One of director Pedro Almodóvar's best films recounts the story of Victor, born on a bus to prostitute Penélope Cruz. As a troubled teen, Victor is in the apartment of drug addict Elena (Francesca Neri). He accidentally shoots a policeman and gets sent to prison. Years later, Victor learns Elena has married the now-paralyzed cop, and he begins to stalk her!

When a strange epidemic strikes Taiwan, victims scurry around like cockroaches. Two strangers -- a man and a woman -- get left behind when their building is quarantined. They assuage their loneliness differently -- he by getting drunk, she by lip-syncing songs from 1950s Hong Kong musicals -- until a hole opens between their apartments, forcing them into contact.