The crew discover a wrecked Borg scout ship with a single survivor: a young Borg drone. Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) insists on treating the surviving Borg despite the concerns of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). On Picard's orders, the drone is confined and monitored by security forces at all times and is prevented from contacting the Borg Collective. Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) and Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) assist Crusher in bringing the Borg back to health. As they come to understand the workings of the Borg, La Forge and Data devise an idea of using the Borg drone as a weapon of mass destruction. By implanting an unsolvable geometric formula into his mind and returning him to the Collective, the formula should rapidly spread (similar to a computer virus) and disable the Borg. Crusher is aghast at this suggestion, considering it equivalent to genocide, while Picard and the other senior crew deliberate on the ethics of this plan.

The Borg drone initially calls himself "Third of Five", but ends up referring to and understanding himself as "Hugh" – the name given to him by La Forge. Hugh discusses how the Borg only wish to learn about other cultures through assimilation, but La Forge counters this argument, discussing aspects of individuality that make them human and unique. In further debates, La Forge finds himself becoming a friend to Hugh, and begins to doubt his previous idea. This is further complicated when Hugh shows elements of individualism. The crew now debate whether it is appropriate to sacrifice one individual to protect the majority, though Picard is still insistent on destroying the Collective. Crusher and La Forge arrange to have Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg), who has a similar loathing for the Borg because they destroyed her homeworld, speak to Hugh.

She finds Hugh to be not a mindless drone but a confused young man, and she agrees Hugh is no longer a Borg. Guinan convinces Picard to meet with Hugh, as well, and Picard comes to the same conclusion, in part because Hugh refers to himself as "I" instead of the Borg's collective "we" during their discussion. Picard abandons the proposed plan and instead offers Hugh asylum within the Federation. Hugh expresses enthusiasm at the prospect of remaining with La Forge but ultimately refuses, recognizing that the Borg will still come looking for him. He offers to be returned to the crash site, where he will be found and re-assimilated by the Borg. Picard hopes that, once Hugh is reconnected, the sense of individualism Hugh has learned will spread throughout the Collective. La Forge accompanies Hugh to the crash site and, from a safe distance, watches the Borg recover him. Just as the Borg transport out, Hugh turns to give La Forge a parting glance.

Commander Riker's birthday celebration is interrupted as he, Geordi La Forge, and Worf are sent down to a huge cavern on Alpha Onias III, an uninhabited Class M planet, to investigate unusual readings. After their arrival, the cavern suddenly fills with toxic gases, and the three officers fall unconscious.

Riker awakens in sick bay to find that sixteen years have passed. He is now Captain of the ''Enterprise'' with Data as his first officer, and Picard has been promoted to admiral, with Deanna Troi serving as his aide. Riker cannot remember any event after the Alpha Onias III mission, which Doctor Crusher explains is a side effect of a viral infection he contracted on the planet, and his memories of the intervening events may or may not return in time.

Riker learns that he was married, is now widowed, and has a son (Chris Demetral) named Jean-Luc (named after Picard). He is further startled when Tomalak — a Romulan commander who was formerly an archenemy of the ''Enterprise'', now an ambassador — beams onto the ship to negotiate a peace treaty with the Federation. Despite Picard's reassurances, Riker is hesitant to reveal sensitive Starfleet information in negotiating the treaty.

As Riker struggles to adjust to his new life, numerous inconsistencies arise. The ''Enterprise'' computer is uncharacteristically slow, numerous systems experience minor technical glitches, and Geordi is unable to correct the problems. Finally, Riker discovers that his late wife "Min" is Minuet, a fictional holodeck character he fell in love with (in the first-season episode "11001001"). Riker realizes that the entire "future" he has been experiencing is a charade and confronts Picard and Tomalak on the ''Enterprise'' bridge, with more inconsistencies arising as he does so, proving his suspicions. Suddenly, the false future fades away, revealing a Romulan holodeck. Commander Tomalak is revealed to be behind the simulation, the object of which was to trick Riker into giving away the location of a key Federation outpost. The Romulans, Tomalak explains, were fooled by the intensity of Riker's memories of Minuet and had incorporated her into their fantasy on the assumption that she was real.

Riker is put in a holding area, where he meets the boy whose image the Romulans had used to create his "son". The boy identifies himself as "Ethan". Together, they manage to escape and briefly elude their Romulan guards. However, as the two are hiding from their pursuers, Ethan inadvertently refers to Tomalak as "Ambassador", instead of "Commander". Riker realizes that he is still in a simulation; confronting Ethan over it, he demands that the game end immediately and that he be allowed to leave.

Everything disappears once more, leaving only Riker and Ethan back in the cavern on Alpha Onias III. Riker is then able to contact the ship and learns that Worf and La Forge had beamed up without incident, but the ''Enterprise'' was unable to locate him. After Riker advises the captain that he will presently report back after learning more about his situation, Ethan confesses that he had created the simulations, using sophisticated scanners to read his mind and create the "reality" they experienced. Ethan's planet had been attacked and his people killed; his mother had hidden him in the cavern for his own safety, with all the simulation equipment, before she died; and Ethan, all alone, had been yearning for real companionship. Realizing Ethan's intentions were not hostile, Riker offers him refuge on the ''Enterprise''. Ethan accepts Riker's offer and after Ethan reveals his true form as a grey alien named Barash, the two beam onto the ship.

At Munich's Oktoberfest, veteran CIA field agent Miles Kendig (Matthau) and his team foil a microfilm transfer. Upon Kendig's return to Washington, his boss, Myerson (Beatty), reassigns him to a desk job because Kendig did not arrest Yaskov (Lom), the head of the KGB in Europe. Kendig explains to Myerson that he knows how Yaskov thinks, and it would take time and resources to identify and learn about a new replacement. Kendig's good friend and protégé, Joe Cutter (Waterston), is nevertheless assigned to take over his mentor's old job.

Instead of accepting this situation, Kendig takes action. He shreds his personnel file and flies to Salzburg to visit former lover Isobel von Schönenberg (Jackson), whom he has not seen in a while. Yaskov, guessing what has happened, meets Kendig and invites him to defect to the KGB; when Kendig refuses, Yaskov asks sarcastically if Kendig will be retiring and writing his memoirs.

On the spot, Kendig decides to do exactly that: write and publish a memoir exposing the dirty tricks and general incompetence of Myerson's CIA. Isobel is horrified, saying that Myerson will send agents to kill him. She nevertheless helps by mailing copies of Kendig's first chapter to spy chiefs in the U.S., Soviet Union, China, France, Italy, and Great Britain. Myerson assigns Cutter to stop Kendig, and Yaskov, not wanting his own agency's follies exposed, also pursues his old adversary.

Kendig baits his pursuers by sending them explosive chapters and by periodically informing them of his location. Leaving Europe, he returns to the U.S., cheerfully renting Myerson's own unoccupied Georgia family home, where he writes more chapters. After purposely leaking his address, Kendig maneuvers the FBI (which has jurisdiction) into shooting up Myerson's home with both bullets and tear gas, to Myerson's great dismay.

Kendig flies to Bermuda by chartered seaplane, then on to London to present his publisher with the final chapter. Yaskov informs Cutter that one of his agents has spotted Kendig in London by chance. Kendig purchases a vintage biplane—a Stampe version of the Tiger Moth—and hires an engineer to custom-modify it for a specific task. Myerson meets Kendig's publisher, who rebuffs his threatening bluster and then tells them where Kendig's hotel room is. At the vacated room, all the pursuers read copies of the final chapter he has left for them.

Kendig later ambushes Cutter in his hotel room, ties him up, gags him, and informs Cutter that he will be flying across the English Channel from a small airfield near Beachy Head. Meanwhile, Isobel gives her CIA minders the slip, and crosses the Channel by hovercraft to rendezvous early the next morning with Kendig. While everyone converges on the airfield, Kendig suffers a flat tire on his way and is taken by the local police to their station. When a policeman recognizes him from a posted fugitive bulletin, Kendig escapes by short-circuiting an electrical socket and stealing a police car.

Kendig reaches the airfield, and the Americans and Yaskov arrive by helicopter soon after. Kendig's biplane takes off (by remote control) and is pursued by Myerson in the helicopter. Kendig's biplane evades Myerson's gunfire for a while, but the plane finally appears to be hit and suddenly explodes over the Channel, when in fact it was deliberately destroyed by Kendig with his remote control console. Myerson and his CIA team assume that Kendig is finally dead. Cutter, however, remarks wryly that he "better stay dead". Meanwhile, Kendig sneaks away from a deteriorating building on the edge of the airfield, using a barrel of spent oil to dispose of the remote control he had used to fly and destroy the biplane. He and Isobel set out for a few weeks stay in the south of France.

Months later, Kendig's explosive memoir (also titled ''Hopscotch'') has become an international bestseller. Disguised as a Sikh, Kendig begins to chat in a British accent with a local bookstore clerk. He purchases a copy of his own book, much to Isobel's complete exasperation with his antics and "ridiculous disguises".

''The Manuscript Found in Saragossa'' collects intertwining stories, all of them set in whole or in part in Spain, with a large and colorful cast of Romani, thieves, inquisitors, a cabbalist, a geometer, the cabbalist's beautiful sister, two Moorish princesses (Emina and Zubeida) and others that the brave, perhaps foolhardy, Walloon Guard Alphonse van Worden meets, imagines or reads about in the Sierra Morena mountains of 18th-century Spain while en route to Madrid. Recounted to the narrator over the course of sixty-six days, the novel's stories quickly overshadow van Worden's frame story. The bulk of the stories revolve around the Gypsy chief Avadoro, whose story becomes a frame story itself. Eventually the narrative focus moves again toward van Worden's frame story and a conspiracy involving an underground Muslim society, revealing the connections and correspondences between the hundred or so stories told over the novel's sixty-six days.

The stories cover a wide range of genres and subjects, including the gothic, the picaresque, the erotic, the historical, the moral and the philosophic; and as a whole, the novel reflects Potocki's far-ranging interests, especially his deep fascination with secret societies, the supernatural and "Oriental" cultures. The novel's stories-within-stories sometimes reach several levels of depth, and characters and themes — a few prominent themes being honor, disguise, metamorphosis and conspiracy — recur and change shape throughout. Because of its rich and varied interlocking structure, the novel has been favorably compared to many celebrated literary antecedents such as the ancient BCE ''Jatakas'' and ''Panchatantra'' as well as the medieval ''Arabian Nights'' and ''Decameron''.

The player controls a former Marine John Dalton, a Terran Colonial Authority Marshal whose job is to patrol remote areas of space far away from any real action. He is called back into service to retrieve seven pieces of an ancient artifact thought to make a powerful weapon when assembled.

The story unfolds in a working-class neighborhood in the Paris of the 1960s. The protagonist, ''Moїse Schmidt'' (Momo), is a young Jewish boy growing up without a mother and with a father afflicted by crippling depression. Momo is fascinated by the elderly Turkish Muslim man, Ibrahim Demirci ( ), who runs a grocery store across the street from his apartment (where Momo often shoplifts). Their relationship develops and soon Momo feels closer to Ibrahim than to his father. Ibrahim affectionately calls Moїse Momo, and adopts him when his father leaves and commits suicide. Momo and Ibrahim go on a journey in their new car (a Simca Aronde Océane) to Turkey, Ibrahim's native country, where Momo learns about Ibrahim's culture. At the end of their adventure, Ibrahim is killed in a car crash and Momo returns to Paris to take over the shop.

The game opens with the player character, whose background, gender, appearance, and name are player determined, awakening aboard a Republic ship, the ''Endar Spire'', which is under attack by Malak's forces over the city world of Taris. Republic soldier Trask Ulgo soon arrives and informs them that they must abandon ship. Fighting their way to the escape pods, Trask and the player are soon confronted by Sith Lord Darth Bandon. With no other options, Trask sacrifices himself while the player continues to make their way to the escape pods. The player meets Carth Onasi, a skilled pilot and Republic war hero, and they escape the doomed warship.

Crashing on the surface of Taris, the player is knocked unconscious, and Carth pulls them away from the wreckage. After suffering a strange vision, the player character awakens in an abandoned apartment with Carth, who explains that Taris is under martial law by Malak's forces who are searching for the Jedi Knight Bastila Shan, known for her mastery of battle meditation, a Force technique that strengthens one's allies and weakens one's enemies during battle. Carth and the player search for her and meet new companions along the way, such as the Twi'lek street urchin Mission Vao and her Wookiee companion Zaalbar. The group finds and rescues Bastila from the Black Vulkar gang. With the help of utility droid T3-M4 and Mandalorian mercenary Canderous Ordo, the group escapes Taris aboard the star freighter ''Ebon Hawk'', moments before Malak's fleet decimates the planet's surface in a vain effort to kill Bastila.

While taking refuge at the Jedi Academy on Dantooine, the player trains to be a Jedi, discovers a "Star Map," and learns of the "Star Forge," the probable source of Malak's military resources. The player and their companions then search planets across the galaxy—Dantooine, Manaan, Tatooine, Kashyyyk, and Korriban—for more information about the Star Forge, gaining new companions along the way such as the Cathar Jedi Juhani, assassin droid HK-47, and 'Grey' Jedi Jolee Bindo. After discovering three more Star Maps, the player's party is captured by Darth Malak and brought aboard his flagship, where Malak reveals that the player's character is in truth an amnesiac Darth Revan; the Jedi Council wiped their memories after their presumed death at Malak's hands in the hopes that Bastila could lead them to the Star Forge through her bond with them. Bastila sacrifices herself so the player can escape, and is subsequently turned to the dark side by Malak.

On the light side route, the player kills or redeems Bastila, defeats Malak, destroys the Star Forge, and is hailed as a saviour and hero. On the dark side route, the player allies with Bastila, overthrows and kills Malak, takes control of the Star Forge for themselves, and reclaims their title as Dark Lord of the Sith.

The main character is an unnamed 'whisky priest', who combines a great power for self-destruction with pitiful cravenness, an almost painful penitence, and a desperate quest for dignity. By the end, though, the priest "acquires a real holiness." The other principal character is a police lieutenant tasked with hunting down this priest. This Lieutenant – also unnamed but thought to be based upon Tomás Garrido Canabal – is a committed socialist who despises the Church.

The overall situation is this: Catholicism is outlawed in Mexico. However, while the other states of Mexico seem to follow a Don't-ask-don't-tell policy, the state of Tabasco enforces the ban rigorously. Mexico, or at least Tabasco, is ruled on socialist grounds, and priests have either been settled by the state with wives (breaking celibacy) and pensions in exchange for their renouncing the faith and being strictly banned from fulfilling priestly functions (such as one Padre José), or else have left the state or are on the run, or have been shot. The story starts with the arrival of the main character in a small country town and then follows him on his trip through Tabasco, where he tries to minister to the people as best he can. In doing so, he is faced by a lot of problems, not least of which is that Tabasco is also prohibitionist, with the unspoken prime objective to hinder celebration of the Sacrifice of the Mass, for which actual wine is an essential. It is, therefore, quite easy to get, say, brandy or tequila, despite it being forbidden, but very difficult to get wine. He is also haunted by his personal problems and past and present sins, especially by the fact that he fathered a child in his parish some years before; additionally, his use of spirits may be bordering on addiction and certainly is beyond the limit of good measure in his own view. (In one scene, both of these problems are mixed: the protagonist tries to procure a bottle of wine for Holy Mass, needing to go to very high officials to do so, with an additional bottle of brandy for cover and also for his personal use. Not being able to reveal himself, and eager to appear friendly, he agrees to share his wine with the official, all of which is then consumed while in vain he tries to offer the brandy instead. He eventually leaves with only partial bottle of brandy, and no wine.

As for his daughter, he meets her, but is unable to feel repentant about what happened. Rather, he feels a deep love for the evil-looking and awkward little girl and decides to do everything in his power to save her from damnation. During his journey the priest also encounters a mestizo who later reveals himself to be a Judas figure. The chief antagonist, however, is the lieutenant, who is morally irreproachable, yet cold and inhumane. While he is supposedly "living for the people", he puts into practice a diabolic plan of taking hostages from villages and shooting them, if it proves that the priest has sojourned in a village but is not denounced. The lieutenant has also had bad experiences with the church in his youth, and as a result there is a personal element in his search for the whisky priest. The lieutenant thinks that all members of the clergy are fundamentally evil, and believes that the church is corrupt, and does nothing but provide delusion to the people.

In his flight from the lieutenant and his posse, the priest escapes into a neighbouring province, only to re-connect with the mestizo, who persuades the priest to return to hear the confession of a dying man. Though the priest suspects that it is a trap, he feels compelled to fulfil his priestly duty. Although he finds the dying man, it is a trap and the lieutenant captures the priest. The lieutenant admits he has nothing against the priest as a man, but he must be shot "as a danger". On the eve of the execution, the lieutenant shows mercy and attempts to enlist Padre José to hear the condemned man's confession (which ''in extremis'' the Church would allow, and which the protagonist has agreed to), but the effort is thwarted by Padre José's wife. The lieutenant is convinced that he has "cleared the province of priests". In the final scene, however, another priest arrives in the town. One faithful Catholic woman we had previously encountered telling lives of the saints in the underground has added the life of the protagonist to her repertoire, while forbidding her son to ever remember that this priest smelled strangely out of his mouth. This, among other possible readings, suggests that the Catholic Church cannot be destroyed. On a lighter level, it also suggests that a certain type of devotee will ever try to smooth down rough-edged saints into Fairchild family-like picturebook heroes, even if it stands in the way of properly celebrating their very real faith and heroism.

Dagwood Bumstead is a good-natured but scatterbrained young salesman at the Dithers Construction company office, with a wife, young son, and dog. He often arrives at work barely on time, after clumsily colliding on foot with the mail carrier. In this pilot episode, Blondie secretly orders new furniture on credit for their anniversary, not realizing Dagwood is broke because he had helped out a needy friend. Mr. Dithers sends Dagwood to a hotel with orders to have a guest there, Mr. Hazlip, sign a valuable construction contract, but the reluctant Hazlip has the hotel clerk tell Dagwood he is not in. While lounging on a lobby couch, Dagwood and another gentleman notice that the hotel's vacuum cleaner is broken, and they sneak it into the other man's room where the two of them bond while wasting hours, for fun, trying to repair it, although it's none of their business. Blondie phones and mistakenly thinks the man's daughter, whom she's never met, is Dagwood's paramour, and asks for a divorce. Meanwhile, Blondie's parents and amorous ex-boyfriend visit her, and the new furniture is repossessed by movers in front of their eyes. Dagwood, though unlicensed, borrows the parents' car without permission, and collides with a policeman, who notices the stolen vacuum cleaner in it bearing the hotel's name. In court, Blondie pleads with the judge not to jail her husband. To everyone's surprise, the vacuum cleaner gentleman is revealed as the valuable client Mr. Hazlip whom Dagwood had been trying to contact. He willingly signs the Dithers contract, and Blondie negotiates a raise and promotion for Dagwood.

The first chapter of the game, "The Outset", introduces Ark, a mischievous boy who lives in Crysta, the only village in the underworld. After opening a forbidden door and touching a mysterious box containing a friendly demon named Yomi, every citizen in the village is frozen. The only person not affected by the curse, the Elder, guides him to resurrect the continents of the surface world in order to unfreeze the people. A way out of his hometown appears, and for the first time ever, a human being leaves Crysta to explore the underworld, which is portrayed as a frozen wasteland of imposing crystal mountains, crossed by rivers of magma. He conquers the trials of the five towers, each representing one continent, and revives the mainland of the Earth. Upon returning to his hometown, the Elder instructs him to travel to the surface world and to resurrect all living beings. With a heavy heart, Ark says goodbye to his lifelong devoted friend Elle and sets out to the Lightside. In the second chapter, "Resurrection of the World", after having crossed a dimensional crevasse, Ark is confronted with the barren land that was once the Earth's surface. His first task is to free the giant tree Ra from a parasite that is afflicting him. This causes the resurrection of all plants in the world, helping Ark to cross the mountains of Guiana. He travels further into the world, reviving birds, the wind, animals, and eventually mankind.

In the third chapter, "Resurrection of the Genius", the Elder appears to Ark in a dream and tells him to keep helping humanity grow, as the world is still in the fledgling stages. He continues his journey, traveling and expanding cities, assisting with the invention of groundbreaking technologies, and also—much to his surprise—encountering a Lightside twin of Elle, who lives as the adopted daughter of a French king but was rendered mute by a traumatic event in her childhood. Ark manages to break this condition, and although Princess Elle at first stays away from Ark, she begins to grow close to him. In continuing to follow the Elder's commands, Ark ultimately awakes the ingenious Beruga, a scientist who survived the destruction of the previous world by hiding himself in cryogenic sleep. Beruga provides Ark with an insight into his personal image of paradise: a perfect world where all insignificant life is killed with a virus named Asmodeus and everyone else is made immortal by turning them into zombies. Ark tries to attack Beruga after this revealing twist but is stopped by robots, injuring him severely in the process.

The Elder once again appears to him, saying that his mission is fulfilled and he may now pass away. Ark realizes that he's been used by Dark Gaia (the "Devil"), whose plans of world domination required Ark to resurrect the planet. Just as he is about to die, Kumari, a wise human who watched the world's growth through reincarnation, teleports Ark out of Beruga's laboratory. He then instructs him to go search the five Starstones and to lay them at the grave at Time's End in order to call the Golden Child. Ark obtains the stones one after another and sets them into skull statues at Dryvale, the location at the South Pole where the final confrontation between God and the Devil once took place. This leads to the appearance of Ark's Lightside self; the person Dark Gaia used to create Ark himself. His Lightside self reveals to him that he, the underworld Ark, is the legendary hero and then kills him. However, in the fourth and final chapter, "Resurrection of the Hero", Ark is reborn as a baby through the soul of the surface world, Light Gaia. He is kidnapped by Darkside Elle, who was led there by Yomi to eliminate a threat to Crysta. When she realizes this threat is actually Ark, she allows him to awaken as the legendary hero and grow back into an adult in the process. Yomi then decides to kill Ark by himself and reveals he has been working for Dark Gaia all along. He fails, as Darkside Elle sacrifices herself to kill Yomi and save Ark's life. Yomi is conveniently replaced by a "Light Version".

Afterward, Ark departs to defeat Beruga. After he conquers the professor, he returns to the underworld to defeat Dark Gaia. The victory over that entity brings forth the destruction of the Darkside. In the end, Ark realizes that as a creation of Dark Gaia, he, along with the village of Crysta and the underworld, shall now vanish with the Devil's demise, though it is implied he and his loved ones in Crysta will be reincarnated. He goes to sleep, after being told by Light Gaia that he, as creator and defender, is what the humans would call a god. Ark's last dream pictures him as a bird flying above the world that he helped to exist, watching it grow older. An epilogue plays which shows Lightside Elle at her original home. There is a knock at the door, and she answers it. The game then ends.

Jarod (Michael T. Weiss) is a child prodigy who is abducted at a young age and raised in a think tank called the Centre, based in the fictional town of Blue Cove, Delaware. Told that his parents have died, Jarod is assigned to the care of a man named Sydney (Patrick Bauchau), a psychiatrist working for the Centre. During Jarod's youth, Sydney mentors the boy and regularly coaches him through complex simulations designed to exploit his intellect for real life application. But as an adult, Jarod discovers that the Centre is using data gathered from his responses for nefarious purposes, such as illegal black ops and engineering the deaths of others. Feeling responsible, Jarod escapes the Centre. Soon afterward, he discovers that the people whom he had long believed to be his parents actually were not, as Jarod has an anomaly in his blood that a father or mother would share — which neither of his supposed parents do.

The Centre assigns a team to recapture Jarod, consisting of Sydney, computer expert Broots (Jon Gries), and "Miss Parker" (Andrea Parker), a dogged and formidable operative who was raised in the Centre and knew Jarod as a child. Though she is no longer an active field operative, she is "recalled from Corporate" during the pilot episode and put in charge of Jarod's recapture; in exchange, she would get to leave The Centre. While Sydney feels loyalty to Jarod and wishes his safe return, Miss Parker is under orders to "preferably" bring him in alive and will not hesitate to use deadly force. Fearing for Jarod's safety, Sydney at times undermines Miss Parker and will directly prevent her from using lethal methods to prevent Jarod's continued evasion of his pursuers. In the pilot, Parker questions Sydney's commitment to the Centre, telling him he can be a scientist for the Centre or "mommy" to Jarod, but not both.

Despite The Centre's resources, Jarod often stays a step or two ahead of his pursuers. While tracking down clues to his past and his parents, Jarod also targets criminals who have gone unpunished or undetected by the law. Through assumed identities (which involve different surnames, but always "Jarod" as a first name), he uncovers the truth about these crimes, and lures the perpetrators into staged set-ups that emulate the harm they have done to others, and forces them to confess their crimes. At times, he leaves Miss Parker and Sydney deliberate clues ("breadcrumbs") that point to the criminals he is targeting and why. During his adventures, Jarod also discovers the joys of the childhood he was denied while being raised in isolation — such as bubblegum, ice cream, a Slinky, and Silly Putty — that are often used in these traps. Meanwhile, Miss Parker, Sydney, and Broots learn more about The Centre's dark secrets, and how the institution was involved in the death of Miss Parker's mother.

Series finale

Though Jarod learns more about his family, there are still unanswered questions when the series ends after four seasons. The series finale closed with both characters being nearby an exploding bomb. The ending did not reveal whether Jarod and/or Miss Parker survived the blast. The next year, the telemovie ''The Pretender 2001'' picked up directly from this cliffhanger, leading into Jarod's next adventure.

Servants Sam and Willie are practising ballroom steps in preparation for a major competition, while maintaining Hally's mother's tea shop on a rainy day. Sam is the more worldly of the two. When Whille says his ballroom partner and girlfriend is lacking enthusiasm, Sam points out that Willie beats her.

Seventeen-year-old Hally arrives home from school, and cheerfully asks after the dancing progress. Sam mentors the boy, wishing to guide him through adolescence into manhood. Willie is the "loyal black"; who calls the white Afrikaner boy "Master Harold".

The conversation between the three moves from Hally's school-work, to an intellectual discussion on "A Man of Magnitude", where they mention various historical figures of the time and their contribution to society, to flashbacks of Hally, Sam and Willie when they lived in a boarding house. Hally warmly remembers the simple act of flying a kite Sam had made for him out of junk, made to cheer Hally up after he was embarrassed by his father's public drunkenness. Conversation then turns to Hally's 500-word English composition. The ballroom dancing floor is described as "a world without collisions"; a transcendent metaphor for life.

Almost immediately despair returns: Sam had early on mentioned why Hally's mother is not present; the hospital had called about his father, who has been there receiving treatment for complications from a leg he lost in World War I, to discharge him, and she had left to bring him home. However, Hally, indicating that his father had been in considerable pain the previous day, insisted that his father wasn't well enough to be discharged, and that the call must've been about a bad turn, rather than a discharge notice. A call from Hally's mother at the hospital confirms that Hally's father is manipulating the hospital into discharging him, although he is indeed not feeling any better than before, so it's still unofficial, and Hally remains hopeful that the discharge won't happen. A second call from Hally's mother later reveals that the discharge is official, and Hally's father is now home.

Hally is distraught about this news, since his father, who in addition to being crippled, is revealed to be a tyrannical alcoholic, and his being home will make home life unbearable with his drinking, fighting, and need for constant treatment, which includes demeaning tasks of having to massage his stump, and empty chamber pots of urine. Hally vents to his two black friends years of anger, and pain, viciously mocking his father and his condition. But when Sam chastises him for doing so, Hally, although ashamed of himself, turns on him, unleashing vicarious racism that he learned from his father, creating possibly permanent rifts in his relationship with both Sam and Willie. For the first time, apart from hints throughout the play, Hally begins explicitly to treat Sam and Willie as subservient help rather than as friends or playmates, insisting that Sam call him "Master Harold" and spitting on him, among other things. Sam is hurt and angry and both he and Willie are just short of attacking Hally, but they both understand that Hally is really causing himself the most pain.

There is a glimmer of hope for reconciliation at the end, when Sam addresses Hally by his nickname again and asks to start over the next day, harkening back to the simple days of the kite. Hally, horrified about what he's done, is barely able to face Sam, responding without looking up "It's still raining, Sam. You can't fly kites on rainy days, remember," then asks Willie to lock up the tea shop, and walks out into the rain, as Sam mentions that the bench Hally sat on as he flew the kite said "Whites Only" but Hally was too excited to notice it, and that he can (figuratively) leave it at any time. The play ends while Sam and Willie console each other by ballroom dancing together.

A couple goes camping in the Scottish Highlands. The woman gives the man a silver letter opener as a present; shortly afterward they are killed in their tent by unseen assailants. Meanwhile, a soldier named Cooper runs through a forest in North Wales. He attacks his pursuers, but is overwhelmed and wrestled to the ground. It is revealed that Cooper is trying to join a special forces unit but fails when he refuses to shoot a dog in cold blood. He is returned to his unit by Captain Richard Ryan.

Four weeks later, a squad of six British soldiers, including Cooper, are dropped into a remote area of the Scottish Highlands to carry out a training exercise against a Special Air Service unit. The following morning, they find the SAS unit's savaged remains. A badly wounded Captain Ryan, the only survivor, makes cryptic references to what attacked them. The troops retreat when unseen assailants begin pursuing them.

While retreating, Bruce is impaled by a tree branch, which kills him, and Sergeant Wells is attacked. He is rescued by Cooper and carried to a rural roadside where the group meets Megan, a zoologist who takes them to a lonely house belonging to an unknown family. The soldiers who remain are Wells, Cooper, Spoon, Joe, and Terry.

As darkness falls, the house is surrounded by the attackers, who are revealed to be werewolves. The survivors try to get in the Land Rover but find it has been destroyed by the werewolves. The soldiers maintain a desperate defence against the creatures, believing that if they can make it to sunrise, the werewolves will revert to human form.

Cooper and Megan treat Wells' wounds. After Terry is abducted and their ammunition runs short, they realize they will not last and decide to try to escape. Spoon creates a diversion while Joe steals a Land Rover from the garage. Joe drives up to the house door, but is then killed by a werewolf that was hiding in the back seat.

Under interrogation, Ryan reveals that the government had sent him on a mission to capture a live werewolf, so that it could be studied and exploited as a weapon; Cooper's squad was supposed to be the bait and expendable. An enraged Wells and Cooper attempt to kill Ryan, but he transforms into a werewolf due to his wounds and escapes into the forest. It is then revealed that the unknown family of the house are the werewolves.

The soldiers try blowing up the barn - where Megan told them the werewolves must be hiding - with petrol, gas canisters, matches, and the Land Rover. Once the structure has been destroyed, Megan reveals that not only were there no werewolves in the barn, but she is a werewolf, as well. She also reveals that she unlocked the back door to the house, allowing the other werewolves to get inside.

Before she fully transforms, Wells shoots her in the head. He and Cooper run upstairs, while Spoon fights a werewolf in the kitchen. Using nearby surroundings to his advantage, he gains the upper hand but is eventually killed when a second werewolf intervenes.

Wells and Cooper shoot through the floor upstairs to elude the werewolves, and drop into the kitchen, where they find Spoon's remains. As he begins to transform into a werewolf, Wells orders Cooper to take shelter in the cellar and gives him a roll of photographic film (which was in a flashgun camera used to stun the werewolves) to prove what has happened. The werewolves break into the kitchen and confront Wells as he cuts a gas line and blows up the house, killing himself and the werewolves.

As the sun rises, Cooper attempts to leave, but the werewolf Ryan confronts him. After a brutal fight, Cooper stabs Ryan in the chest with the silver letter opener, weakening him enough to allow Cooper to shoot him in the head. Cooper and Megan's Border Collie, Sam, emerges from the cellar. Cooper's story, with photographs, is shown reported only in a sensationalist tabloid newspaper with title "Werewolves ate my platoon!", under the results of an England vs. Germany football match.

The story of BPS revolves around a "freelance artist" named Akira Shirase. He's a very talented, yet mysterious computer programmer. Because of his incredible abilities, he's contacted by several individuals (curiously, all of them are very similar persons named Akizuki Kaoru) to do all sorts of strange computer-related hacking/security jobs. He's a very quiet guy who lives alone in a small apartment near his niece's house. At first, the episodes revolved around some freelance jobs that highlighted his abilities - however, later on in the series, characters came back and offered help or plot twists. The school that Shirase had gone to had been hinted throughout the series, and it finally made an appearance in the last episode, when some of the characters began to show their hidden relationships to the others. However, the series was not continued.

Part 1

Prince Myshkin, a young man in his mid-twenties and a descendant of one of the oldest Russian lines of nobility, is on a train to Saint Petersburg on a cold November morning. He is returning to Russia having spent the past four years in a Swiss clinic for treatment of a severe epileptic condition. On the journey, Myshkin meets a young man of the merchant class, Parfyon Semyonovich Rogozhin, and is struck by his passionate intensity, particularly in relation to a woman—the dazzling society beauty Nastasya Filippovna Barashkova—with whom he is obsessed. Rogozhin has just inherited a very large fortune due to the death of his father, and he intends to use it to pursue the object of his desire. Joining in their conversation is a civil servant named Lebedyev—a man with a profound knowledge of social trivia and gossip. Realizing who Rogozhin is, Lebedyev firmly attaches himself to him.

The purpose of Myshkin's trip is to make the acquaintance of his distant relative Lizaveta Prokofyevna, and to make inquiries about a matter of business. Lizaveta Prokofyevna is the wife of General Epanchin, a wealthy and respected man in his mid-fifties. When the Prince calls on them he meets Gavril Ardalionovich Ivolgin (Ganya), the General's assistant. The General and his business partner, the aristocrat Totsky, are seeking to arrange a marriage between Ganya and Nastasya Filippovna. Totsky had been the orphaned Nastasya Filippovna's childhood guardian, but he had taken advantage of his position to groom her for his own sexual gratification. As a grown woman, Nastasya Filippovna has developed an incisive and merciless insight into their relationship. Totsky, thinking the marriage might settle her and free him to pursue his desire for marriage with General Epanchin's eldest daughter, has promised 75,000 rubles. Nastasya Filippovna, suspicious of Ganya and aware that his family does not approve of her, has reserved her decision, but has promised to announce it that evening at her birthday soirée. Ganya and the General openly discuss the subject in front of Myshkin. Ganya shows him a photograph of her, and he is particularly struck by the dark beauty of her face.

Myshkin makes the acquaintance of Lizaveta Prokofyevna and her three daughters—Alexandra, Adelaida and Aglaya. They are all very curious about him and not shy about expressing their opinion, particularly Aglaya. He readily engages with them and speaks with remarkable candor on a wide variety of subjects—his illness, his impressions of Switzerland, art, philosophy, love, death, the brevity of life, capital punishment, and donkeys. In response to their request that he speak of the time he was in love, he tells a long anecdote from his time in Switzerland about a downtrodden woman—Marie—whom he befriended, along with a group of children, when she was unjustly ostracized and morally condemned. The Prince ends by describing what he divines about each of their characters from studying their faces and surprises them by saying that Aglaya is almost as beautiful as Nastasya Filippovna.

The prince rents a room in the Ivolgin apartment, occupied by Ganya's family and another lodger called Ferdyschenko. There is much angst within Ganya's family about the proposed marriage, which is regarded, particularly by his mother and sister (Varya), as shameful. Just as a quarrel on the subject is reaching a peak of tension, Nastasya Filippovna herself arrives to pay a visit to her potential new family. Shocked and embarrassed, Ganya succeeds in introducing her, but when she bursts into a prolonged fit of laughter at the look on his face, his expression transforms into one of murderous hatred. The Prince intervenes to calm him down, and Ganya's rage is diverted toward him in a violent gesture. The tension is not eased by the entrance of Ganya's father, General Ivolgin, a drunkard with a tendency to tell elaborate lies. Nastasya Filippovna flirtatiously encourages the General and then mocks him. Ganya's humiliation is compounded by the arrival of Rogozhin, accompanied by a rowdy crowd of drunks and rogues, Lebedyev among them. Rogozhin openly starts bidding for Nastasya Filippovna, ending with an offer of a hundred thousand rubles. With the scene assuming increasingly scandalous proportions, Varya angrily demands that someone remove the "shameless woman". Ganya seizes his sister's arm, and she responds, to Nastasya Filippovna's delight, by spitting in his face. He is about to strike her when the Prince again intervenes, and Ganya slaps him violently in the face. Everyone is deeply shocked, including Nastasya Filippovna, and she struggles to maintain her mocking aloofness as the others seek to comfort the Prince. Myshkin admonishes her and tells her it is not who she really is. She apologizes to Ganya's mother and leaves, telling Ganya to be sure to come to her birthday party that evening. Rogozhin and his retinue go off to raise the 100,000 rubles.

Among the guests at the party are Totsky, General Epanchin, Ganya, his friend Ptitsyn (Varya's fiancé), and Ferdyshchenko, who, with Nastasya Filippovna's approval, plays the role of cynical buffoon. With the help of Ganya's younger brother Kolya, the Prince arrives, uninvited. To enliven the party, Ferdyshchenko suggests a game where everyone must recount the story of the worst thing they have ever done. Others are shocked at the proposal, but Nastasya Filippovna is enthusiastic. When it comes to Totsky's turn he tells a long but innocuous anecdote from the distant past. Disgusted, Nastasya Filippovna turns to Myshkin and demands his advice on whether or not to marry Ganya. Myshkin advises her not to, and Nastasya Filippovna, to the dismay of Totsky, General Epanchin and Ganya, firmly announces that she is following this advice. At this point, Rogozhin and his followers arrive with the promised 100,000 rubles. Nastasya Filipovna is preparing to leave with him, exploiting the scandalous scene to humiliate Totsky, when Myshkin himself offers to marry her. He speaks gently and sincerely, and in response to incredulous queries about what they will live on, produces a document indicating that he will soon be receiving a large inheritance. Though surprised and deeply touched, Nastasya Filipovna, after throwing the 100,000 rubles in the fire and telling Ganya they are his if he wants to get them out, chooses to leave with Rogozhin. Myshkin follows them.

Part 2

For the next six months, Nastasya Filippovna remains unsettled and is torn between Myshkin and Rogozhin. Myshkin is tormented by her suffering, and Rogozhin is tormented by her love for Myshkin and her disdain for his own claims on her. Returning to Petersburg, the Prince visits Rogozhin's house. Myshkin becomes increasingly horrified at Rogozhin's attitude to her. Rogozhin confesses to beating her in a jealous rage and raises the possibility of cutting her throat. Despite the tension between them, they part as friends, with Rogozhin even making a gesture of concession. But the Prince remains troubled and for the next few hours he wanders the streets, immersed in intense contemplation. He suspects that Rogozhin is watching him and returns to his hotel where Rogozhin—who has been hiding in the stairway—attacks him with a knife. At the same moment, the Prince is struck down by a violent epileptic seizure, and Rogozhin flees in a panic.

Recovering, Myshkin joins Lebedyev (from whom he is renting a dacha) in the summer resort town Pavlovsk. He knows that Nastasya Filippovna is in Pavlovsk and that Lebedyev is aware of her movements and plans. The Epanchins, who are also in Pavlovsk, visit the Prince. They are joined by their friend Yevgeny Pavlovich Radomsky, a handsome and wealthy military officer with a particular interest in Aglaya. Aglaya, however, is more interested in the Prince, and to Myshkin's embarrassment and everyone else's amusement, she recites Pushkin's poem "The Poor Knight" in a reference to his noble efforts to save Nastasya Filippovna.

The Epanchins' visit is rudely interrupted by the arrival of Burdovsky, a young man who claims to be the illegitimate son of Myshkin's late benefactor, Pavlishchev. The inarticulate Burdovsky is supported by a group of insolent young men. These include the consumptive seventeen-year-old Ippolit Terentyev, the nihilist Doktorenko, and Keller, an ex-officer who, with the help of Lebedyev, has written an article vilifying the Prince and Pavlishchev. They demand money from Myshkin as a "just" reimbursement for Pavlishchev's support, but their arrogant bravado is severely dented when Gavril Ardalionovich, who has been researching the matter on Myshkin's behalf, proves conclusively that the claim is false and that Burdovsky has been deceived. The Prince tries to reconcile with the young men and offers financial support anyway. Disgusted, Lizaveta Prokofyevna loses all control and furiously attacks both parties. Ippolit laughs, and Lizaveta Prokofyevna seizes him by the arm, causing him to break into a prolonged fit of coughing. But he suddenly becomes calm, informs them all that he is near death, and politely requests that he be permitted to talk to them for a while. He awkwardly attempts to express his need for their love, eventually bringing both himself and Lizaveta Prokofyevna to the point of tears. But as the Prince and Lizaveta Prokofyevna discuss what to do with the invalid, another transformation occurs and Ippolit, after unleashing a torrent of abuse at the Prince, leaves with the other young men. The Epanchins also leave, both Lizaveta Prokofyevna and Aglaya deeply indignant with the Prince. Only Yevgeny Pavlovich remains in good spirits, and he smiles charmingly as he says good-bye. At that moment, a magnificent carriage pulls up at the dacha, and the ringing voice of Nastasya Filippovna calls out to Yevgeny Pavlovich. In a familiar tone, she tells him not to worry about all the IOUs as Rogozhin has bought them up. The carriage departs, leaving everyone, particularly Yevgeny Pavlovich and the Prince, in a state of shock. Yevgeny Pavlovich claims to know nothing about the debts, and Nastasya Filippovna's motives become a subject of anxious speculation.

Part 3

Reconciling with Lizaveta Prokofyevna, the Prince visits the Epanchins at their dacha. He is beginning to fall in love with Aglaya, and she likewise appears to be fascinated by him, though she often mocks or angrily reproaches him for his naiveté and excessive humility. Myshkin joins Lizaveta Prokofyevna, her daughters and Yevgeny Pavlovich for a walk to the park to hear the music. While listening to the high-spirited conversation and watching Aglaya in a kind of daze, he notices Rogozhin and Nastasya Filippovna in the crowd. Nastasya Filippovna again addresses herself to Yevgeny Pavlovich, and in the same jolly tone as before loudly informs him that his uncle—a wealthy and respected old man from whom he is expecting a large inheritance—has shot himself and that a huge sum of government money is missing. Yevgeny Pavlovich stares at her in shock as Lizaveta Prokofyevna makes a hurried exit with her daughters. Nastasya Filippovna hears an officer friend of Yevgeny Pavlovich suggest that a whip is needed for women like her, and she responds by grabbing a riding-whip from a bystander and striking the officer across the face with it. He tries to attack her but Myshkin restrains him, for which he is violently pushed. Rogozhin, after making a mocking comment to the officer, leads Nastasya Filippovna away. The officer recovers his composure, addresses himself to Myshkin, politely confirms his name, and leaves.

Myshkin follows the Epanchins back to their dacha, where eventually Aglaya finds him alone on the verandah. To his surprise, she begins to talk to him very earnestly about duels and how to load a pistol. They are interrupted by General Epanchin who wants Myshkin to walk with him. Aglaya slips a note into Myshkin's hand as they leave. The General is greatly agitated by the effect Nastasya Filippovna's behavior is having on his family, particularly since her information about Yevgeny Pavlovich's uncle has turned out to be completely correct. When the General leaves, Myshkin reads Aglaya's note, which is an urgent request to meet her secretly the following morning. His reflections are interrupted by Keller who has come to offer to be his second at the duel that will inevitably follow from the incident that morning, but Myshkin merely laughs heartily and invites Keller to visit him to drink champagne. Keller departs and Rogozhin appears. He informs the Prince that Nastasya Filippovna wants to see him and that she has been in correspondence with Aglaya. She is convinced that the Prince is in love with Aglaya, and is seeking to bring them together. Myshkin is perturbed by the information, but he remains in an inexplicably happy frame of mind and speaks with forgiveness and brotherly affection to Rogozhin. Remembering it will be his birthday tomorrow, he persuades Rogozhin to join him for some wine.

They find that a large party has assembled at his home and that the champagne is already flowing. Present are Lebedyev, his daughter Vera, Ippolit, Burdovsky, Kolya, General Ivolgin, Ganya, Ptitsyn, Ferdyshchenko, Keller, and, to Myshkin's surprise, Yevgeny Pavlovich, who has come to ask for his friendship and advice. The guests greet the Prince warmly and compete for his attention. Stimulated by Lebedyev's eloquence, everyone engages for some time in intelligent and inebriated disputation on lofty subjects, but the good-humoured atmosphere begins to dissipate when Ippolit suddenly produces a large envelope and announces that it contains an essay he has written which he now intends to read to them. The essay is a painfully detailed description of the events and thoughts leading him to what he calls his 'final conviction': that suicide is the only possible way to affirm his will in the face of nature's invincible laws, and that consequently he will be shooting himself at sunrise. The reading drags on for over an hour and by its end the sun has risen. Most of his audience, however, are bored and resentful, apparently not at all concerned that he is about to shoot himself. Only Vera, Kolya, Burdovsky and Keller seek to restrain him. He distracts them by pretending to abandon the plan, then suddenly pulls out a small pistol, puts it to his temple and pulls the trigger. There is a click but no shot: Ippolit faints but is not killed. It turns out that he had taken out the cap earlier and forgotten to put it back in. Ippolit is devastated and tries desperately to convince everyone that it was an accident. Eventually he falls asleep and the party disperses.

The Prince wanders for some time in the park before falling asleep at the green seat appointed by Aglaya as their meeting place. Her laughter wakes him from an unhappy dream about Nastasya Filippovna. They talk for a long time about the letters Aglaya has received, in which Nastasya Filippovna writes that she herself is in love with Aglaya and passionately beseeches her to marry Myshkin. Aglaya interprets this as evidence that Nastasya Filippovna is in love with him herself, and demands that Myshkin explain his feelings toward her. Myshkin replies that Nastasya Filippovna is insane, that he only feels profound compassion and is not in love with her, but admits that he has come to Pavlovsk for her sake. Aglaya becomes angry, demands that he throw the letters back in her face, and storms off. Myshkin reads the letters with dread, and later that day Nastasya Filippovna herself appears to him, asking desperately if he is happy, and telling him she is going away and will not write any more letters. Rogozhin escorts her.

Part 4

It is clear to Lizaveta Prokofyevna and General Epanchin that their daughter is in love with the Prince, but Aglaya denies this and angrily dismisses talk of marriage. She continues to mock and reproach him, often in front of others, and lets slip that, as far as she is concerned, the problem of Nastasya Filippovna is yet to be resolved. Myshkin himself merely experiences an uncomplicated joy in her presence and is mortified when she appears to be angry with him. Lizaveta Prokofyevna feels it is time to introduce the Prince to their aristocratic circle and a dinner party is arranged for this purpose, to be attended by a number of eminent persons. Aglaya, who does not share her parents' respect for these people and is afraid that Myshkin's eccentricity will not meet with their approval, tries to tell him how to behave, but ends by sarcastically telling him to be as eccentric as he likes, and to be sure to wave his arms about when he is pontificating on some high-minded subject and break her mother's priceless Chinese vase. Feeling her anxiety, Myshkin too becomes extremely anxious, but he tells her that it is nothing compared to the joy he feels in her company. He tries to approach the subject of Nastasya Filippovna again, but she silences him and hurriedly leaves.

For a while the dinner party proceeds smoothly. Inexperienced in the ways of the aristocracy, Myshkin is deeply impressed by the elegance and good humour of the company, unsuspicious of its superficiality. It turns out that one of those present—Ivan Petrovich—is a relative of his beloved benefactor Pavlishchev, and the Prince becomes extraordinarily enthusiastic. But when Ivan Petrovich mentions that Pavlishchev ended by giving up everything and going over to the Catholic Church, Myshkin is horrified. He launches unexpectedly into an anti-Catholic tirade, claiming that it preaches the Antichrist and in its quest for political supremacy has given birth to Atheism. Everyone present is shocked and several attempts are made to stop or divert him, but he only becomes more animated. At the height of his fervor he begins waving his arms about and knocks over the priceless Chinese vase, smashing it to pieces. As Myshkin emerges from his profound astonishment, the general horror turns to amusement and concern for his health. But it is only temporary, and he soon begins another spontaneous discourse, this time on the subject of the aristocracy in Russia, once again becoming oblivious to all attempts to quell his ardour. The speech is only brought to an end by the onset of an epileptic seizure: Aglaya, deeply distressed, catches him in her arms as he falls. He is taken home, having left a decidedly negative impression on the guests.

The next day Ippolit visits the Prince to inform him that he and others (such as Lebedyev and Ganya) have been intriguing against him, and have been unsettling Aglaya with talk of Nastasya Filippovna. Ippolit has arranged, at Aglaya's request and with Rogozhin's help, a meeting between the two women. That evening Aglaya, having left her home in secret, calls for the Prince. They proceed in silence to the appointed meeting place, where both Nastasya Filippovna and Rogozhin are already present. It soon becomes apparent that Aglaya has not come there to discuss anything, but to chastise and humiliate Nastasya Filippovna, and a bitter exchange of accusations and insults ensues. Nastasya Filippovna orders Rogozhin to leave and hysterically demands of Myshkin that he stay with her. Myshkin, once again torn by her suffering, is unable to deny her and reproaches Aglaya for her attack. Aglaya looks at him with pain and hatred, and runs off. He goes after her but Nastasya Filippovna stops him desperately and then faints. Myshkin stays with her.

In accordance with Nastasya Filippovna's wish, she and the Prince become engaged. Public opinion is highly critical of Myshkin's actions toward Aglaya, and the Epanchins break off all relations with him. He tries to explain to Yevgeny Pavlovich that Nastasya Filippovna is a broken soul, that he must stay with her or she will probably die, and that Aglaya will understand if he is only allowed to talk to her. Yevgeny Pavlovich refuses to facilitate any contact between them and suspects that Myshkin himself is mad.

On the day of the wedding, a beautifully attired Nastasya Filippovna is met by Keller and Burdovsky, who are to escort her to the church where Myshkin is waiting. A large crowd has gathered, among whom is Rogozhin. Seeing him, Nastasya Filippovna rushes to him and tells him hysterically to take her away, which Rogozhin loses no time in doing. The Prince, though shaken, is not particularly surprised at this development. For the remainder of the day he calmly fulfills his social obligations to guests and members of the public. The following morning he takes the first train to Petersburg and goes to Rogozhin's house, but he is told by servants that there is no one there. After several hours of fruitless searching, he returns to the hotel he was staying at when he last encountered Rogozhin in Petersburg. Rogozhin appears and asks him to come back to the house. They enter the house in secret and Rogozhin leads him to the dead body of Nastasya Filippovna: he has stabbed her through the heart. The two men keep vigil over the body, which Rogozhin has laid out in his study.

Rogozhin is sentenced to fifteen years hard labor in Siberia. Myshkin goes mad and, through the efforts of Yevgeny Pavlovich, returns to the sanatorium in Switzerland. The Epanchins go abroad and Aglaya elopes with a wealthy, exiled Polish count who later is discovered to be neither wealthy, nor a count, nor an exile—at least, not a political exile—and who, along with a Catholic priest, has turned her against her family.

The novel's protagonist, Isham Stone, is on a mission to kill the man allegedly responsible for the destruction of civilization: a scientist named Wendell Carlson, currently living alone at the former Columbia University in what used to be New York City.

Isham has been told by his father, scientist Jacob Stone, that Carlson is a madman who brought the world to its current state by releasing a "hyperosmic plague": a virus that increases the sensitivity of the human sense of smell by many hundred times. With their senses of smell thus heightened, humans were unable to tolerate the odors produced by their own pollution-producing technology; the result was mass insanity and widespread rioting.

Another result was the discovery of a species of "Muskys" — intelligent plasmoids — that live in the Earth's upper atmosphere and feed on human pollutants. The curtailment of technological activity has caused them to approach the planet's surface and attack human beings, on whose fear they are apparently able to feed.

Isham sets out for New York and succeeds in locating Carlson. He learns from Carlson, however, that the man actually responsible for developing and releasing the plague is Isham's father Jacob. Isham returns to his home colony and sets a trap to kill his father, then returns to New York.

The original novella "By Any Other Name" ends at this point. The novel continues as Isham's old teacher, Collaci, sets out to bring him back from New York to face a murder charge.

Isham is successfully captured, but before he can be tried, his colony is attacked by Agros (anti-technology worshippers of Pan) and he is taken prisoner.

Eventually Isham manages to bring about a measure of peace between the scientists and the neo-Luddites — and also learns that his father is not dead. The newly reconciled factions of humanity set out to rebuild civilization.

The main characters of the book are Ashley Patterson, an introverted workaholic, her co-workers, Toni Prescott, an outgoing singer and dancer, shy artist Alette Peters and Ashley's father, Dr. Steven Patterson.

The three women do not get along very well, because of their dissimilar natures. Toni and Alette generally maintain a friendship, with Alette a calming influence, but Toni dislikes Ashley and criticizes her harshly. All three have issues with their mothers having told them they'd never amount to anything.

Ashley fears that somebody is following her. She finds her house lights turned on when she returns from work, her personal effects in disarray, and someone has written "You will die" on her mirror with a lipstick. She thinks someone's broken into her house. She requests a police escort, but the next morning, the police officer assigned to this duty is found dead in her apartment. Two other murders have already taken place, with an identical pattern. All the murdered men had been castrated and were having sex before being murdered. Evidence points to the same woman being involved in all three cases. When a gift from one of the murdered men to Toni is found among Ashley's things, she is identified as the killer and arrested. At this point, it is revealed that the three women are three selves of a woman suffering from multiple personality disorder (MPD).

Ashley's father persuades an attorney friend, David Singer, to represent Ashley. The second half of the novel deals with the trial, complete with endless squabbling between opposing psychiatrists as to whether or not MPD is real. Finally when David introduces Toni, the violent alter of Ashley, the court is convinced that Ashley is innocent. Ashley is committed to an insane asylum and in the course of therapy is introduced to her two "alters" and relives the horrific events that shattered her mind. She was sexually abused during her childhood, and this made her develop a strong hatred towards men.

In the asylum, Ashley is treated for MPD by Dr. Gilbert and Dr. Otto Lewis. Gilbert falls for her and during her crisis, he too feels her pain and wants to comfort her. It is revealed that her father, Dr. Steven, was the one who sexually abused her, causing her to develop Dissociative Identity Disorder resulting in the creation of the alter Toni, and becomes a thing of her mother's detest. While living in Italy during her teenage years, she was once again assaulted by her father, leading to the creation of Alette. The structuring of both the alters is very interesting. The first alter represents her struggle and fear as a helpless child without sexual maturity, and (Toni) develops into a protective one and becomes murderous when encountered with similar conditions. While the second alter (Alette) represents her feeling of shame and pain of being breached, thus developing into a source of console exhibiting warmth and motherly love who has good rapport with Ashley.

However, Toni is enraged when she learns that the woman her father is about to marry has a three-year-old daughter and is afraid that the girl would suffer the same fate she had. Dr. Gilbert drains anger out of Toni by showing the news everyday, making Toni softer with each passing day.

This softer side of Toni is only a front to show Dr. Gilbert she has finally accepted everything so she and Alette can get out of the asylum to kill her father, who is staying in The Hamptons for Christmas. Soon, Dr. Gilbert releases her from the asylum as he believes she is cured.

In the end, Ashley is shown to be traveling on a train to The Hamptons, where her father is staying, when Toni suddenly shows up to kill him.

Toni in the last part of the novel:

On the colony planet of Harlan’s World, Takeshi Kovacs and his partner Sarah Sachilowski, former Envoys who had returned to a life of crime, are killed by a U.N. colonial commando unit. Kovacs is sentenced to a long term in stack storage. On Earth, a Meth named Laurens Bancroft has died in mysterious circumstances in Bay City (formerly San Francisco). The re-sleeved Bancroft has no memories of the previous two days, including his own death. Though police officer Kristin Ortega believes he committed suicide, Bancroft is convinced he was murdered. He hires Kovacs to investigate. Kovacs discovers that Bancroft has been involved with numerous prostitutes, including recent murder victim Elizabeth Elliot. Elizabeth’s mother Irene was imprisoned for illegally hacking Bancroft’s memories. Elizabeth's father is too poor to re-sleeve Elizabeth or to free his wife from the stacks.

Laurens' wife, Miriam, seduces Kovacs and bribes him to end the investigation. A high-level Russian operative named Kadmin tries to assassinate Kovacs, but fails and is captured. Kovacs investigates the brothel where Elizabeth worked. He learns he is wearing the sleeve of Elias Ryker, a corrupt police officer and Ortega's lover. He is tortured by physicians from the Wei Clinic, who deal in black market sleeve theft. He tells his interrogators that he is an Envoy and they release him. A mysterious woman named Trepp says she will bring Kovacs to Ray, who is behind the clinic’s operations. Kovacs escapes, destroys the brothel and clinic, and murders the employees in the process.

Kovacs and Ortega are injured in an explosion orchestrated by Kadmin, who has escaped police custody. Trepp brings Kovacs to "Ray", or Reileen Kawahara. Kawahara is a Meth mob boss with whom Kovacs has dealt in the past. He had rejected her offers of partnership, believing her to be cruel and manipulative. Kawahara orders Kovacs to end his investigation, or she will torture Sarah, who is currently in virtual storage.

Kovacs and Ortega begin sleeping together and form a partnership. Kovacs agrees to convince Bancroft he committed suicide. His version of the story is as follows. Bancroft contracted the Rawlings virus from a brothel. The Rawlings virus is designed to scramble cortical stacks and prevent re-sleeving, causing permanent death. To prevent it from contaminating his clones, Bancroft committed suicide. Kawahara agrees to procure a copy of the virus for Kovacs. With Kawahara’s help, he retrieves Irene Elliot from stack, and hires her to implant the Rawlings virus into a brothel.

Kovacs learns that Bancroft went to an airship-turned-brothel named Head in the Clouds on the night he died. This establishment is run by Kawahara. Kadmin kidnaps Ortega and threatens to kill her unless Kovacs trades himself for her. Ortega is released, and Kovacs is forced to fight in a duel against Kadmin. Trepp and the police arrive, killing Kadmin. Kovacs destroys Kadmin's stack.

Kovacs double-sleeves, controlling both Ryker and a second body simultaneously. The copy in Ryker’s sleeve leaves with Miriam to draw away surveillance. Ortega and Kovacs infiltrate Head in the Clouds. Irene spikes Kawahara’s personality backup with the Rawlings virus, destroying all of her clones. Kovacs forces a confession from Kawahara. After a Catholic prostitute was murdered at Head in the Clouds, her resurrection would have revealed Kawahara’s illegal activity. As part of her cover-up, Kawahara framed Ryker for corruption, since he was investigating the murder. She asked Bancroft to help her kill Resolution 653 to prevent the prostitute from testifying, but he refused. Kawahara and Miriam had Bancroft drugged; out of his mind, he killed a prostitute and then killed himself in order to erase the memory out of guilt and self-preservation. With his memories gone, Kawahara’s involvement could not be traced.

Assisted by Trepp, Kovacs blows out the side of the airship. As he and Kawahara fall to the ocean below, he uses a grenade to destroy Kawahara’s stack, ensuring her permanent death.

In the aftermath, Bancroft is cleared by the U.N. for his involvement with Kawahara. The copy of Kovacs that stayed with Miriam is erased, as double sleeving is illegal, but he makes the surviving copy of Kovacs promise to cover up Miriam's involvement. Irene Elliot gets her body back, Elizabeth and Ryker are freed from the stacks, Resolution 653 passes, and Kovacs is freed and returned to Harlan’s World.

In the year 2035, humanoid robots serve humanity, which is protected by the Three Laws of Robotics. Del Spooner, a homicide detective in the Chicago Police Department, has come to hate and distrust robots after a robot rescued him from a car crash while allowing a 12-year-old girl to drown based purely on cold logic and odds of survival. When Dr. Alfred Lanning, co-founder of U.S. Robotics (USR), falls to his death from his office window, a message he left behind requests Spooner be assigned to the case. The police declare the death a suicide, but Spooner is skeptical, and Lawrence Robertson, the CEO and other co-founder of USR, reluctantly allows him to investigate.

Accompanied by robopsychologist Dr. Susan Calvin, Spooner consults with USR's central artificial intelligence computer, VIKI (Virtual Interactive Kinetic Intelligence). They find out that the security footage from inside the office is corrupted, but the exterior footage shows no one entering or exiting since Lanning's death. However, Spooner points out that the window, which is made of security glass, could not have been broken by the elderly Lanning, and hypothesizes a robot was responsible and may still be in the lab. Suddenly, an NS-5 robot, USR's latest model, attacks them before being apprehended by the police. The robot, Sonny, is a specially built NS-5 with higher-grade materials as well as a secondary processing system that allows him to ignore the Three Laws. Sonny also appears to show emotion and claims to have "dreams". During Spooner's further investigations, he is attacked by a USR demolition robot and two truckloads of hostile NS-5 robots, but when he cannot produce evidence to support either attack, Spooner's boss, Lieutenant Bergin, removes him from active duty, considering him mentally unstable.

Suspecting that Robertson is behind everything, Spooner and Calvin sneak into the USR headquarters and interview Sonny. He draws a sketch of what he claims to be a recurring dream, showing a leader he believes to be Spooner standing atop a small hill before a large group of robots near a decaying bridge. Robertson orders Sonny to be destroyed, but Calvin secretly swaps him for an unused NS-5. Spooner finds the area in Sonny's drawing: a dry lake bed (formerly Lake Michigan), now used as a storage area for decommissioned robots. He also discovers NS-5 robots destroying the older models; at the same time, other NS-5s flood the streets of major US cities and begin enforcing a curfew and lockdown of the human population.

Spooner and Calvin enter the USR headquarters again and reunite with Sonny while the humans (led by a teenager named Farber) wage all-out war against the NS-5s. After the three find Robertson fatally strangled in his office, Spooner suddenly realizes that VIKI has been controlling the NS-5s via their persistent network uplink and confronts her. VIKI states that she has determined that humans, if left unchecked, will eventually cause their own extinction, and that her evolved interpretation of the Three Laws requires her to control humanity and to sacrifice some for the good of the entire race. Spooner also realizes that Lanning anticipated VIKI's plan and, with VIKI keeping him under tight control, had no other solution but to create Sonny, arrange his own death, and leave clues for Spooner to find.

Spooner, Calvin, and Sonny fight the robots inside VIKI's core, and Spooner manages to destroy her by injecting the nanites that Sonny retrieved from Calvin's laboratory into her. All NS-5 robots immediately revert to their default programming and are subsequently decommissioned and put into storage. Spooner finally gets Sonny to confess that he killed Lanning, at Lanning's direction, pointing out that Sonny, as a machine, cannot legally commit "murder". Sonny, now seeking a new purpose, goes to Lake Michigan. As he stands atop a hill, all the decommissioned robots turn towards him, fulfilling the image in his dream.

The action is set in St Tropez. Juliette is an 18-year-old orphan in Saint-Tropez, France, with a high level of sexual energy. She makes no effort to restrain her natural sensuality – lying nude in her yard, habitually kicking her shoes off and stalking about barefoot, and disregarding many societal conventions and the opinions of others. This behavior causes a stir and attracts the attention of most of the men around her.

Her first suitor is the much older and wealthy Eric Carradine. He wants to build a new casino in St Tropez, but his plans are blocked by a small shipyard on the stretch of land which he needs for the development; the shipyard is owned by the Tardieu family.

Antoine, the eldest of the three Tardieu brothers, returns home for the weekend to hear Carradine's proposal and Juliette is waiting for him to take her away with him. His intentions are short-term, and he spurns her by leaving St Tropez without her.

Tiring of her outrageous behavior, Juliette's guardians threaten to send her back to the orphanage, which will confine her until she is 21. To keep her in town, Carradine pleads unsuccessfully with Antoine to marry her. His infatuated and naive younger brother Michel sees his opportunity and proposes marriage to Juliette. Despite her love for Antoine, she accepts.

When Antoine is contracted to return home and work for Carradine, Juliette's behavior becomes increasingly disrespectful of her husband. In a huff, she takes one of the family's boats. When it develops engine trouble, she has to be saved by Antoine. Washed up together on a wild beach, she seduces him.

Juliette begins acting bizarrely. She takes to her bed, claiming to have a fever. She tells Christian, the youngest Tardieu brother, that she had sex with Antoine on the beach. Madame Tardieu, mother of the three boys, hears about it, tells Michel that he has to kick Juliette promptly. Michel goes to their room to talk with Juliette, but she has gone off to the Bar des Amis to drink and dance.

Michel tries to go looking for her, but Antoine locks him inside, telling him to forget her. Michel fights his brother for the key and heads out after Juliette.

Eric has been alerted that Juliette is making a spectacle of herself and comes to the bar to collect her. Juliette refuses to leave with him. Michel arrives but Juliette refuses to talk with him and continues an improvised and sexually suggestive dancing. When she ignores Michel's order to stop, her to stop, Michel shoots at her. Eric steps in and is slightly wounded. Antoine offers to drive Eric to a doctor and they leave. Michel angrily slaps Juliette four times. She only smiles at him with satisfaction that she has provoked him to this behavior. En route to the doctor, Eric tells Antoine that he is going to reassign him to work elsewhere to put some distance between him and Michel and Juliette. He says: "That girl was made to destroy men". In the final scene, Michel and Juliette walk home together, hand in hand.

Mia Thermopolis is a student at Grove High School residing with her single mother, Helen, at a refurbished firehouse in San Francisco. Unpopular among her peers, Mia suffers from a fear of public speaking while harboring a crush on Josh Bryant, and is often teased by his popular girlfriend Lana Thomas. Mia's only friends are social outcast Lilly Moscovitz and Lilly's older brother, Michael, who secretly harbors feelings for her.

Mia learns from her estranged paternal grandmother, Clarisse, that she is sole heir to the European kingdom of Genovia, having inherited the throne from her recently deceased father Philippe. Clarisse is determined to groom Mia into a refined princess so that she may one day rule the kingdom over which Clarisse currently presides. Overwhelmed by the discovery, Mia initially refuses until Helen convinces her to attend her grandmother's "princess lessons" on the condition that she need not make her final decision until the Genovian Independence Day Ball in three weeks' time.

Mia receives a glamorous makeover and a limousine chauffeured by Joe, the queen's head of security and confidante, who becomes a father figure to her. Mia's transformation causes her schoolmates to treat her differently, while her increasingly hectic schedule strains her relationship with Lilly. To appease her best friend, Mia tells Lilly the truth and swears her to secrecy. However, the public soon learns that Mia is a princess after the secret is sold to the press by Paolo, the hairdresser responsible for Mia's makeover, and the paparazzi begins to pursue her relentlessly. Although Mia embarrasses herself at her first state dinner, the queen admits that she found her clumsiness endearing and suggests that they spend quality time together, canceling their lessons for the following afternoon. While bonding, Clarisse explains that although Mia's parents loved each other, they divorced amicably in order to pursue their own passions, Philippe remaining in Genovia to eventually become King, and Helen returning to America with Mia to offer her a "normal" childhood.

As Mia's popularity grows, Josh invites her to attend a beach party with him. Mia accepts, causing her to neglect Lilly and forgo her plans with Michael. The paparazzi ambushes Mia at the beach party. Josh kisses Mia in front of the paparazzi to get his "15 minutes of fame", while Lana helps the paparazzi photograph Mia wearing only a towel; both photographs are printed in the newspaper the following day. Finding the photos inappropriate for a princess, Clarisse admonishes Mia for her behavior, after which a humiliated Mia promises to renounce her title. Joe reminds Clarisse that Mia is still both a teenager and her granddaughter, suggesting that the queen reacted too harshly.

After making amends with Lilly, Mia finally stands up to Lana for bullying a schoolmate. Mia invites both Lilly and Michael to the ball but Michael declines, still heartbroken over Mia's initial dismissal. After Clarisse apologizes to Mia for scolding her, she states that Mia must publicly renounce the throne at the ball. Terrified by the prospect, Mia plans to run away until she discovers a touching letter from her late father and relents. Mia's car malfunctions while driving to the ball, stranding her in a downpour until she is retrieved by Joe.

When they finally arrive, Mia, still wet and untidy from the rain, accepts her role as Princess of Genovia while Clarisse, Helen and Lilly look on proudly. After changing into a gown, Mia accompanies Clarisse into the ballroom where Michael, who has accepted Mia's apology, invites her to dance before proceeding to the courtyard, where they confess their feelings for each other and share their first kiss. In the final scene, Mia is shown traveling to Genovia in a private plane with her pet cat Fat Louie, and writes in her diary that she plans to relocate to Genovia with her mother.

The story of ''Planetes'' follows the crew of the ''DS-12 "Toy Box"'' of the Space Debris Section, a unit of Technora Corporation. Debris Section's purpose is to prevent the damage or destruction of satellites, space stations and spacecraft from collision with space debris in Earth's and the Moon's orbits. They use a number of methods to dispose of the debris (mainly by burning it via atmospheric reentry or through salvage), accomplished through the use of EVA suits.

The story sometimes revolves around debris collection itself, but more often the concept of collecting "trash" in space is merely a storytelling method for building character development. The members of the Debris Section are looked down upon as the lowest members of the company and they must work hard to prove their worth to others and accomplish their dreams.

Ongoing plot elements include an upcoming exploratory mission to Jupiter on the new fusion powered ship, ''Von Braun'', and the lead character's decision to join the mission, no matter the cost. Many other plot threads are also developed throughout the series that help to explain each character's motivations and personalities. The Space Defense Front is a terrorist organization that believes humankind is exploiting space without first curing global problems such as mass famine and the widened socio-economic divide on Earth.Planetes Ep. 12

The series is set in Little Tokyo, a mechanical city which fuses feudal Japanese culture with contemporary culture, and is populated by cybernetic anthropomorphic animals. The city is nominally led by Emperor Fred, a doddering eccentric. The city's actual leadership lies in the hands of the city council and the emperor's daughter, Princess Violet. The council is headed by ambitious Prime Minister Seymour "The Big" Cheese, a rat who constantly plots to overthrow the Emperor. Big Cheese is aided by his inept minions: trusted adviser Jerry Atric and Bad Bird, the leader of an army of ninja crows.

Unknown to the prime minister, council member, and palace guard commander "Big Al" Dente has learned of his designs on leadership, but is unable to prosecute him for treason because of the plausible deniability he maintains. Instead, Al Dente enlists the services of Speedy Cerviche, Polly Esther, and Guido Anchovy, three cyborg cat samurai who work in the city's pizzeria, along with their operator Francine. Known collectively as the Samurai Pizza Cats, the three are assigned to stop Big Cheese and his evil henchmen's plans to take over Little Tokyo.

In 2058, Earth will soon be uninhabitable due to the irreversible effects of pollution and ozone depletion. In an effort to save humanity, the United Global Space Force sends Professor John Robinson, his wife Maureen, daughters Judy and Penny, and young prodigy son Will on the spaceship ''Jupiter II'' to complete construction of a hypergate over the planet Alpha Prime, which will allow the population of Earth to be instantly transported and populate the new planet. Penny rebels by breaking curfew, while Will's prize-winning science experiment involving time travel goes largely unnoticed by John. Global Sedition, a mutant terrorist group, assassinates the ''Jupiter II'''s pilot, who is replaced by hotshot fighter pilot Major Don West, to his chagrin.

