Two hundred years after Mary Shelley's novel the brilliant but mad Doctor (Thomas Kretschmann) has sustained his creature and himself over two centuries through genetic experimentation. In present-day America Detective O'Connor (Parker Posey) is investigating a series of horrific murders which leads her to the doctor and his creature. What she uncovers reveals the strange evolution the doctor and his creation undergo over the course of two centuries and the divergent paths creator and monster take in pursuing good or evil. 在玛丽·雪莱的小说两百年后，才华横溢但疯狂的医生使他自己和他的怪物从两个世纪前的当初的实验一直幸存下来。如今，美国探员 O'Connor 在调查系列谋杀案时，被引向了医生和他的怪物，并揭露出在长达两个多世纪的漫长岁月中，医生和他作品间的奇特演变和他们踏上善与恶的不同道路。
尼克·弗林（保罗·达诺 Paul Dano 饰）是个年轻作家，从小和单身母亲朱迪（朱丽安·摩尔 Julianne Moore 饰）相依为命的他早就忘记父亲的样子，直到一天接到电话，自称他父亲的乔纳森（罗伯特·德尼罗 Robert De Niro 饰）被房东赶了出来，找他 借车搬家。天上掉下来个老爸，也是个落魄作家，还带着全部行李，让弗林在室友面前非常难堪。已经流落街头的乔纳森晚上到流浪汉收容所过夜，又恰逢弗林在此打工，几个不自然的晚上之后，乔纳森还是决定避嫌，从此只能到车站或无人工地混上一天是一天，还安慰自己是为下一部伟大小说积累素材。时不时听说父亲凄惨状况的弗林终于决定把他找回来，但此时他连父亲是否还活着都不知道……
Tae-gyu and Ji-hye get married. Two young lovers dreamed of the ideal married life which each had respect for each other. But honeymoon is soon over as each comes to realize that the other isn't quite what they thought. The liberal woman would like to talk of sex with frankness and ease. The conservative man can't get rid of his traditional sense of superiority. They end up hurting each other and decide to get a (limited) divorce. Once apart, they each begin to feel empty without the other, and realized they need to make an effort to understand each other.
66岁的施密特先生（杰克•尼科尔森 Jack Nicholson 饰）退休赋闲在家，无所事事的生活让他颇感无聊。每天依旧7点起床，可是陪伴他的只是无聊的字谜游戏和令人生厌的妻子，施密特需要找点事来改变自己的生活，于是他打算资助一位坦桑尼亚的孤儿恩度古，并提笔给他写了第一封信。妻子的忽然离世让他的生活显得更加冷清，他曾至开始想念那个乏味的女人，可是就在这时，他在妻子的换衣间里找到妻子和另一个男人的情书。施密特决定独自驾车去旅行，他去了很多曾经生活过的地方，回忆当年感慨良多。在一时冲动亲吻一位有夫之妇之后，他慢慢的原谅了自己的妻子。女儿的婚姻比自己想像的更糟，平庸的丈夫和不可思议的家庭让他对女儿的未来愈加担忧，然而这一切都非他所能改变。旅途中他从未停止给恩度古写信，在信里，施密特详尽的描述着自己的生活和困惑。当施密特参加完女儿的婚礼，回到家时意外的收到恩度古的回信，看着那些简单的文字和恩度古充满童真的图画，施密特忽然泪如泉涌……
Ryan is a womanizing stockbroker whose unethical business practices cost him his job and his trader's license. Unable to find another job, he is forced to move in with his equally self-involved (and completely oblivious) girlfriend, Cindy, an insensitive advice columnist on the cusp of losing her own job due to her poor advice and slow work habits. Finding that the truth behind his moving in has nothing to do with romance, Cindy runs off with another man. Ryan decides to stay in the apartment and earn a living by doing Cindy's job. Ryan establishes himself with Cindy's editor, Page, as Cindy's go-fer, collecting Cindy's paychecks and mail and delivering her columns. Initially as hopelessly inept as Cindy in giving advice, he nearly gets the column canceled. However, he rapidly grows into the job and the combination of forced introspection, research and the growing knowledge that he is touching other people's lives transforms him. The column becomes an amazing success. Ryan finds his initially superficial attraction to Page growing into love, but he cannot reveal his feelings while he is a deceptive fraud. Meanwhile, Cindy becomes aware of her growing fame, and returns to cash in, at the same time that the owner of a rival newspaper chain attempts to force Page to sell Cindy's column to him.
老兵泰利（塞缪尔·杰克逊 Samuel L. Jackson 饰）面临着即将到来的审判，在审判中，他被指控在一次保护大使的行动中对示威群众发起了攻击，导致了近80名手无寸铁的无辜平民丧生。面对这一指控，泰利坚持自己的无辜，因为他知道那些示威者并非手无寸铁，也是他们首先向大使馆发起了进攻。 很快泰利就发现，所有的迹象都表明泰利处于劣势地位。在审判结果还未揭露之前，政府和军方似乎就已经将这起事件当做了一出丑闻，他们不仅伪造了证词，更是消抹了一切对泰利有利的证据。面对这个阴谋，泰利并不准备束手就擒，他联系了旧时的战友海斯律师（汤米·李·琼斯 Tommy Lee Jones 饰），希望在他的帮助下能够重获清白。
威尔欧丁（达尼埃尔·麦克唐纳 Danielle Macdonald 饰）是一个身材有些微胖的女孩，人们给她取了一个外号叫做“饺子”。威尔欧丁的母亲罗西（詹妮弗·安妮斯顿 Jennifer Aniston 饰）曾经是当地的选美皇后，并且一直都在热心的策划着每一届选美比赛。人到中年但风韵犹存的罗西让威尔欧丁对自己的容貌和身材感到更加的自卑，母女两人常常因为这种事情拌嘴吵架。 威尔欧丁决定在罗西策划的选美比赛中捣乱，于是勇敢报名。之后，在一家酒吧里，威尔欧丁遇见了扮装皇后多利（哈罗·佩里纽 Harold Perrineau Jr. 饰），多利看出了女孩内心的秘密，于是决定帮助威尔欧丁，将她变成一个更好的人。
