The film is set in a post-ice age North America, where the local tribesmen believe all creatures are created through the Spirits, who are said to appear in the form of an aurora. Three brothers: Kenai (voiced by Joaquin Phoenix)- the youngest brother, Denahi (voiced by Jason Raize)- the middle brother -and Sitka (voiced by D.B. Sweeney)- the eldest brother, return to their tribe in order for Kenai to receive his sacred totem, a necklace in the shape of an animal. The particular animal it represents symbolizes what he must achieve to call himself a man. Unlike Sitka, who gained the eagle of guidance, and Denahi, who gained the wolf of wisdom, Kenai receives the bear of love, to which he objects, stating that bears are thieves. He believes his point is made a fact when a bear takes some salmon. Kenai and his brothers pursue the bear, but a fight follows on a glacier, during which Sitka gives his life to save his brothers, although the bear survives. Vengeful, Kenai heads out to avenge Sitka. He chases the bear up onto a mountain and kills it. The Spirits, represented by Sitka's spirit in the form of a bald eagle, transform Kenai into a bear after the dead bear's body disappears. Denahi arrives, mistaking Kenai as dead, and believing the bear is responsible, vows to avenge Kenai by hunting it down.
The story occurs in a fantasy world called Galilee City, that consists of two contrasting communities. One group lives on the Rooftop, where they dance and sing their days away with no worries. While those on the ground are affluent and possess more power.
The film begins with a voiceover from David (Hugh Grant) commenting that whenever he gets gloomy with the state of the world he thinks about the arrivals terminal at Heathrow Airport, and the pure uncomplicated love felt as friends and families welcome their arriving loved ones. David's voiceover also relates that all the messages left by the people who died on the 9/11 planes were messages of love and not hate. The film then tells the 'love stories' of many people:
In Fall 1995 in Detroit, Jimmy "B-Rabbit" Smith Jr. (Eminem), a young and unhappy blue-collar worker from a poor family, struggles with various aspects of his life. He has moved back north of 8 Mile Road to the rundown trailer home in Warren, Michigan of his alcoholic mother Stephanie (Kim Basinger), his little sister Lily (Chloe Greenfield), and Stephanie's abusive live-in boyfriend Greg (Michael Shannon). Although encouraged by his friends, who hail him as a talented rap music artist, Jimmy worries about his potential as a musician, particularly due to his lack of confidence. This caused him to panic during a rap battle one night at a club called The Shelter, and leave the stage humiliated.
Anthony "Tony" Manero (John Travolta) is a 19-year-old Italian American man from the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City. Tony lives with his parents (Val Bisoglio and Julie Bovasso), and works at a dead-end job in a small hardware store. The stagnant monotony of his life is temporarily dispelled every Saturday night when Tony is "king of the dance floor" at 2001 Odyssey, a local disco club. Tony has four close friends: Joey (Joseph Cali); Double J (Paul Pape); Gus (Bruce Ornstein); and the diminutive Bobby C. (Barry Miller). A fringe member of this group of friends is Annette (Donna Pescow), a neighborhood girl who longs for a more permanent physical relationship with Tony.
The film opens in 1968 at St. Anne's Academy, a California Roman Catholic school, where a young girl named Deloris Wilson is scolded by Sister Immaculata (Lois de Banzie) for wisecracking and disobedience. The setting then changes to the present day, where Deloris Van Cartier is a lounge singer in a 1960s-themed act called The Ronelles (a parody of The Ronettes), who sing at The Moonlite Lounge of the Nevada Club in Reno, Nevada, run by her boyfriend, the mobster Vince LaRocca. After Deloris walks in on Vince having his chauffeur Ernie executed for betrayal, Vince orders his two henchmen Joey and Willy to kill her as well. Deloris flees Vince's casino to the local police station where Lieutenant Eddie Souther suggests she testify against Vince if he can be arrested and tried, but for now, she should go into witness protection until the time comes.
Baby est chauffeur pour un gang de braqueurs à Atlanta. Enfant, il a survécu un accident de voiture au cours duquel ses parents sont tués, mais qui lui cause des acouphènes qu'il atténue avec la musique. Il travaille dorénavant pour Doc, le chef du gang, afin de rembourser une dette en compensation d'avoir volé une voiture. Entre deux jobs, il fait des remixes des conversations enregistrées et prend soin de son père adoptif atteint de surdité, Joseph. Un jour, il fait la rencontre de la jeune et jolie Debora, serveuse d'un diner, avec lequel il sympathise avant de commencer à sortir ensemble. Lors d'un nouveau « boulot » au cours duquel un témoin armé l'a poursuivi ainsi que la police avec le gang, avant de parvenir à s'échapper, Baby quitte le monde criminel après avoir payé sa dette auprès de Doc et devient livreur de pizzas. Alors qu'il a invité Debora au restaurant, Baby, pensant fuir un monde qui ne lui ressemble pas, a la désagréable surprise de voir Doc, qui interrompt leur dîner. Ce dernier contraint le jeune homme à participer à un autre coup en dévalisant un bureau de poste, sous peine de s'en prendre à Debora et Joseph.
