Paul Thomas Anderson's acclaimed ensemble drama starring, among many others, Julianne Moore, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Tom Cruise. The lives of various inhabitants of Los Angeles and San Fernando valley intersect when dying television producer Earl Partridge Jason Robards seeks a reconciliation with his womanising son, Frank T.J. Mackey Cruise. Meanwhile, game show host Jimmy Gator Philip Baker Hall - also dying of cancer - tries to reconcile with his coke addict daughter Claudia, who embarks on a relationship with cop Jim Kurring John C. Reilly. Jimmy's last television appearance goes awry when child genius contestant Stanley Spector Jeremy Blackman - who is bullied by his father, Rick Michael Bowen - refuses to participate, while Donnie Smith William H. Smith, a former contestant on the show in the 1960s, declares his love to barman Brad Craig Kvinsland.