Todd Howard (Jason Bateman), the cousin of Scott Howard, has recently been accepted into Hamilton University on a full athletic scholarship on the recommendation of Coach Bobby Finstock (Paul Sand), who was Scott's basketball coach at Beacontown High. Finstock's hope is that Todd has the family genes to become a werewolf and turn his new struggling boxing team into championship contenders.

Having never been very good at sports, and because he is more interested in being a veterinarian, Todd is certain that Finstock has the wrong guy. During a meet and greet reception of school alumni, he has his first "wolf-out" while dancing with a seductive hostess.

At first, Todd is horrified by his "family affliction", and fellow students begin to harass him. Then, during his first boxing match, after nearly getting knocked out, Todd has his second "wolf-out" only this time he is able to display his supernatural agility and strength and has a dramatic come from behind victory, thus earning the admiration of the students as well as the strict Dean Dunn (John Astin).

With his newfound fame comes girls, top grades and even a car from the dean but as the year goes on, Todd realizes that he is losing his friends and self-respect. He seeks advice from his uncle, Scott's father, Harold Howard (James Hampton), who helps him come to terms with his responsibilities and prepares him for the championship. Todd also reconnects with his girlfriend, Nicki (Estee Chandler), who helps him regain his focus on being humble.

Todd then decides that he will fight his championship match against Steve "Gus" Gustavson (Robert Neary), who he had prior issues with, as himself rather than the wolf much to the dismay of all except his uncle, girlfriend and Professor Tanya Brooks (Kim Darby). Brooks, who unbeknownst to Todd is also a werewolf, intimidates Dean Dunn with glowing red eyes, growling, and swaying her tail.

After losing round after round, and nearly getting knocked out, Todd is tempted to become the wolf until he sees Nicki mouth the words "I love you" to him. This gives him the strength to overcome Gus and knocks him out to a roaring ovation.

In San Francisco, down-on-his-luck U.S. Navy aviator Lt. Tuck Pendleton resigns his commission and volunteers for a secret miniaturization experiment. He is placed in a submersible pod and both are shrunk to microscopic size. They are transferred into a syringe to be injected into a rabbit, but the lab is attacked by a rival organization, led by scientist Dr. Margaret Canker, that plans to seize the experiment and steal the miniaturization technology.

Experiment supervisor Ozzie Wexler, knowing their intentions, escapes with the syringe. A chase ensues with one of Canker's henchmen, Mr. Igoe, which ends at a nearby shopping mall. After being shot, Ozzie injects Tuck and the pod into an unsuspecting Jack Putter, a hypochondriac Safeway grocery clerk, the first person he comes into contact with.

On regaining consciousness, Tuck is unaware of what has happened and believes he has been injected into the rabbit. After attempts to radio the lab are unsuccessful, he navigates the pod to the optic nerve and implants a camera so he is able to see what the "host" sees. Realizing he is inside a human, he makes contact by attaching another device to Jack's inner ear, enabling him to talk to Jack. He explains that the pod has only a few hours' supply of oxygen and needs his help in order to extract him by going back to the lab.

At the lab, the scientists explain to Tuck and Jack that the other group stole one of two computer chips that are vital to the process. Their mastermind is Victor Scrimshaw. His henchmen include Canker, Igoe, and "The Cowboy".

Jack contacts Tuck's estranged girlfriend, Lydia Maxwell, a reporter who has had dealings with The Cowboy. They learn that he plans to buy the computer chip from Scrimshaw. After locating and knocking him unconscious, Tuck uses the pod's equipment to control Jack's face muscles, altering his features so he looks like The Cowboy. Lydia and Jack, posing as The Cowboy, meet with Scrimshaw to steal the chip from him. However, as they are about to take possession of it, Jack's nervousness overrides the transformation of his face, exposing the scam. Igoe captures him and Lydia and takes them to their laboratory. While imprisoned, Jack and Lydia share a kiss, which, unknown to them, transfers Tuck into Lydia's body through their saliva. Once taken to the laboratory, the criminals shrink Igoe and inject him into Jack to locate Tuck, kill him, and obtain the other chip that is attached to the pod.

Once Igoe has been injected, Jack and Lydia escape, steal back the chip, and order everyone, including Scrimshaw and Canker, in the laboratory at gunpoint into the miniaturization device. However, not knowing how to operate it, they only manage to shrink everyone to half the original size. Tuck, now inside Lydia, finds a growing baby and realizes that she is pregnant with his child. By going to her eardrum and playing their song (Sam Cooke's "Cupid"), he is able to alert them what has happened. Jack and Lydia kiss again to transfer him back. They frantically drive back to the lab in order to enlarge him, not realizing that the shrunken Scrimshaw and Canker are hiding in the back seat. While they attempt to subdue Jack and Lydia, Igoe locates Tuck in Jack's esophagus and attacks him. Tuck disables Igoe's craft and he is killed after Tuck drops him into Jack's stomach.

Back at the lab, with only minutes of supplemental oxygen left in the pod, Jack follows Tuck's instructions to eject it from his lungs by making himself sneeze due to his hairspray allergy. Tuck and the pod are successfully enlarged, and he is reunited with Lydia and finally gets to meet Jack in person. At Tuck and Lydia's wedding, held at Wayfarers Chapel, Tuck is seen wearing the chips from the experiment as cufflinks. When they climb into the limousine, it is revealed that The Cowboy is the driver and the shrunken Scrimshaw and Canker are hiding inside a suitcase in the trunk. Now confident and in control of his life, Jack recognizes The Cowboy and jumps into Tuck's vintage 1967 Mustang, pursuing the limousine to rescue the newlyweds.

One year after their previous misadventures, Ben Healy and his adopted son Junior move from Cold River, Illinois to the quiet community of Mortville, Oregon to start over, following Ben and Flo's divorce. Moments after they arrive, dozens of women line up in their front yard, all wanting to date Ben.

On Junior's first day of third grade, he finds that Igor Peabody, the adoption agent from the first film, is the principal at his new school. Horrified, Mr. Peabody promptly promotes Junior to sixth grade to avoid dealing with Junior for four years. There, Junior meets Murph, the school bully, and gets on his bad side when he tapes him to the chalkboard. Murph retaliates by dropping the school's satellite dish on Junior, but it misses him and hits Ben instead, knocking him out. When Ben comes to, he sees the school nurse, Annie Young, and becomes smitten with her. Junior, annoyed at Ben's sudden love interest, attempts to vandalize Annie's picture hanging in the hall, only to be foiled by Trixie, Annie's daughter, who is as mischievous as Junior. When Junior confronts Trixie for harassing him, Trixie states that she can harass anybody she wants and punctuates her point by giving Junior a lit M-80. Junior panics and promptly flushes it, and it explodes right when his teacher, Mr. Thorn, sits on the toilet. Throughout the film, Junior and Trixie engage in an escalating prank war.

Ben decides to date again to find a new wife and mother, but Junior is against it. He thwarts Ben's first date by phoning her jealous former husband, who storms into the restaurant and picks a fight with Ben. Junior also videotapes his irresponsible babysitter having sex with her boyfriend and broadcasts it to the entire neighborhood. Ben reminds Junior they are new in town and must attempt to fit in.

That evening, Ben's father, Big Ben Healy and his Jack Russell terrier, Nippy, arrive to live with them after he loses all of his money in a bad investment. Ben's second date goes even worse when Junior rewires the doorbell, and the woman gets electrocuted. Around the same time, LaWanda Dunmore, the richest, snootiest, kid-hating woman in Mortville, takes an interest in Ben, while being horrified by Junior's past, which includes the Union Carbide plant explosion. While Ben and Junior are gone, she redecorates the house to impress Ben.

Meanwhile, Ben takes Junior to a carnival. After being taunted by Trixie and Murph for being too short to ride the Crazy Dance, as well as seeing Trixie cheat her way on by wearing platform shoes, Junior tampers with the ride by turning its settings up to maximum speed, causing everyone, including Trixie and Murph, to get sick and vomit all over each other and the entire ride to eventually break down. On the way home, a disappointed Ben makes Junior promise to behave.

However, when Junior learns that LaWanda redecorated his room with a clown theme, which he detests, he swiftly reneges on his promise and retaliates by putting live cockroaches in her dinner. Disgusted and angered, she threatens to send him to boarding school in Baghdad when she is his mother. He tries to tell Ben this, but Ben refuses to believe him, saying Junior is no longer credible.

At a school function, a puppet show goes awry. Ben is surprised to see Trixie, not Junior, was behind it, and that Annie is her mother. Ben tries to tell Annie he understands what it is like raising a problem child and thinks they can help one another. She acknowledges she likes him, but if they date, Trixie's behavior will only get worse. Ben proposes to LaWanda, believing she is the only woman who will marry him.

By a chance meeting at a pizzeria, Ben, Annie, Junior, and Trixie dine together and have a good time, even after the food fight that the kids start with Igor gets them banned from the restaurant; Junior and Trixie apologize for pranking each other and become best friends, deciding their parents should date.

Junior tries to stop the wedding by switching LaWanda's blood sample with that of a rabid dog. Handcuffed by animal control and sent to the hospital for observation, LaWanda is more determined than ever that the wedding goes on. Junior then switches LaWanda's chart again with a patient having surgery to enlarge his nose, believing it will make LaWanda so ugly that Ben will not want to marry her. The night before the wedding, Junior and Trixie make a wish at the town Love Rock that their parents will get together.

At the altar the next day, LaWanda reveals she had last-minute plastic surgery to fix her nose. Just then, Trixie appears operating a bulldozer with the Love Rock, and LaWanda, revealing herself as a child hater (which makes Ben realize Junior was telling the truth about her), gets trapped underneath. Ben tells Annie that she is the one he wants and suggests Big Ben should propose to LaWanda himself, which he does. Junior puts Trixie's firecracker in his slingshot, causing the cake to blast off and land on LaWanda and Big Ben. Junior, Ben, Annie, and Trixie then walk off as the film comes to a close.

In suburban Chicago in 1984, high school sophomore Samantha "Sam" Baker is hopeful her 16th birthday is the beginning of a great new year, but is shocked when her family forgets the occasion because her older, beautiful, self-absorbed sister Ginny is getting married the next day.

At school, Sam fills out a friend's sex quiz where she reveals her crush on senior Jake Ryan. Meanwhile, Jake, having noticed Sam's looks at him, asks his friend Rock about her. Rock dismisses her as an immature child, but Jake says he is frustrated by his girlfriend Caroline's partying ways. On the bus ride home, Sam fends off repeated flirtations from geeky freshman Ted.

At home, Sam's day gets worse when she discovers she must sleep on the sofa because her grandparents and a foreign exchange student named Long Duk Dong are all staying at the house for the wedding. She is further upset when her grandparents also do not remember her birthday and have Dong go with her to a dance at school that night.

At the dance, Sam pines for Jake while Dong has attracted the powerful and strong jock, Marlene. Ted, in an effort to impress his friends Bryce and Wease, dances with Sam, who runs off in tears. In an effort to salvage his reputation with all the geeks, Ted bets Bryce and Wease a dozen floppy disks that he will get physical with Sam before the dance ends. As proof, Bryce and Wease demand Sam's underwear. Jake asks Ted about Sam, having seen them dancing.

Ted apologizes to Sam, who opens up about her family forgetting her birthday and her crush on Jake. Ted tells her that Jake asked about her and Sam is shocked and asks what Ted thinks she should do. Despite his genuine interest in Sam, Ted encourages her to talk to Jake, and she agrees. Before she leaves, he gets her underwear to win his bet and he, Bryce, and Wease charge the other freshmen boys a dollar to see it. Meanwhile, Sam tries to approach Jake, but loses her nerve and runs off. Jake and Caroline leave the dance, leaving Sam thinking Jake does not like her.

At Jake's house, Caroline and her friends have started a wild party. Jake, angry with Caroline, retreats to his bedroom and tries calling Sam, but instead is yelled at by her grandparents for waking them up, and tell him that Sam isn't interested. After the party, Jake is furious at the damage left behind. He finds Ted trapped under a glass coffee table after having knocked over the beer can pyramid the night before. Ted tells him Sam is interested in him and Jake confesses that he has lost interest in Caroline. He takes Sam's underwear from Ted and, in exchange, lets Ted take a drunken Caroline home in his father's Rolls Royce. To further impress the geeks, Ted stops at Bryce and Wease's house to get Wease to take a picture of him with Caroline in the expensive car, but the finished picture only reveals the top of Ted's head.

Sam's father apologizes for forgetting her birthday, and tells her that if Jake does not see what a wonderful person she is, then he is not worth Sam's time. She lies on the couch thinking of Jake, not knowing that he is also thinking of her.

The next morning, Sam's mother apologizes to her for forgetting her birthday, and everyone heads to the church for the wedding. Jake arrives at Sam's house, where a hungover Dong miscommunicates that Sam is at church getting married. Jake finds Caroline and Ted making out in the back of his dad's banged-up car, and they break up. Jake then surprises Sam at the church after the wedding and invites her back to his house.

That night, Jake gives Sam her underwear, and a birthday cake with 16 candles on it. He tells her to make a wish and she tells him her wish already came true. They kiss as the film fades to black.

In Los Angeles, Billie York is murdered by a man known as Mr Jigsaw because she possesses a microfilm that can turn cocaine into cookies. Her former partner, Wes Luger, who is about to retire, is assigned the case by the reluctant captain Doyle, who dismisses it as a suicide but gives Luger the case. The catch is that Luger will have to be partnered with Jack Colt, a burned out cop who recently lost his dog, Claire. The two visit Harold Leacher, who tells them that Colt's former general in the Vietnam War, Mortars, is heading the operation. Meanwhile, Jigsaw and Mortars visit Mike McCraken, whom Jigsaw murders for losing the microfilm.

After finding the body, Colt and Luger go to Rick Becker, who claims that he laundered money with York (the money actually being in the laundry machine), but Rick is shot multiple times by unknown assailants, forcing Colt and Luger to go to the Wilderness Girls factory. The head, Destiny Demeanor, claims no knowledge of the operation during the trial, but she is revealed to be working for Mortars and his gang. Colt meets Luger's family, but he runs away when they try to seduce him. Destiny and Colt hang out at Colt's house, while Mortars sends a helicopter to destroy Colt's house (a trailer that is actually a mansion inside), but they accidentally destroy John McClane's house.

Due to lack of evidence, Doyle dismisses the case, but Colt still decides to stop the operation, much to the dismay of Luger. Luger is a by-the-book cop, after he took an unscheduled break from his crossing guard duties (as a child), which led to an old lady being run over by a car and killed. Colt breaks in and Destiny, now having fallen in love with Colt, attempts to stop Mortars, but Mortars shows that he was the one who kidnapped Claire, and shows him Rick and Claire chained to a wall (Rick actually having survived the incident). Mortars shoots Destiny, who clings to life long enough to confess her feelings for him. Colt manages to catch up with Mortars, but then Luger shows up, having considered what Colt said to him earlier. He shoots and kills Mortars, and Colt kills Jigsaw, but starts a fire that destroys the whole factory. Doyle shows up, and asks Luger to stay in the force. Luger agrees, but as long as Colt is his partner. In the end, Destiny, having survived, shows up with Rick and Claire, and the team dances to "Bohemian Rhapsody".

Former Las Vegas showgirl Rachel Phelps inherits the Cleveland Indians baseball team from her deceased husband. Phelps hates Cleveland and wants to relocate the team to Miami. The Indians' contract with Cleveland contains an escape clause stipulating that the team may relocate only if attendance for an entire season is below 800,000. That means they likely have to finish in last place to reduce fan interest and relocate to Miami. Determined to put together the worst team in the major leagues, Phelps hires Lou Brown, the manager for the Toledo Mud Hens, to manage the team and promotes former manager Charlie Donovan to general manager.

During spring training in Tucson, Arizona, the team's shortcomings become evident. The team's only star, third baseman Roger Dorn, is an egotistical prima donna whose contract is nearly up; he cares more about retiring uninjured than winning. Aging ace Eddie Harris has to rely on illegally doctoring the baseball due to his weakening arm. Pedro Cerrano, a voodoo-practicing Cuban import with significant slugging power, cannot hit curveballs and clashes with the devoutly Christian Harris. Veteran catcher Jake Taylor, a former Indians star who spent the previous few years playing in the Mexican League after his knees gave out, has lost so much strength on his throws that he can barely reach second base.

The two players who draw the most attention are brash young outfielder Willie Mays Hayes, who showed up at spring training without an invitation, and pitcher Rick Vaughn, a convicted felon released from a California prison after serving time for stealing a car. Hayes claims he can "run like Hayes" and "hit like Mays". He proves to be the fastest player on the team and adept at base-stealing, but his first trip to the batting cage makes it clear he can only hit pop-ups. Vaughn has a fastball in the mid 90s, but has no control over it, which earns him the nickname "Wild Thing".

The team predictably starts the season on a losing streak. Lou then discovers Vaughn's control issues stem from an uncorrected visual impairment. After being fitted with glasses, Vaughn's performance improves with additional coaching and assistance from Taylor. Lou trains Hayes to hit ground balls by penalizing him with push-ups whenever he hits the ball in the air, and employs a similar strategy to punish Dorn if he fails to make an effort when fielding. Cerrano develops into a formidable home-run threat, though he remains unable to hit curveballs. With the players' growing production, the team begins to win. Meanwhile, Taylor tries to reunite with his ex-girlfriend Lynn despite her engagement to another man.

Phelps, angered by the team's improvement, tries to demoralize them by removing team amenities. She replaces their chartered team jet, first with a rickety Douglas DC-3 and then an old bus. She refuses to fix their workout equipment and has the hot water to the locker room turned off, claiming that the low gate receipts require her to cut expenses. Despite her efforts the team continues winning and draws closer to possible contention for the division championship.

Eventually, Charlie decides to reveal Phelps's plan to Lou, who then calls a team meeting. He explains the situation, adding that all of the players on the current roster would be released or sent back to the minors at the end of the season. With nothing to lose, Taylor stands up and says, "I guess there's only one thing left to do -- win the whole ... thing." If they win the division, Phelps can't move the team or get rid of them.

As the victories accumulate, Cleveland takes notice and fans start filling the stands. The team succeeds in tying with the New York Yankees for first place in the American League East division, leading to a one-game playoff to determine the division championship. Lou decides to start Harris in place of Vaughn due to Harris's greater experience pitching to the Yankees.

The playoff game in Cleveland is scoreless until the top of the seventh when the Yankees take a 2–0 lead, but in the bottom of the seventh, Cerrano finally connects on a curveball and hits a two-run home run to tie the game. The ninth inning begins with a weary Harris loading the bases after recording two outs. With the Yankees’ best hitter, Clu Haywood, up next, Lou brings in Vaughn. Despite being unable to get Haywood out in previous games, Vaughn strikes him out on three pitches.

In the bottom of the inning, Hayes singles with one out and the Yankees bring out "The Duke", their headhunting closer. Taylor then steps up, and Hayes steals second. After getting a pitch thrown at his head for taunting Duke by pointing towards the outfield, clearly making a reference to Babe Ruth's famous called shot, Taylor signals to the dugout and Lou relays the signal to the third-base coach. After Taylor taunts Duke again, Hayes takes off for third and Taylor unexpectedly bunts. Despite his bad knees, Taylor beats the throw to first base as Hayes, who never stopped running, rounds third and slides under the throw from first to score and win the game.

Phelps is stunned speechless at the team's triumph. As fans rush the field, Taylor spots Lynn in the stands, no longer wearing her engagement ring. The two run to embrace each other as the team and their fans celebrate the victory.

Alternate ending

The theatrical release includes added scenes of Rachel Phelps showing dismay with the team's success. An alternate scene included on the "Wild Thing Edition" DVD shows a very different characterization of Phelps. Lou Brown confronts Phelps over her plan to sabotage the team and announces his resignation. Phelps then reveals the threatened move to Miami was merely a ruse to motivate the team, as the Indians were on the verge of bankruptcy when she inherited them and she could not afford to hire star players or maintain standard amenities. She also tells Lou that she felt he was the right manager to bring the ragtag group together. Lou does not resign, but Phelps reasserts her authority by saying that if he shares any part of their conversation with anyone, she will fire him.

The film's producers said that while the twist ending worked as a resolution of the plot, they scrapped it because test audiences preferred the Phelps character as a villain.

Soon after World War I is over, Naval Aviator "Spig" Wead (John Wayne), along with John Dale Price (Ken Curtis), tries to prove to the Navy the value of aviation in combat. To do this, Wead pushes the Navy to compete in racing and endurance competitions. Several races are against the US Army aviation team led by Captain Herbert Allen Hazard (based on General Jimmy Doolittle—played by Kenneth Tobey).

Wead spends most of his time either flying or horsing around with his teammates, meaning that his wife Minnie, or "Min" (Maureen O'Hara), and children are ignored.

The night Wead is promoted to fighter squadron commander, he falls down a flight of stairs at home, breaks his neck and is paralyzed. When "Min" tries to console him he rejects her and the family. He will only let his Navy mates like "Jughead" Carson (Dan Dailey) and Price near him. "Jughead" visits the hospital almost daily to encourage Frank's rehabilitation ("I'm gonna move that toe"). Carson also pushes "Spig" to get over his depression, try to walk, and start writing. Wead achieves some success in all three goals.

After great success in Hollywood, Wead returns to active sea duty with the Navy in World War II, developing the idea of smaller escort, or "jeep," carriers which follow behind the main fleet as auxiliary strength to the main aircraft carrier force. He returns to active combat duty in the Pacific, witnessing first hand kamikaze attacks. The film's battle scenes, based around aircraft carriers, include real combat footage. Following a 50-hour shift during combat operations, Wead has a heart attack and is retired home before the war ends. When he leaves the carrier he is serving in for the last time, he receives eight side boys in honor of his contributions to aviation—all of them Navy admirals or Army generals.

Director John Ford is represented in the film in the character of film director John Dodge, played by Ward Bond.

Will Randall is bitten by a black wolf he accidentally struck while driving home in Vermont. Afterwards, he gets demoted from editor-in-chief of a publishing house when it gets taken over by tycoon Raymond Alden, who replaces him with Will's protégé Stewart Swinton. Will discovers that Stewart had begged Raymond for the job behind Will's back and suspects that Stewart is having an affair with his wife Charlotte, after he smells Stewart's scent on her clothes. Will bites Stewart on the hand while entering his apartment and rushes to the room to find Charlotte half-naked. His worst fears are confirmed, and he leaves without saying a word. Will becomes more aggressive as he starts taking on the characteristics of a wolf.

With the help of Raymond's headstrong daughter Laura, Will sets out for his new life. His first werewolf transformation takes place at Laura's estate, where he wakes up at night and hunts down a deer. In the morning, Will finds himself on the bank of a stream, with blood all over his face and hands. He visits Dr. Vijav Alezais, who gives him an amulet to protect him from turning completely into a wolf. However, he cannot persuade Will to infect him. That night, Will transforms into a werewolf again: he breaks into the zoo and steals handcuffs from a policeman. Muggers want his wallet, but Will attacks and bites the fingers off one of them. He wakes up in his hotel, with no memory of what happened.

Will organizes a mutiny of writers, who threaten to leave the publishing house unless he is retained as editor-in-chief. Raymond agrees, and Will's first act is to fire Stewart, urinating on his shoes in a bathroom and claiming he is "marking his territory". While washing his hands, Will finds the fingers in his handkerchief and realizes he has wounded someone. He cuffs himself to a radiator in his hotel room, but Laura arrives and downplays his belief that he is werewolf. The next morning, Detective Bridger knocks on Will's door to inform him that Charlotte was found dead in Central Park with canine DNA on her. Will wonders if he murdered Charlotte, but does not know that it was actually Stewart who killed her.

Believing Will is a murderer, Laura goes to the police station. There, she runs into Stewart, who makes an animal-like pass at her while sporting increasingly obvious werewolf traits (noticeably, golden eyes). Laura hurries away, making arrangements for her and Will to leave the country. After killing two guards at the estate, Stewart corners Laura in the barn with the intention to rape her, but Will intervenes after discarding the amulet restraining him and the two fight; in the end, Stewart is shot to death by Laura after getting heavily mauled by Will. Still in a half-human state, Will has a brief moment with Laura and then runs into the forest before anyone else can arrive.

Minutes later, Laura herself shows heightened senses when the police arrive; telling Bridger that she can smell vodka on his breath before taking her leave. The final scene is a close-up of her face and of Will finally turning into a full wolf howling for Laura. Then it goes back to Laura's face as her eyes become wolf-like, hinting that she herself is transforming into a werewolf.

At the height of the Great Depression, aspiring singer Olive Stanton dreams of getting a job as an actress with the Federal Theatre Project. Playwright Marc Blitzstein is working on his new musical, ''The Cradle Will Rock'', but lacks the inspiration to finish it. While attending a public protest, he is visited by two imaginary figures representing his late wife and the famed German playwright Bertolt Brecht. They encourage him to make the play more relevant to the times rather than an abstract concept.

Ventriloquist Tommy Crickshaw is assigned the untalented duo Sid and Larry to train. He attempts to initiate a romance with FTP clerk Hazel Huffman. Actor Aldo Silvano moves out of the apartment paid for by his parents because of his family's fascist sympathies.

At the same time, the FTP faces increasing pressure from the federal government, which has begun investigating leftist infiltration of American society through the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Huffman and Crickshaw rehearse her alarmist testimony. The committee accuses FTP director Hallie Flanagan of propagating communism, making reference to her past claims and the play ''Revolt of the Beavers''.

Huffman rejects Crickshaw's advances. He oversleeps and wakes up to Sid and Larry doing his routine, with one of them playing the dummy. Depressed, Crickshaw gives a show in which his dummy is a communist. Part of the disgusted audience, Huffman cries and leaves. Crickshaw leaves his dummy on the stage, which is carried off by Sid and Larry. After her testimony, Huffman is shunned by her coworkers.

The WPA, faced with the threat of losing its budget, cuts funding for all FTP productions, lays off thousands of workers, and orders all ongoing projects, including ''The Cradle Will Rock'', to cease their activities. The actors' union refuses to let them perform without federal approval, cancelling the show's opening.

Rather than give in, the show's director, Orson Welles, and producer, John Houseman, set up an improvised performance in a shuttered theater, with Blitzstein as both the cast and the orchestra. As he begins the first song, the other actors suddenly appear in the audience and perform the entire play without setting foot on the stage. A group of workers destroy the mural ''Man at the Crossroads'', following a dispute between Nelson Rockefeller and Diego Rivera over the inclusion of Russian communist leader Lenin in the artwork.

As the cast and audience break into celebration, a group of former FTP performers stage a mock funeral of Crickshaw's dummy (renamed "Federal Theatre Project") down the street outside. The procession walks into present-day Times Square, which is lined with billboards advertising Broadway plays.

The story begins in Harlem 1986, and Nino Brown and his gang, the Cash Money Brothers (CMB), become the dominant drug ring in New York City once crack cocaine is introduced to the streets. His gang consists of his best friend, Gee Money; enforcer Duh Duh Duh Man; gun moll Keisha; Nino's girlfriend, Selina; and her tech-savvy cousin, Kareem.

Nino converts the Carter apartment complex into a crack house. Gee Money and Keisha kill rival Fat Smitty, the CMB throws out the tenants, and Nino forces the landlord out onto the streets naked. Meanwhile, undercover detective Scotty Appleton attempts to make a deal with stick-up kid Pookie, but Pookie runs off with the money. Appleton chases Pookie and shoots him in the leg, but the police let him go. Nino's gang successfully run the streets of Harlem over the next three years.

When Det. Stone comes under pressure, Appleton volunteers to infiltrate Nino's gang and is partnered with loose-cannon Nick Peretti. Elsewhere, mobster Frankie Needles attempts to collect taxes from Nino, who refuses to pay. While Appleton and Peretti spy on Nino and his gang as they hand out Thanksgiving turkeys to the poor, Appleton spots Pookie, now a crack addict, as the man beats his junkie girlfriend. Instead of arresting him, Appleton gets Pookie into rehab. Later Pookie offers to help bring down Nino. Against his better judgment and the disapproval of Stone and Peretti, Appleton recruits Pookie as an informant in the Carter.

When Pookie relapses, Gee Money realizes that he is wired, and he orders the Carter destroyed. The cops find Pookie's bloody corpse, but it is booby-trapped; Peretti defuses the explosives seconds before it explodes. Angry, Nino warns Gee Money not to make such a costly mistake again.

After Pookie's funeral and no longer needed by Stone, Appleton, and Peretti go undercover as drug dealers. After bribing Frankie Needles, Appleton infiltrates the CMB, due in part to Gee Money's increasing ambition and drug use. Though Nino distrusts them, he agrees to do business. After relating an anecdote about his own violent initiation into a gang, Nino warns that he will kill both Appleton and Gee Money if there are any problems.

Appleton gains Nino's trust when he reveals information about Gee Money's side deal and saves Nino from the gun-toting Old Man who had earlier appealed to police for help against Nino. While Nino, Appleton, and the CMB attend a wedding, Peretti sneaks into Nino's mansion to collect evidence.

Don Armeteo sends hitmen to kill Nino, and a massive shootout erupts between the CMB and his hitmen. When Nino uses a child as a shield, Appleton attempts to shoot Nino behind his back. Keisha is killed as she shoots the hitmen's van as they escape. Later, Selina condemns Nino for being a murderer, and Nino throws her out. Nino later kills Don Armeteo and his crew in retribution for the wedding shootout.

Stone, Appleton and Peretti arrange a sting operation to nab Nino. Kareem, who knows that Appleton and Pookie were connected, blows Appleton's cover, and a shootout ensues. Peretti saves Appleton by killing the Duh Duh Duh Man, and Nino escapes. That night, Nino confronts Gee Money, who accuses Nino of egotism, and Nino regretfully kills him. After the gang's collapse, Nino holes up in an apartment and continues his criminal empire solo. Appleton and Peretti assault the complex, and Appleton brutally beats Nino, revealing that it was his mother that Nino killed in his gang initiation. Peretti talks Appleton out of killing Nino, who is taken into custody amid threats of retaliation.

At his trial, Nino pleads guilty to a lesser charge, claims to have been forced to help the gang due to threats, and identifies Kareem as the leader. When Nino is sentenced to only a year in jail, Appleton is outraged. As Nino speaks with reporters outside of the courtroom, the Old Man again confronts Nino and fatally shoots him in the chest. Appleton and Peretti are both satisfied as Nino falls over the balcony to his death. As onlookers look down at Nino's corpse, an epilogue states to the viewers that decisive action must be taken to stop real-life Nino Brown analogues.

While rescuing Sub-Commander T'Pol from a spatial anomaly, Captain Archer is infected by subspace parasites in his cerebral cortex, resulting in anterograde amnesia. His condition prevents him from forming new long-term memories. This allows him to remember everything prior to the accident, but any new memories fade within a few hours. It soon becomes clear that Archer is not fit for duty, and he is subsequently relieved of his command. T'Pol is granted a field commission to Captain, but the mission fails and Earth, alongside every other human colony, is destroyed by the Xindi weapon. The few surviving humans form a convoy, led by the ''Enterprise'', which travels to the planet Ceti Alpha V.

Twelve years pass and Archer, still plagued by memory loss, lives with T'Pol in a house on the colony. She has given up her career to care for him. They are visited by Doctor Phlox, who eventually engineers a cure. He also discovers that when the subspace radiation treatments kill one of the parasite clusters in Archer's brain, it also vanishes from every other previous medical scan as if the parasite had never existed. Therefore, since Archer will never have been infected, he would have remained Captain and possibly prevented the chain of events that led to Earth's destruction.

Unfortunately, the ship, now captained by Captain Tucker, is observed and attacked by Xindi vessels before the treatments can be completed. The Enterprise is outnumbered and heavily damaged. Phlox, T'Pol, and Archer race to create a subspace implosion and as their procedure nears completion, Phlox, T'Pol and the entire bridge crew are killed. Archer himself is fatally wounded but manages to complete the procedure. The ship is destroyed, but their plan works and the subspace parasites are also destroyed by the implosion, and wiped out through time. The timeline is reset; Archer is in sickbay recovering from a physical injury but will never develop the amnesia he originally suffered.

Theatrical version

In the summer of 1979, 19-year-old Irish-American filling station attendant Shane O'Shea lives in Jersey City, New Jersey with his widowed, conservative father Harlan and two younger sisters Grace and Kelly. Shane longs for a more glamorous life across the river in New York's Manhattan, so one night he talks his two friends into going to Studio 54, a disco nightclub. Once inside, Shane is exposed to the flashy, hedonistic world of 54, with unbridled alcohol, drugs, and open sex. Against his father’s wishes, Shane returns to 54 the next night and is hired by Steve as a busboy. Shane eventually moves out of his family's house in Jersey City after fighting with his father over his new job, and moves in with Greg and Anita in Manhattan.

After a short time bussing tables, Shane gets promoted to bartender with the help of a club regular Billie Auster, a customer who has a one-night stand with Shane. Shane's promotion causes tension with Greg as Greg feels that he didn't get the job because he wouldn't let Steve perform oral sex on him. Shane gains status and does an interview article/beefcake photo shoot for ''Interview Magazine'', uses drugs, and sleeps with multiple women as he makes a name for himself. After a while, Shane begins to feel as if people only want him for sex.

Shane’s fame also affects his relationships with his friends and family. Greg, who now deals drugs on the side for extra money, criticizes Shane for his conceited attitude on Christmas Eve and accuses him of trying to sleep with Anita after catching him making a pass at her once before at their apartment. Shane’s father Harlan, whom he hasn’t seen or spoken to since he moved to New York City, rejects him when he comes home to visit on Christmas Day after a female family friend who got into 54 one night informs Harlan that she saw Shane doing drugs there. However, Shane does experience some brief happiness during the holidays when he strikes up a short-lived romance with his celebrity crush (and fellow New Jerseyan) Julie Black, a soap opera starlet determined to succeed in the film industry.

Shane discovers Julie with Roland Sachs, an agent that she plans to sleep with, causing Shane to reject her. In his anger, Shane gets into a fight with Steve. Steve fires Shane and has him thrown out of the club. Simultaneously, the FBI raids 54 and arrests Steve, as he’s been skimming money from the club’s nightly take. As Shane leaves 54 in disgrace, Julie passes by him, and they part ways but agree to remain friends.

An epilogue reveals the fates of the main characters. Julie moves to Hollywood and gets a small part in a movie. Anita records a moderately successful album with Casablanca Records and Greg gets a job in construction after six months' probation for dealing drugs at 54. Shane works nights as a restaurant manager in Greenwich Village and takes business classes at NYU during the day. Steve is convicted and sentenced to 18 months in jail, causing 54 to close as a result; upon release, he is forced to sell 54 but remains as a consultant under the new management. Greg and Anita reunite at the newly reopened 54, where Steve is hosting a one-night welcome-back party for all of his old friends and employees after his release from prison. Ultimately, 54 closes permanently in 1986, and Steve dies of AIDS in 1989 at age 45.

Director's cut additions

The director's cut opens with a new narration of the movie's original opening as Shane is seen leaving 54 after being thrown out on New Year’s Eve. Shane’s narration from the theatrical version is eliminated.

Shane is openly bisexual. In a moment of confusion, he kisses Greg in the VIP room on Christmas Eve. Shane then has sex with Anita in the ladies’ room after she and Greg have a fight. Anita sees Steve watching them. She hits Shane in the stomach and runs out of the ladies' room in shame.

When Shane runs low on cash due to his numerous debts, Greg lets him in on his drug-dealing operation. Shane steals some of Steve's skimmed cash as capital and repays it on New Year's Eve.

Greg eventually agrees to let Steve perform oral sex on him for the bartender job, but Steve says he'd rather watch Greg and Anita have sex instead, as he did on Christmas Eve. Greg goes to the cloakroom to confront Anita and sees her hugging Shane. Greg gets into a fistfight with Shane. Shane freebases cocaine to ease his emotional pain.

After Greg and Anita reconcile following her interrupted debut performance, Anita leaves with Billie for a photo op. Shane discovers G-men raiding Steve’s office and runs back upstairs to warn Greg, but Greg ignores him. Greg then runs to get his things from his locker when he sees Shane being thrown out of the club, but discovers that a G-man has already beat him to it and has found his drugs.

After Shane is thrown out of 54, he sees Greg running up behind him. Shane offers him his garbage bag cloak, and Greg begrudgingly accepts. Anita runs to them in a fancy fur coat and cloaks Greg in it with her as they both depart. Greg calls for Shane to come along with them, just as Julie pulls up alongside in her limousine and offers Shane a ride. Shane declines and leaves with Greg and Anita, the three of them staying together as a family instead of drifting apart.

John Buckingham (Ben Chaplin), a introverted, lonely St Albans bank clerk, orders a mail-order bride Nadia (Nicole Kidman) from Russia on the Internet. John is uncomfortable and shy, but Nadia is sexually bold.

Although Nadia cannot speak English and John cannot speak Russian, they soon bond. Later on, a man she introduces as her cousin Yuri (Mathieu Kassovitz) and his friend Alexei (Vincent Cassel) turn up to celebrate her birthday. Alexei soon shows that he has a temper.

After a violent altercation, Alexei holds Nadia hostage and demands a ransom from John. As he has grown to care for Nadia, he is forced to steal from the bank where he has worked for ten years. After the ransom is paid, he realises that he has been the victim of an elaborate con. Nadia, Yuri, and Alexei are criminals, and Alexei is actually Nadia's boyfriend.

The trio have carried out the same scam on men from Switzerland, Greece and Germany. They take John prisoner, strip him down to his underpants, and tie him to a toilet in a motel. He eventually frees himself and quickly learns that Nadia has been left behind after Alexei discovered she was pregnant. John gets dressed and subsequently fights with her, who later reveals that she can indeed speak English and that her name is not Nadia.

John takes Nadia to turn her in to the police, hoping to clear his name as a wanted bank robber. Ultimately however, he sympathises with her and decides against it. He leaves her at the airport, where she is kidnapped by Alexei, who now wants Nadia to have the baby. John rescues her, tying Alexei to a chair. They work together against the two Russian men. Nadia tells John that her real name is Sophia. John, disguised as Alexei, leaves for Russia with her.

In 1981 New York City, Roberta Guaspari, a recently divorced violinist, lives with her two sons, Alexi and Nicholas Tzavaras, and her mother, Assunta Guaspari. With Assunta's encouragement, Guaspari attempts to rebuild her life and is recommended to the head teacher of East Harlem's Central Park East School. Despite having little experience in actual music teaching, she accepts a substitute violin teaching position at Central Park East. With a combination of her toughness and determination, she inspires a group of children, and their initially skeptical parents. The program slowly develops and attracts publicity, eventually expanding to Central Park East II and River East Schools.

Ten years later, the Central Park East, Central Park East II and River East School string programs work with the New York City Board of Education to help eliminate funding for the programs, which leads to Guaspari's early dismissal. Determined to fight the budget cuts, she enlists the support of former pupils, parents and teachers and plans a benefit concert, Fiddlefest, to raise money so that the program can continue. But with a few weeks to go and all participants furiously rehearsing, they lose the venue. However, Arnold Steinhardt, the husband of a publicist friend, is a violinist in the Guarneri Quartet, and he enlists the support of other well-known musicians, including Isaac Stern and Itzhak Perlman. They arrange for the concert to be mounted at Carnegie Hall.

On the day of Fiddlefest, Guaspari and her students perform with Perlman, Steinhardt, Stern, Mark O'Connor, Michael Tree, Charles Veal Jr., Karen Briggs, Sandra Park, Diane Monroe, and Joshua Bell, increasing donations and making the event a massive success.

In the epilogue, descriptions show Guaspari and the Opus 118 program's activities after the events in 1991.

While vacationing in Switzerland, pediatrician Chris Nielsen meets artist Annie Collins. They marry and have two children, Ian and Marie. Their idyllic life ends when the children die in a car crash. Four years later, Chris is also killed in a car crash. Unaware that he is dead, and confused that no one will interact with him, Chris lingers on Earth.

He sees Annie's attempts to cope with his loss and attempts to communicate with her, despite advice from a presence that this will only cause her more pain. When his attempts indeed cause more sorrow, he decides to move on. Chris awakens in a Heaven that he has created with his imagination; his surroundings are a mountainous landscape that resembles a painting created by his wife, and is similar to a place where the two desired to spend their old age.

Chris is accompanied in Heaven by Albert Lewis, his friend and mentor from his medical residency, and Leona, a stewardess whom Chris once admired in the presence of his daughter; he later comes to recognize Leona as his daughter Marie. Meanwhile, Annie is wracked with guilt for the deaths of Chris and their children, and commits suicide. Chris, who is initially relieved that her suffering is over, grows angry when he learns that those who die by suicide go to Hell; this is not the result of a judgment made against them, but rather their own tendency to create nightmare afterlife worlds based on their pain.

Chris is adamant that he will rescue Annie from Hell, despite Albert's insistence that no one has ever succeeded in doing so with someone who died by suicide. Aided by a "tracker", Chris and Albert descend into Hell. On the journey there, Chris realizes that Albert is actually Ian and parts ways with him before his search for Annie.

Chris and the tracker arrive at a dark and twisted version of Chris and Annie's house. The tracker then reveals himself as the real Albert and warns Chris that if he stays with Annie for more than a few minutes he may be permanently trapped in Hell, advising that all Chris can reasonably expect is an opportunity for a final farewell to Annie. Chris enters their now-horrific looking home to find Annie suffering from amnesia, unable to remember her suicide, and visibly tortured by her decrepit surroundings. Unable to stir her memories, the tracker sees Chris give up his quest to save Annie from Hell.

But instead of returning to Heaven, Chris chooses to join Annie forever in Hell. As he declares to Annie his intent to stay, his words parallel something he had said to her as he left her in an institution following the children's deaths, and she regains her memories while Chris is making her nightmare his. Annie, wanting to save Chris, ascends to Heaven, taking Chris with her. Chris and Annie are reunited with their children in Heaven, and all appearances are restored. Chris proposes reincarnation, so he and Annie can experience life together again. The film ends with Chris and Annie meeting again as young children in a situation that parallels their first meeting.

During the SETI program, Earth's scientists send out transmissions (shown to be the Arecibo message) with information about Earth and its inhabitants, DNA structure, etc., in hopes of finding life beyond Earth. They then receive transmissions from an alien source on how to create endless fuel effortlessly. Therefore, the scientists assume that this is a friendly alien species. From a second alien transmission, the scientists receive information about an alien DNA along with instructions on how to splice it with human DNA. A government team led by Xavier Fitch goes forward with the genetic experiment attempting to induce a female, under the (later proved to be mistaken) assumption that a female would have "more docile and controllable" traits. One of the hundred experimental ova produces a girl named Sil, who looks like a normal human but develops into a 12-year-old in 3 months.

Sil's violent outbursts during sleep make the scientists consider her a threat. One day they try to kill her using cyanide gas, but she breaks out of her containment cell and escapes. The government assembles a team composed of anthropologist Dr. Stephen Arden, molecular biologist Dr. Laura Baker, "empath" Dan Smithson and mercenary Preston "Press" Lennox to track and destroy Sil. Sil matures rapidly into an adult in her early twenties and makes her way to Los Angeles. Her body strength, regenerative ability and intelligence make tracking her extremely difficult. The scientists fear she may mate with human males and produce offspring that could eventually eliminate the human race. Sil is intent on producing offspring as soon as possible, and kills several people to prevent them from notifying the authorities or simply to use their clothing.

She first tries to mate with Robbie, but after sensing that he is diabetic, she rejects him. Unsatisfied, he tries to assault her, prompting her to kill him by puncturing through his pharynx with her tongue. Later she tries to mate with John Carey, a man she meets after a car accident. They swim in Carey's hottub where Sil forces him to open his swimming trunks in order to mate, but he refuses. This act is interrupted by Preston and Laura. She soon kills Carey, morphing into her alien form, a bipedal mutant with tentacles on her shoulders and back, and flees naked into a forest without being seen by the team. She pretends to be a rape victim to kidnap a woman in order to assume her identity. Sitting in the car near Carey's home, she reads Fitch's lips, as she had done earlier, learning of their plan to stake out the nightclub for her return. There, she is seen by Dan, prompting a car chase. She fakes her death by crashing the car, which she has previously filled with gasoline containers, into a high-voltage transformer, using the kidnapped woman as a stand-in for her own body.

After cutting and dyeing her hair, Sil takes an attraction to Preston, having dreamt of him the previous night. After the team celebrates their apparent victory, she stalks them in their hotel, and they do not recognize her. Arden, who is upset at being single, walks into his room to find Sil waiting there. She has intercourse with Arden, which results in her instantly getting impregnated by him, then kills him when he realizes who she is. Dan senses that Sil is in the hotel and he alerts Preston, Laura, and the rest of the team. She morphs again, escapes and they follow her into the sewers where Fitch is subsequently killed. Sil gives birth and Dan finds her offspring in a cavern behind the sewers. The child morphs into alien form and attacks him and he incinerates it. Preston blows off Sil's head with a shotgun. The trio leaves the area. The last scene shows a rat chewing on one of Sil's severed tentacles; it starts to mutate into a vicious beast and devours another rat.

On April 18, 1987, at a local bar, 23-year-old waitress Sarah Tobias is brutally gang raped by three men who are cheered and encouraged by onlookers. Based upon a lack of strong evidence, including Sarah's own checkered past and her demeanor before the rape, Deputy District Attorney Kathryn Murphy offers the three men a plea bargain to a lesser offense which, although having a similar sentencing range, would make them eligible for parole sooner. Enraged, Sarah feels betrayed by Murphy. Against advice of the District Attorney, Murphy prosecutes three onlookers for their solicitation in encouraging the other men to rape Sarah. At trial, Sarah is finally able to tell her story, but is unable to identify the onlookers. A conviction seems unlikely until the fraternity brother of one of the attackers testifies in a flashback as to what he recalls. With all three onlookers convicted, Sarah's attackers will likely not be paroled.

Down-and-out keyboardist Chance (Rory Cochrane) sees his redemption in touring with dub-pop band Future Pigeon, fronted by the lovely Rocket (Beth Orton). However, to guarantee a spot in the band, Chance needs a signature sound, which he finds in the futuristic '69 "Molotron" keyboard. Chance's dreams are put on hold on the eve of the tour, however, when the Molotron is stolen from his car. ''Southlander'' follows Chance and his friend Ross Angeles (Ross Harris) as they track down the stolen keyboard through the pages of the ''Southlander,'' a local rag that publishes classified ads for musical equipment. The journey quickly becomes a surreal trip through LA's underground music scene.

A Union cavalry brigade led by Colonel John Marlowe—a railroad construction engineer in civilian life—is sent on a raid behind Confederate lines to destroy a railroad and supply depot at Newton Station. Major Henry Kendall, a regimental surgeon who is torn between duty and the horror of war, is constantly at odds with Marlowe.

While the unit rests at Greenbriar Plantation, Miss Hannah Hunter, the plantation's mistress, acts as a gracious hostess to the unit's officers. But she and her slave, Lukey, eavesdrop on a staff meeting as Marlowe discusses his battle strategy. To protect the secrecy of the mission, Marlowe is forced to take the two women with him. Initially hostile to her Yankee captor, Miss Hunter gradually comes to respect him and eventually falls in love with him. In addition to Kendall and Miss Hunter, Marlowe also must contend with Col. Phil Secord, a politically ambitious officer who continually second-guesses Marlowe's orders and command decisions.

Several battles ensue, including the capture of Newton Station, later a fire fight during which Lukey is killed, and a skirmish with boy cadets from a local military school (based on the actual Battle of New Market). After destroying the crucial supply line, and with Confederate forces in pursuit, the brigade reaches a bridge that must be stormed in order to access the Union lines. After taking the bridge, Marlowe's men rig it with explosive charges, and Marlowe bids Hannah farewell. Kendall chooses to remain behind with some badly wounded men, knowing he will be captured with them, rather than leave them unattended until Confederate medical personnel arrive.

Marlowe, though wounded, kisses Miss Hunter goodbye, lights the fuse and is the last of his men to cross the bridge before it is destroyed, halting the Confederate advance. Their mission accomplished, he and his brigade continue on toward Baton Rouge.

One night whilst returning from a pub with The Librarian, Rincewind witnesses an assassin plant a cart bomb in the Fools' Guild and attempts to disarm it. However, he accidentally causes the bomb to detonate, destroying the guild and killing its occupants. Unknowingly, the blast also catches out Death whilst attending to his duties, ejecting him from the saddle of his horse and causing him to disappear without trace. His absence swiftly leads to the souls of the departed throughout Ankh-Morpork remaining bound to their bodies and becoming undead. After witnessing Windle Poon suffer the same fate at his appointed time of death, the wizards of Unseen University suspect what the cause is and decide to invoke a ritual to summon Death, with the Archchancellor tasking Rincewind to collect the needed items for it.

The ritual successfully summons Death to them for a brief time, only for him to reveal that he is on indefinite vacation, having grown disillusioned with the thanklessness of his task. The Archchancellor fails to reason with him to return to work, and assigns Rincewind to locate him and return him to his duties. However, Death refuses when found, only agreeing to do so if he receives credit for the work he undertakes for mortals. To fulfil his desire, Rincewind arranges for him to become a star in his own film – referred to as 'clickies' on the Discworld – employing Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler as the director, and securing various props and other items needed to complete filming. The finished production is initially poorly received at its screening, until Rincewind splices in footage of an Elf Queen that he took as a request during his work, which hypnotizes the crowd into loving the film.

The success of the movie causes Death to renege on his agreement and opt to retire from his duties to continue a career as a film star. Left with no choice, Rincewind travels to Death's domain to take over from him, much to the displeasure of Death's butler Albert. After proving himself by completing a series of tests set by Albert, Rincewind takes over the job, but is appalled when his first assignment is to reap the soul of Death himself, after he is assassinated during a publicity affair. Refusing to do so, Rincewind abandons the job and revives Death by pouring fresh sand into his hourglass. After a further screening of the film causes a mishap involving the Elf Queen emerging in Ankh-Morpork as a giant and taking The Librarian, Death resumes his duties after Rincewind rescues his friend, and reaps Windle's soul after he is crushed by the Elf Queen's body. As the pair head for the afterlife, Windle recalls the many ways he killed himself, before remarking how his second death was a good way to go.

Jim McAllister teaches U.S. history and civics at a suburban Omaha, Nebraska, high school. Tracy Flick is an overachieving senior and one of Jim's students. Jim's colleague and best friend Dave lost his job and his wife after engaging in a sexual relationship with Tracy. While Jim felt Dave needed to suffer the consequences, he resents Tracy for having emerged unscathed.

Appalled by Tracy's unopposed run for student government president, Jim persuades Paul Metzler, a popular football player, to enter the race. Paul is sidelined from football with a broken leg and finds his candidacy gives him purpose. It also infuriates Tracy, who resents Paul's popularity and privileged upbringing.

Tammy Metzler, Paul's younger sister, is dumped by her girlfriend Lisa, who becomes Paul's girlfriend and campaign manager. Tammy exacts revenge by running for president on a nihilistic platform that student government is a sham. In her speech at a school assembly, she denounces the election and vows to dissolve student government if she wins. She rallies the students to a rowdy standing ovation, but the principal retaliates by suspending her.

Tracy sees that one of her campaign posters has come unstuck from the wall. She tries to secure it but accidentally rips the poster apart. In a fit of rage, she destroys the other candidates' campaign posters and discards them in a dumpster, unaware that Tammy sees her. The next day, Jim confronts Tracy with his suspicion that she removed the posters. Tracy feigns innocence and trades threats with Jim. She is saved by Tammy, who appears with the torn posters and claims responsibility. Tammy is expelled, her name is struck from the ballot, and her parents enroll her in a private Catholic school for girls, much to her delight.

The day before the election, Jim has a tryst with Linda, Dave's ex-wife. Linda asks Jim to rent a motel room for an afterschool rendezvous, but she fails to show. When Jim drives to Linda's house to find her, he is stung by a bee on his eyelid. He returns home to find Linda and his wife Diane talking. Knowing his encounter with Linda has been exposed, he spends the night in his car.

Jim oversees the tally of the ballots, which finds Tracy winning by a single vote. He secretly disposes of two of Tracy's ballots, throwing the election to Paul. The ballots are later discovered. Tracy becomes president and Jim loses his job. Diane throws Jim out of the house.

Divorced and humiliated, Jim moves to New York City, becomes a tour guide at the American Museum of Natural History, and begins dating a new woman. Tracy attends Georgetown University, where she finds her fellow students annoy her just as much as in high school. Paul develops an active social life at the University of Nebraska, though without Lisa, who dumps him. Tammy finds a new girlfriend at her all-girls school.

On a visit to Washington, D.C., Jim spots Tracy getting into a limousine with a congressman. He hurls a cup of soda at the limo as it drives away. Later, he speaks to a group of elementary school students at the museum, refusing to respond to the raised hand of a student who reminds him of Tracy.

During a bank robbery hostage situation perpetrated by far-right wing militiamen, undercover FBI agent Art Jeffries attempts unsuccessfully to negotiate for more time to defuse the situation. The FBI storms the bank killing the robbers and Art strikes the bureaucratic agent in charge, leading to his demotion to a desk job.

A nine-year-old autistic boy, Simon Lynch is given a sophisticated puzzle book by his teacher. One puzzle is a message enciphered with a code called "Mercury". The ciphertext had been placed in the book by two National Security Agency cryptographers, Dean Crandell and Leo Pedranski, who created the new code which they believed no computer could decipher. Simon solves the code and phones a number included in the plaintext message. Leo and Dean report the situation to their boss, division chief Lieutenant Colonel Nick Kudrow. He severely rebukes the pair for their unauthorized actions, describing Simon and his abilities as a national security threat. Two assassins, Peter Burrell and Shayes, are deployed by Kudrow to terminate the boy and his parents, Martin and Jenny.

Posing as a police detective, Burrell gains entry to the Lynch household and unceremoniously shoots both Simon's mother and father with a silenced pistol. He is unable to find Simon himself when he searches the house. Upon hearing approaching sirens (Martin was able to call 911 before dying), Burrell stages a murder-suicide and is driven away from the house by Shayes.

Art is sent to investigate and finds Simon in a hidden crawl space in his bedroom closet. Simon is taken to a protection ward at the hospital. A nurse explains to Jeffries that autism doesn't mean "nothing gets through", it means "''everything'' gets through", so he can get frightened or confused, especially by others' emotions, and probably can't be questioned. Burrell impersonates a doctor and makes another attempt on Simon's life. The timely arrival of Art saves Simon, who sees through Burrell’s facade and flees the premises with the boy. Later, while on a train, Simon shows Jeffries his Picture Exchange Communication System cards with photos of his family. The agent adds one, writing "Art is a friend." Burrell’s partner, Shayes, tries to kill Simon, but Art intervenes. He struggles with the killer, eventually managing to knock him off the train and onto the tracks just before another locomotive passes, running Shayes over and instantly killing him.

The NSA, under Kudrow's direction, frames Jeffries as the kidnapper of Simon. However, fellow agent and friend Tommy Jordan doesn't believe the story. Art borrows Tommy's car and takes Simon back to his house. Simon again calls the telephone number written into the code and Art is able to talk to Crandell and Pedranski. Dean arranges a meeting via encoded e-mail at the Wrigley Building by the next morning. Art goes to the meeting, leaving Simon under the care of a woman in a coffee shop, Stacey Siebring. The agent and cryptographer meet and Crandell tells Jeffries about the Mercury and Kudrow, but is shot dead by Burrell before he can reveal everything.

Art returns to the coffee shop, and finds that Stacey and Simon have formed a friendship. The guys then leave, but narrowly escape another attack before meeting with Jordan who is now convinced after learning of the incident. Later, Jeffries and Simon go to Siebring’s house, asking if they can stay there. She reluctantly agrees.

Meanwhile, Leo, having learned Dean's fate, also tries to reveal Kudrow's unlawful actions by writing letters on a typewriter: one to Jeffries and a carbon copy for the Senate Oversight Committee, but Burrell tracks Pedranski down and murders him as well, confiscating the letters. However, the assassin overlooks Leo's carbon copies, which his girlfriend, NSA analyst Emily Lang, takes to the FBI. Tommy discreetly arranges for her to meet with Art to show them both the carbon copies; covered in Pedranski’s fingerprints, they become crucial evidence. After the meeting, Jeffries gives Siebring Jordan’s number in case of an emergency. Art then goes to Kudrow’s home during his birthday party, and demands that Kudrow announce on national TV that the Mercury Encryption Project is a failure.

Jordan, under Jeffries suggestion, arranges for Simon to go into the Witness Protection Program. After the meeting, the friends discusses the Witness Protection meeting by phone; their conversation is being monitored by Kudrow. Stacey and Simon leave her house for the pick-up point, while Tommy heads for the FBI Director's Office. There, Kudrow dissuades Lomax, the FBI Special Agent in Charge, revealing the fact that Jordan forged the witness protection documents.

After Kudrow leaves with him being in charge for the Witness Protection, Tommy shows the carbon paper evidence to Lomax and confirms that the fingerprint markings on it were Leo's, now fully validating the evidence against Kudrow. Jeffries, with Jordan and an FBI task force's help, sets a trap at the meeting spot. Armed with an M16 rifle, Burrell fires at the FBI squad who arrives to apprehend Kudrow, resulting in a shootout with Jordan protecting Stacey. Simon saves Art's life by retrieving his gun, and the battle ends with Burrell being slashed to death by glass shards and Kudrow being shot by Jeffries and falling to his death.

Art and Siebring later visit Simon (now living with foster parents) at his school. He embraces the FBI agent as a welcome friend, having finally accepted him as a person he trusts.

Samantha Caine is a schoolteacher in small-town Honesdale, Pennsylvania, living with her boyfriend, Hal, and her daughter, Caitlin, Eight years earlier, she was found washed ashore on a New Jersey beach, pregnant with Caitlin and totally amnesiac. Having never remembered her real name, "Samantha" has hired a number of ineffective private investigators to discover her past, the latest being the down-on-his-luck Mitch Henessey. During the Christmas holidays, Samantha is involved in a car accident and suffers a brief concussion; when she recovers, she finds she possesses skills with a knife that she cannot explain. Shortly thereafter, the family home is broken into by "One-Eyed Jack", a convict who escaped from jail after seeing Samantha's face on television. Samantha demonstrates her fighting prowess by killing Jack bare-handed. Worried that she poses a danger to Hal and Caitlin, Samantha leaves with Mitch, who has found a suitcase belonging to her, to seek out answers.

The suitcase contains a note directing them to Dr. Nathan Waldman. They arrange to meet at a train station unaware that government agents are tapping the doctor's calls. En route, Samantha discovers the bottom of the suitcase contains a disassembled sniper rifle which she can expertly reassemble, along with other weapons. When Samantha and Mitch go to meet Waldman at the station, they are attacked by a team of agents who shoot numerous bystanders, but the two escape with Waldman's help. The doctor informs Samantha that she is really an expert CIA assassin, Charlene Elizabeth "Charly" Baltimore, who had disappeared eight years earlier.

Unsure if they can trust Waldman, Samantha and Mitch leave him behind and seek another contact named on a note in the suitcase, Luke, believing he may be Charly's fiancé.

Waldman catches up with them and tries to warn them that Luke is actually Charly's last assassination target, "Daedalus". However, Luke kills Dr. Waldman, then straps Samantha to a waterwheel and tortures her by repeatedly submerging her in cold water. After being tortured, she is finally jolted into remembering her past life. Samantha frees herself, kills Luke, and escapes with Mitch. Samantha completes her physical transformation back to Charly, cutting her hair and dying it platinum blonde. Charly realizes that her "Samantha Caine" personality was a cover to get near to Daedalus eight years earlier.

A psychological-operations specialist named Timothy, with whom Charly once had a romantic relationship, kidnaps Caitlin.

Charly and Mitch learn about Daedalus' involvement in "Project Honeymoon", which she disrupted on her mission, resulting in One-Eyed Jack's incarceration; "Project Honeymoon" was intended to be a false flag chemical bomb detonation in Niagara Falls, planned by the CIA in an attempt to blame Islamic terrorists and secure more funding. Charly realizes that Timothy and a new group is plotting to restage the attack, led by CIA Director Leland Perkins. In Niagara Falls, where Timothy has taken Caitlin, he captures Mitch and Charly. She tells Timothy that he is Caitlin's biological father and implores him not to hurt their daughter, but Timothy is ultimately unmoved, locking Charly and Caitlin in a freezer to kill them.

Charly and Caitlin break out of the freezer by detonating barrels of kerosene and then freeing Mitch, who helps Charly attack the staging area. This forces Timothy to launch the attack early; meanwhile, Caitlin locks herself in a cage on the truck carrying the bomb. Charly chases the truck, overpowers its driver, diverts it from a Christmas parade, and overturns it on the Niagara Falls International Bridge leading to Canada.

Charly frees Caitlin but they cannot get away from the bomb, which is about to explode, as Timothy and his agents attack them from a helicopter. Mitch suddenly arrives in a car, picking up Charly and Caitlin and entering Canada just before the bomb explodes, which kills Timothy and his forces and destroys the bridge.

In an epilogue, Charly has returned to her assumed identity of Samantha Caine, moving with Caitlin and Hal to a remote farmhouse and declining an offer from the president to join the State Department (which could imply rejoining the CIA). Mitch enjoys the publicity attracted by his role in the crisis and is interviewed by Larry King on television about Perkins, who was indicted for treason.

A secret brotherhood summons a dragon from its native dimension, so as to cause destruction and mayhem across the city of Ankh-Morpork. Rumours of the dragon's rampage across the city reaches Unseen University. Since the Archchancellor wishes the involvement of at least one wizard in the matter, Rincewind is summoned to handle the problem. After acquiring a book to learn what is needed to track the dragon to its lair, Rincewind searches the city for the various components needed to assemble a dragon detector and brings them back to the Archchancellor. After the Archchancellor lets slip that the dragon's lair is stocked with gold, Rincewind snatches the dragon detector from him, searches the city, finds the lair, and takes all the gold within it. Just before he leaves, the dragon stops him and requests his aid in removing the brotherhood's hold upon her, claiming they are using her for evil and are planning to make her go on a major rampage.

To do this, Rincewind is told to discover who they are, and recover a golden item from each, since these items are what they use to control the dragon. Learning that a book about summoning dragons had been stolen from the library at Unseen University the night before, Rincewind gains access to L-Space, allowing him to journey into the past, witness the theft, and follow the thief back to the brotherhood's hideout. After gaining entry in disguise, Rincewind learns that each member holds a role in the city — Chucky the Fool, the Thief, the Mason, the Chimney Sweep, the Fishmonger, and the Dunny King — and seeks to change the city so they can have a better future for themselves. Acquiring their golden items, Rincewind brings them to the dragon, only to learn it will not return to its dimension but seek revenge on the brotherhood before coming after him. Wishing to stop this, Rincewind decides to prevent the summoning book from being stolen, by switching it for one that makes love custard. In his efforts to be recognised for stopping the dragon, Rincewind gets into an argument with the Patrician over the existence of dragons, summoning the very same one back to Discworld. An annoyed Patrician tasks Rincewind to deal with it.

Learning that a hero with a million-to-one chance can stop it, Rincewind searches for the right components to be that hero, journeying across the city, the Disc, and even over the edge, to find the necessary items, including a sword that goes "ting", a birthmark, and a magic spell. With the components acquired, he returns to the city's square, where Lady Ramkin, the owner of a local dragon sanctuary, is tied to a rock to be sacrificed to the dragon. Despite having what is needed to combat the dragon, Rincewind fails to stop it, and so seeks out an alternative method. Taking a swamp dragon called Mambo the 16th, and feeding him hot coals and a lit firecracker, Rincewind tries again, but Mambo stops working when he becomes infatuated with the dragon. Rincewind then throws a love custard tart at the dragon. The dragon falls in love with Mambo, and the two fly off to perform mating dances. Rincewind heads to the pub for a pint to celebrate the end of his adventure.

U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Aaron Hallam, a former United States Delta Force operator, has spent much of his career performing covert assassinations and black operations for the U.S. government. He is awarded the Silver Star for his service in the Kosovo War, but is left wracked by post-traumatic stress disorder from the atrocities he witnessed.

In the wilderness of Silver Falls State Park, Oregon, Hallam encounters two deer hunters equipped with expensive scoped rifles. Hallam tells them that, due to their use of guns and scopes, they are not "true hunters". The hunters pursue him, but are overwhelmed by Hallam's tactics and traps and killed.

L.T. Bonham, a former civilian instructor of military survival and combat training, lives secluded deep in the woods of British Columbia. He is approached to help apprehend Hallam, one of his former students. Bonham agrees and is asked to work with the FBI task force pursuing Hallam, led by Assistant Special Agent in Charge Abby Durrell. Bonham discovers Hallam's personal effects in a tree and quickly encounters Hallam. As the two of them fight, Hallam is struck by an FBI tranquilizer and taken into custody.

During his interrogation, Hallam is uncooperative and looks mainly to Bonham, who he regards as a father figure of sorts. The FBI, unsure of what to do, hand him to the custody of his fellow JSOC operators, who tell the FBI that Hallam cannot stand trial due to the classified operations he had participated in. While being transported, the operators indicate that they intend to kill Hallam to ensure his silence; Hallam manages to kill all the operatives and escape.

Alerted to the incident, Bonham and the FBI search for Hallam. Bonham finds him at the house of his ex-girlfriend and her daughter in Portland, but he flees after Abby arrives to apprehend him. Pursued by the FBI and the Portland Police Bureau, Hallam ambushes and kills pursuing FBI agents in a sewer and attempts to board a streetcar to blend in, but when the police block the bridge the streetcar is on, he dives off the bridge and flees upstream.

Resurfacing up the river, Hallam crafts a knife out of reclaimed metal, as Bonham taught him. Meanwhile, Bonham crafts his own knife out of stone and enters the wilderness alone in search of Hallam. However, Bonham is caught by one of Hallam's traps and is thrown down a waterfall. Surviving, he meets Hallam at the bottom, and they engage in hand-to-hand combat. During the fight, the two sustain severe injuries, and Bonham's knife is broken, but Bonham manages to gain the upper hand and stab Hallam with his own knife, killing him as Abby and the FBI arrive.

Bonham, mostly recovered, returns to his home in British Columbia. He starts to burn Hallam's letters, in which he expressed his concerns over the things he witnessed during his service.

Cody, Anita, Eileen and Lily work together in a brothel. When Anita is abused by a customer, Cody kills the man.

Narrowly escaping from a lynch mob, they are pursued by Pinkerton detectives hired by the widow of the man they'd shot. A man they meet on the road, McCoy, warns them of the pursuit.

They discuss riding to Oregon and starting a new life by taking up a claim to land inherited by Anita when her husband died of cholera. Cody offers to fund their new start from savings she has accumulated over the years. They go to the bank where Cody's savings are held. As she tries to close her account and make a withdrawal, the Pinkerton detectives catch up with her and try to arrest her. Leaving the bank manager's office, they find themselves in the middle of a bank robbery being staged by Kid Jarrett, a former lover of Cody's. He helps her escape from arrest but takes her money and tells her to find him.

During the escape, Eileen is arrested. Cody decides to go after the money and Kid Jarrett, telling Anita and Lilly to wait in hiding. Anita and Lilly return to town to break Eileen out of jail.

Cody's meeting with Kid Jarrett and Frank Jarrett does not go well. Kid Jarrett has not forgiven her for running out on him. He flogs her. Later, she is found unconscious by McCoy, who brings her to a healer in town and puts the Pinkerton detectives off her trail.

McCoy, Cody and the other three women meet up on the ranch of a farmer who'd been guarding Eileen's cell (and whom they'd tricked into releasing her). Cody plans revenge on Kid Jarrett. They foil a train robbery and steal his loot, at the cost of Lilly being abducted. In turn, they abduct Frank Jarrett, Kid's father.

Regrouping again on the ranch, Anita leaves the others, frustrated with their revenge-motivated misadventures. She goes to a lawyer in town and finds out that the claim to land is only valid in the hands of her husband - as a woman, she cannot claim the land in Oregon.

Frank Jarrett antagonizes his captors until McCoy shoots him. Cody sends McCoy away. Meanwhile, Lilly is being raped by her captors. McCoy stages a one-man rescue attempt and is captured, but Lilly escapes.

Reunited, Cody, Anita and Eileen go to rescue Lilly and meet her on the road. When she tells them that McCoy has been captured, they continue towards Kid Jarrett's hide out, and offer to trade the stolen loot for McCoy, who has been flogged and tortured. Kid agrees, then shoots McCoy as soon as the loot is handed over. He gives Cody the money he stole from her (although in close up it clearly is mid-20th century currency).

While retreating, one of Lilly's would-be rapists taunts her, triggering a shootout that results in the deaths of Kid's entire gang.

After the shootout, Eileen marries the rancher, while Lilly, Cody and Anita head west to start a new life, mentioning the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896. On the trail they overtake the Pinkerton detectives, who do not see them.

A small number of students, who are angry at the breaking of their contract with the University of Mars, Sinai, start a protest and plan to storm the university. Although the attempted coup ends in a stalemate, a protester, Casseia Majumdar, establishes her position. The story picks up again a few years later when Casseia is more mature. She does not necessarily regret her actions in the attempted revolution, but continues to be haunted by their consequences, especially her love affair with fellow student Charles Franklin.

Casseia eventually emerges as a fledgling politician in her BM, and wins a trip to Earth with her BM's representative and the BM's Thinker to discuss the situation between Earth and Mars, which is getting increasingly worse. Meanwhile, Charles, her one-time lover, along with a team of super-geniuses called the Olympians, discovers a radical new technology that has the potential to turn the tables on the conflict. He theorizes that the universe is basically a large computer and discovers a way to "tweak" the laws of the universe to create an effect. The Earth does not know exactly what this new technology can do, but they have hints of it and fear it. Casseia returns to Mars and marries into a family with potentially political ambitions due to their perceived neutrality. Her mother-in-law eventually becomes president of an interim central Martian government, and chooses Casseia as her vice-president. Tensions between the BMs and Earth grow to crisis levels, as news of the Olympians' discovery frightens the Earth government into pressuring the Martians to cooperate. One method of coercion that the Martians fear is "evolvons", or small undetectable computer viruses implanted during manufacture into all Thinkers. Martians fear that the Earth will use these to control all Martian Thinkers, and therefore cripple essential operations.

While the tension between Earth and Mars builds, the Olympians, led by Charles Franklin, reveal to Casseia that they have the ability to instantly move anything an infinite distance or to redefine the properties of an object by "tweaking" the properties of an object, with the help of a QL Thinker. The ramifications of this become clear to Casseia and the leaders of the interim government immediately, but they so fear its power that they refuse to use it as anything but a last resort. Charles is convinced that "tweaking", as the technique is called, is the solution, and orders a QL Thinker to speed up the process. Eventually, he is able to test his technique by converting part of a substance into an 'anti-matter' of its properties.

The test shows everyone on Earth what the potential of this breakthrough really is, and Earth fears the power it gives the Martians. They double their efforts to duplicate the technology and eventually activate the evolvons, creating chaos on Mars but also uniting it against the Earth. Earth then demands that Mars government allow them to take over and place themselves into a junior relationship status. Martians retaliate by moving the moon Phobos into Earth orbit to demonstrate their ability to respond, but this only escalates the conflict. Earth withdraws their demands but now are racing to duplicate the technology they now know is possible. He is able to test the moving object technique by linking his mind to a QL Thinker and using Phobos as a base, visits a planetary system to investigate as a new potential home for moving Mars to. Casseia travels along with his team as the government representative. The test goes well, but with Charles' mind linked to the QL Thinker, it nearly ends in disaster when the QL Thinker becomes distracted trying to test other "truths". While connected to the Thinker, the raw intelligence of the Thinker imposes its intellectual will on Charles, and tempts him to test every use of this technique, these "truths", even those that would be destructive.

