and will release her from her obligation to him so that she may marry John.

Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller) is a young middle class Englishwoman with an ambitious, independent spirit. She knows where she's going, or at least she thinks she does. She travels from her home in Manchester to the Hebrides to marry Sir Robert Bellinger, a very wealthy, much older industrialist, on the (fictitious) Isle of Kiloran.
When bad weather postpones the final leg of her journey—a boat trip to Kiloran—she is forced to wait it out on the Isle of Mull, among a community of people whose values are quite different from hers. There she meets Torquil MacNeil (Roger Livesey), a naval officer trying to go home to Kiloran for some shore leave. They are sheltered for the night in the nearby home of Torquil's friend, Catriona Potts (Pamela Brown).
The next day, on their way to catch a bus into town, they come upon the ruins of Moy Castle. Joan wants to take a look inside, but Torquil refuses to go in. When she reminds him that the terrible curse only applies to the Laird of Kiloran, Torquil introduces himself: he is the laird, and Bellinger has only leased his island. As the bad weather worsens into a full-scale gale, Torquil takes advantage of the delay to woo Joan, who becomes increasingly torn between her ambition and her growing attraction to him.
Desperate to salvage her carefully laid plans, Joan tries to persuade Ruairidh Mhór (Finlay Currie) to take her across to the island immediately, but the experienced sailor knows conditions are far too dangerous. Joan manages to bribe young Kenny (Murdo Morrison) into attempting it by offering him enough money to buy a half share in Ruairidh's boat and marry Ruairidh's daughter Bridie (Margot Fitzsimons). Torquil learns of the scheme and tries to talk Joan out of it, but she proves adamant and they have a blazing row. After Joan has gone down to the boat, Catriona tells MacNeil that Joan is actually running away from him. Armed with this knowledge, he races to the quayside and invites himself aboard. The boat's engine gets flooded and they are caught in the Corryvreckan whirlpool, but Torquil is able to restart the motor just in time and they return safely to Mull.
At last, the weather clears. Joan asks Torquil for a parting kiss before they go their separate ways. Torquil enters Moy Castle, and the curse takes effect almost immediately. A narrator relates that, centuries earlier, Torquil's ancestor had stormed the castle to capture his unfaithful wife and her lover. He had them bound together and cast into a water-filled dungeon with only a small stone to stand upon. When their strength gave out, they dragged each other into the water, but not before she placed a curse on the Lairds of Kiloran. Any who dared to step over the threshold would be chained to a woman to the end of his days. From the battlements, Torquil sees Joan with three pipers marching resolutely toward him. They embrace.

In the summer of 1943, after he is taken off combat operations for medical reasons, American SSgt John Patterson (Dean Jagger), an Army Air Force gunner, is billeted in the London home of the Duke of Exmoor (Robert Morley) in London's Grosvenor Square. He is befriended by the Duke and British paratrooper Major David Bruce (Rex Harrison), who has taken leave to contest a parliamentary by-election.
On a weekend visit to the duke's estate near Exmoor in Devon, Patterson meets the duke's granddaughter, Lady Patricia Fairfax (Anna Neagle), a corporal in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, who is David's childhood sweetheart. After a cool beginning based on cultural misunderstandings, they fall in love. David is unaware of what is happening until the final night before the election, when it becomes clear to him during a party on the estate. The next day, the duke learns that his estate has been appropriated by the American army for a base and that David has lost the election.
When Patterson realizes that Pat and David have long expected to marry, he contrives to obtain medical clearance to go back to combat duty. David and Pat have an ugly showdown over Patterson, only to learn that he has gone back to war. David realizes that Pat still loves Patterson and arranges for them to reunite. Returning from a mission with heavy battle damage, Patterson attempts to help his pilot land their B-17 Flying Fortress at an emergency landing strip at Exmoor, but is killed when the bomber stalls as they manoeuvre to avoid crashing in the village. The duke and his family mourn Patterson at a memorial service in the village church, while David takes off with his paratroop unit to parachute into France on D-Day.

When jockey Chris Kirby (Fred Johnson) is fatally injured in a horse race, he gets his best friend, gambler Adam Black (Stewart Granger), to promise to take care of his teenage daughter, Evelyne (Jean Simmons), who has been raised apart from her father. Unbeknownst to Adam, Evelyne had been led to believe that Adam is her father in correspondence between parent and child. Adam is unable to tell her the truth; his butler and friend Bill Murray (Edwin Styles) tries and fails as well. Finally, Adam's sometime girlfriend Moira (Helen Cherry) breaks the news to the girl.
Adam sends Evelyne to an exclusive boarding school. When she has grown up, she reappears unexpectedly in his life. Because of the hatred she has for gambling, Adam does not reveal that he stages illegal gambling sessions; instead he tells her that he makes his money on the stock exchange. She begins casually dating Adam's no-good brother Roddy (Raymond Young).
When Adam tells Moira that he is getting out of the business, she accuses him of being in love with his "ward". Roddy has his own grudge against his brother - Adam refuses to finance a shady deal - and the two of them tip off the police about Adam's last operation. Roddy also brings Evelyne to see what Adam really does for a living.
Shocked, she quarrels with Adam and leaves. A kindly gambler, Colonel Bradley (Wilfred Hyde-White), gives her some sage advice and persuades her to reconcile with Adam.

A lady on the Isle of Capri, neglected by a husband who works too much, strikes up a romance with another man.

When chorus girl Janet Jones is late for rehearsal in Edinburgh, Bates, the chauffeur for B. G. Bruno, gives her a ride in Bruno's limousine, starting rumours that she is engaged to the wealthiest man in Scotland. American producer Jack Frost, her employer, has just had the star of his next show, Frolics to You, walk out on him because of his desperate financial situation. He replaces her with Janet, hoping that Bruno will back his revue (or at least that he can use Bruno's reputation to fend off impatient creditors). Her dressmaker, Madame Amanda, gives her more clothes (and sends the bill to Bruno). Janet's roommate, Mae Thompson, convinces her to continue the deception.
When Bruno receives the bill, he goes to the theatre to investigate. Janet mistakes him for reporter Paul Tracy, who was supposed to interview her. Finding Janet very attractive, Bruno does not correct her error. The two fall in love. Bruno amuses himself by continually asking Janet about her relationship with the millionaire.
Finally, Bruno gives Frost a check for £10,000. When Janet finds out, however, she confesses everything. On the opening night of Frolics to You, Bruno takes a box seat. Frost summons the police to have him arrested. Janet tries to make "Paul Tracy" hide or leave, in between performing on stage. During these hectic proceedings, Janet blurts out that she loves him. The police catch Bruno, but the inspector in charge recognizes him, much to Janet and Frost's shock, and all ends well.

A young actress, Carole Beaumont, is wooed by actor-producer Charles King but she is unsure how she feels about him. During an air raid in the Blitz, a bomb explosion rocks the cafe and Carole is knocked unconscious. In her confused state, fantasies flash through her mind, and she seems to become Nell Gwyn of Old Drury, with Charles King looking very much like King Charles.
Recovering, she is advised by her doctor to take a rest in the country and, there, another beau, Albert Gutman , prompts his grandmother, Lady Drayton (Helen Haye), to invite Carole to their family home at Windsor. She accepts and telephones Charles but hangs up when his phone is answered by a female voice.
Looking out on Windsor Castle, she sees herself as the young Queen Victoria and Albert as Prince Albert. Influenced by her day-dream, she accepts Albert's proposal. Charles arrives to tell her that all arrangements are made for her to leave with him and the company for Burma, but she refuses saying she will never marry an actor.
Barmaid Kate tells Charles why Carole feels the way she does about actors: Carole's mother, Lillian Grey , was with a touring show in 1913 when the handsome star, John Beaumont raised her from the chorus to be his partner in his first West End show. They were a success, fell in love and were married. But the war soon took Beau off to Flanders and Lillian was left to become a great star on her own. Carole was born in wartime, but saw little of her busy mother.

Sir Philip Ashlow (Granger), his neglected wife, Lady Susan Ashlow (Gardner) and his best friend Henry Brittingham-Brett (Niven) are shipwrecked on a desert island.
Susan feels neglected and has been trying to make Philip jealous by demonstrating a romantic interest in Henry, who begins taking her seriously. Now that they are alone on the island, Philip constructs a large hut for his wife and himself and a little hut for Henry, but before long Henry is suggesting they share not only food and water but Susan as well.
Opposed to this, Susan nevertheless is offended by Philip's indifferent reaction to Henry's indecent proposal. The quarrel escalates until Philip declares that, as captain of their ship, he feels entitled not only to perform marriages but to grant divorces. He awaits Susan's decision on whether the men should change huts or share and share alike.
This potential ménage à trois where the two men are competing for the lady's attention is interrupted by a fourth visitor. The stranger is dressed in native garb and takes Susan captive, but is soon revealed to be Mario, the chef from their yacht, indulging a whim. The laughter from inside the hut between Susan and Mario is misinterpreted by Henry and her husband as being romantic in nature, arousing jealousy from both men.
After their rescue and return to society, Henry comes to visit Susan to propose they be together. But when he finds her and Philip in domestic repose, and Susan knitting baby booties, he knows the battle for her love is lost.

Michael Morgan (John Gregson) is a labourer working with a gang, mending a road in Soho, when he meets Julia Gozzi (Belinda Lee), an Italian barmaid, and they begin an affair. But When Michael's job in Soho is finished, the affair is over, so Julia visits a local church and prays for him to come back. A miracle occurs when a burst water main brings the return of the road gang.

The film is set in London in June 1911. George V will be crowned king on 22 June and in the preceding days many important dignitaries arrive. Among those arriving are the 16-year-old King Nicholas VIII of Carpathia, with his Prince Regent father, Charles (Laurence Olivier), a secondary Prince of Hungary and widower of the Queen of Carpathia.
The British government realises that keeping Balkan country Carpathia in the Triple Entente is critical during the rising tensions in Europe. They find it necessary to pamper the royals during their stay in London, and thus civil servant Northbrook (Richard Wattis), is detached to their service. Northbrook decides to take the Prince Regent out to the musical performance The Coconut Girl. During the intermission the Prince Regent is taken backstage to meet the cast. He is particularly uninterested in engaging with the male actors and extremely interested in the physical charms of Elsie Marina (Marilyn Monroe), one of the performers, and sends a formal written invitation for her to meet him at the Carpathian embassy for supper.
Elsie arrives at the embassy and is soon joined by the Prince Regent, a stiff and pompous man. She expects a large party but quickly realises the Prince's true intentions – to seduce her over a private supper. She is persuaded not to leave early by Northbrook, who promises to provide an excuse for her to escape after supper. The Prince Regent turns his back on her during the supper, taking phone calls and addressing matters of state. He then makes a clumsy pass at her, to which she is accustomed and immediately rebuffs. She pointedly explains how inept he is and that she had hoped the Prince was going to sway her with romance, passion and "gypsy violins". The Prince changes his style and tactics, complete with a violinist. The two eventually kiss and Elsie admits she may be falling in love, rebuffing Northbrook's promised feint to help her leave the embassy. Elsie then passes out from the many drinks she consumed before, during and after her semi-solitary supper. The Prince places her in an adjoining bedroom to stay the night.
The following day, Elsie overhears a conversation concerning the young Nicolas' plotting with the German embassy to overthrow his father. Promising not to tell, Elsie then meets the Dowager Queen (Sybil Thorndike), the Prince's mother-in-law, who decides Elsie should join them for the coronation in place of her sick lady-in-waiting. The ceremony passes and Elsie refuses to tell the Prince Regent details of the treasonous plot. Nicholas then invites her to the Coronation Ball, where she persuades Nicholas to draw up a contract in which he confesses his and the Germans' intent, but only if the Prince agrees to a general election. The Prince is impressed and realises that he has fallen in love with Elsie. The morning after the Coronation Ball, Elsie irons out the differences between father and son. Her honesty and sincerity have inspired the Prince to finally show sincere love to his son.
The next day, the Carpathians must leave to return home. The Prince Regent had planned to have Elsie join them. In eighteen months' time, his regency will be over and he will be a free citizen. She reminds him that that is also the length of her music-hall contract. They both realise that much can happen in eighteen months and say goodbye. The ending is ambiguous, left up to the viewer to decide if they will meet again.

Mrs Baring, a businesswoman and patron of classical music, has arranged for a celebrated Eastern Bloc musician, Spolenski, to play in a series of concerts in Britain. However, she is aware that she is on the brink of bankruptcy and the Spolenski tour offers a final chance to save her finances.
Johnny Burns, an aspiring singer is hanging around a music shop he frequents when he spot Mrs Baring’s daughter, Joanna. Enraptured he pretends to be a piano-tuner and goes round to her house to help prepare the piano for a party held in Spolenksi’s honour. Later, when Mrs Baring is short of a butler he offers his services and is so successful at his duties that he is taken on in a more permanent basis. He slowly begins to bond and court Joanna while doing his best to conceal his love of popular, modern music from Mrs Baring who is resolutely opposed to it and has forbidden her daughter to listen to it. Her financial problems continue to mount up and her phone is cut due to unpaid bills.
Burns’ friend and agent, Freddy, meanwhile has secured him an audition with Greenslade, a major popular record label, who are impressed with his performance. Convinced he is going to be a major star, they make plans to sign him up on a long-term contract. Burn’s first demand of Greenslade is for money to pay for Mrs Baring’s telephone to be restored. Mrs Baring is relieved by this gesture, but believes the money came from one of her other friends rather than Burns.
Burn’s career swiftly takes off, he is engaged to perform at Talk of the Town, while still keeping his new success a secret from the Barings. Mrs Baring has further problems when tickets for her Spolenski concerts sell badly, and he threatens to leave for home unless she is able to put up £3,000. Once again Burns secretly steps in, securing the money as an advance from Greenslades. After learning of Burn’s fame, Joanna goes to his concert. When her mother discovers this, she grows furious and confronts both of them firing Burns and forbidding her daughter from seeing him again. In his anger, he calls her a "square".
Their rift is not helped by his next song, "The Lady is a Square" which appears to be directly mocking her. However she relents when she discovers that he has secretly been paying her bills and that he is trying to abandon a concert of his, which is scheduled at the same time as her Spolenski concert, in a bid to help her ticket sales. Spolenski then falls ill, which turns out to be a blessing as it will mean they will be able to re-launch the tour with financial assistance from Greenslade.
Baring and her daughter attend Burn’s concert where to their surprise he performs Handel’s Ombra mai fu with the National Youth Orchestra, to wild applause from his fans. Ultimately they are able to agree on the co-existence of popular and classical music and Mrs Baring ends the film dancing to one of Burns’ songs.

