Young Cuban Rafael just buried his mother, and comes to Houston to meet his father John for the first time. The difficult part is that John doesn't know he is Rafael's father. John runs a dance studio, and everyone prepares for the World Open Dance championship in Las Vegas. It soon becomes clear Rafael is a very good dancer, and Ruby is the biggest hope for the studio at the championship.
Earl Pilcher Jr. runs an equipment rental outfit in Arkansas, lives with his wife and kids and parents, and rarely takes off his gimme cap. His mother dies, leaving a letter explaining he's not her natural son, but the son of a Black woman who died in childbirth; plus, he has a half brother Ray, in Chicago, she wants him to visit. Earl makes the trip, initially receiving a cold welcome from Ray and Ray's son, Virgil. His birth mother's sister, Aunt T., an aged and blind matriarch, takes Earl in tow and insists that the family open up to him.
In 1993, the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence Project receives a transmission detailing an alien DNA structure, along with instructions on how to splice it with human DNA. The result is Sil, a sensual but deadly creature who can change from a beautiful woman to an armour-plated killing machine in the blink of an eye.
After clearing brush for the government, a group of men return to town claiming their friend was abducted their friend. Despite no apparent motive or evidence of foul play, no-one believes their story and his disappearance is treated as murder.
Salesman Roy Knable spends all his free time watching television, to the exasperation of his wife, Helen. One day, TV salesman Spike convinces Roy to buy a satellite dish offering 666 channels. The new addition to Roy's home entertainment system sucks him and Helen into Hellvision, a realm run by Spike, who is an emissary of Satan. For 24 hours, the couple must survive devilish parodies of TV programs if they want to return to reality alive.
After a freak accident, an invisible yuppie runs for his life from a treacherous CIA official while trying to cope with his new life.
Jack McKee is a doctor with it all: he's successful, he's rich, and he has no problems.... until he is diagnosed with throat cancer. Now that he has seen medicine, hospitals, and doctors from a patient's perspective, he realises that there is more to being a doctor than surgery and prescriptions.
An FBI agent posing as a combine driver becomes romantically involved with a Midwest farmer who lives a double life as a white supremacist.
A scientific experiment unknowingly brings extraterrestrial life forms to the Earth through a laser beam. First is the cigar-smoking drake, Howard, from the duck's planet. A few kids try to keep him from the greedy scientists and help him back to his planet, but then a much less friendly being arrives through the beam...
Leonard Hoffman is an insurance salesman struggling to make ends meet. The fact that he has triplet sons who all want to go to Yale isn't making things any easier. Blanche Rickey is also worried about money; her husband is a millionaire with a weak heart, and she worries that he'll blow through all his cash before he finally dies. When Blanche meets Leonard, she devises a murderous plan that she claims will fix both their problems.
Emma, a divorced single mother seeking to start her life over, moves to a small town in Arizona. She befriends Murphy, the older local pharmacist, but things turn complicated when her ex-husband shows up.
Tom and Mae Garvey are a Tennessee farming couple battling violent floods to save their land. In addition to natural disasters, the Garveys fight to stop a selfish land developer and a local corporation from foreclosing on their farm. While Mae stays at home to care for their children and tend to the crops, Tom finds work as a scab at a steel mill to preserve his family's property.
In 1941 America, Kay and her husband are happy enough until he enlists after Pearl Harbor. Against his wishes, she takes a job at the local aircraft plant where she meets Hazel, the singer from across the way. The two soon become firm friends and with the other girls become increasingly expert workers. As the war drags on, Kay finally dates her trumpet-playing foreman and life gets more complicated.
Jason is in need of a collaborator to give him inspiration. Phoebe is a small-town English teacher with an urge to write. On the day Jason is being married, Jason and Phoebe meet and form a partnership.
Based on the real-life experiences of Ed Horman. A conservative American businessman travels to Chile to investigate the sudden disappearance of his son after a military takeover. Accompanied by his son's wife he uncovers a trail of cover-ups that implicate the US State department which supports the dictatorship.
Perennially stoned Cheech and Chong tear through the city of Los Angeles, causing trouble wherever they go. After Cheech loses his job, the two pot enthusiasts head to the welfare offices where Cheech's girlfriend, Donna, works. Instead of collecting unemployment, they find themselves thrown back on the streets, searching for a way to earn new income. But when Cheech's cousin, "Red" Mendoza, arrives, things get even crazier.