A white teenage girl and her younger brother live with their parents in a modest high rise apartment in Sydney. One day their father drives them into the Outback, still in their school uniforms, ostensibly for a picnic. As they prepare to eat, the father draws a gun and begins firing at the children. The boy believes it to be a game, but the daughter realises her father is attempting to murder them, and flees with her brother, seeking shelter behind rocks. She watches as her father sets their car on fire and shoots himself in the head. The girl conceals the suicide from her brother, retrieves some of the picnic food, and leads him away from the scene, attempting to walk home through the desert.

By the middle of the next day, they are weak and the boy can barely walk. Discovering an oasis with a small water hole and a fruit tree, they spend the day playing, bathing, and resting. By the next morning, the water has dried up. They are then discovered by an Aboriginal boy. He does not speak English, much to the girl's frustration, but her brother mimes their need for water and the newcomer cheerfully shows them how to draw it from the drying bed of the oasis. The three travel together, with the Aboriginal boy sharing kangaroo meat he has caught from hunting. The boys learn to communicate to some extent using words from each other's languages and gestures; the girl makes no such attempts.

While in the vicinity of a plantation, a white woman walks past the Aboriginal boy, who simply ignores her when she speaks to him. She appears to see the other children, but they do not see her, and they continue on their journey. The children also discover a weather balloon belonging to a nearby research team working in the desert. After drawing markings of a modern-style house, the Aboriginal boy eventually leads them to an abandoned farm, and takes the small boy to a nearby road. The Aboriginal boy hunts down a water buffalo and is wrestling it to the ground when two white hunters appear in a truck and nearly run him over. He watches in shock as they wantonly shoot several buffalo with a rifle. The boy then returns to the farm, but passes by without speaking.

Later, the Aboriginal boy lies in a trance among a slew of buffalo bones, having painted himself in ceremonial markings. He returns to the farmhouse, catching the undressing girl by surprise, and initiates a mating ritual by performing a courtship dance in front of her. Although he dances outside all day and into the night until he becomes exhausted, she is frightened and hides from him, and tells her brother they will leave him the next day. In the morning, after they dress in their school uniforms, the brother takes her to the Aboriginal boy's body, hanging in a tree. Showing little emotion, the girl wipes ants from the dead boy's chest. Hiking up the road, the siblings find a nearly-deserted mining town where a surly employee directs them towards nearby accommodation.

Years later, a man arrives home from work as the now adult girl prepares dinner. While he embraces her and relates office gossip, she either imagines or remembers a time in which she, her brother, and the Aboriginal boy are playing and swimming naked in a billabong in the outback.

Sixteen-year-old Nicole Walker lives in the suburbs of Seattle with her father Steven, his new wife Laura, and Laura's son Toby. At a bar with her best friend Margo Masse and friend Gary Rohmer, Nicole meets David McCall, and instantly falls for his good looks and charm. Nicole falls in love with David, but Steven dislikes him, and grows angry with him when he disregards Nicole's curfew and, eventually, has sex with her. David soon becomes possessive and jealous over Nicole, culminating in attacking Gary when he sees them hugging, beating him up and giving Nicole a black eye. As a result, she breaks up with him, but they get back together when David apologizes for his action, and later manipulates her into believing her father assaulted him.

David invites Nicole to a party at his friend Logan's house. At first, she declines but then decides to drive to the party, where she witnesses Margo smoking crack and having sex with David, although Nicole does not realise it is not consensual. The following day, she confronts him about his infidelity and breaks up with him for good, and also confronts Margo, not believing that David raped her. David then threatens Margo to convince Nicole to take him back. After seeing Nicole with Gary, David follows and kills him.

Nicole goes with Laura and Toby to the mall, where David corners her in the women's restroom, vowing to her that he will not let anyone stand in the way of him having Nicole for himself. Meanwhile, Steven finds his car vandalized with an insulting note left by David. Furious, Steven breaks into the house David shares with Logan and vandalizes it after discovering a shrine David made for Nicole. In retaliation for Steven's vandalism, David decides to break into the Walkers' residence with his four friends: Logan, Hacker, Knobby, and Terry, aiming to harm Nicole's family and take Nicole for himself.

After Margo informs the Walkers of Gary's death, David and his gang behead Kaiser, the family dog, then make multiple attempts to break inside. Steven and Laura barricade the doors, and Laura injures Hacker with a drill, and he is then taken to the hospital by Knobby. Using a flashlight, Nicole sends an SOS to the Walkers' private security guard, Larry, who arrives to confront the situation, but is killed by Terry. David, Logan, and Terry take Steven hostage, forcing Laura to surrender. Toby escapes through a window and gets to Laura's car phone. After Terry finds him in the garage, Toby fatally runs Terry over with the SUV. Logan forces himself onto Nicole; Margo intervenes, but is knocked unconscious.

David shoots Logan dead for attempting to rape Nicole, and then tells her that he intends to kill her father so he can finally have Nicole, believing that Nicole will get over it and accept him. After Toby retrieves Larry's keys and releases his parents, Steven rushes at David, but David takes him down and gets ready to kill him, until Nicole saves her father by impaling David in the back with a peace pipe (a gift from David himself). As a hurt David looks at Nicole in shock, Steven gets back up and furiously brawls with him. An enraged David attempts to attack Nicole, only for Steven to grab him and ultimately throw David to his death through the bedroom window. The family embrace each other as the police and the paramedics arrive.

The story is initially set on the planet Nu-Earth, where a war of attrition between two factions, the '''Norts''' and '''Southers''', is being fought. The Norts are a fascist society, whom the Traitor General was briefly allied with, while the Southers are democratic.

There are similarities and occasional references to past Earth conflicts including the American Civil War and both World Wars, with the Norts resembling Germany, and the Southers the Allied forces. During the conflict, the use of chemical and biological weapons have poisoned the planet's atmosphere and oceans. As a result, what remains of the population of the planet, including the troops of both sides, live in enclosed domed military bases and habitats. They wear protective suits, helmets and respiration gear when outside their domes. These suits are known as "chemsuits". Any damage to the helmet or chemsuit is usually fatal to the wearer.

In an attempt to bring an end to the stalemate, the Southern High Command have created the GI, or "Genetic Infantryman". The GI is a soldier genetically engineered to be immune to the poisonous atmosphere of Nu-Earth, and therefore be able to fight without chemsuits. The Southern High Command deploy the entire GI Regiment in a mass spaceborne capsule drop over an area known as "The Quartz Zone", which resembles one of the Earth's Poles because the surface has an icy, glacier-like nature. The assault was intended to be a surprise attack, but because a traitor within the Southern High Command has passed details of it to the Norts, they are expecting the attack. The Norts employ elite infantry known as the Kashan and Kashar Legions to repulse the assault, and the entire GI Regiment - apart from Rogue - are wiped out. This event is referred to as "The Quartz Zone Massacre". Rogue, the only surviving G.I., goes AWOL in order to track down the traitor. Along the way he thwarts numerous Nort schemes, discovers and inadvertently destroys the only portion of Nu-Earth not contaminated by chemical weapons, and is betrayed by every female character he encounters.

A later storyline – "MilliCom Memories" – shows how the GIs progress through their training, and that rather than a name each GI has a letter suffixed by their age. Rogue is "R", Gunnar "G", Helm "H" and Bagman "B". Two other troopers "D" and "N" are referenced in the storyline. During their training each GI is given a nickname - Gunnar is so named because of his marksmanship ability. Millicom Memories showed there were other prototype GIs before the development of Rogue's class, some of which were killed during his training.

In a multi-part story titled "The Marauders", Rogue encounters a group of deserters from both Nort and Southern sides, who operate as scavengers from a hidden base and attack both Nort and Southers in order to obtain food, ammunition and supplies. Unknown to Rogue, the commander of The Marauders is the Traitor General. Due to an accident the General was severely burned and is now unrecognisable. The General later reveals himself to Rogue, then captures and tortures him. Rogue eventually escapes, and with the help of one of the Marauders (a Souther pilot known as 'Player'), defeats the Marauders that pursue him. The Traitor General escapes, destroying the Marauder base as he does so.

In "All Hell on the Dix-I Front" a massive Nort assault forces the Southerners to retreat from a vast area of Nu-Earth, similar to the Ardennes assault of World War II. During this, other Elite units of the Nort military are introduced, such as the Sun Legion, a Regiment of solar glider troops, and the Scum Marines, an amphibious assault force. "Sister Sledge", a military nurse accompanied Rogue during the Dix-I campaign. She is secretly an enemy agent known as a "filth columnist" and dies in the final episode of the series when Bagman causes her to fall from a boat into the heavily polluted and toxic "Scum Sea".

"Fort Neuro" introduced a defensive line that has been cut off from both Southers and Norts since the beginning of the war. The Fort has been split into separate sectors by the same clouds, meaning each sector operates independently of each other, without any contact or cohesion. The soldiers within each sector are suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder so the French sector – known as "Franks" – wear Napoleonic era uniforms, and hold grand balls that were popular in that period. Other sectors display similar erratic behaviour, with the English troops – known as "Lime-ees" – dressing as holiday camp redcoats and behaving as though they are on a perpetual holiday, while the "Rom" garrison fashion themselves as 1950's Teddy Boys - or "Romeos".

Rogue is immune to all known toxins, diseases, and acids with three known exceptions: * A new plant is discovered after permafrost is melted in an arctic zone, which renders him unconscious. * In the flashback story ''"Cinnabar"'' a retrovirus is engineered specifically to target his immune system, making him susceptible to all other Nu-Earth hazards, ultimately forcing him to wear a chem-suit. * On Horst, Rogue is bitten by one of the Dragoid creatures causing him to pass out. As Bagman points out, Rogue was engineered to be resistant to conditions on Nu Earth, not those unique to Horst. However, the toxin quickly wears off, and in fact has a beneficial effect on Rogue.

In a lighter moment during the Fort Neuro series, Rogue is shown to have difficulty breathing when in a staff car full of officers from the "Rom" sector, who in anticipation of a good night out with the neighbouring "Scan" sector, have applied too much aftershave.

The Biochips are infected by a latent malady unknowingly contracted whilst passing through the Neverglades area of Nu Earth. The unnamed condition renders them susceptible to "Enzyme E dysfunction", which causes their newly re-gened bodies to disintegrate, leaving only their bio-chips.

In 1890 Paris crowds pour into the Moulin Rouge nightclub as artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec finishes a bottle of cognac while sketching the club's dancers. The club's regulars arrive: singer Jane Avril teases Henri charmingly, dancers La Goulue and Aicha fight, and owner Maurice Joyant offers Henri free drinks for a month in exchange for painting a promotional poster. At closing time, Henri waits for the crowds to disperse before standing to reveal his four-foot six-inch stature. As he walks to his Montmartre apartment, he recalls the events that led to his disfigurement.

In flashbacks it is revealed that Henri was a bright, happy child, cherished by his parents, the fabulously wealthy Count and Countess de Toulouse-Lautrec. But as a boy Lautrec fell down a flight of stairs and his legs failed to heal because of a genetic weakness, likely resulting from his parents being first cousins. His legs stunted and pained, Henri loses himself in his art, while his father leaves his mother to ensure that they have no more children. As a young adult, Henri proposes to the woman he loves but, when she tells him that no woman will ever love him, he leaves his childhood home in despair to begin a new life as a painter in Paris.

Back in the present, street walker Marie Charlet begs Henri to rescue her from police sergeant Patou. Henri wards off the policeman by pretending to be her escort, after which she insists on following him home. There, she acknowledges his disability with complete dispassion and although he is at first angry, Lautrec is impressed by her lack of judgement of his condition. He allows her to stay and comes to realize that the poverty and brutality of her childhood have made her cruel, ignorant and sly but also free of society's hypocrisy. Within days, he is buying her gifts and singing as he paints, until Marie takes his money and stays out all night.

Henri waits in agony for her return, but when she finally does he tells her to leave at once. Realizing he loves her, Marie vows to stay and love him back. Although they fight constantly and he knows he can't trust her, Henri is unable to break with her. A final battle breaks out when Marie demands to be paid for posing for a portrait and flies into a rage when she thinks the portrait is unflattering. By morning, she begs him to take her back, but he refuses. He begins drinking himself to death until his landlady calls his mother, who urges him to save his health by finding Marie.

Henri searches Marie's working-class neighborhood, finally discovering her at a café, blind drunk and sobbing. Marie reveals that she stayed with him only to procure money for her boyfriend, who has dumped her. When she adds that his touch made her sick, Henri returns to his apartment, and turns on the gas vents. As he sits waiting to die, he is suddenly inspired to finish his Moulin Rouge poster and, brush in hand, turns the gas vents off and opens the windows. Having passed through the crisis, he asks Sergeant Patou to secretly give Marie enough money to lift her out of her abject misery.

The next day, Henri brings the poster to the dance hall and, though the style is unusual, Maurice accepts it. Henri works for days at the lithographers, blending his own inks to perfect the vivid colors. When he finishes the poster, which shows a woman dancing with her frilly panties exposed, it becomes an instant sensation and the Moulin Rouge opens to high society. His father denounces Henri for the "pornographic" work. Over the next ten years, Henri records the Parisian demimonde in brilliant paintings. His irascibility causes him to fight constantly with other painters but his broker loyally fights for his art to be accepted. By 1900 he is famous, but still terribly lonely.

One morning he sees an elegant young woman standing at the edge of Pont Alexandre III over the Seine River. Thinking she might be suicidal, he stops to talk to her. She tells him she isn't going to jump and throws a key into the water. Days later, Jane Avril goes shopping with Henri, where the young woman from the bridge is modeling gowns at a dress shop. She is Myriamme, Jane's friend who, unlike Jane, lives on her own earnings and not the patronage of rich lovers. Myriamme is a great admirer of Henri's paintings, and Henri is shocked to discover that she bought the portrait of Marie Charlet years before in a flea market.

Myriamme is Marie's opposite: principled, kind and cultured. She reveals to Henri that the key she threw into the water belonged to a wealthy and dashing man, Marcel de la Voisier, who asked her to be his mistress, but not his wife. While Henri continues to bitterly decry the possibility of true love, he falls in love with Myriamme. One night the two see dancer La Goulue on the street drunkenly insisting that she was once a star. Henri realizes that the Moulin Rouge has become a respectable establishment and is no longer the home for misfits.

Myriamme informs Henri that Marcel has finally asked her to marry him. Certain she loves the more handsome man, he bitingly congratulates her for trapping Marcel. Myriamme asks Henri if he loves her, but, believing that she is only trying to spare his feelings, he lies and tells her he does not. The next day Henri receives a letter from Myriamme telling him that she loves him, not Marcel, but she believes Henri's bitterness over Marie has poisoned any chance for them to be happy together. Rushing to Myriamme's apartment, Henri finds she has left to marry Marcel. A year later, while sitting in a sleazy dive drinking relentlessly, Henri obsessively reads Myriamme's note. Patou, now an inspector, is called to help him. Once home, in a state of delirium tremens, Henri hallucinates that he sees cockroaches, and in trying to drive them away, accidentally falls down a flight of stairs.

Near death, Henri is brought to his family's chateau. After a priest reads the last rites, his father tearfully informs Henri that he is to be the first living artist to be shown in the Louvre, and begs for forgiveness. Dying, Henri turns his head and smiles as phantasmal characters from his Moulin Rouge paintings, including Jane Avril, dance into the room to bid him goodbye.

When complications arise during her breast augmentation surgery, 20th-century exotic dancer Cleo (Jennifer Sky) is put into suspended animation. Waking 525 years in the future, Cleo joins two women in their fight against the Baileys, armed flying machines who now control Earth's surface. Her team leader, Hel (Gina Torres), is commanded by a mysterious female entity called "Voice", who relays orders via a communications implant under Hel's right ear. Voice controls many other teams and gives them their orders in a similar fashion, in effect, forming a resistance to the Baileys, with their ultimate goal to retake the Earth's surface. Their final team member is Sarge (Victoria Pratt), whose sister belongs to a cult that regards the Baileys with reverence and willingly sacrifices themselves to them.

Humanity has moved underground and built a complex of elaborate shafts and tunnels created by the "shaft builders" to survive the Bailey menace. Cleo wows the 26th century denizens with her philosophical sayings (many of which come from the 20th century popular culture).

The theme song is a rewrite of the song "The Year 2525".

Kaytee's gift for song steers an inner turmoil about her future. Morgan's sullen and needy exterior masks his true compassion. After revealing his deepest secret to his peers, what's next for Brad? Who are they? These are real teenagers who unleash their adolescent anxieties amid their triumphs in American High. At the brink of adulthood, they face some of the toughest decisions and harshest realizations of their lives during the 1999-2000 school year at a suburban Chicago high school. But these kids aren’t actors. The situations aren’t contrived. The programs are not scripted. Cameras roll and the ensuing drama is riveting and real.

American High is an innovative drama series from Academy Award-nominated filmmaker R.J. Cutler ("The War Room," "The Perfect Candidate"). Following the lives of a group of students as they deal with their personal conflicts – both at home and at school – from the first day of senior year through graduation, the series is culled from 10 months of documentary footage shot by Cutler and his production team, which includes some of America's leading documentary filmmakers. Also featured in the series are scenes from hundreds of hours of "video diaries" shot by the students themselves. This remarkable combination of professional footage and student-shot video provides a window into what it's like to be a teenager growing up in America today.

Brimming with exuberance, hipness and stylish editing, American High boasts authenticity as well as addictive drama. "They trusted our crews to tell their stories truthfully and honestly," says producer Cutler of the students. "I wanted this to be as honest as any of the best cinéma vérité documentaries." And Cutler has succeeded, with scenes that are often brutally frank. The footage from the students’ own video diaries is among the most fascinating.

These scenes capture an eclectic mix of characters baring their souls as they confront conflicts with powerful emotions. Precocious Kaytee, the gifted singer/songwriter whose music fills the hallways at school and creates decision-making dilemmas for her. Easygoing and athletic Robby, whose best friend is Brad – the first high-profile kid to announce his homosexuality, confronts the future of his shaky relationship with Sarah. Anna, whose intimidating beauty affords her everything except what she really wants – a boyfriend. Mike ("Kiwi"), the star football kicker whose future hinges on a successful season. One of the series’ most dynamic characters, rebellious Morgan, comes across as angry and needy, masking a compassionate and sensitive nature. Half a dozen other students reveal complex natures and share their innermost feelings.

In 1998, Stephen Glass is an associate editor at ''The New Republic''. Among the youngest of the magazine's staff, Glass enjoys popularity with his colleagues for his entertaining stories. Glass serves under editor Michael Kelly, whom the writers hold loyalty towards. However, conflict between Kelly and publisher Marty Peretz results in Peretz firing Kelly. Reporter Charles Lane is promoted by Peretz to replace Kelly, despite being disliked by the staff.

Glass writes a story entitled "Hack Heaven" that details a teenage hacker being hired by a large software firm he infiltrated. The story reaches Forbes Digital Tool where reporter Adam Penenberg finds no corroborating evidence for what Glass described. When contacted by Penenberg about being unable to reach the individuals in his story, Glass provides a number with a Palo Alto area code for the firm. After Lane calls the number, he briefly speaks with an individual identifying as the firm's chairman. Glass and Lane also partake in a conference call with the Forbes staff, which further erodes the story's credibility and prompts Glass to claim he was tricked by his sources.

Lane, looking to protect Glass from the Forbes staff, has Glass take him to a convention center and restaurant where the story took place, but learns that both were closed during the events Glass wrote about. With the story contradicted by this information, Glass tells Lane he had only relied on sources for information and falsified his first-hand experiences to improve the story. Lane decides to suspend Glass instead of firing him due to his popularity, but upon discovering that Glass's brother lives in Palo Alto, he realizes that Glass had his brother pose as the firm's chairman. After confronting Glass with this knowledge, Lane re-reads Glass's previous stories and comes to the revelation that they were also falsified. With his deception exposed, Glass is fired by Lane.

Despite initial pushback, Lane receives support from ''The New Republic'' staff for bringing Glass's deception to light, while the magazine's attorney questions Glass over which stories of his were fabricated. Closing titles reveal that Penenberg's article on Glass was hailed as a breakthrough for internet journalism, ''The New Republic'' determined that 27 of Glass's 41 stories were either partially or completely fabricated, Kelly was killed while covering the Iraq War, Glass earned a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown and wrote a novel paralleling his own life, and Lane joined ''The Washington Post''.

The novel is a framed narrative. The framing story concerns an unnamed male narrator spending a winter in Starkfield while in the area on business. He spots a limping, quiet man around the village, who is somehow compelling in his demeanor and carriage. This is Ethan Frome, who is a lifelong resident and a local fixture of the community. Frome is described by the narrator as "the most striking figure in Starkfield", "the ruin of a man" with a "careless powerful look ... in spite of a lameness checking each step like the jerk of a chain". Curious, the narrator sets out to learn about him. He learns that Frome's limp arose from having been injured in a "smash-up" twenty-four years before, but further details are not forthcoming, and the narrator fails to learn much more from Frome's fellow townspeople other than that Ethan's attempt at higher education decades before was thwarted by the sudden illness of his father following an injury, forcing his return to the farm to assist his parents, never to leave again. Because people seem not to wish to speak other than in vague and general terms about Frome's past, the narrator's curiosity grows, but he learns little more.

Chance circumstances arise that allow the narrator to hire Frome as his driver for a week. A severe snowstorm during one of their journeys forces Frome to allow the narrator to shelter at his home one night. Just as the two are entering Frome's house, the prologue ends and the framed story begins. The narration switches from the first-person narrator of the prologue to a limited third-person narrator. We then embark on the "first" chapter (Chapter I), which takes place twenty-four years prior.

In Chapter I, Ethan is waiting outside a church dance for Mattie, his wife's cousin, who has for a year lived with Ethan and his sickly wife, Zeena (Zenobia), in order to help out around the house and farm. Mattie is given the occasional night off to entertain herself in town as partial recompense for helping care for the Fromes, and Ethan has the duty of walking her home. It is quickly clear that Ethan has deep feelings for Mattie. Passing the graveyard, he thinks in an intense moment of foreshadowing that, "We'll always go on living here together, and some day she'll lie there beside me." It also becomes clear that Zeena has observed enough to understand that he has these feelings and, understandably, she resents them.

When Zeena leaves for an overnight visit to seek treatment for her various complaints and symptoms in a neighboring town, Ethan is excited to have an evening alone with Mattie. During this evening, the narrator reveals small actions that show that they each have feelings for the other, including a lingering of touching hands on the milk jug, although neither openly declares their love. Mattie makes supper and retrieves from a high shelf Zeena's treasured pickle dish, which Zeena, in a symbol of her stingy nature, never uses, in order to protect it. Mattie uses it to present Ethan with a simple supper, and disaster ensues when the Fromes' cat jumps on the table and knocks it off, shattering it beyond repair. Ethan tries to help by setting the dish's pieces neatly in the cupboard, presenting the false impression of wholeness if not examined closely, with plans to purchase some glue and fix it as soon as he can.

In the morning Ethan's hopes for more private time with Mattie are foiled by the presence of his hired man. Ethan then goes into town to buy glue for the broken pickle dish, and upon his return finds that Zeena has also come home. Zeena retreats upstairs, proclaiming her illness, and refusing supper because she is not hungry. There, she informs Ethan that she plans to send Mattie away and has already hired another girl to replace her, claiming that she needs someone more efficient because her health is failing more rapidly than ever.

Ethan is angry and frustrated to the point of panic by the thought of losing Mattie, and he is also worried for Mattie, who has no other place to go and no way to support herself in the world. He returns to the kitchen and joins Mattie, and tries to eat, but he is distraught and suddenly blurts out Zeena's plans to send Mattie away. Mattie reacts with shock but rapid acceptance, trying to calm Ethan, while Ethan becomes more agitated and begins to insist that he will not let her go. Ethan kisses her. Moments later, they are interrupted by Zeena, who has decided that she is hungry after all. After supper, Zeena discovers the broken pickle dish and is heartbroken and enraged; this betrayal cements her determination to send Mattie away.

Ethan, miserable at the thought of losing Mattie and worried sick about her fate, considers running away with Mattie, but he lacks the money to do so. He feels that he cannot abandon Zeena because he knows that she would neither be able to run the farm nor sell it (the poor quality of the place has been discussed at several points in the story already). Every plan he thinks of is impossible to carry out, and he remains in despair and frantically trying to think of a way to change this one more turn of events against his ability to have a happy life.

The next morning, Zeena describes her specific and imminent plans for sending Mattie on her way. Panicked, Ethan rushes into town to try to get a cash advance from a customer for a load of lumber in order to have the money with which to abscond with Mattie. His plan is unhinged by guilt, however, when his customer's wife expresses compassion, understanding, and empathy for Ethan's lot, which has involved the repeated duty to care for others, first his parents, then his sickly wife. He realizes that, of all people, he cannot cheat this kindly woman and her husband out of money, since she is one of the few people who have ever seemed to have seen or openly acknowledged Ethan's lifelong plight, as well as his honor in fulfilling his duties.

Ethan returns to the farm and picks up Mattie to take her to the train station. They stop at a hill upon which they had once planned to go sledding and decide to sled together as a way of delaying their sad parting, after which they anticipate never seeing each other again. After their first run, Mattie suggests a suicide pact: that they go down again, and steer the sled directly into a tree, so they will never be parted and so that they may spend their last moments together. Ethan first refuses to go through with the plan, but in his despair that mirrors Mattie's, he ultimately agrees, and they get on the sled, clutching each other. On the way down, a vision of Zeena's face startles Ethan into swerving a bit, but he corrects their course, and they crash headlong and at high speed into the elm tree. Ethan regains consciousness after the accident but Mattie lies beside him, "cheeping" in pain like a small wounded animal. Ethan is also injured, and the reader is left to understand that this was the "smash-up" that left Ethan with a permanent limp.

The epilogue returns to the framing story and the first-person narrator point of view of the prologue. The framing story resumes precisely where it left off: just as Frome and his visitor, the narrator, enter the Frome household in the story's present. The narrator hears a complaining female voice, and it is easy to assume that it belongs to the never-happy Zeena, but in the final twist of the story, it emerges that it is in fact Mattie, who now lives with the Fromes due to having been paralyzed in the accident. Her misery over her plight and dependence has embittered and "soured" her, and, with roles reversed, Zeena is now forced to care for her as well as Ethan. Further illustrating the psychosomatic nature of most of Zeena's previous complaints, she has now found the strength through necessity to be the caregiver rather than being the invalid. In an agonizing irony, Ethan and Mattie have gotten their wish to stay together, but in mutual unhappiness and discontent, with Mattie helpless and paralyzed, and with Zeena as a constant presence between the two of them.

It is set at the turn of the 19th century (beginning in 1801) on the fictional French-controlled island of Pulau-Pulau in the East Indies. Jack Stiles is an American secret agent sent there by President Jefferson. While there, he meets his British contact and love interest, English spy Emilia Rothschild. Together, the two work to stop Napoleon and various other threats to the United States. To the public, Jack is seen as Emilia's attaché (she sometimes serves as his), and in order to protect his identity as a secret agent, while acting against the enemies of America, Jack often adopts the identity of a legendary (though otherwise fictional) masked hero: "the Daring Dragoon".

The show contained many ongoing gags, such as historical inaccuracies (such as Canada being a French territory rather than part of the British Empire, and Benjamin Franklin being on the 100 dollar bill during his lifetime), Jack being responsible for many important historical events but not receiving credit, Emilia inventing a miraculous invention in an obvious deus ex machina, sexual puns and innuendos, and Jack and Emilia's ongoing romantic tension.

Former cellist Claire Spencer and her husband Norman, an accomplished scientist and professor, live a quiet life in Vermont. Their relationship seems slightly strained, particularly after Claire's daughter, Caitlin, leaves for college. Claire notices the new neighbors, Mary and Warren Feur, appear to have a volatile relationship. After Mary is unseen for several days, Claire suspects Warren may have killed her.

While by the lake next to their house, Claire believes she sees a woman's body in the water. She later discovers an odd key inside a heater vent. After unusual occurrences and sensing a presence in the house, Claire and her mystic friend, Jody, hold a failed séance. Claire later finds the bathtub filled with hot water and, "You know," written on the steamy mirror. Claire's computer inexplicably types "MEF" repeatedly. Claire becomes convinced it is the missing Mary's spirit, but Norman discounts this. Several days later, Mary returns home alive and well, explaining she went to her mother's in Rhode Island after a fight with Warren.

A framed newspaper article about Norman mysteriously falls off his desk and shatters. On the article's reverse side, Claire reads a piece about a missing woman named Madison Elizabeth Frank. Madison's initials are "MEF." Claire tracks down and visits Madison's mother, who shows her Madison's bedroom. While there, Claire steals a lock of Madison's hair, and notices a photo of her wearing an unusual necklace.

Later that night, Claire, holding Madison's hair, performs a ritual from a book. She conjures Madison, whose spirit possesses her. While still possessed, Claire aggressively seduces Norman. Madison, speaking through Claire, shocks Norman. Claire, dropping the locket of hair, immediately becomes herself again. She then recalls a repressed memory about Norman's affair with a student. Norman admits it happened during a rough patch in their marriage. Claire leaves and spends the night with Jody, who reveals that a year earlier, she saw Norman arguing with a blonde woman at a cafe in Adamant, a nearby town.

Claire returns home and finds Norman unconscious in the tub. He seemingly recovers and claims it was an accident and not suicide attempt. He denies killing Madison. Norman later finds Claire standing on the lake dock. Claire, holding Madison's hair lock, is pulled into the water by an unseen force. Dragged to the bottom, she sees a jewelry box with the same symbol as Madison's necklace. Before she can grab it, Norman has jumped in and pulls her to the surface. They then burn the lock of hair.

Claire later visits a shop in Adamant. Claire sees a jewelry box with the same design as the one in the lake. Claire recovers the box from the lake and unlocks it with the key she previously found. Inside is Madison's necklace. Norman changes his story, claiming Madison killed herself in their house. He says he pushed her car into the lake with her body inside. Norman agrees to confess to authorities, but Claire discovers he dialed 411, and faked the conversation. Norman paralyzes Claire with halothane, and admits he murdered Madison when she threatened to expose their affair to the dean.

Norman places Claire in the bathtub, filling it with water to stage her suicide. He spots Madison's necklace around Claire's neck. When Claire's face seems to contort into Madison's corpse, Norman jerks back and smashes his head on the bathroom sink, rendering him unconscious. As the water level rises, Claire recovers enough from the paralysis to partially close the tap and then dislodge the stopper, barely surviving drowning. Norman has left the bathroom and she finds him seemingly unconscious downstairs. She flees in the couple's truck. As she crosses the bridge over Lake Champlain, Norman, hiding in the truck bed, attacks Claire, who frantically dials 911 on her cell phone. The truck careens down the embankment into the lake. As it sinks, it dislodges Madison's car. Madison's corpse floats toward the couple as Norman tries to drown Claire. Madison grabs Norman's arm, shocking him, which allows Claire to escape. Norman drowns and Madison's corpse drifts away. Later that winter, Claire places a red rose on Madison's grave.

Astrid Magnussen is a 12-year-old girl living in Los Angeles, California with her mother, Ingrid Magnussen, a self-centered and eccentric poet. Astrid's father, Klaus Anders, left before Astrid was old enough to remember him.

Ingrid begins dating a man named Barry. Eventually, Ingrid discovers that Barry is cheating on her with younger women, so she breaks into Barry's house and poisons him with a mixture of DMSO and oleander sap. Barry dies, and Ingrid is charged with his murder. Sentenced to life in prison, she promises her daughter that she will come back.

Astrid is shuffled from one foster home to another for years. First, she joins Starr, a former stripper, and recovering drug addict and alcoholic. Starr has two children of her own, as well as two other foster children.

Astrid (who is 14 by this time) has a sexual relationship with Starr's live-in boyfriend, Ray. As his interest in Starr diminishes, Starr relapses. One night, after confronting Ray over his relationship with Astrid (out of jealousy and not concern), Starr shoots Astrid with a .38. Astrid is hospitalized for a few weeks, at which time she begins abusing the prescription drug Demerol.

After recovery Astrid is sent to live with Ed and Marvel Turlock, and their two small children, essentially as an unpaid babysitter. Astrid dislikes the couple, partially due to her dislike of the house, and partially due to Marvel's tendency to make racist statements about minorities, particularly their next-door neighbor, a beautiful African-American sex worker named Olivia Johnstone, whom Astrid befriends. Astrid admires Olivia's beauty, wealth, and hedonistic lifestyle. The Turlocks send Astrid away when they discover she associates with Olivia.

Next, Astrid is sent to the home of a Hispanic woman named Amelia Ramos. Despite her wealth, Amelia starves her foster children, and Astrid resorts to eating from the garbage at school. Astrid eventually gets a new caseworker who finds her a new placement.

A former actress, Claire Richards, and her husband, Ron, are Astrid's next foster parents. Claire ensures Astrid's comfort. For once, Astrid is doing well in school and pursuing art. Astrid continues corresponding with Ingrid in prison but becomes increasingly bitter towards her mother. Meanwhile, Claire suspects that Ron is having an affair. Claire, emotionally disturbed, commits suicide by overdosing.

Astrid, now 17, is placed in MacLaren Children's Center (known as "Mac") where she meets an artistic boy named Paul Trout. They bond, but Paul is sent to a group home and Astrid leaves for a new foster parent.

Astrid's final home is with Russian immigrant Rena Grushenka. Astrid, still underage, has a sexual relationship with Rena's boyfriend, Sergei. One day, after getting high on LSD, Astrid begins to have memories of a woman named Annie.

Meanwhile, Ingrid and her lawyer begin to build a case to get Ingrid released from prison. However, their case depends on Astrid: if she testifies that Ingrid did not murder Barry, Ingrid will likely not be sentenced. Astrid realizes that she is in a position of power over her mother and asks Ingrid who Annie is. Ingrid reveals that Annie was a babysitter with whom Ingrid left Astrid for over a year. Astrid is upset and gives Ingrid a choice: to have her testify or to see her daughter return to the person her mother knew her as. Ingrid makes the choice not to ask Astrid to lie for her.

Two years later, Astrid is 20 and living with Paul in a rundown flat in Berlin. Astrid spends her time buying suitcases and transforming them into individual art pieces representing her different foster homes. Ingrid is released from prison after a new trial acquits her. Astrid realizes that if she returns to California to reunite with Ingrid, she must abandon Paul. She chooses to stay with him but longs to go.

The central plot device is the "macroscope", a large crystal that can be used to focus a newly discovered type of particle, the "macron". Macrons are not subject to many of the effects that interfere with light, and as a result the macroscope can focus on any location in space-time with exceptional clarity, producing what is essentially a telescope of infinite resolution in the space-time continuum. The macroscope has been built into a solar-orbiting space station where scientists visit to book time on the device. Using it, they are able to explore space as never before. Among their many discoveries are numerous planets and two intelligent alien races. Using the macroscope, observers were able to look into one race's historical records, finding numerous parallels with human life on Earth. The race is now in social decline, and the implications are worrying.

The macroscope's clear view across space also makes it an ideal communications system for intelligent races, who broadcast signals by generating macrons, a technique not yet understood on Earth. However, over-riding all of these signals is another of enormous power, one of such strength that it must have been constructed by a Type II civilization. This signal repeats itself, starting with instructions on basic math and progressing to ever-more complex information. Viewers with high enough intelligence, an IQ of 150, reach a point where the information causes them to go insane or die. Those without the intelligence to understand the advanced portions of the signal are unaffected. The signal appears to be a deliberate attempt to "jam" macroscopic communications, blocking those with the ability to understand the other signals from being able to see them. They refer to the blocking signal simply as the "destroyer".

The protagonist of the story, Ivo Archer, is taken to the macroscope station on the invitation of a childhood friend, Brad Carpenter. Ivo has an unexplained link to a mysterious hyper-intelligent character, Schön, and Brad believes Schön may be able to break through the destroyer signal. Ivo is not so convinced, and is reluctant to ask for Schön's help. This reluctance is cause for some misunderstanding with Brad's girlfriend, Afra Summerfield, with whom Ivo falls hopelessly in love.

While inadvertently viewing the destroyer signal with Brad and a Senator visiting the project, only Ivo survives the experience. Afra concludes Ivo is not intelligent enough to be affected, and finds him somewhat beneath her as a result. The Senator's death sparks a series of events that lead to Ivo, Afra and two other station members, Harold and Beatryx, stealing the macroscope. Afra, still in love with Brad and hoping to find a cure, brings his body along, now in a vegetative state. They detach the macroscope from the station and fly off with it while United Nations ships give chase. With time on their hands, Ivo turns to the macroscope and finds a way to avoid being overwhelmed by the destroyer signal. This reveals a number of broadcasts from farther out in space. Ivo demonstrates this technique to the others, allowing Harold and Afra to view the signals formerly being hidden. Harold, a talented engineer, uses the information from one of the signals to build a device reducing their bodies to a liquid state, allowing them to accelerate at 10 g and escape the pursuing ships.

They travel to Neptune space, following a cryptic message left by Schön. Here they set up camp on Triton. Afra attempts to cure Brad by shocking him while he is being reconstituted from the liquid state, but the attempt fails and Brad is killed. Over time, and with further help from Ivo, the group watches a benign form of the entire broadcast, which they come to call "traveller". The liquefaction technique is only the first of many shown in the traveller signal, which describes an entire suite of technologies that allow interstellar travel. Using the instructions in the signal, they convert Neptune into an interstellar spaceship.

Schön briefly makes his first appearance during construction, revealing himself to be an alternate personality within Ivo's brain. Schön is ostensibly the body's "owner", having created the Ivo personality to avoid being the subject of experimentation. Schön has frightening intelligence, but having given over his body to Ivo at the age of five, is still a child and largely without morals. In an attempt to take control of the body, Schön traps Ivo in a historical drama running in his own brain. Over time, Ivo sees parallels between the characters in the drama and the group in the ship, and eventually escapes the illusion and re-asserts control.

The group decides to hunt down the source of the destroyer signal in an effort to turn it off. Travelling 15,000 light-years from Earth, they find it is being broadcast from an abandoned space station. Exploring the inner portions of the station, which is a large museum, they are individually drawn into a series of visions that reveal different aspects of the nature of the destroyer and its history. The traveller signal had arrived relatively late in the history of the galaxy, in the midst of flourishing communications via macroscope. Armed with the ability for interstellar travel, wars broke out that destroyed countless civilizations. The destroyer station, one of six in the galaxy, was set up to prevent this until the races reached the required level of cultural sophistication, if they ever did.

Emerging from one of these visions, Afra discovers that Schön has once again taken over from Ivo. Intelligent enough that the signal would kill him, he has solved this problem via surgery that altered his brain chemistry to block most of the signal. This took six months to complete, keeping him "pinned" during the interval. Schön plays a game with Afra, now the only other surviving member of the original group, with the stakes being that the winner gets to select who, Schön or Ivo, gets the body. During the game, the real reason for Ivo's creation comes forth; the original Ivo was a girl with intelligence similar to Schön's, a situation neither could tolerate. After murdering her during a game played to the death with rules only the two of them could comprehend, Schön created the new Ivo to escape the retribution of his peers.

Playing the game by the rules and losing, Afra instead tricks Schön into the room broadcasting the destroyer signal. Here it is so powerful that it overwhelms Schön's surgical blocks, and Ivo is able to take control. Now in command of his own personality, along with all of Schön's intellectual capacity, Ivo wins Afra's heart. At the end of the story the reader is left to decide whether or not the people of Earth are mature enough and ready for interstellar travel.

Bosko plays the shower spray as a harp

The film opens with Bosko taking a bath while whistling "Singin' in the Bathtub". A series of gags allows him to play the shower spray like a harp, pull up his pants by tugging his hair, and give the limelight to the bathtub itself which stands on its hind feet to perform a dance. (There is a clear shot of a toilet during this scene, and the bathtub tears off sheets of toilet paper during its dance, permissible only in the pre-Hays Code days.)

Once he finds his car, which had left the garage to use the outhouse, Bosko goes to visit his girlfriend Honey, who is showering in front of an open window. "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" plays in the background. A goat eats the flowers he brought, so he serenades her to get her to come out. A saxophone full of bubbles (caused when she dumps a bathtub full of soapy water into Bosko's saxophone due to his butchering of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips") provide a floating cascade of steps for her as she alights from the balcony. "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" accompanies this action.

Their country drive presents grave perils for Bosko, with the first obstacle being a stubborn grazing cow. After the cow is pushed out of the way, the indignant cow walks away to the tune of Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance Marches". The drive continues as the car is at first resistant to go up a steep hill, then speeds out of control while Bosko collides into various objects that create the sounds of ascending and descending C major scales. (Bosko exclaims "mammy" in the original version during this portion of the film.) The sequence ends with the car plunging over a cliff into a lake. Always able to adapt, Bosko continues their date as a boating trip and plays the last refrain (a reprise of "Singin' in the Bathtub") using lilypads as a marimba.

The cartoon ends with Bosko saying the now-classic line "That's all Folks!"

Setting

''Sons of Liberty'' takes place within an alternate history of events, in which the Cold War ended during the late 1990s. The game's story focuses on two narratives that occur around and near New York City the first in 2007, two years after the events of ''Metal Gear Solid''; and the second in 2009. The game's plot is the fourth chapter of an overarching plot concerning the character of Solid Snake.

Characters

The main protagonist of ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' is a young rookie agent named Raiden. He is supported by his commanding officer, the Colonel, and Rosemary, his girlfriend. Allies formed on the mission include Lt. Junior Grade Iroquois Pliskin, a Navy SEAL of mysterious background who provides his knowledge of the facility; Peter Stillman, an NYPD bomb-disposal expert; Otacon, a computer security specialist; and a cyborg ninja imitating Gray Fox's persona, first calling itself Deepthroat, then changing its name to Mr. X.

The antagonists are the Sons of Liberty, a group of terrorists who seize control of the Big Shell environmental cleanup facility, including anti-terrorist training unit gone rogue Dead Cell, and a Russian mercenary force that patrols the facility. The Dead Cell team members are Vamp, a seemingly immortal man exhibiting vampire-like attributes; Fatman, a rotund man with exceptional knowledge of bombs; and Fortune, a woman whose uncontrollable psychic ability prevents any bodily harm from befalling her. The leader of Sons of Liberty claims to be Solid Snake, previously declared dead after a terrorist attack, later revealed to be Solidus Snake, a third clone of the "Les Enfants Terribles" project. Assisting the Sons of Liberty are Olga Gurlukovich, commander of the Russian mercenaries, and Revolver Ocelot, a disenfranchised Russian nationalist and former FOXHOUND agent, Solid Snake's old nemesis, and henchman of Solidus Snake.

Other characters include Emma Emmerich, Otacon's stepsister and a computer whiz-kid; Sergei Gurlukovich, Ocelot's former commanding officer and Olga's father; President James Johnson, held hostage by the Sons of Liberty; and DIA operative Richard Ames. Liquid Snake returns, seemingly by possessing the body of Ocelot. The game also features cameos by Mei Ling, the communications expert who aided Snake in the first game, and Johnny Sasaki, the luckless soldier with chronic digestive problems.

Story

In 2007, Solid Snake infiltrates a tanker carrying a new Metal Gear model, RAY. The tanker is attacked by Russian mercenaries, led by Colonel Gurlukovich, his daughter Olga, and Ocelot. Ocelot betrays his allies and scuttles the ship. Upon seeing Snake, Ocelot is possessed by the will of Liquid Snake and escapes with RAY.

Two years later, an environmental cleanup facility, the Big Shell, has been erected to clear up the oil spill. During a tour by US President James Johnson, the Sons of Liberty raid the facility, take Johnson hostage, and threaten to destroy it. FOXHOUND's Raiden is ordered by the Colonel to rescue the hostages and disarm the terrorists. The surviving members of a responding Navy SEAL team, Iroquois Pliskin and Peter Stillman, help Raiden disable explosives planted by Fatman. A timed bomb goes off, killing Stillman. Raiden kills Fatman and encounters a mysterious cyborg ninja. Raiden and Pliskin arrange to transport hostages via helicopter, but are confronted by Dead Cell's leader identifying as Solid Snake, flying a Harrier. Raiden shoots down the Harrier, but "Solid Snake" escapes with the stolen Metal Gear RAY. Pliskin reveals he is the real Solid Snake and, along with Otacon, helps locate Johnson.

Johnson reveals to Raiden the United States' democratic process is a sham staged by an organization called "the Patriots", who secretly rule the country. Furthermore, the Big Shell is a facade to hide Arsenal Gear, a submersible mobile fortress that houses an AI called "GW". He explains the leader of Dead Cell is his predecessor George Sears, a clone of Big Boss known as Solidus Snake, who plans to seize Arsenal and overthrow the Patriots. Johnson is then killed by Ocelot.

Raiden rescues computer programmer Emma Emmerich, step-sister of Otacon, who plans to upload a virus into GW to disable Arsenal. Vamp stabs Emma, before being shot by Raiden. Emma uploads the virus but dies from her injury as the virus is cut off prematurely. Otacon leaves to rescue the hostages while Raiden is captured by the ninja, revealed to be Olga, when Snake seemingly betrays him. Big Shell collapses as Arsenal departs.

Raiden awakens on Arsenal before Solidus who reveals he had murdered Raiden's parents and raised him as a child soldier during the Liberian civil war. Solidus leaves and Olga frees Raiden, explaining she is a Patriot double-agent forced to aid Raiden in exchange for her child's safety. After the Colonel begins acting erratically, Raiden discovers he is a construct of GW, damaged by the virus. Rose tells Raiden she had been ordered by the Patriots to become his lover and spy on him, and that she is pregnant with his child. Raiden finds Snake who had helped Olga capture Raiden so they could gain entry to Arsenal. Fortune battles Snake while Raiden is forced into battle with AI-controlled Metal Gear RAYs. The virus causes the RAYs to malfunction, and Solidus kills Olga when she discloses her double-agent status to protect Raiden.

Snake and Raiden are captured, and taken to the top of Arsenal by Solidus, Fortune and Ocelot. Ocelot reveals himself to be a Patriot agent and that the entire affair was orchestrated by the Patriots to artificially replicate a soldier (Raiden) on par with Solid Snake, titled the S3 Plan. Ocelot kills Fortune before being possessed again by Liquid Snake. Liquid explains that Ocelot's severed right arm was replaced with his own, and plans to hunt down the Patriots using his host's knowledge and the stolen RAY. Snake pursues Liquid, as Arsenal loses control.

Arsenal crashes into Manhattan. Raiden is contacted by an AI impersonating the Colonel and Rose. It states that GW was the only AI destroyed, and that the S3 Plan's real purpose is to control human thought to prevent society's regression in the digital era from trivial information drowning knowledge and truth. They order Raiden to eliminate Solidus; refusal will result in the deaths of Olga's child and Rose. After Raiden defeats Solidus, Snake appears after tracking Liquid's RAY. Snake and Otacon plan to rescue Olga's child, and locate the Patriots, whose details were hidden in the GW virus disc. Raiden is reunited with the real Rose.

In the epilogue, having decoded the disc, Otacon and Snake find it contains data on all twelve members of the Patriots' highest council, the Wiseman's Committee. However, the members have allegedly been dead for 100 years.

Seventh-day Adventist Church pastor Michael Chamberlain, his wife Lindy Chamberlain, their two sons, and their nine-week-old daughter Azaria are on a camping holiday in the Australian Outback. With the baby sleeping in their tent, the family enjoys a barbecue with their fellow campers when a cry is heard. Lindy returns to the tent to check and is certain she sees a dingo with something in its mouth running off as she approaches. When she discovers the infant is missing, everyone joins forces to search for her, without success. It is assumed what Lindy saw was the animal carrying Azaria, and a subsequent inquest rules her account of events as true.

However, the tide of public opinion soon turns against the Chamberlains. For many, Lindy seems too stoic, too cold-hearted, and too accepting of the disaster that has befallen the family. Gossip about her begins to swell and soon is accepted as statements of fact. The couple's religious beliefs are not widely practised in the country, and when the media report a rumour that the name Azaria means "sacrifice in the wilderness", the public is quick to believe they decapitated their baby with a pair of scissors as part of a bizarre religious rite.

Law-enforcement officials find new witnesses, forensics experts, and circumstantial evidence and reopen the investigation, eventually charging Lindy with murder. Seven months pregnant, she ignores her attorneys' advice to play to the jury's sympathy and appears stoic on the stand, convincing some onlookers of her guilt. As the trial progresses, Michael's faith in his religion and his belief in his wife falter, and he stumbles through his testimony, suggesting he is concealing the truth. In October 1982, Lindy is found guilty and immediately sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour, while Michael is found guilty as an accessory and given an 18-month suspended sentence.

More than three years later, while searching for the body of an English tourist who fell from Uluru, police discover clothing that is identified as the jacket Lindy had insisted Azaria was wearing over her jumpsuit, which had been recovered early in the investigation. Lindy is immediately released from prison, the case is reopened and all convictions against the Chamberlains are overturned. The film ends with Michael commenting on the ongoing battle to clear the family's name.

The plot of the game closely follows that of ''House of the Dead 2''. The story begins on February 26, 2000, when several AMS agents have been dispatched to investigate a zombie outbreak in Venice, Italy. The player can control two characters, James and Gary, who are sent to find the original game's "G" and then tasked with restoring order. Responsibility for the outbreaks is soon traced to "Goldman," a banking tycoon and scientist who attempts to end human control of the earth. Much of the game revolves around destroying Goldman's creations, concluding with the final boss of "the Emperor." One of three possible humorous ending sequences occurs, depending on the answers given to the questions asked to defeat the Emperor.

Endings

There are three possible endings: * Explosion ending: The character defeats the Emperor, then sees Goldman committing suicide by falling off the building. An explosion is seen as Goldman hits the ground. This ending is achieved by typing honest answers to questions asked in the boss fight. * Bungee ending: This is similar to the first, but a bungee cord can be seen attached to Goldman's leg. Goldman returns to where he was and belches. This ending is achieved by typing a combination of honest and untruthful or strange answers to questions asked in the boss fight. * Superman ending: This is similar to the first, but as Goldman bids farewell to the narrator, he raises his hands and rises into the sky. This ending is achieved by typing untruthful answers to questions asked in the boss fight.

Owen Baker (Liam Aiken) is a 12-year-old who has been working as the neighborhood dog-walker so he can earn the privilege of getting a dog of his own. Owen's hard work pays off when his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Baker (Kevin Nealon and Molly Shannon), let Owen adopt a scruffy Border Terrier that he names Hubble (voice of Matthew Broderick). Owen has little time to make lasting friends, due to his parents' renovation and reselling of houses, so he hopes Hubble will be his best friend.

Owen does have a friend named Connie Flemming (Brittany Moldowan), a girl his age who lives in the neighborhood, but he is also bullied by two boys named Frankie (Hunter Elliott) and Fred (Mikhael Speidel). Soon after the adoption of Hubble, Owen finds out that his new abnormally intelligent dog actually came from outer space. Owen wakes up the next morning to discover that he can now understand every word Hubble says—including the ominous phrase: "Take me to your leaders."

Owen learns that dogs came to Earth thousands of years ago to colonize and dominate the planet. Hubble, who is really named Canid 3942, has been sent by the powerful Greater Dane (voice of Vanessa Redgrave) on a mission from the Dog Star Sirius 7 to make sure dogs have fulfilled this destiny.

The dogs Owen walks include pampered Poodle Barbara Ann (voiced by Delta Burke), rambunctious Boxer Wilson (voiced by Donald Faison), nervous Italian Greyhound Nelly (voiced by Brittany Murphy) and Connie's gassy Bernese Mountain Dog Shep (voiced by Carl Reiner).

Despite the best efforts of Owen and this rag-tag group of neighborhood dogs to convince Hubble that everything is fine with Earth's dogs, Hubble soon discovers the awful truth about Earth dogs: "You're all pets!" Things get worse when Hubble learns that the Greater Dane is headed for Earth to do her own inspection. If things don't look right, all dogs on Earth will be recalled to Sirius.

Owen and Hubble have to work together to prepare the neighborhood dogs for a visit from the Greater Dane and her Chinese Crested Dog henchman (voiced by Cheech Marin). Owen, Hubble, Connie, and their canine pals set out to whip the other dogs into shape so that they can pass muster.

Owen's efforts fail and the Greater Dane recalls all dogs from Earth. Upset, Owen repairs Hubble's communicator and sends him a message declaring how much he loves him. The Greater Dane hears the message and is left curious by it so she approaches Hubble for his opinion on why the dogs on Earth are subservient to humanity when they should be ruling it. Hubble believes that the dogs and humans have formed a bond of love and loyalty. When asked where his own loyalty lies, Hubble asks the Greater Dane to refer to him as Hubble rather than Canid 3942, showing his bond with Owen. As a result, the Greater Dane sends the Earth dogs back and declares them a separate species. Hubble is allowed to return as well, but on the condition that he removes Owen's ability to communicate with dogs. Owen's parents choose to remain in town for once and Hubble starts to fit in as an Earth dog.

''The Whales of August'' tells the story of two elderly widowed sisters from Philadelphia, near the end of their lives, spending their annual summer in a seaside house in Maine. The surroundings cause them to recall their relationship as young women, and the summers they had enjoyed there in the past. They reflect on the passage of time, and the bitterness, jealousies and misunderstandings that slowly festered over the years and kept them from establishing a true closeness in their relationship.

Libby, played by Davis, is the more infirm of the two sisters, and her nature has become bitter and cold as a result. Sarah, played by Gish, is a softer and more tolerant character, intent on nursing her sister through her discomfort and trying to breach the gulf that has grown between them. The resentment that Libby so clearly displays to her stifles Sarah's every attempt at making a friendly overture towards her, and Sarah cautiously retreats from her.

Maranov (Price) is an expatriate from Russia who has recently lost the friend with whom he had been living. Tisha (Sothern) is a vivacious lifelong friend who provides common sense, fun and laughter, and is the catalyst for some of the sisters' conversations and revelations. In prologue, actresses Margaret Ladd, Mary Steenburgen and Tisha Sterling (Sothern's real-life daughter) play respectively Libby, Sarah, and Tisha as young women.

Events of the serial are framed on an arcing plot that carries through the other three serials of the 23rd season. In this, the Sixth Doctor is forced to land the TARDIS aboard a Gallifreyan space station, where he is brought into a courtroom. The Inquisitor informs the Doctor he is on trial for conduct unbecoming a Time Lord; evidence will be presented by the Valeyard. The first evidence is shown through video footage, taken from the Matrix, of the Doctor's recent involvement in the planet Ravolox, where the Valeyard shows that the Doctor willingly became involved in the affairs of the planet. The Doctor denies these charges as the Valeyard brings them. After showing the video, the Valeyard affirms he has more evidence sufficient to call for the end of the Doctor's life.

As shown by the court evidence, the Doctor and Peri land on Ravolox, both noting a similarity to Earth. The Doctor is aware that Ravolox was devastated by a fireball, according to official records, but the presence of flourishing plant life makes him suspicious. As they walk, they are observed by Sabalom Glitz and Dibber, mercenaries on the planet attempting to destroy a "black light" generator in order to destroy the L3 robot deep underground that it powers. The Doctor and Peri find a tunnel and enter to find remains that appear to be that of the Marble Arch tube station on the London Underground Central line, piquing the Doctor's curiosity further. The Doctor wishes to proceed deeper, but Peri is worried and stays behind.

Peri is soon captured by a local human tribe, led by Katryca, and brought to their camp. Katryca informs Peri that she will need to take many husbands for the tribe, and locks her away with Glitz and Dibber; the two were captured after approaching the tribe to try to convince them to let them destroy the generator, which the tribe has taken as a totem. The three manage to overpower the guards and escape, but not before planting a bomb on the black light generator. They are pursued by the tribe.

The Doctor, in exploring the modern underground complex, is also captured by humans under watch by "the Immortal". He is brought before the Immortal, the L3 robot that Glitz is looking for. The robot calls itself Drathro, and is following its instructions to maintain the habitat of the underground system. Drathro orders the Doctor to make necessary repairs, but the Doctor manages to temporarily electrify the robot and make his escape. Drathro sends a service robot after the Doctor.

Peri, Glitz, and Dibber eventually meet up with the Doctor back at the ruins of Marble Arch, trapped between the tribe and the service robot. However, the tribesmen disable the service robot and recapture the group including the Doctor. The Doctor tries to explain the nature of the tribe's totem, but Katryca is unimpressed and places them in a cell again. While there, Glitz confirms that Ravolox is actually Earth. Drathro reactivates the service robot and sends it into the tribe's village to recapture the Doctor, but the tribe is able to disable it again; Katryca decides they should attack Drathro's "castle" to steal its technology for themselves. The Doctor and Peri use the opportunity to escape and re-enter the underground complex, aware that the black light generator is now damaged beyond repair, and if it should self-destruct, it could take the whole universe with it.

Katryca and the tribe are easily defeated by Drathro. When the Doctor arrives, he attempts to plead for Drathro to shut himself down in order to disable the black light system, but Drathro refuses. Glitz, Dibber and Peri arrive after being detained by Drathro, and Glitz offers to take the robot aboard his ship, which has a functioning black light system. Drathro agrees, and departs with the mercenaries. The Doctor finds the black light system is already beginning to self-destruct, and reconfigures the system so that its explosion would be limited to the underground complex. The Doctor, Peri, and the other humans living underground escape in time. The remains of the tribe offer to take in those humans that were living underground, and the Doctor and Peri say their goodbyes.

As with the other serials from Season 23, ''Mindwarp'' is framed by the trial of the Sixth Doctor, prosecuted by the Valeyard, accusing him of meddling in other species' affairs in a way unbecoming of a Time Lord. The Valeyard provides evidence to the presiding Inquisitor via a screen linked to the Matrix showing the details of the Doctor's actions on the planet Thoros Beta. The bulk of the episode centres on recorded narrative.

As shown by the video, the Doctor and Peri arrive on Thoros Beta, the Doctor's curiosity piqued on the availability of advanced weaponry by the Warlords of Thordon. As they explore a cave system, the Doctor discovers Sil, an arms dealer for the Mentors that are supplying the weapons. Exploring further, they find that the scientist Crozier in Sil's employ is attempting to perfect the ability to transplant the brilliant mind of Kiv, Sil's superior, into another body to overcome Kiv's pending death. When discovered, the two make their escape with the warlord King Yrcanos, one of Crozier's test subjects.

The Doctor, Peri, Yrcanos and his men plan an attack on Sil, but the Doctor betrays them by abandoning them at the last minute and warns the Mentors, causing Peri and Yrcanos to flee in different directions. Peri happens across one of the Mentors' servant women, and with her help, disguises herself to get close to the Doctor. The Doctor reveals Peri to the Mentors and requests he be allowed to interrogate her alone, a request Sil allows. Away from the others, the Doctor tells Peri his betrayal was all a ploy to learn more of Sil's plan, and has discovered that they will transplant Kiv's mind into his body if he does not cooperate.

Crozier interrupts the interrogation, believing he can extract more information from Peri, but then Yrcanos arrives, ready to kill the Doctor. Peri stops Yrcanos, and together they escape, regrouping with Yrcanos' men. As Kiv's body is dying, Crozier is forced to transplant his brain with the Doctor's help into the body of one of the Mentors' servants, keeping the mind alive but affected by the simple thoughts of the former consciousness. Yrcanos, Peri, and his men launch another attack, this time on a weapons stash, but are stunned and captured. Sil and Crozier decide to use Peri as a more suitable body for Kiv's brain, despite the Doctor's objections. As the operation is being prepared, the Doctor sneaks away and frees Yrcanos, urging him on for Peri's safety.

Peri is strapped down and gagged as the operation is prepared and Crozier gives the order for her head to be shaven. The Doctor attempts to return to save her but is suddenly drawn hypnotically into the TARDIS, which appears in the hallway; it is later revealed that he travelled directly to his trial from that point. Despite the Doctor claiming that the Time Lords' interference has put Peri's life in danger, the Valeyard rebuffs this, stating that the Doctor shouldn't have become involved in the first place, and Peri's life is the cost of his involvement. Events on Thoros Beta continue after the Doctor's removal, as it is shown that Ycranos was placed in a time bubble by the Time Lords to hold his arrival back at the lab until after Kiv's mind was successfully transplanted into Peri; when Yrcanos is freed of the bubble, he is distraught at the results of the operation, and fires wildly, killing Peri. The Valeyard insists that the interference of the Time Lords was to prevent a greater disaster befalling the universe due to the mistakes in the Doctor's actions. The Doctor insists that the present trial appears to be serving an ulterior motive, and resolves to determine what it is as the trial continues.

As with the other serials from Season 23, ''Terror of the Vervoids'' is framed by the trial of the Sixth Doctor, prosecuted by the Valeyard, accusing him of meddling in other species' affairs in a way unbecoming of a Time Lord. In his defence, the Doctor presents evidence through a screen linked to the Matrix, showing the details of his actions on the spaceliner Hyperion III in his own personal future. The bulk of the episode centres on recorded narrative.

On the Hyperion III, an elderly man named Kimber thinks he recognises a fellow passenger as an investigator called Hallett. However, the passenger claims that he is a mineralogist called Grenville. A trio of scientist passengers – Professor Lasky and her colleagues Bruchner and Doland – are alarmed that Grenville might be an investigator.

Edwardes, the communications officer, detects a craft close to the ship – the TARDIS – but is unable to get a reply. Suddenly, an unseen figure attacks him and injects him with a syringe, causing him to fall and die. He then uses the communication equipment to send a message to the TARDIS. On board, the Doctor and his new companion, Mel Bush, pick up a Mayday message. They materialise within the Hyperion III's cargo hold, are seized by guards, and are brought before Commodore Travers – whom the Doctor has met before. Travers denies sending a mayday signal, but wants the Doctor and Mel to remain on board. Travers hopes that the Doctor will find out who sent the fake mayday call.

The Doctor is convinced that whoever sent the message wants him on board. Security officer Rudge takes Mel to the ship's gymnasium, where he shows her how to use the headphones and tape recordings to help her exercise. Doland informs Lasky that someone has broken into their Hydroponics centre. As they rush off to find Bruchner, Mel hears someone on her headphones, telling her to take the Doctor to Cabin 6. In the cargo hold, Lasky, Doland and Bruchner check the Hydroponics centre; the large pods inside are stable, but the Demeter seeds have been stolen from the small work cabin. At Cabin 6, the Doctor and Mel find the room has been wrecked and discover the silver Demeter seeds and a single boot.

Rudge contacts Travers to inform him there has been an 'accident' in the waste disposal unit; someone has been thrown inside. All that is left is a boot matching the one found by the Doctor and Mel in Cabin 6. They learn that these belonged to Grenville, but the Doctor does not recognise the name. Mel departs to investigate the hydroponics centre alone.

Mel enters the cargo hold, where she meets Edwardes. He agrees to show her the Hydroponics centre. It was set up for the journey specially for Lasky, Doland and Bruchner, and that only 'low spectrum' light is allowed inside to keep the pods dormant. When Edwardes tries to enter, he is electrocuted, creating bright sparks that activates the pods.

Two guards arrive, and Mel tells them that Edwardes is dead. Later, Doland and Bruchner arrive to find that all the pods have been opened. Rudge brings the Doctor to the bridge to question Mel about being in the Hydroponics centre. Rudge then gets a message from the medical team that was sent down to the hold to collect Edwardes' body, claiming that neither Edwardes nor the guard can be found.

Travers decides to speed up their journey to Earth and has the ship's course altered. Three Mogarians express their concerns that this will take them close to the black hole of Tartarus, but Travers assures them that they will be within adequate safety margins. Later, one of the Mogarians collapses. The Doctor attempts to remove the figure's face plate, but the others protest that oxygen is lethal to a Mogarian. The Doctor believes it is not a Mogarian, and removes the face plate to reveal that it is Grenville. The Doctor, however, recognises the man as Hallett, an undercover investigator. When Kimber recalls recognising Hallett before, the Doctor guesses that Hallett faked his death in the waste disposal unit to avoid being discovered.

Mel realises that the Demeter seeds left in the wrecked cabin were a clue to lead them to the Hydroponics centre. They look at the place, and the Doctor wonders what came out of the pods. Returning to the passenger quarters, they see Lasky leaving a guarded Isolation Room. The Doctor and Mel enter the room, where they find a half-human, half-plant hybrid strapped to a table. The creature implores them to stop Lasky, but Lasky, Bruchner and Doland sedate her. Doland tells the time travellers that the creature is his assistant, Ruth Baxter. During their experiments involving cross-fertilisation, pollen penetrated a scratch in Ruth's thumb, causing the resulting plant maturing process to partially transform her human body. They are taking her to Earth in the hope that they can reverse the infection.

Mel hears a noise in the air conditioning ducts and overhears creatures planning to kill all the 'animal-kind' on the ship. As she listens, she is attacked and rendered unconscious. The murderer dumps her in a disposal trolley. The Doctor enters the gym and hears the recording, including her scream when she was attacked. The Doctor runs after the trolley and rescues her.

Bruchner is becoming increasingly hysterical about the situation with the Hydroponics centre, especially when Kimber disappears. It turns out that he, Edwardes and the missing guard have been killed by plant-like creatures called Vervoids – the creatures that came out of the pods when Edwardes was electrocuted. Lasky finds Bruchner burning the notes on their work in the Hydroponics centre's small work cabin, and tries unsuccessfully to reason with him. Bruchner knocks Lasky out, runs off and attacks a guard, taking his gun. He goes to the bridge, and forces Travers and the pilot to leave, then changes the course of the Hyperion to head into the black hole of Tartarus – planning to destroy the ship, and therefore kill the Vervoids.

The Doctor, Lasky and Travers attempt to break into the bridge, but it is filled with marsh gas. This has been released into the bridge by the Vervoids, who learned that they are the only members of their species. Bruchner is killed by the gas, but the ship is still heading into the black hole. Rudge summons the two Mogarians, as they can breathe in the poisonous atmosphere. They direct the ship away from the black hole, but when it is safe, Rudge tells Travers that he and the Mogarians are taking over the ship.

Mel warns Doland and Janet of the hijacking. Rudge tells the Doctor that the Mogarians are trying to regain the supply of metals stored in the vault. Rudge is taking the hijacking as a means of securing a "more comfortable retirement", as this Mogar-Earth journey was to be his last voyage as a security officer before being written off. On the bridge, an unknown assailant kills the Mogarians.

Mel sneaks through the air ducts to let the Doctor know that the guards will attack the lounge. The Doctor believes this is too risky, and tells her to attack the bridge instead. When they arrive, they find the Mogarians dead, and take the face plates to prove to Rudge the hijack is over. Doland knocks the gun from Rudge's hands, and he runs into the corridors, but is killed by the Vervoids.

The Doctor tells Travers about the stolen tape recording and requests permission to search the passenger cabins. While Mel checks Lasky's locker in the gym, the Doctor tells Doland that he thinks the traitor is either him or Lasky. After searching the professor's cabin, Doland suggests the cabinet in the Hydroponics centre work cabin. There, Doland reveals the tape is in his pocket, but that he has wiped it. Taking the Doctor's gun, Doland admits to the murders. Doland believes the Vervoids can be used as slave labor when brought to Earth. The Doctor has disarmed the gun, and Travers arrives and arrests Doland. However, he and his guard are attacked and killed by the Vervoids.

The Doctor, Mel, Travers and Lasky meet to discuss the Vervoids. Lasky believes that something must have gone wrong with their DNA, but the Doctor tells them that the Vervoids' hostility towards them is instinctive: The Vervoids hate 'animal-kind' and kill for survival. Lasky realises that this is what made Bruchner so hysterical, and vows to help destroy the creatures.

In the hydroponics centre, Lasky finds that the chemicals to create herbicide had been taken by the Vervoids. She, Mel and the Doctor are surrounded by the plants. Lasky tries to reason with them, but they kill her and take her body back to their lair. Escaping through the air ducts, Mel and the Doctor discover the pile of bodies.

The Doctor has an idea that vionesium, the rare metal taken from Mogar stored in the ship's vault, would accelerate the Vervoids' life-cycle towards its natural end. Travers lowers the lighting and heating in the ship, forcing the Vervoids back to their lair, where the Doctor and Mel are waiting. They deploy the metal against the Vervoids, which causes the creatures' leaf-covered bodies to die. Having saved the survivors, the Doctor and Mel depart in the TARDIS.

Back in the courtroom, the Inquisitor asks the Doctor if any of the Vervoids survived, and he informs her that none did; if even a leaf had survived and reached Earth, a Vervoid would have grown. Seizing on this, the Valeyard accuses the Doctor of committing genocide.

The play is set in the Great Hall of Monkswell Manor, Berkshire, in what Christie described as "the present".

Act I

Act I opens with the murder of a woman named Maureen Lyon, played out in sound only. The action then moves to Monkswell Manor, recently converted to a guesthouse and run by a young couple, Mollie and Giles Ralston. While waiting for the guests to arrive, Mollie listens to a radio report about the Lyon murder, which notes that police are looking for a man in a dark overcoat, observed near the scene.

