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Map drawn by Jules Feiffer to illustrate the book Milo is a boy bored by the world around him; every activity seems a waste of time. He arrives home from another boring day at school to find a mysterious package. Among its contents are a small tollbooth and a map of "the Lands Beyond," illustrating the Kingdom of Wisdom (which will also guide the reader from its place on the endpapers of the book). Attached to the package is a note "For Milo, who has plenty of time." Warned by an included sign to have his destination in mind, he decides without much thought to go to Dictionopolis, assuming this is a pretend game to be played on the floor of his room. He maneuvers through the tollbooth in his electric toy car, and instantly finds himself driving on a road that is clearly not in his city apartment. Milo begins with Expectations, a pleasant place where he starts on Wisdom's road. In Expectations, he seeks directions from the Whether Man, who is full of endless talk. As Milo drives on, he daydreams and gets lost in the Doldrums, a colorless place where nothing ever happens. Milo soon joins the inhabitants, the Lethargians, in killing time there, a pastime angrily interrupted by the arrival of Tock, a talking, oversize dog with an alarm clock on each side (a "watchdog"), who tells Milo that only by thinking can he get out of the Doldrums. Head abuzz with unaccustomed thoughts, Milo is soon back on his road, and the watchdog joins him on his journey through Wisdom. Milo and Tock travel to Dictionopolis, one of two capital cities of the divided Kingdom of Wisdom, and home to King Azaz the Unabridged. They meet King Azaz's cabinet officials and visit the Word Market, where the words and letters are sold that empower the world. A fight between the Spelling Bee and the blustering Humbug breaks up the market, and Milo and Tock are arrested by the very short Officer Shrift. In prison, Milo meets the Which (not to be confused with Witch), also known as Faintly Macabre, long in charge of which words should be used in Wisdom. She tells him how the two rulers, King Azaz and his brother, the Mathemagician, had two adopted younger sisters, Rhyme and Reason, to whom everyone came to settle disputes. All lived in harmony until the rulers disagreed with the princesses' decision that letters (championed by Azaz) and numbers (by the Mathemagician) were equally important. They banished the princesses to the Castle in the Air, and since then, the land has had neither Rhyme nor Reason. Milo and Tock leave the dungeon. King Azaz hosts them at a banquet where the guests literally eat their words, served to them on plates. After the meal, King Azaz lets Milo and Tock talk themselves into a dangerous quest to rescue the princesses. Azaz flatters the Humbug into being their guide, and boy, dog and insect set off for the Mathemagician's capital of Digitopolis as they must gain his approval before they can begin their quest. Along the way, they meet such characters as Alec Bings, a little boy suspended in the air who sees through things and who will grow down until he reaches the ground. He then meets the world's smallest giant, the world's biggest dwarf, the world's thinnest fat man, and the world's fattest thin man, who turn out to just be one regular man. Milo then loses time in substituting for Chroma the Great, a conductor whose orchestra creates the colors of the world. They meet a creature called the Dodecahedron, who leads them to Digitopolis, where they meet the Mathemagician, who is still angry at Azaz, and who will not give his blessing to anything that his brother has approved. Milo maneuvers him into saying he will permit the quest if the boy can show the two have concurred on anything since they banished the princesses. To the number wizard's shock, Milo proves that the two have agreed to disagree, and the Mathemagician gives his reluctant consent. In the Mountains of Ignorance, the journeyers contend with demons like the Terrible Trivium and the Gelatinous Giant. After overcoming obstacles and their own fears, they reach the Castle in the Air. Princesses Rhyme and Reason welcome Milo and agree to return to Wisdom. Unable to enter the castle, the demons cut it loose, letting it drift away, but Milo realizes Tock can carry them down because 'time flies'. The demons pursue, but the armies of Wisdom repel them. Rhyme and Reason heal the divisions in the old Kingdom of Wisdom, Azaz and the Mathemagician are reconciled, and all enjoy a three-day celebration. Milo says goodbye and drives back through the tollbooth. Suddenly he is back in his own room, and discovers he has been gone only an hour, though his journey seemed to take weeks. He awakens the next day with plans to return to the kingdom, but finds the tollbooth gone when he gets home from school. A note instead is there, "For Milo, who now knows the way." The note states that the tollbooth is being sent to another child who needs help finding direction in life. Milo is somewhat disappointed but agrees and looks at a now-interesting world around him, concluding that even if he found a way back, he might not have time to go, for there is so much to do right where he is. 

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Navin R. Johnson is the white adopted son of black sharecroppers, who grows to adulthood naïvely unaware of his obvious adoption. He stands out in his family not just because of his skin color but because of his utter lack of rhythm when his adoptive family plays spirited blues music. One night, he hears a champagne-style rendition of "Crazy Rhythm" on the radio and spontaneously begins to dance; he excitedly sees this as a calling and decides to leave for St. Louis, from where the song was broadcast. On the way, he stops at a motel, where a dog wakes him up by barking at his door. Navin thinks the dog is trying to warn of a fire. He wakes up the other hotel guests to rescue them, telling the dog they will name him "Lifesaver." After everyone realizes it was a false alarm, one of the guests suggests naming the dog "Shithead." Navin takes the dog as his own, indeed naming it Shithead. Navin gets a job and room at a gas station owned by Harry Hartounian. He is thrilled to find that he is listed in the local phone book, as his name is "in print" for the first time. Not long after, a gun- wielding lunatic randomly flips through the phone book and picks "Johnson, Navin R." as his next "random victim bastard." As the madman watches through his rifle scope, waiting for a clear shot, Navin fixes the slippery glasses of a customer, Stan Fox, by adding a handle and a nose brake. Fox offers to split the profits 50/50 with Navin if he can market the invention, then departs. Seizing his chance, the crazed sniper shoots but misses. The lunatic chases Navin to a traveling carnival, where Navin hides out, eventually getting a job with SJM Fiesta Shows as a weight guesser. While employed there, Navin meets an intimidating daredevil biker named Patty Bernstein and has a sexual relationship with her, finally realizing what his "special purpose" (his mother's euphemism for his penis) is for. He then meets a woman named Marie and arranges a date with her. Patty confronts them, but Marie knocks her out. While courting, Navin and Marie walk along the beach and sing "Tonight You Belong to Me"; Navin plays the ukulele and Marie the cornet. Navin and Marie fall in love, but Marie reluctantly leaves him because of his lack of financial security. She writes a note and slips out while Navin is in the bath. He becomes depressed telling Shithead to leave and find a better master, then changes his mind after the dog immediately tries to run off. At an emotional and financial low, Navin is soon contacted by Stan Fox with exciting news: his glasses invention, now called the Opti-Grab, is selling big and he is entitled to half of the profits. Now extremely rich, he finds and marries Marie, and they buy an extravagant mansion. Their life becomes one of splendor and non-stop partying. However, "motion-picture director" Carl Reiner files a class action lawsuit against Navin and claims that the Opti-Grab caused his eyes to be crossed, and that his resulting poor vision caused the death of a stunt driver in the film he was directing. Over nine million other people with the same vision complaint (including the judge and jury foreman) are awarded a total of $10 million in damages; divided among all litigants, each gets $1.09. Bankrupt and yet again depressed, he yells at Marie for looking at him like he was "some kind of a jerk, or something" and she's shocked & disgusted by the callous and shallow behavior he's developed. Navin walks out, abandoning Marie, his dog and extravagant home. Afterwards, Marie regrets requiring Navin to be rich enough to take care of her, as she misses the fun & loving version of him and herself. She wears the dress she wore on the beach & cries over her corrupted husband. Navin winds up homeless living on the streets. His story now told, he accepts himself to a life of misery and bittersweet memories of Marie. But to his amazement and joy, she suddenly appears, along with Navin's family and Shithead, bringing additional good news: having carefully invested the small sums of money Navin sent home throughout the film, his family have become wealthy themselves. They pick him up off the street, and he and Marie move back home into the Johnsons' new house—a bigger, yet nearly identical version of their old, small shack. The story ends as the entire family dances on the porch and sings "Pick a Bale of Cotton"; Navin dances along, now having gained perfect rhythm. 

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Close at a costume fitting for her role as Cruella de Vil American video game designer Roger Dearly lives with his pet Dalmatian Pongo in London. One day, Pongo sets his eyes on a beautiful female dalmatian named Perdy. After a frantic chase through the streets of London that ends in St. James's Park, Roger discovers that Pongo likes Perdy. Her owner, Anita Campbell-Green falls in love with Roger when they meet. They both fall into the lake as a result of their dogs chasing each other, but they return to Roger's home and Anita accepts his proposal. They get married along with Perdy and Pongo. Anita works as a fashion designer at the House of de Vil. Her boss, the pampered and very glamorous Cruella de Vil, has a deep passion for fur, going so far as to have a taxidermist, Mr. Skinner, skin a white tiger at the London Zoo to make it into a rug for her. Anita, inspired by her Dalmatian, designs a coat made with spotted fur. Cruella is intrigued by the idea of making garments out of actual Dalmatians, and finds it amusing that it would seem as if she was wearing Anita's dog. Anita soon discovers that Perdy is pregnant and is then informed that she (Anita) is too, much to her shock. Sometime later, Cruella visits their home and expresses contempt upon meeting Roger. Her initial disgust at them having a baby turns to excitement when she finds out Perdy is expecting too. Several weeks later, she returns when a litter of 15 puppies are born and offers Roger and Anita £7,500 for them, but they refuse. Enraged, Cruella dismisses Anita and vows revenge against her and Roger. One winter evening, she has her henchmen, Jasper and Horace, break into their home and steal the puppies, while Roger and Anita are walking in the park with Pongo and Perdy. Along with 84 other dalmatians that were previously stolen, they deliver them to her ancient country estate, De Vil Mansion. Jasper and Horace also asks Skinner to kill and skin them to create her coat. With the family devastated at the loss of their puppies, Pongo uses the twilight bark to carry the message via the dogs and other animals of Britain, while Roger and Anita notify the Metropolitan Police. A dog who had witnessed the stolen puppies follows Jasper and Horace to the mansion, and finds all of them inside, before helping them escape under the duo's noses. They make their way to a nearby farm, where they are later joined by Pongo and Perdy. Cruella arrives at the mansion and soon discovers what has happened. Angry with the thieves' failure, she decides to carry out the job herself, while Jasper and Horace attempt to search for them also. After several mishaps, Jasper and Horace discover nearby police on the hunt for Cruella and her henchmen and hand themselves in, joining Skinner who was beaten earlier while trying to kill Lucky (one of the 15 puppies), who had been left behind. Meanwhile, Cruella tracks the puppies to the farm where they are hiding and tries to retrieve them. However, the animals outwit her, causing her to fall into a vat of molasses and get thrown through a window into a pigpen. Shortly afterwards, the fleeing dalmatians (including Lucky) are found and sent home via the Suffolk Constabulary, while those looking for Cruella arrive at the farm to arrest her. In the police van, she belittles Jasper, Horace, and Skinner for their incompetence before they are sprayed by a skunk which she had mistaken for her purse. Pongo, Perdy and their puppies are reunited with Roger and Anita. After being informed that the remaining 84 puppies have no home to go to, as they have not yet been claimed by their original owners, they decide to adopt them, bringing the total to 101. Roger designs a successful video game featuring dalmatian puppies as the protagonists and Cruella as the villain and they move to the countryside with their millions. Roger and Anita have a baby daughter, and a year later the puppies have grown up with puppies of their own. 

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Roger Radcliffe is a songwriter who lives in a bachelor flat in London, with his pet Dalmatian, Pongo, who decides to find a wife for Roger and a mate for himself, because he is bored with bachelor life. While watching various women with their female dog look-alikes out the window, he spots the perfect pair, a woman named Anita and her female Dalmatian, Perdita. He quickly gets Roger out of the house and drags him through the park to arrange a meeting. Roger and Anita eventually fall in love and marry with their dogs. Later, Perdita gives birth to a litter of 15 puppies. That same night, they are visited by Cruella De Vil, a wealthy former schoolmate of Anita's. She offers to buy the entire litter, but Roger says they are not for sale, leading to a falling out. A few weeks later, she hires her henchmen, Jasper and Horace, to steal them. When Scotland Yard is unable to find them, Pongo and Perdita use the "Twilight bark", a canine gossip line, to ask for help from the other dogs in London. The message is spread to the countryside; where it is received by an Old English Sheepdog named Colonel, along with his compatriots, a gray horse named Captain, and a tabby cat named Sergeant Tibbs, who find the puppies in a place called Hell Hall (Cruella's abandoned and dilapidated family estate, also known as The De Vil Place in Suffolk), along with 84 other Dalmatian puppies that she had bought from various dog stores. When Tibbs learns they are going to be made into dog-skin fur coats, the Colonel quickly sends word back to London. Upon receiving the message, Pongo and Perdita leave town to retrieve their puppies. Winter has arrived, and they must cross the Stour River which is running fast and laden with slabs of broken ice. Meanwhile, Tibbs overhears Cruella ordering Jasper and Horace to kill the puppies that night out of fear the police will soon find them. In response, Tibbs attempts to rescue them while Jasper and Horace are preoccupied watching television, but they finish their show and come for them before he can get them out of the house. Pongo and Perdita break in and confront Jasper and Horace just as they are about to kill the puppies. While the adult dogs attack them, the Colonel and Tibbs guide the puppies from the house. After a happy reunion with their own puppies, Pongo and Perdita realize there are dozens of others with them, 99 altogether including their own. Shocked at Cruella's plans, Pongo and Perdita decide to adopt the other 84 puppies, certain that Roger and Anita would never reject them. The Dalmatians begin making their way back to London through deep snow, as all open water is frozen solid. Other animals help them along the way, while Cruella, Jasper, and Horace chase them. In the town of Dinsford, they cover themselves with soot to disguise themselves as Labradors, then pile inside a moving van bound for London. As the last of them board, melting snow clears off the soot on Lucky and Cruella sees them drive away. Enraged, she follows the van in her car and rams it, but Jasper and Horace, who try to cut it off with their van, end up colliding with her. Both vehicles crash into a deep ravine, leaving Cruella and her henchmen stranded and defeated at last as the moving van drives away. Back in London, Roger and Anita are attempting to celebrate Christmas and his first big hit, a song about Cruella. They miss their canine companions, but they hear barking outside and the house is filled with dogs after their nanny opens the door. After wiping away the rest of the soot, they are delighted to realize their pets have returned home. After counting 84 extra puppies for a total of 101 pets, they decide to keep all the puppies and use the money from Roger's song to buy a larger house in the country so they can have a Dalmatian plantation. 

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Pongo and Missis are a pair of Dalmatians who live with the newly married Mr. and Mrs. Dearly and their two nannies, Nanny Cook and Nanny Butler. Mr. Dearly is a "financial wizard" who has been granted lifelong tax exemption and lent a house on the Outer Circle in Regent's Park in return for wiping out the government debt. The dogs consider the humans their pets, but allow the humans to think that they are the owners. One day, while walking Pongo and Missis, Mr. and Mrs. Dearly have a chance meeting with an old schoolmate of Mrs. Dearly: Cruella de Vil, a very wealthy woman so fixated on fur clothing that she married a furrier and forces him to keep his fur collection in their home so she can wear the pieces whenever she likes. She admires the two dogs and expresses a desire to have a Dalmatian-skin coat. Later,, Missis gives birth to a litter of 15 puppies. Concerned that Missis will not be able to feed them all, the humans join in to help. As Mrs. Dearly looks for a canine wet nurse, she finds an exhausted liver-spotted Dalmatian in the middle of the road in the pouring rain. She has the dog treated by a vet, learns that she has recently given birth, and names her Perdita (meaning "lost"). Perdita helps to nurse the pups and becomes a member of the family, later telling Pongo about her lost love Prince and the resulting litter of puppies which were sold by her neglectful owner, and that she had run away looking for those puppies. Cruella happened to be in the house when the puppies started to arrive, and had expressed a desire to buy them, which was rebuffed. After she pays a second visit to the house and is told again the Dearlys have no intention of putting the puppies up for sale, the puppies disappear. The humans fail to trace them, but through the "Twilight Barking", a forum of communication in which dogs can relay messages to each other across the country, the dogs track them down to "Hell Hall", the ancestral home of the de Vil family in Suffolk. Pongo and Missis try to tell their owners the word "Suffolk", but they cannot make the "S" sound. The dogs decide to find the puppies themselves, leaving Perdita to look after the Dearlys. After an eventful journey across the English countryside, with food and accommodation along the way arranged by dogs through the Barking Network, they meet the Colonel, an Old English Sheepdog at Withermarsh in Suffolk; he shows them Hell Hall and tells them its history. They get inside the mansion and discover that there are 97 puppies in Hell Hall, including Pongo and Missis' own 15. Cruella de Vil arrives and tells the two crooks in charge of Hell Hall that they must slaughter and skin the dogs as soon as possible because of the publicity surrounding the theft of the Dearlys' puppies. Pongo and Missis realize they must rescue all of the puppies immediately and they escape the night before Christmas Eve. One puppy, Cadpig, is a runt and too weak to walk the long distance from Suffolk to London, so Tommy, the Colonel's two-year-old owner, lends her a toy farm cart; one of the litters of puppies is just the right age for two of its members to fit its shaft, so they pull it in shifts. When Cruella returns to find the puppies gone, she begins to pursue them. However, the Dalmatians have encountered one of the Barking Network dogs, who points out how conspicuous they are and helps them break into a chimney sweep's establishment where they roll in soot to disguise themselves. Cruella nearly catches up with them, but they are able to hide in an empty removal van at the invitation of a Staffordshire terrier whose "pets" own the van, which is returning to London that very night. Upon arriving in London, the dogs destroy the de Vils' collection of animal skins and fur coats with the help of Cruella's cat, who was angry and distressed at losing many litters of kittens which Cruella had drowned. The Dalmatians then return to the Dearlys' house, where Pongo and Missis bark until Mr. Dearly opens the door, whereupon the whole mass of puppies go streaming in without stopping. Once the dogs roll on the carpet to remove the soot from their coats, the Dearlys recognise them and send out for steaks to feed them. The litter that pulled Cadpig's cart are proven to be Perdita's litter by Prince. Mr. Dearly finds out where the puppies had been when he discovers a label on the toy cart which contains Tommy's name and address. The Dearlys also place advertisements seeking the owners of the other puppies, but it turns out that they had all been sold, rather than stolen as the Dearlys' were. Perdita's former owner, who never really cared for her, is happy to let her stay with the Dearly's upon hearing the story. Cruella's now-homeless cat drops by (and is invited to stay) with the news that the destruction of her husband's fur business has forced Cruella to leave the country and put Hell Hall up for sale. When the Dearlys visit Suffolk to return Tommy's cart, they realize that, with 97 puppies and three adult Dalmatians, a larger home would be a good idea, so Mr Dearly buys the hall with money he has been given by the government for sorting out another tax problem. He proposes to use it to start a "dynasty of Dalmatians" (and a "dynasty of Dearlys" to take care of them). Finally, Perdita's lost love, Prince, turns up. His owners see his love for Perdita, and allow him to stay with the Dearlys and become their "one hundred and oneth" Dalmatian. 

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Each of the three segments featured one or two main characters acting as a duo, and numerous one-off or supporting characters. 

