Though the game is titled after the comic book series ''Venom: Separation Anxiety'', the story more closely follows the events of Venom's first limited series, ''Venom: Lethal Protector''. The game's plot loosely follows ''Lethal Protector'' in the following ways: * Appearance of Spider-Man (in ''Lethal Protector'' #1) * Confronting the digger in San Francisco (as seen in ''Lethal Protector'' #1) * Discovering the underground city (as seen in ''Lethal Protector'' #1) * Appearance of The Jury (as seen in ''Lethal Protector'' #2) * Removal of five symbiote seeds to create five new symbiotes (as seen in ''Lethal Protector'' #4) * Spider-Man and Venom's escape from the Life Foundation (as seen in ''Lethal Protector'' #5) * Confronting the five symbiotes at the Life Foundation Headquarters (as seen in ''Lethal Protector'' #5)

The novel begins when "Edward Henry Machin first saw the smoke on May 27, 1867"—the very day of Bennett's own birth. At age 12, Denry begins his career by altering his marks in a test sufficiently to earn him a scholarship to grammar school. At 16, he leaves school to work for Mr Duncalf, the town clerk and a solicitor. Duncalf is responsible for organising an exclusive ball; Denry "invites" himself, then also a few others in exchange for things he will need, such as lessons from dance instructor Ruth Earp. On a bet, he audaciously asks the energetic, beautiful Countess of Chell to dance. Everyone, including Machin, is in awe of the Countess (apparently based on the real-life Duchess of Sutherland) and he thus earns himself the reputation of a "card" (a "character", someone able to set tongues wagging) – a reputation he is determined to cement.

Later, when Duncalf treats a disgruntled client brusquely, Denry leaves his employ after persuading the client to hire him as a rent collector. When some of the tenants fall behind, he begins loaning them money (at a highly profitable interest rate). Ruth herself is several months in arrears and tries to sneak away in the middle of the night. Denry catches her by accident, but rather than being angry, he admires her audacity and starts courting her.

While on holiday at the seaside resort town of Llandudno with Ruth and her friend Nellie Cotterill, he witnesses a shipwreck and the rescue of the sailors. Noting the interest generated, he buys a lifeboat, hires some of the stranded mariners as rowers, and conducts tours of the picturesque wreck. However, Ruth's spendthrift nature becomes alarmingly apparent during the trip and they break up.

By the end of the summer, Denry has made a substantial profit from the sightseers, which he uses to finance his boldest venture. He starts up the Five Towns Universal Thrift Club. Members deposit money little by little; once they have accumulated half the sum they need to purchase whatever it is they want, the club allows them to buy on credit, but only from stores associated with the club. Denry makes money by getting a discount from the vendors in return for access to his large customer base. When his capital starts to run out, he arranges an "accident" for the Countess's coach. He drives conveniently by and gives her a lift to an urgent appointment. On the way there, he talks her into becoming the club's sponsor, ensuring easy financing. This proves to be the making of Denry's fortune.

With his great success, he is appointed a town councillor. He also backs a new daily newspaper (to be bought out at a profit by its established rival anxious to keep its monopoly) and tricks his obstinate mother into moving into a luxurious new house. At this point, Ruth reappears in Denry's life, now the widow of a rich older man. He considers renewing their relationship, but at the last moment, realises that Nellie is the one for him and marries her.

The crowning achievement comes when Denry decides to become the youngest mayor in the history of Bursley. To sway the voters, he purchases the rights to footballer and native son Callear, the "greatest centre forward in England", for the failing Bursley football club.

His antics are regarded with affection and admiration by most others, as shown by the book's final exchange:

"What a card!" said one, laughing joyously. "He's a rare 'un, no mistake." "Of course, this'll make him more popular than ever," said another. "We've never had a man to touch him for that." "And yet," demanded Councillor Barlow, "what's he done? Has he ever done a day's work in his life? What great cause is he identified with?" "He's identified," said the speaker, "with the great cause of cheering us all up."

Donner, Santa's lead reindeer, and his wife have a new fawn named Rudolph. They are surprised to find out he was born with a glowing red nose. Donner attempts to first cover Rudolph's nose with mud, and later uses a fake nose, so Rudolph will fit in with the other reindeer. The following spring, Rudolph goes out for the reindeer games, where the new fawns learn to fly and are scouted by Santa for future sleigh duty. Rudolph meets a doe named Clarice, who tells him he is cute, making Rudolph fly. While he celebrates with the other bucks, Rudolph's fake nose pops off, causing the other reindeer to mock him and Coach Comet to expel him.

Rudolph meets and joins Hermey, a misfit elf who left Santa's workshop because he wants to be a dentist, and Yukon Cornelius, a prospector who has spent his life searching for silver and gold. After escaping the Abominable Snow Monster, all three land on the Island of Misfit Toys. It is a place where unloved or unwanted toys reside with their ruler, a winged lion named King Moonracer, who brings the toys to the island until he can find homes and children who will love them. The king allows them to stay one night on the island and asks them to ask Santa to find homes for them. Rudolph leaves on his own, worried that his nose will endanger his friends.

Time passes and Rudolph, now a young stag, returns home to find that his parents and Clarice have been searching for him. He then travels to the Abominable's cave, where they are being held captive. Rudolph attempts to rescue Clarice until the monster knocks him down with a stalactite. Hermey and Yukon eventually show up with a plan to help out Rudolph. Hermey lures the monster out of the cave by imitating the sound of a pig and pulls out the Abominable's teeth after Yukon knocks him out. Yukon drives the toothless monster back over a cliff and falls with it.

Rudolph, Hermey, Clarice, and the Donners return home where everyone apologizes to them. Yukon returns with a tamed Abominable, now trained to trim a Christmas tree, explaining that the monster's bouncing ability saved both of their lives. Christmas Eve comes and while everybody is celebrating, Santa announces that a big snowstorm is approaching, forcing him to cancel Christmas. Blinded by Rudolph's bright nose, he changes his mind and asks Rudolph to lead the sleigh. Rudolph accepts, and their first stop is the Island of Misfit Toys, where Santa delivers the toys to children.

For his birthday, Joe receives a mysterious blue book (known only as "The Book") from his magician uncle and namesake, "Joe the Magnificent". Using a number of often unpredictable and/or unintentional voice and print cues, The Book frequently transports Joe and his friends, Fred and Sam, to a variety of different times and places, from Camelot's medieval court of knights and dragons to the year 2095, where they meet their own great-granddaughters. The only way they are able to return to present-day Brooklyn, New York is to find The Book again within whatever time period they are in. Anna, Joe's sister, is also always eager to have the book (which is quite annoying to Joe). During their travels, Joe and his friends learn that The Book will eventually be inherited by Joe's great-granddaughter, Jodie, who time travels with The Book with her friends who are Sam and Fred's great-granddaughters, Samantha and Freddi, and occasionally save the boys from trouble when their paths cross or come to visit. The Time Warp Trio faces many challenges during their travels as they learn how to use The Book.

''Shadow of Chernobyl'' offers 7 different endings based on the player's actions. The ending below is considered canon in the series.

The game opens with lightning striking a vehicle, causing it to crash. The player character is the sole survivor and wakes up in a local black-market trader's bunker. The player suffers from amnesia and has only two clues to his identity. The first is a tattoo of the acronym "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." and the second is a PDA, with the entry "Kill Strelok". Sidorovich, the trader, gives them the nickname "Marked One". The Marked One performs several tasks for Sidorovich as payment for saving his life. Through these missions and new contacts, the player discovers clues to Strelok's possible location. These bring them deeper into the Zone and provide more details about Strelok and his team. Along the way, the Marked One begins to have flashes of his lost memory.

To progress further into the Zone, the player must disable a device known as the Miracle Machine. This device is man-made and causes those within its range to lose their mind, becoming zombies. While disabling the device, the Marked One finds a clue that leads to Doc, a member of Strelok's team. A trap injures the player, who is then rescued by Doc. He tells the Marked One about a monolithic artifact known as the Wish Granter, located at the center of the Zone. This artifact is sought after by all the factions and a group known as Monolith protects it. Doc also implies that the player is in fact Strelok, before departing.

New leads point to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant as the location of the Wish Granter. A second, larger Miracle Machine, named the Brain Scorcher blocks the path to Pripyat. After disabling this device, the player can travel into Pripyat and through to the plant. With the path open, Pripyat becomes a warzone as different factions fight for control. The player must fight Monolith fanatics and the military to reach the plant. Once inside the sarcophagus, the player discovers the Wish Granter and a secret laboratory beneath it. Inside the lab is a terminal, where an entity known as the C-Consciousness resides.

The C-Consciousness reveals that the player character ''is'' Strelok, as well as explaining the Zone and its history. After the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, the Soviet Union used the complete vacancy of the Exclusion Zone for unhindered secret research into the human mind. This resulted in the development of ESP and psychic weapons. Seven scientists were neurally-linked, creating a hivemind known as the C-Consciousness. When the Soviet Union fell five years later, the C-Consciousness took control of the Zone and continued the research. The hivemind attempted to create world peace through global mind-control. This attempt failed and caused the anomalies and reality-warping nature of the Zone. To protect itself, the C-Consciousness created the Brain Scorchers and Wish Granter. The Wish Granter brainwashes those who reach it, turning them into Monolith soldiers.

The C-Consciousness gives Strelok the option to merge with it and become part of the hivemind. The player can either accept this offer or attempt to stop the C-Consciousness. If Strelok rejects the offer, the hivemind teleports him away. To reach the hivemind Strelok must fight through Monolith soldiers and mutants, and navigate anomalies. Upon reaching the C-Consciousness, Strelok shoots the capsules holding the scientists, killing the hivemind. He then destroys the unit prepared for him and leaves.

Melanie Beeby is killed in a traffic accident on the day after her thirteenth birthday. She then finds herself transported to Heaven. The Heaven of this universe is a lively and vibrant city, populated both by dead humans-turned-angels and Heaven-born beings known as pure angels. This city is also where the headquarters of the Agency are situated. The Agency is an elite group whose job is to counter the Opposition, informally known as the PODs or Powers of Darkness – the polar opposite of the Agency.

Upon arrival, Mel discovers that she is to be a trainee at the Angel Academy. She also discovers a best friend and soulmate, Lola Sanchez, good friend Reuben Bird and on her first mission bad boy Brice de Winters.

Each book features time travel of some kind, where Mel is tasked by the Agency to unravel various celestial problems involving humans and the Opposition.

Rebeca, a television news broadcaster, waits anxiously at Madrid airport for the return of her mother, Becky del Páramo, a famous torch singer, who is returning to Spain after a fifteen-year stay in Mexico. While she is waiting, Rebeca recalls incidents from her early life when her mother, preoccupied with her career and romantic life, neglected and rejected her.

Rebeca has since become a newsreader for a television station owned by her husband Manuel. The intensity of the family reunion is heightened because, many years ago, Manuel was one of Becky's lovers. On the night of her return, Becky, Rebeca and Manuel have supper and then go out to see Letal, a female impersonator whose drag act is based on Becky. For some time, Rebeca has been coming to see the concerts whenever she misses her mother. Backstage, Rebeca helps Letal to remove his costume and, kneeling in front of him, she is impressed by his manhood. Letal takes advantage of the situation and they make love. Manuel, who no longer loves his wife, wants to sleep with Becky again and divorce Rebeca.

A month later, Manuel is murdered in his villa. He had spent the evening first with his mistress Isabel (also Rebeca's sign language interpreter on the news) and then with Becky who, having become his lover again, had come to announce it was over between them because she had learnt about his other mistress. It was Rebeca who discovered the body. The investigating magistrate, Judge Domínguez, knows that their relationship has not recovered since Rebeca found out Becky was seeing Manuel, and centres his suspicions on both mother and daughter.

On the day of Manuel's funeral, Rebeca confesses to his murder live on television, while reading the news. She is immediately imprisoned, but the investigating judge seems desperate to prove her innocence despite all the evidence. Becky makes her return to the Madrid stage while Rebeca spends her first night in prison. In jail, she listens on the radio as her mother dedicates the first songs of her triumphant concert performance to Rebeca. A social worker, Paula, takes a special interest in Rebeca; like her, she is heartbroken, grieving the loss of her boyfriend Hugo. Rebeca sees a nude picture of Hugo that Paula carries with her, and thinks that Letal and Hugo are the same person.

The judge arranges for Becky to see her daughter, and Rebeca now denies the murder of Manuel. Mother and daughter confess their lack of love, their jealousy, and their secrets to each other. Rebeca draws a comparison between herself and the daughter in the film ''Autumn Sonata'', in which the girl's mother, an outstanding pianist, asks her to play the piano and then humiliates her by telling her how to improve her performance. Rebeca suggests that she too has always felt inferior to Becky, and has been forced to compete with her, winning only once by marrying Manuel. But even this victory was finally denied her, when Becky started an affair with Manuel. Rebeca admits that fifteen years ago, her desire to be closer to Becky led her to murder her stepfather, and also played some part in her murder of Manuel, whom she saw as usurping her mother's affection. The extent of Rebeca's fixation and the limitlessness of her adoration are too much for Becky's frail heart, and her condition worsens. Back in prison, Rebeca discovers she is pregnant – carrying Letal's child. At once, the judge releases her from prison despite the lack of any fresh evidence.

Rebeca goes to see Letal's final drag performance. In the dressing room, she discovers that he is the judge, with Letal being one of his disguises and Hugo being another. He explains that his dressing up was just an investigative strategy and, knowing about her pregnancy, asks her to marry him. As Rebeca struggles to take this in, they see a television broadcast relating to Becky's sudden heart attack. They rush to the hospital, where Rebeca confesses to murdering Manuel, but Becky decides to take the blame in order for her daughter to go free. When Becky is taken home to die, Rebeca gives her the gun and Becky leaves her fingerprints on it, thereby incriminating herself and establishing Rebeca's innocence. When Rebeca hears the high heels of the women passing in the street, she tells her mother the sound reminds her of her mother coming home when she was little. She turns around, and realises her mother has died while she was talking.

Prologue

The play begins with an overfed undertaker (apparently Death) with gas (belching) examining a body by the river Elbe, not the first one. The body does not appear to belong to a soldier, although he is wearing soldier's clothes. The undertaker makes the nihilistic claim that this death changes nothing. The Old Man (apparently God) enters, crying and explaining: His children are killing each other. Since no one believes in him anymore, he can do nothing to stop them. Uninterested, the undertaker agrees that this is very tragic indeed.

God says that Death is the new God; people believe only in death. However, God remembers a skinny, sickly death. Death explains that he has grown fat during the last century, due to all the "business" from the war, and that is the cause of his belching. The scene ends with Death telling God to take a rest for emotional rehabilitation.

Dream

Beckmann awakes (after his suicide attempt) to find himself floating in the Elbe. The river turns out to be a rather resolute motherly figure. Once she discovers that Beckmann is bent on suicide, she lashes out, patronizing him. She calls him faint-hearted and explains that she will not let him kill himself. The dream ends with him washing up on the sand.

Scene one

The Other introduces himself to Beckmann. He describes himself as the "yes-man". Annoyed, Beckmann tells him to leave. Thereafter, a girl turns up offering to help Beckmann, by giving him dry clothing and some warmth. She explains that she's only helping him because he's so wet and cold; later, she will admit having helped him because he looked so sad and innocent.

Scene two

Beckmann follows the girl to her house, where he finds out that her husband had been a soldier, like Beckmann. The girl laughs at Beckmann's gasmask goggles, which he continues to wear, because without them he can't see. She confiscates them, and he sees the world as grey and blurry. But, her husband comes home, on crutches. It turns out this is due to a military command of sergeant Beckmann that he lost his leg.

Beckmann attempts to go back to the Elbe for another try to die, but the Other convinces him not to. Instead, Beckmann is going to visit the man who had given the commands to him.

Scene three

The third scene marks the emotional climax of the play. Beckmann appears at his former Colonel's house, just in time for dinner. He immediately blames the Colonel, telling him that for 3 years he ate caviar while the men suffered. He tells the Colonel about his nightmare.

In that dream, a fat man (Death again) plays a Military March on a very large xylophone made from human bones. The man is running back and forth, sweating blood. The blood gives him red stripes down the side of his trousers (like that of a General in the German Army.) All the dead from throughout history are there, and Beckmann is forced to stand there among them, under a sickly, discolored moon. And they are all chanting "''Beckmann! Sergeant Beckmann!''"

Beckmann tells the Colonel that he has returned to hand back to the Colonel the responsibility for the eleven men lost under his command. If he were able to sleep with those thousands killed in action under his command, eleven more will not change anything for him. The Colonel finds this whole idea very strange declaring it to be a joke out of place. He suggests that Beckmann takes his joke to the stage. Beckmann steals a bottle of rum and some bread from the dinner table, then leaves.

Scene four

The scene opens with a monologue from the ''Direktor'' (i.e. owner and producer of an off-off theatre) about the importance of Truth in art. Someone outspoken, new, and young should be looked for.

Beckmann arrives and expresses his ideas. The director tells him he would be better off to change his mind. Nevertheless, the director agrees to give a hearing to his odd visitor.

Beckmann gives a couplet, turning up to be a morose summary of the play up to this point, the melody taken from a popular war time song, ''Tapfere kleine Soldatenfrau'' ("brave little soldier’s wife"). To the director it is all too dark and foreboding. People in these times want something encouraging, the director says. To Beckmann, that is not Truth. The director replies: "''Truth has nothing to do with art.''" Beckmann reproaches him, and leaves the theatre.

Once again, Beckmann takes up an argument with the Other, who gives him the idea to return to his parents. Beckmann expresses some enthusiasm for the first (and only) time in the play.

Scene five

Upon arriving at his parents' house, a woman he has never seen (Frau Kramer) answers the door. He finds out that his parents are to be found in their graves, having killed themselves during the post-war denazification. Beckmann leaves, once again eager to kill himself.

The Other follows him, and the longest dialogue of the play ensues. The nihilistic point of the play comes across during this dialog: There is always suffering in the world; one cannot do anything to change that; the world will not care if you are suffering. As evidence for this, Beckmann outlines a hypothetical play:
''1st Act: Grey skies. A man is suffering.
2nd Act: Grey skies. The man continues to be pained.
3rd Act: It is getting dark and it is raining.''
''4th Act: It is darker. The man sees a door.
5th Act: It is night, deep night, and the door is closed. The man is standing outside. Outside on the doorstep. The man is standing on a riverside, be it the Elbe, the Seine, the Volga, or the Mississippi. The man stands there crazed, frozen, hungry, and damn tired. And then there is a splash, and the ripples make neat little circles, and then the curtain drops.''

The Other counters that while there is always suffering in the world, there is always hope, and there is always happiness. Dwelling on the suffering cannot accomplish anything; you can make things better by focusing on the good; as he says, "''Do you fear the darkness between two lamp-posts?''"

One by one, each of the characters returns to defend himself. Despite their good intentions, they cannot help. Between these visits, the dialog between Beckmann and the Other goes on. There is little change in the content of their arguments; however, both of them become increasingly desperate. Finally, after the girl and her one-legged husband have left, a desperate Beckmann begins a long monologue, at the end of which he demands an answer from the Other; who is fading away. There is no reply, and Beckman realizes he is all alone. Presumably, he has drowned himself.

In a clock tower, investigator Lemony Snicket begins writing a documentation regarding the whereabouts of the Baudelaire children.

Fourteen-year-old inventor Violet Baudelaire, her twelve-year-old bibliophile brother Klaus, and their mordacious baby sister Sunny are orphaned when a mysterious fire destroys their home, killing their parents. Mr. Poe, the family banker, manages their affairs and leaves them in the care of their geographically closest relative, Count Olaf. He is a stage actor and either their third cousin removed four times or the inverse. He is intent upon obtaining their family fortune, which will remain in the custody of the bank until Violet comes of age. He forces them to do heavy chores and belittles them.