Robert Wilcot, a popular television personality, is selected as the Conservative candidate for the provincial town of Earndale in the upcoming by-election. His selection is mostly due to the influence of his uncle, Lord Wilcot a powerful local figure. His opponent is to be Stella Stoker, a fishmonger's daughter with a degree from the London School of Economics who has been chosen to stand for the Labour Party.
Travelling up on the train to Earndale, the two candidates meet and while she quickly works out who he is, he remains ignorant of her true identity. To try to show off he begins to tell her about his selection for the seat and how he expects to win. He describes his opponent as a bluestocking. He also inadvertently reveals embarrassing details to her such as the fact that he has scarcely been to Earndale in his life and that his family once controlled the seat as a rotten borough. Once they arrive at Earndale station, he is soon made aware of his mistake. The electoral agents of both candidates are furious to discover they have been fraternising on the train.
Wilcot goes to visit his uncle, and finds him to be an eccentric who has turned his country house into a money-making operation for visiting coach parties of tourists. It appears that he has engineered Robert Wilcot's selection as a candidate in order to spark public interest in the election, boosting his own business. It is also clear that the political contest is added to by the enmity of the two electoral agents the Tory Harding-Pratt and Labour's Bert Glimmer.
Once on the stump the two candidates keep running into each other around Earndale, at one point during a factory visit leading to a shouting match. Both begin to become entranced by the other, and become convinced they are falling in love. This comes to a head during the hustings at Wilcot Hall where they are caught embracing in the maze by their respective agents. Burying the hatchet, the two agents try to foil the potential romance. Despite repeated attempts to break up the candidates they continue a covert relationship.

Robert Lomax is a young Englishman who, after completing his National Service, goes to work on a plantation in British Malaya. During his time in Malaya, Lomax decides to pursue a new career as an artist for a year.
Lomax visits Hong Kong in search of inspiration for his paintings. He checks into the Nam Kok Hotel, not realizing at first that it is a brothel catering mainly to British and American sailors. However, this only makes the hotel more charming in Lomax's eyes, and a better source of subject matter for his paintings.
Lomax quickly befriends most of the hotel's bargirls, but is fascinated by the archetypal "hooker with a heart of gold", Suzie Wong. Wong previously introduced herself to him as Wong Mee-ling, a rich virgin whose father owns four houses and more cars than she can count, and who later pretends not to recognize him at the hotel. Lomax had originally decided that he would not have sex with any of the bargirls at the hotel because he lacks the funds to pay for their services. However, it soon emerges that Suzie Wong is interested in him not as a customer but as a serious love interest. Although Wong becomes the kept woman of two other men, and Robert Lomax briefly becomes attracted to a young British nurse, Lomax and Wong are eventually united and the novel ends happily with them marrying.

Catherine Morelli goes to the latest wedding of her father, Max, who in turn wants to introduce her there to a potential suitor, Gregory Mulvey.

Bruce Pritchard (Malcolm McDowell) is a 24-year-old working-class man and amateur soccer player with a passion for life. All this changes when he suddenly finds himself struck down by an incurable degenerative disease and needing to used a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He makes a self-imposed exile to a church-run home for the disabled, believing that it is best for his immediate family to forget about him the way he is now. His bitterness at his fate and his dislike of the rules and regulations of the place only serve to make him more withdrawn and angry at his enforced imprisonment.
Pritchard gets to know a fellow patient, Jill Matthews (Nanette Newman), a 31-year-old woman from a wealthy family, also a wheelchair user due to polio. Bruce begins to harbour romantic affections for Mathews but before he can make his feelings known in a letter, she leaves the institution to return home and marry long-time fiancé Geoffrey. But Jill quickly realizes the relationship is half-hearted on Geoffrey's part, and after breaking off the engagement she returns to the institution.
Gradually she is able to get through Pritchard's shell of cynicism and lack of respect for authority, bringing back life to his existence. In the process, the two begin to fall in love and admit their feelings for each other, consummating a relationship. But their sexual encounter is physically dangerous for Matthews, who dies the day after the couple makes love for the first time.

In the latter months of 1938, Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson), a respectable middle-class British woman in an affectionate but rather dull marriage, tells her story while sitting at home with her husband, imagining that she is confessing her affair to him.
Laura, like many women of her class at the time, goes to a nearby town every Thursday for shopping and to the cinema for a matinée. Returning from one such excursion to Milford, while waiting in the railway station's tea shop, she is helped by another passenger, who solicitously removes a piece of grit from her eye. The man is Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard), an idealistic doctor who also works one day a week as a consultant at the local hospital. Both are in their late thirties or early forties, married and with children.

An attractive British Home Office assistant named Judith Farrow (Julie Andrews) is on vacation on the Caribbean island of Barbados after ending a failed love affair with married group captain Richard Paterson (David Baron), an important British minister. She meets Feodor Sverdlov (Omar Sharif), a Soviet military attaché who is also on vacation staying in an adjacent bungalow. The two spend time together exploring the island, visiting museums, and going out to dinner. When British intelligence learns that Sverdlov is spending time with the mistress of a British minister, they begin monitoring their actions. Judith and Sverdlov share details about their private lives—about her husband who died in a car crash, her recent unhappy affair, his unhappy marriage, and his disillusion with the Soviet Union. During one of their outings, Judith becomes fascinated by the story of a slave who was hanged from a tamarind tree and how that tree has since borne seeds in the shape of a human head. The skeptical Sverdlov thinks the story is a mere fairy tale. On her way back to London, she opens an envelope he gave her and finds a tamarind seed.
British intelligence officer Jack Loder (Anthony Quayle) is convinced that Sverdlov is planning to recruit Judith as a spy. Loder is already concerned about an unknown Soviet spy within the British government with the code name "Blue". When he meets with British minister Fergus Stephenson (Dan O'Herlihy), he learns that Stephenson suspects that his wife was given secret intelligence information and wants the man identified. Loder knows that his own assistant George MacLeod (Bryan Marshall) has been having an affair with Stephenson's wife Margaret (Sylvia Syms) and is the source of the leak. Later, Stephenson reveals to Paterson that British intelligence knows about his affair, and that his former mistress has been identified as a security risk based on her contact with Sverdlov. Paterson is instructed to break off all communication with her.
Loder visits Judith in her London apartment and interrogates her about Sverdlov, who is assigned in Paris to Soviet General Golitsyn. Loder instructs her that if he contacts her again she should tell him immediately. Meanwhile, when Sverdlov returns to his Paris office, he is told that his longtime secretary was taken ill and returned to Russia, replaced by another secretary he suspects is a plant. He tells General Golitsyn that he's made a contact in Barbados, and that he believes he can recruit her. Soon after, Sverdlov meets Judith in London, and she reveals that British intelligence knows about them—just as he suspected. He tells her that he's told the general that he intends to recruit her—a pretense for seeing her again.
Meanwhile, Stephenson's suspicious wife Margaret figures out that her husband's cigarette lighter is a miniature camera and that her husband is in fact a Communist spy. She does not know that British intelligence has been searching for the identity of her husband—given the code name Blue. Soon after, Judith receives an important message for Sverdlov, who is back in Paris. When she phones him, he asks her to deliver it to him in Paris. When she arrives, she conveys the message—that his former secretary was taken to Lubyanka for interrogation by the KGB, and that he should not return to Russia. When Sverdlov shows interest in seeking asylum in the West, Judith contacts her former lover Paterson, who communicates her request to Loder. The next night, Sverdlov is brought to Judith's apartment to meet Loder and asks for asylum. He offers to provide the identity of the secret Communist spy Blue, in return for a safe new life in Canada. Loder agrees to the deal.
To help Sverdlov pull off the defection, she agrees to accompany him back to Barbados so that his cover story with the Soviets will be convincing. Loder agrees to help arrange their rendezvous. Meanwhile, at a party at the British ambassador's house in Paris, Paterson's wife reveals to Stephenson's wife that she overheard Judith tell her husband about a Soviet official looking to defect. Stephenson's wife reveals this news to her husband, who suspects Sverdlov to be the defector. The next day, Stephenson meets his Soviet contact and communicates the information. In Paris, Sverdlov meets with General Golitsyn and assures him that he only needs a few more days with Judith to recruit her.
At the Soviet embassy, Sverdlov steals part of the secret file on the Communist spy known as Blue—papers he intends to offer to British intelligence in exchange for his asylum. As he is leaving, however, he is spotted hiding the papers inside his jacket. When General Golitsyn is informed, he orders Sverdlov's public assassination at Heathrow Airport in London before he can fly to Barbados with Judith. At the airport, the Soviet assassins await his arrival, but Sverdlov avoids them with the help of Loder. General Golitsyn sends his assassins to Barbados to complete their deadly mission. Meanwhile, Loder meets with Stephenson and updates him on Sverdlov's defection and the secret Blue files that will reveal the identity of the Soviet spy in the British government.
In Barbados, Judith and Sverdlov enjoy a beautiful sunset together and finally make love. The next morning, the Soviet assassins arrive at the island by boat disguised as vacationing businessmen. They blow up Sverdlov's bungalow with napalm grenades and a fierce gunfight ensues between the killers and the British intelligence agents protecting Sverdlov. Afterwards, news reports indicate that Sverdlov was killed and Judith was taken to the hospital with injuries. Back in London, after telling Stephenson that the Blue files were destroyed in the fire, Loder reveals to his assistant that he knows that Stephenson is Blue and will be taken care of in time. Loder then travels to Barbados to visit Judith who is recovering from her injuries at St Patricia Nursing Home, Barbados. He tells her that actually Sverdlov was not killed as reported, but was taken out of the bungalow just before the attack. He is safe in Canada and if she wants to visit him, it could be arranged. Sometime later, Judith and Sverdlov are reunited in Canada.

Six naive British and American volunteers arrive on kibbutz Kfar Ezra for a working holiday, exchanging their labour for the opportunity to experience first-hand its unique collective lifestyle. When Mike (Sam Robards), a young medical student, falls in love with Gila (Joanna Pacuła), the Israeli girl who is organizing the volunteers' work and accommodation, he must choose between a life with her and returning home.

Katherine (Jacqueline Bisset) is an English photographer who, with her husband Patrick (James Fox), came to live at a coastal town on Rhodes before the tourists discovered it. Their thirteen-year-old daughter Chloe (Ruby Baker) grew up there, and even though Kath and Patrick have separated, they have both stayed on. He supports himself through his sculpture pieces, which Kath despises, and she, by her photography books featuring antiquities and peasant life, which he finds fuddy-duddy.
Kath needs money; her latest book isn't selling. She will be forced to give up her house and leave the island she loves unless she can find a buyer for a vase that was given to her many years earlier by a famous, now elderly art historian, Basil Sharp (Sebastian Shaw), who arrives for a visit. Katherine's widowed friend Penelope (Irene Papas) regards the tourists as enemies, an army of occupation, and battles with her son Yanni, who appreciates the prosperity the tourists bring.
Rick (Kenneth Branagh), a practical-minded Englishman, fixes Kath's toilet, and becomes smitten by Kath after she rewards him with a passionate kiss. His wife Carol (Lesley Manville) occupies herself with Byron's poetry and the tourist-loving Yanni. The group is completed by Konstantinis (Robert Stephens), a wealthy Greek-American who wants to buy Kath's vase, but needs it to be declared a fake so that he can take it out of Greece.

In the summer of 1904 Frank Ashton, an educated young man from London, is on a walking holiday in Devon with a friend. When he falls and twists his ankle, Ashton is helped at a nearby farmhouse and stays there for a few days to recover, while his friend goes on. Ashton quickly falls for the village girl who looks after him, Megan David, and she falls in love with him, to the great distress of her cousin Joe Narracombe, who wants her for himself. Ashton and Megan spend a night together, and after that he takes the train to a seaside town to cash a cheque at a bank, promising to return the next morning and take Megan away with him and marry her.
On arrival in the town, Ashton finds a branch of his bank, but it will not cash his cheque, insisting on first contacting his branch in London. While he is delayed, Ashton meets an old school friend, staying at a local hotel with his three sisters, of whom the oldest is Stella Halliday. Thanks to the bank's delays, he misses the train he needed to catch to make his rendezvous with Megan. During the day that follows, he spends more time with his friend and his sisters, and while Stella flirts with him he begins to have second thoughts about marrying Megan.
Megan then travels to the seaside town looking for Ashton, carrying her luggage for running away. He sees her on the beach and follows her into the town, but when she turns and catches a glimpse of him, he hides.
Eighteen years later, Ashton is married to Stella and they are motoring through Devon. They have no children. Ashton visits the farm where he seduced Megan and is recognized. He learns that Megan was heart-broken about losing him and also that she died soon after giving birth to a son, who she named "Francis", or Frank. He is taken to see Megan's grave, which is at the spot where they had first met. She had asked to be buried there, to wait for his return. In motoring away with Stella, Ashton passes his son, young Frank, who gives him a friendly wave.

