Abla runs a modest local bakery from her home in Casablanca where she lives alone with her eight-year-old daughter Warda. Their routine of housework and homework is interrupted one day by a knock on the door. It is Samia, a young woman looking for a job and a roof over her head. The little girl is immediately taken with the newcomer, but her mother initially refuses to allow a pregnant stranger into their home. Gradually, however, Abla's resolve softens...

When a young loner becomes the gestational surrogate for a single man in his 40s, the two strangers come to realize this unexpected relationship will quickly challenge their perceptions of connection, boundaries and the particulars of love.

Sue works in a library; her son Daniel eats chips and listens to Metallica. When his father and stepmother cancel his summer plans to visit them in Florida at the last minute, Sue and Daniel suddenly face the prospect of six long weeks together. An epic war of wills ensues in the unassuming battleground of their suburban home as they each reckon with private tragedies, and pursue their passions.

After a long and unsuccessful struggle to get pregnant, Satoko and her husband decide to adopt a child. Over the next six years, the middle-class couple and their young son Asato settle into a comfortable, albeit routine, life. The family's orderly existence is shattered by the arrival of Hikari, a young woman claiming to be Asato's biological mother, demanding his return. As tensions mount, Satoko grows more and more emboldened to defend her family....

Follows the story of three African American women living in Brooklyn, New York. Teenager Rainbow Gold finds her mother, Alma, clashing with her free-spirited aunt, Ruby, over their advice to her, with Ruby encouraging them both to embrace life and love.