A down-and-out Brooklyn detective is hired to track down a singer on an odyssey that will take him through the desperate streets of Harlem, the smoke-filled jazz clubs of New Orleans, and the swamps of Louisiana and its seedy underworld of voodoo.

New York advertising executive Morris Codman seems to have it all - lots of talent and a beautiful girlfriend, Debbie. When he loses his job he decides to use his advertising expertise to create, package and market a shady product that will make him millions. Debbie tries to convince him that money isn't everything and she loves him just the way he is. Morris' bizarre antics in promoting his product surprisingly lead to a fortune, but can love survive his quest for the almighty dollar?

In New York, racist Capt. Stanley White becomes obsessed with destroying a Chinese-American drug ring run by Joey Tai, an up-and-coming young gangster as ambitious as he is ruthless. While pursuing an unauthorized investigation, White grows increasingly willing to violate police protocol, resorting to progressively violent measures -- even as his concerned wife, Connie, and his superiors beg him to consider the consequences of his actions.

Sister Glen Moore's dying wishes include a eulogy by Jesse Jackson; a spiritual delivered by "the big opera star," Benita Cross; and a final face-to-face with her estranged mother, the redoubtable Mrs. Gerturde Hudson. Reverend Dexter, of Brooklyn's New Canaan Church, must rely on his full reserves of wisdom, patience and heavenly guidance to negotiate the late sister's exquisitely orchestrated funeral and the little secret that she carries with her to the grave...

An uptight New York City tax lawyer gets his life turned upside down one day when he's asked to escort a feisty free-spirited ex-convict who asks him to help prove her innocence of her crime.