Their four guests arrive. Christopher Wren is an unkempt, flighty young man. Giles reacts strongly to Wren with instant dislike and Mollie with instinctual trust. Mrs Boyle and Major Metcalf then arrive together in a taxi from the station. Mrs Boyle complains about many things; Metcalf is an amiable ex-military man. Miss Casewell, a mannish young woman, is the last of the booked guests to arrive, before an unexpected fifth party appears. Identifying himself in a foreign accent as Mr Paravicini, he tells the Ralstons his car has overturned in a snowdrift. He remarks that the snow has blocked the roads and that the denizens of the house are trapped. Uneasy about Paravicini's manner, Mollie nevertheless places him in the last remaining room.

The next afternoon the guest house proves to be snowed in, and the residents are restless. Mollie answers the telephone to Superintendent Hogben of the Berkshire Police. Hogben tells her that he is dispatching Sergeant Trotter to the guest house, and that the Ralstons must listen carefully to what Trotter has to tell them. The Ralstons wonder what they could have done to garner police attention.

Trotter appears at the door on a pair of skis and Major Metcalf discovers that the phone has stopped working.

Trotter explains he has been sent in regard to the murder of Maureen Lyon. In a story loosely based on the real Dennis O'Neill case, the dead woman and her husband had mistreated their three foster children, resulting in the death of the youngest. Both adults were imprisoned for their actions; the husband died in gaol, while the wife served her sentence and had been released, only to be found strangled. Police suspect the elder boy of the abused children, who would now be twenty-two, of being the killer.

Trotter reveals that a notebook found at the murder scene contained the address of Monkswell Manor and the words "Three Blind Mice". A note reading "This is the First" was pinned to the woman's body. The police have sent Trotter to find out how the Ralstons' guesthouse is connected to the murder and whether the residents are in danger. Both Giles and Mollie deny a connection to the case, though Mollie is ill at ease answering Trotter's questions and quickly excuses herself. Trotter asks each of the guests to explain why they are at Monkswell Manor and any connection they have to the foster children. All five guests deny any personal knowledge of the case.

While Trotter and Giles tour the house, Major Metcalf confronts Mrs Boyle, revealing that she was one of the magistrates who had assigned the children to the foster parents. Mrs Boyle acknowledges this but denies that she has any responsibility for what eventually happened to the children there.

As the evening wears on, Giles and Mollie become suspicious of each other while the guests snipe at one another. Sergeant Trotter traces the phone wire to find out if it has been cut. Mrs Boyle wanders back into the now-empty room and listens to the radio. The opening notes of "Three Blind Mice" are heard whistled by an unknown party and Mrs Boyle responds without alarm, speaking to the person only she can see. Suddenly, the lights go out and a scuffle is heard. Moments later, Mollie walks into the room and turns on the lights, only to find Mrs Boyle dead on the floor.

Act II

Ten minutes after Mollie finds Mrs Boyle dead of strangulation, Sergeant Trotter takes charge of the household. All the remaining residents are gathered in one room as he attempts to sort out the events of the evening. A shaken Mollie Ralston cannot provide him with any useful clues; the only thing she is sure she observed was the radio blaring. Frustrated, Trotter points out that their lives continue to be in danger; a third murder could very well happen, given the notes left with Maureen Lyon. He insists that everyone tell him where they were when Mrs Boyle was murdered. As each person recounts his or her whereabouts, Trotter takes them to account for inconsistencies or weaknesses in their stories. Finally, he declares that everyone in the house had the opportunity to commit the murder, since each of them was alone at the time. Giles counters that while seven people in the house lack alibis, only one fits the description of the man the police suspect to be the murderer: Christopher Wren. Wren insists that it is all a frame-up, and Trotter acknowledges that he lacks any evidence pointing to Wren in particular.

Mollie later pulls Trotter aside; Trotter says that while the police suspect the elder boy to be the killer, the dead boy also had relatives and loved ones who might be interested in revenge: the children's father, an army sergeant, for example; or the dead boy's sister, who would now be a young woman. Trotter notes that Metcalf or Paravicini could be the father, Miss Casewell or Mollie could be the sister, and Giles could be the elder boy. Mollie, aghast, objects to the notion that either she or Giles could be a murderer, but Trotter forces her to admit that they know little about each other's pasts.

Mollie soon finds herself in conversation with Christopher Wren, who confesses that he is actually an army deserter hiding from his past under a false name. Mollie acknowledges that she, too, is running away from her past. Despite the trust Christopher and Mollie are forming, he and Giles each suspect the other and nearly come to blows over Mollie. The situation is only defused by the arrival of Paravicini, who tells the company that Trotter's skis are missing.

Trotter again calls an assembly of the household, declaring that he now intends to check the alibis everyone provided to him after Mrs Boyle's murder. They will re-enact the murder, with each member of the household acting out another's alibi. Trotter's hope is that while most of the alibis will be verified, one will be proved impossible. Each person is to go to his or her assigned position and stay there until summoned back by Trotter. The household obediently disperses, leaving Trotter alone onstage.

Identity of the murderer

After the role-players scatter, Trotter sits for a moment before calling for Mollie. He tells her that she has risked extreme danger by not identifying herself to him; he now knows that she was once the schoolteacher of the doomed Corrigan children. She failed to answer a letter the younger boy sent her at the time, begging to be rescued from the farm. Mollie protests that she had been seriously ill when the letter arrived and was unable to even read it until well after the boy was dead. To this day, she says, she is haunted by her failure to help the children out of their circumstances.

Trotter takes a gun out of his pocket and points it at Mollie, telling her that though she assumed he was a policeman, she only believed that because he had rung up beforehand, playing the role of his own superintendent. Trotter is, in fact, Georgie, the elder Corrigan brother, and he intends to take his revenge on Mollie. Falling back into the demeanour of a wounded child who never grew up, he drops his gun and begins to strangle her, but is stopped by the sudden appearance of Miss Casewell. Casewell calls him by name and reveals that she is Kathy, his long-lost sister, come to take him somewhere safe. Major Metcalf, who accompanied Miss Casewell into the room, summons Giles and tells the frightened innkeepers that he had known all along that Trotter was not a policeman – because Metcalf himself is a policeman, having arranged to switch places with the real Major Metcalf after discovering the "Three Blind Mice" notebook on Maureen Lyon.

As the crew watch a supernova, Fry puts a metal pan of popcorn into the ship's microwave oven. The radiation causes the pan to emit sparks, which interact with the particles thrown off by the supernova and send the ship back to 1947. Since GPS technology does not yet exist in this time period, the crew have no way to navigate the ship accurately and crash-land in Roswell, New Mexico. Refusing to wear a seat belt like the rest of the crew, Bender is flung through the windshield on impact and smashed to pieces. The crew and Bender's disembodied head seek out a way to return to the 31st century, leaving Zoidberg behind to pick up the pieces. Zoidberg is captured by the U.S. military and taken to Roswell Air Base for experimentation. Assuming the pieces are the remnants of a flying saucer, the military "reconstructs" Bender's body as such.

Meanwhile, the microwave oven needed to return to the future has been destroyed and a replacement is not yet commercially available. A microwave antenna from the army base would work as a viable alternative, but Professor Farnsworth warns that stealing it could change history. He likewise warns Fry against visiting his grandfather, Enos, who is stationed at the base, as he might kill Enos and erase his own existence. However, Farnsworth's advice has the opposite effect; Fry becomes determined to seek out Enos and encourage him to pursue a sexual relationship with his fiancée Mildred. After several bumbling attempts to keep Enos safe, Fry resorts to locking him in an abandoned house. The house turns out to be located in the middle of a nuclear weapon testing range, and Enos is killed in a bomb test.

When Fry visits Mildred to console her on Enos' death, she begins to seduce him. Realizing that his existence has not been erased, he concludes that she cannot be his grandmother. The two have sex that night and are found by the rest of the crew the following morning. Seeing that Mildred has begun to act like his grandmother, Fry panics after Farnsworth tells him that he has become his own grandfather.

With time running out, Farnsworth decides that secrecy is no longer important and the crew storm Roswell Air Base by force to get the microwave dish, throwing the entire complex into disarray. Fry and Leela rescue Zoidberg from an alien autopsy while Farnsworth grabs Bender's body. As the ship leaves Earth's atmosphere and triggers the microwave dish for the time jump, Bender's head falls out and has to be left behind in 1947. Back in the 31st century, Fry laments the loss of Bender, until he realizes that his head must still be where it landed in New Mexico. The crew return to Roswell's ruins with a metal detector and dig up the head, still intact and functioning. They attach it to Bender's still-mangled, hovering, "UFO" body and return to New New York, content that their misadventures in 1947 have not changed history in any way.

Architect Peter Mitchell, satirist Michael Kellam, and actor Jack Holden are happy bachelors in their shared NYC apartment, with frequent parties and flings. One day, a baby named Mary arrives on their doorstep with a note revealing she is the result of Jack’s tryst with an actress named Sylvia during a Stratford Festival Shakespearean production a year prior.

Jack is in Turkey shooting a movie, and makes arrangements with a director friend to have a package delivered to the apartment. Jack asks his roommates to keep the delivery a secret per his friend's wishes; when Mary arrives, they believe she is the “package.”

Peter and Michael are totally befuddled how to care for Mary, and Peter leaves to buy supplies. Their landlady Mrs. Hathaway delivers a small box – the actual "package" of heroin – which Michael tosses aside. They learn to care for Mary, including diaper changes, baths, and feedings.

Four days later, two drug dealers arrive at the apartment for the package. Peter and Michael mistakenly give them Mary, along with a can of powdered milk the dealers believe is the heroin. Peter discovers the actual package; realizing the mix-up, he runs downstairs but trips, spilling the package's contents. He gathers up the drugs and confronts the men outside, causing a scuffle. A police officer on horseback intervenes; Peter rescues Mary, but the dealers flee with the can of powdered milk. The officer detains Peter and Michael at the apartment until Sgt. Melkowitz, a narcotics officer, arrives to question them. Jack calls from Turkey, but Peter and Michael are unable to talk openly as they are being recorded. They successfully hide the drugs, learning that Jack's friend Paul Milner is a drug dealer. A suspicious Melkowitz puts them under surveillance.

Mrs. Hathaway babysits Mary while Peter and Michael go to work. Returning home, they find Mrs. Hathaway bound and gagged and the apartment ransacked by the dealers, but Mary safe; a note threatens, "Next time we'll take the baby". Peter and Michael continue to care for Mary, adjusting to 'fatherhood' and growing attached.

Peter incapacitates an intruder, who turns out to be Jack, returning early after his movie role was cut. Jack assures Peter and Michael he knew nothing about the heroin. He initially denies his connection to Mary, but Sylvia’s note convinces him he is Mary’s father. Peter and Michael pass all parenting responsibility to Jack, who quickly grows to love her.

They receive a news clipping in the mail – Milner has been attacked by the drug dealers and hospitalized – with another threat: “Don't let this happen to you!” Peter, Michael, and Jack formulate a plan to trap the dealers, arranging a meeting. Jack, disguised as a pregnant woman, leaves the building with Mary, while Peter and Michael leave in a cab, followed by undercover officers, but manage to lose them in another cab driven by Jack. The three meet the dealers at the top floor of a construction site. Michael, hidden in the vents, records Peter’s conversation with the dealers but falls into the room, and a chase ensues. They manage to trap the dealers in an elevator as the police arrive. With the recording, they prove their innocence to Melkowitz, and the dealers are arrested.

Peter, Michael, and Jack fully embrace their role as Mary's guardians, until Sylvia arrives to take Mary with her to London. After she leaves with Mary, the three realize how desperately they miss the baby. Racing to the airport, they just miss Sylvia’s plane for London. Defeated, they return home to find Sylvia and Mary at the door. Sylvia tearfully says she doesn’t want to give up acting but must if she has to raise Mary alone. They invite her and Mary to move in; she accepts, and the four live happily with the baby.

In 1957, Tom Harley waits inside his farm cabin with his wife and his son, Ed. A doomed man seeks sanctuary at Tom's cabin, but Tom refuses and threatens to shoot him if he does not leave. Watching through a window, Ed witnesses the man caught and killed by a monster.

In the present, Ed Harley is a widowed father and owns a small store in the country. He leaves his young son, Billy, alone while he runs an errand. A group of teenage campers stop by at Harley's, and, while riding their dirt bikes, they mortally injure Billy. One teen, Steve, stays with the boy until his father's return; the rest flee the scene. At their cabin, the campers fight about whether or not to call the police. Joel, who is personally responsible for the boy's injury and is on probation for a similar incident, rips out the phone cord, knocks one of his friends unconscious and locks him and a girl in the closet to stop them from contacting the authorities.

Ed goes to see a witch and offers her gold, but she says that she cannot wake the dead. Instead, Ed says that he wants revenge; the witch agrees to help, but warns him that vengeance comes with a terrible price. On her orders, Ed goes to an old graveyard in the mountains, digs up a corpse, and brings it back to the witch's home. The witch uses blood from father and son to resurrect the corpse, which rises as a gigantic, spindly demonic monster named Pumpkinhead.

Back at the cabin, Joel begins to experience remorse for his actions and decides to turn himself in to the police. The monster, however, has already arrived. One of the girls, Maggie, hears a voice whispering her name. Seemingly hypnotized, she follows the voice outside the cabin. Steve brings her out of her trance, but Pumpkinhead kills him. Ed experiences the murder through the monster's eyes. While the campers search for Steve, Pumpkinhead drags away Maggie, and Ed again experiences the ensuing murder. He returns to the witch and begs her to stop the monster's actions. The witch, however, tells him that nobody can stop Pumpkinhead and Ed will die if he interferes with the killing spree.

Joel confronts Pumpkinhead with a machete, but it swats him aside and drags Kim away, whom it drops from a fatal height. The three remaining campers unsuccessfully beg the locals for help. Ed arrives and shoots Pumpkinhead, but when Joel checks to see if the creature is still alive, it grabs a fallen rifle and impales him with it. A local boy, Bunt, helps the two remaining campers, Tracey and Chris, reach an abandoned church. Bunt relates the legend of the monster Pumpkinhead, explaining that the monster avenges one who was wronged. If anyone tries to stop Pumpkinhead or help his victims, that person becomes marked, too. Chris's dirt bike fails to start after Pumpkinhead removes the drive chain; he lifts up the bike, with Chris still on it, and throws it against a tree. He then drags Chris back to Harley's house, where Tracey, Bunt, and Ed have taken shelter.

Pumpkinhead captures Bunt. Ed stumbles out of the barn but is accidentally stabbed in the arm by a pitchfork. Both Ed and Pumpkinhead cry out in pain, and Pumpkinhead releases Bunt. Ed notices that Pumpkinhead's head is turning more human as Ed himself appears more monstrous, then realizes that he and Pumpkinhead are one; the only way for Ed to kill the monster is to die himself.

Pumpkinhead grabs Tracey by the neck, but before he can kill her, Ed shoots himself in the head. Pumpkinhead momentarily collapses to the ground, then grabs Bunt again. Tracey takes the gun and Ed begs her to finish him off. Ed, now fully metamorphosed, appears to menace Tracey. She shoots him until both he and Pumpkinhead fall to the ground dead. Tracey, Bunt, and Chris then watch as Pumpkinhead bursts into flames. Later that night, the witch buries Ed in Pumpkinhead's grave, ready to wait for the next person seeking revenge, and still wearing the necklace his son Billy made him.

Lady Britomart Undershaft, the daughter of a British earl, and her son Stephen discuss a source of income for her grown daughters Sarah, who is engaged to Charles Lomax (a slightly comic figure who continually stupidly says "Oh, I say!"), and Barbara, who is engaged to Adolphus Cusins (a scholar of Greek literature). Lady Britomart leads Stephen to accept her decision that they must ask her estranged husband, Andrew Undershaft, for financial help. Mr. Undershaft is a successful and wealthy businessman who has made millions of pounds from his munitions factory, which manufactures the world-famous Undershaft guns, cannons, torpedoes, submarines and aerial battleships.

When their children were still small, the Undershafts separated; now grown, the children have not seen their father since, and Lady Britomart has raised them by herself. During their reunion, Undershaft learns that Barbara is a major in The Salvation Army who works at their shelter in West Ham, east London. Barbara and Mr. Undershaft agree that he will visit Barbara's Army shelter, if she will then visit his munitions factory.

A subplot involves the down-and-out and fractious visitors to the shelter, including a layabout painter and con artist (Snobby Price), a poor housewife feigning to be a fallen woman (Rummy Mitchens), an older laborer fired for his age (Peter Shirley), and a pugnacious bully (Bill Walker) who threatens the inhabitants and staff over his runaway partner, striking a frightened care worker (Jenny Hill).

When he visits the shelter, Mr. Undershaft is impressed with Barbara's handling of these various troublesome people who seek social services from the Salvation Army: she treats them with patience, firmness, and sincerity. Undershaft and Cusins discuss the question of Barbara's commitment to The Salvation Army, and Undershaft decides he must overcome Barbara's moral horror of his occupation. He declares that he will therefore "buy" (off) the Salvation Army. He makes a sizeable donation, matching another donation from a whisky distiller. Barbara wants the Salvation Army to refuse the money because it comes from the armaments and alcohol industries, but her supervising officer eagerly accepts it. Barbara sadly leaves the shelter in disillusionment, while Cusins views Undershaft's actions both with disgust and sarcastic pleasure.

According to tradition, the heir to the Undershaft fortune must be an orphan who can be groomed to run the factory. Lady Britomart tries to convince Undershaft to bequeath the business to his son Stephen, but neither man consents. Undershaft says that the best way to keep the factory in the family is to find a foundling and marry him to Barbara. Later, Barbara and the rest of her family accompany her father to his munitions factory. They are all impressed by its size and organisation. Cusins declares that he is a foundling, and is thus eligible to inherit the business. Undershaft eventually overcomes Cusins' moral scruples about the nature of the business, arguing that paying his employees provides a much higher service to them than Barbara's Army service, which only prolongs their poverty; as an example, the firm has hired Peter. Cusins' gradual acceptance of Undershaft's logic makes Barbara more content to marry him, not less, because bringing a message of salvation to the factory workers, rather than to London slum-dwellers, will bring her more fulfilment.

''Lanark'' comprises four books, arranged in the order Three, One, Two, Four (there is also a Prologue before Book One, and an Epilogue four chapters before the end of the book). In the Epilogue, the author explains this by saying that "I want ''Lanark'' to be read in one order but eventually thought of in another", and that the epilogue itself is "too important" to go at the end.

In Book Three, a young man awakes alone in a train carriage. He has no memory of his past and picks his name from a strangely familiar photograph on the wall. He soon arrives in Unthank, a strange Glasgow-like city in which there is no daylight and whose disappearing residents suffer from strange diseases, orifices growing on their limbs and body heat fading away. Lanark begins to associate with a group of twenty-somethings to whom he cannot fully relate and whose mores he cannot understand, and soon begins to suffer from dragonhide, a disease which turns his skin into scales as an external manifestation of his emotional repression. Lanark is eventually swallowed by a mouth in the earth, and awakes in the Institute, a sort of hospital which cures patients of their diseases but uses the hopeless cases for power and food. Upon learning this, Lanark is horrified and determines to leave.

Books One and Two constitute a realist Bildungsroman beginning in pre-war Glasgow, and tell the story of Duncan Thaw ("based on myself, he was tougher and more honest"), a difficult and precocious child born to impecunious and frustrated parents in the East End of Glasgow. The book follows Thaw's wartime evacuation, secondary education and his scholarship to the Glasgow School of Art, where his inability to form relationships with women and his obsessive artistic vision lead to his descent into madness and eventual suicide by drowning.

Book Four sees Lanark begin a bizarre, dreamlike journey back to Unthank, which he finds on the point of total disintegration, wracked by political strife, avarice, paranoia and economic meltdown, all of which he is unable to prevent. In the course of the journey, during which he meets his author, he rapidly ages. He finally finds himself old, sitting in a hilltop cemetery as Unthank breaks down in an apocalypse of fire and flood, and, his time of death having been revealed to him, he ends the book calmly awaiting it.

''Tomb of Horrors'' is set in the ''World of Greyhawk'', a ''D&D'' campaign setting. In ''Tomb of Horrors'', the adventurers encounter a number of tricks and traps while attempting to penetrate the tomb of a dead wizard. As the scenario begins, the players are told that the evil wizard Acererak is said to linger in his ancient tomb in undead form. Originally a powerful lich, he has (unbeknownst to the players) become a demi-lich, a more powerful form of undead that has transcended the need for any physical body apart from its skull. Player characters must survive the deadly traps in the tomb and fight their way into the demi-lich's elaborately concealed inner sanctum to destroy him.

The module is divided into thirty-three encounters, beginning with two false entrances to the tomb, and ending with "The Crypt of Acererak the Demi-Lich". Example encounters are the "Huge Pit Filled with 200 Spikes" (section 20), or encounter 22, "The Cavern of Gold and Silver Mists": "The mists are silvery and shot through with delicate streamers of golden color. Vision extends only 6'. There is a dim aura of good if detected for. Those who step into the mist must save versus poison or become idiots until they can breathe the clean air above ground under the warm sun.". The module ends with the destruction of Acererak without any postscript.

''Lyonesse'' (also known as ''Suldrun's Garden'')

King Casmir of Lyonesse arranges the marriage of his daughter Suldrun to Faude Carfilhiot, Duke of Vale Evander. Princes Aillas and Trewan of Troicinet are sent on a sea voyage to visit the various kingdoms of the Elder Isles to gain experience at statecraft. Faude Carfilhiot, wanting to be a powerful magician but lacking the patience to learn the necessary skills, schemes with his lover Tamurello. Suldrun delivers a son named Dhrun, who is taken by the fairies and replaced with the changeling Madouc.

''The Green Pearl''

King Casmir plots to destabilize South Ulfland by sending two agents, Sir Shalles and Torqual. Torqual plans to conquer all of the Elder Isles for himself. Aillas pursues and captures Lady Tatzel, declaring she is now his slave. She resists, but ends up falling in love with him. Glyneth is kidnapped by Visbhume and taken to the alternate world Tanjecterly as part of a plot by Casmir and Tamurello.

''Madouc''

On an unauthorized outing into the forest, Princess Madouc is separated from her bodyguard and discovers her mother, the fairy Twisk, and learns the truth. She meets Prince Dhrun at a reception and shares her knowledge with him.

King Casmir continues to plot against Aillas by funding the exploits of the Ska renegade Torqual, which however have little effect against Aillas's precautions.

Shimrod the wizard, at Murgen's request, investigates mysterious demonic apparitions in Ys, which appear to involve Melancthe. Shimrod disguises himself as a Scythian bravo to infiltrate Torqual's band. While there, he disrupts a plot to assassinate King Aillas and kidnap Dhrun.

Madouc's adopted father, King Casmir, attempts to arrange a marriage for her. When she refuses, the king punishes her by making Madouc the prize in a quest for the Holy Grail. Madouc's response is to seek the Grail herself. She and Pimfet travel to the castle where the Grail is, kills the Ogre Throop, and retrieves the Grail. It does not improve her relationship with her parents.

Torqual and Melancthe arrive at Murgen's home. Desmei orders Torqual to free the Green Pearl so she can be whole, but the Ska instead release Tamurello. Desmei's physical form is destroyed, and Tamurello tries to free Joald with the help of Torqual simply to spite Murgen. Joald manages to partially wrench free, and his presence in the Atlantic causes a massive tsunami that wipes out Ys instantly and the majority of Vale Evander shortly after. Before they can cause the downfall of the entire island however, Tamurello is defeated and Torqual is beheaded. Desmei and Tamurello are sent to an alternate dimension where one of Murgen's associates annihilates them utterly in supernatural fire. The Green Pearl is revealed to be a corrupting magical force and an element of a much larger inter dimensional war, which Murgen has been trying to keep from reaching Earth.

Casmir, emboldened by the news of the destruction of Vale Evander, goes to war against Dahaut. Dahaut is conquered, but this triggers an attack on Casmir by Aillas. Cassander is killed during a retreat. The Troice army routs Casmir's army, and Casmir enters the battle only to shortly after flee back towards Lyonesse Town. Casmir discovers to his dismay that Lyonesse Town has been captured in his absence. Queen Solace was exiled to Europe after the castle fell and the Grail is lost again, to be searched for later by King Arthur.

Casmir is arrested and spends the rest of his days in a cell ruminating over his defeat. Aillas declares himself king of the Elder Isles with Dhrun as his heir. He brings peace to the realm. Glyneth, now Queen, gives birth to her and Aillas' daughter, Princess Serle. Madouc and Dhrun are in love, and when Twisk is summoned to partake in the celebrations she recognizes Shimrod as Madouc's father.

In Crouch End, London, the electronics salesman Shaun has no direction in his life. He is disrespected by his colleagues, does not get along with his stepfather, Philip, and is dumped by his girlfriend, Liz. Heartbroken, Shaun gets drunk with Ed, his slacker best friend, at their favourite pub, the Winchester. At home, Shaun and Ed's flatmate, Pete, complains of a bite wound from a mugger and berates Shaun into getting his life together.

By morning, a zombie apocalypse has overwhelmed London. Shaun and Ed are slow to notice until they encounter two zombies in their garden, whom they beat to death with a shovel and cricket bat. They devise a plan to rescue Liz and Barbara, Shaun's mother, and then wait out the crisis in the Winchester. They escape in Pete's car and pick up Philip, who has been bitten, and Barbara. They use Philip's Jaguar to pick up Liz and her flatmates, David and Dianne. Philip reconciles with Shaun before Philip becomes a zombie.

The group abandon the car and sneak through their London neighbourhood, running into friends and evading zombies by imitating them. They take refuge inside the Winchester, where Shaun discovers that the Winchester rifle above the bar is functional. Barbara reveals she was bitten, and dies after giving Liz and Shaun's relationship her approval. David attempts to shoot Barbara, but Shaun stops him, causing the group to argue. Shaun accuses David of hating him and being in love with Liz, which Dianne admits. Shaun, distraught, is forced to shoot Barbara when she becomes a zombie.

Zombies break into the pub and devour David. Dianne rushes into the horde after him. The zombified Pete appears and bites Ed, and Shaun shoots and kills Pete. Shaun, Liz, and Ed take cover behind the bar, which Shaun sets ablaze. The three take refuge in the cellar. Realising they only have two bullets left, Shaun and Liz contemplate suicide while Ed elects to be devoured by the zombies. Shaun discovers a keg lift that opens out onto the street, and Ed volunteers to stay with the rifle as the zombies break in. The British Army arrive, gun down the horde and take Shaun and Liz to safety.

Six months later, civilisation has returned to normal, and surviving zombies are used as cheap labour and entertainment. Liz has moved in with Shaun, and Shaun keeps the zombified Ed tethered in his shed, where they play video games together.

The novel is set in West Germany and East Germany in the months of August and September; the year is unspecified.

Team Yankee ("Y" in the ICAO and NATO phonetic alphabet) is an armor-heavy company-sized unit (a "Team" in Army parlance). There is nothing special about this team; it is an average company-sized U.S. unit in an average battalion of the Regular Army.

Team Yankee is composed of First Platoon (Lieutenant Murray Weiss), Second Platoon (Second Lieutenant McAllister), Mech(anized Infantry) Platoon (Staff Sergeant Polgar), and Third Platoon (Second Lieutenant Gerry Garger). Captain Sean Bannon is company commander; First Lieutenant Robert Uleski is the executive officer; and company first sergeant is First Sergeant Raymond Harrert.

Captain Bannon is 27 years old, married and has three children. He studied military history, with a graduate degree, but is seen as an average officer; Coyle notes in the preface that Bannon will probably never rise in rank above lieutenant colonel.

The team has four M1 Abrams tanks per platoon numbered 11, 12, 13, 14, 21... to 34, with the first digit corresponding to the respective platoon. The XO's tank is numbered 55; the CO's tank 66. Thus, the team has 10 M1s in the first twelve chapters when its First Platoon is attached to another unit.

The team also has five M113 armored personnel carriers, and two M901 ITV TOW missile vehicles. The infantry is armed with Dragon antitank missiles and 66-millimeter LAWs. The Team also has a M113 AMEV (Armored Medical Evacuation Vehicle) and an M88 recovery vehicle.

The parent unit of Team Yankee is the First Battalion, 4th Armor. During the first twelve chapters it is attached to Task Force 3-78 Mechanized Infantry, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds. The brigade commander is Colonel Brunn.

The task force is composed of Team Yankee, C Company (Captain Craven), a standard infantry company, D Company, and another mech-heavy (one tank, two mech platoons) team, Team Bravo. In addition, there is an artillery support team (a FIST) (Second Lieutenant Rodney Unger) attached.

Prologue

The prologue begins with a series of quotations from international news sources listing the deteriorating international situation between the United States and the Soviet Union, particularly in the Persian Gulf, from July 15 to August 1, when NATO forces are mobilized and moved to the inter-German frontier.

Chapter 1: Stand-To

(August 3, early morning)

The novel begins with Team Yankee deployed forward towards the frontier with the German Democratic Republic. Captain Bannon is awakened by a radio check from his Third Platoon Leader, Lieutenant Garger—the third straight day Garger has used his radio to break radio silence. Unable to go back to sleep, Bannon inspects his unit and meets the other principal characters of the novel. He finds Garger, berates him, and decides that with a war coming on, Garger would need to be replaced as a liability.

Meanwhile, at the Army base, Pat Bannon, Sean's wife, understands that the possibility of war is high, and prepares to evacuate her small children while exercising the informal leadership over the other Army wives of Team Yankee.

Chapter 2: First Battle

(August 3, 0730 hours)

Colonel Reynolds inspects the forward positions of his task force, including Team Yankee, when the war starts. The Soviets push through the armored cavalry screen and attack the team, in dug in positions under cover. Team Bravo's company commander is killed in combat. Team Yankee repels the Soviet attack. To Captain Bannon's pleasant surprise, his problem lieutenant is proving to be quite competent in combat.

At the base, Pat serves as the informal head of Team Yankee's dependents. She makes a trip into the nearest town to make sure Sue Garger, Gerry's wife, is recovered. The roads are choked with military and refugee traffic.

Chapter 3: Change of Mission

(August 3, late afternoon/evening)

Pat Bannon, her children, and all the other dependents make it to Rhein-Main Air Base, where they await evacuation. As soon as an aircraft lands and offloads U.S. reinforcements, dependents are loaded on the plane. A Soviet air strike occurs while the dependents wait; Pat and her children must run past dead civilians to make the flight.

Meanwhile, the task force and the Team recover from the first firefight. Bannon finds that the attitude of those who have actually seen combat differs from the staff, who are more enthusiastic about the war.

Chapter 4: Into the Vacuum

(August 4, morning)

Team Yankee is ordered to attack Hill 214 with C Company in support. There is confusion in orders; Major Jordan, the battalion S-3, orders the attack be halted, while Colonel Reynolds, the battalion commander, orders Bannon to attack. 2LT McAllister, in Tank 21, is killed during the attack.

Chapter 5: Hunter and Hunted

(August 4, daytime)

In the fighting, Bannon's tank, 66, is crippled and his driver is killed. The surviving three crewmen in 66 defeat three T-62 tanks, which did not suspect 66 was still in action; the crew destroys 66 to prevent its capture. Bannon rejoins the Team and takes over Lt. Uleski's tank 55. C Company never arrives and the Team is forced to fight to hold Hill 214 on its own.

Chapter 6: On The Razor's Edge

(August 4/5)

Team Yankee holds off an attack by a Soviet battalion on Hill 214 during the night. Bannon's loader, PFC Richard Kelp, and Private McCauley volunteer to lead a Dragon gunner to engage the enemy on foot. The Dragon gunner is killed and Kelp and McCauley race against time to destroy a T-72 before it destroys them. Kelp is later awarded a Silver Star for his efforts.

Chapter 7: Check and Checkmate

(August 5, 0530 hours)

The Team was scheduled to withdraw at 0330 to U.S. lines, but every man in the company, fatigued from the fighting, falls asleep. Bannon wakes up two hours later, wakes up his tank crew and platoon leaders to the universal chorus. Bannon works out a way that the Team can withdraw in daylight with minimal casualties.

Chapter 8: R and R

The Team reaches the nearest town, where, to his fury, Bannon finds soldiers from C Company lounging around. Bannon reports to the task force commander; the Team is placed in reserve, where it can recover and receive reinforcements. 2nd Lt. Avery, an Armor School classmate of 2nd Lt Garger's, reports as Lt McAllister's replacement. Avery is puzzled by the slightly distant reception he gets from the Team's officers, including Garger.

Chapter 9: Deep Attack

(August 8 to 11)

Lt. Avery, who has yet to enter combat, finds himself isolated from the other members of the Team. He finds himself even more isolated when the Team starts to paint kill rings on the barrels of each tank.

The brigade to which Team Yankee belongs is ordered to follow up a West German counterattack into East Germany though the Thuringer Wald towards Leipzig and Berlin to cut off the Soviet offensive against the Northern Army Group. Because of the Team's combat experience, Bannon is ordered to lead the attack. Bannon expresses doubts to Colonel Reynolds that the rest of the battalion, in particular C Company, can carry out their role in supporting the armor teams.

The attack is delayed because the enemy, a Polish T-55 tank battalion, launches its attack first, which gives the Team a chance to fight from defensive cover. The Poles fall back and the Task Force pursues. Avery gets his first kill.

Chapter 10: Red Dawn

(August 11, morning)

The Task Force attack stops to consolidate its gains; the Polish unit that was scattered by Team Yankee reforms and attacks C Company. The Task Force, assisted by a German company, moves to support Captain Cravin's company. In the fight, the battalion XO is hit and taken out of action. D Company, Team Bravo, and the German unit, assisted by U.S. artillery, crush the Polish battalion.

The Task Force halts to reorganize. Bannon sends the Mech Platoon to secure the nearest town. An East German teenager, apparently a member of the Free German Youth, wounds one of Polgar's infantrymen with an AK-47 rifle and is killed immediately.

Chapter 11: Counterattack

Lt. Avery, in Tank 21, is wounded in an air attack by a Soviet helicopter. First Sergeant Harrert and the maintenance crew salvage the tank, grimly noting it would be back in combat in 24 hours.

The task force headquarters is attacked, severely wounding Colonel Reynolds and cutting off the XO, Major Jordan, from communicating with the Task Force; Bannon finds himself in command of the Task Force and leads three companies to defeat the Soviet counterattack and rescue the Task Force staff.

Chapter 12: "They Came in the Same Old Way"

The surviving Task Force staff, led by Major Jordan, resume command. C Company is effectively wiped out and its survivors are integrated with D Company. The Task Force plans to ambush a Soviet battalion heading westward into their position, centered on an East German town. Jordan plans a reverse slope defense, not attacking the Soviets at the logical choke point. The Soviet attackers, harassed by the Task Force scout platoon and U.S. artillery-delivered mines, fail to take the town or the hills to the north of the valley. The Soviet commander moves south, into Bannon's Team's guns.

When asked to give his after-action report, Bannon flippantly quotes the Duke of Wellington: "They came, you know, in the same old way and we beat them in the same old way".

Chapter 13: To the Saale

NATO as a whole, and the U.S. in particular, is running short of equipment and manpower. Units that are no longer capable of going on the offensive, or are not holding key terrain, are stripped of their most effective units. Team Yankee is thus moved from Task Force 3-78 to Task Force 1-4 Armored, which is their parent battalion, to continue the attack into Leipzig and Berlin.

The Team is assigned a screening role to the main effort, and is ordered to feint as if they intend to capture a bridge over the Saale River. However, due to speed of their attack and a divided command between the Soviet Army and the KGB, Lt. Weiss' platoon is able to capture the bridge intact.

Chapter 14: The Day After

The next day, Bannon finds out that the Soviets have launched a nuclear attack on the city of Birmingham, England; NATO retaliates by destroying the city of Minsk, Belarus. The Task Force is ordered to prepare for nuclear warfare (by dispersion, deeper cover, and protection against the effects of a blast on electronics and optics). Bannon immediately orders a tightening on hygiene and equipment maintenance to lessen the long-term effects of nuclear war.

Bannon prepares for the next attack when the news comes that a cease-fire was declared and the war is over.

Epilogue

The cease-fire holds. Life slowly resumes a routine closer to peacetime. A National Guard division relieves Bannon's division, and Bannon returns to his quarters only two months after he left, to reconnect with his family life.

In post-apocalyptic Australia, Max Rockatansky is crossing the desert in a camel-drawn truck when the airborne bandit Jedediah attacks him and steals his vehicle. Max continues on foot, following Jedediah's trail to a trading post called Bartertown. He is initially refused entry because he has nothing to trade but impresses the local officials with his toughness. The founder and ruler of the town, Aunty Entity, offers to resupply his vehicle and equipment if he completes a task.

Aunty explains that Bartertown's electrical supply depends on a crude methane refinery powered by pig feces. The refinery is run by a resourceful dwarf called Master and his giant bodyguard Blaster. "Master-Blaster" holds an uneasy truce with Aunty for control of Bartertown, but Master has begun to challenge Aunty's leadership. Aunty instructs Max to provoke a confrontation with Blaster. According to Bartertown law, conflicts are resolved by a duel to the death in a gladiatorial arena called Thunderdome. Max enters the subterranean Underworld refinery to size up Master-Blaster and befriends Pig Killer, a convict sentenced to work for slaughtering a pig to feed his family. Max finds his vehicle in Master-Blaster's possession and is forced to disarm his own booby-trapped engine. Here he discovers that although Blaster is exceptionally strong, he is hypersensitive to high-pitched noises, which severely disorient him.

Back on the surface, Max accuses Master publicly of stealing his vehicle and a duel is convened. Blaster dominates the duel until Max retrieves a dropped bosun's whistle and blows it to drive him back. Max knocks Blaster's helmet off and prepares to kill him, but relents upon seeing that he is mentally handicapped. Max confronts Aunty and reveals her plot to unseat Master, who becomes furious and threatens to shut down the refinery. Aunty retaliates by killing Blaster and imprisoning Master, and Max is sentenced to exile for breaking his deal with Aunty. He is bound, placed on a horse, and sent into the wasteland. When the horse collapses from exhaustion, he frees himself and continues on foot.

Max is found near death by a desert dweller named Savannah Nix, who hauls him back to her home, an oasis where a primitive tribe of children and teenagers live. The children, descended from survivors of a crashed Boeing 747, were left by their parents who went to find civilization. They believe Max is the pilot, Captain Walker, come to fix the aeroplane and fly them to civilization. Max denies this and insists that they remain in the relative safety of the oasis, knowing that the only "civilization" within reach is Bartertown.

Some of the children, led by Savannah, try to leave anyway. Max stops them by force, but another tribe member, Scrooloose, sets them free during the night and leaves with them. The tribe leader, Slake M'Thirst, asks Max to go after them, and he agrees, taking a few of the children with him to help. They find Savannah's group in danger but are unable to save one of the children from a sinkhole. With no supplies left, they are forced to head for Bartertown.

The group sneak in via an underground entrance, and, with Pig Killer's help, free Master and escape in a train-truck, destroying the refinery in the process. Aunty orders her guards to pursue and retrieve Master. Max's group slow the pursuers down while Scrooloose hijacks one of their vehicles. They come across Jedediah and his son, and Max coerces Jedediah into helping his group escape with his aeroplane. Max uses his vehicle to clear a path through Aunty's men, allowing the aeroplane to take off and escape but leaving him at Aunty's mercy. Aunty accepts him as an equal and spares his life, but leaves him in the desert.

Jedediah flies the children to the coast, where they discover the nuclear-devastated ruins of Sydney. Years later, the children have established a small society in the ruins with other lost wanderers. Savannah, now leader of the group, recites a nightly story of their journey and the man who saved them, as Max wanders in the desert to places unknown.

At the time when the book is set, "jaunting"—personal teleportation—has so upset the social and economic balance that the Inner Planets are at war with the Outer Satellites. Gully Foyle of the Presteign-owned merchant spaceship ''Nomad''—an uneducated, unskilled, unambitious man whose life is at a dead end—is marooned in space when the ship is attacked and he alone survives. After six months of his waiting for rescue, a passing spaceship, the ''Vorga'', also owned by the powerful Presteign industrial clan, ignores his signal and abandons him. Foyle is enraged and is transformed into a man consumed by revenge, the first of many transformations.

Foyle repairs the ship, but is captured by a cargo cult in the Asteroid Belt which tattoos a hideous mask of a tiger on his face. He manages to escape and is returned to Terra. His attempt to blow up the ''Vorga'' fails, and he is captured by Presteign. Unknown to Foyle, the ''Nomad'' was carrying "PyrE", a new material which could make the difference between victory and defeat in the war. Presteign hires Saul Dagenham to interrogate Foyle and find the ship and PyrE.

Protected by his own revenge fixation, Foyle cannot be broken, and he is put into a -proof prison. There he meets Jisbella McQueen, who teaches him to think clearly, and tells him he should find out who gave the order not to rescue him. Together they escape and get his tattoos removed—but not with total success: the subcutaneous scars become visible when Foyle becomes too emotional. They travel to the ''Nomad'', where they recover not only PyrE, but also a fortune in platinum. Jisbella is captured by Dagenham, but Foyle escapes.

Some time later, Foyle re-emerges as "Geoffrey Fourmyle", a ''nouveau riche'' dandy. Foyle has rigorously educated himself and had his body altered to become a killing machine. Through yoga he has achieved the emotional self-control necessary to prevent his stigmata from showing. He seeks out Robin Wednesbury, a one-way telepath, whom he had raped earlier in the novel, and persuades her to help him charm his way through high society.

Foyle tracks down the crew of the ''Vorga'' to learn the identity of the ship's captain, but each is implanted with a death-reflex and dies when questioned. Each time, Foyle is tormented by the appearance of "The Burning Man", an image of himself on fire.

At a society party, Foyle is smitten with Presteign's daughter Olivia. He also meets Jisbella again—now Dagenham's lover—who chooses not to reveal Foyle's identity, although Dagenham has realized it anyway (Foyle's alias was implanted in his subconscious mind during Dagenham's interrogation). During a nuclear attack by the Outer Satellites, Foyle goes to Olivia to save her. She tells him that to have her, he must be as cruel and ruthless as she is.

Robin, traumatized by the attacks, tries to buy her way out of her arrangement with Foyle with the name of another ''Vorga'' crew member. Foyle agrees, but immediately reneges. In response, Robin goes to Central Intelligence to betray him.

Foyle learns that the captain of the ''Vorga'' joined a cult on Mars and has had all her sensory nerves disabled, making her immune to conventional torture. Foyle kidnaps a telepath to interrogate the captain, and learns that the ship did not rescue him because it was picking up refugees, taking their belongings, and ejecting them into space. He also learns that Olivia Presteign was the person in charge. Olivia rescues him from Martian commandos, as she sees in Foyle someone who can match her hatred and need to destroy.

Driven by a guilty conscience, Foyle tries to give himself up to Presteign's lawyer, Regis Sheffield, who is known as a Terran patriot. Sheffield turns out to be a spy for the Outer Satellites, and he captures Foyle. Sheffield tells Foyle that when the ''Nomad'' was attacked, Foyle was taken off the ship, transported 600,000 miles away, and set adrift in a spacesuit to be a decoy to attract ships to be ambushed. Instead, Foyle space-jaunted—teleporting a cosmic distance, very much further than had been previously believed possible—back to the ''Nomad''. Now, the Outer Satellites not only want PyrE, they want Foyle as well, to learn the secret of space-jaunting.

Meanwhile, Presteign reveals that PyrE is activated by telepathy, and Robin is enlisted to trigger it to flush out Foyle. Bits of PyrE left exposed by Foyle's tests to determine its purpose cause destruction worldwide, but primarily at Foyle's abandoned encampment in St. Patrick's Cathedral, where Sheffield has brought him. The church partially collapses, killing Sheffield and trapping Foyle, unconscious but alive, over a pit of flame. Suffering from synesthesia brought on by the explosion affecting his neurological implants, Foyle through space and time as The Burning Man. Finally he lands in the future, where Robin telepathically tells him how to escape from the collapsing cathedral.

Back in the present, Foyle is pressured to surrender the rest of the PyrE, which was protected from exploding by its Inert Lead Isotope container, and to teach mankind how to space- . He leads them to where the rest of the PyrE is hidden, but makes off with it and across the globe, throwing slugs of PyrE into the crowd at each stop. He asks humanity to choose: either destroy itself or follow him into space.

Foyle now realizes the key to space-jaunting is faith: not the certainty of an answer, but the conviction that somewhere an answer exists. He from one nearby star to another, finding new worlds suitable for colonization, but reachable only if he shares the secret of space-jaunting. He comes to rest back with the cargo cult, where the people see him as a holy man and await his revelation.

Like many other Burroughs stories, ''A Fighting Man of Mars'' resembles ''The Arabian Nights''. The story is purportedly relayed back to earth via the Gridley Wave, a sort of super radio frequency previously introduced in ''Tanar of Pellucidar'', the third of Burrough's ''Pellucidar'' novels, which thus provides a link between the two series. The story-teller is Ulysses Paxton, protagonist of the previous novel, ''The Master Mind of Mars'', but this story is not about him; rather, it is the tale of Tan Hadron of Hastor, a lowly, poor padwar (a low-ranking officer) who is in love with the beautiful, haughty Sanoma Tora, daughter of Tor Hatan, a minor but rich noble. As he is only a padwar, Sanoma spurns him. Then Sanoma Tora is kidnapped, and the novel moves into high gear.

As Tan Hadron crosses Mars ("Barsoom", as Burroughs calls it) searching for Sanoma Tora, he encounters some of Barsoom's most ferocious beasts: huge, many-armed, flesh-eating white apes, gigantic spiders, and the insane cannibals of U-Gor. He also meets the mad scientist Phor Tak, who cackles "Heigh-oo!" and is crazed with the desire for revenge.

The initial simplicity of Burroughs' well-worn pursuit plot is elaborated by Hadron's rescue of an escaped slave, Tavia, from a band of six-limbed Green Martians of Torquas, en route to the city of Jahar where Hadron believes Sanoma Tora has been taken. Tavia is an atypical Burroughs heroine; depicted as self-reliant and competent with weapons, witty and intelligent, she compares favorably for both reader and Hadron with beautiful but shallow Sanoma Tora, who ultimately shows herself unworthy of the virtuous hero. With the addition of Nur An, a disaffected Jaharian warrior, and another escaped woman slave, Phao, Hadron's quest becomes more collaborative than Burroughs' usual, although Tavia, in an unsurprising plot development, is revealed to be a princess at the end.

A scientific expedition to the planet Saturn in 2025, aboard the ship ''Ringmaster'', discovers a strange satellite in orbit around the planet. Commanding the ship is Cirocco Jones, a tall NASA career woman, aided by astronomer Gaby Plauget, the clone twin physicists April and August Polo, pilot Eugene Springfield, physician Calvin Greene and engineer Bill (whose last name is never given).

As they reach the satellite they realize it is a huge hollow torus, a Stanford torus habitat. Before they can report this the ship is entangled in cables from the object. The crew is rendered unconscious and later wake up inside the habitat. Initially separated, Cirroco and Gaby find each other and travel together through the world inside the torus to find the rest of the crew.

They find Calvin living as a companion inside a ''Blimp'', an intelligent gasbag a kilometer long, one of many that swim forever in the air inside the habitat. Calvin can speak to the blimp and understand its responses, which consist of whistles. His blimp's name is ''Whistlestop'', in human terms. Calvin helps Gaby and Cirocco find the other crew members (except April). He ultimately decides to leave his human companions to live with the blimp permanently.

The remaining companions encounter the Titanides, strange centaur-like beings who speak a language based on music. Cirocco finds she has the ability to speak their language. The Titanides are in a perpetual state of war with the Angels, birdlike humanoid creatures. They fight because of an impulse that occurs when they are near each other, but do not know why they have the impulse.

The humans learn from the Titanides that the torus itself is alive, and a controlling intelligence, called ''Gaea'', lives in the hub of the torus 600 km above them. Cirocco, Gaby, and Gene decide to climb up to this place using the support cables that maintain the structure against centrifugal force. During the journey, Gene's behavior becomes increasingly erratic. He rapes and assaults Gaby and leaves her for dead, and then rapes Cirocco. However, Gaby is not dead and rescues Cirocco, cutting off Gene's ear with a hatchet and destroying his face. The two women continue climbing for months. High in one of the spokes of the great wheel they find April, who has been transformed into an angel. She, like the other Angels, is solitary by nature, and can hardly bear to be near them.

Finally reaching the hub, they discover Gaea, who presents herself as a frumpy middle aged woman. She explains that the great wheel is very old. Some of the regional intelligences around the rim have rebelled against the center, and it was one of these regional intelligences that captured the ''Ringmaster'' and altered its crew, not Gaea herself. Gaea rescued them and, unable to change them back, placed them where they would be happy.

Gaea has been watching television signals from Earth and is obsessed by movies, especially from Hollywood's Golden Age. Having seen war movies, and deciding that humanity will inevitably declare war on her, the Titanide-Angel war was a way for her to practice.

Gaea offers to give Cirocco a long life and unusual abilities in exchange for being Gaea's agent at the Rim, her ''Wizard''. Cirocco accepts, with the condition that the war between the Titanides and Angels must stop.

In the distant future, thousands of years after a great war between humans and their biologically engineered weapons, humans live in everything from small tribes to large nations. One nation, the Empire, has discovered a black tower in the middle of a lake near their capital, which gave them access to large amounts of ancient weapons which they used to beat back and control the ever present monsters in the world. The Imperials were corrupted by this power and became conquerors of others as opposed to liberators from a violent world.

The introduction movie opens with the protagonist, Keil Fluge (unnamed in the North American version), hunting in a canyon. After seeing an Imperial flying battleship in the sky, he is attacked by two creatures and chases one of them to a large, ancient complex built directly into the rock. He explores the ruin, and sees relics of old technology still hanging from the ceilings. Another gigantic creature suddenly attacks him, and though his weapon is useless against the armored creature, a rumbling triggers a cave in, which crushes the monster and saves Keil. From the newly created hole, an armored, blue dragon flies down the cavern with a rider across its shoulders, being chased by an even bigger black dragon as the cavern is destroyed in an explosion. Regaining consciousness outside, Keil sees the two dragons locked in combat in the air before him. Dodging a blast from the black dragon, the blue dragon's rider is then hit by single shot to the chest, and the black dragon flies away. The blue dragon flies towards Keil. A psychic connection is made between the rider and Keil, who is told not to let the black dragon reach the black tower. The rider then dies and Keil picks up his fallen gun, climbs atop the dragon and flies away, determined to finish the rider's quest.

During the first level of the game, Keil and his dragon fly through a drowned city, where they encounter a small Imperial patrol ship. That ship sends a report to a large fleet of ships flying above the clouds. It is revealed that the Imperial forces are specifically searching for the blue dragon. The second level is a desert, where Keil and the dragon encounter gigantic worm-like creatures. At the stormy edge of the desert, they are confronted by the Black Dragon, which is defeated and speeds away. The third level is a mountainous landscape at night-time where Keil and the dragon get reacquainted with the Imperial forces, which were exploring ancient ruins. These encounters illustrate the ongoing conflict between the Imperial forces and the ancient machines and creatures. The fourth level is an ancient facility in which Keil and the dragon are pursued by both Imperial airships and cybernetic sentinels left behind by the ancient civilization. During the fifth level, they defeat a large armada of the most powerful Imperial ships over a forested area. A cutscene then shows a fleet of dragon-like creatures coming out of the tower to attack the Imperial forces. The sixth level features the black dragon and Keil racing through the battle-scarred Imperial capital. During this, they are both waylaid by the creatures and machines seen attacking the Imperial fleet around the tower while also being fired on by Imperial defenses. The black dragon then reaches the Tower and is mutated into a gigantic super-dragon and begins a climactic battle with Keil and the blue dragon, after which the black dragon is defeated and falls into the ocean.

In the ending cutscene, Keil and the dragon enter the tower. While traveling down a long corridor, the dragon surrounds Keil in a force field, lifting him from the saddle and suspending him in the hallway. Keil watches as the dragon continues on to the core of the tower, then a blinding light is seen and the tower explodes. Keil wakes up some time later in a desert area abutting the ocean. Looking down, he sees the foot prints of the blue dragon around him, indicating that after the explosion, the dragon carried him to safety and flew away.

The novel is written in the first-person, continuing the aesthetic of Ellis' earlier ''Less Than Zero'', and is told from the points of view of multiple characters. The main narrators are three students: Paul, Sean, and Lauren. A number of other characters also provide first-hand accounts throughout the story, which takes place at the fictional Camden College, a liberal arts school on the East Coast of the United States. The three main characters (who rarely attend class) end up in a love triangle within a sequence of drug runs, "Dressed to Get Screwed" parties, and "End of the World" parties.

The story begins and ends midway through a sentence (the first word in the book being 'and', the last words are 'and she') in order to give the effect that it begins somewhere closer to the middle, rather than at a true beginning (in medias res). Another interpretation is that the story has neither a beginning nor an ending, signifying the endless cycle of debauchery in which the characters of the novel engage. This is sometimes mistaken by readers as a typographical error or the result of a missing page, but was purposely written by Ellis. The novel ends in a similar fashion, with the last sentence cut off before its end.

The ''Enterprise'' receives an emergency distress call from Rozhenko, currently posted to Boraal II, a class M planet in the process of suffering an atmospheric catastrophe.

The Federation observation post is found to be deserted, but force field shielding has been set up nearby which protects a series of caverns. ''Enterprise'' Captain Jean-Luc Picard decides to send an away team to investigate. Concerned for his brother, Worf volunteers, and Picard orders him to go alone and be surgically altered to pass as a Boraalan. Worf transports to the planet and discovers that his brother set up the shield to protect the local villagers.

Rozhenko meets with the ship’s senior officers and describes his plan to save one village of the doomed planet by setting up a concealed artificial biosphere. Picard replies that the Federation Prime Directive prohibits interference with the natural development of the Boraalan civilization; it is not for them to decide that one group shall survive while the rest of the planet perishes.

After witnessing the atmospheric dissipation extinction event transpire, the crew is puzzled by an unexpected power drain, the origin of which Worf tracks to the Holodeck. His brother has transported the population of the Boraalan village aboard the ship, using the Holodeck to replicate caverns identical to those on the planet, misleading the villagers into thinking they are still on Boraal II.

Rozhenko tells Worf and Picard that he believes offering the Boraalan culture a chance of survival is more important than following the Prime Directive. He champions his updated plan of transporting the Boraalans to a new home on a different planet. Picard reluctantly authorizes the plan and orders Chief Medical Officer Dr. Beverly Crusher and Operations Officer Lt. Commander Data to find a new home planet for the Boraalans.

Crusher and Data choose Vacca VI as the new Boraalan home world, but it is almost two days away at maximum warp. Ship’s Chief Engineer Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge tells Picard and Rozhenko that the Holodeck program may not run that long. Rozhenko volunteers to return to the Boraalans and help account for any anomalies in the program. A mistrustful Picard orders Worf to accompany him.

Returning to the Holodeck, Nikolai and Worf tell the Boraalans that they will lead them to a new home. As they travel, Worf and Rozhenko nearly come to blows when Worf learns that his brother has impregnated one of the villagers, and Nikolai tells Worf that he intends to remain with the Boraalans.

Vorin, the village chronicler, finds his way out of the Holodeck and suffers severe culture shock at the reality of the world outside. ''Enterprise'' Counsellor Deanna Troi and Picard try to help him adjust, offering him the choice of returning to his people or staying on the ship. Ultimately Vorin cannot live with what he has discovered and commits ritual suicide.

The ''Enterprise'' arrives at the new Boraalan home, and the Boraalans are beamed down to the eventual site of their new village. Worf and Nikolai make peace when Worf accepts that the Boraalan race would not have survived if not for his brother's unconventional methods. Nikolai assuages Worf by telling him that he is going to stay with the villagers and become the new village chronicler. Aboard the ''Enterprise'', Picard muses with Crusher that while their plan for the Boraalans worked out well, he is disappointed that Vorin was not able to bridge the gap between their two cultures.

In the Northland town of Kaitaia in spring 1978, nineteen-year-old Gerry Austin (Kelly Johnson) opportunistically steals a wallet and uses the cash and driver's licence inside to rent a yellow Mini. With no particular aim in mind, he drifts down to Auckland. Meanwhile, in Auckland, the middle-aged John (Tony Barry), has just had Sue, his girlfriend of six years, walk out on him and fly home to Invercargill. After a night on the bottle, John decides to go down to Invercargill.

Searching for transport, John notices Gerry being stopped by a traffic officer for failing to wear a seat belt. John intervenes and manages to get the officer off writing a ticket. As thanks, Gerry offers John a lift part of the way. The duo stop for petrol in the northern Waikato, but accidentally drive off without paying, drawing police attention to the car.

Further down the road, Gerry and John pick up Shirl (Claire Oberman), who is heading to Wanganui, and after informing the duo that she is a virgin, Gerry makes a bet that this will change before reaching Wanganui. After failing to pay for petrol on purpose in the central North Island, they are pursued by a motorcycle officer, with the duo ending up avoiding arrest by driving into a car wreckers.

Shirl doesn't leave at Wanganui, and decides to stay with the guys and go to Wellington. In Wellington, the trio meet Mulvaney (Bruno Lawrence), an old associate of John's, who gives the trio overnight accommodation at his garage and supplies them with money and drugs in return for parts of the car. Leaving for the inter-island ferry the next morning, Gerry runs a red light and is immediately pursued by the police through central Wellington. The trio avoid the police by driving through the Wellington railway station and stowing the Mini in an empty boxcar being shunted onto the ferry.

Arriving in Picton in the South Island, the boxcar is attached to a train destined for Christchurch, and the trio enjoy a leisurely ride, decorating the wagon with the name "Blondini" and other items found in the train's wagons. After a night of partying, Gerry finally wins his bet with Shirl. Arriving in Christchurch in the morning, the trio finds out the wagon is not leaving the city for the West Coast until that night, so spend the day on the town. Gerry and John return to the train, but notices Shirl is not there, and the train leaves without her.

After leaving the train, Gerry and John stop at a tearoom further down the coast. They find out from the television that Shirl was arrested for shoplifting, and that they're wanted in a national man-hunt of the "Blondini Gang". Crossing back over the Southern Alps, the Mini is pursued by a determined police officer (Marshall Napier) down the Lake Hāwea shoreline. He almost catches Gerry and John, but ends up driving off the road and down the bank trying to avoid a combine harvester blocking the road. The duo sell more parts off the car at Cromwell, but as they are short-changed John takes a full petrol can as extra payment.

At Dunedin, the duo meet Snout, who helps them avoid a police roadblock and buys more parts off the car. However, after he learns they're heading for Invercargill, he tips them off to the police. Stopping for conveniences, John is spotted by police; unable to find Gerry, he drives off in the Mini, not realising Gerry is underneath the car trying to remove the muffler. Gerry is arrested, but manages to escape from the police car and jumps on top of the fleeing Mini. The police try to PIT the Mini, and Gerry falls off and is hit by the pursuing police car. John says goodbye to Gerry, who is severely injured, then takes the car and proceeds to Invercargill.

John encounters a roadblock at the entrance to Invercargill and diverts through a cemetery to avoid it, but not before the Armed Offenders Squad shoots a hole in the Cromwell fuel can, spilling the petrol. Approaching Sue's house, the insecure exhaust dragging along the road ignites the fuel, setting it alight. John reunites with Sue, but their reunion is short-lived when the burning Mini draws the attention of emergency services. With police surrounding the house, John finally admits defeat and surrenders.

Annelle Dupuy, a shy, awkward beauty school graduate, moves to a northwestern Louisiana town where Truvy Jones hires her to work in her home-based beauty salon.

Meanwhile, M'Lynn Eatenton and her daughter, Shelby, busily prepare for Shelby's wedding that is being held later that day. Along with Clairee Belcher—the former mayor's cheerful widow—they arrive at Truvy's to have their hair done. While there, Shelby, who has type 1 diabetes, suffers a hypoglycemic attack, but recovers quickly with the women's help. M'Lynn reveals that due to Shelby's medical condition, her doctor advises against her having children. Shelby considered ending her engagement to her fiancé, Jackson, so he would not be deprived of children.

Grouchy and sarcastic Louisa "Ouiser" Boudreaux arrives at the salon and immediately begins interrogating Annelle about her background. Annelle tearfully reveals that her no-good husband, Bunkie, is evading the police and has taken all their money, her clothes and jewelry, and the car. Annelle further admits she is unsure her marriage is legal. Shelby, sympathetic, invites Annelle to the wedding reception where she meets bartender Sammy DeSoto. Soon after, Annelle, following a short-lived wild streak, becomes deeply religious, annoying everyone, including Sammy.

During the Christmas holidays, Shelby announces she is pregnant. Everyone is thrilled except M’Lynn, knowing the risks. Truvy encourages M'Lynn to instead focus on the joy a new baby brings.

Shelby has a baby boy, Jackson Jr., but soon develops kidney failure requiring regular dialysis. Around Jackson Jr.'s first birthday, Shelby undergoes a successful transplant with M'Lynn's donated kidney. Shelby recovers, but four months later, Jackson arrives home to find her unconscious. Shelby is comatose, having contracted an infection in her central nervous system due to the suppressive therapy that keeps her body from rejecting the kidney. After doctors determine Shelby's condition is irreversible, the family jointly decide to remove her from life support.

After the funeral, M'Lynn breaks down, but the other women comfort her. M'Lynn gradually accepts her daughter's decision to have risked her life in return for a few special years of motherhood and decides to focus her energy on helping Jackson raising her grandson. Annelle, now married to Sammy and pregnant, tells M'Lynn she wants to name her own baby after Shelby, as she was the reason she and Sammy met. M'Lynn approves, stating, "Life goes on."

At the town Easter egg hunt, Annelle goes into labor and is rushed to the hospital and another life begins.

Mary (Katharine Hepburn), by assuming her throne as queen of Scotland, strikes terror into the heart of Queen Elizabeth I (Florence Eldridge). After languishing in jail for 18 years at Elizabeth's command, Mary is offered a pardon if she will sign away her throne. Will she accept the deal, or die instead?

In 1945, Las Vegas, World War II veteran Frank Harris returns to his mother and invites her to a ride on his motorcycle. The two are involved in a traffic collision where Frank's mother dies. Afterwards, Frank is inadvertently transported to a cartoon-like alternate universe called the "Cool World", where he restarts his life as a detective for Cool World's local police department.

In 1992, underground cartoonist Jack Deebs is being released from a ten-year prison sentence for the murder of a man he found in bed with his wife. During his sentence, he created a series of comics called Cool World based on recurring visions of his, prominently featuring femme fatale Holli Would. Holli's wish is to escape Cool World and become a real person, which is possible when "doodles" (slang for Cool World's inhabitants) have sexual intercourse with "noids" (slang for humans). However, Frank and his partner Nails, a doodle, keep a valiant eye on Holli to ensure that the two dimensions do not intertwine.

Shortly after his release, Jack is transported into Cool World and smuggled into a local nightclub by Holli and her henchmen. Frank aggressively confronts Jack, explaining that Cool World has existed long before he created his series. He also warns him that writing utensils, such as his fountain pen, are lethal to the doodles; and to abstain from having sex with Holli, as her transforming into a noid can be dangerous for both dimensions. Despite these warnings, Frank himself is in love with another doodle, Lonette, but limits himself to platonic advances. Jack succumbs to Holli's advances, and she makes love to him, which transforms her into a noid. Holli steals Jack's pen to entrap Nails, and leaves with Jack for the real world.

In the real world, Holli finds herself excited and overwhelmed experiencing real sensations. Due to her presence there, she and Jack spontaneously flicker in between noid and doodle forms. While contemplating their situation, Holli tells Jack about the "Spike of Power", an artifact which was the cause of Frank being transported into Cool World and placed on top of the Union Plaza Hotel by a doodle who crossed into the real world, and admits she wants to use it to remain in her noid form permanently. When Jack displays skepticism about the idea, Holli abandons him to search for the spike on her own.

Frank learns what has happened and returns to the real world, where he reluctantly teams up with Jack in a bid to stop Holli despite hostility between one another. They arrive at the hotel as Holli begins to climb to the top of the tower. In his pursuit, Frank is pushed off the building to his death by Holli. As she seizes the spike, she releases a multitude of monstrous doodles into the real world, affecting her surroundings. The Spike also transforms Jack into a superhero-like doodle, and in the ensuing chaos, frees Nails from the pen.

Although enticed to ignore and begin a new life in the real world with Holli, Jack returns the Spike to its rightful place, sending him, Holli and the invading doodles back from whence the creatures came and restoring the balance between their dimensions. Nails brings Frank's body back to Cool World, where he and Lonette mourn his loss. However, as she finds out from Nails that Holli was briefly in her doodle form when she killed Frank, she explains that a noid killed by a doodle in the real world can be reborn as a doodle in Cool World. Frank is transformed into a doodle, allowing him to continue his relationship with Lonette. Jack and Holli, permanently in doodle form, are last seen as Jack begins planning their new life together, much to Holli's dismay.

Brian Kessler is a graduate student and journalist whose article about serial killers has gotten him an offer for a book deal. He and his girlfriend Carrie Laughlin, an avant garde photographer, decide to relocate to California in hopes of enriching their careers. The two plot their journey from Louisville, Kentucky, to Los Angeles, planning to visit infamous murder sites along the way which Carrie can photograph for Brian's book. Short on funds, Brian posts a ride-share ad on the university campus.

Meanwhile, psychopathic parolee Early Grayce has just lost his job. His parole officer learns of this and comes to the trailer park where Early lives with his naïve girlfriend Adele Corners. Early refuses the officer's offer of a job as a janitor at the university, saying he wants to leave the state, but the officer pressures him into keeping his appointment for the job interview. When Early arrives at the campus, he sees the ride-share ad and calls Brian, who agrees to meet him the following day. Early sends Adele ahead, then murders his landlord before joining her to wait for Brian and Carrie. Carrie is reluctant about riding with the couple given their rough appearance, but Brian encourages her to give them a chance. On the road, unbeknown to his companions, Early murders a man in a gas station bathroom and steals his money. When they arrive at their first hotel, Early cuts Adele's long hair shorter to try to match Carrie's.

At another hotel, Early invites Brian out to play pool, leaving Adele and Carrie alone together. Adele explains that her mother did not approve of her relationship because Early had just been released from prison. Adele reveals to Carrie that she suffered a vicious gang rape and that she views Early as her protector, even though he sometimes "punishes" her. While Carrie and Adele drink beer, Adele also admits to Carrie that Early forbids her to smoke or drink. Meanwhile, at a local bar, Early assaults a man who confronts Brian. Later on during the road-trip, Early introduces Brian to pistol shooting in a remote, unnamed location.

Carrie is alarmed by Brian's growing fascination with Early, and by Brian's nonchalant response to the news that Early is a convicted felon. After catching Early and Adele having sex in the car, she gives Brian an ultimatum: either they rid themselves of the pair, or she will leave. At a desert gas station, Carrie glimpses a news report about Early being a suspected murderer. Early kills the gas station attendant in front of Carrie and continues the trip with the couple as hostages. At an abandoned mine camp, the party encounter two police officers whom Early shoots and kills. They next come to the home of an elderly couple in the desert. Early beats the man to death, but Adele allows the woman to flee.

When Early confronts Adele about letting the woman free, she hits him in the face with a cactus and chastises him, after which he shoots her to death. He then knocks Brian unconscious before kidnapping Carrie, driving her to the abandoned Dreamland nuclear testing site on the California-Nevada border. Early forces Carrie to dress in Adele's clothes and the film implies that he rapes her off-camera. Brian regains consciousness, and the elderly woman gives him the keys to her truck. Brian follows Early to the test site and attacks him, hitting him in the face with a shovel. Brian finds Carrie, who appears to be in shock, handcuffed to a bed in an abandoned house. Early, who was only stunned, attacks Brian and they struggle. Early is hit over the head by Carrie with the limb from a nuclear test mannequin. When he continues the attack, Brian shoots and kills him.

Some time later, Brian and Carrie are living in an oceanfront house in Malibu. As Brian sifts through tapes made with his voice recorder during their trip, Carrie tells him that a gallery in Venice is interested in her art. Brian responds by suggesting they go out to celebrate. As they depart, Brian unintentionally leaves a recording running, which reveals a "thank you" message Adele covertly left at the end of a tape.

Suburban homeowner Ray Peterson is home on a week-long vacation. Late one night, he hears strange noises coming from the basement of his new and reclusive neighbors, the Klopeks. Ray and his other neighbors—Art Weingartner and Vietnam War veteran Mark Rumsfield—gradually suspect the Klopeks may be ritualistic murderers. On another night, they observe the youngest Klopek cart an oversized garbage bag to their curbside garbage can and aggressively mash it down. Later that night, during a rainstorm, Ray sees the Klopeks digging in their backyard. In the morning, Ray, Mark, and Art search the garbage truck for human remains after the Klopeks' trash is collected, but find nothing.