The story opens with a middle-aged Dmitry Sanin rummaging through the papers in his study when he comes across a small cross set with garnets, which sends his thoughts back thirty years to 1840.
In the summer of 1840, a twenty-two-year-old Sanin, arrives in Frankfurt en route home to Russia from Italy at the culmination of a European tour. During his one-day layover he visits a confectioner’s shop where he is rushed upon by a beautiful young woman who emerges frantic from the back room. She is Gemma Roselli, the daughter of the shop’s proprietress, Leonora Roselli. Gemma implores Sanin to help her younger brother who has passed out and seems to have stopped breathing. Thanks to Sanin’s aid, the boy – whose name is Emilio – emerges from his faint. Grateful for his assistance, Gemma invites Sanin to return to the shop later in the evening to enjoy a cup of chocolate with the family.
Later that evening, Sanin formally meets the members of the Roselli household. These include the matriarch, Leonora (or Lenore) Roselli, her daughter Gemma, her son Emilio (or Emile), and the family friend Pantaleone, a rather irascible old man and retired opera singer. Over conversation that evening Sanin grows increasingly enamoured with the young Gemma, while the Roselli family is also well-taken by the young, handsome, educated, and gracious Russian. Sanin so enjoys his evening that he forgets about his plans to take the diligence on to Berlin that night and so misses it. At the end of the evening Leonora Roselli invites Sanin to return the next day. Sanin is also disappointed to learn that Gemma is in fact engaged to a young German named Karl Klüber.
The following day Sanin is visited in his room by Gemma’s fiancé, Karl Klüber, and the still recovering Emilio. Klüber thanks Sanin for his help in assisting Gemma and resuscitating Emilio and invites Sanin on an excursion he has arranged the following day to Soden. That evening Sanin enjoys another enjoyable time with the Rosellis and becomes yet more taken by the charm and beauty of Gemma.
The next morning Sanin joins Klüber, Gemma, and Emilio for the trip to Soden. During lunch at an inn the party shares the restaurant with a group of drinking soldiers. A drunken officer among their number approaches Gemma and rather brazenly declares her beauty. Gemma is infuriated by this behaviour, and Klüber, also angry, orders the small party to leave the dining room. The enraged Sanin on the other hand, feels compelled to confront the soldiers, and going over declares the offending officer an insolent cur and his behaviour unbecoming an officer. Sanin also leaves his calling card, anticipating he might be challenged to a duel for his public words.
The following morning a friend of the offending German officer arrives early at Sanin’s door demanding either an apology or satisfaction on behalf of his friend. Sanin scoffs at any notion of apologizing and so a duel is arranged for the following day near Hanau. For his second Sanin invites the old man Pantaleone, who accepts and is impressed by the nobility and honor of the young Russian, seeing in him a fellow “galant'uomo.” Sanin keeps the planned duel a secret between himself and Pantaleone, though the latter reveals it to Emilio. Departing the Roselli home that night, Sanin has a brief encounter with Gemma, who calls him over to a darkened window when she spots him leaving along the street. As they whisper to one another there is a sudden gust of wind that sends Sanin’s hat flying and pushes the two together. Sanin later feels this was the moment he began to fall in love with Gemma.
The next morning on the way to Hanau, Pantaleone’s earlier bravado has largely faded. Sanin does his best to embolden him. At the subsequent duel Sanin gets off the first shot but misses, while his opponent, the Baron von Dönhof, shoots deliberately into the air. The officer, feeling his honor has been satisfied, then apologizes for his drunken behavior, an apology Sanin readily accepts. Sanin feels somewhat disgusted afterward that the whole duel was a farce. Pantaleone, however, is overjoyed with the outcome. Returning to Frankfurt with Pantaleone and Emilio (who had secretly followed him to the duel site), Sanin discovers that Emilio has in turn told Gemma about the duel. Sanin is a little put off by the indiscretion of this pair of chatterboxes, but cannot be angry. Back in Frankfurt, Sanin soon learns from a distraught Frau Lenore that Gemma has cancelled her engagement to Klaus for no apparent reason than that he did not defend her honor sufficiently at the inn. Frau Lenore is frantic at the idea of the scandal this will cause and Sanin promises to talk to Gemma and convince her to reconsider. In Sanin’s subsequent talk with Gemma, she professes her love for him but tells him that for his sake she will reconsider her estrangement from Klaus. Astonished and overcome by her confession of love, Sanin then urges her to do nothing just yet. Sanin then returns to his rooms to orient himself to this new development and there pens his own declaration of love to Gemma and gives it to Emilio to deliver. Gemma sends her response telling Sanin not to come to their home the next day, without providing an exact reason. So the next day Sanin spends with a delighted Emilio in the countryside and that evening returns to his rooms to find a note from Gemma asking him to meet her in a quiet public garden of Frankfurt at seven the next morning. This Sanin does and the two declare their love for one another and Sanin proposes marriage. Frau Lenore is shocked and hurt to learn of Sanin’s love and thinks Sanin a hypocrite and a cunning seducer. But Sanin demands to meet with the disconsolate Frau Lenore and eventually convinces her of his noble intentions as well as his noble birth and his income sufficient to care for Gemma.
Sanin decides he must sell his small estate near Tula in Russia in order to pay for his planned nuptials and settling down with Gemma. By chance, he meets in the street the next day an old schoolmate of his, Hippolyte Sidorovich Polozov, who has come to Frankfurt from nearby Wiesbaden to do some shopping for his wealthy wife, Maria Nikolaevna. This seems to confirm Sanin’s notion that a lucky star follows lovers, for Maria is from the same region near Tula as himself, and her wealth might make her a likely prospect to buy his estate, thus saving him a journey home to Russia. Sanin proposes this notion to the phlegmatic Hippolyte, who informs Sanin that he is never involved in his wife’s financial decisions but that Sanin is welcome to return to Wiesbaden with him to present the idea to Maria. Sanin agrees though it will pain him to separate from Gemma. With Gemma and Frau Lenore’s blessing, Sanin then makes the journey to Wiesbaden.
In Wiesbaden, Sanin soon meets the mysterious Maria Nikolaevna Polozov, and though conscious of her beauty is all business as Gemma still owns his heart. Maria asks about Sanin’s love and upon hearing he is engaged to a confectionery professes herself impressed by Sanin, whom she calls “a man who is not afraid to love” despite the differences in class between himself and Gemma. Maria informs him that she herself is the daughter of a peasant and indeed speaks to Sanin in the Russian of the common classes rather than high Russian or French. Maria is interested in purchasing Sanin’s estate but asks Sanin to give her two days to contemplate it. In the days that follow, and seemingly against his own will and inclination, Sanin finds himself increasingly obsessed by the curious Maria Nikolaevna as she intrudes herself upon his thoughts. In Wiesbaden Sanin also discovers the presence of none other than the Baron von Dönhof, who seems also to be smitten by Maria Nikolaevna. Maria invites Sanin to the theater where they share a private box. Bored with the play they retreat further into the box where Maria confesses what she cherished more than anything else is freedom, and thus her marriage to the rather witless Polozov, a marriage in which she can have absolute freedom. Before parting company for the evening Dmitry agrees to go riding with Maria the following day, in what he thinks will be their last meeting before he returns to Frankfurt and she proceeds to Paris. The next morning the pair heads off on their ride in the countryside accompanied only by a single groom, whom Maria soon dispatches to a local inn to wile away the afternoon, leaving her and Sanin to themselves. The seemingly fearless Maria leads Sanin on a vigorous ride across the countryside that leaves them invigorated and their horses breathless. When a thunderstorm moves in Maria leads them both to an abandoned cottage where they make love.
After their return to Wiesbaden, Sanin is eaten with remorse. When Maria greets her husband in his presence Sanin detects an uncharacteristic look of irritation on Polozov’s face and it is revealed that he and his wife Maria had a wager on whether she could seduce Sanin, a wager Polozov has now lost. Maria asks Sanin if he is to return to Frankfurt or accompany them to Paris. His response is that he will follow Maria until she drives him away. His humiliation is complete.
The story then reverts to the present, some thirty years after these events. Sanin is again in his study, contemplating the garnet cross (previously reveealed to have belonged to Gemma); and Sanin is again eaten with remorse, and recalls all the bitter and shameful memories he felt after the events of Wiesbaden, such as how he sent a tearful letter to Gemma that went unanswered, how he sent a groom of the Polozovs to fetch his things in Frankfurt, and even how the elderly Pantaleone, accompanied by Emilio, came to Wiesbaden to curse him. Most of all he recounts his embittered and shame-ridden life afterwards, in which he followed Maria until he was thrown off like an old rag and has since remained unmarried and childless. Now in his fifties, he decides to return to Frankfurt to track down his old love but once there finds no trace of the former Roselli home nor anyone who has even heard of them, though he does discover that Karl Klüber though initially very successful eventually went bankrupt and died in prison. Finally, however, he finds a now retired Baron von Dönhof, who tells him that the Rosellis had long since emigrated to America. Through the conversation of von Dönhof and Sanin it is also revealed that Maria Nikolaevna died “long ago.” With the help of a friend of von Dönhof, Sanin obtains Gemma’s address in New York, where she is married to a certain Slocum. Sanin immediately writes to her, describing the events of his life and begging that she respond as a sign that she forgives him. He vows to remain in Frankfurt at the same inn he stayed in thirty years ago until he receives her response. Eventually she does write and forgives him, while telling him about the lives of her family (she now has five children) and wishing him happiness, while also expressing the joy it would give her to see him again, though she doesn’t think it likely. She encloses a picture of her eldest daughter, Marianna, who is engaged to be married. Sanin anonymously sends Marianna a wedding gift: Gemma's garnet cross, now set in a necklace of magnificent pearls. The novel ends with the author noting rumors that Sanin, who is quite financially well off, is planning to sell off his property and move to America.

Nina, an interpreter, is beside herself with grief at the recent death of her boyfriend, Jamie, a cellist. When she is on the verge of despair, Jamie reappears as a "ghost" and the couple are reconciled. The screenplay never clarifies whether this occurs in reality, or merely in Nina's imagination. Nina is ecstatic, but Jamie's behaviour – turning up the central heating to stifling levels, moving furniture around and inviting back "ghost friends" to watch videos – gradually infuriates her, and their relationship deteriorates. She meets Mark, a psychologist, to whom she is attracted, but she is unwilling to become involved with him because of Jamie's continued presence. Nina continues to love Jamie but is conflicted by his self-centred behaviour and ultimately wonders out loud, "Was it always like this?" Over Nina’s objections, Jamie decides to leave to allow her to move on. Towards the end of the film, Jamie watches Nina leave and one of his fellow ghosts asks, "Well?" and Jamie responds, "I think so... Yes." At this point the central conceit of the movie has become clear: Jamie came back specifically to help Nina get over him by tarnishing her idealised memory of him.

A young dentist (Ormond) working in a British prison starts to become attracted to a violent inmate (Roth) after the break-up of her marriage, and embarks upon an illicit affair with him.

The film follows the adventures of a group of friends through the eyes of Charles, a good-natured but socially awkward man living in London, who becomes smitten with Carrie, an American whom Charles keeps meeting at four weddings and a funeral.
The first wedding is that of Angus and Laura, at which Charles is the best man. Charles and his single friends wonder whether they will ever get married. Charles meets Carrie and spends the night with her. Carrie pretends that, now they have slept together, they will have to get married, to which Charles endeavours to respond before realising she is joking. Carrie observes that they may have missed an opportunity and then returns to America.
The second wedding is that of Bernard and Lydia, a couple who became romantically involved at the previous wedding. Charles encounters Carrie again, but she introduces him to her fiancé, Sir Hamish Banks, a wealthy politician. At the reception, Charles finds himself seated with several ex-girlfriends who relate embarrassing stories about his inability to be discreet and afterwards bumps into Henrietta, known among Charles' friends as "Duckface", with whom he had a particularly difficult relationship. Charles retreats to an empty hotel suite, seeing Carrie and Hamish leave in a taxicab, only to be trapped in a cupboard after the newlyweds stumble into the room to have sex. After Charles awkwardly exits the room, Henrietta confronts him about his habit of "serial monogamy", telling him he is afraid of letting anyone get too close to him. Charles then runs into Carrie, and they end up spending another night together.
A month later, Charles receives an invitation to Carrie's wedding. While shopping for a present, he coincidentally encounters Carrie and ends up helping her select her wedding dress. Carrie lists her more than thirty sexual partners. Charles later awkwardly tries confessing his love to her and hinting that he would like to have a relationship with her, to no avail.
The third wedding is that of Carrie and Hamish. Charles attends, depressed at the prospect of Carrie marrying Hamish. At the reception, Gareth instructs his friends to seek potential mates; Fiona's brother, Tom, stumbles through an attempt to connect with a woman until she reveals that she is the minister's wife, while Charles's flatmate, Scarlett, strikes up a conversation with an American named Chester. As Charles watches Carrie and Hamish dance, Fiona deduces his feelings about Carrie. When Charles asks why Fiona is not married, she confesses that she has loved Charles since they first met years earlier. Charles is appreciative and empathetic but does not requite her love. During the groom's toast, Gareth dies of a heart attack.
At Gareth's funeral, his partner Matthew recites the poem "Funeral Blues" by W. H. Auden, commemorating his relationship with Gareth. Charles and Tom discuss whether hoping to find your "one true love" is just a futile effort and ponder that, while their clique have always viewed themselves as proud to be single, Gareth and Matthew were a "married" couple all the while.
The fourth wedding is ten months later. Charles has decided to marry Henrietta. However, shortly before the ceremony, Carrie arrives, revealing to Charles that she and Hamish are separated. Charles has a crisis of confidence, which he reveals to his deaf brother David and Matthew. During the ceremony, when the vicar asks whether anyone knows a reason why the couple should not marry, David, who was reading the vicar's lips, asks Charles to translate for him, and says in sign language that he suspects the groom loves someone else. The vicar asks whether Charles does love someone else, and Charles replies, "I do." Henrietta punches Charles and the wedding is halted.
Carrie visits Charles to apologise for attending the wedding. Charles confesses that, while standing at the altar, he realised that for the first time in his life he totally and utterly loved one person, "and it wasn't the person standing next to me in the veil." Charles makes a proposal of lifelong commitment without marriage to Carrie, who accepts.
Henrietta marries an officer in the Grenadier Guards; David marries his girlfriend Serena; Scarlett marries Chester; Tom marries his distant cousin Deirdre (whom he met, for the second time in 25 years, at Charles's wedding); Matthew finds a new partner; Fiona marries Prince Charles; and Charles and Carrie have a young son.

Jack (Richard E. Grant) and Sarah (Imogen Stubbs) are expecting a baby together, but a complication during the birth leads to the death of Sarah. Jack, grief-stricken, goes on an alcoholic bender, leaving his daughter to be taken care of by his parents and Sarah's mother, until they decide to take drastic action: they return the baby to Jack whilst he is asleep, leaving him to take care of it. Although he struggles initially, he eventually begins to dote on the child and names her Sarah.
Despite this, he nevertheless finds it increasingly difficult to juggle bringing up the baby with his high-powered job, and though both sets of the child's grandparents lend a hand (along with William (Ian McKellen), a dried out ex-alcoholic who, once sober, proves to be a remarkably efficient babysitter and housekeeper), he needs more help. Amy (Samantha Mathis), an American waitress he meets in a restaurant who takes a shine to Sarah, takes up the role as nanny, moving in with Jack after one meeting.
Although clashing with William and the grandparents, especially Jack's mother, Margaret (Judi Dench), Jack and Amy gradually grow closer—but Jack's boss has also taken an interest in him.