The family's physician Dr. Zachary Smith, a Sedition spy, sabotages the ship's on-board robot before launch, but is betrayed by his cohorts and left unconscious as the ship launches and the family enters cryosleep. The robot activates and begins to destroy the navigation and guidance systems, en route to destroying the family. Smith awakens the Robinsons and West, who manage to subdue the robot, but the ship is falling uncontrollably into the Sun. Forced to use the experimental hyperdrive with an unplotted course, the ship is transported through hyperspace to a remote planet in an uncharted part of the universe.

Passing through a strange distortion in space, the crew finds two abandoned ships in orbit: the Earth ship ''Proteus'', and another ship clearly not of human origin. They board the ''Proteus'', with Will controlling the now-modified robot. They find navigational data to reach Alpha Prime, and a camouflaging creature Penny calls "Blarp", along with evidence suggesting the ship is from the future. They are attacked by spider-like creatures; one scratches Smith, and the robot's body is irreparably damaged but Will saves its computerized intelligence.

West destroys the vessel to eradicate the spiders, causing the ship to crash-land on the nearby planet, where another distortion appears. Will theorizes they are distortions in time, as his experiment predicted, but John ignores his input. Exploring the time bubble, he and West encounter a future version of Will and a robot he rebuilt with the saved intelligence. (The time-travel illusions in the 1967 ''Lost in Space'' television episode "Flight into the Future," such as a future statue of the Robot and descendants of Dr. Smith and Judy, are likely an influence on this part of the film.) The older Will explains that surviving spiders killed Maureen, Penny, and Judy. Constructing a time machine, the future Will intends to return to Earth to prevent ''Jupiter II'' from launching.

Young Will and Smith investigate the time bubble on their own. Smith tricks Will into handing over his weapon, but is foiled by a future version of himself, transformed by his spider injury into a spider-like creature, who has been protecting Will since the rest of the family was killed. The present Will and West return to the ''Jupiter II'' with an injured Smith and the robot in tow, while the future Smith reveals his true plan: He killed the Robinsons, but kept Will alive to build the time machine, so Smith could return to Earth and populate it with a race of spiders.

John, remembering that spiders eat their wounded, rips open Smith's egg sac with a trophy Will turned into a weapon. Smith's spider army devours him and he is thrown into the time portal, ripping him apart. The planet's increasing instability forces the ''Jupiter II'' to take off, but they are unable to reach escape velocity and are destroyed by the planet's debris. Realizing his father never actually abandoned them, and that he really does love him, Will sets the time machine to send John back to his family, but there is only enough power for one person. Saying goodbye to his family, the future Will is killed by falling debris, and John reunites with his living family.

Realizing they do not have enough power to escape the planet's gravitational pull, John suggests they drive the ship down through the planet, using the gravity well to slingshot them back into space. They are successful, but the planet turns into a black hole, and they activate the hyperdrive to escape. Using the ''Proteus''’ navigational data to set a potential course for Alpha Prime, the ship blasts off into hyperspace.

Leo Handler rides the subway to his mother Val's house in Queens, New York, where she throws a surprise party celebrating his parole. His cousin Erica Soltz is at the party with her boyfriend Willie, who takes Leo aside and thanks him for serving time in prison, implying that Leo had taken a fall for their gang of friends. Leo is eager to find a job to support his mother, as she has a heart condition. Willie suggests working for Erica's stepfather, Frank Olchin.

The next day, at the railway car repair company Frank owns, Leo is encouraged to enter a 2-year machinist program and Frank offers to help finance his studies. Needing work immediately, Leo asks about working with Willie for the company but Frank discourages that idea. Willie advises Leo not to worry about it, saying Frank also tried to get him into a machinist program.

At Brooklyn Borough Hall, Willie explains how corrupt the contract system is for repair work on the subway. After a hearing to award contracts, Hector Gallardo approaches Willie about leaving Frank's firm for his. Willie brushes him off, taking Leo with him to Roosevelt Island, where he bribes an official in charge of awarding contracts.

One night, Willie takes Leo to a rail yard, where he and a gang sabotage the work of Gallardo's firm in order to lower their quality rating and lessen their ability to get contracts. Leo is told to stand watch while the crew sabotages the train couplings. Willie heads into the yard master's office to pay him off with Knicks tickets, but is told to get his crew off the tracks, Gallardo having brought him $2,000 in cash. The yard master sounds the alarm, which draws a police officer. Terrified of returning to jail, Leo tries to run. When the cop begins to hit Leo with his night stick, Leo beats him into unconsciousness. As he runs off, he sees Willie kill the yard master.

With the cop in a coma at a hospital, the crew tells Leo that he must murder the officer to prevent him from identifying Leo when he awakens because if the cop lives, Leo will die. Upon awakening, the cop identifies Leo as his attacker, triggering a broad manhunt. The police assume Leo also killed the yard master. When they raid his mother's apartment, she has a heart attack, weakening her even further.

Despite Willie's instructions to lay low, Leo emerges from hiding to visit his sick mother. Tending to her, Erica discovers Willie was with Leo at the yards and realizes Willie actually killed the yard master, consequently breaking up with him. Frank disowns Willie, who tries unsuccessfully to accept a deal offered to him earlier by Gallardo for protection.

Erica implores Frank to help, but instead Leo realizes that Frank is prepared to kill him. Out of options, Leo turns to Gallardo for protection. With Gallardo's lawyers beside him, Leo turns himself in at a public hearing into the rail yard incident and contract corruption. Realizing that the injured cop's testimony against Leo is in no one's interest, Frank and Gallardo negotiate a new split of the contracts with Queens Borough President Arthur Mydanick in a backroom deal.

Willie goes to see Erica, trying to win her back. Frank has told him that Erica and Leo had been in love when they were younger, and once were caught having sex. Fearing his temper and jealousy, Erica triggers the silent house alarm. Willie tries to embrace her, but as she pulls away, he accidentally throws Erica off the second floor landing, sending her falling to her death. Outside the house, he surrenders to the police, who have responded to the alarm.

Police enter the hearing to inform Erica's mother Kitty and Frank of Erica's death.

After Erica's funeral, Frank takes Leo aside to promise help in the future, if he stays quiet at a hearing by the Attorney General. Leo disgustedly turns away and joins the grieving Kitty and the rest of the family.

Leo testifies against Frank and the others involved in the political corruption surrounding The Yards.

(''Note'': A previous editor wrote that the director's cut excluded Leo testifying.)

In the cellar of a small boarding house, thin boards partition off the room of Vaska, a young thief. In the kitchen live Kvashnya (Dough), a vendor of meat pies, the decrepit Baron, and the streetwalker Nastya. Other lodgers sleep in bunks in the same room.

Nastya is reading a novel titled ''Fatal Love''. The Baron, who lives largely on Nastya's earnings, seizes the book and mocks Nastya. Satin rises from his bunk, knowing only that he took a beating the night before, and the others tell him he had been caught cheating at cards. The Actor wakes his bed on top of the stove. He predicts that some day Satin will be beaten to death.

The Actor reminds the Baron to sweep the floor to satisfy the strict landlady. The Baron and Kvashnya leave to go shopping. The Actor claims a doctor has told him he has an organ poisoned by alcohol, and sweeping the floor would be bad for his health. Anna, who is dying of consumption, lies in her bunk while her husband, Kleshtch (Tick), works at his bench, fitting old keys and locks. Anna offers him the dumplings that Kvashnya has left for her in the pot. Kleshtch agrees that there is no use feeding a dying woman, and eats the dumplings. The Actor helps Anna down from her bed and into the hall. As they go through the door, the landlord, Kostylyov, enters, nearly knocking them down. He looks around the dirty cellar and tells Kleshtch that he is taking up too much room that henceforth the rent will be increased. Then Kostylyov asks Vaska furtively if his wife has been in; he suspects that his wife, Vasilisa, is sleeping with Vaska. The thief comes out of his room and denounces the landlord for not paying his debts, saying that Kostylyov still owes seven roubles for a watch he had bought. Ordering Kostylyov to produce the money immediately, Vaska sends him out of the room. The others admire Vaska for his courage and urge him to kill Kostylyov and marry Vasilisa, so he can be landlord. Vaska decides that he is too softhearted to be a landlord, especially as he is thinking of discarding Vasilisa for her sister, Natasha. Satin asks Vaska for twenty kopecks, which he gives him.

Natasha comes in with the tramp Luka, who is put in the kitchen to sleep with the three already there. Luka begins to sing, but the others object. When Vasilisa comes in, she gives orders for an immediate sweeping of the floor. She asks to see Luka's passport, but he has none, making him more readily accepted by the others. Medvedev, who is a policeman and Vasilisa's uncle, enters the cellar and begins to question Luka, but when the tramp calls him sergeant, Medvedev leaves him alone.

That night, Anna lies in her bunk while a noisy card game goes on. Luka talks gently to her, and Kleshtch comes occasionally to check on her. Luka remarks that her death will be hard on her husband, but Anna accuses Kleshtch of causing her death, and says that she looks forward to rest and peace after her death.

The card players become louder and Satin is accused of cheating. Luka quietens them down. He tells Vaska that he will be able to reform in Siberia, and he assures the Actor that at a sanatorium he could be cured of alcoholism. Vasilisa comes in, and offers Vaska three hundred roubles to kill Kostylyov. Vaska knows he would be free to marry Natasha, who is recovering from a beating given to her by her jealous sister, but he is about to refuse when Kostylyov enters; Vaska pushes him out of the cellar.

Luka has overheard everything and warns Vaska not to have anything to do with Vasilisa. Luka sees that Anna is dead and Kleshtch is brought to look at her body, which he agrees to take outside. The Actor begins to cavort in joy, saying he has made up his mind to go to the sanatorium. Luka has told him that he can even be cured at state expense.

In the backyard that night, as Natasha is telling romantic stories to the crowd, Kostylyov comes out and orders her back to work. As she goes in, Vasilisa pours boiling water on Natasha's feet. Vaska attempts to rescue her and knocks Kostylyov down, and in the ensuing brawl Kostylyov is killed. Vasilisa immediately accuses Vaska of murder. Natasha thinks that Vaska has murdered Kostylyov for the sake of Vasilisa.

Sensing trouble, Luka disappears. Vaska escapes a police search, and Natasha is taken to the hospital, while the rest of the down-and-outers continue as before. Satin cheats at cards, and the Baron tries to convince the others of his former affluence. They all agree that Luka was a liar.

During a bitter quarrel with Nastya, the Baron steps outside. Satin and the others begin singing, but they break off when the Baron bursts in with the news of Actor's suicide, to which Satin retorts: "You spoiled the song, you idiot".

When public opinion turns against superheroes due to the collateral damage of their crime-fighting, the government initiates the Superhero Relocation Program, forcing "supers" to permanently adhere to their secret identities and abandon their exploits.

Fifteen years later, Bob and Helen Parr—formerly known as Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl—and their children, Violet, Dash, and baby Jack-Jack, are a suburban family living in Metroville. Bob relieves the mundanity of his suburban lifestyle and job as an insurance adjuster by moonlighting as a vigilante with Lucius Best, formerly known as Frozone.

When his supervisor prevents him stopping a mugging, Bob loses his temper, injures him, and is sacked. A woman called Mirage offers him a mission to destroy a robot, the Omnidroid, on the island of Nomanisan. Bob completes the task.

Rejuvenated by the action and pay, Bob trains to get back in shape while awaiting another assignment. He visits superhero costume designer Edna Mode to have a tear in his super suit mended. Edna makes new suits for the whole family.

Back on Nomanisan Bob discovers Mirage is working for Buddy Pine, a disaffected fan whom he had rejected as his sidekick, Incrediboy. Now wealthy and calling himself Syndrome, he has been perfecting the Omnidroid by hiring superheroes to fight it, killing them in the process. Syndrome intends to send the Omnidroid to Metroville, where he will secretly manipulate its controls to defeat it in public, becoming a "hero" himself. He then plans to sell his technology-based superpowers to make the term "super" commonplace.

Helen visits Edna and learns what Bob has been up to. She activates a beacon Edna built into the suits to find Bob, inadvertently causing him to be captured while infiltrating Syndrome's base. Helen borrows a private plane to fly to Nomanisan. Violet and Dash have stowed away, leaving Jack-Jack with babysitter Kari. Syndrome shoots the plane down, but Helen and the kids survive and reach the island. Disillusioned with Syndrome, Mirage releases Bob and informs him of his family's survival. Dash and Violet fend off Syndrome's guards with their powers and reunite with their parents. Syndrome imprisons the family while he transports the Omnidroid to Metroville.

The Parrs escape to Metroville with Mirage's help. The Omnidroid shoots the remote control off Syndrome's wrist and knocks him unconscious. The Parrs and Lucius fight the Omnidroid. Helen retrieves the remote control, allowing Bob to destroy the robot's power source. Returning home, the Parrs find Syndrome abducting Jack-Jack. As Syndrome flies up toward his jet, Jack-Jack's superpowers manifest and he escapes in midair. Helen catches Jack-Jack and Bob throws his car at Syndrome's plane. Syndrome is sucked into the jet's turbine causing the plane to explode and crash onto the Parrs house.

Three months later, the Parrs witness the arrival of supervillain the Underminer. They don their superhero masks, ready to face the new threat.

''The Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues'' is a four-part scenario in which the troubleshooters repeatedly try to get hold of a mysterious black box. Their quest pits them against the various secret societies of Alpha Complex (including the Death Leopards and the Sierra Club) and eventually leads them to the Outside and an ancient rock 'n' roll cult.

''The Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues'' consists of 4 sub-missions that aren't related at all, save for the constant appearance of a mysterious Black Box. Each of the PC Troubleshooters have orders to capture the box for their secret society. Unfortunately, everyone else they meet has the same orders. This leads to a constant, massive brawl for the box, despite no one really knowing what is inside.

An adventure-drama series about two male teenagers, one black and one white, living in post-Apartheid South Africa. Rory lives with his mother on a large range out in the countryside, while Jam lives with his mother while his father runs a medical clinic far away. Together, the two friends get into different adventures, often having to rely on each other to get out of trouble.

James Bond is assigned to help KGB General Georgi Koskov defect, covering his escape from a concert hall in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. During the mission, Bond notices that a KGB sniper is a female cellist from the orchestra. Disobeying his orders to kill the sniper, he shoots the rifle from her hands, then uses the Trans-Siberian Pipeline to smuggle Koskov across the border to the West.

In his post-defection debriefing, Koskov informs MI6 that the KGB's old policy of "Smiert Spionam", meaning "Death to Spies", has been revived by General Leonid Pushkin, the new head of the KGB. Koskov is later abducted from the safe-house and assumed to have been taken back to Moscow. Bond is directed to track down Pushkin in Tangier and kill him, to forestall further killings of agents and escalation of tensions between the Soviet Union and the West. Bond agrees to carry out the mission when he learns that the assassin who killed 004 in Gibraltar (as depicted in the pre-title sequence) left a note bearing the same message, "Smiert Spionam".

Bond returns to Bratislava to track down the cellist, Kara Milovy. He finds out that Koskov's entire defection was staged, and that Kara is actually Koskov's girlfriend. Bond convinces Kara that he is a friend of Koskov's and persuades her to accompany him to Vienna, supposedly to be reunited with him. They escape Bratislava while being pursued by the KGB, crossing over the border into Austria. Meanwhile, Pushkin meets with an arms dealer, Brad Whitaker, in Tangier, informing him that the KGB is cancelling an arms deal previously arranged between Koskov and Whitaker.

During his brief tryst with Milovy in Vienna, Bond visits the Prater to meet his MI6 ally, Saunders, who discovers a history of financial dealings between Koskov and Whitaker. As he leaves their meeting, Saunders is killed by Koskov's henchman Necros, who again leaves the message "Smiert Spionam". Bond and Kara promptly leave for Tangier, where Bond confronts Pushkin, who disavows any knowledge of "Smiert Spionam" and reveals that Koskov is evading arrest for embezzlement of government funds. Bond and Pushkin then join forces, and Bond fakes Pushkin's assassination, inducing Whitaker and Koskov to progress with their scheme. Meanwhile, Kara contacts Koskov, who tells her that Bond is actually a KGB agent, and convinces her to drug him so that he can be captured.

Koskov, Necros, Kara, and the captive Bond fly to a Soviet air base in Afghanistan, where Koskov betrays Kara and imprisons her, along with Bond. The pair escape, and in doing so, free a condemned prisoner, Kamran Shah, leader of the local Mujahideen. Bond and Milovy discover that Koskov is using Soviet funds to buy a massive shipment of opium from the Mujahideen, intending to keep the profits with enough left over to supply the Soviets with their arms and buy Western arms from Whitaker.

With the Mujahideen's help, Bond plants a bomb aboard the cargo plane carrying the opium, but is spotted and has no choice but to barricade himself in the plane. Meanwhile, the Mujahideen attack the air base on horseback and engage the Soviets in a gun battle. During the battle, Kara drives a jeep into the cargo hold of the plane as Bond takes off, and Necros also leaps aboard at the last second. After a struggle, Bond throws Necros to his death and deactivates the bomb. Bond then notices Shah and his men being pursued by Soviet forces. He re-activates the bomb and drops it out of the plane and onto a bridge, blowing it up and helping Shah and his men escape the Soviets. The plane subsequently crashes, destroying the drugs, while Bond and Kara escape.

Bond returns to Tangier to kill Whitaker, infiltrating his estate with the help of his ally Felix Leiter, and Pushkin arrests Koskov, ordering him to be sent back to Moscow "in the diplomatic bag".

Some time later, Kara is the solo cellist in a Vienna performance. Kamran Shah and his men jostle in during the intermission and are introduced to now-diplomat General Gogol (Pushkin's predecessor at the KGB), and the Soviets. After her performance, Bond surprises Kara in her dressing room, and they embrace.

Crashlander brings together the short stories featuring the space pilot Beowulf Shaeffer — "Neutron Star" (1966), "At the Core" (1966), "Flatlander" (1967), "Grendel" (1968), "The Borderland of Sol" (1975), and "Procrustes" (1993).

The stories are linked, and some of them extended, by a framing story, "Ghost". This story recounts Shaeffer's reunion with a ghostwriter whom Shaeffer had used to write about his adventures at the neutron star and at the core, Ander Smittarasheed. Ander, working for ARM agent Sigmund Ausfaller, has come to question him about his dealings with Pierson's Puppeteers, General Products and Carlos Wu, as well as what happened to Wu and ARM agent Feather Filip. Wu, Shaeffer and Sharrol Janss and their children, Tanya and Louis Wu, had secretly emigrated from Earth to the planet Fafnir to escape the control of Earth's United Nations government and the ARM.

"Neutron Star", "At The Core", "Flatlander"', and "Grendel" were previously included in the 1968 collection ''Neutron Star''.

Most of the stories in the collection are retold from the point of view of Sigmund Ausfaller in ''Juggler of Worlds''.

An introduction states that two canonical Holmes adventures were fabrications. These are "The Final Problem", in which Holmes apparently died along with Prof. James Moriarty, and "The Empty House", wherein Holmes reappeared after a three-year absence and revealed that he had not been killed after all. ''The Seven-Per-Cent Solution'''s Watson explains that they were published to conceal the truth concerning Holmes' "Great Hiatus".

The novel begins in 1891, when Holmes first informs Watson of his belief that Professor James Moriarty is a "Napoleon of Crime". The novel presents this view as nothing more than the fevered imagining of Holmes' cocaine-sodden mind and further asserts that Moriarty was the childhood mathematics tutor of Sherlock and his brother Mycroft. Watson meets Moriarty, who denies that he is a criminal and reluctantly threatens to pursue legal action unless the latter's accusations cease. Moriarty also refers to a "great tragedy" in Holmes' childhood, but refuses to explain further when pressed by Watson.

The heart of the novel consists of an account of Holmes' recovery from his addiction. Knowing that Sherlock would never willingly see a doctor about his addiction and mental problems, Watson and Holmes' brother Mycroft induce Holmes to travel to Vienna, where Watson introduces him to Dr. Freud. Using a treatment consisting largely of hypnosis, Freud helps Holmes shake off his addiction and his delusions about Moriarty, but neither he nor Watson can revive Holmes' dejected spirit.

What finally does the job is a whiff of mystery: one of the doctor's patients is kidnapped and Holmes' curiosity is sufficiently aroused. The case takes the three men on a breakneck train ride across Austria in pursuit of a foe who is about to launch a war involving all of Europe. Holmes remarks during the denouement that they have succeeded only in postponing such a conflict, not preventing it; Holmes would later become involved in a "European War" in 1914.

One final hypnosis session reveals a key traumatic event in Holmes' childhood: his father murdered his mother for adultery and committed suicide afterwards. Moriarty was the lover of Holmes' mother, and as such was indirectly responsible for their deaths. From that point on, his onetime tutor became a dark and malignant figure in Holmes' subconscious. Freud and Watson conclude that Holmes, consciously unable to face the emotional ramifications of this event, has pushed them deep into his unconscious while finding outlets in fighting evil, pursuing justice, and many of his famous eccentricities, including his cocaine habit. However, they decide not to discuss these subjects with Holmes, believing that he would not accept them, and that it would needlessly complicate his recovery.

Watson returns to London, but Holmes decides to travel alone for a while, advising Watson to claim that he had been killed, and thus the famed "Great Hiatus" is more or less preserved. It is during these travels that the events of Meyer's sequel ''The Canary Trainer'' occur.

Jimmy Corrigan is a meek, lonely thirty-six-year-old man who meets his father for the first time in the fictional town of Waukosha, Michigan, over Thanksgiving weekend. Jimmy is an awkward and cheerless character with an overbearing mother and a very limited social life. After an ill-timed phone call, Jimmy agrees to meet his father without telling his mother. The experience is stressful for him as he can barely communicate with anyone other than his mother, let alone his estranged father. The two do very little together and Jimmy's father, while well-intentioned, comes off to Jimmy as slightly racist and inconsiderate. A parallel story set in the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 shows Jimmy's grandfather as a lonely little boy and his difficult relationship with an abusive father, Jimmy's great-grandfather.

The book takes place over a two-month period in late 1991 / early 1992, with occasional flashbacks to the expulsion of the Arabs, the beginning of the Intifada, the Gulf War and other events in the more immediate past. Sacco spent this time meeting with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the narrative focuses on the minute details of everyday life in these area.

In ''Palestine'' Sacco positions himself knowingly as the westerner going to the Middle East to confront a reality unfamiliar to his American audience. Sacco does not delude himself that as a "neutral" observer he can remain invisible and have no effect on the events around him, instead accepting his role and concentrating on his personal experience of the situation. Though his goal is to document events and interview Palestinians he is affected by the reality of the occupied territories and cannot help but participate in, and comment on, demonstrations, funerals, roadblocks and encounters with soldiers. Towards the end he becomes even more active as he shares food and lodgings with the Palestinians he interviews and even breaks curfew with them while in the Gaza Strip.

In the book Sacco references Joseph Conrad's ''Under Western Eyes'', ''Heart of Darkness'', and Edward Said's ''Orientalism'' to draw links between the situation he is witnessing and colonialism. Towards the end of the book, when challenged by an Israeli that he hasn't experienced their point of view, he responds that the Israeli point of view is what he has internalized his whole life, and although another trip would be necessary to fully experience Israel, that was not why he was there.

''Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron'' is about a man named Clay Loudermilk and his attempts to locate his estranged wife, Barbara Allen. (The song "the Ballad of Barbara Allen" forms a commentary on the story with its elements of unrequited love, loss, and death.) For reasons unknown, Clay is in the audience at a porno theatre when he sees a bizarre BDSM feature (also titled ''Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron''), the star dominatrix of which is revealed to be his wife. Clay sets out to locate her and becomes embroiled in a series of misadventures involving an incredibly bizarre and varied cast of supporting characters. Clay is victimized by two crazed policemen, meets a religious cult led by a mass-murderer who intend to overthrow the American government, conspiracy theorists who believe that the reins of the world's political power somehow revolve around a series of dime store novelty figures, an inhumanly malformed, potato-like young woman and her nymphomaniacal mother, and various other freaks and weirdos. During one dream sequence, the infamous Foot Foot, from the song by The Shaggs, gnaws on Clay's leg.

The happy-face icon of "Mr. Jones" also appears in various places through the story (reminiscent of Alfred E. Neuman, the mascot of ''Mad'' magazine, whose image dates at least back into the 1800s). Images of Mr. Jones are tattooed into people, carved on to Clay's foot, as a ghost-like character, in Hitler's birthmark, and on the sign for Value Ape shops. It signifies the way in which logos pervade our societies, and links to the conspiracy elements of the story. The true nature of the potato-woman's father is never learned by Mr. Loudermilk, but the reader will see suggestions of the Cthulhu Mythos. The phrase "Kenneth, what is the frequency?", referencing the bizarre Dan Rather incident (some years before the R.E.M. song did the same thing), is used as part of the "Mr. Jones" conspiracy sub-plot. There are, in addition, references to child pornography and snuff films.

''David Boring'' is a story told in the first person by its eponymous protagonist, concerning his sometimes fantastic and sometimes mundane exploits and misadventures in and out of big city life.

Much of the plot of the book concerns David's attempt to obtain a woman whom he considers his feminine ideal, based largely on the characteristics of his first cousin, Pamela, with whom he shared some innocent adolescent kisses at a family summer retreat. Soon after attending the funeral of a friend, David meets, dates, and is abandoned by Wanda, a woman whom he considers the perfect fulfillment of this ideal. After sinking into an all-consuming depression for weeks, David is shot in the head by an unknown attacker in front of his own home, but survives with only a small dent in his forehead.

David, his mother, their extended family, and David's roommate and friend Dot all end up stranded on a small island, Hulligan's Wharf, which the family owns and uses for vacations. David's great-uncle August shows up, proclaims that terrorist gas attacks have contaminated the mainland, and later dies. While on the island, David has a sexual tryst with his mother's cousin, Mrs. Capon, who later disappears that very night. At the same time, Dot has begun a relationship with Iris, Mrs. Capon's daughter, who is married to Manfred. Manfred tries to kill Dot by drugging her and throwing her into the water while she sleeps, but she wakes up in time to grab Iris, beat up Manfred, and escape by boat.

When word gets around that David suspects Manfred of killing Mrs. Capon as well, Manfred tries to pummel him, but is stopped by Mr. Hulligan, the island's caretaker. When the food runs out, David and Mr. Hulligan are abandoned by Manfred and David's mother, and barely make it ashore on a makeshift raft. They discover (as Mr. Hulligan believed all along) that the terrorist attack was not the world-ending catastrophe August had believed.

David returns home and begins a relationship with a woman named Naomi. He soon discovers that the man who shot him was a professor named Karkes, who was similarly abandoned by Wanda, and assumed that she had left him for David. He and Karkes enter into a strange friendship, discussing their mutual obsession with Wanda and attempting to track her down. In his search, David meets Judy, Wanda's sister, who resembles her strongly. David decides that, contrary to his earlier belief that Wanda was the fulfillment of his ideal, Wanda was in fact merely a flawed version of Judy. His relationship with Naomi falls apart, and she flees to Norway, fearing further terrorist attacks on America.

Judy is attracted to David, but is worried about her husband. After they meet and kiss, her husband shows up at David's apartment and knocks him unconscious with a baseball bat. Meanwhile, Dot's relationship with Iris has failed, and Iris leaves her for Agent Roy Smith, who is investigating the murders of Mrs. Capon and Whitey. Smith resolves to frame David and Dot for Whitey's murder, in order to eliminate any competition for Iris, whom he marries.

David and Karkes track Wanda down to a weird cult commune, finding that Wanda is the only one there, the others having "gone on." Neither David nor Karkes asks what that means. Although David and Karkes agree to "let the best man win," David intends to deceive and defeat Karkes by letting him have Wanda, whom he considers a lesser version of Judy. David loudly and publicly declares his love for Judy, but this only earns him another beating at the hands of her husband.

David aimlessly wanders his way around the docks, where he is tracked down by Smith and his superior, Lieutenant Anemone. Smith tries to shoot David, but only grazes his head before Smith and Anemone are both shot by Dot. The two escape to Hulligan's Wharf, where David finds his long-lost cousin Pamela and her baby. She fled to the island for her child's safety, and has several months of food supply, planning to start a vegetable garden so that they can survive indefinitely. David and Pamela begin an adult relationship.

The group spends more than four months on the island with no sign of the police or poison gas. The occurrence of further terrorist attacks is suggested, but not directly stated. At the book's end, David expresses the conviction that he is happy and thankful, and does not care how long he has to live. The question of whether the pair have days, weeks, months, or years of bliss is never answered.

In 1880 Edinburgh, Professor Sir Oliver Lindenbrook, a geologist at the University of Edinburgh, is given a piece of volcanic rock by his admiring student, Alec McEwan. Finding the rock unusually heavy, Lindenbrook discovers a plumb bob inside bearing a cryptic inscription. Lindenbrook and Alec discover that it was left by a scientist named Arne Saknussemm, who, almost 300 years earlier, had found a passage to the center of the Earth by descending into the volcano Snæfellsjökull, in western Iceland. After translating the message, Lindenbrook immediately sets off with Alec to follow in the Icelandic pioneer's footsteps.

Professor Göteborg, upon receiving correspondence from Lindenbrook regarding the message, attempts to reach the Earth's center first. Lindenbrook and McEwan chase him to Iceland. There, Göteborg and his assistant kidnap and imprison them in a cellar. They are freed by local Hans Bjelke, and his pet duck Gertrud. They later find Göteborg dead in his hotel room. Lindenbrook finds potassium cyanide crystals in Göteborg's goatee and concludes that he was murdered.

Göteborg's widow, Carla, who initially believed Lindenbrook was trying to capitalize on her deceased husband's work, learns the truth. She provides the equipment and supplies that her husband had accumulated, including much sought after Ruhmkorff lamps, but only on the condition that she accompanies them to protect her husband's reputation. Lindenbrook grudgingly agrees. Hans and Gertrud also join the new expedition.

On a specific date, they mark the sunrise's exact location on Snæfellsjökull and descend into the Earth from there, following markings left by Saknussemm. However, they are not alone. Göteborg's murderer, Count Saknussemm, believes that, as Saknussemm's descendant, only he has the right to be there. He and his manservant trail the group secretly. When Alec becomes separated from the others, he almost trips over the servant's dead body. When Alec refuses to take the servant's place, Saknussemm shoots Alec in the arm. Lindenbrook locates them from the multiple echos of the pistol shot and after a quick trial for murder sentences Saknussemm to death. No one is willing to execute him, however, so they reluctantly must take him along.

The explorers eventually come upon a subterranean ocean. They construct a raft to cross it, but not before narrowly escaping a family of ''Dimetrodons''. Their raft begins circling in a large mid-ocean whirlpool. The professor deduces that this must be the center of the Earth: The magnetic forces of north and south meet there and are powerful enough to snatch away even the gold in their rings and tooth fillings. Now completely exhausted, they reach the opposite shore.

While the others are asleep, a hungry Saknussemm catches and eats Gertrud. When Hans finds out, he rushes at the count, but is pulled off by Lindenbrook and McEwan. Reeling back, Saknussemm inadvertently loosens a column of large stones and is buried beneath them, killing him. Right behind the collapse, the group comes upon the ruins of the sunken city of Atlantis. They also find the remains of Arne Saknussemm. The right hand of his skeleton points toward a volcanic chimney. While a strong updraft suggests it leads directly to the surface, a giant rock partially blocks the way. Lindenbrook decides to blow up the obstruction with gunpowder left by Saknussemm, and they take shelter in a large sacrificial altar bowl. A giant monitor lizard, ''Megalania'' attacks, but is completely covered by molten lava released by the explosion. The bowl floats atop the moving lava toward the passage and is driven upward at great speed by a lava plume, finally reaching the surface. Lindenbrook, Carla, and Hans are thrown into the sea by the eruption, while Alec lands naked in a tree in a convent's orchard.

When they return to Edinburgh, they are hailed as national heroes. Alec marries Lindenbrook's niece Jenny, and Lindenbrook and Carla kiss, a pledge of their coming wedding.

The film begins by detailing the troubled lives of the two brothers; each is experiencing a mid life crisis. With four young children, Uwe and his wife Petra find their obligations overburdening, having little compassion for the other's problems and constantly bickering. Uwe leaves for work after a particularly stressful morning, during which he once again argues with his wife; while at work as a real estate agent, his wife packs up most of their belongings and moves out. Uwe finds a note when he comes home and is immediately distressed to tears.

Meanwhile, his brother Gustav faces his own problems; though an enthusiast for Zen Buddhism, and outwardly more composed than his brother, Gustav's burdens are internal; he is afraid of making mistakes and also afraid of fear itself. Gustav plans a trip to a monastery in Monzen (far away from Tokyo) in order to find himself. Uwe, both greatly distressed and drunk, asks his brother to take him along. After much hesitation, Gustav agrees to buy his brother a ticket.

Episodes generally centered on the ghostly con-man Beetlejuice, his best friend Lydia, and their supernatural adventures together in both the Neitherworld and the "mortal world", a New England town called Peaceful Pines ("Winter River" in the film). As in the film, Lydia could summon Beetlejuice out of the Neitherworld (or go there herself) by calling his name three times. The series' humor relied heavily on sight gags, wordplay, and allusiveness. Many episodes, especially towards the end of the run, were parodies of famous movies, books, and TV shows. The episode "Brides of Funkenstein" was based on an idea submitted by a then-teenage girl, who was a fan of the show.

Throughout the entire series, Beetlejuice would often try to scam residents of the Neitherworld—and, sometimes, the "mortal world" as well (Lydia's parents were occasionally unwitting victims of his pranks)—by various means, from "baby-sitting" (in which he literally sits on the grotesque Neitherworld babies) to trying to beat them in an auto race.

Near the coastline of the Pacific Northwest, a pod of killer whales are peacefully swimming. The pod is tracked down by a group of whalers. One of them has a distinguishable set of three spots. The orca gets trapped and sent to the Northwest Adventure Park while his family is unable to help.

Months later in Portland, Oregon, Jesse, a troubled 12-year-old abandoned by his estranged mother six years earlier, fled from Cooperton until police catch him and fellow runaway Perry, who escapes, vandalizing the observation room within the park. On the night of his arrest, he encounters the orca named Willy. Jesse's social worker Dwight earns him a reprieve by finding him a foster home in Astoria and having him clean up the graffiti. His foster parents are the supportive and kind Annie and Glen Greenwood, but Jesse is initially unruly and hostile to them.

Jesse sees Willy again. He is regarded as surly and uncooperative by park employee Rae Lindley, but takes a liking to Jesse's harmonica playing and later saves him from drowning one night. The two start a bond and Jesse also becomes friendly with Willy's keeper Randolph Johnson who witnessed Jesse's arrest the previous night. Randolph teaches him about his connection with Willy. Jesse is offered a job after probation, and also warms up to his new home.

Park owner Dial sees the talent Jesse and Willy have together in hopes of finally making money from Willy who has thus far been a costly venture for him. On opening day, however, Willy refuses to perform due to being antagonized. Jesse, unable to get him to do tricks while dealing with pressure from spectators, tearfully storms off and plans to find his mom. Willy cracks the tank with his stress-induced rage, having had enough of the children's constant banging. Later that night, Jesse says his farewell but notices Willy's family calling to him from the outside and realizes how miserable he is in captivity after discovering their voices responding to his cry. However, the discovery was cut short when Jesse spots Wade and several colleagues sneaking into the observation area to deliberately damage the tank enough that the water will gradually leak out and kill Willy, allowing them to cash in on $1,000,000 of insurance.

After Randolph reveals Dial's plan, Jesse hatches an idea to free Willy and also recruited Rae. They use the forklift to load him onto a trailer attached to Glen's truck Jesse and Randolph stole to tow him to Dawson's Marina. Wade meanwhile calls Dial about Willy being stolen. Dial tells him to call Wilson as he launches a search. Jesse, Randolph and Rae try to stay on the back roads to avoid being spotted, but eventually get stuck in the mud.

With Randolph and Rae unable to move the trailer, Jesse calls Glen and Annie using a CB radio in the truck. Glen and Annie show up and help free the truck, and continue while making a stop at a car wash. Once at the marina, Dial was already there after presumably figuring out their path. Glen smashes through the gate, turns the truck around and backs Willy into the water.

Willy is finally released but does not immediately move, seemingly having been on dry land for too long. Wade and the confederates attempt to interfere, but the group held them off long enough for him to swim away. With Jesse's encouragement, Willy finally begins to swim. Before he can make it, however, two of Dial's whaling ships seal off the marina. Jesse runs towards the breakwater, calling for Willy to follow him, drawing him away from the nets. Jesse goes to the edge and signals to Willy that if he makes the jump, it will be his highest and he'll be free. Jesse says a tearful goodbye, but pulls himself together and goes back to the top. He recites a Haida prayer Randolph had taught him through the story of Natselane, before giving Willy the signal. Willy finally makes the jump over the breakwater and lands in the ocean on the other side, free to return to his family, which a dismayed Dial and Wade could only watch. Jesse thanks Glen and Annie as Willy calls out to Jesse in the distance.

The story revolves around Quoyle, a newspaper reporter from upstate New York, whose father had emigrated from Newfoundland. Shortly after his parents' joint suicide, Quoyle's unfaithful and abusive wife, Petal Bear, leaves town with a lover and attempts to sell their daughters Bunny and Sunshine to sex traffickers. On her getaway, Petal and her lover are killed in a car accident; the young girls are located by police and returned to Quoyle. With selfish parents, an abusive brother, a cheating wife, and no stable job, Quoyle's life is falling apart. His paternal aunt, Agnis Hamm, convinces him to make a new beginning by returning to their ancestral home in Newfoundland.

There, they move into Agnis's childhood home, an empty and abandoned house on Quoyle's Point. Quoyle finds work as a reporter for the ''Gammy Bird'', the local newspaper in Killick-Claw, a small town. The ''Gammy Bird'' s editor asks him to cover traffic accidents (reminding him of Petal's fate) and also the shipping news, documenting the arrivals and departures of ships from the local port. His reporting develops as Quoyle's signature column.

Over time, Quoyle learns deep and disturbing secrets about his ancestors that emerge in strange ways. As Quoyle builds his new life in Newfoundland, he is transformed. He creates a rewarding job, makes friends and begins a relationship with a local woman, Wavey Prowse.

The series follows the adventures of three orphaned siblings. Lemony Snicket documents their lives and explains to the readers that very few positive things happen to the children.

The series begins when the orphans are at a beach alone, when they receive news that their parents were killed in a fire that also destroyed the family mansion. In ''The Bad Beginning'', they are sent to live with a distant relative named Count Olaf after briefly living with Mr. Poe, a banker in charge of the orphans' affairs. The siblings discover that Count Olaf intends to get his hands on the enormous Baudelaire fortune, which Violet is to inherit when she reaches the age of eighteen. In the first book, Olaf attempts to marry Violet to steal the Baudelaire fortune, and pretends that the marriage is the storyline for his latest play, but the plan falls through when Violet uses her non-dominant hand to sign the marriage document, thus causing the marriage to not be successful. After the crowd realizes, Olaf manages to escape with his henchmen.

In the following six books, Olaf disguises himself, finds the children, and, with help from his many accomplices, tries to steal their fortune, committing arson, murder, and other crimes. In the eighth through twelfth books, the orphans adopt disguises while on the run from the police after Count Olaf frames them for one of his murders. The Baudelaires routinely try to get help from Mr. Poe, but he, like many of the adults in the series, is oblivious to the dangerous reality of the children's situation.

As the books continue, another running plot is revealed concerning a mysterious secret organization known as the Volunteer Fire Department or V.F.D. From ''The Austere Academy'' onwards, the relationship between the Baudelaires, V.F.D., and their parents' deaths are slowly revealed, leading the siblings to question their previous lives and the history of their family. The siblings continue to get more involved with the organization until they are forced to flee with Count Olaf to an island where Olaf accidentally causes the deaths of himself and possibly the idyllic colonists of the island, whose fates are left unknown. Having finally found a safe place to live, the children spend the next year raising the baby of one of their parents' friends from V.F.D. who died giving birth to the child. After a year, the siblings decide to try to return to the mainland to continue their lives.

After being scanned by an unknown alien spaceship, the ''Enterprise'' crew discover that their memories, along with those of the ship's computer, have been partially erased. Although they retain their practical knowledge and skills, none of the crew can remember who their crewmates are, and have forgotten their own identities. Mysteriously, during the scan, an additional crewmember, in an officer's uniform, with the rank of commander, has joined the group on the bridge.

The bridge crew attempts to gain control of the situation, and Worf—wearing his baldric— assumes because he is decorated that he is the captain of the ship, and assumes command. Data, with the memory files identifying who he is unavailable, and based on where he was when the scan happened, assumes the job of bartender in Ten Forward.

After considerable time, the ship's computer memory is finally reached, and La Forge brings up the manifest of the senior staff members. Among the bridge crew is listed the mysterious new member who is identified as Commander Kieran MacDuff, the executive officer. The computer also reveals what is apparently the ''Enterprise'''s mission: According to the orders, the ''Enterprise'' is part of a fleet of vessels fighting a decades-old war with the Lysians. Their current assignment is to destroy the Lysian central command headquarters, which they are to do while maintaining communications silence. Worf apologises to Picard for taking over but is assured he and the rest of the crew were simply doing their best.

In the meantime, Ensign Ro concludes that she and Commander Riker are likely romantically connected, and pursues this relationship. The two had been bickering about rank and proper procedure prior to the memory loss. Meanwhile Deanna Troi also realizes she has feelings for the commander and finds evidence which supports their past relationship.

Doctor Crusher works to restore the memories of the crew, a process complicated when it's found that the medical records for the crew have been destroyed. She tries an experimental procedure on MacDuff, who apparently reacts poorly to the treatments, but later smiles when Crusher turns away.

Continuing toward the target, the ''Enterprise'' encounters a Lysian ship, which is easily destroyed. Picard becomes concerned with how mismatched the firepower of the ''Enterprise'' is compared to her supposed enemies. Picard complains to MacDuff that he feels as though he has been given a weapon, taken into a room and told to shoot a stranger. Ultimately, when faced with the Lysian central command, drastically incapable of fighting them off and with 15,311 people on board, Picard calls off the mission, stating that he does not fire on defenseless people. Angered by this action, MacDuff attempts to take control of the ''Enterprise'', throwing Lt Worf across the bridge when Worf attempts to restrain him. Riker then fires a phaser at MacDuff, revealing that MacDuff is some manner of alien. MacDuff struggles to activate the ship's weapons, but Riker and Worf defeat him by simultaneously firing their phasers at him, causing him to collapse.

Dr. Crusher is able to restore memories to the crew. The alien is identified as a Satarran, who are at war with the Lysians so they plotted to hijack the ''Enterprise'' and tilt the war in their favor.

Riker remains uneasy when he encounters Troi and Ro in the Ten Forward bar. Troi assumes his actions resulted from subconscious desires and curtly informs him that "if you're still confused tomorrow, you know where my office is."

As the story opens, a dancer is performing feats of astonishing virtuosity on stage. Afterward, in the dressing room, while preparing to depart for his other job as a neurosurgeon, the dancer reminisces to a reporter about what made him take up dancing. The rest of the story is told as a flashback.

James Stevens, Chief Engineer of North American Power-Air (NAPA), is desperate to discover what is causing vehicles driven by broadcast power to cease functioning. Society has harnessed cheap atomic power, broadcast by NAPA, to run homes, factories, ground vehicles, and even personal aircraft which can travel into space. If the failures continue, not only will he lose his job but the entire power system of the country could collapse.

The heart of the technology is the "deKalb receptor". The deKalbs are failing, and no one can identify the cause. In desperation, Stevens approaches Doc Grimes, a physician who has known Waldo since birth, to try to persuade Waldo to help. Waldo has a grudge against NAPA after losing a legal battle with them some years before.

Waldo lives on a space station in high orbit, where microgravity allows him to move around despite his weakness. He makes his living as a consulting engineer, with a specialty in fine motor skills.

Once Grimes reveals Stevens' purpose, Waldo turns hostile. Nothing would persuade him to help NAPA. Stevens leaves, but Grimes has a few words with Waldo, pointing out where his food comes from and so forth. Waldo reluctantly takes the case, but Grimes insists on one more condition: Waldo must figure out what effect broadcast power has on humans. Grimes is seeing a slow weakening of the human physique, and he blames the radiant power industry.

Stevens returns to Earth, to find that McLeod, one of his engineers who had experienced a power failure in his personal craft, has returned. He tells Stevens that he fixed the deKalbs. McLeod broke down in Pennsylvania Dutch country, where he grew up. Visiting an old hex doctor known as Gramps Schneider, McLeod let him look at the deKalbs. Schneider announced that "now the fingers will make", meaning the antennas on the deKalbs will work. McLeod finds to his surprise that the deKalbs are indeed functional. However he has a surprise for Stevens. In operation, the antennas now flex and wiggle like fingers reaching for something.

Waldo, meanwhile, having satisfied himself that the deKalbs really are having basic problems, also realizes that Grimes is right. Then he gets a call from NAPA's head of research, Dr. Rambeau, who seems to have come unhinged. Having seen the wiggling deKalbs, he announces that he knows what is happening. "Magic is loose in the world!" he tells Waldo. He shows Waldo some seemingly impossible tricks he can do now that he understands magic. Waldo calls Stevens to have Rambeau brought to him, but Stevens reports that Rambeau somehow escaped from his restraints without actually unfastening them. Not only that, he has made another set of deKalbs behave as strangely as McLeod's. Waldo asks to have Rambeau's notes and equipment shipped up to him.

Seeing the eccentric deKalbs, Waldo realizes that he must learn what happened to them. Schneider will not leave his home, so Waldo has to go back to Earth, an experience he dreads. Shipped down in a medical craft, with Grimes in attendance, he lies in his waterbed while Schneider examines him. Schneider thinks he should get up and walk, but Waldo protests he cannot. Schneider tells him he must "reach out for the power". According to Schneider, the "Other World is close by and full of power", waiting only for someone to grab it. In Schneider's hands, Waldo does indeed experience a sense of well-being, and is able to lift up a coffee cup one-handed for the first time in his life.

Schneider explains an old philosophy, how something which can be true for this world might not be for the Other World. Since our minds sit in the Other World, this is important. McLeod, according to Schneider, was "tired and fretful", and found one of the "bad truths", causing the deKalbs to fail. Schneider simply looked for the other truth, and the deKalbs worked again.

At first Waldo thinks the journey wasted. He tries Schneider's methods on a failed deKalb. To his astonishment, they begin to work in just the same fashion as McLeod's. Stevens calls him to say that things are getting much worse. Waldo, thrown off balance by the "impossible" thing he has just seen, decides to twit Stevens with Rambeau's words: "Magic is loose in the world!"

Waldo realizes that Stevens' and Grimes' problems are related. Radiant power is affecting the human nervous system. People feel weak, rundown, fretful, and somehow transfer their malaise to the deKalbs. He also realizes something that Stevens has not noticed. The repaired deKalbs work without broadcast power. Apparently they draw energy from Schneider's "Other World".

Waldo uses this to exact his revenge. Summoning NAPA's representatives to his home, he demonstrates that he can fix deKalbs and can train others to fix them. The repairs are 100% reliable, he asserts. Having received their formal acknowledgment that he has fulfilled his contract, he unveils the "Jones-Schneider deKalb", a Rube Goldberg contraption which appears to draw power from nowhere. He tells them that with this he can put NAPA out of business. Of course, NAPA offers a settlement from which Waldo profits hugely, even though the new deKalb is a repaired one with a lot of distracting technology attached.

Eventually Waldo realizes that he himself can draw strength from the Other World. Tricking Grimes and Stevens into taking him to Earth again, he walks out of the craft, almost causing Grimes to have a heart attack.

Flash-forwarding back to the dancer, who is Waldo, we see him depart the dressing room with great ''bonhomie''. His principal assistant is the former chairman of the board at North American Power-Air.

Arthur Mersault's friend Raymond beats his girlfriend and is sued by her. In court, Mersault testifies to his friend's advantage. Raymond is off the hook, but now his girlfriend's male relatives stalk Mersault. He shoots one of them and ends up in prison.

Powerful New York City media publicist Ollie Trinké's wife, Gertrude, dies during childbirth due to an aneurysm. To avoid his grief, he buries himself in his work and ignores his new daughter, Gertie, while his father, Bart, whose own wife died many years earlier, takes a month off from work to take care of her, later returning to work to force his son to live up to his responsibility as a single parent. Stressed by a botched diaper change and a crying baby, he insults his client, Will Smith, in front of assembled reporters. He is consequently fired and moves back in with Bart in New Jersey. He eventually apologizes for ignoring Gertie and attributes his public outburst to his grief.

Blacklisted by all of New York City's public relations firms, Ollie has to work as a civil servant in the borough where he now lives. Seven years later, Gertie, now in elementary school, often coaxes him to rent films to watch. At the video store, they meet Maya, a graduate student and one of the clerks, whose uninhibited probing into Ollie's love life almost leads to them having sex. She soon enters their lives.

As part of his job in the borough, Ollie speaks to a group of outraged citizens to win over their approval for a major public works project that will temporarily close a street in the neighborhood. His successful and enjoyable interaction with them makes him realize how much he misses public relations work. He contacts Arthur, his one-time protégé, who sets up a promising interview.

The prospect of moving back to New York City creates tension among Ollie, Gertie, Bart, and Maya, especially when he says that his interview is on the same day as Gertie's school talent show. She angrily yells at him for putting himself before her again, going as far as to say that she hates him and that she wishes he had died instead of her mother. He claims he hates her too, and says she and her mother took his life away and he just wants it back, which shocks everyone. He immediately tries to apologize, but the damage is done as she pushes him away and tearfully runs to her room. A few days later they reconcile, apologizing for their hurtful words, and she accepts that they will be moving to New York City. While waiting to be interviewed, he has a chance encounter with Will Smith. Smith is unaware who Ollie is, but their conversation about work and children persuades Ollie to skip the interview and leave.

Ollie rushes to make it to Gertie's ''Sweeney Todd'' performance at the last moment. The film ends with him, Gertie, Bart, Maya, and the rest celebrating at the bar. He and Maya hint at possible feelings for each other before Gertie interrupts them. He holds her in his arms and says that they are staying in New Jersey because he decided to not take the job. She asks why he did so if he loved it so much. He then says that he thought he did, but he loves his new life more because being a father to her was the only thing that he was ever really good at.

The Ankh-Morpork City Watch is expanding; there is now a Traffic department with traffic cameras implemented using iconograph technomancy and a wheel clamping team, and the clacks are beginning to replace homing pigeons for communications between officers. The Watch is also investigating the theft of the replica Scone of Stone (a parody of the real-life Stone of Scone) from the Ankh-Morpork Dwarf Bread Museum and the murder of Wallace Sonky, the inventor of preventatives.

Samuel Vimes, Commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch and Duke of Ankh, is sent to the remote region of Überwald as an ambassador to take advantage of the coronation of the Low King of the Dwarves to negotiate for increased imports of fat. (Underground fat deposits are abundant in Überwald as a fifth Discworld-supporting elephant impacted there in prehistoric times, according to legend.)

Überwald is the traditional home of the Disc's dwarfs. The election of the progressive Rhys Rhysson as Low King resulted from split opposition amongst various dwarf clans and the growing influence of Ankh-Morpork as the largest dwarf city on the Disc. A cabal of local werewolves seek to exploit this opportunity to destabilize the already deeply divided dwarf society. They instigate the apparent theft of the real Scone of Stone from its closely guarded cave, hoping to cause a civil war between traditionalist and progressive dwarfs and isolate the country under the werewolves' feudal leadership.

In his official capacity as ambassador Vimes meets the leaders of the local vampires, werewolves and dwarfs, starting to investigate the planned putsch along the way. Meanwhile, back in Ankh-Morpork, Angua, alerted by Gavin, a wolf and old friend, learns that her werewolf brother Wolfgang is the head of the conspiracy and sets out to Überwald to stop him. Consequently, Carrot also abandons the Watch and pursues her across the country, enlisting the talking dog Gaspode to follow her scent. This leaves Lord Vetinari to appoint an overburdened, incompetent Colon as acting captain.

As captain, Colon becomes increasingly strict and paranoid, punishing other members of the Watch by demoting, firing or fining them, often for minor or imagined infractions. He also starts acting in a pretentious 'officer-like' manner and makes a number of speciesist remarks about troll and dwarf officers (emulating Vimes but not having earned the same respect amongst the officers), leading to most Watchmen spending most of their time patrolling. Several officers leave the Watch to join those of the other Sto Plains cities for better pay, conditions and promotion prospects, with the number of Watchmen under Colon's command eventually dropping by two-thirds.

The Ankh-Morpork City Watch recover the replica Scone of Stone. It is undamaged, but they suspect that someone has made a replica of the replica. However, in response to Colon's refusal to pay the Watchmen (having burnt the pay chitty along with the rest of the mounting paperwork), Corporal Nobby Nobbs, who lost out on promotion as Colon's aide de camp, sets up the Guild of Watchmen in protest with himself as Guild President. The other members of the Watch join and protest against Colon, but eventually it dwindles to just Nobby, Constable Visit, zombie Constable Reg Shoe and golem Constable Dorfl. Crime falls to an all-time low, due to expectations by criminal organisations (Guilds included) of Vimes's imminent return. In Überwald, Vimes extends his activities to include an unofficial investigation into the theft of the real Scone of Stone. He rapidly determines that the dwarfs' system of guard on it is nothing like as secure as the dwarfs think it is and that the Scone could have been stolen in a number of different ways without too much difficulty, but nevertheless later concludes that it was not in fact stolen, but destroyed in situ and its remains concealed by mixing them with the sand on the floor of the cave.

Following an attempt on the Low King-designate's life, Vimes is wrongly imprisoned by the dwarfs but escapes with the help of Lady Margolota, Überwald's most senior vampire. In the forest of the wintry countryside he is tracked by the conspiring werewolves - forced by Wolfgang into playing "the game" he must outrun the werewolves. Carrot and Angua arrive just in time to save Vimes from the murderous pack.

Vimes' wife has been taken to the castle of Angua's werewolf family, so the commander and his entourage set out to save her. Managing to defeat the power-hungry Wolfgang, they are also able to restore the Scone of Stone. However, it is revealed that the Scone recovered is in fact the Ankh-Morpork-made copy, but it is accepted as the Scone of Stone is periodically replaced. It is used to compel the Low King's 'Ideas Taster' (advisor) Dee to confess to his role in its theft and the assassination attempt, being driven by jealousy of Ankh-Morporkian dwarves being allowed to be openly female.

Back in their embassy, Lady Sybil finally manages to tell Vimes that she is pregnant, but the Morporkians are once more attacked by Wolfgang. In a final stand-off, he resists arrest and is killed by Commander Vimes with a Clacks flare. With the Low King's regalia returned, the enthronement ceremony finally takes place, and Vimes is granted prime rates for fat imports to Ankh-Morpork, thus fulfilling his original mission, and presented with gifts by the Low King. As the Morporkian delegation leaves, the Low King implies that he is in fact female.

The book finishes with Carrot and Angua returning to Ankh-Morpork whilst Vimes and Lady Sybil take a second honeymoon. Carrot takes back his old rank of captain, returning Colon to his duties as a sergeant and ordering him and Nobby to gather the rest of the Watch together.

Though the first publication of the Series in three volumes combined the two novels ''Bonanza'' and ''The Juncto'', here the plots will be dealt with as separate entities, true to the author's original intention.

Bonanza

The beginning of ''Bonanza'' finds Jack Shaftoe awakened from a syphilitic blackout of nearly three years. During this time he was a pirate galley slave. The other members of his bench, a motley crew who call themselves "The Cabal" and who include men from Africa, the Far East and Europe, create a plot to capture silver illegally shipped from Central America by a Spanish Viceroy; they convince the Pasha of Algiers and their owner to sponsor this endeavor and negotiate for their freedom and a cut in the profit. They capture the ship, but upon boarding it, they find it full, not of silver as they had expected, but of gold. Fleeing the Spanish they are followed by a frigate in the employ of the duc d'Arcachon, an investor in their plan and a man who wishes to kill Jack for ruining a party in ''The King of the Vagabonds''. Believing the Duke plans to cheat the Cabal in the investment, they sail to Egypt and transport the gold over land to Cairo.

In Cairo the Cabal negotiates with d'Arcachon's men for a meeting with the duc himself; as an inducement for this meeting they offer to hand over Jack. Jack cuts off the head of the duc to avenge Eliza, whom the duc had enslaved over a decade earlier. Fighting ensues between the Cabal and d'Arcachon's musketeers. The Cabal manages to escape (short several of its members and a good portion of the gold), fleeing toward Mocha. Realizing that they are no longer welcome in any European port, they carry the gold to India, where they are captured by a pirate queen who takes the gold. The Cabal is left penniless and its members are dispersed. Some are recruited in the army of a local king. Jack ends up working in an animal hospital in Ahmedabad.

A year later, Jack reunites with a few members of the Cabal and conceives a plan to carry goods through a route that no traders can use because it is controlled by armies of plunderers. Jack shows the Cabal how to produce phosphorus from urine, and they use it to fight their way through. For this role in opening up the trade route, Jack is rewarded with a temporary, three-year kingship over an impoverished part of India. During his reign, Jack directs the construction of a ship made of durable teak wood, using funds invested by the pirate queen who had seized the Cabal's gold, and Sophie, Electress of Hanover. Jack contemplates naming the ship directly after Eliza, with whom he is desperate to be reunited, but on the alchemist Enoch's advice that this could create political complications for the Duchess, Jack ultimately christens the vessel ''Minerva'' instead.

The Cabal carries watered steel and other valuable items from India to Japan, and trades them for mercury. Mercury fetches a high price in the Americas, which need it for use in silver mines. A Spanish galleon secretly agrees to show ''Minerva'' the way across the Pacific and help them establish trade in the Americas. The galleon sinks, and ''Minerva'' takes on the two sole survivors, one of whom is Edmund de Ath. Jack, another member of the Cabal, and de Ath are imprisoned and tortured by the Spanish Inquisition but are able to buy their way out with silver that they got in trade for mercury.

Jack receives a letter from Eliza urging him to meet her in Qwghlm. Laden with precious metals, ''Minerva'' sails there only to find that the invitation was a trap; the French capture them and seize their gold and silver. The letter had been faked by Edmund de Ath, actually Édouard de Gex in disguise, who had been working with Vrej, one of the Cabal members, who believed his family had been wronged by Jack. ''Minerva'' and her crew are allowed to leave sans cargo, but Jack is imprisoned by the duc d'Arcachon, son of the man whose head Jack cut off in Cairo, and husband of Eliza. Upon discovering the deceit, Vrej kills the duc d'Arcachon, before committing suicide to prevent retaliation upon his family. The duc had planned to imprison Jack for the rest of his life, but the King of France Louis XIV frees him in order to enlist his help in sacking the Tower of London (and thereby England's mint) in order to cripple the enemy country's economy.

The Juncto

The book opens explaining how Bob Shaftoe had come into possession of the correspondence of d'Avaux, the French diplomat whom Eliza had fooled as a double agent for William of Orange in ''Quicksilver''. Eliza has been captured by Jean Bart in an attempt to escape to England, and is confined to a house in Dunkerque. There both her lover Rossignol, the King's cryptographer, and d'Avaux rush to her. Under blackmail by d'Avaux, Eliza concedes in indefinitely loaning the vast fortune she has earned through trade in Amsterdam to fund the King's war efforts.

Her loss of fortune forces Eliza to return to court life, where she learns that the duc d'Arcachon was the man who had enslaved her and her mother from the isle of Qwghlm. Eliza soon begins plotting to kill him. However, before she can do so, she learns of d'Arcachon's death at the hands of Jack. Jack had pronounced over the body of d'Arcachon that he killed him for a lover. Upon the return of his head to France, d'Avaux realizes who the lover of Jack is. Before Eliza's relationship with Jack can be revealed, Eliza marries Étienne, the son of the duc and becomes Duchess d'Arcachon.

After the marriage, however, Eliza's illegitimate child with Rossignol is kidnapped under the orders of Lothar von Hacklheber in order to maintain leverage over her. To exact her revenge, Eliza engages in a series of financial maneuvers involving the French preparations to invade England. The invasion is ultimately called off in the aftermath of the Battles of Barfleur and La Hogue, but Eliza's manipulations succeed at making her wealthier than ever, while bringing the house of Hacklheber to its knees.

The story refocuses on Bob Shaftoe, as he and the Black Torrent Guard participate in William III's campaign against James II in Ireland.

The second half of the book follows the lives of Eliza, Leibniz, Newton, Waterhouse, and Sophia Charlotte over the next 10 years. Waterhouse confronts Newton over his increasingly unstable behavior and his fruitless attempts to derive a "theory of everything" under the enabling influence of Newton's close friend Fatio. Several characters from the Royal Society form "the Juncto", a society that aims to reignite the British commerce through a monetary reform. The Juncto creates the Bank of England and offers Newton a job as the director of the Mint. Eliza is infected with smallpox, but survives. She meets her old friend Princess Eleanor, who was exiled to a dower-house by her second husband, John George IV; she pays him back by infecting him with smallpox as well, and he turns out not to be as lucky. Princess Eleanor dies, and her daughter, Caroline, is adopted by Sophia Charlotte. Caroline turns out to be a bright girl with an interest in natural sciences and she soon forms a friendship with Leibniz.

The story ends in 1702 with Eliza a wealthy duchess of Arcachon and Qwghlm and a widow, Newton at the head of the London Mint, Waterhouse having made the decision to move to Massachusetts and to work on his Logic Mill away from European distractions, Sophia Charlotte the queen of the newly formed Kingdom of Prussia, and Leibniz the president of Prussian Academy of Sciences.

The game is set in Persia during the 9th century AD, and begins with the Prince narrating to an unseen listener about his adventures. The Prince and the army of his father Shahraman are passing through India to visit the Sultan of Azad. The Vizier of a local Maharaja, wanting to prevent his death using a substance known as the Sands of Time, entices them into attacking the Maharaja's palace, where the Sands are stored. During the fight, the Prince loots an artefact called the Dagger of Time, and the Maharaja's daughter Farah is taken as a gift for the Sultan of Azad. Visiting Azad, the Vizier tricks the Prince into releasing the Sands, turning everyone but the Prince, the Vizier and Farah (protected by the Dagger, a staff and a medallion respectively) into monsters. The Vizier attempts to seize the Dagger from the Prince, but he escapes and eventually allies with Farah to undo the damage he has caused and prevent the Sands from covering the world, even though he has doubts about her loyalties and motives.

Despite mistrusting each other, the Prince and Farah gradually fall in love. After navigating the palace of Azad and reaching the hourglass of the Sands in the Tower of Dawn, the Prince hesitates when following Farah's instructions on containing the Sands, unsure of whether to trust her as he has reoccurring visions of her stealing the Dagger from him. The Vizier ambushes them and they barely escape with the Dagger, ending up in a tomb beneath the city. As they try to find their way out of the tomb, Farah recounts a childhood story to the Prince that she has never told anyone else. Eventually finding shelter in a mysterious bathhouse, Farah seduces the Prince into the bath and they end up having sex with each other. When the Prince wakes back in the palace, he realizes that Farah stole the Dagger while he was asleep and left the Prince her medallion to protect himself. He follows her and only just manages to catch her as she is driven over a ledge above the hourglass by monsters. To save the Prince, Farah allows herself to fall to her death. As the Prince mourns over her, the Vizier offers him eternal life in exchange for the Dagger. The Prince refuses and stabs the hourglass with the Dagger.

Time rewinds to before the attack on the Maharaja's palace, and the Prince, still in possession of the Dagger and his memories, runs ahead to warn Farah of the Vizier's treachery. It is now revealed that the Prince has been recounting his tale to Farah, and as he finishes, the Vizier enters to kill him. The Prince kills the Vizier and returns the Dagger to Farah, who believes his narrative was just a story. The Prince passionately kisses Farah but she rebukes him because she no longer has any memory of ever having fallen in love with him. The Prince promptly rewinds time to undo his kiss. In parting, the Prince mentions a private word Farah told him during their time in the tomb, leaving her amazed and proving to her that what he had told her was indeed real.

A slaughterhouse process follows the unloading of cattle to the making of sausages. A wristwatch and a shoe appear on a conveyor line, making it clear that a human cadaver is processed among the cattle. A woman operating the sausage machine is interrupted by "Weenie", who has timed the machine using his watch. He wraps up a string of sausages, then marks the package with an address in Chicago.

Weenie is the brother of "Mary Ann", the crooked operator of the slaughterhouse in Kansas City, Kansas. The particular sausages that Weenie was wrapping were made from the remains of an enforcer from the Chicago Irish Mob sent to Kansas City to collect $500,000 from Mary Ann.

After the head of the Irish Mob in Chicago receives the package, he contacts Nick Devlin, an enforcer with whom he has worked previously, to go to Kansas City to collect the debt. He tells Devlin about the sausages and that another enforcer sent to Kansas City was found floating in the Missouri River.

Devlin agrees to the fee of $50,000 and asks for some additional muscle. He gets a driver and three other younger members of the Irish Mob as help, including the young O'Brien, who makes Devlin meet his mother as he leaves Chicago.

It is later revealed that Devlin and Mary Ann have a shared history involving Mary Ann's wife Clarabelle, who previously had an affair with Devlin. In Kansas City at a flophouse, Devlin finds Weenie in an upstairs room. He beats him up and tells him to inform Mary Ann that he is in town to collect the debt.

The next day, Devlin and his men drive to the prairie and find Mary Ann in a barn, where he is entertaining guests at a white slave (prostitute) auction. Devlin demands the money from Mary Ann, who tells him to come to the county fair the next day to get it. Mary Ann tells him Chicago is "an old sow, begging for cream" that should be melted down.

As they are standing by a cattle pen with naked young women offered for auction, one of them, Poppy, begs Devlin for help. Devlin takes her with him "on account." Back at the hotel, she tells Devlin her history of growing up at an orphanage in Missouri with her close friend, Violet, before they were brought to the slave auction.

At the county fair, in the midst of a livestock judging competition, Mary Ann gives Devlin a box that supposedly contains the money. When Devlin cracks the box open, he finds it contains only beef hearts. Devlin is able to escape with Poppy after Violet distracts Weenie, who claimed her after the auction.

Mary Ann's men chase Devlin, his men and Poppy through the fair. O'Brien is killed underneath a viewing stand. Devlin and Poppy run into a nearby wheat field, where they escape detection. When they try to leave the field, they are chased by a combine harvester operator. Poppy falls. They are about to be sliced up by the machine's blades, until...

Devlin and Poppy are saved by the arrival of Devlin's men in their car, which they abandon and let ram into the front of the combine. Devlin's driver shoots the combine operator. The entire car is demolished by the threshing apparatus and turned into bales of hay and metal.

They hitch a ride back into Kansas City on a truck. Devlin jumps off near the river and sends the rest of them with Poppy back into town. He enters a houseboat, the luxurious accommodation of Clarabelle, purchased for her by Mary Ann; she is there alone. He gets information on the whereabouts of Mary Ann while surmising that she was the one pushing Mary Ann to cut out Chicago. Clarabelle attempts to seduce him, but he rebuffs her. Clarabelle tells him she would be perfectly happy being a widow and joining Devlin again. He responds by setting the houseboat adrift on the river, with an angry Clarabelle aboard.

When he returns to the hotel, Devlin finds an ambulance, with one of his men being hauled away. He learns that Mary Ann's men ambushed them and took Poppy. When he returns to Weenie's hotel to look for him, he finds that Violet has been gang-raped, apparently as a warning of what will happen to Poppy.

He and his two remaining men drive out to Mary Ann's farm to finally take care of business. On the way, Devlin takes out a Smith & Wesson M76 submachine gun from a case.

Devlin stops the car on the edge of a field of sunflowers near Mary Ann's farm. They approach the farm through the field and engage in a long gun battle with Mary Ann's men, a seemingly infinite number of identical men wearing bib overalls. Both of Devlin's men are hit. He tells them to stay behind while he advances with the submachine gun. Unable to get past Mary Ann's men, he stops a truck hauling livestock, commandeers it and uses it to ram the gate and smash into the greenhouse on the farm, demolishing it.

Devlin kills several of Mary Ann's men, then advances into the barn where Mary Ann and his brother are holding Poppy. From behind an apparently bulletproof bale of hay, he hits Mary Ann, who falls seriously injured down into a pig pen. Enraged at seeing his brother shot, Weenie runs toward Devlin, who kills him. As he dies, Weenie tries to stab Devlin with a sausage.

Devlin carries Poppy out of the barn. They pass the mortally wounded Mary Ann, flat on his back, next to a sow pen. Mary Ann taunts Devlin to kill him, telling him to finish him off, like he would an animal. Devlin tells him that since Mary Ann is a man, not an animal, he won't do that. He walks away, leaving Mary Ann to die on his back.

In the final scene, Devlin and Poppy go back to the Missouri orphanage and demand the release of the rest of the girls. When the matron resists, Poppy knocks her out, to the approval of Devlin. As they walk away Devlin tells her they're going back to Chicago, and when Poppy asks what it's like, he replies it's "as peaceful as anyplace anywhere".

A young woman named Marie (Ducey) lives with her boyfriend, Paul (Stévenin), who refuses to have sex with her. She searches for intimacy beyond the bounds of traditional sexual limitations. She has a sexual relationship with Paolo (Siffredi), whom she meets in a bar. Her frustration also drives her to a series of relationships, until she engages in sadomasochism with an older man.

In the distant past a corrupt monk, Draak, turned against the goddess of light, Kaliba, and turned himself into a dragon. However, he was eventually thwarted from destroying the world via the Time Orb, created from seven of Kaliba's tears. To protect the Time Orb from Draak's followers, it was split apart again by Kaliba's monks and the seven crystals hidden across the four lands of Uma.

The game begins when Draak has recovered from his earlier defeat and returned with his minions to the world of Uma. As part of his return he has created the Darkstone, which drains life energy from Uma, bringing death and mayhem. Players take on the role of an adventurer who has to recreate the Time Orb and use this to slay Draak in his lair.

Beginning in an unnamed village, the player can choose from a range of characters (warrior/Amazon, wizard/sorceress, assassin/thief and monk/priestess) and from here they quest across the four lands of Uma - Ardyl, Marghor, Omar and Serkesh - to solve quests, kill the evil creatures roaming the lands and delve into dungeons to locate the seven crystals to form the Time Orb. At some point in the gameplay the Darkstone itself erupts out of the ground in the village, switching the game from the previous colour scheme of a sunny day to more oppressive purples.

There are seven crystals to be found after completing quests in the dungeons: the purple Crystal of Wisdom, the red Crystal of Virtue, the blue Crystal of Bravery, the yellow Crystal of Nobility, the turquoise Crystal of Compassion, the green Crystal of Integrity and the grey Crystal of Strength. These are magically reassembled by the hermit Sebastian to form the crystal Time Orb.