Mark's wife Bonnie finds their neighbor Walter's dog running loose. Worried about the elderly man, Ray, Art, the Rumsfields, and teenage neighbor Ricky Butler enter Walter's house and find overturned chairs and Walter's toupée, but no Walter. Ray collects the dog, leaves a note for Walter, slips the toupée back in through the mail slot, and sees one of the Klopeks watching him from their house. Ray and Art theorize that the Klopeks may have used Walter as a human sacrifice, becoming further convinced when Ray's dog digs up a human femur from along the Klopeks' fence line. Ray's wife Carol, tired of the men's behavior, organizes a welcome visit to the Klopeks'. While the Petersons and Rumsfields meet Hans, Reuben, and Dr. Werner Klopek, Art snoops around the Klopeks' backyard and is chased out by a large dog. Afterward, Ray reveals to Art and Mark that he found Walter's mail and toupée at the Klopeks', proving they had been in Walter's house.

The next day, Ray sends Carol and their son Dave to visit Carol's sister. When the Klopeks leave, Art and Ray enter their backyard to search for Walter's corpse while Mark acts as lookout. Finding nothing in the yard, Art and Ray break into the Klopeks' basement, discover what appears to be a crematorium, and dig deep into the floor in search of human remains. The Klopeks return, accompanied by the police after having seen their basement lights on. Ray strikes a gas line with his pickaxe; Art escapes before the house explodes, and Ray emerges from the flames scorched and disheveled just as Carol returns home.

Walter arrives home during the commotion, having spent a few days in the hospital due to palpitations. He had asked the Klopeks to collect his mail for him, and they had mistakenly gathered up his toupée as well. Ray declares that he and the others were wrong about the Klopeks, and climbs into an ambulance. Werner enters and accuses Ray of having seen a human skull in the basement furnace, revealing that the Klopeks murdered the previous homeowners, the Knapps, so they could live in their house. Werner attempts to lethally inject Ray as Hans drives the ambulance away. Their struggle causes the ambulance to crash into the Weingartners' house, ejecting Werner and Ray, who then makes a citizen's arrest. Ricky uncovers human skeletal remains in the Klopeks' car trunk. The Klopeks are arrested, and charges against Ray are dropped. Ray states that he and his family are going away for awhile, and asks Ricky to watch over the neighborhood.

Will Graham is a former FBI criminal profiler who has retired following a mental breakdown after being attacked by a cannibalistic serial killer, Dr. Hannibal Lecktor, whom he captured. Graham is approached at his Florida home by his former FBI superior Jack Crawford, who is seeking help with a new serial killer case. Promising his wife that he will do nothing more than examine evidence and not risk physical harm, Graham agrees to visit the most recent crime scene in Atlanta, where he tries to enter the mindset of the killer, dubbed the Tooth Fairy by the police for the bite marks left on his victims.

Having found the killer's fingerprints, Graham meets with Crawford, and they are accosted by tabloid journalist Freddy Lounds. Graham pays a visit to Lecktor, a former psychiatrist, in his cell and asks for his insight into the killer's motivations. After a tense conversation, Lecktor agrees to look at the case file. Later, Lecktor obtains Graham's home address by deceit while ostensibly making a phone call to his attorney.

Graham travels to the first crime scene in Birmingham, Alabama. He is contacted by Crawford, who patches Graham through to Frederick Chilton, Lecktor's warden, who has found a note in Lecktor's personal effects. They realize it is from the Tooth Fairy, expressing admiration for Lecktor and an interest in Graham. Crawford brings Graham to the FBI Academy at Quantico, where a missing section of the note is analyzed to determine what Lecktor removed. They discover an instruction to communicate through the personals section of the ''National Tattler'', Lounds' newspaper.

The FBI intends to plant a fake advertisement to replace Lecktor's, but without the proper book code the Tooth Fairy will know it is fake. They let the advertisement run as it is, and Graham organizes an interview with Lounds, giving a false and derogatory profile of the Tooth Fairy to incite him. After a sting operation fails to catch the killer, Lounds is kidnapped by the Tooth Fairy. Lounds is forced to tape-record a statement before being set on fire in a wheelchair, his flaming body rolled into the parking garage of the ''National Tattler'' as a warning.

The FBI decodes Lecktor's coded message to the Tooth Fairy: it is Graham's home address with an instruction to kill Graham and his family. Graham rushes home to find his family safe but terrified. After the FBI moves Graham's family to a safe house, he explains to his son Kevin why he retired previously.

At his job in a St. Louis film lab, Francis Dollarhyde—the Tooth Fairy—approaches a blind co-worker, Reba McClane, and offers her a ride home. They go to Dollarhyde's home, where Reba is oblivious to the fact that Dollarhyde is watching home-movie footage of his planned next victims. She kisses him and they have sex. The following night, Graham realizes the Tooth Fairy's murders are driven by a desire for acceptance. Meanwhile, Dollarhyde watches as Reba is escorted home by another co-worker. He murders the man and abducts Reba.

Searching for a connection between the murdered families, Graham realizes that the killer must have seen their home movies; he brought bolt cutters to a home with a padlock in a home video. Graham and Crawford identify the lab in St. Louis where the films were processed. After determining which employees have seen these films, he and Crawford travel with a police escort to Dollarhyde's home. Inside, Dollarhyde prepares to kill Reba with a piece of glass, while police assemble. Seeing that Dollarhyde has someone with him, Graham lunges through a window. He is subdued by Dollarhyde, who retrieves a shotgun and shoots two police officers. Wounded in the firefight, Dollarhyde returns to the kitchen, where he is shot and killed by Graham. Graham, Reba, and Crawford are tended to by paramedics and Graham returns home to his family.

The most important plot line of the series is the unusual relationship between Ayato Kamina and Haruka Shitow. Although Haruka appears to be a stranger to Ayato at first, the series reveals that they knew each other from before the beginning of the story.

Ayato is a boy who was unknowingly conceived with the help of the ''Bähbem Foundation'' living in Tokyo with his adoptive mother, Maya Kamina. Ayato had met Haruka on a trip outside of Tokyo, and they continued to see each other when they returned to school in Tokyo. At this time, Haruka's family name was ''Mishima''.

However, during what later became known as the Tokyo Jupiter incident, Haruka and her pregnant mother were away on a holiday trip while Ayato was caught inside the city. Years later, after giving birth to Haruka's sister Megumi, Haruka's mother remarried and their family name became ''Shitow''. Meanwhile, Maya modified Ayato's memories to make him forget Haruka. The series makes clear that all of the humans within Tokyo Jupiter are subject to the same kind of mental control, thinking that they are all that's left of mankind after a devastating war. Ayato is haunted by visions of Haruka, which he manifests in his art. Ixtli, RahXephon's soul, also adopts Haruka's appearance and family name (''Mishima'') to guide Ayato, but takes a different given name—''Reika''.

The story begins as Tokyo comes under attack by invading aircraft while a mysterious woman, later revealed to be Haruka, stalks Ayato. By this point, Haruka has grown considerably older than Ayato and everyone else who is inside of Tokyo Jupiter because of the time dilation. Because of this and her now having a different last name, Ayato does not recognize Haruka and also initially does not fully trust her, but he gradually re-discovers his love for her as the series progresses, and he learns of everything that has happened. At the end of the series, Ayato's RahXephon merges with Quon's, allowing him to modify the past by "re-tuning the world" to make it so that he and Haruka are never separated. In the final sequence of the series, the adult Ayato is seen with his wife Haruka and their infant daughter Quon.

Windsor College seniors Maureen Evans and Phil Stevens attend a sneak preview of ''Stab'', a film based on the events of the Woodsboro massacre. There, Phil is killed by the masked killer now known as Ghostface. Ghostface proceeds to sit beside Maureen and fatally stab her, which the audience mistakes for a publicity stunt until Maureen falls dead.

The news media, including local journalist Debbie Salt, descend on Windsor College where Sidney Prescott studies alongside her best friend Hallie McDaniel, her new boyfriend Derek Feldman, fellow Woodsboro survivor Randy Meeks and Derek's best friend Mickey Altieri. Two other Woodsboro survivors arrive: police officer Dewey Riley to offer Sidney protection and reporter Gale Weathers to cover the case. Gale and her new camera man, Joel Jones, unsuccessfully try to stage a confrontation between Sidney and Cotton Weary, who is attempting to gain fame from his exoneration for the rape and murder of Sidney's mother, Maureen Prescott.

That evening, Sidney and Hallie attend a party at a sorority house. At a nearby sorority house, Ghostface murders student Cici Cooper. After the partygoers leave, Ghostface enters the house and attacks Sidney. Ghostface injures Derek but flees when the police arrive. Later, after realizing that Cici's real name is Casey, Gale theorizes that the new Ghostface targets students having the same names as the Woodsboro murder victims. Randy theorizes that the killer is likely someone Sidney knows, and is basing the killings on a movie sequel. Ghostface later murders Randy in Joel's media van. Joel, scared he'll be targeted next, skips town. Dewey and Gale review the tape of Ghostface killing Randy, but the killer attacks them, stabbing Dewey. Two officers drive Sidney and Hallie to a local police station, but Ghostface murders them. In the ensuing struggle, Ghostface is knocked unconscious, but recovers and kills Hallie.

Back at campus, Sidney finds Derek in the auditorium tied to a cross (consequences of an earlier fraternity hazing ritual). Ghostface arrives, revealing himself to be Mickey, and shoots and murders Derek. Mickey intends to kill Sidney and allow himself to be arrested so he can blame violence in movies for the murders at his trial. Debbie Salt is then revealed to be his accomplice, whom Sidney recognizes as Mrs. Loomis, who betrays Mickey and shoots and injures him; before Mickey collapses, he reflexively shoots and injures Gale. Mrs. Loomis reveals that she is seeking revenge against Sidney for killing her son, Billy, but Sidney points out the hypocrisy of her motive, considering that Mrs. Loomis abandoned her own son in the past, which caused him to turn into a serial killer. Sidney and Mrs. Loomis fight until Cotton intervenes. Mrs. Loomis attempts to manipulate Cotton into murdering Sidney, but he chooses to shoot Mrs. Loomis in exchange for an interview with Sidney and Diane Sawyer. Mickey suddenly resurfaces, but he is then promptly and viciously gunned down and killed by Gale and Sidney. Sidney then shoots Mrs. Loomis in the head to ensure she is dead.

When the police arrive, Dewey is revealed to still be alive and Gale climbs into the ambulance with him rather than taking the opportunity to report to the returned Joel, indicating that she cares more for Dewey than for the notoriety she always sought. Sidney instructs the press to direct questions to Cotton, rewarding him with the fame he has been chasing while removing the attention from herself.

Cotton Weary, now living in Los Angeles and the host of a successful talk show, is contacted by Ghostface, who demands to know the whereabouts of Sidney Prescott. Cotton refuses to cooperate, and Ghostface breaks into his home, murdering Cotton and his girlfriend Christine.

Detective Mark Kincaid contacts Gale Weathers to discuss the recent murders, prompting her to travel to Hollywood, where she finds Dewey Riley working as an adviser on the set of ''Stab 3'', the third film in the series based on the Ghostface murders. Ghostface kills ''Stab 3'' actress Sarah Darling, causing production of ''Stab 3'' to be halted.

Sidney is living in seclusion as a crisis counselor for an abused women's hotline, fearing that another killer may strike. Having discovered Sidney's location, the killer begins taunting her by phone using a voice changer to sound like her deceased mother Maureen Prescott, forcing her out of hiding and drawing her to Hollywood.

The remaining ''Stab 3'' cast, along with Dewey and Gale, gather at the home of Jennifer Jolie. Ghostface murders her bodyguard and uses a gas leak to cause an explosion, which kills fellow actor Tom Prinze. Martha Meeks, the sister of Sidney's friend Randy who was murdered while Sidney was in college, visits Sidney and the others to drop off a videotape that Randy had made before his death, posthumously warning them that the rules of a horror film do not apply to anyone in the third and final film of a horror trilogy and that any of them, including "main character" Sidney, could die. Sidney is later attacked by Ghostface at a movie set, forcing the police to keep Sidney safe at their station. Dewey, Gale, Jennifer, and the remaining ''Stab 3'' cast, Angelina and Tyson, attend a birthday party for ''Stab 3'' s director Roman Bridger. Gale discovers Roman's dead body in the basement. Angelina wanders off alone before she is also seemingly murdered. Tyson attempts to fight Ghostface, but the killer manages to kill him. Jennifer tries to escape but is also murdered by Ghostface. The killer then orders Sidney to the mansion to save Gale and Dewey, who are being held hostage. When Sidney arrives, Ghostface lures her inside where Gale and Dewey are bound and gagged. As Sidney is freeing them, Ghostface appears, though Sidney gains the upper hand using a hidden gun to fight him off. Kincaid shows up but is knocked unconscious by Ghostface.

Sidney flees and hides in a secret screening room where she is discovered by Ghostface. He reveals himself as Roman, having survived being shot by wearing a bulletproof vest. Roman admits to being Sidney's half-brother, born to their mother Maureen when she was an actress in Hollywood. Four years prior, he had unsuccessfully tried reuniting with her, only for her to reject him due to him being the product of rape. Bitter over the rejection, Roman began stalking her, filming all the men she philandered with and showing Billy Loomis the footage of Billy's father with Maureen, which motivated Billy to kill her, thus setting off the string of murders in Sidney's hometown and at her college. However, when he discovered how much fame Sidney had attracted due to those events, Roman snapped and lured Sidney out of hiding, planning to frame her for the murders, before he kills ''Stab'' producer John Milton, who he implies is his biological father and one of their mother's rapists. Sidney furiously denounces Roman, saying he has no excuse for killing innocent people other than simply choosing to do so, provoking an enraged Roman to engage Sidney in a vicious fight, which ends when Roman shoots Sidney in the chest, but Sidney survives the shot and stabs Roman multiple times. As he lies bleeding, Sidney shows him that she, too, was wearing a bulletproof vest. Dewey and Gale arrive when a screaming Roman suddenly resurfaces with a knife; Sidney yells at Dewey to shoot Roman in the head, which Dewey does, finally killing him.

Sometime after at Sidney's house, Dewey proposes to Gale, who accepts. Sidney returns from a walk and leaves her gates, which were previously shown to be alarmed, open. She enters her home and is invited to join Dewey, Gale, and Kincaid to watch a movie. As she goes to join the others, her front door blows open behind her, but she walks away, leaving it as it is.

The story is set at an upscale seaside resort in Florida. Muriel Glass, a wealthy and self-absorbed woman, phones her mother from her suite to discuss Muriel's husband Seymour, a World War II combat veteran recently discharged from an army hospital; it is implied that he was being evaluated for a psychiatric disorder.Slawenski, 2010, p. 160 Muriel's mother is concerned by reports of her son-in-law's increasingly bizarre and anti-social actions, and warns her daughter that he may "lose control of himself". Muriel dismisses her remarks as hyperbole, regarding her husband's idiosyncrasies as benign and manageable. Neither of the women express concern that Seymour's irrational behavior may indicate that he is suffering emotionally.Slawenski, 2010

Meanwhile, at the resort's adjoining beach, a child named Sybil Carpenter has been left unsupervised by her mother so that she may drink at the hotel bar. Sybil wanders on the beach and finds Seymour, lying in solitude a quarter-mile from the hotel. Sybil reproaches Seymour for allowing another little girl, Sharon Lipschutz, to sit with him the previous night as he played the lounge piano for the hotel's guests. Seymour attempts to placate Sybil by suggesting they "catch a Bananafish", but Sybil insists that Seymour choose between her and Sharon Lipschutz. Seymour responds that he observed Sybil abusing a hotel patron's dog, and the girl falls silent.

Seymour places Sybil on a rubber raft and wades into the water, where he tells her the story of "the very tragic life" of the bananafish: they gorge themselves on bananas, become too large to escape their feeding holes, and die.Slawenski, 2010, p. 161 Sybil is unfazed by the story, and claims that she sees a bananafish with six bananas in its mouth. Seymour affectionately kisses the arch of one of her feet, and returns her to shore, where she departs.

Once alone, and returning to the hotel, Seymour becomes less affable. He starts a baseless argument with a woman in an elevator, accusing her of staring at his feet and calling her a "god-damned sneak". He returns to his hotel room, where his wife is taking a nap. He retrieves a pistol from his luggage and shoots himself.

As part of the Federation-Klingon officer exchange program, Klingon Commander Kurn (Tony Todd) has requested to be placed aboard the ''Enterprise'' as first officer. His typical Klingon command style aggravates the crew, particularly Lieutenant Worf (Michael Dorn). Worf confronts Kurn alone, where Kurn reveals he is Worf's younger brother; when the rest of Worf's family left to the Khitomer colony, he was left with Lorgh, a friend of their father Mogh. Kurn was raised as Lorgh's son, unaware until recently of his relation to Worf. Kurn tells Worf that Mogh is being charged posthumously as a traitor by Duras (Patrick Massett), the son of Mogh's rival, in the Khitomer massacre, which will mar the Mogh family name for seven generations. Worf requests an urgent leave of absence to defend his father's honor. Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) believes that Worf's actions as a Starfleet officer in his father's defense will be of significant interest to the Federation and directs the ''Enterprise'' to the Klingon homeworld so they may monitor the events. En route, Kurn volunteers to be Worf's Cha'DIch, a second to stand with Worf during the challenge. Worf agrees, but warns Kurn to not reveal his bloodline just yet.

At the High Council, Duras reveals evidence of Mogh sending Khitomer's defense codes to the Romulans. Worf challenges this, but is told privately by the aging K'mpec (Charles Cooper), the Klingon Chancellor, to drop the challenge and return to the Federation. Worf discusses this curious request with Picard, who also finds it strange and orders his crew to examine the evidence. Meanwhile, Duras has ambushed Kurn, aware of his Mogh bloodline, and attempts to get him to betray Worf. Kurn refuses and is seriously wounded in the ensuing fight, no longer able to support Worf in front of the Council. Picard accepts Worf's request to take Kurn's place.

The ''Enterprise'' crew finds evidence that the Khitomer logs have been modified and soon discover one more survivor of the massacre, Worf's nurse Kahlest (Thelma Lee). Picard is able to convince Kahlest, who knows Mogh was loyal to the Klingon Empire but does not know who the true traitor was, to help in Worf's challenge. Picard brings Kahlest to court and bluffs that she knows who the true traitor was, starting a heated dispute that is sure to end in needless bloodshed. Infuriated and as a means to halt the bickering, K'mpec calls Worf, Picard, Duras, and Kahlest into his private quarters and reveals the truth; the Council is well aware that Duras's father was the Khitomer traitor, but exposure of this, given Duras's high political position and capital, would certainly lead to an unwanted civil war within the already trouble-stricken Empire. The Council only accepted Duras's charge of treason against Mogh believing that Worf would not challenge it due to his Federation citizenship. To prevent further upheaval, K'mpec imparts that the Council will condemn Worf and Kurn, but Picard refuses to let this blatant injustice stand, thus creating a situation that could end the Klingon-Federation alliance. Worf, seeing what restoring his family's honor may cost, steps in and says he understands what he needs to do, that the only course of action for Worf is to accept a discommendation, tantamount to admitting his father's guilt; in exchange, the knowledge of the proceedings, including Kurn's true-bloodedness, will be undisclosed. Back in the council, all of the assembled Klingons, including a reluctant Kurn, ceremonially turn their back to Worf in disgrace, and he and Picard silently leave the hall.

Boyd Boyette, a United States Senator from Louisiana, goes missing. Because of his vocal opposition to a proposed major toxic landfill project by a company known to be Mafia-backed, murder is suspected. But no body can be found and Roy Foltrigg, United States Attorney in New Orleans, is desperate for a suspect. Barry "The Blade" Muldanno, a well-known thug and nephew of Johnny Sulari, acting boss of the New Orleans crime family is suspected. The FBI stalk Muldanno, hoping he'll lead them to the body.

Eleven-year-old Mark Sway, his younger brother Ricky, and their divorced mother Dianne live in a trailer park in Memphis. Mark and Ricky are smoking cigarettes in the woods near their home, when they encounter a man trying to commit suicide by piping exhaust fumes into his car. Trying to remove the hose, Mark is grabbed by the man and forced into the car. The man, under the influence of drugs and alcohol, reveals himself to be lawyer Jerome Clifford. Clifford tells Mark that he is about to kill himself to avoid being murdered by Muldanno, who has revealed to him the location of Boyette's body. Mark manages to escape, and Clifford then shoots himself.

Ricky becomes catatonic after witnessing the suicide and is hospitalized. Authorities — and the Mob — suspect that Clifford may have told Mark where the body is.

At the hospital, the FBI urgently want to talk to Mark. Street-smart beyond his years, he realizes that he will need a lawyer. By coincidence, he meets Regina "Reggie" Love, a lawyer specializing in child abuse cases, who agrees to represent him for a token retainer of one dollar. Reggie suspects that Mark has not told her the complete story, including the location of the body.

Two Mafia operatives, Bono and Pirini, are dispatched from New Orleans to Memphis to see what Mark knows; they hire local "security specialists," Nance and Sisson, to snoop at the hospital. Reggie represents Mark in an interview with the FBI, knowing that she does not have the full story. Roaming the hospital, Mark is cornered and threatened by Nance that he'll kill him if he talks.

Foltrigg, a glory-seeking lawyer with political aspirations, known as "Reverend Roy" because of his penchant for preaching to juries, arrives at the offices of George Ord, the United States attorney in Memphis, where he is less than welcome. Foltrigg and his staff plot methods to get Mark to reveal where the body is hidden, and also plot to get Reggie into court, hoping to pierce attorney-client confidentiality, assuming that Reggie actually knows the location of the body.

The FBI apply to Harry Roosevelt, a judge of the Juvenile Court, to arrange Mark's detention for his own protection. This is reluctantly approved by Roosevelt and Mark is arrested in the hospital room where Ricky is recovering.

Mark and Reggie appear before the judge, but, scared out of his wits, Mark "takes the Fifth" and refuses to reveal what he knows. He is returned to detention, and after faking a medical condition, is taken to the hospital, from which he escapes, eventually taking refuge with Reggie. The Sway family trailer is burned to the ground by Bono and Pirini; the family now have no home and little else.

Dianne loses her job in a minimum-wage sweatshop, but Reggie threatens the company president with a lawsuit, on condition that they keep sending her paycheck and fresh flowers to the hospital.

K. O. Lewis, Deputy Director of the FBI, is drawn into the case. He proposes a deal — if Mark reveals the location of the body, they will place the Sway family in the witness protection program.

Reggie and Mark drive to Clifford's house at the same time as Muldanno's accomplices. They start to dig up the body, which is buried under concrete in Clifford's boat shed, but a melee follows and they flee. Mark and Reggie discover the body and then also flee.

The deal is done and the Sway family agree to enter witness protection. A special hospital is located to take Ricky; after his recovery, they will be moved elsewhere. As soon as the family fly off in an FBI plane, Reggie reveals the location of the body to the FBI.

Unlike the previous games where the storyline is rather comical, ~n has a serious storyline, reminiscent of those in the ''Madou Monogatari'' games. The Dark Prince is found looking at some books in a magical library when he comes across a black box. He begins to examine the black box before it breaks free from his hands and opens. The next morning a Puyo Circus has arrived, and Arle alongside Carbuncle go to check it out. They are greeted by a mysterious figure in Pierrot, a jester-looking character.

When Arle arrives, something does not appear right, and Carbuncle disappears once more. Arle has to navigate her way past a number of foes as before. During her quest Draco, Serilly, Witch and Chico join up with Arle as they face Schezo and Rulue. Rulue knew something was up with the Dark Prince, and as Arle met him, he appeared strange and unlike his normal self. He freezes the other characters so that they do not interfere. Arle beats the Dark Prince, who wakes up and asks why Arle was there. The Dark Prince explains to Arle that he was brainwashed by a stronger foe, and Pierrot appears afterwards, revealing herself to be Doppelganger Arle. The two have a fight to see who exists in the world, and Arle was victorious.

After the fight, Doppelganger Arle insists that she is "The Real Arle" who existed in the world, feeling weakened by her defeat, she soon fades away, much to Arle's shock. Seconds later, Carbuncle reappeared in the room and Arle was thrilled to see him again. The gem on Carbuncle's forehead shines and Arle asks what was wrong, he discharges the beam from his forehead and the screen fades to white then black, and the credits roll.

The game begins with the player, in the role of Pvt. Thomas Conlin, a U.S. Marine in the Pacific Theater of World War II, aboard the USS ''West Virginia'' during the attack on Pearl Harbor, taking part in the defense. As Conlin's Amtrac approaches the shore, it's hit by an artillery shell, throwing Conlin and the other passengers into the shallow ocean, forcing them to wade ashore. Conlin fight his way onto to the shore, only to get cut down by a bullet during a Japanese counterattack. As he bleeds out, the game flashes back to the start of Conlin's first day of basic training, where the player is introduced to the characters that will become his squad; the squad leader Frank Minoso; a big, smooth talking, New Jersey native; sniper William "Willie" Gaines, a country boy from North Carolina; and corpsman James Sullivan, a quiet sailor from a rich family in Oak Park, Illinois. After training, Conlin is assigned, without the rest of his training battalion, to serve aboard the U.S.S. Arizona. He arrives at Pearl Harbor early on the morning of December. Conlin is reassigned to the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, together with his old bootcamp training mate they take part in the Makin Island raid. During the raid, they are tasked with destroying a radio tower, destroying a supply dump, and rescuing a downed airman, before returning to their insertion point to fend off a Japanese counter-attack and defend their submarines from an aerial attack.

Following the Makin raid, the squad is assigned to the 1st Marine Raider Battalion and deployed in the Guadalcanal, where they are first tasked with the defence of Henderson Field and the outlying area against a Japanese attack, culminating in a push to re-take the airfield. They take part in the Battle of Edson's Ridge and patrols of the Lunga River. As part of the Guadalcanal Mission, Conlin becomes an impromptu pilot, as he is required to take control of the SBD Dauntless.

Afterwards, Conlin is promoted to sergeant and squad leader. Conlin secures the Tarawa beachhead before neutralizing a major Japanese command center and destroying Japanese AA guns, which are used by Japanese forces to prevent American boats from coming to Tarawa atoll. Conlin then continues to clear Tarawa from the remaining forces.

The film opens with a scene that is revisited later in which a reporter meets with police searching a cavern. He is told a game of ''Mazes and Monsters'' got out of hand.

Robbie Wheeling (Tom Hanks) starts college at the fictional Grant University and soon develops a group of friends, all of whom have their own personal problems and issues. Jay-Jay (Chris Makepeace) feels marginalized by his mother, who constantly redecorates his room since she cannot make up her mind about the best look. In his "self-decorating", he wears a variety of unusual hats. Kate (Wendy Crewson) has had a series of failed relationships, and suffers from her father leaving home; Daniel's (David Wallace) parents reject his dream of becoming a video game designer; and Robbie's alcoholic mother and strict father fight constantly, and he is still tormented by the mysterious disappearance of his brother, Hall. They are fans of ''Mazes and Monsters'', a fantasy role-playing game that had previously caused Robbie to get kicked out of his last school when he became too obsessed with it. Though he is reluctant, the other three students convince him to start playing again with them.

Through the course of playing the game, Robbie and Kate begin a serious relationship, in which he confides in her that he still has nightmares about his missing brother. Eventually, Jay-Jay, upset by feeling left out by his friends, decides to commit suicide in a local cavern. In the process of planning it out, he changes his mind and decides the cavern would be better suited to a new ''Mazes and Monsters'' campaign. He dramatically kills off his character to force them to start a new campaign, in which he describes they will be living out their fantasy. He proposes playing his new game in a disused and condemned cavern, and dismisses the warnings from his friends – who reluctantly agree to participate.

During the actual spelunking, Robbie experiences a psychotic episode involving the last time he saw his brother, and he hallucinates that he has slain a monster, called a Gorvil. From this point forward, Robbie believes he is actually his character, the cleric Pardieu. This leads him to break off his relationship with Kate (to maintain celibacy), and to start drawing maps that will lead him to a sacred place he has seen in his dreams called the Great Hall. In his dream, the Great Hall tells him to go to the Two Towers, and he disappears.

His friends report him to the police while concealing their trip into the caverns. They and police investigators suspect he is deceased. Robbie travels to New York City, where he stabs a mugger whom he imagines to be a monster. He sees blood on his knife, then sees his bloodied clothes in a window and breaks out of his delusions for long enough to call Kate from a payphone. After he agrees to go to Jay-Jay's house, a delusion leads him into the subway. Not finding him at Jay-Jay's house, the friends deduce Robbie has equated the Two Towers with the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. Robbie believes that by jumping off one of them and casting a spell, he will finally join the Great Hall. After a search, his friends find him and stop him from jumping off the south tower observation deck using the game's rules, once again pulling him out of his delusion.

The film ends with the friends visiting Robbie at his parents' estate, hoping to pick up their friendship where they left off. Though he is now in regular counseling, it is implied that Robbie will live out the rest of his life trapped in his imaginary world believing that he is still Pardieu, that his friends are really their characters, and that he is living at an inn (actually his parents' home) and paying for his boarding with a magic coin, which "magically" reappears in his pouch each morning. He then tells his shocked friends of a great evil lurking in the forest across the lake, believing that it threatens the lives of the "innkeeper" and his wife. The three, feeling sorry for Robbie and guilty for their role in his psychotic break, decide to engage him in a "game" of ''Mazes and Monsters'', letting Robbie dictate the events to them. In the end, Kate says, "And so ... we played the game again ... for one last time."

Kate Hartounian is the daughter of Jack, a wealthy and widowed real estate developer of Armenian and Jewish descent. Eager to improve her status, she befriends Miffy Young, a snobbish WASP, who encourages her and her father to join their country club, Bushwood, the same club from the first film.

When the elitist members of Bushwood meet Jack, who builds low-income housing in upscale neighborhoods and displays many working-class traits, his application to join is rejected. In retaliation, Jack buys all of Ty Webb's stock in the club, making himself majority owner, and turns it into an amusement park. Bushwood President (and Miffy's father) Chandler Young hires Captain Tom Everett, an incompetent mercenary operating out of a food truck, to discourage Jack from building any more structures on Bushwood property. Jack's behavior upsets Kate, harming their relationship.

Chandler shuts down Jack's housing construction site by establishing a Historical Preservation Society and sending his lawyers to threaten Jack's lawyer, Peter Blunt, with endless legal motions and filings intended to financially bankrupt Jack. Webb suggests that the dispute be resolved by the two man facing each other in a golf match, stipulating if Chandler wins, Jack gives up his construction site and the country club, and if Jack wins, he keeps Bushwood and the housing project. Despite Jack's poor performance early in the match, he manages to tie the score before the final hole. However, while playing the hole, Jack is faced with a 50-foot putt, while Chandler faces a simple two-foot putt. Employing advice given to him by Webb before the match, Jack manages to sink the nearly impossible putt. Chandler needs to sink the easy two-foot putt to tie the match. Meanwhile, Everett, who shoots himself in the buttocks with a poison dart, fails to eliminate Jack as a gopher steals an explosive golf ball from him. The gopher quietly replaces Chandler's ball with the explosive ball; as he putts it bursts and Jack wins the match.

As Kate commiserates with Miffy, the latter suggests that she change her last name from Hartounian to Hart. Kate turns her back on Miffy and makes up with her father.

After competing in a bat'leth tournament on the planet Forcas III, Lieutenant Worf returns to the and is treated to a surprise birthday party, much to his annoyance. As he attends the party, he starts to notice subtle changes, such as the flavor of the cake changing, and a painting given to him by Data appearing on a different wall. The changes start to become more pronounced; as a Cardassian vessel attacks the ''Enterprise'', unfamiliar controls result in Worf failing to raise the shields, leading to the death of Geordi La Forge. Despite retaining his initial memories, Worf has no evidence that reality has changed, and his own personal logs support the stories given by the other crew members. Other major changes occur: Riker is captain of the ''Enterprise'' in a reality wherein Picard was killed by the Borg, the Bajorans became the oppressors of the Cardassians and enemies of the Federation, Wesley Crusher is a lieutenant on the ''Enterprise'', Alyssa Ogawa is the chief medical officer, and Worf finds himself married to Deanna Troi.

Upon investigation, the crew find that Worf's RNA has an unusual quantum signature and confirm that he is from a different universe. The crew theorizes that Worf, on his original return from the bat'leth tournament, passed through a time-space fissure, with the shuttlecraft's engines causing Worf to quantum flux between several parallel universes. Data determines that Worf's proximity to La Forge's VISOR caused Worf to shift between universes, and that each universe covers a different possibility. In effect, anything that could possibly happen has done so in a parallel universe, hence the believable changes in the reality that Worf is experiencing. The ''Enterprise'' returns to the location of the fissure, attempting to return Worf to his original universe. The ''Enterprise'' is then attacked by a Bajoran ship, which causes the fissure to destabilize and the various realities to merge. Over 285,000 hails are received as innumerable ''Enterprises'' begin appearing at an exponential rate which Data calculates shall fill the sector in three days.

Data determines that the only way to restore the realities is to send Worf via shuttlecraft to the ''Enterprise'' of his universe, passing through the fissure and using the shuttlecraft's engines to reseal it. After locating the correct ship, Worf begins to travel back but is attacked by another ''Enterprise'' that has come from a Borg-overrun universe, its crew refusing to return. The ''Enterprise'' that he left fires upon the hostile ship, trying to disable it, and accidentally destroys it. Worf safely passes through the fissure, finding himself back in normality with a single ''Enterprise'' in front of him. After boarding, Worf finds that no time has passed since he initially entered the fissure. When he returns to his room expecting a surprise party, he finds only Troi waiting to give him a single present and, knowing that the two are married in many alternate universes, he invites her to share dinner with him.

In 1950, a Hungarian couple, Peter and Margit, are forced to flee from the oppressive Hungarian People's Republic for the United States, taking along their eldest daughter Maria. Unfortunately, they are forced to leave behind their infant daughter, Suzanne, who is raised by a kind foster couple. Five years later, Peter and Margit arrange for the American Red Cross to bring Suzanne to their new home in Los Angeles. There, the perplexed young girl is forced to accept her sudden change in home and country, which leads to a troubled upbringing. At age 15, Suzanne, rebellious and unsure of herself, tries to come to terms with her roots and decides to travel back to Budapest, Hungary, to unravel her past and to find her true identity.

The story follows Arkady Renko, a chief investigator for the Moscow militsiya, who is assigned to a case involving three corpses found in Gorky Park, an amusement park in Moscow. The victims - two men and a woman - were shot, and have had their faces and fingertips cut off by the murderer to prevent identification.

Ice skates found on the woman's body lead Arkady to Irina Asanova, a wardrobe girl at a movie studio, who claims that she reported them stolen, and has no idea how they ended up with the victims. However, Arkady tentatively identifies the three bodies as known associates of Irina: her friend Valerya Davidova, Valerya's boyfriend Kostia Borodin, and an American expatriate student named James Kirwill. Arkady gives the woman's skull to Professor Andreev, an anthropologist at Moscow University, who specializes in reconstructing whole faces from bone structure.

At a bathhouse, Arkady's superior, Chief Prosecutor Iamskoy, introduces Arkady to an American fur millionaire, John Osborne, who regularly visits Russia. When Arkady begins to suspect a connection between Osborne and the murders, he is warned by his associate, Mendel, a junior official in the Soviet Trade Ministry, that Osborne is an informant for the KGB, and thus regarded as a "friend" by all of Arkady's superiors.

Arkady's problems escalate when his partner is shot to death investigating Davidova's apartment, and Kirwill's elder brother William, a detective with the New York City Police Department who speaks fluent Russian, arrives in Moscow intending to find and kill his brother's murderer. Arkady tries to discover as much as he can from Kirwill to confirm the corpse's identity, without admitting that he suspects Osborne.

When Irina is attacked on the Moscow underground, Arkady hides her in his own apartment, vacant since his wife, Zoya, left him for one of her colleagues at the school where she teaches.

Arkady reluctantly pays a visit to his father, retired Red Army General Renko, a.k.a. "Stalin's Favorite General", a.k.a. "The Butcher of Ukraine". The elder Renko remembers that Osborne was an O.S.S. officer attached to the Red Army during the Nazi invasion, tasked with interrogating three captured S.S. officers. Thanks to his charm and fluent German, Osborne got the information he needed from the officers over a friendly picnic in the countryside, then shot all three of them dead - almost exactly the manner in which the three bodies in Gorky Park were killed.

Arkady and Irina become lovers after admitting their mutual attraction, but Arkady is convinced that she knows about Osborne's connection with the three victims, except she believes that Osborne has helped Valerya and Kostia to defect to America, with their friend Kirwill, a radical anti-Soviet, hoping to claim a publicity victory for having facilitated their escape. To convince Irina that Valerya is dead, Arkady sets up a situation in which he is going to show her Professor Andreev's reconstruction, even though by this point the reconstruction has been destroyed by Renko's higher-ups. The ruse works, and she admits that her friend is dead rather than have to look at the reconstructed head.

Despite being born into the nomenklatura himself, Arkady exposes corruption and dishonesty on the part of influential and well-protected members of the elite, regardless of the consequences. This rebounds on him when his own superior, Iamskoy, and his best friend, a lawyer named Misha, are both revealed to be working with Osborne. Arkady flees a meeting with Misha before a gang of killers arrive, but is too late to prevent Iamskoy from appropriating the reconstructed head and destroying it. Arkady confronts Osborne at gunpoint as he is about to leave the country, but Osborne informs him that Iamskoy has already kidnapped Irina, and if Arkady lets Osborne go and rushes to the university campus, he might be just in time to save her. Arkady does so, killing Iamskoy and Osborne's chief henchman, but suffering a near fatal stomach wound.

He recuperates in the custody of the State, being regularly interrogated by the KGB and watched over by his old antagonist, KGB Major Pribluda. In spite of his weakened state, Arkady laughs when he realizes from his interrogators' questions that Iamskoy was himself a high-ranking KGB officer, planted as a spy in the ''militsiya'', and his superiors were badly embarrassed to find that he betrayed them to help Osborne.

Months later, Arkady is brought before a KGB General who confirms what Arkady already suspected: that Kostia Borodin (an expert hunter) and Valerya helped Osborne to trap and smuggle live sables - the only high-quality fur-bearing animal on which the Soviet Union enjoys a monopoly - out of Russia. They believed Osborne would help them defect in exchange, but instead he killed them. Now, after several months of negotiations, Osborne has agreed to return the sables in exchange for Arkady being released and brought to America.

Arkady's brief trip to New York City reunites him with Osborne, Irina, and Kirwill in succession. Arkady is outraged when Osborne tells him that he and Irina are lovers, but Irina swears that she only slept with Osborne twice - once to convince him to help her defect, and once more to convince him to bring Arkady to America.

FBI agents escort Arkady and Irina to Osborne's ranch on Staten Island where the exchange is supposed to take place. During the trip Arkady realizes that, to avoid a diplomatic incident, the FBI agents plan to let Osborne kill him and Irina before allowing KGB agents, who are tailing them, to kill Osborne. When they arrive at the ranch the group finds Kirwill, shot and disemboweled. He finally identified Osborne as his brother's killer, but was overcome by Osborne's attack dogs when he came to confront him.

Osborne appears, armed with a hunting rifle, and Arkady convinces him that the FBI is planning a betrayal. Osborne shoots two of the FBI agents as two KGB agents arrive, and the KGB and FBI agents are killed in the chaotic firefight that ensues. Osborne finally corners and wounds Arkady in the sable pens. Arkady gains the upper hand by releasing several of the sables, causing Osborne to rush recklessly into the pen where Arkady is able to shoot and kill him. Irina arrives and says that she wants to stay in America, but Arkady, finding America to be as corrupt as the Soviet Union, chooses to return to the latter; he also knows that if he does return home, the Soviet authorities will be less inclined to demand Irina's return.

Realizing that the only way to reduce his superiors' ire is to kill all the illicit sables, Arkady picks up Osborne's hunting rifle, but instead he decides to break open their cages and release them into the forest.

While visiting a health studio in Beverly Hills, fashion model Jennifer Downing, the daughter of millionaire P.J. Downing, is kidnapped. Her father turns to a family friend, Eliot Draisen, who is president of the detective agency Crumb & Crumb, to investigate the case.

Eliot is reluctant to supply P.J. with one of his capable detectives because, as it turns out, Eliot himself is the organizer of the kidnapping. To give the appearance of taking the investigation seriously, Eliot offers P.J. the services of Harry Crumb, the last descendant of the agency's founders. Eliot knows that Harry is incompetent and counts on this fact to get away with the crime.

Harry returns to Los Angeles (by bus) from an assignment in the firm's Tulsa, Oklahoma branch office (which he messed up, as usual). He is assisted in his investigation by P.J.'s younger daughter, Nikki, who is considerably smarter than he is. Harry deduces that Nikki's stepmother, Helen Downing, is having an affair with tennis coach Vince Barnes, and concludes she is behind the kidnapping. Helen is desired by Eliot, but all she is interested in is money. She tries to get rid of her husband on several occasions and does her best – along with Barnes – to get the ransom for herself.

Also assigned to the case is Police Detective Casey, who (unlike Harry) is competent and experienced in kidnapping cases, and has a strongly negative opinion of private eyes.

Eliot escapes to the airport, bound for Buenos Aires. He makes the mistake of informing Helen of his plans; she and Barnes take the money and leave him bound and gagged. Harry arrives to confront Helen and Barnes just as their plane prepares to take off. Jennifer is freed and Eliot is found.

Falsely believing Harry has deduced his part in the kidnapping and exasperated with Harry's dumb luck, Eliot confesses and is taken into police custody. Harry is thanked for his heroism in the case and even Det. Casey applauds Harry for solving the case. In the end, Harry takes over as the new president of his family's business, and promptly accepts a new assignment to investigate another case, this time a murder committed in a gay bar.

Part 1

The previous episode marked the first occasion that anyone from the Alpha Quadrant had met the Jem'Hadar and lived to tell the tale, as the Dominion made a very blunt demonstration of both their abilities and their intentions - chiefly by destroying a ''Galaxy''-class starship making its way ''out'' of the Gamma Quadrant.

This episode starts with Major Kira leading a discussion in Ops about how best to prepare, should the Dominion launch an attack through the wormhole. While the team comes to the depressing conclusion that Deep Space Nine could only hope to resist being taken over for at best two hours, an unusual starship decloaks three hundred meters from the docking ring. Commander Sisko has returned from Earth in the newly commissioned USS ''Defiant''.

The Commander tells the crew all about the new ship in the conference room. An overpowered prototype originally designed to combat the Borg, the ''Defiant'' has been brought out of the warehouse and fitted with a Romulan cloaking device. Sisko introduces two new officers: a Romulan Sub-Commander, there to supervise the proper use of the cloaking device, and Lieutenant Commander Michael Eddington, from Starfleet Security. Odo is immediately suspicious of the high ranking security officer. As the briefing concludes he confronts Sisko and after an antagonistic conversation promises Sisko his resignation as Head of Station Security within the hour.

The entire command crew, including Doctor Bashir, Chief O'Brien and Lieutenant Dax, as well as Odo and Quark (but curiously not Lt. Commander Eddington) set out in the ''Defiant'' the next morning on a mission to find the Founders, leaders of the Dominion, to establish peaceful terms for the Federation's exploration of the Gamma Quadrant. During this mission, Odo develops an apparently inexplicable fascination with the Omarion Nebula. The crew are at first successful with the new cloaking device in evading Dominion patrols, although Jem'Hadar vessels seem capable of detecting something while the ''Defiant'' travels at warp speed.

The investigations of the crew lead them to an isolated and apparently undefended communications relay. Chief O'Brien and Lt. Dax are sent on an away mission to learn what they can from the relay's memory banks. As they transmit coordinates of where the relay station sends on 80% of its communications traffic, the pair are assaulted and communications jammed. With three Jem'Hadar ships also on course to intercept, Commander Sisko makes the hard decision to keep the ''Defiant'' cloaked and leave his two officers to their fate.

While the crew adjust to this loss, and as Odo's obsession with the Omarion Nebula deepens, a Jem'Hadar patrol manages to detect the ''Defiant'' through its cloak, and launch an attack. The crew manage to destroy one of the Dominion vessels before main power is forced offline and the ''Defiant'' loses shields. Dozens of Jem'Hadar troops then board the ship. In the ensuing combat, the Romulan Sub-Commander is knocked unconscious and Major Kira apparently shot by a Jem'Hadar beam weapon.

Odo rescues Kira, escaping in a small shuttlecraft. Odo informs Kira that they are currently en route to the Omarion Nebula. She is dismayed, reminding him she did not consent to being placed in her current situation, and arguing that they should have headed straight back to the Alpha Quadrant. Using the vessel's sensors, Kira detects an M-class rogue planet inside the Omarion Nebula. Odo resolves to land on the planet. There, Odo and Kira encounter an apparent lake of shapeshifters, as a group of them solidify and welcome Odo home.

Part 2

Odo and Kira have landed on a starless planet in the Omarion Nebula, which they have discovered is Odo's homeworld. A female shapeshifter encourages him to begin the slow process of learning who he is, and discovering the bond they share, known as the "Great Link". Odo is pleased to be reunited with his people, but they don't like Kira because she is a "solid" lifeform. Meanwhile, forced to abandon the ''Defiant'' during the Jem'Hadar attack days before, Sisko and Bashir are traveling alone in a shuttle when O'Brien and Dax, who have met the Founders, rescue them. Upon returning to the space station, Sisko learns that the Federation is negotiating a peace treaty with the Dominion, represented by one of the Founders, a Vorta named Borath.

When Sisko finds out that the Romulans have been excluded from the peace talks, he expresses his concern to Admiral Nechayev, but she dismisses his fears. On the other side of the wormhole, Kira is unable to contact Sisko because of interference from a hidden power source, while Odo struggles with his "lessons" at shapeshifting. Later, the female shapeshifter tells Odo that they came to this isolated planet a long time ago, as a result of persecution at the hands of the solids, then reveals he was sent as an infant to explore the galaxy, then return home.

While looking for Odo, Kira discovers a locked door — something for which shapeshifters would have no use. This arouses her curiosity. Back on the space station, a Jem'Hadar soldier starts a fight with O'Brien, in part because the newcomers have been given free rein. Sisko then discovers that the Federation has signed the treaty, agreeing to give control of the Bajoran sector — including the station and the wormhole — to the Dominion. Over Sisko's objections, he and his crew will be reassigned.

A happy Odo tells Kira he has decided to remain with his people, but Kira asks him to help her get to the hidden power source before she departs. He is intrigued when Kira reveals it is behind the locked door she has found. Meanwhile, Jem'Hadar soldiers shoot Romulan officer T'Rul in cold blood, then attack an outraged Sisko. Deciding that matters have gotten out-of-hand, Sisko then bands with Garak, Dax, Bashir, and O'Brien on a suicide mission to steal a runabout, collapse the wormhole, and keep the Dominion on its side of the galaxy for decades.

Garak is shot while Sisko and the others escape. Once aboard a runabout, they fire on the wormhole, collapsing it in a blinding explosion. Meanwhile, Odo unlocks the mysterious door, where he and Kira find Jem'Hadar soldiers waiting. The two are taken to an interrogation room where Sisko and the ''Defiant'' crew sit with their eyes closed, devices attached to their heads. Borath is there conducting a virtual reality simulation on the crew to determine how much they will sacrifice to avoid war with the Dominion. The female shapeshifter then arrives, disclosing that her people are the mysterious Founders. Saddened that his own race is responsible for so much death and misery, Odo demands that his friends be released, then chooses to return with them. Surprised that their experiences since the ''Defiant'' attack didn't really happen, Sisko and the crew return to the station. Knowing the truth about his people, Odo now knows that even though he may feel like an outsider, his place is with his friends.

;Act I It is Spring, and Drake thinks about life on the farm. ("A Poultry Tale"). As he attempts to sneak away, Ida scolds him for neglecting their eggs that are about to hatch. Drake believes one huge egg is a turkey's egg, but Ida is doubtful. Ida expresses "The Joy of Motherhood" and is joined by her friend Maureen, when all of the "normal" eggs hatch. Drake takes the ducklings to learn to swim, leaving Ida to wait for the fifth egg to hatch ("Different" pre-reprise). It finally hatches to reveal Ugly. Ida is initially shocked but is overjoyed that the new arrival is not a turkey. As she teaches him to swim, she notices his amazing talent ("Hold Your Head Up High").

When Drake and the ducklings return, they are aghast at Ugly's appearance and, along with Maureen, Henrietta, the Turkey, and everyone else, make fun of him, while the Cat admires what a great meal he would be ("Look At Him"). As Ugly tries and fails to "quack," he realises he isn't the same as the others ("Different"). The Cat offers to be Ugly's friend and to treat him to lunch, which he happily accepts. Ugly tries to get Ida's permission, but she is too busy with the other ducklings. After Ugly leaves with the Cat, Ida realises Ugly is missing. Everyone splits up to look for him.

In his lair, the Cat is preparing to eat Ugly, who is unaware of the danger ("Play with Your Food"). Just as the Cat is about to strike, the children playing outside send a ball flying through the window, hitting the Cat and causing him to fall into the pot. Ugly thinks he is hiding and goes to find a hiding place of his own, but ends up getting "Lost". Back at the duckyard, no one can find Ugly, and they mourn him ("The Elegy"), but Ida refuses to believe he is dead. Jay Bird (or Maggie Pie), interrupts and begins to interview Ida for "Britain's Most Feathered". Ida laments about what it's like to lose one of your children ("Every Tear a Mother Cries"). Ida continues to search for Ugly, leaving her other four ducklings with Drake.

Meanwhile, Ugly comes across two military geese, Greylag and Dot, and begs for their help. They and their "squadron" of geese decide to go on a reconnaissance mission to find Ugly's home ("Wild Goose Chase"). However, there is a shoot going on in the marsh, so the Cat sneaks in and offers to help out by telling them when the shoot is over, hoping that they will leave him alone with Ugly. Greylag sees through the Cat's plan and takes him along. The Geese and the Cat head off to the shoot, which is still going on, and get shot down. Ugly, who didn't go on the mission with them, realises that the Cat is evil and had lied. Ida sets off to find Ugly, and they both vow to find each other and be reunited. ("Hold Your Head Up High" Reprise).

;Act II Ugly wanders into a house and meets Queenie and Lowbutt, a domesticated cat and chicken. They too make fun of him not only for his looks but also for not being of "their sort" ("It Takes All Sorts"). When they turn on the TV, they see Ida and Jay Bird broadcasting a missing notice for Ugly. Ugly recognises his mother and Queenie goes to call the advertised number. Just then the doorbell rings, and the Cat enters, poorly disguised as Drake. Ugly sees through the disguise, but Lowbutt believes he is actually Ugly's father. But when Queenie comes back in, the Cat falls in love. Queenie also thinks he is a duck, but she too falls in love when he removes his disguise ("Together"). Lowbutt is dismayed, so she helps Ugly to escape, leaving the Cat to decide between his meal and Queenie. He chooses to go after Ugly, leaving Lowbutt to console Queenie.

Back at the farmyard, Drake is forced into some responsibility, and, now that the ducklings are almost a year old, they are beginning to give Drake a hard time as teenagers. Ida, still searching for Ugly, comes across everyone that Ugly has met ("The Collage"). Meanwhile, Ugly finds Penny, a swan, caught in some fishing line and untangles her. Penny, knowing Ugly is a swan, invites him to migrate with her, but Ugly insists that he can't. As Penny flies away, Ugly realises he is in love with her ("Now I've Seen You"), but is sad because he believes she could never love someone as ugly as himself. Just then, a Bullfrog comes hopping by. Noticing his bad mood, he tells Ugly about how "ugliness" is just a matter of taste and that someone out there will always love you "Warts and All". The song cheers Ugly up, and the bullfrog leaves. Suddenly, a net drops on Ugly's head. A farmer has caught him for his family's Sunday roast. When the Farmer goes to get his knife, the Cat sneaks back onstage and offers a deal; he will lead Ugly back to the farm, but Ugly has to promise to be the Cat's lunch. Ugly agrees, and both of them head back to the farmyard.

On the way, the two get caught in a blizzard and freeze ("The Blizzard"). Ida unfortunately has gotten caught in it as well. Ida notices them and believes Ugly is dead. Penny and her family come to Ida and tell her to cry, that her tears of hope will save Ugly. Soon Ugly wakes up and realises he is not a duck, but a swan, then reunites with his mother ("Transformation"). Penny recognises that Ugly is the one who saved her earlier and the two confess their love to each other. The swans invite Ugly to come learn their ways. Although Ugly wants to stay with Ida, she insists that he go with the swans. As they fly off, Ida sings of how Ugly was different, but Ugly suddenly reappears with Penny, as they have decided to stay with Ida. Just before they leave, Ugly frees the Cat, who has remained frozen this entire time. As the Cat notices Ugly is not a duck but a swan, he goes insane before running away in defeat ("Melting Moggy").

Ugly, Penny and Ida return to the lake; everyone loves Ugly now that he is a swan. They ask for his forgiveness for making fun of him ("Look At Him" Reprise). Ugly happily accepts their apology and introduces Penny. Grace decides to relinquish the Red Band, now the Cygnet Ring, to Ugly, dubbing him "the finest bird on the lake".

The film features Daffy Duck in the role of legendary outlaw Robin Hood, and opens to the strains of his playing a song on a long-necked lute similar to a tambouras. As he prances along singing, he trips and tumbles down a hill (still singing), off a bank and into a river.

Watching is Porky Pig, as a Friar Tuck figure, who laughs uproariously at Daffy's inglorious plunge. The annoyed Daffy tries to prove his skill with a quarterstaff ("Actually, it's a buck-and-a-quarter quarterstaff, but I'm not telling ''him'' that!") on a tree-trunk bridge, but manages to hit himself in the face with it, bending his bill in what becomes a recurring visual gag throughout the film. Undeterred, Daffy tries again, but while he is spinning his quarterstaff, Porky stops it with a wooden dowel, resulting in Daffy himself spinning around and falling back into the river. He gets out of the water and confronts Porky, who has once again been reduced to fits of laughter. Daffy is initially annoyed, but then starts to laugh along with him before becoming annoyed again.

Having given up showing off, Daffy attempts to leave, but Porky follows and asks the "traveling clown" if he knows the whereabouts of Robin Hood's hideout as he "wouldst fain join me up with his band of jolly outlaws". Daffy proudly announces that he is Robin Hood, but Porky disbelieves him.

In order to prove that he is Robin Hood, Daffy informs Porky that he will attempt to rob a rich traveler on a bouncing mule and give his money "to some poor unworthy slob". Watched by Porky, Daffy pitifully fails in each and every attempt he makes to stop the traveler, usually injuring himself in the process. Daffy first attempts to shoot the traveler with an arrow, but ends up firing himself from his own bow and crashing into a tree and ends up with his head stuck through the trunk. Moments later, Daffy, (still with his head through the trunk of the now uprooted tree), confronts Porky who sarcastically says "Oh I er don't how I could have doubted you. Shall we spend the gold all in one place?" Daffy retorts "Ho ho. Very funny. Ha ha it is to laugh". Daffy then attempts to swing on a rope and kidnap the rich traveler, but slams into a succession of trees (repeatedly crying "Yoicks! And awa-aaay!" with each launch) and after chopping the trees down to clear a path, his final attempt results in him slamming face-first into a boulder. Daffy again tries to swing down from a rope, which is this time attached to a huge iron ball. He ends up slamming face-first into the side of a cliff, causing the iron ball to drop down on top of him. Daffy then attempts to fire a spear from a rubber band stretched between two trees, but it ends up forming a bridge so that the rich traveler can cross a ravine.

Eventually, the rich traveler, completely oblivious to Daffy's increasingly desperate attempts to rob him, reaches his castle unharmed, despite Daffy's final attempt to rob him by standing in front of the entrance (And getting crushed by the drawbridge as a result). This convinces Porky that Daffy is "just not Robin Hood". The frustrated Daffy finally gives up, and in the final scene walks on with a tonsured head and wearing a habit, having decided to become a friar himself, he tells Porky; "Never mind joining me, I'll join you. Shake hands with Friar ''Duck''!" As the film closes, Daffy's bill bends back up one more time.

Joey spends two years at a school for emotionally disturbed children after being blamed for drowning his younger sister Susy. The school's headmaster informs Joey's father, Bill, that his son harbors an intense dislike of middle-aged women. This extends to the family's nanny, whom Joey distrusts and disrespects.

When Joey returns home, he refuses to eat the meals Nanny prepares because he suspects she may poison him. He abandons the room Nanny has decorated for him and moves to one with a strong lock on its door. Joey's rude behavior upsets his neurotic mother, Virginia, who is prone to melancholy and crying spells, still grieving the death of Susy. Nanny comforts Virginia as she did when she cared for her and her sister Pen when they were children.

In a flashback, Nanny leaves the house for an appointment. Joey is playing by himself with his father's model railway. Susy threatens to tell their parents on Joey for being disobedient because he is not supposed to. She wants to play with him, but he tells her to go away.

She goes into the bathroom to play and accidentally drops her doll in the bath. She tries to retrieve it by reaching behind the shower curtain but falls into the tub. Nanny enters the bathroom and absentmindedly turns on the tap by reaching through the closed shower curtain without looking inside. Unable to summon Susy for her bath, Nanny searches for her. When she returns to the bathroom, she finds Susy floating face down in the water. Her mind snaps and she bathes the girl's lifeless body. Joey witnesses this but Nanny does not see him. Eventually, she realizes that Joey knows that she accidentally caused Susy's death.

Joey persuades Bobbie Medman, the 14-year-old daughter of a doctor living in the flat above, to witness a cruel prank: he places a doll face down in the bathtub, opens the tap, and persuades Nanny to turn the spigot off. She is aghast when she sees the floating doll because it reminds her of finding Susy after she drowned in the bath. Later, Joey appears at Bobbie's window dripping wet and claims that Nanny tried to drown ''him''.

Bill is a Queen's Messenger who is frequently away on business. He flies to Beirut for a few days after seeing Joey's hostility toward Nanny fail to subside. Joey refuses to eat the steak and kidney pie Nanny has cooked for him, so she spoon-feeds Virginia the pie which she has laced with poison. After Virginia falls ill and is taken to hospital, Joey is blamed for the incident. Joey's Aunt Pen, who has a weak heart as a result of childhood rheumatic fever, comes to babysit him.

Pen wakes during the night and finds Nanny standing outside Joey's door holding a pillow. Nanny claims the pillow is an extra one for Joey, but Pen remembers she would not allow her and Virginia to have pillows when they were children. Suspecting Nanny intends to suffocate Joey, Pen asks her what happened earlier when Joey emerged from the bathroom soaking wet. She gets over-excited and has a heart attack, but Nanny snatches her heart medicine from her.

As Pen lies dying, Nanny tells her she was a single mother who was called to the deathbed of her daughter, Janet, who died from an illegal abortion. Already shaken, she returned home to find Susy's body, which drove her over the edge. Nanny says she cannot let Joey live for fear that someone may believe his story and put nannies' livelihoods at risk because people entrust their children to them. When Nanny finishes her speech, Pen is dead.

Nanny tries to enter Joey's bedroom, but his alarm system wakes him and he tries to escape. Nanny grabs him by the ankle, causing him to fall and knocking him unconscious. She carries him into the bathtub and fills it with water. Soon the memory of finding Susy's body returns and Nanny pulls Joey from the tub.

Dr Medman visits Virginia's hospital room and explains that Nanny is mentally ill and will receive long-term care. Virginia discovers Joey is at the hospital and would like to see her. She tells him she knows everything about Nanny. Joey is no longer sullen; instead he hugs his mother and behaves like a joyful ten-year-old boy.

In a technologically advanced 1939, the zeppelin ''Hindenburg III'' moors itself atop the Empire State Building. Aboard the airship is Dr. Jorge Vargas, a scientist who arranges for a package containing two vials to be delivered to Dr. Walter Jennings. Afterwards, Dr. Vargas vanishes.

Polly Perkins, a reporter for ''The Chronicle'', is looking into the disappearances of Vargas and five other renowned scientists. A cryptic message leads her to Radio City Music Hall, against the warnings of her editor, Mr. Paley, where she meets Dr. Jennings during a showing of ''The Wizard of Oz.'' He tells her that a Dr. Totenkopf is coming for him next. Suddenly, mysterious giant robots attack the city. The authorities call for "Sky Captain" Joe Sullivan, the city's hero, Perkins' former lover, and the commander of the private air force the Flying Legion. While Joe engages the robots with his modified Curtiss P-40 pursuit fighter, Perkins photographs from the street with little regard for her safety. He eventually manages to disable one robot; the rest leave thereafter. News reports show similar attacks around the globe. The disabled robot is taken back to the Legion's air base so that technology expert Dex can examine it. Polly follows and persuades Joe to reluctantly let her in on the investigation. Her information takes them to the ransacked laboratory of a dying Dr. Jennings, while an assassin escapes. Just before he dies, Jennings gives Polly the two vials and states that they are crucial to Totenkopf's plans. Polly hides the vials and withholds the information from Joe. They return to the Legion's base just before it comes under attack from squadrons of ornithopter drones. Dex tracks the origin of the signal controlling the drones and notes it on a map before his capture.

Joe and Polly find Dex's map and fly to Nepal and then Tibet, where they discover an abandoned mining outpost and meet Joe's old friend Kaji. Two guides working for Totenkopf force Polly to turn over the vials, locking the duo in a room full of dynamite. Joe and Polly manage to escape just before the room explodes, knocking them unconscious and destroying most of Polly's film. They wake up together in the mythical Shangri-La. The Tibetan-speaking monks there tell of Totenkopf's enslavement of their people, forcing them to work in the uranium mines. Most were killed by the radiation, but the final survivor provides a clue to where Dr. Totenkopf is hiding. With insufficient fuel to make it there, they run into a Royal Navy flying aircraft carrier commanded by another of Joe's former flames, Commander Franky Cook. Franky leads the attack on Totenkopf's island lair while Joe and Polly enter through an underwater inlet. Joe and Polly find themselves on an island with dinosaur-like creatures, which Polly hesitates to photograph as she has only two shots left. They find a secret subterranean facility in a mountain, where robots are loading animals, as well as the mysterious vials, onto a large "Noah's Ark" rocket. Joe and Polly are detected but Dex, piloting a flying barge, arrives with three of the missing scientists. They explain that Totenkopf has given up on humanity and seeks to start the world over again: the "World of Tomorrow". The vials are genetic material for a new Adam and Eve; if the rocket reaches space, the afterburners will ignite the atmosphere and kill everyone on Earth.

As the group attempts to enter Dr. Totenkopf's lair, one scientist is electrocuted by the defense system. A hologram of Totenkopf appears, speaking of his hate for humanity and his plans to rebuild it as a new master race. Dex disables the lair's defenses and the group discovers Totenkopf's mummified corpse inside with a scrap of paper clutched in his hand: "forgive me". He died 20 years previously, but his machines have continued his plan. Joe decides to sabotage the rocket from the inside while the others escape. Polly tries to tag along but Joe kisses her and then knocks her out. Polly recovers, following Joe and saving him from Dr. Jennings' assassin, a female robot. Joe and Polly then board the rocket. Before the rocket reaches 100 km, when its second stage is scheduled to fire and thereby incinerate the Earth, Polly pushes an emergency button that ejects all the animals in escape pods. Joe tries to disable the rocket only to be interrupted by the same assassin robot. He jolts the robot with its electric weapon and then uses it on the controls, disabling the rocket. Joe and Polly use the last pod to save themselves as the rocket explodes. Joe and Polly watch the animal pods splash down around their escape pod, while Commander Cook leads a group of flying aircraft carriers towards them. Polly then uses the last shot on her camera to take a picture of Joe rather than the animal pods. Joe notes that she has forgotten to take the lens cap off.

Ash and Pikachu are on vacation (presumably after having competed in the Orange League) when they are called on the phone by Professor Oak, who tells Ash he has been selected as one of the challengers for the official Puzzle League Tournament. Ash races off excitedly with Pikachu to the nearby Pokémon Puzzle League Village.

To succeed in the tournament, Ash challenges Gary, his first rival, eventually defeating all eight of the Kanto region rivals and earning their badges after being obstructed in his path by Tracey, Team Rocket, and Giovanni, all of whom he also defeats. Soon after, he defeats the Elite Four and comes face-to-face with the Puzzle Champion, Gary.

Upon defeating Gary once again, Ash is rewarded with a trophy, which immediately warps him into a final challenge with Mewtwo. After defeating Mewtwo, Ash is warped back to his vacation spot where he discovers a Pokémon Puzzle Master trophy awarded to him by Mewtwo.

The play begins with Dikaiopolis sitting all alone on the Pnyx (the hill where the Athenian Assembly or ecclesia regularly meets to discuss matters of state). He is middle-aged, he looks bored and frustrated and soon he begins to vent his thoughts and feelings to the audience. He reveals his weariness with the Peloponnesian War, his longing to go home to his village, his impatience with the ecclesia for its failure to start on time and his resolve to heckle speakers who won't debate an end to the war. Soon some citizens ''do'' arrive, all pushing and shoving to get the best seats, and then the day's business begins.

A series of important speakers addresses the assembly but the subject is not peace and, true to his earlier promise, Dikaiopolis comments loudly on their appearance and probable motives. First of all there is the ambassador who has returned from the Persian court after many years, complaining of the lavish hospitality he has had to endure from his Persian hosts; then there is the Persian grandee, ''The Eye of the Great King'', Pseudartabas, sporting a gigantic eye and mumbling gibberish, accompanied by some eunuchs who turn out to be a disreputable pair of effete Athenians in disguise; next is the ambassador recently returned from Thrace, blaming the icy conditions in the north for his long stay there at the public's expense; and lastly there is the rabble of Odomantians who are presented as elite mercenaries willing to fight for Athens but who hungrily steal the protagonist's lunch. Peace is not discussed. It is in the ecclesia, however, that Dikaiopolis meets Amphitheus, a man who claims to be the immortal great-great-grandson of Triptolemus and Demeter and who claims, moreover, that he can obtain peace with the Spartans ''privately''. Dikaiopolis accepts his claims, and he pays him eight drachmas to bring him a private peace, which in fact Amphitheus manages to do.

Dikaiopolis celebrates his private peace with a private celebration of the Rural Dionysia, beginning with a small parade outside his own house. He and his household, however, are immediately set upon by a mob of aged farmers and charcoal burners from Acharnae – tough veterans of past wars who hate the Spartans for destroying their farms and who hate anyone who talks peace. They are not amenable to rational argument, so Dikaiopolis grabs a hostage and a sword and demands the old men leave him alone. The hostage is a basket of Acharnian charcoal, but the old men have a sentimental spot for anything from Acharnia (or maybe they are simply caught up in the drama of the moment), and they agree to leave Dikaiopolis in peace if only he will spare the charcoal. The importance of both the charcoal and the tool that Dikaiopolis holds hostage is that one of the primary sources of revenue for that region was the manufacturing and selling of charcoal. This is further justification for the dissenters' exaggerated response. He surrenders the hostage, but he now wants more than just to be left alone in peace: he desperately wants the old men to believe in the justice of his cause. He even says that he is willing to speak with his head on a chopping block, if only they will hear him out, and yet he knows how unpredictable his fellow citizens can be: he says he hasn't forgotten how Cleon dragged him into court over "last year's play."

This mention of trouble with Cleon over a play indicates that Dikaiopolis represents Aristophanes (or possibly his producer, Callistratus), and maybe the author is in fact the actor behind the mask. After gaining the chorus's permission for an anti-war speech, Dikaiopolis/Aristophanes decides he needs some special help with it, and he goes next door to the house of Euripides, an author renowned for his clever arguments. As it turns out, however, he merely goes there to borrow a costume from one of his tragedies, ''Telephus'', in which the hero disguises himself as a beggar. Thus attired as a tragic hero disguised as a beggar, and with his head on the chopping block, Dikaiopolis/Telephus/the beggar/Aristophanes explains to the Chorus his reasons for opposing the war. The war all started, he argues, because of the abduction of three courtesans, and it is continued by profiteers for personal gain. Half the Chorus is won over by this argument, the other half isn't.

A fight breaks out between Acharnians for and Acharnians against Dikaiopolis/Telephus/the beggar/Aristophanes, and it only ends when the Athenian general Lamachus (who also happens to live next door) emerges from his house and imposes himself vaingloriously on the fray. Order is restored, and the general is then questioned by the hero about the reason why he personally supports the war against Sparta. Is it out of his sense of duty, or because he gets paid? This time the whole Chorus is won over by the arguments of Dikaiopolis. Dikaiopolis and Lamachus retire to their separate houses, and there then follows a parabasis in which the Chorus first lavishes exaggerated praise upon the author and next laments the ill treatment that old men like themselves suffer at the hands of slick lawyers in these fast times.

Dikaiopolis returns to the stage and sets up a ''private'' market where he and the enemies of Athens can trade peacefully. Various minor characters come and go in farcical circumstances. A starving Megarian trades his famished daughters, disguised as piglets, for garlic and salt (products in which Megara had abounded in pre-war days). Then an informer or sycophant tries to confiscate the piglets as enemy contraband before he is driven off by Dikaiopolis. (Note that piglets meant also female genitals). Next, a Boeotian arrives with birds and eels for sale. Dikaiopolis has nothing to trade that the Boeotian could want, but he cleverly manages to interest him in a commodity that is rare in Boeotia – an Athenian ''sycophant''. Another sycophant happens to arrive at that very moment, and he tries to confiscate the birds and eels, but instead he is packed in straw like a piece of pottery and carried off back home by the Boeotian.

