A New York schoolteacher experiences a midlife crisis when, in quick succession, her husband leaves, her adoptive mother dies, and her biological mother, an eccentric talk show host, materializes and turns her life upside down as she begins a courtship with the father of one of her students.

Neely, an aspiring actress, gets a role on the popular soap opera "Heartbreak Hospital." Her neighbor, Lottie, a huge fan of the show, can't differentiate between fiction and reality, and her obsession and jealousy endanger Neely and the rest of the cast.

A working-class girl and her trust-fund boyfriend move into a downtown New York tenement apartment to try to make a life together. Their volatile relationship is further complicated when they learn their angry downstairs neighbor is building an A-bomb in his apartment.

A mismatched couple meet on a blind date in Manhattan... as Stuart and Nicole progress from love to marriage to discussions about starting a family, their relationship faces the challenges of critical friends, emotionally-demanding relatives, time-consuming careers, different religions and the stresses caused by the endless negotiations all couples wage daily.