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In a near-future, a British neuroscientist named Professor Burgess Phelan has discovered a portion of the brain, the VMN, that is typically twice the size in men as it is in women. In certain men, however (approximately 1 in 100,000), it is the same size as a woman's, and that abnormality is an exceptionally accurate indicator of violent sociopathy. Professor Phelan developed an imaging device called L.O.M.B.R.O.S.O. (Localisation of Modullar Brain Resonations Obliging Social Orthopraxy) used to help diagnose men with the VMN deficiency. In the interests of public safety, the Lombroso institute is set up to test all the men in Britain. Males are enticed with ad campaigns to submit for testing; those who are VMN-negative are given confidential treatment, including counselling and drugs, and assigned a code name out of the Penguin book of Great Thinkers (e.g., Shakespeare, Plato, etc.). The police aren't given the names of the VMN-negative, but they are allowed to confirm whether or not a particular person is in the Lombroso Institutes system as VMN-negative. "Wittgenstein" is the code name of a VMN-negative who, until he was made aware of his status, was living a well-adjusted, if solitary, life, venting his sociopathic tendencies harmlessly through virtual reality entertainment systems. Upon discovering his pathology, though, he undertakes a public service of his own: after hacking into the Lombroso Institute's systems and obtaining a list of all VMN-negative men in Britain, he undertakes to kill them all. The narrative unfolds from a dual perspective: Wittgenstein's, and the female police lieutenant, Isadora "Jake" Jakowicz, assigned to catch him. Wittgenstein's portion is told from the first person as a diary of his assassinations and subsequent downfall; the detective's portion is told in a more traditional third-person perspective. 

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The story tells of a boy named Paul Hasleman, who finds it increasingly difficult to pay attention to his classwork, and grows more distant from his family. He is, instead, becoming more and more entranced by daydreaming about snow. This began when he was lying in bed one morning, awaiting the approach of the postman. Unable to hear the expected footfalls, the boy imagines that they have been muffled by newly fallen snow, and is surprised when he looks out the window and discovers that there is no snow on the ground. Paul's increasing distance and indifference to the world around him alarms his parents. He has to struggle to get dressed and converse with others, because of the allure of his daydream about snow. They eventually call in a physician, who makes a house call to examine Paul. After revealing that he likes to think about snow, Paul tears himself away from the meeting with the physician and retires to his room. When his mother pursues him, he tells her "Go away... I hate you!", and is lost in the dreamworld of the snow.Aiken, supra 

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Nine young samurai believe that the lord chamberlain, Mutsuta, is corrupt after he tore up their petition against fraud at court. One of them tells the superintendent, Kikui, of this and he agrees to intervene. As the nine meet secretly to discuss this at a shrine, a rōnin who had been sleeping overhears and cautions them against trusting Kikui. While at first they do not believe him, he proves himself correct by saving them from an ambush by Kikui's retainers. But as their rescuer is about to leave, he realises that Mutsuta and his family must now be in danger and decides to stay and help. By the time the samurai get to Mutsuta's house, the chamberlain has been abducted and his wife and daughter are being held captive. Following the rōnin's suggestion, a servant from the house gets the guards drunk, allowing the samurai to free the women and kill their guards. The group takes refuge in a house next door to the superintendent's compound. When Mutsuta's wife asks the rōnin his name, he looks out of the window at the surrounding camellia trees and says it is 椿三十郎 Tsubaki Sanjūrō, literally "thirty-years-old camellia”. The lady then criticizes "Sanjuro" for killing too frequently and insists that "the best sword is kept in its sheath." After saving the group from a trap set by Kikui, Sanjuro decides to get closer to him and his allies and joins their henchman Hanbei, who had previously offered him a job after the ambush at the shrine. Although the samurai distrustfully decide to keep watch on him, Sanjuro realises he is being followed as he walks along with Hanbei, and their pursuers are easily captured and bound. Made to believe that a much larger group may be involved, Hanbei leaves to request reinforcements. Sanjuro then frees the four captured samurai, and cuts down all of the men guarding them. He tells the four to leave him tied up, then explains to Hanbei on his return that he did not wish to die in a cause in which he had no stake and so chose to surrender. The chamberlain’s whereabouts are not discovered until the next day, when Mutsuta's wife and daughter find a piece of the torn petition in the small stream that flows from the superintendent's compound past their hideout. Since an attack on the officials is impossible due to the large size of Kikui's forces, Sanjuro hatches a plan to get the army away by reporting to Hanbei that he saw the rebels at a temple where he was sleeping. Meanwhile, he tells the group of samurai that he will send the signal to attack by floating large numbers of camellias down the stream. The first part of the plan works, with Kikui and his forces rushing off to the temple; however, Hanbei becomes suspicious after catching Sanjuro trying to drop the camellias into the stream and ties him up. Just as Hanbei is about to kill him, the remaining corrupt officials realize that Sanjuro has tricked them - his description of the temple was incorrect. They convince Hanbei not to waste any further time and instead catch up with the superintendent's forces and have them return as soon as possible. However, Sanjuro tricks the officials into giving the signal for the samurai to come to his rescue. Hanbei returns to find he has been outsmarted once again and tells Kikui that their plan is ruined. Mutsuta is restored to his position and Kikui commits hara-kiri, much to the chamberlain's regret, as he wished to avoid a public scandal. As his family and the loyal samurai are celebrating, they discover that Sanjuro has slipped away. The samurai race off and find Sanjuro and Hanbei about to duel. Sanjuro is reluctant to fight and tries to dissuade Hanbei, but Hanbei is furious at his loss of dignity and declares he can only find ease by killing Sanjuro. Hanbei draws his sword, but the faster Sanjuro kills him. When the young samurai cheer his victory, Sanjuro becomes angry and says he will kill them if they follow him, admonishing the young men not to follow the same path of violence he does. His admirers can only kneel and bow as he walks away. 

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Cándido Rincón (33) and América (his pregnant common law wife, 17) are two Mexicans who enter the United States illegally, dreaming of a good life in their own little house somewhere in California. Meanwhile, they are homeless and camping at the bottom of the Topanga Canyon area of Los Angeles, in the hills above Malibu. Another couple, Delaney and Kyra Mossbacher, have recently moved into a gated community on top of Topanga, in order to be closer to nature yet be close enough to the city to enjoy those amenities. Kyra is a successful real estate agent while Delaney keeps house, looks after Kyra's son by her first marriage and writes a regular column for an environmentalist magazine. The two couples' paths cross unexpectedly when Cándido is hit and injured by Delaney, who is driving his car along the suburban roads near his home. For different reasons, each man prefers not to call the police or an ambulance. Cándido is afraid of being deported and Delaney is afraid of ruining his perfect driving record. Delaney soothes his conscience by giving Cándido "$20 blood money," explaining to Kyra that "He's a Mexican." From that moment on, the lives of the two couples are constantly influenced by the others. After the accident, Cándido's problems deepen. At first he can't work after being injured by the car crash and when he does not find a temporary job at a local work exchange anymore, he unavailingly tries to find one in the city, hoping to save money for an apartment in the North despite the low wages offered. With América, his wife, pregnant, his shame at not being able to get a job and procure a home and food for his family increases, especially when América decides to find some illegal—and possibly dangerous—work herself. At one point in the novel, after Cándido is robbed by some Mexicans in the city, they are forced to go through the trash cans behind a fast-food restaurant so as not to starve. The Mossbachers, Delaney's family, are also having problems of their own, though of an altogether different nature. Comfortably settled in their new home, in a gated community, they are faced with the cruelty of nature when one of their two pet dogs is killed by a coyote. In addition, the majority of inhabitants of their exclusive estate feel increasingly disturbed and threatened by the presence of—as they see it—potentially criminal, illegal immigrants and vote for a wall to be built around the whole estate. Cándido has a stroke of luck when he is given a free turkey at a grocery store by another customer, who has just received it through the store's Thanksgiving promotion. When Cándido starts roasting the bird back in their shelter, he inadvertently causes a fire which spreads so quickly that even the gated community the Mossbachers live in has to be evacuated. In the midst of the escalating disasters, América gives birth to Socorro, a daughter, who she suspects might be blind. But the couple has no money to see the doctor. Delaney stalks Cándido back to their shack. He carries a gun, but does not intend to kill Cándido with it. Meanwhile, América tells Cándido about the night when she was raped, as she suspects that the baby's blindness was caused by a venereal disease transmitted by the rapist. Just as she is telling him this, Delaney finds their shack and is about to confront Cándido about the forest fire, when the shack is knocked over in a landslide. Cándido and América manage to save themselves, but Socorro drowns in a river. The book ends with Cándido helping Delaney out of the river. Time and again in the novel, however, it is hinted at that the real perpetrators can be found inside rather than outside the projected wall: well-to-do people insensitive to the plight of the have-nots. 

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Love in a Cold Climate is a companion volume to The Pursuit of Love. The time frame of Love in a Cold Climate is the same as The Pursuit of Love, but the focus is on a different set of characters. Fanny remains the fictional narrator. In The Pursuit of Love, Fanny narrates the story of her cousin Linda Radlett. In Love in a Cold Climate, Fanny narrates the story of Polly, to whom Fanny is distantly related through her father's family. Lady Leopoldina [Polly] Hampton is the only child of the supremely aristocratic and very rich Earl of Montdore [fictional title] and his wife, Sonia. Lady Montdore is a product of the minor ranks of the aristocracy and her marriage to an earl is regarded as a social coup on her part. She is depicted by Fanny, as an avaricious, greedy snob, but not without charm. Her thrusting personality, allied to her husband's impeccable social standing, riches and political influence makes her a formidable woman. Lady Montdore, unbeknown to Lord Montdore, takes advantage of her husband's reputation to forward her own career as a hostess and manipulator of her social circle. Their daughter is Polly, whom Fanny loses contact with when Lord Montdore is sent as Viceroy of India. Fanny receives an invitation to visit the Montdores upon their return from India. She has great affection for Polly, but Polly reveals little of herself. Polly has "come out" in India and as a beautiful and socially important debutante, is expected to have a very successful season in London. However, Polly consistently demonstrates a total lack of interest in the London season and all of the men she meets. She is hoping that "in a cold climate", society will be less interested in love affairs. Lady Montdore is exasperated by her daughter's apparent indifference to love and marriage. "Important" potential suitors acknowledge that Polly is very beautiful, but find her cold and aloof. Polly reveals to no one that she has been in love with her uncle, "Boy" Dougdale [the husband of her paternal aunt] since she was 14. Boy is snobbish and sexually rapacious; his many affairs are common knowledge to both his wife and society at large. Fanny and her Radlett cousins have long suspected that the sexually ambiguous Boy has paedophile tendencies and he is a joke amongst Fanny's cousins for his inappropriate touches and "lecherous" behaviour towards young girls. Polly marries Boy shortly after her aunt's death, causing a scandal in her social circle and distressing her parents deeply. Unbeknownst to Polly, Boy has been Lady Montdore's lover for many years. She is excluded from her father's will upon her marriage and she and Boy ostracised from society. They move to Sicily for several years. Polly's place in the family is filled by the heir to Lord Montdore's entailed fortune and title, Cedric Hampton. Born in Nova Scotia to a minor member of the Montdore family, Cedric has used his exceptional good looks and personal charm to establish a place within the homosexual milieu of the European aristocracy. He has lived a life of luxury as the lover of rich and aristocratic men. Cedric accepts an invitation to visit the Montdores. His natural love of beauty, innate good taste and his careful use of flattery, enable Cedric to win the affections of Lord and Lady Montdore and many others. Cedric focuses his attentions upon Lady Montdore who uses Cedric's popularity and charm to reestablish herself as a leading society hostess, to Cedric's advantage. Fanny and Cedric soon become close friends. Polly and Boy return from Sicily, out of love and their marriage turned sour. While pregnant, Polly is regularly visited by the Duke of Paddington [a fictional title], the elderly Duke known to Fanny having died, who lavishes her with attention. Polly reconciles with her mother after bearing a child who dies shortly after its birth. Cedric and Boy meet and fall in love. "Cedric arranged the whole thing perfectly", according to Fanny. While Polly recovers from the difficult birth, Cedric whisks Boy and Lady Montdore to France, leaving Polly free to be carried off by the Duke. While this outcome shocks the conservative social circles in which they mix, Fanny takes a broader minded view, pleased to see people she loves each finding happiness in their own way. 

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In early 1922, Howard Roark is expelled from the architecture department of the Stanton Institute of Technology because he has not adhered to the school's preference for historical convention in building design. Roark goes to New York City and gets a job with Henry Cameron. Cameron was once a renowned architect, but now gets few commissions. In the meantime, Roark's popular, but vacuous, fellow student and housemate Peter Keating (whom Roark sometimes helped with projects) graduates with high honors. He too moves to New York, where he has been offered a position with the prestigious architecture firm, Francon & Heyer. Keating ingratiates himself with Guy Francon and works to remove rivals among his coworkers. After Francon's partner, Lucius Heyer, suffers a fatal stroke brought on by Keating's antagonism, Francon chooses Keating to replace him. Meanwhile, Roark and Cameron create inspired work, but struggle financially. After Cameron retires, Keating hires Roark, whom Francon soon fires for refusing to design a building in the classical style. Roark works briefly at another firm, then opens his own office but has trouble finding clients and closes it down. He gets a job in a granite quarry owned by Francon. There he meets Francon's daughter Dominique, a columnist for The New York Banner, while she is staying at her family's estate nearby. They are immediately attracted to each other, leading to a rough sexual encounter that Dominique later calls a rape.: "He raped me. That's how it began." Shortly after, Roark is notified that a client is ready to start a new building, and he returns to New York. Dominique also returns to New York and learns Roark is an architect. She attacks his work in public, but visits him for secret sexual encounters. Ellsworth M. Toohey, who writes a popular architecture column in the Banner, is an outspoken socialist who shapes public opinion through his column and a circle of influential associates. Toohey sets out to destroy Roark through a smear campaign. He recommends Roark to Hopton Stoddard, a wealthy acquaintance who wants to build a Temple of the Human Spirit. Roark's unusual design includes a nude statue modeled on Dominique; Toohey persuades Stoddard to sue Roark for malpractice. Toohey and several architects (including Keating) testify at the trial that Roark is incompetent as an architect due to his rejection of historical styles. Dominique speaks in Roark's defense, but he loses the case. Dominique decides that since she cannot have the world she wants, in which men like Roark are recognized for their greatness, she will live entirely in the world she has, which shuns Roark and praises Keating. She marries Keating and turns herself over to him, doing and saying whatever he wants, such as persuading potential clients to hire him instead of Roark. To win Keating a prestigious commission offered by Gail Wynand, the owner and editor-in-chief of the Banner, Dominique agrees to sleep with Wynand. Wynand is so strongly attracted to Dominique that he pays Keating to divorce her, after which Wynand and Dominique are married. Wanting to build a home for himself and his new wife, Wynand discovers that Roark designed every building he likes and so hires him. Roark and Wynand become close friends; Wynand is unaware of Roark's past relationship with Dominique. Washed up and out of the public eye, Keating pleads with Toohey to use his influence to get the commission for the much-sought-after Cortlandt housing project. Keating knows his most successful projects were aided by Roark, so he asks for Roark's help in designing Cortlandt. Roark agrees in exchange for complete anonymity and Keating's promise that it will be built exactly as designed. After taking a long vacation with Wynand, Roark returns to find that Keating was not able to prevent major changes from being made in Cortlandt's construction. Roark dynamites the project to prevent the subversion of his vision. Roark is arrested and his action is widely condemned, but Wynand decides to use his papers to defend his friend. This unpopular stance hurts the circulation of his newspapers, and Wynand's employees go on strike after Wynand dismisses Toohey for disobeying him and criticizing Roark. Faced with the prospect of closing the paper, Wynand gives in and publishes a denunciation of Roark. At his trial, Roark makes a speech about the value of ego and integrity, and he is found not guilty. Dominique leaves Wynand for Roark. Wynand, who has betrayed his own values by attacking Roark, finally grasps the nature of the power he thought he held. He shuts down the Banner and commissions a final building from Roark, a skyscraper that will serve as a monument to human achievement. Eighteen months later, the Wynand Building is under construction. Dominique, now Roark's wife, enters the site to meet him atop its steel framework. 

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Two high schoolers, Masami and Tomoko, talk about a videotape that was allegedly recorded in Izu and bears a curse that kills the viewer in one week. Tomoko reveals that a week ago, her boyfriend Iwata, and two other friends watched a strange tape and received a phone call afterward. The two hear the phone ring, but it turns out to only be Tomoko's mother, much to their amusement. As soon as Masami goes back upstairs, Tomoko witnesses her TV turn on by itself, and soon thereafter is killed by an unseen force. Meanwhile, the cursed video story is being investigated by Tomoko's maternal aunt, newspaper reporter Reiko Asakawa; so when Reiko and her young son Yoichi attend Tomoko's funeral, she learns from some friends of Tomoko that three of Tomoko's friends all died the same night she did, and their bodies were found with their faces twisted in fear. In Tomoko's room the next day, Reiko finds a receipt from a photo development shop. She picks up the unclaimed photos, which show the four friends staying in a rental cabin in Izu. In one photo, their faces are strangely distorted. Reiko goes to the cabin in Izu to investigate and notices an unlabeled tape on the shelf in the rental office. She watches it for herself, and finds that the tape shows a series of seemingly unrelated disturbing images, accompanied by a metallic screeching, with the image of an open well being the tape's final scene. At the end, she sees a mysterious reflection in the TV and receives a phone call, but only screeching sounds can be heard. Taking the threat of death seriously, she leaves with the tape and enlists her ex-husband, college professor Ryūji Takayama, to investigate its origin. Reiko asks Ryuji to take her picture, and they discover that photos of her face now come out distorted like those of Tomoko and her friends. Ryūji watches the tape and tells her to make him a copy. While studying the tape the next day, the two find a hidden message within it of a voice speaking the words "frolic in brine, goblins be thine". Ryuji eventually finds that the message is in a dialect from Izu Ōshima Island. Reiko later catches Yoichi watching the tape, claiming the ghost of Tomoko told him to. Reiko and Ryūji sail for Ōshima and discover the history of Shizuko Yamamura, a local woman known for her psychic powers. They stay at an inn run by Takashi, Shizuko's brother. Ryūji reveals to Takashi that he knows the old man exposed Shizuko to the media, hoping to make money off her. The media attention attracted ESP researcher Dr. Heihachiro Ikuma, who, besides conducting studies on her, had an affair with Shizuko and fathered a child with her. At a demonstration of Shizuko's psychic abilities held by Ikuma, a journalist who spitefully denounced her as a fraud, inciting his other colleagues to do the same, was psychokinetically killed by Shizuko's daughter, Sadako. Shortly thereafter, a series of slanderous reports drive Shizuko to commit suicide. Dr. Ikuma was fired by his university and disappeared with Sadako. Ryūji, who has psychic powers himself, sees the demonstration through ESP, as does Reiko; in the vision, Sadako runs up to Reiko and grabs hold of her wrist. Reiko collapses, and when Ryūji wakes her up both notice a dark bruise shaped like a hand on Reiko's wrist. Reiko and Ryūji deduce that Sadako psionically created the cursed tape to express her fury against the world. The two return to Izu and discover a well underneath the holiday cabin. Through another vision, they discover that Dr. Ikuma bludgeoned Sadako and pushed her body into the well, where she died struggling to get out. They try to find Sadako's corpse in an attempt to appease her spirit. Minutes before her time runs out, Reiko discovers Sadako's corpse at the bottom of the well. Both notice that the bruise disappears from her wrist, and she and Ryūji return home, relieved that the curse is seemingly broken. The next day however, Ryūji is working at home when he suddenly hears metallic screeching. He turns around to see that his TV has switched on by itself and is showing the image of the well from the tape's ending. The vengeful ghost of Sadako crawls from the well, out of Ryūji's TV set, and into his apartment, frightening him into a fatal state of shock. Reiko, who had tried to call Ryūji, hears his last minutes over the phone and quickly realizes that only she is free from the curse. Desperate to save Yoichi, she realizes that copying the tape and showing it to someone else was what saved her. She drives to her father's house with the tapes and her VCR, telling her father in a phone call that she has a favor to ask him. The film ends as she drives into the distance, and some schoolgirls she interviewed earlier in the film talk about the rule to escape the tape's curse. 

