高中生男生艾德（奈特·沃尔夫饰）无意中发现自己的邻居大叔（米基·洛克饰）的神秘身份，因为这个貌不起扬的大叔竟然是FBI退休了的前探员,，在他的帮助下，艾德找回了生活的自信。然而他发现了一件事情，那就是这个非常有趣的大叔已经身患绝症时间不多了，他心里非常复杂，像打倒了五位瓶一样。

讲述俄罗斯历史上唯一一位被冠以“大帝”之名的女皇叶卡捷琳娜二世·阿列克谢耶芙娜的崛起，以及她和丈夫彼得三世·费奥多罗维奇的关系。凯瑟琳10岁时被介绍给了彼得，作为欧洲皇室使用婚姻控制国家间政治联系的工具。虽然她承认一开始觉得他很讨厌，但在她满16岁之后，两人结婚了。两人婚后生活动荡，传闻称都有婚外情，彼得的脾气变得让人难以忍受，在他登上俄罗斯王位仅6个月后，凯瑟琳组织反对者推翻了他，开始了自己34年的成功统治，而彼得被暗杀。

Precocious, bohemian teenager Placid Lake, finishes high school and decides to do the one thing that will annoy his new age parents the most--go straight! With a few weeks spent reading a library of self-help manuals, Placid has it all sorted out--and he has the haircut and the cheap suit to prove it. Can Placid Lake retire his rage in the pursuit of beige; embrace conformity and leap on the fast track to corporate success. Will his 'brainiac' friend Gemma be able to talk him out of this economic rationalist madness? And will poor Doug and Sylvia survive the ignominy of having a son with a burgeoning future in insurance? Never underestimate the evil of banality.