In 1933, during The Great Depression, a young orphan named Annie is living in the Hudson Street Orphanage in New York City. One night, Annie comforts one of the youngest orphans by singing to her (“Maybe”). The orphanage's cruel and alcoholic supervisor Agatha Hannigan hears the singing, and punishes the orphans by making them clean up the orphanage ("It's the Hard Knock Life"). Later while trying to flee in a laundry truck, Annie rescues a dog being tormented by a group of boys. She names him Sandy after convincing a dogcatcher that he is hers (“Dumb Dog”), and the pair is escorted back to the orphanage. Soon after, Miss Hannigan discovers Sandy and threatens to send him to the sausage factory (“Sandy”). However, Grace Farrell, a secretary to billionaire Oliver Warbucks, arrives, saying that he wants an orphan to stay at his mansion for a week to help his image. Despite Hannigan's objections, Grace picks Annie and allows Sandy to accompany her.
In Boston in the early 1960s, Geraldine Cummins was walking home alone from the movies when she was jumped and raped by a black man. Stunned, she returned home to her husband Bob, stating she had been raped. Sometime later, she finds she is pregnant. In the beginning she hates the thought of her unborn baby, not wanting a constant reminder of her rapist, but keeps it for a few reasons: she is Catholic and she harbors a small hope that it could be her husband's baby. Her husband is supportive during the pregnancy. As the months pass, Gerry comes to be attached to the baby, later stating "8 months is too long to close your heart to a piece of yourself." She becomes fearful of what will happen if her baby is black, the social isolation it would receive and what people would think of her. After going into labor and confiding in a doctor her situation, she becomes convinced that it would be best if she gave it up. The baby is a black girl. She names her newborn daughter Barbara Anne Cummins and gives her to foster mother Corrine Burrel, a black woman in Roxbury, a black neighborhood. Gerry is heartbroken to give up her daughter.
En 1960, la guerre d'Algérie bat son plein. Le jeune Messaoud, 9 ans, orphelin de mère, est confié à une famille d'accueil établie dans le Berry, constituée de Gisèle et de Georges, bourru au grand cœur, tandis que son frère aîné poursuit un autre destin. Georges, facteur de son état, ancien combattant de la France Libre et de la guerre d'Indochine, un brin raciste, ne sait rien de la confession musulmane ni de l'origine algérienne du garçon que son épouse a rebaptisé « Michel » (ou « Michou ») d'Auber puisqu'il est né à Aubervilliers, et dont elle a décoloré les cheveux bruns. Michou découvre alors la France profonde.
A plane flying to Cape Town, carrying a young couple and their baby, crashes in the jungle. Everyone on the plane dies, except for the baby who is rescued by Cheeta, Tarzan's chimpanzee. Tarzan and Jane adopt the child and name him "Boy". Five years later, a search party comes looking for Boy, because he is the heir to a fortune worth millions. Tarzan and Jane claim the child is dead and that Boy is theirs, but Sir Thomas recognizes Boy's eyes. The younger Lancings suggest leaving Boy and taking the inheritance; when Sir Thomas objects, they say they will take him back and, as legal guardians, still control of the inheritance. Sir Thomas says he'll tell Tarzan, but the rest of the party imprison Sir Thomas in a tent and plan to abduct Boy. Tarzan overhears them plotting; he steals their guns and throws them into a deep lake. Jane arrives the next day and learns what has taken place, and admits that Boy is Greystoke. She persuades Tarzan to retrieve the cache of guns, without which the search party can't survive. Tarzan retrieves them but Jane drops the rope so that Tarzan is trapped.
A French couple, Pierre and Geraldine want kids, but Geraldine is unable to conceive. After eleven years of infertility and a two year vetting and administrative process they travel to Cambodia to adopt an orphan. They want to adopt before Christmas. When the couple reaches Cambodia, they book a hotel that has other French people that are also waiting to adopt. Their tempers flare when they have to deal with corruption, frequent rain, mosquitoes, many documents, and the uncertainty of whether or not they will be successful and if they are, what they will do if the baby has any serious diseases.
Sonny Koufax (Adam Sandler) is an unreliable, unmotivated bachelor who lives in New York City and has declined to take on adult responsibility. He has a degree in law but has chosen not to take the bar exam since he was awarded $200,000 in a vehicle accident compensation 2 years prior, and lives off his restitution. He works one day a week as a tollbooth attendant.
