Abby Abbott lives in New York City together with her teenage daughter Susan. They support themselves with money from a trust fund started by her late husband. An attorney by the name of John Heaslip handles the placement of the money, and he sees to it that payment is made every three years.
Three best friends explore the world of online swipe dating in Los Angeles and quickly find out that anyone who judges you based on your salary or number of social media followers is someone who has their own soul-searching to do. DJ works as a disc jockey (DJ) at a strip called named Pink Lips. Bruno works security at Pink Lips, and Joey works as a travel agent.
Kate, a depressed thirty-something, unsuccessfully attempts suicide by slitting her wrists. Reflecting briefly upon her circumstances in the hospital, she realizes that nothing has been solved. Whereupon, she vacates the premises, wearing nothing but a hospital gown, a black coat, and flimsy sandals.
Russian Prince Dmitri Nekhlyudov seduces innocent young Katusha Maslova, a servant to his aunts. After they spend the night together in the greenhouse, Dmitri leaves the next morning, outraging Katusha by not leaving a note for her, only money. When she becomes pregnant, she is fired, and when the baby is born, it dies and is buried unbaptized.
Automobile engineer Ed Browne comes to Washington to appear in front of the War Construction Board. His mission is to supervise the building of bomber aircraft for the war. But when he arrives at the crowded hotel he is supposed to stay at, there are no rooms available.
During the Korean War, an infantry unit from the 1st Marine Division is given R&R in Yokosuka, Japan. The group is led by PFC Desmond "Let's Go" McCaffrey, a veteran of the Guadalcanal campaign and the Battle of Okinawa with over 16 years of service in the Corps, yet he is repeatedly demoted from the rank of Sergeant. McCaffrey, described as "a headache to the enemy, a migraine to the M.P.s" is incapable of behaving himself on leave due to his penchants for excessive alcohol consumption and hand-to-hand combat with people on his own side.
Claire Barnard (Joely Collins), an unassuming paralegal, works in a small law office for Denny Montana (Kevin Otto), a carefree lawyer more interested in playing tennis and chasing women than he is in his work. Claire's quiet efficiency is largely responsible for Denny's successful law practice. After her parents died in a car accident, Claire looked after her younger brother Sean.
Mobster Jim (Bugs) Ahearn, realizing that the end of prohibition is only months away, decides to quit the bootlegging racket and work to elevate his culture and status by reading books and investing in art, and ultimately by leaving Chicago for Santa Barbara, where he attempts to fit into the upper crust of society. He invests in polo ponies, joins a polo team (he's terrible, but is tolerated because of his money), and falls in love with Polly Cass while being blind to the woman who truly loves him, Ruth Wayburn. After sinking a massive amount of cash into Polly's father's investment firm, which, unbeknownst to Bugs, is crooked and on the…
Kay Williams is anxious to provide feminine companionship to her war correspondent husband upon his return from service, but is jealous when she notices her husband with a beautiful combat photographer. The couple divorces but eventually makes amends; hence, "lovers come back".
Angela Chiaromonte and Captain Giovanni Severini are deeply in love, but Angela's wealthy father, Prince Chiaromonte, does not know this and arranges her marriage, without her knowledge, to the son of Count del Ferice. However, the prince dies in an accident. While Angela grieves, her older half-sister, the Marchesa di Mola, looks through their late father's papers and secretly burns one of them.
Kim Walker is an ambitious waitress who dreams of being on the stage. She tricks respected stage actor John Sheridan into signing a letter of introduction. Thanks to the forged letter, Kim then wins the role of Sheridan's co-star in his next play, much to the disgust of the writer Paul Taylor.
American serviceman Larry is serving in England when he goes absent without leave. After accidentally knocking out a sergeant sent to arrest him he goes on the run with a girl, Julie, riding a motorcycle around rural England. At a transport cafe, due to parallel bikes and leathers as seen from the back, she gets on the pillion of the wrong motorcycle (that of Tom Bennett), and her counterpart Irene gets on Larry's bike.
Jackie Walsh, recently divorced from Vernon Walsh, is told she is pregnant with Vernon's child just as she is preparing to marry another man, Herbert Fletcher.
Timely like the spring rain, so has he come back into my life .... Dong-ha is a thirty-something Korean architect on a business trip to Chengdu where his company is carrying out construction projects to rebuild the city after the earthquake of 2008. By chance, he meets May, an old friend from his school days in the United States.
Sally Trent has an illegitimate child, but cannot support her and gives the baby up for adoption. The father, Michael Gardner, leaves for China not knowing about the baby, and she assumes he has abandoned her for life. She gets a job as a torch singer, changes her name to Mimi Benton, and becomes notorious for her drinking and philandering.
Anne is married to Chicago lawyer Ted Parkson who is busy with his career and has been neglecting her somewhat. She is introduced to one of Ted's clients, shady nightclub owner Tony Arnelo, when he comes to their home on business. The charming Arnelo is smitten with Anne and flatters her.
After listening to a morning conversation between Sophie and Simon, Sophie is buying a couch from Alex for her own apartment in working class Echo Park in Central Los Angeles. Alex, a musician, is returning to England after failing to break into films. Alex invites Sophie to join him, Mateo and his boy, Elias to play soccer in the park.
An architecture student, Mara, takes a break from studying by dancing on her balcony, where her next-door neighbor happens to see her. She turns around mid-dance to find him smiling, and she retreats inside, feeling embarrassed. After her exams, she visits her family in the countryside, where a billboard of her face congratulating her on passing the exam is in front of the house for all to see.
Country girl Loretta Dalrymple arrives in New York City and gets a job as a chambermaid in a luxurious hotel, the same hotel in which con man "Click" Wiley and his photographer partner Ed Olsen are four weeks in arrears. Desperate to avoid being evicted by the assistant manager, Mr. Yates, Click has Ed make a composite photograph by combining the best features of several renowned Hollywood beauties and enters the resulting fake under the name "Dawn Glory" in a nationwide beauty contest for the $2500 prize.
The film is set mostly in the seaport of Bristol, England, in the years 1848–50. Captain Jeremy Ammidon is the founder of the shipping line Ammidon & Sons, and lives with his family in his house "Java Head", named after the promontory in Java, Indonesia. His elder, land-based son William runs the company day-to-day, and wants to upgrade the fleet from slow sailing ships to fast clippers and steamships, and to carry contraband, all against his father’s wishes.