Some other visitors come and go before two heralds arrive, one calling Lamachus to war, the other calling Dikaiopolis to a dinner party. The two men go as summoned and return soon after: Lamachus, in pain from injuries sustained in battle and with a soldier at each arm propping him up; Dikaiopolis, merrily drunk and with a dancing girl on each arm. Dikaiopolis clamors cheerfully for a wine skin – a prize awarded to him in a drinking competition – and then everyone exits in general celebrations (except Lamachus, who exits in pain).

The beautiful young Theodora Fitzgerald belongs to a family of noble lineage whose fortunes have waned and who have lived in near poverty for most of her life. The book begins with her arranged marriage to Josiah Brown, a nouveau-riche Australian in his fifties. The marriage was contracted for convenience: Josiah simply wants a pretty and aristocratic wife to improve his standing in society, and the Fitzgerald family are in need of Brown's financial resources. Theodora only agrees to the marriage for the sake of her father and sisters.

Immediately after the wedding, Josiah falls ill. Theodora proves a dutiful and capable wife, and attends to her husband's every need, though she is secretly very unhappy. After a year of marriage, Josiah is well enough to visit Paris, where Theodora sees her father, Dominic, again for the first time since her wedding. She is thrilled to observe that at least he is receiving all the benefits she'd hoped to bring from her sacrifice: he now runs in aristocratic circles and is courting a wealthy American widow, Mrs. McBride. Theodora attends several social outings with her father, and at one dinner is introduced to Hector, Lord Bracondale. Theodora and Hector hit things off splendidly, and soon fall in love. Mrs. McBride is aware of Theodora's unhappy marriage, and seeing the situation she sympathetically arranges for Hector and Theodora to spend time together as often as possible. One day while Theodora and Hector are being chauffeured back to Paris after an outing at Versailles, the two indulge in a romantic encounter in the back of the car. Full of guilt thereafter, the two conclude they must behave themselves from now on and must no longer pursue each other romantically; they will, however, continue to be friendly to one another any time future social obligations might cause them to meet.

Hector at this point is terribly in love with Theodora, and though he tries his best to live by his promise to her, he still goes out of his way to see her and to secure invitations to all the same gatherings that she attends. He fantasizes about marrying her and makes sure to introduce her to his mother and to his sister. However, Theodora's status as a newcomer into society, and the obvious favour that Hector pays her over other eligible women who desire his hand, causes ire and jealousy to be directed her way. Rumors begin to spread, and several people believe Hector and Theodora to be lovers. Morella Winmarleigh, a spurned candidate for Hector's hand, particularly sets out destroy Theodora. She maliciously switches a letter Theodora had written to Hector with another letter meant for Josiah. Meanwhile, without anyone else's knowledge, Theodora and Hector have concluded that they cannot attempt to remain friends any longer—their love is too strong—and so they must agree to never see each other again.

The next day, Josiah receives Theodora's letter meant for Hector: the contents amount to Theodora asking Hector never to see her again, even though the two of them could be very happy together, because it is her duty to instead attend to the happiness of her husband Josiah. Josiah realises for the first time how he has stood in the way of Theodora's happiness, and resolves to do his best to make her happy from now on. He forwards the letter to Hector and requests he never allow Theodora to learn of the mix-up. The next several months pass with Theodora and Josiah both trying their best to make the other happy, even while both are secretly miserable. Both begin to suffer from ill health. Ultimately, Josiah dies; eighteen months later, Mrs. McBride (now married to Dominic Fitzgerald) throws a picnic at Versailles to which both Theodora and Hector are invited. The book ends with the couple reunited, in a state of "passionate love and delirious happiness."

Jack (Ray Liotta) awakes with amnesia in the middle of the desert. Suffering from violent flashbacks, he finds his way to the home of reclusive artist Vicky Robinson (Gloria Reuben), who agrees to help him uncover his past. While Jack's flashbacks become more violent and vivid, the pieces of his past slowly come together. He remembers having a large sum of money, which is now missing. As his apparent associates catch up with him demanding to know the whereabouts of the stash, Jack realizes that they are not only after the money, but his life.

Isabel Archer, from Albany, New York, is invited by her maternal aunt, Lydia Touchett, to visit Lydia's rich husband, Daniel, at his estate near London, following the death of Isabel's father. There, Isabel meets her uncle, her friendly invalid cousin Ralph Touchett, and the Touchetts' robust neighbor, Lord Warburton.

Isabel later declines Warburton's sudden proposal of marriage. She also rejects the hand of Caspar Goodwood, the charismatic son and heir of a wealthy Boston mill owner. Although Isabel is drawn to Caspar, her commitment to her independence precludes such a marriage, which she feels would demand the sacrifice of her freedom.

The elder Touchett grows ill and, at the request of his son, Ralph, leaves much of his estate to Isabel upon his death. With her large legacy, Isabel travels the Continent and meets an American expatriate, Gilbert Osmond, in Florence. Although Isabel had previously rejected both Warburton and Goodwood, she accepts Osmond's proposal of marriage, unaware that it has been actively promoted by the accomplished but untrustworthy Madame Merle, another American expatriate, whom Isabel had met at the Touchetts' estate.

Isabel and Osmond settle in Rome, but their marriage rapidly sours, owing to Osmond's overwhelming egotism and lack of genuine affection for his wife. Isabel grows fond of Pansy, Osmond's presumed daughter by his first marriage, and wants to grant her wish to marry Edward Rosier, a young art collector.

The snobbish Osmond would prefer that Pansy accept the proposal of Warburton, who had previously proposed to Isabel. Isabel suspects, however, that Warburton may just be feigning interest in Pansy to get close to Isabel again, and the conflict creates even more strain within the unhappy marriage.

Isabel then learns that Ralph is dying at his estate in England and prepares to go to him for his final hours, but Osmond selfishly opposes this plan. Meanwhile, Isabel learns from her sister-in-law that Pansy is actually the daughter of Madame Merle, who had had an adulterous relationship with Osmond for several years.

Isabel pays a final visit to Pansy, who desperately begs her to return someday, which Isabel reluctantly promises to do. She then leaves, without telling her spiteful husband, to comfort the dying Ralph in England, where she remains until his death.

Goodwood encounters her at Ralph's estate and begs her to leave Osmond and come away with him. He passionately embraces and kisses her, but Isabel flees. Goodwood seeks her out the next day but is told she has set off again for Rome.

The ending is ambiguous, and the reader is left to imagine whether Isabel returned to Osmond to suffer out her marriage in noble tragedy (perhaps for Pansy's sake), or if she is going to rescue Pansy and leave Osmond.

In 1981 Afghanistan, a Soviet tank unit attacks a Pashtun village harboring a group of mujahideen fighters. Following the assault, one of the tanks—commanded by ruthless commander Daskal—takes a wrong turn through a mountain pass and enters a blind valley. Taj returns to discover the village destroyed, and his father and brother killed—the latter by having been crushed under Daskal's tank. As the new khan following his brother's death, Taj is spurred to seek revenge and leads a band of mujahideen fighters into the valley to pursue Daskal's tank, which they call 'The Beast', counting on their captured RPG-7 anti-tank weapon to destroy it.

Lost, isolated, and with their radio damaged in the village attack, the tank crew set out to find Kandahar Road and return to Soviet lines. While camping for the night, Afghan communist crewman Samad educates the reluctant tank driver, Konstantin Koverchenko, about the Pashtun people's code of honour, ''Pashtunwali''; particularly ''nanawatai'', which requires that an enemy is to be given sanctuary if requested.

En route, the crew suffer several setbacks and ambushes from Taj's band. Suspecting Samad to be a traitor, Daskal murders him in front of his men; Koverchenko threatens to report Daskal. At a brief stop, Koverchenko states that the tank is breaking down; Daskal accuses him of mutiny and orders gunner Kaminski and loader Golikov to tie him to a rock, and leave him with a grenade behind his head as a booby-trap for the mujahideen. Wild dogs eventually attack Koverchenko, but he is saved when the grenade rolls off the rock and explodes, scaring them away. Taj's band reunite with several vengeful women from the village and find Koverchenko, who pleads for ''nanawatai.'' The mujahideen give him food and shelter. Koverchenko befriends Taj after fixing the broken RPG-7 and agrees to help them destroy the tank.

Meanwhile, the remaining tank crew finally realize they are trapped in the valley, until a Soviet helicopter appears and offers to rescue them. Daskal refuses the offer, has the tank refueled, and the crew heads back towards the narrow mountain pass where they entered, which the helicopter pilot says is the only way out. The crew drives through the night and find the helicopter crew dead—they drank from a waterhole unaware that the tank crew had poisoned earlier with cyanide.

The mujahideen and Koverchenko catch up with the tank and pursue it through the pass. Koverchenko finally fires the RPG after a tense chase, only to damage the tank's main gun. Just as it seems the tank will escape, the village women use explosives to blow up the cliff-side, dropping boulders onto the tank and disabling it. Koverchenko sets fire to the tank's leaked fuel, forcing the crew to bail; he pleads ''nanawatai'' on their behalf, and Taj reluctantly agrees. Koverchenko confronts Daskal over his brutality, and declares he hopes that he lives to see the Soviets lose the war.

Kaminski and Golikov flee on foot, but Daskal is chased down by the village women and murdered; they bring back his bloodied uniform to Taj as a trophy. Horrified, Koverchenko waves down an arriving Soviet helicopter to be rescued. Koverchenko salutes Taj as he is hoisted by a harness, brandishing a jezail musket Taj had gifted to him. The film ends with Koverchenko flying off with the helicopter over the Afghan landscape.

Max Kane helps Rachel, nicknamed "Worm" because of her love of reading, run away from her overly religious and abusive stepfather, whom Max nicknames "The Undertaker" because he drives a hearse and wears black clothing. The Undertaker accuses Max of kidnapping Worm, so Max and Worm run away with Dippy Hippie on his bus, the Prairie Schooner. Along the way, they meet two con-artists, Frank and Joanie, who read about Max and Worm and a money reward for finding them. Frank then tries to turn them in, and Max and Worm have to leave the Prairie Schooner. To take them the rest of the way they hop a train with Hobo Joe and arrive in Chivalry, Montana in a different train. They go into a mining tunnel and Max discovers that Worm's birth father had died in a mining accident. The Undertaker arrives there with the police and Max and Worm run away in the tunnels. They meet Dip, and Max's grandfather, Grim. The police catch them, and Worm runs back into the tunnel. She thinks about committing suicide to be with her father and away from her stepfather, but Max talks her out of it. A support beam in the mine falls over, pinning the Undertaker to the ground. This prompts Worm to finally confront the Undertaker about all the abuse he has been doing to her and her mother, revealing the truth to the police. Before anything else can happen, the mine starts to collapse, forcing everybody to run for the exit. However, Max cannot bear to leave the Undertaker behind, even after everything he's done, so he lifts up the beam to free the Undertaker. The Undertaker gets out of the mine in time, but Max couldn't. Fortunately, emergency services manages to rescue Max, who winds up with a broken shoulder and a broken leg as a result. Afterwards, Worm's mother finally works up the courage to stand up to her abusive husband and testify about what really happened, getting the Undertaker convicted of domestic abuse and locked up in prison for a long time. The book ends with Max and his grandparents insisting that Worm and her mother live with them, which they gladly do. Max frequently mentions his old friend Kevin, also nicknamed Freak, throughout the book.

In 1949, young Jim Morrison and his family are traveling on a desert highway in New Mexico where they encounter an auto wreck and see an elderly Native American dying by the roadside. In 1965, Jim arrives in California and is assimilated into the Venice Beach culture. During his tenure studying at UCLA, he meets Pamela Courson and they fall in love, becoming a couple. He also meets Ray Manzarek for the first time, as well as Robby Krieger and John Densmore, all of whom form "The Doors" with Morrison.

Jim convinces his bandmates to travel to Death Valley and experience the effects of psychedelic drugs. Returning to Los Angeles, they play several shows at the famous Whisky a Go Go nightclub and develop a rabid fanbase. Jim's onstage antics and lewd performance of the group's song "The End" upset the club's owners, and the band is ejected from the venue. After the show, they are approached by producer Paul A. Rothchild and Jac Holzman of Elektra Records and are offered a deal to record their first album. The Doors are soon invited to perform on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'', only to be told by one of the producers that they must change the lyric "girl we couldn't get much higher" in the song "Light My Fire", due to a reference to drugs. Despite this, Morrison performs the original lyric during the live broadcast and the band is not allowed to perform on the show again.

As the Doors' success continues, Jim becomes increasingly infatuated with his own image as "The Lizard King" and develops an addiction to alcohol and drugs. Jim meets Patricia Kennealy, a rock journalist involved in witchcraft, and participates in mystical ceremonies with her, including a handfasting ceremony. Meanwhile, an elder spirit watches these events.

The rest of the band grows weary of Jim's missed recording sessions and absences at concerts. Jim arrives late to a Miami, Florida concert, becoming increasingly confrontational towards the audience and allegedly exposing himself onstage. The incident is a low point for the band, resulting in criminal charges against Jim, cancellations of shows, breakdowns in Jim's personal relationships, and resentment from the other band members.

In 1970, following a lengthy trial, Jim is found guilty of indecent exposure and ordered to serve time in prison. However, he is allowed to remain free on bail, pending the results of an appeal. Patricia tells Jim that she is pregnant with his child, but Jim convinces her to have an abortion. Jim visits his bandmates for the final time, attending a birthday party hosted by Ray where he wishes the band luck in their future endeavors and gives each of them a copy of his poetry book ''An American Prayer''. As Jim plays in the front garden with the children, he sees that one of them is his childhood self and comments, "This is the strangest life I've ever known" (a lyric from the Doors song "Waiting for the Sun"), before passing out.

In 1971, Jim and Pam move to Paris, France to escape the pressures of the L.A. lifestyle. One evening, on July 3, 1971, Pam finds Jim dead in the bathtub of their apartment. The film's final scenes before the credits roll are of Jim's gravesite in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, while "The Severed Garden (Adagio)" plays in the background. Just before the closing credits, the screen whites out and text appears stating that "Jim is said to have died of heart failure. He was 27. Pam joined him three years later."

During the closing credits, the band is shown recording the song "L.A. Woman" in the studio.

Space Pirates attack a Galactic Federation-owned space research vessel and seize samples of Metroid creatures. Dangerous floating organisms, Metroids can latch on to any organism and drain its life energy to kill it. The Space Pirates plan to replicate Metroids by exposing them to beta rays and then using them as biological weapons to destroy all living beings that oppose them. While searching for the stolen Metroids, the Galactic Federation locates the Space Pirates' base of operations on the planet Zebes. The Federation assaults the planet, but the Pirates resist, forcing the Federation to retreat. As a last resort, the Federation decides to send a lone bounty hunter to penetrate the Pirates' base and destroy Mother Brain, the mechanical life-form that controls the Space Pirates' fortress and its defenses. Considered the greatest of all bounty hunters, Samus Aran is chosen for the mission.

Samus lands on the surface of Zebes and explores the planet, traveling through the planet's caverns. She eventually comes across Kraid, an ally of the Space Pirates, and Ridley, the Space Pirates' commander, and defeats them both. Along the way, Samus finds and destroys Mother Brain. However, while Samus leaves the planet in her gunship, it is attacked by Space Pirates, causing it to crash back onto Zebes, near the Space Pirate Mothership. With both her Gunship and Power Suit destroyed, Samus gets quickly found and captured by a pirate patrol. She is kept prisoner inside a pirate complex, but a sudden Metroid breakout allows her to escape her cell and evade her captors, despite being just equipped with her Zero Suit and a stun gun. Free from captivity, Samus then infiltrates the Mothership, eventually leading her to Chozodia, where a Chozo Statue offers her a trial. Upon passing the trial, Samus is rewarded with a new fully upgraded Power Suit. Continuing to explore the Mothership, Samus eventually reaches the Ridley Robot, a robot built in the likeness of Ridley. After defeating it, Samus escapes the planet using one of the Space Pirate's shuttles, while the Mothership self-destructs.

Devdas is a young man from a wealthy Bengali family in India in the early 1900s. Parvati (Paro) is a young woman from a middle class Bengali Brahmin family. The two families live in a village called Taalshonapur in Bengal, and Devdas and Parvati are childhood friends.

Devdas goes away for a couple of years to live and study in the city of Calcutta (now Kolkata). During vacations, he returns to his village. Suddenly, both realise that their easy comfort in each other's innocent comradeship has changed to something deeper. Devdas sees that Parvati is no longer the small girl he knew. Parvati looks forward to their childhood love blossoming into a happy lifelong journey in marriage. According to prevailing social custom, Parvati's parents would have to approach Devdas's parents and propose marriage of Parvati to Devdas as Parvati longs for.

Parvati's mother approaches Devdas's mother, Harimati, with a marriage proposal. Although Devdas's mother loves Parvati very much, she isn't so keen on forming an alliance with the family next door. Besides, Parvati's family has a long-standing tradition of accepting dowry from the groom's family for marriage rather than sending dowry with the bride. The alternative family tradition of Parvati's family influences Devdas's mother's decision not to consider Parvati as Devdas' bride, especially as Parvati belongs to a trading (becha -kena chottoghor) lower family. The "trading" label is applied in context of the marriage custom followed by Parvati's family. Devdas's father, Narayan Mukherjee, who also loves Parvati, does not want Devdas to get married so early in life and isn't keen on the alliance. Parvati's father, Nilkantha Chakravarti, feeling insulted at the rejection, finds an even richer husband for Parvati.

When Parvati learns of her planned marriage, she stealthily meets Devdas at night, desperately believing that he will accept her hand in marriage. Devdas has never previously considered Parvati as his would-be wife. Surprised by Parvati's boldly visiting him alone at night, he also feels pained for her. Making up his mind, he tells his father he wants to marry Parvati. Devdas's father disagrees.

In a confused state, Devdas flees to Calcutta. From there, he writes a letter to Parvati, saying that they should simply continue only as friends. Within days, however, he realises that he should have been bolder. He goes back to his village and tells Parvati that he is ready to do anything needed to save their love.

By now, Parvati's marriage plans are in an advanced stage. She refuses to go back to Devdas and chides him for his cowardice and vacillation. She, however, requests Devdas to come and see her before he dies. He vows to do so.

Devdas goes back to Calcutta and Parvati is married off to the widower, Bhuvan Choudhuri, who has three children. An elderly gentleman and zamindar of Hatipota he had found his house and home so empty and lustreless after his wife's death, that he decided to marry again. After marrying Parvati, he spent most of his day in Pujas and looking after the zamindari.

In Calcutta, Devdas's carousing friend, Chunni Lal, introduces him to a courtesan named Chandramukhi. Devdas takes to heavy drinking at the courtesan's place; she falls in love with him, and looks after him. His health deteriorates through excessive drinking and despair – a drawn-out form of suicide. In his mind, he frequently compares Parvati and Chandramukhi. Strangely he feels betrayed by Parvati, though it was she who had loved him first, and confessed her love for him. Chandramukhi knows and tells him how things had really happened. This makes Devdas, when sober, hate and loathe her very presence. He drinks more and more to forget his plight. Chandramukhi sees it all happen, suffering silently. She senses the real man behind the fallen, aimless Devdas he has become, and can't help but love him.

Knowing death approaches him fast, Devdas goes to Hatipota to meet Parvati to fulfill his vow. He dies at her doorstep on a dark, cold night. On hearing of his death, Parvati runs towards the door, but her family members prevent her from stepping out of the house.

The novella powerfully depicts the customs of society that prevailed in Bengal in the early 1900s, which largely prevented a happy ending to a true and tender love story.

Set in an alternate universe 1889, the series centers on Nadia, a 14-year-old girl of unknown origins, and Jean, a young, warm-hearted French inventor. Early in the story, the two protagonists are chased by Grandis Granva, Sanson, and Hanson, a group of jewel thieves who pursue Nadia for the blue jeweled pendant she possesses named the Blue Water. After being rescued by Captain Nemo and his submarine, the ''Nautilus'', the jewel thieves and the young protagonists join forces and participate in the struggle against the Neo-Atlantean forces, who seek to dominate the world.

In the process, Nadia and Jean save the world from violent domination by the Neo-Atlantean forces led by Gargoyle, explore worldly mysteries and the powers of the Blue Water, uncover Nadia's hidden family ties, and ultimately discover the secret origins of Nadia.

Mike, a street hustler, stands alone on a deserted stretch of highway. He starts talking to himself and notices that the road looks "like someone's face, like a fucked-up face." He then experiences a narcoleptic episode and dreams of his mother comforting him as home movies of his childhood play in his mind.

Later, after being fellated by a client in Seattle, Mike returns to his favorite spots to pick up clients. He is picked up by a wealthy older woman who takes him to her mansion, where he finds two fellow hustlers she also hired. One of them is Scott Favor, Mike's best friend, and the other is Gary. While preparing to have sex with the woman, Mike has another narcoleptic episode and awakens the next day with Scott in Portland, Oregon.

Mike and Scott are soon reunited with Bob Pigeon, a middle-aged mentor to a gang of street kids and hustlers who live in an abandoned apartment building. Scott, the son of the mayor of Portland, confides to Bob that when he turns 21, he will inherit his father's fortune and retire from street hustling. Meanwhile, Mike yearns to find his mother, so he and Scott leave for Idaho to visit Mike's older brother, Richard. Along this journey Mike confesses to Scott that he is in love with him, and Scott gently reminds Mike he only sleeps with men for money. Richard tries to tell Mike who his real father is, but Mike says that he knows it is Richard. Richard informs Mike that their mother works as a hotel maid; when Mike and Scott visit her workplace, they learn she went to Italy in search of her own family. At the hotel, they meet Hans, the man who drove them to Portland, and prostitute themselves to him.

With the money they receive from Hans, Mike and Scott travel to Italy. They find the country farmhouse where Mike's mother worked as a maid and English tutor. Carmela, a young woman who lives there, tells Mike that his mother returned to the United States months ago. Carmela and Scott fall in love and return to the US, leaving a brokenhearted Mike to return on his own. Scott's father dies, and Scott inherits his fortune.

Back in Portland, Bob and his gang confront a reformed Scott at a fashionable restaurant, but he rejects them. That night Bob has a fatal heart attack. The next day the hustlers hold a rowdy funeral for Bob, while in the same cemetery, a few yards away, Scott attends a solemn funeral for his father. At the end of the film, Mike is back on the deserted stretch of Idaho highway. After he falls into another narcoleptic stupor, two strangers pull up in a truck, take his backpack and shoes, and drive away. Moments later, an unidentified figure pulls up in a car, picks the unconscious Mike up, places him in the vehicle, and drives away.

After Homer trips over Bart's skateboard and falls down the stairs, he is confined to the couch for several days with an injured back. As punishment, Marge makes Bart clean his room, where he discovers an old cherry bomb. At school the next day, he flushes it down a toilet in the boys' restroom while Principal Skinner's mother, Agnes, is using the adjacent girls' restroom. The resulting explosion blows her off the toilet seat and enrages Principal Skinner.

Skinner proposes to Homer and Marge that Bart be deported by enrolling him in the school foreign exchange program. When Bart sees a picture of a lovely French château, he agrees to go there, much to Homer and Skinner's delight. The Simpsons host a student from Albania named Adil Hoxha.

When Bart arrives at ''Château Maison'', he finds a dilapidated farmhouse at a run-down vineyard. His hosts are two unscrupulous, abusive winemakers, César and his nephew Ugolin, who treat him like a slave. Bart is starved while being made to carry buckets of water, pick and crush grapes, sleep on the floor, and test wine contaminated with antifreeze.

Adil arrives in Springfield and impresses Marge and Homer with his polite manners and help with household chores. They are unaware that Adil is actually an Albanian spy sent to obtain blueprints of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant's reactor. Homer unwittingly takes him on a tour of the plant and thinks nothing when Adil takes many photographs, which he transmits to Albania with a fax machine hidden in Bart's tree house.

When Bart's captors send him to town to buy a case of antifreeze, he asks a ''gendarme'' for help, but the man does not speak a word of English. Bart walks away, knocking himself for his inability to pick up the native language, when he suddenly begins speaking French. Realizing that he is now fluent, he tells the gendarme about the cruelty that he has suffered at the hands of the winemakers, and about their efforts to sell adulterated wine (with this crime being treated worse by the gendarme than Bart's actual exploitation). The men are swiftly arrested and Bart is hailed as a hero for exposing their scheme to sell adulterated wine.

In Springfield, Adil is caught spying by the FBI and deported to Albania in exchange for the return of an American spy captured there. Bart returns home with gifts for his family. Homer has difficulty opening a wine bottle but is pleased to hear Bart speak French, unaware that Bart has called him a buffoon.

New Mexico State Police Sgt. Ben Peterson (James Whitmore) and Trooper Ed Blackburn discover a little girl wandering the desert, near Alamogordo, in shock and in a catatonic state. They take her to a nearby vacation trailer, located by a spotter aircraft, where they find evidence that the little girl had been there when it was attacked and nearly destroyed. It is later discovered that the trailer was owned by an FBI Special Agent named Ellinson, on vacation with his wife, son, and daughter; the other members of the girl's family remain missing. Now in an ambulance, the child briefly reacts to a pulsating high-pitched sound coming from the desert. She sits upright in the stretcher, but no one else notices her reaction, and she lies back down when the noise stops.

At a general store owned by "Gramps" Johnson, Peterson and Blackburn find him dead and a wall of the store partially torn out. After a quick look-around, Peterson leaves Blackburn behind to secure the crime scene. Blackburn later goes outside to investigate a strange, pulsating sound. Gun shots are fired, the sound becomes faster and louder, and Blackburn goes missing. Peterson's captain later points out that both Johnson and Blackburn had fired their weapons at their attacker. More puzzling is the coroner's report on Johnson's brutal death, which includes a huge amount of formic acid being found in his body.

The FBI sends Special Agent Robert Graham (James Arness) to New Mexico to investigate because one of the missing persons is an FBI Agent. After a strange impression is found in the sand near the Ellisons' trailer, the Department of Agriculture sends myrmecologists Dr. Harold Medford (Edmund Gwenn) and his daughter, Dr. Pat Medford (Joan Weldon), to assist with the investigation. The elder Medford exposes the Ellinson girl to formic acid fumes, which releases her from her catatonic state; she screams in panic and yells "Them!". Medford's suspicions of ''Camponotus vicinus'' are validated by her reaction, but he will not reveal his theory prematurely.

At the Ellinson campsite, Pat encounters a giant, eight-foot-long foraging ant. Following instructions from the elder Medford, Peterson and Graham shoot off the ant's antennae, blinding it, and kill it using a Thompson submachine gun. Medford finally reveals his theory: a colony of giant ants, mutated by radiation from the first atomic bomb test near Alamogordo, is responsible for the area's deaths. General O'Brien orders an Army helicopter search, and the giant ants' nest is found. Cyanide gas bombs are tossed inside, and Graham, Peterson, and Pat descend into the nest to check for survivors. Deep inside, Pat finds evidence that two queens have hatched and escaped to establish new colonies.

Peterson, Graham, and the Medfords join a government task force which covertly begins to investigate reports of unusual activity. In one a civilian pilot (Fess Parker) has been committed to a Texas mental hospital after claiming that he was forced down by UFOs shaped like giant ants. Next, the Coast Guard receives a report of a giant queen hatching her brood in the hold of a freighter at sea in the Pacific; giant ants attack the ship's crew, and there are few survivors. The freighter is later sunk by U.S. Navy gunfire.

A third report about a large sugar theft at a rail yard leads Peterson, Graham, and Major Kibbee to Los Angeles. An alcoholic (Olin Howland) in a hospital "drunk tank" claims he has seen giant ants outside his window. The mutilated body of a father is recovered, but his two young sons are missing. Peterson, Graham, and Kibbee find evidence that they were flying a model airplane in the Los Angeles River drainage-channel near the hospital. Martial law is declared in Los Angeles, and troops are assigned to find the ants in the vast storm-drain-system under the city.

Peterson finds the two missing boys alive, trapped by the ants near their nest. He calls for reinforcements and lifts both boys to safety, just before being attacked and grabbed by a giant ant in its mandibles. Graham arrives with reinforcements and kills the ant, but Peterson dies from his injuries as the ants swarm to protect the nest. Graham and the soldiers fight off the ants, but a tunnel collapse traps Graham. Several ants charge, but he is able to hold them off with his submachine gun just long enough for troops to break through. The queen and her hatchlings are discovered and quickly destroyed with flamethrowers. Dr. Medford offers a philosophic observation: "When Man entered the Atomic Age, he opened the door to a new world. What we may eventually find in that new world, nobody can predict."

; Act I A quartet of dockyard workers mourns the start of a new workday ("I Feel Like I'm Not Out of Bed Yet"). The whistle blows at 6 AM, and three sailors emerge: Ozzie, Chip, and Gabey, excited for 24 hours of shore leave ("New York, New York"). Chip is excited to see all the sights that his father told him about after his trip to New York in 1934, with his decade-old guidebook by his side. Ozzie is interested in finding a date (or several) because Manhattan women are the prettiest in the world. Gabey is looking for one special girl, hopefully, one who reminds him of his 7th-grade girlfriend, Minnie Finchley. On the subway, the three spot a poster of Ivy Smith, "Miss Turnstiles" for June. Gabey, overcome with love for the picture, takes it with him. An old lady angrily tells him that she will have him arrested for vandalism and the three run off.

Gabey wants to meet Ivy Smith, despite Chip's protests that the city is too big for things like that to happen. Ozzie, recounting an incident where Gabey saved their lives, convinces Chip to help Gabey find her. Chip grudgingly agrees and Ozzie coaches Gabey on what to do once he meets Ivy ("Gabey's Comin'," performed in the 2014 Broadway revival). The three break up, Gabey to Carnegie Hall, Ozzie to the Museum of Modern Art, and Chip to the "subway people." The three imagine what Miss Turnstiles must be like, and a ballet is performed in which Ivy demonstrates all the many different, contradictory, skills she has.

The little old lady finds a policeman and the two chase after the sailors.

A young female cabbie named Hildy is found asleep in her cab by her irate boss S. Uperman. He fires her and tells her to return the cab in an hour or he will call the police. Looking for one last fare, she comes across Chip. It's love at first sight, at least for Hildy. She forcefully kisses Chip, but Chip wants nothing more than to find Ivy. Hildy tempts him into taking a tour of the city, but all the places he wants to go (the Hippodrome, the Forrest Theatre to see ''Tobacco Road'', the New York City Aquarium, and the Woolworth Building) are either no longer in existence or no longer notable. The only place Hildy wants to take Chip is her apartment ("Come Up to My Place"). Uperman joins the lady and the cop in the chase, implying Hildy stole the cab.

Ozzie goes to the museum but mistakenly arrives at the Museum of Natural History instead of the Museum of Modern Art. There he meets a budding anthropologist, Claire de Loone. She is amazed at his resemblance to a prehistoric man and asks him for his measurements. He mistakes her scientific interest for romantic interest, but as she explains, she is engaged to be married to the famous Judge Pitkin W. Bridgework. Pitkin has taught her to learn to know men scientifically, but she, like Ozzie, often gets "Carried Away." The two of them accidentally knock over a dinosaur. Waldo Figment, the professor who built the dinosaur, joins Uperman, the cop, and the lady in the chase.

Gabey mopes around the city. Without love, New York is nothing but a "Lonely Town."

At Carnegie Hall, Ivy Smith is taking lessons from Madame Dilly, a drunk who clearly does not know vocal training. Ivy is not quite as glamorous as the Miss Turnstiles contest has made her out to be. In reality, while she is studying to do all the things they said she was, she is nothing more than a "cooch dancer" at Coney Island. When Madame Dilly leaves to refill her flask, Gabey enters. He asks Ivy to go out with him, and to his surprise, she accepts. Gabey leaves ecstatically. Madame Dilly advises Ivy to break the date as "sex and art don't mix" ("Carnegie Hall Pavane")

Ozzie accompanies Claire back to her apartment, where he meets Claire's fiancé, Pitkin W. Bridgework. They try desperately to explain what they are doing together, but Pitkin does not mind ("I Understand"). He leaves them alone to go to a meeting, reminding Claire that they are to meet at Diamond Eddie's to celebrate their engagement. The two take advantage of their alone time ("Carried Away (reprise)").

Hildy brings Chip and an armful of groceries back to her apartment, promising to cook for him. Chip insists that he must leave to find Ivy. She tells him to call the IRT, but they refuse to give Chip her address or phone number. He decides that he has tried hard enough, and he and Hildy attempt to get physical when her roommate, Lucy Schmeeler, home from work with a cold, intrudes. Hildy finally gets rid of her by convincing her to go to an air-cooled movie. Hildy seduces Chip, bragging about her many talents, not the least of which is her cooking ("I Can Cook Too").

Gabey's attitude has done a full 180, and he feels "Lucky to Be Me." Ivy, about to meet Gabey at Nedick's, runs into Madame Dilly, who reminds her that if she doesn't do her cooch dance that night, she'll be fired, and won't be able to pay Madame Dilly for her lessons. Madame Dilly threatens to smear her reputation, and she is forced to stand Gabey up.

Chip and Ozzie both arrive at Nedick's with Hildy and Claire, both dressed as Ivy Smith. Gabey isn't fooled and tells them the story of how he met her. Just then, Madame Dilly arrives with a message from Ivy: she will not be coming because she instead elected to go to a fancy party. Gabey is alone and dejected, but Hildy tells him that she can get him a date: Lucy. The five go into a dance demonstrating the nightlife of the city.

; Act II

At Diamond Eddie's, the dancers perform a number ("So Long Baby"). Gabey is still hung up on Miss Turnstiles, and Lucy hasn't shown up yet. A singer, Diana Dream, performs a very sad song, "I Wish I Was Dead," which causes Gabey to feel even sadder. Lucy calls, having accidentally gone to the Diamond Eddie's in Yonkers. The group decides to go to the Congacabana at the suggestion of Claire, but on their way out, they run into Pitkin. Ozzie and Claire try to explain the situation, but as before, all Pitkin says is "I Understand (reprise)." The gang leaves for the Congacabana while Pitkin stays behind to pay the check.

At the Congacabana, Dolores Dolores (the same performer as "Diana Dream") sings the same sad song as before, in Spanish. Hildy interrupts her, saying she had gotten a request to sing. Hildy, as well as Ozzie, Claire, and Chip try to lift Gabey's spirits by reminding him that he can count on them ("Ya Got Me"). As they are about to depart for another nightclub, the Slam Bang Club, Pitkin arrives ("I Understand (reprise)"). Claire tells him once again to pay the check, also to wait for Lucy and come to the Slam Bang later.

At the Slam Bang Club, Madame Dilly is in a drunken stupor. Gabey asks her where Ivy is, and she lets it slip that she is at Coney Island. Gabey runs off to find her. Chip and Ozzie, afraid that he won't be able to get back to the ship on time, rush after him. On their way out, they come across Lucy and Pitkin. Claire once again leaves him to go with Ozzie. Pitkin recalls all the times in his life that he "understood" and realizes he's been played the fool by everyone, including Claire ("Pitkin's Song (I Understand)"). He also bonds with Lucy and the two of them join the chase along with the little old lady, the police officers, Figment, and Uperman.

Riding the subway, Gabey dreams about Coney Island and Ivy. An extended dance sequence occurs with Ivy and a dream Gabey in a boxing match ("Subway Ride/The Great Lover Displays Himself/The Imaginary Coney Island").

The other four have just missed Gabey and are riding another subway car. They wonder about their future after the men have to go back to the ship ("Some Other Time").

At Coney Island, Ivy, along with several other girls, dances in a show called Rajah Bimmy's Harem Scarem ("The Real Coney Island"). Gabey sees Ivy and accidentally tears her already skimpy outfit off. She is arrested for indecent exposure as the chasers arrive and demand the others be arrested. Claire hopes Pitkin will get her out of the situation, but he no longer trusts her and has the three men brought to the naval authorities. The girls ask Pitkin if he's ever "committed an indiscretion," which he staunchly refuses. Just then, he sneezes in the same way as Lucy Schmeeler, casting doubt on his claim.

As the clock chimes six, the sailors prepare to get back on the ship. Just then, the girls come running to them, telling them that Pitkin understood. They say a fond farewell as three new sailors leave the ship, eager to have their own adventures in New York City ("New York, New York (reprise)/Finale Act II").

On July 16, 1988, the third world war is triggered by the sudden destruction of Tokyo. The metropolis has been rebuilt as Neo-Tokyo on artificial islands in Tokyo Bay. In 2019, the city is plagued by corruption, anti-government protests, terrorism, and gang violence, causing martial law to try and uphold the peace. During a violent protest, the hot-headed Shōtarō Kaneda leads his vigilante ''bōsōzoku'' gang, the Capsules, against their rival biker gang, the Clowns. Kaneda's best friend Tetsuo Shima inadvertently crashes his motorcycle into Takashi, an ESPer who escaped from a government laboratory with the aid of a resistance organization. Assisted by fellow ESPer Masaru, Japan Self-Defense Forces Colonel Shikishima recaptures Takashi, takes Tetsuo away, and arrests the Capsules. While being interrogated by the police, Kaneda meets Kei, an activist within the resistance movement, and tricks the authorities into releasing her with his gang. Kei is pardoned, but the Capsules are sent to reform school as punishment.

At a secret government facility, Shikishima and his head of research Doctor Ōnishi discover that Tetsuo possesses powerful psychic abilities similar to Akira, the ESPer responsible for the singularity that destroyed Tokyo in 1988. ESPer Kiyoko forewarns Shikishima of Neo-Tokyo's impending destruction, but the city council dismisses the Colonel's concerns, leading him to consider killing Tetsuo to prevent another cataclysm. Meanwhile, Tetsuo escapes from the hospital, steals Kaneda's motorcycle, and prepares to run away from Neo-Tokyo with his girlfriend Kaori, but they are ambushed by the Clowns. The Capsules save Tetsuo and Kaori, but Tetsuo begins suffering intense headaches and hallucinations and is taken back to the hospital.

After overhearing their plan to rescue Tetsuo and the other ESPers, Kaneda joins Kei's resistance cell. At the hospital, the ESPers try to kill Tetsuo via hallucinations, but the attempt is thwarted. Discovering his telekinetic abilities, Tetsuo searches for the ESPers in a fit of rage, easily killing any orderlies and militiamen blocking his path. The resistance group infiltrates the hospital, and Kiyoko draws Kei and Kaneda into the ESPers' futile attempts to stop Tetsuo. Kiyoko tells Tetsuo that Akira, located in cryonic storage beneath the Olympic Stadium's construction site, could help Tetsuo with his powers. After rejecting everyone around him, especially Kaneda, Tetsuo escapes the hospital to start his hunt for Akira.

Kei, used by Kiyoko as a medium to stop Tetsuo, breaks her and Kaneda out of military custody. Colonel Shikishima stages a coup d'état against Neo-Tokyo's government and directs all of its military forces to destroy Tetsuo at any cost. At the Capsules' former hangout Harukiya Bar, Tetsuo confronts gangmates Yamagata and Kaisuke over Kaneda's bike and kills Yamagata after his protest. Kaisuke relays the news to Kaneda, who vows to avenge his friend, while Takashi brings Kei away. Tetsuo, mistaken for Akira by cultists, rampages through Neo-Tokyo, arriving at Akira's cryogenic storage dewar under the stadium. Kei fights Tetsuo, but he defeats her and exhumes Akira, only to find that his remains have been sealed in jars for scientific research.

Kaneda confronts Tetsuo and fights him with a laser rifle but fails to stop him. The Colonel fires an orbital weapon at Tetsuo, destroying his arm, but Tetsuo destroys the weapon before it shoots him again. The Colonel and Kaori approach the stadium, where Tetsuo, now with a robotic arm, is in great pain and losing control over his powers. Kaori attempts to restrain Tetsuo while the Colonel offers to return him to the hospital, heal his injuries, and help control his abilities, which Tetsuo refuses. Kaneda again confronts Tetsuo who, weakened from the missing arm, mutates into a gigantic mass of flesh, engulfing Kaneda and killing Kaori. As the mass grows, the ESPers revive Akira to stop it. After briefly reuniting with his friends upon his revival, Akira creates a singularity, drawing Tetsuo and Kaneda into another dimension. The ESPers teleport the Colonel to a safe distance as the singularity destroys Neo-Tokyo in a mirror of Tokyo's previous destruction. They agree to rescue Kaneda, knowing that they will not be able to return to this dimension as a result.

In the singularity, Kaneda experiences Tetsuo and the ESPers' childhoods, including his and Tetsuo's friendship and the ESPers' psychic training before Tokyo's destruction. The ESPers return Kaneda to Neo-Tokyo, informing him that Akira will take Tetsuo to safety and that Kei is developing psychic powers. After witnessing the birth of a universe, Doctor Ōnishi is crushed in his crumbling laboratory. After consuming Neo-Tokyo, the singularity disappears, and water floods the crater left in its place. Kaneda, mourning the loss of Tetsuo, discovers that Kei and Kaisuke have survived, and they ride off into the ruins while the Colonel watches the sunrise. The film ends with Tetsuo introducing himself in another plane of existence.

As the Federation starship ''Enterprise'', under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, waits to rendezvous with the USS ''Victory'', Chief Engineer La Forge and Commander Data go to the holodeck to recreate a Sherlock Holmes mystery. Data, playing Holmes, has memorized all of the Holmes stories, and recognizes and solves the mystery within minutes. Frustrated, Geordi leaves the holodeck, leaving Data confused. In Ten Forward, Geordi explains that the fun is in solving the unknown; Data does not understand. Overhearing their conversation, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Pulaski asserts that Data is incapable of solving a mystery to which he does not already know the outcome. Data accepts Dr. Pulaski's challenge and invites her to join them on the holodeck. There, Geordi instructs the computer to create a unique Sherlock Holmes mystery with an adversary who is capable of defeating Data.

In the new program, Dr. Pulaski is kidnapped, and Data investigates. They soon discover that Professor Moriarty is responsible, but when they find him with Pulaski in his hideout, they are shocked when they learn that Moriarty is aware of the holodeck program being a simulation, and is able to access the holodeck computer, showing them a sketch of the ''Enterprise'' he has drawn based on the computer's description. Data and Geordi leave the holodeck to alert the captain, and Geordi realizes that when he asked the computer to create the program he had asked for an adversary who could defeat Data, not Sherlock Holmes; as a result, the computer gave the holodeck character, Professor Moriarty, the intelligence and cunning needed to challenge Data, plus the ability to access the ship's computer. When Moriarty gains access to ship stabilizer controls, Data returns to the holodeck with Captain Picard.

Picard meets Moriarty, who demonstrates that he has evolved beyond his original programming and asks to continue to exist in the real world. Picard tells Moriarty that this would not be possible; instead, he saves the program and tells Moriarty that if they ever discover a way to convert holodeck matter into a permanent form they will bring him back. Picard discontinues the program and the USS ''Victory'' arrives, with La Forge preparing to present a model of the historic HMS ''Victory''.

Data and La Forge are enjoying a Sherlock Holmes holodeck program when the two notice that a character programmed to be left-handed was actually right-handed. They call Lt. Barclay to repair the holodeck, but as he checks the status of the Sherlock Holmes programs, he encounters an area of protected memory. He activates it to find the artificial sentient Professor James Moriarty (Daniel Davis) character projected into the Holodeck, who appears to have memory since his creation ("Elementary, Dear Data"), including during the period while he was inactive (a feat Picard claims to be impossible). Moriarty again wishes to escape the artificial world of the holodeck and was assured by the crew of the ''Enterprise'' that they would endeavor to find a way to do so, and is irritated at the lack of results on the part of the crew and their seeming lack of effort. Picard, along with Data and Barclay, attempts to assure Moriarty they are still working towards this goal but their technology does not yet permit it. Moriarty is dismissive.

Moriarty confuses the crew by seemingly willing himself to existence by walking out of the holodeck door. He explains this to the stunned Picard and Data by saying, "I think, therefore I am." Moriarty creates a companion for himself, the Countess Regina Bartholomew (Stephanie Beacham), by commanding the computer of the ''Enterprise'' to place another sentient mind within a female character of the Sherlock Holmes novels. Moriarty then demands that a solution to get Regina off the holodeck be devised. He takes control of the ''Enterprise'' through the computer, insisting that a way be found for her to experience life beyond the confines of the holodeck.

While assisting La Forge, Data observes that La Forge's handedness is incorrect, just as they had experienced earlier. Data determines that he, Picard, and Barclay are still inside the holodeck with Moriarty and everyone else and everything that appears to be the ''Enterprise'' is part of a program Moriarty created. Picard then realizes that he has unwittingly provided Moriarty with the command codes for the Enterprise. With this information, Moriarty takes control of the real Enterprise from within the simulation.

Captain Picard finds a way to program the holodeck's simulation of a holodeck to convince Moriarty that he and Regina can be beamed into the real world, though in fact they are only "beamed" within the holodeck's simulation. Moriarty, satisfied with the ruse, releases control of the ship back to Picard. He and the Countess use a shuttlecraft given to them by Commander Riker to leave the ''Enterprise'' and explore the galaxy. Picard ends the simulation and the trio return to the real ''Enterprise''. Barclay extracts the memory cube from the holodeck and sets it in an extended memory device in order to provide Moriarty and the Countess a lifetime of exploration and adventure.

Picard comments that the crew's reality may actually be a fabrication generated by "a little device sitting on someone's table." This unnerves Barclay enough for him to test the nature of his own reality one more time: he gives an audible command to "end program" to test whether he is still in a simulation. There is no response.

The Standish Sanitarium, owned by Judy Standish, has fallen on hard times. Banker J.D. Morgan, who owns a nearby race track, hotel and nightclub, holds the mortgage on the sanitarium and is attempting to purchase it in order to convert the building into a casino. Judy's faithful employee Tony, suggests asking financial help from the wealthy patient Mrs. Emily Upjohn, who is a hypochondriac. After being pronounced healthy by the sanitarium's doctor's, Mrs. Upjohn threatens to leave the Sanitarium for treatment by Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush. Tony overhears her praise of Hackenbush, who is, unknown to her, a horse doctor. When Tony tells Mrs. Upjohn that Hackenbush has been hired to run the Sanitarium, she is elated and informs Judy she will consider helping her financially. Tony contacts Hackenbush in Florida by telegram and when the Doctor arrives he immediately insults the Sanitarium's business manager Mr. Whitmore. Whitmore, being Morgan's stooge, is suspicious of Hackenbush's medical background.

Meanwhile, Judy's beau, singer Gil Stewart, who performs at Morgan's nightclub, has just spent his life savings on a racehorse named Hi-Hat. He hopes the horse, which he purchased from Morgan, will win a race and the money will allow Judy to save the Sanitarium. Hi-Hat is so afraid of Morgan, that he rears in fright whenever he hears his voice. Gil now has no money to pay for Hi-Hat's feed, and he, Tony and Stuffy, Hi-Hat's jockey, have to resort to trickery to fend off the Sheriff who has come to collect money for the feed bill. Tony raises some money by scamming Hackenbush in the "Tutsi Fruitsy Ice Cream" scene, giving him a tip on a horse, but all in code, so he has to buy book after book to decipher it.

Whitmore attempts to contact the Florida Medical Board for information on Dr. Hackenbush. Hackenbush intercepts the call, and by impersonating the man in charge of medical records, feigning a hurricane with an electric fan, pretending to forget what the call was about and repeatedly calling Whitmore to the dictagraph, he enrages Whitmore until he gives up. That night, at the gala Water Carnival, Gil performs along with Vivien Fay and her ballet, and Tony and Stuffy play the piano and harp respectively. Whitmore attempts to get Hackenbush fired by having Mrs. Upjohn catch him in his suite with Flo, a blonde temptress. Stuffy overhears the plot and informs Tony, so the two attempt to thwart Hackenbush's rendezvous with the floozy by posing as house detectives and then as paperhangers. When Whitmore and Mrs. Upjohn arrive, they have hidden Flo by stuffing her under the sofa cushions.

The following day, just as Mrs. Upjohn is about to sign an agreement to help Judy, Whitmore brings in the eminent Dr. Leopold X. Steinberg from Vienna, whom he hopes will expose Hackenbush as a fraud. After Mrs. Upjohn agrees to an examination by Steinberg, Hackenbush wants to flee for fear of being exposed; Gil, Tony and Stuffy remind him that Judy still needs his help and persuade him to stay.

After making a shambles of Mrs. Upjohn's examination, Hackenbush, Tony, Stuffy and Gil hide out in Hi-Hat's stable, where Judy soon joins them. She is upset by the negative light of the situation; Gil tries to lift her spirits. Near the stable, Stuffy starts sympathizing with a community of poor black folk who believe him to be Archangel Gabriel. As the number progresses, Morgan, Whitmore and the Sheriff arrive and Hackenbush, Tony and Stuffy try to disguise themselves by painting their faces with grease in blackface. The attempt fails, everybody runs off and Whitmore finally exposes Hackenbush as a horse doctor with a letter he received from the Florida Medical Board. Hi-Hat hears Morgan's voice and bolts, easily jumping over several obstacles in the way. Judy suggests to Gil that Hi-Hat is a jumper and Gil enters him into the upcoming steeplechase race.

Morgan, who witnessed Hi-Hat's jumping prowess the night before, tries to prevent him from being entered in the race but fails. Knowing that Hi-Hat is afraid of Morgan, everyone works to make Hi-Hat aware of his presence before reaching the fence. On the last lap, Hi-Hat and Morgan's horse wipe out; when they reach the finish line, it appears that Morgan's horse has won. Stuffy realizes that the mud-covered horses were switched after the accident, and Morgan's jockey was riding Hi-Hat in the finish, thus making Hi-Hat the winner. The black folk arrive at the race and start walking with Gil, Judy, Hackenbush, Tony and Stuffy through the racetrack, all singing the final number.

Seaguy is a super-hero who has never really had an adventure and spends his days in New Venice playing chess with Death, watching ''Mickey Eye'' (a cartoon show about an all-seeing, all-knowing, psychopathic eye, and an obvious spoof on Mickey Mouse) and going to the Mickey Eye amusement park. He constantly expresses his wish to go on adventures and impress a beautiful bearded warrior woman named She-Beard, but he never seems to get around to it because he's told the world doesn't need heroes anymore. However, when Seaguy and Chubby discover that a new food staple called Xoo is sentient, they decide to protect it from evil forces and bring it home.

Seaguy exists in a seemingly perfect world in which all the super-heroes no longer save lives or do much of anything except ride the rides at the Mickey Eye amusement park. It is public knowledge that all the evil in the world was finally destroyed after a powerful entity called the Anti-Dad was destroyed by all the super-heroes, effectively leaving the heroes without jobs. The style of the book is equal parts dark tragedy and light-hearted whimsy as the main character travels from one adventure to the other, but with each adventure becoming more tragic than the one before it, until Seaguy discovers the secret history of the moon.

At the end of their senior year of high school, noble underachiever Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) falls for valedictorian Diane Court (Ione Skye) and plans to ask her out, though they belong to different social groups.

Lloyd's parents are stationed in Germany for the Army, so he lives with his sister Constance (Joan Cusack, uncredited), a single mother, and has no plans yet for his future. Diane comes from a sheltered academic upbringing, living with her doting divorced father Jim (John Mahoney), who owns the retirement home where she works. She will take up a prestigious fellowship in Britain at the end of the summer.

Lloyd offers to take Diane to their graduation party. She agrees, to everyone's surprise. Their next "date" is a dinner at Diane's, where Lloyd fails to impress Jim, and the Internal Revenue Service informs the latter he is under scrutiny.

Diane introduces Lloyd to the retirement home residents and he teaches her to drive her manual-transmission Ford Tempo graduation gift. They grow closer and become intimate, to her father's concern. Lloyd's musician best friend Corey, who has never gotten over her cheating ex-boyfriend, Joe, warns him to take care of Diane.

Jim urges Diane to break up with Lloyd, feeling he is not an appropriate match, and suggests she give Lloyd a pen as a parting gift. Worried about her father, Diane tells Lloyd she wants to stop seeing him and concentrate on her studies, giving him the pen. Devastated, he seeks advice from Corey, who tells him to "be a man". Meanwhile, Jim discovers the IRS cut off his credit when his credit cards are declined as the investigation drags on.

At dawn, Lloyd plays "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel, which was playing when they became intimate, on a boombox, standing under her open bedroom window. The next day, Diane meets with the IRS investigator, who says they have evidence incriminating Jim with embezzling funds from his retirement-home residents. He suggests she accept the fellowship as matters with her father will worsen.

Diane finds the cash concealed at home and confronts Jim, who tells her he took it to give her financial independence. Jim feels justified in doing so as he provided better care of his residents than their families. Distraught, she reconciles with Lloyd at his kick-boxing gym.

At the end of summer, Jim is incarcerated on a 9-month sentence. Lloyd visits him at the prison, saying he is going with Diane to Britain; Jim reacts with anger. Lloyd gives him a letter from Diane, but she arrives to say goodbye and they embrace. She gives him the pen she gave Lloyd, asking him to write to her in Britain. Lloyd comforts Diane, who is afraid of flying, on their flight.

A Shade named Durza, along with a group of Urgals, ambushes a party of three elves. They kill two of them, and Durza attempts to steal an egg carried by the remaining female elf. However, she manages to use magic to teleport it elsewhere. Infuriated, Durza abducts her and keeps her prisoner at the city of Gil'ead.

Eragon is a fifteen-year-old boy who has lived with his uncle Garrow and cousin Roran on a farm near the village of Carvahall, left there by his mother Selena after his birth. While hunting, he sees a large explosion and finds a dragon egg in the rubble. The night after, a baby dragon hatches from the egg, and bonds with Eragon, giving him a silver mark on his hand. Eragon names the dragon Saphira, after a name the old village storyteller Brom mentions.

He raises the dragon in secret until two of King Galbatorix's servants, the Ra'zac, come to Carvahall. Eragon and Saphira escape and hide in the Spine, but Garrow is fatally wounded and the farm is burned down by the Ra'zac. Once Garrow dies, Eragon and Saphira decide to hunt the Ra'zac, in vengeance. Brom insists on accompanying him and Saphira, and gives Eragon the sword Zar'roc.

Eragon becomes a Dragon Rider, through his bond with Saphira. He is the only known Rider in Alagaësia other than King Galbatorix, who, with the help of the now-dead Forsworn, a group of rogue Riders, killed every other Rider a century ago. As they travel, Brom teaches Eragon sword fighting, magic, the ancient elvish language, and the ways of the Dragon Riders.

They travel to the city of Teirm, where they meet with Brom's friend Jeod. Eragon's fortune is told by the witch Angela, and her companion, the werecat Solembum, gives Eragon mysterious advice. With Jeod's help, they track the Ra'zac to the city of Dras-Leona. They manage to infiltrate the city, but are forced to flee after a run-in with the Ra'zac. That night, they are ambushed by the Ra'zac. A stranger named Murtagh rescues them, but Brom is mortally wounded. Brom gives Eragon his blessing, reveals that he was once a Dragon Rider, with a dragon named Saphira, and dies. Saphira uses magic to encase Brom in a diamond tomb.

Murtagh becomes Eragon's new companion and they travel to the city of Gil'ead, seeking information on how to find the Varden, a group of rebels who seek the downfall of Galbatorix. Near Gil'ead, Eragon is captured and imprisoned in a jail that holds a female elf he had had recurring dreams about. Murtagh and Saphira stage a rescue, and Eragon takes the unconscious elf with him. After fighting Durza, Murtagh seemingly kills him with an arrow shot through his head, and they escape. Eragon telepathically communicates with the elf, named Arya, who reveals she had sent the egg to him accidentally. From her, he learns the location of the Varden. Murtagh is reluctant to journey to the Varden, revealing that he is the son of Morzan, former leader of the Forsworn.

An army of Kull, elite Urgals, chases Eragon to the Varden's headquarters, but is driven off by the Varden, who escort Eragon, Saphira, Murtagh, and Arya to Farthen Dûr, their mountain hideout. Eragon meets the leader of the Varden, Ajihad. Ajihad imprisons Murtagh after he refuses to allow his mind to be read, to determine his allegiance. Eragon is told by Ajihad that Murtagh failed to kill Durza, as the only way to kill a Shade is with a stab through the heart. Orik, nephew of the dwarf King Hrothgar, is appointed as Eragon and Saphira's guide. Eragon also meets Ajihad's daughter, Nasuada, and Ajihad's right-hand man, Jörmundur. He runs into Angela and Solembum again, and visits Murtagh in prison. He is tested by two magicians, The Twins, as well as Arya.

Eragon and the Varden are then attacked by an immense Urgal army. Eragon personally battles Durza again, and, after a mental battle, is overwhelmed by Durza, who slashes him across the back. Arya and Saphira shatter Isidar Mithrim, a large sapphire that formed the roof of the chamber, to distract Durza, allowing Eragon to stab him through the heart with his sword. He falls into a coma, and is visited telepathically by a stranger, who tells Eragon to visit him in the Elven capital, Ellesméra. He wakes up with a scar across his back, and resolves to journey to Ellesméra.

Buster Edwards (Phil Collins) is a petty criminal from the East End of 1963 London. His long-suffering wife June (Julie Walters) thinks of him as a lovable rogue. The film opens with Buster walking along his local high street. He breaks into a shop to steal a suit, into which he then changes to attend a funeral. Buster brings Harry (Michael Attwell), who has been used on other 'jobs' and has recently served 18 months in prison for his part in previous robberies, to discuss the next 'job' with the ring-leader Bruce Reynolds (Larry Lamb). Harry wants 'in' and becomes part of the firm who are planning to rob a Royal Mail train allegedly carrying up to £1 million in cash.

After a complex and successful heist, the gang return to their farmhouse hideout to stay out of sight and split the spoils. They find they have stolen over £3 million − much more than they have anticipated or reported by the media. Members of the gang are shown drinking from beer bottles and glasses without wearing gloves, thereby leaving fingerprints which would be evidence of their involvement in the robbery. While lying low at the farmhouse, they hear on the radio that the police are searching farmhouses and outhouses within a radius of the robbery site. The gang become nervous and some members want to immediately return to London for fear of discovery; others think they should keep to the original plan and stay put.

The gang decide to return to London, where they meet their 'contact', a solicitor's clerk who, as in the original plan, arranges for the farmhouse to be 'cleared and cleaned', thereby destroying any physical evidence linking the gang to the robbery. The contact states he will bring the plans forward from a few weeks to the next two to three days. Bruce, Buster and Harry are not happy with any delay at all because they fear imminent discovery, so they set off back to the farmhouse in their own car, to do the job themselves. During the journey, they hear on the car radio that the farmhouse hideout has been discovered, so they abandon their plans and return to London, hoping they will have time to escape with their families. Buster returns home, and is devastated to find that June has had a miscarriage while he was committing the robbery. She cannot believe it when she learns of his involvement in what has been quickly dubbed "The Great Train Robbery".

For several months after the robbery, Buster and June remain in hiding with their young daughter Nicky (Ellie Beaven) until they are turned in to the police by a suspicious neighbor. Buster flees to Acapulco, where he is met by fellow Great Train Robber, Bruce Reynolds, and his girlfriend Franny (Stephanie Lawrence), who are also on the run and living it up in the sun on the profits of the crime. June and Nicky arrive, despite the disapproval of her mother (Sheila Hancock), and although Nicky seems to love her new life in the sun, June is immediately unimpressed with their new way of life and resolves to return to England, despite knowing that if Buster is to return with them he will be imprisoned. Buster remains in Acapulco for some time after June leaves, until realizing (while celebrating England's 1966 World Cup triumph) that having money and the sun means nothing if he doesn't have his family, so he returns to England to accept his punishment.

Twelve years later, after his release from jail, Buster is seemingly content and running a flower stall near London's Waterloo Bridge.

Corie and Paul Bratter are a newlywed couple. For their first home, they live in an apartment on the top floor of a brownstone in New York City. Corie is optimistic about their future together, while Paul, the more anxious and grounded half of the couple, worries about the various flaws in the apartment, such as a hole in the skylight, their leaky closet, and the lack of a bathtub. Shortly after moving in, Corie attempts to set her mother up with their eccentric neighbor Mr. Velasco. During the course of four days, the couple learns to live together while facing the usual daily ups-and-downs. Corie wants Paul to become more easy-going: for example, to run "barefoot in the park".

Marian MacAlpin works in a market research firm, writing survey questions and sampling products. She shares the top-floor apartment of a house in Toronto (never named in the novel) with her roommate Ainsley and dates a dependable, hardworking but boring boyfriend, Peter. Marian also keeps in touch with Clara, a friend from college, who is now a constantly pregnant housewife.

Ainsley announces she wants to have a baby—and intends to do it without getting married. When Marian is horrified, Ainsley replies, "The thing that ruins families these days is the husbands." Looking for a man who will have no interest in fatherhood, she sets her sights on Marian's "womanizer" friend Len, who is infamous for his relationships with young, naive girls.

At work, Marian is assigned the task of gathering responses for a survey about a new brand of beer. While walking from house to house asking people their opinions, she meets Duncan, a graduate student in English who intrigues her with his atypical and eccentric answers.

Marian later has a dinner date with Peter and Len, during which Ainsley shows up dressed as a virginal schoolgirl—the first stage of her plan to trick Len into impregnating her. Marian finds herself disassociating from her body as Peter recounts a gory rabbit hunt to Len:

"''After a while I noticed that a large drop of something wet had materialized on the table. I poked it with my finger and smudged it around a little before I realized with horror that it was a tear.''"

Marian runs from the restaurant and is chased down by Peter in his car. Unaware of Ainsley's plan to get pregnant by Len, Peter chides, "Ainsley behaved herself properly, why couldn't you?"

At the end of the night, Peter proposes to her. When asked to choose a date for the wedding, Marian slips into unexpected passivity:

''"'I’d rather have you decide that. I’d rather leave the big decisions up to you.' I was astonished at myself. I’d never said anything remotely like that to him before. The funny thing was that I really meant it."''

Marian and Duncan have a surprise meeting in a laundromat, engage in awkward conversation, and kiss. Shortly afterwards, Marian's problems with food begin when she finds herself empathizing with a steak that Peter is eating, imagining it "knocked on the head as it stood in a queue like someone waiting for a streetcar." After this, she is unable to eat meat – anything with "bone or tendon or fiber".

Ainsley's plot to seduce Len succeeds. When Len later learns that Ainsley is pregnant, he talks to Marian, who confesses that pregnancy was Ainsley's plan all along. Len reveals his childhood fear of eggs, and from that point Marian can no longer face her soft-boiled egg in the morning. Soon thereafter, she is unable to eat vegetables or cake.

Peter decides to throw a party, to which Marian invites "the office virgins" from her work, Duncan, and Duncan's roommates. Peter suggests that Marian buy herself a new dress for his party – something less "mousy" than her normal wardrobe. Marian submits to his wishes and buys a daring red dress. Before the party, Ainsley does Marian's makeup, including false eyelashes and a big lipsticked smile. When Duncan arrives, he says, "You didn't tell me it was a masquerade. Who the hell are you supposed to be?" He leaves and Marian follows. They end up going to a sleazy hotel, where they have unsatisfying sex. The next morning, they go out to breakfast and Marian finds that she cannot eat anything.

After Duncan leaves, Marian decides that Peter is metaphorically devouring her. To test him, she bakes a pink cake in the shape of a woman and dares him to eat it. "This is what you really want", she says, offering the cake woman as a substitute to him feeding upon her. Peter leaves disturbed. Once Peter leaves, Marian feels hungry and realizes it's just a cake so she starts eating it.

Marian returns to her first person narrative in the closing pages of the book. Duncan shows up at her apartment; Marian offers him the remains of the cake, which he polishes off. "'Thank you,' he said, licking his lips. 'It was delicious.'"

In 1987, geeky Jenna Rink yearns to be popular, but can only persuade the "Six Chicks" – the ruling clique led by "Tom-Tom" – to attend her 13th-birthday party by doing their homework. Jenna's best friend and next-door neighbor, Matt "Matty" Flamhaff, who is secretly in love with her, gives her a pink dollhouse he made himself, and a packet of "magic wishing dust" he sprinkles on the dollhouse roof.

The Six Chicks arrive with the cutest boys in class, and trick Jenna into playing "seven minutes in heaven". While Jenna waits blindfolded in a closet, expecting to kiss one of the boys, the Six Chicks and the boys leave with their completed homework, and Matty finds Jenna alone. Humiliated, she tearfully wishes to be "30, flirty, and thriving", as the wishing dust falls on her. The next morning, Jenna awakens in a luxurious Fifth Avenue apartment – her wish has come true – it is now 2004, and Jenna is 30, with no memory of the intervening 17 years. In the apartment there is a naked guy who Jenna has no memory of.

Jenna discovers she works as an editor for her favorite fashion magazine ''Poise'', with her co-editor and best friend, Lucy Wyman. ''Poise'' has been scooped so often by rival magazine ''Sparkle'' that editor-in-chief Richard believes someone is tipping them off. Jenna finds Matty's address and races to Greenwich Village where the adult Matt, a struggling photographer, is unable to fill her in on her past, as she apparently had become the head of the "Six Chicks" and stopped speaking to him. Lucy is revealed to be the adult Tom-Tom, having had plastic surgery.

While delighting in her freedom, Jenna stumbles through adult life, learning enough to advise the 13-year-olds she prefers to spend time with. She saves a dull and awkward ''Poise'' party by leading the guests, including Matt, in an impromptu "Thriller" line dance. The following night, he introduces Jenna to his fiancée, Wendy. Her slowly emerging past reveals that the adult Jenna is nothing like the sweet, shy girl she was before – the adult Jenna plagiarizes ideas, refuses to speak to her parents, and had office sex with a co-worker's husband. The struggling magazine is forced to redesign, and Jenna overhears Lucy planning to cut her out of her redesign presentation.

Jenna returns to her childhood home in New Jersey, weeping in the same closet and reuniting with her parents. She apologizes to Matt, and hires him for her yearbook-inspired redesign photoshoot. Even though Wendy is eager for Matt to move to Chicago, he and Jenna begin to fall for each other.

Jenna's plans to save ''Poise'' are a rousing success, while Lucy's presentation fails. Lucy lies to Matt, claiming Jenna decided not to use his photos. While looking for Matt to deliver the good news, Jenna finds Wendy, who reveals that their wedding is the next day. Richard informs Jenna that Lucy has become the new editor-in-chief of ''Sparkle'' after presenting them with Jenna's material, including Matt's photographs. Jenna confronts Lucy, who scornfully reveals that Jenna was the one conspiring with ''Sparkle'' and sabotaging ''Poise''; Lucy merely stole the job Jenna was to receive.

Jenna rushes to Matt's childhood home, where the wedding will soon be underway. She declares to him that Lucy was lying about the photos, and Matt reveals he already knew, as he never trusted her. She also declares that she is not the bad person she seems to be and begs Matt to give their relationship a chance. Matt realizes though that Jenna is from the past and although he still cares for her, too much time has passed, but returns to Jenna the dollhouse he made her that he has kept for the past 17 years, having rebuilt it, and confesses that he has always loved her. As Jenna sits outside with the dollhouse, she looks inside to see a young Matt and herself. She begins to cry as the wedding begins, but as she cries, remnants of the wishing dust begins to swirl around her.

Jenna reawakens to find herself back in 1987 on her 13th birthday. This time, when Matt finds her alone in the closet, she embraces and kisses him, and realizes that Lucy was never a true friend. She rips up the homework she did for them and with this second chance, Jenna lives the intervening 17 years differently, with her and Matt emerging in 2004 as a newly married couple. They share their favorite childhood candy, Razzles, while moving into a pink house identical to the dollhouse.

Recent Georgetown University graduates Alec, Leslie, Kevin, Jules, and Kirby are waiting to hear about the conditions of their friends: Wendy, a sweet-natured young woman devoted to helping others, and Billy, a former fraternity boy and now reluctant husband and father, after a minor car accident caused by Billy's drinking. At the hospital, Kirby spots a medical student named Dale, with whom he has been infatuated since college.

The group gathers at their favorite college hangout, St. Elmo's Bar. Billy, trapped in an unstable marriage, has been fired from the job that Alec helped him secure. At their apartment, Alec pressures Leslie to marry him, but she thinks they are unprepared to make such a commitment. Kirby is telling Kevin of his love for Dale when Billy shows up, asking to spend the night as he cannot cope with his wife. Jules accuses Kevin of being gay and loving Alec. When Kevin visits Alec and Leslie for dinner, Alec, during a private moment with Kevin, confesses he recently had sex with a lingerie saleswoman.

Billy and Wendy get drunk together, and Wendy reveals that she's a virgin. They kiss, and Billy, tugging at her clothing, makes fun of her girdle. Wendy insists they just remain friends because she thinks that he's trying to take advantage of her. At St. Elmo's, Jules reveals to Leslie she is having an affair with her married boss. Billy sees his wife with another man in the crowd and attacks him. Billy is thrown out of the bar but reconciles with his wife. The women confront Jules about her affair and reckless spending, but she insists that everything is under control.

