Agnieska and Sumana share an intimate night together after meeting in a bar. Memories of past lovers almost make Agnieska give up on this new love, but Sumana convinces her to hold on to hope.
Waking early, Agnieska admires her new lover Sumana as she is sleeping. When Sumana wakes, the couple share an intimate conversation and eventually descend into fits of laughter.
Thomas and Claire meet at a party and fall in love.
The pilot watches Hope from afar. They meet and become lovers.
Thomas and Lise sing of feeling the burning of two suns on their faces.
Thomas has brought Lise to become Hope's tutor, but Hope has grown up and wants to leave the house. Lise warns her not to give her love away to just anyone.
Hope grows up quickly, climbing out of her crib as a woman of twenty-one. She sings to herself, wanting to leave the house.
Hope introduces the pilot to her family. He leaves, and Hope argues with her parents about going with him.
Late at night, Allie receives a visitation from her deceased best friend, Karen.
In the Blue Room of the Quebec National Assembly, Denis Lortie kills and wounds people with a submachine gun as a protest against Quebec sovereignty.
Daniel sings of his fear at the prospect of going down into the cellar of his childhood home, after his father has died.
Judith sings angrily at her brother when he expresses his desire to leave their childhood home after their father has died.
Back in his childhood home after the death of this father, Daniel kills his sister when she wants to resume their childhood sexual relationship.
The Queen of the Amazon Ants laments the fallen state of her realm to her lone remaining subject. She decides she must find a mate.
After a painful argument, a mother tells her son the truth of his father's absence and tries to comfort him.
A young religous brother tells an older brother that he is planning to leave the order. The older brother advises caution and obedience.
In pain after being raped by Tassi, Artemisia tries to understand what just happened, while Tassi justifies himself.
Spring has sprung in Barcelona.
Disguised as Hernando, Raoul asks out Allegra.
Raoul and Allegra go out on their date and order a feast. The bill arrives and Raoul cannot pay it. He tries to escape, but in the process stabs the waiter in the neck with a fork. Raoul and Allegra leave the restaurant, Allegra is unaware of what has just happened.
Raoul goes to see Don Paulo for a loan. Before he approves, Don Paulo warns Raoul about a shadow that haunts people who have not paid their debts.
Raoul, dressed as Hernando, proposes to Allegra and gives her an engagement ring.
Allegra has lost her engagement ring.
Raoul still hasn't paid off his debt. Allegra arrives and tells him she has lost the ring, not knowing that he is also Hernando.
The Shadow arrives to haunt Raoul.
Raoul (as Hernando) confronts Allegra about the missing ring. She tells him it's being polished.
The Shadow arrives and tells Allegra the truth about Hernando/Raoul.
Raoul, as Hernando, arrives at Allegra's balcony but sees her with The Shadow.
Raoul attacks and kills The Shadow.
Raoul (as himself) sits on a bench. Allegra arrives and wonders if she'll ever find love. She leaves for mass to ask for forgiveness.
Two women watch and worry as the church elder walks through town with a telegram carrying news of a soldier son's death.
At a restaurant, a man flirts with a woman he thinks he recognizes. She is emotionally frank with him, but it turns out she isn't who he thinks she is.
Traumatized by her experiences, Alessandra reflects on her work as a translator in an American military prison.
Colonel Crane, Alessandra's supervisor, tersely tells her to lose what her perceives as her naive sense of morality: "We are just here to win."
2003: After leaking torture photos to the internet, American army translator Alessandra Jenson refuses to be hushed up, and live streams her suicide in protest.
Queen Liz imagines what it would be like to be free.
Irish pirate Chieftain Grace O'Malley sneaks into the bedroom of Queen Elizabeth I of England, and convinces the Queen to give her back her ship and free her lover. In return Grace will attend the Queen's birthday celebration and cause a sensation - which delights Liz.
Drag performer Charlie sings a number in the persona of the Virgin Mary.
The Virgin Mary explains to Charlie why he has been chosen to carry the child of God.
Charlie sings gently to his child, the Messiah, who he has been chosen to bear.
In his dressing room, drag performer Charlie puts on his Virgin Mary costume, witnessed by the real Virgin Mary inside his mirror.
Charlie performs the first number of his act: Mother Mary in the nativity scene, with the worries of a new mother carrying the son of god.
In his dressing room, Mother Mary explains to Charlie that he is pregnant with the son of god and offers him tips from her experience. Eventually, Charlie accepts that he will be a parent, and vows to protect the new messiah.
On the first warm spring day in the mountains, Olaf, a rich farmer, proposes to Runa, a poor farmer, only to discover that she is in love with the bandit Davith. Angered by this, Olaf burns down Runa's farm, and Runa escapes up the mountain searching for Davith.