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Theodora Lynn (Irene Dunne) is a Sunday school teacher and former church organist in Lynnfield, Connecticut, raised by two spinster aunts, Mary (Elisabeth Risdon) and Elsie Lynn (Margaret McWade). She also happens to be, under the pen name Caroline Adams, the secret author of a sensational bestselling book replete with sexual innuendo that has the straight-laced all-female Lynnfield Literary Circle in an uproar. The book is serialized in the local newspaper, and the Literary Circle, led by outraged busybody Rebecca Perry (Spring Byington), forces the newspaper's owner Jed Waterbury (Thomas Mitchell) to stop printing the salacious installments. Theodora travels to New York City on the pretext of visiting her black sheep Uncle John (Robert Greig), but actually goes to see her publisher Arthur Stevenson (Thurston Hall). Though Stevenson reassures an anxious Theodora that only he and his secretary know her identity, his wife Ethel (Nana Bryant) pressures him into an introduction, which the book's illustrator Michael Grant (Melvyn Douglas) overhears. Intrigued, Michael invites himself to a sumptuous dinner with the Stevensons and Theodora. Theodora becomes annoyed when Michael smugly assumes that she is a teetotaler, so she orders a whiskey. As the night goes on, she becomes drunk. So does Ethel, forcing Arthur to take her home and leaving Theodora alone with Michael in the posh restaurant. When he brings her to his apartment and then makes a pass at her, she panics and flees, much to his amusement. Michael tracks her to her hometown, and his whistling is immediately noticed outside her house. Because she technically is not supposed to know anyone outside of Lynnfield, he coerces her into hiring him as a gardener, thus scandalizing her aunts and providing Rebecca Perry with ample information for gossip. Michael declares that he is going to break Theodora out of her confining routine, ignoring her protests that she likes her life just the way it is. Despite herself, she enjoys herself when Michael makes her go berrypicking and fishing with him. Finally, she finds the nerve to tell the disapproving women of the Literary Circle that she loves him. When she tells Michael what she has done, however, he is less than thrilled. The next morning, Theodora finds that he has gone back to New York and left her. She tracks him to his Park Avenue apartment. He admits he loves her, but then his father (Henry Kolker), the lieutenant governor, shows up, followed by Michael's estranged wife Agnes (Leona Maricle). Lt. Gov. Grant tells his son Michael that he and Agnes must remained married to avoid causing a political scandal for him. Michael is unable to stand up to his father. Theodora determines to free Michael from his father, just as he had done for her. He wants her to hold off until his father's term ends in two years, but she is unwilling to wait that long. She courts publicity by revealing herself as the true Caroline Adams. She stays in Michael's New York apartment, even though he has moved out to get away from her, and she tells the press of her intention to publish a new book that details finding romance in her small town and searching for someone who will call her "baby" - a story that depicts her relationship with Michael. Meanwhile, Michael denies to the press that he has even met Theodora. She finally crashes the governor's ball and arranges for reporters to photograph her embracing Michael. Agnes seeks a divorce from Michael to save face. Theodora returns to Lynnfield and is warmly welcomed as a celebrity, even by her now-supportive aunts. She causes further talk when she brings a newborn baby with her. When Michael, now divorced, sees the child, he tries to flee, but then Theodora reveals that the baby belongs to Rebecca Perry's own secretly married daughter, and not to her. 

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Carrie Snyder (Gladys George) is a prostitute who is forced out of the fictional southern town of Crebillon after forming a friendship with a young boy named Paul (Jackie Moran), whose dying mother (Janet Young) is unable to stop her son from visiting such a woman. After Carrie leaves town, Paul runs away from his abusive father (John Wray) and meets a girl named Lady (Charlene Wyatt) who has run away from a burning trainwreck, not wanting to go back to the people she was with. Carrie comes back for Paul and ends up taking Paul and Lady to New York with her. Carrie gets an apartment and starts a successful chain of laundry stores. Eventually they become rich and Lady (Arline Judge) becomes attracted to Paul (John Howard). Paul, however, feels obligated to take care of a young woman named Lili (Isabel Jewell) whose brother's death he caused (the brother had been pushing Paul to try to get on the train, but when Paul pushed back, the train door closed with the brother on the outside with his coat stuck in the train door, causing him to get dragged along with the train and his legs to be run over). Lilli pretends to love Paul because he is rich, which Carrie is able to see, but which Paul does not. She devises a plan to make Lilli leave. She tells Lilli that if she will leave Paul, she will help get Lilli's true love out of jail. They attempt to break the man out of jail, but are caught. Lilli is fatally shot and Carrie is sent to jail. An old lawyer friend (Harry Carey) vows to fight for her freedom, but Carrie decides to plead guilty because she doesn't want Lady to know about her past as a prostitute. She also fears it would tarnish the reputation of the children. The lawyer ends by remarking to Paul's employer (Dudley Digges) that "valiant is the word for Carrie". 

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On a dreary, cold and snowy day in a small town in 1919 Indiana, a peddler named Hannah Parmalee (Bainter) appears at the door of a kind couple, Paul Ward (Rains) and his wife, Marcia (Johnson), selling apple peelers. Asked by Mrs. Ward to come inside and warm up, Hannah sees they are struggling financially and are in need of some domestic help. She offers her services and becomes their cook and housekeeper for room and board. Mr. Ward, a science teacher by day, is an inventor by night attempting to create something that will provide sufficient money for Marcia, their teenaged daughter Sally (Granville) and their new baby, to have some luxuries in life. Hannah, who is extremely wise and helpful, comes up with some good ideas. She persuades Ward to sell old and useless furniture to raise money and make a place for his work in the basement. Their teenaged neighbor, Peter Trimble (Cooper), is one of Ward's students and the son of the richest man in town, Sam Trimble (O'Neill). Hannah is very pleased to know Peter and to be a part of his life. In her devotion to him, however, she is never able to indulge the motherly instinct she feels, except in an indirect way. He is very good at science and, after Hannah suggests that he set a good example for the boy, Ward asks young Trimble to become his assistant. Sally develops a crush on Peter. Ward's invention, an "iceless icebox," is unintentionally revealed by Peter to local mechanics Joe Ellis (William Pawley) and his brother Bill (Edward Pawley). When the Ellis brothers steal it and have it patented, Peter feels so bad about what he did that he lies when Ward asks him about it. In the meantime, Sally becomes ill with pneumonia. Hannah persuades Ward that it is best to "turn the other cheek" and to give young Peter another chance. Ward then develops a new and better feature for his invention, which is on its way to becoming a great electric refrigerator for homes. Sally recovers and she and her mother, Marcia, leave on a trip with the baby. Another crisis arises, however, when Thomas Bradford (James Stephenson), a wealthy businessman from Chicago, arrives to discuss financing of Ward's invention. Hannah reveals to Ward that Peter Trimble is her son who she was forced to give up all those years ago because he was born out of wedlock. Sam Trimble adopted him after his own baby died, but Bradford is the boy's real father. When Bradford finds out that Peter is his son, he wants to claim him. Hannah, however, persuades him to not reveal the truth to Peter. Hannah, satisfied with the kind of young man her son has become, and that he is on the right path in life, leaves with Peter believing that his adoptive parents are his biological parents. She walks off into the wintry landscape. 

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A group of professors, all bachelors except for a widower, have lived together for some years in a New York City residence, compiling an encyclopedia of all human knowledge. The youngest, Professor Bertram Potts (Gary Cooper), is a grammarian who is researching modern American slang. The professors are accustomed to working in relative seclusion at a leisurely pace with a prim housekeeper, Miss Bragg, keeping watch over them. Their impatient financial backer, Miss Totten, suddenly demands that they finish their work soon. Venturing out to do some independent research, Bertram becomes interested in the slang vocabulary of nightclub performer Katherine "Sugarpuss" O'Shea (Barbara Stanwyck). She is reluctant to assist him in his research until she suddenly needs a place to hide from the police, who want to question her about her boyfriend, mob boss Joe Lilac. Sugarpuss takes refuge in the house where the professors live and work, despite Bertram's objections and their housekeeper's threat to leave because of her. In the meantime, Joe decides to marry her, but only because as his wife she would not be able to testify against him. The professors soon become enamored of her femininity, and she begins to grow fond of them. Sugarpuss teaches them to conga and demonstrates to Bertram the meaning of the phrase "yum yum" kisses. She becomes attracted to Bertram, who reciprocates by proposing marriage to her. She avoids giving him an answer to the proposal, and agrees to Joe's plan to have the professors drive her to New Jersey to marry him. After a series of misadventures, including a car crash, Sugarpuss realizes that she is in love with Bertram, but is forced to go ahead with her marriage to Joe to save the professors from his henchmen. Bertram, meanwhile, unaware of Sugarpuss' love for him, prepares to resume his research, sadder but wiser, until he discovers her true feelings. The professors eventually outwit Joe and his henchmen and rescue Sugarpuss. She decides she is not good enough for Bertram, but his forceful application of a kiss changes her mind. 

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Drab Charlotte Vale is an unattractive, overweight, repressed spinster whose life is brutally dominated by her tyrannical mother, an aristocratic Boston dowager whose verbal and emotional abuse of her daughter has contributed to the woman's complete lack of self confidence. Mrs. Vale had already brought up three sons, and Charlotte was an unwanted child born to her late in life. Fearing that Charlotte is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, her sister-in-law Lisa introduces her to psychiatrist Dr. Jaquith, who recommends that she spend time in his sanitarium. From the trailer Away from her mother's control, Charlotte blossoms, and at Lisa's urging, the transformed woman opts to take a lengthy cruise instead of going home immediately. On the ship, she meets Jeremiah Duvaux Durrance, a married man who is traveling with his friends Deb and Frank McIntyre. From them, Charlotte learns of how Jerry's devotion to his young daughter Christine ("Tina") keeps him from divorcing his wife, a manipulative, jealous woman who does not love Tina and keeps Jerry from engaging in his chosen career of architecture, despite the fulfillment he gets from it. Charlotte and Jerry become friendly, and in Rio de Janeiro, the two are stranded on Sugarloaf Mountain when their car crashes. They miss the ship and spend five days together before Charlotte flies to Buenos Aires to rejoin the cruise. Although they have fallen in love, they decide it would be best not to see each other again. From the trailer When she arrives home, Charlotte's family is stunned by the dramatic changes in her appearance and demeanor. Her mother is determined to once again destroy her daughter, but Charlotte is resolved to remain independent. The memory of Jerry's love and devotion help to give her the strength she needs to remain resolute. Charlotte becomes engaged to wealthy, well-connected widower Elliot Livingston, but after a chance meeting with Jerry, she breaks off the engagement, about which she quarrels with her mother. During the argument, Charlotte says she did not ask to be born, that her mother never wanted her, and it has "been a calamity on both sides." Mrs. Vale is so shocked that her once-weak daughter has found the courage to actually talk back to her, she has a heart attack and dies. Guilty and distraught, Charlotte returns to the sanitarium. From the trailer When she arrives at the sanitarium, she is immediately diverted from her own problems when she meets Jerry's lonely, unhappy 12-year-old daughter Tina, who has been sent to Dr. Jaquith. Tina greatly reminds Charlotte of herself; both were unwanted and unloved by their mothers. Shaken from her depression, Charlotte becomes overly interested in Tina's welfare, and with Dr. Jaquith's permission, she takes her under her wing. When the girl improves, Charlotte takes her home to Boston. Jerry and Dr. Jaquith visit the Vale home, where Jerry is delighted to see the changes in his daughter. While he initially pities Charlotte, believing her to be settling in her life, he is taken aback by her contempt for his initial condescension. Dr. Jaquith has allowed Charlotte to keep Tina there with the understanding that her relationship with Jerry will remain platonic. She tells Jerry that she sees Tina as his gift to her and her way of being close to him. When Jerry asks her if she is happy, Charlotte finds much to value in her life, even if she does not have everything she wants: "Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars," a line ranked number 46 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 quotes in American cinema. 

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The story opens weeks after the events of Interesting Times, in which Rincewind is magically transported to the continent of Xxxx due to a miscalculation made by the Unseen University wizards. He meets the magical kangaroo Scrappy, who was sent by the creator of Fourecks. Scrappy explains to Rincewind that he is fated to bring back "The Wet", meaning the rain, and that he is the reason for the eons-long drought. Scrappy says that the continent is unfinished, and time and space will be an eternal anomaly there until it is finished, i.e., the rain is brought back. Rincewind is shown cave paintings of wizards. Meanwhile, the senior wizards (Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully, The Dean, The Bursar, The Chair of Indefinite Studies, The Lecturer in Recent Runes, The Senior Wrangler, and Ponder Stibbons) are trying to find a cure for the Librarian's magical malady, which causes him to transform into a native object, such as a book when near a library, whenever he sneezes. The wizards soon find out that the books in the Library become hostile and attack when not in the librarian's care. The wizards cannot cure the Librarian without knowing his name. The Librarian, being also the archivist, destroyed any evidence of his true name since he believed the wizards would attempt to turn him human again, as he rather enjoyed his orang-utan body (brought on by a magical accident years before). The Lecturer in Recent Runes suggests they interrogate Rincewind, as he once worked closely with the Librarian and seemed to know more about him than anyone else. To find Rincewind, they have to find the continent of Xxxx. They seek out the Egregious Professor of Cruel and Unusual Geography, and find his office but no sign of the professor himself. They then find a magical window in space leading from the professor's bathroom to a tropical island thousands of years in the past. Back in the present, Rincewind attempts to run away from his destiny, but in fact runs towards it. With the secret assistance of Scrappy, (a parody of Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, a television show from 1969 to 1970, with re-runs into the early 1980s) he eventually ends up wrongfully arrested for sheep theft and taken to Bugarup, where he is hoping to find a ship to escape on. Along the way he subsequently ends up inventing several things that are considered Australian Icons in the real world, as well as becoming the subject of a ballad that is hinted at being a parody of the song "Waltzing Matilda". A gigantic circular storm surrounding Fourecks prevents any ships from leaving, however. The people of Bugarup regard sheep thieves as folk heroes and encourage Rincewind to escape, while not actually allowing him to. He finds a hidden message on the ceiling of his holding cell, left by a previous escapee named Tinhead Ned, a reference to the bushranger Ned Kelly, telling him: "G'day mait, check the hinges." He discovers that he is able to lift the door off its hinges and escape. The wizards become trapped when Mrs Whitlow, the head maid, closes the window that leads back into the Professor's study. The wizards soon encounter plants that rapidly evolve to suit their needs (such as a cigarette plant, a coconut tree with chocolate hull coconuts with coconut candy on the inside, and a spoon bush) but (apart from Ponder) do not question the turn of events until a large dinosaur evolves into a chicken in front of their eyes. After finding a plant- based boat, the wizards start to question their surroundings even more and the god of evolution, who has been causing the events, then turns up and helps explain things. He created the boat plant so that the wizards would leave him in peace, as the plants are going haywire attempting to evolve to suit the wizards' every needs. The god doesn't understand the purpose of the seeds and is, it turns out, unaware of the concept of sexual reproduction. After Mrs Whitlow explains it to him, the excited god decides to redesign the creatures on the island in order to incorporate the idea. (The god is also shown to have created a large number of beetle species, in reference to the quotation by J. B. S. Haldane.) The wizards then reach Fourecks, inventing surfing along the way, and meet the Creator of Fourecks (not of the Disc) in the process of creating it by way of impressionistic cave paintings. The wizards bicker over the Creator's technique and inadvertently create the duck-billed platypus. The Librarian meanwhile steals the Creator's bullroarer and spins it, causing the drought Rincewind is in the process of stopping. The wizards are then frozen in time for thousands of years by the stray magic left over from creating the continent. Rincewind, having escaped from gaol, meets up with a group of female impersonators, Darleen and Letitia, and a female, Neilette. The "ladies" have found his Luggage, which rescues him from the Watch. In the escape, Rincewind and Neilette break into the old brewery (which was never used because all the beer kept going flat). An earthquake (induced by the voice of the creator) causes the brewery to collapse, trapping them inside the Luggage. When they emerge, Rincewind can see the ethereal outlines of the wizards (who were trapped, frozen in time, for 30,000 years in the brewery). Eventually he arrives at the University of Fourecks (which has a tower that is taller on the inside than it is on the outside). Rincewind figures out how to free the wizards. The wizards attempt to find a way to bring back the rain, but are unsuccessful. As they are sitting around, Rincewind idly twirls the bullroarer, which soon begins to fly faster and farther than it should. Rincewind lets go and the bullroarer flies off; immediately, it begins to rain. Having saved Fourecks, Rincewind and the wizards return to Ankh-Morpork by ship, and the story ends with the old man with the sack (the Creator of the last continent) catching the bullroarer in front of a young boy. 

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Blackthorne is set on the planet Tuul, which has existed for centuries without human knowledge. All of this time, Tuul's people have been ruled over by a single shaman who "was blessed with all knowledge". Years before the game begins, Thoros, the latest ruler, finds it near impossible to choose between his two sons as the next ruler. Believing it will solve the dilemma, he leads them to the deserts and kills himself. His body becomes two stones, light and dark, and he gives one to each boy to rule their own kingdoms respectively. The people of the lightstone form the kingdom of Androth, and the people of the darkstone form Ka'dra'suul. But while Androth respects their stone, Ka'dra'suul reject theirs, and are eventually transformed into monsters by it. In this time, a ka'dra named Sarlac seizes power. He forms an army and leads them against Androth. Knowing of his people's doom, the ruler of Androth, King Vlaros, with the aid of the Androthi magician Galadril, sends his son Kyle to Earth to save his life. Vlaros also gives Kyle the lightstone for safe keeping. Twenty years later, Kyle has become a renowned military captain and mercenary. After breaking out of prison facing court martial, Kyle begins having strange dreams, and is eventually confronted by Galadril. He is told that it is time to return to Tuul and save his people. The game begins here with Kyle setting out to kill Sarlac and reclaim his throne. Kyle ventures through the land fighting his way to Sarlac's castle. He confronts Sarlac and threatens to keep his skull as a mounted trophy on his wall. The two battle and Kyle is the victor. He avenges his father, King Vlaros. Kyle then becomes king of Androth, where it is stated that he ruled justly, fairly and with honor for many years. The final shot of the game shows him sitting on the throne with a woman sitting next to him. Sarlac's skull is seen mounted on the wall as a trophy, just as Kyle had promised. 

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Gary and Tony are two London-based beer-guzzling flatmates revelling in a second childhood, hours of TV, and mindless talks about women, the kind of behaviour that puts their relationships in jeopardy with Dorothy (Gary's girlfriend) and Deborah (an attractive blonde in the flat above). Gary manages an office selling security equipment for a dead-end company. His staff of ageing employees are the meek George and lifelong spinster Anthea, who regularly drive him to frustration with their old-fashioned views. Tony stumbles through a range of jobs including as a model, barman, mime artist and postman, after his record stall collapsed (somewhat literally). Dorothy is an intelligent and mature nurse. She and Gary frequently split up and are occasionally unfaithful (including one fateful night when Dorothy sleeps with Tony), but they always end up back together. Tony has many girlfriends but his true feelings are for Deborah, whom he initially just wants to have sex with, but quickly falls in love with in spite of her generally poor treatment of him. Deborah is often disappointed by Tony's juvenile behaviour, but can also see his good side. The two finally end up in a relationship in series 6. 