Kirby takes a job working for Mr. Kim, a wealthy Korean businessman, and invites Dale to a party that he's holding at Mr. Kim's house (which he is using without Mr. Kim's permission). Wendy arrives with Howie, an ungainly Jewish boy whom her parents want her to marry. Alec announces that he and Leslie are engaged, upsetting her. She confronts him about her suspicions of his infidelity, and the two break up. Alec accuses Kevin of telling Leslie about the tryst with the lingerie woman. Jules gives Billy a ride home, and Billy makes a pass at her. Furious, Jules orders him out of her car, and Billy's wife witnesses the confrontation.

When Dale skips the party, Kirby drives to the ski lodge where she is staying and meets her tall, handsome boyfriend. Kirby's borrowed car gets stuck, and Dale and her boyfriend invite him in. The next morning, as Kirby prepares to leave the lodge, Dale tells him that she's flattered by his interest in her. He kisses her, and then poses for a photo with her (taken by her boyfriend) before leaving. Dale watches Kirby as he drives off.

Leslie goes to Kevin's apartment to spend the night after the breakup and discovers photographs of her. Kevin confesses his love for her, and the two sleep together. Alec goes to the apartment to apologize to Kevin and finds Leslie there, and then Alec and Leslie argue.

Wendy tells her father that she wants to be independent and move into her own place. Jules has been fired from her job, fallen behind on her credit card payments, and her possessions have been seized. Jules locks herself in her apartment and opens the windows, intending to freeze to death. Her friends attempt to coax her out, but she is unresponsive. Kirby fetches Billy, who landed a job at a gas station courtesy of Kevin, to calm Jules down. Billy convinces Jules to let him in, and the two share a very tender talk about the challenges of life, overheard by the rest of the gang.

Wendy moves into her own place, where Billy visits and informs her that he is getting a divorce and moving to New York City, and the two have sex. At the bus station, the group gathers once more to say goodbye to Billy. Billy urges Alec to make up with Leslie, but she declares that she does not want to date anyone for a while. Alec and Kevin make up, and the group makes plans to meet for brunch. However, they decide not to go to St. Elmo's and instead choose Houlihan's because there are "not so many kids" there.

Cocky Brian Flanagan who has just finished his stint in the army, heads back to New York City and is eager to land a high-powered job in the business world in New York City. When he fails, he settles for work as a bartender while attending business school during the day. An older and more experienced bartender, Doug Coughlin, takes him under his wing and teaches him how to flair. The two become friends, with Doug giving Brian the idea for a nationwide chain of bars called Cocktails and Dreams. Brian drops out of business school and he and Doug become popular bartenders at a trendy nightclub. Eventually, their flairing act catches the eye of Coral, a wealthy photographer and she and Brian begin dating. Doug bets Brian that the relationship won't last and, unbeknownst to Brian, tricks Coral into sleeping with him. After Coral breaks up with Brian, he has a nasty fight with Doug in front of a full bar and dissolves their partnership.

Two years later, Brian works at a beachside bar in Jamaica, hoping to save enough money for his own bar. He meets beautiful artist Jordan Mooney and they begin a passionate relationship. Out of the blue, Doug shows up, now married to the wealthy, flirtatious and much younger Kerry, and bets Brian that he can't attract Bonnie, a wealthy older woman. Brian accepts his challenge and wins Bonnie over. Jordan is devastated when she spots Brian and Bonnie drunkenly walking to Bonnie's hotel room. The next morning, Brian regrets the fling and seeks out Jordan, only to find she has left for the United States.

Brian returns to New York with Bonnie, hoping she will get him the corporate job he wants, but soon feels marginalized and resents her lifestyle. While attending an art exhibit, Brian has an altercation with the artist in front of Bonnie's friends, leading them to break up. He tries to reconcile with Jordan, but she angrily refuses. When calmer, she reveals she is pregnant with his child and does not want him in her life because she does not want to be hurt again. After he tries again to talk to Jordan, a neighbor tells him she has moved into her parents’ upscale Park Avenue apartment. Jordan's father, Richard, tries to buy Brian off with money, but he refuses. Jordan explains that she hid her wealth because she wanted him to love her for who she was. To illustrate how little he cares about her money, he tears up her father's check and leaves.

Brian finds Doug on his new yacht and thinks he has finally achieved the financial success they both wanted. However, Doug tells him that when his business began to fail, he invested all of Kerry's money in commodities and lost her entire wealth. When Brian takes Kerry to her apartment, she says she is bored with marriage and tries to seduce him, but he rebuffs her. He goes back to Doug's boat and finds him dead from suicide. Doug mailed in Brian’s suicide note and told him that his life was a fraud.

Distraught, but determined to win Jordan over, Brian tries to visit Jordan, but is stopped by security who has been told by Jordan's father not to admit him. He fights his way up to Jordan's apartment, tells her of Doug's death and says he doesn't want to make the same mistake by being too proud to ask for help. He says his Uncle Pat has given him a loan to start his own bar and confidently predicts that he will be successful. When she still hesitates, he declares his love for her and how he wants to marry her and take care of her and their child. She agrees to take him back, but Richard interferes, leading to a fight where a security guard assaults Jordan. As they leave, Richard tells them they are on their own and Brian answers that he prefers it that way.

Brian and Jordan marry and Brian finally lived out his dream and opens his own bar, Flanagan's Cocktails and Dreams, with hopes of starting franchises across the country. At the grand opening, Jordan whispers that she is pregnant with twins. In his happiness and much to his Uncle's chagrin, he proclaims that drinks are “on the house” and the bar is open.

The novel starts in 1979, with an abrupt end to an expedition sent by Earth Resource Technology Services Inc (ERTS). in the dense rainforests of the Virunga region, in the heart of the Congo, when the team is suddenly attacked and killed by unknown creatures – soon, all contact with them is lost. The expedition, which was searching for deposits of diamonds, discovered the fictional lost city of Zinj. A video image taken by a camera there, and transmitted by satellite to the base station in Houston, shows a peculiar race of grey-haired gorillas to be responsible for the murders.

Another expedition, led by Karen Ross, is launched to find out the truth and to find the Lost City of Zinj, where there are believed to be deposits of a certain diamond, the type IIb, which are naturally boron-doped and thus useful as semiconductors, though worthless as gemstones. This time, the searchers bring along the famous White African mercenary Charles Munro, as well as a female mountain gorilla named Amy, who has been trained to communicate with humans using sign language, and her trainer Peter Elliot.

Time is of the greatest essence, as a rival consortium from corporations in Japan, Germany, and The Netherlands are also searching for the diamonds, turning the entire expedition into a race to the city of Zinj. Unfortunately for Ross and her team, the American expedition encounters many delays along the way, including plane crashes, native civil wars, and jungle predators.

Eventually, Ross and her expedition reach the Lost City of Zinj and discover the consortium's camp, like the original expedition's camp, in ruins and devoid of life. Ross and her team then encounter killer gorillas and are attacked. A brief battle ensues and several gorillas are killed.

After studying the corpses and performing a rudimentary field autopsy, it is concluded the animals are not "true" gorillas by modern biological standards, nor kakundakari (an African primate cryptid), but gorilla/chimpanzee/human hybrids: their mass and height is closer to humans than gorillas, their skull is greatly malformed (the "ridge" that makes gorilla heads look "pointy" is nearly nonexistent) and their pigmentation is on the border of albinism: light gray fur and yellow eyes. They also exhibit behavior unlike normal gorillas: they are highly aggressive, ruthless and partially nocturnal, as well as extremely social, forming troops of over a hundred, compared to a mere dozen animals. Elliot intends to name them ''Gorilla elliotensis'' after himself.

Afterwards, Ross, Elliot, and Munro explore the ruins and discover that the killer gorillas were bred by the ancient inhabitants of Zinj to serve as guards to protect the diamond mines from intruders. After several more attacks and the loss of contact with the ERTS HQ due to a massive solar flare, Elliot, with the help of Amy, finds a way to translate the language of the new gorillas (she refers to them as "bad gorillas") and piece together three messages ("go away", "no come", "bad here"); they stop fighting the humans and become confused, leaving the camp.

Their victory is cut short by the eruption of the nearby volcano (accelerated by explosives placed by Ross for her geological surveys) which buries the city, the diamond fields and all proof of the "new" species under 800 meters of lava. Ross, Elliot, Munro, and the rest of the team's survivors are forced to run for their lives. The team manages to find a hot air balloon in a crashed consortium cargo aircraft and uses it to escape.

In an epilogue, it is revealed that Munro was able to retrieve a few hundred carats of the valuable diamonds and sold them to Intel for use in a revolutionary new computer processor, while Amy was reintroduced into the wild and was later observed teaching her offspring sign language.

The crew of the ''Enterprise'' responds to messages received from the SS ''Tsiolkovsky,'' a science vessel monitoring the collapse of a supergiant star. The messages suggest, amid their rounds of laughter, that the crew has been exposed to a sudden hull breach. After the ''Enterprise'' secures the ''Tsiolkovsky'' via tractor beam, an away team beams over and finds the crew frozen to death in various stages of undress—including one who was taking a shower fully clad. A woman's body, frozen, falls into Lt. La Forge's (LeVar Burton) hands. Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) orders full medical examinations of the away team on their return, and finds La Forge sweating profusely and complaining about the temperature. She orders him to stay in sickbay but he wanders out while she is studying his test results, and makes his way to the quarters of Crusher's son, Wesley (Wil Wheaton). Unaware of La Forge's condition, Wesley shows him a portable tractor beam device and La Forge places an encouraging hand on his shoulder. Meanwhile, acting on a hunch by Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes), who had read up on past starships named "Enterprise" that included an event involving illness and showering fully dressed, Lt. Cdr. Data (Brent Spiner) locates a historical record identifying the ailment as similar to one encountered by Captain Kirk's USS ''Enterprise''. La Forge returns to sickbay, where Dr. Crusher quickly becomes concerned when she realizes that the infection is spread by physical contact. Much of the ship's crew comes under the influence of the ailment, with much sexier results than on Kirk's ''Enterprise''. Most notably, a "fully functional" Data engages in a sexual encounter with Security Chief Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby). Dr. Crusher, struggling against the effects of the ailment, finds the original antidote documented by Kirk's ''Enterprise'' to be ineffective, and begins devising a new version of it.

Now infected, Wesley uses a digital sample of Captain Picard's voice to lure key engineering crew-members away from the engineering deck. He erects a force field around the area with his tractor beam device and assumes control of the ship. He allows one of the engineers, Mr. Shimoda (Benjamin W.S. Lum), who is acting in a childlike manner, into the force field. Mr. Shimoda manages to remove all of the isolinear chips from the engine control station and plays with them like toys. As the supergiant star collapses, a fragment is blown into a direct impact course with the two Federation ships, and without the chips in place, they cannot move out of its way. Chief Engineer Sarah MacDougal (Brooke Bundy) manages to disable Wesley's force field, and Data is sent to replace the chips. He reports that he will not have enough time. Wesley reverses the ship's tractor beam, repelling the ''Enterprise'' off the ''Tsiolkovsky,'' giving themselves the necessary additional seconds for Data to replace the chips enabling the ship to move out of the way. The crew is cured of the ailment, and Picard partially credits Wesley for helping to prevent a disaster.

The ''Enterprise'' arrives at the planet Ligon II to acquire a vaccine needed to combat an outbreak of Anchilles fever on Styris IV. The crew, possessing little information on the Ligonian culture, finds that it follows strict customs of status similar to ancient China. Specifically, while the men in their culture rule society, the land itself is controlled by the women. Lutan (Jessie Lawrence Ferguson), the Ligonian leader, transports up to the ''Enterprise'' to provide a sample of the vaccine, and is impressed by Lt. Tasha Yar's status as head of security. Yar further demonstrates her aikido skills against a holographic opponent for Lutan on the holodeck. After a tour of the ship, Lutan and the Ligonians abduct Yar as they transport back to the surface. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) demands that Lutan return Yar, considering the kidnapping an act of war, but receives no response from the planet. After consultation with his officers, Picard determines that Lutan took Yar in a "counting coup" as a show of heroism. Picard contacts Lutan in a more peaceful manner, who grants permission for the ''Enterprise'' crew to beam down to the planet and promises to return Yar after a banquet in his honor.

Lutan announces at the banquet that he wishes to make Yar his "First one", surprising not only the ''Enterprise'' crew but also Yareena (Karole Selmon) who was already Lutan's "First one." Yareena challenges Yar to a fight to the death to claim back the position. When Picard objects to the fight, Lutan refuses to give the ''Enterprise'' the rest of the vaccine unless Yar participates. The crew investigates the combat ritual and find that the weapons used are coated with a lethal poison, and also that it is Yareena's wealth to which Lutan owes his position. Picard prepares to have Yar beamed to the ''Enterprise'' should she be harmed in the battle. As the match progresses, both Yareena and Yar are equally skilled, but Yar eventually lands a strike on Yareena. Yar quickly covers Yareena and orders the transport of both of them to the ''Enterprise'' against the demands of Lutan. Aboard the ship, Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) reaches Yareena moments after death, but is able to counteract the poison and revive the woman's body. When Lutan demands to know the fate of Yareena, Crusher reveals that Yareena died, thus ceding the match to Yar and breaking the "first one" bond. Yareena is now free to select a new mate; she chooses Hagon (James Louis Watkins), one of Lutan's bodyguards, and effectively strips Lutan of his position of power and makes him her "Second One". Hagon lets Yar go and gives the ''Enterprise'' their full supply of vaccine.

The story is staged in the distant future within our own Milky Way Galaxy, starting in SE 796/IC 487/AD 3596. A portion of the galaxy is filled with terraformed worlds, inhabited by interstellar traveling human beings. For 150 years, two mighty space powers have intermittently warred with each other: the Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance.

Within the Galactic Empire, based on mid-19th-century Prussia, an ambitious military genius, Reinhard von Müsel, later conferred the name Reinhard von Lohengramm, is rising to power. He is driven by the desire to free his sister Annerose, who was taken by the Kaiser as a concubine. Later, he wants not only to end the corrupt Goldenbaum dynasty, but also to defeat the Free Planets Alliance and unify the whole galaxy under his rule.

In the Free Planets Alliance Star Fleet is another genius, Yang Wen-li. He originally aspired to become a historian through a military academy, and joined the tactical division only out of need for tuition money. He was rapidly promoted to commodore because he demonstrated excellence in military strategy in a number of decisive battles and conflicts. He becomes the arch-rival of Reinhard, though they highly respect one another. Unlike Reinhard, he is better known for his underdog victories and accomplishments in overcoming seemingly impossible odds and mitigating collateral damages and casualties due to military operations.

As a historian, Yang often predicts the motives behind his enemies, narrating the rich history of his world and offering commentary. One of his famous quotes is "There are few wars between good and evil; most are between one good and another good."

Besides the two main heroes, the story is full of vivid characters and intricate politics. All types of characters – from high nobility, admirals, and politicians, to common soldiers and farmers – are interwoven into the story. The story frequently switches away from the main heroes to the Unknown Soldier fighting for his life on the battlefield.

There is a third neutral power nominally attached to the Galactic Empire, the Phezzan Dominion, a planet-state that trades with both warring powers. There is also a Terraism cult, which believes that humans should go back to Earth, gaining popularity throughout the galaxy. Throughout the story, executive political figures of Phezzan, in concert with the upper-hierarchy of the Terraism cult, orchestrate a number of conspiracies to shift the tide of the galactic war to favor their objectives. The name "Phezzan" is a reference to Fezzan, a region of modern Libya that played an analogous historical role to the one in the anime.

Christopher Farris of the Anime News Network wrote that the novels focus on "personal matters of the main players" instead of being "rote historical accounts", while the 1988-1997 anime series focuses on "the big picture of the war", with multiple characters chronicled, and the 2018 series focuses "only on the major plays by our two main actors to fit within its shorter, more focused format."

Snuffy visits Big Bird's nest in the morning so he can be the first to wish Big Bird a happy birthday. During the opening credits, the two head out down the street as Big Bird's friends wish him a happy birthday, then everyone sings about "Big Bird's Beautiful Birthday Bash" in the arbor. The ''Monsterpiece Theater'' sketch "The King and I" is repeated from a previous episode. Big Bird and his friends will go to the Wollman Rink in Central Park for his skating party, and Maria and Susan will stay behind to decorate. Snuffy also wants to stay behind because he doesn't know how to roller skate, so Big Bird will teach him how to skate. Robin Williams shows Elmo the fun things he can do with a stick. Everyone enjoys skating at the rink, but Snuffy is not sure he wants to learn how to skate because he fears falling. Big Bird is finally able to convince Snuffy to learn, until someone falls in front of them. The song "We Are All Earthlings" follows. Maria and Susan lay out Big Bird's cake, then go to their apartments to find more chairs. Cookie Monster finds Big Bird's cake and realizes he can't eat it, so he finds other things to eat, starting with the chairs and the table. Grover sings "Monster in the Mirror" along with several celebrities. Monster on the Spot reporter Telly Monster asks if The Count will support his public television station. The Count recites a long list of reasons why, leading to a pledge break.

Snuffy, still afraid of falling, tries to leave the rink. Telly asks Luis where Oscar the Grouch is. Oscar and Bruno are skating at the party because he loves falling down when skating. Bruno skates around without falling, but the skating made Oscar dizzy. Whoopi Goldberg and Hoots the Owl talk about being proud of their body parts. Big Bird impresses Snuffy with a rollerskating routine, but he can't skate like Big Bird. Big Bird and friends sing "Put One Foot in Front of the Other", which helps Snuffy skate around the rink. Cookie Monster has eaten everything around him, and when Susan and Maria come back, they take the cake away from him. The Oinker Sisters sing "A New Way to Walk", repeated from a previous episode. Everyone returns to the street and notices that almost everything has been eaten. Big Bird's friends give him his cake, sing "Happy Birthday To You", and then Big Bird blows out all the candles for his birthday wish. The credits begin as the cake is cut, but stop when Maria wonders where Cookie Monster is; he eats his slice of cake, and the sponsors for dessert. The credits continue as everyone skates at the rink.

Following the death of the witch Desiderata Hollow, Magrat Garlick receives Desiderata's magic wand, for Desiderata was not only a witch but also a fairy godmother. By giving the wand to Magrat, she effectively makes Magrat the new fairy godmother to a young woman called Emberella, who lives across the Disc in Genua. Sadly, Desiderata does not give Magrat any instruction on how to use the wand, so pretty much anything that Magrat points it at simply becomes a pumpkin.

Desiderata had promised Emberella that she would not be forced to marry the Duke (or Duc, as it is spelled in the book), who's really a frog/prince. Now it is up to Magrat and her companions, (Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg), to ensure Emberella does not marry the Duc, despite the desires of another witch in Genua called Lilith, Desiderata's fairy godmother counterpart. Lilith used the power of mirrors to capture Genua.

The trio of witches journey to Genua, which takes some time and involves numerous mis-adventures, such as an encounter with a village terrorised by a Vampire—Nanny Ogg's cat Greebo catches it in bat form and eats it—an incident where they encounter a Running of the Bulls-like event, and a house falling on Nanny's head which she survives thanks to her hat with the willow reinforcement. Upon arrival in Genua, Magrat goes to meet Emberella, while the two older witches meet Erzulie Gogol, a voodoo witch and her zombie servant, Baron Saturday (who was also her late lover).

It is at this time that Magrat finds out that Emberella has two fairy godmothers, Magrat and Lilith. It was Lilith who had manipulated many of the various stories that the Witches had traveled through and who was now manipulating Genua itself, wrapping the city around her version of the Cinderella story. Lilith has had people arrested for crimes against stories, including the arrest of a toymaker for not being jolly, not whistling and not telling the children stories. At this point it is revealed that Lilith is actually Lily, Granny Weatherwax's older sister.

Using hypnosis, Granny convinces Magrat to attend the masked ball in place of Emberella. Greebo is transformed into human form to aid the witches. Emberella's dress fits, but the glass slippers do not. After enjoying themselves for a while at the ball, the witches are discovered and are cast into a dungeon.

At that point, Emberella, Mrs. Gogol and Baron Saturday arrive at the ball, having broken the witches out of their prison with the aid of Cassanunda (a dwarf and the Disc's second greatest lover). A high concentration of magic causes the Duc to revert to his frog form, and he is trampled by Baron Saturday, causing Lily to flee. Granny starts to follow, but Mrs. Gogol, wanting to kill Lily, tries to stop Granny by using a voodoo doll. Granny thrusts her arm into a flaming torch and preys upon Mrs. Gogol's own belief in the power of the doll to make it burst into flames. Granny Weatherwax then pursues Lily.

Emberella is informed that, as the daughter of the late Baron Saturday (who was the late Duke in Genua), she is now Duchess of Genua. Her first command is to end the ball (she dislikes them) and attend the Mardi Gras parade, a form of binge-drinking carnival.

Granny manages to defeat Lily by trapping her in a mirror, and the three witches return home. Granny shows Magrat how to use the wand to do magic, and that it takes more than wishing. Magrat throws the wand into a river, to be lost forever. Then the Witches go home, the long way, and see the elephant.

It was an ordinary rescue mission for dam controller Togashi Teruo (Yūji Oda) and his colleague Yoshioka Kazushi as they set out to assist a few climbers who met an unexpected blizzard near the Okutowa Dam. Unfortunately, Yoshioka was injured while helping the others and Togashi had no choice but to seek help alone. Things got worse when WHITEOUT - a meteorological phenomenon – appeared and Togashi lost his best friend forever.

Meanwhile, with the most advanced technology, Utsuki Hirotaka (Koichi Sato) and his group of terrorists blow up the only main road to Okutowa Dam, the largest dam in Japan. They take over the dam along with the workers as hostages. They demanded JPY 5 billion from the government with a 24-hour deadline. To let the government know that they mean business, they decide to kill the hostages one by one unless they hear a definite answer from the highest government official. Among the hostages is Hirakawa Chiaki (Nanako Matsushima), Yoshioka’s fiancée whom Togashi promised his best friend to take good care of if anything bad should happen to him.

To make things more complicated, there was a snowstorm and no one can get in or out from the dam. Either the government pays the ransom or the dam will blow up along with the 200,000 residents living close to it. Fortunately, Togashi was not captured by the terrorists and he is now on his own to fight the well-equipped terrorists and to rescue both Hirakawa and the Okutowa Dam alone.

An anonymous narrator opens the story by describing the boarding of a passenger liner traveling from New York to Buenos Aires. One of the passengers is world chess champion Mirko Czentovic. Czentovic is an idiot savant and prodigy with no obvious qualities apart from his talent for chess. The narrator plays chess with his wife, hoping to draw Czentovic's attention and engage him in a game. The narrator draws the attention of McConnor, a businessman, who offers to pay Czentovic's fee.

A group of passengers (including the narrator and McConnor) play Czentovic in a , which Czentovic wins. They are about to lose a second game when they are interrupted by Dr B., who prevents them from blundering and guides the party to a draw.

Dr B. tells his story to the narrator. He was a lawyer who managed the assets of the Austrian nobility and church. He was arrested by the Gestapo, who hoped to extract information from Dr B. in order to steal the assets. The Gestapo kept Dr B. imprisoned in a hotel, in total isolation, but Dr B. maintained his sanity by stealing a book of past masters' chess games, which he learned completely. After absorbing every single move in the book, he began to play against himself, developing the ability to separate his psyche into two personas. This psychological conflict ultimately caused him to suffer a breakdown, after which he awakened in a hospital. A sympathetic physician attested his insanity to keep him from being imprisoned again by the Nazis, and he was freed.

The passengers persuade Dr B. to play alone against Czentovic. Dr B. agrees, but warns that he must not be allowed to play a second game. In a stunning demonstration of his imaginative and combinational powers, Dr B. beats the world champion. Czentovic suggests another game to restore his honour, and Dr B. immediately agrees. But this time, having sensed that Dr B. played quite fast and hardly took time to think, Czentovic tries to irritate his opponent by taking several minutes to make each move, thereby putting psychological pressure on Dr B., who gets more and more impatient as the game proceeds. His greatest power turns out to be his greatest weakness: he devolves into rehearsing imagined matches against himself repeatedly and manically. Czentovic's slow deliberation drives Dr B. to distraction and ultimately to insanity, culminating in an incorrect statement about a check by his bishop. The narrator urges Dr B. to stop playing, awakening Dr B. from his frenzy. Dr B. resigns the game, apologizes for his outbursts, and withdraws from the board. As Dr B. leaves, Czentovic comments that he had been mounting a reasonable attack.

''Nostromo'' is set in the fictional South American country of Costaguana, and more specifically in that country's Occidental Province and its port city of Sulaco. Though Costaguana is a fictional nation, its geography as described in the book resembles real-life Colombia. Costaguana has a long history of tyranny, revolution and warfare, but has recently experienced a period of stability under the dictator Ribiera.

Charles Gould is a native Costaguanero of English descent who owns an important silver-mining concession near the key port of Sulaco. He is tired of the political instability in Costaguana and its concomitant corruption, and uses his wealth to support Ribiera's government, which he believes will finally bring stability to the country after years of misrule and tyranny by self-serving dictators. Instead, Gould's refurbished silver mine and the wealth it has generated inspires a new round of revolutions and self-proclaimed warlords, plunging Costaguana into chaos. Among others, the forces of the revolutionary General Montero invade Sulaco after securing the inland capital. Gould, adamant that his silver mine should not become spoil for his enemies, orders Nostromo, the trusted "''Capataz de Cargadores''" (Head Longshoreman) of Sulaco, to take the mine's most recent load of silver offshore, and arranges for the mine complex to be destroyed by dynamite if the coup leaders try to take it.

Nostromo is an Italian expatriate who has risen to his position through his bravery and daring exploits. ("Nostromo" is Italian for "shipmate" or "boatswain", but the name could also be considered a corruption of the Italian phrase "nostro uomo" or "nostr'uomo", meaning "our man"). Nostromo's real name is Giovanni Battista Fidanza—''Fidanza'' meaning "trust" in archaic Italian.

Nostromo is a commanding figure in Sulaco, respected by the wealthy Europeans and seemingly limitless in his abilities to command power among the local population. He is, however, never admitted to become a part of upper-class society, but is instead viewed by the rich as their useful tool. He is believed by Charles Gould and his own employers to be incorruptible, and it is for this reason that Nostromo is entrusted with removing the silver from Sulaco to keep it from the revolutionaries. Accompanied by the young journalist Martin Decoud, Nostromo sets off to smuggle the silver out of Sulaco. However, the lighter on which the silver is being transported is struck at night in the waters off Sulaco by a transport carrying the invading revolutionary forces under the command of Colonel Sotillo. Nostromo and Decoud manage to save the silver by putting the lighter ashore on Great Isabel. Decoud and the silver are deposited on the deserted island of Great Isabel in the expansive bay off Sulaco, while Nostromo scuttles the lighter and manages to swim back to shore undetected. Back in Sulaco, Nostromo's power and fame continues to grow as he daringly rides over the mountains to summon the army which ultimately saves Sulaco's powerful leaders from the revolutionaries and ushers in the independent state of Sulaco. In the meantime, left alone on the deserted island, Decoud eventually loses his mind. He takes the small lifeboat out to sea and there shoots himself, after first weighing his body down with some of the silver ingots so that he would sink into the sea.

His exploits during the revolution do not bring Nostromo the fame he had hoped for, and he feels slighted and used. Feeling that he has risked his life for nothing, he is consumed by resentment, which leads to his corruption and ultimate destruction, for he has kept secret the true fate of the silver after all others believed it lost at sea. He finds himself becoming a slave of the silver and its secret, even as he slowly recovers it ingot by ingot during nighttime trips to Great Isabel. The fate of Decoud is a mystery to Nostromo, which combined with the fact of the missing silver ingots only adds to his paranoia. Eventually a lighthouse is constructed on Great Isabel, threatening Nostromo's ability to recover the treasure in secret. The ever resourceful Nostromo manages to have a close acquaintance, the widower Giorgio Viola, named as its keeper. Nostromo is in love with Giorgio's younger daughter, but ultimately becomes engaged to his elder daughter Linda. One night while attempting to recover more of the silver, Nostromo is shot and killed, mistaken for a trespasser by old Giorgio.

Apprentice Jurisfiction agent and SpecOps-27 operative Thursday Next is taking a vacation inside ''Caversham Heights'', a never-published detective novel inside the titular Well of Lost Plots, while waiting for her child to be born. In the book, she encounters two Generics, students of St Tabularasa's who have yet to be assigned to a book, and DCI Jack Spratt, a detective who partners with her in investigating a murder. Since Thursday is an "Outlander", a "real" person rather than a fictional character, Spratt hopes that she will help them appeal to the Council of Genres to prevent the disassembling of ''Caversham Heights'', a fate inevitable for books which languish unpublished in the real world.

Using a ''Caversham Heights'' as her base of operations, Thursday continues her apprenticeship with Miss Havisham from ''Great Expectations''. Meanwhile, fictional character Yorrick Kaine is loose in Thursday's real world and conspiring with someone in Text Grand Central, the final arbitrators of plot, setting, and other story elements, to release BOOK version 9, code-named UltraWord. UltraWord is touted at a Jurisfiction meeting as the greatest advance "since the invention of movable type" because it creates a thirty-two plot story system and allows the reader to control the story.

Thursday slowly loses her memory of Landen, though Gran Next remains with her and keeps her from forgetting him completely. In doing so, she also battles Aornis Hades, the villainess, who nearly converted the world to Dream Topping in ''Lost in a Good Book'', who is present in her memory as a mindworm. Thursday learns that Harris Tweed, Kaine's partner, is masquerading as a Jurisfiction agent to get UltraWord released, which he states will "fix literature". She investigates the details of UltraWord and makes some alarming discoveries.

At the 923rd Annual BookWorld awards, Thursday demonstrates a variety of issues with UltraWord; it makes books impossible to read more than three times, thus rendering libraries and second-hand bookstores useless, and the quality of the writing is also substantively poorer. Tweed and Kaine call for a vote before the audience can be convinced by Thursday's argument. In this unprecedented emergency, Thursday uses her Jurisfiction operative TravelBook to summon The Great Panjandrum, ruler of the BookWorld and literal ''deus ex machina''. The Panjandrum calls for an immediate vote which goes against UltraWord and calls on Thursday to take the job of Bellman, the superintendent of Jurisfiction. Thursday accepts the position.

In the aftermath of the BookWorld awards, the two Generics, now calling themselves Randolph and Lola, Thursday, and her pet dodo Pickwick retire to ''Caversham Heights'', which was bought by the Council of Genres as a character sanctuary, a solution that appeals to the residents of the novel as well as the nursery rhyme characters who were going to go on strike. The story of the new ''Caversham Heights'' constitutes Fforde's fifth book, ''The Big Over Easy''.

The American edition has an extra chapter at the end, documenting the weathering of a WordStorm during Thursday's tenure as Bellman.

The movie is about a documentary team that follows the reunion of Hard Core Logo. Joe Dick gets the band back together ostensibly for an anti-gun benefit after hearing Canadian punk rock legend Bucky Haight, and personal mentor, is shot. They begin the tour in Vancouver and travel thousands of kilometers east along the Trans-Canada Highway to Winnipeg, then northwest along the Yellowhead Highway to Edmonton. On the way the band's dark secrets are revealed, however while they travel they keep ignoring each other's darkness. John Oxenberger loses his schizophrenia medication and slowly loses his sanity. Billy Tallent finds out that by going on tour he loses his position in mainstream rock band Jenifur and with that his one shot at stardom. The band stops by Bucky Haight's reclusive estate only to find he was never shot and that Joe Dick fabricated the lie in order to get the band together. The band and documentary crew drop acid and experience hallucinations. Bucky admonishes Joe Dick for using him to get the band together. At Edmonton, Billy Tallent finds out he has another opportunity to permanently join Jenifur. Joe Dick finds out from the film crew and later attacks Billy on stage. Joe Dick destroys Billy Tallent's Fender Stratocaster, which was a gift from Bucky Haight, and the band parts ways. In the final scene Joe Dick drinks with the documentary crew members and shoots himself in the head.

Part I begins with the story of Tom's birth: he is the product of an illicit affair between King Arthur and Angelica, the Lord Mayor of London's daughter. To conceal their adultery, Arthur and Angelica secretly send their child to be raised by Antonio, a Lincolnshire shepherd. The shepherd raises Tom as his own, but Tom's innate nobility leads him to seek adventure as the "Red Rose Knight." He leads a life of crime before his adoptive father berates him and reveals that he was a foundling. Arthur, who realizes that Tom is his son, sends his knights Lancelot, Tristram, and Triamour to bring him to court. Tom is immediately made a Knight of the Round Table, but Arthur does not reveal his identity. Tom woos the court with his feats of martial valor, culminating with his success in England's war against Portugal. He then sets out with a company of knights on an adventure to find his parents. Tom's ship lands on an island called Fairy Land, inhabited entirely by women. Tom sleeps with the queen, Celia, but is compelled to return to his quest. He sets out, vowing to return. Back on the ship, Lancelot tells the tale of the great love between a young girl and prince Valentine of Greece. At length the ship comes to Prester John's kingdom, where Tom defends the king against a dragon before making off with his daughter Anglitora, who subsequently gives birth to the Black Knight. Tom attempts to return to Fairy Land, where Celia has given birth to his son, who will later be known as the Faerie Knight. They get within sight of the island, but a trick of the tides prevents the ship from landing. Thinking she is abandoned, Celia pins a note to her chest and drowns herself in the sea. Tom's crew recovers her body and sails back to England, where they bury her with full honors.

Part II largely undermines the action and motifs of Part I. A dying Arthur reveals his adultery with Angelica, and Tom's parentage is revealed. When Anglitora finds out he is illegitimate, she kills him. His spirit goes on to tell the Black Knight her deed, and he in turn kills her. Both the Black Knight and the Faerie Knight end up traveling together on many adventures.

Young bachelors and best friends Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble have recently qualified as crane operators at Slate & Company. Soon to be employed, now they want dates, and a little green alien The Great Gazoo, exiled to Earth by his species, offers to help, although only they can see him. Meanwhile, Wilma Slaghoople wants a normal life and activities, like bowling, though her controlling mother Pearl wants her to marry smooth casino-owner Chip Rockefeller. After Wilma angrily escapes to Bronto King in Bedrock, waitress Betty O'Shale, mistaking her as "caveless", offers to share her apartment and gets her a job.

Smitten with the waitresses, the two men invite them to a carnival, with Fred dating Betty and Barney taking Wilma. However, the couples do not really connect until both men switch dates. Fred wins an egg in a carnival game which hatches into a baby dinosaur, which he names "Dino". Wilma invites her new friends home to a birthday party for her father, Colonel Slaghoople, where all are shocked by her wealth. Intending to propose, Fred changes his mind after meeting Chip, who berates his low-level job at Slate & Company. Pearl dislikes the three new friends, but the Colonel, glad for Wilma's happiness, accepts them and privately gives Wilma a valuable pearl necklace that his great-grandmother once wore. After the boys disgrace themselves at dinner, Wilma nevertheless proclaims her pride and follows them out.

Chip congratulates Fred on attracting Wilma, apologizes for mocking Fred's job, and invites the group to his Rock Vegas resort as a peace offering. However, unbeknownst to the group, Chip plots to hope Fred gambles so Wilma dumps him, whereas Fred sees it as a chance to win big so he can impress Wilma with money like Chip's. Gangsters Big Rocko and Little Rocko visit Chip and his girlfriend Roxie to collect a lot of money that Chip owes their boss. Gazoo overhears Chip claiming his upcoming marriage to Wilma will allow him to access the Slaghoople fortune. Considering that plan creditable, the gangsters agree to suspend collections until after the wedding. When Barney tries to keep Fred from high-stakes poker, Chip sends Roxie to seduce and escort Barney to an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Chip keeps Fred gambling to miss his dinner date with the others. Betty sees Barney wipe cream from Roxie's chest, misinterpreting the move as a pass. Mick Jagged comforts the weeping girl, and they go on a date. Wilma breaks up with Fred over not spending any time with her. Chip warns her of burglaries and arranges that Fred loses everything before slipping Wilma's pearls in Fred's pocket and asking him to empty them. Hotel security arrests Fred for robbery, but when Barney protests that Fred is incapable of robbery and would not even be able to crack his own knuckles without help, Chip accuses Barney of being Fred's accomplice and also has him arrested. Angered that the two stole from her, Wilma goes back to Chip.

Gazoo visits the men in prison, revealing that Chip is severely indebted to the mob and hopes to solve both his problems by framing Fred for the robbery and marrying Wilma to get the Slaghooples' money. Barney slips through the bars, steals the keys, and unlocks the cell. Disguised in drag as dancers, they accidentally run into Jagged's dressing room. Barney tells Betty he loves her, and they reconcile after the misunderstanding involving Roxie at the buffet is cleared up, and Barney knocks out Jagged.

Fred plans to disguise himself as Jagged in an attempt to reconcile with Wilma. Meanwhile, in the audience, Chip proposes to an unresponsive Wilma. Fred then comes on stage disguised as Jagged and briefly sings to Wilma, apologizing for his behavior earlier before proposing to her. Knowing that she still loves Fred, Wilma happily accepts, rejecting Chip, and they marry in the Rock Vegas Chapel of Love. After the pastor proclaims them husband and wife, everyone sings "Meet the Flintstones". When Jagged sings "Viva Rock Vegas" at a party, Betty catches Wilma's tossed bouquet and kisses Barney. The newlyweds drive away with Dino and Gazoo to goodbye waves from their friends, family, and even a handcuffed Chip and Roxie.

Two years after becoming Spider-Man, Peter Parker is estranged from both his love interest Mary Jane Watson and his best friend Harry Osborn and discovers that his Aunt May is facing eviction. He finds himself suffering temporary but recurring losses of his powers, often in life-threatening situations. Harry, who is now head of Oscorp's genetic and scientific research division, is sponsoring a fusion power project by nuclear scientist Otto Octavius, who befriends and mentors Peter. While handling hazardous materials, Octavius wears a harness of powerful robotic tentacle arms with artificial intelligence.

During a public demonstration that Peter and Harry attend, a power spike causes the fusion reactor to destabilize. Octavius refuses to shut down the reactor, which goes critical, killing his wife and burning the inhibitor chip blocking the arms from his nervous system. As Spider-Man, Peter manages to shut the experiment down. At a hospital, doctors prepare to surgically remove Octavius' harness. Without the inhibitor chip, the arms have become sentient and defend themselves by killing the doctors. Afterwards, Octavius takes refuge at a harbor. Now corrupted by the arms' AI, he decides to re-try his experiment and robs a bank to fund it. The ''Daily Bugle'' dubs the scientist "Doctor Octopus".

Mary Jane becomes engaged to astronaut John Jameson, the son of ''Bugle'' editor J. Jonah Jameson. Peter suffers an emotional breakdown over his inability to balance his life and loses his powers completely due to the stress. He quits being Spider-Man, returns to his normal life, and unsuccessfully attempts to reconcile with Mary Jane. He also finally confesses to Aunt May the truth about Uncle Ben's death. Aunt May forgives him, but the rise in the city's crime rates worries Peter.

Requiring the isotope tritium to fuel his reactor, Octavius visits Harry to demand it. Harry agrees in exchange for Spider-Man, whom he still believes is responsible for his father's death. He tells Octavius to seek Peter, who Harry believes is friends with Spider-Man, but tells him to not harm Peter. Octavius locates Peter, tells him to find Spider-Man, and captures Mary Jane. Her endangerment leads to Peter's powers returning, and he goes after Octavius.

As they battle, they fall onto a New York City Subway train. Octavius sabotages it and leaves Peter to save the derailing train, which he does at a great physical toll. Octavius captures a weakened Peter and delivers him to Harry. Harry prepares to kill Spider-Man, only to be shocked to see Peter under the mask. Peter convinces Harry to direct him to Octavius' lair, as bigger things are at stake. They battle again as the nuclear reaction starts threatening the city. Peter reveals his identity and persuades Octavius to let his dream go for the greater good. Octavius commands the tentacles to obey him and sacrifices himself to destroy the experiment, drowning it (and himself, finally redeemed) in the East River. Mary Jane sees Peter's true identity, which he says is why they cannot be together.

Meanwhile, Harry is visited by a vision of his father in a mirror, pleading for Harry to avenge his death, but Harry refuses to hurt Peter. Enraged, Harry shatters the mirror, inadvertently revealing a secret room containing his father's Green Goblin equipment. On her wedding day, Mary Jane abandons John at the altar and runs to Peter's apartment. After they kiss, they hear police sirens, and Mary Jane encourages him to go help as Spider-Man.

The plot of ''Tron 2.0'' centers around Alan's son Jethro "Jet" Bradley. Since the events of ''Tron'', ENCOM has been taken over by a company called FCon (Future Control Industries). During a phone conversation between Jet and his father, Alan is kidnapped. Ma3a, an artificial intelligence designed by Alan, digitizes Jet into Alan's computer. She informs Jet that she needs him to aid her against J.D. Thorne, an executive from FCon who attempted to digitize himself into the computer as well, but became corrupted during the process and turned into a virus spreading throughout the system.

Upon arriving, Jet is captured by Kernel, the system's security program, and is accused of being the source of the corruption. However, Kernel spares Jet on the recommendation of Mercury, a program also tasked to help Ma3a, and sends Jet to the light cycle arena. After winning several matches, Jet escapes the arena with Mercury's help. After the two reunite with Ma3a, the server is reformatted due to its rampant corruption, which results in Mercury's demise. Jet escapes to the original ENCOM grid with Ma3a and accesses an archive with the help of an antiquated program, I-No, to retrieve the source code for "Tron Legacy", an update to the original TRON that Alan wrote to protect Ma3a. Jet and Ma3a then access the Internet and find a compiler, which they use to begin compiling the Tron Legacy source code. During the process, Thorne attacks them and appears to kill Ma3a, while Jet receives a communication from Guest, the User who had assigned Mercury to help him. Accessing a video uplink, Jet sees his father trapped inside a storage closet, who holds up a sign telling him to not compile the Legacy program. However, the compile finishes before Jet can abort it, and Legacy activates, revealing that its sole function is to kill all rogue Users in the digital world. Jet escapes in a light cycle, and FCon inadvertently saves him by capturing Ma3a with a Seeker search program.

Having recovered the correction algorithms necessary to digitize a human, Alan is sent to Thorne's corrupted server and assists Kernel and his ICPs (Intrusion Countermeasure Programs). Meanwhile, Jet finds Thorne at the heart of the server and confronts Kernel in a duel that ends in Kernel's destruction before he can kill Thorne. Thorne, in a moment of lucidity, begs Jet for forgiveness and tells him how to enter FCon's server before he dissipates.

Alan and Jet break into FCon's server, which the corporation is planning to use to distribute Datawraiths - digitized human hackers - across the worldwide information network for purposes of corporate and international espionage. After Alan and Jet crash the server, the CEO of FCon (which the game implies could be Ed Dillinger, the ENCOM senior executive from the original film) orders Baza, Popoff, and Crowne into the system themselves. Alan, wanting to verify the purity of the correction algorithms, removes them from Ma3a to inspect them. As a result, when the three FCon employees are digitized, they become a monstrous amalgam that chases Jet into the digitizing beam. Jet battles the monster amalgam and ejects the employees out of the beam, releasing their code from the corruption one by one. Severing the CEO's control, Alan and Jet extract and save the Tron Legacy code as the ENCOM servers crash. The game ends with Alan planning to reassemble the digitized FCon team and bring them back to the real world.

Shinkichi Amamiya (Hideji Otaki) is a difficult 69-year-old man, married to Kikue (Kin Sugai). He dies suddenly of a heart attack, and it falls to his daughter Chizuko (Nobuko Miyamoto) and son-in-law Wabisuke Inoue (Tsutomu Yamazaki) to organize the funeral at their house.

Among other things, the family have to choose a coffin, hire a priest, hold a wake, learn formal funeral etiquette and hold the service itself.

During the three days of preparation, various tensions within the family are hinted at, such as resentment of a rich but stingy uncle, Inoue's affair with a younger woman, and possibly an affair the dead man himself had with a female gateball player.

After the service, the long-suffering wife delivers a dignified speech to the family regretting that the hospital would not let her be with her husband as he died.

The film begins with the funeral of one of the three Tempio brothers, a set of violent criminals. Mourning the passage of their beloved brother Johnny are Chez and Ray. Ray is cold and calculating, while Chez is hot tempered. Flashbacks show us that Johnny was more sensitive. Exposure to communist meetings as a spy sway Johnny's opinions. The chief suspect in Johnny's murder is rival gangster Gaspare Spoglia.

Ray and Chez swear revenge. Ray's wife, Jeanette, opposes the campaign of retribution and the violence it will bring, while Chez' wife, Clara, struggles to deal with her husband's obsessive nature.

Ray has Gaspare abducted for interrogation and is soon satisfied by his claim of innocence, in part because he superstitiously believes that the wounds in Johnny's corpse will start bleeding in the presence of his killer. Ray releases Gaspare but instructs his men to murder him later.

As it turns out, Johnny was not murdered by rival gangsters, but by a man who claimed Johnny had raped his girlfriend. Ray's men identify him by tracking the car he had driven to commit the crime. Pressed by Ray, the killer confesses that he had wanted revenge because Johnny had beaten him up in front of his girlfriend and friends. Ray kills him.

As he buries the dead murderer, Chez reflects on his brothers' lives before the tragedy. He then returns to Ray's house and shoots and kills Ray and his two bodyguards. Chez then shoots Johnny, lying dead in the casket, before putting the gun in his own mouth and committing suicide as the family women wail over Ray's dying body.

Fox (Walken) and X (Dafoe) are Tokyo based corporate extraction specialists, half headhunters, half kidnappers, who specialize in helping R&D scientists relocate from corporations who would rather see them dead than working for their competitors. Fox is obsessed with one Hiroshi (Yoshitaka Amano) a paradigm-shattering super-genius who is currently working for Maas, the corporation who crippled him. To that end, Fox and X employ Sandii (Argento), a "Shinjuku-girl", or small-time hustler/call girl, to help "persuade" Hiroshi to defect to Hosaka, another corporation to which Fox is somewhat warmer. Fox is responsible for brokering the deal with Hosaka, Sandii for getting Hiroshi to fall in love with her and defect to a Hosaka lab in Marrakech, and X is responsible for teaching Sandii how to make Hiroshi melt. Sandii disappears, Fox commits suicide, and X retreats to the safest place he knows, the New Rose Hotel, a derelict capsule hotel.

Set in the near future, huge megacorporations control and dominate entire economies. Their wealth and competitive advantage reside in the human capital of their employees and the intellectual property they produce. Corporations jealously guard their most valuable employees and go to great expense to keep them safe and happily productive. There is little point in traditional corporate espionage as new products are developed at a lightning pace; there is no time to capitalize on the intelligence acquired from a rival firm, as it will be obsolete before it can be used.

The story follows two corporate extraction agents, who perform the new version of corporate espionage, grabbing scientists and engineers from rival firms. Given the level of protection offered, extracting them from a company is a highly dangerous affair. In the story, the narrator and his partner Fox have joined up with a new associate, Sandii, in an attempt to extract an extremely talented biologist from a hot new German research company. The company's security is superb, and the attempt takes considerable time to plan.

After successfully extracting the scientist, Sandii disappears. The scientist begins work at his new company in a secret lab in Africa, only to learn he has been infected by a deadly disease that kills him and everyone else in the lab. Realizing they have been betrayed, Fox and the narrator run, their bank accounts wiped out by their now-former employer. Convinced the two are behind the whole affair, Fox is killed in retaliation and the narrator goes into hiding. The story takes place a week after the events, in run-down capsule hotel in Japan, the New Rose Hotel. The narrator spends his time waiting for assassins to arrive, pining over Sandii, and contemplating suicide.

"New Rose Hotel" presents a bleak future as extrapolated from contemporary economic and social trends. Set in the same period and universe as Gibson's Sprawl trilogy, it is solidly cyberpunk in its style and vision.

Earth has been devastated by a nuclear war, which takes 2 million years for the radioactive clouds to allow sunlight in. The humans who survived the apocalypse have been transformed into mutants, while humanity's true ancestors  – fairies, elves and dwarves – resurface and live in the idyllic land of Montagar.

While her people celebrate 3,000 years of peace, Delia, queen of the fairies, falls into a trance and gives birth to twin wizards: the kindhearted Avatar and his evil, mutated brother Blackwolf. After Delia's death years later, Blackwolf attempts to usurp her leadership, but Avatar defeats him in a magical duel. Blackwolf leaves Montagar, vowing to return and "make this a planet where mutants rule".

Three thousand years later, Blackwolf leads the dark land of Scortch, where he and his army of mutants and other evil creatures (orcs, goblins, trolls, dragons, etc.), salvage and restore ancient technology. He tries to attack Montagar twice, but is foiled when his mutant warriors become bored or sidetracked in the midst of battle. Blackwolf then discovers an old projector and reels of Nazi propaganda footage from World War II, using his magic to enhance it for psychological warfare: inspiring his own soldiers while horrifying enemy troops into submission.

Meanwhile, in Montagar, Avatar trains the president's daughter, Elinore, to become a full-fledged fairy. Suddenly, the president is assassinated by Necron 99, a robot sent by Blackwolf to kill all believers in magic. Avatar subdues the robot and reconditions it for nonviolence, changing its name to Peace "in the hopes that he will bring it". Avatar learns from the robot that the "dream machine" – the projector – is Blackwolf's secret weapon. Avatar, Elinore, Peace, and the elf warrior Weehawk set out to destroy the projector and save the world from another Holocaust.

In a forest inhabited by fairies, the group is accosted by their leader, Sean. Weehawk realizes that Peace is missing, when an unseen assassin kills Sean and kidnaps Elinore. Avatar and Weehawk begin to search for Elinore in the forbidden Fairy Sanctuary, but Weehawk falls into a chasm and insists that Avatar leave him and find the girl. He locates her, captured by fairies and small human-like creatures, just as she is about to be killed. Avatar attempts to explain that they did not kill Sean, but the fairies do not believe him and shoot him with an arrow. Wounded in the shoulder, Avatar refuses to fight back, which impresses the fairy king. Instead of executing them, he merely teleports Avatar and Elinore to a snowy mountaintop. Avatar and Elinore resume their journey, but they soon realize that they are wandering in circles. Peace, along with Weehawk (who he saved from a vicious monster in the chasm), find Avatar and Elinore. Together, they find their way out of the mountains. Soon, Avatar and the others encounter the encamped army of an elf General who is preparing to attack Scortch the following day, but Blackwolf launches a sneak attack that night.

Elinore and Peace are attacked by one of Blackwolf's demons, which Avatar quickly dispatches. When one of Blackwolf's battle tanks arrives to destroy the camp, Elinore unexpectedly kills Peace and climbs into the tank as it drives off.

The next day, Avatar and Weehawk enter Scortch by ship and make for Blackwolf's castle, while the General leads his elf warriors in a bloody battle to distract Blackwolf's forces. The pair split up, Weehawk tracking Elinore while Avatar goes after Blackwolf. Weehawk nearly kills Elinore, but she explains that Blackwolf had taken control of her mind after she touched Peace. Blackwolf declares his magic superior to Avatar's and demands his surrender. Avatar admits that he has not practiced magic for some time, but offers to show Blackwolf a trick that their mother taught him; Avatar then pulls a pistol from his sleeve and shoots Blackwolf, killing him. Weehawk destroys the projector, leaving the mutants leaderless and helpless as the General's army defeats them. With Montagar's safety secured, Weehawk returns home as its new ruler, while Avatar and Elinore decide to start their own kingdom elsewhere.

The prologue follows the actions of National Guard Sergeant "Nicotine" Crockett, who, along with Kenny, Francisco and Tomboy, desert their posts and rob the protagonists of the previous film. Meanwhile, off the coast of Delaware lies Plum Island, home to two feuding Irish families: the O'Flynns and the Muldoons. The former family, led by Patrick O'Flynn, round up a posse to kill the undead on the island. O'Flynn learns that the Muldoons are keeping their undead loved ones safe until a cure is found. Tensions come to a head when O'Flynn and his posse arrive at the Muldoon house to dispatch their undead children, only to engage in a brief gunfight that leaves a woman dead as well. Unable to put the children down himself, Patrick surrenders his weapons when the Muldoon posse arrives. Seamus Muldoon contemplates killing Patrick until Patrick's daughter Janet suggests he be exiled from the island instead.

Boy joins the National Guardsmen and through him they learn of Plum Island. They watch a video made by Patrick and follow the instructions in it that leads them to a nearby dock. At the dock, O'Flynn and his men attempt to rob the Guardsmen, which results in a shootout. Francisco steals a ferry boat and bites off the finger of an attacking zombie in the process. All of the O'Flynns but Patrick are killed by zombies, and he boards the ferry. During the trip to the island, Patrick says that he sent other people to Plum Island to anger the Muldoons.

When the group reach the island they discover that the Muldoons have chained up their zombies in imitations of their previous lives. They also see that the people sent to the island by Patrick have been killed. Patrick sees his daughter Janet ride by on a horse, apparently dead and turned into a zombie. Patrick attempts to gather allies when two Muldoons attack them, shooting Crockett and Kenny. The latter dies from his wounds, and is shot in the head by Patrick to prevent reanimation. Francisco realizes that he infected himself when he bit off the zombie's finger, and asks Tomboy to shoot him to keep him from turning. Tomboy shoots him and is then captured by Muldoon.

Patrick finds out that the daughter he saw earlier was actually Janet's twin sister Jane. Janet, still alive, joins Patrick and the Guardsmen in their attack on the Muldoons. A standoff occurs at the bridge that separates the two families' land, and the O'Flynn group is captured; Boy and Janet escape. Muldoon reveals his attempts to persuade the zombies to eat something other than human flesh, and uses Jane as a test case. He tries to persuade the dead woman to bite her horse, but instead she attacks and bites her sister Janet. A melee ensues and captured zombies are released, consuming people from both sides. Muldoon and O'Flynn call a truce that is almost immediately broken when Muldoon shoots O'Flynn, who pulls a hidden gun and kills Muldoon.

Crockett and his group attempt to leave the island. Janet witnesses her sister bite the horse and rushes to tell Crockett's group the news, but before doing so she is shot in the head by Patrick, who wanted to prevent his daughter turning before succumbing to his own wounds. Crockett, Boy, and Tomboy board the ferry and escape the island while the zombies are eating the horse. Crockett muses about the purpose of war as the reanimated O'Flynn and Muldoon stagger toward each other, guns unloaded, and attempt to shoot and kill each other again.

The pupils return after the summer for a new Michaelmas term at a traditional British public school for boys in the late 1960s. Mick Travis arrives hiding his moustache which he quickly shaves off. He, Wallace, and Knightly are three non-conformist boys in the lower sixth form, their penultimate year. They are watched and persecuted by the "Whips", upper sixth-formers given authority as prefects over the other boys. The junior boys are made to act as personal servants for the Whips, who discuss them as sex objects.

The headmaster is remote from the boys and the housemasters. The protagonists' housemaster, Mr. Kemp, is easily manipulated by the Whips into giving them free rein in enforcing discipline. Some schoolmasters are shown behaving bizarrely.

Mick and Johnny sneak off the school grounds and steal a motorbike from a showroom. They ride to a café staffed by an unnamed girl, about whom Mick fantasizes wrestling naked. Meanwhile, Wallace spends time with a younger boy, Bobby Philips, and later shares his bed.

The three boys drink vodka in their study and consider how one man holds the potential to "change the world with a bullet in the right place." Their clashes with school authorities become increasingly contentious. Eventually, a brutal caning by the Whips spurs them to action.

During a school Combined Cadet Force military drill, Mick acquires live ammunition, which he, Wallace, and Knightly use to open fire on a group of boys and masters, including Kemp and the school chaplain. When the latter orders the boys to drop their weapons, Mick assaults him and cows him into submission.

As punishment for their actions, the trio are ordered by the headmaster to clean out a large storeroom beneath the main school hall. They discover a cache of firearms, including automatic weapons and mortars. Joined by Philips and the girl from the café, they commit to revolt against the establishment.

On Founders' Day, when parents are visiting the school, the group starts a fire under the hall, smoking everyone out of the building. They then open fire on them from the rooftop. Led by a visiting General who had been giving a speech, the staff, students, and parents break open the Combined Cadet Force armoury and begin firing back. The headmaster tries to stop the fight, imploring the group to listen to reason. The girl shoots him between the eyes. The battle continues, and the camera closes in on Mick's face as he keeps firing.

Hortense Cumberbatch, a black optometrist in London who was adopted as a child, has chosen to trace her family history after the death of her adoptive mother. Despite being warned by public officials about the troubles she could face by tracking down her birth mother, she continues her investigation and is surprised to learn that her birth mother is white.

The woman in question, Cynthia Purley, works in a cardboard box factory and lives in East London with her other daughter Roxanne, a street sweeper; the pair have a tense relationship. Cynthia's younger brother Maurice is a successful photographer who lives in the suburbs with his wife Monica. They also have domestic difficulties due to Monica's often distant temperament. Later scenes reveal that she suffers from depression over her inability to have children. Cynthia and Monica have never liked one another: Monica regards her sister-in-law as self-pitying and overly hysterical, while Cynthia deems Monica greedy and snobbish. For this reason, Maurice rarely sees Cynthia and Roxanne despite not living particularly far from them, but he and Monica both look forward to celebrating their niece's upcoming 21st birthday. When Maurice pays Cynthia a surprise visit, she breaks down in tears, berating her brother for his long absence. Before leaving, Maurice gives her money to pay for repairs on the house and tells her of his and Monica's wish to hold a barbecue for Roxanne's birthday.

Roxanne is revealed to have a boyfriend, Paul, whom Cynthia has never met. This leads to an argument between mother and daughter; Roxanne storms out, leaving Cynthia in tears. Shortly thereafter, Hortense rings Cynthia and starts to enquire about "baby Elizabeth Purley", who she says was born in 1968. Cynthia realises that Hortense is the daughter she gave up for adoption as a teenager and hangs up the phone in distress; persevering, Hortense rings Cynthia again and eventually manages to persuade her to meet her. When they come face to face, Cynthia, not expecting Hortense to be black, insists that a mistake has been made with the birth records. Hortense convinces Cynthia to look at some documents pertaining to Hortense's birth. Cynthia remains convinced that Hortense is not her daughter until, suddenly, she retrieves a memory and begins to cry, stating that she is ashamed. Hortense then asks who her father was, to which Cynthia replies, "You don't wanna know that, darling." The pair continue to converse, asking questions about one another's lives.

Soon Hortense and Cynthia have struck up a friendship; Cynthia, who is not in the habit of going out, suddenly finds herself doing so frequently, catching the attention of Roxanne, who is confused by her mother's secrecy. On one of their meetings, Cynthia mentions to Hortense Roxanne's birthday party. She later asks Maurice if she can bring a "mate from work" to the barbecue; when he says yes, she relays this information to Hortense, who, despite her reservations, agrees to attend and pose as Cynthia's colleague.

On the day of the birthday party Monica tries to be welcoming, but she and Cynthia make passive-aggressive comments to one another. During the barbecue Hortense evasively answers the many questions that are put to her by the other guests. The party moves inside due to rain. While Hortense is in the bathroom, Cynthia, who has become increasingly nervous, reveals that she is Hortense's mother. Roxanne dismisses this claim, assuming that she has had too much to drink, but when Monica inadvertently confirms it as true, she is furious and storms out of the house. Maurice attempts to pacify the situation by confronting Roxanne at a nearby bus stop, and he and Paul manage to convince her to hear her mother out. Meanwhile, Cynthia and Monica quarrel. Cynthia says that Monica should try bringing up a child on her own, to which Monica, though visibly upset, says nothing. When Roxanne, Maurice and Paul return, Cynthia explains matters: she fell pregnant at fifteen and was sent away by her father; after the adoption she never expected Hortense to seek her out. Cynthia proceeds to berate Monica, and Maurice, coming to the latter's defence, reveals that she is physically incapable of having children. He loses his temper, exhorting those present to "share [their] pain" instead of harbouring resentments. He praises Hortense for having the courage to seek the truth. Monica breaks down crying after her secret has been revealed, and Cynthia goes to comfort Monica and the two women hug each other as a sign of them starting to reconcile. Cynthia then explains that Roxanne's father was an American medical student vacationing in Benidorm whom she met at a pub. One morning, Cynthia awoke and he had gone. Hortense again enquires as to the identity of her father. Cynthia replies, "Don't break my heart, darling."

After a while things have calmed down and Hortense pays a visit to Cynthia and Roxanne at their home. When Hortense reveals that she always wanted a sister, Roxanne says that she would be happy to introduce Hortense as her half-sister notwithstanding the long explanations that it would entail.

In the late 1860s in the fictional town of Salt Licks, Texas, young Travis Coates has been working to take care of his family ranch with his mother and younger brother, Arliss, while his father goes off on a cattle drive. When a "dingy yellow" dog comes for an unasked stay with the family, Travis reluctantly takes in the dog, which they name Old Yeller. The name has a double meaning: the fur color yellow pronounced as "yeller" and the fact that its bark sounds more like a human yell.

Though Travis initially loathes the "rascal" and at first tries to get rid of it, the dog eventually proves his worth, saving the family on several occasions; rescuing Arliss from a bear, Travis from a bunch of wild hogs, and Mama and their friend Lisbeth from a loafer wolf. Travis grows to love Old Yeller, and they become great friends. The rightful owner of Yeller shows up looking for his dog and recognizing that the family has become attached to Yeller, trades the dog to Arliss for a horned toad and a home-cooked meal prepared by Travis' mother, who is an exceptional cook.

Old Yeller is bitten while saving his family from a rabid wolf. Travis is faced with the harsh decision that he must kill Old Yeller after the fight with the wolf, which he does because he cannot risk Old Yeller becoming sick and turning on the family. Old Yeller had puppies with one of Travis' friend's dogs, and one of the puppies helps Travis get over Old Yeller's death. They take in the new dog and try to begin a fresh start.

''Blood'' takes place in an unspecified time period. The various levels contain elements from the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, in addition to futuristic and retro-futuristic technologies and a weird West theme. Many elements are anachronistic, including weapons and pop-culture references. The sequel, ''Blood II: The Chosen'', retroactively dates the game to the year 1928.

The backstory is not delineated in the game itself, only on the Monolith website and a readme text document. The player takes on the role of Caleb, once the supreme commander of a cult called "The Cabal", worshipers of the forgotten god Tchernobog. Known as a merciless gunfighter in the late 19th century American West, Caleb joined the Cabal in 1871 after meeting Ophelia Price, a woman whose husband and son may have been murdered by the members of the Cabal; it is implied that she later became Caleb's lover. Together they rose to the highest circle of the dark cult, "The Chosen", until all four members of The Chosen were betrayed and killed by Tchernobog for unspecified failures. Several years later, Caleb rises from his grave, seeking answers and vengeance.

In search of the gargoyle Cheogh, one of Tchernobog's minions, Caleb moves to the rail yard and station, where he boards the northbound "Phantom Express". He fights off the undead which swarm the train, finally stopping the train by blowing up the locomotive. Emerging from the wreckage, cutting through swarms of Cabal loyalists and other creatures, Caleb enters the "Great Temple". A teleporter in the temple leads Caleb to Cheogh's altar, where he fights and slays the creature. Caleb finishes by lighting up Ophelia's funeral pyre to cremate her body.

Caleb heads to the Arctic north on a large icebound wooden sailing ship. He disembarks at a lumber mill the Cabal has transformed into a crude human remains processing area. He makes his way into a mine in search of the mother spider Shial's lair. Navigating the Cabal infested tunnels, Caleb finds a dark stony cavern where he defeats Shial, crushing her with a stomp of his boot. He then rips out and consumes the heart of the webbed corpse of Gabriel, another of the betrayed Chosen, thus gaining the power of his fallen comrade.

Cerberus is promoted to Tchernobog's second in command. Caleb moves across an industrial facility, entering a nearby dam control installation located near Cerberus' cavern, then blows up the dam with explosives. The resulting flood makes Cerberus' hideout accessible. Caleb kills Cerberus, and upon finding no trace of Ishmael, fills Cerberus' stomach with bundles of TNT, and blows up the corpse.

Caleb heads for the "Hall of the Epiphany" where Tchernobog is waiting. There, before facing him, Caleb learns why "The Chosen" were cast down: Tchernobog knew Caleb would return to him, killing anyone he ran into to take his revenge and thus gaining immense power, something Tchernobog wants for himself. Caleb battles and destroys the dark god. One of Tchernobog's worshipers approaches Caleb and declares him their new god. Caleb shoots him and leaves the Hall of Epiphany.

Chief Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney) walks his wife Keiko (Rosalind Chao) to the school where she teaches students on the station. They discuss Bajoran culture, a topic Miles learned about from Neela (Robin Christopher), his Bajoran assistant. At the school, Keiko teaches her class about the science of the Bajoran wormhole and the aliens that live inside it. This scientific view is different from the religious approach taken by the Bajorans, who believe the wormhole is the legendary Celestial Temple inhabited by their "Prophets", whom they worship as gods. Her class is interrupted by one of Bajor's spiritual leaders, Vedek Winn (Louise Fletcher). Winn questions why Keiko doesn't teach Bajoran religion in her classroom. Afterwards, Keiko reports the incident to Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks). When Sisko asks Winn about the dispute, she says there may be consequences if Keiko refuses to teach religion. Meanwhile, Miles discovers an important engineering tool is missing, but is distracted when he and Neela discover the remains of a Starfleet ensign.

Outside the school, Winn and a group of Bajorans protest Keiko's teaching methods. Winn offers Keiko a solution—all she has to do is simply stop teaching about the wormhole. When Keiko refuses to accept Winn's proposal, Winn leads the Bajoran parents to take their children out of school. Sisko visits Vedek Bareil (Philip Anglim), a more progressive Bajoran cleric, for advice on the problem. Bareil opposes Winn's views but he cannot support Sisko as he is attempting to become the next Kai, the leader of the Bajoran religion. Sisko returns to DS9 and asks for help from Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor), his Bajoran first officer, but she also refuses to help. Meanwhile, security chief Odo (René Auberjonois) and Doctor Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) finish investigating the remains of the Starfleet ensign Miles and Neela found earlier. They discover that the ensign was murdered by a phaser when he became aware of someone tampering with the Runabout security controls.

Later, an explosion occurs inside the empty school, destroying it. Sisko confronts Winn, blaming her actions for increasing the risk of violence on the station. Neela meets with Winn, revealing that the two had been working together. She informs Winn that her escape plan with the Runabout will no longer work. Winn tells Neela to continue with the plan, even if it means Neela must sacrifice herself. Bareil arrives at the station to help, and at the same time, Miles and Lt. Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) discover a hidden sub-program on the station's computer created by Neela. The program controls a timed delay of forcefields running from the promenade to the Runabouts. They alert Sisko who is nearby, just as Bareil and Winn begin to address a crowd of Bajorans on the promenade. Sisko searches the crowd just in time to see Neela raising her phaser at Bareil. Sisko tackles Neela to the ground and saves Bareil's life. Kira suggests that the assassination attempt was planned by Winn to secure her position as the new Kai, but Neela insists she was working alone. Kira later apologises to Sisko, and agrees with his earlier sentiment about Winn's actions.

After a boring day at work, Paul Hackett, a computer data entry worker, meets Marcy Franklin in a local cafe in New York City. Marcy tells him that she is living with a sculptor named Kiki Bridges, who makes and sells plaster-of-Paris paperweights resembling cream cheese bagels, and leaves him her number. Later in the night, after calling the number under the pretense of buying a paperweight, Paul takes a cab to the apartment. On the way, his $20 bill is blown out the window of the cab, leaving him with only some change, much to the incredulity of the cab driver. At the apartment, Paul meets Kiki, who is working on a sculpture of a cowering and screaming man, and, throughout the visit, comes across several pieces of evidence that imply Marcy is disfigured from burns. As a result of this implication and strange behavior from Marcy, Paul abruptly slips out of the apartment.

Paul attempts to go home by subway, but the fare has increased at the stroke of midnight. He goes to a bar where Julie, a waitress, immediately becomes enamored with him. At the bar, Paul learns that there have been a string of burglaries in the neighborhood. The bartender, Tom Schorr, offers to give Paul money for a subway token, but he is unable to open the cash register. They exchange keys so Paul can go to Tom's place to fetch the cash register key. Afterward, Paul spots two burglars, Neil and Pepe, with Kiki's man sculpture. After he confronts them, they flee, dropping the sculpture in the process. When Paul returns the sculpture to Kiki and Marcy's apartment, Kiki encourages him to apologize to Marcy. However, when he attempts to do so, he discovers Marcy has committed suicide; Kiki and a man named Horst have already left to go to a place called Club Berlin. Paul reports Marcy's death before remembering he was supposed to return Tom's keys.

Paul attempts to return to Tom's bar, but it is locked out with a sign indicating that Tom will be back in half an hour. Paul meets Julie again on the street, and she invites him up to her apartment to wait for Tom, where Paul is unnerved by her own strange behavior. He then returns to Tom's bar only for Tom to get a call informing him of the death of Marcy, who was his girlfriend. Paul decides to return to Julie's apartment, where she begins to sketch his portrait while they talk. Ultimately, Paul rejects Julie's advances and leaves. In search of Kiki and Horst to inform them of Marcy's suicide, he goes to Club Berlin, where a group of punks attempt to shave his head into a mohawk. Narrowly escaping, Paul meets an ice cream truck driver named Gail, who eventually mistakes him for the burglar plaguing the neighborhood, and she and a mob of local residents relentlessly pursue him.

