A family of Iraqi-Israelis, each with his or her own weaknesses and determination, gathers for an Independence Day picnic. Their background stories are presented, reaching back as little as a few days or as far back as the War of Independence and the old country before that, and interlocking in ways that even they never realize.
From the front-lines of conflicts in Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, Palestine, Korea, 'the North' from Seattle to Genova, and the 'War on Terror' in New York, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
Fired from his band and hard up for cash, guitarist and vocalist Dewey Finn finagles his way into a job as a fifth-grade substitute teacher at a private school, where he secretly begins teaching his straight-A students the finer points of rock 'n' roll and the power of sticking it to the man.
Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.
In Santiago, Chile, the schoolteacher Luisa proposes a debate about sex with the parents of her students with the intention of giving classes about sex education to the youngsters.
When Isabelle and Theo invite Matthew to stay with them, what begins as a casual friendship ripens into a sensual voyage of discovery and desire in which nothing is off limits and everything is possible.