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After her mother has died in childbirth, Laura Blundy is brought up by her loving and caring father, a merchant and shopowner who also pays for her schooling. One day, on her way to her ailing aunt, she is given a lift by a young man in a carriage who rapes her and then throws her out of the carriage again. She becomes pregnant, and when both her father and her aunt die she is left penniless. Unable to care for her baby son, she manages to have him raised in an institution. She occasionally goes there to inquire after him, but one day she is told that he has died and that he has been buried in an unmarked grave. The feeling of loss she experiences never leaves her again. Laura Blundy spends the following 18 years of her life in the streets of London. When another woman's baby dies in her care she is charged with murder and has to go to prison. Years later she is set free again but almost immediately after her release she is run over by a carriage (whose driver does not stop). She is brought to hospital, where her leg is amputated. However, she falls in love with her surgeon. They get married, but Laura is attracted more by his cleanliness and moderate wealth than by his character or potency. When, in mid-winter, Laura decides to commit suicide by drowning in the river Thames, she is rescued by Billy, a young worker employed in the building of the Victoria Embankment and London's sewage system. At one point in the novel, Billy comes into direct contact with Joseph Bazalgette, the chief engineer on this project. Although Billy has a wife and children, they start a love affair. Some time later Laura beats her husband to death in his own home, making Billy an accomplice after the fact. Laura cuts up her husband's body, and then she and Billy carry the body in several bags to the river. As the surgeon's head keeps bobbing up and being washed ashore they eventually have to burn it. At this point in her life Laura, already in her late thirties, may be pregnant once again. The lovers have plans of escaping to France. 

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In 1914, spoiled Fanny Trellis is a renowned beauty with many suitors. She loves her brother Trippy and would do anything to help him. Fanny learns that Trippy has embezzled money from his employer Job Skeffington. To save her brother from prosecution, Fanny pursues and marries the lovestruck Skeffington. Disgusted by the arrangement, in part because of his prejudice against Skeffington being Jewish, Trippy leaves home to fight in the Lafayette Escadrille in World War I. Job loves Fanny, but she is merely fond of him and largely ignores him. She becomes pregnant with his child, but when Trippy dies in France, she states she is "stuck" with Job, and the marriage then becomes wholly loveless, continuing only for the child's sake. Job and George Trellis, Fanny's cousin, also enlist but are stationed near home. Fanny enjoys playing the wealthy socialite, stringing along a persistent quartet of suitors who are unfazed by her marriage as well as much younger lovers. Lonely, Job finds solace with his secretaries. When Fanny finds out, she divorces him, conveniently ignoring her own behavior. Fanny neglects her young daughter (also named Fanny), who understandably prefers her loving father and begs him to take her with him to Europe. Although Job fears for his child and tries unsuccessfully to explain to her the nature of prejudice she will encounter as a Jew abroad, he finally, tearfully and joyfully, says yes. Fanny is relieved to be free of the encumbrance of a child. Fanny has a series of affairs, living well on the extremely generous settlement Job has left her - half his fortune - and hardly giving a thought to her daughter, whom she does not see for many years. She retains her beauty as she grows older (much to the envy of her women acquaintances), but when she catches diphtheria, it ravages her appearance. In denial, she invites her old lovers (and their wives) to a party. The men are shocked (and the women relieved) by how much Fanny has changed, leaving her distraught. Her latest young suitor, Johnny Mitchell, falls in love with her daughter, who has returned from Europe because of the rise of the Nazis. They marry after only a few months and leave for Seattle. Fanny's daughter explains that, while she wishes her mother well, she feels no real love for her, and pities her for discarding the one man who truly loves her. Shortly before her daughter's departure, Fanny suffers the ultimate humiliation when one of her old beaus makes what she at first believes to be a sincere marriage proposal, only to withdraw it when he begins to suspect, incorrectly, that she is no longer wealthy. Fanny is left alone with her maid, Manby. Fanny's cousin George brings Job back to Fanny's home unannounced. The Nazis have left Job penniless and worse, George tells Fanny, and he calls on her to be generous. Fanny's vanity nearly prevents her from venturing down her home's grand staircase to see Job. When she does finally enter the parlor, Job moves to her, stumbles and falls: He is blind. Fanny rushes to cradle him in her arms. As she takes his arm and guides him up the staircase, she tells the maid that "Mr. Skeffington has come home." Job had once, long ago, told Fanny that, "A woman is beautiful only when she is loved." George tells Fanny that, at that moment, "she has never been more beautiful". At long last, she realizes the truth of it. 

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At Christmastime in 1938, Susie Parkington, an elderly society matron and widow of the wealthy businessman and financier Major Augustus Parkington, is visited by her many relatives, with the exception of her beloved great-granddaughter Jane. Except for Jane, Susie's heirs are boorish, dissolute, and unhappy despite their wealth. When Jane does appear, she informs her great-grandmother that she plans to secretly elope with Ned Talbot, her father's employee, who wishes to take her away from her family and their way of life. Susie has a flashback to her own life. As a teenager, Susie helps her mother run a boarding house for silver miners in Leaping Rock, Nevada. She meets Major Augustus Parkington, the owner of the mine, when he stays at the boardinghouse on a visit; the miners complain to him about dangerous working conditions, but he refuses to fix them as it would slow down the yield of the mine, instead paying the miners higher salaries to take the risk and telling them to quit if they are so afraid. Shortly afterwards, a serious mine accident occurs which kills Susie's mother along with a number of miners. Rather than leave Susie to an uncertain fate, Augustus marries her and takes her away to New York City. Susie is introduced to Baroness Aspasia Conti, a French aristocrat and close friend and former mistress of Augustus, who helps Susie pick out clothes and learn the social graces needed for a woman of her station. Back in the present, Susie arranges a meeting with Ned, where he reveals that Jane's father Amory (Susie's grandson-in-law) is being investigated for fraud, and Ned planned to take Jane away in order to avoid telling her or having to testify against Amory. Susie disapproves of Ned's handling of the situation, prompting Jane to send Ned away. Amory confesses to Susie and Jane that he did commit fraud, and begs Susie for a loan of $31 million to cover his actions in hopes of avoiding prison. Susie is inclined to give him the loan, but says he must ask the rest of the family, as Amory would be spending their inheritance. Susie once again reminisces about her past. She remembers how, on their third anniversary, Augustus presented her with a grand house, furnished with Aspasia's help. Susie announces that she is pregnant, and an elated Augustus holds a ball to celebrate, inviting the wealthiest and most socially prominent citizens of New York, but his happiness turns to fury when most of them refuse to attend due to his blunt, outspoken behavior. His rage upsets Susie, and when she runs away from the dinner party, she runs upstairs, faints, falls down the stairs, and has a miscarriage. Augustus angrily vows revenge against the non-attendees, and unbeknownst to Susie, manages to force many of them out of business over the next few years. Susie only finds out after Mrs. Livingstone, whose husband is about to be put out of business by Augustus, pleads with Susie for help and informs her that another man committed suicide after Augustus ruined him. Susie has words with Augustus, who remains unrepentant, so she separates from him and takes up new quarters on Long Island, with frequent visits from Aspasia. Several weeks pass before Augustus begs his wife to return home, revealing that he has been unsuccessful in his mission to put the Livingstones out of business. Susie then informs him that she has been secretly financially supporting the Livingstone business and that his vendetta must stop. Augustus agrees and the couple reunite. Back in the present, as Susie expected, her heirs refuse to lend Amory the money. Amory, overcoming his fear of going to prison, resolves to make a full confession to the authorities; Susie approves, saying that is what the Major would have done. Once again, Susie has a flashback, this time to when her son Herbert (father of greedy granddaughters Madeleine and Helen) was killed in an accident while playing polo. Susie becomes a recluse for a year and Augustus moves to England, renting a lavish country home and carrying on an affair with Lady Norah Ebbsworth. Aspasia convinces Susie to fight for her marriage, so Susie follows Augustus to England and, with the assistance of the Prince of Wales, convinces him to end his affair. Following this, Aspasia reveals that she will be moving back to Paris. She also admits to Susie that she has always been in love with Augustus. Susie reveals that she has always known, and after she herself was sure of Augustus' love for her, she loved Aspasia too. Augustus and Susie have a heart-to-heart in which he hopes that if their grandchildren develop the weaknesses he associates with money that is inherited rather than earned, he or Susie will be alive to set them straight. Once more in the present, Susie realizes she made a mistake in having Jane send Ned away, and tells Jane to follow her heart and go after Ned, which Jane gladly does. Finally, Susie makes the decision to bail out Amory anyway, as many "little people" would otherwise lose their money through his fraud. Her daughter, granddaughters, and great grandson leave in disgust after learning they will be cut off by Susie. Once they leave, Susie calls upstairs for her lady's maid to make ready for the day. She also shouts to her that after the finances are distributed, they'll be returning to Leaping Rock, Nevada. 

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Alan Quinton, an American soldier in Italy during World War II, has been writing letters for his friend, Roger Morland, a man who admits he "never had any standards, manners or taste." Alan has never met Victoria Remington, but regards her as a "pin-up girl of the spirit," to whom he can express feelings he has never expressed in person. He realizes that Victoria has fallen in love with the letters and is concerned that she will be disappointed by the real Roger. However, Roger abruptly leaves for paratrooper training in England. Alan is subsequently injured on the Italian front and finds out that Roger is dead. He is having trouble readjusting to civilian life and spending time with his fiancée, Helen Wentworth. He decides to live for a while at his aunt's farm in Essex. In London, his brother takes him to a party at which he meets Dilly Carson and Singleton. He drunkenly tells them the story about falling in love with a woman he's never met, and Dilly realizes he is referring to Roger and Victoria. She tells Alan that a murder was committed and the letters were somehow involved. Alan and his fiancée realize they aren't in love and part amicably before he moves to the farm. While in Essex, Alan visits Longreach — the road to which he addressed all the letters — and finds out that Victoria died over a year ago. He also learns that Roger was murdered by his wife, and Alan feels guilty for ever writing those letters. Back in London, Dilly informs him that Singleton is suffering from amnesia and is actually the real Victoria. She begs him not to tell Singleton that he was the one who wrote the letters because Victoria fell in love with Roger through the letters and married him solely based on them. Dilly recounts that one day, she found Roger stabbed to death in the country house on Longreach, but Victoria was completely unable to remember what happened, even though she was holding the murder weapon right beside him. After a trial during which she cannot remember anything, she is sent to a prison psychiatric hospital for a year and then released into the care of Dilly. Victoria never regained her memory, and continues to now live as Singleton. Singleton realizes that Alan is in love with Victoria, but does not realize Victoria is actually herself. Regardless, Alan and Singleton marry after he gets permission from her adopted mother, Beatrice Remington. However, their marriage is constantly scarred by Alan's love of the "other woman." Beatrice returns to the farm and while conversing with Singleton, Singleton begins to remember the events of that fateful night: As Roger begins to drink, Victoria rereads the letters to remind herself of the man she loves and not the bitter man she sees in front of her. Roger confesses that he is not the one who wrote the letters, and he becomes abusive. Beatrice takes a knife and is the one to stab him to death as Victoria attempts to save the letters he had thrown into the fireplace. As Alan arrives at the house, Victoria recalls her true identity and they fall into each other's arms. 

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While traveling by train in New Mexico, novelist Richard Harland meets Ellen Berent, a beautiful socialite from Boston. Ellen is particularly drawn to Richard, as he reminds her of her deceased father, to whom she had an obsessive attachment. Ellen is visiting New Mexico to spread her father's ashes, accompanied by her aloof mother and her cousin Ruth, who was adopted by the Berents and whom Ellen considers a sister. Richard and Ellen discover they are vacationing at the same luxurious desert resort, and begin a whirlwind romance. Richard is fascinated by Ellen's exotic beauty and intense personality. The couple's affair is interrupted when Ellen's fiancé, attorney Russell Quinton, whom she is separated from, arrives at the resort unexpectedly. Ellen announces at that time that she and Richard are to be married, to Richard's surprise. Ellen and Richard marry in Warm Springs, Georgia before staying at Richard's lodge on a lake in northern Maine. Their domestic life is copacetic at first, but it becomes gradually apparent that Ellen is pathologically jealous of anyone and anything Richard cares about, including his family and career. During an unexpected visit from Ellen's family, her mother attempts to warn Richard that Ellen is prone to obsessiveness and a compulsion to "love too much." Ellen's resentment only grows when Richard's beloved teenage brother, Danny, crippled by the effects of polio, comes to live with them. One afternoon, Ellen follows Danny on the lake in a rowboat as he attempts to swim from one end to the other. Ellen knowingly encourages him to press on, even as he begins to struggle to stay afloat. She watches from the boat as Danny sinks below the surface and drowns. Gene Tierney and Jeanne Crain in Leave Her to Heaven Danny's death is presumed an accident, and Ellen feigns sympathy. After settling at their home in Bar Harbor, Richard is despondent. At Ruth's suggestion, Ellen becomes pregnant in an attempt to please Richard, but later confesses to Ruth that she does not want the child, likening it to a "little beast." One afternoon, Ellen throws herself down a staircase to induce a miscarriage. She succeeds in terminating the pregnancy, and after recovering in the hospital, accuses Ruth of being in love with Richard, citing a dedication in his new novel that possibly alludes to her. Ruth rebukes Ellen by accusing her of causing the misery that has befallen the family. Richard overhears the argument, and begins to suspect Ellen is responsible for the deaths of Danny and their unborn child. Richard confronts Ellen about Danny, and she remorselessly admits to having let him drown, and cruelly tells Richard she would do it again if given the chance. Following the confession, Richard leaves Ellen, but does not pursue criminal action as he does not believe there is sufficient evidence. After Richard departs, Ellen sends a letter to Russell—now the county district attorney—in which she accuses Ruth of plotting to murder her. While on a picnic with Ruth and her mother several days later, Ellen deliberately ingests sugar laced with arsenic, unbeknownst to them. The poison causes Ellen to go into multiple organ failure over several days, and doctors are unable to save her. When Richard visits Ellen on her deathbed, she requests in his confidence that she be cremated, and that he scatter her ashes where she spread her father's in New Mexico, to which he agrees. After Ellen dies, Ruth has her remains cremated at Richard's instruction. She is subsequently charged with Ellen's murder, prosecuted by Russell. During the trial, Russell proposes that Ruth plotted to kill Ellen so she and Richard could be together, and frames Ruth's cremation of Ellen as a calculated decision to prevent an autopsy. A recalcitrant Richard testifies regarding Ellen's psychopathic jealousy, insisting that she made her own suicide appear as a murder to punish him and Ruth. Ruth is ultimately acquitted, but Richard is sentenced to two years imprisonment as an accessory in Danny's death, as he withheld his knowledge of Ellen's actions. After completing his sentence, Richard returns to his lodge, where he is welcomed lovingly by Ruth. 

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The death of King Henry VIII of England throws his kingdom into chaos as his successor, Edward VI of England, is both under-age and in poor health. Anticipating the young king's imminent death from tuberculosis and anxious to keep England true to the Protestant Reformation by keeping the Catholic Princess Mary from the throne, John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, Lord President of the Council and second only to the king in power, hatches a plan to marry his son, Lord Guildford, to Lady Jane Grey, and have the royal physician keep the young king Edward VI alive--albeit in excruciating pain--long enough to get him to name Jane his heir. Jane is unhappy with the proposed marriage, and is forced into it through corporal punishment by her parents. At first, Jane and Guildford treat their union as a marriage of convenience, but later fall deeply in love. After King Edward VI dies, Jane is placed on the throne. She is troubled by the questionable legality of her accession, but after consulting with Guildford, turns the tables on John Dudley and the others who thought to use her as a puppet. After only nine days, however, Queen Jane's council abandon her because of her designs for reforming the country. The council then supports Mary, who at first imprisons Jane and Guildford. Consumed with guilt, Jane's father, the Duke of Suffolk, raises a rebellion to restore her to the throne, presumably in concert with Thomas Wyatt the Younger's rebellion. When the rebellion fails, Queen Mary I offers to spare Jane's life if she renounces her Protestant faith. When she refuses, Jane, her father and Guildford are executed. 

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Charles Morse (Anthony Hopkins), a billionaire; Robert "Bob" Green (Alec Baldwin), a photographer; and Stephen (Harold Perrineau), Bob's assistant, arrive in a remote Alaskan village with Charles' wife, Mickey (Elle Macpherson), a model. Styles (L.Q. Jones), the proprietor of the lodge, warns everyone about not leaving uncovered food that will attract bears. Charles is surprised with a birthday party where Mickey gives him an engraved pocket watch and Bob gives him a pocket knife. Another of Charles's valued possessions is a book with instruction and advice for surviving in the wild. During key moments early on, he is often shown losing the thread of conversations because he is so absorbed in his reading. During a photo shoot, Charles observes Bob and Mickey kissing platonically. The three men fly to a location to find a local Alaskan man (Gordon Tootoosis), for photographs. A note on his door indicates he is miles away bear hunting. They fly north where the man is supposed to be hunting. During the flight, Charles asks Bob how he is planning to kill him. Before Bob can answer, the plane strikes a flock of birds and nose-dives into a lake, killing the pilot. Charles, Bob, and Stephen barely reach shore. Lost in the crash is Charles's survival book. After building a fire and spending the night on the lake shore, the three men attempt to hike the next day to a more open area where they will more likely be spotted and rescued. However, they soon discover that they are not alone there: an enormous Kodiak bear is prowling the open woodland and has detected their presence in its territory. While crossing a makeshift bridge trying to elude the bear, Charles falls into the rapids. Bob saves him, leaving Charles doubting his earlier suspicions about Bob's intentions. The group becomes lost and Stephen wounds his leg. That night, the bear attacks their camp, killing Stephen and chasing the other two men away. The two remaining men see a rescue helicopter in the distance. They attempt to flag it down, but the pilot does not see them, forcing them to find their own way back to civilization. The bear eventually finds Charles and Bob again and stalks them through the wilderness. Forced to keep running and hiding from the bear, the two men are unable to rest or look for food. Charles decides that they must kill the bear, otherwise it will catch and kill them or they will starve to death. Charles uses his pocket knife to sharpen the ends of long branches to make spears. The next day, the bear attacks them again. They manage to lure it into a river. The bear attacks Bob but Charles distracts it, luring it away. Charles repeatedly stabs at the bear with his spear, but the bear's thick hide and fat render his strikes ineffective. As the bear corners him against a pile of logs at the river's edge, Charles positions his spear at a partially upward angle with the other end wedged between rocks to stabilize it. The bear lunges, and as it crashes down onto Charles, its own weight fatally impales it on Charles' spear. The two men now have their first food source since they were stranded: bear meat. Following the river south, the men find an empty cabin. Charles notices a deadfall, while Bob rushes into the cabin. They find supplies, including a canoe, rifle, and ammunition. While Bob is checking if the canoe is usable, Charles finds a receipt in his pocket to use as tinder. The receipt contains information confirming his suspicions about his wife's infidelities with Bob. When Bob returns to the cabin, he reveals that he plans to kill Charles for his wife. He orders Charles outside, but before he is able to kill him, Bob falls into the deadfall, despite Charles's attempt to warn him. Bob is badly injured and begs Charles for his help. Charles removes Bob from the pit and tends to his wounds. They go downriver in the canoe together. Charles makes camp with a fire to keep Bob warm. Bob apologizes for betraying Charles and says Mickey was unaware he intended to murder him. A helicopter appears and Charles successfully attracts its attention, but Bob dies before the helicopter lands. Charles is brought back to the lodge and reveals to his wife that he is aware of her betrayal by handing her Bob's watch. He states to the press that the other men died, "saving [his] life." 

