Newlywed Melinda Gordon tries to help the dead communicate with loved ones, but sometimes the messages she receives are intense and confusing. Most of Melinda's efforts involve resolving conflicts that are preventing the spirits from passing over.

Mike Sullivan works as a hit man for crime boss John Rooney. Sullivan views Rooney as a father figure, however after his son is witness to a killing, Mike Sullivan finds himself on the run in attempt to save the life of his son and at the same time looking for revenge on those who wronged him.

They are armed. They are dangerous. They are lawyers. A hard working emergency room doctor is being harassed by a firm on nasty lawyers. An encounter with a friendly alien gives the doctor the power to vaporize people and to take on this firm of unscrupulous lawyers.

An ex-marine, in search of some defining life direction, unexpectedly faces a hurdle when his jeep breaks down in a sparsely populated Wyoming town. While waiting for parts to repair the vehicle he takes a temporary job as a rest area attendant and moves onto a ranch run by a one-legged widow with a mentally handicapped son. When an abandoned Vietnamese girl joins the group, the scene is ready for confrontation and tragedy.

A delinquent teenager's only link to society is the attachment he feels towards an older brother-figure. When the older boy starts spending time with a new girlfriend, the teenager begins to feel even more alienated, and gets involved with drugs and the police.

A miserable man who doesn't believe in the holidays must contend with his 11 children and wife celebrating the most wonderful time of the year.

During World War II, hard-luck farmer Colvis Nevels leaves his rural Kentucky home to take a factory job in bustling Detroit. Reluctantly accompanying Colvis is his long-suffering wife, Gertie, a talented woodcarver set in her traditional ways. When the perils of city life and Colvis' reckless squandering of money send the Nevels into precarious financial straits, Gertie starts a business making hand-carved dolls in order to provide for her family.