Shortly after the planetary system visit, Earth invades Mars with nanotech robots that kill the Martian President, leaving Casseia as the one in charge. Under attack and with no hope of fighting back, she makes the decision to go along with Charles Franklin's desperate plan to completely remove Mars from the solar system and place it in orbit around a star 10,000 light-years away. To do it, Charles Franklin must connect his mind to the QL Thinker again. The same temptation as in the first test nearly overcomes Charles' willpower, he prevails but it costs him his mind. The novel ends with an aged Casseia looking at the new Martian sky and hoping that the decision she made was the right one.

Lieutenant Colonel Kirby Yorke (Wayne) is posted on the Texas frontier with the 2nd U.S. Cavalry Regiment to defend settlers against attacks by marauding Apaches. Colonel Yorke is under considerable pressure due to the Apaches using Mexico as a sanctuary from pursuit, and by a serious shortage of troops in his command. The action of the movie is set in the summer of 1879 ("fifteen years after the Shenandoah").

Tension is added when Yorke's son (whom he has not seen in 15 years), Trooper Jefferson Yorke (Claude Jarman Jr.), is one of 18 recruits sent to the regiment. He had flunked out of West Point, but immediately enlisted as a private in the Army. In a private "father-son" meeting in the commanding officer's tent, Trooper Yorke informs his father that he does not expect, nor want, any special treatment because he is his son. He asks that he be treated like any other soldier—to which the colonel somewhat reluctantly agrees. By his willingness to undergo any test and trial, Jeff is befriended by a pair of older recruits, Travis Tyree (Ben Johnson) (who is on the run from the law) and Daniel "Sandy" Boone (Harry Carey Jr.), who take him under their wings.

With the arrival of Yorke's estranged wife, Kathleen (Maureen O'Hara), who has come to take the underage Yorke home by buying him out of his enlistment, further tension is added. During the Civil War, Yorke had been forced by circumstances to burn Bridesdale, his wife's plantation home in the Shenandoah Valley. Sergeant Major Quincannon (Victor McLaglen), who put the torch to Bridesdale, is still with Yorke and is a constant reminder to Kathleen of the episode. In a showdown with his mother, Jeff refuses her attempt to buy him out of the Army by reminding her that not only the commander's signature is required to discharge him, but his own is needed, as well, and he chooses to stay in the Army. The tension brought about in the struggle over their son's future (and possibly the attentions shown to her by Yorke's junior officers) rekindles the romance the couple once felt for each other.

The Apaches attack the fort one night. Many of them are killed by the awakened troopers, but they succeed in freeing their leader, who had been captured at the start of the movie.

Two U.S. marshals from Texas arrive at the post with a warrant for Trooper Tyree's arrest on a manslaughter charge. Confined to the post hospital, with the connivance of the regimental surgeon (Chill Wills) and Sergeant Major Quincannon, he breaks jail, steals Colonel Yorke's horse, and goes on the run, intending to stay away until the marshals head back to Texas.

Yorke is visited by his former Civil War commander, Philip Sheridan (J. Carrol Naish), now Commanding General of the Military Division of the Missouri, the headquarters responsible for pacifying the Great Plains. Sheridan has decided to order Yorke to cross the Rio Grande into Mexico in pursuit of the Apaches and kill them all, an action with serious political implications, since it violates the sovereignty of another nation.

If Yorke fails in his mission to destroy the Apache threat, he will have to face a court-martial. Sheridan, in quiet acknowledgment of what he is asking Yorke to risk, promises that if it comes to that, "the members of the court will be the men who rode down the Shenandoah with us" during the Civil War. Yorke accepts the assignment.

Yorke leads his men toward Mexico, only to learn that a wagonload of children from his fort, who were being taken to Ft. Bliss for safety – ironic in that the fort was named for a famous mathematician, William Wallace Smith Bliss, and it was failing mathematics that caused Jefferson Yorke to flunk out of West Point – has been captured by the Apaches. Tyree trails the Apaches to their hideout in Mexico, and then rejoins his regiment with the information and a plan to rescue the children. After permitting three troopers—Tyree, Boone, and Jeff—to infiltrate the ruined church in the Mexican village where the Apaches have taken the children, Yorke leads his regiment in an all-out attack. The cavalrymen rescue all of the children unharmed, though Colonel Yorke is wounded by an arrow that he orders Jeff to remove. He is taken back to the fort by his victorious troops, where Kathleen meets him and holds his hand as he is carried on a travois into the post.

After Colonel Yorke recovers, Tyree, Boone, Jeff, Navajo Scout Son of Many Mules, and Corporal Bell are decorated. At the ceremony, when one of the Texas marshals reappears, Trooper Tyree is given a furlough to continue his run from the law, stealing General Sheridan's horse for the purpose. As the troops pass in review (with the regimental band playing ''Dixie'' at the General's request to please Mrs. Yorke), the movie closes.

In Los Angeles, single mother Carla Moran is violently raped in her home by an invisible assailant. A subsequent episode of poltergeist activity causes her to flee with her children to the home of her best friend Cindy Nash.

They return to Carla's home and the following day, Carla is nearly killed when her car mysteriously goes out of control in traffic. Urged by Cindy to see a psychiatrist, Carla meets with Dr. Sneiderman and tentatively agrees to undergo therapy. A subsequent attack in her bathroom leaves bite marks and bruises, which Carla shows to Dr. Sneiderman, who believes they are self-inflicted despite their location in places impossible for her to reach.

Sneiderman drives Carla home and meets her children. She explains to him that she suffered a variety of traumas in her childhood and adolescence, including sexual and physical abuse, teenage pregnancy, and the violent death of her first husband. Dr. Sneiderman believes her apparent paranormal experiences are delusions resulting from her past psychological trauma, but agrees to keep an open mind at her request. Shortly after Sneiderman leaves, Carla is attacked again, this time in front of her children. Her son tries to intervene, but he is hit by electrical discharges and his wrist is broken.

Carla attends a staff meeting chaired by Sneiderman's colleague, Dr. Weber. As soon as she leaves, Weber shares his belief that the experiences of the Moran household are the output of a mass delusion arising from Carla's damaged psyche, sexual frustration and propensity to masturbate. That night, Carla is tricked by the entity into having an orgasm while she sleeps by appearing to rub her nipples. The next day, Sneiderman urges Carla to commit herself to a psychiatric hospital for observation, but she refuses and becomes angry when Sneiderman goes so far as to suggest she has incestuous feelings for her son.

After Cindy witnesses an attack, the two discuss possible supernatural causes. While visiting a local bookstore, Carla happens to meet two parapsychologists, whom she convinces to visit her home. Initially skeptical, they witness several paranormal events and agree to study the home under the supervision of their team leader, Dr. Cooley. During their study, Sneiderman arrives and tries to convince Carla that the manifestation is in her mind, but she dismisses him. Reassured that her case is taken seriously, Carla begins to relax. Her boyfriend, Jerry Anderson, visits and she suffers a particularly disturbing attack, which he witnesses. Hearing the commotion, Carla’s son enters the room and believes that Jerry is harming her, prompting him to attack Jerry. Later at the hospital, Jerry is so troubled by the experience that he ends their relationship.

Desperate for a solution, Carla agrees to participate in an elaborate experiment carried out by Cooley's team. A full mock-up of her home is created to lure the entity into a trap and freeze it with liquid helium. Before the experiment begins, Sneiderman unsuccessfully tries to convince Carla to leave, confirming an unorthodox personal interest in her predicament. The entity arrives but unexpectedly takes control of the helium jets, using them against Carla. She defiantly stands up to it, stating that it may kill her, but it will never have her. At this precise point, the tanks explode and flood the premises with liquid helium. Sneiderman rushes in just in time to save her. As they look back, they realize that the entity has been trapped in a huge mass of ice. It breaks free and vanishes almost immediately, but Sneiderman realizes that Carla was telling the truth the whole time. Dr. Cooley believes that, despite the destruction of the ice block, she has a valuable witness in Dr. Weber. Much to her chagrin, however, Weber decides to take refuge in the belief that he did not witness anything.

Carla returns to her house the next day. The front door slams by itself and she is greeted by a demonic voice which says, "Welcome home, cunt". She calmly opens the door, exits the house, gets in a car with her family and leaves.

A closing disclaimer verifies that Carla and her family have moved to Texas. Carla still experiences attacks from the entity, although they have lessened in frequency and severity.

Paranormal investigator and former agent of Agency 713, Edward Carnby has a nightmare in which he hides from alien-like creatures as a child. Currently En route to a museum where his girlfriend, Aline Cedric works as an assistant curator. Edward holds within his hands an artifact-puzzle piece of the Abkani, an extinct Native American tribe. A strange man follows and attacks Edward and his cab driver with supernatural durability and strength, trying to steal the artifact, but eventually dies after many escape attempts by Edward.

At the same time, in a different location, a ship recovers a coffin made of gold from the ocean floor. After docking, the captain locks up Prof. Hudgens (curator of said museum) while his crew opens the gold coffin against better judgment. Hudgens escapes his imprisonment to find everyone killed by a mysterious creature and the coffin empty. Hudgens finds a secret compartment and collects an artifact from the coffin, and he slips away ashore.

Upon opening the gold coffin, several people across the western USA and Canada walk off into the night after hearing an ear-splitting screech. During which, Edward passes out while studying his artifact. At the same time, Bureau 713 (B-713) is also made aware by a surveillance team of evidence of electromagnetic waves.

Edward thinks it's related to the Abkani as everyone who disappeared that same night was from the same location. Edward arrives that evening at the Museum where he is reunited with Aline with the artifact, and she shows him another Abkani artifact that recently arrived that she has been working on since Prof. Hudgens was away. The mysterious creature from the ship attacks them inside the museum, killing a security guard, but Edward and Aline hide in a storage closet long enough for troopers from Bureau 713 to arrive, and the creature retreats into the night.

Commander Burke, team leader of the B-713 strike force, arrives where Edward tries to relay information to him, but Burke rebukes him, saying that since he no longer works to stay out of it. Edward tries to get information from his former co-workers at B-713, like staff surgeon and pathologist Sam Fischer, to learn more about the creature encountered and the Abnaki's history.

Prof. Hudgens arrives back at the museum to his office, where he has a captured creature. Hudgens uses a syringe to draw fluid from the captive creature to study it as part of his further research to combine the DNA of man and beast. Edward continues investigating his past by going to his former orphanage to learn more about Hudgens' research, and back to his apartment where he and Aline have sex.

While the Bureau 713 soldiers are patrolling the museum, they are attacked by several creatures, who are the missing people that wandered off upon the opening of the gold coffin. During the firefight, several soldiers and most of the human-creatures are killed. Edward arrives on the scene and talks more with Burke, who again tells him to stay away. However, during a scuffle, Edward picks Burke's pocket containing his Bureau 713 security badge.

Edward goes to Bureau 713 where he talks with Fischer in the morgue looking at one of the dead bodies, and Fischer shows Edward a small, centipede-like creature in the dorsal spine of his old friend. Fischer also discovers that Edward has one of his own in his body, but it is dead, presumably because of the electroshock Edward had as a child. Burke and his men arrive and escort Edward out of the building. That evening, Professor Hudgens ambushes Fischer at his home and inserts a baby creature into Fischer's mouth.

Edward discovers that the Abkani had fought those creatures which can get killed by light. They also disrupt electrical light, creating blackouts. The Abkani artifacts found all over the world actually open the gate to another dimension, where millions of those creatures are sleeping, waiting to be freed. Hudgens makes further experiments, injecting himself with the blood of one of the creatures, granting him the ability to control the monsters.

Edward, Aline, Burke, and Burke's military squad go to Edward's orphanage, where there are strong electromagnetic disruptions. They are attacked by dozens of the creatures and of the humans except Edward, Aline, and Burke are killed. They reach the old surgery room underground where the baby creature was transplanted into Edward. There, Hudgens takes Edward's artifact and opens the gate. Millions of creatures start to wake up and run towards the gate. Burke kills Hudgens, and the group places a bomb and runs away, only to realize that they cannot detonate the bomb from such a long distance. Burke goes back and sacrifices himself.

Edward and Aline rise to the surface at dawn but find an evacuated city with cars abandoned on the streets. As they walk down the street, something runs toward them.

Misfit Captain Fisby (Glenn Ford) is sent to Americanize the village of Tobiki on Okinawa, the largest of the Ryukyu Islands. His commanding officer, Colonel Wainwright Purdy III (Paul Ford), assigns him a wily local, Sakini (Marlon Brando), as interpreter.

Fisby tries to implement the military's plans by encouraging the villagers to build a school in the shape of a pentagon, but they want to build a teahouse instead. Fisby gradually becomes assimilated to the local customs and mores with the help of Sakini and Lotus Blossom, a young geisha (Machiko Kyō).

To revive the economy, he has the Okinawans manufacture small items to sell as souvenirs, but nobody wants to buy them. These include cricket cages and wooden Japanese footwear called geta. Then Fisby makes a happy discovery. The villagers distill a potent sweet potato brandy in a matter of days which finds a ready market in the American army. With the influx of money, the teahouse is built in next to no time.

When Purdy sends psychiatrist Captain McLean (Eddie Albert) to check up on Fisby, the newcomer is quickly won over. This, even after Fisby greets McLean wearing geta, an army bathrobe (which Fisby claims is his kimono) and what Fisby terms an "air-conditioned" straw hat (the latter being headwear worn by Okinawan farmers). McLean later proves to be enthusiastic about organic farming.

When Purdy doesn't hear from either officer, he shows up in person and surprises Fisby and McLean, the latter wearing a yukata (summer-weight kimono). They are leading a rowdy song at a party in full swing in the teahouse. Purdy orders the building and distillery destroyed. In a burst of foresight, the villagers break up old water urns rather than the brandy storage and only dismantle the teahouse, hiding the sections.

The village is chosen by the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP) as an example of successful American-led democratization. This leads to Colonel Purdy's regretting his actions and to reassembling the teahouse.

The notorious underworld czar Johnny Vanning becomes the owner of a gaudy New York night club and renames it Club Intimate. He exploits and mistreats the club's bar girls—Mary, Gabby, Emmy Lou, Florrie, and Estelle—in order to ensure their loyalty and obedience. As part of her job, Mary entices a man into betting and losing more money than he can afford. On the way home, he confides in her that he does not have the money to repay the gambling debt. He feels that it is all a game, but Mary warns him that he is in real danger and must leave town immediately. She is distressed, but not surprised, to learn soon after that the man has been murdered by Vanning's henchman Charlie Delaney. District attorney David Graham brings Vanning to trial, feeling that he has a string case, but Mary and the other women refuse to implicate Vanning, fearing his retribution.

Mary's younger sister Betty visits. Unaware of the dangerous situation that she has entered, Betty attends a party at Vanning's club at Emmy Lou's insistence. She meets Vanning's friend Bob Crandall and after dancing with him, returns to the women's apartment. Mary admonishes her, but Betty returns to the club. She meets Crandall again but resists his romantic advances. Vanning intervenes and slaps Betty, causing her to tumble down a flight of stairs to her death.

Mary threatens to testify against Vanning, but his thugs beat her and scar her face, knifing a cross onto her cheek after she falls unconscious. Her resolve to testify is only strengthened. Aware that they can only be free from Vanning if they stand against him, the other women also agree to testify. They implicate Vanning, breaking up his vice ring. As Graham is congratulated by the press, the five girls walk off into the foggy night.

On June 15, 1904, the steamboat ''General Slocum'' catches fire and sinks in New York's East River. Two boys, Blackie Gallagher (Mickey Rooney) and Jim Wade (Jimmy Butler), are rescued by a priest, Father Joe (Leo Carrillo), but are orphaned by the disaster. They are taken in by another survivor, Poppa Rosen (George Sidney), who lost his young son in the sinking. The boys live with Poppa Rosen for a short while; then Rosen, a Russian Jew, is trampled to death by a policeman's horse after he heckles Leon Trotsky at a Communist rally and a melee breaks out.

The boys remain close friends, though their lives diverge. Studious from the very beginning, Jim (played as an adult by William Powell) gets his law degree and eventually becomes the assistant district attorney. Blackie is a cheerful, happy-go-lucky kid who loves to throw dice and trick other kids out of their money. Played as an adult by Clark Gable, he becomes the owner of a fancy, albeit illegal, casino. Though regularly "raided", the cops have been paid off and the casino resumes business immediately after they leave. Blackie's girlfriend Eleanor (Myrna Loy) loves him, but pleads with him in vain to marry her and give up his dangerous life.

Jim is elected district attorney. Blackie, always a supporter and admirer of Jim, knowing the latter's incorruptibility, arranges to meet him for a celebration, but something comes up, and he sends Eleanor to keep Jim company at the Cotton Club until he can join them. Jim and Eleanor talk the night away. Afterward, she gives Blackie one last chance to marry her and settle down. When Blackie refuses, she leaves him.

Months later, Jim and Eleanor meet by chance and start keeping company (she informs Jim that she has not seen Blackie for months). Meanwhile, Blackie, who acknowledges that he is a changed man (due to Eleanor's having left him), coldly kills Manny Arnold (Noel Madison) for not paying his gambling debts. Jim summons him to his office, where he tells him that he and Eleanor are going to get married. Blackie is sincerely happy for both of them. Jim also informs his friend that he is a suspect in the Arnold murder. However, there is no real evidence, so the crime goes unsolved.

Jim invites him to be the best man at his wedding. Blackie initially accepts but later sends a telegram begging off. After returning from his honeymoon, Jim runs for governor of New York. Snow (Thomas E. Jackson), who had been his chief assistant until Jim fired him for corruption, threatens to tell reporters that Jim covered up for Blackie in the Arnold case. Although untrue, this would cost Jim a close race for the governorship. By chance, Blackie and Eleanor meet at the horse track. Eleanor tells Blackie about Snow. Blackie shoots Snow dead in a washroom of Madison Square Garden during a hockey game. A beggar who pretends to be blind sees him leave the scene of the crime. Jim has no choice but to prosecute Blackie. Blackie is convicted and sentenced to death.

Jim wins the election, partly because the public sees that he is so honest he is prosecuting his own childhood friend. Eleanor tries to get him to commute the sentence to life imprisonment, revealing Blackie's motive for killing Snow, but that only makes things worse. When Jim remains steadfast, Eleanor leaves him. At the last moment, Jim hurries to Sing Sing Prison and meets Blackie, together with Father Joe, who is now the prison's chaplain. Jim finally offers to commute the death sentence, but Blackie turns him down. (He admits to the murder of Manny Arnold.) Father Joe leads Blackie to the electric chair while saying last rites.

A few days later, Jim calls a special joint session of the New York Legislature. He reveals how the murder helped him win the election, and how at the end he compromised his principles and was willing to commute his friend's sentence. He then tenders his resignation. When he leaves, Eleanor is waiting for him. She tells him that she was wrong about him, and they leave together to start a new life.

''Mega Man 5'' takes place during the 21st century, about two months after the events of ''Mega Man 4'', when the mad scientist Dr. Wily once again attempted to take over the world. Proto Man, secret brother and once ally to the world's greatest hero Mega Man, leads an army of robots in a series of destructive attacks on the world. To cripple the world's defenders, he kidnaps his own creator, the genius scientist Dr. Light. Mega Man wonders why Proto Man is doing this, but with little choice left, he sets out to stop him, assisted by Beat, a robot bird gifted to him by Dr. Cossack.

Mega Man prevails over a new group of eight powerful "Robot Masters" working under Proto Man: Star Man, Gravity Man, Gyro Man, Stone Man, Crystal Man, Charge Man, Napalm Man, and Wave Man. Mega Man then makes his way to Proto Man's fortress and confronts his fellow creation, who nearly destroys the protagonist in the process. However, a second Proto Man arrives just in time, revealing the first as Dark Man, one of Dr. Wily's newest robots. Mega Man vanquishes the impostor, then pursues Wily to his newest hideout, defeats him, and saves Dr. Light. However, the fortress begins collapsing, and while Mega Man is distracted from holding up the ceiling from crushing himself and Dr. Light, Wily manages yet another retreat. Just after Wily escapes, a familiar whistle is heard, and part of the ceiling is blasted away, allowing Mega Man and Dr. Light to also escape. As the two watch the castle collapse from a distance, their mystery savior is revealed to be Proto Man, who quietly slips off unnoticed.

''Mega Man Zero''

Centuries after disappearing at the end of the Mega Man X series, Zero is found and awakened by Ciel, a 12-year old human scientist. Zero, unsure of who he is due to temporary memory loss, protects Ciel and her band of Reploids from a group sent out to destroy them. During the events of the game, as Zero fights off several attempts to destroy the remaining Reploids, it is unveiled what happened during his 100-year absence: After the Maverick War that took place during the Mega Man X series - where humans were being purged by malevolent Reploids, known as Mavericks - drew to a close with the Mavericks suffering total defeat, humans and Reploids were able to live in harmony in a utopian state known as Neo Arcadia. Unfortunately, this peace was short-lived due to the energy shortage crisis which led to the murdering of countless innocent Reploids to reduce energy consumption. Ciel thus banded with the Reploids and founded the Resistance. It is also revealed that a copy of X - Zero's former ally and best friend - is the leader of Neo Arcadia and the mastermind behind the Reploid genocide. After defeating the Four Guardians - Copy X's right-hand generals - Zero eventually confronts Copy X and defeats him in battle. While dying, Copy X self-destructs and Zero barely manages to escape. He then finds himself in an endless desert, surrounded by Neo Arcadian troops. Knowing that Neo Arcadia will focus their attention on him, Zero decides to stay in the desert and fight endlessly in hopes of giving Ciel and the resistance the time needed to escape.

''Mega Man Zero 2''

Set one year after the events of the first game, it is revealed that Zero has been hunted down by Neo Arcadian forces in the desert the whole time. After defeating yet another group of Neo Arcadian forces, Zero finally collapses due to exhaustion. However, because of unknown reasons, he is rescued by Harpuia, one of Four Guardians and now leader of Neo Arcadia. Although they are enemies, Harpuia brings Zero to a location near the Resistance Base, where he is eventually found by the Resistance members and repaired by Cerveau.

While Ciel tries to develop a new energy source to end the war, the new leader of the Resistance, Elpizo, instead prepares for a head-on invasion on Neo Arcadia. The invasion results in total failure, with Elpizo being the only survivor. Frustrated by his powerlessness, he leaves the Resistance to search for the Dark Elf, a powerful, malevolent Cyber-Elf that brought unparalleled destruction to Earth during the Elf Wars - an event that happened during Zero's 100-year absence.

Elpizo eventually revives the Dark Elf by finding and destroying the original Mega Man X's physical body, which acted as a seal to keep the Dark Elf contained. Elpizo absorbs the Dark Elf to obtain a colossal amount of power but is narrowly defeated by Zero. The game ends with the Dark Elf escaping and the original X — now a Cyber-Elf — telling Zero that the Dark Elf was once known as the Mother Elf, whose original purpose was to cure the Maverick Virus — which turned Reploids into Mavericks — in order to end the Maverick War during the ''Mega Man X'' series.

''Mega Man Zero 3''

Two months have passed since Elpizo's defeat, with the Dark Elf's location still unknown. During this time, Ciel has finished her research on a new energy supply that allowed virtually unlimited energy generation, which was dubbed the "Ciel System". While en route to Neo Arcadia to propose the Ciel System in hopes of making peace as there would no longer be a reason to continue the genocide on the Reploids, a large spaceship with the Dark Elf's energy reading crashes to Earth. Zero is sent out to investigate and find out more about the energy reading, but instead, finds the remaining three Four Guardians fighting against a gigantic Reploid named Omega and encounters an accompanying scientist named Dr. Weil — both who were banished to space for life due to their crimes in instigating the Elf Wars by corrupting the Mother Elf into the Dark Elf. Dr Weil then reveals that he had resurrected Copy X, who then resumes his reign in Neo Arcadia and forces the Four Guardians to submit to Dr Weil's will and subsequently demotes them. The Four Guardians, suspecting that Copy X is being heavily influenced by Weil, leave the Neo Arcadian army. The Dark Elf soon reappears in a human residential district in Neo Arcadia. Wishing to capture it, Dr. Weil and Copy X authorise a missile to be launched at the district to incapacitate the Dark Elf. Although successful in capturing the Dark Elf, the missile attack causes thousands of innocent human casualties. Following this nefarious event, Ciel rescinds her offer to propose the Ciel System, leading Dr. Weil and Copy X to brand the Resistance as Mavericks and subsequently launch an all-out invasion against the Resistance. The Resistance is able to delay the invasion until Zero reaches Copy X and kills him once more, thus making the invasion lose steam. However, Dr. Weil then succeeds Copy X as the new ruler of Neo Arcadia and announces his true intention for capturing the Dark Elf, which is to fuse the Dark Elf with Omega and link them with a colossal frequency transmitter that would enable Omega to control the minds of every Reploid on Earth. Dr. Weil justifies this as vengeance against both humanity and Reploids for his exile in space. Zero eventually confronts and kills Omega in two different forms, but Omega then reveals his true form — a body that looks exactly like Zero. Weil appears in the background and reveals that while Zero was powered down during his 100-year hibernation, he had transferred Zero's conscience and memories to a copy body and then stole Zero's original body to be used by Omega due to its unmatched fighting abilities. Despite the revelation of this fact, Zero, with assistance from the Four Guardians, destroys his original body and kills Omega for good. Omega's death results in a large explosion, which releases the Dark Elf from Omega and frees it from Weil's corruption. X tells the truth about Zero and his body to the Resistance before disappearing forever. The Dark Elf, now known as the Mother Elf once more, brings Zero back to the Resistance Base, before it too disappears, ending the game.

''Mega Man Zero 4''

Despite Omega being destroyed, Weil continued his revenge on humans and Reploids alike and assumed a dictatorial reign over Neo Arcadia and stripped much of its citizens' rights, leading many humans to flee and start their own settlements. In response, Weil labelled the escapees as Mavericks and began to purge them just like the Reploids.

The game starts with Zero, Ciel, and the Resistance members encountering a group of humans fleeing from Weil's forces. Zero protects the humans, who then reveal to the Resistance that they are headed towards a large, nature-filled settlement in Area Zero, the location where the Eurasia colony crashed during the events of ''Mega Man X5'' more than 100 years ago.

The large population of settlements like Area Zero attracts Weil's attention, who reveals a plan to use a meteor-sized space cannon called Ragnarok to vaporize all nature and make Neo Arcadia the only habitable location on Earth, which would force people to stay under his tyrannical rule. Zero eventually makes his way towards Ragnarok and defeats Weil, but not before Weil programs Ragnarok to crash into Area Zero in an attempt to cause immense destruction on Earth.

Knowing that there was only one option to save the Earth, Zero rejects Ciel's plea to transfer out of Ragnarok and back to the Resistance Base and sacrifices his life to destroy Ragnarok's core before it crashes to Earth. Ciel, watching the pieces of Ragnarok fall to Earth, promises to recreate the Earth as a better place where there will once again be peace between Reploids and humans. The series ends with an image of Zero's shattered helmet on the ground along with Ragnarok's debris.

Detectives Chris Lecce and Bill Reimers are assigned to the night shift on a stakeout of Latina waitress Maria McGuire. Her former boyfriend, Richard "Stick" Montgomery, has escaped from prison following a staged brawl with his cellmate with help from his cousin, Caylor Reese, who escaped with him in a truck.

The FBI asks for cooperation from Lecce and Reimers in capturing Montgomery. They believe he may return to an old girlfriend, Maria McGuire, who lives in Seattle. Meanwhile Lecce is going through a divorce. He comes home and finds out that his wife moved out, taking the furniture and leaving him in despair.

Montgomery telephones Maria but the line gets cut off so the call cannot be traced. He has a large amount of money he secretly hid in an armchair prior to his incarceration. Lecce and Reimers spy on Maria, hoping Montgomery will turn up at her door so they can arrest him. Lecce pretends to be a telephone lineman, to get close to Maria. He also helps her brother Ray to get a job to stay out of trouble.

Fate takes a turn as Lecce falls in love with Maria and the Seattle police suspect him as being one of Montgomery's allies. While Lecce is asleep in Maria's bed, Montgomery and Reese break into her house, with Montgomery shooting Lecce in the face. Lecce wakes up, however, to find out it was only a nightmare. Realizing he slept in, he must leave the house without being seen. At the police station, Reimers scolds him for sleeping with Maria, and reminds him he's a good cop who made one mistake.

After killing a cashier in a gas station, Montgomery and Reese have a run-in with several officers waiting for them outside Seattle, causing a shootout and their car crashes into the river. Montgomery escapes from the vehicle before it sinks, but Reese is wounded and dies in the sunken car.

Lecce tells his secret to Maria, but she starts to get upset, only to run into Montgomery, who tells Chris and Maria that he stashed half-million dollars in a couch that he bought for her years prior. He was hoping that he and Maria would have a great life together in Canada, but Lecce ruined it.

After capturing Reimers, Montgomery plans to murder both cops. The climax of the film takes place at a paper mill, where Lecce and Montgomery have a shootout, resulting in Montgomery being shot in the chest. Maria and Lecce start a relationship.

In 1975 New York, after having served five years of a 30-year prison sentence, career criminal Carlito Brigante is freed on a legal technicality exploited by his close friend and lawyer, Dave Kleinfeld. Carlito vows to end his unlawful activities but is persuaded to accompany his young cousin Guajiro to a drug deal held at a bar. Guajiro's suppliers betray and kill him, forcing Carlito to shoot his way out. Later, Carlito takes Guajiro's $30,000 from the botched deal and uses it to buy into a nightclub owned by a gambling addict named Saso, intending to save $75,000 to retire to the Caribbean.

As nightclub co-owner, Carlito declines several offers for a business partnership with a hot-headed young gangster from the Bronx named Benny Blanco. Carlito also rekindles his romance with his former girlfriend Gail, a ballet dancer moonlighting as a stripper. Kleinfeld develops a love interest with Benny's girlfriend, Steffie, a waitress at the club. Benny's frustration with Carlito's constant rejections boils over and he confronts Carlito one night at his table. Carlito publicly humiliates Benny, who reacts by manhandling Steffie. Fueled by his now-extensive use of alcohol and cocaine, Kleinfeld brazenly pulls out a gun and threatens to kill Benny, but Carlito intervenes. Despite being personally threatened by Benny himself, Carlito lets him go unharmed, a decision which alienates Carlito's bodyguard Pachanga.

Kleinfeld, who stole $1 million in payoff money from his client, Mafia boss Anthony Taglialucci, is coerced into providing his yacht to help Taglialucci break out of the Rikers Island prison barge. Kleinfeld begs for Carlito's assistance in the prison break, and Carlito reluctantly agrees. That night, Carlito, Kleinfeld, and Taglialucci's son Frankie sail to a floating buoy outside of the barge where Taglialucci is waiting. As they pull Taglialucci aboard, Kleinfeld kills him and Frankie and dumps their bodies in the East River, claiming that they would have killed him anyway. He then smugly admits to stealing Taglialucci's money. Knowing mob retaliation is imminent, Carlito immediately severs his ties with Kleinfeld and decides to leave town with Gail. The next day, Kleinfeld barely survives a retaliatory assassination attempt at his office.

The police apprehend Carlito and take him to the office of District Attorney Norwalk, where he is played a tape of Kleinfeld offering to testify to false criminal allegations against Carlito. Norwalk advises that he is aware that Carlito is an accomplice to the Taglialucci murders in an attempt to leverage him into betraying Kleinfeld, but Carlito refuses. In the hospital, Carlito visits Kleinfeld, who confesses to selling him out. Having noticed a suspicious man dressed in a police uniform waiting in the lobby, Carlito secretly unloads Kleinfeld's revolver and leaves. The man is Taglialucci's other son, Vinnie, seeking vengeance for his brother and father. After sending the officer already guarding Kleinfeld away, Vinnie enters Kleinfeld's room and shoots him dead.

Carlito buys train tickets to Miami for himself and Gail, now pregnant. When he stops by his club to get the stashed money, Carlito is met by a group of East Harlem Italian gangsters led by Vinnie. The Italians plan to kill Carlito, but he manages to slip out through a secret exit. The Italians pursue him throughout the city's subway system and into Grand Central Terminal, where they engage in a gunfight. Carlito kills all of his pursuers except Vinnie, whom the police shoot and kill. As Carlito runs to catch the train where Gail and Pachanga are waiting for him, Benny ambushes him and fatally shoots him several times with a silenced gun. Pachanga admits to Carlito that he is now working for Benny, but Benny then shoots him dead as well. Carlito hands a tearful Gail the money and tells her to escape with their unborn child and start a new life. Carlito is wheeled away on a gurney to be taken to the hospital. As he dies, Carlito stares at a billboard with a Caribbean beach and a picture of a woman. The billboard then comes to life in his mind, and the woman, now Gail, starts dancing.

In the North East section of the Bronx, New York during the spring of 1969, Anthony Curtis (Larenz Tate) is about to graduate from high school, and decides to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps rather than go to college. He is sent to Vietnam, leaving behind his middle-class family, his girlfriend Juanita (Rose Jackson), and small-time crook Kirby (Keith David), who is like a second father. Anthony's close friend, Skip (Chris Tucker), later joins Curtis' Recon squad after deciding not to go to Hunter College and his other friend Jose (Freddy Rodriguez), is drafted into the U.S. Army. Once in Vietnam, Curtis and his squad lose several fellow Marines during combat, and commit several atrocities of their own, such as executing enemy prisoners and beheading corpses for war trophies.

When Anthony returns to the Bronx in 1973, he finds returning to "normal" life impossible. He finds Skip now an Agent Orange victim and heroin addict, Jose is an amputee with a prosthetic hand and pyromaniac who now works as a postman at the James A. Farley Building, and Cleon (Bokeem Woodbine), a religious but homicidal individual that was his squad’s Staff Sergeant, who is now a devoted minister in Mount Vernon, New York.

After being laid off from his job at a butcher shop, Anthony finds himself unable to support Juanita (who had an affair with a pimp while he was on duty) or his daughter. After an argument with Juanita, Anthony meets his girlfriend's sister, Delilah (N'Bushe Wright), who is now a member of the "Nat Turner Cadre", a revolutionary communist militant group. Anthony, Kirby, Skip, Jose, Delilah, and Cleon devise a plan to rob an armored car making a stop at the Noble Street Federal Reserve Bank of the Bronx.

The next day, the group strategically position themselves around the street, armed with weapons and disguised with face paint, ready to ambush the truck. The plan goes awry when Cleon is approached by a black NYPD officer (who was also a former Marine) who unknowingly stumbles upon the robbery, leading to Kirby being shot in the arm and Skip killing the officer when Cleon freezes up (a role reversal to what happens to Skip and Cleon earlier). At the same time, Anthony and Jose are spotted by the driver, causing a large shootout with the security guards.

Jose (a demolition expert in the army) plants an explosive device on the escaping truck to blow off the door, but instead it destroys the whole vehicle. Delilah saves Anthony's life by killing one of the guards. A second guard appears and gets into a shootout with Delilah; he shoots her multiple times killing her. As the group collects what cash they can from the burning wreckage, they flee and split up to escape the police. Jose gets cornered in an alley by an approaching police car. When Jose shoots the driver, he is hit by the car and killed as the police car crashes into a wall, crushing Jose.

Not long after the heist, Kirby hears that Cleon has been giving out $100 bills and has bought himself a new Cadillac that he can barely afford. Anthony drives over to Cleon's church to speak to him, only to find him being led out the front door in handcuffs by two detectives. Cleon gives up the other robbers as part of a plea bargain due to his remorse in the death of the earlier officer. NYPD officers storm Skip's apartment only to find that he has died of a heroin overdose. As Kirby and Anthony prepare to flee to Mexico, police raid the bar. Kirby tries to distract the officers to allow Anthony to flee, but it is to no avail, as multiple officers corner Anthony and arrest him.

Anthony is convicted by a judge (Martin Sheen). His lawyer asks the court to show mercy, as Anthony served his country faithfully in the Marines and earned a Silver Star. However, the judge was a Marine in World War II, and proclaims that Anthony has forgotten the values that the Marines have taught him and that the Vietnam War wasn't even a real war to begin with and had no purpose, before sentencing him to fifteen years to life. Anthony, furious at his sentence in spite of his years of service, throws a chair at the judge before being escorted away. The film ends with Anthony looking out the window of his prison bus.

Pearl Kantrowitz (Diane Lane) and her husband Marty (Liev Schreiber) are a lower middle class, Jewish couple in New York City, where he works as a television repairman. The movie opens as the couple and their family, including their teenage daughter Alison (Anna Paquin), their young son Danny, and Marty's mother Lillian (Tovah Feldshuh), depart for their annual summer camp in the Catskills at Dr. Fogler's Bungalows.

Having to stay in New York for work during the week, Marty sees his family only on weekends at the camp. Pearl feels lonely and isolated. She got pregnant at the age of 17 and quickly married Marty, and feels that she missed enjoying her youth. With Marty absent, Pearl is attracted to the handsome and free-spirited Walker Jerome (Viggo Mortensen). Meanwhile, Alison is neglected. She undergoes teenage passages by herself—her first period, her first date, and her first kiss, as she develops a relationship with Ross Epstein, a boy at the camp.

Marty is unable to visit the family because he has to repair more television sets than usual, as customers are anxious to be ready to see the impending Moon landing. While the whole town celebrates Neil Armstrong's historic Moon walk, Pearl and Walker make love. Marty's mother Lillian learns of the affair and tries to persuade Pearl to break it off. But the affair continues when Marty cannot get to visit on the weekend because of the traffic jams caused by the huge Woodstock festival, which is taking place within walking distance of the bungalow colony. Pearl goes to the festival. She doesn't know that Alison goes as well, with Ross and her friends, although her mother had explicitly forbidden her to do so. Alison becomes upset after seeing Pearl and Walker carousing while on LSD (acid).

Marty learns of his wife's affair and confronts Pearl. Alison also confronts her mother in an emotional scene. Pearl is forced to deal with her love of her family and her conflicting yearning for marital freedom.

Pearl decides to stay with Marty and tells Walker she won't go away with him. He says he understands. The final scene shows Pearl and Marty dancing together, first to Dean Martin's "When You're Smiling" and then to Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze", after Marty changes the station.

Several months after the events of ''The Fly'', Veronica Quaife gives birth to a larval sac and dies from shock. The sac splits open to reveal a seemingly normal baby boy. Anton Bartok, the owner of the company that financed Seth Brundle's original teleportation experiments, adopts the child and names him Martin. Martin grows up in a clinical environment. His physical and mental maturity is highly accelerated, and he possesses a genius-level intellect, incredible reflexes, and no need for sleep. He knows he is aging faster than a normal human, but is unaware of the true cause, having been told his father died from the same rapid aging disease.

At age three, Martin has the physique of a 10-year-old and frequently sneaks around to explore the Bartok complex. He finds a room containing laboratory animals and befriends a dog. The next night, he brings it food but finds it missing. He enters an observation booth overlooking Bay 17. There, scientists have reassembled Brundle's Telepods, but have been unable to duplicate the programming that enabled them to teleport living subjects. An attempt to teleport the dog fails, leaving it horribly deformed. It maims one of the scientists, horrifying young Martin. Two years later, Martin's body has matured to that of a 25-year-old young man. On his fifth birthday, Bartok presents Martin with a bungalow on the Bartok facility's property. He also offers Martin a job: repair his father's Telepods. He apologizes about the dog and assures Martin that its suffering was brief. When Martin is uneasy about the proposition, Bartok shows him Veronica Quaife's videotapes, which documented Seth Brundle's progress with the Telepods. Seeing his father describe how the Telepods ostensibly improved and energized his body, Martin accepts Bartok's proposal.

As he works on the Telepods, Martin befriends an employee, Beth Logan. Beth invites Martin to a party at the specimens division, where he learns that the mutated dog is still kept alive and studied. Thinking Beth is aware of the dog's imprisonment, Martin argues with her, leaves the party, and goes to the animal's holding pen. The deformed dog, in terrible pain, still remembers Martin (recognizing him despite his growth), and he tearfully euthanizes it with chloroform. Martin reconciles with Beth and rearrives at his father's "eureka" moment when he realizes the Telepods' computer need to be creative to analyze living flesh. Martin shows Beth his perfected Telepods by teleporting a kitten without harm. They become lovers, but Martin shows signs of his eventual mutation into a human-fly hybrid. Martin devises a potential cure for his condition, which involves swapping out his mutated genes for healthy human genes. Martin shelves this idea when he realizes the other person would be subject to a grotesque genetic disfigurement.

Eventually, Martin learns that Bartok has hidden cameras in his bungalow. Martin breaks into Bartok's records room, where he learns of his father's true fate. Bartok confronts Martin and explains that he has been waiting for his inevitable mutation. He reveals his plan to use Martin's body and the Telepods' potential for genetic manipulation for profit. Martin's insect genes fully awaken and his transformation into a human-insect hybrid begins, and he escapes from Bartok Industries. Bartok is unable to use the Telepods, as they are locked by a password. Martin also installed a computer virus which will erase the Telepods' programming if the wrong password is entered. Bartok orders a search for Martin.

Martin goes to Beth and explains the situation, and the two flee. They visit Veronica Quaife's old confidant, Stathis Borans (implied to have been told that Brundle's baby died in childbirth along with Veronica), who confirms for Martin that the Telepods are his only chance for a cure. They keep running, but Martin's physical and emotional changes become too much for Beth to handle, and she eventually surrenders them both to Bartok. Without revealing the password, Martin becomes enveloped in a cocoon. Bartok interrogates Beth for the password. Shortly after, the fully transformed Martin emerges from his cocoon and breaks into Bay 17. He grabs Bartok, forces him to type in the password, "Dad", and drags Bartok and himself into a Telepod. Martin gestures Beth to activate the gene-swapping sequence, and Beth complies. When he and Bartok emerge, Martin is restored to a fully human form. Bartok is transformed into a deformed monstrosity and ends up kept in the same enclosure as the mutated dog. As he begins to eat swill from the dog’s dish, Bartok catches sight of a single housefly sitting on the dish’s edge.

The film begins as Karen Powell goes into labor during a costume party and is rushed to the hospital by her husband, Brian, and their friends. Although the delivery is successful, the baby is extremely premature, born after only ten weeks of pregnancy. Strangely, the infant seems to be a normal, healthy, full-term baby. After examinations and tests, the infant, now named Jack, is found to have an exaggerated form of Werner syndrome. Dr. Benfante and Dr. Lin diagnose a very rare autosomal recessive disorder. Their prognosis is that Jack will develop and age at a rate four times as fast as an average child, rendering him "sick as frick" as Dr. Lin explains colloquially.

Jack is next seen ten years later as a ten-year-old boy in the body of a forty-year-old man. Four boys lurk outside his house, swapping rumors of a "monstrosity" of a boy their age who cannot go to school. He scares them away by dipping a fake eye into slime and throwing it at them from his window. He is extremely childish due to his secluded life. He has only socialized with his parents and his tutor, Lawrence Woodruff, who introduces the idea that he should go to public school. His parents initially balk, for fear Jack could be emotionally traumatized.

When he first attends school, he is cast away by several kids since he looks like a 40-year-old man. His dad later gives him some encouragement by installing a basketball hoop to help him learn to fit in. At school the following days, Louis picks him for his team to play basketball with some bullies and they win the game. After school, Louis asks Jack to help him by pretending to be the school principal to help him avoid reprimand from his mom Dolores. Afterwards, they become friends and Louis invites him to a clubhouse with other kids, eventually enlisting him to get adult magazines and other such adult items for his group of friends. Jack attempts to be a normal kid, but when he deals with his first crush, and the heartbreak of confessing it to his teacher, Miss Marquez, he falls down a flight of stairs while attempting to leave, and is rushed to the hospital. His doctor explains that he suffered a shocking severe strain (which could've been a rare form of angina), and that, because of his Werner syndrome, his internal clock is starting to run out. Realizing the dangers it might entail for his health, his parents decide to withdraw him from school, which upsets him.

He sneaks out of the house and goes to a bar, where he gets drunk and befriends a man named Paulie, and tries to hit on Dolores. However, he gets into a fight with a bully and both are arrested. Dolores bails Jack out, and comforts Jack after dropping him off home. Upon returning home, he locks himself in his room and doesn't go out for weeks. Karen speculates that perhaps he realized the fragility of his life and is now scared of facing the outside world again. He also doubts the need to study as he realizes that he wouldn't have the time to use any of the knowledge.

Meanwhile, his friends continue coming to his house, hoping that he will come out and play, but he refuses. Finally, Louis has an idea: he brings the entire class over as they take turns yelling "Can Jack come out and play?" and participate in various games and fun activities right in front of the yard. The next day he decides to go back to school.

Seven years later, an elderly-looking Jack and his four best friends are at their high school graduation. He delivers the valedictory speech, in which he reminds his classmates that life is short, and urges them to "make your life spectacular," as the five of them drive off into the future.

The film begins with chemistry professor Barney Cousins (Jeff Bridges) at his cabin, seemingly perfecting methods in which to conduct a successful kidnapping. He is so dedicated to his work that his wife Helene (Lisa Eichhorn) and his daughter Denise (Maggie Linderman) suspect he is having an affair.

Jeff Harriman (Kiefer Sutherland) goes on vacation with his girlfriend Diane Shaver (Sandra Bullock), who vanishes without a trace at a gas station. Three years later, Jeff has become obsessed with finding out what happened, posting fliers and following leads relentlessly. Exhausted, he stops at a diner and meets a waitress named Rita (Nancy Travis) who sympathizes with his plight and looks after him. A year later, the two are a couple and have settled in an apartment in Seattle. Jeff, who is attempting to write a novel, meets with a publisher who suggest that he write a book about the disappearance. Knowing this will upset Rita, he hides his project, buys a used military uniform at a surplus store and uses army reserve drills as a cover to continue his search. One weekend, Rita is at home and curious about his project. She goes to the computer and cracks a code using several letters of Diane's name, accessing Jeff's rough draft of a children's book. After reading it, she discovers it's actually about Diane's disappearance. Rita tracks Jeff to his motel room and angrily confronts him. Jeff finally tells the truth about how Diane disappeared and commits to only Rita. Following her ultimatum, Jeff abandons the search and burns the missing posters of Diane.

Some months later, Barney is on campus and discovers Diane's missing posters covered with other fliers. He surmises that Jeff has given up his quest for the truth. He decides to bait Jeff by sending him a letter to meet him at a country club to learn the truth about Diane, which Jeff does. While Barney secretly watches, Rita confronts Jeff again and tells him they are done. Rita records an outgoing answering machine message at their home, indicating that she has broken up with Jeff. When Jeff returns, he changes the message without Rita knowing. Barney arrives at Jeff's door and admits that he was responsible for Diane's disappearance. Jeff attacks him and demands answers. Barney promises to show Jeff what happened to Diane, but only if he agrees to go through exactly the same thing she did. Barney explains about his past: he broke his arm after jumping off a roof when he was a child, and when he became a husband and father years later, he saved a little girl from drowning. He states that this experience lead him to an epiphany: With capability of great good also, could there come capability of great evil? The kidnapping of Diane was an attempt to answer that hypothesis.

In a short series of flashbacks, the build-up to the crime is shown: when Diane was in the gas station purchasing drinks for herself and Jeff, she asks Barney for a favor. She then compliments a bracelet that Barney is wearing, which was given to him by his daughter. Barney lies to Diane and claims to sell them, and then invites her to his car so she can buy one herself. In his car, Barney uses chloroform to subdue and kidnap her. Then Jeff is taken to the gas station where Diane went missing, and is told that if he drinks a cup of coffee which has been drugged, he will discover her fate by experiencing it. He does, and wakes up to find he has been buried alive in a coffin.

Rita calls home and listens to the changed outgoing message on the answering machine, which had incidentally recorded Barney's voice when he first confronted Jeff. Realizing that Jeff is in danger, she talks with the next door neighbor who witnessed the attack. She learns of Barney's identity and goes to his home and meets his daughter Denise. Not knowing the circumstances and on her way to meet a boy, Denise rides with Rita and gives her directions to her father's cabin. When Rita arrives, a violent fight ensues with Barney eventually gaining the upper hand. Barney offers Rita the same deal that he offers Jeff, but Rita outsmarts him. She lies to Barney and tells him that she has kidnapped Denise. She gets Barney to drink drugged coffee, but does not realize the drug takes 15 minutes to take effect. She goes in search of Jeff and finds a fresh mound of dirt. Believing that he has been buried alive, she digs him out, but is thwarted at the last minute by Barney. Jeff climbs out of the grave, kills Barney with the shovel, and embraces Rita. He sees another grave and finally accepts Diane's death. Jeff and Rita reunite as a couple and sell the story as a novel to a publishing company.

The film is set in Argentina in 1983, in the final year of the country's last military dictatorship, during which a campaign of state-sponsored terrorism produced thousands of killings and torture of accused political leftists and innocents alike, who were buried in unmarked graves or became ''desaparecidos''.

Alicia Maquet, a high school history teacher, and her husband, Roberto Ibañez, a government official, live in Buenos Aires with their 5-year-old adopted daughter, Gaby. Alicia, like other members of the Argentine upper class, is not aware of how much killing and suffering has gone on in the country, and naively believes only guilty people are arrested.

Alicia's views are challenged by a fellow teacher, Benítez (Patricio Contreras), and some of her students. During a discussion about the death of Argentinean founding father Mariano Moreno, one student, Costa, argues that the government-issued history textbooks are "written by murderers."

Ana, Alicia's longtime friend, returns from exile in Europe and explains why she never told Alicia she was leaving. At first Ana laughs as she tells of her apartment being ransacked by officials, but soon begins to sob as she describes being held captive, tortured and raped for having lived with Pedro, who was labeled as subversive, even though she hadn't seen him in two years. She says that while she was held captive, she witnessed pregnant women leave to give birth but return without their babies, whom she believes were sold to rich couples.

Alicia increasingly wonders about Gaby's origins and asks questions about Gaby's birth, a topic her husband has told her to ignore. Alicia asks why they celebrate the day they brought her home rather than the day she was born, and whether or not Roberto actually met Gaby's mother. Roberto insists it was a normal adoption.

Costa continues to provoke his classmates, and one day Alicia arrives to see newspaper accounts of the ''desaparecidos'' taped to the blackboard. When Alicia reports the student, Benítez intervenes to protect him. Alicia gradually becomes friendly with Benítez as her research brings her closer to the truth.

While seeking Gaby's hospital birth records, Alicia learns of an organization searching for missing children. She meets Sara, whose pregnant daughter was kidnapped by the armed forces, and believes Gaby may be her granddaughter. Sara has a photo of her daughter at Gaby's age, looking identical to Gaby.

Roberto faces stress at work due to the machinations of his colleagues, several of whom disappear over the course of the film. Ana confronts him and accuses him of denouncing her and causing her arrest. He also comes into friction with his liberal father and brother, who frown on his ties to the ruling conservative military elite and argue in favor of social justice.

Alicia brings Sara home to meet Roberto, but he is infuriated and demands that Sara leave. After Alicia realizes he does not care about knowing the truth about Gaby's parents, she informs Roberto that Gaby is not at home and asks him how he feels not knowing where his child is, which prompts him to assault her in a fit of rage. The violence is interrupted by a telephone call from Gaby, who is at her grandparents’ house. She asks Roberto to let her sing "En El País de Nomeacuerdo" (In The Country of Idonotremember), a nursery rhyme, to her mother and, after she hangs up, Alicia tearfully grabs her purse and walks out the door, leaving her keys behind.

The final scene shows Gaby sitting in a wicker rocking chair, continuing to sing.

''Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball'' is one of the few games in the ''Sonic'' franchise set in the universe of the animated series ''Sonic the Hedgehog''. The evil scientist Doctor Robotnik has built a fortress on top of a volcano to transform the animals of planet Mobius into robot slaves. The volcano's magma fuels the fortress and the pinball machine-like defense systems. The volcano is kept in stable condition with Chaos Emeralds. Sonic the Hedgehog and his friend Tails mount an aerial assault on the fortress. Sonic is knocked into the waters that surround the volcano, but surfaces in the caves below the fortress. He infiltrates the defenses, absconds with the Chaos Emeralds, and frees the animals. Without the Chaos Emeralds, an eruption begins to destroy the fortress. Sonic destroys Robotnik's escape ship. Tails rescues Sonic, while Robotnik falls into the volcano, which sinks into the ocean and explodes.

''Head'' begins at the dedication of the Gerald Desmond Bridge in Long Beach, California. As a local politician struggles with his microphone during the dedication speech, the Monkees (Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Peter Tork, and Michael Nesmith) suddenly interrupt the ceremony by running through the assembled officials to the sound of various horns and sirens. Micky then jumps off the bridge into the water below. He floats around, unconscious, as several mermaids attempt to revive him.

The scene then transitions into a living room, in which the Monkees are having a kissing contest with a young woman, who pronounces them all "even." Then the movie's theme song plays, as the screen fills with images from the film, ending with the execution of Nguyễn Văn Lém followed by a woman screaming. However, the woman is not screaming in terror but in excitement, as the Monkees are about to take the stage at a concert. When the Monkees arrive, they lead the crowd in a cheer for "War!" which leads to a short war film, then transitions back to the concert stage where the group performs the song "Circle Sky". After the song, they are ripped apart by a rush of fans, but it quickly becomes clear that the Monkees are merely mannequins.

The movie meanders along, weaving through various (and mostly unrelated) sets, lots, and film genres, alternating between scenes with the group and scenes with individual members, interspersed with musical numbers and extended non sequiturs. Each Monkee takes a turn in the spotlight, experiencing confusion and dissatisfaction with their situation. Together, they repeatedly find themselves trapped in some form of enclosure, from a vacuum cleaner to a large black box (which Micky says represents their universe). When trapped, they are alone and spend their time trying to find a way out, but each time they escape they have little control over the situations they find themselves in. Any initiative they do take is invariably short-lived.

Eventually, Peter discovers a swami he believes to have "the Answer", but when Peter shares his enlightenment with the rest of the group, Davy becomes enraged with Peter's conclusion: "I know nothing." Davy then goes on a rampage through the studio and the lot, eventually landing the group back inside the black box, which is then flown out to the desert. There they are released, only to face all their antagonists from the film.

The Monkees flee on foot, ending up at the bridge dedication shown at the beginning of the film. This time, we see all four Monkees jump from the bridge, still pursued by their enemies. As each Monkee lands in the water below, he begins to swim away. However, they soon discover that they are actually trapped inside an aquarium on the back of a truck, which drives away as the credits roll.

Dave Kovic runs a temporary employment agency in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. and impersonates President Bill Mitchell as a side job. Secret Service agent Duane Stevenson recruits him to impersonate Mitchell after a speech, ostensibly as a security precaution, but in reality to cover up Mitchell’s affair with a staffer. Dave’s appearance goes well, but Mitchell suffers a major stroke while having sex, leading White House Chief of Staff Bob Alexander and Communications Director Alan Reed to ask Dave to continue in his role. Bob’s scheme is to force Vice President Gary Nance, a good man, to resign after purposefully embroiling him in a savings and loan scandal, and then have Dave, acting as Mitchell, appoint Bob as vice president, whereupon they will reveal Mitchell’s incapacity and Bob will become president. Alan is initially reluctant to agree to the plan, but eventually acquiesces and tells the press corps the stroke was minor. Dave agrees to keep impersonating Mitchell and Nance is sent on a good will tour of Africa.

Dave's charm and enthusiasm for life changes Mitchell’s previously grumpy image and increase his popularity. First Lady Ellen Mitchell, who has been privately estranged from her husband for years, is initially convinced that Dave is her husband and treats him with contempt on the few occasions they see each other. When Dave accompanies her to a homeless shelter, for which she is a staunch advocate, she sees his empathy towards a shy boy and begins to soften towards him. Her fury returns, though, after Bob forges Mitchell’s signature on the veto of a public works bill that included funding for the shelter. Dave, after consulting his accountant friend Murray Blum, works with the Cabinet to restore the funding. A furious Bob threatens to destroy Dave, but Alan vows to expose their scheme if he does.

Ellen, having witnessed Dave's considerable efforts to save the shelter, confronts Dave and he admits he is an impostor. Dave has Duane escort them to the secret hospital room beneath the White House, where Mitchell remains in a coma. They both resolve to leave the White House, but become closer after spending a night out alone together. Ellen tells Dave she's gone along with the charade of being happily married to Bill because she thought she could help people as First Lady. Dave tells her he wishes he could do the same. They begin to fall in love and choose to stay.

The next day, Dave calls a press conference and, when Bob fires him, threatens to tell the press corps the truth about Mitchell. He orders Bob to resign and announces a plan to provide a job to every American who wants one.

Nance returns from Africa and pleads his innocence of the scandal to Dave, who hears about Bob’s plot from Alan. To get back at Dave, Bob reveals evidence implicating Mitchell in the scandal, which Alan admits is true. Despite talk of impeachment, Dave refuses to back off his jobs plan.

During a joint session of Congress, Dave admits that Bob’s allegations are true and takes responsibility for the scandal. He produces proof, furnished by Alan, that shows Bob was directly involved and Nance is innocent. As he continues his speech, he fakes another stroke and switches bodies with Mitchell on the way to the hospital, enabling him to resume his previous life. The hospital pronounces the "second" stroke as major and Mitchell continues to lie in a coma for several more months before dying. Nance becomes president, Bob and several administration officials are eventually indicted, and the jobs plan becomes law.

Dave runs for city council with the help of Murray and his staff at his employment agency. Dave is surprised one day when Ellen visits. He escorts her into his office where they share their first kiss. Dave closes the shades to give them privacy and Duane steps in front of the door, wearing one of Dave’s campaign buttons.

Sethe is a former slave living on the outskirts of Cincinnati, Ohio shortly after the Civil War. An angry poltergeist residing in the family home terrorizes Sethe and her three children, an act which causes two of them to run away forever.

Eight years later, Sethe lives alone with her daughter, Denver. Paul D., an old friend from Sweet Home, the plantation Sethe had escaped from years earlier, finds Sethe's home, where he drives off the angry spirit that inhabits it. Afterwards, Paul D. proposes that he should stay and Sethe responds favorably. Shortly after Paul D. moves in, a clean young woman who appears to have a cognitive delay named Beloved finds her way into Sethe's yard and is taken in by her.

Denver is initially happy to have Beloved around, but learns that she is Sethe's reincarnated daughter. Nonetheless, she chooses not to divulge Beloved's origins to Sethe. One night, Beloved, aware that Paul D. dislikes her, immobilizes him with a spell and rapes him. Paul D. resolves to tell Sethe what happened, but instead asks her to have a baby with him. When Stamp Paid, a co-worker of Paul D who has known Sethe for many years, learns of Paul D.'s plans for a family with Sethe, he pulls a newspaper clipping featuring Sethe and tells her story to the illiterate Paul D.

Years ago, Sethe was raped by the nephews of Schoolteacher, the owner of Sweet Home. She complained to Mrs. Garner, Schoolteacher's sister-in-law, who confronted him. In retaliation, Schoolteacher and his nephews brutally whipped Sethe, leaving a "tree" of keloid scars on her back. Heavily pregnant with her fourth child, Sethe planned to escape. Her other children were sent off earlier to live with Baby Suggs, Sethe's mother-in-law, but Sethe stayed behind to look for her husband, Halle. Sethe was assaulted while searching for him in the barn. The Schoolteacher's nephews held her down, raped her, and forcibly took her breast milk.

When Halle failed to appear, Sethe ran off alone. She crossed paths with Amy Denver, a white girl who treated Sethe's injuries and delivered Sethe's child, whom Sethe named Denver after Amy. Sethe eventually reached Baby Suggs' home, but her initial happiness was short-lived when Schoolteacher came to claim Sethe and her children. In desperation, Sethe slit her older daughter's throat, and attempted to kill her other children. Stamp Paid managed to stop her and the disgusted Schoolteacher departed. Sethe is detained for an unknown amount of time, and it is later revealed to Denver that she was saved from being hanged by an intervention from the Bodwins, a prominent Cincinnati family who knew Baby Suggs.

Paul D., horrified by the revelation and suddenly understanding the origin of the poltergeist, confronts Sethe. Sethe justifies her decision without apology, claiming that her children would be better off dead than enslaved. Paul D. departs shortly thereafter in protest. After Paul D.'s departure, Sethe realizes that Beloved is the reincarnation of her dead daughter. Feeling elated yet guilty, Sethe spoils Beloved with elaborate gifts while neglecting Denver. Beloved soon throws a destructive tantrum and her malevolent presence causes living conditions in the house to deteriorate. The women live in squalor and Sethe is unable to work, having become physically and mentally drained by Beloved's parasitic nature. Denver becomes depressed yet, being inspired by a memory of her grandmother's confidence in her, she eventually musters the courage to leave the house and seek employment.

After Denver finds employment with the Bodwins, women from the local church visit Sethe's house at the request of her new co-worker to perform an exorcism. Their motive for doing so is partly tempered with guilt; years before, they failed to warn Sethe of Schoolteacher's impending arrival. The women from the church comfort the family, and they are praying and singing loudly when Denver's new employer arrives to pick her up for work. Sethe sees him and, reminded of Schoolteacher's arrival, tries to attack him with an icepick, but is subdued by Denver and the women. During the commotion, Beloved disappears completely and Sethe, freed from Beloved's grip, becomes permanently bedridden.

Some months later, Paul D. encounters Denver at the marketplace. He notices she has transformed into a confident and mature young woman. When Paul D. later arrives at Sethe's house, he finds her suffering from a deep malaise. He assures Sethe that he and Denver will now take care of her. Sethe tells him that she doesn't see the point, as Beloved, her "best thing", is gone. Paul D. disagrees, telling Sethe that she herself is her own best thing.

The show starred D. L. Hughley as the main character, vending machine salesman Darryl Hughley. Elise Neal portrayed Darryl's wife Yvonne. Former ''Living Single'' co-star John Henton portrayed the couple's best friend Milsap from the "old neighborhood", who often visited the family and helped them out (much resemblance to Willona visiting James and Florida on ''Good Times''). Ashley Monique Clark portrayed Darryl and Yvonne's 12-year-old daughter Sydney, and Dee Jay Daniels portrayed their 10-year-old son Michael; both children sometimes acted out and sometimes caused complete chaos. Michael's best friends included Ronnie (Preston Wamsley), Otto (played by Connor Matheus in Seasons 1 and 2, then Ian Meltzer in Seasons 3 and 4), and Miles (Martin Spanjers).

The show's initial plot involved successful vending-machine business owner Darryl Hughley moving his family from a South Los Angeles ghetto to West Hills, a predominantly white neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. Darryl and his family try to adjust to living in an all-white area while trying not to forget who they are and where they came from. Darryl and Yvonne befriend their new neighbors, Sally and Dave, who are Darryl's polar opposite. The story has many racial themes that are usually comedic as Darryl makes fun of other races, especially his white and Korean neighbors.

A joint British-American plot is devised to steal a highly advanced Soviet fighter aircraft (MiG-31, NATO code name "Firefox") which is capable of Mach 6 (hypersonic flight), is invisible to radar, and carries weapons controlled by thought. Former United States Air Force Major Mitchell Gant, a Vietnam veteran, ex member of the Aggressor squadron and former prisoner of war, infiltrates the Soviet Union, aided by his ability to speak Russian (due to his having had a Russian mother) and a network of Soviet dissidents, three of whom are key scientists working on the fighter itself. His goal is to steal the Firefox and fly it back to friendly territory for analysis.

However, the KGB has got wind of the operation and is already looking for Gant. It is only through the dissidents that Gant remains one step ahead of the KGB and reaches the air base at Bilyarsk, where the Firefox prototype is under heavy guard. The dissidents working on the Firefox help Gant infiltrate the base. Pyotr Baranovich, one of the scientists, briefs Gant on the operation of the aircraft but warns him that there is a second prototype in the hangar that must be destroyed. The diversion will allow Gant to enter the hangar and escape with the first Firefox. Gant knocks out Lt. Colonel Yuri Voskov, a Soviet pilot assigned to take the first prototype on its maiden flight during a visit from the Soviet First Secretary. The scientists cause an explosive disruption, but the second prototype is undamaged. Baranovich is singled out for execution but manages to kill one of the guards with a concealed pistol before he and the other scientists are shot. Gant uses the commotion to enter the Firefox and fly it off the base.

Evading the Soviets' attempts to stop him, Gant barely reaches the Arctic ice pack and lands, making a rendezvous with a US submarine whose crew refuels and rearms the aircraft. However, Gant's last-minute refusal to kill Voskov has consequences; the Soviet pilot flies the second prototype, with orders to intercept him at the North Cape area. Gant completes the rendezvous and is on the way home when Voskov engages him in a dogfight. After a long battle, Gant finally remembers to fire one of his rearward missiles and Voskov's plane is destroyed. Satisfied that there are no other Soviet forces chasing him, Gant begins his flight to safety.

A team of Soviet scouts is sent behind enemy lines to find the location of the German armor forces. The Soviets wait until night, and open up with an artillery barrage. As the guns fire, the team advances. The team successfully slips behind enemy lines. Many dramatic scenes follow. In one, a German soldier is captured and interrogated. In another, the team calls an airstrike on German positions, causing great damage and casualties. One man even kills a German soldier with his pistol during the air attack. This tract of scenes finds the main characters successfully finding the location of the German armor. They are eventually cornered in a barn, with Germans attacking on all sides. During the battle, the team leader sends a radio message, telling the location of enemy armor. The team is eventually overrun and wiped out.

A man named Claude is driving a vehicle across the planet Perdide. He sends a message to his friend Jaffar, telling him that his wife Annie was killed by indigenous monster hornets. After a crash wrecks his vehicle and he cannot extricate himself, he lets his son Piel down from the wreckage and hands him an ovoid interstellar transceiver, telling him that it is named "Mike" and will talk to him, and to do whatever Mike tells him to do. After Claude sends his son to the Dolongs, a nearby coral-like forest which repulses the hornets, the crashed vehicle explodes.

On his spaceship ''Double Triangle 22'', Jaffar receives Claude's last message. Before heading for Perdide, he decides to seek out his friend Silbad, as Silbad has experience in living on Perdide. Jaffar's passengers, Prince Matton and his sister, Princess Belle, have been deposed from their planet; they bring with them a treasure the Prince took along to fund his restoration. Matton is not at all happy about being diverted and makes no attempt to hide his displeasure. At the same time, a relationship begins to blossom between Jaffar and Belle.

Jaffar, Silbad, Matton and Belle begin communicating with Piel to give him advice. Whilst on Silbad's planet, they witness the metamorphosis of a water lily-like organism into dozens of empathic, sentient, primary-colored homunculi, two of whom, named Yula and Jad, stow away on Jaffar's spacecraft seeking adventure. Unknown to the Prince, Yula and Jad play with and then dispose of the treasure via the airlock. When Matton speaks with Piel, he nearly convinces the trusting boy to drown himself in a lake, but is discovered by Belle, who stuns him and talks Piel to safety.

Jaffar plans to use the gravitational pull of the Blue Comet to reach Perdide. In order to rendezvous with it, Jaffar pilots his craft to the planet Gamma 10. Prince Matton escapes in a shuttlecraft to the surface of Gamma 10, which is inhabited by faceless, identical white angels. They capture both Matton and Jaffar, who followed in a space lifeboat, and intend to throw them into the living, thinking amorphous being which controls the planet. Although they are unable to rescue Jaffar, Yula and Jad are able to forewarn him: As they contact the controlling being, its victims get dominated by it, lose all sense of individuality and become one of the faceless angels. They instruct Jaffar to resist being assimilated by exuding all the hate and contempt he can muster. When Jaffar tells the Prince about this, Matton leaps into the being and sacrifices himself, not only destroying the creature, but also causing the angels to revert to their original forms.

Rescued by Yula and Jad, the former captives are taken onboard the ''Double Triangle 22''. Meanwhile, Piel befriends a local creature, a hyponiterix, which accompanies him. Soon afterwards, a patrol cruiser of the Interplanetary Reform catches up with the ''Double Triangle 22'', pursuing the fleeing royals and the treasure Matton stole. Jaffar considers that the rescued spacefarers from Gamma 10 should hijack the Reform cruiser and take it for themselves. During the discussion of this plan, one of the rescued from Gamma 10, Onyx the Digeed of Gnaz, is revealed to be able to change his shape to resemble any object. As a consequence, Onyx will impersonate the missing treasure, allowing the escapees to access the Reformist ship.

Jaffar's vessel is boarded, and as he presents the "captured" pirates and the fake treasure to the Reform commander, none of the ''Double Triangle 22'' s crew is able to converse with Piel, who begins to wander without supervision. The crew attempts to contact him, but Piel has lost his transceiver and his hyponiterix companion inside a cave filled with predatory tentacles. Despondent, Piel wanders back to the lakeside, which takes him out of the forest, and he is attacked by the hornets which killed his parents. The ''Double Triangle 22'' closes on her destination, but the planet is being transported through time by a bizarre race of aliens known only as the Masters of Time. Perdide and everything on it, including Piel, is sent back 60 years through time.

The effect of time travel renders the unprotected crew of ''Double Triangle 22'' unconscious. They awake in a vast space-station, where they have been treated, but Silbad is dying. Yula and Jad telepathically discover that Silbad is actually a now-elderly Piel. At the time Perdide was displaced, Piel was nearly killed by the bornets before a passing spacefarer, who was investigating this suddenly appearing planet, came to his rescue; but due to his trauma, Piel lost his childhood memories. Shortly after this revelation, Silbad dies. His funeral in space is attended by one of the Masters of Time; a tall luminous-green biped with a drooping, beak-like snout.

Differences from the novel

The motion picture story is based on the novel ''L'Orphelin de Perdide'' (1958) by the French writer Stefan Wul.

In the original novel, the character of Piel was also named Claude, like his father. Laloux changed this to distinguish father and son.

Cousins Bo, Luke, and Daisy Duke run a moonshine business for their Uncle Jesse in Hazzard County, Georgia. The cousins' primary mode of transportation is an orange 1969 Dodge Charger that the boys affectionately refer to as the "General Lee". Along the way, the family is tormented by corrupt Hazzard County Commissioner Jefferson Davis Hogg, widely known as "Boss Hogg", and his willing but dimwitted henchman, Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane.

After Rosco has the General Lee impounded after Bo and Luke's attempt to run away from a daughter of one their many moonshine customers, Billy Prickett, a famous stock-car driver, enters Hazzard to participate in the rally. Meanwhile, Rosco plants a fake moonshine still ("'cause he's too dumb to find the real one") in Uncle Jesse's barn and seizes the Duke property in the interest of eminent domain for Boss Hogg, forcing the family to temporarily reside with neighbor and Uncle Jesse's love-interest, Pauline. Pauline informs the Dukes that Rosco seized another farm on charges, so Bo and Luke investigate a local construction site and find geologic core samples with the help of bait-shop owner Sheev. Meanwhile, Coltrane makes arrangements to seize the General Lee as "evidence" from the local auto body shop run by the Dukes' friend Cooter Davenport, who instead turns the car into a hot rod and applies a new paint job and horn, in return for finally getting payment for all the work he has done ("...'cause that's how this works...") for the boys in the past.

Sheriff's car at location in Thousand Oaks, California After retrieving the General Lee before Rosco can, the Dukes go to Atlanta to visit a local university geology lab, meeting with Katie-Lynn Johnson, a Hazzard county girl and the Duke boys' love interest, and her Australian roommate Annette. At the lab, they discover Boss Hogg's intentions of turning the county into a strip coal mine. They are later arrested by the Atlanta Police Department after running from campus police. Back in Hazzard, Daisy learns, with the help of Sheriff's Deputy Enos Strate, that Billy Prickett has been hired by Boss Hogg to participate in the rally as a ringer. Boss Hogg then heads to Atlanta, where he informs the Duke boys, in lock-up, that they are too late to stop him and reveals that the vote on Hogg's proposition is at the same time as the rally, explaining Billy Prickett's involvement. During a transfer from detainment, Daisy helps the boys escape from the patrol car, and they speed home to try to inform the townsfolk, escaping the Atlanta Police, and the Georgia State Patrol after Bo outmaneuvers the city cops (who's furious at Luke after finding out that he and Katie-Lynn snuck up into the Dukes’ hayloft without him knowing about it).

