Los Angeles, 1958: a detective holes up in a downtown hotel awaiting killers to come get him. During the course of one night he will meet various occupants of the hotel and the truth of how he came to be in his present situation will be revealed.

Two carnies (Sewell and Gugino) abduct a mermaid in Ireland, circa 1900, and decide to transport her to America. As their ship loses its way and heads towards the mythical Forbidden Islands, the mermaid begins to display its deadly side.

Several women (and one girl) in L.A. are hiding something from someone else, or discovering something hidden from them. Maxine, a therapist, discovers her husband cheating on her with the mother of Charlotte, a 13-year old patient. Addy (the other woman) and her sister Doris have withheld from the girl the truth of her parentage. Holly, an adult film actor, isn't telling her friend Bambi how she feels about her, and another actor, Elektra, who discovers she's pregnant, hasn't told the baby's father that she loves him. A stuck elevator, a car crash, mid-air turbulence, a flight attendant, a shotgun-wielding bartender, and her roommate, who's a masseuse, help these women communicate.

Jack Ryan, a charming but mischievous kid with a history of small cons, never nasty, as he always approaches life from the pleasant side, goes to surfers paradise Hawai, where dodgy district judge Walter Crewes enlists him to get to real big criminals. Jack finds himself teaming up in bed and thieving 'business' with Nancy Hayes, the greedy mistress of evil hotel magnate Ray Ritchie and his dumb lieutenant Bob Rogers, Jr. and a real temptress gold-digger but is about the only one without an hidden agenda...

While practicing motocross in Hawaii, Sean Jones witnesses the brutal murder of an important American prosecutor by the powerful mobster Eddie Kim. He is protected and persuaded by the FBI agent Neville Flynn to testify against Eddie in Los Angeles. They embark in the red-eye Flight 121 of Pacific Air, occupying the entire first-class. However, Eddie dispatches hundred of different species of snakes airborne with a time operated device in the luggage to release the snakes in the flight with the intent of crashing the plane. Neville and the passengers have to struggle with the snakes to survive.

The violinist Sydney Wells has been blind since she was five years old due to an accident. She submits to a surgery of cornea transplantation to recover her vision, and while recovering from the operation, she realizes that she's having strange visions. With the support of Dr. Paul Faulkner, Sidney finds who the donor of her eyes and begins a journey to find out the truth behind her visions.