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Trinity, a lazy, ne'er-do-well gunfighter with unnaturally fast drawing ability and marksmanship, is dragged on a travois by his horse to a way station and restaurant. There, he encounters a pair of bounty hunters with an injured Mexican prisoner. Trinity calmly takes the Mexican away from the two men, killing them before they can shoot him in the back. The pair reach a small town, where they witness the local sheriff, a large, burly man with a similarly fast drawing ability to Trinity, gunning down three men after they harass him for not allowing one of their criminal friends to be released. It becomes apparent that Trinity and the man, Bambino, are brothers. Bambino is merely posing as the new sheriff of the small town while he awaits the arrival of his gang from the penitentiary from which he escaped, following a run-in with the actual sheriff who incidentally took the same way as Bambino on his way to his new post. Bambino is not happy to see his trouble-making brother. However, the two form a temporary partnership to deal with Major Harriman, who is attempting to run a group of pacifist Mormon farmers off their land with the intention of using their property to graze his own horses. The fact that these horses are valuable and unbranded explains Bambino's grudging willingness to work with his little brother, even though he considers Trinity to be a shiftless bum without ambition. However, Trinity has fallen in love with two Mormon sisters and is genuinely concerned with the Mormon settlers' welfare. He persuades Bambino and Bambino's henchmen to help train the pacifistic Mormons to fight, and in the final battle, the Mormon leader finds in the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible that "there is a time for fighting," and the Mormons are unleashed against Major Harriman's goons, using the dirty fighting tricks that they have just learned. Bambino is flabbergasted and infuriated to learn that Trinity has given the Major's horses to the Mormons. Trinity is about to be happily married to the two Mormon sisters when he learns that being a married Mormon means actually having to work, causing him to hurry after Bambino, who angrily sends him off in the opposite direction. After Bambino departs for California, the real sheriff appears, and Trinity points him in Bambino's direction. Trinity then reclines in his travois and brings up the rear with his horse, following them all. 

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Shadow is an ex-convict who is released from prison three days early when his wife Laura is killed in a car accident. Shadow is devastated by her death, and is distraught to learn that she died alongside his best friend Robbie, with whom she had been having an affair. He takes a job as a bodyguard for a mysterious con man, Mr. Wednesday, and travels with him across America, visiting Wednesday's acquaintances. Shadow learns that Wednesday is an incarnation of Odin the All-Father and that he is recruiting American manifestations of the Old Gods, whose powers have waned as their believers have decreased in number, to participate in a battle against the New American Gods – manifestations of modern life and technology, such as the Internet, media, and modern means of transport. Shadow meets a leprechaun named Mad Sweeney, who gives Shadow a magical gold coin after Shadow beats him in a fight. Shadow later tosses the coin into his wife's grave at her funeral, inadvertently bringing her back from the dead as a semi-living revenant. The New Gods abduct Shadow (utilizing a group of shadowy Men in Black, led by the mysterious Mr. World), but Laura rescues him, killing several Men in Black in the process. Wednesday hides Shadow, first with Mr. Ibis (Thoth) and Mr. Jacquel (Anubis), who run a funeral parlor in Illinois, and then in the Great Lakes community of Lakeside. They are pursued all the while by the Men in Black, particularly Mr. Town, who blames Shadow for the death of his friends. The New Gods seek to parley with Wednesday, but murder him at the meeting. This act galvanizes the Old Gods, and they rally to face their enemies in battle at Rock City. While retrieving Wednesday's body, Shadow is surprised to discover his old prison cellmate and mentor, Low Key Lyesmith, is working as a driver for the New Gods. Shadow is bound by his contract with Wednesday to hold his vigil by re-enacting Odin's time hanging from a "World Tree" while pierced by a spear for nine days. During these nine days, he is visited by Horus, who has become mad from living too long as a hawk. Shadow dies and visits the land of the dead, where he is judged by Anubis. Shadow learns that he is Wednesday's (Odin's) son, conceived as part of the deity's plans. During this time, Mr. Town arrives at the World Tree, ordered by Mr. World to cut a branch from it. Horus finds Easter and convinces her to bring Shadow back to life. Shadow realizes Mr. World is actually Low Key (Loki) Lyesmith and that Odin and Loki have been working a "two-man con". They orchestrated Shadow's birth, his meeting of Loki in disguise in prison and even Laura's death. Loki had arranged for Odin's murder, thus making the battle between the New and Old Gods a sacrifice to Odin, restoring Odin's power while also allowing Loki to feed on the chaos of the battle. Laura chooses to hitchhike to Rock City and meets Mr. Town, who does not realise who she is, and they agree to travel together. During their travels, Laura learns who Mr. Town is and, once they arrive at their destination, kills him and takes the branch he took from the World Tree. She then meets with Loki and manages to stab him with the World Tree branch, which turns into a spear as she stabs. Shadow arrives at Rock City and confronts Loki, now gravely wounded, and the ghost of Odin, who reveal their plans. Shadow travels to the site of the battle and explains that both sides have nothing to gain and everything to lose, with Odin and Loki as the only true winners. Shadow tells them the United States is a bad place for Gods, and he recommends they return home. The Gods depart, Loki dies and Odin's ghost fades. Laura asks Shadow to take the coin from her, which he does, and she finally dies. In Iceland, Shadow meets another incarnation of Odin, created by the belief of the original settlers of Iceland who is much closer than Wednesday to the Odin of mythology. Shadow accuses Odin of Wednesday's actions, whereupon Odin replies that "He was me, yes. But I am not him." Shadow gives Wednesday's glass eye to Odin, which Odin places in a leather bag as a keepsake. Shadow performs a simple sleight-of-hand coin trick, which delights Odin, who asks for a repeat performance. Shadow then performs a small piece of real magic, pulling a golden coin from nowhere, before walking away from the god and out into the world. 

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Incendiary bombs being dropped onto Kobe, the setting of the movie On 21 September 1945, shortly after the end of World War II, a teenage boy, Seita, dies of starvation in a Kobe train station. A janitor sorts through his possessions and finds a candy tin, which he throws into a field. The burnt remains of several small bones spill out, and the spirit of Seita's younger sister, Setsuko, springs from the tin and is joined by Seita's spirit and a cloud of fireflies. They board a train. Months earlier, Seita and Setsuko's house is destroyed in a firebombing along with most of Kobe. They escape unharmed, but their mother dies from severe burns. Seita and Setsuko move in with a distant aunt, who convinces Seita to sell his mother's silk kimonos for rice. Seita retrieves supplies he buried before the bombing and gives everything to his aunt, save for a tin of Sakuma drops. As rations shrink and the number of refugees in the house grows, the aunt becomes resentful of the children, saying they do nothing to earn the food she prepares. Seita and Setsuko leave the aunt's home and move into an abandoned bomb shelter. They release fireflies into the shelter for light. The next day, Setsuko is horrified to find that the insects have died. She buries them in a grave, asking why they and her mother had to die. As they run out of rice, Seita steals from farmers and loots homes during air raids, for which he is beaten. When Setsuko falls ill, Seita takes her to a doctor, who explains that she is suffering from malnutrition. Desperate, Seita withdraws all the money in their mother's bank account. As he leaves the bank, he becomes distraught when he learns that Japan has surrendered. He also learns that his father, a captain in the Imperial Japanese Navy, is most likely dead, as most of Japan's navy has been sunk. Seita returns to the shelter with food, but finds Setsuko hallucinating. Seita hurries to feed her, but she dies as he finishes preparing the food. Seita cremates Setsuko's body and her stuffed doll in a straw casket. He carries her ashes in the candy tin along with his father's photograph. Seita and Setsuko's deceased spirits arrive at their destination, healthy and happy. Surrounded by fireflies, they rest on a hilltop bench overlooking present-day Kobe. 

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Miki Koishikawa's ordinary life as a sophomore in high school is turned upside down when her parents suddenly announce that they are getting divorced in order to swap partners with a couple they met back in Hawaii. They seek her approval of the shocking change, and while at a restaurant during dinner where Miki meets the other couple as well as their teenage son Yuu Matsura, who is around her age, she reluctantly agrees to the arrangement. At first, Yuu appears to be a complete jerk who takes every opportunity to make fun of and tease Miki, but he actually turns out to be fun and attractive, and Miki finds herself falling in love with him. Little by little, she accepts her new family arrangement and opens up to Yuu as they become best friends. After a while, Miki and Yuu's relationship starts to become complicated because of the former relationships that they've had and developed with other characters. These include Miki's long time classmate and former crush from middle school, Ginta Suou, and Yuu's former girlfriend from his previous school, Arimi Suzuki. A secondary subplot develops when Miki's best friend, Meiko Akizuki, herself starts to have her own problems because of the relationship she has gotten into with one of the school teachers, Shin'ichi Namura. Throughout the series, Miki and Yuu's relationship is further developed and tried, influenced by the other characters around them and the relationships that they develop with these characters. 

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> "I remember that winter because it had brought the heaviest snow I had ever > seen. Snow had fallen steadily all night long and in the morning I woke in a > room filled with light and silence, the whole world seemed to be held in a > dream-like stillness. It was a magical day... and it was on that day I made > The Snowman." - Raymond Briggs in the original introduction to the film. After a night of heavy snowfall, a boy named James wakes up and plays in the snow, eventually building a large snowman. At the stroke of midnight, he sneaks downstairs to find the snowman magically comes to life. James shows the snowman around his house, playing with appliances, toys and other bric-a-brac, all while keeping quiet enough not to wake James' parents. The two find a sheeted-down motorcycle in the house's garden and go for a ride on it through the woods. Its engine heat starts to melt the snowman and he cools off in the garage freezer. Seeing a picture of the arctic on a packet in the freezer, the snowman is agitated and takes the boy in hand, running through the garden until they take flight. They fly over the South Downs towards the coast, seeing the Royal Pavilion and Brighton Palace Pier, and north along the coast of Norway. They continue through an arctic landscape and into the aurora borealis. They land in a snow-covered forest where they join a party of snowmen. They eventually meet Father Christmas along with his reindeer; he gives the boy a card and a scarf with a snowman pattern. The snowman returns home with James before the sun rises and the two bid farewell for the night. On Christmas Day the following morning, James wakes up to find that the snowman has melted, leaving only his hat, scarf, coal eyes, tangerine nose, and coal buttons in a pile of melted snow. James kneels down by the snowman's remains while holding his scarf, mourning the loss of him. 

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On the outskirts of Wall, a small town in rural England, the Faerie Market is held every nine years on the other side of the wall dividing Faerie — a mystical realm of magic — from our world and for which the town of Wall is named. As the book begins, the market has just begun and the town is filled with visitors and vendors. A young man named Dunstan Thorn rents out his cottage to a stranger in exchange for his "Heart's Desire," in addition to a monetary payment. The next day in the market, he meets Una, a beautiful woman imprisoned by the witch called Semele. He purchases a glass snowdrop from Una with a kiss, and gives the flower to his fiancée Daisy. Enthralled by her beauty during the encounter, Dunstan later meets Una in the woods that night and makes love to her. A month later, Dunstan marries Daisy as planned. In February (a little over nine months later), he receives a baby in a basket — his and Una's son, Tristran. Eighteen years after these events, Tristran — now a young man with a half-sister named Louisa — seeks the love of Victoria Forester, the town beauty. One night, while Tristran is walking her home from the shop where he works, he sees a shooting star land in Faerie, and he vows to bring it to her in exchange for a kiss, and perhaps her hand in marriage. Thinking that he will never actually do it, Victoria promises to do whatever he asks if he brings her the star. Tristran tells his father of the bargain, and Dunstan gives Tristran the snowdrop, as well as helping him pass the guards at the wall by alluding to his faerie heritage. Tristran enters Faerie and begins his search for the star. At Stormhold, in Faerie, the King of Stormhold gathers his sons to determine who will be his heir; he hurls the Power of Stormhold, a topaz that marks its bearer as the ruler of the land, into the sky, knocking that selfsame star from the sky. He then dies, and his sons leave together. Septimus departs on his own after poisoning Tertius at a nearby inn. Neither of the remaining brothers is aware that their other slain brothers, each one killed for the crown, are with them in ghost form. In a small, grey house in the woods, three ancient and mighty witches known as the Lillim learn of the fallen star by reading the entrails of a dead goat, and the eldest of the Lilim consumes their last reserves of "years", later revealed to be the heart of another fallen star, to become young again. She meets a farm boy, Brevis, at a crossroads, takes his goat, and transforms him into a second goat, using the two animals to pull her small chariot. Tristran meets a small hairy man who helps him through the woods. After Tristran helps them escape deadly trees called serewood, he learns he has the ability to find any location in Faerie. Tristran is taunted by tiny faeries, who say that he is "soon to face his true love's scorn." The hairy man gives Tristran a new outfit, a silver chain like the one used to imprison Una, and a candle-stub which allows one to travel great distances quickly while it burns, which he explains by referencing the nursery rhyme "How Many Miles to Babylon?". Tristran uses the candle to quickly reach the fallen star, but is surprised to find that the star is actually a young woman named Yvaine, whose leg was broken in the fall. Yvaine hurls mud at him and continuously insults him. He resolves to take her to Victoria anyway, tying her to him with the chain. However, the candle goes out before he can return, so the two sleep for the night. The next morning, Tristran tells Yvaine about his promise to Victoria and his intention to bring Yvaine to her. Tristran makes Yvaine a simple crutch to help her walk as her broken leg hinders her movement. They arrive at a clearing where they witness a fight between a lion and a unicorn over a golden crown. Yvaine asks Tristran to help the Unicorn when the Lion was about to kill it. Tristran, remembering the old nursery rhyme, The Lion and the Unicorn, picks up the crown and gives it to the Lion. With the crown upon its head, the Lion slips away into the forest. Tristran and Yvaine spend the night at the clearing beside the wounded Unicorn. Yvaine escapes on the Unicorn when Tristran leaves in search of food. The witch-queen, on her search for the Star, encounters Madam Semele. They share a meal and Madam Semele gives the witch-queen meat cooked with Limbus grass, which causes anyone who tastes it to speak nothing but the truth, forcing her to reveal the purpose of her journey. The enraged witch-queen puts a curse on her, which prevents her from seeing, touching or perceiving the star in any way and causing Semele to forget their meeting the moment the witch-queen leaves. On discovering that Yvaine is gone, a despondent and regretful Tristran spends the night under a tree. Tristran talks to a tree who says that Pan, the spirit of the forest, told her to help him. The tree tells Tristran that there are people looking for Yvaine and that there is a path in the forest with a carriage coming down it that Tristran can't miss. Then it gives Tristran a leaf and says to listen to it when he needs help the most. Tristran runs to catch the carriage and nearly misses it but for a tree that has fallen in the carriage's path. Tristran meets Primus, the driver of the carriage, and persuades him to allow Tristran to ride in the carriage. In the mountains the witch-queen transforms her chariot into an inn to catch Yvaine, who is coming her way. She turns the goat into a man, and the goat who used to be Brevis into a girl. Yvaine falls for the trap, and the witch-queen is preparing to carve out her heart when Tristran and Primus, who have also been attracted by the inn, arrive. The witch-queen decides to delay killing Yvaine until she has dealt with the two unwanted guests. She attempts to poison Tristran while he is tending to the horses, but the unicorn, which is also lodged in the stable, warns him just in time. He rushes back to the inn, but is too late to warn Primus. However he is able to rescue Yvaine by forming a makeshift candle from the remnants of the magical candle he had obtained earlier, burning his left hand in the process. Shortly afterwards, Septimus arrives and finds Primus' body. He sets off in search of the witch-queen, to fulfill an obligation to avenge his slain brother, and the topaz, to claim his birthright as the last surviving son of Stormhold. Tristran and Yvaine escape the witch-queen, but find themselves in an almost equally perilous situation. They walk past many scenes in the light of the candle, but eventually end up stranded on a cloud, miles above Faerie. They are rescued by the crew of a passing airborne ship. The captain of the ship agrees to help them on their way back to Wall, hinting that he is part of a mysterious 'fellowship' that wants to help Tristran for some unspecified reason. Tristran expresses regret for chaining Yvaine up. The star reveals that while Tristran no longer intends to force her to accompany him to Wall, the custom of her people dictates that, because he has saved her life, she is nonetheless obliged to follow him. Upon parting company with the ship and its crew, Tristran and Yvaine set off for Wall, and, after several adventures, encounter Madam Semele. Because of the witch-queen's curse, Madam Semele is unable to see Yvaine, but she agrees to transport Tristran the rest of the way to Wall, as she is on her way to the market herself. Tristran obtains a promise from Madam Semele that he will not be harmed, will receive board and lodging, and will arrive at Wall in the same manner and condition in which he departed. This promise, however, does not prevent her from transforming him into a dormouse for the duration of the journey. The star also rides on Madam Semele's wagon, unbeknownst to the old woman. Septimus seeks revenge on the witch-queen for killing Primus, but is himself killed by his intended victim, without ever reclaiming the topaz. Tristran (now returned to his human form), Yvaine, Madam Semele and the witch-queen all arrive at the Wall market. Tristran leaves Yvaine and crosses back into Wall, to tell Victoria that he has returned with the star. Meanwhile, Yvaine realises she has fallen in love with Tristran and, if he fulfills his promise to bring her to Victoria, she will not only lose him to another woman, but upon leaving Faerie, will be transformed into a piece of rock. Upon meeting Tristran, a dismayed Victoria (who is a month or two pregnant but does not yet know it) reveals she is already engaged to Monday, Tristran's old employer, and that she never believed that Tristran would fulfill his promise. She regretfully tells Tristran that she will keep her promise and marry him. Tristran, not wishing to force Victoria to marry him against her will, reminds her the promise wasn't to marry him, it was to give him anything he desired, and that he desires that she marry her own love, Monday. Tristran returns to Yvaine at the fair. She is delighted to learn that Victoria is to be married to someone else, and Tristran reveals that he returns her love for him. Una informs Madam Semele that she will soon be free, as her enslavement ends when the moon loses her child (Yvaine), if it happens in a week when two Mondays come together (the marriage of Victoria and Monday). The silver chain that binds Una finally fades away, and she demands payment for her services, which Madam Semele must give on pain of losing her powers. Una seeks out Tristran and Yvaine and reveals her true identity as Lady Una, only daughter of the Eighty-First Lord of Stormhold, and Tristran's mother, and thus Tristran is rightfully the last male heir of Stormhold. She instructs Tristran to ask Yvaine for the topaz she carries, and through its magic the power of Stormhold passes to Tristran. However he declines to immediately return to Stormhold, leaving Lady Una to reign in his stead while he and Yvaine travel around Faerie. But before Yvaine and Tristran can set off on their journey, an impossibly aged hag turns up wishing to speak to Yvaine. She reveals herself as the witch-queen, but Yvaine, no longer fearful, tells her the good news that she has given her heart to Tristran. The witch-queen claims she'd have done better to give it to the Lillim, since Tristran is sure to break it as all men do. The witch-queen then leaves them forever, fearful of the cruelty her sisters will inflict upon her for failing. Many years later, Tristran and Yvaine finally return to Stormhold, and Tristran assumes his duties as the Lord of Stormhold. When he eventually grows old and dies, Yvaine continues to reign as the immortal ruler of Stormhold. 

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The series features the Duke boys and their cousin Daisy in an automobile race around the world against Boss Hogg, Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane, and Rosco's dog Flash in a duel for the prize money which the Dukes hope to use to keep the family farm from being foreclosed by Boss Hogg. Actually, Boss Hogg wants the money and the land for himself so he, Rosco, and Flash plans various schemes to keep the Dukes from winning. Most of the adventures are read from a post card by Uncle Jesse Duke to his pet raccoon Smokey. The first season took place during the period of the live- action series' temporary replacement of the original actors with similar characters, Coy and Vance Duke, after Tom Wopat and John Schneider walked out over a dispute about royalties from related merchandise. Thus, the first season of this animated series featured Coy and Vance. Bo and Luke eventually replaced Coy and Vance in Season 2 Episode 1 (14): "Boss O'Hogg and the Little People" after Tom and John simultaneously returned to the live series following the end of the dispute near the end of the fifth season. This episode also featured a new introduction and voice over that reflected the change in characters. The series followed no particular logical geographic path; for instance, consecutive episodes feature appearances in Venice, Morocco, the Arctic Ocean, London, Greece, India, Uzbekistan, Hong Kong and Scotland. 

