Austrian designer Stefan Sagmeister is doing well. He lives in New York, the city of his dreams, and he has success in his work, designing album covers for the Rolling Stones, Jay-Z and the Talking Heads. But in the back of his mind he suspects there must be something more. He decides to turn himself into a design project. Can he redesign his personality to become a better person? Is it possible to train his mind to get happier? He pursues 3 controlled experiments of meditation, therapy, and drugs, grading himself along the way. But real life creeps in and confounds the process: art, sex, love, and death prove impossible to disentangle. His unique designs and painfully personal experiences mark a journey that travels closer to himself than ever intended.

Allen Meneric is committed to a psychiatric institution for the criminally insane because of a brutal revenge murder. There he is forced to deal with the very ill and the dangerous until, as part of a socialization program, he is transferred to minimum security where he meets Mia, a beautiful bipolar female inmate. Ever haunted by his past, Allen seeks his redemption when sudden events demand that he protect Mia from the violence and chaos of the institution.

Poppy Cross is happy-go-lucky. At 30, she lives in Camden: cheeky, playful, frank while funny, and talkative to strangers. She's a conscientious and exuberant primary-school teacher, flatmates with Zoe, her long-time friend; she's close to one sister, and not so close to another. In this slice of life story, we watch her take driving lessons from Scott, a dour and tightly-wound instructor, take classes in flamenco dance from a fiery Spaniard, encounter a tramp in the night, and sort out a student's aggressive behavior with a social worker's help. Along the way, we wonder if her open attitude puts her at risk of misunderstanding or worse. What is the root of happiness?

Living in a comfortable retirement community in Southern Oregon, estranged from her family, unsatisfied with her surroundings, and generally not happy about life, Marie (Shirley Knight) decides to journey 80 miles on foot to the coast of Oregon to revisit the ocean of her past for the first time in 45 years. Once reluctant to attend her granddaughter's wedding, she now arrives as an unexpected guest. Along the way, she meets an extraordinary cast of characters and discovers that you're never too old to learn something about life... and about yourself.

Two peasant children, Mytyl and Tyltyl, are led by Berylune, a fairy, to search for the Blue Bird of Happiness. Berylune gives Tyltyl a cap with a diamond setting, and when Tyltyl turns the diamond, the children become aware of and conversant with the souls of a Dog and Cat, as well as of Fire, Water, Bread, Light, and other presumably inanimate things. The troupe thus sets off to find the elusive Blue Bird of Happiness.

Several characters who are each at critical stages of their lives are strangely impelled towards an uncharted lake in the middle of the desert where they all have the opportunity to save each other.

Whatever She Wants is the story about one woman's determination to rediscover who she really is... Vivian Wolf has suffered one heartbreak too many and has no room left for unfulfilling relationships. Now she has come up with the solution to every woman's problem, a private club called "Whatever She Wants" where men have to qualify to get in. No baby daddies, no bad credit, no car, no pot bellies, and no living with your mama will get you NO ENTRY. To be in the presence of these women you have to be able to give them whatever they need. It is the grand opening and Vivian is as grand as she can be. She has it all except her own man. And for her traditional and powerfully wealthy father, Theodore Wolf, this is unacceptable. In town to celebrate Vivian's fortieth birthday, Theodore discovers his financial contribution to Vivian's business ventures has turned into a social club for dating...

When people begin exploding from stress, George Washington Winsterhammerman tries to ignore the epidemic and live his usual life, but then he suffers his first symptom.