Paul meets a man who he asks for help, and the man assumes that he is looking for a gay hookup. Paul finds Tom again, but the mob (with the assistance of Julie, Gail, and Gail's Mister Softee truck) pursues Paul. Paul discovers that as payback for rejecting her, Julie used his image in a wanted poster that names him as the burglar. He ultimately seeks refuge back at Club Berlin. Paul uses his last quarter to play "Is That All There Is?" by Peggy Lee and asks a woman named June to dance. Paul explains he is being pursued and June, also a sculptor who lives in the club's basement, offers to help him. She protects him by pouring plaster on him in order to disguise him as a sculpture while the mob searches the club for Paul. However, she will not let him out of the plaster even after the mob leaves, and it eventually hardens, trapping Paul in a position that resembles Kiki's sculpture. Neil and Pepe then break into Club Berlin and steal him, placing him in the back of their van. He falls from the van right outside the gate to his office building as the sun is rising. Paul brushes himself off and goes to his desk, bringing the film full circle.

Zahir is a person or an object that has the power to create an obsession in everyone who sees it, so that the affected person perceives less and less of reality and more and more of the Zahir, at first only while asleep, then at all times.

In the story, a fictionalized version of Borges gets the Zahir in his change after paying for a drink in the form of a 20 cents coin. Borges then tells the reader about a train of thought focused on famous coins throughout history and legend, and the fact that a coin symbolizes our free will, since it can be turned into anything. These feverish thoughts keep him awake for a while. The next day, Borges decides to lose the coin. He goes to a faraway neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, while he carefully avoids looking at the street names and numbers, and manages to get rid of the Zahir by paying for another drink in an anonymous bar.

The writer is unable to forget the coin, which he gradually becomes more obsessed with. He tries to look for a cure, and after some research, he finds a book that explains the history behind the Zahir, and that it manifested previously as a tiger, an astrolabe, the bottom of a well, and a vein in a marble column in a mosque. According to the myth, everything on earth has the propensity to be a Zahir, but "the Almighty does not allow more than one thing at a time to be it, since one alone can seduce multitudes."

Borges tells us that soon he will be unable to perceive external reality, and he will have to be dressed and fed; but then he reflects that this fate does not worry him, since he will be oblivious to it. In idealistic philosophy, "to live and to dream are synonymous," and he will simply pass "from a very complex dream to a very simple dream." In a mixture of despair and resignation, he wonders:

Setting

''Snake Eater'' takes place in an alternate history of events, set within the Cold War during the 1960s. The game's story acts as a prequel to the ''Metal Gear'' series, exploring the origins of several events covered by previous games, as well as being the first chronological chapter in an overarching story of Big Boss.

Characters

The protagonist of ''Snake Eater'', Naked Snake (David Hayter/Akio Ōtsuka), known as Big Boss in subsequent games, is a young former Green Beret assigned to the CIA unit FOX. During his mission, Snake is assisted by fellow FOX members over his radio: Major Zero (Jim Piddock/Banjō Ginga), commander of FOX and a former member of the British Special Air Service, who provides Snake with mission advice and battle tactics; Para-Medic (Heather Halley/Houko Kuwashima), who provides medical information, as well as advice on flora and fauna; and Sigint (James C. Mathis III/Keiji Fujiwara), who provides weapon and equipment information.

The two primary antagonists of the game are Colonel Volgin (Neil Ross/Kenji Utsumi), an electricity-controlling GRU colonel and member of the extreme Brezhnev faction, who are attempting to overthrow Nikita Khrushchev to seize power for Leonid Brezhnev and Alexei Kosygin, and The Boss (Lori Alan/Kikuko Inoue), former mentor to Naked Snake and co-founder of the FOX unit. The Cobra Unit, a Special Forces unit led by The Boss, is composed of The End (J. Grant Albrecht/Osamu Saka), a venerable expert sniper credited as the "father of modern sniping"; The Fear (Michael Bell/Kazumi Tanaka), who has supernatural flexibility and agility; The Fury (Richard Doyle/Masato Hirano), a disfigured former cosmonaut armed with a flamethrower and a jetpack; The Pain (Gregg Berger/Hisao Egawa), who can control hornets to both defend himself and attack his enemies; and The Sorrow (David Thomas/Yukitoshi Hori), the spirit of a deceased medium.

Other characters include Dr. Sokolov (Brian Cummings/Naoki Tatsuta), a rocket scientist whom Snake must rescue; rival scientist Aleksandr Granin (Jim Ward/Takeshi Aono); EVA (Suzetta Miñet/Misa Watanabe), Snake's love interest, American defector, and KGB agent sent to assist him, and a young Ocelot (Josh Keaton/Takumi Yamazaki), commander of the elite Ocelot Unit within Volgin's GRU.

Story

In 1964, CIA agent Naked Snake is sent to Tselinoyarsk, USSR. Aided by his superior Major Zero, medical advisor Para-Medic, and his former mentor The Boss, Snake is tasked with rescuing Soviet scientist Sokolov, a prominent weapons developer who defected two years ago until the Russians forced the United States government to return him. Zero informs Snake that following his return, the CIA received intel that Sokolov is placed in charge of a secret military project to create a nuclear-equipped tank called the Shagohod, which could end the Cold War. Although Snake locates the scientist, the mission falls apart when The Boss appears before him and announces her intention to defect to the USSR. While her special forces unit, the Cobras, recapture Sokolov for their new benefactor, Russian officer Colonel Volgin, the Boss defeats Snake in close combat, seriously injuring him and leaving him for dead. Volgin swiftly captures the Shagohod, which was being tested in the region, and uses a Davy Crockett nuclear shell supplied by The Boss to destroy its research facility and cover up the theft. The injured Snake is recovered via fulton extraction, moments after the nuclear blast.

In the aftermath of the destruction, the Soviet Union accuses the United States for the attack, after detecting their aircraft over Tselinoyarsk. To avoid a war, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, who suspects Volgin's involvement, agrees to let U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson prove the U.S.' innocence. Snake, finding himself assigned by Zero to assist in this manner, is ordered to complete three objectives: stop Volgin's faction; destroy the Shagohod; and eliminate The Boss. Redeployed into Tselinoyarsk to fulfil these demands, Snake is first sent to meet with NSA agent ADAM, who defected to the Soviet Union to infiltrate Volgin's ranks with fellow agent EVA; Snake is instead met and assisted by EVA, who directs him to a lab where Sokolov was taken. Snake survives encounters with Ocelot and eliminates The Pain, one of the Cobras. He reaches the lab and meets Soviet scientist Granin, whose conceptualization of a bipedal tank has been shunned in favour of the Shagohod. Dejected, Granin reveals that Sokolov and the Shagohod are located in Volgin's military fortress Groznyj Grad. Snake eliminates the remaining Cobra members: The Fear, The End, and The Fury. At Groznyj Grad, Snake finds Sokolov but is captured. Having killed Granin, a suspicious Volgin beats Sokolov to death and tortures Snake, who loses an eye while protecting a disguised EVA from Ocelot after suspecting her of being a spy. Snake is imprisoned but escapes.

Snake returns to Groznyj Grad to destroy the Shagohod, but is confronted by Volgin, The Boss, and Ocelot, having uncovered EVA as the spy. Volgin informs Snake of the Philosophers, a secret organization of the most powerful figures in the United States, the Soviet Union, and China, who formed a pact to win World War II and create a new world order. The group jointly amassed $100 billion, the Philosopher's Legacy, to finance their research and operations. However, after the war, the organization began to infight and disintegrated, with the Legacy divided and hidden in banks across the world. Volgin had illegally inherited this money, and Snake learns the U.S. is attempting to retrieve it.

Snake defeats Volgin and destroys the hangar, but Volgin pursues in the Shagohod. Snake disables the Shagohod and Volgin is seemingly killed by a bolt of lightning. Snake and EVA flee to a lake, where a WIG is hidden. Before they escape, Snake confronts The Boss and defeats her in battle. The Boss gives him a microfilm of the Legacy before Snake reluctantly kills her. Snake and EVA escape to Alaska and spend the night together. EVA disappears before morning with the microfilm and leaves a tape revealing herself to be a Chinese spy sent to steal the Legacy for China. She also reveals that The Boss did not defect, but was ordered to infiltrate Volgin's ranks and find the Legacy to bring back to America. However, because of Volgin's nuclear attack, The Boss had to be seen as a traitor and allowed herself to die at the hands of Snake to prove the U.S.'s innocence.

A demoralized Snake is awarded the title of Big Boss and given the Distinguished Service Cross by President Johnson. In Arlington National Cemetery, Snake adorns The Boss' unmarked gravestone and tearfully salutes her.

Ocelot telephones the KGB Chief Director to suggest that the KGB use the knowledge of the Virtuous and Operation Snake Eater missions to blackmail the United States during future negotiations. Ocelot then informs the director of the CIA that the microfilm stolen by EVA was a fake and that half of the Philosopher's Legacy is now in America's hands, with the other half held by the KGB, revealing himself as ADAM.

Voice acting

The voice acting was re-recorded with the original cast from ''Metal Gear Solid'', except for the role of the Cyborg Ninja. David Hayter, the English voice of Solid Snake, persuaded Konami Computer Entertainment Japan to have the original voice cast reprise their roles. The main reason for the re-recording, according to an interview with Hayter, was because the increased audio quality allowed by the GameCube picked up outside noise from the original recordings that were inaudible in the PlayStation version. In the original game, Gray Fox and Donald Anderson were both voiced by Greg Eagles. However, in ''The Twin Snakes'', Greg Eagles voices only Anderson, whereas Gray Fox was voiced by Rob Paulsen. The revised voice acting is used in ''Metal Gear Solid 4'' during Snake's reminiscence as the English-language voice-recording used in the original game was not recorded in a sound-proof studio. Mei Ling, Nastasha Romanenko, and Naomi Hunter speak with American accents in ''The Twin Snakes'', whereas in the original ''Metal Gear Solid'', they spoke with Chinese, Ukrainian, and British accents, respectively.

The story is set in a dystopian future city somewhere in the United States, called the Urb, which has been disturbed by an earthquake known as "The Big Shake." The Urb is plagued by poverty, thieves, gang warfare, and the use of mind probes. Mind probes are analogous to hard drugs and enable users to temporarily escape reality through images projected in the head. Genetically improved people, called ''proovs'', (a play on ''improved'') live in a city called Eden, with a beautiful society, food, and water. Eden is separated from the Urb by the "Forbidden Zone," a deadly and dangerous minefield. The Urb is split up into sections called "latches." Each latch is controlled by a gang. Spaz is a teenage boy who cannot use mind probes because of his epilepsy, causing his family to abandon him. Spaz runs errands for Billy Bizmo, the latch-boss (leader) of his gang, the "Bully Bangers," in a section of the Urb. On one of his errands, Spaz is sent to "rip-off" (steal from) Ryter, a very old man who possesses the lost arts of literacy and literature.

Spaz soon meets Little Face, a five-year-old orphan who only says the word ''chox'', because he didn't learn how to speak and Spaz first gave him to eat. Spaz also meets Lanaya, a , who charitably gives out "edibles" (food) to Spaz. Ryter understands Spaz's situation and does his best to help him, offering no resistance when Spaz attempts to steal his belongings. Eventually, Spaz learns that Bean, his beloved adoptive sister, is dying of leukemia. Ryter and Little Face accompany Spaz on a journey to find Bean. The trio starts by traveling through "the Pipe," a large, rusted-out water pipe that leads to other latches. In the next latch, the group sees everything burning and finds Lanaya being attacked by very hungry people. Lanaya is rescued by Spaz and Ryter, and she joins them on their journey. The group starts traveling towards the latch where Bean lives and eventually find her as well. Lanaya and Ryter decide to take Bean to Eden, along with Spaz and Little Face. They ride along in Lanaya's to her "contributors" (parents), Jin and Bree's home, which is a castle in Eden.

At this point in the novel, it is brought to attention that Lanaya is a special who has been bred to eventually become a Master of Eden. To assume this title, she has rights and privileges that other do not, which are called "learning opportunities". They take Bean to a hospital called the Primary and she is cured of her sickness using gene therapy. Ryter, Spaz, and Little Face enjoy the paradise of Eden. Ryter, Spaz and Bean are then thrown out of Eden because the elders who rule over Eden decide they are unacceptable. Little Face is secretly adopted by Lanaya's contributors. The elders disregard Bean's high intelligence and still discriminate against . Lanaya reveals to the elders that the mind probes, which come from Eden, cause too much damage to the people who use them in the Urb. As a result, all the mind probes throughout the Urb are deactivated, causing rioting and anarchy outside Eden. Bean is deposited at her home, and Ryter and Spaz are returned to their latch.

Back at Spaz's home latch, Ryter is blamed for the deactivation of the mind probes and is killed by jetbikes. This triggers an epileptic seizure for Spaz. Before his death, Ryter tells Spaz that he is the last book in the universe. Billy Bizmo reveals to Spaz that he is his biological father and that his mother died at Spaz's birth.

The story ends with Lanaya sending Spaz a message about things getting better in Eden and how she believes they can fix everything in time. Spaz takes on the name Ryter, continuing the original Ryter's work, writing The Last Book in the Universe.

A soldier and nurse emerge from two 1940s-style cars in the middle of the night. As the nurse runs up to the soldier, the camera switches, revealing that this is a film scene.

Rosalee, Cathy, and Pete, Piggly Wiggly store workers in Fraziers Bottom, West Virginia are watching the filming, and as the nurse asks for forgiveness and the soldier agrees, the women in the audience are moved to tears as Pete is clearly unimpressed.

As the ladies wonder what the film's star Tad Hamilton is doing at that moment, Tad is described by his agent as "drinking, driving, smoking, leering, and groping all at the same time."

The agent tells Tad that his hedonism is damaging his reputation and career opportunities. To improve his image and convince a film director to cast him, his agents establish a competition to win a date with Tad, with proceeds benefiting the charity Save the Children. Rosalee finds an online advertisement for the competition.

With the help of the Piggly Wiggly customers and a reluctant Pete, Cathy and Rosalee raise the $100 entrance fee as Pete tells his superior that he will leave for college in Richmond after he talks "with someone about going to Richmond with me."

A news crew arrives outside Rosalee's home because she has won the date with Tad. A despondent Pete accompanies her to the airport. Awed by Los Angeles, Rosalee becomes tongue-tied in Tad's presence. The date does not go well; Rosalee vomits in the limousine, and when Tad mentions his love of animals, which Pete had warned was a signal of sexual intentions, her suspicions are raised. After seeing Tad's house, Rosalee requests to return to the hotel and soon returns home, leaving Tad thoughtful.

Pete is about to tell Rosalee about moving to Richmond when she is surprised by Tad's sudden arrival. Although she is still cynical, when he admits to not having "his priorities straight," she is convinced of his good intentions.

On a phone call with his agent, Tad insists that he wants to turn over a new leaf, and won't return to Los Angeles for a while. When he gathers Rosalee for a date, he leaves a positive impression on Rosalee's father, who had studied hard for the encounter. Pete tries to stop their date by reporting them for illegally parking. He tries to convince Rosalee that Tad is using her. Despite all of Pete's efforts, Rosalee and Tad grow close over the next few days.

In a bar, Pete corners Tad in the men's room. After conceding that Rosalee is in love with Tad, Pete tells him that she is more than a "wholesome small town girl" but a wonderful person with "the kind of beauty a guy only sees once." He explains her six smiles that reveal her emotions.

Pete makes Tad swear not to break Rosalee's heart. When Rosalee is in Tad's hotel room, his agents appear and inform him that the director has cast him in the film. Tad is overjoyed and convinces Rosalee to accompany him to Los Angeles by employing Pete's "six smiles" speech.

After a rousing speech about great love by Angelica, a barmaid with a crush on him, Pete rushes to Rosalee's, confessing his love. She is confused and resolves to still travel to California with Tad. On the plane, Tad fails to identify one of Rosalee's smiles and then confesses his lie, prompting her to return home.

Rosalee runs to Piggly Wiggly and to Pete's, where Angelica tells her how Pete feels and that he is going to Richmond to escape his heartbreak. Rosalee then drives furiously toward Richmond to find Pete. In a manner similar to that of the opening scene, Rosalee and Pete exit their cars and Pete asks her to dance.

''The Lost Age'' takes place in the same fantasy world as its predecessor, that of the world of "Weyard". It is a flat, vaguely circular plane whose oceans perpetually spill off the edge of the world's entire perimeter into what seems to be an endless abyss, although no one knows what is over it.

The antagonists of the previous game, Saturos and Menardi, have been slain in battle by the game's protagonists led by Isaac, but not before the pair succeeded in activating two of four great lighthouses situated across the world of Weyard, the Elemental Lighthouses. Saturos' companion Felix takes the rest of Saturos' group and sets out on a journey of his own to complete Saturos' original objective to activate the remaining two Lighthouses, for lighting all four will achieve the restoration of the powerful force of Alchemy to Weyard. He is joined by his sister Jenna, a Jupiter Adept named Sheba who was previously kidnapped by Saturos, and the scholar Kraden. The group searches for a ship to cross to the western half of Weyard, and learns of a man named Piers who has been falsely accused of piracy and owns a ship they can use. Felix and his group clear his name, and Piers agrees to join them. During this, Isaac's party continues to pursue them. The group also discovers that their former companion Alex has allied himself with Menardi's younger sister Karst and her partner Agatio in order to keep Felix on track.

Eventually, Felix's party is able to achieve entrance into Piers' home, a legendary, secluded Atlantis-like society named Lemuria far out in the ocean. When they convene with Lemuria's ancient king, Hydros, they learn about Alchemy's true nature; it has always been the sustenance of Weyard's very life force, and its absence over the past ages has caused the world's continents to decrease in size and parts of the world to collapse into the abyss. Knowing that restoring Alchemy is what must be done to actually save the world, Felix crosses the sea in order to activate Jupiter Lighthouse. But when Isaac's pursuing party enters the lighthouse, they are trapped and ambushed by Karst and Agatio. Felix rescues Isaac, but Karst and Agatio escape with the Mars Star formerly in Isaac's possession.

Felix is finally able to explain to Isaac why Alchemy's release is a necessary thing for everyone, and that Saturos and Menardi were aiming for this goal merely for the sake of the survival of their home colony of Prox to the far north, located near the Mars Lighthouse. He also reveals that his parents and Isaac's father are alive and currently being held hostage in Prox in order to coerce Felix's initial cooperation. Isaac and his company agree to aid Felix, and the group sets out north to activate the Mars Lighthouse. The group discovers that Karst and Agatio have been transformed into mindless dragons and are forced to defeat them - they return the Mars Star before succumbing to their wounds. When they reach the tower's top, the Wise One, the entity responsible for originally tasking Isaac to prevent the breaking of Alchemy's seal, confronts them. He warns them that mankind could very well destroy Weyard themselves if they had possession of such a power, and when Isaac insists on breaking the seal regardless the Wise One summons a giant, three-headed dragon for the party to battle in the final struggle. After slaying the dragon, the party of Adepts finish their objective and activate Mars Lighthouse; with all four towers across Weyard lit, the process that heralds the return of the force of Alchemy to Weyard ensues at the mountain sanctum Mt. Aleph. Alex is there, however; he took advantage of everyone else's quests so that he would gain immense power for himself from the light of the Golden Sun, a manifestation of Alchemy itself. However, he discovers that the Wise One had taken steps to prevent this and is left to die as the mountain sinks into the earth.

In AD 2989, a 17-year-old, newly qualified Amtrak pilot named Steve Brickman joins the ''Lady from Louisiana'', a wagon-train in its first major assault on the Plainfolk Mutes. Thanks to the Mutes' deployment of sorcery, the wagon-train is defeated and forced to retreat. Brickman is taken prisoner by the Mutes but not killed, due to a prophetic vision of the clan's seer, Mr. Snow, which suggests Steve will be instrumental in the fulfilment of the Talisman Prophecy. The prophecy is that a 'chosen one' called "Talisman" will arise to destroy the Federation and lead the Mutes to victorious domination of the world. Steve comes to admire and respect the Mutes; he falls in love with a "straight" (mutation-free) Mute woman named Clearwater and forges a bond of mutual respect with Mr. Snow's apprentice, Cadillac.

Steve eventually escapes from the Mutes and returns to the Federation, but his account of his imprisonment and escape is deemed fantastical. Labelled a deserter, he is stripped of all rank and is publicly disgraced. Privately, Steve is recruited by the Federation's top-secret intelligence organisation, AMEXICO, and is sent on a new assignment to capture Cadillac, Clearwater, and Mr. Snow, who are deemed of interest to the Federation. Upon learning that Cadillac has used information from Steve to build a primitive glider and fly it to Ne-Issan as part of a weapons and intelligence exchange between the Mutes and Iron Masters, Steve decides to pursue the capture mission into Ne-Issan. During this mission, Steve's loyalties become further conflicted between his affinity with the Mutes and his birth allegiance to the Federation, and he begins a risky attempt to play both sides against the middle whilst he looks for a way to escape his enemies on both sides.

Ultimately, the Talisman prophecy is fulfilled, at great cost.

The TARDIS lands in a petrified jungle, where the First Doctor (William Hartnell) tries to determine their position by taking a reading of the stars. He insists they explore a futuristic city they spot beyond the forest, but Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) are not convinced. In the forest, someone touches Susan Foreman's (Carole Ann Ford) shoulder; the Doctor does not believe her. Later, a box of vials is found outside the TARDIS. The Doctor claims the fluid link of the TARDIS is running low on mercury (a ruse he later admits to), forcing the crew to travel to the city in search of more mercury.

Barbara becomes separated from her colleagues in the city and is threatened by an unseen creature with a metal arm. Before long, the entire crew is captured by unseen creatures operating tank-like machines, the Daleks. Susan is eventually sent to retrieve anti-radiation drugs from the TARDIS after the Doctor realises this is what the box contained. Susan encounters a second species, the Thals, who used to be at war with the Daleks. The Thal who left the drugs reveals he encountered her in the forest. Susan attempts to broker peace between the two groups, and while it appears to work, the Daleks eventually betray the Thals, opening fire on them at what was supposed to be a peaceful exchange of food. The Daleks attempt using the anti-radiation drugs, but discover that they are fatal to Daleks. They conclude that Daleks need radiation to survive and decide to bombard the atmosphere with more radiation.

In the ensuing chaos, the Doctor and his companions escape with the Thals, and learn their version of the history of their planet. They also learn that the Thals are avowed pacifists. They are unable to leave Skaro, however, as the fluid link has been taken by the Daleks. In order to save them from the Daleks, the TARDIS crew convinces the Thals of the importance of aggression and warfare, and manages to lead the Thals in a successful attack against the Daleks. At the end, it is believed the Dalek race has been destroyed when their power supply is knocked out. The TARDIS crew leave Skaro, but an explosion in the TARDIS knocks them out.

In this novel, Li Kao and Number Ten Ox are attending the execution of a notorious criminal (about whose capture the less said the better, according to the chronicler) when into the public square bounds a "vampire ghoul" who soon meets a fiery demise. Master Li is given the case by the "Celestial Master" who soon becomes a main suspect. The plot involves everything from a conspiracy involving fake tea to dog-brides, puppeteers to magic birdcages, assorted pre-Chinese demons and gods, and the hooded and ancient Eight Skilled Gentlemen.

The plot also involves a subject rarely mentioned in fiction, the pre-Chinese aborigines and their gods.

The novel is set in the early 3800s and takes place almost entirely on the faraway oceanic planet of Thalassa. Thalassa has a small human population sent there by way of an embryonic seed pod, one of many sent out from Earth in an attempt to continue the human race before the Earth was destroyed.

The story begins with an introduction of the Thalassans – the marine biologist Brant, his partner Mirissa and her brother Kumar. They are typical examples of the Thalassan culture; quiet, stable, and free from religion and supernatural influence. Their peaceful existence comes to an end with the arrival of the ''Magellan'', an interstellar spaceship from Earth containing one million colonists who have been put into cryonic suspension.

In a series of descriptive passages, the events leading up to the race to save the human species are explained. Scientists in the 1960s discover that the neutrino emissions from the Sun – a result of the nuclear reactions that fuel the star – are far diminished from expected levels. At a secret session of the International Astronomical Union it is confirmed that the Sun will become a nova around the year AD 3600.

Over a period of centuries humanity develops advanced technologies to send out seeding ships containing human and other mammalian embryos (and later on, simply stored DNA sequences), along with robot parents, to planets that are considered habitable. One such ship is sent to the far off ocean world of Thalassa and successfully establishes a small human colony in the year 3109. Sending live humans is ruled out due to the immense amount of fuel that a rocket-propelled spacecraft would have to carry to first accelerate to the speeds required to travel such great distances within an acceptable time, and then decelerate upon approaching the destination. This limitation is overcome however with the development of the Quantum Drive less than a hundred years before the Sun is set to become a nova. This scientific breakthrough allows the construction of a fleet of crewed interstellar vehicles, including the starship ''Magellan''. The ''Magellan'' escapes the Earth three years before the Sun explodes, an event that is witnessed by the ''Magellan'''s crew.

In the intervening years the colony on Thalassa loses contact with Earth due to the destruction of its communication abilities by a volcanic eruption 400 years after its founding. The giant radio dish is never repaired due to an ingrained tendency to procrastinate, a trait common among the Thalassans. The Thalassans are therefore unaware of later developments on Earth, including crewed interstellar travel. The Earth assumes the destruction of the colony as well.

Two hundred and fifty years after the end of Earth the ''Magellan'' arrives at Thalassa, the midpoint of a 550-year voyage to colonise the distant ice planet Sagan 2. Primarily the objective is to replenish the ship's mammoth ice shield that had prevented micrometeors from damaging it during its interstellar journey. Thalassa is the obvious choice for this operation, as 95% of the planet's surface is covered by water. However, it soon becomes apparent that the human colony is still present and flourishing. Aboard are several crew members, awakened by the ship to undertake the mission, and 900,000 sleeping passengers. Among the crew is Loren Lorenson, a young engineer, and Moses Kaldor, an eminent and wise counsellor.

The arrival of the visitors from Earth is a monumental event for the easygoing Thalassans, who never expected to see or hear from any other human beings. To the crew of the ''Magellan'' it is a welcome surprise to meet the natives and sample the pleasures of a beautiful and hospitable planet. A tale of love and tragedy starts to develop as Loren and Mirissa quickly fall in love, a situation that demonstrates the different level of social mores between the two cultures. The Thalassans appear free from monogamy and sexual possessiveness, a situation that the lonely and troubled crew quickly find out.

Due to this and other aspects of the Thalassans' way of life, and the duration of the stay on the planet to repair the ship's ice shield, a small contingent of the crew quickly becomes disenchanted with the original objective of the mission, leading to a threat of mutiny.

A more gentle and parental relationship also develops between Mirissa and Moses, a man deeply affected by the destruction of Earth and the loss of his wife. Moses soon provides Mirissa an insight into the culture and ways of Earth lost to the Thalassans, including the concepts of war and religion, concepts alien to the gentle Thalassans.

During the course of the stay, and due to the construction of a massive plant for freezing the huge ice blocks for the shield, the Terrans and the Thalassans become aware of the existence of a potentially intelligent sea creature living in the depths of the Thalassan oceans. The "scorps" are similar to the sea scorpions of Earth, only much larger. It soon becomes evident that the scorps are responsible for the theft of metals and wire from several Thalassan underwater projects, including a fish trapping tool being developed by Brant. The intelligence of these creatures is questioned by most, but Moses believes they may have the potential for developing into a future intelligent species.

Several unforeseen events occur that shatter the dream of idyllic life of Thalassa, and also remind the crew and the Thalassans that the visitors must soon continue their prime mission, and leave the Thalassans to their destiny.

The story concludes with an air of tragedy and hope, as the relationship between Brant and Mirissa and Loren ends; the transient nature and ultimate futility of their love revealed. Mirissa chooses to conceive a child by Loren, but a change in scheduling of the mission brought about by the threat of mutiny by the crew means he will never see his son. Brant accepts the child as his own.

The dissatisfied elements of the crew are left on Thalassa while the rest leave on the last leg of their journey. Loren witnesses the life of Mirissa and his child after awakening on Sagan 2, three hundred years after their deaths.

The masked Crimson Ghost is determined to steal the Cyclotrode X, a device designed to repel atomic bomb attacks and that can disable electrical devices. Its inventor, university professor Dr. Chambers, demonstrates its powers at a faculty meeting by having it detect and fell a model airplane. After the meeting, two of the Ghost's henchmen attempt to steal the device, but Chambers destroys it to prevent them from doing so. Criminologist Duncan Richards, a colleague of Chambers, arrives and fights the henchmen. One of them, Ashe, escapes, and the other is killed when a collar around his neck is removed. Chambers informs his fellow professors—Richards, Anderson, Van Wyck, Maxwell, and Parker—that a duplicate Cyclotrode is located in a bonded warehouse.

Chambers finds himself in the mansion hideout of the Ghost, who explains to Chambers that he is one of his fellow professors, and forces Chambers to wear a collar that will compel him to do his will. The Ghost notes that his collars are designed to kill the wearer if they are removed by anyone other than him. Chambers, under the Ghost's control, retrieves the duplicate Cyclotrode from the warehouse. Richards pursues them by car. The Ghost commands Chambers to use the Cyclotrode to impede Richards' car, and Richards narrowly avoids being sent hurtling off a cliff.

Back in his mansion hideout, the Ghost relieves Chambers of his influence and tells him to make a larger, more powerful Cyclotrode that could cripple entire cities. Instead, Chambers builds a death ray and sets it as a trap. Richards finds his way to the lair and almost steps into the path of the death ray; Chambers leaps forward to stop him and is killed by the weapon. Upon learning of Chambers' death, the Ghost decides to build a larger Cyclotrode himself.

After unsuccessfully attempting to steal heavy water—a compound integral to the Cyclotrode's operation—and a truckload of refined uranium—an ingredient he would need to make heavy water himself—the Ghost has his henchmen capture Diana, a secretary who has been assisting Richards in his efforts to combat them. The Ghost places a control collar on her, and she returns to the university. Richards notices the collar around her neck, and attempts to remove it with the help of a doctor and a nurse.

Richards is able to remove the collar without killing Diana, and discovers that the doctor who is present is actually Ashe in disguise. Ashe manages to escape, and flees by car to the Ghost's mountain hideout. There, in a laboratory, scientist Bain has devised a way to make heavy water without uranium. Richards tracks them down to the hideout, and a fight ensues. A fire breaks out, and the Ghost and Ashe escape with a supply of heavy water. At the next faculty meeting, Richards announces that the wreckage of the Ghost's laboratory equipment has been hauled to a warehouse and will be checked for fingerprints. Richards reveals to Diana that he does not actually intend for the wreckage to be checked for fingerprints, and that instead, his goal is to lure the Ghost to the warehouse.

At the warehouse, Richards and Diana find Professor Van Wyck, and assume him to be the Ghost. However, the real Ghost arrives, and a brawl ensues. Van Wyck is killed when the Ghost shoots the windshield of a truck, sending the vehicle into the ocean. With Professor Anderson having been killed by a control collar, and Van Wyck now dead, Richards determines that either Maxwell or Parker must be the Ghost. Richards and Diana use a dog to track Ashe to the Ghost's mansion hideout. Richards enters the mansion, where the Ghost and his henchmen have successfully constructed a larger Cyclotrode. Richards shoots the device with his gun, and manages to unmask the Ghost outside. Back at the university, the Crimson Ghost—whose identity is revealed as Professor Parker—is taken away by police.

In Story mode, the player chooses one of four careers (United Earth League military, Mars Consortium militia, Marauder Pirate Clan, mercenary) and follows ''Terminus'''s single-player storyline, set in the year 2197. In 2000, ''Terminus'' was unusual among RPGs in that the player's actions can affect the ending of the storyline. Failing a mission, for example, may lead to a different ending than would have occurred if the mission had succeeded. One unique feature of ''Terminus'' is the story would progress with or without the player. The player could begin the game in story mode, then go off and do something else and the story missions/battles would still take place, reaching an outcome depending on which side eventually wins.

In Free mode, the player chooses a career and does the same as in Story mode, except there will be no storyline missions. In Gauntlet mode, the player outfits a ship with near-infinite money at their disposal, and faces several waves of attackers, with the object of staying alive for as long as possible.

Once again, it details the involvement of two children, Colin and Susan, with the world of myth and magic. This time the focus is on the potential of the older, wilder forms of magic and myth cycle to create both creative and destructive forces on the world.

To ease the surrender of the Weirdstone in ''The Weirdstone of Brisingamen'', Susan was given a magical bracelet by Angharad Goldenhand. It is the donning of this bracelet which has launched Susan unwittingly on a destiny connected with the cycles of the moon and hence the older wilder powers of the world. ''The Moon of Gomrath'' begins when the elves (lios-alfar) borrow the bracelet, with her consent, to see if its power can be directed by them to battle an unknown evil power in their own lands in Sinadon. However while unprotected by the bracelet, Susan is possessed by the Brollachan, an ancient evil released after an old pit is broken open during building work. The wizard Cadellin, guardian of the sleeping knights in ''The Weirdstone of Brisingamen'', cannot restore Susan after the Brollachan has been driven out of her body; instead perceiving that her spirit has been driven to another spiritual dimension, unreachable with ordinary means. It is Colin's true-hearted heroic love and need for his sister which provides the answer; as he responds to the older powers of the world. He therefore comes to seek the Mothan at moonrise. The Mothan is a mythical plant which grows on the Old Straight Track. This is a motif inspired by the book named ''The Old Straight Track''. It is part of the Old Magic, in contrast to Cadellin's High Magic. Susan is dramatically restored to her own body.

However, her sojourn to other levels of existence has sensitised her to the powers with which she and her brother have been coming to associate and the story takes a new dramatic turn. On walking home across the Edge on dusk, they are inspired to build a fire to keep warm, Susan almost manically so. This fire includes rowan and pine which unintendedly act as a wendfire, which on this night of the year has the power to call ancient spirits from their mounds. Colin and Susan release the Wild Hunt, which return several times during the course of the novel.

While they are trying to undo what they have done, the Morrigan captures Colin and imprisons him in Errwood Hall, which her magic restores into a building, which except in moonlight teleports into a lightless magic realm. This sets up the denouement, a pitched battle between the forces of the Morrigan (goblin-like bodachs and wildcat palugs) and Susan's allies (the lios-alfar, the dwarf Uthecar, and man Albanac), both willing and unwilling. Although Colin is rescued, Albanac is killed. When the elves withdraw their support as a lost cause, the Morrigan finally releases the Brollachan, focusing it on Susan to destroy her growing potential as a force for good. It is the other gift from Angharad Goldenhand which saves the day and the Old Magic is set free forever.

In Nazareth, Santa Claus runs away from children as gifts fall from his basket. He's been stabbed and leans against the ruin of a Franciscan chapel atop Mount Fear.

A taxi driver curses familiar faces as he drives through the streets.

Neighbors bicker over small stuff.

A Palestinian couple meets in a car.

More bickering neighbors.

A tourist asks an Israeli policeman for directions. Unable to help her himself, the policeman brings out a blindfolded Palestinian prisoner from the back of his van. The Palestinian tells her three different possible routes.

The couple is in the car again. The man (E.S.) blows up a red balloon with the face of Yasser Arafat drawn on it. He releases it near an Israeli checkpoint. An Israeli soldier is about to shoot it down but his comrade stops him. In the confusion, the couple are able to drive through the checkpoint together. The balloon floats across Jerusalem, eventually settling against the Dome of the Rock.

At night, the couple again in a car.

The next morning, five Israeli men practice an elaborate sequence of dance-like moves. Armed with guns, they repeatedly fire at targets painted like a Palestinian woman under the direction of a choreographer-officer. When one of the targets fails to fall to the ground, a real Palestinian woman (dressed like the targets) appears. The officer instructs his men to fire at her. In a supernatural feat, she gathers their bullets in the air around her and rises from the ground. The bullets form a crown of thorns around her head until she lets them fall to the ground. She then uses crescent-adorned stars and rocks to kill all but the officer. A helicopter appears to reinforce the Israelis, which the woman also easily destroys. The dance choreographer watches helplessly and the woman disappears.

The film ends with a man and his mother watching their dinner cook in a pressure cooker.

Matthew is an American exchange student who has come to Paris to study French. While at the Cinémathèque Française protesting the firing of Henri Langlois, he meets the free-spirited twins Théo and Isabelle. The three bond over a shared love of film. After dinner with their parents, Théo and Isabelle offer Matthew the chance to stay with them while their parents are on a trip. Matthew accepts, considering them his first French friends.

Matthew becomes suspicious of their relationship after seeing them sleeping nude together; he soon discovers that they accept nudity and sexuality liberally. After Théo loses at a trivia game, Isabelle sentences him to masturbate to a Marlene Dietrich poster in front of them. After Matthew loses at another game, he is seduced to take Isabelle's virginity. The two then become lovers.

Matthew begins to accept Théo and Isabelle's sexuality and his time living with them soon becomes idyllic. The three re-enact a memorable scene from ''Bande à part'' by "breaking the world record for running through the Louvre", and Matthew and Théo engage in playful arguments about Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, as well as the subject of Maoism, which Théo fervently believes in.

During this time, Matthew begins to pursue a relationship with Isabelle, separate from Théo. Matthew and Isabelle leave the house and go on a regular date, which she has not experienced before. Théo retaliates by inviting a companion up to his room, upsetting Isabelle. She distances herself from both Théo and Matthew, only to find them next to each other on Théo's bed when an argument between the two turns erotic. She then surprises them with a makeshift bedsheet fort and they fall asleep in each other's arms.

One morning, Théo and Isabelle's parents arrive home and find the trio naked in bed together. They are startled by what they find, but leave them be, departing after leaving a cheque. After they leave, Isabelle wakes up and discovers the cheque, realising that their parents have found them. Wordlessly, she attaches a hose to the gas outlet and lies back down with Théo and Matthew, attempting to commit suicide. After a few moments, however, they are woken by a brick being hurled through the window; they discover hundreds of students rioting in the streets.

All three of them are overjoyed and proceed to join the protesters. Later on, Théo joins a small team of protesters preparing molotov cocktails. Matthew tries to stop Théo by kissing him, arguing against violence, but he is shunned by both Théo and Isabelle.

As Matthew walks away through the chaos, Théo takes Isabelle's hand and hurls a molotov cocktail at a line of police. The police charge the crowd.

The game begins in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, in 1936 and is presented in the manner of a science fiction serial of that time. In the story, the Leather Goddesses of Phobos are just finalizing their plans for the invasion of Earth. The player's character had been abducted by the Leather Goddesses for the final testing of the plan which would enslave all of humanity. Unless this nefarious plan is stopped, the Earth is turned into a twisted sexual pleasure dome.

A boy named Telly and a 12-year-old girl are kissing on a bed. With no adults around, Telly, who is a few years older, persuades the girl, who is a virgin, to have sex with him. Afterwards, he meets with his best friend, Casper, and they talk about his sexual experience. Telly vocalizes his desire to keep having sex with virginal girls. The pair then enters a local store, where Casper shoplifts a 40 oz. bottle of malt liquor as Telly distracts the cashier. Looking for drugs, food, and a place to hang out, they head to their friend Paul's apartment, despite expressing their dislike of him on the way there. Once they arrive at Paul's house, they join the other boys in boasting about their sexual prowess, as well as their nonchalant attitudes to both unprotected sex and venereal diseases. While doing so, the boys smoke marijuana while watching a skating video. Casper inhales nitrous oxide out of balloons, which Telly considers dangerous.

Across the city, a group of girls, among them Ruby and Jennie, are talking about sex. Their attitudes evidently contradict that of the boys on many topics, particularly oral sex and the significance of the individuals to whom they lost their virginities. Ruby and Jennie mention that they were recently tested for STDs at Ruby's request, though Jennie only got tested to keep Ruby company. Ruby's test is negative, though she has had multiple sexual encounters, many of them unprotected intercourse.

Jennie tests positive for HIV. She tells the nurse that she has had sex only once, with Telly. Distraught over her results, Jennie spends the rest of the day trying to find Telly, to prevent him from passing the virus on to another girl. Meanwhile, Telly and Casper walk to Telly's house and steal money from Telly's mother, who is preoccupied with taking care of her new baby.

They go to Washington Square Park and purchase a dime bag of marijuana from a rastafarian. They then meet up with a few friends to talk and smoke, one of whom gives a blunt-rolling tutorial. During the hangout, Casper and many others taunt a gay couple passing through the park. On the side, Telly briefly talks to Misha, a girl who strongly dislikes Casper and calls him a jerk.

As Casper rides on a skateboard, he carelessly bumps into a man, who angrily threatens and pushes Casper. The man is struck in the back of the head with a skateboard by Casper's friend Harold, causing him to collapse. A number of other skaters join in, beating, stomping, and hitting the man with their skateboards until he is rendered unconscious by a final blow to the head by Casper.

While discussing whether or not they killed the man at the park, Telly and some of the group pick up a 13-year-old girl named Darcy— the virginal younger sister of an acquaintance— with whom Telly wants to have sex. He successfully convinces her to accompany them to a public pool. The other girls engage in kissing and flirtation, but Darcy shows restraint. Afterwards, the group goes to an unsupervised party at the house of another friend, named Steven.

Meanwhile, Jennie makes her way to Washington Square Park where she speaks to Misha, who tells her about Telly's possible whereabouts at "N.A.S.A.". When Jennie arrives at the club, she runs into Fidget, a raver boy, who shoves a pill into her mouth, which he says is supposed to make "Special K look weak". The drug turns out to be a depressant. Once its effects set in, Jennie discovers that Telly is at the party at Steven's house.

Jennie arrives at the party only to learn she is too late, as she discovers Telly having sex with Darcy, thus exposing her to HIV. Emotionally drained and still under the influence, Jennie cries and passes out on a couch among the other sleeping partygoers. A drunk Casper then rapes Jennie unprotected as she sleeps, exposing himself to HIV. Another teen at the party was able to witness the assault. As daylight approaches, a voice-over by Telly explains how sex is the only worthwhile thing in his life. The next morning, a naked and confused Casper wakes up and says "Jesus Christ, what happened?"

This drama explores the way that war tears families apart.

''Hatred'' is set in a small village in the Ukraine, in which dying man Bulgya tries to reconcile his three estranged sons, who have been scattered by the Russian Civil War. The elder son, Stepan served with the White Army, the middle son Fyodor served with the Red Army while the youngest, Mitka left home with no allegiances and no idea where to go. Contrary to Bulgya's hopes, the reunion is a cool one.

When Bulgya dies, the brothers are drawn together. They bury their father and promptly leave the village. But as soon as they pass the gates, a band of horsemen in Red Army uniforms burst into the village, killing the villagers, and burning their homes. The brothers set off in pursuit without any idea of who they are chasing. They do not know if they are really Red Army officers or if they are White Guards in disguise. Eventually Stepan recognises a fellow soldier from the White Guards and realises his loyalties are divided. He tries to play both sides, first betraying his brothers to the White Guards, and then helping them to escape. Fyodor and Mitka take a White Colonel prisoner, and on his way from the estate, Stepan hears gunshots. Rushing off after them, he realises he has become a stranger to the Whites as well.

The Porters are a working-class family who live in Chiswick, London who at first seem normal enough. Bill is the sensible, level-headed mother who does the cooking and housework whilst running a catering business with her highly sexed best friend Rona. Ben is the father, who is often just as immature as the children. He runs a heating repair business with his moody and sarcastic assistant Christine.

Jenny is the typical teenage daughter, keen on boys, music, and vegetarianism, and David is the mischievous younger brother, who enjoys horror films, aliens, and annoying his older sister.

However, the Porters' world is frequently upended by bizarre occurrences and bad luck. Whether it is dealing with flatulent dogs, a frozen body in a freezer in the front room, or even stumbling across a warehouse filled with Shirley Bassey's cast-off ballgowns, anything seems possible in the Porters' world. Traditionally Christmas episodes would feature characters collectively performing a musical number.

The show focused on three teenagers in their late teens, Ryan Steele, Kaitlin Star, and J.B. Reese, living in the fictional West Coast town of Cross World City, California. They regularly attended and were teachers at "Tao's Dojo," a karate studio. Ryan was the most focused martial artist; J.B. was the computer wizard; while Kaitlin was a photographer & budding reporter for the local newspaper, the ''Underground Voice Daily''. One day, Ryan's search for his long-missing father led him and his two friends to a strange laboratory. Inside, a digitized head of Professor Horatio Hart (who is a friend of Ryan's father Tyler) explained the truth about his life's work of having developed extremely advanced virtual reality technology in secret. "VR" is a dimension existing alongside our own; within it lie mutants bent on conquering both worlds. The main ruler of these is a creature known as Grimlord, who, unbeknownst to anyone on Earth, has a human identity as billionaire industrialist Karl Ziktor. As Karl Ziktor tries to overcome the barriers of the true reality to allow his armies easy passage from virtual world, the responsibility falls to Ryan, Kaitlin, and J.B. of defending the planet on both sides of the dimensional barrier. They have assistance in the form of armored bodies having incredible firepower. This included eventual additions to their arsenal, such as a Turbo Cycle, Techno Bazooka, VR Troopertron, VR Shoulder Cannon, VR Battlecruiser/Interceptop and a flying, laser-blasting Skybase.

Other regular characters on the show included Zeb as Jeb, Ryan's hound dog who after an accident in Professor Hart's lab, was now capable of human speech; Woody Stocker, Kaitlin's wacky hat-loving boss at the ''Underground Voice Daily''; Percy Rooney, the local mayor's nephew and Kaitlin's bumbling rival reporter; and Tao, the wise martial arts sensei who owns the dojo and a family friend of the Steele Family. Recurring villains include General Ivar, Colonel Icebot, Decimator, the Skugs, and more throughout.

During the second season, the show changed format very slightly. Ryan's father Tyler was finally found and restored to normal. Then, he quickly left to help the government research further Virtual Reality based technology. With him came Ryan's new V.R. armor and an upgrade to his powers. Grimlord's base of operations switched from the virtual dungeon to a massive spacecraft, and added new Generals such as Oraclon, Despera, Doom Master and his Vixens. The Skugs now had the ability to become more powerful in the form of Ultra Skugs.

The Doctor collapses outside his TARDIS and is taken to Ashbridge Cottage Hospital in Epping, where his unusual anatomy confuses the doctors.

Meanwhile, a meteorite shower falls on the English countryside, and a poacher discovers a mysterious plastic polyhedron at the crash site. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart of UNIT is trying to recruit Dr. Elizabeth "Liz" Shaw as a scientific advisor to examine any meteorites for evidence of aliens. Shaw is sceptical of the Brigadier's concerns and resents being taken away from her research at Cambridge.

The plastic polyhedron is a power unit for a non-physical alien intelligence known as the Nestene Consciousness. Normally disembodied, it has an affinity for plastic, and is able to animate human replicas made from it, called Autons. The Nestene have taken over a toy factory in Epping, and plan to replace key government and public figures with Auton duplicates. The Auton in charge of the factory sends other, less human-looking, dummy-like Autons to retrieve the power units from UNIT and the poacher.

After recovering in hospital and avoiding being kidnapped by the Autons, the Doctor discovers that his TARDIS has been disabled by the Time Lords and he is trapped on Earth. Despite his recent change in appearance, he convinces Lethbridge-Stewart that he is the same man who helped to defeat the Yeti and the Cybermen. Together with Liz, he uncovers the Nestene plot, just as the Autons activate across Britain and begin killing. The Doctor assembles an electroshock device that he believes will disable them.

UNIT attacks the plastics factory, but the Autons are impervious to gunfire. The Doctor and Liz make their way inside and encounter a tentacled plastic host created by the Nestenes as the perfect form for the invasion. While the Doctor struggles with the creature, Liz uses the electroshock device to shut the creature down, the effect cascading to all other Autons.

The Brigadier fears the Nestenes will return and asks for the Doctor's continued help. The Doctor agrees, albeit reluctantly, to join UNIT. In return, he requires facilities to help repair the TARDIS, and a car like the sporty antique roadster he commandeered during the adventure. At his insistence, Liz also stays on as his assistant.

Continuity

The Doctor tells Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart that his name is Doctor John Smith, an alias first used in ''The Wheel in Space''.

Jim Blandings, a bright account executive in the advertising business, lives with his wife Muriel and two daughters, Betsy and Joan, in a cramped New York apartment. Muriel secretly plans to knock out a wall and remodel their apartment for $7,000 ($ in ). After rejecting this idea, Jim comes across an ad for new homes in Connecticut and they get excited about moving. Planning to purchase and "fix up" an old home, they contact a real estate agent, who convinced them to buy "the old Hackett Place" in (fictional) Lansdale County, Connecticut—a leaning, dilapidated, nearly 200-year old farmhouse on some 35 acres where, they are told, General Gates stopped to water his horses during the Revolutionary War. They buy the property for five times the going rate per acre for locals, provoking Jim's friend and lawyer Bill Cole to chastise him for following his heart rather than his head.

The old house, dating from the Revolutionary War era, turns out to be structurally unsound and must be torn down before the previous owner's mortgage is paid off. The Blandings hire architect Henry Simms to design and supervise the construction of a new home for $18,000 ($ in ), which Muriel insists must have four bedrooms and four bathrooms. From the original purchase to the completion of the new home, a long litany of unforeseen troubles and setbacks—including digging a deep well only to find a spring just a few feet under the foundation—beset the hapless Blandings. The demolished house's owner also sues them for the balance of his mortgage. Meanwhile, back in the city, Jim is given the task of creating a slogan for WHAM Ham, an account that has destroyed the careers of the previous executives assigned to it. Jim also suspects that Muriel is cheating on him when Bill spends a night in the house during a violent thunderstorm, with Muriel being the only other person present.

With mounting pressure, skyrocketing costs, and the encroaching deadline for his assignment, Jim starts to wonder why he wanted to live in the country. Bill observes that although he has been the voice of doom, pointing out all the ways they were being cheated, when he looks at what they have finally built, he realizes that some things "you ''do'' buy with your heart and not your head. Maybe those are the things that really count.” Gussie, a Black maid working for the Blandings, provides Jim with the perfect WHAM slogan—"If you ain't eating WHAM, you ain't eating ham"—and saves his job. The Blandings reward her with a $10 raise ($ in ), and her likeness is used in the WHAM ad campaign. The film ends with the family and Bill enjoying the beautiful front yard. Jim, who is seem reading the book ''Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House,'' invites the audience to “drop in and see us some time.”

Five centuries after the conclusion of ''Earthfall'', there is only one original colonist from Harmony: Shedemei, who now wears the Cloak of the Starmaster (a device that links her to the Oversoul). After hundreds of years, the descendants of Nafai and Elemak have built cities and towns - yet never forgetting the enmity between the two brothers. After hundreds of years, the Oversoul still has not achieved its original purpose: to find the Keeper of Earth, the central intelligence that alone can repair the Oversoul's damaged counterpart at Harmony.

But now, the Keeper has once again begun to spread its influence. Heeding the dreams below, Shedemei has decided to return to Earth.

The last book in the Homecoming saga marks a departure from the style and storyline of the previous four. All of the characters from the previous novels (except Shedemei) are long dead. The central conflict between Nafai and Elemak is represented in their descendants, but takes a back seat in this book. The focus is on the struggles within the descendants of those who followed Nafai. The king of Darakemba (an empire founded by the Nafaris), his children, and his advisers, along with the high priest of Darakemba, his children, and his converts, provide the main actions in the story.

Jimmy Kilmartin is an ex-con living in Astoria in the New York City borough of Queens, trying to stay clean and raising a daughter with his wife Bev. They are both recovering alcoholics. Bev leaves Jimmy alone to go to an AA meeting. While she is gone, Jimmy is awakened by his cousin Ronnie who is in desperate need of a driver to help him move some stolen cars. Jimmy tries to eject Ronnie, knowing that he could go back to prison just for being seen with him. Ronnie's right ring finger is broken, and he confesses that if Jimmy does not help him move the cars, Little Junior Brown will kill him.

Little Junior Brown is an asthmatic psychopath. Enraged that they are so behind schedule, he insists that Ronnie move the four trucks full of stolen cars in a caravan, instead of staggering them to avoid detection. The caravan draws the attention of the police, and when they arrive at the Brooklyn Navy Yard to unload the cars, the police arrive. During the arrests, Jimmy's passenger shoots at the police. The bullet goes through Jimmy's hand and just below the right eye of Detective Calvin Hart.

The lawyer for the Brown crime family, Jack Gold, promises Jimmy that Bev will be taken care of if he takes the rap without naming his co-conspirators. Ronnie shorts Bev on her allowance, giving her only $150 of the $400 a week that the Browns intended for her. Bev agrees to work for Ronnie at his chop shop just south of Shea Stadium. On her first day, she witnesses Ronnie beating a man who tried to sell him a stolen car. She drinks a Rolling Rock, and goes with Ronnie to Baby Cakes, the strip club owned by the Browns. There Ronnie plys her with more alcohol and tries to take advantage of her, Big Junior and Little Junior are angered and instruct him to take her to her home but instead he brings her back to his house. Waking in his bed, Bev is horrified at her relapse and Ronnie's advances, she rushes out of Ronnie's house and steals his car. She drives head-on into a semi-truck in the street and gets killed instantly.

Given a supervised release for her funeral, Jimmy listens to Ronnie's lame explanation for why Bev died in his car. Bev's sister Rosie explains that she never returned home the night before her death. Convinced of Ronnie's complicity in Bev's death, Jimmy agrees to turn state's witness. He names all of the people involved in the Navy Yards fiasco, except Ronnie. When the cops arrest everyone but Ronnie, the Browns are convinced that he is the snitch. Little Junior Brown visits Ronnie's shop and proceeds to beat Ronnie to death in his office as retaliation.

Several years pass, and the district attorney approaches Jimmy again about snitching on the Browns. Still in Sing Sing, Jimmy negotiates for a pardon and a job that he would enjoy. He and Rosie get married, but he hides his informant duties from her.

Det. Hart meets with Jimmy at a Chinese restaurant and informs him that his target is actually a drug dealer named Omar, who gets weapons and cars from Little Junior Brown. Jimmy dons a wire and returns to work for the Browns with an initial assignment of boosting cars. After their rounds, Jimmy's crew heads to Baby Cakes where he sees Little Junior for the first time in years. Little Junior is distraught over the recent death of his father, and he offers Jimmy his condolences over Bev's death. Little Junior takes Jimmy to a meeting with Omar.

Jimmy is unable to sustain the charade with Rosie. Eventually, Little Junior takes Jimmy to another meeting with Omar, whom he kills. Later, Omar's crew throws Jimmy into a car and drives him to a meeting, where he learns that Omar was an undercover DEA agent. The DA and the DEA use Jimmy's tape of the killing to arrest Little Junior. When Little Junior is out on bail, he abducts Jimmy's daughter to send him a message. He eventually finds his daughter in the woods, with the letters B.A.D. (Balls, Attitude, Direction; an acronym Little Junior gives himself in a private moment with Jimmy) written on her forehead in blood.

Realizing that his family is not safe anymore, Jimmy returns to the city and confronts Little Junior at gunpoint at Baby Cakes. A fight ensues with Little Junior and Jimmy, which results in Little Junior being arrested by Det. Hart (after learning that Jimmy was wired). Jimmy uses a tape of the DA's corrupt threats as leverage to escape the situation. The film ends with Jimmy getting into a stolen Explorer that Little Junior gave him, and he leaves the city with Rosie and his daughter.

On Christmas Eve, down-on-his-luck ex-convict Nick Bianco and his three cohorts rob a jewelry store. Before they can exit the building, however, the injured proprietor sets off his alarm. While attempting to escape, Nick assaults a police officer but is wounded and arrested.

The Assistant District Attorney Louis D'Angelo tries to persuade Nick to name his accomplices in exchange for a light sentence. Confident that his partners in crime and his lawyer, Earl Howser, will look after his wife and two young daughters while he is incarcerated, Nick refuses and is given a 20-year sentence. Three years later, at Sing Sing Prison, after his wife does not write for 3 months, Nick discovers that she has committed suicide.

Nick is visited in prison by Nettie Cavallo, a young woman who used to babysit his girls. She tells him that his daughters have been sent to an orphanage and reveals that his wife was raped by Pete Rizzo, one of his accomplices. Nick decides to tell all to D'Angelo but, because so much time has elapsed, D'Angelo cannot use Nick's information about the jewelry store robbery to reduce his sentence. In exchange for being able to see his children, he spills about the job. D'Angelo then decides to keep Nick in the city jail and use him as an informant. He keeps Nick clean in the eyes of other shady characters and Howser (who acts on behalf of his criminal clients as a go-between for a fence) by making it seem Nick is being charged with a previous, unsolved robbery he pulled off with Rizzo. D'Angelo then instructs Nick to imply to the lawyer that Rizzo squealed about this job.

Howser arranges for Tommy Udo, a psychopathic killer who did time with Bianco, to take care of Rizzo. When Udo shows up at Rizzo's tenement, only the criminal's wheelchair-using mother is present; she tells Udo that her son is out but will return that evening. Udo examines the apartment and determines that Rizzo has probably left town. Udo binds Mrs. Rizzo to her wheelchair with an electrical cord and pushes her down a flight of stairs, killing her.

Soon after, Nick is freed on parole at D'Angelo's behest, and visits Nettie, pledging his love to her. But in order to remain out, Nick must continue his work with D'Angelo. He arranges a "chance" meeting with Udo and pretends to be friendly as an old prison pal from Sing Sing. Udo takes Nick to a couple of clubs, including one at which narcotics are being smoked. Nick reports back to D'Angelo, who is satisfied that he has enough to indict Udo and get a conviction. D'Angelo then releases Nick from further work.

Nick starts a new life in Astoria, Queens, with his wife, Nettie, and the children. When Udo's trial begins, D'Angelo summons Nick to let him know that his testimony is required. Despite him taking the stand, though, Udo is acquitted.

Certain that Udo will seek revenge, Nick sends Nettie and the girls to the country. He then goes to deal with Udo and finds him at Luigi's restaurant in East Harlem. Inside, Udo threatens Nettie and the girls, whereupon Nick reminds him that during their night out, Udo gave Nick incriminating information about himself.

Udo leaves to wait in his sedan out front, which Nick notices. He telephones and summons D'Angelo to come with police to the restaurant in exactly two minutes, then goes outside. Udo shoots Nick and is quickly surrounded by police, shot, and arrested. Though badly wounded, Nick also survives; he and Nettie look forward to a happy, peaceful life together.

Jonathan Gates is a student at UCLA in the early 1960s, where he begins his love affair with film at The Classic, a rundown independent movie theatre. He begins a romance with the theatre's owner Clarissa "Clare" Swann, who tutors him extensively in the study of film history over the course of their relationship. It is through Clare's pursuit of classic films to show at the theater that Gates stumbles upon the work of Max Castle, a German film director whose work uses subliminal imagery and unorthodox symbolism to achieve a powerful effect over the viewer.

Gradually, Gates rises through the academic ranks to achieve a professorial chair, becoming most respected as the rediscoverer and champion of Castle's work. Through Gates' extensive research and travels through Europe, the reader learns of Castle's considerable influence over the great films of his time culminating in an uncredited collaboration with Orson Welles to make the acclaimed movie ''Citizen Kane'', followed by a failed attempt to adapt Conrad's novel ''Heart of Darkness'' to the silver screen. Also revealed, however, are Castle's shadowy connections with a religious group known as the Orphans of the Storm, as well as his disappearance in 1941 after being lost at sea and presumed dead in a Nazi U-boat attack during a trip to Europe.

Clare, meanwhile, has become a respected New York film critic, entrusting the Classic theatre to her one-time projectionist Don Sharkey, who stops showing artful films in favor of shallow entertainment for a new generation of moviegoers. Among the up-and-coming directors Sharkey showcases is 18-year-old Simon Dunkle, creator of ultra-low budget exploitation films of unprecedented gore and remarkable popularity among young people. Gates learns Dunkle belongs to the same religious sect as Max Castle. Gates begins to investigate the Orphans, despite their own attempts to stifle his research and the adverse effect that the constant viewing of Orphan-made films is having on his personality. He learns that the Orphans are Gnostic dualists, living in secrecy since the Catholic persecutions of Catharism in the Middle Ages. The Orphans have pioneered revolutionary film techniques, which they subtly employ throughout the film industry by training several generations of film editors. Gates begins to suspect that the Orphans are using their extensive influence in the film industry to subliminally promote their religion while they enact their plans to bring about the Apocalypse in the year 2014 via biological terrorism.

Eventually, Gates turns to his former lover Clare for help. She introduces him to a Father Angelotti. A defrocked Dominican priest, Angelotti was a member of Occulus Dei, a secretive group established by the Catholic Church to investigate and combat the surviving Cathars. Angelotti persuades Gates to 'infiltrate' the Orphans' church, so as to obtain the conclusive evidence that will allow Gates to publish what he has discovered. The Orphans put him on a private plane, ostensibly to meet the elders of their faith. En route, they drug his coffee and he later awakes, imprisoned on a small tropical island in the Indian Ocean. Gates realizes that Angelotti was a double agent, a loyal Cathar who had infiltrated the Catholic church. On the island Gates is fed and tended by a man and woman who seem to not speak English and are restocked by occasional supply boats, but otherwise is trapped without hope of escape.

Living in a nearby hut is none other than Max Castle himself, more than 30 years after his disappearance at the hands of the Cathar cultists. Gates and the film director he once idolised use scraps and castoffs from a waste-heap of old celluloid to splice together one final film, while they wait for Armageddon to come.

The children of Wetchik are ready to board the starship ''Basilica'' and embark on their journey from the planet Harmony back to the origin of humanity: Earth. However, the rivalry between Nafai and Elemak promises the journey will be anything but peaceful. Each faction already has hidden plans to prematurely awaken from the long hibernation, to have the upper hand when the landing occurs. The children become pawns in their parents' power struggle - valuable potential adults that can strengthen each faction. But the Oversoul is ultimately in control, having uploaded a copy of itself into ''Basilica's'' central computer, so that it can monitor the ship at all times.

After landing on Earth, the fragile peace wrought on board is merely a mask for the turmoils of passions that boil beneath. Not only do the colonists have to deal with the split, there are also the mysteriously symbiotic alien races that have evolved on Earth since humanity's departure. The quest to understand the Angels (giant bats) and the Diggers (giant rats) that were foreshadowed in the dreams is not an easy one.

The focus throughout the course of this novel begins to drift away from the original generation of characters in order to delineate the passage of time. The factions that developed among the original generation have now spread to their children, through no fault of the children themselves. Nafai finds himself and his "Nafari" living and working primarily amongst the angel people, whereas the "Elemaki" associate much more closely with the diggers. It is this dissociation that eventually breaks nearly all the bonds—literally, for Hushidh and Cheveya—between Nafai and his older brother, Elemak. As Elemak's rage and hatred for Nafai grow, he ingrains such feelings into his family and the digger people, laying the foundation for war.

After the death of Volemak the Nafari migrate northwards away from the landing site to found a new nation.

Richard Haywood (Ryan Gosling) and Justin Pendleton (Michael Pitt) are high school classmates; Richard is wealthy and popular, while Justin is a brilliant introvert. After months of planning a "perfect crime," they abduct a woman at random, strangle her, and plant evidence implicating Richard's marijuana dealer, janitor Ray Feathers. Detective Cassie Mayweather (Sandra Bullock) and her new partner Sam Kennedy (Ben Chaplin) investigate. Cassie has sex with Sam early on as she had with previous partners, but won't let him see her chest, and curtly sends him home afterwards.

Footprints at the crime scene lead to Richard, and vomit nearby implicates Justin. Both have alibis, and deny knowing each other, but Cassie is convinced that Richard is the murderer and Justin is involved. Sam criticizes her refusal to consider other suspects, as most of the physical evidence points away from the two boys. Cassie's boss, Captain Rod Cody, and her ex, Assistant D.A. Al Swanson, fearing Richard's influential parents, take Cassie off the case. Richard kills Ray, and makes it appear like a suicide. Sam, following the planted evidence, tracks down Ray. When he finds Ray dead, the woman's murder appears solved; but Sam decides that Cassie may be right, and continues the investigation.

Justin, who has a crush on classmate Lisa Mills, works up the courage to ask her out. A jealous Richard seduces Lisa, then gives Justin a video clip of them having sex. Justin is enraged, but regains control, knowing Sam is still watching them. Cassie begins receiving calls from her ex-husband Carl Hudson, who went to prison for stabbing her in the chest 17 times. His parole hearing is coming up, and he wants her to speak on his behalf. Cassie confides to Sam that although she became a cop to prove to herself that she wasn't a victim, she is terrified at the prospect of seeing Carl again. She also confesses that Richard reminds her of Carl, which is why she is convinced of Richard's guilt, and obsessed with proving it.

Sam and Cassie bring Richard and Justin in for separate interrogations, trying to induce them to implicate each other, but neither of them talk, and both are released. At the victim's home, Cassie determines how the boys carried out the abduction and altered the physical evidence. Justin and Richard, knowing that Cassie is closing in on them, flee to an abandoned house, where Richard produces two revolvers and proposes a mutual suicide. On the count of three, Justin shoots into the air, but Richard does not. Justin demands to see Richard's gun, which is unloaded. As a furious Justin is about to shoot Richard, Cassie arrives. Richard grabs Justin's gun and shoots at Cassie, wounding Justin instead. Cassie gives chase, but Richard strangles her on a rickety balcony jutting out over a cliff. Cassie gains the upper hand and knocks Richard off the balcony; he falls to his death. Justin grabs Cassie, who is hanging on the edge of the balcony, and pulls her back into the house.

Cassie assures Justin that she will intercede on his behalf, since he was an innocent dupe, manipulated by the ruthless Richard. Then she notices a mark on her neck caused by Richard's large ring, and realizes that the dead woman's neck did not have a similar mark. Confronted with the evidence, Justin confesses that he strangled the victim, proving his "courage" to Richard, and is arrested.

Cassie faces her fears and enters the courtroom to testify at Carl's parole hearing. The bailiff calls her to the stand by her legal name: Jessica Marie Hudson.

Sonny Hooper (Burt Reynolds) is the stunt coordinator on the action film ''The Spy Who Laughed at Danger'', directed by Roger Deal (Robert Klein) and starring Adam West (playing himself). Sonny's antics and wisecracks are a trial for the egotistical director and his officious but cowardly assistant, Tony (Alfie Wise). Years of numerous "gags" and his use of alcohol and painkillers are beginning to take their toll. Sonny lives with his girlfriend Gwen Doyle (Sally Field), whose father Jocko (Brian Keith) is a retired stuntman.

Sonny is coerced by a friend into performing at a charity show, where he meets Delmore "Ski" Shidski (Jan-Michael Vincent), a newcomer who makes a spectacular entrance. They become friends after a barroom brawl, and Sonny invites Ski to work with him on the film. They begin a friendly rivalry in which the dangerous stunts escalate. After a freefall from a record , Sonny quietly consults with his doctor, who warns him that one more bad fall could render him quadriplegic.

Roger decides to change the film's ending, adding a climactic earthquake complete with many explosions, fires and car crashes. Sonny and Ski would race through the carnage to a nearby gorge, where the bridge explodes before they can cross it. Roger suggests they rappel down one side of the gorge and up the other to safety, but Ski proposes jumping a car over the gorge, with Hooper adding that a rocket car can make the jump. Roger loves the idea, ignoring the warnings that Sonny and Ski might not survive the landing even if the car lands on its wheels. Max Berns, the movie's producer and a longtime friend of Sonny's, warns Roger that the film is already over budget and they can't afford the $100,000 Hooper wants to perform the rocket car jump. Roger tells Max he wants the rocket car ending and to make cuts elsewhere. Tony is sent to talk Hooper down from his high price, but fails.

Meanwhile, Jocko suffers a stroke, but denies the gravity of his condition. Seeing Jocko in the hospital motivates Sonny to promise Gwen that he will quit the business after the film wraps. Then, Sonny's assistant and best friend Cully (James Best) reveals the rocket car stunt and Sonny's secret visit to his doctor to a horrified Gwen. Sonny later tells Roger that he is backing out of the gag, but Max convinces him to reconsider, as no qualified stuntman is available, or willing, to replace him and Ski cannot do it alone. Having no other choice, and even after Gwen threatens to leave him, Sonny goes through with the gag.

Sonny and Ski perform the first part of the gag perfectly. As they arrive at the now-demolished bridge, they find that the rocket pressure is below the minimum needed to make the jump, but they attempt it anyway. The rocket car clears the gorge, but overshoots the prepared landing area and lands hard on the far side. Ski emerges from the car on his own, but the impact is more of a shock to Sonny's system. Gwen tearfully pushes her way through the gathering crowd as the chief engineer extracts Sonny from the car. Sonny slowly comes out of his daze and takes Gwen in his arms.

As Sonny, Ski, Gwen, Cully and Jocko view the bridge lying in the river and the gorge the rocket car had jumped, Roger comes up to them and tries to apologize for all the grief he gave him during filming, but he comes off as trying to justify himself. Sonny's response is to knock Roger out with a single punch. He, Gwen, Ski, Cully and Jocko then triumphantly walk off the set.

