Three young women meet when they embark on their careers. Neely O'Hara (Duke) is a plucky kid with undeniable talent who sings in a Broadway show—the legendary actress Helen Lawson (Hayward) is the star of the play—while Jennifer North (Tate), a beautiful blonde with limited talent, is in the chorus. Anne Welles (Parkins) is a New England ingenue who recently arrived in New York City and works as a secretary for a theatrical agency that represents Lawson. Neely, Jennifer, and Anne become fast friends, sharing the bonds of ambition and the tendency to fall in love with the wrong men.
David (Omarion) and Elgin (Marques Houston) lead a promising dance crew in Los Angeles, California who participate in street dancing battles at a warehouse owned by a local club owner, Mr. Rad (Steve Harvey). The film opens up with their crew battling another crew led by Vick (Raz-B). Their crew defeats Vick's crew.
Andy Kaufman's (Jim Carrey) "foreign man" character appears in black and white, declaring that (due to massive editing), this is actually the end of the film, not the beginning. He plays a phonograph record alongside the credits before walking somberly off. Kaufman then comes back, and, in his normal voice, claiming he "had to get rid of the people who don't understand me, and don't want to try," he proceeds to show the story of his life on a film projector, starting with his childhood home in Great Neck, New York, circa 1957.
Marcus (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson) is a quiet young boy who adores his loving mother (Serena Reeder), and the two live a relatively comfortable life as his mother is a local drug dealer. She often has to leave him with his grandparents to be looked after while she takes care of her business. After she is brutally murdered in an apparent drug deal gone wrong, Marcus heads down the wrong road himself.
In the West Side's Lincoln Square neighborhood in Manhattan, there is tension between an Anglo gang, the Jets, led by Riff, and a Puerto Rican gang of immigrants, the Sharks, led by Bernardo. After a brawl erupts ("Prologue"), Lieutenant Schrank and Officer Krupke arrive and break it up, warning both gangs to cease fighting or pay. Despite the warning, the Jets decide to challenge the Sharks to a rumble for neighborhood control at an upcoming dance.
The film opens at a party in Los Angeles, California on March 8, 1997. Just as Biggie Smalls is about to be killed in a drive-by shooting, the film flashes back to Biggie's childhood in Brooklyn, where he (now played by his biological son Christopher Wallace, Jr.) lived during his adolescent years. Biggie, (now played by Jamal Woolard) sells drugs at the height of the crack epidemic, hustling with his friends D-Roc (Dennis L.A. White) and Lil' Cease (Marc John Jefferies).
In 1931 Berlin, young American Sally Bowles performs at the Kit Kat Klub. A new British arrival in the city, Brian Roberts, moves into the boarding house where Sally lives. A reserved academic and writer, Brian gives English lessons to earn a living while completing his doctorate. Sally tries seducing Brian and suspects he may be gay. Brian tells Sally that on three previous occasions he has tried to have physical relationships with women, all of which failed. They become friends, and Brian witnesses Sally's anarchic, bohemian life in the last days of the German Weimar Republic. Sally and Brian become lovers despite their earlier reservations; they conclude that his previous failures with women were because they were "the wrong three girls".
The film is set in the 1950s in a large country residence as a family and its servants are preparing for Christmas. When the master of the house is discovered dead in his bed with a dagger in his back, it is presumed that the murderer must be one of the eight women in the house. Over the course of the investigation, each woman has a tale to tell and secrets to hide.
We see the principal students auditioning alongside less successful applicants. In the drama department, Montgomery forgets his lines while auditioning, and Doris's nerves aren't helped by the presence of her pushy mother, who insists Doris should sing in her audition. In the music department, Bruno's father and uncle help haul Bruno's keyboards and equipment from their taxicabs to the audition. Bruno's electronics horrify the conservative music teacher, Mr. Shorofsky.
Three young women—Kelly MacNamara (Dolly Read), Casey Anderson (Cynthia Myers), and Petronella "Pet" Danforth (Marcia McBroom)—perform in a rock band, The Kelly Affair, managed by Harris Allsworth (David Gurian), Kelly's boyfriend. The four travel to Los Angeles to find Kelly's estranged aunt, Susan Lake (Phyllis Davis), heiress to a family fortune.
