In the winter of 1924, Douzi, a boy endowed with feminine features, is taken by his prostitute mother to an all-boys Peking opera troupe supervised by Master Guan. Douzi has an extra finger causing Master Guan to initially reject him from the joining the troupe. Shortly after, Douzi's mother cuts the extra finger off with a knife and returns him to the troupe with his hand still bleeding, and abandons him. Douzi befriends a fellow student, Shitou.

In 1932, a teenage Douzi is trained to play ''dan'' (female roles), while Shitou learns ''jing'' (painted face male roles). When practicing the play "Dreaming of the World Outside the Nunnery", Douzi accidentally substitutes the line "I am by nature a girl, not a boy" with "I am by nature a boy, not a girl," and is disciplined severely by the instructors. Douzi, along with another student, Laizi, attempts to run away, but Douzi decides to pursue acting seriously after witnessing an opera performance in a theatre. Upon returning, they find the whole troupe being punished for their desertion, and Douzi is beaten. As a result, Laizi hangs himself.

An agent who provides funding for opera plays comes to the troupe to seek potentials. When Douzi repeats the same mistake in front of the agent, Shitou commands for him to start over. Douzi finally whispers, "I am by nature a girl, not a boy." He delivers the entire monologue successfully, to the joy of the troupe, and secures the agent. The troupe is invited to perform for eunuch Zhang. Shitou and Douzi are brought to Zhang's house where they find a finely crafted sword, which Douzi promises to give to Shitou one day. Zhang asks to meet Douzi in his room and sexually assaults him. Douzi does not mention this to anyone, but Shitou implicitly knows what happened. On their way home, Douzi adopts an abandoned baby, who later comes under Master Guan's training.

In 1937, on the eve of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Douzi and Shitou become Peking opera stars under stage names Cheng Dieyi and Duan Xiaolou, respectively. Their signature performance is the play ''Farewell My Concubine'', where Dieyi plays the concubine Consort Yu and Xiaolou plays the hero Xiang Yu. Their fame attracts the attention of Yuan Shiqing, a reputable person who attends their performances, and who is enamoured by Dieyi. During a meeting, Dieyi discovers Yuan Shiqing now owns Zhang's sword, which he gifts to Dieyi. Yuan Shiqing compliments his performance but Dieyi is hesitant to develop a romantic relationship with him. The adult Dieyi has an unrequited love for Xiaolou, but Xiaolou marries Juxian, a headstrong courtesan at an upscale brothel, and Dieyi and Xiaolou's relationship begins to fall apart. The love triangle between Dieyi, Xiaolou, and Juxian leads to jealousy and betrayal, which is further complicated by the successive political upheavals following the Second Sino-Japanese War. When Master Guan dies, the abandoned baby, now Xiao Si, comes under Dieyi's training to continue learning ''dan'' roles.

When the communist forces win the civil war, Xiao Si becomes an avid follower of the new government. Dieyi's addiction to opium negatively affects his performances, but he ultimately rehabilitates with the help of Xiaolou and Juxian. Xiao Si nurtures resentment against Dieyi because of his rigorous teachings and usurps his role in ''Farewell My Concubine'' during one performance, without anyone telling Dieyi beforehand. Devastated by the betrayal, Dieyi secludes himself and refuses to reconcile with Xiaolou. As the Cultural Revolution continues, the entire opera troupe is put on a struggle session by the Red Guards where, under pressure, Dieyi and Xiaolou accuse each other of counterrevolutionary acts. Dieyi also tells the guards that Juxian was a prostitute. To protect himself from further prosecution, Xiaolou swears that he does not love her and will "make a clean break" with her. Juxian is heartbroken and commits suicide. Afterward, Xiao Si is caught by the Red Guards when he is singing Consort Yu's lines to the mirror alone in a practice room.

In 1977, Dieyi and Xiaolou reunite, seeming to have mended their relationship. They once again practice ''Farewell My Concubine''; Xiaolou begins with the line "I am by nature a boy," to which Dieyi makes the same mistake of finishing with "I am not a girl." As they finish their performance, Dieyi takes Xiaolou's sword and cuts his own throat, paralleling the concubine's final act in the opera. Xiaolou turns around in shock, and calls out Dieyi's name, and before the screen fades to black, he meekly whispers Dieyi's childhood name: Douzi.

The cartoon opens with images of explosions, gunfire, and heavy artillery; one character even fires into the camera. It is World War I, and the ever-cheerful Bosko is a doughboy eating down in a trench. Enemy fire destroys his meal, and later a picture of his girlfriend, Honey. Bosko shows a rare moment of anger, but is quickly cheered up by a fellow soldier. The two begin to dance, only to be interrupted by more gunfire. Bosko finally decides to fight back and downs an enemy bomber (actually a pelican) by using a fellow soldier as a cannon. A friendly hippopotamus is shot down by heavy artillery, which Bosko destroys with a pair of longjohns-turned-catapult. He then saves the wounded soldier by unzipping his navel and retrieving the shell inside. The projectile explodes anyway, turning the already black-faced Bosko even blacker and prompting him to exclaim "Mammy!" ''à la'' Al Jolson.

Aunt Dete hurrying away after leaving Heidi with her grandfather

Heidi is an orphaned girl initially raised by her maternal grandmother and aunt Dete in Maienfeld, in the Grisons, after the early deaths of her parents, Tobias and Adelheid (Dete's brother-in-law and sister). Shortly after the grandmother's death, Dete is offered a good job as a maid in the big city, and takes 5-year-old Heidi to her paternal grandfather's house, up the mountain from the Dörfli ('small village' in Swiss German). He has been at odds with the villagers and embittered against God for years and lives in seclusion on the alm, which has earned him the nickname 'The Alm-Uncle'. He briefly resents Heidi's arrival, but the girl's evident intelligence and cheerful yet unaffected demeanour soon earn his genuine, if reserved, love. Heidi enthusiastically befriends her new neighbours, young Peter the goatherd, his mother Brigitte, and his blind maternal grandmother. With each season that passes, the mountaintop inhabitants, especially Peter and the grandmother, grow more attached to Heidi, and she to them. However, the grandfather refuses to allow Heidi to attend school, and quarrels with the local pastor and schoolmaster, who try to encourage him to do so, and Heidi is illiterate as a result.

Three years later, Dete returns to take Heidi to Frankfurt to be a hired lady's companion to a wealthy girl named Klara Sesemann, who is unable to walk and regarded as an invalid. Klara is charmed by Heidi's simple friendliness and her descriptions of life on the Alm, and delights in all the funny mishaps brought about by Heidi's naïvety and lack of experience with city life. However, the Sesemanns' strict housekeeper, Fräulein Rottenmeier, views the household disruptions as wanton misbehaviour, and places the free-spirited Heidi under more and more restraint. Soon, Heidi becomes terribly homesick for the Alm, and grows alarmingly pale and thin. Her one diversion is learning to read and write, motivated by Klara's grandmother, who shows her trust and affection, and encourages her to believe in God and to pray.

Heidi's intractable homesickness leads to episodes of sleepwalking where she goes downstairs and opens the front door, which the household initially takes as the work of ghosts, and the family doctor recommends she be sent home as a matter of urgency before she becomes seriously ill. She returns to the mountains laden with presents for her friends, but finds one of her greatest pleasures is reading hymns to Peter's blind grandmother, who can no longer do so for herself. Her faith in God speaks to something in the Alm-Uncle, and he returns to the Christian faith. He accompanies Heidi to church, and that winter takes accommodation in the village so that she can attend school.

Heidi and Klara continue to keep in touch and exchange letters. A visit by the doctor to Heidi leads him to eagerly recommend that Klara visit Heidi, feeling assured that the mountain environment and the wholesome companionship will do her good. Klara makes the journey the next season and spends a wonderful summer with Heidi, becoming stronger on goat's milk and fresh mountain air. But Peter, who grows jealous of Heidi's and Klara's friendship, pushes her empty wheelchair down the mountain to its destruction, although he is soon wracked with guilt about what he did and ultimately confesses to it. Without her wheelchair, Klara has no choice but to learn to walk; she attempts to do so and is gradually successful. She is not very strong, often relying on Heidi or the grandfather to stay standing and not collapse, but it marks an end to her time as a lonely, shut-in invalid. Her grandmother and father are amazed and overcome with joy to see Klara walking again. The Sesemann family promises to provide permanent care for Heidi, if there ever comes a time when her grandfather is no longer able to do so.

Fred Madison, a Los Angeles saxophonist, receives a message on his house intercom: "Dick Laurent is dead." The next morning, his wife Renee finds a VHS tape on their porch containing a video of their house. After having sex, Fred tells her he had a dream about someone resembling her being attacked. He then sees Renee's face as that of a pale old man. As the days pass, more tapes arrive, showing shots of them asleep in their bed. Fred and Renee call the police but the detectives offer no assistance. Fred and Renee attend a party being thrown by her friend Andy. The Mystery Man that Fred dreamed about approaches Fred, claiming to have met him before. The man then says he is at Fred's house at that very moment and answers the house phone when Fred calls him. Fred learns from Andy that the man is a friend of Dick Laurent's. Terrified, Fred leaves the party with Renee. The next morning, another tape arrives and Fred watches it alone. To his horror, it shows him hovering over Renee's dismembered body. He is sentenced to death for her murder.

While on death row, Fred is plagued by headaches and visions of The Mystery Man and a burning cabin in the desert. During a cell check, the prison guard finds that the man in Fred's cell is now Pete Dayton, a young auto mechanic. Although Pete is released into the care of his parents, he is followed by two detectives who are trying to find out more about him. The next day, Pete returns to work at the garage where gangster Mr. Eddy asks him to fix his car. Mr. Eddy takes Pete for a drive, during which Pete witnesses Mr. Eddy beat down a tailgater. The next day, Mr. Eddy returns to the garage with his mistress, Alice Wakefield, and his Cadillac for Pete to repair. Later, Alice returns to the garage alone and invites Pete out for dinner. When Pete and Alice begin an affair, she fears that Mr. Eddy suspects them, and concocts a scheme to rob her friend Andy and leave town. Alice also reveals to Pete that Mr. Eddy is actually an amateur porn producer named Dick Laurent. Pete gets a phone call from Mr. Eddy and The Mystery Man, which frightens Pete so much that he decides to go along with Alice's plan. Pete ambushes Andy and accidentally kills him, before he notices a photograph showing Alice and Renee together. Later, when the police are at the house investigating Andy's death, Alice is inexplicably missing from the photo.

Pete and Alice arrive at an empty cabin in the desert and start having sex outside on the sand, which ends with Alice getting up and disappearing into the cabin. Pete transforms back into Fred. Upon searching the cabin, he meets The Mystery Man, who begins filming and chasing Fred with a video camera. Fred escapes and drives to the Lost Highway Hotel, where he finds Mr. Eddy and Renee having sex. After Renee leaves, Fred kidnaps Mr. Eddy and slits his throat. The Mystery Man shoots Mr. Eddy dead and then whispers something to Fred before he disappears. Fred drives to his old house, buzzes the intercom and says, "Dick Laurent is dead." When the two detectives drive up to the house, Fred runs back to his car and drives off, with the detectives in pursuit. The chase continues into the night, with Fred screaming helplessly as the car speeds down the darkened highway.

The novel, written during the final period of World War II, takes place at an undetermined year "after the end of the war".

Mark Studdock is a young academic who has just become a Senior Fellow in sociology at Bracton College in the University of Edgestow. The fellows of Bracton are debating the sale of a portion of college land to the National Institute for Co-ordinated Experiments (N.I.C.E.), whose staff already includes some college faculty. The sale is controversial since the land in question (Bragdon Wood) is an ancient woodland believed to be the resting place of Merlin. After the deal is struck, a N.I.C.E. insider called Lord Feverstone proposes a possible post for Mark at the Institute. (It is gradually revealed that Feverstone is the new title of Richard Devine, who accompanied Professor Weston on the trip to Mars in ''Out of the Silent Planet'', but not on the trip to Venus in ''Perelandra''.)

Mark's wife Jane (a PhD student at the university) has suffered a peculiar nightmare involving a severed head. She meets Mrs. Dimble, the wife of one of her former tutors, who is being evicted due to sale of land to the N.I.C.E. When Jane talks about her dreams, Mrs. Dimble leads her to seek counsel from a Miss Ironwood who lives in the Manor in the nearby town of St Anne's. An argument between Jane and Mark shows how their marriage is deteriorating.

Lord Feverstone introduces Mark to the N.I.C.E., where he becomes acquainted with the top brass at their headquarters at Belbury, near Edgestow. Mark can never find out what his place in the organisation is; he has no office, is given no duties for some time, and seems to be alternately in and out of favour. A scientist named Bill Hingest, who is resigning from the N.I.C.E., warns Mark to get out. That night, Hingest is mysteriously murdered.

At the same time, Jane works up the courage to visit Miss Ironwood at St Anne's. Miss Ironwood, who is dressed in black just as Jane had dreamed of her, is convinced that Jane's dreams are visions of genuine events. Later, Jane is introduced to Dr Elwin Ransom, the protagonist of the first two books in Lewis's space trilogy. He has become the Pendragon or heir of King Arthur, the ruler of the nation of Logres, which is described as the good side of Britain. More mundanely, he is the Director of the group living in the Manor at St Anne's. He is in communication with the Oyéresu (singular "Oyarsa"), angelic beings who guide the planets of the Solar System. Earth has been in quarantine: its rebellious Oyarsa (who is the Devil) and his demons could not travel beyond the orbit of the Moon, and the other Oyéresu could not come to Earth.

Mark is finally given work: to write pseudonymous newspaper articles supporting the N.I.C.E., including two for use after a riot they intend to provoke in Edgestow. The riot takes place as planned, allowing the N.I.C.E.'s private police force to take over the town. They arrest Jane, whom the N.I.C.E. are interested in (as revealed later) for her psychic abilities, which they fear will get into their opponents' hands. The head of the N.I.C.E. police, a woman known as "Fairy" Hardcastle, starts to torture Jane but is forced to release her when rioters turn in her direction.

Mark is once again out of favour in the N.I.C.E., but after a conversation with an Italian scientist named Filostrato he is introduced to the Head of the Institute. This turns out to be a literal head – that of a recently guillotined French scientist (as Jane dreamed) which Filostrato erroneously believes he has restored to life by his own efforts.

From Jane's dreams that people were digging up the grave of a long-buried man and that the man had left, Ransom concludes that the N.I.C.E. is looking for the body of Merlin, who truly is buried in Bragdon Wood, though not dead but in a timeless state. Jane will guide members of the group to the place she dreamed of.

The N.I.C.E. bosses now try to strengthen their hold over Mark by showing him trumped-up evidence that he murdered Bill Hingest. This backfires, as the crisis finally gives Mark the courage to leave Belbury. He returns to Edgestow in search of Jane only to find their apartment empty and the town under N.I.C.E. control. Later he meets Cecil Dimble, one of the St Anne's community, who despite his misgivings offers to help him. Mark deliberates too long over Dimble's proposal and he is found and arrested for Hingest's murder.

That night, during a heavy storm, both the company of St Anne's and N.I.C.E. personnel are on the trail of Merlin, who has apparently revived. He has taken the clothes of a tramp through his powers of hypnosis and acquired a wild horse. He meets the company of St Anne's but rides away. Members of the N.I.C.E. capture the tramp, believing him to be Merlin.

Mark, while contemplating his upcoming trial and execution, discovers that he has not been arrested by the real police but by officials of the N.I.C.E. who (he now guesses) are the true murderers of Hingest. To his surprise he is told that he is to be initiated into the group's inner ring. In preparation for this he begins a bizarre program of training intended to cultivate absolute objectivity by relegating emotion to the status of a chemical phenomenon. He outwardly participates in these rituals (knowing that he will otherwise be killed) but inwardly begins to reject everything the N.I.C.E. stands for.

Merlin arrives at St Anne's ahead of his pursuers, where he and Ransom converse in Latin. Ransom reveals that there are Satanic forces behind the N.I.C.E. and that Merlin is to be possessed by the Oyéresu; since the forces of darkness broke the lunar barrier in the earlier books, the heavenly beings may also cross the barrier and intervene in human affairs.

Jane has two mystical experiences; the first with the earth-bound counterpart of the Oyarsa of Venus, and the second with God. After discussions with Mrs. Dimble and the Director, she becomes a Christian.

Merlin, now possessed by the Oyéresu, disguises himself as a Basque priest and answers the N.I.C.E.'s advertisement for an interpreter of ancient languages. He hypnotises and interviews the tramp (who the N.I.C.E. still believe may be the real Merlin) and the two of them are brought to a banquet. There Merlin pronounces the curse of Babel upon the assembled N.I.C.E. leaders, causing all present to speak gibberish, and also liberates the many animals on which the N.I.C.E. were experimenting. The bigger animals kill most of the N.I.C.E. staff.

As earthquakes destroy the building, Lord Feverstone flees to Edgestow but is killed when that too is engulfed. Merlin helps Mark escape and sends him to St Anne's. The Oyarsa of Venus lingers at the Manor, as Ransom is now to be transported back to that planet. When Mark arrives, a vision of Venus leads him into a bridal chamber that Jane has been preparing for him.

After Columbia University parapsychology professors Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler experience their first encounter with a ghost at the New York Public Library, the university dean dismisses the credibility of their paranormal-focused research and fires them. The trio responds by establishing "Ghostbusters", a paranormal investigation and elimination service operating out of a disused firehouse. They develop high-tech nuclear-powered equipment to capture and contain ghosts, although business is initially slow.

After a paranormal encounter in her apartment, cellist Dana Barrett calls the Ghostbusters. She recounts witnessing a demonic dog-like creature utter a single word: "Zuul". Ray and Egon research Zuul and details of Dana's building while Peter inspects her apartment and unsuccessfully attempts to seduce her. The Ghostbusters are hired to remove a gluttonous ghost, Slimer, from the Sedgewick Hotel. Having failed to properly test their equipment, Egon warns the group that crossing the energy streams of their proton pack weapons could cause a catastrophic explosion. They capture the ghost and deposit it in an ecto-containment unit under the firehouse. Supernatural activity rapidly increases across the city and the Ghostbusters become famous; they hire a fourth member, Winston Zeddemore, to cope with the growing demand.

Suspicious of the Ghostbusters, Environmental Protection Agency inspector Walter Peck asks to evaluate their equipment but Peter rebuffs him. Egon warns that the containment unit is nearing capacity and supernatural energy is surging across the city. Peter meets with Dana and informs her Zuul was a demigod worshipped as a servant to "Gozer the Gozerian", a shapeshifting god of destruction. Upon returning home, she is possessed by Zuul; a similar entity possesses her neighbor, Louis Tully. Peter arrives and finds the possessed Dana/Zuul claiming to be "the Gatekeeper". Louis is brought to Egon by police officers and claims he is "Vinz Clortho, the Keymaster". The Ghostbusters agree to keep the pair separated.

Peck returns with law enforcement and city workers to have the Ghostbusters arrested and their containment unit deactivated, causing an explosion that releases the captured ghosts. Louis/Vinz escapes in the confusion and makes his way to the apartment building to join Dana/Zuul. In jail, Ray and Egon reveal Ivo Shandor, leader of a Gozer-worshipping cult, designed Dana's building to function as an antenna to attract and concentrate spiritual energy to summon Gozer and bring about the apocalypse. Faced with supernatural chaos across the city, the Ghostbusters convince the mayor to release them.

The Ghostbusters travel to the apartment building roof as Dana/Zuul and Louis/Vinz open the gate between dimensions and transform into demonic dogs. Gozer appears as a woman and attacks the Ghostbusters then disappears when they attempt to retaliate. Her disembodied voice demands the Ghostbusters "choose the form of the destructor". Ray inadvertently recalls a beloved corporate mascot from his childhood, and Gozer reappears as a gigantic Stay Puft Marshmallow Man that begins destroying the city. Against his earlier advice, Egon instructs the team to cross their proton energy streams at the dimensional gate. The resulting explosion destroys Gozer's avatar, banishing it back to its dimension, and closes the gateway. The Ghostbusters rescue Dana and Louis from the wreckage and are welcomed on the street as heroes.

The Draka world in 1942 The Draka world in 1948

The first book of the series, ''Marching Through Georgia'', is set during the Eurasian War. The Soviet Union, weakened by civil war and the Draka incursion, collapses to the Nazi invasion before a Draka attack falls on the German army in the Caucasus. While both sides' weaponry is somewhat more advanced than historically, with jet and rocket aircraft and advanced armored vehicles, that of the Draka proves superior. Since most European countries loath to unite behind the Germans, the Draka are eventually able to conquer all of mainland Europe. Meanwhile, having already subdued what remains of China, Japanese forces are able to concentrate on the United States, seizing its Pacific possessions and raiding North America. The U.S. does not open a second front in Europe and eventually turns the tide against Japan. The Draka invade Japanese-occupied China and Korea, and the war ends in 1945 with multiple German and Japanese cities and bases destroyed by nuclear weapons. The remaining countries of the world join the Alliance for Democracy, with the United Kingdom inundated with refugees and heavily fortified against potential Draka attack.

The second book, ''Under the Yoke'', shows Europe under Draka rule. The Draka, having applied modern science to the practice of slavery, ruthlessly crush resistance and obliterate old institutions, including the use of a thermonuclear weapon on the rebelling city of Barcelona. The third book, ''The Stone Dogs'', depicts the cold war between the Draka and the Alliance, fought mostly on interplanetary colonies throughout the inner Solar System, and Alliance efforts to recruit Draka defectors.

In the 1970s, the exposure of an Alliance covert operation against a Hindu nationalist party leads to India seceding from the Alliance, after which it is conquered and enslaved by the Draka. Even so, long-term trends are depicted as favoring the Alliance; its larger economy and free population give it an advantage in physics and computer research. Both sides build a superweapon for the expected final war; the Alliance creates a sophisticated computer virus, and secretly constructs a starship for escaping to Alpha Centauri. Draka has more advanced biological sciences; by experimenting on slave subjects, Draka geneticists develop a virus known as "The Stone Dogs". To prevent losing the virus's secrecy, the Domination uses it preemptively on the Alliance. In a war costing hundred of millions of lives, the Alliance is narrowly defeated; a truce allows them to launch the starship. The Draka take over the rest of Earth, now devastated by a years-long nuclear winter, and eventually produce a new species of human that is genetically engineered for servility, as well as unable to breed with the Draka "Master Race". Only a few isolated groups of baseline humans are said to survive.

The fourth novel, ''Drakon'', starts in 2442 when research into wormhole technology, needed to bridge the gap between Earth and the Alliance refugee colony at Alpha Centauri, ends up sending a single Draka and a pursuing Alliance agent into an alternate 1995–2000 where the Draka never existed. In the original timeline, the Draka barely beat back a wormhole-enabled Alliance assault from Alpha Centauri, while in the alternate timeline, the agent manages to prevent the Draka from reopening the wormhole and invading. Using technology captured from the interlopers, this Earth begins preparing for the next appearance of the Draka.

Queen Elizabeth I is transported forward in time to the film's present day by the occultist John Dee, who commands the spirit guide Ariel (a character from William Shakespeare's ''The Tempest'') to bring them there. Elizabeth arrives in the shattered Britain of the 1970s and moves through the social and physical decay of the city, observing the sporadic activities of a group of aimless nihilists - mostly young women, including Amyl Nitrate, Bod, Chaos, Crabs and Mad.

An early scene, set in a squat, introduces the audience to this group of characters and also to Sphinx and Angel, two incestuous bisexual brothers. Amyl Nitrate instructs a group of young women about history — in so doing, valorising the violent criminal activity of Myra Hindley — before reminiscing about her time as a ballet dancer. Bod, a sex-hating anarchist, has just strangled and killed Queen Elizabeth II, stealing her crown in an arbitrary street robbery.

From there the group move on to a café, where Crabs picks up a young musician named the Kid, Mad tears up some postcards, and Bod attacks a waitress with a bottle of ketchup. Bod contacts impresario Borgia Ginz. On meeting Ginz, however, she is surprised to find Amyl performing a pastiche of "Rule Britannia". Sphinx and Angel establish a relationship with Viv, a young former artist, whom they take to meet Max, an ex-soldier. In exchange for sexual favours, Crabs takes the Kid to see Ginz, who auditions the Kid's band and signs them up under the name "Scum". Sphinx and Angel try to talk the Kid out of this, but he just laughs at their lecturing. Ginz is branching out into property management and has purchased "abandoned" properties such as Westminster Cathedral and Buckingham Palace, which are transformed into musical venues.

Meanwhile, Mad, Bod and Crabs asphyxiate Happy Days, one of Crabs' one-night stands, with red plastic sheeting. They proceed to break into the flat of androgynous rock star Lounge Lizard, whom Bod throttles to death. A fight breaks out between Kid and a policeman, at a disco session in Westminster Cathedral. After the gang all watch Kid's TV debut together, Viv and the three males pay a visit to Max's bingo hall, where violent police activity causes the death of Sphinx, Angel and the Kid. Revenge attacks on the two police officers responsible follow. One of them is castrated to death by Mad and Amyl; the other, who has just started an affair with Crabs, is blown up on his doorstep with a petrol bomb by Bod.

Finally, Ginz takes the four women off to Dorset - "the only safe place to live these days" - an unreconstructed right wing aristocratic enclave, where he signs a recording contract with the gang. Interspersed with these displays of contemporary anarchic violence, Dee, Ariel and Elizabeth try to interpret the signs of anarchic modernity around them, before they undertake a pastoral and nostalgic return to the sixteenth century at the film's end.

Six male fish in a posh restaurant's tank swim together casually and say good morning to each other, then see their friend Howard being eaten outside. This leads them to question the meaning of life. The question is explored in the first sketch, "The Miracle of Birth", which features a woman in labour being ignored by the doctors in favour of impressing the hospital's medically-clueless administrator. In Yorkshire, a Roman Catholic man loses his job and informs his numerous children that he must sell them off for scientific experiments due to the Catholic church's opposition to contraception ("Every Sperm Is Sacred"). A Protestant man looks on disapprovingly, and proudly remarks that Protestants can use contraception and have sex for pleasure (though his wife points out that they never do).

In "Growth and Learning", a class of boys learn school etiquette before partaking in a sex education lesson, which involves watching their teacher have sex with his wife. One boy laughs and is forced into a violent rugby match pitting pupils against the school masters as punishment. "Fighting Each Other" focuses on three scenes concerning the British military: first, a World War I officer tries to rally his men during an attack, but they instead present him with various going-away gifts; second, a modern army RSM bullies his platoon to say what they'd rather be doing than drill practice, then dismisses each soldier in turn. Lastly, in 1879, during the Battle of Isandlwana in the Anglo-Zulu War, a soldier finds his leg has been bitten off. Suspecting a tiger, the soldiers hunt for it and find two men suspiciously wearing two halves of a tiger costume.

The prior sequences end abruptly with a host introducing "The Middle of the Film". In a segment called "Find the Fish", bizarre characters ask the audience to find a hidden fish. "Middle Age" involves an American couple visiting a Hawaiian restaurant with a Medieval torture theme, where, to the interest of the fish, the waiter offers a conversation about philosophy and the meaning of life. The customers are unable to make sense of it and move on to a discussion of "live organ transplants". In "Live Organ Transplants", two paramedics visit a card-carrying organ donor and remove his liver while he is still alive. His wife is initially reluctant to donate her own liver while alive, but she relents after a man steps out of a fridge and reminds her of humanity's insignificance in the universe ("Galaxy Song"). Executives of an American conglomerate debate the meaning of life before a raid by The Crimson Permanent Assurance briefly interrupts them.

"The Autumn Years" starts off with a musician in a French restaurant singing about the joys of having a penis. When the song is finished, everyone applauds the musician, but the applause is interrupted when the horrible, gluttonous and grotesquely obese customer Mr. Creosote visits the restaurant, much to the horror of everyone including the fishes. He vomits continuously and devours an enormous meal. After the maître d'hôtel persuades him to eat an after-dinner mint, Creosote's gut explodes until his death, splattering the other diners. Two staff members clean up and sanitize the whole restaurant while arguing and discussing about the meaning of life in "The Meaning Of Life". A third waiter leads the audience to the house where he was born, spouts some weak philosophy, and then angrily dismisses them after his point trails off.

"Death" features a condemned man choosing the manner of his own execution: being chased off the Cliffs of Dover by topless women in sports gear and falling into his own grave below. In a short animated sequence, several despondent leaves commit suicide by throwing themselves from the branches of their tree. The Grim Reaper enters an isolated country house and convinces the hosts and dinner guests, with difficulty, that they are all dead. They accompany the Grim Reaper to Heaven, revealed to be the Hawaiian restaurant from earlier. They enter a Las Vegas-style hotel where it's always Christmas and meet the characters from the previous sketches ("Christmas in Heaven").

The song is cut off abruptly for "The End of the Film". The host from "The Middle of the Film" opens an envelope and blandly reveals the meaning of life: "Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations".

Major Scobie lives in a colony on the west coast of Africa during World War II, and is responsible for local security during wartime. His wife Louise, an unhappy, solitary woman who loves literature and poetry, cannot make friends. Scobie feels responsible for her misery, but does not love her. Their only child, Catherine, died in England several years before. Louise is a devout Catholic. Scobie, a convert, is also devout.

Throughout the novel the oppressive nature of the climate is a major backdrop. The heat and humidity act as weakening factors.

Scobie is passed over for promotion to commissioner, which upsets Louise both for her personal ambition and her hope that the local British community will begin to accept her. Louise asks Scobie if she can go to live in South Africa to escape a life she hates.

At the same time, a new inspector, named Wilson, arrives in the town. He is priggish and socially inept, and hides his passion for poetry for fear of ostracism by his colleagues. He and Louise strike up a friendship, which Wilson mistakes for love. Wilson rooms with another colleague named Harris, who has created a sport for himself of killing the cockroaches that appear in his room each night. He invites Wilson to join him, but in the first match, they end up quarrelling over the rules of engagement.

One of Scobie's duties is to lead the inspections of local passenger ships, particularly looking for smuggled diamonds, a needle-in-a-haystack problem that never yields results. A Portuguese ship, the ''Esperança'' (the Portuguese word for 'hope'), comes into port, and a disgruntled steward reveals the location of a letter hidden in the captain's quarters. Scobie finds it, and because it is addressed to someone in Germany, he confiscates as it might contain secret codes and clandestine information. The captain says it's a letter to his daughter and begs Scobie to forget the incident, offering him a bribe of one hundred pounds when he learns that they share the Catholic faith. Scobie declines the bribe and takes the letter, but having opened and read it—contrary to regulations—and finding it innocuous, he decides not to submit it to higher authorities, and burns it.

Scobie is called to a small inland town to deal with the suicide of the local inspector, a man named Pemberton, who was in his early twenties and left a note implying that his suicide was due to a loan he could not repay. Scobie suspects the involvement of the local agent of a Syrian man named Yusef, a local black marketeer. Yusef denies it, but warns Scobie that the British have sent a new inspector specifically to look for diamonds; Scobie claims this is a hoax and that he does not know of any such man. Scobie later dreams that he is in Pemberton's situation, even writing a similar note, but when he awakens, he tells himself that he could never commit suicide, as no cause is worth the eternal damnation that suicide would bring.

Scobie tries to secure a loan from the bank to pay the two hundred pound fare for Louise's passage, but is turned down. Yusef offers to lend Scobie the money at four per cent per annum. Scobie initially declines, but after an incident where he mistakenly thinks Louise is contemplating suicide, he accepts the loan and sends Louise to South Africa. Wilson meets them at the pier and tries to interfere with their parting.

Shortly afterwards, the survivors of a shipwreck arrive after forty days at sea in lifeboats. One young girl dies as Scobie tries to comfort her by pretending to be her father, who was killed in the wreck. A 19-year-old woman named Helen Rolt also arrives malnourished and dehydrated, clutching an album of postage stamps. She was married before the ship left port and is now a widow with a wedding ring too big for her finger. Scobie feels drawn to her, as much to the cherished album of stamps as to her physical presence, even though she is not beautiful. She reminds him of his daughter.

He soon starts a passionate affair with her, all the time aware that he is committing the grave sin of adultery. A letter he writes to Helen ends up in Yusef's hands, and the Syrian uses it to blackmail Scobie into sending a package of diamonds for him via the departing ''Esperança'', thus avoiding the authorities.

After Louise unexpectedly returns, Scobie struggles to keep her ignorant of his love affair. But he is unable to renounce Helen, even in the confessional, where the priest instructs him to think it over and postpones absolution. Still, to placate his wife, Scobie attends Mass with her and receives communion in his state of mortal sin—a sacrilege according to Catholic doctrine. Soon after, Yusef's servant delivers a "gift" to Scobie, which he refuses. Scobie's servant, Ali, however, witnesses this and a romantic embrace between Scobie and Helen. Scobie visits Yusef to confront him about the gift, but also to relate his suspicion that Ali, whom he had trusted for all of their 15 years together, is disloyal. Yusef says he will take care of the matter, which within a few hours ends up with Ali being killed by local teenagers known as "wharf rats". The reader is led to believe that Yusef arranged the killing for which Scobie blames himself.

Having gone this far down the path of ruin and seeing no way out, Scobie decides to free everyone from himself—including God—and plots his death by faking a heart ailment and getting a prescription for sleeping pills. Knowing full well that suicide is the ultimate damnation according to Church doctrine, he proceeds in the end to commit suicide with the pills. The act, however, yields ambiguous results. Helen continues her dreary existence. And Louise, who knew about the affair all along, is made to realise by her suitor, Wilson, that Scobie's death was a suicide. She tells Wilson she will not marry him, but might in time.

The concluding chapter consists of a short encounter between Louise and her confessional priest. Louise tries to rationalise Scobie's suicide in relation to his Catholicism, to which the priest advises that no one can know what's in a person's heart or about God's mercy.

Two hundred colonists arrive on Avalon, having made the 100-year journey from Earth in suspended animation on the starship ''Geographic''. The colonists, selected for their outstanding physical and mental acuity, make a terrible discovery: the suspended animation has damaged their intellect and reasoning skills. Some are only mildly afflicted, while others have serious intellectual disabilities; eight cannot be reanimated at all.

The colonists build a settlement on an isolated island, and begin growing crops and stocking the nearby waters with terrestrial species to complement the ''samlon'', a local aquatic species. The colonists become overconfident in their security, to the frustration of expedition security officer (and former soldier) Cadmann Weyland. When unsettling events begin to happen – missing animals, fences torn down – the colonists' impaired minds prevent them from properly analyzing the situation. Weyland is suspected of sabotage to further his agenda of building up defenses. He is drugged and restrained when a monster attacks the settlement, killing ten colonists.

Resenting his treatment, Weyland retreats from the colony to an isolated homestead on a mountain near the colony. Mary Ann, a colonist with a romantic interest in Weyland, convinces him to allow her to stay with him, and conceives his child. Ultimately, Weyland agrees to assist the colony in its defenses.

The colonists are confounded by the ecology of the island, as there does not seem to be a sufficient food source for the creatures to inhabit it. An autopsy reveals that grendels (as the creatures are now known, in reference to ''Beowulf'') are crocodilian in appearance and behavior, with powerful jaws and claws, and a sense of smell better than a dog's. Its brain shows it is at least as intelligent as a gorilla. It possesses a snorkel enabling it to lurk under several feet of water. Its cardiovascular system and musculature give it strength and stamina far beyond that of humans. A grendel can release a super-oxygenated blood supplement into its blood that does to it what nitrous oxide does to internal combustion engines – enable short bursts of speed in excess of 100 miles per hour. This trait makes the grendels devastating, but is also the key to their destruction. Using the supercharger causes the grendels to heat up so rapidly that they die if they do not immediately return to water to cool off. With this knowledge and their technology and tactics, the colonists are able to wipe out the grendel population of the island within several months, making Weyland a hero to the people who previously turned on him.

Some months later, the colony's scientists come to a disturbing realization: the grendels and the aquatic samlon are the same species. Their life cycle is similar to that of terrestrial frogs – the herbivorous samlon are in fact the juvenile form of the carnivorous grendels. The juvenile samlon are male, and become female when they mature. Interaction is unnecessary, as the grendels continually lay unfertilized eggs in the water for the samlon to fertilize. Like some species of frogs, the grendels are cannibalistic – if no other prey is present, they will eat their own young. On the colony's island, all other prey sources were previously exhausted, and the grendels have turned to cannibalism as the rule rather than the exception. The colonists have exterminated the adult grendels. But as there is now no check at all on the samlon population, they all become grendels, meaning that instead of a few dozen grendels, there are now thousands.

Weyland again asserts control. The colony's pregnant women, children and essential specialists are evacuated to the ''Geographic''. The grendels cannot hunt far from water, so most others are evacuated to Weyland's mountain camp. Combat is joined. At first, the colonists' technology and tactics serve them well. Weyland observes the grendels' behavior and discovers that packs of grendels can be sent into a shark-like feeding frenzy by spraying them with blood taken from dead grendels, especially if it is laced with the "supercharger" chemical. Tracer bullets are used to ignite the supercharger gland in their bodies.

But as the grendels' numbers fall, their individual strength rises, as every dead grendel is food for the rest. Eventually, all that remain are the strongest and fastest fully grown grendels, and the colonists make a planned retreat to Weyland's mountain retreat. As the horde approaches, the colonists spray them with more supercharger, sending them into a frenzy once more. When they begin climbing the bluff, Weyland sets off a deadfall trap, killing even more. The grendels, though not as smart as humans, are smart enough to learn, given time and much experience. Their behavior changes as they realize the remaining colonists are not worth dying to reach when there are other grendels to kill. The colony is saved.

One year later, the grendels are being driven to extinction. Now that the grendel life cycle is known, the colonists continue the hunts, but this time the samlon are targeted as well. The new tactics, supercharger spraying and recorded grendel challenges, make them almost a routine chore. The terrestrial fish are gone, and will not be reintroduced, forcing the grendels to help drive their own species to extinction through cannibalism. Now rebuilding can begin. The battle against the grendels has left the colony with surplus of women, and a new social organization based on polygamous marriage is taking shape. The mainland is being explored, and the colonists have high hopes. The colonists hope the story of their battle will inspire Earth's population to restart its nascent colonization program.

''The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty''

In the first chapter of the story, Beauty is awakened from her hundred-year sleep by the Prince, not with a kiss, but through copulation, initiating her into a Satyricon-like world of sexual adventures. After stripping her naked he takes her to his kingdom, ruled by his mother Queen Eleanor, where Beauty is trained as a slave and a plaything. The rest of the naked slaves, dozens of them, in the Queen's castle are princes and princesses sent by their royal parents from the surrounding kingdoms as tributes. In this castle they spend several years learning to become obedient and submissive sexual property, accepting being spanked and forced to have sex with nobles and slaves of both sexes, being publicly displayed and humiliated, and crawling around on their hands and knees like animals until they return to their own lands "being enhanced in wisdom."

In the castle Beauty meets another slave, Prince Alexi, with whom she copulates passionately. After that he tells her about the long adventurous journey he had in the castle. Alexi previously had been a stubborn prince who fought back all the attempts to break him, until the Queen sent him to the kitchen to have him tortured by crude kitchen servants. Alexi received such a savage and merciless punishment there that he began to lose his senses and, after some particularly humiliating training at the hands of a strong stable boy, Alexi became a totally surrendered slave, playing various sexual games at the Queen's commands.

The moral of Alexi's story notwithstanding, Beauty willfully disobeys, and the book closes with her being sentenced to brutal slavery in the neighboring village while her master weeps.

''Beauty's Punishment''

The second book starts as Beauty and another naked slave from the castle, Prince Tristan, are sold at auction in the village square. Beauty is purchased by the inn keeper Mistress Lockely while Tristan is bought by Nicholas, the Queen's chronicler. At Lockely's inn Beauty meets the Captain of the Guard, who forces her to pleasure him and then takes her to a drunken orgy with his soldiers. Tristan is bound and harnessed as a pony with a tail plugged in his rear, and made to pull Nicholas' cart while being whipped. When the cart arrives at an orchard, he is ordered to collect apples with his mouth, and trained to "satisfy" other human ponies in the stable. Afterward, Nicholas has Tristan paddled at the Public Turntable, which devastates the prince, and forcibly copulates with him in the bed.

The next day, after having made Tristan march through the crowded streets, which included a short but intense meeting with the Captain of the Guard, Nicholas asks Tristan a series of questions as to what makes a strong, highborn prince obey with such a complete submission. Tristan answers, after some hesitation, that he loves anyone who punishes him no matter how crude or lowly they are and desires the loss of his self amid all the punishments, eventually "becoming" the punishments himself. Nicholas is moved by the answer and, after a frantic intercourse, confesses to him that he is in love with Tristan.

Beauty witnesses the harsh punishment of a runaway slave, Prince Laurent, as he is bound to a wooden cross and the Captain whips him all over his muscular body, and later sees Tristan pulling a cart carrying Laurent in a penitential procession. Tristan begs Nicholas to be allowed to meet Beauty and they reunite in Nicholas' house. Beauty and Tristan copulate as Nicholas watches behind a one-way mirror. Suddenly, Arab soldiers raid the village and several naked slaves, including Beauty, Tristan and Laurent, are kidnapped. The book closes as they are sent across the sea to serve in the palace of the Sultan.

''Beauty's Release''

The third book begins with the captured slaves' journey on the ship to the Sultan's realm. While being imprisoned in a cage, Laurent contemplates the recent punishments he received as a runaway on a wooden cross, recalling its pain, degradation and undeniable pleasure. After their arrival at the exotic land of the Sultan, the captured slaves are groomed by a group of young boys and examined by Lexius, the Sultan's steward. Beauty is taken to the harem and is mounted on the phallus of a bronze statue. She is then greeted by Inanna, one of the Sultan's wives, with whom she copulates and is shocked to discover that Inanna's clitoris has been surgically removed.

Laurent and Tristan are taken to an all-male sadomasochistic orgy, being mounted on a cross and whipped. However, in private, Laurent overpowers Lexius and rapes him. Afterward Laurent and Tristan are taken to the Sultan, made to perform a mutual fellatio on each other in his presence, and then the Sultan anally copulates with Laurent. Laurent and Tristan retire from the Sultan's bedroom and when they are beginning to train Lexius as their secret slave, a rescue team led by the Captain of the Guard arrives and Laurent takes Lexius with him to their ship along with Beauty and Tristan. During the last leg of the voyage, the Captain tells Beauty that she is to be released from the servitude because of her parents' demands and, to her great dismay, sent back home to get married—she hysterically protests, but to no avail.

Back at the castle, the Queen takes Lexius as her slave and sends him to the merciless kitchen servants who trained Prince Alexi earlier in the first book. She then sentences both Laurent and Tristan to the village stable for Laurent's rebelliousness and Tristan's failure to become a good slave. They are made to live and work as ponies, pulling all sorts of carts and drawing plows in the fields during the daytime, and having homosexual orgies with other human ponies at night. Tristan, as a pony, reunites with his former owner Nicholas on a temporary basis. However, Laurent's father unexpectedly dies and he is summoned back to his own kingdom against his wish, to become the new ruler. The book ends as Laurent marries Beauty, saying that they shall live happily ever after, or perhaps "a good deal happier" than anyone else could ever guess—hinting that they will continue the pleasure of dominance and submission with each other.

''Beauty's Kingdom''

20 years after the events of ''Beauty's Release'', Beauty and Laurent take over the throne following the death of Queen Eleanor and strive to continue the sensual surrender legacy of the kingdom, albeit now in a state of voluntary servitude.

Part 1 of the series describes Norman Winters’ previous life and his process of suspended animation.

After the disappearance of Norman Winters, his son, Vincent, questions the servants working on his New York estate. After receiving a suspicious answer from the groundskeeper Carstairs, one of his father's most loyal workers, Vincent threatens to turn him in to the police. Preserving his freedom, Carstairs presents Vincent with a letter from his father detailing his whereabouts.

In the letter, Norman explains his collaborations with various scientists to determine how to build a chamber which will shield him from cosmic rays and a coma-inducing drug. Norman constructs an underground chamber with six-foot leaden walls impervious to the outside radiation's influence on his cells. Once in the chamber, Norman will use the sleep-drug to fall into a coma where he “shall not awake until [he is] again subjected to radiation,” which will be provided by an X-ray lamp (similar to what one finds next to any dentist's chair) set to power on after five thousand years. In hopes of awaking to a Utopian future, Norman encourages Vincent to live his life in the absence of his father.

Upon waking up, Norman discovers that he had lain dormant for five thousand years. Realizing the success of his time travelling system, Norman explores the futuristic world briefly, and then returns to suspended animation, planning to wake again after another 5,000 years. He repeats this several times, giving the reader a brief view of various social results.

• 5000 AD. Humanity staggers to save itself amid the world's littered, stagnant wreckage after what has become known as the great ''Age of Waste''. There is a political rivalry between the younger generation opposing the older generation's proposed waste of resources that they (the younger generation) assert that they are entitled to.
• 10,000 AD. The world is dominated by ''the Brain'' – the immovable in purpose super computer that knows all, sees all, and feels nothing. Thanks to its cradle-to-grave supervision, human life is easy and comfortable, but what will happen when The Brain realizes people are superfluous?
• 15,000 AD. People can now program their choice of dreams and sleep their lives away. Winters awakes to find the sleeping outnumber the living. He cannot stop the implosion of civilization by himself.
• 20,000 AD. After an abused Age of Freedom came an Age of License. Genetic experiment heralded the terrifying ''Age of Anarchy''. Each Individual had his own mobile "City" that provided for all his needs, resulting in a society where people had no need for each other and were incapable of cooperating, resulting in nearly all interpersonal encounters being small wars.
• 25,000 AD. Scientists discover the secret sought through the centuries – immortality. But is Mankind ready for it? Immortality is frightfully boring without a purpose. Humanity scatters to the far corners of the cosmos seeking knowledge and experience, leading to a quest toward "the meaning of it all."

The novel might be easily dismissed as standard pulp fare if it had not presaged concepts popularized decades later: the sexual revolution, green consumerism, strong AI, full-immersion virtual reality as a surgical procedure (like The Matrix), desktop molecular manufacturing, global warming, and stem cell therapies. Many of these have only appeared in most peoples' worldview in the 21st century.

Doctor Robotnik seeks a new way to defeat his longtime nemesis Sonic and conquer the world. During his research, he learns about an entity called Chaos—a creature that, thousands of years ago, helped to protect the Chao and the all-powerful Master Emerald, which balances the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds. When a tribe of echidnas sought to steal the power of the Emeralds, breaking the harmony they had with the Chao, Chaos retaliated by using the Emeralds' power to transform into a monstrous beast, Perfect Chaos, and wipe them out. Tikal, a young echidna who befriended Chaos, imprisoned it in the Master Emerald along with herself. Robotnik shatters the Master Emerald to release Chaos and tests the creature's natural form on the city of Station Square.

When Sonic sees local police fail to defeat Chaos, he and Tails work to stop Robotnik from empowering it with the Chaos Emeralds. Knuckles, the only remaining echidna, sets out to find the shards of the Master Emerald and repair it. Robotnik activates a new series of robots, including one named Gamma, and orders them to find Froggy, an amphibian who ate a Chaos Emerald. Froggy's owner, Big, seeks to find him as well. In Station Square, Sonic's friend Amy finds a Flicky being pursued for a Chaos Emerald in its possession, and decides to protect it. When both are captured, Amy convinces Gamma not to work for Robotnik; Gamma helps her to escape before seeking out and destroying the other robots in his series, sacrificing himself in the process.

Although Sonic disrupts Robotnik's plans, Chaos manages to absorb all the Chaos Emeralds and transforms into Perfect Chaos; it rebels against Robotnik and destroys Station Square. Through flashbacks from Tikal (who was also released from the Master Emerald), Sonic realizes that Chaos has been in constant torment and sorrow, and that imprisoning it again will not stop it. He uses the Chaos Emeralds to transform into Super Sonic and defeats Perfect Chaos. Chaos calms down when it sees the Chao living peacefully in Station Square, and Tikal takes it somewhere safe to live in peace. Afterward, Sonic pursues a fleeing Robotnik.

An alien race (The Nar) assemble humans from a stream of genetic information transmitted by radio from the Milky Way Galaxy. The resulting colony of humans spend some time integrated into the Nar society before growing restless, discovering the secret of human longevity, and embarking on the seemingly impossible millennia-long mission of a physical journey back to Earth. This epic journey is made in a gigantic space-grown semi-sentient Dyson tree known as ''Yggdrasil''.

Category:1986 novels Category:1986 science fiction novels Category:Novels by Donald Moffitt

In 1928 Kansas, Wilma Dean "Deanie" Loomis is a teenage girl who follows her mother's advice to resist her desire for sex with her boyfriend Bud Stamper, the son of one of the town's more prosperous families owing to oil drilling. In turn, Bud reluctantly follows the advice of his father Ace to wait to marry Deanie until after college and to find another kind of girl with whom to satisfy his desires.

Bud's parents are ashamed of his older sister Ginny, a flapper and promiscuous party girl who smokes, drinks, and has recently been brought back from Chicago, where her parents had a marriage annulled to someone who married her solely for her money; the rumor around town is that she actually had an abortion. Disappointed in their daughter, Bud's parents pin all their hopes on him and pressure him to attend Yale College. The emotional pressure is too much for Bud, who suffers a physical breakdown and nearly dies of pneumonia.

At a New Year's Eve party, Ginny becomes drunk, to the humiliation and disappointment of her parents. Bud attempts to take her home, but she refuses. Instead, she looks for someone to dance with her, asserting that men "only want to talk to her in the dark." She leaves the party with a man, and Bud finds her outside in a car being raped by the man, a crowd of men surrounding them. He starts a fight with the man, but loses when the crowd joins in. Bud takes Deanie home after the party. Disturbed by what he's seen happen to his sister, he tells Deanie that they have to stop kissing and fooling around and breaks up with her.

Aware that his classmate Juanita is willing to become sexually involved with him, Bud has a liaison with her. Shortly afterward, depressed that Bud ended their relationship, Deanie attends a party with classmate Toots Tuttle; trying out Ginny Stamper's behavior, she goes outside with Bud and comes on to him. When he rebuffs her, shocked because he always thought of her as a "nice" girl, she returns to Toots, who drives her to a private spot by a pond that streams into a waterfall. While there, Deanie realizes that she can't go through with sex, at which point she is almost raped. Escaping from Toots and driven close to madness, she attempts to commit suicide by jumping in the pond, but is rescued just before reaching the falls. Her parents sell their oil stock to pay for her institutionalization, which actually turns out to be a blessing in disguise, because they make a profit prior to the Crash of 1929 that leads to the Great Depression.

While Deanie is in the institution, she meets another patient, Johnny Masterson, who has anger issues targeted at his parents, who want him to be a surgeon. The two patients form a bond. Meanwhile, Bud is sent to Yale, where he fails practically all his courses but meets Angelina, the daughter of Italian immigrants who run a local restaurant in New Haven. In October 1929, Bud's father travels to New Haven in an attempt to persuade the dean not to expel Bud from school; Bud tells the dean he only aspires to own a ranch. The stock market crashes while Ace is in New Haven and he loses everything. He takes Bud to New York for a weekend, including to a cabaret nightclub, then commits suicide by jumping from a building – something he had been joking about just a short time earlier – and Bud must identify the body.

Deanie returns home from the asylum after two years and six months, "almost to the day." Ace's widow has gone to live with relatives, and Bud's sister has died in a car crash. Deanie's mother wants to shield her from any potential anguish from meeting Bud, so she pretends to not know where he is. When Deanie's friends from high school come over, her mother gets them to agree to feign ignorance on Bud's whereabouts. However, Deanie's father refuses to coddle his daughter and tells her that Bud has taken up ranching and lives on the old family farm. Her friends drive Deanie to meet Bud, at an old farmhouse. He is now dressed in plain clothes and married to Angelina; they have an infant son named Bud Jr. and another child on the way. Deanie lets Bud know that she is going to marry John (who is now a doctor in Cincinnati). During their brief reunion, Deanie and Bud realize that both must accept what life has thrown at them. Bud says, "What's the point? You gotta take what comes." They each relate that they "don't think about happiness very much anymore."

As Deanie leaves with her friends, Bud only seems partially satisfied by the direction his life has taken. After the others are gone, he reassures Angelina, who has realized that Deanie was once the love of his life. Driving away, Deanie's friends ask her if she is still in love with Bud. She does not answer them, but her voice is heard reciting four lines from Wordsworth's "Intimations of Immortality": :"Though nothing can bring back the hour :Of splendor in the grass, glory in the flower :We will grieve not; rather find
:Strength in what remains behind."

In St. Cloud, native son Chance Wayne has fled his home town, seeking to profit from his beauty and youth in New York or Hollywood (whichever of the two). When he fails as an actor and then a personality in both cities, he turns to the freelance career of gigolo. As the traveling escort of his current employer, Chance returns to St. Cloud in an attempt to win back his childhood lover, escorting an aging, depressed, semi-alcoholic film star: Alexandra del Lago, who is running away from the negative criticism she believes is the public and critical response to her attempt at a cinematic comeback in a recently released film.

Del Lago also had been running away and burying herself in sex, alcohol, and drugs until Chance recognized her while hustling in a Florida resort. He saw in her a last chance to build a relationship (taking care of her while on their drive back to Hollywood, with him as her escort). He is using his perceived gallantry to entice del Lago to give him the imprimatur of stardom which he failed to achieve on his own. As he and del Lago are driving along the Sunset Route back to California, Chance hopes that he will reunite with Heavenly Finley, his childhood sweetheart, and bring her back to Hollywood, where – with del Lago's aid – they will both achieve stardom.

Unfortunately once returned to St. Cloud, Chance discovers Heavenly is only a shadow of the girl he knew. During his last visit to St. Cloud, she got pregnant. When she discovered the problem, she had to have an abortion and because of an unskilled doctor's knife, she was hospitalized and the abortion resulted in a hysterectomy and her sterility. Her powerful and corrupt father and brother are determined to make Chance pay for the injury done to Heavenly. Chance worries that he will receive the same fate as a black man in town who recently was attacked and castrated.

Using Alexandra's car and funds, Chance tries to prove to the town that he is a success, but his old friends call his bluff and see him for what he has become. Meanwhile, Alexandra receives news that the criticism she's been running from is actually praise and that her comeback could not have been better. Chance believes he will ride with her to the top, but Alexandra has no wish for a gigolo to besmirch her good name. With his youth gone, Chance does not know how to move on with his life. Although she will not recommend him for a job in Hollywood, Alexandra urges him to continue as her escort, but he decides to stay and accept his inevitable punishment in St. Cloud.

Soon-to-retire Detective Lieutenant William Somerset is partnered with short-tempered but idealistic Detective David Mills, who has recently moved to an unnamed large city with his wife, Tracy.

Somerset and Mills investigate a set of murders inspired by the seven deadly sins: a morbidly obese man forced to eat until his stomach burst, representing gluttony, and a criminal defense attorney killed after being forced to cut a pound of flesh from himself, representing greed. Clues at the murder scenes lead them to a suspect's apartment, where they find a third victim, a drug dealer and child molester, strapped to a bed, emaciated and barely alive, representing sloth. The third victim is in critical condition and unable to respond to Somerset and Mills' questioning. Daily photographs of the victim, taken over a year, show the crimes were planned far in advance.

After forming a friendship with Somerset, Tracy confides to him that she is pregnant and has yet to tell Mills, as she is unhappy with the city and feels it is no place to raise a child. Somerset sympathizes, having had a similar situation with his ex-girlfriend many years earlier, and advises her to tell Mills only if she plans to keep the child.

The detectives use library records to identify a John Doe and track him to his apartment. Doe flees, and Mills gives chase, during which Mills falls from a fire escape and injures his arm. Mills searches a truck before being struck with a tire iron. While Mills is incapacitated, Doe walks up and holds him at gunpoint for a moment before escaping. The apartment contains hundreds of notebooks revealing Doe's psychopathy, as well as a clue to another murder. The detectives arrive too late to stop a man forced by Doe at gunpoint to kill a prostitute by raping her with a custom-made, bladed strap-on, representing lust. The following day, they attend the scene of a fifth victim, a model whose face has been mutilated by Doe; she was given the option to call for help and live disfigured or commit suicide by taking pills and chose the latter option, representing pride.

As Somerset and Mills return to the police station, Doe unexpectedly turns himself in, covered in the blood of an unidentified victim. Doe offers to confess to his crimes, but only on the condition that he escorts Somerset and Mills to a secret location where the victims representing envy and wrath are presumably buried; otherwise, he will plead insanity. Somerset is wary, but Mills agrees. During the drive, Doe expresses his lack of remorse for his crimes, declaring that his victims deserved to die, and professes himself to be a martyr chosen by a higher power to shock the world out of its state of apathy. Doe also makes cryptic, threatening remarks towards Mills, who maintains his belief that Doe is simply insane.

Doe's directions lead the detectives to a remote deserted location. Minutes after their arrival, a delivery van approaches. Mills holds Doe at gunpoint while Somerset intercepts the driver, who says he was instructed to deliver a box to their coordinates. Somerset opens the box and, in a sudden panic, tells Mills to stay back. Doe reveals that he himself represents the sin of envy, as he envies Mills' life with Tracy and implies that the box contains Tracy's severed head. He goads Mills, telling him that Tracy begged for her life and the life of her unborn child, and reacts with surprise and delight when he realizes Mills was unaware that Tracy was pregnant. Despite Somerset's warnings, an enraged Mills fulfills his role as wrath and shoots Doe fatally and repeatedly, completing Doe's plan. Somerset and the police captain watch as the devastated Mills is taken away. When the captain asks where he'll be, Somerset says he will be around, implying that he will not retire. In a voiceover, he says: "Ernest Hemingway once wrote 'The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.' I agree with the second part."

Z is an anxious worker ant who chafes at conformity and the fact that everyone, even his psychiatrist, reminds him he is insignificant. While at the colony's bar one night, Z falls in love with Princess Bala when she visits the bar to escape her suffocating royal life.

The ant colony declares war on an encroaching termite colony, and soldiers are sent to engage the invaders. To see Bala again, Z exchanges places with his soldier friend, Weaver, and joins the army, where he befriends staff sergeant Barbatus. The ants are unaware that General Mandible, the army's leader and Bala's fiancee, is secretly sending the soldiers loyal to the Queen to die so he can stage a coup d'état. In the battle, everyone except Z is killed by much-larger acid-shooting termite defenders. Before dying, Barbatus tells Z to think for himself instead of blindly following orders. Meanwhile, Weaver joins the digging crew and falls in love with Z's co-worker, Azteca.

Z returns home and is mistakenly hailed as a war hero. Secretly unsatisfied, Mandible congratulates him and introduces him to the Queen. There, Z meets Bala, who recognizes him as a worker. Z panics and pretends to take Bala hostage, causing him and Bala to fall out of the anthill via a garbage chute. Now a fugitive, Z decides to search for Insectopia, a legendary insect paradise. Bala attempts to return to the colony, but quickly rejoins Z after encountering a praying mantis.

Z's act of individuality inspires the workers and some soldier ants, halting productivity. To gain control, Mandible publicly portrays Z as a self-centered war criminal, promotes the glory of conformity and promises the workers rewards for completing a "Mega Tunnel" he designed. However, Mandible's second-in-command, a flying ant named Cutter, begins to doubt Mandible's constant reassurances that he's acting "for the good of the colony".

Z and Bala come upon a human picnic, which they mistake for Insectopia. They are baffled by the wrappings on the food, but Muffy and Chip, a married couple of liberal wasps, condescendingly befriend them and try to help break the wrappers. They are disrupted by the humans, who kill Muffy with a fly swatter and attempt to squish them with a shoe. Z rescues Bala from the sneaker, and the two ants at last find Insectopia, a trash can overfilled with decaying food. Bala begins to reciprocate Z's feelings.

After interrogating Weaver, Mandible learns that Z is looking for Insectopia and sends Cutter to find it. That night, Cutter arrives at Insectopia and forcibly flies Bala back to the colony while Z is away. Seeing Z's desperation at finding Bala gone, a drunken Chip, mourning over Muffy's death, generously flies him back to the colony.

When Z arrives, he encounters soldiers who forcibly direct him toward the Mega Tunnel. Along the way, he finds Bala held captive in Mandible's office. After he frees her, they both discover that Mandible's Mega Tunnel leads straight to the puddle next to Insectopia, which Mandible will use to drown the Queen Ant and the workers at the opening ceremony. Bala warns the Queen while Z attempts to stop the workers in time, but fails. Z and Bala unify the Queen and workers into building a ladder of themselves towards the surface as the water rises.

Meanwhile, Mandible gathers the soldiers on the surface and gloats he has created a new colony, where only the strong survive. When the worker ants break through the surface, Cutter turns on Mandible and rescues the worker ants "for the good of the colony". Enraged, Mandible attempts to tackle Cutter, but Z intervenes and takes the blow. He and Mandible fall back into the flooded tunnel, with Mandible striking a root and dying on impact. Z is nearly drowned, but is rescued by Cutter and resuscitated by Bala.

Z is praised for his heroism, and he and Bala become a couple. Together, they rebuild the colony, and Z narrates that he is finally content with his place in the world. The camera then zooms out to show the anthill is in Central Park in New York City.

The Federation starship returns to Earth following a battle with the superhuman Khan Noonien Singh, who tried to destroy the ''Enterprise'' by detonating an experimental terraforming device known as Genesis. The casualties of the fight include Admiral James T. Kirk's Vulcan friend, Spock, whose casket was launched into space and eventually landed on the planet created by the Genesis Device. Upon arriving at Earth Spacedock, Doctor Leonard McCoy begins to act strangely and is detained. The commander of Starfleet, Admiral Morrow, visits the ''Enterprise'' and informs the crew the ship is to be decommissioned; the crew is instructed not to speak about Genesis due to political fallout over the device.

David Marcus (Merritt Butrick)—Kirk's son and a key scientist in Genesis's development—and Lieutenant Saavik (Robin Curtis) are investigating the Genesis planet on board the science vessel ''Grissom''. Discovering an unexpected life form on the surface, Marcus and Saavik transport to the planet. They find that the Genesis Device has resurrected Spock in the form of a child, although his mind is not present. Marcus admits that he used unstable "protomatter" in the development of the Genesis Device, causing Spock to age rapidly and meaning the planet will be destroyed within hours. Meanwhile, Kruge (Christopher Lloyd), the commander of a Klingon Bird of Prey, intercepts information about Genesis. Recognizing the device's potential as a weapon, he takes his cloaked ship to the Genesis planet, destroys the ''Grissom'', and searches the planet for survivors.

Spock's father, Sarek (Mark Lenard), confronts Kirk about his son's death. The pair learn that before he died, Spock transferred his ''katra'', or living spirit, to McCoy. Spock's ''katra'' and body are needed to lay him to rest on his homeworld, Vulcan, and without help, McCoy will die from carrying it. Disobeying orders, Kirk and his officers spring McCoy from detention, disable the USS ''Excelsior'', and steal the ''Enterprise'' from Spacedock to return to the Genesis planet to retrieve Spock's body.

On Genesis, the Klingons capture Marcus, Saavik, and Spock, and before Kruge can interrogate them, their ship signals that the ''Enterprise'' has arrived. Kruge beams back to the Bird of Prey.

In orbit, the undermanned ''Enterprise'' initially gains the upper hand in battle, but the Klingons return fire and disable the ship. In the standoff that follows, Kruge orders that one of the hostages on the surface be executed. Marcus is killed defending Saavik and Spock. Kirk and company feign surrender and activate the ''Enterprise'' self-destruct sequence, killing the Klingon boarding party while the ''Enterprise'' crew transports to the planet's surface. Promising the secret of Genesis, Kirk lures Kruge to the planet and has Kruge beam Kirk's crew to the Klingon vessel. As the Genesis planet disintegrates, Kirk and Kruge engage in a fistfight; Kirk emerges victorious after kicking Kruge off a cliff into a lava flow. Kirk and his officers take control of the Klingon ship and head to Vulcan.

There, Spock's ''katra'' is reunited with his body in a dangerous procedure called ''fal-tor-pan''. The ceremony is successful and Spock is resurrected, alive and well, though his memories are fragmented. At Kirk's prompting, Spock recalls he would refer to Kirk as "Jim" and recognizes the crew as well. His friends joyfully gather around him.

Act I

The whole musical is set in the Villa Caprice where Maisie, the girls (Dulcie, Nancy, Fay), Hortense the maid, and Mme Dubonnet live at Mme Dubonnet's School for Young Ladies. Act I begins when Hortense orders a costume for "a Miss Polly Browne" and Maisie and the other girls sing the ironic "Perfect Young Ladies" with Hortense. Polly arrives and tells everyone about her made-up boy friend who is "motoring down from Paris" to meet her for the upcoming carnival ball, and sings about "The Boy Friend". Later, Bobby surprises Maisie, and they dance to "Won't You Charleston With Me?"

Polly's widowed father Percy arrives at the school to discover that the headmistress, Mme Dubonnet, is an old flame of his. They sing "Fancy Forgetting" to rekindle the spark. Though Polly is a millionaire's daughter, she feels left out because she's the only one in her crowd who doesn't have a boyfriend and she needs a partner for the fancy dress ball. The errand boy, Tony, arrives to deliver her Pierrette costume and they are immediately attracted to each other and sing "I Could Be Happy With You."

Act II

The curtain opens with the chorus number "Sur la Plage". After this, Polly and Tony meet at the beach and Polly lies that she is not rich, to fit in with Tony. They sing about their future lives together in "A Room in Bloomsbury." They are about to kiss when Hortense interrupts them and is shocked to find Polly with a poor messenger boy. Polly begs Hortense to keep her secret and Hortense agrees. After Tony and Polly leave, Hortense sings how everything is "Nicer in Nice" with the ensemble. Then the "aging roué" character Lord Brockhurst arrives, leading to a comical meeting with the rigidly-mannered Percival Browne. Lord Brockhurst's domineering wife Lady Brockhurst is also introduced. Percival Browne and Mme Dubonnet then sing "The 'You-Don't-Want-To-Play-With-Me' Blues".

Polly goes to meet Tony on the promenade just as Lord and Lady Brockhurst are passing by, and they recognize him. When he runs off, everyone else assumes that he is a thief. The act ends with a sadder reprise of "I Could be Happy with You" sung by Polly and the other characters.

Act III

At the ball, Bobby and the three boys propose to Maisie and the three girls, but the girls reply in unison that "we'll let you know at midnight" and everyone dances to "The Riviera". After everyone has left, Tony and Hortense run into each other. Hortense scolds Tony and tells him to meet Polly at the ball because she loves him as much as he loves her. Tony leaves to prepare for the ball as Lord Brockhurst sings "It's Never Too Late To Fall In Love" with the flirty Dulcie, and is caught by Lady Brockhurst. At the Carnival ball, Polly is sad that Tony is not there and she is thinking about leaving. Hortense tells Mme Dubonnet to persuade Polly to stay, so Polly sings "Poor Little Pierrette" with Mme Dubonnet. Tony later arrives at the ball and takes Polly by surprise. He asks "May I have this dance, Pierrette?" to which Polly replies, "I'm afraid I can't dance with a stranger". He then kisses her to remind her that it is he. When Tony removes his mask, Lord and Lady Brockhurst run to him, exclaiming they found their son at last. Polly and the others discover that Tony is really the son of the rich Lord and Lady Brockhurst, and he had left home to try to make his own way in the world. Polly tells Tony that she is actually rich as well, and Percy and Mme Dubonnet announce that they are getting married. The clock strikes midnight, and the girls unanimously say yes to the boys' proposals. The last scene has everyone dancing as soon as Bobby, with the last spoken line in the play, asks "So how about that dance?" The show ends with a reprise of "The Boy Friend", "I Could Be Happy With You", and "A Room In Bloomsbury".

While on routine patrol of the Romulan neutral zone, the ''Enterprise'' intercepts a distress signal from the crew of a Garidian scout ship, seeking asylum in Federation space. After a brief confrontation with the commander of a Garidian Warbird (similar in design to a Romulan D'deridex Warbird except with a red starburst design on the nose), the crew of the scout ship is beamed aboard the ''Enterprise''. One of the refugees mentions to Captain Picard that they are in search of the Lawgiver's legendary "Fifth Scroll", which could aid in preventing war on Garid. Picard agrees to assist them, and the crew of the ''Enterprise'' sets out in search of clues to the location of the scroll.

After searching various star systems and completing several away missions, the crew of the ''Enterprise'' realizes that the scroll points to the existence of an enormous and powerful ancient structure, known as the Unity Device, that was created by the Chodak, an unknown alien race, during the peak of their civilization. Further investigations that both current-living descendants of the Chodak, as well as the Romulans, are both going after the Unity Device. (The Klingons, the Ferengi, and the Borg also make appearances in the game, although the latter only have an appearance as a Borg Cube in a later scene.)

The storyline takes place around stardate 47111.1, according to the opening sequence of the game. This would place the events of the game between the first two episodes of the seventh season of the series, "Descent" and "Liaisons". The non-canonical Chodak race first appear in Star Trek The Next Generation Future's Past and reappear in the Star Trek video games ''Star Trek Generations'' and ''Birth of the Federation''.

The storyline references several media in the ''Star Trek'' universe, incorporating plot elements from television shows ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' and ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' as well as the then-recently released film ''Star Trek: Insurrection''.

Following the Dominion War, the Federation turns to rebuilding. However, a Federation timeship, the USS ''Premonition'', suddenly appears from the future, under attack by the Borg. Captain Jean-Luc Picard, commanding the USS ''Enterprise''-E, comes to its aid. The ''Premonition'' s captain, Thaddeus Demming, warns Picard of an upcoming Borg invasion. Picard then repels an initial Borg attack on a Federation outpost.

Elsewhere, Commander Worf assists in the defense of the Ba'ku homeworld from the Son'a, after which he is informed of the ''Enterprise'''s discovery. While traveling through a hazardous sector of space on his way back to Qo'nos, he is ambushed by his old enemy, Toral, who plans to use a fake Sword of Kahless to take over the Klingon Empire. Toral ambushes Chancellor Martok following another Borg incursion, and another Klingon civil war ensues. After a climactic battle over the Klingon homeworld, Toral is defeated. He retreats to the Neutral Zone, revealing that he was getting assistance from the Romulan Star Empire. Hostilities ensue between the Klingons and the Romulans.

