Henry Hackett is the workaholic editor of a New York City tabloid. He loves his job, but the long hours and low pay are leading to discontent. Also, publisher Bernie White faces financial straits, and has hatchet-man Alicia Clark—Henry's nemesis—impose unpopular cutbacks.

When a Supreme Court judge commits suicide and his secretary is found murdered, all fingers point to Carl Anderson, a homeless veteran who's deaf and mute. But when public defender Kathleen Riley is assigned to his case, she begins to believe that Anderson may actually be innocent. Juror Eddie Sanger, a Washington lobbyist, agrees, and together the pair begins their own investigation of events.

Thirty-something Isabelle spends her time going from her tiny, solitary West Side apartment to that of her grandmother on the Lower East Side. While her grandmother plots to find her a romantic match, Isabelle is courted by a married, worldly author, Anton, yet can't seem to shake the down-to-earth appeal of Sam, a pickle vendor.

A struggling woman finds unexpected love with a charismatic older salesman at a real estate seminar. Their passionate relationship clashes with the values of her family, particularly her father.

Having lost what little community support they once had, the Des Moines Vixens, an abysmally bad and extraordinarily unlucky women's professional basketball team, appear headed for extinction. Their prospects brighten, however, when the Vixens' new leadership, a florist and his dope-smoking son, use the profits from their new cash crop (marijuana) to develop the team. Still, if they want to remain in town, the female cagers must prove themselves against a military men's squad. The late NBA great "Pistol Pete" Maravich appears as a member of the Army team.

The plot concerns two documentary film students who travel to a small, isolated town in the middle of nowhere to film a documentary about murders that occurred there. Soon they are stalked by someone who is afraid the students are getting to close to a close guarded secret in the town that led to the murders.