Upon returning home, the Dukes discover that Boss Hogg and Rosco had taken Uncle Jesse and Pauline hostage, an obvious trap for the boys, and that Billy is in on the scheme because he is ashamed of the town's low status. The two race to the farmhouse to cause a distraction to the waiting Hazzard County Sheriff's deputies and Georgia State Troopers, while Daisy and Cooter rescue Jesse and Pauline. Meanwhile, the college girls head to the rally with Sheev to inform the townsfolk about the vote on the strip-mining ordinance. Because of Sheev's armadillo hat and lack of pants, no one listens to him, so Bo leaves for the rally while Luke and Jesse team up to foil the county and state police who are chasing Bo, interfering with the race. Upon crossing the finish line first before Billy, the two then continue racing across town, leading the townsfolk to the courthouse. Meanwhile other Hazzard County Sheriff's deputies and Georgia State Troopers had placed a roadblock before the courthouse, and after Daisy failed to get help claiming that her car had broken down thanks to a female officer seeing through her ruse, using Cooter's tow truck as a ramp, Bo jumps over the roadblock. Luke, having stolen Boss Hogg's car, smashes through the roadblock, allowing the townsfolk to arrive just in time to vote against Boss Hogg's proposed ordinance. At the courthouse, Daisy takes advantage of the governor of Georgia's presence and TV cameras to convince him to pardoning the boys, so Uncle Jesse takes the opportunity to knock out Boss Hogg and gets a pardon for assaulting a county commissioner at the same time.

The final scene shows a cook-out at the Dukes' house where Pauline convinces Uncle Jesse, who could not be found because he was "using the meat smoker", to get up and play the television series' main theme. Bo and Luke are romantically involved with the girls in the General Lee when they are caught by Luke's other love-interest Laurie Pullman from the introduction of the film, who proceeds to chase them with a shotgun as they drive away.

Gaylord "Greg" Focker is a nurse living in Chicago. He intends to propose to his girlfriend, Pam Byrnes, but his plan is disrupted when they are invited to the wedding of Pam's sister, Debbie, at their parents' house on Long Island. Greg decides to impress Pam's parents first, and propose to her in front of her family, but this plan is put on hold when the airline company loses his luggage which contains the engagement ring.

At the Byrnes's house, Greg meets Pam's father, Jack, mother, Dina, and their beloved cat, Jinx. Despite maintaining a friendly demeanor towards him, Jack is immediately suspicious of Greg and openly criticizes him for his choice of career as a male nurse and anything else he sees as a difference between Greg and the Byrnes family. Greg attempts to impress Jack, but his efforts fail. He becomes even more uncomfortable after he receives an impromptu lie detector test from Jack and later learns from Pam that Jack is a retired CIA operative who interrogated double agents.

Meeting the rest of Pam's family and friends, Greg still feels like an outsider. Despite efforts to impress her family, his inadvertent actions make him an easy target for ridicule. Greg unintentionally gives Debbie a broken nose and a black eye during a pool volleyball game, uses a malfunctioning toilet which floods the Byrnes' backyard with sewage, and sets the wedding altar on fire. Several misunderstandings also cause Jack to believe Greg is a marijuana user after Pam's weed-using brother, Denny, unintentionally frames him.

Later, Greg loses Jinx and replaces him with a stray whose tail he spray paints to make him look like Jinx, which happens to also make a mess of the house (though the real Jinx is later found). By now, the entire Byrnes family, including Pam, agrees that it is best for Greg to leave Long Island until the wedding concludes. Desperate to save himself, Greg reveals he has seen Jack engaging in some secret activity with some shady characters, and that Jack is planning a secret mission after the wedding. Jack angrily reveals that the secret mission was a surprise honeymoon for Debbie and her fiancé Bob, and Greg realizes he has only dug himself deeper into a hole. Jack also accuses Greg of lying about being a nurse and taking the Medical College Admission Test because his CIA pals could not find any record of a "Gregory" Focker.

Unwillingly, Greg goes to the airport where he is detained by airport security for insisting that his luggage stays with him rather than be checked. Back at the Byrnes's house, Jack learns from a disappointed Pam that he could find no record of Greg from the CIA because his real name is Gaylord, and is presented with copies of Greg's transcripts his parents faxed her, proving that Greg passed the Medical College Admission Test. Despite this, Jack still states his belief that Greg is an unsuitable husband for Pam because of the mistakes and lies he made, but is told off by Dina over his consistent picking apart of any man Pam brings home (and that he didn't even like Pam's previous fiancé, Kevin, until after they broke up).

After hearing Pam make a heartfelt phone call to Greg to apologize for not sticking up for him earlier, Jack realizes that Pam truly loves Greg. He rushes to the airport, convinces airport security to release Greg, and brings him back to the Byrnes's house. Jack performs a lie detector test on Greg to tell the truth about the weekend and loving Pam, leading Jack to propose to Greg to be his son-in-law.

As Greg is proposing to Pam, Jack and Dina listen in on their conversation from another room, agreeing that they should now meet Greg's parents (though both are visibly worried about this). After Debbie's wedding, Jack views footage of Greg recorded by hidden cameras that he had placed strategically around the house in which Greg calls Jack a "psycho" and mocks him and exposes Denny as the true marijuana user.

On stardate 45944.1, the ''Enterprise''-D finishes a magnetic wave survey of the Parvenium system and finds an unknown probe. The device rapidly scans the ship and directs an energy beam at Captain Picard, who wakes up to find himself on Kataan, a non-Federation planet. His wife, Eline, tells Picard that he is Kamin, an iron weaver recovering from a fever. Picard speaks of his life on the ''Enterprise'' but Eline and their close friend Batai try to convince Picard that his memories were only dreams and incorporate him into their society as Kamin. Picard begins living his life as Kamin in his village, Ressik, having children with Eline and learning to play the flute. Kamin spends much time outdoors and with his Dobsonian telescope studying nature. As years pass, he begins to notice that the drought is caused by increased radiation from the planet's sun. He sends reports to the planet's leaders, who seem to ignore his concerns.

On ''Enterprise'', the crew continues attempts to revive Picard. They try to block the influence of the probe but Picard nearly dies, so they are forced to let it continue. They trace the rocket's trajectory to a system whose sun went nova 1,000 years before, rendering life extinct in the system. Years pass and Kamin outlives Eline and Batai. Kamin and his daughter Meribor continue their study of the drought. They find that it is not temporary; the extinction of life on the planet is inevitable. Kamin confronts a government official who privately admits to him that they already know this but keep it secret to avoid panic. The official gravely points out to Kamin that they have only recently launched artificial satellites using primitive rockets: their race simply does not possess the technology to evacuate people before their planet is rendered uninhabitable.

One day, while playing with his grandson, Kamin is summoned by his adult children to watch the launch of a rocket, which everyone seems to know about except him. As he walks outside into the glaring nova light, Kamin sees Eline and Batai, as young as when he first saw them. They explain that he has already seen the rocket, just before he came there. Knowing that their planet was doomed, the planet's leaders placed memories of their society into a probe and launched it into space, in the hope that it would find someone who could tell others about their species. Picard realizes the context: "Oh, it's me, isn't it?", he says, "I'm the someone... I'm the one it finds", realizing that Kamin was the avatar they chose to represent their race.

Picard wakes up on the bridge of the ''Enterprise'' to discover that while he perceived many decades to have transpired, only 25 minutes have passed. The probe terminates and is brought aboard the ''Enterprise''. Inside, the crew finds a small box. Riker gives the box to Picard, who opens it to find Kamin's flute. Picard, now adept at the instrument, plays a melody he learned during his life as Kamin.

Two years after the events of the first film, LAPD sergeants Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh are pursuing unidentified suspects transporting an illegal shipment of gold krugerrands. The Afrikaner apartheid government of South Africa subsequently orders Los Angeles consul-general Arjen Rudd and security agent Pieter Vorstedt to warn both detectives off the investigation; they are reassigned to protecting an obnoxious federal witness, Leo Getz, after an attack on Murtaugh's home.

It soon becomes clear that both cases are related: after an attempt on Leo's life, Riggs and Murtaugh learn of the former's murky past laundering funds for vengeful drug smugglers. Leo leads them to the gang, but upon dispatching his would-be assassin and returning with backup they are confronted by Rudd, who invokes diplomatic immunity on behalf of his unscrupulous "associates."

Though instructed to leave the case alone, Riggs begins to openly harass the South African consulate, defying Rudd and romancing his secretary, Rika van den Haas, a liberal-minded Afrikaner who despises her boss and his racial philosophy. Murtaugh enlists Leo's help in creating a scene at the consulate that wins the support of anti-apartheid protesters outside. Vorstedt is dispatched to murder all of the officers investigating them while Murtaugh deduces that Rudd is attempting to ship funds from his smuggling ring in the United States to Cape Town via Los Angeles Harbor. Two assassins attack Murtaugh at his home, but he kills them both with his contractor's nail gun, though Leo is abducted in the process.

After killing many of the investigating officers, Vorstedt seizes Riggs at van den Haas' apartment and discloses that he was responsible for the death of Riggs's wife years earlier during a botched assassination attempt on him. He has his men kill Rika by drowning her and orders them to do the same to Riggs, who escapes and brutally kills both of the men. He phones Murtaugh, declaring an intention to pursue Rudd and avenge his wife, Rika, and their fallen friends; the other policeman willingly forsakes his badge to aid his partner. After rescuing Leo and destroying Rudd's house, they head for the ''Alba Varden'', Rudd's freighter docked in the Port of Los Angeles, as the South Africans prepare their getaway with hundreds of millions in drug money.

While investigating a guarded 40 foot cargo container at the docks, Riggs and Murtaugh are locked inside by Rudd's men. They break out of the box, scattering two pallets of Rudd's drug money into the harbor in the process. Riggs and Murtaugh engage in a firefight with some of Rudd's men aboard the ''Alba Varden'' before separating to hunt down Rudd. Riggs confronts and fights Vorstedt hand-to-hand, culminating when Riggs stabs Vorstedt with his own knife and crushes him by dropping a cargo container on him. Rudd retaliates by shooting Riggs in the back multiple times. Rudd again invokes diplomatic immunity upon seeing Murtaugh aim his gun at him; Murtaugh fatally shoots him. He then tends to Riggs, sharing a laugh with him as more LAPD personnel respond to the scene.

Peter Beaupre, Alice Ribbons, Burton Jernigan, and Earl Unger are four internationally wanted criminals who work for a terrorist organization. In Silicon Valley, California, they steal a $10 million missile-cloaking microchip and hide it inside a remote control toy car to sneak it past security at San Francisco International Airport. However, a luggage mix-up causes a Chicago-bound elderly passenger named Mrs. Hess to inadvertently take the thieves' bag containing the car. The four thieves arrive in Chicago and systematically search every house in Mrs. Hess's suburban neighborhood to find the chip.

Eight-year-old Alex Pruitt is given the remote control car by Mrs. Hess for shoveling her driveway, but she lectures him for scratching in public. He returns home and discovers that he has chickenpox and must stay out of school. The next day, Alex discovers the thieves while spying on his neighbors. After two failed attempts at reporting them, Alex attaches a camera to the remote control car and uses it to spy on them, leading to the thieves chasing it when they spot it. Wondering what they want with the toy car, Alex opens it and discovers the stolen chip. He informs the local Air Force Recruitment Center about the discovery and asks if they can forward the information about the chip to the right authorities.

The thieves finally deduce that Alex has been watching them and decide to break into his house. Alex rigs the house with booby traps with help from his pet rat Doris and his brother's loud-mouthed parrot. Beaupre, Alice, Jernigan and Unger break in, spring the traps, and suffer various injuries. While the four pursue Alex around the house, he flees and rescues Mrs. Hess, who has been duct taped to a chair in her garage by Alice. Beaupre ambushes Alex, but the latter uses a bubble gun resembling a Glock to scare him off.

Meanwhile, FBI agents and Chicago PD officers arrive at Alex's siblings' school after a tipoff from the recruitment center. Alex's family brings the agents and the police to their house, where they arrest Alice, Jernigan, and Unger. However, Beaupre hides in the snow fort in the backyard. The parrot drives the remote control car into the fort and threatens to light fireworks, which are lined around the inside. Beaupre offers a cracker in exchange for silence, but the parrot demands two. Since Beaupre has only one, the parrot then lights the fireworks and flees; Beaupre is discovered and arrested.

Later, the Pruitts, Hess, and the authorities hold a celebration for Alex as the Pruitt house is being repaired, with Jack returning home from a business trip. The thieves are shown to have contracted Alex's chickenpox during their mugshots.

A week before his retirement, L.A.P.D. Sergeant Roger Murtaugh and his partner Martin Riggs are demoted to uniform duties after failing to defuse an office building bomb. While on street patrol they witness the theft of an armored car, and help to thwart the crime assisted by armored car driver Delores. One of the two thieves gets away, but the other is taken into police custody. The suspect is found to be a known associate of Jack Travis, a former LAPD lieutenant who is running an arms smuggling ring in Los Angeles. The department is further concerned that the thieves were using armor-piercing bullets. Riggs and Murtaugh are re-promoted and assigned to work with Sergeant Lorna Cole from internal affairs to track down Travis.

Travis is currently negotiating with mobster Tyrone regarding his arms deal. The armored car thief that escaped is brought to Travis, who subsequently kills him in front of Tyrone for putting the police on his trail. Travis then uses his old police credentials to enter the interrogation room and kill the suspect in custody before he can be interviewed. Travis is unaware that closed-circuit cameras have been installed in the station, and Cole is able to confirm Travis' identity. While the three are reviewing the footage, their good friend Leo Getz, who has been helping Murtaugh sell his house, arrives and immediately recognizes Travis from several prior business deals and his love of ice hockey. Murtaugh, Riggs, and Getz narrowly miss capturing Travis at a hockey match, and Getz is wounded. However, Getz manages to provide them with information of a warehouse Travis owns, which they suspect is where he has stored his arms shipments.

Riggs and Murtaugh contact Cole for backup before they raid the warehouse, and stop at a food truck to wait for her. As they wait for their food, they witness a drug deal and attempt to stop it. Murtaugh kills a gunman who fired at them, while the rest escape. Murtaugh recognizes the gunman, Darryl, a close friend of his son Nick. With Murtaugh emotionally distraught, Riggs and Cole head to the warehouse, where they successfully secure his next arms shipment delivery. That night, Riggs and Cole find they have feelings for each other and sleep together. Riggs later finds a guilt-ridden Murtaugh drunk in his boat and consoles him in time for Darryl's funeral. There, Darryl's father passionately insists that Murtaugh find the person responsible for giving Darryl the gun.

Cole finds that Darryl's gun, the armor-piercing bullets, and the arms they recovered were originally in police custody, meant to be destroyed, and were stolen by Travis; they revoke his credentials from the system. They further tie the guns to Tyrone and interrogate him. Tyrone directs them to an auto garage where many of his henchmen work from. Riggs, Murtaugh, and Cole are able to arrest several of the men. Meanwhile, Travis has one of his men hack into the computer system to find another arms storage area. He then forces Captain Murphy under gunpoint to take him to this new facility so he can steal the guns using Murphy's credentials. Cole finds the evidence of hacking and Murphy's absence, and the three, along with a rookie cop, Edwards, who looks up to Riggs and Murtaugh, intercept Travis. They are able to rescue Murphy and stop Travis and his men before he can take the weapons, but Edwards is killed during their pursuit.

Getz provides information on a housing development owned by Travis's shell company. Riggs, Murtaugh, and Cole infiltrate the site at night and enter a large-scale gunfight. Riggs sets the construction site on fire and most of Travis' men are killed, while Travis wounds Cole. When Travis uses a bulldozer to chase down Riggs, using its blade as a bullet shield, Murtaugh tosses Daryl's gun, now loaded with the armor-piercing bullets, to Riggs, who then shoots and kills Travis through the blade. After finding out Cole wore two layers of kevlar vests, Riggs admits his love for her as she is taken away in a chopper.

The next day, Murtaugh's family is celebrating his retirement, when Murtaugh reveals to Getz that he has decided to not sell the house and stay with the force, preserving his partnership with Riggs. As the film ends, Riggs announces his relationship with Cole to Murtaugh.

Lorna Cole is pregnant with LAPD Sergeant Martin Riggs' baby; they are not married, but both are thinking about it. LAPD Sergeant Roger Murtaugh's daughter Rianne, is also pregnant. Due to issues with the department's insurance carrier over Riggs and Murtaugh's actions as sergeants, the Police Chief has Captain Murphy promote them to captains.

The officers along with Leo Getz come upon a Chinese immigrant smuggling ring after running an ocean-going vessel aground, though the captain of the boat escapes. In the subsequent investigation, Murtaugh finds Hong and his family hiding from US Immigration officers to avoid deportation. Murtaugh offers them shelter in his home, and their families, along with Riggs and Cole, quickly bond. Hong reveals he is looking for his uncle, a skilled engraver, who had paid for their passage to the United States. Riggs discovers through Lorna that Murtaugh's yet-to-be-born grandchild from Rianne is by Detective Lee Butters, which Murtaugh cannot possibly tolerate as he did not want his daughter to marry a police officer, and that Murtaugh still does not know who the father is due to the family hiding it from him.

Continued investigation of the smuggling ring leads the officers to "Uncle" Benny Chan, a crime boss operating from a Chinatown restaurant. There, they are introduced to high-ranking Triad negotiator Wah Sing Ku. Chan forces them out of his restaurant when the officers show no probable cause. Riggs steals an umbrella from a counter in the restaurant and pulls the fire alarm so that the sprinklers go on, forcing all the restaurant customers to flee. Outside, Riggs spots the escaped captain and tries to give chase but fails to capture him. However, Ku later intercepts the captain and kills him as punishment for attracting the police's attention. Chan and Ku take steps to eliminate all those in on their plans.

Hong is able to contact his uncle, but this leads the Triads to Murtaugh's house. Ku and the Triad thugs kidnap the Hongs, tie up Murtaugh, his family, Riggs and Cole and set the house ablaze. Ping, Hong's grandson, has evaded capture and helps to free the others in time. Though Riggs and Murtaugh chase down and kill some of the Triad members, Ku escapes. Ku brings Hong to his uncle at a warehouse, where he has been engraving plates for a counterfeiting operation for Ku and Chan in exchange for transit for his family. Ku kills Hong in front of his uncle to assure his continued work.

With Getz serving as a distraction, the officers confront Chan at his dentist's office to interrogate him with laughing gas for more information but are unable to get any leads, and during which Riggs and Butters accidentally reveal the family secret to Murtaugh. Later, as they discuss what they know with Detective Ng, who has worked on cases involving the Chinese government before, Ng recognizes that Ku must be trying to negotiate with a corrupt Chinese general for the release of the Four Fathers, high-ranking Triad members that include Ku's brother. New information leads them to the abandoned warehouse where they find the bodies of Hong, his uncle, and Chan, the latter two killed by Ku after they served their usefulness. Knowing that Ku plans to use counterfeit money, the police intercept the exchange between Ku and the general, telling the general that the money is fake. The enraged general reacts by executing most of the Four Fathers before being shot and killed by the Triads, at which a firefight breaks out between the Triad, the general's private army and the police, and most of the Triad and army are killed; and Butters is wounded shielding Murtaugh. Ku attempts to escape with his brother, but his brother is shot and killed by Murtaugh. Riggs and Murtaugh pursue Ku to a pier where they engage him in a brutal fistfight. Murtaugh impales Ku through the stomach with a rebar before being knocked out by Ku, after which the pier collapses and sends Riggs and Ku into the water. Riggs is able to find a Kalashnikov assault rifle and finish off Ku, while Murtaugh recovers in time to rescue Riggs from a piece of concrete that had pinned him underwater.

Later, Riggs visits his dead wife's grave and asks her for advice about his impending marriage with Lorna, about which he still has doubts; Getz arrives and offers a heartfelt childhood story that gives Riggs both a new light on the situation and a new perspective of Getz. They soon discover Lorna is about to give birth and race to the hospital, where Riggs and Lorna are ceremonially married by a rabbi just before she enters labor. Their son and Rianne's daughter are born, and Murtaugh accepts Butters as his son-in-law. Murphy gives Riggs and Murtaugh their rank of Sergeant back since the city is insured again and Hong's family is granted asylum.

In a formal concert, Tom, in a white tie as the soloist, is performing a piano version of Franz Liszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2". Jerry, living and sleeping inside the piano, is rudely awakened, then sits on top of the piano to mock the cat by "conducting" him. Tom flicks Jerry off the piano and continues playing.

Jerry arises from under one of the keys. Tom plays tremolo on this key, hammering Jerry's head with it, and then unsuccessfully tries to smash the mouse beneath the keys. When Tom lifts his fingers, the piano continues playing by itself, with Jerry manipulating the felts from inside. To quiet him, Tom whacks Jerry with a tuning tool. In retaliation, Jerry slams the piano keyboard lid onto Tom's fingers and then pops out on the far right of the piano to attempt to cut Tom's finger with a pair of scissors as he plays a very high note. After six misses, Jerry substitutes a mousetrap for the white keys just below it. Tom plays the keys on either side for a few seconds, but eventually his finger gets caught in the trap.

Jerry prances up and down on the piano, upon which Tom climbs onto the piano in pursuit, continuing to play with his feet. As Tom gets back down on his seat, Jerry dances around on the felts, momentarily changing the tune ("On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe"). Tom then plays a chord where Jerry is bounced repeatedly, while making insulting faces at the cat with each bounce, Tom eventually catches Jerry and throws him into the piano stool. Jerry then crawls out of an opening and manipulates the seat's controls, cranking it up and sending it crashing down, causing Tom to land on the keys.

Now completely fed up, Tom stuffs Jerry into the felts and then goes crazy on the piano. The felts start bashing Jerry about, spanking him, and squashing him to and fro. Eventually, Jerry emerges in a very angry mood, breaks off some felts and, using them as drumsticks, plays the finale of the rhapsody in one last retaliation. Jerry constantly increases the tempo of his playing, and even includes two false endings, causing Tom to collapse in exhaustion at the end of the rhapsody, the sleeves of his tuxedo jacket now hanging around his wrists. The audience then applauds for the performance, and Jerry takes the praise for himself as a spotlight shines on him.

In a paranoid delusion, moribund U.S. Air Force general Quinten unilaterally launches an airborne preventive nuclear attack upon the Soviet Union from his command at the Sonora, Texas, Strategic Air Command (S.A.C.) bomber base by ordering the 843rd Bomb Wing to attack using war plan "Wing Attack Plan R", which authorises a lower-echelon S.A.C. commander to retaliate after an enemy first strike has decapitated the U.S. government. He attacks with the entire B-52 bomber wing of new aircraft, each armed with two nuclear weapons and protected with electronic countermeasures to prevent the Soviets from shooting them down.

When the U.S. President and cabinet become aware the attack is underway, they assist the Soviet defence interception of the U.S.A.F. bombers, to little effect, because the Soviets destroy only two bombers and damage one, the ''Alabama Angel'', which remains airborne and en route to its target.

The U.S. government reestablishes the S.A.C. airbase chain of command, but the general who launched the attack, the only man knowing the recall code, kills himself before capture and interrogation. His executive officer correctly deduces the recall code from among the general's desk pad doodles. The code is received by the surviving bomber aircraft, and they are successfully recalled, minutes before bombing their targets in the Soviet Union, save for the ''Alabama Angel'', whose earlier-damaged radio prevents its recalling; it progresses to its target.

In a last effort to avert a Soviet–American nuclear war, the U.S. President offers the Soviet Premier the compensatory right to destroy Atlantic City, New Jersey; at the final moment, the ''Alabama Angel'' is shot down, and nuclear catastrophe is averted.

Three incoming freshmen at fictional Columbus University are introduced: Kristen Connor, a friendly but naive white girl; Remy, a quiet young white man; and Malik Williams, a black high-school track-star attending college on an athletic scholarship.

Kristen's roommate Monet and Malik attend a dorm party hosted by Remy's militantly Afrocentric roommate Fudge White, a senior. Upset at the loud rap music being played so late as he attempts to study, Remy contacts campus police to break up the party. Fudge complains that the white police officers severely punish the black students yet ignore the room down the hall playing equally-loud "hillbilly" music. En route back to her dorm, Kristen meets Taryn, an openly-lesbian junior, who warns her about walking alone late at night and invites her to a student group.

Malik and Kristen's introductory political science class is taught by Professor Maurice Phipps, a conservative black man from the West Indies, who challenges the class to determine their own identity rather than letting others categorize them.

Fudge and his friend Dreads play loud music, which disrupts Remy's studying. When Remy complains, Fudge just threatens him. Remy moves out and gets a new roommate David, who is Jewish. Later, Remy loses at a video game to Malik who further mocks him.

Frat boy Billy rapes a drunken Kristen. Monet finds Kristen crying on her bed then fields a call from Billy who uses a racial slur when she does not let him speak to Kristen. Angered, Monet turns to Fudge who recruits his friends to confront Billy at a frat party. Kristen points out Billy to the black students who pull him outside and force him to apologize to Monet (unaware that he raped Kristen).

Kristen joins Taryn's student group on harmony between different races and cliques, eventually opening up to her about her rape. Taryn urges Kristen to report the rape while attempting to console her. As days pass, Kristen becomes increasingly attracted to Taryn.

Becoming increasingly isolated, Remy is treated to a drink by white supremacist and neo-Nazi skinhead Scott Moss, eventually befriending Scott's skinhead friends Erik, James, and hulking weight-lifter Knocko.

Malik confronts Phipps about a paper, arguing for a better grade. When Phipps explains the various spelling and grammar errors, Malik calls him a sellout for the "white establishment". Phipps angrily responds that the world owes Malik nothing and that Malik must work for himself to make a difference in the world. When Malik's teammates confront him over a poor performance at a track meet, he responds with Fudge's militant Afrocentric ideology. He walks away and flirts with fellow runner Deja, who becomes his girlfriend and shows him how to write a better essay.

Remy increasingly spends time with Scott and his gang. Scott, preaching his racist beliefs, gradually convinces the troubled Remy that "the white man is endangered". After shaving his head, Remy is welcomed into Scott's group.

After attending a rape awareness rally with Taryn, Kristen asks to spend the night. Taryn rebuffs her, wanting Kristen to be sure. Kristen eventually starts separate relationships with Wayne and Taryn who are unaware that Kristen is sleeping with both of them.

After confronting Malik with racial slurs, Remy later pulls a handgun on Malik and David, hurling racial slurs at them both as he packs his belongings and drops out of the university. Again, Sergeant Bradley assumes Malik is at fault and lets Remy escape. Malik moves in with Fudge and his fellow roommates, while Remy moves in with Scott and his fellow Neo-Nazis. Fudge's gang wins a rumble against Scott's. Scott convinces Remy not to drop out of Columbus because the white supremacists need not only soldiers, but also educated people, such as lawyers, to fight for their cause. Yet Remy, intimidated by Malik, considers violence to be inevitable and therefore the only answer. When Remy insists that he is "for real", Scott shows him a collection of guns, including a sniper rifle, which he keeps hidden in his dorm. Scott challenges Remy to kill for the white race.

Kristen and Monet organize a peace festival for their fellow students, with Malik and Deja attending. Remy opens fire, with Scott's rifle, from a rooftop. Deja is hit and dies in Malik's arms. Malik intercepts Remy and tries to strangle him to avenge Deja's death, but the campus police prevent him from doing this, and viciously beat Malik while Remy suffers a nervous breakdown. Remy tearfully apologizes for all that he has done and then turns his gun on himself before Sergeant Bradley can stop him, and commits suicide. Shortly after, Moss and his gang hear the news about Remy's actions and death and start chanting neonazi mottos.

A few days later, Malik and Phipps discuss his future at the university. Phipps displays his trust in Malik's judgment. Later, Malik and Kristen - who is also taking Phipps' course but has never spent time with Malik until today - chat near a statue of Christopher Columbus which has been converted into a memorial site. Kristen feels responsible for Deja's death because it was Monet's and her Peace Fest, but Malik insists she's not.

Fudge and Taryn (among others) graduate from Columbus University, with the CU flag girls performing for their commencement-ceremony. The film's closing shot finds Phipps strolling from his office underneath the United States flag fluttering in the wind; the caption "unlearn" is typewritten over the flag.

Goliath, the circus strongman and the midget, Little Professor Atom, both employed by Wilson's Wonder Circus, are accomplices of bad guy John Carter who is trying to take over the circus, owned by Jeff Wilson. Julie Randall, Jeff's girlfriend, performs a horse act in the circus. Jeff has hidden $10,000 in cash, which he owes to Carter, in the cage of Gibraltar the gorilla. When Jeff goes to retrieve the money to give to Carter from Gibraltar's cage on the circus train, Carter has Goliath and Atom knock out Jeff and steal the $10,000.

Jeff's friend and circus employee, Antonio 'Tony' Pirelli, summons attorney J. Cheever Loophole to investigate the situation. Loophole discovers Carter's moll, Peerless Pauline, is hiding the money, but she outwits him and he fails to retrieve it. Later, Tony and Punchy search Goliath's stateroom on the circus train for the money, but are unsuccessful.

With Carter about to foreclose on the circus, Loophole discovers that Jeff's aunt is the wealthy Mrs. Susanna Dukesbury, and he tricks her into paying $10,000 for the Wilson Wonder Circus to entertain the Newport 400, instead of a performance by French conductor Jardinet, and his symphony orchestra. The audience is delighted with the circus; when the blustery Jardinet arrives, Loophole, who delayed the Frenchman's arrival by implicating him in a dope ring, disposes of the conductor and his orchestra by having Tony and Punchy cut the moorings on a floating bandstand as they play Wagner's prelude to act III of ''Lohengrin'' at the water's edge.

Meanwhile, Carter and his henchmen try to burn down the circus, but are thwarted by Tony and Punchy, along with the only witness to the robbery: Gibraltar the gorilla, who also retrieves Jeff's money from Carter after a big trapeze finale, which features Tony shooting Mrs. Dukesbury out of a cannon.

The cartoon ostensibly stars Andy Panda (voice of Sara Berner) and his father, Papa Panda (voice of Mel Blanc), but it is Woody Woodpecker (voice of Blanc) who steals the show. Woody constantly pesters Papa Panda by pecking at his house roof, tempting him to try to kill the woodpecker with his shotgun. Andy, meanwhile, tries to sprinkle salt on Woody's tail in the belief that this will somehow capture the bird. To Woody's surprise, Andy's attempts prevail (comically, the mound of salt placed on Woody's tail is so heavy that he cannot run away), and in an ending very similar to Warner Bros.'s ''Daffy Duck & Egghead'', two other woodpeckers arrive to take Woody to the insane asylum but then prove to be crazier than he is.

A car pulls up on a New York City street, which Monty Brogan exits with his friend Kostya to look at an injured dog lying in the road. Monty intends to perform a mercy kill and shoot him, but changes his mind after he looks it in the eye; he takes the dog to a nearby clinic instead.

A few years later, Monty is about to begin serving a seven-year prison sentence for dealing drugs. He sits in a park with Doyle, the dog he rescued, on his last day of freedom. He plans to meet childhood friends Frank, a Wall Street trader, and Jacob, an introverted high school teacher with a crush on his student Mary, at a club with his girlfriend Naturelle.

Monty visits his father, James, a former firefighter and recovering alcoholic at his bar, to confirm their plans to drive to the prison the following morning. James was able to establish the bar with Monty’s drug money, and remorsefully sneaks a drink when Monty goes to the bathroom. Facing himself in the mirror, Monty lashes out in his mind against everyone in New York before finally turning on himself, angry for becoming greedy and not giving up drug dealing before he was caught.

In a flashback, Monty remembers the night he was arrested: DEA agents raided Monty's apartment and quickly found the drugs he was selling for Uncle Nikolai, a Russian mobster. Kostya tries to persuade Monty it was Naturelle who betrayed him, since she knew where he hid his drugs and money. Monty refused to turn state's evidence against Nikolai, but is unsure about Nikolai’s actions. Monty remembers how he met Naturelle hanging around his old school, and how happy they were. He then asks Frank to find out if it was Naturelle who betrayed him.

Jacob sees Mary outside the club, and Monty invites her inside with them. Discussing what kind of a future Monty can have after prison, Frank says they can open a bar together, even though he told Jacob that he believes Monty deserves his sentence for dealing drugs. Frank accuses Naturelle of living high on Monty's money despite knowing its origins, but she retorts that Frank also knew but said nothing. The argument culminates with Frank insulting Naturelle's ethnicity, followed by her slapping Frank and leaving. Jacob, meanwhile, finds the courage to kiss Mary, but both are shocked afterwards and go their separate ways.

Monty and Kostya go to see Nikolai, who gives Monty advice on surviving in prison. Nikolai then reveals it was Kostya, who betrayed Monty, and offers him a chance to kill Kostya in exchange for protecting his father's bar. Monty refuses, reminding Nikolai that he was the one who told Monty to trust Kostya in the first place. Monty walks out, leaving Kostya to be killed by the Russian mobsters.

Monty returns to his apartment and apologizes to Naturelle for mistrusting her. He then hands Doyle over to Jacob in the park. He admits that he is terrified of being raped in prison, whereupon he asks Frank to beat him, believing that he might have a chance at survival if he enters the prison ugly. Frank refuses, and Monty goads Frank into taking out his frustrations, leaving Monty bruised and bloody, with a broken nose.

Naturelle tries to comfort him as Monty's father arrives to take him to Federal Correctional Institution, Otisville. On the drive to prison, Monty once again sees a parade of faces from the streets of the city. James suggests they go west, into hiding, giving Monty a vision of a future where he avoids imprisonment, reunites with Naturelle, starts a family, and grows old. As the fantasy ends, Monty and James drive past the bridge to the west and towards prison.

In 1968, sports handicapper and Mafia associate Sam "Ace" Rothstein is sent by the Chicago Mafia to Las Vegas to run the Tangiers Casino. Front man Philip Green serves as the casino and hotel CEO, but Sam unofficially runs everything. Sam quickly doubles the casino's profits, with cash skimmed directly from the count room and delivered to the Midwest Mafia bosses. Chicago boss Remo Gaggi sends Sam's childhood friend and mob enforcer Nicky Santoro to protect Sam and the casino. Nicky makes sure everyone is kept in line, but his own criminal activities start drawing too much media and law enforcement attention. He recruits his younger brother Dominick and childhood friend Frankie Marino to gather a crew that specializes in shakedowns, burglaries and jewelry heists. Nicky is eventually placed in the Nevada Black Book, banning him from every casino in Nevada.

Sam meets and falls in love with beautiful hustler and former prostitute Ginger McKenna. In 1969 they have a daughter, Amy, and marry, but their marriage is quickly thrown into turmoil due to Ginger's relationship with her longtime boyfriend, con artist Lester Diamond. Sam has Nicky's crew beat Lester when they catch him accepting $25,000 from her. In the mid-1970s, Ginger's problems intensify as she turns to drugs and alcohol.

In 1976, Sam fires slot manager Don Ward for incompetence. When Ward's brother-in-law, Clark County Commission chairman Pat Webb, fails to convince Sam to rehire Don, Webb arranges for Sam's gaming license to be denied, jeopardizing his position. Sam starts hosting a local television talk show from inside the casino, irritating both Nicky and the bosses back home for making himself such a public figure and bringing unneeded attention. Sam blames Nicky's recklessness for ongoing police and Nevada Gaming Board pressure, and the two argue furiously in the Mojave Desert.

When the Midwest bosses discover that people on the inside are stealing from their skim, they install incompetent Kansas City underboss Artie Piscano to oversee the operation. Piscano ends up keeping detailed written records of the operation. Additionally, an FBI bug placed in Piscano's store for a separate crime catches him talking in detail about the skim, prompting a full investigation into the Tangiers Casino.

In 1980 Sam seeks to divorce Ginger, who kidnaps their daughter, planning to flee to Europe with her and Lester. Sam convinces Ginger to return with Amy, then overhears her planning on the phone to kill him. Sam kicks her out of their home but later relents. Ginger approaches Nicky to get her valuables from Sam's safe deposit box, and the two start an affair. Sam confronts and disowns Ginger, and ends his friendship with Nicky. Nicky throws Ginger out when she demands he kill Sam. Drunk and furious, Ginger crashes her car into Sam's in the driveway and retrieves the key to their deposit box. She takes the contents of the box but is arrested by the FBI as a witness.

In 1982, the FBI closes the casino and Green agrees to cooperate. Piscano dies of a heart attack when the feds discover his notebook. The FBI approaches Sam for help by showing him photos of Nicky and Ginger together, but he turns them down. The bosses are arrested and get ready for trial, and start arranging the murders of anyone who might testify against them. In 1983, Ginger dies of a drug overdose, and Sam barely escapes death by a car bomb, suspecting Nicky to be the culprit. In 1986 the bosses, finally fed up with Nicky's recklessness, order Frankie and his crew to kill Nicky and Dominick. Under the impression that they are attending a meetup in an Indiana cornfield, they are beaten with baseball bats, covered in quicklime, and buried alive in a shallow grave.

With the mafia now out of the casino industry, Sam laments the new impersonal, corporate-run resorts of Las Vegas. He is last seen working as a sports handicapper in San Diego, ending up in his own words, "right back where I started".

Captain Kirk and Spock return from a time-traveling research project they have been conducting with the use of the Guardian of Forever and Starfleet historians. When they emerge from the portal, no one on board the Federation starship ''Enterprise'' recognizes Spock. The ship's first officer is instead an Andorian, Commander Thelin.

In the new timeline, history has recorded that Spock died at age seven undergoing the Kahs-wan ordeal on Vulcan. However, Spock remembers that when he took the Kahs-wan, his life was saved by Selek - an adult relative - when a desert creature with poisonous claws called a le-matya attacked them. Kirk hypothesizes that Selek was actually a time-traveling Spock. While Kirk and Spock were in the portal, the Guardian and historians had run a scan of recent Vulcan history. The pair realize that as they were observing the birth of Orion at the time, Spock could not have been in two places at once to save himself as a child. Spock must go back through the time gate, and save the life of the child he was. Thelin is supportive of Spock's efforts despite their consequences on his own existence.

Spock assumes the identity of Selek, a distant cousin of Sarek, and is welcomed into the home of Sarek and Amanda Grayson.Spock's mother, Amanda Grayson, portrayed live on screen by Jane Wyatt, is voiced here by Majel Barrett. "Selek" journeys into the desert to find his younger self, and saves the boy. However, I Chaya - Spock's pet sehlat - is gravely wounded. The younger Spock runs to fetch a Healer. The Healer tends to I Chaya and informs Selek and Spock that it is too late for an antidote; he can only prolong I Chaya's life, during which he will be in pain from the poison, or euthanize him. Young Spock chooses the latter. By making this choice, Spock has thus chosen the Vulcan way of life - logic and emotional control - and his elder self, successful in repairing history, returns to the restored present day, but not before teaching his younger self how to perform the Vulcan nerve pinch in order to deal with some school bullies.

While exploring near the center of the galaxy, the Federation starship ''USS Enterprise'' is caught inside an energy/matter vortex and its computer systems fail. A being named Lucien appears on the bridge, repairs the ship's systems and takes the crew to explore his planet, Megas-Tu, on which differing physical laws allow the existence of magic and witchcraft. Suddenly fearful at the approach of other Megans, Lucien teleports the crew back onto the ''Enterprise'' to prevent their being discovered.

While waiting, the ''Enterprise'' crew experiment with using magic. Lucien warns the crew that their experiments will draw unwanted attention, but it is too late. The ''Enterprise'' crew are transported to what appears to be Salem during a witch trial in 1691. The Megans are an ageless species that, at one time, lived on Earth. Contrary to modern assumption, those executed during the witch trials were all real witches, which was how the Megans were driven from Earth. The Megans put humanity and the ''Enterprise'' crew on trial for what humans did to their people. Captain Kirk testifies that humanity has progressed since 1691. On examining their ship's records, the Megans conclude that the ''Enterprise'' coming to Megas-Tu was a freak accident and they need not fear human incursion. However, Lucien is condemned to eternal isolation for bringing humans to the Megans' world.

Kirk argues that this is unreasonably cruel punishment in the case of Lucien, who alone among the Megans sought out humans for companionship. The Megans claim Lucien is Lucifer, but Kirk only scoffs at this, as he does not believe in the historicity of Christian traditions, and engages the Megans in a magical battle to determine Lucien's fate. The Megans then reveal that their threat to punish Lucien was only a test to determine if humanity had truly changed. On the basis of Kirk's compassion, they would welcome future human visits to their planet. They return the ''Enterprise'' to its native universe.

While the Federation starship ''USS Enterprise'' escorts two robot cargo ships carrying quintotriticale, a new seed grain, to famine-stricken Sherman's Planet, it encounters a Klingon battlecruiser, commanded by Captain Koloth, firing on a Federation scout ship. The ''Enterprise'' beams the pilot aboard. The Klingons use a new energy weapon which incapacitates the starship, and demand they hand over the pilot. First Officer Spock hypothesizes that such a powerful weapon must require all the Klingon ship's energy, and Lt. Uhura notices that the two cargo ships have not been disabled. Captain Kirk has the cargo ships set a course to ram into the Klingon ship. With their energy expended, the Klingon ship is forced to flee, but damages one of the cargo ships. Since the ''Enterprise'' cargo hold lacks sufficient space, the crew must dangerously load the ship's decks with the grain.

The pilot is Cyrano Jones, an interstellar trader well known to Kirk and crew. He got out of his task of cleaning up the tribbles on Space Station K-7 using a glommer, which preys on tribbles. Jones is now selling "safe" tribbles genetically engineered to be sterile. The Klingons attack again, disabling the engines of the remaining cargo ship and bathing the ''Enterprise'' in a radiation which rapidly increases the growth of the tribbles aboard. Kirk still refuses to hand over Jones, ostensibly because he is a Federation citizen, but actually because he suspects the Klingons would not have violated Federation space unless Jones were of great value to them. The Klingons again use their new weapon. Kirk responds by having the tribbles beamed over to their ship.

Now at a disadvantage, Koloth admits that Klingon planets are being overrun by tribbles sold by Jones. The glommer, which was created by the Klingons via genetic engineering and stolen by Jones, is their only hope of controlling them. Kirk returns it, but the huge tribbles scare it away. Koloth orders his first officer to shoot the large tribble, only to inadvertently free smaller ones inside. Chief Medical Officer Dr. McCoy, having discovered in advance that the large tribbles are actually tribble colonies, injects the remaining tribbles on the ''Enterprise'' with a serum to slow down their metabolic rate.

''The Five Star Stories'' takes its name from the Joker Star Cluster where the stories take place. The star cluster is made up of four stars: Eastern, Western, Southern and Northern. The "fifth star" is a large comet named Stant that passes through that sector of space every 1,500 years pulling with it its own collection of orbiting planets.

In the distant past the Farus Di Kanon Empire, now commonly known as the "Super Empire", controlled all 4 solar systems of the Joker Cluster. They enjoyed a level of technology much higher than is currently known and sent explorers to the far reaches of the Joker Cluster. Around the year 9000 AD (Ammon Duul) the empire collapsed due to internal strife. The explorers were called home and what remained of civilization focused mainly on survival. Much technology and knowledge was lost by the time the imperial families of Amaterasu, Fillmore and Hathuha gathered and established the JC era. JC stands for "Joker Calendar" and was meant to give a common frame of reference to all nations to help foster a lasting peace. The JC calendar was adopted but the dream of peace was never realized.

The first story of The Five Star Stories begins in JC 2988. At this time interstellar travel is common and genetically engineered "fatimas" are well established as necessary co-pilots of the fearsome mortar heads that dominate the battlefields. Warfare between nations is commonplace and few still hope for peace.

Mortar heads are the combat mainstays of the Joker Universe. They are mecha which require superhuman reflexes and skill to control, and are therefore only utilized by headliners with Fatima copilots. Fatimas are humanoid creatures genetically engineered for a life of service on the battlefield. Fatimas are necessary copilots for mortar heads and mentally merge with the computer systems of these devastating machines to control weapons, communications and other vital processes. As such, Fatimas are designed to have computational skills rivaling any computer.

As of the 2013 May issue of Newtype, the setting of FSS has changed to fit the lore of Mamoru Nagano's 2012 film Gothicmade. MH (Mortar Headd) has been renamed GTM (GothicMade), while Fatimas have been renamed AF (Automatic Flowers).

Paul Groves, a television commercial director, takes his first dose of LSD while experiencing the heartbreak and ambivalence of divorce from his beautiful but adulterous wife. He starts his trip with a "guide," John, but runs away and abandons him out of fear.

Experiencing repetitive visions of pursuit by dark hooded figures mounted on black horses, Paul sees himself running across a beach.

As Paul experiences his trip, he wanders around the Sunset Strip, into nightclubs, and the homes of strangers and acquaintances. Paul considers the roles played by commercialism, sex, and women in his life. He meets a young woman, Glenn, who is interested in people who take LSD. Having learned from Paul recently that he would be taking LSD, she has been looking out for him. Max is another friendly guide to his trip.

Glenn drives Paul to her Malibu beach house, where they make love, interspersed in his mind with a kaleidoscopic riot of abstract images intercut with visions of pursuit on a beach. Driven into the surf by his pursuers, Paul turns and faces them, and they reveal themselves to be his wife and Glenn.

As the sun rises, Paul returns to his normal state of consciousness, now transformed by the trip, and steps out to the balcony to get some fresh air. Glenn asks him whether his first LSD experience was constructive. Paul defers his answer to "tomorrow."

Truck driver Jack Burton wins a bet with his friend Wang Chi. To make sure he follows through on payment, Jack accompanies him to the airport to pick up Wang's Chinese fiancée Miao Yin, where a Chinese-American street gang, the Lords of Death, tries to kidnap another Chinese girl. She is being met by her friend Gracie Law. After Jack intervenes, they take Miao Yin instead.

Jack and Wang track the Lords of Death to Chinatown, where they find a funeral procession that erupts into a battle between the Chang Sing and Wing Kong, two ancient Chinese warrior societies. When "The Three Storms" – Thunder, Rain, and Lightning, warriors with weather-themed powers – appear, slaughtering the Chang Sing, Jack attempts to gun his big-rig through the crowd, but runs over David Lo Pan, a man directing the Three Storms. Horrified, Jack exits his truck, but finds Lo Pan unhurt and glowing with magic. Wang hurriedly guides Jack through the alleys; the two escape, but Jack's truck is stolen.

Wang takes Jack to his restaurant, where they meet with Gracie, her journalist friend Margo, Wang's friend Eddie Lee, and magician Egg Shen, a local authority on mysticism and Lo Pan. They explain to Jack (who only wants his truck back) the ancient knowledge and sorcery the Chinese brought with them to America. The group devises a plan to infiltrate a brothel, where they believe Miao Yin is held. They break in, but are interrupted by the Storms who kidnap Miao Yin, and take her to Lo Pan. Jack and Wang track down the front business used by Lo Pan and impersonate telephone repairmen to gain access, but are quickly subdued by Rain. After being tied up and beaten by Thunder, the two meet Lo Pan – however, he now appears as a crippled old man.

Wang tells Jack that Lo Pan needs a green-eyed girl to break an ancient curse, and he intends to sacrifice Miao Yin. Centuries ago, Lo Pan was defeated in battle by Emperor Qin Shi Huang. He cursed Lo Pan with incorporeality; although Lo Pan can be temporarily granted a decrepit body by supplication to the gods, he can permanently break the curse by marrying a woman with green eyes and sacrificing her. Jack and Wang's friends attempt to save them, and are also captured. After getting the drop on Thunder, Jack, Wang, and Eddie escape and free women kept in cells. An orangutan-like Wild-Man recaptures Gracie before she escapes. Lo Pan notes that Gracie has green eyes, too, and decides to sacrifice her while making Miao Yin his wife.

Wang and Jack regroup with the Chang Sing and Egg Shen, and enter a cavern to return to Lo Pan's headquarters. Egg pours the group a potent potion. They interrupt the wedding, and start a battle. Wang kills Rain in a sword duel, while Jack and Gracie chase Lo Pan. Wang joins them, and Jack kills Lo Pan with a knife throw. Thunder – who had been distracted with Wang – reappears, and, enraged at finding Lo Pan dead, swells up and explodes. Jack, Wang, Gracie, and Miao Yin are cornered by Lightning in a corridor, who triggers a collapse. Egg rescues them with a rope and kills Lightning by dropping a Buddha statue on him when he tries to follow. After finding Jack's truck and dealing with the remaining Wing Kong guards, the group escapes back to Wang's restaurant.

The group celebrates in the restaurant; Wang and Miao Yin prepare to marry, while Eddie pairs with Margo. Egg sets off to China. Gracie offers to join Jack but he leaves alone. Unbeknownst to him, the Wild-Man survived the battle and has stowed away on his truck.

Set at the fictional Bayview Retirement Home near Bournemouth, the show was based on Diana Trent and her relationship with Tom Ballard, a former accountant with semi-feigned dementia. He has been exiled there for the convenience of his family.

Diana is a cynical, retired photojournalist who has found herself consigned to the retirement home after a career documenting some of the 20th century's most dangerous events has left her single and with no one in her life outside of her niece, and later, her great-niece. Her frustration at the prospect of years of being alternately patronised and ignored at Bayview is soon channelled into attempts to subvert the régime of the retirement home and taunting the staff regarding their flaws and corrupt nature. Though retired, Diana remains connected with several powerful journalists, which she uses to blackmail the board of directors at Bayview (and Bayview manager Harvey Bains) to allow her to stay in Bayview despite her disruptive behaviour. Her only known living relatives are her niece Sarah and later, Sarah's daughter Diana. Sarah runs a modelling agency and loves Diana, though Diana is emotionally distant from her niece, going so far as to tell people that her niece runs a prostitution ring and constantly attempts to kill her with poison. Her nickname for Sarah is 'The Clapham Strangler'. As the series progresses, the two become closer after Sarah undergoes a whirlwind courtship and marriage that results in pregnancy; the marriage fails but produces "the Diana of the Future," as the new Great-Aunt Diana blesses the newborn. Just before Baby Diana arrives, the great-aunt-to-be reveals that much of her hostility towards the world stems from the fact that she is infertile; this incapability is one of her very few regrets in life.

Tom is a kindly but deluded old duffer who frequently lives in a fantasy world following his retirement as an accountant. A widower for at least a decade, his increasingly eccentric behaviour leads his alcoholic and adulterous daughter-in-law Marion and henpecked son Geoffrey to move him into Bayview where he finds himself living next door to Diana. The two form an unlikely partnership and discover that they are able to wreak havoc amongst the younger staff and management in the home in order to create a more tolerable living environment for themselves and their fellow residents. Tom's optimistic, cheery demeanour and unencumbered Anglican Christianity contrast Diana's dark cynicism and avowed atheism, as both attempt to influence the other's world view.

The manager of Bayview is Harvey Bains, who runs the establishment with his assistant, the homely, spinsterish and pious Jane Edwards. Bains is a penny-pinching weasel whose management style involves trying to run the retirement home profitably while keeping the residents (whom he variously dubs "oldies", "inmates", "units", "wrinklies', or "droolers") passive in order to make himself look good before the eyes of the board of directors.

Both Tom and Diana refer to Bains as "the idiot Bains", a reference to Harvey's general lack of common sense regarding his various schemes to promote himself and Bayview to the outside world.

Jane, Harvey's put-upon assistant, is a naïve and religious woman who is madly in love with Harvey, in spite of Harvey's utter disdain for her. Jane serves as a foil for Diana; although Diana loathes Jane's religious piety and optimistic outlook on life, she seems to genuinely care about Jane's wellbeing, as evidenced by her and Tom's attempts to help Jane when it comes to the matter of dealing with Harvey's manipulation of Jane's love for him.

During the third series, Tom and Diana get together as a couple after a one-night stand, though Diana is far more casual about the new state of their relationship, much to the chagrin of Tom, who wants a committed relationship. In series four, Diana's financial situation collapses and Tom discovers that his room is infested with damp. Tom forces Harvey to upgrade him to a new apartment in Bayview and allow Diana to live with him as his lady friend. By series five, the two become engaged along with Harvey and Jane, who first get together as part of a cynical scheme to get Harvey accepted into an exclusive country club. When the plan fails, and Jane responds by quitting her job to begin the process of becoming a nun, Harvey realises that he has come to enjoy Jane being in his life and the two go through with their vows. But Diana gets cold feet regarding her impending marriage to Tom (much to her niece Sarah's shock). Tom discovers this before the wedding and saves Diana from having to either go through with the wedding or have her niece sever all ties with her aunt, by calling off the wedding just as the two were about to say "I Do".

Much of the humour is derived from flying in the face of conventional expectations about how the elderly ought to behave in their old age and how many of the residents do not want to settle down. One character, Basil Makepeace, is forever propositioning the female residents of the home, bragging about his innumerable conquests (on one occasion he muses about the indignities of growing old, commenting that now "three or four times...a night is all I can manage"). As an octogenarian, he does quite well. The other source of humour comes from the lengths that Harvey Bains will go to in his quest for success and how he and Marion scheme to separate Tom and Diana, the two blights on their mutual existences. The series is also unusual in that it is told largely from the vantage point of the (largely well adjusted) elderly characters, with most of the younger characters depicted as buffoons, who are either neurotic or inept.

Haru Yoshioka is a shy but noble high school student who has a suppressed ability to talk with cats. One day, she saves a cat from being hit by a truck on a busy road. The cat she saved turns out to be Lune, Prince of the Cat Kingdom. As a thanks, the cats give Haru gifts of catnip and mice, and she is offered the Prince's hand in marriage. Her mixed reply is taken as a yes.

Wanting none of this, Haru hears a kind female voice which tells her to seek out Muta, a large white cat, and to get directions to the Cat Bureau from him. Muta leads her there to meet Baron Humbert von Gikkingen (the same Baron from ''Whisper of the Heart''), who is a cat figurine given life by the work of his artist, and Toto, a stone raven who comes to life much like the Baron. Soon after meeting them, Haru and Muta are forcefully taken to the Cat Kingdom, leaving Toto and the Baron in the human world to follow the group from the air; they find the entrance to the Cat Kingdom on Earth: five lakes forming a cat's paw.

Haru is treated to a feast at the castle of the Cat King. She begins to slowly turn into a cat (with tan paws, ears, nose, tail, and whiskers; for a second, she also gets fangs), though she still remains mostly human. The King hopes that she will make a suitable bride for the Prince. At the feast, the Baron (in disguise) dances with Haru as part of the entertainment. He reveals to her that the more she loses herself in the kingdom, the more cat-like she will become, and that she has to rediscover her true self. When the Baron is discovered and is forced to fight the guards, he and Haru are helped by Yuki, a white cat maiden in the palace who had previously tried to warn Haru to leave the Cat Kingdom. After Yuki shows them an escape tunnel, Haru, the Baron, and Muta move through a maze to a tower, which contains a portal to Haru's world. The King goes through a series of efforts to keep them in the kingdom long enough for Haru to remain trapped in her cat- form; his ultimate plan is still to force her to become his daughter-in-law.

Prince Lune and his guards return to the Cat Kingdom, revealing the King was not acting on his behalf and that he planned on proposing to Yuki. Muta is revealed to be Renaldo Moon, a notorious criminal in the Kingdom (having devoured a whole lake of fish in one session). Haru learns that the strange voice who had advised her to go to the Cat Bureau was Yuki's. In her childhood, Haru had saved Yuki from starvation by giving her the fish crackers she was eating, and thus, Yuki has now repaid her kindness. After she rejects the King's marriage proposal outright, Muta tells Haru, "I respect a woman who stands up for herself," and proceeds to help her escape from the King's soldiers.

Eventually, the Baron, Haru and Muta escape the cats' realm, with the aid of Prince Lune and Toto, and Haru discovers her true self, telling the Baron how much she has come to like him. He tells her the doors of the Cat Bureau will be open for her again if the need ever arises. Haru returns to the human world with more self-confidence; after learning from her friend, Hiromi, that her former crush has broken up with his girlfriend, she simply replies "it doesn't matter anymore."

The story of ''Mega Man & Bass'' varies slightly depending on which player character is chosen. It begins one year after the events of ''Mega Man 8'' when a robot villain named King breaks into Dr. Wily's laboratory and then the Robot Museum to collect the data blueprints for the creations of Dr. Light. Dr. Light alerts the hero Mega Man that he must go at once to the Robot Museum to confront this new enemy. Meanwhile, Bass (Mega Man's rival and Wily's greatest creation) hears of the new criminal's appearance and decides to prove himself the stronger robot by defeating King. Proto Man is the first to arrive at the scene. King divulges his plan to him; he desires to create a utopia in which robots rule the world over humans. To accomplish this, King seeks to create an unstoppable army using the data and invites Proto Man to join him. Proto Man refuses and attempts to attack, but King counters and slices his body in half. Proto Man then teleports back to the lab for repairs while King escapes with the data, instructing his minions to handle the heroes. With their own motivations, Mega Man and Bass set out to put a stop to King's plans.

After vanquishing eight powerful robots under allegiance to King, the duo infiltrates his castle and engages him in combat. Proto Man interrupts the fight and again attempts to defeat their new nemesis. Putting all of his remaining energy into a blast, Proto Man manages to destroy King's shield and loses consciousness, allowing Mega Man and Bass to best King in battle afterwards. King questions why they fight so hard for humans when robots are the superior species. The pair explains that humans are the ones who created robots in the first place, which confuses King, who teleported Proto Man out of his castle after the battle. The villain reveals that his creator is Dr. Wily, who then appears on a video monitor. When King asks the evil inventor why robots fight each other for the sake of humans, Wily strengthens his "brainwashing level" and restores his power. Mega Man and Bass engage King in another battle and defeat him. The castle begins a self-destruct sequence and the protagonists escape without King.

Mega Man and Bass confront Dr. Wily in his newly regained laboratory. When Wily is beaten, Bass demands to know why he deceived him. Wily explains that he created King simply to test Bass' abilities. Wily shows him written plans for making a newer version of King to join with Bass in this venture, promising that the two would be invincible together. Proto Man appears and immediately destroys these plans. Wily then demands Bass to destroy Proto Man, but Bass is unsure. Proto Man tells Bass that although he is a strong robot of free will, he can never defeat his rival because he has nothing for which to fight. Bass doesn't care and forces Proto Man to leave, saying that he will still destroy Mega Man to prove his cause. Mega Man returns home where his sister Roll presents him a letter from King, who has somehow escaped the destruction of his castle. King wishes to atone for his own crimes against humans and hopes for them to be friends if they were to meet in the future.

Westland

The primary protagonist in ''Wizard's First Rule'' is Richard Cypher, a young woods guide. Richard lives in an area of the world known as Westland, which is one of three parts of the known world, divided by magical underworld boundaries. Of the three, Westland is united under one government and contains no magic, the Midlands are a coalition of sovereign nations with magic, and past another magical boundary lies the empire of D'Hara - a single kingdom ruled by Wizards. Richard works as a woods guide leading important political figures through dangerous forests, while his brother, Michael, is a newly elected minister of the Westland.

After the unexplained murder of his father, Richard feels compelled to investigate. He discovers a small piece of vine in his father's house, and searches the mountains for a live part of the plant, thinking it might lead him to the murderers. He finds the plant, but it attacks him, implanting a poisonous thorn. Trying to return to town to find healing help, he happens upon a woman named Kahlan Amnell, who is being hunted by a group of four men sent to assassinate her.

Richard helps to save Kahlan's life from the men, and learns that Kahlan crossed the boundary with the aid of five wizards searching for the First Wizard, who is rumored to have crossed into Westland after the creation of the boundaries. Richard takes Kahlan to his best friend and mentor, Zedd. Soon after arriving at Zedd's, Richard collapses from the illness caused by the vine after showing Zedd his vine piece. Zedd identifies the plant as snakevine, and treats Richard.

When Richard recovers from the snakevine bites, he identifies Zedd as the First Wizard whom Kahlan seeks. Kahlan pleads for the help of Zedd, asking for him to name a Seeker of Truth who can confront Darken Rahl, the ruler of D'Hara who has activated the powerful magic "Boxes of Orden," which, depending how they are opened, could make Rahl ruler of the world, destroy all life in the world, or destroy himself. Kahlan believes that the "Seeker" empowered by the Sword of Truth—an ancient magical weapon forged by the powerful wizards of old—can find a way to stop Rahl from gaining power or destroying life before the magic expires on the winter solstice.  Zedd then tests Richard to see if he is worthy of wielding the Sword of Truth correctly.  Richard passes the test, becoming the next ”Seeker.”

Richard deduces a way to cross the boundary as a group, and with the help of a friend, the boundary warden Chase, Richard, Kahlan and Zedd travel south towards a pass in the boundary. They encounter underworldly creatures, hearthounds which are escaping the weakening boundary, and Chase explains that their escape signals the fall of the boundary—similar to a fall in the boundary between the Midlands and D'Hara. During one of the encounters, both Chase and Zedd are seriously injured, but Kahlan and Richard manage to find the pass. In the pass, they meet the mysterious bone woman Adie, who gives shelter to their injured companions and teaches them how to go through the pass.

The Midlands

Kahlan and Richard journey through the pass, nearly getting killed by the dangerous creatures that live in between the underworld of the boundary and the world of the living. Once through, Richard asks Kahlan to lead them to the village of the Mud People, a tribe that has the ability to contact spirit ancestors for guidance on how to prevent Rahl from seizing the third box of Orden.

To summon the ancestors the tribe requires them to be members of the tribe. During this time, Richard and Kahlan find they love each other more and more, but a secret power held by Kahlan prevents a full and honest relationship. After convincing the Mud People that Richard and Kahlan are honorable, and seek to help all humans, including the Mud People, they become members of tribe. Once members, the elders summon mud people's ancestors, and they learn that the witch woman Shota, one of the most feared people in all the Midlands, can reveal the location of the last box of Orden. While in the gathering Darken Rahl slaughters several Mud People and kidnaps Siddin, the son of an elder and friend of Richard.

Richard and Kahlan travel to Shota's territory, Agaden Reach where they learn that Queen Milena has the last box. Kahlan finally tells Richard, her secret, that she is a Confessor, an enchanted person whose power of love destroys the minds of others by making them absolute slaves to her will. Shota also warns Richard that both Kahlan and Zedd will use their powers against him. From Agaden Reach, they travel to Tamarang, seat of Queen Milena, meeting back up with Zedd along the way. Upon reaching Tamarang, they discover that the last box is gone and eventually realize it was given by a former pupil of Zedd's, Giller, to a small girl named Rachel for safekeeping.

Confronting Rahl

Soon an artist who can control enchantments separates Richard from the group and he falls into the hands of a Mord-Sith named Denna who brutally tortures him for a month. The Mord Sith report to Darken Rahl, and Rahl hopes to force Richard to recite the Book of Counted Shadows, a magical book which Richard had memorized under the bequest of his father. However, Richard's innate gentleness alters their relationship, and Richard eventually breaks free of Denna's control by turning the Sword of Truth white, with the power of love for her, rather than the sword's typical harness of anger. Rahl allows Richard to wander free, but sets a wizard web on him which makes all of his friends think Richard is an enemy,

After helping a dragon named Scarlet find her egg which had been kidnapped by Rahl, Richard discovers how to both beat Rahl, and be with Kahlan. Kahlan, falsely thinking Richard dead by Rahl, enters the Con-Dar, or a powerful Blood Rage. Thinking Richard is in fact Rahl, she uses her powers on him. Rahl, thinking Richard is now at his mercy, uses him to recite the Book of Counted Shadows. In the end, Rahl opens the wrong Box of Orden, under Richard's false guidance, thus killing Rahl. Kahlan, alone by a pool, orders Richard to leave, thinking he is still under her power, and Richard reveals he was protected, by his already complete and unconditional love for her.

The reader learns at the end of the novel that Richard is the progeny of Rahl's rape of Zedd's daughter. Thus, Zedd is Richard's grandfather, and Richard is the new Lord Rahl. Relieved at their victory, Kahlan and Richard set off for the Mud People's village to return Siddin to his parents.

The Wizard's First Rule

Each of the novels in the Sword of Truth series reveals a "Wizard's Rule"—a magical principle that allows Wizards to be savvy manipulators of the world around them. The novel reveals the Wizard's First Rule: "Wizard's First Rule: people are stupid." Richard and Kahlan frowned even more. "People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true. People's heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool."
"Because of Wizards First Rule, the old wizards created Confessors, and Seekers, as a means of helping find the truth, when the truth is important enough. Darken Rahl knows the Wizard's Rules. He is using the first one. People need an enemy to feel a sense of purpose. It's easy to lead people when they have a sense of purpose. Sense of purpose is more important by far than the truth. In fact, truth has no bearing in this. Darken Rahl is providing them with an enemy, other than himself, a sense of purpose. People are stupid; they want to believe, so they do."|Chapter 36, p.560, U.S. paperback edition

Rae Ingram (Nicole Kidman) is involved in a car crash which results in the death of her son. Her older husband, Royal Australian Navy officer John Ingram (Sam Neill), suggests that they help deal with their grief by heading out for a vacation alone on their yacht. In the middle of the Pacific, they encounter a drifting schooner that seems to be taking on water. A man, Hughie Warriner (Billy Zane), rows over to the Ingrams' yacht for help. He claims that his ship is sinking and that his companions have all died of food poisoning.

Suspicious of Hughie's story, John rows over to the other ship, instructing Rae to assemble and load the ship's shotgun, though she ignores this. Inside, John discovers the mangled corpses of the other passengers and video footage indicating that Hughie may have murdered them in a feat of extraordinary violence. John rushes back to his own boat, but he's too late as Hughie awakes, knocks out Rae and sails their yacht away, leaving John behind.

As John attempts to keep Hughie's ship from sinking and catch up with them, Rae awakens and tries to convince Hughie to go back for her husband. Hughie denies her request and keeps on sailing, alternating between kindness and bouts of rage. John manages to get through to his wife on the radio, but the water damage makes him unable to reply save for clicks on his ship's radio receiver. He can respond only yes or no to her questions. John assures her that he is following close by. Rae tries to stall the yacht by turning off the engine and tossing the keys overboard. Her dog jumps in to retrieve the keys and brings them back as he had done earlier with his fetch ball. Hughie starts the yacht back up and tries to convince Rae to be friends with him. Rae accepts, attempting to earn his trust. After a while, she goes back to the radar room to contact John. A blip appears on the edge of the radar's range, signifying the damaged boat. She soon learns that it is too far gone and will sink in the next several hours. With John unable to come to her rescue, Rae assures her husband that she will come back for him. John's radio shorts before Rae has a chance to tell him that she loves him. Unable to make further contact with him, Rae breaks down and cries.

Hughie comes down to see Rae sobbing, and heads over to soothe her. Rae formulates a plan to seduce Hughie and gain his trust long enough for her to get to the shotgun on deck. She and Hughie start to make out and undress on the floor. Rae stalls for time by telling him that she has to go to the bathroom. She runs on deck to assemble the shotgun, but Ben the dog follows her. Before she has a chance to load the gun, the dog starts barking causing Hughie to go investigate. In a panic, Rae leaves the gun behind and takes cigarettes down with her as an excuse for being on deck. She eases his suspicion by taking him to the bedroom where she buys herself more time by having passionate sex with him. Afterwards, she's sitting down, thinking about her betrayal of her husband and for having an orgasm during her intimacy with Hughie. Later, Rae fixes some lemonade, and places a heavy dose of her prescription sedatives into Hughie's drink after noticing the bottle on the counter. Claiming to go get dressed, Rae heads back for the shotgun, and is discovered soon after. As a fierce storm approaches, Rae and Hughie come to blows. Hughie takes hold of the shotgun, but the effects of the sedative cause him to aim poorly and shoot the radio by mistake. Rae eventually takes hold of a harpoon gun and locks herself in the bedroom. As the door opens she fires off a harpoon. Seeing blood she pushes it open, only to discover she killed her dog. Hughie comes out of hiding to strangle her, but passes out from the drugs. Rae ties him up and sails back to rescue John. Hughie recovers consciousness and cuts himself free with a shard of broken mirror, but after making his way to Rae, she shoots him in the shoulder with a harpoon and knocks him unconscious. She then sets him adrift in the yacht's life raft and continues to look for her husband.

Meanwhile, the damage and the storm have caused the schooner to sink almost completely. The storm intensifies and breaks the ship's main mast, trapping John below deck. The water rises and eventually he is submerged over his head, able to breathe only through a piece of pipe leading to the deck. The only way he can go is down into the schooner's hull, in search of an opening. He takes one last breath from the pipe and dives. Through a gaping hole in the bottom of the hull, John emerges back on the surface. He sets the wreck on fire to signal his location to Rae, who is now desperate to find him. Dusk sets in as Rae notices the flames and sets course to the faint fire on the horizon. Without any means to signal his wife, all John can do is wait on a piece of floating debris. After night falls, the pair reunite when Rae arrives and pulls John aboard.

Later they find the life raft and Rae shoots it with a flare, setting it on fire. The next day they are relaxing on deck when John takes a break from washing Rae's hair to prepare breakfast for her. Her eyes closed, Rae feels a pair of hands begin massaging her scalp and assumes it is John, but when she opens her eyes she sees a bloody Hughie, who begins to strangle her. While Rae struggles, John arrives from below deck. Seeing Rae being attacked, John shoots Hughie in the mouth with a flare, killing him instantly.

Billy Behan is an impoverished fifteen-year-old living in The Bronx with his mother. One afternoon, Billy is present when infamous Jewish mobster Dutch Schultz arrives to inspect a shipment of illegal beer. When Billy demonstrates his skill at juggling, an amused Schultz calls him a "capable boy" and tips him. Billy later finds and infiltrates Schultz's offices without being seen, resulting in Schultz's accountant and trusted advisor Otto Berman agreeing to take him into the gang. To avoid the stigma of having an Irish boy work for a Jewish crime boss, Billy changes his last name to "Bathgate" after a local street.

When Berman tasks Billy to spy on the gangsters who go to Schultz's nightclub, Billy witnesses Bo Weinberg, Schultz's lieutenant, meeting with a pair of men affiliated with the rival Italian mafia. Believing that Weinberg is a traitor, Schultz has him and his girlfriend, a socialite named Drew Preston, kidnapped at gunpoint. Billy follows them out to a riverboat, where he witnesses Schultz having Weinberg thrown into the East River with his feet encased in cement. Afterwards, Schultz has Billy take Drew back to her apartment to gather her things. Billy discovers Drew is married, and that her wealthy husband, Harvey, is gay.

Seeing Schultz as simply the latest of her sexual conquests, Drew agrees to become his gun moll and is taken with him when he settles in Onondaga as part of his plan to avoid conviction for tax evasion. Billy poses as Schulz's ward with Drew as his governess, while Schultz works to win over the locals by paying off debts, making charitable gifts, and even converting to Roman Catholicism at the town church. One afternoon, Drew goes for a country hike with Billy and asks him to tell her the truth about Bo's death. She then scrambles down the side of a waterfall and swims in the pool underneath, where Billy comforts her. Eventually, the two start an affair.

On the day of the trial, Berman instructs Billy to take Drew to the horse races at Saratoga Springs. Billy quickly realizes that he's been set up, and that Schultz has arranged for his best hitmen to kill Drew as he fears she will implicate him in Bo's murder. Billy uses the allowance Berman provided him with to have flowers and expensive gifts delivered to Drew, making it impossible for her to be harmed without attracting attention. The ruse buys enough time for Harvey, whom Billy contacted beforehand, to pick up Drew and take her out of the country to safety. Billy, questioned as to why he bought the gifts, lies and says that he bought them on impulse without admitting his relationship with Drew. Schultz is acquitted, but his enemy, federal prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey, issues an arrest order for the mobster if he returns to New York.

Schultz flees to Newark and sets up an office in the back room of a chophouse. Against Berman's advice that going after Dewey would not sit well with the other gangs, Schultz decides to assassinate his enemy and orders Billy to case his apartment block. Just as Billy returns, Mafia gunmen storm the restaurant; Schultz, Berman, and their bodyguards are killed. Billy is small enough to escape out of a bathroom window and returns in time for the dying Berman to give Billy the code to Schultz's personal safe. Billy sneaks into the hospital and notes down the delirious Schultz's stream of consciousness monologue as he is dying, using clues from this to locate the exact spot where Dutch has buried all of his money.