Driving back from the court where Count Olaf has legally obtained custody of the children, he stops to go into a general store, leaving them locked in the car parked directly on train tracks with a train heading towards them. They manage to divert the train by building a device to remotely activate the railroad switch. Mr. Poe arrives and takes them away, thinking that Olaf was allowing Sunny to drive.

The orphans are taken to their uncle, Dr. Montgomery, an eccentric but kind herpetologist. However, Olaf arrives disguised as his assistant Stephano. The orphans attempt to warn him, but he believes he is after the Incredibly Deadly Viper, a giant misnomer snake, in his laboratory. Montgomery is discovered dead shortly after, his death blamed on the viper. They are almost placed in Stephano's care by Mr. Poe, but Sunny proves his guilt by showing the viper is harmless and he escapes.

Mr. Poe leaves them with their Aunt Josephine, a grammar-obsessed widow with panphobia. Olaf appears, disguised as Captain Sham, to meddle with their plans again. One day, Josephine is not at the house, leaving an apparent suicide note entrusting them to Captain Sham. Klaus deduces that Olaf forced her to forge the note, but she left a hidden message revealing her location. They sail to the cave where she is hiding and rescue her but attract leeches. Olaf appears and takes the children, leaving Josephine to be eaten by the leeches. Mr. Poe finds him with the children, and Olaf pretends to have rescued them. Mr. Poe is fooled and gives the children back to him.

Olaf plans a play titled "The Marvelous Marriage", starring Violet and him as a bride and groom. Klaus's suspicions reveal that he is planning to take advantage of the play to really marry Violet in an attempt to get the fortune, using legally recognized vows and a bona fide justice of the peace. He locks Sunny up in a birdcage, threatening to drop her to her death if Violet refuses to take part in the play.

Klaus escapes and finds a hidden tower in Olaf's house, where he discovers a large window with a set of lenses that, if positioned correctly, can focus the rays of the sun. He realizes that this was the method used to set fire to the Baudelaire mansion; Olaf was the real mastermind behind the crime. Using the window, Klaus manages to burn the marriage certificate, leading to Olaf's arrest, where he is sentenced to live some of the children's troubles, which he disappears sometime later.

Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are taken to visit the charred remains of their old home one last time. A lost letter from their parents finally arrives, and inside is a spyglass announcing their family's secret society.

Snicket finishes writing his documentation and hides the papers in the clock tower for his publisher to find. He concludes that despite the siblings' recent unfortunate events, they have each other. The Baudelaires are driven by Mr. Poe to their next home.

Larry Lipton and his wife Carol meet their older neighbors Paul and Lillian House in the elevator in a pleasant encounter. The following night, Lillian is found to have died of a heart attack. The Liptons are surprised by the death because she seemed so healthy and are suspicious of Paul's cheerfulness so soon after his wife's death. Carol starts to investigate, even inventing an excuse to visit him. An urn she finds in Paul's apartment contradicts his story that Lillian had been buried. Larry becomes frustrated with Carol, telling her she's "inventing a mystery". Carol sneaks into Paul's apartment while he's away and finds more telling signs. Lillian's urn is missing, there are two tickets to Paris and hotel reservations with a woman named Helen Moss. Carol calls Ted, a close friend who agrees with Carol's suspicions and urges her to keep snooping. When Paul returns unexpectedly, Carol hides under the bed and overhears Paul's conversation with a woman who she suspects is Helen Moss.

Ted tracks down where Helen Moss lives, and with Carol and Larry, they follow her to a theater owned by Paul. They discover that Helen is a young actress and eavesdrop on them talking about money. A few days later, Carol spots a woman who's a dead ringer for the supposedly dead Lillian on a passing bus. Upon Larry's suggestion that she has a twin, Ted investigates but finds Lillian has none. Larry and Carol follow her to a hotel and, under the pretense of delivering a personal gift, they enter her hotel room, but find her lying dead on the bedroom floor. They call the police, who subsequently find no trace of the dead body. The Liptons search the room for clues. While leaving, they get trapped in the lift and accidentally stumble across Lillian's body inside the emergency exit panel. At that moment, the lights go out and the Liptons stumble into the basement in pitch darkness. Upon exiting to the street, they spot Paul putting the body in the trunk of his car. They follow him to a junk yard where they witness him disposing of the body into a melting furnace.

The Liptons meet Ted and Larry's friend and client Marcia Fox and hatch a plan to bring Paul to justice by telling him they retrieved Lillian's body from the furnace and tricking Helen into a fake audition where her voice is recorded, edited, and later used to harass Paul, by demanding he give Larry and Carol $200,000 or kill them if he wanted everything covered up. Marcia also tells them her theory that the dead body in the apartment is Lillian's rich sister who looked similar to her and that when she visited the Houses she had a heart attack. They then took advantage of the situation by claiming Lillian had died so that they could profit from her will. However Paul double-crossed Lillian and killed her so that he could run away with Helen who he had been having an affair with.

The plan backfires as Paul kidnaps Carol and calls Larry, demanding Lillian's body, in exchange for Carol. Paul and Larry meet in the theater and get into a scuffle. Larry breaks free and searches for Carol, with Paul in pursuit. An array of mirrors and glass behind the theater reflect the film being screened (Orson Welles' ''The Lady from Shanghai'') and mislead Paul several times. Suddenly, Paul's loyal assistant Mrs. Dalton, an older paramour earlier brushed aside by him in favor of Helen, shoots him in an exchange of gunfire. Larry rescues Carol and they call the police. After the cops arrive, Marcia discusses with Ted that her theory was correct and they arrange to have dinner together.

The "Brethren" are three former judges who are incarcerated at Trumble, a fictional federal minimum security prison located in northern Florida. The trio embark on a scam to deceive and exploit wealthy closeted gay men. None of them are gay, but they write convincingly as two young vulnerable gay men, developing friendships and then asking for financial help. In some cases, they also try blackmail.

With the help of their lawyer, Trevor Carson, they transfer their ill-gotten money to a secret Bahamian bank account. Carson takes one-third and employs private detectives to investigate the victims of the scam. This takes over from Carson's normal legal business, which had been making very little money for him.

Meanwhile, Teddy Maynard, the ruthless and soon-to-retire director of the CIA, is orchestrating a scheme to tip the United States presidential election in the favor of Aaron Lake, a hawkish congressman supported by arms manufacturers. However, Lake, who is closeted, is hooked by the unwitting Brethren in their scam. Realizing that Lake stands to be exposed, Maynard scrambles to stop them from finding out the truth. After the Brethren fire Carson, he is killed by CIA agents in the Caribbean.

The CIA plant a man inside Trumble, who tells the Brethren that he knows about the scam. A deal is worked out, money changes hands and the judges are pardoned by the outgoing president at Maynard's insistence. The judges leave the country and travel to Europe, where they later restart the scam. Meanwhile, Lake is elected and Maynard, eager to finish the cover-up, selects for him a suitable First Lady.

The story focuses on a young boy named Max who, after dressing in his wolf costume, wreaks such havoc through his household that he is sent to bed without his supper (after his mother calls him, "WILD THING!" to which he responds, "I'LL EAT YOU UP!"). Max's bedroom undergoes a mysterious transformation into a jungle environment, and he winds up sailing to an island inhabited by monsters, simply called the Wild Things. The Wild Things try to scare Max, but to no avail. After successfully stopping and intimidating the creatures, Max is hailed as the king of the Wild Things and enjoys a playful romp with his subjects. Finally, he stops them and sends them to bed without their supper (they get a taste of their own medicine after Max was disrespectful to his mother earlier on). However, he starts to feel lonely (and homesick) and decides to give up being king and return home. To the Wild Things' dismay, they did not want him to go. Yet, Max refuses and the creatures go into a fit of rage as Max sails away back home. Upon returning to his bedroom, Max discovers a hot supper waiting for him.

On a bitterly chill night, an elderly beadsman says his prayers in the chapel of the ancestral home of Madeline's family, where a loud party has begun.[https://artsfuse.org/212726/poetry-remembrance-john-keats-the-eve-of-st-agnes-forever-young-at-200/ Michie, Allen. "Poetry Remembrance: John Keats, 'The Eve of St. Agnes' — Forever Young at 200", The Arts Fuse, 9 September 2020] Madeline pines for the love of Porphyro, sworn enemy to her kin. She has heard 'old dames full many times declare' that she may receive sweet dreams of her lover if, on this night, St. Agnes' Eve, she retires to bed following the proper rituals.

Later that night, Porphyro makes his way to the castle and braves entry, seeking out Angela, an elderly woman friendly to his family, and importuning her to lead him to Madeline's room at night, where he may but gaze upon her sleeping form. Angela is persuaded only with difficulty, and first obtains some food from the banquet for them.

Concealed in an ornate, carved closet in Madeline's room, Porphyro watches as Madeline makes ready for bed. He creeps forth as she sleeps, to prepare a feast of rare delicacies. Madeline wakes and sees before her the same image she has seen in her dream and, thinking Porphyro part of it, receives him into her bed. Waking in full and realising her mistake, she tells Porphyro she cannot hate him for his deception since her heart is so much in his, but that if he goes now he leaves behind "A dove forlorn and lost / With sick unpruned wing".

Porphyro declares his love for Madeline and promises her a home with him over the southern moors. They flee from the castle, passing insensate, drunken revellers and rush into the night. Angela's death is revealed in the poem's final stanza and the beadsman, "after thousand aves told, / For aye unsought for slept among his ashes cold".

Fortune favours Justin Alastair, the uncanny and notorious Duke of Avon, casting in his way, one Paris night, the means to revenge himself on his enemy, the Comte de Saint-Vire. Avon literally collides with an abused boy, Léon Bonnard, whose red hair, deep blue eyes and (improbably) black eyebrows proclaim him a child of the Comte.

Not knowing the exact relationship between the boy and Saint-Vire, Avon purchases him from his brother, a tavern keeper. He takes the boy as his page, and as such can parade the boy throughout French high society, even at a party at Versailles held by Louis XV. The Duke displays Léon before the Comte's wife and his son and heir. He notes the resemblance of the son, Henri, to Léon's brother, Jean Bonnard, a tavern keeper. He also notes that the boy, Léon's age, prefers rural life, and wants to be a farmer. After this excursion to Versailles, the Comte becomes greatly interested in Léon and attempts to purchase him. Meanwhile, both Avon and his friend, Hugh Davenant, have realised that Léon is actually a girl, Léonie. Léonie is wildly devoted to Avon, seeing him as her saviour from a life of abuse, rather than as dissolute and scandalous, as the rest of the fashionable world views him.

The Duke journeys into Champagne, where Léonie grew up, to meet a childhood mentor, the village priest who educated her. This discussion confirms for Avon what he had suspected: Léonie is the legitimate child of the Comte and his wife and was switched at birth with the Bonnard's newborn son, who has been raised as the Comte's heir ever since, as the Comte feared his wife would not bear any other children and he was eager to prevent his younger brother Armand from becoming his heir.

The dissipated Avon has come to care for Léonie so while he continues his scheme of revenge on the Comte, he takes Léonie to England with him where he announces his intention to make her his ward. He teaches her to be a lady, while letting her be known as Léonie de Bonnard. The Comte has become increasingly desperate and kidnaps her and carries her to France. Léonie escapes from him with the help of the Duke's younger brother, Lord Rupert. The party is then joined by Fanny Marling, the Duke's sister, and her husband, Edward Marling.

Once in France, the Duke introduces Léonie into Parisian society, where she makes a big splash. A rumour comes to Léonie's ears that she is the Comte's illegitimate child—the family likeness is very striking. The Comte then persuades Léonie that her illegitimacy is destroying the Duke's reputation, as society views her as his lover. Her distress at this leads her to flee to live with the kindly village priest of her childhood.

This event spurs Avon to complete his revenge. At a large party, he tells the true story of Léonie's life, then embellishes it by adding that she has drowned herself in the Seine. This breaks her mother, whose open grief betrays the Comte's guilt. Knowing he is ruined in society, the Comte shoots himself. His despised brother becomes the new Comte.

Avon reunites with Léonie, they express their true feelings, and they marry.

''Devil's Cub'' follows ''These Old Shades'' with the adventures of Avon's and Léonie's son Dominic, a shockingly selfish and indulged young man who elopes with a poor relation of one of his father's friends. ''An Infamous Army'' completes the story with the Duke of Avon's great-granddaughter, Barbara, marrying the hero of ''An Infamous Army''. ''An Infamous Army'' is also a sequel to ''Regency Buck''.

On board an ocean liner, four stowaways hide in barrels in the ship's cargo hold. After singing "Sweet Adeline", they are discovered. The naval officers spend the rest of the voyage chasing and attempting to arrest the stowaways. Chico and Harpo disrupt a chess game and confiscate the board, taking it into the stateroom of racketeer Big Joe Helton and his daughter Mary, during a confrontation with rival gangster Alky Briggs. After they scare off Briggs, Big Joe hires Chico and Harpo to be his bodyguards. Groucho dances and romances with Briggs' wife, Lucille, until he is caught and threatened by Briggs. Groucho's audacity convinces Briggs to hire him and Zeppo. Briggs gives them loaded guns, which they immediately ditch in a bucket of water. Groucho offers his services to Big Joe, who says he will think it over.

As the ocean liner is about to dock in the United States, the stowaways realize that to get off the boat they must steal passports and fool customs officials. Zeppo steals the passport of movie star Maurice Chevalier, and demonstrates his ability to mimic Chevalier's singing. The four butt in line at customs and Zeppo impersonates Chevalier. He is unsuccessful, however, and passes the passport to Chico, Groucho and Harpo, who each attempt unconvincing portrayals of Chevalier singing the same song, with Harpo resorting to a phonograph strapped on his back with an actual record of Chevalier singing. The four escape the authorities after hiding under a covered load of baggage.

Big Joe and his daughter, whom Zeppo met and romanced on board, host a party at which Groucho makes announcements, Chico plays piano and Harpo plays harp. Briggs' men kidnap Big Joe's daughter and take her to an old barn. The former stowaways follow and a fight ensues. The daughter is rescued, and Groucho attempts to find a needle in a haystack.

Except in the credits and in the screenplay, the Marx Brothers' characters have no names in this film. They are referred to simply as "the stowaways".

In the American West, a lamb’s elegant dancing is popular with the other animals. One day the sheep-shearers arrive and shear him for wool. The other animals mock his skinny, bare state and he becomes shy and loses the confidence to dance. As the sheep mourns, a benevolent jackalope comes across him, and teaches him the merits of "bounding", not just dancing (that is, getting up whenever you fall down). The sheep is converted and his joy in life is restored. The sheep's wool eventually grows back in the winter, only for it to be cut again, but his confidence is now completely unshaken and he continues to "bound."

While on a flight from Toronto, Ontario, to Vancouver, British Columbia, the pilots at the controls of a Canadair North Star, a large commercial airliner, fall victim to food poisoning. Approximately half of the passengers have also been incapacitated by eating the same fish served to the pilots. After the stewardess (Corinne Conley) asks for help from the passengers, George Spencer (James Doohan), an ex-Second World War Spitfire fighter pilot, is forced to take over. His wife (Kate Reid) is able to help him at the controls, but he is worried about his sick son. A storm over Vancouver makes matters worse, with George not only having to overcome harrowing wartime flashbacks, but also struggling with the controls of an unfamiliar aircraft, in order to bring the airliner down safely.

''Up from Slavery'' chronicles more than forty years of Washington's life: from slave to schoolmaster to the face of southern race relations. In this text, Washington climbs the social ladder through hard, manual labor, a decent education, and relationships with great people. Throughout the text, he stresses the importance of education for the black population as a reasonable tactic to ease race relations in the South (particularly in the context of Reconstruction).

The book is in essence Washington's traditional, non-confrontational message supported by the example of his life.

Six years after the events of ''The Talented Mr. Ripley'', Tom Ripley is now in his early 30s, living a comfortable life in France with his heiress wife, Héloïse Plisson. The lifestyle at his estate, Belle Ombre, is supported by Dickie Greenleaf's fortune, occasional fence work with an American named Reeves Minot, and Derwatt Ltd. — an art forgery scheme that he helped set up years before as a silent partner.

Years prior, after the painter Philip Derwatt disappeared and committed suicide in Greece, his friends — photographer Jeff Constant and freelance journalist Ed Banbury — began to publicize his work and sold a number of authentic paintings. Thanks to their PR efforts, Derwatt became more famous and his paintings more valuable. When the original Derwatts began to run out, Ripley went into business with them and convinced Bernard Tufts, another painter, to produce forged Derwatts. The money is rolling in, but Tufts, who had idolized Derwatt, is plagued by guilt for his role in the scheme.

Derwatt Ltd. is threatened by a disgruntled American collector, Thomas Murchison, who surmises that one of his Derwatts is a forgery. Worried that the lid is about to be blown on the whole scheme, Ripley decides to go to London and impersonate Derwatt, meet with Murchison, and convince him that the paintings are genuine. Ripley is unsuccessful, however, particularly as Tufts meets with Murchison and tells him not to buy any more Derwatts. Ripley, as himself, invites Murchison to Belle Ombre to inspect his own Derwatt painting (also a fake) to try to persuade him from taking the case to a Tate Gallery curator and the police.

Murchison inspects Ripley's painting and believes it is also a fake. Realizing that the argument is futile, Ripley comes clean on the entire scam, asking for mercy for Tufts' sake. Murchison refuses, however, so Ripley kills him. He abandons Murchison's suitcase and painting at Orly Airport, then buries his body in the woods near Belle Ombre. Later, Dickie's cousin Chris comes to stay while on a European tour. He notices the fresh grave outside the house, but doesn't think much of it. Tufts also visits Ripley, rattled by the recent events and saying he wants to confess everything to the police. Ripley tells Tufts that he killed Murchison and, realizing his own terrible choice of a gravesite, asks him to help move the body. Together, they dump the corpse in a river.

The French police, together with Inspector Webster from the Met, investigate Murchison's disappearance, making trips to Belle Ombre and inspecting the property. Tufts leaves a hanging effigy in the cellar that is discovered by Héloïse, along with a note suggesting that he is going to confess. When he returns to Belle Ombre, Tufts unsuccessfully tries to strangle Ripley, who feels pity for the disturbed man and does not retaliate. Later, Tufts knocks Ripley out with a shovel and buries him alive in Murchison's empty grave. Ripley manages to escape and returns to London to impersonate Derwatt for a second appearance, this time for Webster and Murchison's wife. Mrs. Murchison decides to pay a visit to Belle Ombre, the last place her husband was seen.

Back at Belle Ombre, Ripley entertains Mrs. Murchison. After she leaves, Ripley realizes that Tufts is contemplating suicide. Feeling responsible, Ripley searches for him in Greece, Paris, and finally Salzburg. There, he finds Tufts, but the painter believes Ripley is a ghost - he thinks he killed him in France. Tufts runs from Ripley and leaps off a cliff to his death. Ripley uses the corpse to tie up loose ends; he partially cremates and buries the body, making sure to smash or hide any teeth. He then goes to the police with the information that Derwatt killed himself there. Seeing suicidal journal entries, the police presume that Tufts also killed himself in Salzburg by jumping off a bridge.

With Bernard and Derwatt both gone, the art forgery allegations have no active leads and Derwatt Ltd.'s existence is no longer in jeopardy. The novel ends with Ripley's being content in bed with Héloïse, who prefers to remain ignorant of what he has done and, further, how exactly he makes his money. He receives an optimistic-sounding call from the gallery showcasing the forged Derwatts, but still fears that the next one will be from the police, who have noticed that people tend to die after meeting Ripley.

