A week in the life of Ben, a powerful Hollywood producer, as he juggles negotiations with a studio head so that his newest picture can open at Cannes in two weeks, with a high-strung director who must make edits to the film, with an actor and his agent because the star has arrived on the set of a new picture with a full beard, and with his most recent ex-wife, Kelly, whom he discovers may have a lover. He also notices that his 17-year old daughter, from another marriage, has probably been crying. What's up? Can Ben keep it all together, get the green light from the studio to go to Cannes, move his new picture past the beard crisis, and maybe return to Kelly's good graces?

A PR specialist refuses to market a car called a "Howard" - a colossal error that loses him a billion and makes him a national joke. He loses his hair, shaves his beard, takes a new name, and moves to Martha's Vineyard. Jump ten years: "Rolly" is a popular local whose sangfroid evaporates when the Howard's inventor moves to the island. Rolly, his old self unrecognizable, hatches a plan to rid the island of his nemesis; he also decides to woo the billionaire's wife. Fellatio, a former girlfriend, a woman who's lost weight, her boyfriend, the band Chicago, a menacing Chechen, a bus load of ill children, and a pair of ne'er-do-wells with experience with explosives figure in the story.

On the northwest side of Milwaukee, Mark Borchardt dreams the American dream: for him, it's making movies. Using relatives, local theater talent, slacker friends, his Mastercard, and $3,000 from his Uncle Bill, Mark strives over three years to finish "Covan," a short horror film. His own personal demons (alcohol, gambling, a dysfunctional family) plague him, but he desperately wants to overcome self-doubt and avoid failure. In moments of reflection, Mark sees his story as quintessentially American, and its the nature and nuance of his dream that this film explores.

A television network is making a pilot of Mike's quirky comedy based on the aftermath of his brother's suicide. As the network suits ask for change after change, and as Mike struggles with compromise, there are strains on families, execs who show rushes to their children, leads who feel each other out, and assistants who put a smile on everything. Can an honest show get made in the world of reality TV chasing an audience of teen-aged boys?