13 year-old Shaun, small for his age and growing up on a rundown council estate in a northern town in 1983, finds himself increasingly bullied after the death of his father while on active service in the Falklands.

East Berlin, 1984. Secret Service (Stasi) agent Gerd Wiesler (Muhe) is assigned to spy on Party-faithful playwright Georg Dreyman (Koch) and his actress girlfriend Christa-Maria Sieland (Gedeck), little realising that his mission has been ordered by Culture Minister Hempf (Thieme), who wants to disgrace the playwright and have an affair with the actress.

An inner-city junior high school teacher with a drug habit forms an unlikely friendship with one of his students after she discovers his secret.

Teenage LA drug dealer Johnny Truelove (Hirsch), owed money by psychotic crystal meth addict Jake Mazursky (Foster), kidnaps Mazursky's brother Zack (Yelchin) and leaves him in the care of pal Frankie (Timberlake).

In the near future, the sun is dying. After a mission sent to reignite the star is lost, another ship, Icarus II, is sent to propel a nuclear device the size of Manhattan into the heart of the sun.