An African-American officer investigates a murder in a racially charged situation in World War II.

Carnelle Scott is a restless Mississippi girl looking for a life change. She decides to enter a beauty pageant, which her cousin had won years before. Despite a lack of support from those close to her Carnelle remains determined. She enlists the help of a seamstress to outfit her for the competition, while rebuffing the advances of predatory men, as she aims to bring home the crown.

When a childless couple of an ex-con and an ex-cop decide to help themselves to one of another family's quintuplets, their lives become more complicated than they anticipated.

An undercover FBI agent falls in love with a recently widowed mafia wife, who is trying to restart her life following her husband's murder while being pursued by a libidinous mafia kingpin seeking to claim her for himself.

A physically perfect but innocent man goes in search of his long-lost twin brother, who is short, a womanizer, and small-time crook.

Julius and Vincent Benedict are the results of an experiment that would allow for the perfect child. Julius was planned and grows to athletic proportions. Vincent is an accident and is somewhat smaller in stature. Vincent is placed in an orphanage while Julius is taken to a South Seas island and raised by philosophers. Vincent becomes the ultimate lowlife and is about to be killed by loan sharks when Julius discovers that he has a brother and begins looking for him.