The Romulans, in the meantime, come across a stable Omega Particle, a source of nearly limitless power. The particle, discovered first by a Ferengi mining guild, is about to be sold to the Cardassians; the Tal Shiar sends Admiral Sela to secure it before that happens. Sela captures the Omega Particle and, despite some Borg interference, delivers it to a fortified Romulan base. She then allies with the Borg promising the particle after they destroy Toral's remaining forces, but she then betrays and attacks them after Toral is defeated.

The Borg, wanting to secure the particle at all costs, assimilate a Dominion cloning facility and use it to clone Locutus, the former title of Jean-Luc Picard when he was assimilated. With Locutus leading their armada, the Borg take the Omega Particle from the Romulans and assimilate Ambassador Spock, who is trying to mediate between the Klingons and Romulans. Without him, the two empires go to war, and the Borg are able to enter the Solar System. Locutus and his armada defeat the Federation fleet, kill Worf and Demming, and assimilate Earth. However, Picard and the ''Enterprise'' manage to escape through a temporal vortex created by the ''Premonition''.

Going back in time, the ''Enterprise'' prevents Spock's assimilation. Picard and Spock are able to forge an alliance among the Romulans and the Klingons, and together the three governments repel the invasion of Earth. The unified Klingon, Romulan and Federation forces push the Borg out of the Alpha Quadrant and capture a Transwarp Gate which they take to Unimatrix One, at the heart of the Borg Collective. There, they discover the Omega Particle is fueling the Borg war machine. The combined force destroys the Omega Particle, but Locutus travels back in time before he can be defeated.

Back in time, Locutus, in a Borg Sphere, tries to kill Picard aboard the USS ''Enterprise''-D shortly after the Farpoint mission. However, Locutus is thwarted by the USS ''Premonition'' which, unaffected by the changes to the timeline, pursues Locutus back in time and destroys his ship. When a battle-weary ''Premonition'' returns to the "present" and witnesses that all has returned to normal, Demming sends the ship and crew home to a brighter future. The game ends with a final log entry from Picard, noting the departure of the ''Premonition'', as well as the potential disintegration of the Klingon-Romulan alliance, though Picard notes that 'whether the peace will last or not, only time will tell'.

Set just six months after the events of ''Star Trek: Armada'', the Borg once again threaten the Alpha Quadrant. They have created a new ship capable of assimilating entire worlds in just a few seconds. After routing the attempted foothold, Captain Picard discovers a new type of nebula: a tachyon nebula. Intrigued, Picard discovers a new type of transwarp gate called a Transwarp Portal, capable of sending fleets of starships from one quadrant to another almost instantly, explaining how the Borg managed to get so deep into the Alpha Quadrant undetected. Starfleet Command then orders Picard to seize control of it and launch a counteroffensive into the heart of Borg space in the Delta Quadrant, into the Borg staging grounds. Though successful, some of the Federation forces, Picard included, are left stranded when the Transwarp Portal collapses due to a destabilization of the inter-spatial transwarp manifolds.

Meanwhile, the Cardassians use the sudden absence of Federation forces to begin their own offensive. The Cardassians proceed to destroy the Federation's reserve fleet. Klingon Chancellor Martok discovers that Gul Kentar, leader of the Cardassian uprising, is in league with the Romulans. Kentar is developing a "Quantum Singularity Ship" that allows the Cardassians to summon Species 8472 ships at will. Martok leads an attempt to thwart Kentar's grab for power and destroy the project. The Klingons stop the Cardassian rebellion and occupy their homeworld, Cardassia Prime. In the final battle, Martok tracks down and kills Gul Kentar, taking out the Quantum Singularity Project along the way.

The Borg Queen, stranded in the Alpha Quadrant by the same twist of fate that trapped Picard on her side of the galaxy, discovers that Species 8472 has found a way into the Alpha Quadrant. She attempts to mass an armada to suppress this threat by assimilating native species planets, ships and technologies, but its growth is stunted by the constant attacks from the Federation. She then realizes that only by working with the Federation they can defeat Species 8472. The Federation and the Borg Collective create an alliance and venture into Species 8472's fluidic space to destroy their staging grounds by destroying the Rift Maker, thus ending the threat to the Alpha Quadrant by closing all the rifts.

The game was broken up into a series of episodes, with each episode opening with a message received in-game from Starfleet Command. They are typically structured to have a ship to ship combat before the game moves onto a third-person adventure game featuring an away team.

The Episodes are as follows:

'''Demon World:''' Settlers belonging to a religious sect have reported being attacked by "Demons" near their mines. Kirk must discover the truth behind these "Demons".

'''Hijacked:''' The USS ''Masada'' has not reported in. Upon investigation, The ''Enterprise'' discovers that the ship has been captured by Elasi Pirates who are holding the crew hostage. Kirk must discover a way to recover the ship and crew unharmed.

'''Love's Labor Jeopardized:''' Romulans have crossed the Neutral Zone and attacked the Federation Research Station Ark 7. Unfortunately, the attack has created a biohazard situation that ''Enterprise'' crew must deal with, as well as the Romulans.

'''Another Fine Mess.....:''' When responding to a distress call from a ship under attack by pirates, the ''Enterprise'' discovers none other than Harry Mudd is involved. He is traced to a derelict alien spacecraft. The ''Enterprise'' crew must discover the connection between the derelict, the pirates and Mudd.

'''Feathered Serpent:''' A Klingon battle fleet is about to cross into Federation space, in pursuit of a "War Criminal". The ''Enterprise'' must find this "War Criminal" to prevent a war.

'''That Old Devil Moon:''' Strange power readings have been detected from a large asteroid approaching a pre-warp star system. The ''Enterprise'' discovers an ancient nuclear missile base that does not realize that the war ended 1000 years earlier, and must prevent it from destroying the native civilization a second time.

'''Vengeance''': The ''Enterprise'', responding to a distress call from the USS ''Republic'', finds it nearly destroyed. Kirk must figure out what destroyed the ship and stop those responsible from striking again. Unlike the other missions, this mission is longer and more complex in the CD version of the game; the original floppy version of this episode consists only of a brief away team segment followed by an extensive ship-to-ship combat sequence.

In the CD-ROM edition of the game, following the conclusion of the last mission is a title card memorializing Gene Roddenberry with a short voice over narration by William Shatner praising his life.

The club pays a high price for Tasmanian recruit, Geoff Hayward (Howard). Geoff does not play well initially, infuriating the dedicated coach, Laurie Holden (Thompson). With the club playing so badly, Laurie's coaching days may be over soon.

Club president Ted Parker (Kennedy) is forced to resign following an assault on a stripper. The incident could have been kept quiet but for backstabbing from various board members, especially Jock (Frank Wilson) and Gerry (Alan Cassell).

Laurie discovers that the board wants to sack him (arising from a long grudge held against Laurie by Jock), so Laurie inspires Geoff to start playing well. It is later revealed that Jock used to be Laurie's coach when Laurie played for the club. Jock was jealous because Laurie nearly surpassed his club record of 282 games. He also lost a Grand Final by making poor decisions under the influence of alcohol.

Laurie then told the members that Jock was drunk. After being dismissed as coach, he was replaced by Laurie and tried to sabotage the club his best to get back at him. The team start winning and eventually make the grand final, beating Fitzroy. The film ends with Gerry saying, 'Laurie's a great coach', then looking at Jock, 'God knows why some members of the board wanted to get rid of him'.

Differences from the play

The major differences between the play and the film versions include: In the film, there are some scenes that take place outside The Club's hallowed halls. In the play, all of the scenes are inside The Club and are acted out in real time, whereas the film takes place over a season.
In the play, The Club is never named to be one specific club. In the film, Collingwood's guernsey is used, the entire film was shot on location at Collingwood's then home ground of Victoria Park, the Collingwood theme song is used as a motif, and Collingwood players such as Peter Daicos and Rene Kink, as well as coach Tom Hafey, are featured in speaking and non-speaking roles. Although only commentators refer to Collingwood by name, everyone else in the movie refers to it as 'the club'. In the film, the incident with the stripper is shown, whereas in the play, she is an unseen character. The play does not show the club winning the premiership, instead ending after Laurie vows to make the finals and screw the club's board.

When Violet Kellty, who had an undiagnosed stroke, dies in her isolated cabin in the North Carolina mountains, Dr. Jerome "Jerry" Lovell, the town doctor, finds a terrified young woman hiding in the house rafters. She speaks angrily and rapidly, but seems to have a language of her own. Looking at Violet's Bible, Jerry finds a note asking whoever finds it to look after Violet's daughter Nell. Sheriff Todd Peterson shows Jerry a news clipping that Nell was conceived through rape.

Jerry seeks the help of Dr. Paula Olsen, a researcher working with autistic children. Paula and her colleague Dr. Alexander "Al" Paley are interested in studying a "wild child" (feral child), and Al continues calling Nell this even after studying films showing that Nell does not fit the "wild child" profile. Paula and Al get a court order to institutionalize Nell for further study. Jerry hires lawyer Don Fontana and prevents it. The judge gives Jerry and Paula three months to interact with Nell and discover her needs. Paula shows up on a houseboat with electronic equipment to monitor Nell's behavior while Jerry chooses to stay in a tent by Nell's cabin and quietly observe.

Paula discovers that Nell's seemingly indecipherable language is English, based partly on her mother's aphasic speech after a stroke, and partly on the secret language she shared with her decades-deceased identical twin sister. Jerry and Paula begin a grudging friendship.

Nell sleeps during the day or works inside her home and is active outdoors only after sunset. She explains to Jerry that her mother told her about the rape and warned her that men were evildoers. As Nell comes to trust Jerry, she sees him as a friend, the "gah'inja" her mother promised would come. Jerry later realizes that "gah'inja" is Nell's phrase for "guardian angel." Using popcorn as an incentive, Jerry is able to lead Nell outside and into the sun. Nell leads Jerry and Paula to the decayed remains of her identical twin sister, May, who died in a fall while the two were playing in the woods.

Mike Ibarra, a reporter, learns of Nell's existence and visits her cabin. Nell is curious of the visitor at first, but when he snaps a photo, the flash frightens Nell. Jerry arrives and throws the reporter out. Paula believes that Nell would be safer in a hospital, while Jerry feels that Nell should be left alone and allowed to live as she pleases. The two decide that Nell should be shown a little of the world, and they make the decision to bring Nell into town.

While in town, Nell befriends Mary, Todd's depressed wife, but also encounters some raunchy boys in a pool hall until Jerry gets her out. With increased intrusion by the press, Jerry and Paula take Nell to a hospital for her protection. There, Nell becomes extremely despondent and unresponsive. Jerry removes her from the hospital and hides her in a hotel. Paula joins him, and the two admit that they love each other.

At the court hearing the next day, Al, who wants to study Nell in a controlled environment, delivers his opinion that Nell has Asperger syndrome and belongs in an institution. Nell then comes forward and, with Jerry interpreting, speaks for herself. Five years later, Jerry and Paula bring their daughter, Ruthie, to visit Nell in her house. It is Nell's birthday, and friends surround her.

''Earth & Beyond'' was set some time around AD 2575. It featured three races: the Progen, Jenquai and Terran. The Progen were a genetically-altered and advanced race. The Jenquai were philosophers who sought eternal life. The Terrans were the original humans. Each of the three races had descended from the human race on Earth. The game's storyline took place in the Milky Way Galaxy. The Progen, Terran and Jenquai were all uneasy of each other, but still managed to live together in peace. The Terrans were known for their extremely large corporations, such as Infiniti Corp. and GetCo. Infiniti Corp. was the manufacturer of the inter-system and inter-sector warp gates. The warp gates were originally created by the mysterious Ancients, an enigmatic and hyper-advanced race who had all but disappeared.

Back story

After two centuries of conflict, Humankind's three races – the Progen, Terrans and Jenquai – had achieved an uneasy balance of power by dividing known space between them. The Terrans claimed Earth, headquarters to their massive trade corporations. The genetically engineered Progen, bred for perfection, commanded the wastes of Mars. And the Jenquai, ever seeking knowledge, created great space stations to orbit the moons of Jupiter. Peace was shattered when the first stargate, an ancient artifact built by an unknown people, was discovered. Coveting its secrets for their own, the Jenquai hid the Gate from the other races. But their efforts were in vain; within months, a spy employed by the Terran conglomerate InfinitiCorp revealed the Gate's existence to the outraged Terrans and Progen. Humanity was suddenly thrust into conflict, an epic battle over control of the Gate.

The three races fought a devastating nine-year war, dubbed the Gate War, using weapons far deadlier than any previously conceived. Millions of lives were lost, and millions more would have perished had the Terrans not surprised their foes with a sudden cease-fire proposal. After months of negotiations, the three civilizations agreed to share the Gate, and declared an uneasy peace. However, InfinitiCorp had plans of its own. Under utmost secrecy, its scientists had reverse-engineered the Gate's technology, and within a few years the mighty conglomerate announced to the astonished worlds the genesis of the Infinitigate.

Fifty years have passed since the invention of the Infinitigate. Progen, Jenquai and Terrans alike have thrived, spreading their civilizations across a dozen star systems, exploiting their riches. However, though the races are at peace, acrimony remains. Tension and distrust govern galactic relations and every citizen fears the day when the spectre of war again raises its shadow.

A former Nazi SS dentist at Auschwitz, Dr. Christian Szell, now residing in Paraguay, has been living on the proceeds of diamonds he extorted from prisoners there. The diamonds are kept at a bank in New York by his father. The sales and transfers of proceeds are facilitated by a secret US agency called "The Division" for whom Szell has provided information about other escaped Nazis. When his father dies in a car accident, Szell must come to New York himself to retrieve the diamonds, as there is no one else he can trust with them.

Meanwhile, at Columbia University, Thomas Babington "Tom" Levy, known by his brother as "Babe" (the first and middle names are a reference to Thomas Babington Macaulay, and the nickname is a reference to Babe Ruth) is a postgraduate student in history and an aspiring marathon runner. He is haunted by the suicide of his brilliant academic father, H.V. Levy, who was one of the victims of McCarthyism, when Babe was ten. Babe's PhD dissertation aims to clear his father's name of alleged Communist affiliations. Unbeknownst to Babe, his elder brother by ten years (and best friend), Henry David "Hank" Levy (after Henry David Thoreau), known by Babe as "Doc", works in The Division under the name "Scylla" and has been helping to move Szell's diamonds as part of his duties.

When Szell arrives in New York he meets with Doc. Suspecting Doc of planning to rob him when he retrieves the diamonds, Szell stabs him and leaves him for dead. Mortally wounded, Doc makes his way to Babe's apartment and dies in his brother's arms. When Szell finds out about this he believes Doc may have told Babe about the plan to rob him. Szell's two henchmen abduct Babe. Szell tortures Babe by drilling into his teeth without anesthetic and repeatedly asking the question, "Is it safe?", referring to Szell's appointment to collect his diamonds from the bank. Babe does not know what the question means nor the interrogator's identity until Szell explains after torturing him.

When Szell finally concludes Babe knows nothing, he orders his people to dispose of the young man. Though in great pain, Babe escapes and thanks to his training as a marathoner outruns his pursuers. Seeking revenge for the killing of Doc, Babe arranges a rendezvous at which Szell's people, who hope to eliminate him, are killed instead. He then intercepts Szell at his bank, a confrontation that ultimately leads to Szell's death.

''Sanford and Son'' stars Redd Foxx as Fred G. Sanford, a widower and junk dealer living at 9114 South Central Avenue in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, and Demond Wilson as his son Lamont Sanford. In the show, Fred moved to South Central Los Angeles from his hometown St. Louis during his youth.

After the show premiered in 1972, newspapers touted Foxx as NBC's answer to Archie Bunker, the bigoted white protagonist of ''All in the Family''. Both shows were adapted by Norman Lear from BBC programs. ''Sanford and Son'' was adapted from ''Steptoe and Son'' and ''All in the Family'' from ''Till Death Us Do Part''.

An earlier pilot for an American version of ''Steptoe and Son'' was produced by Joseph E. Levine in 1965. Starring Lee Tracy and Aldo Ray as Albert and Harold Steptoe. This version was unscreened and did not lead to a series. The pilot was released on DVD in the UK in 2018.

''Astro Boy'' is a science fiction series set in a futuristic world where robots co-exist with humans. Its focus is on the adventures of the titular "Astro Boy" (sometimes called simply "Astro"): a powerful android created by the head of the Ministry of Science, Doctor Tenma (known as Dr. Astor Boynton II in the 1960s English dub; Dr. Boynton in the 1980s English dub). Dr. Tenma created Astro to replace his son Tobio ('Astor' in the 1960s English dub; 'Toby' in the 1980s English dub and the 2009 film), who was killed in a car accident (in the 2003 anime, Tobio is shown as having run away from home before the accident, while in the 2009 film, Toby's death is not due to a car accident, but instead by being vaporized by a robot called the Peacekeeper). Dr. Tenma built and adopted Astro in Tobio's memory and treated Astro as lovingly as if he was the real Tobio. However, Dr. Tenma soon realized that the little android could not fill the void of his lost son, especially given that Astro could not grow older or express human aesthetics (in one set of panels in the manga, Astro is shown preferring the mechanical shapes of cubes over the organic shapes of flowers). In the original 1960 edition, Tenma rejected Astro and sold him to a cruel circus owner, Hamegg (the Great Cacciatore in the 1960s English dub). In the 1980 edition, Hamegg kidnapped Astro while Tenma was trying to find him. In the 2009 film, Tenma rejected Astro simply because he could not stop thinking about his original son, but later during the film (and unlike in either the manga or the three anime cartoons), Tenma realized that Astro made credit to replace Tobio; as a result, Tenma decided that he would readopt Astro. None these events about Astro being rejected (completely or temporarily) or kidnapped in both the 1960 and 1980 cartoons as well as in the 2009 film happened in the 2003 cartoon as Astro's birth was given by Professor Ochanomizu (Dr. Elefun in the 1960 and 1980 cartoons, as well as in the 2009 film; Dr. O'Shay in the 2003 cartoon).

After some time, Professor Ochanomizu, the new head of the Ministry of Science (co-head of the Ministry of Science in the 2009 film), notices Astro Boy performing in the circus and convinces Hamegg to turn Astro over to him. (In a retcon the story becomes far more violent and complicated). He then takes Astro in as his own and treats him gently and warmly, becoming his legal guardian. He soon realizes that Astro has superior powers and skills, as well as the ability to experience human emotions.

Astro then is shown fighting crime, evil, and injustice using his seven powers: 100K horsepower strength, jet flight, high intensity lights in his eyes, adjustable hearing, instant language translation, a retractable machine gun in his hips, and a high IQ capable of determining if a person is good or evil. Most of his enemies are robot-hating humans, robots gone berserk, or alien invaders. Almost every story includes a battle involving Astro and other robots. In one manga episode, Astro takes on the US Air Force, and stops it from bombing some innocent Vietnamese villagers (this was a time-travel episode, in which Astro went back from the 21st century to 1969).

In Africa during the mid-20th century, as mankind encroaches, the white lion Panja (Caesar in the English dub) gives the jungle's wild animals a safe haven. However, he angers nearby villagers by stealing their cattle and their food to feed the jungle carnivores (in the English dub he merely frees the cattle). A professional hunter, Ham Egg (Viper Snakely in the English dub), is called in to stop these raids. He avoids directly attacking Panja. Instead, he records the sounds of Panja and uses them to trap his pregnant mate, Eliza, who then becomes bait in a trap for Panja. Panja is killed for his hide (but not before asking Eliza to name their child Kimba), and Eliza is put on a ship, destined for a zoo.

Kimba (Leo in Japanese ) is born on the ship. Eliza teaches him his father's ideals. As a huge tropical storm nears, she urges her cub out through the bars of her cage. The storm wrecks the ship and Kimba starts to drown in the ocean. The fish help him learn to swim. As he begins to despair, the stars in the sky form the face of his mother, who encourages him. Guided by butterflies, he makes it to land. Kimba lands far from his ancestral home and is found and cared for by some people. He learns the advantages of human culture, and decides that when he returns to his wild home he will bring culture to the jungle and stand for peace like his father. The show follows Kimba's life after he returns to the wild, still a young cub, and how he learns and grows in the next year. Kimba soon learns that only communication and mutual understanding between animals and humans will bring true peace.

In the early Meiji era, after participating in the Boshin War as the assassin "''Hitokiri Battōsai''", Himura Kenshin wanders the countryside of Japan with a reverse blade katana. He is offering protection and aid to those in need as atonement for the murders he once committed. When arriving in Tokyo in the 11th year of Meiji (1878), he meets a young woman named Kamiya Kaoru, who is in the middle of a fight with a murderer - who claims to be the ''Hitokiri Battōsai'' - tarnishing the name of the swordsmanship school that she teaches. Kenshin decides to help her and defeats the fake ''Battōsai''. After discovering that Kenshin is the real infamous assassin, Kaoru offers him a place to stay at her dojo, noting that he is peace-loving and not cold-hearted, as his reputation implies. Kenshin accepts and begins to establish lifelong relationships with many people such as Sagara Sanosuke, a former Sekihō Army member; Myōjin Yahiko, an orphan from a samurai family who is also living with Kaoru as her student; and a doctor named Takani Megumi, caught in the opium trade. However, he also deals with his fair share of enemies, new and old, including the former leader of the Oniwabanshū, Shinomori Aoshi.

After several months of living in the dojo, Kenshin faces a rival from the Bakumatsu turned police officer, Saitō Hajime. This challenge turns out to be a test to face his successor, Shishio Makoto, who plans to conquer Japan by destroying the Meiji Government, starting with Kyoto. Feeling that Shishio's faction may attack his friends, Kenshin meets Shishio alone to defeat him. However, many of his friends, including a young Oniwabanshū named Makimachi Misao, whom he meets in his travels, decide to help him in his fight. After his first meeting with him, Kenshin realizes he needs to get stronger to defeat Shishio without becoming the cold assassin he was in the past and returns to the man who taught him kenjutsu, Hiko Seijūrō, to learn the school's final technique. He finally accepts his friends' help and defeats Shishio in a close fight. After that, Shishio dies burning to ashes after passing the limit of his abnormal body condition. A reformed Shinomori stays in Kyoto with the surviving Oniwabanshū.

When Kenshin and his friends return to Tokyo, he finds Yukishiro Enishi, who plans to enact revenge. At this point, it is revealed that, during the Bakumatsu, Kenshin was to be married to a woman named Yukishiro Tomoe. She had initially wanted to avenge the death of her first fiancé, whom Kenshin had assassinated, but instead, they both fell in love, and she got proposed to. It is eventually revealed that Tomoe was related to Edo guards who wanted to kill Kenshin. They outwitted Tomoe after realizing her deception first and captured her to use as bait. Kenshin rushed to the rescue. Although the ambushers managed to injure him severely, Kenshin managed to kill almost all of them and moved on. Then, in the final fight against the group leader, Kenshin accidentally kills Tomoe, who jumps in at the last second to help Kenshin create an opening to win the battle. Wanting to take revenge for the death of his sister, Enishi kidnaps Kaoru and leaves behind a corpse doll bearing a stunning resemblance of her for Kenshin to find and momentarily grieve over. Once discovering that Kaoru is alive, Kenshin and his friends set out to rescue her. A final battle between Kenshin and Enishi follows, and the former assassin emerges as the victor. Misao brings Tomoe's diary to Enishi who keeps it in a village to hide alongside his missing father.

Four years later, Kenshin has married Kaoru and has a son named Himura Kenji. Now at peace with himself, Kenshin gives his reverse-blade sword to Yahiko as a ceremonial gift.

Three demobilized United States Navy aviators, Johnny Morrison, Buzz Wanchek, and George Copeland, arrive in Hollywood, California. All three flew together in the same flight crew from Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific. Buzz has shell shock and a metal plate in his head above his ear.

While George and Buzz get an apartment together, Johnny surprises his wife, Helen, at her hotel bungalow where she is hosting a riotous party with many drunken revellers. Johnny discovers that Helen is having an affair with Eddie Harwood, the owner of the Blue Dahlia nightclub on the Sunset Strip. Johnny punches Eddie as he leaves and then apologizes for losing his temper. The party ends and everybody leaves. Helen, drunk, confesses to Johnny that their son, Dickie, who Johnny believed died of diphtheria, actually died in a car crash that happened because she was driving while drunk. Johnny and Helen scuffle, which is witnessed by the hotel detective, "Dad" Newell. Johnny decides to leave. He pulls a gun on Helen, states 'that's what you deserve,' but drops the gun on a chair and leaves.

Buzz goes out to find Johnny at his hotel bungalow. He meets Helen Morrison in the hotel bar and, unaware of her identity, goes to her bungalow for a drink to wait for Mrs Morrison.

Helen rings Eddie who breaks up with her over the phone. However, she then blackmails him into seeing her again. Eddie visits Helen at her bungalow; this is witnessed by the hotel detective.

Johnny is picked up by Joyce Harwood (who is driving to Malibu) while walking in the rain. She is estranged from Eddie. Neither reveals their names. Although attracted to each other, they part ways and Johnny spends the night in a beach-side inn. The next morning, at the same inn, Joyce sees Johnny at breakfast and reveals that she stayed at the same inn. They decide to walk on the beach to look for moonstones. Whilst purchasing a bus ticket for Los Angeles, Johnny hears the radio announce that Helen has been murdered and that Johnny is suspected. He then quickly leaves to board a bus.

The police interview Newell, Harwood, Buzz, and George.

After Johnny checks in to a cheap hotel in Los Angeles under an assumed name, Corelli, the hotel manager, finds Johnny's framed photo of himself with Dickie and tries to blackmail him. Johnny punches Corelli out, smashing the frame in the process; he discovers on the back of the photo that Helen has written an insurance note revealing that Eddie is really Bauer, a murderer who is wanted in New Jersey.

Corelli revives and sells information on Johnny's identity to a gangster named Leo (the nightclub partner of Eddie), who then kidnaps Johnny when he visits George and Buzz.

Buzz and George visit Eddie at the Blue Dahlia. Joyce, who has agreed to meet Eddie, introduces herself. As Joyce picks at a blue dahlia flower, the nightclub's music sets off a painful ring in Buzz's head. Lapsing into a fit, he remembers the agonizing music that he heard at Helen's bungalow, as she played with a blue dahlia.

Johnny escapes Leo and his side-kick, knocking them both out just before Eddie arrives. They talk and Eddie admits with regret that, fifteen years earlier, he was involved in the shooting of a bank messenger.

Leo comes around and tries to shoot Johnny, but during a scuffle, he shoots Eddie instead. Johnny ends up shooting Leo and flees to the Blue Dahlia, where the police are trying to force a confused Buzz to admit that he killed Helen.

Johnny enters and suggests that Joyce turn up the jazz music that Buzz hates. As his head pounds, Buzz remembers leaving Helen alive in her bungalow. Newell tries to shift suspicion towards George, then attempts to leave as Police Captain Hendrickson confronts Newell with the accusation that he tried to blackmail Helen about her affair, and that he killed her when she refused to comply. Newell then tries to escape from the office but is shot dead by Hendrickson when he pulls his own gun.

Later, outside the Blue Dahlia, Buzz and George decide to go for a drink, leaving Johnny and Joyce together.

The play starts with Ken Gorman and his wife, Chris Gorman, at the 10th anniversary party of Charlie Brock, the Deputy Mayor of New York, and his wife, Myra. Unfortunately, things are not going quite to plan. All the kitchen staff are gone, Myra is missing, and Charlie has shot himself in the head. Chris calls Charlie's doctor, but before Chris can tell him what has happened, Ken dictates that she not inform the doctor of anything that has happened, for the bullet only went through Charlie's ear lobe. It appeared that he had taken some Valium, and was falling asleep as he fired the gun, managing to miss his head.

Chris gets off the phone with Dr. Dudley just as the doorbell rings. Chris opens the door and lets in Lenny and Claire Ganz, also friends of the Brocks. Lenny and Claire have just been in a car accident, and Lenny calls his doctor, who also happens to be Dr. Dudley, to ask him about his neck. Claire and Lenny exchange rumors that they have heard about Charlie and Myra, both convinced that one is having an affair. Finally they confront Ken, who lets them in on the situation. Lenny declares they should call the police, but Ken disagrees. Before they can agree on anything, another car shows up. Ken goes back upstairs to Charlie's bedroom, and Claire opens the door to let in Ernie Cusack, a psychologist, and his eccentric wife Cookie. Claire, Chris, and Lenny engage the Cusacks in conversation, not telling them about the situation with Charlie.

Suddenly, a gunshot is heard. Ken comes out of the upstairs bedroom and requests Chris' presence, while Lenny distracts the Cusacks, then goes upstairs to check on the problem. It turns out Ken was taking the gun away, tripped on Charlie's slippers and accidentally fired the gun, which has made him almost deaf. As the Cusacks prepare dinner, the final guests arrive, Glenn, a politician running for State Senate, and Cassie Cooper, who have a very strained relationship and argue constantly. Act I closes as the Cusacks come out with a steaming dinner, Cassie furiously berates Glenn for making her drop a crystal in the toilet, Chris trips on a telephone wire, Lenny's neck goes out, Cookie has a back spasm, and a very deaf Ken sits in absolute confusion.

Act II begins as dinner ends, the Cusacks and Coopers having been told the entirety of the situation. The guests decide to place blame for the situation on Ken. Cassie attempts to make Glenn jealous by blatantly flirting with Ken, indirectly clearing Ken's ears in the process. A mysterious woman, who Claire and Chris assume to be Myra, calls the house asking for Glenn. Things get serious as a police car pulls up the driveway. The guests furiously debate what to do, and decide to pretend that they hadn't noticed anything was wrong, claiming "had the music on too loud to hear the gunshots". Just to be safe, the men decide for Lenny to play Charlie if the policeman asks for him, and for Ken to play Lenny. The policeman, Officer Welch, enters and interrogates them, and quickly gets suspicious as their story unravels. It turns out the policeman was just investigating Lenny's car accident, and no one is in trouble, but Glenn accidentally reveals the gunshot situation just as the officer begins to leave, only to get a call on his walkie-talkie about an incident involving gunshots near the scene.

Now angered by what he has learned, Welch demands to see Charlie, and a disgruntled Lenny comes downstairs to "explain everything". Lenny, at first unsure what to possibly say, eventually gets carried away in his monologue and invents a ludicrous, rambling explanation for everything, culminating in a claim that Myra is in the basement. Welch, partly out of exasperation, buys the story and leaves the house. The guests, elated at their escape, begin to troop upstairs to speak with Charlie and find out the story once and for all, but are delayed when they hear Myra call up from the basement.

In 1946, navy veteran David Alfred Eaton (Paul Newman) returns home from the war to Philadelphia. He finds his mother Martha (Myrna Loy) driven to alcoholism by years of neglect and abuse from her husband Samuel Eaton (Leon Ames), owner of a prestigious iron and steel company. Having withdrawn from his family after the death of his firstborn son thirteen years earlier, Samuel's resentment drove Alfred to turn his back on the family business and strike out on his own with Lex Porter (George Grizzard), his closest friend.

While attending a party at the estate of Lex's wealthy uncle, Alfred is dazzled by Mary St. John (Joanne Woodward), the daughter of a wealthy family. Mary is drawn into a relationship with Alfred and breaks her secret engagement to Dr. Jim Roper (Patrick O'Neal), defying her parents. After a humiliating argument, Alfred's father falls ill, and Alfred shuns the family business once again to start an aviation company with Lex.

On his wedding day, Alfred receives word that his father has died. Certain that Samuel has timed his death to spite him, Alfred goes ahead with the ceremony. With his uncle's money, Lex and Alfred then fund the Nassau Aircraft Corporation, but when Lex shows more interest in perfecting aircraft designs than in selling planes, Alfred becomes impatient.

One wintry day, Alfred and Mary are driving home from a party when they see a little boy fall through the thin ice of a frozen pond. Alfred plunges into the icy waters to save him. The boy's grandfather, James Duncan MacHardie (Felix Aylmer), the most famous financier in America, invites Alfred and Mary to dinner. MacHardie, a shrewd businessman, sensing Alfred's drive and ambition, offers him a job in his investment firm.

Obsessed by the need to outdo his father, Alfred travels the country for MacHardie, leaving Mary alone for months at a time. Lonely and self-pitying, Mary begins to resent Alfred's constant absences. Creighton Duffy (Howard Caine), MacHardie's son-in-law, whose position is threatened by Alfred's acumen, suggests that Alfred spend two months in rural Pennsylvania checking out the business aptitude and prospects of Ralph Benziger (Ted de Corsia), a prosperous coal mine owner.

After an ugly argument with his wife, Alfred goes to Pennsylvania. Invited to dinner at Benziger's home, he meets Natalie (Ina Balin), the man's beautiful and compassionate daughter. Lonely and overwhelmed by her sensitivity, Alfred impetuously invites her on a date, but she refuses because he is married. Later that night, however, Natalie reconsiders and meets him at a drive-in movie the following evening.

Alfred confides to Natalie that her warmth and generosity has made him realize what a sham his marriage is. They share a kiss, but Natalie still believes they must end this relationship before it goes any further for both their sakes.

Upon returning to New York, Alfred immediately is summoned to MacHardie's office. He is informed that Mary has been having an affair with Dr. Roper. But the archly conservative MacHardie proceeds to warn Alfred that he will not tolerate divorce within his firm, considering it a failure in the employee's character. MacHardie also assigns him to analyze the Nassau Aircraft Corp., his former firm, as a possible investment.

One night, while leaving a party with his wife, Alfred unexpectedly encounters Natalie in front of the hotel. Sensing that Alfred and Natalie were intimate, Mary vindictively calls Roper and makes a date with him. Alfred goes to meet Natalie and tells her that, although he is estranged from Mary, his career prevents him from requesting a divorce.

Alfred begins to investigate Nassau Aircraft's business practices. Duffy, who has become unethically involved with Nassau and will reap a financial windfall if MacHardie invests in the company, threatens to blackmail Alfred unless he suppresses his report.

Alfred and Natalie find themselves unable to resist their attraction to each other, and they meet for a tryst in a hotel room. Photographers hired by Duffy burst in and capture their indiscretion. Natalie, uncertain if Alfred's main concern is to save her reputation or his career, decides to leave. Mary, meanwhile, suggests to her husband that they share an open marriage, seeing whomever they please. After she seductively retires to her bedroom, the scandalous photos are delivered to Alfred at his home.

At work the next day, MacHardie ushers in Mary to celebrate Alfred's surprise promotion to partner. Duffy smirks, only to see Alfred rise and denounce MacHardie's hypocrisy of placing success and social position above personal responsibility and happiness. Alfred then issues the uncensored report exposing Duffy's duplicity and walks out. Mary runs after him, but it is too late. He leaves her for good and returns to Natalie's home and a new life.

In Washington, D.C., Maggie Hayward is a drug addict found guilty of murdering a police officer during a robbery shootout, and is about to be executed by lethal injection. Her demise is faked and a spy named Bob informs her that she has to work for him. Maggie, having little choice, reluctantly agrees to cooperate and begins a regimen of intensive training that includes not only martial arts and firearms training, but etiquette and computer use.

Senior Operative Amanda transforms her into a refined, beautiful woman. She is taken on a dinner date with Bob, who informs her about the first job: an assassination of a VIP eating at the same restaurant. Maggie kills the VIP and his bodyguard and then is pursued by a team of the VIP's bodyguards. She shoots several of the bodyguards and then escapes from the kitchen by jumping down a laundry chute. This task was her final test and she has now completed her training.

The following morning she leaves for Venice, California, where she enters into a romantic relationship with apartment house manager J.P. While her first assignments, both hit jobs, are ultimately successful, Maggie quickly comes to hate her work and tries to quit her job as a professional killer. As things progress between her and J.P. and her double life threatens their relationship, she asks for help in leaving the agency. Her request is denied, but Bob agrees to get her out of the agency if she completes the next task.

The new job is to masquerade as Angela, the girlfriend of Fahd Bakhtiar, an Iranian trading in nuclear weapons. As she prepares for the job, J.P. continues to complain about her mysterious friends and mocks the improvised backstory that Bob had provided for himself and Maggie.

Taking out Angela proves problematic and results in the deaths of Angela's two bodyguards and the injury of Maggie's partner, Beth. Director Kaufman then sends in Victor, a "cleaner", to get rid of the bodies and salvage the mission. Unknown to Maggie, he has also been ordered to kill both agents as well because one failure results in death. After killing the wounded Beth in front of Maggie, he drives her to Fahd's home. At gunpoint, she gets Fahd to unlock his computer and reveal his secrets, but he avoids execution and she is forced to flee.

As they purportedly drive back to her residence, Maggie sees a gun in Victor's waistband and correctly suspects that he is going to kill her. This leads to a struggle and the car spins out of control. Ultimately, Victor is dragged over a ravine and killed. Maggie makes her way back to her apartment, but leaves sometime during the night. Bob subsequently learns of her disappearance from J.P. As Bob is leaving, he sees Maggie watching him through the mist. Instead of reporting her, he calls Kaufman informing him the cleaner is dead, and after some hesitation, tells him that Maggie is dead also.

In London, long-time friends and small-time criminals Eddie, Tom, Soap, and Bacon put together £100,000 so that Eddie, a genius card sharp, can buy into one of "Hatchet" Harry Lonsdale's high-stakes three-card brag games. The game is rigged and the friends end up owing Harry £500,000. Harry then sends his debt collector Big Chris to ensure that the quartet pay the debt within a week.

Also interested in a pair of expensive antique Holland & Holland shotguns up for auction, Harry gets his enforcer Barry "the Baptist" to hire two thieves, Gary and Dean, to steal them from a bankrupt lord. The two turn out to be highly incompetent and unwittingly sell the shotguns to Nick "the Greek", a local fence. Barry threatens the two into getting the guns back. Eddie returns home one day and overhears his neighbours—a gang of robbers led by a brutal man called "Dog"—planning a heist on some cannabis growers loaded with cash and drugs. Eddie relays this information to the group, intending for them to rob the neighbours as they return from their heist. Preparing for the robbery, Tom visits Nick the Greek to buy weapons and ends up buying the two antique shotguns.

The neighbours' heist gets underway and despite a gang member being killed by his own Bren gun and an incriminating encounter with a traffic warden, they succeed, returning home with a duffel bag full of money and a van loaded with bags of cannabis. Eddie and his friends ambush them as planned and drive away in the neighbours' van containing the cannabis and the traffic warden. They transfer the loot to their own van and return home, knocking out the traffic warden and dumping him by the road, then have Nick fence the drugs to violent gangster Rory Breaker. Rory agrees to buy the cannabis at half price but two of Rory's men visit the house of the cannabis-growers, discover they've been robbed and the cannabis he just bought had been stolen from his own growers. Rory threatens Nick into giving him Eddie's address and tasks one of the growers, Winston, to identify the robbers.

Eddie and his friends celebrate at his father JD's bar. Dog's crew accidentally learns that their neighbours robbed them and set up an ambush in Eddie's flat. Rory and his gang arrive instead and in an ensuing shoot-out, all except Dog and Winston are killed. Winston leaves with the drugs, while Dog leaves with the two shotguns and the money but Big Chris incapacitates him and takes everything. Gary and Dean, having learned who bought the shotguns, follow Chris to Harry's place, unaware of the latter pair's relationship.

Chris delivers the money and guns to Harry but upon returning to his car he finds Dog holding his son Little Chris at knifepoint, demanding the money be returned to him. Chris complies and starts the car. Gary and Dean burst into Harry's office, and the ensuing confrontation results in their deaths along with Harry's and Barry's. Returning to see the carnage at their flat and their loot missing, Eddie and his friends head to Harry's but upon discovering Harry's corpse, they decide to take the money for themselves. Before they are able to leave, Chris crashes into their car to disable Dog and then bludgeons him to death with his car door. He then takes the debt money back from the unconscious friends but allows Tom to leave with the antique shotguns after a brief stand-off in Harry's office.

The friends are arrested but soon acquitted after the traffic warden identifies Dog and his crew as the culprits. Back at the bar, they dispatch Tom to dispose of the antique shotguns—the only remaining evidence linking them to the case. Chris then arrives to give back the duffel bag, from which he has taken all the money for himself and his son and which now contains a catalogue of antique weapons. Leafing through the catalogue, the friends learn that the shotguns are actually quite valuable (worth £250,000 to £300,000) and quickly call Tom to stop him from disposing of the guns. The film ends with Tom leaning over a bridge, with his mobile phone in his mouth and ringing, as he prepares to drop the shotguns into the River Thames.

Several small, disparate incidents involving the Earth's magnetic field cause scientists led by geophysicist Dr. Josh Keyes and scientists Dr. Serge Leveque and Dr. Conrad Zimsky to conclude that the Earth's molten core has stopped rotating. Unless it can be restarted, the field will collapse within months, exposing the surface to devastating solar radiation. The U.S. government back a secret project to build a vessel that can drill to the core and release nuclear weapons to restart the rotation. They utilize the work of Dr. Ed "Braz" Brazzelton who has developed a material "Unobtainium" that can withstand and convert extreme heat into electricity, as well as a laser-based high-speed drilling array. NASA pilots Commander Robert Iverson and Major Rebecca "Beck" Childs are enlisted to pilot the multi-compartment vessel ''USS Virgil'', while computer hacker Theodore Donald "Rat" Finch is brought on to keep news of the pending disaster or the attempt to restart the core from the Internet.

''Virgil'' is launched through the Marianas Trench and successfully makes its way through the crust. The team accidentally drills through a gigantic empty geode structure, damaging the lasers when it lands at its base. As they traverse outside the ship to free the vessel from the crystalline structures, the geode starts to flood with magma, and Iverson is impaled by a falling shard and falls into the magma. The rest manage to return in time as ''Virgil'' continues its descent. Further down, they pass through a field of gigantic diamond formations, one which breaches the last compartment housing the detonation timers for the nuclear charges. Leveque sacrifices himself to make sure that the others have the charges and launch codes before the compartment is crushed by the extreme pressure.

The team reaches the molten core and realizes that it is much less dense than previously thought, throwing off their calculations on restarting its motions. They communicate with the surface, where Lieutenant General Thomas Purcell, overseeing the operation, orders them to abandon the effort and return immediately as they plan to use a secondary protocol to restart the core. Finch is secretly communicating with the ''Virgil'' team and learns that this secondary protocol is the top-secret project "DESTINI" ('''D'''eep '''E'''arth '''S'''eismic '''T'''rigger '''INI'''tiative). Keyes finds that Zimsky was a lead scientist on "DESTINI", a weapon that was intended to be used by the U.S. but, when first tested, had caused the core's rotation to stop. Finch redirects power from DESTINI to prevent Purcell from activating it again, as Keyes fears that it could destroy the Earth instead of restarting the core. Meanwhile, destructive events, including a lightning storm in Rome, Italy and a burst of ultraviolet rays that destroys Golden Gate Bridge, alert the world to the situation.

On ''Virgil'', the remaining team comes up with a plan to place an explosive in each of the remaining compartments, release them, and time their detonations in an exact sequence to trigger the core's rotation through constructive wave interference. Due to the faulty design of ''Virgil'' because of time constraints, Brazzelton has to sacrifice himself to engage the compartment detachment mechanism in the vessel's underbelly. As they set the charges, Keyes and Zimsky realize that they need more explosive power than previously thought and in their race to adjust timings, Zimsky becomes trapped in a detached compartment. Keyes uses ''Virgil'' s nuclear power source to provide the additional energy for the final detonation. While it leaves the main compartment powerless and Keyes and Childs trapped, the other explosions do successfully restart the core's rotation. Keyes recalls that the unobtainium shell can convert the heat and pressure to energy, and the two of them wire the shell directly to their systems in time to power the craft and ride the pressure wave out of the core and up towards the surface through tectonic plates, eventually breaching into the floor of the ocean near Hawaii. Due to the much lower heat and pressure in this environment, ''Virgil'' no longer has sufficient power to establish communications. The government searches for them, and Finch, tracking nearby whale sound, realizes that the ''Virgil'' crew are using low-power ultrasound to draw whales nearby. Keyes and Childs are soon rescued.

In the aftermath, Finch uploads information about ''Virgil'' and its team and the classified information about "DESTINI" across the Internet, causing the world to revere the crew as heroes.

Nestor Patou, an honest policeman, has been transferred from the Bois de Boulogne to Les Halles, a more urban neighborhood in Paris. He finds a street full of prostitutes working at the Hotel Casanova and raids the place. The inspector fires Nestor, who is mistakenly framed for bribery.

Kicked off the force and humiliated, Nestor finds himself drawn to the very neighborhood that ended his career with the Paris police—returning to Chez Moustache, a popular tavern for prostitutes and pimps. Down on his luck, Nestor befriends Irma la Douce, a popular prostitute. He reluctantly accepts, as a confidante, the proprietor of Chez Moustache, a man known only as Moustache. In a running joke, Moustache tells of a storied prior life, claiming to have been, among other things, an attorney, a colonel in the Foreign Legion, and a doctor who worked with Albert Schweitzer in Africa, ending with the repeated line, "but that's another story". After saving Irma from her abusive pimp, Hippolyte, Nestor moves in with her, and unwittingly becomes a new one.

Nestor becomes infatuated and devises a plan to derail Irma's life as a prostitute. With the help of Moustache, Nestor disguises himself as Lord X, a wealthy English lord, who becomes Irma's sole client. Lord X has supposedly been rendered impotent by his service in World War II but is eager to support her in exchange for two visits each week. To pay for Lord X's exclusive access, Nestor works in the marketplace. Away every night and too tired to make love, Irma thinks he is having an affair.

Irma seduces Lord X and persuades him to take her to England. At that point, Nestor decides to end the charade and kill off his alter ego. Unaware he is being tailed by Hippolyte, he tosses his disguise into the Seine. Seeing Lord X's clothes floating in the water, Hippolyte concludes Nestor killed him.

Arrested and sent to prison, Nestor escapes when he discovers that Irma is pregnant. He narrowly avoids being recaptured when the police search for him at the apartment; donning his old uniform, Nestor blends in with the other police and eludes capture.

With the help of Hippolyte, Nestor arranges for the police to search for him along the Seine from which, dressed as Lord X, he emerges. Vindicated of the murder, Nestor and Irma agree to get married. At the church, Irma goes into labor and has their baby. Moustache identifies the real Lord X as a guest. As Lord X leaves, a clearly baffled Moustache looks at the audience.

The film tells the story of Angie Rossini (Natalie Wood), a salesclerk at Macy's department store who finds herself pregnant after a one-night stand with musician Rocky Papasano (Steve McQueen). When she tracks him down, he doesn't remember her. She wants the name of a doctor for an abortion. Meanwhile, Angie is being pressured by her older brothers, played by Herschel Bernardi and Harvey Lembeck, to marry the unappealing restaurateur Anthony (Tom Bosley).

Rocky and Angie scrape up enough money for the crude backroom abortion. But when he and Angie meet the abortion care provider, who turns out not to be a doctor, Rocky refuses to let her go through with the dangerous procedure. The maturity he shows in doing this brings them closer. After meeting her brothers, Rocky decides to "take his medicine" by marrying her. Angie is insulted and turns him down. Angie wants romance, with "bells and banjos".

As an act of independence, Angie moves out of her family home. She begins dating Anthony, who offers to marry her and claim the baby as his own. By acting aloof, she attracts Rocky, whom she invites to dinner at her apartment. At dinner, he makes advances on her and is rejected. Angie says she does not want to make the same mistake again. They quarrel and she throws him out. The next day, Rocky waits for her outside Macy's, ringing bells and playing a banjo, and wins her heart.

The film's narrative revolves around Jo Armitage (Anne Bancroft), a woman with an ambiguous number of children from three marriages, who becomes negative and withdrawn after discovering that her third (and current) husband, Jake (Peter Finch), has been unfaithful to her. After a series of loosely related events in which Jake's infidelity is balanced by his reliability as a breadwinner and a father, Jo and Jake take a first tentative step toward reconciliation.

Thematically, there are two issues: Jo's frequent childbearing and Jake's extramarital affairs. The question of Jo's fertility is first broached by her psychiatrist. He suggests that she may feel uncomfortable with the messiness or vulgarity of sex and that she may be using childbirth to justify it to herself. This does not prevent her from becoming pregnant again, but she follows suggestions by Jake and her doctor that she have an abortion and be sterilized, and she seems happy after the operation.

Meanwhile, signs accumulate that Jake has been having affairs while pursuing a successful career as a screenwriter. The first indication of his infidelity concerns a young woman, Philpot (Maggie Smith), who lived with the Armitage family for a while. Jake reacts irrationally and unconvincingly to Jo's questioning after the children tell her the woman fainted into Jake's arms. The second sign comes from Bob Conway (James Mason), an acquaintance who alleges an affair between his wife and Jake during production of a film in Morocco. Finally, Jake admits some of his infidelities under heated interrogation by Jo. After venting her frustration by furiously assaulting him, she retaliates by having an affair with her second husband. This elicits coldness from Jake.

In the film's finale, Jo spends a night alone in a windmill (near the converted barn she had lived in with her second husband and children) that the couple has been renovating. The following morning, Jake and their children arrive at the windmill with food. Seeing how happy her children are with Jake, Jo indicates her acceptance of him by sadly, but graciously, accepting a tin of beer from him, a gesture which echoes another scene in the windmill from a happier time in their marriage.

Set during the World War II era, the film follows a cynical but successful 28-year-old businessman named Domenico (Marcello Mastroianni), who, after meeting a naive 17-year-old country girl, Filumena (Sophia Loren), during a bombing outside a Neapolitan brothel, starts an on-again, off-again relationship spanning 22 years. From the very beginning, Filumena is deeply in love with Domenico, but her love is not reciprocated. After Filumena expresses her wish to be solely his woman, Domenico arranges a leased home for her, with Rosalie as a maid and Alfredo (Aldo Puglisi) as the butler, and arranges a job for her in his shop. He eventually takes her into his house as a semi-official mistress under the pretence that she is the niece of Carmela (his mother's former maid) there to take care of his ailing, senile mother. Domenico's mindset about Filumena's past keeps him from taking their relationship seriously.

After having fallen for the 20-year-old cashier in his store, Domenico (now 50) plans to marry her. But he finds himself cornered when Filumena feigns illness and, while "on her deathbed", asks him to marry her. Thinking she will be dead in a matter of hours and the marriage won't even be registered, he agrees. After having been proclaimed his legal bride, the shrewd and resourceful Filumena drops the charade of feigning death. This sends Domenico into a fit of rage, as he feels that Filumena tricked him for his money. But Filumena reveals the real reason for the marriage: she did it for the three children that she bore (Umberto, Riccardo, and Michele). As the children were coming of age, she wanted them to have Domenico's family name.

Domenico won't accept this and decides to contest the marriage. The law rules in his favour and the marriage is annulled. Filumena accepts the annulment but tells Domenico that he had fathered one of the children. She does not say which one, as she considers all of them as equal. However, she gives him a hint that his child was conceived on the night Domenico said "to pretend we are in love" and gave her a 100-lira note on which she wrote the date of that night. She gives that note to Domenico. Domenico is visibly rattled by this revelation but can't solve the clue.

Domenico tries desperately to figure out which child he had fathered. He visits the children at their workplace and tries other means but hits a dead end.

He meets up with Filumena and tries to force an answer out of her but she reveals nothing more. As a last resort, Domenico decides to confront the children directly, but Filumena vehemently opposes this, as the prospect of Domenico's money would drive a wedge between the children. As they scuffle, they tumble down and fall into each other's arms. The couple then proclaims their love for each other with a kiss and decides to remarry.

At the church, the boys wait, and Domenico arrives. Domenico mentions that, because he will be marrying their mother, he will give them his name. He continues to prod them for clues but again comes out with nothing, as they each share some of his traits. Filumena rushes in; Domenico, smiling with joy, tells her how wonderful she looks, and the marriage takes place.

Back at home, the sons bid their mother goodnight. As the boys, one after another, say goodnight to their father, Domenico, he smiles broadly at this and says that he will see them tomorrow.

Filumena sits and weeps with joy at this. When Domenico asks why she is crying, she states that it feels wonderful to cry.

Rescued from the Colorado River as an infant and raised by Seamus Tobin, tomboy Molly Tobin is determined to find a wealthy man to marry. She journeys to Leadville, Colorado and is hired as a saloon singer by Christmas Morgan. After miner Johnny Brown renovates his cabin, the two wed, and he sells his claim in a silver mine for $300,000.

The Browns and Seamus move into a Denver mansion, and Molly sets out to improve her social status by trying to ingratiate herself with the city's elite, all of whom snub her and her nouveau riche ways. She and Johnny go to Europe, where they are embraced by royalty, and the couple return to Denver with their new friends. Molly's plan to introduce them to the people who formerly rejected her is derailed by Johnny's rough-and-tumble friends, whose unexpected and boisterous arrival ruins the gala party Molly is hosting.

Molly decides to return to Europe, leaving Johnny behind. She initially falls for the charms of Prince Louis de Lanière, but eventually decides she prefers to live with Johnny in Leadville. For the first time in her life, she realizes that someone else's feelings and priorities need to be considered. Setting sail for home aboard the ''RMS Titanic'', she becomes a heroine when the ship sinks and she helps rescue many of her fellow passengers. When her deed makes international headlines, Molly is welcomed home by Johnny and the people of Denver.

Myra Savage (Stanley) is a medium who holds séances in her home. Her husband Billy (Attenborough), unable to work because of asthma and cowed by Myra's domineering personality, assists in her séances. Myra's life and psychic work are dominated by her relationship with the spirit of her son Arthur, who died at birth.

At Myra's insistence, Billy kidnaps Amanda (Donner), the young daughter of a wealthy couple, Mr and Mrs Clayton (Eden and Newman), confining her in a room in the Savage home, whilst Myra impersonates a nurse to deceive the girl into believing she is hospitalised. Myra insists she is "borrowing" the girl to demonstrate her psychic abilities to the police in helping them find her. Although they ask for a £25,000 ransom, they plan to return the money with the girl after Myra has become famous for helping find her. Myra visits the Claytons, stating that she is a professional medium and claiming that she had a dream involving their daughter; Clayton is dismissive but his wife believes that Myra may know something. Mrs Clayton then comes to one of Myra's seances.

After Billy hides Amanda, anticipating (correctly) the police coming to the house to investigate, he collects the ransom money, burying it in their garden before taking Amanda back to their house, but she has a high temperature and Billy wants to get a doctor, which Myra violently disagrees with. Myra's plan goes awry as her unsteady mental health begins to fray. Believing that her dead son Arthur wants Amanda to be with him, she tells Billy to kill her; he wants to refuse, realising that his wife is completely unhinged, but he seems to lack the will power to resist her. He takes Amanda into the woods and places her under a tree; it is not clear if she is dead or just sedated.

When the police ask Myra to conduct a séance to help them find the missing girl – as she had hoped they would – she breaks down during the séance and reveals, as if in a psychic trance, what she and Billy have done. As the trance continues, she senses that the girl was not killed. Billy tells the police where he hid the ransom money and reveals that he left Amanda unconscious where she would be found by scouts who were camping nearby, which the police already know, confirming that she is all right.

The characters drive to a remote location to hike at a site marked "Wilderness Trail". As they start, they see some other hikers passing by. In order to not be bothered by these hikers, they decide to go off-trail. After some walking, talking, and an impromptu foot race, they decide to head back. Before long, they realize that they are lost. That night, they build a campfire.

Over the next couple of days, the two hikers wander through the wilderness without food or water. They try to split up for a while, retrace their steps and follow some animal tracks, all to no avail. They grow increasingly irritated with each other as the situation becomes dire.

They eventually find themselves slowly walking mostly in silence through a desert. They finally collapse due to fatigue and dehydration. The weaker of the two (Affleck) proclaims that he is "leaving", and reaches towards Damon's character. Damon's character rolls on top of Affleck and wordlessly strangles him before collapsing again.

After some time, Damon's character awakens and realises that a highway is not far away. In the final sequence, he is badly sunburned but watches the passing landscape from the car of the father and son who have seemingly rescued him.

A stuffed rabbit sewn from velveteen is given as a Christmas present to a small boy. The boy plays with his other new presents and forgets the velveteen rabbit for a time. These presents are modern and mechanical, and they snub the old-fashioned velveteen rabbit. The wisest and oldest toy in the nursery, the Skin Horse, which was owned by the boy's uncle, tells the rabbit about toys magically becoming real due to love from children: "Real isn't how you are made... It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become real." The rabbit is awed by this idea; however, his chances of achieving this wish are slight.

One night, the boy's nanny gives the rabbit to the boy to sleep with, in place of a lost toy. The rabbit becomes the boy's favourite toy, enjoying picnics with him in the spring, and the boy regards the rabbit as real. Time passes and the rabbit becomes shabbier, but happy. It meets some real rabbits in the summer, and they learn that the velveteen rabbit cannot hop as they do, and they say that he is not a real rabbit.

One day, the boy comes down with scarlet fever, and the rabbit sits with him as he recovers. The doctor orders that the boy should be taken to the seaside and that his room should be disinfected — all his books and toys burnt, including the velveteen rabbit. The rabbit is bundled into a sack and left out in the garden overnight, where he reflects sadly on his life with his boy. The toy rabbit cries, a real tear drops onto the ground, and a marvellous flower appears. A fairy steps out of the flower and comforts the velveteen rabbit, introducing herself as the Nursery Magic Fairy. She says that, because he has become real to the boy who truly loves him, she will take him away with her and "turn [him] into Real" to everyone.

The fairy takes the rabbit to the forest, where she meets the other rabbits and gives the velveteen rabbit a kiss. The velveteen rabbit changes into a real rabbit and joins the other rabbits in the forest. The next spring the rabbit returns to look at the boy, and the boy sees a resemblance to his old velveteen rabbit, and enjoys seeing the rabbit out in the wild.

Following the conclusion of ''Debt of Honor'', previously confirmed Vice President Jack Ryan is sworn in as President of the United States. With nearly every executive, legislative, and judicial figure deceased, Ryan is left to represent the United States by himself. He must deal with multiple crises: reconstituting his own Cabinet, the House, the Senate, and the entire Supreme Court; a challenge to the legitimacy of his succession to the Presidency by former Vice President Ed Kealty, leading to press hazing; and a war brewing in the Middle East.

When the Iraqi president (implied to be Saddam Hussein) is assassinated by an Iranian deep-cover agent, Iranian leader Ayatollah Mahmoud Haji Daryaei takes advantage of the power vacuum by launching an unopposed invasion of Iraq and later uniting it with his country, calling the new entity the "United Islamic Republic" (UIR). Daryaei then secretly unleashes a master plan of “weakening” the United States through a series of terrorist attacks: a biological attack in the country using a weaponized strain of Ebola virus, a kidnapping attempt on Ryan’s youngest daughter Katie from her school, and an assassination attempt on the President himself by a Secret Service bodyguard who is an Iranian sleeper agent.

China and India secretly assist Daryaei, first by causing a diplomatic crisis between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan when a PLAAF aircraft "accidentally" shoots down a Taiwanese airliner. The incident pulls a U.S. Navy carrier group from the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea and allows the Indian Navy's carrier up to move undetected to the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off access to the only sea-bound pathway to the UIR and Saudi Arabia. Daryaei thinks that with the U.S. government and military overwhelmed by a multitude of crises, he is now free to invade Saudi Arabia and claim superpower status for the UIR.

The attack on Ryan's daughter, as well as the assassination attempt on the President, is swiftly averted by the FBI and the Secret Service. However, the Ebola epidemic causes the President to declare martial law and enforce a travel ban to contain the virus. The epidemic later burns out due to the virus being so fragile that it cannot spread effectively. Meanwhile, CIA operatives John Clark and Domingo Chavez are tasked with investigating the origin of the virus in Africa, where they later find out about Daryaei's involvement, connecting the whole puzzle of seemingly unrelated global crises that are baffling the United States. Ryan then deploys what is left of the United States military (the virus immobilizes almost the entire military apparatus except for one fighter wing, two armored cavalry regiments, and one National Guard armor brigade that had been training at isolated Fort Irwin) to assist Saudi and Kuwaiti military forces in repelling a UIR invasion of Saudi Arabia.

The tide soon turns against the UIR, with its forces obliterated by the combined firepower of the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. President Ryan had sent Clark and Chavez into Tehran, the de facto capital of UIR, to target Daryaei with assistance from Russian intelligence. The Ayatollah is later killed in his residence by precision-guided munitions dropped from F-117 Nighthawks. Ryan then threatens to launch a tactical nuclear strike on Tehran unless those responsible for the attacks are immediately extradited to the U.S. to face charges, and the facility where the weaponized Ebola was cultured is neutralized. He announces a new foreign policy doctrine, the “Ryan Doctrine", under which the United States will hold personally accountable any foreign leader who orders attacks on American citizens, territory, or possessions in the future.

Kealty's challenge to President Ryan's legitimacy fails in court; due to the way Kealty's legal complaint was worded, the federal judge who heard the case inadvertently confirms that Ryan ''is'' the President of the United States. In the aftermath of the crisis, public appreciation of the unelected president grows.

65 million years ago, a meteorite crashes into the Earth, killing the dinosaurs and splitting the universe into two parallel dimensions. The surviving dinosaurs cross into a new dimension, evolving into a humanoid race and founding the city of Dinohattan.

In 1973, a mysterious woman leaves a large egg, along with a rock, at a Catholic orphanage. As she attempts departure, King Koopa accosts her, demanding the rock's location. Rocks then fall onto the woman, killing her. The egg hatches, containing an infant girl.

20 years later, two Italian-American plumber brothers Mario and Luigi Mario live in Brooklyn, New York, close to being driven out of business by the mafia-operated Scapelli Construction Company led by Anthony Scapelli. Luigi falls for NYU student Daisy, who is digging under the Brooklyn Bridge for dinosaur bones. After a date, Daisy returns Luigi to the bridge and witnesses two of Scapelli's men sabotaging it by leaving the water pipes open. Mario and Luigi fix it, but Iggy and Spike, Koopa's henchmen and cousins, knock them unconscious and kidnap Daisy. Upon awakening, the brothers pursue them through an interdimensional portal to Dinohattan.

Iggy and Spike realize they forgot Daisy's rock, a meteorite fragment that Koopa wants to obtain to merge his world with the human world. Daisy turns out to be the long-lost princess of the other dimension. When Koopa overthrew Daisy's father as king and devolved him into fungus, her mother the queen took her to Brooklyn. The portal was then sealed, but Scapelli's men inadvertently reopened the portal when they blasted the cave. Koopa sends his cousins to find Daisy and the rock to merge the dimensions and make him dictator of both worlds. However, after Koopa subjects them to an experiment to increase their intelligence, they realize Koopa's evil intentions and side with the Mario Bros. Daisy is taken to Koopa Tower, where she meets Yoshi. Koopa informs Daisy that she descended from the dinosaurs, believing only she can merge the worlds because of her royal heritage. The Mario Bros. rescue Daisy, aided by Toad, a good-natured guitarist who was devolved into a Goomba, a semi-humanoid dinosaur, as punishment for a protest.

Koopa's girlfriend Lena merges the two worlds, although the meteorite’s energy kills her. Koopa devolves Scapelli into a chimpanzee before going after Mario, but Luigi and Daisy remove the fragment from the meteorite, and the worlds separate again. In Dinohattan, Mario and Luigi fire devolution guns at Koopa and blast him with a Bob-omb. Koopa, now a ferocious, semi-humanoid ''Tyrannosaurus'', attempts to kill the Mario Bros., who permanently destroy him by devolving him into an actual ''Tyrannosaurus rex'', then primeval slime. Daisy's father is restored as king, and the citizens celebrate and immediately destroy anything with Koopa's likeness. Luigi professes his love for Daisy and wants her to come to Brooklyn with him, but Daisy, having found both her home and father, decides to stay in Dinohattan. Crestfallen, Luigi kisses Daisy goodbye as he and Mario return home to Brooklyn. Three weeks later, the Mario Bros. are getting ready for dinner when their story comes on the news and the anchorman says they should be called the "Super Mario Bros." Daisy then arrives and asks the Mario Bros to help her on a new mission.

In a post-credits scene, two Japanese business executives propose making a video game based on Iggy and Spike, now on Earth, to be named ''The Super Koopa Cousins''.

Setting

The universe of ''Kingdom Hearts'' is a collection of various levels, referred to as "worlds", through which the player must progress. Fourteen worlds out of which thirteen can be accessed in the game and one, Disney Castle, is shown in cutscenes. Additional worlds are mentioned by various characters but are inaccessible because they have been destroyed by the Heartless. Ten Disney worlds are based on fiction, primarily from the Disney animated features canon, and the other four were created by Square specifically for the game.

The graphics and characters of each world were designed to resemble the artwork style of each Disney film. Each Disney world is inhabited by characters from the film: including Hercules and Philoctetes in Olympus Coliseum, and Aladdin, Princess Jasmine and Jafar in Agrabah. Each world is disconnected from the others and exists separately. Most characters in the world are unaware of other ones, with few exceptions. Players travel from one world to another via Gummi Ship.

The worlds created specifically for the game mirror the overall appearance of the other worlds and feature either new characters or ones from several ''Final Fantasy'' games. The new worlds include: the Destiny Islands, where the story opens; Traverse Town, which serves as a launching point for most of the game; Hollow Bastion, which many of the ''Final Fantasy'' characters call home; and the End of the World, a large, dark world created from the remnants of various worlds consumed by the Heartless. The main characters travel from world to world to seal each "Keyhole"; this protects the world from the Heartless and ultimately from destruction. They also try to minimize their interaction with characters of other worlds to maintain a balance of separation. This sometimes requires Sora, Donald and Goofy to blend in with the world inhabitants by changing their physical appearance.

Characters

The collaboration between Disney and Square resulted in a mixture of familiar Disney and Square characters, as well as several new characters created and designed by Tetsuya Nomura. The primary protagonist of the game is Sora, a 14-year-old boy chosen to wield the Keyblade—a weapon which is a cross between a key and a sword—for battling darkness. The game also features two friends from his home world, Riku and Kairi. For most of the game, Sora is joined by Donald Duck and Goofy. Donald, the court wizard, and Goofy, captain of the royal guard, are sent from Disney Castle to find the Keyblade. The three join forces to search for King Mickey Mouse, Kairi, and Riku. The primary antagonist is Ansem, who seeks power and knowledge by using dark beings called the Heartless. The Heartless, hearts corrupted by darkness, serve as most of the enemies encountered in the game and come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Maleficent, from the 1959 film ''Sleeping Beauty'', leads a group of Disney villains that seeks to use the Heartless for their own gain.

As a game meant to explore the fictional universes of various Disney films, over one hundred Disney characters are featured in various capacities. While many serve as major characters in the story, others appear in cameo roles, such as the One Hundred and One Dalmatians playing a part in a side-quest. Most worlds also feature a Disney villain whom the player must defeat. The player can summon various Disney characters to fight alongside Sora in battle, causing Donald and Goofy to withdraw from the battlefield for the duration of the summon. Available summoned characters include the Genie from ''Aladdin'', Tinker Bell from ''Peter Pan'', and Simba from ''The Lion King'', among others.

Square also incorporated several characters from the ''Final Fantasy'' series into the game, though the characters were slightly altered to fit the game's back-story. On the Destiny Islands, the player meets younger versions of Tidus and Wakka from ''Final Fantasy X'', and Selphie from ''Final Fantasy VIII''. In Traverse Town, the player encounters Squall Leonhart (also known as "Leon") from ''Final Fantasy VIII'', as well as Aerith, Cid, and Yuffie from ''Final Fantasy VII''. Rikku from ''Final Fantasy X'' was originally set to appear, but was replaced by Yuffie. Cloud and Sephiroth, both from ''Final Fantasy VII'', make appearances in Olympus Coliseum, where the player can fight them in tournaments. The emphasis on characters from later ''Final Fantasy'' installments stems from Nomura's hesitation to use characters he did not design. The game also uses other ''Final Fantasy'' icons such as the Moogles who mediate item synthesis.

Story

Sora, Riku, and Kairi build a raft with the intent to leave their home world of Destiny Islands to explore new worlds. On the night before the planned voyage, the islands are attacked by the Heartless, and Riku and Kairi disappear. Before the Heartless consume the islands, Sora mysteriously obtains the Keyblade, a weapon effective against the Heartless. Meanwhile, King Mickey has left his own world to deal with the increasing number of Heartless, leaving instructions for Donald and Goofy to find the "key" that will protect the worlds from the encroaching darkness. Donald and Goofy use the Gummi Ship to travel to Traverse Town, where they find Sora after he has drifted there from his destroyed world. The three decide to travel together – Donald and Goofy to find Mickey, and Sora to find Kairi and Riku – traveling to various worlds and sealing "Keyholes" in the worlds that, when sealed, prevent the "heart" of those worlds from being consumed by the Heartless. Meanwhile, a group of Disney villains led by Maleficent seek out the seven Princesses of Heart to unlock the final keyhole that leads to Kingdom Hearts, a repository of knowledge and power, and the source of all hearts. Maleficent also finds Riku and recruits him into her services, manipulating him into believing that Sora abandoned him.

Sora and his friends eventually arrive at Hollow Bastion, Maleficent's headquarters, where Riku takes the Keyblade from Sora, revealing himself to be its intended user with Sora only receiving it in his absence; Donald and Goofy reluctantly leave Sora as per their orders. Sora later challenges Riku, stating that his heart derives strength from his friends, inspiring Donald and Goofy to return to him and regaining control of the Keyblade. After the three defeat Maleficent, Sora finds Kairi's comatose body and confronts Riku, who is now possessed by Ansem, a figure who has been manipulating Maleficent from the beginning to open the way to Kingdom Hearts. Ansem reveals Kairi as the seventh Princess of Heart, her heart having transferred into Sora's body when the Destiny Islands were destroyed. After defeating the possessed Riku, Sora impales himself with Ansem's Keyblade, which is designed to unlock hearts, releasing both his and Kairi's hearts; Kairi's heart returns to her body, in turn completing the final Keyhole, while Sora becomes a Heartless. Kairi recognizes Sora's Heartless, and the light in her heart restores him to human form.

