As children, the introverted Smile was being bullied by a gang of kids until the brash Peco comes by and chases all of them them away. Peco then takes Smile under his wings and teaches him how to play the game of ping pong. From there a life long best friend relationship comes into existence between these two polar opposite kids.

Makoto 'Smile' Tsukimoto and his friend Yutaka 'Peco' Hoshino have been playing table tennis together since they were kids, but as they enter high school, they find that the game, and how they see it, has changed. Peco, brimming with confidence and energy, wants to be the best in the world, but the reserved Smile has little fighting spirit and doesn't want to sacrifice others' happiness just to win, despite his innate talent. As the two grow, and experience the ups and downs of the sport – and life – they try to figure out exactly who they really are and what drives them to play.

When an ex-ping-pong prodigy seeks the wisdom of a taoist sage, he learns that life - and table tennis - is more about the journey than the destination.

In the 1920s, the unlikely bond between Chinese erotic dancer Lee Ping and an Aboriginal farmhand enables her to escape the clutches of her white employer.

A solitary character sips coffee and ruminates in his haunted basement apartment. A pensive woman wanders suburban streets. A beautiful person smokes, and is unable to change their face at a Christmas party. A picnic descends into a bacchanalian nightmare. A state-of-the-art mall is explored, while another character is drawn into an ever-tightening surreal trap.