The ever-poker-faced Ilona loses her job as a restaurant hostess, as her tram driver husband, Lauri, also finds himself out of work. Together they must hit the streets of Helsinki, facing up to hardship and humiliation in their quest for survival, guided through the gloom by a ray of hope.

An ordinary man frustrated with the various flaws he sees in society begins to psychotically and violently lash out against them.

Gus Robinson loves three things: his job, family, and country; but suddenly he's losing all three. When his factory shuts down, Gus faces unemployment. It's a time of change for his wife Martha and son Charlie as they reassess a world Gus barely recognizes. But through the nightmare, one dream they cannot take away from him; the reason he will continue to fight: his son, Charlie.

After being harassed at the office by her boss, Eila gets sacked and tries to find a new job. After difficulties, she eventually begins to work as a model to a sculptor.

Recently fired and drowning in debt, medical expenses, and anger, Matt drifts through the shadows of survival against the backdrop of a collapsing modern economy.

Corporate downsizing expert Ryan Bingham spends his life in planes, airports, and hotels, but just as he’s about to reach a milestone of ten million frequent flyer miles, he meets a woman who causes him to rethink his transient life.

Frau Emma Küsters prepares dinner late one seemingly-ordinary afternoon in her seemingly-ordinary Frankfurt kitchen. She wants to add canned sausages to the stew; her irritating daughter-in-law thinks otherwise. But the point is moot: Ernst Küsters has not only murdered the personnel director at the soap factory where he's employed but succeeded that by committing suicide.

When Jeff Diamond is unexpectedly laid off from his job, his wife Susan accepts an offer by her best friend Kathy to pay Jeff as an escort to a party. Kathy enjoyed Jeff so much she requests him again at a higher rate which includes sex. After being unsuccessful in locating a new job, Susan decides to continue booking escort appointments to make up the lost income.

An employee in an assurance company threatens to commit suicide when management announces a massive layoff, the company uses this threat to its own advantage by turning the incident into an advertising campaign. With the success of the campaign, however, he is no longer a desperate man pointing a gun to his head, but a potential leader who wishes to take advantage of his failed suicide.

When layoffs are announced at a remote oilfield office, team morale deteriorates with both humorous, and heartbreaking, results. With support, and often-questionable guidance from her co-workers, new engineer Wendy must navigate personal ethics and corporate industry within one of the world's most controversial industries.

After finishing his outrageous task, a soulless executive gets his reward.

A man returns to his hometown in northeast China and meets a restaurateur of the same age. They discover a deep connection with each other through the conversation. In the 1990s, some teenagers are about to get into a fight until the two run off in different directions. The relationship between social progress and personal life under the special tide gradually emerges in an ordinary dialogue.