1903 version

William Norris as a "toy soldier", 1903 Orphans Alan and Jane are the wards of their wicked Uncle Barnaby, who wants to steal their inheritance. He arranges with two sailors, Gonzorgo and Roderigo, for them to be shipwrecked and lost at sea, but they are rescued by gypsies and returned to Contrary Mary's garden. Contrary Mary, the eldest daughter of the Widow Piper, believing her beloved Alan is dead, has run away with her brother, Tom-Tom, rather than agree to marry Barnaby. After a second attempt on their lives, Alan and Jane are abandoned in the Forest of No Return. In the Spider's Den, they are protected by the Moth Queen. Old Mother Hubbard's shoe is threatened with foreclosure by Barnaby.

Alan and Jane arrive in Toyland, where they find Contrary Mary and Tom-Tom and seek protection from the Master Toymaker, an evil genius who plots with Barnaby to create toys that kill and maim. The demonically possessed dolls turn on the Toymaker, killing him, and Barnaby uses the information to have Alan sentenced to death. Contrary Mary agrees to marry Barnaby in exchange for Alan's pardon, but after he marries her, Barnaby denounces Alan again. Barnaby dies after drinking a wine glass filled with poison meant for Alan. Tom-Tom reveals that an old law of Toyland permitting marriage between a widow and a condemned man on condition that he supports her may save Alan from the gallows. Alan is now free to marry Contrary Mary.

1970s version

A new version, first produced in 1975 by the Light Opera of Manhattan with the support of the Victor Herbert Foundation, is more sentimental than the original. Two unhappy children, Jane and Alan, run away from home. Their parents, who are always putting work and discipline before fun, are too busy for them, so the young siblings set out for a place where they will be understood. The children believe that Toyland, a magical land of spirited toys, will deliver them from their hardships. When they arrive, the kindly Toymaker welcomes them with open arms. He warns them not to become too caught up in the fantasy, but soon the toys of Toyland draw them in with their singing and dancing.

The busy parents must find a way to bring the young runaways back home. They send a private eye to search for their children, but this detective sees an opportunity for personal gain in his trip to Toyland; he forces Jane and Alan to help him steal the Toymaker's plans for a new marching toy soldier. When the parents arrive in Toyland via hot air balloon, they too fall under the spell of the mystical land. Arguments break out, toys are wounded, and Jane and Alan get lost and frightened in the dark woods outside of Toyland. As the parents and toys search for the children, the characters and audience alike discover the true meaning of Christmas.

On V-J Day in 1945, a massive celebration in a New York City nightclub is underway, music provided by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. While there, selfish and smooth-talking saxophone player Jimmy Doyle (De Niro) meets small-time USO singer Francine Evans (Minnelli), who, although lonely, still wants nothing to do with Jimmy, who keeps pestering her for her phone number.

The next morning, they end up sharing a cab, and, against her will, Francine accompanies Jimmy to an audition. There he gets into an argument with the club owner. Francine, to get the audition back on track, begins to sing the old standard, "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me"; Jimmy joins in on his sax. The club owner is impressed and, to Francine's astonishment, they are both offered a job—as a traveling boy-girl act. From that moment on, Jimmy and Francine's relationship deepens into a mix of obsession and love. But there are problems—mainly, Jimmy's tendency to fight with his co-workers, overly dramatic behavior, and his increasingly violent arguments with Francine, who becomes pregnant with his child. An especially bad shouting match between them results in Francine going into labor. Jimmy rushes her to the hospital, where she delivers a baby boy. But Jimmy is not ready to be a father, or a good husband, and he abandons his wife, declining even to see his newborn son as he leaves the hospital.

Several years later, in a recording studio, Francine records "But the World Goes Round," a powerful anthem which makes the charts and turns her into a popular entertainment figure. In the years that follow, Jimmy and Francine both find success in the music industry; he becomes a renowned jazz musician and club owner, while she becomes a successful singer and film actress.

Jimmy records a song of his on his saxophone which tops the jazz charts, and Francine cements her stardom after singing that same song, "New York, New York," for which she has provided the lyrics. Her performance, received by a wildly appreciative audience, takes place in the same nightclub where, years earlier, she and Jimmy had met. After the show, Jimmy telephones his ex-wife, suggesting they get together for dinner. Francine is tempted, heads toward the stage door exit, but at the last moment changes her mind. Jimmy, waiting on the sidewalk, realizes he has been stood up and heads off down the street, accompanied by the song he has written—the "Theme from ''New York, New York'' .

Centuries ago a cruel and insanely tyrannical warlord was defeated by the two elite Samurai but had sworn to return in the future. When he does he unleashes undead forces of feudal Japanese warriors to destroy the world and its people. The warlord is opposed only by the two protagonists, a ninja and a Western cowboy (named Ninja Dave and Cowboy Kev in the Neo-Geo version and named Dan and Bill in the SNES version), who turn out to be descendants of the two elite Samurai responsible for vanquishing the wicked warlord centuries ago.

Dr Martin Ellingham (Martin Clunes), a brilliant and successful vascular surgeon at Imperial College London, develops haemophobia – a fear of blood, forcing him to stop practising surgery. He obtains a post as the sole general practitioner (GP) in the sleepy Cornish village of Portwenn, where he had spent childhood holidays with his Aunt Joan (Stephanie Cole) and Uncle Phil, who owns a local farm. Upon arriving in Portwenn – where, to his frustration, the locals address him as "Doc Martin" – he finds the surgery in chaos and inherits an incompetent receptionist, Elaine Denham (Lucy Punch). In series 2–4, she is replaced by Pauline Lamb (Katherine Parkinson), a new receptionist, and later also a phlebotomist. In Series 5, Morwenna Newcross (Jessica Ransom) takes up the post.

The programme revolves around Ellingham's interactions with the local Cornish villagers, and a psychologist attempts to diagnose Doc Martin with Asperger syndrome or schizoid personality traits. Despite his medical excellence, Ellingham is grouchy, abrupt, and lacks social skills. His direct, emotionless manner offends many of the villagers, made worse by his invariably unpleasant responses to their ignorant, often foolish, comments. They perceive him to be hot-tempered and lacking in a bedside manner, whereas he feels he is performing his duties in a professional and by-the-book manner, not wasting time chatting. Ellingham is very deadpan and dresses formally in a business suit and tie, regardless of the weather or the occasion, and he never takes off his jacket, even when delivering babies. He has no hesitation in pointing out the risks of unhealthy behaviours (eg. smoking), both in private and in public gatherings.

The villagers eventually discover his fear of blood, and the frequent and debilitating bouts of nausea and vomiting it causes. In spite of this handicap, Ellingham proves to be an expert diagnostician and responds effectively to various emergencies in his medical practice; thus, he gradually gains grudging respect from his neighbours.

Ellingham does not get on with his parents, but has a warm relationship with his aunt Joan, who provides emotional support. When she dies after a heart attack, her sister Ruth (Eileen Atkins), a retired psychiatrist, comes to Portwenn to take care of her affairs, and eventually decides to use the village as a permanent retreat, offering Martin the support Joan had provided.

A major theme throughout the series is Ellingham's relationship with primary school teacher (eventually school headmistress) Louisa Glasson (Caroline Catz). Due to his difficulty in expressing feelings and his insensitive nature, the relationship has many ups and downs; though they eventually have a baby and later marry.

Other series regulars are father and son duo Bert and Al Large who are always trying to run a small business of some type; pharmacist Sally Tishell who is infatuated with Martin; and Mark Mylow, a quirky police officer who is replaced in series 3 by the bumbling and inept Joe Penhale.

Regular cast members have characterised Ellingham's personality thus: ::Joe Absolom: "The Doctor is ... slightly autistic, probably, on the spectrum." ::Martin Clunes: "Lots of people say that he is Aspergic or something to some degree—which yes, I think he is." He has also said, "He's clearly wired the way he's wired, but growing up being loathed by both your parents is going to leave a footprint. That's why he's so dysfunctional with relationships, 'cause there's gaps in his makeup. There's a sad little boy in there that comes out a lot, and that's what a lot of that frowning is." ::Eileen Atkins: "He's unable to connect with people. He just can't understand why people can't just take the truth, in a rather rough manner. If your parents have been very cold towards you and just factual, then that's very hard for you to grow up being—'loving' is too strong a word—an affectionate person."

The Detroit Tigers travel to New York to play a season-ending series against the New York Yankees. At 63–97, the team has long since been eliminated from playoff contention and are playing for nothing but pride against the Yankees, who have a chance to clinch the American League East with a win.

In his Manhattan hotel suite, 40-year-old pitcher Billy Chapel awaits his girlfriend Jane Aubrey, but she doesn't show. Jane is a single mother with a teenage daughter Heather whom Billy got to know. The next morning, Billy is told by Tigers' owner Gary Wheeler that the team has been sold and that the new owners' first move will be to end Billy's 19-year tenure with the Tigers by trading him to the San Francisco Giants. Billy learns from Jane that she is leaving that same day to accept a job offer in London.

Billy is a famous, accomplished pitcher, but has a losing record this season, is near the end of his career, and is recovering from a hand injury. Wheeler hints that Billy should consider retiring rather than join another team. As he goes to Yankee Stadium to make his last start of the year, Billy reflects about Jane, detailing how they met five years prior. These flashbacks are interspersed within the game, along with glimpses of Jane watching the game on a television at the airport.

As the game progresses, Billy dominates the Yankees' batters, often talking to himself on how to pitch each one. While in the dugout resting between innings, Billy reflects how he shut Jane out of his life after he suffered a career-threatening injury in the off-season. The pain of pitching gets worse as the game goes on.

Billy is so caught up in his thoughts that he does not realize he is pitching a perfect game until he looks at the scoreboard in the bottom of the eighth inning. Friend and catcher Gus Sinski confirms that no one has reached base, and that the whole team is rallying behind Billy to do whatever it takes to keep the perfect game bid alive. Billy's shoulder pain has become intense, and after he throws his first two pitches of the inning well out of the strike zone, Tigers manager Frank Perry makes the call to warm up two relief pitchers in the bullpen. The count goes to 3–0 before Billy recalls pitching to his father (now deceased) in the back yard. He rallies and throws a strike, then gets the batter out on the next pitch.

Before the Tigers take the field for the bottom of the ninth inning, Billy has final ruminations about his career and his love for Jane. He autographs a baseball for Wheeler, who has been like a father to him for many years. Along with a signature, Billy inscribes the ball with "Tell them I'm through. For love of the game." Ken Strout comes up representing the last chance for New York. Strout chops up the middle just out of the reach of Chapel, heading towards center field. The Tigers' shortstop dives and throws to first in time to retire Strout, giving Chapel his perfect game.

Billy sits alone in his hotel room as the realization sinks in that everything he has been and done for the past 19 years is over. Despite his amazing accomplishment, Billy weeps not only for the loss of baseball, but for the other love of his life, Jane.

The next morning, Billy goes to the airport to inquire about a flight for London. Jane had missed her flight the night before so she could watch the end of his perfect game. He finds her there waiting for her plane and they embrace and reconcile.

In 1969, Hunter "Patch" Adams after developing suicidal thoughts admits himself to a mental institution. Once there, he finds that using humor, rather than doctor-centered psychotherapy, better helps his fellow patients and provides him with a new purpose in life. Because of this, he wants to become a medical doctor, and swiftly leaves the facility. Two years later, he enrolls at the Medical College of Virginia (now known as VCU School of Medicine) as the oldest first-year student. He questions the school's soulless approach to medical care, particularly why students don't work with patients until their third year, as well as the methods of the school's Dean Walcott, who takes an instant disliking to Patch and believes that doctors must treat patients his way and not befriend them. Because of this and incidents such as setting up a giant model papier-mâché pair of legs in stirrups during an obstetric conference, he is expelled from the medical school, although he is later reinstated when it becomes apparent to the school that his unconventional methods often improve his patients' physical and mental health. Adams encourages medical students to work closely with nurses, learn interviewing skills early, and argues that death should be treated with dignity and sometimes even humor.

Patch begins a friendship with fellow student Carin Fisher and, during their third year as medical students develops his idea for a medical clinic built around his philosophy of treating patients using humor and compassion. With the help of Arthur Mendelson, a wealthy man who was a patient whom Patch met while in the mental hospital, he purchases in West Virginia to construct the future Gesundheit! Institute. Together with Carin, medical student Truman Schiff, and some old friends, he renovates an old cottage into a clinic. When they get the clinic running, they treat patients without medical insurance and perform comedy sketches for them.

Patch's close friendship with Carin soon turns into romance. When Carin reveals to him that she had been molested as a child, Patch comforts her and reassures her that she can overcome her pain by helping others. Encouraged, Carin wants to help a disturbed patient, Lawrence "Larry" Silver. However, Larry murders Carin with a shotgun, then immediately commits suicide. Patch, guilt-ridden by Carin's death, begins to question the goodness in humanity. Standing on a cliff, he contemplates suicide again and asks God for an explanation. He then sees a butterfly that reminds him that Carin had always wished she was a caterpillar that could turn into a butterfly and fly away. The butterfly lands on his medical bag and shirt before flying away. With his spirits revived, Patch decides to dedicate his work to her memory.

Walcott eventually discovers that Patch has been illegally running a clinic and practicing medicine without a license and attempts to expel him again because of this, as well as complaints that he has made his patients uncomfortable (which is obviously not true). Desperate to prove Walcott wrong, Patch files a grievance with the state medical board on the advice of his former medical school roommate, conservative Mitch Roman. Patch succeeds in convincing the board that he must treat the spirit as well as the body. The board, although they still find some of his methods very unorthodox, allows him to graduate and he receives a standing ovation from the packed hearing room.

At graduation, Patch receives his Doctor of Medicine and, bowing to the professors and audience, reveals himself to be naked underneath his cap and gown.

University of Wisconsin graduate student Teri MacDonald (Helen Hunt) has trained a chimpanzee named Virgil (Willie) to use sign language. When her National Science Foundation research grant is not renewed, she is forced to sell Virgil. He is taken to an Air Force base in Lockridge, Florida, to be used in a top-secret research project involving flight simulation, though she's told that he's been sent to the Houston Zoo.

Airman Jimmy Garrett (Matthew Broderick) is assigned to the same chimpanzee project. Virgil and Jimmy quickly bond, and Jimmy discovers that Virgil has been taught sign language. Unbeknownst to Jimmy, once the chimpanzees reach a certain level in operating the flight simulator, they will be exposed to a lethal pulse of radiation to determine how long a pilot may survive after a nuclear exchange in carrying out a second-strike.

When Jimmy becomes aware of the chimpanzees' fate, he contacts Teri, who comes to the base. Teri tells Jimmy that she will inform the NSF of the deception, but Jimmy explains that she does not have enough time because Virgil is scheduled to die soon.

Jimmy challenges Dr. Carroll (William Sadler) and others about the project's value by noting that the hypothetical pilot, knowing the implications of the second-strike scenario, would know that he is dying, and would, therefore, be affected by that knowledge. However, the chimpanzees would not be as aware; thus, the project is flawed. Enraged, Dr. Carroll promises Jimmy that his military career is finished.

Meanwhile, in the vivarium, some of the chimpanzees have unlocked their cages and have stacked crates and boxes to attempt an escape through a skylight. Jimmy, Teri, Dr. Carroll and the authorities walk in the vivarium to see the chimpanzees loose. Virgil is at the top of the stack and attempts to break the skylight with a crowbar. Teri sees Virgil up top and convinces him to come down. Dr. Carroll attempts to control the chimpanzees with an electric prod, but Goliath the chimpanzee proves too powerful, prompting Dr. Carroll and the authorities to flee. Many chimpanzees escape the vivarium and cause havoc throughout the base, while Goliath and two other chimpanzees Winston and Spike reach the flight chamber. Inside, Goliath and the two chimpanzees wreck the simulator and short the reactor’s control panel, causing the radiation reactor to go up. Jimmy, Teri and Virgil arrive and see the chimpanzees continue to wreck the flight chamber. Jimmy gets Winston and Spike out and barely escapes, however, Goliath’s refusal to leave despite Jimmy’s pleas traps him in the flight chamber just as the reactor’s control panel short-circuits and generates a radiation blast. A fire extinguisher left by the chimps jams the reactor on its way down, posing a risk of a possible meltdown. Jimmy and Virgil convince Goliath to yank out the jammed fire extinguisher and succeed, but Goliath later dies from radiation exposure.

Jimmy and Teri steal a military plane to help the chimpanzees escape, but military police stop them. While the police are holding them, Virgil pilots the plane, and the chimps fly away. They eventually crash in the nearby Everglades and evade a search. Just as the search is being abandoned, Jimmy and Teri see Virgil hiding in the bush with his chimpanzee girlfriend Ginger. Teri signs to Virgil that he and the others are now "free", and the chimpanzees disappear into the Everglades.

In the 1890s, a group of "Harvey Girls" – new waitresses for Fred Harvey's pioneering chain of Harvey House restaurants – travels on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway to the western town of Sandrock, Arizona. On the trip they meet Susan Bradley, who is travelling to the same town to marry the man whose beautiful letters she received when she answered a "lonely-hearts" ad. Unfortunately, when she arrives, the man turns out to be an "old coot" who does not at all meet her expectations – and he is also as disinclined to get married as much as she is disinclined to marry him, so as they continue to express personal faults not mentioned in their letters they quickly reach a mutual agreement to call it off. When she learns that someone else, the owner of the local saloon, Ned Trent, wrote the letters as a joke, she confronts him and tells him off, in the process endearing herself to him.

Then Susan joins the Harvey Girls, and she soon becomes their leader in fighting against the attempts by Trent's business associate, Judge Sam Purvis, to scare them off in order to maintain the thriving business of the large saloon in town – and against the animosity of the perhaps euphemistically called "dance-hall girls" led by Em, who is in love with Trent, and who sees Susan as a rival. Trent visits to see the value of the Harvey House and other trappings of civilization, then he tells Purvis to leave them alone, but Purvis continues with his campaign of intimidation, finally burning down the restaurant. Trent offers his saloon as a replacement, and Em and the dance-hall girls leave town. Susan, thinking that Trent too is leaving, gets on the train, but Em, seeing that Susan loves Trent so much that she is willing to give up everything for him, stops the train and points out Trent, riding toward them on his horse. Ultimately, they are wedded in the desert, surrounded by the Harvey Girls.

The story is told by Lisa Janusch, the spiteful and jealous head cheerleader of Lincoln High School's B-squad.

Diane Weston, the popular head cheerleader of Lincoln High School's A-squad, becomes pregnant by the well-known football quarterback Jack Bartlett. The two are kicked out of their parents' homes and find an apartment of their own. Jack initially has issues keeping a job, but eventually gets hired at a video rental store. In spite of their issues coming up with the rent money, Jack and Diane try as hard as they can to survive while going to school at the same time. Lisa, Diane's spiteful rival, occasionally runs into Jack at the rental store. She is interested in winning Jack's heart, but fails to get his attention.

After struggling with the rent and anticipating the financial hardship of supporting a family, Diane and her four cheerleader squadmates, Kansas Hill, Cleo Miller, Lucy Whitmore, and Hannah Wald, plan the perfect bank robbery. They promise each other not to tell Jack about their plan, due to his inability to lie to others.

The squad watches heist films to learn how to rob banks, and Kansas visits her mother at the women's penitentiary for tips on where to find weaponry. Following the women's advice, Diane and her friends visit a bug exterminator, Hank "The Terminator" Rogers, who sells illegal arms and ammo. After failing to negotiate on prices, Hank offers to give them the guns for free on the condition that they befriend his socially awkward daughter, Fern, and put her on their squad.

