On 24th August 1992 in the eastern German city of Rostock a rampaging mob, to the applause and cheering of more than 3,000 bystanders, besieged and set fire to a residential building containing, among others, more than 120 Vietnamese men, women and children on what has since become known as "The Night of the Fire." The riots became a symbol for xenophobia in the just recently reunited Germany. This film recounts the incident from the perspectives of three very different characters. Lien is a Vietnamese woman who settled in Germany, but at the end of the day she will be fighting for her life wondering if the place she called home could ever be one for her. Stefan and his friends are part of the night's violent turmoil. Young and angry, bored during the daytime, they look forward to the nightly riots and clashes with the police and foreigners. Unable to cope with his grief at the loss of a friend, Stefan gets lost in a circle of violence. Stefan's father Martin is an ambitious local ...

When Bobby's car breaks down in the desert while on the run from some of the bookies who have already taken two of his fingers, he becomes trapped in the nearby small town where the people are stranger than anyone he's encountered. After becoming involved with a (unbeknownst to him) young married woman, her husband hires Bobby to kill her. Later, she hires Bobby to kill the husband.

Michael Dixon is a seasoned agent working linewatch on the US/Mexico Border. Well respected by his peers at US Border Patrol, and well loved by his family (wife Angela and 5 year old daughter Emily), Michael's world is suddenly threatened by secrets from his past. Michael was not always the respectable family man he now has become - he was a vicious Los Angeles gang member who turned his back on the gang and his own brutal ways. But no one can quit the gang, so when a chance encounter leads the gang to Michael in New Mexico, Michael is forced to find a way to protect his family, even if it means helping the psychotic gang leader Drake smuggle a truckload of drugs across the border.

In Brighton in 1959, disgraced cop turned private detective Tony Aaron works largely on falsifying adulteries for use as evidence in divorce cases. He involves his wife as the fictional co-respondent for painter Carlo Stasio but the pair are shot dead in the hotel room. In charge of the case is Frank, Tony's ex-partner still on the Brighton force. His most likely suspects are Angeline, Stasio's mistress who is set to inherit his house and pictures, and Tony himself, parts of whose story don't seem to add up.