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Three furry aliens—the blue Mac, the yellow Zeebo, and the red Wiploc—are traveling in a space ship. It has been a long time since they have had female companionship, and they receive a broadcast showing human females. They are titillated by these "hairless", shapely creatures, and when they discover that the broadcast came from Earth, they set off and land in Southern California. Valley girl Valerie Gail is a manicurist at the "Curl Up & Dye" hair salon. When she becomes dissatisfied with the lack of sexual affection from her fiancé, medical doctor Ted Gallagher, she decides to seduce him by dressing up in lingerie and setting up some romantic touches at home. Instead, she catches him cheating on her with his nurse. She kicks him out and refuses to see him again. The next day, she is sunbathing when the aliens' spaceship crash lands in her pool. She befriends them and calls her friend Woody to come drain the pool so the aliens can work on their ship and get it flying again. Meanwhile, she brings them into her home; and, though there is a language barrier at first, the aliens prove to be quick learners and absorb American pop culture and language by watching television. Wanting them to blend into their surroundings, Valerie takes them to her friend Candy Pink at the salon. After shaving off the aliens' fur, they turn out to be human- looking and attractive. They all go out; and party at Los Angeles nightclubs where their looks, athleticism, and incredibly long tongues soon catch the eyes of every woman in the place. Valerie and Mac begin to fall for each other and go back to Valerie's house. There, they find out that they are anatomically compatible and have sex. The next day, the pool is drained, and Zeebo and Wiploc are working on their ship when Woody stops by and offers to take them to the beach. They agree, and after accidentally holding up a convenience store, Zeebo and Wiploc are soon driving down an L.A. freeway the wrong way, in reverse, with the police in pursuit. Mac finds out his crew mates are in trouble and goes to help, but gets arrested along with Woody in a case of mistaken identity. Valerie smashes the police vehicle to get arrested, too, so she can go with Mac. The police pursuit ends in a crash, and Zeebo and Wiploc are taken to the emergency room. There, they are examined by Ted, who discovers they have two hearts. While he is envisioning achieving fame and fortune from his discovery, Valerie and Mac elude the police and enter the emergency room disguised as a doctor and a nurse; they manage to convince Ted he is delusional. They then escape back to Valerie's house where work continues on the space ship. Meanwhile, Valerie and Ted reconcile and plan to go to Las Vegas to get married immediately. Mac is heartbroken and prepares the ship for take-off. Valerie comes out to say good-bye, followed by Ted, who discovers the ship. While she is struggling to keep him from calling the authorities, Valerie comes to the realization that Mac is the one she truly loves. She gets on the space ship, and they take off. 

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The film outlines the daily life of a punk named Stevo in Salt Lake City, Utah in the fall of 1985. Stevo's best friend, "Heroin" Bob, is also a punk. The nickname "Heroin" is ironic, as Bob is afraid of needles and actually believes that any drug (with the notable exception of alcohol and cigarettes) is inherently dangerous. Stevo and Bob go from party to party while living in a dilapidated apartment. They spend much of their time fighting with members of other subcultures, particularly rednecks. Stevo has a casual relationship with a girl named Sandy, while Bob is in love with Trish, the manager of a head shop. The two of them are shaped by their experiences with their parents. Stevo's parents, now divorced, are former hippies who are proud of their youthful endeavors; however, Stevo is revolted by what he perceives as their "selling out" by becoming affluent Reagan Republicans, which they lamely try to justify. Stevo's grades are excellent, and when his father sends an application to Harvard Law School and Stevo is accepted, he nevertheless rejects it because of his beliefs. By contrast, Bob's father is a mentally ill alcoholic who mistakes his son and his friend for Central Intelligence Agency operatives and chases them away with a shotgun when they visit him on his birthday. Stevo begins to see the drawbacks of living the punk life. Sean, a fellow punk, was a drug dealer who once attempted to stab his mother while under the influence of an entire 100-dose sheet of acid; in the present, Stevo finds him panhandling on the street with some obvious mental issues. While Stevo understands that his relationship with Sandy is casual, he is still enraged when he discovers her having sex with another man and savagely beats him, later loathing himself because his action contradicts his own belief in anarchism. His social circle also begins to drift away, as his friend, Mike, leaves Salt Lake City to attend the University of Notre Dame. Soon after, Stevo attends a party and falls in love with a rich girl named Brandy (Summer Phoenix), who points out that his clothing and hair are fashion as opposed to true rebellion. Rather than being offended, Stevo takes the criticism thoughtfully, and they passionately kiss. At the same party, Bob complains of a headache (induced by Spandau Ballet's "She Loved Like Diamond" playing on a stereo), and is given Percodan, which he consumes after being told the pills are simply "vitamins" that will help his headache. The accidental drug overdose kills him in his sleep. When Stevo discovers Bob's body, he breaks down completely. At the funeral, he appears with a shaved head and changed clothing, having decided he is done with being a punk. He plans to go to Harvard, and earlier narration suggests that he eventually marries Brandy. He notes in his closing narration that his youthful self would probably kick his future self's ass, wryly describing himself as having been ultimately just another poseur. 

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The film's central character is Sweet William, played by Chris Leavins as an adult and Troy Veinotte as a teenager. Its plot hinges on a fateful incident from his teenage years, when his grandmother (Joan Orenstein) caught him attempting to have sex with his bisexual friend Fletcher (Joel Keller), involuntarily outing him to his dysfunctional family as gay. As a consequence of the ensuing rejection, particularly by his alcoholic father Whiskey Mac (Peter MacNeill), Sweet William faced the difficult decision of whether to run away to live in a big city far away from his family, or to commit suicide by hanging himself from a tree in the family garden. The film's themes about the duality of life and death, and the way seemingly very different choices in life can lead to similar outcomes, are portrayed through magic realism in the film's depiction of a complex merged reality in which he appears to have successfully made both choices at the same time."Magical Garden: Thom Fitzgerald used creative thinking to nurture debut feature that opens Perspective Canada series". Toronto Star, September 5, 1997. The film is told as a triptych. In the first segment, set in the present, the adult Sweet William has returned home to rural Nova Scotia for the first time since leaving ten years earlier, to attend the wedding of his sister Rosemary (Kerry Fox) to Fletcher. However, upon his return, he makes two unexpected discoveries: he can still see his younger selves still living there and walking around the house, and he also has a new young pre-teen sister named Violet (Christine Dunsworth) whom he has never met because she was born after he left. The second segment, set in the past, tells the story of Sweet William's teenage years leading up to the critical decision, including his bond with Rosemary (played by Sarah Polley as a teenager) and their mother Iris's (Seana McKenna) struggles to protect her children from Whiskey Mac's abuse, as well as revealing the truth of Violet's origins, before ending with Sweet William's suicide. Returning to the present, the final segment features both the living adult and dead teenage Sweet William present in the same reality — and the dead body isn't just his imagination, because the rest of his family can also see it still hanging from the tree."The Hanging Garden". Variety, September 12, 1997. According to Fitzgerald, "To every event in the film there are two interpretations. He left home and now he's back and his memory is haunting them. Or he did commit suicide when young and his homecoming is a fantasy?""Filmmaker's money problems may end with new movie". Canadian Press, September 7, 1997. 

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Pearl Chavez is orphaned after her father Scott Chavez kills her mother, having caught her with a lover. Before Scott Chavez is executed as a punishment for killing his wife, he arranges for his daughter Pearl to live with his second cousin and old sweetheart, Laura Belle in Texas. Arriving by stagecoach, Pearl is met by Jesse McCanles, one of Laura Belle's two grown sons. He takes her to Spanish Bit, their enormous cattle ranch. The gentle and gracious Laura Belle is happy to welcome her to their home, but not so her husband, the Senator Jackson McCanles, who uses a wheelchair. He calls Pearl "a half-breed" and jealously despises Pearl's father. The second son, Lewt, is a ladies' man with a personality quite unlike that of his gentlemanly brother Jesse. He expresses his interest in Pearl in direct terms and she takes a strong dislike to him. Laura Belle calls in Mr. Jubal Crabbe, the "Sinkiller", a gun-toting preacher, to counsel Pearl on how to avoid the evils of temptation. Pearl is determined to remain "a good girl." When she submits to Lewt's aggressive advances one night, Pearl is angry with him and ashamed of her own behavior. But she also cannot help but be flattered by his lust and attentions. Jesse, meanwhile, is ostracized by his father and no longer welcome at the ranch after siding with railroad men, headed by Mr. Langford, against the Senator's personal interests. Jesse is in love with Pearl but he leaves for Austin to pursue a political career and becomes engaged to Helen Langford, Langford's daughter. Offended when Lewt reneges on a promise to marry her, Pearl takes up with Sam Pierce, a neighboring rancher who is smitten with her. She does not love him but says yes to his proposal. Before they can be married, however, Lewt picks a fight with Pierce in a saloon and guns him down. He insists that Pearl can belong only to him. Lewt becomes a wanted man. On the run from the law, Lewt finds time to derail a train and occasionally drop by the ranch late at night and press his attentions on Pearl. She cannot resist her desire for him and lies for Lewt to the law, hiding him in her room. Afterward, however, he walks out on her, despite her pleas that she loves him. Laura Belle's health takes a turn for the worse and the Senator admits his love for her before she dies. Jesse returns to visit but is too late; his mother is dead. The Senator continues to shun him, as does Lewt, their family feud finally resulting in a showdown. Lewt tosses a gun to his unarmed brother but Jesse stands his ground without attempting to pick it up. Jesse warns that Lewt will eventually be hanged as a murderer, and Lewt responds by shooting Jesse. The Senator's old friend, Lem Smoot tells him that Jesse's wound is not mortal and the old man softens up towards his son and reconciles. Pearl is relieved that Jesse is going to survive. When Helen arrives, she invites Pearl to leave Spanish Bit forever and come live with them in Austin. Pearl agrees, but when she is tipped off by one of the Spanish Bit hands that Lewt intends to come after Jesse again, she arms herself and engages in a shootout with Lewt in the desert. They die in each other's arms. 

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In World War II London, fire wardens Josephine "Jody" Norris and Lord Desham keep a lonely vigil. When Jody saves Desham's life, they become better acquainted. With a bit of coaxing, the ageing spinster tells the story of her life, leading to a flashback. Jody is the belle of her small American hometown of Piersen Falls. Both Alex Piersen and traveling salesman Mac Tilton propose to her, but she turns them both down. A disappointed Alex marries Corinne. When handsome US Army Air Service fighter pilot Captain Bart Cosgrove flies in to promote a World War I bond drive, he and Jody quickly fall in love, though they have only one night together. A pregnant Jody is advised (out of town) that her life is in danger and she needs an operation. She agrees, though she would lose her unborn child. When she learns that Bart has been killed in action, she changes her mind. She secretly gives birth to their son in 1919. She tries to arrange it so that she can "adopt" the boy without scandal by having him left on the doorstep of a family with too many children already, but the scheme backfires. Corinne loses her own newborn that same day, but is consoled by Jody's. Jody has to love her son, named Gregory or "Griggsy," from afar. Jody's father dies, forcing her to sell the family drug store. When Jody asks to become Griggsy's nurse, Corinne turns her down; she may have suspected all along that Jody is the boy's real mother. Knowing that her husband never loved her, Corinne is determined to keep the one person who does. Jody moves to New York City to work for Mac. She discovers to her surprise that he is a bootlegger, using a cosmetics business as a front. The same day, the place is raided by the police, leaving Mac with nothing but the cosmetics equipment. Jody persuades him to make cold cream; with her drive and determination, she builds up a thriving business, and they become rich. In 1924, she forces Corinne to give her Griggsy by threatening to block a desperately needed bank loan for Alex's failing business. After two months, however, the four-year-old is still so miserably homesick, Jody gives up and sends the boy back. Heartbroken, Jody leaves the US to immerse herself in work, setting up and running the English branch of her Lady Vyvyan Cosmetics Company. During World War II, her son becomes a pilot in the 8th Air Force. When he gets a leave in London, Jody meets his train and fusses over him. He only knows her as a family friend. Lord Desham, who is attracted to Jody, uses his influence to arrange for the young man to marry his WREN fiancée without the customary delay. After some broad hints from Desham, Lieutenant Pierson finally realizes why Jody has been so helpful and asks his mother (by that title) for a dance. 

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In 1911, Elizabeth Kenny returns from nursing school in Brisbane, Australia, to her home in the bush of Queensland. Her mentor, Dr. McDonnell, is chief at the nearest hospital, 50 miles away. He wants her to work with him, but she wants to be a bush nurse. He says she will not last six months. Three years later, Elizabeth visits a ranch to treat a young girl, Dorrie, who is contorted in agony. She describes the symptoms in a telegram to McDonnell. His reply: infantile paralysis, no known treatment, "do the best you can with the symptoms...” Elizabeth treats “spasming” muscles with heat, wrapping Dorrie in steaming flannel. After the contractions subside, Dorrie cannot move her legs or sit up. Through close observation, Elizabeth realizes that she is not paralyzed. Her muscles have become “alienated”. After her muscles are “re-educated”, Dorrie makes a complete recovery, as do five other cases of polio that Elizabeth treats. Elizabeth brings Dorrie to see McDonnell. She assumes that she has done the usual thing in treating polio and is horrified to learn that infantile paralysis is a deadly, crippling disease and that the standard treatment is agonizing immobilization. McDonnell believes that Elizabeth has discovered an entirely new way of treating polio. He takes her to Dr. Brack, the most senior expert. Brack scoffs at her theory (which is correct) and refuses to consider the possibility that the science of the past 50 years may be wrong. When Dorrie does cartwheels, Brack contends that she never had polio. McDonnell suggests that Elizabeth treat the patients that doctors have given up. Australian nurses must be single; she is about to marry Captain Kevin Connors. Cut to Elizabeth's clinic, shutting down. She took 12 “paralyzed” patients; seven walked out. Now doctors deny that they had polio.Kevin leaves to fight in World War I. She joins the Army and finds him in a hospital at the front. She returns to Australia with the rank of Sister to wait for Kevin. Then she reads about an outbreak in Townsville, and goes there. Kevin appears. She has written to him, ending their engagement. She does not think she will ever be done with polio. Kevin watches as she talks to a new patient and leaves without another word. In the 1920s, Sister Kenny heads to Brisbane. Some time later, the Elizabeth Kenny Clinic is being closed. She confronts Dr. Brack while he is lecturing on polio to a group of orthopedists. Brack invites her to speak and then belittles her and her treatment. One of the doctors is from the Queensland Health Department. He invites her to his office. Another interested orthopedist arrives, followed by McDonnell. They have been working on getting a Royal Commission to investigate the Kenny treatment. She has an invitation from England. Should she go or stay? She feels hopeless, but a crowd outside cheers for her. She travels around Europe, becoming famous. Kevin meets her at Croydon airport. He is glad it turned out this way. He hands her a paper with news of the Munich Agreement. The Royal Commission condemns her. Reviews of her book are scathing. All the younger men are using the Kenny Treatment, whether they call it that or not. In America, she is “given the runaround.” Out of money, she plans to go home. A reporter reads her a press release from the University of Minnesota, stating that the Kenny method will form the basis of all future treatment. She is wanted in Minneapolis, where there is an epidemic. After three years' work in Minneapolis, Sister Kenny dictates a letter to Dr. McDonnell. A national committee is about to report on her work in the U.S. She is about to lecture to orthopedic surgeons. The new book is out. She has three honorary degrees... A cable arrives: Dr. McDonnell has died. The lecture hall is full. The medical director of the institute introduces her. The news broadcast of the committee report is piped in. It is devastating. Furious, the director points to the real results. The lecture continues. At the end, a crowd of children gather outside the Institute, singing “Happy Birthday” to Sister Kenny. 

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Katie Holstrom (Loretta Young), a Swedish-American, leaves the family farm to go to nursing school in Capitol City. Barn painter Adolph Petree (Rhys Williams), who had completed a job for Katie's father, offers her a ride, but robs her of her money. Katie, refusing to ask her family for help, goes to work as a maid in the home of political power broker Agatha Morley (Ethel Barrymore) and her son, U.S. Representative Glenn Morley (Joseph Cotten). Soon, she impresses Agatha and her loyal majordomo Joseph Clancey (Charles Bickford) with her refreshing, down-to-earth common sense and Glenn with her other charms. Unexpected problems arise when the Morleys and the other leaders of their political party select a replacement for a deceased congressman; they pick the unscrupulous Anders J. Finley (Art Baker). Knowing of the man, Katie strongly disapproves of their choice. She attends a public meeting arranged to introduce Finley and begins asking pointed, embarrassing questions. The leaders of the opposition party are impressed and offer her their backing in the coming election. When she accepts, Katie reluctantly has to quit her job, much to Glenn's annoyance. When Katie's campaign picks up support (with the help of some coaching from Glenn), Finley resorts to smearing her reputation. He pays Petree to claim Katie spent the night with him when he gave her a ride. As a result, Katie becomes so distraught, she runs home. Glenn learns of the chicanery, follows her and proposes to her. After hearing the news of her son's engagement, Agatha, with her butler's help, gets Finley drunk and tricks him not only into revealing that he is secretly a member of an extreme nativist political group (Per the actual movie) and that he bribed Petree, but also that he has him safely hidden away at his isolated lodge. With the help of Katie's three big, strong brothers (James Arness, Lex Barker, Keith Andes), Glenn takes Petree away from the goons Finley assigned to watch him, and makes him confess over the radio. Agatha withdraws her party's support from Finley and endorses Katie, ensuring her election. In the final scene, Glenn carries Katie across the threshold of the United States House of Representatives. 

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A woman (Joan Crawford) is found wandering Los Angeles, unable to say anything other than "David". Admitted to a hospital, she is coaxed into recounting her life. She reveals herself as Louise Howell, an emotionally unstable woman who had worked as a nurse to the invalid wife of Dean Graham (Raymond Massey) in the Graham home. Louise fell in love with neighbor David Sutton (Van Heflin), an engineer, who loathes her smothering obsession with him; he ends the relationship and leaves the area. Shortly after, Graham's wife drowns. It is undetermined whether she committed suicide or not. Louise remains with the family as they move to Washington, D.C., to care for the two Graham children: young Wynn and college-age Carol (Geraldine Brooks). Time passes and David re-enters the scene, having taken an engineering job with Graham. He is surprised to find Louise with the family. Louise — still obsessed with David — makes a pass and is rebuffed. Moments later, Graham proposes to Louise and she accepts to salvage her pride. She tells him outright that she is not in love with him, but Graham pledges to make it work in spite of that. Carol takes a fancy to David, much to the consternation of Louise, who tries to dissuade Carol from establishing a relationship with him. Louise's mind begins to decline with her obsession over David; she hears voices, has hallucinations, and believes her husband's first wife is still alive. When David and Carol consider marriage, Louise tries to end their relationship. Graham is concerned about Louise's mental state and tries to persuade her to see a doctor. Believing her husband is trying to put her away, Louise bursts into David's apartment and kills him in a schizophrenic episode. The psychiatrist to whom Louise has recounted her story pronounces her insane and not responsible for her actions. He laments that he had not seen her sooner, as he is sure that if he had, the tragedy could have been avoided. He tells Graham that he intends to help Louise back to sanity, though the process will be long and arduous, with much pain and suffering in store for her. Graham pledges his full support and vows that he will always be there for her, no matter how difficult it becomes. 