The squad reluctantly accepts Fern into their circle, and they all begin rehearsing the robbery, as well as their choreography for the winter ball. During winter break, they order doll masks to hide their identities. Lucy backs out of the heist because she receives a scholarship to Harvard. At Christmas, Diane receives an engagement ring from Jack. She then learns he sold his GTO in order to buy her the ring. The squad is forced to obtain a new getaway vehicle, prompting Fern to volunteer her father's work van with bad brakes.

At their first robbery at a supermarket, Lucy returns to the group having decided to help them after all. Lisa happens to be in the store at the time of the robbery, and notices that they perform cheerleader stunts in order to cover up the security cameras. The squad robs the bank and come close to shooting a customer after one of the guns discharges. They make off with armloads of cash and honor their success after burning their costumes. The robbery is widely reported in the media. Neither Diane nor her friends expect Lisa to suspect them until they are confronted by her and the B-squad in the high school cafeteria, followed by the FBI.

Diane and her friends are arrested and need an alibi, so Diane promises to promote Lisa to captain of the A-squad in order to keep Lisa silent, since she is approaching her third trimester and cannot do meticulous activity. The group is outraged, but come to appreciate the decision. In order to cover up her actions, Diane tells Jack she won the lottery and after they have their twins, Jack wins his senatorial campaign, and Diane's squad lead successful lives after high school.

Jazz chases his nemesis Devan Shell through time, in order to retrieve the ring with which he planned to wed Eva.

High school student Kirie Goshima's first glimpse that something is awry in the small town of Kurouzu-cho comes when her boyfriend Shuichi Saito's father begins to film the corkscrew patterns on a snail; he is also in the process of making a video scrap book filled with the images of anything that has a spiral or vortex shape to it. His unusual obsession causes him to abandon his responsibilities at work; he proclaims that a spiral is the highest form of art, and frantically creates whirlpools in his miso soup when he runs out of spiral-patterned ''kamaboko''. He then decides to film himself crawling into a washing machine, where he dies.

It is not long before the entire town is infected by the otherworldly spirals. Tamura, a reporter, is intrigued by Shuichi's father's suicide and becomes obsessed with the case. Meanwhile, Shuichi's mother, who has been in hospital since her husband's death, has developed a severe phobia of spirals. She cuts off her hair and fingertips due to their spiral-like shapes, and Shuichi tells the hospital staff to eliminate anything spiral-shaped so his mother may not encounter them. One night, after a millipede tries to crawl into her ear while she is asleep, Shuichi's mother hallucinates her husband telling her that "there's another vortex in the deepest part of your ear", and is driven to suicide.

At Kirie's high school, a student named Katayama begins to walk at a snail's pace, dripping in a slimy substance and only attending school on rainy days. He and other members of the student body gradually begin to sprout shells, drink water in copious amounts, and crawl on the walls of the school. Kirie's classmate, Sekino, begins to grow her hair in exaggerated curls, taking over her mind and the minds of other female students. Whirl-like clouds appear in the sky, and during funerals, they are accompanied by smoky, ghost-like faces of victims who perished in spiral-related ways.

Eventually, the entire town succumbs to the curse of the spiral—Kirie's father takes a drill to his eye after obsessively creating spiral shaped ceramics; a news crew reporting on the phenomenon lose themselves in a tunnel, only to be later found as humanoid yet snail-like corpses; and Sekino's snake-like curls grow to an abnormal height, wrapping around a telephone pole and cables electrocuting herself. A boy who wants Kirie to be his girlfriend throws himself in front of Inspector Tamura's car and is twisted around the axle; the car collides with a pole, causing Tamura's head to hit the windshield, leaving a spiral-shaped crack. When Kirie and Shuichi decide to search for Kirie's father, Shuichi's body twists into a spiral-like contortion. He crawls towards Kirie, asking her to "become a spiral too".

Julius and Vincent Benedict are fraternal twin brothers who were the result of a secret experiment carried out at a genetics laboratory to combine the DNA of six fathers to produce the perfect child. To the surprise of the scientists, the embryo split and the twins were born. Their birth mother, Mary Ann Benedict, was told that Julius died at birth, and not told about Vincent at all.

Vincent was placed in an orphanage run by nuns in Los Angeles and believed his mother abandoned him. With no one but himself to rely on, Vincent seduced a nun, escaped from the orphanage, and later became an indebted, small time criminal. Julius was raised on a South Pacific island by Professor Werner, one of the scientists from the experiment, who put him through intense physical training and extensive study. Both believed Mary Ann died during childbirth.

Each twin was unaware of the other's existence. On their 35th birthday, Werner finally tells Julius about Vincent. With Werner's blessing, Julius proceeds to LA to find his brother. Eventually he tracks Vincent down in jail, where he is being held for unpaid parking tickets and driving with an expired license.

Julius bails Vincent out, but he does not believe Julius' story and abandons him in a parking lot. He pursues him to his workplace and finds him being beaten up by Morris Klane, one of three loan shark brothers that Vincent owes $20,000. Julius subdues Morris, earning his trust and respect. He later meets Vincent's girlfriend Linda Mason and enters a romantic relationship with her sister Marnie.

Over dinner, Vincent shows Julius a document he stole from the orphanage showing their mother is still alive, but believing that she abandoned him at birth, Vincent shows no interest in finding her. Believing that their mother may have also been lied to, Julius tracks one of their six fathers to the address on the document. The father directs him to Dr. Mitchell Traven, Werner's colleague, in New Mexico.

Vincent steals a late model Cadillac from a parking garage run by his buddy (to sell to a chop shop) and finds a prototype fuel injector in the trunk that was to be delivered to industrialist Beetroot McKinley in Houston, for $5 million. Vincent decides to pose as the delivery man, Mr. Webster, and deliver the fuel injector himself to pay off his debts. He reluctantly allows Julius, Linda and Marnie to accompany him to New Mexico to find Traven, while Webster begins pursuing Vincent. In the process, he encounters the Klane brothers and shoots them in the legs as a warning.

In New Mexico, Traven reveals the truth to the twins, pointing out that Julius resulted from the best genes, and spitefully denouncing Vincent as having come from the "useless" genetic material, leaving Vincent distraught. After Julius angrily threatens him, Traven directs them to Santa Fe, where their mother lives in an art colony. Julius convinces Vincent to continue their journey.

On the way to Santa Fe, the twins are accosted by the Klane brothers, but they fight them off for the last time. At the art colony in Santa Fe, a gardener informs Julius and Vincent that their mother has died. They leave, unaware that the gardener was in fact Mary Ann, who did not believe their story, having been told she only had one son who died at birth.

Abandoning Julius and the girls in New Mexico, Vincent heads to Houston alone to deliver the prototype to Beetroot. Julius chases after Vincent, sensing his whereabouts thanks to twin telepathy, and finds him seconds after the exchange with Beetroot. Webster appears and kills Beetroot and his bodyguard, demanding the money from Vincent. Julius intercepts Webster, allowing Vincent to escape, but Vincent returns and agrees to give him the money to save Julius. Webster decides to kill the twins anyway just for having seen his face, but Vincent, at Julius' subtle prompting, kills him by burying him under a heavy chain.

Julius and Vincent return both the prototype and $4 million (with Vincent skimming $1 million) and use a $50,000 reward to pay off Vincent's debts and start a consulting firm. Their publicity reaches the art colony, and Mary Ann learns that her sons are alive. She violently confronts Traven for concealing the truth and then tracks Julius and Vincent down to their workplace, where they share a warm reunion.

Sometime later, Julius and Vincent marry Marnie and Linda. Both marriages produce twin children, and the couples are last seen meeting their mother and Professor Werner on an outing.

Martin Springfield and Rachel Mansour return to Earth to recuperate following the events of ''Singularity Sky''. However, Rachel is quickly called upon to explain the administrative expenses she incurred during her previous assignment. Shortly thereafter she finds herself negotiating with a lunatic believing himself to be a reincarnation of Idi Amin and in possession of an armed nuclear device which, in the black humor typical of the series, he has threatened to detonate after receiving an eviction notice from his apartment.

Meanwhile, a young and hopeful planetary civilization is murdered by the apparent use of a causality violation device which causes their sun to explode without warning (the "iron sunrise" of the title), and their defense systems to deploy automatically against the homeworld of the suspected perpetrators of the atrocity.

Rachel and Martin set off to investigate these events and prevent the assassination of the remaining members of the murdered civilization's leaders, who can abort the retaliation strike. In the background the Eschaton continues to play its own game.

Set in Casablanca shortly after World War II, escaped Nazi war criminal Heinrich Stubel has steadily murdered three managers of the Hotel Casablanca. Disguised as a Count Pfefferman, Stubel's goal is to reclaim the stolen art treasures that he has hidden in the hotel. However, the only way he can do this undetected is by murdering the hotel's managers and running the hotel himself.

The newest manager of Hotel Casablanca is former motel proprietor Ronald Kornblow, who is very much unaware that he has been hired because no one else will dare take the position. Inept Kornblow takes charge of the hotel, and eventually crosses paths with Corbaccio, owner of the Yellow Camel company, who appoints himself as Kornblow's bodyguard, aided and abetted by Stubel's valet Rusty. In his many efforts to murder Kornblow, Stubel sends beautiful Beatrice Reiner to romance the clueless manager.

Before Stubel can make his escape to the airfield with the loot, Kornblow, Corbaccio, Rusty and Beatrice invade his hotel room and sneak from suitcase to closet and back again to unpack his bags, which serves to drive him thoroughly mad. Arrested on false charges, Kornblow, Corbaccio and Rusty eventually crash Stubel's plane into a police station where the brothers expose Stubel as an escaped Nazi.

The events in the novel take place between March 9 and March 13, 1971. Harold Franklin "Harry" Benson, a computer scientist in his mid-thirties, is described as suffering from "psychomotor epilepsy" following a car crash two years earlier. He often has seizures followed by blackouts, and then wakes up hours later with no knowledge of what he has done. During these seizures, he severely beats two people; the day before his admission, he was arrested after attacking a third. He is a prime candidate for an operation to implant an electronic "brain pacemaker" in the amygdala region of his brain in order to control the seizures, which will be performed in the Neuro-Psychiatric Service (NPS) of University Hospital. Two NPS surgeons, John Ellis and Robert Morris, are to perform the unprecedented surgery.

The ramifications of the procedure are questioned by the NPS's staff psychiatrist, Janet Ross, and later by her former teacher, Manon, an emeritus professor. Manon raises concerns that Benson is psychotic and predicts that the crimes he commits during the blackouts will not be curtailed. Ellis admits that what they are doing is not a cure, simply a way to stimulate the brain when the computer senses a seizure coming on. It would prevent a seizure but not cure Benson's personality disorder. Ellis rationalizes his approach by pointing out that Ellis is not convinced that not operating on Benson will do him any favors; Benson's condition threatens Benson's life and those of others, has already undermined Benson's legal status three times, and is worsening. Despite the concerns voiced, the team decides to go ahead with the operation.

Forty electrodes are implanted into Benson's brain, controlled by a small computer that is powered by a plutonium power pack in his shoulder. Benson must wear a dog tag with instructions to call University Hospital if he is injured, as his power pack may emit radiation. While he is recovering, a woman identifying herself as Angela Black gives Morris a black wig for Benson, whose head was shaved prior to the operation. Morris refuses a man who volunteers to have electrodes put into his brain to stimulate pleasure, but realizes that people like Benson could potentially become addicts. He recalls a Norwegian man with schizophrenia, who was allowed to stimulate himself as much as he wanted, and did so to the extent that it actually gave him brain damage. Roger A. McPherson, the head of the NPS, interviews Benson and realizes Manon and Ross were right about his psychosis, ordering nurses to administer thorazine to Benson.

After resting for a day, Benson goes through "interfacing". The electrodes are activated one by one to test which ones would stop a seizure. Each electrode produces different results; one stimulates a sexual pleasure. Gerhard, one of the technicians administering the test, shows his findings to Ross, who discovers that the seizures are becoming more frequent. She explains that Benson is learning to initiate seizures voluntarily because the result of these seizures is a shock of pleasure, which leads to him having more frequent seizures. Ross further discovers that, due to a clerical error by the nurses, Benson has not been receiving thorazine. She then finds out that Benson, using the wig and disguising himself as an orderly, has evaded the police officer assigned to guard him and escaped from the hospital.

Ross goes to Benson's house, where she finds two girls who say he has a gun and possesses blueprints for the basement of the hospital, where the computer mainframe is located. Morris meets Benson's boss, who tells him that Benson disliked University Hospital because of its ultra-modern computer system, an upgraded IBM System/360. After Benson's dogtag is found at the murder scene of Angela Black, Ross is questioned by police. Benson confronts Ross in her house and attacks her upon having a seizure. Just before losing consciousness, Ross manages to turn on her microwave oven, the radiation of which affects the power pack in Benson's shoulder and forces him to flee. Morris uses a book of matches found on Angela's body to track Benson to an airport hotel. Finding a mechanic who has been beaten by Benson, Morris is attacked and injured as well.

Back at the hospital, Ross receives a phone call from Benson, which is traced to somewhere inside the building. The hospital's computers begin to malfunction, as if somebody was disturbing the mainframe. Ross and Anders go down into the basement, where Anders exchanges fire with and injures Benson before becoming lost in the maze of corridors. Benson goes back to the computer room and finds Ross. Ross picks up Benson's gun and, after an internal struggle, shoots and kills Benson unintentionally.

Michael Gallatin, a werewolf, is a British emigrant that is a top spy for Britain during World War II. In 1942, he overtakes Rommel in North Africa and foils the Nazis plan to control the Suez Canal. This vital waterway would ensure that Nazi Germany could choke off Allied shipping and continue their march east into Russia. In 1944, the war still rages on and the Nazis are forced toward Berlin by the Soviets, but Western Europe is still in Hitler’s grip. Gallatin, in seclusion since 1942, is called back for a vital mission: the first part of the mission has him parachuting into Nazi-occupied France to retrieve vital information from an informant named Adam. Adam is in Paris under tight Gestapo security (the Nazi’s official secret police).

Gallatin contacts Adam through a Nazi deserter called “Mouse”. He slips a note in Adams pocket that informs Adam to go to an opera at the third act, so Gallatin can receive the information. The Gestapo had followed Adam and shoot him in the head just after the information was disclosed to Michael. Michael escapes by faking suicide using cyanide; he does not swallow the pill. This fake-out allots him time to turn into a werewolf and he kills the fleeing Gestapo. Gallatin and Mouse must make their way east to Berlin, the heart of the Nazis lair, in an attempt to foil a top-secret Nazi plan, “Iron Fist”.

As the title suggests, the novel contains analogues of historical 1942 battles, such as the German drive to, and the Battle of Stalingrad. In the novel, Confederate armies in occupied Ohio drive into Pennsylvania with Pittsburgh as their objective, codenamed Operation Coalscuttle. It also involves analogues of the Battle of Midway, the Manhattan Project, and the Holocaust.

By the summer of 1942, the U.S. push under General Daniel MacArthur into northern Virginia has stalled in the face of fierce opposition. This allows General George S. Patton Jr. to concentrate his forces in Ohio for a renewed push into western Pennsylvania. Aided by improved armor and assault tactics, his troops quickly advance across eastern Ohio to Pittsburgh's outskirts. However Brigadier General Irving Morrell, who now commands the U.S. defense of the Ohio Front, prevents the CSA from enveloping Pittsburgh as planned and forces them into a street to street fight.

Meanwhile, Jefferson Davis Pinkard enjoys rapid advancement through the Freedom Party hierarchy as he begins to develop the machinery required to implement Jake Featherston's Final Solution to the "Negro problem". His Camp Determination is now so efficient that it is able to swallow and extinguish the entire Negro population of Jackson, Mississippi (including Richard Wright) as reprisals against local insurgents. In Augusta, Georgia's now ghettoized Negro district, Scipio, a former slave and Marxist rebel during the Great War, manages for a time to skirt the ever increasing terror descending across the CSA's Negro population. Eventually, he too is swallowed up and finds himself in a cattle car heading towards a bleak future. Elsewhere in Georgia, captured U.S. fighter pilot Jonathan Moss escapes from a POW camp and joins a small band of Negro rebels.

At sea, Lt. Sam Carsten's ship, , is sunk by an Imperial Japanese carrier attack and the Sandwich Islands (our universe's Hawaii) are threatened with capture. Nevertheless, he finds himself promoted and placed in charge of a destroyer escort, where he spends time patrolling Atlantic sea lanes and engaging in special operations. George Enos Jr.'s destroyer is nearly sunk in an engagement near Japanese-held Midway due to lack of sea-borne air power. However, when two escort carriers manage to reach Oahu, the tide begins to turn. In a climactic battle, George's fleet sinks a Japanese carrier guarding Midway.

In this history, the Pacific War against Japan is treated as essentially a sideshow, getting only a trickle of resources - since the US are facing a dangerous invasion of their industrial heartland. Strategic aims in the Pacific are confined to recapturing Midway to remove the threat to the Sandwich Islands, and characters consider the idea of conducting an island-hopping war all the way to the Japanese home islands (as the US did in World War II) as an unrealistic fantasy. Also, in this history, the Philippines and Guam are long-standing and recognized possessions of the Japanese, which they had wrested from Spain during the Hispano-Japanese War between the late 1800s and early 1900s and to which the US laid no claim.

The CSA have pressured their weak ally, Emperor Francisco José II of Mexico, into reluctantly providing troops to reinforce the Coalscuttle attack. Under cover of an early November storm, General Morrell leads an armored breakthrough against the poorly equipped Mexicans protecting Patton's flank. Joining up with another salient coming out of West Virginia, he traps the bulk of Patton's army, and drives deep into Ohio. Featherston, beginning an apparent descent into madness, gives the trapped army maniacal orders to hold its ground rather than attempt a breakout. When the promised resupply by air fails, Patton is ordered to escape by air and CSA resistance near Pittsburgh collapses. The sequence of events is similar to that which led to the destruction of the German Sixth Army in Battle of Stalingrad during our timeline's World War II.

Jonathan Moss spends most of the book as a frustrated POW held at Andersonville, Georgia, under conditions unpleasant but far more tolerable than of the infamous War of Secession POW camp of the same location. He and others manage to escape after a tornado blows down the camp's fences. He and another escaped POW join a black guerrilla band whose capable leader took up the ''nom de guerre'' Spartacus. During a raid on Plains, Georgia, Moss kills Jimmy Carter, a young Confederate naval officer on leave, in front of his mother as he tries to rally the townspeople against the raiding blacks.

General Abner Dowling is transferred from the Virginia front to take up command of the 11th Army and open a new front by invading Texas, in order to prevent the Confederates from moving forces from there to reinforce the main front around Pittsburgh. By February 1943, his forces are approaching Lubbock, Texas, and - still unknown to him, but highly alarming for Pinkard and the Freedom Party High Command - threatening to capture Camp Determination and expose its litany of horrors. Both sides are working desperately to develop a nuclear weapon, although the US is slightly in the lead. Featherston's increasingly irrational conduct of the war raises suspicions and leads Generals Clarence Potter and Nathan Bedford Forrest III to consider a plot to overthrow him.

Following the plebiscites for the United States to return the occupied states of Kentucky and Houston to the Confederacy in early 1941, Confederate President Jake Featherston breaks his solemn vow and re-militarizes them, essentially declaring war against the United States in act if not in word. US President Alfred Emanuel Smith hurries to prepare for war, but his country is sent reeling by Operation Blackbeard, the Confederate attack into Ohio at 3:30 am on June 22, 1941. Soon afterward, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the rest of the Entente powers announce hostilities against the U.S.