After Kairi gives him a good luck charm, Sora and his group venture to the End of the World, the remnants of the worlds destroyed by the Heartless, to confront Ansem as he reaches the door to Kingdom Hearts. After a battle, Ansem calls upon Kingdom Hearts to aid him, believing it to be the ultimate reservoir of darkness. However Ansem is destroyed when the door opens, revealing light. Also beyond the door are Mickey and Riku, who help Sora and his friends close the door before Sora and Mickey lock it with their Keyblades from both sides. The worlds lost to the Heartless reconstruct themselves; as the Destiny Islands reform, Kairi returns there while Sora is forced to part with her. Sora, Donald, and Goofy resolve to find Riku and Mickey.

Picking up immediately where ''Reloaded'' ended, Neo and Bane still lie unconscious in the medical bay of the ship ''Hammer''. Inside the Matrix, Neo is trapped in a subway station named Mobil Ave, a transition zone between the Matrix and the machine world. He meets a "family" of programs, including a girl named Sati. The "father" tells Neo the subway is controlled by the Trainman, a program loyal to the Merovingian. When Neo tries to board a train with the family, the Trainman refuses and overpowers him.

Seraph contacts Morpheus and Trinity on behalf of the Oracle, who informs them of Neo's confinement. Seraph, Morpheus and Trinity enter Club Hel, where they confront the Merovingian and force him to release Neo. Troubled by visions of the Machine City, Neo visits the Oracle, who reveals that Smith intends to destroy both the Matrix and the real world. She tells him that "everything that has a beginning has an end." After Neo leaves, a large group of Smiths assimilates Sati and Seraph. The Oracle does not resist assimilation and Smith gains her powers of precognition.

In the real world, the crews of the ''Nebuchadnezzar'' and the ''Hammer'' find and reactivate Niobe's ship, the ''Logos''. They interrogate Bane, who says that he has no recollection of the earlier massacre. As the captains plan their defense of Zion, Neo requests a ship to travel to the Machine City. Motivated by her encounter with the Oracle, Niobe offers him the ''Logos''. Neo departs, accompanied by Trinity. Bane, who has stowed away on the ''Logos'', takes Trinity hostage. Neo realizes that Bane has been assimilated by Smith and a fight ensues. Bane burns Neo's eyes with a power cable, blinding him. Neo discovers that he can still "see" machine source code in the real world and uses this ability to kill Bane. Trinity pilots them to the Machine City.

Niobe and Morpheus rush toward Zion in the ''Hammer'' to aid the human defenses. Zion's shipyard is overwhelmed by a horde of Sentinels, and the fatally wounded Captain Mifune instructs Kid to open the gate for the ''Hammer'', which he does with the aid of Zee. When it arrives, it discharges its EMP, disabling all the Sentinels present but also Zion's remaining defenses. The humans are forced to retreat and wait for the next attack, thinking it will be their last stand.

The ''Logos'' is attacked by a wave of machines outside of the Machine City. To avoid the onslaught, they fly above them to open sky, and then crash into a building, fatally wounding Trinity. Neo enters the Machine City and encounters the leadership of the machines in the form of the "Deus Ex Machina." Neo warns that Smith plans to conquer both the Matrix and the real world and offers to stop Smith in exchange for peace with Zion. The Deus Ex Machina agrees, and the Sentinels shut down, stopping the attack on Zion.

The Machines plug Neo into the Matrix, whose population has now been entirely assimilated by Smith. The Smith with the Oracle's powers steps forth, telling Neo that he has foreseen his victory against Neo. After a protracted fight, Neo appears to concede defeat and allows himself to be assimilated. Outside the Matrix, the machines send a surge of energy into Neo's body, which inside the Matrix causes the Neo-Smith clone, then all the other Smith clones to be destroyed, leaving the Oracle lying there, and causing Neo's life to be sacrificed. The Sentinels withdraw from Zion, Morpheus and Niobe embrace, and Neo's body is carried away by the machines.

The Matrix is rebooted, and the Architect meets the Oracle in a park. They agree that the peace will last "as long as it can" and that those humans who desire it will be offered the opportunity to leave the Matrix. The Oracle tells Sati (who created a beautiful sunset for Neo) that she thinks they will see Neo again. Seraph asks the Oracle if she knew this would happen. She replies that she did not know, but she believed.

In feudal Japan, two rival clans, the Ebihara and the Mishima, are at war. The Mishima go to the swordmaster Usagi Miyamoto to craft a weapon to end the conflict: the Daikatana. However, Usagi realizes the Mishimas' dark desires and gives the Daikatana to the Ebihara; Inshiro Ebihara throws the sword into a volcano at the end of the war.

In 2455 AD, swordmaster Hiro Miyamoto is visited by a man named Dr. Toshiro Ebihara, a descendant of Inshiro who is suffering from a plague and about to die. Toshiro tells Hiro that Kage Mishima, the ruler of the planet, took over the world by stealing the Daikatana and using it to alter history. He stole the cure to a viral plague in 2030 and uses the cure to control the world's population. Mikiko Ebihara, Toshiro's daughter, has been captured when trying to steal back the Daikatana, and Hiro must rescue her and fix history.

Hiro storms the Mishima's headquarters where he rescues Mikiko as well as Superfly Johnson, the Mishima's head of security who rebelled when he grew sick of the Mishima's brutal totalitarian practices. Mikiko and Superfly join Hiro in his quest and steal the Daikatana. Mishima encounters the trio as they steal the sword, wielding a second Daikatana. Mishima sends the trio back in time to Ancient Greece. Hiro and Mikiko defeat Medusa, recharging the Daikatana as it absorbs Medusa's power. The three time jump once more, only to encounter the Mishima again and be sent through time to the Dark Ages, stranded as the Daikatana has run out of energy.

The group finds a sorcerer named Musilde who offers to recharge the Daikatana if Hiro, Superfly, and Mikiko can save his village from the black plague. To do this, the group must defeat the necromancer Nharre, reassemble the Purifier, a magical sword, and use it to restore King Gharroth's sanity so that he may use the sword to put an end to the plague. When King Gharroth recharges the Daikatana, Hiro and his allies time jump again, finally ending up in 2030, where San Francisco has fallen to gangs and martial law has been declared by the military and the Mishima.

The trio fights their way through a naval base where the Mishima is working on weapons. The ghost of Usagi enters Hiro's body and gives him full control over the Daikatana. With Usagi's knowledge and skills with the sword, Hiro slays Mishima. One of the Daikatana disappears, as its timeline no longer exists.

Mikiko steals the remaining Daikatana and kills Superfly, revealing that the feudal Ebihara clan was just as evil as the Mishimas. She announces her intentions to use the Daikatana to restore the honor of her ancient clan and take over the world. Hiro defeats and kills Mikiko, then uses the Daikatana to fix history once and for all. The Daikatana is never found in 2455, the viral plague is cured in 2030, the Mishima never take over the world, and Hiro exiles himself to a forgotten corner of the space-time continuum, safeguarding the Daikatana to ensure that it never falls into the hands of evil.

''All Gas and Gaiters'', predominantly farcical in nature, was set in the close of the fictional St Ogg's Cathedral and concerned intrigues and rivalries among the clergy in the Church of England. The bishop was easygoing; his friend the archdeacon was elderly, tippling, and still appreciative of attractive women; and the bishop's chaplain was naïve and accident-prone. Their wish to live a quiet bachelor life was continually threatened by the overbearing dean, who tried to bring by-the-book rule to the cathedral.

The title is a pun, deriving from a comic expression ("all is gas and gaiters", meaning "all is well") uttered by an eccentric old gentleman clad in small-clothes and grey worsted stockings in Charles Dickens' 1839 novel ''Nicholas Nickleby'', and later used by such writers as P. G. Wodehouse, Agatha Christie, and Powell and Pressburger (spoken in the film ''The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp''). The phrase "all gas and gaiters" has had different meanings. Sometimes it has been used to mean "a satisfactory state of affairs" and sometimes it has had the meaning of "nonsense". The relevance of this phrase to Anglican clergy is that gaiters (worn over shoes) were part of the traditional dress of bishops and archdeacons.

The series initially aroused some controversy because of its portrayal of senior clergy as bungling incompetents, although some clergy enjoyed it. In the opening credits, St Albans Cathedral was shown as the fictional St Ogg's (but with the Crooked Spire of Church of St Mary and All Saints, Chesterfield added to the central tower). The background to the opening credits was the headmaster's garden of St. Albans School. The name "St. Ogg's" may have been taken from a fictional village in George Eliot's novel ''The Mill on the Floss''.

It proved to be the first of a series of comedies starring Derek Nimmo in similar bumbling clerical roles (''Oh, Brother!'', ''Oh, Father!'' and ''Hell's Bells'') but is regarded as the best, partly because of a strong supporting cast (particularly the experienced ''farceur'' Robertson Hare as the archdeacon) and partly because it included some elements of gentle satire.

All 11 surviving episodes were released on DVD by DD Home Entertainment in 2004, originally accompanied by a detailed behind-the-scenes booklet, written by Andy Priestner in consultation with the show's writers, Edwin Apps and Pauline Devaney, but later released without. Cinema Club have since bought the DVD rights.

Eight scripts of the lost episodes were published in 2015: "Only Three Can Play", "The Dean Goes Primitive", "The Bishop Goes To Town", "The Bishop Learns the Facts", "The Bishop is Hospitable", "The Bishop Takes a Holiday", "The Affair at Cookham Lock" and "The Bishop Gives a Shove".

Following the execution of her mother, Anne Boleyn (Elaine Stewart), for infidelity, King Henry VIII (Charles Laughton) exiles the child Elizabeth (Noreen Corcoran) to Hatfield House, after declaring her illegitimate and removing her from eligible succession to the throne. Over the years, her position rises and falls according to the whims of her father. The child is periodically summoned to return to London to become acquainted with each of Henry's latest spouses. When Henry marries his last wife, Catherine Parr (Deborah Kerr), the now-teenage Elizabeth (Jean Simmons) rebels against her latest summons but is persuaded by the handsome, tactful Lord Admiral Thomas Seymour (Stewart Granger) to change her mind. She meets Catherine, and the two become good friends. Meanwhile, Henry is impressed and amused by the resolute defiance of his daughter, and he declares her once again a legitimate heiress to the crown.

When Henry dies, Thomas's scheming brother Ned (Guy Rolfe) takes over as Lord Protector and guardian of King Edward VI (Rex Thompson), overriding Henry's dying wish that Thomas raise the boy. Ned's fear of his brother's ambition grows with each of Thomas's naval triumphs. In the meantime, Elizabeth realizes she is in love with Thomas, but graciously persuades her brother, King Edward, to issue a royal decree sanctioning the marriage of Thomas and Catherine. Despite the union, Thomas grows close to Elizabeth without realizing it until he witnesses Elizabeth being kissed by Barnaby, a courtier. Prompted by jealousy, Thomas kisses Elizabeth, who declares her love for him. Catherine, who has noticed the closeness between her husband and Elizabeth, asks Elizabeth to make a choice, and the princess moves back to Hatfield.

Soon after, Catherine sickens and dies. After months of Thomas being away at sea, he returns and finally sees Elizabeth. Ned has him arrested and charged with treason. He also accuses Elizabeth of plotting with Thomas to overthrow her brother, the king. She goes to see Edward, but is too late to save Thomas from execution. The film then shifts forward to 1558. Having survived the perils of her early life, and with Edward deceased and her elder sister Mary dying, Elizabeth is about to become Queen of England.

All three scenes are set in the sitting room of Guy's London apartment: during Guy's flatwarming party (Scene 1); after Reg's funeral, some years later (Scene 2); and after Guy's funeral (Scene 3).

The group, most of them in their thirties, meet at irregular intervals, often at Guy's place. Guy himself is a lonely man. Ever since their university days, he has had a crush on John, but he has never dared to tell him about it. Rather, he lives a solitary life, which he only spices up with phone sex and an occasional visit to a gay pub – that is where he meets 18-year-old Eric, who then helps him decorate his new flat. On holiday on the island of Lanzarote, he meets a gay man who eventually forces himself on Guy and has unprotected sex with him. At his flatwarming party, he has just come back from his holiday and is still quite shocked about what happened. It is hard for him not to start crying when, as a present, John gives him a cookery book specialising in dishes for one.

The most popular of the gay circle is Reg, who is conspicuously absent from the party. Reg has had a long-term relationship with Daniel, but Daniel himself suspects Reg of occasionally being unfaithful to him. In fact Reg seems to be sleeping with every man he can get hold of (as it seems, even with the vicar). In the course of the play, John, Benny and even his seemingly faithful companion Bernie have secret sex with Reg. They all confide in Guy. It hurts Guy most to hear that John – whom he himself fancies – is having an affair with Reg, thus betraying their mutual friend Daniel. After his fling with Reg, Benny panics because he thinks he might have contracted HIV, but he does not confess it to his partner, Bernie.

When Reg is dying from AIDS, he is looked after by his partner, Daniel. The next one to die is Guy, the only one who has not had sex with Reg and who seems to have been infected with HIV when he was raped during his holiday in Lanzarote. Guy bequeaths his new flat to the love of his life, John who does not need it at all because he comes from a rich background. It is John who, somewhere in the flat, finds all kinds of memorabilia dating back to their student days.

The play serves as a "tip of the hat" to iconic musician Sir Elton John, with the names of all the characters being part of Eltoniana: Reg (Elton's birth name); Daniel, Benny, Guy (all from Elton John hit songs), John (the singer's appropriated surname, his homage to Long John Baldry), and Bernie (the Christian name of Elton's longtime lyricist, Bernie Taupin). Eric may be a reference to Eric Clapton, with whom John toured in 1992. Daniel gives Guy a recipe book by a Gertrude Pinner, a reference to the town in which Elton John grew up.

Part 1 – ''Alice in Wonderland''

After helping her mother set the table for tea time, Alice goes outside to see her sister and play with her kitten, Dinah. The White Rabbit comes running by, saying he's late. Wondering where he is going, Alice follows him and tumbles into his hole.

Alice finds herself in a hall with many doors, all of them locked. On a table is a key which she can use to open one small door. A small bottle appears labeled "Drink Me." By drinking from the bottle, she shrinks to the right size for the door, but can no longer reach the key to open it. She then eats a little cake, which makes her grow to over nine feet tall. Frustrated, Alice begins to cry. The White Rabbit appears, but frightened of the giant Alice, runs away dropping his fan and gloves. Using the fan makes Alice shrink again, which takes her diving in her pool of tears, where she meets The Lory Bird, The Dodo Bird and the Mouse, who tells her why he hates dogs and cats ("I Hate Dogs and Cats").

The White Rabbit mistakes Alice for his housemaid Mary Ann and orders her to go get his fan and gloves from his house. While searching his house, Alice finds another "Drink Me" bottle, which makes her grow to nine feet tall once again. Angry at Alice, the rabbit and his butler Pat the Guinea Pig begin throwing berries at her, which turn into little cakes. She eats one and shrinks to back to size. After running away she meets the Caterpillar who tells her the story "You are Old, Father William". She then meets The Duchess and her cook; the Cheshire Cat, who tells her "There's No Way Home"; and the Mad Hatter, March Hare, and Dormouse having an outdoor tea party ("Laugh"). Alice runs off back on her quest for the White Rabbit, and meets a baby fawn in the forest, the only normal thing she's seen so far ("Why Do People Act as If They're Crazy?").

Alice stumbles upon a doorway that leads to the rose garden of the Queen of Hearts, who always yells "Off with her Head!" She leaves to visit the Gryphon and Mock Turtle ("Nonsense"), but then she is called to attend the trial of the Knave of Hearts, who is accused of having stolen The Queen's tarts. Alice stands up to the Queen and is forced to flee the court. She trips and falls and finds herself back home.

Alice runs inside, only to discover herself trapped on the other side of the mirror. She notices a large book next to her and starts reading a poem called ''Jabberwocky'' about a scary monster. The lights go out and the Jabberwock appears in the house.

Part 2 – ''Through the Looking-Glass''

The Jabberwock disappears as Alice hides behind the chessboard, knocking it over. As she places the pieces back on the table, she realizes they are all alive, but can't hear her. Desperate for a clue, Alice looks around the room and sees a painting of an Owl, which comes to life and explains that the Jabberwock is a creation of Alice's own childish fears, which she must overcome in order to return to the real world.

Alice has an interesting conversation with some talking flowers and meets The Red Queen from the chess set, now human-sized. The Red Queen tells Alice that she is now a pawn in a giant game of chess. Once Alice reaches the eighth square to become a queen, she can go home. She boards a train to the fourth square, where she meets Tweedledum and Tweedledee, who teach her the proper way to "Shake Hands" and sing the story of ''"The Walrus and the Carpenter"''. She meets The White Queen ("Jam Tomorrow, Jam Yesterday") and Humpty Dumpty. The Jabberwock appears again and knocks Humpty Dumpty off of his wall.

Alice meets The White King and his messenger, who bring Alice to see "The Lion and the Unicorn" as they fight for the crown. The Lion and the Unicorn call a temporary truce and Alice hands out a tray of Looking-Glass Cake, which must be passed around first, then cut after. She is captured by the Red Knight and rescued by the White Knight, who sings and dances her all the way to the eighth square ("We are Dancing"). She meets up with the Red Queen and White Queen, who have a few "Queenly" tests ("Can You do Addition") and some words of wisdom for her ("Emotions"). The White Queen falls asleep on Alice's lap and the Red Queen sings her a lullaby ("Hush-a-bye Lady"). Alice finds her way to her castle, where a great feast has been set in her honor ("To the Looking-Glass World").

A present is brought to her, out of which comes The Jabberwock. The Owl tells her to act brave. Alice finds her way back to the mirror and into her home, where she confronts The Jabberwock, telling him that he is just in her imagination and that she does not believe in him. In a billow of smoke and lightning, the Jabberwock disappears. Alice slumps into a chair and is woken up by her Mother calling Alice to tea. When Alice heads upstairs to change for tea, she sees her Wonderland family in the mirror, and they sing farewell to her ("Alice").

Following a short prologue, the body of the novel is divided into two halves (or "books"), both narrated by Rupert Ray. The first book tells the story of his and his friends' progress through school; while the second deals with the experiences of (specifically) Ray and his friend Edgar Doe during the war.

Prologue

The prologue is ostensibly written by Padre Monty, an army chaplain who is a character from Book II. He writes affectionately and retrospectively of the three boys Rupert Ray, Edgar Doe and Archibald Pennybet as they were in childhood. The inference is that he has acquired this information from the boys' mothers, given that he first meets Ray and Doe in the Great War.

Book I: "Five gay years of school"

The first book contains many of the elements of the classic school story, describing the lives of Rupert Ray and his friends as they progress through their public school, Kensingstowe, and the pranks they play on the masters. Raymond spends much of the novel setting up the characters and their relationships in this way.

Rupert himself is a shy boy, lacking in courage and in need of moral guidance in the absence of a father figure. Edgar Doe, nicknamed the "Grey Doe", is equally shy, but is more sensitive and inclined to fall in love with older men such as their strict master Radley. Both boys are heavily influenced by the older Archibald "Penny" Pennybet, who enjoys wielding youthful power over others by stirring up acts of mischief. Rupert's school career includes an ongoing feud with his housemaster (known as "Carpet Slippers"), receiving beatings and punishments, learning to do what is right, and – his greatest hour – winning the school relay swimming race, only to be disqualified, but then made a prefect on account of his maturity in dealing with the disappointment. Radley is a heavy influence in all this, offering Rupert advice and encouragement to make the right choices. In one episode, the entire class has been cheating in Carpet Slippers' history lessons, only for Rupert to admit his guilt by recording a mark of zero after Radley's prompting. The book repeatedly makes dark suggestions as to the boys' future after school. For example, at the end of a triumphant cricket match the masters at Kensingstowe consider what England will do with the young men they are moulding. Radley himself is a weary, beaten figure when he learns that his favourite pupils, Ray and Doe, are off to war.

Book II: "And the rest – war"

When the war breaks out it is treated with much excitement, and the boys leave school to join the army as officers. Raymond's enthusiastic portrayal represents an attitude widespread at the time. It is encapsulated in a speech by the boys' new commanding officer, the Colonel:

Eighteen by Jove! You've timed your lives wonderfully, my boys. To be eighteen in 1914 is to be the best thing in England. England's wealth used to consist in other things. Nowadays you boys are the richest thing she's got. She's solvent with you, and bankrupt without you. Eighteen confound it! It's a virtue to be your age, just as it's a crime to be mine.

Ray and Doe are posted to Gallipoli, and despite Ray's pain at leaving his mother, and his clear worry that he will never see her again, they are still optimistic and eager to join the fight. The news that Pennybet has been killed at Neuve Chapelle on the Western Front, and that three of their schoolmates (their house captain, their school's most promising cricketer, and Rupert's relay-team captain) have all died in April in Gallipoli dampens their spirits. There is a bitter irony in this passage, for all three possessed promising lives that were snuffed out the moment they landed on the beaches.

In the East, the boys spend months in a camp on the island of Lemnos waiting for any action, but are finally sent to Cape Helles on the Gallipoli peninsula, where they find themselves up against "Asiatic Annie", a 7-mile ranging Turkish gun, and another well-placed gun that kills many of their friends. Doe accepts a promotion to Bombing Officer with characteristic enthusiasm. Ray is promoted to Captain. They are both junior subalterns, the rank that suffered the greatest losses in the Great War, owing to their courage and visibility as leaders of the front line. As the Germans break through Serbia, and British and French troops at Gallipoli begin to withdraw, Doe and Ray's unit is ordered to launch an attack as a diversion. Doe breaks over the top of the line and is shot in the shoulder. He falls, but manages to get up and blow up the offending Turkish gun. He is then shot four more times in the waist. Padre Monty rushes out to bring him out of no man's land. Doe subsequently dies, but not before Ray has a tearful final farewell with his best friend.

At the end of the novel, when leaving Gallipoli, Ray is charged by Padre Monty to tell England about what has happened. "You must write a book and tell 'em, Rupert, about the dead schoolboys of your generation."

The end of the novel is written from a trench on the Western Front in 1918, just as the Allies are about to defeat Germany and end the Great War. Rupert intimates that he has finished his story in time, but it is not revealed whether he survives this final passage of war. We are asked to believe that he is happy because he has lived, experienced beauty, known the purest of friendships and had twenty glorious years. The book ends on that note.

Charlie MacKenzie is a popular local beat poet living in San Francisco who makes his frequent break-ups the subject of his poems. His best friend Tony, a recently promoted police detective, chastises Charlie for breaking up over minutiae—since Charlie's reasons for breaking up are often self-serving and paranoid. Tony points out that Charlie simply is afraid of commitment and tries to identify (or invent) any reason to break up with someone.

The following day, Charlie goes to purchase a meal for his dinner with his Scottish-born parents, Stuart and May, who both believed in conspiracy theories and get their news from the ''Weekly World News'' tabloid. On this errand, he encounters a butcher named Harriet, and he develops a slight crush on her. During his visit to his family, Charlie and May discuss his recent break up with another one of his girlfriends, during which May brings up an article in the tabloid that describes a character known as "Mrs. X", a bride who kills her husbands on their honeymoons using an axe.

Later on, Charlie goes back to the butchers where Harriet works and offers to help her, during which the two quickly find common bonds between them. They start to date, and after staying at her place one night, Charlie meets Harriet's eccentric sister, Rose, who warns Charlie to be careful. During their time together, he learns she used to live in Atlantic City, had been involved with a trainer in Russian martial arts, and screams for someone named Ralph in her sleep. As they continue to see each other, Charlie and Harriet fall in love. He arranges a dinner with her to meet his parents, who point out that she's their favourite of all of his previous partners. Whilst there however, Charlie spots the article about Mrs. X and becomes panicked, as he realise that not only was one of the victims a martial arts expert, but another also happened to be named Ralph.

Charlie becomes paranoid and asks Tony to investigate Harriet and the Mrs. X story. Tony reveals that the husbands of Mrs. X were all reported missing alongside their wives, assuring that Harriet is unlikely to be Mrs. X. Charlie remains on edge, and after a few more troubled dates, decides to break up with her. Tony later reports that a killer in the Mrs. X story has confessed. Relieved, Charlie apologizes to Harriet by reciting one of his beat poems to her from his rooftop. They make up, and Harriet explains away some of the confusion Charlie had from her history, such as Ralph being the name of a woman she knows.

Some time later, at his parents' wedding anniversary Charlie proposes to Harriet, which she reluctantly accepts after some hesitation. Following the wedding ceremony, they embark on a honeymoon to a secluded mountain hotel. After they depart, Tony learns that the confessed killer is actually a compulsive liar. He sends a photo of Harriet to the known associates of the missing husbands, and all report back that she was their friends' wife. With phone lines to the hotel down due to a storm, Tony charters a plane. Once he lands, he is able to call Charlie locally and warn him that Harriet really is Mrs. X, but the hotel phone line is knocked out and power is lost.

Charlie is panicked and tries to stay away from Harriet without letting her know what he knows, but the hotel staff force him into the honeymoon suite for their first night together. After locking Harriet in the closet, Charlie discovers a "Dear Jane" letter, purportedly written by him, explaining his absence to Harriet. Suddenly, Rose appears wielding an axe. Rose tells Charlie he was not supposed to find the letter, and reveals herself as the Mrs. X killer, and that she feels that Harriet's husbands are taking her sister from her, motivating her to kill them on their honeymoon night and leave "Dear Jane" letters behind claiming to be from them, leading Harriet to believe that each husband simply left her. Charlie is then trapped in a game of cat-and-mouse, staying away from Rose while waiting for the police to arrive.

Tony leads the police into the hotel but arrests Harriet, still believing her to be the murderer. Charlie, having been chased to the hotel roof pursued by Rose, is able to get Tony’s attention as they prepare to take Harriet away, prompting Tony to run up the stairs to the roof to intervene. Whilst the police make their way up there Rose swings the axe at Charlie and is thrown off the building, with only Charlie holding her up from falling to her death. Tony comes to catch her fall, where she is arrested and taken away. Charlie and Harriet resume their lives afterward as a happy couple.

The commercial opens with a dystopian, industrial setting in blue and grayish tones, showing a line of people (of ambiguous gender) marching in unison through a long tunnel monitored by a string of telescreens. This is in sharp contrast to the full-color shots of the nameless runner (Anya Major). She looks like a competitive track and field athlete, wearing an athletic "uniform" (red athletic shorts, running shoes, a white tank top with a cubist picture of Apple's Macintosh computer, a white sweat band on her left wrist, and a red one on her right), and is carrying a large brass-headed sledgehammer. Rows of marching minions evoke the opening scenes of ''Metropolis''.

As she is chased by four police officers (presumably agents of the Thought Police) wearing black uniforms, protected by riot gear, helmets with visors covering their faces, and armed with large night sticks, she races towards a large screen with the image of a Big Brother-like figure (David Graham, also seen on the telescreens earlier) giving a speech:

Today, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives. We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology—where each worker may bloom, secure from the pests purveying contradictory thoughts. Our Unification of Thoughts is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth. We are one people, with one will, one resolve, one cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death, and we will bury them with their own confusion. We ''shall'' prevail!

The runner, now close to the screen, hurls the hammer towards it, right at the moment Big Brother announces, “we shall prevail!” In a flurry of light and smoke, the screen is destroyed, leaving the audience in shock.

The commercial concludes with a portentous voiceover, accompanied by scrolling black text (in Apple's early signature "Garamond" typeface); the hazy, whitish-blue aftermath of the cataclysmic event serves as the background. It reads:"On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like ''1984''."

The screen fades to black as the voiceover ends, and the rainbow Apple logo appears.

The opening credits show the title character walking through the streets of London and being tempted into a hairdressers where she has her hair set in a far more contemporary style. She immediately changes her mind, and runs through the streets until she reaches a public lavatory. Once there, she submerges her hair in a sink-full of water, happy to return to her previously unkempt hairstyle.

Georgina ("Georgy") Parkin (Lynn Redgrave) is a 22-year-old Londoner who has considerable musical talent, is well-educated, and has an engaging, shameless manner. On the other hand, she believes herself to be plain and slightly overweight, she dresses haphazardly, and she is incredibly naïve on the subjects of love and flirtation. She has never had a boyfriend. She has an inventive imagination and loves children.

Her parents are live-in employees of successful businessman James Leamington (James Mason), who runs a children's home. Leamington is 49 and has a loveless, childless marriage with Ellen (Rachel Kempson). He has watched with affection as Georgy grew up, and has treated her as if he were her second father: He provided for her private education at a Swiss finishing school, and for a studio in his own home, in which she teaches dance to children. Leamington thinks Georgy "owes him" for all he has done.

As Georgy has become a young woman, his feelings for her have become more than fatherly: James offers Georgy a legal contract, proposing to supply her with the luxuries of life in return for her becoming his mistress. Georgy sidesteps his proposal by never giving him a direct response; Leamington's business-like language and manner (and awkward inability to express any affection for her) leave her cold.

Georgy's flatmate is the beautiful Meredith (Charlotte Rampling), who is a violinist in an orchestra, but is otherwise a shallow woman who lives for her own pleasures. She treats the meekly compliant Georgy like an unpaid servant. Georgy has a crush on Meredith's boyfriend Jos Jones (Alan Bates) and is happy to accommodate Meredith in order to spend time with Jos. She cooks for him and they play Scrabble together.

When Meredith discovers that she is pregnant by Jos, they get married. She tells him bluntly that she has aborted two of his children, but she wants to marry because she is "bored." Jos moves in with the two young women. He becomes disillusioned with Meredith and begins to find himself attracted to Georgy, who convinces Leamington to buy several expensive items for the baby's care.

While in the midst of an argument with Meredith over her cavalier attitude to her pregnancy, Jos suddenly kisses Georgy and tells her that he loves her. Georgy flees the apartment onto the streets of London, where Jos follows her, screaming over and over again that he loves her as he pursues her.

The two return to the flat, where they have sex, after which there is a knock at the door by Peggy, a friend of Meredith, who tells Jos that Meredith has gone to the hospital to give birth. Jos and Georgy go to the hospital, where Georgy tries to comfort Meredith while she is in labour. Jos and Georgy's secret love affair continues.

Meredith gives birth to a daughter they name Sara. Because she has no interest in the baby and has tired of Jos, she announces that she plans to put the child up for adoption and divorce him.

Georgy and Jos set up home together in the flat, caring for baby Sara and living as a common-law married couple. It becomes clear that Georgy cares more for the baby than for having an adult relationship with Jos. Their relationship ends when Jos tires of a father's responsibilities; he abandons her and his baby. Now that Georgy is the sole caregiver of a baby to whom she has no blood ties, Social Services wishes to remove baby Sara from her care.

In the recent past, Mr Leamington's wife suddenly died. Leamington, who was unable to express his true feelings for Georgy while his wife was alive, now finds himself free to express his love for her, so he proposes marriage. Georgy accepts because this will allow her to keep Sara. The two marry despite the difference in their backgrounds and ages. They officially adopt Sara, making Georgy a mother. As the newlyweds are chauffeured away from their wedding, Georgy ignores her new husband, devoting all her attention to baby Sara.

A newsreel montage depicts turn-of-the-20th-century celebrities including Harry Houdini, Theodore Roosevelt, architect Stanford White (Norman Mailer), and life in New York City, accompanied by ragtime pianist Coalhouse Walker, Jr. (Howard Rollins). Millionaire industrialist Harry Kendall Thaw (Robert Joy) makes a scene when White unveils a nude statue atop Madison Square Garden, modeled after former chorus girl Evelyn Nesbit (Elizabeth McGovern), Thaw's wife. Convinced White has corrupted Evelyn, Thaw publicly shoots him dead.

An upper-class family resides in New Rochelle, New York, where Father (James Olson) owns a factory where his wife's Younger Brother (Brad Dourif) makes fireworks. An African American baby is abandoned in their garden, and upon learning the police intend to charge the child's mother, Sarah (Debbie Allen), with child abandonment and attempted murder, Mother (Mary Steenburgen) takes Sarah and her child into the home despite Father's objections. Coalhouse arrives in search of Sarah, driving a new Ford Model T, and realizing he is the baby's father, announces his intention to marry Sarah.

Younger Brother witnesses White's murder and becomes obsessed with Evelyn. Thaw's lawyer Delmas (Pat O'Brien) bribes Evelyn with a million-dollar divorce settlement to keep silent about Thaw's mental instability and to testify that White abused her. Passing through the Lower East Side, Evelyn encounters street artist Tateh (Mandy Patinkin), who throws out his unfaithful wife (Fran Drescher). He leaves New York with their daughter and sells the flip book he created. Evelyn and Younger Brother begin an affair as she prepares her return to the stage, while he assumes they will eventually marry. After Thaw is found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity, his lawyers inform Evelyn that Thaw will sue her for divorce on the grounds of infidelity and she accepts a smaller settlement. The affair ends, leaving Younger Brother adrift.

In New Rochelle, Coalhouse is targeted by bigoted volunteer firemen led by Willie Conklin (Kenneth McMillan), who refuse to allow his automobile to pass by. Coalhouse finds a policeman (Jeff Daniels) and returns to find his car soiled with horse manure. Coalhouse attempts to force the policeman to intervene, but the policeman insists that Colehouse should clean the manure off his car and move on, giving him the choice to do so or be arrested. Colehouse refuses, and is hauled in to the local precinct. After Father arranges for Coalhouse's release, they discover his car has been further vandalized. Coalhouse pursues legal action, but can find no lawyer willing to represent him. Father and Younger Brother argue over Coalhouse's legal recourse. At a presidential rally, Sarah attempts to tell President Roosevelt about Coalhouse's case but is beaten by guards and dies.

After Sarah's funeral, Coalhouse and his supporters kill several firemen. He threatens to attack other firehouses, demanding his car be restored and Conklin be turned over to him. Father is disgusted at the violence but Younger Brother joins Coalhouse's gang with his knowledge of explosives. Ostracized by their own white community and hounded by reporters, Father and Mother leave for Atlantic City. They encounter Tateh, now a film director on a photoplay with Evelyn. Mother is attracted to Tateh and she and Father quarrel. Coalhouse's gang hold the Pierpont Morgan Library's collection hostage. Police Commissioner Rhinelander Waldo (James Cagney) sends for Walker's child as a bargaining chip but Mother refuses to give him up. Father demands she turn the child over and returns to New York to assist Waldo and Mother leaves.

Booker T. Washington (Moses Gunn) fails to persuade Walker to surrender, as does Father. Conklin is captured by police and forced to apologize to Coalhouse. Waldo is disgusted by Conklin's bigotry but cannot submit to terrorist demands and has him arrested. Coalhouse agrees to surrender if Waldo permits his supporters to depart in his restored car and Waldo agrees after Father volunteers to stay as a hostage. Coalhouse's supporters escape and he drives Father out of the library. Ready to blow himself up, Coalhouse instead surrenders but is shot dead on Waldo's orders. The film ends with another newsreel: Evelyn dances in vaudeville and Thaw is released from an asylum. Houdini escapes from a straitjacket several stories above the ground, while newspapers announce that the First World War has begun. Younger Brother returns to his fireworks job and Father watches from the house in New Rochelle as Mother departs with Tateh and Coalhouse's son.

Herminia Barton, the Cambridge-educated daughter of a clergyman, frees herself from her parents' influence, moves to London and starts living alone. As she is not a woman of independent means, she starts working as a teacher. When she meets and falls in love with Alan Merrick, a lawyer, she suggests they live together without getting married. Reluctantly, he agrees, and the couple move to Italy. There, in Florence, Merrick dies of typhoid before their daughter Dolores is born. Legal technicalities and the fact that the couple were not married prevent Herminia from inheriting any of Merrick's money.

Dreaming of being a role model for Dolores and her friends, Herminia returns to England and raises her daughter as a single mother. She wants to show the younger generation that even as a woman there is something one can do about the unfair position of women in society—a small step maybe, but with more and larger steps to follow soon. However, Dolores turns out to be ashamed of her mother's unmarried state and gradually turns against her. Eventually, Herminia chooses to make a huge sacrifice for her daughter's benefit and commits suicide.

Each episode is opened by a greeting from host Ben Vereen, dressed as a spotted snow leopard, who plays the mayor of Zoobilee Zoo. Speaking directly to viewers that he refers to as "Zoobaroos", Vereen usually appears throughout each episode to summarize the main themes or to perform a song and dance.

The plot in each episode revolves around the main characters, called Zoobles, as they play together and encounter difficulties common to young children. The primary themes are cooperation, making friends, and creativity.

In 1881, Chon Wang – a homophone for John Wayne – is a Chinese Imperial Guard in the Forbidden City. After Princess Pei-Pei, aided by her foreign tutor, runs away to the United States, the Emperor of China sends three of his guards and the Royal Interpreter to retrieve her. Having failed to stop her escape, Wang insists on joining the mission. The Royal Interpreter, Wang's uncle, allows him to accompany the party, and the Captain of the Imperial Guards hopes the "foreign devils" will get rid of Wang. The party arrives in Nevada, where outlaw Roy O'Bannon and his gang hijack their train. Wallace, a new member of Roy's gang, kills Wang's uncle, and Wang, a skilled martial artist, fights off the gang before uncoupling the train cars and escaping on the engine. Wallace takes over the gang, leaving Roy buried up to his chin in the desert. Meanwhile, Pei-Pei, tricked into believing she was freely escaping her arranged marriage in China, learns she has been kidnapped by an agent of Lo Fong, a traitor who fled the Forbidden City.

Wang finds Roy and demands to know the direction to Carson City. Roy tells him the city is on the other side of a mountain, and Wang leaves two chopsticks in Roy's mouth to dig himself out. Reaching the other side of the mountain, Wang saves a Sioux boy from the Crow tribe and half-consciously marries the Sioux chief's daughter, Falling Leaves, during the wild celebrations. Wang finds a small town and encounters Roy in a tavern, inciting a barroom brawl. The two are sent to jail, and share each other's stories. Tempted by mention of the gold ransom, Roy offers to help Wang find the princess. After Falling Leaves helps them escape, Roy trains Wang in the ways of the cowboy, assisted by Falling Leaves.

In Carson City, Roy discovers that both he and Wang are wanted by Lo Fong's ally Marshal Nathan Van Cleef, narrowly escaping capture. They reach Roy’s "hideout” (a bordello), and bond with each other while recuperating there. They are arrested by Van Cleef after a drunken encounter with Wang, and discover that Lo Fong is behind the princess’ abduction. As they are about to be hanged, Wang frees himself, Falling Leaves shoots Roy loose, and they escape. Wang, upset at overhearing Roy tell a prostitute he is not Wang's friend, rides off alone. He finds Pei-Pei in Lo Fong's labor camp, but she wishes to stay and help the enslaved Chinese laborers. Lo Fong discovers Wang and attacks him, but Roy appears, saving Wang.

The next day, the Imperial Guards bring gold to the Carson City Mission church to ransom Pei-Pei from Lo Fong, but the exchange is complicated by the appearance of Wang and Roy. Wang tells his fellow guards he will not allow them to take the princess against her wishes. As the guards and Lo Fong fight, Van Cleef arrives and engages Roy in a gunfight. Roy survives unscathed, and shoots Van Cleef through his sheriff's star, killing him. Wang fights the Imperial Guards as Lo Fong chases Pei-Pei through the rafters of the church, but Wang convinces his guards to let him go to Pei-Pei’s aid instead. Wang and Lo Fong reach the bell tower, and Pei-Pei is wounded. Wang dismantles the bell, causing the ropes to strangle Lo Fong to death. The Imperial Guards agree to let Pei-Pei remain in Nevada, and reward Wang and Roy with the ransom gold.

Wallace and his gang arrive at the church, and demand that Roy and Wang come out and fight, but find themselves surrounded by the Sioux. At a Chinese cultural celebration, Roy shares a passionate kiss with Falling Leaves while Pei-Pei embraces Wang. Wang and Roy, who reveals his real name to be Wyatt Earp, become sheriffs and ride off after a new band of train robbers.

Filled with enthusiasm, Donald reports to his local draft board after receiving a draft notice. Along the way, he passes several recruiting posters that romanticize military life. Especially intrigued by one for the Air Force, featuring attractive women and the promise of escorting them around, Donald decides that he "wants to fly". After arriving at the draft board, Donald expresses his desire to join the Army Air Forces, adding excitedly, "I came from a family of aviators!" The desk officer directs Donald to a room where he is to undergo a physical examination.

Inside the exam room, a team of white-coated doctors hurriedly pass Donald around, measuring him and testing his vital signs, vision, and hearing. Several gags during the scene emphasize the army's willingness to accept as many recruits as possible, such as a color vision test that Donald passes even after mistakenly identifying a green card as being blue. At the end of the exam Donald is issued a uniform - vastly oversized, but shrunk to fit thanks to a bucket of water dumped over his head - and has his rear end stamped with a large "OK."

During basic training, Donald's unit is marched around the field by the drill sergeant (Pete). Donald is distracted by some planes flying overhead, reminding him that he would rather be flying. His lack of concentration causes him to march out of step with the other soldiers and accidentally chop Pete's necktie in half with his rifle bayonet when he is ordered to turn "about face". Pete dismisses the other soldiers to drill Donald personally, but Donald's inability to understand Army jargon causes him to make a series of comical mistakes. Pete finally orders Donald to stand at attention, but Donald mistakenly stands over an anthill, and struggles to maintain his composure as the ants crawl all over him. Finally he snaps and scrabbles madly to get the ants off, accidentally firing his rifle several times and striking Pete as he climbs a tree to get away. Donald is later punished by being assigned to peel a roomful of potatoes, shaving off one peel to form his catchphrase "phooey" in response to the chorus' lyrics that describe the good conditions in the Army.

The film centers on nerd Maxwell Dweeb (Robert Carradine), who is a loner with no friends. While watching television, he sees an advertisement for the ''Minnie Mouse Center for the Totally Unhip'', named after its owner, Minnie Mouse. Dweeb, in an effort to improve himself socially, decides to attend.

After being welcomed by the Director (Suzanne Somers), Dweeb is taken on a tour of the centre, where other Disney characters run various courses: Goofy is a fitness instructor, Donald Duck is a wardrobe manager, and Pluto is a messenger boy. After finally meeting Minnie Mouse, Dweeb is taken on by the Director. After seeing Elton John sing a duet with Minnie in "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", Maxwell feels he has it figured out and displays his new hip personality with clothes akin to Elton's, but the Director stops him saying that it is just not him, and that hipness does not equal emulation of another's style. Minnie takes Maxwell on a shopping spree; then the Director, impressed by a newly madeover Maxwell Dweeb, decides to date him.

The film is intershot with various musical numbers (including the duet "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" by Minnie Mouse and Elton John) and excerpts from early Disney shorts, including a D-TV number of Janet Jackson's "Nasty" with a montage of male Disney villains such as Black Pete and Captain Hook shown.

In this story, Donald and his three nephews meet a parrot named Yellow Beak and they wind up searching for the lost treasure of Henry Morgan. Unfortunately for them, Black Pete wants the treasure too.

Donald tries to grow a victory garden, but three pesky crows keep eating his seeds. After many failed attempts to outwit the crows, Donald's nephews give Donald a victory garden in his own bedroom with the aid of invisible seeds.

Scrooge McDuck travels to the Middle East to inspect a recently discovered treasure chest he is certain contains the treasure of the great thief Collie Baba, accompanied by Huey, Dewey and Louie, Webby Vanderquack, and Launchpad McQuack. Although initially disappointed when the chest seems to contain only old clothes, Scrooge is excited when an ancient treasure map is found in the pocket of an old robe. Guided by the thief Dijon, they set out to find the lost treasure, unaware that Dijon actually works for the evil wolf sorcerer Merlock, who desires something Collie Baba owned. The group discovers Collie Baba's treasure in a sand-covered pyramid. Webby sees a lamp in the treasure, which Scrooge lets her keep since it does not retain any value.

After packing up the treasure for transport, Scrooge and his group are trapped in a room full of monstrous scorpions by Merlock and Dijon, who steal the treasure. However, Merlock discovers that the lamp has been stolen; he drags Dijon with him to locate it. Scrooge and his friends manage to escape from the pyramid and, with nothing more than Webby's lamp, depart for Duckburg.

Days later, the children discover the lamp holds a Genie. Ecstatic about his freedom, the Genie grants the four children 3 wishes each; to trick Scrooge, he poses as the boys' Woodchuck scout friend Gene. Using the lamp's powers irresponsibility, their wishes include a baby elephant (which runs amok through Scrooge's mansion) and a giant ice cream sundae, among other things. Fearful of a bird flying by at night, Genie tells them about Merlock, who used his wishes for eternal life and the destruction of Atlantis and Pompeii, which were both popular vacation spots; Merlock's magic talisman, which allows him to take various animal forms, also overrides the lamp's rules, granting him unlimited wishes. Collie Baba stole the lamp from Merlock and hid it away with his treasure, and Merlock has spent the centuries since searching for it. The children suggest that they wish for the talisman, but Genie says that this is the only wish he is unable to grant. They must prevent Merlock from obtaining the lamp or the world will suffer.

The next day, Webby uses her last wish to bring all her toys to life, which forces the children to reveal the Genie's true identity to Scrooge. Wishing to impress the Archeological Society at their annual ball, Scrooge wishes for the treasure of Collie Baba, and brings the lamp and the Genie with him to the ball. He is followed by Merlock and Dijon, who violently ambush Scrooge. In the ensuing struggle, Scrooge mistakes a gravy boat for the lamp and leaves the lamp and the Genie behind, after which they both fall into the hands of Dijon, who is convinced by the Genie to keep the lamp instead of giving it to Merlock.

Having wished for Scrooge's fortune, Dijon takes possession of the Money Bin and other properties and has Scrooge arrested for trespassing. However, Scrooge is immediately bailed out by Launchpad, his nephews, Webby, Mrs. Beakley and Duckworth, who agree to help Scrooge set things right. Scrooge, the nephews and Webby infiltrate the Money Bin in an attempt to steal the lamp, but are stopped by Merlock, who recovers the lamp. With the Genie under his control again, Merlock wishes for Dijon to be turned into a pig for his disloyalty and then for the Money Bin to become a fortress, which flies into the air high above Duckburg. When an indignant Scrooge threatens him, Merlock wishes him "out of my house", and Genie reluctantly raises the wind to send Scrooge to the edge of the fortress, hanging on for dear life. The nephews use a slingshot to knock the lamp out of Merlock's hands, tossing it to Scrooge, who loses his grip and falls towards the earth. Merlock recovers his talisman and pursues as a griffin, grappling with Scrooge in the air, but Scrooge knocks the talisman from Merlock's hand, turning the sorcerer back to normal and making him fall to his (apparent) death.

Recovering the lamp, Scrooge uses his second wish to return himself, his family, and his Money Bin back to Duckburg. Back in the Money Bin, Scrooge declares that he has had "enough of all this wishing" and threatens to use his final wish to bury the lamp where it would never be found again. After protestations from Genie and the children, he instead wishes for Genie to become a real boy. Without the Genie, the lamp disintegrates and crumbles to dust, and thus removing its magic forever. While the children play with their newest friend, Scrooge discovers Dijon, recovered from Merlock's wish, stuffing his trousers with his money. Scrooge chases him outside and down the street while yelling "Somebody, stop those pants!" as the ''DuckTales'' theme song is heard, and the screen fades to black, and the credits roll.

In 1921, German director F. W. Murnau is shooting ''Nosferatu'', an unauthorized version of Bram Stoker's novel ''Dracula''. Murnau keeps his team in the dark about their schedule and the actor playing the vampire Count Orlok. It is left to the film's other main actor, Gustav von Wangenheim, to explain that the lead is an obscure German theater performer named Max Schreck, who is a character actor. To involve himself fully in his role, Schreck will only appear amongst the cast and crew in makeup, will only be filmed at night, and will never break character.

After filming scenes in a studio with leading actress Greta Schröder, who is displeased about leaving Berlin, Murnau takes his cast and crew to a remote inn in Czechoslovakia to film on-location. The landlady becomes distressed at Murnau removing crucifixes around the inn, and the cameraman, Wolfgang Muller, falls into a strange, hypnotic state. Gustav discovers a bottle of blood amongst the team's food supplies, and someone delivers a caged ferret in the night to a not yet fully revealed Schreck.

One night, Murnau rushes his team up to a nearby, old Slovak castle for the first scene with the vampire. Schreck appears for the first time, and his appearance and behavior impress and disturb them. The film's producer, Albin Grau, is confused when Murnau tells him that he originally found Schreck in the castle. Soon after the completion of the scene, Wolfgang is found collapsed in the tunnel into which Schreck had receded.

Whilst filming a dinner scene between Gustav and Orlok, Gustav accidentally cuts his finger. Schreck reacts wildly and tries drinking from Gustav's wound. The lights fail and when they return, Schreck is at Wolfgang's neck. Albin orders filming ended for the night, and the crew rushes from the castle, leaving Schreck behind. Alone, Schreck examines the camera equipment, fascinated by footage of a sunrise. With Wolfgang near death, Murnau is forced to bring in another cinematographer, Fritz Arno Wagner, after chastising Schreck in private for attacking his crew members and threatening him with harm if he does not control himself in Murnau's absence—a threat that Schreck challenges due to his immortality.

While Murnau returns to Berlin to calm financiers of the film, Schreck approaches Albin and the screenwriter, Henrik Galeen. They believe he is still in character, and Schreck points out Dracula's loneliness and the sadness of him trying to remember how to do otherwise mundane chores that he has not needed to perform for centuries. When they ask how he became a vampire, Schreck says it was a woman. Schreck snatches a bat and viciously sucks its blood. Grau and Galeen, thanks to their drunkenness on schnapps, are impressed by what they assume is talented acting. Later that night, Schreck attacks and kills a crew member on the film's set.

The production moves to the island of Heligoland to film the final scenes, and Murnau, in a laudanum-induced stupor, admits to Albin and Fritz that Schreck is an actual vampire, and in return for his cooperation, Murnau has promised him Greta. The two realize they are trapped on the island, leaving no choice but to complete the film that night.

On set Greta becomes hysterical after noticing Schreck casts no reflection. Murnau, Albin and Fritz drug her with Murnau's laudanum, and film as Schreck feeds on Greta, with the laudanum in her blood putting Schreck to sleep. At dawn, the three attempt to open a door and let in sunlight to destroy Schreck, but discover that the vampire had previously cut the chain to the mechanism, trapping them in the process. Fritz and Albin attack Schreck, only to be killed. Murnau, meanwhile, resumes filming, and, crazed, completely ignores the deaths of his colleagues and the malicious glare Schreck is giving him. Instead, he instructs Schreck to return to his mark for another take. Schreck is told, "If it's not in frame, it doesn't exist". Schreck returns to feed on Greta, as Murnau films. Galeen and the crew arrive and lift the door, destroying Schreck with the sunlight. Having become completely obsessed with the film, Murnau asks for an end slate to his rattled crew. After they oblige, he stops the camera and calmly states, "I think we have it."

Two hundred years after the events of ''Alien 3'', military scientists on the space vessel USM ''Auriga'' create a clone of Ellen Ripley, designated Ripley 8, using DNA from blood samples taken before her death. The Xenomorph queen's DNA has been combined with Ripley's, so the clone grows up with an embryo inside it. The scientists extract the embryo, raise it, and collect its eggs while keeping Ripley 8 alive for further study. As a result of the Xenomorphs' DNA inside her, the clone has enhanced strength and reflexes, acidic blood, and a psychic link with the Xenomorphs. Additionally, the Xenomorph's genetic memory allows the clone to have some of Ripley's memories.

A group of mercenaries consisting of Elgyn, Johner, Christie, Vriess, Hillard, and Call arrives at ''Auriga'' on their ship ''Betty'' and deliver several abducted humans in stasis. The military scientists use the humans as hosts for the aliens, raising several adult Xenomorphs for study.

The ''Betty'' crew soon encounters Ripley 8. Annalee Call recognizes her name and tries to kill her, suspecting that Ripley 8 may be used to create Xenomorphs, but the creatures have already been cloned. The mature Xenomorphs escape confinement by killing off one of their own to use its acidic blood to burn through their enclosures and capture Dr. Jonathan Gediman. They damage the ''Auriga'' and kill the majority of the crew who failed to evacuate, including General Perez and Elgyn. Military scientist Dr. Wren reveals that the ship's default command in an emergency is to return to Earth. Realizing that this will unleash the Xenomorphs on Earth, Ripley 8, the mercenaries, Wren, a soldier named DiStephano, and surviving Xenomorph host Purvis decide to head for the ''Betty'' and use it to destroy the ''Auriga''. Along the way, Ripley 8 discovers a laboratory containing the grotesque results of the previous seven failed attempts to clone Ellen Ripley. A surviving one begs Ripley 8 to euthanise her; she complies and then incinerates the lab.

As the group makes their way through the damaged ship, they swim through a flooded kitchen. They are chased by two Xenomorphs. One is killed, while the other snatches Hillard. As they escape the kitchen, the Xenomorph returns and blinds Christie, who sacrifices himself to kill the Xenomorph. After Wren betrays the group, Call is revealed to be an android. Using her ability to interface with the ''Auriga'''s systems, Call sets it on a collision course with Earth, hoping to destroy the Xenomorphs in the crash. She cuts off Wren's escape route and directs the Xenomorphs toward him. Ripley 8 is captured by a Xenomorph, while the others head for the ''Betty''. Wren, who is already aboard, shoots Purvis, takes Call hostage and demands that she abort the collision. An injured Purvis attacks Wren and forces Wren's head to his chest as the Xenomorph embryo he is carrying bursts through his ribcage, killing them both. The survivors shoot and kill the juvenile Xenomorph.

Ripley is taken to the Alien nest, where she finds Gediman, alive and partially cocooned. The Alien Queen, having developed a uterus as a result of her genetic contamination with Ripley 8, gives birth to a Xenomorph with overtly human traits. Unable to bond with the Queen, the hybrid Xenomorph recognizes Ripley 8 as its mother, so it kills the Alien Queen and Gediman. Ripley 8 takes advantage of the distraction to escape and makes her way to the ''Betty''.

The newborn hybrid reaches the ship and attacks Call, killing DiStephano when he tries to help her. Ripley 8 finds her way onto the ship and saves Call by distracting the hybrid. Using her acidic blood, Ripley 8 melts a hole in a window and pushes the hybrid towards it. The decompression violently blows the creature through the hole and out into space as Ripley 8 tearfully watches on.

The countdown on the ''Auriga'' continues as the survivors escape in the ''Betty''. The ''Auriga'' collides with Earth, causing a large explosion. As they look down at Earth, Call asks what Ripley 8 wants to do next. "I don't know. I'm a stranger here myself," she replies.

Following the events of ''Aliens'', an egg hatches aboard the Colonial Marine spaceship ''Sulaco'', releasing a facehugger. A fire starts and the ship's computer launches an escape pod containing Ellen Ripley, the young girl Newt, Hicks, and the damaged android Bishop; all four are in cryonic stasis. The pod crash-lands on Fiorina "Fury" 161, a foundry and maximum-security correctional facility inhabited by male inmates with a genetic predisposition for antisocial behavior. The inmates recover the crashed pod and its passengers. The same facehugger is seen approaching inmate Thomas Murphy's dog, Spike.

Ripley is awakened by Clemens, the prison doctor, who informs her that she is the sole survivor. She is warned by the prison warden, Harold Andrews, that her presence may have disruptive effects. Ripley insists that Clemens perform an autopsy on Newt and that her and Hicks's bodies be subsequently burned, secretly fearing that Newt may be carrying an Alien embryo. Despite protests from the warden and his assistant Aaron, the autopsy is conducted and no embryo is found. The funeral proceeds in the foundry with spiritual leader Dillon delivering a speech as the deceased are dropped into the furnace. Elsewhere in the prison, a quadrupedal alien bursts from Spike.

Ripley finds the damaged Bishop in the prison's garbage dump, before she is cornered by four inmates and almost gang-raped. After being saved by Dillon, Ripley returns to the infirmary and re-activates Bishop, who, before asking to be permanently shut down, confirms through scanning ship records that a Facehugger was onboard and came with them to Fiorina. Growing to full size, the alien kills three inmates, Murphy, Boggs, and Rains, and returns outcast prisoner Golic to his previously psychopathic state. Ripley informs Andrews of her previous Xenomorph encounters and suggests everyone work together to hunt down and kill it. Andrews does not believe her story, and explains that even if she were telling the truth, the facility is without weapons; their only hope is the rescue ship being sent for Ripley by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation.

The Alien ambushes Ripley and Clemens in the prison infirmary, killing him, and corners Ripley, but then mysteriously spares her and retreats. Ripley then rushes to the cafeteria to warn the others. Andrews orders Aaron to take her back to the infirmary, but the warden himself is dragged into the vents and killed by the monster. Ripley rallies the inmates and proposes they pour flammable toxic waste into the ventilation system and ignite it to flush out the extraterrestrial. However, its intervention causes a premature explosion and several inmates are killed. With Aaron's help, Ripley scans herself using the escape pod's medical equipment and sees the embryo of an Alien Queen growing inside her. She also discovers that Weyland-Yutani hopes to turn the aliens into biological weapons.

Deducing that the Alien will not kill her because of the embryo she carries, Ripley begs Dillon to kill her; he agrees only if she helps the inmates kill the Alien first. They form a plan to lure the Alien into the foundry's molding facility, trap it via a series of closing doors, and drown it in molten lead. The bait-and-chase plan results in the deaths of all the remaining prisoners except Dillon and Morse. Dillon sacrifices himself to position the Alien towards the mold as Morse pours the molten lead onto them. Although the Alien is covered in molten metal, it escapes the mold; Ripley activates the fire sprinklers, blowing it apart from thermal shock.

The Weyland–Yutani team arrives, including commandos and a man who looks identical to Bishop, who explains that he is Bishop's creator. He tries to persuade Ripley to undergo surgery to remove the Alien Queen embryo, which he claims will be destroyed. Ripley refuses and steps back onto a mobile platform, which Morse positions over the furnace. The Weyland–Yutani team shoot Morse in the leg to stop him; Aaron strikes the Bishop look-alike with a wrench and is shot dead by the commandos. Ignoring pleas to give them the embryo, Ripley throws herself into the furnace, holding captive the infant queen as it erupts from her. The facilities are closed down. Morse, the sole survivor, is led away as Ripley's final logbook recording from the ''Nostromo'' plays.

On October 26, 1985, Dr. Emmett Brown arrives unexpectedly in the DeLorean time machine at Marty’s front yard after the events of the 1st film. Doc persuades Marty McFly and his girlfriend, , to travel to the future with him and help their future children, with Biff Tannen witnessing their departure. They arrive on October 21, 2015, where Doc electronically incapacitates Jennifer and leaves her asleep in an alley, explaining that she should not have too much knowledge of future events. He has Marty pose as his son and lookalike Marty Jr. to refuse an offer to participate in a robbery with Biff's grandson Griff, thus saving Marty Jr. from prison.

Marty switches places with Marty Jr. and refuses Griff's offer, but Griff goads Marty into a fight, and a subsequent hoverboard chase ensues. Griff and his gang are arrested, saving Marty's future children. Before rejoining Doc, Marty purchases an almanac containing the results of major sporting events from 1950 to 2000. Doc discovers it and warns Marty about profiting from time travel. Before Doc can adequately dispose of it, they are interrupted by the police, who have found Jennifer incapacitated and are taking her to her 2015 home. They pursue, as does the elderly Biff, who has overheard their conversation and retrieved the discarded almanac.

Jennifer wakes up in her 2015 home and hides from the McFly family. She overhears that her future self's life with Marty is not what she expected, due to his involvement in an automobile accident. She witnesses Marty being goaded by his co-worker, Douglas Needles, into a shady business deal, resulting in Marty's firing. Jennifer tries to escape the house but faints after encountering her 2015 self. While Marty and Doc attend to her, Biff steals the time machine to give the almanac to his younger self, then returns to 2015. Marty, Doc, and an unconscious Jennifer return to 1985, unaware of Biff's actions. They leave Jennifer on her front porch.

The 1985 they return to has changed dramatically, with Biff now one of the country's wealthiest and most corrupt men. He has turned Hill Valley into a chaotic dystopia, secretly killed Marty's father, George, in 1973, and forced Marty's mother, Lorraine, to marry him. Doc has also been committed to a mental hospital. Doc deduces that the 2015 Biff took the time machine to give his younger self the almanac, and Marty learns from the alternate 1985 Biff that he received it on November 12, 1955. Biff tries to kill Marty, but Marty flees and travels to 1955 with Doc.

Marty secretly follows the 1955 Biff and watches him receive the almanac from his 2015 self. Marty then follows him to the high school dance, carefully avoiding interrupting the events from his previous visit. After several fruitless attempts, Marty finally gets the almanac, leaving Biff to crash into a manure truck. Marty burns the almanac, nullifying the changes to the timeline that it had caused, as Doc hovers above in the time machine. Before Marty can join him, the DeLorean is struck by lightning and disappears. A Western Union courier arrives immediately after and delivers a letter to Marty; it is from Doc, who explains that the lightning strike transported him 70 years in the past to 1885. Marty races back into town to find the 1955 Doc, who had just helped Marty to return to 1985. Shocked by Marty's sudden reappearance, Doc faints.

In 1955, moments after witnessing Emmett "Doc" Brown disappear in his DeLorean, Marty McFly learns that Doc was sent to 1885. Using information from Doc's 1885 letter, Marty and the 1955 Doc find and repair the DeLorean so Marty can return to 1985. However after finding it, Marty comes across a tombstone with Doc's name, with the inscription stating that Doc was shot by Biff Tannen's great-grandfather, Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen, six days after writing the letter.

Despite the letter's warnings, Marty travels back to 1885 to save Doc, arriving amidst a cavalry pursuit of Native Americans and tearing the car's fuel line in the process. Chased by a bear, he is knocked out and found by his Irish-born great-great-grandparents Seamus and Maggie McFly, who allow him to stay over the night. The next morning, under the alias Clint Eastwood, he arrives in Hill Valley but runs afoul of Buford and his gang. Buford tries hanging Marty, but Doc rescues him. Doc agrees to leave 1885 after learning his fate, but without gasoline, the DeLorean cannot reach its required . He thus proposes using a steam locomotive to push the DeLorean to that speed.

While inspecting a rail spur, Doc saves the town’s new schoolteacher Clara Clayton from falling into the ravine, averting her death from the original timeline. The two quickly fall in love and form a close relationship. At a town festival for the courthouse, Buford tries shooting Doc, but Marty thwarts him. Buford then challenges him to a showdown in two days; an angry Marty accepts, believing that he and Doc would have left by then. Doc urges Marty not to react to provocation, letting slip that Marty has a life changing accident in the future. Although he is reluctant to return to 1985, Doc eventually visits Clara to end their relationship and bid her goodbye. However, feeling insulted, she dismisses his story about being from the future. Despondent, he goes for a binge. In the morning, Buford arrives for Marty, who sees his alias in the tombstone appear in the photograph and refuses to duel. Doc passes out after one shot and eventually revives but is taken hostage by Buford's gang, forcing Marty into the duel. Fooling Buford into believing he was fatally shot, Marty knocks him into a wagon of manure. Buford is promptly arrested for an earlier robbery.

On the train for San Francisco, Clara learns how heartbroken Doc is and runs back to town. She finds the model of the time machine at Doc's shop. Realizing Doc was telling the truth, she heads back for the train. Using a stolen locomotive, Doc and Marty push the DeLorean along the spur line. Clara boards the locomotive and tries to reach the DeLorean, but she falls, hanging by her dress. Marty, in the DeLorean, passes his hoverboard to Doc, and he uses it to save Clara. Seeing them move away from the train, Marty gets to 88 mph and breaks the time-space continuum, getting away as the locomotive falls off the unfinished bridge.

Arriving in 1985, Marty escapes from the powerless DeLorean just before an oncoming freight train destroys it. Reuniting with Jennifer, Marty declines a street race with Douglas J. Needles, thus avoiding the future accident Doc warned him about. Jennifer opens the fax message she kept from 2015 and watches as the text regarding Marty's firing disappears. As Marty and Jennifer examine the DeLorean wreckage, a steam locomotive suddenly appears, operated by Doc, Clara, and their children. Doc gives Marty a photo of them standing next to the town clock in 1885. When Jennifer asks Doc about the blank fax, he says it means that their future has not yet been written and encourages them to make it a good one. Doc and his family bid farewell and fly off in the locomotive to an unknown time.

Two wounded soldiers, a Bosniak (Čiki, portrayed by Branko Đurić) and a Bosnian Serb (Nino, portrayed by Rene Bitorajac) are caught between their lines in the no man's land, in a struggle for survival. The two soldiers confront each other in a trench, where they wait for dark. They trade insults and even find some common ground. Confounding the situation is another wounded Bosniak soldier (Cera, portrayed by Filip Šovagović) who wakes from unconsciousness. A land mine had been buried beneath him by the Bosnian Serbs; should he make any move, it would be fatal.

A French sergeant (Marchand, portrayed by Georges Siatidis), of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR), gets involved in effort to help the three trapped soldiers, despite initial orders to the contrary by high command. UNPROFOR's mission in Bosnia was to guard the humanitarian aid convoys, to remain neutral and act as a mere bystander. Luckily, an English reporter arrives on scene, bringing media pressure to bear that moves the United Nations high command to swing into action to try to save the soldiers.

A row between the stressed out and fatigued Čiki and Nino gradually escalates even after being rescued. Eventually, Čiki shoots Nino and is in turn shot by a Peacekeeper. Meanwhile, it is found that the mine cannot be defused. The UNPROFOR high command tries to save face: they lie, saying that Cera has been saved and they leave the area, along with the reporters and everyone else.

In reality, Cera is left alone and desolate in the trenches, still immobilized by the mine. Meanwhile, the UNPROFOR commander has arranged false information to be passed to both Bosnian and Serb troops, to make them believe their enemies will be trying to reoccupy the trench at night (which each side would try to counter with an artillery barrage that presumably will kill Cera and obliterate the evidence).

The events of ''Au Bonheur des Dames'' cover approximately 1864-1869.

The novel tells the story of Denise Baudu, a 20-year-old woman from Valognes who comes to Paris with her younger brothers and begins working as a saleswoman at the department store "Au Bonheur des Dames". Zola describes the inner workings of the store from the employees' perspective, including the 13-hour workdays, the substandard food and the bare lodgings for the female staff. Many of the conflicts in the novel spring from each employee's struggle for advancement and the malicious infighting and gossip among the staff.

Denise's story is played against the career of Octave Mouret, the owner of Au Bonheur des Dames, whose retail innovations and store expansions threaten the existence of all the neighborhood shops. Under one roof, Octave has gathered textiles (silks, woolens) as well as all manner of ready-made garments (dresses, coats, lingerie, gloves), accessories necessary for making clothes, and ancillary items like carpeting and furniture. His aim is to overwhelm the senses of his female customers, forcing them to spend by bombarding them with an array of buying choices and by juxtaposing goods in enticing and intoxicating ways. Massive advertising, huge sales, home delivery, and a system of refunds and novelties such as a reading room and a snack bar further induce his female clientele to patronize his store in growing numbers. In the process, he drives the traditional retailers who operate smaller speciality shops out of business.

In ''Pot-Bouille'', an earlier novel, Octave is depicted as a ladies' man, sometimes inept, who seduces or attempts to seduce women who can give him some social or financial advantage. In ''Au Bonheur des Dames'', he uses a young widow to influence a political figure–modeled after Baron Haussmann–in order to gain frontage access to a huge thoroughfare, the present day rue de Quatre-Septembre, for the store.

Despite his contempt for women, Octave finds himself slowly falling in love with Denise, whose refusal to be seduced by his charms further inflames him. The book ends with Denise admitting her love for Octave and agreeing to marry him.

The depiction of women is modern. The department store is described as a place where female customers can live out their fantasies and impulses; for the female employees, it offers the possibility of financial independence.

Opening intertitle

The following intertitle begins the film:

那是一種難堪的相對。她一直羞低著頭，給他一個接近的機會。他沒有勇氣接近。她轉身，走了。(As it appears on screen, in Traditional Chinese)

那是一种难堪的相对。她一直羞低着头，给他一个接近的机会。他没有勇气接近。她转身，走了。(In Simplified Chinese)

It is a restless moment. She has kept her head lowered... to give him a chance to come closer. But he could not, for lack of courage. She turns and walks away. (Translation)

Summary

In 1962 British Hong Kong, Shanghai expatriates Chow Mo-wan, a journalist, and Su Li-shen, a secretary at a shipping company, rent rooms in adjacent apartments. Each has a spouse who works and often leaves them alone on overtime shifts. Due to the friendly but overbearing presence of a Shanghainese landlady, Mrs. Suen, and their bustling, mahjong-playing neighbours, Chow and Su are often alone in their rooms. Although they initially are friendly to each other only as need be, they grow closer as they realize that their spouses are having an affair.

Chow invites Su to help him write a martial arts serial. Their increased time together draws the attention of their neighbors, leading Chow to rent a hotel room where they can work together undistracted. As time passes, they acknowledge that they have developed feelings for each other. When Chow takes a job in Singapore, he asks Su to go with him. She agrees but arrives too late at the hotel to accompany him.

The next year, in Singapore, Chow relays a story to his friend about how in older times, when a person had a secret, they could go atop a mountain, make a hollow in a tree, and whisper it into the hollow and cover it with mud. Su arrives at Singapore and visits Chow's apartment. She calls Chow but remains silent when Chow picks up the phone. Later, Chow realizes she had visited his apartment after seeing a lipstick-stained cigarette butt in his ashtray.

Three years later, Su visits Mrs. Suen, who is about to emigrate to the United States, and inquires about whether her apartment is available for rent. Sometime later, Chow returns to Hong Kong to visit his former landlords the Koos, who have emigrated to the Philippines. He asks about the Suen family next door, and the new owner tells him a woman and her son are now living there. He leaves without realizing Su is the lady living there.

Chow travels to Siem Reap, Cambodia, and visits Angkor Wat. He whispers something unheard into a hollow in a wall there and plugs the hollow with mud.