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In a hospital, Angie Evans (Susan Hayward), her face bandaged, recounts the events that brought her here. A nightclub singer, Angie becomes involved with another singer, Ken Conway (Lee Bowman), whose career has yet to take off. Her agent Mike Dawson (Charles D. Brown) helps get Ken and piano accompanist Steve Anderson (Eddie Albert) a spot on a radio show singing cowboy songs. Ken sings a ballad on the day Angie, now his wife, gives birth to their daughter. The attention he gets leads to a new career opportunity. Ken soon is a big success, gaining popularity and wealth, while Angie stays home, her career at a standstill. She begins to drink. Ken counts on her to present a sophisticated image for his new high-society friends and contacts, but her alcoholism worsens, so secretary Martha Gray (Marsha Hunt) comes to Ken's aid. It isn't long before Angie is certain Martha and her husband are having an affair. Steve tries to intervene on Angie's behalf, but he can see Martha has fallen in love with Ken. Angie neglects the child, continues to drink, then creates a scene at a party. Ken asks for a divorce and custody. Mike helps Angie get work in a club. She is determined to stay sober so she can regain custody of her daughter. Instead, she ends up in a bar, and wakes the next morning in the apartment of strangers who found her passed out on their stairs. Angie kidnaps her daughter from the park while the nurse isn't watching. They go to a house in the country where Angie dutifully gives the child dinner and puts her to bed. After she sings her daughter to sleep, she forgets a lit cigarette in the room. Downstairs, she begins to drink and gets lost in memories. The child's shouts finally alert her and Angie rescues her from the flames, but herself suffers serious facial burns. Realizing that she has hit rock bottom, Angie is positive now she can move forward happily. Ken has talked things over with her doctor and feels that he would like to try to stand by her. 

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The film begins with eldest daughter Katrin completing the last lines of her autobiographical novel. As she reminisces about her family life, there is a flashback to 1910, where the first of a series of vignettes finds Marta Hanson preparing the weekly budget with her husband Lars, daughters Katrin, Christine and Dagmar, and son Nels, who announces his desire to attend high school. Each family member makes a financial sacrifice to contribute to the boy's education. Marta's sister Trina arrives, announces she is marrying undertaker Peter Thorkelson, and implores Marta to break the news to their sisters Sigrid and Jenny. When Marta threatens to reveal embarrassing anecdotes about them, the women accept their sister's decision. When Jonathan Hyde, the Hansons' impoverished lodger, reads A Tale of Two Cities aloud for the family, they are deeply moved by the story. Later, the family is visited by Marta's gruff but soft-hearted Uncle Chris and his housekeeper Jessie Brown, who is secretly his wife. When Chris discovers Dagmar is ill with mastoiditis, he insists on taking her to the hospital. Dagmar's operation is a success, but Marta is prohibited from seeing her. Disguised as a member of the housekeeping staff, she sneaks into Dagmar's ward and softly sings to her. When Dagmar returns home, she learns her cat, Uncle Elizabeth, had been mauled and seriously injured during its outside wanderings. Despite Dagmar's belief in her mother's healing powers, Marta feels helpless to save the cat and sends Nels to buy chloroform so she can euthanize it. The following morning, she is astonished when Dagmar walks in with an apparently cured cat. Instead of killing the cat, the dose of chloroform that Marta had administered only provided the cat with the deep sleep it needed to aid its recovery. Mr. Hyde suddenly and quietly moves out, leaving his classic books and a check for his accumulated months of rent. The family's initial joy of receiving the large rent payment quickly vanishes once they discover that the check has no value. Sigrid and Jenny are furious; but as Marta tears up the worthless piece of paper, she declares that Hyde's gift of literature is far more valuable than the money itself. Katrin brags to Christine that their mother is going to buy her the dresser set she has long admired as a graduation present. As she is about to leave to perform in the school's production of The Merchant of Venice, Katrin learns (from a resentful Christine) that her mother traded her heirloom brooch for the gift. Distraught, Katrin performs badly in the play and later retrieves the brooch after trading back the dresser set. Marta then gives the brooch to Katrin as a graduation present. Katrin's father presents her with her first cup of coffee, which she had been told she could drink once she was a grown-up. After taking a few sips of the "adult" beverage, Katrin is overcome with emotion by her parents' gesture, and she rushes out of the room. Marta learns Uncle Chris is near death, and she takes Katrin to say goodbye. He reveals he has no money to leave his niece because he has been donating his income to help children with leg or foot problems walk again. After enjoying a final drink with his niece and Jessie, Uncle Chris dies peacefully in bed. Katrin is dejected when she receives her tenth literary rejection letter. Marta then takes some of her stories to famed author and gourmand Florence Dana Moorhead and convinces her to read them. Marta returns home and advises her daughter that Moorhead feels the girl should write about what she knows best. Marta urges Katrin to write about Papa. When Katrin's story is accepted for publication, she is paid $500. After announcing some of the money will go towards the purchase of the winter coat Marta wants, Katrin confesses her story is titled Mama and the Hospital. She begins to read it to her family, and the story's introduction concludes and the film itself ends with the line "But first and foremost, I remember Mama".Crowther, Bosley (1948). "THE SCREEN; Irene Dunne and Oscar Homolka Head Brilliant Cast in RKO 'I Remember Mama'". The New York Times movie review, March 12, 1948. Retrieved July 4, 2017.Brenner, Paul. "I Remember Mama Synopsis". Fandango, provided by Rovi. Retrieved July 4, 2017.DeMar, Gary (2010). "I Remember Mama (1948)". The American Vision, Braselton, Georgia; August 30, 2010. Retrieved July 4, 2017."But first and foremost, I remember Mama". Comet over Hollywood, February 23, 2013. Retrieved July 4, 2017. 

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Leona Stevenson is the spoiled, bedridden daughter of wealthy businessman James Cotterell. One day, while listening to what seems to be a crossed telephone connection, she hears two men planning a woman's murder. The call cuts off without Leona learning very much other than it is scheduled for 11:15pm, when a passing train will hide any sounds. She calls the telephone company and the police, but with few concrete details, they can do nothing. Complicating matters, her husband Henry is overdue and their servants have the night off, leaving her all alone in a Manhattan apartment. As she makes a number of phone calls trying to locate Henry, Leona inadvertently begins to piece together the mystery in flashbacks. When Leona reaches Henry's secretary, Elizabeth Jennings, she learns that he took an attractive woman, Sally Lord, to lunch and did not return to the office. Sally Lord turns out to be the former Sally Hunt. Leona stole then-drug-store- employee Henry from Sally, and married him against her father's wishes. Sally is now the wife of Fred Lord, a lawyer in the district attorney's office. From overheard conversations, she learned that her husband was close to resolving an investigation that involves Henry somehow. Sally became so concerned that she followed her husband and two associates to a mysterious meeting in a seemingly abandoned house on Staten Island. The house, according to a "no trespassing" sign, belongs to a Waldo Evans, a chemist working for her father. Sally arranged to meet Henry for lunch, but before she could warn him, he left the table and did not return. Later, Sally calls Leona with more news. The house on Staten Island has burned down, and three men, including one named Morano have been arrested. Evans, however, has escaped. Leona then receives a message from Henry stating he has gone out of town on business he had forgotten about and will not be back until Sunday. Leona next gets in touch with Dr. Phillip Alexander, a specialist she had come to New York to see regarding her lifelong heart troubles. Alexander reveals that he gave Henry her prognosis ten days before, something that Henry kept from her. Henry had married Leona without being aware of her health problems. He first found out when she had a heart attack after they quarreled about his attempt to get a job on his own, rather than being a do-nothing vice president in his father- in-law's business. Cotterell sabotaged his job interview. Leona's attacks became more and more frequent, until she finally took to her bed about a year ago. Alexander, however, diagnosed Leona's problems as purely psychosomatic; nothing is wrong with her physically. Leona goes into hysterics and phones a hospital, asking to hire a nurse for the night. The receptionist tells her that they are short-staffed and she can only have a nurse if the doctor feels it is an emergency. She thinks it is only 11:00 pm, but discovers her clock has stopped. Leona receives a telephone call from Waldo. He reluctantly discloses that Henry recruited him to steal chemicals from the Cotterell drug company to sell to Morano. Later, Henry decided to bypass Morano when Waldo was transferred. Morano, however, showed up with two thugs and intimidated Henry into signing an IOU for $200,000 for his lost profits, due in three months. When Henry protested that he did not have that much, Morano pointed out that Leona must have a large insurance policy. With Morano now in custody, Waldo stresses that Henry no longer has to raise the sum. Waldo gives Leona a number to call to locate Henry, but when she calls she discovers that it is for the city morgue. When Henry calls her from a train station, Leona gives him Waldo's message. Seeing that it is only minutes from 11:15, he pleads with her to go to the balcony and scream for help, but she protests that she cannot, though she can hear somebody downstairs. When the intruder enters her bedroom, she begs for her life, then screams. Unaware of the policemen about to apprehend him, Henry frantically calls back, only to have a man answer, "Sorry, wrong number." 

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At the sight of one of her old dresses, a young but unhappy woman, who is about to divorce, remembers her first love. The story is then told in flashback. In 1939 in New York City, student Eloise Winters meets Walt Dreiser at a student party. A few days later, Walt asks her to go out with him. For him, it is only an opportunity to have a good time. When Eloise realizes it, she lets him understand that she is a looking for a permanent relationship. Walt continues to chase her, and eventually both end up falling in love. World War II breaks out and Walt joins the US Army. Before going overseas, he asks Eloise to spend a night with him. At first hesitant, she finally accepts the proposition. Realizing she is pregnant, she decides to hide her condition from Walt because she wants him to marry her only for love and not to legitimize the child. 

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Canadian Arnold Boult (Spencer Tracy) and his wife Evelyn (Deborah Kerr) are celebrating the first birthday of their son Edward (who is never seen in the film) with their friend, physician Larry Woodhope (Ian Hunter), in their London home shortly after World War I. Arnold is about to embark upon a new career in finance with Harry Simpkin (Mervyn Johns), who has been released from prison after serving time on fraud charges. Five years later, Edward is diagnosed with a serious illness requiring a costly operation abroad. With his retail credit business doing poorly, Boult decides to burn down the building in order to finance the surgery with the insurance money. Despite reservations about his partner's scheme, Harry goes along with the plan. As the years pass, Boult evolves into a wealthy, titled financier who will do anything to protect his son. When Edward is threatened with expulsion from his prep school, Lord Boult assumes its mortgage. Time passes, and Evelyn confides in Larry her concern that Edward drinks too much and appears to have no sense of morality. Larry strongly suggests that something be done to control Edward, but Lord Boult feels the young man can do no wrong. Having served another sentence for fraud, Harry comes to Boult and asks for a job. When he is put off, Harry commits suicide by leaping from the roof of his former partner's office building. When the police investigate, Boult's secretary Eileen Perrin (Leueen MacGrath) lies that Harry did not come to the office that day. She and Boult become lovers. A year later, during a tryst in Eileen's apartment, the two discover they are being observed by a detective working for Evelyn's attorney. Anxious to avoid scandal, Boult breaks up with Eileen, who later kills herself with an overdose of pills. Boult departs for Switzerland to see his wife and Edward. Evelyn threatens to expose Boult to Edward so that their son will see his father's true nature, but in return Boult promises he will destroy Larry, who loves her, unless she remains silent. Evelyn acquiesces. As the years pass, she becomes increasingly unhappy and begins to drink heavily. Edward also has become an alcoholic and is engaged to socialite Phyllis Mayden (Harriette Johns), although young Betty Foxley (Tilsa Page), who is pregnant with Edward's child, believes he will marry her. Boult informs Betty of Edward's engagement and seems ready to pay her off or provide her with an abortion, but she rejects his overtures and proudly proclaims that she can take care of herself. Edward, serving as a Royal Air Force pilot during World War II, crashes his plane while stunting and is killed along with his crew. Lord Boult, now a widower, has discovered that Larry delivered Betty's child. Boult beseeches Larry to tell him their whereabouts. Certain that Boult will have just as corrupting an influence upon the child's life as he'd had upon Edward's, Larry refuses, leaving his obsessed old friend determined to do whatever is necessary to find his grandchild. Boult's quest is temporarily interrupted when he is imprisoned for having burned down his business decades earlier, but after his release he declares his intent to resume the search. 

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One winter's night, two French sisters, Chicago-born Sister Margaret (Young) and Sister Scholastica (Holm), come to the small New England town of Bethlehem (most likely modeled after Bethlehem, Connecticut – given the Abbey of Regina Laudis in that real town and the proximity to New York City), where they meet Amelia Potts (Elsa Lanchester), a painter of religious pictures. The Sisters announce that they have come to build a hospital there, and Sister Margaret explains that during the war she was in charge of a children's hospital in Normandy when it became a potential target during a military campaign. As many of the children could not be evacuated, Sister Margaret made a personal plea to an American general not to shell the hospital, which the Germans were using as an observation post. The hospital was spared but at the cost of American lives, and Sister Margaret made a promise to God that, in gratitude for saving the children, she would return to America to build a children's hospital. When Miss Potts is puzzled as to why they chose Bethlehem, and Sister Margaret tells her that they had received a postcard with a reproduction of a nativity scene painted by Miss Potts, entitled "Come to the Stable," with information about the Bethlehem area. The Sisters then decide that a local hill depicted in another of Miss Potts's paintings would be a good site for the hospital. After composer Bob Masen (Hugh Marlowe), who is Miss Potts's neighbor and landlord, tells the Sisters that the hill is owned by Luigi Rossi of New York, the Sisters go to see the Bishop in a nearby city. He is unable to help them with their project, but does give them a small amount of money to tide them over. When they return to Bethlehem, Bob's religious porter, Anthony James, offers them a ride from the railroad station in Bob's jeep (he continues to help them throughout the movie). As Sister Margaret learned to drive a jeep during the war, they arrange to borrow the jeep to go to New York City to find Mr. Rossi and ask him to donate his land. Rossi runs a "bookie" operation and, despite his security, the Sisters manage to see him. However, he tells the Sisters that he intends to build his retirement home on the site. As they prepare to leave, Sister Margaret notices a picture and they learn that Rossi's son was killed in action near their hospital in Rouen. The sisters then tell Luigi they will pray for his son. Suddenly, Rossi changes his mind and informs them that, if they will install a stained glass window in the hospital in memory of his son, the land is theirs. Elated, they return to Bethlehem, where Bob and his girl friend, Kitty Blaine, are listening to a demo of a new song he has composed and the Sisters come to thank him for the use of the jeep. Bob then announces that he will be going to Hollywood for a few weeks to work on a picture. The Sisters acquire for $5,000 a three-month option on a former witch-hazel bottling plant opposite the Rossi property for use as a temporary shelter to stage the construction of the hospital. However, when the Bishop looks over the papers, he discovers that the purchase price carries a $25,000 mortgage, significantly more than the operating funds the Sisters have available. He tells the Sisters that he will have to cancel the contract, but at that moment, eleven more sisters and a chaplain arrive from France, having been previously summoned by the Sisters following their success. The Bishop relents, allowing them to stay for the period of the option with the understanding that if they cannot raise the additional money within that time they must all leave, but later remarks to his monsignor assistant that he feels unstoppable forces at work. When Bob returns from Hollywood with Kitty and three house guests he discovers the now increased number of sisters having a produce-and-arts sale in Miss Potts's yard, and Bob insists that she evict all the sisters. On the day before the option is to lapse, the sisters find themselves $500 short of the necessary amount. That evening, after Kitty performs Bob's new song for his guests, they hear the sisters singing a hymn which they recognize to be similar to Bob's song. Concerned about potential allegations of plagiarism, Bob swears that he first thought of the tune after his Army outfit landed in France four years earlier, but guest Al Newman, a music critic, identifies the melody as a 1200-year-old Gregorian Chant. The next morning, after Sisters Margaret and Scholastica accidentally drive a stake through Bob's water line while building a shrine mistaking it as a sign. Bob visits the real estate agent and arranges to buy the witch-hazel plant in order to keep it out of the sisters' hands. Sister Margaret, meanwhile, discovers Bob's guests playing doubles tennis and arranges a wager for $500 if Sister Scholastica can help Al beat the other couple. Although Sister Scholastica is a former tennis champion, she loses the match. Later, after Sister Margaret tells the Sisters that they must leave, Bob apologetically comes to bid them goodbye and overhears their prayers, discovering that their Mother House is in Normandy, near where he was stationed. When the Sisters ask him to pray for them, Bob is moved to change his mind about their project, and the film ends with Bob, Kitty, Anthony, Miss Potts, Mr. Rossi and the Bishop all attending the dedication of the temporary home of the hospital of St. Jude. 

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When the young Iris Murdoch meets fellow student John Bayley at Somerville College, Oxford, he is a naive virgin easily flummoxed by her libertine spirit, arch personality, and obvious artistic talent. Decades later, little has changed and the couple keeps house, with John doting on his more famous wife. When Iris begins experiencing forgetfulness and dementia, however, the devoted John struggles with hopelessness and frustration, and becomes her caretaker, as his wife's mind deteriorates from the ravages of Alzheimer's disease. 

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At the start of Children of the Mind, Jane, the evolved computer intelligence, is using her newly discovered abilities to take the races of buggers, humans and pequeninos outside the universe and back instantaneously. She uses these powers to move them to distant habitable planets for colonization. She is losing her memory and concentration as the vast computer network connected to the ansible is being shut down. If she is to survive, she must find a way to transfer her aiúa (or soul) to a human body. Peter Wiggin and Si Wang-Mu travel to the worlds of Divine Wind and Pacifica to convince the Japanese-led swing group of the Starways Congress to revoke their order to destroy Lusitania. By tracing the decision-making trail backwards, they are able to show a philosopher his influence on the Starways Congress. After several complications, the philosopher convinces the Tsutsumi clan to exert their influence with the Necessarian faction in the Starways Congress to stop the Lusitania fleet. The admiral at the head of the Lusitania fleet, however, disobeys the Congress's order and does what he believes Ender Wiggin, the perpetrator of the first Xenocide, would have done and fires the Molecular Disruption Device (MDD). Upon Ender Wiggin's death, Jane guides his aiúa to Peter's body, while she is granted possession of Young Val's body, and thus is not destroyed when the ansible shuts down. She is then able to continue transporting starships instantaneously by borrowing the vast mental capacity of the simple-minded Pequenino mother-trees. She transports a ship with Peter and Wang-Mu around the missile, then transports the missile and them to inside of the Lusitania fleet, where it is then disarmed and disabled. Peter and Wang-Mu's efforts finally come to fruition, and the destruction of Lusitania is averted. Jane falls in love with Miro, and Peter with Wang-mu. Both couples are married under one of the mother-trees of the pequeninos on the same day as Ender's funeral. 

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Joseph's Bloody Coat Brought to Jacob by Diego Velázquez, 1630 Joseph's half-brothers were jealous of him; () wherefore, in Dothan, most of them plotted to kill him, with the exception of Reuben,Josephus. The Antiquities of the Jews, Book II, 3.1, 2 who suggested to have Joseph thrown into an empty cistern, intending to rescue Joseph himself. Unaware of this secondary intention, the others obeyed him first.According to Josephus, Reuben tied a cord around Joseph and let him down gently into the pit. - Josephus. The Antiquities of the Jews, Book II, 3.2.31 Upon imprisoning Joseph, the brothers saw a camel caravan carrying spices and perfumes to Egypt, and sold Joseph to these merchants.The Septuagint sets his price at twenty pieces of gold; the Testament of Gad thirty of gold; the Hebrew and Samaritan twenty of silver; the Vulgar Latin thirty of silver; Josephus at twenty pounds Thereafter the guilty brothers painted goat's blood on Joseph's coatAccording to Josephus, the brothers tore the coat to pieces then dipped it into goat’s blood. - Josephus. The Antiquities of the Jews, Book II, 3.4.35 and showed it to Jacob, who therefore believed Joseph dead. () 

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Firehouse of FDNY Engine 7, Ladder 1, and Battalion 1 Jules Naudet captured American Airlines Flight 11 striking the North Tower. Filmmakers James Hanlon and the Naudet brothers were given permission by New York City Fire Department to film a documentary about a probationary firefighter. Their subject was Antonios Benetatos, who was assigned to the Engine 7/Ladder 1/Battalion 1 Firehouse on Duane Street in Lower Manhattan. They intended to make a film about the "probie's" first experiences as a firefighter. On the morning of September 11, the firehouse, under the direction of Battalion Chief Joseph W. Pfeifer, was called out on a reported "odor of gas" at Church and Lispenard streets. Jules Naudet rode with Pfeifer to investigate, while Gédéon stayed behind at the firehouse to film the "probie." As the Battalion 1 firefighters examined the supposed gas leak, American Airlines Flight 11 flew overhead. Turning his camera to follow the plane, Jules Naudet taped one of only three known recordings of the first plane hitting the North Tower (Tower 1) of the World Trade Center in the 9/11 attacks. The others were a video shot by Pavel Hlava and a sequence of still frames taken by Wolfgang Staehle. The firefighters under the direction of Chief Pfeifer were the first responders on the scene. Naudet was allowed to follow the chief during the attempted rescue operation. Naudet, Chief Pfeifer and several other FDNY chiefs were inside the lobby of Tower 1 when Tower 2 was hit by the second aircraft and when Tower 2 eventually collapsed. (Gédéon Naudet was still at the firehouse, where he filmed Benetatos and the rest of the firefighters from the next shift as they tried to deal with the disaster). The film gives various firemen's accounts of the events of the remainder of the day: from the initial crash to the building's collapse, to the attempts to rescue the few survivors from the rubble, as well as the aftermath of the events and acknowledging those who were lost, including Chief Pfeifer's brother, Engine 33 Lieutenant Kevin Pfeifer. 