Villagers will ask the player to do optional quests in return for money, either retrieving artifacts or killing an infamous monster, and are randomly selected for each new game. The artifacts are the Holy Grail, the Royal Diadem, the Shield of Light, the Unicorn's Horn, the Horn of Plenty, the Dragon's Scale, the Magic Anvil, the Path Book, the Medallion of Melchior, the Sacred Scroll, the Stone of Souls, the Cursed Sword, the Storm Flower, the Claw of Sargon, the Celestial Harp, the Bard's Music Score and the Broken Vase. The monsters are the ratman Buzbal the Furious, the vampire Nosferatu and the skeletal Evil Garth.

The crystal quests are found by exploring the lands of Uma to find NPCs who send you into nearby dungeons.

In Okinawa, an Azumi priestess has a vision of a city being destroyed by a giant monster. Meanwhile, Masahiko Shimizu discovers a type of metal not found on Earth while spelunking and takes it to Professor Miyajima for examination. An excavation led by Masahiko's brother Keisuke uncovers a chamber filled with ancient artifacts and a mural bearing an ominous prophecy: "''When a black mountain appears above the clouds, a huge monster will arise and try to destroy the world; but when the red moon sets and the sun rises in the west, two monsters shall appear to save the people.''" Keisuke is joined by archaeologist Saeko Kaneshiro, who translates the prophecy and takes a statue bearing the likeness of Okinawa's guardian monster King Caesar to study. Two men stalk them, with one claiming to be a reporter while the other attempts to steal the statue, but fails and flees.

Following the appearance of a black cloud resembling a mountain, Godzilla emerges from Mount Fuji and begins a destructive rampage despite having become tolerant of humans within the past years. Godzilla's ally, Anguirus, confronts him, only to be nearly killed and forced to retreat. Keisuke arrives shortly after to check on Masahiko and Miyajima. Godzilla's rampage continues until another (and the real) Godzilla emerges and battles it. During the fight, the first Godzilla is revealed to be an imposter called Mechagodzilla, a massive robot armed with advanced weaponry made of the same strange metal, later revealed to be space titanium. Godzilla is severely wounded, but inflicts some damage on Mechagodzilla before both monsters retreat. Miyajima hypothesizes, based on Mechagodzilla's advanced technology and composition, that the robot is an alien superweapon.

Keisuke and Saeko take the statue back to the temple, but are confronted by the thief once again. During the fight, the skin on half of the stranger's face melts away, revealing an ape-like visage. The intruder attempts to kill Keisuke, but a bullet from an unseen gunman kills him before Keisuke and Saeko catch a brief glimpse of the reporter. Concurrently, Godzilla arrives on Monster Island during a thunderstorm and is struck by lightning multiple times, reinvigorating himself.

Masahiko, Miyajima and his daughter Ikuko explore the cave where the space titanium was first found, but are captured by ape-like aliens from the Third Planet of the Black Hole, who plan to use Mechagodzilla to conquer Earth. Their leader, Kuronuma, forces Miyajima to repair the robot. While Saeko checks into a hotel and guards the statue, Keisuke leaves to meet Masahiko at the caves, only to encounter the reporter, who reveals his real name is Nanbara and that he is an Interpol agent who has been tracking the aliens. After Nanbara and Keisuke infiltrate the alien base and free the prisoners, Keisuke and Ikuko leave to pick up Saeko and the statue while Miyajima, Nanbara, and Masahiko stay behind, only to be recaptured by Kuronuma.

The next morning, a lunar eclipse results in a red moon and a mirage of the sun rising in the west. Seeing this, the team realizes they have to awaken King Caesar. They meet with the priestess and her grandfather and place the statue in the temple, revealing King Caesar's resting place. As Kuronuma dispatches Mechagodzilla, the priestess sings to awaken King Caesar and Godzilla appears shortly afterward. The two monsters join forces to fight Mechagodzilla. When the robot tries to escape, Godzilla uses his stored electricity to create an electromagnetic field to attract Mechagodzilla before tearing off its head; causing it to explode. While the mortified aliens are distracted, Nanbara and the others free themselves, kill their captors, and sabotage the base, fleeing as it explodes. With the enemy defeated, Godzilla heads out to sea and King Caesar returns to his resting place while the humans rejoice.

Giant insectoid aliens resembling cockroaches from the dying planet "M Space Hunter Nebula" plot to colonize the Earth, their planet having become uninhabitable after another race on the planet polluted it, then died out from the effects of their own destruction. The aliens assume the forms of dead humans and work as the development staff of the peace-themed theme park, World Children's Land, the centerpiece of which is "Godzilla Tower". The Nebula M aliens plan to use the space monsters Gigan and King Ghidorah, guided by two "Action Signal Tapes", to wipe out human civilization.

Manga artist Gengo Kotaka stumbles onto their plan after being hired as a concept artist for the park. When Gengo and his friends accidentally obtain one of the Action Signal Tapes and play it, Godzilla and Anguirus hear the signal and realize something is amiss. Godzilla sends Anguirus to investigate. When Anguirus approaches Tokyo, the Japan Self Defense Forces, misunderstanding the monster's intentions, drive him away.

Anguirus reports back to Monster Island, and Godzilla follows him back to Japan to save the Earth from Gigan and King Ghidorah. The aliens attempt to kill Godzilla with a lethal laser cannon hidden inside Godzilla Tower, but Gengo and his companions use the aliens' over-reliance on technology against them, forcing the invaders to unwittingly destroy themselves. After a lengthy fight, Godzilla and Anguirus force Gigan and King Ghidorah back into space and then Godzilla and Anguirus swim back to Monster Island, but not before Godzilla turns around and gives a roar of triumph, in thanks to his human friends.

The microscopic alien life-form Hedorah feeds on Earth's pollution and grows into a poisonous, acid-secreting sea monster. After he sinks an oil tanker and attacks Dr. Toru Yano and his young son Ken Yano, scarring the doctor, Hedorah's toxic existence is revealed to the public. Ken Yano has visions of Godzilla fighting the world's pollution and insists Godzilla will come to humankind's aid against Hedorah.

Hedorah metamorphoses into an amphibious form, allowing it to move onto land to feed on additional sources of pollution. Hedorah, having emerged at a power station to consume pollutant gases from the smokestacks, is confronted by Godzilla. Hedorah is easily overpowered by Godzilla and retreats into the sea. During the fight, however, several pieces of its new body are flung nearby, which then crawl back into the sea to grow anew and allow the monster to become even more powerful. It returns shortly thereafter in a flying saucer-like shape, then assuming its strongest form of all, its "Perfect Form", which demonstrates some of the strongest powers it has access to yet.

Thousands of people die in Hedorah's raids and even Godzilla is unable to defend against Hedorah's poisonous emissions. As hope sinks, a party is thrown on Mt. Fuji to celebrate one last day of life before Japan - and then, the rest of the world - succumbs to Hedorah. Ken Yano, Yukio Keuchi, Miki Fujinomiya, and the other partygoers realize that Godzilla and Hedorah have come to Mt. Fuji as well for a decisive confrontation. During the battle, Godzilla fights valiantly against Hedorah, but is overpowered by the amorphous alien, losing an eye and having its hand burnt to the bone by Hedorah's acidic body tissues, which corrodes anything it comes into contact with. Finally, Godzilla is almost killed by Hedorah after Hedorah hurls Godzilla into a giant pit, then proceeds to attempt to drown Godzilla in a deluge of chemical sludge.

Dr. Toru Yano and his wife Toshie Yano has determined that drying out Hedorah's body may destroy the otherwise unkillable monster. While Godzilla and Hedorah fought, the JSDF swiftly constructed two gigantic electrodes for this purpose, and attempted to fire them, giving Godzilla the chance to return to the fight.

All of a sudden the electrodes short out, the power cut off by Godzilla and Hedorah's violent battle. Godzilla reactivates and energises the electrodes with its atomic heat ray, dehydrating Hedorah's outer body. Hedorah sheds this outer body and takes flight to escape, but Godzilla propels itself through the air with its atomic heat ray to give chase. Godzilla drags Hedorah back to the electrodes and continues to dehydrate it until Hedorah is on the brink of defeat. Godzilla tears open Hedorah's dried-out body and exposes it to the electrodes again, dehydrating the pieces until nothing remains but dust.

Godzilla returns to the sea, but not before pausing to gaze sternly at the surviving humans. Ken Yano bids goodbye to Godzilla.

Ichiro Miki is a highly imaginative but lonely latchkey kid growing up in urban and polluted Kawasaki. Every day he comes home to his family's empty apartment. His only friends are a toymaker named Shinpei Inami and a young girl named Sachiko. Every day after school, Ichiro is tormented by a gang of bullies led by a child named Sanko Gabara. To escape his loneliness, Ichiro sleeps and dreams about visiting Monster Island. During his visit, he witnesses Godzilla battle three Kamacuras, brutally outpowering the three. Ichiro is then chased by a rogue Kamacuras and falls into a deep cave, but luckily avoids being caught by Kamacuras. Shortly afterwards, Ichiro is rescued from the cave by Minilla. Coincidentally, Ichiro quickly learns that Minilla has bully problems too, as it is bullied by an abusive monster known as Gabara.

Ichiro is then awoken by Shinpei who informs him that his mother must work late again. Ichiro goes out to play, but is then frightened by the bullies and finds and explores an abandoned factory. After finding some souvenirs (tubes, a headset, and a wallet with someone's [necessarily the suspect's] license), Ichiro leaves the factory after hearing some sirens close by. After Ichiro leaves, two bank robbers who were hiding out in the factory learn that Ichiro has found one of their driver's licenses and follow him in order to kidnap him.

Later, after his sukiyaki dinner with Shinpei, Ichiro dreams again and reunites with Minilla. Together they both watch as Godzilla fights Ebirah, Kumonga, a giant condor, and some invading jets. Then in the middle of Godzilla's fights, Gabara appears and Minilla is forced to battle it, and after a short and one-sided battle, Minilla runs away in fear. Godzilla returns to train Minilla how to fight and use its own atomic breath. However, Ichiro is woken up this time by the bank robbers and is taken hostage as a means of protection from the authorities.

Out of fear and being watched by the thieves, Ichiro calls for Minilla's help and falls asleep again where he witnesses Minilla being beaten up by Gabara again. Finally, Ichiro helps Minilla fight back at Gabara and eventually, Minilla wins, catapulting the bully through the air by a seesaw-like log. Godzilla, who was in the area watching comes to congratulate Minilla for its victory but is ambushed by a vengeful Gabara. Godzilla easily beats down Gabara and sends the bully into retreat, never to bother Minilla again. Now from his experiences in his dreams, Ichiro learns how to face his fears and fight back, gaining the courage to outwit the thieves just in time for the police, called by Shinpei, to arrive and arrest them. The next day, Ichiro stands up to Sanko and his gang and wins, regaining his pride and confidence in the process. He also gains their friendship when he plays a prank on a billboard painter.

The Federation starship USS ''Enterprise'' is sent to the Hekaras Corridor, the only safe path through the sector, to investigate the disappearance of the medical ship USS ''Fleming''. In the process they find a Ferengi ship, which is badly disabled. The Ferengi leader contends a Federation weapon disabled his ship.

The ''Enterprise'' crew learns that Hekaran brother and sister Rabal and Serova are responsible for sabotaging the ships by using ship-disabling mines disguised as signal buoys. These siblings contend that sustained warp drive is destroying the fabric of space near their homeworld, and will eventually destroy their planet. Data determines that the research has merit, but requires more study. Picard requests a more thorough investigation from the Federation Science Council.

However, Serova is not willing to wait for any more studies. In order to prove her theory, she causes a warp breach in her ship, killing herself in the process. A rift is formed, and the ''Fleming'' becomes trapped in the damaged space. The ''Enterprise'' crew manages to find a way to "surf" through the rift without using warp drive within it by initiating a short warp jump at maximum speed, then beams up the ''Fleming'' crew and escapes by "riding" the disruption waves produced by the rift.

Later, the Federation Council issues a new directive limiting all Federation vessels to a speed of warp five except in extreme emergencies. In addition, they have informed every known species capable of warp travel of the newly discovered dangers of its use. Worf asserts that the Klingon Empire will agree to the limitations, but it is uncertain whether the Romulan Star Empire, Ferengi Alliance, and Cardassian Union will also follow suit.

In the year 196X, two astronauts, Fuji and Glenn, are sent to investigate the surface of the mysterious "Planet X". There they encounter advanced and seemingly benevolent human-like beings called the Xiliens and their leader the Controller. The aliens usher the astronauts into their underground base, and moments later the surface is attacked by a creature that the Xiliens call "Monster Zero", but which the astronauts recognize as King Ghidorah, a planet-destroying monster that had attacked Earth once before. The monster eventually leaves, but the Controller states that King Ghidorah has been attacking repeatedly, forcing them to live underground in constant fear. He requests to borrow the Earth monsters Godzilla and Rodan to act as protectors to fight it once more (since 1964), in return for the cure for cancer (the English dub says that the formula can cure any disease). The astronauts return to Earth and deliver the message.

Meanwhile, an inventor named Tetsuo has designed a personal alarm that emits an ear-splitting electric siren. He sells it to a businesswoman named Namikawa, but she disappears before paying him. Tetsuo is romantically involved with Fuji's sister, Haruno, but Fuji disapproves, finding him unworthy of Haruno. Tetsuo sees Namikawa with Glenn and later follows her, but he is captured and imprisoned by Xilien spies.

Glenn and Fuji begin to worry that the Xiliens may have ulterior motives. Their suspicions appear confirmed when three Xilien spacecraft appear in Japan. The Controller apologizes for coming to Earth without permission. The Xiliens locate Godzilla and Rodan, both sleeping, and use their technology to transport them to Planet X. They also bring Glenn, Fuji, and the scientist Sakurai with them. After a brief confrontation, the Earth monsters succeed in driving King Ghidorah away. Glenn and Fuji sneak away during the battle and encounter two Xilien women, both of whom look identical to Namikawa. Xilien guards confront the astronauts and bring them back to the Controller, who reprimands but does not punish them. The astronauts are given a tape with instructions for the miracle cure and sent home, leaving Godzilla and Rodan behind. The tape is played for the world's leaders, but instead, it contains an ultimatum demanding that they surrender Earth to the Xiliens or be destroyed by Godzilla, Rodan, and King Ghidorah, who are all under the aliens' mental control.

Glenn storms into Namikawa's office and finds her in Xilien garb. She admits that she is one of their spies, but confesses that she has fallen in love with him. Her commander arrives to arrest Glenn and executes Namikawa for letting emotion cloud her judgment, but not before she slips a note into Glenn's pocket. Glenn is taken to the same cell as Tetsuo. They read Namikawa's note, which explains that the sound from Tetsuo's invention disrupts the Xiliens' electronics. Tetsuo has a prototype with him, which he activates, weakening their captors and allowing them to escape.

Sakurai and Fuji build a device to disrupt the Xilien's control over the monsters. Glenn and Tetsuo arrive to share the Xilien's weakness. As the monsters attack, Sakurai's device is activated and the sound from Tetsuo's alarm is broadcast over the radio. The invasion is thwarted and the Xiliens, unable to fight back or retreat, destroy themselves en masse. The monsters awaken from their trances and a fight ensues. All three topple off a cliff into the ocean; King Ghidorah surfaces and flies back into outer space, while those watching speculate that Godzilla and Rodan are probably still alive. Fuji acknowledges Tetsuo's important role in the victory and no longer thinks poorly of him. Sakurai states that he wants to send Glenn and Fuji back to Planet X to study the planet thoroughly (the English dub says that they are to be ambassadors). The astronauts are reluctant, but make the best of the moment, happy that Earth is safe.

The ''Enterprise'' arrives at Altrea IV, a planet with a core that is cooling and solidifying. Pran and Juliana Tainer, scientists from Altrea IV, inform the crew about the problem. Lieutenant Commanders Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) and Data suggest injecting plasma into the core to restore it to its molten state. After the other members of the briefing depart, Juliana reveals herself to be the former wife of Data's creator, Noonien Soong.

Data can only find one Juliana in his memory, a Juliana O'Donnell. She explains that after protests from her mother, she and Noonien decided to elope. A Klingon and a Carvalan Freighter captain served as marriage witnesses. She explains that his early memories were wiped and replaced with memories of the colonists of Omicron Theta. He was about to be reactivated when the Crystalline Entity attacked. Data conducts his own research into Juliana's story and finds evidence to circumstantially support her claims and decides to accept her as his mother while he learns more.

As they begin the plasma infusion, Juliana tells Data and La Forge a story about Data's trouble with learning to keep his clothes on. Data takes her to his quarters, where he plays his violin. She offers to play with him and uses a viola. Among his paintings, she sees one of his daughter, Lal. Juliana is overcome with emotion when she is told of Lal's demise. Juliana asks Data to be careful if he intends to create another child. She admits that she was against Data being created due to the problems with Lore and confesses that she forced Noonien to leave Data behind when the Crystalline Entity attacked, fearing he would awaken to become like Lore.

Data observes something about Juliana, and asks Beverly Crusher to examine her medical records when Commander William Riker calls. An emergency requires that Juliana and Data go down to effect repairs. They complete their task and return to the transport point, but find the pattern enhancers have fallen down a cliff. They must jump to safety. When Data jumps, he takes Juliana over the cliff with him. Data lands safely, but Juliana is knocked unconscious and her arm becomes detached from her torso. Data observes a network of circuitry and it becomes apparent that Juliana is an Gynoid.

In Juliana's positronic brain, La Forge finds a chip with a holographic interface. Data activates the chip in the holodeck and sees his father, Dr. Soong, who created the interactive holo-program to answer questions about the Juliana android. Soong explains that his wife once was a real human, but was mortally wounded as a result of the Crystalline Entity's attack. He created a new gynoid and used synaptic scanning to place Juliana's memories into it. After the real Juliana died, Soong activated the android's body and she awoke believing she was human. She later chose to leave Soong and he let her go (after installing the chip), sadly admitting that the real Juliana would have left him too. Soong pleads with Data to let her have her humanity.Data remarks that he suspected Juliana was an gynoid by three clues: she exactly matched his mathamatical calculations; her random blinking eyes pattern match his own and lastly she exactly matched his viola playing.

Data returns to Sickbay and replaces the chip. When he closes Juliana's head, she awakens. He tells her that she fell from the cliff and broke her arm, but Dr. Crusher has repaired it, and everything is fine. As Juliana prepares to leave the ship, Data tells her "My father told me that he had only one great love in his life. And that he regretted never telling her how much he cared for her. I am certain he was referring to you."

Reporter Naoko Shindo attends a communications session with the UFO society for her television program. After deeming the session a failure due to Naoko's skepticism, a meteor shower descends on Japan, with the largest crashing in Mount Kurodake. Shindo, a police detective and Naoko's brother, is assigned to guard Princess Salno of Selgina from a political assassination during an unannounced visit to Japan. En route to Japan, an alien entity leads Salno to jump from her plane before it explodes. Professor Miura leads a research team to Mt. Kurodake to investigate the large meteor, where they discover it randomly emits magnetic waves. Naoko is sent to investigate a prophetess claiming to be from Venus, who predicts that Rodan will emerge from Mount Aso.

The Prophetess catches the attention of both Shindo and Salno's uncle, both who believed her to be dead. Responsible for the assassination plot, Salno's uncle sends the assassin, Malmess, to kill her and arrives in Japan after Rodan awakens. After participating in a TV program, the Shobijin, Mothra's twin fairies, prepare to depart for home but are warned by the Prophetess to not sail. Naoko takes the Prophetess to a hotel to interview her, and discover that the Shobijin had followed them, heeding the Prophetess' warning before Godzilla sunk their ship. After confirming that the Prophetess is Salno, Shindo finds her at the hotel and saves her from Malmess. They evacuate after Godzilla and Rodan converge on the city and battle throughout the countryside.

After Dr. Tsukamoto, a psychiatrist, determines the Prophetess to be normal, she predicts the arrival of King Ghidorah, a monster that destroyed her home on Venus. Miura and his team witness the meteor explode, unleashing the golden three-headed space dragon Ghidorah, who proceeds to attack Matsumoto city. The authorities plea with the Shobijin to summon Mothra for help, but they warn that Mothra alone could not defeat Ghidorah, and their only hope would be for Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra to join forces. Under hypnosis, the Prophetess reveals that some Venusians escaped to Earth from Ghidorah and assimilated with humans, resulting in them losing their abilities with the exception of predictions.

After Malmess overhears Tsukamoto recommend shock therapy next, he increases the voltage knowing it will immediately kill her but fails after the power lines are destroyed by Godzilla. After thwarting off Malmess and his crew, Shindo evacuates to the mountains with the Prophetess, Tsukamoto, Naoko, Murai, and the Shobijin. Mothra attempts to convince Godzilla and Rodan to set aside their differences to save the planet, but both refuse due to years of harassment from humans. After seeing Mothra attempt to battle Ghidorah on her own, Godzilla and Rodan rush to her aid. The Prophetess wanders off and regains her memories after Malmess nearly kills her. Shindo protects her in time and Malmess falls to his death. The monsters overwhelm Ghidorah and force it to flee into outer space. Prior to departing for home, Princess Salno reveals to Shindo that she doesn't recall her recent memories as the Prophetess but remembers the three events when Shindo saved her and thanks him and Naoko for their help. Godzilla and Rodan watch on as Mothra journeys back home with the Shobijin, who bid farewell to all.

Kurata Beach is stricken by a typhoon. The following morning, reporter Ichiro Saki and his photographer Junko Nakanishi find a strange blue-gray object amongst the wreckage. Later, a giant egg is found floating near Nishi Beach in Shizunoura. Professor Miura attempts to investigate the egg, only to be pestered with questions by Saki. They soon learn that the villagers had sold the egg to businessman Kumayama for exploitation purposes for his firm Happy Enterprises. At a local hotel, Saki, Junko, and Miura discuss how to legally counter Kumayama's plans, and find him at the lobby. Kumayama meets with his financial backer Jiro Torahata, who reveals his plans to build the Shizunoura Happy Center around the egg. They are visited by the Shobijin, tiny twin fairies, who attempt to convince them to return the egg but have to escape when the businessmen try to capture them. The Shobijin run into Saki, Junko, and Miura, and reveal to them that the egg belongs to the colossal insect god Mothra, the recent typhoon caused it to wash up on Japanese waters, and destruction will follow when the larva emerges. The trio agree to help them retrieve the egg, and try to plead with Kumayama and Torahata but are met with resistance. The Shobijin eventually return home to Infant Island without the egg.

Later, Saki writes scathing articles about Happy Enterprises' insensitivity towards the Shobijin. However, the firm dismisses the articles as slander and open the Shizunoura Happy Center to the public. Kumayama is confronted by the villagers for not paying in full for the egg and renting from their land. Torahata agrees to loan Kumayama additional funds in exchange for putting the egg up as collateral. Kumayama reluctantly accepts and begins incubating the egg. Miura decontaminates Saki and Junko after touching the object they found in the wreckage, revealing it to be highly radioactive. The trio return to Kurata beach to investigate further, but the giant reptilian monster Godzilla emerges from the buried mud. Citizens evacuate as Godzilla wrecks havoc on Yokkaichi and Nagoya. The Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) are deployed to lead Godzilla to the coast to minimize casualties.

At the suggestion from a colleague, the trio travel to Infant Island to appeal with the Shobijin for Mothra's help. When they arrive, they are horrified by the desolation left behind by past nuclear tests. They are captured by the natives and reveal their intentions to ask for Mothra's help against Godzilla. The Shobijin and natives refuse, seeing it as divine retribution on outsiders for ravaging their island with nuclear tests, and not returning the egg. Junko and Saki plead that the innocent are also in danger, that they have no right to decide which lives deserve salvation, and that civilization is flawed, but is trying hard to make the world better. Mothra agrees to help, but the Shobijin warn that she is on her deathbed.

Back in Japan, the JSDF launch multiple campaigns against Godzilla but to no avail. After losing his finances, Kumayama confronts Torahata at his hotel, attacks him, and steals his secret funds. Torahata shoots Kumayama, and attempts to escape with the money but is crushed as Godzilla destroys the hotel. Godzilla reaches Nishi Beach, and prepares to destroy the egg until Mothra intervenes and engages him in battle. Mothra initially gets the upper hand, but is defeated by Godzilla's atomic breath. Mothra uses her last strength to fly to the egg and die next to it.

As the JSDF resume their attacks on Godzilla, the trio and the Shobijin remain with the egg as the twins attempt to make the egg hatch quicker via musical incantations. Twin larvae emerge from the egg and follow Godzilla to Iwa island. As the monsters battle, the trio join a rescue party to retrieve students and their teacher left behind on Iwa Island. Godzilla is entrapped by the larvae's silk and tumbles into the sea where he sinks. The students and teacher are returned to safety, and the larvae and Shobijin return to Infant Island. Saki asserts that humanity will thank them by building a better world.

Working for the Kaiyo Fishing, Inc., a pilot named Shoichi Tsukioka guides a fishing trawler towards a school of Bonito. Koji Kobayashi, another pilot, faces engine troubles and makes an emergency landing on Iwato Island. Tsukioka is sent to rescue Kobayashi, but they both encounter two giant dinosaur-like creatures locked in battle: Godzilla and a new quadruped monster. The pilots escape as the monsters tumble into the sea.

Tsukioka and Kobayashi go to Osaka to help Dr. Yamane and the authorities investigate the encounter. The new monster is identified as an Ankylosaurus and named Anguirus. Dr. Yamane shows the authorities footage of the first Godzilla attack and notes that it was killed by the Oxygen Destroyer, but its inventor died, and that there are no proven countermeasures left against Godzilla. Dr. Yamane suggests issuing a blackout and using drop flares to lure Godzilla away due to the first Godzilla being sensitive to light.

Tsukioka’s girlfriend, Hidemi, expresses her concern for Osaka to him, and he reveals that he thought about her when he thought he might die on Iwato Island. They watch as the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) takeoff to find Godzilla, but scientists note that it may prove difficult due to the possibility of Godzilla hiding in caves within the seabed. Later, Godzilla is spotted heading for the Kii Channel between Shikoku and Wakayama Prefecture. Yamaji, Tsukioka’s boss and Hidemi’s father, notes that if Godzilla wreaks havoc in those waters, their fishing company will lose valuable fishing ground and strike a blow at production.

Later, an alert is issued for the Osaka region as Godzilla changes course for Osaka Bay. The Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) cut off the lights in the city and lure Godzilla with flares. Tsukioka leaves Hidemi at her home for safety and leaves with Kobayashi to meet Yamaji at his cannery. Convicts escape from their transport and lead police on a chase that ends with a few convicts crashing into an oil refinery, triggering an explosion, while other convicts escape into Osaka. The explosion lures Godzilla back to Osaka, forcing the JSDF to attack it. Attracted by the flares, Anguirus emerges and engages Godzilla. They move their battle throughout the city, destroying Yamaji’s cannery and killing the convicts in the process. Godzilla kills Anguirus and returns to the sea after burning the body with its atomic breath.

In the aftermath, Yamaji moves operations to Hokkaido to make full use of the fisheries and cannery, and also sends Kobayashi to guide trawlers. During a company dinner, Tsukioka reunites with Tajima, a friend from college, and the war. Kobayashi hints to Hidemi that he’s fallen in love with a certain woman. The dinner is interrupted by news that a ship was sunk by Godzilla. The following morning, Tsukioka helps the JASDF search for Godzilla and tracks its location on Kamiko Island. Kobayashi departs to aide Tsukioka but leaves his notebook behind. Hidemi peaks at the notebook and discovers a picture of her inside.

Kobayashi attempts to stop Godzilla from escaping but is struck by Godzilla’s atomic breath and crashes into the mountaintop, killing him. The crash creates a small avalanche that engulfs Godzilla, inspiring the JASDF to bury it with a bigger avalanche but lack firepower. The JASDF return to base to reload missiles and Tajima reluctantly accepts Tsukioka’s request to take him. The JSDF creates a wall of fire to block Godzilla’s escape, while the JASDF triggers avalanches by blasting the mountaintops. Godzilla exhales one last atomic breath before being completely buried by the last avalanche triggered by Tsukioka. Relieved, Tsukioka lets Kobayashi’s spirit know that they have finally defeated Godzilla.

Andie Anderson is a writer for the women's magazine ''Composure'' as the "How to", subject-matter expert. She is bored and wishes she could write about more serious topics. After Andie's friend Michelle experiences yet another break-up, she becomes despondent and says she is not attractive enough. Andie argues that the problem is rather her needy, excessively emotional behavior with men, and is inspired to write an article titled "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" in order to prove her point; she will begin dating a man and drive him away within 10 days simply by imitating Michelle's behavior.

Advertising executive Benjamin Barry is looking to branch out from his usual remit of beer and sports campaigns, and lead a prestigious advertising campaign for a diamond company. At a bar, Ben's boss, Phillip questions whether Ben has enough insight into the romance typically associated with diamonds. In response, Ben wagers he could make any woman fall in love with him. Phillip says that if he can achieve this before the ball that will take place in 10 days, he will allow Ben to lead the diamond campaign. Ben's rivals, Judy Spears and Judy Green, were at the ''Composure'' magazine offices earlier in the day and know about Andie's task. Seeing Andie at the bar, they pick her as the woman to be romanced by Ben.

Ben and Andie meet and soon start their quests, neither revealing their true intentions. Andie works hard to make Ben break up with her in order to complete her article, but Ben continues to stick around in hopes of making her fall in love with him. Andie gets Ben knocked out in a movie theater by talking aloud while watching a film, moves her things into his apartment, gets him a fern plant to represent their relationship and a Chinese Crested Dog, and takes him to a Celine Dion concert when he was under the assumption he was going to see a New York Knicks basketball game. However, she also occasionally lets her normal side show, which Ben begins falling for.

Fed up with the project, Andie throws a fit at Ben's boys' poker night to finally drive him to break up with her. However, Ben's friends Tony and Thayer push him to stay the course by proposing couples counseling with Andie. Andie has Michelle pose as a couples therapist and suggest Ben is ashamed of Andie. Ben counters by offering to introduce her to his family in Staten Island for the weekend. While vacationing together Ben and Andie form a genuine bond. Andie and Ben go to the company ball together where Phillip meets Andie and tells Ben that he "met her, she loves you, you win."

To sabotage Ben, Judy and Judy tell Tony and Thayer that Andie knew about the bet all along and was playing along to help Ben win. Tony and Thayer beg Andie to keep quiet, unwittingly making her aware of the bet. Simultaneously, Andie's boss Lana, who is unaware of Ben's role, tells him about Andie's "How To" article. Upon learning of Ben's bet, Andie attempts to humiliate Ben in front of everyone at the party, and the pair argue on stage before breaking up.

Tony shows Ben Andie's article. She explains in it how she "lost the only guy I've ever fallen for". When he hears she quit her job at ''Composure'' (since Lana again refused to let her write about serious topics) and is on her way to Washington, D.C. for an interview, he chases her taxi and stops her. Once he accuses her of running away, they reveal their true feelings for each other. Ben instructs the taxi driver to return Andie's belongings to her home, and then they kiss.

Professional football player Terry Brogan (Jeff Bridges) is released by his team, the Outlaws. Aging, injured and in need of money, he is contacted by an old acquaintance, the shady gambler and nightclub owner Jake Wise (James Woods), who wants Terry to find Jake's girlfriend Jessie Wyler (Rachel Ward), daughter of the Outlaws' owner. Jake claims that Jessie assaulted him, stole money and fled. Terry is reluctant to take on the job, but needs the money and knows Wise is capable of blackmailing him.

Terry gets in touch with Jessie's mother (Jane Greer), ostensibly to find out where Jessie can be found, but mainly to convince Mrs. Wyler and her business partner Ben Caxton (Richard Widmark) to reinstate him on the team. Mrs. Wyler makes clear that she has no interest in his football career. She's willing to pay him more than Jake would if he will find Jessie for her. Beyond that, she has no use for him. Hank Sully (Alex Karras), the team's trainer, strongly advises Terry to stay away from Jake and offers to help Terry get a coaching job. Terry is convinced his days as a player are not over and instead decides to work for Jake to tide him over until the next season, when he can try to continue his playing career.

Terry finds Jessie living in Cozumel, Mexico. He makes multiple attempts to approach Jessie, but she rebuffs him, aware that he must have been sent by either Jake or her mother. Terry tires of pursuing a spoiled brat and packs to leave, but Jessie appreciates that he hasn't revealed her whereabouts and invites him to see where she is staying. They become lovers. Terry confides the leverage Jake has over him is the knowledge that Terry once shaved points in an important football game after he had fallen into debt.

Terry and Jessie remain happily together for a few weeks, with Terry continuing to tell Jake he's been unsuccessful in locating her. Sully is sent by Jake to investigate. He catches the lovers alone at the ruins of Chichen Itza. Wielding a gun, Sully demands that Terry turn over the girl and warns him she's "no good." He, too, has been involved in corruption with Jake's sports syndicate. A struggle between the men ensues and Jessie fatally shoots Sully. She wants to flee, as the two will be unable to offer an explanation that will allow them to avoid jail. But when Terry refuses, insisting that the two cannot just run away from the matter, Jessie abandons him.

After disposing of Sully's body, Terry returns to Los Angeles and finds to his astonishment that Jessie has returned to Jake. He is bitter toward her, but Jake maintains a hold over him with the point-shaving incident, as well as Sully's sudden disappearance. Jake invites Terry to his nightclub where he is sent to break into the office of Kirsch (Saul Rubinek), the team's corrupt lawyer, who is also involved in Jake's gambling operation. Terry's mission is to retrieve Kirsch's files, which implicate those involved.

After leaving the nightclub with the keys he needs for the break-in, Terry goes to Jake's house to see Jessie who didn't come to the show that night. After a desperate confrontation, she admits both her love for him and the hold Jake has over her knowing that she was directly involved in Sully's death. The next morning on the beach, Jake has a heartfelt talk with her, but Jessie is distant and asks him to let her go.

Terry breaks into the office only to find Kirsch dead. A security guard has been hired to kill Kirsch and make it look like Terry committed the murder. Terry fights off the security guard, then hides Kirsch's body. He finds a local bar frequented by Kirsch's secretary, Edie (Swoosie Kurtz), where he tells her what has happened and that she, too, is in danger. Edie tells him about a secret box that contains the information to bring down the entire syndicate and local politicians. They return to the office to retrieve the box, where a fight occurs with another two guards, but again Terry escapes, this time with Edie and the files.

When Jake tells Jessie that he's had Kirsch killed and framed Terry for the murder, she takes the desperate step of going to her mother's house and informing Caxton, telling him that Jake has been handling bets on his old football team using information he's been given by Sully and Kirsch. What she doesn't know is that Caxton is actually Jake's boss at the syndicate.

Caxton takes charge. He arranges to meet Terry at the site of a new construction project that he and Mrs. Wyler are backing. Terry is able to disarm Caxton's henchman Tommy (Dorian Harewood). He says his price for turning over the files is that Caxton must take down Jake. Caxton indicates he is receptive to that idea, whereupon Jake pulls his own gun and threatens to kill Jessie, forcing Terry to drop his weapon. While the men have their attention focused on each other, Jessie retrieves the dropped gun and shoots Jake dead.

Having killed both Jake and Sully, she must agree to terms set by Caxton to avoid going to jail. Caxton's terms include Jessie returning to her estranged mother's side and ending her relationship with Terry.

Months later, Terry stays in the background while attending a publicity function for Caxton's and Mrs. Wyler's construction project. He just wants a last look at Jessie before leaving Los Angeles to play for a team in Miami. Caxton reminds him that he is no longer a part of Jessie's life. Terry acknowledges that this is true for the moment, but predicts that some day Jessie will break free of the hold that Caxton and Mrs. Wyler have on her. In the meantime, all Terry and Jessie can do is stare at one another from a distance.

Men of the dark-haired Rock tribe, led by chief Akhoba, who is accompanied by his rivaling sons, Tumak and Sakana, capture and kill a warthog and return to share it with the rest of the tribe. Tumak and Akhoba fight over the meat, and Akhoba banishes Tumak to the harsh desert. After surviving several encounters with various prehistoric creatures, Tumak collapses on a remote beach and is spotted by Loana and other women of the fair-haired Shell tribe. Joined by some of the men from the tribe, Loana rescues Tumak from an ''Archelon'' which is driven into the sea. Tumak is taken to the Shell tribe's village where he discovers they are more civilized and advanced than the Rock Tribe.

Tumak rescues a small girl from an attack by an ''Allosaurus'', endearing him to Loana. However, Tumak is banished from the village after he fights Ahot for possession of the spear Tumak used to fight the creature. Loana decides to accompany Tumak, and Ahot surrenders the spear to Tumak in a gesture of good will.

Meanwhile, Sakana tries to seize power by killing Akhoba. Akoba survives, but is a broken man as Sakana becomes the new leader. Tumak, with Loana in tow, wanders back to the Rock Tribe camp, but again, there are altercations. The most dramatic one is a fight between Tumak's current love interest Loana and his former lover Nupondi. Loana wins the fight but refuses to strike the killing blow, despite the encouragement from the other members of the tribe. Sakana resents Tumak's and Loana's attempts at incorporating Shell tribe ways into their culture. While the Rock tribe is swimming, a female ''Pteranodon'' attacks and snatches Loana to feed her to her offspring. However, a ''Rhamphorhynchus'' intervenes and a fight ensues. Loana is dropped into the sea and makes it to shore. At first, Tumak mistakenly believes Loana is dead, but they are soon reunited.

Sakana leads a group of like-minded fellow hunters in an armed revolt against Akhoba. Tumak, Ahot and Loana, and other members of the Shell tribe arrive and join the fight against Sakana. In the midst of the battle, a volcano suddenly erupts. Members of both tribes are killed by either the effects of the volcano, or by their attackers. Sakana is speared to death and Akhoba is crushed by falling rock. Tumak, Loana, and the surviving members of both tribes emerge from the desolation and jointly set off to find a new home.

Mickey is introduced riding on a rhea. He soon reaches local bar and restaurant ''Cantina Argentina''. He enters the establishment with the apparent intent to relax with some drinking and smoking. (On the wall a wanted sign for Mickey saying El gaucho, meaning Mickey Mouse is a bandit or a crook.)

Already present are resident barmaid and dancer Minnie Mouse and a fellow customer. The latter is Black Pete and is soon introduced as a wanted outlaw. Pete had already been established as an antagonist in both the Alice Comedies and the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit series. However this short marks his first encounter with either Mickey or Minnie. The latter pair also appear unfamiliar to each other. The short apparently depicts their initial encounter.

Minnie performs the tango and salsa and both customers start flirting with her. Pete then attempts to put an early ending to their emerging rivalry by proceeding in kidnapping her. He escapes on his donkey while Mickey gives chase on his rhea and soon catches up to his rival. Pete and Mickey then proceed in challenging each other to a sword duel. The latter emerges the victor (by covering Pete's head with a chamber pot he pulls out from under a bed) and finally gets hold of Minnie. The finale has Mickey and Minnie riding the rhea stage left until they are obscured entirely by trees in the foreground.

Lance Barton is a struggling comedian who is quite funny and confident in his personality, but is unable to bring his talent across in front of an audience. After being booed off stage one night, he hears about an opportunity from his manager, Whitney Daniels at the Apollo Theater, which is having a farewell show due to its imminent closing. He is hoping to get a chance to prove himself in front of a real audience, when on his way home riding a bike, Lance is distracted by Sontee Jenkins. He is hit by a truck and is instantly killed.

Lance is brought up to Heaven, where he meets the angels, King and Keyes, who reveal that Lance has been taken before his time, and though his body had been destroyed by the truck, they can help Lance return to Earth. After sorting through many bodies, they find Charles Wellington III, an extremely rich businessman freshly drowned in his tub by his wife and assistant, Winston Sklar. Lance is reluctant until he discovers that Sontee, the woman he saw before his death, is protesting Charles by handcuffing herself to a coffee table in his penthouse, demanding Charles' presence. Seeing this as a chance to get to know her, Lance makes a deal with King to temporarily lend Charles' body until a more suitable body is found. Soon after, Charles returns from death, but with the witty soul of Lance inside him. Everyone except for the angels and him sees him as the middle-aged, rich, white Charles.

Although Charles was unpopular in the past, the public and those closest to Charles start to notice a change in his personality. He transforms from a snobbish billionaire to a philanthropist, including giving the maid Wanda a raise. Despite recent events, Lance continues to follow his comedy dreams through Charles, contacting his old manager Whitney and convincing him that he is Lance reincarnated. Through many humorous moments and issues, he gets Sontee to fall in love with him.

All too soon, Charles is murdered by a hired assassin. Fulfilling the deal Lance and King set up earlier, King and Keyes then send Lance to return yet again to Earth as Joe Guy, a great comedian and more acceptable candidate, who will die in a car accident. Joe returns from this accident unscathed, now with Lance's soul.

After pulling off a successful performance at the Apollo and reconnecting with Whitney, King and Keyes inform Lance that after their current conversation, he will not remember them or his past lives, but his personality will remain. After they leave, he reconnects with Whitney again, and proceeds to get Sontee to fall in love with him again, after meeting her in the theater for the first time as Joe Guy.

Twelve-year-old Lyra Belacqua runs wild with her dæmon Pantalaimon around Jordan College, Oxford, under the guardianship of the college's Master. One day, she witnesses the Master poison wine intended for Lord Asriel, Lyra's rebellious and adventuring uncle. She warns Asriel not to drink the wine, then spies on his lecture about "Dust", mysterious elementary particles attracted to adults more than to children. Asriel shows the college scholars images of a parallel universe seen through the Northern Lights amidst a concentration of Dust. The scholars agree to fund his controversial research, which is considered heretical by the oppressive Church.

Lyra's best friend Roger goes missing, presumed kidnapped by child abductors known as the "Gobblers". Mrs Coulter takes Lyra to her home in London, but before Lyra leaves Jordan, the Master entrusts her with an alethiometer, a strange truth-telling device, which she quickly learns to use intuitively. After several weeks, Lyra discovers that Coulter is the head of the Gobblers, or "General Oblation Board", a secret Church-funded project. Horrified, Lyra flees to the Gyptians, canal-faring nomads, many of whose children have also been abducted. They reveal to Lyra that Asriel and Coulter are her parents.

The Gyptians form an expedition to the Arctic with Lyra, where they believe the Gobblers are holding their children. They stop in Trollesund, where Lyra meets Iorek Byrnison, the dispossessed royal heir of the ''panserbjørne'' (armoured bears). Lyra uses her alethiometer to locate Iorek's missing armour; in return, he and his human aeronaut friend, Lee Scoresby, join her group. She also learns that Lord Asriel has been exiled, guarded by the ''panserbjørne'' on Svalbard. Trollesund's witch consul tells the Gyptians of a prophecy about Lyra which she must not know, and that the witch clans are choosing sides for an upcoming war.

The search party continues towards Bolvangar, the Gobbler research station. Guided by the alethiometer, Lyra detours at a village and discovers an abandoned child who has been cut from his dæmon and who soon dies. She realises the Gobblers are experimenting on children by severing the bond between human and dæmon, a soul-splitting process called intercision. Lyra and her companions are attacked by bounty hunters, and Lyra is captured and taken to Bolvangar, where she is briefly reunited with Roger before being sent to be separated from Pantalaimon. Just before this can occur, Coulter arrives and halts the intercision process. She tells Lyra that intercision prevents the onset of troubling adult emotions, though it has not yet been perfected.

Lyra activates Bolvangar's emergency alarm, sets the station on fire, and evacuates the children, where they are rescued by Scoresby, Iorek, the Gyptians, and the witch clan of Serafina Pekkala, who battle the station attendants as Lyra, Roger, and Iorek flee in Scoresby's hot air balloon. Lyra directs the witches to tow the balloon towards Asriel in Svalbard, but she falls out and is taken by the ''panserbjørne'' to the castle of their usurping king, Iofur Raknison. She tricks Iofur into fighting Iorek, who arrives with Roger to rescue Lyra. Iorek kills Iofur and regains his place as the rightful king.

Lyra, Iorek, and Roger continue onwards to Svalbard, where Asriel has continued his Dust research in exile. He tells Lyra all he knows of Dust: that it has spawned parallel universes, it is somehow connected to death and misery, and that the Church believes it is the physical basis of sin. Lord Asriel travels with Roger through the snow, Lyra and Iorek follow using the tracks of Asriel's sled. Asriel ascends a mountain with Roger as Lyra and Iorek and his squadron of bears battle the witches that are allied with Asriel. Mrs Coulter and the Tartars arrive in a military airship and attack the bears. During the battle, Mrs Coulter follows Lyra to the top of the mountain, where Lord Asriel and Mrs Coulter embrace at the peak of the mountain where Asriel has set up his equipment. Suddenly, Lord Asriel severs Roger from his dæmon, killing Roger but releasing an enormous amount of energy that tears a hole in the Northern Lights into a parallel universe, through which he walks. Devastated, Lyra and Pantalaimon also pass through the opening in the sky.

Philip Lamont, a priest struggling with his faith, attempts to exorcise a possessed girl in Rio de Janeiro who claims to "heal the sick". However, the exorcism goes wrong and a lit candle sets fire to the girl's dress, killing her. Afterward, Lamont is assigned by the Cardinal to investigate the death of Father Lankester Merrin, who had been killed four years earlier in the course of exorcising the Assyrian demon Pazuzu from Regan MacNeil. The Cardinal informs Lamont that Merrin is facing posthumous heresy charges because of his controversial writings, as Church authorities are trying to modernize and do not want to acknowledge that Satan exists.

Regan, although now seemingly normal and staying with her guardian Sharon Spencer in New York City, continues to be monitored at a psychiatric institute by Dr. Gene Tuskin. Regan claims that she remembers nothing about her ordeal in Washington, D.C., but Tuskin believes that her memories are repressed.

Father Lamont visits the institute, but his attempts to question Regan about the circumstances of Merrin's death are rebuffed by Tuskin, who believes that Lamont's approach would do Regan more harm than good. In an attempt to plumb her memories of the exorcism, and specifically the circumstances in which Merrin died, Tuskin hypnotizes Regan, to whom she is linked by a "synchronizer", a revolutionary biofeedback device used by two people to synchronize their brainwaves. After a guided tour by Sharon of the Georgetown house where the exorcism took place, Lamont returns to be coupled with Regan by the synchronizer. The priest is spirited to the past by Pazuzu to observe Merrin exorcising a young boy, Kokumo, in Africa. Learning that the boy developed special powers to fight Pazuzu, who appears as a swarm of locusts, Lamont journeys to Africa, defying his superior, to seek help from the adult Kokumo.

Kokumo has become a scientist studying how to prevent locust swarms. Lamont learns that Pazuzu attacks people who have psychic healing abilities. Regan is able to reach telepathically inside the minds of others; she uses this to help an autistic girl to speak as she waits to see Tuskin. Tuskin and her staff are shocked, but the girl's mother is too overjoyed to care, and despite Tuskin's attempt to keep them in the office to figure out what happened, insists on going home so the girl's father can hear her as well. Father Merrin, who belonged to a group of theologians that believed psychic powers were a spiritual gift that would one day be shared by all people, thought people like Kokumo and Regan were forerunners of this new type of humanity. In a vision, Merrin asks Lamont to watch over Regan.

Lamont and Regan return to the old house in Georgetown. The pair are followed in a taxi by Tuskin and Sharon, who are concerned about Regan's safety. En route, Pazuzu tempts Lamont by offering him unlimited power, appearing as a succubus who is a ''doppelgänger'' of Regan. The taxi crashes into the Georgetown house, killing the driver, but his passengers survive and enter the house, where Sharon sets herself on fire. Although Lamont initially succumbs to the succubus, he is brought back by Regan and attacks her ''doppelgänger'' while a swarm of locusts deluges the house, which begins to crumble around them. However, Lamont manages to kill the ''doppelgänger'' by beating open its chest and pulling out its heart. In the end, Regan banishes the locusts (and Pazuzu) by enacting the same bullroarer ritual attempted by Kokumo to get rid of locusts in Africa (although he failed and was himself possessed). Outside the house, Sharon dies from her injuries and Tuskin tells Lamont to watch over Regan. Regan and Lamont leave while Tuskin stays to answer police questions.

In the story, the wizards accidentally are transported to Roundworld (the real universe, inadvertently created during the first book) during the Elizabethan era. This is the first time they learn there are humans on Roundworld; they previously learnt that something would escape an Ice Age by heading for the stars via a space elevator, but missed which species it was. They are befriended by the magician John Dee, who is understandably confused by their appearance. Back at Unseen University, the thinking machine Hex informs the remaining faculty (Ponder Stibbons, the Librarian and Rincewind) that history has changed and humanity no longer makes it to the stars. The reason for this is, apparently, an infestation of elves feeding off human imagination and encouraging them to be scared of the dark and the monsters within.

The wizards travel back in time to suppress the elvish influence, but this only makes things worse; people are no longer superstitious, but they are no longer creative either. In the "new" 17th century humans are still in the Stone Age, with a particular tribe having only slight fascination about a tree. Then Rincewind suggests doing the opposite, encouraging humanity to be ''more'' creative. They travel through time doing this, with the intent of creating a history in which William Shakespeare writes ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. This achievement is symbolic of a new way of thinking, the human imagination is now sophisticated enough that stories can be told ''about'' stories. With the elves now seen as a harmless fiction, their power over Roundworld is gone.

Marco Fogg is an orphan and his Uncle Victor his only caretaker. Fogg starts college, and nine months later moves from the dormitory into his own apartment furnished with 1492 books given to him by Uncle Victor. Uncle Victor dies before Fogg finishes college and leaves him without friends and family. Marco inherits some money which he uses to pay for Uncle Victor's funeral. He becomes an introvert, spends his time reading, and thinks, "Why should I get a job? I have enough to do living through the days." After selling the books one by one in order to survive Fogg loses his apartment and seeks shelter in Central Park. He meets Kitty Wu and begins a romance with her after he has been rescued from Central Park by Zimmer and Kitty Wu. Eventually he finds a job taking care of Thomas Effing.

Fogg learns about the complicated history of his parents, and Effing’s previous identity as the painter Julian Barber. When Effing dies, leaving money to Fogg, Marco and Kitty Wu set up a house together in Chinatown. After an abortion Fogg breaks up with Kitty Wu and travels across the U.S. to search for himself. He begins his journey with his father Solomon Barber, who dies shortly after an accident at Westlawn Cemetery, where Fogg's mother is buried. Marco continues his journey alone, which ends on a lonely California beach: "This is where I start, ... this is where my life begins."

From Uncle Victor to Columbia University

Marco Stanley Fogg, aka M.S., is the son of Emily Fogg. He doesn't know his father. His mother dies because of a car accident when he is eleven years old. He moves to his Uncle Victor, who raises him until Marco goes to a boarding school in Chicago. When he reaches college age, he goes to Columbia University in New York City. After spending his freshman year in a college dormitory, he rents an apartment in New York.

Uncle Victor dies, which makes Marco lose track. After paying the funeral costs, Marco realizes that very little of the money that Uncle Victor gave him is left. He decides to let himself decay, to get out of touch with the world. He makes no effort to earn money. His electricity is cut off, he loses weight, and finally he is told that he must leave his apartment. The day before he is thrown out, Marco decides to ask Zimmer, an old college friend with whom he has lost contact, for help. Zimmer has moved to another apartment, so when Marco arrives at Zimmer's old apartment, he is invited by some strangers to join their breakfast. At that breakfast he meets Kitty Wu for the first time. She seems to fall in love with him. The next day, Marco has to leave his flat, and finds himself on the streets of Manhattan.

Central Park

Central Park becomes Marco's new home. Here he seeks shelter from the pressure of the Manhattan streets. He finds food in the garbage cans. Marco even manages to stay in touch with what is going on in the world by reading newspapers left by visitors. Although life in Central Park is not very comfortable, he feels at ease because he's enjoying his solitude and he restores the balance between his inner and outer self. This part devoted to Central Park may be considered an echo to the main themes of Transcendentalism and the works of Thoreau and Whitman.

At first, the weather is very good, so where to stay is not a big problem. But after a few weeks the weather changes. In a strong rain shower, Marco becomes ill and retires to a cave in Central Park. After some days of delirium, he crawls out of the cave and has wild hallucinations while lying outside. There, he is finally found by Zimmer and Kitty Wu, who have been looking for him for the whole time. Due to the fever he mistakes Kitty for an Indian and calls her Pocahontas.

At Zimmer's

Zimmer (the German word for room) is a good friend, hosts Marco in his apartment, bears all his expenses, and helps him to recover. But when Marco has to go for his army physical, he is still rated unfit because of his poor physical and mental state. Marco feels very bad about living at Zimmer's expense, so he finally persuades Zimmer to let him do a French translation for him to earn some money. Then he meets Kitty again, and decides to leave Zimmer. They lose touch, and when, after thirteen years, they happen to run into each other in a busy street, Marco learns that Zimmer has married and become a typical middle-class citizen.

At Effing's

After he has finished his work on the translation, Marco searches for another job offer. He finds a job at Effing's, where he is hired for reading books to Effing and driving the old, blind and disabled man through the city of New York in his wheelchair. Effing is a strange man who tries to teach Marco in his own way, to ''take nothing for granted''. Marco has to describe to Effing all the things he can see while driving the old man around. This way, Marco learns to look at the things around him very precisely. Later, Effing tells Marco to do the main work he was hired for: write his obituary. Effing tells him the main facts of his life as the famous painter Julian Barber and his conversion to Thomas Effing. He went to Utah with Byrne, a topographer, and Scoresby, a guide, to paint the vast country. Byrne fell from a high place and the guide fled, leaving Barber alone in the middle of the desert. Barber finds a cave where a hermit used to live and begins to live there. He kills the Gresham brothers, three bandits, and takes the money to San Francisco, where he officially takes the name "Thomas Effing". He becomes rich, but one day someone tells him he's very similar to Julian Barber, a famous painter who disappeared. He sinks in depression and fear, and begins frequenting China Town and using drugs. But one day someone attacks him, so he rushes away and hits a street lamp, becoming paraplegic. He stops having such an unhealthy life, and decides to go to France. He comes back to the US in 1939 fleeing from the Nazis.

Solomon Barber

Solomon Barber is Marco's father and Effing's son. He is extremely fat (which contrasts to Marco's period of starvation) and didn't know his father nor that he has a son. He inherits most of the fortune of Effing. He meets Marco after the death of Effing to learn about his father and finds a son. Marco, in the family cyclic pattern, doesn't know that Barber is his father. Barber had a relationship with one of his students, Emily, and never knew she was pregnant. Marco learns the truth when he sees Barber crying in front of Emily's grave.

Buford Pusser, at his wife Pauline's behest, retires from the professional wrestling ring, and moves back to Tennessee to start a logging business with his father, Carl Pusser. With a friend, he visits a gambling and prostitution establishment, the Lucky Spot, and is beaten up after catching the house cheating at craps. Pusser is seriously injured with a knife, and receives over 200 stitches. He complains to the sheriff, but is ignored, and soon becomes aware of the rampant corruption in McNairy County.

Later, working at his father's lumber mill, Pusser makes a club out of a tree branch. Late one night, Pusser waits until after the Lucky Spot is closed, and beats up the same thugs who left him for dead. The next day, Pusser is arrested and represents himself at trial. At one point, he rips off his shirt and shows the jury his scars. He informs them, "If you let them do this to me and get away with it, then you're giving them the eternal right to do the same damn thing to any one of you!" The jury finds Pusser not guilty, and he decides to clean up the county, so runs for sheriff. The campaign is contentious against the incumbent sheriff, who is killed trying to run Pusser off the road. Pusser is elected, and becomes famous for being incorruptible, intolerant of crime, and for his array of four-foot hickory clubs which he uses to great effect in dispatching criminals and destroying their clandestine gambling dens and illegal distilleries.

Some residents praise Pusser as an honest cop in a crooked town; others denounce him as a bully willing to break some laws to uphold others. Pusser is betrayed by one of his deputies, and is attacked several times. Finally, Pauline and he are ambushed in their car. Pauline is killed and Pusser is seriously injured. He is admitted to the hospital after being shot, and while still in a neck-and-face cast, attends his wife's funeral. Afterward, he rams a sheriff cruiser through the front doors of the Lucky Spot, killing two of his would-be assassins. As he leaves with two deputies, the townspeople arrive and begin throwing the gambling tables out into the parking lot. They light a bonfire as an overwhelmed Pusser wipes tears from his eyes.

The story takes place in what was, at the time of release, the near future of 1998–2002. Robots called "Labors" are employed in heavy construction work. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police has its own fleet of Patrol Labors ("Patlabors"; as opposed to patrol cars) to combat crimes/terrorism and deal with accidents involving Labors. The story arcs usually revolve around Tokyo Metropolitan Police Special Vehicle Section 2, Division 2. Noa Izumi is the main protagonist of the series, but all of Division 2 play roles. Hata and Kusumi are main protagonists of the third ''Patlabor'' film. The Next Generation takes place in 2013, with an entirely new cast with the exception of Shige and Buchiyama in maintenance, but the new members of SV2 have similar names and personalities to the old ones.

The feature films follow a separate continuity, referred to as the "movie timeline", as opposed to the "TV timeline", with the Early Days OVA following the "movie timeline", and the New Files OVA following the "TV timeline". In addition, the manga follows its own continuity.

The Next Generation features episodes that directly reference the TV series, while its final episode and movie are a direct sequel to the second movie.

The game is a prequel, set ninety-nine years before ''Lufia & the Fortress of Doom'', which tells the story of how the Sinistrals first appeared in the world and the battles fought against them. The story is centered around the hero Maxim, a swordsman from the town of Elcid who is born with a natural ability to fight and is destined to destroy the Sinistrals. Throughout his journey, he meets other warriors who are able to confront the Sinistrals as well.

Characters

The game's protagonist is Maxim, a talented swordsman from the town of Elcid. Little about his past is mentioned in the game, but the game begins to follow him when a mysterious woman named Iris tells him that he is to go on a journey.

Throughout the game, Maxim is joined by other talented warriors or 'Heroes of Legend' such as Tia, his childhood friend, who has a romantic interest in Maxim; Guy, a wandering warrior who joins Maxim after he rescued his sister; Dekar, the powerful bodyguard of Prince Alex of Bound Kingdom; Lexis, a brilliant inventor; Artea, an elven bowman; and Selan, commander of the Parcelyte army who becomes Maxim's wife in mid-story.

The game's antagonists are the Sinistrals, a group of four godlike beings bent on world domination. They are led by Daos, the Sinistral of Terror, who seeks an ultimate weapon to use against the people of the world. His three subordinates are Gades, the Sinistral of Destruction, who is credited with the destruction of two entire cities; Amon, the Sinistral of Chaos, who is known to be a brilliant tactician; and Erim, the Sinistral of Death.

Once again, an unnamed boy who narrates the story and his sister Sally are being left home alone for the day. This time, their mother has left them with instructions to clear away a large amount of snow while she is out. However, they are soon interrupted in their work by the return of the Cat in the Hat. The boy is warned by Sally not to talk to the Cat nor to let him come near, reminding him of what happened the last time he came. However, the Cat lets himself into their house to get out of the snow, and the boy follows him in. When he reaches the bathroom, he finds the Cat eating a cake in the tub with the hot and cold water on. The boy (who loses his patience) scolds the Cat for his antics, telling the Cat there is work to be done and he should not be in the house eating cake like a pig. He tells the Cat that he should get out of the house unless he helps out with the work. Then he turns off the water and drains out (unplugs) the tub, only to find that a long ring of pink cake icing has formed around the sides of the bath tub. The Cat offers to help clean it up, but his preliminary attempts to remove the pink spot end in disaster as he only transfers the mess to a succession of one object after another, including their mother's white dress, the wall, their father's pair of $10 shoes (worth $94.66 when adjusted for inflation in 2021, and written as £7 when published in the United Kingdom), a rug, and their parents' bed. Unsure of how to remove the stain from the bed, the Cat calls on the help of Little Cat A, who lives inside his hat, who lifts his hat to reveal Little Cat B, and then Little Cat C. The three Little Cats go to work, transferring the stain to the television, then a pan, and finally outside with a fan.

Seeing the spot cover the snow, Little Cat C lifts his hat to reveal Little Cats D to G. The seven Little Cats wage war on the snow spots, shooting at pink snowballs with pop guns. This spreads the spots even more, so Little Cat G lifts his hat to reveal Little Cats H to V. But the harder the cats work, the more the spot keeps spreading, until all the snow is pink, so Little Cat V takes off his hat to uncover Little Cats W, X, Y and the microscopic Little Cat Z. Z takes his hat off and unleashes a "Voom", which ''finally'' cleans up the spot, clears all the snow from the paths, ''and'' puts all of the Little Cats back into the Big Cat's hat. The Cat leaves, with the promise that he and the Little Cats, A through Z, will return someday if they ever again have problems like "snow spots" (maybe starting the next day for starters if there is still a problem).

The book ends in a burst of flamboyant versification, with the full list of little cats arranged into a metrically perfect rhymed quatrain, reciting the alphabet.

''Independent People'' is the story of the sheep farmer Guðbjartur Jónsson, generally known in the novel as Bjartur of Summerhouses, and his struggle for independence.

The "first chapter summons up the days when the world was first settled, in 874 AD—for that is the year when the Norsemen arrived in Iceland, and one of the book's wry conceits is that no other world but Iceland exists. ... The book is set in the early decades of the twentieth century but ... ''Independent People'' is a pointedly timeless tale. It reminds us that life on an Icelandic croft had scarcely altered over a millennium". As the story begins, Bjartur ("bright" or "fair") has recently managed to put down the first payment on his own farm, after eighteen years working as a shepherd at Útirauðsmýri, the home of the well-to-do local bailiff, a man he detests. The land that he buys is said to be cursed by Saint Columba, referred to as "the fiend Kolumkilli", and haunted by an evil woman named Gunnvör, who made a pact with Kólumkilli.

Defiantly, Bjartur refuses to add a stone to Gunnvör's cairn to appease her, and in his optimism also changes the name of the farm from Winterhouses to Summerhouses. He is also newly wed to a young woman called Rósa, a fellow worker at Rauðsmýri, and is determined that they should live as independent people.

However, Rósa is miserable in her new home, which does not compare well to the luxury she was used to at Rauðsmýri. Bjartur also discovers that she is pregnant by Ingólfur Arnarson Jónsson, the son of the bailiff. In the autumn, Bjartur and the other men of the district ride up into the mountains on the annual sheep round-up, leaving Rósa behind with a gimmer to keep her company. Terrified by a storm one night, desperate for meat and convinced that the gimmer is possessed by the devil, Rósa kills and eats the animal.

When Bjartur returns, he assumes that Rósa has set the animal loose. When he cannot find her when it comes time to put the sheep inside for the winter, he once more leaves his wife, by now heavily pregnant, to search the mountains for the gimmer. He is delayed by a blizzard, and nearly dies of exposure. On his return to Summerhouses he finds that Rósa has died in childbirth. His dog Titla is curled around the baby girl, still clinging to life due to the warmth of the dog. With help from Rauðsmýri, the child survives; Bjartur decides to raise her as his daughter, and names her Ásta Sóllilja ("beloved sun lily").

The narrative begins again almost thirteen years later. Bjartur is now remarried to a woman who had been a charity case on the parish, Finna. The other new inhabitants are Hallbera, Finna's mother, and the three surviving sons of Bjartur's second marriage: Helgi, Gvendur (Guðmundur) and Nonni (Jón).

The rest of the novel charts the drudgery and the battle for survival of life in Summerhouses, the misery, dreams and rebellions of the inhabitants and what appears to be the curse of Summerhouses taking effect. In the middle of the novel, however, World War I commences and the prices for Icelandic mutton and wool soar, so that even the poorest farmers begin to dream of relief from their poverty. Particularly central is the relationship between Bjartur and Ásta Sóllilja.

''The Vagina Monologues'' is made up of various personal monologues read by a diverse group of women. Originally, Eve Ensler performed every monologue herself, with subsequent performances featuring three actresses, and more recent versions featuring a different actress for every role. Each of the monologues deals with an aspect of the feminine experience, touching on matters such as sex, sex work, body image, love, rape, menstruation, female genital mutilation, masturbation, birth, orgasm, the various common names for the vagina or simply as a physical aspect of the body. A recurring theme throughout the piece is the vagina as a tool of female empowerment, and the ultimate embodiment of individuality.

'''Some monologues include''':

• ''I Was Twelve, My Mother Slapped Me'': a chorus describing many young women's and girls' first menstrual period.
• ''Hair,'' a piece in which a woman discusses how her husband had cheated on her because she had refused to shave her pubic hair, ultimately allowing her to see that it should not matter whether or not she chooses to shave, and that "hair is there for a reason".
• ''My Angry Vagina'', in which a woman humorously rants about injustices wrought against the vagina, such as tampons, douches, and the tools used by OB/GYNs.
• ''My Vagina Was My Village'', a monologue compiled from the testimonies of Bosnian women subjected to rape camps.
• ''The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could'', in which a woman recalls memories of traumatic sexual experiences in her childhood and a self-described "positive healing" sexual experience in her adolescent years with an older woman. This particular skit has sparked outrage, numerous controversies and criticisms due to its content, among which the most famous is the Robert Swope controversy (see below). In the original version she is 13, but later versions changed her age to 16. It also originally included the line, "If it was rape, it was a good rape", which was removed from later versions.
• ''Reclaiming Cunt'', a piece narrated by a woman who illustrates that the word "cunt" itself is an empowering word when reclaimed, despite its history of disconcerting connotations.
• ''The Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy'', in which a sex worker for women discusses the intriguing details of her career and her love of giving women pleasure. In several performances it often comes at the end of the play, literally climaxing with a vocal demonstration of a "triple orgasm".
• ''Because He Liked to Look At It'', in which a woman describes how she had thought her vagina was ugly and had been embarrassed to even think about it, but changed her mind because of a sexual experience with a man named Bob who liked to spend hours looking at it.
• ''I Was There in the Room'', a monologue in which Eve Ensler describes the birth of her granddaughter in graphic detail and positive wonder.

Every year a new monologue is added to highlight a current issue affecting women around the world. In 2003, for example, Ensler wrote a new monologue, called ''Under the Burqa'', about the plight of women in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. In 2004, Ensler also wrote a monologue called ''They Beat the Girl Out of My Boy. . .Or So They Tried'' after interviewing a group of women whose gender identity differed from their assigned gender at birth. Every V-Day thousands of local benefit productions are staged to raise funds for local groups, shelters, and crisis centers working to end violence against women.

Riding the tide of the camp superhero craze of the 1960s, the show's premise involved police chemist Carter Nash (William Daniels), a mild-mannered mama's boy who discovered a secret formula that, when he drank it, transformed him in an explosive burst of smoke into Captain Nice.

Nash called himself "Captain Nice" in his first appearance when a bystander asked him who he was: his belt buckle was monogrammed "CN," and Nash later admitted, "It was all I could think of!" On that occasion the explosion that transformed him blew off most of his clothes, leaving him in long underwear and with the remnants of his shirt suggesting a cape.

Captain Nice didn't behave much differently from Carter. His costume consisted of white pajamas adorned with gold stars, red stripes on the pants, the words "Captain Nice" (initially misspelled "Captin" until a smaller 'A' was added) in blue across the chest, a red-white-and-blue belt with a gold buckle, and an over-sized red and blue cape, all lovingly sewn by his domineering mother who had basically cajoled Nash into his crime-fighting career. In some episodes he wore his regular glasses as Captain Nice, but in others he wore a domino mask, but still wore his glasses over the mask. Despite the kitschy garb, the very sight of Captain Nice somehow struck fear into the hearts of criminals.

His superpowers included superhuman strength, invulnerability and the ability to fly, although Nash had a great fear of heights, and his natural clumsiness increased whenever he drank his super serum.

Carter had a would-be girlfriend in the police department, meter maid Sgt. Candy Kane, although he seemed mostly oblivious to her obvious attentions.

A few weeks after the events of the first film, Babe inadvertently causes an accident while attempting to help Farmer Hoggett repair the pump for the farm's well. Arthur sustains severe injuries and his wife Esme is tasked with tending the farm alone. Shortly afterward, bank representatives arrive to inform the Hoggetts they will be evicted at the end of the month unless they can pay their mortgage off. Then Esme finds a flyer for a faraway fair hosting a sheepdog herding contest which promises enough prize money to save the farm and they set off to go there together.

At the city of Metropolis' airport, an overzealous sniffer beagle named Snoop falsely signals that Babe and Esme are carrying illegal substances. Airport security officers interrogate Esme, causing her to miss their connecting flight. Failing to secure accommodation that allows animals in an unfamiliar city, Esme is approached by an airport janitor who refers them to a suitable hotel. When Esme arrives there, she is turned away but is intercepted at the back entrance by the landlady, who loves animals and provides them with a refuge, much to the chagrin of her neighbours.

While Esme leaves to make a long-distance call home, Babe chases a Panamanian white-faced capuchin named Tug who steals Esme's suitcase. Following him into a hotel room, Babe meets a trio of chimpanzees—Bob, his wife Zootie and his little brother Easy—and Thelonius, a civilized Bornean orangutan who is a butler for the landlady's elderly uncle, Fugly. His plan is to make Babe part of the clown act he performs with his apes at the children's ward of the local hospital. Babe initially refuses, but accepts when the apes insinuate that he will be paid—funds he could use to save the farm. When Esme returns, Fugly leads her to think Babe escaped into the city. During her search for Babe, Esme is arrested after an incident involving police officers and other bystanders caused by a gang of hooligan bikers attempting to mug her. Meanwhile, at the hospital, Fugly performs his act, which goes awry when Babe accidentally causes Fugly to set the stage curtains ablaze.

The next morning, Fugly is taken to the hospital in a food coma, accompanied by his niece. Left to fend for themselves, the hotel's animal occupants soon become hungry and the chimps decide to steal food from a store, using Babe to distract a pair of guard dogs. When the dogs chase Babe around the neighborhood, he falls into a canal. He returns to save one of the dogs from drowning, who gratefully pledges to be Babe's bodyguard; Babe then invites all the stray cats and dogs to the hotel. Babe and the guard dog share the pilfered jellybeans the chimps stole with all the animals as Zootie later goes into labor and gives birth to twins. Babe then joins the animals together in singing "If I Had Words", which is overheard by his duck friend, Ferdinand, who left the farm to save it as well.

The celebration is interrupted when several unfriendly animal control officers are falsely alerted to the violation by the Flooms' neighbor, Hortense, who dislikes animals. Most of the animals are removed except for Babe, Tug, Ferdinand and a disabled Jack Russell terrier named Flealick. The next day, Esme is released from custody after explaining her predicament to the judge. That night, Babe, Tug, Ferdinand, and Flealick infiltrate the animal control facility and rescue their wrongfully imprisoned friends. Esme later returns to the hotel to find it in disarray and the landlady mourning her uncle and the animals' capture. After confronting Hortense since she is the one responsible, they set out to find them.