The U.S. under General Abner Dowling and Colonel Irving Morrell fight desperately, but the 1930s-era unwillingness of the U.S. to adequately meet the danger posed by Featherston's remilitarization of the C.S. tells, in the form of armed forces which are woefully unprepared to meet the intense Confederate combined arms attack. By 1942 the Confederate army has reached the shores of Lake Erie and cut the U.S. in two. Meanwhile, the Mormons in Utah are once again rebelling, prompting a swift response from the U.S. Army, but compounding the difficulties for the U.S. just as in the last war. A U.S. counterattack in Virginia bogs down, and the Confederates are preparing a second offensive for the summer of 1942 when Al Smith is killed in a bombing raid on the capital city of Philadelphia when the bunker underneath the Powel House was destroyed and the building itself was severely damaged. A shaken Charles W. La Follette is sworn in as President of a nation fighting for its survival.

Meanwhile, in the Confederacy, the murderous persecution of blacks is escalating towards a full-scale genocide, similar to our timeline's Holocaust. Another hint of things to come is provided when Featherston makes a strategic blunder in rejecting the offer of a physics professor to start research towards producing nuclear weapons, believing that the professor just wants government money to finance an abstruse scientific project – while it is hinted that the U.S. has started a version of the Manhattan Project, located in the state of Washington and overseen by Assistant Secretary of War Franklin D. Roosevelt, who in this world harbors no presidential ambitions.

Act I

Act one is an amalgam of early 20th century New Jersey and the dawn of the Ice Age. The father is inventing things such as the lever, the wheel, the alphabet, and multiplication tables. The family and the entire northeastern U.S. face extinction by a wall of ice moving southward from Canada. The story is introduced by a narrator and further expanded by the family maid, Sabina. There are unsettling parallels between the members of the Antrobus family and various characters from the Bible. In addition, time is compressed and scrambled to such an extent that the refugees who arrive at the Antrobus house seeking food and fire include the Old Testament prophet Moses, the ancient Greek poet Homer, and women who are identified as Muses.

Act II

Act II takes place on the Boardwalk at Atlantic City, New Jersey, where the Antrobuses are present for George's swearing-in as president of the Ancient and Honorable Order of Mammals, Subdivision Humans. Sabina is present, also, in the guise of a scheming beauty queen, who tries to steal George's affection from his wife and family. The conventioneers are rowdy and party furiously, but there is an undercurrent of foreboding as a fortune teller warns of an impending storm. The weather soon transforms from summery sunshine to hurricane to deluge. Gladys and George each attempt their individual rebellions, and are brought back into line by the family. The act ends with the family members reconciled and, paralleling the Biblical story of Noah's Ark, directing pairs of animals to safety on a large boat where they survive the storm and the end of the world.

Act III

The final act takes place in the ruins of the Antrobuses' former home. A devastating war has occurred; Maggie and Gladys have survived by hiding in a cellar. When they come out of the cellar we see that Gladys has a baby. Sabina joins them, "dressed as a Napoleonic camp-follower". George has been away at the front lines leading an army. Henry also fought, on the opposite side, and returns as a general. The family members discuss the ability of the human race to rebuild and continue after continually destroying itself. The question is raised: "Is there any accomplishment or attribute of the human race of enough value that its civilization should be rebuilt?"

The stage manager interrupts the play-within-the-play to explain that several members of their company can't perform their parts, possibly due to food poisoning (as the actress playing Sabina saw blue mold on the lemon meringue pie at dinner). The stage manager drafts a janitor, a dresser, and other non-actors to fill their parts, which involve quoting philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle to mark the passing of time within the play.

The alternate history action ends where it began, with Sabina dusting the living room and worrying about George's arrival from the office. Her final act is to address the audience and turn over the responsibility of continuing the action, or life, to them.

Jim Harris goes with his partners to steal $300,000 from a Mafia-controlled policy bank in Harlem, disguised as police officers. The robbery goes wrong and results in the deaths of seven men — three black gangsters, two members of the Mafia, and two police officers. Lieutenant William Pope, a straitlaced black police officer is assigned to work the case with aging Captain Frank Mattelli, a streetwise but aging Italian-American cop.

Although Lieutenant Pope works strictly by the book and states that he is in charge of the investigation, he struggles to restrain Mattelli, who receives money from Doc Johnson, the leader of black organized crime in Harlem. Over the course of roughly twenty-four hours, Pope and Mattelli race to get to the criminals before they can be hunted down by the Mafia, which is also searching for Harris’ crew. The Italians are led by Nick DiSalvio, a savage capo who plans to torture the robbers, when he finds them, to deter others from trying what they did.

The Federation starship ''Enterprise'' encounters a ship disguised as a large asteroid, which is on a collision course with planet Daran V. Captain Kirk and First Officer Spock beam to the ship's interior, along with Dr. McCoy, who is suffering from a fatal disease called xenopolycythemia. They are attacked and subdued by a group of humanoids, whose High Priestess, Natira, welcomes them to the "world of Yonada" and orders them to be taken before the "Oracle". This Oracle demonstrates its power by administering a powerful electric shock.

As they recover, an old man approaches them and tells them that he has climbed the mountains of his world and discovered that "the world is hollow and I have touched the sky". He then collapses and dies, and his temple glows red. Natira enters and expresses regret at the man's foolishness. She then gives the three permission to explore Yonada, but McCoy elects to stay with Natira. Spock notes that Yonada's writing system resembles that of the Fabrini, a race that was destroyed by a supernova 10,000 years ago. The people of Yonada are evidently their descendants, but are unaware of the nature of their world.

McCoy and Natira have fallen in love, and Natira asks the Oracle for permission to marry McCoy, which the Oracle grants on condition that McCoy accept an "instrument of obedience". Kirk and Spock are then discovered, having secretly entered the Oracle Room. Natira says she must execute them for their transgression, but McCoy persuades her to relent. As Kirk and Spock prepare to return to the ''Enterprise'', McCoy declares his intention to stay behind with Natira.

McCoy marries Natira, and an instrument of obedience is implanted in his temple. Natira shows him their sacred text, the "Book of the People". McCoy suspects it holds the key to setting Yonada back on course, and calls the ''Enterprise'' to share this information, which causes his obedience device to be activated. Kirk and Spock transport back to Yonada, and Spock removes the device from McCoy while Kirk tries to explain the truth to Natira. When Natira's own device is activated, McCoy removes it while Kirk and Spock again deal with the Oracle. Spock learns from the Book how to enter the control room behind the Oracle's altar, where they discover the ship's navigational controls and correct Yonada's course. Spock also discovers the Fabrini archives, which contain a cure for McCoy's condition. McCoy returns to the ''Enterprise'' where he is successfully treated, hoping to see Natira again when Yonada arrives at its new homeworld in about a year.

Timmy Gleason is the estranged son of ex-con Ray Gleason and has been living with his aunt Kitty and her fiancée Wayne since the death of his mother some years earlier. Ray works in a bakery designing cakes. When Kitty goes on her honeymoon with new husband Wayne, she dumps Timmy on a reluctant Ray, leaving him to look after his son in San Francisco for the next week.

Timmy is hoping to spend time with his father, but is largely ignored by Ray, who is the midst of planning a rare-coin heist with his two cronies Bobby and Carl. The robbery is successful, but Timmy learns of it and hides the stolen coins from them. He uses it to blackmail Ray into spending time with him, promising that he will return the coins afterwards. Thus father and son spend the next few days fishing, playing miniature golf and visiting amusement parks, with an amiable Carl and angry Bobby tagging along.

The police are suspicious of Ray, so Detective Theresa Walsh is assigned by her superior to go undercover and surveil him. By chance, Ray and Timmy get talking to Theresa, unaware of who she really is, and invite her for a coffee and then to dinner. Theresa and Ray develop a mutual attraction, causing her boss concern over her willingness to do her job. Timmy and Ray have also gotten closer, so Timmy decides that he wants to stay with his dad permanently. He urges Ray to forget about the stolen coins, because he will probably be caught and sent back to prison. Ray refuses, so Timmy prepares to return home.

At the last moment, Ray has a change of heart. Bobby, however, appears at the bus station, where at gunpoint he forces Ray to open the locker containing the coins. Ray and Bobby are set upon by the waiting police and arrested. Ray is crushed to discover that Theresa is a cop. However, it turns out that the bag in the locker was full of pennies, so Ray is released again. At Timmy's prompting, Theresa finds the rare coins in a gym bag in a department store held by a mannequin. The coins are returned and all charges against Ray are dropped. Ray decides to take on full custody of Timmy and they prepare for a new life together.

Larry Wilson (Andrew McCarthy) and Richard Parker (Jonathan Silverman) are two low-level financial employees at an insurance corporation in New York City. While going over actuarial reports, Richard discovers a series of payments made for the same death. He and Larry take their findings to the CEO, Bernie Lomax (Terry Kiser), who commends them for discovering the insurance fraud and invites them to his beach house in The Hamptons for the Labor Day weekend.

Unbeknownst to the pair, Bernie is behind the fraud. Nervously meeting with his mob partner Vito (Louis Giambalvo), Bernie asks to have the two killed. However, after Bernie leaves, Vito orders that Bernie himself be killed instead due to Bernie having been sleeping with Vito's girlfriend, Tina (Catherine Parks).

Bernie arrives at the island before the pair and plans the murders with Paulie (Don Calfa), the hitman, on the phone, unaware the conversation is being recorded on his answering machine. Bernie then plants cash and a fake confession note implicating Larry and Richard in the insurance fraud, but Paulie arrives early and kills Bernie with a heroin overdose. When Larry and Richard arrive at Bernie's house, they are shocked to find Bernie's body. Before they can call the authorities, guests arrive for a party that Bernie usually hosts every weekend.

To the pair's amazement, the guests are too busy partying to notice he is dead, with the dopey grin from the fatal injection and his sunglasses concealing his lifeless state. Fearing implication in Bernie's death, and wanting to enjoy the luxury of the house for the weekend, Larry proposes he and Richard maintain the illusion that Bernie is still alive, which Richard finds absurd. Only the arrival of Richard's office crush, Gwen Saunders (Catherine Mary Stewart), a summer intern for the company, convinces him to go along with Larry's plan.

Later that night, an angry Tina arrives at the house and demands the pair direct her to Bernie. However, she also fails to realize he is dead. At that moment, one of Vito's mobsters witnesses the two of them apparently having sex. Fooled into thinking Bernie's assassination failed, he notifies Vito. The next morning, Richard is appalled to discover Larry furthering the illusion of Bernie being alive by manipulating his body's limbs. Richard attempts to call the cops, but instead activates the phone message detailing Bernie's plot against them.

Unaware of how Bernie died, they mistakenly believe they are still the targets of a mob hit and, as Bernie had said not to kill them while he was in the area, decide to use Bernie's corpse as a shield. All of the pair's various attempts to leave the island are thwarted, as they repeatedly misplace and recover Bernie's body, and they are finally forced to return to Bernie's home. Meanwhile, Paulie, unhinged by his apparent failure to kill Bernie, returns to the island.

At the house, Gwen confronts Larry and Richard, who confess that Bernie has been dead since before their arrival. Paulie then appears and opens fire on Bernie, then turns his attention to Larry, Richard, and Gwen. Chasing after the trio, Paulie corners Larry, who clumsily manages to subdue him with a phone cord and a punch. The police eventually arrive and arrest Paulie, taking him away in a straitjacket as he continues to insist Bernie is still alive.

Bernie is loaded into an ambulance; however, his gurney rolls away and topples off the boardwalk, dumping him onto the beach right behind Richard, Larry, and Gwen, who run away after noticing him. Afterwards, a young boy (who also taunted Richard and Larry earlier) comes along and starts scooping buckets of sand over the body, burying Bernie.

The film begins with a narrated map showing the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by Robert E. Lee, crossing the Potomac River to invade the North in June 1863, marching across Maryland and into Pennsylvania. On June 30, Confederate spy Henry Thomas Harrison reports to Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, commander of the First Corps, that the Union Army of the Potomac is moving in their direction, and that Union commander Joseph Hooker has been replaced by George Meade. Longstreet reports the information to General Lee, who is concerned that the army is moving "on the word of an actor", as opposed to that of his cavalry chief, J. E. B. Stuart. Nonetheless, Lee orders the army to concentrate near the town of Gettysburg. At the Union encampments near Union Mills, Maryland, Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain of the 20th Maine is ordered to take in 120 men from the disbanded 2nd Maine who had resigned in protest, with permission to shoot any man who refuses to fight. Chamberlain speaks to the men, and is able to persuade all but six to take up arms.

In Gettysburg, Brig. Gen. John Buford and his cavalry division spot elements of Henry Heth's division of A. P. Hill's Third Corps approaching the town and recognizes that the main body of the Confederate army is approaching. Buford recognizes that, with precedent from previous battles, the Confederates will arrive at Gettysburg first and entrench in strong positions, forcing the Union to charge them and suffer heavy casualties. To prevent this, he opts to stand and fight where he is, judging the terrain to be "lovely ground" for slowing the Confederate advance. Buford sends word to I Corps commander Maj. Gen. John F. Reynolds to bring up reinforcements. Heth's troops engage Buford's cavalry the following morning, July 1, with Richard S. Ewell's Second Corps moving in to flank them. Reynolds brings his corps forward, but is killed by a Confederate sharpshooter. The Union army is pushed out of Gettysburg to Cemetery Ridge, and Lee—rejecting Longstreet's suggestion to redeploy south of Gettysburg and go on the defensive—orders Ewell to take the Union position "if practicable". However, Ewell hesitates and does not engage. The armies concentrate at their chosen positions for the remainder of the first day. At Confederate headquarters at Seminary Ridge, Maj. Gen. Isaac R. Trimble angrily denounces Ewell's inaction to Lee, and requests another assignment.

On the second day, July 2, Col. Strong Vincent's brigade from the Union V Corps is deployed to Little Round Top, and Vincent places the 20th Maine at the end of the line, warning Chamberlain that he and his regiment are the flank, and that if they retreat, the Confederate army can swing around behind them and rout the Union forces. Lee orders Longstreet to deploy his two available divisions to take Little Round Top and the neighboring Big Round Top. As Longstreet's corps deploys, Maj. Gen. John Bell Hood, commanding one of the divisions, protests to Longstreet; with the Union holding the high ground, he would lose half his forces if he attacked as ordered. Longstreet, despite his own protests to Lee, orders Hood to attack; Hood is later wounded fighting at Devil's Den. At the summit of Little Round Top, Chamberlain and the 20th Maine fight off wave after wave of advancing Confederates, and begin running out of ammunition. Colonel Vincent is mortally wounded, and none of the other three regiments in his brigade are able to provide support. Chamberlain orders his men to fix bayonets, and charge in a right wheel down the slope against the attacking Confederates, which Chamberlain describes as "we'll swing it down; we swing like a door." The attack successfully drives the Confederate assault back, and the Union flank holds. That evening, Stuart finally arrives, and Lee reprimands him for his being out of contact. At the same time, Longstreet's remaining division, under Maj. Gen. George Pickett, arrives on the field.

For the third day, July 3, Lee decides to send three divisions—Pickett's, Trimble's, and J. Johnston Pettigrew's—to attack the center of the Union line at Cemetery Ridge. Longstreet expresses his belief to Lee that the attack will fail, as the movement is a mile over open ground, and that the Union II Corps under Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock is deployed behind a stone wall, just as Longstreet's men had been at Fredericksburg. Lee nonetheless orders the attack to proceed. Longstreet then meets with the three division commanders and details the plan, beginning first with Colonel Edward Porter Alexander's artillery clearing the Union guns off the ridge, before deploying the men forward. Despite heavy Confederate fire, Alexander is unable to make an impact upon the Union guns. When Pickett asks to move forward, Longstreet simply nods. The Confederate divisions march across the open field, and Hancock is wounded as he commands from the front line. One of Pickett's brigades, commanded by Brig. Gen. Lewis Armistead, makes it over the stone wall, but Armistead is wounded and captured by Union troops. The Confederates retreat due to high casualties. Seeing a despondent General Picket, General Lee implores him to "See to his division" to which Picket replies "General Lee, I have no division": Pickett's Charge ultimately fails. Meeting with Longstreet that evening, Lee finally decides that they will withdraw. The film ends with the fates of the major figures of the battle.

In 1986, Harry Dunne finally gets his chance to go to regular school. At the same time, Lloyd Christmas has been adopted and exchanged several times until he is finally accepted by the school janitor, Ray. Harry bumps into Lloyd on the way to school, in search for a treasure his mother asked him to find, and as if it were destiny, the two instantly became the best of friends. Lloyd introduces Harry to his "friend", Turk, the school bully whose main function in life appears to be making Lloyd's life miserable. After putting Lloyd in a trash can, he hoists the two friends up a flagpole.

Meanwhile, the corrupt Principal Collins is searching for a way to get a large amount of money to get a condominium in Waikiki, Hawaii for him and his girlfriend, Ms. Heller, the school's cafeteria lady. Seeing Harry and Lloyd getting hoisted on a flagpole, Principal Collins decides to establish a fake "special needs" class to swindle $100,000 from a former Special Needs student named Richard Moffit. Obviously, Harry and Lloyd are more than thrilled to help, unaware of the real reason, and thus find themselves signing up people who are "special" enough for the class. These include a reluctant Turk; a teen named Toby who broke his leg and arm in a skateboarding accident—and whom Lloyd believes is a "little crippled boy"; Toby's gorgeous girlfriend, Terri; geeky Lewis, whom Harry and Lloyd believe is a centaur after seeing him half-dressed in his horse mascot uniform; Cindy, also known as "Ching-Chong", a Chinese exchange student who later becomes Turk's girlfriend; and Carl, a badly injured football player obsessed with his sport. Ms. Heller becomes the teacher of the fake class and holds it in Ray's tool shed.

Jessica Matthews, a headstrong student and reporter for the school paper, is suspicious of Principal Collins' sudden contribution. Jessica invites Harry over to her house for dinner and asks Harry for information. Harry, who thinks that she is flirting with him, turns to Lloyd for courtship tips. A repulsive disaster involving Jessica's bathroom and a melted chocolate bar that looks like feces makes her father freak out, inadvertently directing her attention to Lloyd. Soon, Harry and Lloyd get into a fight over Jessica, without her knowing it, which causes the duo to angrily break off their friendship. Inevitably, the two make amends when Harry and Lloyd realize that they were nothing without each other. They find Principal Collins' chest in his office which contains evidence of every scam he and Ms. Heller ever pulled.

The next day, Principal Collins finds his evidence chest missing, and Ms. Heller falsely accuses Jessica of taking it. As a result, Principal Collins prank calls her parents and keeps her at his house overnight in an attempt to interrogate her. Meanwhile, the Special Needs class builds a float of George Washington for the Thanksgiving Parade. However, after Lloyd and Harry discover the evidence in the chest, they change the float to look like Principal Collins instead. After the class discovers his evidence, they agree to use him as the float instead. They also plan on having it pulled by the class's special bus. Before bringing out the float, they call the police. During the parade, the superintendent of the school district has a police detective pose as Richard Moffit, so Principal Collins would take the grant. Eventually, the Special Needs class brings out their float and proves Principal Collins and Ms. Heller as thieves by putting their recordings over loudspeakers, therefore exposing their plot. Before Principal Collins and Ms. Heller escape with the money, they are arrested by the police. Jessica is grateful for Harry and Lloyd and regards them as heroes. However, just like in the original film, the duo's advances to Jessica are in vain, as it turns out that Jessica had a boyfriend. He commends Harry and Lloyd for exposing Collins' and Heller's plot and rides off with Jessica.