In 1913, spinster Miss Bentley (Vanessa Redgrave) enjoyed spending her summer holiday in Lake Como, Italy, with her father before World War I. The year is now 1937, and her father has recently died. To clear the air, she returns to Lake Como on her own to spend a month's summer holiday.
She meets a bachelor named Major Wilshaw (Edward Fox) and becomes interested in him. But a young American girl named Miss Beaumont (Uma Thurman) arrives and flirts with the major.

Marcy Tizard (Janeane Garofalo) is assistant to Senator John McGlory (Jay O. Sanders) from Boston, Massachusetts. In an attempt to court the Irish-American vote in a tough reelection battle, the bumbling senator's chief of staff, Nick (Denis Leary), sends Marcy to Ireland to find McGlory's relatives or ancestors.
Marcy arrives at the fictional village of Ballinagra (Irish: Baile na Grá, literally the Town of Love) as it is preparing for the annual matchmaking festival. She attracts the attention of two rival professional matchmakers, Dermot (Milo O'Shea) and Millie (Rosaleen Linehan), as well as roguish bartender Sean (David O'Hara).
The locals tolerate her genealogical search while trying to match her with various bachelors. Sean tries to woo Marcy despite her resistance to his boorish manners. After they have begun their romance, they return home to Sean's house one afternoon to find his estranged wife Moira (Saffron Burrows) waiting for them. Marcy leaves Sean, upset that he did not disclose his marriage to her.
McGlory and Nick arrive in Ballinagra, although Marcy's been unable to locate any McGlory relatives. McGlory discovers Sean's wife's maiden name is Kennedy and brings her back to Boston as his fiancée just in time for the election, and wins by a small margin. While at the victory party, McGlory's father (Robert Mandan) reveals privately to Marcy that the family is Hungarian, not Irish. The family name had been changed at Ellis Island when they immigrated, but as they settled in Boston with its large Irish population, he never told his son their true lineage.
Sean follows Marcy to Boston, and they reconcile.

Fed up with her dead-end job with a Minneapolis car rental agency, Martha quits, cashes her final paycheck, and uses the money to purchase an airline ticket to the least expensive international destination she can find - London. At the airport, she meets Daniel, a successful music label executive, who covertly arranges for her to be upgraded to First Class and seated next to him on the flight. When she sells the ticket to another passenger and Daniel finds his seatmate is an obnoxiously loud woman instead of the girl of his dreams, he moves back to the Economy section and takes the vacant seat next to Martha. Before landing in London, he offers her the use of a deluxe suite in a luxury hotel at his company's expense in exchange for a lunch date the following day.
Through a series of flashbacks and flashforwards, we learn Laurence, a former bridge champion who now teaches the game to wealthy women, went to the airport to pick up Daniel but missed him because the flight landed early. Instead, he literally runs into Martha, who hits him with a luggage cart while searching for the exit. She coerces him into taking her into the city and invites him to the suite for dinner. While she is in the bathroom, a bouquet of flowers from Daniel is delivered to the suite, and when Laurence sees the attached card, he departs without explanation.
The following day, Martha meets struggling actor Frank, who has fled an audition in a panic and has gone to the park to console himself with a half-bottle of whiskey. Having heard about her from Daniel, he realizes who she is and calls Laurence to boast that he is about to make her his conquest. He takes her to a nearby art gallery. Martha slips away and heads for the exit, where she reunites with Laurence, who was looking for the pair. He invites her back to his flat and she accepts.
Torn between loyalty to Daniel and love for Martha, Laurence seeks advice from Pederson, a neighbour he mistakenly believes is a psychiatrist, in the early morning hours. In the interim, Martha awakens and seeing a photograph of the three friends, assumes she has been the target of an elaborate practical joke. To get even, she separately invites each of the men to meet her for breakfast and when all three arrive, bearing floral arrangements of varying size, a brawl ensues. Laurence sees Martha running off in the distance but is unable to catch her. Despondent, he goes to a travel agency to purchase a ticket anywhere he can go for £99, which proves to be Reykjavík. At the airport gate, he is told he is being seated in First Class and when he boards the plane, he finds Martha waiting for him. She reveals she was responsible for the upgrade, a trick she learned from Daniel.

In 1593 London, William Shakespeare is a sometime player in the Lord Chamberlain's Men and poor playwright for Philip Henslowe, owner of The Rose Theatre. Shakespeare is working on a new comedy, Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter. Suffering from writer's block, he has barely begun the play, but starts auditioning players. Viola de Lesseps, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, who has seen Shakespeare's plays at court, disguises herself as "Thomas Kent" to audition, then runs away. Shakespeare pursues Kent to Viola's house and leaves a note with the nurse, asking Thomas Kent to begin rehearsals at the Rose. He sneaks into the house with the minstrels playing that night at the ball, where her parents are arranging her betrothal to Lord Wessex, an impoverished aristocrat. While dancing with Viola, Shakespeare is struck speechless, and after being forcibly ejected by Wessex, uses Thomas Kent as a go-between to woo her. Wessex also asks Will's name, to which he replies that he is Christopher Marlowe.
When he discovers her true identity, they begin a secret affair. Inspired by her, Shakespeare writes quickly, with help from his friend and rival playwright Christopher 'Kit' Marlowe, completely transforming the play into what will become Romeo and Juliet. Then, Viola is summoned to court to receive approval for her proposed marriage to Lord Wessex. Shakespeare accompanies her, disguised as her female cousin. There, he persuades Wessex to wager £50 that a play can capture the true nature of love, the exact amount Shakespeare requires to buy a share in the Chamberlain's Men. Queen Elizabeth I declares that she will judge the matter when the occasion arises.
When Richard Burbage, owner of the Curtain, finds out that Shakespeare has cheated him out of both money and the play, he goes to the Rose Theatre with his Curtain Theatre Company and starts a brawl. The Rose Theatre company drives Burbage and his company out and then celebrate at the local pub.
Viola is appalled when she learns Shakespeare is married, albeit separated from his wife, and she realises she cannot escape her duty to marry Wessex. Will discovers that Marlowe is dead, and thinks he is to blame. Lord Wessex suspects an affair between Shakespeare and his bride-to-be. Because Wessex thinks that Will is Kit Marlowe, he approves of Kit's death, and tells Viola the news. It is later learned that Marlowe had been killed in an accident. Viola finds out that Will is still alive, and declares her love for him.
When Edmund Tilney, the Master of the Revels, is informed there is a woman player at The Rose, he closes the theatre for breaking the ban on women. Viola's identity is exposed, leaving them without a stage or lead actor, until Richard Burbage offers them his theatre. Shakespeare takes the role of Romeo, with a boy actor as Juliet. Following her wedding, Viola learns that the play will be performed that day, and runs away to the Curtain. Planning to watch with the crowd, Viola overhears that the boy playing Juliet cannot perform, and offers to replace him. While she plays Juliet to Shakespeare's Romeo, the audience is enthralled, despite the tragic ending, until Master Tilney arrives to arrest everyone for indecency due to Viola's presence.
But the Queen is in attendance and restrains Tilney, instead asserting that Kent's resemblance to a woman is, indeed, remarkable. However, even a queen is powerless to end a lawful marriage, and she orders Kent to "fetch" Viola because she must sail with Wessex to the Colony of Virginia. The Queen also tells Wessex, who followed Viola to the theatre, that Romeo and Juliet has won the bet for Shakespeare, and has Kent deliver his £50 with instructions to write something "a little more cheerful next time, for Twelfth Night".
Viola and Shakespeare say their goodbyes, and he vows to immortalise her, as he imagines the beginnings of Twelfth Night, imagining her as a castaway disguised as a man after a voyage to a strange land.

An epidemic begins to spread throughout the globe, causing humankind to lose their sensory perceptions one by one. The story focuses on two people: Susan, one of a team of epidemiologists who are trying to find the causes of the disease, and Michael, a chef who works at a busy restaurant located next to Susan's flat. The two meet and get to know each other as the epidemic progresses, a relationship which soon turns to love.
Humans begin to lose their senses one at a time. Each loss is preceded by an outburst of an intense feeling or urge. First, people begin suffering uncontrollable bouts of crying and this is soon followed by the loss of their sense of smell. An outbreak of irrational panic and anxiety, closely followed by a bout of frenzied gluttony, precedes the loss of the sense of taste. The film depicts people trying to adapt to each loss and trying to carry on living as best they can, rediscovering their remaining senses as they do so. Michael and his co-workers do their best to cook food for people who cannot smell nor taste.
The loss of hearing comes next and is accompanied by an outbreak of extreme anger and rage. Michael experiences it first and is verbally abusive at Susan who flees in fear, losing her own hearing shortly afterwards. Despite her knowledge that it was the disease that caused the outburst, Susan cannot face Michael again. People struggle to adjust and to go on living. One day, every person on Earth suddenly experiences a feeling of joyful euphoria. Susan realizes she both forgives and still loves Michael and rushes to his job. The two find each other and embrace just as they, and the rest of the world, become blind.

Kim Mathews (Felicity Jones) is introduced by a television presenter (Miquita Oliver) as a former skateboarding champion whose mother was killed in a car accident. Kim gives up skateboarding and begins working in a fast food burger bar to pay household bills to help her father (Bill Bailey).
When she and her father need more money to pay the bills, Kim goes looking for a job with better pay. Her friend recommends a job choice as a chalet girl, working in the Alps for rich clients. As she is turned down, there is a call to say that the current chalet girl broke her leg and Kim is accepted for the job at the last minute. Chalet Girl Georgie (Tamsin Egerton) is sent to help Kim out but doesn't seem to like her as she is anything but posh or glamorous and she can't ski or snowboard as she has never been to the Alps. Kim is instantly attracted to Johnny (Ed Westwick) the rich son of Richard (Bill Nighy) and Caroline (Brooke Shields), although he is in a relationship with girlfriend Chloe (Sophia Bush).
As Kim is living next to the mountains she tries to teach herself to snowboard although she finds this difficult. Mikki (Ken Duken), seeing her struggle, helps her out and teaches her to snowboard. He notices that she has a natural talent. He persuades her to try out to win a snowboarding competition to win $25,000.
Georgie begins to become friends with Kim and later finds out it is her birthday. She takes Kim to a club, where they get drunk. She persuades Kim to take the party back to where they are staying, as the family are out. Georgie, Kim, Mikki and Georgie's friend, Jules (Georgia King) are in the hot tub and they are naked. Georgie and Mikki continue to hook up.
When Kim gets out of the tub to shovel snow on herself, the family return home and see her naked. Georgie and Kim then proceed to clean the house and pay back for any damage that was done to the house. Kim continues to work on her snowboarding skills and tries to conquer her fear of the high jumps as it brings back the memory of the car crash.
Kim and Johnny become closer and at the end of a business trip with his father and some potential investors he decides to stay behind, presumably to spend more time with Kim. Johnny pays her to teach him how to snowboard, which brings them closer and after a day in the snow they kiss briefly and end up sleeping together. Bernhard (Gregor Bloéb) had spotted them earlier and had alerted Johnny's mother. The morning after their one night stand, Caroline (Johnny's mother) catches them and gives away the fact that Johnny is engaged to Chloe. Kim packs her stuff and leaves the house upset and angry that Johnny lied to her and slept with her even though he was engaged.
As she is going to leave for home, her father persuades her to stay and try and win the competition as it would have been what her mother wanted. In London, at his and Chloe's engagement party, Johnny breaks up with Chloe in front of the guests. Chloe, piecing together the facts, asks if he is in love with Kim, which he admits to. After hearing the news of their break up, Kim appears to not care about Johnny anymore.
Mikki and Kim enter the competition. Mikki fails to make the high jump and ends up breaking his arm, which takes him out of the chance of winning. Kim does well on all obstacles until she gets to the high jump; she stops as she remembers the car accident again. Although she doesn't make a place in the top 20 to be in the final, she is the first reserve having come 21st. When the finals come, world champion Tara (Tara Dakides, as herself) pulls out and gives up her chances of winning to Kim.
Kim makes all obstacles and jumps, visualizing her mother cheering her on from the crowd; she lands the jump perfectly and wins. Johnny, having come back after breaking up with Chloe, appears behind Kim and apologises; a playful conversation follows and they kiss. It then shows Johnny's mother and father are watching the show on TV and see Johnny and Kim kiss. Johnny's mother, seeing how happy her son is, gives in and agrees to accept Kim.


Lara Tyler (Alice Eve) is one of the most famous film stars around, but all she wants to do is marry her fiancé, writer James Arber (David Tennant). After a supposedly secret traditional church wedding is interrupted by paparazzi Marco Ballani (Federico Castelluccio), hiding in a cabinet at the altar, with Lara chasing him away, she and James become desperate to find someplace unknown and wed in peaceful bliss. Besieged by the press, especially Ballani, who is obsessed with Lara, they escape to the tiny Scottish island of Hegg. Ballani somehow manages to get to the island, and then local girl Katie's (Kelly Macdonald) mother alerts the press (for money). Lara discovers all this, becomes upset and hides away. In desperation her management team, led by Steve Korbitz (Michael Urie), decide to stage a fake wedding, hoping the paparazzi will fall for the scam and leave the island. Katie, nursing a broken heart because of her latest break-up, is recruited to pretend to be a heavily-veiled Lara to complete the charade. Subsequent circumstances lead to Katie and James falling in love.