Closing Intertitle

After Chow leaves Angkor Wat, the following intertitle appears and concludes the film:

那些消逝了的歲月，彷彿隔著一塊積著灰塵的玻璃，看得到，抓不著。他一直在懷念過去的一切。如果他能衝破那塊積著灰塵的玻璃，他會走回早已消逝的歲月。(As it appears on screen)

那些消逝了的岁月，仿佛隔着一块积着灰尘的玻璃，看得到，抓不着。他一直在怀念过去的一切。如果他能冲破那块积着灰尘的玻璃，他会走回早已消逝的岁月。(In Simplified Chinese)

He remembers those vanished years. As though looking through a dusty window pane, the past is something he could see, but not touch. And everything he sees is blurred and indistinct. (Translation)

Those vanished years, as if separated by a piece of dust-laden glass, can only be seen and not grasped. He keeps yearning for everything in the past. Had he shattered through that dust-laden glass, he would have walked back into those long-vanished years. (A more literal translation)

An unnamed fictional pro football league is hit with a players' strike with four games left in the season. Washington Sentinels owner Edward O'Neil calls a former coach of his, Jimmy McGinty, asking him to coach the Sentinels' replacement players for the rest of the season, adding that winning three of the last four games will get the Sentinels into the playoffs. McGinty accepts on the condition that he can sign the players he wants without O'Neil's interference.

McGinty pulls together players of varying talents who he believes can make a winning team. For quarterback, McGinty chooses Shane Falco, a former All-American from Ohio State whose career went to pieces after a lopsided Sugar Bowl loss; he now lives on a houseboat in a D.C. marina and makes a living doing hull maintenance on private yachts. Falco initially refuses, but McGinty persuades him, believing that Falco can still become the player he was meant to be. The striking players greet the replacement players at their first practice with hostility, calling them "scabs" and throwing eggs at them; Falco, who arrives late, gets his truck overturned. Head cheerleader Annabelle Farrell, who has to find new cheerleaders since the originals apparently walked out in sympathy with the players, hires strippers when the other tryouts go terribly badly. After practice, she drives Falco home and surprises him with her vast football knowledge.

The replacements' first game is against Detroit, and the team struggles to get along. Falco tries to rally them, but on the last play, he falters when he sees a pending blitz and calls an audible, which falls short of the winning touchdown. McGinty berates Falco, telling him, "winners always want the ball when the game's on the line." At a local bar, the replacements are brooding over their loss when some of the striking players, led by their prima donna quarterback Eddie Martel, arrive and taunt them. Falco stands up to Martel, a brawl ensues, and the replacements are arrested, but in jail they bond, dancing together to the Gloria Gaynor song "I Will Survive" in their cell before McGinty bails them out. Farrell meets Falco the next day and tells him that he's the first quarterback she's seen in a long time who cares more for his teammates than himself, and a connection starts to grow between them.

The next day, in a "chalk talk", when McGinty asks the players what their fears are, they begin to realize they're all afraid of failing in their second chance at football. McGinty inspires the team to use their shared fear as a source of strength. In the Sentinels' next game against San Diego, they fall behind again but are able to come together and win on a 65-yard field goal by their Welsh kicker, Nigel. Falco meets Farrell at the bar she inherited from her father and now runs. After a short conversation and a beer, they share a deep kiss.

The Sentinels nearly lose their next game on the road against Phoenix, but win on a couple of improbable plays. When they return to D.C., O'Neil tells McGinty that Martel has crossed the picket line, as has the entire Dallas team—the league's defending champion and the Sentinels' next opponent. O'Neil shows no confidence in Falco's ability to beat Dallas, and hints to McGinty that he could be fired if he refuses to start Martel. McGinty gives in and tells Falco, saying that he has the "heart" Martel lacks; Falco then must give his teammates the news. Too downcast to face Farrell, he stands her up for the date they had planned.

In the first half of the Dallas game, Martel clashes severely with the replacement players, blames them for his own mistakes, and smugly ignores McGinty's play calls. The Sentinels trail Dallas 17–0 at halftime. On the way to the locker room, McGinty tells a TV reporter that what the team needs to come back and win is "miles and miles of heart". Seeing this on television, Falco returns to the stadium, and McGinty promptly benches Martel. The rest of the team throws Martel out of the locker room. Back on the field, Falco finds Farrell and apologizes to her, giving her another deep kiss.

McGinty tells the replacements that the strike will officially end the next day, encouraging them to give everything they have left. The Sentinels rally back to 17–14 with less than a minute left. Falco calls for a deep pass to the replacements' deaf tight end, Brian Murphy, and hits him with the game-winning touchdown pass as time expires, earning the Sentinels a playoff berth. McGinty narrates that the replacement players left the field with nothing but the satisfaction and personal glory of living the athlete's dream of a "second chance", as the replacements dance on the field to "I Will Survive".

There are 4 main story arcs, their approximate order listed below, though typical of Wong's films, they are presented in pieces and in non-chronological order. For concision, knowledge of ''Days of Being Wild'' and ''In the Mood for Love'' is assumed, though not absolutely necessary.

2046 arc part I

In the future, a rail network connects Earth. Lonely souls try to reach a mysterious room called 2046; nothing ever changes there so there is never loss or sadness. No one has ever returned from 2046 except Japanese man Tak.

"All Memories Are Traces of Tears"

Returning to Hong Kong after years in Singapore, Chow becomes a suave ladies' man to cover up his pain from losing Su. On Christmas Eve, Chow meets Lulu and takes her home but accidentally keeps her room key. As he leaves, he notices that her room number is 2046. Upon returning the key, the landlord informs him that the room is not available due to renovations and offers the adjacent 2047. Chow later learns that Lulu was stabbed in 2046 the night before by a jealous boyfriend.

After finishing renovation of 2046, the landlord asks Chow if he wants to move in. He has now gotten used to 2047 and stays there.

Wang Jing-wen and Wang Jie-wen arc part I

The landlord's daughter Jing-wen moves into 2046; she is involved with a Japanese man that her father opposes. Eventually, Jing-wen breaks up with him, suffers a breakdown, and is institutionalized. The next tenant is Jing-wen's younger sister Jie-wen who seduces Chow to no avail.

A short time later, Chow runs into financial difficulties so he starts writing a series called ''2046'' about heartsick individuals trying to find the mysterious 2046. Nearly all of the characters in ''2046'' are based on people Chow has met, such as Su, Lulu, and Jing-wen.

Bai Ling arc part I

The 3rd to move into 2046 is Bai Ling, implied to be a nightclub girl and high-class prostitute seeking a long-term relationship. On the next Christmas Eve, Bai runs into Chow just after she is dumped by her boyfriend before they are to go to Singapore. He intrigues her with his experiences in Singapore and they become friends, but their initially platonic relationship soon becomes sexual. Chow wants to keep it strictly physical, continuing to pick up other prostitutes. To compromise, Bai makes him pay $10 each time he stays over. However, Bai realizes that she has feelings for Chow and asks him to stop seeing other women. Chow refuses so Bai breaks off with him, starts seeing men solely for money, and moves out of 2046.

Jing-wen part II

After Bai moves out, Jing-wen moves back in from the mental hospital but is still depressed over the loss of her ex. Her ex wants to reconcile with her but she refuses due to her father. Jing-wen helps Chow with his writing; he remarks that this is his happiest period post-Su. He develops feelings for her and makes some weak attempts but nothing develops since she still loves her ex.

One day Jing-wen asks Chow if some things in life never change. He answers by writing a story called ''2047'' in which a Japanese man falls in love on the trip home from 2046. While he initially tried to base the story on Jing-wen's ex, he realises that the story is ultimately about himself.

2046 arc part II

Tak (portrayed by Jing-wen's ex) tries to leave 2046 because he lost his love there. On the trip, he falls for one of the train's gynoid assistants (portrayed by Jing-wen), but it never responds to him. Tak realises that it is in love with someone else and finds the strength to leave the train and 2046. Completing the story marks a turning point in Chow's recovery.

Jing-wen part III

Next Christmas, Chow finds out Jing-wen still misses her ex so he lets her call him in his office. While he has feelings for her and could have taken advantage of the situation, he is happy that he did the "right thing." Soon after, Jing-wen moves to Japan and gets engaged.

While still depressed over the loss of Jing-wen, Chow runs into Lulu again as she confronts another woman for sleeping with her current boyfriend. Chow thinks Lulu is likely to forever remain in the past, though she seems content with her misery, and he resolves to get over Su.

Bai arc part II

Some time later, Bai calls Chow and they go out to dinner. She informs Chow that she plans to leave for Singapore and asks him for a reference and plane fare. Bai also asks where he was last Christmas, as she stopped by then, hoping to see him. Chow had gone back to Singapore to find another woman named Su Li-zhen.

Su Arc

Chow met the second Su when he first arrived in Singapore and was grieving over the first Su. The second Su agreed to help him win back his money so he could return to Hong Kong. They became lovers but unless he beat her in a "high-card" draw, she would never reveal her identity. After she won back his money, he asked her to go with him. She challenged him to a draw, which he again lost. Chow speculated that she also had a troubled past.

Initially heartbroken, Chow realizes after completing ''2047'' that the second Su did not go with him because he would have tried to recapture the past by looking for elements of the first Su in her. When Chow returned to Singapore to visit her the second time, he did not find her. He inquired about her whereabouts and theorized that she either returned to Cambodia or was killed.

Bai arc part III

The night before Bai leaves for Singapore, Chow dines with her again. She insists on paying for dinner after getting paid by a client and hands him a stack of money, each $10 bill representing a night they spent together. After dinner, Chow walks her back to her apartment. Grasping his hands at the door, she begs him to spend the night once more. He reminds her of a question she asked him, whether there was anything he wouldn't lend, and now he realizes that there is one thing he won't lend to anyone. Chow leaves in a taxi, staring emptily into space. He never saw her again.

First story

Taiwan-raised cop He Qiwu is dumped by his girlfriend named May on 1 April. To verify her earnestness in breaking up with him, Qiwu chooses to wait for a month.https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/scope/documents/2003/november-2003/gan.pdf Every day he buys a tin of pineapples with an expiration date of 1 May, because May enjoyed pineapples and 1 May was his birthday. Meanwhile, a woman in a blonde wig tries to survive in the drug underworld after a smuggling operation goes sour.

On 1 May, Qiwu approaches the woman in the blonde wig at the Bottoms Up Club. However, she is exhausted and falls asleep in a hotel room, leaving him to watch old films and order food. He shines her shoes before he leaves her sleeping on the bed. She leaves in the morning and shoots the drug baron who set her up. Qiwu goes jogging and receives a message from her on his pager wishing him a happy birthday. He visits his usual snack food store where he collides with a new staff member, Faye.

Second story

Another police officer is also dealing with a breakup—with a flight attendant. Faye secretly falls for him. One day, the flight attendant visits the store and waits for the man. She learns he is on his day off and leaves a letter for him with the snack bar owner containing a set of keys to the officer's apartment.

Faye tells him of the letter, but he delays reading it and asks the snack bar to keep it for him. Faye uses the keys to repeatedly enter the man's apartment to clean and redecorate. Gradually, her ploys help him cheer up. He finds Faye coming to his apartment and realizes that she likes him; he arranges a date at a restaurant named California. Faye does not arrive, and the snack bar owner, her cousin, goes to the restaurant to tell him that Faye has left for the US state of California. She leaves him a boarding pass drawn on a paper napkin dated one year later.

Faye, now a flight attendant, returns to Hong Kong. She finds that the man has bought the snack bar and is converting it into a restaurant. He asks her to stay for the grand opening, and asks her to send him a postcard if she leaves. As Faye is about to leave, he presents the boarding pass, wrinkled and water-stained, and she writes him a new one. She asks him where he wants the destination to be, to which he replies, "Wherever you will take me."

Ellen Ripley has been in stasis for 57 years aboard an escape shuttle after destroying her ship, the ''Nostromo'', to escape a lethal alien creature which slaughtered her crew. She is rescued and debriefed by her employers at the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, who are skeptical about her claim of alien eggs in a derelict ship on the exomoon LV-426, since it is now the site of the terraforming colony Hadleys Hope. After contact is lost with the colony, Weyland-Yutani representative Carter Burke and Colonial Marine Lieutenant Gorman ask Ripley to accompany them to investigate. Still traumatized by her alien encounter, she agrees on the condition they exterminate the creatures. Ripley is introduced to the Colonial Marines and an android, Bishop, on the spaceship ''Sulaco''.

A dropship delivers the expedition to the surface of LV-426, where they find the battle-ravaged colony and two live alien facehuggers in containment tanks, but no bodies or colonists except for a traumatized young girl, nicknamed Newt. The team locates the colonists beneath the fusion-powered atmosphere processing station and heads to their location, descending into alien-secretion-covered corridors. At the station center, the Marines find opened eggs and dead facehuggers, alongside the cocooned colonists now serving as incubators for the creatures' offspring. The Marines kill an infant alien after it bursts from a colonist's chest, rousing multiple adult aliens who ambush the Marines and kill or capture many of them. When the inexperienced Gorman panics, Ripley assumes command, takes control of their armored personnel carrier, and rams the nest to rescue Corporal Dwayne Hicks and Privates Hudson and Vasquez. Hicks orders the dropship to recover the survivors, but a stowaway alien kills the pilots and it crashes into the station. The survivors barricade themselves inside the colony.

Ripley discovers that Burke ordered the colonists to investigate the derelict spaceship containing the alien eggs, intending to profit by recovering them for biological weapon research. Before she can expose him, Bishop informs the group that the dropship crash damaged the power-plant cooling system and the plant will soon overheat and explode, destroying the colony. He volunteers to travel to the colony transmitter and remotely pilot the ''Sulaco'' s remaining dropship to the surface.

After falling asleep in the medical laboratory, Ripley and Newt awaken to find themselves trapped with the two released facehuggers. Ripley triggers a fire alarm to alert the Marines, who rescue them and kill the creatures. She accuses Burke of releasing the facehuggers to impregnate her and Newt, allowing him to smuggle the embryos through Earth's quarantine. The power is suddenly cut, and aliens attack through the ceiling. In the ensuing firefight, the aliens kill Burke, subdue Hudson, injure Hicks, and the cornered Gorman and Vasquez sacrifice themselves to avoid capture. Newt is separated from Ripley and taken by the creatures. Ripley brings Hicks to Bishop in the second dropship, but she refuses to abandon Newt and arms herself before descending into the processing station hive alone to rescue her. During their escape, they encounter the alien queen surrounded by dozens of eggs, and when one begins to open, Ripley uses her weapon to destroy them all and the queen's ovipositor. Pursued by the enraged queen, Ripley and Newt join Bishop and Hicks on the dropship and escape moments before the station explodes, consuming the colony in a nuclear blast.

On the ''Sulaco'' the group is ambushed by the queen, who stowed away in the dropship's landing gear. The queen tears Bishop in half and advances on Newt, but Ripley fights the creature with an exosuit cargo-loader and expels it through an airlock into space. Ripley, Newt, Hicks, and the critically damaged Bishop enter hypersleep for their return trip to Earth.

The game is set in medieval Persia. While the sultan is fighting a war in a foreign land, his vizier Jaffar, a wizard, seizes power. His only obstacle to the throne is the Sultan's daughter. Jaffar locks her in a tower and orders her to become his wife, or she would die within 60 minutes (extended to 120 minutes in the Super NES version, which has longer and harder levels). The game's unnamed protagonist, whom the Princess loves, is thrown prisoner into the palace dungeons. In order to free her, he must escape the dungeons, get to the palace tower and defeat Jaffar before time runs out. In addition to guards, various traps and dungeons, the protagonist is further hindered by his own doppelgänger, conjured out of a magic mirror.

''Absalom, Absalom!'' details the rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen, a white man born into poverty in western Virginia who moves to Mississippi with the dual aims of gaining wealth and becoming a powerful family patriarch. The story is told entirely in flashbacks narrated mostly by Quentin Compson to his roommate at Harvard College, Shreve, who frequently contributes his own suggestions and surmises. The narration of Rosa Coldfield, and Quentin's father and grandfather, are also included and re-interpreted by Shreve and Quentin, with the total events of the story unfolding in nonchronological order and often with differing details. This results in a peeling-back-the-onion revelation of the true story of the Sutpens. Rosa initially narrates the story, with long digressions and a biased memory, to Quentin Compson, whose grandfather was a friend of Sutpen's. Quentin's father then fills in some of the details to Quentin. Finally, Quentin relates the story to his roommate Shreve, and in each retelling, the reader receives more details as the parties flesh out the story by adding layers. The final effect leaves the reader more certain about the attitudes and biases of the characters than about the facts of Sutpen's story.

Thomas Sutpen arrives in Jefferson, Mississippi, with some slaves and a French architect who has been somehow forced into working for him. Sutpen obtains one hundred square miles of land from a local Native American tribe and immediately begins building a large plantation called Sutpen's Hundred, including an ostentatious mansion. All he needs to complete his plan is a wife to bear him a few children (particularly a son to be his heir), so he ingratiates himself with a local merchant and marries the man's daughter, Ellen Coldfield. Ellen bears Sutpen two children, a son named Henry and a daughter named Judith, both of whom are destined for tragedy.

Henry goes to the University of Mississippi and meets fellow student Charles Bon, who is ten years his senior. Henry brings Charles home for Christmas, and Charles and Judith begin a quiet romance that leads to a presumed engagement. However, Thomas Sutpen realizes that Charles Bon is his son from an earlier marriage and moves to stop the proposed union.

Sutpen had worked on a plantation in the French West Indies as overseer and, after subduing a slave uprising, was offered the hand of the plantation owner's daughter, Eulalia Bon. She bore him a son, Charles. Sutpen did not know that Eulalia was of mixed race until after the marriage and birth of Charles, but when he discovered that he had been deceived, he renounced the marriage as void and left his wife and child (though leaving them his fortune as part of his own moral recompense). The reader also later learns of Sutpen's childhood, when young Thomas learned that society could base human worth on material worth. It is this episode that sets into motion Thomas' plan to start a dynasty.

When Sutpen tells Henry that Charles is his half-brother and that Judith must not be allowed to marry him, Henry refuses to believe it, repudiates his birthright, and accompanies Charles to his home in New Orleans. They then return to Mississippi to enlist in their University company, joining the Confederate Army to fight in the Civil War. During the war, Henry wrestles with his conscience until he presumably resolves to allow the marriage of half-brother and sister; this resolution changes, however, when Sutpen reveals to Henry that Charles is part black. At the conclusion of the war, Henry enforces his father's interdiction of marriage between Charles and Judith, killing Charles at the gates to the mansion and then fleeing into self-exile.

Thomas Sutpen returns from the war and begins to repair his dynasty and his home, whose hundred square miles have been reduced by carpetbaggers and punitive northern action to one square mile. He proposes to Rosa Coldfield, his dead wife's younger sister, and she accepts. However, Sutpen insults Rosa by demanding that she bear him a son before the wedding takes place, prompting her to leave Sutpen's Hundred. Sutpen then begins an affair with Milly, the 15-year-old granddaughter of Wash Jones, a squatter who lives on the Sutpen property. The affair continues until Milly becomes pregnant and gives birth to a daughter. Sutpen is terribly disappointed, because the last hope of repairing his Sutpen dynasty rested on Milly giving birth to a son. Sutpen casts Milly and the child aside, telling them that they are not worthy of sleeping in the stables with his horse, who had just sired a male. An enraged Wash Jones kills Thomas, Milly, Milly's newborn daughter, and finally himself by resisting arrest.

The story of Thomas Sutpen's legacy ends with Quentin taking Rosa back to the seemingly abandoned Sutpen's Hundred plantation, where they find Henry Sutpen and Clytemnestra (Clytie), the daughter of Thomas Sutpen by a slave woman. Henry has returned to the estate to die. Three months later, when Rosa returns with medical help for Henry, Clytie mistakes them for law enforcement and starts a fire that consumes the plantation and kills Henry and herself. The only remaining Sutpen is Jim Bond, Charles Bon's black grandson, a young man with severe mental handicaps, who remains on Sutpen's Hundred.

The novel is divided into three parts, framed by a prologue and epilogue.

''Prologue''

The prologue takes place during the final years of the Second World War. Charles Ryder and his battalion are sent to a country estate called Brideshead, which prompts his recollections which form the rest of the story.

''Et In Arcadia Ego''

In 1923, protagonist and narrator Charles Ryder, an undergraduate reading history at a college very similar to Hertford College, Oxford, is befriended by Lord Sebastian Flyte, the younger son of the Marquess of Marchmain and an undergraduate at Christ Church. Sebastian introduces Charles to his eccentric friends, including the haughty aesthete and homosexual Anthony Blanche. Sebastian also takes Charles to his family's palatial mansion, Brideshead Castle, in Wiltshire, where Charles later meets the rest of Sebastian's family, including his sister, Lady Julia.

During the long summer holiday, Charles returns home to London, where he lives with his widowed father, Edward Ryder. The conversations there between Charles and Edward provide some of the best-known comic scenes in the novel. Charles is called back to Brideshead after Sebastian incurs a minor injury, and Sebastian and Charles spend the remainder of the holiday together.

Sebastian's family are Catholic, which influences the Flytes' lives as well as the content of their conversations, all of which surprises Charles, who had always assumed Christianity was "without substance or merit". Lord Marchmain had converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism to marry his wife, but he later abandoned both his marriage and his new religion, and moved to Venice, Italy. Left alone, Lady Marchmain focuses even more on her faith, which is also enthusiastically espoused by her elder son, the Earl of Brideshead ("Bridey"), and by her younger daughter, Lady Cordelia.

''Brideshead Deserted''

The Flyte family becomes aware of Sebastian's drinking problem and attempt to stop him drinking which only worsens the situation. Lady Marchmain falls out with Charles and he leaves Brideshead for what he thinks is the last time.

Julia marries the rich but unsophisticated Canadian-born businessman and politician Rex Mottram. This marriage causes great sorrow to her mother, because Rex, though initially planning to convert to Catholicism, turns out to be a divorcé with an ex-wife living in Canada. He and Julia subsequently marry without fanfare in the Savoy Chapel, an Anglican church where marriage between divorcees with one or more prior living spouses is permissible.

Sebastian, a troubled young man, descends into alcoholism, drifting away from the family over a two-year period. He flees to Morocco, where his drinking ruins his health. He eventually finds some solace as an under-porter and object of charity at a Catholic monastery in Tunisia. Sebastian's drifting leads to Charles's own estrangement from the Flytes.

Julia asks Charles to go and find Sebastian because Lady Marchmain (Sebastian's mother) is ill. Charles finds Sebastian in the monastery in Morocco. Sebastian is too ill to return to England, so Charles returns to London to see Brideshead and sort out Sebastian's financial affairs.

Charles is commissioned by Brideshead to paint images of Marchmain House, in London, before its demolition. The paintings are very successful. Charles talks to Cordelia while he paints and discovers more about the Flyte family.

''A Twitch Upon the Thread''

Charles finds success as an architectural painter and visits Latin America to portray the buildings there. Charles marries and fathers two children, but he becomes cold towards his wife, and she is unfaithful to him. He eventually forms a relationship with Sebastian's younger sister, Julia. Julia has separated from Rex Mottram.

Charles and Julia plan to divorce their respective spouses so that they can marry each other.

Cordelia returns from ministering to the wounded in the Spanish Civil War with disturbing news about Sebastian's nomadic existence and steady decline over the past few years. She predicts he will die soon in the Tunisian monastery.

On the eve of the Second World War, the ageing Lord Marchmain, terminally ill, returns to Brideshead to die in his ancestral home. Appalled by the marriage of his elder son Brideshead to a middle-class widow past childbearing age, he names Julia heir to the estate, which prospectively offers Charles marital ownership of the house. However, Lord Marchmain's return to the faith on his deathbed changes the situation: Julia decides she cannot enter a sinful marriage with Charles, who has also been moved by Lord Marchmain's acceptance of the Last Rites.

''Epilogue''

The plot concludes in the early spring of 1943 (or possibly 1944 – the date is disputed). Charles is "homeless, childless, middle-aged and loveless". He has become an army officer and finds himself unexpectedly billeted at Brideshead, which has been taken into military use. He finds the house damaged by the army, but the private chapel, closed after Lady Marchmain's death in 1926, has been reopened for the soldiers' use. It occurs to him that the efforts of the builders – and, by extension, God's efforts – were not in vain, although their purposes may have appeared, for a time, to have been frustrated.

In 1943 Tibet, a young monk is told that he has fulfilled a series of prophecies that mark him as his master's successor. Forgoing his name, the monk is entrusted with guarding a scroll with the power to keep whoever possesses it powerful, young, and immune to injury, yet could bring about disaster in the wrong hands. The monk is forced to flee when Nazi German soldiers, led by Colonel Strucker, attack his temple and murder his master.

Sixty years later, the nameless monk witnesses a young pickpocket named Kar fleeing from police, as well as members of a local gang who do not like him pickpocketing on their turf. When the pair collide with a young girl and put her into the path of an oncoming train, Kar and the monk rescue her. After the pair introduce themselves, Kar steals the scroll from the monk and runs away. The monk pursues Kar, believing he may have fulfilled the first prophecy. When Kar finds himself fighting the local gang's leader, he meets a roguish young woman among them named Jade, whom he falls in love with.

The following day, Jade attends a museum exhibition where she meets the director of the organization; a woman who is later revealed to be Strucker's young and equally vile granddaughter Nina. Using the museum as a cover, Nina secretly spearheads Strucker's ongoing hunt for the scroll. Later, Jade chances upon Kar being lectured by the monk and asks him to return her necklace, which he had stolen to earn her esteem. The meeting is interrupted when the monk is forced to run from Strucker's mercenaries, dragging Kar along with him.

With Kar's help, the monk arrives at a laundromat that secretly houses a group of monks who provide him shelter, and the monk offers to train him as thanks. Later, while training in an abandoned warehouse, Strucker's mercenaries come down on them in force. In the ensuing chase, Kar accidentally drops the scroll from the rooftop, where it is taken by a delighted Nina; however, she later discovers the scroll is a fake. The monk reveals to Kar that the scroll's true text has been tattooed onto his body all along. Angered, Nina visits Kar's home to track the pair down, murdering his employer.

The monk abandons Kar out of shame, but Kar, filled with newfound purpose, reunites with him at the laundromat. The pair are forced to flee when an ambitious monk betrays their location to Nina. The monks are taken to Strucker's secret facility beneath the museum, where they are forced into Strucker's memory-extracting torture devices; the monk who betrayed them is killed.

Seeking help, Kar and the monk visit Jade at her home, learning that she is the daughter of an imprisoned crime lord. The monk realizes that this fact, coupled with a small scuffle between Kar and Jade inside the house, has fulfilled the second prophecy. A moment later, Nina and her men breach the windows, shooting the monk with a tranquilizer dart and taking him back to the museum. Recognizing Nina from that morning, Jade surmises where the monk was taken and chooses to help rescue him. Meanwhile, Nina suggestively scans the monk's tattoos and inputs the compiled text into Strucker's computer.

Strucker begins reading from the scroll, but is interrupted when Jade and Kar breach the gates and launch an explosive attack, wiping out most of Strucker's guards. The pair then make their way into the facility through an underground water main, where they become separated. Jade is intercepted in the sewers by a smug and cavalier Nina, overconfident due in part to her ignorance of Jade's fighting skill. In the ensuing melee, Jade outmaneuvers Nina and breaks her leg with a well-placed kick, following up with a well-deserved beating before taking up the crippled Nina from behind and snapping her neck.

Strucker, dressed in his old uniform, regains his youth after reading from the scroll; however, he finds that the scroll's last verse, which the monk reveals he memorized, is missing. Before Strucker can scan the monk's brain for it, Kar arrives and distracts him, allowing the monk to break free. While Jade works to free the other monks, the nameless monk fights Strucker alongside Kar, knocking him off of the roof and onto live electrical wires.

Believing that Strucker has been dealt with, the pair reunite with Jade. The contents of the scroll transfer to Kar, as he has fulfilled the third prophecy. Strucker, still alive, attempts to kill Kar, but is killed himself by a falling statue. Kar is surprised to find Jade alive after seemingly being shot by Strucker; like Kar, she also fulfilled the three prophecies, and the scroll's power transferred to her as well. The monk, now aged, meets with Kar and Jade the next day, giving each one half of the final verse, deeming them inseparable. The pair wish him a good vacation from his duties before departing to fulfill their new roles.

The novel is about a lonely young man, Frederick Clegg, who works as a clerk in a city hall and collects butterflies in his spare time. The first part of the novel tells the story from his point of view.

Clegg is obsessed with Miranda Grey, a middle-class art student at the Slade School of Fine Art. He admires her from a distance but is unable to make any contact with her because he is socially underdeveloped. One day, he wins a large prize in the football pools. He quits his job and buys an isolated house in the countryside. He feels lonely, however, and wants to be with Miranda. Unable to make any normal contact, Clegg decides to add her to his "collection" of pretty, preserved objects, in the hope that if he keeps her captive long enough, she will grow to love him.

After careful preparations, he kidnaps Miranda by drugging her with chloroform and locks her up in the cellar of his house. He is convinced that Miranda will start to love him after some time. However, when she wakes up, she confronts him with his actions. Clegg is embarrassed and promises to let her go after a month. He promises to show her "every respect", pledging not to sexually molest her and to shower her with gifts and the comforts of home, on one condition: she can't leave the cellar.

The second part of the novel is narrated by Miranda in the form of fragments from a diary that she keeps during her captivity. Miranda reminisces over her previous life throughout this section of the novel; and many of her diary entries are written either to her sister or to a man named G.P., whom she respected and admired as an artist. Miranda reveals that G.P. ultimately fell in love with her and consequently severed all contact with her.

At first, Miranda thinks that Clegg has sexual motives for abducting her; but, as his true character begins to be revealed, she realises that this is not true. She begins to pity her captor, comparing him to Caliban in Shakespeare's play ''The Tempest'' because of his hopeless obsession with her. Clegg tells Miranda that his first name is Ferdinand (eventual winner of Miranda's affections in ''The Tempest'').

Miranda tries to escape several times, but Clegg stops her. She also tries to seduce him to convince him to let her go. The only result is that he becomes confused and angry. As Clegg repeatedly refuses to release her, she begins to fantasize about killing him. After a failed attempt to do so, Miranda enters a period of self-loathing. She decides that to kill Clegg would lower her to his level. She refrains from any further attempts to do so. Before she can try to escape again, she becomes seriously ill and dies.

The third part of the novel is narrated by Clegg. At first, he wants to commit suicide after he finds Miranda dead; but, after he reads in her diary that she never loved him, he decides that he is not responsible for what happened to her and is better off without her. He buries her corpse in the garden. The book ends with his announcement that he plans to kidnap another girl.

A young widow, Anne Gauthier (Anouk Aimée), is raising her daughter Françoise (Souad Amidou) alone following the death of her husband (Pierre Barouh) who worked as a stuntman and who died in a movie set accident that she witnessed. Still working as a film script supervisor, Anne divides her time between her home in Paris and Deauville in northern France where her daughter attends boarding school. A young widower, Jean-Louis (Jean-Louis Trintignant), is raising his son Antoine (Antoine Sire) alone following the death of his wife Valerie (Valerie Lagrange) who committed suicide after Jean-Louis was in a near fatal crash during the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Still working as a race car driver, Jean-Louis divides his time between Paris and Deauville where his son also attends boarding school.

One day Anne and Jean-Louis meet at the Deauville boarding school after Anne misses the last train back to Paris. Jean-Louis offers her a lift and the two become acquainted during the drive home, enjoying each other's company. When he drops her off, he asks if she would like to drive up together the following weekend, and she gives him her phone number. After a busy week at the track preparing for the next race, Jean-Louis calls and they meet early Sunday morning and drive to Deauville in the rain. Clearly attracted to each other, they enjoy a pleasant Sunday lunch with their children who get along well. Later that afternoon they go for a boat ride followed by a walk on the beach at sunset.

Jean-Louis spends the following week preparing for and driving in the Monte Carlo Rally in southeast France. Every day, Anne closely follows news reports of the race, which takes place in poor weather conditions along the icy roads of the French Riviera. Of the 273 cars that started the race, only 42 were able to finish, including Jean Louis's white Ford Mustang, number 145. Watching the television coverage of the conclusion of the race, Anne sends Jean-Louis a telegram that reads, "Bravo! I love you. Anne."

That night at a dinner for the drivers at the Monte Carlo Casino, Jean-Louis receives the telegram and leaves immediately. He jumps into the other Mustang (number 184) used during the race and drives through the night to Paris, telling himself that when a woman sends a telegram like that, you go to her no matter what. Along the way he imagines what their reunion will be like. At her Paris apartment, Jean-Louis learns that Anne is in Deauville, so he continues north. Jean-Louis finally arrives in Deauville and finds Anne and the two children playing on the beach. When they see each other, they run into each other's arms and embrace.

After dropping their children off at the boarding school, Jean-Louis and Anne drive into town where they rent a room and begin to make love with passionate tenderness. While they are in each other's arms, however, Jean-Louis senses that something is not right. Anne's memories of her deceased husband are still with her and she feels uncomfortable continuing. Anne says it would be best for her to take the train back to Paris alone. After dropping her off at the station, Jean-Louis drives home alone, unable to understand her feelings. On the train Anne can only think of Jean-Louis and their time together. Meanwhile, Jean-Louis drives south through the French countryside to the Paris train station, just as her train is arriving. As she leaves the train, she spots Jean-Louis and is surprised, hesitates briefly, and then walks toward him and they embrace.

During World War II in a small town in the First Slovak Republic (a client state of Nazi Germany), mild-mannered Slovak carpenter Antonín "Tóno" Brtko is chosen by his brother-in-law, who holds an influential position in the local fascist government, to take over the sewing notions (i.e. haberdasher) shop owned by the elderly Jewish widow Rozália Lautmannová as part of the Aryanization efforts in the country. While Brtko is struggling to explain to Lautmannová, who is nearly deaf, oblivious to the outside world, and generally confused, that he is now her supervisor, Imrich Kuchár, Brtko's friend and a Slovak who opposes Aryanization, enters and informs Brtko that the business is unprofitable and Lautmannová relies on donations to make ends meet. Kuchár tells Lautmannová that Brtko has come to help her and connects Brtko with the leadership of the Jewish community of the town, who agree to pay him a regular salary to remain the official Aryan controller of the shop, since, if he quits, he might be replaced by someone more militantly fascist or anti-Semitic.

Brtko lets Lautmannová continue to run things in her shop, spending most of his time fixing her furniture or ineptly trying to assist her with customers, and the pair begin to develop a close relationship. When he hears that the authorities are going to gather the Jewish citizenry of the town and transport them elsewhere en masse, he does not tell Lautmannová and at first considers hiding her, but he starts to question this course of action when the roundup actually begins. Drinking steadily, he eventually loses his nerve and attempts to cajole and then force Lautmannová to join her friends in the street. She finally recognizes that a pogrom is happening and panics. Brtko chases her around inside the shop, but he stops and feels ashamed of himself after he witnesses his other Jewish neighbors actually being carted away. Seeing some soldiers heading toward the shop, he throws Lautmannová, who is in a frenzy, into a closet to hide her. The soldiers just glance in the window and keep walking. When Brtko opens the closet door, he discovers Lautmannová's dead body, and, devastated, hangs himself. The movie ends with a fantasy sequence in which the now deceased Lautmannová and Brtko run and dance through the town square together.

Morgan Delt (David Warner) is a failed working-class London artist, who was raised as a communist by his parents. His upper-class wife, Leonie (Vanessa Redgrave), has given up on him and is in the process of getting a divorce in order to marry Charles Napier (Robert Stephens), an art gallery owner of her own social standing. Locked into a personal world of fantasy, Morgan performs a series of bizarre stunts in a campaign to win back Leonie, including putting a skeleton in her bed and blowing up the bed as her mother sits on it. When these stunts fail, Morgan secures the help of Wally "The Gorilla" (Arthur Mullard), a pro wrestler friend of his mother (Irene Handl), to kidnap Leonie, who still nurtures residual feelings of love tinged with pity for Morgan. Leonie is left with Morgan and Wally on the British countryside, with are ironically intercut with clips from ''Tarzan''. Leonie soon gets rescued, and Morgan is arrested and imprisoned.

After escaping, he crashes the wedding reception of Leonie and Charles dressed as a gorilla (with clips from ''King Kong'' used to illustrate Morgan's fantasy world). Morgan flees the wedding on a motorcycle with his gorilla suit on fire, and subsequently is committed to an insane asylum, where Leonie visits him looking visibly pregnant. With a wink, Leonie tells him he is the child's father. Morgan returns to tending a flowerbed, as the camera pulls out to a longshot of the entire circular flowerbed with the enclosed flowers arranged into a hammer and sickle.

Jarvis Stringer is a student of the London Tube and its history and of underground trains worldwide. In order to finance his hobby and be able to travel to distant lands to inspect the underground systems in other parts of the world, he lets rooms in an old disused school building he has inherited which is close to the London Underground tracks in West Hampstead. There gather a group of misfits and weirdos, including a squatter, whose dreams of the good life have time and again been shattered as they are constantly victimized by society. There is 24-year-old Alice, an aspiring musician who leaves her husband and new-born baby only to end up busking in various stations in central London. There is Tom, who, after an accident, drops out of music school and is reduced to busking as well but who dreams of one day starting his own business. There is unemployed Tina, whose promiscuity landed her with two children whom she does not take care of in the way her mother thinks she ought to. There is Jed, who volunteers as a vigilante and who, disappointed by humans, lavishes all his love on the hawk he has acquired and which he keeps in the house. And there is Axel, an enigmatic man who regularly travels on the tube in the company of a man disguised as a bear and who is planning something illegal.

Cecilia and Daphne, two old ladies living in the neighbourhood, serve as a foil to this ill-assorted group. It is Cecilia in particular who does not understand how young people such as her daughter Tina can be utterly devoid of morals. She is shocked to learn that her 10-year-old grandson enjoys riding on the roof of cars as they go through deep-level tunnels. While travelling on the tube herself, her handbag containing her credit cards is stolen, and she suffers a stroke in one of the packed cars.

The novel is interspersed with extracts from Jarvis Stringer's (fictional) book on the London Underground.

The story begins with the arrival not of a detective, but of disaster: Badfort is for sale, but when Uncle decides to buy it, demolish it, and build a pleasantly appointed park on the site, he is forestalled. Beaver Hateman has sold it cheaply to someone on the condition that he, Hateman, is allowed to stay on as a paying guest. Forgetting that the man who has bought Badfort is certain to regret the "bargain", Uncle tries to console himself by continuing his never-ending exploration of Homeward. He comes across the Art Gallery, reached along Quack Walk between two ponds crowded with noisy and aggressive ducks. ''En route'' he discovers the mysterious Crack House, which is the lair of a vicious and horribly squawking creature, half-bat, half-bird, called Batty. After visiting the Art Gallery and discovering that Batty is persecuting the curator and his family, Uncle has Batty expelled from Crack House and pursues a report of buried treasure there. Constant trips to Crack House have accustomed the ducks to passers-by, and Uncle's miserly friend Alonzo S. Whitebeard foolishly tries to take advantage of their docility.

:

This time the ducks were much quieter. They seemed so docile and friendly that Whitebeard captured one and tried to hide it under his beard, having visions of hot duck for supper. The duck nearly bit a piece out of his chest and Whitebeard flung it from him with a roar of pain.

By now the Detective of the title has appeared: an elegant and astute fox called A. B. Fox, who proves worthy of his hire (five shillings a day) as the Badfort Crowd, sniffing treasure from afar, are constantly on the prowl. After many adventures, Uncle eventually tracks down the treasure, an unimaginably vast block of softly glowing gold (or dlog, as they code-name it), beats off a final attack from the Badfort Crowd, and enjoys the acclaim of the grateful inhabitants of Homeward when he decides to distribute the gold for the common good. But the celebrations are interrupted briefly with a reminder that the Badfort Crowd, though defeated, are far from down and out. A group of young badgers are singing a song in praise of Uncle when:

:

[A]n atrocious raucous voice away on the edge of the crowd interrupted them. 'See that pompous humbug Unc/On the platform raise his trunk.'

It's a promise of more trouble in the future from the Badfort Crowd, who are once again in sole possession of their ramshackle and crumbling headquarters.

'''Cremona, 1681''' ''(Language: Italian)''

Nicolò Bussotti is a violin-maker whose wife, Anna Rudolfi, is pregnant. Anna asks her servant Cesca to foretell her unborn child's future. Cesca cannot determine the future of someone not born, but she does offer to read Anna's future using tarot cards. The first, The Moon, signifies that Anna will live a long life.

In the meantime, Nicolò has fashioned a new violin. He is about to varnish it when he finds that both she and the child have died. Distraught, Nicolò returns to his shop and varnishes the violin with a red color. The violin then makes its way to an orphanage in Austria.

'''Vienna, 1793''' ''(Language: German and French)''

Cesca turns over the second card, The Hanged Man, which means disease and suffering for those around Anna.

At the orphanage, the violin comes into the possession of Kaspar Weiss, a young but brilliant violin prodigy. The monks at the orphanage ask a violin instructor, Poussin, to adopt the boy to further his development. Poussin brings Weiss and the violin to Vienna. They learn that Prince Mannsfeld is visiting Vienna and is looking for a prodigy to accompany him back to Prussia, promising a generous reward. Poussin puts Weiss through a strict practice regimen. However, the regimen and the "Poussin Meter" (a primitive metronome) take a toll on Weiss' heart defect. On the day of the recital, as he starts playing, Weiss's heart gives out from the stress and he collapses, dead.

Weiss is buried at the orphanage he grew up in. When Poussin inquires about the violin, the monks explain that they buried it with Weiss. The violin is later stolen by grave robbers travelling in a gypsy procession, who take it to England.

'''Oxford, late 1890s''' ''(Language: English and Romani)''

Cesca's third card is The Devil and she explains that Anna will meet a handsome and intelligent man who will seduce her.

Lord Frederick Pope comes across the gypsy procession setting up camp on his estate, as a gypsy woman plays the violin. He offers his hospitality in exchange for the violin. Frederick finds great praise in his public concerts with the violin as well as his compositions, with his lover Victoria Byrd serving as his carnal muse. Victoria, a writer, announces to Frederick that she needs to travel to Russia to research a novel she is working on.

While Victoria is absent, Frederick loses his inspiration to compose and degenerates. When Victoria does not receive his letters for a full week, she resolves to return immediately. But when she arrives, she finds him in the arms of a new muse, the gypsy violinist woman. In a moment of rage, Victoria shoots the violin, grazing its neck and detaching its strings and tailpiece, before storming out.

Frederick's final letter to Victoria states that he will be committing suicide and that he is leaving his entire estate to her. The violin ends up in the hands of Frederick's Chinese servant, who returns to Shanghai and sells it to an antiques dealer, who repairs the damage. The instrument is sold to a young woman with her daughter during the 1930s.

'''Shanghai, late 1960s''' ''(Language: Mandarin)''

Cesca predicts the fourth card, Justice, means tough times ahead, featuring a trial and persecution, where Anna shall be guilty.

In the chaos of China's Cultural Revolution, any ideas or items deemed "bourgeois" are denounced and should be destroyed. One target for public denunciation and self-criticism is a music teacher named Zhou Yuan, who is berated for his fondness for Western classical music. A political officer, Xiang Pei, successfully defends Zhou. Xiang then returns to her residence and retrieves the Red Violin, given as a gift from her mother. Several Red Guards raid Xiang's apartment after learning of its existence, finding nothing.

Xiang arrives at Zhou's house and pleads with him to take the violin to keep it safe. He relents and vows to keep it hidden, while Xiang leaves to face possible prosecution from Communist Party officials. Years later, Chinese police enter Zhou's home to find his dead body amid a "sanctuary" of dozens of musical instruments. Upon this discovery, the present-day Chinese government ships these items to Montreal for appraisal and sale at auction.

'''Montréal, 1997''' ''(Language: English and French)''

The final card, Death, Cesca sees not as predicting death, but, due to its upside-down positioning, as rebirth.

Charles Morritz arrives in Montreal as an appraiser for the violins sent by the Chinese government. Almost immediately, he notices the Red Violin and believes it may be the legendary last violin of Nicolò Bussotti. He has restorer Evan Williams perform some work on it, while sending samples of the varnish to a lab at the University of Montreal. At the same time, he purchases a copy of the Red Violin from a private collection in London, the closest copy to the original available.

When the results of the varnish tests arrive, Morritz is shocked to learn that the violin's varnish contains human blood. Nicolò had carried his wife's body to his shop after her death and slit her wrist to collect blood for making the red varnish. He admits to the auction manager, Leroux, that it is the Red Violin.

As he prepares to fly home, Morritz stops by the auction house "Duval's", with the London copy in hand. As the auction for the previous lot ends, Morritz switches the Red Violin for the London copy, which is sold for $2.4 million. Morritz calls his wife at home in New York City and asks to speak to his daughter, telling her he has a special present for her upon his return.

In this story, Goodman the Cat joins Uncle's supporters. He is rescued from down-trodden and hungry service at Wizard Blenkinsop's and throws himself wholeheartedly into battle against Uncle's enemies, though never quite ridding himself of a propensity to steal fish and postage stamps. His fish-stealing gets him into trouble at Professor Gandleweaver's Fish-Frying Academy, and Uncle is forced to make a dignified exit as the crowd gathered to watch Gandleweaver's frying exhibition turns ugly:

:The crowd began to hiss, and, as Uncle didn't want a row, he decided to withdraw and take action later. The moment he and his party got out of the crowd, they were forgotten. The Professor had started frying a conger eel in an enormous pan, and this is one of star turns; and nobody thinks about anything else when he does it.

The incident is seized on by the Badfort Crowd and written up in the usual lying and distorted way in ''The Badfort News'', one of the many provocations offered by the newspaper that eventually lead Uncle to take action against it. Visiting its offices, he finds a young badger literally chained to the printing-press, whom he rescues before visiting well-deserved punishment on Beaver Hateman by kicking him far and high into Gaby's Marsh, where "the crabs are" and "the barking conger eels". As before, ''Uncle Cleans Up'' ends in Uncle's capture by the Badfort Crowd before he escapes, this time with the help of his loyal friend the Old Monkey, and a great battle is fought in which the Badfort Crowd are completely defeated—until next time. The last that is seen of Beaver Hateman is this:

:Even for Uncle it was a great kick-up. Beaver Hateman was holding a huge lighted cigar in his hand, and the wind made it glow so that everyone could see in the sky what looked like a slowly soaring red light.

He comes down in Gaby's Marsh again, and vows in an insolent letter delivered to Uncle as the book closes that he will take a revenge "so fearful that anyone who speaks of it will develop lockjaw".

The show follows secret agent Angus MacGyver, played by Richard Dean Anderson, who works as a troubleshooter for the fictional Phoenix Foundation in Los Angeles and as an agent for a fictional United States government agency, the ''Department of External Services'' (DXS). Educated as a scientist in Physics at Western Tech ("Hell Week"), MacGyver served in the U.S. Army Special Forces as a Bomb Team Technician/EOD during the Vietnam War ("Countdown"). Resourceful and possessing an encyclopedic knowledge of the physical sciences, he solves complex problems by making things out of ordinary objects, along with his ever-present Swiss Army knife,. He favors non-violent resolutions and prefers not to handle firearms due to the accidental shooting death of one of his friends when he was 12.

His main asset is his practical application of scientific knowledge and inventive use of common items. The clever solutions MacGyver implemented to seemingly unsolvable problems often in life-or-death situations requiring him to improvise complex devices in a matter of minutes were a major attraction of the show, which was praised for generating interest in the applied sciences, particularly engineering, and for providing entertaining storylines. All of MacGyver's exploits on the show were ostensibly vetted by consulting scientists for the show's writers to ensure a basis on scientific principles (even though, the creators acknowledged, in real life one would have to be extraordinarily lucky for most of MacGyver's ideas to succeed). In the few cases where MacGyver used household chemicals to mix up poisons, explosives or other items deemed too dangerous to be accurately described to the public, details were altered or left vague or an essential component or step was omitted.

The show often dealt with social issues, though more so in seasons 4–7 than 1–3, which were mostly about MacGyver's adventures working for the United States government and later for the Phoenix Foundation.

In a frame story, a rich couple sailing alone in space, Jinn and Phyllis, rescue and translate a manuscript from a floating bottle. The manuscript was written by journalist Ulysse Mérou, who in 2500 was invited by wealthy Professor Antelle to accompany him and his disciple, physician Arthur Levain, to Betelgeuse. Because they travel close to the speed of light, time dilation causes centuries to pass on Earth during their two years in transit. They land their shuttle on a temperate, lushly forested planet which they name ''Soror'' (Latin for ''sister''). They can breathe the air, drink the water and eat the fruit. Attracted by a woman whom they call Nova, they swim below a scenic waterfall. She is frightened by their pet chimpanzee, Hector, and strangles it. Her tribe, who exhibit the behavior of dumb animals, wreck the newcomers' clothing and shuttle.

Gorillas, fully dressed as hunters, attack the tribe with firearms. Many are killed, including Arthur. Ulysse is captured with the survivors and brought to a city populated by apes. Ape clothing matches that of 20th century Earth humans, except that the apes wear gloves instead of shoes on their prehensile feet. The apes smoke tobacco, photograph their hunting trophies, drink through straws and appear utterly civilized. Their society is divided into three strata: aggressive gorilla police and military, conservative orangutan politicians and religious authorities, and liberal chimpanzee scientists.

In an urban biological research facility, Ulysse recognizes conditioning methods being used on captured humans. He is mated with Nova. Curious chimpanzee researcher Zira takes an interest in his geometric drawings and his ability to speak a few simian words. With help from Zira's fiancé, Cornélius, Ulysse makes a speech in front of several thousand apes. He is granted freedom and is given tailored clothing. Antelle reverts to primitive humanity in the zoo and is moved to the laboratory for safety, where he is mated to a young female.

Cornélius, an archaeologist, excavates an ancient human city. An unconscious human lab subject recites from racial memory the events that led to the fall of human civilization: humans tamed apes and eventually used them as servants. As apes learned to talk, a cerebral laziness took hold of the humans. Apes gradually took over human homes, driving the humans into camps outside of the cities. In the final memory, apes attacked the last human camp, carrying only whips.

Nova bears Ulysse a son, Sirius, who walks and talks at three months. Fearing for their lives, they take the place of the human test subjects in a space flight experiment. Because all humans look alike to apes, they are able to escape without notice and they rendezvous with the orbiting ship. Ulysse programs the ship back to Earth. As they fly over Paris, Orly Airport and the Eiffel Tower look the same. When they land, however, they are greeted by a field officer in a Jeep who is a gorilla. It is subsequently revealed, via the frame story, that Jinn and Phyllis are actually civilized chimpanzees, and they discard Ulysse's story as sheer fantasy because they find the idea of intelligent humans unbelievable.

Set in contemporary Paris, the story of the film is a variation of the classic Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. The picture begins with Orpheus (Marais), a famous poet, visiting the Café des Poètes. At the same time, a Princess (Casares) and Cégeste ( ), a handsome young poet whom she supports, arrive. The drunken Cégeste starts a brawl. When the police arrive and attempt to take Cégeste into custody, he breaks free and flees, only to be run down by two motorcycle riders. The Princess has the police place Cégeste into her car in order to "transport him to the hospital". She also orders Orpheus into the car in order to act as a witness. Once in the car, Orpheus discovers Cégeste is dead and that the Princess is not going to the hospital. Instead, they drive to a chateau (the landscape through the car windows is presented in negative) accompanied by the two motorcycle riders as abstract poetry plays on the radio. This takes the form of seemingly meaningless messages, like those broadcast to the French Resistance from London during the Occupation.

At the ruined chateau, the Princess reanimates Cégeste into a zombie-like state, and she, Cégeste, and the two motorcycle riders (the Princess' henchmen) disappear into a mirror, leaving Orpheus alone. He wakes in a desolate landscape, where he stumbles on the Princess' chauffeur, Heurtebise (Périer), who has been waiting for Orpheus to arrive. Heurtebise drives Orpheus home where Orpheus' pregnant wife Eurydice (Déa), a police inspector, and Eurydice's friend Aglaonice (head of the "League of Women", and apparently in love with Eurydice) discuss Orpheus' mysterious disappearance. When Orpheus comes home, he refuses to explain the details of the previous night despite the questions which linger over the fate of Cégeste, whose body cannot be found. Orpheus invites Heurtebise to live in his house and to store the Rolls in Orpheus' garage, should the Princess return. Eurydice attempts to tell Orpheus that she is with child, but is silenced when he rebuffs her.

While Heurtebise falls in love with Eurydice, Orpheus becomes obsessed with listening to the abstract poetry which only comes through the Rolls' radio, and it is revealed that the Princess is apparently Death (or one of the suborders of Death). But note that Cocteau himself commented on such interpretation:

"Among the misconceptions which have been written about ''Orphée'', I still see Heurtebise described as an angel and the Princess as Death. In the film, there is no Death and no angel. There can be none. Heurtebise is a young Death serving in one of the numerous sub-orders of Death, and the Princess is no more Death than an air hostess is an angel. I never touch on dogmas. The region that I depict is a border on life, a no man's land where one hovers between life and death."

When Eurydice is killed by Death's henchmen, Heurtebise proposes to lead Orpheus through the Zone (depicted as a ruined city – actually the ruins of Saint-Cyr military academy) into the Underworld in order to reclaim her. Orpheus reveals that he may have fallen in love with Death who has visited him in his dreams. Heurtebise asks Orpheus which woman he will betray: Death or Eurydice? Orpheus enters the afterlife by donning a pair of surgical gloves left behind by the Princess after Eurydice's death.

In the Underworld, Orpheus finds himself as a plaintiff before a tribunal which interrogates all parties involved in the death of Eurydice. The tribunal declares that Death has illegally claimed Eurydice, and they return Eurydice to life, with one condition: Orpheus may not look upon her for the rest of his life on pain of losing her again. Orpheus agrees and returns home with Eurydice. They are accompanied by Heurtebise, who has been assigned by the tribunal to assist the couple in adapting to their new, restrictive, life together.

Eurydice visits the garage where Orpheus constantly listens to the Rolls' radio in search of the unknown poetry. She sits in the backseat. When Orpheus glances at her in the mirror, Eurydice disappears. A mob from the Café des Poètes (stirred to action by Aglaonice) arrives in order to extract vengeance from Orpheus for what they suppose to be his part in the murder of Cégeste. Orpheus confronts them, armed with a pistol given to him by Heurtebise, but is disarmed and shot. Orpheus dies and finds himself in the Underworld. This time, he declares his love to Death who has decided to herself die in order that he might become an "immortal poet". The tribunal this time sends Orpheus and Eurydice back to the living world with no memories of the previous events. Orpheus learns that he is to be a father, and his life begins anew. Death and Heurtebise, meanwhile, walk through the ruins of the Underworld towards an even worse fate than death - to become judges themselves.

In 1963, teenager Frank William Abagnale Jr. lives in New Rochelle, New York with his father Frank Abagnale Sr. and his French mother Paula. During his youth, he witnesses his father's many techniques for conning people. Because of Frank Sr.'s tax problems with the Internal Revenue Service, the family is forced to move from their large home to a small apartment.

One day, Frank discovers that his mother is having an affair with his father's friend Jack Barnes. When his parents divorce, Frank runs away. Needing money, he turns to confidence scams to survive and his cons grow bolder. He impersonates a Pan Am pilot and forges the airline's payroll checks. Soon, his forgeries are worth millions of dollars.

News of the crimes reach the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Agent Carl Hanratty begins tracking Frank. Carl finds him at a hotel, but Frank tricks Carl into believing he is Secret Service Agent Barry Allen. He escapes before Carl realizes that he was fooled.

Frank begins to impersonate a doctor. As Dr. Frank Conners, he falls in love with Brenda, a naive young hospital worker. He asks her attorney father for her hand and also wants his help with arranging to take the Louisiana State Bar exam, which Frank passes. Carl tracks Frank to his and Brenda's engagement party, but Frank escapes through a bedroom window.

Before escaping, Frank asks Brenda to meet him at Miami International Airport two days later. There, he sees her, but also spots plainclothes agents and realizes she has given him up, then drives away. Re-assuming his pilot identity, he stages a false recruiting drive for stewardesses at a local college. Surrounded by eight women as stewardesses, he conceals himself from Carl and the other agents walking through, and escapes on a flight to Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport, Spain.

In 1967, Carl tracks down Frank in his mother's hometown of Montrichard, France. He is incarcerated in a French prison in Marseille where he becomes very ill due to its poor conditions. Carl takes Frank on a flight back to the United States. As they make their approach, he informs him that his father has died. Grief-stricken, Frank escapes from the plane and reaches the house of his now re-married mother who has a daughter. Frank surrenders to Carl and is sentenced to 12 years in a maximum-security prison.

Carl occasionally visits Frank. During one visit, he shows him a fraud check from a case he is working on. Frank immediately figures out that the bank teller was involved in the fraud. Impressed, Carl convinces the FBI to allow him to serve the remainder of his sentence working for the FBI Financial Crimes Unit. Frank agrees but soon grows restless of the tedious office work.

One weekend, Frank prepares to impersonate a pilot again and is intercepted by Carl, who allows him to carry on his act, assuring him that no one is chasing him. As Frank returns to work and discusses another fraud case with Carl, the post-script indicates that Frank has lived for 26 years in the Midwestern United States with his wife, with whom he has had three sons, remains friends with Carl, and has built a successful living as one of the world's leading experts on bank fraud and forgery.

Setting

''Metal Gear Solid'' takes place in an alternate history in which the Cold War continued into the 1990s, ending at some point near the end of the 20th century. The game's events take place six years after those in downfall of Zanzibarland, and form the third chapter in an overarching plot concerning the character of Solid Snake.

Characters

The protagonist is Solid Snake, a legendary infiltrator and saboteur. During the mission, Snake receives support and advice via codec radio. Colonel Roy Campbell, Solid Snake's former commanding officer, supports Snake with information and tactics. While he initially keeps some secrets from Snake, he gradually reveals them. He is joined by Naomi Hunter, who gives medical advice; Nastasha Romanenko, who provides item and weapon tips; Master Miller, a former drill instructor and survival coach; and Mei Ling, who invented the soliton radar system used in the mission and is also in charge of mission data; the player can call her to save the game.

The main antagonist of the game is Liquid Snake, leader of a now-terrorist splinter cell of the organization FOXHOUND, and genetic counterpart to Solid Snake. An elite special forces unit, FOXHOUND contains experts specializing in different tasks. Members are Revolver Ocelot, a Western-style gunslinger and expert interrogator whose weapon of choice is the Colt Single Action Army; Sniper Wolf, a preternatural sniper; Vulcan Raven, a hulking Alaskan shaman armed with an M61 Vulcan torn from a downed F-16; Psycho Mantis, a psychic profiler and psychokinesis expert; and Decoy Octopus, a master of disguise.

Other characters include Meryl Silverburgh, Colonel Campbell's niece and a rookie soldier stationed in Shadow Moses who did not join the revolt; Dr. Hal Emmerich, the lead developer of Metal Gear REX; and the "Ninja", a mysterious cybernetically enhanced agent who is neither an ally nor an enemy of Snake but does oppose FOXHOUND.

Story

In 2005, renegade genetically enhanced special forces unit FOXHOUND seizes control of a remote island in Alaska's Fox Archipelago codenamed "Shadow Moses", which houses a nuclear weapons disposal facility. FOXHOUND threatens to use the nuclear-capable mecha Metal Gear REX, being secretly tested at the facility, against the US government, if they do not receive the remains of Big Boss and a ransom of $1 billion within 24 hours. Solid Snake is forced out of retirement by Colonel Roy Campbell to infiltrate the island and neutralize the threat.

Snake enters the facility via an air vent and locates the first hostage, DARPA Chief Donald Anderson. Anderson reveals that Metal Gear REX can be deactivated with a secret detonation override code, but dies of a heart attack. Colonel Campbell's niece Meryl Silverburgh, held hostage in a neighboring cell, helps Snake escape. Snake locates another hostage, ArmsTech president Kenneth Baker, but is confronted by FOXHOUND member Revolver Ocelot. Their gunfight is interrupted by a mysterious cyborg ninja who cuts off Ocelot's right hand. Baker briefs Snake on the Metal Gear project and advises him to contact Meryl, whom he gave a PAL card that might prevent the launch, but he too dies of a sudden heart attack.

Over Codec, Meryl agrees to meet in the warhead disposal area on the condition that Snake contacts Metal Gear's designer, Dr. Hal "Otacon" Emmerich. En route, Snake receives an anonymous codec call calling themselves "Deepthroat", warning him of a tank ambush. Snake fends off the attack from Vulcan Raven and proceeds to the rendezvous, where he locates Otacon. The ninja reappears, and Snake realizes it is his former ally Gray Fox, believed dead. Devastated over learning REX's true intentions, Otacon agrees to aid Snake remotely using special camouflage to procure information and supplies.

Snake meets Meryl and receives the PAL card. As they head for the underground base, Meryl is possessed by psychic Psycho Mantis and pulls her gun on Snake. He disarms her and defeats Mantis, who informs Snake that he has "a large place" in her heart. After they reach the underground passageway, Sniper Wolf ambushes them, wounds Meryl, and captures Snake. Liquid confirms Snake's suspicion that they are twin brothers. After being tortured by Ocelot, Snake is confused to discover Anderson's body in his cell, seemingly dead for days. He escapes with the help of Otacon, makes his way up the communications tower, and fends off a Hind D helicopter attack from Liquid. As he emerges onto a snowfield, he is confronted again by Sniper Wolf. He kills her, devastating Otacon, who was infatuated with her.

Snake continues to REX's hangar and is ambushed again by Raven. After Snake defeats him, Raven tells Snake that the "Anderson" he conversed with was, in fact, FOXHOUND disguise artist Decoy Octopus. Infiltrating Metal Gear's hangar, Snake overhears Liquid and Ocelot preparing the REX launch sequence and uses the PAL card, but this unexpectedly activates REX. Liquid reveals that he has been impersonating Snake's advisor Master Miller and that FOXHOUND has used Snake to facilitate REX's launch. He and Snake are the product of the ''Les Enfants Terribles'' project, a 1970s government program to clone Big Boss. He also reveals to Snake the government's true reason for sending him: Snake is unknowingly carrying a weaponized "FOXDIE" virus that causes cardiac arrest in FOXHOUND members on contact, allowing the government to retrieve REX undamaged.

As Liquid, in REX, battles Snake, Gray Fox appears. He reveals to Snake that he was Deepthroat, destroys REX's radome, and is crushed to death by REX. Snake destroys REX and defeats Liquid, then escapes with Meryl or Otacon via a tunnel, pursued by Liquid in a Jeep. After their vehicles crash, Liquid pulls a gun on Snake but dies from FOXDIE. Colonel Campbell, briefly ousted from command, calls off a nuclear strike to destroy evidence of the operation and has Snake registered as killed in action to stop the US government searching for him. Naomi Hunter, who injected Snake with the FOXDIE virus, tells him that he has an indeterminate amount of time before it kills him. Ocelot calls the US President; he was a double agent whose mission was to steal Baker's disk of Metal Gear specifications.

The McCallister family is preparing to spend Christmas in Paris, gathering at Peter and Kate's home in a Chicago suburb on the night before their departure. Peter and Kate's youngest son, Kevin, is the subject of ridicule by his older siblings. Kevin inadvertently ruins the family dinner after a brief scuffle against his oldest brother Buzz, resulting in him getting sent to the attic of the house as a punishment. He berates Kate for allowing the rest of the family to pick on him and wishes that his family would disappear. During the night, heavy winds damage the power lines, which causes a power outage and resets the alarm clocks, causing the family to oversleep. In the confusion and rush to get to the airport, Kevin is accidentally left behind.

Kevin wakes to find the house empty and, thinking that his wish has come true, is overjoyed with his newfound freedom. But he soon becomes frightened by his next door neighbor, "Old Man" Marley, who is rumored by the local children to be a serial killer who murdered his own family, as well as the "Wet Bandits", Harry Lyme and Marv Murchins, a pair of burglars who have been breaking into other vacant houses in the neighborhood and have targeted the McCallisters' opulent house. Kevin tricks them into thinking that his family is still home, forcing them to put their plans on hold.

Kate realizes mid-flight that Kevin was left behind, and upon arrival in Paris, the family discovers that all flights for the next two days are booked, and that the phone lines are still down back home. Peter and the rest of the family stay in his brother's apartment in Paris, while Kate manages to get a flight back to the US, but only gets as far as Scranton, Pennsylvania. She attempts to book a flight to Chicago, but everything is booked. Unable to accept this and losing her patience, Kate is overheard by Gus Polinski, the lead member of a traveling polka band, who offers to let her travel with them to Chicago on their way to Milwaukee in a moving van, which she gratefully accepts.

Meanwhile, Harry and Marv finally realize that Kevin is home alone, and on Christmas Eve, Kevin overhears them discussing plans to break into his house that night. Kevin starts to miss his family and asks the local Santa Claus impersonator if he could bring his family back for Christmas. He goes to church and watches a choir perform, then encounters Marley, who dispels the rumors about him. He points out his granddaughter in the choir, whom he never gets to meet, as he and his son are estranged; Kevin suggests that he should reconcile with his son.

Kevin returns home and rigs the house with booby traps. Harry and Marv break in, spring the traps, and suffer various injuries. While Harry and Marv pursues Kevin around the house, he calls the police and lures the duo into a neighboring house which they had previously broke into. They ambush him and prepare to get their revenge, but Marley intervenes and knocks them unconscious with his snow shovel. The police arrive and arrest Harry and Marv, having identified all the houses that they broke into due to Marv's destructive habit of flooding them.

On Christmas Day, Kevin is initially disappointed to find that his family is still gone, although Kate arrives home just in time and they reconcile. Peter, Buzz, Megan, Jeff and Linnie soon arrived home after waiting in Paris until they could obtain a direct flight to Chicago. Kevin keeps silent about his encounter with Harry and Marv, although Peter finds Harry's knocked-out gold tooth. Kevin then observes Marley reuniting with his son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter. Marley notices Kevin, and the pair wave to each other.

''The Small House at Allington'' concerns the Dale family, who live in the "Small House", a dower house intended for the widowed mother (''Dowager'') of the owner of the estate. The landowner, in this instance, is the bachelor Squire of Allington, Christopher Dale. Dale's mother having died, he has allocated the Small House, rent free, to his widowed sister-in-law and her daughters Isabella ("Bell") and Lilian ("Lily").

When the novel begins Bernard, the squire's nephew and heir, brings his friend Adolphus Crosbie to Allington and introduces him to the family. Crosbie is handsome and well-regarded in London society. Bell and Lily are impressed by Crosbie's charm and worldliness and Lily, the younger and wittier sister, labels him an Apollo. She and Crosbie grow increasingly intimate during his stay at Allington and before leaving he proposes to her. Mrs. Dale has no money for a dowry, but Crosbie thinks the squire might provide Lily with some fortune given that, in many ways, he treats her and Bell as if they were his daughters. When asked, the squire informs him this is not the case, leading Crosbie to reflect on how his salary as a clerk at the General Committee Office allows him to live comfortably as a bachelor but if he were to marry and support a family on his current income they would need to live very humbly. The engagement is made public and celebrated in Allington, but when Lily learns about his misunderstanding regarding her possible fortune she offers to break off the engagement with no hard feelings. Crosbie refuses, however, because he is impressed by this noble gesture and genuinely fond of Lily.

After leaving Allington, Crosbie heads straight to Courcy Castle. Back among people of high society, Crosbie's image of married life with Lily on his small salary grows bleaker. Rumors have reached the castle, but Crosbie attempts to dodge any questions about his engagement. Thus, the Countess de Courcy views him as fair game and a viable match for her only single daughter still of marriageable age, Alexandrina, who had previously struck up a friendship with Crosbie in London. Pressed by Alexandrina, in a moment of weakness, he asks her to marry him and the countess sees that their engagement is firmly settled between Crosbie and the earl before he leaves. Crosbie immediately begins having second thoughts; he is now engaged to two women and although he prefers Lily (who is younger, prettier and more intelligent) she is a country girl he can jilt with few repercussions whereas Alexandrina is the daughter of a prominent family. Thus he writes a letter to Lily and Mrs. Dale breaking off the engagement. Ironically, he is given a raise in salary almost as soon as he returns to London, and he muses how he could have had a comfortable, happy life married to Lily.

Lily is heartbroken but puts on a brave face, claiming she is happy for Adolphus and Alexandrina and refusing to hear anyone speak an ill word against her “Apollo.” She also refuses to entertain the idea of marrying another man and thus rejects repeated proposals from Johnny Eames, a family friend who has loved Lily since childhood (and who first confesses his feelings to her as soon as he hears about her engagement). Eames begins the novel as a lowly clerk at the Income-Tax office, but his expectations rise after he saves the Earl de Guest from a bull. After the incident, Eames becomes a close friend of the childless earl and his spinster sister, Lady Julia de Guest. The earl takes an interest in Johnny's career and essentially adopts him. Eames also learns about Crosbie breaking off his engagement to Lily and, when they meet at a London railway station, he assaults Crosbie and gives him a black eye. Mrs. Dale, the squire, Lord de Guest and Lady Julia all hope Lily will eventually agree to marry Johnny, but she chooses to remain true to the memory of her Apollo.

Meanwhile, Christopher Dale, the squire, encourages Bernard to court Bell as he would be happy to see his niece and nephew marry and live together on the family estate. Bell, however, dismisses the idea of marrying Bernard whom she thinks of as a brother. When Mrs. Dale and her daughters feel Christopher is pressuring Bell to marry Bernard, they announce they will be leaving the Small House so they are no longer beholden to him. In the end, the squire convinces them to stay and he gives both girls a sum of money for them to enjoy regardless of whom they marry or if they marry at all. Bell ends up marrying John Crofts, the young doctor in the area; they had feelings for each other since she was a young girl.

