An Argentinian newspaper publisher is imprisoned by his government for dissent.

A hapless talent manager named Danny Rose, by helping a client, gets dragged into a love triangle involving the mob. His story is told in flashback, an anecdote shared amongst a group of comedians over lunch at New York's Carnegie Deli. Rose's one-man talent agency represents countless incompetent entertainers, including a one-legged tap dancer, and one slightly talented one: washed-up lounge singer Lou Canova, whose career is on the rebound.

A police chief in the war-torn streets of Los Angeles discovers that an extraterrestrial creature is hunting down residents - and that he is the next target.

An ethical Baltimore defense lawyer disgusted with rampant legal corruption is forced to defend a judge he despises in a rape trial under the threat of being disbarred.

Ray Ponti is a down and out father, a man trapped by his past and frightened of his future. Cly is a streetwise runaway, waiting tables by day and stripping by night. Both are fighting for existence in the slime-bowl of New York's gutters, where drugs and prostitution are the only currency. Ray is in over the top with the Mafia and Cly is emotionally destroyed by the absence of her father. Severence is a gripping story set against the seedy backdrop of New York City, where broken dreams and empty promises litter the streets.