Upon receiving a key from her Uncle Max, Cabella travels to Italy where she discovers the key is related to a house named Cabella near a village. While traveling she stops near a waterfall to swim and loses the key, but a mysterious man returns the key. She then travels to the village, finds the house, and uses the key to open it.
The next day she goes to the market where the mysterious man works and learns from his cousin Maria (Joanna Cartocci) that his name is Leo (Leo Vertunni) and he is deaf and mute. Maria and Cabella become friends and Maria introduces her sisters Sophia (Elisa Cartocci) and Giulia (Isadora Cartocci). Later that evening Maria tells Cabella that she has a crush on Lord Jai (Moose Ali Khan), a rich man from India that attended a boarding school. That night, Cabella has a conversation with a spirit named Angelo and has strange dreams about her mother.
The next morning, Cabella finds a basket with goods such as eggs and apples sent by Leo. Maria then takes Cabella to her sister Ambrosia's funeral because she died from a heart attack. That night Angelo visits her and confesses that she must go to the cemetery to learn more information. At the cemetery, she meets Senior Bronzini, who, according to rumors, had a relationship with a nun when he was younger. Cabella decides to leave flowers for Chiara, a woman buried next to Ambrosia who has no flowers.
Lord Jai comes back with a disabled friend. He is desperately looking for his sister, who turns out to be Cabella. She does not this know yet, and she visits Bronzini with Leo in order to learn more about Ambrosia. He tells her that she was pregnant and that right after she learned it she decided to join the monastery and to give the child up. The name of the child was Chiara. It also turns out that all the sisters have a passion for something. One is keen on painting and goes to the forest everyday to paint and the other believes that someone is going to come to her. That is why she waits at the bus station.
Lord Jai asks Maria to come to his party as a guest. Maria tries to convinces Cabella to attend, but while they are trying to find an appropriate dress they discover an old red dress and purse which has a diary inside belonging to Chiara. They read it and discover Chiara went to India where she met a rich man named Max and Alexander, who is pianist, both of whom she loved. She was conflicted on who to love. Maria and Cabella then start a bet. If Chiara chose Alexander, Cabella is obliged to attend the party, but if not, then Maria must confess her love for Lord Jai. It is obvious that Chiara made love with Alexander the night before her departure and became pregnant. Angelo tells Cabella that Chiara is her mother.
Giulia meets the disabled man and falls for him. Then, Max's nieces attempt to take the house where Cabella used to live. Lord Jai helps her and tells them to leave. Cabella learns that Lord Jai is her brother and that her mother adopted him and kept him until she died because of high fever. Later at the party he announces to everyone that he found his lost sister. After that Cabella meets Leo and she discovers that he is not deaf and is able to speak. Lord Jai marries Maria, Sophia start a romantic relationship with her friend, and Giulia finds her love. Angelo tells Chiara the news and she reunites with Max. Then Cabella finds Alexander, her father, and the scene ends with her and Leo walking in the fields together.

After his wife is killed in a car accident, chef Rob Haley (Dougray Scott) is left grief-stricken. A bad review causes him to lose customers at his once successful restaurant, so after talking to his friend Gordon Ramsay (himself), Haley relocates to the countryside with his daughter and some loyal members of his staff to turn a local pub into a gastropub.
On the opening day of the restaurant, American food critic Kate Templeton (Claire Forlani) arrives, resulting in an argument with Rob, but the two go on to fall in love and buy a dog. Some of the locals are content with the visitors that the restaurant is bringing to the area, whilst others want it closed down. Rob cooks a special dish with duck that is a hit with the populace. Kate sees to it that Guy Witherspoon (Simon Callow), a renowned food critic, visits the restaurant which results in an excellent report and ongoing success for the restaurant under Haley and Templeton.

Wally Winthrop (Abbie Cornish) is a lonely housewife, living in 1998 in New York City. She is neglected by her doctor husband, William Winthrop (Richard Coyle) and finds solace in the love story of King Edward VIII (James D'Arcy) and his lover, Wallis Simpson (Andrea Riseborough). Wally travels to the Sotheby's auction of the Windsor Estate, showcasing items used by Wallis and Edward in their lifetime, and reminisces about their relationship.
In 1930, Edward throws a party at his new home in Fort Belvedere, in Windsor Great Park where he meets Wallis through his mistress, Lady Furness (Katie McGrath). The two develop a mutual attraction for each other, in spite of Wallis being married to Ernest Simpson, and become lovers while Lady Furness is abroad. Wally's reminiscences are interrupted by Sotheby's guard Evgeni (Oscar Isaac), who takes a liking to her. Edward and Wallis continue their love affair while touring throughout Europe, where he gives her a number of jewels and assumes the initials W.E. By the end of 1934, Edward is irretrievably besotted with Wallis. He decides to introduce Wallis to his parents, King George V (James Fox) and Queen Mary (Judy Parfitt), but Wallis is portrayed in a bad light by Edward's sister-in-law Elizabeth (Natalie Dormer). A distraught Wallis wants to end the relationship but Edward pacifies her.
Wally urges her husband to have a child together but he doesn't want to and Wally suspects him of having an affair. When she accuses him, William hits her. Wally tries In vitro fertilisation in order to become pregnant. She gradually becomes attracted to Evgeni and eventually goes out on a date with him. She asks Evgeni more about Edward and Wallis, while pondering on her relationship with William.After she returns home, a suspecting William confronts and then beats Wally, leaving her badly injured on the floor.
The government of Great Britain and the Dominions refuse to recognise the relationship of Edward and Wallis, since she is a divorcée and so on the night of December 11, 1936, Edward makes a broadcast to the nation and the Empire, explaining his decision to abdicate the throne to his brother Bertie (Laurence Fox). He says, "I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king as I would wish to do without the help and support of the woman I love." Wallis, who has fled to Villa Lou Viei, near Cannes, hears of this and has no choice other than to join Edward.
Evgeni, who has been calling Wally after their date, runs to her apartment to check on her and finds her on the floor. He takes her to his home in Brooklyn and nurses her back to health. Wally finds a new hope and new direction in life. She falls in love with Evgeni, divorces William and moves on with her life. An imaginary monologue with Wallis shows the two women talking about their lives, how they thought that they were similar, but in the end only Wally found happiness. Through a series of letters from Wallis kept in millionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed's collection, Wally comes to realise that the Duchess was stuck in a relationship with Edward for the rest of her life. Wally leaves behind her fascination with Wallis and Edward's relationship, and learns from her doctor that she is pregnant with Evgeni's baby.


Fisheries expert Alfred Jones (Ewan McGregor) receives an email from financial adviser Harriet Chetwode-Talbot (Emily Blunt), seeking advice on a project to bring salmon fishing to the Yemen—a project being bankrolled by a wealthy Yemeni sheikh and supported by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Alfred dismisses the project as "fundamentally unfeasible" because Yemen cannot provide the necessary environment for salmon. Meanwhile, the British Prime Minister's press secretary Patricia Maxwell (Kristin Scott Thomas) suggests the salmon fishing story to the Prime Minister's office as a positive story to help improve relations between Britain and the Islamic world.
Alfred meets with Harriet to discuss the project, but despite Harriet correcting his misconceptions of the Yemen environment, Alfred is convinced that the project is foolhardy. Alfred's boss, pressured by Patricia, forces Alfred to accept a position on the project. Alfred considers resigning rather than ruin his reputation in the scientific community, but is convinced by his wife that they need his income and pension.
Harriet arranges for Alfred to meet the sheikh (Amr Waked) at his estate in the Scottish Highlands. The sheikh is excited to meet Alfred, the inventor of the "Woolly Jones" fishing fly. While the sheikh acknowledges that the project may sound crazy, he still believes that fishing is a noble pursuit that promotes harmony and requires immense faith.
After his wife accepts a position in Geneva, Alfred devotes himself to the salmon project. Although painfully shy, he enjoys working with Harriet and they begin to make progress. Their enthusiasm is interrupted, however, when Harriet learns that her new boyfriend, British special forces captain Robert Meyers (Tom Mison), is missing in action. Devastated, Harriet withdraws to her apartment. When Alfred visits her, she gets upset, thinking he just wants her to return to work, but then she realizes he's come to comfort her, and the two embrace.
Meanwhile, the sheikh continues his work, despite radicals who accuse him of introducing Western ways to their region. Patricia informs the sheikh that because of opposition to removing salmon from British rivers they will need to use farmed salmon. The sheikh does not believe that salmon bred in captivity will survive and rejects Patricia's offer, ending the British government's involvement in the project. Alfred resigns his government job to continue with the project.
After a confrontation with his wife in which he realizes that their marriage is over and that he is in love with Harriet, Alfred convinces the sheikh to give the farmed salmon a try. As the two are fishing, a Yemeni radical attempts to assassinate the sheikh, who is saved by Alfred casting his fishing line towards the assassin. Soon after, they return to the Yemen, where Harriet and Alfred continue to grow closer. After a moonlight swim, he asks her if there was a "theoretical possibility" of the two of them ending up together. She accepts with a kiss on his cheek, but says she will need some time.
At a press conference in Yemen with the Foreign Secretary, Patricia reunites Harriet and Robert, who survived the antiterrorism operation. The PR stunt leaves Alfred heartbroken. That night, Harriet realizes her feelings for Robert have changed, and when Alfred gets a text message from his wife asking him to return, he declines.
The following day the fish are released from their holding tanks. The fish swim upstream and everyone celebrates the success of the project. While Robert and the foreign minister fly-fish for the photographers, terrorists break into the dam upstream and open the flood gates. Although most people survive the resulting flash flood, the valley is left in ruins. The sheikh blames himself for the tragedy, and vows to rebuild—this time with the support of the local community.
The next day, as Harriet prepares to leave with Robert, she approaches Alfred to say goodbye. Just then they see a salmon jumping from the water, indicating that some fish survived. Alfred tells Harriet he will stay and help them rebuild. Harriet asks if he will need a partner—and Alfred realizes she is talking about herself. They embrace, and then hold hands while looking out over the river.

The story centers around two characters Adam (Luke Treadaway) and Morello (Natalia Tena) who end up handcuffed whilst appearing at T in the Park. Adam is the lead singer with successful pop group The Make who are booked to perform at popular music festival in Scotland. While looking for his manager he happens upon Morello, the lead singer for the all girl punk band The Dirty Pinks. The two do not get along and end up arguing, while doing so attracting the attention of a preacher who decides to teach them both a lesson in cooperation and compromise. He handcuffs the two together and disposes of the key, leaving the two stuck together until the handcuffs can be removed. This also means that the two must perform together, an arrangement that both are unhappy with. But over time they both see that they have more in common than first thought and Morello begins to wonder whether she is truly happy with her boyfriend Mark (Alastair Mackenzie).


The film revolves around, Norman, a world-weary manager of a pier theatre in a seaside resort. Norman has worked in the theatre for all of his life, but will not accept that the local council, which own the theatre are planning to install more commercial management in an attempt to boost audience numbers. As the story unfolds he realises it may be time to move on and put behind him the ghost of 1950s and 1960s singer Alma Cogan, who performed at the theatre many years ago. Sandra, his devoted long-suffering assistant and Norman decide to leave the theatre to fulfill her dream of being a professional singer and unexpectedly enjoying a late blossoming romance.

Sam Smith, a bright, ambitious, handsome bellboy at a five-star hotel, has big dreams of running his own restaurant with his childhood friend. On a seemingly ordinary day, he suddenly finds himself in a life-or-death hostage situation with the radiantly beautiful Mary and her spirited elderly boss Charlie while running an errand at one of London’s most exclusive jewelers. Against the backdrop of an armed jewel robbery that goes badly wrong, hostages Sam and Mary discover their true feelings for each other when flung together by deadly circumstance. Charlie, at the conclusion of the situation, grants Sam his wish of running a restaurant by proposing a partnership with him. Mary tells her boss that she changed her plans of moving to Australia, and asks Sam to take her to a concert.

Tom, a gardener at Kingston Bagpuize House, falls in love with Anya, a Polish au pair. He is agonisingly slow at making a move to win the heart of Anya, so the whole village comes together to help speed things up.

Kelly and Victor meet on the dance floor of a Liverpool nightclub, both of them on illegal highs. They spend the night together, experiencing an intense sexual relationship. These are two characters struggling to get by as best they can while the people around them are choosing illegal lifestyles; her best mate is a dominatrix prostitute, his pals are aspiring drug dealers. It’s when they get into bed with each other that their darker instincts take over. With a strong sense of location and an astutely chosen soundtrack, Kelly + Victor depicts a young couple embarking on a passionate and transgressive love affair.

