影片由三个短片构成——《魔法(比魔法更不真切)》《开着的门》《再来一次》。女性角色的多重性和镜像性是滨口之前的作品中的主题,在他的新作《偶然与想象》中也是如此。前作《欢乐时光》和《夜以继日》,从字面上看,颇有小说的味道,而《偶然与想象》则可以说是一部短篇小说集。叙事节奏更强化了这一印象:三集,每集围绕一个女性角色展开,又分为三幕。三个短片讲述了一个意想不到的三角恋、一场未遂的诱惑和一个因误会而相遇的故事。尽管零散,但仍保持了有机的叙事流程,甚至还强调了这一点。虽然大部分的动作都发生在一个空间里,而且只有两个演员参与,这部电影却不让人觉得像一出室内剧。这不仅仅是由于对话的缘故,还在于其复杂的时空概念,最后一集几乎变成了科幻片。我们所见证的时刻都与感人的普遍命运相连,以选择、遗憾、欺骗和巧合为标志,它们是影片真正的主角。。While rowing out in the ocean, Mitch rescues an underwater photographer, named Linda, floating on some wreckage. Linda's somewhat disjointed, frantic story about something attacking her in an underwater cave which killed her partner and destroyed her boat is misconstructed by Kay Morgan, an ambitious, publicity seeking newspaper reporter, who creates a media frenzy by starting rumors about a "creature in the bay." Harvey Miller, the new lifeguard and prankster, benefits from the events by selling undersea creature T-shirts. Meanwhile, Shauni rescues a young girl from drowning and soon becomes compelled to rescue the girl, her brother and their mother from the life they live in the slums of South-Central L.A., much to Eddie's chagrin. While Shauni deals with her possessive father who disapproves of her lifeguard job, Mitch also pressures Captain Thorp to ask for funding for new advanced motorboats, called Scarabs, for the team.。