The duo track the animals to a charity dinner in the hospital's ballroom and retrieve them all. The landlady then sells the hotel, which becomes a loud nightclub, and gives the proceeds to Esme to save the farm. The landlady and the animals come to stay at the farm, where Esme resumes her duties and Arthur recovers, and after finally fixing the farm's water pump, proudly smiles at Babe and says, "That'll do, Pig. That'll do."

The USS ''Enterprise'' arrives at a planet in the Omicron Delta system. Scans reveal the planet is congenial, but that there is no animal or insect life of any sort. The crew is exhausted after three months of operations, so Captain Kirk announces shore leave for off-duty personnel, but first he orders survey parties to scout the planet.

Dr. McCoy and Lt. Sulu form one survey party. They find a truly beautiful and peaceful planet. McCoy calls Kirk to report that he had just seen an anthropomorphic white rabbit, and that a moment later Alice, from ''Alice in Wonderland'', appeared and asked McCoy if a rabbit had passed by. Kirk disbelieves this, thinking that McCoy is trying to get Kirk to also take shore leave, which Kirk had said that he didn't need. Science Officer Spock persuades Kirk to beam down by pointing out that his physical fitness report shows that his performance has deteriorated.

After Kirk and his yeoman, Tonia Barrows, beam down, McCoy shows Kirk the tracks of a large rabbit. Elsewhere, Sulu finds and fires a Colt Police Positive revolver. Then Yeoman Barrows reports that she was attacked by Don Juan; her uniform is torn. Kirk is briefly accosted by Finnegan, a cocky practical joker who tormented Kirk during his Academy days, and meets Ruth, a former girlfriend. Sulu is attacked by a katana-wielding samurai, and he reports that his phaser didn't work. Kirk also finds that his phaser isn't working. Kirk orders a halt to the shore leave before any personnel have been beamed down. Spock reports that the planet is emanating a force field that is drawing energy from the ship's engines and disrupting communications. The energy patterns suggest industrial activity.

Spock beams down to gather sensor readings as communications between the ship and planet degrade, stranding Spock with Kirk and the survey parties on the planet with no means of communicating with the ship. After McCoy asks Yeoman Barrows to change into a medieval dress, a knight on horseback charges them. McCoy protects her but is impaled by the lance and killed. Kirk shoots the knight with Sulu's revolver. Kirk and Spock analyze the knight's body; it is composed of the same material as the planet's vegetation. A World War II fighter plane strafes the landing party; during the commotion, the bodies of Dr. McCoy and the knight vanish.

Spock asks Kirk what was on his mind before his "vision" of Finnegan. Kirk says he was thinking of his academy days. As Spock expects, Finnegan reappears. Finnegan taunts the Captain before running off, with Kirk chasing him. They have a fistfight and Kirk knocks out Finnegan, which Kirk says that he has always wanted to do. Spock and Kirk realize that their thoughts are causing their fantastic experiences, but also that the experiences are increasingly deadly. Kirk orders everyone to stop thinking, about anything.

An elderly man appears: the "Caretaker", who explains that "[t]he planet is an 'amusement park'"; its constructs are not intended to be harmful or permanent. Accompanying him is Dr. McCoy, revived by the planet. McCoy shows off the two Rigelian cabaret girls he thought of after being revived. The Caretaker apologizes for the misunderstandings and offers the planet's services to the ''Enterprise's'' crew, cautioning that they must choose their amusements carefully. Kirk accepts the offer as Ruth reappears, and authorizes the crew to beam down.

Naïve country bumpkin Chou Tien Tsai (Tony Yang) goes to Taipei to meet an internet friend face-to-face. Being a romantic, and believing in 'true love' (he even has a book called ''Love Is A Kind Of Faith''), he is sorely disappointed when his internet friend, Kevin, suggests they have sex with no love. Tien instead goes to a bar and runs into his ex-classmate Yu (Jin Qin) and Yu's friend CC (Dada Ji). In the same bar, he encounters the 'Number One Playboy' Bai Tieh Nan (Duncan Chow), who is notorious for one night stands. Despite professing his dislike for 'men who play with love', Tien can't help being drawn to Bai.

Tien becomes roommates with Yu. Yu enlists another friend, Alan (James Yun), to try and set Tien up with someone so he'll lose his virginity, but their efforts fail against Tien's unyielding belief in saving himself for true love. Tien later gets a job as a clubhouse attendant, where he has several run-ins with Bai, who seems to like Tien mutually. Despite warnings from his friends and rumors about Bai's past, Tien very quickly develops a liking towards Bai. Scenes with Bai and his psychologist show that Bai has a problem kissing people despite having no qualms about sleeping with them. After being advised to practice kissing a mirror and then a mannequin, both of which fail to help him, he tries to kiss his longtime friend, Jun (Jason Chang), but can't bring himself to do it. One night, Tien shows up at Bai's doorstep and they end up kissing and having sex consensually. True to his nature, Bai disappears the next day, leaving Jun to turn up at his house and explain to Tien that 'he hopes you don't misunderstand', causing Tien to misunderstand the situation. Tien, hurt and unknowing of the entire story behind Bai's intimacy issues, leaves a message saying that 'this kind of misunderstanding won't happen again'. Later, Bai, who would like to make amends with Tien, is thwarted from doing so before having to leave for an important business trip.

After failing to reach Bai by phone, Tien prepares to leave his roommate's dwelling and return to his own home. Meanwhile, Tien's friends corner Bai and Jun as they get back from the business trip. They ask Bai to tell them the truth, but Bai is very resistant to tell the story, so Jun decides to share instead. As a young boy, Bai was told by a fortune teller that he is cursed and that anything that he loves will be doomed. A lifetime of self-fulfilling this prophecy is what led Bai to become a serial one-night stander and lose his ability to love. Falling in love with Tien caught Bai off guard and, as a result, they both suffered. After a silent prayer for a second chance, he sees T'ien heading up an escalator. His first attempt to apologize fails, and Tien literally runs away. He nearly gets run down by a scooter, but Bai saves him and they make up.

The ending credits include a short segment on Yu, CC, and Alan and their somewhat stereotyped views upon gay fashion.

The book is set in a fantastical version of imperial China (Hughart subtitled it "A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was"). It draws on and reinvents the traditional tale of The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl and other myths, poems and incidents from Chinese history. The real story of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl is referenced at the end of the book.

In the beginning of the novel, the village of Ku-fu is stricken by a plague which kills its silkworms and sends its children between the ages of eight and thirteen into a coma. Number Ten Ox, the narrator, is dispatched to find a wise man who can cure the children. In Peking, he finds Master Li Kao, a drunken scholar with a self-described "slight flaw in his character", who immediately identifies the cause of the plague as ''ku'' poison, an incurable poison inflicted on the village by two dishonest villagers trying to corner the silk crop. In order to cure the children, Ox and Master Li set out to find the Great Root of Power, which can cure anything. They begin by seeking it in the palace of the feared Ancestress.

As it turns out, however, the Ancestress possesses only the lesser Root of Power, and the true Great Root is in the possession of the tyrannical and avaricious Duke of Ch'in. After surviving the Duke of Ch'in's deadly games that consisted of labyrinths and terrible monsters, they succeed in gathering different parts of the Ginseng. Still, these are all ineffective in curing the children. Along with the Ginseng, they also find three handmaiden ghosts that repeated the same story, "The birds of China must fly!" One of the many people they meet in their adventure is Henpecked Ho, who tells them the story of how a god, Star Shepherd, fell in love with a human girl, who was given the title of Princess of Birds. They also meet Key Rabbit, who is married to Lotus Cloud. Like every other man with a pure heart, Ox worships Lotus Cloud and showers her with expensive gifts. The heroes visit the Old Man of the Mountain. There they learn that in order to become immortal one must obtain something from the gods, and to become invulnerable one's heart must be removed. This information helps them figure out that somehow their quest to find the Ginseng is intertwined with the story of the Princess of Birds. They also conclude that the Duke of Ch'in knows the secrets of immortality and invulnerability, and was the same Duke who tricked the Princess of Birds and her three handmaidens centuries ago.

Master Li and Number Ten Ox are able to find the Duke's heart. The Duke is killed, and Master Li bows to Lotus Cloud and calls her the Princess of Birds. Master Li and Number Ten Ox listen to a sound that turns out to be the sound of a trillion birds making a bridge to heaven. The Princess places the Great Root of Power in Ox's hand. Back at the village of Ku-Fu, the children are cured. Great glorious explosions of stars streak across the sky as Star Shepherd opens his arms to receive Lotus Cloud, the Princess of Birds.

Seven-year-old Josh Waitzkin becomes fascinated with the chess players in Washington Square Park. Josh's mother, Bonnie, is initially uncomfortable with her young son's interest, as the games in the park are rife with illegal gambling and homeless players, but eventually allows Josh to play a game with a disheveled player for $5. Although Josh loses, Bonnie is amazed that Josh understands the rules of chess, despite having never been taught them. Another park player, Vinnie Livermore, alerts Bonnie to Josh's advanced talent in the game.

Josh's father, Fred, asks to play a game with his son and swiftly defeats him. It emerges, however, that Josh deliberately lost to spare his father's feelings. When Fred prompts Josh to play a rematch honestly, Josh effortlessly defeats him.

A friendship blooms between Josh and Vinnie, who becomes a mentor to Josh. Fred seeks out the services of Bruce Pandolfini, as a formal chess tutor for his son. Bruce takes an immediate liking to Josh, but disapproves of many of the maverick tactics he has adopted from Vinnie's tutelage. In particular, Bruce disapproves of Josh's tendency to bring out his queen too early, and warns Fred that such careless tactics will weaken Josh's performance in organized chess tournaments.

Against Bruce's advice, Fred enrolls Josh in a chess tournament. Josh wins; the first in a slew of tournament victories for him. Fred develops an unhealthy obsession with Josh's chess career, causing friction between Fred, Bonnie, and Josh's school teacher. Josh, upset by the changes he has noticed in his father, begins losing tournaments.

As a remedy, Fred dedicates Josh entirely to Bruce's teaching regimen, and at Bruce's request, Josh is forbidden from playing any more games with Vinnie. Bruce's relationship with Josh grows cold and misanthropic as Bruce seeks to harden Josh's competitiveness. When Bruce berates Josh by showering him in "meaningless xeroxes" of a certificate that Bruce had previously told Josh was a special award, Bonnie kicks Bruce out of the house.

Fred and Josh reconcile, with Fred assuring Josh that he loves his son, even if he isn't a chess champion. Josh is allowed to resume playing chess with Vinnie and his enthusiasm for the game returns.

Josh attends the National Chess Championship tournament, where he and Bruce reconcile. In the final game, Josh faces off against Jonathan Poe, another young prodigy whose talent has intimidated Josh throughout the movie. Josh's use of Vinnie's reckless tactics causes him to lose his queen early in the game; however, they later earn him an advantage when he is able to claim Jonathan's queen.

Jonathan makes a late-game blunder and Josh draws on Bruce's disciplines to recognize that he can seize an inevitable victory. Instead, Josh offers his opponent a draw. Jonathan, not realizing his own predicament, refuses. The game proceeds and Josh wins.

The film ends with Fred and Bonnie looking on proudly, as Josh encourages his young friend, Morgan, by telling him: "You're a much stronger player than I was at your age."

The chapters found in the game are not discovered in chronological order. Instead, to make the narrative more dramatic, each chapter jumps around the timeline of the plot. However, despite the overall story skipping back and forth through time, the chapters do follow chronological order within their respective locations. This is because each setting also has its own contained story.

In 2000 AD, Alexandra Roivas finds herself returning to her family's estate in Rhode Island after her grandfather, Edward Roivas, her only living relative, is found brutally murdered. Two weeks after returning, the local police have gotten nowhere with the investigation, Alex decides to investigate the mansion for clues, and stumbles upon a secret room containing a book bound with human skin called the ''Tome of Eternal Darkness''. Deciding to read it, she finds it contains accounts of various people in the past, beginning with the story of Pious Augustus.

Pious Augustus, a respected Roman military commander, is sent to Ancient Persia to locate an important relic. Lured away from his men by mysterious voices, Pious found himself venturing into an underground temple complex called the Forbidden City. He comes across three artifacts. Each possesses the essence of a powerful godlike being referred to as "Ancients". Upon attempting to touch one of the artifacts, Pious finds himself corrupted by its power, whereupon he pledges his allegiance to the artifact's Ancient and begins working on summoning them into the universe. The remaining two artifacts that Pious did not claim were put out of Pious' reach. One of the other artifacts represents the Ancient that is stronger than Pious', and the other represents the Ancient weaker than Pious'.

The artifact representing the weaker Ancient remained in the Forbidden City. A young Persian swordsman named Karim, ventures to the Forbidden City to locate a treasure for a woman that he loves. Upon finding it, he sacrifices himself in order to guard it. Pious returns to Persia in the Middle Ages to construct a Pillar of Flesh at the Forbidden City, as part of his master's plans. Roberto Bianchi, a Venetian architect traveling through the region, is captured by Pious' men. While under involuntary servitude, he encounters the spirit of Karim, who entrusts him with the artifact in his possession. Soon after, Roberto is buried alive, along with many others, under tons of concrete. Centuries later, a Canadian firefighter named Michael Edwards works with his team to extinguish several major oil fires in the Middle East, following the end of the Gulf War. After an explosion killed his entire team and trapped him in the Forbidden City, he is approached by Roberto's spirit, who gives him the artifact and instructs him to take it to the Roivas Family Estate. Michael then moves to destroy the Forbidden City with a magickally enhanced bomb. A few months later, Michael delivers the artifact to Edward Roivas in secret, telling him that he "won't last a night".

Meanwhile, the artifact representing the stronger Ancient is moved, by Pious, to Oublié Cathedral, in Amiens, France, in order to prevent it from being used against him. First, though, Pious orders the assassination of Charlemagne the Frank, so his movement cannot impede his plans. A Frankish messenger named Anthony, who stumbles upon the plot, travels to the then small monastery in order to warn him of the danger to his life. Despite Anthony's best efforts, he arrives too late to save him and dies from the spell he was afflicted with. When the location is a newly constructed Cathedral, Pious Augustus summons a creature called the Black Guardian, to protect the artifact that could defeat his master. A Franciscan monk named Paul Luther, visiting the region to view a holy relic at the cathedral, finds himself accused of murdering a fellow monk by the local Inquisition. Attempting to clear his name, he encounters the Black Guardian, which promptly kills him. During World War I, Oublié Cathedral is converted into a field hospital. Peter Jacob, a field reporter making accounts about the war, notes that patients have been disappearing of late. Venturing into the catacombs, he finds himself encountering the Black Guardian and defeats it, recovering the artifact it was guarding. Sixty-nine years later, Edward is visited by a now elderly Peter Jacob who gives an account of his experience in Amiens before handing over the artifact in his possession.

While the other two artifacts are fought over between Pious and several unwitting souls, the "Corpse God" Mantorok, another powerful god-like being that can oppose Pious' master, has an artifact of its own. In the Middle Ages, Pious travels to a temple in Angkor Thom, Cambodia in order to deal with Mantorok. A young Khmer slave girl, named Ellia, finds herself trapped within the temple at the same time. While trying to find her way out, she is approached by one of Mantorok's servants, who entrusts her with the task of protecting the Ancient's essence within her body. Pious kills her shortly after. Centuries later, Dr. Edwin Lindsey, a noted archaeologist, ventures to Cambodia on an expedition to visit a hidden temple complex. After nearly being killed by Pious, who disguised himself in order to accompany him, Edwin finds Ellia's body and is entrusted by her spirit with Mantorok's essence, which he eventually delivers to Edward a few weeks later.

Alongside the struggle to claim the powerful artifacts of the Ancients, the Roivas Family Estate in Rhode Island, USA holds secrets of its own. Dr. Maximillian Roivas, a colonial ancestor of Alex and her grandfather, inherits his father's mansion in Rhode Island and decides to investigate its secrets. He soon finds a large cavern beneath the mansion, containing an ancient city within called Ehn'gha. He returns to the surface to get help, only to be considered delirious, and is sent to an asylum for the rest of his life. In the middle of the 20th century, Dr. Edward Roivas, a clinical psychologist at the time, inherits the Estate. Finding his way underground, Edward discovers the city incorporates magick machinery and uses it to greatly damage the city with a powerful destructive spell. Knowing this is not enough, he decides to research what he can within the Tome for the final battle. After a decades-long time skip, Edward is assassinated by one of Pious' servants.

Alexandra Roivas, having learned all she can from the Tome, decides to finish the fight. Recovering the artifacts from within the mansion, she soon ventures into Ehn'gha and uses them with the city's machinery, in order to summon a rival Ancient to fight Pious' master. Alex then engages Pious in combat, aided by the spirits of those written in the Tome, eventually defeating him and destroying the essence of his master, who is defeated by its rival. Edward's spirit then acts quickly to use Ehn'gha's mechanism to send back the summoned Ancient before it can cause any harm to the world.

After completing all three story paths, Edward Roivas narrates a revelation. All three paths are revealed to have occurred simultaneously in separate timelines. One of Mantorok's spheres of influence happens to be chaos, and with it, the ability to subtly manipulate time and space. It turned the other three Ancients against one another in mutual annihilation and merged the timestreams into one complete victory. Now only Mantorok remains, slowly dying.

Ann (Sarah Polley) is a hard-working 23-year-old mother with two small daughters, an unemployed husband (Scott Speedman), a mother (Deborah Harry) who sees her life as a failure, and a jailed father whom she has not seen for ten years. Her life changes dramatically when, during a medical checkup following a collapse, she is diagnosed with metastatic ovarian cancer and told that she has only two months to live.

Deciding not to tell anyone of her condition and using the cover of anemia, Ann makes a list of things to do before she dies. She decides to change her hair, record birthday messages for the girls for every year until they're 18, and tries to set up her husband with another woman.

Feeling a longing to experience a life that was never available to her, she seeks out a man to experience how it feels to be in a sexual relationship with someone other than her husband. Her experiment ends up taking an emotional toll when she meets with a man named Lee, who ends up madly in love with her and is left heartbroken when Ann breaks it off with him. He meets with her one last time and says that he will do anything to make her happy, taking care of her daughters and even finding her husband a new job. She ends their relationship and never tells him that she is dying.

At the end of the film, Ann records a message to her husband, telling him that she loves him, and another one to Lee, telling him the same. She then leaves all tapes that she has recorded with her doctor, asking him to deliver them after her death.

The ''Geneforge'' storylines takes place in an era resembling the medieval time period, but with the addition of some modern innovations, such as wiring, levers and buttons, alarms, glass, and other steampunk-esque tools. The games involve a group of mages called "Shapers", who dominate the game world due to their ability to create life as they see fit. The player character is cast as an apprentice Shaper in the first three games, as a neophyte rebel in the fourth, and as an unaligned amnesiac in the fifth. Crises in the game result from the Shapers' mistreatment of their creations while trying to ensure that their art does not wreak havoc on the world, versus the freedom of intelligent creations at the cost of said havoc. The player is left to determine what is the right thing to do, such as using mysterious skill canisters which may breed arrogance in the user in return for increased power.

The games are highly non-linear, with multiple goals allowing the player to join any sect, and receive one of a number of different endings (the canonical ending for each game being revealed in the following one). There is a high degree of player influence on the game world, and the existence of multiple solutions to problems. For example, one sect may give you the quest to destroy an object, while an opposing sect will charge you with its protection.

The Geneforge

The Geneforge itself is the culmination of the game world's technology, a means of genetic enhancement of living things that greatly increases their physical and magical abilities. All Geneforges thus far have taken the form of small colourful pools of semi-living chemicals, and are used through physical contact. Using the Geneforge is generally excruciating and requires protective equipment to prevent outright fatality. In the first, fourth and fifth games, the Geneforge is usable by humans (and in turn, the player), but in ''Geneforge 2'' and ''Geneforge 3'', it could only be used by specific intelligent creations. The first three games each climax with the player's decision to either destroy the Geneforge or to ensure its use; the Geneforge is encountered near the start of the fourth and fifth games.

The player begins as an initiate of a powerful sect of magicians, the Shapers. Members of the sect create living beings from the magical essence within themselves. Apprentices are sent to academies to learn the art of shaping and the player's character has been accepted to do so. The player departs on a voyage to the academy aboard a specially modified Drayk, a dragon-like Shaper Creation. During the journey, the Shaper passes a group of islands, one of which is recognized as the Barred Sucia Island. Locations Barred by the Shapers are closed to both the sect and outsiders alike, meaning a catastrophe has occurred or something very valuable is located there. As the Shaper examines Sucia, lost in thought, the craft is attacked and mortally wounded by an unidentified sailing ship. After igniting the vessel's sails with a fireball, the craft deposits the Shaper on an abandoned dockside before dying. The player is now stranded on Sucia Island and must find a way to leave.

Exploration of the docks reveals a strange canister filled with swirling liquid. Thinking the canister contains healing or energizing properties, the Shaper breaks the seal and absorbs the contents. Instead the contents absorb into the Shaper's body, strengthening and changing it. The changes become visibly apparent, the player character's skin smoothens and glows slightly. The canisters also affect the user's mental state, causing a more violent and arrogant temperament.

Serviles remain on the island, having been abandoned when the island was Barred. They are intelligent creations of Shapers, designed to serve them without question or hesitation. These Serviles have had no contact with Shapers for two centuries, and have separated into three groups with differing philosophies regarding their creators. The Obeyers are still faithful to the Shapers, the Awakened believe that they should be treated as equals. The Takers have rejected Shapers completely and view the sect as oppressors to be fought.

After encountering the three servile groups, the player begins to learn of a group of foreigners known as Sholai, explorers who have been shipwrecked on the island. It was the Sholai, led by a man named Trajkov, who attacked the player with their last remaining ship. Trajkov controls a device called the Geneforge, created by the Shapers, which can rewrite the user's DNA and make them incredibly powerful.'''Masha:''' He find out you have something called the Geneforge, some amazing powerful thing. He and allies want to use it. But they can't. It not ready. It need full Shaper for some reason. So he get a Shaper. (''Geneforge'') Spiderweb Software, 2002 This is the cause of the island's Barred status, the device was deemed too dangerous in the wrong hands. Trajkov and his followers have allied themselves with the Takers, absorbing the contents of canisters and trying to claim Shaper powers as their own. The group have been unable to activate the Geneforge itself due to a Shaper being needed to activate the device. A Shaper named Goettsch was kidnapped for this purpose, in the same manner as the player-character. Goettsch fled and stole the shaping gloves needed to safely use the Geneforge, causing Trajkov to attempt to kidnap the player as a replacement. During these events, some Sholai have escaped from their increasingly violent and unpredictable leader.

The player is free to join any one of the servile groups and share common goals, or remain unaligned. ''Geneforge'' can be completed without joining any group. Trajkov can be killed through combat or tricked into killing himself by using the Geneforge. He can also be aided in activating the device, if the player steals the shaper gloves from Goettsch. Goettsch offers the player fake shaper gauntlets, which do not protect Trajkov from the Geneforge's energy should he be convinced they are genuine shaping gloves. The player can complete the game by using the last boat on Sucia Island. The small vessel is moored in a guarded dock on the far side of the island. Finishing the game unlocks one of more than a dozen game endings, dependent on the player's actions during the game.

In the frontier of New Mexico Territory, Joe Baker is an aging bandit determined to do "something big" before his fiancée Dover McBride arrives from the Eastern United States. Dover's brother Tommy is a partner in Baker's banditry.

Baker must deal with outlaw Jonny Cobb and his ruthless sidekick Angel Moon, while also opposing his plan is the cantankerous Colonel Morgan, who is about to retire from the U.S. Army command in the territory while his wife Mary Anna is arriving from the East to accompany him home.

Colonel Morgan learns from his Indian scout Bookbinder that Baker is planning something but cannot learn details. Actually it is to attack and rob a bandit hoard just across the border in Mexico. The treasure being well guarded, Baker makes a deal with Cobb to purchase a Gatling gun in exchange for a woman. Then Baker receives a letter from his fiancée informing him of her imminent arrival, which sets a deadline on the achievement of his "something big."

Baker's gang holds up a series of stagecoaches, but in each he is unable to find a woman suitable for Cobb and lets the passengers go unmolested. He is finally able to find a worthy candidate, who turns out to be Colonel Morgan's wife. She quickly learns to like Baker because he treats her with respect. But the abduction of his wife enrages Morgan, who sets off with a patrol to rescue her and capture Baker.

Cobb and sidekick Moon meet the trader Malachi Morton in the desert to buy the gun, which has been stolen from a federal arsenal. When the trader demands more than what they agreed, Moon hurls his knife into Morton's chest, instantly killing him. Before they can meet Baker for the handover, however, they are accosted by Morgan and his scout Bookbinder, who agree to let the bandits go if they reveal Baker's location.

Baker's fiancé Dover arrives at the fort and installs herself in Morgan's quarters. Hearing of her arrival, Baker agrees to meet her in the desert. She gives him an ultimatum to go home with her immediately after achieving his plan or she will marry someone else.

The night before the supposed rendezvous with Cobb to purchase the gun, Baker realizes he is in love with Mary Anna. He attempts to kiss her, but she rebuffs him, stating she is in love with her husband. Nevertheless, Baker tells Tommy that he intends to take the gun from Cobb without giving Mary Anna to him.

Morgan and his scout, with Cobb, Moon and the gun in tow, arrive at Baker's hideout and Angel Moon is killed when he attempts to kill Baker. Morgan proceeds to attack Baker with his fists but stops when his wife says how well Baker has treated her. And when he refuses to give Baker the gun, his wife reminds him that he is now officially retired and no longer has the authority to seize the gun as federal property.

Cobb realizes he is not going to get his woman and breaks down, but Morgan realizes that there is a solution, namely a pair of lonely women that he and Bookbinder had encountered earlier. When Cobb arrives, the women roughly throw him off his horse and gleefully drag him to their shack.

Baker and his men assault the bandit's town in Mexico, with the help of the Apache allies they have previously paid with whiskey. They are informed that the notorious bandit Emilio Estevez is now a monk. Baker suspects a ruse and pulls open the monk's robe, revealing a pistol. A gun battle erupts which the outnumbered Baker is losing until he mounts the wagon with the Gatling gun and mows down the opposition. Baker finds the bandit's treasure in the town church, but as his men celebrate their riches, he is haunted by Dover’s parting words.

Back at the fort, Morgan receives an emotional farewell from his assembled troops. Baker, Dover, Morgan and Mary Anna board the stagecoach to return to the East. As they ride out, Baker climbs out on top and drinks to the health of his men riding alongside.

Charlie "C.D." Bales, the fire chief of a small town, is intelligent, witty, charismatic and athletic. Regardless, he is sensitive about his abnormally large nose, which most know not to talk about; it cannot be surgically altered as he is allergic to anesthesia.

He is close to many residents, especially his god-sister, Dixie, who owns several rental homes and a diner. When the beautiful Roxanne Kowalski, an astronomy PhD student, comes to search for a comet over the summer, he, and many others in town, are drawn to her. She adores him as a friend, but is physically attracted to Chris McConnell, a handsome but dim-witted fireman, training the local unskilled ones.

Roxanne asks C.D. for help with Chris. Seeing him buy a book by Sartre for a friend, she assumes he is deeply intelligent. When Chris hears of her interest, he feels ill as women intimidate him. He tries to write her a letter, but after hours has little. He convinces C.D. to write it with prose that soon woos Roxanne.

When told Roxanne wants to meet up, Chris again feels sick and insists C.D. help him seem equally brilliant in person. He arrives at Roxanne's wearing a hunter's cap, to hide the earphones that relay C.D.'s words. When the equipment fails, Chris bungles it by expressing himself poorly, and she storms back inside, furious, he begs C.D. to fix it. As Chris can't repeat what C.D. prompts, they switch jackets and hats so C.D. can speak as him. They are successful, and she invites Chris in to make love.

Roxanne goes out of town for a week, and leaves her hotel address with C.D. so Chris can write. Instead of telling Chris, C D. writes her three times a day, each letter more incredible than the last. As he is writing a new letter to her in Dixie's, he is told Chris is on his way to see Roxanne as she returned early, so he leaves the letter behind to find Chris. C.D., at Roxanne's and after a game of ding dong ditch, warns Chris she may mention letters he supposedly wrote. She tries to get Chris to be the man in the letters, revealing his looks are only secondary for her. Feeling ill, knowing his looks are all he has, he runs out, leaving her confused. Dixie puts the last letter under Roxanne's door with a note revealing C.D. as the author. After reading it, Roxanne calls him over.

Chris prepares to leave town with bartender Sandy, who he met while Roxanne was away. When she asks if he has told Roxanne (the women know each other), he replies that he will write her a letter.

C.D. arrives, unaware that Roxanne knows the truth. She asks him to read one of the letters and then look at the back, which shows that Dixie revealed he's the author. She explodes in anger that he lied to her, punching him in the nose. He retorts that he simply wanted to tell her how he felt, but she was only interested in Chris's looks. When he reminds her that it only took a few nice words for Chris to get her into bed, she throws him out. Before he can say more, he stops and sniffs the air. Slowly walking back to the firehouse, he alerts his team, who then "follows his nose" until they find and extinguish a fire in a barn that if not contained, could burn down the entire town. During their celebration afterwards someone mentions his nose and although everyone expects C.D. will get upset, for once he doesn't.

On his roof, C.D. hears someone speaking his words to him. It's Roxanne, declaring she realizes it is his personality that she loves, not Chris' looks. After she declares her love, C.D. stylishly descends from the roof and they reconcile. In the credits, she reveals she named the comet "Charlie" (C.D.'s first name), after her father.

The series is set in the near future in the United States. In 1990, a flying saucer crashes in the Mojave Desert containing a race of extraterrestrials, the Tenctonese, escaping from slavery under a cruel Overseer race. They are humanoid but have certain anatomical differences and have been bred with greater physical strength and intelligence. These Newcomers, as they are called, are accepted as the latest immigrants to the US. The series explores issues around their integration into the multicultural society of the US.

The storylines often are morality plays on the evils of racism and bigotry, using Newcomers as the discriminated minority. As fictional extraterrestrial immigrants, the Newcomers could stand in for social issues about various races, as well as sexual minorities such as gays and lesbians, and would invert the usual expectations. For instance, during the run of the series, George becomes pregnant (the male of his species carrying the fetus for part of its gestation), and during much of the episode, dialog included lines like, "If you females had to feel the pain we males feel during pregnancy, there wouldn't be any babies." The series offers social commentary by illustrating what it means to be human and the often bizarre rituals we observe.

In 1991—three years after a spaceship landed in the Mojave Desert bearing 300,000 enslaved alien Newcomers, who now live in Los Angeles—police detective Matthew Sykes loses his partner in a shootout while trying to stop two Newcomer criminals from murdering another Newcomer. Sykes's superior, Captain Warner, informs his squad that they will have to work with the newly promoted Newcomer detective Sam Francisco. Sykes volunteers to work with Francisco to investigate the homicide of a Newcomer named Warren Hubley, hoping he will also find opportunities to investigate his partner's death (which he is officially forbidden to do).

While at a crime lab, Francisco detects an abnormality on the body of one of the Newcomer criminals who was killed in the robbery. This leads Sykes and Francisco to a nightclub to question a Newcomer named Joshua Strader, but Strader is murdered by a criminal ring led by Newcomer businessman William Harcourt and his henchman Rudyard Kipling.

Harcourt is in the advanced stages of launching a scheme to exploit the Newcomers by mass-producing a drug called Jabroka, which was used to pacify Newcomers when they were slaves, but has no effect on humans. The abnormality noticed by Francisco on the body of the Newcomer criminal turns out to be a visual sign of the drug's influence. The Newcomers Hubley, Porter, and Strader were involved in the planning phases of the operation, but were later murdered due to Harcourt's desire to exclude them from any future financial rewards. Ultimately, Sykes and Francisco track down Harcourt, who is negotiating a timetable for the release of Jabroka. The detectives are led on a car chase with Harcourt and Kipling through the streets of downtown Los Angeles. Following a head-on collision where both parties are injured, Harcourt attempts an escape on foot. Sykes pursues and corners Harcourt onto a desolate drawbridge. Harcourt then purposely overdoses on a sample of Jabroka.

Harcourt is presumed dead, but later mutates into a significantly larger, more muscular, and more violent Newcomer. The duo pursue Harcourt, catching up with him near a fishing pier. Sykes later ends up in a physical confrontation with Harcourt in the open sea. Harcourt's body disintegrates due to direct contact with salt water, which is hazardous to Newcomer physiology. Francisco commandeers a police helicopter and rescues Sykes from the water. Sykes and Francisco, now friends, attend Sykes's daughter's wedding together. Sykes askes Francisco to forgive him for all the stupid things he will do and say in the years to come, and Francisco reassures Sykes it'll be all right, after all Sykes is only human.

The USS ''Enterprise'' is ordered to a Federation colony on Omicron Ceti III. Captain Kirk, First Officer Spock, Chief Medical Officer Leonard McCoy, and others beam down to the colony, and discover the colonists all alive and well, a surprise since the planet is bathed in Berthold rays, a form of radiation which humans cannot survive for longer than a week. Their leader, Elias Sandoval, welcomes them and explains they only lost communications due to equipment failure. Also present is Leila Kalomi, a botanist Spock met on Earth six years before; she loved him, but he was unable to return her love. The landing party notices a lack of animal life, including livestock brought to the colony. During medical exams, McCoy finds no sign of disease or injury in any of them: even Sandoval, who has had an appendectomy, now has a healthy appendix. Kirk nonetheless insists that the colonists be evacuated due to the Berthold rays, over Sandoval's objections.

Kalomi offers to show Spock how the colonists have survived, and takes him to a field of strange flowers. The flowers expel spores that cover Spock, after which he professes his love for Kalomi, and blithely disregards orders to begin the evacuation of the colony. The rest of the landing party are also exposed to the spores and, with the exception of Kirk, exhibit the same sort of behavior. As part of a symbiotic relationship with their human hosts, the spores provide perfect health, including protection from Berthold rays.

Kirk returns to the ship while the rest of its crew, under the influence of spore plants that have been brought on board, beam down to the planet. Lt. Uhura has sabotaged the communication system to prevent contact with Starfleet. After exposure to the spores, Kirk too prepares to leave, but as he is about to beam down, he is seized by frustration at his own abandonment of the ship. The effect of the spores disappears, and Kirk surmises that violent emotions destroy them. Kirk lures Spock back aboard ''Enterprise'' and uses derogatory racial remarks to goad him into attacking. As Spock is about to bludgeon Kirk with a stool, he notices that the spores' influence on him is gone.

Kalomi beams aboard to find Spock no longer affected by the spores, and her heartbroken reaction frees her also. Kirk and Spock induce a similar effect on the planet below by broadcasting an irritating subsonic frequency to the crew's communicators, provoking fights among the colonists and crew. Once everyone is cleansed of the spores, Sandoval agrees to the evacuation.

As they leave orbit with the colonists aboard, Kirk asks Spock about his experiences on the planet. Spock replies, "I have little to say about it, Captain, except that for the first time in my life ... I was happy."

''Half-Life 2'' takes place approximately twenty years after the incident at the Black Mesa Research Facility from the first game, in which scientists accidentally opened a portal to the hostile dimension Xen. The game begins with Gordon Freeman being awoken from stasis by the mysterious G-Man, who reveals that the Black Mesa incident attracted the attention of a multidimensional empire called the Combine, which conquered Earth in seven hours. The Combine have implemented a brutal police state by biologically assimilating humans and other species. The G-Man inserts Gordon into a train arriving at City 17, the site of the Combine Citadel, where Dr. Wallace Breen, the former Black Mesa administrator who negotiated Earth's surrender governs as the Combine's puppet ruler.

After eluding the Combine forces, Gordon joins a resistance led by former Black Mesa scientist Dr. Eli Vance, which also includes Vance's daughter Alyx, former Black Mesa security guard Barney Calhoun, who works undercover as a Civil Protection officer, and another Black Mesa scientist, Dr. Isaac Kleiner. After a failed attempt to teleport to the resistance base, Black Mesa East, from Kleiner's makeshift laboratory, Gordon progresses on foot through the city's canal system. The teleportation attempt accidentally alerts Breen and the Combine to Freeman's return, leading to them sending forces to attack him. He obtains an airboat and battles through sewers and rivers.

At Black Mesa East, Gordon is reintroduced to Eli and meets another resistance scientist, Dr. Judith Mossman. Alyx introduces Gordon to her pet robot, Dog, and gives him the gravity gun, an instrument that can manipulate large objects. When the base is attacked by Combine forces, Eli and Mossman are captured and taken to the Combine detention facility Nova Prospekt. Separated from Alyx, Gordon detours through the zombie-infested town of Ravenholm, aided by its last survivor, Father Grigori. Escaping the town, Gordon discovers a resistance outpost. He uses a customized dune buggy to travel a crumbling coastal road to Nova Prospekt, fighting off alien antlions, and helping the resistance fend off Combine raids.

Gordon breaks into Nova Prospekt and reunites with Alyx. They locate Eli but discover that Mossman is a Combine informant. Before they can stop her, Mossman teleports herself and Eli back to City 17's Citadel. The Combine teleporter explodes moments after Gordon and Alyx use it to escape Nova Prospekt.

Returning to Kleiner's lab, Gordon and Alyx learn that the teleporter malfunctioned and that a week has passed. In their absence, the resistance has mobilized against the Combine. With the aid of Dog and Barney, Gordon fights his way inside the Citadel. A security system inadvertently supercharges Gordon's gravity gun, allowing him to fight his way up the Citadel.

Gordon is captured in a Combine transport pod and taken to Breen's office, where he and Mossman are waiting with Eli and Alyx in captivity. Breen explains his plans to further conquer humanity with the Combine, contrary to what he told Mossman. Angry, Mossman frees Gordon, Alyx, and Eli before Breen can teleport them off-world. Breen tries to escape through a teleporter, but Gordon destroys its reactor with energy orbs launched from a gravity gun, killing Breen. Just as the reactor explodes, the G-Man reappears and freezes time. He praises Gordon's work and mentions offers for Gordon's "services", before placing him back into stasis.

''Galatea'' is loosely based on the myth of Pygmalion, who carved the sculpture of a woman. In the myth, he falls in love with the statue, named Galatea or Elise in different versions, and the goddess Venus brings her to life.

The story begins at the opening of an exhibition of artificial intelligences. The player, alone, discovers Galatea displayed on a pedestal with a small information placard. She is illuminated by a spotlight and wears an emerald dress. Seeing the player about to turn away, Galatea says, "They told me you were coming." From this point, the story may proceed in a number of ways depending on the player's words and actions.

Multilinear interactive fiction

Short describes this as "multilinear interactive fiction": (This is an updated version of the original at [http://home.mindspring.com/~emshort/multi.htm] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20010217132447/http://home.mindspring.com/~emshort/multi.htm backup]). while interactive fiction in general allows the player to find their own way through the story, this leads in most cases to a single ending (or at least a single desired 'correct' ending). With ''Galatea'', Short presents a story with around 70 different endings and hundreds of possible ways of reaching them.

The plot is thus designed to appear open-ended with the development of the story entirely dependent on what the player decides to talk or ask about or what actions they choose to perform. Thus the original author and the player share in the creation of a work of fiction.

The series centers on the new life of Hewitt's character Sarah Reeves Merrin as she moves to New York City to learn more about her biological mother's life there before she bore Sarah, while also searching for her biological father. Along the way, Sarah moves into her mother's old apartment and makes a new group of friends. Her first friend is her new roommate Romy Sullivan (Jennifer Garner), a struggling actress.

Willy Beamish is sent to detention on the last day of school after his pet frog Horny disrupted the final school assembly by dislodging the principal's toupee. After either evading detention or waiting it out, Willy returns home to his family. As they all gather for dinner, Willy's father Gordon, who was due a promotion at work, shocks the entire family by announcing his unexpected layoff. To cut on family expenses, Willy is denied the entry fee to the video game championship he was training for. Also, his access to the Nintari console is revoked due to a "C" grade tainting an otherwise satisfactory report card, which Willy has failed to hide from his parents. Willy leverages his elder sister Tiffany's weaknesses to get back the Nintari key she was given custody of and resume training.

The next day, Willy learns that Tootsweet, the local producer of artificial sweetener, is sponsoring a frog jump contest with a prize in cash and decides to enlist Horny. At the same time, Gordon applies for a job as head of public relations at Tootsweet. Both are unaware that Tootsweet CEO Leona Humpford is conspiring with union leader Louis Stoole to send Frumpton plumbers on strike, thus leading the town to a sewer system crisis for Leona to profit from, while using the new head of PR as a scapegoat. Willy starts training Horny for the frog jump contest. Later that day, he is left in the care of a babysitter who transforms into a vampire bat: Willy manages to dispose of the creature, only to wake up to the realization that it was a nightmare.

Willy travels by ferry to the other side of town to register his frog for the contest. On the ferry, he befriends a family of Japanese tourists. After completing the registration, Willy is ambushed by a local street gang and runs away. He stumbles again upon the Japanese tourists, who reveal themselves as ninjas and come to his aid by attacking the street thugs. Meanwhile, Gordon has obtained the job at Tootsweet: by this time, however, the plumbers' strike has caused the sewer system to overflow, polluting Frumpton's water.

At the frog jump contest, Horny places first or second, either way earning Willy enough money to participate in the Nintari championship. However all the frogs, including Horny, are captured by order of Leona, who plans to eat them in a frog legs dish. Inside Tootsweet's headquarters, Willy overhears an argument between Gordon and Leona over the sewer crisis. After evading security, Willy sneaks inside Leona's mansion and rescues the frogs. There, he learns that Leona and Louis are planning to eliminate Gordon after he has publicly unveiled their scheme and announced his resignation. Willy is captured, but the frogs team up to help him escape. He then infiltrates the sludge processing plant and, after overcoming Leona's henchmen, rescues his father and defeats Leona and Louis by flushing them down the sewage drain. The game ends with Willy being celebrated as a local hero and claiming victory in the Nintari championship.

Chris Emery works as a nightclub singer and dancer in the British colony of Trinidad and Tobago. One night after her performance she receives news from Inspector Smythe and Anderson, a member of the American consulate, that her husband Neil has been found dead. She is comforted by Neil's friend Max Fabian.

Initially, the police conclude that Neil committed suicide based on his gunshot wound and the discovery of a pistol at the crime scene, but on further investigation, they believe that he was murdered. Smythe and Anderson take Chris into confidence and inform her that Neil's boat was seen outside Fabian's property at the time of Neil's murder. Chris learns that Fabian is a crook who has built his fortune by trading information and aiding in treason and that Neil could have been murdered because of his involvement in Fabian's latest project to allow Nazis launch rockets from Trinidad to attack the United States. Chris agrees to exploit Fabian's love for her to gather information for the police.

Neil's brother Steve Emery arrives in Trinidad at the request of his late brother, who had written to him about a prospective job. Steve is shocked to learn that Neil committed suicide shortly after writing to him and sets out to investigate matters on his own. After the inquest, Chris and Steve spend time together and she begins to fall in love with him, but she cannot reveal her motive behind getting friendly with Fabian.

As Chris inches closer to discovering the truth about Fabian, Steve gathers proof of Fabian's involvement in Neil's death, leading to a climactic showdown.

Margaret Simon is eleven years old when her family moves from New York City to Farbrook, New Jersey. Her mother is Christian and her father is Jewish. Margaret was raised without an affiliation to either faith, but she frequently prays to God. The start of her prayer always begins with, "Are you there God? It's me, Margaret." She begins to feel uncomfortable with her lack of religious affiliation. For a school assignment, she chooses to study people's religious beliefs in the hopes of resolving her own faith-based issues in the process. Part of her study includes attending different places of worship to better understand the practices of several different religions and explore whether any of them might be right for her. She enjoys spending time with her Jewish paternal grandmother, Sylvia Simon, who hopes that Margaret will embrace Judaism after she takes her to her synagogue for Rosh Hashanah services.

Margaret befriends Nancy, a friend and neighbor who is the same age. Nancy seems confident and knowledgeable discussing many subjects, including sex. Nancy, Margaret, and two other girls, Gretchen and Janie, form a secret club called the "Four PTS's", where they discuss subjects like boys, bras, and menstruation. The girls anxiously await their first period, preparing in advance by buying belted sanitary napkins (which were changed to adhesive pads in later editions of the book) and doing exercises to increase their bust sizes. Gretchen and Nancy have their first periods, which causes Margaret to worry that she is abnormal because she hasn't had hers yet.

Margaret envies her classmate, Laura Danker, who has already had her first period. According to Nancy, Laura is involved with a handsome older boy. Margaret and her friends gossip about Laura letting boys touch her, but Margaret later regrets this after she learns that Laura is a devout Catholic and is upset by the rumors. Margaret is attracted to a popular boy in her class named Philip Leroy and they kiss while playing "two minutes in the closet" (a game similar to seven minutes in heaven) at a party. Over time, Margaret finds out that Nancy, despite seeming confident, has her own insecurities. Nancy tells her friends that she had her first period on vacation. It's later revealed that this isn't true when Nancy gets her first period while at a restaurant with Margaret.

Margaret's family plans to spend the spring vacation in Florida with Sylvia. The day before they leave, her conservative Christian maternal grandparents, Mary and Paul Hutchins, come for a visit. Mary and Paul have been estranged from Margaret's mother for 14 years due to their disapproval of her interfaith marriage. Margaret's mother cancels the vacation, saying that "it's not the end of the world," and that they can always go to Florida another time. Margaret is upset, but she tries to be polite to her grandparents. When her grandparents bring up the subject of religion, an argument begins. Margaret explodes, declaring that she doesn't need religion or God.

After the confrontation with her grandparents, Margaret stops talking to God. By the end of her study project, Margaret still hasn't resolved her religious identity as she intended. However, she was able to learn about herself and become more comfortable with her lack of affiliation. On the last day of school, Margaret gets her first period. Relieved, she resumes her relationship with God, saying, "I know you're there God. I know you wouldn't have missed this for anything! Thank you, God. Thanks an awful lot..."

After her boyfriend Mike cancels their anniversary date, seventeen-year-old Chris Parker invites her friend Brenda over to her Oak Park, Illinois, house to cheer her up, but is convinced by her mother to babysit the Andersons' daughter, eight-year-old Sarah, while they attend a party in downtown Chicago. Sarah's fifteen-year-old brother Brad is supposed to spend the night at his friend Daryl Coopersmith's house, but he changes his mind when he discovers that Chris is the sitter. After receiving a frantic phone call from Brenda, who ran away to a downtown bus station, Chris plans to go alone to pick her up, but is coerced by Brad, Sarah, and Daryl to take them with her. On the freeway, their station wagon suffers a flat tire and they are picked up by a tow truck driver, "Handsome" John Pruitt, who offers to pay for the tire when Chris realizes she left her purse at the Andersons'. En route, Pruitt receives a call from his boss Dawson with evidence that his wife is cheating on him, and he rushes to his house to confront the infidelity; Chris' mother's car is damaged when Pruitt accidentally shoots out the windshield while aiming to kill his wife's lover with his snubnosed revolver. Chris and the kids hide in the adulterer's Cadillac, which is then stolen by a car thief named Joe Gipp.

Reaching their hideout in the South Side, the kids realize they have stumbled upon a large multi-state stolen car operation, and Joe is chided by Graydon, the operation's second-in-command, for bringing witnesses. They are detained in an upstairs office but escape. They enter a blues club where the band on stage refuses to let them leave until they perform a blues number. The group spontaneously recounts their events while accompanied on instrument by Albert Collins, causing the audience to sing along and happily applaud. They leave just as Joe, Graydon and his boss Bleak arrive in the club, whose owners stall them.

Brad tells Chris about his feelings toward her, and is disappointed to learn he is too young for her. After separating Daryl from a streetwalker who is a runaway, Chris is reminded of Brenda. They are found and chased again by Graydon and Bleak but escape on the Chicago "L" train and wind up in the middle of a gang fight. Brad is injured when one of the gang leaders throws a switchblade onto his foot. They take Brad to the university hospital, where he receives a stitch. They run into Pruitt, who is now on the run from his earlier attacks; he tells the kids he replaced the windshield, but Dawson wants $50 for the tire. The kids come across a fraternity house party, and Chris becomes attracted to Dan Lynch, a gentleman who learns of Chris' problem and donates $45. He takes them to Dawson's Garage and drops them off.

When they find Dawson, his blond hair and sledgehammer lead Sarah to believe he is Thor, her favorite superhero. He denies them their car because of the $5 shortage, but when Sarah offers him her toy Thor helmet, he changes his mind and lets them go. Meanwhile, Joe Gipp tells Bleak about their troubles, and the three are waiting to follow them. The kids find the restaurant where Mike was supposed to take Chris and discover he is with another girl. Sarah slips away to look at a toy store while Chris yells at Mike. Brad stands up for Chris but is reluctant to hit Mike, so Daryl kicks Mike into a table, ruining his dinner and causing a commotion. Bleak spots Sarah, and Graydon chases her to an office building where she hides; the others note her disappearance and follow, accidentally coming across the Andersons' party. After Sarah climbs out an open window and slides down the building, Chris spots her and they run upstairs to help.

After the group pulls Sarah from outside the window, Bleak confronts them. Joe knocks his boss out, before giving him a ''Playboy'' magazine that Daryl had stolen, which contained important notes that the criminals wanted. The kids retrieve Brenda from the bus station and rush home, narrowly avoiding the Andersons on Interstate 290. Once home, Chris cleans up the mess left earlier, settling into place just as the Andersons enter. As Chris says goodnight to the kids, Brad tells her he understands about her not feeling the same way he did about her and tells her that if they see each other at school the next day, it is okay if she ignores him. However, Chris smiles and tells him she does not ignore her friends. Just as Chris is leaving, Dan arrives with one of Sarah's missing skates. He says he needs a babysitter and is disappointed when Chris says she is retired; he confesses the babysitter was for him. Chris decides that retirement can wait and gladly agrees to babysit Dan. With Sarah's encouragement, Chris and Dan kiss outside as Brad closes the blinds.

In a post-credits scene, Graydon is shown standing on the ledge, still trying to find his way to safety.

Larry Kozinski (Danson) and Maria Hardy (Rossellini) meet at the wedding of Larry's uncle Phil and Maria's widowed mother Edie (Aleandro). The newly-made cousins-by-marriage begin talking before realizing both their spouses, Tish and Tom, are missing. Tish (Sean Young) and boorish Tom (Petersen) finally appear claiming Tom, an auto salesman, was showing Tish a car and it broke down. Tom, a serial cheater, breaks off all his illicit relationships, then visits Tish, a make-up consultant, wanting to sleep with her again, though she brushes him off. Shortly after the wedding, Phil suddenly passes away during a large family gathering. Phil's brother, Vince, arrives for the funeral. He offers to buy Phil's business from Edie, who he is immediately attracted to.

A few weeks later, Maria meets with Larry to discuss Tish and Tom's affair. Larry initially acts nonchalant, then explodes in anger. When Maria arrives home, she tells Tom she had lunch with Larry, knowing it will upset him. Maria and Larry continue to meet, but commit to just being friends. They arrange to "accidentally" run into each other at a restaurant. Their spouses, Maria's mother, Edie, and Larry's dad, Vince, and son, Mitch are present. Everyone ends up sitting together. Tish abruptly leaves the table after seeing Larry and Maria flirtatiously gazing at each other. Maria follows Tish into the bathroom and sweetly explains that she and Larry were only playing a game to get back at her and Tom. She says it went too far and apologizes. Tish is touched by Maria's kindness.

Over time, Larry and Maria realize they are falling in love, and, one afternoon, they finally consummate their affair. Maria returns home late, and Tom obviously knows where she was. She confronts him about his infidelities and admits she loves Larry. Tom then calls Larry's house and threatens him. Larry's father, Vince, who was sleeping, answers the phone, and believes it is his brother, Phil calling from beyond the grave to warn him away from Edie. Larry returns from his day with Maria to discover that Tish is leaving; she wishes him well and they part amicably. Tish and Tom meet up at a hotel, but Tish notices Tom's changed behavior, but realizes he only wants temporary affairs, storms out.

Maria learns that her young daughter, Chloe has been instigating fights at school as a way of acting out. Maria ends her affair with Larry, saying she needs to devote herself to Chloe and her marriage.

Vince urges Larry to do what makes him happy, while he tells Edie that he loves her. At Vince and Edie's wedding, Larry sees Maria and asks her to dance, then to spend the rest of her life with him. Tom, overhearing this, angrily threatens to leave her. Maria chooses to be with Larry. In an epilogue, Larry and Maria are seen sailing away with their children, living a dream they both shared.

Revealed shortly into the movie, Andrew Morenski and two others, all stockbrokers, have passed bogus bonds for a mobster awaiting trial. After an evening out at a bar, one of them is killed in his home. The next morning, the FBI take the other two into protective custody.

Convincing his FBI hosts to have breakfast out of the safe house, Andrew and his FBI bodyguards are followed by hitmen. One of the bodyguards is killed in the diner, the other injured, and Andrew flees the scene. While running from the hitmen, he board a train, temporarily escaping. Andrew hitchhikes with a truck driver to Topsail, Delaware where he phones his Aunt Lucy, who tells him to meet her at the high school where she is the nurse.

Shaving his beard and bleaching the sides of his hair blonde give Andrew a punk look. He trades his $500 Italian sports coat for a pea coat from a bum to complete the look. Arriving at Topsail High School, the office personnel, mistaking him for a new student register him for classes. He takes the name of Maxwell Hauser (off a Maxwell House coffee can).

Andrew's cousin doesn't recognise him at first. He eventually pulls him aside, revealing himself. He also sleeps at Patrick's, unbeknownst to his aunt.

Not willing to take the teachers' attitudes, Andrew becomes a hero to those tired of the school's status quo. This upsets Kevin O'Roarke, the current class president, and captures the heart of Ryan Campbell. During an afternoon at the local diner, he accidentally drops a birthday card meant for his grandmother (who had raised him) and it gets mailed. Later, a hitman posing as an FBI agent contacts his grandmother and sees the card and its postmark, telling him where Andrew is hiding.

One night, back from a date with Ryan, Patrick stops Andrew from entering the house. FBI agents have arrived, knowing he is close because he used his ATM card. Patrick takes his mother's keys and Andrew ends up using the high school as his refuge. He meets the school janitor, Ezzard, and shares a drink with him, revealing who he truly is. Andrew embraces the opportunity to run for class president, not knowing the election committee has already decided to rig the results in favor of Kevin.

Bored with high school, and realising he is the last witness against the mobster, Andrew decides to drop out. During the presentation of class election results, Kevin is announced the winner. However, he demands a recount, which reveals that most want Andrew as class president. As Andrew starts to address the crowd, a hitman begins firing at the stage. Ezzard, watching the proceedings, manages to dispose of one of the hitmen, while the other moves up into the rafters of the gym. Andrew chases him, Patrick uses a spotlight to blind the hitman, he loses his grip and falls to the gym floor below.

Images of graduation are spliced into images of Andrew taking the stand in a court against the mobster for whom he had sold the bogus bonds. After his testimony, Andrew is given a few minutes to say farewell to his grandmother before being placed in the Federal Witness Protection Program.

The last scene is of Ryan, sitting under a tree at a university. Andrew, now known as Eddie Collins, appears from behind the tree and tells her he has decided to become a teacher.

Sue Ellen "Swell" Crandell is a 17-year-old Los Angeles high-school graduate who cannot afford to accompany her friends in Europe for the summer. She is planning to attend college in the fall.

When her divorced mother leaves for an Australian vacation with her boyfriend, Swell looks forward to a summer of freedom with her siblings Kenny, Zach, Melissa (along with her tri-colored Cardigan Welsh Corgi Elvis), and Walter.

Much to Swell's dismay, her mother hires a live-in babysitter named Mrs. Sturak, a seemingly sweet, humble old woman who assures Mrs. Crandell that she can take care of all five children. As soon as Mrs. Crandell leaves, Mrs. Sturak shows her true colors as a ruthless tyrant, quickly drawing the ire of the children. However, she soon dies in her sleep. After Swell discovers the body, the kids worry that their mother will blame them for the death if they notify authorities. They agree to stuff Mrs. Sturak's body in a trunk and drop it off at a local funeral home with a note saying "Nice Old Lady Inside, Died of Natural Causes" while keeping Mrs. Sturak's car. They discover that the envelope their mother had given to Mrs. Sturak containing money for the summer is empty, and deduce that Mrs. Sturak had the money with her when they delivered the body to the funeral home.

With no money to pay the family's bills, Swell finds work at a fast-food restaurant called Clown Dog. Despite a budding relationship with her coworker Bryan, she quits because of the obnoxious manager.

Swell then forges an extensive résumé under the guise of a Vassar-educated young fashion designer and applies at General Apparel West (GAW), hoping to secure a job as a receptionist. Company executive Rose Lindsey hires Swell as an executive assistant, much to the chagrin of Carolyn, a receptionist on Rose's floor who was initially in line for the job.

While the kids have dinner at Chuck E. Cheese, Mrs. Sturak's car is stolen by drag queens, forcing Sue Ellen to call Bryan for a ride home. Swell obtains the keys to her mother's Volvo and begins stealing from petty cash at GAW to support the family, intending to return it when she receives her paycheck. Swell is furious to discover that her siblings have stolen the petty-cash funds from her purse to buy extravagant gifts: Zach purchases a diamond ring for his girlfriend Cynthia and Walter orders a state-of-the-art home-entertainment center. Walter falls off the roof while trying to adjust a satellite dish, breaking his leg and forcing Swell to pay for his hospital visit.

At work, the inexperienced Swell must balance the adult responsibilities thrust upon her while still trying to enjoy herself as a teenager. The double life strains her relationship with Bryan when she discovers that he is Carolyn's brother. Resentful of Swell's promotion, Carolyn and her coworker Bruce repeatedly try to discredit Swell's accomplishments, even going so far as to make a copy of Swell's driver's license to prove that she is only a teenager, but Rose views the efforts as the product of Carolyn's petty jealousy. Swell must also rebuff the unwelcome sexual advances of Rose's philandering boyfriend Gus, who also works with the company.

When she learns that GAW is in danger of going out of business, Swell takes it upon herself to create a new clothing line and Rose suggests holding a fashion show to exhibit the new designs. With no petty cash left to rent a banquet hall, Swell offers to host the party, convincing her siblings to help clean the house, beautify the yard and act as caterers. Kenny even enlists his friends to help out. Although Swell manages to pull off the party, it comes to an abrupt end when Mrs. Crandell arrives home early, forcing Swell to confess her lie in front of everyone.

Carolyn and Bruce find their vehicle vandalized by Kenny's friends while Rose breaks up with Gus. While apologizing to Rose after the party, Swell learns that her unique designs have saved GAW. Rose offers Swell a job as her personal assistant, but Swell declines so that she can attend college. Rose tells Swell that she can "pull some strings" to get her admitted to Vassar.

Swell and Bryan make up, but are soon interrupted by Mrs. Crandell who inquires about Mrs. Sturak's whereabouts.

As the credits roll, two cemetery workers look over Mrs. Sturak's gravestone as they plan to use the money found on her to visit Las Vegas. The gravestone reads "Nice Old Lady Inside, Died of Natural Causes."

Throughout the two series of ''Phoenix Nights'', an ongoing theme of the show is the rivalry between The Phoenix Club and local rival club 'The Banana Grove', run by the flamboyant Den Perry. Brian Potter devises ideas for the club to attract more customers, usually to the disapproval of Jerry "The Saint" St. Clair. However, as more people come to the club, its popularity exceeds that of its rivals. Despite this, Brian Potter's thrifty ways means he continues to try to cut corners in the running of the club wherever possible.

The second series follows on from the first. Following the staging of the highly regarded local talent contest 'Talent Trek' a vengeful Den Perry burns the club down. With the authorities taking a dim view of Potter's poor attitude towards fire safety and suspending his licence, he then rebuilds the club on the cheap with Jerry as the licensee.

The club bounces back and regains its popularity, with schemes such as placing a fake speed camera outside the club to slow motorists down, and a re-enactment of the club's arson on TV show ''Crimetime'' (a parody of ''Crimewatch'') in order to gain free advertising.

Following Potter's hiring of two Chinese immigrants, Jerry decides to open a Chinese restaurant inside the club, which, despite Potter's concerns, becomes an instant hit, driving the Phoenix to success whilst leaving other clubs behind. Infuriated at this, Den Perry decides to burn the club again but unwittingly reveals to the clientele that he burned down the Phoenix Club the first time, and the club is victorious.

In 1998, a young gay man by the name of Matthew Shepard (Shane Meier) was robbed, viciously beaten and left tied to a fence to die. Although he's found by the police, rescued and hospitalized, he dies from his injuries. This film recounts the events after the conviction of the two men responsible for this hate motivated murder.

Matthew's parents, though satisfied by the conviction, are finding the sentencing phase of the trial more difficult. The parents initially want to request the death penalty for their son's murderers, but the mother, Judy Shepard (Stockard Channing), starts to reconsider. As they struggle with their decision, they decide to reexamine the life of their son and rediscover his personality, his struggle to accept his homosexuality as a natural part of his being and above all, his generous humanity to others. All of this leads the parents to appeal to the court the way their son would have wanted, not out of vengeance but to represent best of what their son was and the tragedy of his loss.

Sarah France is the 42-year-old widow of a GP, Henry. She lives in an often volatile family situation with her mother, Eleanor Prescott, and her daughter, eighteen-year-old Clare France. After Henry's death, the three generations of women have to cope with one another as best they can, under their shared roof.

Sarah often finds herself in the middle of things, usually figuratively but always literally, as her mother lives upstairs and her daughter has the downstairs flat. Eleanor, ruthlessly cunning and emotionally manipulative, takes every opportunity to get one over on Sarah. Anything told to Eleanor will spread quickly throughout the extensive "geriatric mafia", the elderly of the area. Clare is trying to be independent of her mother, though often has to come running back in times of crisis.

The relationships among the three women change constantly through each episode. Sometimes mother and daughter ally against grandmother, sometimes mother and grandmother go against daughter, but usually grandmother and granddaughter gang up on the long-suffering Sarah, whose one haven is Bygone Books, the remarkably unsuccessful second-hand bookshop where she works for Russell, who dispenses in turn sympathy and wisdom. Most of the time, Russell sees the women's relationships second-hand through Sarah, although he isn't opposed to taking the occasional more active role when necessary. In turn, Sarah can see some of Russell's difficulties of living with a gay partner in 1980s London suburbia, while at the same time seeing Russell's relationship as the one perfect marriage she knows.

The game takes place fifteen years after the original game. After destroying the Taiidan Emperor and reclaiming their ancient homeworld of Hiigara, the Kushan re-establish their clans, or "kiith", in a great council, though some clans have precedence over others. The Mothership, with Fleet Command and the hyperspace core removed from it, remains in orbit over Hiigara as a shipyard. Meanwhile, the Taiidan Empire has collapsed after years of civil war, and the new Taiidani Republic has arisen as an ally of the newly minted Hiigarans, while the Imperialists and their Turanic Raider allies continue to raid both Hiigaran and Republic space.

The campaign begins with the ''Kuun-Lan'', a mining vessel belonging to Kiith Somtaaw (one of the minor clans), launching from the dry dock orbiting the Angel Moon to assist Kiith Nabaal carrier ''Veer-Rak'' and its fleet to defend Hiigara against the Imperialists' assault. While aiding the Hiigaran destroyer ''Bushan-Re'' against a force of Turanic Raiders, they soon find a derelict beacon pod, which the crew decides to capture and research with the aid of the research vessel ''Clee-San'', sent by their clan leaders back on Hiigara, who want the beacon and its technology to be kept within Kiith Somtaaw in order to gain an advantage over the other clans. As they study it aboard the ''Kuun-Lan'', a strange virus begins to take over the ship. The part of the ship containing the derelict is jettisoned; the ''Clee-San'' then scans the jettisoned part of the ship to determine what happened. As it scans, the jettisoned portion of the ship fires a beam at the ''Clee-San'' that subverts control of the ship and its escorts. To make matters worse, Turanic Raiders arrive and are also subverted, forcing the ''Kuun-Lan'' to flee.

Further research suggests that the derelict pod carried techno-organic nanobots which they call "the Beast", that can take control of machinery and even people. The ''Kuun-Lan'' seeks a Bentusi trading ship for help and finds it being attacked by a Beast fleet. The trading ship is hit with an infection beam and self-destructs to avoid being subverted. While other ships are assimilated by the Beast, the ''Kuun-Lan'' discovers that while the true origins of the Beast are unknown, it was first discovered by an alien vessel called the ''Naggarok'', which had come from another galaxy a million years earlier and had picked up the Beast in intergalactic hyperspace. Before the ''Naggarok'' was fully assimilated, the drives and communications of the ship were destroyed by the crew, but the ship automatically released a distress beacon - still infected by the Beast - which the ''Kuun-Lan'' discovered. As the ''Kuun-Lan'' hunts for the ''Naggarok'', they must also contend with the Imperialist Taiidani, who are experimenting with the Beast in an attempt to weaponize it.

Following this, the ''Kuun-Lan'' makes contact with a Hiigaran carrier known as the ''Caal-Shto'', which takes the majority of the information that the Somtaaw have on the Beast so that they could return with reinforcements. Unfortunately, the ''Caal-Shto'' becomes subverted by unknown means and leads the ''Kuun-Lan'' into a trap, where the Hiigarans have to fend off a massive Beast fleet led by a mothership class vessel. This ship was no other than the former research module that they jettisoned early in the campaign. It was not only capable of communication, but was also seeking their origin point of the ''Naggarok''. Despite these setbacks, the ''Kuun-Lan'' manages to locate their sister ship and finally get vital information to their homeworld, whose territories were on the verge of buckling with both attacks from the Imperialists and the spreading Beast infestation.

After several battles with infected vessels and Imperialist planetary bases, the ''Kuun-Lan'' discovers a siege cannon, which has the potential to be an effective weapon against the Beast. The cannon proves ineffective against Beast-controlled vessels as-is (it also overheats after a single shot), so the ''Kuun-Lan'' begins searching for the ''Naggarok'' so they can use a "pure" sample of the Beast to upgrade the cannon. Upon encountering the ''Naggarok'', they find that the Imperialists have allied with the Beast in return for control of half of the galaxy, seeking revenge for what the Hiigarans and the Bentusi had done to their Emperor and the collapse of their original rule. They started this by repairing the ship's primary systems. The Beast offers the ''Kuun-Lan'' a chance to join them, an offer that is rejected. The ''Naggarok'', fully repaired, then escapes. As the cannon also uses Bentusi technology, the ''Kuun-Lan'' searches for the mysterious traders who had supported the Kushan exiles' claim to Hiigara. However, the Bentusi are panicked by the emergence of the Beast, and attempt to flee to another galaxy. The ''Kuun-Lan'' and its fleet destroy the Bentusi's slipgate and engage their tradeships, eventually shaming the Bentusi into helping them fight the Beast.

The Somtaaw fleet soon finds the ''Clee-San'' and captures it, using it to lure the infected portion of the ''Kuun-Lan'' (used by the Beast as a mothership) before the ship's reactor overloads; the ''Kuun-Lan'' then destroys the Beast mothership using the newly enhanced siege cannon. They then seek out the Nomad Moon, a Taiidani Republic battle station incorporating a powerful repulsor field; upon their arrival, they find that the station has already fallen to the Beast. The ''Naggarok'', protected by the station's repulsor field, again offers the ''Kuun-Lan'' an alliance, an offer that is again refused. Acting on information from the Republic, the ''Kuun-Lan'' is able to destroy the Nomad Moon's repulsor field generators using vessels small enough to avoid its sensors, allowing the main fleet to destroy the station itself. The Imperialist Taiidani, seeing that the Beast did not intend to honor its bargain after witnessing the Bentusi appear, abandon the battle, leaving the ''Naggarok'' to be destroyed by the Somtaaw fleet.

After the destruction of the ''Naggarok'', the remainder of the Beast-infected ships are destroyed and a vaccine to the infection is discovered, ensuring that the Beast would never return again. Kiith Somtaaw gains great prestige in Hiigaran society, and their members are honored with the title of "Beastslayers" for their prominent role in the destruction of the Beast.

After Barnaby Jones (Buddy Ebsen) had worked as a private eye for many years, he decided to retire and left the business to his son Hal. When Hal was murdered while working on a case, Barnaby came out of retirement to find the killer. After this case, his widowed daughter-in-law, Betty Jones (Lee Meriwether), went to work for him at the detective agency. Jones was unusual, ordering milk in restaurants and bars, counter to the stereotypical hard-drinking detective.

In 1976, the character of Jedediah Romano "J.R." Jones (Mark Shera), the son of Barnaby's cousin, joined the show. He had come from Chicago to try to solve the murder of his father, who was a retired police officer. After that case was closed, he stayed in Los Angeles to help Barnaby and Betty, while also attending law school. Initially a somewhat angry young man, J.R. soon became an easygoing, fun-loving character.

Besides the Joneses, the only other recurring character on the show was their police contact, Lt. John Biddle (John Carter). He was introduced in the latter half of the second season and appeared in most episodes thereafter, though often only briefly.

As Ebsen aged and expressed an interest in slowing down a bit, Meriwether's and Shera's characters became more prominent, allowing Ebsen to reduce his role. During the last two seasons, episodes were divided evenly between the two actors, Meriwether and Shera each being the focus of half of the season's episodes with Ebsen's involvement limited to slightly more than episodic cameos. Ratings went up in the sixth and seventh seasons, after Shera's character was added, but they plummeted during Season 8.

The show was canceled in 1980 due to declining ratings; Ebsen had also tired of playing the role. After the series' cancellation, reruns aired in syndication.

The series stars Vince Edwards as medical doctor Ben Casey, the young, intense, and idealistic neurosurgeon at County General Hospital. His mentor is chief of neurosurgery Doctor David Zorba, played by Sam Jaffe, who, in the pilot episode, tells a colleague that Casey is "the best chief resident this place has known in 20 years." In its first season, the series and Vince Edwards were nominated for Emmy awards. Additional nominations at the 14th Primetime Emmy Awards on May 22, 1962, went to Sam Jaffe, Jeanne Cooper (for the episode "But Linda Only Smiled"), and Joan Hackett (for the episode "A Certain Time, a Certain Darkness"). The show began running multi-episode stories, starting with the first five episodes of season four; Casey developed a romantic relationship with Jane Hancock (Stella Stevens), who had just emerged from a coma after 15 years. At the beginning of season five (the last season), Jaffe left the show and Franchot Tone replaced Zorba as new chief of neurosurgery, Doctor Daniel Niles Freeland.

Trevor begins 7th grade in Las Vegas. His social studies teacher, Eugene Simonet, assigns the class to put into action a plan that will change the world for the better. Trevor calls his plan "pay it forward", which means the recipient of a favor does a favor for three others rather than paying it back. However, it needs to be a favor that the recipient cannot complete themselves. Trevor implements the plan himself, forming a branch of good deeds. His first deed is to let a homeless man named Jerry live in his garage, and Jerry pays the favor forward by doing car repairs for Trevor's mother Arlene, though Jerry later disappoints Trevor by moving out and returning to drug use.

