Two chess players face off at a busy café, studying both the pieces on the board and the unfolding dramas at the neighboring tables. While a young couple fumbles through an uncomfortable blind date, a longtime marriage begins to crumble. Meanwhile, a pair of film noir fans suspect they're witnessing a real-life murder. This is an ensemble drama about conversations overheard in a bustling New York City bistro. With every whispered word, we gain a greater understanding of the big picture being formed all around us. From lovers' quarrels to artistic musings and hushed confessions, a crowded restaurant is the perfect place to discover just what strangers will say when they think no one else is listening.

Hillside (known as Fifteen in the United States) is a Canadian-American teen drama that aired on YTV in Canada from 1991 to 1993. Created and produced by John T. Binkley, the series was Nickelodeon's only teenage soap opera. The show was shot on videotape, similar to most daytime dramas.

The series was first conceived as Fifteen in an improvised form for The Disney Channel, where a 13-episode pilot series was produced and tested in the U.S. After Disney decided not to proceed with the project, Nickelodeon and Canadian partners joined Binkley in producing the series which was known in its first and second seasons as Hillside in Canada, and throughout the 65-episode run as Fifteen in the U.S. The show was subsequently syndicated around the world, with runs in Germany and Israel, among others.

The series features a large ensemble cast which underwent several changes over the show's four-season run. Notable cast members include Laura Harris, Enuka Okuma, and Ryan Reynolds.

Parole officer Jack Mabry has only a few weeks left before retirement and wishes to finish out the cases he's been assigned. One such case is that of Gerald 'Stone' Creeson, a convicted arsonist who is up for parole. Jack is initially reluctant to indulge Stone in the coarse banter he wishes to pursue and feels little sympathy for the prisoner's pleads for an early release. Seeing little hope in convincing Jack himself, Stone arranges for his wife to seduce the officer, but motives and intentions steadily blur amidst the passions and buried secrets of the corrupted players in this deadly game of deception.