The film starts out with quiet, studious, high schooler, Sweetness O'Hara riding her bike with a friend down the street, when neighborhood bully Latonya, her boyfriend, and friends begins picking on her. The boyfriend threatens to take her bike, unless she can beat him in a race to a tree down the street. Sweetness agrees, taking off running. The bully comes up behind her and pushes her to the ground, proceeding to kick her. Sweetness' older, yet pregnant sister, Ola, comes to her rescue, beating up the bully.
The movie begins with an introduction from Teresa Stamper giving an interview about her ex-husband Paul Stamper and how he caught her when she wasn't looking and that she thought that he was a charmer.
After blacking out in a violent domestic battle, Jimmy (Bridget Fonda) awakens in the hospital to learn that her abusive husband, Frank (Hart Bochner), has died in a fiery crash...and that she is the prime suspect. As the police focus on building their case against Jimmy, she uncovers evidence indicating that Frank may not only still be alive, but getting away with murder. Jimmy, in a daring escape from police custody, races towards a final confrontation with justice and revenge.
Darling a la vie dure ; elle souffre depuis toute petite, mais continue de rêver. Chaque lueur dans sa vie amène un désastre. Récit témoignage d'une vie réelle, sans issue. L'histoire d'une mal née.
Rose, qui vit à Montréal avec son petit ami, n'a pas revu sa famille depuis deux ans. En retournant dans sa banlieue natale, elle constate avec rage et tristesse que son père est toujours aussi violent et tyrannique envers Félix, son frère délinquant, et sa mère, qui n'est plus que l'ombre d'elle-même. Avec l'aide de deux amis, Rose kidnappe puis séquestre son père dans un studio de danse qu'elle a loué à Montréal. Avec la complicité de deux voisines âgées, la jeune femme visite régulièrement son père dans l'espoir de le changer. Entre-temps, elle accueille chez elle sa mère, qui travaille maintenant dans une boulangerie, et Félix, qui a maille à partir avec un gang criminel.
Vibrant Chand (Preity Zinta) is a young bride leaving her home in Ludhiana, Punjab, India, for Brampton, Ontario, Canada, where her husband Rocky (Vansh Bhardwaj) and his very traditional family await her arrival. Everything is new and unfamiliar to Chand including the quiet and shy Rocky who she meets for the first time at the Arrivals level of Pearson Airport. Chand approaches her new life and land with equanimity and grace, and at times the wide-eyed optimism of hope—her first snowfall is a tiny miracle of beauty, and the roar of Niagara Falls creates the excitement of new beginnings.
Ed MacAffrey, a loving husband and father, is terrorized by the violent behavior of his wife, Laura. He tolerates this not only because he loves her and is concerned over the welfare of his daughter, but also because men are traditionally regarded as weaklings if they allow themselves to be battered by their wives. After one of Laura's destructive tantrums brings the attention of the police, Ed is suspected of being the aggressor. Finally, Laura goes too far and Ed tries to defend himself - whereupon Laura crashes through the front window of her home and is rendered comatose. Ed is arrested for Domestic Violence and Attempted Murder.
Une troupe de théâtre joue en tournée Manon Lescaut, avec en vedette Denise, dont le mari est malade et alcoolique. Lasse de ses accès de violence, et voulant refaire sa vie, elle s'enfuit et trouve refuge chez un médecin qui l'engage comme infirmière dans sa clinique. Cependant une autre infirmière, jalouse, commande une enquête à un détective, et finit par découvrir le passé de Denise.
One night in a small town, Peggy Wilson and her daughter Carrie get up and leave Peggy's abusive husband and Carrie's father, Buddy. As they try to leave, Buddy comes to the pickup begging Peggy to forgive him and asking Carrie to open the door. Unmoved by his pleas, Peggy points a gun at Buddy, telling him to stay away from her and Carrie as she drives away.
Le vieux Jonas Lauretz exploite avec sa famille une scierie isolée dans Viamala, en Suisse. Jonas est un tyran violent et intimide sa femme, son fils Niklas et ses filles Sylvia et Hanna. Ivre une fois de plus, il déclenche une bagarre et se retrouve en prison. Sa famille espère qu'il va changer.
The night before Easter, a lowlife named Remington dons an Easter Bunny mask, and robs a convenience store with a shotgun, shooting the clerk in the mouth. Remington is then revealed to have charmed his way into the life of widow Mindy Peters, a nurse who lives with her cerebral palsy-afflicted son Nicholas, who Remington torments when Mindy is not around. While taking out the garbage, Nicholas befriends a disfigured vagrant who gives him a rabbit he claims is an Easter Bunny. Nicholas decides to keep the rabbit a secret, but it is discovered by Remington, who threatens to kill it if Nicholas says anything bad about him to Mindy.
When LeAnne Dunley arrives home from work and catches her daughter Kelli in a sexual act with a classmate, she arranges for Kelli to stay at her sister Marie's home when she is working. Kelli notices that her cousin Elizabeth Jones--Marie's daughter--is in an unhealthy relationship with her boyfriend, Mark. He calls and texts her at an extremely frequent rate, tries to control where she goes and what she wears, and becomes angry when she tries to spend any time with her friends.
Dark and tragic, the story revolves around teenager Anna (Noomi Rapace), a pretty girl from a wealthy family, who's also fiercely ambitious and dreams of one thing only: making it as an actress. One day Anna decides to pack her bags and leave without telling her mother or father. She moves from Sweden to Copenhagen to pursue her dream. However when she gets to the city fate has something else in store for her. Anna discovers she will soon become a mother. Later, after giving birth to baby girl, she tries to chase after her dream once again. Undoubtedly talented, She has one problem – being the single mother of a now 4-month-old baby. Though she struggles to give her daughter a good start in life, she ultimately fails to unite her dream of acting with a safe and loving environment for her child, Torn between her duties as a mother and her passion for acting and the need to earn money, Anna is driven to the limits of her patience - with tragic consequences. What follows is a downward spiral into the world of the casting couch, porn films and escort work.