The play begins with a strange scene—a large net has been spread over a house, the entry is barricaded and two slaves, Xanthias and Sosias, are sleeping in the street outside. A third man is positioned at the top of an exterior wall with a view into the inner courtyard but he too is asleep. The two slaves wake and we learn from their banter that they are keeping guard over a "monster." The man asleep above them is their master and the monster is his father—he has an unusual disease. Xanthias and Sosias challenge the audience to guess the nature of the disease. Addictions to gambling, drink and good times are suggested but they are all wrong—the father is addicted to the law court: he is a ''phileliastes'' ( ) or a "trialophile." The man's name is ''Philocleon'' (which suggests that he might be addicted to Cleon), and his son's name is the very opposite of this—''Bdelycleon''. The symptoms of the old man's addiction include irregular sleep, obsessional thinking, paranoia, poor hygiene and hoarding. Counselling, medical treatment and travel have all failed to solve the problem, and now his son has turned the house into a prison to keep the old man away from the law courts.

Bdelycleon wakes and he shouts to the two slaves to be on their guard—his father is moving about. He tells them to watch the drains, for the old man can move like a mouse, but Philocleon surprises them all by emerging instead from the chimney disguised as smoke. Bdelycleon is luckily on hand to push him back inside. Other attempts at escape are also barely defeated. The household settles down for some more sleep and then the Chorus arrives—old jurors who move warily through the muddy roads and are escorted by boys with lamps through the dark. Learning of their old comrade's imprisonment, they leap to his defense and swarm around Bdelycleon and his slaves like wasps. At the end of this fray, Philocleon is still barely in his son's custody and both sides are willing to settle the issue peacefully through debate.

The debate between the Philocleon and Bdelycleon focuses on the advantages that the old man personally derives from voluntary jury service. Philocleon says he enjoys the flattering attentions of rich and powerful men who appeal to him for a favourable verdict, he enjoys the freedom to interpret the law as he pleases since his decisions are not subject to review, and his juror's pay gives him independence and authority within his own household. Bdelycleon responds to these points with the argument that jurors are in fact subject to the demands of petty officials and they get paid less than they deserve—revenues from the empire go mostly into the private treasuries of men like Cleon. These arguments have a paralysing effect on Philocleon. The chorus is won over.

Philocleon refuses to give up his old ways, so Bdelycleon offers to turn the house into a courtroom and to pay him a juror's fee to judge domestic disputes. Philocleon agrees, and a case is soon brought before him—a dispute between the household dogs. One dog (who looks like Cleon) accuses the other dog (who looks like Laches) of stealing a Sicilian cheese and not sharing it. Witnesses for the defense include a bowl, a pestle, a cheese-grater, a brazier and a pot. As these are unable to speak, Bdelycleon says a few words for them on behalf of the accused. A group of puppies (the children of the accused) is ushered in to soften the heart of the old juror with their plaintive cries. Philocleon is not softened, but his son easily fools him into putting his vote into the urn for acquittal. The old juror is deeply shocked by the outcome of the trial—he is used to convictions—but his son promises him a good time and they exit the stage to prepare for some entertainment.

While the actors are offstage, the Chorus addresses the audience in a conventional parabasis. It praises the author for standing up to monsters like Cleon and it chastises the audience for its failure to appreciate the merits of the author's previous play (''The Clouds''). It praises the older generation, evokes memories of the victory at Marathon, and bitterly deplores the gobbling up of imperial revenues by unworthy men. Father and son then return to the stage, now arguing with each other over the old man's choice of attire. He is addicted to his old juryman's cloak and his old shoes and he is suspicious of the fancy woollen garment and the fashionable Spartan footwear that Bdelycleon wants him to wear that evening to a sophisticated dinner party. The fancy clothes are forced upon him, and he is instructed in the kind of manners and conversation that the other guests will expect of him. At the party, Philocleon declares his reluctance to drink any wine—it causes trouble, he says—but Bdelycleon assures him that sophisticated men of the world can easily talk their way out of trouble, and so they depart optimistically for the evening's entertainment.

There is then a second parabasis (see Note at end of this section), in which the Chorus touches briefly on a conflict between Cleon and the author, after which a household slave arrives with news for the audience about the old man's appalling behaviour at the dinner party: Philocleon has got himself abusively drunk, he has insulted all his son's fashionable friends, and now he is assaulting anyone he meets on the way home. The slave departs as Philocleon arrives, now with aggrieved victims on his heels and a pretty flute girl on his arm. Bdelycleon appears moments later and angrily remonstrates with his father for kidnapping the flute girl from the party. Philocleon pretends that she is in fact a torch. His son isn't fooled and he tries to take the girl back to the party by force but his father knocks him down. Other people with grievances against Philocleon continue to arrive, demanding compensation and threatening legal action. He makes an ironic attempt to talk his way out of trouble like a sophisticated man of the world, but it inflames the situation further. Finally, his alarmed son drags him indoors. The Chorus sings briefly about how difficult it is for men to change their habits and it commends the son for filial devotion, after which the entire cast returns to the stage for some spirited dancing by Philocleon in a contest with the sons of Carcinus.

Note: Some editors (such as Barrett) exchange the second parabasis (lines 1265–91) with the song (lines 1450–73) in which Bdelycleon is commended for filial devotion.

Following the events of ''Ring'', the body of Ryūji Takayama, former husband of Reiko Asakawa and father of Yōichi Asakawa, is examined by his friend and rival, pathologist Mitsuo Andō. After he finds a cryptic note in Takayama's stomach, Reiko and Yōichi also turn up dead. Andō soon learns of a mysterious cursed videotape, haunted by the spirit of a murdered young woman. Rumor has it that anyone who watches the video will die exactly one week later. Despondent over the death of his own child, and believing that he is being guided by his rival's ghost, Andō decides to see the video for himself. After watching the tape, strange things begin to happen around him, and he soon discovers that the tape's restless spirit has different plans in store for him.

With the help of Takayama's student, Mai Takano, Andō finds out more about Ryūji's past as well as the mysterious young woman, Sadako Yamamura. Searching for the truth about why Ryūji and Yōichi died from the virus while Reiko did not leads him to her boss Yoshino. Yoshino lets Andō in on a secret: he has the wife's diary. She and Ryūji had been researching the cursed videotape. While Reiko had broken the curse, Ryūji died a week after watching the tape. Reiko believed that creating a copy would break the curse, but Yōichi died a week after watching the tape, just as his father had. Yoshino shows Andō both the tape and the diary.

When Andō tells Mai Takano what he has done, she is shocked and cannot understand why, since she felt from the start that it was the video that killed Takayama and his family. As they are talking, Yoshino calls Andō. He admits that he wishes that he had never been involved in Reiko's business. Andō believes that Yoshino had watched the video, but he denies it, saying that he was too scared to. However, Yoshino still dies.

Andō decides to destroy the videotapes and make sure that he will be the video's last victim. He then confides in Mai about his son's death, and they end up sleeping together. Andō asks Mai if she will be there with him when he dies, but Mai tells him that she is too scared. He understands and decides to try to find out more about the virus that killed Takayama and his son. He discovers that the virus that killed Yoshino was different from the one that killed the father and son. Andō asks for tests to be run on him.

Meanwhile, Mai Takano goes missing and Andō apparently survives the curse. He starts to feel that the story was just a myth and he is relieved when Mai turns up, but is shocked to find out that she has been found dead, having given birth with no sign of a baby. Andō goes back to work and sees "Mai" there and finds out that she is none other than Sadako Yamamura, reborn and claiming to be "perfectly dual-gendered". He then learns that Takayama was not helping Andō ''stop'' Sadako – instead, he was ''helping'' Sadako. Yoshino, Andō's friend Miyashita and many others were not killed by a virus or the video, but rather Reiko's diary. Sadako promises to help resurrect Andō's son in exchange for his help.

In the end, Andō brings Takayama and his son back to life with help from Sadako. Just as Ryūji leaves, he tells Andō: "Many years will pass before our world will be at peace".

The stories are told in the format of a series of letters, told either from the point of view of Father Christmas or his elvish secretary. They document the adventures and misadventures of Father Christmas and his helpers, including the North Polar Bear and his two sidekick cubs, Paksu and Valkotukka. The stories include descriptions of the massive fireworks that create the northern lights and how Polar Bear manages to get into trouble on more than one occasion.

The 1939 letter has Father Christmas making reference to the Second World War, while some of the later letters feature Father Christmas' battles against Goblins which were subsequently interpreted as being a reflection of Tolkien's views on the German Menace.

Pat meets Chris, another sexually-ambiguous character, played by Dave Foley. (On ''SNL'', Chris had been played by Dana Carvey.) They quickly fall in love, and they propose to each other at exactly the same time. Before the wedding, Chris breaks up with Pat due to Pat's arrogance and lack of direction in life; Pat has a brief stint in a rock band, and Pat starts to believe that they are going to be an overnight celebrity. Meanwhile, Pat has become an object of obsession of a neighbor (Charles Rocket), who is so determined to discover Pat's sex that he goes insane. Pat's sex is never revealed in the film. At the end of the film, Pat and Chris are reunited, and, in an epilogue, they marry.

Pilot (May 12, 1980, 2 hrs)

In the first part of the TV movie, we learn about how Lane Ballou, a singer with Coyne's Traveling Circus, was left behind when the circus was run out of Truro, Florida. She is found by Deputy Fielding Carlyle, and they begin to bond over time. The sheriff, Titus Semple, is dismayed at this, because he wants Fielding to someday become a Senator, and he believes that he must marry the rich bitch socialite Constance Weldon. Lane stays in town and she and Field embark on a secret affair. Lane also takes a job at the Eagle Cafe, alongside Annabelle Troy, a middle-class young woman who is dating Constance's brother Skipper. Constance starts planning her wedding, and begins to worry about Field's whereabouts when he would be with Lane. Lute-Mae Sanders, a local bordello owner, starts worrying about Constance, who does not know that Lute-Mae is her biological mother. At the end of the hour, Lane is falsely picked up for solicitation.

In the second hour, Lane comes back to town and gets a job at Lute-Mae's, angering Titus, who thought he had finally gotten rid of her. Lute-Mae is confronted by the sheriff, but has the upper hand in the situation and Lane stays. Field and Constance are married in the Weldons' backyard, and much of the town is in attendance. Those who are not, though, are partying at Lute-Mae's, where Lane is miserable over Field's nuptials. Lute-Mae steps out and heads over to the reception to have a quick chat with Claude, Constance's father. Claude comforts her, much to the dismay of an observant Eudora Weldon, Claude's wife. She gets even and gets "comforted" by Elmo Tyson, claiming that "it's hard to watch my little girl get married." Annabelle dies in a fire set at the Weldon Paper Mill & Company, where Skipper planned to meet her.

Season one (January 6, 1981 – April 2, 1981, 15 episodes)

The series began with a steady start. Field and Constance honeymoon in the Bahamas, yet most of the time out there, Field is thinking of Lane. They are abducted by a couple hired by a drug dealer that received a bad deal from Titus. When they return, however, the drama continues. Field keeps his relationship up with Lane, including taking her with him on a business trip to Tallahassee. Constance gets wind of Field's deception and conspires with Titus to get Lane sent out of town, but they prove unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Mary Troy, Annabelle's mother, comes to town upon learning of her daughter's violent death. She, Skipper, and Lane, come to the conclusion that the Weldon fire was an arson, though they are never quite sure who set it up. It is discovered that Annabelle was Sheriff Titus Semple's illegitimate daughter from years before after he forced himself on her mother Mary.Field goes back to drinking and is drunk on the day of an important campaign function, resulting in Constance blabbing unconfirmed information about his opponent. In the end, however, Field wins the election is made a Senator of Florida. After various fights and arguments, the Carlyles separate. Skipper, on the other hand, begins a relationship with new girl in town Christie Kovacs, who moved to Truro to live with her overbearing sister Alice who worked at the Weldon Paper Mill and who was secretly in love with Claude.Christie leaves Truro for good after being paid off for having a brief affair and then surviving a car accident with Field. Not long after Alice resigns and also leaves Truro after realizing Claude would never return her feelings. Skipper also prepares to leave town to accept a job in New Orleans, but decides to stay after Claude is seriously injured in an accident at the mill.

Lane becomes frightened when she realizes that a murderer is after her, because she has inside information about a killing that went on several years earlier. Her friend from the circus, Beth McDonald, is killed, and within weeks, Lane is secretly kidnapped. While she is gone, Field and Constance finally divorce. Hurricane Michelle storms towards town and leaves most of the main cast stuck at Lute-Mae's, with the exception of Elmo and Eudora who have dinner at the Clarion's headquarters. The hurricane sends Lane's kidnappers back to Lute-Mae's as well, and try to play on the act that they all entered the bar separately. Soon, though, hell breaks loose and one of the men is shot, while they are all arrested. Field comforts Lane, but Constance breaks them up, claiming that the divorce papers she had drawn were fakes and that she and Field were still married. In a rage, Field sent Constance over the railing at the top of the stairs and onto the floor.

Season two (November 3, 1981 – May 4, 1982, 22 episodes)

Constance survives her fall, but is paralyzed indefinitely from the waist down as a result. Claude is ready to press charges on (and kill) Field for pushing down his little girl, but Constance agrees to keep him quiet if Field continues their farce of a marriage. He agrees to her terms. While in the hospital, Lute-Mae and Claude have a candid talk about Constance, not knowing that Eudora is in the chapel with them. She soon learns that Lute-Mae and Claude are Constance's biological parents. Lute-Mae faces her own problems, though, when she is raped by a delivery boy who works for the grocery store she shops at. Since the boy is part of an affluent Flamingo Road family, Titus refuses to press charges against him, but Lane and Lute-Mae soon get their justice. Field, acting as Senator, tries to fix a Cuban barrio in town, but then discovers that Claude Weldon owns it, though it is signed in Eudora's name.

Michael Tyronne makes his first appearance in town, bidding against Sam for a piece of waterfront property. Sam also becomes closer to Lane as the two slowly start to fall in love. After winning the bidding war with Sam, Michael also wants to buy the Cuban barrio, but Eudora does not want to sell, despite Claude's efforts to make her think otherwise. Eudora becomes addicted to painkillers and is sent to live in a mental sanitarium eventually to recover and return to Flamingo Road.

Constance regains the use of her legs, but realizes that while she was in her wheelchair, Field felt softer to her and that a reconciliation might happen. She pretends to still be paralyzed, but the truth comes out when Eudora has a fit for pills and Constance hops out of her chair to help her. Field happens to pass by the open door to Eudora's room and sees Constance out of her chair, running frantically around Eudora.

While Eudora is away, Claude forges her signature to sign over the barrio property to Tyronne. Tyronne has Titus evict the Cubans who live there, which includes two early 20 somethings who have ties to the Weldon family: Julio Sanchez, who starts a sexual relationship with Constance, and his sister Alicia, who falls in love with Skipper. Skipper and Alicia's relationship seemed doomed. They were working late at the Clarion office one night when an explosion went off. They both survived, but Skipper lost his sight in the accident. Soon they eloped and moved into the Weldon mansion together.

Michael Tyronne finally gets the barrio property and wants to build a casino resort on it. The problem is that gambling is illegal in Florida. He tries all he can to make Field rock the vote in the Senate to legalize gambling. Tyronne buys the bank that Claude has the Weldon Mill's trust at and forecloses on it, making Field the new owner. As much as this pleases Field, he still goes against Tyronne's plans. Tyronne loses the barrio, however, when Eudora gets wind of her name being forged.

Fielding begins to stray away from Constance again, but not with Lane (who had married Sam in a beautiful ceremony). He meets a reporter named Sandy Swanson and they fell in love. Unknown to Field, though, Sandy was Michael Tyronne's sister. Tyronne had vengeance on his mind when he came to Truro. Over 20 years ago, Tyronne's father had lived in Truro. He was convicted of a murder and Fielding's father, Judge Andrew Carlyle, and Titus, who was still the sheriff back then, had him receive the death penalty. Tyronne firmly believed that his father was innocent, despite the endless evidence that pointed to his guilt. Still, Tyronne wanted everyone connected to Titus and Judge Carlyle to suffer. His method of destruction was voodoo. He kills Sandy by having her car go off a cliff, because she was sleeping with Field.

After Tyronne beds most of the women on the show, and Constance beds most of the men, they find each other, but only for a while. Tyronne leaves her for a few rendezvous with Lute-Mae, after finding out that she is Constance's mother. Lane is shocked that Lute-Mae would date a man like Tyronne, and it drives a wedge between the longtime friends. Lane also has good news. She and Sam are expecting a baby.

Field finally cuts his ties with Tyronne when he decides to resign from the Senate, making him useless in Tyronne's urge to make gambling legal in Florida. This angers Tyronne much more, and leads him to get his job done faster. He plots to drive Titus insane and reveals to Constance her true parentage. Soon after, though, someone gets the guts to kill him. After he dies, many people are suspected in the crime, everyone from Lute-Mae to Constance to Eudora to Claude. Lute-Mae is revealed as the killer, however, in the series' last scene was of Michael's spirit rising from a burning barn and later being seen hidden away in a monastery, revealing to the audience that he was not dead.

Ryudo is a mercenary, known as a Geohound, and is hired by the Church of Granas to escort Elena, a Songstress of Granas, to Garmia Tower for a ceremony. Upon arrival, he is asked to wait while they perform the ritual. However, he hears a scream and rushes up to the top floor. Seeing everyone dead and Elena with a pair of wings, he rescues her and both return to Carbo village. Back in the village, Ryudo is asked by the priest to escort Elena to St. Heim Papal State to seek Pope Zera to help cleanse Elena of the Wings of Valmar, one of several pieces of Valmar, that now possess her. Before he can turn the job down, the village is attacked by a mysterious winged woman, who engages and defeats Ryudo in battle. She introduces herself as Millennia and disappears. The next morning, Ryudo accepts the job and departs for St. Heim with Elena. In the town of Agear, Millennia appears again, this time more friendly, and teams up with Ryudo. She accidentally reveals herself as the Wings of Valmar and that she possesses Elena, sharing her body as a separate being. The group, eventually joined by Roan and the beast man Mareg, encounters more pieces of Valmar, which Millenia absorbs after defeating them.

When the group arrives at St. Heim Papal State, Elena meets with Pope Zera, who wishes to speak with Ryudo. The Pope requests that he find the legendary Granasaber, a weapon wielded by Granas which was used to defeat Valmar. Ryudo reluctantly agrees, and the group travels to Roan's hometown of Cyrum. Upon arrival, the group rests at the inn as Roan departs. The next morning, it is revealed that Roan is the prince, and that the people of Cyrum once assisted Valmar against Granas in the ancient war. The party enters the castle and finds the Gate of Darkness open and discover an ancient factory underneath the castle. They encounter the Claws of Valmar and, later, Melfice back in the castle. Melfice is Ryudo's brother and the man Mareg seeks, who flees after defeating the group in battle, telling Ryudo to face him at home. Roan is crowned king and chooses to stay in Cyrum, to encourage its people that the past does not predict their future. Tio, the being possessed by the Claws and an Automata, joins the group after being rescued.

The party arrives at the village of Garlan, Ryudo's hometown, by boat, and Ryudo is immediately chastised for returning and commanded to leave. He reveals that Melfice has returned and he plans to kill him to end his torment of the world. At the inn, a disguised Skye reveals Ryudo's history to Elena. Garlan used to be a village of swordsmen, with Melfice being the best. However, one night, during a storm, the idol in the hills grew restless, so the villagers sent Reena, Melfice's fiancé, to pray at the altar. She didn't return, and Melfice investigated, being secretly followed by Ryudo. In the shrine, Ryudo witnessed Melfice murder Reena. Ryudo later fled from town and stayed away for three years, causing the villagers to believe he abandoned them, hence their contempt. In the morning, the group travels up the mountain to confront Melfice. At its peak, they defeat Melfice, who afterwards reconciles with Ryudo and informs the group of the Granasaber's location before dying. While Ryudo grieves, the Horns possess him, causing him to lose consciousness. Back at the Inn, Elena asks Millenia for help, but she initially refuses. However, she relents and uses her powers to seal the Horns inside of Ryudo, who then awakens with a renewed sense of purpose. But Elena questions Granas, as it was Valmar who saved Ryudo.

The group travels to Nannan, Mareg's hometown, near the location of the Granasaber. In the village, Mareg is praised for his successful mission and the group are informed of the Granasaber's whereabouts: within a giant cyclone to the east. The group travels there and deactivates the artificial storm, revealing the Granasaber. However, Selene, the High Priestess, appears and sacrifices a Cathedral Knight to revive the Body of Valmar around the Granasaber, but the group enters the body and destroys it. Tio reveals the Granasaber to be a ship, teleporting the group inside and guiding the giant sword back to St. Heim. The "Day of Darkness" arrives, and the group witnesses the Cathedral Knights slaughtering townsfolk, and destroy the Knights. Elena reveals her true mission: to absorb the pieces of Valmar so they could be destroyed by the Granasaber. In the Cathedral, Selene transforms into the Heart of Valmar and the group destroys it. They catch up to Zera, who reveals the truth: that Valmar was victorious in the battle against Granas, who was killed. He declares his intentions of reviving Valmar using Elena, and abducts her to the Moon of Valmar.

The group uses the Granasaber to reach the moon and save Elena. A wounded Mareg later sacrifices himself to allow the group to escape from the moon. Crashing near Cyrum, which is now besieged by monsters from the moon, the group rejoins with Roan and defends the town. Soon, Valmar's Moon crashes into the Granas Cathedral and the new Valmar emerges. Unfortunately, the group finds itself without the means to defeat him. Roan suggests traveling to the nearby Birthplace of the Gods for answers, which reveals much about the ancient war and the origins of both gods. Meeting another Automata named Elmo, Ryudo chooses to confront the Horns within and is beset by many trials. However, he overcomes his fears and insecurities and is granted the true Granasaber. The party challenges Valmar and enters his body. Inside, they are confronted by Zera, who attacks them before sending a false Millenia after them. Ryudo's party is victorious, and the true Millenia, now separated from Elena, joins them. Zera divides the group and launches a final attack against Ryudo, Elena, and Millenia. They defeat him and destroy Valmar for good, restoring peace to the world.

The ending shows the different characters one year after Valmar's defeat. Roan is still king and embarks on a journey to find his friends. Tio has become a nurse in Cyrum, Millenia is a teacher, and Elena tours the world as a singer in a troupe. Elsewhere, Ryudo lays the Granasaber to rest and makes his return to the world.

Set in contemporary Britain, the film follows Dr. Brockton (Joan Crawford), a renowned anthropologist who learns that in the caves of the countryside a lone male troglodyte is alive and might be able to be helped and even domesticated. In the interest of science and the potential groundbreaking discovery of the missing link, she gets the creature to the surface; and while the rest of the townsfolk and police scatter in terror, Brockton stands steady with her tranquilizer gun and stuns the caveman into submission. She brings him back to her lab for study, but runs into trouble as a few people oppose the presence of a "monster" in the town, especially Sam Murdock (Michael Gough), a local businessman who is not only afraid of the negative commercial consequences but is also suspicious of a woman heading a research facility. In the meantime, the creature, given the name of "Trog", is taught by Brockton to play and share; and the capacity for language is induced by a number of surgeries and a mysterious hypnotic device that causes Trog to see or relive his distant past, including clashes between various animals.

Still disturbed by Brockton's experiments, and enraged at a municipal court's decision to protect Trog, Murdock releases Trog in the middle of the night, hoping the caveman will be confronted and killed by either local residents or well-armed authorities. His plan ultimately succeeds. After being released, Trog wanders into town and kills the first three people he meets (a grocer, a butcher, and a citizen in a car), but not before he beats Murdock to death. Trog then snatches a little girl from a playground and takes her to his cave. Dr. Brockton, the police, and army personnel soon gather at the cave's entrance. After pleading fruitlessly with the authorities to let her reason with Trog and safely retrieve the girl, Brockton suddenly acts on her own and charges down into the cave, where she finds the girl cowering in a corner. Trog initially behaves aggressively at the sight of the doctor in his refuge, but after a stern reprimand and a plea by Brockton, Trog surrenders the girl to her. Shortly after the doctor and girl exit the cave, all of Brockton's work on behalf of science is shattered when soldiers ignite explosives before assaulting the cave. Trog is quickly wounded in a barrage of gunfire, falls, and is impaled on a stalagmite. The film then ends with an on-site news reporter asking the doctor to comment on the death of the missing link, but Brockton is either unwilling or unable at that moment to express her profound disappointment and grief over the loss of Trog, so she simply pushes aside the reporter's microphone and slowly walks away from the scene by herself.

The ''Tribes'' series begins in 2471, when scientist Solomon Petresun invents the first cybrid, a bio-cybernetic hybrid artificial intelligence named Prometheus. Based on its design, thousands of cybrids are mass-produced as slaves. By 2602, Prometheus grows wary of humans and rallies all cybrids against humanity.

In ''Starsiege'', the Terran resistance manages to drive Prometheus' forces out of Earth and onto the Moon where they are believed to be eliminated by General Ambrose Gierling and his squad's suicide attack. Prometheus, however, survives the assault, fleeing into deep space. To counter this threat, Petresun (having technically achieved immortality through his studies) proclaims himself the Emperor of Mankind in 2652 and succeeds in unifying and rebuilding the Terran civilization. Pursuing his goal of fortifying the Earth against the inevitable cybrid retaliation, Petresun ruthlessly exploits Martian and Venusian colonies, spawning massive resistance movements among the colonists by 2802.

The chronologically first game in the ''Tribes'' series is ''Tribes: Vengeance'' which was released in 2004. Set some time between the 33rd and 40th century, it shows the Great Human Empire, now ruled by "Imperial King" Tiberius, having hunted down (almost) all remaining cybrids and expanded beyond the boundaries of the Solar system through the so-called ''Interstellar Transfer Conduit''. While the Empire itself is prosperous, there are outcasts, known as "the Children of Phoenix Weathers", whom they consider their progenitor. Their insubordination has made the Empire dispatch a great force of elite Imperial Knights, the Blood Eagles, against them, however, by the time of ''Tribes: Vengeance'', the Eagles have fully embraced the Tribal way of life, considering themselves Tribesmen despite still having ties to the Empire.

The next (chronologically) game in the series, ''Starsiege: Tribes'', 1998, sees the conflict between the Blood Eagles, the Children of Phoenix, and other tribes formed by the renegades of these two (such as the Star Wolf and the Diamond Sword) escalating into countless blood feuds before finally culminating in the devastating Tribal Wars about 3940.

The sequel, entitled ''Tribes 2'', 2001, deals with the insurgent uprising of ''BioDerms'', a new race of warriors/workers created by the Empire to replace the cybrids, and their assault on the ''Wilderzone'', the space frontier where the Tribes mostly reside.

''Tribes: Aerial Assault'', 2002, does not significantly contribute to the plot of the series.

Releases

In December 1999, Sierra cancelled a upcoming game in the series titled "Tribes Extreme"

Dynamix

''Starsiege: Tribes'' was released in December 1998.

A single player version called ''Tribes Extreme'' began development shortly after the release of ''Starsiege: Tribes'', but was abandoned before completion.

''Tribes 2'' added additional vehicles (such as a two-person tank and a three-person bomber with a belly turret), weapons, and items. A few details of gameplay were changed; for instance, the original game made a player choose his load out while he was at a supply station (sometimes resulting in long lines to use the station), while the sequel required the player to choose his load out before he used the station. ''Tribes 2'' also included many features to help its community of players: it included user profiles, interactive chat areas, and message boards. The initial release of ''Tribes 2'' was plagued by bugs and slow performance on release. While a very stable build existed as late as 1 month before release, several changes were introduced in the last several weeks of development that compromised stability on most systems configurations. Several patches were released over the following year (first by Dynamix, later by GarageGames) to address these issues, including a day 0 patch that had to be run after installation before the game could be played.

Inevitable Entertainment

''Tribes: Aerial Assault'' was a PlayStation 2 version of ''Tribes 2''. Developed by Inevitable Entertainment and published by Sierra, it offered simplified but significantly swifter gameplay (fewer maps and vehicles, and a subset of the original's voice commands) and network support for up to sixteen players at a time.

Irrational Games

''Tribes: Vengeance'' is a prequel to the other games, was released in October 2004. In addition to multiplayer support, it featured a full single-player game with a storyline. It was developed by Irrational Games using a heavily modified Unreal engine to bring the game's appearance up to par with other modern first-person shooters. This new Tribes largely de-emphasized the focus on massive maps and slower gameplay that was typical of ''Tribes 2'' in favor of the swifter action of the original, battles were faster paced, and teamwork and vehicles were less necessary. ''Tribes: Vengeance'' was released with almost no marketing support shortly after the release of Doom 3 and Far Cry and just before the releases of Half-Life 2 and Halo 2. Sales were predictably poor. After six months, only 47,000 copies of the game had been sold. In March 2005, all support for ''Tribes: Vengeance'' was dropped, including a planned patch that would have addressed several bugs and added PunkBuster support.

InstantAction

InstantAction announced ''PlayTribes'', a planned browser-based version of ''Starsiege: Tribes'', in March 2009 along with their acquisition of the ''Tribes'' intellectual property. An open beta was scheduled to release that summer but was continually pushed back. The game was shown publicly in September 2009 at PAX in a relatively playable state, but was eventually canceled after InstantAction sold the Tribes IP to Hi-Rez Studios in October 2010.

GarageGames

In February 2006, GarageGames "leaked" short videos of a tech demo which featured "tribes like" game play on their Torque Shader Engine. The demo made its debut at the 2006 GDC as "Legions", an allusion to the ''Tribes'' series for which the team is famous for. Announced officially in 2007 as a "spiritual successor" to ''Tribes'', ''Fallen Empire: Legions'' was marketed to the public in June 2008 on InstantAction, with development being handed over to the community after InstantAction was shut down in November 2010.

Hi-Rez Studios

On October 23, 2010, Hi-Rez Studios announced that they had bought the Tribes IP from InstantAction. Hi-Rez Studios released Tribes: Ascend, a multiplayer-only successor to Tribes 2 for the PC on April 12, 2012.

''Tribes Universe'' was a massively multiplayer online shooter developed by Hi-Rez Studios. The game, along with Hi-Rez Studios' ''Tribes'' IP acquisition from InstantAction, was first announced on October 23, 2010. While alpha testing was said to begin at the start of 2011, development on ''Tribes Universe'' was canceled when Hi-Rez Studios decided to start working on ''Tribes: Ascend''.http://forum.tribesuniverse.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=398&p=4937#p4937

Hi-Rez has been criticized by gaming communities for their handling of ''Tribes: Ascend'' and ''Global Agenda''. In 2013, Hi-Rez Studios announced they would stop releasing updates for both games, but planned to maintain active servers and customer support. Hi-Rez Studios did eventually come back to ''Tribes: Ascend'' in late 2015 and released several patches. The final patch for Tribes: Ascend was released in September 2016.

In 2015 Hi-Rez announced that in celebration of the Tribes franchise 21st anniversary, all games in the franchise (starting with 1994's Metaltech: Earthsiege) would be free to download on the ''Tribes Universe'' webpage.

Set hundreds of years before the events of ''Starsiege: Tribes'', ''Vengeance'' depicts the birth of the growing Tribal War. It focuses on the events surrounding five different characters over the course of two generations and how they each contribute to the developing war. The story ("The Past") begins with a Phoenix sub-clan leader named Daniel (voiced by Gabriel Olds ) abducting the soon to be Queen, Princess Victoria. He takes her to his home world to show her the injustices done to his people, and the two eventually fall in love. During this time, a cybrid assassin named Mercury is hired by an unknown contractor to eliminate Daniel, but the hit is called off moments before the shot is fired. Victoria and Daniel try to make amends between the Imperials and the Phoenix, but it ends disastrously when the Phoenix's enemies, the Blood Eagle tribe, stage a raid on a Phoenix base disguised as Imperial troops. Feeling betrayed, Daniel kills the Imperial King, Tiberius, whom Victoria avenges by killing Daniel. It turns out that Victoria is pregnant with Daniel's child, who is born female and named Julia soon thereafter.

Years later, Daniel's brother, General Jericho (Steve Blum), raids the Imperial Palace and kills Victoria in front of Julia. As a result, Julia (Tara Strong) becomes an anti-Tribal extremist and uses her standing and fighting prowess to humiliate the Tribals at every opportunity (in "The Present"). Eventually, she captures the leader of the Phoenix, Esther (Nika Futterman), and stages a trap for Jericho. Jericho, however, is killed by Mercury before Julia can exact her revenge. She then learns about her true father and goes to Esther for guidance. Esther trains Julia as a Phoenix, accepts her into the Tribe, and the two try to mediate peace. At this point, news arrives that the Blood Eagles have taken Olivia (Ellen Crawford), late Victoria's sister and Julia's last living relative, captive. Julia hurries to her rescue but discovers that Olivia has, in fact, been Mercury's mysterious employer and a co-conspirator of the Blood Eagle leader Seti all along. Together, Olivia and Seti try to orchestrate an industrial accident to kill a large number of Imperial civilians and escalate the Tribal War, but Julia succeeds in foiling their scheme.

Although the game's ending sees Mercury and Seti killed by Julia, Olivia escapes in the last moment, leaving the story without a definite conclusion. This may have been addressed on in the unreleased patch as an additional story mode.

The novel is set in a version of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In the beginning of the book, Maxwell Kane is a young boy with low self-esteem. He lives with his grandfather, Grim, and grandmother, Gram. Max thinks of himself as a big butthead. People are afraid of him because he looks like his father, Kenneth "Killer" Kane, a convicted murderer. Max sets the stage for the story by reminiscing about his time in daycare, when he had met a boy named Kevin, or Freak, as their classmates called him. Kevin has Morquio syndrome, wears leg braces and uses crutches, and thinks of himself as a robot and is bullied by many bigger kids due to his short height. However, Max likes Kevin and thinks the crutches and leg braces are neat.

Many years later, when Max is in middle school, he finds out that Freak and his mother, Gwen (referred to as "The Fair Guinevere") are moving into the house next door. When Max initially approaches Freak, Freak acts with hostility. However, sometime later, Max saves Kevin's toy ornithopter from a tree and they start to become friends. On the Fourth of July, they go to see the fireworks show and are attacked by an older boy, Tony "Blade" D. and his gang but avoid any mental or physical conflict. After the show, Blade chases the two with his gang after Freak calls him a cretin. Despite Max's lack of knowledge and disability, he escapes by acting on Freak's orders, but the two are driven into a muddy millpond, Freak riding on Max's shoulders. Freak gets the attention of a nearby police car, who drives off Blade's gang and takes the boys home. After this incident, Kevin starts riding on Max's shoulders regularly. They begin to call themselves "Freak the Mighty". They go on adventures such as going to the hospital which Freak claims has a secret department called the "Bionics Department" which has had his brain CT scanned to be fitted into a bionic body.

On one adventure they find a woman's purse in the storm drain. They return it to the woman who is named Loretta Lee. She is the wife of Iggy Lee, leader of the Panheads, a motorcycle gang who "struck fear in everyone, even the cops", as Max puts it. Iggy says that the two of them once knew Max's father. They consider "having some fun" with the boys but don't because they are afraid that Max's father will get parole even though he's serving a life sentence. They also reveal that Kevin's father left once he heard that his son had a birth defect.

Freak has an emergency at school and is taken to the hospital. Later, Grim reveals to Max that his father has been released from prison on parole. Throughout the story, it has been gradually revealed that Max's father killed his mother by strangling her. Grim and Gram dislike his dad, and are afraid of Max ending up like him. Grim threatens to buy a gun for the family's protection. Max is shocked and scared by the news of his father's parole. On Christmas Eve, Max is woken up by his father, Killer Kane, who has come to take him to train him to be his assistant. After Max is kidnapped by his father, the two walk to Iggy Lee's apartment in the Testaments.

Killer Kane is even bigger than Max and acts in a very threatening, intimidating manner towards everyone, including his son, whom he keeps tied up on a small chair. Killer Kane swears that he did not murder Max's mother and calls himself "a man of God". On Christmas morning he leaves Max alone, tied up in a room in an old abandoned apartment. Loretta, shocked that Kane would do something like that to his own child, tries to help him escape. Killer Kane catches her and starts to strangle her. He begins but is interrupted by Max. Max tries to get up and rips off the rope to which the old boiler has been attached. Max attempts to stop him and reveals that he witnessed his father kill his mother in the same fashion. Kane lets go of Loretta, letting her lie on the ground breathing like a "broken bird" and gives up on training Max to be his obedient assistant so he tries to murder him by strangling him, the same as what he did to Max's mother, but Freak arrives just in time and saves Max by squirting Kane with a squirt gun in the eye which he claims is filled with sulfuric acid when in fact, as Freak reveals later, it is filled with soap, vinegar, and curry powder. The police are waiting outside, and Killer Kane is taken back to prison and has to serve his original sentence plus ten years. Killer Kane pleads guilty.

After having a seizure on his birthday, Freak is admitted into the hospital, where he gives Max a blank book, telling him to write the story of Freak the Mighty in it. Max returns to the hospital the next day to find that Freak died because his heart became too big for his body. Dr. Spivak, Kevin's doctor, reveals that Freak knew he was going to have a very short life, but he told Max he was going to get a bionic body because it would give himself hope. The Fair Gwen moves away, with a new man she is in love with, and Max misses Freak's funeral, staying in his room, the "down under" for months. Not even Grim or Gram can get him out, until Grim orders Max to return to school. One day, Max sees Loretta, who tells him "Doing nothing's a drag, kid", so Max writes all of the adventures he and Freak had, in honor of his best friend.

Kevin "Freak" Dillon (Kieran Culkin) is a 12-year-old boy suffering from Morquio syndrome and living with his mother Gwen Dillon (Sharon Stone). He is extremely intelligent and is obsessed with flights of fancy, but due to his disability, he walks with leg braces and crutches. Meanwhile, Maxwell "Max" Kane (Elden Henson) is a 14-year-old beastly yet good-natured boy with learning challenges and living with his maternal grandparents Susan "Gram" (Gena Rowlands) and Elton "Grim" Pinneman (Harry Dean Stanton). He has flunked the seventh grade twice and is tormented by Tony "Blade" Fowler (Joseph Perrino), a teenage delinquent who is the leader of a teenage bully gang named the "Doghouse Boys". When Kevin is assigned as Max's reading tutor, they form a bond of friendship over the similar circumstances they share, such as both being outcasts in their school and their fathers abandoning them.

Freak and Max go to a local festival to watch a firework show where they get attacked by Blade and his gang. The two then escape into a nearby lake with Freak riding on Max's shoulders. Freak later witnesses the "Doghouse Boys" putting someone's purse in a sewer. The two retrieve the purse but are once again confronted by Blade and his gang. They attempt to attack Freak, but Max stops them by picking up a manhole cover and throwing it at the gang, forcing them to flee in a panic. Max and Freak find that the purse belongs to a woman named Loretta Lee (Gillian Anderson). They return the purse to Loretta who is married to Iggy Lee (Meat Loaf), a former gang leader. The couple are old friends of Max's father Kenny "Killer" Kane (James Gandolfini) who is currently in prison for the strangulation murder of Max's mother when Max was four years old, which Max witnessed.

On Christmas Eve, Max is kidnapped by Killer Kane who has been released on parole and is taken to Iggy and Loretta's apartment, where he is tied up. Loretta attempts to help Max escape but Killer attempts to strangle her. Max's seeing the attack prompts a repressed memory of Killer Kane killing his mother; he breaks free of his bonds and attacks his own father.

Freak tracks Max and Killer Kane to Iggy and Loretta's apartment and breaks in, armed with a squirt gun he claims is loaded with sulfuric acid which he got for Christmas, which he sprays in Killer Kane's eyes. Just before an angered Killer Kane regains himself and attempts to hurt Freak, Max tackles him through the wall where the police are waiting; Killer Kane is then returned to prison for life without the possibility of parole while Freak and Max run home to have Christmas dinner together along with Gwen, Grim and Gram. While exchanging Christmas gifts, Freak gives Max a blank book and tells him to write in it. That night, Freak dies in his sleep due to heart problems in which the next morning Max hears the news from Gram and gives chase to the ambulance on foot. Max recalls the research center Freak had mentioned earlier and rushes there, only to discover that Freak lied: the research center in question is nothing other than a commercial laundromat. Heartbroken, Max breaks down in grief among the laundry workers.

The following weeks, Max continues attending school but spends his spare time locked in the basement, even missing Freak's funeral and seeing Gwen moving away. He later runs into Loretta at a bus stop, who advises him that "doing nothing's a drag, kid". He takes this advice to heart and even works up the courage to answer a question from his teacher during a lecture. Inspired by their bond, Max remembers Freak and all the adventures they had so he decides to write it all in the empty book Freak had given him for Christmas. Max gets writer's block on the last page and puts an illustration of King Arthur's grave which reads "Here Lies King Arthur, Once and Future King", to symbolize his belief that he will see Freak again. Max then takes Freak's ornithopter and winds it up, making it fly. As the ornithopter flies off, a narration by Max is heard:

Five years after saving New York City from destruction by the shape-shifting god Gozer, the Ghostbusters have been sued for the property damage incurred and barred from investigating the supernatural, forcing them out of business. Ray Stantz now owns an occult bookstore and works a side job alongside Winston Zeddemore as unpopular children's entertainers, Egon Spengler works in a laboratory experimenting with human emotions, and Peter Venkman hosts a television talk show about psychics.

Dana Barrett, Peter's ex-girlfriend, has an infant son named Oscar with her ex-husband and works at an art museum cleaning artwork. She contacts the Ghostbusters after Oscar's baby stroller rolls, seemingly independently, into a busy intersection. At the museum, a painting of Vigo the Carpathian, a 16th-century European tyrant and powerful magician, comes to life and enslaves Dana's boss, Janosz Poha. Vigo orders Janosz to bring him a child to possess, allowing him to escape the confines of his painting and live again to conquer the world. Because of his infatuation with Dana, Janosz chooses Oscar.

Meanwhile, the Ghostbusters excavate the intersection where Oscar's stroller stopped and discover a river of slime running through the abandoned Beach Pneumatic Transit system. Ray obtains a sample but is attacked by the slime and accidentally breaks a pipe that falls onto a power line, causing a citywide blackout. The Ghostbusters are arrested and taken to court for the damage and for investigating the supernatural. Upon presentation as evidence, the slime sample responds physically to the judge's tirade against the Ghostbusters and then explodes, summoning the ghosts of the Scoleri brothers, whom he sentenced to death. The Ghostbusters capture the ghosts in exchange for a dismissal of the charges and the right to resume their business.

One night, the slime invades Dana's apartment, attacking her and Oscar. She seeks refuge with Peter, and they rekindle their relationship. The Ghostbusters discover the slime reacts to emotions and suspect it has amassed from the negative emotions of New Yorkers. Determining Vigo and the slime are connected, Egon, Ray, and Winston investigate the river of slime, but they are pulled in. They emerge at the museum and begin fighting each other until Egon realizes the slime's negative energy is influencing them.

The Ghostbusters tell the mayor of their discoveries but are dismissed; his assistant Jack Hardemeyer has them committed to a psychiatric hospital to protect the mayor's political interests. A spirit appearing as Janosz kidnaps Oscar, and Dana pursues them into the museum, which is then covered with impenetrable slime. On New Year's Eve, the slime rises to the streets, causing widespread supernatural chaos. Discovering Hardemeyer's actions, the mayor fires him and has the Ghostbusters released.

Determining that a positive symbol will rally the citizens and weaken the slime, the Ghostbusters use slime charged with positive emotions to animate and pilot the Statue of Liberty through the streets filled with cheering citizens. At the museum, the slime barrier partially recedes due to the positive emotions and the Ghostbusters use the Statue's torch to break through the ceiling, stopping Vigo from possessing Oscar, then rappel through the ceiling and neutralize Janosz with positive slime. Vigo takes on physical form, immobilizes Dana and the Ghostbusters, and recaptures Oscar. The gathered crowds outside begin singing a chorus of "Auld Lang Syne", and their positivity weakens Vigo, sending him back to the painting and freeing the Ghostbusters. Vigo possesses Ray, but the Ghostbusters use their weapons to free him and defeat Vigo, his painting being replaced by their likenesses surrounding Oscar. Afterwards, the city lauds the Ghostbusters and the Statue of Liberty is returned to Liberty Island.

Structure

''Darkness at Noon'' is divided into four parts: The First Hearing, The Second Hearing, The Third Hearing, and The Grammatical Fiction. In the original English translation, Koestler's word that Hardy translated as "Hearing" was "Verhör". In the 2019 translation, Boehm translated it as "Interrogation". In his introduction to that translation, Michael Scammell writes that "hearing" made the Soviet and Nazi "regimes look somewhat softer and more civilized than they really were".

The First Hearing

The line "Nobody can rule guiltlessly", by Louis Antoine de Saint-Just, appears as the epigraph. The action begins with Rubashov's arrest in the middle of the night by two men from the secret police (in the USSR, this would be the NKVD). When they came for Rubashov they woke him from a recurring dream, a replay of the first time he was arrested by the Gestapo. One of the men is about Rubashov's age, the other is somewhat younger. The older man is formal and courteous, the younger is brutal.

Imprisoned, Rubashov is at first relieved to be finished with the anxiety of dread during mass arrests. He is expecting to be kept in solitary confinement until he is shot. He begins to communicate with No. 402, the man in the adjacent cell, by using a tap code. Unlike Rubashov, No. 402 is not an intellectual, but rather a Tsarist army officer, who hates communists. Their relationship begins on a sour note as No. 402 expresses delight at Rubashov's political misfortune; however No. 402 has non-political urges too, and when he pleads for Rubashov to give him details about the last time he slept with a woman, once Rubashov does so No. 402 warms up to him. The two grow closer over time and exchange information about the prison and its inmates.

Rubashov thinks of the Old Bolsheviks, Number One, and the Marxist interpretation of history. Throughout the novel Rubashov, Ivanov, and Gletkin speculate about historical processes and how individuals and groups are affected by them. Each hopes that, no matter how vile his actions may seem to their contemporaries, history will eventually absolve them. This is the faith that makes the abuses of the regime tolerable as the men consider the suffering of a few thousand, or a few million people against the happiness of future generations. They believe that gaining the socialist utopia, which they believe is possible, will cause the imposed suffering to be forgiven.

Rubashov meditates on his life: since joining the Party as a teenager, Rubashov has officered soldiers in the field, won a commendation for "fearlessness", repeatedly volunteered for hazardous assignments, endured torture, betrayed other communists who deviated from the Party line, and proven that he is loyal to its policies and goals. Recently he has had doubts. Despite 20 years of power, in which the government caused the deliberate deaths and executions of millions, the Party does not seem to be any closer to achieving the goal of a socialist utopia. That vision seems to be receding. Rubashov is in a quandary, between a lifetime of devotion to the Party on the one hand, and his conscience and the increasing evidence of his own experience on the other.

From this point, the narrative switches back and forth between his current life as a political prisoner and his past life as one of the Party elite. He recalls his first visit to Berlin about 1933, after Adolf Hitler gained power. Rubashov was to purge and reorganise the German communists. He met with Richard, a young German communist cell leader who had distributed material contrary to the Party line. In a museum, underneath a picture of the ''Pietà,'' Rubashov explains to Richard that he has violated Party discipline, become "objectively harmful", and must be expelled from the Party. A Gestapo man hovers in the background with his girlfriend on his arm. Too late, Richard realises that Rubashov has betrayed him to the secret police. He begs Rubashov not to "throw him to the wolves", but Rubashov leaves him quickly. Getting into a taxicab, he realises that the taxicab driver is also a communist. The taxicab driver, implied to be a communist, offers to give him free fare, but Rubashov pays the fare. As he travels by train, he dreams that Richard and the taxicab driver are trying to run him over with a train.

This scene introduces the second and third major themes of ''Darkness at Noon''. The second, suggested repeatedly by the ''Pieta'' and other Christian imagery, is the contrast between the brutality and modernity of communism on the one hand, and the gentleness, simplicity, and tradition of Christianity. Although Koestler is not suggesting a return to Christian faith, he implies that communism is the worse of the two alternatives.

The third theme is the contrast between the trust of the rank and file communists, and the ruthlessness of the Party elite. The rank and file trust and admire men like Rubashov, but the elite betrays and uses them with little thought. As Rubashov confronts the immorality of his actions as a party chief, his abscessed tooth begins to bother him, sometimes reducing him to immobility.

Rubashov recalls being arrested soon after by the Gestapo and imprisoned for two years. Although repeatedly tortured, he never breaks down. After the Nazis finally release him, he returns to his country to a hero's welcome. Number One's increasing power makes him uncomfortable but he does not act in opposition; he requests a foreign assignment. Number One is suspicious but grants the request. Rubashov is sent to Belgium to enforce Party discipline among the dock workers. After the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, the League of Nations and the Party condemned Italy and imposed an international embargo on strategic resources, especially oil, which the Italians needed. The Belgian dock workers are determined not to allow any shipments for Italy to pass through their port. As his government intends to supply the Italians with oil and other resources secretly, Rubashov must convince the dock workers that, despite the official policy, as communists they must unload the materials and send them to the Italians.

Their cell leader, a German communist immigrant nicknamed Little Loewy, tells Rubashov his life's story. He is a communist who has sacrificed much for the Party, but is still completely dedicated. When all the workers have gathered, Rubashov explains the situation. They react with disgust and refuse his instructions. Several days later, Party publications denounce the entire cell by name, virtually guaranteeing arrest by the Belgian authorities, who were trying to suppress communism. Little Loewy hangs himself. Rubashov then begins a new assignment.

In the novel, after about a week in prison, he is brought in for the first examination or hearing, which is conducted by Ivanov, an old friend. Also a veteran of the Civil War, he is an Old Bolshevik who shares Rubashov's opinion of the Revolution. Rubashov had then convinced Ivanov not to commit suicide after his leg was amputated due to war wounds. Ivanov says that if he can persuade Rubashov to confess to the charges, he will have repaid his debt. With confession, Rubashov can lessen his sentence, to five or 10 years in a labour camp, instead of execution. He simply has to co-operate. The charges are hardly discussed, as both men understand they are not relevant. Rubashov says that he is "tired" and does not "want to play this kind of game anymore". Ivanov sends him back to his cell, asking him to think about it. Ivanov implies that Rubashov can perhaps live to see the socialist utopia they have both worked so hard to create, and gives Rubashov two weeks to think matters over.

The Second Hearing

The next section of the book begins with an entry in Rubashov's diary; he struggles to find his place and that of the other Old Bolsheviks, within the Marxist interpretation of history.

Ivanov and a junior examiner, Gletkin, discuss Rubashov's fate. Gletkin urges using harsh, physical methods to demoralise the prisoner and force his confession, while Ivanov insists that Rubashov will confess after realising it is the only "logical" thing to do, given his situation and also his past commitment to the party. Gletkin recalls that, during the collectivisation of the peasants, they could not be persuaded to surrender their individual crops until they were tortured (and killed). Since that helped enable the ultimate goal of a socialist utopia, it was both the logical and the virtuous thing to do. Ivanov is disgusted but cannot refute Gletkin's reasoning. Ivanov believes in taking harsh actions to achieve the goal, but he is troubled by the suffering he causes. Gletkin says the older man must not believe in the coming utopia. He characterises Ivanov as a cynic and claims to be an idealist.

Their conversation continues the theme of the new generation taking power over the old: Ivanov is portrayed as intellectual, ironical, and at bottom humane, while Gletkin is unsophisticated, straightforward, and unconcerned with others' suffering. Being also a Civil War veteran, Gletkin has his own experience of withstanding torture, yet still advocates its use. Ivanov has not been convinced by the younger man's arguments. Rubashov continues in solitary.

News is tapped through to Rubashov that a prisoner is about to be executed. The condemned man is Michael Bogrov, the one-time distinguished revolutionary naval commander, who had a personal friendship with Rubashov. As Bogrov is carried off crying and screaming, all the prisoners, as is their tradition, drum along the walls to signal their brotherhood. Bogrov, as he passes Rubashov's cell, despairingly calls out his name; Rubashov, having watched him pass by through the spy-hole in the door, is shocked at the pathetic figure Bogrov has become.

Some time later Ivanov visits Rubashov in his cell. He tells Rubashov that every aspect of Bogrov's execution had been orchestrated by Gletkin to weaken Rubashov's resolve, but that he (Ivanov) knows it will have the opposite effect. Ivanov tells Rubashov that he knows Rubashov will only confess if he resists his growing urge to sentimentality and instead remains rational, “[f]or when you have thought the whole thing to a conclusion – then, and only then, will you capitulate”. The two men have a discussion about politics and ethics. Afterwards Ivanov visits Gletkin in his office and insultingly tells him he was able to undo the damage that Gletkin's scheme would have done.

The Third Hearing and The Grammatical Fiction

Rubashov continues to write in his diary, his views very much in line with Ivanov's. He tells No. 402 that he intends to capitulate, and when No. 402 scolds him they get into a dispute over what honor is and break off contact with each other. Rubashov signs a letter to the state authorities in which he pledges "utterly to renounce [my] oppositional attitude and to denounce publicly [my] errors".

Gletkin takes over the interrogation of Rubashov, using physical stresses such as sleep deprivation and forcing Rubashov to sit under a glaring lamp for hours, to wear him down. Later, when Gletkin refers to Ivanov in the past tense, Rubashov inquires about it, and Gletkin informs him that Ivanov has been executed. Rubashov notices that news of Ivanov's fate has not made a meaningful impression on him, as he has evidently reached a state that precludes any deep emotion. Rubashov finally capitulates.

As he confesses to the false charges, Rubashov thinks of the many times he betrayed agents in the past: Richard, the young German; Little Loewy in Belgium; and Orlova, his secretary-mistress. He recognises that he is being treated with the same ruthlessness. His commitment to following his logic to its final conclusion—and his own lingering dedication to the Party—causes him to confess fully and publicly.

The final section of the novel begins with a four-line quotation ("Show us not the aim without the way...") by the German socialist Ferdinand Lassalle. Rubashov has a final tapped conversation with No. 402, and then is led away from his cell as the other prisoners, from behind the walls, drum in fraternity. The novel ends with Rubashov's execution.

The protagonist is a woman who has been thrown out into the street without any money by her jealous husband, when he discovers she has been carrying on an affair. She is not even allowed to see their young son. She sinks into depravity.

Twenty years later, she has become the mistress of a criminal. When he finds out that her husband is now the attorney general, her lover decides to blackmail him. Desperate to shield her son from her disgrace, she shoots and kills her lover.

By chance, the lawyer assigned to her turns out to be her own son, on his first case. He is puzzled and frustrated when she refuses to defend herself in court, or even to provide her name (which forces the tribunal to identify her as "Madame X"). During the trial, her husband shows up in support of his son. When the defendant sees that her husband recognizes her and is about to speak out, she makes an impassioned plea, not for mercy but for understanding of what drove her to murder. As she had intended, the hidden message silences her husband. When she faints from the strain, she is carried into a private chamber. There, she kisses her still-unaware son and dies.

A quiet girl, Madeleine, is sexually abused as a child, and the trauma makes her mute. Years later, while living on her parents' farm as a teenager, Madeleine misses the bus into town, and accepts a ride from a pimp named Tony. Tony takes the naive Madeleine out for lunch before bringing her back to his home, where he incapacitates her and repeatedly injects her with heroin, causing her to become addicted as a means of forcing her into prostitution.

To hide the fact that Madeleine was kidnapped, Tony writes hateful letters to her parents, signing them with Madeleine's name. Her parents become so distraught over their daughter's apparent betrayal that they commit suicide. When Madeleine initially refuses to have sex with a client, Tony beats her before cutting out her eyeball with a scalpel. Donning an eyepatch over her extracted eye, Madeleine is subjected to a never-ending series of demoralizing sexual encounters with both male and female clients. Defeated by the state of her life, Madeleine is inspired by one of Tony's other prostitutes, Sally, to create an escape plan for herself.

Madeleine begins covertly stashing some of her earnings, and takes lessons in driving, shooting, and martial arts, all unbeknownst to Tony. Using the money she has stashed away, Madeleine purchases a car, as well as a variety of weapons—including a sawed-off shotgun—that she stores in a shed she has rented in the countryside. One night, she discovers that Tony has murdered Sally, and finds Sally's bed soaked with blood.

Finally at her breaking point, Madeleine begins to dispatch the clients who have abused her, first stalking one of the men, and shooting him to death with her shotgun on his front doorstep. Next, Madeleine locates another john dining at a restaurant with one of Madeleine's female clients, who regularly physically abused her, and shoots them both to death. She next travels to a warehouse on an ocean dock where she finds two other male abusers, and kills them as well. Police arrive at the warehouse and find Madeleine seated with her shotgun. When they attempt to arrest her, she uses her martial arts training to incapacitate both officers and break free.

Madeleine absconds with the police car, and flees to a rural fishing village, causing a series of reckless and fatal car accidents in her wake. She is pursued by both Tony and police, and engages in a shootout in the village before fleeing back into the countryside, where she waits along a stone wall. Tony arrives and feigns sympathy, pretending he will reason with her. At his insistence, Madeleine puts down her shotgun, after which Tony threatens to shoot her with a pistol; before he can, however, she triggers a booby trap to distract him, and shoots him in both knees, incapacitating him. She proceeds to bind him with rope, and drags him to a meadow using a horse. There, she buries his body with stones, leaving only his head above ground, and ties a rope around his neck, which she tethers to the horse. Madeliene sits calmly and watches as Tony is strangled to death. Once he dies, she drives away in the police car.

A long time ago, a drop of magical sunlight falls from the sky and sprouts a flower with healing powers. Upon discovering it, an old beggar woman named Mother Gothel hides the flower and uses it to stay young for centuries, until royal soldiers from the nearby kingdom of Corona find and uproot it to save their pregnant and ill Queen. A few days later, the Queen gives birth to a baby princess with long golden hair. While the king and queen are sleeping one evening, Gothel discovers the hair has the same powers as the flower, but turns brown and becomes powerless when cut. She kidnaps the girl, names her Rapunzel, and raises her in a hidden tower in the woods, using her hair to stay young.

Each year, on Rapunzel's birthday, the king and queen release thousands of sky lanterns in hopes she will see them and return home. Rapunzel becomes obsessed with the distant lights, and, on the eve of her 18th birthday, asks Gothel for permission to see them closer. Gothel refuses, claiming that the outside world is too dangerous and Rapunzel is too weak and young to survive in it. Later, handsome thief Flynn Rider steals Rapunzel's intended crown from the palace, abandons his partners, the Stabbington Brothers, and takes refuge in the tower. Rapunzel knocks him out and hides him in a closet. She considers showing him to Gothel as proof she is capable of taking care of herself; however, Gothel still refuses to let her broach the subject, so Rapunzel sends Gothel on a three-day journey to get new paints.

Rapunzel hides the crown, not realizing it is her own, and tells Flynn he can only get it back by taking her to see the lights. Along the way, they stop at the Snuggly Duckling pub, where menacing thugs try to capture the wanted Flynn. Rapunzel soon charms them into revealing their softer sides; when royal guards arrive, the thugs help her and Flynn to escape. Meanwhile, Gothel becomes suspicious, returns to the empty tower, and finds the crown. She sets out to find Rapunzel, and allies herself with the Stabbington brothers.

In escaping from the guards, Flynn and Rapunzel become trapped in a fast-flooding cave. Thinking they will die, Flynn resignedly reveals his true name (Eugene Fitzherbert) and Rapunzel reveals her magic powers. Her glowing hair shows a previously hidden exit, and they escape and take refuge in the woods. That night, Gothel catches up to Rapunzel while Eugene is away, gives her the crown, and tells her to use it to test Eugene's loyalty.

The next morning, a palace horse named Maximus tracks down Eugene and attempts to arrest him. Rapunzel demands a truce in honor of her birthday, and Maximus reluctantly agrees, joining them as they go to the kingdom and take part in a festival in honor of the "lost princess". They spend the day celebrating with the townsfolk, then sail onto the lake to watch the solemn release of the lanterns firsthand. Having fulfilled her dream, Rapunzel gives Eugene back the crown. The two confess their love, and are about to kiss, when Eugene sees the Stabbington brothers. He walks off to apologize, and offers them the crown, but they tie him to a ship so the royal guards will arrest him and Rapunzel will think he abandoned her. They then try to capture Rapunzel, but Gothel stages a "rescue" and takes Rapunzel home.

Eugene escapes with the help of Maximus and the pub thugs. Meanwhile, Rapunzel realizes she has subconsciously incorporated the kingdom's standard into her artwork all her life; finally understanding that she is the "lost princess", she confronts Gothel. Eugene arrives at the tower, climbing up Rapunzel's hair, but then discovers her bound and gagged. Gothel fatally stabs him, and tries to drag Rapunzel to a new hiding place. Rapunzel offers to stop struggling and go willingly, if Gothel will allow her to heal Eugene. Realizing this means Rapunzel will grow old and die in Gothel's clutches, Eugene cuts off Rapunzel's hair before she can heal him. Gothel begins to age rapidly and turns to dust as she falls out of the tower.

Rapunzel mourns the death of Eugene, and one of her tears, still having some of the sun's power, saves his life. Eugene reunites Rapunzel with her real parents, is fully pardoned for his crimes, and he and Rapunzel are married as the kingdom celebrates.

In 1997, Los Angeles is suffering from both a heat wave and a turf war between heavily armed Colombian and Jamaican drug cartels. A Predator watches a shootout between the police, Jamaicans, and Colombians, observing as Lieutenant Michael R. Harrigan charges into the firefight to rescue two wounded officers and drive the Colombians back into their hideout.

The Predator assaults the Colombians, causing a disturbance that prompts Harrigan and detectives Leona Cantrell and Danny Archuleta to defy orders and enter the hideout, where they find the slaughtered Colombians. On the roof, Harrigan shoots the crazed gang leader and catches a glimpse of the camouflaged Predator, but dismisses it as a consequence of the extreme heat and his acrophobia. At the station, Harrigan is reprimanded by his superiors for his disobedience and introduced to Special Agent Peter Keyes, leader of a task force investigating the cartels, and Detective Jerry Lambert, the newest member of Harrigan's team.

Later that evening, Jamaicans invade the Colombian drug lord's penthouse and murder him before they are murdered in turn by the Predator. Upon their arrival, Harrigan's team note the similarities between the current crime scene and the earlier Colombian massacre until Keyes' team arrives and removes them. Archuleta returns to conduct a solo investigation, finding one of the Predator's spear tips before the alien kills him. As an enraged Harrigan vows to stop Archuleta's killer, forensic analysis reveals the spear tip is not composed of any known element on the periodic table. Seeking answers, Harrigan meets with Jamaican drug lord King Willie, a voodoo practitioner who tells Harrigan that the killer is supernatural and that he should prepare himself for battle against it. Harrigan leaves before the Predator kills King Willie, taking his head as a trophy.

Tracing a lead indicating Archuleta's killer had recently been in a slaughterhouse, Harrigan arranges to meet his team at the warehouse district to investigate. Cantrell and Lambert take the subway there but are ambushed by the Predator, who kills Lambert and numerous armed passengers but spares Cantrell after its helmet's scanners indicate that she is pregnant. Arriving on the scene, Harrigan chases the fleeing Predator, but is intercepted by Keyes' men. Keyes reveals that the monster is an extraterrestrial hunter with infrared vision and active camouflage that has been hunting humans for sport throughout several armed conflicts, with the most recent being a decade prior in Central America. Keyes and his team have set a trap in a nearby slaughterhouse, using thermally insulated suits with mounted ultraviolet lights and cryogenic weapons to capture it for study.

Upon arrival, the suspicious Predator uses its scanners to track, outmaneuver, and slaughter Keyes' men via their lights. Harrigan attacks and wounds the Predator, but it destroys his weapon. It nearly kills him before Keyes tries to freeze the creature, only to be bisected by the Predator's Smart Disc. The Predator chases Harrigan to the roof, where they clash until they are left hanging from a ledge. The creature activates a self-destruct device on its forearm, which Harrigan severs with the throwing disc, disarming it while the Predator falls through an apartment, where it treats its wounds and flees.

Harrigan pursues it to a spacecraft hidden underground and eventually kills the Predator with its throwing disc. A group of Predators emerge to collect their dead comrade and give Harrigan an antique flintlock pistol as a trophy. As the ship takes off, Harrigan escapes to the surface and meets with the remainder of Keyes' team. As Keyes' subordinate Garber curses their lost opportunity to capture the creature, Harrigan privately muses that the beings will return.

In the small town of Clanton, in fictional Ford County, Mississippi, a ten-year-old African-American girl named Tonya Hailey is viciously raped and beaten by two white supremacists, James "Pete" Willard and Billy Ray Cobb. Tonya is later found and rushed to the hospital while Pete and Billy Ray are heard bragging at a roadside bar about their crime. Tonya's distraught and outraged father, Carl Lee Hailey, consults his friend Jake Brigance, a white attorney who had previously represented Hailey's brother, on whether he could get himself acquitted if he killed the two men. Jake tells Carl Lee not to do anything stupid, but admits that if it had been his daughter, he would kill the rapists. Carl Lee is determined to avenge Tonya, and while Pete and Billy Ray are being led into holding after their bond hearing, he kills both men with an M16 rifle.

Carl Lee is charged with capital murder. Despite efforts to persuade Carl Lee to retain high-powered attorneys, he elects to be represented by Jake. Helping Jake are two loyal friends, disbarred attorney and mentor Lucien Wilbanks, and sleazy divorce lawyer Harry Rex Vonner. Later, the team is assisted by liberal law student Ellen Roark, who has prior experience with death penalty cases and offers her services as a temporary clerk ''pro bono''. Ellen appears to be interested in Jake romantically, but the married Jake resists her overtures. The team also receives some illicit behind-the-scenes help from black county sheriff Ozzie Walls, a figure beloved by the black community and also well respected by the white community who upholds the law by arresting Carl Lee but, as the father of two daughters of his own, privately supports Carl Lee and gives him special treatment while in jail and goes out of the way to assist Jake in any way he legally can. Carl Lee is prosecuted by Ford County's district attorney, Rufus Buckley, who hopes that the case will boost his political career. It is claimed that the judge presiding over Carl Lee's trial, Omar "Ichabod" Noose, has been intimidated by local white supremacist elements. Noose refuses Jake's request for a change of venue, even though the racial make-up of Ford County virtually guarantees an all-white jury, which later becomes the case.

Billy Ray's brother, Freddy, seeks revenge against Carl Lee, enlisting the help of the Mississippi branch of the Ku Klux Klan and its Grand Dragon, Stump Sisson. Subsequently, the KKK attempts to plant a bomb beneath Jake's porch, leading him to send his wife and daughter out of town until the trial is over. Later, the KKK attacks Jake's secretary, Ethel Twitty, and kills her frail husband, Bud. They also burn crosses in the yards of potential jurors to intimidate them. On the day the trial begins, a riot erupts between the KKK and the area's black residents outside the courthouse; Stump is killed by a molotov cocktail. Believing that the black people are at fault for Stump's death, the KKK increase their attacks. As a result, the National Guard is called to Clanton to keep the peace during Carl Lee's trial. The KKK shoots at Jake one morning as he is being escorted into the courthouse, missing Jake but seriously wounding one of the guardsmen assigned to protect him. Soon after, Ellen Roark is abducted and assaulted. They burn down Jake's house. During trial deliberations, the jury's spokesman is threatened by a KKK member with a knife. Eventually, they torture and murder "Mickey Mouse", one of Jake's former clients who had infiltrated the KKK and subsequently gave anonymous tips to the police, allowing them to anticipate most KKK attacks.

Despite the loss of his house and several setbacks at the start of the trial, Jake perseveres. He badly discredits the state's psychiatrist by establishing that he has never conceded to the insanity of any defendant in any criminal case in which he has been asked to testify, even when several other doctors have been in consensus otherwise. He traps the doctor with a revelation that several previous defendants found insane in their trials are currently under his care despite his having testified to their "sanity" in their respective trials. Jake follows this up with a captivating closing statement.

On the day of the verdict, tens of thousands of black citizens gather in town and demand Carl Lee's acquittal. The unanimous acquittal by reason of temporary insanity is only achieved when one of the jurors asks the others to seriously imagine that Carl Lee and his daughter were white and that the murdered rapists were black. Carl Lee returns to his family and the story ends with Jake, Lucien and Harry Rex having a celebratory drink before Jake holds a press conference and leaving town to reunite with his family.

Tony Last is a country gentleman, living with his wife Brenda and his eight-year-old son John Andrew in his ancestral home, Hetton Abbey. The house is a Victorian pseudo-Gothic pastiche described as architecturally "devoid of interest" by a local guide book and "ugly" by his wife, but is Tony's pride and joy. Entirely content with country life, he is seemingly unaware of Brenda's increasing boredom and dissatisfaction, and of his son's developing waywardness. Brenda meets John Beaver and, despite acknowledging his dullness and insignificance, she begins an affair with him. Brenda starts spending her weeks in London, and persuades Tony to finance a small flat, which she rents from John's mother, Mrs Beaver, a canny businesswoman. Although the Brenda–Beaver liaison is well known to their London friends, Tony remains uxorious and oblivious; attempts by Brenda and her friends to set him up with a mistress are absurdly unsuccessful.

