Rome, 1984, Aria is nine-year-old girl. On the verge of divorce, Aria’s infantile and selfish parents are too preoccupied with their careers and extra-marital affairs to properly tend to any of Aria’s needs. While her two older sisters are pampered, Aria is treated with cold indifference. Yet she yearns to love and to be loved. At school, Aria excels academically but is considered a misfit by everyone. She is misunderstood. Aria finds comfort in her cat – Dac and in her best friend – Angelica. Thrown out of both parents’ homes, abandoned by all, even her best friend, Aria finally reaches the limit of what she can bear. She makes an unexpected decision in her life.

Mickey has been reading Alice in Wonderland, and falls asleep. He finds himself on the other side of the mirror, where the furniture is alive. He eats a walnut, which makes him briefly larger, then small. He dances around a lot, ultimately doing a major number with a deck of cards. He dances with the queen, making the king jealous. He comes after Mickey with swords, and Mickey defends himself with a sewing needle. Mickey gets the upper hand, and the king calls for reinforcements. Mickey finds himself chased by several decks, which throw their spots at him. He turns on a fan and blows them away, back through the mirror, where his alarm is ringing.

Street vendor Marcia is scraping together a living in the ghetto section of Kingston, Jamaica. Her young daughter is being hounded by a rich sugar daddy who has been supporting the family; her brother’s life is being threatened by a local thug. So, when the licentious patron threatens to abandon the family, and her brother breaks down under pressure, Marcia hits bottom. She needs to escape to a haven where she can get lost in fantasy; Marcia, don in sex-me-up clothing and outrageous glamour, finds refuge in the beats of the very dance hall outside of which she normally vends.

A young girl with a special gift comes of age during one of the most desolate periods in American history in this dark Dust Bowl fantasy inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid.”

Agnese and Stefano are profoundly different. She is only seventeen, lives with her mother – a harsh and devoted woman – is a regular church-goer and is about to take a vow of chastity to last until marriage. He is twenty-five, has a violent temper and a difficult past behind. He works as a warden in a car park that borders a Roma camp. Their unexpected meeting engenders a true sentiment, made of little stolen moments and mutual help.