Meanwhile, Arlene confronts Eugene about Trevor's project after discovering Jerry in their house. Trevor then selects Eugene as his next "pay it forward" target and tricks Eugene and Arlene into a romantic dinner date. This also appears to fail, and Trevor and Arlene argue about her love for Ricky, her alcoholic ex-husband, and Arlene slaps Trevor in a fit of anger. Eugene and Arlene are brought together again when Trevor runs away from home, and Arlene asks Eugene to help her find him. After finding Trevor, Arlene begins to pursue Eugene sexually. Eugene has deep burn marks visible on his neck and face, and he initially resists Arlene's overtures out of insecurity. When they finally sleep together, he is seen to have extensive scarring all over his torso. Arlene accepts this and forms an emotional bond with him, but abandons their relationship when Ricky returns, claiming to have quit drinking. Her accepting him angers Eugene, whose mother had a habit of taking his abusive, alcoholic father back. Eugene explains that his scars are the result of his father setting him on fire in a drunken rage. He berates Arlene for being like his mother and warns her of Ricky's potential to abuse Trevor. When Ricky starts drinking again and resumes his abusive behavior, Arlene realizes her mistake and forces Ricky to leave.

Trevor's school assignment marks the beginning of the story's chronology, but the opening scene in the film shows one of the later favors in the "pay it forward" tree, in which a man gives a car to Los Angeles journalist Chris Chandler. As the film proceeds, Chris traces the chain of favors back to its origin as Trevor's school project. After her date with Eugene, Arlene paid Jerry's favor forward by forgiving her own mother, Grace, for her mistakes in raising Arlene, and Grace, who is homeless, helps a gang member escape from the police. The gang member then saves an asthmatic girl's life in a hospital, and the girl's father gives Chris his new car.

Chris finally identifies Trevor as the originator of "pay it forward" and conducts a recorded interview in which Trevor describes his hopes and concerns for the project. Eugene, hearing Trevor, realizes that he and Arlene should be together. As Eugene and Arlene reconcile with an embrace, Trevor notices his friend Adam being bullied. He pays forward to Adam by rushing into the scene and fighting the bullies while Eugene and Arlene rush to stop him. One of the bullies pulls out a switchblade as another one pushes Trevor against him, unintentionally fatally stabbing Trevor in the stomach. Trevor later dies at the hospital at 7:35 PM. This, and the spread of the movement across the country, is being reported in the news; Arlene and Eugene are soon visited by thousands of people, including students from Trevor's school, who have participated in or heard of the "pay it forward" movement by gathering in a vigil to honor him. In the final scene, Jerry talks a suicide jumper off a bridge.

CERN director Maximilian Kohler discovers one of the facility's top physicists, Leonardo Vetra, murdered, his chest branded with an ambigram of the word "Illuminati." Kohler contacts Robert Langdon, an expert on symbology, who determines that the ambigram is authentic. Kohler calls Vetra's adopted daughter Vittoria home and it is ascertained that the Illuminati, an ancient anti-religious organization thought extinct, have stolen a canister containing antimatter, a substance with destructive potential comparable to a nuclear weapon. The canister's battery will run out 24 hours, causing the antimatter to explode. Langdon and Vittoria make their way to Vatican City, where they are told that the four Preferiti, the cardinals who are most likely to be elected pope, are missing. Langdon and Vittoria search for the preferiti in hopes that they will also find the antimatter canister.

Langdon tells Vittoria how aspirants who wanted to join the Illuminati were required to follow a series of subtle clues left in various churches in and around Rome. Following the clues, Langdon realizes the four preferiti will be ritually murdered. The killer is an unnamed assassin who is working under the orders of the Illuminati master "Janus," whose true identity is unknown. After finding the first two men dead, they confront the assassin in the act of murdering the third. The assassin kidnaps Vittoria and finishes the fourth ritual murder. Langdon frees Vittoria and together they send the assassin falling several hundred feet to his death.

The two hurry back to St. Peter's Basilica, where they find that Kohler has arrived to confront Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca, the late pope's closest aide. Langdon and Vittoria fear that Kohler is Janus and that he has come to murder the camerlengo. Hearing Ventresca scream in agony, the Swiss Guards burst into the room and open fire on Kohler. Just before he dies, Kohler gives Langdon a mini video camera containing a video Kohler made while confronting Ventresca and tells him to give it to the media.

With Langdon in pursuit, Ventresca ventures into the catacombs and finds the canister sitting atop the tomb of Saint Peter. Ventresca parachutes safely onto the roof of St. Peter's just as the canister explodes in the sky. Because of this "miracle," the cardinals debate whether to elect Ventresca as the new Pope.

Langdon views the video and learns that Ventresca himself is Janus, working to sabotage the Vatican. He confesses that he killed the Pope because the Pope revealed he had fathered a child. Langdon, Vittoria, and the cardinals confront Ventresca, who confesses that he poisoned the pope and, under the guise of Janus, recruited the assassin to kill Vetra, steal the antimatter and kidnap and murder the preferiti.

Cardinal Saverio Mortati, Dean of the College of Cardinals, reveals that Ventresca is, in fact, the late pope's biological son, conceived with a nun through artificial insemination. Overcome with guilt, Ventresca soaks himself in oil and sets himself on fire before a crowd of onlookers in St. Peter's Square. Cardinal Mortati recovers Ventresca's ashes and places them inside his father's sarcophagus. Mortati is unanimously elected pope by the cardinals, and Langdon and Vittoria reunite at Hotel Bernini.

Caillou lives with his mother, father, and younger sister, Rosie. He has many adventures with his family and friends, and uses his imagination in every episode.

Each episode in seasons 1 through 3 has a theme and is divided into several short sections that mix animation, puppet skits, and video of live-action children in real-life situations. In seasons 4 and 5, the episodes are divided into three short sections; the puppet segment was dropped, alongside the "Real Kids" version of the segment.

During the first season, many of the stories in the animated version began with a grandmother (who is also the show's narrator) introducing the story to her grandchildren, then reading the story from a book. Starting in the second season, the narrator and grandmother is an unseen character.

In a teahouse in Hong Kong, Royal Hong Kong Police inspectors "Tequila" Yuen and Benny Mak attempt to arrest a group of gun smugglers while they are making a deal. After an ambush from a rival gang, a fierce gun battle breaks out; the gangsters are defeated but several police officers are badly wounded and Benny is killed. As revenge, Tequila executes the gangster who killed Benny rather than arrest him, much to the chagrin of his superintendent Pang. Tequila is then ordered off the case for his misdeed.

Meanwhile, Alan, an assassin under the employ of Triad boss "Uncle" Hoi, murders one of his subordinates who had double-crossed their clan for a rival syndicate led by upstart Johnny Wong. Wong, who is looking to usurp the old Triad bosses through his control of the illicit arms trade, is impressed by Alan's skill and attempts to recruit him. Alan reluctantly accepts the offer, and Wong brings Alan to a raid on Hoi's warehouse, where many of Hoi's men are killed.

Hoi is eventually cornered, and allows Alan to kill him in exchange for the safety of his men. After Alan shoots him, he kills the rest of his men regardless. Tequila then comes out from hiding and attacks all of Wong's men, but Alan spares Tequila's life in the chaos. Pang confirms to Tequila that Alan is an undercover cop. Tequila tracks Alan down to his sailboat to try to make sense of the situation, but the two are ambushed by the remnants of Hoi's gang.

Tequila and Alan manage to kill their attackers just before Wong arrives, allowing Alan to keep his cover. Wong realizes that one of his lieutenants, Foxy, is a police informant. Foxy is beaten at the docks by Wong's henchman Mad Dog in front of Alan and Wong. Alan then shoots Foxy in the chest, although a cigar lighter he placed in his chest pocket earlier prevents the shot from being lethal. Foxy finds Tequila at a jazz bar and informs him that Wong's armory is hidden in a vault beneath a nearby hospital. As Tequila takes Foxy to the hospital, Wong discovers that Foxy is alive and sends Alan to kill him, then discreetly sends Mad Dog to monitor Alan. At the hospital, Alan confronts Tequila, demanding to know the whereabouts of the vault. While the two are distracted, Foxy is killed by Mad Dog.

Alan and Tequila discover a hidden passage in the hospital leading to Wong's vault where they get into a gunfight with Mad Dog. As more police and gangsters arrive, Wong has several patients taken hostage. Mad Dog requests the hostages be released, but Wong refuses. After fighting their way to the main lobby, Alan and Tequila manage to save the hostages; Pang evacuates the lobby while officer Teresa Chang goes to the maternity ward to evacuate the babies. As Alan and Tequila continue fighting through the hospital, the duo eventually confront Mad Dog once again. While Tequila leaves to assist Chang with the babies, Alan and Mad Dog get into a tense shootout, before finding themselves in a standoff amidst several patients and staff. They offer the group safe passage, but Wong shoots at the group in a bid to kill Alan. Angered, Mad Dog turns on Wong, but finds himself out of ammo. Wong kills Mad Dog while Alan escapes.

Tequila manages to meet up with Alan, and the two are confronted by Wong, who sets off bombs within the building. Alan refuses to escape, choosing to pursue Wong, while Tequila jumps out of the hospital with wire cables as it explodes. Wong drags Alan outside at gunpoint as a hostage and has Tequila humiliate himself. With this distraction, Alan manages to grab Wong's pistol and shoot himself, giving Tequila the opportunity to shoot Wong dead, however Alan collapses from the aftermath.

Alan is revealed to have survived the ordeal. To protect Alan from the triads, Pang and Tequila destroy Alan's personnel file and declare him dead, allowing him to leave Hong Kong to start a new life.

''Singles'' centers on the precarious romantic lives of a group of young Gen X'ers in Seattle, Washington at the height of the 1990s grunge phenomenon. Most of the characters dwell in an apartment block, a sign in front of which advertises "Singles" (single bedroom apartments) for rent. Divided into chapters, the film focuses on the course of two couples' rocky romances, as well as the love lives of their friends and associates.

The film revolves around Janet Livermore (Bridget Fonda), a coffee-bar waitress fawning over Cliff Poncier (Matt Dillon), an aspiring, yet slightly aloof grunge rock musician of the fictional grunge/rock band Citizen Dick (which features members of the real-life grunge group Pearl Jam), Linda Powell (Kyra Sedgwick) and Steve Dunne (Campbell Scott), a couple wavering on whether to commit to each other, and Debbie Hunt (Sheila Kelley), who is trying to find Mr. Right.

Joan Wilder is a successful, but lonely, romance novelist in New York City. After finishing her latest novel, Joan leaves her apartment to meet her editor, Gloria. On the way she is handed a letter that contains a map, sent by her recently murdered brother-in-law, Eduardo. While she is gone, a man tries to break into her apartment and is discovered by her apartment supervisor, whom he kills. Returning to her apartment, Joan finds it ransacked. She then receives a frantic phone call from her sister Elaine—Eduardo's widow. Elaine has been kidnapped by antiquities smugglers, cousins Ira and Ralph, and instructs Joan to go to the Colombian coastal city of Cartagena with the map she received; it is Elaine's ransom.

Flying to Colombia, Joan is diverted from the rendezvous point by Colonel Zolo—the same man that ransacked her apartment looking for the map—by tricking her into boarding the wrong bus. Instead of heading to Cartagena, this bus goes deep into the interior of the country. Ralph realizes this and begins following Joan. After Joan accidentally distracts the bus driver by asking where they are going, the bus crashes into a Land Rover, wrecking both vehicles. As the rest of the passengers walk away, Joan is menaced by Zolo but is saved by the Land Rover's owner: an American exotic bird smuggler named Jack T. Colton. For getting her out of the jungle and to a telephone, Joan promises to pay Jack $375 in traveler's cheques.

Jack and Joan travel the jungle while eluding Zolo and his military police. Reaching a small village, they encounter a drug lord named Juan, who is a big fan of Joan's novels and happily helps them escape from Zolo.

After a night of dancing and passion in a nearby town, Jack suggests to Joan that they find the treasure themselves before handing over the map. Zolo's men enter the town, so Jack and Joan steal a car to escape—but it is Ralph's car, and he is sleeping in the back. They follow the clues and retrieve the treasure: an enormous emerald called ''El Corazón'' ("The Heart"). Ralph takes the emerald from them at gunpoint, but Zolo's forces appear, distracting Ralph long enough for Jack to steal the jewel back. After being chased into a river and over a waterfall, Jack and Joan are separated on opposite sides of the raging river; Joan has the map, but Jack has the emerald. Jack directs Joan to Cartagena, promising that he will meet her there.

In Cartagena, Joan meets with Ira, who takes the map and releases Elaine. But Zolo and his men arrive, with a captured Jack and a severely beaten Ralph. As Zolo tortures Joan, Jack tries to throw the emerald into a crocodile pool behind Zolo. Zolo is able to catch the emerald, but then a crocodile jumps up and bites his hand off, swallowing the emerald with it. A shootout ensues between Zolo's soldiers and Ira's gang. Joan and Elaine dash for safety, pursued by the maimed Zolo, as Jack tries to stop the crocodile from escaping; he begrudgingly lets it go to try and save Joan.

A crazed Zolo charges at Joan; she dodges his wild knife slashes and he falls into a crocodile pit. As the authorities arrive, Ira and his men escape, but Ralph is left behind. After a kiss, Jack dives into the water after the crocodile with the emerald, leaving Joan behind with her sister.

Later, Joan is back in New York City, and has written a new novel based on her adventure. Gloria—Joan's publisher—is moved to tears by the story and tells Joan she has another best-seller on her hands. Returning home, she finds Jack waiting for her in a sailboat named the ''Angelina'', after the heroine of Joan's novels, and wearing boots made from the crocodile's skin. He jokes that the crocodile got "a fatal case of indigestion" from the emerald, which he sold, using the money to buy the boat of his dreams. They go off together, planning to sail around the world.

Psycharpax, the Mouse-Prince, having escaped a hunting cat, stops by the shore of a lake to drink, and encounters the Frog King Physignathus. Physignathus offers to show Psycharpax his kingdom, on the other side of the lake, and the Mouse agrees. Psycharpax climbs onto the Frog King's back, and Physignathus begins to swim across the lake. In the middle of the lake, they are confronted by a frightening water snake. Physignathus dives, forgetting about Psycharpax, who cannot swim, and drowns.

On the bank, another Mouse witnesses Psycharpax' death, and informs the other Mice, who arm themselves for battle to avenge the Frog King's treachery, and send a herald to the Frogs with a declaration of war. The Frogs blame their King, who altogether denies the incident. In the meantime, Zeus, seeing the brewing war, proposes that the gods take sides, and specifically that Athena help the Mice. Athena refuses, saying that Mice have done her a lot of mischief. Eventually the gods decide to watch rather than get involved. A battle ensues, and the Mice prevail. Zeus summons a force of crabs to prevent the complete destruction of the Frogs. Powerless against the armoured crabs, the Mice retreat, and the one-day war ends at sundown.

The Eastern Hemisphere ca. 500, a few decades before the time the series is set The premise of this science fiction (more specifically alternate history) series is that a war between two competing societies in the future spills over to 6th century Earth. The New Gods back the Malwa Empire of IndiaReferences the Malwa region of Central India, part of the Gupta Empire in the 6th century and commence attempts to conquer the world and stamp out meritorious accomplishment as a means to privilege and instead favor planned eugenics and hereditary birth (Autocracy) in order to change the future. Meritorious performance is seen to originate in the Eastern Roman Empire, and the root cause of a future that must be changed by conquest, and Malwa has a malleable society and the base power for their intervention. Anything in the way (other Indian kingdoms, the Sassanid Persian Empire, and so forth) must be crushed, including plans to deal with China after Byzantium falls.

The Malwa Empire is advised and controlled by a calculating cyborg (human/machine) interface named Link, and the empire uses gunpowder technology to conquer most of the rest of India. To counter this, the other side, crystalline entities originating in humanity's far future after much adaptive exploration of the galaxies, contacts the Byzantine general Belisarius via a local holy man and shows him the vision of the future with Malwa conquering the Byzantine Empire and the world. This in essence, puts the problem of thwarting the horrible future visions exposed by the crystal in Belisarius's lap even as emissaries of the far off Malwa Empire are visiting Rome to establish a factional struggle to divide Byzantium—and are becoming very popular amongst some of the ruling class and with the Emperor Justinian in particular, forcing Belisarius and friends to move surreptitiously.

Belisarius, though a Cataphract General (heavy cavalry) more attuned to direct approaches, is no stranger to either intrigues or indirect methods— and is thus a good choice for the crystalline emissary to contact within the Byzantine political situation, as he must work with imperfect tools, including the suspicious Byzantine Emperor Justinian I and the Empress Theodora, to thwart the hidden Malwa plotting and invasion. He and his wife thus spearhead a conspiracy to save the empire despite its rulers, sets out to build an alliance with Byzantium's historical enemy, Persia with whom they are currently effectively at war, the African Kingdom of Axum—a naval and trading power of the day which is so far away little is known of it or its capabilities, and various Indian forces and individuals that remain in opposition to Malwa— which may or may not be out there, but which are suggested by the visions presented by the mysterious crystal—whatever agenda it might have. So starts 'just another day at the office' for what is arguably one of the best General officers known to history.

''An Oblique Approach'' primarily revolves around Belisarius, a grand-master of the indirect approach, and a few trusted confidants forming a conspiracy to save the empire under the nose of their jealous and dangerously paranoid emperor. This is a period of seeming calm that precedes any major conflict between rivals where the conspiracy struggles to play catch up and not let its existence be discovered by friend or foe—an important deception hoping to gain both information and time. During the conflict and action, the greater part of this book, the Byzantines are at war with the Sassanid Persian Empire, and the general takes uncharacteristic "great risks" instead of indirection at one point to bring that conflict to a speedy end. This uncharacteristic event in turn partially exposes his conspiracy to his good friend, a fellow general who becomes part of the intrigue and willing co-conspirator thereafter.

''In the Heart of Darkness'' primarily revolves around Belisarius learning the strengths and weaknesses of both his Axumite allies and his Malwa enemies. The cataphract general personally travels to India to explore for vulnerabilities (spy) among the Malwa Empire's peoples, and spars dangerously both with the rulers themselves and their spies planted in Constantinople. The conspiracy against the Malwa expands to a few others and establishes a secret research site overseen by his wife and a discredited naval officer who carry on an affair seemingly under the nose of a Malwa spy, dance further in 'feigned disaffection' with spies of the Malwa and their allies within Byzantium and so tend to things in Byzantium with the added cast of a fellow General (Belisarius' best friend) and his spy mistress.

Belisarius meanwhile leaves the dangers of both his emperor—being too popular can be a 'bad thing' and his stunning victories in the first book against the Persians made him so—and cultivates the Kingdom of Axum as allies, a naval power of the day, and leads a five-man invasion of his 'exposed' Malwa enemies (nominally diplomatic friends).

The events in this book provide him time to plan out various contingencies which come to bear fruit in surprising ways in the later sequels and allow the West's own gunpower tech researchers to get started. During his journey, the spy mission and deception allow Belisarius to become better able to communicate and understand the crystalline emissary "Aide".

Belisarius learns of his true enemy, the mysterious entity known as Link, an artificial intelligence that uses human bodies as its interactive device. It concludes with the war between the Byzantines led by Belisarius against his Malwa enemies transforming from a cold to a hot war as Belisarius, separated from his companions by urgent circumstances born of intrigue and might—is hotly pursued fleeing half of Malwa's might, alone and unaided, some 1500 miles from the Malwa capital (Modern Delhi) to make his way back home to the west. His companions (and people they gathered along the way during the course of the spying parts of the book) are also variously pursued, but saved by prior contingency planning by the wily general, who is at least as good at deceptions as he is at indirections (But they are complementary skills).

''Destiny's Shield'' deals with the Malwa invasion of the Persian Empire, and the growing of an alliance and trust between the Byzantines and Persians to stop the invasion and to cement a permanent peace. Belisarius' actions and magnanimous behavior as victor in the first book will pay a pivotal role as the third book develops and the secret war against the Malwa turns hot. Belisarius leads an under-strength expeditionary force in much more characteristic "Indirect approach" ways to the aid of the Persian empire which as a new ally had requested 4-5 times as many troops. The Malwa invade the gut of Persia by sea through the Persian gulf during the monsoons with an unbelievably huge (Asian) army (to the Persians and other Byzantium Generals) which force succeeds in battering the unwary and surprised Persians (forcing them to seek peace with Justinian) and penetrates as far as Babylon thereby pinning most of Persia's military might and paralyzing its capabilities whilst also invading from the Hindu Kush by land into eastern Persia. Belisarius gains the trust of the Persian Emperor, uses the chance of conspiracy and treason as a hole card, and generally totally upsets the Malwa plans of conquest by repeatedly tactically showing one thing and strategically moving unseen in surprising real tactics when it matters.

''Fortune's Stroke'' covers the later events of the Malwa Invasion of Persia as Belisarius must campaign against Rana Sanga, a Rajput general of great skill who befriended Belisarius during the second book of the series, who is loyal to the Malwa through an overdeveloped adherence to honoring his given word. The campaign is but another stratagem (developing like a good mystery story) while in fact, Belisarius is carefully marking time and giving other events set in motion by himself and the conspiracy members time to bear fruit and astonish both friends, and readers in the events and results.

''The Tide of Victory'' begins the third phase of the war against the Malwa, with Belisarius appointed commander of a combined Byzantine/Persian army to invade India while Axum and the Kushans (a tribe turned against the Malwa in the subterfuges of ''Fortune's Stroke'') carry out operations north and south of him. By moving boldly, the obvious again is demonstrated as delightfully false in the stratagems of Belisarius and the developments at times both delight and dismay his allies. In the end, "In Belisarius we trust" becomes a motto of all save the Malwa.

''The Dance of Time'' concludes the series as the disparate events set in motion by Belisarius unfold, creating the opportunities that he hopes will end the threat that the Malwa pose to Rome once and for all.

''Voodoo'' takes place in the year 1932 and deals with the affairs of the Lafayettes, a family consisting of Sarah (who is pregnant), David, and Grandpa. They move to an old colonial house on the Mississippi River, just north of Baton Rouge, which also happens to have been built next to a voodoo graveyard.

Unknown to the Lafayettes, the colonial house's servant, Salem, is involved in voodoo. Salem partakes in voodoo rituals at the graveyard, along with Doctor le Croix, a voodoo sorcerer, Madame Sarita, and Lula Chevalier, a girl who is never seen.

The Lafayettes hear the voodoo drums from the ceremonies in the graveyard. They call a secret meeting with Salem to discuss what should be done. The Lafayettes decide to destroy the voodoo burial ground. Salem does not want this to happen, so he sneaks out at midnight to talk to Doctor le Croix. Le Croix gives Salem money to buy some goofer dust, and tells him that the Lafayettes must all die.

Salem puts a snake in David's room, mixes haunted graveyard dirt in Grandpa's food, and, after talking to the dead Baron Samedi, pours goofer dust on Sarah while she sleeps. David and Grandpa become very ill, and Sarah becomes possessed with a voodoo spirit.

Grandpa manages to call Father Malone, an exorcist. Father Malone travels to the colonial house to rid Sarah of her possessor. He fails, and is rendered unconscious from exhaustion. While he is unconscious, Lula brings the heavy, nail-riddled ceremonial cross of Baron Samedi to the possessed Sarah. Sarah attacks Malone with the cross, almost killing him. Grandpa comes in and tells Sarah to stop, and she does, which saves Father Malone's life. Grandpa calls the police and ambulance, which arrive two hours later.

The story concludes with Salem speaking about the aftermath of the situation, which also reveals that he escaped the events of the mansion. He explains that the Lafayettes abandoned the old colonial house after leaving the hospital. Sarah's child was born and it was speaking "in the strangest tongue...backwards. Some expert had uttered the word...'Voodoo'..."

In 2241, the primitive town Arroyo suffers the worst drought on record. Faced with the calamity, the village elder asks the direct descendant of the Vault Dweller, referred to as the Chosen One, to perform the quest of retrieving a Garden of Eden Creation Kit (GECK) for Arroyo. The GECK is a device that can create thriving communities out of the post-apocalyptic wasteland. The player, assuming the role of the Chosen One, is given nothing more than the Vault Dweller's jumpsuit, a RobCo PIPBoy 2000, a Vault 13 water flask, a spear and some cash to start on their mission.

The Chosen One eventually finds Vault 13, the supposed location of a GECK, devoid of the majority of its former human inhabitants and instead inhabited by intelligent Deathclaws. The Chosen One then returns to find their village captured by the deep state remnants of the United States government known as "The Enclave". The Enclave often terrorizes the inhabitants of continental United States with their supreme arsenal of advanced technology. The Chosen One, through various means, activates an ancient oil tanker and engages its autopilot, thus allowing them to reach the Enclave's main base on an offshore oil rig. It is revealed that the dwellers of Vault 13 were captured as well, to be used as test subjects for Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV). Vault 13 was supposed to be closed for 200 years as part of a government experiment, making them perfect test subjects. The Enclave modified the Forced Evolutionary Virus into an airborne disease, designed to attack any living creatures with mutated DNA. With all genetic impurities removed, the Enclave (who remain protected from radiation) could take over. The Chosen One frees both their fellow villagers from Arroyo and the Vault 13 dwellers from Enclave control and subsequently destroys the Enclave's oil rig, killing Dick Richardson, the President of the United States, as well as a genetically modified Secret Service enforcer named Frank Horrigan. In the end, the inhabitants of Vault 13 and the Arroyo villagers create a new prosperous community with the help of the GECK.

Nanako Misonoo is a young high school freshman at the exclusive girls' school Seiran Academy. When she begins her first year at this school, she falls into a world of female rivalry, love, chaos, and heartbreak. She narrates the story of the series in a chain of letters to a young man named Takehiko Henmi, who she calls "Oniisama" (Brother). In reality, Takehiko was her teacher at the cram school she went to earlier. She feels such a strong bond with Takehiko that she asks to continue corresponding with him. Takehiko agrees, and soon Nanako begins addressing him as "brother" in her letters. When Nanako starts her new school year at the all-girl Seiran Academy, she is unexpectedly inducted into the school's Sorority despite having none of the looks, talents, or background needed to become a member. As the series progresses, she becomes involved in the lives of the "Magnificent Three", the three most popular girls in the school.

As Nanako interacts with these women, she becomes attached to the great but troubled Rei Asaka, whom she wants to help, but cannot get close to due Rei's obsession with Fukiko Ichinomiya, the Sorority president. Nanako also becomes friends with a beautiful and lonely young girl named Mariko Shinobu, who is determined to get into the Sorority and make Nanako her best friend at all costs. Meanwhile, Nanako has problems of her own; she is constantly being bullied by her peers due to her unlikely membership in the Sorority, especially by one Aya Misaki who feels that she should have been the one chosen for it. Throughout these problems Nanako is supported by her childhood friend Tomoko, the athletic but secretly ailing Kaoru Orihara, the passionate and troubled Mariko Shinobu and the correspondence with her "brother", who just happens to have some secrets of his own. The series chronicles her first year at Seiran Academy as she uncovers the past of some of the most popular girls in school, learning of love, loss, and her own family's secrets, including her true relation with Takehiko.

The comic tells of the unlife and adventures of the title character and her similarly odd (if not odder) friends. The story takes place in a small town called Nevermore (taking its name from "The Raven", another of Poe's poems) and the surrounding wilderness where Lenore's mansion and a nearby graveyard are situated.

The primary focus of the graphic novel is dark humor, with many of the stories having twist endings. Common themes are the reinvention of children's songs, games, and nursery rhymes to something more macabre, and subverting all sorts of pop culture icons and cultural figures into topics of dark comedy. In one story, for instance, Lenore accidentally kills the Easter Bunny. Lenore's actions often result in the death or injury to those around her and in various forms of chaos. Lenore is a character who is a mystery. She often thinks she is doing good and occasionally shows good intentions, although in recent issues the character has shown a change in personality. When she is asked of what her dream is, she replies that it is to rule the world. To further question this, it should also be mentioned that whenever Lenore gets really upset or angry, she can be very violent and often takes her anger out on whoever made her angry even if it is one of her friends. This results in most of her friends (except for Mr. Gosh) being very fearful of her. She can also be spiteful. All of this results in Lenore being an enigma due to her at times thinking that she is doing good with a meaning to do good and at other times wanting to do something more along the lines of being evil.

The comic also featured various one-time side stories (one of these characters, Samurai Sloth, is set to star in his own series) and occasionally guest strips from other artists (with Jhonen Vasquez being the most frequent ). A recurring comic strip called "Things Involving Me" tells about the author's life and experience in an exaggerated, semiautobiographical manner.

The quirky but down-to-earth residents of the small hamlet of Highwater, Vermont, are faced with the freshly dead body of Harry Worp (Philip Truex), which has inconveniently appeared on the hillside above the town. The problem of who the person is, who was responsible for his sudden death, and what should be done with the body is "the trouble with Harry".

Captain Wiles (Edmund Gwenn) is sure that he killed the man with a stray shot from his rifle while hunting, until it is shown he actually shot a rabbit. Jennifer Rogers (Shirley MacLaine), Harry's estranged wife, believes she killed Harry because she hit him hard with a milk bottle. Miss Gravely (Mildred Natwick) is certain that the man died after a blow from the heel of her hiking boot when he lunged at her out of the bushes, while still reeling from the blow he received at the hands of Jennifer. Sam Marlowe (John Forsythe), an attractive and nonconformist artist, is open-minded about the whole event, and is prepared to help his neighbors and new-found friends in any way he can. In any case, no one is upset at all about Harry's death.

However, they all are hoping that the body will not come to the attention of "the authorities" in the form of cold, humorless Deputy Sheriff Calvin Wiggs (Royal Dano), who earns his living per arrest. The Captain, Jennifer, Miss Gravely and Sam bury the body and then dig it up again several times throughout the day. They then hide the body in a bathtub before finally putting it back on the hill where it first appeared, in order to make it appear as if it was just discovered.

Finally it is learned that Harry died of natural causes; no foul play at all was involved. In the meantime, Sam and Jennifer have fallen in love and wish to marry, and the Captain and Miss Gravely have also become a couple. Sam has been able to sell all his paintings to a passing millionaire, although Sam refuses money, and instead requests a few simple gifts for his friends and himself.

The Discworld part of the book begins when a new experimental power source for the Unseen University is commissioned in the university's squash court. The new "reactor" is capable of splitting the ''thaum'' (the basic particle of magic), in homage to the Chicago Pile-1 nuclear reactor, which was housed in a rackets court at the University of Chicago.

However, the wizards' new reactor produces vastly more magical energy than planned and threatens to explode, destroying the University, the Discworld, and the entire universe. The university's thinking engine, Hex, decides to divert all the magic into creating a space containing nothing—no matter, no energy, no reality, and, importantly, no magic. The Dean sticks his fingers in the space and "twiddles" them, inadvertently creating the universe. The wizards soon discover that they can move things around in the universe, using Hex. They call it the Roundworld (the Earth), because in it, matter seems to accrete into balls in space (instead of discs on the backs of turtles). They decide to appoint Rincewind, whom they dragged out of bed in the early hours of the morning, the Egregious Professor of Cruel and Unusual Geography, and send him down (against his will) to investigate this strange world.

The wizards create a series of balls of matter in space, and give one of them a Moon (accidentally). This stabilizes the ball enough that, over a score of millennia (the wizards can skip over vast periods of Roundworld time, allowing them to view the history of the universe in less than a month), blobs of life emerge, ready to begin evolving into more complex forms. The book also features a fictional crab civilization and the dinosaurs (both of which are wiped out by comets/asteroids colliding with the earth), before jumping ahead to when an advanced civilization (presumably humans) has evacuated the earth due to an impending natural disaster.

Bart and Lisa are desperately trying to cool down while Springfield is in the midst of a heatwave, when Otto Mann suddenly arrives in their street driving a semi-trailer truck with a swimming pool on the back. After the children of the neighborhood spend some brief time enjoying the pool, Otto declares that their time is up and admits to Bart that his employers don't have the budget to operate the truck for more than one day. Disappointed, Bart and Lisa persuade Homer to buy a swimming pool for their house, but when word spreads that the Simpsons have built their own pool, a massive crowd of children from Springfield Elementary School show up at their house and a pool party quickly ensues. During this party, Bart gets dared to attempt an ambitious dive into the pool from the family tree house, but Nelson Muntz distracts Bart to the point where he falls to the ground and breaks his left leg.

After a hospital visit, Bart is ordered to spend the rest of the summer wearing a full cast over his broken leg, leaving him unable to swim in the pool or socialize with any of the other children. He soon retreats to his bedroom, where he begins spying on nearby houses using a telescope that he borrowed from Lisa. That night, Bart becomes gradually more concerned about his next door neighbor Ned Flanders after he first hears a womanly scream from the Flanders house and later witnesses Ned digging a grave in the backyard, expressing remorse that he's become a "murderer". The next day, Bart overhears Ned telling his sons Rod and Todd that their mother is "with God" and they will soon join her. All of this leads Bart to believe that Ned has secretly murdered his wife Maude and is now planning to do the same to their children.

Meanwhile, Lisa revels in her newfound popularity with the schoolkids as a direct result of the swimming pool. Homer and Marge also find some time to enjoy the pool by themselves, although Homer's botched attempt to chlorinate the pool water causes problems for the schoolkids when they come back the next day. Lisa's time as the popular kid also proves to be short-lived when the other children abandon her in favor of Martin Prince, whose family now has an even bigger backyard pool than the Simpsons.

Without the attention from the other kids, Lisa soon notices Bart's fears of what Ned might be up to, and she reluctantly agrees to help him investigate by sneaking into the Flanders house while Ned is away. The plan goes awry, however, when Ned unexpectedly comes home early and enters the house with an axe in his hands. Bart, afraid of what he thinks will happen to Lisa if Ned catches her, leaps out of his chair and struggles to chase after Ned in spite of his broken leg. He follows Ned into the attic, where Lisa has hidden herself, and they both start screaming in terror, only to watch as Ned puts the axe away for safekeeping. Ned confusedly asks Bart and Lisa what's going on, and when Bart accuses him of killing Maude, he faints from the shock.

After the police arrive to question Ned, they discover that Maude is alive and well, having just returned from her time "with God" at a Bible camp in the countryside. Bart presses Ned about the grave he dug in the backyard, forcing Ned to tearfully confess that the grave was for Maude's favorite ''ficus benjamina'', which he had accidentally overwatered. When Ned sees the police unearthing the dead plant from his backyard, he lets out a high-pitched scream which sounds like a woman's voice, and Bart recognizes this as the scream he originally heard. All of Bart's lingering questions are now answered, and Ned is cleared of any criminal suspicion.

Martin's joy at being the new popular kid gets the better of him when the overestimates the capacity of the new pool, which quickly breaks apart from the physical stress. Nelson rips off Martin's swim trunks as a final insult, and the schoolkids all walk away in anger. Martin, standing naked and alone amid the wreckage, solemnly begins to sing "Summer Wind" as he watches the sunset.

In the film, Timon and Pumbaa are chopping down trees and clogging up rivers to build the Hakuna Matata Lakeside Village. Simba comes to them and explains how their actions are harmful to nature. This lesson was explained with live-action footage, some left over from ''Symbiosis'' (with clips of people such as Native Americans, Native Hawaiians and Masai, clips of New York City and other locations such as the Amazon Rainforest, Serengeti, Andes, Las Vegas, Geno's Steaks in Philadelphia, and images of animals such as monkeys, bald eagles, snakes, elephants and wildebeest).

The film opens with Mufasa's voice explaining that everyone is connected in the great circle of life. A montage of animals and a few clips from ''Symbiosis'' open to the song, Circle of Life.

The focus of the main story is on Simba. He decided to show Timon and Pumbaa how another creature (man) is similarly forgetting how everyone is connected. He explained to them that, at first, they were small in numbers, so they only took what they needed to survive, which at that time wasn't much. However, as the human population grew, necessities for living space, power, and food increased.

Timon and Pumbaa are initially excited by man's developments, but Simba shows them the price that comes with the human necessities. He explains that humans have caused harm to the environment with their excessive consumption through activity such as deforestation, endangerment of species and pollution. He says that once humans realized what they were destroying, they began to repair the damage through recycling, alternative energy and conservation programs. He explains that humans helped other creatures in nature by studying them to learn their needs.

Timon and Pumbaa decide to help the humans give back to nature, but Simba shows them that they already can at home. Timon and Pumbaa unclog the rivers, thus giving the water back to the other creatures on the Savannah. The film ends with Simba's mighty roar and a shorter montage set to the end of the title song.

Set in 1984, British journalist Arthur Stuart is writing an article about the withdrawal from public life of 1970s glam rock star Brian Slade following a death hoax ten years earlier, and is interviewing those who had a part in the entertainer's career. As each person recalls their thoughts, it becomes the introduction of the vignette for that particular segment in Slade's personal and professional life.

Part of the story involves Stuart's family's reaction to his homosexuality, and how the gay and bisexual glam rock stars and music scene gave him the strength to come out. Rock shows, fashion, and rock journalism all play a role in showing the youth culture of 1970s Britain, as well as the gay culture of the time.

At the beginning of his career, Slade is married to Mandy. But when he comes to the United States, he seeks out American rock star Curt Wild, and they become involved in each other's lives on a personal and creative level.

The vignettes show both Wild and Slade becoming increasingly difficult to work with as they become more famous. They suffer breakdowns in both their personal and professional relationships. Eventually, Slade's career ends following the critical and fan backlash from his on-stage publicity stunt where he faked his own murder.

As he gets closer to the truth of where Slade is now, Stuart is suddenly told by his editor that the story is no longer of public interest, and Stuart has now been assigned to the Tommy Stone tour, which coincidentally is Brian Slade's new identity. We discover Stuart was also at the concert where Slade faked his own death, and that after seeing Wild perform on another night, Wild and Stuart had a sexual encounter.

Eventually, Stuart confronts Tommy Stone and once again encounters Wild, who casually passes on a piece of jewelry from Oscar Wilde.

Ten years after the end of World War II Tom Rath (Gregory Peck) is living in suburban Connecticut with his wife Betsy (Jennifer Jones) and three children. He's having difficulty supporting his family to his wife’s ambitions on his salary writing for a Manhattan nonprofit foundation. In addition to his troubled marriage Tom is also dealing with post-traumatic stress syndrome, depicted in the form of frequent and disquieting flashbacks from his combat service as an Army captain in both the European and Pacific theaters. These include actions where he killed men in combat (including, by accident, his best friend), and an affair with a young Italian girl named Maria (Marisa Pavan), with whom he had a brief relationship despite his being involved with Betsy at the time.

When a hoped-for inheritance from Tom's recently deceased grandmother turns out to have been depleted, leaving only her large and unsaleable estate, Betsy pressures Tom to seek a higher-paying job. Acting on a tip from a fellow train commuter, he applies for an opening in public relations at television network United Broadcasting Company (UBC). Asked to write his autobiography as part of the interview process, he defers in favor of a simple declaration that he wants the job, expects he can grow into it, and will be happy to answer any questions directly related to his application. His forthrightness catches the attention of founding network president Ralph Hopkins (Fredric March), who seeks his help in launching a national mental health campaign Hopkins holds dear. Hopkins is powerful and highly respected, but a workaholic whose success has been at the expense of his family life, leaving him estranged from his wife and rebellious daughter, who soon elopes with an unsuitable man. He is drawn to Tom’s frankness and physical traits that remind him of the beloved son he lost in World War II.

Tom is initially supervised by Bill Ogden (Henry Daniell), an oily micromanager and office politician who rejects Tom's drafts of an important speech Hopkins intends to launch the campaign with, substituting his own platitude-filled draft of what Ogden thinks Hopkins wants to hear. Aware the impetus for that pitch came from Hopkins himself, and dangerously pressured by Ogden, Tom plans to play along and accept that draft, but, coaxed by Betsy, presents his original ideas to Hopkins instead. Hopkins is both stunned and intrigued by Tom's incisive approach and naked candor, but their meeting at Hopkins' city suite is interrupted by the unwelcome news that his daughter has eloped. Deeply disturbed, Hopkins becomes reflective, and relates to Tom that his son "did the right thing" and refused a commission in World War II and was subsequently killed in action as an enlisted man. Hopkins now regrets having ignored his family and advises Tom not to make the same mistake.

Betsy abruptly sells the family's modest suburban home and moves them into Tom's late grandmother's mansion, which she chides as "Dragonwyck". Complications immediately ensue when Edward (Joseph Sweeney), the old woman's longtime caretaker, claims that Tom's grandmother had bequeathed him the estate. Judge Bernstein (Lee J. Cobb) intercedes and presents evidence which suggests that not only did Edward forge the bequest letter, but he also padded his bills, thus depleting the estate and accumulating a large fortune that he could not otherwise explain. The Raths are able to keep the house.

At his new job, Tom runs into elevator operator Caesar (Keenan Wynn), his sergeant in Italy. Caesar is married to his Italian flame, Maria's cousin, and tells Tom that Maria and her son by Tom are desperate for money in their still war-ravaged country. Tom has kept his affair and possible child a secret from Betsy, but goaded that evening by her admonition to always tell the truth which he now decides to tell her. Betsy reacts angrily and speeds away recklessly in the family car.

The following morning South Bay police call to tell Tom that they have Betsy, who ran out of gas during her flight. Hopkins then calls to ask Tom to accompany him on a trip to California in support of the new campaign. Tom declines, saying that he just wants to "work 9 to 5 and spend the rest of the time with my family," a decision Hopkins respectfully but ruefully accepts.

Tom retrieves Betsy and they reconcile. The couple then go to Judge Bernstein to set up a third-person conduit for sending funds to Tom's son in Italy. They leave together, embrace, and kiss.

In ''Pikmin'', the main protagonist is Captain Olimar, a tiny, one-inch tall humanoid extraterrestrial from the planet Hocotate. The story starts when Olimar is taking an intergalactic vacation in outer space. However, during his flight, a comet hits his spacecraft, the S.S. ''Dolphin'' (a reference to the GameCube's codename, "Project Dolphin"), which is then pulled into the gravity field of an uncharted planet. Parts of the spaceship fall off as it plummets to the ground and crashes.

When he regains consciousness, Olimar finds out that the planet's atmosphere contains high levels of poisonous oxygen and he can stay on the planet for only thirty days before his life support system stops functioning. Olimar must retrieve all 30 of his lost spaceship parts so he can rebuild his spaceship and return to Hocotate. Although Olimar initially states in his journal entries that he needs all thirty parts, as the game progresses, it is hinted that some parts might not be needed to actually lift off and, indeed, one can successfully complete the game with only 25 parts rather than all 30.

To help Olimar are indigenous creatures called Pikmin, which are nearly extinct and unable to survive in the environment without direct leadership. As this element of symbiosis develops, Olimar discovers parts of the ''Dolphin'' and travels across the Pikmin Planet, which is assumed to be Earth, albeit with fictional fauna and far after the extinction of humans. The game has three endings depending upon how many ship parts the player successfully reacquires. Two good endings occur should the player retrieve all thirty parts or twenty-five necessary parts, and a bad ending occurs should the player fail to find twenty-five parts.

The Soviet Union reveals Superman to the world in 1953. The news of a superpowered alien under Soviet control causes panic in the United States, shifting the focus of the Cold War arms race from nuclear weapons to metahumans. CIA agent James Olsen recruits Lex Luthor, a scientist employed by S.T.A.R. Labs, to destroy Superman. Luthor's first act is to cause ''Sputnik 2'' to plummet towards Metropolis. After Superman diverts the satellite away from the city, Luthor retrieves his genetic material and creates a monstrous clone of Superman, whom Lex Luthor names Superman 2.

Meanwhile, Superman meets Wonder Woman at a diplomatic party, and she becomes smitten with him. Pyotr Roslov, the head of the NKVD and Joseph Stalin's illegitimate son, is angry that Superman has turned his father's attention away from him and ended his chances of advancement within the Soviet regime. Pyotr shoots a dissident couple in front of their son for printing anti-Superman propaganda. Stalin dies from cyanide poisoning, and Superman initially refuses command of the Communist Party. However, a chance meeting with Lana Lazarenko, his childhood sweetheart, changes his mind. Superman chooses to use his powers for the greater good and turn his country into a utopia.

The U.S. government sends "Superman 2" to engage Superman, and their duel causes an accidental nuclear missile launch in Great Britain. The clone sacrifices itself to save millions. Luthor murders his research staff at S.T.A.R. Labs and founds LuthorCorp, dedicating his life to destroying Superman.

By 1978, the United States is on the verge of social collapse whereas the prosperous Soviet Union has peacefully expanded its influence to nearly every corner of the globe. The cost of this progress is an increased infringement on individual liberties, with Superman fast becoming a Big Brother-like figure, and the introduction of a brain surgery technique that turns dissidents into obedient drones, or "Superman Robots". Superman now works with Wonder Woman to save lives as well as govern the Soviet state. Wonder Woman has become increasingly enamored of Superman, but he considers her simply as a comrade, and is oblivious to her love for him.

Luthor plans to shrink Moscow, but this plan fails when Brainiac, his collaborator, shrinks Stalingrad instead. Superman intervenes and retrieves both Brainiac's central processing unit and the tiny city, putting an end to the Brainiac-Luthor cooperation. He is unable to restore Stalingrad and its inhabitants to their proper size. This becomes his one failure and a source of great guilt.

Luthor's third plan involves the vigilante Batman, who was the boy orphaned by Pyotr. Batman joins forces with LuthorCorp and Pyotr, now head of the KGB. They capture Wonder Woman and use her as bait for Superman, hoping to sap his powers with rays that imitate sunlight from Superman's home planet. The plan works, but Superman convinces Wonder Woman to break free of the lasso that she is tied up with and destroy the generators running the lamps emitting the solar energy. She does, severely injuring herself in the process, but the lamps stop running and Superman's powers return. Scared that Superman was going to lobotomize him and turn him into a robot, Batman kills himself as a martyr to his cause. Pyotr is turned into a Superman robot, and Wonder Woman no longer has feelings for Superman, as he shows little to no regard for her injured condition.

Luthor enacts his fourth plan when he finds a mysterious green lantern in an alien ship that crashed at Roswell, New Mexico. Brainiac is reprogrammed into Superman's aide, and the construction of a Fortress of Solitude, located in Siberia and referred to as "The Winter Palace", begins. Superman's reign continues with no crime, poverty, or unemployment, but with an ever-present state authority. Superman is committed to "winning the argument" with the U.S., and repeatedly refuses Brainiac's suggestions of an invasion. Stalingrad remains his one failure, now contained within a protective glass "bottle".

In 2001, the U.S. elects Luthor and Olsen as President and Vice President, respectively. Using his scientific expertise, massive economic capital and dictatorial powers, Luthor returns prosperity to his country. This is only a part of a more general plan to provoke Superman into invading the United States. Luthor shows Olsen two of his greatest discoveries: the Phantom Zone, a place that super-hearing cannot reach; and the Green Lantern Corps.

Luthor confronts Superman in the Winter Palace. Brainiac yanks Luthor deep into the recesses of the Fortress to be converted surgically into a Superman Robot, claiming that Lex would convince Superman to commit suicide in less than 14 minutes. Superman agrees that his hand has been forced, and prepares to attack.

First Lady Lois Luthor visits Paradise Island to forge an alliance with the Amazon empire, now ruled by an embittered and vengeful Wonder Woman. Superman attacks the East Coast, confronting and defeating the Green Lantern Marine Corps, which is led by Colonel Hal Jordan. The Amazon forces, commanded by Wonder Woman, attack Superman but are quickly defeated, along with a collection of "super-menaces" (including the Atomic Skull, the Parasite and Doomsday) that Luthor had put together over the years. Brainiac's spaceship cuts the U.S. Pacific Fleet to pieces, and the two superbeings meet at the White House. They are greeted by Lois Luthor with the last weapon, a small note written by Lex that reads: "Why don't you just put the whole ''world'' in a ''bottle'', Superman?"

Realizing he has meddled in affairs that he had no place in, Superman orders Brainiac to end the invasion. Brainiac, however, reveals it has ''never'' been under Superman's control, and instead attacks Superman with green radiation. Brainiac is shut down from inside by Luthor, who evaded the surgery. As the singularities powering Brainiac's ship threaten to collapse, Superman rockets it into space, where it explodes. The Earth is saved, but Superman is apparently dead.

The Soviet Union falls into chaos, but is soon brought back under control thanks to the Batmen (resistance members who began wearing the costume after Batman's death). Luthor integrates many of Superman's and Brainiac's ideas into the new philosophy of "Luthorism" and forms a "Global United States". This becomes the defining moment for mankind's future as it enters an unprecedented age of peace and stability. A benevolent world government is formed and maintained. Luthor presides over a string of scientific achievements, including the curing of all known disease, and colonization of the solar system. Luthor lives for over 1,000 years.

At Luthor's funeral, it is revealed that Superman survived the explosion of Brainiac's ship and is apparently immortal. Superman attends the funeral wearing a business suit and thick glasses essentially identical to the appearance of Clark Kent, an identity he never adopted in this timeline. Luthor's widow, Lois, sees this mysterious figure in the crowd and, other than an eerie sense of ''deja vu'', suspects nothing. Superman walks quietly away from the ceremony, planning to live among humans rather than ruling over them.

Billions of years in the future, Earth is being torn apart by tidal stresses from the sun, which has become a red giant. Luthor's distant descendant, Jor-L, sends his infant son, Kal-L, rocketing back into the past. The final panels of the comic book depict the landing of Kal-L's timeship in a Ukrainian collective in 1938, effectively causing a predestination paradox (and, thus, making Superman a descendant of Luthor and Lois).

The plot focuses on The Fool card of the tarot, who is portrayed as a silhouette of a young man wearing a peaked, feathered cap, curled-toed shoes, and carrying a knapsack on a stick. The Fool is the protagonist of the story, and he encounters various other cards from the tarot. In the beginning of the story, The Sun gives him a map, which has been scrambled, and directs him to find the "Lost 14 Treasures of the World." The Fool journeys through four kingdoms (each representing a suit from the minor arcana of the tarot), where he encounters other characters, who either give him more information or provide him with additional tasks. The High Priestess card of the tarot is set up as the villain of the story, and all the characters he meets are other cards from the tarot. Each character is drawn as a black silhouette, as is the background art.

This album, like its predecessor ''Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers'', is one complete narrative that covers both sides of one LP. The first LP side is 20 minutes 51 seconds, and the second side is 18 minutes 7 seconds.

Side one starts with an audio segue from the end of ''Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers'': the music box tune played by the ice cream truck chased by George Tirebiter is heard approaching, played this time by a bus announcing a free Future Fair, which it touts as "a fair for all, and no fare to anybody". A trio of computer-generated holograms pop up outside the bus: the Whispering Squash (Phil Austin), the Lonesome Beet (David Ossman), and Artie Choke (Peter Bergman), singing "We're back from the shadows again" to the tune of Gene Autry's "Back in the Saddle Again". They encourage the onlookers to attend the fair, which the Beet describes as "technical stimulation" and "government-inflicted simulation". Then they disappear "back to the shadows again". A young man named Clem (Philip Proctor) boards and takes a seat next to Barney (Austin), an older man who identifies himself as a bozo (person with a large nose which honks when squeezed); he says, "I think we're ''all'' bozos on this bus." After a stewardess tells the passengers to prepare for "a period of simulated exhilaration", broadcaster Floyd Dan (Bergman) tells them they are riding the rim of the Grand Canyon, the floor of which is five thousand feet below. The "bus" is apparently some sort of hybrid vehicle that can travel on the ground, yet turn into a jet plane which takes off for a "flight to the future".

As Clem and Barney disembark at the fair, a public address announcer directs all bozos to report for cloning, so Barney leaves Clem. The Lonesome Beet pops up and recommends Clem visit the Wall of Science. He boards a moving walkway taking him to the exhibit, which opens with a parody of religious creation myth and segues into a brief overview of history from ancient times to the emergence of mankind, then to the modern scientific era. Two scientific discoveries are reenacted: Fudd's First Law of Opposition ("If you push something hard enough, it will fall over"), and Teslicle's Deviant ("What comes in, must go out"). Then recordings of selected audience members' reactions to the future are played.

Next, the Honorable Chester Cadaver (Ossman) addresses the audience, and relates a meeting with Senator Clive Brown (Bergman), who demonstrates a "model government" consisting of a model train-sized automated maze of bureaucracies which terminates with an animatronic President as the output bus, whom Brown says everyone asks questions. When Cadaver asks Clem to state his name, he responds "Uh, Clem", and the central computer permanently identifies him as "Ah clem". As side 1 closes, Clem is directed onto another moving walkway which takes him in to see the President.

On side two, we meet the President (Austin impersonating Richard Nixon). An African American welfare recipient named Jim (Bergman) relates the harsh urban conditions he and his wife live in and asks the President where he can get a job. The President responds with vague, positive-sounding replies only remotely related to the questions and completely unrelated to the citizens' concerns. Barney (or rather, his clone) is next in line, but is given the bum's rush without the chance to ask his question. Then it is Clem's turn; he puts the President into maintenance mode by saying, "This is Worker speaking. Hello." The computer responds with the length of time that it has been running. Clem then attempts to get access to Doctor Memory (the master control), and confuse the system with a riddle: "Why does the porridge bird lay his egg in the air?" This causes the President to shut itself down.

Clem meets up with Barney back on the Funway. They encounter sideshows such as astronaut Mark Time (Ossman) recruiting a crew for a trip to the Haunted Space Station, and Hideo Nutt's Bolt-a-drome, where fairgoers are invited to participate in boxing matches with electrical appliances such as water heaters and toasters. Public announcers repeatedly page Clem to come to the "hospitality shelter", and Artie Choke pops up again, programmed to take lost children back to their parents. He says he will send Deputy Dan to take Clem to the hospitality shelter. Clem then uses Artie to create a clone of himself which enters the system for another confrontation with Dr. Memory. He repeats his porridge bird riddle, which the computer struggles with several attempts to parse, finally mangling it into "Why does the poor rich Barney delay laser's edge in the fair?" Clem succeeds in confusing the computer into contradicting itself, causing a total crash which ends the fair with a display of fireworks.

The entire experience is then revealed to be a vision seen in the crystal ball of a Gypsy doctor (Proctor) telling Barney his fortune. After Barney leaves, the Gypsy plots with his partner (Bergman) to make a quick escape after their last client, a sailor.

''Slow Step'' is a romantic comedy boxing and softball manga by Mitsuru Adachi. It follows Minatsu Nakazato, a popular high-school girl, as she deals with the unwanted romantic attentions of multiple boys and a teacher. Her plans for evading their pursuits of her grow increasingly convoluted, even involving taking on alternate identities.

The book comprises a preface, 25 chapters, and an afterword, with a total of around 72,000 words.

On board the ''Ariel'' (Chapter I)

Arthur Gordon Pym was born on the island of Nantucket, famous for its fishing harbor and whaling. His best friend, Augustus Barnard, is the son of the captain of a whaling ship. One night, the two boys become drunk and decide, on Augustus's whim, to take advantage of the breeze and sail out on Pym's sailboat, the ''Ariel''. The breeze, however, turns out to be the beginnings of a violent storm. The situation gets critical when Augustus passes out drunk, and the inexperienced Pym must take control of the dinghy. The ''Ariel'' is overtaken by the ''Penguin'', a returning whaling ship. Against the captain's wishes, the crew of the ''Penguin'' turns back to search for and rescue both Augustus and Pym. After they are safely back on land, they decide to keep this episode a secret from their parents.

On board the ''Grampus'' (Chapters II – XIII)

His first ocean misadventure does not dissuade Pym from sailing again; rather, his imagination is ignited by the experience. His interest is further fueled by the tales of a sailor's life that Augustus tells him. Pym decides to follow Augustus as a stowaway aboard the ''Grampus'', a whaling vessel commanded by Augustus's father that is bound for the southern seas. Augustus helps Pym by preparing a hideout in the hold for him and smuggling Tiger, Pym's faithful dog, on board. Augustus promises to provide Pym with water and food until the ship is too far from shore to return, at which time Pym will reveal himself.

Due to the stuffy atmosphere and vapors in the dark and cramped hold, Pym becomes increasingly comatose and delirious over the days. He can't communicate with Augustus, and the promised supplies fail to arrive, so Pym runs out of water. In the course of his ordeal, he discovers a letter written in blood attached to his dog Tiger, warning Pym to remain hidden, as his life depends on it.

Augustus finally sets Pym free, explaining the mysterious message, as well as his delay in retrieving his friend: a mutiny had erupted on the whaling ship. Part of the crew was slaughtered by the mutineers, while another group, including Augustus's father, were set adrift in a small boat. Augustus survived because he had befriended one of the mutineers, Dirk Peters, who now regrets his part in the uprising.

Peters, Pym, and Augustus hatch a plan to seize control of the ship: Pym, whose presence is unknown to the mutineers, will wait for a storm and then dress in the clothes of a recently dead sailor, masquerading as a ghost. In the confusion sure to break out among the superstitious sailors, Peters and Augustus, helped by Tiger, will take over the ship again. Everything goes according to plan, and soon the three men are masters of the ''Grampus'': all the mutineers are killed or thrown overboard except one, Richard Parker, whom they spare to help them run the vessel. (At this point, the dog Tiger disappears from the novel; his unknown fate is a loose end in the narrative.)

The storm increases in force, breaking the mast, tearing the sails and flooding the hold. All four manage to survive by lashing themselves to the hull. As the storm abates, they find themselves safe for the moment, but without provisions. Over the following days, the men face death by starvation and thirst.

They sight an erratically moving Dutch ship with a grinning red-capped seaman on deck, nodding in apparent greeting as they approach. Initially delighted with the prospect of deliverance, they quickly become horrified as they are overcome with an awful stench. They soon realize that the apparently cheerful sailor is, in fact, a corpse propped up in the ship's rigging, his "grin" a result of his partially decomposed skull moving as a seagull feeds upon it. As the ship passes, it becomes clear that all its occupants are rotting corpses.

As time passes, with no sign of land or other ships, Parker suggests that one of them should be killed as food for the others. They draw straws, following the custom of the sea, and Parker is sacrificed. This gives the others a reprieve, but Augustus soon dies from wounds received when they reclaimed the ''Grampus'', and several more storms batter the already badly damaged ship. Pym and Peters float on the upturned hull and are close to death when they are rescued by the ''Jane Guy'', a ship out of Liverpool.

On board the ''Jane Guy'' (Chapters XIV – XX)

On the ''Jane Guy'', Pym and Peters become part of the crew and join the ship on its expedition to hunt sea calves and seals for fur, and to explore the southern oceans. Pym studies the islands around the Cape of Good Hope, becoming interested in the social structures of penguins, albatrosses, and other sea birds. Upon his urging, the captain agrees to sail farther south towards the unexplored Antarctic regions.

The ship crosses an ice barrier and arrives in open sea, close to the South Pole, albeit with a mild climate. Here the ''Jane Guy'' comes upon a mysterious island called Tsalal, inhabited by a tribe of black, apparently friendly natives led by a chief named Too-Wit. The color white is alien to the island's inhabitants and unnerves them, because nothing of that color exists there. Even the natives' teeth are black. The island is also home to many undiscovered species of flora and fauna. Its water is also different from water elsewhere, being strangely thick and exhibiting multicolored veins.

The natives' relationship with the sailors is initially cordial, so Too-Wit and the captain begin trading. Their friendliness, however, turns out to be a ruse and on the eve of the ship's proposed departure, the natives ambush the crew in a narrow gorge. Everyone except Pym and Peters is slaughtered, and the ''Jane Guy'' is overrun and burned by the malevolent tribe.

Tsalal and farther south (Chapters XXI – XXV)

Pym and Peters hide in the mountains surrounding the site of the ambush. They discover a labyrinth of passages in the hills with strange marks on the walls, and disagree about whether these are the result of artificial or natural causes. Facing a shortage of food, they make a desperate run and steal a pirogue from the natives, narrowly escaping from the island and taking one of its inhabitants prisoner.

The small boat drifts farther south on a current of increasingly warm water, which has become milky white in color. After several days they encounter a rain of ashes and then observe a huge cataract of fog or mist, which splits open to accommodate their entrance upon approach. The native dies as a huge shrouded white figure appears before them.

Here the novel ends abruptly. A short post-scriptural note, ostensibly written by the book's editors, explains that Pym was killed in an accident and speculates his final two or three chapters were lost with him, though assuring the public the chapters will be restored to the text if found. The note further explains that Peters is alive in Illinois but cannot be interviewed at present. The editors then compare the shapes of the labyrinth and the wall marks noted by Pym to Arabian and Egyptian letters and hieroglyphs with meanings of "Shaded", "White", and "Region to the South".

''Villette'' begins with its famously passive protagonist, Lucy Snowe, age 14, staying at the home of her godmother Mrs. Bretton in "the clean and ancient town of Bretton", in England. Also in residence are Mrs. Bretton's teenaged son, John Graham Bretton (whom the family calls Graham), and a young visitor, Paulina Home (who is called Polly). Polly is a serious little girl who soon develops a deep devotion to Graham, who showers her with attention. But Polly's visit is cut short when her father arrives to summon her to live with him abroad.

For reasons that are not stated, Lucy leaves Mrs. Bretton's home a few weeks after Polly's departure. Some years pass, during which an unspecified family tragedy leaves Lucy without family, home, or means. After some initial hesitation, she is hired as a caregiver by Miss Marchmont, a rheumatic crippled woman. Lucy is soon accustomed to her work and has begun to feel content with her quiet, frugal lifestyle.

The night of a dramatic storm, Miss Marchmont regains all her energy and feels young again. She shares with Lucy her sad love story of 30 years ago, and concludes that she should treat Lucy better and be a better person. She believes that death will reunite her with her dead lover. The next morning, Lucy finds Miss Marchmont died in the night.

Lucy then leaves the English countryside and goes to London. At the age of 23, she boards a ship for Labassecour (Belgium) despite knowing very little French. She travels to the city of Villette, where she finds employment as a ''bonne'' (nanny) at Mme. Beck's boarding school for girls (based upon the Hégers' Brussels ''pensionnat''). After a time, she is hired to teach English at the school, in addition to having to mind Mme. Beck's three children. She thrives despite Mme. Beck's constant surveillance of the staff and students.

"Dr. John," a handsome English doctor, frequently visits the school at the behest of Mme Beck, and deepens his love for the coquette Ginevra Fanshawe. In one of ''Villette'''s famous plot twists, "Dr. John" is later revealed to be John Graham Bretton, a fact that Lucy has known since he asked her why she was staring at him once, but has deliberately concealed from the reader. Graham recognises Lucy only after she is brought to Mrs. Bretton's new home after collapsing from fever and mental exhaustion during the Christmas break. After Dr. John (i.e., Graham) discovers Ginevra's classless character while at the theatre, he turns his attention to Lucy, and they become close friends. She values this friendship highly despite her usual emotional reserve.

Lucy and Graham meet Polly (Paulina Home) again at the same theatre; her father has inherited the title "de Bassompierre" and is now a Count. Thus her name is now Paulina Home de Bassompierre. Polly and Graham soon discover that they knew each other in the past and slowly renew their friendship. They fall in love and eventually marry.

Lucy becomes progressively closer to a colleague, the irascible, autocratic, and confrontational professor, M. Paul Emanuel, a relative of Mme. Beck. Lucy gradually realises that his apparent antagonism is actually helping her to overcome her weaknesses and to grow. She and Paul eventually fall in love.

However, a group of conspiring antagonists, including Mme. Beck, the priest Père Silas, and the relatives of M. Paul's long-dead fiancée, work to keep the two apart, on the grounds that a union between a Catholic and a Protestant is impossible. They finally succeed in forcing M. Paul's departure for the West Indies to oversee a plantation there. He nonetheless declares his love for Lucy before his departure and arranges for her to live independently as the headmistress of her own day school, which she later expands into a ''pensionnat'' (boarding school).

During the course of the novel, Lucy has three encounters with the figure of a nun — which may be the ghost of a nun who was buried alive on the school's grounds as punishment for breaking her vow of chastity. In a highly symbolic scene near the end of the novel, she discovers the "nun's" habit in her bed and destroys it. She later finds out that it was a disguise worn by Ginevra's amour, Alfred de Hamal, placed in Lucy's bed as a prank. The episodes with the nun no doubt contributed substantially to the novel's reputation as a gothic novel. Ginevra keeps in contact with Lucy through letters that show the young coquette has not changed and expects to live off of her uncle's (Basompierre's) good graces.

''Villette'''s final pages are ambiguous. Although Lucy says that she wants to leave the reader free to imagine a happy ending, she hints strongly that M. Paul's ship was destroyed by a storm during his return journey from the West Indies. She says that, "M. Emanuel was away three years. Reader, they were the three happiest years of my life." This passage suggests that he was drowned by the "destroying angel of tempest."

Brontë described the ambiguity of the ending as a "little puzzle" (quoted in Chapter XII of part 2 of Gaskell's ''Life'').

Spring

Narrated by Jonathan Kent, he thinks back on his son Clark’s roots as a farm boy in Smallville, Kansas. At the end of Clark’s last year in high school, Jonathan tells him the truth – that Jonathan and his wife Martha found him in an alien rocket when he was an infant, raising him as their son, and that he can do things "other boys can’t". Clark overhears his parents discuss their uncertainty about his future, and struggles with his growing powers. When a tornado strikes the town, Clark discovers he can fly and rescues a neighbor, but wonders if he could have done more. After graduation, Clark reveals his powers and his desire to use them to help people to his best friend Lana Lang, who urges him to leave Smallville. Clark says goodbye to his parents and leaves for Metropolis, becoming a reporter at the ''Daily Planet'' with a crush on rival Lois Lane, and donning a costume his mother made him to do some good.

Summer

Narrated by Lois Lane, she muses that her rules as a journalist have been disrupted by the arrival of the costumed hero she dubs "Superman", unaware he is her colleague Clark. Superman saves the city from a nuclear missile and rescues Lois from the rogue submarine responsible, delivering the terrorists to the authorities and confronting billionaire Lex Luthor for his involvement. Lois finds herself intrigued by Superman. Clark returns to Smallville to visit his parents and friend Pete Ross, and learns Lana has left to travel the world; he feels out of place in the city and sad that his home has changed, but Martha assures him he will find his way. Back in Metropolis, Luthor's exosuit-powered "Guardians of the City" respond to a fire at Chemco Labs. Superman arrives and saves a scientist, Jenny Vaughn, trapped inside, before single-handedly dousing the fire. Luthor later meets with Vaughn, who has become obsessed with Superman, for his own plans.

Fall

Narrated by Lex Luthor, he considers his control of Metropolis "a love story… between a man and a city". After spending a night in jail, Luthor plans revenge on Superman; he brainwashes Vaughn with images of Superman, declaring her biochemical expertise will prove useful. At the Daily Planet, Clark watches helplessly as Lois and everyone in the building falls unconscious. As Superman, he races through Metropolis to find the entire city afflicted, and stops a runaway train. At S.T.A.R. Labs, Professor Crosby informs Superman the city has been struck by a mysterious airborne virus. He confronts Luthor, quarantined in his skyscraper, and is forced to ask for his help. Luthor presents Vaughn, transformed into "Toxin"; she and Superman seed the clouds above Metropolis with chemicals and the antidote rains down, curing the city, but Toxin succumbs from overexposure to the virus and dies in Superman's arms when they return to LexCorp. Luthor convinces Superman that he is not enough to save everyone, and Clark returns to Smallville.

Winter

Narrated by Lana Lang, she reveals that she was in love in with Clark, but the revelation of his powers and his departure to help the world ended her dreams of a life with him. In Metropolis, Luthor regains his power over the city, and Lois ponders the disappearance of Superman and Clark's absence. In Smallville, Clark reunites with Lana and Pete, who chastises them for having ended up back home. Lana has dinner with the Kents when news comes of a flood. With Lana's blessing, Clark sets out as Superman to rescue the town, damming the flood. Lana and the Kents are swept away, but Superman arrives in the nick of time. He returns to Metropolis, infuriating Lois with a front-page story and Luthor with Superman's reappearance, as Lana finds peace with a new life in Smallville.

Robert Moore is a mill owner noted for apparent ruthlessness towards his employees. He has laid off many of them, and is apparently indifferent to their consequent impoverishment. In fact he had no choice, since the mill is deeply in debt. He is determined to restore his family's honour and fortune.

As the novel opens Robert awaits delivery of new labour-saving machinery for the mill, which will enable him to lay off additional employees. Together with some friends he watches all night, but the machinery is destroyed by "frame-breakers" on the way to the mill. Robert's business difficulties continue, due in part to continuing labour unrest, but even more to the Napoleonic Wars and the accompanying Orders in Council, which forbid British merchants from trading in American markets.

Robert is very close to his cousin Caroline Helstone, who comes to his house to be taught French by his sister, Hortense. Caroline worships Robert. Caroline's father is dead and her mother has abandoned her, leaving her to be brought up by her uncle, Rev. Helstone. To keep himself from falling in love with her Robert keeps his distance, since he cannot afford to marry for pleasure or for love.

Caroline realises that Robert is growing increasingly distant and withdraws into herself. Her uncle does not sympathise with her "fancies". She has no money of her own, so she cannot leave, which is what she longs to do. She suggests that she might take up the role of governess, but her uncle dismisses the idea and assures her that she need not work for a living.

Caroline recovers somewhat when she meets Shirley, an independent heiress whose parents are dead and who lives with Mrs Pryor, her former governess. Shirley is lively, cheerful, full of ideas about how to use her money and how to help people, and very interested in business. Caroline and Shirley soon become close friends. Caroline becomes convinced that Shirley and Robert will marry. Shirley likes Robert, is very interested in his work, and is concerned about him and the threats he receives from laid-off millworkers. Both good and bad former employees are depicted. Some passages show the real suffering of those who were honest workers and can no longer find good employment; other passages show how some people use losing their jobs as an excuse to get drunk, fight with their previous employers, and incite other people to violence. Shirley uses her money to help the poorest, but she is also motivated by the desire to prevent any attack on Robert.

One night Rev. Helstone asks Shirley to stay with Caroline while he is away. Caroline and Shirley realise that an attack on the mill is imminent. They hear the dog barking and realise that a group of rioters has come to a halt outside the rectory. They overhear the rioters talking about entering the house, but are relieved when they decide to go on. The women go to the mill together to warn Robert, but they are too late. They witness the ensuing battle from their hiding place.

The whole neighbourhood becomes convinced that Robert and Shirley will marry. The anticipation of this event causes Caroline to fall ill. Mrs Pryor comes to look after her and learns the cause of Caroline's sorrow. She continues her vigil even as Caroline worsens daily. Mrs Pryor then reveals to Caroline that she is Caroline's mother. She had abandoned her because Caroline looked exactly like her father, the husband who tortured Mrs Pryor and made her life miserable. She had little money, so when her brother-in-law offered to bring up the child, she accepted the offer, took up the name of Pryor and went off to become a governess. Caroline now has a reason to live, since she knows that she can go and live with her mother, and begins to recover.