The Mafia tries to intimidate Billy into giving up the money, but he convinces them that only Schultz's lawyer, Dixie Davis, knows where it is. Billy then returns to the Bronx and moves back in with his mother. A year later, Drew, having given birth to Billy's child, gives him sole custody. Using the contents of Schultz's safe, Billy is able to attend college and fight in World War II. After being discharged, he returns to New York and quietly digs up Schultz's fortune, planning to use it to build a new life for himself and his family.

Agorastocles is in love with a woman named Adelphasium, who is a slave belonging to the pimp Lycus. Agorastocles, Adelphasium, and her sister Anterastilis were stolen as children from Carthage. Agorastocles was purchased as an adopted son, whereas the girls were sold as slaves to become prostitutes.

Milphio, the slave of Agorastocles, attempts to help his master obtain Adelphasium. Their plan is to trick Lycus and get him into legal trouble. Collybiscus, Agorastocles' bailiff, dresses up as a foreigner and moves into Lycus' home. Agorastocles and some witnesses then accuse Lycus of harboring his slave. Eventually, Hanno arrives from Carthage, and they soon discover he is the cousin of Agorastocles' dead parents, as well as the father of the two girls. In the end, the girls are seized from Lycus, who is punished, and the story concludes with a happy family reunion. Hanno gives Agorastocles his blessing to marry his daughter.

In 1980, FBI agent Will Graham visits forensic psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter to discuss a case. Graham has been working with Lecter on a psychological profile of a serial killer who removes edible body parts from his victims; Graham says he has realized the killer is a cannibal. Realizing Graham is close to discovering he is the killer, Lecter stabs him, but Graham fights back, stabbing and shooting Lecter before they both fall unconscious. Lecter is imprisoned in an institution for the criminally insane, and Graham, traumatized, retires to Florida with his family.

Years later, another serial killer, nicknamed the Tooth Fairy, has killed two families — the Jacobis' and The Leeds' — during full moons. With another full moon approaching, special agent Jack Crawford persuades Graham to help develop the killer's profile. After visiting the crime scenes in Atlanta, Georgia, and Birmingham, Alabama, and speaking with Crawford, Graham concludes that he must consult Lecter. Lecter taunts Graham but agrees to help.

The Tooth Fairy is Francis Dolarhyde, who kills as directed by his alternate personality, which he calls the Great Red Dragon, named after the William Blake painting ''The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun'', which he has tattooed on his back. He believes that each victim brings him closer to becoming the Dragon, as his psychopathology originates from his childhood abuse by his grandmother.

Freddy Lounds, a tabloid reporter for the ''National Tattler'' who hounded Graham after Lecter's capture, pursues Graham for leads on the Tooth Fairy. A letter from the Tooth Fairy is discovered hidden in Lecter's cell, expressing admiration for Lecter and an interest in Graham and suggesting that Lecter reply through the personals section of the ''Tattler'', which he does with Graham's home address, forcing Graham's wife, Molly, and son, Josh, to relocate. While in hiding, Graham teaches Molly how to properly fire a handgun.

Hoping to lure out the Tooth Fairy, Graham gives an interview to Lounds in which Graham disparages the killer as an impotent homosexual. An enraged Dolarhyde kidnaps Lounds, glues him to an antique wheelchair, and reveals himself as the Great Red Dragon before showing Lounds first-person pictures he has taken of his victims before and after he murdered them. Dolarhyde then forces Lounds to recant his allegations on tape and then bites off his lips. Dolarhyde then sets Lounds and the wheelchair on fire and sends him rolling and crashing into a company sign outside the ''Tattler'' offices.

At his job in a St. Louis photo lab, Dolarhyde gives Reba McClane, a blind co-worker, a ride to her home and they begin a relationship. However, his alternate personality demands that he kill her. Desperate to stop the Dragon's control over him, Dolarhyde goes to the Brooklyn Museum, tears apart the Blake painting, and eats it.

Graham realizes that the Tooth Fairy knew the layout of his victims' houses from their home videos. He deduces that he works for the company that edits the home movies and transfers them to video. He visits the company processing plant to ask for information, and is spotted by Dolarhyde as he returns from Brooklyn.

In a panic, Dolarhyde goes to Reba's house. She has spent the evening with a co-worker, Ralph Mandy. After Reba enters her home, Dolarhyde kills Ralph, kidnaps Reba, takes her to his house, and sets it ablaze. Unable to shoot her, Dolarhyde apparently shoots himself. Reba escapes as the police arrive.

After an autopsy is performed on the corpse, it is revealed that Dolarhyde used Ralph's body to stage his death. Dolarhyde later infiltrates Graham's home in Florida and takes Josh hostage, threatening to kill him. To save Josh, Graham loudly insults him, reminding Dolarhyde of his grandmother's abuse and provoking him to furiously attack Graham. Both are severely wounded in a shootout, which ends when Molly kills Dolarhyde.

Graham survives and receives a letter from Lecter praising his work and bidding him well. Lecter's jailer, Dr. Frederick Chilton, tells him that he has a visitor, a young woman from the FBI.

In Lake Luzerne, New York, teenager Grace MacLean and her best friend Judith go out early one winter's morning to ride their horses, Pilgrim and Gulliver. As they ride up an icy slope, Gulliver slips and hits Pilgrim. Both horses fall, dragging the girls onto a road and get hit by a tractor-trailer. Judith and Gulliver are killed, while Grace and Pilgrim are both severely injured.

Grace, left with a partially amputated right leg, is bitter and withdrawn after the accident. Meanwhile, Pilgrim is traumatized and uncontrollable to the extent that it is suggested he be put down. Grace's mother Annie, a strong-minded and workaholic magazine editor, refuses to allow it; sensing that somehow Grace's recovery is linked with Pilgrim's.

Desperate for a way to heal both Grace and Pilgrim, Annie tracks down a "horse whisperer", Tom Booker, in the remote Montana mountains. Tom agrees to help, but only if Grace also takes part in the process. Grace reluctantly agrees, and she and Annie go to stay at the Booker ranch where Tom lives with his brother and his brother's family.

As Pilgrim and Grace slowly overcome their trauma, Annie and Tom begin to develop a mutual attraction. However, they are both reluctant to act on these feelings – Annie is married and Tom had his heart broken before (his wife left him because she belonged in the city). Tom also asks Grace to tell him what happened with her and Pilgrim to understand what Pilgrim is feeling. At first, Grace is reluctant, but eventually gathers up her courage, and tearfully describes the accident.

The status quo between Annie and Tom is broken when Robert MacLean, Grace's father and Annie's husband, unexpectedly shows up at the ranch. Annie is increasingly torn by her feelings for Tom and her love for her family. Soon, with Tom's help, Grace finally takes the last step to heal herself and Pilgrim – riding Pilgrim again. As the MacLeans get ready to leave the ranch, Robert tells Annie that he knows he loved her more than she loved him, and that if he could be a better father, husband, or lawyer then it didn't matter, he did it all for the love he had for her. He felt that he didn't need more, he knows she is not sure how she feels about him, and now he wants her to make a choice, and not to come home until she is sure.

Although Annie wishes she could stay with Tom on the ranch, she also knows that she belongs to the city, just like Tom's wife. Annie departs, driving away from the ranch, while Tom watches her go from the top of a hill.

Benjamin Franklin Gates is an American historian, cryptographer, and treasure hunter. When Ben was young, his grandfather John told him that Charles Carroll passed on a secret to their ancestor in 1832 of a fabled national treasure hidden in America by the Knights Templar, Founding Fathers, and Freemasons. The clue leading to the treasure is the phrase “the secret lies with Charlotte.” While Ben is convinced by the story, his skeptical father, Patrick, dismisses it as nonsense.

Thirty years later, Ben and his friend, computer expert Riley Poole, head an expedition financed by wealthy Ian Howe to find the ''Charlotte'', revealed to be a ship lost in the Arctic. Within, they find a meerschaum pipe, whose engravings reveal the next clue is on the Declaration of Independence. When Ian reveals himself to be a crime boss and suggests stealing the Declaration, a fight ensues, and the group splits.

Ben and Riley report Ian's plan to the FBI and Dr. Abigail Chase of the National Archives, but no one believes their claim. Ben decides to protect the Declaration by removing it from the Archives' preservation room during a gala event. Obtaining Abigail's fingerprints, Ben successfully obtains the Declaration, only to be spotted by Ian's group just as they break in to steal it. Ben tries to leave via the gift shop but has to buy the Declaration when the clerk mistakes it for a souvenir copy. Abigail, suspecting something is amiss, confronts Ben and takes back the document. Ian promptly kidnaps her, but Ben and Riley rescue Abigail, tricking Ian by leaving behind a souvenir copy of the Declaration. FBI Agent Sadusky begins tracking Ben down.

Going to Patrick's house, the trio studies the Declaration and discovers an Ottendorf cipher written in invisible ink. The message refers to the Silence Dogood letters written by Benjamin Franklin. Patrick formerly owned them, but donated them to the Franklin Institute. Paying a schoolboy to view the letters and decipher the code for them, Ben, Riley, and Abigail discover a message pointing to the bell tower of Independence Hall. Pursued by Ian, they find a hidden cache containing a pair of glasses with multiple colored lenses, which, when used to read the back of the Declaration, reveal a clue pointing to the Trinity Church.

Ian's associates chase the trio through Philadelphia until Ben is arrested by the FBI. Abigail and Riley lose the Declaration to Ian; however, Abigail convinces Ian to help them rescue Ben in exchange for the next clue. Ian agrees, arranging a meeting at the USS ''Intrepid'', where they help Ben evade the FBI.

Ian returns the Declaration and asks for the next clue, but when Ben remains coy, Ian reveals he has kidnapped Patrick as a hostage. They travel to the Trinity Church, where they find an underground passage that appears to lead to a dead end, lit by a lone lantern. Patrick claims it is a reference to the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, pointing Ian to the Old North Church in Boston. Ian traps Ben, Abigail, Riley, and Patrick in the chamber, heading for Boston, which was Patrick's intent as the clue was fictitious. Ben then finds a notch which the meerschaum pipe fits into, opening a large chamber containing the treasure, with a staircase to the surface. Ben contacts Sadusky, who is actually a Freemason, and willingly surrenders the Declaration and the treasure's location. Thanks to a tip from Ben, Ian is arrested by the FBI and sent to prison in Ben's place.

Later, Ben and Abigail have started a relationship, while Riley is somewhat upset that Ben turned down the 10% finder's fee for the treasure so the entire collection could go to museums. However, the 1% he did accept has still netted them all significant wealth.

Child psychologist Samuel Faulkner has an ideal romance with ballet teacher Rebecca Taylor. She is thinking about marriage and children, while he is against the idea of marriage and is happy with how things are between them. This all changes when Rebecca declares she is pregnant, and when questioned by Samuel about her birth control she replies that birth control is only 97% effective.

Samuel's fears mount due to his encounters with overbearing couple Marty and Gail Dwyer and their three young unruly daughters, as well as the confusing advice he gets from Sean, his perpetually single artist friend and Gail's brother. Samuel is confused and unsure about what to do. Feeling neglected, Rebecca leaves him and moves in with Marty and Gail (who is also pregnant with their fourth child) Samuel tries to contact her, but she ignores him. Sean encourages him to move on, with Samuel trying things like rollerblading, getting an earring, etc., but the thought of Rebecca still weighs heavy on his mind.

When a woman makes a move on Samuel, he declines, saying that he is not ready to move on yet. He later views an ultrasound of his soon-to-be-born son and decides that it is time to take responsibility before it is too late. He sells his Porsche 911, buys a Ford Explorer and gets back together with Rebecca, much to Gail's delight.

Samuel and Rebecca then get married and not long afterwards, they go out to dinner. During an awkward moment where they bump into the woman he met earlier, Rebecca goes into labor. They rush to the hospital, where they meet Marty and Gail; who has gone into labor as well. Rebecca gives birth to their baby boy named Samuel Jr. and Gail gives birth to their fourth daughter named Becky.

Throughout the novel the narrator and time period change, and chapter headings establish the date and source of the chapter. The narration alternates between the form of the fictional newsletter ''The Weems Weekly'', the Threadgoodes' house in Birmingham, and an omniscient narration. The framing story, set in 1986, presents Evelyn Couch, who goes weekly with her husband to visit his mother in a nursing home. During one visit, Evelyn befriends Ninny Threadgoode, another resident. She tells Evelyn stories of her youth in Whistle Stop in the 1920s and succeeding years. Between subsequent visits, Evelyn begins to adopt aspects of figures in these stories as role models.

Ninny says she was an orphan raised by the Threadgoodes, and that she eventually married one of their sons. She principally talks about the youngest daughter, Imogene "Idgie" Threadgoode, an unrepentant tomboy who became reclusive after her brother, Buddy, was killed on the railway.

Ruth Jamison comes to live with the Threadgoodes while teaching at the Vacation Bible School. Idgie becomes enamored of her and is saddened when Ruth leaves Whistle Stop to marry Frank Bennett. Frank turns out to be a violent, abusive man who often beats Ruth, but she stays with him until her mother's death. Afterward, Ruth sends Idgie a message appealing for help. Idgie, along with several men, rescue her and her son from Bennett. Intimidated by Big George—the Threadgoode's handyman—Bennett does not resist.

With money from her father, Idgie establishes the Whistle Stop Cafe, with Sipsey (Big George's adoptive mother) and her daughter-in-law Onzell as cooks. Idgie becomes secondary guardian to Ruth's son, Buddy Jr. A gossip columnist refers to him as "Ruth and Idgie's son", indicating recognition of the women's alternative family. Buddy becomes known as 'Stump' after losing an arm in an accident. The café quickly becomes known to hobos all over the US during the Great Depression as a welcoming place to receive a meal. The most recurrent guest is "Smokey Lonesome" Phillips, who secretly loves Ruth. When Ruth dies of cancer, Idgie is heartbroken.

After the railroad yard closes, the cafe (and ultimately the town) ceases operation. Several years later, Idgie and Big George are arrested by the county for Frank Bennett's murder. The case is dismissed when the local minister, repaying Idgie for helping his son, falsely testifies she and Big George were at a three-day revival when Bennett went missing. Bennett's body was never found. It is later revealed that Sipsey killed him when he attempted to kidnap his and Ruth's son. His remains were barbecued by Big George and fed to the detectives investigating Frank's disappearance at the time.

Stump recounts the stories of his guardians to his daughter and granddaughter. Big George's sons, Jasper and Artis, take independent paths: Jasper as a Pullman porter and Artis as a gambler and lady's man. After the decline of Whistle Stop, Idgie and her brother Julian relocated to Florida, where they operated a roadside food stand.

Inspired by these stories, Evelyn starts working outside the home, selling Mary Kay Cosmetics. At Mrs. Threadgoode's urging, she gets treated for negative symptoms of menopause. She also confronts various long-held fears. Evelyn becomes happier. While on vacation, she receives a letter from Mrs. Hartman, a neighbor of Mrs. Threadgoode, telling her of the latter's death and of her having bequeathed various trinkets to Evelyn.

In 2000, a massive earthquake strikes the city of Los Angeles, cutting it off from the mainland as the San Fernando Valley floods. Declaring that God is punishing Los Angeles for its sins, a theocratic presidential candidate wins election to a lifetime term of office. He orders the United States capital relocated from Washington, D.C. to his hometown of Lynchburg, Virginia and enacts a series of strict morality laws. Violators are given a choice between loss of U.S. citizenship and permanent deportation to the new Los Angeles Island, or repentance and death by electrocution. Escape from the island is made impossible due to a containment wall erected along the mainland shore and a heavy federal police presence monitoring the area.

By 2013, the U.S. has developed a superweapon known as the "Sword of Damocles," a satellite system capable of targeting electronic devices anywhere in the world and rendering them useless. The president intends to use it to dominate the world by destroying hostile nations' ability to function. His daughter Utopia steals the remote control for the system and escapes to Los Angeles Island in order to deliver it to Cuervo Jones, a Peruvian Shining Path revolutionary. Cuervo has marshaled an invasion force of third world nations and is planning to attack and reclaim the U.S.

Facing deportation for a series of crimes, Snake Plissken is offered a chance to earn a pardon by traveling to the island and recovering the remote, a task that a previous rescue team failed to accomplish. To force his compliance, the president has one of his officers infect Snake with a virus that will kill him within 10 hours and promises that he will receive the cure upon completing the mission. The president is not concerned with Utopia's safety, regarding her as a traitor.

Snake is issued equipment and sent to Los Angeles in a one-man submarine. As he explores the island, he meets "Map to the Stars" Eddie, a swindler who sells interactive tours and one of Cuervo's associates. Along the way, Snake is helped by Pipeline, a surfing enthusiast; Taslima, a woman deported for her Muslim faith; and Hershe Las Palmas (formerly Carjack Malone), a trans woman and past criminal associate of Snake's.

Eddie captures Snake and turns him over to Cuervo, who uses the Sword of Damocles to shut down Lynchburg in retaliation for Snake's presence. Cuervo threatens to inflict the same fate on the rest of the U.S. unless his demands are met. Snake escapes and fights Cuervo at the invasion staging area, the "Happy Kingdom" in Anaheim, taking the remote from him. Eddie alters the remote for his tours to match the real one. Snake, Eddie, Utopia, Hershe, and a group of defectors from Cuervo's forces leave the island in a helicopter. Eddie shoots Cuervo, who fires a rocket launcher at them before dying. Snake, Eddie, and Utopia escape before the rocket hits the helicopter and causes it to crash into a mountain.

At the crash site, the president and his officers find that both Snake and Utopia are carrying remotes and take the one held by Utopia (slipped into her pocket without her noticing), thinking that Snake has switched them. As Utopia is taken to the electric chair, Snake learns that the virus infecting him only causes a severe case of influenza that subsides within hours. The president tries to use Utopia's remote to neutralize an invasion force threatening Florida, but it only plays a recorded introduction to one of Eddie's tours.

Furious, the president orders his officers to kill Snake on the spot, but he proves to be only a hologram projected from a miniature camera that had been issued to him. Disgusted at the world's never-ending class warfare, he programs the real remote and triggers every satellite in the Sword of Damocles system, deactivating all technology on Earth. Utopia is saved when the power fails just before she can be electrocuted. Snake tosses the now-useless camera aside and lights a cigarette, then blows out the match and mutters, "Welcome to the human race."

Katar Hol was a young police officer on the planet Thanagar, and a child of a privileged family. But his homeworld had the policy to conquer and mine other worlds for their resources to maintain its high standard of living, and Hol realized that this was wrong. He rebelled against the system, and was sent into exile. 10 years later, he escaped and got the help of Shayera Thal, a young officer from a lower class of society, to uncover and defeat the renegade police captain Byth. As a result, Hol was reinstated in the Wingmen Force and given a new partner, Thal.

''Captain Tsubasa''

Tsubasa Oozora is an 11-year-old elementary school student who is deeply in love with football and dreams of one day winning the FIFA World Cup for Japan. He lives together with his mother in Japan, while his father is a seafaring captain who travels around the world. Tsubasa is known as the ''Soccer no Moshigo'' which translates as "heaven-sent child of football". When he was only barely a year old, he was almost run over by a rushing bus while playing with a ball. However, Tsubasa held the ball in front of him which served as a cushion for most of the impact. The force of the bump blew him away, but he was able to right himself with the ball. Hence, Tsubasa's motto of "The ball is my friend". Ever since he was little, he always went out with a ball. His mother concludes that he was indeed born to only play football. At a very young age, Tsubasa already had amazing speed, stamina, dribbling skills and shotpower – he astounded anyone who saw him play.

At the beginning of the story, Tsubasa and his mom both move to the city of Nankatsu, a fictional town in Shizuoka Prefecture well known for their talented elementary school football teams and where Tsubasa meets Ryo Ishizaki, a football-loving young student who often sneaks out from his mother's public bath houses and chores to play football. He meets Sanae Nakazawa (also known as Anego) an enthusiastic girl who also loves football and helps cheer the Nankatsu high school team on and Genzo Wakabayashi, a highly talented young goalkeeper whom he soon challenges to a game in Nankatsu's annual sports festival. He also meets Roberto Hongo, one of the best Brazilian footballers in the world who is a friend of Tsubasa's father and who starts living with Tsubasa and his mother in order to train Tsubasa. Roberto becomes a mentor to Tsubasa and helps him to harness his football skills, convincing him to join Nankatsu Elementary School and its fledgling elementary school football team, which Roberto later coaches as he passes his techniques onto Tsubasa.

Tsubasa meets Taro Misaki, who has travelled around Japan due to his father's job and soon joins Nankatsu. The two become the best of friends on the pitch and real life, forming a partnership soon to be renowned as the "Golden Duo" or "dynamic duo" of Nankatsu. Soon Tsubasa and his Nankatsu team start taking on the best of elementary school football, meeting such talented players as Kojiro Hyuga, Ken Wakashimazu, Jun Misugi, Hikaru Matsuyama and many others. Tsubasa's Nankatsu squad wins numerous youth national championships and he wins the U-17 World Championships for Japan by defeating Italy 2-1, Argentina 5-4 in the group stages, France 4-4 (PK 5-4) in the semifinals and eventually defeat West Germany 3-2 in the finals before leaving the country to play in Brazil.

''World Youth''

Tsubasa leaves Japan for Brazil and starts playing, with his mentor Roberto as the manager, for São Paulo (F.C. Brancos in the anime), in Brazil's premier professional league, Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, winning the final against Flamengo (F.C. Domingos in the anime) 4–3. While in Brazil, Tsubasa gets to meet several talented Brazilian players, such as his teammate and roommate Pepe, who comes from a humble background, as well Flamengo star striker Carlos Santana, a prodigious yet emotionless talent.

Enthusiastic football-loving youngster Shingo Aoi, whom Tsubasa once played against while in the high school national championships, leaves Japan to play football in Italy, where he hopes to play for a major Italian professional team. After arriving in Italy, however, Shingo gets tricked by a man who gives him fraudulent promises of getting him selected for an Italian team. After Shingo is taken to a badly furnished field, the man runs away, stealing all his money. Shingo realizes that he is swindled and tries hard to get his money back, doing such jobs as shoe-shining, until his enthusiastic attitude catches the eye of one of the coaches of Inter Milan (Intina in the anime), who sign him to play for their squad as an attacking midfielder.

The Japan's youth side plays the first phase of AFC Youth Championship without Taro Misaki, Makoto Soda, Hiroshi Jito, Shun Nitta, the Tachibana brothers Masao and Kazuo and Kojiro Hyuga. After Tsubasa, Wakabayashi and Shingo join the team, it defeats Thailand 5–4 after being 4–1 down at one stage. In the second phase, Japan beats Uzbekistan 8–1, China 6–3 and Saudi Arabia 4–1. In the semifinals, Japan beats Iraq 3–0. The Japanese win the Asia Youth title beating South Korea 2–0 and qualifying for the FIFA World Youth Championship.

In the first phase, Japan defeats Mexico 2–1, Uruguay 6–5 and Italy 4–0. In the quarterfinals, they beat Sweden 1–0 and Netherlands 1–0 in the semifinal. The Japanese win in the "Great Final" the World Youth Championship, defeating Brazil 3–2 after extra time with Tsubasa scoring a hat-trick and the golden goal despite the fact that Brazil used a new player at the extra time called Natureza, who became the third person to score a goal on Wakabayashi from outside the goal area – the first being Karl Heinz Schneider of Germany and second being Sho Shunko of China.

Tsubasa moves from São Paulo to FC Barcelona (FC Catalunya in the anime), in the Spanish Liga, after the end of the FIFA World Youth Championship final, taking his childhood friend and now wife, Sanae. He asked her out before moving to Brazil and the couple maintained a long-distance relationship before he proposed to her after the World Youth Championship.

''Road to 2002''

While Tsubasa moves from São Paulo (Brancos in the anime) to Barcelona (Catalunya in the anime), Kojiro Hyuga is bought by Juventus F.C. (F.C. Piemonte in the anime). Tsubasa plays very well in training, displaying all his skills, but the Dutch coach Van Saal (Edward in the anime, inspired by Louis van Gaal, who coached Barcelona at the time) demotes him to FC Barcelona B, the reserve team that plays in the second division, because Tsubasa and Rivaul (inspired by Rivaldo) cannot play together whilst Rivaul holds a key position for playmaking.

Meanwhile, Kojiro Hyuga plays for his first game for Juventus (Piemonte in the anime) against Parma in the Italian Serie A, but does not score because his physical imbalance is exposed by Parma defender Thoram (inspired by Lilian Thuram). Juventus coach Carlo Monetti replaces him with David Trezeguet (David Tresaga in the anime), who scores the winning goal as Juventus beat Parma 1–0.

In Germany, Genzo Wakabayashi and his Bundesliga team, Hamburger SV (Grunwald in the anime version), play against FC Bayern Munich (Routburg in the anime version), led by Karl Heinz Schneider. Wakabayashi makes many great saves, impressing players and coaches from both teams, but in an attempt to win at the final moment despite the coach's decision to aim for a draw, Wakabayashi left the goal area to take a free kick shot that was stopped at the last second, which gave Bayern a chance to counterattack on an undefended goal, allowing them to win 2–1.

In Spain, the Liga begins and the match between Barcelona (led by Rivaul) and Valencia CF (San Jose in the anime) (who have just bought Tsubasa's old rival Carlos Santana) ends 2–2. Tsubasa watches the match from the tribune (in the anime version, Tsubasa plays as a substitute in the match and scores a goal).

In the second stage of the Japanese J.League, Júbilo Iwata, led by Misaki, Gon Nakayama (inspired by real player Masashi Nakayama), Ishizaki and Urabe, defeat the Urawa Red Diamonds led by Hayato Igawa and Sawada, 2–1. In other J.League matches, FC Tokyo, led by Misugi, draws 1–1 with Consadole Sapporo, led by Matsuyama. In Italy, Hyuga and Aoi are bought respectively by A.C. Reggiana and A.S.D. Albese.

In Spain, Tsubasa plays three matches with FC Barcelona B and he records 12 goals and 11 assists in three matches. Tsubasa is inserted in the Barcelona lineup because of an injury of his rival Rivaul as well as the disastrous results of the Barcelona (one point in four matches) and plays the ''Súper Clásico'' against Real Madrid C.F., who have just bought his old rival Natureza. Tsubasa ends the match with three goals and three assists and Barcelona wins 6–5.

''Go for 2006''

This is the epilogue of ''Captain Tsubasa Road to 2002'' and it is composed of five chapters. This manga follows Kojiro Hyuga and Shingo Aoi in Italy. In this manga, Kojiro Hyuga was loaned out to Reggiana while Shingo Aoi was loaned out to Albese. Kojiro Hyuga makes a hard training and he makes his debut scoring a hat-trick.

''Golden-23''

While Tsubasa plays for Barcelona against Real Valladolid, recording a goal and an assist in a 2–0 win, the 23 players of Japan's U-22 national team ("The Golden-23") are convoked to play two friendly matches against Denmark and Nigeria in preparation for Summer Olympics. Two futsal players, Kazami and Furukawa, who previously played for Japan national futsal team, join the national U-22 football team and display great skills, scoring two goals in a training match. Meanwhile, the Japan U-20 side led by Takeshi Sawada win the AFC Youth Championship, defeating South Korea 6–5 on penalty kicks in the final. In Brazil, Minato Gamo, the former coach of the U-20 national team, tries unsuccessfully to convince Soga, a Japanese player who plays in CR Vasco da Gama, to join the national team. Meanwhile, Tsubasa's wife Sanae informs him that she is pregnant. In Japan, the match with Denmark ends 4–2 with the following scorers: Misaki (J), Haas (D), Nitta (J), Nitta (J), Matsuyama (J) and Haas (D). In Germany, Hamburger SV plays a Bundesliga match and Genzo Wakabayashi is not in the line up because of the bad relationship with the coach Zeeman, starting rumors that Wakabayashi would leave Hamburger SV. A lot of teams were interested in signing Wakabayashi such us ACF Fiorentina, A.S. Roma, Bayern Munich and SV Werder Bremen.

Meanwhile, Minato Gamo wants to convince Igawa, a player who can play in all the roles (goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and forward), to join the national team. Also in Spain, Barcelona plays a league match against Real Betis and Tsubasa scores two goals and makes an assist for Rikaar. In Japan, Wakabayashi joins the national team.

The match between Japan and Nigeria begins and Nigeria plays very well, as it has two champions Ochado (who plays in Paris SG, based on Jay-Jay Okocha) and Bobang (who plays with Shingo Aoi in Albese). After some minutes from the beginning of the match, Nigeria has the first great opportunity to score the first goal in the match with a penalty kick, but the Japanese goalkeeper Genzo Wakabayashi saves in corner kick. Wakabayashi saves another shot and makes an assist for Ken Wakashimazu, who scores a goal with an overhead kick. However, Nigeria scores two goals with Bobang and Ochado. At the end of the first half, Nigeria is winning 2–1. Meanwhile, Minato Gamo convinces Gakuto Igawa to join the national team. The second half begins, the Japan attacks during the injury time Misaki scores the equalizing goal. The match ends 2–2.

In Spain, Barcelona wins 3–2 the match against Valencia led by Carlos Santana. In Japan, the match between Japan and Paraguay ends 3–0 with the following scorers: Gakuto, Wakashimazu and Nitta. In Spain, Barcelona plays against Atlético Madrid and Fersio Torres (inspired by Fernando Torres) quickly scores a goal. However, Barcelona replies quickly and Tsubasa scores two goals.

The Asia qualifications begins and Japan beats Malaysia (6-0 for the first match and 5–0 for the return match), Thailand (2–0 for the first match, 3–0 for the return match) and Bahrain (3–0 for the first match and 5-0 for the return match) and qualifies to the third round. In the third round, Japan beats Vietnam 5–0, draws against Saudi Arabia 1-1 and loses against Australia 3–1. Standings after day 3 (of 6): Australia 9, Japan and Saudi Arabia 4 and Vietnam 0. Only the first classified is admitted to Olympic Games. In the day 4, Japan defeats Saudi Arabia 2–0 while Australia defeats Vietnam 5–0. In day 5, Japan defeats Vietnam 4–0 and Australia draws against Saudi Arabia 1–1. Standings after day 5 (of 6): Australia 13, Japan 10, Saudi Arabia 5 and Vietnam 0. In the last day, Japan plays against Australia (had Japan defeated Australia 3–0, 4–1, 5–2 and 6–3 or more, it would have qualified to Olympic Games, while had Japan won 3–1, 4–2, 5–3 or such, it would have played a playoff against Australia. Japan scores the first goal of the match against Australia, thanks to Tachibana brothers. However, the Tachibana brothers get injured and are substituted by Wakashimazu and Nitta, who scores another goal. Japan tries to score the third goal, but all their shots hit the bar or are saved by the goalkeeper. In the second half, Australia scores the goal of 2–1, but Japan reacts and scores two goals (scorers: Igawa and Misaki). Japan ultimately wins 4–1 and qualifies to Olympic Games.

''Kaigai Gekito Hen''

Italy

One-shot released in Japan in 2009, which comprises 24 chapters. This one-shot tells the Serie C1 final season match between Reggiana and Albese, with both teams directly vying for promotion. This match is the challenge between Kojiro Hyuga (Reggiana) and Shingo Aoi (Albese). Hyuga scores two goals in the first half, showing to be strongly improved in physical game. However, in the second half, Albese reacts and scores two goals. Hyuga eventually scores the victory goal in the last minute, allowing his team to be promoted into Serie B. Albese is disappointed for its defeat because they wrongly think that U.C. AlbinoLeffe won against Ravenna F.C and overtook them in standings. However, Albinoleffe lost 2–1 to Ravenna, tying both teams in third place, and this means that both Reggiana (1st) and Albese (2nd) are promoted. Both teams celebrate their promotion.

Spain

This one-shot started in February 2010, in order to celebrate the series' 30th anniversary. It tells the return match between Barcelona and Real Madrid. From there on, seven more chapters are added in which first two goals from Barcelona been rejected by the referee. The match goes on and Rivaul finally scores a genuine goal, followed by one from Real Madrid. In the second half, Natureza scores the second goal 10 minutes before the end of the match. Tsubasa scores the draw goal with a flying drive shot in the added time and the match ends 2–2.

The story takes place over a period of 24 hours. The game begins with Kais' first mission, an attempt to rescue the Ethereal Ko'vash from Governor Severus. He infiltrates Severus' prison-fortress, and escapes with Ko'vash intact. As the Orca dropship begins docking with the Tau Emissary class cruiser, it is attacked by an Imperial Battleship, and boarding pods are launched. Kais then fights a desperate battle against a force of Storm Troopers as they try to disable the cruiser's engines, and assassinate the Captain. After Kais fails to rescue the Captain, he and several teams of Fire-Warriors are launched, by boarding pod at the Imperial ship. There, he disables the ship's guns and nearly captures the ship's commander, Admiral Constantine. Kais is clubbed on the head by Captain Ardias, however, and is captured. Ardias brokers a truce between the Imperium and the Tau, and it is revealed that Governor Severus has been seduced by the Powers of Chaos, teleporting a contingent of Word Bearers Chaos Marines onto the ship. They capture the ship's remaining guns, in an attempt to restart the Imperium-Tau war, but are stopped by Kais' destruction of the guns. Ardias then sets the ship to self-destruct, and Kais escapes via a Dreadnought drop-pod. Landing in the midst of a ruined Imperial city, Kais fights his way to fellow Tau Fire-Warriors, and learns from Ardias that Severus plans to use an Imperial Titan held in the City. Kais destroys the Titan, enters Severus' fortress, and kills Severus and his daemonic master. The game ends with Ardias ordering that the planet should be destroyed to prevent the taint of Chaos from spreading. Many adversaries from the ''Warhammer 40,000'' universe are encountered by the protagonist Kais, such as Chaos Dreadnoughts, Chaos Space Marines, Imperial Guard, Daemon princes, Obliterators, and an Imperial Valkyrie.

Bond begins to cross the China–Russia border into a Russian radar base, which is intercepting messages delicate in subject. Using a laser designator, Bond targets the dish and a British jet flies over, dropping an air to surface missile. A helicopter arrives, and Bond kills the occupants, and recovers a key. He uses the key to unlock a large gate, and makes his escape on skis. Bond reaches the end of the run - a sheer cliff drop. Bond continues on, and opens his Union Jack parachute.

Bond later lands in an arms bazaar. After taking photographs of military hardware, a British naval ship launches a BGM-109 Tomahawk to eliminate all potential threats and hardware. Bond realizes there are nuclear weapons at the Bazaar on a MIG jet (in reality, the jet was a L-39 Albatros). After an intense firefight between Bond and Russian terrorists, he hijacks the jet and returns to MI6.

Bond is sent to investigate a man called Elliot Carver during a party in Hamburg, Germany after a British warship sank in the South China Sea, with all hands going down. Carver media published the full story before MI6 received a full report, raising MI6's suspicions. During the party Bond meets his former lover, Paris, now Carver's wife, who slaps him. Carver arrives, and offers a "tour of the facilities". Bond follows, but is knocked out by a henchman. He wakes up in a room with a large 2-way mirror. He uses his laser-cufflinks to escape, then he destroys the central computer, allowing him to make his escape. He then makes his way to the press, and engages in a firefight between Carver's guards.

He recovers Henry Gupta's GPS scrambler, which was used to lure the British navy into Chinese waters to try and spark an international incident. As the existing Chinese government is not receptive to giving Carver Media Group Network exclusive broadcast rights in China, Carver plans to start a war to eliminate the present government and replace it with politicians more supportive to his plans. Bond then escapes to the Hotel Atlantic, where Paris is being held prisoner. He arrives, and heads to the bar where he asks to see Paris; resulting in a shootout between Bond and the guards, who were working for Carver. Bond uses the elevator to get to Paris' apartment, where he meets Kaufman. Kaufman tries to kill Bond by using spinning razor discs and an AK-47. Bond kills Kaufman and helps Paris escape. They make it to the underground garage, where Bond drives away in his BMW 7 Series.

MI6 has found the headquarters of Henry Gupta near the foothills of the Swiss Alps. The convoy of terrorist cars and trucks is heading to Gupta's Alpine hideout for an important meeting. Bond is sent to stop the convoy. Along the way Bond meets Q, who gives him the BMW to stop the convoy. Bond successfully destroys the convoy with the BMW and drives away. Bond is then sent to a ski ridge in Hokkaido, Japan, to track down and kill chemical expert Satoshi Isagura, who is thought to be working for Elliot Carver after a nerve gas attack in Yokohama. Carver Media was also the first to report the story. Bond kills Isagura and is sent to Saigon.

Bond steals a data disk from Carver Media Tower in Saigon but is captured. Bond manages to escape with the data disk. The next night, Carver bribes the Saigon Military Police to kill Bond on sight, so MI6 pulls Bond out as the mission would be compromised were Bond to be seen or killed. Bond gives Wai Lin the data disk, and Wai Lin engages the Saigon Military Police in a gun battle with the police setting roadblocks and using fast-firing chain guns. She makes it back to her lab to find the location of Carter's stealth boat, hidden in Hạ Long Bay. On the stealth boat, Bond uses the boat's comm-link to give MI6 its position. Wai Lin is kidnapped but is later freed by Bond after he kills Carver's right-hand man, Stamper. Wai Lin stops the engine while Bond shoots and kills Carver and stops the stolen nuclear missile from destroying Beijing. Bond and Wai Lin escapes the stealth boat before it self-destructs.

The last in his Vietnam War trilogy that began with ''The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel'' and ''Sticks and Bones'', Saltzman, Simon. [http://www.curtainup.com/streamers.html "Review. ''Streamers'' "], curtainup.com, November 6, 2008 it focuses on the interactions and personal conflicts of a group of soldiers preparing to ship out to fight in the Southeast Asian conflict in 1965. Among them are middle class African American Roger, upper class Manhattanite Richie, who is struggling with his sexual orientation, conservative Wisconsin country boy Billy, and fearful loose cannon Carlyle, a streetwise Black man. In charge of their barracks are abrasive alcoholic Sgt. Cokes, who already has served overseas, and aggressive Sgt. Rooney, who is anxious to get into combat.

In 1994, the US Navy is testing a new missile, but after the launch it mysteriously disappears and it is clear that if the rocket reaches civilian areas they will be in big trouble. Carol Dawson, a journalist, is alerted by an unusual sight of whales in the Miami area, and decides to go and write about it.

Armed with special equipment provided by her friend, Dr. Dale Michaels from MOI (Miami Oceanographic Institute), goes to investigate the rumors of a missing missile belonging to the Marines and that could be behind the mysterious whale behavior lately. She hires the services of Nick Williams and Jefferson Troy, owners of a little boat so she can get to the Gulf of Mexico and investigate closer if a missile has something to do with all of the above.

They end up finding an unknown artifact, bringing a lot of doubts about its nature, and even if it is part of a lost treasure that could be worth millions. Old friends of Williams and Troy noticed the finding and just like the old times, they want to steal it from them.

In the background of the story, the author talks about a submarine snake civilization on a planet called Canthor, and how they were struggling to stay alive due to new threats into their ecosystem. It is revealed later in the story that the artifact found in the sea is actually a cradle that contains seeds with altered superhumans, which were extracted from earth millions of years ago and were altered so they could live with other species (including the submarine snakes) on earth. The spaceship that carries the cradle is crewed by robots/cyborgs and has hidden itself on Earth's ocean floor to make repairs.

Dawson, Williams and Troy found the damaged ship in the bottom of the sea while looking for the missile, and were asked to gather materials so the ship can be repaired and it could go back to its mission. Before leaving earth, the ship asked the humans to keep the cradle because it would enormously help the human race to have such superhuman seeds to develop faster and better through time, but in the end the humans refuse in order to avoid future wars between the human and superhumans.

In Scotland, 1713, Robert Roy MacGregor is the Chief of Clan MacGregor. Although providing the Lowland gentry with protection against cattle rustling, he barely manages to feed his people. Hoping to alleviate their and his poverty, MacGregor borrows £1,000 from James Graham, Marquess of Montrose, in order to establish himself as a cattle raiser and trader.

Wanting to leave England to flee legal troubles, his anglicized aristocrat relative Archibald Cunningham is sent to stay with Montrose. Montrose makes money off Cunningham by making wagers on sword contests that Cunningham's haughty manner and effeminate bearing bring upon himself. However, Cunningham is supremely skilled with a sword. Cunningham learns about MacGregor's money deal from Montrose's factor Killearn, and murders MacGregor's loyal friend, Alan McDonald, to steal the money. MacGregor requests time from Montrose to find McDonald and the money. Montrose offers to waive the debt if MacGregor will testify falsely that Montrose's rival John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll is a Jacobite. MacGregor refuses and Montrose vows to imprison him in the tolbooth until the debt is repaid. MacGregor flees, briefly taking Cunningham hostage. Montrose seizes MacGregor's land to cover the debt, declaring him an outlaw and orders Cunningham to bring him in "broken, but not dead". With MacGregor in hiding, redcoats slaughter MacGregor's cattle, burn his croft, and Cunningham kills his dog and rapes his wife Mary.

Mary understands that Cunningham's intent is to flush her husband out of hiding and makes his brother, Alasdair, who arrives too late to save her, swear to conceal knowledge of the rape from him. Unaware of the assault on his wife, but the damage to his property being evident, MacGregor refuses to permit his outraged clan to wage war on Montrose. Instead, he decrees, "The tenderest part of the marquess is his purse. We'll hurt him there. Thieve his cattle, steal his rents." Betty, a maidservant at Montrose's estate, has become pregnant with Cunningham's child. When Killearn tells Montrose, Betty is dismissed from service and rejected by Cunningham. Betty seeks refuge with the MacGregors, revealing that she had overheard Killearn and Cunningham plot to steal the money. Betty subsequently hangs herself, later found by Mary and Alasdair. To build a case against Cunningham, MacGregor abducts Killearn and imprisons him. Mary promises Killearn that he will be spared if he testifies against Cunningham, but Killearn taunts her with her rape. Realizing that Mary is pregnant, he threatens to tell MacGregor that Cunningham may be the father if she does not release him. Enraged, Mary draws a hidden knife and stabs Killearn in the neck. Alasdair finishes him off by drowning him in the lake.

Montrose tells Cunningham that he suspects who really stole the money but that he doesn't care. Complaining that the ongoing thefts of his cattle and rents will impoverish him and mystified by the disappearance of Killearn, he orders Cunningham to pursue MacGregor to prevent further humiliation. Cunningham and the redcoats burn the Clan's crofts. MacGregor refuses to take the bait, but Alasdair attempts to snipe Cunningham and hits a redcoat, revealing their hiding place. The redcoats shoot both Alasdair and another Clan member, Coll. Alasdair finally tells MacGregor about Mary's rape. Taken prisoner, MacGregor accuses Cunningham of murder, robbery and rape. Cunningham confirms the charges, and beats and tortures Rob multiple times. The following morning, Montrose, despite hearing MacGregor confirm his suspicions as to who stole his money, orders MacGregor to be hanged from a nearby bridge. MacGregor loops the rope binding his hands around Cunningham's throat and then jumps off the bridge. To save Cunningham, Montrose orders the rope cut, freeing MacGregor. MacGregor is chased downstream by the redcoats, but he evades them by hiding inside the rotting corpse of a cow. Cunningham survives his strangulation.

Mary gains an audience with the Duke of Argyll and exposes Montrose's plan to frame him. Moved by MacGregor's integrity, he grants the family asylum at Glen Shira. MacGregor arrives, at first upset by Mary's unwillingness to inform him of her rape or her pregnancy but later willing to raise the child as his own, instructing her to name it Robert if it's a boy and Mary if it's a girl. The Duke, though skeptical of MacGregor's likelihood of survival, arranges a duel between MacGregor and Cunningham, wagering Montrose that if MacGregor lives, his debt will be forgiven and that if he dies, the Duke will pay his debt. Montrose agrees and Cunningham and MacGregor vow that no quarter will be asked or given. Rob is injured from the previous beating Cunningham inflicted upon him when he was his captive. Armed with a rapier, Cunningham skillfully attacks and repeatedly wounds MacGregor, who appears to swiftly exhaust himself swinging a heavy broadsword. MacGregor seems defeated, but when Cunningham showboats to deliver a theatrical killing blow, MacGregor grabs and holds on to his enemy's sword-point with his left hand. As Cunningham struggles to free his blade, MacGregor rises and delivers a fatal strike to Cunningham's left shoulder, slicing all the way down to his chest. Now free of debts and with his honor intact, he returns home to his wife and children.

The series centers on the fictitious personal life of President George W. Bush, played by Timothy Bottoms. Carrie Quinn Dolin played Laura Bush, and Kurt Fuller played Karl Rove.

Episodes dealt (with deliberate heavy handedness) with the topics of abortion, gun control, the war on drugs, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the death penalty. Every episode ended with George saying "One of these days, Laura, I'm gonna punch you in the face!", a parody of Jackie Gleason's line from ''The Honeymooners'', "One of these days, Alice... Bang, zoom! Right to the moon!"

The show was more of a spoof of the banality of television sitcoms in general, rather than a cutting political satire. As ''The A.V. Club'' put it: ''[That's My] Bush!'' s irresistibly gimmicky premise—a workplace sitcom centering on Bush and his wife Laura—represents a perverse act of extended misdirection. While audiences waited for Parker and Stone to tear into the Bush administration, they instead attacked the hoary conventions of 1970s and 1980s sitcoms, which proved a surprisingly apt target for satire and pop-culture riffing.

A year after Otto Octavius' death, Peter Parker plans to propose to Mary Jane Watson, who has made her Broadway musical debut. In Central Park, a meteorite lands near the two, and an extraterrestrial symbiote follows Peter to his apartment by attaching to his motorbike. Harry Osborn, knowing Peter is Spider-Man, seeks to avenge his father's death. Using his father's performance-enhancing gas and Green Goblin technology, he battles Peter to an eventual stalemate, developing partial amnesia. Meanwhile, police pursue escaped convict Flint Marko, who visits his wife and sick daughter before fleeing. Falling into an experimental particle accelerator that fuses his body with the surrounding sand, he gains the ability to control and reform his body with sand, becoming Sandman.

During a festival honoring Spider-Man for saving Gwen Stacy's life, Peter kisses her to please the crowd, angering Mary Jane. Marko then robs an armored truck and escapes after defeating Spider-Man. NYPD Captain George Stacy, Gwen's father, informs Peter and his aunt May that Marko is uncle Ben's true killer; the deceased Dennis Carradine was Marko's accomplice. At his apartment, as Peter sleeps in his Spider-Man suit while waiting for Marko to come out of hiding, the symbiote assimilates the suit. Peter awakens on top of a building, discovering that the symbiote has colored his suit black and enhanced his powers; however, it also brings out darker parts of his personality.

Peter locates and battles Marko in a subway tunnel. Discovering that water is his weakness, he opens a pipe, releasing water that reduces Marko to mud and washes him away. Peter's changed comportment alienates Mary Jane, who also received negative reviews from critics. She shares a tender moment with Harry but leaves in regret. Urged by a hallucination of his father, Harry recovers from his amnesia and forces Mary Jane to break up with Peter. Harry later meets up with Peter and tells him that Mary Jane loves him. Under the influence of the symbiote, Peter confronts Harry and spitefully claims that his father never loved him. As Peter leaves after an ensuing fight, Harry throws a pumpkin bomb at him; Peter deflects it back, disfiguring Harry's face.

At the ''Daily Bugle'', Peter exposes rival photographer Eddie Brock, whose fake photos incriminate Spider-Man. Publisher J. Jonah Jameson fires Brock and promotes Peter to staff photographer. Later, Peter brings Gwen to a jazz club where Mary Jane now works. In an attempt to make her jealous, Peter interrupts Mary Jane's performance and dances with Gwen in front of her. Gwen, realizing she had been used, apologizes to Mary Jane and leaves. After assaulting the bouncers and accidentally hitting Mary Jane, Peter realizes that the symbiote is corrupting him. Retreating to a church's bell tower and discovering that the sounds of clanging metal weaken the creature, Peter removes the symbiote. Brock, who is at the same church, becomes the symbiote's new host.

As Venom, Brock locates a still-living Marko and convinces him to join forces to kill Spider-Man. Brock abducts Mary Jane and holds her captive from a web at a construction site, intending to kill her in revenge for Peter ruining him, while Marko keeps the police at bay. After Harry declines to help Peter, Harry's butler reveals that Norman's death was not Spider-Man's fault. While Brock and Marko pin Peter down, Harry arrives to help Peter and save Mary Jane. Brock attempts to impale Peter with Harry's glider, but Harry jumps in and is impaled instead. Peter, remembering the symbiote's weakness, assembles a perimeter of metal pipes to create a sonic attack, weakening it and allowing Peter to separate Brock from the symbiote.

Peter activates a pumpkin bomb and throws it at the hostless symbiote. Brock, having become addicted to its influence, attempts to save the symbiote, and both are vaporized. Marko explains that Ben's death was an accident that has haunted him and that everything he has done was to help his daughter; Peter forgives Marko, allowing him to escape. Peter and Harry reconcile before the latter dies from his injuries. Sometime later, Peter visits Mary Jane at the jazz club. They embrace and share a dance.

The novel takes place around the planets Yellowstone and Resurgam, in two story lines which converge near the climax of the novel.

Yellowstone

The novel begins in the year 2605, where Skade has been tasked with investigating a Conjoiner ship that has returned to the Conjoiner headquarters, the Mother Nest. It is revealed early on that Skade is a Conjoiner woman who appears to be in touch with secret circles of control within the theoretically egalitarian Conjoiners society. In the ship, she discovers Galiana, the original founder of the Conjoiners, who left Conjoiner space decades previously on an exploration mission. In space, she encountered the Inhibitors, who have unleashed an agent into her ships which has taken control of it and killed her crew. It now controls her mind as well. Galiana requests that Skade kill her, but Skade only places her in suspended animation in the hope that she can be helped in the future.

Ten years later, Nevil Clavain is facing problems in the Conjoiner mother nest; he is struggling to find answers as to what happened to Galiana (he is unaware that she is still alive) and about Felka, who he believes may be his daughter. He ponders this as he leaves on a mission, during which he rescues Antoinette Bax as she buries her father in the gas giant Tangerine Dream. Her ship severely damaged, Antoinette limps back to the Rust Belt, a ring of orbital habitats around Yellowstone.

When Clavain and Skade return to the Mother Nest, Skade, Remontoire, and Felka finally convince Clavain to join the Conjoiner's leadership, which Clavain had been resisting. Skade now informs him about the Inhibitors, convincing him to undertake a mission to reclaim lost Conjoiner doomsday weapons and taking him to see the fleet of advanced starships that the Conjoiners have been building in secret. Although Skade claims that the weapons and ships will be used to defend humanity against the Inhibitors, Clavain is convinced that they will actually be used simply to evacuate the Conjoiners and abandon the rest of humanity. Clavain defects to the Demarchists at Yellowstone and spreads the news of the Inhibitors, enlisting Antoinette Bax's help to escape the pursuing Conjoiners under Skade.

Clavain is followed by Scorpio and Remontoire, but they along with Antoinette and Clavain are captured by the mysterious underground figure known as "H". H reveals what happened to Skade during a Conjoiner raid into Chasm City. This was when Skade discovered the secrets that would lead her to develop inertia suppression technology, and when H believes she was subverted by an alien intellect. Clavain reveals Skade's plans for the Conjoiner fleet and the cache weapons, and H agrees to help him beat Skade to them. H supplies ships and his own version of the inertial suppression technology, while Scorpio supplies an army of hyper-pigs for the pursuit.

Skade and Clavain race to the Resurgam system employing various creative long-distance strategies against each other and pushing their vessels to higher and higher speeds. Eventually, Skade's vessel is damaged in an attempt to exceed the speed of light. Clavain and crew arrive in the ''Zodiacal Light'' ready to recover the cache weapons.

Resurgam

Several years on (roughly 50 from the start of the book), Triumvir Ilia Volyova and Ana Khouri are on the planet Resurgam and have discovered a new threat; the Inhibitors, alerted to the presence of humanity during events described in ''Revelation Space'', have begun dismantling several rocky moons across the system and are moving their components towards the gas giant, Roc. They resolve to evacuate Resurgam by enlisting the aid of the rebel Thorn who has been attempting to evacuate Resurgam all along, by opening communications with Captain John Brannigan who is in direct control of their ship due to the nanotechnological Melding Plague, and by enabling the Cache Weapons as a last resort against the Inhibitors. (These are the same weapons that Clavain will be sent to recover, and it was their activation during the events in the novel Revelation Space by Volyova which allowed the Conjoiners in Yellowstone to determine the weapons' location.)

Successful in all three endeavors, Volyova, Khouri, and Thorn begin the lengthy evacuation, while the Inhibitors continue their mysterious construction project. Only a few thousand people have been evacuated from the surface when the Inhibitors come so close to Resurgam's star that Volyova begins deploying the cache weapons in the hope that they will be able to buy more time. It is at this point that a beta-level simulation of Clavain arrives in a laser transmission, and attempts to negotiate the peaceful turn over of the cache weapons to the soon to be arriving ''Zodiacal Light''. Volyova rejects his requests, explaining that she has greater need to the weapons and continues deploying them.

When ''Zodiacal Light'' arrives in the system, and because of the failure of the beta-level to negotiate a handover, Clavain attacks ''Nostalgia for Infinity'' using Scorpio and his army of pigs as a boarding party. Clavain's superior force capture ''Nostalgia for Infinity'', although Volyova is able to damage ''Zodiacal Light'' with one of the cache weapons. Negotiations resume and the two sides come to terms. The evacuation is completed with the help of the ''Storm Bird'' and ''Nostalgia for Infinity'' departs; Volyova, who is dying from injuries suffered during a suicide attempt by the Captain takes half of the cache weapons and attacks the Inhibitors in the ''Storm Bird'', to no effect. Remontoire and Khouri remain in the system in the ''Zodiacal Light'' to try and contact Dan Sylveste in the Hades Matrix in hope that he will be able to supply information that can be used to fight the Inhibitors.

The novel ends with ''Nostalgia for Infinity'' establishing a colony on an unnamed Pattern Juggler planet (in the following novel ''Absolution Gap'' it is called Ararat), waiting for the ''Zodiacal Light'' to catch up with them so that they can continue the fight against the Inhibitors.

Inhibitor Asides

In addition to the two plot lines there are occasional asides explaining the history and motivation of the Inhibitors. These asides explain the galaxy was once filled with star-faring civilizations. Those civilizations were largely destroyed in the "Dawn War", a galaxy-wide conflict over the galaxy's scarce resources. One of these civilizations determines that a collision between our galaxy and another will occur in 3 billion years and create/become the Inhibitors in order to shepherd intelligent life through this cataclysm. They had determined that collision could be most easily dealt with if intelligent life was kept isolated to individual star systems, leaving the Inhibitors to perform any necessary manipulations of stars and planets to reduce the damage caused by the collision.

The asides also reveal that the Inhibitors were not as brutal in their past, but their performance has degraded over the millennia. They have been detecting civilizations at later stages, and required to commit wholesale extinction more often.

Clavain and Felka learn of this history during communication with the Inhibitors in Galiana's head. Clavain, however, is not convinced that the Inhibitors are right about the coming catastrophe and believes that their degrading performance may give humanity a chance for survival that other species have not had. As such, he rejects the Inhibitor requests to stand down.

The future collision of our galaxy with the Andromeda Galaxy is a scientifically predicted event. However, astronomers believe that it would not cause major damage to the capability of the galaxy to support life because galaxies are so diffuse that very few, if any, planets and stars would collide.

''E.V.O.: Search for Eden'' tells a mythical saga of life's evolution on Earth, with a subtext of a creation myth and polytheistic evolution. The player takes the role of one of many billions of lifeforms created by Gaia (personification of the planet Earth), the nurturing and benevolent daughter of Sol, the Sun. Among the creatures known as ''life'', there is a competition to evolve, and the best lifeform will eventually be granted the privilege of entering the Garden of Eden and becoming the husband and partner of Gaia. As the game progresses, it soon becomes apparent some mysterious external force is interfering with evolution on Earth in a destructive manner. Strange crystals not native to Gaia appear across the planet, and creatures that eat the crystals are transformed into monstrously powerful beings that dominate all other lifeforms, overconsume resources and disrupt the flow of evolution. In each Age, the player character is tasked with confronting the species transformed by the crystals and defeating them so that the evolution of life can continue as intended.

In the final Age, the Age of Eden, the player learns a mysterious entity is controlling the world's other lifeforms and sending them against the player. This entity turns out to be Bolbox, a lifeform that has evolved into a freakish and evil advanced being by consuming the crystals, believing itself to be the first human, but in reality is a gigantic single-celled organism. In the game's final battle, the player and Bolbox fight to determine who will gain entry into Eden and become Gaia's partner. Bolbox is defeated, and the player joins Gaia in Eden and is granted the gift of intelligence. It is also revealed the crystals were introduced to Earth by an advanced civilization on Mars, who misguidedly wished to help Earth by speeding its evolution with the crystals. Upon realizing the dangers the crystals create, the Martians decide to leave Earth alone and observe until it becomes advanced enough for them to interact with.

In 1971, a policeman witnesses Elmo McElroy, a recent college graduate with a degree, smoking marijuana. Due to his arrest and conviction, he is unable to find work as a pharmacologist. In the present day, a drug lord called "the Lizard" calls a meeting of his colleagues, hoping to sell a new substance invented by Elmo. The meeting goes badly when Elmo, in a bid to escape from the Lizard's manipulation, blows up the building, killing everyone but the Lizard. Enraged, the Lizard contacts Dakota, a contract killer, who previously killed the only witness in a case against the Lizard. Dakota initially refuses the hit, but accepts when the Lizard offers to clear her gambling debts and give her a $250,000 bonus.

Felix DeSouza, a local "fixer" in Liverpool has been sent by Leopold Durant, head of a local criminal organisation, to collect Elmo from Manchester airport, in exchange for two tickets to a sold-out football match between Liverpool and Manchester United. On route to the airport Felix enters a pub full of Manchester United supporters and antagonises them before letting off a rocket flare inside; the United fans give chase but his friends rescue him in their car.

Elmo lands in Manchester, is collected by Felix and is taken to the meeting with Durant. At the meeting, Elmo pitches POS 51, a synthetic drug that can be produced with minimal facilities and is 51 times as potent as other drugs. A second opinion from Pudsey, Durant's chemist, confirms Elmo's claims, and Durant gives him over a million dollars in bonds. Since it is $18 million short of the agreed payment, Elmo refuses to sell.

On a roof across the street, Dakota is about to shoot Elmo in the head when the Lizard calls cancelling the hit; not wanting to kill Elmo until he has the formula. Instead of killing Elmo, she is to kill anyone who meets with him. She switches rifles to an automatic weapon and kills everyone but Elmo and Felix, who is shot in the buttocks. As Elmo and Felix leave the hotel, a gang of skinheads who want the drug attack them. Elmo protects them with a golf club. Detective Virgil Kane and his partner Arthur arrive on the scene and give chase. They are soon lured into a game of chicken by Elmo, who escapes. Kane and Arthur return to the crime scene and Kane demands 50% of Durant's deal with McElroy. A miscommunication leads to Durant's death.

Felix contacts a gun dealing club owner and drug distributor named Iki, promising him the formula for £20 million. As Elmo and Felix acquire the ingredients necessary for the drug's manufacture, all of which are over-the-counter products, the now-armed skinheads take them hostage. Elmo is content, as the skinheads claim they have a lab, though it turns out to be a broken-into animal testing facility. Elmo makes two batches of the drug; one blue and one red. He claims that the red pill is the stronger version, and after he takes one, the skinheads try it. While they are partying, waiting for the effect of the drug, in the next room Elmo spits out his red pill. He tells Felix it is a powerful laxative; Elmo and Felix leave after throwing rolls of toilet paper to the incapacitated skinheads.

At Iki's rave club, Elmo initiates his deal and delivers the drug to the waiting crowd. Kane and the police interrupt the deal and arrest Felix. When Dakota appears, she reveals that her real name is Dawn and that she and Felix were domestic partners. She abducts Elmo and leaves with him via the roof. Elmo overpowers her, suspending her over the edge of the roof. Having no choice, she strikes a deal with him and they escape Kane. Meanwhile, Kane blackmails Felix during a police interrogation and forces himself into the deal with Iki, which Felix sets up for him.

Felix, Elmo and Dawn meet Iki in a private viewing box at the football match at Anfield. This time, the deal is interrupted by the Lizard, who shoots Iki dead and demands the formula to POS 51. The Lizard celebrates with a drink, as Elmo reveals that the drug is a placebo and POS stands for Power of Suggestion. Kane interrupts them as Elmo's cocktail, an explosive ingested by the Lizard, takes effect, killing the Lizard and showering everyone in blood. Kane is knocked unconscious and arrested by Arthur, while the main three exit unscathed. Dawn and Felix happily settle down together, and Elmo purchases a castle once owned by the man who owned his ancestors.

In 1966 London, the Second Doctor and Jamie watch helplessly as the TARDIS is loaded onto a lorry and driven away from Gatwick Airport. The trail leads them to an antique shop run by Edward Waterfield, who sells Victorian-style antiques that curiously seem as though they were still new. Waterfield is being coerced by the Daleks, who appear in a secret room of his shop through a time machine, and exterminate his mutinous employee Kennedy. Investigating the store, the Doctor and Jamie succumb to a booby trap that gasses them, and are dragged into the time machine by Waterfield.

They wake to find that they have been transported to 1866, and are in the house of Theodore Maxtible, Waterfield's partner. The two had been trying to invent a time machine using mirrors and static electricity, when the Daleks emerged from their time cabinet. The Daleks then took Waterfield's daughter, Victoria Waterfield, hostage and forced Waterfield to travel a century forward in time to lure the Doctor into a trap by stealing the TARDIS. Waterfield is obviously fearful for his daughter's safety and his own, but Maxtible seems to be cooperating with the Daleks.

The Daleks threaten to destroy the TARDIS unless the Doctor helps them by conducting an experiment to isolate the "Human Factor", the unique qualities of human beings that have allowed them to consistently resist and defeat the Daleks. Once the Doctor has isolated the Human Factor, he will implant it into three Daleks, who will then become the precursors of a race of "super" Daleks, with the best qualities of humans and Daleks. To that end the Daleks want the Doctor to test Jamie by sending him to rescue Victoria, who is being kept in the house. The Doctor is strangely cooperative with the Daleks, manipulating Jamie into the rescue mission but not telling him of the nature of the test.

Jamie rescues Victoria, but she is taken prisoner again and transported through the time cabinet. The Doctor, observing how Jamie accomplished the rescue, distils the Human Factor, but suspects that there is more to the experiment than just this. Once the Human Factor is implanted in the three Daleks, they become completely human in personality and seem almost childlike, although the Doctor says their mentalities will mature quickly. This was the Doctor's intent all along: that the human factor would lead to "human" Daleks that would be friendly to humanity. He christens the three Alpha, Beta and Omega, but they soon return through the time cabinet to Skaro, the Daleks' home planet.

Waterfield discovers that Maxtible has betrayed them all to the Daleks, hoping that he will be able to learn the alchemical secret of transmuting base metals into gold. However, Maxtible, who has travelled to Skaro through the mirror cabinet, is discovering just how ruthless the Daleks are and how empty their promises can be; he is tortured for his failure to bring the Doctor to them. Jamie, Waterfield and the Doctor are locked out of the time cabinet, but manage to use the Daleks' own short-range time machine to make the journey to Skaro before a Dalek bomb destroys Maxtible's house.

The trio find their way into the Dalek city and are brought before the imposing Dalek Emperor, who reveals the true reason behind the experiments and the capture of the TARDIS: by isolating the human factor, the Doctor has succeeded in isolating the "Dalek Factor" as well. The Daleks will use the "Dalek Factor"—the qualities that make the Daleks relentless killing machines—to reconvert the "human" Daleks. In addition, the Emperor wants the Doctor to use the TARDIS to spread the Dalek Factor throughout human history, turning all humanity into Daleks. The Doctor knows that the Emperor realises that he would die before complying with this order, and so is concerned about why the Emperor seems so confident.

Maxtible is tricked into walking through an archway that infuses him with the Dalek Factor, mentally turning him into a Dalek. He hypnotises the Doctor and lures him through the arch as well, apparently converting him. However, the Doctor is feigning his conversion and secretly plants a device on the arch while the Daleks hunt for the three "human" Daleks. As one still remains to be found, the Doctor suggests that all the Daleks be put through the conversion arch so that the "human" Dalek will once again be infused with the Dalek Factor.

As the first batch of Daleks go through the arch, the Doctor frees the others. The arch did not work on the Doctor because it was calibrated for humans, and he is not one. The Doctor has also substituted the Human Factor for the Dalek Factor on the arch, so the Daleks that go through will become "human" and rebel against the Emperor. The Emperor calls out his Black Daleks as the rebellion spreads and the City falls into chaos. Waterfield throws himself in front of a Black Dalek blast meant for the Doctor; the Doctor promises that Victoria will be taken care of, and Waterfield dies content. The Emperor is attacked by the "human" Daleks.

While the Doctor and his companions escape, Maxtible rushes back into the exploding city, screaming of the everlasting glory of the Dalek race. The Doctor tells Jamie that they will be taking the now-orphaned Victoria along on their travels. Jamie, Victoria and the Doctor watch the Dalek City in flames from the top of a hill as the civil war continues. The Doctor pronounces this the end of the Daleks – the final end. However a pulsating light is seen coming from the Emperor, indicating that the Dalek is still alive.

Twenty-seven-year-old St. Louis advertising executive Max Baron has completely shut himself off from the world in the two years since the auto accident that killed his wife Janey. On the way to his friend Neil's bachelor party, Max picks up fifty burgers from a diner called White Palace. At the party, he discovers that the order is six burgers short and, to the ridicule of his friends, returns to the restaurant to complain. In a moment that defines his initial character, Max declares, "It's the principle." He is roundly mocked by his friends.

At the White Palace diner, after a heated exchange occurs between Max and a forty-three-year-old waitress, Nora Baker, she exasperatedly refunds him. Max returns to the party but leaves upset and heads to a bar, where he runs into Nora. Drunk, she flirts with him, but he pushes her advances away and starts to leave. She senses he's upset, asks why, and discovers his wife died in a car crash. She discloses that she lost her young son to leukemia. The 'connection' prevents him from leaving. They have a few drinks and eventually he gives her a lift home to the Dogtown neighborhood in St. Louis, but drunkenly crashes his car into her mailbox. She invites him to spend the night at her house, with the couch as his bed. Max starts dreaming about his late wife, then wakes up to find Nora performing fellatio on him. They end up having passionate sex.

After visiting his wife's grave on the second anniversary of her death, Max returns to White Palace to watch a busy Nora from a distance. He visits her at home with the pretext of replacing the broken mailbox, but instead they begin a relationship. Max becomes more relaxed and cheerful around Nora and at his work, but remains reluctant to reveal their relationship to his family and friends. At one point, he gets frustrated that all he and Nora do is sit and watch TV in her house. She firmly reminds him of their differences in age and social backgrounds.

Nora is angry after Max has lied to her about his friend Neil's wedding and that he didn't take her. They argue about how Max keeps their relationship a secret and that he is probably ashamed of being seen with her. Nora's sister, Judy (Eileen Brennan), meets Max the following day and explains to him, in Nora's absence, how they were abandoned as children and that she left a young Nora to fend for herself. Judy also explains that Nora's son drowned.

While at the supermarket with Nora, Max leaves her at the counter and runs into Neil's wife, Rachel, who invites him and his "mystery woman" to Thanksgiving. At Max's apartment, Nora hears a message on his answering machine inviting them to the Horowitzes' home for Thanksgiving. Nora brings up the subject to an initially hesitant Max; however, they resolve to attend as a couple. At the Thanksgiving dinner with Neil, Rachel, Mrs. Baron, Max's friends, and the Horowitz extended family make Nora uncomfortable. Following an argument between Nora and Neil's father, she walks out, Max and his mother following. After the dinner, Nora and Max argue in her house over what happened, and she tells him to leave.

Some time later, Max finds Nora's house empty and a note explaining to him that she left and that he shouldn't come looking for her. He visits White Palace and is informed that Nora quit. He goes to a brunch with friends and meets Heidi Solomon, but cannot stop thinking about Nora. He then realizes that everyone around him seems stuck-up and obsessed with their "perfect" upper-middle class lives. He travels to New York to find Nora's sister Judy, and is informed that Nora is waitressing in a restaurant. Max finds Nora there and confesses his love to her, revealing that he quit his job and moved to New York to be with her. They reunite, kissing tenderly as patrons of the restaurant look on. Max playfully clears the table of its contents and lays a laughing Nora down on it, climbing on top of her and passionately kissing her, while the whole restaurant cheers and applauds.

The series revolves around two teenage stepbrothers, Drake Parker and Josh Nichols, who live in San Diego, California with Drake's younger sister Megan and biological mother Audrey, and Josh's biological father Walter. Drake is cool and popular, having his own band and being a ladies' man, yet can be narcissistic and absent-minded, while Josh is an intellectual, clumsy and awkward; yet very loving and caring. The two boys are often involved in comedic escapades and challenges while also handling various teenage problems.

It's been two years since Jesse saved and freed his orca friend, Willy. Jesse, now 14, has since been adopted by Glen and Annie Greenwood. They are preparing to go to the San Juan Islands for a camping trip and visit Randolph at his new job. Glen has been trying to teach Jesse to drive the motorboat named Little Dipper, but Jesse is more interested in girls. However, before they leave town, Dwight informs Glen and Annie that Jesse's biological mother was found dead in New York City and left behind another son. Jesse is devastated after many attempts to find her, but comes to terms after talking his feelings out with Glen. When Jesse's half-brother Elvis arrives, he is morose, overly talkative and mischievous, and he is also prone to telling lies and easily gets on Jesse's nerves. He is invited on their trip so that the boys get to know each other.

At the environmental institute, Jesse reunites with Randolph and quickly becomes smitten with his attractive and kindly goddaughter, Nadine. Jesse also tracks down and reunites with Willy later that night. Jesse cautiously begins to show his interest in Nadine, and as the awkward teenagers grow closer, he helped her befriend Willy and his younger siblings Luna and Littlespot. Elvis spies on the two, forming his own bond with the young, playful Littlespot, and lies to Glen and Annie about Jesse kissing Nadine. Glen talks to Jesse who denies this, leading to Elvis getting grounded.

As the Greenwoods continue to enjoy their camping trip, the Dakar runs aground on lawson reef and spills oil into the ocean due to an engine malfunction, trapping Willy, Luna and Littlespot in a small cove. When word gets out that the orcas are trapped and Luna is dying from the oil in her lungs having swum through the oil when the tanker ran aground, Benbrook Oil CEO John Milner arrives and announces a plan to move the whales into captivity where they can recover from their injuries. Jesse challenges this, making Milner promise to do whatever he can, to get them safely back to their mom or else he'll be blamed for Luna's death, to which Milner seemingly agrees.

With Luna's condition worsening despite receiving treatment from Kate Haley, Randolph and Jesse eventually use an old Indian remedy that they administer to Luna, who recovers the next morning. Elvis, who ran away believing that Jesse is more important and after Annie breaks her promise to allow him to help, overhears Milner and whaler Bill Wilcox discussing their real plan to sell the whales to a marine mammal park rushes back to camp instead of catching a ferry. Shortly afterwards, with the oil spill reaching dangerous proximity to the cove, Benbrook Oil and the whalers boom it off despite Jesse, Randolph and Nadine's objections and begin extracting the whales. As the extraction of Littlespot commences, Elvis returns in time to warn Jesse and the brothers expose Milner's plot which lead to them knocking him and his assistant into the water for breaking their promise, while Haley and the others laugh at them struggling to swim to the dock. With the help of a distraction by Jesse and Elvis, Willy manages to rescue his little brother by tipping Wilcox's boat.