Harry and Lloyd vow never to fight and risk their friendship over a woman, but as they head home, they are approached by Fraida Felcher and her twin sister, Rita in a red Ferrari 308 GTS, who offer to take them to visit a new girls' college. After Harry and Lloyd get into another debate over which girl they want, Lloyd declines the offer to settle the debate, and Fraida and Rita furiously drive off, splattering Harry with mud in the process. Jessica's father accidentally hits Harry with his Mercedes, resulting in Harry getting the windshield and hood covered with mud. Jessica's father recognizes Harry and as he frantically thinks his car is covered in feces, Harry and Lloyd casually walk away.

A young man, Dan, takes a young woman to hospital after she has been hit by a taxi; they flirt as they wait for the doctor to attend to her bloodied knee. Larry, a dermatologist, inspects her leg briefly and leaves. Dan and the young woman introduce themselves—he is Daniel Woolf, an obituary writer and failed novelist who tells her how he and his colleagues use euphemisms humorously in their work in obituaries. At the young woman's prompting, he says his euphemism would be "reserved" and hers would be "disarming". She is Alice Ayres, a self-described waif who has a scar along her leg shaped like a question mark. Wanting him to spend the rest of the day with her, she calls in sick to his office for him.

More than a year later, Dan is on the verge of publishing a book based on Alice's past as a stripper, and Anna is taking his photograph for publicity. Dan is infatuated with Anna, though he is in a relationship with Alice, for whom he left his former girlfriend. He begs Anna to see him again, and she rejects him. Alice overhears his conversation with Anna. She asks Anna to take her photo, and when Dan has left, confronts her. Anna insists she is "not a thief" and snaps a photo of a tear-stricken Alice.

Six months later, Dan and Larry meet in an adult chat room. Dan impersonates Anna and has Internet sex with Larry. He tries to play a practical joke on Larry by arranging for Larry to meet him (Dan pretending to be Anna in the chat room) in the London Aquarium the next day. When Larry arrives, stunned to see Anna (who Dan didn't know would be there), he acts believing that she is the same person from the previous night's internet chat and makes a fool of himself. Anna catches on and says that Dan was probably playing a practical joke on him. She reveals that it is her birthday and snaps a photo of Larry.

At Anna's exhibition of photos, Alice stands in front of the photo of her, looking at it; Dan is watching her. They have an argument over Alice's feeling that Dan will leave her. Larry meets Alice, whom he recognises as the woman in the photo, and knows that she is Dan's girlfriend. Meanwhile, Dan convinces Anna to carry on an affair with him. They cheat on their partners with each other, even through Anna and Larry's marriage. Finally, a year later, they tell their partners the truth and leave to be with each other.

Alice, devastated, disappears from Dan's life. She returns to stripping, using the name Jane. Larry finds her at one of the seedy strip clubs in London, where he pushes her to tell the truth about her name. In a poignant moment, he asks, "Tell me something true, Alice." She says, "Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off - but it's better if you do." They share a connection based on mutual betrayal and heartbreak. He asks her to meet him later for sex. She declines.

A month after this, Anna is late meeting Dan for dinner. She is coming from asking Larry to sign the divorce papers. Dan finds out that Larry had demanded Anna have sex with him before he would sign the papers. Dan becomes upset and jealous, asking Anna why she didn’t lie to him. They have a candid, brutally truthful conversation. Anna reveals that she did have sex with Larry and he did sign the papers.

Alice meanwhile has been having sex with Larry. On his birthday, she summons him to the museum and sets up Anna to meet him there. Larry and Anna exchange words, as Anna discovers Alice and Larry have been having a casual relationship. Larry asks Anna if their divorce will ever become finalised; he leaves when Alice emerges. The two women share a heated exchange in which their mutual animosity is revealed. Anna calls Alice "primitive", a description Alice accepts. The younger Alice describes Larry's emotional state as troubled and learns from Anna that Dan still calls out for "Buster" (Alice's nickname) in his sleep.

Anna goes back to Larry. Distraught, Dan confronts Larry at his office and has to reconcile himself to the loss of Anna. Larry recommends Dan go back to Alice and reveals that he had seen her in the strip club. He lies for Alice at first and tells Dan that they did not sleep together, since Alice feared that, if Dan found out, he would not want her any more. At the end, Larry decides to hurt Dan and reveals the truth—that they had slept together.

Dan and Alice, back together, are preparing to go to America. They relive the memories of their first meeting, but Dan is haunted by their encounters with Larry and Anna and pushes Alice to tell him the truth. In the moment when Alice becomes caught between telling the truth (which she refuses to do) and being unable to lie to him, she says, "I don't love you anymore. Goodbye." (She had told Dan in the beginning that these are the words she tells her significant others when their relationship is over and she is going to leave.) She tells Dan to leave. Dan struggles with her; she spits in his face, and he throws her back on the bed, grabbing her neck. She dares him to hit her, and he does; she leaves.

Later, Anna and Larry meet again, only to reveal that they have broken up once again and Larry is dating a young nurse named Polly. They are meeting because Alice has died the night before in New York, having been hit by a car while crossing the street. Larry leaves as Dan arrives because he has patients to see. Dan talks with Anna and says that no one could identify Alice's body and he is flying over to America to do so. Before Dan leaves, he tells Anna that Ruth, his ex-girlfriend whom he left for Alice/Jane, is now married, has a child, and is pregnant with a second. She married a poet, having fallen in love with him (without ever having met him) after reading his book of poems, ''Solitude''. Dan and Anna bid each other a cold goodbye. Dan leaves to catch his flight, leaving Anna alone.

On 26 April 1929, Scotland Yard Detective Frank Webber (John Longden) escorts his girlfriend Alice White (Anny Ondra) to a tea house. They have an argument and Frank storms out. While reconsidering his action, he sees Alice leave with Mr. Crewe (Cyril Ritchard), an artist she had earlier agreed to meet.

Crewe persuades a reluctant Alice into coming up to see his studio. She admires a painting of a laughing clown, and uses his palette and brushes to paint a cartoonish drawing of a face; he adds a few strokes of a naked feminine figure, and guiding her hand, they sign the picture with her name. He gives her a dancer's outfit and Crewe sings and plays "Miss Up-to-Date" on the piano.

Crewe steals a kiss, to Alice's disgust, but as she is changing and preparing to leave, he takes her dress from the changing area. He attempts to rape her; her cries for help are not heard on the street below. In desperation, Alice grabs a nearby bread knife and kills him. She angrily tears a hole in the painting of the clown, then leaves after attempting to remove any evidence of her presence in the flat, but accidentally leaves her gloves behind. She walks the streets of London all night in a daze.

When the body is found, Frank is assigned to the case and finds one of Alice's gloves. He also recognizes the dead man, but conceals this from his superior. Taking the glove, he goes to see Alice at her father's tobacco shop, but she is too distraught to speak.

As they speak privately in the shop's telephone booth, Tracy (Donald Calthrop), arrives. He had seen Alice go up to Crewe's flat, and he has the other glove. When he sees Frank with the other one, he attempts to blackmail them. His first demands are petty ones, and they accede. Frank learns by phone that Tracy is wanted for questioning: he was seen near the scene and has a criminal record. Frank sends for policemen and tells Tracy he will pay for the murder.

Alice is apprehensive, but still does not speak up. The tension mounts. When the police arrive, Tracy's nerve finally breaks and he flees. The chase leads to the British Museum, where he clambers onto the domed roof of the Reading Room and slips, crashing through a skylight and falling to his death inside. The police assume he was the murderer.

Unaware of this, Alice feels compelled to give herself up and goes to see the Chief Inspector at New Scotland Yard. Before she can confess to him, the inspector receives a telephone call and asks Frank to deal with Alice. She finally tells Frank the truth—that it was self-defense against an attack she cannot bear to speak of—and they leave together. As they do, a policeman walks past, carrying the damaged painting of the laughing clown and the cartoon canvas where Alice painted over her name.

After two years of teaching at the Avonlea school, Anne Shirley dreams of being a writer, but her story "Averil's Atonement" is rejected by a magazine. Her best friend Diana Barry has become engaged. Marilla's eyesight has also improved, opening an opportunity for Anne to follow her ambitions, which have been on hold since giving up the Avery Scholarship.

Anne's misadventures in Avonlea continue. Unbeknownst to her, Diana submitted "Averil's Atonement" into a contest to introduce the new Rollings Reliable baking powder to the public, and it wins first prize. Anne is grateful to her friend for trying to boost her spirits, but finds the widespread recognition humiliating. She later sees her jersey cow Dolly in Rachel Lynde's field, which she had promised would never happen again. After unsuccessfully trying to get Dolly back to her field, Anne sells the cow to Gilbert Blythe and his father. She laments about her "Jonah day" to Marilla, who offers encouragement and plum puffs, only to discover she actually sold Rachel's cow instead of her own. When she and Marilla pay a visit to the Lyndes to explain her mistake, Rachel's ailing husband Thomas passes away, which Rachel fears will force her to sell her farm and leave Avonlea.

At a clambake for Diana's engagement, Gilbert proposes to Anne, but she rejects his offer, convinced that their marriage would be unhappy and unsuccessful. She later runs into Morgan Harris, a traveling businessman whom she had previously met at the beach and who shows interest in her. At Diana's wedding, she sees Gilbert with a young woman named Christine Stuart. Gilbert insists they are just friends, and offers to wait for Anne, but she affirms she will never marry. Back at Green Gables, Marilla reveals that Rachel will be moving in with her. Anne decides to accept a job offer from her former teacher Miss Stacey as an English literature teacher at Kingsport Ladies' College in New Brunswick.

Anne initially finds her job difficult. Kingsport is dominated by the wealthy and conceited Pringle family, who resent that she received the position over one of their own. The students in her class, led by Jen Pringle, delight in causing trouble to make Anne look like a bad teacher. Anne must also endure the cold and sarcastic principal of Kingsport Ladies' College, Katherine Brooke. She grows close to Emmeline Harris, a motherless student who also happens to be Morgan's daughter. After Anne and Emmeline get on Katherine Brooke's bad side, Morgan withdraws both his daughter and his financial support from K.L.C. He sends Emmeline to live with her stern grandmother Margaret Harris and repressed aunt Pauline at their mansion, Maplehurst. Anne convinces Mrs. Harris to let her tutor Emmeline at home, and let Pauline attend a friend's wedding anniversary overnight. Meanwhile, Anne and Miss Stacey organize a play to raise money for the school, with Jen Pringle playing the lead role of Mary, Queen of Scots. When Jen calls off sick on the day of the show, Anne convinces Morgan to let Emmeline star in the play, which they have been rehearsing during tutoring sessions. The show is a success and Anne finally wins the Pringles' support. After returning from a trip to Boston, she runs into Gilbert and finds out that he is engaged to Christine Stuart. Inspired by his suggestion, she publishes a series of short stories entitled ''Avonlea Vignettes''. During a hospital benefit ball, Morgan asks her to marry him, which she declines.

After Mrs. Harris dies, Pauline accepts a marriage proposal and Morgan decides to sell Maplehurst and return to Boston with Emmeline. Anne resigns from K.L.C. and persuades Katherine to come back to Avonlea with her for the summer holidays. Upon arriving at Green Gables and meeting Diana's new baby, Anne discovers that Gilbert has fallen ill with scarlet fever, which he contracted at medical school in Halifax. Finally realizing her true feelings for Gilbert, Anne rushes to his bedside, where he tells her that he has called off his engagement to Christine because Anne is the only one for him. After recovering, he proposes once more, and Anne accepts him with a kiss.

The story begins on the 75th birthday of identical twin sisters, Dora and Nora Chance. By what Dora, who is also the narrator of the story, describes as a bizarre coincidence, it is also the 100th birthday of their natural father, Melchior Hazard, and his fraternal twin brother, Peregrine Hazard, who is believed to be dead. The date is also Shakespeare's supposed birthday – 23 April.

Dora and Nora's birthday gets off to a dramatic start when their half-brother, Tristram Hazard, who believes himself to be the nephew of the twins, arrives on their doorstep. He announces that Tiffany – his partner, and the goddaughter of the twins – is missing. Dora and Nora soon discover that Tiffany is pregnant with Tristram's baby, but he is unwilling to take on the responsibility. Once this bombshell has been dropped, it emerges that a body has been found and it is believed to be Tiffany's.

Most of the novel consists of Dora's memories. As well as providing the backstory of her natural father, Melchior Hazard, her legal father, Peregrine Hazard, and her guardian, Grandma Chance, Dora describes key events of her life. As Melchior becomes a renowned Shakespearean theatre actor in the 1920s, he refuses to acknowledge his daughters, who are publicly and legally believed to be the daughters of Peregrine instead. Dora is deeply hurt by Melchior's rejection, contrasting the loving nature of Peregrine, who becomes the twins' father figure. She recalls her early theatre performances and her first sexual experience, in which she impersonates Nora and sleeps with her unknowing lover. Melchior marries Lady Atalanta Lynde, who Dora calls "Lady A", and has two legitimate twin daughters, Saskia and Imogen. In the 1930s, he goes to Hollywood and produces a film version of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' in which Dora and Nora play Peaseblossom and Mustardseed. The production ends in disaster as Melchior leaves his first wife to elope with the wife of the film's producer, who plays the Titania to his Oberon in the film.

After the Second World War, during which Grandma Chance is killed in the Blitz, Dora and Nora attend the 21st birthday party of Saskia and Imogen. Melchior announces, to Saskia and Imogen's fury, a third marriage to the best friend of Saskia, who is playing Cordelia in his King Lear. The announcement sparks a family argument in which Peregrine disappears, never to be seen again. The same night, Lady A falls down a flight of stairs and becomes confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life; she moves in with Dora and Nora. It is implied Saskia and Imogen may have pushed her down the stairs in their rage. Melchior has two more twins, Tristram and Gareth. Saskia, in an act of vengeance, enters into an incestual sexual relationship with her half-brother Tristram. Gareth, meanwhile, becomes a priest and vanishes.

Dora, Nora and Lady A attend Melchior's 100th birthday party, where most of the novel's expansive cast of characters are in attendance. Melchior acknowledges Dora and Nora are his children for the first time in their lives. Peregrine makes a dramatic entrance accompanied by Tiffany, revealing both are still alive, and Lady A reveals that Peregrine is the true father of Saskia and Imogen. While Melchior and Nora share a dance together, Dora has sex with her paternal uncle Peregrine upstairs. She asks Peregrine if he is her father too; Peregrine strongly denies it, but suggests Grandma Chance may have been Dora and Nora's true mother.

The novel ends with Dora and Nora being presented with the twin babies of the missing son Gareth to look after – a gift from Peregrine. They realise that they "can't afford" to die until they've seen their children grow up. The final line of the story is a message constantly conveyed throughout the novel: "What a joy it is to dance and sing!"

A young African-American orphan is sheltered by a Los Angeles brothel in the 1940s. Working as a towel boy, he is seduced by one of the prostitutes. The women name him "Sweet Sweetback" in honor of his sexual prowess and large penis. As an adult, Sweetback performs in the whorehouse sex show.

One night, two white LAPD officers come in to speak to Sweetback's boss, Beetle. A black man has been murdered, and there is pressure from the black community to bring in a suspect. The police suggest arresting Sweetback to appease their superiors, blame him for the crime, and then release him a few days later for lack of evidence. Beetle agrees, and they arrest Sweetback. On the way to the police station, the officers also arrest a young Black Panther named Mu-Mu after some trouble. They handcuff him to Sweetback, but when Mu-Mu insults the officers, they take both men out of the car, undo the handcuff from Mu-Mu, and beat him. In response, Sweetback fashions his handcuffs into brass knuckles and beats the officers, putting them into comas.

Sweetback returns to the whorehouse for help, but Beetle refuses out of fear of being arrested himself. As Sweetback leaves, he is arrested and beaten by order of the police chief, seeking information about Mu-Mu's whereabouts, but escapes when a black revolutionary throws a molotov cocktail at the police car transporting him to the station for more severe interrogation. He next visits an old girlfriend, who similarly refuses him aid but cuts his handcuffs off in exchange for sex. Sweetback then asks his priest for help, but he refuses for fear of the police shutting down the church's drug rehab center.

Police officers interrogate Beetle, seeking to discover Sweetback's whereabouts, rendering him deaf by firing a gun against each ear. Sweetback meets up with Mu-Mu and black gangsters drive them through South Central Los Angeles to the outskirts. Stopping overnight at a seemingly abandoned building, they discover it is a safe house for the Hells Angels. Their helmeted president challenges Sweetback to a duel: asked to decide the weapon and discovering she is a woman, he chooses sex and is judged to win.

The bikers leave the men in their club to await a member of the all black East Bay Dragons who will get them to Mexico. During the night, the club is raided by two policemen with drawn guns. Sweetback resists arrest and kills both officers in self-defense, but Mu-Mu is badly wounded. The next morning, the Dragon arrives, but his motorcycle can only carry one; Sweetback asks him to take Mu-Mu, as the activist is their future.

As Sweetback and Mu-Mu continue to evade arrest, pressure mounts on the police; the police chief warns his staff that the fugitives' example could prompt a black uprising. The police badly beat up a black man sleeping with a white woman, believing him to be probably one of the fugitives, and that he deserves a beating in any case. Later, Beetle, now in a wheelchair following the police brutality, is brought to the morgue to identify a body believed to be Sweetback and smiles when he sees it is someone else. As the police trawl black areas for him, they find Sweetback's biological and rather confused mother, who reveals that his birth name is Leroy.

Sweetback pays a hippie to switch clothes with him, deceiving a police helicopter which sends a patrol car in pursuit. Sweetback was also wounded in the shootout and both stows away and hitches rides on trucks and a train heading south. Running through arid country, he survives by drinking from a puddle and eating a lizard. When police hear he might be at a rural hippie musical event, he successfully disguises himself by simulating sex in the bushes. He is later spotted and police borrow a farmer's hunting dogs to track him. Realising he will cross the border before they reach him, a policeman releases the dogs, expecting them to catch and kill him. However, at the Tijuana River, Sweetback stabs the dogs and escapes into Mexico, swearing to return to "collect some dues".

The story opens as a mock report from the opening of the new Charles Bronson movie ''GLC: The Carnage Continues'', in which Bronson (played by Coltrane) discusses his new movie, in which he plays Ken Livingstone. From there, the movie itself begins.

The piece opens at a party, where a man offers the player a bottle of a mysterious green fluid. After drinking it, the PC passes out, but is shortly awoken by a man bringing a phone message from a long-lost love. The game then explores the player's experiences of what may be a hallucination, and may be reality. Notable segments include a fantasy about being elected President in the desert, some "wine" which enhances dancing skills, and a network of tunnels hidden in the back of a freezer.

After dropping off his two young sons at Catholic school, an unnamed NYPD police lieutenant (Harvey Keitel) uses cocaine and drives to the scene of a double homicide in Union Square. The Lieutenant finds a drug dealer and gives him a bag of drugs from a crime scene, smoking crack during the exchange; the dealer promises to give him the money he makes from selling the drugs in a few days. At an apartment, the Lieutenant gets drunk and engages in a threesome with two women. Meanwhile, a nun (Frankie Thorn) is raped inside a church by two young hoodlums.

The next morning, the Lieutenant learns that he has lost a bet on a National League Championship Series game between the New York Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers. He tries to win back his money by doubling his wager on the Dodgers in the next game. At another crime scene, the Lieutenant rifles through the car and finds some drugs which he stashes in his suit jacket. However, he is too impaired to secure the drugs, and they fall out onto the street in front of his colleagues. The Lieutenant tries to play it off by instructing them to enter the drugs into evidence.

