The Freeling family is a typical middle class family living in the peaceful Cuesta Verde Estates. Steve, his wife Diane, 16-year-old daughter Dana, 8-year-old Robbie, and 5-year-old Carol Ann live in a track house. Soon strange things begin to happen around the house; the pet canary dies, mysterious storms occur, and Carol Ann is summoned to the TV set, where a strange shaft of green light hits her and causes the room to shake. As the curious events...

A true story about a teacher in a racially divided school who gives her students what they've always needed, a voice. Erin Gruwell comes to a southern California high school bubbling over with naive optimism. She quickly discovers that her unruly classroom is not easily won over by her good intentions. After a few floundering attempts to connect with her students, Gruwell gives them the assignment of keeping journals about their own lives, This assignment...

A true story about a teacher in a racially divided school who gives her students what they've always needed, a voice. Erin Gruwell comes to a southern California high school bubbling over with naive optimism. She quickly discovers that her unruly classroom is not easily won over by her good intentions. After a few floundering attempts to connect with her students, Gruwell gives them the assignment of keeping journals about their own lives, This assignment...

Hilary Swank stars in this story about a teacher in a racially divided school who gives her students what they've always needed a voice. Swank plays Erin Gruwell, the real-life teacher at Long Beach's Wilson High who inspired her students to overcome the gangs that divided them and the education system that forgot them.

Two siblings who run a California horse ranch discover something wonderful and sinister in the skies above, and the owner of an adjacent theme park tries to profit from the mysterious, otherworldly phenomenon.

The migration of the Joad family to California from their dust-bowl farm in Oklahoma during the Great Depression.

Bob and his wife Carol are a sophisticated California couple who attend a secluded institute for group therapy. Their original intention is to merely observe, but they become so involved that they decide to test the strength of their marital trust and honesty by experimenting with mutually tolerated affairs. Ted and Alice are their closest friends who find themselves continually amused at the latest Bob & Carol sexual adventures until finally they...

The adventures of a young woman living in Northern California for a year.

Olive is a little girl who dreams of winning the Little Miss Sunshine contest. Her family wants her dream to come true, but they are so dysfunctional that they can barely make it through a day without some disaster befalling them. Olive's father, Richard, is unsuccessful as a motivational speaker. He is barely on speaking terms with Olive's mother. Her uncle Frank has attempted suicide following an unsuccessful romance with a male graduate student....

A bizarre murder brings together three law-enforcement officers and a career criminal, each of whom must navigate a web of conspiracy and betrayal in the scorched landscapes of California.