Director-writer Jieho Lee and screenwriter collaborator Bob DeRosa approach the material with a rather pretentiously philosophical set of themes—Pleasure, Sorrow, Love and Happiness, each represented by one of the short stories.

In the first segment Forest Whitaker is a wimp of a bank employee who seeks his breakthrough chance when he overhears co-workers talk of a race track fix. He bets recklessly on what he thinks is a sure thing. Of course, it all goes wrong and he is in debt to the ruthless gangster nicknamed Fingers (Andy Garcia), who cuts of fingers to terrorize delinquent payers. Whitaker’s character decides to rob a bank to get the cash he desperately needs.

We also get the story of Fingers’s henchman collector (Brendan Fraser), who must show Fingers’s brash nephew (Emile Hirsch) around the town, get him some sex and help him to learn how things work.

In another section, Sara Michelle Gellar plays Trista, a pop singer whose contract is bought by Fingers. He cruelly subjects her to his control, and she faces danger if she crosses him. When Fraser’s character is assigned to keep tabs on her, an attraction develops, and as we know, Fingers will not like it at all.

Kevin Bacon comes into the picture as a doctor who is sweet on Gina (Julie Delpy), the wife of his friend. He suppresses these longings, but when Gina is bitten by a rattlesnake, he desperately wants to save her. She has a rare blood type, and there’s none at the hospital. He learns on a TV show that Trista has that type blood. Can he get to her and convince her to give her blood so he can save Gina in a race against the clock?