At the hospital, the Lieutenant spies on the nun's examination, and learns that she was penetrated with a crucifix. Later that evening, he pulls over two teenage girls who are using their father's car without his knowledge to go to a club. As they have no driving license, the Lieutenant tells one of the girls to bend over and pull up her skirt (Eddie Daniels), and the other (Bianca Hunter) to simulate oral sex while he masturbates. The following day, he listens in on the nun's confession to her priest, where she says she knows who assaulted her but will not identify them.

While drinking vodka and snorting cocaine while driving through Times Square, the Lieutenant listens to the final moments of the Dodgers game and shoots out his car stereo when they lose. Despite being unable to pay the $30,000 wager, he doubles his bet for the next game. Eavesdropping on the nun's confession, he hears her state that she has no anger about what happened and begins cursing at God before breaking down in tears and sobbing that he wants to redeem himself. The Lieutenant drinks in a bar when the Dodgers lose again. After scoring cocaine in a nightclub, he tries to double his bet yet again. His friend refuses to make the wager, insisting that the bookie would kill him.

The Lieutenant picks up his $30,000 share from the drug dealer and calls the bookie personally to place his bet. They arrange to meet in front of Madison Square Garden. He then visits a woman (Zoë Lund) and does heroin with her. At the church, he tells the nun that he will exact vengeance upon her attackers, but she repeats that she has forgiven them and leaves. In the resulting emotional breakdown, the Lieutenant sees an apparition of Jesus and tearfully curses him before begging forgiveness for his crimes and sins. The figure is revealed to be a woman holding a golden chalice, which turns out to have been pawned at her husband's shop.

With the help of the woman, the Lieutenant tracks the two rapists to a nearby crack den in Spanish Harlem and cuffs them together. He holds them at gunpoint and smokes crack with them as the Mets win the pennant. Instead of taking them to the station, he drives them to the Port Authority Bus Terminal and puts them on a bus with a cigar box containing the $30,000. He demands that they never come back to New York. After he leaves the terminal, he parks on the street in front of Penn Station. Another car drives up beside him, and the driver, presumably the bookie with whom the Lieutenant had arranged to meet, shoots and kills the Lieutenant.

When the famous Pink Panther diamond is stolen again from Lugash, Chief Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) is called on the case despite protests by Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Herbert Lom). While on the case, Clouseau is pursued by the Mafia. Clouseau first goes to London to interrogate Sir Charles Litton (having forgotten that he lives in the South of France). Traveling to the airport, he accidentally blows up his car trying to fix a pop-out lighter, but mistakenly believes it an assassination attempt, and disguises himself in a heavy cast on the flight, which causes complications in the air and on land. He then is led to an awkward introduction to the Scotland Yard detectives at Heathrow. Meanwhile, Dreyfus learns from Scotland Yard that Libyan terrorists have marked Clouseau for assassination, but permits him to continue. At the hotel, Clouseau has a miscommunication with the hotel clerk (Harold Berens) and gets knocked out a window several times, trying to get his message from Dreyfus.

Clouseau's flight disappears over the ocean ''en route'' to Lugash, and Marie Jouvet (Joanna Lumley), a television reporter covering the story, sets out to interview those who knew him best. Among the people she interviews are Dreyfus; Hercule Lajoy (Graham Stark); Cato Fong (Burt Kwouk); and former jewel thief Sir Charles Litton (David Niven) who is married to Clouseau's ex-wife Lady Simone (Capucine).

All of these interview scenes provides flashbacks to scenes of earlier Pink Panther films (''The Pink Panther'', ''A Shot in the Dark'', ''The Return of the Pink Panther'', ''The Pink Panther Strikes Again'', and ''Revenge of the Pink Panther''); but Jouvet also interviews Clouseau's father (Richard Mulligan), at his winery in the south of France, providing glimpses of Clouseau's childhood (wherein he is played by Lucca Mezzofanti), and his early career during college, nearly leading him to commit suicide after a girl of his dreams marries another person, especially in the French Resistance (in which he is played by Daniel Peacock) involving him failing to detonate a bridge full of crossing Nazis. Jouvet also questions Mafia don Bruno Langlois (Robert Loggia), a mafia boss antagonist who would appear in the next film, and tries to file a complaint against Langlois with Chief Inspector Dreyfus; but Dreyfus refuses to press charges.

The film ends with Marie hoping that Clouseau might be alive somewhere, as she states: "Did Inspector Clouseau really perish in the sea, as reported? Or for reasons as yet unknown, is he out there someplace, plotting his next move, waiting to reveal himself when the time is right? I am reluctant to believe that misfortune has really struck down such a great man." Clouseau (played by John Taylor, who doubled Sellers in ''The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu'' (1980).) is seen glancing over a seaside cliff, when a seagull flies over and defecates on the sleeve of his coat. The words "Swine seagull!" are heard in the distinctive exaggerated French accent of Clouseau.

The next shot shows the animated Pink Panther in trench coat and trilby hat, revealed to be in place of Clouseau watching the sunset; he turns around to face the camera and flashes his coat open, but his trench coat reveals a montage of funny clips of Peter Sellers from his five ''Pink Panther'' films as a tribute to him, while the end credits roll.

After Riverside, Illinois couple Luther and Nora Krank see their daughter, Blair, depart for a Peace Corps assignment in Peru on the Sunday following Thanksgiving, and empty nest syndrome sets in. Luther calculates that he and Nora spent $6,132 during the previous year's holiday season, and, not looking forward to celebrating Christmas without their daughter, he suggests they invest the money usually spent on decorations, gifts, and entertainment and treat themselves to a ten-day Caribbean cruise instead. Luther insists that they completely boycott the holidays, and eventually Nora agrees.

The Kranks are amazed to discover they are considered pariahs as a result of their decision to skip the holidays. Those who are most vocal in their objections are neighbors Vic Frohmeyer and Walt Scheel. Vic, who is the self-proclaimed leader of the street, organizes a campaign to force the Kranks to decorate their home. Walt does not seem to like Luther, so his efforts are primarily personal. However, it is revealed that Walt's wife Bev is suffering from cancer, perhaps dampening his holiday spirits. Children, led by Vic's son Spike, constantly force them to put up a Frosty the Snowman decoration, and Christmas carolers try to revive the Kranks' holiday spirit by singing on their lawn, which Luther stops by freezing his front lawn. Even the newspaper gets into the act by publishing a front-page story complete with a photograph of the unlit Krank house. Still, Luther and Nora continue to stand their ground. Luther's office colleagues, scout tree salesmen, and police fund collectors are also annoyed.

The two are in the process of packing on Christmas Eve morning when they receive a call from Blair, who announces that she is at Miami International Airport, en route home with her Peruvian fiancé Enrique as a surprise for her parents. When Blair asks if they are having their usual party that night, a panicked Nora says yes. Comic chaos ensues as Luther and Nora find themselves trying to decorate the house and coordinate a party with only twelve hours to spare before their daughter and future son-in-law arrive.

While Nora scrambles to find food, Luther goes to buy a tree, but is unable to get anything but a small, dried-up tree that quickly loses what few leaves it has. Luther then attempts to borrow the tree of neighbor Wes Trogdon (who is going away for a week with family to visit his in-laws) with the warning that he is not to break a single ornament or damage it. Luther enlists Spike's help to transport the tree across the street, but the neighbors spot him and, assuming he is stealing the tree, they call the police. Spike comes to Luther's rescue by showing that Luther has Trogdon's keys, and thus was given permission to borrow the tree. Nora comes home, having only been able to obtain smoked trout, and orders Luther to put up Frosty on the roof of their house, which fails miserably when he and Frosty fall off the roof.

Once it is established why Luther is trying frantically to decorate his home, the neighbors, led by Vic, come out in full force to help him and Nora ready it for Blair. Blair calls to say she landed from Miami, and the neighbors send the police to pick her up and stall long enough to let everyone finish setting up. The party starts off strong, with Blair having no idea of the earlier drama. Enrique thanks everyone for the warm welcome, and Nora thanks her neighbors for being a strong community. Luther, to everyone's disappointment, offers only a half-hearted toast. When Nora confronts Luther, he tries to convince her to still go on the cruise, but Nora refuses, disgusted that he is not happy that Blair is home. Having a change of heart, Luther slips out of the house and goes across the street to the Scheel home. Bev's cancer, once in remission, has returned and, knowing this may be their last holiday together, Luther insists they take the cruise in place of him and Nora, going so far as to offer to take care of their cat, Muffles, to allow them to go. At first Walt and Bev decline, but ultimately decide to accept his generosity. Luther, whose holiday spirit has been renewed, finally admits that skipping Christmas was not a good idea, with Nora suggesting they should maybe do it next year.

Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper), is an organizer for the United Mine Workers. He arrives in Matewan, West Virginia in 1920 to organize miners against the Stone Mountain Coal Company. His introduction to the town is his witnessing of a mob of miners angry at wage cuts beating up black miners who intended to cross the picket line. He takes up residence at a boarding house run by a coal miner's widow, Elma Radnor (Mary McDonnell), and her 15-year-old son, Danny (Will Oldham), who is also a miner and a budding Baptist preacher. The miners are reluctant to bring the imported workers, both black and Italian into their union, a cause not helped by C. E. Lively, a spy for the company within the union, who tries to goad the miners into violence and secretly informs the Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency of the "red" Kenehan's presence.

The next day, two Baldwin–Felts men, Hickey and Griggs, show up in town and take up residence at the Radnor boarding house. Danny at first refuses to give rooms to Hickey and Griggs, but Kenehan voluntarily moves to the hotel, freeing up a room for the two men and averting trouble for Mrs. Radnor. Hickey and Griggs then start their campaign against the union by forcibly evicting miners from company-owned houses in town. Mayor Testerman and Police Chief Sid Hatfield refuse to let them be evicted without eviction writs from Charleston. Hatfield deputizes all the men in town and tells them to go home and come back with their guns.

The Baldwin–Felts men then turn their attention on the strikers' camp outside town, where the miners and their families are living in tents. At night, the armed strikebreakers fire shots into the camp, injuring some strikers. The next day, they enter the camp to demand that all food and clothing purchased at the company store with scrip be turned over to them, but are thwarted by the arrival of armed hill people, whose land was taken by the coal company. Expressing disdain for the noise caused by the gunmen's automobile the night before, their presence and sympathy for the miners compels the Baldwin–Felts men to leave empty-handed. The slow arrival of the union's thinly stretched strike funds tests the patience of Danny Radnor and other miners who become disillusioned and turn to violence in spite of Kenehan's warnings. The miners are involved in a night-time shootout with the agents and Sephus is wounded. He is rescued by some hill people but not before he recognizes Lively as the infiltrator.

Lively tries to drive a wedge between Kenehan and the miners by convincing a young widow, Bridey Mae Tolliver, to falsely accuse Kenehan of sexual assault, and he plants a letter which makes Kenehan appear to be the infiltrator, leading the miners to plot to kill Kenehan. Danny overhears Hickey and Griggs talking about the scheme and is discovered and threatened by Hickey. That night, while preaching at the Freewill church, Danny relates a parable about Joseph that convinces the miners that they have been deceived by a false story, taking advantage of the now-inebriated detectives. Lively silently slips out of the back of the church while a miner runs to the camp to stop Few Clothes (Jones) from killing Kenehan. Meanwhile, Sephus has made his way back to town and informed the others of Lively's betrayal, furiously burning down his restaurant. Lively flees town by swimming across the Tug Fork River.

Later, while Danny and his friend Hillard Elkins, are stealing coal from the mine, they are confronted by the detectives. Danny hides, while Elkins is tortured for information. He provides five names, and is killed by Griggs anyway. Lively mentions that the men he has named died in the mines years ago, and muses that the death of a young boy will complicate things.

The situation between the Baldwin–Felts men and Chief Hatfield reaches a boiling point with the arrival of reinforcements with orders to carry out the evictions. The mayor tries to negotiate as Kenehan comes running to try to stop the fight. The sudden movement sets off a climactic gunfight between the exposed mercenaries and the armed townspeople firing from barricades and rooftops. Hatfield shoots two men and survives the battle, but Kenehan is killed and the mayor is shot in the stomach. Griggs is brought down, while Hickey escapes to Elma Radnor's boarding house, where he is shot and killed by Elma Radnor. Seven Baldwin–Felts men and two townspeople are ultimately killed.

In the epilogue, the narrator (revealed to be an elderly Danny recalling those days in "Bloody Mingo") recounts that Mayor Testerman succumbed to his wounds and the mayor's wife married Chief Sid Hatfield. But Hatfield was later gunned down in broad daylight on the steps of the McDowell County Courthouse in Welch, with Lively stepping up to deliver the ''coup de grâce''. He recalls the event as the start of the Great Coalfield War.

J.B. Ball, the third richest banker in America, has a fight with his son John Jr. over breakfast. It ends with the son leaving, determined to prove that he can make his own way. Ball becomes infuriated after learning that his wife Jenny bought a $58,000 sable fur coat, and he decides it has to be returned. After finding many fur coats in her closet, Ball grabs the coat, Jenny takes it from him, and a chase takes them to the roof of their New York City penthouse. He throws it over the edge.

It lands on Mary Smith while she is riding to work on a double-decker bus. When she tries to return it, he tells her to keep it, without telling her how costly it is. He also buys her an expensive new hat to replace the one damaged in the incident, causing Van Buren, the owner of the shop, to mistake her for Ball's mistress. Van Buren loses no time in spreading the word. When Mary shows up for work, her straitlaced boss suspects her of behaving improperly to get a coat she obviously cannot afford and fires her to protect the reputation of the ''Boy's Constant Companion'', the magazine he publishes.

Mary is nearly penniless, but she begins receiving offers from people eager to cash in on her notoriety. Hotel owner Mr. Louis Louis installs her in a luxury suite, hoping that this will deter Ball from foreclosing on his failing establishment. When Mary goes to an automat for a meal, she meets John Jr., who is working there anonymously. However, he is fired for giving Mary free food and starting a food fight. When Mary finds out he has no place to stay, she invites him to share her enormous suite while he looks for a new job. They quickly fall in love. Meanwhile, J.B.'s wife goes to Florida, he moves into the Hotel Louis, and reports of a nonexistent affair make their way into gossip columns. The hotel instantly becomes popular with the elite, and various luxury firms begin giving Mary jewelry, clothes, and a sixteen-cylinder car.

Mary's supposed connection to J.B. has disastrous consequences for the stock market. Stockbroker E.F. Hulgar asks her for inside information about steel from Mr. Ball. The only Ball the confused Mary knows is John Jr., so she consults him. He jokingly tells her it is going down, and she passes this along to Hulgar. As a result, everybody begins selling just as J.B. starts buying, causing his firm to teeter on the brink of bankruptcy. Jenny returns from Florida. When Mary, John, and J.B. finally get together and figure out what is going on, John comes up with a bright solution: Mary tells Hulgar that J.B. has cornered the market on steel. Prices shoot up, rescuing the beleaguered financier. The delighted J.B. gives his son a job, and John Jr. asks Mary to be his wife.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the economic situation in Russia and the former Eastern Europe falls into chaos. Terrorism in the region is commonplace as people fight a seemingly endless stream of battles for supplies and other necessities. In this power vacuum though a dangerous a situation arises: the Russian mafia has begun buying up surplus military equipment with the assistance of current members of the Russian Army. During one such arms deal Rainbow forces raid the meeting grounds and recover weapons grade plutonium, tracing the missile material to an Arctic naval base. As it turns out, one boss in the Oil Mafia has been supplying arms and intel to various small-time terrorist groups whose international attacks Rainbow has had to deal with: A hostage situation at the Met in New York City, the attempted bombing of a tanker in the Sea of Japan, an airline hijacking in Brussels, and the neofascist takeover of a London TV station. But after the hijacking, an anonymous informant who has seen that this terror campaign has gone too far supplies information to Rainbow on who's behind the attacks and where his men will strike next.

A subsequent investigation reveals that the plutonium deals are part of a plan between a Russian organized crime boss named Maxim Kutkin and Azeri arms dealer Samed Vezirzade. These two men intend to use the plutonium purchased from the military to create suitcase sized nuclear weapons through the use of abandoned Russian military facilities, then distribute these weapons to terrorists on the black market. To prevent any instance of nuclear terrorism, Rainbow mobilizes against both parties, raiding the nuclear weapons production facility and intercepting two separate meetings between the mob and potential buyers with the aid of a dissident group of the Russian mob.

In the final two missions Rainbow zeros in Vezirzade's base of operations, raiding his fortress and killing him after an attempt to bring him in alive fails. In the aftermath of Vezirzade's death, Kutkin realizes that the overall plan to manufacture and sell nuclear weapons has failed, and seeks vengeance for the collapse of the arms deals. With the assistance of a small number of men loyal to him, Kutkin seizes control of a commercial nuclear power plant and threatens to shut off the cooling system for the reactors, which would result in a nuclear meltdown. To prevent a potential repeat of the Chernobyl disaster, Rainbow forces storm the plant and manage to recapture the facility intact.

In the final debriefing, Kutkin is confirmed to have been killed in the raid. His mansion in Russia is acquired by the "Russian Godfather", whose assistance had been vital during Rainbow's operations (it turns out he was the anonymous informant, and Kutkin was his own insane son-in-law). After arriving at the mansion, the Russian Godfather makes a short speech which is picked up by surveillance bugs planted during an earlier Rainbow intelligence operation. The godfather then shoots the bug, preventing any further monitoring of the mafia from the mansion.

Her sister, Caroline, and their mother have gone to France, and eventually Alicia's suspicions are confirmed that Caroline has become engaged to an artist named Charles. Charles keeps postponing the wedding. Alicia's mother dies. Due to the death of their mother and the coldness and procrastination of Charles to her, Caroline is dying. Also, Alicia tries to leave them alone to catalyse the romantic process and to avoid charming Charles. Charles catches a glimpse of Alicia, and they soon fall in love with each other. Needless to say, Alicia feels very guilty because of her incestuous feelings toward the fiancée of her sister. Alicia and Charles make a deal that Charles should marry the dying Caroline, but not tell her it wasn't a legitimate marriage. If Caroline dies, Alicia and Charles can be married. If Caroline lives and does not want to marry Charles (after they tell her it wasn't a legitimate wedding), Alicia is free to marry Charles. The third option comes to pass, so Alicia must sacrifice her love for Charles and yield to her sister marrying Charles. Caroline and Charles marry. Shortly following the wedding, Charles leaves and does not return. Four months later, Alicia informs us that Charles drowned himself. Five years later, Alicia adds a final note that Caroline married a man named Higham, who was the one who pretended to marry Caroline and Charles. Alicia ends the short story by concluding that everyone involved in deceiving her sister have now repented (Higham by love, she says). "[M]ay she be deceived no more."

During the age of the dinosaurs, a massive famine forces several herds of dinosaurs to seek an oasis known as the Great Valley. Among these, a mother in a diminished "longneck" herd gives birth to a single baby, named Littlefoot. Years later, Littlefoot encounters Cera, a "three-horn", until her father intervenes and tells her that three-horns don't play with longnecks, whereupon Littlefoot's mother describes other kinds of dinosaurs, who only associate with their own species. That night, as Littlefoot follows a "hopper", he encounters Cera again, and they play together briefly until a large "Sharptooth" attacks them. Littlefoot's mother comes to their rescue, but is mortally wounded in the process. An earthquake swallows up the Sharptooth and divides Littlefoot, Cera, and other dinosaurs from their herds; several die in the process, including Littlefoot's mother, who first gives her son some words of advice about finding the Great Valley before she dies, "Littlefoot, let your heart guide you. It whispers, so listen closely." And with those words, she succumbs to her injuries. Confused and in grief, Littlefoot meets an old "clubtail" named Rooter, who consoles him. He is then guided by his mother's voice telling him to follow the sun to the Great Valley and pass several landmarks, such as a rock formation that resembles a Longneck and the "Mountains that Burn".