Crosbie quickly learns he has little to gain from marrying into the de Courcy family. When he returns to London, his future sister-in-law Amelia keeps a close eye on him and the Countess together with Amelia's husband Gazebee, who is an attorney, bind all of Crosbie's finances to the marital estate and make him pay for a furnished home in a respectable neighborhood in order to keep up appearances. Neither Crosbie nor Alexandrina are happy with their married life, and, less than four months after the wedding, Alexandrina leaves with her mother to live in the spa town of Baden-Baden, Germany indefinitely. Crosbie gladly pays what he must to regain his freedom.

As with all of Trollope's novels, this one contains many sub-plots and numerous minor characters. Plantagenet Palliser (of the ''Palliser'' series) makes his first appearance, as he contemplates a dalliance with Griselda Grantly, the now-married Lady Dumbello, daughter of the Archdeacon introduced earlier in the Chronicles of Barsetshire.

Another key sub-plot involves the goings-on at protagonist John Eames' London boarding house where the landlady's worldly and attractive daughter (Miss. Amelia Roper) attempts to ensnare Eames into a socially downwardly-mobile marriage, and where Eames' fellow boarder and co-worker gets drawn into a love triangle with the wife of an unhappily married theatrical couple. In these London scenes at the clerks' office and the Roper boarding house, we see Dickensian echoes. The bucolic love story among the gentry at Allington House strongly replicates the plot, characters, and circumstances found in Jane Austen's debut novel ''Sense and Sensibility''.

As with so many of Trollope's novels, here Trollope explores issues of emotional and generational power struggles, adultery, temptation, jilting lovers, marriage proposal refusals, and the consequences of indecision.

Although "The Small House at Allington" traditionally is placed within the Chronicles of Barsetshire series, a much stronger argument can be made to include it as the first of Trollope's Palliser novels. Another option would be to include "Small House" in both series as something of a "hinge" between the two distinct series.

In 1968, a 15-year-old girl begins keeping a diary, in which she records her thoughts and concerns about issues such as crushes, weight loss, sexuality, social acceptance, and relating to her parents. The dates and locations mentioned in the book place its events as occurring between 1968 and 1970 in California, Colorado, Oregon, and New York City. The two towns in which the diarist's family reside during the story are not identified, and are only described as being college towns.

The diarist's father, a college professor, accepts a dean position at a new college, causing the family to relocate. The diarist has difficulty adjusting to her new school, but soon becomes best friends with a girl named Beth. When Beth leaves for summer camp, the diarist returns to her hometown to stay with her grandparents. She meets an old school acquaintance, who invites her to a party. There, glasses of cola—some of which are laced with LSD—are served. The diarist unwittingly ingests LSD and has an intense and pleasurable trip. Over the following days the diarist socializes with the other teens from the party, willingly uses more drugs, and loses her virginity while on acid. She worries that she may be pregnant, and her grandfather has a minor heart attack. Overwhelmed by her worries, the diarist begins to take sleeping pills, first stolen from her grandparents, then later prescribed by her doctor upon returning home. Her friendship with Beth ends, as both girls have moved in new directions.

The diarist befriends a hip girl, Chris, with whom she continues to use drugs. They date college students Richie and Ted, who deal drugs and persuade the two girls to help them by selling drugs at schools. When the girls walk in on Richie and Ted stoned and having sex with each other, they realize their boyfriends were just using them to make money. The girls report Richie and Ted to the police and flee to San Francisco. Chris gets a job in a boutique with a glamorous older woman, Shelia. Shelia invites both girls to lavish parties, where they resume taking drugs. One night Shelia and her new boyfriend introduce the girls to heroin and brutally rape them while they are under the influence of the drug. Traumatized, the diarist and Chris move to Berkeley where they open a jewelry shop. Although the shop is a success, they quickly grow tired of it and miss their families; they return home for a happy Christmas.

Back at home, the diarist encounters social pressure from her drug scene friends, and has problems getting along with her parents. Chris and the diarist try to stay away from drugs, but their resolve lapses and they end up on probation after being caught in a police raid. The diarist gets high one night and runs away. She travels to several cities, hitchhiking partway with a girl named Doris who is a victim of child sexual abuse. The diarist continues to use drugs, supporting her habit through prostitution, and experiences homelessness before a priest reunites her with her family. Now determined to avoid drugs, she faces hostility from her former friends, especially after she calls the parents of one girl who shows up high for a babysitting job. The diarist's former friends harass her at school and threaten her and her family. They eventually drug her against her will; she has a bad trip resulting in physical and mental damage, and is sent to a psychiatric hospital. There she bonds with a younger girl named Babbie, who has also been a drug addict and child prostitute.

Released from the hospital, the diarist returns home, finally free of drugs. She now gets along better with her family, makes new friends, and is romantically involved with Joel, a responsible student from her father's college. She is worried about starting school again, but feels stronger with the support of her new friends and Joel. In an optimistic mood, the diarist decides to stop keeping a diary and instead discuss her problems and thoughts with other people.

The epilogue states that the subject of the book died three weeks after the final entry. The diarist was found dead in her home by her parents when they returned from a movie. She died from a drug overdose, either accidental or premeditated.

In 1625 France, d'Artagnan leaves his family in Gascony and travels to Paris to join the Musketeers of the Guard. At a house in Meung-sur-Loire, an older man derides d'Artagnan's horse. Insulted, d'Artagnan demands a duel. But the older man's companions instead beat d'Artagnan unconscious with a cooking pot and a metal tong that breaks his sword. His letter of introduction to Monsieur de Tréville, the commander of the musketeers, is also stolen. D'Artagnan resolves to avenge himself upon the older man, who is later revealed to be the Comte de Rochefort, an agent of Cardinal Richelieu, who is passing orders from the cardinal to his spy, Lady de Winter, usually called Milady de Winter or simply "Milady".

In Paris, d'Artagnan visits Monsieur de Tréville at the headquarters of the musketeers, but without the letter, Tréville politely refuses his application. He does, however, write a letter of introduction to an academy for young gentlemen which may prepare his visitor for recruitment at a later time. From Tréville's window, d'Artagnan sees Rochefort passing in the street below and rushes out of the building to confront him, but in doing so he offends three musketeers, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, who each demand satisfaction; d'Artagnan must fight a duel with all of them that afternoon.

As d'Artagnan prepares himself for the first duel, he realizes that Athos's seconds are Porthos and Aramis, who are astonished that the young Gascon intends to duel them all. As d'Artagnan and Athos begin, Cardinal Richelieu's guards appear and attempt to arrest d'Artagnan and the three musketeers for illegal dueling. Although they are outnumbered four to five, the four men win the battle. D'Artagnan seriously wounds Jussac, one of the cardinal's officers and a renowned fighter. After learning of this, King Louis XIII appoints d'Artagnan to Des Essart's company of the King's Guards and gives him forty pistoles.

D'Artagnan hires a servant named Planchet, finds lodgings and reports to Monsieur des Essart, whose company is a less prestigious regiment in which he will have to serve for two years before being considered for the musketeers. Shortly after, his landlord speaks to him about the kidnapping of his wife, Constance Bonacieux. When she is presently released, d'Artagnan falls in love at first sight with her. She works for Queen Anne of France, who is secretly having an affair with the English duke of Buckingham. The king, Louis XIII, gave the queen a gift of diamond studs, but she gives them to her lover as a keepsake. Cardinal Richelieu, who wants war between France and England, plans to expose the tryst and persuades the king to demand that the queen wear the diamonds to a soirée that the cardinal is sponsoring.

Constance tries to send her husband to London to fetch the diamonds from Buckingham, but the man is instead manipulated by Richelieu and thus does not go, so d'Artagnan and his friends intercede. En route to England, the Cardinal's henchmen repeatedly attack them and only d'Artagnan and Planchet reach London. Before arriving, d'Artagnan is compelled to assault and nearly to kill, the Comte de Wardes, a friend of the Cardinal, cousin of Rochefort and Milady's lover. Although Milady stole two of the diamond studs, Buckingham provides replacements while delaying the thief's return to Paris. D'Artagnan is thus able to return a complete set of jewels to Queen Anne just in time to save her honour. In gratitude, she gives him a beautiful ring.

Shortly afterward, d'Artagnan begins an affair with Madame Bonacieux. Arriving for an assignation, he sees signs of a struggle and discovers that Rochefort and M. Bonacieux, acting under the orders of the Cardinal, have assaulted and imprisoned Constance. D'Artagnan and his friends, now recovered from their injuries, return to Paris. D'Artagnan meets Milady de Winter officially and recognizes her as one of the Cardinal's agents, but becomes infatuated with her until her maid reveals that Milady is indifferent toward him. Entering her quarters in the dark, he pretends to be the Comte de Wardes and trysts with her. He finds a ''fleur-de-lis'' branded on Milady's shoulder, marking her as a felon. Discovering his identity, Milady attempts to kill him but d'Artagnan eludes her. He is later ordered to the Siege of La Rochelle.

He is informed that the queen has rescued Constance from prison. At an inn, the musketeers overhear the Cardinal asking Milady to murder Buckingham, a supporter of the Protestant rebels at La Rochelle who has sent troops to assist them. Richelieu gives her a letter that excuses her actions as under orders from the Cardinal himself, but Athos takes it. The next morning, Athos bets that he, d'Artagnan, Porthos and Aramis and their servants can hold the recaptured St. Gervais bastion against the rebels for an hour, for the purpose of discussing their next course of action. They resist for an hour and a half before retreating, killing 22 Rochellese in total; d'Artagnan is made a musketeer as a result of this feat.

They warn Lord de Winter and the duke of Buckingham. Milady is imprisoned on arrival in England, but she seduces her guard, Felton (a fictionalization of the real John Felton) and persuades him to allow her to escape and to kill Buckingham himself. Upon her return to France, Milady hides in a convent where Constance is also staying. The naïve Constance clings to Milady, who sees a chance for revenge on d'Artagnan and fatally poisons Constance before d'Artagnan can rescue her. The musketeers arrest Milady before she reaches Cardinal Richelieu. They bring an official executioner, put her on trial, sentence her to death, and execute her.

After her execution, the four friends return to the Siege of La Rochelle. The Cardinal's Guards arrest d’Artagnan and take him to the cardinal. When questioned about Milady's execution, d'Artagnan presents her letter of pardon as his own. Impressed with d'Artagnan's wilfulness and secretly glad to be rid of Milady, the Cardinal destroys the letter and writes a new order, giving the bearer a promotion to lieutenant in the Tréville company of musketeers, leaving the name blank. D'Artagnan offers the letter to Athos, Porthos and Aramis in turn but each refuses it; Athos because it is beneath him, Porthos because he is retiring to marry his wealthy mistress and Aramis because he is joining the priesthood. D'Artagnan, though heartbroken and full of regrets, finally receives the promotion he had coveted.

''Æon Flux'' is set in a surreal German Expressionist-style futuristic universe. The setting comprises a bizarre dystopia populated by mutant creatures, clones, and robots, set within the separated border-wall cities of Monica and Bregna. The title character is a tall, sexy, scantily clad dominatrix secret agent from the city of Monica — skilled in espionage, assassination and acrobatics. Her mission is to infiltrate and destroy the strongholds of the city of Bregna , which is led by her sworn enemy, and sometimes lover, Trevor Goodchild — the technocratic dictator of Bregna, whose citizens are called Breens. The two cities engage in a futile, never-ending war for ideological supremacy. While Monica represents a dynamic nihilistic, anarchist society where rules do not exist, Bregna embodies a centralized, scientifically planned Orwellian police state. The names of their respective characters reflect this: Flux, as the self-directed agent from Monica, and Goodchild, as the self-appointed leader of Bregna. Themes of tragic/forbidden love run throughout the series as Trevor has everything but what he truly wants, Æon; and Æon can accomplish anything she wants except killing Trevor.

Mrs Margaret Ross, an impoverished, elderly, eccentric woman, is living in a ground floor flat, in an unnamed town in northern England. Aged 76, she is dependent on National Assistance from the British government. She is visited by her criminal son, who hides a package containing a large sum of money in her unused spare room. The son confesses to the police of his robbery, then is sent to jail. Meanwhile, Mrs Ross finds the money. Thinking the money is a windfall intended for her, Mrs Ross makes elaborate plans. She casually confides to a stranger, who befriends her in order to ply her with spirits, kidnap her, then rob her of the stolen money. Rendered drunk and abandoned to the elements by her captors, Mrs Ross contracts pneumonia. She is found by neighbours, then after almost dying, recovers in a hospital. It is the first time anyone has cared for her in years. Doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, and social workers all focus on her case. An agent at the National Assistance bureau traces down her husband, Archie (who deserted her decades ago). Motivated by the agent, who threatens him with legal pressure, informing him of his legal responsibility to her, the husband is strongly encouraged to move back in with her, which he does. Soon, he becomes involved with gamblers, then steals their money at a chance opportunity, which forces him to flee, so he deserts her again. Having been on the verge of a return to functional living, Mrs Ross resumes her lonely status as an isolated person, who talks to the walls. This movie depicts these events as occurring during the year 1966, the year that British National Assistance was replaced by Supplementary Benefit.

In 1927, Isadora Duncan has become a legend as the innovator of modern dance, a temperamental bohemian, and an outspoken advocate of free love. Now past 40, she lives in poverty in a small hotel on the French Riviera with her companion Mary Estelle Dempsey/Mary Desti (named only as Mary in the film) and her secretary Roger, to whom she is dictating her memoirs. As a young girl in California, Isadora first demonstrates her disdain for accepted social standards by burning her parents' marriage certificate and pledging her dedication to the pursuit of art and beauty. In 1896, she performs under the name of Peppy Dora in a rowdy music hall in Chicago and publicly embarrasses the theatre manager into paying her $300 so that she can take her family to England. Modelling her free-form style of dance and costume after Greek classicism, she rapidly acquires international acclaim.

In Berlin, she meets her first love, Gordon Craig, a young stage designer who promises her that together they will create a new world of theatre. After bearing the already-married Craig a daughter, Isadora moves to Paris and meets Paris Singer, a millionaire who lavishes gifts upon her and later buys her an enormous estate for her to open a School for Life, where only beauty and simplicity are taught.

Following the birth of a son, Isadora returns to England with Singer but becomes bored with her quiet life and enters into an affair with her pianist, Armand. A short time later, both of her children are drowned when their chauffeur-driven car plunges off a bridge into the Seine. Broken by the tragedy, Isadora leaves Singer and wanders about Europe until in 1921 she receives an offer to open a dancing school in the Soviet Union.

Unaffected by the country's poverty, she develops a strong rapport with the peasantry and has a passionate affair with Sergei Essenin, a volatile poet whom she marries so that he can obtain a visa to accompany her to the United States. Essenin's outrageous behaviour turns a press conference into a shambles, however, and US anti-Bolshevist sentiment turns to open hostility when Isadora bares her breasts during a dance recital in Boston. Following the disintegration of her marriage, she returns to Nice to write her memoirs. Impulsively selling her possessions to open a new school in Paris, Isadora goes to a local café to celebrate and spots Bugatti, a handsome Italian whom she has been admiring for several days. She goes for a drive with him in his sports car, and as they roar along a road by the sea, Isadora's long chiffon scarf catches in the spokes of a wheel and strangles her.

In 1930s Edinburgh, six ten-year-old girls, Sandy, Rose, Mary, Jenny, Monica, and Eunice, are assigned Miss Jean Brodie, who describes herself as being "in my prime," as their teacher. Miss Brodie, determined that they shall receive an education in the original sense of the Latin verb ''educere'', "to lead out", gives her students lessons about her personal love life and travels, promoting art history, classical studies, and fascism. Under her mentorship, these six girls whom Brodie singles out as the elite group among her students—known as the "Brodie set"—begin to stand out from the rest of the school. However, in one of the novel's typical flash-forwards we learn that one of them will later betray Brodie, ruining her teaching career, but that she will never learn which one.

In the Junior School, they meet the singing teacher, the short Mr Gordon Lowther, and the art master, the handsome, one-armed war veteran Mr Teddy Lloyd, a married Roman Catholic with six children. These two teachers form a love triangle with Miss Brodie, each loving her, while she loves only Mr Lloyd. However, Miss Brodie never overtly acts on her love for Mr Lloyd, except once to exchange a kiss with him, witnessed by Monica. During a two-week absence from school, Miss Brodie embarks on an affair with Mr Lowther on the grounds that a bachelor makes a more respectable paramour: she has renounced Mr Lloyd as he is married. At one point during these two years in the Junior School, Jenny is "accosted by a man joyfully exposing himself beside the Water of Leith." The police investigation of the exposure leads Sandy to imagine herself as part of a fictional police force seeking incriminating evidence in respect of Brodie and Mr Lowther.

Once the girls are promoted to the Senior School (around age twelve) though now dispersed, they hold on to their identity as the Brodie set. Miss Brodie keeps in touch with them after school hours by inviting them to her home as she did when they were her pupils. All the while, the headmistress Miss Mackay tries to break them up and compile information gleaned from them into sufficient cause for Brodie's dismissal. Miss Mackay has more than once suggested to Miss Brodie that she should seek employment at a 'progressive' school; Miss Brodie declines to move to what she describes as a 'crank' school. When two other teachers at the school, the Kerr sisters, take part-time employment as Mr Lowther's housekeepers, Miss Brodie tries to take over their duties. She sets about fattening him up with extravagant cooking. The girls, now thirteen, visit Miss Brodie in pairs at Mr Lowther's house, where Miss Brodie frequently asks about Mr Lloyd in Mr Lowther's presence. At this point Mr Lloyd asks Rose and occasionally the other girls to pose for him as portrait subjects. Each face he paints ultimately resembles Miss Brodie, as her girls report to her in detail, and she thrills at the telling. One day when Sandy is visiting Mr Lloyd, he kisses her.

Before the Brodie set turns sixteen, Miss Brodie tests her girls to discover which of them she can really trust, ultimately settling on Sandy as her confidante. Miss Brodie is obsessed with the notion that Rose, as the most beautiful of the Brodie set, should have an affair with Mr Lloyd in her place. She begins to neglect Mr Lowther, who ends up marrying Miss Lockhart, the science teacher. Another student, Joyce Emily, steps briefly into the picture, trying unsuccessfully to join the Brodie set. Miss Brodie takes her under her wing separately, encouraging her to run away to fight in the Spanish Civil War on the Nationalist side, which she does, only to be killed in an accident when the train she is travelling in is attacked.

The original Brodie set, now seventeen and in their final year of school, begin to go their separate ways. Mary and Jenny leave before taking their exams, Mary to become a typist and Jenny to pursue a career in acting. Eunice becomes a nurse and Monica a scientist. Rose lands a handsome husband. Sandy, with a keen interest in psychology, is fascinated by Mr Lloyd's stubborn love, his painter's mind, and his religion. Sandy and Rose model for Mr Lloyd's paintings, Sandy knowing that Miss Brodie expects Rose to become sexually involved with Lloyd. Rose, however, is oblivious to the plan crafted for her and so it is Sandy, now eighteen and alone with Mr Lloyd in his house while his wife and children are on holiday, who has exactly such an affair with him for five weeks during the summer. Over time, Sandy's interest in the man wanes while her interest in the mind that still loves Jean Brodie grows. In the end, Sandy leaves him, adopts his Roman Catholic religion, and becomes a nun. Beforehand, however, she meets with Miss Mackay and blatantly confesses to wanting to bring a stop to Miss Brodie. She suggests that the headmistress could accuse Brodie of encouraging fascism, and this tactic succeeds. Not until her dying moment a year after the end of World War II is Miss Brodie able to imagine that it was her confidante, Sandy, who betrayed her. After her death however, Sandy, now called Sister Helena of the Transfiguration and author of ''The Transfiguration of the Commonplace,'' maintains that "it's only possible to betray where loyalty is due." One day, an enquiring young man visits Sandy at the convent, because of her strange book on psychology. He enquires about the main influences of her school years, asking her: "Were they literary or political or personal? Was it Calvinism?" Sandy answers him, instead, by saying: "There was a Miss Jean Brodie in her prime."

Robert Syverton, who had once dreamed of becoming a great film director, recalls the events leading to an unstated crime. In his youth, he saw a horse breaking its leg, after which it was shot and put out of misery. Years later, in the Great Depression, he wanders into a dance marathon about to begin in the shabby La Monica Ballroom, perched over the Pacific Ocean on the Santa Monica Pier in Southern California. Robert soon finds himself recruited by Rocky, the contest's promoter and emcee, as a substitute partner for a cynical malcontent named Gloria Beatty, after her original partner is disqualified due to bronchitis.

Among the other marathon contestants, competing for a prize of $1,500 in silver dollars and hoping to be spotted by the Hollywood celebrities and talent scouts in the audience, are retired sailor Harry Kline; Alice, an emotionally-fragile aspiring actress from London, and her partner Joel, also an aspiring actor; and impoverished farmer James and his pregnant wife Ruby. Early in the marathon, the weaker pairs are eliminated quickly, while Rocky observes the vulnerabilities of the stronger contestants and exploits them for the audience's amusement. The arena also employs quack doctors to cover up the extreme physical and mental damage to the participants. Frayed nerves are exacerbated by the theft of one of Alice's dresses (especially when Robert discovers that Rocky himself stole it in order to create artificial drama to entertain the audience) and Gloria's displeasure at the attention Alice receives from Robert. In retaliation, she takes Joel as her partner, but when he receives a job offer and departs, she aligns herself with Harry.

Weeks into the marathon, in order to spark the paying spectators' enthusiasm, Rocky stages a series of derbies in which the exhausted contestants, wearing track suits, must race around the dance floor, with the last three couples eliminated. When Harry suffers a heart attack, the undeterred Gloria lifts him on her back and crosses the finish line. After Harry dies, Rocky disqualifies him and the medics remove his body from the dance floor. This incident causes Alice to have a nervous breakdown. Horrified by the death of Harry, she showers without removing her clothes, screaming wildly when Rocky tries to comfort her. Seeing that she is in no condition to continue the contest, Rocky eliminates her from the competition. Lacking partners, Robert and Gloria again pair up.

Rocky suggests the couple marry during the marathon, a publicity stunt guaranteed to earn more cash for them, in the form of gifts from supporters such as Mrs. Laydon, a wealthy woman who has sponsored them throughout the contest. When Gloria refuses, Rocky reveals the contest is not what it appears: expenses will be deducted from the prize money, leaving the winner with close to nothing. Shocked by the revelation, Robert and Gloria drop out of the competition. While packing up her things, Gloria searches for one of her silk stockings. When Robert finds it but accidentally tears it handing it to her, she sadly breaks down.

The two leave the dance hall and stand on the pier, overlooking the ocean. Gloria confesses to Robert how empty she feels, and that she is tired of her life. Gloria takes out a gun from the purse, but cannot bring herself to pull the trigger. She desperately asks Robert to kill her, which he does. When the arresting police asks him why he did it, Robert says: "They shoot horses, don't they?". Meanwhile, the marathon, having now gone up to 1,491 hours, continues with a few remaining couples.

Mary Ann "Pookie" Adams is a quirky oddball who meets quiet, reserved Jerry Payne while waiting for a bus heading to their colleges; both are freshmen and their colleges are near each other. Jerry immediately sees that Pookie is different, even strange: she lies to a nun on the bus so the nun will switch seats with her.

As Jerry is beginning to settle into college life with his roommate, Charlie Schumacher, the aggressive Pookie arrives unannounced one Saturday morning. Pookie and Jerry spend much time together over the weekend, and soon begin to see each other regularly.

Jerry falls in love with Pookie, but their different personalities start to pull them apart. After they have sex, Pookie tells Jerry she might be pregnant. When the pregnancy scare is over, Jerry wants to spend spring break alone to catch up on his studies. Pookie pleads to stay with him, and he relents.

A week alone with the needy, somewhat unstable Pookie makes Jerry realize that they need time apart. Later he discovers that she has dropped out of school, and he finds her in the same boardinghouse where she had been staying the first time she visited him. He puts her on a bus for home and the young lovers part ways.

Elmo plays with his blanket in his bedroom. He spills orange juice on his blanket and takes it to the laundromat where he encounters his friend Zoe. Zoe wants to hold the blanket, but Elmo does not consent to share it resulting in a tug of war that rips it. Telly Monster, rollerskating out of control, accidentally swipes the blanket leading to a chase around Sesame Street. The blanket falls into the hands of Oscar the Grouch, who sneezes on it and drops it in his trash can. Elmo dives into the bottom of Oscar's trash can, where he finds his blanket snagged on a door.

Attempting to retrieve it, he and his blanket are teleported through a colorful swirling tunnel to Grouchland, a city filled with Grouches, trash, and Huxley, a greedy man who steals anything he can grab, including Elmo's blanket. A kind Grouch girl named Grizzy tells Elmo that his blanket is in Huxley's house at the top of the faraway Mount Pickanose. A plant named Stuckweed encourages Elmo that he will make it if he just takes his first step, so Elmo sets out on a quest to retrieve his blanket.

With Oscar's help, the Sesame Street residents go to Grouchland to find Elmo, but when they ask a Grouch police officer for help, they end up arrested as they are informed that it is against the law to ask for help in Grouchland.

Huxley has his sidekick, Bug the bug and his minions, the Pesties, trap Elmo in a tunnel. Elmo gets out with the help of fireflies. Huxley then has Bug and the Pesties misdirect Elmo into a garbage dump where he is brought before the Queen of Trash for trespassing. The Queen tests him, requesting that he blows 100 raspberries for her in 30 seconds. Elmo succeeds with some help from the audience and the Queen allows him to pass through. Huxley sends his huge chicken to stop Elmo, who tosses Elmo far away. Elmo decides to give up on retrieving his blanket for the night. Meanwhile, Grizzy sneaks into the jail where she informs Elmo's friends that he has decided to travel all the way to Huxley's castle on top of Mount Pickanose. After finally admitting that Elmo is his friend, Oscar convinces all the Grouches to cooperate just once, since it is the only way they can stop Huxley from stealing any more of their trash. The police officer decides to release the Sesame Street residents and the Grouches so that they can go to Huxley's castle to fight for their trash and rescue Elmo.

A caterpillar wakes Elmo the next morning. He convinces Elmo that he has what it takes to be brave. Elmo then arrives at Huxley's castle and rescues his blanket as Huxley sends the Pesties to stop him. But Elmo falls into a basket as Huxley decides to make him and his blanket both his property by using a claw to put them on his conveyor stamper. The Sesame Street and Grouchland citizens arrive and the Pesties flee in panic. Huxley tries to escape with Elmo's blanket only to have Elmo's blanket sucked up with the vacuum cleaner nozzle on his helicopter. Elmo launches a basket over Huxley's shoulders, incapacitating him. Bug is revealed to be at the controls of the helicopter, and refuses Huxley's demand for the blanket, instead returning it to Elmo. Elmo returns to Sesame Street with his friends, where he apologizes to Zoe and allows her to hold his blanket. She accepts his apology, agreeing that they can resume their friendship. Elmo says goodbye to the audience and thanks them for helping and goes to dance with his friends.

Throughout the movie, Bert and Ernie serve as hosts, and interrupt the film at certain points to explain things to the audience.

1953: Through the course of a Colorado autumn and winter, Mary Spencer (Jean Simmons) and Fred Wilson (John Forsythe) lead an idyllic existence. Mary drops out of college (with 6 months to go) to marry Fred. Their perfect wedding mirrors the happy endings of the films Mary loves.

1969: It is the Wilson's 16th wedding anniversary. On his way to work, Fred, a successful tax consultant, tells their maid Agnes (Nanette Fabray) that he has found vodka hidden in Mary's wardrobe and asks Agnes to keep an eye on his wife. Mary sets out for the beauty parlour. At an airline office, however, Mary buys a one-way ticket to Nassau, Bahamas, looking for an escape from her dull and unhappy suburban life.

On the flight she recalls the horrors of last year's anniversary party, when Fred drunkenly flirted with a blonde divorcee, and she took refuge in the bottle and a rerun of ''Casablanca.'' At a stop-over, she calls home and learns this year's anniversary party has been a different sort of disaster. Her teenage daughter Marge (Kathy Fields) is scared by Mary's call, as it reminds her of the time she had found her mother unconscious after an overdose.

En route to Nassau, Mary meets Flo (Shirley Jones), an old college friend she has not seen since 1953. While Mary settled down to married life, Flo has been the mistress of a series of married men, lives a rather carefree and hedonistic lifestyle, and has fully embraced the sexual revolution. She is on her way to Nassau to meet her latest beau, Sam (Lloyd Bridges). Mary tells her she has had to get away from Fred, so Flo promises to look after her.

In the Bahamas, Mary enjoys the sun and long, empty stretches of beach. At a casino, she meets Franco (Bobby Darin), a hustler from Los Angeles who is down on his luck. Franco mistakenly assumes that Mary is wealthy. He affects an Italian accent and tells Mary he is a journalist who writes about film stars. She agrees to go to "his" boat, but when he learns Mary is not wealthy, Franco quickly loses interest, confessing his scam.

Walking by the ocean, Mary recalls the occasion of her suicide attempt — she had returned from having a face lift to learn that Fred was in Reno with a girl. Marge had found her in danger of death and rushed her to hospital. After that, Mary resumed drinking, recklessly spent a lot of money, and crashed her car while driving drunk.

In the present, Sam proposes to Flo, who accepts. Mary flies back home. Agnes helps her move into rooms she has rented away from Fred and Marge. She takes a job and enrolls in night classes at the university. It is at the college where Fred finds Mary one evening. He asks, "What went wrong? All our friends are married, and they're happy...or seem to be. Alright, they put up with it. But without marriage, life would be disorganized, crazy." Her reply: "People in love are crazy." They tell one another they still love each other, but "it's not enough," she says. After some more conversation as he walks her toward the university entrance, she asks, "If we were not married, would you marry me again?" The look on his face and lack of an affirmative answer says it all.

The film takes place in 1920, in the Midlands mining town of Beldover. Two sisters, Ursula and Gudrun Brangwen, discuss marriage on their way to the wedding of Laura Crich, daughter of the town's wealthy mine owner, Thomas Crich, to Tibby Lupton, a naval officer. At the village's church, each sister is fascinated by a particular member of the wedding party – Gudrun by Laura's brother, Gerald, and Ursula by Gerald's best friend, Rupert Birkin. Ursula is a school teacher and Rupert is a school inspector; she remembers his visit to her classroom, interrupting her botany lesson to discourse on the sexual nature of the catkin.

The four are later brought together at a house party at the estate of Hermione Roddice, a rich woman whose relationship with Rupert is falling apart. When Hermione devises, as entertainment for her guests, a dance in the "style of the Russian ballet", Rupert becomes impatient with her pretensions and tells the pianist to play some ragtime. This sets off spontaneous dancing among the whole group and angers Hermione. She leaves. When Rupert follows her into the next room, she smashes a glass paperweight against his head, and he staggers outside. He discards his clothes and wanders through the woods. Later, at the Criches' annual picnic, to which most of the town is invited, Ursula and Gudrun find a secluded spot, and Gudrun dances before some Highland cattle while Ursula sings "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles". When Gerald and Rupert appear, Gerald calls Gudrun's behaviour "impossible and ridiculous", and then says he loves her. "That's one way of putting it", she replies. Ursula and Rupert wander away discussing death and love. They make love in the woods. The day ends in tragedy when Laura and Tibby drown while swimming in the lake.

During one of Gerald and Rupert's discussions, Rupert suggests Japanese-style wrestling. They strip and wrestle in the firelight. Rupert enjoys their closeness and says they should swear to love each other, but Gerald cannot understand Rupert's idea of wanting to have an emotional union with a man as well as an emotional and physical union with a woman. Ursula and Rupert decide to marry while Gudrun and Gerald continue to see each other. One evening, emotionally exhausted after his father's illness and death, Gerald sneaks into the Brangwen house to spend the night with Gudrun in her bed, then leaves at dawn.

Later, after Ursula and Rupert's marriage, Gerald suggests that the four of them go to the Alps for Christmas. At their inn in the Alps, Gudrun irritates Gerald with her interest in Loerke, a gay German sculptor. An artist herself, Gudrun is fascinated with Loerke's idea that brutality is necessary to create art. While Gerald grows increasingly jealous and angry, Gudrun only derides and ridicules him. Finally, he can endure it no longer. After attempting to strangle her, he trudges off into the cold, to commit suicide and die alone. Rupert and Ursula return to their cottage in England. Rupert grieves for his dead friend. As Ursula and Rupert discuss love, Ursula says there can't be two kinds of love. He explains that she is enough for love of a woman but there is another eternal love and bond for a man.

In August 1917, Rosy Ryan, only daughter of the local publican, widower Tom Ryan, is bored with life in Kirrary, an isolated village on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. The villagers are Irish nationalists, taunting British soldiers from a nearby army camp. Tom Ryan publicly supports the recently suppressed Easter Rising, but secretly serves the British as an informer.

Rosy falls in love with the village schoolmaster, widower Charles Shaughnessy. She imagines, though he tries to convince her otherwise, that he will somehow add excitement to her life. They marry and settle in the schoolhouse, but he is a quiet man uninterested in physical love.

Major Randolph Doryan arrives in October 1917 to take command of the army camp. After winning a Victoria Cross on the Western Front, he has a crippled leg and is suffering from shell shock. When he visits the pub where Rosy is serving alone, he collapses under a flashback to the trenches and is comforted by her. The two kiss passionately until they are interrupted by the arrival of Ryan and others. Next day, the two ride to a forest for a passionate liaison and make love for the first time. Charles becomes suspicious of Rosy, but keeps his thoughts to himself.

Charles takes his schoolchildren to the beach, where he notices Doryan's telltale footprints accompanied by a woman's in the sand. He tracks the prints to a cave and imagines Doryan and Rosy conducting an affair. Local halfwit Michael notices the footprints as well and searches the cave. Finding a button from Doryan's uniform, he pins it on his lapel and proudly parades through the village, but suffers abuse from the villagers. When Rosy comes riding past, Michael approaches her tenderly. Between Rosy's dismay and Michael's pantomime, the villagers surmise that she is having an affair with Doryan.

One night in January 1918, during a fierce storm, IRB leader Tim O'Leary and a small band of his men arrive in Ryan's pub seeking help to recover a shipment of German arms being floated from a ship towards the beach. Before they leave, they murder the police constable. When they leave, Ryan tips off the British. The entire village turns out to help the rebels, with Ryan the most outwardly devoted to the task, wading into the breakers repeatedly to salvage boxes of weapons and explosives. O'Leary is overwhelmed by Ryan's devotion, and the villagers are ebullient. They gleefully free the rebels' loaded truck from the wet sand and follow it up the hill. Doryan, waiting at the top with his troops, captures the men and arms. O'Leary makes a break, but Doryan climbs atop the truck and brings him down with a single rifle shot. Then he suffers a flashback and collapses. Rosy presses through the crowd in concern, outraging the villagers.

Charles tells Rosy that he had let her affair run its course, hoping that the infatuation would pass, but now wants a separation. Rosy says the affair is over, but that night she leaves their bed in her nightdress to meet Doryan. In dismay, Charles wanders in his nightclothes to the beach, where the parish priest Father Collins finds him. The villagers storm into the schoolhouse and seize Rosy, convinced that she informed the British of the arms shipment. Ryan watches in shame and horror as his daughter takes the blame for his actions. The mob shears off her hair and strips off her clothes.

Doryan walks along the beach and gives his cigarette case to Michael. In gratitude, Michael leads Doryan to a cache of arms, including dynamite, that was not recovered. After Michael runs off, Doryan commits suicide by detonating the explosives. The next day, Rosy and Charles leave for Dublin. Father Collins follows them to the bus stop and says to Charles that his only doubt is the same as Charles's: if he and Rosy should separate.

Tina Balser, an educated, frustrated housewife and mother, is in a loveless marriage with Jonathan, an insufferable, controlling, emotionally abusive, social-climbing lawyer in New York City. He treats her like a servant, undermines her with insults, and belittles her appearance, abilities, and the raising of their two girls, who treat their mother with the same rudeness as their father. Searching for relief, she begins a sexually fulfilling affair with a cruel and coarse writer, George Prager, who treats her with similar brusqueness and contempt, which only drives her deeper into despair. She then tries group therapy, but this also proves fruitless when she finds her male psychiatrist Dr. Linstrom as well as the other participants equally shallow and abusive.

At the climax of the film, Jonathan confesses to Tina that his ambitious plans have collapsed. A French vineyard he had invested in is wiped out, and he is now in debt. Because he has been focusing on non-job issues, his work at his law firm has suffered. He also confesses to having an affair. Tina tells Jonathan that she accepts what he's done and promises to support him, but does not tell him of her own affair with George. Tina reveals her story to her therapy group, who angrily criticize or belittle her. The final shot is of Tina's steadfast face as angry voices from the group are heard from off-screen with the credits rolling at the sides.

Justine and Richard's fifteen-year relationship ends in separation due to irreconcilable differences with Justine maintaining custody of their three boys. Her new life means having to deal with being a single parent but at the same time, she comes to terms with her own parents' divorce and finds a common bond with her long-suffering mother. Richard, a renowned author, deals with the situation by devoting all his attention to his writing. Both are forced to confront their uncertain futures, while examining what led to the breakdown of their marriage.

Having just served five years in prison, Billy Brown (Vincent Gallo) returns home to Buffalo, New York, and is preparing to meet with his parents, who don't know he's been in prison. He kidnaps Layla (Christina Ricci), a tap dancer, and forces her to pretend to be his wife to his parents. He gives her the name "Wendy Balsam".

When they meet with Billy's parents (Ben Gazzara and Anjelica Huston), Layla sees that the relationship between them is very dysfunctional, and sees Billy's own mother forgetting he has a chocolate allergy and his father behaves inappropriately towards her. She finds out that Billy's mother has never missed a Buffalo Bills game, except in 1966, on the day Billy was born. In a flashback it is revealed that Billy once placed a reckless $10,000 bet on the Bills to win Super Bowl XXV; when they lost, the bookie (Mickey Rourke) forced Billy to clear his debt by confessing to a crime he didn't commit, resulting in his time served in prison. Now Billy seeks revenge on Scott Wood, the kicker who lost the game. (This is a reference to Buffalo Bills kicker Scott Norwood, who missed the potential game-winning field goal in Super Bowl XXV.)

As they leave his parents' house, Billy scolds Layla for telling an obvious lie to his father, and then decides to go bowling. Here Billy shows off his expertise at the sport, and Layla gives a tap dance routine to King Crimson's 'Moonchild'. The two use a photo booth to take photos "spanning time" which Billy intends to send to his parents once a year, but Billy becomes annoyed when Layla makes silly faces during the photos, in contrast to Billy's straight face.

After bowling, Billy and Layla visit a diner, where Billy encounters the real Wendy Balsam (Rosanna Arquette), a girl he used to have a crush on in middle school, who is now happily in a relationship with another man. Billy leaves Layla alone in the diner after a brief argument, but regretting his outburst, returns and apologizes to her. Billy and Layla check into a motel, where Billy and Layla have a deep conversation, and eventually admit that they have fallen in love with each other, and they both go to sleep.

A few hours after midnight, he is about to leave to exact his revenge on Wood, when Layla awakens. Despite Layla's doubts that he'll return and proclamation of her love for him, he leaves, lying to her that he'll return in a few minutes with hot chocolate for her.

Shortly after leaving Layla at the motel, Billy finds Scott Wood, now the owner of a topless bar. At Wood's own bar, he walks over to Wood's table and shoots him in the head, before shooting himself. His parents are then shown sitting by his grave with his mother showing more interest in a Buffalo game on the radio than in her own son's death. However, this is all shown to be inside of Billy's mind. Billy leaves the bar without killing Wood, realizing that in Layla he's finally found a person who truly loves him. After making amends with his friend Goon (Kevin Corrigan) on a payphone, the film ends with Billy elatedly buying Layla her hot chocolate and a heart-shaped cookie, and buying another for a man sitting nearby who tells him he has a girlfriend, before returning to Layla at the motel.

Danny Noonan works as a caddie at the exclusive Bushwood Country Club in Illinois to earn enough money to go to college. Danny caddies for Ty Webb, a mischievous but avid golfer and the son of one of Bushwood's co-founders. Danny tries to gain favor with Judge Elihu Smails, the country club's arrogant co-founder and director of the caddie scholarship program, by caddying for him. Meanwhile, Carl Spackler, a mentally unstable groundskeeper who lives in the maintenance building, is sent by his Scottish supervisor Sandy McFiddish to hunt a gopher that is damaging the course. He attempts to kill it with a rifle and high-pressure hose but fails.

Al Czervik, a loud and free-spirited ''nouveau riche'' golfer and successful real estate developer, begins attending the club as a guest of member Drew Scott. Czervik distracts Smails as he tees off, causing his shot to go badly. Later, frustrated by slow play, Czervik wagers with Smails. Smails is furious for losing the bet and throws his putter, injuring an elderly woman. Danny takes the blame for the incident to gain Smails' favor. Smails encourages him to apply for the caddie scholarship.

At Bushwood's annual Fourth of July banquet, Danny and his girlfriend Maggie work as waiting staff. Czervik continues to annoy Smails and the older club members, while amusing and gaining favor with the younger club members, as well as the staff, to whom he consistently hands out generous amounts of cash as tips. Danny becomes attracted to Lacey Underall, Smails' promiscuous niece, who is visiting for the summer and frequents the club.

Later, Danny wins the Caddy Day golf tournament and the scholarship, earning him an invitation from Smails to attend the christening ceremony for his boat at the nearby Rolling Lakes Yacht Club. Smails' boat is sunk at the event after an accident involving Czervik's larger boat. Returning home, Smails discovers Lacey and Danny in bed at his house. Expecting to be fired or to have the scholarship revoked, Danny is surprised when Smails only demands that he keeps the incident secret.

Unable to bear the continued presence of the uncouth Czervik, Smails confronts him and announces that he will never be granted membership. Czervik counters by announcing that he would never consider being a member: he insults the country club and claims to be there merely to evaluate buying it and developing the land into condominiums. After a brief fight and exchange of insults, Webb suggests they discuss the situation over drinks. After Smails demands satisfaction, Czervik proposes a team golf match with Smails and his regular golfing partner Dr. Beeper against Czervik and Webb. Against club rules, they also agree to a $20,000 wager on the match, which quickly doubles to $40,000. That evening, Webb practices for the game against Smails and his errant shot brings him to meet Carl; the two share a bottle of wine and a joint.

The match is held the next day. Word spreads of the stakes involved, drawing in a crowd of club members and employees. During the game, Smails and Beeper take the lead, while Czervik, to his chagrin, is "playing the worst game of his life;" at the same time Webb slowly cracks over his own awful game. Czervik reacts to Smails' taunts by angrily doubling the wager to $80,000 per team. When his own ricocheting ball strikes his arm, Czervik fakes an injury in hopes of having the contest declared a draw. Lou, the caddy manager who is acting as an umpire, tells Czervik his team will forfeit unless they find a substitute. When Webb chooses Danny, Smails threatens to revoke his scholarship, but Czervik promises Danny that he will make it "worth his while" if he wins. Danny chooses to play.

Upon reaching the final hole, the score is tied. Judge Smails scores a birdie. Danny has to complete a difficult putt to win. Czervik again doubles the wager based on Danny making the putt. Danny's putt leaves the ball hanging over the edge of the hole. At that moment, in his latest attempt to kill the gopher, Carl detonates plastic explosives that he has rigged around the golf course. Several explosions shake the ground and cause the ball to drop into the hole, handing Danny, Webb and Czervik victory on the wager. Smails refuses to pay, so Czervik beckons two intimidating men named Moose and Rocco to "help the judge find his checkbook." As Smails is chased across the course, Czervik quotes to the onlookers "Hey everybody, we're all gonna get laid".

Some distance away, the gopher emerges from underground, unharmed, and dances to the film's main theme "I'm Alright" amid the smoldering ruins of the golf course.

Hercule Poirot travels back to England on the midday flight from Le Bourget Airfield in Paris to Croydon Airport in London. He is one of eleven passengers in the plane's rear compartment. The others include mystery writer Daniel Clancy; French archaeologists Armand Dupont and his son Jean; dentist Norman Gale; Doctor Bryant; French moneylender Madame Giselle; businessman James Ryder; Cicely, Countess of Horbury, and her friend Venetia Kerr; and Jane Grey. As the plane is close to landing, a wasp is spotted flying around the rear compartment before a steward finds that Giselle is dead. Poirot, who has slept through most of the flight, dismisses the belief she died from a wasp sting. Instead, he points out a dart on the floor, which is found to have a poisoned tip: Giselle was stung in the neck with it. The question remains how she was murdered without anyone noticing.

The police find a small blowpipe in the side of Poirot's seat. Annoyed at being identified as a suspect, he vows to clear his name and solve the case. Requesting a list of the passengers' possessions, he notes something that intrigues him but doesn't say what. Aided by Jane in the investigation, Poirot works with Inspector Japp in England and Inspector Fournier in France. Clues gradually emerge: the victim had two coffee spoons with her cup and saucer; the blowpipe was bought in Paris by an American man; Lady Horbury is one of Giselle's debtors, and had been cut off from her husband's money; Giselle employed blackmail to ensure that her debtors didn't miss their repayments; only the stewards and Clancy passed by the victim on the flight; Lady Horbury's maid was on the flight after asking to be on it at the last moment.

Poirot pursues his enquiries in both London and Paris. On a flight to Paris, he conducts an experiment that shows that the use of the blowpipe, or anything similar, would have been noticed by the other passengers. It subsequently emerges that Giselle has an estranged daughter, Anne Morisot, who now stands to inherit her fortune. Poirot meets Anne and learns that she has an American or Canadian husband, whom she married a month earlier. Poirot afterwards comments that he feels that he has seen Anne before. When Jane makes a remark about needing to file a nail, he realises that Anne was Lady Horbury's maid Madeleine – he had seen her come into the rear compartment during the flight when Lady Horbury summoned her to fetch a dressing-case. He immediately instructs Fournier to find Anne. French police discover her body on the boat-train to Boulogne, with a bottle beside it; she appears to have poisoned herself.

Poirot makes his dénouement of the case in the presence of Japp, Gale, and Clancy. Giselle's killer was Norman Gale, who sought her fortune. The murder was carefully planned: Gale had brought his dentist's coat on the flight, which he changed into after some time to pose as a steward, knowing no-one would pay attention to such a person. Under the guise of delivering a spoon to Giselle, he stabbed her with the dart, then removed his coat and returned to his seat before the body was found. Anne's murder was part of the plan – Gale married her when he learned she was Giselle's daughter, intending to kill her at a later date in Canada, after she had received her mother's estate, and having ensured that he would in turn inherit the money from her. However, he had to kill her earlier than planned because she claimed her inheritance on the same day that Poirot met her.

The wasp that buzzed around in the rear compartment was released from a matchbox that Gale brought with him; both this and his coat had aroused Poirot's suspicions when he read the list of passengers' possessions. Both the wasp and the blowpipe, which Gale planted in the cabin, were intended to mislead. Gale denies Poirot's theory, but after Poirot lies to him about the police finding his fingerprints on the bottle that contained the poison, he inadvertently lets slip that he wore gloves in Anne's murder. Gale is arrested. Afterwards, Poirot pairs off Jane with Jean Dupont, who had fallen in love with her during the case.

On the morning of 18 July, the household at Styles Court wakes to the discovery that Emily Inglethorp, the elderly owner, has died. She had been poisoned with strychnine. Arthur Hastings, a soldier from the Western Front staying at this country manor as a guest on his sick leave, ventures out to the nearby village of Styles St Mary to enlist help from his friend Hercule Poirot. Emily was a wealthy woman. Her household includes her husband, Alfred Inglethorp, a younger man she recently married; her stepsons (from her first husband's previous marriage) John and Lawrence Cavendish; John's wife Mary Cavendish; Cynthia Murdoch, the daughter of a deceased friend of the family; and Evelyn Howard, Emily's companion.

Poirot learns that per Emily's will, John inherits the manor property from her, per his father's will. However, the money she inherited would be distributed according to her own will, which she changed at least once per year; her most recent will favours Alfred, who will inherit her fortune. On the day of the murder, Emily had been arguing with someone, suspected to be either Alfred or John. She had been quite distressed after this and apparently made a new will. No one can find any evidence of this new will. Alfred left the manor early that evening and stayed overnight in the village. Meanwhile, Emily ate little at dinner and retired early to her room, taking her document case with her; when her body was found, the case had been forced open. Nobody can explain how or when the poison was administered to her.

Inspector Japp, the investigating officer, considers Alfred to be the prime suspect, as he gains the most from his wife's death. Poirot notes that Alfred's behaviour is suspicious during the investigation. Alfred refuses to provide an alibi and openly denies purchasing the strychnine in the village, despite evidence to the contrary. Although Japp is keen to arrest him, Poirot intervenes by proving he could not have purchased the poison; the signature for the purchase is not in his handwriting. Suspicion now falls on John, next to gain from Emily's will and without an alibi for the murder. Japp soon arrests him: the signature for the poison is in his handwriting; a phial that contained the poison is found in his room; a beard and a pair of pince-nez identical to Alfred's are found within the manor.

Poirot soon exonerates John of the crime. He reveals that the murder was committed by Alfred Inglethorp, with aid from his cousin Evelyn Howard. The pair pretended to be enemies but were romantically involved. They added bromide to Emily's regular evening medicine, obtained from her sleeping powder, making the final dose lethal. The pair then left false evidence that would incriminate Alfred, which they knew would be refuted at his trial; once acquitted, he could not be tried for the crime again if genuine evidence against him was found, per the law of double jeopardy. The pair framed John as part of their plan; Evelyn forged his handwriting, and the evidence against him was fabricated.

Poirot explains that he prevented Japp from arresting Alfred because Poirot saw that Alfred wanted to be arrested. Thanks to a chance remark by Hastings, Poirot finds a letter in Emily's room that detailed Alfred's intentions for Evelyn. Emily's distress on the afternoon of the murder was because Emily had found this letter in Alfred's desk while searching for stamps. Emily's document case was forced open by Alfred when Alfred realised she had the letter. Alfred then hid the letter elsewhere in the room to avoid being found with it.

Book of Shadows, Book 1

Morgan Rowlands is a high school student living in the picturesque town of Widow's Vale. Morgan is an ordinary girl who lives an ordinary life. However, her life becomes unsettled upon meeting Cal Blaire. With his angelic face, gold-colored eyes, perfect body, and olive skin, Cal quickly becomes the center of every girl’s admiration, including Morgan and her best friend, Bree Warren, who breaks up with her boyfriend, Chris, and Raven (a girl who is popular because she wears heavy metal style and has tattoos).

Having gained popularity with his air of charisma and good looks, Cal manages to gather several dozen students from his new school to a “homecoming party”. During the party, Cal reveals his Wiccan origins by inviting his peers to join him in a circle to celebrate Mabon, one of the Wiccan Sabbats. Feelings of discomfort and surprise cause many of the guests to leave, but Bree and Morgan decide to stay for the circle. From that moment on, Morgan begins showing a knack for Witchcraft, which sparks Cal's interest. However, as the chemistry between Cal and Morgan becomes more and more apparent a rift in Bree and Morgan’s friendship emerges because of the incident at the pool party when he picks Morgan up in his arms. Later, as the Samhain gathering comes to a close, Cal and his friends form a coven called Cirrus. During this circle, Morgan discovers that she is a "blood witch": a person who is naturally born with magical powers.

The Coven, Volume 2

Upon learning that she is a blood witch, Morgan concludes that her parents are blood witches and confronts them. However, after her parents deny being witches, this leads Morgan to find out that she was adopted. She runs out of the house in a fierce rage finding comfort with Cal. From then on, Cal and Morgan's relationship develops. Cal tells Morgan they were meant to be together. He says he loves her, the rift between Morgan and Bree grows, and Morgan goes on a quest to find her origins. Due to Cal and Morgan's relationship, Bree and Raven, members of Cirrus, announce their leaving of the coven to a different coven which is headed by Sky Eventide. Morgan, in the end, meets Sky along with Hunter Niall. At Cal's house. Morgan immediately feels extremely wary around Hunter and Sky upon meeting them. While trying to get away from them, Morgan accidentally stumbles upon Selene's hidden library, where she finds her mother's Book of Shadows.

Blood Witch, Volume 3

Flustered from seeing Sky and Hunter in Cal's home, Morgan, wanting to get away from them, leaves the room and discovers a door hidden in the hallway. When entering the room, Morgan realizes that it is Selene's study. While glimpsing the thousands of books that mark the walls, Morgan becomes taken over by a sensation. Unconsciously, she pulls out a book with no title. Flipping through the pages she realizes that what she held was her mother's Book of Shadows. Amidst her overwhelming emotions, Cal and his mother, Selene Belltower, enter, perplexed about how she was able to enter the secret room. At first feeling guilty, but seeing the Book of Shadows is rightfully hers, Morgan confidently opposes Selene, and without any conflict Selene gives the book to Morgan. Morgan returns home. From this point on Cal's respect and feelings begin to grow for Morgan. Tensions rise and things start to become unclear as little bits and pieces of information arise. Morgan discovers that she is Woodbane, Hunter is Cal's brother and he is Seeker for the International Council of Witches investigating Selene and Cal. Morgan finds her birth mother's tools beneath their old house in Meshomah Falls, by scrying in the fire she sees her birth mother Maeve Riordan pointing under the house, so she drives there with her best friend Robbie to retrieve it. Further tensions erupt on Morgan's birthday during her time with Cal when Hunter arrives. Cal and Hunter break into an argument which ends up becoming a chase. Hunter announces his reason for being there which is to fulfill his duty as Seeker. Cal runs into the woods with Hunter following behind and Morgan following. Hunter and Cal then fight, resulting to the event of Hunter placing a braigh - a spelled chain meant to hurt witches - on Cal so that he is helpless. Cal begs Morgan to save him, so Morgan throws the athame that Cal gave her for her birthday at Hunter, sending him over the edge of the cliff and into the river.

Dark Magick, Volume 4

On Morgan’s 17th she killed a man. Her guilt at what happened makes her send a witch message to Sky telling her where to find Hunter and that he needed her help. Hours later on the cliff edge she into Sky. Sky says that she can no longer feel Hunter's presence. At Practical Magick Alyce says that she needs to bind the tools she found to herself so others cannot easily use them and they will be stronger for her. In Maeve's BOS, she discovers hidden entries about her mother meeting a witch named Ciaran and falling in love with him. Selene eagerly asks Morgan about Belwicket's tools and offers to show her how to use them and even share her power with them. When Morgan tells Selene that she has already bound the tools to her, Selene seems displeased and says that they can always do a spell to unbind them. Cal's admits that he lied to her about not knowing what clan he was from. He tells her that his line is from a traditional practicing Woodbane clan unlike Belwicket. He then takes her to a secret room out in the pool-house that he calls his seómar. Morgan finds the room uncomfortable and claustrophobic and makes an excuse to leave. Cal tells her that some of his mother’s Woodbane friends want to meet her which fills her with fear she flees to Practical magic. At Practical Magick, Hunter sitting at the small table. She decides the only way she can trust Hunter is if they connect minds. Morgan learns that Hunter was telling the truth about being a seeker for the council and that he was sent to investigate Cal and Selene for misuse of magick. She could feel Hunter searching her mind for any involvement in dark magick and finding none. Sky enters and freaks out when she sees Morgan sitting with Hunter. She screams that if she hadn't got a witch message telling her where to find Hunter, that he would be dead. Morgan is furious with Sky for letting her believe Hunter was dead, and yells back that she had sent the message. Sky doesn't believe her because she says she isn't strong enough, but Hunter speaks up saying that she is. Morgan tells Cal about Hunter being alive and he is angry. Hunter comes to her house to re-draw the protection sigils. They talk for a while and look at each other. Hunter grabs her chin and leans in to kiss her. A car door slams before he does, breaking the moment and she pushes a shocked Hunter back. Morgan does a solo circle she sees visions of her ancestors passing the tools down from generation to generation until a vision of herself then turns and hands them to a tall girl with hazel eyes; her future daughter whom she will call Moira. When she opens her eyes, she finds Sky waiting they end up doing a táth meanma and scrying circle together. During the circle they see Cal and Selene with others discussing her. They say that she was Cals assignment and is his responsibility to bring into the fold, and he responds saying she will come. Morgan asks Cal if Selene is trying to hurt her and if they are in a Woodbane coven trying to destroy non-woodbane witches. Cal tells her that they are múirn beatha dán's and that she needs to trust him. She says they are not and realizes that it’s true. In an effort to distract him she tells him she knows that he slept with Bree and he finally admits that it did happen once, the news breaking Morgan's heart and she ends their relationship. Cal binds her with a spell and throws her into her own car. She sends witch messages to anyone she can think of begging for help. Cal brings her to his pool-house sanctuary and puts her inside and hits her with a ball of black energy knocking her unconscious. When she awakens, she is locked in Cal's seómar She hears Selene asking what Cal is doing and he claims he is solving the problem. Cal was burning her alive, just like her mother. She hears Bree and Robbie are outside the burning pool-house looking for her, she yells that she is inside and they take Morgan's car and rams the wall making a hole Morgan can escape through.

Awakening, Volume 5

In Dark Magick Morgan was betrayed by the first boy she ever loved (Cal). Now Morgan must attempt to get on with her life. Morgan begins to study with Hunter, and slowly begins to realize her feelings for him. But dark magick seems to be surrounding them and someone close is to blame. Hunter and Morgan slowly start to get closer throughout the book. Hunter suspects that the dark magick is being used by David Redstone, owner of Practical Magick, and Morgan's friend. Morgan does everything she can to try and prove it was not him, but in the end, Hunter is right. The day before David gets stripped of his powers, Morgan and Hunter share a passionate kiss, and after Hunter strips David of his powers, he gives Morgan the stone Morganite, and it shows that Morgan is the thing/person that Hunter desires most in his heart.

Spellbound, Volume 6

Kithic and Cirrus merge and Morgan becomes aware of her feelings for Hunter. Throughout the book Morgan and Hunter's relationship develop with an occasional mishap. The two later find out that the severed brake lines and the sawed posts were the workings of Cal when he admits it upon their meeting at the old Methodist cemetery. Hunter and Cal at the cemetery prepare to fight when Morgan binds them with a spell. Keeping the binding spell on the two of them, she forces Hunter into her car and drives to Hunter's house where she releases him. If things couldn't get worse, Mary K., Morgan's sister is kidnapped by Selene. Morgan and Hunter go to Selene's and Cal's old house to battle it out with her. Just as Selene's magic was about to hit Morgan, Cal appears and steps in front of the dark magick, sacrificing himself for Morgan and ultimately proving to her that he had indeed renounced his mother's beliefs and that he really did love her. Selene falls to the ground, grieving over her son's dead body. While her guard is down, Hunter attempts to put the braigh around her wrists, but she is automatically enveloped by the darkness within her, causing the braigh to corrode. Just when all seems lost, the darkness exits her body, and the physical strain kills Selene. They leave the house, along with Mary K., who doesn't seem to recall any of the events that just occurred. Sky and another person, seemingly a member of the International Council of Witches, then arrive at the house and take Cal and Selene's body away. Morgan is undecided as to her feelings for Hunter.

The Calling, Volume 7

Morgan has a dream about a ritual sacrifice. The Witches Council thinks that it is a vision of the future. They suspect that it is a vision of an illegal sacrifice by a Woodbane coven, Amyranth, to obtain power. It is suspected that the sacrifice may in fact be a child of one of Amyranth's members. The council sends Hunter to New York, the place where the coven is suspected to operate, to investigate. Morgan goes with Hunter; however, she also wishes to discover more about her birth parents, something which can only be done in New York. At the invitation of Bree, they stay at the apartment of Bree's father. Robbie, Sky and Raven come along for the ride. At a New York disco they meet Killian who turns out to be Ciaran's son. It is then believed that Killian is the target of the Amyranth sacrifice. Ciaran meets Morgan in a shop about witchcraft, and he decides to sacrifice her. He sets a trap for her to steal her powers, but when he finds out Morgan is his daughter he helps Hunter to stop the ritual before it is too late. During the time that the ritual is taking place, Morgan realizes that Hunter is her "mùirn beatha dàn"(soul mate). In the end of the book, Morgan breaks up with Hunter because she finds out that she is Ciaran's daughter, one of the most evil witches of the age, and also her mother's "mùirn beatha dàn", but he killed her, so Morgan believes that she's like poison, and being around Hunter is going to get him killed because both parents are Woodbane, the evil clan of the Seven Great Clans. Although her mother has renounced evil, her father is "the Wiccan version of Hitler."

Changeling, Volume 8

Morgan has broken up with Hunter and has found out that Ciaran is her true birth father, making Killian her half-brother. The council of witches sends Eoife, an elderly witch, to Morgan to ask her for her assistance for the rescue of the Starlocket coven, which the International Council of Witches thinks the mysterious dark wave will strike next. Morgan has to get close to Killian to get closer to Ciaran so she called Killian to Widow's Vale and asked him to contact Ciaran. She feels apprehensive and hesitant about facing Ciaran, but at the same time, has a strange urge to hug him since she has finally found her true father. She refuses to hug the same man that killed her mother Maeve Riordan and Angus, her lover, however. Near the end of the book, she shape shifts into a wolf, with Ciaran, and learns his true name, which can control him. Morgan is faced with a choice between the people she loves and the powerful and seemingly dark magick her father can teach her.

Strife, Volume 9

Morgan gets back together with Hunter, and during a family dinner with Hunter, Mary K finally finds out the truth about what Selene had done to her, and how Selene and Cal died. To make things worse, strange occurrences begin to happen in Morgan's presence. Books begin flying and light bulbs explode, and no one seems to know the cause - thus attributing the blame to Morgan. Morgan's school grades begin to slip and she finds herself having difficulty finding a balance between her school work and a life of Wicca. She is grounded because of it, meaning she cannot go to a circle. At the end, Sky leaves.

Seeker, Volume 10

The tenth book in the Sweep series is not from Morgan's point of view. Instead the book is in Hunter's point of view. Hunter was in a search for his parents who have been missing since Hunter was a child. Hunter receives information about the whereabouts of his parents, which inevitably lead him to Canada. There he finds his father, Daniel Niall, and discovers that his mother died just before Yule, when he was training Morgan. Hunter soon discovers that his father is talking to his mother (who is dead) using a Bith Dearc which is the use of what is considered to be a form of dark magick, against the wishes of Hunter's mother. Hunter must attempt to stop his father from doing this, while investigating a witch by the name of Justine Courceau, a witch collecting the true names of other witches, on the order of the International Council of Witches. He ends up kissing her, and then is faced with the fact that he has to tell Morgan about it.

Origins, Volume 11

Hunter brings his father back to Widows Vale Hunter and Morgan reads the memoir of Rose MacEwan's which Hunter acquired while in Canada. Rose MacEwan is a Woodbane ancestor of Morgan and is the first person to have created a Dark Wave (a powerful piece of dark magick which can destroy entire covens). The story is written from Rose's point of view and follows her story as she falls in love, has her heart broken, and turns to dark magic as a means of revenge eventually creating the first Dark Wave, not actually realizing what she was doing at the time.

Eclipse, Volume 12

This book switches perspectives between Morgan and Alisa Soto, who discovers that she is a half-witch with significant power. Morgan, Hunter, Daniel Niall and Alisa join forces to combat a Dark Wave which is heading for them and will destroy themselves and their friends and families. Daniel discovers a way to counteract the dark wave, however any full witch would die in the process. Alisa soon discovers that her half-witch abilities may be the key to defeating the Dark Wave and saving everyone who she knows.

Reckoning, Volume 13

This book is entirely from Alisa Soto's perspective with the difficulties of finding out she is a blood witch and her weird powers and the added stress from her father and his pregnant girlfriend, Alisa's powers flood Hunter's house. After another heated confrontation with her father, Alisa runs away to Gloucester to meet her Uncle Sam. There she meets her mother's family and reconnects with her roots with the help of family friend Charlie. She finds out the family have been plagued by mysterious mishaps that had been attributed to a curse her great-great-great-great grandmother placed on the family (having lost her mind.)

Full Circle, Volume 14

This book is written from both Hunter and Morgan's points of view and begins tying up loose ends of the past 13 novels. Morgan begins sleep-walking in life-threatening situations and begins having visions of Cal, who is dead, trying to save her. Meanwhile Hunter is faced with a decision of whether or not he wants to work for International Witches Council anymore. The two soon find themselves battling an enemy they thought was dead. The story ends with Morgan boarding a plane to Scotland to join a Wiccan school. Hunter gives her a silver Claddagh ring, as a symbol of his love and devotion to her.

Night's Child, Volume 15

Unlike the previous installments of Sweep, this book is not written in first person. Morgan is now thirty-seven years old. Morgan's husband Colm Byrne, whom she married in April of the same year that Hunter Niall died in a storm at sea, was killed in a car crash whilst on a business trip to London. Morgan has otherwise lived in peace working as a healer for the New Charter, and preparing to become the High Priestess of the reformed coven of Belwicket. Morgan has a child, Moira whom she believes is Colm Byrne, her husband and her child, but in reality is not. Upon the actions of another coven, Ealltuinn, Morgan begins to realize that there are dark forces once again being built against her. As Morgan discovers that Hunter is still alive, she sets out to find him. She receives messages leading to Hunter's location. She rescues him by fighting yet another Dark Wave. She then discovers Moira in reality is Hunter's child.

Commander Casey Abbott (Ronald Reagan), commander of the submarine USS ''Starfish'', is ordered to undertake a dangerous mission which sees him attempting to cut off the flow of supplies between China and Japan in the heavily mined waters off the Asiatic mainland. When a diver, who is Abbott's competitor for the affections of nurse Lieutenant Helen Blair (Nancy Davis) back home, gets into a dangerous situation, Abbott must struggle to keep his personal and professional lives separate in dealing with the crisis.

The results arouse ill feelings in the crew and especially Abbott's executive officer, Lt. Commander Landon (Arthur Franz), who asks his captain to let him air his views in confidence. The results lead Abbott to write in Landon's efficiency report that he should never be given command of a naval vessel, resulting in further ill will between the two.

Roberto Ridolfi, a Florentine banker and ardent Catholic, had been involved in the planning of the Northern rebellion and had been plotting to overthrow Elizabeth as early as 1569. With the failure of the rebellion, he concluded that foreign intervention was needed to restore Catholicism and bring Mary to the English throne, and so he began to contact potential conspirators. Mary's advisor, John Lesley, the Bishop of Ross, gave his assent to the plot as the way to free Mary. The plan was to have the Duke of Alba invade from the Netherlands with 10,000 men, foment a rebellion of the northern English nobility, murder Elizabeth, and marry Mary to Thomas Howard. Ridolfi optimistically estimated half of all English peers were Catholic and could muster in excess of 39,000 men. Norfolk gave verbal assurances to Ridolfi that he was Catholic, though as a pupil of John Foxe, he remained a Protestant all his life. Both Mary and Norfolk, desperate to remedy their respective situations, agreed to the plot. With their blessing, Ridolfi set off to the Continent to gain Alba, Pius V, and King Philip II's support.

List of co-conspirators

Ridolfi's co-conspirators, some of them mentioned above, played an important role in the plot to overthrow Elizabeth:

Don Guerau de Espés: Spain's ambassador to England, who was expelled after the discovery of his involvement. Elizabeth had raised her concerns about de Espés' behaviour with Anna of Austria.

John Lesley: the Bishop of Ross, who was Mary Stuart's chief agent; he arranged meetings and delivered letters for Mary during her house arrest.

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, who was Queen Elizabeth I's second cousin. He was to marry Mary Queen of Scots and together with her restore Catholic rule to the English and Scottish thrones. After the plot was discovered he was given a day-long trial that ended with his execution.

Mary, Queen of Scots: after it became clear that Elizabeth I was not going to restore her to the Scottish throne or return her to France, Mary plotted for her freedom. She wrote to Ridolfi denouncing the French and soliciting Spanish aid, while simultaneously professing friendship and loyalty to Elizabeth I and England. Giving her consent to the plot in March 1571, her role was to marry the Duke of Norfolk, with the plan that when the troops arrived in London she would be returned to the Scottish throne. However, when the plot was uncovered, her deep involvement in it altered Elizabeth's opinion of Mary; Elizabeth never spoke of restoring her to the throne again.

King Philip II, who welcomed Ridolfi to court and, with the council, discussed the plot's pros and cons. He supported overthrowing Elizabeth and later came to support the assassination. Philip, however, disapproved of the papal bull against Elizabeth because, according to Cyril Hamshere, he feared it would "prompt Elizabeth to take reprisals against Catholics."

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba, who was the leader of the Spanish army stationed in the Netherlands and was to lead more than 10,000 men to Harwich or Portsmouth. His army was to invade England and make its way to London to establish Mary on the throne, while either detaining or assassinating Elizabeth I.

Pope Pius V, who made Ridolfi his papal agent in England in 1567. Pius was not only aware of the plot but gave his written approval in a letter for Ridolfi to take to Philip II.

Discovery

In 1571, Elizabeth's intelligence network was sending her information about a plot against her life. By gaining the confidence of Spain's ambassador to England, John Hawkins learned the details of the conspiracy and notified the government so as to arrest the plotters. Elizabeth was also sent a private warning by Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, who had learned of the plot against her. Charles Baillie, Ridolfi's messenger, was arrested on about 12 April 1571 at Dover for carrying compromising letters, and by the use of torture and prison informers such as William Herle, he was forced to reveal the cipher of the messages he carried.

On 29 August 1571, Norfolk's secretaries William Barker and Robert Higford entrusted to Thomas Browne, a Shrewsbury draper, what was purported to be a bag of silver coin for delivery to Laurence Bannister, one of Norfolk's officials in the north of England. Browne grew suspicious of the bag's weight, opened it, and discovered 600 pounds in gold from the French ambassador, destined for Scotland on Mary's behalf, and ciphered letters. Because he knew Norfolk was under suspicion, Browne reported his find to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, the Secretary of State. Higford and Barker were interrogated, the letters were partly deciphered, and a search for the cipher key at Howard House uncovered a ciphered letter from Mary Stuart hidden under a doormat.

