Drew (Scott Eastwood) signs up for an acting class at the famous Star Academy in Hollywood after falling for aspiring actress Nikki. He gets more than he bargained for when he encounters an eccentric and volatile acting coach (Malcolm McDowell) and the cast of crazy characters looking for their big break in Tinsel Town. Can Drew survive the insanity of the Star Academy and win Nikki's heart?

A troubled young man runs away to Mexico, where he is recruited to join a paramilitary group of teens fighting the drug cartels. Isolated in the desert, he proves himself by becoming The Captain's top soldier, but questions the group's true purpose. As the Mexican police close in, he realizes that his only way out is to escape back to America, but first he must outwit The Captain.

When a blue-collar surfer avenges his brother's murder, he discovers he killed the wrong man by mistake and joins the Marines to escape his past, only to face it at gunpoint in a distant desert, where he must survive a captor bent on revenge.

After the sudden death of her father leaves a teenage girl without a family, she becomes lost in her own anger and sadness. Her family doctor (Daryl Hannah) informs her that her father had a secret, that the mother she never knew (Claire Forlani) was alive and well. When she travels to meet her, she befriends a horse trainer (Louis Gossett Jr) and discovers that in caring for the horse, she is able to overcome her hardships and emotional trauma. Together they begin to win many races and upset the favorites, owned by an egocentric mogul (Eric Roberts). Through the victories and new friendships she forms, she learns to find her way back to happiness.

Joshua, a teenager with a drugged-out mother on the run, wanders into the affluent community of Carmel, California. After getting himself into trouble, the authorities try to track down his mother. But in the meantime, a successful artist/businessman offers to take in Joshua and let him have a chance at a good life. His motives are questionable considering his line of business and how he plans to use Joshua's artistic talents, but Joshua has met a girl and he's not sure if the money is worth selling off his morals.

Three strangers arrive one by one to a mysterious cabin in the middle of nowhere after enduring separate life-altering predicaments. Searching for a way out of the woods, frustrated, hungry and battling to stay warm they discover their mysterious connection and realize what they have to do in order to get out of the woods alive.

The determined Jim Ellis starts a swim team for troubled teens at the Philadelphia Department of Recreation.