The gay son of a conservative senator who is also the poster boy for his father's re-election unknowingly befriends a gay activist bent on destroying the hypocritical campaign.

When a schoolteacher is sacked, he projects his bad mood at his troubled teenage son. The son, in turn, buys a CD player from a pawnshop with counterfeit money. This starts a chain reaction of misery as every victim projects his problems on to another person.

Accused barn burner and conman Ben Quick arrives in a small Mississippi town and quickly ingratiates himself with its richest family, the Varners.

Alan is a musician who leaves a busted-up band for New York, and a new musical voyage. He tries to stay focused and fends off all manner of distractions, including the attraction to his good friend's girlfriend.

The mother and the younger son in a happy family dies in a car-accident. The father and the teenage-son Jonas survives the accident. Now they have to move on with their lives together.