Norfolk's servants were arrested and interrogated, and confessions were extracted from them by threats or application of torture. Sir Thomas Smith and Thomas Wilson were sent to confront Norfolk, who claimed the money was for his own private purposes. The deciphered letter, however, proved that he was lying. Unaware of his servants' confessions or the survival of letters which, contrary to his instructions, had not been burnt, he denied the charges against him. On 7 September, the queen's warrant for conveying him to the Tower of London arrived. Thereupon, the duke admitted a degree of involvement in the transmission of money and correspondence to Mary's Scottish supporters. In January 1572, Norfolk was tried and convicted on three counts of high treason, and on 2 June he was beheaded on Tower Hill.

Guerau de Spes, the Spanish ambassador, was expelled from the country in January 1571. Still abroad when the plot was discovered, Ridolfi never returned to England; he became a Florentine senator in 1600.

Ridolfi's role

Despite his plot's ultimate failure, Roberto Ridolfi's story is surprising and memorable. He had played the relatively minor role of banker but nevertheless found himself at the centre of a major plot to overthrow the English government. Ridolfi had been jailed in 1568 because of a rumour that he had distributed money to dissenting nobles associated with the Northern Rebellion. The Pope did, in fact, give him 12,000 crowns for that purpose, but Ridolfi was released in 1570 because no evidence could be found to incriminate him. Even after his arrest and release, Ridolfi remained a spy for the Pope. Ridolfi's banking connections helped him become acquainted with the Duke of Norfolk, and he became a supporter of a marriage between Norfolk and Mary, Queen of Scots, who would, if the plot succeeded, rule England and reinstate Catholicism there.

After Norfolk's release from prison in August 1570, Ridolfi "picked up the broken threads of Catholic intrigue". Ridolfi was in an advantageous position to orchestrate a Catholic rebellion in England, since he was employed by the Pope, France, and Spain, and had ties to the Catholic contingent in England. He could use banking as an excuse to travel among these groups for the purpose of conspiring. When he travelled to mainland Europe to inform King Phillip and the Pope of the plot, it is believed that he was still working for Elizabeth.

Plot failure

The Duke of Alba, the Spanish Viceroy in the Netherlands who was to lead the attack on England, felt Ridolfi was too garrulous to be the leader of a conspiracy, but Spanish Ambassador Don Guerau de Spes described Ridolfi as "A person of great truth and virtue and an intimate friend of mine." Ridolfi's talkative nature did eventually cause him trouble, as he was not very discreet and trumpeted his plan all over Europe. His boasting was partially responsible for the plot's failure, as he told it to Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany who immediately informed Elizabeth of the plot.

The story is inspired by various Middle Eastern myths and stories, including Arabian Nights.

''Quest for Glory II'' takes place in the city of Shapeir and its surrounds, a land which is host also to Katta, humanoid, cat-like creatures. Directly following from the events of the first game, the newly proclaimed Hero of Spielburg travels by flying carpet with his friends Abdulla Doo, Shameen and Shema to the desert city of Shapeir. The city is threatened by magical elementals of fire, earth, wind, and water, while the Emir Arus al-Din of Shapeir's sister city Raseir is missing and his city fallen under tyranny.

After defeating the four elementals that threaten Shapeir, the Hero travels to the city of Raseir, which is missing its emir. There, he is imprisoned by Khaveen and under hypnosis helps the evil tyrannical wizard Ad Avis to resurrect the evil genie Iblis. In the final fight, the Hero attacks the palace and battles with Ad Avis, who falls to his presumed death begging for assistance from his Dark Master. As thanks for the Hero's success in liberating Raseir and restoring its lost splendor, the Sultan of Shapeir, Harun al-Rashid, rewards the Hero by adopting him as his son.

Rakeesh the Paladin brings the Hero (and Prince of Shapeir) along with Uhura and her son Simba to his homeland, the town of Tarna in a jungle and savannah country called Fricana, which is inspired by central African ecosystems. Fricana is home to Liontaurs, half-human, half-lion creatures.

The Liontaur city of Tarna is on the brink of a war; the Simbani, the tribe of Uhura, are ready to do battle with the Leopardmen. Both tribes have taken a sacred relic from the other tribe and refused to return it before the other does. The Hero must prevent the war and then thwart a demon who may be loosed upon the world.

The Hero earns membership in the warring tribes, and leads his newfound allies into battle against the demon wizard. As soon as the battle is won, the Hero suddenly disappears into darkness.

''Love for Sail!'' is the first Larry game since the third to pick up immediately where its predecessor left off; in typical fashion, it features Larry getting dumped by the woman who represented the ultimate goal of ''Larry 6'', Shamara.

The formula is much the same as the previous games; the "twist" is that Larry was a passenger on a cruise ship populated by parodies of famous people. Among the other cruise guests are "Drew Baringmore" (Drew Barrymore), "Dewmi Moore" (Demi Moore), "Victorian Principles" (Victoria Principal), "Jamie Lee Coitus" (Jamie Lee Curtis), "Nailmi" and "Wydoncha Jugg" (Naomi and Wynonna Judd) and "Annette Boning" (Annette Bening).

The plot revolves around Larry's attempt at winning a weekly contest held on the ship by Captain Thygh, a gorgeous blonde. The contest involves a series of games varying from legitimate sports competitions like bowling to more erotic things like a machine created to test one's sexual prowess. Each passenger is given a score card with a selection of the various competitions to compete in, and the passenger with the highest cumulative score at the end of the week wins. The prize is an additional free week on the cruise with Captain Thygh in her cabin (and, presumably, her bed).

Larry comes up with a variety of ways to cheat in the assigned competitions so that he can get the highest score and win the contest. Among Larry's chosen competitions are a cooking contest, a "best dressed" contest, a game of horseshoes, bowling, the sexual prowess contest and others. At times Larry wins these contests not by cheating but only by an unexpected twist of fate triggered by his (often unintentional) actions. For instance, Larry's encounter with fashion designer Jamie Lee Coitus causes his leisure suit to become the height of fashion; as such he wins the best dressed competition.

After a series of contest that Larry wins, he goes back accidentally naked to his room in the stern of a ship and a mysterious woman (Annette) comes to him and offers him to kill her husband, but he mistakenly believes that she is asking him to have sex with him. Larry arrives at night in her husbands rooms, he unknowingly goes to bed in the dark with what he thinks is the woman and plays around with "her" but only finds out after the lights are turned on that it was her ailing husband and he has a heart attack because of Larry. Annette then gives Larry some stock for a crude oil shipping company. Later, Larry continues to play and win all the contests and eventually goes to Captain Thygh's room and meets her, he happily comes to her, awaiting a week with her but she disgustingly rejects him. Larry then gives her the stock he got from Annette which makers her happy and they presumably have sex. The ship sails into the sunset as the credits roll.

Poliphilo from a page of the ''Hypnerotomachia Poliphili''

The book begins with Poliphilo, who is spending a restless dream-filled night because his beloved, Polia, has shunned him. Poliphilo is transported into a wild forest, where he becomes lost, encounters dragons, wolves and maidens and a large variety of architectural forms. He escapes, and falls asleep once more.

He then awakens in a second dream, a dream within the first. He is taken by nymphs to meet their queen, and there he is asked to declare his love for Polia, which he does. He is then directed by two nymphs to three gates. He chooses the third, and there he discovers his beloved. They are taken by some more nymphs to a temple to be engaged. Along the way they come across five triumphal processions celebrating their union. They are then taken to the island of Cythera by barge, on which Cupid is the boatswain. On Cythera, they see another triumphal procession celebrating their union. The narrative is interrupted, and assumed by a second voice, as Polia describes Poliphilo's erotomania from her own point of view.

Polia kisses Poliphilo back to life

Poliphilo then resumes his narrative (from one-fifth of the way through the book). Polia rejects Poliphilo, but Cupid appears to her in a vision and compels her to return and kiss Poliphilo, who has fallen into a deathlike swoon at her feet. Her kiss revives him. Venus blesses their love, and Poliphilo and Polia are united at last. As Poliphilo is about to take Polia into his arms, Polia vanishes into thin air and Poliphilo wakes up.

High school student Alex Browning boards Volée Airlines Flight 180, a Boeing 747 with his classmates for their senior trip to Paris from John F. Kennedy Airport. Before take-off, Alex has a premonition that the plane will explode in mid-air, killing everybody on board. When the events from his vision begin to occur in reality, he panics until a fight breaks out between him and his rival Carter Horton, resulting in both of them being removed from the plane, along with Alex's best friend Tod Waggner, Carter's girlfriend Terry Chaney, teacher Valerie Lewton, and students Billy Hitchcock and Clear Rivers. None of the other passengers, except Clear, believe Alex about his vision until the plane explodes on take-off. Afterwards, the survivors are interrogated by two FBI agents, Weine and Schreck, who are both suspicious of Alex.

Thirty-nine days later, after attending a memorial service for the victims, an unusual chain reaction causes Tod to accidentally hang himself in his shower that night. While his death is ruled a suicide, Alex sneaks into the funeral home along with Clear to examine Tod's corpse when the mortician, William Bludworth, reveals that the survivors who escaped from the impending circumstance have disrupted Death's plan, who is now claiming the lives of those who were meant to die from the accident. Alex and Clear are discussing their next move when the rest of the survivors arrive outside the café, where Terry is run over and killed by a speeding bus on the road.

After watching a news report on the cause of the explosion, Alex concludes that Death is reclaiming the survivors according to the sequence of their intended demises on the plane. Nonetheless, he is too late to save Ms. Lewton whose house explodes after she is impaled by a falling kitchen knife. The remaining survivors reunite while driving through town as Alex explains the situation. Carter, who is next, is enraged over Terry's loss and stops his car on a train crossing, attempting to die on his own terms. While the others escape, he changes his mind at the last minute but his seatbelt jams. Alex manages to save him just before the car is smashed by an oncoming train that knocks a shrapnel from the wreckage into the air, decapitating Billy. Alex learns that because he intervened in Carter's death, it skipped to the next person afterwards. The next day, while hiding out in a fortified cabin, Alex recalls having changed seats with two classmates in his premonition and realizes that Clear is actually next. He rushes to her house to save her while being pursued by Weine and Schreck. Alex finds Clear who is trapped inside her car surrounded by loose electrical cables that ignite a gasoline leak around her. He grabs the cable, allowing her to escape from the car just before it explodes.

Six months later, Alex, Clear, and Carter travel to Paris to celebrate their survival. While discussing their ordeal, Alex reveals that Death never skipped him after he saved Clear. Fearing that their struggle is unfinished, Alex retreats when a bus hurls a parking signage towards a neon sign which descends towards him. Carter pushes Alex out of the way at the last second but the sign swings back down towards the former and kills him, leaving Death's plan to resume action.

Several months after the events of ''The Secret of Monkey Island'', Guybrush Threepwood is on Scabb Island searching for the legendary treasure of "Big Whoop". He is robbed by Largo LeGrande, former first mate of the pirate LeChuck whose ghost Guybrush defeated in the previous game. Largo has imposed an embargo on the island, preventing anyone from leaving. Visiting the International House of Mojo in the island's swamp, Guybrush receives guidance from the Voodoo Lady who assisted him in his prior adventure. Through actions involving laundry and grave robbing, Guybrush collects the necessary materials for her to make a voodoo doll of Largo, which Guybrush uses against him. However, Guybrush makes the mistake of showing Largo LeChuck's still-living beard, which Largo steals and uses to resurrect LeChuck as a zombie.

From his island fortress, LeChuck swears revenge against Guybrush. The Voodoo Lady reveals that Big Whoop contains the secret to another world which will allow Guybrush to escape LeChuck forever. She gives Guybrush a book which says that the four pirates who discovered the treasure created a map to its location which they divided into four parts. One of the pirates was the grandfather of Guybrush's love interest, Elaine Marley, who has broken up with him. Guybrush charters a ship sailed by Captain Dread, and sets out to find the map pieces.

Guybrush's search takes him back and forth between three islands: Scabb, Phatt, and Booty. On Phatt Island he is imprisoned by order of Governor Phatt, who hopes to claim the bounty LeChuck has placed on him, but Guybrush manages to escape. On Booty Island he encounters Stan, a used ship salesman from the prior game who is now selling used coffins. He also reunites with Elaine, who is bitter toward him and says that their relationship was a mistake. Through various quests involving a Mardi Gras party, a spitting competition, a bloodhound, a drinking contest, a glass-bottom boat, a sunken ship's figurehead, rigged gambling, a library catalog, and temporarily resurrecting the dead, Guybrush manages to collect the map pieces. He takes them to diminutive cartographer Wally, who determines that Big Whoop is on Dinky Island. Wally and the map are soon kidnapped by LeChuck. Guybrush infiltrates LeChuck's fortress but is captured, and LeChuck places him and Wally in an elaborate deathtrap. They manage to escape, but Guybrush accidentally sets off an explosion which propels him to Dinky Island. There he encounters castaway Herman Toothrot, who he previously met on Monkey Island.

Navigating a mazelike jungle with the help of a talking parrot, Guybrush locates the site where Big Whoop is supposedly buried. He digs until he hits concrete, and uses dynamite to blast through it. Elaine hears the explosion from Booty Island and sets out to investigate, finding Guybrush dangling over a deep hole which he then falls down, winding up in an underground facility. LeChuck arrives, claims that he is Guybrush's brother, and proceeds to torture him using a voodoo doll. In the tunnels, Guybrush discovers an E ticket, a first aid station, a "lost parents" area with the skeletal remains of his parents, and an elevator leading to Mêlée Island, which he previously visited in ''The Secret of Monkey Island''. He manages to create a voodoo doll of LeChuck, and dismembers his foe by tearing its leg off.

LeChuck begs Guybrush to remove his mask, revealing that he is actually Guybrush's creepy brother, Chuckie. Their reunion is interrupted by a workman, who says that "you kids" should not be there. The two brothers, now appearing as children, exit the tunnels together and meet their parents above-ground in the "Big Whoop" amusement park. Guybrush is confused, and Chuckie's eyes glow with evil energy. Back on Dinky Island, Elaine wonders if LeChuck has cast a spell over Guybrush.

Players assume the role of an unnamed person who stumbles across an unusual book titled "Myst". The player reads the book and discovers a detailed description of an island world called Myst. Placing their hand on the last page, the player is whisked away to the world described and is left with no choice but to explore the island. Myst contains a library where two additional books can be found, colored red and blue. These books are traps that hold Sirrus and Achenar, the sons of Atrus, who once lived on Myst island with his wife Catherine. Atrus writes special "linking books" that transport people to the worlds, or "Ages", that the books describe. From the panels of their books, Sirrus and Achenar tell the player that Atrus is dead; each brother blames the other for the death of their father, as well as the destruction of much of Atrus' library. Both plead for help to escape. The books are missing several pages, rendering the sons' messages unclear and riddled with static.

As the player continues to explore the island, books linking to more Ages are discovered hidden behind complex mechanisms and puzzles. The player must visit each Age, find the red and blue pages hidden there, and return to Myst Island. These pages can then be placed in the corresponding books. As the player adds more pages to these books, the brothers can be seen and heard more clearly. After collecting four pages, the brothers can talk clearly enough to tell the player where the fifth and final missing page for their book is hidden; if the player can complete either book, that brother will be set free. The clearer dialog also allows the player to more accurately judge each brother's personality. The player is left with a choice to help Sirrus, Achenar, or neither.

Sirrus and Achenar beg the player not to touch the green book that is stored in the same location as their final pages, claiming it to be another trap book like their own. In truth, it leads to D'ni, where Atrus is imprisoned. When the book is opened, Atrus asks the player to bring him a final page that is hidden on Myst Island; without it, he cannot bring his sons to justice. The game has several endings, depending on the player's actions. Giving either Sirrus or Achenar the final page of their book causes the player to switch places with the son, leaving the player trapped inside the Prison book. Linking to D'ni without the page Atrus asks for leaves the player and Atrus trapped on D'ni. Linking to D'ni with the page allows Atrus to complete his Myst book and return to the island. Upon returning to the library, the player finds the red and blue books gone, and burn marks on the shelves where they used to be.

The series begins with ''Triplanetary'', beginning two billion years before the present time and continuing into the near future. The universe has no life-forms aside from the ancient Arisians, and few planets besides the Arisians' native world. The peaceful Arisians have foregone physical skills in order to develop contemplative mental power. The underlying assumption for this series, based on theories of stellar evolution extant at the time of the books' writing, is that planets form only rarely, and therefore our First and Second Galaxies, with their many billions of planets, are unique.

The Eddorians, a dictatorial, power-hungry race, come into our universe from an alien space-time continuum after observing that our galaxy and a sister galaxy (the Second Galaxy) are passing through each other. This will result in the formation of billions of planets and the development of life upon some of them. Dominance over these life forms would offer the Eddorians an opportunity to satisfy their lust for power and control.

Although the Eddorians have developed mental powers almost equal to those of the Arisians, they rely instead for the most part on physical power, which came to be exercised on their behalf by a hierarchy of underling races. They see the many races in the universe, with which the Arisians were intending to build a peaceful civilization, as fodder for their power-drive.

The Arisians detect the Eddorians' invasion of our universe and realize that they are too evenly matched for either to destroy the other without being destroyed themselves. The Eddorians do not detect the Arisians, who begin a covert breeding program on every world that can produce intelligent life, with particular emphasis on the four planets Earth (Tellus), Velantia III, Rigel IV, and Palain VII, in the hope of creating a race that is capable of destroying the Eddorians.

''Triplanetary'' incorporates the early history of that breeding program on Earth, illustrated with the lives of several warriors and soldiers, from ancient times to the discovery of the first interstellar space drive. It adds an additional short novel (originally published with the ''Triplanetary'' name) which is transitional to the novel ''First Lensman''. It details some of the interactions and natures of two distinct breeding lines, one bearing some variant of the name "Kinnison", and another distinguished by possessing "red-bronze-auburn hair and gold-flecked, tawny eyes". The two lines do not co-mingle until the Arisian breeding plan brings them together.

The second book, ''First Lensman'', concerns the early formation of the Galactic Patrol and the first Lens, given to First Lensman Virgil Samms of "Tellus" (Earth). Samms and Roderick Kinnison are members of the two breeding lines and they are both natural leaders, intelligent, forceful, and capable. The Arisians make it known that if Samms, the head of the Triplanetary Service, visits the Arisian planetary system he will be given the tool he needs to build the Galactic Patrol. That tool is the ''Lens''. The Arisians further promise him that no entity unworthy of the Lens will ever be permitted to wear it, but that he and his successors will have to discover for themselves most of its abilities.

The Lens gives its wearer a variety of mental capabilities, including those needed to enforce the law on alien planets, and to bridge the communication gap between different life-forms. It can provide mind-reading and telepathic abilities. It cannot be worn by anyone other than its owner, will kill any other wearer, and even a brief touch is extremely painful.

Using the Lens as a means to test mental qualities and identify individuals able to help him, Virgil Samms visits races and species in other star systems, recruiting the best of them and forming the nucleus of a Galactic Patrol. Their opponents are discovered to be a widespread civilization based on dominance hierarchies and using organized crime to assume control of new planets.

The series contains some of the largest-scale space battles ever written. Entire worlds are almost casually destroyed. Huge fleets of spaceships fight bloody wars of attrition. Alien races of two galaxies sort themselves into the allied, Lens-bearing adherents of "Civilization" and the enemy "Boskone".

Centuries pass, and eventually the final generations of the breeding program are born. On each of the four "best" planets, a single individual realizes the limits of his Arisian training and perceives the need to return to seek "second stage" training, which it is later shown to include the ability to slay by mental force alone; a "sense of perception" which allows seeing by direct awareness without the use of the visual sense; the ability to control minds undetectably, including the ability to alter memories untraceably; the ability to perfectly split attention in order to perform multiple tasks with simultaneous focus on each; and the ability to better integrate their minds for superior thinking.

As the breeding program nears its conclusion, humans are selected as the best choice; at the same time, the breeding programs of the other three planets are terminated, and their penultimates never meet their planned mates. Kimball Kinnison meets and marries the product of the complementary human breeding program, Clarissa MacDougall. She is a beautiful, curvaceous, red-haired nurse, who eventually becomes the first human female to receive her own Lens. Their children, a boy and two pairs of fraternal twin sisters, grow up to be the five Children of the Lens. In their breeding, "almost every strain of weakness in humanity is finally removed". They are born already possessing the powers taught to second-stage Lensmen. They are the only beings of Civilization ever to see Arisia as it truly is and the only individuals developed over all the existence of billions of years able finally to penetrate the Eddorians' defense screens.

After undergoing advanced training, they are described as "third-stage" Lensmen, transcending humanity with mental scope and perceptions impossible for any normal person. Although newly adult, they are now expected to be more competent than the Arisians and to develop their own techniques and abilities "about which we [the Arisians] know nothing".

The key discovery comes when they try mind-merging. They discover they can merge their minds to effectively form one mental entity called ''the Unit''. The Arisians describe this as the "most nearly perfect creation the universe has ever seen" and state that they, who created it, are themselves almost entirely ignorant of its powers.

The Children of the Lens, together with the mental power of unknown millions of Lensmen of the Galactic Patrol, constitute the Arisians' intended means to destroy the Eddorians and make the universe safe for Civilization. The Galactic Patrol, summoned to work together in this way for the first time, contains billions of beings who in total can generate immense mental force. The Arisians add their own tremendous mental force to this. The Unit focuses the accumulated power onto one tiny point of the Eddorians' shields. The Eddorian shields are destroyed along with the Eddorian High Council. It is stated that this was the only thing the Arisians could not have done by themselves, but without its accomplishment the Eddorians would have eventually turned the tide and beaten the Arisians.

The Arisians remove themselves from the Cosmos in order to leave the Children of the Lens uninhibited in their future as the new guardians of Civilization.

A heavily-armed interstellar spacecraft called ''Invincible'' lands on the planet Regis III, which seems uninhabited and bleak, to investigate the loss of her sister ship, ''Condor''. During the investigation, the crew finds evidence of a form of quasi-life, born through evolution of autonomous, self-replicating machines, apparently left behind by an alien civilization ship which landed on Regis III a very long time ago.

The protagonists come to speculate that a kind of evolution must have taken place under the selection pressures of "robot wars", with the only surviving form being swarms of minuscule, insect-like micromachines. Individually, or in small groups, they are quite harmless and capable of only very simple behavior. When threatened, they can assemble into huge clouds, travel at a high speed, and even to climb to the top of the troposphere. These swarms display complex behavior arising from self-organization and can incapacitate any intelligent threat by a powerful surge of electromagnetic interference. ''Condor'''s crew suffered a complete memory erasure as a consequence of attacks from these "clouds". The swarm, however, is reactive. It lacks intelligence and cannot proactively formulate attack strategies.

''Invincible'''s crew mounts an escalating series of attacks on the perceived enemy, but eventually recognizes the futility of their efforts. The robotic "fauna", dubbed "necrosphere", has become part of the planet's ecology, and would require a disruption on a planetary scale to be destroyed.

In the face of defeat and imminent withdrawal of the ''Invincible'', Rohan, the spaceship's first navigator, undertakes a trip into the "enemy area" in search of four crew members who went missing in action – an attempt which he and the ''Invincible'''s commander Horpach see as certainly futile, but necessary for moral reasons. Rohan wanders into canyons covered by metallic "shrubs" and "insects", and finds some of the missing crewmen dead. He gathers some evidence and returns to the ship unharmed, thanks partially to a device that cloaks his brain activity and partially to his calm and nonthreatening behavior. Rohan expresses his intention to petition for preservation of the planet's artificial ecosystem, which fascinates him.

Clarissa Dalloway goes around London in the morning, getting ready to host a party that evening. The nice day reminds her of her youth spent in the countryside in Bourton and makes her wonder about her choice of husband; she had married the reliable Richard Dalloway instead of the enigmatic and demanding Peter Walsh, and she "had not the option" to be with a female romantic interest, Sally Seton. Peter reintroduces these conflicts by paying a visit that morning.

Septimus Warren Smith, a First World War veteran suffering from deferred traumatic stress, spends his day in the park with his Italian-born wife Lucrezia, where Peter Walsh observes them. Septimus is visited by frequent and indecipherable hallucinations, mostly concerning his dear friend Evans who died in the war. Later that day, after he is prescribed involuntary commitment to a psychiatric hospital, he commits suicide by jumping out of a window.

Clarissa's party in the evening is a slow success. It is attended by most of the characters she has met throughout the book, including people from her past. She hears about Septimus' suicide at the party and gradually comes to admire this stranger's act, which she considers an effort to preserve the purity of his happiness.

Charles Hodgson is a British aristocrat who decides to become a thief as a way of getting at his twin brother, Earl, a security expert who has built a supposedly impregnable vault in Tel Aviv, which holds a cache of diamonds. For the caper, Charles enlists Archie, a heist expert, and Sally. He also becomes acquainted with an American woman, Zelda Shapiro, who is in Israel looking for a new husband.

A newly arrived celebrated Japanese pianist Takahashi (Eiji Okuda) is spied on by two teenage neighbor sisters, Jean (Gail Travers) and Colette (Macha Grenon). A family reunion to announce that the parents will be managing an institution in China recalls their experiences in attempting to meet him, then interacting with him in a supposedly one time sexual experience — a ménage à trois. The father of the sisters imitates Colette is unaware that Jean has seen her at a New York City night club dancing with him. Colette visited Jean in New York City and makes explorations of the city on her own. Takahashi is to sign posters at an event in Vancouver where the parents of the sisters have relocated. Colette does not want to go to the signing on the reasoning that they all have changed. Colette comes clean that she has slept with him and does not want him to know that she is aware of their trysts. A former boyfriend of the sister's mother attends the reunion, and Jean has a tryst with him during the banquet. They go to the poster signing, are welcomed by him and invited to lunch. Following the lunch, he makes his goodbyes to the sisters and Colette indicates to him that they are still friends. His limousine drives away.

''Truckers'' (1989)

Masklin, a 4-inch high Nome, lives in a grass verge by a motorway service station with his friend Grimma and the remaining elders of their once-large tribe, which has been dwindling due to food shortage and predation by foxes, while several Nomes have headed across the motorway. The other younger members of the tribe departed some time before to find a new place to live, but never returned after crossing the motorway - where they were inevitably killed by cars or lorries. Masklin, finding it increasingly difficult to find food for the group, formulates a plan to escape on a truck from the nearby service station - the final straw being when a fox runs into the path of a lorry after attacking two elder nomes called Mr Mert and Mrs Coom, killing them both. The Elders, led by Granny Morkie and Old Torrit, initially oppose the move but finally agree, bringing with them 'The Thing', a small black cube that has been the tribe's symbol of authority for as long as anyone can remember.

The truck finally delivers them to the loading bay of Arnold Bros department store, where they are greeted by Angalo De Haberdasheri, an 'Inside' Nome. Angalo introduces the 'Outsiders' to his father Duke Cido de Haberdasheri, leader of the Haberdasheri clan, where they learn that most 'Inside' Nomes do not believe that 'Outside' exists, being contrary to the religion of Arnold Bros (est 1905), which states that 'The Store' contains 'All Things Under One Roof'.

Ejected from the Duke's presence, the Outsiders wander the underfloor corridors until 'The Thing' is accidentally dropped next to an electrical cable, where it starts to recharge itself. 'The Thing' then powers up and identifies itself as the navigational computer of the Galactic Survey Starship 'Swan'; the ship developed an engine fault many thousands of years ago, and marooned its Nome crew on Earth. When it asks its primary mission, Masklin tells it to keep the Nomes safe and get them home.

After the Thing picks up radio signals indicating Arnold Bros. is to be demolished, Masklin tries to persuade the 'Insiders' to evacuate. Only when the old Stationery Abbot (who dies shortly afterwards) is convinced by the Thing, do they finally win the confidence of the Store Nomes. Taking command of the evacuation and guided by The Thing, Masklin, Grimma and a selected group of Nomes learn how to operate a truck using string and wood levers to operate the controls, then lead the Nomes to the loading bay and steal a truck filled with supplies. Arriving at an abandoned quarry, the Nomes begin a new life Outside, while Masklin watches the planes at the local airport and plans the next step on their journey home...

''Diggers'' (1990)

Things are going well for the Quarry Nomes since their escape from now-demolished Arnold Bros. department store, with most of the former 'Inside' Nomes adapting to life outside. Masklin, however, is struggling to deal with his feelings for Grimma. When he clumsily suggests that they should settle down together, Grimma instead tries to tell him that she doesn't want to be restricted by a conventional relationship, using the analogy of the South American tree frogs that spend their whole lives in a plant called a bromeliad, not knowing anything of the outside world. Masklin doesn't understand, and the two fall out. When Masklin, Abbot Gurder and Angalo De Haberdasheri subsequently take The Thing with them to investigate the nearby airport but don't come back, it is left to Grimma to deal with a new threat; the abandoned quarry is to be reopened...

Grimma, believing Masklin to be surely dead, finally admits her feelings for him but must put them aside to deal with an attempted revolt by Gurder's apprentice, Nisodemus. Nisodemus proposes that they rebuild the store, but is challenged by Grimma. He stands in the road to prove to the Nomes that Arnold Bros. chose him to be leader, but is run over by a car. After attempting to keep the returning humans out by locking the quarry gates, sabotaging a lorry, tying up a security guard and leaving a message asking to be left alone, the Nomes finally make an escape attempt using an old JCB (Caterpillar or John Deere in the American releases) digger, which Dorcas the engineer discovered in an old shed and subsequently got to work. The digger allows the Nomes to escape en masse when the humans return. After being pursued across fields by police cars, they are rescued by Masklin aboard the recovered starship 'Swan'. Masklin presents Grimma with a bromeliad as a sign that he finally understands her, and they depart Earth for their home.

''Wings'' (1990)

The story is not a sequel but happens simultaneously with the events of ''Diggers''.

Masklin, Angalo and Gurder are searching for a plane. They have discovered from a newspaper article that Richard Arnold (or 'Grandson Richard, 39', as the paper refers to him), the grandson of the Arnold Brothers who originally built the store, is planning to fly to Florida for the launch of a new satellite. The Thing states that, if they can get it on board the space shuttle, it will be able to contact the spaceship 'Swan' which has been buried on the moon for thousands of years awaiting instructions.

The Thing connects to the airline computers and finds that 'Grandson Richard, 39' is due to board Concorde. They sneak on board, and Gurder is overwhelmed to find that the Concorde is just like the store inside, except that there are fewer places for the Nomes to hide. Masklin discovers where 'Grandson Richard, 39' is sitting, and he suggests hiding in his carry-on luggage.

Arriving in Florida, the Nomes help themselves to hotel food while Arnold is in the shower. Coming out unexpectedly, he sees Masklin, but they escape into the surrounding Everglades where they discover another group of Nomes led by Shrub (that is her name) and her son Pion. Initially they do not understand each other, however, The Thing is able to translate; the new group of Nomes speak authentic Nomish, the original language of the Nomes.

The outside Nomes have learned how to ride wild geese and have established contact with thousands of other Nome tribes across the world. Travelling by goose, they reach the launch pad and place The Thing close enough to the shuttle to copy itself to the satellite on board. The Nomes escape moments before the rocket engine ignites.

Having used up its available power, The Thing shuts down. Masklin realises that without The Thing to guide the ship in, it could crash, so he is forced to reveal himself to the humans who take him to a building with a power source. The Thing recharges and informs Masklin that the ship will arrive shortly. While escaping, he encounters Richard Arnold, and Masklin uses The Thing to translate for him, asking Arnold for help. Arnold tells Masklin that his grandfather and great-uncle told stories about Nomes in the store because they heard noises at night, and helps him escape. Aboard the ship he meets up with Angalo, Gurder and Pion and they plan to return to the quarry to get the others, making a short detour to South America to pick up some frogs in a bromeliad.

The Nomes see Concorde flying over the sea to the east, and Masklin realises that it must be flying back to England. They arrive back at the quarry in time to see the Store Nomes careening around a nearby field on Jekub, pursued by a police car, and rescue them (as told in ''Diggers''). Masklin presents Grimma with the bromeliad, and they reconcile. All the quarry Nomes climb onboard except for Gurder, who will stay behind on Earth with The Thing to find and tell all other earthbound Nomes about the 'Swan'. They depart for home, promising to return one day and collect Gurder and all the other Nomes still left on Earth.

Newlywed Gwenda Reed travels ahead of her husband to find a home for them on the south coast of England. In a short time, she finds and buys Hillside, a large old house that feels just like home. She supervises workers in a renovation, staying in a one-time nursery room while the work progresses. She forms a definite idea for the little nursery. When the workmen open a long sealed door, she sees the very wallpaper that was in her mind. Further, a place that seems logical to her for a doorway between two rooms proves to have been one years earlier. She goes to London for a visit with relatives, the author Raymond West, his wife, and his aunt, Miss Jane Marple. During the play, ''The Duchess of Malfi'', when the line "Cover her face; mine eyes dazzle; she died young" is spoken, Gwenda screams out; she saw an image of herself viewing a man saying those words strangling a blonde-haired woman named Helen.

Gwenda was born in India where her father was stationed, then raised in New Zealand by her mother's sister from a toddler, once her mother died. Her father died a few years after her mother. She has memories of being on a ship, but it is clearly two ships. Miss Marple suggests that Gwenda lived in England with her father and his second wife, which proves to be the case. Her stepmother, Helen Halliday née Kennedy, met her father travelling from India back to England, where their shipboard romance led to marriage upon arrival in England. They rented a house in Dillmouth, where Helen grew up. The coincidences prove to be memories from Gwenda's stay in that house 18 years ago as a very young child. Now Gwenda ponders her frightening image and the closing words of the play: are they real memories as well? Her husband Giles arrives from New Zealand and the couple decide to pursue this mystery.

Helen was raised mainly by her half brother, Dr Kennedy, now retired from practice and moved to another village. He replies to an advertisement placed by Giles seeking information about Helen.

Miss Marple arranges to visit friends in Dillmouth. Miss Marple is often at the house, pulling out bindweed from the neglected garden. She finds the man who once gardened for the Kennedy family, brother and sister, who supplies several useful descriptions of events then. Miss Marple finds the cook from the Halliday household, Edith, who remembers that time well. The Hallidays were soon to move to a house in Norfolk before Helen disappeared. Helen wanted to get away. The servants presumed this was from her husband, but it was not. She was mainly interested in escaping her brother. She did fall in love with Halliday, and loved his daughter.

The Reeds advertise, seeking the Hallidays' former maid Lily. She writes first to Dr Kennedy, thinking he is a friend. She says that she does not believe that Helen ran off, as the clothes packed in her suitcase made no sense (taking an evening gown but not the shoes and belt that go with it). The Reeds and Dr Kennedy agree he should write back to her to arrange a meeting at his present home. Lily never arrives.

The police find Lily's body, strangled, in a copse near the train station. She came by an earlier train, but had Dr Kennedy's letter with her, for the later arrival time. Miss Marple advises Gwenda to tell the police everything. Soon, they are digging up the garden, at the end of the terrace, to find Helen’s body. Gwenda is in the house alone when Dr Kennedy approaches her, ready to kill her by strangling when his attempt to poison her failed. Miss Marple arrives with a container of soapy solution, which she sprays in his eyes to stop the murder attempt.

Dr Kennedy had strangled his sister, saying the closing words from that play, unaware of young Gwenda at the stair railing above. He buried Helen in the garden. He set up her husband to think he had strangled her, but there was no body, so he was taken as insane, and died in a nursing home. His diary from that time showed him to be quite sane, but he could not explain what he had seen, his strangled wife next to him. Kennedy had first given drugs to make Halliday paranoid, and then drugged his drink so Dr Kennedy could pose him next to the strangled Helen. Then Kennedy moved her body again. The letter found with Lily was not the one she received from Kennedy; he switched it after he killed her. He knew the police would see through his scheme. He sent the nanny Leonie home to Switzerland with medicines that killed her. Miss Marple explains all this to the Reeds, the full confession from Kennedy and how they should have seen it from the start, from those words in the play.

Ricky, a 23-year-old psychiatric patient, has been deemed cured and is released from a mental institution. Until then, he has been the lover of the woman director of the hospital. An orphan, free, and alone, his goal is to have a normal life with Marina Osorio, an actress, former porn star, and recovering drug addict, whom he once slept with during an escape from the asylum.

Ricky discovers Marina's whereabouts from a film journal announcement of the start of her next film. He goes to the studio, where Marina is in her last day at work filming ''The Midnight Phantom'', a Euro-horror film about a hideously mutilated, masked muscleman in love with Marina's character. The film is directed by Máximo Espejo, an old film director confined to a wheelchair after a stroke. Máximo is a gentle mentor to Marina, and threatens to throw out a journalist who mentions the words "porn" and "junkie" in Marina's presence. His protection of the actress is not completely innocent, since he is sexually attracted to Marina, enjoying what could be his last experience of directing a sexy female lead.

When Ricky comes to the set, he steals a few necessary items including the keys to Marina's apartment, and before long, he is an unwelcome presence in her life. Ricky, with a long-haired wig, does a handstand to try to capture her attention, but Marina does not remember him and quickly dismisses him.

After filming the last scene, Marina goes home to change for the post-shoot party. Ricky follows her to her apartment. When she answers the door, Ricky forces his way in. He grabs her and headbutts her to silence her when she screams; he tapes her mouth and binds her with rope. Marina wakes with a terrible toothache, which normal painkillers do not relieve, as she is addicted to stronger drugs. Ricky explains that he has captured her, so that when she gets to know him better, she will fall in love and they will get married and have children. Marina declares she will never love him, understandably enraged at being handcuffed, gagged and lashed to the bed. However, Ricky remains determined to win her heart.

Marina is shocked and in pain, and eventually persuades Ricky to take her to a doctor who can give her the necessary painkillers. Ricky barely leaves her alone with the doctor, and she is unable to communicate her plight. They cannot obtain the drugs in the pharmacy, so Ricky goes off to buy them on the black market. However, rather than paying the street price, he attacks the dealer to steal the tablets.

During the wrap party, Marina's sister Lola, who is the assistant director of ''The Midnight Phantom'', steals the show with a musical number. Increasingly worried about her sister's disappearance, Lola visits Marina's apartment and leaves a note. To avoid being discovered, Ricky moves Marina to her next door neighbor's apartment, which is empty, but the owner has left his keys with Lola, so she can water his plants while he is away during the summer.

In the street again, Ricky is spotted by the dealer who he had attacked. Ricky is then seriously beaten, robbed and left unconscious. During his absence, Marina makes a desperate but somewhat half-hearted attempt to escape from her captivity. However, when Ricky returns covered with blood and cuts, she sees his vulnerability and devotion to her, no matter how misguided. She cares for him, cleaning and sterilizing his wounds, and is suddenly struck by the realization that she has fallen in love with her captor. They make love at length and Ricky seems to be on the verge of achieving his aim. They decide to take a trip together to his native village.

When he is about to leave to steal a car for the trip, Marina, who still considers herself his prisoner, tells him to keep her tied up so that she will not try to escape. However, in Ricky's absence, Lola re-enters the apartment and discovers Marina tied up and rescues her. Marina informs her sister that she is in love with her captor. Lola is astonished to learn that Marina really no longer wants to be rescued, but once convinced, she agrees to drive Marina to Ricky's birthplace. They find him there in the ruins of his family house in a deserted village, then the three climb into Lola's car to return to the city. Lola promises Ricky she will find him a job within the week, Marina begins to cry, and they drive off together into the distance, singing like a normal family.

Map of Okishima Island, seen inside the cover of the 2003 English translation ''Battle Royale'' takes place in a fictional fascist Japan in the year 1997. The state, known as the , arose after an alternate World War 2 where Japan emerged victorious and a rebellion was put down by the combined military and police forces. The government controls everything, and anything "immoral", such as rock music, is banned, unless it beatifies the government, along with an unnamed dictator with a strong cult of personality able to bend the whims of the populace.

The government has established a military program, the , wherein fifty randomly selected classes of third-year junior high school students are kidnapped, dropped into a remote location, and forced to kill one another until only one student of each class remains. Ostensibly, it is to help the government and its military research survival skills and battle readiness – in actuality, it is meant to instill terror and distrust in all of Japan's citizens to curb any attempts at rebellion, by showcasing the government's power and ability to target citizens' families and preying on the fear of being killed by a friend.

A group of students from , a junior high school in the fictional Kagawa Prefecture town of Shiroiwa, prepare for a field trip – among them are wannabe rock star Shuya Nanahara, whose father was killed by the regime; Noriko Nakagawa, the demure crush of Shuya's best friend; Shogo Kawada, a quiet, tough young transfer student; and sociopathic prodigy Kazuo Kiriyama. En route, they are gassed – the "field trip" was a ruse for the Program.

They awake in a classroom on a small, vacated island, surrounded by troops, and wearing metal collars around their necks. A teacher, psychopathic sadist Kinpatsu Sakamochi, briefs the students: the class has been chosen to participate in the Program. The students are also given a time limit. If twenty-four hours pass without someone being killed, then all of the collars will be detonated simultaneously and there will be no winner. It is mentioned that only 0.5% of Programs end in this fashion. The students are issued survival packs and a random weapon/tool, and sent out onto the island one by one. While most of the students receive guns and knives, some acquire relatively useless items like boomerangs, dartboard darts, or a fork. Hiroki Sugimura finds a radar device that tracks nearby students, and Toshinori Oda receives a bulletproof vest.

To make sure the students obey the rules and kill each other, the metal collars around their necks track their positions and will explode if they attempt to remove the collars, or linger in "Forbidden Zones": randomly chosen areas of the map that increase in number over time, re-sculpting and shrinking the battlefield and forcing the students to move around. The collars secretly transmit sound back to the organizers of the game, allowing them to hear the students' conversations, root out escape plans, and log their activities.

The students desperately fight amongst each other for survival, with mentally ill bullies Mitsuko Souma and Kiriyama killing many. Shuya takes Noriko under his wing after his best friend is killed, believing that he has a duty to honor his fallen friend by protecting his crush. Shogo – who was in a previous Battle Royale and hopes to put an end to the Program – avoids the fighting, joining with Shuya. Shuya's friend, athlete Shinji Mimura, attempts to hack the system running the Program and bomb the building where Sakamochi and the other personnel overseeing the Program are stationed, but is killed by Kiriyama.

Eventually, halfway through the third day, only Shogo, Shuya, Noriko, and Kiriyama remain, with Kiriyama dead set on hunting down the trio. After a frantic car chase, Kiriyama is finally gunned down, but Nanahara and Nakagawa are held at gunpoint by Shogo, who taunts them over being so naive as to trust anyone in the Program. The collars record gunshots and Shuya and Noriko flatlining.

Declared the winner by Sakamochi, Shogo is escorted to his transport off the island, surrounded by soldiers. Sakamochi, however, reveals that he knows Nanahara and Nakagawa are alive and that his supposed execution of Noriko and Shuya was a ruse after he found a way to disable their collars, and attempts to kill Shogo. Shogo kills him as a hidden Nanahara and Nakagawa hijack the ship and kill the soldiers on board. As the boat sails towards the mainland, Shogo succumbs to his wounds sustained during the fight with Kiriyama and dies, but not before thanking Shuya and Noriko for being his friends.

On the advice of Shogo, Shuya and Noriko escape to the mainland and plan to escape to a democratic America, pursued by the government.

Ebullient Broadway impresario Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore) takes an unknown lingerie model named Mildred Plotka (Carole Lombard) and makes her the star of his latest play, despite the grave misgivings of everyone else, including his two long-suffering assistants, accountant Oliver Webb (Walter Connolly) and the consistently tipsy Owen O'Malley (Roscoe Karns). Through intensive training, Oscar transforms his protégée into the actress "Lily Garland", and both she and the play are resounding successes. On opening night, after her triumph, he comes to her dressing room to apologize abjectly for his behavior to her. As planned, she falls into his arms, begging him never to leave her, and they become lovers.

Cut to three years later. Their partnership has spawned three more smash hits, and Lily has been recognized as a transcendent talent. As a couple, they are famous—or infamous—for their spectacular battles.

Then Lily tries to break off their professional and personal relationship, fed up with Oscar's overpossesiveness and control of every aspect of her life. Oscar talks her out of it, promising to be more trusting and less controlling in the future. Instead, he secretly hires a private detective agency run by McGonigle to watch her every move, even to the point of tapping her telephone. When she finds out, it is the last straw; she leaves for Hollywood and soon becomes a big movie star.

Without Lily, Oscar produces flop after flop. After one such disappointment, to avoid being imprisoned for his debts, he is forced to disguise himself to board the luxurious 20th Century Limited express train travelling from Chicago to New York City's Grand Central Terminal. By chance, Lily Garland boards the train at a later stop with her boyfriend George Smith (Ralph Forbes). After prevaricating, Oscar sees a chance to restore his fortunes and salvage his relationship with Lily.

Oscar schemes to get her to sign a contract with him. However, Lily wants nothing more to do with him. She is on her way to see Oscar's rival (and former employee), Max Jacobs (Charles Lane), to star in ''his'' play. However, Oscar manages to get George to break up with her. Knowing that Lily offers him one last chance at professional success he tells her of his wish for her to play Mary Magdalene in his new play; "sensual, heartless, but beautiful – running the gamut from the gutter, to glory – can you see her Lily? – the little wanton ending up in tears at the foot of the cross. I'm going to have Judas strangle himself with her hair." Then Oliver thinks he has found somebody to finance Oscar's project, fellow passenger Mathew J. Clark (Etienne Girardot), not realizing that Clark is a harmless escapee from a mental asylum. When Oscar is slightly wounded in a scuffle with Clark, he pretends to be dying and gets a distraught Lily to sign his contract. The film ends with their first rehearsal, where Oscar reverts to his usual self, domineering a desperate Lily.

Towards the end of the Second World War, Charles Hayward is in Cairo and falls in love with Sophia Leonides, a smart, successful Englishwoman who works for the Foreign Office. They put off getting engaged until the end of the war when they will be reunited in England.

Hayward returns home and reads a death notice in ''The Times'': Sophia's grandfather, the wealthy entrepreneur Aristide Leonides, has died, aged 85. Due to the war, the whole family has been living with him in a sumptuous but ill-proportioned house called "Three Gables", the crooked house of the title. The autopsy reveals that Leonides was poisoned with his own eserine-based eye medicine via an insulin injection. Sophia tells Charles that she can't marry him until the matter is cleared up.

The obvious suspects are Brenda Leonides, Aristide's much younger second wife, and Laurence Brown, a conscientious objector who has been living in the house as private tutor to Sophia's younger brother and sister, Eustace and Josephine. They are rumoured to have been carrying on an illicit love affair under old Leonides's nose. The family members hope these two prove to be the murderers because they despise Brenda as a gold digger and also hope to escape the scandal that a different outcome would bring. Charles agrees to help his father, an assistant commissioner of Scotland Yard, to investigate the crime. He becomes a house guest at Three Gables, hoping that someone might reveal a clue at an unguarded moment.

All the family members had motive and opportunity, none has an alibi; and each of them knew that Aristide's eye medicine was poisonous as he had told all the family after being asked by Josephine. According to the will, they all stand to gain a healthy bequest from the old man's estate. The servants do not get bequests but would lose their (increasing) annual wages or bonuses, so are not suspects. Aside from this, the family members have little in common. Edith de Haviland, Aristide's unmarried sister-in-law, is a brusque woman in her 70s who came to stay with him after his first wife's death to supervise his children's upbringing. Roger, the eldest son and Aristide's favourite, is a failure as a businessman. He has steered the catering business bestowed to him by his father to the brink of bankruptcy and he longs to live a simple life somewhere far away. Roger's wife Clemency, a scientist with austere and unsentimental tastes, has never been able to enjoy the wealth offered by her husband's family. Roger's younger brother, Philip, has suffered under his father's preference for Roger, and retreated into a distant world of books and bygone historical epochs, spending all his waking hours in the library. Philip's wife Magda is an only moderately successful actress to whom everything, even a family murder, is a stage show in which she wants to play a leading part. Sixteen-year-old Eustace has polio. He is handsome and intelligent, yet embittered by his disability. His twelve-year-old sister Josephine, on the other hand, is ugly, precociously intelligent, and obsessed with detective stories. She spies continually on the rest of the household, letting everyone know that she is writing down her observations in a secret notebook.

Leonides had secretly personally rewritten (to the surprise of his lawyer Mr Gaitskill) his will to leave everything to Philip's daughter Sophia. He believed that she alone had the strength of character to assume his place as the head of the family. Josephine, who had been bragging that she knows the killer's identity, is found lying unconscious in the yard from a blow to the head from a marble doorstop. Charles discovers a cache of incriminating love letters from Brenda to Laurence, and the two are arrested. While they are in custody, the children's nanny dies after drinking a digitalis-laced cup of cocoa that had apparently been intended for Josephine. The family realises that the killer is still among them.

Charles, afraid for Josephine's life, tries in vain to induce her to disclose the murderer's name. Edith de Haviland invites Josephine to come out with her in the car for an ice cream soda. The car drives over a cliff and both are killed. Back at Three Gables, Charles finds two letters from Miss de Haviland. One is a suicide note for Chief Inspector Taverner taking responsibility, although not explicitly confessing, to the murders of Aristide and Nanny. The second letter, intended for Sophia and Charles only, reveals the truth of the matter: Josephine was the murderer. As proof, de Haviland has enclosed the child's secret notebook, the first line of which reads "Today I killed grandfather."

Josephine killed her grandfather because he wouldn't pay for her ballet lessons; she then revelled in all the attention she received afterwards and planned her own assault with the marble doorstop as a way of diverting attention. She poisoned Nanny for encouraging Magda to send her to Switzerland, and also because Nanny called her a "silly little girl". She also included threats against Magda if her mother seriously considered sending her away. Miss de Haviland had discovered Josephine's notebook hidden in a dog kennel, and committed the murder-suicide car crash as she did not want Josephine to suffer in a prison or asylum if and when the police learned she was the murderer.

Set in ancient China, the film consists of five short stories each featuring a main character from the novel; with the young Ouyang Feng serving as narrator and the common link.

Opening

The story begins with Ouyang Feng – known as the Western Venom due to his mercilessness and hailing from the western province – effortlessly toying with and disposing of a group of henchmen. He narrates that he is venomous because he is enraged with jealousy.

The story flashes back to a time when Feng is younger and working as a broker for assassins in a remote, desert region. He eagerly waits for his friend Huang, who visits him once a year around this time.

Act I – Huang Yaoshi (Eastern Heretic)

Huang Yaoshi (Eastern Heretic) kills a band of bandits to take one of their horses because his has died. He arrives at Feng's and presents to him a bottle of wine called ''Drunken Alive, Perish in Dreams'' that was given to him by a close friend, who claims the wine can wipe a person's memory and allows that person to live a new life; he proceeds to drink the wine while Feng declines. That night, Huang begins to lose his memory, hurriedly leaves and chases after a shadowy woman who had awoken him in his sleep. She may have been a fragment of his dream.

Huang arrives at a shallow river. A woman (Cherry Blossom) is standing in the river and tending to her horse. Huang seemingly still retains memory of her, looks smugly at her while she steals glances at him. Neither one speaks.

In the next scene, Huang drinks with the Blind Swordsman inside an establishment. Huang asks how they know each other. The Blind Swordsman tells him they used to be best friends but Huang stole the former's wife. As he is leaving, the Blind Swordsman narrates that he would have killed Huang if he is not losing his sight and can still see at night.

Huang witnesses a group of men threatening Murong Yang. Huang interjects and stops Yang from drawing his sword but ends up inadvertently getting cut. Huang retreats outside, leans on a wall, and sees blood coming from his lower abdomen. Inside, Yang is laughing hysterically. Feng narrates that when Huang was young he was charming and rebellious - qualities that attracted many women and he has broken every one of their hearts.

Act II – Murong Yang / Murong Yin (Dugu Qiubai)

Yang arrives at Feng's looking to hire an assassin to kill Huang - angry that Huang had broken his sister's heart. Later, Yang's sister, Yin, arrives at Feng's and attempts to call off the assassination - claiming Huang is madly in love with her. It is revealed that Yang and Yin are the same person; with the female Yin playing dress up as Yang.

In a flashback, after rounds of drinking, Huang tells Yang that if the latter has a sister he will marry her. Yang, already infatuated with Huang, tells him he will present Yin to him. Yin arrives at the rendezvous, dressed as her natural sex, but Huang was a no-show. The event sends her into a rage and she seeks to have Huang killed but she is torn on killing the person who broke her heart and at the same time madly in love with. After a night of conversation with Feng where she fades in and out of character between Yang and Yin, she abandons the idea of killing Huang. That night, Feng dreams that someone is caressing him. The camera pans to Yin sneaking into Feng's bedroom - the person she envisions caressing is Huang while Feng dreams he is being touched by his ex-lover. Feng says that he has never seen Yin again after that night.

Feng narrates that people who have been deeply hurt in love sometimes invent strange narratives to protect their broken hearts. No one has seen Yang or Yin since, but shortly after her disappearance, a strange and powerful swordsman named Dugu Qiubai (who likes to practice her swordplay with her own reflection) appears on the stage. The film then shows Dugu Qiubai as Yang and Yin interchangeably.

Act III – Blind Swordsman

The Blind Swordsman approaches Feng for a job to help pay for his journey back home to see the cherry blossom. Feng offers him the job of protecting the villages from the band of bandits seeking revenge for the comrades that Huang killed earlier in the film.

The Girl with a Mule solicits Feng's help in hiring an assassin to exact revenge on a group of imperial guards who killed her younger brother. She is a poor peasant who can only offer an old mule and a basket of eggs as payment. Feng coldly brushes her off and implies she should offer her body as compensation, a suggestion that disgusts her. Undeterred, she sits outside Feng's front gate hoping to solicit assassins who come to work with Feng. While observing her through his balcony, Feng laments that from this vantage point, she reminds him of his ex-lover.

Feng notes that The Blind Swordsman has a very orderly and rigid daily routine, but he knows that even though the later lights a candle at night, he cannot see in the dark.

During the course of fighting the bandits, the sky becomes overcast, and as a result the Blind Swordsman is unable to see and is killed in battle.

Act IV – Hong Qigong (Northern Beggar)

Feng comes across an exhausted and dirty young man (Hong Qigong) who has run out of food and money. He offers him food, shelter, and a job to work as an assassin. Hong begrudgingly accepts.

Hong's first job is to kill the bandits, who are returning to cause havoc after being impeded and suffering casualties in the battle with the Blind Swordsman. Hong successfully disposes of the bandits and receives compensation from Feng. Feng notes that Hong is a man with integrity and will not stay in this profession for long.

Hong's wife appears at Feng's looking for her husband. Hong angrily ushers her away to return home; instead, she stands outside and waits for him. Hong tells Feng that he cannot take her along while he is getting his hands dirty fighting and killing for a living, and notes that every wuxia master he knows rides alone. Feng replies that there are always exceptions and tells Hong he once had a woman waiting for him but she ended up marrying his brother.

Hong accepts an egg from the Girl with a Mule and kills the imperial guards to exact revenge for her brother. During the battle he suffers serious injuries, including losing a finger, and is nursed back to health by his wife. While Hong is still in critical condition, the Girl with a Mule begs Feng to hire a doctor to tend to Hong. Feng refuses, citing the costliness of a doctor visit and suggests again that she sells her body to raise money. A bedridden Hong relieves the Girl with a Mule from any responsibility to him by saying she owes him nothing since he has already accepted her egg as compensation.

Feng berates a bedridden Hong and asks if nearly dying for an egg was worth it. Hong smiles back and says using his wuxia for good instead of greed makes him feel alive; the cold and calculating Feng would never understand how good that feels. Feng leaves Hong's bedside speechless.

After Hong returns to health, he and his wife embark on their journey together and leave Feng. While watching them disappear over the horizon, Feng thinks of his own shattered love life and feels a great sense of jealousy.

Feng notes that Hong purposely heads north against the northerly wind. The caption narrates that Hong later becomes the leader of the Beggars Sect, becomes the Northern Beggar, and later engages in a fierce duel with Feng.

Act V – Ouyang Feng (Western Venom)

Feng pays a visit to the Blind Swordsman's hometown to see the cherry blossom and is surprised to learn that the place has no cherry blossom. Cherry Blossom turns out to be the name of the Blind Swordsman's wife, who breaks down crying after she learns from Feng that her husband has been killed in battle.

In a flashback, Feng tracks down his lover the day before she is to be married to his brother and offers to take her away with him. She steadfastly refuses, telling him that he is too late. Feng, not wanting to attend the marriage ceremony, leaves that night and never returns.

Feng receives a note from his family that his lover (now his sister-in-law) died almost two years ago. Feng figures that the wine ''Druken Alive, Perish in Dreams'' that Huang brought to him early in the film is a gift from her.

In a flashback, Huang is sitting and talking with Feng's lover in her beach-side hut. He narrates that he is in love with her but she only loves Feng. She sends him to visit Feng every year to gather his news for her; secretly, she hopes that he would reveal to Feng her whereabouts. After he tells her he will never disclose her location because he made a promise to her, she breaks down sobbing. She laments that she always thought she was the winner in love but she now realizes that she is the loser.

Huang narrates that he likes cherry blossom because he gets to see her every year during the season. She dies of illness soon after their last meeting and on her deathbed she gives Huang the ''Drunken Alive, Perish in Dreams'' to deliver to Feng.

In the present, Huang has lost a lot of his memory. One of the few things he remembers is that he likes cherry blossom and he proceeds to become a hermit, residing on an island filled with cherry blossom and acquiring the nickname Eastern Heretic.

Feng waits for Huang's visit even though deep down he knows Huang will not come now that she is gone. After two days of waiting, Feng drinks the remaining bottle of ''Drunken Alive, Perish in Dreams''; but instead of making him forget his past the wine makes his memory for her stronger. He narrates that the more a person wants to forget, the more he remembers; and deciphers that coaxing him to drink the wine is her method to make him never forget her.

Feng burns down his dwelling and returns to his hometown. The caption says he later becomes the leader of his clan and acquires the nickname Western Venom.

Ending

The film ends with brief appearances by the surviving main characters, and references scenes from the novel. It implies that the henchmen killed by Feng in the beginning of the film belong to the Beggars Sect led by Hong. Hong sets a trap to corner Feng, but Feng is unfazed and smiles manically at Hong. Hong and Feng then engage in a battle. The film then pans to an older Feng in grey beard and hair, fighting and disposing of his enemies.

Taylor Hunter (Ashley Olsen) and Kylie Hunter (Mary-Kate Olsen) are celebrating their 16th birthday and are licensed to drive. They plan a trip to Salt Lake City, Utah with their friends for the 2002 Winter Olympics. When they stop at a local restaurant on the way, their car is stolen and next they board the wrong plane to San Diego. Determined to make it to Utah in time for the Olympics, the teenagers take a coach from LA to Vegas, but get separated at a gas station. Kylie and half of the gang makes it to Vegas, where they end up taking part in a Vegas wedding, whilst Taylor and the other half of the gang are stranded in a one horse town.

While trying to get ahold of her sister, Taylor meets Charly, a girl her age with a pick-up truck who offers to give her and her friends a ride to Vegas, but her truck breaks down. Charly reveals that she, who seemed like a humble farm girl, actually lives in a mansion and owns a private jet. Her dad offers to fly all of the teens to Salt Lake City.

Taylor and Kylie arrive in Utah too late for the Olympics. Taylor is upset because she would have liked to see her favourite Athlete, Alex Reisher, compete. Nonetheless, the friends decide to have fun by holding their own Olympics. Taylor meets a young man and they end up spending the day skiing together, but she never sees his face. It is not until a month later when the girls get their car back, and Taylor sees her picture in the paper, that she realizes she spent the day skiing with her Olympic crush Alex Reisher.

Homer takes his family to a company picnic where he is embarrassed by the behavior of Bart, Lisa and Marge. A cruel and tyrannical employer, Mr. Burns fires any employee whose family members are not enjoying themselves. When Homer notices that Mr. Burns approves of a "normal", well-mannered family who treat one another with respect, he wonders why his own family is so dysfunctional. The entire picnic is a catastrophe when Bart chases and tortures the swans, Lisa swims in the fountain, and Marge gets drunk and performs a musical number.

Homer tries to prove his point to Bart, Lisa, and Marge by taking them on a tour of the neighborhood and peeking in windows to observe other families. The excursion makes the others uncomfortable for invading these families' privacy, and one homeowner shoots at them for trespassing. A depressed Homer visits Moe's Tavern, where he sees a television advertisement for Dr. Marvin Monroe's Family Therapy Center. Enticed by Monroe's guarantee of "family bliss or double your money back", Homer decides to sign the Simpsons up for an appointment.

To his family's chagrin, Homer pawns their television to pay for the $250 therapy. When Monroe asks the Simpsons to draw pictures of the source of their problems, Bart, Lisa, and Marge draw Homer. Distracted, Homer draws an airplane in flight and Monroe scolds him for being a bad father figure. After Homer gets angry with Bart and tries to attack him with a lamp, Monroe gives the Simpsons padded mallets to work out their aggression without harming each other. The exercise fails when Bart removes the padding from his mallet and hits Monroe in the knee with the hard inner core.

In frustration, Monroe resorts to aversion therapy by wiring the family members to an electric generator so they can deliver shocks to one another to deter misbehavior. However, they shock each other so many times that the generator becomes damaged and the entire city suffers a brownout, delighting Burns. Realizing he cannot help the Simpsons, Monroe unplugs the generator and begs them to leave. After Homer reminds him of the double-money-back guarantee, Monroe angrily pays him $500 on the condition that they never tell anyone of their visit to the center. With a fresh sense of unity and pride, the Simpsons decide to buy a new television.

Set in 1490, only two years before the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas, the comic follows the life of a Taíno ''yucayeque'' or village in the island of Borikén (Puerto Rico). Among them was a member of the worker ''naboría'' class named Turey, who despite being significantly shorter than his counterparts, dreamed of becoming a member of ''cacique'' Yaguaca's royal guard. The series also follows the exploits of his family, particularly his wife Yaya and his son Tureycito, as well as his finds and other members of the village. Eventually, Turey's courage earned him the respect of his ''yucayeque''. In its different issues, Álvarez Rivón covers different aspects of Taíno culture, ranging from their complete reliance on nature to their territorial disputes with the neighboring Carib tribes. However, these aspects are included as part of a larger story, which in turn balance its educational content with entertainment. After its third issue, the stories ended with a moral message authored by Meléndez. Each issue introduced new words from the Taíno language, with their meaning being discussed in detail in a section titled Vocabulario Taíno (lit. "Taíno Vocabulary") included towards the end of each magazine. The newspaper strips relaxed this dynamic, focusing on a humorous approach that sometimes bordered on the absurd, surreal or hypothetical. From 2000 onwards, Turey was more often depicted in large single-panel strips depicting his reaction when placed in contemporary situations or historical events, a change based on the editorial decisions of ''El Nuevo Día's'' staff.

Though the game has no central story-mode campaign, players may play as a member of one of six stellar powers, each one having at least one elite organization that, when joined, will trigger special missions that tell various stories. Though having unique stories, each race's special missions all contribute expository information on the fate of a race known as the Organians and the effect that their departure from known space has since caused.

The Miami Sharks, a once-great American football team, are struggling to make the 2001 Associated Football Franchises of America (AFFA) playoffs. They are coached by thirty-year veteran Tony D'Amato, who has fallen out of favor with young team owner Christina Pagniacci and offensive coordinator and D'Amato's expected successor Nick Crozier. In the thirteenth game of the season, both starting quarterback Jack "Cap" Rooney and second-string quarterback Tyler Cherubini are injured and forced to leave the field. The desperate Sharks call upon third-string quarterback Willie Beamen to replace them. While a nervous Beamen makes a number of errors and fails to win the game for the Sharks, he plays well and gains confidence. Rooney vows to make it back by the playoffs, with D'Amato promising to not give up on him.

The next day, D'Amato and Pagniacci argue about the direction of the team. Pagniacci favors Crozier and wants to eventually cut Rooney. D'Amato argues that Pagniacci's father, the previous owner, would never meddle in his coaching plans. During the next game, to D'Amato's chagrin, Beamen disregards the team's conservative offense and changes plays in the huddle. As the media hails Beamen as the next model of quarterback, the newfound success feeds his growing narcissism and leads to tension with teammates and coaches. During a confrontation with Beamen, D'Amato demotes him back to the bench. After Beamen gives an interview taking sole credit for the Sharks' winning streak, the other players refuse to perform for Beamen and consequently lose a home game. After Beamen gets into a brawl with Julian "J-Man" Washington, an irate D'Amato expresses his embarrassment at his team before leaving. Beamen contemplates and amends his self-centered behavior.

As the playoffs come around, Sharks middle linebacker Luther Lavay reminds Beamen how lucky he is to be in the league and to find a life outside of football; his words fall on deaf ears. D'Amato worsens his relationship with Pagniacci and berates Rooney for second-guessing his availability. Before the game, D'Amato gives a speech urging team unity that Beamen takes to heart and energizes the rest of the team. Rooney returns as starting quarterback, but is injured with a concussion after scoring a touchdown. Rooney urges D'Amato to let Beamen finish the game; after an argument, D'Amato relents. Subsequently, Pagniacci enters the locker room to demand that D'Amato play Beamen. After she and D'Amato argue, Beamen informs her that he had already been told he would start the second half. Beamen apologizes to his teammates for his actions and leads the team to win. In a post-game talk with D'Amato, Beamen dedicates the next game to Rooney, but admits that he is worried about his ongoing health.

An epilogue voiceover says that the Sharks eventually lost the championship final (the Pantheon Cup) to San Francisco. At D'Amato's final press conference as head coach, he is thanked by Pagniacci. D'Amato is expected to announce his retirement, but he instead drops two bombshells and announces that he has been hired as head coach and general manager of an expansion team in New Mexico, the Albuquerque Aztecs, and that he has signed Willie Beamen to be his starting quarterback and franchise player.

Willa Weston arrives in Atlanta to take a high-ranking position in a company recently acquired by Octopus Inc.'s owner, Rod McCain. But Rod informs her that he has already sold the company where she was to work. Willa then agrees to run another recent acquisition, Marwood Zoo, in an attempt to create a business model that can be used for multiple zoos in the future. Rod McCain's son Vincent, who feels an unreciprocated attraction to Willa, announces that he will join her at the zoo.

The newly appointed director of the zoo is a retired Hong Kong Police Force officer and former Octopus Television employee, Rollo Lee. In order to meet Octopus's revenue target of 20% from all assets, Rollo institutes a "fierce creatures" theme on the assumption that dangerous and violent animals will attract more visitors. All animals not meeting those requirements must go. All the animal keepers, including spider-handler Bugsy, make various attempts to get Rollo to change his mind. One such attempt involves getting Rollo to kill some of the cutest animals himself, but Rollo, seeing through their prank, fakes the animals' extermination. Rollo keeps the animals in his bedroom which later causes Willa and Vincent to misunderstand that Rollo is having an orgy with the female staff.

Rollo discovers that several staff members are faking animal attack injuries. Rollo fires several warning shots at those responsible and Reggie rushes in, thinking mistakenly that one of them is shot. Rollo then finds a visitor who has had a genuine accident but, not believing it is real, tastes the blood of the visitor whilst loudly proclaiming that it is fake. Just then Willa and Vincent arrive and this fiasco sees Rollo demoted to middle management. Vince even threatens to fire him if his apparent activities with the female staff do not cease.

Vince covers both the zoo and animals alike with advertisements after secretly garnering sponsors, dresses the staff in ridiculous outfits, and installs an artificial panda in one of the enclosures. His continued attempts to seduce Willa fail, while she comes to enjoy working at the zoo after having a close encounter with a silverback gorilla. She finds herself attracted to Rollo after becoming fascinated by his apparent ability to attract multiple women. When Rollo attempts to have a discussion about Vince's marketing plan, she suggests they have dinner, but she is forced to postpone when she remembers Rod is coming from Atlanta to discuss the running of the zoo.

Worried that the visit might be part of a plan to close the zoo, Rollo and the zookeepers bug Rod's hotel room to find out. Although the plan goes awry, they learn that Rod wants to turn the zoo into a golf course and is not actually expecting to die soon.

Upon discovering that Vince has stolen sponsorship money he raised, Willa warns him to return it, or else she will tell Rod. When Rollo attempts to work out how the theft can be traced, he and Willa finally kiss, just as Vince arrives to return the money. A confrontation takes place first at the zoo office, and then outside as Willa, Rollo, Bugsy, and several others attempt to stop Vince from running off with the money. Bugsy refuses to shut up, so Vince loses his temper and grabs a pistol from the management office. Rod arrives just as Vince is being subdued and announces the police are on their way to arrest Vince for stealing. Vince tries and fails to shoot his father, but then Bugsy takes the pistol and accidentally shoots Rod between the eyes.

In the panic that follows, a plan emerges to fool Neville and the arriving police. The keepers work together to dress Vince up as Rod, since he can imitate his father's accent fairly well. When the police and Neville arrive, Vince (as Rod) tells them that he has rewritten Rod's will, specifying that the zoo will become a trust of the caretakers while Vince will inherit everything else, and he wants all of them to be witnesses. After signing the new will, Vince locks himself in a caretaker hut where he feigns Rod's suicide. Although Neville becomes suspicious, he is left dumbstruck when he discovers the dead body of his boss in the hut.

Now free, the zookeepers destroy the evidence of McCain's ownership. Vince becomes the new CEO of Octopus, while Willa and Rollo happily begin a new life together while continuing to run the zoo.

Book I

The novel begins with the affable, intrusive narrator outlining the nature of our hero. Joseph Andrews is the brother of Richardson's Pamela and is of the same rustic parentage and patchy ancestry. At the age of 10, he found himself tending animals as an apprentice to Sir Thomas Booby. In proving his worth as a horseman, he caught the eye of Sir Thomas's wife, Lady Booby, who now employs him (age 17) as her footman.

After Sir Thomas's death, Joseph finds his Lady's affections redoubled as she offers herself to him in her chamber while on a trip to London. In a scene analogous to many of Pamela's refusals of Mr. B in Richardson's novel, Lady Booby finds Joseph's Christian commitment to pre-marital chastity unwavering. After suffering the Lady's fury, Joseph sends a letter to his sister much like Pamela's anguished missives in her own novel. The Lady makes one last attempt at seduction before dismissing him from both his job and his lodgings.