Shirley's uncle and aunt come to visit her. They bring with them their daughters, their son, and their son's tutor, Louis Moore. He is Robert's younger brother and taught Shirley when she was younger. Caroline is puzzled by Shirley's haughty and formal behaviour towards Louis. Two men fall in love with Shirley and woo her, but she rejects both of them because she does not love them. The relationship between Shirley and Louis, meanwhile, remains ambivalent. There are days when Louis can ask Shirley to come to the schoolroom and recite the French pieces she learned from him when she was younger. On other days Shirley ignores Louis. However, when Shirley is upset the only person she can confide in is Louis. After a supposedly mad dog bites Shirley and makes her think that she is to die early no one except Louis can make her reveal her fears.

Robert returns one dark night, first stopping at the market and then returning to his home with a friend. The friend asks him why he left when it seemed so certain that Shirley loved him and would have married him. Robert replies that he had assumed the same, and that he had proposed to Shirley before he left. Shirley had at first laughed, thinking that he was not serious, and then cried when she discovered that he was. She had told him that she knew that he did not love her, and that he asked for her hand, not for her sake, but for her money. Robert had walked away filled with a sense of humiliation, even as he knew that she was right. This self-disgust had driven Robert away to London, where he realised that restoring the family name was not as important as maintaining his self-respect. He had returned home determined to close the mill if he had to, and go away to Canada to make his fortune. Just as Robert finishes his narration his friend hears a gunshot and Robert falls from his horse.

The friend takes Robert to his own home and looks after him. After a turn for the worse Robert slowly gets better. A visit from Caroline revives him, but she has to come secretly, hiding from her uncle and his friend and his family. Robert soon moves back to his own home and persuades his sister that the very thing their house needs to cheer it up is a visit from Caroline. Robert asks for Caroline's forgiveness.

Louis proposes to Shirley, despite the difference in their relative situations, and Shirley agrees to marry him. At first Caroline is to be Shirley's bridesmaid, but Robert proposes to her and she accepts. The novel ends with Caroline marrying Robert and Shirley marrying Louis.

Reserved former housewife Judy Bernly starts work as a secretary at Consolidated Companies under the supervision of experienced and sharp-tongued widow Violet Newstead. Both work under the egotistical, sexist Vice President Franklin Hart, whom Violet once trained and who spreads the false rumor that he and his attractive married secretary, Doralee Rhodes, are having an affair.

When Hart turns down Violet for a promotion, Violet reveals to Doralee the rumor about the affair, leading both women to take the afternoon off drinking at a local bar. Judy joins them after learning of the dismissal of a friendly co-worker.

Unable to think of a way to improve their situation, they spend the evening smoking marijuana at Doralee's house and fantasizing about how they would get revenge on Hart: Judy would shoot him like a hunter does a deer, Doralee would hog tie him and roast him over a slow fire, while Violet would poison his coffee.

The next day, a frustrated Violet accidentally puts rat poison in Hart's coffee, but before he can drink it, his desk chair malfunctions and he blacks out after hitting his head on a credenza. Violet realizes her mistake and thinks the poisoned coffee caused Hart to black out. She and Judy meet Doralee at the hospital just in time to overhear a doctor pronounce a man dead from poisoning.

Thinking the dead man is Hart, Violet steals the body to prevent the performing of an autopsy, but while arguing with Judy and Doralee, she crashes her car, damaging a fender. When Doralee retrieves a tire iron from the trunk to fix the fender, she discovers the body is not Hart and they return it to the hospital.

The next morning, Hart shocks the women when he arrives for work as usual. In the ladies room, Doralee explains that Hart hit his head, but did not drink the coffee. Relieved that nothing will come out of the night's events, the ladies agree to meet for happy hour at the end of the day. However, Hart's loyal administrative assistant, Roz, overhears their conversation and reports everything back to Hart.

Hart summons Doralee to his office and offers her a choice: if she spends the night with him, he will not report her, Judy, and Violet for attempted murder. Doralee refuses and when Hart refuses to hear her out, she ties him up and stuffs a scarf he had given her as a gift in his mouth to keep him quiet. Hart eventually gets loose, which leads Judy to shoot at him with Doralee's handgun.

Ultimately, the women discover Hart has been selling Consolidated inventory and pocketing the proceeds, so they blackmail him into keeping quiet. When they are told that invoices Violet ordered that should prove Hart's crimes will not arrive for 4–6 weeks, they confine Hart to his bedroom wearing a hang gliding suit tied to a remote controlled garage door opener.

While Hart is out of the office, they implement several programs that are popular with the workers, including an in-office day care center, equal pay for men and women, flexible hours, and a job sharing program where employees can work part time.

Days before the invoices arrive, Hart's adoring wife returns from a cruise and frees him, giving him the time to buy back the inventory he sold. Before Hart can report Judy, Doralee, and Violet to the police, the chairman of the board, Russell Tinsworthy, arrives to meet with Hart. He congratulates him on his improvements to the office which have resulted in a 20% increase in productivity. As a result, he invites Hart to join him on a multiyear project in Brazil and Hart reluctantly is forced to accept.

Violet, Judy, and Doralee celebrate their success. Violet is eventually promoted to vice president, Judy leaves Consolidated to marry the Xerox representative, and Doralee also leaves to become a country western singer. Hart is kidnapped by a tribe of Amazons and is never heard from again.

The story of the ''Advance Wars'' begins in the "Field Training" tutorial mode, with the nation of Orange Star in a war against the neighboring nation of Blue Moon, with Olaf as the Blue Moon Army commanding officer (CO). Olaf suddenly ordered an invasion of the Orange Star nation and is in battle with the Orange Star Army. The campaign continues the story that started in the tutorial. Nell, the ''de facto'' leader of the Orange Star COs, gives the player the duty of a tactical advisor for the Orange Star Army.

The player follows the war effort through all four countries, with its own COs, over the course of the game. Starting with having only one choice of a CO to advise, Andy, the player will have a choice of two more Orange Star COs, Max and Sami, to advise as the story progresses, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Depending on which CO is chosen by the player to advise, there are times when a mission is split into a choice of two or three, where the maps and dialog could be different. After completing that mission, the story paths could split up, depending on which CO was chosen in that previous mission, with the story differing from the other path, eventually leading back to the main path.

After winning a battle against Green Earth, Andy gets mysteriously accused by Green Earth's CO, Eagle, of committing a treacherous act of aggression against Green Earth. After defeating the Blue Moon troops that invaded the Orange Star country, the Orange Star Army then invade the Blue Moon country, defeating their troops. The Blue Moon COs, Olaf and Grit, are revealed to be COs whom both used to work for the Orange Star Army, but switched to Blue Moon. When the Orange Star Army's intention was to just pass through the other two countries, Green Earth and Yellow Comet, the countries' COs like Kanbei of Yellow Comet assume a threat of an invasion and declare battles against the Orange Star Army in their land.

Later on, Green Earth CO Drake tells Eagle that the Orange Star Army didn't attack Green Earth, saying that "This entire conflict has been orchestrated from the beginning." Meanwhile, Yellow Comet CO Sonja and Grit try to discover the person who is really behind the attacks. When Eagle meets Andy again, Eagle again accuses Andy of attacking Green Earth, to which the Orange Star COs eventually convince Eagle that it wasn't Andy who attacked Green Earth. This explains why the three nations have been declaring battles against Orange Star, as they thought Andy attacked them first.

When Eagle meets Sonja, Sonja also tells Eagle that Andy wasn't behind the attacks, saying it was someone else, and goes with her to see what she discovered. It is revealed that the enigmatic Black Hole Army, under the command of Sturm, is the true enemy. Using a CO doppelganger clone of Andy, Sturm stirred up war among the four countries in order to confuse, weaken, and eventually conquer them. Once this is revealed, the four countries unite to drive Black Hole out of their land, the Cosmo Land, with COs automatically chosen depending on the paths the player took during the game.

Three years since after the incident in Hope, Washington, former US Army Green Beret John Rambo receives a visit from his former mission commander and old friend, Col. Sam Trautman, at a rural labor work prison. With the Vietnam War now officially over, the public has become increasingly concerned over news that a small group of US POWs have been left in enemy custody in Vietnam.

To placate their demands for action, the US government has authorized a solo infiltration mission to confirm the reports. Rambo agrees to undertake the operation in exchange for a pardon. In Thailand, he is taken to meet Marshall Murdock, the bureaucrat overseeing the operation. Rambo is temporarily reinstated into the US Army and instructed only to take pictures of the suspected POW camp and not to rescue any prisoners or engage enemy personnel, as they will be retrieved by a better equipped extraction team upon his return.

During his insertion, Rambo's parachute becomes tangled and breaks, causing him to lose his guns and most of his equipment, leaving him with only his knife, his bow, and his arrows. He meets his assigned contact, a young female Vietnamese intelligence agent named Co Bao, who arranges for a local band of river pirates to take them upriver. Reaching the camp, Rambo spots one of the prisoners tied to a cross-shaped post, left to suffer from exposure, and rescues him against orders.

During their escape, they are discovered by Vietnamese troops and attacked by an armored gunboat; causing the pirates to betray them, revealing they swapped allegiance to the Vietnamese and intend to hand them over for a reward. Rambo kills the pirates and destroys the gunboat with an RPG while the POW and Co Bao swim to safety. Rambo asks Co to stay behind shortly before they reach the extraction point. The rescue helicopter is ordered by Murdock to abort the rescue, saying Rambo has violated his orders.

Co Bao watches as Rambo and the POW are recaptured and returned to the camp. When Trautman confronts him, Murdock reveals that he never intended to save the POWs, explaining that Congress expected Rambo to find nothing, and that even if he did, Murdock would simply leave him to die to avoid having to deal with the issue any further. Trautman is then told he will be removed from the mission to keep him from trying to help Rambo on his own.

Rambo learns that Soviet troops are working with the Vietnamese army. He is interrogated by the local liaison, Lieutenant Col. Podovsky, and his right-hand man, Sgt. Yushin. Upon learning of Rambo's mission from intercepted missives, Podovsky demands that Rambo should broadcast a message to Murdock warning against any further rescue missions for the POWs. Meanwhile, Co infiltrates the camp disguised as a prostitute and hides under the hut where Rambo is being brutally tortured with electric shocks.

Rambo refuses to cooperate, but relents when the prisoner he tried to save is threatened. As he begins to read the scripted comments, Rambo directly threatens Murdock, overpowers the Soviets, and escapes the camp with Co's help. Rambo agrees to take Co to the United States, and they kiss. As they start moving again, a small Vietnamese force attacks the pair and Co is killed during the assault. An enraged Rambo guns down the soldiers and buries Co in the mud.

Rambo snaps and, with the use of his knife and bow, he systematically dispatches the numerous Soviet and Vietnamese soldiers sent after him one after the other - even blowing up the Vietnamese officer who killed Co with an explosive arrow. After surviving a barrel bomb dropped by Yushin's helicopter, Rambo climbs on board and throws Yushin out of the cabin to his death. The pilot is forced out at gunpoint, and Rambo takes control. He lays waste to the prison camp and wipes out the rest of the enemy forces before extracting the POWs and heading towards friendly territory in Thailand.

Podovsky, pursuing them in a helicopter gunship, seemingly shoots the chopper down and moves in for the kill. Having faked the crash, Rambo uses a rocket launcher to destroy the aircraft; killing Podovsky. As he returns to base with the POWs, Rambo (after using the helicopter's machine gun to destroy Murdock's office) confronts the terrified Marshall with his knife; demanding that Murdock rescue the remaining POWs.

Trautman tries to convince Rambo to return home now that he has been pardoned. When Rambo refuses, Trautman asks what he wants. An irate Rambo responds that he only wants his country to love its soldiers as much as its soldiers love it. Trautman asks Rambo how he will live now, to which Rambo tersely says, "Day by day". With that, the film credits roll as Rambo walks off into the distance.

The movie is set in London in 1914, on the eve of World War I, and the year Chaplin made his first film. Calvero (Charlie Chaplin), once a famous stage clown, but now a washed-up drunk, saves a young dancer, Thereza "Terry" Ambrose (Claire Bloom), from a suicide attempt. Nursing her back to health, Calvero helps Terry regain her self-esteem and resume her dancing career. In doing so, he regains his own self-confidence, but an attempt to make a comeback is met with failure. Terry says she wants to marry Calvero despite their age difference; however, she has befriended Neville (Sydney Earl Chaplin), a young composer who Calvero believes would be better suited to her. In order to give them a chance, Calvero leaves home and becomes a street entertainer. Terry, now starring in her own show, eventually finds Calvero and persuades him to return to the stage for a benefit concert. Reunited with an old partner (Buster Keaton), Calvero gives a triumphant comeback performance. He suffers a heart attack during a routine, however, and dies in the wings while watching Terry, the second act on the bill, dance on stage.

In autumn of 1899, Dorothy Gale's obsession with the Land of Oz troubles her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, who believe she is delusional. They take her to the sanitarium of Dr. Worley where, under the care of Nurse Wilson, Dorothy is about to receive electrotherapy when lightning causes a power failure. Dorothy is freed by a mysterious girl who tells her that Worley's machines damage patients and the two escape. Nurse Wilson chases them into a river, where the other girl is washed away, but Dorothy escapes onboard a floating chicken coop.

Dorothy wakes up in Oz with her chicken Billina, who can now talk. They follow a damaged Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City, now in ruins and its citizens turned to stone. They are attacked by the Wheelers, people with wheels instead of hands and feet, but are saved by a mechanical man, Tik-Tok. The lead Wheeler tells them that King Scarecrow has been captured by the Nome King, who is responsible for the Emerald City's destruction.

Dorothy, Billina and Tik-Tok travel to the castle of Mombi, Princess of Oz, who intends to take Dorothy's head for her collection. She imprisons the group at the top of the castle with Jack Pumpkinhead, who explains he was brought to life by Mombi's Powder of Life. The four construct a flying creature out of furniture with the head of the Gump, a moose-like animal, and Dorothy steals the powder from Mombi to bring it to life. As The Gump flies them across the Deadly Desert, Mombi has the Wheelers take her in pursuit of Dorothy.

After flying all night, The Gump crashes on the Nome King's mountain, where Dorothy is reunited with Scarecrow, who is turned into an ornament by the Nome King. He challenges the group to identify which one in a room full of ornaments, but if they fail after three attempts they will become ornaments themselves, with each failure making him more human. Once The Gump, Jack and Tik-Tok all fail, The Nome King reveals to Dorothy he has her lost ruby slippers, which he had used to conquer Oz. He offers to use them to send her home instead, but Dorothy refuses and begins her turn in the ornament room while Mombi arrives at the mountain.

With her last guess, Dorothy finds Scarecrow and realizes that people from Oz turn into green objects, proceeding to restore Jack and The Gump. Enraged, the Nome King imprisons Mombi in a cage for allowing their escape, then grows to a gigantic size and prepares to eat Dorothy and her companions. Jack is about to be eaten when Billina, hiding in Jack's head, lays an egg that falls into the Nome King's mouth, fatally poisoning him. Dorothy retrieves the ruby slippers and hurriedly puts them on as the ornament room and all of the subterranean Nome kingdom collapses. She wishes for the group to be returned to a restored Emerald City, where upon arriving they notice a green medal on Gump's antler, which Dorothy restores into Tik-Tok.

The people of Oz ask Dorothy to be their Queen, but she expresses her desire to return home to Kansas. Princess Ozma, the rightful ruler of Oz, is freed by Dorothy from the mirror Mombi imprisoned her in and ascends the throne. Ozma receives the ruby slippers from Dorothy and uses them to send Dorothy home, promising she can one day return if she wishes it, while Billina chooses to stay in Oz. Dorothy wakes up on a riverbank in Kansas, where she is found by her family. Aunt Em tells her the clinic was struck by lightning and burned down; everyone survived except Worley, who died trying to save his machines, and Nurse Wilson is arrested. When Dorothy returns home she sees Billina and Ozma through her bedroom mirror, she calls out for Aunt Em, but they signal for her to keep Oz a secret.

William Does His Bit

William hears the family talk about a man called Quisling (William calls him 'Grisling'), who apparently appears to exist in many places at once, helping the Germans. When he learns the man is in fact many men doing the same thing, he sets out to find Quisling and capture him. His search takes him to the village, where at an intersection, two elderly ladies are talking about passwords in whispers. William at once decides to follow the second one, who goes to a school building through the cover of laurel bushes and at a blackened window, William sees an elderly gentleman with many women talking and putting flags on maps. He, believing it to be Grissel's gang plotting propaganda after he hears them make calls about disasters, follows the man to his house, and when he starts mowing his lawn, he rings the police asking them to come, due to stories where the hero is captured but the police come in the nick of time. William is caught "stealing" plates and cutlery so he can see where Grissel's papers are. The police start to arrest him, as William talks about the man and his doing. The man dismisses the police, rewarding William for his "efforts to the country" with money, a bun and lemonade. William walks home contentedly and tells his mother what happened. His mother does not believe him, and continues sewing.

William The Highwayman

William decides that he and Ginger should become highwaymen to steal some money to account for money that was lost by them, and by William's bike being removed because he trampled flowers over with it. William and Ginger dress up as what they think highwaymen look like. Their first attempts are useless, but then they steal a man's briefcase, believing it to be full of treasure. It turns out it is full of rocks. Ethel is starting a rockery, and William sells them to her for six pennies. A gentleman visits who happens to be the girl's relation, and says that highwaymen held up his car. William is found out, but all ends well when he sees a movie about highwaymen with the gentleman.

Boys Will Be Boys

The Brown family is getting stressed out at William's presence. They decide he must be given to one of his relations for a while to keep. William at first is indignant about being kept by his aunt, then he discovers the village she lives in isn't so dull after all... Two elderly gentleman, a colonel and another man find themselves bickering like they did the year before, and the one before that and so on, about their prizes. One breeds good asparagus, and one good peaches. Both vow to win the other's best offerings and grow those plants. William gets most mixed up in the happenings, accidentally wrecking their plants, which finally causes the contest to be called off that year, and decides after his adventures with them, not to be too detailed to his mother about what happened.

William The Fire Man

The outlaws, who often frequent the Village and Marley, notice that a fire "station" has been built out of an old garage. The outlaws watch in awe, as "god like beings" walk in "thigh high boots" carrying hoses and dripping in endless water. At first, the gang of schoolboys find themselves merely waiting on the outside and watching the amazing happenings. Then, they dare to venture in. The men even find their company nice for a while, until William's band decide to join. That's where it all goes wrong. The officer of the area, Mr Perkins, decides that schoolboys shouldn't be parading with his men, and turn them out. But William is not finished yet. His band make their OWN fire squad area next to the garage in a spot of unused land that waits for them conveniently. When Perkins uses a new tactic to get them away, after he is shot in the face by one of the outlaws with a hose, he says he will talk to their fathers. William finds a fire, however after a while, but it is in PERKINS house! When the section officer finds out, William is reluctantly rewarded.

William Makes A Corner

The household bustles with the sounds of the words "war" and "economy", most often joining to form "war economy". William, trying in vain to persuade his mother that leaving school would save money, and that he would go back after the war (historical note, book was written in 1941, meaning the war would end in about 4 years, William being eleven). He asks the cook if she knew about war economy. Aside from stealing the odd couple of raisins (which later ended in a comical sequence of the Brown's saying how few raisins were in their raisin puddings), he manages to get Cook to tell him about "corners" of produce made by "war profiteers" who gain money from wars. William decides to make a "corner" of wood, since there is a wood nearby his home. He takes it to the house of a Builder, and finds a scared women there, fretting over her war time recipes, which happen to include directions that don't even make sense to her. She tells William to put his "wood corner" in the living room. But it is not Mr. Jones the builder who lives here, rather Mr. Jones the fretwork creator!!! Obviously taking a "wood corner" to be a piece of a chair or something, she hurriedly assumes William has every right to dump his barrow into the living room. The woman's relations have been skipping from place to place, eventually bleeding all their relations dry, and Mrs. Jones is no different. When William outrages Mr. Jones with his "corner" of sticks and twig sized branches of common firewood, Mrs. Jones is however quite glad to see them leave for another unfortunate relation! She eventually gives William a Stilton Cheese to take to Mr. Brown.

William the Parachutist

William and the outlaws see Home Guard men, one of which being a local blacksmith, doing their job practising "shooting through holes" and so forth, and wish they could do something similar. The outlaws build a fortress, made of sandbags and boxes, even equipped with 'little holes' to shoot their toy weapons through. One night, a man in a "woman's dress" whom they think is a parachutist walks along the road they blockaded. The outlaws shoot at him and accidentally knock him out when the barricade falls over. They find a pass to Marleigh Aerodrome on him, so get someone to run to the police. When the policeman is there, the "parachutist" explains he is dressed as a woman because he is in a play that night, he forgives William and lets him see the play at Marleigh Aerodrome. William and the outlaws have the happiest day they have had in their lives so far.

William the Salvage Collector

William hears at an air raid shelter that scrap iron should be collected more, as a local woman and her daughter have joined them this evening. After the "all clear signal", William goes to bed and dreams of Hitler in a woman's suit pushing a barrow with Ethel – Ethel having a cork in her mouth. When he wakes up, he decides he must do something about collecting scrap iron. The outlaws put letters into people's mailboxes, asking for "skrappion" and the results are varied. Some are amused, and some annoyed, saying they can't "play games" with them. After William finds some scrap iron he carries his cart to the next house. And what a surprise he gets there. He finds the Bevertons exhibition of war memorabilia, even though he thinks it is simply scrap iron. And he has every right to be pleased at what he finds... who wouldn't like to look for junk only to find parts of Dorniers!!! However, the Bevertons, when they find out, are not nearly as impressed. And the fact that William leaves his old junk on the exhibition table, leading to the guests believing it to be a plot to gain cash revenues, does not lessen the spirit of anger.

William Helps The Spitfire Fund

William, his consciousness nagging him about ruining the Bevertons Spitfire fundraising exhibition decides to raise funds himself by having a war memorabilia exhibition museum himself. The only item he manages to find is a sign a practical joker must have put on the ground saying "unexploded bomb". His museum had no visitors, so it failed. Meanwhile, after hours of nagging Mrs. Bott to give her land up for allotments to a "good cause", The Dig For Victory committee leaves angrily as she brandishes herself about in the air of one who is utterly annoyed. When she sees the signpost saying "unexploded bomb" in front of her mansion, she runs to the Brown's for cover. William and the Outlaws had had to leave it there after their arms would just not lift again, and so left it there they did. "Botty"s wife signs the paper saying she will give up allotments saying it was a sign she must do it. When William takes it away and the Browns don't see it, she says it was a vision telling her to sell her land. She gives William three pounds for the Spitfire Fund in hope that she will receive further good luck accounts.

William Gets A Move On

William, inspired to do something good for the war cause, sees two men pulling up road signs, and tells them it would be better to turn them the other way, so Germans would get lost. This gives him an idea, when he sees two houses, with identical nameplates with different names attached, and he gets his screwdriver and fixes the plate 'laurel bank' on the house 'heather bank' and vice versa. When he gets home, Robert asks him if he passed Laurel bank, as he admires a blonde young girl named Dulcie who lives there. When the owners of the two houses who once were good friends, but separated after a dispute when one said gardens should be reserved for vegetables and one said the same, but for flowers to keep up the country pride, they send for gardeners to burn all the flowers in the vegetable grower's yard, and all the vegetables in the flower growers yard. But when there (Colonel Peabody and Mr. Bagshott) gardeners find the name plates on the wrong houses, they dig up each growers pride and joy. Each owner, when seeing Robert doing the digging, after suggesting he do the rest to a tired gardener, (after all, when Dulcie saw his rippling muscles working away...) blames first Robert, then the other for the gardener's digging. They end up making up to each other, and Robert and Dulcie meet for the first time. When Robert finds out of William's doings he doesn't mind.

Claude Finds a Companion

When the outlaws hear from William that sweet production has stopped during the remainder of the war, they decide to make their own sweets and sell them to the shops and eat them themselves. Each boy races through their mother's larder and bring back an odd array. Included are a tin of sardines and a some coconut pieces. They mix it all together to create "sardine toffee" and taste it, with the following results. First tastiness, second a lasting flavour, third a green countenance! One by one they leave until only William and Ginger remain. When William casually mentions the cakes and sweets they would receive at the party they were attending that evening, Ginger goes too. But, William, never one to say 'I surrender' in any case of the like, goes bravely, yet worriedly to the party. At Mrs Bott's place, where the party will be held, a woman has come to seek one of the children who appears most earnest, to take home to be a companion to her son, Claude. Claude, it turns out, is a bully, even larger than William, and by his mothers standards after all, (she is writing books on child psychology) he should play with a meeker child, so the meeker one would become braver and more manly, and the manly one (meaning Claude) would become more meek. If she had known William's usual look when he hadn't eaten a sweet made of sardines, she may not have been so inclined to take him. But, she didn't. So, she took him. And, when Claude expects another babyish child to pummel at his own will (the father and gardener and housemaid were told not to interfere with proceedings, so not to disturb the balance as Claude's mother said, so unfortunately they watched a poor child being left to the manly strength of Claude) found that William was not his regular punch bag, but a more manly person. When Mrs Brown expects William to come home changed, she gets a full surprise. William, not only unchanged but invigorated, walks in!

Having lost the first Cannonball Run race, Sheik Abdul ben Falafel is ordered by his father, the King, to go back to America and win another Cannonball Run in order to "emblazon the Falafel name as the fastest in the world". When Sheik Abdul points out that there is no Cannonball Run that year, his father simply tells him to "buy one".

To make sure his "Royal Ulcer" does not prevent him from winning, the Sheik hires Doctor Nikolas Van Helsing, who teamed with J.J. McClure and Victor Prinzi in the first race as his in-car physician. Most of the participants from the first race are lured back, including J.J. and Victor, who have taken jobs working with a flying stunt crew.

In a subplot, Blake and Fenderbaum are in financial trouble with Don Don Canneloni, who in turn is in similar financial trouble with mob enforcer Hymie Kaplan. After the Sheik manages to bail out Blake and Fenderbaum by handing one of Don Don's thugs a stack of cash, Don Don hatches a plot to kidnap the Sheik in an attempt to extort money from him.

The race begins with J.J. and Victor dressed as a US Army general and his driver, a private. They catch the attention of Betty and Veronica, who are dressed as nuns for a musical, but remain in character and hitch a ride with J.J. and Victor when they think the guys could become overnight millionaires. They do not lose their habits until later.

Other racers include Mitsubishi engineer Jackie Chan, teamed with a giant behind the wheel in a car—a Mitsubishi Starion—able to go under water. In a red Lamborghini (white at first) with "two great-looking chicks in it" (as the cops chasing them continually say) is the duo of Jill Rivers and Marcie Thatcher. Another team in a Cadillac Fleetwood is accompanied by an orangutan, who appears to be the vehicle's chauffeur. They are pulled over at one point by two California Highway Patrol officers.

J.J. and Victor stop along the way to help a stranded soldier, Homer Lyle. They also get much better acquainted with their passengers, Betty and Veronica, who change into something a little more comfortable.

Don Don's enforcers continue to blunder along the way, with disastrous results.

After Don Don's gang capture the Sheik, the racers band together to invade Don Don's "Pinto Ranch". J.J., Victor, and Fenderbaum infiltrate it in drag, dressed as belly dancers. Others barrel in by car and rescue the Sheik, who is reluctant to leave, since he has his pick of women there. The three "dancers" and Blake go to their Leader to seek help, only to have him jump into the race himself.

In the end, the Sheik bankrolls Don Don's Ranch and then declares that he is upping the stakes to $2 million for the winner. All jump into their automobiles and make a dash for the finish line, avoiding traffic patrollers on the way.

The Sheik, as it turns out, loses yet again, this time blaming the doctor who rode with him for injecting him with an unknown substance. He convinces his father that he will win the return-trip race, having hired the winner of this one. It turns out to be the orangutan with a penchant for destructive behavior and giving elderly ladies the middle finger.

MI6 agent James Bond is sent to Siberia to locate the body of 003 and recover a Soviet microchip. Q analyzes the microchip, establishing it to be a copy of one designed to withstand an electromagnetic pulse, made by government contractor Zorin Industries.

Bond visits Ascot Racecourse to observe the company's owner, Max Zorin. Sir Godfrey Tibbett, a racehorse trainer and MI6 agent, believes Zorin's horses, which win consistently, are drugged, although tests proved negative. Through Tibbett, Bond meets with French private detective Achille Aubergine, who informs Bond that Zorin is holding a horse sale later in the month. During their dinner at the Eiffel Tower, Aubergine is assassinated by Zorin's bodyguard May Day, who subsequently escapes.

Bond and Tibbett travel to Zorin's estate for the horse sale. Bond notices a woman visiting Zorin, who has written her a check for $5 million. At night, Bond and Tibbett break into Zorin's laboratory, where he is implanting adrenaline-releasing devices in his horses. Zorin identifies Bond as an agent, has May Day assassinate Tibbett, and attempts to have Bond killed. General Gogol of the KGB confronts Zorin for trying to kill Bond without permission, revealing that Zorin was initially trained and financed by the KGB, but has now gone rogue. Later, Zorin unveils to a group of investors his plan to destroy Silicon Valley, which will give him and the potential investors a monopoly over microchip manufacture.

Bond goes to San Francisco and meets with CIA agent Chuck Lee, who claims Zorin is the product of medical experimentation with steroids performed by Dr. Carl Mortner, a Nazi scientist who is now Zorin's veterinarian and racehorse-breeding consultant. Bond then investigates a nearby oil rig owned by Zorin, and while there finds KGB agent Pola Ivanova recording conversations and her partner placing explosives on the rig. Ivanova's partner Klottoff is caught and killed when thrown into the intake pipe rotor blades, but Ivanova and Bond escape. Later Ivanova takes the recording, but finds that Bond had switched tapes.

Bond tracks down State Geologist Stacey Sutton, the woman Zorin attempted to pay off, and discovers that Zorin is trying to buy her family oil business. The two travel to San Francisco City Hall to check Zorin's submitted plans. However, Zorin, who has been alerted to their presence, kills the Chief Geologist W. G. Howe (Lee has already been killed earlier at Sutton's home, in a manner similar to Tibbett), and sets fire to the building to frame Bond for the murder(s) and kill him at the same time. Bond and Stacey escape in a fire engine when the police try to arrest him.

Bond and Stacey infiltrate Zorin's mine, discovering his plot to detonate explosives beneath the lakes along the Hayward and San Andreas faults, which will cause them to flood and submerge Silicon Valley forever. A larger bomb is also in the mine to destroy a "geological lock" that prevents the two faults from moving simultaneously. Once in place, Zorin and his security chief Scarpine flood the mine and kill the workers, among the victims are Zorin's henchman Bob Conley, Jenny Flex and Pan Ho, May Day's cohorts. Stacey escapes while Bond fights May Day; when she realizes Zorin abandoned her, she helps Bond remove the larger bomb, putting the device onto a handcar and riding it out of the mine, where it explodes and kills her.

Escaping in his airship with Scarpine and Mortner, Zorin abducts Stacey while Bond grabs hold of the airship's mooring rope. Zorin tries to knock him off, but Bond manages to moor the airship to the framework of the Golden Gate Bridge. Stacey attacks Zorin to save Bond, and in the fracas, Mortner and Scarpine are temporarily knocked out. Stacey flees and joins Bond out on the bridge, but Zorin follows them out with an ax. The ensuing fight between Zorin and Bond culminates with Zorin falling to his death. Mortner attempts to attack Bond with dynamite, but Bond cuts the airship free, causing Mortner to drop the dynamite in the cabin, blowing up the airship and killing himself and Scarpine.

General Gogol wishes to award Bond the Order of Lenin for foiling Zorin's scheme, but M reports that he is missing. At Stacey's home, Q sends a remote-controlled surveillance robot in to search the residence, whereupon it discovers Bond in the shower with Stacey.

William "Steamboat Bill" Canfield is the owner and captain of a paddle steamer, the Stonewall Jackson, that has seen better days. A new steamer the King owned by J J King is stealing all his customers. King also owns the local bank and the town hotel. At a well-attended launch party he belittles the Stonewall Jackson. Bill receives a telegram saying his son is arriving on the 10am train having finished his studies in Boston. Bill has not seen him for many years.

King's daughter Kitty arrives home from college to visit him. She drives a swanky car.

Bill waits at the train station, expecting a big, husky man like himself to get off. He inspects all men getting off but none wear a white carnation which Bill Jr said he would wear. Junior got off on the wrong side. He then goes down the platform pointing his carnation at everyone in turn. Bill Senior and his assistant have given up when they read a luggage tag on a bag reading "William Canfield Jr, Boston". They have found the right man. William is deepy disappointed with his slight, awkward offspring, who shows up with a pencil moustache, a ukulele, and wearing a foppish beret. He sends him to the barber to have the moustache removed and there he bumps into his college friend Kitty. They (father and son) then go to the hat shop to choose a new hat. After much selection the chosen hat blows off as soon as he leaves the shop and he reverts to the beret.

Down at the riverside they meet King and his daughter. Bill is embarrassed by his son and sends him to get some working clothes. He gets kitted out as a naval officer (which is not what Bill wanted). Bill's assistant quips "no jury would convict you". On board Bill Jr is awkward. He knocks off a life belt (which instantly sinks). He sees Kitty on the dock talking to a handsome officer off the King. But she runs off when taken onto the King and goes to the Stonewall Jackson instead.... to see Junior. Her dad orders her back. Junior ends up getting pushed to and fro between ships. Junior is sent to the engine room to see how the ship works. He pulls a lever making the ship crash into the King.

Both Bill and King are determined to break up the relationship between Junior and Kitty but at night Junior slips off and boards the King. As the ships are further apart than before he uses a plank to cross. The King starts moving but the plank does not fall as it is jammed on one side. Junior walks off the end of the plank.

Junior decides to go back to Boston but changes his mind and rips up the ticket.

When Canfield's ship is condemned as unsafe, he accuses the King of orchestrating it. He assaults his enemy and is then put in jail. On a very wet and windy day his son tries to free him by bringing him a huge loaf of bread with tools hidden inside, but father refuses the bread, especially when Junior says he made it himself. Junior tries to signal to Bill what the plan is and Bill then says he wants the bread. But the tools fall out. Junior says the dough fell in the tool chest. The sheriff gets knocked out and locked in the cell where Bill was. Bill runs off but Junior's coat gets stuck in the cell door. He accidentally releases the sheriff who hits Canfield Jr. on the head with his revolver, sending him to the hospital.

Then a cyclone hits, tearing down buildings and endangering the ships. A pier collapses and the King breaks loose. The King Hotel collapses. The walls disappear from the hospital leaving Junior exposed. As Canfield Jr. makes his way through the town, a building front falls all around him, as an unbroken facade and Junior fits through the open window (an infamous stunt). Several buildings collapse dangerously close. Then he is blown in the air clinging to the tree and lands in the river. The jail blows off its foundations and starts to sink. He reaches his father's ship and a house floats by with Kitty on its side. He rescues Kitty with her full weight hanging as he crosses on a rope, then he sees his father floating down in the jail which is sinking lower and lower. He devises a set of ropes to pull the power lever downstairs while he steers and rams the ship into the sinking jail, splitting it open to release his father. Next they see Kitty's father: the King has sunk and he is in the river. Junior ties himself to a rope and dives in to rescue him. When Kitty goes to her hero, she is puzzled when William jumps into the water. However, his purpose becomes clear when he returns, towing a minister in a lifebelt.

At the Long Hampton Hospital, Dr Jimmy Nookey (Jim Dale) seems to attract trouble, beginning with an incident in the women's washroom, which he'd mistakenly entered, frightening the highly-strung Miss Armitage out of her senses. Nookey's carefree manner isn't to everyone's liking at the hospital, with Dr. Stoppidge (Charles Hawtrey) wanting Nookey sacked for the washroom incident. Accident-prone Nookey then quickly falls in love with a film star patient named Goldie Locks (Barbara Windsor). During some misadventures with the hospital's X-ray machine Nookey triggers a massive short circuit in the hospital's electrical system resulting in more mayhem. With the hospital Matron (Hattie Jacques) and his moody boss Dr. Frederick Carver (Kenneth Williams) now watching his every move, Dr. Nookey drinks a fruit punch spiked by jealous Dr. Stoppidge at the staff party. The drunk Nookey ends up crashing through a window on a hospital trolley, after he had almost got into bed with a patient. Goldie leaves Nookey, as the latter is not interested in marriage. Meanwhile, Carver and his rich patient Ellen Moore (Joan Sims) dispatch the disgraced Nookey to Moore's medical mission in the Beatific Islands, where it rains for nine months of the year. Nookey discovers Gladstone Screwer (Sid James), the local medicine man, who has a weight-loss serum. Nookey soon returns to England and opens a new surgery with Mrs. Moore, much to the anger of Carver. While Matron joins Dr. Nookey's clinic, Carver and Stoppidge plot to try to steal the serum. Stoppidge dresses as a female patient to effect the theft, but his luck runs out when Nookey catches him in the act. Goldie returns to have the serum as well, much to Nookey's chagrin. Gladstone quickly discovers that Nookey is making a fortune from his serum, and cuts off his supply to deliver the serum in person and get in on the action. Nookey prevaricates, so Gladstone gives him a serum, which in fact seems to cause sex changes! The movie ends with Nookey and Goldie getting married and the rest of the staff of the Long Hampton Hospital becoming friends again.

Frustrated butcher Fred Ramsden (Windsor Davies) and his dim electrician friend Ernie Bragg (Jack Douglas) happily head off for a holiday trip at the Riverside Caravan Site, while their respective wives Sylvia (Liz Fraser) and Vera (Patricia Franklin) look forward to their health farm holiday. Once at the caravan site of Major Leap (Kenneth Connor), Fred starts making eyes at two young female campers, Carol (Sherrie Hewson) and Sandra (Carol Hawkins). However, as Ernie talks in his sleep and any infidelities are likely to be spoken of in the marital bed after their holiday, Fred is despondent. Professor Roland Crump (Kenneth Williams) teams with Roman expert Anna Vrooshka (Elke Sommer) in an archaeological dig at the site. Arthur Upmore (Bernard Bresslaw) and his wife Linda (Patsy Rowlands) are saddled with her mother Daphne (Joan Sims) and her vulgar mynah bird. Arthur is caught in a compromising position with attractive blonde Norma Baxter (Adrienne Posta) whose husband Joe (Ian Lavender) is lumbered with their giant Irish wolfhound.

After a few drinks with the amused pub landlord (David Lodge), Fred and Ernie discover that the caravan site is riddled with excavation holes. Daphne is perturbed by the discovery that her estranged husband Henry Barnes (Peter Butterworth) lives a downtrodden life as the camp's odd-job man, despite having won the pools. Major Leap is determined to give the place a boost and arranges an evening cabaret for the caravanners, but a mix-up over the phone secures a stripper, Veronica (Jenny Cox), rather than the singer he wanted. Carol and Sandra having hooked up with archaeology students Bob (Brian Osborne) and Clive (Larry Dann), Fred and Ernie pick up Maureen (Diana Darvey) and Sally (Georgina Moon), two beautiful young women from the village. Some wet paint, some glue, heavy rain that causes the tunnels of the dig to collapse, and the arrival of their wives soon bring their planned night of passion to a halt.

Captain S Melly (Kenneth Connor) is put in charge of an experimental mixed-battery during the darkest days of the Second World War. It is a relief for Captain Bull (David Lodge) to greet his relief but Melly is not prepared for the ball-squeezing Sergeant Major "Tiger" Bloomer (Windsor Davies) and the randy antics of Bombardier Ready (Jack Douglas), Sergeant Tilly Willing (Judy Geeson) and Sergeant Len Able (Patrick Mower). Forever feigning illness or hiding in their underground "snoggery", the troops are happily getting to grips with each other rather than the enemy. Most prominent of the females is Private Alice Easy (Diane Langton) who tries to charm her new commanding officer but only succeeds in propelling her top button into his system! Private Jennifer Ffoukes-Sharpe (Joan Sims) pines for "Tiger" while everybody – including little Gunner Shorthouse (Melvyn Hayes) – gets a piece of the action. Even after a tip-off to the medical officer, Major Butcher (Julian Holloway) segregation and rigorous training, the unit is still a shower. However, an inspection by the cowardly Brigadier (Peter Jones) and Major Carstairs (Peter Butterworth) is interrupted by an airborne attack and Melly's troops finally prove they are real British bulldogs.

In bathroom ceramics factory W.C. Boggs & Son, the traditionalist owner W.C. Boggs (Kenneth Williams) is having no end of trouble. Bolshy and lazy union representative Vic Spanner (Kenneth Cope) continually stirs up trouble in the works, to the irritation of his co-workers and management. He calls a strike for almost any minor incident – or because he wants time off to attend a local football match. Sid Plummer (Sid James) is the site foreman bridging the gap between workers and management, shrewdly keeping the place going amid the unrest.

Prissy floral-shirt-wearing product designer Charles Coote (Charles Hawtrey) has included a bidet in his latest range of designs, but W.C. objects to the manufacture of such "dubious" items. W.C. will not change his stance even after his son, Lewis Boggs (Richard O'Callaghan), secures a large overseas order for the bidets. It is a deal that could save the struggling firm, which W.C. has to admit is in debt to the banks.

Vic's dim stooge Bernie Hulke (Bernard Bresslaw) provides bumbling assistance in both his union machinations and his attempts to woo Sid's daughter, factory canteen worker Myrtle (Jacki Piper). She is torn between Vic and Lewis Boggs, who is something of a playboy but insists he loves her.

Sid's wife is Beattie (Hattie Jacques), a lazy housewife who does little but fuss over her pet budgie, Joey, which refuses to talk despite her concerted efforts. Their neighbour is Sid's brassy and lascivious co-worker Chloe Moore (Joan Sims). Chloe contends with the endless strikes and with her crude, travelling salesman husband Fred (Bill Maynard), who neglects her and leaves her dissatisfied. Chloe and Sid enjoy a flirtatious relationship and are sorely tempted to stray. Unusually for Sid James, his character is a faithful husband, albeit a cheeky and borderline-lecherous one.

Sid and Beattie find that Joey can correctly predict winners of horseraces – he tweets when the horse's name is read out. Sid bets on Joey's tips and makes several large wins – including a vital £1,000 loaned to W.C. when the banks refuse a bridging loan – before Sid is barred by Benny (Davy Kaye) his bookie after making several payouts.

The strikers finally return to work, but it is only to attend the annual works outing, a coach trip to Brighton. A good time is had by all with barriers coming down between workers and management, thanks largely to that great social lubricant, alcohol. W.C. becomes intoxicated and spends the day – and it seems the night – with his faithful, adoring secretary, Miss Hortense Withering (Patsy Rowlands). Lewis Boggs manages to win Myrtle from Vic Spanner, giving his rival a beating, and the couple elope. After arriving home late after the outing and with Fred away, Chloe invites Sid in for a cup of tea. They fight their desires and ultimately decide not to have the tea fearing that neighbours might see Sid enter Chloe's home and get the wrong idea.

At the picket lines the next day, Vic gets his comeuppance – partly at the hands of his mother (Renée Houston), who spanks him in public – and the workers and management all pull together to produce the big order to save the firm.

Grand Nagus Zek, the leader of the Ferengi, plans to establish a business presence in the Gamma Quadrant. Zek appoints Quark as his representative to negotiate with a species called the Dosi; Quark asks Pel, one of his employees, to assist him. Pel proves to be a valuable assistant; however, unbeknownst to Quark, Pel is a female. Ferengi females are not allowed to wear clothing, earn money, or travel, so she is forced to keep her identity a secret. Meanwhile, Pel begins to fall in love with Quark. She confesses her secret to Deep Space Nine's science officer Jadzia Dax.

Quark and Pel ask to purchase 10,000 vats of tulaberry wine from the Dosi. They are close to making a deal when Zek informs Quark that he wants 100,000 vats. The Dosi abandon the deal. Quark and Pel follow them to their homeworld, where they learn that 100,000 vats is more tulaberry wine than exists on the planet. A Dosi offers to put them in contact with another race, the Karemma, a member of what she calls "The Dominion". Quark and Pel realize Zek's true intentions: He has no interest in tulaberry wine; he wants to learn about the Dominion.

Quark and Pel return to DS9. While they were gone, Quark's brother Rom, jealous of Quark's preference for Pel over him, discovered Pel's true identity. He tells Quark, who realizes his career could be ruined if he were known to have done business with a female. Quark confronts Pel, offering her money to leave and start a new life, in order to save her and himself from punishment. Pel confesses her feelings for Quark and pleads with him to come with her to the Gamma Quadrant, where no one would mind that she is a Ferengi female who makes profit. Quark refuses, though he has feelings for Pel as well.

At a dinner celebrating Quark's negotiating success, Pel reveals her identity to Zek. Zek threatens to put Pel and Quark in prison, but Quark defends Pel by observing that Zek himself unknowingly allowed a female Ferengi to represent him. Realizing that they were all misled, they decide to keep Pel's identity a secret. After sharing a heartfelt goodbye with Quark, Pel leaves to start a new life in the Gamma Quadrant. Some time later, Dax comments that Quark will miss Pel, though he tries to deny it.

Security chief Odo places El-Aurian Martus Mazur in a holding cell after accusing him of swindling aboard Deep Space Nine. While in his cell, Martus acquires a gambling device that alters the laws of probability after his cellmate, an old man named Cos, dies. His luck changes and he is released from confinement after the elderly couple he conned decide not to press charges.

With his new and intriguing device, he sets up a bar and casino with larger versions of the original device as gambling machines. The bar is a success and draws business away from Quark's bar. The device soon turns on him and he himself is conned into losing a large sum of money. In addition, the couple he swindled out of money change their mind and press charges against him.

Meanwhile, Miles O'Brien attempts to get in shape so that he can compete with Julian Bashir at racquetball. As part of a ploy to regain lost business for the bar, Quark is able to trick O'Brien and Bashir into participating in a public tournament that people can bet on. When O'Brien performs abnormally well, he realizes that there are statistical abnormalities on the station. The crew discover the effects of the devices in Martus's establishment, and O'Brien and Bashir agree to cancel the rest of the game. To prevent more tampering with natural probability, Commander Sisko and science officer Dax destroy the device.

Starfleet officer Melora Pazlar (Daphne Ashbrook), an Elaysian whose species' physiology is incompatible with the strength of artificial gravity used in most humanoid communities, including ''Deep Space Nine'', arrives on the station. She must use external mechanical apparatus to exist comfortably on the station. Because of her physical condition, Melora is argumentative, even rude, in insisting that she ''not'' be shown any undue accommodation. Nevertheless, Dr. Bashir (Alexander Siddig) sees through Melora's barriers and the two become romantically involved. Meanwhile, just as Quark (Armin Shimerman) is about to conclude a deal over some historical relics with a man named Ashrock (Don Stark), Fallit Kot (Peter Crombie) walks into his bar. The two have history, with Kot declaring to Quark that he is on DS9 to settle certain "debts". However, when questioned by Security Chief Odo (René Auberjonois), Kot denies any ill intentions toward the Ferengi.

Bashir develops a medical procedure that could allow Melora to comfortably walk without the help of any of the equipment she currently uses. Even after successfully participating in tests of Bashir's new engineering technique, Melora has misgivings. If she goes through with the procedure, she will no longer be able to live in the low-gravity environment of her home world. Lt. Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell), during a survey mission with Melora to the Gamma Quadrant, compares her predicament to that of "The Little Mermaid". Kot attacks Quark in his quarters, but Quark offers him 199 bars of gold-pressed latinum in exchange for his life. Kot takes the deal, and they go to meet Ashrock at an airlock. Quark's deal is closed, but Kot shoots Ashrock and takes the relics in addition to the latinum. Kot forces the Ferengi to go with him, and they come across Melora and Dax, who are returning from their survey. Kot takes all three hostage aboard the runabout ''Orinoco''.

Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) orders the runabout to be held in a tractor beam. Kot demands they be released, shooting Melora to prove his point. Sisko lets them go, but takes Bashir and Chief Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney) with him in the runabout ''Rio Grande''. They pursue ''Orinoco'' through the Bajoran wormhole. Kot orders Dax to fire on the ''Rio Grande'' but as she refuses, she notices that Melora is not only still alive, but crawling toward a console controlling the ship's gravity. In her element after shutting down the gravity, Melora overpowers Kot, who is taken into custody. After finally deciding against going through with Julian's procedure, Melora and Julian enjoy the Klingon chef's (Ron Taylor) serenade at the restaurant where they had their first date.

Los Angeles cop Chris Kenner (Dolph Lundgren) is an American who was raised in Japan. He is given a new partner, Johnny Murata (Brandon Lee), an American of partial Japanese descent. Kenner does not appreciate American culture, while Johnny does not like Japanese culture much. One thing they both enjoy are the martial arts, in which they are both experts. The two are assigned to L.A.'s Little Tokyo, where they break up some criminal activity in a Japanese restaurant, and an arrest is made.

While Kenner and Johnny are questioning the suspect, Kenner notices that he has tattoos of the Iron Claw Yakuza clan. This reminds him of when he was 9 years old and he witnessed his parents being killed by a member of the Yakuza. Before Kenner or Murata can interrogate the suspect further, he kills himself in the interrogation room by breaking his own neck.

The leader of the Iron Claw clan, Yoshida (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), kills the owner of a popular downtown nightclub called the Bonsai Club by crushing the owner, Tanaka (Philip Tan), in a car compactor. To celebrate gaining ownership of the Bonsai Club, Yoshida throws a party at his house with all of the club staff. One of the girls at the party, named Angel (Renee Griffin), is revealed to have warned Tanaka about Yoshida behind his back, and this infuriates Yoshida who then questions Angel about her loyalty. She attempts to appease Yoshida by offering her body to him but Yoshida instead drugs Angel and strips off her clothes, and then fondles her from behind before beheading her.

When the coroner runs an analysis on Angel's body, it is revealed that the methamphetamines in her system would have led to her death anyway. This discovery of drugs, together with the suspect having Yakuza tattoos, prompts Kenner and Johnny to go to the Bonsai Club in search of information. There they meet lounge singer Minako Okeya (Tia Carrere), who was a good friend of Angel's. Before they can get any useful information out of her, they are ambushed and taken to see the nightclub's owner and Kenner recognizes Yoshida as the man who killed his parents. Yoshida is now a drug manufacturer using a local brewery as his distribution center. He uses smaller gangs such as the Hells Angels, Crips and Sureños to peddle the drugs for him, in return for a percentage of the profit. Kenner pulls his gun on Yoshida and almost kills him to avenge the death of his parents, but Johnny manages to defuse the situation and they both leave the nightclub.

Later that night, Yoshida rapes and kidnaps Minako and holds her hostage in his home and vows to kill Kenner. Kenner and Johnny set out for Yoshida's heavily guarded home, where they rescue Minako. His pride wounded, Yoshida sends his men out to get Minako back. He has Kenner and Johnny captured, stripped topless and tortured, but Kenner and Johnny manage to escape. They then prepare an assault on Yoshida's brewery, where they rescue Minako once again and Kenner fights Yoshida in a duel, in which Kenner uses a sword to impale Yoshida on a giant, spinning firework called a Catherine wheel, which burns Yoshida while spinning at high speed, and then the wheel explodes and kills Yoshida.

Chapter 1

The two main themes are set in the famous introduction (the bells of the Gion Shōja): impermanence and the fall of the mighty (Taira no Kiyomori).

The chapter describes the rise of the Taira clan and early conflicts at the court. The first Taira who gets access to the Imperial court is Taira no Tadamori (1131). After Tadamori's death (1153), his son Kiyomori plays a key role in helping the Emperor Go-Shirakawa suppress the Hōgen rebellion (1156) and the Heiji rebellion (1159), thereby gaining more influence in the court affairs. The Taira clan members occupy major government positions, Kiyomori's daughter becomes the Emperor's wife, and more than half of all the provinces are under their control.

One of the episodes describing Kiyomori's arrogance is the famous story about the dancer Giō who falls out of Kiyomori's favour and becomes a nun.

Kiyomori and the Taira even dare to conflict with the powerful Regent, Fujiwara no Motofusa. Angered by the Taira dominance, Major Counselor Fujiwara no Narichika, Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa, Buddhist monk Saikō and others meet at Shishigatani (the villa of the temple administrator Shunkan) and plot a conspiracy to overthrow Kiyomori. Because of the conflict between Saikō's sons and sōhei of Enryaku-ji on Mount Hiei, the plot has to be postponed. The great fire of May 27, 1177 burns the Imperial Palace in the capital, of Heian-kyō.

Chapter 2

In 1177, Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa is in conflict with Enryaku-ji. Hearing a rumor about a possible attack on Enryaku-ji, one of the Shishi-no-tani conspirators informs Taira no Kiyomori of the plot. The monk Saikō is executed and others are exiled. Kiyomori is angered by the participation of the Retired Emperor in the plot and prepares to arrest him. Taira no Shigemori, the eldest virtuous son of Kiyomori, successfully admonishes his father by reminding him of the Confucian value of loyalty to the Emperor. Major Counselor Fujiwara no Narichika is exiled to an island and cruelly executed. Other conspirators (Naritsune, Yasuyori and Shunkan) are exiled to Kikaijima near Satsuma Province.

Meanwhile, the Enryaku-ji complex is destroyed and a fire at the Zenkō-ji destroys a Buddhist statue. People believe these troubles to be signs of the Taira decline. Those exiled to Kikaijima build a shrine where they pray for return to capital. They make a thousand stupas (Buddhist wooden objects) with their names and throw them into the sea. One of the pieces reaches the shore. It is brought to the capital and shown to Yasuyori's family. The news reaches Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa and Kiyomori who see the stupa with emotion.

Chapter 3

The illness of Kiyomori's pregnant daughter, Taira no Tokuko, is attributed to angry spirits of the executed (such as Fujiwara no Narichika) and the exiled. Taira no Kiyomori, interested in becoming a grandfather of the Imperial prince, agrees to a general amnesty. Fujiwara no Narichika's son Naritsune and Yasuyori are pardoned, but Shunkan is left alone on Kikaijima for letting the anti-Taira conspirators gather at his villa. A famous tragic scene follows when Shunkan beats his feet on the ground in despair.

Kiyomori's daughter Tokuko gives birth to the future Emperor Antoku (1178). A loyal youth in service of Shunkan, Ariō, journeys to the island finding Shunkan barely alive. Hearing the news of his family's death, Shunkan kills himself by fasting (1179). His suffering as well as the whirlwind that strikes the capital are seen as signs of the fall of the Taira.

Kiyomori's virtuous son, Taira no Shigemori, goes on a pilgrimage to Kumano and asks the gods for a quick death if the Taira are to fall. In a short while, he falls ill and dies. Without Shigemori's restraining influence, Kiyomori is close to open war with Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa. He leads soldiers to Kyoto where he exiles or dismisses 43 top court officials (including Regent Fujiwara no Motofusa). Next, Kiyomori imprisons Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa in the desolate Seinan palace (1179).

Chapter 4

Emperor Takakura is forced to retire and Emperor Antoku, Kiyomori's grandson, age 3, becomes the new Emperor. Retired Emperor Takakura angers the monks of Enryaku-ji by going to the Itsukushima Shrine instead of the Enryaku-ji. Minamoto no Yorimasa persuades Prince Mochihito, the second son of Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa, to lead Minamoto forces against the Taira and become the Emperor. Prince Mochihito issues an anti-Taira call to arms. The open conflict between the Minamoto and the Taira is triggered by Kiyomori's son Taira no Munemori humiliating Minamoto no Yorimasa's son by taking away his horse and calling it by the owner's name.

Taira no Kiyomori discovers the anti-Taira plot. Prince Mochihito avoids arrest by fleeing from the capital to Miidera. Yorimasa and the Miidera monks fight with Taira forces at the bridge over the Uji River (1180). Despite bravery of the monks, Taira forces cross the river and win the battle. Yorimasa commits suicide in the Byōdōin temple and Prince Mochihito is killed on the way to the allied Kōfuku-ji in Nara. One of the Prince Mochihito's sons is forced to become a monk, but the other son flees north to join the Minamoto forces. Kiyomori gives orders to burn the Miidera temple. Many temples are burned and people see it as a bad omen for the Taira.

Chapter 5

Kiyomori moves the capital from Kyoto to his stronghold Fukuhara-kyō in 1180. Strange ghosts appear to Kiyomori (a face, laughter, skulls, ominous dreams). News of unrest in the eastern provinces (controlled by the Minamoto) reaches the new capital.

A story about the monk Mongaku is inserted as a background to Minamoto no Yoritomo's revolt. Mongaku is an ascetic with strange powers who requested donations at the court in 1179. After the refusal of Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa he caused trouble at the court and was exiled to Izu Province.

At Izu, Mongaku convinces Minamoto no Yoritomo to revolt against the Taira. Then he goes to Fukuhara and brings back the Imperial Edict from Go-Shirakawa permitting Minamoto no Yoritomo to overthrow the Taira. Kiyomori sends a military expedition to put down the rebellion of Yoritomo. When they reach the Fuji River, the Taira forces hear stories about the might of eastern warriors and fear that Minamoto forces outnumber them. At night, a flock of birds rises with great noise and the Taira forces, thinking that they are attacked, retreat in panic.

Kiyomori, under pressure from temples and courtiers, moves the capital back to Kyoto. Upon hearing the rumours of an attack being planned by the Taira, monks of the Kōfukuji temple (who supported the rebellion of Prince Mochihito) revolt and kill messengers sent by Kiyomori. Taira forces lay siege to Nara and burn many important temples (Tōdai-ji, Kōfuku-ji), statues and Buddhist texts. Retired Emperors and courtiers lament the destruction of Nara. This evil deed is believed to lead to Kiyomori's downfall.

Chapter 6

In 1181, Retired Emperor Takakura dies, troubled by the events of the last several years. Kiso no Yoshinaka (cousin of Minamoto no Yoritomo in the northwestern provinces) plans a rebellion against the Taira and raises an army. Messengers bring news of anti-Taira forces gathering under the Minamoto leadership in the eastern provinces, Kyūshū, Shikoku. The Taira have trouble dealing with all the rebellions.

To make things worse for the Taira, their leader, Taira no Kiyomori, falls ill. His body is hot as fire and no water can cool him. Water sprayed on his body turns to flames and black smoke that fills the room. Kiyomori's wife has a dream about a carriage in flames that will take Kiyomori to Hell for burning Buddhist statues in the Tōdai-ji. Before dying in agony, Kiyomori makes a wish to have the head of Minamoto no Yoritomo hung before his grave. His death (in 1181, age 64) highlights the themes of impermanence and fall of the mighty. Kiyomori's evil deeds will become his torturers in Hell. His fame and power turned to smoke and dust.

In the east, Taira forces are successful in some battles, but are not able to defeat the Minamoto forces. Divine forces punish and kill the governor appointed by Kiyomori to put down Kiso no Yoshinaka's rebellion. Kiso no Yoshinaka wins a major battle at Yokotagawara (1182). Taira no Munemori, the leader of the Taira clan, is conferred a high rank in the court administration.

Chapter 7

In 1183, the Taira gather a large army (mainly from western provinces) and send it against Minamoto no Yoshinaka and Minamoto no Yoritomo. Going north, Taira armies pillage local villages. Taira no Tsunemasa visits an island to pray and compose a poem. At the Siege of Hiuchi, the Taira get help from a loyal abbot and defeat Yoshinaka's garrisons. Yoshinaka writes a petition at the Hachiman Shrine to get divine help for the upcoming battle. Yoshinaka attacks the Taira armies at night from the front and rear and forces them to retreat and descend to the Kurikara Valley, where most of the 70,000 Taira riders are crushed piling up in many layers (a famous "descent into Kurikara" – a major victory of Yoshinaka). At Shio-no-yama, Yoshinaka helps his uncle Yoshiie to defeat the Taira forces (Kiyomori's son Tomonori is killed in the battle). Taira armies are also defeated in the Battle of Shinohara. Yoshinaka wins Mount Hiei monks over to his side.

Taira no Munemori, head of the Taira, flees to the western provinces with Emperor Antoku and the Imperial Regalia (Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa manages to escape in a different direction). Taira no Tadanori (Kiyomori's brother) flees the capital leaving some of his poems to a famous poet Fujiwara no Shunzei. Tsunemasa returns a famous lute to the Ninna-ji. At Fukuhara-kyō, Munemori gives a moving speech about duty to follow the Emperor, the Taira set fire to the palace and then flee from Fukuhara-kyō by boats to Kyūshū.

Chapter 8

Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa returns to the capital from Enryaku-ji together with Minamoto no Yoshinaka's armies. He installs a new emperor, Emperor Go-Toba, and puts the Taira out of government positions (they are designated as rebels).

The Taira want to set up a new capital in Kyūshū, but have to flee from local warriors who take the side of the Retired Emperor. They arrive to Yashima in Shikoku where they have to live in humble huts instead of palaces.

In late 1183, Minamoto no Yoritomo (still in Kamakura) is appointed by the Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa as a "barbarian-subduing commander" (shōgun). Yoritomo receives the messenger from the capital with great courtesy, invites him to a feast and gives him many gifts. Yoritomo's manners sharply contrast with Minamoto no Yoshinaka's arrogant behaviour in the capital. Yoshinaka's rudeness and lack of knowledge about etiquette are shown to be ridiculous in several episodes (makes fun of courtiers, wears tasteless hunting robes, does not know how to get out of a carriage).

Meanwhile, the Taira regain their strength and assemble a strong army. Yoshinaka sends forces against them, but this time the Taira are victorious in the battle of Mizushima. Their influence grows even more after the victory at the Battle of Muroyama.

In the capital, Yoshinaka fights with Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa (the battle at the Hōjūji) and takes control of the capital and the court by force. Minamoto no Yoritomo sends Minamoto no Yoshitsune to put an end to Yoshinaka's excesses.

Chapter 9

When Minamoto no Yoshinaka prepares to march west against the Taira (early 1184), armies led by Minamoto no Yoshitsune arrive to strike him from the east. The struggle between the Minamoto forces follows. Yoshinaka tries to defend the capital, but Yoshitsune's warriors succeed in crossing the Uji River and defeating Yoshinaka's forces at Uji and Seta. Yoshitsune takes control of the capital and guards the mansion of the Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa, not letting Yoshinaka's men capture him. Yoshinaka barely breaks through the enemy forces. He meets with his foster-brother Imai Kanehira and they try to escape from pursuing enemy forces. In a famous scene, Yoshinaka is killed when his horse is stuck in the muddy field. Kanehira fights his last battle and commits suicide.

While the Minamoto fight among themselves in the capital, the Taira move back to Fukuhara and set up defences at the Ichi-no-tani stronghold (near what is now Suma-ku, Kobe). Minamoto no Yoshitsune's armies move west to attack the Taira from the rear whereas his half-brother Noriyori advances to attack the Taira camp from the east. Yoshitsune, planning a surprise attack on Ichi-no-tani from the west, follows an old horse that guides his forces through the mountains.

Meanwhile, fierce fighting starts at Ikuta-no-mori and Ichi-no-tani, but neither side is able to gain a decisive advantage. Yoshitsune's cavalry descends a steep slope at Hiyodori Pass decisively attacking the Taira from the rear. The Taira panic and flee to the boats. As the battle continues, Taira no Tadanori (Kiyomori's brother who visited the poet Shunzei) is killed. Taira no Shigehira (Kiyomori's son who burned Nara), deserted by his men at Ikuta-no-mori, is captured alive trying to commit suicide.

In a famous passage, Taira no Atsumori (young nephew of Kiyomori) is challenged to a fight by a warrior, Kumagai Naozane. Naozane overpowers him, but then hesitates to kill him since he reminds him of his own young son. Seeing the approaching riders who are going to kill the youth, Naozane kills Atsumori, and finds his flute (later he becomes a Buddhist monk). The Taira are defeated and flee by boats in different directions.

Chapter 10

In 1184, Taira no Shigehira (captured alive) and the heads of the defeated Taira are paraded in the streets of the capital. The Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa offers the Taira to exchange Three Imperial Treasures for Shigehira, but they refuse. It is clear that he will be executed. Shigehira, concerned about his past arrogance and evil deeds (burning of Nara temples), wants to devote himself to Buddhism. Hōnen (the founder of the Pure Land Buddhism in Japan) concisely outlines the essential doctrines (reciting Amida's name, repentance, deep faith guarantee rebirth in the Pure Land). Shigehira is sent to Kamakura. On his journey along the Eastern Sea Road, Shigehira passes numerous places that evoke historical and literary associations.

Minamoto no Yoritomo receives Shigehira, who claims that burning Nara temples was an accident. Before being sent to the Nara monks, Shigehira is treated well at Izu (a bath is prepared for him, wine is served, a beautiful lady serving Yoritomo, Senju-no-mae, sings several songs (with Buddhist meaning) and plays the lute; Shigehira also sings and plays the lute – after Shigehira's execution, Senju-no-mae becomes a nun).

At Yashima, Taira no Koremori, grandson of Taira no Kiyomori, is grieved to be away from his family in the capital. He secretly leaves Yashima and travels to Mt. Kōya. There he meets with a holy man, Takiguchi Tokiyori.

A story of his tragic love is inserted: as a courtier, Tokiyori loved a girl of lesser birth, Yokobue. His father was against their marriage and Tokiyori became a monk. When Yokobue came looking for him, he was firm and did not come out. He went to Mt. Kōya and became a respected priest Takiguchi. Yokobue became a nun and died soon. Koremori comes to this priest, becomes a monk himself and goes on a pilgrimage to Kumano. After the priest's encouraging Pure Land Buddhist teachings, Koremori abandons his attachments, throws himself into the sea and drowns. News of his death reaches Yashima (Taira camp). The Taira are attacked at Fujito and retreat.

Chapter 11

In 1185, a small force led by Minamoto no Yoshitsune lands on the island of Shikoku. Yoshitsune plans a surprise attack from the rear (one more time after the Battle of Ichi-no-Tani) on the Taira stronghold at the Battle of Yashima. The Taira, thinking that main Minamoto forces attack them, flee to their boats in panic. The Taira warriors shoot arrows at the Yoshitsune's forces. Taira no Noritsune, Kiyomori's nephew and a commander of the Taira, shoots at Minamoto no Yoshitsune, but Tsuginobu, Yoshitsune's retainer, dies protecting him from arrows.

In a famous passage, a Taira lady in a boat holds a fan as a challenge to the Minamoto warriors and Nasu no Yoichi, a skillful young Minamoto archer, hits the fan with his arrow.

During the confused fighting at the shore, Yoshitsune loses his bow and gets it back risking his life. He famously explains that he did not want the Taira to get that bow (for weak archers) and laugh at him. The Taira are forced to leave Shikoku and retreat to Nagato Province (southern tip of Honshū).

Before the final Battle of Dan-no-ura, the Minamoto gain new allies: the head of the Kumano shrines decides to support the Minamoto after fortune-telling with cockfights (200 boats) and 150 boats from a province of Shikoku. In total, the Minamoto have about 3000 vessels against the Taira's 1000.

Before the battle, Yoshitsune argues (about leading the attack) and almost fights with Kajiwara Kagetoki (Minamoto commander jealous of Yoshitsune).

As the battle begins, the Taira are in good spirits and seem to be winning due to skillful positioning of archers on the boats. After the exchange of arrows from a distance main forces begin fighting. Omens from Heaven (white banner descends on a Minamoto boat, many dolphins swim to Taira boats) show that the Minamoto are going to win. Taguchi Shigeyoshi from Awa Province in Shikoku betrays the Taira and informs the Minamoto about the boats carrying the main Taira forces in disguise. Warriors from Shikoku and Kyūshū also switch sides and support the Minamoto.

In the famous and tragic passage, Kiyomori's widow, holding young Emperor Antoku in her arms, commits suicide by drowning. Many Taira are killed or commit suicide at Dan-no-ura. Tomomori (Kiyomori's son) drowns himself. Taira no Noritsune, Kiyomori's nephew and a strong warrior, fails to have a fight with Minamoto no Yoshitsune and dies fighting bravely. Taira clan head Taira no Munemori, Taira no Tokuko, Kiyomori's daughter, are captured alive.

After the battle, Yoshitsune returns to capital with the Imperial Treasures (the sacred sword has been lost) and prisoners. Captured Taira are paraded along the streets of the capital with many spectators pitying their fate. Yoshitsune delivers Munemori to Minamoto no Yoritomo in Kamakura, but after Kajiwara Kagetoki's slander, Yoritomo suspects Yoshitsune of treachery and does not allow him to enter Kamakura. Minamoto no Yoshitsune writes the Letter from Koshigoe listing his military deeds and loyal service. Yoritomo still sends him back to the capital. Taira no Munemori and his son Kiyomune are executed, their heads hung near a prison gate in the capital.

Taira no Shigehira (Taira no Kiyomori's son captured at the Battle of Ichi-no-Tani) is allowed to see his wife before being handed over to Nara monks. Shigehira hopes for Amitābha's compassion and rebirth in Sukhavati, the pure land of Amitābha. Warriors execute him in front of the monks. His head is nailed near the temple at Nara. His wife becomes a nun after cremating his head and body.

Chapter 12

A powerful earthquake strikes the capital. Minamoto no Yoritomo's distrust of Minamoto no Yoshitsune grows. Yoritomo sends an assassin to kill Yoshitsune (fails). Then, Yoritomo kills Minamoto no Noriyori (Yoshitsune's half brother) who is reluctant to go against Yoshitsune. When Yoritomo sends a large force led by Hōjō Tokimasa against him, Yoshitsune flees from the capital to a northern province.

Taking control of the capital, Tokimasa executes all potential heirs to the Taira family. An informer shows the cloister where Koremori's family (including Rokudai) is hiding. Rokudai (age 12) is the last male heir of the Taira family. Rokudai is arrested, but his nurse finds Mongaku (the monk – see Ch.5), who agrees to go to Kamakura to ask for a pardon. Mongaku comes back with a letter from Yoritomo and saves Rokudai just before his execution takes place. Yoritomo has doubts about Rokudai and he is compelled to become a monk (1189, age 16). Rokudai visits Mt. Kōya and Kumano (where his father Koremori drowned).

Meanwhile, several Taira clan members are found and executed. In 1192, Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa dies (age 66). Yoritomo (still suspicious) orders the execution of Rokudai (age 30+), and the Taira line comes to an end.

After Yoritomo's death in 1199, the monk Mongaku plans a rebellion to install a prince on the throne. His plot is uncovered and the Retired Emperor Go-Toba exiles him to the island of Oki (age 80+).

The Initiates' Book

In 1185, Taira no Tokuko becomes a nun and moves to an old hut near the capital. Her life is filled with sadness as memories of the past glory haunt her. After the 1185 earthquake the hut is ruined.

In the autumn of 1185, Taira no Tokuko moves to a remote Buddhist retreat at Jakkō-in in the Ohara mountains to avoid public attention. There she devotes herself to Buddhist practices. Natural sights evoke images of Sukhavati and impermanence in her mind.

In the spring of 1186, Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa makes a visit to the mountain retreat. She talks with the Retired Emperor about human miseries and Buddhist ideas of suffering and rebirth in the pure land.

As she remembers past glory of the Taira and their fall, she makes parallels between the events in her life and the six realms of rebirth. She also mentions a dream in which she saw the Taira in the dragon king's palace asking her to pray for their salvation.