With time running out before the oil reaches the cove, Jesse, Elvis and Nadine hijack the Little Dipper to lead the whales to safety. On Jesse's signal, Willy is able to break the boom and leads his siblings out of the cove. However, an explosion on the Dakar, due to fuel vapors igniting after engineers tried to start the generator, results in the crude oil in the water catching fire. Despite the danger, the three whales are able to swim under the flaming oil to safety. Having followed the whales to ensure they got safely past the oil, the kids fall into danger when they take Little Dipper into another cove to avoid the flaming oil, but the fogginess from the smoke causes Jesse to hit a rock and the boat begins to sink while the flames seal off the cove.

At the same time, Glen and Annie, who were looking for Elvis until they spot him on the Little Dipper, hop aboard Randolph's boat, Natselane, to follow the kids' path as he sends a distress signal that summons the Coastal Marine Patrol to their aid. A search and rescue helicopter locates them, and Elvis and Nadine are retracted to safety. However, the Little Dipper then submerges completely, leaving Jesse struggling in the oily water, and unable to secure himself sufficiently in the harness. He ultimately slips out and falls back into the ocean, just inches away from the helicopter and, due to smoke choking the helicopter's engine, it is forced to leave Jesse behind. Jesse nearly drowns but is rescued by Willy who returns for his friend. Willy is able to carry him safely under the fire to the Natselane, where Glen and Annie pull Jesse to safety. Though Jesse was curious as to why Willy won't leave, it was revealed through Randolph that the signal must be performed. An emotional Jesse does it, and he, Glen and Annie say goodbye to Willy before he departs back to his family.

Shortly after, the Coastal Marine Patrol dropped off Nadine and Elvis. Elvis gives Jesse an old picture of him and their mother that was taped back together for him. He also tells Jesse that she always talked about him and felt bad about abandoning him. Jesse thanks him for the picture and hugs him, finally able to put his past at rest. Glen and Annie decide to keep the brothers together. When asked by Elvis about Littlespot's whereabouts, Jesse tells him that Willy and his siblings are back with their mom. He then says the same Haida prayer to himself after knowing that they are all free.

Sometime later with the oil spill cleaned up, Willy, Luna and Littlespot reunite with Catspaw.

The book tells about a group of children having a Halloween sleepover party at school (Kindergarten). The children prepare for it by making decorations and costumes. As night draws near, so do the children's fears. One student, Mary, shares a trick her father taught her with the other students. He gave her a special bright star - whenever she feels afraid to go to bed, she has only to think about her star. This sends the darkness and the evil ghosts from her heart. Jonas does not believe in that, but he also thinks he is not afraid of ghosts. In the end, all the children need another, older trick: keeping the hallway light on all night.

The story begins before the wolf-dog hybrid is born, with two men and their sled dog team on a journey to deliver the coffin of Lord Alfred to a remote town named Fort McGurry in the higher area of the Yukon Territory. The men, Bill and Henry, are stalked by a large pack of starving wolves over the course of several days. Finally, after all of their dogs and Bill have been eaten, more teams find Henry escaping from the wolves; the wolf pack scatters when they hear the large group of people coming.

The story then follows the pack, which has been robbed of its last prey. When the pack finally brings down a moose, the famine is ended; they eventually split up, and the story now follows a she-wolf and her mate, One Eye. One Eye claimed her after defeating and killing a younger rival. The she-wolf gives birth to a litter of five pups by the Mackenzie River, and all but one die from hunger. One Eye is killed by a lynx while trying to rob her den for food for the she-wolf and her pup; his mate later discovers his remains near the lynx's den. The surviving pup and the she-wolf are left to fend for themselves. Shortly afterward, the she-wolf kills all the lynx's kittens to feed her pup, prompting the lynx to track her down, and a vicious fight breaks out. The she-wolf eventually kills the lynx but suffers severe injury; the lynx carcass is devoured over a period of seven days as the she-wolf recovers from her injuries.

One day, the pup comes across five indigenous people, and the she-wolf comes to his rescue. One man, Grey Beaver, recognizes the she-wolf as his late brother's wolfdog, Kiche, who left during a famine. Grey Beaver's brother is dead, and so he takes Kiche and her pup and christens the cub "White Fang". White Fang has a harsh life in the native camp; the current puppy pack, seeing him as a wolf, immediately attacks him. The Natives protect him, but the pups never accept him, and the pups' leader, Lip-Lip, singles him out for persecution. White Fang grows to become a savage, callous, morose, solitary, and deadly fighter, "the enemy of his kind".

It is at this time that White Fang is separated from his mother, who is sold off to another Native camp by Three Eagles. He realizes how hard life in the wild is when he runs away from camp, and earns the respect of Grey Beaver when he saves his son Mit-Sah from a group of boys seeking revenge for White Fang attacking one of them for trying to beat him for no reason. When a famine occurs, he runs away into the woods and encounters his mother Kiche, only for her to chase him away, for she has a new litter of cubs and has forgotten him. He also encounters Lip-Lip, whom he fights and kills before returning to the camp.

When White Fang is five years old, he is taken to Fort Yukon, so that Grey Beaver can trade with the gold-hunters. There, when Grey Beaver is drunk, White Fang is bought by an evil dog-fighter named "Beauty" Smith. White Fang defeats all opponents pitted against him, including several wolves and a lynx, until a bulldog called Cherokee is brought in to fight him. Cherokee has the upper hand in the fight when he grips the skin and fur of White Fang's neck and begins to throttle him. White Fang nearly suffocates, but is rescued when a rich, young gold hunter, Weedon Scott, stops the fight, and forcefully buys White Fang from Beauty Smith.

Scott attempts to tame White Fang, and after a long, patient effort, he succeeds. When Scott attempts to return to California alone, White Fang pursues him, and Scott decides to take the dog with him back home. In Sierra Vista, White Fang must adjust to the laws of the estate. At the end of the book, an escaped convict, Jim Hall, tries to kill Scott's father, Judge Scott, for sentencing him to prison for a crime he did not commit, not knowing that Hall was "railroaded". White Fang kills Hall and is nearly killed himself, but survives. As a result, the women of Scott's estate name him "The Blessed Wolf". The story ends with White Fang relaxing in the sun with the puppies he has fathered with the sheep-dog Collie.

Hank Grotowski, a widower, and his son, Sonny, are corrections officers in a Georgia prison. They reside with Hank's father, Buck, an ailing, bigoted retired corrections officer whose wife (Hank's mother) committed suicide. Sonny is friends with the Cooper brothers, Willie and Darryl, who are black. At the behest of Buck, Hank frightens off the brothers with a shotgun and is later confronted by their father Ryrus.

Hank, the prison's deputy warden, will oversee the execution of convicted murderer Lawrence Musgrove. Musgrove, a talented amateur artist, draws a sketch of Sonny. Sonny is a shy and gentle person, and is as kind to Musgrove as his duties permit.

The night before the execution, Hank tells Sonny that a "monster's ball" is held by the corrections officers, a get-together of those who will participate in the execution. The proceedings prove too much for Sonny, who, as he is leading Lawrence to the electric chair, vomits, and then collapses. Following the execution, Hank confronts Sonny in the prison's bathroom and slaps him for being so "soft" and "ruining a man's last walk".

The next morning, Hank attacks Sonny in his bed and orders him to leave the house. Sonny grabs a revolver from under his pillow and holds his father at gunpoint. The confrontation ends in their living room with Hank sitting on the carpet, and Sonny in Buck's customary chair. Sonny asks his father if he hates him. After his father calmly confirms that he does, and always has, Sonny responds, "Well, I always loved you," and commits suicide by shooting himself in the chest.

A devastated Hank buries Sonny in the back garden with an abbreviated funeral because, as Buck comments, "He was weak." Hank subsequently resigns as deputy warden, burns his uniform in the backyard, and locks the door of Sonny's room. He purchases a local gas station in an attempt to provide a distraction in his retirement. The Coopers offer condolences to Hank, who asks which one is Willie and which one is "Harry" (mistaking Darryl's name) and is corrected politely.

During the years of Lawrence's imprisonment leading up to his execution, his wife, Leticia, has been struggling while raising their son, Tyrell, who has inherited his father's artistic talent. Overwhelmed, she lashes out at the boy for his obesity, resorting to physical and emotional abuse. Along with her domestic problems, Leticia struggles financially, with an eviction notice on her house from her landlord. In desperate need of money, Leticia takes a job at a diner frequented by Hank. Due to lack of maintenance (which Lawrence had suggested), Leticia’s car breaks down, so she and Tyrell begin walking back and forth between home and the diner.

One rainy night, Leticia (having stolen an umbrella) and Tyrell are walking down a soaked highway. Hank happens to be driving along and sees Tyrell lying mortally wounded on the ground and Leticia calling for help. After some hesitation, Hank stops, and being told Tyrell was struck by a car, he drives them to a hospital, where Tyrell dies from his injuries. At the suggestion of the authorities at the hospital, Hank drives Leticia home. A few days later, Hank gives Leticia another ride home from the diner. They begin talking in the car about their common losses, and she invites him in. Hank finds out that Leticia is Lawrence's widow, though he does not tell her that he participated in her husband's execution. They drown their grief with alcohol and have sex.

Hank takes Sonny's old truck to Ryrus' auto shop and they discuss fixing it, with Hank mentioning he wanted to sell the truck, and asking if Ryrus' boys could wax it. He then offers to give the truck to Leticia, who reluctantly accepts after initial protests of discomfort.

Leticia stops by Hank's home with a present for him, but he is not there. She meets Buck, who insults her and implies that Hank is only involved with her because he enjoys sex with black women. Leticia, offended by the remarks, refuses to interact with Hank. After Hank is made aware of Buck's actions, he finally commits his father to a nursing home. He then renames the gas station "Leticia's", saying it is his girlfriend's name when asked.

Leticia is evicted from her home and Hank invites her to move in with him. She later discovers Hank's involvement in her husband's death when she finds the drawings of Sonny and Hank done by Lawrence as he awaited execution. She’s disturbed by the revelation, but numb from the loss of her son and recent misfortune, she’s waiting for Hank when he returns from town with ice cream. The film ends with the two of them eating ice cream together on the back porch, content with each other as Hank states that he thinks they’ll be okay.

The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers participate with Bulk and Skull in a charity skydive for the Angel Grove observatory, in anticipation of Ryan's Comet which is scheduled to pass by in two days. Bulk and Skull miss the target landing zone and accidentally land in a construction site where a giant egg has been unearthed. Lord Zedd, Rita Repulsa, Goldar and Mordant arrive at the construction site and crack open the egg, releasing sorcerer Ivan Ooze, a morphological being who ruled Earth with an iron fist 6,000 years ago before he was overthrown by Zordon and a group of young warriors. The Rangers find and confront him, but Ivan unleashes some ooze monsters on them. While the Rangers battle and successfully defeat them, the fight distracts them long enough to allow Ivan to escape and lay siege to the Rangers' Command Center, incapacitating Zordon, and robbing the Rangers of their powers. As the Rangers return to the Command Center, they find it destroyed and Zordon, being outside his time portal, aging and dying.

Zordon's assistant Alpha 5 sends the Rangers to the distant planet Phaedos to obtain the Great Power and save Zordon. On the Moon, Ivan usurps Rita and Zedd, shrinking and trapping them in a snow globe, and forces Goldar and Mordant to be his servants, then sends his Tengu warriors to Phaedos and begins building an army. He uses children to bring his ooze to their parents, and it hypnotizes them into becoming his workforce to dig up his Ecto-Morphicon Titans, twin war machines built during his reign. When Fred Kelman, a friend of the Rangers', discovers his father missing, he finds him working at the construction site and discovers Ivan's plans.

On Phaedos, the Rangers are almost killed by the Tengu, but are rescued by Dulcea, Phaedos' Master Warrior. She initially tells them to leave for their own safety, but after hearing of Zordon's plight, she agrees to help them and takes them to an ancient ruined temple where the Rangers will have to overcome obstacles to acquire the power of the Ninjetti. Dulcea awakens each Rangers' animal spirit; Aisha is the bear, Rocky is the ape, Billy is the wolf, Kimberly is the crane, Adam is the frog, and Tommy is the falcon. Upon being asked if she could join them, Dulcea informs the Rangers that she would begin to age as rapidly as Zordon is at the moment if she steps beyond the temple. She then shapeshifts into an owl to preserve her age. The Rangers make their way to the Monolith housing the Great Power, using their wits to defeat a live fossilized dinosaur skeleton, and then, the temple's Stone Gargoyle guardians, and they retrieve the Great Power, restoring their suits.

On Earth, Ivan's Ecto-Morphicons are completely unearthed, and he unleashes them on Angel Grove, ordering the parents to commit suicide at the construction site. Fred recruits Bulk, Skull, and the other kids, who head to the construction site to save their parents. The Rangers return with their new animal-themed Ninja Zords and, after a difficult struggle, destroy one of Ivan's Ecto-Morphicons, Scorpitron. Ivan takes control of Hornitor, becoming a giant, and battles the Rangers himself as they combine their Zords to form the Ninja Megazord and later the Ninja Falcon Megazord; meanwhile, the kids push the parents back while Fred, with help from Bulk and Skull, sprays them with a large amount of water. The Rangers lure Ivan into space and knock him right into the path of Ryan's Comet, which destroys him. Ivan's death breaks his spell on the parents, who are reunited with their children. The Rangers return to the Command Center, but are distraught to find Zordon has died. They figure out how to use the Great Power to restore the Command Center and resurrect Zordon, returning him to his plasma Tube. Everything returns to normal in Angel Grove as a celebration is held at the Harbor with fireworks shooting up to the sky and a message saying, "Thank You Power Rangers," which offends Bulk and Skull, despite the fact that they just played a major part in saving people's lives.

In a mid-credits scene, Goldar briefly lounges in Zedd's throne, being served by Mordant, only to panic when Zedd and Rita appear, having been released after Ivan was destroyed.

The film is set against the strict social hierarchy of an American public high school in suburban LA. Blue-collar mechanic and aspiring artist Keith and his tomboyish friend Watts, aspire to improve their social standing. Keith's blue-collar father is obsessed with sending him to college for business, as he would be the first in their family to go.

Keith is enamored with Amanda Jones, the most popular girl in school. She is dating Hardy Jenns, a spoiled and self-absorbed boy from a wealthy neighborhood who thinks Keith is beneath him. He treats Amanda as his "property" and is seen fooling around with another girl.

Hearing that Amanda will be in detention, Keith gets himself in trouble in order to spend time with her. Unbeknownst to him, she has talked her way out of detention, and he is stuck with the school misfits, eventually making friends with troublemaker Duncan.

When Amanda breaks up with Hardy outside their school, Keith seizes the opportunity to ask her out. Taking it as a chance to prove to Hardy that she does not need him, Amanda accepts. Meanwhile, seeing her best friend with Amanda makes Watts realize her feelings for him are much deeper.

Amanda starts to lose popularity at school when her friends start to ignore her for not being with Hardy. Watts, meanwhile, enlists the help of another boy to try and make Keith jealous, but he barely notices. With Watts' help, he sets out trying to plan the perfect date to prove he is worthy of Amanda. Watts tells him that she will appreciate a good kisser, and shows Keith how to kiss. He is oblivious to Watts' attraction to him. He later uses his college fund, with Watts in tow, and selects a pair of earrings for Amanda. When Keith's father discovers the college fund has been emptied, he is livid, but Keith ultimately convinces his father to respect his right to make his own decisions.

Meanwhile, Hardy plots trouble for Keith by inviting him and Amanda to a party after their date, where he plans to have Keith beaten up. Through his sister Laura, Keith finds out about the plot, believing Amanda to be part of it, but goes ahead with the date anyway, spending the rest of his college money on an expensive dinner and roping in Watts (as chauffeur) to help make the date special. At Hardy's party, the timely arrival of Duncan and the other "misfits" saves Keith from taking a beating. Suddenly fearing for his safety, Hardy tries to talk his way out of his predicament, in the process exposing himself as a coward in front of the party guests. Amused, Keith tells Hardy he is "over," after which Amanda slaps Hardy. Duncan tells Keith he'll stay at the party in order to bring it "to a nice, respectable level".

After leaving the party, Amanda suddenly realizes that Keith and Watts have feelings for one another and that, instead of her earlier selfishness, she wants to do the "right" thing. She returns the earrings and urges him to go after Watts. Keith, realizing that he is in love with his best friend, bids Amanda goodbye with a kiss on the cheek. He catches up to Watts and they kiss, whereupon Keith confesses to Watts that he had no idea how she really felt about him. He then gives the earrings to a delighted Watts, who admits she always wanted them. She puts them on and asks Keith how they look, and he replies, "You look good wearing my future."

On the Amazon River, a poacher hides from an unknown creature in his boat. While it breaks through the boat and attempts to catch the poacher, he commits suicide by shooting himself to prevent it from killing him.

Meanwhile, a film crew is shooting a documentary about the Shirishamas, a long-lost indigenous Amazonian tribe. The crew includes director Terri Flores, cameraman and childhood friend Danny Rich, production manager Denise Kalberg, Denise's boyfriend and sound engineer Gary Dixon, narrator Warren Westridge, anthropologist Professor Steven Cale, and boat skipper Mateo. The group encounters stranded Paraguayan snake hunter Paul Serone, who convinces them he can help them find the Shirishamas.

Most of the crew are uncomfortable around Serone, and Cale clashes with him several times about Shirishama lore. Eventually, Cale is stung by a wasp, and an allergic reaction swells up his throat and leaves him unconscious. Serone performs an emergency cricothyrotomy, seemingly saving Cale's life, but soon after, he takes over the boat, forcing the crew to help him achieve his true goal; hunting down a giant record-breaking green anaconda he had been tracking, which he believes that he can capture alive.

Danny, Mateo and Serone search the wreckage of the poacher's boat. A photograph in an old newspaper reveals that Mateo, Serone, and the poacher were working together to hunt animals, including snakes. Leaving the poacher's ship, Mateo falls into the water, where the anaconda attacks and kills him, while Danny and Serone return to their boat, unaware of Mateo's fate. Serone promises that if the crew helps him find the snake, he will help them get out alive. That night, the anaconda attacks the boat crew. Serone attempts to capture the snake, but it coils around Gary, crushing him. Terri attempts to shoot the anaconda to save him, but Serone knocks her gun away and the snake devours Gary. The crew overpowers Serone and ties him up as punishment.

The next day, the boat becomes stuck at a waterfall, requiring Terri, Danny, and Westridge to enter the water to winch it loose. Denise confronts Serone and attempts to kill him to avenge Gary's death, but he strangles her with his legs before dumping her corpse into the river. The anaconda returns, and Westridge distracts it long enough for Terri and Danny to return to the boat while Westridge ascends the waterfall. Serone breaks free during the attack and attacks Danny. The anaconda climbs a tree and attacks Westridge, but the tree snaps. The crew winds up in the water, Cale wakes up in the process, and Westridge is killed in the fall from the waterfall. The snake attacks Danny, but Terri shoots it in the head. Serone, still believing he can capture the snake alive, attacks her. Cale stabs him with a tranquilizer dart before losing consciousness again himself, and Danny knocks Serone into the river.

Serone manages to catch up to the group and captures Terri and Danny, using them as bait in an attempt to capture a second, much larger anaconda. The snake attacks the pair, slowly suffocating them. Serone attempts to catch the anaconda in a net, but it breaks free and attacks him, eventually swallowing him whole, while Terri and Danny watch as they escape their bonds.

The anaconda gives chase to Terri, who retreats into the building and finds a nest full of newborn anacondas. The snake regurgitates the still alive but partially digested Serone and chases her up a smokestack. Danny pins its tail to the ground with a pickaxe and ignites a fire below the smoke shack, setting the snake on fire. The resulting explosion sends the burning anaconda flying out of the building and into the water. As Terri and Danny recuperate on a nearby dock, the anaconda resurfaces, but Danny kills it with an axe to the head.

Afterward, Terri and Danny reunite with Cale, who begins to revive on the boat. While floating downriver, the trio suddenly locates the Shirishama tribe, who helps them escape the Amazon.

NYC horse carriage driver Oliver Greening (Robert Pastorelli) aspires to perform on Broadway and, despite an outstanding audition for ''A Tale of Two Cities'' musical, he loses out to seasoned Tony Sable (Alan Campbell), as he is considered more bankable, as Oliver's reputation as an actor is non-existent.

Later that night, Annabel (Mara Wilson), Oliver's young daughter, doesn't convince her elder brother Charlie (Francis Capra) that fairy godmothers exist, and after they fall asleep, she awakens to find Murray (Martin Short), a male fairy godmother, in her room. Offering her one wish, she uses it to secure her father a role in the play so they don't have to move in Nebraska.

Hortence (Ruby Dee), the head fairy godmother, is holding the North American Fairy Godmothers Association (NAFGA)'s annual meeting. Her rule is, all participants must check in their wands before the meeting. Claudia (Kathleen Turner), former fairy godmother turned evil witch, has come to the meeting uninvited to steal all the wands. Putting Hortence's receptionist Rena (Teri Garr) to sleep with a witch's apple, she casts a spell on Hortence turning the head fairy paper-thin and binding her mouth. She then locks all the fairy godmothers downstairs on her way to stealing the wands. However Murray arrives late and never checks his wand, making it the only one Claudia doesn't have.

When Annabel sees Murray has forgotten his magic wand, she plans to return it to him, but Charlie breaks it. Murray and Annabel end up in Nebraska, by way of a his misconstrued spell to get out quickly. After unsuccessfully turning a selfish motel owner they meet into a rabbit (instead into a giant rabbi), they end up back in Central Park. As Annabel disappeared mysteriously, the school closes early. Charlie finds them.

Annabel begs Murray to grant her wish as they are near her father, but he accidentally turns Oliver into a statue. To fix it, the three go to NAFGA and ask Hortence for help, who is still under Claudia's spell. While Murray, Charlie and Rena (finally woken from the sleeping spell) fix Murray's wand, Hortence tells Annabel of Claudia's plot: the spell must be lifted before midnight, or Oliver will remain a statue forever. Claudia, meanwhile, has been searching for her wand. After going through them, she realizes it is missing, now belongs to Murray, so she is determined to recover it.

At the theatre, Annabel and Murray see Tony Sable, the selfish and conceited actor auditioning for Oliver's part. Knowing this could ruin her father's chances of being in the show, she asks Murray to sabotage the audition. First he tries to make it rain on the stage but it is dismissed as a simple technical problem and the audition continues. Then she asks him to give Sable a frog in his throat to impair his singing. He takes this too literally, and frogs start hopping out of Sable's mouth, shocking everyone.

Annabel and Murray celebrate, but Sable gets the part, as Oliver has not appeared. Boots (Amanda Plummer), Claudia's terrier turned lackey who has been seeking Murray, finds them. Murray mentions the story of Brer Rabbit to Annabel and together they beg her not to take them to Claudia's lair, so she does.

Claudia confronts them, demanding her wand. When Murray tries to persuade Annabel not to tell her, as punishment, Claudia changes her and Murray into ballerinas, making them dance uncontrollably until one of them agrees to tell her.

Annabel keeps Claudia distracted until Charlie can give Murray his wand. Murray wins Boots' allegiance long enough to convince her to give it to him. Claudia attempts to attack him, but he tricks her into firing a spell that draws her into a mirror, which is subsequently shattered.

Murray, Charlie, and Annabel return to Central Park and restore Oliver just in time. He is given the part of Sable's understudy. To finally grant Annabel's wish, Murray appears backstage and causes Sable to slip on a bucket and twist his ankle. The resultant temper tantrum gets him fired and Oliver, his understudy, takes over. Charlie and Annabel watch the show with Murray and the other fairy godmothers.

The action takes place in a massive movie theater, called "Cineminium". It is a 100-screen multiplex, constructed right above Bugs's rabbit hole. When Bugs surfaces within the theater, usher Elmer Fudd attempts to drive him away because Bugs did not purchase a ticket. Meanwhile, Daffy finds the admission fee of the multiplex to be too high for his tastes. He instead uses his library card to force open a door and sneak inside.

The would-be free rider stumbles on the usher, Elmer. To divert attention from his own illegal entry, Daffy drives Elmer to further focus on Bugs. He also joins forces with him against Bugs. Following a chase through the movie theater, Bugs manages to trap his opponents within a projection screen and within the film depicted on it. It’s apparently part of the slasher film subgenre and the trapped duo are confronted by a "hockey-mask wearing, chainsaw-wielding maniac". This scares Daffy and Elmer as they try to escape. Bugs ends the cartoon by saying, "It takes a miracle to get into pictures and now these two jokers just wanna get out.".

During the ending title, Daffy and Elmer break through the iris in their attempt to escape the movie, and Bugs pokes out of the hole that they made and simply says to the audience "And That's All, Folks!".

In 2019, 21 years after the events of ''The 1998 Curien Mansion Case'', a zombie infestation has spread across the world, resulting in the collapse of human civilization and leaving the world in utter desolation. A paramilitary force led by retired AMS agent Thomas Rogan head to a desert wasteland in an unnamed U.S. state on a mission to infiltrate the EFI Research Facility, once owned by Dr. Curien, and investigate its connection to the current state of the world. During the course of the mission, all members of Rogan's team are killed except for his second-in-command, Captain Dan Taylor. Proceeding with the mission, the two agents find the source they sought in a giant laboratory, but are attacked by Death, a gigantic mutant protecting the facility, who kills Taylor. Injured from the encounter, Rogan is assisted by an unknown individual before all communication with him is lost.

Two weeks later, on October 31, Rogan's daughter, Lisa, and his former partner agent "G" travel to the facility to rescue him. While navigating through the facility, they fend off against hordes of undead creatures, before they encounter Death, whom they fight twice. Later, they fight a deformed mutant sloth named The Fool, and a mutated tendril-covered plant named The Sun. Along the way, Lisa muses to "G" how she has to live in the shadows of her well-known father and that she is often the subject of his comparison.

Throughout the game, flashbacks reveal Curien's motivation in his obsession of studying matters of life and death that resulted in him triggering the Curien Mansion's outbreak back in 1998; he was desperate in searching for a cure to treat his son, Daniel, who is suffering from a terminal illness. His increasingly unethical methods led him to believe he would be able to change the world for a better future by developing the mutation.

After more fights, Lisa and "G" reunite with Rogan. They are met by the same individual who approached Rogan in the prologue, revealed to be Daniel Curien, who laments his father's experiments that destroyed the world. After Rogan reveals on how Daniel tended to him, G gets Rogan to safety, while Daniel and Lisa form an alliance to destroy an electrokinetic entity known as the Wheel of Fate. When they reach the giant laboratory, Daniel reveals that the Wheel of Fate is actually his father's body, which underwent a 19-year resurrection process following his death by The Magician, adding that he hacked the program used in its creation some time prior to Lisa and G's arrival, in order to prevent it from being released and destroying the world, saying that the future belongs to the people who are still alive and fighting. The two fight and manage to defeat the Wheel of Fate, which explodes.

Endings

The game has four endings, each played depending on the player's performance and the final path they took in the game.

*For players who achieve a ranking of B, C, D, or E, they will be rewarded with an ending which shows Daniel, "G", Lisa, and Rogan leaving the facility with Daniel, who states that he will not let his father's efforts go to waste and will come back to the EFI lab if humans go down the wrong path again. This is considered to be the canonical ending of the game.

*The second ending is essentially the same as the first, except that Daniel loses the will to go on and transforms into a zombie in front of the horrified Lisa. This occurs when a player's rank consists of (three or more) A or S ranks and if the player defeated Death as the Chapter 4 boss.

*The third ending shows Daniel and Lisa discovering that a zombie had stolen Lisa and G's van, wherein Lisa gives chase with Daniel following her while G and Rogan watch from a distance. This occurs when a player's rank consists of (three or more) A or S ranks and if the player defeated Sun as the Chapter 4 boss.

*The fourth ending depicts a mysterious man in a business suit (eventually revealed to be Thornheart from ''House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn'') entering the laboratory where the Wheel of Fate battle took place and picking up one of Curien's vials, muttering that Curien did not understand its true purpose. This occurs when a player's rank consists of (three or more) A or S ranks and if the player defeated Fool as the Chapter 4 boss.

Commander Patrick Ross leads a crewed mission to Mars. Soil samples collected by the astronauts unwittingly contain an alien-based substance which thaws aboard their capsule due to the change in temperature and contaminates them, causing a seven-minute contact gap with mission control. With seemingly no subsequent negative effects, the three astronauts return to Earth to public celebration. Only an institutionalized former scientist, Dr. Cromwell, reacts to their return with violent panic. Meanwhile, Dr. Laura Baker has created a clone of Sil named Eve, whose alien DNA is suppressed to make her more docile. Her team conducts experiments on Eve, hoping to find a way to combat the alien species should it ever return to Earth. Every experiment is unsuccessful as Eve's biology adapts.

Upon their return, the team members are told to refrain from sexual activity for ten days. Patrick disregards this advice and has a threesome with two sisters Marcy and Lucy following a fundraiser. During sex with Lucy, he begins to sprout tentacles. Lucy notices his transformation while she is stroking his body and is horrified at the sight of him, whereupon she tries to free herself from his clutches. She pleads with him to stop but he ignores her pleas as he proceeds to climax. The hyper-fertile alien seed within Marcy and Lucy causes them both to experience accelerated pregnancies, culminating when Patrick's half-alien children violently burst from their abdomens. Patrick hides his rapidly growing sons on the property of his father, Senator Judson Ross. Each time Patrick has sex, Eve experiences excitement. The next day, Patrick tells his father he cannot remember the previous night's events. Senator Ross indicates that he is aware of Patrick's behavior and tells him to focus on his political goals.

Dr. Orinsky, one of the NASA scientists who examined Patrick, discovers something amiss about his blood sample and desperately tries to contact Cromwell. However, Orinsky is ambushed and disemboweled by something formed from Patrick's blood. Laura discovers that the DNA in Orinsky's wounds is distinct from Eve's, making her an unlikely culprit in the murder. This prompts Colonel Burgess, the military supervisor in charge of her project, to reunite her with Press Lennox to contain the new threat. Press and Laura seek out Cromwell, Orinsky's former professor, and learn that he discovered that the alien species had attacked and destroyed Mars in ancient times. Because of his fears that alien DNA might remain on Mars to infect anyone who visited the planet in the future, Cromwell urged the government to abort the mission, but was committed to an institution to permanently silence him. Cromwell then states that the night Orinsky tried to contact him was to confirm that he was right all along.

Press and Laura identify the Mars astronauts as the prime suspects. Unable to find Patrick, they pursue the other astronauts, Anne Sampas and Dennis Gamble. They arrive too late to prevent Anne from having sex with her husband, resulting in her impregnation with hybrid offspring. A tentacle-like creature bursts from Anne's abdomen and kills her husband before Press and Laura manage to kill the monster. Meanwhile, a second team of agents makes it in time to locate and examine Dennis, and confirm he is not infected. Laura discovers that Anne's hybrid DNA does not match that in Orinsky's wounds, meaning Patrick is the killer. Meanwhile, Patrick has sex with his girlfriend, resulting in her death through the birth of another hybrid son named Portus. Horrified at causing her death, Patrick attempts suicide by shotgun, but the alien DNA regenerates his head and restores him back to life and temporarily killing his human side, with the drive to mate with as many women as possible. Dennis witnesses this and tells Press and Laura what he saw, remembering what happened in the capsule and joining them in their mission. Patrick begins impregnating as many women as he can, hiding his victims and up to twenty children on his father's property.

Laura is ordered to activate Eve's alien DNA so she can telepathically track Patrick, but this makes her volatile and strengthens her alien instincts. Patrick surrenders to Press and Dennis after attempting to rape Darlene, whereupon he becomes aware of Eve; they take him to the lab despite their suspicion. As Patrick is taken to custody, Eve shows signs of being in heat. Patrick demands Laura open Eve's cell and nearly kills her when she refuses, but Press and Dennis drive him off with a special gaseous weapon. Burgess confronts Ross with irrefutable proof of Patrick's infection and demands help in detaining Patrick. Suspicious that Patrick will instead be killed, Ross deduces that he is at the property and apologizes for treating his son so coldly. Patrick's human side briefly returns, but while he tearfully embraces his father, the alien DNA suddenly violently reasserts itself and kills the Senator. Ross's death completely destroys Patrick's humanity, and he helps his hybrid children to cocoon, so they will soon begin mating themselves and prepare to eradicate humanity.

Back at the lab, Laura discovers Dennis was not infected because he is a carrier of sickle-cell disease, as the species lacks immunity to human genetic diseases. While they plan to weaponize this weakness, Eve breaks out of her confinement to find Patrick. Press, Laura and Dennis pursue her, with Burgess and the military following. At the shed, they kill Patrick's offspring while Eve and Patrick transform into their alien forms and begin to mate. The mating stops when Press and Dennis intervene, allowing Eve to break free; Patrick, transformed into another alien form, apparently attacks Eve by forcing his tongue-tentacle down her throat. Patrick attempts to attack the team, but Press impales the male alien in the back with a pitchfork coated in Dennis' blood, causing him to disintegrate and die.

The military escorts Press, Laura and the injured Dennis away. Eve's seemingly lifeless body is loaded into an ambulance, but shortly after, her womb begins to swell rapidly—indicating her survival and impregnation by Patrick — while Portus, who somehow survived, watches. As the screen cuts to black, Eve's uterus bursts and her screaming is heard, leading into the events of the third film.

''Dragon Quest II'' is set one hundred years after ''Dragon Quest''. The story begins with an attack upon Moonbrooke Castle by the wizard Hargon, who seeks to summon the demon Malroth to destroy the world. A wounded soldier escaped the battle and fled to the kingdom of Midenhall, where he informs the king of the attack before he dies. The king then commands his son, who is a descendant of Erdrick (known as Loto in Japanese translations and some later localizations), to defeat Hargon.

The Prince begins his quest alone, but is later joined by two cousins: the Prince of Cannock and the Princess of Moonbrooke. After finding the Prince of Cannock, who began a similar journey at the same time as the Prince of Midenhall, they restore the Princess of Moonbrooke to her human form, having been transformed into a dog during Hargon's assault on Moonbrooke Castle, which was reduced to ruins. As the trio quest to find and defeat Hargon, they secure a ship that allows them to travel across oceans to reach new continents, including Alefgard, which is where ''Dragon Quest'' took place. There they meet the grandson of Dragonlord, the villain from the previous game, who gives the party valuable information. He tells them that by collecting the five crests hidden around the world, the party can create the Charm of Rubiss, allowing them to defeat Hargon and his illusions. After obtaining the Charm of Rubiss, the party travels to Hargon's castle in the ice-covered plateau of Rhone and confronts Hargon in his throne room. Hargon is defeated, but he offers himself to Malroth and the demon emerges to destroy the heroes. Together, the three heroes slay Malroth and return to Midenhall, where the Prince is named the new king.

Frannie Avery, an introverted writer and English teacher in New York City, meets one of her students, Cornelius, at a local pub to talk about coursework. Cornelius proposes a theory that John Wayne Gacy may not have been guilty of his crimes, later suggesting that 'desire' was responsible. On her way to the basement bathroom, she witnesses a woman performing oral sex on a man. Though it's dark, she can see a 3 of spades tattoo on the man's wrist and the woman's blue fingernails.

Periodically, Frannie reads poems on subway posters that seem to have bearing on her own life.

Several days later, Detective Giovanni Malloy questions Frannie as he investigates the gruesome murder of a young woman whose severed limb was found in Frannie's garden. Frannie is alternately thrilled and frightened by the detective's sexual aggressiveness, even as she grows disillusioned with the sexist attitudes and crude behavior of other men, including the detective's partner, Richard Rodriguez, who can no longer carry a gun because he tried to kill his wife. Frannie questions Malloy about his 3 of spades tattoo, which he says identifies him as a member of a secret club. While walking home from a bar, she is assaulted by a masked stranger. She phones Malloy, and the two have passionate sex. She realizes a charm is missing from her bracelet.

The next day, Frannie describes the sexual encounter to her free-spirited half-sister, Pauline, who lives above a strip club. After Malloy tells Frannie that she and the murder victim were in the same bar the night of the murder, she begins to suspect that Malloy may be the killer. A second victim is found dismembered in a washing machine at a school laundry. Frannie accompanies Malloy to a secluded spot along a river, where he teaches her to use a gun. Meanwhile, Cornelius has been taken in for police questioning on suspicion of the murders because his term paper on John Wayne Gacy is illustrated with blood.

Frannie is confronted by her former boyfriend, John, who tells her he has been having panic attacks. She goes to Pauline's apartment, which she finds unlocked and in disarray. In the bathroom, she finds Pauline's severed head in a plastic bag. After being questioned by Malloy, Frannie gets drunk in her apartment. Cornelius arrives and attempts to rape her, but is interrupted by Detective Rodriguez. Later, Malloy reveals that the killer's 'signature' is leaving a ring on the finger of his victims. Frannie handcuffs him to a pipe, and they have sex. After discovering that Malloy has her missing charm and a key to Pauline's apartment, she confronts him about his tattoo and suggests that he is the serial killer. She takes Malloy's jacket and gun, leaving him handcuffed, and is met by Rodriguez outside. He persuades her to get into his unmarked police car.

Rodriguez drives Frannie to the Little Red Lighthouse below the George Washington Bridge. She tells him that it reminds her of a book she teaches, ''To the Lighthouse''. Frannie notices Rodriguez has the same tattoo as Malloy. Rodriguez presents a ring on the end of a knife and asks Frannie to marry him. Realizing that Rodriguez is the killer, Frannie shoots him with Malloy's gun. He attempts to strangle her, but she fires the gun again, killing him. Bloodied, she walks back to her apartment and lies down with Malloy, who is still cuffed to the pipe where she left him.

Recently resurrected by Death in order to wipe out half of the population of the universe, the Titan Thanos discovers the true nature of the six Infinity Gems after gazing into Death's Infinity Well. Convincing Death that possession of the gems will aid him tremendously in his quest, he gains her permission to seek them out from the cosmic entities that currently possess them.

In Part One of ''The Thanos Quest'', Thanos first travels to the Nexus of Reality where the "concept being" known as the In-Betweener is being imprisoned by Lord Chaos and Master Order; after freeing him from the sphere in which he is being incarcerated, Thanos forcibly takes the Soul Gem from the In-Betweener, whose powers are useless at the heart of the realm of Chaos and Order.

Thanos next seeks out the Champion of the Universe on a planet called Tamarata, where he has been testing his combat prowess against the planet's numerous armies. Challenging him to single combat, Thanos tricks the Champion into destroying the planet and stranding himself in space. He then offers the Champion transportation to the nearest planet in exchange for the Champion's Power Gem, to which the Champion agrees, believing that the gem has never functioned, but not realizing that he has tapped into its power reserves subconsciously. Thanos upholds his part of the bargain, but jettisons the Champion into the unnamed planet's atmosphere, leaving him to plummet to the planet's surface. His reasoning is that he had never promised the Champion a "soft landing".

Thanos's next target is the Gardener, who has been in possession of the Time Gem and has used its powers to create a garden of unparalleled beauty. After a short and seemingly peaceful discussion, the Gardener attempts to use the power of his gem to strangle Thanos in various items of vegetation; using the Power Gem, Thanos breaks free and turns the Gardener's creations against him before taking the gem.

In Part Two, Thanos contacts the Collector, with whom he has apparently had an amicable past and who has been monitoring his activities since Thanos's encounter with the Champion. Thanos informs the Collector that he will soon be coming into possession of a treasure so rare that the Collector will gladly part with his gem in trade for it.

Thanos then seeks out the Runner, who has been using the Space Gem in order to make himself the fastest being in existence. After the Runner destroys Thanos's craft, Thanos reveals to him that he has discovered the true nature of the Infinity Gems; they are, in fact, the physical remnants of a godlike being that existed before the creation of our universe, who committed a form of cosmic suicide out of loneliness. He then uses the Time gem taken from the Gardener to turn the Runner first into an extremely old and decrepit man, and then into an infant. With the infant Runner in hand, he teleports back to the Collector's ship and proceeds to trade the Runner for the Collector's gem, the Reality Gem, which Thanos demonstrates to the astonished Collector has the ability to control reality. The Collector begs Thanos to leave, which he does... but only after allowing the Runner to revert to his normal age and form to take out his anger on the Collector.

Thanos's final target is the Grandmaster, a consummate games-man. With the final gem, the Mind Gem, imprisoned in a random teleportation device that will only deactivate with his death, he informs Thanos that he cannot have the gem until he bests him in a game of his choosing. The two then compete in a virtual reality combat game, which Thanos seems to win until it is shown that the Grandmaster had sabotaged Thanos's weaponry. However, Thanos then reveals that the body with which the Grandmaster had been competing was merely a robotic clone of Thanos; its destruction being inconsequential, the real Thanos proceeds to destroy the gaming equipment, killing the Grandmaster and freeing the Mind Gem.

Thanos returns to Death's sanctum with the six Infinity Gems in his possession, boasting of his achievement and his new-found status as Death's equal. Death congratulates his accomplishment, though still speaks to him through her various minions. When Thanos demands that Death address him personally as her mate, she points out to him, again through her minions, with his newly achieved status of omnipotence, Thanos is not her equal, but her superior, and that it would therefore not be fitting for her to address him directly. Thanos destroys the minion in a fit of anger and stalks from Death's throne room, trying to comprehend his miscalculation, and finally wondering, while shedding a tear, how becoming a god could prove such a hollow victory.

When hero Adam Warlock takes possession of the artifact known as the Infinity Gauntlet, he expels the good and evil aspects of his being to become a totally logical being, who can therefore use the Gauntlet wisely. This act recreates his "evil" persona and old foe the Magus, who desires universal conquest and revenge against Warlock and the Titan Thanos. Meanwhile, the effectively emotionless Adam is brought before a "jury" of the cosmic powers and voluntarily surrenders his godhood once he is found to be "guilty" of being unworthy. The Magus collects five cosmic containment units (another name for the Cosmic Cubes), and with the power gained incapacitates the cosmic entity Eternity; creates an interdimensional realm and an army of doppelgängers—evil "mirror" images of Earth's superheroes.

After investigating the energy of the containment units, Thanos discovers the Magus and retreats to warn Warlock. Galactus and several of Earth's heroes also investigate and then attempt to revive Eternity, as the entity will be required to petition the Living Tribunal, who has decreed that the Infinity Gems can no longer be used in unison in the Earth-616 universe. The rationale is that if the Gauntlet can be reactivated, then the Magus can be removed from existence. The Magus sends the doppelgängers to Earth to distract the heroes, and the evil version of Mister Fantastic detonates a gamma bomb when the heroes assemble at Four Freedoms Plaza. However, the Invisible Woman contains the blast while Thunder God Thor directs the radiation into space, and a surprise attack by the Magus and the doppelgänger of Thanos has the heroes believing the two characters are now allied.

The story climaxes at the Magus' base: a group of heroes free those who were replaced by doppelgängers; cosmic adventurer Quasar arrives with the Ultimate Nullifier (with Thanos goading Quasar to use it against the Magus knowing that Quasar would also be destroyed) and villains Kang the Conqueror and Doctor Doom appear, hoping to harness the source of the powerful energies detected.

Warlock and the still inactive Gauntlet are captured by the Magus, and both attacked by Doom and Kang. Warlock is defeated and the Magus is severely weakened in the battle and attempts to use the containment units but discovers they have been stolen. Doom betrays and stops Kang, and then demands the Gauntlet from the Magus. Eternity, however, has just been revived and has requested the Gauntlet be reactivated, which the Living Tribunal agrees to. An apparently omnipotent Magus easily defeats Doom and dissolves Quasar, who arrives with the Ultimate Nullifier. Thanos defeats his doppelgänger and distracts the Magus, allowing Warlock to grapple with the villain for the Gauntlet. Warlock releases from the Gauntlet a being that is a composite of the entity Eternity and his twin, Infinity. The being incapacitates the Magus, allowing Warlock to absorb the Magus into the Soul Gem. The experience places Warlock in a coma.

Thanos reveals to the assembled heroes that the Magus was tricked and never gained omnipotence as the Reality Gem on the Gauntlet—which Thanos is revealed to be the secret guardian of—was a convincing fake. The heroes return to Earth and the final page of the last issue reveals that the containment units have been stolen by Warlock's "good" persona, the Goddess. In addition to these developments, Eternity—who is apparently 'deputized' by the Living Tribunal to make such a decree—thereafter declares that the Gems on the Gauntlet will never be able to be used again as a single unit, no matter what future crisis befalls the universe.

When hero Adam Warlock takes possession of the artifact the Infinity Gauntlet, he expels the good and evil aspects of his being to become a totally logical being, who can therefore use the Gauntlet wisely. This act not only freed the incarnation of his evil aspects, Warlock's old foe the Magus, but also created an incarnation of his good aspects, the Goddess. During the events of the Infinity War, the Goddess steals the five cosmic containment units (also known as Cosmic Cubes) collected by the Magus. She eventually collects a total of thirty, and uses these to form a "Cosmic Egg" capable of fulfilling wishes.

Using the Egg to create a planet called Paradise Omega, the Goddess kidnaps and brainwashes many of Earth's superheroes to act as her army. The heroes chosen are susceptible, as they are either especially religious, mystically inclined, or have had a near-death experience. The characters, led by the heroine Moondragon, are told to defend the Goddess while she meditates on how to rid the universe of all evil.

Heroes Mister Fantastic, the android Vision, and Iron Man investigate the disappearance of their allies and find Paradise Omega. They retreat when attacked by the brainwashed heroes, and contact Professor X, leader of the X-Men, who attempts to speak with Moondragon via telepathy. This results in a telepathic attack that leaves Professor X in a coma. The Titan Thanos is seen as a threat by the Goddess, and is her first target to be attacked, but is inexplicably saved by his enemy Adam Warlock. The Devil, Mephisto, offers his knowledge of the Goddess to Thanos and Warlock in exchange for one of the cosmic containment units, to which they agree.

Armed with Mephisto's information, Warlock and Thanos plan to defeat the Goddess. Thanos gathers the heroes of Earth and the Silver Surfer, who, while initially serving the Goddess, has shaken off her control. The Surfer destroys Paradise Omega's defences, enabling the heroes to land and battle their friends in what becomes a battle to the death. Thanos, boosting his own telepathic powers with those of the comatose Professor X, attacks the Goddess at the moment she activates her plan. Rationalizing that evil will continue to exist while sentient life exists, the Goddess uses the Egg to rewrite existence so that the universe is completely without sentient life.

This, however, proves to be an illusion created by Warlock moments before the Goddess acted to trick her, thus exposing her true goal to her army and depriving her of their loyalty - and the will needed to override the containment unit's safeguards against universal destruction. Caught off-guard, the Goddess is attacked simultaneously by Thanos, Warlock, and Professor X, the three striking her on the spiritual plane as the units cannot affect the soul, and she is absorbed into the Soul Gem. The heroes return to Earth, with their battle undone by the Cosmic Egg, before Thanos ordered it to destroy itself, to ensure that its power could never be used by another. Thanos takes a cosmic containment unit for Mephisto and then destroys Paradise Omega. Mephisto receives his payment but realizes the unit is non-functional, as he failed to specify that the artifact must ''work''.

The series centers on the Thanosi, five failed genetic experiments by the Titan Thanos, with each being a clone of his DNA and modelled on other beings, including the characters Professor X; Doctor Strange; Gladiator; Iron Man and Galactus. Obsessed with nihilism and a desire to end the universe, the five Thanosi – called ''X''; ''Mystic''; ''Warrior''; ''Armor'' and ''Omega'' – attempt to kill the original Thanos by creating a black hole in space. X then impersonates Thanos and directs character Pip the Troll to kidnap a recovering Adam Warlock on an alien planet.

X requires information from Warlock, who previously made contact with an entity called the ''Anchor of Reality''. By killing this being and preventing it from locating a successor, the Thanosi clones will therefore end the universe. The female mercenary Gamora locates the real Thanos, and with the aid of Warlock and heroes Doctor Strange; Spider-Man; Captain Marvel and Moondragon the Titan neutralizes four of the five clones. Omega arrives on Earth to kill the successor to the Anchor of Reality and to destroy the Earth, and is teleported with the heroes to a barren planet where they battle. Thanos transports the heroes back to Earth, and then has a fleet of alien mercenaries destroy the planet, killing the final clone. A human girl called Atleza is able to become the new Anchor of Reality unchallenged, ending the threat.

In 1821, Don Diego de la Vega, a Spanish-born California nobleman, fights against the Spanish in the Mexican War of Independence as Zorro, a mysterious masked swordsman who defends the Mexican peasants and commoners of Las Californias. Don Rafael Montero, the corrupt governor of the region, sets a trap for Zorro at a public execution of three innocent peasants. Zorro stops the execution, and Montero's soldiers are thwarted by two young brothers, Alejandro and Joaquin Murrieta. Zorro fights the remaining Spanish soldiers and thanks the Murrieta brothers by giving Joaquin a silver medallion. Don Montero suspects de la Vega of being Zorro and attempts to arrest him at his home. A swordfight begins, a fire breaks out, and de la Vega's wife Esperanza, whom Montero held unrequited love for, is shot and killed during the ensuing scuffle. While Diego's home burns, Montero takes his infant daughter, Elena, as his own before sending de la Vega to prison and returning to Spain.

Twenty years later, Alejandro and Joaquin are bandits, running a scam with Three-Fingered Jack to collect the bounty on their heads and steal a strongbox. Before they can escape with the money, they are caught by Captain Harrison Love, Montero's new American right-hand man. Jack and Joaquin are captured while Alejandro escapes, and Joaquin shoots himself rather than be executed by Captain Love. Love then beheads Joaquin's corpse and takes the head. Montero returns to California as a civilian, alongside Elena, who has grown into a beautiful woman and resembles her late mother. Montero's reappearance motivates de la Vega to escape from prison. He encounters Alejandro getting drunk and recognizes the silver medallion he gave his brother as a boy. De la Vega learns Murietta is on a similar quest for vengeance on Captain Love for his brother's death and agrees to make Alejandro his protégé, recruiting him to be the new Zorro. Alejandro agrees to undergo de la Vega's training regimen in Zorro's secret cave underneath the ruins of his family estate to be able to take revenge.

While still being trained, Alejandro steals a black stallion resembling Zorro's steed Tornado from the local garrison. De la Vega scolds Alejandro, claiming that Zorro was a servant of the people, not a thief and adventurer. He challenges Alejandro to gain Montero's trust instead. Alejandro poses as a visiting nobleman named Don Alejandro del Castillo y García, with de la Vega as his servant "Bernardo", and attends a party at Montero's hacienda. At the party, he earns Elena's admiration and enough of Montero's trust to be invited to a secret meeting where several other noblemen are present. Montero hints at a plan to retake California for the Dons and proclaim it as an independent republic by buying it from General Santa Anna, who needs money for the upcoming Mexican–American War.

Montero takes Alejandro and the noblemen to a secret gold mine known as "El Dorado", where peasants and prisoners are used for slave labor. Montero plans to buy California from Santa Anna using gold mined from Santa Anna's own land. As the servant "Bernardo", de la Vega uses this opportunity to become closer to Elena and learns that Montero told Elena that her mother died in childbirth. While walking in a market, Elena meets the woman who was her nanny, who tells Elena her parents' real identity. De la Vega sends Alejandro, now officially wearing the mantle of Zorro, to steal Montero's map leading to the gold mine. Zorro duels Montero, Love, and their guards at the hacienda. When Zorro escapes, Elena attempts to retrieve Montero's map from the swordsman. A brief but erotic sword duel ensues, and Zorro gives her a passionate kiss before he flees.

Terrified of Santa Anna's retribution if he discovers that he is being paid with his own gold, Montero decides to destroy the mine and kill the workers at Love's urging. De la Vega tells Alejandro to release the workers on his own so that de la Vega can reclaim Elena. Alejandro sets off, feeling betrayed by Diego's vendetta. De la Vega corners Montero at the hacienda and reveals his identity, but Montero captures him by threatening to shoot him in front of Elena. As he is taken away, de la Vega tells Elena the name of the flowers, ''romneya'', that she recognized upon her arrival in California, convincing her that he is her father. She releases de la Vega from his cell. They proceed to the mine, where Alejandro and de la Vega respectively defeat and slay Love and Montero, avenging Joaquin and Esperanza. Elena and Alejandro free the workers before the explosives go off and find the mortally wounded de la Vega. He makes peace with Alejandro and Elena and gives his blessings for Alejandro to marry his daughter before dying.

Sometime later, Alejandro and Elena are married. Alejandro tells stories to their infant son, Joaquin, whom he named after his brother, of his grandfather's heroic deeds and legacy as Zorro.

In Ireland in 1892, Joseph Donnelly's family home is burned down by his landlord Daniel Christie's men because of unpaid rent. Joseph tries killing Daniel, but he injures himself in the process and is nursed back to health by Nora, Daniel's wife, and her daughter, Shannon. Shannon plans to run away from home and travel to America, as there is land being given away for free there, taking Joseph with her as her servant.

Together on a ship bound for America, Shannon meets Mr. McGuire, who tells her and Joseph about free land being given away in Oklahoma. Shannon divulges that her collection of silver spoons will cover all expenses to get them to Oklahoma, and McGuire offers to help her find a shop to sell them to once they arrive. Upon arriving, McGuire is shot, and Shannon loses her spoons. Mike Kelly, a Boston ward boss, finds Joseph and Shannon jobs and a room to rent. Joseph becomes a regular in bare-knuckle boxing matches at Boss Kelly's club to make extra cash.

Joseph discovers that Shannon has gone to Kelly's club to dance burlesque. The Irish men surrounding the couple beg him to fight for $200, which would get them to Oklahoma. Joseph agrees and is winning until he notices one of his backers groping Shannon. Joseph pushes through the crowd to free her, but is pushed back into the ring where he is defeated by a sucker punch. Joseph returns to their room to find Kelly and his thugs taking the money he and Shannon saved, and Joseph and Shannon are thrown out into the streets, homeless.

Cold and famished, the pair stay in a seemingly abandoned house. The owners of the house return and chase them away, shooting Shannon in the back. Joseph, knowing the Christies are looking for her in Boston, brings Shannon to the home where they're staying. Deciding Shannon will be better cared for by them, Joseph leaves, despite his obvious feelings for her. Joseph heads west to the Ozarks, and finds work laying train track. He sees a wagon train out the door of his boxcar. Knowing it is headed for the Oklahoma land rush, Joseph abandons the railroad and joins the wagon train, arriving in time for the Land Run of 1893.

Joseph finds Shannon, Chase, and the Christies already in Oklahoma. Chase, having seen Joseph talking to Shannon, threatens to kill him if he goes near Shannon again. Joseph outpaces everybody and catches up with Shannon and Chase. Joseph is ready to plant his claim flag, but Chase rushes on horseback at Joseph. A fight breaks out, with Joseph being crushed by the horse. Shannon runs to his side and rejects Chase when he questions her actions. Joseph professes his love for Shannon and dies in her arms, but comes back to life fully revived when Shannon reciprocates Joseph's love. They both drive the land stake into the ground and claim their prize land together.

In 1972, Mobster Carmine Ricca drives away from court in his limousine after being acquitted of a mass murder on a legal technicality. While traveling on a city road, the driver is pulled over by an SFPD motorcycle cop, who calmly guns down all four men in the car. Inspector Harry Callahan visits the crime scene alongside his new partner, Earlington "Early" Smith, despite the fact that the two of them are supposed to be on stakeout duty. Callahan trades barbs with their superior, Lieutenant Neil Briggs, who seems eager to keep him out of the murder investigation.

While visiting the airport, Callahan helps deal with two men trying to hijack an airplane by dressing as the pilot. Later that evening, he meets rookie cops Phil Sweet, John Davis, Alan "Red" Astrachan, and Mike Grimes while visiting the police firing range. Callahan learns from Sweet that he (and though not directly stated, it is presumed the others as well) is an ex-United States Army Ranger and Vietnam veteran after the officer demonstrates his marksmanship skills with Harry's personal Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver. Another motorcycle cop shoots up a pool party with a submachine gun, again leaving behind no usable evidence of his crime.

As Callahan and Early take down a stick-up crew at a supermarket, a pimp murders one of his prostitutes for withholding money from him. The next day, the pimp is killed off by a patrolman when he tries to bribe him. While investigating the scene, Callahan realizes that the culprit is a cop. He assumes it to be his old friend Charlie McCoy, who has become despondent and suicidal after leaving his wife, Carol. Later, a motorcycle cop murders drug kingpin Lou Guzman using a Colt Python equipped with a silencer. However, Guzman is under surveillance and Callahan's old partner, Frank DiGiorgio, sees McCoy dump his motorcycle outside Guzman's apartment just before the shooting. The killer, revealed to be Davis, encounters McCoy in the parking garage and guns him down. Harry learns of McCoy's death while presenting his suspicions to Briggs.

At an annual shooting competition, a puzzled DiGiorgio tells Callahan that Davis was the first officer to arrive after the murders of Guzman and McCoy. Callahan borrows Davis' Colt and purposely embeds a slug in a range wall. He later retrieves the slug to have ballistics match it to the bullets from the Guzman murder. Callahan begins to suspect that a secret death squad within the SFPD is responsible for the killings. Briggs insists that Ricca's former associate, Frank Palancio, is the real culprit. Callahan persuades Briggs to loan him Davis and Sweet as back up for a raid on Palancio's offices. However, Palancio and his gang are tipped off via a phone call, Sweet is killed by a shotgun blast, and all of Palancio's men are killed by the police in the ensuing shootout. Palancio attempts to escape, but Callahan jumps on the hood of his car, causing him to lose control and crash into a crane, killing him. Briggs angrily suspends Callahan for the death of Sweet. After returning home, Callahan finds Davis, Astrachan, and Grimes waiting for him in his garage, presenting him with a veiled ultimatum to side with them; Callahan refuses. While checking his mailbox, Callahan discovers a bomb left by the vigilantes and manages to defuse it, but a second bomb kills Early as Callahan phones to warn him.

Callahan calls Briggs and shows him the bomb, only to learn that Briggs is the secret leader of the death squad. Briggs cites the traditions of frontier justice and summary executions, claiming that he's only doing what the broken legal system can't. At gunpoint, Briggs orders Callahan to drive to an undisclosed location while being followed by Grimes. Callahan manages to disarm Briggs and force him out of the car before running Grimes over. Davis and Astrachan appear, causing Callahan to flee onto an old aircraft carrier in a shipbreaker's yard. Astrachan is jumped by Callahan, who beats him to death. Callahan then runs onto the top deck and starts up Astrachan's motorcycle, leading Davis in a series of jumps between ships before the two run out of deck space. Callahan skids to a stop while Davis drives off the ship into the San Francisco Bay, dying on impact. Callahan is then confronted by Briggs with Grimes' gun; the lieutenant mocks Callahan and says he'll have him prosecuted for killing the cops. As Callahan backs away from the car, he surreptitiously activates the timer on the mailbox bomb and tosses it in the back seat. Briggs is driving off when the bomb detonates, killing him, after which Callahan proclaims, "A man's got to know his limitations."

In the 19th-century American West, a young Kiger Mustang colt, Spirit, is born to a herd of wild horses. Spirit grows into a stallion and assumes the leadership of the herd. One night, upon following a strange light near his herd, Spirit finds horses kept in chains and their wranglers sleeping around a campfire. They awake and, seeing him as a magnificent specimen, seize him, taking him to a US cavalry fort.

In captivity, Spirit encounters "The Colonel", who orders the mustang tamed; however, Spirit fends off all attempts to tame him. To weaken Spirit, the Colonel orders him tied to a post for three days without food or water. Meanwhile, a Lakota Native American named Little Creek is also brought into the fort and held captive. Spirit is later supposedly tamed by the Colonel, who speaks his idea of how any wild horse can be tamed. Spirit gets a second wind and finally throws him off. Humiliated, the Colonel attempts to shoot him before Little Creek (who frees himself from his bonds with a knife) saves Spirit from being shot as they escape from the post. Little Creek's mare, Rain, meets them along with other natives, who promptly recapture Spirit.

After returning to the Lakota village, Little Creek attempts to tame Spirit with kindness, but Spirit is unwilling. Little Creek ties Spirit and Rain together, hoping she can discipline him. Spirit falls in love with Rain in the process. Meanwhile, a cavalry regiment led by the Colonel attacks the village. During the battle, the Colonel attempts to shoot Little Creek, but Spirit tackles the Colonel and his horse, deflecting the shot. Rain is instead shot and thrown into a river. Spirit runs after Rain but they both plummet over a waterfall. Spirit rescues Rain and stays by her side until the cavalry recaptures him. Little Creek then tends to Rain and vows to free Spirit.

Spirit is forced to work on the transcontinental railroad, where he is pulling a steam locomotive. Sensing that the track will infringe on his homeland, Spirit breaks free from the sledge and breaks the chains of other horses. They escape, and the locomotive falls off its wooden sledge and slams into another locomotive, causing an explosion that sets the forest ablaze. Spirit is trapped when the chain around his neck snags on a fallen tree. Little Creek intervenes, and together they jump safely into a river.

The next morning, the Colonel and his cavalry find Spirit and Little Creek and a chase ensues through the Grand Canyon, where they are trapped by a gorge. Taking a risk, Spirit makes a leap of faith across the gorge. Spirit's bold move amazes the Colonel; he humbly accepts defeat, and leaves them be. Little Creek returns to the Lakota village with Spirit and finds Rain nursed back to health. Little Creek names the stallion the "Spirit-Who-Could-Not-Be-Broken". Spirit and Rain are then set loose by Little Creek, bidding them farewell. They depart to Spirit's homeland, where they eventually integrate into Spirit's herd.

A bald eagle (seen at various points throughout the story) reappears and soars into the horse-shaped clouds.

Abby Barnes is a veterinarian and host of a radio show called ''The Truth About Cats and Dogs''. Photographer Brian calls into her show for advice, and unexpectedly sends her a gift and calls her at work to ask her out; she agrees to meet. Her insecurity about her appearance leads her to lie to him over the phone and describe herself with the physical features of her neighbor Noelle. She stands him up. After intervening in an argument between Noelle and her abusive boyfriend Roy, the two women become friends. Brian shows up unexpectedly at Abby's work at the same time as Noelle, and Abby convinces her to pretend she is Abby.

Abby adopts the persona of Donna, friend to Noelle (posing as Abby) and the two begin spending time with Brian together. They invent a story that Abby uses a different voice on the radio than in real life. He is physically attracted to Noelle, but notices that "Abby" has a distinctly different (and decidedly less intellectual) personality in person than on the radio and phone. When he calls the real Abby to ask her out again, he asks her to use her "radio voice" and the two spend nearly seven hours on the phone getting to know one another.

The two women decide to tell Brian the truth by way of Noelle showing up at his home while Abby is live on the radio, but when Noelle arrives, she is entranced by the many kind things he says about her personality and intelligence (even though he is actually talking about Abby). She fails to tell him the truth, which nearly causes a rift between the women, but ultimately Noelle realizes that flattery about someone else may feel good in the moment but isn't authentic. She takes a two-week modeling gig out of town in order to put space between herself and Brian.

Noelle returns and tells Brian to make a list of the things he loves about Abby, and to meet at Abby's apartment that night. He does, and reads the list to "Donna". The first few things on the list are about Noelle's appearance, but then the list evolves into more important things about Abby that Brian has truly fallen in love with. He professes his love through the bathroom door thinking "Abby" is bathing inside, but gets no response. He then notices flyers for a charity event Abby is attending, complete with her photo, and realizes the truth.

Abby later approaches Brian at his bar, apologizing for her deceit and explains what really happened. Although initially dismissive, he eventually meets with Abby again and admits he has fallen for her and was only attracted to Noelle because of their deception. He suggests they start again, and Abby happily agrees.

The film once again centers on the Brooklyn Cigar Store and manager Auggie (Harvey Keitel), although most of the other characters are different. The store owner's frustrated wife Dot (Roseanne Barr) is one of them, and one of the plotlines follows her attempts to seduce Auggie. Madonna, Michael J. Fox, Lily Tomlin and Lou Reed as himself also put in appearances.

There is a Mirror World that exists in the skies of Dream Land where any wish reflected in the mirror will come true. However, one day it copies the mind of a mysterious figure and creates a reflected world of evil. Meta Knight notices this and flies up to save the Mirror World.

Meanwhile, Kirby is taking a walk when Dark Meta Knight appears. Before Kirby can react, Dark Meta Knight slices Kirby in four and Kirby becomes four different colored Kirbys. They chase after Dark Meta Knight on a Warp Star simultaneously and enter the Mirror World.

It is revealed that the two Meta Knights fought each other until the real Meta Knight was defeated. He was then knocked into the mirror, which was in turn cut into eight fragments by Dark Meta Knight and scattered across the Mirror World, prompting the Kirbys to save Meta Knight and the Mirror World. After collecting all eight mirror fragments, Kirby enters the Mirror World and battles Dark Meta Knight. After defeating him, a vortex appears and sucks Kirby in, who is given Meta Knight's sword. Kirby then proceeds to fight Dark Mind, the true mastermind behind the Mirror World's corruption, multiple times. Upon defeat, the Mirror World is saved, and Shadow Kirby (the Mirror World counterpart of Kirby who was believed to be an enemy, but is now an ally) waves his goodbyes to the four Kirbys as they all exit the Mirror World one by one. Meta Knight also drops his Master sword before leaving the Mirror World, marking it as a symbol for the Mirror World's protection.

A Senate Armed Services Committee interviews a candidate for the position of Secretary of the Navy. Senator Lillian DeHaven from Texas criticizes the Navy for not being gender-neutral. Behind the curtains, a deal is struck: If women compare favorably with men in a series of test cases, the military will integrate women fully into all occupations of the Navy.

The first test is the training course of the U.S. Navy Combined Reconnaissance Team (similar to the SEALs UDT/BUDs) Senator DeHaven selects topographical analyst Lieutenant Jordan O'Neil, because she is physically more feminine than the other candidates.

To make the grade, O'Neil must survive a grueling selection program in which almost sixty percent of candidates wash out, most before the fourth week, with the third week being particularly intensive ("hell week"). The enigmatic Command Master Chief John James Urgayle runs the training program that involves 20-hour days of tasks designed to wear down recruits' physical and mental strength, including pushing giant ship fenders up beach dunes, working through obstacle courses, and hauling landing rafts.

Given a 30-second "gender-norming" allowance in an obstacle course, O'Neil demands to be held to the same standards as the male trainees. The master chief observes O'Neil helping the other candidates by allowing them to climb on her back to make it over the wall obstacle course. Eight weeks into the program, during SERE training in Captiva, Florida, the Master Chief ties her to a chair with her hands behind her back, grabs hold of her and slams her through the door, then picking her up off the floor he repeatedly dunks her head in ice-cold water in front of the other crew members. O'Neil retaliates and is successful in causing him some injury, despite her immobilized arms. In so doing, she acquires respect from him, as well as from the other trainees.

Navy leaders, confident that a woman would quickly drop out, become concerned. The media learn of O'Neil's involvement, and she becomes a sensation known as "G.I. Jane." and "Joan of Arc". Soon, she must contend with trumped-up charges that she is a lesbian, and is fraternizing with women. O'Neil is told that she will be given a desk job during the investigation and, if cleared, will need to repeat her training from the beginning. She decides to "ring out" (ringing a bell three times, signaling her voluntary withdrawal from the program) rather than accept a desk job.

It is later revealed that the photo evidence of O'Neil's alleged fraternization came from Senator DeHaven's office. DeHaven never intended for O'Neil to succeed; she used O'Neil as a bargaining chip to prevent military base closings in her home state of Texas. O'Neil threatens to expose DeHaven, who then has the charges voided and O'Neil restored to the program.

The final phase of training, an operational readiness exercise, is interrupted by an emergency that requires the CRT trainees' support. The situation involves a reconnaissance satellite powered by weapons-grade plutonium that fell into the Libyan desert. A team of U.S. Army Rangers is dispatched to retrieve the plutonium, but their evacuation plan fails, and the trainees are sent to assist the Rangers. The Master Chief's shooting of a Libyan soldier to protect O'Neil leads to a confrontation with a Libyan patrol. During the mission, O'Neil, using her experience as a topographical analyst, realizes when she sees the team's map that the Master Chief is not going to use the route the others believe he will in regrouping with the others. She also displays a definitive ability in leadership and strategy while rescuing the injured Master Chief, whom she and McCool pull out of an explosives-laden "kill zone." With helicopter gunships delivering the final assault to the defenders, the rescue mission is a success.

Upon their return, all those who participated in the mission are accepted to the CRT. Urgayle gives O'Neil his Navy Cross and a book of poetry containing a short poem, "Self-pity", by D. H. Lawrence, as acknowledgment of her accomplishment and in gratitude for rescuing him.

In the fictional small town of Blaine, Missouri, a few residents prepare to put on a community theater production led by eccentric director Corky St. Clair. The show, a musical chronicling the town's history titled ''Red, White and Blaine'', is to be performed as part of the town's 150th-anniversary celebration.

Cast in the leads are Ron and Sheila Albertson, married travel agents who are also regular amateur performers; Libby Mae Brown, a perky Dairy Queen employee; Clifford Wooley, a "long time Blaineian" and retired taxidermist, who is ''Red, White and Blaine'' s narrator; Johnny Savage, a handsome and oblivious mechanic, whom Corky goes out of his way to get into the play; and Dr. Allan Pearl, a tragically square dentist determined to discover his inner entertainer. High-school teacher Lloyd Miller is the show's increasingly frustrated musical director.

Corky has used connections from his "off-off-off-off-Broadway" past to invite Mort Guffman, a Broadway producer, to critique ''Red, White and Blaine''. Corky leads the cast to believe that a positive review from Guffman could mean their show might go all the way to Broadway.

The program itself is designed to musically retell the history of Blaine, whose founding father was a buffoon incapable of distinguishing the geography of middle Missouri from the Pacific coastline. The viewer also learns why the town obtusely refers to itself as "the stool capital of the United States." The music is a series of poorly performed songs such as "Nothing Ever Happens on Mars", a reference to the town's supposed visit by an unidentified flying object, and "Stool Boom". (The DVD contains "This Bulging River" and "Nothing Ever Happens in Blaine", which were edited from the cinema release.)

Central to the film are Corky's stereotypically gay mannerisms. He supposedly has a wife called Bonnie, whom no one in Blaine has ever met or seen. He uses her to explain his habit of shopping for women's clothing and shoes.

When Johnny is forced by his suspicious father to quit the show, Corky takes over his roles, which were clearly intended for a young, masculine actor, playing a lusty young frontiersman, a heartbroken soldier, and a little boy wearing a beanie and shorts. Corky never sheds his dainty demeanor, bowl haircut, lisp, or earring in spite of his historical roles, and his face is pasted with an overkill of stage rouge and eyeliner.

Corky is also faced with creating his magic on a shoestring budget, at one point quitting the show after storming out of a meeting with the city council, which turns down his request for $100,000 to finance the production, but the distraught cast and persuasive city fathers convince Corky to return. At the show's performance, Guffman's seat is seen to be empty, much to the dismay of the cast. Corky reassures them that Broadway producers always arrive a bit late for the show, and sure enough, a man soon takes Guffman's reserved seat. The show is well received by the audience, whereupon Corky invites the assumed Guffman backstage to talk to the actors.

The man is actually Roy Loomis, who has come to Blaine to witness the birth of his niece's baby, but he did enjoy the show. Corky then reads a telegram stating that Guffman's plane was grounded by snowstorms in New York City, meaning that, like the "Godot" being spoofed, the real Guffman himself is destined never to arrive.

An epilogue shows the fates of the cast: Libby Mae is now living in Sipes, Alabama, where she moved after her father was paroled, and working at the Dairy Queen. Allan and the Albertsons have pursued their dreams of being entertainers, Ron and Sheila traveling to Los Angeles, California, to work as extras, and Allan now performing for elderly Jews in Miami, Florida retirement communities. Corky has returned to New York City, where he has opened a Hollywood-themed novelty shop, which includes such items as Brat Pack bobblehead dolls, ''My Dinner with Andre'' action figures, and ''The Remains of the Day'' lunch boxes.

