Lorenzo "Shakes" Carcaterra, Thomas "Tommy" Marcano, Michael Sullivan, and John Reilly are childhood friends in Hell's Kitchen, New York City in the mid-1960s. The local priest, Father Robert "Bobby" Carillo, plays an important part in their lives and keeps an eye on them. However, early on they start running small errands for a local mafia gangster, "King" Benny.
The Salesman steps out of the elevator and walks onto a penthouse balcony where The Customer, wearing a beautiful red dress, looks out over Basin City. He offers her a cigarette and says that she looks like someone who is tired of running and that he will save her. She smiles to him, the two share a kiss and he shoots her; she dies in his arms. He says he will never know what she was running from but that he’ll cash her check in the morning.
In 1975, three children, Jimmy, Sean, and Dave, are playing on the streets of Boston when a stranger approaches them. Since the stranger has a badge and is wearing a suit, the children assume that he is a police officer. The stranger orders Dave to enter his car, and Dave obeys, but this leads to him being sexually abused and locked inside a basement for four days, after which he manages to escape.
Kris Fowles (Katie Cassidy) goes to the Springwood Diner to meet with her boyfriend, Dean Russell (Kellan Lutz), who falls asleep at the table and meets a man covered in burn scars, wearing a red and green sweater, a fedora and a clawed glove on his hand. The burned man cuts Dean's throat in the dream, but in reality it appears that Dean is cutting his own throat as his friend, waitress Nancy Holbrook (Rooney Mara), looks on with Kris. At Dean's funeral, Kris sees a photograph of her and Dean as children, but cannot recall ever knowing Dean before high school. Kris begins to dream about the burned man herself and refuses to go to sleep for fear that she will die in her dreams. Jesse Braun (Thomas Dekker), Kris's ex-boyfriend, shows up at her house to keep her company while she sleeps, but Kris meets the burned man in her dreams and is murdered. Covered in blood, Jesse runs to Nancy's house to try to explain what happened and he learns that Nancy has been having dreams about the same man: Freddy Krueger (Jackie Earle Haley).
En 1976, le prêtre John Geoghan est arrêté pour viol sur mineur à Boston. Dans la nuit, un prêtre de haut rang se rend au commissariat pour négocier avec la mère de l'enfant et laisse Geoghan ressortir libre alors que l'avocat général demande aux agents présents de ne pas ébruiter l'affaire.
Growing up, Evan Treborn, and his friends, siblings Kayleigh and Tommy Miller, and Lenny, suffered many severe psychological traumas that frequently caused him to black out. These traumas include being coerced to take part in child pornography by Kayleigh and Tommy's father, George Miller (Eric Stoltz), being nearly strangled to death by his institutionalized father, Jason Treborn (Callum Keith Rennie), who is then killed in front of him by guards; accidentally killing a mother and her infant daughter while playing with dynamite with his friends; and seeing his dog being burned alive by Tommy.
In 1973, 14-year-old Susie Salmon dreams about becoming a photographer. One day, Ray, a boy she has a crush on, approaches her at school and asks her out. As Susie walks home through a cornfield, she runs into her neighbor, George Harvey, who coaxes her into his underground den. Inside, Susie becomes uncomfortable and attempts to leave; when he grabs her, the scene fades until she is seen rushing past classmate Ruth Connors, apparently fleeing Harvey's den.
In 1984, Donny Berger's teacher, a hebephile named Mary McGarricle (Eva Amurri Martino), begins a sexual relationship with him. When she is discovered inciting him to sexual activity on a piano during an assembly, she is sentenced to a lengthy prison term where it is revealed she is pregnant. The court gives custody of the unborn child to Donny's abusive father until Donny himself is at the legal age to assume custody.