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On Life Day, Chewbacca, accompanied by Han Solo, is headed home to see his family. Along the way, the duo is chased by two Star Destroyers, but they escape into hyperspace. Meanwhile, on Kashyyyk, Chewbacca's family is preparing for his return. Hoping to find the Millennium Falcon, his wife, Malla, runs a computer scan for starships in the area but is unsuccessful. Malla contacts Luke Skywalker, who, along with R2-D2, is working on his X-wing fighter. Luke tells her that he does not know what happened. Malla contacts Saun Dann, a local trader. He tells her through a carefully worded message that Han and Chewbacca are on their way and should be arriving soon. Malla then attempts (unsuccessfully) to prepare a meal, the instructions of which are being aired via a local cooking show by an eccentric four-armed alien cook, Chef Gormaanda (Harvey Korman). Saun arrives with Life Day gifts for everyone, including a virtual reality fantasy program (featuring Diahann Carroll) for Itchy. Back on the Falcon, Chewbacca and Han have just come out of hyperspace not far from Kashyyyk. Han notices an increased Imperial presence, so they decide to land in an unguarded area to the north. As they enter the atmosphere, Lumpy hears the roaring of the ship. Believing Han and Chewie might be arriving, Malla opens the door, but instead finds two stormtroopers and officers. The Imperials force their way into the house. An officer orders a search for Chewbacca. As they search, Saun and the others attempt to distract them with food and Malla's music video box (which features a video by Jefferson Starship). When the music finishes, the head officer orders the search to continue. The head officer tells Malla to keep Lumpy busy while they search his room, so Lumpy (and the viewing audience) uses a viewscreen to watch a cartoon of his father's many adventures: Lumpy works to create a translation device that will fool the Imperials into returning to their base by faking their commander's voice. To do so, he first must watch the manual for the device, being presented by a malfunctioning, incompetent robot (also played by Korman). While the Imperials are searching downstairs, the living room viewscreen activates, announcing that Tatooine is being put under curfew by the Empire because of "subversive forces". The video is announced as required viewing for all Imperial forces and much of it features Ackmena (Bea Arthur) running the Mos Eisley cantina. Ackmena is approached by an admirer: Krelman, an amorous alien, who has misunderstood something she said to him recently. Ackmena announces last call, and upon being ignored, sings a farewell song. Lumpy uses this opportunity to put his plan into motion, faking a repeated call for the Imperials to "return to base". They leave, but one stormtrooper stays behind and realizes that they were tricked. He finds Lumpy and destroys the machine, then chases Lumpy outside. Han and Chewbacca arrive. Chewie protects Lumpy as Han kills the stormtrooper. After they are reunited, an Imperial officer appears on the viewscreen, giving a general alert for the missing stormtrooper. Saun quickly responds that the trooper stole supplies and deserted. The danger averted, the family prepares to go to the festival at the great Tree of Life. They hold glowing orbs, and appear in space wearing red robes. Wookiees walk into a bright star and arrive at the Tree of Life, where many are gathered, including C-3PO and R2-D2. Luke, Leia, and Han also appear. Leia gives a short speech and sings a song in celebration. Chewie remembers his adventures during the events of the original film. Finally, the Wookiee family sits around a table and bow their heads. 

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The Silver Chalice takes place in Judea and other parts of the Roman Empire shortly after the death of Jesus. A young man, Basil, is adopted by a rich man, but loses his fortune when his father dies and his uncle defrauds him, claiming he was purchased as a slave, and sells him. As a slave, he survives by working as an artist and silversmith. He gains his freedom, becomes a Christian and is commissioned to create an outer covering for the cup Jesus drank from at The Last Supper. The plot of The Silver Chalice centers on the Grail — the cup from which Christ drank at the Last Supper. Tired of “all the Arthurian tripe about the Holy Grail,” Costain imagined his own version of the story. Joseph of Arimathea hires Basil of Antioch, a lowborn artisan, to fashion a beautiful silver casing to hold the plain original cup that Jesus used. The casing is to be decorated with the faces of Jesus and the twelve Apostles. To fulfill the commission, Basil travels throughout the ancient Mediterranean world to meet these men and those who knew them intimately. 

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In the film, director Ross McElwee gets married, finally putting an end to his family's worrying; his grandmother dies; his wife Marilyn has a miscarriage; and his father, a medical doctor, dies suddenly within a week of McElwee's wife's miscarriage. His mother had died of cancer ten years earlier and so McElwee returns to his father's house, where his father's housekeeper ministers to him about Christianity and faith. McElwee goes to visit his friend Charleen, who is now living alone in a new apartment. She had lived on an island in an old two-story house abandoned by the U.S. Army; she and her husband worked to restore it and lived together there for years before becoming estranged. Charleen then lived there alone, but on returning home from a trip she finds that her husband has set fire to the house and died downstairs at the grand piano in an arson/suicide. Charleen has her husband's cremated remains in a bag inside a box and tries to get rid of them but can't bring herself to do it. McElwee's brother is a successful doctor; on a visit to his brother's practice, Ross talks with his brother about their father's death, which took them both by surprise. Ross's brother receives a patient who has a large malignant tumor on her breast; the woman has had the tumor for years without seeking medical help. Ross's brother takes a slide of the tumor for his files; it has spread across much of her chest and is both multifaceted and multicolored. Ross incorporates his brother's interview with the woman—and the slide his brother takes—into his film, musing in voiceover about motivation and fatality and marvelling at the power of denial. Eventually Ross abandons the film, only to continue it later: his wife is pregnant. The pregnancy comes to term and Ross and Marilyn go with their baby son to visit Charleen, who criticizes them for bringing children into such a hostile and unpredictable world but speaks to the passion that drives life and procreation. Ross and Marilyn dote on their son and seem largely unbothered by the criticism. 

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The story is told in a non-linear order, and events become clear through flashbacks and time travel experiences from the unreliable narrator, who begins the novel by writing "All of this happened, more or less."Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five. 2009 Dial Press Trade paperback edition, 2009, p. 1 The narrator spends the first chapter describing his writing of the book, his experiences as a University of Chicago anthropology student and a Chicago City News Bureau correspondent, his research on the Children's Crusade and the history of Dresden, and his visit to Cold War-era Europe with his war friend Bernard V. O'Hare. He writes about Billy Pilgrim, an American man from the fictional town of Ilium, New York who believes he was held in an alien zoo on the fictional planet of Tralfamadore and has experienced time travel. As a chaplain's assistant in the United States Army during World War II, Billy is an ill-trained, disoriented, and fatalistic American soldier who finds he does not like war and refuses to fight.Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five. 2009 Dial Press Trade paperback edition, 2009, p. 43 He is transferred from a base in South Carolina to the front line in Luxembourg during the Battle of the Bulge. He is captured in 1944 by the Germans. Billy nearly dies due to a string of events. Before he is captured, he meets Roland Weary, a patriot, warmonger, and sadistic bully who derides Billy's cowardice. When the two are captured, the Germans confiscate everything Weary has and force him to wear painful wooden clogs. Weary eventually succumbs to gangrene caused by wounds from the stiff clogs. While dying in a rail car full of prisoners, Weary convinces fellow soldier Paul Lazzaro that Billy is to blame for his death. Lazzaro vows to avenge Weary's death by killing Billy, because revenge is "the sweetest thing in life". At this moment, Billy becomes "unstuck in time" and has flashbacks from his former life. Billy and the other prisoners are transported into Germany. By 1945, the prisoners have arrived in the German city of Dresden to work in "contract labor" (forced labor). The Germans hold Billy and his fellow prisoners in an empty slaughterhouse called Schlachthof-fünf ("slaughterhouse five"). During the extensive bombing of Dresden by the Allies, German guards hide with the prisoners in the slaughterhouse, which is partially underground and well-protected from the damage on the surface. As a result, they are among the few survivors of the firestorm that rages in the city between February 13 and 15, 1945. After V-E Day in May 1945, Billy is transferred to the United States and receives his honorable discharge in July 1945. Soon, Billy is hospitalized with symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder and placed under psychiatric care at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Lake Placid. There, he shares a room with Eliot Rosewater, who introduces Billy to the novels of the obscure science fiction author Kilgore Trout. After his release, Billy marries Valencia Merble, whose father owns the Ilium School of Optometry that Billy later attends. Billy becomes a successful and wealthy optometrist. In 1947, Billy and Valencia conceive their first child Robert on their honeymoon in Cape Ann, Massachusetts, and two years later their daughter Barbara is born. On Barbara's wedding night, Billy is abducted by a flying saucer and taken to a planet many light-years away from Earth called Tralfamadore. The Tralfamadorians are described as being able to see in four dimensions, simultaneously observing all points in the space-time continuum. They universally adopt a fatalistic worldview: death means nothing to them, and their common response to hearing about death is "so it goes". On Tralfamadore, Billy is put in a transparent geodesic dome exhibit in a zoo; the dome represents a house on Earth. The Tralfamadorians later abduct a pornographic film star named Montana Wildhack, who had disappeared on Earth and was believed to have drowned herself in San Pedro Bay. They intend to have her mate with Billy. She and Billy fall in love and have a child together. Billy is instantaneously sent back to Earth in a time warp to relive past or future moments of his life. In 1968, Billy and a co-pilot are the only survivors of a plane crash in Vermont. While driving to visit Billy in the hospital, Valencia crashes her car and dies of carbon monoxide poisoning. Billy shares a hospital room with Bertram Rumfoord, a Harvard University history professor researching an official history of the war. They discuss the bombing of Dresden, which the professor initially refuses to believe Billy witnessed; the professor claims that the bombing of Dresden was justified despite the great loss of civilian lives and the complete destruction of the city. Billy's daughter takes him home to Ilium. He escapes and flees to New York City. In Times Square he visits a pornographic book store, where he discovers books written by Kilgore Trout and reads them. Among the books he discovers a book entitled The Broad Board, about a couple abducted by aliens and tricked into managing the aliens' investments on Earth. He also finds a number of magazine covers noting the disappearance of Montana Wildhack, who happens to be featured in a pornographic film being shown in the store. Later in the evening, when he discusses his time travels to Tralfamadore on a radio talk show, he is evicted from the studio. He returns to his hotel room, falls asleep, and time-travels back to 1945 in Dresden. Billy and his fellow prisoners are tasked with located and burying the dead. After a Maori New Zealand soldier working with Billy dies of dry heaves the Germans begin cremating the bodies en masse with flamethrowers. Billy's friend Edgar Derby is shot for stealing a teapot. Eventually all of the German soldiers leave to fight on the Eastern Front, leaving Billy and the other prisoners alone with tweeting birds as the war ends. Due to the non-chronological storytelling, other parts of Billy's life are told throughout the book. After being evicted from the radio studio, Barbara treats Billy as a child and often monitors him. Robert becomes starkly anti-Communist and a Green Beret in the Vietnam War. Billy eventually dies in 1976, in which the United States has been partitioned into twenty separate countries and attacked by China with thermonuclear weapons. He gives a speech in a baseball stadium in Chicago in which he predicts his own death and proclaims that "if you think death is a terrible thing, then you have not understood a word I've said." Billy is soon after shot by an assassin with a laser gun, commissioned by the elderly Lazzaro. 

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Snow falls on the snowman to form a heart shape on him. The snowman wakes and begins juggling with the snow. A dog begins chasing him and takes a bite out of him. The dog then throws snow at the snowman but this only fills the missing part of the snowman. Eventually the dog leaves. The snowman starts skating on ice but falls through and staggers away largely melted. However, by falling down a hill and rolling in the snow the snowman reforms himself. The snowman now falls to sleep at night. A rabbit tries to steal his carrot nose but the snowman prevents this. The snowman gets up and enters a house and finds a calendar. He finds the month July on it and then puts himself in a refrigerator so that he may see this month. During this time, the sun makes the snow melt and gives colour to the botanical species. Meanwhile, the snowman sleeps in the refrigerator. The snowman wakes in July. His back is stuck in the fridge. He adjusts the thermostat and waits. He leaves the refrigerator and looks for the signs of summer through the window. He embraces the summer and breathes in the perfume of the flowers. He puts a pink rose in his lapel and rolls in the fields. The snowman melts under the heat of the sun. He begin to sing "Da ist der Sommer meines Lebens..." ("that's the summer of my life") and turns into water. These are the only spoken words in the film. The rabbit from earlier mourns his loss whilst the children of the rabbit jump into the snowman's hat. He picks up the snowman's carrot and takes a bite from it. 

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The plot involves the creatures of the sea preparing for the wedding of two fish. When the fish bride is kidnapped by an octopus all the sea creatures must team up to defeat him and rescue the bride. 

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17-year-old Holden Caulfield lives in an unspecified institution in California after the end of World War II. After his discharge within a month, he intends to go live with his brother D.B., an author and war veteran with whom Holden is angry for becoming a Hollywood screenwriter. Holden recalls the events of the previous Christmas, beginning at Pencey Preparatory Academy, a boarding school in Pennsylvania. Holden has just learned he won't be allowed back at Pencey after the Christmas break, due to his failing all classes except English. After forfeiting a fencing match in New York by forgetting the equipment on the subway, he goes and says goodbye to his history teacher, Mr. Spencer, who is a well-meaning but long-winded old man. Spencer offers him advice, but he embarrasses Holden by criticizing Holden's history exam. Back at his dorm, Holden's dorm neighbor, Robert Ackley, who is unpopular among his peers, disturbs Holden with his impolite questioning and mannerisms. Holden, who feels sorry for Ackley, tolerates his presence. Later, Holden agrees to write an English composition for his roommate, Ward Stradlater, who is leaving for a date. Holden and Stradlater normally hang out well together, and Holden admires Stradlater's physique. He is distressed to learn that Stradlater's date is Jane Gallagher, whom Holden had had an infatuation with and feels protective of. That night, Holden decides to go to a Cary Grant comedy with Mal Brossard and Ackley. Since Ackley and Mal had already seen the film, they end up just playing pinball and returning to Pencey. When Stradlater returns hours later, he fails to appreciate the deeply personal composition Holden wrote for him about the baseball glove of Holden's late brother Allie and refuses to say whether he slept with Jane. Enraged, Holden punches him, and Stradlater easily wins the fight. When Holden continues insulting him, Stradlater leaves him lying on the floor with a bloody nose. He goes to the room of Ackley, who is already asleep, and doesn't give him any attention. Fed up with the "phonies" at Pencey Prep, Holden decides to leave Pencey early and catches a train to New York. Holden intends to stay away from his home until Wednesday when his parents would have received notification of his expulsion. Aboard the train, Holden meets the mother of a wealthy, obnoxious Pencey student, Ernest Morrow, and makes up nice but false stories about her son. In a taxicab, Holden asks the driver whether the ducks in the Central Park lagoon migrate during winter, a subject he brings up often, but the man barely responds. Holden checks into the Edmont Hotel. He spends an evening dancing with three tourists at the hotel lounge, though he is disappointed that they are unable to hold a conversation. Following an unpromising visit to a nightclub, Holden becomes preoccupied with his internal angst and agrees to have a prostitute named Sunny visit his room. His attitude toward the girl changes when she enters the room and takes off her clothes. Holden, who is a virgin, says he only wants to talk, which makes her annoyed and she leaves. Even though he maintains that he paid her the right amount for her time, she returns with her pimp Maurice and demands more money. Holden insults Maurice, Sunny takes the money from Holden's wallet, and Maurice snaps his fingers on Holden's groin and punches him in the stomach. Afterward, Holden imagines that he has been shot by Maurice, and pictures murdering him with an automatic pistol. The next morning, Holden, becoming increasingly depressed and in need of personal connection, calls Sally Hayes, a familiar date. Although Holden claims that she is "the queen of all phonies," they agree to meet that afternoon to attend a play at the Biltmore Theater. Holden shops for a special record, "Little Shirley Beans", for his 10-year-old sister Phoebe. He spots a small boy singing "If a body catch a body coming through the rye," which lifts his mood. After the play, Holden and Sally go ice skating at Rockefeller Center, where Holden suddenly begins ranting against society and frightens Sally. He impulsively invites Sally to run away with him that night to live in the wilderness of New England, but she is uninterested in his hastily conceived plan and declines. The conversation turns sour, and the two angrily part ways. Holden decides to meet his old classmate, Carl Luce, for drinks at the Wicker Bar. Holden annoys Carl, whom Holden suspects of being gay, by insistently questioning him about his sex life. Before leaving, Luce says that Holden should go see a psychiatrist, to better understand himself. After Luce leaves, Holden gets drunk, awkwardly flirts with several adults, and calls an icy Sally. Exhausted and out of money, Holden wanders over to Central Park to investigate the ducks, accidentally breaking Phoebe's record on the way. Nostalgic, he heads home to see his sister Phoebe. He sneaks into his parents' apartment while they are out, and wakes up Phoebe — the only person with whom he seems to be able to communicate his true feelings. Although Phoebe is happy to see Holden, she quickly deduces that he has been expelled, and chastises him for his aimlessness and his apparent disdain for everything. When asked if he cares about anything, Holden shares a selfless fantasy he has been thinking about (based on a mishearing of Robert Burns's Comin' Through the Rye), in which he imagines himself as making a job of saving children running through a field of rye by catching them before they fell off a nearby cliff (a "catcher in the rye"). When his parents return home, Holden slips out and visits his former and much-admired English teacher, Mr. Antolini, who expresses concern that Holden is headed for "a terrible fall". Mr. Antolini advises him to begin applying himself and provides Holden with a place to sleep. Holden is upset when he wakes up to find Mr. Antolini patting his head, which he interprets as a sexual advance. He leaves and spends the rest of the night in a waiting room at Grand Central Station, where he sinks further into despair and expresses regret over leaving Mr. Antolini. He spends most of the morning wandering Fifth Avenue. Losing hope of finding belonging or companionship in the city, Holden impulsively decides that he will head out west and live a reclusive lifestyle in a log cabin. He decides to see Phoebe at lunchtime to explain his plan and say goodbye. While visiting Phoebe's school, Holden sees graffiti containing a curse word and becomes distressed by the thought of children learning the word's meaning and tarnishing their innocence. When he meets Phoebe at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she arrives with a suitcase and asks to go with him, even though she was looking forward to acting as Benedict Arnold in a play that Friday. Holden refuses to let her come with him, which upsets Phoebe. He tries to cheer her up by allowing her to skip school and taking her to the Central Park Zoo, but she remains angry. They eventually reach the zoo's carousel, where Phoebe reconciles with Holden after he buys her a ticket. Holden is finally filled with happiness and joy at the sight of Phoebe riding the carousel. Holden finally alludes to encountering his parents that night and "getting sick", mentioning that he will be attending another school in September. Holden says that he doesn't want to tell anything more, because talking about them has made him find himself missing his former classmates. 

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