With a dead-end job and a potentially pregnant girlfriend jeopardizing his freedom, Des (Cathy’s Curse’s Alan Scarfe) spirals into bitterness, misanthropy, and fantasies of violent crime. While visiting a sick friend one afternoon, he crosses paths with the similarly jaded, even suicidal Laurie (Lynn Stewart), a young parent working as a waitress to provide for her child and struggling playwright husband (Philip Brown). Desperate to recapture a sense of vitality – and raise money for rent – this troubled couple invites Des and a group of local beatniks over for a hedonistic party that culminates in a series of shocking acts of violence and betrayal.
Busy navigating his final year of high school, brainy aspiring teacher Tom (Waiting for Caroline’s Robert Howay) is determined to land an elusive scholarship, but his hard work is constantly interrupted by his real obsession: pursuing the opposite sex. Before long, he develops a romance with former classmate Elaine (The Boy Who Could Fly’s Angela Gann), who persistently declines his sexual advances. This inspires Tom to consider other options, including his good-natured study buddy Kathy (Carol Pastinsky). But when they take their friendship to the next level, shocking complications threaten to derail Tom’s future, inspiring his friends to take drastic action.
Frustrated housewife Gwen James (Rabid’s Patricia Gage) feels like little more than a servant to her accountant husband (Strange Brew’s Douglas Campbell) and two daughters. Devoting all her time to their needs – and the demands of her cantankerous father – she feels her sense of self-worth slipping. As Gwen wrestles with increasingly despairing thoughts, she escapes into a world of glamorous fantasy and eventually finds a new sense of purpose by enrolling in a university course, where she strikes up a special bond with her young professor (American Nightmare’s Neil Dainard). But as Gwen reverts to a more youthful, carefree state, her family descends into chaos.
Cindy (Born for Hell’s Andrée Pelletier) is outraged by the sadism of her pimp boyfriend Dan (Ghost Story’s Miguel Fernandes), so she turns her back on him and her seedy profession. As he attempts to lure her back, she doubles down on her rebellion by liberating new recruit Marianne (Bingo’s Anne-Marie Provencher) and giving safe haven to several of Dan’s most prized employees, crippling his business. As this gang of frustrated sex workers waits for the dust to settle, Dan grows incensed, escalating the dispute into a full-blown war. Leaning into his mafia connections and insatiable appetite for violence, Dan orders vicious retaliation… but Cindy has some vengeful tricks up her sleeve.
Veteran country musician Jim King (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’s Donnelly Rhodes) has spent decades honing his craft, but he has yet to find success beyond the small-town touring circuit. With a prominent record label circling his current band, King and Country, Jim may be on the brink of a professional breakthrough, but the rest of his life is in disarray. From a suicidal son (Death Wish II’s David Daniels) and a terminally ill friend (Phobia's Neil Vipond) to a rocky romance with his bandmate Jenny (Pinocchio's Birthday Party's Nancy Belle Fuller), Jim's life is hard – and it’s only getting harder.
During a casual run in the forest, student athlete Renee (The Dead Zone’s Roberta Weiss) is unceremoniously interrupted by deranged mountain man Vern (Rolling Vengeance’s Lawrence King-Phillips), who ties a rope around her neck, drags her through the woods, and brings her to an isolated cabin. As helicopters search the area, Vern torments Renee with a series of terrifying and humiliating violations, but a glimmer of hope appears when his father Joe (Elves star Dan Haggerty) arrives on the scene and pledges to set her free. But Vern is incensed by this attack on his “property,” and he will stop at nothing to maintain his oppressive grip on Renee.