At the Beginning, The Crypt Keeper reveals that he is directing the film called ''Demon Knight'' and introducing the film's story.....

On a desert road in New Mexico, a powerful demon in human form, The Collector, pursues drifter Frank Brayker. The vehicles crash and Brayker flees. Local drunk Uncle Willy takes him to a decommissioned church converted into a boarding house, where he rents a room and observes the residents: owner Irene, prostitute Cordelia, postal clerk Wally, and a convict on work release named Jeryline. A misogynistic cook named Roach arrives and informs the group about a theft attempt on his employer's car, unaware it was Brayker, and a suspicious Irene calls the sheriff. Sheriff Tupper and his deputy Bob encounter The Collector at the crash site, who convinces them that Brayker is a dangerous thief. At the boarding house, Tupper and Bob learn that Brayker is in possession of an important artifact and that he is carrying false ID. Tupper also gets word from his base that both cars were stolen and he arrests Brayker as well as The Collector. The Collector kills Tupper by punching through his skull. Driven outside by the key-like artifact Brayker possesses, The Collector draws his own blood on the sand and produces a team of demonic creatures.

Brayker uses blood from the artifact to protect the building and tells the group they must wait out the night. Unable to get in, The Collector uses psychic powers to seduce and possess Cordelia. Cordelia kills Wally and cripples Irene before Brayker kills her. The group attempts to escape through old mine tunnels under the building, where Jeryline finds a boy named Danny hiding. The other townsfolk, under demonic possession, drive them back into the church. The residents demand an explanation, and Brayker reluctantly tells them the history of the key artifact. Following the creation of Earth by God, demons used seven keys to focus the power of the cosmos into their hands. When discovered, God created light, which scattered the demons and the keys across the universe. The artifact that Brayker holds is the last key needed to reclaim power; and to protect it, God had a thief named Sirach fill it with the blood of Jesus Christ. The guardians of the key, immortal while holding it, have since passed it on, refilling it with their own blood when they die. Brayker received the key from his commanding officer during World War I. Danny disappears and Jeryline rallies everyone to look for him, during which Roach sneaks the key out of Brayker's satchel.

In the church attic, Irene and Bob discover that Wally was planning to attack the post office with a trunk full of weapons. The Collector soon possesses Uncle Willy, who attacks the others. While battling Willy, Roach makes a deal with The Collector to trade his life for the key, but The Collector betrays and kills him soon after Roach walks away. Brayker retrieves the key in the battle and Irene and Bob sacrifice themselves to stop the remaining minions. In the attic, The Collector brainwashes Danny, who mortally wounds Brayker before Jeryline kills him. As he dies, Brayker initiates Jeryline as a guardian of the key, deactivating all blood seals. The Collector overpowers Jeryline, taking the key from her. When he offers her a place at his side and prepares to take her heart as a trophy when she silently refuses, Jeryline confronts The Collector and spits blood from the key in his face, causing him to revert to his actual demon form before being destroyed.

At dawn, Jeryline refills the key with Brayker's blood and boards a bus with her cat, sealing the door behind them. Down the road, the bus stops to pick up a stranger (Mark David Kennerly), who declines to get on stating that he'll catch the next one. Dressed identically to his predecessor and carrying the same suitcase, Jeryline realizes that he is the next Collector. After exchanging a glance in passing, the new Collector begins following on foot, whistling the theme song to the ''Tales from the Crypt'' television series.

After ''Demon Knight'' story ends, The Crypt Keeper goes to the film's premiere screening, where he is beheaded by producers (as the punishment of asking for Final cut privilege). After the beheading, The Crypt Keeper is still alive and he says that "Now that's entertainment!"

A group of treasure hunters led by Vincent Prather explore a forest, encountering a cave containing the coffin of Lilith, mother of all vampires. Vincent takes out a box containing the four sections of her heart and inserts it in her body, reviving her. Lilith awakens and kills the other treasure hunters, but Vincent subdues her with the key from ''Demon Knight''.

After fighting with his sister Katherine, Caleb Verdoux goes to a dive bar, where an odd man named Jenkins tells him of a brothel hidden in a funeral home. Caleb and his friend Reggie visit the address, where they are forced at gunpoint by mortician McCutcheon to climb into a coffin leading to said brothel, unaware the prostitutes are all vampires led by Lilith. A prostitute named Tallulah seduces Reggie, whom Lilith kills before vampirizing Caleb.

When the police fail to find Caleb, Katherine reluctantly hires cynical and sarcastic private investigator Rafe Guttman, who tracks Caleb's trail to the bar, where Caleb's friends direct him to the funeral home. After a tip from Jenkins, Rafe revisits the funeral home that night. Initially, it appears as just a funeral home. Rafe overhears Lilith interview a woman, Tamara, followed by Tamara's scream and a body hitting the floor. He finds Caleb's nose ring and escapes. The next day he takes it to Katherine and tells her he's going to stake out the funeral home that evening. Unbeknownst to Rafe, the funeral home conceals a corrupt organization run by Reverend J.C. Current.

Rafe is admitted into the brothel and approached by the now-vampirized Tamara, whom he tricks into letting him strap her to a torture rack so he can investigate further, finding Jenkins decapitated in a coffin. While fleeing, Rafe drops his wallet, allowing Lilith to find his address. Having tasted Rafe's blood, Lilith takes an interest and tries to seduce him. When Katherine arrives, Rafe follows and describes the brothel's activity to her. They alert the police, who dismiss Rafe as a fraud due to lack of evidence. Meanwhile, Vincent destroys the key, freeing Lilith.

As Katherine reviews footage where she confronted Lilith, she notices Lilith is not in the shot. Realizing that Rafe might be right, she calls him over. Caleb calls for help, asking them to meet him at the power plant. Upon arrival, they discover the vampirized Caleb and flee, but Rafe falls out a window, landing on the police chief's car. The vampires catch Katherine and return her to the brothel.

Awakening in a hospital, Rafe is nearly killed by Tamara, who is posing as a nurse, but exposes her to sunlight, killing her. Katherine awakens and begs Caleb to free her, who refuses, too ingrained as Lilith's servant and having fully embraced his newfound vampiric lifestyle. Lilith prepares to feed on Katherine while Caleb watches. Rafe loads up on Super Soakers filled with holy water and raids the brothel, killing Vincent and McCutcheon. He meets up with Current, who, having realized his error and attempting to rectify it, has brought stakes and mallets to kill the vampires. Current tells Rafe that Lilith's heart must be removed from her body and quartered, as before she was found. Rafe gives him a spare water gun and the two enter the brothel and spray the vampires, including Caleb and Tallulah, who burn and explode.

They find Lilith, who mortally wounds Current and flees after Rafe attacks her with an axe. Rafe finds Katherine, and they head to Current's church to reveal the existence of vampires with its media equipment. Lilith returns, handcuffs Rafe to a railing, and attacks Katherine. Rafe uses a nearby laser to hit Lilith in the heart, quartering it. However, as the pieces remain in her body, Lilith remains alive. As Lilith devolves into a hideous form (her true form) and attacks Rafe, Katherine grabs a candle stand and stabs out Lilith's heart. After Lilith's body burns and collapses to the ground, the two burn her remains and lock away the box with the heart pieces.

Later, in his car, Rafe fondles Katherine, which she seems oddly more accepting of now, having been disgusted by him earlier. They have sex in the car. He notices the scent she's wearing. She remarks, "It's not perfume. It's sunblock." When he pulls back her skirt, he notices bite-marks on her thigh, indicating that Katherine had been vampirized by Lilith while hostage. She then flashes her fangs and bites Rafe in the neck.

During halftime at a televised football game, L.A. Stallions running back Billy Cole receives a phone call from a mysterious man named Milo, who warns him to win the game. Cole ingests PCP and, in a drug-induced rage, brings a gun onto the field, shooting three opposing players to reach the end zone. Cole then shoots himself in the head. Meanwhile, private investigator Joe Hallenbeck, a disgraced former Secret Service agent who at one time was a national hero for saving the president from an assassination attempt, discovers that his wife Sarah is having an affair with his best friend and business partner, Mike Matthews. Joe beats Mike, then accepts a well-paying assignment Mike had previously offered him, to act as bodyguard for a stripper named Cory. Mike is then killed by a car bomb outside Joe's house.

While on assignment, Joe is approached by Cory's boyfriend, former Stallions quarterback Jimmy Dix, who was banned from the league on gambling charges and alleged drug abuse. After an argument between Joe and Jimmy, an annoyed Jimmy takes Cory from the stage while she is performing. Joe plans to wait outside, where he is knocked out by a team of hitmen. Jimmy and Cory leave the bar in separate cars while Joe is able to overpower the single hitman left to dispatch him. When Cory's car is struck from behind and she stops to confront the other driver, she is brutally killed by the hitmen. Jimmy is fired upon, but is saved by Joe, who manages to kill two of the hitmen, while one of them escapes. They are subsequently interrogated by detectives Bessalo and McCaskey, who are suspicious of Hallenbeck.

At Cory's house, Jimmy and Joe find a taped phone conversation between Senator Calvin Baynard, who is leading a congressional investigation into gambling in sports, and Stallions owner Sheldon Marcone. When the tape is ruined in Joe's faulty car stereo, Jimmy realizes that Cory tried using the tape against Marcone to put Jimmy back on the team, prompting Marcone to send the hitmen. An anguished Jimmy attempts to drive home in Cory's second car, only for Joe to stop him; he reveals that the car was rigged with a C-4-based car bomb. The two are attacked by a squad of hitmen, who Joe tricks into blowing themselves up. Unfortunately, the explosion destroys the remaining evidence.

Joe reveals to Jimmy that when he was in the Secret Service, he witnessed Baynard torturing a woman in a hotel room and assaulted the senator to thwart the attack. Baynard retaliated by having Joe fired from the Secret Service for refusing to cover up the incident. At Joe's house, Jimmy meets Joe's abrasive daughter Darian, who is disrespectful to her father. When Joe catches Jimmy attempting to use illegal steroids in the bathroom, Joe kicks him out. As Jimmy leaves, he is asked by an apologetic Darian to sign a football trading card, stating that Joe was a fan of Jimmy's and never watched another game after he was banned from the league. He leaves her with the signed card, "To the daughter of the last Boy Scout."

Learning of Mike's affair with Sarah, Bessalo and McCaskey assume that he was killed by Joe and move to make an arrest. Milo, who is working for Marcone, kidnaps Joe as McCaskey arrives at his home. Milo shoots McCaskey using Joe's revolver to set him up for homicide, then brings Joe to Marcone's home. Marcone explains to Joe that he has been buying Senate votes to legalize sports gambling, but that Baynard tried to blackmail Marcone for $6 million. Being aware of Joe's history with Baynard, Marcone says that it would be cheaper to kill the senator and frame Joe for the murder. Joe is forced to hand a briefcase filled with money to Baynard's bodyguards while another henchman takes pictures, but he notices that Milo switches it with a briefcase rigged with C4. Joe is rescued by Jimmy and Darian, and acquires both briefcases after running the bodyguards and Milo off the road. However, Milo survives and while Darian is left to wait for the police, he abducts her.

Heading to the stadium to rescue Darian, Joe and Jimmy are captured and escorted to Marcone's office. Jimmy creates a diversion, allowing them to fight their way free. Realizing Milo will attempt to shoot Baynard from the stadium lights, Joe goes after him while sending Jimmy to warn the senator. Grabbing the game ball, Jimmy throws it at Baynard, knocking him down just as Milo starts shooting. Joe and Milo engage in a savage battle, which ends when Joe knocks Milo to the edge of the stadium light platform, where SWAT officers shoot him several times. Milo then falls into the moving rotor blades of a police helicopter. The briefcase of money is recovered and Marcone, having escaped with the rigged briefcase, is killed when he opens it at his estate. The next day, Joe and Sarah reconcile, showing solidarity to a receptive Darian. Joe and Jimmy decide to become partners, and the two banter and discuss one-liners.

Devout Evangelical Christian teenager Mary Cummings is entering her senior year at American Eagle Christian High School near Baltimore. She and her two best friends, Hilary Faye and Veronica, have formed a girl group called the Christian Jewels. One afternoon, Mary's boyfriend, Dean Withers, confesses to her in his pool that he is gay. In shock, Mary hits her head, and has a vision in which Jesus tells her that she must help Dean. Believing that Jesus will restore her purity, Mary has sex with Dean in an attempt to rid him of his homosexuality.

Despite Mary's efforts, Dean is sent to Mercy House, a Christian treatment center, after his parents find gay pornography in his bedroom. The news of Dean's sexuality shocks and disgusts Mary's friends, aside from Roland, Hilary's sardonic, paraplegic brother. At the school assembly, Cassandra, a rebellious Jewish student who despises Hilary, causes a scene by breaking into obscenities under the guise of speaking in tongues.

Mary develops morning sickness and soon discovers she is pregnant with Dean's child. Because the child is due after graduation, Mary decides to hide the pregnancy from her classmates, as well as her mother Lillian, who is covertly dating Pastor Skip, the school's divorced principal. Feeling forsaken by Jesus, Mary begins questioning her faith, specifically her peers' response to Dean's sexuality. This horrifies Hilary, who ousts Mary from the Christian Jewels, replacing her with an unpopular student named Tia. In an effort to help Mary, Hilary, Veronica, and Tia accost her in the street and attempt to perform an exorcism on her. Mary fights them, and Hilary hits her with a Bible.

By Christmas time, Cassandra is the only one of Mary's peers who realizes Mary is pregnant. Mary soon bonds with Cassandra, who is now dating Roland; the three become close friends while ostracized by Hilary and the rest of their peers. Meanwhile, Pastor Skip's son, Patrick, attempts to pursue Mary, much to Hilary's chagrin, but Mary is evasive. Continually harassed by Hilary, Cassandra and Roland retaliate by uploading photos of a young, overweight Hilary to the school's computer system. The following day, someone vandalizes the school with obscene, anti-religious graffiti. Pastor Skip suspects Mary, Cassandra, and Roland, and discovers empty spray-paint cans in their lockers, planted by Hilary. Also found is a sonogram of Mary's baby, exposing her pregnancy.

Cassandra is expelled from the school, while Mary and Roland are banned from the impending prom. Pastor Skip threatens to break off his relationship with Lillian if she does not send Mary to Mercy House. Meanwhile, Roland discovers empty spray-paint cans in Hilary's van, as well as credit card receipts from purchasing them. Armed with this evidence, Roland and Cassandra plan to crash the prom with Mary and expose Hilary, along with Patrick, who takes Mary as his date. At the prom, Hilary tries to have them ejected, but Roland confronts her with the receipts for the spray-paint. Tia, who has grown weary of Hilary's lies and hypocrisy, also attests her guilt to Pastor Skip, having discovered additional receipts bearing Hilary's signature.

Publicly humiliated and rejected by Tia and Veronica, Hilary storms outside. Simultaneously, Dean, his boyfriend Mitch, and other residents of Mercy House arrive to crash the prom, and are met by Mary and Patrick in the school foyer. Mary reveals her pregnancy to Dean for the first time. Pastor Skip attempts to force the Mercy House residents out of the prom, but they refuse. Patrick argues with his father, and Mary contends that it is wrong to banish them. Their argument is interrupted by Hilary, who begins driving her van recklessly through the parking lot, ultimately crashing into the school's huge effigy of Jesus. Hilary expresses remorse and is comforted by Cassandra; meanwhile, Mary abruptly goes into labor and is taken to the hospital.

Mary gives birth to a baby girl. Pastor Skip arrives at the hospital with flowers, but contemplates going inside. Mary and Dean pose for a photo taken by a nurse with their child alongside Roland, Cassandra, Patrick, Mitch, and Lillian. In a voice-over, Mary explains how she has returned to believing in a God who loves and helps the ones that love and help others in need.

Susan "Susie" Jensen is an aspiring model from the Midwest and new in the town of Mipple City, Minnesota. The story starts out as Susie uses her modeling to begin working at the strip club "Kitty Korner Klub" with her newfound friend Shelly Hine, where she now goes by the stage name of "Omaha". Omaha starts to become well known after she is featured for the first time in ''Pet Magazine,'' an adult entertainment magazine, as the centerfold "Kitten of the Month".

After working as a locally popular dancer, she and Shelly meet Chuck Katt, an artist who begins to fall in love with Omaha and whom she considers "normal". After a new blue law is passed, "all strip clubs are to be closed down", Omaha and Shelly are put out of work. Shelly soon finds a hidden sub-basement at a restaurant that is owned by a man named Charles Tabey, a powerful, yet mentally ill business tycoon, with Shelly as his lover in secret. With Omaha out of work, Chuck Katt starts working for his former boss, Andre DeRoc, a media mogul in the town and the arch-rival of Charles Tabey.

In 2654, an interstellar war rages between the Terran Confederation and the Kilrathi Empire. The cat-like Kilrathi seek the complete eradication of the human race.

A massive Kilrathi armada attacks Pegasus Station, a remote but vital Confederation base, and captures a navigation computer, through which it locates Earth. Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn recalls the Terran fleet to defend Earth, but expects it to arrive two hours too late. Tolwyn orders Lieutenant Christopher Blair, whose father he knew from a previous conflict called the Pilgrim Wars, to carry orders to the carrier TCS ''Tiger Claw'' in the Vega Sector, under the command of Captain Jason Sansky, to fight a suicidal delaying action to buy the needed time.

Lieutenants Blair and Todd Marshall are pilots fresh out of training, traveling aboard the small supply ship ''Diligent'', commanded by Captain James Taggart, to their new posting aboard the ''Tiger Claw''. En route, the ship is pulled into a gravity well and loses its navigation computer. While Taggart repairs it, Blair space-jumps them to safety, calculating the jump in under ten seconds. Taggart notes that Blair outperformed the computer.

Along with the awkwardness of joining a new unit, and continual pranks that require discipline from his wing commander Lieutenant Commander Jeanette Deveraux, Blair fights the distrust of Commander Paul Gerald and his crewmate Lieutenant Ian St. John because of the drastic orders he brings from the Admiral, and because his mother was a "Pilgrim", a strain of humans who were the cause of the Pilgrim Wars. Pilgrims were the first human explorers and colonists and had developed the innate ability to navigate space by feel despite obstacles such as black holes. Marshall finds a kindred spirit in Lieutenant Rosie Forbes and falls in love with her, but she dies when her fighter is damaged after a battle with an advance group of Kilrathi vessels and crashes on the flight deck during landing as the result of friendly competition with Marshall. The incident enrages Deveraux and shakes Marshall's confidence.

Despite several setbacks, the ''Tiger Claw'''s personnel successfully attack and board a Kilrathi communications ship with the ''Diligent''. In the attack, they find the stolen navigation computer and learn the coordinates the Kilrathi fleet will use to approach Earth. The ''Tiger Claw'', however, is heavily damaged and can do nothing more to prevent the assault, except to send Deveraux and Blair in fighters to find their way back to Earth. While it would normally be impossible for fighters to make such a jump without a navigation computer, Blair's Pilgrim heritage enables him to calculate the jump himself. If alerted to the Kilrathi's plans, Earth forces can destroy each Kilrathi ship before it gets its bearings after the space-jump; if not, Earth's defenses will surely be overwhelmed. Before Blair leaves, Taggart, who is in reality a Naval Intelligence officer, reveals himself to be a Pilgrim as well, shocking Blair.

Deveraux's fighter is disabled in combat after destroying a missile, but she convinces Blair not to rescue her but to continue his mission. Blair uses his Pilgrim sense to jump to the vicinity of Earth. As his fighter begins to run out of fuel, he transmits the information Earth needs to defeat the Kilrathi assault. He is pursued through the jump by the Kilrathi command ship, but his position lets him bait the Kilrathi into the gravity well he encountered at the start of the movie. He pulls his fighter away at the last minute but the command ship is pulled in due to its larger mass. Unprepared, the Kilrathi fleet is destroyed by the Earth fleet without a fight. A Rescue and Recovery pilot from the Earth fleet rescues Blair while Taggart rescues Deveraux in the ''Diligent''. Blair and Deveraux are reunited on the ''Tiger Claw'' and share a kiss as Deveraux is taken to get medical attention.

After stealing an diamond while dressed as an ultra-Orthodox Jew during a heist in Antwerp, Franky "Four-Fingers" goes to London to see diamond dealer Doug "The Head" on behalf of New York jeweler and Jewish-American organized crime figure "Cousin Avi". One of the other robbers advises Franky to obtain a gun from his brother, arms dealer and ex-KGB agent Boris "The Blade", then later calls Boris and encourages him to steal the diamond from Franky before he can turn it over to Doug.

Meanwhile, Cockney boxing promoter and slot machine shop owner Turkish is persuaded by crime boss "Brick Top" to put his boxer "Gorgeous George" in a match against one of Brick Top's boxers. However, when Turkish sends his partner Tommy and Gorgeous George to purchase a caravan from a clan of Irish Travellers, George gets challenged to a fistfight against Traveller bare-knuckle boxing champion Mickey O'Neil, who beats up and severely injures George. Turkish persuades Mickey to replace George in his upcoming match by agreeing to purchase a new caravan for Mickey's mother. Brick Top grudgingly agrees, but only on the condition that Mickey will throw the fight in the fourth round.

Boris gives Franky a revolver in exchange for a favour: Franky is to place a bet on Boris' behalf at Brick Top's bookies. Avi, knowing Franky has gambling addiction, flies to London with his bodyguard "Rosebud" to pick up the diamond personally. Boris hires Vinny and Sol, two pawnbrokers and small-time crooks, to rob Franky while he is at the bookies. The robbery goes awry when they crash their car into Franky's van while trying to park, trapping Franky inside. Sol, Vinny, and their getaway driver Tyrone are caught on camera and find no money at the bookies due to the bets being cancelled since Gorgeous George had to drop out, but manage to kidnap Franky in their escape. At their pawn shop, Sol and Vinny hold Franky captive with a sack over his head. Upon Boris' arrival, Sol and Vinny demand he gives them half of the cash when he sells the diamond, during which Vinny utters Boris' name. Realizing that his identity and betrayal has been exposed to Franky, Boris kills Franky by shooting him in the head, and leaves with the diamond.

Instead of throwing the fight, Mickey accidentally knocks his opponent out with a single punch due to his overwhelming power. Infuriated, Brick Top robs Turkish of his life savings and demands that Mickey fight again, and lose since the majority of the gamblers will now bet on him. Mickey refuses to fight again unless Turkish buys an even better caravan for his mother, but Turkish has no money left since Brick Top stole his savings. Furious, Brick Top has his men vandalize Turkish's gambling arcade and burn down Mickey's mother's caravan while she is asleep inside. Brick Top and his men then tracks down Tyrone, Sol and Vinny to kill them for robbing his bookies. Sol bargains for their lives by offering Brick Top the stolen diamond, and is given 48 hours to retrieve it.

Avi and Doug hire "Bullet-Tooth" Tony to help them find Franky. When the trail leads to Boris, they kidnap him and retrieve the diamond, while being closely pursued by Sol, Vinny, and Tyrone. Turkish and Tommy, who are on their way to purchase a gun from Boris, are driving on the same stretch of road at the time. When Tommy throws Turkish's carton of milk out of their car window, it splashes over Tony's windscreen, causing him to crash which accidentally kills Rosebud in the process. Boris escapes from the wreck only to be hit by Tyrone's car. Tony and Avi are confronted by Sol, Vinny, and Tyrone at a pub where Tony realizes that the trio's pistols are replicas, which he contrasts with his real handgun, intimidating them into leaving. The wounded Boris arrives with an assault rifle and a grenade launcher looking for the diamond, but is shot and killed by Tony, who wounds Tyrone at the same time. Sol and Vinny leave a wounded Tyrone and escape with the diamond, which Vinny hides in his pants. When Tony catches up to them, they tell him that the diamond is back at their pawn shop. Once there, Vinny pretends to have misplaced the diamond, then accuses his dog, which he has gotten earlier from the Irish Traveller clan, of eating it. When Avi tells Tony to kill the dog, Vinny gives in and produces the diamond from his pants, but the dog snatches the diamond away and runs off, presumably back to the Irish Travellers' campsite. Avi wildly fires at the fleeing dog, accidentally killing Tony. He gives up and returns to New York City.

Mickey agrees to fight to avoid more carnage, but gets so drunk after his mother's wake that Turkish fears he will not make it to the fourth round. If he fails to go down in the fourth round as agreed, Brick Top vows that his men will murder Turkish, Tommy, Mickey, and his entire clan of Travellers.

At the fight, Mickey makes it to the fourth round as per Brick Top's plan, and gets knocked down by his opponent. But at the last moment, Mickey recovers and knocks out his opponent with one punch, much to the chagrin of Turkish, Tommy and Brick Top. Outside the arena, as Tommy, Turkish, and Mickey try to run for their lives, Brick Top and his men are ambushed and killed by the Travellers. It is revealed that this has all been planned out by Mickey to avenge his mother. In fact, Mickey purposely did not go down during the fight as he had secretly bet on himself to win.

The next morning, Turkish and Tommy find the Travellers' campsite deserted as Mickey and "the pikeys" have escaped with their winnings. When confronted by the police, they cannot explain why they are there, until Vinny's dog suddenly appears and they claim to be walking it. On their way back, they cross paths with Sol and Vinny, who are discovered and being put under arrest by the police for hiding Franky and Tony's bodies in their car trunk. Sol and Vinny watch in defeat as Turkish and Tommy drive away with the dog (and the diamond).

Turkish and Tommy take the dog to a veterinarian to extract a squeaky toy that it had swallowed, and consequently discover the diamond in its stomach. They consult Doug about selling the diamond and he calls Avi, who returns to London to purchase it.

Following a news story depicting the demolition of a slum in East London in the south-east of the Cape Province in South Africa, liberal journalist Donald Woods (Kevin Kline) seeks more information about the incident and ventures off to meet black activist Steve Biko (Denzel Washington), a leading member of the Black Consciousness Movement. Biko has been officially ''banned'' by the Government of South Africa and is not permitted to leave his defined 'banning area' at King William's Town. Woods is opposed to Biko's banning, but remains critical of his political views. Biko invites Woods to visit a black township to see the impoverished conditions and to witness the effect of the Government-imposed restrictions, which make up the apartheid system. Woods begins to agree with Biko's desire for a South Africa where blacks have the same opportunities and freedoms as those enjoyed by the white population. As Woods comes to understand Biko's point of view, a friendship slowly develops between them.

After speaking at a gathering of black South Africans outside of his banishment zone, Biko is arrested and interrogated by the South African security forces (who have been tipped off by an informer). Following this, he is brought to court in order to explain his message directed toward the South African Government, which is White-minority controlled. After he speaks eloquently in court and advocates non-violence, the security officers who interrogated him visit his church and vandalise the property. Woods assures Biko that he will meet with a Government official to discuss the matter. Woods then meets with Jimmy Kruger (John Thaw), the South African Minister of Justice, in his house in Pretoria in an attempt to prevent further abuses. Minister Kruger first expresses discontent over their actions; however, Woods is later harassed at his home by security forces, who insinuate that their orders came directly from Kruger.

Later, Biko travels to Cape Town to speak at a student-run meeting. ''En route'', security forces stop his car and arrest him asking him to say his name, and he said "Bantu Stephen Biko". He is held in harsh conditions and beaten, causing a severe brain injury. A doctor recommends consulting a nearby specialist in order to best treat his injuries, but the police refuse out of fear that he might escape. The security forces instead decide to take him to a police hospital in Pretoria, around 700 miles (1 200 km) away from Cape Town. He is thrown into the back of a prison van and driven on a bumpy road, aggravating his brain injury and resulting in his death.

Woods then works to expose the police's complicity in Biko's death. He attempts to expose photographs of Biko's body that contradict police reports that he died of a hunger strike, but he is prevented just before boarding a plane to leave and informed that he is now 'banned', therefore not able to leave the country. Woods and his family are targeted in a campaign of harassment by the security police, including the delivery of t-shirts with Biko's image that have been dusted with itching powder. He later decides to seek asylum in Britain in order to expose the corrupt and racist nature of the South African authorities. After a long trek, Woods is eventually able to escape to the Kingdom of Lesotho, disguised as a priest. His wife Wendy (Penelope Wilton) and their family later join him. With the aid of Australian journalist Bruce Haigh (John Hargreaves), the British High Commission in Maseru, and the Government of Lesotho, they are flown under United Nations passports and with one Lesotho official over South African territory, via Botswana, to London, where they were granted political asylum.

The film's epilogue displays a graphic detailing a long list of anti-apartheid activists (including Biko), who died under suspicious circumstances while imprisoned by the Government whilst the song Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika is sung.

''I Am My Own Wife'' is an examination of the life of German antiquarian Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, born Lothar Berfelde, who killed her father when she was a young child and survived the Nazi and Communist regimes in East Berlin as a transgender woman.

Jewel thief Miles Logan participates in a $17 million diamond heist in Los Angeles, along with his crew of accomplices, his right hand and best friend Eddie, his getaway driver Tully and Deacon, the newly acquired member of the group, he turns on them, killing Eddie by shooting him off of a tall building and causing him to fall onto a police car, before attempting to take the stone from Miles. As the police arrive, Miles hides the diamond in the ducts of a building under construction; as Deacon flees, Miles is arrested.

Upon his release from prison two years later, Miles attempts to reunite with his girlfriend, who breaks it off for lying about being a criminal, prompting him to retrieve the diamond. Finding the building where he hid the diamond is now an LAPD police station, he goes inside, discovering the diamond is hidden in the ducts of what is now the Robbery/Homicide detective bureau, which requires a key card to access.

Miles returns disguised as a pizza deliveryman, steals an access card and visits his forger Uncle Lou. The fake badge and transfer papers allow Miles to enter the station, posing as newly-transferred police detective Malone. While trying to access the ducts, he inadvertently foils a prisoner escape and is teamed up with newly-appointed Detective Carlson.

What is supposed to be a quick in and out mission to retrieve the diamond ends up turning into a prolonged endeavor as Miles gets sent out on calls. His knowledge on criminal activity and ability to foil crimes makes him quite popular among his "peers,” even getting promoted to detective in charge of the Robbery/Homicide division. He and Carlson are first sent on a burglary call, where Miles quickly solves it as fraud perpetrated by the owner. On the ride back, they stumble upon an armed robbery being committed by Tulley. Miles intervenes, arresting him before he's shot, but Tulley demands $50,000 to keep quiet about who Miles really is. He makes another attempt to locate the diamond, but is interrupted by Carlson, who has discovered Miles is not who he claims to be. Convincing Carlson that he is from Internal Affairs, Miles tries to get back to searching for the diamond, but they are sent out on another call. While out, they capture a truckload of heroin. Afterwards, Miles finds the diamond in the evidence locker and finally has it, but accidentally drops it into the load of heroin they seized. The FBI demands the heroin for testing.

A panicked Miles suggests the FBI and his cops unit use the heroin as bait in a sting. He arranges to be with the heroin in the delivery truck, but is soon joined by Tulley (whom he had set free from holding) and Deacon; during the drug deal, Deacon exposes Miles as a cop to the drug runners. While Miles and Tulley attempt to distract them, the police and FBI raid the deal. Deacon escapes with the diamond in an armored truck and the police and FBI follow as he approaches the border to Mexico. The police and FBI are forced to halt their pursuit at the border, but Miles steals a patrol car and chases Deacon. Miles forces him to wreck the truck and offers him a deal: Deacon gives Miles the diamond and allows him to arrest him in exchange for Miles taking him back to the US and cutting him back in on the diamond. He agrees, and Miles immediately double-crosses him by handcuffing him to the wrecked truck for the Federales and begins to walk back to the border. Deacon draws a gun to shoot him but Miles turns and shoots him dead, avenging the death of Eddie.

Miles walks back to the border where both the FBI and police demand explanations; he tells them he is an undercover Mexican officer and has to report back to his fellow Federales. A few inches over the border, Carlson and Hardcastle stop him, revealing they know who he really is, but do not arrest him as they are grateful for all of his help and see him as a friend. They also say the FBI can't reach him over international borders, as he is a few inches over the border. After they share a bittersweet goodbye, Miles heads off to Mexico with the diamond.

The novel takes place in Virginia, somewhere near the Shenandoah River, and quickly establishes its plot line in a post-apocalyptic era. The collapse of civilization around the world has resulted from massive environmental changes and global disease, which were attributed to large-scale pollution. With a range of members privileged by virtue of education and monetary resources, one large family founds an isolated community in an attempt to survive the still-developing global disasters. As the death toll rises, mainly to disease and nuclear warfare, they discover that the human population left on earth is universally infertile. From cloning experiments conducted through the study of mice, the scientists in the small community theorize that the infertility might be reversed after multiple generations of cloning, and the family begins cloning themselves in an effort to survive. The assumption is that after a few generations of cloning, the people will be able to revert to traditional biological reproduction.

However, to the horror of the few surviving members of the original group, the clones who are finally coming of age reject the idea of sexual reproduction in favor of further cloning. The original members of the community, too old and outnumbered by the clones to resist, are forced to accept the new social order and the complications that arise.

The new generations are cloned in groups of four to ten individuals, and due to a strong emotional and mental connection between the clones, they have a strong sense of empathy for one another. As the old generation dies out and the clones seek to expand their territory, they quickly discover that prolonged separation from other members of their group produces irreversible psychological stress. One woman, Molly, after being separated from her clones while on an expedition to find materials in the ruins of nearby cities, regains a "human" sense of individuality, which her fellow clones believe to be dangerous to the community. As a result of this, she is exiled.

Though Molly is allowed to live by herself in peace, she is not allowed contact with the other clones except the members who bring her the supplies she needs. In secret, she goes on to have a child with Ben, one of the clones who accompanied her on the journey to the surrounding cities. After a few years of successful secrecy, she and the child are found, and although Molly and Ben are expelled from the community, the child, Mark, is allowed to stay. The clones, though wary of his threatening individuality, hope to study him in order to learn more about non-clones. As the child becomes a man, he realizes that his uniqueness gives him individuality and the ability to live away from the community, something which the clones are now unable to do. The leaders of the community realize that the latest generations of clones are losing all sense of creativity and are unable to come up with new solutions to problems; simultaneously they see that the growing lack of high-technology equipment will result in the community losing the ability to continue with the cloning process.

As the only "naturally" produced human in the community, Mark seeks his own solution to the problem, and by force he leads a group of fertile women and children to abandon the community and start over, leaving a trail of devastation to the clone community in the wake of his departure. He returns to the community twenty years later to discover that in the wake of this disaster, the clones, unable to survive with their limited adaptability, have perished and the village has been destroyed. At novel's end, Mark returns to the community he created, where all of the children and younger generations, products of conventional reproduction, continue to thrive.

The novel makes a passing reference to the end of global warming due to a decline in human pollution:

John Arnold DeMarco is a 21-year-old man who dresses like Zorro, with a similar mask, hat and cape and claims to be Don Juan. After a passionate affair, he decides to commit suicide. At the site of the billboard he plans to jump off of, psychiatrist Jack Mickler dissuades him by posing as Don Octavio de Flores. John is then held for a ten-day review in a mental institution.

Mickler, who is about to retire, insists on doing the evaluation and conducts it without medicating the youth. Mickler listens to John's story continuing to pose as Don Octavio: Don Juan was born in Mexico, he has an affair with his school tutor which ultimately leads to the death of his father in a swordfight. Mickler listens to the story while spotting inconsistencies, such as the Castilian nature of John's accent, but continues to humor him.

At home, Mickler is living in a passionless marriage to his wife, Marilyn. As Mickler notices that John's presence at the institution is having an impact on the staff - both distracting the women and dancing with a male attendant on the law - he finds himself being influenced, and starts listening to opera in his house and rekindling the passion with his wife.

Eventually Mickler meets with John's grandmother, who tells him that John grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and that his father died in a car crash. When Mickler returns to the institution and confronts his patient with this information, John dismisses his grandmother as misanthropic and of making the backstory up. In response Mickler recounts the story of an insecure young man who fell in love with a woman in a magazine, who then contacted her and was told she never wanted to speak to him again. When John asks what happened to the young man, Mickler tells him he tried to commit suicide.

As the ten days tick down, and pressure mounts on Mickler to support the youth's indefinite confinement, a decision which he is skeptical of. John has mentioned that his mother became a nun and remains in the convent to this day, and in a subsequent meeting with John, Mickler suggests that John's mother could have possibly had affairs, to which John responds with violent anger.

John concludes his story, about how he was kept two years in a harem as the lover of the sultaness, before finding true love and being rejected on a remote Greek island by his one true love, Doña Ana. Mickler tells him at the story's end that he believes John is Don Juan DeMarco, the greatest lover the world has ever known. When John asks Mickler who he is, he says "I am Don Octavio de Flores" and that John has seen through all of his masks.

At the end of the ten days, Mickler is able to convince John to take his medication, and makes him understand that not everyone believes he is Don Juan. Right before his retirement, Mickler and John meet with the board, with John in street clothes. He speaks with an American accident, and acknowledges that he was born in Queens, his father was killed in an accident, and that his mother was unfaithful to his father. John is released and accompanies Mickler, along with the doctor's wife, to the remote island that Don Juan has described where he met his true love.

Lawrence Preston (Marshall) and Kenneth Preston (Reed) are father-and-son defense attorneys who specialized in legally complex cases, with defendants such as neo-Nazis, conscientious objectors, demonstrators of the Civil Rights Movement, a schoolteacher fired for being an atheist, an author accused of pornography, and a physician charged in a mercy killing.

Makoto was born in Kazune city where he and his sister, Hinata, played with Minamo. After his father's death he and his sister as well as Minamo's family move away. When his family moves for the second time, he gives Minamo a harmonica and the two of them pinky-swear to meet again some day and marry.

The game begins ten years later. Makoto and Hinata return to Kazune and enroll at the High School where Makoto is reunited with Minamo. He learns that many people from the city have unique special powers. Hinata, for example, can jump higher than most 2-story buildings. Minamo can control the wind, Nozomi can create shockwaves with edged weapons, and Wakaba can cure wounds and slow diseases. The town is also home to a long series of murders and mysterious disappearances.

Professor Akihito, Minamo's father, research into the city's mysteries in an attempt to understand what caused these powers to develop, begins a chain of events and it is the player's goal to help Makoto uncover these mysteries while forging bonds with one of the five girls.

Successful reality television executive producer Joanna Eberhart's career suddenly ends after a disillusioned reality show participant named Hank attempts a shootout. After Joanna suffers a mental breakdown, she and her family move from Manhattan to Stepford, a quiet Fairfield County, Connecticut suburb. Husband Walter tries to walk out of their marriage but Joanna appeases him by trying to fit in with the other Stepford wives.

Joanna befriends writer and recovering alcoholic Roberta "Bobbie" Markowitz and Roger Bannister, a flamboyant gay man who has moved to town with his long-time partner Jerry. After the trio witness Sarah Sunderson violently dance and then collapse, Joanna, Bobbie and Roger go to Sarah's home to check up on her. Sarah has left the door open and they hear her upstairs, ecstatically screaming during sex with her husband. As they scramble to sneak out they find a remote control labeled SARAH, discovering a button that causes Sarah's breasts to enlarge and makes her walk backwards robotically.

Joanna and Bobbie sneak into the Men's Association to spy on the husbands. They discover a hall filled with family portraits but Roger catches them and assures them that all is well. The next day the pair discover Roger's flamboyant clothing, playbils, and photo of Orlando Bloom have all been discarded. Jerry tells them to meet him in the town hall and they see Roger, apparently running for State Senate, with a bland look and conformist personality. Joanna wants to leave and Walter agrees, saying they will go the next day. Going into Walter's study, she discovers that all the Stepford wives were once working women in high-power positions.

The next day, Joanna visits Bobbie and she notices that her formerly messy house is spotless. Now blending in with the other Stepford wives, Bobbie says she is a whole new person and the most important thing is her cookbook. While telling Joanna that she can help her change, Bobbie puts her hand over the stove's burner without even noticing.

Returning to the Men's Association, Joanna finds that in her family picture she now resembles a Stepford wife. Men's Association leader Mike shows how they insert nanochips into their wives' brains to make them Stepford wives. The men corner the Eberharts and force them toward the transformation room but Joanna asks if the new wives really mean it when they tell their husbands that they love them. The next scene shows the Stepford wives, including Joanna, now blonde and dressed in Sunday dresses, at the grocery store.

With Joanna and Walter as special guests, Stepford hosts a formal ball. During the festivities Joanna distracts Mike and entices him into the garden while Walter slips away to the transformation room where he destroys the software that programs the women. At the ball the wives corner their husbands and reveal that Joanna never received the microchip implant. Mike threatens Walter but Joanna decapitates him with a candlestick exposing him as a robot. Mike's wife Claire explains that she created Stepford because she, too, was a bitter career-minded woman. When she discovered Mike's affair with her research assistant she murdered them in a jealous rage. Claire then electrocutes herself by kissing Mike's severed robotic head.

Six months later, in an interview with Larry King, Roger and Bobbie explain that the Stepford husbands are being retrained to become better people. The closing scene reveals that the wives now take over Stepford.

During Spring, a family of nomadic shepherds assists the births of their camel herd. The last camel to calve this season has a protracted labor that persists for two days. With the assistance and intervention of the family, a rare white calf is born. This is the mother camel's first calving. Despite the efforts of the shepherds, the mother rejects the newborn, refusing it her milk and failing to establish a care-bond with it.

To restore harmony between the mother and calf, the nomadic family call upon the services of a group of lamas who perform a ritual with bread or dough 'effigies' ( ) of the mother, the calf and the individual members of the family. The rite opens with the sound of a sacred conchshell horn followed by bells in the hands of lamas, some of whom wield ''vajra''. The rite takes place with members of the extended nomadic community and a number of lama at a sacred place that consists of one end of a log, or wooden pole, set in the earth, with the other end raised to the sky: a stylized 'victory banner' ( ) with a piece of blue fabric entwined around it, functioning as a prayer flag (darchor-style). The log is supported by a cairn of rocks at its base as foundation. The ritual, however, does not re-establish harmony between the mother and calf.

The family then resolve to secure the services of an indigenous 'violinist' to play the music for a Mongolian 'Hoos' ritual. They send their two young boys on a journey through the desert to the community marketplace to locate a musician. The 'violinist' —who plays more precisely a morin khuur — is summoned to the camp and a ritual of folk music and chanting is enacted. The musician first drapes the morin khuur on the first hump of the camel to establish a sympathetic magical linkage between the mother and the state of harmony represented by the instrument. Once this is done he removes the instrument and commences playing. As the musician sounds the Mongolian 'violin', the female family member who lulled her child to sleep with a lullaby earlier in the documentary, repeatedly intones the calming sounds and beautiful melody of the 'hoos'. At this point, the mother camel starts to weep, tears visibly streaming from her eyes. Immediately after the rite the mother and calf are reconciled and the calf draws milk from her teat.

Lau Xing robs the Bank of England and hides in Phileas Fogg's house, giving his name as "Passport...too". Fogg hears "Passepartout" and hires him as valet. Passepartout helps Fogg break the speed barrier. At the Royal Academy of Science, Fogg is insulted by Baron Kelvin. Fogg bets that he can travel around the world in 80 days. If he wins, he will replace Kelvin as Minister of Science. If not, he will be ruined. Fogg and Passpartout take a carriage out of London after a confrontation with corrupt Inspector Fix, hired by Kelvin.

Passpartout and Fogg journey to Paris, where Passepartout must evade General Fang's warriors. Fang wants the jade Buddha previously given to Lord Kelvin but stolen by Passepartout. Pretending to take Fogg to see Thomas Edison, Passepartout leads him to impressionist painting student Monique La Roche. Passepartout fights the warriors while his boss discusses impressionism. The two men and Monique depart in a hot-air balloon, chased by Fang's warriors.

The trio continue their journey by train. However, in Istanbul, they are forced to become guests of Prince Hapi's banquet. Whilst initially hospitable, he soon orders the men to leave while Monique must become his seventh wife. The men convince Hapi to release Monique or they will damage his personal statue of "The Thinker", which is accidentally smashed. With Hapi in pursuit, the three travelers then escape.

Kelvin learns about the bank robbery. He orders the British-colonial authorities in India to arrest both men. Passepartout sees notice of the price on his head and warns his companions. Disguised as women they are attacked by Fang's warriors. Using Inspector Fix and a sextant as weapons, Fogg and Passepartout defeat their assailants and flee to China.

In a Chinese village where Lau Xing had came from, Lanzhou, they are welcomed by Lau's family members. However, they are captured by the Black Scorpions. Recognized, Lau Xing challenges the leader of the group to a fight. At first, he fights alone and is defeated; moments later, he is joined by his fellow "Ten Tigers of Canton" to defeat the Black Scorpions. The jade Buddha is returned to the village temple.

Fogg desires to continue alone, disappointed and feeling used by his companions after finding out that through a picture of Lau and his family members in the village. He travels to San Francisco and is tricked out of his money. He is found destitute by Lau Xing and Monique who have followed him. In the Western desert, they find the Wright brothers who discuss their prototype flying machine. Fogg suggests a few changes, which are eagerly taken.

In New York City, a jubilant crowd prevents them from their ship. A policeman leads them to an ambush in a workshop. The three friends fight Fang and her warriors and win. Though Fogg could have gotten to the boat, he misses it to help Lau Xing. Fogg feels that he has lost, but the other two say that they may still make it if they catch the next ship.

They board an old ship and Fogg builds a plane out of the ship's old wood, promising a new ship to the captain. The ship's crew builds a catapult to launch it. The three fly to London and crash-land at the Royal Academy. Kelvin sends police to hinder them, and the clock strikes noon, ending the wager.

Kelvin proclaims himself the victor. Monique, Fix and other ministers attest to Kelvin's unfair methods. Kelvin insults Queen Victoria who overhears the insult which leads to Kelvin’s arrest. She then reveals that she has bet money on Fogg winning and congratulates him for making it back a day early. Though Lau and Monique are confused, Fogg eventually realizes that they forgot to take the International Date Line into account. He ascends the stairs of the Academy and kisses Monique, victorious in his bet.

Peter LaFleur owns Average Joe's, a small, dilapidated gym with only a few members. When he defaults on the gym's mortgage, the cocky White Goodman, who owns Globo Gym across the street, purchases it, planning to foreclose on Average Joe's and demolish it to build a new auxiliary parking structure for his members unless Peter can raise $50,000 in 30 days. Goodman attempts to seduce attorney Katherine "Kate" Veatch, who is handling his account; repulsed, she cites conflict of interest (COI) to rebuff his disturbing advances, telling him she does not date clients.

Peter, gym employees Dwight Baumgarten and Owen Dittman, and members Steve "Pirate" Cowan, Justin Redman, and Gordon Pibb, all band together to raise money. After a car wash suggested by Owen fails, Gordon suggests entering a dodgeball tournament in Las Vegas with a $50,000 prize. After watching a 1950s-era training video obtained by Justin featuring Irish-American dodgeball legend Patches O'Houlihan, the team takes part in the local qualifiers. In a match, they lose easily to Girl Scout Troop 417, who are later disqualified due to one member's use of three separate types of anabolic steroids and a low-grade beaver tranquilizer, effectively handing the win to Average Joe's by default.

Having spied on Average Joe's using a hidden camera, Goodman forms his own team, surprising Gordon by revealing he joined the tournament because of his friendship with the chancellor. After watching their confrontation, Patches, now a wheelchair-bound elderly man, approaches Peter, volunteering to coach the team. Patches' unusual training regimen includes throwing wrenches at the team, having them dodge oncoming cars, and constantly insulting them. Kate demonstrates skill at the sport but declines to join the team, citing COI. Goodman shows up at Kate's house uninvited and announces that he misled her bosses about her drinking on the job, thus getting her fired from her law firm and freeing him to date her. Enraged, but now free of the COI, she rejects Goodman and joins the Average Joe's team.

At the tournament, the team suffers early setbacks but manages to advance to the final round against Globo Gym. The night before the match, a falling sign in the casino kills Patches. Demoralized, and anxious that the team will lose, Peter angrily tells Steve that he is not a pirate, causing Steve to leave the team. Returning to his room, Peter encounters Goodman, who greedily offers him $100,000 for the deed to Average Joe's. The day of the final round, Justin leaves to help his classmate Amber in a cheerleading competition, leaving Average Joe's short of players. Peter briefly encounters Lance Armstrong, who restores his morale, and rejoins his team, but he and Justin return too late; Average Joe's has already forfeited the match. Gordon finds a loophole in the rules: a majority of the judges can overturn the forfeiture. Chuck Norris casts the tie-breaking vote, allowing the team to play.

After an intense game, Peter and Goodman find themselves in a sudden-death match against each other. Inspired by Patches' spirit, Peter blindfolds himself, successfully dodges Goodman's throw and strikes him in the face, winning the championship and the prize money. To nullify the victory, Goodman reveals that Peter sold Average Joe's to him the previous night, but Peter reveals that he used Goodman's $100,000 to bet on Average Joe's to win; with the odds against them at 50 to 1, he collects $5 million. Since Globo Gym is a publicly traded company, as Kate explains, Peter purchases a controlling interest in it, thus regaining Average Joe's, then publicly fires Goodman. Steve, now appearing more normal, returns and apologizes to Peter, but reverts to his pirate persona when Peter shows him their winnings. Peter is shocked when Joyce, who caught an earlier flight from Guam to witness the final match, arrives and kisses Kate passionately. Kate then reveals her bisexuality and kisses Peter similarly. Kate becomes Peter's girlfriend, Justin and Amber get married with a baby on the way, and Owen begins dating Fran Stalinovskovichdaviddivichski from the Globo Gym team. Later on, Peter opens youth dodgeball classes at a newly renovated Average Joe's, while Goodman becomes morbidly obese out of depression, blaming Norris for his plight.

During the credits, Goodman breaks the fourth wall and scolds the audience for being accepting towards a generic "good guys win" ending as opposed to an ending that "makes you think", an obvious nod to the film's original ending. He then signs off by dancing to "Milkshake" by Kelis.

Ron Burgundy is the famous anchorman for a local San Diego television station, fictional KVWN channel 4. He works alongside his friends, whom he had known since childhood, on the news team: lead field reporter Brian Fantana, sportscaster Champ Kind, and meteorologist Brick Tamland. Station director Ed Harken informs the team that they have retained their long-held status as the highest-rated news program in San Diego, leading them to throw a wild party, where Burgundy unsuccessfully attempts to pick up a beautiful blonde woman, Veronica Corningstone. Harken later informs the team that they have been forced to hire Corningstone. After a series of unsuccessful attempts by the team to seduce her, she finally relents and agrees to a "professional tour" of the city with Ron, culminating in a sexual relationship. Despite agreeing to keep the relationship discreet, Burgundy announces it on air.

After a dispute with a motorcyclist ends in Burgundy's dog Baxter being punted off the San Diego–Coronado Bridge, Burgundy is late to work. Corningstone fills in for him on-air, receiving higher ratings than Burgundy usually receives, and the couple breaks up when Burgundy bemoans her success. Corningstone is promoted to co-anchor, to the disgust of the team. The co-anchors become fierce rivals off-air while maintaining a phony cordiality on-air. Depressed, the team (barring Corningstone) decide to buy new suits, but Tamland, who was leading the way, gets them lost in a shady part of town. Confronted by main competitor Wes Mantooth and his news team, Burgundy challenges them to a fight. When several other news teams converge onsite, a full-on melee battle ensues, only to be broken up by police sirens that cause them to flee. Realizing that having a female co-anchor is straining their reputation, Burgundy gets in another heated argument with Veronica, and they get in a physical fight after she insults his hair.

After one of Corningstone's co-workers informs her that Burgundy will read anything written on the teleprompter, she sneaks into the station and changes the text in revenge. The next day, Burgundy (unaware of what he is saying) concludes the broadcast with "Go fuck yourself, San Diego!", instead of his signature closing line, "You stay classy, San Diego!", triggering an angry mob outside the studio and prompting Harken to fire Burgundy. Realizing she went too far, Corningstone attempts to apologize but Burgundy angrily dismisses her apology. Burgundy soon becomes unemployed, friendless, and heavily antagonized by the public, grows depressed, and begins to neglect his duties while Veronica enjoys fame, although her male co-workers work with her grudgingly. Harken tells Kind, Tamland and Fantana that they are not allowed to talk to or do anything with Ron or else they will be fired as well.

Three months later, when a panda is about to give birth, every news team in San Diego rushes to the zoo to cover the story. In an attempt to sabotage her, a rival news anchor pushes Corningstone into a Kodiak bear enclosure. When Ed is unable to locate Veronica, he recruits and rehires Burgundy. Once at the zoo, Burgundy, his personal morale restored, jumps in the bear pen to save Veronica, as the public watches helplessly. The news team then jump in to save Ron and Veronica. Just as a bear is about to attack, Baxter, who miraculously survived, intervenes and encourages the bear to spare them. As the group climbs out of the pit, Wes appears and holds the ladder over the bear pit, threatening to drop Ron back in, and says that deep down he has always hated him, but then admits to Ron that he also respects him and pulls Ron out to safety.

After Burgundy and Corningstone reconcile, it is shown that in years to come, Fantana becomes the host of a Fox reality show named ''Intercourse Island'', Tamland is married with 11 children and is a top political adviser to George W. Bush, Kind is a commentator for the NFL before getting fired after being accused by Terry Bradshaw of sexual harassment, and Burgundy and Corningstone are co-anchors for the CNN-esque ''World News Center''.

In the 5th century AD, the declining Roman Empire is withdrawing from Britannia, where the native Woads, led by Merlin, stage an insurgency. A group of Sarmatian knights and their half-British Roman commander Artorius Castus, known as "Arthur", have fulfilled their duties to Rome and are preparing to return home. Arthur himself plans to continue his career in Rome until Bishop Germanus orders them to complete one final mission: evacuate an important Roman family from north of Hadrian's Wall, saving them from an advancing army of invading Saxons led by the ruthless Cerdic and his son, Cynric. Alecto, the son of the family patriarch, is a viable candidate to be a future Pope. Arthur and his remaining men - Lancelot, Tristan, Galahad, Bors, Gawain, and Dagonet - reluctantly accept the mission.

Arriving at their destination, they find that the Roman patriarch Marius, who refuses to leave, has enslaved the local population, enraging Arthur. He discovers a cell complex containing a number of dead Woads and two tortured survivors — a young woman named Guinevere and her younger brother Lucan. Arthur frees them and gives Marius an ultimatum — leave with them willingly or otherwise be taken prisoner. He and his knights commandeer the homestead, and liberate its exploited people. The convoy flees into the mountains with the Saxons in pursuit. Marius leads an attempted coup but is slain by Guinevere. Arthur learns from Alecto that Germanus and his fellow bishops had Arthur's childhood mentor and father figure, Pelagius, executed for his beliefs. This further disillusions Arthur from the Roman way of life, a process that matures when Guinevere and Merlin remind Arthur of his connection to the island of Britain through his Celtic mother.

Arthur leads the pursuing Saxons, led by Cynric, through a pass crossing a frozen lake. As battle ensues, Dagonet sacrifices himself to crack the lake ice with his axe, disrupting the Saxon advance. The knights safely deliver Alecto and his mother to Hadrian's wall and are officially discharged. Arthur, having concluded that his destiny lies with his mother's people, decides to engage the Saxons despite Lancelot's pleas to leave with them. The night before the battle, he and Guinevere make love, and on the following day, Arthur meets Cerdic under a white flag of parlay, vowing to kill him. He is soon joined by Lancelot and his fellow knights, who decide to fight. In the climactic Battle of Badon Hill, the Woads and knights whittle the Saxon army. Guinevere engages Cynric, who overwhelms her. Lancelot aids her and kills Cynric but is fatally wounded. Cerdic kills Tristan before facing off against Arthur, who kills the Saxon leader, condemning the invaders to defeat.

Arthur and Guinevere marry and Merlin proclaims Arthur as king of Britain. United by their defeat of the Saxons and the retreat of the Romans, Arthur promises to lead the Britons against future invaders. Three horses that had belonged to Tristan, Dagonet and Lancelot run free across the landscape, as the closing narrative from Lancelot describes how fallen knights live on in tales passed from generation to generation.

Told as a flashback to the early 21st century, with a wraparound sequence narrated by the orangutan Lawgiver in "North America – 2670 A.D.", this sequel follows the chimpanzee Caesar years after a global nuclear war has destroyed human civilization. Living with his wife, Lisa and their son, Cornelius, Caesar creates a new society while trying to cultivate peace between the apes and remaining humans. Caesar is opposed by an aggressive gorilla general named Aldo, who wants to imprison the humans who freely roam Ape City while doing menial labor.

After defusing followers of Aldo who attacked a human teacher Abe for saying "No" to apes, Caesar ponders if his own parents could have taught him how to make things better. MacDonald, Caesar's human assistant and the younger brother of MacDonald (from ''Conquest of the Planet of the Apes'') reveals to Caesar that his brother told him of archived footage of Cornelius and Zira within the underground, now radioactive ruins of what is known as the Forbidden City from the last film. Caesar travels with MacDonald and his orangutan advisor Virgil to the Forbidden City to find the archives.

It is revealed that mutated and radiation-scarred humans are living within the city, under the command of Governor Kolp, the man who once captured Caesar. Caesar and his party view the recordings of his parents, learning about the future and Earth's eventual destruction before they are forced to flee when Kolp's soldiers hunt them. Fearing the mutant humans may attack Ape City, Caesar reports his discoveries. When Caesar calls MacDonald and a select group of humans to the meeting, Aldo leads the gorillas away.

Kolp's scouts find Ape City. Believing Caesar is planning to finish off all mutant humans, Kolp declares war on Ape City despite his assistant Méndez's attempt to get him to see reason. Aldo plots a coup d'état in order for the gorillas to take control. Cornelius overhears from a nearby tree, but is critically wounded when Aldo spots him and hacks off the tree branch he is on with his sword. The next day, after a gorilla scouting pair are attacked by Kolp's men, Aldo takes advantage of a grieving Caesar's absence to have all humans corralled while looting the armory. Cornelius eventually dies from his wounds, leaving a devastated Caesar with the revelation that Cornelius was not hurt by humans.

When Kolp's ragtag force launches their attack, Caesar orders the defenders to fall back. Finding Caesar lying among dozens of fallen apes, Kolp expresses his intention to personally kill him. The apes, however, are merely feigning death and launch a counterattack that captures most of the mutant humans. Kolp and his remaining forces try to escape, only to be slaughtered by Aldo's troops once they are out in the open.

Aldo confronts Caesar about releasing the corralled local humans and orders the gorillas to kill them. When Caesar shields the humans and Aldo threatens him, Virgil, having learned the truth from MacDonald, reveals Aldo's role in Cornelius's death. Enraged with Aldo for breaking their most sacred law, "ape shall never kill ape", Caesar pursues him up a large tree, their confrontation resulting in Aldo falling to his death.

With Caesar realizing that apes are no different than their former human slaveowners, he agrees to MacDonald's request for humans to be treated as equals, co-existing in a new society. They store their guns in the armory; Caesar and Virgil reluctantly explain to the armory's overseer, an orangutan named Mandemas, that they will still need their weapons for future conflicts and can only wait for the day when they will no longer need them.

The scene returns to the Lawgiver, saying it has now been over 600 years since Caesar's death. His audience is revealed to be a group of young humans and apes, the Lawgiver noting that their society still waits for a day when their world will no longer need weapons, while they "wait with hope". A closeup of a statue of Caesar shows a single tear falling from one eye.

Outside a church celebrating an Eastern Orthodox baptism in Pale, Bosnia, the Bosnian Finance Minister, a moderate pushing for peace in the ongoing Yugoslav Wars, is murdered.

At a missile base in Kartaly (Chelyabinsk Oblast), Russia, ten R-36M2 Mod. 5, 550–750 kiloton MIRV nuclear warheads that belong to a SS-18 Satan ICBM are loaded onto a train for transport to a dismantling facility. However, Russian Army General Aleksandr Kodoroff, along with a rogue Spetznaz unit, kills the soldiers on board the transport train and transfers nine of the warheads to another train. Kodoroff then activates the timer on the remaining warhead and sends the transport on a collision course with a passenger train. Minutes later, the 500-kiloton warhead detonates, killing thousands of civilians and delaying an investigation of the accident.

The detonation immediately attracts the attention of the US government. Dr. Julia Kelly, head of the National Security Council Nuclear Smuggling Group, believes that Chechen terrorists are behind the incident. US Army Ranger Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Devoe interrupts her briefing to suggest that the incident was staged to hide the hijacking of the warheads. A call to Devoe's friend and Russian counterpart, FSB Colonel Dimitri Vertikoff, adds reliability to his theory and he is assigned as Kelly's military liaison.

Kelly and Devoe secure information about the terrorist's hijacking operation through an Austrian trucking company that works as a front for the Russian Mafia. They meet Vertikoff in Vienna, then they assume identities to visit Shummaker, who organizes the Russian's trucking. After torturing Shummaker for information, the trio are chased through Vienna by his men, who kill Vertikoff before Devoe finishes killing the attackers.

Information from the trucking company says that the nukes are going to Iran via a route through Azerbaijan. When US spy satellites place the truck in a traffic jam of refugees in Dagestan, Devoe uses a ruse to identify it. This information is passed on to Russian authorities in hopes of stopping the transfer to Iran. The Russian military stops Kodoroff at a roadblock, but he and his men kill the soldiers.

Devoe leads an airborne Special Operations team from a U.S. base in Turkey to stop them. Denied entry into Russian airspace, one of the three Special Ops helicopters is shot down by a Russian surface-to-air missile, but the remaining two manage to locate Kodoroff's truck. They fire missiles which disable Kodoroff's truck, then engage in a gunfight, killing Kodoroff and securing the warheads. Interrogation of the surviving member of the group, a U.S. educated Pakistani nuclear scientist, reveals that one warhead had been sent off with an operative before the truck was intercepted.

The information from the trucking company leads IFOR to a Sarajevo address. Inside is a video cassette of a Bosnian named Dušan Gavrić, who disclaims allegiance to any particular faction in the Yugoslav Wars, but blames other countries for supplying weapons to all sides in the war. Kelly's further analysis of the trucking company documents suggests that Gavrić intends to bomb a meeting at the UN headquarters in New York City. Gavrić arrives in Manhattan with the Bosnian diplomatic delegation.

A flashback shows that Gavrić wants to avenge the death of his wife and daughter, who were killed in Sarajevo during a sniper attack. He and his brother are later found by Devoe and Kelly. When his brother is killed by Devoe, a wounded and enraged Gavrić flees into a parochial school where he's seen in the church sanctuary. Devoe and Kelly confront Gavrić, who commits suicide, knowing that the bomb is set to go off in a matter of minutes. With only seconds to spare, Dr. Kelly is able to remove part of the explosive lens shell of the bomb and to stop the primary explosion from establishing critical mass within the plutonium core. The primary explosives detonate, wrecking the church, as Devoe and Kelly dive out of a window. Kelly's manipulation of the warhead prevent it from detonating as a nuclear explosion.

After the nuclear incident is over, Kelly is seen swimming laps in a pool. Devoe stops by and asks her out for a drink, which she accepts.

Felix Grandet, master cooper, married the daughter of a wealthy timber merchant at a time when the French Republic had confiscated the lands of the Church in the district of Saumur. When the land was auctioned his wife's dowry and his existing savings enabled him to buy substantial property, including some of the best area under vines, all at a very satisfactory price. Though there was little sympathy locally for the Revolution, Grandet rose in esteem and became mayor, later yielding the post under the Empire only because Napoleon had no liking for republicans. At this time his only daughter was ten years old and in that same year more wealth fell into Grandet's lap by way of inheritance of the estates of his mother-in-law, grandfather-in-law, and grandmother.

We gradually learn of Grandet's miserly habits which included rarely admitting townspeople to his house. The principal exceptions were his banker des Grassins and his notary Cruchot, both of whom understood better than many the extent of Grandet's wealth and that since he was 60 in 1819 when much of the action is set, that the wealth must one day devolve on Eugénie. Naturally, they had candidates to marry her in the form of Cruchot's nephew President Cruchot de Bonfons who was president of the court of first instance, and the des Grassins son, Adolphe des Grassins. The townspeople take a lively interest in the competition, which is only natural since some sort of inheritance was the major route to prosperity in the early nineteenth century.

Throughout this sequence we are treated to details of Felix Grandet's parsimony; this may have developed initially through sheer lack of funds but by now is total vice. He counts out slices of bread in the morning though actually never parting with cash for it since one of his tenants pays part of his rent in kind; most other consumables are supplied in a similar way. Mme Grandet is given no more than six francs at a time for pocket money.average annual income at the time was about 450 francs: see Picketty p106 Though his house is impressive externally it is old and run-down, and he is too miserly to repair it; their servant Nanon puts her foot through a rotten stair but faithfully saves the bottle she carries. The novel illustrates Balzac's belief that money had taken over as the national god. see Cousin Pons for more on this theme towards the end of Balzac's career

On Eugénie's birthday, in 1819, Felix Grandet is celebrating with his favoured coterie of Grassinistes and Cruchotins. They are disturbed by a confident knock on the door and a young stranger is admitted, who hands a letter to Felix. It is from brother Guillaume, unseen and unresponsive in Paris for 30 years asking Felix to assist Charles his son to travel to the Indies. Additionally and confidentially, that Guillaume having gone bankrupt, is planning to take his own life. The next day newspaper headline announces the fact of Guillaume's death, and debts, which causes Charles to break down. While he sleeps Eugénie reads a letter to his mistress and assumes he is dismissing Annette and planning to marry her: Another letter Eugénie reads impels her to collect up the rare gold coins her father gave her on her birthdays. Later she offers the gold to Charles who asks her to guard a gold dressing case given to him by his mother. Meanwhile Felix had made 14,000 francs on dealing in gold coin and preparations were made for Charles to depart to the Indies. Felix devises a way of profiting from winding up his deceased brother's failed business, aided by des Grassins.

After Charles has left (not realising that Felix has swindled him out of his jewelry for a pitiful sum), Eugénie pines secretly for Charles, and is comforted by her mother and Nanon. On New Year's Day, Felix asks to see Eugénie's store of rare gold coins, an annual tradition. Enraged upon discovering that Eugénie has given them away to Charles, he shuts Eugénie in her bedroom, and gives orders that she is to eat only bread and water, and leave her room only to attend church. Appalled by this, Felix's wife, who has been patient, loving and supportive throughout their married life, is physically ground down by their austere life and Felix's behaviour towards Eugénie. As she lies ill in bed, she repeatedly begs Felix to forgive Eugénie, but he refuses.

Felix only changes his behaviour upon being visited by the notary, M. Cruchot, who warns Felix that if his wife dies, Eugénie will be her heir rather than Felix. As such, she would be entitled to demand half of all the property that Felix and his wife jointly own. Felix accordingly becomes more friendly and forgives Eugénie, but his wife continues to get sicker. A doctor tells him that drugs will be of little use: at best, with care, Felix's wife will live until the autumn. When she dies, Felix persuades Eugénie to sign away all of her entitlement to her mother's share of the joint property: he promises her a pittance of 100 francs a month. Eugénie agrees to this, although Felix subsequently goes back on his promise.

Years pass, and Eugénie continues her same existence, assuming many of her mother's duties in the household. Eventually, Felix himself sickens and dies, leaving Eugénie extremely wealthy. Eugénie lives the next few years in Saumur with her faithful servant Nanon and Nanon's husband, M. Cornoiller, and remains unmarried, waiting for Charles.

Meanwhile, Charles has made a fortune (several million francs) trading slaves in the Americas. He, like Felix, has the Grandets' fatal flaws: greed and avarice. His business activities include the illegal and the unethical, and he has continuously been unfaithful to Eugénie, whom he soon forgets, blinded by both greed, and by rage at the memory and realisation of Felix having swindled him. Deciding to return to Paris, he decides to marry into a noble but impoverished family, the d'Aubrions, to advance his social standing. In Paris, M. des Grassins - representing his father's creditors - approaches Charles, asking for the balance of the debts. Charles however taunts him, saying the debts are his father's rather than his own, and has him thrown out of the room

Charles then writes to Eugénie of his new engagement, telling her that he does not love his new fiancée, but that love is merely an idealistic dream, and that Eugénie's simple country lifestyle is completely incompatible with his own. He also demands the return of his dressing case, and encloses a check for the balance of the gold coins. Eugénie is shocked by this news and cries. She is also visited by Mmme des Grassins, who has a letter from her husband, in which, outraged at Charles's behavior towards him, he declares his intention to stop protecting Charles from the creditors, and have him officially declared bankrupt, ruining Charles's newfound social standing.

Later that day, her priest comes visiting to advise her to fulfill her Catholic duty to marry and produce heirs to her fortune. She decides to marry Cruchot, under the conditions that he must never attempt to consummate their marriage. Cruchot readily agrees, motivated by Eugénie's wealth, and ensures they both sign a will under which the deceased spouse leaves their entire fortune to the survivor.

Cruchot is sent by Eugénie to Paris to pay off Charles's creditors in full, ensuring no bankruptcy is called. She also sends Charles a letter agreeing with him that she is indeed very different to him, and their lifestyles are indeed completely incompatible. Charles realises that Eugénie is actually extremely wealthy (having been fooled by Felix's miserly behaviour): Cruchot taunts him with the fact that Eugenie is actually far wealthier than Charles.

Cruchot goes on to become president of the superior courts, but dies before achieving his final ambitions of attaining a peerage, and before Eugénie's death, which both he and Eugénie knew he had long hoped for, in order to inherit her wealth. After his death, Eugénie - inheriting Cruchot's wealth - remains in the old Grandet household, living as parsimoniously as they had always lived, donating her accumulated wealth to charitable causes.

The novel ends as it begins, with the latest round of suitors paying visits to the Grandet household, in the hope of marrying the wealthy Eugénie.

The new Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Katherine Pulaski (Diana Muldaur), is brought aboard the ''Enterprise'' as it prepares to travel to Aucdet IX in order to take on dangerous virus samples, which will be carried to a Starfleet Medical station hoping they will be able to devise a cure for a plague epidemic in the Rachelis System. After taking aboard the new doctor, the ship is traveling at sub light speed when a ball of energy passes in through the hull, eventually settling in the womb of Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis). Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) wonders why the new doctor hadn't checked in with him, and locates her in the Ten Forward lounge, where the bartender, Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg), works. Picard finds Doctor Pulaski talking with Troi about her unexpected pregnancy. The senior officers meet to discuss the pregnancy. The fetus is developing at an accelerated rate and would be fully developed in 36 hours. Troi does not know who the father is, but was aware of a "presence" entering her body the night before. Though the senior staff debate terminating the pregnancy, Troi decides she will carry the child to term.

The ''Enterprise'' arrives at Aucdet IX to pick up the plague samples, which are stored in a highly secure storage vessel. Troi gives birth to an apparently normal boy, whom she names Ian Andrew after her father. Ian continues to develop rapidly; within a day, he appears as a four-year-old child with corresponding mental faculties. When asked if he is ready to explain who or what he is, Ian responds "not yet." Having completed the transfer of the virus samples, the ''Enterprise'' heads for the Starfleet Medical station. En route, the crew finds one of the plague strains is growing inexplicably; should it continue growing, it will rupture the storage vessel and result in the catastrophic exposure of all on board.

They discover that an unknown source of Eichner radiation is causing the growth. Ian (R. J. Williams), now appearing as an eight-year-old, confides to Troi that he is the source of the crew's problems and will have to leave. Troi realizes Ian is dying and calls for medical assistance. Ian dies in Troi's arms, and returns to his energy form. The energy being contacts Troi's mind, and explains that he impregnated her in order to discover what it was like to be human. With Ian gone, the plague sample returns to normal and the crew continues on their mission.

Meanwhile, Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) has been trying to cope with leaving the ''Enterprise'' to join his mother on Earth after her promotion to director of Starfleet Medical. After receiving guidance from Guinan, he decides he wants to remain on the ''Enterprise''.

John Hammond, a rich industrialist, used his wealth to assemble a scientific team that cloned dinosaurs. An amusement park showcasing his biological attractions fails when the dinosaurs escape. While Jurassic Park was built on Isla Nublar, off the coast of Costa Rica, the animals were raised at an alternate location, Isla Sorna, also named Site B. ''Trespasser'' takes place a year after the events of ''The Lost World: Jurassic Park'', where the general public learned about the existence of Jurassic Park.Trespasser Manual. 1998. DreamWorks Interactive. p5.

