Gus spends his vacation reading comic books, helping his father who has invested his entire savings in a modern battery henhouse, and running free with Mado.
Daniel lives with his grandmother and, after a year of high school, goes to live with his mother in the south of France; a harsher environment which rapidly changes his perception of friends, work, and women.
Ten-year-old Johnny stands out from his family and his tough neighborhood in Eastern France. He's sensitive, intelligent and interested in all kinds of things way beyond his years. With curiosity, he observes the ups and downs of his young single mother's turbulent love life. Things change when a new teacher, fresh from the big city, takes over Johnny's class. Mr. Adamski believes in Johnny and wants to open a new world to him. The sophisticated young teacher also intrigues the boy.
While out to avoid spending time with her narcissistic and promiscuous mother, sixteen-year-old Jo has a brief affair that leaves her pregnant and abandoned. When her mother remarries, Jo's only support becomes her friend Geoffrey, a homosexual.
İçten, sözünü sakınmayan biri olan Alice'in kendine has bir hayata bakış açısı vardır. Alice, kocası ve iki çocuğunun yabancı oldukları Wisconsin kasabası tarafından pek hoşlanılmaz. Tek arkadaşı olan Theresa bile Alice'in yaşadığı trajedinin ortasında onu yalnız bırakır. Tüm bu karmaşanın ortasında Alice tutuklanır ve işlemediği bir suç yüzünden tutuklanır. Alice, ya suçsuzluğunu ispat etmek için savaşacak ya da kendisi için çok kıymetli olan şeyleri riske atacaktır.
A man living in the towering shadow of his aging father finds it difficult to start a new chapter in his life by marrying his girlfriend and moving to California.