Płatni mordercy, Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) i Vincent (John Travolta), dostają zlecenie, by odzyskać z rąk przypadkowych rabusiów tajemniczą walizkę bossa mafii. Nie dość tego, Vincent dostaje kolejną robotę - na czas nieobecności gangstera w mieście ma zaopiekować się jego poszukującą wrażeń żoną Mią (Uma Thurman). Vincent i Jules niespodziewanie wpadają po uszy, gdy przypadkowo zabijają zakładnika. Kłopoty ma też podupadły bokser (Bruce Willis), który otrzymał dużą sumę za przegranie swojej walki. Walkę jednak wygrywa, a Los Angeles staje się od tej chwili dla niego za małe. Specjaliści od mokrej roboty będą mieli co robić...

Tasmania, 1954: Slovenian migrant Melita abandons her husband and young daughter, Sonja. Sonja's distraught father perseveres with his new life in a new country, but he is soon crushed into an alcoholic despair, and Sonja herself abandons him at the earliest opportunity. Now, nearly 20 years later, a single and pregnant Sonja returns to Tasmania's highlands and to her father in an attempt to put the pieces of her life back together.

Based on Soseki Natsume’s 1908 novel of the same title, Poppy is an ornately complicated story of desire and ambition. Fujio is beautiful, talented, well-heeled, and engaged to Munechika, a rising young diplomat. She has promised him a gold watch, a family heirloom, as an emblem of their engagement. But she falls in love with Ono, a student employed to tutor her in English, who is attracted by her beauty and wealth. Ono is himself bound by an engagement to Sayoko, the daughter of his mentor, Professor Inoue. The self-centered Fujio is ready to forsake everything for Ono, but he is prevailed upon to go ahead with his marriage to Sayoko. Fujio then offers the watch to Munechika who, perceiving Fujio’s true feelings, hurls the watch into the sea.

For generations, an heirloom in the form of a ring has been passed down to the first daughter in the current ring holder's immediate bloodline to wed and bear another daughter. The next heir recounts the ring's history, what it means to her, and how it has affected her growth and familial relationships.