17-year-old Elia is spending the summer harvesting grapes on his parent's farm. Bored and a little lonely, his life is thrown into turmoil when the beautiful and experienced Emilia comes to help with the harvest. His father, Claudio is a staunch Communist and his life too is turned upside down when the popular party leader dies. Maddalena, the mother, continues stoically through it all, secure in her Catholic faith and the prayer meetings she runs. As Emilia becomes more involved in Elia's life he opens up to her about the frustrations and joys of rural teenage life.
Brian Hartley has finally found the girl of his dreams in Linda. Unfortunately, he can't convince her or himself that it's really true. When she catches him with another woman, she finally decides she's had enough and vows to never see him again. Frenzied from the loss, Brian breaks into her house to try to talk her into seeing him again, but Linda and her roommates Kim and Sharon instead bind him to the bed.
"Bilge" Smith (Richard Barthelmess), a tough sailor, meets Connie Martin (Dorothy Mackaill), a seamstress in a small harbor who has never had a boyfriend. Connie is instantly smitten. She invites Smith to dinner, where he dances with her and gives her a kiss. Connie has a hard time letting him go, and makes him promise that he will come back.
An alcoholic ex-football player drinks his days away, having failed to come to terms with his sexuality and his real feelings for his football buddy who died after an ambiguous accident. His wife is crucified by her desperation to make him desire her: but he resists the affections of his wife. His reunion with his father—who is dying of cancer—jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.
Aspiring comic Rupert Pupkin attempts to achieve success in show business by stalking his idol, a late night talk-show host who craves his own privacy.
The story of a German singer named Willie who while working in Switzerland falls in love with a Jewish composer named Robert whose family is helping people to flee from the Nazis. Robert’s family is skeptical of Willie, thinking she could be a Nazi as she becomes famous for singing the song “Lili Marleen”.
A philistine in the art film business, Jeremy Prokosch is a producer unhappy with the work of his director. Prokosch has hired Fritz Lang to direct an adaptation of "The Odyssey," but when it seems that the legendary filmmaker is making a picture destined to bomb at the box office, he brings in a screenwriter to energize the script. The professional intersects with the personal when a rift develops between the writer and his wife.
When Victor attempts to seduce Elena, all he gets for his trouble is a one-way, six-year ticket to prison, where he concentrates on strengthening his mind, his body... and his desire for vengeance on the man who put him there. After his release and still madly in love with her, Victor will stop at nothing to win her over even if means revenge, for Elena has married David, the cop who sent him to prison!
A small-time thief steals a car and impulsively murders a motorcycle policeman. Wanted by the authorities, he attempts to persuade a girl to run away to Italy with him.