Publisher Will Atenton quits a lucrative job in New York to relocate his wife, Libby, and their daughters to a quaint town in New England. However, as they settle into their home the Atentons discover that a woman and her children were murdered there, and the surviving husband is the town's prime suspect. With help from a neighbor who was close to the murdered family, Will pieces together a horrifying chain of events.

A woman learns about the death of her Orthodox Jewish father, a rabbi. She returns home and has romantic feelings rekindled for her best childhood friend, who is now married to her cousin.

A disparate group of characters unknowingly bond by the sexual choices they make. Consumed by loneliness, a British businessman ponders a rendezvous with a prostitute. The businessman's wife prepares to call it quits with her younger lover. A Brazilian student breaks up with her boyfriend in London. A recovering alcoholic travels to Phoenix in search of his missing daughter. A paroled sex offender struggles to stay composed when propositioned in a Denver airport. A widower's religious devotion is put to a difficult test.

An ambitious young man seduces women of high social standing in order to improve his prospects.

In 1968, Donald Crowhurst, an amateur sailor, endangers the fate of his family and business, and his own life, blinded by his ambition to compete in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, attempting to become the first person in history to single-handedly circumnavigate the world without making any stopover.

A man becomes increasingly jealous of his friend's newfound success.

Acclaimed writer and historian Deborah E. Lipstadt must battle for historical truth to prove the Holocaust actually occurred when David Irving, a renowned denier, sues her for libel.

Elliot and Beverly Mantle are twins who share everything: drugs, lovers, and an unapologetic desire to do whatever it takes — including pushing the boundaries on medical ethics — in an effort to challenge antiquated practices and bring women’s healthcare to the forefront.

Lucy Harmon, an American teenager is arriving in the lush Tuscan countryside to be sculpted by a family friend who lives in a beautiful villa. Lucy visited there four years earlier and exchanged a kiss with an Italian boy with whom she hopes to become reacquainted.

A lighthouse keeper and his wife living off the coast of Western Australia raise a baby they rescue from an adrift rowboat.

Johnny is a long-serving MI5 officer. His boss dies suddenly, leaving behind an inexplicable file which threatens the stability of the organisation.

What Jake Vig doesn't know just might get him killed. A sharp and polished grifter, Jake has just swindled thousands of dollars from the unsuspecting Lionel Dolby with the help of his crew. It becomes clear that Lionel wasn't just any mark, he was an accountant for eccentric crime boss Winston King. Jake and his crew will have to stay one step ahead of both the criminals and the cops to finally settle their debt.

When Adam Sorenson (Paul Rudd), an English Literature major at Mercy College, a fictitious Midwestern college, meets Evelyn Ann Thompson (Rachel Weisz), an attractive graduate art student, at the local museum where he works, his life takes an unexpected turn. Never having had success with women, he is flattered when Evelyn shows an interest in him and, at Evelyn's suggestion, begins a regular exercise regimen, eats healthier foods, dresses more stylishly, acts more confident and dominant, as well as purchases contact lenses. These initial changes regarding Adam's physical appearance are well received by Adam's friend, Phillip (Frederick Weller), and Phillip's girlfriend, Jenny (Gretchen Mol). Later however, Evelyn cajoles Adam into undergoing plastic surgery and succeeds in persuading him to cut himself off from Phillip and Jenny. It seems all Evelyn wants Adam to do is change everything about himself into what is more conventionally acceptable.



In the penultimate scene, Adam learns that he has been part of Evelyn's MFA thesis project, a topic often touched on in conversation throughout the film but never fully explained. Evelyn relates that she had been instructed to "change the world" by her graduate adviser, but that she has chosen to change "someone's world", her academic work ultimately consisting of "sculpting" Adam into a more attractive human being. She presents Adam before an audience of students and faculty as her creation. Accordingly, none of the feelings she has shown him throughout the film are genuine; at no stage in their "relationship" does she fall in love with him; her videotaping of their lovemaking is just a part of the project's documentation. In fact, she announces before a live audience at her gallery opening that she is not going to marry him and the engagement ring he offers her is simply one of the exhibits of her art installation, the "capper to my time at Mercy."



Publicly humiliated and devastated, Adam confronts Evelyn, demanding an explanation for her actions. She responds by saying that he should in fact be grateful to her, claiming that, objectively speaking, she has been a positive influence on his life, making him a more attractive and interesting person in the eyes of society.



In the final moments of the film, Adam stands alone, surrounded by the remnants of his life before and after Evelyn.

When an English professor becomes obsessed with a handsome new colleague, her already complicated marriage and career are thrown into total chaos.