A brilliant scientist, Bill Beck (Robert Stack), ends up happily married to Julie (Lauren Bacall), his doctor's receptionist. Five years after their wedding, the same doctor treats Julie for a heart condition that she decides to keep secret from her husband, who is doing serious work as a physicist developing guided missiles.
En voyage dans le Nord Bénin à la recherche de son ex, Cécile croise le chemin d’une jeune mère africaine qui lui dépose, affolée, un bébé dans les bras. Cécile va adopter cet enfant africain qu'elle appellera Lancelot, et qui va grandir en France. L’année de ses 7 ans, inquiète à cause de comportements étranges de Lancelot, elle décide de repartir avec lui vers le pays de ses origines pour tenter de percer le secret qui a entouré son abandon. Elle est alors confrontée aux pratiques violentes des villageois.
Paul et Sali Aloka, désirant adopter un enfant, se voient proposer par l'aide sociale à l'enfance (ASE) d'adopter Benjamin, âgé de 4 mois, mais ils sont noirs (lui martiniquais, elle d'origine sénégalaise) alors que l'enfant est blanc. Selon Claire Mallet, une assistante sociale très réticente, cette adoption est mauvaise pour l'enfant, même si M. Vidal, directeur local de l'ASE, pense que tout se passera bien. Les nouveaux parents se trouvent confrontés à la suspicion et aux fréquents contrôles de l'assistante sociale, aux a-priori des gens (Sali est régulièrement prise pour la nounou). De plus, les parents de Sali, très attachés à la tradition, refusent de reconnaître cet enfant blanc comme leur petit-fils. Mamita, la mère de Sali, finit par se laisser convaincre. Mais alors qu'elle garde Benjamin, elle le confie momentanément à une garde d'enfants sans-papier qui est contrôlée par la police dans la rue. Benjamin est alors retiré à la famille et replacé à la pouponnière de l'ASE. Séparé d'eux, il ne s'alimente plus et doit être hospitalisé. Avertis, Paul, Sali, Mamita et leurs amis vont à l’hôpital, très angoissés. Interdits de voir l'enfant, ils forcent la porte de la nurserie et se réfugient dans une chambre pour le nourrir. Après des menaces du personnel et l'arrivée de la police, tout le monde se rend compte qu'il s'agit d'un malentendu, et Benjamin grandit dans sa nouvelle famille, enfin accepté de tous.
En pleine dépression, Taillandier peintre sexagénaire, qui pourtant connaît le succès et la renommée décide de se suicider, puis finalement abandonne ce projet et part sans but. Il rencontre Marylou, une jeune fille paumée mais dont l’entrain va tout changer.
In Westport, Connecticut, Augie and Isolde Poole celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary by turning in an application to the Rock-a-Bye adoption agency. Encouraged by their friends and next-door neighbors, Dick and Alice Pepper, who have three children and another due, Isolde, who has been unsuccessful in her attempts to become pregnant, is determined that she and Augie will eventually be parents. While awaiting news of the application to the agency, Isolde decides that she and Augie should continue to try to have a baby on their own, and she enthusiastically follows all the latest advice by pregnancy experts.
Louis a été abandonné par sa mère alors qu'il n'avait que quelques semaines. Aujourd'hui âgé de seize ans, et malgré la réticence de ses parents adoptifs, Louis veut savoir d'où il vient. Il se met alors en route vers le sud.
Après avoir épié sa mère dans la boutique de fleurs où elle travaille, il lui apprend qu'il est son fils. Bouleversée par ce retour brutal, Solange nie. Elle rejette violemment cette vérité : trop douloureux de plonger dans un passé qui refait surface. Mais Louis s'acharne...
Vingt ans après avoir été adopté par une famille suisse, les Depierrat, Vinh va épouser Sarah dans l'intimité pour éviter que ses parents adoptifs Claire et Michel ne se recroisent, la famille ayant éclaté depuis dix ans.
Kathy Morrison (Harris), mother of three, who helps run a "color-blind" adoption program, wants to have another biological child. Her husband, Pete (Bologna), the head coach of the Phoenix Suns, finds out he can't produce another child. Kathy thinks about adopting a boy, Frederic "Freddie" Wilcox, and Pete does not want to adopt a boy who happens to be black. When he relents, Freddie's arrival causes an upheaval in the Morrison's neighborhood, their school, and family. Kathy's answer is to adopt another child, in this case two, a war-traumatized half-Vietnamese girl, Quan Tran, and a Hopi boy, Joe. The new extended family must now learn to live together.