The player controls Anne, whose plane has crashed on the way to Costa Rica. Anne awakens on the shores of an island, apparently the sole survivor of the crash, and proceeds to explore. Anne learns she is on Site B. Pursued by dinosaurs, Anne makes use of weapons left behind to defend herself. She follows a monorail track into the island interior. After recovering security cards from an InGen town, Anne proceeds to a large mountain. At the summit, Anne contacts the United States Navy on an emergency channel. After defeating the Alpha ''Velociraptor'' and its tribe that lives atop the mountain, she is rescued by helicopter. Anne returns to her apartment.

The film opens with the kindly Italian woodcarver, Geppetto, declaring his secret love for a woman named Leona by carving their initials in a heart on an old pine tree in the forest. Later, lightening strikes the tree. Many years later, Geppetto, now an old man living alone with his cat and his puppets, returns to the forest. A piece of wood from that tree, bearing the heart Gepetto carved, finds its way into his cart. Feeling a certain affinity for it, he decides to carve a puppet from it. When he finishes his work, he names his new creation Pinocchio, from the pine wood he made him from and for his magnificent eyes. Suddenly, the wooden boy comes to life and shocks the old puppet-maker. Although Gepetto tells Pinocchio that he is not his father, he seeks to protect the puppet, who damages himself while trying to imitate a pigeon leaping and running along the roofs of the city. Later, Pinocchio wanders off, following a child with a ball. He runs into Volpe and Felinet, who try to sell him to the puppet-maker Lorenzini. Although Lorenzini agrees to pay a great deal for Pinocchio, Geppetto declines.

Later, Pinocchio follows a group a schoolchildren and becomes fascinated by school and learning. But a rowdy boy named Lampwick (Corey Carrier) involves him in a violent prank. The teacher punishes Pinocchio harshly, and the puppet is forced to leave the company of the real boys. He then causes a great deal of mischief in a bakery. Gepetto is held responsible for the puppets actions and arrested. While Geppetto spends the night in a prison cell, Pinocchio returns home and meets 'the voice of truth' in the form of a wise and optimistic cricket named Pepe. Pepe promises to help Pinocchio to become a real boy, if he can promise to be good. The next day, Gepetto and Pinocchio stand before the judge, who rules that unless Gepetto can pay for the damage Pinocchio caused they will both be sent to prison. Lorenzini steps in and offers to pay off the debt, on the condition that Pinocchio be handed over to his custody. Gepetto strongly refuses but eventually gives in, believing that perhaps the puppet will be better off that way. Pinocchio is heartbroken and does not want to leave his "father", but Gepetto tells them that he cannot be his father since he is not a real boy. Pinocchio comes to enjoy the theatre and also comes to believe that Lorenzini loves him as much as his Papa did. Pepe tells him that Lorenzini is just using him to gain money and success. Pinocchio comes to realize this as he performs in Lorenzini's play, and manages to save several puppets from being burned by the cruel Lorenzini. As he escapes, he accidentally sets the theatre aflame. He floats away down the river, passing through the woodlands to a quiet church. Volpe and Felinet catch up with him and manage to swindle him out of the few pieces of gold that he still has by telling him that if he buries them in the ground they will grow and cause a miracle that will turn him into a real boy. Pepe scolds the puppet and proclaims: "Miracles don't grow on trees. Miracles are made in the heart!" Meanwhile, Geppetto and his friend (and secret love) Leona have begun searching the forest for Pinocchio. However, Pinocchio is enticed by Lampwick to join of wagon-load of other boys who are being taken to Terra Magica, a hidden fun-fair for boys where they are encouraged to perform all sorts of cruel and naughty deeds. While riding on a roller-coaster, Lampwick and some others are turned into donkeys by the enchanted water of a huge fountain. They are then rounded up by Lorenzini, who runs the place and intends to sell the donkeys as work animals. Pinocchio, half-transformed himself, frees the donkeys form their pen. Chased by Lorenzini and his henchmen, Pinocchio attempts to warn the others. No one believes him until Lampwick strikes out with his hooves and knocks Lorenzini into the fountain, where he turns into a sea monster. The boys run form the valley together, leaving Pinocchio and the donkey Lampwick to journey alone.

Geppetto and Leona arrive and find Pinocchio's hat, believing him to be lost at sea. Before striking out in a rowboat to search for the puppet, Geppetto finally declares his love for Leona. She angrily cries that she (who was married to his deceased brother for many years) is done waiting for him. However, when Pinocchio arrives she is still there, and takes care of Lampwick while reluctantly allowing Pinocchio to follow Gepetto. The puppet is swallowed by Lorenzini (now a monstrous whale). Inside the creature's stomach, Pinocchio is finally reunited with his Papa. In order to escape, Pinocchio tells Gepetto that he hates him. The lie causes Pinocchio's nose to lengthen and push the whale's throat open wider. They make it back to shore, where Geppetto apologizes for giving Pinocchio away and tells him he loves him. Pinocchio begins to cry tears and turns into a real boy. He proclaims: "Miracles are made in the heart, Papa,". Pepe leaves Pinocchio temporarily to go on a much needed vacation. On the way home, Pinocchio runs into Volpe and Felinet. He tricks them into drinking from the fountain where he and the other boys were turned into donkeys. The two swindlers are transformed into a fox and a cat, which results in them being captured by a farmer as new pets. Pinocchio returns to live life as a real boy with his Papa, Leona and his best friend Lampwick, who changed back by becoming good.

Vada Sultenfuss has matured from the spunky 11-year-old hypochondriac in 1972 to a more serious teenager in early 1974. Her father Harry and his new wife Shelly DeVoto, whom he dated in the first film, are expecting a baby, and they all still live in the Sultenfuss funeral parlor in Madison, Pennsylvania. To accommodate the new baby, Vada moves into her late Gramoo's old bedroom. She struggles with these adjustments, along with figuring boys out. One of them from school, Kevin, seems to like her friend Judy, but Vada wonders if he likes her, too. Both her father and Shelly try to give Vada some boy advice, but it backfires.

Vada receives a school assignment to write an essay on someone she admires but has never met. She decides to write about her late mother, Margaret Ann Muldovan (Maggie), but has few sources to go on, all confined to a small box. Among its contents are programs of plays her mother acted in, a passport, and a mystery paper bag with a date scribbled on it. Vada expresses her desire to travel someday, so Shelly concocts a plan for her to go to Los Angeles during her spring break, where she can stay with her uncle Phil and do research on her mother, who lived in L.A. growing up. Initially against the idea, believing Vada is too young to be traveling by herself, and fearing what might happen to her in L.A., Harry lets Vada take the five-day trip.

On arriving in L.A., Vada confronts a boy her age named Nick, who shows up at the airport instead of Phil. Nick is the son of Phil's new companion Rose, who runs a car repair shop where Phil is now a mechanic. Vada notices that her uncle has trouble with commitment, and that he and Rose live together. While annoyed at first about sacrificing his own spring break, Nick helps Vada with the difficult search of learning more about her mother by showing her around the city.

First planning to visit her mother's school, Vada discovers that it was destroyed in a fire. While a setback in her quest, she and Nick eventually track down a yearbook and meet several people who knew Maggie, including a police officer, photographer and film director. Vada also sees her favorite poet, Alfred Beidermeyer, who also lives in L.A., but after hearing his advice on not becoming a writer, she takes it hard. Later in the trip, Nick and Vada sneak out one evening to catch some Hollywood attractions, during which time Vada also gets her ears pierced, despite Nick's opposition to the custom.

Vada learns some shocking things about her mother, such as being suspended from school for smoking, and having another husband before her father named Jeffrey Pommeroy. Emotionally crushed by the latter, Vada worries that Jeffrey may actually be her father instead. Realizing he holds the key to more about her mother, but needing help from the police to locate him first, Vada goes to see Jeffrey, who instantly remembers Maggie. He provides Vada with valuable information for her essay, including a home movie and the answer behind the date written on the paper bag. Viewing the home movie touches Vada, as she watches her mother. Jeffrey also assures Vada that he is not her father.

Meanwhile, Phil tries to prove his love to Rose, after a man owning a fancy car repeatedly stops by the repair shop and tries to sweep her away by continuously flattering her. When Phil finally gets the courage to show how much she means to him, he proposes to her.

As Vada is ready to head home, she and Nick share a goodbye kiss at the airport before she boards the plane. Also, she notices a gift in her backpack from Nick—earrings. When she returns home, she finds out that Shelly just had the baby and heads to the hospital to see her new brother. To calm his crying, Vada, while holding him, sings "Smile", a song she heard her mother singing in the home movie. Vada receives an A+ on her essay, and hopes to share what she learned during her trip with her brother someday.

Lucas Blye is an intelligent and nerdy 14-year-old high school student in suburban Chicago. He becomes acquainted with Maggie, an attractive older girl who has just moved to town. After meeting Lucas on one of his entomological quests, Maggie befriends him, spending time with him during the remainder of the summer until school begins.

Lucas, who finds himself a frequent victim of bullying and teasing, has a protector of sorts in Cappie Roew, an older student and football player. Cappie was once one of Lucas' tormentors, until Cappie contracted hepatitis and Lucas, for reasons no one ever knew, brought him his homework every day, ensuring that Cappie did not fail and have to repeat a year of school.

Even though Lucas deems it beneath her, Maggie becomes a cheerleader for the football team in order to get closer to Cappie, on whom she has a growing crush. Angered and offended by Maggie's inattention towards him, Lucas begins to chastise Maggie, continuing to dismiss her cheerleading as "superficial" and incorrectly assuming that she will be his date to an upcoming school dance. Maggie complains to Lucas that she's interested in activities other than being with him.

On the night of the dance, Cappie is dumped by his girlfriend Alise over his attraction to Maggie, which she has been noticing. A depressed Cappie finds comfort with Maggie at her house—much to the chagrin of Lucas, who has arrived, in tuxedo, to pick her up for the dance. Even though Cappie and Maggie invite him out for pizza, he rebukes them and rides off on his bike. Rina, one of Lucas' friends, encounters Lucas as he sits alone, watching the dance from across a lake. Although she has feelings for Lucas, she puts them aside to console him about he and Maggie being "from two different worlds". On the way home, Lucas happens to ride by the pizza parlor and is crushed to see Maggie and Cappie kissing on their date.

In a last-ditch attempt to impress Maggie and gain the respect he so desperately craves, the diminutive Lucas joins the football team. In the shower after practice, Lucas endures yet another prank from his constant tormentors Bruno and Spike. At the end of the day, Lucas flees in embarrassment to his favorite hiding place (beneath a railroad overpass near the school) and Maggie chases him to talk with him. After Maggie tells him that she wants him to be her friend, Lucas tries to kiss her. Maggie recoils, and a heartbroken Lucas screams at her to leave.

The next day at the football game, Lucas removes his helmet during a play and is seriously injured after being tackled and is rushed to the hospital. Maggie, Cappie, and Rina attempt to contact Lucas' parents, though Maggie discovers that she does not know Lucas as well as she thought she did. Correcting Maggie's misguided impression that Lucas lives in the large luxurious house where she has seen him several times, Rina shows them that Lucas lives in a dilapidated trailer in a junkyard with his alcoholic father and only works as a gardener at the large house.

Meanwhile, Lucas' schoolmates hold vigil for him in the hospital as he recuperates. Maggie visits Lucas' room that evening and sternly tells him never to play football again. Lucas promises, and the two reconcile, picking up their friendship where they left off. Lucas and Maggie speculate as to where they will be when the locusts return seventeen years later; both express the hope that they will still be in touch when the locusts return again.

Lucas returns to school a short time after his recovery, with schoolmates all casting surprised looks at him as he walks through the hall. Upon reaching his locker, he finds Bruno and Spike there waiting for him, but he tries to ignore them as he opens his locker. Inside is a varsity letter jacket, with Lucas's name and number on the back. As Lucas takes it out in shock, Bruno starts the "slow clap", and the entire hallway starts applauding. Maggie, Cappie, Cash, and Rina are there as well, leading the applause as Lucas raises his arms triumphantly and smiles.

Gemma Dillard is a 13-year-old country girl who lives with her Grandpa Dillard on a farm in the Texas Panhandle. Gemma is visited by her mother, who lives in Fort Worth, with an offer to come stay with her in the city. Her mother (who had Gemma when she was still only a teenager) is now married with a job as a hair stylist and can provide for her.

Gemma at first experiences slight culture shock in regards to big city life, but soon comes to accept her new surroundings. She becomes acquainted with a man with an intellectual disability, 21-year-old Rory Torrance. They play together, hang out together, and imagine that they are married.

The story focuses on a series of bittersweet experiences that eventually return Gemma to the country.

The novel deals with the significance of two connected events that happened on the same day, long before the opening of the novel. The first was the excavation of an ancient and valuable archaeological idol, a phallic figure unearthed from the tomb of an Anglo-Saxon bishop Eorpwald, known as the "Melpham excavation". Gerald has long been haunted by a drunken revelation by his friend Gilbert, who was involved with this excavation, that the whole thing was a hoax perpetrated to embarrass Gilbert's father. Gilbert told Gerald that he put the idol there. Gerald, while feeling that his friend was telling the truth, pushed the matter to the back of his mind and tried to forget about it. He now feels ashamed that he, a history professor, has never had the courage to try to resolve the matter one way or another.

The second is that Gerald Middleton fell in love with Dollie, Gilbert's fiancée, and had an affair with her when his friend went off to fight in World War I. When Gilbert was killed at the front, Dollie refused to marry Gerald. He ended up marrying a Scandinavian woman named Inge but continued his affair with Dollie, who became an alcoholic. Gerald and Inge later separated.

''Anglo-Saxon Attitudes'' is full of side-plots and coincidences and contains a host of eccentric characters. Some of these characters are Gerald's family. Robin, his eldest son, is a womaniser who cannot decide whether to leave his wife or his mistress. Kay has an unhappy marriage and a deeply embittered view of her father, whom she appears to blame for everything that has gone wrong in her life, including her withered hand (which was actually caused by her mother). Gerald's estranged wife, Inge, is a grotesquely deluded woman who cannot bring herself to acknowledge her younger son John's homosexuality or her daughter's physical disability.

Gerald feels responsible for Dollie's plight and for those of his children. He feels that the knowledge of his complicity over the Melpham affair has drained his morale and made him withdrawn and indecisive. The novel begins with him resolving to make good the 'bloody shameful waste' of his life, by investigating the Melpham affair and making peace with Dollie. He also attempts to develop better relationships with his grown-up children and with Inge.

By the novel's end, Gerald achieves a measure of peace with his past. He persuades Dollie to come forward with a letter from Gilbert's father's colleague, Canon Portway, proving that the Melpham incident was a hoax; then he and Dollie begin a platonic friendship. He gives up on achieving good relations with his family.

Setting

''Eldest'' begins three days after the events of the preceding novel, ''Eragon'', in the dwarf city of Tronjheim, inside of a hollowed mountain named Farthen Dûr. ''Farthen Dûr'' is in the southeastern part of Alagaësia, the fictional continent where the ''Inheritance Cycle'' takes place. Throughout the novel, the protagonists travel to many different places: Ellesméra, the elven capital city in the forest Du Weldenvarden, on the northern portion of Alagaësia; Carvahall, a small town located on the northwestern part of Alagaësia in Palancar Valley; and Aberon, the capital of Surda, in the southern portion of Alagaësia.

Characters

The story is told in third-person through protagonists Eragon, Roran, and Nasuada. Eragon is nearly always accompanied by his dragon Saphira. Due to the multiple points-of-view, multiple stories take place concurrently, and the protagonist characters do not meet often. Several other characters return from ''Eragon'', including Arya (the elf warrior, daughter of the elven queen), Orik, Roran (Eragon's cousin and a major character), Ajihad (the leader of the Varden, who dies and is replaced by his daughter Nasuada), and Angela (the herbalist). Some new characters are introduced in ''Eldest'', such as Oromis and his dragon Glaedr. Murtagh appears briefly as a minor protagonist but then reappears later as a primary antagonist with his dragon, Thorn.

Plot summary

''Eldest'' begins as Ajihad, the king of the rebel Varden force, is ambushed and killed, while The Twins and Murtagh are assumed dead. Ajihad's daughter Nasuada is elected to command the Varden, and decides to move them to Surda and oppose the Empire openly. Eragon and Saphira decide to travel to the forest Du Weldenvarden to be trained as a Dragon Rider by the elves. The dwarf king, Hrothgar, adopts Eragon to his clan and has his now foster brother, Orik, accompany him to the forest. There, Eragon meets the stranger who had contacted him, revealed to be a Rider, Oromis, with his Dragon Glaedr, the only Dragon and Rider secretly alive. However, both are crippled, and so cannot fight Galbatorix directly, choosing to pass on their knowledge. Eragon and Saphira are taught the use of logic, magic theory, scholarship, and combat, among other things.

However, having received a back injury in the previous book, Eragon is beset by agonizing seizures, which debilitate him. He also struggles with his romantic feelings for Arya, while Saphira has similar struggles toward Glaedr. Arya becomes aware of his feelings, and distances herself from him, not to interfere in his education, while Saphira is violently rejected by Glaedr. Eventually, in an ancient elven ceremony, the Agaetí Blödhren, Eragon is affected by powerful magic, turning him into an elf-human hybrid, and healing his back injury. He makes another romantic attempt on Arya, but she harshly rejects him, and leaves to rejoin the Varden.

Meanwhile, unknowing of all of this, Eragon's cousin Roran plans to marry Katrina, daughter of Sloan, the village butcher. While the village is at peace, they are unexpectedly attacked by Galbatorix's soldiers and the Ra'zac, who had killed Roran's father, Garrow. Roran fights the soldiers with a hammer, which becomes his signature weapon. The Ra'zac and most of the soldiers escape, saying that they want information from Roran. The entire village then sets up defenses, and during a second invasion, the Ra'zac escape again. One night, Roran wakes up to find Katrina being attacked by the Ra'zac, who sneaked into the house. They seriously injure him and capture Katrina. Sloan, revealed to be in league with the Ra'zac, is then flown away by them, along with Katrina.

Torn between chasing after Katrina and staying behind to defend his home, Roran rallies almost the entirety of the village to travel to Surda and join the Varden. On the way, they journey to Teirm, where Roran meets Jeod, Brom's friend, who informs him about Eragon, and decides to go with them. With Jeod's help, they steal a ship, and journey toward Surda by sea.

Meanwhile, Nasuada struggles under the burdens of leadership. She hatches a plan to fund them by selling magically-crafted lace, to alleviate their financial troubles. She also meets Elva, a child supposedly blessed by Eragon in the previous book. Eragon is revealed to have botched the blessing with poor phrasing, accidentally forcing Elva to feel the pain of others. Elva uses her abilities to save Nasuada from an assassination attempt. Nasuada eventually learns that Galbatorix is fielding a massive army against them, and sends for help from the dwarves and Eragon.

Eragon has a prophetic dream of the coming battle, and decides to interrupt his training to aid the Varden in battle. Oromis consents and provides him with numerous gifts to help him, but insists he return to finish his training after the battle. He journeys with Saphira and Orik to the Varden's camp, reuniting with Nasuada and Arya, and meeting Elva, promising to rid her of his failed blessing. The Varden are then joined by an army of Urgals, who seek an alliance with them after being freed of Durza's control.

As the battle begins, it goes poorly for the massively outnumbered Varden. Roran and the dwarves arrive mid-battle, and begin to turn the tide in favor of the Varden, but an unknown Dragon Rider unexpectedly arrives and kills Hrothgar. Eragon engages this Rider, who proves an even match, and unmasks him, revealing him to be Murtagh. Murtagh reveals he was kidnapped by the Twins, who had betrayed the Varden. After the dragon, named Thorn, had hatched for him, they were both forced into loyalty by Galbatorix. Meanwhile, the battle proceeds, with the Twins revealing themselves and causing massive losses among the Varden, until Roran kills them.

Murtagh and Eragon resume their fight, with Murtagh easily defeating Eragon through magic. He shows mercy to him, on account of their old friendship, but takes Eragon's sword Zar'roc, which he claims to be his inheritance, revealing that he and Eragon are brothers.

Ultimately, the Varden win the battle. The book ends as Roran asks Eragon for help in rescuing Katrina, to which he agrees.

''Eldest'' begins as Ajihad, the king of the rebel Varden force, is ambushed and killed, while The Twins and Murtagh are assumed dead. Ajihad's daughter Nasuada is elected to command the Varden, and decides to move them to Surda and oppose the Empire openly. Eragon and Saphira decide to travel to the forest Du Weldenvarden to be trained as a Dragon Rider by the elves. The dwarf king, Hrothgar, adopts Eragon to his clan and has his now foster brother, Orik, accompany him to the forest. There, Eragon meets the stranger who had contacted him, revealed to be a Rider, Oromis, with his Dragon Glaedr, the only Dragon and Rider secretly alive. However, both are crippled, and so cannot fight Galbatorix directly, choosing to pass on their knowledge. Eragon and Saphira are taught the use of logic, magic theory, scholarship, and combat, among other things.

However, having received a back injury in the previous book, Eragon is beset by agonizing seizures, which debilitate him. He also struggles with his romantic feelings for Arya, while Saphira has similar struggles toward Glaedr. Arya becomes aware of his feelings, and distances herself from him, not to interfere in his education, while Saphira is violently rejected by Glaedr. Eventually, in an ancient elven ceremony, the Agaetí Blödhren, Eragon is affected by powerful magic, turning him into an elf-human hybrid, and healing his back injury. He makes another romantic attempt on Arya, but she harshly rejects him, and leaves to rejoin the Varden.

Meanwhile, unknowing of all of this, Eragon's cousin Roran plans to marry Katrina, daughter of Sloan, the village butcher. While the village is at peace, they are unexpectedly attacked by Galbatorix's soldiers and the Ra'zac, who had killed Roran's father, Garrow. Roran fights the soldiers with a hammer, which becomes his signature weapon. The Ra'zac and most of the soldiers escape, saying that they want information from Roran. The entire village then sets up defenses, and during a second invasion, the Ra'zac escape again. One night, Roran wakes up to find Katrina being attacked by the Ra'zac, who sneaked into the house. They seriously injure him and capture Katrina. Sloan, revealed to be in league with the Ra'zac, is then flown away by them, along with Katrina.

Torn between chasing after Katrina and staying behind to defend his home, Roran rallies almost the entirety of the village to travel to Surda and join the Varden. On the way, they journey to Teirm, where Roran meets Jeod, Brom's friend, who informs him about Eragon, and decides to go with them. With Jeod's help, they steal a ship, and journey toward Surda by sea.

Meanwhile, Nasuada struggles under the burdens of leadership. She hatches a plan to fund them by selling magically-crafted lace, to alleviate their financial troubles. She also meets Elva, a child supposedly blessed by Eragon in the previous book. Eragon is revealed to have botched the blessing with poor phrasing, accidentally forcing Elva to feel the pain of others. Elva uses her abilities to save Nasuada from an assassination attempt. Nasuada eventually learns that Galbatorix is fielding a massive army against them, and sends for help from the dwarves and Eragon.

Eragon has a prophetic dream of the coming battle, and decides to interrupt his training to aid the Varden in battle. Oromis consents and provides him with numerous gifts to help him, but insists he return to finish his training after the battle. He journeys with Saphira and Orik to the Varden's camp, reuniting with Nasuada and Arya, and meeting Elva, promising to rid her of his failed blessing. The Varden are then joined by an army of Urgals, who seek an alliance with them after being freed of Durza's control.

As the battle begins, it goes poorly for the massively outnumbered Varden. Roran and the dwarves arrive mid-battle, and begin to turn the tide in favor of the Varden, but an unknown Dragon Rider unexpectedly arrives and kills Hrothgar. Eragon engages this Rider, who proves an even match, and unmasks him, revealing him to be Murtagh. Murtagh reveals he was kidnapped by the Twins, who had betrayed the Varden. After the dragon, named Thorn, had hatched for him, they were both forced into loyalty by Galbatorix. Meanwhile, the battle proceeds, with the Twins revealing themselves and causing massive losses among the Varden, until Roran kills them.

Murtagh and Eragon resume their fight, with Murtagh easily defeating Eragon through magic. He shows mercy to him, on account of their old friendship, but takes Eragon's sword Zar'roc, which he claims to be his inheritance, revealing that he and Eragon are brothers.

Ultimately, the Varden win the battle. The book ends as Roran asks Eragon for help in rescuing Katrina, to which he agrees.

In 1922 New York City, flapper Millie Dillmount is determined to find work as a stenographer to a wealthy businessman and then marry him – a "thoroughly modern" goal. Millie befriends the sweet yet naive Miss Dorothy Brown as the latter checks into the Priscilla Hotel. When house mother Mrs. Meers learns that Miss Dorothy is an orphan, she remarks, "Sad to be all alone in the world." Unbeknown to Millie, the woman is selling her tenants into sexual slavery, and those without family or close friends are her primary targets.

At a Friendship Dance in the Dining Hall, Millie meets the devil-may-care paper clip salesman Jimmy Smith, to whom she takes an instant liking. However, she carries on with her plan to work for and then marry a rich man, and when she gets a job at Sincere Trust, she sets her sights on the attractive but self-absorbed Trevor Graydon. Jimmy later takes her and Miss Dorothy on an outing to Long Island, where they meet eccentric widow Muzzy Van Hossmere. Jimmy tells the girls that his father was Muzzy's former gardener. Millie begins to fall for Jimmy, but she sees him summon Miss Dorothy from her room for a late night rendezvous, and assumes the worst.

Millie is even more determined to stick to her plan and marry Trevor. One morning, she goes to work dressed as a flapper and attempts to seduce him, but her effort fails. Eventually, Trevor sees Miss Dorothy and falls in love with her, and vice versa, leaving Millie heartbroken.

Meanwhile, Jimmy's attempts to talk to Millie are continually thwarted by no-nonsense head stenographer Miss Flannary. He eventually climbs up the side of the building and when he finally gets to talk to Millie, she tells him that she is quitting her job since Mr. Graydon is no longer available.

Mrs. Meers makes several attempts to kidnap Miss Dorothy and hand her over to her Chinese henchmen Bun Foo and Ching Ho, but Millie manages to interrupt her every time. When Mrs. Meers finally succeeds, Millie finds Trevor drowning his sorrows, and he tells her that Miss Dorothy stood him up and checked out of the hotel. Jimmy climbs into Miss Dorothy's room, lets Millie in, and they find all of Miss Dorothy's possessions still there. Millie realizes that Miss Dorothy is just one of several girls who have vanished without a word to anyone, except to Mrs. Meers. Together with Trevor Graydon, they try to piece the puzzle together. When Jimmy asks what all the missing girls had in common, Millie mentions that they were all orphans.

Jimmy disguises himself as a woman named Mary James seeking accommodations at the Priscilla Hotel, and "casually" mentions to Mrs. Meers that she is an orphan. Mrs. Meers spots Trevor sitting in his car in front of the hotel, becomes suspicious, and shoots him with a tranquilizer dart. Mary James is subsequently captured by Mrs. Meers and her henchmen, and Millie follows them to Chinatown, where the unconscious Jimmy has been hidden in a room in a fireworks factory where Miss Dorothy is sleeping. Trying to look casual, Millie smokes a cigarette outside the building, and when she begins to choke on it, she tosses it into a window, setting off the fireworks. As a series of explosions tear through the building, Millie dashes into the factory and finds several white girls tied up, about to be sent off to Beijing. She unties a couple of them, who then free the other girls, and then bumps into Miss Dorothy. They carry Jimmy out of the building and head for Long Island and Muzzy.

Mrs. Meers, Bun Foo, and Ching Ho follow Millie and the gang, but under Muzzy's leadership, everyone manages to subdue the nefarious trio. Millie then discovers that Jimmy and Miss Dorothy are actually millionaire siblings and that Muzzy is their stepmother who sent them out into the world to find partners who would love them for who they were and not for their money. Millie marries Jimmy, Miss Dorothy marries Trevor, and Muzzy marries one of her instructors.

William Mandella, protagonist of ''The Forever War'', lives with his wife Marygay on the icy world Middle Finger, a planet of the Mizar system. Dissatisfied with the state of their society, they eventually decide to jump forward in time, using the time dilation of interstellar travel. Their intention is to travel for 10 subjective years, at relativistic speeds, into the future, during which 40,000 Earth years will have passed on Middle Finger. They, along with other Forever War veterans and other disenchanted humans on Middle Finger, hope that whatever they will find upon their return will be more to their liking. This requires the consent of the posthuman group mind now known as 'Man', and of the alien group mind Tauran race. When permission is denied, William and allies hijack the ship. One Man and one Tauran join the journey.

After Marygay and William head away from their planet, a series of unexplained occurrences happen and the ship starts to lose antimatter mysteriously. They abandon the ship and return home. Instead of the intended 40,000 years, they have only been away 24 Earth years. Upon arrival, they find the planet still intact, but seemingly vacant; everyone having literally disappeared at the same time as the incident on their ship. They then return to Earth, and realize that all other humans, Man and Taurans have disappeared, but robots and wildlife remain.

On Earth, a shape-shifting being, an Omni, reveals itself. This being has been on Earth and the other inhabited planets for millennia and is not certain of its own origin. The Omni reveals that its race had given the humans and Taurans language and controlled their level of technology, but did not know what caused recent mass disappearances. The Omni and the lone surviving Tauran discuss the possibility of 'nameless' beings causing the unexplainable phenomena. Meanwhile, more Omni appear, but some of the remaining humans and other Omni spontaneously explode inexplicably. The Omni conclude that William and Marygay provoked the 'nameless' and must convince the 'nameless' to leave the universe alone.

Then, the 'nameless' appears—a god who evidently created the universe as an experiment to observe. The god compares the action of William's group leaving the galaxy on a 40,000-year round-trip as similar to a laboratory mouse escaping its cage, prompting it to take drastic action. The god announces its control over physics, life, death, and ability to time travel. The god discusses timelines as not linear, but an infinite "table" of possible events, reveals the existence of other "tables", but declines to answer if there is a higher power above them. The god declares this experiment "over", declaring that it would leave for another galaxy and only return to observe resultant events in 1,000,000 years. The god departs, returning to life the exploded beings, and restoring the vanished beings, whom the god stored in stasis.

After the god's departure, the Omni peacefully reveal themselves to humanity, Man and the Taurans, and all worked together to overcome the detrimental effects caused by the mass disappearance. Religion was strengthened due to proof of a god, while science required rechecking of fundamental laws and universal constants, with the god having altered the speed of light. William and Marygay return to live on Middle Finger, reuniting with their son Bill.

As with many of the Discworld novels, the story takes place in Ankh-Morpork, a powerful city-state based on the historical and modern settings of various metropolises like London or New York City. The protagonist of the story is Moist von Lipwig, a skilled con artist who was to be hanged for his crimes, but saved at the last moment by the cunning and manipulative Patrician Havelock Vetinari, who has Moist's death on the scaffold faked.

In his office, Vetinari then presents Moist with two options: he may accept a job offer to become Postmaster of the city's rundown Postal Service or he may choose to walk out of the door and never hear from Vetinari again. As exiting through the door in question would lead to a fatal drop, Moist decides to accept the job.

After a thwarted attempt at escape, Moist is brought to the Post Office by his parole officer Mr Pump, a golem. It turns out that the Post Office has not functioned for decades, and the building is full of undelivered mail, concealed under a layer of pigeon dung. Only two employees remain: the aged Junior Postman Tolliver Groat and his assistant Stanley Howler.

Meanwhile, Vetinari is holding a meeting with the board executives of the Grand Trunk Company, a company that owns and operates a system of visual telegraph towers known as "clacks". He notes that since they have taken full control, the quality of service had gone down considerably. Despite unnerving most of the board, Vetinari fails to make headway, especially with its chairman, Reacher Gilt. It is rumored that, from his penthouse office in Tump Tower, Reacher Gilt plans to usurp Vetinari as Patrician.

As Moist attempts to revitalise the postal service, he discovers that over the few months before taking the job, a number of his predecessors have predeceased in the building within weeks of each other in unusual circumstances. He also discovers that the mail inside the building has taken on a life of its own, and is nearly suffocated as a result.

Moist introduces postage stamps to Ankh-Morpork, hires golems to deliver the mail, and finds himself competing against the Grand Trunk Clacks line. He meets and falls in love with the chain-smoking, golem-rights activist, Adora Belle Dearheart, and the two begin a relationship by the end of the book. Dearheart is the daughter of the Clacks founder Robert Dearheart, though the company was taken away from her father and the other founders by tricky financial manoeuvring. She still has useful contacts amongst the clacks operators.

The unscrupulous Clacks chairman, Reacher Gilt, sets a banshee assassin (Mr Gryle) on the Postmaster, but only manages to burn down much of the Post Office building. The banshee dies when he is flipped onto the space-warping sorting machine. Lipwig makes an outrageous wager that he can deliver a message to Genua, 2000 miles from Ankh-Morpork, faster than the Grand Trunk can. "The Smoking Gnu", a group of clacks-crackers, sets up a plan to send 'the woodpecker' (a Discworld equivalent to a killer poke) into the clacks system that will destroy the machinery, halting the message that Lipwig will race against. Lipwig talks the Gnu out of it, wanting to leave the semaphore towers standing. Instead, Lipwig and the Gnu, using Trunk documents in Adora Belle's possession, intercept the message and replace it with a message from the dead which serves as a confession of guilt by the Trunk. This plan succeeds.

Gilt is soon arrested and finds himself in front of the Patrician, offered a similar choice to the one Moist faced in the beginning of the book: run the mint or exit the room. Gilt, however, chooses to walk through the door to his death.

The novel is framed as a series of short entries rather than chapters from an unnamed writer who is being held captive by several agencies along with the main subject of his report, Amanda Ziller. Amanda was a member of a traveling circus that one day recruited the eccentric drummer John Paul Ziller, a once famous musician known for his exotic dress and odd mannerisms. Falling immediately in love, the two soon married and resigned from the troupe to live in an abandoned restaurant in Skagit County, Washington, bringing with them Mon Cul, John Paul's pet baboon. The couple decide to revive the restaurant as a hot dog stand ''cum'' roadside zoo. Although they are both averse to keeping animals captive, they compromise by deciding to keep a group of garter snakes native to Skagit County under the grounds of preservation, as well as a flea circus under the grounds that bugs are not technically animals. Also part of the zoo is a tsetse fly encased in amber. During this time Amanda gives birth to a boy, naming him Thor.

As the hot dog stand gains traction, a man who goes by the name of Marx Marvelous gets himself arrested for sneaking into a zoo and setting the baboons free, which he reveals to have done because he knew it would attract the Zillers' attention. The couple bail him out of jail and hire him to help manage the restaurant. A man of science, Marvelous reveals to Amanda that he believes Christianity is on the verge of collapse and will soon transition to a new religion, with the Zillers playing some sort of key role.

During this time, the trio intermittently receive letters from John Paul's friend Plucky Purcell, who explains that he has infiltrated a secret organization of Catholic assassins known as the Order of the Felicitate, which he accomplished by assuming the identity of a deceased monk he had stumbled upon. After spending over a year at the monastery, he travels with the organization to the Vatican City, where an unexpected earthquake damages the catacombs in which he slept and inadvertently reveals the corpse of Jesus Christ, which had until then been stored underground in a sealed vault. Purcell takes advantage of the sudden chaos to sneak out of the city with the Corpse. He manages to ship it back to the Zillers' restaurant, arriving there himself shortly after.

The group spends several days pondering what to do with the Corpse. Purcell wishes to reveal it to the world, thus causing the collapse of Christianity and, most likely, a large part of society as a whole. Marvelous wishes to blackmail high-ranking church and government officials in order to influence them to do more good in the world. Amanda wishes to give it a proper burial on Bow Wow mountain and nothing more. John Paul remains silent.

After taking a day to think separately about the issue, the group reconvenes to discover that the Felicitate, along with other government officials, have begun to close in on the restaurant. The following morning, Marx Marvelous - who reveals himself to have been the unnamed writer the entire time - awakens to discover that Purcell and John Paul have fled, taking Mon Cul and the corpse with them. While searching for clues, Marx and Amanda find a newspaper clipping which details the launch of a large weather balloon which would take a group of five baboons to the edge of space. Shortly after, a government agent shows a report to the two which reveals that Purcell and John Paul had snuck onto the base carrying the balloon and had set the baboons free. Purcell was shot and killed while trying to flee, but John Paul, Mon Cul, and the Corpse all boarded the balloon and took off. The report concludes by saying that John Paul faced certain death within 24 hours due to the extreme exposure from the sun, after which his body, along with Mon Cul's and the Corpse's, would eventually disintegrate entirely.

Soon after, Amanda and Marx prepare to leave the restaurant. Amanda, now pregnant once more, leaves for unknown adventures, while Marvelous is taken by the head of the Felicitate to an unknown fate. Marx's report concludes by saying he has given his entire manuscript to Amanda, and thus if it has survived the ordeal then it means Amanda is still alive.

At the Central Perk coffee shop, Monica Geller is teased by her friends, Phoebe Buffay, Chandler Bing and Joey Tribbiani, about going out with someone and claiming it is not a date. Ross Geller, Monica's older brother, arrives at the coffee shop, upset that his lesbian ex-wife has moved out of their apartment to begin a new relationship with her partner. A young woman suddenly arrives wearing a wet wedding dress, whom Monica recognizes as her high-school best friend, Rachel Green. Monica introduces her to the others as Rachel reveals she left her fiancé at the altar, realizing that she does not love him. After Rachel's father cuts her off financially over the phone, Monica reluctantly takes Rachel in as a new roommate.

Meanwhile, Joey and Chandler console Ross while helping him assemble new furniture. Ross begins to wonder if any woman would be "the right one" for him. Monica goes on her first date with Paul the "wine guy", who confides in her that he has not been able to perform sexually since his wife left him. Monica is touched by his admission, and they sleep together. The next day, however, she learns from a coworker that Paul's story about his ex-wife is just a ruse to pick up women. After her attempts to get a job are unsuccessful, Rachel ends up buying a new pair of boots with one of her credit cards, which she admits her father pays for. Egged on by the group, Rachel reluctantly cuts up her credit cards to announce her independence.

That night, Ross and Rachel talk and he confesses that he once had a crush on her during high school; she admits that she knew. He asks if he can ask her out sometime, and she says yes. Ross leaves the apartment feeling newfound hope.

In the final scene, the entire group are in Central Perk having coffee with Rachel, who begins a new career as a coffee shop waitress.

At the beginning of the episode, Chandler helps Joey rehearse for an audition. The rehearsal calls for Joey to smoke a cigarette, and as Joey is not a smoker and coughs after taking a drag, Chandler, who used to smoke, demonstrates the "proper" smoking technique to Joey. But as he begins to take a few drags, he becomes addicted and picks up his old habit again. Throughout the episode, the gang try to persuade him to quit, which irritates him greatly. He defends himself by saying it is just a flaw of his, and claims that they are being hypocritical, as they all have their own irritating habits (e.g. Monica's snorting, Joey's knuckle-cracking, Phoebe chewing her hair, Ross's over pronouncing of every word).

Phoebe discovers her bank has accidentally credited her with an extra $500. The gang persuades her to keep the money, but she decides to return it. However, instead of taking back the money, the bank gives her another $500 and a football phone. Not wanting to keep either the money or the phone, she gives both to Lizzy, a homeless woman. Lizzy buys a soda for Phoebe, who, upon opening the can, discovers a severed thumb floating in the soda. The soda company gives Phoebe $7,000.

Monica is afraid to introduce her new boyfriend Alan to the gang for fear of them ridiculing him and driving him away, as they have apparently done in the past with her other dates. Much to her surprise, the gang can find no fault with Alan, and enjoy his company very much. Alan even convinces Chandler to stop smoking in a very brief telephone conversation after repeated failed attempts by the gang. However, Monica does not quite share the gang's enthusiasm for Alan, and decides to break up with him. Ironically, he tells her that he cannot stand the gang. Monica does not tell them about this in order to spare their feelings.

Chandler tries using patches to quit smoking, but gives up at the end of the episode, and announces he is getting cigarettes. Phoebe then offers him the $7,000 in return for not smoking again; Chandler gladly obliges.

When Phoebe cannot get any sleep because her grandmother is having loud sex with her boyfriend, Monica invites her to sleep over at her apartment with her and Rachel.

Chandler and Joey go to the coffee house to invite Ross to a hockey game as a "late birthday present". Ross is reluctant after becoming depressed about the day being the anniversary of him and ex-wife Carol sleeping together for the first time. He eventually accepts after Joey is able to convince him after promising him a foam finger.

At the hockey game, Ross continues to reminisce on Carol, which makes him depressed once again, and annoys Chandler and Joey. He becomes happy again when the game starts but is soon hit in the face with the hockey puck and are forced to head to the hospital where they deal with a snippy receptionist, Nurse Sizemore (Mary Pat Gleason). While waiting around, Ross admits to Chandler and Joey that the memory is important to him as it was the day he lost his virginity. After Ross is fit in a nose cast, he encounters a bratty boy (Benjamin Caya) who "found" the hockey puck that hit Ross and claims it as his own. Ross asks for it back and the kid refuses. After a short brawl over the puck, it flies out of the boy's grasp and it hits the receptionist in the face, which Ross admits was fun.

Meanwhile, Rachel receives her first paycheck. She is very excited at first only to discover she will not have much after taxes. She also gets reunited with her old friends, Leslie (Leesa Bryte), Kiki (Michele Maika), and Joanne (Marianne Hagan). While they boast about their career and family achievements, she feels increasingly depressed because of her low income. Back at the apartment, while the girls are getting ready for their slumber party, Rachel gets a call from her credit card company and complains about her low income. Monica and Phoebe try to cheer her up with no effect as it actually makes them depressed too.

A pizza delivery guy (Sean Whalen) arrives, although he brings them the wrong pizza; the one he brought was meant for "G. Stephanopoulos". The girls pay for the pizza and head to the balcony with binoculars to spy on George. As they spy on him, they get drunk and start telling each other secrets. This ends up in a brawl between Monica and Rachel, with Phoebe stopping them once she spots George. They beg him to take his towel off, which he does.

During the credits, Joey and the girls are playing Twister. Rachel gets another call from her credit card company; Chandler takes her place in the game. When asked why she has not been using her card, she says she is doing fine, confident in her independence.

The episode begins with Monica, Rachel, Ross, and Joey watching Phoebe begin an acoustic set at Central Perk, only to get interrupted by a sudden blackout in New York City.

Chandler gets trapped in an ATM vestibule with Jill Goodacre, a Victoria's Secret model, and nervously tries to impress her in various ways. When she offers him some chewing gum, he reluctantly accepts and tries to blow a bubble with the gum only to spit it out accidentally. He then tries to chew the gum again, only to realize it is someone else's gum and then proceeds to choke on it from the shock. Jill gives him the Heimlich maneuver and saves his life, and the two spend the rest of the night hanging out and playing games together. When the lights come back on, Jill kisses Chandler on the cheek. A desperate Chandler then turns to the security camera in the corner and asks for a copy of the tape.

Back at Monica's apartment, the rest of the friends have a discussion on the weirdest place they have ever had sex and Rachel confesses that hers was "the foot of the bed". This leads to a conversation between her and Ross about how she wishes she had more excitement in her love life. Ross transposes his infatuation for her by predicting that her wish will come true in the future. Joey convinces Ross that he needs to tell Rachel how he feels about her before Ross enters the "friend zone".

Ross works up the courage to speak to Rachel but before he can confess his feelings, a stray cat attacks him. Rachel and Phoebe search for the owner in the building. The owner turns out to be new Italian neighbor Paolo, whose sudden appearance is disconcerting to Ross, who even tries to warn him off of Rachel despite him not understanding English. The last candle in the apartment goes out and everyone tries to make the scariest noise possible. During Ross's turn, the lights come back on and everyone sees Rachel and Paolo kissing.

In order to curb his loneliness after his divorce, Ross adopts a capuchin monkey named Marcel. Things start off on rocky footing – Marcel seems rebellious and unwilling to listen to Ross. However, Chandler bonds with him almost immediately. With New Year's fast approaching, Chandler proposes that the gang make a no-date pact and have dinner together on New Year's Eve, which everyone agrees to.

Phoebe sings 13 new songs she has written – all of them about her mother's suicide. During her set, she is interrupted by two scientists arguing over her performance. She goes to confront them, and finds out that one of them – David (Hank Azaria) – thinks that she is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen even though his partner, Max, begs to differ. Phoebe and David begin dating and she asks Chandler for permission to break the no-date pact for New Year's. He agrees as he has already asked Janice, having snapped at the thought of being alone despite how annoying she is.

As the days pass, Monica plans on bringing her ex-boyfriend Fun Bobby, Rachel learns that Paolo will catch an earlier flight back to the US from Italy for New Year's, and Joey invites Sandy, a single mom he meets while working as one of Santa's elves at the mall. When Ross objects to all his friends breaking their no-date pact, Rachel suggests turning their New Year's dinner into a New Year's party to compensate so no one knows who is with whom. Max arrives and tells Phoebe that he and David have gotten a grant to study in Minsk for three years, and will be leaving on New Year's Day. When she goes to congratulate David, he and Max inform her that he has rejected the opportunity to go, wishing to stay in New York with her.

The six friends end up keeping their no-date pact after all: Ross arrives at the party with only Marcel. Paolo has missed his flight, and Rachel gets attacked outside of the airport by a woman who thinks Rachel has stolen her cab. Max informs David that he is leaving for Minsk alone, and Phoebe convinces him to go with him, telling him he cannot stay just for her. Fun Bobby is depressed because his grandfather has just died, and makes the party even more depressing. Sandy not only brings her kids to the party, but she hooks up with Max. Chandler tries to tell Janice that he only invited her for New Year's, but she gets upset at him and storms off.

At midnight, Phoebe is too sad to kiss anyone, Rachel's lip was cut in the attack so she cannot kiss anyone, and Monica does not feel like kissing anybody. Chandler demands someone kiss him anyway – so Joey obliges.

Steven Mills is a widowed scientist working on different ways to send radio waves into deep space. After he sends a radio wave out of the galaxy, it hits a planet (Cosine N to the 8th), causing a disruption of gravity on the planet. Celeste is sent to investigate who could have done it and how it was done, believing it was an attack. She is aided by a device called Bag: an alien tentacle with a single eye and a mind of its own disguised as a designer purse. Bag is able to create any object, such as diamonds and designer dresses, almost instantaneously. Celeste crashes a party hosted by Steven's brother, Ron, and immediately draws attention to herself by making outdated references to TV shows and political slogans under the mistaken belief that they are current (information that had actually taken 92 years to get from Earth to her home world).

Celeste's inexperience almost results in her exposing herself as alien as she struggles with simple tasks such as cooking and trying to kiss for the first time. She goes home with Steven and spends the night (after Bag teaches her what sex is, which she greatly enjoys). Jessie, Steven's 13-year-old daughter, is at first happy that her father has found someone (her mother having died five years previously), but becomes suspicious when she observes Celeste eating the acid out of batteries and pulling eggs out of boiling hot water with her bare hands. However, she cannot convince her smitten father that something is unusual about Celeste. When Celeste tells him that she must leave in 24 hours, he impulsively proposes, and she accepts. Ron also has his doubts about Celeste and tries to dissuade Steven from marrying her on the idea she is an illegal immigrant or planning economic espionage, but then admits he is just jealous his brother has found his dream girl, whereas he will never find a girl like Princess Stéphanie of Monaco.

Celeste begins enjoying life as a human as she encounters new experiences such as sneezing and love. When Jessie finally confronts her about being an extraterrestrial, Celeste admits her home world has no emotion and that she plans to depart once she gets Steven to recreate the radio signal and send it (which she says will reverse the gravity problems on her world). However, she begins to question her decisions when Jessie says it will devastate her father, for whom Celeste has now developed feelings. After Jessie argues with Steven, she runs away and is nearly hit by a car but is saved by Celeste, revealing her powers. Steven accepts that Celeste is indeed an alien and that she has fallen in love with him and sees Jessie as her own daughter. He further ingratiates her to human society by showing her how to eat real food.

Steven figures out how to recreate the radio wave and saves Celeste's planet. Bag, however, had been sent to Earth to destroy it and eliminate the danger to Celeste's world entirely. After throwing Bag into the power field of the wave transmitter (destroying Bag), the leaders of Celeste's home world report in and tell her to finish Bag's job. Steven and Celeste manage to convince them it was an accident, not an act of aggression, and that Earth has many benefits that require further studying. They accept the explanation and demand that Celeste return to explain human culture to them. Not wanting to leave, Celeste negotiates having a native of Earth become an ambassador to their world as a token of goodwill. Ron is selected and accepts; he departs for Celeste's world in a spaceship served by several flight attendants, all of whom look like Princess Stéphanie.

''A Game of Thrones'' follows three principal storylines simultaneously.

In the Seven Kingdoms

Upon the death of Lord Jon Arryn, the principal advisor to King Robert Baratheon, Robert recruits his childhood friend Eddard "Ned" Stark, now Warden of the North, to replace Arryn as Hand of the King, and to betroth his daughter Sansa to Robert's son Joffrey. Ned accepts the position when he learns that Arryn's widow Lysa believes he was poisoned by Robert's wife Queen Cersei Lannister and her family. Shortly thereafter, Ned's son Bran discovers Cersei having sex with her twin brother Jaime Lannister, who throws Bran from the tower to conceal their affair, leaving him comatose and paralyzing his legs.

Ned leaves his castle Winterfell and departs for the capital city, King's Landing, bringing along his daughters Sansa and Arya. Upon arriving in King's Landing to take his post as Hand, Ned finds that Robert is an ineffective king whose only interests are hunting, drinking, and womanizing.

At Winterfell, an assassin attempts to kill Bran while he is unconscious, and Ned's wife Catelyn travels to King's Landing to bring word to Ned. Catelyn's childhood friend, Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish, implicates Tyrion Lannister, the dwarf brother of Cersei and Jaime, in the assassination attempt. On the road back to Winterfell, Catelyn encounters Tyrion by chance, arrests him, and takes him to the Vale, where her sister Lysa Arryn is regent, to stand trial for the attempt on Bran's life. In retaliation for Tyrion's abduction, his father Lord Tywin Lannister sends soldiers to raid the Riverlands, Catelyn's home region. Tyrion regains his freedom by recruiting a mercenary named Bronn to defend him in trial by combat.

Ned investigates Jon Arryn's death and eventually discovers that Robert's legal heirs, including Joffrey, are in fact Cersei's children by Jaime, and that Jon Arryn was killed to conceal his discovery of their incest. Ned offers Cersei a chance to flee before he informs Robert, but she uses this chance to arrange Robert's death in a hunting accident and install Joffrey on the throne. Ned prepares to send his daughters away from King's Landing and enlists Littlefinger's help to challenge Joffrey's claim; but Littlefinger betrays him, resulting in Ned's arrest. Arya escapes the castle, but Sansa is taken hostage by the Lannisters.

Ned's eldest son Robb marches his army south in response to his father's arrest, and in order to relieve the threat on the riverlands. To secure a strategically necessary bridge crossing, Catelyn negotiates a marital alliance between Robb and the notoriously unreliable House Frey. Robb defeats a Lannister army in the riverlands, capturing Jaime. Tywin sends Tyrion back to King's Landing to act as Hand of the King to Joffrey. When Ned is executed, Robb's followers declare the north's independence from the Seven Kingdoms, proclaiming Robb "King in the North".

On the Wall

The prologue of the novel introduces the Wall: an ancient barrier of stone, ice, and magic, hundreds of feet high and hundreds of miles long, shielding the Seven Kingdoms from the northern wilderness. The Wall is defended by the Night's Watch: an order of warriors sworn to serve there for life, defending the realm from the fabled Others, an ancient and hostile inhuman race, as well as from the human "wildlings" who live north of the Wall.

Jon Snow, Ned's bastard son, is inspired by his uncle, Benjen Stark, to join the Night's Watch, but becomes disillusioned when he discovers that its primary function is as a penal colony. Jon unites his fellow recruits against their harsh instructor and protects the cowardly but good-natured and intelligent Samwell Tarly. Jon is appointed steward to the leader of the Watch, Lord Commander Jeor Mormont, making him a potential successor to Mormont. Benjen fails to return from an expedition north of the Wall. Six months later, the dead bodies of two men from his party are recovered; these re-animate as undead wights before being dispatched by Jon.

When word of his father's execution reaches Jon, he attempts to join Robb against the Lannisters, but is persuaded to remain loyal to the Watch. Mormont then declares his intention to march north to find Benjen, dead or alive, and to investigate rumors of a "King-beyond-the-Wall" uniting the wildlings.

Across the narrow sea

Across the sea to the east of Westeros live the exiled prince Viserys and princess Daenerys, children of the late "Mad King" Aerys Targaryen, who ruled Westeros before being overthrown by Robert Baratheon. Viserys betroths Daenerys to Khal Drogo, a warlord of the nomadic Dothraki people, in exchange for the use of Drogo's army to reclaim the throne of Westeros. Illyrio Mopatis, a wealthy merchant who has been supporting the penniless Targaryens, gives Daenerys three petrified dragon eggs as a wedding gift. Jorah Mormont, a knight exiled from Westeros, joins Viserys as an adviser. Initially terrified of her new husband and his people, Daenerys eventually embraces her role as Drogo's "''khaleesi''". Drogo, however, shows little interest in conquering Westeros, and an impatient Viserys tries to browbeat his sister into coercing Drogo. When Viserys publicly threatens Daenerys and her unborn child, Drogo executes him by pouring molten gold on his head.

An assassin seeking King Robert's favor attempts to poison Daenerys, finally convincing Drogo to conquer Westeros. While sacking villages to fund the invasion of Westeros, Drogo is badly wounded, and Daenerys commands the captive folk healer Mirri Maz Duur to save him. The healer, angered by the Dothraki raids against her people, sacrifices Daenerys's unborn child to power the spell to save Drogo's life, which restores Drogo's physical health but leaves him in a persistent vegetative state.

With Drogo completely incapacitated and unable to lead, much of the Dothraki army disperses. Daenerys smothers Drogo with a pillow and has Mirri tied to Drogo's funeral pyre. She places her three dragon eggs on the pyre and enters it herself. When the fire burns out, she emerges unharmed, with three newly hatched dragons. Awe-struck, Jorah and the remaining Dothraki swear allegiance to her.

''A Clash of Kings'' depicts the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros in civil war, while the Night's Watch mounts a reconnaissance to investigate the mysterious people known as wildlings. Meanwhile, Daenerys Targaryen continues her plan to conquer the Seven Kingdoms.

In the Seven Kingdoms

With King Robert Baratheon dead, his purported son Joffrey sits on the Iron Throne. However, his reign is far from stable, as both of Robert's brothers, Renly and Stannis, have claimed the throne as well. Two regions attempt to secede from the realm: Robb Stark is declared "King in the North" while Balon Greyjoy declares himself king of the Iron Islands. The war among these contenders is dubbed the War of the Five Kings.

Stannis Baratheon, publicizing the claim that Joffrey is a bastard, claims the throne as Robert's eldest brother and therefore heir. He is supported by Melisandre, a foreign priestess who believes Stannis a prophesied messianic figure. Renly is supported by the wealthy Lord Mace Tyrell, and has married Mace's daughter Margaery. Robb's mother Catelyn Stark meets with Renly and Stannis to discuss an alliance against Joffrey's family, the Lannisters, but she is unable to reach an agreement with them. Melisandre uses magic to send a shadow to assassinate Renly; after witnessing Renly's death, Catelyn and Renly's bodyguard Brienne of Tarth flee the scene.

Tyrion Lannister, Joffrey's uncle, arrives at the capital city of King's Landing as acting Hand of the King, the senior adviser to Joffrey's reign. Tyrion improves the defenses of the city while jockeying for power against Joffrey's mother, the Queen Regent Cersei. Learning of Renly's death, Tyrion sends the crown's treasurer Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish to win the Tyrells' support for Joffrey. Catelyn's daughter Sansa, a hostage of the Lannisters, is regularly abused by Joffrey. Riots break out in the city due to Joffrey's cruelty and food shortages caused by the ongoing war.

Robb wins several victories against the Lannisters while his younger brother Bran rules the Northern stronghold of Winterfell in his absence. Against Catelyn's advice, Robb sends his friend Theon Greyjoy, Balon Greyjoy's son, to negotiate an alliance between the North and the Iron Islands. Theon betrays Robb and attacks Winterfell, taking the castle and capturing Bran and his younger brother Rickon. When Bran and Rickon escape, Theon fakes their deaths. Stark supporters besiege the castle, including a force from the Starks' sometime ally House Bolton. However, the Bolton soldiers turn against the Stark and Greyjoy forces alike, burn Winterfell, slaughter its inhabitants, and take Theon prisoner.

Catelyn's daughter Arya is taken north posing as a new recruit for the Night's Watch. The recruits are attacked by Lannister forces, and the survivors are taken to the gigantic castle of Harrenhal, which is controlled by Joffrey's grandfather Tywin Lannister. For saving his life during the attack, a mysterious man named Jaqen H'ghar promises to repay Arya by killing three men of her choice. Arya leverages this offer to help Northern forces retake control of Harrenhal. Jaqen gives Arya a mysterious iron coin and tells her to find him in the foreign city of Braavos if she should ever desire to learn his secrets. Arya soon escapes the castle.

Stannis's army launches an amphibious assault on King's Landing in a battle on Blackwater Bay. Under Tyrion's command, the Lannister forces use "wildfire" (a substance similar to Greek fire) to ignite the bay, and raise a massive chain across its mouth to prevent Stannis' fleet from retreating. When Stannis's troops storm the gates, it falls to Tyrion to lead the Lannister troops into battle. Stannis's victory seems to be assured, until Tywin Lannister arrives with his army and the Tyrell forces, defeating Stannis. During the battle, Tyrion is attacked and injured by a knight of Joffrey's Kingsguard; by the time Tyrion regains consciousness after the battle, Tywin has assumed the post of Hand of the King.

Beyond the Wall

A scouting party from the Night's Watch learns that the wildlings are uniting under "King-beyond-the-Wall" Mance Rayder. The Lord Commander of the Watch, Jeor Mormont, assigns Jon Snow to a group sent to investigate Mance's aims, led by Qhorin Halfhand. Hunted by wildling warriors and facing certain defeat, Halfhand commands Jon to infiltrate the wildlings and learn their plans. To win the wildlings' trust, Jon is forced to kill Qhorin. He learns that Mance Rayder is advancing towards the Wall that separates the wildlings from the Seven Kingdoms with an army of thirty thousand wildlings, giants, and mammoths.

Across the Narrow Sea

Daenerys Targaryen travels south, accompanied by the knight Jorah Mormont, her remaining followers, and three newly hatched dragons. At the city of Qarth Daenerys's dragons make her notorious. Xaro Xhoan Daxos, a prominent trader in Qarth, initially befriends her; but Daenerys cannot secure aid because she refuses to give away any of her dragons. As a last resort, Daenerys seeks counsel from the warlocks of Qarth, who show Daenerys many confusing visions and threaten her life, whereupon one of Daenerys' dragons burns down the warlocks' House of the Undying. An attempt to assassinate Daenerys is thwarted by a warrior named Strong Belwas and his squire Arstan Whitebeard: agents of Daenerys' ally Illyrio Mopatis, who have come to escort her back to Pentos.

''A Storm of Swords'' picks up the story slightly before the end of its predecessor, ''A Clash of Kings''. The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros are still in the grip of the War of the Five Kings, wherein Joffrey Baratheon and his uncle Stannis Baratheon compete for the Iron Throne, while Robb Stark of the North and Balon Greyjoy of the Iron Islands declare their independence (Stannis's brother Renly Baratheon, the fifth "king", has already been killed). Meanwhile, a large host of wildlings, the tribes from beyond the Seven Kingdoms' northern border, approach the Wall that marks the border, under the leadership of Mance Rayder, the self-proclaimed "King Beyond the Wall", with only the undermanned Night's Watch in opposition. Finally, Daenerys Targaryen, the daughter of a deposed former king of Westeros and "mother" of the world's only living dragons, sails west, planning to retake her late father's throne.

In the Seven Kingdoms

The Riverlands

At her father's castle of Riverrun, Robb's mother Catelyn Stark releases the captive Jaime Lannister, Joffrey's uncle (and, secretly, father) in order to secure the release of Catelyn's daughters, Sansa and Arya, who Catelyn believes are both being held hostage by the Lannisters in the capital city, King's Landing. Jaime is sent south, escorted by Brienne of Tarth. Robb's army returns to Riverrun, having vanquished the Lannister armies in the west, and Robb reveals that he has married Jeyne Westerling, violating his promise to be wed to a daughter of House Frey. These actions alienate and infuriate some of Robb's allies, weakening his military position.

Jaime and Brienne are captured by mercenaries working for Roose Bolton, who is nominally an ally of Robb's but is secretly plotting to undermine him to become Warden of the North. The mercenary captain Vargo Hoat has Jaime's sword hand cut off. Brienne is thrown into a bear pit by Hoat, and Jaime risks his own life to rescue her. Bolton releases Jaime and Brienne and they travel to King's Landing.

Arya Stark, traveling in the Riverlands, is taken in by the "Brotherhood Without Banners": a band that defends the smallfolk of the Riverlands, led by Lord Beric Dondarrion and the red priest Thoros of Myr. The group captures Sandor "The Hound" Clegane, Joffrey's former bodyguard, and offers him trial by combat for his crimes. The Hound kills Beric, but Thoros resurrects him with the power of the fire god R'hllor. The Hound kidnaps Arya and flees with her, planning to ransom her.

In order to return north to defend the region against Greyjoy attacks, Robb needs the support of the Freys. The Freys propose a wedding between Catelyn's brother Edmure Tully, now lord of the Riverlands, and one of Lord Walder Frey's daughters, to compensate for Robb breaking his marriage agreement. At the wedding celebration, the Boltons and Freys turn on the Starks, massacring Robb's bannermen. Robb is murdered by Roose Bolton, while Catelyn's throat is cut and her body thrown into the river; Edmure is kept alive as a hostage. These events become known as the Red Wedding.

Arya and the Hound witness the massacre and escape. Later, the Hound is wounded in a skirmish, and Arya abandons him. She takes a ship to the Free City of Braavos, where the assassin Jaqen H'ghar had told her she could find him.

In the epilogue, a re-animated but decayed and mutilated Catelyn is leading the Brotherhood Without Banners, and she oversees the lynching of two of the Freys who were present at the Red Wedding.

King's Landing, Dragonstone, and the Eyrie

The smuggler-turned-knight Davos Seaworth attempts to assassinate Stannis' advisor Melisandre, a sorceress and priestess of R'hllor, blaming her for Stannis' defeat in his prior assault on King's Landing. Davos is imprisoned for treason, but at Melisandre's behest, Stannis releases Davos and appoints him Hand of the King. Melisandre uses the blood of Edric Storm, a bastard son of Stannis' late brother King Robert, to curse the three rival Kings. Balon Greyjoy's death is reported shortly thereafter.

King's Landing welcomes the Lannisters' new allies, the Tyrells, as liberators, and King Joffrey sets aside his betrothal to Sansa Stark in favor of Margaery Tyrell. Joffrey's grandfather Tywin Lannister, the Hand of the King, compels Sansa to marry his dwarf son Tyrion, to enable Lannister control of the North; but Tyrion refuses to consummate the marriage against her will.

Margaery and Joffrey's wedding is held as planned, but during the wedding feast, Joffrey is poisoned and dies. Tyrion is accused of the murder by his sister Cersei, Joffrey's mother, and arrested. Sansa escapes the castle with the help of Lord Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish, who admits to her his culpability in Joffrey's death, incriminating Margaery's grandmother Olenna as well. Littlefinger and Sansa depart King's Landing for the Eyrie, home of Catelyn's sister Lysa Arryn.

After Balon, Robb and Joffrey die, as Melisandre predicted, Davos has Edric smuggled to safety to prevent Melisandre and Stannis sacrificing him for the power in his blood. Davos discovers a request by the Night's Watch for aid against Mance Rayder; Stannis prepares to execute Davos for treason but changes his mind after Davos shows Stannis the Night's Watch's plea.

The spymaster Varys and Tyrion's lover Shae testify falsely against Tyrion at his trial. Prince Oberyn Martell, of the southern region of Dorne, offers to represent Tyrion in a trial by combat against Cersei's champion, Gregor Clegane, who was responsible for the death of Oberyn's sister Elia. Oberyn nearly wins, but is ultimately killed by Gregor, although the poison on Oberyn's spear leaves Gregor dying in agony. Tyrion is sentenced to death.

Upon returning to King's Landing, Jaime gives Brienne a sword reforged from the hereditary sword of the Stark family, and sends her to find Arya and Sansa and return them home. Jaime refuses to believe that Tyrion killed Joffrey, and helps Varys free Tyrion from prison. Jaime reveals that Tyrion's first wife Tysha, whom Tywin had gang-raped by his garrison, was not a prostitute as Tywin told him, and genuinely loved Tyrion. Outraged, Tyrion swears revenge on Jaime, Cersei, and Tywin; during his escape, he murders both Shae and Tywin before fleeing Westeros.

At the Eyrie, Sansa is disguised as an illegitimate daughter of Littlefinger, and Littlefinger and Lysa are married. Lysa reveals that Littlefinger had convinced her to poison her late husband Jon, and to pin the blame on the Lannisters, which was the catalyst for the events of ''A Game of Thrones''. Lysa threatens to kill Sansa, thinking she is trying to seduce Littlefinger, but Littlefinger intervenes and, after revealing that he had only ever loved Catelyn, pushes Lysa to her death.

The North

The detachment of the Night's Watch under Lord Commander Jeor Mormont are attacked by undead wights and the Others, hostile inhuman creatures from the far north. The Watch suffer heavy casualties, although the steward Samwell Tarly kills one of the Others with a blade of obsidian. Soon some of the Watch mutiny and kill Mormont, but Sam escapes with the help of a wildling girl, Gilly. Sam, Gilly, and Gilly's newborn child approach the Wall, assisted by a strange figure riding an elk, whom Sam calls Coldhands. Among the dead are most of the Watch's senior leadership.

Robb's brother Bran and his friends, having escaped the Boltons' attack on the Stark castle Winterfell, are guided north by Bran's dreams of a three-eyed crow. At the Wall, Sam guides them to Coldhands and returns to the Night Watch's headquarters at Castle Black, having sworn to keep Bran's survival secret even from Jon Snow, Bran's bastard brother and Sam's fellow Watchman.

Jon, on a mission to infiltrate the wildlings, convinces Mance that he is a deserter from the Night's Watch, and learns that the Others are driving the wildlings south towards the Wall. Jon and his captor Ygritte also begin a sexual relationship. After crossing the Wall, Jon escapes the wildlings and returns to Castle Black. The approaching wildling army attacks Castle Black; but Jon takes command of the defenses and repels several assaults, during which Ygritte is slain. After that, the Watch's surviving leaders Janos Slynt and Alliser Thorne falsely accuse Jon of treachery, and send him north of the Wall to kill Mance under a pretense of parley. As Jon is talking with Mance in the wildling camp, Stannis' army arrives, routing the Wildlings, and Mance is imprisoned. Stannis offers to legitimize Jon and make him Lord of Winterfell in exchange for his support, but Jon decides to decline Stannis' offer, and is elected by the Night's Watch as its new Lord Commander.

Slaver's Bay

Daenerys Targaryen learns that large slave armies can be bought in Astapor, one of the cities of Slaver's Bay, and buys the entire host of the warrior-eunuch Unsullied by offering one of her infant dragons in exchange. Upon payment, Daenerys orders the Unsullied and the dragon to turn on the slave traders and sack the city. With the help of her maturing dragons, she frees all the slaves of Astapor, including the Unsullied. Daenerys' army then conquers the slaver city of Yunkai; but the lords of the neighbouring city of Meereen antagonize Daenerys by killing child slaves and burning the land to deny her resources. Consequently, Daenerys besieges the city to no avail.

Daenerys discovers two traitors in her camp: Ser Jorah Mormont, who had spied on her for the late King Robert, and Ser Barristan Selmy, the humiliated former Lord Commander of King Robert's Kingsguard. Daenerys offers both men the chance to make amends by sneaking into Meereen to free the slaves and start an uprising. Meereen soon falls and, in retaliation for the murdered child slaves, Daenerys has the city's rulers put to death. Selmy asks for Daenerys' forgiveness and becomes Lord Commander of her Queensguard, while Jorah, who refuses to admit any wrongdoing, is banished. When Daenerys learns that the council she left to govern Astapor has been overthrown, she decides to remain in Meereen to rule it herself.

On ''Enterprise'', Sub-Commander T'Pol is called to the command center by Captain Archer. Archer tells her that he has located a nearby planet that the Xindi recently visited. Both then travel down to the surface with Lieutenant Reed and Ensign Sato. They discover a Xindi shuttle along with two dead crewmembers, one of whom has been incinerated. With little warning, Archer, Sato and Reed begin to transform physically and mentally into a different species. Within seconds they are fully changed. T'Pol, however, is only mildly affected physically, appearing somehow resistant.

After a physical altercation with her newly transformed crewmates, T'Pol is able to communicate with Archer by gaining use of the universal translator. She learns they have been overcome with an overwhelming instinct to reach a city called "Urquat", the homeland of their species. Meanwhile, Commander Tucker and an away team of MACOs, equipped with biohazard suits, manage to capture and return Reed to the ship. Archer and Sato flee and T'Pol opts to stay with them. Doctor Phlox soon determines that they were infected by a mutagenic virus, and concludes that T'Pol's Vulcan genetics rendered her partially immune.

Two "containment ships" soon arrive, demanding access to ''Enterprise'' in order to stop the virus that killed millions of their people 60 years earlier. Tucker refuses, but invites their leader, Tret, aboard. Tret explains that the original inhabitants of the planet, the Loque'eque, created the virus in an effort to continue their species. Believing it impossible to cure, he sends a team to the planet's surface to neutralize Archer and Sato. Archer leads Sato and T'Pol to Urquat, but they find it in ruins. Tucker beams down with a team of MACOs and rescues them. ''Enterprise'' warps away, but the alien ships pursue and attack the ship. Tucker asks Tret to allow Phlox more time to synthesize an antidote, but Tret refuses. Before he can board the ship, Phlox arrives with Archer and Sato—now mostly restored—and promises Tret a sample. Later, as Phlox plans to destroy the last vial of the virus, Archer tells him to keep it as the last remnant of the near-extinct species.

Act I

The play is set in the Jewish town (''Shtetl'') of Brinitz, presumably near Miropol, Volhynia, in the Pale of Settlement. No date is mentioned, but it takes place after the death of , who is said to be "of blessed memory", in 1882.

Three idlers lounge in the synagogue, telling stories of the famed hasidic ''Tzadikim'' and their mastery of Kabbalah powers. They are accompanied by the Messenger, a sinister stranger who demonstrates uncanny knowledge of the subject. Khanan, a dreamy, emaciated student, joins them. Upon seeing him, the three gossip of his reputed dealing with the secret lore. They discuss Leah, the daughter of rich Sender, whose suitors are constantly faced with new demands from her father until they despair. Khanan, who is obviously in love with her, rejoices when one of the idlers tells another proposed match came to nothing. Then Sender himself enters, announcing that he wavered but eventually closed the deal. The townspeople flock to congratulate him. Khanan is shocked, mumbling all his labors were in vain, but then something dawns on him and he is ecstatic. He falls to the floor. The townspeople are busy with Sender, but eventually notice Khanan and try to awake him. They discover he is dead, and that he clasped the Book of Raziel.