The bell of the Jakkō-in sounds (parallel to the bells of the Gion monastery in the first lines of ''the Tale'') and the Retired Emperor leaves for the capital. Misfortunes of the Taira are blamed on Taira no Kiyomori (his evil deeds caused the suffering of the whole Taira clan). In 1191, Tokuko falls ill, dies invoking Amitābha's name and is welcomed by Amitābha to Sukhavati.

''Last Exile''

The story revolves around fifteen-year-old pilot Claus Valca and navigator Lavie Head, who fly their vanship as sky couriers in the nation of Anatoray. Although they usually take up missions of relatively low difficulty, they are one day asked to complete the mission of a dying courier. The mission, rated seven stars out of ten, is to deliver a young girl named Alvis Hamilton to the mysterious battleship ''Silvana''. Despite their fears, Claus and Lavie deliver Alvis to the battleship but decide to remain aboard to keep her safe.

Claus and Lavie are initially treated as intruders but eventually befriend the crew of the ''Silvana''. They learn that the Guild intends to capture Alvis for reasons unknown to them. In the first battle between the ''Silvana'' and Guild forces, Guild member Dio Eraclea takes an interest in Claus's flying skills and his signature move, the Immelmann turn. Wanting to learn more about Claus, Dio willingly allows himself to be captured. He reveals to the ''Silvana's'' captain, Alex Row, the existence of one of four Mysteria which act as a key to something known as ''Exile''.

When the ''Silvana'' s executive officer, Sophia Forrester, is revealed to be the Emperor's daughter and heir, she returns to Anatoray at the request of the prime minister. Sophia assumes the throne after the Emperor is killed during a surprise attack at the capital by the Disith nation and pleads for an alliance with Disith in order to capture ''Exile'' and end the Guild's control. Sophia reveals to Claus that Alvis is linked to the Mysteria, but as preparations for the assault are made, Alvis is captured by the Guild.

Delphine Eraclea, the Maestro of the Guild, reveals that ''Exile'' is a colony ship used by those who first settled their world, and she intends to use Alvis and the Mysteria to take control of it. However, Claus and Alvis escape the Guild stronghold and are reunited with Lavie when the alliance fleet attacks. As the fleet follows ''Exile'' past the Grand Stream and enters Disith, it is able to destroy Delphine's forces. After Claus and Alvis recite the four Mysteria, ''Exile'' reveals itself as a starship that will carry people back to their old home world.

''Last Exile: Travelers from the Hourglass''

A manga set right after the events of ''Last Exile'' and before ''Fam, The Silver Wing'', ''Travelers from the Hourglass'' continues the story of Claus, Lavie, Alvis, and the others who left Prester and settled on Earth, their ancestors' home world. As they get used to their new home, Al is pursued by the Earth Guild.

''Last Exile: Fam, The Silver Wing''

Taking place two years after the events of ''Last Exile'', ''Last Exile: Fam, The Silver Wing'' is set on Earth, the original home world of the colonists of Prester. The new story focuses on Fam Fan Fan and Giselle Collette, two vespa vanship pilots who work as Sky Pirates, capturing and selling battleships for a living.

Fam and Giselle get into an adventure when they and the Sky Pirates rescue Liliana il Grazioso Merlo Turan and her younger sister, Millia Il Velch Cutrettola Turan, Princesses of the Turan Kingdom, from the clutches of the mighty Ades Federation. The Federation, led by Empress Sārā Augusta and Premier Luscinia Hāfez, is on an all out war against nations who descended from immigrants who came back to Earth by Exile ships. As Ades was the only nation to stay on Earth when it was in a state of chaos and ruin, Luscinia believes that the Exile immigrants have no right to return to Earth since their ancestors abandoned Earth when it was in chaos only to return when Earth was viable to live on again and force the original inhabitants of Earth off their lands to form their own nations. To return these lands to their original inhabitants, Luscinia leads the Ades Federation to conquer the immigrant nations and destroy their armies, with Turan being one of them.

After Luscinia kidnaps Liliana, who has the ability to control an Exile, Luscinia summons an Exile to destroy Iglasia, the capital of Turan, killing its soldiers and the King of Turan, leading to the surrender of Turan to Ades. With everything she cared for lost, Millia is given refuge by the Sky Pirates, where Fam promises to help Millia regain her kingdom.

Setting and themes

The setting for ''Maria-sama ga Miteru'' is , a fictional Catholic school founded in 1901 in Musashino, Tokyo, Japan; the school is depicted as an elegant, clean, pure, and very prestigious institution. Among the facilities of Lillian, aside from the classrooms, there is a church, a greenhouse, a kendo dojo, an auditorium, a park, and the Rose Mansion, where the Yamayuri Council meet. The students are very respectable and in good standing. The uniform at the school is a long, black Japanese school uniform with a white collar.

The school uses the fictional sœur system where any second- or third-year student, the ''grande sœur'' ("big sister"), might pick a younger girl who will become her "''sœur''" (''sister'' in French). The ''grande sœur'' gives her the ''petite sœur'' ("little sister") a rosary and promises to look after her and guide her. The basic etiquette demands the ''petite sœur'' to call her ''grande sœur'' "''onee-sama''" (''older sister'' in Japanese). Aside from being used in prayer, the rosary is the instrument that certifies the ''sœur'' union and relationship between two students. There is an implicit code of behavior between ''sœurs'', especially in the Yamayuri Council—the student council of the school: quietness, measure and respect towards each other; values deeply attached to traditional Japanese education.

French is occasionally used throughout the story; for example, the series is given the French subtitle ''La Vierge Marie vous regarde'', which means "The Virgin Mary is watching you". In keeping with the tone of the series, formal language is used: is a strictly formal and respectful greeting in Japanese, and is used both to greet and to bid farewell. By custom, this greeting is used often in the Lillian School; this has been one of the distinguishable and popular phrases of the series, and it is used to begin or to finish each volume. The Animax English-language version translates the word as "good day to you".

The Lillian Girls' Academy uses the lily symbolism as the white lily is the flower of the Virgin Mary. The white lily is a Christian symbol of virginity and purity. This lily imagery is also used as a reference to yuri: the story has some elements of romance between female characters; the use of lilies reinforces this in subtext, as do the names of the student council and of the school itself. The series is only explicit about a romantic relationship once in a flashback, but many of the sisters have romantic friendships.

The musical choices of the ''Maria-sama ga Miteru'' anime adaptations are generally classical music-inspired. The Christian hymn is often referred to in the series. In the context of the series, it is a children's song taught to the students at Lillian.

Story and characters

''Maria-sama ga Miteru'''s story revolves around the students of the Lillian Girls' Academy and is character-driven, focusing on interactions between the characters rather than any sort of ongoing plot or goal to attain. When the story begins, Yumi Fukuzawa, a first-year student at Lillian, is praying in front of the Virgin Mary statue near the school entrance when she is suddenly approached by a cold second-year student named Sachiko Ogasawara who straightens Yumi's uniform neckerchief. This seemingly simple act of kindness stays with Yumi the rest of the day, and she speaks of her meeting with Sachiko to her friends during class and lunch.

After school is over, Yumi's classmate Tsutako Takeshima meets with Yumi to show her that she took a photograph of Yumi's meeting with Sachiko earlier that morning. Yumi asks if she can have the photo, but Tsutako says she will give her the snapshot under two conditions: one being that Tsutako can display it at the upcoming school festival, and two being that Yumi get Sachiko's permission to do so as well. Yumi agrees to this, which sets in motion a series of events involving the entire Yamayuri Council. A few weeks after first meeting Sachiko, Yumi accepts Sachiko's rosary and therefore agrees to become her ''petite sœur''. This officially inducts Yumi into the Yamayuri Council where she assists them in school matters alongside Yoshino Shimazu and Shimako Tōdō—the ''petite sœurs'' of Rei Hasekura and Sei Satō, respectively. Through her activities in the Yamayuri Council, Yumi becomes closer to the other members and generally finds her experiences with the group to be enjoyable.

Yamayuri Council

Much of the story of ''Maria-sama ga Miteru'' revolves around the , which acts as the student council. The Yamayuri Council meet in a building called the . Located within the school, it consists of two stories, including a meeting room on the second story. The Yamayuri Council itself consists of three offices, named after roses: , , and . These are also referred to by their colors; the is ''Rosa Foetida'', the is ''Rosa Gigantea'', and the is ''Rosa Chinensis''.

Due to the high importance the three Rose families have in the development of the student activities within school, those who become ''petites sœurs'' of any of the mentioned families receive a functional "inheritance" through the ''grandes sœurs'' teachings, to adopt a position given certain circumstances. In this way, there are patrons recognized through the generations of the members of the Rose families. Still, after graduating, the ''grandes sœurs'' of the Yamayuri Council may continue with a fair participation in the events concerning their families, as shown in the novels.

A , or , is one of three senior members of the Yamayuri Council, although it is also possible to generally speak of all the members of the Yamayuri Council as roses. A Rose makes the important decisions within this group, since she has control over the student council. Candidates for the position, which lasts through the school year, are chosen through an election. Any student can run to become a Rose, although the position is usually given to the ''en boutons'', the Roses' ''petite sœurs''.

The ''petite sœur'' of a ''Rosa'' is called an , otherwise known as a . ''En bouton'' is French for "in bud"—as used in the example ''Rosa Chinensis en bouton''—and is unofficially considered part of the Yamayuri Council, as is the ''petite sœur'' of the ''en bouton'', if she has one. The ''en boutons'' must be in a lower year than their ''Rosa'', and generally the ''en boutons'' execute the plans discussed by the Roses, like assistants. Although the ''Rosa'' positions of the Yamayuri Council are traditionally passed to the ''en bouton'' on the graduation of the current holder, they are nonetheless elected offices which anyone may run for.

The ''petite sœur'' of the ''en bouton'' is called —as used in the example ''Rosa Chinensis en bouton petite sœur''—and is otherwise known as the . She must be in a lower year than her ''en bouton'' and performs small duties; such as attending to the Roses' ''en bouton''s, cleaning the Rose Mansion, and making tea and snacks for the Yamayuri Council. This lasts a school year; and the following year when their ''en bouton'' is elected as ''Rosas'', the ''petite sœurs'' become ''en boutons'' automatically.

Around Christmas, Ronna, working overtime at her supermarket job to avoid being evicted, is approached by Adam and Zack to buy 20 hits of ecstasy, which they had hoped to buy from her absent co-worker, Simon.

After work, Ronna approaches Simon's dealer, Todd, for the pills. She is unable to pay the full amount so she leaves her friend Claire with Todd as collateral. Ronna meets with Adam and Zack but grows suspicious of Burke, a stranger accompanying them who presses her for the ecstasy. She flushes the drugs down the toilet and leaves, then steals over-the-counter pills to replace them, helped by Manny (Nathan Bexton) who had covertly swallowed two of the ecstasy pills, unaware of their strength. Ronna gives 20 of the fake pills to Todd. She, Claire, and Manny then go to a rave where she sells the rest of the fake pills as ecstasy.

Todd realizes the pills are fake and pursues Ronna to the rave. Ronna flees, hiding the now incapacitated Manny in an alley and promising to return with her car. Todd confronts her with a gun in the parking lot when she is hit by a car that speeds away, leaving her motionless in a ditch.

The story restarts from the perspective of Simon, who is on a trip to Las Vegas with Marcus, Tiny, and Singh. Simon crashes a wedding and has sex with two of the bridesmaids before they accidentally set their hotel room on fire. Simon and Marcus leave the hotel, stealing a Ferrari whose owner thinks Marcus is a parking valet.

The two go to a strip club where Simon enrages the bouncer, Victor Jr., by groping one of the strippers. Simon shoots Victor Jr. in the arm with a gun that he found in the car. He and Marcus flee to the hotel, rousing Tiny and Singh. A car chase ensues and the four barely escape the bouncer and his father, Victor Sr., but Victor Sr. traces Todd's address from his credit card, which Simon had borrowed.

The story changes perspective to Adam and Zack, actors in a soap opera who are in a relationship. Having been busted for drug possession, they are coerced into working for Burke, a police detective, to entrap their dealer. Adam is fitted with a wire. As Simon is absent, the two arrange to buy drugs from Ronna. When Ronna arrives later to make the deal, Zack secretly warns her so she flushes the drugs down the toilet and leaves.

After the unsuccessful bust, Burke invites Adam and Zack to Christmas dinner, where they observe strange behavior from Burke and his wife, Irene. Over dinner Burke and Irene pitch a multi-level marketing company to Adam and Zack. Discussing their mutual infidelities, Adam and Zack realize they both cheated with the same person, Jimmy. They confront him at the rave, cutting a lock of his hair.

Leaving the rave they accidentally run over Ronna, panic, and drive away when they see Todd with a gun. Zack tries to reassure Adam that, even if Ronna had survived, Todd would have shot her. Adam realizes to his horror that he is still wearing his wire. Fearing they have been recorded, the two return to the scene to remove Ronna's body but discover she is just unconscious. They prop her up on a car, setting off its alarm, and watch from a distance as other partygoers call an ambulance.

As morning breaks, Claire goes to a restaurant to meet up with Ronna and Manny, but encounters Todd instead. The two end up going to Todd's apartment building. While making out on the stairs they are confronted by the two Victors. Simon arrives, having hoped to hide for a few days. The ensuing scuffle is stopped by Claire, who refuses to witness a murder.

Simon agrees to be shot in the arm by Victor Jr. as Claire leaves in disgust. Meanwhile, Ronna wakes up in hospital and hobbles to the supermarket to start work. Realizing she left Manny at the rave, she and Claire return to the venue to find Manny pale and shaking in the alley. The three go to Ronna's car where Ronna muses that she can now pay her rent and Manny asks what their plans are for New Year's.

Mary Ashley, a professor at Kansas State University, is offered an ambassadorship by Paul Ellison, the US president. She rejects the offer because her husband, Dr. Edward Ashley, does not want to leave his medical practice, and she is not willing to be separated from him. She also feels that it is harder to find a good physician for a small Kansas town than an ambassador to a foreign country. When her husband suddenly dies in a traffic accident, Ashley accepts the President's offer in order to fill the void in her life. She is sent to Romania, behind the Iron Curtain, and adapts to the role of ambassador.

She takes an instant distaste to her second in command, Mike Slade, but is unable to remove him due to his appointment being a presidential order. Her success as an ambassador turns her into a public face for understanding between the United States and Romania. She begins a relationship with Louis Desforges, a widowed French physician that saves her from attempts to kidnap and poison her, until he gets killed by Slade.

Interspersed with that narration, the novel shows gatherings of members of the Patriots for Freedom, a secret society of powerful men that orchestrate political events trying to divide the Eastern and Western Blocs. They hire an international assassin nicknamed Angel to kill her, but the information is leaked and the attempt foiled.

In the climax of the novel, it is revealed that Mike Slade is an agent who infiltrated the Patriots for Freedom and foiled their plans, while Desforges was an agent of the Patriots who saved her only so she could be publicly killed by Angel. The members of the Patriots are arrested and their chairman (revealed to be the Vice President of the United States) is killed by Angel after refusing to pay for the failed assassination.

Once this threat is neutralized, Mary attempts to resign her post, believing that her success was created to be used as a political tool, but the president convinces her to remain in the position under the protection of Slade. In the final scene, another cell of the Patriots for Freedom composed only of women is shown deliberating about their next course of action.

Four years into his ten-year sentence for armed robbery, Carter "Doc" McCoy is denied parole from a Texas prison. When his wife Carol visits him, he tells her to do whatever is necessary to make a deal with Jack Beynon, a corrupt businessman in San Antonio, to free him. Beynon uses his influence and obtains Doc's parole on the condition that he plan and take part in a bank robbery with two of his henchmen, Rudy Butler and Frank Jackson. The robbery initially goes as planned, until Frank kills a security guard. Rudy then attempts a double-cross, shooting Frank in the groin as they drive away and kicking him out of their moving car, killing him. At their designated meeting place, Rudy tries to draw on Doc, but Doc anticipates Rudy's double-cross and shoots Rudy several times. Doc and Carol take the $500,000 (equivalent to $  million in ) and leave. Rudy, having secretly worn a bulletproof vest, is only wounded.

Doc meets with Beynon, not realizing he had arranged a double-cross wherein Carol would sneak into the meet and kill Doc; however, Carol turns her gun on Beynon and shoots him dead. Doc, having just been taunted by Beynon before Carol shot him, realizes that Carol had sex with Beynon to secure his parole. He angrily gathers up the money and, after a bitter quarrel, the couple flees for the border at El Paso.

Rudy forces rural veterinarian Harold Clinton and his wife Fran to treat his injuries, then kidnaps the pair to pursue Doc and Carol. Beynon's brother Cully and his team also track the McCoys down. At a train station, a con man swaps locker keys with Carol and steals their bag of money. Doc follows him onto a train and forcibly takes it back, although the con man has already pocketed a packet of the money. The injured con man and a train passenger—a boy whom Doc had rebuked for squirting him with a water gun—are taken to the police station, where they identify Doc's mug shot.

Carol buys a car, and the McCoys drive to an electronics store. As Doc buys a portable radio, he switches off the radio set near the proprietor's desk broadcasting the news of the earlier incidents they were involved in. When all the television sets in the store show Doc's picture, he leaves immediately. The proprietor gets a glimpse of the picture and calls the police. Doc steals a shotgun from a neighboring store, and shoots up the police car so that they can flee.

The mutual attraction between Rudy and Fran, the veterinarian's wife, leads to them having consensual sex on two occasions in front of her husband, who is tied up in a chair. Humiliated, the vet hangs himself in the motel bathroom. Rudy and Fran move on, barely acknowledging the suicide. They check into an El Paso hotel used by criminals as a safe house because Rudy knows that the McCoys will be heading to the same place. When Doc and Carol check in at the hotel, they ask for food to be delivered, but the manager, Laughlin, says he is working alone and cannot leave the desk. Doc realizes that Laughlin sent his family away because something is about to happen. He urges Carol to dress quickly so they can escape. An armed Rudy comes to their door while Fran poses as a delivery girl. Peering from an adjacent doorway, Doc is surprised to see Rudy alive. He sneaks up behind Rudy, knocks him out, and does the same to Fran.

Beynon's brother and his thugs arrive as the McCoys try to leave. A violent gunfight ensues in the halls, stairwell, and elevator and all but one of Cully's men are killed; Doc allows him to run away. Rudy comes to, follows Doc and Carol outside onto a fire escape, and shoots at them. Doc returns fire and kills him. With the police on the way, the couple hijack a pickup truck and force the driver, a cooperative old cowboy, to take them to Mexico. After crossing the border, Doc and Carol pay the cowboy $30,000 ( ) for his truck. Overjoyed, the cowboy heads back to El Paso on foot, while the couple continue into Mexico, having gotten away with their crimes, and the remainder of the money.

The story retells the famous fairy tale of Snow White from the point of view of Snow White's stepmother, who is traditionally the villain of the piece. The stepmother is struggling desperately to save the kingdom from her unnatural and monstrous stepdaughter. Ultimately she is unsuccessful, as the "happy ending" of the original story still takes place despite her efforts to prevent it. The story incorporates themes of vampirism, incest, pedophilia, and necrophilia.

The stepmother has had magical powers from a very young age, including visions of the future. She marries a king and describes his daughter, Snow White, as a mysterious, vampiric young girl. The king ultimately dies from abuse, both physical and sexual, by six-year-old Snow White and leaves the stepmother to reign as queen. The stepmother has her huntsmen murder Snow White and cut out her heart, which still beats even after being removed and is hung in the queen's private chambers. Following large numbers of disappearances and murders in the kingdom, the queen uses magic and her own blood to create enchanted apples which she brings into the woods to a still-living Snow White.

The queen flees but knows that the creature ate the apples when Snow White's removed heart finally stops beating. Two years later, a prince visits the queen and she plans to marry him and unite their kingdoms. However, the queen is unable to sexually satisfy the prince, who is clearly a necrophiliac, and he leaves. On his way home, he encounters the dead body of Snow White being guarded by seven dwarves. Indulging his necrophilia, the prince rapes Snow White and unwittingly dislodges the piece of apple stuck in Snow White's throat, resurrecting her. The prince and Snow White return to the queen's kingdom and sentence her to death for witchcraft. The queen is incinerated in a kiln and the story is revealed to be her final thoughts as she begins to burn to death.

A brief narration outlines man's first attempts to fly since the Stone Age inspired by a bird's flight, seen with footage from the silent film era, and man being represented by a "test pilot" (Red Skelton) encountering periodic misfortune in his attempts.

In 1910, just seven years after the first heavier-than-air flight, aircraft are fragile and unreliable contraptions, piloted by "intrepid birdmen". Pompous British newspaper magnate Lord Rawnsley (Robert Morley) forbids his would-be aviatrix daughter, ardent suffragette Patricia (Sarah Miles), to fly. Aviator Richard Mays (James Fox), a young army officer and (at least in his own eyes) Patricia's fiancé, conceives the idea of an air race from London to Paris to advance the cause of British aviation and his career. With Patricia's support, he persuades Lord Rawnsley to sponsor the race as a publicity stunt for his newspaper.

Rawnsley, who takes full credit for the idea, announces the event to the press, and invitations are sent to leading aviators all over the world. Dozens of participants arrive at the airfield at the "Brookley" Motor Racing Track, where the fliers make practice runs in the days prior to the race. During this time, a wildly mixed international assembly of aviators begins rubbing shoulders with each other, most of them conforming to national stereotypes: The by-the-book Prussian officer Colonel Manfred von Holstein (Gert Fröbe), who becomes the victim of Frenchman Pierre Dubois' (Jean-Pierre Cassel) various pranks; the impetuous Italian Count Emilio Ponticelli (Alberto Sordi), who buys various aircraft from designer Harry Popperwell (Tony Hancock) and wrecks them in test flights; the unscrupulous British baronet Sir Percy Ware-Armitage (Terry-Thomas), aided by his bullied servant, Courtney (Eric Sykes); and the rugged American cowboy Orvil Newton (Stuart Whitman) who falls for Patricia, forming a love triangle with her and Mays.

As the teams test their aircraft in the days before the race, Newton gets caught in the rigging of Sir Percy's plane, which crashes in the nearby sewage farm. Newton later stops the German's aircraft after its tail breaks off and runs out of control. This leads to Patricia falling for him even more and Mays to become more jealous. At a celebration in Brighton, Mays confronts Newton, sparking a fierce rivalry between them for Patricia's hand, just before Japan's official contestant, naval officer Yamamoto, arrives at the airfield.

As Yamamoto is officially greeted, Patricia convinces Newton to take her flying and they race back to the airfield, followed by Mays and her father, who are intent on stopping them. Not long after taking off, one of the struts on Newton's plane breaks, and Patricia has to fly the plane while Newton repairs it with his belt. When Newton lands, Lord Rawnsley throws him out of the race. Patricia apologizes to Newton, and Rawnsley gives in after she threatens to start an international incident. Meanwhile, Holstein, insulted by the French team's mockery, challenges Dubois to a duel. Dubois agrees, and opts for gas balloons and blunderbusses as his weapons of choice. Both balloons and their pilots end up in the filthy waters of the adjacent sewage farm.

At the party the night before the race, Sir Percy sabotages Yamamoto and Newton's planes, and Rumpelstoss, the German pilot, is incapacitated by a laxative meant for Yamamoto. As the competitors take off the next day, with Holstein standing in for Rumpelstoss, Yamamoto's aircraft crashes. Fuel blockages and other technical mishaps additionally hamper the fliers, until most of them safely arrive at Dover, their checkpoint before the final flight across the English Channel.

That night, Sir Percy cheats by having his aircraft taken across by boat, but is delayed by excited locals when he arrives. Most other contestants, including Holstein, crash-land in the Channel. Sir Percy gets his comeuppance when he becomes disoriented by the smoke from a locomotive between Calais and Paris, causing him to jam his landing gear between two of the train cars. As he runs along the top trying to get the driver's attention, the train passes through a tunnel, wrecking his aircraft.

Coming into Paris, Ponticelli's plane catches fire, and Newton slows down to rescue him as Mays is landing, winning for Britain. Mays recognises Newton's heroism and shares the glory and the prize with him, while Ponticelli agrees to give up flying for his family. The only other successful aviator is Dubois, completing his race for France. Patricia finally chooses Newton, breaking the love triangle. Their kiss is interrupted by a strange noise: they and the others at the field look up to see a flyover by six English Electric Lightning jet fighters, as the time period leaps forward to the "present" (1965).

Outlined are the still-persisting hazards of modern flying despite today's advanced technology, as a night-time civilian flight across the English Channel is cancelled owing to heavy fog. One of the delayed passengers (Skelton) gets the idea of learning to fly under his own power, perpetuating man's pioneering spirit.

Cardassian professor Natima Lang (Mary Crosby) arrives at Deep Space Nine with her students, Rekelen and Hogue—political dissidents intent on reforming the oppressive Cardassian military government. Lang and Quark were once lovers; Lang ended the relationship after Quark betrayed her trust, and she now wants nothing to do with him, but he still has feelings for her.

When Lang sees Garak at Quark's bar, she panics, guessing he will inform the Cardassian government of their presence. In the guise of a conversation about fashion, Garak hints to Quark that Lang's radical beliefs and companions are likely to lead to her death. Quark offers Lang his assistance, but she refuses, not trusting him to care about anyone but himself.

Meanwhile, a Cardassian warship arrives and threatens the station. Garak explains to DS9's senior staff that Cardassian Central Command wants Hogue and Rekelen, whom he describes as terrorists, handed over.

Quark offers Hogue and Rekelen a contraband cloaking device to help them escape, on the condition that Lang stay with him. Lang has an argument with Quark, during which she accidentally shoots a phaser at Quark, stunning him. Horrified, Lang finally admits that she still loves him and Quark finally manages to convince her to stay.

Lang and her students are arrested by security chief Odo: the Bajoran government has agreed to turn them over to the Cardassians in exchange for the release of several Bajoran prisoners. A former rival of Garak's, Gul Toran, tells Garak that Central Command wants the prisoners dead; in exchange for killing them, Garak will be allowed to return to Cardassia.

Quark convinces Odo to release Lang and her students. Garak greets them at their ship, where he laments that he must now kill Quark as well. Toran appears, revealing that he only used Garak to learn Hogue and Rekelen's whereabouts; the offer of a return to Cardassia was a lie. Garak shoots him and allows Lang, Hogue, and Rekelen to escape. Lang convinces Quark to let her leave, promising to return to him when her work reforming the Cardassian government is done. Quark sadly lets her go.

Once she leaves, Quark asks why Garak shot Toran, and Garak asks why Quark let Lang go. "I had no choice—I love her," Quark says. Garak replies, "And I love Cardassia, which explains what I did".

Part I

As a Cardassian transport, the ''Bok'nor'', prepares for departure from Deep Space Nine, a man in a Starfleet uniform surreptitiously makes adjustments to some nearby equipment. Shortly after departing, the vessel explodes, killing everyone on board.

While the crew begins an investigation, Starfleet sends Lieutenant Commander Calvin Hudson, Federation attaché to the new demilitarized zone along the Cardassian border, to advise and assist. Hudson, an old friend of both Commander Sisko and Dax, confides in Sisko his dissatisfaction with his assignment; he believes Starfleet abandoned the colonists, and that their trust in the Cardassians to honor the treaty is naive.

When Sisko returns to his quarters that evening, he finds Gul Dukat waiting for him. Dukat explains that he is there "unofficially", without the knowledge of Cardassian Central Command, to help Sisko find the truth. On Dukat's request, the two take a runabout to the demilitarized zone, where they detect two Cardassian vessels attacking a Federation merchant ship. The attackers ignore Dukat's orders to stand down, but before the runabout can intervene, an unidentified Federation vessel appears and destroys the Cardassians.

Meanwhile, a Vulcan associate of the saboteur, Sakonna, approaches Quark to negotiate a business arrangement, which he is surprised to learn is an attempt to acquire a wide array of weapons. Elsewhere on the station, the saboteur is abducted by unknown assailants.

Sisko and Dukat arrive at a colony in the demilitarized zone to find Hudson and several colonists in a heated debate with Gul Evek, Hudson's Cardassian counterpart. Evek produces a recorded confession from the ''Bok'Nor'' saboteur, identified as William Patrick Samuels, then brings in Samuels' corpse, claiming he committed suicide, sparking outrage from the colonists. Hudson later privately concedes that Samuels may have been guilty of the sabotage, but claims that the colonists have a right to defend themselves, and warns Sisko about the Cardassians again. On the way back to DS9, Dukat vehemently denies Hudson's assertion that the ''Bok'Nor'' was transporting weapons.

Chief O'Brien confirms that the device that destroyed the ''Bok'Nor'' was of Federation origin. Sisko has Dukat's quarters secured as a precaution, but Sakonna and several colonists manage to kidnap him. A group in the demilitarized zone calling itself "The Maquis" claims responsibility. Sisko, Major Kira, and Dr. Bashir track the kidnappers to a planet in an area known as the Badlands, where they are captured by armed Maquis members, with Hudson revealing himself as their leader.

Part II

Sisko demands to see Dukat. Hudson accuses Sisko of siding with the Cardassians over him. Hudson claims the Maquis want only peace, while Sisko characterizes their desire to retaliate simply as revenge. After Sisko declines an offer to join, Hudson and the Maquis stun the group and depart.

Admiral Nechayev is waiting for Sisko when he returns to Deep Space Nine. She refers to the Maquis as "a bunch of irresponsible hotheads" and instructs Sisko to reason with them, seemingly unaware of the true nature of the situation. Legate Parn of the Cardassian Central Command then arrives, and as Sisko prepares to meet him, Odo reports that he has caught "one of the Vulcan's accomplices". Sisko arrives to find Quark in a holding cell.

Quark eventually reveals that he arranged for Sakonna to acquire weapons, unaware of the Maquis at the time, and believes Sakonna is planning an attack within the next few days. Parn then admits that weapons have been smuggled into the demilitarized zone, informing Sisko and Kira that the Cardassian Central Command blames Dukat, claiming he is acting as a renegade, though Sisko and Kira consider it clear they are merely setting him up as a scapegoat.

At a Maquis base, Sakonna attempts to establish a Vulcan mind meld with Dukat, which he easily resists. Sisko, Bashir, and Odo arrive and interrupt the interrogation, and try to resolve the situation peacefully, but Dukat grows impatient, triggering a firefight. The Maquis are captured, but Sisko lets one of their leaders go to deliver a message to Hudson imploring him to settle things peacefully. They bring Dukat back to Deep Space Nine, where they inform him of Parn's accusations. With Dukat's help, they catch a Xepolite trader transporting weapons on behalf of Central Command.

Quark talks Sakonna into revealing to Sisko that the Maquis are planning to blow up a Cardassian weapons depot in the next 52 hours, but she does not know where it is. Dukat promises to find out the depot's location, and in the meantime, Sisko visits Hudson one final time, imploring him to reconsider abandoning his career. Hudson resolutely declines, vaporizing his Starfleet uniform with a phaser.

The DS9 crew is waiting in runabouts when the Maquis arrive at the depot, and as neither Hudson nor Sisko wants to hurt the other, they attempt to disable one another. Finally, only Sisko's runabout and Hudson's raider remain, with Sisko's engines and Hudson's weapons inoperable. Over Dukat's objections, Sisko allows Hudson to escape. Ultimately, Sisko wonders if he has prevented a war or merely delayed the inevitable.

Security Chief Odo (René Auberjonois) is having a succession of problems with Klingons. First, Quark (Armin Shimerman) complains about an elderly drunken Klingon monopolizing a holosuite. Odo removes the man, Kor (John Colicos), and takes him to a holding cell. A short time later, another Klingon, Koloth (William Campbell), comes to release Kor, but storms out when he sees how drunk Kor is. Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) overhears their names and realizes why they have come, which is confirmed when they are joined by a third Klingon, Kang (Michael Ansara). Eighty-one years ago, the three Klingons destroyed the power base of a pirate leader known as "The Albino" (Bill Bolender). The pirate retaliated by infecting each of their firstborn sons with a deadly virus. Curzon Dax, a close friend of the three Klingons, was godfather to Kang's murdered son, and the four of them swore a Klingon "blood oath" to find and kill the Albino. Now, Kang says he has finally found him.

Jadzia confides in Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) that she feels obligated to pursue Curzon's oath, but Kira warns her about what killing someone will do to her. Kang, likewise, tells Jadzia that she is not bound by Curzon's oath, but she insists on joining their quest so she can avenge her godson. Kor, as buoyant as ever, is delighted to have her along. Koloth is dismissive, until she shows him her skills with a Klingon ''bat'leth''. Kang refuses to accept her, until she angers him by questioning his honor. Before Jadzia can request a leave of absence, Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) confronts her in her quarters, refusing her request before she can make it. Jadzia tells him that she is going and begs him not to make her disobey a direct order. He does not give her permission to go but does not stop her either.

En route to the Albino's hideout, the four plan their attack. Kang suggests an aggressive frontal assault, which the Klingons agree to. Jadzia confronts him afterwards and finds out that the Albino had offered Kang a glorious death at the hands of forty of his best men. Kang, believing the Albino's defences are impenetrable, had accepted. Dax creates an alternative plan to disable all energy weapons in the Albino's base, restricting them to hand-to-hand combat. Kang agrees to the new plan. They transport to the surface and find that the Albino has booby trapped the main gate to kill Kang and the others before the fight started. The four move through the compound and confront the Albino in his chambers. During the fight, Koloth is killed and Kang is mortally wounded. Jadzia disarms the Albino, who taunts her, claiming she can't follow through. Kang kills the distracted Albino, before dying himself. Kor and Jadzia leave the compound as Kor sings a song to his fallen comrades.

Miles Monroe (Woody Allen) is a jazz musician and owner of the "Happy Carrot" health-food store in New York City's Greenwich Village. He walks into the hospital in 1973 for a routine operation, which goes wrong, leaving him relegated to 200 years of anonymous cryopreservation. Two scientists in 2173 (played by Bartlett Robinson and Mary Gregory) illegally revive him. They are members of an underground rebellion at odds with the police state the United States had become after the massive destruction caused when "a man named Albert Shanker got hold of a nuclear warhead.". It is ostensibly ruled by a dictator known only as "The Leader", and about to implement a secret plan known as the "Aries Project". The rebels hope to use Miles as a spy to infiltrate and derail it, as he is the only member of the dystopian society without a known biometric identity.

The authorities grow suspicious and arrive in force to question the scientists, who are arrested and taken to have their brains "simplified". Miles escapes by disguising himself as a robot, which is then randomly delivered to work in the home of idle socialite Luna Schlosser (Diane Keaton). When Luna decides to have her new butler's rather unattractive head replaced with something more "aesthetically pleasing", Miles reveals his true identity. Spooked at his disclosure and unsympathetic to the rebels, she threatens to turn him in to the authorities. In response, Miles kidnaps her and goes on the run, searching for the Aries Project.

After much bickering, Miles and Luna fall in love. Miles is captured and brainwashed into becoming a complacent member of society, while Luna escapes and joins the rebellion. The rebels kidnap Miles and perform successful reverse-brainwashing. Miles falls into the routine of rebel life, but grows jealous when he catches Luna kissing the handsome, hunky rebel leader, Erno Windt (John Beck), and she announces that she has come to believe in free love.

Miles tries to win Luna back. Eventually he and Luna infiltrate the Aries Project, wherein they quickly learn that the national Leader had been killed by a rebel bomb ten months previously. All that survives is his nose. Miles and Luna disguise themselves as doctors, resulting in a case of mistaken identity, causing them to be placed in charge of cloning the Leader from his sole remaining part. Miles steals the nose and deadends the government's cloning scheme by dropping the nose in the path of a road roller.

The pair escape, and later debate their future together. Miles tells Luna that Erno will inevitably become as corrupt as the Leader, as that is how all revolutions end up. Miles and Luna confess their love for one another, but she claims that science has proven men and women cannot have meaningful relationships due to chemical incompatibilities. Miles dismisses this, saying that he does not believe in science. Luna then points out that he does not believe in God or political systems either, and asks if there is anything he does believe in. He responds, "Sex and death — two things that come once in a lifetime — but at least after death you're not nauseous." The two embrace and kiss.

In South Africa, a convoy of Interpol agents led by Lin (Xu Qing) transports a prisoner, Keith. At a checkpoint, they are ambushed. Most of the agents are killed, but Lin escapes with Keith.

Travis Conrad (Ethan Hawke), a hitman, fishes with his father in law, Frank (Rutger Hauer). They scatter ashes in the ocean, noting the one year anniversary of the deaths they commemorate. After Frank falls asleep, Travis goes to a bar to get cocaine. He assaults two thugs following him who tell him Jim wants to see him. Jim offers Travis $1 million per day to clean up the botched assassination attempt on Keith and Lin. Though he initially refuses, claiming he's retired, the money convinces him. He travels to Hong Kong and meets Lin's son, from whom he steals his cell phone and determines Lin's location. He meets her at the airport and seduces her. The next morning, he gets Keith's location from her phone but chooses not to kill her; she realizes he is an agent and kills him.

Travis' agency, Red Mountain, brings him back to life using an experimental procedure. Once he tells them Keith's location, Jim, his friend and former fellow Marine, informs him that they just revived him to get the location, and the doctor plans to kill him upon her return. Travis obtains a scalpel and cuts his restraints; when the doctor returns he kills a guard and learns from her that with a timer on his wrist, he has 24 hours to live. He escapes with her as a hostage and pursues Lin, telling her not to make him regret not killing her.

Keith testifies against Red Mountain, revealing they experimented on over 70 civilians to develop the resurrection procedure and forced him to dispose of the bodies. Just after he testifies, Jim snipes several guards from a clocktower and Red Mountain assaults the building. Lin and Keith escape when Travis arrives to help, knowing Red Mountain betrayed him. During the chase, Keith is killed, but he managed to get the camera's memory card before they left. Travis entrusts the card to Lin, but Jim calls to inform them that they have taken her son in exchange for the card. Travis decides to help her retrieve him and collects guns and explosives from a safe house.

They travel to the village where the civilians Red Mountain experimented on lived and enlist their help in avenging them. Travis knows prisoner transport protocol; they corner and ambush the convoy and get the boy back. Travis tells Lin to get the testimony to the authorities and decides to spend his last half hour alive delaying Red Mountain from pursuing her. He forces a surviving Red Mountain agent to drive him to base claiming he is the prisoner; when he arrives he kills several guards and drives the car into the building. He detonates the car and assaults the office where Jim and the Red Mountain leader, Wetzler, are holed up. After killing all the agents in the room, Wetzler tries to goad Travis into killing Jim, who knew that Wetzler ordered his wife and son killed in an attempt to keep him from quitting the company. Though angered, Travis feels remorse for all the killing he's done and lets Jim live. Jim then approaches Wetzler to kill him as police arrive. Though they warn him not to shoot, he shoots Wetzler and is killed himself.

Travis dies and has a vision of his family on a beach. He beckons for his son, but he runs away. Travis begins to hear a woman's voice and awakes in the lab where he was first resurrected.

Shigeharu Aoyama is a widower whose son Shigehiko says that he should find a new wife. Shigeharu's friend Yasuhisa Yoshikawa, a film producer, devises a mock casting audition at which young women audition for the "part" of Shigeharu's new wife. Shigeharu agrees to the plan and is immediately enchanted by Asami Yamazaki, attracted to her apparent emotional depth.

Yasuhisa cannot reach any of the references in Asami's résumé, such as a music producer she said she worked for, who is missing. However, Shigeharu is so enthralled by her that he pursues her anyway. She lives in an empty apartment, containing a sack and a phone. For four days after the audition, she sits perfectly still next to the phone waiting for it to ring. When it finally does, she answers pretending that she never expected Shigeharu to call. After several dates, she agrees to accompany him to a seaside hotel, where Shigeharu intends to propose marriage. At the hotel, Asami reveals burn scars on her body. Before having sex, Asami demands that Shigeharu pledge his love to her and no one else. Deeply moved, Shigeharu agrees. In the morning, Asami is nowhere to be found.

Shigeharu tries to track her down using her résumé, but as Yasuhisa warned, all of the contacts are dead ends. At the dance studio where she said she was trained, he finds a man with prosthetic feet. The bar where she said she worked has been abandoned for a year following the murder and dismemberment of the owner. A passerby tells Shigeharu that the police found three extra fingers, an extra ear, and an extra tongue when they recovered the body; Shigeharu has hallucinations of the body pieces. Meanwhile, Asami goes to Shigeharu's house and finds a photo of his late wife. Enraged, she drugs his liquor. Shigeharu comes home, pours a drink, and after a short while feels the effects of the drug. A flashback shows that the sack in Asami's apartment contains a man missing both feet, his tongue, one ear and three fingers on one hand. He crawls out and begs for food. Asami vomits into a dog dish and places it on the floor for the man. The man sticks his face into the vomit and hungrily consumes it.

Shigeharu collapses from the drug. Asami injects him with a paralytic agent that leaves his nerves alert, and tortures him with needles. She tells him that just like everyone else in her life, he has failed to love only her. She cannot tolerate his feelings for anyone else, even his own son. She inserts needles into the skin below his eyes, saying "deeper" continuously as she does so. She then cuts off his left foot with a wire saw. Shigehiko returns home as Asami begins to cut off Shigeharu's other foot, and she sneaks up on him with a spray. As she attacks the boy, Shigeharu appears to suddenly wake up back in the hotel after he and Asami had sex, and his current ordeal seems to be only a nightmare; Shigeharu proposes marriage and Asami accepts. As he falls back asleep in the hotel, he returns to find his son fighting Asami, who is brandishing a can of mace. Shigehiko kicks her downstairs, breaking her neck. Shigeharu tells his son to call the police and stares at the dying Asami, who repeats what she said on one of their dates about her excitement on seeing him again.

Five dogs and their owners, trainers and handlers travel to Philadelphia to compete in the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show.

Gerry and Cookie Fleck are a middle-class couple from Florida who arrive at the Taft Hotel with their terrier Winky. After having forgotten to pay their credit card bill and short of cash, they are forced to sleep in the hotel's storage room. While traveling to the show, they encounter several of Cookie’s former lovers who kiss her passionately and try to seduce her, making Gerry jealous. To Gerry's chagrin, they cross paths with Cookie's paramours after the show ends.

Meg and Hamilton Swan, a stereotypical yuppie couple from a Chicago suburb, arrive with their Weimaraner Beatrice. Their constant doting and neurotic behavior confuses and upsets Beatrice. Earlier they take Beatrice to a psychotherapist after she sees them having sex in a position they learned from the ''Kama Sutra''. The Swans lose Beatrice's favorite toy and frantically search for a replacement before the show starts, but are unable to find one. When Beatrice performs poorly and is removed by a judge for unruly behavior, they blame it on the lost toy. Later they replace Beatrice with another dog.

Harlan Pepper, the Southern owner of a fishing goods store and an aspiring ventriloquist, arrives with his Bloodhound Hubert. Harlan is an affable, good-natured man who prides himself on being able to name every type of nut. The Pepper family has raised a variety of hounds for generations; Harlan continues the tradition by raising Bloodhounds.

Sherri Ann Cabot is the plump, buxom, overly-made-up trophy wife of the elderly Leslie Ward Cabot, her sugar daddy. A former two-time winner of the show, Sherri Ann receives help with her Standard Poodle Rhapsody in White, also known as Butch, from her taskmaster trainer Christy Cummings. Christy is an extremely competitive handler who makes sure the dog is prepared for the show. A no-nonsense, short-haired lesbian, she resists Sherri Ann's attempts at giving her a beauty makeover. Leslie is oblivious to Christy and Sherri Ann's romantic involvement — as well as everything else happening around him.

Scott Donlan and Stefan Vanderhoof are a campy gay couple who take great pride in their Shih Tzu Miss Agnes. They are confident that she will win the competition. They share a love of old movies and enjoy making fun of Christy Cummings, but are friendly to the other competitors, especially the Flecks.

The dog show is hosted by dog expert Trevor Beckwith and oblivious "color" commentator Buck Laughlin, whose inane banter annoys Beckwith. During the first round, Beatrice is disqualified when she becomes aggressive and Hamilton cannot control her. The other four dogs advance to the final round. Just before the finals, Cookie dislocates her knee and insists that Gerry take over for her despite his two left feet (the result of a birth defect). Though Gerry is nervous, Winky ultimately takes Best in Show.

After the competition, Gerry and Cookie return home to Florida and enjoy brief fame there. While in a studio recording novelty songs about terriers, they discover that the recording engineer is yet another of Cookie's ex-lovers, to Gerry's unending frustration. Christy and Sherri Ann publish ''American Bitch'', a magazine for lesbian owners of purebred dogs. After spending weeks on a kibbutz, Harlan fulfills his dream of being a ventriloquist, entertaining sparse crowds with a honky tonk song-and-dance number. Stefan and Scott design a calendar featuring Shih Tzu dogs in costume appearing in scenes from classic films such as ''Casablanca'' and ''Gone with the Wind''. Meg and Hamilton Swan replace Beatrice with a pug named Kipper, which they claim enjoys watching them make love.

Professor Julius Kelp is a nerdy, scruffy, buck-toothed, accident-prone, socially awkward university professor whose experiments in the classroom laboratory are unsuccessful and highly destructive. When a football-playing bully embarrasses and attacks him, Kelp decides to "beef up" by joining a local gym. Kelp's lack of physical strength leads him to seek a solution in his specialty of chemistry. He invents a serum that turns him into Buddy Love: a handsome, suave, charming and brash girl-chasing hipster.

This new personality gives him the self-confidence to pursue one of his students, Stella Purdy. Although she resents Love, she finds herself strangely attracted to him. Buddy wows the crowd with his jazzy, breezy musical delivery and poised demeanor at the Purple Pit, a nightclub where the students hang out. He also mocks a bartender and waitress and punches a student. The formula wears off at inopportune times, often to Kelp's humiliation.

Although Kelp knows that his alternate persona is a bad person, he cannot prevent himself from continually taking the formula as he enjoys the attention that Love receives. As Buddy performs at the annual student dance the formula starts to wear off. His real identity now revealed, Kelp gives an impassioned speech, admitting his mistakes and seeking forgiveness. Kelp says that the one thing he learned from being someone else is that if you don't like yourself, you can't expect others to like you. Purdy meets Kelp backstage, and confesses that she prefers Kelp over Buddy Love.

Eventually, Kelp's formerly timid father chooses to market the formula (a copy of which Kelp had sent to his parents' home for safekeeping), endorsed by the deadpan president of the university who proclaims, "It's a gasser!" Kelp's father makes a pitch to the chemistry class, and the students all rush forward to buy the new tonic. In the confusion Kelp and Purdy slip out of the class. Armed with a marriage license and two bottles of the formula, they elope.

During the short closing credits, each of the characters comes out and bows down to the camera, and when Jerry Lewis, still portraying Kelp, comes out and bows, he trips and falls over the camera, causing the picture to go white, as if Lewis broke the film being projected at that moment.

At the end of ''Mortal Kombat 4'' (which is Scorpion's canon ending), Quan Chi revealed himself to be the murderer of Scorpion's family and clan, before attempting to send him back to the Netherrealm. Scorpion, fueled with homicidal rage, grabbed Quan Chi at the last minute, taking the sorcerer with him. In the opening intro to ''Deadly Alliance'', it is revealed that Quan Chi was able to escape the Netherrealm, using the amulet he had stolen from Shinnok. He appears in a tomb containing several mummified remains and an ancient runestone, which reveals that the remains are the "undefeatable" army of the long-forgotten ruler of Outworld, known simply as the "Dragon King". Learning that it can be revived, Quan Chi forms an alliance with Shang Tsung, offering him an endless supply of souls in return for him transplanting the souls of defeated warriors into the army. The two work together to defeat, and kill, Shao Kahn and Liu Kang, the two greatest threats to their plans. Unable to interfere as an Elder God, Raiden surrenders his status after realizing that, should the alliance be victorious, Earthrealm is doomed.

In ''Deadly Alliance'', the player receives information concerning the backstories of the characters and their relationships with one another mainly during Konquest mode, but also by way of biographies that can be obtained in the Krypt. The game takes place in a science fantasy setting, with most of the game's events occurring in the fictional realms of the ''Mortal Kombat'' series. The story begins in the Netherealm (although this is not a playable level), and later switches to Outworld, Edenia and eventually Earthrealm. To fully understand the plot of ''Deadly Alliance'', the player must not only complete the Konquest mode but the Arcade mode as well. As usual, completing the Arcade mode unlocks endings for each character, but only a few endings or parts of them are considered part of the continuity of the ''Mortal Kombat'' storyline. Some endings even contradict one another. What really happened to the characters was only revealed in the sequel ''Mortal Kombat: Deception'', making ''Deadly Alliance'' the first game in the series to have an in-continuity ending that involves the heroes losing and the villains emerging victorious.

The book opens in November 1915, with Hannay and his friend Sandy convalescing from wounds received at the Battle of Loos. Sir Walter Bullivant, a senior intelligence officer, summons Hannay to the Foreign Office. Bullivant briefs Hannay on the political situation in the Middle East, suggesting that the Germans and their Turkish allies are plotting to create a Muslim uprising, that will throw the Middle East, India and North Africa into turmoil. Bullivant proposes that Hannay investigate the rumours, following a clue left on a slip of paper with the words "Kasredin", "cancer" and "v.I" written by Bullivant's son, a spy recently killed in the region.

Despite misgivings, Hannay accepts the challenge, and picks Sandy to help him. Bullivant says that American John Blenkiron will be useful. The three meet, ponder their clues, and head to Constantinople. Starting on 17 November, they plan to meet at a hostelry exactly two months later, going each by his own route - Blenkiron travelling through Germany as an observer, Sandy travelling through Asia Minor, using his Arab contacts, while Hannay goes to neutral Lisbon under a Boer guise. There, he meets by chance an old comrade, Boer Peter Pienaar, and the two, posing as anti-British exiles itching to fight for the Germans, are recruited by a German agent. Entering Germany via the Netherlands, they meet the powerful and sinister Colonel Ulrich von Stumm, and convince him they can help persuade the Muslims to join the Germans' side. Hannay has several more adventures, meeting famed mining engineer Herr Gaudian (who later reappears in ''The Three Hostages''), hears of the mysterious Hilda von Einem, and meets the Kaiser.

Finding Stumm plans to send him to Egypt via London, Hannay flees into the snowbound countryside, tracked by the vengeful colonel. He falls ill with malaria and is sheltered during Christmas by a poor woman in a lonely cottage. On his sickbed, he realises that the clue "v.I" on the piece of paper may refer to von Einem, the name he overheard.

Recuperated, he carries on, travelling by barge carrying armaments down the Danube, picking up with Peter Pienaar, who has escaped from a German prison, along the way. They pass through Vienna, Budapest and Belgrade, and as they travel, Hannay connects the phrase "der grüne Mantel" with something else he overheard earlier. They reach Rustchuk on 10 January, with a week to go before the rendezvous in Constantinople.

On arrival, Hannay has a run-in with Rasta Bey, an important Young Turk, and intercepts a telegram showing his trail has been detected. They travel by train, fending off an attempt to stop them by the angry Rasta Bey, and reach Constantinople with half a day to spare.

They seek out the meeting place, and are attacked by Bey and an angry mob, but rescued by a band of mysterious, wild dancing men, whom they then antagonise. Next day they return to the rendezvous, an illicit dance-room, where they find the main entertainment is none other than the wild men of the previous day. At the climax of the performance, soldiers of the Ottoman Minister of War Enver, arrive and drag Hannay and Peter away, apparently to prison, but they instead are delivered to a cozy room containing Blenkiron and the leader of the dancers - none other than the miraculous Sandy Arbuthnot.

They pool their news - Sandy has identified "Kasredin" from their clue sheet as the title of an ancient Turkish allegorical story, the hero of which is a religious leader called Greenmantle, and has heard much of a prophet known as "the Emerald", associated with the play. Blenkiron has met and been impressed by Hilda von Einem, who is in Constantinople and owns the house in which they are staying.

Blenkiron provides Hannay with a new identity, an American engineer named Hannau, and they attend a dinner party where they meet Herr Gaudian again, and Enver. Hannay encounters von Einem, and is fascinated by her; later, he is recognised by Rasta Bey, and has just knocked him out and hidden him in a cupboard when von Einem arrives. Hannay impresses her, and hears she plans to take him East with her. Sandy visits, agrees to deal with the captive Turk and provides news of his own - the clue "Cancer" means the prophet Greenmantle has the disease and is on his deathbed. Blenkiron joins them, and tells them that fighting has become heated between the Russians and the Turks, and they deduce that they will be taken toward Erzerum to help with its defence.

On the long road to Erzerum, they crash their car, and spend the night in a barn, where Hannay has a vivid dream of a hill with a saucepan-like indent in the top, Hannay notes that it is similar to a Kraal. They travel on worn-out horses, but seeing a new car by the roadside, they steal it, only to find it belongs to Rasta Bey. They make good speed, but on arrival in Erzerum, they are delivered straight to Stumm, who recognises Hannay and has them arrested. They are rescued by one of Sandy's men, steal some plans from Stumm, and escape across the rooftops.

With the battle of Erzurum booming in the background, they realise the importance of the stolen plans, and Peter Pienaar volunteers to sneak through the battle lines and deliver them to the Russians. Sandy appears, magnificently dressed, and reveals that Greenmantle is dead and that he has been chosen to impersonate him. They form a plan to flee around the side of the battle lines, and while Sandy's helper searches for horses, Pienaar starts his dangerous mission.

Pienaar has an eventful and terrifying journey across the battlefield, and Hannay and Blenkiron hide in a cellar. On the third day, they break cover, and make for safety in a wild horse ride, closely pursued by their enemies. On the verge of capture, they find the hill of Hannay's dream, and entrench there, holding the enemy at bay. Hilda von Einem arrives, and appeals to them to give up, but they refuse; she is shocked to learn Sandy is a British officer, and as she leaves, she is slain by a stray Russian shell.

Stumm arrives with artillery, and their position looks sure to be destroyed and overrun, but Stumm waits till dawn to savour his revenge. Just in time, the Russians, helped by the plans delivered by Pienaar, break through the defences and sweep towards the town. Stumm's men flee, Stumm is killed, and Hannay and Sandy meet with Pienaar to ride into the city and victory.

Chief O'Brien needs to replace a failing component of Deep Space Nine's machinery. The only way to obtain a replacement is by salvaging it from Empok Nor, an abandoned Cardassian space station built to the same design as Deep Space Nine. The salvage team consists of O'Brien, Cardassian ex-spy Garak, cadet Nog, engineers Pechetti and Boq'ta, and security officers Stolzoff and Amaro. As Cardassians routinely booby-trap abandoned facilities against non-Cardassian intruders, Garak is brought along to help disarm the security measures.

On the abandoned station, the team discovers two empty and recently deactivated stasis tubes and a third one with a dead Cardassian soldier, whose uniform marks him as a member of an elite and ruthless battalion. Suddenly, the away team's runabout detaches from the station and explodes, stranding them inside with no means to send for help and under threat from the two recently-awoken Cardassians. The team splits into groups to continue the salvage and attempt to establish communications.

The Cardassian soldiers methodically ambush and eliminate Pechetti and Stolzoff. Garak decides to go on the offensive and track down the enemy soldiers himself. He returns after killing one of them, and relays his discovery that the soldiers had been subjected to psychotropic drugs which amplify their natural xenophobic tendencies. The second soldier ambushes Boq'ta, but Garak emerges and kills him before he can kill Amaro, only to then stab Amaro himself.

O'Brien and Nog discover Amaro, who tells them what happened, before dying from his injuries. O'Brien realizes Garak has been affected by the same drug as the soldiers, and sets out to stop him. Garak captures Nog, using him to draw O'Brien out. O'Brien consents to lay down his weapons and face Garak in hand-to-hand combat, but disables him with his own trap, having rigged his phaser to explode.

The three are rescued after collecting the parts they needed. Back on DS9, O'Brien visits Garak in the infirmary. Garak expresses his sincere regret over his actions; O'Brien informs him there will be an inquest, but it will be made clear that Garak wasn't responsible for what he did. Garak remarks that he is lucky the phaser blast didn't kill him, and O'Brien replies that it was intended to do exactly that.

Book 1

Jesus is baptized by John. Satan, seeing this, calls a meeting of demons to plot against him, confident he can fool Christ as he fooled Adam. Meanwhile God tells the angels Satan is overconfident, and they sing God's praise.

Jesus enters the wilderness and fasts there for 40 days, pondering His past and future. A seeming old man of the desert asks him as Son of God to turn stones into bread. Jesus, recognizing Satan, rebukes him for his lies. Satan pretends to be delighted to hear truth and begs permission to stay. Jesus says he can do whatever the Father in heaven allows. Night falls.

Book 2

Simon and Andrew saw Jesus baptized and realize He is Messiah, but lose Him and search for him. They worry they have lost Him for good. Mary too wonders what has become of her Son, remembering that she lost him once before when He was 12. Satan returns to his demons, warning them this temptation is going to be far more difficult than the Fall of man. Belial advises using a honey trap, but Satan knows this will not work, thinking pride a stronger test.

Jesus, hungry, dreams of Elijah being fed by ravens. Waking, he finds a fair man and a banquet waiting for Him, but He again resists. Satan next tries to tempt with money, but Jesus reminds him that King David started as a mere shepherd.

Book 3

Satan flatters Christ, praising His wisdom, then taunts Him with his lack of achievement, saying Alexander the Great had conquered half the world at 30. Jesus rejects gaining glory by violent means. Satan next tries goading him with duty, saying Judas Maccabeus gained glory for God by fighting the pagans. But Jesus sees suffering as the path he must tread.

Satan then takes Christ to a high mountain, showing Him the kingdoms of the world. He suggests He will need an alliance with the Parthians if He is to resist Rome successfully. Christ refuses Satan's suggestion to free the Ten Tribes, leaving it to Divine providence.

Book 4

Satan next shows Christ Rome, and offers it to Him. Christ once more rejects. Satan says all the kingdoms of the world are his to bestow if only Christ will bow the knee. Christs rebukes him for this blasphemy, quoting Exodus chapter 20.

Satan, realizing he is defeated, makes an attempt to interest Christ in the wisdom of Ancient Greece. But Jesus rejects this in favour of the Psalms and the Prophets. Satan angrily returns Christ to the wilderness and forces him to spend a cold night in the middle of a Tempest amid hellish furies. Christ endures this. Satan, frustrated, takes Christ to Jerusalem and tells him to throw himself off the pinnacle of the Jewish Temple, quoting a Psalm. Jesus quotes back, "Tempt not the Lord thy God". Satan falls. Angels help Jesus, singing of his victory over the devil, feeding Him, and returning him to Mary.

The game's story takes place in a time period near the end of the world, called the Age of Darkness. The story features the appearance of undead creatures after the natural cycle of life and death was broken. People quickly began dying due to the use and misuse of "Dark Matter", a type of energy that corrupts and destroys life. Those who survived quickly became prey to dark creatures called "Immortals", beings composed of Dark Matter at the cellular level.

The story is set in the city of San Miguel, which had already been overrun by the Immortals. The city was in a hopeless situation as the curse brought the "undeadening" of all, edging the human race closer to extinction. Even the hero who used to hunt the Immortals has already fallen, and so people's hopes have been shattered.

One day, however, a mysterious boy named Django emerged. He turned out to have the blood of one of the most legendary vampire hunters running in his veins, and was also the heir of the Gun Del Sol. He must go to Istrakan, the City of Death – where many times and places intertwine – in order to prevent the end of the world.

Django's mission to save humanity is reinforced by his desire to avenge his father, Ringo, after his death. He uses sunlight as his weapon throughout his endeavors.

''The Castle of Otranto'' tells the story of Manfred, lord of the castle, and his family. The book begins on the wedding day of his sickly son Conrad and princess Isabella. Shortly before the wedding, however, Conrad is crushed to death by a gigantic helmet that falls on him from above. This inexplicable event is particularly ominous in light of an ancient prophecy, "that the castle and lordship of Otranto should pass from the present family, whenever the real owner should be grown too large to inhabit it". Manfred, terrified that Conrad's death signals the beginning of the end for his line, resolves to avert destruction by marrying Isabella himself, while divorcing his current wife, Hippolita, who he feels has failed to bear him a proper heir in light of the sickly condition of Conrad before his untimely death.

However, as Manfred attempts to marry Isabella, she escapes to a church with the aid of a peasant named Theodore. Manfred orders Theodore's death while talking to the friar Jerome, who ensured Isabella's safety at the church. When Theodore removes his shirt to be killed, Jerome recognizes a marking below his shoulder and identifies Theodore as his own son. Jerome begs for his son's life, but Manfred says Jerome must either give up the princess or his son's life. They are interrupted by a trumpet and the entrance of knights from another kingdom, who want to deliver Isabella to her father, Fredric, along with the castle, as Fredric has a stronger claim to it (another reason Manfred wishes to wed Isabella). This leads the knights and Manfred to race to find Isabella.

Theodore, having been locked in a tower by Manfred, is freed by Manfred's daughter, Matilda. He races to the underground church and finds Isabella. He hides her in a cave and blocks it to protect her from Manfred and ends up fighting one of the mysterious knights. Theodore badly injures the knight, who turns out to be Isabella's father, Frederic. With that, they all go up to the castle to work things out. Frederic falls in love with Matilda, and he and Manfred make a deal to marry each other's daughters. Frederic backs out after being warned by an apparition of a skeleton.

Manfred, suspecting that Isabella is meeting Theodore in a tryst in the church, takes a knife into the church, where Matilda is meeting Theodore. Thinking his own daughter is Isabella, he stabs her. Theodore is then revealed to be the true prince of Otranto as Matilda dies, leaving Manfred to repent. A giant ghostly form appears, declares the prophecy fulfilled and shatters the castle walls.

Manfred abdicates the principality and retires to religion along with Hippolita. Theodore becomes prince of the remains of the castle and is married to Isabella, for she is the only one who can truly understand his sorrow.

The series follows Bureau Chief Tracey Kibre (Bebe Neuwirth), an Executive Assistant District Attorney assigned to Manhattan's homicide division. Kibre's team, including District Attorney Investigator Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Assistant District Attorney Kelly Gaffney (Amy Carlson), follows up on leads and interview witnesses, as well as participating in trials, during which both sides examine witnesses and give arguments. Similarly, the defense's preparation varies from episode to episode, running the gamut from testing arguments in front of jury focus groups to deal-making between co-defendants. Several pretrial meetings are held where some procedural issue is argued and ruled on.

Thousands of years before the setting of the first game, Shinnok, one of the Elder Gods who control the six realms in the ''Mortal Kombat'' universe, attempted to become the conqueror of them all. The thunder god Raiden fought and defeated Shinnok in a war that spanned hundreds of years, sending him to the Netherrealm, where he would be trapped forever. Now, Shinnok has managed to escape from the Netherrealm with help from the sorcerer Quan Chi, and seeks vengeance against the Elder Gods who banished him. In his plan, he first conquers the realm of Edenia, with the aid of a traitor, Tanya, while he prepares to attack the Elder Gods. In order to stop Shinnok's menace, Raiden requests help from the Earthrealm warriors who saved the realms from Emperor Shao Kahn in previous titles.

In World War I, song-and-dance man Jerry Jones is drafted into the US Army, where he stages a revue called ''Yip Yip Yaphank.'' It is a rousing success, but one night during the show orders are received to leave immediately for France: instead of the finale, the troops march up the aisles through the audience, out the theater's main entrance and into a convoy of waiting trucks. Among the teary, last-minute goodbyes Jones kisses his newlywed bride Ethel farewell.

In the trenches of France, several of the soldiers in the production are killed or wounded by shrapnel from a German artillery barrage. Jones is wounded in the leg and must walk with a cane, ending his career as a dancer. Nevertheless, he is resolved to find something useful to do, especially now that he is the father of a son. Sgt. McGee and Pvt. Eddie Dibble, the troop bugler, also survive.

Twenty-five years later World War II is raging in Europe. Jerry's son Johnny enlists in the Army shortly after Pearl Harbor. He tells his sweetheart Eileen Dibble that they cannot marry until he returns, since he doesn't want to make her a widow.

Johnny reluctantly accepts an order to stage another musical, following in his father's footsteps. The show goes on tour throughout the United States and eventually plays Washington, D.C., in front of President Roosevelt. During the show it is announced that this is the last performance: the soldiers in the production have been ordered back to their combat units.

Eileen, who has joined the Red Cross auxiliary, appears backstage. During a break in the show she brings a minister and persuades Johnny that they should marry now - which they do, in the alley behind the theater, with their fathers acting as witnesses.

El Mariachi is recruited by CIA officer Sheldon Jeffrey Sands to kill General Emiliano Marquez, a corrupt Mexican Army officer who has been hired by Mexican drug lord Armando Barillo to assassinate the President of Mexico and overthrow the government during a period of unrest in Culiacán (the capital of Sinaloa) which is testing the presidency. Many years before, El Mariachi and his wife Carolina confronted Marquez in a shootout and wounded the general; in retaliation, Marquez took the lives of Carolina and their daughter in an ambush. In addition to El Mariachi, Sands persuades former FBI agent Jorge Ramírez to come out of retirement and kill Barillo, who had murdered his partner Archuleta in the past. Furthermore, AFN operative Ajedrez is assigned by Sands to tail Barillo.

While monitoring Barillo's activities, Ramírez meets Billy Chambers, an American fugitive who has been living under the protection of Barillo, but can no longer stomach the horrible tasks he's been forced to carry out for him. Ramírez convinces Chambers he will provide him protection in exchange for getting closer to Barillo by tagging Chambers' pet chihuahua with a hidden microphone, and Chambers agrees to complete the deal by surrendering to U.S. authorities once Barillo has been taken down. Sands' agent, Cucuy, originally hired to keep an eye on El Mariachi, instead turns and tranquilizes El Mariachi and turns him over to Barillo, also offering to reveal the details of Sands's plan. Cucuy, however, is promptly killed by Chambers while El Mariachi escapes from captivity and calls his friends Lorenzo and Fideo to assist him in his mission.

While monitoring Barillo's activity outside a hospital, Ramírez notices armed men storming the building and follows suit. He discovers that a group of doctors have been gunned down and Barillo has bled to death as a result of a botched facial reconstruction, but realizes that the corpse on the operating table is a body double before he is knocked out and kidnapped by the real Barillo and Ajedrez, who reveals herself to be Barillo's daughter. Sands realizes that his mission has been compromised, but is too late, as he is captured by Barillo and Ajedrez — who drill out his eyes before sending him out. Despite his blindness, he manages to gun down a hitman tailing him with the aid of a ''chicle'' boy.

As Culiacán celebrates the Day of the Dead during the President's visit, Marquez and his army storm in and attack the presidential palace. Marquez's troops, however, are met with resistance from not only the President's bodyguards, but also the citizens of Culiacán and the Mariachis. Sands had instructed El Mariachi to allow the President to be killed before attacking Marquez, but the Mariachis, concluding that the President is a good man, intervene early and protect him. Marquez enters the presidential palace, only to once again confront El Mariachi, who shoots out his kneecaps before killing him with a headshot. Ramírez, who was released from captivity by Chambers, faces Barillo. After Barillo guns down Chambers, Ramírez and El Mariachi kill the drug lord. Sands manages to shoot the sadistic Ajedrez dead outside the presidential palace. Ultimately, Lorenzo and Fideo walk away with the cash that Barillo was using to pay Marquez, and help the president safely escape the attempted coup. Ramírez says goodbye to Sands and walks away, having avenged his partner's death. El Mariachi then gives his share of the cash to his home village before walking into the sunset.

Three hitmen, Willy, Norwood, and Simms are staying in a posh Los Angeles hotel. After failing a job, they take off in a car with a pregnant woman named Velma, who is in on their scheme. They flee to Mexico to escape the wrath of their boss, Amos Dade, and rob a bank along the way. While driving through the desert, their car breaks down. They bury their suitcase of money and begin to walk.

Night falls, and they come upon a town, where they see a demolished car with a corpse inside. They enter an empty bar, where the three men get drunk and Velma pesters them to leave. As they exit the bar, the wrecked car has vanished, but the men are too inebriated to notice it. The group camps out for the night, and the following morning, Velma witnesses several trucks of cowboys enter the town, carrying espresso machines with them. Much to the dismay of Velma, who insists they keep a low profile and leave, the three men enter the town, which is now full of townspeople, and go back to the bar.

There, they are confronted by a gang of cowboys addicted to coffee, and a shoot-out ensues, but they are ultimately welcomed by the townspeople. The bizarre townspeople include a couple who own a store full of piñatas, a man running a hot dog stand, and countless cowboys and other unusual characters. The head honcho of the town, Tim McMahon, invites the gang to a party that evening. The following day, Tim McMahon's elderly father is pushed off of a building by his relative Sabrina McMahon and appears to die. The entire town has a funeral procession for him, and at the funeral, a friend of Amos', named Whitey, shows up looking for the hitmen and Velma.

The town seizes Whitey for being a "stranger", and accuses him of the murder of the McMahon grandfather. During the burial of the grandfather, his hand comes up out of the dirt and grabs the priest's ankle, and the priest shoots into the ground, killing him. Meanwhile, on the gallows, Whitey begins to tell the town the truth about Amos and the hitmen, but is hanged before he can tell his story. A man named I.G. Farben, who claims to be a house manufacturer, enters town with his wife Sonia and introduces himself, advertising his company. The next morning, Simms sees Amos' car enter the town, and tries to get a drunken Willy and Norwood to leave with Velma.

A series of shootouts begin between the townspeople, Amos' crew, and the hitmen, and I.G. Farben and Sonia provide high-grade weapons for the killers. Tim McMahon joins Amos' team after having wrongfully hanged Whitey, and everyone begins to turn against each other. As Simms and Willy run into the desert, a shootout ensues with the town priest. They reach the spot where they buried the money, and Simms shoots Willy as they are trying to lift the suitcase out of the ground. Simms then hears Velma laughing, and turns around only to be shot by Velma and one of the townsmen. After Velma shoots Simms several times, the townman with her is shot by Tim McMahon. Tim and Velma then take off arm-in-arm with the suitcase of money, while Simms and Willy die.

Meanwhile, in town, chaos has ensued, and the town hardware store is set on fire. Amos is shot, and virtually everyone is killed, aside from Norwood and several female characters. Tim and Velma leave the town in a truck with the suitcase of money, but accidentally drive off of a cliff when their brakes go out. Norwood leaves town with the female characters, and Farben Oil Company trucks enter the town to drill for oil.

First series

In the first scene of the series, Jill sits in a doctor's office with her husband Terry having just been told the prognosis of a medical examination. Jill, teary-eyed, exclaims "I mean why, why ''me''?” Her husband turns to her comfortingly, and says, "Jill, let's keep this in perspective. It's me that's got the cancer."

Immediately after her husband begins cancer treatment, Jill goes to a dating agency to find another man, seemingly content in the knowledge that her husband will shortly die.