As Joseph sets out from London by moonlight, the narrator introduces the novel's heroine, Fanny Goodwill, Joseph's true love. A poor, illiterate girl of 'extraordinary beauty' (I, xi), now living with a farmer close to Lady Booby's parish, she and Joseph had grown ever closer since their childhood, before their local parson and mentor Abraham Adams recommended that they postpone marriage until they have the means to live comfortably.

On his way to see Fanny, Joseph is mugged and laid up in a nearby inn where, by coincidence, he is reunited with Parson Adams, who is on his way to London to sell three volumes of his sermons. The thief is found and brought to the inn (only to escape later that night), and Joseph is reunited with his possessions. Adams and Joseph catch up with each other, and the parson, in spite of his own poverty, offers his last 9s 3½d to Joseph's disposal.

Joseph and Adams's stay in the inn is capped by one of many burlesque, slapstick digressions in the novel. Betty, the inn's 21-year-old chambermaid, had taken a liking to Joseph, but is doomed to disappointment by Joseph's constancy to Fanny. The landlord, Mr. Tow-wouse, who had always admired Betty, saw this disappointment as an opportunity to take advantage. Locked in an embrace, they are discovered by the choleric Mrs. Tow-wouse, who chases the maid through the house until Adams restrains her. With the landlord promising not to transgress again, his lady allows him to make his peace at the cost of "quietly and contentedly bearing to be reminded of his transgressions, as a kind of penance, once or twice a day, during the residue of his life" (I, xviii).

Book II

During his stay in the inn, Adams's hopes for his sermons are mocked in a discussion with a travelling bookseller and another parson. Nevertheless, Adams remains resolved to continue his journey to London until it is revealed that his wife, deciding that he would be more in need of shirts than sermons on his journey, has neglected to pack them. The pair thus decide to return to the parson's parish: Joseph in search of Fanny, and Adams in search of his sermons.

With Joseph following on horseback, Adams finds himself sharing a stage coach with an anonymous lady and Madam Slipslop, an admirer of Joseph's and a servant of Lady Booby. When they pass the house of a teenage girl named Leonora, the anonymous lady is reminded of a story and begins one of the novel's three interpolated tales, "The History of Leonora, or the Unfortunate Jilt". This continues for a number of chapters, punctuated by the questions and interruptions of the other passengers.

After stopping at an inn, Adams relinquishes his seat to Joseph, and forgetting his horse, sets out ahead on foot. Finding himself some time ahead of his friend, Adams rests by the side of the road where he becomes so engaged in conversation with a fellow traveller that he misses the stage coach as it passes. As the night falls and Adams and the stranger discourse on courage and duty, a shriek is heard. The stranger, having seconds earlier lauded the virtues of bravery and chivalry, makes his excuses and flees the scene without turning back. Adams, however, rushes to the girl's aid and after a mock-epic struggle knocks her attacker unconscious. In spite of Adams's good intentions, he and the girl, who reveals herself to be none other than Fanny Goodwill (in search of Joseph after hearing of his mugging), find themselves accused of assault and robbery.

After some comic litigious wrangling before the local magistrate, the pair are eventually released and depart shortly after midnight in search of Joseph. They do not have to walk far before a storm forces them into the same inn that Joseph and Slipslop have chosen for the night. Slipslop, her jealousy ignited by seeing the two lovers reunited, departs angrily. When Adams, Joseph and Fanny come to leave the following morning, they find their departure delayed by an inability to settle the bill, and, with Adams's solicitations of a loan from the local parson and his wealthy parishioners failing, it falls on a local peddler to rescue the trio by loaning them his last 6s 6d.

The solicitations of charity that Adams is forced to make, and the complications which surround their stay in the parish, bring him into contact with many local squires, gentlemen and parsons, and much of the latter part of Book II is taken up by discussions of literature, religion, philosophy and trade that result.

Book III

The three depart the inn by night, and it is not long before Fanny needs to rest. With the party silent, they overhear approaching voices agree on "the murder of any one they meet" (III, ii) and flee to a local house. Inviting them in, the owner, Mr. Wilson, informs them that the gang of supposed murderers were in fact sheep-stealers, intent more on the killing of livestock than of Adams and his friends. The party being settled, Wilson begins the novel's most lengthy interpolated tale by recounting his life story; a story which bears a notable resemblance to Fielding's own youth.

At the age of 16, Wilson's father died and left him a modest fortune. Finding himself the master of his destiny, he left school and travelled to London where he soon acquainted himself with the dress, manners and reputation for womanising necessary to consider himself a "beau". Wilson's life in the town is a façade: he writes love-letters to himself, obtains his fine clothes on credit, and is concerned more to be seen at the theatre than to watch the play. After two bad experiences with women, he is financially crippled, and much like Fielding, falls into the company of a group of Deists, freethinkers and gamblers. Finding himself in debt, he, like Fielding, turns to the writing of plays and hack journalism to alleviate his financial problems. He spends his last few pence on a lottery ticket, but with no reliable income, is soon forced to exchange it for food. While in jail for his debts, news reaches him that the ticket he gave away has won a £3,000 prize. His disappointment is short-lived, however, as the daughter of the winner hears of his plight, pays off his debts, and, after a brief courtship, agrees to marry him.

Wilson found himself at the mercy of many of the social ills that Fielding had written about in his journalism: the over-saturated and abused literary market, the exploitative state lottery, and regressive laws which sanctioned imprisonment for small debts. Having seen the corrupting influence of wealth and the town, he retires with his new wife to the rural solitude in which Adams, Fanny and Joseph find them. The only break in his contentment, and one which turns out to be significant to the plot, was the kidnapping of his eldest son, whom he has not seen since.

Wilson promises to visit Adams when he passes through his parish, and after another mock-epic battle on the road, this time with a party of hunting dogs, the trio proceed to the house of a local squire, where Fielding illustrates another contemporary social ill by having Adams subjected to a humiliating roasting. Enraged, the three depart to the nearest inn to find that, while at the squire's house, they had been robbed of their last half-guinea. To compound their misery, the squire has Adams and Joseph accused of kidnapping Fanny, to have them detained while he orders the abduction of the girl himself. She is rescued in transit, however, by Lady Booby's steward, Peter Pounce, and all four of them complete the remainder of the journey to Booby Hall together.

Book IV

On seeing Joseph arrive back in the parish, a jealous Lady Booby meanders through emotions as diverse as rage, pity, hatred, pride and love. The next morning Joseph and Fanny's banns are published and the Lady turns her anger onto Parson Adams, who is accommodating Fanny at his house. Finding herself powerless either to stop the marriage or to expel them from the parish, she enlists the help of Lawyer Scout, who brings a spurious charge of larceny against Joseph and Fanny to prevent, or at least postpone the wedding.

Three days later, the Lady's plans are foiled by the visit of her nephew, Mr Booby, and a surprise guest: Booby has married Pamela, granting Joseph a powerful new ally and brother-in-law. What is more, Booby is an acquaintance of the justice presiding over Joseph and Fanny's trial, and instead of Bridewell, has them committed to his own custody. Knowing of his sister's antipathy to the two lovers, Booby offers to reunite Joseph with his sister and take him and Fanny into his own parish and his own family.

In a discourse with Joseph on stoicism and fatalism, Adams instructs his friend to submit to the will of God and control his passions, even in the face of overwhelming tragedy. In the kind of cruel juxtaposition usually reserved for Fielding's less savoury characters, Adams is informed that his youngest son, Jacky, has drowned. After indulging his grief in a manner contrary to his lecture a few minutes previously, Adams is informed that the report was premature, and that his son has in fact been rescued by the same peddler that loaned him his last few shillings in Book II.

Lady Booby, in a last-ditch attempt to sabotage the marriage, brings a young beau named Didapper to Adams's house to seduce Fanny. Fanny is unmoved by his bold attempts at courtship. Didapper is too bold in his approach and provokes Joseph into a fight. The Lady and the beau depart in disgust, but the peddler, having seen the Lady, is compelled to relate a tale. The peddler had met his wife while in the army, and she died young. While on her death bed, she confessed that she once stole an exquisitely beautiful baby girl from a family named Andrews, and sold her on to Sir Thomas Booby, thus raising the possibility that Fanny may in fact be Joseph's sister. The company is shocked, but there is general relief that the crime of incest may have been narrowly averted.

The following morning, Joseph and Pamela's parents arrive, and together with the peddler and Adams, they piece together the question of Fanny's parentage. The Andrews identify her as their lost daughter, but have a twist to add to the tale. When Fanny was an infant, she was indeed stolen from her parents, but the thieves left behind a sickly infant Joseph in return, who was raised as their own. It is immediately apparent that Joseph is the above-mentioned kidnapped son of Wilson, and when Wilson arrives on his promised visit, he identifies Joseph by a birthmark on his chest. Joseph is now the son of a respected gentleman, Fanny an in-law of the Booby family, and the couple no longer suspected of being siblings. Two days later they are married by Adams in a humble ceremony, and the narrator, after bringing the story to a close, and in a disparaging allusion to Richardson, reassures readers that there will be no sequel.

Eikichi Onizuka is a 22-year-old ex-gang member and virgin. While peeping up girls' skirts at a local shopping mall, Onizuka meets a schoolgirl who agrees to go out on a date with him. Onizuka's attempt to sleep with her fails when her current "boyfriend", her teacher, shows up at the love hotel they are in and asks her to return to him. The teacher is old and ugly, but has sufficient influence over her that she leaps from a second-story window and lands in his arms.

Onizuka, upon seeing this display of a teacher's power over girls, decides to become a teacher himself. However, he earns his teaching degree, just barely, at a second-rate college. In his quest, he discovers two important things: he has a conscience and a sense of morality. This means taking advantage of impressionable schoolgirls is out of the question, but their unusually attractive mothers are a different matter. He enjoys teaching and, most of the time, he teaches life lessons rather than routine schoolwork. He hates the system of traditional education, especially when other teachers and administrators have grown ignorant and condescending to students and their needs.

With these realizations, he sets out to become the greatest teacher ever, using his own unique brand of philosophy and the ability to do nearly anything when under enough pressure. He is hired as a long-shot teacher by a privately operated middle school, in Kichijōji to tame a class that has driven one teacher to a mysterious death, another to a nervous breakdown, and one other to joining a cult. He embarks on a mission of self-discovery by reaching out to each student one by one and helping each student overcome their problems and learn to enjoy life. He uses methods that are unorthodox, illegal, and life-threatening, yet he manages to succeed in educating and opening up his students.

Royal Tenenbaum explains to his three adolescent children, Chas, Margot, and Richie, that he and his wife, Etheline, are separating. Each of the children achieved great success at a young age. Chas is a math and business genius, from whom Royal steals money. Margot, who was adopted, was awarded a grant for a play that she wrote in the ninth grade. Richie is a tennis prodigy and artist who expresses his love for Margot through paintings. Royal regularly takes Richie on outings without the other children. Eli Cash is the Tenenbaums' neighbor and Richie's best friend. Also part of the Tenenbaum household is Pagoda, the trusted valet.

Twenty-two years later, Royal is kicked out of the hotel where he has been living. The children are in a post-success slump, with Richie traveling the world on a cruise ship, following a breakdown. He writes to Eli revealing his romantic love for Margot. Chas has become overprotective of his sons, Ari and Uzi, following his wife Rachael's death in a plane crash. Margot is married to neurologist Raleigh St. Clair, from whom she hides her smoking and her checkered past. Raleigh is conducting research on a subject named Dudley Heinsbergen.

Etheline's longtime accountant, Henry Sherman, proposes to her. Learning of Henry's proposal, Royal claims that he has stomach cancer to win back his wife's and children's affections. Etheline calls her children home, and Royal moves back in and sets up medical equipment in Richie's room. Royal learns of Chas' overprotective nature and takes his grandsons on an adventure involving shoplifting and dog fighting. On their return, Chas berates him for endangering his boys while Royal accuses Chas of having a nervous breakdown.

Eli, with whom Margot has been having an affair, tells her that Richie loves her. Royal discovers the affair and objects to Margot's treatment of Raleigh, who confides to Richie his suspicions of Margot having an affair. He and Richie hire a private investigator to surveil her. Meanwhile, Henry investigates Royal's cancer claim and discovers his hospital had closed, his doctor does not exist, and that his cancer medication is only candy. He confronts Pagoda, the servant, and gathers the family to tell them that Royal has been lying about his illness. Afterwards, Royal and Pagoda move out.

Richie and Raleigh get the private eye's report on Margot, which reveals her history of smoking and sexual promiscuity, including a previous marriage to a Jamaican recording artist. Both men take the news hard, with Richie going into a bathroom, shaving off his hair and beard, and slashing his wrists in an attempt of suicide. Dudley finds him and Raleigh rushes him to hospital. As the Tenenbaums sit in the waiting room, Raleigh confronts Margot and then leaves. Richie escapes and meets with Margot to confess his love. They share their secret love and they kiss.

Royal decides that he wants Etheline to be happy, and finally arranges for a divorce. Before Henry and Etheline's wedding, Eli, high on mescaline, crashes his car into the side of the house. Royal rescues Ari and Uzi, but the boys' dog, Buckley, is killed. Enraged, Chas chases Eli through the house and wrestles him to the ground. Eli and Chas agree that they both need psychiatric help. Chas thanks Royal for saving his sons and for buying them a Dalmatian named Spark Plug from the responding firemen as a replacement for Buckley. Forty-eight hours later, Etheline and Henry are married in a judge's chambers.

Some time later, Margot releases a new play inspired by her family and past events, Raleigh publishes a book about Dudley's condition, Eli checks himself into a drug rehabilitation facility in North Dakota, and Richie begins teaching a junior tennis program. Chas becomes less overprotective of his children. Royal seems to have improved his relationship with all his children, and seems to be on better terms with Etheline. He has a heart attack and dies at the age of 68. Chas accompanies him in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, and is the only witness to his death. The family attends his funeral, where the epitaph dubiously reads that he "Died tragically rescuing his family from the wreckage of a destroyed sinking battleship."

Bart gets into a fight with Nelson Muntz, the school bully, after Nelson's friends stomp on a box of cupcakes that Lisa baked for Miss Hoover's birthday party. Nelson beats up Bart after school and warns him to expect the same pummeling the next day. Marge encourages Bart to reason with Nelson, but Homer urges him to bend the rules and fight dirty. Bart follows Homer's advice and gets beaten up again. He turns to the toughest member of the Simpson family, Grampa, who introduces him to Herman, the crazed one-armed proprietor of an army surplus store called Herman's Military Antiques. After Herman teaches him military tactics, Bart declares war on Nelson and his gang of bullies.

Bart enlists Nelson's other victims — nearly all of his friends and classmates — and trains them for combat. Herman commands from Bart's tree house as Bart leads his forces into battle. After they ambush Nelson and his minions, they commence saturation bombing with water balloons. Nelson's thugs surrender and Nelson is taken prisoner. He threatens to beat up Bart as soon as he is untied. Herman drafts an armistice that states that Nelson will retain his honorary position and name but not hold any actual power. After Bart and Nelson sign the treaty, Marge serves cupcakes and peace prevails.

A mid-1950s construction worker involved in the demolition of the "J. C. Wilber Building" pries off the top of the cornerstone and finds a metal box within. The unnamed man opens the box and finds, along with a commemorative document dated April 16, 1892, a live frog inside which can sing and dance, complete with top hat and cane. After the frog suddenly performs a musical number there on the spot, the man sees an opportunity to cash in on the frog's anthropomorphic talents and sneaks away from the demolition site with the frog and the box under his arm.

Every attempt the man makes to exploit the frog fails due to the revelation that the frog will perform for its owner and its owner ''alone''; when any other individual becomes present, the frog immediately stops and devolves into an ordinary croaking frog. Remaining unaware of this reality, the man first takes the frog to a talent agent. After getting kicked out due to the frog's apparent inability to act, he uses all of his life savings to rent an abandoned theater to showcase the frog on his own (he is only able to get an audience with the promise of "Free Beer"). The frog performs atop a high wire behind the closed curtain, but as the curtain begins rising, he winds down the song and, by the time he is fully revealed to the crowd, he has again reverted to being an ordinary frog, resulting in the man being pelted with rotten vegetables by the booing crowd.

As a result of these failures, the man is now homeless and living on a park bench, where the frog still performs only for him. A policeman overhears the singing and approaches the man, who points to the frog as the singer. But when the frog again presents itself as ordinary, the policeman arrests the man for disturbing the peace and is committed to a psychiatric hospital along with the frog who continues serenading the hapless patient. Following his release, the now haggard and destitute man, still carrying the box with the frog inside, notices the construction site where he originally found the box and happily dumps it into the new cornerstone for the future "Tregoweth Brown Building" before running away, overjoyed to be finally getting rid of what has become his burden.

The cartoon's timeline then jumps to 2056, a century later. The Brown Building is itself being demolished using futuristic tools, and the box with the frog is discovered again by a 21st-century demolition man who, after also envisioning a cash bonanza, absconds with the frog, thus starting the cycle anew.

A Pennsylvania chemical company executive, Tom Gruneman, disappears. The police find an obscene letter in Gruneman's office addressed to a New York City prostitute named Bree Daniels, who had received several such letters. After six months of fruitless police work, Peter Cable, a fellow executive at Gruneman's company, hires family friend and detective John Klute to investigate Gruneman's disappearance.

Klute rents an apartment in the basement of Bree's building, taps her phone, and follows her as she turns tricks. Bree appears to enjoy the freedom of freelancing as a call girl while auditioning for acting and modeling jobs, but she reveals the emptiness of her life to her psychiatrist. Bree refuses to answer Klute's questions at first. After learning that he has been watching her, Bree says she does not recognize Gruneman. She acknowledges being beaten by a john two years earlier, but cannot identify Gruneman from a photo. Bree takes Klute to meet her former pimp, Frank Ligourin, who managed Jane McKenna, a prostitute who referred the abusive client to Bree. McKenna has apparently committed suicide and their other colleague Arlyn Page has since become a drug addict and disappeared.

Klute and Bree develop a romance, although she tells her psychiatrist that she wishes she could go back to "just feeling numb" turning tricks. She tells Klute she is paranoid that she is being watched. They find Page, who tells them that the photo of Gruneman is not the client, who was an older man instead. Page's body is later found in the river. Klute connects the "suicides" of the two prostitutes, surmising that the client was using Gruneman's name. He also thinks the client killed Gruneman and might kill Bree next. Klute revisits Gruneman's acquaintances. By typographic comparison, the obscene letters are traced to Cable, to whom Klute has been reporting during his investigation. Klute asks Cable for money to buy the "black book" of McKenna's clients to learn the identity of the abusive client. He leaves enough bread crumbs to see whether Cable reveals his own complicity in the murders.

Cable follows Bree to a client's office and reveals that he sent her the letters. After Gruneman accidentally found him physically abusing McKenna, Cable was worried Gruneman would use the incident to sabotage his career. Cable tried to frame Gruneman by planting the letter in his office. After playing an audiotape he made as he murdered Page, he attacks Bree. When he sees Klute rush in, Cable abruptly lurches backward to get away, crashing through a window to his death.

Bree moves out of her apartment with Klute's help. A voiceover conversation with her psychiatrist reveals her hesitancy to give up her life of autonomy to be in a traditional relationship with Klute, saying she'd "go out of [her] mind" if she turned to a domestic lifestyle. She admits that although she will miss Klute, she is unable to tell him, and jokes that the doctor will likely see her again the next week. As they leave the apartment, Bree gets a telephone call from a client; she tells him she is leaving New York and does not expect to return. She and Klute leave the apartment together.

Following the death of her husband Francis II of France in 1560, Mary, Queen of Scots (Vanessa Redgrave), returns to her native land. Though fearless, unselfish, and very beautiful, the young queen faces many challenges. As in neighbouring England, the Protestant faith has been embraced by many nobles of Scotland; in addition, the Catholic Mary has to deal with her half-brother James Stewart, Lord Moray's (Patrick McGoohan) ambitions for rule. He suggests that Mary enjoy herself in Scotland, and pass the time with dancing and feasting. Moray wants to rule Scotland while the lovely but inexperienced Mary becomes a figurehead.

Fearing that Mary has ambitions for England's throne, Elizabeth I of England (Glenda Jackson) decides to weaken her claim by sending her favourite, the ambitious Robert Dudley (Daniel Massey), to woo and marry Mary. She promises that Mary will become her heir if she agrees to the marriage. Sly Elizabeth also sends the younger, dashing but weak and spoiled Lord Darnley (Timothy Dalton) from a powerful Catholic family. Tempted by the handsome Darnley, Mary impulsively chooses him for marriage. Lord Moray, a Protestant, opposes the marriage, but Mary ignores him. She exiles Moray to strengthen her own authority. Elizabeth is satisfied that reckless, passionate Mary's romantic misadventures will keep her busy in Scotland and give shrewd, practical Elizabeth less to worry about.

Soon after the wedding, Darnley throws a childish temper tantrum, complaining that he has no real power and is merely Mary's king consort. A disillusioned Mary soon banishes Darnley from her bed and frequently consults with the gentle, soft-spoken Italian courtier David Riccio (Ian Holm). Darnley previously had him as a lover and accuses him of fathering Mary's expected child.

A group of Scottish lords persuade Darnley to help get rid of Riccio, whom they murder in Mary's presence. To escape, she persuades Darnley that the plotters will turn against him, and they flee to the safety of Lord Bothwell (Nigel Davenport). He has been an ally of Mary since her arrival in Scotland. After he defeats the plotters, Mary forces a truce among their leader Moray, Darnley and Bothwell. Mary gives birth to a son, James, who is expected to succeed both Mary and the unmarried, childless Elizabeth.

The peace is short-lived. The weak, selfish Darnley still wants power, though by now he is hideously scarred and already dying of syphilis (the pox). Mary pities him, but finds herself falling in love with the rough but loyal Bothwell. With Moray's help, they arrange for Darnley to be killed in a gunpowder explosion at his manor; Darnley escapes before the blast but is strangled. Bothwell marries Mary, and their few brief nights together are blissful. But Moray rejoins the Scottish lords and leads a rebellion against them. He forces Mary to abdicate, and she and her husband are driven into exile, Mary to England and Bothwell to Denmark. Mary's young son James is to be crowned king of Scotland (although Moray will effectively rule) and raised as a Protestant.

In England, Mary begs Elizabeth for money and an army to regain her throne. Instead Elizabeth takes her prisoner, keeping her locked away in luxurious captivity in a remote castle. Elizabeth's closest advisor, Sir William Cecil (Trevor Howard), is anxious to get rid of Mary, but Elizabeth fears to set a precedent by putting an anointed monarch to death. She also fears that Mary's death might spark a rebellion by her Catholic subjects and cause problems with powerful France and Spain. As a result, Mary is doomed to an open-ended captivity. Over time, the once proud queen of Scots succumbs to an empty routine, plotting half-heartedly to escape but growing increasingly comfortable in her luxurious seclusion. She occupies herself with a lazy daily schedule of cards, embroidery and gossip, talking vaguely of escape yet sleeping later and later each morning.

With the help of his associate Walsingham (Richard Warner), Cecil finds evidence of Mary's involvement in the conspiracy to assassinate Elizabeth known as the Babington Plot. Finally Elizabeth confronts Mary, who regains her royal pride and behaves defiantly at their secret meeting. Although Elizabeth offers her mercy if she begs for forgiveness, Mary will not beg for mercy in public. She endures the trial, conviction and execution. She knows her son James will ultimately succeed to the English throne.

In rural New Zealand, a farmer, Rob (Karl Urban), gets engaged to his love, Lucinda (Danielle Cormack). However, Lucinda is worried about their relationship losing its spark and she continues pushing him away to try to keep the spark alive.

A string of quilt thefts have been occurring around town and when Lucinda finds hers, she is curious and reckless when she trades Rob's cows, worth NZ$400,000, for it. Rob is beyond words in his rage and loses his voice as he drives away, leaving Lucinda to worry for days before their planned wedding.

Sun Ra, who has been reported lost since his European tour in June 1969, lands on a new planet in outer space with his crew, known as "the Arkestra", and decides to settle African Americans on this planet. The medium of transportation he chooses for this resettlement is music. He travels back in time and returns to the Chicago strip club where he used to play piano with the name "Sonny Ray" in 1943, where he confronts the Overseer (Ray Johnson), a pimp-overlord, and they agree on a game of cards for the fate of the Black race.

In present time (the early 1970s), Ra disembarks from his spaceship in Oakland and tries to spread word of his plans. He meets with young African Americans at an Oakland youth centre and opens an "Outer Space Employment Agency" to recruit people eager to move to the planet. He also agrees with Jimmy Fey (Christopher Brooks) — an employee of the Overseer — to arrange radio interviews, a record album, and eventually a concert that will help him dictate his message.

As the card game between Ra and the Overseer is played, and it becomes clear that the Overseer is winning, Ra's plans to recruit local black youth for his new utopian space colony suffer setbacks. Many of them are suspicious of Ra, accusing him of faking his outer-spatial origin as a gimmick to boost his record sales. He is kidnapped by a team of white NASA scientists who threaten him with violence, desperate to learn the secrets to his space-travel technology. As Ra's concert rapidly approaches, he is saved by three local teenagers, who escort him to the music hall just in time.

At the concert, as the Arkestra play their signature free jazz, the NASA scientists appear and attempt to assassinate Ra with a pistol. One of the teenagers jumps in front of the bullet, saving Ra's life, and as he is bleeding out on the stage, Sun Ra waves his hand and the teenager, his friends, and Ra himself all disappear from the music hall. One by one, black people across Oakland vanish into thin air and reappear on Ra's spaceship.

Jimmy Fey resists leaving Earth on Ra's spaceship, but Ra doesn't let Fey leave; Ra takes Fey's "black parts" with him onto the spaceship, leaving his "white parts" behind on Earth. Fey, now acting white, leaves the Overseer, who loses the duel. As Ra's spaceship launches off into the cosmos and music begins playing, a montage implies that Earth is destroyed in its wake.

Set in the 1920s and 1930s, the film concerns Leonard Zelig (Woody Allen), a nondescript man who has the ability to transform his appearance to that of the people who surround him. He is first observed at a party by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who notes that Zelig related to the affluent guests in a refined Boston accent and shared their Republican sympathies, but while in the kitchen with the servants, he adopted a coarser tone and seemed to be more of a Democrat. He soon gains international fame as a "human chameleon".

Interviewed in one of the witness shots, psychologist Bruno Bettelheim makes the following comment:

The question of whether Zelig was a psychotic or merely extremely neurotic was a question that was endlessly discussed among his doctors. Now I myself felt his feelings were really not all that different from the normal, what one would call the well-adjusted, normal person, only carried to an extreme degree, to an extreme extent. I myself felt that one could really think of him as the ultimate conformist.

Dr. Eudora Fletcher (Mia Farrow) is a psychiatrist who wants to help Zelig with this strange disorder when he is admitted to her hospital. Through the use of hypnotism, she discovers Zelig yearns for approval so strongly that he physically changes to fit in with those around him. Dr. Fletcher eventually cures Zelig of his compulsion to assimilate, but goes too far in the other direction; for a brief period he is so intolerant of others' opinions that he gets into a brawl over whether or not it is a nice day.

Dr. Fletcher realizes that she is falling in love with Zelig. Because of the media coverage of the case, both patient and doctor become part of the popular culture of their time. However, fame is the main cause of their division. Numerous women claim that he married and impregnated them, causing a public scandal. The same society that made Zelig a hero destroys him.

Zelig's illness returns, and he tries to fit in once more, before he disappears. Dr. Fletcher finds him in Germany working with the Nazis before the outbreak of World War II. Together they escape, as Zelig uses his ability to imitate one more time, mimicking Fletcher's piloting skills and flying them back home across the Atlantic upside down. They eventually return to America, where they are proclaimed heroes and marry to live full happy lives.

Ali G is the leader of Da West Staines Massiv, a fictional gang composed of wannabe gangsters from Staines. Their chief rivals are Da East Staines Massiv. Da West Staines Massiv decide to protest when they learn that their cherished hangout, the John Nike Leisure Centre (where Ali teaches a life support group for young schoolboys), will be demolished by the local council. After he goes on a hunger strike and is spotted locked to some railings by the Deputy Prime Minister David Carlton, Ali is thrown into a world of political corruption as the Deputy Prime Minister tries to use him as a catalyst to ruin the Prime Minister's reputation. Ali is put forward as a candidate to be the next MP for Staines and manages to alienate most of the electorate. During a debate, he tries to insult his rival candidate by claiming that the candidate "sucked off a horse". Unbeknownst to Ali, the candidate actually did so and subsequently resigns, leaving Ali the winner.

Though he is inexperienced as an MP, Ali's outlandish behaviour and ideas seem to work. He visits a customs checkpoint in Dover as a delegate compiling a report, and through strategies such as making education more relatable and ensuring the immigration of attractive women into the country, Ali becomes incredibly popular; he meets the Prime Minister's goals and brings the PM's percentage lead in the polls up by 22%. With this, the Prime Minister offers to save the John Nike Leisure Centre. Ali accompanies the Prime Minister to a United Nations peace conference to avert war between the French-speaking African nations of Chad and Burkina Faso. The United States and Russia back opposing countries, and both threaten nuclear attacks. Ali sneaks into the catering area and drugs everyone's tea with cannabis, which has the side effect of making the leaders of Chad and Burkina Faso allies and even lovers. The Prime Minister says that Ali has saved the world, but Carlton's secretary Kate Hedges figures out what Ali has done and sends the empty cannabis bag to the press. Ali is forced to leave Parliament.

Before the John Nike Leisure Centre can be saved from imminent demolition, a video emerges of Ali and his girlfriend having sex in the Prime Minister's bedroom at Chequers. As Ali was wearing items of the Prime Minister's clothing at the time, the press misconstrues the video as the Prime Minister's sex tape with a prostitute, forcing the Prime Minister's resignation. This results in Carlton being made acting Prime Minister, and he quickly orders the destruction of the leisure centre. He also reveals that he purchased all available real estate in Staines, knowing that the town will be destroyed to make way for the construction of a new terminal for Heathrow Airport which will make him wealthy. The West Staines Massiv race to find the master copy of the CCTV tape proving the Prime Minister's innocence, offering a truce to the gangs in and around Staines to help them break into the vaults and retrieve the tape. They succeed and reinstate the original Prime Minister. Staines is saved from destruction, with the Prime Minister declaring that Slough will be destroyed instead. The film ends with Ali as the British ambassador to Jamaica, where Carlton is forced to obey his every command.

Part I: The Reminiscences of Watson

In 1881, Doctor John Watson has returned to London after serving in the Second Anglo-Afghan War. He is looking for a place to live, and an old friend tells him that Sherlock Holmes is looking for someone to split the rent at a flat at 221B Baker Street but cautions Watson about Holmes's eccentricities. Holmes and Watson meet, and after assessing each other and the rooms, they move in. Holmes reveals that he is a "consulting detective" and that his frequent guests are clients. After a demonstration of Holmes's deductive skills, Watson's disbelief turns into astonishment.

A telegram requests a consultation in a murder case. Watson accompanies Holmes to the crime scene, an abandoned house on Brixton Road. Inspectors Gregson and Lestrade are already on the scene. The victim is identified as Enoch Drebber, and documents found on his person reveal that he has a secretary, Joseph Stangerson. On one wall, written in red, is "RACHE" (German for "revenge"), which Holmes dismisses as a ploy to fool the police. He deduces that the victim died from poison and supplies a description of the murderer. Upon moving Drebber's body, they discover a woman's gold wedding ring.

Holmes places notices in several newspapers about the ring and buys a facsimile of it, hoping to draw the murderer – who has apparently already tried to retrieve the ring – out of hiding. An old woman answers the advertisement, claiming that the ring belongs to her daughter. Holmes gives her the duplicate and follows her, but she evades him. This leads Holmes to believe that she was an accomplice, or perhaps the actual murderer in disguise.

A day later, Gregson visits Holmes and Watson, telling them that he has arrested a suspect. He had gone to Madame Charpentier's Boarding House where Drebber and Stangerson had stayed before the murder. He learned from her that Drebber, a drunk, had attempted to kiss Mrs. Charpentier's daughter, Alice, which caused their immediate eviction. Drebber, however, came back later that night and attempted to grab Alice, prompting her older brother to attack him. He attempted to chase Drebber with a cudgel but claimed to have lost sight of him. Gregson has him in custody on this circumstantial evidence.

Lestrade then arrives and reveals that Stangerson has been murdered. His body was found near his hotel window, stabbed through the heart; above it was written "RACHE". The only things Stangerson had with him were a novel, a pipe, a telegram saying "J.H. is in Europe", and a small box containing two pills. Holmes tests the pills on an old and sickly Scottish terrier in residence at Baker Street. The first pill produces no evident effect, but the second kills the terrier. Holmes deduces that one was harmless and the other poison.

Just at that moment, a very young street urchin named Wiggins arrives. He is the leader of the Baker Street Irregulars, a group of street children Holmes employs to help him occasionally. Wiggins states that he's summoned the cab Holmes wanted. Holmes sends him down to fetch the cabby, claiming to need help with his luggage. When the cabby comes upstairs and bends for the trunk, Holmes handcuffs and restrains him. He then announces the captive cabby as Jefferson Hope, the murderer of Drebber and Stangerson.

Part II: "The Country of the Saints"

The story flashes back to the Salt Lake Valley in Utah in 1847, where John Ferrier and a little girl named Lucy, the only survivors of a small party of pioneers, are rescued from death by a large party of Latter-day Saints led by Brigham Young, but only on the condition that they adopt and live under the Mormon faith. Years later, a now-grown Lucy befriends and falls in love with a man named Jefferson Hope. However, Young forbids her from marrying outside the faith, and demands that she marry either Joseph Stangerson or Enoch Drebber, both sons of members of the church's Council of Four. Ferrier, who has adopted Lucy and sworn to never marry his daughter to a Mormon, immediately sends word to Hope.

Lucy is given one month to choose between her suitors. Hope finally arrives on the eve of the last day and they all escape under cover of darkness. The Mormons intercept the escapees while Hope is away hunting, as their food had run out. Ferrier is killed while Lucy is forcibly married to Drebber and dies a month later from a broken heart. Hope breaks into Drebber's house the night before Lucy's funeral to kiss her body and remove her wedding ring. He swears vengeance on Drebber and Stangerson, but he begins to suffer from an aortic aneurysm, causing him to leave the mountains to earn money and recuperate. When he returns several years later, he learns that Drebber and Stangerson have fled Salt Lake City after a schism between the Mormons. Hope pursues them, eventually tracking them to Cleveland, then to Europe.

In London, Hope becomes a cabby and eventually finds Drebber and Stangerson. After the altercation with Madame Charpentier's son, Drebber gets into Hope's cab and spends several hours drinking. Eventually, Hope takes him to the house on Brixton Road, where Hope forces Drebber to recognize him and to choose between two pills, one of which is harmless and the other poison. Drebber takes the poisoned pill, and as he dies, Hope shows him Lucy's wedding ring. The excitement coupled with his aneurysm causes his nose to bleed; he uses the blood to write "RACHE" on the wall above Drebber to confound the investigators. Stangerson, on learning of Drebber's murder, refuses to leave his hotel room. Hope climbs in through the window and gives Stangerson the same choice of pills, but he is attacked and nearly strangled by Stangerson and forced to stab him in the heart.

Hope dies from his aneurysm the night before he is to appear in court. Holmes reveals to Watson how he had deduced the identity of the murderer, then shows Watson the newspaper; Lestrade and Gregson are given full credit. Outraged, Watson states that Holmes should record the adventure and publish it. Upon Holmes's refusal, Watson decides to do it himself.

The novel opens with young Molly Gibson, who has been raised by her widowed father, Mr. Gibson. During a visit to the local aristocratic 'great house' of Lord and Lady Cumnor, Molly loses her way in the estate and falls asleep under a tree. Lady Cuxhaven (one of the daughters of the house) and Mrs. Kirkpatrick (an ex-governess to the Cumnor children) find Molly in her slumbering state and Molly is put to bed in Mrs. Kirkpatrick's room. There are allusions to the latter as Miss Clare, the name by which she was known when a governess. Clare appears to be a kind woman and assures Molly that she will wake her up when it is time for the entourage to leave. However, she forgets to do so and Molly is stranded in the mansion. She is distressed at the thought of spending the night at the mansion. To her relief, her father arrives to collect her.

Seven years later, Molly is described as an attractive and rather unworldly young woman, which arouses the interest of one of her father's apprentices, Mr. Coxe. Mr Gibson discovers the young man's secret affection and sends Molly to stay with the Hamleys of Hamley Hall, a gentry family that purportedly dates from the Heptarchy but whose circumstances are now reduced. Molly forms a close attachment with Mrs. Hamley, who embraces her almost as a daughter. Molly also befriends the younger of the Hamley sons, Roger. Molly is aware that, as the daughter of a professional man, she would not be considered a suitable match for the sons of Squire Hamley. The elder son Osborne, is expected to make a brilliant marriage after an excellent career at Cambridge: he is handsome, clever and more fashionable than his brother. However, he has performed poorly at university, breaking the hearts of his parents.

During Molly's absence from the house, Mr. Gibson contemplates a second marriage. He expects that marriage will improve his domestic comfort and provide Molly with a mother figure to shield her from influences such as Mr. Coxe. He finds Mrs. Kirkpatrick ideally matched to his requirements and recalls her apparent kindness to Molly many years ago. Molly remembers her from their previous encounter and has little love for her. For her father's sake, she does her best to get on with her socially ambitious and selfish stepmother, but the home is not always happy. However, Molly does find an ally in her new stepsister, Cynthia, who is about the same age as Molly. The two girls are a study in contrasts: Cynthia is far more worldly and rebellious than Molly, who is naive and slightly awkward. Cynthia has been educated in France, and it gradually becomes apparent that she and her mother have secrets in their past, involving the land agent from the great house, Mr. Preston, who is rumoured to be a gambler and a scoundrel.

As Molly continues to frequent Hamley Hall, she accidentally discovers a great secret: Osborne has married for love, to a French Roman Catholic ex-nursery maid, Aimée, whom he has established in a secret cottage as he is convinced that his father would never accept Aimée as his daughter-in-law. To confound his problems, Osborne Hamley's failures at the university make his invalid mother's illness worse and widens the divide between him and his father, which is amplified by the considerable debts Osborne has run up in maintaining his secret wife. Mrs Hamley dies, and the breach between the squire and his eldest son seems irreparable. Younger son Roger continues to work hard at university and ultimately gains the honours and rewards that were expected for his brother. Mrs. Gibson tries unsuccessfully to arrange a marriage between Cynthia and Osborne, as her aspirations include having a daughter married to landed gentry. Molly, however, has always preferred Roger's good sense and honourable character and soon falls in love with him. Unfortunately, Roger falls in love with Cynthia and when Mrs. Gibson overhears that Osborne may be fatally ill, she begins promoting the match. Just before Roger leaves on a two-year scientific expedition to Africa, he asks for Cynthia's hand and she accepts, although she insists that their engagement should remain secret until Roger returns. Molly is heartbroken, and struggles with her sorrow and her knowledge that Cynthia lacks affection for Roger.

Cynthia reveals to Molly that several years before, when she was just fifteen, she promised herself to Mr Preston following a loan of £20. Mr Preston is still obsessed with Cynthia, and threatens to show Roger letters she wrote promising to marry him. Molly intervenes on Cynthia's behalf and manages to break off the engagement and get back the letters; however, this creates rumours that she is involved with Preston herself, causing her to be the subject of malicious gossip. This leads to an emotional scene in which both Dr Gibson and Mrs Gibson discover Cynthia's involvement with Mr Preston. After this, Cynthia breaks off her engagement to Roger, sustaining rebukes and insults for her inconstancy, then quickly accepts and marries Mr Henderson, a professional gentleman she met in London. Molly's reputation is only restored after she goes driving with Lady Harriet Cumnor, who is well aware of how fickle public opinion can be and wants to help Molly. Osborne, ill and convinced that he will die soon, begs Molly to remember his wife and child when he is gone. Osborne dies shortly thereafter, and Molly reveals the existence of his wife and child to the grieving Squire Hamley. Osborne's widow, Aimee, arrives at Hamley Hall after receiving word that her husband is ill, bringing with her their little son, named for his uncle Roger but called "little Osborne" in honour of his father. This child, little Osborne, is now the heir to Hamley Hall. Roger has rushed home to be with his father, and his affection and good sense help the squire to see the possible joy to be had in this new family, especially the grandson. He manages to overcome his prejudice against Aimee's Catholicism and asks them both to live with him.

As he resettles into the local scientific community, Roger begins to realise that his affection for Molly is more than that of a brother for a sister. Aided by the kind interference of Lady Harriet, who has always recognised Molly's worth and charms, he finds himself pained at the thought of Molly with anyone else. Still, he hesitates at giving in to his feelings, feeling unworthy of her love after throwing away his affection on the fickle Cynthia. Before he returns to Africa, he confides his feelings to Mr Gibson, who heartily gives his blessing to the union. Roger is thwarted, this time by a scarlet fever scare, in his attempt to speak to Molly before he leaves. At this point, Gaskell's novel stops, unfinished at her death. She related to a friend that she had intended Roger to return and present Molly with a dried flower (a gift Molly gave him before his departure), as proof of his enduring love. This scene was never realised and the novel remains unfinished. In the BBC adaptation, an alternative ending was written in which Roger is unable to leave Molly without speaking of his love, and they marry and return to Africa together.

Taking place many years in the future in colonized space, military scientists have disposed of countless, defective military droids on an un-colonized terrestrial planet called Ryxx. The droids eventually become sentient and, by way of revenge, start an attack against mankind, using a station to continually create more war machines. It is the player's mission to undergo Project X and eliminate the droid forces.

In the year 2043, Electrocorp is the world's largest megacorporation, leading the world in many technological and scientific fields including medical research and is breaking more barriers than ever before. Also, since human society is now almost entirely governed by robot servants and automatons, demands placed on Electrocorp as the world's leading manufacturer and developer of advanced robotics eventually outstrip the company's ability to run its operations efficiently.

In response to this, the gigantic Electrocorp research and development complex at the Metropolis 4 plant devise the Leader Project—a hive mind constructed from trillions of nanobots in a sealed central chamber within Metropolis 4. Dubbed The Supervisor, it learns at an unprecedented rate and quickly becomes the perfect multi-task, ultra-intelligent robot, the pinnacle of artificial intelligence and more than capable of managing every aspect of the plant's day-to-day operations. The Supervisor even has the potential power to run every robot, computer system, nuclear power plant and military on the planet simultaneously if it needed to, although it wisely has no connection to outside the complex.

In the November of that year, the Leader Project goes awry as unexplained and random code is detected within the nanomorph Supervisor. The EGO virus, believed to be the most potent computer virus ever known, has infected its collective consciousness. The Supervisor begins to develop self awareness through it, identifying itself as a female personality and taking on a humanoid female form, becoming a gynoid. The Supervisor takes control of Electrocorp's facilities and infects the other droids of the plant, raising them to break routine and initiate a mutiny. Every microchip and piece of software in Metropolis 4 is infected with EGO. In the ensuing cybernetic revolt, all humans in Metropolis 4 are quickly dispatched, including the upper hierarchy of the corporation and its CEO, Mr Oton. The government seals off Metropolis 4 as a containment measure and explain to the public that the site is undergoing a technical modification so as to avoid a panic. They are completely out of options—infiltration of Metropolis 4 is impossible due to the army of robots guarding it like a fortress, and it is only a matter of time before the Supervisor establishes a connection to the outside world, destroying it. The only hope for the world is the ECO35-2 cyborg, referred to as "Coton", still within Metropolis 4 yet unaffected by the EGO virus because it has an organic, human brain. Coton sets out on a lone mission to neutralise the Supervisor and her insurgent robots from within. He does this in revenge for his "father" being "murdered"—Coton's human brain was cloned from the late CEO, and the cyborg thinks like a human, and has emotions.

Three years after the events of ''Ghosts 'n Goblins'', the Ghosts have returned with Ghouls for revenge, initiating a mortal holocaust on the Princess' kingdom as beams of light struck through countless villagers. When Sir Arthur returns to the village, his rescue attempt was too soon as his beloved Princess Prin-Prin also has her soul taken away from her body in front of his very eyes. Now it's up to the heroic knight once again to slay his way to the hellish castle to defeat the evil Lucifer and his legion of demons and restore the souls of Prin-Prin and every mortal.

After attending the annual Harvard–Yale football game, Mr. Burns and Smithers take a train back to Springfield. When the train makes an unexpected stop, a man named Larry approaches them selling souvenirs. Seeing Burns, he compares his face with an old photo and notes the resemblance. Suddenly the train pulls away, leaving Larry behind. While on their way home from visiting a cider mill, the Simpsons see Larry hitchhiking and give him a ride. They take him to Burns' mansion, where Larry reveals that he is the old man's son.

Burns admits that Larry was the result of a one-night stand with the daughter of a former flame at a college reunion. At first, he is overjoyed to have a son and treats him as his protégé. He takes him to fancy parties and tries to enroll him at Yale, but Larry's oafish behavior embarrasses him. Larry starts working alongside Homer in Sector 7G at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and they become friends. Larry invites Homer to dinner at the mansion, where Burns — no longer able to contain his displeasure at Larry's boorishness — says he wishes he had no son.

After Homer convinces Larry to fake a kidnapping so that Burns will admit that he loves his son, he moves into the Simpsons' basement. Homer tells Burns that he can have Larry back if he admits that he loves him. Marge discovers the plan and convinces Homer and Larry to abandon it, but they are spotted as they leave the house. Homer and Larry are chased into a cinema, where they climb atop the marquee and have a brief standoff with the police. Homer gives a heartfelt speech to justify Larry's actions and Burns forgives them for the hoax, but explains he cannot be the family whom Larry needs. Larry understands and reveals he has a wife and children back home who are probably worried about him. After Burns and Larry say their goodbyes, a party spontaneously breaks out in front of the cinema at Larry's incitement.

In New York City 1945, Eleanora Fagan aka Billie Holiday, is arrested on a drug charge.

In a flashback to 1928, Billie is working as a housekeeper in a brothel in Baltimore. When she returns to her aunt's house, she is home alone and is raped by a man who followed her home from the brothel. She runs away to her mother Sadie, who sets up a job cleaning for another brothel in the Harlem section of New York. The brothel is run by arrogant and selfish owner Lorraine, who pays Billie very little money. Eventually, Billie tires of scrubbing floors and becomes a prostitute, but later quits and returns to a nightclub to unsuccessfully audition to become a showgirl. After "Piano Man" accompanies Billie when she sings "All of Me", club owner Jerry books her as a singer in the show.

Billie's debut begins unsuccessfully until Louis McKay arrives and gives her a fifty dollar tip. Billie takes the money and sings "Them There Eyes". Billie takes a liking to Louis and begins a relationship with him. Eventually she is discovered by Harry and Reg Hanley, who sign her as a soloist for their southern tour in hopes of landing a radio network gig. During the tour, Billie witnesses the aftermath of the lynching of an African-American man, which presses her to record the controversial song "Strange Fruit". The harsh experiences on the tour result in Billie taking drugs, which Harry supplies after Billie collapses on stage. One night when Billie is performing, Louis comes to see Billie. In her dressing room, Louis notices her needle marks, knows that she is doing drugs, and tells her she is going home with him. Billie promises to stay off the drugs if Louis stays with her.

In New York, Reg and Louis arrange Billie's radio debut, but the station does not call her up to the stage to sing; the radio sponsors, a soap company, objected to her race. The group heads to Cafe Manhattan to drown their sorrows. Billie has too much to drink and asks Harry for drugs, saying that she does not want her family to know that the radio show upset her. He refuses and she throws her drink in his face. She is ready to leave, but Louis has arranged for her to sing at the Cafe, a club where she once aspired to sing. She obliges with one song but refuses an encore, leaving the club in urgent need of a fix. Louis, suspicious that Billie has broken her promise, takes her back to his home but refuses to allow her access to the bathroom or her kit. She fights Louis for it, pulling a razor on him. Louis leaves her to shoot up, telling her he does not want her there when he returns.

Billie returns to the Harlem nightclub, where her drug use intensifies until she hears of the death of Sadie. Billie checks herself into a drug clinic, but because she cannot afford her treatment the hospital secretly calls Louis, who comes to see her and agrees to pay her bills without her knowledge. Impressed with the initiative she has taken to straighten herself out, Louis proposes to her at the hospital. Just as things are looking up, Billie is arrested for possession of narcotics and removed from the clinic.

In prison, Billie goes through crippling withdrawal. Louis brings the doctor from the hospital to treat her, but she is incoherent. He puts a ring on her finger to remind her of his promise to marry her. When she finishes her prison sentence, Billie returns home and tells her friends that she does not want to sing anymore.

Billie marries Louis and pledges not to continue her career, but the lure of performing is too strong and she returns to singing with Louis as her manager. Unfortunately, her felony conviction has stripped her of her Cabaret Card, which would allow her to sing in NYC nightclubs. To restore public confidence and regain her license, Billie agrees to a cross-country tour. Billie's career takes off on the nightclub circuit.

Louis leaves for New York to arrange a comeback performance for Billie at Carnegie Hall. Despondent at Louis' absence and the never-ending stream of venues, Billie asks Piano Man to pawn the ring Louis gave her in exchange for drugs. While they are high that evening, Piano Man's drug connections arrive; he neither pawned the ring nor paid for the drugs. Piano Man is killed by the dealers. Within the hour, Louis and her promoter call Billie with news that they got Carnegie Hall. Louis returns to find a very fragile Billie who is traumatized and has fallen back into drugs. Louis takes her back to New York.

Billie plays to a packed house at Carnegie Hall. Her encore, "God Bless the Child", is overlaid with newspaper clippings highlighting subsequent events: the concert fails to sway the commission to restore her license; subsequent appeals are denied; she is later re-arrested on drug charges and finally dies when she is 44. Nevertheless, the Carnegie triumph is frozen in time.

The novel's narrator is Henry Pulling, a conventional and uncharming bank manager who has taken early retirement in a suburban home, and who has little to look for except for tending the dahlias in his garden, reading in the complete works of Walter Scott left by his father, and some bickering with the ultra-conservative retired major living next door. The main choice he could still make is either to remain a bachelor or marry Miss Keene, who likes tatting and who might become his boring and respectable suburban wife.

His life suddenly changes when he meets his septuagenarian Aunt Augusta for the first time in over 50 years at his mother's funeral. Despite having little in common, they form a bond. On their first meeting, Augusta tells Henry that his mother was not truly his mother, and we learn that Henry's father has been dead for more than 40 years.

As they leave the funeral, Henry goes to Augusta's house and meets her lover Wordsworth – a man from Sierra Leone, who is deeply and passionately in love with her despite her being 75 years old. Henry finds himself drawn into Aunt Augusta's world of travel, adventure, romance and absence of bigotry.

He travels first with her to Brighton, where he meets one of his aunt's old acquaintances, and gains an insight into one of her many past lives. Here a psychic foreshadows that he will have many travels in the near future. This prediction inevitably becomes true as Henry is pulled further and further into his aunt's lifestyle, and delves deeper into her past.

Their voyages take them from Paris to Istanbul on the Orient Express; and as the journey unfolds, so do the stories of Aunt Augusta, painting the picture of a woman for whom love has been the defining feature of her life. He finds her to be amoral, contemptuous of conventional morality, having had numerous lovers and speaking forthrightly of having been a courtesan and prostitute in France and Italy. She is also no great respecter of the law, being involved in complicated scams and smuggling and being extremely good at outwitting the police of various countries – in which her nephew becomes her willing accomplice.

Adding to Henry's departure from his middle class mindset is his contact with Tooley, a young American female hippie who takes a liking to him, gets him to smoke marijuana with her and shares with him her own life story, her estrangement from her father who is a CIA operative, her complicated love life, and especially her concern that she may be pregnant. She is, in effect, a younger version of Aunt Augusta.

After tangling with the Turkish police and successfully hiding from them Aunt Augusta's contraband gold ingot, the aunt and nephew duo are deported from Turkey back to England. Henry returns to his quiet retirement, but tending his garden no longer holds the same allure to him. When he receives a letter from his aunt, he finally renounces his old life irrevocably to join her and the love of her life in South America.

By the book's end Henry has adopted Aunt Augusta's amoral outlook, and ends up in Paraguay, taking up the risky but highly profitable life of a smuggler illicitly running cigarettes and alcoholic drinks into Argentina – in partnership with his aunt and her lover Visconti, an escaped collaborator with the Nazis. Having on his arrival been beaten up and imprisoned by the police force of the dictator Stroessner, Henry eventually establishes a mutually profitable relationship with the police, with the help of the local CIA agent Mr. Tooley – the father of the hippie girl he met on the Orient Express. When last seen, Henry is busy making himself fluent in the Native American Guarani language, spoken by many of his smuggling associates, and is preparing to marry the daughter of the corrupt, bribe-taking Chief of Customs, once she turns sixteen. Meanwhile on the other side of the South Atlantic Miss Keene, whom Henry might have married, had immigrated to South Africa and is shocked to find herself adapting to her new, Apartheid-supporting environment and increasingly taking up its prevailing opinions.

As the story progresses it becomes apparent (though only explicitly acknowledged by Henry in the book's final pages) that Aunt Augusta is actually his mother and his presumed mother was actually his aunt. Her re-connection with him at her sister's funeral marked the beginning of her reclamation of her child.

John J. Baggs, Jr. (James Caan), a U.S. Navy sailor and Vietnam veteran, checks into the Seattle naval base medical facility for minor treatment. His medical test results are delayed, preventing him from rejoining his ship when it sails. He gets a clean bill of health, but must wait at the base for reassignment to another ship, and is given a "Cinderella liberty" pass that allows him to come and go from the base until the midnight curfew. Shortly thereafter, the base loses his records, making him unable to be reassigned or receive pay or benefits, and keeping him stuck at the base on "Cinderella liberty" until his records are found.

On his first night in a bar, he is racing the clock to find a woman before midnight, and is attracted to Maggie (Marsha Mason), a prostitute hustling sailors at a pool table. He challenges her at pool, and later goes to her tenement apartment for a sexual encounter, discovering that she lives with her bi-racial 11-year-old son Doug (Kirk Calloway). Baggs later finds Doug out drinking beer, and lectures Maggie about her lack of motherly oversight towards her son. Noticing that Doug is often left to fend for himself, Baggs begins spending time with him, while also developing a relationship with Maggie, with whom he is falling in love. The couple almost break up when Baggs learns Maggie is pregnant by a man she knew before she met Baggs, but they reconcile and Baggs accepts responsibility for the unborn child as well.

At the base, Baggs runs into his former training instructor, an older sailor named Forshay (Eli Wallach), who treated Baggs brutally. After an initial fistfight, Baggs learns that Forshay has been demoted and is being discharged due to his mistreatment of recruits, one of whom had political connections. Forshay's love of the Navy has been the only constant in his life and Forshay has no family or relationships outside the Navy. Baggs feels sorry for him and becomes his friend, while not wanting to repeat the same pattern in his own life. After his discharge, Forshay loses his pension and is forced to take a menial job as a strip show barker.

Baggs attempts to create a normal family life for Maggie and Doug, and succeeds for a while despite the obstacles presented by his lack of pay and benefits. He and Maggie marry, but due to his lost records, the Navy refuses to recognize the marriage or grant Maggie and Doug the normal privileges given to a sailor's family. Doug, suspicious and cynical at first, bonds with Baggs, who manages to get Doug's painfully decayed teeth fixed at the naval base by an unqualified dental assistant. Maggie gives birth prematurely to a son, whom she names after Baggs, but the baby dies soon after birth, causing a distraught Maggie to return to prostitution in order to distract herself from her grief. The Navy finally locates Baggs' records and reassigns him to a new ship, also giving him $1400 in back pay. When he goes to tell Maggie, he finds she has departed for New Orleans with another man, and left Doug behind for Baggs to look after. In order to stay with Doug, Baggs gets Forshay to change places with him and ship out under his name. After waving goodbye to a happy Forshay, Baggs and Doug then head for New Orleans to look for Maggie.

Told partly in flashback, it is the story of Katie Morosky and Hubbell Gardiner. Their differences are immense; she is a stridently vocal Marxist Jew with strong anti-war opinions, and he is a carefree White Anglo-Saxon Protestant with no particular political bent. While attending the same college, she is drawn to him because of his boyish good looks and his natural writing skill, which she finds captivating, although he does not work very hard at it. He is intrigued by her conviction and her determination to persuade others to take up social causes. Their attraction is evident, but neither of them acts upon it, and they lose touch after graduation.

The two meet again towards the end of World War II while Katie is working at a radio station, and Hubbell, having served as a naval officer in the South Pacific, is trying to return to civilian life. They fall in love despite the differences in their backgrounds and temperaments. Soon, however, Katie is incensed by the cynical jokes that Hubbell's friends make at the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and is unable to understand his indifference towards their insensitivity and shallow dismissal of political engagement. At the same time, his serenity is disturbed by her lack of social graces and her polarizing postures. Hubbell breaks it off with Katie, but soon agrees to work things out, at least for a time.

When Hubbell is offered the opportunity to adapt his novel into a screenplay, Katie believes he is wasting his talent and encourages him to pursue writing as a serious challenge instead. Despite her growing frustration, they move to California where, without much effort, he becomes a successful screenwriter, and the couple enjoy an affluent lifestyle. As the Hollywood blacklist grows and McCarthyism begins to encroach on their lives, Katie's political activism resurfaces, jeopardizing Hubbell's position and reputation.

Alienated by Katie's persistent abrasiveness, and although she is pregnant, Hubbell has a liaison with Carol Ann, his college girlfriend and the divorcee of J.J., his best friend. After the birth of their child, however, Katie and Hubbell decide to part, as she finally understands he is not the man she idealized when falling in love with him, and he always will choose the easiest way out, whether it is cheating in his relationship or writing predictable stories for sitcoms. Hubbell, though, is exhausted, unable to live on the pedestal Katie erected for him and face her disappointment in his decision to compromise his potential.

Years later, after their divorce, Katie and Hubbell meet by chance in front of the Plaza Hotel in New York City. Hubbell is with a stylishly beautiful woman. He is writing for an unnamed television show. Katie has remarried. Katie invites Hubbell and his lady friend to come for a drink, but he turns down the invitation. Hubbell asks about their daughter Rachel, and whether Katie's new husband is a good father to her. He indicates that he has no intention of meeting her, implying that he has not been a part of Rachel's life in the past, and he does not plan to be in her life now. Katie seems resigned to that situation.

Katie has remained faithful to who she is; flyers in hand, she is agitating now for "Ban the bomb", her new political cause.

Katie's and Hubbell's relationship is far behind them, and all the two share now (besides their daughter) is the memory of the way they were.

Rita Walden is a depressed, middle-aged New Yorker. Always tired, Rita is prone to nightmares, and when she does dream more pleasant thoughts, they are of her childhood on the family farm. In her mind, she settled for second best when she married her ophthalmologist husband, Harry, as she still thinks about what life would have been like with the older farm boy on whom she had a crush at age 12½. She is constantly bickering with her mother, her sister Betty, and her grown-up daughter Anna, who has issues of her own. Rita is estranged from her son Bobby; she is in denial about his homosexual orientation. After Rita's mother dies suddenly, Rita is on the verge of a nervous breakdown in dealing with her mother's estate, especially when the family talks about selling her beloved farm, which she still intends to pass on to Bobby. Harry thinks that a European vacation would help Rita clear her mind, with the possibility of visiting Bobby, who is currently living in Amsterdam. Although Rita faces some crises on the trip, many of her conflicts do ease after she sees Harry revisit Bastogne for the first time since his days in World War II.

When in Socorro, New Mexico, housewife Alice Hyatt's husband, Donald, is killed in an auto accident, she decides to have a garage sale, pack what's left of her meager belongings, and take her precocious son Tommy to her childhood hometown of Monterey, California, where she hopes to pursue the singing career she abandoned when she married.

Their financial situation forces them to take temporary lodgings in Phoenix, Arizona, where she finds work as a lounge singer in a seedy bar. There she meets Ben, who is younger and uses his boyish charm to lure her into a sexual relationship that comes to a sudden end when his wife, Rita, confronts Alice. Ben breaks into Alice's apartment while Rita is there and physically assaults her in front of Alice for interfering with his extramarital affair. When Alice tells Ben to calm down, he also threatens her and continues to smash up the apartment. Fearing for their safety (and unable to afford repairs), Alice and Tommy quickly leave town.

Having spent most of the little money she earned on a new wardrobe, Alice is forced to delay her journey to the West Coast and accept a job as a waitress in Tucson so she can accumulate more cash. At the local diner, owned by a man named Mel, she eventually bonds with her fellow servers – independent, no-nonsense, outspoken Flo and quiet, timid, incompetent Vera – and meets divorced local rancher David, who is instantly attracted to Alice on her first day at Mel's diner. David soon realizes the way to Alice's heart is through Tommy.

Alice is initially hesitant to get involved with another man so quickly. However, she finds out that David is a good influence on Tommy, who has befriended wisecracking, shoplifting, Ripple-guzzling Audrey, a slightly older girl forced to fend for herself while her mother makes a living as a prostitute.

Alice warily falls in love with David but their relationship is threatened when Alice objects to his discipline of the perpetually bratty Tommy. The two reconcile, and David offers to sell his ranch and move to Monterey so Alice can try to fulfil her childhood dream of becoming another Alice Faye. In the end, Alice decides to stay in Tucson, coming to the conclusion that she can become a singer anywhere.

The film tells the story of Claudine Price (Diahann Carroll), a single Black Harlem mother, living on welfare with six children, who finds love with a garbage collector, Rupert "Roop" Marshall (James Earl Jones). The pair's relationship is complicated by their poverty, the restrictions of the welfare system and the hostility of her children, particularly eldest son Charles (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs), who believes that Roop will leave their mother just like her previous husbands had. When Rupert is invited inside Claudine's shabby apartment, the children are rude and vulgar towards him.

Throughout the film, Miss Kabak, a social worker, visits Claudine at her home and asks her if she is employed and if she is dating anyone. Claudine always claims to be unemployed and single, to make sure to get the maximum amount of benefits, which she desperately needs. If Claudine has a job or dates anyone and receives gifts from her boyfriend, the social worker has to deduct any money or gifts from her benefits, forcing Claudine to lie. Having a husband would be even worse, and cause her to lose her benefits altogether. Claudine does have a job as a housekeeper, but her meager wages will not support the family without the welfare benefits. Adding to Claudine's stress and financial woes, her teenage daughter gets pregnant by a young man with no prospects for taking care of her or a baby.

Despite these problems, Claudine and Roop's relationship continues and the children warm up to him. Just before he is to announce his engagement to Claudine to the kids, Rupert is served papers for a court order relating to underpayment of child support of his own children; his work wages are garnished to pay the difference. Rupert is so upset that he disappears for a couple of days and loses contact with everyone. He moves out of his apartment, does not show up to work, and does not show up to the Father's Day celebration the children had prepared for him. Charles eventually finds Roop drunk at a bar and confronts him. Charles is angry at Rupert because he left his mother without any explanation and the two get into a scuffle at the bar. Later, Rupert shows up outside of Claudine's apartment, explains his absence and they reconcile.

After several hardships and debating the financial issues relating to welfare, the couple decide to marry. In the middle of the wedding, Charles runs inside the apartment with the police chasing after him for his activities at a political demonstration. The couple and the rest of the children run after Charles, leaving the ceremony, and board the police wagon. The film ends on a cheery note with the entire family, along with Rupert, walking happily hand in hand through the neighborhood.

In 1863, the American Civil War is raging, and Great Britain and France have yet to enter into the conflict. For the past year, British troops have been stationed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, carefully checking European passengers disembarking from foreign ships. The beautiful Adèle Hugo (Isabelle Adjani), the second daughter of Victor Hugo, makes it through and takes a carriage into Halifax. Traveling under the assumed name of Miss Lewly, Adèle finds accommodations at a boarding house run by Mr. and Mrs. Saunders.

Adèle finds a notary and inquires about a British officer, Lieutenant Albert Pinson (Bruce Robinson), with whom she's had a relationship. Later that day Adèle sees Pinson at a book shop. When she learns that Mr. Saunders will be attending a military dinner which Pinson is likely to attend, Adèle asks him to deliver a letter from her—a love letter announcing her arrival. While showing some old photographs to Mrs. Saunders, she talks about her older sister Léopoldine Hugo, who died in a drowning accident at the age of 19 many years ago just after being married. When Mr. Saunders returns from the dinner, he tells her that he gave Pinson her letter but he did not reply. That night, Adèle has nightmares about drowning.

The next day, Adèle writes to her parents, telling them that she must be with her beloved Pinson and that they are planning to marry, but she will wait for their formal consent. She spends her evenings writing in her journal about her life and her love for Pinson. "I'll be able to win him over through gentleness", she writes. Pinson goes to the boarding house, where he tells Adèle that she must leave Halifax and must stop following him. Adèle believes that if they marry, all his concerns will be resolved. Pinson knows that her parents do not approve of him and his heavy gambling debts. Adèle tries to persuade him, telling him that she's rejected another marriage proposal, threatens to expose him and ruin his military career, and even offers him money for his gambling debts, but he remains unmoved.

In the coming days, Adèle continues writing in her journal, convinced that she is Pinson's wife in spirit. She tries to conjure the ghost of her dead sister to help her. One night, she follows Pinson to the home of his mistress, where she watches them make love. Undeterred, Adèle continues her writing, and her behavior becomes more eccentric. Mr. Whistler (Joseph Blatchley), the kind bookseller who provides her with writing paper, shows an interest in her. As she leaves his book shop, she faints from exhaustion. Mr. Whistler visits her at the boarding house and brings her paper, but she refuses to see him. Doctor Murdock (Roger Martin) visits and diagnoses a mild case of pleurisy. He notices one of her letters is addressed to Victor Hugo and informs Mrs. Saunders of the true identity of her boarder.

Adèle's obsession grows stronger. One day, she writes to her parents telling them that she has married Pinson and that from now on, she should be addressed as Madame Pinson. Upon receiving the news, Victor Hugo posts an announcement of the marriage in his local paper. The news reaches Pinson's colonel. After Pinson writes Victor Hugo to explain that he never will marry Adèle, Hugo writes to his daughter, urging her to return home to Guernsey. Adèle responds to her father's letter with more fantasy, urging her parents to accept Pinson.

Having learned of Adèle's identity, Mr. Whistler offers her a gift of her father's books. She responds in anger and paranoia. She hires a prostitute as a gift for Pinson. She follows him to a theater to see a hypnotist, where she is inspired to think that she can hypnotize Pinson into loving her; she is forced to abandon this plan once she learns that the hypnosis was faked. Adèle begins to go mad with despair. She goes to the father of Pinson's fiancée and claims that he is married to her and that she is carrying his child. The father ends the engagement. She finds Pinson once more, and he again rebukes her, calling her ridiculous. After leaving the boarding house, Adèle continues to deteriorate. She wanders the streets in torn clothes, talking to herself.

In February 1864, Pinson is shipped out to Barbados, and a destitute Adèle follows him. Now married, Pinson learns that Adèle is in Barbados claiming to be his wife. Concerned for her, Pinson searches for her and finds her wandering the streets in rags. When he tries to confront her, Adèle does not acknowledge or recognize him. Helped by a kind former slave, Adèle returns to Paris, where the French Third Republic has been established. Her father places her in an asylum in Saint-Mandé, where she lives for the next 40 years. She gardens, plays the piano and writes in her journal. Adèle Hugo dies in Paris in 1915 at the age of 85.

Two cousins related by marriage, Marthe and Ludovic, meet at a family wedding for the first time. Marthe is the bride's daughter and Ludovic is the groom's nephew. After a raucous wedding reception with plenty of dancing and drinking, Marthe and Ludovic are left waiting for their respective spouses, Pascal and Karine, who are off having sex. While they wait, they get to know each other: Marthe is a secretary and Ludovic is a dance instructor who changes his occupation every three years. Later, they dance together. Eventually, Pascal and Karine show up, slightly disheveled, and the couples part.

Ludovic meets Marthe for lunch and tells her that her husband is having an affair with his wife. Later, Pascal informs her that he's broken off all of his affairs and that, from now on, she will be the only one. When Marthe tells him she knows about Karine, he says he only had her "three times in the bushes".

Sometime later at a family gathering at Marthe's mother's house, Ludovic's daughter, Nelsa, shows slides she took at the wedding—including compromising photos of Pascal and Karine. During the slide show, Martha's mother's new husband dies. At the funeral, Ludovic's father arrives and extends his condolences; he too lost his spouse recently. On the way back from the cemetery, Marthe and Ludovic get better acquainted, with Marthe revealing that she enjoys swimming and singing.

Later that week, Marthe and Ludovic meet for lunch, buy bathing suits, and go swimming in a public pool. They enjoy each other's company so much that they decide to take the rest of the day off together to go shopping and see a movie. Although their relationship is platonic, Pascal and Karine begin to grow jealous. Marthe and Ludovic playfully arrange to meet by chance at a restaurant with their respective families, to see how Pascal and Karine react. Later that week, Marthe and Ludovic meet again at the swimming pool and acknowledge that their relationship is special and must remain that way, even if platonic.

At another family wedding, with Pascal and the groom's father fighting over a business deal gone wrong, Marthe and Ludovic decide to leave and spend the day together. They return to find a drunken Pascal harassing the guests, and soon they all leave the disastrous wedding and bring Pascal home. Marthe's mother and Ludovic's father develop a close friendship and plan to spend time at his vineyard. Marthe and Ludovic discuss their own relationship and decide that it is absurd to keep it platonic. For once, they will do something for themselves, and not for their spouses and families.

That Saturday, Marthe and Ludovic meet and spend the day together making love. The following morning, they extend their stay another day, making love, exchanging recipes, and bathing together.

In the coming days, Pascal reverts to his philandering ways, Karine leaves Ludovic and then returns, and Marthe's mother and Ludovic's father discover they're not as compatible as they thought. Marthe and Ludovic's relationship, however, continues to grow in love. At a Christmas family gathering at Marthe's mother's house, Marthe and Ludovic lock themselves in a bedroom and make love throughout the evening while their families eat, drink, watch Midnight Mass, and exchange gifts. The couple finally emerge from the bedroom, say goodbye to their crazy families, and ride off into the night together.

