My First Year

Berkeley university professor adjusts (using alcohol) to tragic fire deaths of wife & son.

Threats from sinister foreign nationals aren't the only thing to fear. Bedraggled college professor Michael Faraday has been vexed (and increasingly paranoid) since his wife's accidental death in a botched FBI operation. But all that takes a backseat when a seemingly all-American couple set up house next door.

After World War II, Antonia and her daughter, Danielle, go back to their Dutch hometown, where Antonia's late mother has bestowed a small farm upon her. There, Antonia settles down and joins a tightly-knit but unusual community. Those around her include quirky friend Crooked Finger, would-be suitor Bas and, eventually for Antonia, a granddaughter and great-granddaughter who help create a strong family of empowered women.

Catherine is a woman in her late twenties who is strongly devoted to her father, Robert, a brilliant and well-known mathematician whose grip on reality is beginning to slip away. As Robert descends into madness, Catherine begins to wonder if she may have inherited her father's mental illness along with his mathematical genius.

Shaun Brumder is a local surfer kid from Orange County who dreams of going to Stanford to become a writer and to get away from his dysfunctional family household. Except Shaun runs into one complication after another, starting when his application is rejected after his dim-witted guidance counselor sends in the wrong form.

John and his girlfriend have vowed to marry once they save $30,000 for their dream house. But the minute they achieve their financial goal, John finds out his niece has been accepted at Harvard, and he's reminded of his promise to pay for her tuition (nearly $30,000). John's friend Duff convinces him to turn to petty crime to make the payment … but Duff's hare-brained schemes spin quickly out of control.

In 1983 Owl, North Dakota, the lives of three residents – elderly Horace, who spends his afternoons reminiscing in the local coffee shop; teenage Mitch, depressed backup quarterback star player-power-horse; and newly appointed high school English teacher Julia – along with those of the town's other residents, are upended by a historic whiteout blizzard.

Along her journey to relieve herself of anxiety, Alexia, a mid-twenty year old woman, is encouraged by Dr. Ecorn to revisit a past childhood event. She struggles to decipher the insidious meaning behind the memory. Gradually, EMDR, a technique favoured by Dr. Ecorn, reveals the true nature of her trauma. Whilst experiencing the discomforts of the therapy, Alexia begins the grueling process to healing herself.

Soon after his insufferably arrogant father wins the Nobel Prize for chemistry, Barkley Michaelson is kidnapped by Thaddeus James, a young genius who claims to be Barkley's illegitimate half-brother. Motivated not so much by money as revenge, Thaddeus tries to convince Barkley to help him carry out a multimillion-dollar extortion plot against their patriarch.

Sayaka Miyamoto (Nao Matsushita) and Keita Fukushima (Terunosuke Takezai) attend the same university and believe their love for each other will never end. However, as time goes by and they graduate, their future starts to part as they both begin moving forward to capture their own dreams. Now in the beautiful city of Barcelona, Spain, the former lovers cross paths once again.

Harvard Law student Oliver Barrett IV and music student Jennifer Cavilleri share a chemistry they cannot deny - and a love they cannot ignore. Despite their opposite backgrounds, the young couple put their hearts on the line for each other. When they marry, Oliver's wealthy father threatens to disown him. Jenny tries to reconcile the Barrett men, but to no avail.