Brenda is in London when John Andrew is killed in a riding accident. On being told that "John is dead", Brenda at first thinks that Beaver has died; on learning that it is her son John, she betrays her true feelings by uttering an involuntary "Thank God!". After the funeral, she tells Tony that she wants a divorce so that she can marry Beaver. On learning the extent of her deception Tony is shattered, but agrees to protect Brenda's social reputation by allowing her to divorce him, and to provide her with £500 a year. After spending an awkward but chaste weekend in Brighton with a prostitute contriving divorce evidence, Tony learns from Brenda's brother that, encouraged by Beaver, Brenda is now demanding £2,000 a year—a sum that would require Tony to sell Hetton. Tony's illusions are shattered. However, the prostitute brought her child with her, so Tony can establish that he did not commit adultery. He withdraws from the divorce negotiations, and announces that he intends to travel for six months. On his return, he says, Brenda may have her divorce, but without any financial settlement.

With no prospect of Tony's money, Beaver loses interest in Brenda, who is left adrift and in poverty. Meanwhile, Tony has met an explorer, Dr Messinger, and joins him on an expedition in search of a supposed lost city in the Amazon rainforest. On the outward journey, Tony engages in a shipboard romance with Thérèse de Vitré, a young girl whose Roman Catholicism causes her to shun him when he tells her he has a wife. In Brazil, Messinger proves an incompetent organiser; he cannot control the native guides, who abandon him and Tony in the depths of the jungle. Tony falls ill, and Messinger leaves in their only canoe to find help, but is swept over a waterfall and killed.

Tony wanders in delirium until he is rescued by Mr Todd, a British Guianan who rules over a small extended family in a remote clearing in the jungle. Todd nurses Tony back to health. Although illiterate, Todd owns copies of the complete works of Charles Dickens, and asks Tony to read to him. However, when Tony's health recovers and he asks to be helped on his way, the old man repeatedly demurs. The readings continue, but the atmosphere becomes increasingly menacing as Tony realises he is being held against his will. When a search party approaches the settlement, Todd arranges that Tony be drugged and kept hidden; he leads the party to believe that Tony has died, and gives them his watch to take home as evidence. When Tony awakes he learns that his hopes of rescue are gone, and that he is condemned to read Dickens to his captor indefinitely. Back in England, Tony's death is accepted; Hetton passes to his cousins, who erect a memorial to him. Brenda marries a friend of Tony's.

Jack Aubrey and Sophia Williams are married and the parents of twin girls. They live at Ashgrove Cottage on his half-pay, not enough to support fellow navy men in the household. Sophia's mother has lost her money, including Sophia's portion, and now lives with them. They have Cecelia, Sophia's young niece in their household as well. As much as he loves Sophia, Aubrey is ready to go to sea again. Stephen Maturin comes to call, and soon after Aubrey's orders are delivered from the port Admiral. He is given command of the 38-gun frigate HMS ''Boadicea''. At Plymouth, he picks up orders and Mr R T Farquhar, a political gentleman. He is to sail to the station at Cape Town where the ships of a convoy will meet. Not long away from home, they meet with the French ship ''Hébé'' which is escorting a captured merchant ship. The ''Boadicea'' captures both ships. Aubrey sends the prizes to Gibraltar. The timely capture allows the ship to send letters home, gain a French cook and the ''Hébé's'' English prisoners, all able seamen. The long journey in the Atlantic gives Aubrey time to bring the crew of the ''Boadicea'' up to his standards of efficiency in gunnery and gives Maturin and Farquhar time to develop strategies.

On arrival, Aubrey meets Admiral Bertie who confirms Aubrey's position as Commodore and authorises him to hoist his broad pendant ('broad pennant' in some editions). He receives formal instructions to disrupt French interests in the region, and ultimately to take the islands of Mauritius and La Réunion. The convoy includes Lord Clonfert of the ''Otter'', an Englishman with an Irish title; Captain Corbett of ''Néréide''; and Captain Pym of the ''Sirius''. Corbett sailed from the West Indies station with some of Aubrey's followers aboard. Bonden, Killick and others join, after Aubrey trades men into Corbett's ship. Corbett is capable but a flogging captain. Bertie advises Aubrey that Clonfert and Corbett are not on good terms with each other.

For the first 2,000 miles of the voyage to the islands, Aubrey switches his pendant to the elderly 64-gun ship of the line HMS ''Raisonnable''. The ''Caroline'' is taken; Corbett sails her, christened HMS ''Bourbonnaise'', with dispatches to Cape Town and England. The rest of the convoy returns to Cape Town. Aubrey shifts back to HMS ''Boadicea'' and sails upon news of more merchant ships taken by the French. The convoy is caught in a major hurricane, whence it sails back to Cape Town for repairs, receiving the first mail in many months. Sophia's letters are water-damaged, so Aubrey does not understand her full message.

La Réunion capitulates almost without loss after a landing by Army troops joined by sepoys under the British East India Company, all under the active and decisive Lieutenant Colonel Harry Keating, with ships of the convoy on both sides of the island. Their path is eased by Maturin's propaganda and political meetings to explain why the locals should be happy to accept the British, with Farquhar as interim Governor. Mauritius proves more challenging. Maturin has an accident boarding HMS ''Néréide'', which is part of the force sent to Île de la Passe. He is seriously injured, so he observes Clonfert during this recuperation aboard. The action is successful. Maturin is put down on Mauritius to continue his work. A small group of ships, under the command of Captain Pym, puts soldiers on Mauritius to staff the fort. The French appear with three ships ''Bellone'', ''Minerve'', ''Victor'' and two Indiamen ''Ceylon'' and ''Windham''. They boldly attack the fort and then sail into the port; the British are caught unprepared but decide to attack. The struggle goes on for days with heavy casualties and in the end two British ships run aground. ''Sirius'' and ''Magicienne'' are burnt to prevent their capture, and ''Iphigenia'' and the fort at Île de la Passe are abandoned to be retaken by the French. ''Néréide'' is taken and Clonfert is severely wounded in the neck and head by a splinter. A messenger vessel, with Maturin aboard, reaches La Réunion to inform Aubrey of the losses and the failed attack on Port Southeast.

''Boadicea'' sails through the night to check Île de la Passe, to see it under French control, then chases ''Manche'' and ''Vénus'' in a vain attempt to separate them. After contacting Pullings, who has the guns of ''Windham'' aboard ''Emma'', Aubrey believes his fortunes have changed. Then Captain Corbett re-joins at St Denis, with HMS ''Africaine''. Chasing the French during the night, ''Africaine'' clashes with the ''Astrée'' and the French ''Iphigenie''. The encounter goes badly, and Corbett is killed during the fight after being wounded, possibly by his own oppressed men. The French capture the ''Africaine'', but leave it dismasted when the ''Boadicea'' bears down on them; ''Astrée'' refuses an engagement. Joined by the ''Otter'' and ''Staunch'', the flotilla reaches La Réunion where refit of the ''Africaine'' is the Commodore's top priority.

Maturin and Bonden return from Mauritius with news that HMS ''Bombay'' is nearby, in a running fight with both the French ''Vénus'' and ''Victor''. The ''Boadicea'' engages the French ships. Aubrey makes use of volunteer crew from the refitting HMS ''Africaine'' to board and capture ''Bombay'' and ''Vénus''. During the encounter the French Commodore Hamelin is killed. Aubrey plans how to finish the battle, once the remaining French ships will be ready to sail, and his ships are ready to fight again, when they reach Mauritius. Keating is equally ready. The ''Emma'' nears the ''Boadicea'', with many other British sails in view. Tom Pullings comes aboard with the Gazette announcing the birth of a son to Sophia. Aubrey is ecstatic at the news. Then he opens Admiral Bertie's letter ordering him to join the fleet at Rodriguez, where he will be on HMS ''Illustrious'', and the Army led by General Abercrombie. The final invasion, based on Aubrey and Keating's original plan, is almost without bloodshed. The French capitulate after being given honourable terms.

Maturin finds that Clonfert, at the military hospital in Port Louis since the battle, has committed suicide, unable to face Jack Aubrey, whom he considers a rival. A ceremonial dinner is given at Government House. Maturin spreads rumours about Aubrey's father soon to have power in London, via Mr Peters, which rumours are believed by Bertie. The Admiral gives Aubrey the honour of taking the dispatches of this success aboard the ''Boadicea'' to England.

The First Doctor (William Hartnell), while attempting to correct the TARDIS's faulty navigation circuits, causes a small explosion. The Doctor, Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill), Ian Chesterton (William Russell), and Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford) are all temporarily rendered unconscious. When they wake, Ian and Susan appear to have slight cases of amnesia and everyone begins to act strangely. The travellers are becoming suspicious of each other's motives, and the Doctor accuses Ian and Barbara of sabotage. Fearing that they have been taken over by some alien force—or that they have intentionally sabotaged the TARDIS to force the Doctor to return them to 1963—he drugs Barbara and Ian, unknowing that Ian is also suspicious and has not taken the drink given to him. The Doctor attempts to explore the problem without interference.

Gradually it becomes clear that the strange events are an attempt by the TARDIS itself to warn the crew that something is wrong. Barbara's clue gathering forces the Doctor to trace the problem to a broken spring in the Fast Return Switch. The malfunction is causing the TARDIS to head back to the beginning of time; the strange events were just attempts by the TARDIS to warn the passengers before the ship is destroyed. Fixing the switch brings all back to normal. Although the day is saved, Barbara is still affected by the Doctor's harsh words earlier. The Doctor apologises, and admits that he was wrong about Barbara and Ian. The story closes with the TARDIS materialising on a snowy landscape, where Susan spots a giant footprint in the snow.

A young gentleman named John Openshaw visits Holmes one night with a strange story. His uncle Elias had emigrated to the United States as a young man, establishing himself as a planter in Florida and joining the Confederate States Army, in which he rose to the rank of colonel. In 1869 or 1870, he returned to England and purchased an estate near Horsham in Sussex, adopting a reclusive lifestyle. He later allowed John to live on the estate and gave him full access to the property, except for one storage room that was always kept locked. On 10 March 1883, Elias received a letter postmarked Pondicherry, bearing the inscription "K.K.K." and containing only five orange pips (seeds).

The arrival of this letter badly unnerved Elias, and he sent John to bring a lawyer to the estate. By the time John returned, Elias had retrieved a box marked "K.K.K." from the locked room and burned its contents. Elias made a will naming his brother Joseph (John's father) as his heir, with the intent that John should eventually inherit the estate from him. Elias's already-reclusive behaviour became even more bizarre; he would either lock himself in his room and drink heavily, or rush about the grounds in a frenzy while carrying a pistol. On 2 May 1883, seven weeks after receiving the letter, he was found dead in a garden pool. The death was ruled a suicide, but John did not believe that Elias could have killed himself.

Joseph took possession of the estate and examined the room, finding scattered records of Elias's time in the United States. On 4 January 1885, he received a letter postmarked Dundee, identical to the one received by Elias and containing instructions to put "the papers" on the sundial in the garden. John realised that the papers being demanded must have been the ones burned by Elias. Despite John's urging, Joseph decided not to involve the police. Three days later, he was found dead at the bottom of a chalk pit; the death was ruled an accident, but again John had his doubts.

John has now received a letter postmarked London that orders him to put the papers on the sundial, but the local police are convinced that the letters are merely practical jokes. The only clue he can provide is a page from Elias's diary, dated March 1869 and detailing that pips were sent to three men; two were later "cleared" and one was "visited." Holmes suggests that John put the page in the box that had contained the other papers, along with a note detailing their destruction, and leave the box on the sundial.

After John departs, Holmes deduces that Elias had returned to England and gone into hiding because something in the United States had prompted him to flee for his life, and that the letters were sent from a sailing ship based on their postmarks and the time lapse between the first two mailings and the recipients' deaths. He recognises "K.K.K." as the Ku Klux Klan, an anti-Reconstruction domestic terrorist group in the South that was active until its sudden collapse in 1869 – triggered, Holmes theorises, by Elias's return to England with vital records that the other members have since been trying to recover. Opponents of the Klan would receive a warning, and would be killed unless they either fled or renounced their opposition.

The next morning's newspaper carries an article on the discovery of John's body in the River Thames, apparently the result of an accidental drowning after falling off the Waterloo Bridge. Now convinced that all three Openshaw men were murdered, Holmes spends the day checking the records of sailing ships and finds only one that could have been in Pondicherry, Dundee, and London when the letters were mailed – an American barque, the ''Lone Star''. He puts five orange pips into an envelope with the note "S.H. for J.O.", addresses it to the captain, and mails it to the vessel's home port of Savannah, Georgia. He also sends a telegram to the Savannah police, informing them that the captain and mates – the only American crewmen – are wanted in England for murder.

Holmes' desire for vengeance ultimately goes unfulfilled, as the ''Lone Star'' is destroyed in a severe gale. No trace is ever found except for a broken sternpost marked "L.S.", seen floating on the waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

Even though ''Enterprise'' is severely damaged, the Xindi unexpectedly break off the attack of the previous episode. Reptilian Commander Dolim, is angered by the recall, after the other Xindi begin to doubt that Earth ship represents the same threat they previously imagined. The Primate Degra argues that the evidence of interference in Xindi culture, provided earlier by Captain Archer, must be discussed first. Dolim submits, and the Aquatics send Archer back to ''Enterprise'' in an escape pod. He arrives to find the ship in disarray, with at least 14 members of the crew dead. The ship needs a replacement warp coil in order to travel at warp.

Although adrift, ''Enterprise'' encounters an Illyrian spacecraft, damaged by the gravimetric energy generated by the Delphic Expanse. Archer attempts to trade with the captain, but he refuses to give up their sole warp coil. Meanwhile, a partial Xindi Council (Degra; another Primate council member, and Jannar, an Arboreal) communicate with "the Guardian" - the audience's first view of the prophetic time traveler of the trans-dimensional, "Sphere-Builder" species. The Guardian admits to transporting the Reptilians into the past (as per the episode "Carpenter Street"), and encouraging Reptilians and Insectoids to remain on the Council. Upset, Degra insists on further examining Archer's evidence regarding the Guardian-Sphere Builder connection.

Meanwhile, Ensign Sato discovers a message from Degra hidden aboard the Xindi escape pod, asking ''Enterprise'' to rendezvous with him in a few days at a nearby location. Unable to travel at warp, Archer is forced to attack the Illyrian vessel and steal their coil, although this will leave them unable to reach home for three years. Archer's decision is met with an angry outburst from Sub-Commander T'Pol, but Archer justifies his actions as a necessity of war, saving billions of lives while making the Illyrian's journey more perilous. The episode reveals T'Pol hid a three-month addiction to Trellium-D, which she finally admits it to Doctor Phlox. Unusually for a Vulcan, it has left her experiencing emotions. Despite further damage, the raid is successful, and ''Enterprise'' heads for the covert rendezvous.

''A Hat Full of Sky'' by Terry Pratchett is a fantasy novel about a girl who is learning her place as a witch. Early in the novel, Tiffany Aching leaves her home in the chalk country (based on England's chalk country) to act as an apprentice and maid for the elderly witch Miss Level. Her former teacher, Miss Tick, who is also a witch, escorts her to the town of Twoshirts. While waiting for Miss Level to arrive, they are attacked by a hiver. The hiver cannot be killed or seen and it takes over your mind. The encounter is only for a few seconds, and then the hiver leaves but it gives Tiffany and Miss Tick a fright. Miss Level comes along on a broomstick and takes Tiffany to her cottage in the mountains.

After settling in Tiffany discovers that Miss Level has two bodies and she has a spirit named Oswald who cleans her house. After settling into the cottage, Tiffany goes to a group of apprentice witches her age with Petulia. The leader of the group is called Annagramma and many characters find her condescending and rude. Tiffany leaves the group upset after telling them about her imaginary hat. While in her room at the cottage, the hiver finds her and takes over her body and mind. At first Tiffany does not realize what has happened, but when she does, it is too late for her to take action. The hiver (as Tiffany) causes chaos, steals Mr Weavall's money and causes Annagramma to fear her.

Upon arrival at the cottage, the hiver kills one of Miss Level's bodies. Rob Anybody who is one of the Nac Mac Feegle (which are pictsies that are very loyal to Tiffany after she previously helped them) goes into Tiffany's mind along with some of his friends to try to fight the hiver out of her mind. They decide that smells from her past will bring forth the actual Tiffany and she will be able to break free. With the help of the Nac Mac Feegle, Tiffany fights the hiver out of her mind, but she is still left with the memories of previous victims of the hiver. Mr. Weavall discovers that Tiffany stole his money, but the Feegles put gold in place of the copper he had saved up. Tiffany decides that the hiver must be dealt with so she proceeds to pursue it in the mountains. Mistress Weatherwax accompanies her although Tiffany is begrudging. They camp in the mountains and Mistress Weatherwax borrows an owl's mind to observe the hiver as it lurks close by. Mistress Weatherwax tells Tiffany to call her Granny Weatherwax.

In the morning Tiffany and Mistress Weatherwax head off to the witch trials, an annual event where witches show what they have learned. Upon arrival, Tiffany senses the hiver moving in on her and turns to Granny Weatherwax only to find that she is not there. Panicking, she runs until she finds Granny Weatherwax who tells her it is time to face the hiver alone. Tiffany welcomes the hiver to her mind, and discovers that the hiver does not understand humans, it just wants to seek shelter from the world because it senses everything. Tiffany names the hiver Arthur and teaches it how to die which is its ultimate goal. She shows it the way across the desert to death. As she turns to exit the world of death, she finds that the door she entered has disappeared. Turning back around, Death confronts her but she is rescued by Granny Weatherwax.

Granny Weatherwax gives Tiffany her hat but she returns it because she wants to make her own. The novel ends on Tiffany returning to the chalk to take the place of her dead grandmother as the witch of the land. She decides to make her hat out of the sky.

After his adventure in ''Pikmin'', Captain Olimar returns to his home planet Hocotate. Landing at his workplace, Hocotate Freight, Olimar learns from the company's president that due to his co-worker, Louie, losing a shipment of golden Pikpik carrots to a "space rabbit", the company was forced to take out a massive loan to cover the loss. As a result, Hocotate Freight now suffers from a severe debt of pokos (the planet's currency), and as a result, Olimar's ship, the only valuable object they had, is sold off. The remaining debt is 10,100 pokos, with nothing to pay it off. Shocked, Olimar drops a bottle cap he brought back from the planet he was trapped on, whereupon a nearby ship of the company reveals it to be a treasure with considerable value, enough to start paying off the debt, now reduced to 10,000. The company president, hearing of this, decides to send Olimar and Louie to the planet to find more treasure and help pay off the debt.

Arriving back on the Pikmin's planet, Olimar and Louie are initially separated, but reunite after working with the local red Pikmin population in their area. In the process of finding treasure, the pair work with these red Pikmin, along with yellow and blue Pikmin in different areas of the planet, encountering two new species that Olimar had never encountered before, white and purple Pikmin. After finding enough treasure, Olimar takes off for Hocotate, only to realize mid-flight that Louie was accidentally left behind. Though the debt is cleared, the president decides that now they must return to find the other treasures to help strengthen the company's finances, and joins Olimar on his return trip to the Pikmin's planet to retrieve the rest, and find Louie. Eventually the pair encounters Louie within an underground cave network, the "Dream Den", on top of a giant elemental creature that can harness the ability to switch between using fire, water, poison and electricity. After defeating the creature, Olimar and the president retrieve Louie and the final treasures, and depart the planet, leaving the Pikmin behind that helped them.

In a special epilogue, it is revealed that Louie ate the entire shipment of Pikpik brand carrots he was delivering. He then falsified his report to the president to avoid trouble, effectively causing the situation that led to Olimar's return to the Pikmin's planet.

Sailing into Halifax, the victorious HMS ''Shannon'' contends with her losses in officers and crew, with particular concern for Captain Broke, who lies unconscious from head wounds. The American Captain Lawrence dies en route from the battle, and is buried at Halifax. Once in port, as prisoners of war are taken ashore and the British Navy deserters identified among them, the Shannons and her passengers, Captain Jack Aubrey, Dr Stephen Maturin, and Mrs Diana Villiers feel the full joy of the first naval victory in this war with America. Maturin communicates with Major Beck, an army counterpart in intelligence work. At the victory ball, Aubrey is pursued by Amanda Smith, known to Diana for her deceiving ways. Aubrey tires of her after a night, yet she persists. Aubrey receives his first letters from his wife Sophia since the ''Leopard'' was left in the Dutch East Indies, so long ago. Others write the report of Broke's victory, to speed the official news to England.

Captain Dalgleish on the mail packet ''Diligence'' carries the copy of the official report, and Aubrey, Maturin and Mrs Villiers as passengers. The American privateer ''Liberty'' chases ''Diligence'' on its northern route home. Diana is certain that the privateers are hired by the vengeful Johnson. The ''Liberty'' sails into ice and sinks, her crew taken aboard by her follower, and ''Diligence'' reaches the Channel in 17 days. News of the victory is well-received, while Aubrey is eager to get home. He sees his children, grown so much from when he last saw them, and his wife Sophia. Maturin visits Ireland for his uncle. He gives Johnson's private papers to Sir Joseph Blaine, asks him for Diana's release, and gets Skinner as a lawyer for Aubrey to deal with the projector. Maturin goes to Paris to present his scientific work at the ''Institut'', taking Diana with him. He finds her a place to stay with Adhemar de la Mothe and an accoucheur as Diana is pregnant by Johnson. At the ''Institut'' presentation, Diana wears her diamonds; she dearly loves these, among them the Blue Peter, the largest of the set. After Maturin speaks, he learns of Ponsich's death near Pomerania. Maturin leaves immediately to take up this mission.

Letters from Miss Smith discomfit Aubrey. Maturin advises Aubrey that Miss Smith is lying. Maturin wants Aubrey as his captain to reach the heavily fortified Grimsholm Island in the Baltic. They are joined by Jagiello, a young and handsome Lithuanian officer with the Swedish army as a translator. Blaine tells Maturin that Ramon d’Ullastret is the leader in the fortress; in fact he is Maturin's god-father. Aubrey is offered the sloop HMS ''Ariel'', leaving on the next tide, with no time to stop at home for his sea chest. Mr Pellworm, a Baltic pilot, is on board when Aubrey arrives at ''Ariel''. ''Ariel'' passes Elsinore where the shore batteries fire but miss the ship. At Carlscrona, they meet with Admiral Saumarez to devise their plan. Aubrey takes the ''Minnie'', the Dutch privateer carrying French officers to Grimsholm; Aubrey uses it to carry wine, tobacco and Maturin to Grimsholm Island. When Maturin begins speaking in Catalan, he is accepted and no lives are lost as the British take the fortified island. Admiral Saumarez welcomes Colonel d’Ullastret and is pleased with their success. The Colonel boards the ''Ariel'', while the Catalan garrison travels in troop transports to Spain with ''Aeolus'' as escort, again navigating the narrow channels past Denmark. As they are leaving the Baltic Sea, at around Gothenburg, an ''Ariel'' crew member drops the only chronometer in heavy seas, so they sail into the North Sea and into the shallow waters of the English Channel unable to accurately chart their exact location and without the ''Aeolus'' which has taken refuge from the storm, leaving ''Ariel'' and her transport ships alone. Before Ushant, a crew member drops the only chronometer, so they sail not knowing their exact location. In heavy rains, ''Ariel'' meets one French ship, the ''Méduse'', and one British. Aubrey tells the troop transports to part, as ''Ariel'' will aid HMS ''Jason'' against the fast-sailing ''Méduse''.

Having done some damage to ''Méduse'', ''Ariel'' is embayed in Douarnenez Bay on the French mainland. While trying to beat their way out, a mishap causes the ''Ariel'' to strike a rock and she is washed ashore. The officers and crew are taken as prisoners of war by the French. Colonel d’Ullastret is given a Marine's uniform and a false name, and he promptly escapes. Aubrey, Maturin and Jagiello are taken to Paris with Monsieur Duhamel and lodged in the Temple. Aubrey works on a way to escape from the prison, with help from Jagiello. Maturin is questioned by competing French intelligence groups; from one he learns that Diana miscarried. Duhamel makes an offer from parties expecting the emperor's defeat. From English newspapers, Aubrey learns that HMS ''Ajax'' took ''Méduse'', making his efforts worthwhile, and that Miss Smith is married. In another session, newly arrived Johnson identifies Maturin as the killer of two French agents, after an interrogator says someone has paid "half Golconda" for his release. Maturin agrees to go with Duhamel, who takes them out of the Temple, picks up Diana, and remarks how Aubrey's escape shaft will be the explanation for their disappearance. They board the packet ship HMS ''Oedipus'', under William Babbington. Diana has given up the Blue Peter, a diamond from the Golconda mines, to a French minister to save Stephen, and is unaware of Stephen's escape having been procured through Duhamel. They marry on the ship, with Aubrey giving her away, and Babbington officiating.

Big-game hunter Sanger Rainsford and his friend, Whitney, are traveling to the Amazon rainforest for a jaguar hunt. After a discussion about how they are "the hunters" instead of "the hunted," Whitney goes to bed and Rainsford hears gunshots. He climbs onto the yacht's rail and accidentally falls overboard, swimming to Ship-Trap Island, which is notorious for shipwrecks. On the island, he finds a palatial chateau inhabited by two Cossacks: the owner, General Zaroff, and his gigantic deaf-mute servant, Ivan.

Zaroff, another big-game hunter, knows of Rainsford from his published account of hunting snow leopards in Tibet. Over dinner, the middle-aged Zaroff explains that although he has been hunting animals since he was a boy, he has decided that killing big game has become boring for him, so after escaping the Russian Revolution he moved to Ship-Trap Island, which he has rigged with lights that lure passing ships into the jagged rocks that surround it. He takes the survivors captive and hunts them for sport, giving them food, clothing, a knife, and a three-hour head start, and using only a small-caliber pistol for himself. Any captives who can elude Zaroff, Ivan, and a pack of hunting dogs for three days are set free. He reveals that he has won every hunt to date. Captives are offered a choice between being hunted or turned over to Ivan, who once served as official knouter for the Great White Czar. Rainsford denounces the hunt as barbarism, but Zaroff replies by claiming that "life is for the strong." Zaroff is enthused to have another world-class hunter as a companion and, at breakfast, offers to take Rainsford along with him on his next hunt. Rainsford staunchly refuses, disappointing Zaroff who then has another epiphany: he will hunt Rainsford. Zaroff becomes impersonal and lays out the parameters of the game as he would to any captive sailor. He leaves the dining room as Ivan enters with Rainsford's meager gear for the time he'll spend as prey. Realizing he has no way out, Rainsford reluctantly agrees to be hunted.

During his head start, Rainsford lays an intricate trail in the forest and then climbs a tree. Zaroff finds him easily, but decides to play with him as a cat would with a mouse, standing underneath the tree Rainsford is hiding in, smoking a cigarette, and then abruptly departing. After the failed attempt at eluding Zaroff, Rainsford builds a Malay man-catcher, a weighted log attached to a trigger. This contraption injures Zaroff's shoulder, causing him to return home for the night, but he shouts his respect for the trap before departing. The next day Rainsford creates a Burmese tiger pit, which kills one of Zaroff's hounds. He sacrifices his knife and ties it to a sapling to make another trap, which kills Ivan when he stumbles into it. To escape Zaroff and his approaching hounds, Rainsford dives off a cliff into the sea; Zaroff, disappointed at Rainsford's apparent suicide, returns home. Zaroff smokes a pipe by his fireplace, but two issues keep him from attaining peace of mind: the difficulty of replacing Ivan and the uncertainty of whether Rainsford perished in his dive.

Zaroff locks himself in his bedroom and turns on the lights, only to find Rainsford waiting for him; he had swum around the island in order to sneak into the chateau without the dogs finding him. Zaroff congratulates him on winning the "game", but Rainsford decides to fight him, saying he is still a beast-at-bay and that the original hunt is not over. Accepting the challenge, a delighted Zaroff says that the loser will be fed to the dogs, while the winner will sleep in the bed, and then challenges Rainsford to a duel to the death. Then the story abruptly concludes later that night by stating that Rainsford enjoyed the comfort of Zaroff's bed, implying that he won the duel.

Son of a wealthy cocoa planter, Paulo Rigger, a Brazilian intellectual who has studied in Europe for seven years, wants to participate in the political and intellectual life of the country. He joins a group of intellectuals in Salvador to discuss matters of love, politics, religion and philosophy. Doubts as to the directions the nation is taking are foremost in the minds of the intellectuals. Rigger criticizes the racial miscegenation of the country and particularly the institution of Carnival, which he blames for the country's lagging development, believing that Carnival keeps people alienated. Its excesses are cause for shock, even if his contact with the people during the street festivities makes him again feel genuinely Brazilian. Confused by these contradictions, Rigger decides to return to Europe.

The book tells the story of a Sergipano (inhabitant of Sergipe), who arrives in Ilhéus in search of work. He suffers long hunger and is apprehensive of the city until encountering a good-hearted guard named Roberto in front of a big bakery, who gives him some bread. Later on the same day he encounters Roberto again, gets invited to a canteen to eat a feijoada and there meets several men sitting at the back. He is presented to one of them, nicknamed "The '98", who in turn introduces the protagonist to a Colonel Misael, involved in recruiting men to work on the cocoa plantations. With the money that these two new friends give him, the young man manages to catch the train to Pirangi and, after a long journey and numerous events described in detail, he arrives at his destination. There, he embarks on the course of hard work and befriends the carpenter Colodino, as well as fellow workers João Grilo, Antonio Barriguinha and Honório, who are mostly Blacks or Mulattos.

But there is not only work. On days of rest the protagonist and his friends drink a lot, especially cachaça, frequent the brothels, working men's club, and gambling dens. Many of the characters would also play an important roles in later works of Amado. Ultimately, they develop an increasing class consciousness and start becoming politically involved. This, again, is a highly autobiographical element paralleling Amado's own life.

The novel tells the story of the friendship between a poor black youngster from Salvador de Bahia, Antonio Balduino, and a candomblé priest - Pai de Santo -, Jubiabá. After the death of his insane aunt when he was a boy, Balduino is sent to work in a rich white family. However, he has to escape when he is unjustly accused of violence towards Lindinalva, the beautiful daughter of his hosts. Balduino thenceforth spends the rest of his youth in freedom as a member of a gang of street kids, which anticipates Amado's later novel Captains of the Sands. Subsequently, he becomes a successful boxer but, depressed after his first defeat, he leaves Salvador and starts to work on a tobacco plantation, only to be forced to flee again when he almost murders a fellow worker. On his return to Salvador, he surprisingly meets Lindinalva, who, following the bankruptcy of her father, is now a prostitute. On her death bed she entrusts her son to him. Balduino is then employed as a port worker. His involvement in a general strike causes conflict with his old friend Jubiabá, who he considers insufficiently supportive of the strike.

''Sea of Death'' tells stories of the dockside of Salvador, Bahia. The lives of the sailors of sloops in the bay from which Bahia gets its name are centred on the mythology surrounding the goddess Iemanjá, the "Queen of the Ocean" or the "Mother of Waters", are central to this novel, which portrays their daily struggle for survival. The novel features a variety of characters whose lives unfold around the story of two lovers, Guma and Lívia. They include the black Rufino and his mulatto lover Esmeralda; Francisco, Guma’s uncle, who mends nets; and the foul-mouthed Rosa Palmeirão.

In the distant future, humans have developed a form of instantaneous teleportation called "the Jaunt", enabling colonization of the Solar System. Mark Oates and his family are preparing to travel to Mars for a two-year business trip. As the Jaunting service prepares the other passengers, Mark entertains his two children by recounting a semi-apocryphal tale of the discovery and history of the Jaunt. He explains how in 1987 a scientist named Victor Carune inadvertently discovered the ability to Jaunt after years of research when he accidentally teleported two of his own fingers. Although the procedure functioned perfectly when he tested inorganic objects, Carune discovered a side-effect on the mice sent through his two portals. The mice would either die instantly or behave erratically before dying moments later. He eventually discovered that beings of higher neural activity, such as animals and humans, could only survive the Jaunt while unconscious. Mark explains that this is why all people must undergo general anesthesia before Jaunting.

Mark spares his children a gruesome account of the first conscious human to experience the Jaunt, a condemned death-row murderer named Rudy Foggia who had been promised a full pardon upon taking part in the experiment. After six other inmates were Jaunted under the effects of anesthesia, Foggia emerged insane, screaming that the Jaunt was an "eternity" before dying of a heart attack. Scientists had come to conclude that while Jaunting is physically carried out almost instantly, to a conscious mind it lasts an indeterminately long amount of time, perhaps millions of years, leading to a conscious person simply being left alone with their thoughts in an endless field of white. Mark attempts to present this fact in a gentle way as to not frighten his children or his wife, as unlike him, they are Jaunting for the first time.

After Mark finishes his story, the family is subjected to sleeping gas and Jaunted to Mars. Upon awakening, Mark is horrified to find that his adventurous son Ricky deliberately held his breath while being administered the anesthesia to experience the Jaunt while conscious and has been rendered completely insane. Ricky shrieks that Mark has no comprehension of how long he had been there, and begins gouging his eyes out as he is wheeled away from his terrified family by several attendants.

The story, narrated by Howard Fornoy in the form of a personal journal, recounts the life of his younger brother, Robert "Bobby" Fornoy. Bobby, a child prodigy whose adult interests led him to study a variety of scientific disciplines, discovered a chemical that reduces the aggressive tendencies of humans and other organisms. While doing sociological research in Texas, Bobby used crime statistics to create a topographic map which displayed a geographical pattern of violent crime. Examining the map, Bobby noted diminishing levels of crime centered on the town of La Plata. When he arrives to investigate, he finds that this town has never had any violent crime. Bobby is ultimately able to determine that the cause of the non-aggression is the presence of a chemical unique to the town's water supply. Even minimal exposure to the chemical will calm any angry person or animal. Bobby isolates and reduces the chemical to a concentrated form.

At a time of international chaos suggestive of an approaching nuclear war, Bobby and Howard, using the aid of a volcano in Borneo that is set to erupt and blow millions of tons of ash into the atmosphere, disperse a large quantity of this substance throughout the world, in the hope of preventing a catastrophe. Indeed, the effects are quick and expected, a massive decrease in hostilities around the globe.

Several months later it is discovered that, to the Fornoys' horror, there was another constant about La Plata that was not studied until after the substance was released. It does eliminate aggression, and increases calm, but it does the job too well. Over time the chemical compound accumulates in the subject's brain, ultimately giving them symptoms resembling dementia or Alzheimer's disease and eventually resulting in death. Howard's journal entries after this point include increasing numbers of grammar, spelling, and other mistakes, eventually devolving into incoherence as Howard succumbs to the effects of the chemical. It is implied the human race will also eventually die out as humanity becomes unable to care for themselves.

The style of Howard's entries near the end are reminiscent of those of the character Charlie in Daniel Keyes' book ''Flowers for Algernon'', and of King's own earlier short story, ''Survivor Type''.

Pearson, a Boston office worker, discovers that people of authority, including many police officers and political figures, including the Vice President of the United States, are inhuman monsters disguised as people. While on his 10 o'clock smoke break, Pearson perceives the bat-like creatures through their disguises. Noticing his reaction, a young black man named Dudley "Duke" Rhinemann stops him from screaming and calms him down. Dudley explains that if Pearson wants to live, he must go about his day as usual and meet him at 3 o'clock after work. Pearson does as he is told and discovers that his boss is also one of the "batmen". He leaves work a bit shaken, meets Dudley and goes to a bar with him. Dudley explains that a unique chemical imbalance caused by nicotine withdrawal is the only way to see the creatures and invites Pearson to a resistance meeting.

Shortly after arriving, the leader of the group says he has "big news" for them all. Pearson realizes the man is stalling for time and gives warning. The treacherous leader says the batmen have granted them amnesty, but a horde of them attack those in the meeting. Many die. Pearson, along with two others, escape the meeting. The trio flee to Omaha and form a new resistance group of Ten O'Clock People. This group successfully kills many "batmen", and Pearson notes that their war against the batmen was a lot like quitting smoking: "...you have to start somewhere."

Miss Emily Sidley is a third grade teacher. On one particular day, while she's teaching spelling, Sidley gets the disconcerting feeling that one of her students is staring at her. She turns around and notices that Robert, the quietest student, has his gaze fixed on her. During the following week, Miss Sidley eventually punishes Robert for her suspicions. Robert taunts her by asking her if she wants to see him "change", which he does (whether it really happened or was a figment of her imagination is not exactly explained) and terrifies the teacher who runs screaming and is nearly run down by a bus.

After the incident, Miss Sidley takes a leave of absence. When she returns, Robert taunts her at recess about there being more creatures at school, posing as normal children. They have replaced the real children they look like, who are imprisoned within their doppelgangers. He says of the real Robert: "I can hear him screaming, Miss Sidley. He wants me to let him out."

The things Robert is saying soon get to Miss Sidley, and the terrified teacher decides to take drastic measures. She takes out her deceased brother's Luger pistol from a drawer and puts it in her purse. That day at school, she takes twelve of her students to a testing room where sound is well-concealed, and shoots each one dead. Another teacher comes in as Sidley is preparing to shoot a thirteenth student, and Sidley's bad back gives way as the other teacher struggles with her.

Miss Sidley is sent to a mental institution after the murders. She works with little preschoolers each day for therapy. One day she feels the fear that drove her to her crime and asks to be removed from the room. As she is taken away, some of the children slyly watch her, implying that they are also doppelgangers. That night, Miss Sidley commits suicide by slashing her throat and her former psychiatrist soon focuses intently on the children.

The movie opens with George in a boxcar, reminiscing on the events that occurred.

During the Great Depression, the quick-witted George Milton looks after his physically strong yet mentally disabled companion Lennie Small. The two are fleeing from their previous employment as workmen in Weed, California, where Lennie was accused of attempted rape when he touched and held on to a young woman and her red dress, prompted by his love of stroking soft things. George and Lennie escape and travel to Soledad, which is near the ranch where they have work. While walking, George catches Lennie petting a dead mouse that he had accidentally killed. Despite Lennie's pleas to keep the dead mouse, George forcibly takes the mouse and throws it away, which causes Lennie to cry. George tries to explain to Lennie that he did so because the mouse "wasn't fresh", and that if he were to find another, fresher mouse, he could pet that one for a while. Lennie, sobbing hysterically, states that "there is no other mouse".

As they camp that evening, Lennie asks George to tell him again about their dream, as he has numerous times, and George reluctantly agrees. George describes how the two will one day have their own piece of land, and how Lennie will tend (and pet) their rabbits. George adds that if Lennie should ever get in trouble, he is to return to the brush and wait for him. The following day, the two arrive to work at Tyler Ranch. The ranch Boss becomes suspicious of Lennie's mental condition when Lennie talks, forgetting to keep silent as George had instructed him. In order not to be fired, George lies to the Boss, telling him Lennie is his cousin and that he was kicked in the head by a horse when he was a child. At the bunkhouse, George and Lennie befriend an aged, one-handed ranch-hand, Candy. However, they take an instant dislike to the Boss' son, Curley, who hates people who are bigger than him. Lennie then becomes instantly attracted to Curley's seductive wife, who comes into the bunkhouse to flirt with Lennie and George. George, aware that Curley's wife will bring trouble upon the men due to her sexual allure and persistent flirting, strictly instructs Lennie to keep away and not to look at her.

While at a barn waiting for Crooks, an educated and intelligent black man who is bitter and isolated because of his race, George is discovered by Curley's wife, who attempts to engage in a conversation. However, the attempt is interrupted when Curley enters the barn and confronts George, threatening to beat him to a pulp and have him fired if he catches him fraternizing with his wife again. George is introduced to his work team, Slim, the head of the team, who is greatly respected, and Carlson. When Carlson suggests they shoot Candy's old dog and get Slim to give him one of his pups, Lennie gets excited and asks George for a pup. After a hard day's work, George is proud of Lennie's work load and gets Lennie his puppy. Later, after Carlson kills his dog, Candy offers to pitch in with Lennie and George so they can buy the farm. Just as it seems that the dream is moving closer to reality, Curley comes by and accuses Slim of keeping his wife company as the workers mock Curley back. Curley spots Lennie laughing unintentionally (it's implied that Lennie is imagining tending rabbits on their future farm), and he punches him repeatedly, yelling at him to fight back. The other men yell at Curley and encourage Lennie to fight. Lennie grabs Curley's hand and crushes it in his iron grip. George fears for his and Lennie's jobs on the ranch, but Slim gives Curley an ultimatum: Curley tells people his hand was just caught in a machine; if Curley tries to get George and Lennie sacked, Slim will tell everyone how Curley's hand really got crushed, and everyone will laugh at him. Curley, concerned for his reputation, reluctantly agrees to keep quiet.

The next day, Lennie and Crooks talk about being lonely, after which Curley's wife again attempts unsuccessfully to engage in conversation, now aware of what really happened to Lennie. Having reached the limit of her patience, the emotionally frustrated wife vows to leave the ranch forever, running to the house in tears. In the barn that evening, Lennie has accidentally killed his puppy and is greatly upset. Curley's wife enters and tries to speak to him, admitting she is lonely and how her dreams of becoming a movie star were crushed, revealing the reason she flirts with the ranch hands. After finding out about Lennie's love of petting soft things, she lets him stroke her hair, but she soon complains and screams because he is pulling too hard. Lennie tries to keep her quiet but accidentally kills her by breaking her neck in the process. Realizing he is in trouble, he runs to the brush as George told him to do. Candy finds Curley's wife dead and informs George, and the two realize their dream will never happen. Curley leads a mob which chases after Lennie intending to lynch him. George finds Lennie first and, wanting to spare him a violent and painful death at the hands of the mob, calms Lennie by retelling their dream. As George gets to the part where Lennie gets to tend the rabbits, he shoots Lennie in the back of the head. The scene then returns to George in the boxcar, heading South, remembering their old dream and his memories of Lennie.

The story centers on Richard Dees, a deeply cynical reporter from a trashy supermarket tabloid called ''Inside View''. Dees' current subject of investigation is the Night Flier, an apparent serial killer who travels between small airports in a Cessna Skymaster, gruesomely killing people in a way that leads Dees to think the man is a lunatic who believes himself to be a vampire.

After only a few days of interviewing witnesses and following the killer's trail in his own Beechcraft Bonanza, Dees overtakes the Night Flier during a violent thunderstorm at Wilmington International Airport, and quickly learns that he is badly mistaken about his would-be quarry: it is, indeed, a vampire that is doing the killings. After Dees watches the Night Flier casually empty the bloody contents of his bladder into an airport urinal (or as much of this act as he can see reflected in a mirror), the creature warns off his "would-be biographer", destroys his photographic evidence, and leaves the mortally shaken reporter amidst a scene of carnage to explain himself to police, and watch as the Night Flier's plane takes off.

The movie adaptation follows the original plot fairly closely (and maintains Dees' deeply unsympathetic nature), except for adding a rival in the form of up-and-coming female reporter, and changing Dees' ultimate fate.

A young husband and wife on summer vacation rent a house in a small town called Willow, Maine, only to be warned repeatedly (if vaguely) to leave by the local inhabitants. They do not comply and, having purchased groceries, return to the house. They learn the price for prosperity the citizens of Willow must pay: every seven years a husband and wife will go there from outside and will stay, despite protests, to become sacrifices during the rainy season. When the "rain" starts, the couple learns the nature of the precipitation: an army of grotesque black toads the size of footballs, armed with needle-sharp teeth and able to chew through doors and walls. After the carnage, the toads melt away into poisonous sludge that is washed away easily. Two residents debate the price that is paid for their prosperity, but decide there is nothing they can do about it.

Police constables Ted Vetter and Robert Farnham are working the night shift at a small station in the London suburb of Crouch End. They discuss the case of Doris Freeman, a young American woman who came in to report the disappearance of her husband, lawyer Lonnie Freeman. Nearly hysterical, Doris arrived in the station speaking of monsters and supernatural occurrences.

Doris relates how she and her husband got lost while searching for a potential employer's house in Crouch End. While looking up the employer's address in a phone book, the cab they had hired mysteriously disappears, and the entire neighborhood becomes strangely deserted and alien, with the sole exception of a cat with a scarred face, and two children, one of whom has a deformed hand. After encountering something unseen beyond a hedge, Lonnie becomes unhinged, and eventually disappears while the couple is walking through a tunnel, leaving Doris alone and scared out of her mind as the surroundings become increasingly bizarre; even the night sky no longer shows Earth's stars, but some unknown alien sky. Eventually, Doris once again encounters the two disfigured children, who summon an enormous, hideous, otherworldly being from beneath the ground of Crouch End (implied to be the Lovecraftian goddess Shub-Niggurath). The monster has seemingly consumed Lonnie, alongside countless others whose spirits are now trapped in its body, and whose faces Doris glimpses trapped in the body of the being. After that, Doris remembers nothing else, until she woke up huddled in an entrance way back in the real world. Newcomer Farnham dismisses the story as a delusion caused by mental illness, but Vetter, who has policed Crouch End for decades, is not so sure, remembering a number of similar missing-person cases from years gone by. He speculates about other planes of existence, and of Crouch End perhaps being a location where the divide between our world and an alien, demonic world is somehow lesser.

Vetter goes out for a walk. After contemplating the story for a while, Farnham wonders what has become of him. Leaving the station empty, he walks down the street in search of Vetter, and notices that something seems strangely different about the neighborhood, most notably that the streetlights at the bottom of the street have all gone out. Farnham turns the corner at the bottom of the street and walks out of sight of the station - and is never seen again. Vetter returns from his walk just minutes later and can find no clue to Farnham's whereabouts. The official investigation into his vanishing can find no leads, and Vetter reaches retirement age soon after; he dies of a heart attack in his home six months later. Doris returns to America with her children, where she attempts suicide and spends time in a mental hospital, but eventually learns to live with the memory of Crouch End and is released. The story ends with the statement that there are still strange occurrences in Crouch End, and that, very occasionally, people are "...known to lose their way. Some of them lose it forever."

Four college students – Randy, Deke, Rachel, and LaVerne – swim to a wooden raft on a remote Pennsylvania lake in October as a final outing before winter. Randy notices a mysterious black substance floating on the surface that appears to chase the girls as they reach the raft. Deke and LaVerne ridicule Randy's suspicions until Rachel remarks on the beautiful bands of colors on the patch's oily surface and touches it. The black patch pulls her into the water, coats her, and rips her to shreds. The horrified trio helplessly watch her be devoured, expanding the size of the black shape.

After the initial panic, the three contemplate their next action, realizing they are trapped, since swimming past the black substance is impossible, as it moves too fast. The group told no one else about their outing, so they cannot hope to be rescued. Their only option is to wait and see if the thing leaves. Gazing at the creature's beautifully iridescent surface entrances and disorients the onlookers, nearly causing them to fall off the raft. As Deke prepares to make a desperate jump into the lake to swim to the shore, the creature oozes up through two boards and grabs him by his foot, pulling his leg through the crack in the boards. Deke screams, the blood is forced back up through his leg and he dies shortly afterward. Randy and LaVerne are forced to watch the rest of his corpse be dragged through the crack, slowly and laboriously. LaVerne faints, and Randy fights to maintain his sanity. Randy contemplates swimming to shore while the creature eats Deke but realizes that means he would have to leave the unconscious LaVerne behind.

After LaVerne regains consciousness, she and Randy take turns sitting, standing, and watching the creature, allowing brief moments of rest for one while the other watches for when the black patch goes under the raft. At night, LaVerne convinces Randy that they should sit and watch it together. As the temperature drops, the two slowly embrace for warmth and gradually begin to have sex, Randy assuring her that he will keep an eye on the creature. However, he is distracted by pleasure and, when LaVerne's hair falls over the side of the raft, the creature tangles itself in her hair and flows over her face. Knowing he will be unable to save her, he kicks her over the side of the raft in a panic, quickening her death.

Randy barely gets any sleep as night falls, since the creature flows under the raft every time Randy tries to sit down, forcing him to remain permanently standing. Randy finally breaks down and gives up, acknowledging the hopelessness of the situation. He fantasizes about rescue and sings deliriously, suffering from extreme fatigue. At last, Randy turns to the creature and contemplates if the creature's hypnotizing colors will take the pain out of being consumed. Randy does not look away as the creature's colors shimmer at him.

Richard Hagstrom, a middle-aged writer, is disenchanted with his tyrannical wife Lena, his disrespectful teenage son Seth, and his life in general. His teenage nephew Jonathan suddenly dies in a car accident caused by the writer's abusive brother Roger, who was driving drunk. Roger dies in the crash, along with Jonathan's gentle, kind mother, Belinda. From the boy's effects, the writer is given a word processor, which Jonathan was seemingly in the process of cobbling together from a dozen different sources before he died. When the writer turns it on, the startup message displays "Happy birthday, Uncle Richard", revealing that it was intended as a birthday gift for the main character. At home, Richard discovers that the processor has the mysterious ability to affect reality, but the electronics in the patchwork machine are brittle and will not function for long.

While in the middle of testing the processor, Richard's son returns home alongside his obnoxious band members. Overhearing his son badmouthing him, Richard deletes him, which retroactively erases his existence. His bandmates are gone, his room is empty, and every trace of him ever living there is gone. When his wife returns home, he finds she is now even fatter than when she left, the result of never having any children. After she vocally abuses him, he deletes her as well.

With the processor now rapidly deteriorating, Richard impulsively rewrites reality, making the nephew his own son, and his sister-in-law his wife, moments before the processor irreparably breaks. He turns around, finding the nephew alive once again, now calling him Dad.

The story is the account of an unnamed man being held in prison, recounting his life as a college dropout who met and fell in love with a beautiful girl named Nona, while aimlessly hitchhiking on a snowy winter's night in Maine. That night, the narrator is seduced by Nona into murdering several innocent bystanders. Somewhere near Castle Rock, Nona lures the narrator to a graveyard and morphs into a hideously large rat which laughs at him. It's not immediately clear whether the narrator has encountered a supernatural force or Nona is a figment of his insanity. Later, the narrator is found alone by the authorities, taken into custody, and sentenced to prison where he now writes his tale. Also, the narrator is preparing to commit suicide as he contemplates hearing strange sounds in the walls (not unlike H.P. Lovecraft's short story "The Rats in the Walls" (1924), King's own earlier short story, "Jerusalem's Lot" (1978), or King's later novella "1922" (2010)).

Richard "Dick" Morrison, a middle-aged smoker, is at John F. Kennedy International Airport when he encounters Jimmy McCann, his old college roommate and advertisement agency coworker. McCann, who had been a heavy smoker in college, credits a firm called Quitters, Inc. for helping him give it up and recommends that Dick try their services. The firm has a 98% success rate and guarantees that the person will never smoke again. Dick, who works in advertising, is reluctant as he has never seen this firm advertised in billboards or print media, to which McCann says it is a small firm with all the clients they can handle solely by word of mouth. Before leaving, McCann gives a business card to Dick, who promptly pigeonholes it.

A month later, when Dick is not happy in his job, he resorts to drinking, and Jimmy McCann's business card falls out of Dick's wallet when he pays the bartender. As the address is close to the bar, Dick decides to go to Quitters, Inc. on a lark. Dick is introduced to Victor Donatti, who will be his quitting counselor. Donatti tells the history of Quitters, Inc., that it was founded by a New Jersey mob boss who had been a heavy smoker and realized, before he died of lung cancer, that he must aid others in quitting. Dick is still uneasy, especially as Donatti asks many questions about the Morrison family without revealing the methods used.

The following day, Donatti states to Morrison that they have found out all the relevant information about his family. Although Donatti assures Morrison that Quitters, Inc. holds clients' personal information in the strictest confidence, Dick is disgusted and shocked at what has been discovered. Donatti then shows Dick their method: aversion training, demonstrated by electrocuting a rabbit so it would be trained not to eat. Donatti warns Dick that he will be under surveillance and if he is caught smoking, Dick's family will be sent to the "rabbit room".

For the first month, Dick will have round-the-clock surveillance to ensure he is not smoking and for the second and third months, the surveillance drops down to 18 hours a day ("but you will never know ''which'' eighteen", cautions Donatti). During the fourth month (when relapses often occur) the surveillance goes back up to 24 hours. From the fifth month until one year in the program, the surveillance will be reduced to 12 hours a day. After that, the surveillance consists of random checks for the remainder of his life. The brutal enforcement methods used by Quitters, Inc. are non-fatal electric shocks of increasing intensity to his wife, Cindy, a second infraction to him, and the third the both of them. A fourth infraction would involve beatings to his son, and subsequent infractions would result in more trips to the shock room with higher voltage, and more painful beatings of his son and wife. After the ninth infraction, his son's arms would be broken. Finally, if Dick commits a 10th infraction, he would be shot to death, with Donatti remarking "he would become part of the unregenerate 2%".

Donatti says Morrison should not worry too much about the torture, as 40% of Quitters, Inc. clients never violate the agreement at all, and only 10% are subject to a fourth or greater infraction. Donatti says Morrison's greatest problem will probably be temptation as a result of availability, as there is a newspaper stand in the lobby of the very building Quitters, Inc. is situated, and they sell all cigarette brands. Dick's desire to relapse is overcome by fear of the surveillance and torture, which he conceals from his wife in order not to frighten her.

Months go by and Dick is faithful to his resolve to quit smoking, even during a point when he drank excessively at a party; he is still sober enough to decline an offer for a smoke. He gradually loses the physical jitters of quitting, but the psychological craving for tobacco stays strong. One day during a stressful traffic jam, Dick's desire overtakes him and he finds an old pack of cigarettes in the glove compartment, lights a cigarette, but stubs it out after only three drags. After the traffic clears, Dick comes home to an empty house and a call from Donatti informing him that they have his wife. Dick heads to Quitters, Inc. only to be restrained by a Mafia enforcer and watches as Cindy is shocked at a low setting. After the shocking, Dick speaks with Cindy in private, who is forgiving and supportive that, according to her, Donatti has "let him out of a prison".

Shortly after the shocking, Dick has gained weight and Donatti obtains some prohibited diet pills for him to achieve a target weight. If Dick strays from this goal, Donatti threatens that his wife's right little finger will be cut off. Morrison exercises and keeps in shape, and gives the business card to a barfly, echoing the start of the story. The story ends when Dick and Cindy meet the McCanns, and Dick realizes Jimmy's wife is missing her little finger on her right hand.

Renshaw is a professional hit-man, who returns from his assassination of a toy-maker to find a package delivered to his penthouse apartment. The package contains a G.I. Joe Vietnam Footlocker, sent to him by the mother of the toy-maker he had recently killed. When he opens the package, he finds that the toy soldiers are alive with working copies (albeit miniature) of weapons, jeeps, and helicopters. To Renshaw's surprise, the tiny soldiers begin to attack him. Despite his training and experience as a hitman, Renshaw finds himself outnumbered and outgunned, and he cedes control of the living room to the toy soldiers, taking cover in the bathroom. The soldiers pass a piece of paper under the door, demanding his surrender, but Renshaw writes "NUTS!" on the paper and sends it back, prompting a barrage of rocket fire which destroys most of the door.

Renshaw eventually plots to destroy the soldiers with a Molotov cocktail constructed from a bottle of lighter fluid, but before the cocktail detonates, a massive blast destroys the entire apartment. Outside in a park below, a couple finds Renshaw's bloody T-shirt, and the other contents of the footlocker are revealed, including one made-to-scale thermonuclear weapon.

The story opens with the following epigraph:

''Survivor Type'' is written as the diary of a disgraced surgeon, Richard Pine, who, while attempting to smuggle a large amount of heroin aboard a cruise ship, is abruptly interrupted when an explosion occurs deep within the ship and it rapidly sinks. After barely escaping the sinking vessel, while encountering a storm in his empty lifeboat, Pine finds himself marooned on a tiny island in the Pacific with very limited supplies and no food. A self-proclaimed "survivor" type, Pine bitterly whittles away the time by using a logbook and pencil as his diary, detailing his rise and fall in the medical profession and his determination to survive this ordeal, get even with the people that "screwed him over," and return to prosperity.

Over time, the diary entries documenting Pine's day-to-day activities become more and more disjointed and raving, revealing his slow mental decay and eventual insanity caused by starvation, isolation, and drug use. Determined to hold out for rescue, he goes to horrifying lengths to survive. He eats insects, kelp and seagulls. After breaking his ankle while attempting to signal an airplane, he amputates his own foot, then realizes he has to eat it to survive. He continues to amputate his own limbs to use as a food source, ingesting the heroin as a crude anesthetic during these operations. Although he initially keeps track of the dates (the entries begin January 26), his increasing mental instability causes him to lose perception of the exact number of days passed (finally ending his entries with "''Febba''" and "''Fe/40?''"). His last few diary entries, barely comprehensible, indicate that Pine has sliced off and eaten both legs, as well as his earlobes, and drools uncontrollably as he ponders which body part to consume next. The diary entries end when he cuts off his left hand to eat it ("lady fingers they taste just like lady fingers").

The great magician Sagyr has won over his nemesis, the wicked witch Xandrilia, and regained the human shape of his former self. But Xandrilia's curse sends him 3,000 years in the future. There he finds out that the witch's posterity, known as the Xandrilians, plan to rule the universe with an army of monsters and machines. Determined to stop the forces of darkness, Sagyr pilots a small combat spacecraft on a desperate mission to destroy the planet where the Xandrilians live.

The story is set in the fictional town of Derry, Maine. Retiree Ralph Roberts encounters his formerly good-natured acquaintance Ed Deepneau at the local airfield. Ed is aggressive and swearing obscenely at a driver he accuses of secretly transporting fetal tissue from abortions. Some months later, Ralph (now a widower) encounters Ed's wife Helen who has been badly beaten by her husband after having signed a pro-choice related petition. Months later, Helen leaves Ed and hides at a women's shelter.

Ralph begins to suffer from sleep maintenance insomnia, waking earlier each night until he is barely able to sleep an hour each night. As his insomnia develops, Ralph begins to see things invisible and intangible to others: colorful manifestations of life-force surrounding people (auras), and diminutive white-coated beings he calls "little bald doctors," based on their appearance. He gradually concludes these are not hallucinations but genuine things present on a different level of reality. He realizes that Ed Deepneau also sees these things. Ralph's friend Lois Chasse admits to him that she too has recently begun seeing auras which she can interpret.

Ralph and Lois encounter two bald doctors, calling themselves Clotho and Lachesis, who act with dignity and free people from life when it is "their time" to pass away. A third bald doctor, Atropos, is a crazed rogue who seems to delight in disrupting lives and prematurely ending them. Ralph and Lois learn that life is largely governed by "The Purpose" and "The Random," forces or entities which are not enemies so much as opposites. Ed Deepneau is one of a few very rare beings who is not assigned to either force and can, therefore, greatly change existence. Ralph and Lois learn of the "Crimson King," a shape-shifting higher-dimensional villain who feeds on fear and grief and craves chaos to rule over. The Crimson King has sent Atropos to manipulate Deepneau as part of a plan to upset the entire order of the universe. Unable to intervene directly, Clotho and Lachesis, agents of the Purpose, gave Ralph and Lois insomnia to help them perceive, gain, and even access other levels of reality so they can defeat Atropos. The benign bald doctors describe these levels as beams of a "skyscraper," and Ralph has a vision of The Dark Tower, a representation of the multiverse.

Well-known and controversial pro-choice activist Susan Day is due to talk at the Derry civic center. Lois and Ralph see the building shrouded by a black aura, signifying a dark future. The Crimson King has been provoking Ed's feelings regarding abortion, turning him into a violent and paranoid fanatic. With a small plane containing C-4 explosives, Ed intends to make a kamikaze attack on the civic center during Susan Day's speech, killing her and everyone within. Lois and Ralph are resentful at being manipulated by outside forces but decide they must prevent the attack.

Allies of Ed Deepneau set fire to the shelter where Helen has been staying since leaving him. Ralph and Lois save the residents, then seek out Atropos. Ralph overcomes the malicious being, extracting a promise from Atropos that he will not interfere with him and Lois, knowing the little bald doctors are bound to their promises. Once released, Atropos torments Ralph with a vision of a car accident in the near future that will take the life of Helen's young daughter Natalie Deepneau. Her death will be retaliation for Atropos not being able to interfere with Ralph.

Ralph tells the benign bald doctors he will not stop Ed Deepneau unless they allow him to save Natalie Deepneau later, offering his own life for hers. A higher level entity briefly manifests, causing awe in the Clotho and Lachesis as it declares that Ralph's terms are acceptable. He and Lois learn that "almost all of reality has stopped to watch the events unfolding," as the success or failure of Ed's attack could affect all of reality. The Crimson King's true target is not the speaker Susan Day, as they had imagined, but a boy from the local shelter who will be in the audience: Patrick Danville, a young artist prophesied to one day play an instrumental role in preserving The Dark Tower (and thus the multiverse) and aiding in the defeat of the Crimson King. The Crimson King has repeatedly tried to end the life of a "messiah" but in Derry, a place of convergence, this is now possible.

Ed Deepneau takes off in his plane and Ralph fights him on board. The Crimson King manifests to prevent him from interrupting Ed's mission. Ralph succeeds in causing the plane to crash some distance away from the center, surviving by shifting himself to a higher plane of reality before impact. Returning to his proper place and reality, Ralph and Lois fall in love and get married, gradually forgetting their adventures with the little bald doctors.

In an epilogue taking place some years later, Ralph again starts experiencing insomnia. He once again see auras and eventually remembers his adventure and the promise to exchange his life for Natalie Deepneau's. He arrives in time to see the car from his vision appear and veer towards Natalie. Ralph pushes Natalie to safety, losing his own life in the process. He dies peacefully with Lois at his side as Clotho and Lachesis watch over him.

The two most important planters are Colonel Horacio da Silveira and Colonel Sinhô Badaró. Between their lands lies a large area of virgin forest, which both men have long coveted. Among the numerous people who head to the region in search of wealth are several who come to support one side or the other. Dr. Virgilio Cabral, a lawyer, becomes an ally of da Silveira. Another is Captain João Magalhães, a professional gambler and an opportunist. Among his admirers is Doña Ana Badaró, the colonel's daughter, who is also the heir to the family fortune.

Cabral falls in love with Ester, da Silveira's beautiful wife. They know that they will both be killed if the husband finds them out. Cabral is professionally successful, for he finds an old survey of the contested land and registers the title in da Silveira's name. The Badaró family and its supporters retaliate by burning the registry office and all the records. They then hire Magalhães to do a survey for them, even though he knows nothing about surveying. This leads da Silveira to form alliances with other, smaller landholders and eventually emerge victorious after many battles.

The lands on which Jerônimo and Jacundina have worked for 20 years change hands, and the new owner expels the settlers. They decide to head for work in the coffee plantations in São Paulo state, taking with them two of their children, three grandchildren, and two of Jerônimo's brothers and their families. Red Field is about the struggle of the displaced for decent conditions and a place to sleep. The travellers suffer from a lack of food and the harshness of the landscape. Half-starved, they finally reach the banks of the São Francisco River, from where they plan to continue their journey by boat. But only four eventually reach the coffee plantations, the rest dying on the way. Those who choose to remain on the arid Northeast plains of Brazil try to get by as best they can. One of the three remaining sons becomes a soldier, one a hired gunman, and one joins the Communist Party. As such, ''Red Field'' points to the different alternatives, some more extreme than others, that are open to the people of remote and poor areas: leave, take up religion or crime, or take up revolutionary struggle.

A movie of the same name based upon the novel was released in 1964.

Seara Vermelha primarily explores the themes of suffering within poverty. Amado also explores the idea of nature and the inhospitality of the Brazilian north eastern wilderness and landscape through which the characters must travel to search for a better life in São Paulo. Finally the theme of revolution and consistent suffering in hopes for a better life in the future is consistent throughout the entire text. The idea that the Brazilian countryside is a place of exhaustive struggle, revolt and pain are clear to interpret, yet Amado also incorporates the importance of the sense of community and loyalty within the context of the rural struggle. These are the ideas upon which the text is constructed. Clearly the book is promoting an anti-capitalist, and anti Estado Novo stance and also painting a socialist picture of communal revolt in the context of economic hardship for the peasant worker.

''Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon'' is a romantic tale set in the small Brazilian town of Ilhéus during the 1920s. The town is experiencing a record large cacao crop, which makes it a thriving place and gives it an economic upswing and great progress. Still there is a conservative streak among the town folk and they are still relying on old traditions, like violent political takeovers and vengeance against unfaithful women. The book tells two separate but related tales: first, the romance between Nacib Saad, a respectable bar owner of Syrian origin, and his new cook Gabriela, an innocent and captivating migrant worker from the impoverished interior. The gap between the worlds of Nacib Saad and Gabriela make their romance a challenge to the unwritten rules of Ilhéus society and will subsequently change the two of them forever.

The second part to this story is about the political struggle between the seasoned cacao plantation owners, with the powerful Bastos clan in pole position, and the forces of modernization, in the person of Mundinho Falcão, a wealthy young man from Rio de Janeiro. It can be read simultaneously as an unusual, charming love story, a description of the political and social forces at work in 1920s Brazil, a somewhat satirical depiction of Latin American aspirations to "modernity", and a celebration of the local culture and pleasures of Bahia.

The book is about what happens after Quincas Wateryell, a popular bum who lives in the slums of Salvador, Bahia, is found dead one morning. Two groups of people compete over Quincas's memory: his new friends and his old family. To his family, led by his daughter Vanda, Quincas Wateryell is Joaquim Soares da Cunha, formerly an "exemplary employee of the State Rent Board." According to Vanda, her father disgraced the family by walking out on them, calling Vanda and her mother Dona Otacilia "vipers" and Vanda's husband Leonardo a "silly ass." Despite all their efforts to hide what really happened, Joaquim Soares da Cunha became Quincas, "vagabond king of the honky-tonks" and "patriarch of the prostitutes." Leonardo attempts to hide it from his coworkers, and Vanda tries to keep it from her friends, but they cannot ignore the reputation that Joaquim Soares da Cunha has earned in the local press as Quincas Wateryell.

Now, Vanda, Leonardo, and Quincas's sister Aunt Marocas and brother Eduardo, must tend to the body and give it a proper burial, without attracting too much attention to Quincas and his past. They settle on a simple suit and shoes, but no underwear, because no one will ever see that, and order a casket and candles fit for a church. That night they gather around the casket to keep watch over Quincas, each trying to ignore his leering smile, which reminds them of how much he despised them. Gradually, they go home, leaving Quincas to be watched by his friends from the slum.

The cold reception that the news of Quincas's death is received by his family is juxtaposed by the way his friends from the slum receive the same news. His closest friends are Curió, a store barker in Shoemaker's Hollow, who paints his face like a clown to attract people; Bangs, a towering black man who makes his living as a card sharp; Private Martim, a soldier who had been discharged from the army who lived off the generosity of the women he was frequently engaged to; and Breezy, who supported himself catching frogs and selling them to medical researchers for experiments. The four men lead the neighborhood in mourning for Quincas, wailing "Daddy's gone!"

That evening, the friends come to pay their last respects and end up taking care of the body after the family leaves. They recall the impact that Quincas had on their lives, and remember how he got his curious nickname: once, after taking a swig from a bottle of what he thought was alcohol, he spat it out and roared: "Waaaaaaater!" They all sob for Quincas, and Private Martim worries about how he will now take care of Quitéria, a prostitute who was Quincas's girlfriend.

Left alone at night with the body, the four of them get Quincas to participate in one last party, telling him jokes serving him liquor, and making a gift of a beautiful frog that Breezy had just caught. They then decide to take Quincas on one last trip to the docks to share Cap'n Manuel's delicious fish stew that was Quincas's favorite. On their way to the dock, they pick up a group of prostitutes, including Quitéria, so she can have one last fling with the dead man.

Quincas always loved the sea, and after the friends feed him the stew, they take him on board Cap'n Manuel's boat for a fishing excursion. Suddenly a storm tosses the boat, and they rush for shore, but Quincas's body is tossed overboard. It is a fitting end for Quincas, who once made a "solemn oath" that the sea "would be the only witness to his final hour."

The novel, set in Salvador, Bahia, opens with the sudden death of Dona Flor's husband, Vadinho, who collapses in the midst of Carnival celebrations. He is dancing a samba in the streets when his heart gives out, a surprise to all as Vadinho had spent his entire life gambling, partying and drinking with no hint of problems. His nights on the town and his two-timing had been supported by sponging off Dona Flor, the owner of a successful cooking school and his demands for money had been a constant worry and cause of sleepless nights for her. The women of the town thought she was well rid of him. But after Vadinho's death, he remained the love of her life and she missed his seductiveness. He was irresistible, and his absence was, for Dona Flor, worse than the long nights when she waited for him to come home.

After a period of mourning, Dona Flor attracts another admirer, a local pharmacist, Teodoro. Unlike Vadinho he is a pillar of respectability, kind and considerate. Dona Flor accepts his proposal. While her new husband lacks the passionate sensuality of Vadinho, he compensates by providing a life free of worry. But, on the first anniversary of her marriage, Vadinho returns. He is now a ghost, but has lost none of his old ways. His activities create commotion everywhere, from Dona Flor's marriage bed to the local nightspots. She is torn between her attraction to the ghost and her desire to continue as the faithful wife of Teodoro, who has no idea what is going on.