In September 1963, Seymour Krelborn (Rick Moranis) and his colleague, Audrey (Ellen Greene), work at Mushnik's Flower Shop, lamenting they cannot escape the slums of New York City, living in a run-down, beat up neighborhood referred to as "Skid Row." Struggling from a lack of customers, Mr. Mushnik (Vincent Gardenia) prompts to close the store, only for Audrey to suggest displaying an unusual plant Seymour owns. Immediately attracting a customer, Seymour explains he bought the plant, which he dubbed "Audrey II", from a Chinese flower shop during a solar eclipse. Attracting business to Mushnik's shop, the plant soon starts dying, worrying Seymour. Accidentally pricking his finger, he then discovers Audrey II needs human blood to thrive.
In 2005, Steve Lopez (Robert Downey, Jr.) is a journalist working for the L.A. Times. He is divorced and now works for his ex-wife, Mary (Catherine Keener), an editor. A biking accident lands Lopez in a hospital.
Om Prakash Makhija (Shah Rukh Khan) is a junior artist in the 1970s Hindi film industry, in love with film star Shanti Priya (Deepika Padukone). One evening, Om views the premiere of Shanti's film Dream Girl, posing as Manoj Kumar. Later that night, Om becomes drunk and describes his vision of himself as a famous, wealthy film star winning the Filmfare Award for Best Actor to his friend Pappu (Shreyas Talpade) and some local children. At the shooting of a later film, Om rescues Shanti from a fire scene where of the fire has escaped control, and they become friends. One day, after following Shanti, he overhears her and producer Mukesh Mehra's (Arjun Rampal) conversation, that Mukesh and Shanti have married in secret and Shanti is pregnant and expects a traditional wedding. Mukesh pretends to be happy with the news, and invites Shanti at the set of their soon-to-be-made film Om Shanti Om. Mukesh promises to cancel the film, reveal their marriage to the public, and have a grand wedding on the set; but instead traps Shanti on the set and sets it on fire to prevent a financial loss and to protect his career. Shanti tearfully begs Mukesh to release her but he leaves anyway.
A workhouse in Dunstable, England is visited by the wealthy governors who fund it. While a sumptuous banquet is held for them, the barefoot orphan boys who work there are being served their daily gruel. They dream of enjoying the same "Food, Glorious Food" as their masters. While eating, some boys draw straws to see who will ask for more to eat, and the job falls to a boy named Oliver Twist. He goes up to Bumble and Widow Corney, who run the workhouse and serve the gruel, and asks for more. Enraged, Bumble takes Oliver to the governors to see what to do with him ("Oliver!"). A decision is made to have Oliver sold into service. Bumble parades Oliver through the snow, trying to sell him to the highest bidder ("Boy for Sale"). Oliver is sold to an undertaker named Mr. Sowerberry, who intends to use him as a mourner for children's funerals. After his first funeral, Noah Claypole, Sowerberry's apprentice, insults Oliver's mother. Oliver attacks Noah in fury and Sowerberry forces him into a coffin while Noah fetches Bumble. Oliver is too angry to be intimidated by Bumble, who places the blame on not keeping Oliver on a diet of gruel, instead of meat, which made him strong. Oliver is thrown into the cellar as further punishment. Alone in the dark with a roomful of empty coffins, Oliver wonders ("Where is Love?"). While clutching the window grate, Oliver pushes it open and escapes.
In 1966, numerous pirate radio stations broadcast to the United Kingdom from ships anchored in international waters, specialising in rock and pop music that is not played on BBC Radio. Seventeen-year-old Carl (Tom Sturridge), recently expelled from school, is sent to stay with his godfather Quentin (Bill Nighy), who runs the station "Radio Rock" anchored in the North Sea. The eclectic crew of disc jockeys and staffers, led by the brash American DJ "The Count" (Philip Seymour Hoffman), quickly accept Carl as one of their own.