After having a near death experience Joanna finds her life in constant danger. She begins to believe that certain forces are trying to bring her back into the world of the dead. Her boyfriend Glen thinks she's crazy so Joanna turns to her ex-boyfriend, Peter. It just so happens that Peter is a strong believer in the supernatural and even teaches a course on it at a local college. Together they must confront the "walkers" so that Joanna can live to see another day.

Claudine is a single mother in New York City who endures an exhausting commute to the suburbs where she works as a maid for wealthy families. In one carefully tended white community, she meets Roop, a charismatic but irresponsible garbage collector. Romance quickly ensues, but Claudine doubts that their relationship is good for her six children, and Rupert, despite his good nature, is reluctant to take on fatherhood.

In the early 1960s, a quintet of hopeful, young African-American men form an amateur vocal group called The Five Heartbeats. After an initially rocky start, the group improves, turns pro, and rises to become a top flight music sensation. Along the way, however, the guys learn many hard lessons about the reality of the music industry.