Hannie Caulder is a frontier wife, living with her husband at a horse station between towns in the American West. After a disastrous failed bank robbery raid, the inept Clemens gang, three brothers, arrive at the horse station. After acting friendly, they murder Caulder's husband, gang-rape her, burn down the family house, and leave her for dead in the burning house.
Arkansas highway department worker Claude Montgomery resides in suburban Lonoke County with his wife Ruby, who have an insecure and antagonist relationship, largely due to Claude's previous relationship with Ruby's older sister, Rose. Ruby's mother Jewel and Rose arrive from Nashville, Tennessee to travel with the couple to Little Rock when Claude's uncle, Hazel, is arrested for attempted murder and armed robbery.
A carnival entertainer infiltrates a usurper's castle by impersonating a court jester, setting off a musical comedy of mistaken identity and royal intrigue.
A wandering aspiring sculptor enters a dysfunctional Parsi family’s orbit, where shifting loyalties turn an unusual apprenticeship into a dangerous scheme.
Expectant father Alan Daniel's nesting instincts kick in. He becomes less focused at work, which frustrates his boss Linda as she'd hoped he'd soon become a partner. She is very displeased when he brings up paternity leave.
Lieutenant Colonel Norman Hyde prepares seven envelopes, each containing an American crime paperback titled The Golden Fleece, one half of each of ten £5-notes, and an invitation to a lunch at the Cafe Royal hosted by "Co-Operative Removals Ltd." He then sends the envelopes to former army officers in desperate or humiliating circumstances. The officers attend the lunch to get the other halves of their £5-notes and show little enthusiasm for the novel. Their interest is piqued when Hyde reveals knowledge of why each officer was discharged from the military: Major Peter Race, a retired Major suspected of running a black-market ring and…
An airman discovers that the chimpanzees in a secret flight-simulation project are facing a lethal experiment—and that one of them can communicate through sign language.
After a career-ending flop, a Hollywood producer tries to revive his film by transforming it into an erotic musical, drawing the studios and his estranged wife into a battle over its future.