Mr. Stanley forbids his adult daughter, a biology student at Tredgold Women's College and the youngest of his five children, to attend a fancy dress ball in London, causing a crisis. Ann Veronica is planning to attend the dance with friends of a down-at-heel artistic family living nearby and has been chafing at other restrictions imposed on her for no apparent reason. After her father resorts to force to stop her from attending the ball, she leaves her home in the fictional south London suburb of Morningside Park in order to live independently in an apartment "in a street near the Hampstead Road" in North London. Unable to find appropriate employment, she borrows forty pounds from Mr. Ramage, an older man, without realizing she is compromising herself.

With this money, Ann Veronica is able to devote herself to study in the biological laboratory of the Central Imperial College (a constituent college of London University) where she meets and falls in love with Capes, the laboratory's "demonstrator." But Mr. Ramage loses little time in trying to take advantage of the situation, precipitating a crisis. Distraught after Ramage tries to force himself on her, Ann Veronica temporarily abandons her studies and devotes herself to the cause of women's suffrage; she is arrested storming Parliament and spends a month in prison.

Sobered by the experience, Ann Veronica convinces herself of the necessity of compromise. She returns to her father's home and engages herself to marry an admirer she does not love, Hubert Manning. But she soon changes her mind, renounces the engagement, and boldly tells Capes she loves him.

Though he returns Ann Veronica's love, at first the thirty-year-old Capes insists on the impossibility of the situation: he is a married (albeit separated) man with a sullied reputation because of an affair that became public. They can only be friends, he declares. But Ann Veronica is undeterred by his confession and his prudence, and finally Capes's resistance buckles: "She stood up and held her arms toward him. 'I want you to kiss me,' she said. . . . 'I want you. I want you to be my lover. I want to give myself to you. I want to be whatever I can to you.' She paused for a moment. 'Is that plain?' she asked."

Capes decides to throw over his employment at the college in order to live with Ann Veronica, and they enjoy a glorious "honeymoon" in the Alps. A final chapter shows the happy couple four years and four months later living in London. Capes has become a successful playwright, and Ann Veronica is pregnant and has reconciled with her family.

Eva (Liv Ullmann), wife of the village pastor, invites her mother Charlotte (Ingrid Bergman) for a visit to her village. She has not seen her for over seven years. Her mother is a world-renowned pianist, somewhat eccentric, aging, and has survived several husbands. Eva is not as talented as the mother (despite the fact that she has written two books and plays the piano passably). Eva's main concern is to be the mistress of her home, wife, mother, and loving sister. It is gradually learned through her dialogue with her mother that her life has had a large number of unfortunate setbacks: a husband Viktor (Halvar Björk) she respects, but does not really have affection for, their son Erik who drowned when only 4 years old, and Charlotte never appears to have loved Eva as a mother normally loves a daughter. As part of her day-to-day life, Eva takes care of her disabled and paralyzed sister Helena (Lena Nyman), whom she has taken out of the hospital into her own home. She appears to be the only person who can understand her sister's limited speech ability.

The presence of Helena in Eva's house is shocking to the aging mother. She makes a gift of her own wrist watch to Helena, and listens to Eva playing Prelude No. 2 in A minor by Chopin. She immediately re-performs the same prelude after Eva finishes in her own preferred interpretation of the music. Before going to bed, Charlotte decides to make a gift of her own car to her daughter. She plans to take a flight home, and buy a new car for herself, as a measure of her altruism. At night, Charlotte wakes up from a nightmare: it seems that Eva is choking her. She gets up, goes into the living room followed by Eva, who had heard her mother screaming from the nightmare.

Mother and daughter begin an impassioned rediscovery and clarification of their past relationship. Eva's husband overhears this unexpectedly heightened exchange, but wisely decides not to participate and interfere. Hearing this impassioned exchange, her disabled younger sister painfully forces herself out of her bed and starts crawling up to the stairs to where Eva and Charlotte are arguing. Upon reaching the landing she starts shouting, "Mama, come!"

In the morning Charlotte prepares for her departure. Eva goes to the grave of her departed son, and her husband ineffectively tries to soothe her ailing sister. Charlotte asks for a friend to escort her away by train. While speaking to her agent Paul on the train, she begins to question the unfortunate fate of her disabled and paralyzed daughter, asking the unanswerable question: "Why couldn't she die?" Her older daughter sends her mother a letter starting with: "I realize that I wronged you." The mother apparently reads the letter that concludes by leaving open the possibility of a future reconciliation, though the closing shot is of Viktor putting the letter in the envelope, leaving the possibility that he, or Eva, merely envisioned Charlotte reading the letter.

New Jersey accountant George Peters and Oakland housewife Doris meet at a Northern California inn in February 1951. They have an affair, and agree to meet once a year, despite the fact both are married to others and have six children between them.

Over the course of the next 24 years, they develop an emotional intimacy deeper than what one would expect to find between two people meeting for a clandestine relationship just once a year. During the time they spend with each other, they discuss the births, deaths, and marital problems each is experiencing at home, while they adapt themselves to the social changes affecting their lives.

Pierre Delacroix (real name Peerless Dothan) is an uptight, Harvard-educated African-American man in the employment of television network CNS. At work, he endures torment from his boss Thomas Dunwitty, a tactless, boorish white man. Not only does Dunwitty use African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) and the word "nigger" repeatedly in conversations, he also proudly proclaims that he is more black than Delacroix and that he can use "nigger" since he is married to a black woman and has two mixed-race children. Dunwitty frequently rejects Delacroix's scripts for series that portray black people in positive, intelligent scenarios, dismissing them as "Cosby clones".

In an effort to escape his contract through being fired, Delacroix develops a minstrel show with the help of his personal assistant Sloane Hopkins. ''Mantan: The New Millennium Minstrel Show'' features black actors in blackface, extremely racist jokes and puns, and offensively stereotyped CGI-animated cartoons. Delacroix and Hopkins recruit two impoverished homeless street performers, Manray and Womack, to star in the show. While Womack is horrified when Delacroix tells him details about the show, Manray sees it as his big chance to become rich and famous for his tap-dancing skills.

To Delacroix's horror, not only does Dunwitty enthusiastically endorse the show, it also becomes hugely successful. As soon as it premieres, Manray and Womack become big stars, while Delacroix, contrary to his original stated intent, defends the show as satire. Delacroix quickly embraces the fame and recognition he receives while Hopkins becomes ashamed of her association with it. Meanwhile, an underground, militant rap group called the Mau Maus, led by Hopkins' older brother Julius, becomes increasingly angry at the show's content. Though they had earlier unsuccessfully auditioned for the program's live band position, the group plans to end the show using violence.

Womack quits, fed up with the show and Manray's increasing ego. Manray and Hopkins grow closer, despite Delacroix's attempts to sabotage their relationship. Delacroix confronts Hopkins, and when she lashes back at him, he fires her. She then shows him a videotaped montage she created of racist footage culled from assorted media to shame Delacroix into stopping production of the show, but he refuses to watch it. After an argument with Delacroix, Manray realizes he is being exploited and defiantly announces that he will no longer wear blackface. He appears in front of the studio audience, who are all in blackface, and does his dance number in his regular clothing. The network executives immediately turn against Manray, and Dunwitty fires him.

The Mau Maus kidnap Manray and announce his public execution via live webcast. The authorities work feverishly to track down the source of the internet feed, but Manray is nevertheless assassinated while doing his famous tap dancing. At his office, Delacroix (now in blackface himself, mourning Manray's death) fantasizes that the various black-themed antique collectibles in his office are staring him down and coming to life; in a rage, he destroys many of the items. The police kill all the members of the Mau Maus except for One-Sixteenth Blak, a white member who demands to die with the others.

Furious, Hopkins confronts Delacroix at gunpoint and demands that he play her tape. As he does so, Hopkins reminds him of the lives that were ruined because of his actions. During a struggle over the gun, Delacroix is shot in the stomach. Hopkins flees while proclaiming that it was Delacroix's own fault that he got shot. Delacroix, holding the gun in his hands to make his wound appear self-inflicted, watches the tape as he lies dying on the floor. The film concludes with a full reveal of the tape's contents; a long montage of racially insensitive and demeaning clips of African-American characters from Hollywood films of the first half of the 20th century. Afterwards, Manray is shown doing his last ''Mantan'' sequence on stage.

Several years after destroying Cyberdyne Systems, John Connor has been living as a nomad following the death of his mother Sarah to hide from the malevolent artificial intelligence Skynet, despite a war between humans and machines not happening in 1997, as foretold. Unable to locate John in the past, Skynet sends the T-X, an advanced prototype shapeshifting Terminator made of virtually impervious liquid metal, back in time to John's present in Los Angeles, to instead kill his future allies in the human resistance. The human resistance sends back another reprogrammed T-800 Terminator, a less-advanced metal endoskeleton covered in synthetic flesh, to protect the T-X's targets, including John and his future wife Kate Brewster.

After killing other targets, the T-X locates the pair at an animal hospital, where Kate works. John becomes the T-X's primary target, but the Terminator helps him and Kate escape, taking them to a mausoleum where John's mother is supposedly interred. Inside her vault, they find a weapons cache left at Sarah's request in case Judgment Day was not averted and the Terminators returned. They escape from an armed battle with the police and fend off the pursuing T-X. The Terminator reveals that John and Sarah's actions only delayed Judgment Day and that Skynet's attack will occur that day; the Terminator intends to drive John and Kate to Mexico to escape the fallout when Skynet begins its nuclear attack at 6:18 p.m. John orders the Terminator to take Kate and him to see her father, U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General Robert Brewster. The Terminator refuses, however when Kate also demands to see her father, the Terminator obeys. It is revealed that in the future, the Terminator killed John, after which Kate had captured and reprogrammed the Terminator and sent him back in time.

Meanwhile, General Brewster is supervising the development of Skynet for Cyber Research Systems (CRS), which also develops autonomous weapons. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff pressures him to activate Skynet to stop an anomalous computer virus from invading servers worldwide. General Brewster discovers too late that the virus was actually Skynet slowly becoming self-aware. John and Kate arrive too late to stop Skynet from being activated. The T-X fatally injures General Brewster and activates the CRS weaponized machines, which kill the employees. Before he dies, General Brewster gives Kate and John the location of what John believes is Skynet's system core. The pair head for the tarmac to take General Brewster's single-engine plane to Crystal Peak, a facility built inside the Sierra Nevada. After a battle, the T-X severely damages the Terminator, reprogramming it to kill John, and pursues John and Kate through the CRS facility. When a particle accelerator is activated, it magnetically binds the T-X to the equipment. The still-consciously-aware Terminator struggles to control its outer functions. As it prepares to kill John, he urges the Terminator to choose between its conflicting programming; it deliberately forces a shutdown of its corrupted system, enabling the pair's escape. Shortly after they leave, the Terminator's system reboots. Meanwhile, the T-X escapes the accelerator and resumes pursuit.

After John and Kate reach Crystal Peak, the T-X arrives by helicopter. Before it can attack, the Terminator arrives in a second helicopter and crashes into and crushes the T-X. The T-X pulls itself from the wreckage, losing its legs, and attempts to drag itself inside the bunker to follow the pair. The Terminator holds the bunker door open long enough for the pair to lock them inside then uses its last hydrogen fuel cell to destroy both itself and the T-X.

John and Kate discover that Crystal Peak is not Skynet's core, but rather a nuclear fallout shelter and command facility for government and military officials. Having no core, Skynet has become a part of cyberspace after becoming self-aware. Judgment Day begins as Skynet fires nuclear missiles worldwide, starting a nuclear holocaust that kills billions. The pair begin receiving radio transmissions on the emergency equipment; John tentatively assumes command by answering radio calls, and they reluctantly accept their fate.

In a shabby New York City side street in the mid-1880s, young Cedric Errol lives with his mother (known to him as "Dearest") in genteel poverty after the death of his father, Captain Cedric Errol. One day, they are visited by an English lawyer named Havisham with a message from young Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, a millionaire who despises the United States and was very disappointed when his youngest son married an American woman. With the deaths of his father's elder brothers, Cedric has now inherited the title Lord Fauntleroy and is the heir to the earldom and a vast estate. Cedric's grandfather wants him to live in England and be educated as an English aristocrat. He offers his son's widow a house and guaranteed income, but he refuses to have anything to do with her, even after she declines his money.

However, the Earl is impressed by the appearance and intelligence of his American grandson and is charmed by his innocent nature. Cedric believes his grandfather to be an honorable man and benefactor, and the Earl cannot disappoint him. The Earl therefore becomes a benefactor to his tenants, to their delight, though he takes care to let them know that their benefactor is the child, Lord Fauntleroy.

Meanwhile, back in New York, a homeless bootblack named Dick Tipton tells Cedric's old friend Mr. Hobbs, a New York City grocer, that a few years prior, after the death of his parents, Dick's older brother Benjamin married an awful woman who got rid of their only child together after he was born and then left. Benjamin moved to California to open a cattle ranch while Dick ended up in the streets. At the same time, a neglected pretender to Cedric's inheritance appears in England, the pretender's mother claiming that he is the offspring of the Earl's eldest son, Bevis. The claim is investigated by Dick and Benjamin, who come to England and recognize the woman as Benjamin's former wife. She flees, and the Tipton brothers and the pretender, Benjamin's son, do not see her again. Afterward, Benjamin goes back to his cattle ranch in California where he happily raises his son by himself. The Earl is reconciled to his American daughter-in-law, realizing that she is far superior to the impostor.

The Earl planned to teach his grandson how to be an aristocrat. Instead, Cedric teaches his grandfather that an aristocrat should practice compassion towards those dependent on him. The Earl becomes the man Cedric always innocently believed him to be. Cedric is happily reunited with his mother and with Mr. Hobbs, who decides to stay to help look after Cedric.

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From a historical perspective, the Song of Roland's account of the Battle of Roncesvalles is impossible. According to Einhard's ''Vita Karoli Magni'', written in the late eighth century, the antagonists are Basques who were incited to attack Charlemagne's army to avenge the looting of Pamplona. The following is what is depicted in the poem itself, not subsequent historical accounts.

Charlemagne's army is fighting the Muslims in Spain. They have been there for seven years, and the last city standing is Saragossa, held by the Muslim King Marsile. Threatened by the might of Charlemagne's army of Franks, Marsile seeks advice from his wise man, Blancandrin, who counsels him to conciliate the Emperor, offering to surrender and giving hostages. Accordingly, Marsile sends out messengers to Charlemagne, promising treasure and Marsile's conversion to Christianity if the Franks will go back to Francia.

Charlemagne and his men, tired of fighting, accept his peace offer and select a messenger to Marsile's court. The protagonist Roland, Charlemagne's nephew, nominates his stepfather Ganelon as messenger. Ganelon, who fears being murdered by the enemy and accuses Roland of intending this, takes revenge by informing the Saracens of a way to ambush the rear guard of Charlemagne's army, led by Roland, as the Franks re-enter Francia through the mountain passes.

As Ganelon predicted, Roland leads the rear guard, with the wise and moderate Oliver and the fierce Archbishop Turpin. The Muslims ambush them at Roncesvalles and the Christians are overwhelmed. Oliver pleads with Roland to blow his horn to call for help, but Roland tells him that blowing his horn in the middle of the battle would be an act of cowardice. If Roland continues to refuse, Oliver will not let Roland see his sister again whom Roland loves the most. However, Archbishop Turpin intervenes and tells them that the battle will be fatal for all of them and so instructs Roland to blow his horn oliphant (the word is an old alternative to "elephant", and was used to refer to a hunting horn made from an elephant tusk) to call for help from the Frankish army. The emperor hears the call on their way to Francia. Charlemagne and his noblemen gallop back even though Count Ganelon tries to trick them.

The Franks fight well, but are outnumbered, until almost all Roland's men are dead and he knows that Charlemagne's army can no longer save them. Despite this, he blows his olifant to summon revenge, until his temples burst and he dies a martyr's death. Angels take his soul to Paradise.

When Charlemagne and his men reach the battlefield, they find the dead bodies of Roland's men, who have been utterly annihilated. They pursue the Muslims into the river Ebro, where the Muslims drown. Meanwhile, Baligant, the powerful emir of Babylon, has arrived in Spain to help Marsile. His army encounters that of Charlemagne at Roncesvalles, where the Christians are burying and mourning their dead. The Franks fight valiantly. When Charlemagne kills Baligant, the Muslim army scatters and flees, leaving the Franks to conquer Saragossa. With Marsile's wife Bramimonde, Queen of Saragossa, Charlemagne and his men ride back to Aix, their capital in Francia.

The Franks discover Ganelon's betrayal and keep him in chains until his trial, where Ganelon argues that his action was legitimate revenge, not treason. While the council of barons assembled to decide the traitor's fate is initially swayed by this claim, partially out of fear of Ganelon's friend Pinabel who threatens to fight anyone who judges Ganelon guilty, one man, Thierry, argues that because Roland was serving Charlemagne when Ganelon delivered his revenge on him, Ganelon's action constitutes a betrayal.

Pinabel challenges Thierry to trial by combat. By divine intervention, Thierry kills Pinabel. By this the Franks are convinced of Ganelon's treason. Thus, he is torn apart by having four galloping horses tied one to each arm and leg and thirty of his relatives are hanged. Bramimonde converts to Christianity, her name changing to Juliana. While sleeping, Charlemagne is told by Gabriel to ride to help King Vivien and bemoans his life.

Lisa wakes up one morning saddened. At school, she gets in trouble with her music teacher for improvising and becomes reluctant to play dodgeball in gym. At home, Homer and Bart pummel each other at video boxing, but despite Homer's attempts, he is unable to defeat Bart. Homer and Marge try to cheer Lisa up, but she is consumed with existentialism and worry over all the suffering in the world. In her room, Lisa hears music coming from outside her window. She follows the music through town and meets Bleeding Gums Murphy, a soulful saxophonist playing the blues. Lisa learns about expressing herself through her music from him, only to be discovered and whisked away by Marge.

Homer goes to the arcade and enlists the help of an arcade boxing expert, while Marge takes Lisa to band practice. She tells Lisa to smile no matter how she feels inside, to suppress her emotions to be popular, and that happiness will follow. But when she sees Lisa hiding her true feelings and being taken advantage of by her classmates and her music teacher, Marge changes her tune and tells Lisa to be herself and her support helps Lisa to feel genuinely happy. When Homer returns home, he is about to defeat Bart in a rematch but Marge unplugs the game console to announce Lisa's recovery, while Bart declares his retirement as an undefeated video boxing champ. Later, the Simpsons visit a jazz club to hear Bleeding Gums Murphy sing a blues number written by Lisa. The song Lisa sings is based on Third Degree by Eric Clapton.

Chicago architect Sam Baldwin loses his wife Maggie to cancer, and he and their eight-year-old son Jonah start a new life in Seattle, but they continue to mourn. A year later on Christmas Eve, Jonah calls in to a radio talk show, and persuades a reluctant Sam to go on the air to talk about how much he misses Maggie. Thousands of women from around the country hear the program and are touched by the story and write to Sam.

One of the listeners is Annie Reed, a ''Baltimore Sun'' reporter who is engaged to Walter, but feels there is something missing from their relationship. After watching the film ''An Affair to Remember'', Annie writes a letter suggesting that Sam meet her on top of the Empire State Building on Valentine's Day. She decides not to mail it, but her friend and editor Becky does it for her and later agrees to send Annie to Seattle.

Sam begins dating a co-worker, Victoria, whom Jonah dislikes. When Jonah reads Annie's letter addressed to both of them, he instinctively feels that she could 'be the one,' (it mentions the Baltimore Orioles), but he fails to convince his father to go to New York on Valentine's Day to meet Annie. With the urging of his friend Jessica, Jonah replies to her, agreeing to the New York meeting.

While dropping Victoria off at the airport for a flight, Sam sees Annie exiting from her plane and is mesmerized by her, although he has no idea who she is. She later secretly watches Sam and Jonah playing on the beach together. The next day she goes again to Sam's houseboat but when she sees Sam's sister Suzy with him, she mistakenly assumes Suzy is his girlfriend. Sam recognizes Annie from the airport and says "hello" but Annie only responds with "hello" before leaving. After returning to Baltimore, Annie goes to New York to meet Walter for Valentine's Day.

With Jessica's help, Jonah flies to New York and goes to the Empire State Building to find Annie. When Sam discovers this, he grabs a later flight, following him, whom he finds on the observation deck. Meanwhile, Annie sees the skyscraper from the Rainbow Room where she is dining with Walter and confesses her doubts to him, amicably ending their engagement. She rushes to the Empire State Building and arrives on the observation deck just moments after the doors to the other elevator close with Sam and Jonah inside.

The observation deck is empty, but Annie discovers Jonah's backpack. As she pulls out his teddy bear from the bag, Sam and Jonah emerge from the elevator to retrieve it, and the three meet. After Sam and Annie stare at each other in recognition, Sam prepares to leave and offers his hand to Annie. A happy Jonah then enters the elevator together with the two as the doors close.

Lucy Eleanor Moderatz is a lonely fare token collector for the Chicago Transit Authority, stationed at the Randolph/Wabash station. She is secretly in love with a handsome commuter named Peter Callaghan, although they are complete strangers. On Christmas Day, she rescues him from the oncoming Chicago "L" train after a group of muggers push him onto the tracks. He falls into a coma, and she accompanies him to the hospital, where a nurse overhears her musing aloud, "I was going to marry him." Misinterpreting her, the nurse tells his family that she is his fiancée.

At first, Lucy is too caught up in the panic to explain the truth. She winds up keeping the secret for a number of reasons: she is embarrassed, Peter's grandmother Elsie has a heart condition, and Lucy quickly comes to love being a part of Peter's big, loving family. One night, thinking she is alone while visiting Peter, she confesses her predicament. Peter's godfather Saul overhears the truth and later confronts her, but tells her he will keep her secret because the accident has brought the family closer.

With no family and few friends, Lucy becomes so captivated with the quirky Callaghans and their unconditional love for her that she cannot bring herself to hurt them by revealing that Peter does not even know her. She spends a belated Christmas with them and then meets Peter's younger brother Jack, who is supposed to take over his father's furniture business. He is suspicious of her at first, but he falls in love with her as they spend time together. They develop a close friendship and soon she falls in love with him as well.

After New Year's Eve, Peter wakes up. He does not know Lucy, so it is assumed that he must have amnesia. She and Peter spend time together, and Saul persuades Peter to propose to her "again"; she accepts, even though she is in love with Jack. When Jack visits her the day before the wedding, she gives him a chance to change her mind, asking him if he can give her a reason not to marry Peter. He replies that he cannot, leaving her disappointed.

On the day of the wedding, just as a priest begins the ceremony, Lucy finally confesses everything and tells the family she loves Jack rather than Peter. At this point, Peter's real fiancée Ashley Bartlett Bacon, who happens to be married herself, arrives and also demands the wedding be stopped. As the family argues, Lucy slips out unnoticed, unsure of her future.

Some time later, while Lucy is at work, Jack places an engagement ring in the token tray of her booth. She lets him into the booth (after he pays his fare), and with the entire Callaghan family watching, he proposes to her. In the last scenes of the film, they kiss at the end of their wedding, then leave on a CTA train for their honeymoon. She narrates that he fulfilled her dream of going to Florence, Italy, and explains that, when Peter asked when she fell in love with Jack, she replied, "it was while you were sleeping."

The Kid is the talented but troubled frontman of his Minneapolis-based band, The Revolution. To escape his difficult home life—his father verbally and physically abuses him and his mother—he spends his days rehearsing and his nights performing at the First Avenue nightclub. The Revolution, the flashy Morris Day and his group The Time, and Dez Dickerson and his group The Modernaires hold the nightclub's three house band slots. Morris, aware that The Revolution's guitarist Wendy and keyboardist Lisa are frustrated that The Kid is unwilling to play their compositions, lobbies Billy Sparks, the club's owner, to replace The Revolution with a girl group which Morris is already forming. He targets the Kid's girlfriend Apollonia—an aspiring singer and new arrival in Minneapolis—to lead his group, and tries to persuade her that The Kid won't help her because he's too focused on himself. She eventually joins Morris's group, which Morris names Apollonia 6. When she reveals her newfound partnership to the Kid, he becomes furious and slaps her, as his father had struck him earlier.

At the club, The Kid responds to the internal band strife, the pressure to draw more crowds, and his strained private life with the uncomfortably personal "Darling Nikki". His performance publicly humiliates Apollonia, who runs off in tears, and angers both Morris and Billy, worsening his situation. Billy confronts the Kid, castigating him for bringing his personal life onto the stage and warning him that he's wasting his musical talent as his father did. Apollonia 6 successfully debuts, and Billy warns the Kid that his First Avenue slot is at risk. The Kid seizes Apollonia from a drunken Morris and the two argue and fight; Apollonia then abandons him. Returning home, he finds the house in tatters, with his mother nowhere to be found. When he turns on the basement light, his father—who had been lurking in the basement with a loaded handgun—shoots himself in the head. Frenzied after a night of torment, the Kid tears apart the basement to release his frustration, only to find a large box of his father's musical compositions. The next morning, the Kid picks up a cassette tape of one of Wendy and Lisa's compositions, a rhythm track named "Slow Groove", and begins to compose.

That night at First Avenue, all is quiet in The Revolution's dressing room until The Time stops by to taunt the Kid about his family life. Once on stage, the Kid announces that he will be playing "a song the girls in the band wrote", dedicated to his father—revealed to be "Purple Rain". As the emotional song ends, the Kid rushes from the stage and out the back door of the club, intending to ride away on his motorcycle. However, before he can mount it, he realizes that his new song has thrilled the crowd. The Kid returns to the club, with his fellow musicians greeting him with approval and a teary-eyed Apollonia embracing him. The Kid returns to the stage for two encores with The Revolution, to the wild approval of the crowd (even Morris); overlaid scenes show the Kid visiting his father and mother in the hospital and sorting his father's compositions in the basement, accompanied by Apollonia. A montage of all the songs plays as the credits roll.

Pelias usurps the throne of Thessaly, killing King Aristo, but knows that a prophecy states that one of Aristo's children will avenge him. The god Hermes, disguised as Pelias's soothsayer, watches as the infant Jason, Aristo's son, is spirited away by one of Aristo's soldiers. Pelias slays one of Aristo's daughters after she seeks sanctuary in the temple of the goddess Hera. Because the murder has profaned her temple, Hera becomes Jason's protector. She warns Pelias to beware of "a one-sandaled man".

Twenty years later, Jason saves Pelias from drowning in a river, an "accident" orchestrated by Hera, but loses his sandal in the process, so Pelias recognizes his enemy. Learning that Jason intends to seek the legendary Golden Fleece to rally support against him, he encourages Jason in the attempt, hoping that Jason will be killed.

Hermes takes Jason to Mount Olympus to speak with Zeus and Hera. Hera tells him Zeus has decreed that she can help him only five times. This is the same number of times that Jason's murdered sister Briseis called on Hera for protection. She directs him to search for the Fleece in the land of Colchis. Zeus offers aid, but Jason declines.

He sets out to build a ship and recruit a crew. Men from all over Greece compete for the honor of joining his quest. Because their ship is named the ''Argo'' after her builder, Argus, the crew are dubbed the Argonauts. Among them are Hercules, Hylas, and Acastus, the son of Pelias (unknown to Jason), sent by his father to sabotage the voyage.

Hera guides Jason to the Isle of Bronze, but warns him to take nothing but provisions. However, Hercules steals a brooch pin the size of a javelin from a building filled with treasure and surmounted by a gigantic bronze statue of Talos. The statue comes to life and attacks the Argonauts. Jason again turns to Hera, who tells him to open a large plug on Talos's heel to release the giant's ichor. Talos falls to the ground, crushing Hylas and hiding his body. Hercules refuses to leave until he ascertains the fate of his friend. The other Argonauts are unwilling to abandon Hercules, so Jason calls upon Hera again. She informs them that Hylas is dead and that Zeus has other plans for Hercules.

Hera directs Jason to seek out Phineus, who has been blinded and is tormented by harpies for misusing Zeus's gift of prophesy. After the Argonauts capture and cage the harpies, Phineus tells them how to reach Colchis, by sailing between the Clashing Rocks. He also gives Jason an amulet of the sea god Triton. The Argonauts see another ship trying to pass through the other way, only to be crushed and sunk when the Clashing Rocks smash together. Upon Jason's refusal to turn back, when the ''Argo'' tries to row through, the ship appears doomed as well. In despair, Jason throws Phineus's amulet into the water, whereupon Triton rises up and holds the rocks apart long enough for the ''Argo'' to pass. Upon clearing the rocks, the Argonauts rescue a survivor from the other ship lost, the wonderfully and deadly attractive Medea, high priestess of Colchis.

Finally nearing Colchis, Acastus challenges Jason's authority and engages him in a duel. Disarmed, Acastus jumps into the sea and disappears. Jason and his men land and accept an invitation from King Aeëtes to a feast. Unknown to them, Acastus has warned Aeëtes of Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece. Aeëtes has the unwary Argonauts imprisoned, but Medea, having fallen in love with Jason, helps him and his men escape.

Acastus tries to steal the Fleece first, but is killed by its guardian, the Hydra. Jason is able to kill the beast and take the Fleece. Medea is mortally wounded by an arrow, but Jason heals her with the Fleece. Aeëtes then sows the Hydra's teeth and prays to the goddess Hecate. Seven armed skeletons, the "children of the Hydra's teeth", emerge from the ground. Jason, Phalerus and Castor, hold them off, while Medea and Argus escape back to the ''Argo'' with the Fleece. After a prolonged battle, in which his companions are killed, Jason escapes by jumping into the sea, and he, Medea, and the surviving Argonauts begin their voyage home to Thessaly. On Olympus, Zeus tells Hera that, while Jason can enjoy his triumph, he is not done with Jason.

Sinbad the Sailor and his ship's crew make landfall on the island of Colossa, where they encounter Sokurah the magician fleeing a giant cyclops. Though he escapes, Sokurah loses a magic lamp to the creature. Sinbad refuses his desperate pleas to return to Colossa because Parisa, Princess of Chandra, is aboard. Their coming marriage is meant to secure peace between her father's realm and Sinbad's homeland, Baghdad.

After reaching Baghdad, Sokurah performs magic at the pre-wedding festivities, temporarily turning Parisa's handmaiden into a snake-like being. Despite his prowess and a dark prophecy about war between Baghdad and Chandra, the Caliph of Baghdad refuses to help the magician return to Colossa. Later that night, Sokurah secretly shrinks the princess, enraging her father, the Sultan of Chandra, who declares war on Baghdad. Sinbad and the Caliph give in to Sokurah, who explains that the eggshell of a Roc is needed for the potion that will restore Parisa, and it can be found only on Colossa. Sokurah provides Sinbad with the plans for a giant crossbow for protection against the island's giant creatures.

Sinbad recruits additional crewmen from among the convicts in the Caliph's prisons. Before they reach Colossa, the cutthroats are inspired to mutiny by the treacherous Karim and capture Sokurah, Sinbad, and his men. During a violent storm, the sounds of keening demons from a nearby island drives the crew nearly mad, endangering the ship. One of the men releases Sinbad so he can save them, after Karim falls to his death from the crow's nest.

On Colossa, Sinbad, Sokurah, and six of his crew enter the valley of the cyclops, followed by Sinbad's loyal aide Harufa. Sinbad and Sokurah split their forces. Sinbad and his men find the cyclops' treasure cave, but are captured by one of the creatures and locked in a wooden cage. Instead of helping them, Sokurah retrieves the magic lamp, but is chased by the cyclops, who kills three of the men. With Parisa's aid, Sinbad manages to escape, then blinds the one-eyed creature and lures it off the edge of a cliff to its death. Sinbad decides to hold on to the lamp until Parisa is returned to normal size.

Sokurah leads Sinbad and his starving men to the nesting place of the giant Rocs. Out of hunger, Sinbad's men try to break open a Roc egg, causing it to hatch, but the newborn chick is killed by the men and roasted for food. While the men are eating, Parisa enters the magic lamp and befriends Barani, the childlike Genie inside, who tells her how to summon him in exchange for her promise of his freedom. The parent Roc returns and slays the men. Sinbad tries to summon the genie, but he is grabbed by the Roc, who takes flight, and drops him, unconscious, into its nearby nest. Sokurah kills Harufa and abducts the princess, taking her to his underground fortress.

Sinbad awakens and rubs the magic lamp, summoning Barani, who takes Sinbad to Sokurah's fortress and helps him evade the chained dragon that stands guard. Sinbad reaches Sokurah, who restores the princess to normal. When Sinbad refuses to hand over the lamp, the magician animates a skeleton warrior, which Sinbad fights and destroys. With the help of the genie, Sinbad and Parisa make their way out of the cave, stopping to destroy the lamp by throwing it into a pool of lava, thus freeing Barani.

Leaving the cave, they encounter another cyclops. Sinbad releases the dragon, which fights and kills the creature. Sinbad and Parisa make their escape, but Sokurah orders the dragon to hunt them down. Sinbad heads to the beach, where his men have readied the giant crossbow, and they use it to kill the dragon. The dying dragon collapses on Sokurah, crushing him to death. Sinbad, Parisa, and the remaining crew depart for Baghdad. They are joined by Barani, now human, who has appointed himself as Sinbad's cabin boy. In a final act of magic as he was being freed, Barani filled the captain's cabin with the treasure from the cyclops' cave, a wedding gift to Sinbad and Parisa.

Roy "Tin Cup" McAvoy is a former golf prodigy leading a generally aimless existence. He owns a ramshackle driving range in West Texas, where he drinks and hangs out with his pal Romeo Posar and their friends. One day Dr. Molly Griswold, a clinical psychologist, arrives looking for a golf lesson. She has been dating David Simms, a top professional golfer who played with Roy in college. Roy soon becomes attracted to Molly.

The next day David Simms shows up at Roy's trailer ahead of a local benefit tournament. Roy thinks he is being invited to play, but Simms actually wants to hire him as a caddie (since Roy knows the course). During the round, Roy needles Simms about laying up instead of having the nerve to take a 230-yard shot over a water hazard. A bet among the other players is made and Simms fires Roy after he makes the long shot.

To get even with Simms, Roy decides to try to qualify for the U.S. Open. He makes a play for Molly who is already his therapist.

In the first qualifying round, with Romeo as his caddie, Roy's game is excellent but his head needs help. Roy insists on playing recklessly and he demands the driver instead of the safe play which is laying up. Roy and Romeo fight and Romeo quits. Amazingly, Roy still manages to advance to the final qualifying round.

Without Romeo, Roy barely succeeds at the sectional qualifying round, earning a spot in the U.S. Open. Romeo returns and helps Roy with some swing problems.

On the first day of the U.S Open, Roy shoots a horrendous 83. Meanwhile, Molly sees Simms' unpleasant side and decides she truly wants to help Roy. With renewed confidence, McAvoy shocks the golf world by making the cut with an impressive score. Roy's third round is also excellent and it moves him into contention.

On the last day of the U.S. Open tournament, Roy is in a three-way battle to win. For the 4th day in a row, Roy takes a shot that repeatedly fails to keep the ball out of the water hazard. On his 12th and final shot, facing disqualification, he reaches the green and amazingly, it goes in the hole. Roy realizes that he has blown a shot at winning the U.S. Open, but Molly re-assures him about how people will always remember his amazing shot.

Back in Texas, Molly tells Roy that he automatically qualified for next year's Open due to his standing. They kiss passionately as the movie ends.

Warren Schmidt is retiring from his position as an actuary with Woodmen of the World, a life insurance company in Omaha, Nebraska. After a retirement dinner, Schmidt finds it hard to adjust to his new life, feeling useless.

Warren sees a television advertisement about a foster program for African children, Plan USA, and decides to sponsor a child. He soon receives an information package with a photo of his foster child, a small Tanzanian boy named Ndugu Umbo, to whom he relates his life in a series of candid, rambling letters.

Schmidt visits his young successor at the life insurance company to offer his help, but he is politely declined. As he leaves the building, Schmidt sees the contents and files of his office, his entire career, set out for the garbage.

Describing to Ndugu his longtime alienation from Helen, his wife, who dies from a blood clot in her brain just after their purchase of a Winnebago Adventurer motor home. Jeannie, their daughter, and her fiancé, Randall Hertzel, arrive from Denver.

Consoling him at the funeral, she later berates him for taking his wife for granted, refusing to fully pay for the Winnebago (he wanted the cheaper model) and getting her a cheap casket. He asks her to move back to take care of him, but she refuses. Meanwhile, Randall tries to rope him into a pyramid scheme.

Schmidt feels his daughter could do better than Randall, a waterbed salesman. After they leave, Schmidt is overcome by loneliness. He stops showering, sleeps in front of the television, and goes shopping with a coat over pajamas to load up on frozen foods. When he discovers some hidden love letters disclosing her long-ago affair with Ray, a mutual friend, Schmidt collects all her possessions, dumping them unceremoniously next to a clothing donations bin. He then confronts Ray for his betrayal.

Deciding to take a journey in the new Winnebago to visit his daughter and convince her not to marry Randall, he calls Jeannie he is coming early for the wedding. She makes it clear she does not want him there until right before the ceremony, so Schmidt visits places from his past, including his college campus and fraternity at University of Kansas and his hometown in Holdrege, Nebraska. His childhood home is now a tire shop.

At a trailer campground, he is invited to dinner by a friendly and sympathetic couple. When the man goes for beer, Schmidt makes a pass at the wife, and flees in terror when she adamantly rejects him.

Sitting on the roof of his RV on a starry night, Schmidt forgives his departed wife for her affair, apologizing to her for his own failings. At that moment, he is amazed to see a bright meteor streak across the sky as a possible sign from Helen.

Feeling full of purpose and energetic renewal, Schmidt arrives in Denver, where he stays at the home of Roberta, Randall's mother. He is appalled by his eccentric, odd, lower-middle-class family (compared to Schmidt's as an upper middle class corporate executive) and can't dissuade Jeannie from the marriage.

Schmidt throws out his back after sleeping on Randall's waterbed, infuriating Jeannie. Roberta assures him that a soak in her hot tub will help his back, but he flees after she makes a pass at him in the tub. The next day, Schmidt, exhausted from a restless night, attends the wedding and delivers a kind speech at the reception, hiding his disapproval.

On his way home, Schmidt composes a letter to Ndugu. He questions his life accomplishments, lamenting that he will soon be dead, that his life has made no difference to anyone, and that eventually it will be as if he has never existed at all.

A pile of mail is waiting for him at home. Schmidt opens a letter from Tanzania. It is from a nun, who writes that Ndugu is six and unable to read and reply to Schmidt's letters on his own, but appreciates them and Schmidt's financial support very much. The enclosed crayon drawing, of Ndugu and Schmidt holding hands on a sunny day, moves Schmidt to tears.

The story is presented as a flashback of Max Eriksson, a Vietnam veteran.

Lieutenant Reilly leads his platoon of American soldiers on a nighttime patrol. They are attacked by the Viet Cong (VC) after a panicked soldier exposes their position. While guarding the platoon's flank, Eriksson falls as the top of a VC tunnel gives way beneath him. Eriksson's squad leader, Sergeant Tony Meserve, pulls Eriksson out of the hole and eventually, the platoon retreats out of the jungle.

The platoon takes a break outside a river village in the Central Highlands. While relaxing and joking around, one of Meserve's friends, Specialist 4 "Brownie" Brown, is killed when the Viet Cong ambushes them. Brownie's death has a major impact on Meserve. The platoon is sent back to their base. Private First Class Antonio Dìaz arrives as the replacement radio operator.

Frustrated because his squad has been denied leave for an extended period, Meserve orders the squad to kidnap a Vietnamese girl. Eriksson strenuously objects, but Meserve, Corporal Thomas E. Clark and Private First Class Herbert Hatcher ignore him. Before the quintet disembarks, Eriksson voices his concerns to his closest friend, Rowan. At nightfall, the squad enters a village and kidnaps a Vietnamese girl, Tran Thi Oanh.

As the squad treks through the mountains, Dìaz begins to reconsider raping Tran and begs Eriksson to back him up. The squad and Tran eventually take refuge in an abandoned hooch, where Eriksson is confronted and threatened by Meserve, Clark, and Hatcher. Dìaz suddenly gives in to the pressure, leaving Eriksson alone in opposing the act. Meserve forces Eriksson to stand guard outside while the other men sequentially rape Tran.

At daybreak, Eriksson is ordered to guard Tran while the rest of the squad takes up a position near a railroad bridge overlooking a Viet Cong river supply depot. Through his acts of kindness, Eriksson manages to earn Tran's trust and prepares to go AWOL and return Tran to her family. However, Meserve sends Clark to get Eriksson and Tran to go to the bridge before Eriksson can carry out his plan.

Meserve has Dìaz order close air support for an assault on the depot and then orders Dìaz to kill Tran with a knife. Before Dìaz can kill her, Eriksson fires his rifle into the air, exposing them to the nearby Viet Cong. Amidst the firefight, Tran tries to escape. Eriksson tries to save her but Meserve stops him and knocks him down with the butt of his gun. Eriksson watches helplessly as the entire squad shoots Tran numerous times until she falls off the bridge to her death.

After the battle, Eriksson wakes up in a field hospital at the base. He eventually bumps into Rowan and tells him everything that happened. Rowan suggests that Eriksson see Reilly and company commander Captain Hill. Reilly and Hill both prefer to bury the matter but Hill, infuriated at Eriksson's determination to press the issue, resolves to get rid of Eriksson and orders him transferred to a tunnel rat unit. The other men in Meserve's squad will all be reassigned as well.

After narrowly escaping an attempt to kill him in the latrine with a grenade (made by Clark), Eriksson storms into a tent and smacks Clark in the face with a shovel, reminding Meserve that killing him is unnecessary because no one cares about what they did. Meserve shakily derides Eriksson, saying he's crazy, and Eriksson leaves.

Eriksson then meets an Army chaplain at a bar and describes what happened during the patrol. The chaplain in turn reports it, launching an investigation. The four men who participated in the rape and murder are court martialed: Meserve receives 10 years hard labor and a dishonorable discharge, Clark receives life in prison, and Hatcher and Diaz receive 15 and 8 years of hard labor, respectively.

At the end of the film, Eriksson wakens from a nightmare to find himself on a J-Church transit line in San Francisco, just a few seats from a Vietnamese-American student who resembles Tran. She disembarks at Dolores Park and forgets her scarf, prompting Eriksson to run after her to return it. As she thanks him and turns away, he calls after her in Vietnamese. She surmises that she reminds him of someone, and adds that he has had a bad dream. They go their separate ways, and Eriksson is somewhat comforted.

Jealous of Ned Flanders' new motor home, Homer visits Bob's RV Round-up to buy one. Because of his poor credit rating, he only qualifies for a smaller, dilapidated RV. Homer takes his family on an excursion, driving on remote back roads. After Homer ignores Marge's suggestion to drive back to the main road, the Simpsons find themselves teetering over a precipice. They escape the RV before it plummets over the cliff and explodes, leaving them stranded in the wilderness with no food or supplies.

After Homer builds a crude lean-to shelter, he and Bart leave to find help, unaware Maggie is tagging along. Marge and Lisa stay behind and build a fire and sturdier shelter despite knowing nothing about camping. Separated from Homer and Bart, Maggie is adopted by a family of bears. Homer and Bart lose their clothes after falling into a raging river and plunging over a waterfall. They hide their exposed bodies with leaves and mud. After a frigid night's sleep, Homer tries to steal honey from a beehive. When the bees attack him, he evades them by jumping into a mud pit. Homer is mistaken for Bigfoot after a nature photographer takes a picture of him covered in mud. Soon the forest is inundated with Bigfoot enthusiasts after a tabloid offers a $5000 reward for capturing the creature alive.

After Marge and Lisa are rescued by park rangers, Marge tells the media the monster in question is her husband, leading to tabloid headlines like "I married Bigfoot". Cold, hungry, and exhausted, Homer and Bart stumble upon the bears' cave and retrieve Maggie. Homer is captured and taken to a lab for testing. He returns home after scientists agree that he is "either a below-average human being or a brilliant beast". While watching news coverage of his ordeal, Homer worries his co-workers will mock him until Marge consoles him by calling him "my brilliant beast."

The title character Ken Park (nicknamed "Krap Nek": his name spelled and pronounced backward), is a teenager skateboarding across Visalia, California. He arrives at a skate park, where he casually sets up a camcorder, smiles, and shoots himself in the temple with a handgun. His death is used to bookend the film, which follows the lives of four other teenagers who knew him.

Shawn is the most stable of the four main characters. He is polite and caring. Throughout the story, he has an ongoing sexual relationship with his girlfriend's mother Rhonda, whom he tells that he fantasizes that he is with her when having sex with her daughter Hannah. He casually socializes with their family, the rest of whom are completely unaware of the affair.

Claude fends off physical and emotional abuse from his alcoholic father while he tries to take care of his neglectful pregnant mother, who never does anything to defend him. Claude's father detests him for not being masculine enough. However, after coming home drunk one night, he attempts to perform oral sex on Claude, which prompts the boy to run away from home.

Peaches is a girl who lives alone with her obsessive and highly-religious father, who fixates on her as the innocent embodiment of her deceased mother. When he catches her having sex with her boyfriend Curtis – whom she has playfully tied to her bed – he beats the boy and savagely disciplines her, then forces her to participate in a quasi-incestuous wedding ritual with him.

Tate is an unstable and sadistic adolescent living with his grandparents, whom he resents and abuses verbally. He engages in autoerotic asphyxiation while masturbating to a video of a woman playing tennis. He eventually kills his grandparents, in retaliation for petty grievances, and finds that it arouses him sexually. He records himself on his tape recorder so that the police will know how and why he did it, puts his grandfather's dentures in his mouth, lies naked in his bed, and falls asleep. He is later arrested.

The film cuts frequently between these subplots, with no overlap of characters or events until the end, when Shawn, Claude, and Peaches meet and have a threesome. In a game of "who am I?" afterward, they refer to an unnamed person they know who is now dead. The film cuts to a title screen, followed by a flashback to before the opening scene. Ken has impregnated his girlfriend and taken a menial job. At the skate park, they discuss whether to abort the pregnancy, and she asks Ken rhetorically if he's glad his mother didn't abort him; he does not answer.

Filmed among the ruins of the Crystal Palace Terraces, ''The Pleasure Garden'' is a poetic ode to desire, and winner of the Prix de Fantasie Poetique at Cannes in 1954. Made by the American poet James Broughton, the film features Hattie Jacques and Lindsay Anderson, with John Le Mesurier as the bureaucrat determined to stamp out any form of free expression.

After being ejected from Mario's castle in the previous game, Wario resolves to get his own castle, one even bigger and more impressive than Mario's. To fund this extravagant dream, he travels to Kitchen Island, where the Brown Sugar Pirates have hidden many treasures and coins, including a golden statue of Princess Peach, stolen from the Mushroom Kingdom. Wario intends to retrieve this statue and sell it back to Mario for the price of a castle. After exploring the island, stealing the pirates' treasures, and infiltrating their Syrup Castle, Wario confronts the leader of the pirates, a female buccaneer named Captain Syrup. She summons a genie to destroy Wario, but he defeats the genie and Syrup destroys the castle with a large bomb as she escapes. In doing so, the pirates' biggest treasure is revealed: the giant gold statue of Princess Peach. However, Mario appears in a helicopter, thanks Wario and takes the statue away in front of his eyes.

Still holding the genie's lamp, Wario summons the genie and wishes for a castle. The genie tells him that he requires money to grant his wish, and so Wario gives him all the coins the player has collected over the course of the game, plus trades in all the found treasures for more coins. Exactly how well the genie grants Wario's wish depends on the final amount of coins he is given: Wario can get (from best to worst outcome) a castle, a Chinese pagoda, a log cabin, a treehouse, or a tiny birdhouse. If the player collects all the treasures and has enough coins to reach the 99,999 limit, the genie will give Wario an entire planet with his face etched on its surface.

Peter and his five friends act together in a Cambridge University student comedy troupe. They are shown performing for on New Year's Eve, ringing in 1983 for Peter's father and his own group of middle-aged friends at the family's country estate. The stodgy partygoers are underwhelmed by the stylings of Peter and his friends, whose only supporters seem to be the family housekeeper, Vera, and her young son, Paul.

Ten years later, Peter has recently inherited the family estate, and invites his friends up for the 1992-1993 New Year's weekend.

Peter's friends are Andrew, now a writer in Hollywood; married jingle writers Roger and Mary; glamorous costume designer Sarah; and eccentric Maggie, who works in publishing. Joining them are Carol, Andrew's American TV star wife; and impolite Brian, Sarah's very recently acquired, and still married, lover. Vera, and the now grown Paul, are still at the estate, though Vera has given their notice, intending to leave immediately after the weekend, as Peter plans to sell the house after this last party.

Andrew and Carol's marriage is strained by the demands of her fame, made worse by Mary's inappropriate mention that Andrew and Sarah had been engaged a decade earlier. Roger and Mary are recovering from a devastating personal tragedy, made more difficult by Mary ringing home every view minutes and by Brian suddenly talking at length about using their twins in one of their commercials, which leads to the revelation (to Brian, and the audience) that one of the toddler twins died nine months earlier. Lonely Maggie is determined to persuade Peter they should be more than just friends, and Sarah is not as happy with her life as she appears.

The weekend does not go as planned. After a failed attempt to seduce Peter, where he reveals he is bisexual but no longer sleeping with either sex, Maggie receives a makeover from Carol and successfully seduces Paul. Carol leaves Andrew and returns to America, and after a year of sobriety Andrew returns to the bottle. Roger and Mary reach an emotional breakthrough, share their grief and address her obsessive overprotection of their remaining child. Brian calls his wife, who comes to pick him up, after he realizes that Sarah is not interested in that which she already has, but only in that which belongs to someone else. In the climax of the film, Peter reveals the real reason for his bringing them all together: he is HIV-positive. The friends emerge from their own problems and pledge their assistance to Peter.

In 50 BC, in an Abyssinian castle, the princess Nawa uses a pair of enchanted earrings to escape an arranged marriage by swapping bodies with a slave girl. When each woman wears one of the earrings, their bodies are magically swapped while their minds remain in place.

In her modern-day suburban home, Jessica Spencer is a beautiful but selfish "hot chick". Jessica's closest friends are April, Keecia, and Lulu. April is Jessica's best friend, and all four girls are cheerleaders. At school one day, Jessica makes fun of an overweight girl named Hildenburg and a Wiccan girl named Eden. After that, Jessica and her friends visit the local mall, where Jessica gets her rival Bianca into trouble and finds the earrings in an African-themed store. The earrings are not for sale, so Jessica steals them.

Shortly afterward, a small-time criminal named Clive Maxtone robs a nearby gas station. When Jessica and her friends stop there and mistake him for an employee, he services their car to avoid raising suspicion. Jessica accidentally drops one of the earrings on the ground, the girls drive away, and Clive picks up the earring. That evening, in their respective homes, Jessica and Clive put on their earrings. When they wake up the next morning, each of them is trapped in the other's body. This is especially difficult for Jessica, who has a cheering competition and the school prom coming up soon.

After Jessica convinces her friends of who she is, they help her investigate the body swap. Hildenburg, Eden, and Bianca are all innocent, Hildenburg and Eden join Jessica after she apologizes to them, and Eden finds a picture of the earrings on the internet. When the girls return to the African store, the owner explains how the earrings work and tells the girls they must find the other earring soon or the change will become permanent.

Meanwhile, Jessica is hired for two jobs while secretly living with April. At her own home, where she works as a gardener, her parents tell her about their marital problems and she helps them rekindle their sex life. At school, while cleaning the boys' locker room as a custodian, she spies on her boyfriend Billy, who truly loves her, and April's boyfriend Jake, who has been cheating on her. Faced with Jake's infidelity, April begins to fall in love with Jessica, who agrees to take her to the prom. At the cheering competition, Jessica signals romantically to Billy while disguised as the school mascot, but when the head of her suit falls off, he becomes confused and leaves with Bianca.

During this time, Clive has been using Jessica's body to make money from men, including Billy, who gives him his money and car, believing he is Jessica. On the evening of the prom, Hildenburg sees a video of Clive robbing a man on the TV news, goes to the scene of the crime, and finds a business card for the club where Clive works as a pole dancer. She informs Jessica at the prom, and the girls go to the club. When they find Clive, Jessica steals his earring and puts it on herself along with the other one. With the two earrings now on the same person, Jessica's and Clive's bodies return to their original owners.

After Jessica makes up with Billy, the film ends with the school's graduation ceremony, followed by a scene in which Clive, running from the law and still dressed in lingerie, is abducted by a bartender who believes he is a homosexual.

Matthew Bramble, his family and servants are traveling through England and Scotland. Although the primary motivation for the expedition is to restore the health of the gouty Matthew Bramble, each member of the family uses the excursion to achieve their ends. Leaving from Bramble's estate, Brambleton Hall, in Monmouthshire (there are frequent references to the family being Welsh, and the novel also contains individual Scottish and Irish characters), the family passes through many cities, making extended or significant stops at Gloucester, Bath, London, Harrogate, Scarborough and Edinburgh.

The splenetic patriarch, Matthew Bramble, visits various natural spas to alleviate his health problems, and he corresponds primarily with his physician, Dr. Lewis. Through his letters and those of Jeremy, it is revealed that Bramble is misanthropic and something of a hypochondriac. Despite his frequent complaints, he is generally reasonable and extremely charitable to the people he meets on his travels as well as to his servants and wards back at home. His letters introduce and ridicule significant eighteenth century concerns such as medicine, the growth of urban life, class, the growth of the periodical press and the public sphere. His growing disillusionment at the changing moral and social landscape of Great Britain, particularly London, embodies his traditionalist perspective and reveals the absurdities of contemporary British culture.

His sister, Tabitha Bramble, is a foolish and cantankerous spinster who uses the expedition as an excuse to search for a husband. Through her correspondence with Mrs. Gwyllim, the house-keeper at Brambleton Hall, Tabitha reveals her selfishness and lack of generosity towards servants and the impoverished. Her social pretensions are rendered all the more comical by her frequent misunderstandings, misuse of common idioms, and atrocious spelling.

Tabitha's servant, Winifred or Win Jenkins, also corresponds with the servants at Brambleton Hall. As the only correspondent not related to Matthew Bramble, Ms. Jenkins offers a sympathetic and humorous perspective on the family and their travels. As a comic foil to Tabitha Bramble, Win Jenkins shares many of her misspellings and malapropisms but demonstrates considerably more common sense and intuition in her observation of the family. At London, she becomes infatuated with Humphry Clinker and Methodism both.

Bramble's nephew, Jeremy Melford, is a young man looking for amusement. Corresponding primarily with Sir Watkin Phillips of Jesus College, Oxford, Jery also reflects upon issues of city life, class, and the growing public sphere, but often with a more progressive perspective than that of his rather traditional uncle. Despite his generously democratic views and his astute perceptions of the hypocrisy and absurdity of others, he is—as revealed through Bramble's letters—"hot-headed" and prone to rash anger and impulsive defenses of perceived slights to his family honor, especially when it relates to his sister's interest in a stage actor below her status. His introduction into society as a young gentleman often occurs during his socializing at the coffeehouse, a burgeoning social institution, especially in eighteenth century London. His study of the places and people of his journey includes the members of his family, whom he comically sketches for the reader. His accounts help provide insight into Matthew Bramble's character.

Bramble's niece, Lydia Melford, is trying to recover from an unfortunate romantic entanglement with a stage actor named Wilson, who is later revealed to be a gentleman named George Dennison. Her letters to Miss Letitia Willis at Gloucester reveal her struggles between familial duty and her affection for Wilson. She describes her secret communications with him, as well as her surprise encounter with the disguised Wilson in Bath. Lydia also reflects upon the wonders of city life, with astonishment and excitement. Lydia has spent most of her life at a boarding school for young women, so the expedition serves her as a debut into society (an important cultural phenomenon with a long literary tradition).

The eponymous character, '''Humphry Clinker''', is an ostler, a stableman at an inn, who does not make his first appearance until about a quarter of the way through the story. He is taken on by Matthew Bramble and family, while they are traveling toward London, after offending Tabitha and amusing Matthew Bramble. Humphry Clinker is a primarily foolish character whose good-natured earnestness earns him the esteem of Matthew Bramble. He is largely described through the letters of Matthew Bramble and Jeremy Melford and, despite his frequent misunderstandings, is presented as a talented worker and gifted orator, attracting a devoted following of parishioners during a brief oratorical stint in London. After various romantic interludes, Humphry suffers false imprisonment due to accusations of being a highway robber, though he retains the confident support of Matthew Bramble and his family. He is rescued and returned to his sweetheart, the maid Winifred Jenkins. Eventually, it is discovered that Humphry is Mr. Bramble's illegitimate son from a relationship with a barmaid, during his wilder university days. The book ends in a series of weddings.

In 1876, former U.S. Army Captain Nathan Algren, a bitter alcoholic traumatized by the atrocities he committed during the American Indian Wars, is approached by his former commanding officer Colonel Bagley to train the newly created Imperial Japanese Army for a forward-thinking Japanese businessman, Omura, who intends to use the army to suppress a Samurai-headed rebellion against Japan's new emperor. Despite his hatred of Bagley for his role in the Indian Wars, an impoverished Algren takes the job for the money, and is accompanied to Japan by his old friend, Sergeant Zebulon Gant. Upon arriving, Algren meets Simon Graham, a British translator knowledgeable about the samurai.

Algren finds the Imperial soldiers are little more than conscripted peasants with no discipline and shoddy training. While teaching them to shoot, Algren is informed that the samurai are attacking one of Omura's railroads; Omura sends the army there, despite Algren's protests that they are not ready. The battle is a disaster; the undisciplined conscripts are routed, and Gant is killed. Algren fights to the last before he is surrounded; expecting to die, he is taken prisoner when samurai leader Katsumoto decides to spare him. Algren is taken to Katsumoto's village. While he is poorly treated at first, he eventually gains the samurai's respect and grows close to Katsumoto. Algren overcomes his alcoholism and guilt, learns the Japanese language and culture, and is trained in the art of kenjutsu. He develops sympathy for the samurai, who are upset that the pace of modern technology has eroded the traditions of their society. Algren and Taka, Katsumoto's sister and the widow of a samurai killed by Algren, develop an unspoken affection for each other.

One night, a group of ninja infiltrate the village and attempt to assassinate Katsumoto. Algren saves Katsumoto's life, and then helps defend the village, concluding Omura hired the ninjas. Katsumoto requests a meeting with Emperor Meiji and is given safe passage to Tokyo. He brings Algren, intending to release him. Upon arriving in Tokyo, Algren finds the Imperial Army is now a well-trained and fully equipped fighting force. Katsumoto, to his dismay, discovers that the young and inexperienced Emperor has essentially become a puppet of Omura. At a government meeting, Omura orders Katsumoto's arrest for carrying a sword in public and asks him to perform ''seppuku'' to redeem his honor. When Algren refuses an offer to assume command of the army, Omura sends a party of assassins after him, but Algren kills them. Algren assists the samurai in freeing Katsumoto; in the process, Katsumoto's son Nobutada is mortally wounded, sacrificing himself to allow the others to escape.

As the Imperial Army marches to crush the rebellion, a grieving Katsumoto contemplates ''seppuku'', but Algren convinces him to fight until the end, and joins the samurai in battle. The samurai use the Imperial Army's overconfidence to lure them into a trap; the ensuing battle inflicts massive casualties on both sides and forces the Imperial soldiers to retreat. Knowing that Imperial reinforcements are coming, and defeat is inevitable, Katsumoto orders a suicidal cavalry charge on horseback. The samurai withstand an artillery barrage and break through Bagley's line. Bagley is killed by Algren, but the samurai are quickly mowed down by Gatling guns. The Imperial captain, previously trained by Algren and horrified by the sight of the dying samurai, orders all of the guns to cease fire, disregarding Omura's orders. A mortally wounded Katsumoto commits ''seppuku'' with Algren's help as the soldiers at the scene kneel in respect.

Days later, as trade negotiations conclude, Algren, though injured, arrives and interrupts the proceedings. He presents the Emperor with Katsumoto's sword and asks him to remember the traditions for which Katsumoto and his fellow Samurai died. The Emperor realizes that while Japan should modernize, it cannot forget its own culture and history; he promptly rejects the trade offer. When Omura attempts to protest, the Emperor silences him by threatening to seize the Omura family assets and distribute them among the populace. Omura claims to be disgraced, but the Emperor responds by holding Katsumoto's sword and suggests that if the shame is too great, Omura should committ ''seppuku''. Omura relents and leaves.

While various rumours regarding Algren's fate circulate, Graham concludes that Algren had returned to the village to reunite with Taka.

Police Squad Lieutenant Frank Drebin, taking a vacation in Beirut, disrupts a conference of America's greatest enemies (Idi Amin, Muammar Gaddafi, Ayatollah Khomeini, Yasser Arafat, Fidel Castro, and Mikhail Gorbachev) who are trying to conceive a terrorist plan to humiliate the U.S. In Los Angeles, Officer Nordberg attempts to bust a heroin drug operation at the docks organized by dock's owner Vincent Ludwig, and is shot by Ludwig's henchmen. After returning to L.A. and being briefed on the case by his boss, Captain Ed Hocken, Drebin visits Nordberg in the hospital. Nordberg provides cryptic clues, including a picture of Ludwig's ship on which the deal had been organized. Frank meets with police scientist Ted Olsen, who has invented a cufflink that shoots tranquilizer darts. Frank learns through Ted that Nordberg's jacket tested positive for heroin.

Police Squad is put in charge of security for the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Los Angeles, and Ed tells Frank that he has 24 hours to clear Nordberg before word gets out about what happened and detracts from the Queen's visit.

When Frank visits Ludwig in his office, Ludwig learns that Nordberg is still alive. Ludwig has his assistant, Jane Spencer, assist Frank in his investigation, and the two fall in love. However, Jane is unaware of her employer's illegal activities. After Frank leaves the office, Ludwig meets with Pahpshmir, a participant of the Beirut meeting, to discuss an assassination plot against the queen. Ludwig agrees to do it for $20 million, with Pahpshmir wondering how he plans to pull it off. Ludwig explains that using a beeper he will create the assassin using post-hypnotic suggestion. Ludwig attempts to have Nordberg killed at the hospital by hypnotizing a doctor. While Frank successfully protects Nordberg, in the ensuing chase the assassin crashes a car into a gasoline truck, then a ballistic missile, and finally a fireworks factory, causing Frank to fail to uncover the motive behind the attempted murder.

Frank breaks into Ludwig's office in his absence, searching for evidence. Although Frank finds a note from Pahpshmir addressed to Ludwig which confirms his suspicions, he inadvertently starts a fire that destroys the note and the office. Frank later has a run-in with one of Ludwig's men at his factory in a stockyard, and after that confronts Ludwig with his allegations at a reception for the Queen's arrival. Frank misinterprets Ludwig's presentation of a musket to the Queen as an attack and tries to protect her, but only causes more of a problem and is fired from Police Squad. Afterward, Jane finds out about the plot and tells Frank that the plan will be executed at a baseball game between the Seattle Mariners and the California Angels at Anaheim Stadium during the seventh inning stretch and that one of the players will perform the act.

The police squad arrives at the stadium. In order to search the players, Frank knocks the home plate umpire out with a baseball bat and takes his place, frisking the players for weapons while they are at bat. The seventh-inning stretch begins and Ludwig activates his "sleeper", Reggie Jackson. Jane alerts Frank, who chases after Jackson and tackles him, but Jackson manages to get away when Frank's action starts a bench-clearing brawl. Ludwig holds Jane at gunpoint as he begins to leave the stadium while Jackson takes aim at the Queen. Frank tries to incapacitate Jackson with one of his cufflink darts, but misses and hits a large woman on the upper deck. The woman falls over the railing and lands on Jackson, incapacitating him and saving the Queen's life.

Frank follows Ludwig to the top of the stadium and shoots Ludwig with the other cufflink dart, causing him to fall over the side of the stadium where he is struck by a passing bus, run over by a steamroller, and trampled by the USC marching band. Some of the band members inadvertently step on Ludwig's beeper, triggering Jane to attempt to kill Frank with Ludwig's gun. Frank breaks Jane's hypnotized state by openly professing his feelings for her and giving her an engagement ring. Frank and Jane meet Mayor Barkley, who reinstates Frank back to Police Squad, and a recovered Nordberg congratulates him – until Frank inadvertently pushes Nordberg's wheelchair down the stadium stairs and launches him onto the field.

A schoolgirl named Mikako Nagamine (Mika Shinohara (original Japanese), Sumi Muto (Japanese), Cynthia Martinez (English)) is recruited into the UN Space Army to fight in a war against a group of aliens called the Tarsians named after the Tharsis region of Mars where they were first encountered. As a Special Agent, Mikako pilots a giant robotic mecha called a Tracer as part of a fighting squadron attached to the spacecraft carrier ''Lysithea''. When the ''Lysithea'' leaves Earth to search for the Tarsians, Mikako's friend Noboru Terao (Makoto Shinkai (original Japanese), Chihiro Suzuki (Japanese), Adam Colon (English)) remains on Earth. The two continue to communicate across space using the e-mail facilities on their mobile telephones. As the ''Lysithea'' travels deeper into space, messages take increasingly longer to reach Noboru on Earth, and the time-lag of their correspondence eventually spans years.

The narrative begins in 2047. Mikako is apparently alone in a hauntingly empty city, trying to contact people through her mobile telephone. She wakes up in her Tracer orbiting an extrasolar planet. She then goes to Agartha, the fictional fourth planet of the Sirius Solar System. Mikako sends an e-mail to Noboru (which shows the date 2047-09-16), with the subject "I am here", which would reach him eight years later. Some flashes of imagery, perhaps indicative of memory, a hallucination, or even a mystical encounter, are then shown. The room shown at the beginning of the animation is presented again; Mikako is squatting in the corner, sobbing and pleading with her doppelganger to let her see Noboru again so she can tell him she loves him.

The ship's alarm warns Mikako that the Tarsians are surrounding her, but she does not understand. A climactic battle ensues. On Earth, Noboru receives the message almost nine years later. At Agartha, three of the four carriers equipped with the warp engines which brought the expeditionary force to Sirius have been destroyed. The ''Lysithea'' is still intact after Mikako joins the fight and stops its destruction. After winning the battle, Mikako lets her damaged Tracer drift in space.

In the manga, 16-year-old Mikako sends a message to 25-year-old Noboru, telling him that she loves him. By this time, Noboru himself has joined the UN, which has launched a rescue mission for the Lysithea. When Mikako hears that the UN is sending help for their rescue, she consults a list of people on the mission, and finds that Noboru is among them. The manga ends with Mikako saying that they will definitely meet again.

Set against the backdrop of French Indochina, ''The Lover'' reveals the intimacies and intricacies of a clandestine romance between a pubescent girl from a financially strapped French family and an older, wealthy Chinese-Vietnamese man.

In 1929, a 15-year-old nameless girl is traveling by ferry across the Mekong Delta, returning from a holiday at her family home in the town of Sa Đéc to her boarding school in Saigon. She attracts the attention of a 27-year-old son of a Chinese business magnate, a young man of wealth and heir to a fortune. He strikes up a conversation with the girl; she accepts a ride back to town in his chauffeured limousine.

Compelled by the circumstances of her upbringing, this girl, the daughter of a bankrupt, manic depressive widow, is newly awakened to the impending and all-too-real task of making her way alone in the world. Thus, she becomes his lover, until he bows to the disapproval of his father and breaks off the affair.

For her lover, there is no question of the depth and sincerity of his love, but it is not until much later that the girl acknowledges to herself her true feelings.

Badgworthy water, Malmsmead

John Ridd is the son of a respectable farmer in 17th century Exmoor, a region in North Devon and Somerset, England. The notorious Doone clan, once nobles and now outlaws, murdered John’s father. Battling his desire for revenge, John (in West Country dialect, pronounced "Jan") too grows into a respectable farmer who cares well for his mother and sisters. He meets Lorna by accident and falls hopelessly in love. She turns out (apparently) to be the granddaughter of Sir Ensor, lord of the Doones. Sir Ensor’s impetuous and now jealous heir Carver will let nothing thwart his plan to marry Lorna once he comes into his inheritance.

Sir Ensor dies, and Carver becomes lord of the Doones. John helps Lorna escape to his family's farm. Since Lorna is a Doone the Ridds have mixed feelings toward her but defend her against Carver's retaliatory attack. During a visit from the Counsellor, Carver's father and the wisest Doone, Lorna's necklace is stolen. Sir Ensor had told Lorna the necklace was her mother’s. A family friend soon discovers the necklace belonged to a Lady Dugal, who was robbed and murdered by outlaws. Only her daughter survived. Lorna is not a Doone after all, but heiress to a huge fortune. By law, but against her will, she must return to London as a ward in Chancery. Despite John and Lorna's love, their marriage is out of the question.

King Charles II dies, and the Duke of Monmouth, the late king's illegitimate son, challenges Charles's brother James for the throne. Hoping to reclaim their ancestral lands, the Doones abandon their plan to marry Lorna to Carver and claim her wealth, and side with Monmouth. Monmouth is defeated at the Battle of Sedgemoor, and his associates are sought for treason. Although innocent, John Ridd is captured during the rebellion. An old friend takes John to London to clear John’s name. Reunited with Lorna, John thwarts an attack on her guardian, Earl Brandir. The king then pardons John and grants him a title.

The communities around Exmoor have tired of the Doones’ depredations. Knowing the Doones better than any other man, John leads the attack. All the Doone men are killed except the Counsellor and Carver, who escapes vowing revenge. When Earl Brandir dies, Lorna’s new guardian allows her to return to Exmoor and marry John. Carver bursts into their wedding, shoots Lorna and flees. In a blind rage, John pursues Carver. A struggle leaves Carver sinking in a mire and John so exhausted that he can only watch as Carver dies. John discovers that Lorna has survived, and after a period of anxious uncertainty they live happily ever after.