A NYPD officer imprisons and tortures an admitted cop-killer, but finds the tables turned when his victim refuses to break and in fact urges more punishment.

n a town called Hope on the edge of Britain’s empire, desperations clash: the beautiful Dorothea Brook is desperate to free her pregnant sister Rose from the clutches of Fraser, a fortune hunter. A local politician, William Poyner, is desperate for cash and thinks marriage to Dorothea will save him. Dorothea hires Lawrence Hayes, a rough but handsome Argonaut, to bribe Fraser with jewels and to marry Rose; Hayes desperately loves Dorothea and may marry Rose to stay close to her. But Dorothea has a lover, the ravishing Anne Cooper, who encourages the match with Poyser to give the lovers cover. Are these remedies, each desperate in its turn, going to make anyone happy?

A lesbian couple’s eight-year relationship is put under strain when Barbara is diagnosed with breast cancer. Barbara is told she has three years to live, and so she and Sandy document their lives with courageand frankness. The two women talk about their identity as Jewish women and lesbians and speak openly about the difficult issues each is facing.