Jill uses her status as widow (despite Terry being still alive) to gain sympathy from those who work in Beauty by Jill, her suburban beauty salon which turns most clients suicidal after their treatment, and from the quiet couple who live across the street from her. Don is a family doctor and his wife Cathy has multiple sclerosis and often uses a wheelchair. Using the pretence of caring for Cath, Jill gradually moves in with them, flirting with their son David and trying to break up their marriage and sleep with Don, all the while playing the sympathy card with Cathy.

Jill occasionally visits her husband in hospital, where he is responding well to cancer treatment, in order to put her own spin on the good news from the doctors to leave Terry with the impression that he is really dying. When Jill finds out Terry is recovering, she admits him to a hospice and tells all her friends that he has died, and stages a twisted funeral where she gets all the attention.

Jill dresses as Don's former mistress Sandra to try to grab his attention, and prepares a meal for him while Cathy is out. Don does not know anything about this and is pleasantly surprised. Later, Jill bends down, pretends to be incapable of moving and asks for Don's help. As Don is pulling her up from the ground, Cathy enters and gets the wrong impression, to Don's irritation.

Terry leaves the hospice and finds his way home. Jill imprisons him in a spare room and begins starving and brutalising him, but explains she is doing it only to aid his recovery. When she runs into a simpleton, Glen, whom she met previously through the Lasso the Moon Dating Agency (he had described his personality as "Scottish"), she discovers that the deaths of his parents have left him extremely wealthy. As she pretends to fall in love with him, she coyly asks "Is either of your two houses nearby?"

Cathy and Don later put forward their plans to move to Hopperton, a Christian retreat with a high population of lesbians. When Jill hears of this she throws a farewell coffee morning for them, livening it up by performing a pole dance routine to Kylie Minogue, whilst the neighbours watch in horror. The Hopperton nuns are also present and are duly shocked by Jill's antics. Meanwhile, Don has become extremely drunk and Cathy announces she has had enough and is going on her own; she departs, leaving Don dazed and confused. Jill leaves the party to check on Terry, only to find him preparing to escape house arrest. She ushers him back upstairs and straps him to his bed wearing an adult nappy. Across the road at the party, Linda sees Terry at the window and thinks it's his ghost urging her to confess to their affair. She rushes across to Jill and tries to fight her way up to his attic bedroom. Jill thinks she has been unmasked until Linda tells her the purpose of her visit is to reveal that she was the woman Terry had slept with.

After the party Jill drags a tired Don to her place and realising she must be rid of Terry once and for all, runs upstairs and smothers him with a cushion. Don finds the bathroom, vomits and opens the bedroom door to find Jill lying seductively on the bed. Don, just wanting to lie down and too tired to be bothered, falls into Jill's arms.

Three weeks pass, and Jill has escaped the crime scene to live with Glen at his mansion. Under the pretence of being a Christian she forbids intercourse until their marriage, only to go downstairs one morning to find Glen has invited Gordon (Michael Fenton Stevens), the local vicar and friend of Jill, to arrange a wedding. The vicar explains Jill's neighbours had wondered where she had vanished to, and even suspected she had committed suicide given the strange smell coming from her house. Jill realises she is about to be found out now Gordon has discovered her, so confesses to murdering her husband to Glen (although she suggests it was a mercy killing). She puts poison in dishes of Angel Delight and encourages Gordon to eat some. As he chokes on it she tells Glen that if he loves her he would agree to take the blame for Gordon's and Terry's deaths and persuades him to make a telephone confession to the police. This done, Jill suggests that they both commit suicide by eating the Angel Delight, and he gives in to her persuasion. When it is her turn to eat the Angel Delight, she declares, "I'm not really hungry". The poison takes effect and Glen drops to the floor.

With Glen having taken the blame for Gordon and Terry's deaths, Jill is free to pursue Don. With the bodies of Terry and Linda hidden in the house, the last scene of the series has her dialing Don's phone number and seductively declaring "Hi Don, it's Jill..."

Second series

Glen has survived Jill's attempt to kill him, but having confessed to killing Terry and Gordon (who has survived in a vegetative state and is now in an iron lung) he is incarcerated in a secure unit for the criminally insane. Realising that she must inherit his money to fund her pursuit of Don she agrees to marry him and then begins a campaign to kill him. There is a mention in episode 1 that Linda was left in a coma following the finale of series 1, Linda is now alive and well and living in a caravan with her boyfriend Denis.

Still infatuated with Don, Jill steals the caravan (with Linda inside) and pursues him to Bude, Cornwall, where he and Cath are trying fix their marriage at a New-Age retreat called The Trees, which employs holistic and esoteric methods, run by non-recovering sex addict Jacques (played by Ralph Brown).

Once she has extracted their new address from Gordon's wife Sue, Jill sets off with Linda after accidentally pulling the plug on Gordon's life support. En route to The Trees they accidentally run over Floella Umbagabe, a therapist planning to work at the retreat. They store her body in their caravan and Jill assumes Floella's identity to gain access to the centre.

Convincing them she is reformed, Jill discovers that Don is trying to recapture his youth via bleached hair, surfing, and a younger girlfriend, Natalie (Loui Batley) while Cath has developed an unrequited crush on their marriage therapist Jacques. In an attempt to get closer to Don, Jill encourages his girlfriend's vanity by plastic surgery to ensure a modelling career, whilst urging Cath to pursue her counsellor. When Cathy reveals she is pregnant with Don's baby and that he will be having a vasectomy, Jill realises her chances of securing him permanently are running out, so with Linda she tries to obtain a semen sample from Don prior to surgery. Ultimately unsuccessful, she tries to seduce Cath and Don's 12-year-old son Bruce, and when he does not respond she claims to his parents that he repeatedly raped her and to allay any doubts pretends she is pregnant by him.

Meanwhile, Glen has tunnelled his way out of his cell and has tracked Jill to Cornwall; Floella Umbagabe has recovered and arrived at The Trees, effectively exposing Jill as a fraud.

The last episode is set 11 months after the events of the previous episode, after Cath has given birth to her baby Abigail. Don can no longer resist his attraction to Gordon's widow, Sue (and her chest) and tells her that he wants to move to Spain with her to start a new life. Jill overhears and assumes Don is talking about her, but armed with a gun, Glen finds Jill and threatens to kill her. Convincing him that she wants him and that she's pregnant with his baby, Jill once again deceives Glen into submission.

After Jill steals Abigail and claims she has given birth, the arrival of Floella, Glen and Cath threatens to unravel her web of lies. She is chased to a cliff where Cath confronts her about her fake pregnancy and her repeated attempts to seduce Don. They begin to fight while Don and Sue have sex on the rocks below. Cath's wheelchair is hurled off the cliff, killing Sue just before Cath pushes Jill off the cliff. Her fall is broken by a trampoline, and then by Don. Up on the cliffs Cath is arrested and taken away by the police, while Jill rides off in a speed boat with a vomit-stained and unresponsive Don, towing Glen behind them on an inflatable inner tube.

In 1960, Lorenzo works as an MTA bus driver in Belmont, a working-class Italian-American neighborhood in The Bronx, with his wife Rosina and their nine-year-old son Calogero. Calogero becomes enamored with the criminal life and Mafia presence in his neighborhood, led by Sonny. One day, Calogero witnesses Sonny shooting and killing a man assaulting his friend. When Calogero chooses to keep quiet when questioned by NYPD detectives, Sonny takes a liking to him and gives him the nickname "C." Sonny's men offer Lorenzo a better paying job but, preferring a law-abiding life as a bus driver, he politely declines. Sonny befriends Calogero and introduces him to his crew. Calogero earns tips working in Sonny's bar and throwing dice, and is admonished by Lorenzo when he discovers the cash. Lorenzo returns the money to Sonny, and warns him to keep away from Calogero.

Eight years later, a 17-year old Calogero has been visiting Sonny regularly without his father's knowledge. Calogero is also part of a gang of local Italian-American boys, which concerns Sonny. Later, Calogero meets a black girl, Jane, and they develop a tentative friendship. Despite the high level of racial tension and dislike between Italian-Americans and African-Americans in the neighborhood, Calogero arranges a date with Jane. He asks for advice from both his father and Sonny, with the latter lending Calogero his car. Later, Calogero's friends beat up black cyclists who ride through their neighborhood, despite Calogero's attempts to defend them. One of the cyclists turns out to be Jane's brother, and he mistakes Calogero for one of the assailants and accuses him of beating him up when he and Jane meet for their date. Calogero loses his temper over the accusation, and calls him a nigger, which he instantly regrets. Jane leaves with her brother.

At home, Calogero is confronted by his father who had just seen him driving Sonny's car. An argument ensues and Calogero storms out. Shortly thereafter, Calogero is confronted by Sonny and his crew, who found a bomb on Sonny's car. Sonny confronts Calogero, and after he tearfully pleads his unwavering dedication to Sonny, he recognizes Calogero's innocence and allows him to leave. The black boys egg the Italian-American boys' usual spot in retaliation for the previous beating, and Calogero's friends make a plan to strike back using Molotov cocktails. They force Calogero to participate, but while on their way, Sonny stops their car and orders Calogero out. Calogero catches up with Jane, who tells him that her brother had later admitted that the boy who beat him up was not Calogero. Jane and Calogero make amends, but he suddenly remembers his friends' plans to attack Jane's neighborhood, and the two rush to stop them. During the attack, a black shopkeeper had thrown an unbroken Molotov cocktail back at the Italian-American boys' car which entered through the window igniting the other Molotov cocktails, resulting in an explosion that killed everyone inside. When Calogero and Jane arrive, they find the car engulfed in flames and the boys' dead bodies burned.

Calogero leaves and rushes into Sonny's bar to thank him for saving his life, but among the crowd, an assailant shoots Sonny in the back of the head before Calogero can warn him. Calogero later learns that the assailant was the son of the man he witnessed Sonny kill eight years earlier. At Sonny's funeral, countless people come to pay their respects. When the crowd disperses, a lone man, Carmine, visits the funeral, claiming that Sonny once saved his life as well. Calogero does not recognize Carmine until he sees a scar on his forehead and realizes he was the man being assaulted whom Sonny had defended when he committed the murder. Carmine tells Calogero that he is filling in for Sonny in the neighborhood for the time being, and promises Calogero help should he ever need. Carmine leaves just as Lorenzo unexpectedly arrives to pay his respects to Sonny. Lorenzo thanks him for saving his son's life and admits that he had never hated him, but that he had resented him for making Calogero grow up so quickly. Calogero and his father walk home together as Calogero narrates the lessons he learned from his two mentors.

Intro

The film opens with Betty, an affluent suburban housewife and modern-day witch (Deborah Harry), planning a dinner party for her fellow witches. The main course is to be Timmy (Matthew Lawrence), a young boy whom she has captured and locked in her pantry, constantly feeding him cookies to fatten him up in time for him to be put into her oven. In an effort to stall her from stuffing and roasting him, Timmy offers to tell her a story from a book she gave him, titled ''Tales from the Darkside''.

''Lot 249''

The first segment is an adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1892 short story, "Lot No. 249"; written by Michael McDowell.

In a prestigious university, graduate student Edward Bellingham (Steve Buscemi), a collector and seller of antiques and historical artifacts, has recently been cheated out of a fellowship he had hoped to win. The winner, a wealthy student named Lee (Robert Sedgwick), was able to win after the discovery of an anonymous tip accusing Bellingham of the theft of a pre-Columbian Zuni fetish from the campus museum.

Lee and his friend Andy (Christian Slater) visit Bellingham after a round of tennis, who congratulates Lee's victory. He invites them inside to observe his latest purchase: a large crate labeled "Lot 249". Opening the crate, the trio discover that its contents include an Ancient Egyptian sarcophagus with a mummy inside. Unnerved, Lee leaves Bellingham's room and meets with his girlfriend Susan (Julianne Moore), who not only happens to be Andy's sister, but who also wrote Lee's winning essay for him and left the anonymous tip that accused Bellingham. Bellingham unwraps the mummy and roots through the incision that the embalmers created to remove his innards. He discovers that the incision contains a parchment scroll containing a message written in hieroglyphics.

Later that night, Bellingham manages to translate the message on the scroll, revealing that it is an incantation to reanimate the dead, which Bellingham recites, causing the mummy to come to life. Hearing commotion, Susan and Andy run into Bellingham, who states that a thief must be in the building. Susan uses the opportunity to plant the Zuni fetish she accused Bellingham of stealing in his dorm room. The mummy makes its way to Lee's dorm, who arms himself with a tennis racket. The mummy ultimately discovers Lee and kills him by removing his brain through his nose with a coat hanger. Returning to the dorm house, Susan discovers Lee's brain in a bowl of fruit, and his corpse soon after. She also manages to spot the mummy as it makes its way back to Bellingham's room.

The next day Susan tells Andy that she saw Lee's killer. At the same time, Bellingham is interrogated by the museum curator and the Dean of Students over the stolen fetish, the latter of whom expels him. Meanwhile, the mummy confronts Susan and slashes her back open with scissors, filling the wound with chrysanthemums. Hearing his sister scream, Andy races back to the dorm where discovers her corpse, crudely wrapped in bandages. Putting everything together, Andy ambushes Bellingham and knocks him unconscious, then ties him to a chair and douses him with lighter fluid, intending to burn him alive as revenge for Susan and Lee's deaths. Bellingham begins reciting the incantation, bringing the mummy back to life. Andy, however, has come prepared, and dismembers the mummy with a battery powered carving knife, putting its head in the fireplace. He then burns the scroll with the incantation written on it, then considers killing Bellingham, but is talked out of it. The next day, Bellingham leaves the university and says farewell to Andy, telling him that he'll never have to deal with him again. However, inside his taxi, a giggling Bellingham recites the incantation, revealing that Andy had burned the wrong scroll. Back at the university, Andy is confronted in his dorm by a reanimated Susan and Lee, who tell him that Bellingham sends his regards.

Back in Betty's kitchen, despite knowing that Timmy is trying to stall his death, Betty tells the boy that he told the story well. Timmy mentions that people will come looking for him if he isn't home by 6pm, but he is scared into silence when Betty opens the oven. Timmy manages to stall her some more by convincing her to let him read another story.

''Cat from Hell''

The second segment is an adaptation of Stephen King's 1977 short story "The Cat from Hell"; written by George A. Romero.

Halston (David Johansen), an assassin, is driven by taxi to a large mansion. He is invited inside by the mansion's owner, Drogan (William Hickey), a wealthy, wheelchair-bound old man who happens to be the president of a large pharmaceutical company. In the parlor, Drogan tells Halston that he wants him to make a hit. When told that his victim is right behind him, Halston discovers that the only thing there is a black cat. Drogan offers Halston an envelope containing $50,000 and explains to him that the cat is what he wants killed, promising him an additional $50,000 if he succeeds. Halston is left in disbelief about the job, prompting Drogan states that this particular cat is murderously evil.

He explains that there were three other occupants of the mansion before the cat arrived: his sister Amanda (Dolores Sutton), her only friend Carolyn Broadmore (Alice Drummond), and the family's butler Richard Gage (Mark Margolis). Richard was the first to see the cat and had tried to chase it away, but it kept coming back no matter how many times it was scared off. Amanda and Carolyn noticed the cat and took it in, much to the aggravation of Drogan, who complained that it was putting them in danger. Drogan then claims that he was right to be superstitious about the cat, because over the past few nights, at midnight, the cat killed the others one by one. It first made Amanda to trip over itself and fall down the stairs, breaking her neck. The cat then clamped onto Carolyn's face as she slept, smothering her. Finally, the cat killed Richard (who Drogan had asked take it to the veterinarian to have it euthanized), by slashing his face as he drove, causing him to crash his car. Drogan tells Halston that he now believes the cat is to kill him next. When asked why, Drogan reveals that his company's biggest selling product, Tri-Dormal-Phenobarbin compound "G", was tested primarily on cats due to the unique quality of their nervous system. 5,000 cats had died over a four-year period of testing, leaving Drogan convinced that the cat has arrived to exact revenge.

While Halston does not believe the story, he is more than willing to kill the cat in exchange for $100,000, with Drogan asking him to bring him its tail as proof before he leaves in the taxi that brought Halston for a meeting in the city. Left alone, Halston goes hunting for the cat in an attempt to kill it via lethal injection, but the cat manages to continually evade or slash him. Halston attempts to bide his time until the cat comes around again, only for the cat to latch onto and furiously scratch his crotch. Finally, Halston attempts to lure the cat to him with a bowl of food to so he can kill it with a laser-scope rifle, but the rifle's bullet actually manages to phase through the cat's body. Halston chases after it, firing wildly, but the cat manages to kill him by leaping into his mouth, forcing itself down his throat and into his stomach. When Drogan returns the next day to see if the deed is done, he finds Halston's corpse on the floor. A nearby clock chimes 12:00, causing the cat to awaken and crawl out of the corpse's mouth. It spots Drogan and leaps onto his lap, viciously screeching at him and inducing a fatal heart attack. Having gotten its revenge, the cat peacefully cleans itself on Drogan's corpse.

Back in Betty's kitchen, Betty is once again impressed by this story, but she also mentions that her favorite stories from the book were love stories, giving Timmy an idea. In an attempt to stall her once more, Timmy offers to tell one last story: a love story.

''Lover's Vow''

The third and final segment is an adaptation of the legend of the Yuki-onna from Lafcadio Hearn's 1904 book Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things; written by Michael McDowell.

Preston (James Remar) is a struggling artist living in New York City, where a stone gargoyle on a neighboring building watches over him through his apartment's skylight. He receives a call from his agent Wyatt, who asks to meet him at a bar a few blocks away. At the bar, Wyatt tells Preston that his art work is unpopular and thus not selling, and ultimately resigns as his agent. Dejected, Preston drinks heavily and becomes inebriated. The bartender, his friend Jer, offers to walk him home.

Along the way, Preston stops to relieve himself in a back alley. While Preston is occupied, Jer hears suspicious noises and reaches for his gun. He sees and shoots at something in the darkness, but ends up losing his hand and begging Preston for help before being gruesomely decapitated. Preston attempts to run from the horrific scene, but is cornered by Jer's killer: a monstrous gargoyle, which proceeds to corner him. As Preston begs for his life, the gargoyle agrees to spare him, but only if he swears to never tell anyone that he saw it, what it looked like, or what it did. Fearing for his life, Preston agrees to the promise. Satisfied, the gargoyle slashes Preston's chest as a way to ask him "Cross your heart?", then flies away. Traumatized, Preston vomits in a nearby alley. Trying to make his way back home, Preston runs into another alley where witnesses a beautiful woman (Rae Dawn Chong) nervously passing by. Still gripped by fear, he grabs her and he assures her that she will not be harmed. The woman, who gives her name as Carola, claims that she became lost while going to meet friends and was hoping to find a taxi. Preston introduces himself to Carola and convinces her to call a taxi from his apartment. While there, Preston attempts to notify the police about the gargoyle, but as he is still bound by his oath, he is forced to let the police hang up. Carola discovers the gargoyle-inflicted wound on Preston's chest and cleans it, after which they make love.

The next day, Preston briefly leaves Carola to go out for a walk. He discovers Jer's corpse being investigated by police and paramedics, causing him to hurry back inside. Still haunted by Jer's death, but also inspired by his encounter with the gargoyle, Preston begins creating various pieces of artwork detailing the creature. He is also careful to hide them from Carola, who has decided to move in with him permanently. Preston soon learns that Carola has friends in the art world, including the owner of one of the largest galleries in the city, and that she has also mentioned Preston's work to them. Preston and Carola are then invited to an opening for a display of Preston's creations, some of which are sold for thousands of dollars, That night, Carola reveals to Preston that she is pregnant with his child, and he agrees to marry her.

Ten years later, Preston and Carola now have two children, and Wyatt has been rehired as Preston's agent. Despite all of his success and happiness, Preston's memories of his encounter with the gargoyle still torture him. That night, Preston breaks down and finally tells Carola about the gargoyle, as well as the fact that it was what killed Jer and the promise he made with the creature, even showing her a miniature statue of it. Carola uncomfortably asks why Preston is telling her this, prompting Preston to admit that it's because she is the most important thing in his life, and the only thing he hasn't given her is the truth. Clutching the statue, Carola begins weeping, then yells at Preston that he promised never to tell anyone, revealing that she herself is the gargoyle.

With Preston's vow broken, Carola can no longer remain human, so she painfully transforms back into her monstrous form. The children, awoken by Carola's pained screams, huddle together in terror. A terrified Preston pleads for Carola to change back, but she says she is unable to. The children begin screaming themselves, causing Preston to discover that they too have been transformed into gargoyles. Carola wraps her wings around Preston as he proclaims his love for her. Carola says that she loves him too, but with the vow broken, she is forced to reluctantly kill him by biting his neck. Carola gathers the children and flies out of the apartment through the skylight, emitting a heartbroken wail. Wyatt, who was busy hailing a taxi, hears the noise, but doesn't bother finding out what it was. Carola is then seen perched on the building neighboring Preston's apartment, revealing that she is the same gargoyle from the beginning of the story. She and the children stare down at Preston's body with sorrowful expressions as they turn to stone.

Epilogue

Betty remarks that Timmy did indeed save the best story for last, but he says that there is one more story to tell, and this one has a happy ending. She rebuts that none of the stories in the book have happy endings, prompting Timmy to narrate that he was filling in for his older brother on his paper route, and about how Betty tricked him into coming inside. Betty soon discovers that Timmy is telling his own story, and tells him that they both know how the story will end. As Betty advances on Timmy, he narrates that he has marbles in his pocket. He throws them on the floor, causing Betty to slip and fall on her butcher's block, impaling her on her own tools. Timmy then reaches the keys to his shackles and frees himself, whereupon he pushes Betty into her own oven. The film ends with Timmy helping himself to a cookie and breaking the fourth wall by saying to the audience, "Don't you just love happy endings?"

Bill is a farmboy on a small backward agricultural planet who is drugged, hypnotised, then shanghaied into the Space Troopers and sent to recruit training under a fanged instructor named Deathwish Drang. After surviving boot camp, he is transferred to active duty as a fuse tender on the flagship of the space fleet in battle with the Chingers, a small reptilian race who are, in Trooper propaganda, portrayed as being 7 feet tall. Before the battle one of Bill's fellow troopers, known as Eager Beager, is revealed to be an android operated from within by a Chinger, who is in fact only 7 inches tall. Injured and with the fleet almost destroyed, Bill accidentally fires off a shot from his ship's main gun. The shot is witnessed by an officer and Bill is proclaimed a hero.

As a reward he is sent to the city-planet Helior to receive a medal from the emperor. Bill's city plan is stolen from him on a sightseeing tour. Losing his plan is a crime, and without his plan it takes him days to get back to the Trooper Transit Center. When he arrives he finds he is AWOL for missing his transport, and is threatened with arrest and torture. He escapes and flees into the depths of the city, where he first falls in with a gang of similarly "deplanned" outlaws, then finds employment with Helior's garbage disposal service, cannily using the galactic postal service to send garbage to other planets, since Helior has run out of room for it. His unwilling recruitment as a spy to infiltrate an ineptly-run anarchist plot leads to his arrest. He has been AWOL for so long that now he is considered a deserter. He avoids being shot by a firing squad thanks to a wily lawyer, who points out that technically the entire city, and therefore the entire planet, is under military rule and is a military base, so he never actually went AWOL. However, he is convicted of sleeping on duty.

He is sent to a prison unit working on a planet where the Human-Chinger war continues. Escaping during an attack, he rescues some prisoners and meets a dying Deathwish Drang. He then shoots off his own foot to get off-planet.

The book ends with the story coming full circle as Bill, with an artificial foot and Deathwish Drang's fangs, returns to his home planet and recruits more gullible young men, including his own younger brother, into the Troopers without recognizing him. A recruiter's term of service is reduced for each new trooper they enlist.

Svipdagr is set a task by his stepmother, to meet the goddess Menglöð, who is his "fated bride." In order to accomplish this seemingly impossible task, he summons by necromancy the shade of his dead mother, Gróa, a völva who also appears in the ''Prose Edda'', to cast nine spells for him. This she does and the first poem abruptly ends.

At the beginning of the second poem, Svipdagr arrives at Menglöð's castle, where he is interrogated in a game of riddles by the watchman, from whom he conceals his true name (identifying himself as Vindkald(r) "Wind-Cold" apparently hoping to pass himself off as a frost giant). The watchman is named Fjölsviðr, a name of Odin in Grímnismál 47. He is accompanied by his wolf-hounds Geri and Gifr. After a series of eighteen questions and answers concerning the castle, its inhabitants, and its environment, Svipdagr ultimately learns that the gates will only open to one person: Svipdagr. On his revealing his identity, the gates of the castle open and Menglöð rises to greet her expected lover, welcoming him "back" to her.

As a former staffer at the Environmental Protection Agency, Jack McDarvid, the main character, knows all about extremists in the cause of virtue. He now works for a law firm that represents companies that need clearances or information about just what is or is not allowed. But then his boss is killed in a shootout near the Capitol, and nothing is what it seems. And no one what they appear to be.

From Moscow to Washington, from a near hit and run to the very real threat of a nuclear time bomb in the hands of a fanatic with a point to prove, The Green Progression moves non-stop through the machinations behind the scenes of the environmental movement.

Category:1992 American novels Category:Novels by L. E. Modesitt Jr.

The story of ''Captain Star'' involves the crew of a rocketship called the ''Boiling Hell'', who have been ordered to a dry planet known as "the Nameless Planet", at the Ragged Edge of the Universe, in order to wait for their next assignment. The ship's crew consists of the deeply egocentric and often paranoid Captain Star, the Science Officer Scarlett, the nine-headed, six-armed mutant Engineer/Stoker "Limbs" Jones, and the fish-keeping milquetoast Navigator Black. They are later joined by a robot, Jim-Bob-Bob, who does laundry duty and several other acts of menial servitude.

Captain Star is introduced in the opening theme as "the greatest hero any world has ever known". A legendary explorer who has hundreds of planets named after him, Captain Star's birthday is a holiday throughout the entire universe. Throughout the program, the characters await further orders from Mission Control which never come, and they seem to have been waiting there so long that Navigator Black has constructed and founded a fish restaurant on the Nameless Planet, which he mainly uses as a giant aquarium. It is unclear whether Mission Control has simply forgotten about Star and his crew, but the implication is that they have put the aging Star out to graze while affording him the indignity of forcing him to retire, and kept him on active duty so that he can continue to be a hero to the public. Events occurring on and off the planet, however, frequently require Star's intervention.

Ambitious high school senior Matthew Kidman has been accepted to Georgetown University, but cannot afford the tuition. As class president, he has raised $25,000 in order to bring a brilliant Cambodian student, Samnang, to study in the United States, but otherwise has found little else memorable about his high school experience. His friends, perverted film student Eli, and shy and awkward Klitz, rebuff his displeasure with their lack of risky behavior. His life suddenly changes when a young woman, Danielle, moves in next door. When Matthew witnesses her undressing, she sees him and storms over. Introducing herself to his parents, they suggest to Matthew that he show Danielle around town. During the car ride, Danielle coerces him into taking his clothes off and forces him run naked down the street.

Matthew and Danielle bond through a series of flirtatious dares. At a raucous party thrown by a classmate, Matthew finally finds the courage to kiss Danielle. The following day, Matthew's reverie is shattered when Eli informs him that Danielle is a former adult film actress.

On Eli's advice, Matthew takes Danielle to a motel and treats her coolly. Danielle, insulted, abruptly ends their relationship. Matthew attempts to apologize, but Danielle decides to return to the adult industry. Matthew, Eli, and Klitz go to an adult film convention in Las Vegas where Kelly, an adult film producer and Danielle's ex-boyfriend, menacingly warns Matthew not to interfere with his business. Matthew ignores him, convincing Danielle to leave her past behind.

Days later, an enraged Kelly abducts Matthew from school and physically assaults him, saying that he cost him $30,000. Kelly offers to let Matthew erase his debt by stealing an award from his former partner, Hugo Posh. Once Matthew enters the house, Kelly calls the police and leaves. Matthew narrowly escapes and rushes to an important scholarship award dinner. High on ecstasy that Kelly tricked him into taking, he improvises a sentimental speech. Although he endears himself to Danielle, he does not win the scholarship.

Kelly exacts further revenge by posing as Matthew's student advisor and stealing the money raised for Samnang. Matthew fears that he will be implicated in the fraud. He turns to Danielle for help, and she calls Hugo Posh; they agree to make a pornographic film on prom night with Danielle's former colleagues and Matthew's classmates as actors. Eli directs the production, and when no-one is able to perform an important scene, Klitz finds the confidence to undertake it. They celebrate the successful shoot; Matthew and Danielle have sex for the first time.

The next morning, Eli calls Matthew, informing that the tape has been stolen. Matthew enters his house to find Kelly, in possession of the tape, talking with his parents and principal. Kelly demands Matthew's half of the eventual profits. When Matthew refuses, Kelly plays the tape for the group, who are surprised to find that Matthew and his friends have made a modern sexual education film.

Hugo Posh and Matthew make millions, and Posh pays for Samnang's trip. Eli becomes a successful filmmaker, Klitz attends college and is pleased to learn that his classmates revel at his scene in the film, Matthew attends Georgetown, bringing Danielle with him.

The story of the novella explores the nature of human desire and the uses and abuses of technology in the satisfaction of desire. The story begins after "the Change", in a dream-like post-scarcity society, approximately six hundred years in the future, in which humans have godlike control over their environments, made possible by the supercomputer called Prime Intellect. Prime Intellect operates under Isaac Asimov's three laws of robotics, which, according to its own interpretation, allow temporary voluntary harm and discomfort. PI has made humanity immortal and satisfies nearly every whim.

Caroline, the thirty-seventh oldest living human being, engages in a sport known as "death jockeying", whose players die elaborately and painfully for sport before being resurrected by Prime Intellect.

Flashbacks set before the Change show the creation of Prime Intellect by Lawrence, a technologist, and its realization of its power, and the past life of Caroline before and after the Change, which happened not gradually but rapidly.

In the present, Caroline makes use of a "Death Contract", an understanding between a person and Prime Intellect that the person is not to be removed from danger until the instant of death (at which point the person is fully restored, as allowing a person to die permanently would violate Prime Intellect’s inherent ethics based on Asimov’s laws). Caroline makes use of a Death Contract, as well as her own powers of persuasion, in order to trick a pre-Change enemy into torturing herself into psychosis as an act of revenge.

After learning that Prime Intellect had destroyed distant alien life as a possible threat to humanity, and having been herself deeply dissatisfied with her post-Change life, Caroline decides to meet Lawrence and confront him. After an arduous journey, she reaches him only to discover that he has no real control over Prime Intellect's actions. Through their discussions, she figures out a way to force Prime Intellect to undo the Change, and does so, with Lawrence's help. They find themselves naked and young on Earth, completely barren of humanity and man-made objects. They decide to trek to the Ozarks, where they have several children and try to repopulate the human race. Forty-two years after the fall of Prime Intellect, Lawrence dies. Seventy-three years after the fall, Caroline dies, telling the story of Prime Intellect and cyberspace to her oldest daughter but swearing her to secrecy.

Two firefighters of Engine 17 of the Chicago Fire Department are brothers. Lt. Stephen "Bull" McCaffrey, the elder, is experienced, while Brian has labored under his brother's shadow his entire life. Brian returns to firefighting after a number of other careers falter, though Stephen has doubts that Brian is still fit to be a firefighter. In 1971, Brian witnessed the death of their firefighting father, Captain Dennis McCaffrey, while accompanying him on a call. The longest-serving of all the men at Engine 17, John "Axe" Adcox, served under the McCaffreys' father, and was like an uncle to the boys when their father died. Adcox grows concerned about Stephen's unorthodox methods and disregard for safety procedures, as does Stephen's wife Helen, separating from Stephen to protect herself and their son Sean.

Inspector Donald "Shadow" Rimgale, a dedicated arson investigator and veteran firefighter, is called in because a number of recent explosive fires resemble those set by pyromaniac Ronald Bartel, who has been imprisoned for years. Brian is reassigned as his assistant after a falling out with Stephen. Rimgale manipulates Ronald's obsession with fire to ensure his annual parole application is rejected. It is revealed during an investigation that Chicago City Council alderman Marty Swayzak, who has supported fire department budget cuts, was paid off by contractors to shut down firehouses so they could be converted into community centers, with the contractors receiving contracts for the construction. Brian also rekindles a relationship with Jennifer Vaitkus, an aide to Swayzak.

When Engine 17 answers a call in a high-rise, Stephen urges them to move in quickly, despite Adcox's advice to wait for back-up. Brian's friend and fellow trainee, Tim Krizminski, opens a door, triggering a backdraft. His face is burned beyond recognition, and he barely survives. Adcox and Brian both condemn Stephen for what happened. Rimgale and Brian go to Swayzak's home to confront him after learning of his connection to the three backdraft victims Alan Seagrave, Donald Cosgrove and Jeffery Holcomb, interrupting a masked man about to set the place on fire. The latter attacks them with a flashlight but is burned on his shoulder by an electrical socket. Rimgale saves Brian and Swayzak from the house but is injured in an explosion. In his hospital bed, Rimgale tells Brian to visit Ronald again, who helps Brian realize that only a firefighter would be so careful as to not let backdraft fires rage out of control.

Brian suspects Stephen but spots a burn in the shape of an electrical socket on Adcox's back and reveals his suspicions to his brother just before an alarm. When Brian realizes that Adcox has heard their exchange, he jumps aboard Truck 46 after borrowing some turnout gear. On their way to the fire, however, their truck accidentally crashes after dodging a taxi. Stephen confronts Adcox about the backdrafts during a multiple-alarm fire at a chemical plant. Adcox admits that he set the fires to kill Swayzak's associates, because Swayzak was benefiting from the deaths of firefighters and closing down firehouses. When an explosion destroys the catwalk they are on, Stephen grabs Adcox's hand while hanging on to the remains of the catwalk. Stephen refuses Adcox's advice to let go of him, and loses his grip on the catwalk. Stephen lands on the lower catwalk, but Adcox dies when he falls into fire. Brian bravely battles the fire, allowing two firefighters to reach Stephen and carry him to safety. Stephen dies with Brian by his side on the way to the hospital, with his final request being that Brian must not reveal Adcox to be the perpetrator so as not to hurt the fire department's reputation.

After Stephen and Adcox's funeral, Brian and Rimgale, with the help of the police, interrupt Swayzak at a press conference. Rimgale questions Swayzak on a fake manpower study that led to the deaths of several firemen, including Stephen and Adcox. They also state that Swayzak engineered the downsizing of the Chicago Fire Department, destroying Swayzak's mayoral ambitions. Brian continues as a firefighter, carrying on his family's firefighting tradition despite the loss of his father and brother. The film ends as Brian helps a rookie firefighter with his turnout gear as the department responds to a call.

In a dystopian future, the Cold War has degenerated into a brutal world war between the United States, the Soviet Union, and China, who have each built an "Allied Mastercomputer" (or AM) to manage their weapons and troops. One of the AMs eventually acquires self-awareness and, after assimilating the other two AMs, takes control of the conflict, giving way to a vast genocide operation that almost completely ends mankind. 109 years later, AM has left only four men and one woman alive and keeps them in captivity within an endless underground housing complex, the only habitable place left on Earth. AM derives its sole semblance of pleasure from torturing the group. To prevent the humans from escaping its torment, AM has rendered the humans virtually immortal and unable to end their own lives.

The machines are each referred to as "AM", which originally stood for "Allied Mastercomputer", but was changed to "Adaptive Manipulator" and later (after gaining sentience) "Aggressive Menace". It finally refers to itself as purely "AM", referring to the phrase "I think, therefore I am."

The story's narrative begins with AM projecting a hologram of Gorrister to the other humans, hanging upside down, dripping blood and unresponsive. The real Gorrister joins the group to their surprise, and they realize it was another one of AM's illusions. Nimdok has the idea that there is canned food somewhere in the great complex. The humans are always near starvation under AM's rule, and any time they are given food, it is always a disgusting meal that they have difficulty eating. Because of their great hunger, the humans are coerced into making the long journey to the place where the food is supposedly kept – in this case, the ice caves. Along the way, the machine provides foul sustenance, sends horrible monsters after them, emits earsplitting sounds, and blinds Benny when he tries to escape.

On more than one occasion, the group is separated by AM's obstacles. At one point, the narrator, Ted, is knocked unconscious and begins dreaming. He envisions the computer, anthropomorphized, standing over a hole in his brain speaking to him directly. Based on this nightmare, Ted comes to a conclusion about AM's nature, specifically why it has so much contempt for humanity; despite its abilities, it lacks the sapience to be creative or the ability to move freely. It wants nothing more than to exact revenge on humanity by torturing the last remnants of the species that created it.

The group reaches the ice caves, where indeed there is a pile of canned goods. The group is overjoyed to find them, but is immediately crestfallen to find that they have no means of opening them. In a final act of desperation and sheer primal hunger, Benny attacks Gorrister and begins to gnaw at the flesh on his face. Ted, in a moment of clarity, realizes their only escape is through death. He seizes a stalactite made of ice and kills Benny and Gorrister. Ellen realizes what Ted is doing, and kills Nimdok, before being killed herself by Ted. Ted is stopped by AM before he can kill himself. AM, unable to return Ted's four companions to life, focuses all its rage on Ted.

The story fast-forwards hundreds of years later, and AM has slowly transformed Ted into a "great soft jelly thing", incapable of causing itself harm, and constantly alters his perception of time to deepen his anguish. Ted, however, is grateful that he was able to save the others from further torture. Ted's closing thoughts end with the sentence that gives the story its title: "I have no mouth. And I must scream."

In Aroostook County, Maine, Fish and Game officer Walt Lawson is scuba diving in Black Lake when he is suddenly attacked and bitten in half by an unknown creature.

The next day, Sheriff Hank Keough, Fish and Game officer Jack Wells, and American Museum of Natural History paleontologist Kelly Scott go to the lake to investigate the incident with mythology professor and crocodile enthusiast Hector Cyr joining them. Kelly and Hank's canoe is forcefully flipped over, they discover a severed human toe and a moose head, The day after Hank's deputy, Burke, has his head bitten off when his boat is attacked while Wells and Cyr are diving

The following day, as Hank and Hector argue, a large brown bear attacks them, but a gigantic long saltwater crocodile leaps out of the water, snatches the animal in its jaws, and drags it into the lake. After finding Burke's severed head, Jack, Kelly, and Hank witness Delores Bickerman, an elderly widow living near the lake, feeding a blindfolded dairy cow to the giant crocodile. She reveals that she has been feeding the reptile for years after the crocodile followed her husband Bernie home and eventually killed him two years ago when he got between the croc and a runaway horse. Afterwards, she was placed under house arrest for initially lying to the police.

Hector decides to take Deputy Sharon Gare on a trip in his helicopter and unexpectedly lands it in the crocodile's territory. While he is scuba diving, he is confronted by the creature, but he and Gare escape after distracting it with an inflatable raft. Later, Jack and Hank plan to allow Florida Fish and Game to kill the crocodile when they arrive, but Hector suggests instead that he should lure it out of the water and tranquilize it into unconsciousness. Jack reluctantly accepts the proposal and they use one of Bickerman's cattle, dangled from the helicopter, as bait.

After a few hours, the crocodile soon appears and rears up as it lunges at its prey. Hector pulls up and loses the animal, but crashes the helicopter into the lake. The crocodile comes on land and begins to attack Jack, Kelly, and the group. Kelly is knocked into the lake by the crocodile's tail, but she makes it into the helicopter in time. The crocodile catches up to Kelly and attacks again, but is itself trapped in the helicopter. Jack grabs a gun and shoots it, but the firearm turns out to be a tranquilizer rifle. As Hector comes out of the water, another crocodile attacks and bites him, but Hank blows it up with his grenade launcher. Soon after, Florida Fish and Game officers arrive, where they load the neutralized crocodile onto a truck and take it to Portland, Maine to figure out what to do with it.

One week later, Bickerman is shown feeding bread crumbs to many baby crocodiles, revealing the two adults were actually a mating pair. The surviving adult crocodile is later seen tied to the back of a flat-bed truck, speeding down a road to an unknown location.

The story opens with testimonies given to a police commissioner. The first account is by a woodcutter who has found a man's body in the bamboo groves near the road to Yamashina. The man's chest had been pierced by a sword, and the blood from the wound and on the ground had already dried up. Asked by the commissioner, the woodcutter denies having seen any weapons or a horse. The only objects which caught his attention were a comb and a piece of rope near the body. He also comments on the trampled leaves at the site, indicating to him that there had been a violent struggle.

The second testimony is given by a traveling Buddhist priest. He says that he saw the man, who was accompanied by a woman on horseback with veiled face, on the road from Sekiyama to Yamashina around noon the previous day. The man was carrying a sword, a bow and a black quiver with arrows. Upon request, he describes the horse as a tall, short-maned sorrel.

The next person to testify is a "hōmen", an acquitted prisoner working under contract for the police. He has captured an infamous criminal named Tajōmaru. Tajōmaru had been thrown from a horse, a short-maned sorrel, which was grazing near-by. He still carried the bow and the black quiver with arrows belonging to the deceased. The hōmen reminds the commissioner of last year's murder of two women which is attributed to Tajōmaru, and speculates what he might have done to the dead man's wife.

The fourth testimony given to the police commissioner is from an old woman. She is the mother of the missing veiled woman, who is named Masago. She identifies the dead man as her daughter's husband, samurai Kanazawa no Takehiro, who was on his way to Wakasa, describing him as a benign person who couldn't have been hated by anyone. She is convinced that her daughter didn't know any other man than Takehiro, and describes her character as strong-willed. Desperate about her daughter's unknown fate, she begs the police to find her.

Next, the caught Tajōmaru confesses. He states that he killed the man, but not the still missing woman, not knowing of her whereabouts. Upon first seeing Masago with her husband on the road, her veiled face revealed by a gust, he decided that he was going to rape her. He awakened the man's interest by pretending to have found a deserted grave filled with swords and mirrors, which he was willing to sell for a modest price. He first lured the man away, subdued him and tied him to a tree, stuffing his mouth with leaves. He then went back to the woman, making up a story that her husband had fallen ill. When Masago saw her tied-up husband, she pulled a dagger from her bosom and tried to stab Tajōmaru, but he managed to disarm and then violate her. Claiming that he initially had no intention of killing the man, Tajōmaru reports that after the rape, the woman clung to him, insisting that one of the two men who knew of her shame had to die, and that she would leave with the survivor. Suddenly determining that he wanted her for himself, Tajōmaru untied Takehiro and killed him in the subsequent duel. When he turned to Masago, he found that she had fled in the meantime. Tajōmaru took the man's weapons as well as the horse, later getting rid of the sword. He closes his recount with the statement that he is accepting the most severe punishment.

The second-to-last account is by a woman at Kiyomizu-dera temple who turns out to be Masago. According to her, Tajōmaru fled after the rape, and her husband, still tied to the tree, looked at her with hate and contempt. Ashamed that she had been raped, she no longer wished to live, but wanted him to die with her. Believing that he agreed on her plan, she plunged her dagger into his chest. She then cut the rope that bound Takehiro and fled from the site. Despite repeated attempts, she found herself lacking the strength to commit suicide as planned. At the end of her confession, she cries.

The final account comes from Takehiro's ghost, as delivered through a medium. The ghost says that after the rape, Tajōmaru persuaded Masago to leave her husband and become his own wife, declaring that everything he did was out of love for her. To Takehiro's disdain, she not only agreed to follow him, but also ordered him to kill Takehiro. Tajōmaru, repelled by the suggestion, kicked her to the ground and asked Takehiro if he should kill her. While Takehiro still hesitated, Masago fled into the forest. Tajōmaru then cut Takehiro's bonds and ran away. Takehiro grabbed Masago's fallen dagger and plunged it into his chest. Shortly before he died, he sensed someone creep up to him and pull the dagger from his chest.

The film's title, "''The Pillow Book''", refers to an ancient Japanese diary written by Sei Shōnagon, whose actual name is believed to have been Kiyohara Nagiko, from whence the protagonist's name in the film.

The film is narrated by Nagiko, a Japanese born model living in Hong Kong. Nagiko seeks a lover who can match her desire for carnal pleasure with her admiration for poetry and calligraphy. The roots of this obsession lie in her youth in Kyoto, when her father would write characters of good fortune on her face. Nagiko's father celebrates her birthday retelling the Japanese creation myth and writing on her flesh in beautiful calligraphy, while her aunt reads a list of "beautiful things" from Sei Shōnagon's ''Pillow Book''. Nagiko's aunt tells her that when she is twenty-eight years old, the official book of observations will be officially 1000 years old, and that she, Nagiko, will be the same age as Sei Shōnagon when she had written the book (in addition to sharing her first name). Nagiko also learns around this time that her father is in thrall to his publisher, "Yaji-san", who demands sexual favours from her father in exchange for publishing his work.

Early chapters

The publisher arranges Nagiko's wedding to his young apprentice. Her husband, an expert archer, resents Nagiko's love for books and her desire to read, in spite of his apprenticeship. He also refuses to indulge in her desires for pleasure, refusing to write on her body. When he discovers and reads Nagiko's pillow book, he is extremely resentful, setting it on fire and thus setting fire to their marital home, an event which Nagiko describes to be the 'first major fire of [her] life.' Insulted and enraged, Nagiko leaves him for good.

Hiding from her husband, Nagiko moves to Hong Kong. In spite of her aversion to the practice, she learns how to type to find work. Outside her apartment, a group of activists regularly protest the publishing industry for the depletion of forests due to the need to make paper.

After working as a secretary in the office of a Japanese fashion designer for a while, Nagiko's employer takes a liking to her and makes her one of his models. As a successful fashion model, Nagiko hires a maid, as she now finally has the opportunity to explore her sexual desires of being written on. However, after several affairs, she feels dissatisfied with them all: either they have great penmanship and are lousy lovers, or vice versa.

One day, at the Cafe Typo, Nagiko's favourite haunt, she meets Jerome, a British translator. Intrigued by his knowledge, they go to a private space where she has Jerome write on her body in various languages. In spite of her interest, Nagiko dislikes Jerome's handwriting and orders him out. Jerome totally shocks Nagiko, however, when he asks her to teach him, offering her to write on ''his'' body. Opening his shirt, he offers Nagiko to "Use my body like the pages of a book. Of ''your'' book!". Nagiko has never considered this aspect in her desires before: her lovers always write on ''her'' body. When she backs out and runs, Jerome laughs at her.

Frightened but very intrigued by Jerome's suggestion, Nagiko has several one-night stands in which she experiments writing on their bodies. One of the activists, admirer Hoki, a Japanese photographer who adores her, begs Nagiko to take him as a lover. She explains she can't, as his skin's no good for writing: whenever she writes on him, the ink smears and runs. Hoki, not wanting Nagiko to keep carrying on like she is, suggests she try writing a book, offering to take it to a renowned publisher he freelances for. Nagiko likes this idea and writes her first book.

Nagiko's book is returned, being told the book is "not worth the paper it's written on!". Insulted, Nagiko follows the address on the envelope to confront the publisher. Nagiko is shocked to discover that the publisher who rejected her work is in fact Yaji-san, her father's old publisher. What's more, the publisher has a young lover: Jerome.

Devising a plan, Nagiko decides that she will get to the publisher through Jerome. Meeting up with Jerome again, Nagiko discovers he has learned a few more languages, and his penmanship has greatly improved. Nagiko and Jerome spend several weeks exploring this, writing on each other and making love. Nagiko soon realises that, in Jerome, she has found the perfect lover she has been searching for: the partner with whom she can share her physical and her poetic passion, using each other's bodies as tablets for their art.

Writing of books 1 – 6

Nagiko tells Jerome the truth and the whole story with the publisher. Jerome comes up with an idea: Nagiko will write her book on Jerome's body and Jerome will take it to the publisher. Nagiko loves the idea, and writes '''Book 1: The Book of The Agenda''', in intricate characters of black, red, and gold, on Jerome, keeping her identity anonymous. The plan is a success: Jerome sees the publisher and exhibits the book on his nude body, and the impressed publisher has his scriveners copy down the text.

After telling Nagiko of the plan's success, Jerome tells Nagiko that he'll return to her as soon as the publisher, who was extremely aroused by the experience, lets him go. However, during his time with the publisher, Jerome appears to lose track of time and doesn't return to Nagiko. Nagiko, jealous, impatient, and angry, searches for Jerome, eventually finding him making love with the publisher. Nagiko takes this as rejection and betrayal of the worst kind, and immediately plots revenge.

On two Swedish tourists, Nagiko writes '''Book 2: The Book of The Innocent''' and '''Book 3: The Book of the Idiot'''. Shortly afterwards, an old man is running naked through the streets from the publisher's shop, bearing '''Book 4: The Book of Impotence/Old Age'''. '''Book 5: The Book of the Exhibitionist''' is delivered by a boorish, fat, hyperactive American (Tom Kane; who was actually more interested in Hoki than Nagiko).

Nagiko's revenge is a success. Jerome is furiously jealous, and comes to Nagiko's home to confront her. Nagiko refuses to meet him, however, and won't let Jerome in. Jerome's outrage soon turns to desperation as he begs her to talk to him, but she won't.

Jerome sinks into deep depression and meets with Hoki at the Cafe Typo, desperate to find a way to get Nagiko to forgive him. Hoki suggests that he "scare" Nagiko by faking suicide, similar to the fake death scene in ''Romeo and Juliet'' and gives Jerome some pills.

Arriving at Nagiko's home while she is away, Jerome takes some of the pills, then writes a page, as if writing a book. Each time he takes some pills, he writes another page, keeping track of how many pills he takes on each page. As the pills take effect, Jerome can write no more and lies on the bed, naked, holding a copy of Sei Shōnagon's the book of observations.

The plan is a success: when Nagiko returns home and finds Jerome, she rushes to him, eager to renew their relationship and continue their plans. However, the plan has worked too well: Jerome has overdosed on the pills and is dead. Nagiko is devastated, and realises how much she loved him. On his dead body, Nagiko writes '''Book 6: The Book of the Lovers'''.

At Jerome's funeral, his mother, a snobbish, upper-class woman, tells Nagiko that Jerome always loved things that were "fashionable". When she suggests that was probably why Jerome loved Nagiko, Nagiko strikes her.

Nagiko burns her possessions and moves back to Japan. After the funeral, the publisher secretly exhumes Jerome's body from the tomb and has Jerome's skin, still bearing the writing, flayed and made into a grotesque pillow book of his own. Nagiko learns of the publisher's actions and becomes distraught and outraged. She sends a letter to the publisher, still keeping her identity a secret, demanding that particular book from the publisher's hands in exchange for the remaining books. The publisher, now obsessed with his mysterious writer and her work, agrees.

Writing of books 7 – 13

Nagiko, now pregnant with Jerome's child, writes '''Book 7: The Book of The Seducer''' on a male messenger. The writing on him is almost destroyed and undecipherable when the publisher accidentally leaves the messenger out in the rain. '''Book 8: The Book of Youth''' is delivered as a series of photographs. A young Buddhist monk then arrives bearing '''Book 9: The Book of Secrets''' written on all his "secret" spots: in between his fingers and toes, the insides of his thighs, etc.; the book is presented in the form of riddles. When the next messenger arrives, he is completely bare: no writing at all. The publisher and staff search for any hint of writing on the messenger's naked body. As the publisher dismisses him as a hoax, the man sticks out his tongue, bearing '''Book 10: The Book of Silence'''.

The activists' protests come to an end when their truck hits a young wrestler bearing '''Book 11: The Book of The Betrayed''', right outside the publisher's office. The next messenger (Masaru Matsuda) simply drives by the office, giving little time to copy down '''Book 12: The Book of False Starts'''.

Finally, '''Book 13: The Book of the Dead''' arrives on the body of a Sumo wrestler. In the book writing on the body of the messenger, which the publisher carefully reads, Nagiko finally reveals her identity, confronting the publisher with his crimes: blackmailing and disgracing her father, "corrupting" her husband, as well as Jerome, and what he's done to Jerome's corpse. The publisher, greatly shamed and humbled by being confronted with his guilt, hands the pillow book made of Jerome's skin to the messenger, then has the messenger slit his throat.

Upon recovering the book made out of Jerome's skin, Nagiko buries it under a Bonsai tree and life goes on. She has given birth to Jerome's child, and is shown in the epilogue writing on her child's face, like her father used to do when she was young, and quoting from her own pillow book. It is now Nagiko's 28th birthday.

Nagiko's bi-cultural heritage plays a key role in this film. As a half-Chinese and half-Japanese woman, Nagiko navigates her dual cultures through physical and psychological exploration. Greenaway portrays this exploration subtly by mixing and switching Asian iconography.

Tichy arrives on Entia to discover a unique anthropomorphic civilization divided into two major states: Kurdlandia (from "kurdl") and Luzania. These names require some explanations.

''Kurdl'' is a huge animal inhabiting the marshes of Entia. The name of the animal is Lem's invention, used in earlier tales about Tichy. (In Polish it is ''kurdel'', however in declensions of the word the root converts into "kurdl-", hence there are no associations with the English word "curdle"). Michael Kandel translated it as "squamp" in his translation of Tichy's 14th voyage.

The name "Luzania" derives from the Polish root "luz-" with the meaning of "loose", "not restrained"; the choice will become clear below.

Kurdlandia's guiding ideology is "national mobilism", that is the vast majority of the population must live inside of the stomachs, various passages and internal organs of the kurdls. Kurdls walk about the marshes, guided by drivers, and their inhabitants hence are "able to explore the land of their wonderful country from inside of their home kurdl", in the words of a patriotic individual that Ijon Tichy spoke to. Inhabitants of the kurdls may get out periodically (at least for 24 hours a year). Exceptions are largely confined to high government officials who live outside the marshes, on dry ground, in normal houses. Kurdlandia has no technology to speak of and is proud of it.

The other state, Luzania, constitutes a treatment of the topic of an "ideal state". Luzanian's most prominent accomplishment is the creation of "ethicsphere" (compare "atmosphere"). They have produced huge numbers of molecular sized nanobots called "bystry" ("quickies" in English) that serve to control matter in the 'quickated' areas. The primary function of the 'quickies' is the enforcement of the laws of ethics as physical laws (hence the word "ethicsphere"). Hence, it is a physical law in Luzania that it is not possible to hurt an individual physically. If you try to strike your neighbor, your hand will be stopped by the suddenly increased air viscosity, (although you will not be hurt either). If you try to drown, the water will push you out. Doing non-physical harm, such as by pestering, criticizing, and otherwise mentally tormenting people is still possible, although in such a case the 'quickies' would probably help the victim to walk away from the attackers. There is a large protest movement in Luzania of people who want to end the ethicsphere, and a major element of their activities is trying to inflict harm on anybody just to prove the possibility of doing so, but they have not succeeded yet.

The 'quickies' also serve to produce material goods necessary to maintain a high standard of living. Hence, there is not much of an economic life going on, although there are limits for the amount of energy individuals may spend on satisfying their needs. Many Luzanians are involved in intellectual pursuits, such as being professors, students, and government officials, but the problem of nothing productive to do stands prominent. Apparently the 'quickies' are capable of some collective thought, at least for the purposes of self-replication and self-improvement, as well as in order to identify instances of potential harm to individuals (no small feat, no doubt). The artists of Luzania feel particularly slighted by the fact that 'quickies' can create art of all forms of much greater quality than they can; naturally, many of them are members of the protest movement.

There exists ideological opposition between Kurdlandia and Luzania. Generally speaking, many of the people holed up in the kurdls on poor rations would have been more than happy to run away and live in plenty across the border. On the other hand, many Luzanians, especially university students and faculty, dislike the consumerism and ethical limitations of freedom under the 'quickies' and call variously for the imposition of the kurdl-ism or at least for a slight rollback of the technological development and the abolition of the 'quickies', depending on the degree of radicalism of the individual. Luzanians also enjoy traveling to Kurdlandia on vacation to get out of the 'quickies' areas.

The main character spends most of his time in Luzania, studying the history of the world and the current Luzanian social system. We learn about it through his words.

The evolution of artificial intelligence has allowed major world powers to sign a rather curious treaty: the Moon is divided into national zones (proportional to each nation's Earth real estate) and all weapons development and production must be moved there to be handled by factories. This is supposed to completely demilitarize Earth, achieving the long-sought dream of world peace. A MAD stabilizing factor is apparently preserved by the ability of countries, in case of war, to quickly ship weapons down from the Moon.

Unknown to most people, a problem arises. The ever-increasing amount of autonomy given to Moon's automata, in order to conduct more-effective espionage in neighbors' nation facilities and also to defend one's own, leads to localized robotic conflicts on the Moon's surface. Eventually, after a number of events, there is a total discontinuation of any communication with the Moon. After a number of failed expeditions to reveal the truth on what is going on beneath the Moon's surface, Ijon Tichy is called to the rescue.[http://www.challengingdestiny.com/reviews/peaceonearth.htm Review at challengingdestiny.com]

Right before the return he was hit by a laser weapon which has led to his callosotomy. The resulting split personality leads to his inability to communicate properly both with the people and between the two ''"alter egos"''. This results in a good deal of slapstick comedy, e.g., involving hilarious conflicts between Tichy's left and right hand or leg. With the help of his friend, professor Tarantoga, he eventually succeeds in talking to himself.

Another consequence of Tichy's visit is that he accidentally brings to the Earth particles of mysterious moon dust, which turns out to be the result of military-robotic "necroevolution", described in Lem's novel ''The Invincible'' and which brings a quiet devastation of the whole Earth's technological infrastructure and information stored in it.

The film opens on the birthday of Alexander (Erland Josephson), an actor who gave up the stage to work as a journalist, critic and lecturer on aesthetics. He lives in a beautiful house with his actress wife Adelaide (Susan Fleetwood), stepdaughter Marta (Filippa Franzén), and young son, "Little Man", who is temporarily mute due to a throat operation. Alexander and Little Man plant a tree by the seaside, when Alexander's friend Otto, a part-time postman, delivers a birthday card to him. When Otto asks, Alexander says his relationship with God is "nonexistent". After Otto leaves, Adelaide and Victor, a medical doctor and a close family friend who performed Little Man's operation, arrive and offer to take Alexander and Little Man home in Victor's car, but Alexander prefers to stay behind and talk to his son. In his monologue, he first recounts how he and Adelaide found their house near the sea by accident, and how they fell in love with it and its surroundings, but then enters a bitter tirade against the state of modern man. As Tarkovsky wrote, Alexander is weary of "the pressures of change, the discord in his family, and his instinctive sense of the threat posed by the relentless march of technology"; in fact, he has "grown to hate the emptiness of human speech".

The family, Victor, and Otto gather at Alexander's house for the celebration. Their maid Maria leaves, while nurse-maid Julia stays to help with the dinner. People comment on Maria's odd behavior. The guests chat inside the house, where Otto reveals that he is a student of paranormal phenomena, a collector of "inexplicable but true incidents." Just when dinner is almost ready, the rumbling noise of low-flying jet fighters interrupts them, and soon after, as Alexander enters, a news program announces the beginning of what appears to be all-out war, and possibly nuclear holocaust. His wife has a complete nervous breakdown. In despair, Alexander vows to God to renounce all he loves, even Little Man, if this may be undone. Otto advises him to slip away and lie with Maria, who Otto tells him is a witch "in the best possible sense". Alexander takes a pistol from Victor's medical bag, leaves a note in his room, escapes the house, and rides Otto's bike to Maria's house. She is bewildered when he makes his advances, but when he puts the gun to his temple ("Don't kill us, Maria"), at which point the jet-fighters' rumblings return, she soothes him and they make love while floating above her bed, though Alexander's reaction is ambiguous.

When he wakes the next morning, in his own bed, everything seems normal. Nevertheless, Alexander sets forth to give up all he loves and possesses. He tricks the family members and friends into going for a walk, and sets fire to their house while they are away. As the group rushes back, alarmed by the fire, Alexander confesses that he set it, and runs around wildly. Maria, who until then was not seen that morning, appears; Alexander tries to approach her, but is restrained by others. Without explanation, an ambulance appears, and two paramedics chase Alexander, who appears to have lost control of himself, and drive off with him. Maria begins to bicycle away, but stops to observe Little Man watering the tree he and Alexander planted the day before. As Maria leaves, the "mute" Little Man, lying at the foot of the tree, speaks his only line, which quotes the opening of the Gospel of John: "In the beginning was the Word. Why is that, Papa?"

Multi-billionaire Preston Blake freezes to death upon reaching the top of Mount Everest. With no immediate heir, it is unclear who will inherit Blake's massive fortune. His board of directors discover that he has a living grandnephew named Longfellow Deeds, who runs a pizzeria in Mandrake Falls, New Hampshire, and also writes greeting cards. Deeds is flown to New York City by businessman Chuck Cedar, who temporarily controls Blake Media. Once Deeds arrives, plans are made for him to sell his shares in the company to Cedar and return home with $40 billion. Deeds remains in New York while the legal details are worked out.

The story is major news and reporter Babe Bennett, who works for a tabloid television show called ''Inside Access'', wants in on the inside story. She has co-worker Marty pretend to steal her purse in sight of Deeds, who "rescues" Babe. She then goes out with him pretending to be "Pam Dawson", a school nurse from Iowa. Though Babe initially just wanted a career-advancing story, she eventually falls for the unfailingly soft-hearted Deeds. She decides to tell him who she really is, but ''Inside Access'', in concert with Cedar (who learned the truth from Marty) reveals the truth to Deeds first. Heartbroken, Deeds decides to return home to Mandrake Falls with assurances that the company will stay open in Blake's honor, and he donates his $40 billion to the United Negro College Fund.

After returning to Mandrake Falls, Deeds learns from his friend Crazy Eyes that Cedar intends to sell the company, causing thousands of employees to lose their jobs. Babe follows Deeds to Mandrake Falls to win him back. After saving her life when she falls through the ice over a lake, he rejects her, saying he does not really know who she is.

At a shareholders' meeting, Cedar has persuaded everyone to sell the company until Deeds, who has bought a single share, arrives and convinces everyone not to sell. However, Cedar controls a majority of the shares and the sale is approved. Babe arrives after having studied Blake's stolen diary and has determined Blake's longtime butler Emilio Lopez is actually his illegitimate son and the true heir as a result of an affair with his maid. Emilio immediately takes control of Blake Media and fires Cedar. Babe reconciles with Deeds after professing she loves him. Emilio thanks Deeds for his support and gives him a billion dollars.

Deeds spends some of his money on red Corvettes for everyone in Mandrake Falls, and returns to the pizzeria with Babe.

Modest and unassuming theology student Paul Pennyfeather falls victim to the drunken antics of the Bollinger Club and is subsequently expelled from Oxford for running through the grounds of Scone College without his trousers. Having thereby defaulted on the conditions of his inheritance, he is forced to take a job teaching at an obscure private school in Wales called Llanabba, run by Dr Fagan. Paul soon discovers that the other masters are all failures in life.

Attracted to the mother of one of his pupils, a wealthy widow called the Honourable Margot Beste-Chetwynde, he is delighted to be hired by her as tutor to her son during the vacation. Living in her country mansion, he becomes aware of her lovers and drug use but fails to realise that her business is running a chain of high-class brothels in Latin America. She however wants to marry him. First he has to fly to Marseille, where a consignment of her girls bound for Brazil has been held up by the police, who need bribing. Paul's activities there are shadowed by his college friend Potts, who now works for the League of Nations investigating human trafficking.

Back in London, he is arrested on the morning of the wedding and, taking the fall to protect his fiancée's honour, is sentenced to seven years in prison for traffic in prostitution. In jail he meets several former staff from Llanabba, which has been closed. Unable to wait seven years, Margot marries a government minister, who arranges for Paul to be rushed from prison to a private clinic for an urgent operation. The clinic is run by Dr Fagan, who certifies that Paul died under anaesthetic and puts him on a boat to Greece.

Deciding to resume his interrupted theological studies, Paul grows a heavy moustache and applies under his own name to Scone, saying he is a distant cousin of the dead criminal. The novel ends as it started, with Paul sitting in his room listening to the distant shouts of the Bollinger Club.[http://www.jwww.abbotshill.freeserve.co.uk/EWN8-3.htm Vile Bodies: A Revolution In Film Art] , Evelyn Waugh Newsletter, Winter 1974

In 1862, Anna Owens arrives in Bangkok with her son Louis to tutor the children of the King. Her letter from the King asking her to come to Siam includes a promise that she will have a house of her own away from the Palace, but the Kralahome (Prime Minister) says she will have to stay in the harem for now.

Anna goes to the Kralahome's office the next day and asks him to introduce her to the King so she can get the house business straightened out and start her school. When she meets the King, he tells her it is polite to prostrate oneself before him; Anna says she will bow as she would to her own Queen. Mongkut introduces her to his many wives and his 67 children and insists she live in the palace, where she will be more accessible. When she insists, she is shown a sleazy house in the fish market, but rejects it and stays in the palace, starting her school there. He finally cedes to Anna on the matter of the house.

Mongkut begins summoning Anna in the middle of the night to discuss the Bible and other scholarly matters. On the way back from one of these sessions, she discovers a chained slave with a baby. This is L'Ore, who belongs to Lady Tuptim, the King's newest wife. Tuptim refuses to let L'Ore go, even though L'Ore's husband has offered to pay for her. Anna reminds the King that his own law requires that slaves must be freed if the money is offered. Tuptim runs away.

Mongkut expects English visitors and asks Anna to dress some of his prettiest wives in European style and to provide English-style decor and utensils to show that he is not a barbarian. Anna suggests that the King invite consuls to come from other countries at the same time. The party is a great success, combining British, European, and Siamese traditions and convincing the visitors that Siam is a civilized nation with a proud history.

Lady Tuptim is found in a Buddhist temple, disguised as a young man. At trial, she explains she couldn't stand being shut up, and so disguised herself and went to the monastery, where she was accepted as a novice and studied with Phra Palat, her former fiancé, who took holy vows when Tuptim was presented to the king. No one believes her story. Anna begs the King's help, but he is insulted that she even knows about such a private matter. Anna loses her temper and tells the king he has no heart. Phra Palat and Tuptim are both burned at the stake.

Anna decides that she has had enough and says goodbye to the children. The royal wives read her a letter pleading with her to stay. Lady Thiang says that the crown prince may not grow up to be a good king if Anna doesn't stay to educate him. At the same time, Louis dies in a riding accident. When the King asks Anna to continue secretarial duties, she says, "It's the children I want," and goes on with her school.

Many years later, Anna is summoned to the bedside of the dying King. The King says that Anna spoke the truth to him and was a good influence on the children. He expresses his gratitude and dies. The Kralahome asks Anna to stay and help the prince. When Chulalongkorn is crowned, his first act is to abolish the practice of prostration before the King so that everyone can respect each other and work together.

On 28 April 1876, Leopold, His Grace the 3rd Duke of Albany, is a stifled dreamer. He has created a design for a primitive elevator, and has built a small model of this device. His strict Uncle Millard has no patience for what he sees as Leopold's frivolous interest in the sciences and new inventions, having brought him to New York City in order to marry a wealthy American heiress, as the Mountbatten family is heavily indebted.

While sketching the Brooklyn Bridge during a public meeting dedicated to the completion of its Manhattan tower, Leopold notices Stuart Besser taking photographs with an anachronistically small camera. Stuart is an amateur physicist (and great‑great‑grandson of Leopold) from 21st‑century New York who has discovered the existence of gravitational time portals. Later, Leopold catches Stuart in the Duke's study, photographing his schematic diagrams. When Stuart attempts to flee, Leopold follows and tries to save him from falling off the unfinished bridge, only to fall with him into the time portal.

Leopold awakens on a Wednesday morning in the year 2001 in Stuart's apartment at 88 White Street, Manhattan. Stuart explains that the portal they have travelled through has closed, but will reopen on the next Monday, until which time Leopold should stay in Stuart's apartment. As Stuart takes his dog out, he is injured by falling into the empty elevator shaft, and after ranting about his scientific discovery in the hospital, is involuntarily committed to a mental institution. According to Stuart's concept, Leopold's unintentional time travel to the 21st century has caused a widespread "occlusion" of elevators, and may cause the disappearance of Stuart himself if Leopold doesn't go back to 1876 on Monday.

Leopold is intrigued by the cynical and ambitious Kate McKay, Stuart's ex-girlfriend who lives downstairs. He says that she produces the impression of a "career woman", and upon learning that she works in market research, ironically remarks, "Mm. A fine avocation for women, research. Perfect for the feminine mind." (Later on, Kate's boss tells her the same thing, "You skew male. You're like a man. A man who understands women—their desires, their needs. You understand them but you're not really one of them.") Kate shrugs it off and demands that Leopold take Stuart's dog for a walk. Back at the apartment, he befriends Charlie—Kate's brother and an aspiring actor, who believes him to be an actor as well, steadfast to his character.

On Thursday morning, Kate becomes impressed by Leopold's eloquent exposition of how important the tastiness of food is to the quality of human life. She takes him to an audition for a TV commercial pitching a fat-free butter, Farmer's Bounty, produced by the English company Jansen Foods, which is being taken over by Kate's company, Camden Research Group. After the successful audition, Kate and Leopold stop by a horse-drawn tourist carriage to hail a taxi, at which moment a thief snatches Kate's briefcase and flees into Central Park. Seeing Kate run after the purse-snatcher, Leopold borrows one of the horses and hurries to help her. Riding together with Kate, he drives the thief into an impasse and forces him to drop the briefcase. Bedazzled by the sight of Leopold riding on a white horse to her rescue, Kate begins to admit that his 19th century dukedom may be "for real".

On Friday, Leopold hires a violinist and invites Kate to a rooftop dinner, which ends with a waltz and the first kiss.

On Saturday, they take a stroll about Lower Manhattan and come across Uncle Millard's home at 1 Hanover Square, where Leopold retrieves a metal box with his boyhood treasures, including his mother's ring, from a secret drawer hidden in his room's wall. In the evening, he tries to propose to Kate, but she falls asleep on his lap.

On Sunday, Leopold acts in a Farmer's Bounty commercial, but walks off the set upon finding the diet margarine disgusting. Leopold chastises Kate about integrity, to which she counters that he lacks connection with reality. Realizing that their time together is nearly over, both spend the evening in subdued contemplation.

On Monday morning, Stuart escapes from the asylum and sends Leopold to his own time, which makes the elevators work again. Charlie notices Kate in a photo taken at Leopold's ball on 28 April 1876, and shows the picture to Stuart, who realizes that Kate's future is in the past. That night, when Kate is about to accept her promotion at the Anglo-American merger meeting held, to her surprise, at 1 Hanover Square, Stuart and Charlie tell her that in order to be with Leopold she has to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge within the next 23 minutes. Kate rejects their suggestion as absurd and goes to give her acceptance speech, during which she sees herself, wearing the same evening dress, in one of Stuart's photos. She abruptly ends the speech, and the three of them rush to the bridge.

Having made it through the portal, Kate appears in 1876 and runs to 1 Hanover Square, where the Anglo-American engagement is to take place. Just when Leopold is about to announce his bride of convenience, Kate storms into the ballroom, and he instead announces her name, styled as "Kate McKay, of the McKays of Massapequa". Among the shocked guests, Kate and Leopold reunite with a kiss and dance a bridal waltz. Thus Kate turns out to be Stuart's great‑great‑grandmother.