Among others, it features Harvey Keitel, William Hurt, Stockard Channing, Harold Perrineau Jr., Giancarlo Esposito, Ashley Judd, and Forest Whitaker.

The film follows the lives of multiple characters, all of whom are connected via their patronage of a small Brooklyn tobacconist store managed by Augustus "Auggie" Wren.

The next day, Paul is lost in thought as he crosses the street and is saved from being run down by a truck by Rashid, a young black man.

Auggie imports a box of Cuban cigars that he intends to sell to city officials; he has spent $5,000 on the shipment, the entirety of his savings.

With Paul suffering writer's block, Auggie offers to tell him the best Christmas story he has ever heard in exchange for lunch.

Weeks later, he regrets the theft and decides to return the camera, only to find that the grandmother has died in the meantime, meaning that she had spent her last Christmas with him.

During and after the closing credits, Auggie's story is enacted in a poignant black-and-white sequence to the soundtrack of Tom Waits's "Innocent When You Dream."

The screenplay is based on an op-ed piece titled Auggie Wren's Christmas Story, which appeared in The New York Times on December 25, 1990.

The consensus summarizes: "Smoke draws in a stellar ensemble, holds the audience's attention with a robust blend of connected stories, and sends viewers out on a pleasurable high.

The character Augustus "Auggie" Wren (played by Harvey Keitel) is modelled after the real-life owner of Augie's Jazz Bar, which closed in 1998.

[7][8][9] A VHS copy of the film can be seen on top of the television set during the house party finale of the 1996 horror movie Scream.