A regular guy struggles with a repressive home and professional life, as well as making amends for the trouble his free-spirited brother and sister cause about town.
Ignatz & Lotte follows the transformation of a small family during the year bracketing the first Gulf War. In the day Ignatz works for a television news affiliate, while at night he volunteers with his friend Kenji at the local alternative cable news program. Omnipresent political and economic pressures leave him little time to spend with his hard-working wife Lotte and their pre-school son Ewan. When Kenji moves from friend to boyfriend, it proves to be the last straw. Lotte realizes her family is disintegrating for a host of reasons from the macro to the micro. The painful sight of his son waving goodbye to him from a taxi window sharpens the painful nature of the times for Ignatz.
Divorced professor Susan Selky lives alone in a Brooklyn apartment with her young son, Alex. When Alex fails to return home from school one afternoon, a frantic Selky contacts the police. Detective Al Menetti, a father himself, takes an interest in the case that quickly turns into an obsession. As a devastated Selky struggles to come to terms with Alex's disappearance, Menetti steps out from behind the badge to continue investigating.
After their car breaks down, a group of young travelers find themselves stranded at a roadside museum run by the mysterious Mr. Slausen and populated by his collection of supernatural mannequins.
