Rochel, an Orthodox Jew, and Nasira, a Muslim originally from Syria, are young women who are just beginning as teachers in New York's public school system. As Rochel is a teacher for the visually impaired, she meets Nasira, who teaches the fourth grade, as the aid for Eddie, one of Nasira's students. They bond while working together on Eddie's assignments, realizing that they share a lot in common. They also both fight against the stereotypes directed towards them, particularly from Principal Jacoby and Rochel's family. Both Nasira and Rochel are going through the process of an arranged marriage. Nasira is initially introduced to an older man, a friend of her father’s, whom she rejects. Her parents then introduce her to a young man her own age whom she likes. The system is different for Rochel, however, who is introduced to young men through the local Shadchan. While Nasira's parents ultimately listened to her frustrations and interests, Rochel's Shadchan only introduces Rochel to young men who fit the Shadchan's set of expectations, while ignoring what Rochel wants. After a few disastrous introductions, Rochel announces that she is stopping the process. She then temporarily leaves home to discuss the matter with her cousin, who has left the Orthodox tradition. Ultimately, through an accidental meeting with friends of her brother, including an Orthodox Jewish young man, it is Nasira who helps Rochel find someone she likes. The film ends with Nasira and Rochel both married, sitting in the park with their babies in their strollers, talking about their husbands and married life.

The young revolutionary and anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela is arrested, and it is the task of censor and prison guard James Gregory to watch him. He has long since moved to South Africa with the family for his work in the prison of Robben Island, and slowly he clashes with the politics and racist culture of his countrymen.

This story is about one man — who is an artist and an intellectual — imprisoned by two brutal regimes, the Nazis and the Soviets. 'The Professor' is a man who lives by his own personal version of the Ten Commandments. After miraculously surviving imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp through a bit of ironic fate, he writes a memoir of his life, which becomes the target of the Soviet censors.

In the future on a human-populated space colony, Nova Prime, the S'krell extraterrestrial race attempts to take it over with creatures called Ursas, which hunt by "sensing" fear despite being technically blind. Humanity created a peacekeeping military organization, The Ranger Corps, to fight the threat. Their leader, General Cypher Raige, defeats the Ursas with a fear-suppressing technique he called "ghosting". Cypher's daughter, Senshi, was killed during an Ursa assault. Blaming himself for his sister's death, Senshi's 14-year-old brother Kitai trains to become a Ranger like Cypher but is rejected. Kitai's mother Faia convinces Cypher to take their son on his last mission before he retires. He takes The Ranger Corps off planet to train with a live Ursa, which is tied and immobilized in their spaceship. During flight, the ship is caught in an asteroid shower, causing them to crash-land on Earth, now a desolate and uninhabited planet which humans had evacuated a thousand years earlier due to an environmental cataclysm. Cypher and Kitai survived the crash, but Cypher's legs are broken, and the main beacon for firing a distress signal is damaged. Cypher instructs Kitai to locate the tail section of the ship, which broke off on entry to the atmosphere. Inside is the backup beacon, which they can use to signal Nova Prime. Cypher gives Kitai his weaponized cutlass, a wrist communicator, and six capsules of a fluid that enhances oxygen intake so he can breathe. Kitai leaves to find the tail section, with Cypher guiding him through the communicator. Kitai confronts many hazards; bitten by a paralytic leech after fleeing from a pack of baboon-like monkeys, he self-medicates but damages two of his capsules. After awakening, Kitai takes shelter just as the thermal shift arrives, where Cypher tells him a story about how he conceived "ghosting" to kill the Ursas. Kitai reaches a cliffside waterfall, and Cypher learns about the broken capsules. Knowing that the only way to continue with two capsules would be to skydive, Cypher orders Kitai to abort the mission, but Kitai, believing that his father sees him as a disappointment, refuses to comply after blaming Cypher's absence at home for Senshi's death. Kitai disobeys Cypher's order and skydives down the waterfall but is captured by a large eagle, and his communicator is damaged. In the eagle's nest, Kitai fails to defend her chicks against large panthers before escaping to a river, where he drifts on a raft and a thermal shift nearly freezes him to death. The eagle, who had been following him, shelters Kitai, sacrificing her life. Kitai reaches the tail section and learns that the ship's Ursa has escaped and killed the rest of the crew. He tries to activate the emergency beacon, but the atmosphere blocks the signal. He climbs up the volcano where he hopes the high altitude will help to activate the beacon, but he encountered the loose Ursa, and it attacks him. Kitai kills it using the "ghost" technique he learned from Cypher. After activating the beacon, he and Cypher are sent back to Nova Prime via a rescue team.

After living in the UK for ten years, author Bill Bryson has moved back to the US and is living in New Hampshire. Now in his 60s, he has been living there peacefully. A television interview reports that he has published several popular books and there is speculation he will be writing more. Bryson, however, has no such plans. Bryson and his wife Catherine attend a funeral. Afterwards, he takes a stroll up to the nearby Appalachian Trail, and suddenly decides he will hike its entire length. Catherine objects, presenting many accounts of accidents and murders on the trail. She relents on the condition that he not travel alone. He agrees and searches for a friend willing to join him. Everyone declines his invitation; some declare him insane. Finally, he is contacted by Stephen Katz, an old friend who offers to be a hiking companion. Despite appearances, Stephen claims to be fit enough for the challenge. Bill's wife is unhappy with his choice, but relents. Within less than a mile of their departure point, as groups of hikers overtake and pass them, they begin to grasp the difficulty of their ambition. Shortly after, a group of young children effortlessly runs by them up the trail, laughing and calling out to each other. Seeing others pass by so easily motivates them to carry on. Weeks pass, and they overcome obstacles and encounter interesting characters together, some friendlier and some more hostile. One day, having hiked miserably through pouring rain, they reach a hut. Carved into the log wall is an Appalachian Trail map showing the trail and their present location. They realize they have finished less than half of the trail after spending three months on it. The two ultimately trek into a restricted section posted "for experienced hikers only". While maneuvering their heavy and awkward backpacks alongside a precipitous drop, Bill trips and pulls Stephen with him down a steep, rocky cliff. They fall about fifteen feet onto a ledge spacious enough to be comfortable, but far enough below the trail to be unable to get back up to resume the hike. They spend the night there with no clear hope of rescue. The next day, they are awakened by early morning hikers who are able to get them off the ledge. The men decide they have had enough and end their journey. When comfortably back at home, Bill, going through his mail, finds a series of postcards from Stephen that were mailed from their various stops along the trail. The last one reads: "What's next?' Bill sits down and begins typing on his computer, " A Walk In The Woods."