Ambitious high-flyer Nat (Rose Byrne) and struggling writer Josh (Rafe Spall) fall in love at first sight at a party. After seven months together they decide to marry. The film highlights their struggles during their first year of marriage, switching back and forth from flashbacks of the year's action to a marriage-guidance counselor's office. Their wedding goes as planned despite many friends' comments that the marriage will not last, an embarrassing best-man's speech, and a coughing priest.
When Nat returns to work after the honeymoon, she's embarrassed when Josh calls her in the office - on speakerphone in front of her colleagues - to tell her she is sexy and that he misses her, causing her to abruptly hang up on him. Later, the two meet with their solicitor to discuss how to handle medical crises (last wishes). Nat becomes annoyed when Josh, knowing she would be late, admitted that he deliberately told her the wrong time, causing her to turn up early.
The couple throw a dinner party to use their wedding gifts. Some of their differences are highlighted when they talk about their honeymoon in Morocco: Nat didn't enjoy the leather museum; Josh remembers it as interesting. When the topic changes to Josh's former flame, Chloe (Anna Faris), Nat discovers that the two never officially broke up when Chloe departed to Africa for four years. In the kitchen Chloe apologizes to Nat for not realising she didn't know. The women talk about the constrictions of marriage. Nat's sister Naomi has issues with her own husband's annoying habits. Josh's best man Danny asks Chloe out but is rebuffed.
The following day, Nat and her work-colleagues make fun of their new client, Guy Harrap (Simon Baker), the new owner of a bleach company. They believe he will be a stereotypical American who thinks the British are "quaint". They do not realize that their client has been sitting right there in the same café. Before the meeting, one colleague steals Nat's wedding ring, believing that the account will have a better chance of success if she appears single. During the meeting, Guy deliberately fulfils their expectations of him: speaking in a brash American way, asking for high-fives and casual fist-bumps, asking Nat to repeat certain words he finds amusing and doing a crude Austin Powers impression. Then when they focus on business talk, he switches to his true self, embarrassing the women for their earlier stereotyping. As he and Nat exit the boardroom, she apologizes for their misjudgment of him, and he says they should get better acquainted for the sake of the account. Feeling the attraction between them, she struggles with telling him she's married, then ends up leaving without telling him.
Josh talks to Chloe about his book while she's working at a charity office. He invites her to dinner because Nat's going to a work party that night. Chloe declines, saying she's going out with her work-colleague Charlie, whom she's been dating.
The scene returns to the marriage-guidance counsellor's office as the two explain that the realities of marriage do not live up to the fairytale expectation they both had.
Unable to focus on his writing, Josh sits at home watching television while Nat's out jogging. At work, Nat receives a large bouquet of roses from Guy. The couple bicker over domestic issues; Josh leaving the toilet seat up, Nat's inability to sing the right words to popular songs and their different definitions of the rubbish bin being full.
Guy shows Nat around one of the factories he owns, where one of his longest-serving workers expresses approval of her as a potential wife for him. Guy explains that he basically grew up in the factory during his childhood summers. Nat comments that she's not the marrying type, still unable to tell Guy she's married.
Nat tries to discourage Josh from accompanying her to a work party, but he is determined, irritating her. At the party, he makes a fool of himself with embarrassing dancing and standing next to a poster he can joke about during the night. When he approaches Nat while she's talking with Guy, she still doesn't reveal that he is her husband and Guy attempts to shake him off, assuming he's an unwanted menace. Guy asks her to dinner and Nat declines. Incredibly annoyed at Josh for embarrassing her at the party, she heads home without him.
Meanwhile, Chloe and Charlie attend a boring dinner party, then leave early to adjourn to Charlie's apartment. As they kiss on the bed, Chloe's colleague Alexandra joins them and Chloe finds herself in an awkward threesome. Feeling too silly to continue, Chloe eventually leaves. The next morning she calls Josh to tell him about it, and he soon turns up at her apartment with coffee and her favourite sweets to cheer her up.
Chloe and Josh then go Christmas-shopping. Josh wants to get casserole dishes for Nat but Chloe laughs that this is not a present for a wife and she must help him; they end up at a lingerie shop with Josh uncomfortably trying to make conversation with the shop assistant amongst the shop's expensive contents. Chloe tries on a lingerie set, and asks Josh what he thinks of it. They end up kissing in the dressing room, although both are embarrassed about it afterwards. Josh ends up buying the lingerie.
When Nat meets with Guy at his hotel to discuss their business deal, she rebuffs his attempts to get her into his room. He mentions that he has booked a conference room down the hall, but when Nat enters she finds a romantic dinner complete with doves and a violinist. When Guy makes advances, she finally blurts out that she's married and can't leave her husband because it would destroy him, and finally storms out.
Guy chases after Nat and they bump into Chloe and Josh on the street. After some initial awkward exchanges, Josh suggests that Chloe and Guy get together and they agree on a double date.
Back to the present in the counsellor's office: Nat explains that they hit a low point around the Christmas period, commenting that her husband's family are weird - in particular his mother. Josh retaliates that Nat's family were not overly friendly towards him.
The scene shifts to a Christmas family reunion at Nat's parents', where a series of embarrassing incidents revolving around Josh occur. Josh unwittingly but clumsily offends Nat's grandmother during a game of charades, Nat's father makes him sleep on the upper deck of a bunk bed of a young female relative, and Nat's parents giving Josh a pair of books titled "How to be a Successful Writer" and "How to Stop Wasting Your Life". At the end of the visit, while leaving her parents' house, Nat confronts Naomi about why she stays with her husband as they clearly hate each other. Naomi says that they both "embrace the hatred" and that's what marriage is about. Even though she admits there could be something better out there for her, she ultimately loves her husband.
Nat and Josh have a conversation about his suggestion of Chloe dating Guy. The two talk about the prospects of both of them as romantic interests. The four meet for dinner, and spend the evening playing pool. Chloe and Guy seem to hit it off, happily competing against Nat and Josh. Nat becomes more frustrated with Josh's clumsy and patronising attempt to teach her how to play properly, as well as with her growing jealousy towards Chloe, who can play well. They leave the bar, and Nat asks Guy to talk about packaging details, intending to meet Josh back at their flat afterwards. Chloe and Josh depart together, while Nat and Guy go the other direction. After a moment, Nat passionately kisses Guy, resulting in the ripping of the underwear bought for her by Josh.
Meanwhile, Josh attempts to discourage Chloe's attraction to Guy, and she admits she is and has always been still in love with him, lamenting that Josh never stopped her from leaving and insisting that their current circumstances are impossible, that they cannot see each other anymore.
When Nat returns home, she and Josh talk about their relationship. After nine months they decide to get help instead of giving up on their marriage. This leads us back to the counsellor's office, who ultimately advises them to try to make it to the one-year marker.
The couple then put up with each other's quirks over the next few months, eventually making it to their anniversary. Nat brings out the same expensive lingerie for the special occasion, and struggles to do it up because of two broken hooks, remembering the circumstances in which they were broken - her with Guy. Josh meanwhile leaves the flat, telling Nat he's remembered he has to do something and that he will meet her at the restaurant. He races to Chloe's apartment, only to find that she is heading off in a cab with Guy, whom she embraces lovingly. Nat contemplates phoning Guy, but then decides to go to the restaurant, where her friends and family are there waiting to surprise the couple. After failing to contact Josh, Nat sits down. She discovers that their friends didn't think her marriage would last.
Josh makes it to the restaurant party, and tells Nat that he thinks she is the perfect wife, just not for him. He asks her for a divorce and she immediately and delightedly agrees. The couple rejoice at the situation, and immediately leave the party one after the other.
Meanwhile, Guy and Chloe are at the railway station waiting to go to Paris on a romantic trip. Josh finds them and professes his love for Chloe. When it's discovered that he split up with Nat, the two are shocked. Nat appears behind Josh, who awkwardly assumed he is the one she wants to speak to, but it turns out she was there for Guy. After a short exchange they happily discuss how perfect Guy and Chloe are for them. In the end, Chloe and Guy mutually break up. Nat ends up kissing Guy and Chloe shares a kiss with Josh.

Married for centuries and now living half a world apart, two vampires wake as the sun goes down. Adam sits holding a lute, in his cluttered Detroit Victorian, as Eve wakes up in her bedroom in Tangier, surrounded by books. Rather than feeding on humans, they are like addicts, dependent on local suppliers of the "good stuff" because they fear contamination from blood poisoned by the degradation of the environment. Adam visits a local blood bank in the dead of night, masquerading as "Dr. Faust", paying "Dr. Watson" for his coveted O negative, while Eve relies on their old friend Christopher Marlowe, who faked his death in 1593 and now lives under the protection of a local man.
After influencing the careers of countless famous musicians and scientists, Adam has become withdrawn and suicidal. His desire to connect through his music is at odds with the danger of recognition as well as his contempt for the corrupt and foolish humans he refers to as zombies. He spends his days recording his compositions on outdated studio equipment and lamenting the state of the modern world whilst collecting vintage instruments. He pays Ian, a naive young music fan, to procure vintage guitars and other assorted curiosities, including a custom-made wooden bullet with a brass casing. Having acquired substantial scientific knowledge over the years, the vampire has managed to build contraptions to power both his home and vintage sports car with technology originally pioneered by Nikola Tesla. His reclusive nature adds to his mystique as a musician and composer, and he is horrified when some intrepid fans turn up on his doorstep. Ian promises to discreetly spread rumors about Adam living elsewhere to draw them away.
When Eve calls, she recognizes that he is despondent and decides to come to Detroit. Soon after she arrives, Adam goes out for more blood and she discovers a small revolver under the bed, finds the wooden bullet and senses that it is newly made. She confronts him when he returns, chiding him for wasting the time and opportunities he has to enjoy the world as well as their relationship. They spend their nights cruising the empty streets of Detroit, listening to music and playing chess. But their idyllic seclusion is shattered by the arrival of Eve's younger sister, Ava, from Los Angeles. Ava gorges herself on their stash of the "good stuff," and hungry for excitement, persuades them to go out to a local club with Ian, where they hear Adam's music when the band, White Hills, finishes their set. Ava offers Ian a hit off the flask she secretly filled with blood and brought to the club, and Adam snatches it from her hand with supernatural speed, then insists that they all depart. Before dawn, Ava kills Ian by drinking too much of his blood, and Adam kicks her out of the house.
Adam and Eve dispose of Ian's corpse in an acid pool in an abandoned factory. Ian's murder, and the appearance of another bunch of Adam's fans at the house, compel the couple to hastily return to Tangier with only what they can carry onto the plane. Desperately hungry for blood, they visit Marlowe, and learn that their long-time friend and mentor has been poisoned by a batch of contaminated blood. After they discuss how Marlowe secretly penned most of Shakespeare's plays, Marlowe dies. Eve takes all of Adam's ready cash and leaves him with the promise of a gift. He is captivated by the music from a nearby club, where a Lebanese singer (Yasmine Hamdan) is finishing a haunting song. Eve reappears with a beautiful oud, and as they sit together outdoors and contemplate their likely demise, they spot a pair of young lovers kissing. "What choice do we have?" Adam remarks before the two of them approach the couple with glowing eyes and their fangs exposed.

Set in Cornwall in the early 20th century, Summer in February focuses on a group of Bohemian artists called the Lamorna Group, which include Alfred Munnings (Dominic Cooper), Laura Knight (Hattie Morahan) and Harold Knight (Shaun Dingwall). The group is at the centre of the real life love triangle between Alfred, his friend Gilbert Evans (Dan Stevens) and the woman they both loved, the artist Florence Carter-Wood (Emily Browning).

Kate Loughlin is a vivacious young actress struggling to get her big break in the London film industry. When she lands an audition for the lead role in a massive movie franchise based on the 'Prince of Chaos' novels by legendary author Horatio King, she goes after the opportunity with all guns blazing.
However a sleazy agent trying to pimp her to the director Vincent Catalano, pushes her to the other extreme. Determined to prove her strict professionalism, she starts second guessing Vincent's interest in her.
Dáithí Carroll is an earnest young filmmaker studying in London. Chosen to direct one of his college's graduation films, he needs a crew. Enter Joanne Webber, a hard-nosed Londoner with a penchant for role-play and her eye on this vulnerable Irishman. Together they recruit a motley crew for their film, and Dáithí enlists Kate to star.
A restless Vincent inserts himself onto their set through his friend and casting director Deborah Whitton, who is tutor to the young filmmakers. Kate's resolve to maintain her integrity is put to the test as she finds herself drawn to Vincent when they are repeatedly thrown together.
Add to the mix rival starlet Luci, a wannabe WAG with designs on both Kate's coveted role in 'Prince of Chaos', and on Vincent! In the cut-throat arena of show-business, Kate stands to learn that her profession is personal, and sometimes friction can create a spark.

Former teen salsa champion Bruce Garrett is now an engineer. Bruce gave up dancing after he was brutally bullied by older boys. When he finds out that his new boss, Julia, is passionate about salsa dancing, he decides that the only way he can win her over is by re-mastering the art of dance. He seeks out his old teacher Ron, who forces him to confront the reasons he quit dancing in the first place. He struggles with low self-esteem, as well as a bullying coworker and rival, Drew, who constantly dominates Julia's attention, a romantic interest for Bruce but sexually for Drew. With the help of his salsa classmates, teacher, and his former dancing partner, his sister Sam, Bruce gets up the courage to relearn all his 'rusty' dance steps and to recapture his lost "corazón" (heart), not only for the dance but for his life. When ready, his friends convince him to enter the local nightclub's salsa dance competition, with the idea that he'll invite Julia to be his dance partner. But when he goes round to hers to ask her out to the dance, he is tricked into believing that he's interrupting an intimate evening she's spending with Drew, so leaves before asking, disillusioned. Julia, meanwhile, discovers what Drew is up to and outright rejects his advances, then kicks him out whilst threatening his position at work. Julia follows Bruce to the nightclub, where he's been doing quite well with Sam and an old routine, and is about to enter the final heat/round of the competition. When he notices Julia had followed him to the club, he's elated and finally plucks up the courage to ask her to dance. They dance the last round of the competition, where Bruce goes on to lose the competition, but regains his true self and finally wins Julia's heart.


In 1928, a globally famous illusionist, Wei Ling Soo, performs in front of a crowd in Berlin with his world-class magic act. As he walks off stage the film audience sees that he is actually a British man named Stanley (Colin Firth). He berates his employees and is generally curmudgeonly towards his well-wishers. In his dressing-room, he is greeted by old friend and fellow illusionist Howard Burkan (Simon McBurney). Howard enlists Stanley to go with him to the Côte d'Azur where a rich American family, the Catledges, has apparently been taken in by a clairvoyant and mystic, Sophie (Emma Stone). In fact, the son of the family, Brice (Hamish Linklater), is smitten with Sophie, and his sister Caroline (Erica Leerhsen) and brother-in-law George (Jeremy Shamos) are concerned Brice is considering proposing marriage. Howard says that he has been unable to uncover the secrets behind her tricks and he admits that the more he watched her the more he believed she really has supernatural powers. So he would like Stanley, who has debunked charlatan mystics in the past, to help him prove she is a fraud.
Howard and Stanley travel to the French Riviera, but Stanley is soon astonished by Sophie's ability to go into a fugue state and apparently pull out highly personal details about him and his family. Stanley witnesses a seance in which Sophie communicates with the deceased patriarch of the American family. A candle floats up from the table and Howard grabs it to try to discern what trickery is at play, but is astounded to find no apparent subterfuge. Stanley begins spending time with Sophie. He takes her to visit his aunt and they drive a convertible along the picturesque rocky corniches.
When Stanley and Sophie visit his aunt Vanessa (Eileen Atkins), Sophie is seemingly able, after holding aunt Vanessa's pearls, to somehow relate secret details of Vanessa's one great love affair. This finally convinces Stanley of Sophie's authenticity and he has an emotional epiphany, feeling that his lifelong rationalism and cynicism have been misguided. When caught in a rain storm, they end up at an observatory that Stanley had visited as a child. After the rain subsides, they open the roof up and view the stars.
At a Gatsby-esque party, Stanley and Sophie dance. As they walk together later that night, Sophie asks him if he has felt any feelings for her "as a woman". Stanley, who has admired her talents as a mystic and is grateful to her for opening his eyes to a new worldview, is taken aback and admits that he has not thought of her that way. She leaves upset. The next day Stanley holds a press conference to tell the world that he, who spent his life debunking charlatan mystics, has finally come to find one who is the real deal. The reporters drill him with questions, but the grilling is interrupted when he receives news his aunt Vanessa has been in a car accident.
Stanley rushes to the hospital, and in an emotional scene in a waiting room considers turning to prayer for solace. That is, if he now has come to believe in divination and mysticism, perhaps he should believe in God and prayer. He begins to pray for a miracle to save his aunt, but is unable to go through with it. The rationality that has been his whole life comes back and he rejects prayer, the supernatural and by extension, Sophie and her powers. He decides once more to prove she is a fraud.
Using a trick seen earlier in his stage act, Stanley appears to leave the room but stays to overhear Sophie and Howard discuss their collusion in what has been an elaborate ruse. He discovers that Sophie was able to know so much about him and his aunt because she and Howard collaborated to fool Stanley. Sophie was indeed a charlatan tricking the rich American family and was quickly discovered by Howard. Rather than unmask her and stop the ruse, he enlisted Sophie to help him one-up his best friend and rival, Stanley.
Stanley is initially angry at Howard and Sophie but decides to forgive them. In a conversation with his aunt Vanessa, who has recovered from her car accident, Stanley admits and fully realizes that he is in love with Sophie. He finds her and asks her not to marry Brice, but marry him instead. Sophie is taken aback and finds his haughty, awkward proposal unsuitable. She tells him she still plans to marry the wealthy Brice. Returning dejected to his aunt Vanessa's, Stanley further admits that he fell in love with Sophie at first sight, and, saddened, is then surprised when Sophie, who had arrived before him, knocks a spirit knock. He proposes, she accepts with a spirit knock, and they kiss as the film ends.