Act II

Several months later, Leah's wedding day has arrived. As decreed by custom, a humble feast is held for the poor folk prior to the ceremony, and the maiden dances with the beggars. She and her nurse discuss the fate of the souls of those who died prematurely, mentioning Khanan who Leah says came to her in a dream. They visit the holy grave in the center of Brinitz, the resting place of a bride and a groom who were killed under their wedding canopy when the "Evil Chmiel" raided the area in 1648. She ceremoniously invites the souls of her mother and grandparents to her celebration. Menashe, her betrothed, arrives with his father. At the ceremony, he approaches to remove Leah's veil. She shoves him back, screaming in a man's voice. The Messenger, standing nearby, announces she is possessed by a ''Dybbuk''.

Act III

In the home of the ''Tzadik'' Azriel of Miropol, the servant enters to announce that Sender's possessed daughter has arrived. Azriel confides to his assistant that he is old and weak, but the latter encourages him with tales of his father and grandfather, both renowned miracle-workers. He calls Leah and demands from the spirit to leave her body. The ''Dybbuk'' refuses. Azriel recognizes him as Khanan, and summons the rabbinical court to place an anathema upon him. Rabbi Samson arrives and recounts that the spirit of Nisan, a scholar who died and knew the ''Tzadik'', came to him in a dream. He told that Khanan is his son and he sues Sender before the court, on the charge he is responsible for his death. The rabbis determine to hold the litigation on the day after, and exorcise the spirit only upon discovering the truth.

Act IV

Nisan's soul arrives at the court and communicates via Rabbi Samson. He tells the assembled that he and Sender were old friends, and swore that if one would father a son and the other a daughter, they will be married to each other. Nisan died prematurely, but his son Khanan arrived at Brinitz and his heart went after Leah, as was destined. He claims that Sender recognized him but did not want to have his daughter marry a poor man. Sender confides that he felt a strange urge to reject all suitors and take Khanan, but he eventually managed to resist it. Nisan pleads on, stating his desperate son turned to the Other Side and died, leaving him with none to say Kaddish after him.

The court absolves Sender, stating that one cannot promise an object not yet created under the laws of the Torah, but fine him severely and oblige him to say Kaddish for Nisan and Khanan for all his life. Azriel commands the spirit to exit Leah's body, but it refuses. The holy man then conducts a dramatic exorcism, summoning various mystical entities and using ram horns' blasts and black candles. The ''Dybbuk'' is forced out. Menashe is invited, and a wedding is prepared. When Leah lies alone, she senses Khanan's spirit and confides she loved him ever since seeing him for the first time. Mourning her never-to-be children, she rises and walks towards him. The two are united in death.

The Qeng Ho arrive at the OnOff star shortly before the Emergent fleet, a few years before the sun turns on, at which point the Spider civilization will "wake up" and continue its climb into a technological civilization. A reception held by the Emergents doubles as a vector to infect the Qeng Ho with a timed "mindrot" virus. The Emergents time an ambush to take advantage of the onset of symptoms.

During these events, a concurrent history of the Spider civilization unfolds – mainly through the picaresque, and then increasingly political and technocratic, experiences of a small group of liberal-minded and progressive Spiders. Their struggles against ignorance and obsolescent traditions are coloured with oddly human-like descriptions and nomenclature, prefiguring some major plot revelations towards the end of the story.

Far above, after a close fight, the Emergents subjugate the Qeng Ho; but losses to both sides force them to combine and adopt the so-called "Lurker strategy", monitoring and aiding the Spiders' technological development, waiting until they build up the massive infrastructure and technological base that the visitors need in order to repair their vessels.

The mindrot virus originally manifested itself on the Emergents' home world as a devastating plague, but they subsequently mastered it and learned to use it both as a weapon and as a tool for mental domination. Emergent culture uses mindrot primarily in the form of a variant which technicians can manipulate in order to release neurotoxins to specific parts of the brain. An active MRI-type device triggers changes through dia- and paramagnetic biological molecules. By manipulating the brain in this way, Emergent managers induce obsession with a single idea or specialty, which they call Focus, essentially turning people into brilliant appliances. Many Qeng Ho become Focused against their will, and the Emergents retain the rest of the population under mass surveillance, with only a portion of the crew not in suspended animation. The Qeng Ho trading culture gradually starts to dilute this, by demonstrating to the Emergents certain benefits of tolerated and restricted free trade; the two human cultures merge to some extent over the decades of forced co-operation.

Pham Nuwen, the founder of the Qeng Ho trading culture, is living aboard the fleet under the pseudonym Pham Trinli, posing as an inept and bumbling fleet elder. He subverts the Emergents' own oppressive security systems through a series of high-risk ruses. During his plotting he begins to admire the Emergents' Focus technology, seeing it as the missing link in his lifelong goal to create a true interstellar empire and break the cycle of collapse-and-rebuild that plagues human planetary civilizations.

The plan to wrest fleet control from the Emergents, however, requires the co-operation of Ezr Vinh, a much younger Qeng Ho who, through attrition, has become the Qeng Ho "Fleet Manager". Ezr's position as the unique liaison officer between Qeng Ho and Emergents leads him to despair, and he accepts Pham Nuwen's offer to join a plot against the Emergents as a way to personal redemption as well as to take revenge against the Emergents. However, his understanding of Pham's ambitions for Focus technology leads to a confrontation between them over the future use of Focus by the Qeng Ho. With new knowledge of the effects and victims of Focus, Pham is forced to admit the cost is too high, and the two reach an agreement and continue their plotting.

The critical moment comes when the Emergents attempt to provoke a nuclear war on the Spider home-world in order to seize power. The conspirators subvert the Emergents' systems and put their plans in action, but so do a small group of Spiders who have become aware of the humans and have been working in secret for years to subvert their Focused as well. Together, the two sides successfully defeat the ruling class of the Emergents.

The combined Emergent/Qeng Ho fleet now negotiates with the Spider civilization as a trading partner. Pham announces his plans to free all of the Focused in the entire Emergent civilization, and, if he survives that, to go to the Galactic Center to find the source of the OnOff star and the strange technology remnants that have clearly traveled with it.

The novel opens with Noah Calhoun, an old man, reading to a woman in a nursing home. He tells her the following story:

Noah, 24, returns from World War II to his town of New Bern, North Carolina. He finishes restoring an antebellum-style house, after his father's death. Meanwhile, Allie, 24, sees the house in the newspaper and decides to pay him a visit. They are meeting, again, after a 7-year separation, which followed their brief but passionate summer romance when her family was visiting the town. They were separated by class, as she was the daughter of a wealthy family, and he worked as a laborer in a lumberyard. Seeing each other brings on a flood of memories and strong emotions in both of them. They have dinner together and talk about their lives and the past. Allie learns that Noah had written letters to her for one year after their breakup. She realizes that her mother hid the letters so that Allie could never receive them and would conclude that Noah had forgotten about her. They talk about what could have happened between them without her mother's interference. At the end of the night, Noah invites Allie to come back the next day and promises her a surprise. She decides to see him again. During this time, her fiancé, Lon, tries to reach her at the hotel. When Allie does not respond to his calls, he begins to worry. The next day, Noah takes Allie on a canoe ride in a small lake where swans and geese swim. She is enchanted. On their way back, they are caught in a storm and end up soaked. When they return to his house, they talk again about how important they were to each other, and how their feelings have not changed. Noah and Allie share a kiss and make love. Allie's mother shows up the next morning and gives Allie the letters from Noah. When her mother leaves, Allie is torn and has a decision to make. She knows she loves Noah, but she does not want to hurt Lon. Noah begs her to stay with him, but she decides to leave. She cries all the way back to the hotel and starts reading the letters her mother returned to her. At the hotel, her fiancé Lon is waiting in the lobby.

The man stops reading the story at this point, and implies to the audience that he is reading to his wife, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease and does not recognize him. Throughout the story he explains he is also ill, battling a third cancer, and suffering heart disease, kidney failure, and severe arthritis in his hands.

He resumes reading the story and describing their life together: her career as a noted painter, their children, growing old together, and finally the diagnosis of Alzheimer's. He had changed the names in the story to protect her, but he is Noah and she is Allie. They walk together and Allie, although she does not recognize him, says she might feel something for him.

That night they have dinner together. Referring to the story, she can't quite remember who Allie chose. Recognizing her husband, she tells him that she loves him. They embrace and talk, but after almost four hours, Allie fades. She begins to panic and hallucinate, and forgets who Noah is again. The nurses have to come in and sedate her.

Later, Noah has a stroke and cannot visit Allie. When he recovers, he goes to visit Allie late at night, as he is staying in the same care home. When Noah tries to sneak past the nurse station, the nurse on duty states that she is going for a coffee, even though she has one on the counter. The nurse also tells Noah she won't be back for a while and not to do anything while she is away. Noah realises it is just a ruse to let him go see Allie, and he goes and finds Allie in bed in her room, asleep. She wakes up, recognizes him as Noah, and tells him that she loves him. They kiss and fall asleep next to each other, believing their love will take them away together.

Kanji Watanabe has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for thirty years and is near his retirement. His wife is dead and his son and daughter-in-law, who live with him, seem to care mainly about Watanabe's pension and their future inheritance. At work, he's a party to constant bureaucratic inaction. In one case, a group of parents are seemingly endlessly referred to one department after another when they want a cesspool cleared out and replaced by a playground. After learning he has stomach cancer and less than a year to live, Watanabe attempts to come to terms with his impending death. He plans to tell his son about the cancer, but decides against it when his son does not pay attention to him. He then tries to find escape in the pleasures of Tokyo's nightlife, guided by an eccentric novelist whom he has just met. In a nightclub, Watanabe requests a song from the piano player, and sings "Gondola no Uta" with great sadness. His singing greatly affects those watching him. After one night submerged in the nightlife, he realizes this is not the solution.

The following day, Watanabe encounters a young female subordinate, Toyo, who needs his signature on her resignation. He takes comfort in observing her joyous love of life and enthusiasm and tries to spend as much time as possible with her. She eventually becomes suspicious of his intentions and grows weary of him. After convincing her to join him for the last time, he opens up and asks for the secret to her love of life. She says that she does not know, but that she found happiness in her new job making toys, which makes her feel like she is playing with all the children of Japan. Inspired by her, Watanabe realizes that it is not too late for him to do something significant. Like Toyo, he wants to make something, but is unsure what he can do within the city bureaucracy until he remembers the lobbying for a playground. He surprises everyone by returning to work after a long absence, and begins pushing for a playground despite concerns he is intruding on the jurisdiction of other departments.

Watanabe dies, and at his wake, his former co-workers gather, after the opening of the playground, and try to figure out what caused such a dramatic change in his behavior. His transformation from listless bureaucrat to passionate advocate puzzles them. As the co-workers drink, they slowly realize that Watanabe must have known he was dying, even when his son denies this, as he was unaware of his father's condition. They also hear from a witness that in the last few moments in Watanabe's life, he sat on the swing at the park he built. As the snow fell, he sang "Gondola no Uta". The bureaucrats vow to live their lives with the same dedication and passion as he did. But back at work, they lack the courage of their newfound conviction.

Since his last defeat, Freddy Krueger has been in Hell and unable to invade children's dreams, as the adults of Springwood have gone to extremes to make sure their children have forgotten him. Using his remaining power, Freddy resurrects Jason Voorhees. Appearing as Jason's mother, Pamela Voorhees, he manipulates Jason into killing the teens of Springwood in order to create a fear in the townsfolk that Freddy has returned, which would allow him to regain his strength.

Meanwhile, Lori Campbell, who lives with her widowed father, has a sleepover with her friends Kia and Gibb. They are later joined by Trey, Gibb's emotionally abusive boyfriend, and his friend Blake. Jason enters the house and murders Trey, and the police suspect Freddy. After a nightmare, Blake awakens to find his father decapitated by Jason, who then kills Blake himself. The police call it a murder–suicide the following day, hoping to conceal Freddy's return from the rest of the town.

Elsewhere, Lori's ex-boyfriend Will Rollins and his friend Mark Davis, forcibly institutionalized at the Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital, are made to take Hypnocil to suppress their dreams because of their previous contact with Freddy. A news report about the killings prompts them to escape and return to Springwood to warn Lori about Freddy. That night, Lori and the others attend a rave in a cornfield. Freddy tries to kill Gibb in a nightmare, but Jason kills her first in the real world along with others at the rave, angering Freddy.

Will, Lori, and Kia escape the rave with school nerd Charlie Linderman and stoner Bill Freeburg. After dropping off the latter three and a confrontation with Dr. Campbell (who was responsible for having Will and Mark committed to Westin Hills) over Will's certainty that he saw Lori's father murder her mother, Will and Lori head to Mark’s house, only to see him get killed by Freddy. Deputy Scott Stubbs, believing Jason is a copycat killer, makes contact with Lori and her friends, who deduce Freddy's plan. Learning about Hypnocil, they try to get it from Westin Hills; however, Freddy possesses Freeburg, using him to dispose of the medicine. Jason arrives and electrocutes Stubbs. Freddy uses the possessed Freeburg to tranquilize Jason, causing him to fall asleep after slashing Freeburg in half.

The teens devise a plan to pull Freddy from the dream world into reality and force him to fight Jason, bringing the unconscious Jason back home to Camp Crystal Lake, where the real estate is in development. Freddy fights Jason in the dream world, where he discovers that Jason has a subconscious fear of drowning (symbolized by the water from a broken pipe) as a result of his drowning back in 1957. Freddy uses this to his advantage and Jason becomes afraid, reverting to his younger self. Lori goes to sleep in order to pull Freddy out and save Jason. As Freddy tortures Lori in the dream world, revealing that he murdered her mother, Jason awakens at the real Camp Crystal Lake and pursues the teens, killing Linderman. Lori is awakened and pulls Freddy into the physical world (showing a fear of fire, as a result of his death by burning), where he is confronted by Jason.

Freddy and Jason fight throughout the campgrounds, during which Jason kills Kia. Freddy uses the construction site to gain the upper hand and cuts off Jason's fingers, allowing Freddy to take his machete. As Freddy is slicing away at Jason, Lori distracts him before Jason punches his fingerless hand through Freddy's torso. Freddy retaliates by plunging Jason's machete into his side and Jason rips Freddy's gloved arm off. Lori and Will set the dock on fire, causing numerous propane tanks to explode and throwing Freddy and Jason into the lake. Lori and Will embrace as Freddy makes his way to them on the dock and is about to kill the couple with Jason's machete, but he is impaled by Jason with his own clawed arm, allowing Lori to behead Freddy with the machete. Jason falls off the dock and Freddy's head and body sink into the lake, both seemingly dead. After dropping the machete where Jason submerged, Lori and Will leave.

The following morning, Jason emerges from the water, holding his machete and Freddy's severed head. Freddy winks and his laughter is heard in the background, leaving the winner ambiguous.

In 1964, young London Mod Jimmy Cooper (Phil Daniels), disillusioned with his parents and a dull job as a post room boy in an advertising firm, vents his teenage angst by taking amphetamines, partying, riding scooters and brawling with Rockers, accompanied by his Mod friends Dave (Mark Wingett), Chalky (Philip Davis) and Spider (Gary Shail).

An attack by hostile Rockers on Spider leads to a retaliatory attack on Jimmy's childhood friend Kevin (Ray Winstone), one of the rival Rockers. Jimmy initially participates, but upon realising the victim is Kevin, he berates the other attackers but does not stop them, instead riding away on his scooter revving his engine loudly in frustration.

A planned bank holiday weekend away provides the excuse for the rivalry between Mods and Rockers to escalate, as both groups descend upon the seaside town of Brighton. Jimmy plans to be noticed as a 'face', and hints to Steph (Leslie Ash) – a girl on whom he has a crush – that he would like her to ride with him, but she confirms plans to ride instead with Pete (Garry Cooper), an older, well-heeled Mod.

To prepare for the weekend, the pals try to buy some recreational drugs from London gangster Harry North (John Bindon), but are cheated with fake pills. After vandalising the drug-seller's car in retaliation, they desperately rob a pharmacy, finding a large quantity of their favourite "blues".

After an early morning group ride from London to the south coast, the friends gather on the seafront, where Jimmy first sees a flamboyant scooter-riding Mod he describes as ''Ace Face'' (Sting). Later in a dance hall, Jimmy suggests that he will help Steph, whose escort is now chatting to an attractive American girl, to dance with Ace Face, but on the dance floor ushers her away to dance with himself. Steph leaves Jimmy to dance with Ace Face, whereupon Jimmy plots to gain attention by climbing up on to the balcony-edge and dancing with much applause, annoying Ace Face. After diving into the audience, Jimmy is ejected by bouncers. Steph's escort leaves with the American girl, and once again Jimmy tries to get with Steph, this time for the night, but she has arranged accommodation with a female friend.

The lads spend the night sleeping rough, meet up at a cafe on the following morning, then proceed along the promenade, where a series of running battles ensue. As the police corner the rioters, Jimmy escapes down an alleyway with Steph, and they have sex. When the pair emerge, they find themselves amidst the melee just as police are detaining rioters. Jimmy is arrested and detained with the volatile Ace Face. When fined a hefty £75, , Ace Face mocks the magistrate (John Phillips) by offering to pay on the spot with a cheque, amusing the fellow Mods.

Back in London, Jimmy becomes severely depressed. His mother throws him out after finding his stash of amphetamine pills. He then quits his job, spends his severance package on more pills, and learns that Steph is now his friend Dave's girlfriend. After briefly fighting with Dave, the following morning his rejection is confirmed by Steph, and his beloved Lambretta scooter is accidentally destroyed in a crash. Jimmy takes a train back to Brighton, taking increasing levels of pills and becoming more emotionally unstable.

Attempting to relive the recent excitement, he revisits the scenes of the riots and his encounter with Steph. Then, Jimmy horrifyingly discovers that his idol, Ace Face, has a menial job as a bellboy at the Grand Brighton Hotel. Jimmy steals Ace's Vespa scooter and heads out to Beachy Head, riding close to the cliff-edge. Finally, the scooter is seen crashing over the cliff-top, which is where the film begins with Jimmy walking back against a sunset backdrop.

The series follows Honor Harrington, military heroine and later, influential politician, during a time of extreme interstellar change and tension. Most of the more than 20 novels and anthology collections cover events between 4000 and 4022 AD with "PD" (Post-Diaspora) dating beginning with a dispersal to the stars from our sun ("Sol") in 2103 AD. The main series novels are set primarily in a timeline beginning 40 years after Harrington's birth on October 1, 3962 AD (1859 PD), and some short stories flesh out her earlier career. Additional novels and shorter fiction take place up to 350 years earlier, and still-earlier canon history is filled in between narratives and in appendices attached to the main novels and anthologies.

The political makeup and history of the series frequently echoes actual history, particularly that of Europe in the last half of the second millennium. The series is consciously modeled on the Horatio Hornblower series by C. S. Forester, and its main character, like Horatio Hornblower, on a mix of Thomas Cochrane and Admiral Lord Nelson. Weber originally planned for Harrington to die in the fifth book. This was later changed to parallel Nelson by having her die at the peak of her career in the climactic Battle of Manticore in 1921 PD (4024 AD), then continue the series with her children as the main protagonists.Foreword to ''Storm from the Shadows''. However, collaborating author Eric Flint intervened, asking for the invention of a mutual enemy for both the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the Republic of Haven to oppose in a spy-and-counterspy spin-off sub-series the two contractually agreed to co-write, just as they have contracts to write in Flint's 1632 universe. This "rethink" and redesign caused Weber to move the series' internal chronology up by about 20 years and begat the ''Crown of Slaves'' novel, first in the "Crown of Slaves" sub-series based on a number of the short stories of the first four collections. In this scenario, proxies for Manticore and Haven oppose the same hidden enemy, the genetic slavers and powers behind the government and corporations of the planet of Mesa. Mesa is later revealed in ''Mission of Honor'' to be part of a secret cabal of about a dozen highly capable planets that are busily building a secret navy using advanced technologies at a secret planet and known to itself as the Mesan Alignment. The Mesan Alignment's navy has new technology and conducts a sneak attack on Manticore in 1922 PD during the twelfth mainline novel, ''Mission of Honor''. The Mesans have a 600-year-old secret program to reinstitute purposeful genetic engineering of humans and break up the Solarian League, while taking down all opponents opposing such genetic engineering. This makes the staunchly anti-genetic-slavery star nations of Haven, Manticore, and various associates of the planet Beowulf primary targets of the Mesan Alignment. The "Crown of Slaves" sub-series books and last two mainline Honorverse novels detail the rising extent of this threat.

As the two sub-series progress, albeit with somewhat-separate casts of characters, each is expected by Weber to carry the detailed storyline events particular to their astrographical region forward and tie together into an ongoing plotline concerning the massive and monolithic Solarian League, which foreshadowing in the most recent novels suggests is about to undergo severe disruption. The thirteenth mainline novel, ''A Rising Thunder'', ties together events in both sub-series and synchronizes the timeline of each sub-series with Honor Harrington's mainline novels. This book confirms the Solarian League is officially now the new Mesan cat's paw, effectively at war with both the Star Empire of Manticore and the Republic of Haven, as it has been manipulated into error after error by the operatives of the Mesan Alignment.

In summer 1975, John Baker and his partner Lenny take John's children Angela and Peter on a boating trip near Camp Arawak. Angela and Peter prank their father by capsizing their boat. They attempt to swim ashore where Lenny is waiting for them, but camp counselor Mary Ann recklessly strikes John and Peter with her speedboat, leaving just Angela alive.

Eight years later, in 1983, the now 14 years old Angela lives with her eccentric aunt, Dr. Martha Thomas, and Martha's son Ricky. Aunt Martha sends Angela to Camp Arawak for the first time, along with Ricky, who had attended the camp before.

Shy, meek and introverted Angela quickly becomes a target for ridicule and bullying, mostly from her bunkmate Judy and their counselor Meg, while Angela's other counselor Susie and the camp's head counselor Ronnie do what they can to help her fit in. Head cook Artie takes Angela to the kitchen pantry, where he attempts to molest her, but is caught by Ricky, who runs out with Angela. Later, an unseen figure causes Artie to knock over a pot of boiling water and severely scald himself. Camp owner Mel Kostic dismisses it as an accident in order to avoid bad publicity.

When campers Kenny and Mike mock Angela, Ricky and his best friend Paul fight them until their counselor Gene intervenes. After the brawl, Paul stops to befriend Angela and, when he tells her goodnight, she tells him goodnight as well, speaking for the first time, opening herself to him and sparkling their relationship. That night, after pranking a girl named Leslie by tipping her boat, Kenny is drowned by a silhouetted attacker. When lifeguard Hal finds his corpse the next day, Mel insists his death was accidental, but Ronnie and police officer Frank express doubt. Meanwhile, Paul asks Angela to attend the mandatory movie night with him, and she accepts. After the movie, Paul walks Angela to her cabin and surprises her with two goodnight kisses, but she hastily tells him she has to go.

After campers Billy and Mike throw water balloons at Angela, Billy is stung to death when a mysterious figure traps him in a bathroom stall and drops a hive of bees in it. Mel suspects a killer is in the camp.

That night, Paul and Angela playfully run around the lakeshore, but when Paul begins making out with Angela, she has a flashback to when she and her sibling witnessed their father in bed with Lenny. The flashback goes further showing both of the siblings pointing to another whilst in bed. At the end of the flashback, Angela recoils from Paul's advances and runs away, which leaves him confused. The following day, during a flag game, Judy takes her chance to seduce Paul and Angela finds the two of them kissing. Paul attempts to explain himself to Angela after a swimming session, but Judy and Meg shoo him away and throw Angela into the water. After Ricky rescues her, children fling sand at them. Ricky comforts Angela and swears revenge on her aggressors.

Meg is stabbed to death in the shower while getting ready to meet Mel. At that night’s social, Paul apologizes to Angela for what happened earlier with Judy and she tells him to meet her at the waterfront later. The children who threw sand at Angela and Ricky are camping in the woods with their counselor Eddie when two of them ask him to take them back to the main camp. He returns to find the four remaining children hacked to death with his hatchet. Back at the camp, the killer enters Judy's cabin and murders her, raping her with a hot curling iron while smothering her with a pillow. The camp is thrown into a panic while Mel finds Meg's dead body and, convinced that the killer is Ricky after hearing him swear vengeance against Angela's tormentors, beats him mercilessly and escapes into the woods, where he encounters the real killer. In shock, he appears to recognize the assailant before being shot in the throat with an arrow.

Frank is called and searches with the counselors for the missing campers and for the killer; they discover Ricky unconscious but alive. In the meantime, Paul is at the waterfront with Angela, who suggests they go skinny dipping, so they undress. Ronnie and Susie find Angela sitting on the lakeshore with Paul, who appears to be resting in her lap as she tenderly strokes his hair, humming quietly.

Another flashback shows Aunt Martha welcoming the survivor of the boat accident into her home. It is revealed that it was Angela the one who died in the accident and that Aunt Martha, after taking custody of Peter, raised him as his dead sister because she already had a boy and wanted a little girl. Back in the present, "Angela" (who is actually Peter) drops Paul's severed head on the ground holding a hunting knife and stands up nude, covered in blood and with a penis in plain view before the horrified Susie and Ronnie, growling with a frozen and deranged expression that fades into a negative green tint as the credits roll with a dissonant love song. Ronnie and Susie's fate is left unknown.

The events of ''Oni'' take place in or after the year 2032. In the game, Earth is so polluted that little of it remains habitable. To solve international economic crises, all nations have combined into a single entity, the World Coalition Government. The government is totalitarian, telling the populace that what are actually dangerously toxic regions are wilderness preserves, and uses its police forces, the Technological Crimes Task Force (TCTF), to suppress opposition. The player character, code-named Konoko (voiced by Amanda Winn-Lee), full name later given as Mai Hasegawa, begins the game working for the TCTF. Soon, she learns her employers have been keeping secrets about her past from her. She turns against them as she embarks on a quest of self-discovery. The player learns more about her family and origins while battling both the TCTF and its greatest enemy, the equally monolithic criminal organization called the Syndicate. In the game's climax, Konoko discovers a Syndicate plan to cause the Atmospheric Conversion Centers, air-treatment plants necessary to keep most of the world's population alive, to catastrophically malfunction. She is partially successful in thwarting the plot, saving a portion of humanity.

Media mogul Bill Parrish is contemplating a merger with another media giant. Meanwhile, his eldest daughter, Alison, is planning an elaborate 65th birthday party for him. His younger daughter Susan, a resident in internal medicine, has a relationship with Drew, one of Bill's board members.

Considering marriage, as Bill sees Susan is not deeply in love, he suggests she wait to be swept off her feet, suggesting "lightning could strike". When the company helicopter lands, he hears a mysterious voice, which he tries to ignore. Arriving in his office, Bill has sharp pains in his chest and hears the voice again, saying, "Yes."

While studying in a coffee shop, Susan meets a vibrant young man who also says "lightning may strike" a relationship between them. Stunned, she departs without getting his name. Unbeknownst to her, directly afterward, he is struck fatally by multiple cars.

That evening, Bill hears the voice again and it summons him so Bill meets him alone in a room. Slowly materializing, it identifies itself as Death and is now in the body of the young man. Death explains that his impassioned speech to his daughter piqued his interest. Given Bill's "competence, experience, and wisdom", Death says that for as long as Bill will be his guide on Earth, Bill will not have to die. They both return to the dinner table and under pressure to make an introduction, clumsily make up a name for Death, introducing him to the family as "Joe Black." Joe Black, having no sophisticated human qualities, doesn't seem to know how to drink or eat, or how to use food and utensils. He later wanders through the palatial house to adapt. Susan tries to understand his intentions, noting that his character is not the same as that of the man she met in the coffee shop.

Bill fails to keep events from going rapidly out of his control. Drew secretly conspires with Parrish Communications, capitalizing on Bill's strange behavior and reliance on Joe to convince the board of directors to vote Bill out as chairman. Using information from Bill's son-in-law, Quince, Drew pushes for merger approval which Bill now opposes.

Intrigued by Joe's naivete, Susan sees he's very different from the young man she met in the coffee shop. She falls deeply in love, while Joe is now under the influence of human desires and a magnetic attraction to her, and they make love. After they dress, Joe asks Susan, "What do we do now?" She replies, "It'll come to us." Bill inadvertently walks in and sees them kissing.

Bill angrily confronts Joe about his relationship with his daughter, and Joe declares his intention to take Susan with him. But at Susan's hospital, Joe interacts with a terminally ill old woman who wishes to die. Understanding who he is, when he tells her he loves Susan, they discuss the meaning of life and she helps him understand he is dangerously meshing two worlds.

As Bill's birthday arrives, he asks Joe to recognize the meaning of true love, especially honesty and sacrifice. Joe realizes he must set aside his own desire and allow Susan to live her life. Joe helps Bill regain control of his company, exposing Drew's underhanded business dealings to the board by claiming to be an agent of the Internal Revenue Service and threatening to put Drew in jail.

At the party, understanding his death is imminent, Bill makes peace with his daughters. Susan tells Joe she has loved him since the day in the coffee shop and he hints that his time is coming to an end. Realizing Susan loves the unknown man, not him, crushes him. He doesn't tell her who he really is, but she seems to intuit something mystical about his identity. Struggling to comprehend the magnitude of their attraction, Susan declines to comprehend Joe as Death. She sputters, "You're... you're Joe." He promises, "You will always have what you found in the coffee shop. Thank you for loving me."

In their father/daughter dance, Susan and Bill also say goodbye. Then, on a hilltop above the party, Bill asks Joe if he should be afraid. He replies, "Not a man like you." Fireworks explode in the distance while Susan watches Joe and her father cross a bridge at the top of the hill and descend out of sight on the other side.

Susan stands stunned as "Joe" reappears alone and bewildered. He is again the young man from the coffee shop, uninjured and not comprehending where he is. Susan intuits that her father is gone, and the magnetism that she had shared with this young man has returned. "What do we do now?" she asks. "It'll come to us," he replies, as they descend hand-in-hand toward the party.

Professional photographers Vinod Chopra and Sudhir Mishra open a photo studio in the prestigious Haji Ali area in Bombay, and hope to make enough money to keep it running. After a disastrous start, they are given some work by the editor of "Khabardar" ( ), a publication that exposes the scandalous lives of the rich and the famous. They accept it and start working with the editor, Shobha Sen, on a story exposing the dealings between an unscrupulous builder, Tarneja, and corrupt Municipal Commissioner D'Mello. During their investigation, they find out that another builder Ahuja who is Tarneja's business rival is also involved in this dealing to get a contract for building 4 flyovers from D'Mello. Next, the duo are assigned to secretly create a rift between Tarneja and Ahuja at the former's house where they will compromise on the contracts to be given to them from D'Mello. Vinod and Sudhir somehow try to create a rift between the two by secretly informing Tarneja's assistant Ashok in the guise of Albert Pinto that Ahuja is actually Shobha's friend and wants to cheat Tarneja. The rift takes place until Tarneja's secretary Priya arrives with Assistant Municipal Commissioner Srivastav and tells them that D'Mello has given the contracts to neither Tarneja nor Ahuja but to someone else.

While working on the story, Sudhir and Vinod decide to enter a photography contest that carries prize money of Rs. 5000/-, and take a number of photographs all over the city. On developing their pictures, in one of the photographs, they see a man shooting someone and after enlarging it, they realize that the killer is none other than Tarneja. They immediately return to the park where they shot that photo and eventually find out the crime scene. They find the body lying behind the bushes but before the duo can get to the body, it disappears, but they manage to retrieve one of a pair of gold cuff links. Sometime later, they attend the inauguration of a bridge dedicated to the memory of late D'Mello who is supposed to have died of a terminal disease. There they discover the other cuff link. They return at night and dig up the area and unearth a coffin containing the dead body of D'Mello.

They take several photographs of the corpse, and wheel it with them with the hopes of exposing Tarneja. However, the body disappears and they lie to Shobha saying that the body is hidden safely with them. Shobha, in turn, starts blackmailing Tarneja. He invites her, Vinod and Sudhir for dinner and plants a time bomb to kill them. Unfortunately, the bomb explodes after the three escape. They later find out from the news that the bridge built in the memory of D'Mello collapsed and the police are suspecting Vinod and Sudhir. The duo eventually find out about Shobha's blackmailing and after telling her the truth that the body is missing, the duo bid goodbye to Shobha after realizing that there's no difference between her and Tarneja.

Vinod and Sudhir find out that the body is with Ahuja who had, in an inebriated condition, carried the coffin to his farmhouse. They steal the corpse but not before Tarneja, Ahuja, Srivastav, Shobha and others also get involved resulting in a series of comic mix-ups.

The Mahabharata scene is considered to be one of the major highlights of the film, and has been praised for its humour.

The climax is set upon a stage dramatization of the Mahabharata, particularly the enactment of the ''Draupadi Cheer-Haran'' episode, which is turned on its head with the duo and the group following them inserting themselves into the scene with the corpse playing Draupadi. The iconic sequence also includes a scene from the ill-fated romance of Salim and Anarkali with the corpse playing Anarkali.

In the end, the police arrive and Vinod and Sudhir present their evidence to the police officer. Srivastav tells the officer to wait a few minutes before arresting Tarneja. Tarneja tells Ahuja and Shobha that if he goes to jail, he would make sure that their malpractices are also exposed. In a twist ending, they all come to an agreement and Srivastav manages to pin the murder of D'Mello and the collapse of the bridge on Vinod and Sudhir. In the final scene, Vinod and Sudhir are shown several months/years later released from prison, still in their prison clothes. They turn to the camera and make a symbolic cut-throat gesture, signifying the death of justice and truth.

Chapter 1, '''"The Stowaway"''', is an alternative account of the story of Noah's Ark from the point of view of the woodworms, who were not allowed onboard and were stowaways during the journey. The woodworm who narrates the first chapter questions the wisdom of appointing Noah as God's representative. The woodworm was left out of the ark, just like the other "impure" or "insignificant" species; but a colony of woodworms enters the ark as stowaways and they survive the Great Deluge. The woodworm becomes one of the many connecting figures, appearing in almost every chapter and implying processes of decay, especially of knowledge and historical understanding.

Chapter 2, '''"The Visitors"''', describes the hijacking of a cruise liner, similar to the 1985 incident of the ''Achille Lauro''.

Chapter 3, '''"The Wars of Religion"''', reports a trial against the woodworms in a church, as they have caused the building to become unstable.

Chapter 4, '''"The Survivor"''', is set in a world in which the Chernobyl disaster was "the first big accident". Journalists report that the world is on the brink of nuclear war. The protagonist escapes by boat to avoid the assumed inevitability of a nuclear holocaust. Whether this occurred or is merely a result of the protagonist's paranoia is left ambiguous.

Chapter 5, '''"Shipwreck"''', is an analysis of Géricault's painting, ''The Raft of the Medusa''. The first half narrates the historical events of the shipwreck and the survival of the crew members. The second half of the chapter analyses the painting itself. It describes Géricault's "softening" the impact of reality in order to preserve the aestheticism of the work, or to make the story of what happened more palatable.

Chapter 6, '''"The Mountain"''', describes the journey of a religious woman to a monastery where she wants to intercede for her dead father. ''The Raft of the Medusa'' plays a role in this story as well.

Chapter 7, '''"Three Simple Stories"''', portrays a survivor from the RMS ''Titanic'', the Biblical story of Jonah and the whale, and the Jewish refugees on board the MS ''St. Louis'' in 1939, who were prevented from landing in the United States and other countries.

Chapter 8, '''"Upstream!"''', consists of letters from an actor who travels to a remote jungle for a film project, described as similar to ''The Mission'' (1986). His letters grow more philosophical and complicated as he deals with the living situations, the personalities of his costars and the director, and the peculiarities of the indigenous population, coming to a climax when his colleague is drowned in an accident with a raft.

The unnumbered half-chapter, '''"Parenthesis"''', is inserted between Chapters 8 and 9. It is in the form of an essay rather than a short story and offers a philosophical discussion on love, and briefly history. There is a direct reference to Julian Barnes in this half chapter. A parallel is drawn with El Greco's painting ''Burial of the Count of Orgaz'', in which the artist confronts the viewer. The piece includes a discussion of lines from Philip Larkin's poem "An Arundel Tomb" ("What will survive of us is love") and from W. H. Auden's "September 1, 1939" ("We must love one another or die").

Chapter 9, '''"Project Ararat"''', tells the story of a fictional astronaut Spike Tiggler, based on James Irwin. Tiggler launches an expedition to recover what remains of Noah's Ark. There is overlap with Chapter 6, "The Mountain."

Chapter 10, '''"The Dream"''', is an account of a modernized version of heaven, where even Hitler is found. It is individualised for each person and the occupants eventually "die".

In autumn 1930, fishermen in the fictitious small Spanish port of Esperanza make a grim discovery in their nets, the bodies of a man and a woman. The resultant ringing of church bells in the village brings the local police and the resident archaeologist, Geoffrey Fielding (Harold Warrender), to the beach. Fielding returns to his villa, and, breaking the "fourth wall", retells the story of these two people to the audience.

Esperanza's small group of English expatriates revolves around Pandora Reynolds (Ava Gardner), an alluring American nightclub singer and femme fatale. All the men love her (or believe that they do), but Pandora is unable to love anyone. One of her admirers Reggie Demarest (Marius Goring) commits suicide in front of Pandora and her friends by drinking wine that he has laced with poison, but Pandora shows indifference and later comments that she is relieved by his death.

She tests her admirers by demanding they give up something they value. Pandora agrees to marry a land-speed record holder, Stephen Cameron (Nigel Patrick), after he sends his racing car tumbling into the sea at her request. That same night, the Dutch captain Hendrik van der Zee (James Mason) arrives in Esperanza. Pandora swims out to his yacht and finds him painting a picture of her posed as her namesake, Pandora, whose actions brought an end to the earthly paradise in Greek mythology. Hendrik appears to fall in love with Pandora, and he moves into the same hotel complex as the other expatriates.

Geoffrey and Hendrik become friends, collaborating to seek background information on Geoffrey's local finds. One of these relics is a notebook written in Old Dutch, which confirms Geoffrey's suspicion that Hendrik van der Zee is the Flying Dutchman, a 16th-century ship captain who murdered his wife, believing her to be unfaithful. He blasphemed against God at his murder trial, where he was sentenced to death.

The evening before his execution, a mysterious force opened the Dutchman's prison doors and allowed him to escape to his waiting ship, where in a dream it was revealed to him that his wife was innocent and he was doomed to sail the seas for eternity unless he could find a woman who loved him enough to die for him. Every seven years, the Dutchman could go ashore for six months to search for that woman.

Despite her impending wedding to Stephen, Pandora declares her love for Hendrik, but he is unwilling to have her die for his sake, and tries to provoke her into hating him.

Pandora is also loved by Juan Montalvo (Mario Cabré), an arrogant, famous bullfighter, who murders Hendrik out of jealousy. But as soon as Montalvo leaves, Hendrik comes back to life as if nothing had happened. He attends the bullfight the next day, and when Montalvo sees him in the audience, he becomes petrified with fear and is fatally gored by the bull. Before dying, Montalvo tells Pandora about his murder of his romantic rival, leaving her confused.

On the eve of her wedding, Pandora asks Geoffrey if he knows anything about Hendrik that will clear up her confusion. Once he sees the Flying Dutchman preparing to sail away, he hands her his translation of the notebook. However, the Dutchman's yacht is becalmed. On learning the truth, Pandora swims out to Hendrik again. He shows her a small portrait of his murdered wife. She and Pandora look exactly alike. Hendrik explains they are man and wife and that through her he has been given the chance to escape his doom, but he rejected it because it would cost her death. Pandora is undaunted, however. That night, there is a fierce storm at sea. The next morning, the bodies of Pandora and the Dutchman are recovered.

In the story, Holmes recounts to Watson the events arising after a visit from a university acquaintance, Reginald Musgrave. Musgrave visits Holmes after the disappearance of two of his domestic staff, Rachel Howells, a maid, and Richard Brunton, the longtime butler. The pair vanished after Musgrave had dismissed Brunton for secretly reading a family document, the Musgrave Ritual. The Ritual, which dates from the 17th century, is a riddle set in question/response form. It reads:

Musgrave caught Brunton in the library at two o'clock one morning. Not only had he unlocked a cabinet and taken out the document in question, but he also had what looked like a chart or map, which he promptly stuffed into a pocket upon seeing his employer watching him. Brunton besought Musgrave not to dishonour him by dismissing him, and asked for a month's time to invent some reason for leaving, making it seem as though he was leaving of his own accord. Musgrave granted him a week. The story later reveals that Brunton wanted the time for something else.

A few days later, Brunton disappeared, leaving behind most of his belongings. His bed had not been slept in. No sign could be found of him. The maid, Rachel Howells, who had been Brunton's former lover until he had broken their engagement for another woman, had a hysterical fit when asked about Brunton's whereabouts, repeating over and over that he was gone. She was in such a state that another servant was posted to sit up with her at night. Eventually, however, the guarding servant nodded off one night, and the hysterical Rachel Howells escaped through a window. Her footprints led to the edge of the mere, and ended there. Musgrave had the mere dredged, but only a sack containing some rusty, mangled bits of metal, and some coloured stones or glass were found. Rachel Howells was never heard from again.

Holmes looked upon the case not as three mysteries, but as one. He considered the riddle of the ritual. It was a meaningless, absurd tradition to Musgrave, and apparently to all his ancestors going back more than two centuries, but Holmes – and Brunton, too, Holmes suspected – saw it as something very different. He quickly realized that it was a set of instructions for finding something. Ascertaining the height of the oak, which was still standing, and the position of the elm, which was now gone, Holmes performed a few calculations and paced out the route to whatever awaited him, with Musgrave now eagerly following him.

It was quite instructive to Holmes that Brunton had recently asked about the old elm tree's height as well, and that he was apparently quite intelligent.

The two men found themselves inside a doorway, momentarily disappointed, until they realized that there was the last instruction, "and so under". There was a cellar under where they were standing, as old as the house. Finding their way into it, they saw that the floor had been cleared to expose a stone slab with an iron ring on it with Brunton's muffler tied to it. Holmes thought it wise to bring the police in at this point. He and a burly Sussex policeman managed to lift the slab off the little hole that it was covering, and inside, they found an empty, rotten chest, and Brunton, who had been dead for several days. There were no marks on him. He had likely suffocated.

Holmes then put everything together for his rather shocked client. Brunton had deduced the ritual's meaning, at least insofar as it led to something valuable. He had determined the elm tree's height by asking his master, had paced out the instructions – and Holmes had later even found a peg hole in the lawn made by Brunton – had found the hiding place in the old cellar, but then had found it impossible to lift the stone slab himself. So, he had been forced to draw someone else into his treasure hunt. He had unwisely chosen Rachel Howells, who had good reason to hate him. The two of them could have lifted the slab up, but they would have needed to support it while Brunton climbed down to fetch the treasure. Based on Rachel's sudden flight and disappearance, Holmes wondered if she had deliberately kicked the supports away and left Brunton to die, or if the slab had fallen back into place by itself and caused her to panic.

As to the relics found in the bag retrieved from the mere, Holmes examined them and found that the metal parts were gold and the stones were gems. He believed that it was no less than King Charles I’s ("His who is gone") medieval crown of St. Edward, being kept for his eventual successor – his son, Charles II ("He who will come"), who would not be crowned until 11 years after the execution of Charles I. The ritual had been a guide to retrieving this important symbol, and Reginald confirms that one of his ancestors, Sir Ralph Musgrave, was a king's man. Holmes theorized that the original holder of the ritual had died before teaching his son about its significance. It had thus become nothing more than a quaint custom for more than 200 years. One final plot twist is that the Musgraves are allowed to keep the crown fragments, although the ritual makes it clear that they were only to keep the relic ″in trust″ as it was in fact Crown property.

The story of ''Raiden'' takes place in the year 2090, when a species of alien lifeforms known as the Crystals invaded Earth. The Crystals took control over most of Earth's military hardware to use in the invasion. In response, the world organization known as Vanquish Crystal Defense (VCD) develops the Fighting Thunder attack craft, a cutting-edge weapon based on Crystal technology. To survive against the invaders and fight back, VCD deploys Fighting Thunder as the only hope for humanity.

The film opens with workmen installing a phone booth in the middle of a square. Later, a man takes his son to the school bus. He enters the phone booth to make a call and the door slowly closes behind him. The man realizes that the phone does not work, so he tries to leave, only to discover that the door is stuck. He tries desperately to get it open, but nothing works.

Eventually two business men come by and try to help him out, but to no avail. This gathers the attention of many passers-by who begin to congregate and watch the action. Several people (including a strong man, a repair man and a police officer) try to open the door but it remains stuck. Eventually a firefighter is just about to try to break open the glass roof of the phone booth when the phone booth company appears. They unbolt the booth and take it away on their truck, with the man still inside it. The crowd cheers and waves him away.

The man watches frantically as he is carted across town. He tries to scream for help from people, but everyone just smiles and waves. Eventually the truck stops next to another truck also carrying a man stuck in a phone booth. The two men try to communicate but cannot. After many hours the truck arrives at a massive underground warehouse. The phone booth is lifted up in the air by a giant magnet and the truck drives away. The phone booth is carried by a forklift through the warehouse, which is full of phone booths containing decaying remains of other trapped citizens. The man struggles in fear but cannot escape. The forklift drops him and leaves. The man looks to his right and sees the trapped man he saw on his way to the warehouse, who has strangled himself with the telephone cord. The man collapses out of frame in despair. The film ends with the phone booth company setting up a similar booth in the same park.

Recent parolee Michael Zane stops at a run-down desert motel outside Las Vegas, Nevada. He catches a boy, Jesse, stealing from his car, and chases him back to his mother, Cybil Waingrow, who he seduces.

The following morning, four men arrive to pick up Michael: Murphy, Hanson, Gus, and Franklin. Dressed in Elvis costumes, the group goes to Las Vegas and robs a casino holding an Elvis convention. A firefight breaks out and Franklin is killed during their escape.

Back at the motel, Hanson and Murphy argue about Franklin's share until Murphy shoots Hanson. Michael hides the money in the crawl space, unaware that Jesse is watching him. The three remaining thieves drive into the desert to bury Hanson. Murphy returns alone after shooting Gus and Michael, but crashes his car and is knocked unconscious before reaching the motel.

Michael was wearing a bulletproof vest and survived the shooting by playing dead. He makes his way back to the motel and discovers that the money is missing. Guessing that Jesse was responsible, he storms into Cybil's place and finds the money. He tries to bribe Cybil to forget the situation, but eventually agrees to take Cybil and Jesse with him.

Michael explains that the money is marked, but says Murphy knows a money launderer in Idaho who can help. Murphy, realizing that Michael has taken the money, drives to Idaho to intercept him. At a restaurant, Cybil steals Michael's wallet and sneaks away from Michael and Jesse. She takes Michael's car and calls the money launderer, Peterson, using a password she found in Michael's wallet. Murphy appears at the money launderer's premises using the same password. Peterson explains that Cybil called first, so they wait for her.

Cybil arrives and finds Murphy, who she assumes is Peterson. Michael and Jesse arrive later in a stolen car and find the premises empty except for the bodies of Peterson and his secretary. Michael guesses that Murphy has his car and reports it stolen, causing Murphy to be arrested. The police discover that Michael is also driving a stolen car and arrest him as well. The men are put in adjoining cells and have a confrontation.

Jesse helps Michael make bail after Michael agrees to make him his partner. Murphy calls a man named Jack who helps him make bail. Michael retrieves his car and finds Cybil tied up and gagged in the trunk. Murphy is picked up while hitchhiking, then kills the driver and steals his clothes and vehicle.

Cybil and Jesse drive by. Murphy runs them off the road, and takes Jesse hostage, telling Cybil to find Michael and the money. Cybil begs Michael for help. After some persuasion, Michael decides to help and reports Murphy to the authorities.

Michael meets Murphy at a warehouse with the money and convinces him to release Jesse. As Murphy realizes that the bag is full of cut-up newspaper instead of money, he is stung by a scorpion that Michael hid inside.

A SWAT team surrounds the warehouse. Murphy pretends to surrender but grabs a gun and shoots Michael. A gunfight ensues. Murphy refuses to surrender and is killed by police. An ambulance takes Michael for medical care, but is stolen by Cybil and Jesse. Once again, Michael wore a bulletproof vest, and is only slightly injured. The three escape together and are seen on Michael's boat, the "Graceland."

The series follows the continuing adventures of the four Ghostbusters, their secretary Janine, their accountant Louis, and their mascot Slimer, as they chase and capture rogue spooks, specters, spirits and ghosts around New York City and various other areas of the world.

''Slimer!''

At the start of the fourth season in 1988, the show was retitled to ''Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters''. It aired in a one-hour time slot, which the show had begun doing under its original name earlier that same year on January 30, 1988. In addition to the regular 30-minute ''Real Ghostbusters'' episode, a half-hour ''Slimer!'' sub-series was added that included two to three short animated segments focusing on the character Slimer. Animation for the ''Slimer!'' cartoons was handled by Wang Film Productions. At the end of its seven-season run, 147 episodes had aired, including the syndicated episodes and 13 episodes of ''Slimer!'', with multiple episodes airing out of production order.

Set years after the end of ''The Real Ghostbusters'', lack of supernatural activity has put the Ghostbusters out of business. Each member has gone their separate way, except for Dr. Egon Spengler, who still lives in the firehouse to monitor the containment unit, take care of Slimer, further his studies and teach a class on the paranormal at a local college. When ghosts start to reappear, Egon is forced to recruit his lone four students as the new Ghostbusters. These are Kylie Griffin, who is a goth genius and expert on occultism; Eduardo Rivera, a cynical Latino slacker; Garrett Miller, a young white paraplegic athlete who uses a wheelchair; and Roland Jackson, a studious African-American machinery whiz. Filling the cast are Janine Melnitz, the Ghostbusters' previous secretary who returns to the job, and Slimer, a hungry ghost.

The series follows the adventures of this "Next Generation" of Ghostbusters tracking down and capturing ghosts all over New York and occasionally beyond the city. The series is styled as a supernatural comedy, following the trend set by its predecessor, but given an updated and darker feel. This is reflected by the use of a gritty, rock/punk-inspired variation of Ray Parker Jr.'s song "Ghostbusters" as the opening theme, written by Jim Latham and performed by voice actor Jim Cummings. Recurring themes throughout the series are the new team learning to work together despite their differences, Janine's largely unrequited affection for Egon, the love-hate relationship between Kylie and Eduardo that is never resolved, and the Ghostbusters' frequent clashes with authority figures who disbelieve their work.

The story begins with Shuji, a high school student in a Hokkaidō coastal city, walking up to an observatory and reminiscing about his girlfriend, Chise; there he finds her exchange diaries that she purposefully left behind. The ensuing story is narrated by Shuji through flashbacks while reading Chise's diary. Chise, a fellow student in his class, declares her love for Shuji at the beginning of the series. However, Chise is very shy and Shuji is insensitive: neither know how to express their feelings very well, but they do indeed have feelings for each other.

One day, while Shuji is shopping in Sapporo, unknown bombers attack the city in broad daylight. He and his friends run for cover, but notice a fast and small flying object shooting down the enemy bombers. Separated from his friends, Shuji wanders through the wreckage—only to stumble upon Chise; here she has metal wings and weapons—apparently grafted onto her body. She tells him she has become the ultimate weapon, without her knowledge or consent, and that she is seen by the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) as the last hope for defending Japan. In the anime, it is not apparent why Chise was chosen to be the ultimate weapon or why the country is under attack. It was not until the OVA episodes were released that an explanation for Chise being chosen was offered: her body has the highest degree of compatibility with the weapon system.

This story focuses primarily on Chise's fading humanity as her condition worsens. The main conflict is within Chise herself; she questions whether or not she is human. Her soul is constantly trying to be a normal girl, while her body succumbs to the devastating effects of the weapon cell within her. Fundamentally important to the plot is the relationship between Shuji and Chise. From this, the resolution of the conflict follows. In the end, she is able to realize who she truly is.

A number of minor characters who do not necessarily know of Chise's role in the war have sub-plots that concern everyday people in the context of war: a woman whose husband is constantly away from home, a school boy who joins the army to protect his girlfriend, a girl whose civilian boyfriend is killed in a bombing, and others.

Changing history

The story is told in first person by Michael "Puppy" Young, a young history student at Cambridge University on the verge of completing his doctoral thesis on the early life of Adolf Hitler and his mother. He meets Professor Leo Zuckerman, a physicist who has a strong personal interest in Hitler, the rise of Nazism and the Holocaust. Michael assumes this is due to his Jewish heritage. However, it is later revealed that Leo was born Axil Bauer, the son of Dietrich Bauer, a Nazi doctor at Auschwitz who – when the Nazi defeat became certain – gave his son the identity of a Jewish doctor that he murdered. Leo has developed a machine that enables the past to be viewed—but it is of no practical use as the image is not resolvable into details. Together, they hatch a plan to modify the machine such that it can be used to send something back into time. They decide to use a permanent male contraceptive pill, stolen from Michael's girlfriend (a biochemistry researcher), who, due to his continual distraction, has left him to take a position at Princeton University. They decide to send this pill back in time to the well in Braunau am Inn so that Hitler's father will drink from it, become infertile, and Hitler will never be born.

Consequences

When Michael awakens he is completely disoriented. He soon discovers that he is in the United States, at Princeton University. Everyone he encounters is surprised that he is speaking with an English accent. It takes some time for Michael's memory to return. He realises that his plan was successful, history has changed, and for some reason his parents must have moved to America. Initially he is elated and tells his new friend Steve how happy he is because Steve has never heard of Hitler, Braunau am Inn, or the Nazi Party. Steve corrects Michael and reveals that, while never hearing of Hitler, he is all too well aware of the Nazi Party.

Michael begins to discover the history of this new world. It turns out that without Hitler, a new leader emerged, Rudolf Gloder, who was equally ruthless. In fact, Michael and Zuckerman have replaced Hitler with a Nazi leader who was even more charming, patient, and effective, and as committed to the Final Solution as Hitler had been.

In this alternative timeline, the Nazis won a mandate in the Reichstag in 1932 and built up an electronics industry of their own. Unlike Hitler, Gloder proceeded with stealth, ensuring peaceful unification with Austria in 1937. More alarmingly, Gloder's Nazis also had a head start on the research and development of nuclear weapons, which led to the destruction of Moscow and Leningrad, eliminating Joseph Stalin and his Politburo in this alternative 1938. The Greater German Reich annexes Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Poland, and Turkey, and invades the remnants of the former Soviet Union. In 1939, France, the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, and the Benelux nations capitulate, although Britain rebels in 1941, leading to the execution of several dissidents, among them the Duke of York (the historical King George VI) and George Orwell. Jews are exiled to a "Jewish Free State" within the former Yugoslavia, where most of this world's Holocaust occurs. The United States develops nuclear weapons in 1941, leading to a Cold War between Nazi Germany, its satellites, and the United States. The latter has never gone to war against the Japanese Empire in the Pacific.

As a result, this United States has become far more socially conservative. Because there was no sixties upsurge of social liberalism and decriminalisation of homosexuality in (Nazi-occupied) Western Europe in this world, the latter is still a felony, while racial segregation is still active. Students at Princeton are purely white, the only blacks on campus being manual workers—and students feel free to harass them and call them "nigger".

Steve turns out to be homosexual, and when he discovers Michael's background, he marvels at his talk of gay pride marches, urban gay communities, and a mass social movement in Michael's world of origin, regarding it as "utopian". Much to his own surprise, Michael reciprocates Steve's feelings.

Michael is apprehended by the authorities, who believe that he is a possible spy—since Britain had been under Nazi rule for nearly half a century, anyone speaking like a Briton is suspect. Michael learns that the water from the well in Hitler's home town was used to create "Braunau Water", which was the instrument to sterilise the European Jews, wiping them out in one generation. In a cruel twist of fate, the person who perfected the synthesis was Dietrich Bauer. Once more his physicist son, Axel, is wracked with guilt and has developed a Temporal Imager. With Michael and Steve's help, they plan to send a dead rat to poison the well so that it will be pumped clean of the sterilising water. As they begin to do this, they are interrupted by the federal agents that apprehended Michael earlier and they end up shooting Steve, who dies in Michael's arms just as the time alteration occurs.

Changing history again

Time changes again. Expecting the disorientation, Michael comes to his senses faster now and discovers that almost everything is back to how it was, except that his favourite band, Oily-Moily, never existed. He gives up his career in academia, figuring he can at least make some money "writing" the songs that he remembers from the previous reality. Finally, Michael is reunited with Steve, who also remembers the previous reality. Their gay relationship is no longer criminal.

Structure of the book

Every chapter told by the first-person narrator in the (changing) late 20th century reality is followed by one in the German past. These early such chapters depict Hitler's father, an abusive husband and father and a petty tyrant in his job as a customs inspector; Hitler's mother, a gentle and sensitive woman escaping into fantasy from the harsh reality of her life; the 10-year old Adolf Hitler standing up to his father... Later chapters take place in the trenches of WWI, told from the point of view of Hitler's comrades in arms: ordinary German combat soldiers, completely unaware of the hidden power struggle going on around them between the two potential leaders of the future Nazi Germany—Adolf Hitler and the charismatic officer Rudi Gloder. In one scene, Hitler tricks Gloder into a foolhardy heroic act and getting himself killed; but in the changed history, where Hitler was never born, it is Gloder who tricks another soldier into this act, and gets decorated for recovering his body. Later on, the ruthless Gloder murders a fellow soldier who discovered his opportunist machinations, followed by the past-war scene where Gloder joins the budding Nazi Party in 1919 Munchen and becomes its star demagogue. The significance of some details in these past scenes only becomes clear much later. For example, there is an early scene where Hitler's mother's vomits when trying to draw water and getting out of the pump a stinking maggot-filled mass; this turns out at the book's end to be the result of the protagonist sending back in time the rotting bodies of dead rats in order to prevent Hitler's father from drinking the sterilizing water.

Most of the films start with Egon coming out of jail and being enthusiastically welcomed by Benny and Kjeld. The three men will then have a beer together in the living room of Kjeld's home in Valby, where Egon will inform his friends of his latest plan, for making them millionaires. Plans are often two-step plans, where the first heist will get the equipment for the real, second plan. The plans usually feature everyday artifacts such as Lego, party balloons, cigarettes, etc., which are then brought together in surprising ways in elaborate and well-timed plans, often including clever social engineering. Bennys function in the heists, besides get-away-driver, is picking locks and starting machinery using "The Thing", a specially shaped brass piece used for manipulating machinery and opening doors. Egon often serves time with lawyers or executives who provide him with the information he needs, such as duty rosters for the national public record office. Egon is also a brilliant safecracker, operating manually, specializing in the fictive "Franz Jäger" brand.

Egon's plans often bring the gang into perilously close contact with white-collar criminals from the Danish business (and political) elite. For example, in the ninth installment named "Olsen-banden deruda" well-connected people try to make money out of the so-called "butter mountain", a huge amount of butter bought up and stored by the EEC (now the EU) to keep prices up. Egon Olsen learns about this from a lawyer who is serving prison time, and the gang interferes with the plan to secure the millions for themselves. But as always, Egon – after having succeeded with a genius plan – fails for a variety of reasons, for instance underestimating the power and unscrupulousness of these people, bad luck, interference from Kjeld's wife Yvonne, or other surprising elements. For several movies, the role of the antagonist was filled by CEO Hallandsen of the fictive, multinational company Hallandsen Inc. - or variations thereof. Egon is usually arrested in the end, for various reasons: scapegoat, bad luck, some irrelevant crime, or even turning himself in as a matter of honor.

A recurring part of the film is making fun of Danish authorities, especially the police. In some earlier installments, the clumsy Police Inspector Mortensen is used for slapstick comic relief; he is later replaced by Superintendent Jensen, an older, troubled man who has seen better days. He is a resigned character who despises the Danish government as he often criticizes Hallandsen crimes going unnoticed and mentions to his assistant, Inspector Holm: "The only thing the police can do when the real big criminals come by is offer them protection!" Jensen incredulously uses the recurring exclamation "Bagmændene!" (Behind-men/Big Fishes) to reference the in-joke of powerful players moving outside of the law.

In the early installments, profanity and soft-erotica (scantily-clad women) were more freely used than in later ones, where said content was somewhat watered down to suit younger viewers. Later movies focused on the satirical interplay between Jensen and Holm and Egon and his crew, with a frequent outburst of anger from Egon. His long list of slurs is especially famous, like "social democrats!", "insane woman!" (to Yvonne), "lousy amateurs!", "cowards!", "dog heads!", "porridge peasants!", "sop!", "scumbags!", to name a few.

Continuing where ''Stitch! The Movie'' left off, Lilo and Stitch are given the task of collecting the rest of Jumba's missing experiments, changing them from bad to good, and finding the one place where they truly belong. Meanwhile, the former Captain Gantu and his reluctant partner, Experiment 625 (later named Reuben), try to capture the experiments for the imprisoned Dr. Hämsterviel.

Running for two seasons, it had a total of 65 episodes. The storyline of the series concluded with the Disney Channel broadcast of the television finale ''Leroy & Stitch'' on June 23, 2006.

The novel relates Cemí's struggles with a mysterious childhood illness, describes the death of his father, and explores his homosexuality and literary sensibilities. He lives in the world of pre-Castro Havana, and the Cuban Revolution only appears as a secondary plot. Some of the later chapters incorporate narrative experiments in which several alternating stories, set during widely divergent eras and having no immediately apparent connection with José Cemí, are interwoven and eventually merged. (In a letter to Julio Cortázar, Lezama explained that these chapters represent Cemí's dreams after the death of his father.)

The party's objective is to defeat Bane's lieutenants Thorne (an ancient red dragon), Kalistes (a Marilith), and Tanetal (a Glabrezu) and acquire the items they possess. The ultimate goal is to reach Bane's Land and face off against Bane's last and greatest lieutenant, Gothmenes (a Balor).

All of the lieutenants are found in other dimensions, which can be reached using portals known as Pools of Darkness. Traveling through the pools can cause many types of items the characters are holding to be permanently destroyed and lost. The party may opt to leave these items in a vault to save them. Any items from the dimensions will suffer this same fate when traveling back to the realms. Some very powerful magic items and all non-magical items can survive the trip.

There are also many side quests the party can do along the way, which can help the party in gaining experience and items, especially early on. There are many unmarked areas on the overworld the party can enter, which can be found if the player looks around the open fields for any such places. This is true of all the overworlds.

The mandatory quests involve: Clearing the Steading near Dragonhorn's Gap, which opens the way to the Dragon's Aerie. Clearing the Dragon's Aerie, which opens the way to Thorne's Cave via a Pool of Darkness. Clearing Thorne's Cave, which will give the party the Horn of Doom. Clearing the drow caves and Kalistes' Temple under Zhentil Keep, which opens the way to Kalistes' Land via a Pool of Darkness. Clearing Kalistes' Parlor, which will give the party the Crystal Ring. Clearing the red tower of Marcus, which opens the way to Moander's body via a Pool of Darkness. Clearing the heart of Moander where Tanetal resides, which will give the party the Talisman of Bane. Clearing Arcam's Cave under Mulmaster, which opens the way to Bane's Land via a Pool of Darkness. *Finally, clearing Bane's Land and defeating Gothmenes (a Balor), who battles Elminster.

There are also side quests in several places, and famous people in the realm too. For example, Elminster was always there to maintain the dimensional portal for the party should they arrive at any Pool of Darkness. The lost princess ''Alusair Nacacia'' will ask the party to help her to fight Rakshasas in Myth Drannor. Lastly, after finishing the final quest, the party had the option to either end their journey or go through one more dungeon of enemies and traps, known as "Dave's Challenge".

Ursula and Gudrun Brangwen are sisters living in The Midlands in England in the 1910s. Ursula is a schoolteacher, Gudrun a painter. They meet two men who live nearby, school inspector Rupert Birkin and Gerald Crich, heir to a coal mine, and the four become friends. Romantic relationships quickly develop as the novel progresses.

All four are deeply concerned with questions of society, politics, and the relationship between men and women. At a party at Shortlands, the Birkin's country manor home, Gerald's sister Diana drowns. Gudrun becomes the teacher and mentor of Gerald's youngest sister. Soon, Gerald's coal-mine-owning father dies as well, after a long illness. After the funeral, Gerald goes to Gudrun's house and spends the night with her while her parents sleep in another room.

Birkin asks Ursula to marry him, and she agrees. Gerald and Gudrun's relationship, however, becomes stormy.

The two couples take a holiday together in the Austrian Alps. Gudrun begins an intense friendship with Loerke, a physically puny but emotionally commanding artist from Dresden. Gerald, enraged by Loerke and most of all by Gudrun's verbal abuse and rejection of his manhood, and driven by his own internal violence, tries to strangle Gudrun. He suddenly becomes disgusted with his actions and lets her go, and he leaves Gudrun and Loerke to climb the mountain eventually slipping into a snowy valley where he falls asleep and freezes to death.

The impact of Gerald's death upon Birkin is profound. The novel ends a few weeks after Gerald's death with Birkin trying to explain to Ursula that, although he needed no other woman than Ursula, he valued a relationship with Gerald that is gone forever.

''The Rainbow'' tells the story of three generations of the Brangwen family, a dynasty of farmers and craftsmen who live in the east Midlands of England, on the borders of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. The book spans a period of roughly 65 years from the 1840s to 1905, and shows how the love relationships of the Brangwens change against the backdrop of the increasing industrialisation of Britain. The first central character, Tom Brangwen, is a farmer whose experience of the world does not stretch beyond these two counties; while the last, Ursula, his granddaughter, studies at university and becomes a teacher in the progressively urbanised, capitalist and industrial world.

The book starts with a description of the Brangwen dynasty, then deals with how Tom Brangwen, one of several brothers, fell in love with a Polish refugee and widow, Lydia. The next part of the book deals with Lydia's daughter by her first husband, Anna, and her destructive, battle-riven relationship with her husband, Will, the son of one of Tom's brothers. The last and most extended part of the book, and also probably the most famous, then deals with Will and Anna's daughter, Ursula, and her struggle to find fulfilment for her passionate, spiritual and sensual nature against the confines of the increasingly materialist and conformist society around her. She experiences a same-sex relationship with a teacher, and a passionate but ultimately doomed love affair with Anton Skrebensky, a British soldier of Polish ancestry. At the end of the book, having failed to find her fulfilment in Skrebensky, she has a vision of a rainbow towering over the Earth, promising a new dawn for humanity:

"She saw in the rainbow the earth's new architecture, the old, brittle corruption of houses and factories swept away, the world built up in a living fabric of Truth, fitting to the over-arching heaven."

The series finale of ''Dynasty'', broadcast in May 1989, had left oil tycoon Blake Carrington shot by a corrupt policeman, his beloved wife Krystle in an off-screen coma, and his conniving ex-wife Alexis Colby plunging from a balcony. ''The Reunion'' picks up two years later as Blake, who survived the shooting but was then convicted for the death of his assailant, is pardoned and released from prison.

Krystle has awakened from her coma during the two-year gap and returns to Denver, where she finds the Carrington mansion on auction. In California, she is reunited with an overjoyed Blake. Blake and Alexis' son Steven Carrington is now an environmental lobbyist in Washington, D.C., and in a relationship with Bart Fallmont. Steven's sister Fallon has split with both her husband Jeff Colby and her lover John Zorelli, and reunited with Miles Colby. Fallon is also raising her two children and Blake and Krystle's daughter, Krystina. Meanwhile, Krystle's niece Sammy Jo, having lost her fortune, is once again modeling in New York and having an affair with Arlen Marshall, a married man who owns a fashion company, Fashion Fury. On the catwalk for Fashion Fury, Sammy Jo soon comes in contact with the company's newest investor: her ex-mother-in-law Alexis, who survived the fall from the balcony two years earlier after falling on her ex-husband Dex Dexter.

It soon becomes clear that Blake's downfall had been orchestrated by The Consortium, a mysterious organization which now controls Denver-Carrington. The most insidious part of their plan comes to fruition as Krystle, brainwashed before her return, is compelled to make an attempt on Blake's life. Her love for Blake allows her to resist and overcome the programming, but The Consortium kidnaps Jeff. Miles, Blake's eldest son Adam Carrington, and Jeff's ex-wife Kirby Anders rescue him. Despite Adam's involvement in The Consortium's takeover, he and Blake reconcile their differences. Adam and Kirby also rekindle their past romance and Blake regains control of Denver-Carrington after Adam testifies on his behalf. Krystle and Alexis have one final catfight, with the two of them brawling at Alexis' fashion company.

The Carringtons reunite at the mansion as secret Consortium leader Jeremy Van Dorn, who is romantically involved with a clueless Alexis, attempts to both gain control of her company ColbyCo and kill her. He drags her to the garage and tries to asphyxiate her with carbon monoxide fumes from one of the cars parked inside, but she is rescued by Adam, as Van Dorn escapes. Fallon realizes she still loves Jeff, and leaves Miles for him yet again. Blake and Krystle hold a family celebration at the mansion to which even Alexis is invited. After Blake makes a toast to his family, the miniseries ends as he and Krystle dance together, happy at last.

On November 5, 1975 in Snowflake, Arizona, logger Travis Walton, and his co-workers — Mike Rogers, Allan Dallis, David Whitlock, Greg Hayes and Bobby Cogdill — head to work in the White Mountains.

Driving home from work, the loggers come across an unidentified flying object. Curious, Walton gets out of the truck and is struck by a bright beam of light from the object and is sent flying several feet backwards as if pushed by an unseen force. Fearing Walton has been killed, the others escape from the scene. Rogers decides to go back to the spot to retrieve Walton, but he is nowhere to be found. Making their way back to town to report the incident, the loggers are met with skepticism by investigators Sheriff Blake Davis and Lieutenant Frank Watters. Watters, realizing that there was a great deal of tension between Dallis and Walton and that Dallis has a criminal record, suspects foul play, a belief that quickly spreads to the rest of the town, leaving the loggers as social pariahs.

After a large search party turns up no sign of Travis, the loggers are offered the chance to take a lie detector test. Though Dallis is initially hesitant, the loggers ultimately take the test in the hopes of proving their innocence. However, Watters declares that the tests were inconclusive and that they will have to return the next day to retake it. Rogers is outraged and he angrily declines, the other loggers following suit. The test's administrator reveals to Watters and Davis that, with the exception of Dallis (whose test results were inconclusive), the loggers seem to be telling the truth.

Five days later, Rogers receives a call from someone claiming to be Walton. He is found at a Heber gas station, alive but naked, dehydrated and incoherent. A ufologist questions Walton but he is thrown out and Walton is taken to a hospital. Rogers visits Walton while in the emergency room and ends up telling Walton that he left him after he was struck by the light but came back to get him. Walton appears enraged by this and turns away from Rogers who blames the whole incident on Walton for getting out of the truck. During a welcome home party, Walton suffers from a mental breakdown and flashback of the abduction by the extraterrestrials.

In his flashback, he awakens inside a slimy cocoon. Breaking out of its membrane, he finds himself in a zero-gravity environment inside a cylindrical enclosure whose walls contain other similar cocoons and he is horrified to inadvertently discover that one contains the decomposing remains of a human body. As he makes his way to a neighboring area featuring what appear to be several humanoid space suits, he is apprehended by two extraterrestrial creatures. He is unwillingly hauled down corridors full of terrestrial detritus such as shoes and keys before arriving in a bizarre examination room. The aliens strip him of his clothes and cover him with an elastic material that pins him to a raised platform under an array of equipment and lights in the middle of the room. Despite Walton's terrified screams, the aliens pitilessly subject him to an experiment in which a gelatinous substance is shoved into his mouth, his jaw is clamped open, a device is inserted into his neck and he is forced to endure an ocular probe while fully conscious during the experience. Afterwards, Walton loses consciousness until finding himself back on Earth disoriented and severely traumatized.

While interviewing Walton, Lieutenant Watters expresses his doubts about the abduction, dismissing it as merely a hoax. He notes Walton's newfound celebrity because of the tabloids' attempts to profit from his tale, believing that he had faked the abduction to become a celebrity. However, with the investigation closed, Watters is forced to abandon his pursuit and leaves town. Two years later, Walton visits Rogers, now a recluse, and the two reconcile. The closing titles inform that in 1993, Walton, Rogers, and Dallis were resubmitted to additional polygraph examinations, which they passed, corroborating their innocence.