Set in ancient China, Zeng Jing is a skilled assassin who finds herself in possession of a mystical Buddhist monk's remains. She begins a quest to return the remains to its rightful resting place, and thus places herself in mortal danger because a team of assassins is in a deadly pursuit to possess the remains which holds an ancient power-wielding secret.

Gentle giant Barney Emerald is drugged and robbed while on holiday in Pattaya. He befriends two Thai siblings, one of which is a muay-thai kick-boxing champion, and stays with them until he can recover his passport. Unfortunately the hunt for his passport makes him cross ways with international gangsters. But Barney has found a secret weapon, the very spicy Thai salad Somtum.

Remy, a resident of Paris, appreciates good food and has quite a sophisticated palate. He would love to become a chef so he can create and enjoy culinary masterpieces to his heart's delight. The only problem is, Remy is a rat. When he winds up in the sewer beneath one of Paris' finest restaurants, the rodent gourmet finds himself ideally placed to realize his dream.

In 1980s Italy, a relationship begins between seventeen-year-old teenage Elio and the older adult man hired as his father's research assistant.