The career and personal life of writer Lee are at a standstill, so he divorces his bashful wife, Robin, and dives into a new job as an entertainment journalist. His assignments take him to the swankiest corners of Manhattan, but as he jumps from one lavish party to another and engages in numerous empty romances, he starts to doubt the worth of his work. Meanwhile, top TV producer Tony falls for Robin and introduces her to the world of celebrity.
A New York girl sets her father up with a beautiful woman in a shaky marriage while her half sister gets engaged.
Writer Harry Block draws inspiration from people he knows, and from events that happened to him, sometimes causing these people to become alienated from him as a result.
In the 1930s, jazz guitarist Emmet Ray idolizes Django Reinhardt, faces gangsters and falls in love with a mute woman.
An inventor of a secret process suddenly finds himself alone as both his friends and the corporation he works for turn against him.
When Lenny and his wife, Amanda, adopt a baby, Lenny realizes that his son is a genius and becomes obsessed with finding the boy's biological mother in hopes that she will be brilliant too. But when he learns that Max's mother is Linda Ash, a kindhearted prostitute and porn star, Lenny is determined to reform her immoral lifestyle. A Greek chorus chimes in to relate the plot to Greek mythology in this quirky comedy.
A loser of a crook and his wife strike it rich when a botched bank job's cover business becomes a spectacular success.
After young playwright, David Shayne obtains funding for his play from gangster Nick Valenti, Nick's girlfriend Olive miraculously lands the role of a psychiatrist—but not only is she a bimbo who could never pass for a psychiatrist—she's a dreadful actress. David puts up with the leading man who is a compulsive eater, the grand dame who wants her part jazzed up, and Olive's interfering hitman/bodyguard—but, eventually he must decide whether art or life is more important.
Little Pu spends a summer in Norrland with all his relatives. He and his brother get to hear the story about the watchmaker who hung himself, learns to shoot with a bow and follow his father on a bicycle trip.
It's 1955. Lenny is a 14-year old boy who is totally fascinated by sex. He is too scared to "do it," so he dedicates his summer to seeing two other people do it. Easier said than done. Caught in the act of spying, his mother and stepfather ship him off to spend the summer with his aunt and uncle in "the country" -- Queens. His plan looks like a bust and his summer seems destined for boredom, until he meets a whole new group of friends -- young teens who have a "sex club."
At Columbia University, during the week of John Belushi's death, lifelong friends Ben and Adam meet Nina at a student bar. After Nina and Adam marry, she goes to grad school in New York, while he begins a career as a writer. Ben marries Stanford law student Kat, and they both find work in New York. Lives are altered after Ben and Nina enter into an affair.
In desperation brought on by near-starvation, Helge Roos kills his master's ox to feed his wife and baby daughter, setting off a devastating and unexpected chain of events.