Seymour "Sy" Parrish (Robin Williams) is a photo technician at SavMart's one-hour photo developing clinic. He leads a solitary life outside of the "heaven-like" hyperreality atmosphere of the department store. Every day he labors to ensure his customers get the best quality photos possible. His work is his life, as he has no one and nothing to go home to at the end of each day; he spends his evenings sitting alone in his barren living room, watching television. The only thing in Sy's apartment he has for companionship is a hamster, caged in his bedroom. His favorite customers are the Yorkin family: husband Will (Michael Vartan), wife Nina (Connie Nielsen), and their son Jake (Dylan Smith). He has developed their photos for years and has developed an obsession with the family. He idolizes their happiness and affluence, memorizing every personal detail about them, and begins to associate with them more and more hoping to become a part of their lives.
Set in 1964 at a Catholic church in The Bronx, New York, the film opens with the jovial Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) giving a sermon on the nature of doubt, noting that like faith, doubt can be a unifying force. The next evening, Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep), the strict principal of the parish school, discusses the sermon with her fellow nuns, the Sisters of Charity of New York. She asks if anyone has observed unusual behavior that would inspire Father Flynn to preach about doubt, and instructs them to keep their eyes open should any such behavior occur in the future.
In Madrid in 1980, Enrique Goded, a young film director, is looking for his next project when he receives the unexpected visit of an actor looking for work. The actor claims to be Enrique's boarding school friend and first love, Ignacio Rodriguez. Ignacio, who is using now the name Ángel Andrade, has brought with him a short story titled "The Visit" hoping that Enrique would be interested in making a film out of it giving him the starring role. Enrique is intrigued since "The Visit" described their time together at the Catholic school and it also includes a fictionalized account of their reunion many years later as adults.
Kang In-ho (Gong Yoo) is the newly appointed art teacher at Benevolence Academy, a deaf school children in the fictional city of Mujin, North Jeolla Province. He has a dark past - his wife was a high school student who committed suicide and his daughter is under the care of his mother. He is excited to teach his new students, yet the children are aloof and distant, trying to avoid running into him as much as possible. In-ho does not give up, however, trying to show the kids that he cares. When the children finally open up, In-ho faces the shocking and ugly truth about the school and what the students have been enduring in secret: the children are being physically and sexually abused by their teachers. When he decides to fight for the children’s rights and expose the crimes being committed at the school, In-ho teams up with human rights activist Seo Yoo-jin (Jung Yu-mi). But he and Yoo-jin soon realize the school’s principal and teachers, and even the police, prosecutors and churches in the community are actually trying to cover up the truth. In addition to using "privileges of former post" (Jeon-gwan ye-u) the accused do not hesitate to lie and bribe their way to get very light sentences.
Les policiers de la brigade de protection des mineurs (BPM) de Paris luttent contre les innombrables sévices subis par des mineurs : traque de pédophiles, appréhensions de parents soupçonnés de maltraitance, suivi d'adolescents pickpockets, adolescents en dérive sexuelle, protection de mineurs sans domicile, mineurs victimes de viol, etc. Plongés dans cet univers éprouvant, ces policiers très impliqués et soudés tentent de préserver leur vie privée et leur santé psychique. Une jeune photographe est envoyée faire un reportage photo dans l'unité chargée des affaires de mœurs.
Lucas is a member of a close-knit Danish community and works at a local kindergarten. Divorced, he struggles to maintain a relationship with his teenage son, who lives with his ex-wife, but enjoys wholesome interaction with the children at the kindergarten. His coworker Nadja makes advances towards him and eventually moves in as his girlfriend.
Sarah Pierce (Kate Winslet) is a hapless, stay-at-home mother in a small suburban Boston community. She had been working on a doctorate in English, but set aside her work to marry Richard (Gregg Edelman) and raise their 3-year-old daughter, Lucy (Sadie Goldstein). Her marriage falls apart when she discovers that Richard is addicted to online pornography. She meets Brad Adamson (Patrick Wilson), a law student who brings his 4-year-old son, Aaron (Ty Simpkins), to the park. Although Brad's marriage to Katherine (Jennifer Connelly) is loving and amicable, it has been lacking intimacy.