Nathan Ellis, a 9-year-old math prodigy, has just lost his father in a car accident. Nathan is diagnosed as autistic early in the film, but strangely, his father was the only one who was able to connect normally with him. Although Nathan values his mother, Julie, he shuns any physical contact with her and treats her as more of a caretaker than a parent. Wanting to make sure Nathan isn’t distracted from his studies, Julie enrolls him in advanced classes at a new school. There, he comes under the tutelage of teacher Martin, also a math genius, who now suffers from multiple sclerosis. Martin sees himself in Nathan, once a promising young mind in the field of mathematics, who gave it all up once he was diagnosed with his illness.
Seven years later, Martin is preparing Nathan to compete for a place in the International Mathematical Olympiad, a prestigious high school competition consisting of the world’s best young mathematicians. This year, it is to be held at Cambridge, after a two-week math camp in Taiwan where the students will study for the test that determines the winners. Nathan fears he’s not good enough to qualify but ends up doing well enough to accompany 15 other British teenagers to Taiwan.
Suddenly thrust out of his comfort zone, Nathan finds himself no longer the smartest math whiz in the room, and his social anxieties nearly paralyze his performance. He has trouble reading the social cues of others and flinches at the slightest physical contact with another person. Nathan is paired with a female Chinese student, Zhang Mei, who slowly helps him adjust to his new surroundings and helps him fight through his fears. By the skin of their teeth, Nathan and Zhang make the cut to compete in Cambridge.
Back in England, Zhang stays with Nathan and his mum, who’s shocked to find that his behavior has transformed into something more normal. She becomes aware that he may have feelings for Zhang, which she asks him. Not fully understanding the concept of love, Nathan is unsure how to express his feelings. He keeps his emotions bottled up as they all travel to Cambridge and settle in for the Olympiad.
Things quickly unravel when Zhang’s uncle catches her in Nathan’s room one morning and mistakenly accuses them of being in an intimate relationship. This causes Zhang to withdraw from the competition and leave. Nathan, who now believes he loves Zhang, is torn between her and the Olympiad. When he sits down among hundreds of other students around the world for the exam, the first question triggers memories of his dead father, which combined with his newly lost love, creates an emotional overload. At the pinnacle moment of his mathematical career, Nathan must make a decision whether to stay and pursue his dream, or give into the pain that’s haunted him for most of his life.

Anastasia "Ana" Steele is a 21-year-old college senior attending Washington State University in Vancouver, Washington. Her best friend is Katherine "Kate" Kavanagh, who writes for the college newspaper. Due to an illness, Kate is unable to interview 27-year-old Christian Grey, a successful and wealthy Seattle entrepreneur, and asks Ana to take her place. Ana finds Christian attractive as well as intimidating. As a result, she stumbles through the interview and leaves Christian's office believing it went poorly. Ana does not expect to meet Christian again, but he appears at the hardware store where she works. While he purchases various items including cable ties, masking tape, and rope, Ana informs Christian that Kate would like some photographs to illustrate her article about him. Christian gives Ana his phone number. Later, Kate urges Ana to call Christian and arrange a photo shoot with their photographer friend, José Rodriguez.
The next day José, Kate, and Ana arrive for the photo shoot at the Heathman Hotel, where Christian is staying. Christian asks Ana out for coffee and asks if she's dating anyone, specifically José. Ana replies that she is not dating anyone. During the conversation, Ana learns that Christian is also single, but he says he is no romantic. Ana is intrigued but believes she is not attractive enough for Christian. Later, Ana receives a package from Christian containing first edition copies of Tess of the d'Urbervilles, which stuns her. Later that night, Ana goes out drinking with her friends and ends up drunk dialling Christian, who informs her that he will be coming to pick her up because of her inebriated state. Ana goes outside to get some fresh air, and José attempts to kiss her, but he is stopped by Christian's arrival. Ana leaves with Christian, but not before she discovers that Kate has been flirting with Christian's brother, Elliot. Later, Ana wakes to find herself in Christian's hotel room, where he scolds her for not taking proper care of herself. Christian then reveals that he would like to have sex with her. He initially says that Ana will first have to fill out paperwork, but later goes back on this statement after making out with her in the elevator.
Ana goes on a date with Christian, on which he takes her in his helicopter, Charlie Tango, to his apartment. Once there, Christian insists that she sign a non-disclosure agreement forbidding her from discussing anything they do together, which Ana agrees to sign. He also mentions other paperwork, but first takes her to his playroom full of BDSM toys and gear. There, Christian informs her that the second contract will be one of dominance and submission, and there will be no romantic relationship, only a sexual one. The contract even forbids Ana from touching Christian or making eye contact with him. At this point, Christian realises that Ana is a virgin and agrees to take her virginity without making her sign the contract. The two then have sex. The following morning, Ana and Christian again have sex. His mother arrives moments after their sexual encounter and is surprised by the meeting, having previously thought Christian was homosexual, because he was never seen with a woman. Christian later takes Ana out to eat, and he reveals that he lost his virginity at age 15 to one of his mother's friends, Elena Lincoln, and that his previous dominant/submissive relationships failed due to incompatibility. Christian also reveals that in his first dominant/submissive relationship he was the submissive. Christian and Ana plan to meet again, and he takes Ana home, where she discovers several job offers and admits to Kate that she and Christian had sex.
Over the next few days, Ana receives several packages from Christian. These include a laptop to enable her to research the BDSM lifestyle in consideration of the contract; to communicate with him, since she has never previously owned a computer; and to receive a more detailed version of the dominant/submissive contract. She and Christian email each other, with Ana teasing him and refusing to honour parts of the contract, such as only eating foods from a specific list. Ana later meets with Christian to discuss the contract and becomes overwhelmed by the potential BDSM arrangement and the potential of having a sexual relationship with Christian that is not romantic in nature. Because of these feelings, Ana runs away from Christian and does not see him again until her college graduation, where he is a guest speaker. During this time, Ana agrees to sign the dominant/submissive contract. Ana and Christian once again meet to further discuss the contract, and they go over Ana's hard and soft limits. Christian spanks Ana for the first time, and the experience leaves her both enticed and slightly confused. This confusion is exacerbated by Christian's lavish gifts and the fact that he brings her to meet his family. The two continue with the arrangement without Ana's having yet signed the contract. After successfully landing a job with Seattle Independent Publishing (SIP), Ana further bristles under the restrictions of the non-disclosure agreement and her complex relationship with Christian. The tension between Ana and Christian eventually comes to a head after Ana asks Christian to punish her in order to show her how extreme a BDSM relationship with him could be. Christian fulfils Ana's request, beating her with a belt, and Ana realises they are incompatible. Devastated, she leaves Christian and returns to the apartment she shares with Kate.

Gabriel Oak is a young shepherd. With the savings of a frugal life, and a loan, he has leased and stocked a sheep farm. He falls in love with a newcomer six years his junior, Bathsheba Everdene, a proud beauty who arrives to live with her aunt, Mrs. Hurst. Over time, Bathsheba and Gabriel grow to like each other well enough, and Bathsheba even saves his life once. However, when he makes her an unadorned offer of marriage, she refuses; she values her independence too much, and him too little. Feeling betrayed and embarrassed, Gabriel offers blunt protestations that only foster her haughtiness. After a few days, she moves to Weatherbury, a village some miles off.
When next they meet, their circumstances have changed drastically. An inexperienced new sheepdog drives Gabriel's flock over a cliff, ruining him. After selling off everything of value, he manages to settle all his debts but emerges penniless. He seeks employment at a hiring fair in the town of Casterbridge. When he finds none, he heads to another such fair in Shottsford, a town about ten miles from Weatherbury. On the way, he happens upon a dangerous fire on a farm and leads the bystanders in putting it out. When the veiled owner comes to thank him, he asks if she needs a shepherd. She uncovers her face and reveals herself to be none other than Bathsheba. She has recently inherited her uncle's estate and is now wealthy. Though somewhat uncomfortable, she employs him.

Jean, the captain of the canal barge L'Atalante, marries Juliette in her village. They decide to live aboard L'Atalante along with Jean's crew, Père Jules and the cabin boy.
The couple travel to Paris to deliver cargo, enjoying a makeshift honeymoon en route. Jules and the cabin boy are not used to the presence of a woman aboard. When Jean discovers Juliette and Jules talking in Jules's quarters, Jean flies into a jealous rage by smashing plates and by sending Jules's cats scattering.
Arriving in Paris, Jean promises Juliette a night out, but Jules and the cabin boy disembark to go see a fortune teller. This disappoints Juliette because Jean cannot leave the barge unattended.
Later, however, Jean takes Juliette to a dance hall. There, they meet a street peddler who flirts with Juliette, dances with her, and asks her to run off with him. This leads to a scuffle with Jean, after which he drags Juliette back to the barge. Juliette still wants to see the nightlife in Paris however, so she sneaks off the barge to go see the sights. When Jean discovers that she sneaked off the barge, he furiously casts off and leaves Juliette behind in Paris.
Unaware that Jean had already left, Juliette goes window shopping. When she returns to the barge and finds that it's gone, she tries to buy a train ticket home, but someone steals her purse before she is able to. She is forced to find a job so she can afford to find a place to stay in Paris.
Meanwhile, Jean comes to regret his decision, and slips into depression. He is summoned by his company's manager, but Jules manages to keep him from losing his job. Jean recalls a folk tale that Juliette once told him. She said that one can see the face of one's true love in the water. He attempts to recreate this by dunking his head in a bucket, and failing that, jumping into the river. Jules decides to leave and try to find Juliette. He finds her and they return to the barge where the couple reunites and happily embrace each other.

Max de Mirecourt (Albert Prejean), a frustrated writer, goes to Tunisia in search of inspiration for his next novel. He meets a local girl named Alwina (Josephine Baker) whose personality intrigues Max so greatly that he invents a character based on her for his newest (and 'most exciting') novel. His relation with Alwina serves a dual purpose in that it also angers (or at least highly annoys) his wife Lucie (Germaine Aussey) who has been flirting with the Maharaja of Datane (Jean Galland) back in Paris. Alwina is taken under Max's wing and taught the manners and social graces of a high society princess. She is then whisked away to Paris with Max and pretends to be Princess Tam Tam, from far away Africa.
Lucie is further enraged by all the attention that Alwina receives and, after her friend sees Alwina dance provocatively in a sailor's bar, calls upon her Maharaja to craft a plan which will destroy her husband's relation with "the princess." The Maharaja throws a grand party, inviting the upper crust of Parisian society. Alwina is unable to resist the exotic music, and promptly joins the large, staged dance number, embarrassing Max – until he realizes that the entire audience is on their feet, applauding Alwina. Lucie is furious.
Lucie and Max forgive each other in the end and fall in love again, Alwina returns to Tunisia after the frustrating realization that, as the Maharaja puts it, "Some windows face to the West, and the others to the East." Ultimately, however, the entire European affair is revealed to be little more than an enactment of Max's novel in progress. Alwina never does go to Europe, and the primary events of the film are simply a staging of how Max has imagined them. Alwina is given Max's Tunisian estate, and Max's new novel is a success. The title of his new work is "Civilisation." When asked about Alwina while back in Europe, Max states that she is "Better where she is."
The film closes with a scene of Alwina and Dar back in Tunisia, with a newborn child, and with farm animals now strewn about Max's mansion. In the final shot, a donkey eats the title page of "Civilisation" from off of Max's (now Alwina's) floor.

Armand de la Verne, a lieutenant in the French cavalry and a notorious seducer, undertakes a bet that he will "obtain the favours" of a woman selected secretly by lot, before his company departs for its summer manoeuvres in a month's time. His target turns out to be Marie-Louise Rivière, a Parisian divorcée who runs a milliner's shop, and who is also being courted by the serious and respectable Victor Duverger. Marie Louise's growing attraction towards Armand is tempered by her discoveries about his reputation, while Armand's calculated strategy become undermined by his genuine emotions. A subplot follows the parallel but simpler courtship of Armand's friend and fellow officer Félix and Lucie, the young daughter of a photographer.

