One in a series of 13 documentaries on renowned American poets produced by the New York Center for Visual History. Described by director St. Clair Bourne as “a narrative performance documentary,” this category-defiant film on the life of poet and writer Hughes and the times in which he lived and worked moves from America to Senegal to Paris, from the 1920s Harlem Renaissance to the Black Pride awakening of the 1960s.

Paul Lamont, a corrections officer and law student, leads a comfortable if culturally bankrupt, middle-class existence. Lamont's marriage is already in trouble when he bails out a mysterious Haitian, Jean Baptiste, in the belief that Baptiste has been wrongly accused. Baptiste insinuates himself in Lamont's life and leads him on a journey of discovery. Lamont then finds that acts of conscience can have unforeseen consequences.

The Keeper of Underwood Asylum has the mental patients of the wealthiest families in British Columbia. The rest of the family members have been dying under mysterious circumstances, so Biggs hires private investigator Richard Driver, who puts his assistant, Maybelline, in the asylum pretending she is his cousin and that they came from a family where the parents were all first cousins to each other and they decided to keep their love platonic for genetic reasons. Then he tries to get Inspector Clarke to check him in as a narcoleptic who didn't wake up with his body. They all know what the keeper has been doing, but it is a matter of proving it, and avoiding the hypnotized Biggs twins and Danny, who he is able to keep catatonic with his machine. Inspector Clarke gives driver a lot of trouble, and the kid giving shoe shines looks down on everybody, knowing more.

Constantino works as a keeper of flocks during the day and as a keeper of a museum during the night. He works continuously since he has nowhere to live. Aurora passes by him every morning and end of the day. One day she is brave enough to talk to him.

An angel, working for Heaven's administration, attempts to record the events of mankind's history without becoming personally involved.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Hitoshi Ueki) starts out as Nobunaga's "Sandal Keeper" but climbs the ranks to eventually become a trusted general.

A man whose livelihood comes from traditional logging with his elephant battles police who tell him his work is illegal.

When an aimless traveler discovers a lighthouse in the middle of the dark, unending desert, they find that they aren't as alone in this purgatory as they thought.

Sean Johnson (Shadner Ifrene), is a member of a fraternity and a serial killer, who is killing members of his own fraternity who do not adhere to the fraternity's guidelines. He is dating the woman of his dreams, Christina (Khalimah Gaston), who is also a member of a sorority. When Sean feels Christina's love for her sorority doesn't match the love he has for his fraternity, he decides to kill her, but there is a bump along the way. During the process, he finds out she is pregnant and is now torn between keeping her alive or finishing the job.

For Flynn, a single father and empty nester in the Bronx, beekeeping is a source of calm, wisdom, and healing. Undeterred by his severe allergy to bee stings, he cares for hives across the city—including several inside his daughter Alaura's childhood bedroom. When Flynn receives a life-threatening diagnosis, he reluctantly steps away from the bees under Alaura's care. Battling cancer while fretting about his hives' survival, Flynn prepares his daughter to continue living powerfully—with or without him.