In 1977, two respected scientists, Ben Morin and his wife Catherine quit their jobs at the university to conduct an experiment they think will revolutionize our understanding of human identity. The project aims to raise three children contrarily to their genetic predispositions to prove the ultimate power of nurture over nature. They want to prove that everyone has the same potential to become anything. Maya, a newborn girl adopted from two feebleminded parents, is raised to be smart, while Maurice, a newborn boy adopted from two anger-prone parents, is raised to be a pacifist. Finally, their own biological son Luke, who comes from a long lineage of scientific brains, is raised to become a revered artist. The experiment will reveal little scientific truth, but rather lead Ben and Catherine to discover the true value of family.

Stig-Helmer Olsson isn't the fashionable jet-set type, but, for the first time in his life, he's going to travel abroad. He chooses a trip to the Canary Islands over Christmas. Before leaving, his doctor asks him to bring a package to a friend of his. Without Stig-Helmer knowing it, the package contains 50,000 SEK, which is illegal to bring out of the country. However, Stig-Helmer's bag with the package disappears at the airport. Dr. Levander's friend believes that Stig-Helmer has stolen the money and is anxious to get them back.

A group of academics at the University of Montreal - most long time friends - are planning on gathering at the lakeside recreational home of Rémy and Louise, who have been together for twenty years, married for fifteen of them, for dinner. Louise knows Rémy cheats on her, but believes he only does so when she is not around, about which she accepts. Their recreational home is adjacent to many of the recreational homes of the others, who are: divorced Pierre, his much younger current girlfriend Danielle who is a student at the university, the two who are still in the stage of newfound love, divorced mother Diane, independent minded Dominique, single homosexual Claude, and graduate student Alain. While the four men prepare the dinner, the four women are working out together in the gym. The common factor between the two groups is the topic of conversation: sex, especially as it relates to themselves. But underlying each of the conversations is their own academic and thus intellectual ...

In suburban Phoenix, 40-year-old Ruth Kiesling is not exactly "living the dream." She's a donut shop employee with anger issues. She's got no mother, a dead brother, and a father in hospice. Her few friends include her roommates: Meg, her game-for-anything confidante since junior high; Holly, a somewhat level-headed janitor and amateur ventriloquist; and her probation officer, Philip Crosby. Ruth's only creative outlet is playing her cello in the background of a series of popular YouTube videos featuring Errol, an egotistical ventriloquist. Errol lords over a community of loyal ventriloquists who proudly (and literally) wear their allegiance to their "art"; their dummies are strapped across their torsos like badass bandoleros. Ever the opportunist and desperate for money, Ruth finds herself in a position to "steal" the body of President James Buchanan. She does so, hoping to ransom him for a nice windfall -- but she's surprised to discover that no one seems particularly interested in ...