The film depicts the lives of poverty-stricken young men and women forced to the trade of performing live fornication on stage of Manila's nightclubs in exchange for money.
The film begins and ends in an airport during a father and son’s transit flight from Tel Aviv to Manila. It tells the story of Moises (Ping Medina), a Filipino single-dad working as a caregiver in Herzliya, Israel, who comes home to his apartment in Tel Aviv to celebrate his son Joshua (Marc Justine Alvarez)’s 4th birthday. It was on that day that Moises, together with their Filipino neighbors Janet (Irma Adlawan), and her daughter Yael (Jasmine Curtis), find out that the Israeli government is going to deport children of foreign workers. Afraid of the new law, Moises and Janet decide to hide their children from the immigration police by making them stay inside the house.
Taking place at present times, Tribu tells the story of street life in the slums of Tondo, Manila, a lower class suburb in the northwest portion of the city of Manila. The film is told from the viewpoint of a young ten-year-old boy named Ebet who We follow as he witnesses the deadly lives of teen age gang members in Tondo and the events that lead to their explosive confrontation. The film follows Ebet who witnesses three youths being initiated into the Thugz Angels gang. In the opening sequence of the film, the 10-year-old boy explains the genesis of the tribes. They exist, he says, because the children are poor. They are poor because they or their parents lack jobs. In Tondo, the boy says, you have to be tough or you die. Even a child needs to be tough. But in the hell that is Tondo, he says, even a child can be God.
Due to a road rage between two buses, an accident occurs which puts the lives of its passengers in jeopardy. But the ones greatly affected by such event are a middle-aged woman named Fiesta (Eugene Domingo), an old and retired family patriarch Tonio (Leo Martinez), and a lad named Caloy (Enchong Dee). These three people are pierced through a single steel bar – a dangerous situation that even their doctors find hard to solve. But even before this unfortunate circumstance, these three have their share of ill-fated lives.
The Dawn achieves fame and success in the 1980s, but after the murder of founding member and guitarist Teddy Diaz and years of decline, the band is finding it hard to continue playing. Middle-aged vocalist Jett Pangan's house is burglarized and he is knocked unconscious, waking up later suffering from amnesia. All he can remember is that he is in his 20's, and that it is the peak of his band's success. Jett can't quite come to terms with his situation and he insists on living as his 1980's self.
The film is about a Filipina named Erlinda Dimatumba (Mariel Rodriguez), who, because of the heartbreak and deception of an arranged marriage orchestrated by her parents, flees the country as a United Nations volunteer. Somehow she reaches India where she develops a very close father-and-daughter relationship with a wealthy Indian philanthropist. Upon his death he gives her his school where she teaches and cares for poor children.
In a small village, located deep within the mountains of Antique live Pinailog (Nora Aunor). No ordinary woman, Pinailog is the village's "Binukot" or a " kept Maiden" chosen in her youth as the fairest amongst the women in her village. Long confined inside her house and her face face often covered with a veil, Pinailog has been forbidden to go outside, or work the fields. She commands respect and reverence as the gatekeeper of her culture's oral tradition, memorizing the chants and performing it during special occasions. But as the world progresses into the modern age- the age of epics she chants about—even the very existence of the "binukot" slowly deteriorates. No one wants to bee "chosen" anymore, least of all Duwokan (Barbie Forteza), Pinailog'g 15 year old grand daughter. Duwokan wants to live her life, go out, learn new things and fall in love—all of which Pinailog disapproves owing her beliefs that Duwokan does not have the choice in the matter, just as she never had a choice when she was chosen. However, as Duwokan falls in love with a young man, the sanctity of the "tuos" ( the pact between the supernatural deities and their village0 is threatened, putting Duwokan's life in danger. Realizing that she cannot just let things be, Pinailog fights for Duwokan's right to live her own life and finds herself coming face to face, literally, with the ghosts of a tradition which shackled her into a life of solitary confinement.
Kara (Barbie Forteza), George (Bea Binene), and Enzo (Elmo Magalona) are 3 best friends who have been constantly bullied at school and nicknamed the Imba Trio. On the night of the school dance Enzo gets carried out of the dance by Maximo (Derick Monasterio) and his crew because he accidentally bumped into Chloe (Lexi Fernandez) while dancing and ripped her dress. And while Kara and George try to help him they also get dumped in the trash along with Enzo and are helped by Christian (Alden Richards) and Diego (Kristofer Martin). After the prom the 3 decide to make a list to do that helps them become popular so they won't get bullied and pranked on anymore by the date of the prom, and they make the list a dare.