Two different stories which are unrelated to one another in which in the first story showcase's a young and pretty white woman named Vi (Selma Blair) who is studying as a writing student in a college campus in the mid 80's. Vi shares her fiction story in class but only to be greeted with disbelief and repulsion from her peers. At the same time, Marcus (Leo Fitzpatrick) who was born with deformities due to cerebral palsy calls off their relationship after he feels there is no more kinkiness between them. Vi then develops an emotional experience with her professor Scott (Robert Wisdom). Meanwhile, in the second story, a frustrated middle aged man named Toby Oxman (Paul Giamatti) focuses his attention on Scooby Livingston (Mark Webber), a vulnerable teenage boy whose dream is to become a TV star. His personal life at home is highly dysfunctional where he lives with his strict father Marty Livingston (John Goodman) a prim and proper mother Fern Livingston (Julie Hagerty) together with his siblings. Toby plans to make a documentary about high school kids in America but only to be accused by his editor for making fun and exploiting his subjects.