What happens when worlds collide? Citizens of L.A. find out in the powerful racial drama Crash.

In a film in which all characters are somehow connected, racist police officer Ryan (Matt Dillon) and his rookie partner Hanson (Ryan Phillippe) pull over a rich black couple (Terrence Howard and Thandie Newton) because they can. Hanson silently objects as his partner horribly harasses the couple. Somewhere else in L.A., the neurotic Jean (Sandra Bullock) and her Los Angeles District Attorney husband Rick (Brendan Fraser) are car jacked by a duo of young hoods (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges and Larenz Tate).

Don Cheadle in Crash Credit: Lions Gate Films

An Iranian shopkeeper (Shaun Taub) finds his store trashed and blames a Latino locksmith (Michael Pena) whom he argued with earlier in the day. A group of Thai illegal aliens are discovered and then dropped off in Chinatown by one black thug because, hey, all these guys look alike. All these prejudice-in-the-city stories are connected to police detective Graham (Don Cheadle) and his hot partner/lover detective Ria (Jennifer Esposito) who are investigating a cop murder that the department is trying to pin on the wrong guy all while looking for the killer of a young black man whose body is dumped off the road in the Hollywood hills.