In Ancient Egypt, Yocheved and her two children, Miriam and Aaron, watch as newborn Hebrew boys are taken and ruthlessly killed as ordered by Pharaoh Seti I, who fears that an increase of Hebrew slaves could lead to rebellion. Fearing for her own newborn son's safety, Yocheved places him in a basket afloat on the Nile. Miriam follows the basket to the Pharaoh's palace and witnesses her baby brother safely adopted by Queen Tuya, who names him Moses.
In the summer of 1963, Frances "Baby" Houseman (Jennifer Grey) is vacationing with her affluent Jewish American family at Kellerman's, a family friendly resort in the Catskill Mountains. The younger of two daughters, Baby is planning to attend Mount Holyoke College to study the economics of underdeveloped countries and then enter the Peace Corps. She was named after Frances Perkins, the first woman in the U.S. Cabinet. Her father, Jake (Jerry Orbach), is the personal physician and friend of Max Kellerman (Jack Weston), the resort's owner. Baby is befriended by Max's smart aleck grandson Neil (Lonny Price).
A Baker and his Wife wish for a child but suffer under a curse laid upon the Baker's family by a Witch who found the Baker's father robbing her garden when his mother was pregnant. The Baker's father also stole some beans which caused the Witch's mother to punish her with the curse of ugliness. The Witch offers to lift the curse, but only if the Baker and his Wife obtain four critical items for her: a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn, and a slipper as pure as gold.
Ariel, a sixteen-year-old mermaid princess, is dissatisfied with underwater life and is curious about the human world. With her best friend Flounder, Ariel collects human artifacts and goes to the surface of the ocean to visit Scuttle the seagull, who offers very inaccurate knowledge of human culture. She ignores the warnings of her father King Triton, the ruler of Atlantica, and his adviser and court composer Sebastian that contact between merpeople and humans is forbidden.
Mexico storyline
In Mexico, police officer Javier Rodriguez (del Toro) and his partner Manolo Sanchez (Vargas) stop a drug transport and arrest the couriers. Their arrest is interrupted by General Salazar (Milian), a high-ranking Mexican official who decides to hire Javier. Salazar instructs him to apprehend Francisco Flores (Collins), a hitman for the Tijuana Cartel, headed by the Obregón brothers.
In 1986, Eric "Eazy-E" Wright enters a crack-house to sell drugs, but, it is soon raided by the police, who gain entry into the house via a battering ram. Eazy escapes through the house's rear window. Later, Eazy goes to a club with Lorenzo "MC Ren" Patterson to see friends Andre "Dr. Dre" Young, O'Shea "Ice Cube" Jackson and Antoine "DJ Yella" Carraby, who perform the song "Gangsta Gangsta", while Eazy and Ren stand in the audience. After Dre leaves the club, he is arrested after breaking up a fight involving his brother, Tyree. Eazy bails him out the next day. The next morning, Dre talks to Eazy about investing money into a start-up record label, in order to record a track that Cube has written. Cube and Dre want rappers H.B.O.(Homeboys Only) to record the track. Eazy agrees to fund the project. After a conflict arises during the recording session, H.B.O. leaves and Dre convinces Eazy to perform the track. They record and release "Boyz-n-the-Hood". Jerry Heller approaches Eazy and asks if he can be their manager. The group accepts Heller's offer. While performing "Dopeman", they garner the attention of Bryan Turner, a producer at Priority Records, with which they sign. Afterwards, N.W.A commences recording their debut album, "Straight Outta Compton", with Heller. During one of the sessions, they are harassed by some police officers. Frustrated by the situation, Cube writes "Fuck tha Police".
Alexandra "Alex" Owens (Jennifer Beals) is an eighteen-year-old welder at a steel mill in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who lives with her dog Grunt in a converted warehouse. Although she aspires to become a professional dancer, she has no formal education, and works as an exotic dancer by night at Mawby's, a neighborhood bar and grill which hosts a nightly cabaret.