Two sisters are outside by the river talking. One sister describes the boy she hopes to be with, and the other sister admits that she is pregnant with his baby. Jealousy is a deadly emotion.
A night out celebrating midterms takes a turn when one student doesn't return.
A Gardener, lost in the wilderness, ends up at Madonna's cabin. She recognizes him as the man in her dreams and vows to heal him of his grief.
Chloe and Eddie are in the throes of love when they’re interrupted by Matt, Chloe’s athlete ex-husband. Matt asks where their daughter Ava is, and criticizes Chloe for abandoning Ava for a man.
A businessman is waiting for a streetcar, with his back to an unhoused woman. The two silently judge each other. The man is annoyed at seeing someone who wants something for nothing, and the woman is feeling judged for a situation she has no control over. The two finally acknowledge each other, and we discover their shared experience.
Paul begs his rocking horse for more luck for the Derby. Ava decides Paul’s been too agitated lately, and the distance between them grows wider. Ava leaves his room and bemoans Paul’s lack of understanding. She deserves luxury now and then, and Paul robs her of comfort. As if on cue, she hears Paul noisily riding his rocking horse again. Whil...
Ava is disappointed in her birthday celebration, and Paul asks her why she isn't happy.
A young Chinese/Canadian woman (Xiao Lian) faces a difficult choice: Honour her family’s traditional past or embrace a more modern future. Her father dwells on the memory of his deceased wife and honours her by performing the Qingming funeral tradition. Meanwhile, Xiao Lian’s two friends want her to get out and be more social. Her ...
Xiao Lian’s father bitterly reveals that he will die soon. Xiao Lian’s mother appears in spirit form and asks her to forgive her father. She speaks of their happiness together as a family in earlier times. As a child, Xiao Lian had a close connection with the Dragon Boat Festival, known as Duanwu and its hero, the ancient poet Qu Y...
Xiao Lian vows to look to the past and summons the great spirit of Qu Yuan. His spirit rises and assumes the form of Xiao Lian’s father.
Xiao Lian is transported back to the ancient royal court, where she witnesses the majestic entrance of King Huai of Chu. Qu Yuan is at the peak of his power but is soon outfoxed by rival minister Zhang Yi. Qu Yuan is cast down and banished by his beloved king.
Qu Yuan wanders into the southern wilderness. As he travels, he composes a lament for himself and his lost position in court. In the present, Xiao Lian’s Father senses his end is near. Summoning up his strength, he joins with the spirit of Qu Yuan to tell the final chapter.
Years later, Qu Yuan has earned the honour and respect of the people in a little fishing village on the river Miluo. Xiao Lian and a local villager strike up a conversation with Qu Yuan, and it is soon revealed that The Kingdom of Chu has been destroyed by its enemies. After learning this news, Qu Yuan’s heart breaks, and he drowns...
All hope is lost as the villagers return and collect Qu Yuan’s possessions. They take the scrolls containing his famous poetry to the Daoist temple, where they will be preserved forever. Xiao Lian returns to the present at the bedside of her dying father. With his encouragement and love, she finally recognizes the value of honourin...
Xiao Lian performs the Qingming ceremony to honour the spirit of her departed father and mother. Love and fellowship combine in the running of a dragon boat race. Xiao Lian joins her friends and crosses into her future.
The combined spirits of Qu Yuan and Father return and ask the audience to release them from their servitude. That freedom granted, they ascend into the heavens triumphantly.
Maupin tells the story of a scandalous love affair from her youth, culminating in a daring escape from a convent.
Medusa sings from beyond the grave, reaching out to her children and her two sisters. She tells the story of her rape by the god Poseidon and murder by the hero Perseus.
Pegasus recounts a dream in which their mother Medusa asks them to find her severed head. They reflect on the harrowing circumstances of their birth and their relationship with their brother Chrysaor and father Poseidon.
Four Victorian women sit down for a most unusual tea time. The women have two things in common: their dislike of the other women and of their husbands. Each woman refuses to drink tea for one reason or another while brainstorming ideas such as poison, prison, bee-stings or drowning. But who are they plotting against– their partners, or each o...
Janna and her grandpa are in Toronto’s distillery district. Before she has to leave, Janna asks him to tell the story of how he and Grandma met.
A boy and his mother make up ways of killing an unnamed woman. When the game is over, the boy asks what would happen if they killed the woman “for real,” if it would make his father love them again.
A sister and brother go through the belongings of their recently departed mother and find an old snow globe from their youth. They both really want to keep it. A bitter fight ensues and the sister inadvertently blurts out a very painful secret.