Norman has always had a fascination with dolls since he was a child. Now a grown man, his complex needs are supported by carers. When Johnny, a replacement care worker arrives, Norman s prize Doll, Hugo, mysteriously goes missing.

In 1997, 11-year-old Jesse finds a mysterious staircase in the woods and disappears - - 20 years later, a group of hikers sets off into the very same woods. Unfortunately for them, they come face-to-face with the very same set of stairs...

Twelve-year-old Isabel and her mother, who was a famous political singer, had to escape Chile after the 1973 military coup. Isabel’s father stayed behind fighting in the underground. For six years, they have lived in a new apartment building in East Berlin. At first, the neighbors made an effort to welcome them, but later became more distant. Isabel does not feel at home in the strange country. Not even her friendship to Philip, the neighbors’ son, can change her mind. Almost every day, Isabel sits on the stairs waiting for a letter from her father, from whom she has not heard for many years.

A mental hospital somewhere in Tuscany during the thirties. Far away from fascism, this closed world is rules over by Dr. Bonaccorsi, a passionate benevolent psychiatrist whose dream is to isolate the germ of madness. He is also a very active ladies'man and makes three women benefit from his sexual itch: Francesca the hospital manager's wife, Bianca, his devoted nurse and Carla, a nymphomaniac doctor's wife. His well-ordered universe starts being challenged with the coming of Anna, a trainee psychiatrist, who disapproves of his theory on the origin of madness. Worse, she resists his advances. As Bonaccorsi is more insecure than he looks, what will become of him?

Five people are invited to a remote doll museum and one by one they are mysteriously killed. The survivors find out the truth: dolls have spirits, and they have come to settle scores.

Pangrum is a 7 year old girl who only talks to a doll named Wawa, which her father bought for her. He later killed himself in front of her and Nuanthip, her mother, remarried. They have a jade doll as a family asset and there are people who want it. After Nuanthip dies accidentally, Pangrum is adopted by relatives. She put the jade on Wawa so no one will steal it. The power of the Jade doll attracts Nuanthip's spirit and other spirits around there.

Marie, who was orphaned as a young girl, has a case of arrested development that makes her act younger than her age. One day she stops to look in a store window displaying various ornate dolls. Claude, the affluent, eccentric store owner, sees her and becomes infatuated which leads to her and him meeting and deciding to go and take a look at Claude personal doll collection at his house. Marie, unaware of Claude's bizarre obsession with dolls, decides to marry him.

The story of two small town boys from different sides of the tracks: 1950's childhood and self-redemption. Young "Whitey" Black (so called because of a tuft of blanched hair on the left side of his head) lives in poverty with his single mother and ailing, four-year old sister, Sandy. Just across town, young Jerry Barlow lives the advantages of a middle class lifestyle with both parents and his younger brother. When mischief casts Whitey and Jerry into a shared paper route, Jerry quickly learns of Whitey's desire to buy his sister an angel doll for Christmas. Even though no such dolls exist in their hometown, Whitey, Jerry and a host of colorful characters set out in search of Sandy's gift. Along the way, reversals of fortune, theft, prejudice and, ultimately, the boy's friendship opens their eyes to the vastness of the small town around them.

When Norman's nightmares become reality, he must overcome his fears and confront the demonic forces that have possessed Hugo, his prize Doll.

Cynthia Kyle enters puberty with a vengeance, murdering her parents as they make love: she's wanted her father to love only her. Eight years later, she's free and wants to marry, but nightmares plague her so she seeks psychiatric help. The doctor asks her to describe a dream: it's long and elaborate with dreams within dreams of Lucifer, Hell, and her parents in various guises. To shed her guilt, the shrink recommends that she commit suicide in her next dream. In it, she falls in love with an artist who reminds her of her father, responds to a woman who finds her attractive, and celebrates her first school-yard kiss. The dream takes her back to her parents' bedside. Is any cure possible?