A marble Greek bas relief explodes to reveal black men dancing the samba to drums in a favela. Eurydice (Marpessa Dawn) arrives in Rio de Janeiro, and takes a trolley driven by Orfeu (Breno Mello). New to the city, she rides to the end of the line, where Orfeu introduces her to the station guard, Hermes (Alexandro Constantino), who gives her directions to the home of her cousin Serafina (Léa Garcia).
Although engaged to Mira (Lourdes de Oliveira), Orfeu is not very enthusiastic about the upcoming marriage. The couple go to get a marriage license. When the clerk at the courthouse hears Orfeu's name, he jokingly asks if Mira is Eurydice, annoying her. Afterward, Mira insists on getting an engagement ring. Though Orfeu has just been paid, he would rather use his money to get his guitar out of the pawn shop for the carnival. Mira finally offers to loan Orfeu the money to buy her ring.
When Orfeu goes home, he is pleased to find Eurydice staying next door with Serafina. Eurydice has run away to Rio to hide from a strange man who she believes wants to kill her. The man – Death dressed in a stylized skeleton costume – finds her, but Orfeu gallantly chases him away. Orfeu and Eurydice fall in love, yet are constantly on the run from both Mira and Death. When Serafina's sailor boyfriend Chico (Waldemar De Souza) shows up, Orfeu offers to let Eurydice sleep in his home, while he takes the hammock outside. Eurydice invites him to her bed.
Orfeu, Mira, and Serafina are the principal members of a samba school, one of many parading during Carnival. Serafina decides to have Eurydice dress in her costume so that she can spend more time with her sailor. A veil conceals Eurydice's face; only Orfeu is told of the deception. During the parade, Orfeu dances with Eurydice rather than Mira.
Eventually, Mira spots Serafina among the spectators and rips off Eurydice’s veil. Eurydice is forced once again to run for her life first from Mira, then from Death. Trapped in Orfeu's own trolley station, she hangs from a power line to get away from Death and is killed accidentally by Orfeu when he turns the power on and electrocutes her. Death tells Orfeu "Now she's mine," before knocking him out.
Distraught, Orfeu looks for Eurydice at the Office of Missing Persons, although Hermes has told him she is dead. The building is deserted at night, with only a janitor sweeping up. He tells Orfeu that the place holds only papers and that no people can be found there. Taking pity on Orfeu, the janitor takes him down a large darkened spiral staircase – a reference to the mythical Orpheus' descent into the underworld – to a Macumba ritual, a regional form of the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé.
At the gate, there is a dog named Cerberus, after the three-headed dog of Hades in Greek mythology. During the ritual, the janitor tells Orfeu to call to his beloved by singing. The spirit of Eurydice inhabits the body of an old woman and speaks to him. Orfeu wants to gaze upon her, but Eurydice begs him not to lest he lose her forever. When he turns and looks anyway, he sees the old woman, and Eurydice's spirit departs, as in the Greek myth.
Orfeu wanders in mourning. He retrieves Eurydice's body from the city morgue and carries her in his arms across town and up the hill toward his home, where his shack is burning. A vengeful Mira, running amok, flings a stone that hits him in the head and knocks him over a cliff to his death.
Two children, Benedito and Zeca – who have followed Orfeu throughout the film – believe Orfeu's tale that his guitar playing causes the sun to rise every morning. After Orfeu's death, Benedito insists that Zeca pick up the guitar and play so that the sun will rise. Zeca plays, and the sun comes up. A little girl appears, gives Zeca a single flower, and the three children dance.

A young widow, Anne Gauthier (Anouk Aimée), is raising her daughter Françoise (Souad Amidou) alone following the death of her husband (Pierre Barouh) who worked as a stuntman and who died in a movie set accident that she witnessed. Still working as a film script supervisor, Anne divides her time between her home in Paris and Deauville in northern France where her daughter attends boarding school. A young widower, Jean-Louis (Jean-Louis Trintignant), is raising his son Antoine (Antoine Sire) alone following the death of his wife Valerie (Valerie Lagrange) who committed suicide after Jean-Louis was in a near fatal crash during the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Still working as a race car driver, Jean-Louis divides his time between Paris and Deauville where his son also attends boarding school.
One day Anne and Jean-Louis meet at the Deauville boarding school after Anne misses the last train back to Paris. Jean-Louis offers her a lift and the two become acquainted during the drive home, enjoying each other's company. When he drops her off, he asks if she would like to drive up together the following weekend, and she gives him her phone number. After a busy week at the track preparing for the next race, Jean-Louis calls and they meet early Sunday morning and drive to Deauville in the rain. Clearly attracted to each other, they enjoy a pleasant Sunday lunch with their children who get along well. Later that afternoon they go for a boat ride followed by a walk on the beach at sunset.
Jean-Louis spends the following week preparing for and driving in the Monte Carlo Rally in southeast France. Every day, Anne closely follows news reports of the race, which takes place in poor weather conditions along the icy roads of the French Riviera. Of the 273 cars that started the race, only 42 were able to finish, including Jean Louis's white Mustang, number 184. Watching the television coverage of the conclusion of the race, Anne sends Jean-Louis a telegram that reads, "Bravo! I love you. Anne."
That night at a dinner for the drivers at the Monte Carlo Casino, Jean-Louis receives the telegram and leaves immediately. He jumps into the same car he used during the race and drives through the night to Paris, telling himself that when a woman sends a telegram like that, you go to her no matter what. Along the way he imagines what their reunion will be like. At her Paris apartment, Jean-Louis learns that Anne is in Deauville, so he continues north. Jean-Louis finally arrives in Deauville and finds Anne and the two children playing on the beach. When they see each other, they run into each other's arms and embrace.
After dropping their children off at the boarding school, Jean-Louis and Anne drive into town where they rent a room and begin to make love with passionate tenderness. While they are in each other's arms, however, Jean-Louis senses that something is not right. Anne's memories of her deceased husband are still with her and she feels uncomfortable continuing. Anne says it would be best for her to take the train back to Paris alone. After dropping her off at the station, Jean-Louis drives home alone, unable to understand her feelings. On the train Anne can only think of Jean-Louis and their time together. Meanwhile, Jean-Louis drives south through the French countryside to the Paris train station, just as her train is arriving. As she leaves the train, she spots Jean-Louis and is surprised, hesitates briefly, and then walks toward him and they embrace.

In the French countryside on a summer morning, a lorry full of pigs stalls at a crossroads. An Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint swerves to avoid it and crashes into an orchard, hurling the driver onto the grass. As he loses consciousness, he revisits the essential things which made up his life.
A Paris architect in his forties driving to a meeting at Rennes, he had quarrelled with his lover Hélène the night before. They were due to leave together for a job he was offered in Tunis but he had not signed the documents. And he had agreed to take his teenage son Bertrand, who lived with his estranged wife Catherine, for a fortnight to the family's holiday home on the Île de Ré. Stopping at a café, he wrote a letter to Hélène calling everything off, but did not post it. Driving past a wedding, he realised that the letter was quite wrong and he should in fact marry Hélène, so giving a purpose to the rest of their lives.
Rushed to hospital in Le Mans, he does not recover and Catherine as his widow is given his effects, including the unsent letter which she tears to pieces. Hélène arrives at the hospital and is told by a nurse that she is too late.

The film begins in Paris around the year 1902 when Claude Roc and his widowed mother are visited by Ann Brown, daughter of an old friend. Ann invites Claude to spend the summer on the coast of Wales with her widowed mother and sister Muriel. While she enjoys Claude's company, her hope is that he may be a husband for her introverted sister. In the event, Claude and Muriel do start to fall in love and Mrs Brown, with the agreement of Madame Roc, says they must live apart for a year.
Returning to France, Claude moves in artistic circles and meets many attractive women while Muriel gets increasingly despondent in Wales. Ann leaves home to study art in Paris, where she falls into an affair with Claude, only to leave him for Diurka, a dashing publisher who takes her off to Persia. When Muriel is told of the affair, she collapses into deep depression. Ann falls ill and returns to Wales, dying among her family with Diurka at her side.
Diurka tells Claude that Muriel is leaving home to take a job in Belgium. Claude meets her ship at Calais and they spend that night together in a hotel. In the morning she says they must now part for ever. Later she writes to say she is pregnant, raising Claude's hopes of marriage, but a second letter says she has miscarried and their relationship is truly at an end.
In an epilogue set in the 1920s, the unmarried and orphaned Claude, now a successful author, still dreams of the artistic gifts of Ann and the children Muriel might have had.

Anita (Hawn) is an American actress who decides to vacation in Rome. There, she becomes involved in a romance with her friend's married lover Guido (Giannini).

Fifteen-year-old Vic (Sophie Marceau) has no boyfriend. Her parents are happily together again, and her great-grandmother Poupette (Denise Grey) thinks about finally marrying her long-term boyfriend. Vic meets Philippe (Pierre Cosso) and is overcome by his charm. She considers making love with him – a step that her girlfriend Penelope (Sheila O'Connor) already has taken.


Gaspard, the main character, arrives on holiday in Dinard, a small Breton seaside resort. He awaits his girlfriend, Lena, who does not arrive. Only a short while after this, he crosses paths with the waitress Margot, and they develop a strong friendship; Gaspard also has a fling with Solène, Margot's adventure-seeking friend. Lena eventually does turn up, and by this time, Gaspard has become attached to all three women.
Gaspard (Melvil Poupaud) is a young mathematician/musician vacationing by the seaside in Brittany, France before starting a new job. The film covers roughly three weeks in his life and introduces us to the trio of women he encounters during that time. First is Margot (Amanda Langlet), a cheerful waitress who enjoys spending time with Gaspard, but isn't interested in more than a friendship. Solene (Gwenaëlle Simon) is more affectionate and sensual - she's willing to have a relationship with Gaspard if he will commit to only her. Then there's Lena (Aurelia Nolin), Gaspard's longtime semi-girlfriend whose ambiguous romantic attitude towards him keeps him in a state of permanent consternation. As the summer wears on, Gaspard finds himself increasingly torn between the three women, finding each the most appealing when he's with her, and recognizing that the day is fast approaching when he will have to choose.

The film starts off with a man, named Schlomo (Lionel Abelanski), running crazily through a forest, with his voice playing in the background, saying that he has seen the horror of the Nazis in a nearby town, and he must tell the others. Once he gets into town, he informs the rabbi, and together they run through the town and once they have got enough people together, they hold a town meeting. At first, many of the men do not believe the horrors they are being told, and many criticize Schlomo, for he is the town lunatic, and who could possibly believe him? But the rabbi believes him, and then they try to tackle the problem of the coming terrors. Amidst the pondering and the arguing, Schlomo suggests that they build a train, so they can escape by deporting themselves. Some of their members pretend to be Nazis in order to ostensibly transport them to a concentration camp, when in reality, they are going to Palestine via Russia. Thus the Train of Life is born.
On their escape route through rural Eastern Europe, the train sees tensions between its inhabitants, close encounters with real Nazis as well as Communist partisans, and fraternization with gypsies, until the community arrives just at the frontlines between German and Soviet fire.
Its ends with the voice-over of Schlomo himself, who tells the stories of his companions after the arrival of the train in the Soviet Union: Some went on to Palestine, some stayed in the Soviet Union, and some even made it to America. As he is telling this, a cut to a close-up of his face happens as he says, "That is the true story of my shtetl...", but then the camera makes a quick zoom-out, revealing him grinning and wearing prisoner's clothes behind the barbed wire of a concentration camp, and he ends with, "Ye nu, almost the true story!" Thus, it is implicated that he became mad because of having seen most of his companions exterminated, having made up the whole story for himself in his lunacy.

A widower merchant lives in a mansion with his six children, three sons and three daughters. All his daughters are very beautiful, but the youngest, Beauty, is the most lovely, as well as kind, well-read, and pure of heart; while the two elder sisters, in contrast, are wicked, selfish, vain, and spoiled. They secretly taunt Beauty and treat her more like a servant than a sister. The merchant eventually loses all of his wealth in a tempest at sea which sinks most of his merchant fleet. He and his children are consequently forced to live in a small farmhouse and work for their living.
Some years later, the merchant hears that one of the trade ships he had sent off has arrived back in port, having escaped the destruction of its compatriots. Before leaving, he asks his children if they wish for him to bring any gifts back for them. The sons ask for weaponry and horses to hunt with, whereas his oldest daughters ask for clothing, jewels, and the finest dresses possible as they think his wealth has returned. Beauty is satisfied with the promise of a rose as none grow in their part of the country. The merchant, to his dismay, finds that his ship's cargo has been seized to pay his debts, leaving him penniless and unable to buy his children's presents.
During his return, the merchant becomes lost during a storm. Seeking shelter, he enters a dazzling palace. A hidden figure opens the giant doors and silently invites him in. The merchant finds tables inside laden with food and drink, which seem to have been left for him by the palace's invisible owner. The merchant accepts this gift and spends the night there. The next morning, as the merchant is about to leave, he sees a rose garden and recalls that Beauty had desired a rose. Upon picking the loveliest rose he can find, the merchant is confronted by a hideous "Beast" which tells him that for taking his most precious possession after accepting his hospitality, the merchant must die. The merchant begs to be set free, arguing that he had only picked the rose as a gift for his youngest daughter. The Beast agrees to let him give the rose to Beauty, but only if the merchant or one of his daughters will return.

Pierre (François Cluzet) has been happily married for fifteen years and a good father. Still in love with his wife, he enjoys his wife and family and is content. One evening, he meets Elsa (Sophie Marceau) at a party and are immediately attracted to each other. Fifteen days later, they happen to meet again and the mutual attraction turns into infatuation. But his love for his wife and Elsa's rule about not dating married men prevents them from taking the next step. Instead, they fantasize about each other, and soon the fantasies mingle with the reality.

Opening in the summer of 1991, young Canadian surfer Nick (Hutcherson) is called into a cartel's hideout and tasked with committing a murder on the drug lord's behalf in Ituango. Speeding off on his mission along the dark road and hardly able to keep his breath, Nick is stuck in a conundrum that only becomes clear as it flashes back to a few years earlier. Arriving on the Colombian coast to run a surf camp with his eager brother (Corbet), Nick meets the beautiful Maria (Traisac), and quickly falls for her, before meeting her uncle, Pablo Escobar (del Toro). Escobar is a Colombian senator. The sunny beaches provide a notable visual contrast to the murkier scenes that follow, as Nick gradually realizes the extent of Escobar's power. At social gatherings, Escobar's domineering personality leaves Nick in a confused state about his priorities. After a rift develops between Nick and Pablo, Pablo decides to kill Nick. Because Pablo is a politician, he uses the local police to hunt him down and kill him.