Later, Littlefoot meets a "bigmouth" named Ducky and a "flyer" named Petrie, who accompany him on his journey. Cera, who is attempting to find her own kind, finds the unconscious Sharptooth inside a ravine and inadvertently wakes him up. She escapes and bumps into Littlefoot, Ducky, and Petrie; she tells them that the Sharptooth is alive and pursuing them, but Littlefoot does not believe her. As Cera describes her encounter, she accidentally flings Ducky to the direction of a lone hatching "spiketail", whom Ducky names "Spike" and inducts into the group. Seeking the Great Valley, they discover a cluster of trees, which is abruptly depleted by a herd of Longnecks. Searching for remaining growth, they discover a single leaf-bearing tree, and obtain food by stacking up atop each other and pulling it down. Cera remains aloof, but at nightfall, she and everyone else gravitate to Littlefoot's side for warmth and companionship.

The next morning, they are attacked by the Sharptooth, but they manage to escape through a tunnel that is too small for him to follow. Beyond this, they discover the landmarks mentioned by Littlefoot's mother. Before the volcanic range, a clash between Littlefoot's intention to follow his mother's directions and Cera's strong-willed insistence on going a different way results in a fight breaking out between them that causes the others to follow Cera, forcing Littlefoot to continue alone. However, when Ducky and Spike become endangered by lava and Petrie gets stuck in a tar pit, Littlefoot returns to rescue them. Cera gets ambushed by a pack of "domeheads" who are also living in the Mountains that Burn; the rest of the group pose as a tar monster, scaring away the domeheads and frightening Cera. When she realizes who it really is, Cera angrily leaves the group. It is not long, however, before it becomes clear that her pride had been wounded, as Cera is reluctant to admit that her stubbornness and selfishness nearly put others in danger. Later, while crossing a pond, Petrie overhears the Sharptooth nearby. The group devises a scheme to lure him to the pond and drown him in the deep side using a nearby boulder. During the ensuing struggle, a draft from the Sharptooth's nostrils enables Petrie to fly for the first time.

The plan nearly fails when the Sharptooth begins attacking the boulder while the group attempts to push it onto him. However, Cera, having finally overcome her sorrow, reunites with the group and headbutts the boulder, causing the Sharptooth to fall into the water below, the boulder crashing into him in the process. The Sharptooth momentarily takes Petrie down with him, seemingly to his death, but Petrie later emerges unharmed. Littlefoot, alone, follows a cloud resembling his mother, which guides him to the Great Valley. He is then joined by the others. Upon arrival, the five are reunited with their families: Petrie impresses his family with his newfound flight; Ducky introduces Spike to her family, who adopt him; Cera reunites with her father; and Littlefoot finds his grandparents. The group then rejoins at the top of a hill and embrace each other in a loving hug.

Jerry Ryan (Mitchum) is a lawyer from Nebraska who has recently separated from his wife. To get away from it all, he has moved to a shabby apartment in New York. He is struggling with the divorce, which has been filed but is not final, and takes long walks at night.

At a party, he meets Gittel Mosca (MacLaine), a struggling dancer. They instantly get along, and begin to fall in love. But the relationship is hampered by their differences in background and temperament.

Jerry gets a job with a New York law firm and prepares to take the bar examination. He helps Gittel rent a loft for a dance studio, which she rents out to other dancers. But their relationship is stormy, and Jerry has difficulty separating himself emotionally from his wife.

They prepare to move in together nevertheless, but Gittel is upset when she learns that the divorce came through and Jerry did not tell her about it. Jerry explains that even though he is divorced from his former wife on paper, they remain bonded in many ways. He and Gittel decide he needs to return to Nebraska.

Opening Scene

When the player begins the game, they see a coastline in Forget-Me-Not valley. Takakura, an old man who used to be the protagonist's father's best friend, is speaking (or thinking) to his father, stating: "He wasn't unhappy. But he didn't seem to have a direction in life. One day, I went to see him. I told him about the farm you left to him. Your son didn't seem to know much about farming, but he was willing to give it a try. So I brought him to Forget-Me-Not-Valley.". The protagonist is then seen walking down the village with Takakura, and he explains how he and the protagonist's father owned the farm. He then shows the protagonist the barn, the tool shed, the chicken coop, the food storage, the protagonist's house, and his house. Soon, two dogs will appear and the protagonist chooses one to keep while Takakura attempts to find an owner for the other one. Takakura agrees to show the protagonist around the valley and introduce him to the villagers: Tim, the owner of the Inner Inn, his wife Ruby, and their son Rock; Nami, a girl staying at the Inner Inn, Wally, his wife Chris, and their son Hugh; Galen and his wife Nina; Griffin, the owner of the Blue Bar and his daughter Muffy; Romana, her granddaughter Lumina, and their butler Sebastian; Vesta, a farmer, her brother Marlin, and their helper Celia; Kassey and Patrick, twins who create fireworks; Cody, an artist; Daryl, a scientist; Gustafa, a musician; and Carter, a scholar, and his assistant Flora. Celia, Nami, and Muffy are the eligible bachelorettes (in ''Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life Special Edition'', Lumina is also a bachelorette). Additional characters include a doctor named Hardy, a salesman named Van, and a homeless guy named Murray. Afterwards, the protagonist meets the Harvest Sprites: Nic, Nak, and Flak.

Story

;The Beginning In this chapter, lasting a year, the protagonist begins in his house at 5 AM. The player is now in control of the game, and starts with a cow, a milker, two records, a hoe, a sickle, a watering can, two tomato seeds, and 3000G. The Lodger in the food storage can be used to purchase more tools, animals, and buildings, or to sell animals. Sometime in this chapter, the protagonist will receive a horse from Takakura for free if he is befriended and a rare blue feather from the Harvest Sprites, which can be used to propose to one of the bachelorettes at the very end of the year. The Seed Maker may be obtained either by befriending Daryl or purchasing it using the Lodger. The protagonist may have a chance to meet Mukumuku, a creature that only appears in the winter. Throughout the story, Daryl attempts to capture Mukumuku, but is constantly thwarted by Murray and potentially Van. There are also side quests to do such as unearthing things at the dig site (if you find any tablets, then Carter gets to keep them) and giving Murray the money he needs to go home. If Murray is given enough money, he will reward you. The protagonist must marry in this chapter, or he must leave the town and lead to the game's end. Celia will propose to the protagonist should he not successfully woo any of the bachelorettes. Refusing this proposal will also cause the game to end.

;Happy Birthday In this chapter, lasting two years, the protagonist has a son whose personality depends on his mother. The protagonist's house will now have a kitchen and dining room, and will also gain a refrigerator and two bathrooms. The main room now has an additional bed and a toy box. Starting from this chapter, the protagonist may receive a cat from Romana if she is befriended, the toddler can be picked up and played with, a sentient plant named Tartan may be acquired if Takakura is befriended, an alarm clock may be obtained from Grant, and ducks may show up at the protagonist's farm if a pond is owned. The dig site also gets bigger. Some characters' appearance has changed and new people (consisting of Kate, Grant, Samantha, and Dr. Hardy) move in. An additional house is now in the village. If the protagonist does not marry Nami, she will leave town. Van now sells toys and a goat (which also comes with a milker), which may only be purchased in spring. Galen has moved, and now lives in a shack on hill beside Vesta's farm. Nina has died of natural causes and her grave is beside Galen's shack. Dr. Hardy now lives in Galen's old house. Hugh's appearance has changed. Failing your married life will result in a divorce, which will cause the game to end.

This chapter was renamed to "A Birth" in ''Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life Special Edition'' and the protagonist's child may be a daughter instead of a son.

;Happy Harvesting In this chapter, lasting three years, the protagonist's son has grown into a seven or eight-year-old and can no longer be picked up and played with. Hugh and Lumina's appearance have changed again and the protagonist's house and dig site have expanded. The son's future career may be swayed by befriending villagers with similar careers. Befriending people will also allow the protagonist to obtain tools or items from them. Nami returns in this chapter (if the protagonist does not marry her). The protagonist can also buy a sentient teddy bear named Daa-chan from Van, who may be seen trying to steal food from the refrigerator or spending time with the son.

;Happy Farm Life In this chapter, lasting two years, the protagonist's son is a teenager and wants to be independent. The protagonist has aged, as have most people in the valley. His house is now even bigger. The son's career cannot be changed now without confusing him. The ruins have grown even larger, so you can dig a lot and make a good profit. The protagonist can also buy a flower pot from Van. If the protagonist befriends Cody, he may receive a sculpture from him starting from this chapter.

;To The Journey In this chapter, lasting one year, the protagonist's son is now a young adult, and his wife has aged. The son's actions mirror the protagonist's from chapter one, such as harvesting and looking for a spouse. The ruins are even bigger. There is no possible way for the son's career choice to be changed now.

;The Twilight In this chapter, lasting one year, the protagonist and other villagers have aged again. The protagonist's son is now certain of his career and can no longer be swayed. The game ends with the protagonist's death and Takakura thinking to his father about how Forget-Me-Not Valley fares after the protagonist's death.

;Heaven Chapter The heaven chapter can only be played in ''Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life Special Edition''. In this chapter, the player may play at any pace or chapter they wish. The protagonist gets his wife and son back, along with his money, animals, and crops.

Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life

This story is exactly the same as ''Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life'', but with a few differences: the protagonist is female instead of male and the bachelors are Rock, Marlin, and Gustafa.

Windrush chats with his father at the Sunnyglades Nudist Camp, and is persuaded to seek a job as a business executive: he interviews at the "Detto" company making washing detergent and making a very unfavourable impression fails to get the job. He then interviews at "Num-Yum" a factory making processed cakes. Although it tastes good the process for making the cakes is very disturbing. An excess of samples causes him to be sick into a large mixing bowl of the product. Again he fails to get the job. The recruitment agent tells Windrush by letter that after getting 11 interviews in 10 days and making a singularly unimpressive impression that industry isn't for him.

His uncle, Bertram Tracepurcel and his old army comrade, Sidney DeVere Cox, persuade Windrush to take an unskilled blue-collar job at Tracepurcel's missile factory, Missiles Ltd. At first suspicious of Windrush as an over-eager newcomer, communist shop steward Fred Kite asks that Stanley be sacked for not having a union card. However, after a period of work-to-rule, he takes Stanley under his wing and even offers to take him in as a lodger. When Kite's daughter Cynthia drops by, Stanley readily accepts.

Meanwhile, personnel manager Major Hitchcock is assigned a time and motion study expert, Waters, to measure how efficient the employees are. The workers refuse to cooperate but Waters tricks Windrush into showing him how much more quickly he can do his job with his forklift truck than other more experienced employees. When Kite is informed of the results, he calls a strike to protect the rates his union workers are being paid. This is what Cox and Tracepurcel want: Cox owns a company that can take over a large new contract with a Middle Eastern country at an inflated cost. He, Tracepurcel and a Mr Mohammed, the country's representative, would each pocket a third of the £100,000 difference (£ million today). The excuse to the foreign government is that a faster contract costs more.

The union meet and decide to punish Windrush by "sending him to Coventry" and he is informed of this in writing. Stanley's rich aunt visits the Kite household where she is met by Mrs Kite with some sympathy.

Things don't work out for either side. Cox arrives at his factory, Union Jack Foundries, to find that his workers are walking out in a sympathy strike. The press reports that Kite is punishing Windrush for working hard. When Windrush decides to cross the picket line and go back to work (and reveals his connection with the company's owner), Kite asks him to leave his house. This provokes the adoring Cynthia and her mother to go on strike. More strikes spring up, bringing the country to a standstill.

Faced with these new developments, Tracepurcel has no choice but to send Hitchcock to negotiate with Kite. They reach an agreement but Windrush has made both sides look bad and has to go.

Cox tries to bribe Windrush with a bagful of money to resign but Windrush turns him down. On a televised discussion programme ("Argument") hosted by Malcolm Muggeridge, Windrush reveals to the nation the underhanded motivations of all concerned. When he throws Cox's bribe money into the air, the studio audience riots.

In the end, Windrush is accused of causing a disturbance and bound over to keep the peace for 12 months. He is last seen with his father relaxing at a nudist colony, only to have to flee from the female residents' attentions. Unlike in the opening scene, this time he is naked.

On June 6, 1944, Sergeant Matt Baker participates in the initial jump off, taking place hours before the Normandy Landings. When their plane is hit by anti-aircraft fire, Baker is thrown from the plane and separated from his squad. After landing, Baker eventually manages to regroup with 1st Sergeant Mac Hassey, radioman Private First Class Leggett and Lieutenant Colonel Cole. Though off course, Mac leads Baker and Leggett in destroying several Flak 38 anti-aircraft guns with explosives. By morning, more of the squad has managed to find one another, including Corporal Joseph "Red" Hartsock, who Mac delegates to Baker to clear an important road leading to Utah Beach. After fighting their way through the German lines, Baker and Hartsock link up with squadmates Allen and Garnett, and the four paratroopers defend against a counterattack from the beach and succeed in securing an exit for the 4th Infantry Division.

With the beachhead secure, Baker, Hartsock, Allen, and Garnett are tasked to clear out "Objective XYZ", a makeshift German barracks housing scores of Germans.

After securing a landing field for Glider Infantry reinforcements, the 502nd is then tasked with clearing the town of Vierville on D-Day+1, with assistance from an M5 Stuart light tank whose commander happens to be Baker's best friend, Sergeant George Risner. Baker's squad and Risner manage to clear the town, as well as repel an armored counterattack before embarking on the tank to secure a vital crossroad near Saint-Côme-du-Mont. Although successful in breaking through the heavy German defenses, Risner's tank is ambushed and immobilized by a Panzerfaust. Risner dies as he provides cover for Baker and his squad.

On D-Day+2, Baker and the regrouped 502nd assault Saint-Côme-du-Mont. Mac instructs Baker to first clear out a German machine gun nest which has been making transit in the area risky for the troops. Baker and his squad succeed in doing so and are then tasked with retaking the town from the occupying Fallschirmjäger forces. The next day, Baker learns from Leggett that Allen and Garnett died after securing a barn. Baker's team then fights through the stragglers from Vierville to destroy a bridge that could be used to transport German armor towards the beaches. With an M4 Sherman tank in support, Baker manages to fight his way through enemy lines and destroy the bridge.

On D-Day+4, Baker links up with Cole to secure a causeway leading to Carentan, a crossroad town linking Utah and Omaha beaches. Stuka bombers, however, attack the causeway, knocking Baker unconscious for a day and killing one of his men. Once Baker recovers the next day, Lt. Col. Cole leads an attack on a heavily defended German farmhouse, using smoke barrages to conceal themselves from the numerous machine gun emplacements. After taking the farmhouse, the 502nd then repels a German counterattack.

The following day, Baker and the 502nd push into Carentan, destroying German armor and making steady progress. The town is liberated, but Baker's squad loses more men and barely holds the town when the Germans attempt to retake it with tank support. After this, the 101st Airborne Division moves slightly out of Carentan before being struck by a massive German counterattack. Baker's men fight their way through German armor and infantry as they make their way to the main defensive positions. Upon arriving, however, Baker is quickly knocked unconscious in the fierce action, and witnesses Leggett's death; when he awakes, Mac sends him off the line alone to find nearby American armored reinforcements from the 2nd Armored Division. Baker successfully finds two tanks and helps drive off the German attackers, saving the remaining paratroopers.

The exhausted paratroopers are sent back to Carentan, where Mac congratulates them for their efforts. Mac announces Hartsock's promotion to Sergeant, appointing him in command of another squad, and that a "Colonel Marshall" is waiting to interview them on their experiences. Mac, however, then privately tells Baker that "this isn't over" and welcomes him to "the end of the beginning" as Carentan suddenly comes under bombardment, and the squad charges once again into action.

The story takes place on the rapidly advancing frontier of New York State and features an elderly Leatherstocking (Natty Bumppo), Judge Marmaduke Temple of Templeton (whose life parallels that of the author's father Judge William Cooper), and Elizabeth Temple (based on the author's sister, Hannah Cooper), daughter of the fictional Templeton. The story begins with an argument between the judge and Leatherstocking over who killed a buck.

Through their discussion, Cooper reviews many of the changes to New York's Lake Otsego and its area: questions of environmental stewardship, conservation, and use prevail. Leatherstocking and his closest friend, the Mohican Indian Chingachgook, begin to compete with the Temples for the loyalties of a mysterious young visitor, a "young hunter" known as Oliver Edwards. The latter eventually marries Elizabeth Temple. Chingachgook dies, representing European-American fears for the race of "dying Indians", who appear to be displaced by settlers. Natty vanishes into the sunset.

In the Land of Oz, a minister's wife, Melena Thropp, is raped by a mysterious stranger, who drugs her with a potion from a green bottle. Nine months later, Melena gives birth to a daughter, Elphaba. Elphaba has green skin, sharp teeth, a savage demeanor, and a fear of water. The story details Elphaba's difficult childhood and rivalry with her sister Nessarose before flashing forward 16 years to show Elphaba arriving at boarding school in the city of Shiz.

Elphaba meets her roommate, the social climber Galinda, and the two do not get along initially. Elphaba is far more interested in the cause of Animal rights. (In Oz, sentient Animals are distinguished by the capital letter and hold civil rights equal to humans.) Her biology professor Doctor Dillamond, himself a Goat, informs the class that, under the reign of the Wizard of Oz, Animals are being discriminated against. Elphaba develops a deep passion for Dillamond's movement and Dillamond becomes a mentor for her.

Dillamond is killed on the orders of Madame Morrible, headmistress of the women's college and a puppet of the Wizard. Galinda adopts Dillamond's mispronunciation of her name, Glinda, to memorialize him and throws herself into her studies. Through Madame Morrible's manipulation, Glinda decides to study Sorcery. Elphaba and Glinda travel to the Emerald City, where they meet the Wizard and plead the case of the Animals. The Wizard dismisses their concerns and Elphaba decides to take matters into her own hands.

Five years later, Elphaba reconnects with former schoolmate Fiyero, now a Prince with three children, and the two begin an illicit affair. When Elphaba attempts to assassinate Madame Morrible, Fiyero is arrested by the Wizard's secret police force, taken away, and assumed murdered. In her grief, Elphaba falls into a coma which lasts for almost a year.

Elphaba goes to the Vinkus, where Fiyero was prince, and meets his wife and children at the castle Kiamo Ko. She brings along a boy named Liir. While she claims no relation to Liir, it is strongly hinted that he is her child by Fiyero. While staying at the castle, Elphaba begins to study a mysterious book of spells called a 'Grimmerie.' She is the only Ozian able to read its language.

Elphaba gets a letter from her father Frex, asking her to come help him with Nessarose, who has taken Elphaba's position as ruler of Munchkinland. When she arrives, she discovers Nessarose has become a witch. Nessarose promises to give Elphaba her enchanted silver shoes after she dies. When she returns to Kiamo Ko, she finds the Wizard's troops have taken Fiyero's family prisoner.

Seven years later, a storm visits Munchkinland, dropping a farmhouse on Nessarose and killing her. The farmhouse's passengers are a little girl named Dorothy Gale and her dog, Toto. Glinda sends Dorothy off with Nessarose's shoes for fear of their power igniting a civil war in Munchkinland. Elphaba becomes furious with Glinda, as the shoes were rightfully hers. She goes to the Wizard to bargain for the release of Nor, the last survivor of Fiyero's family, but the Wizard refuses to make any agreements.

Some time after returning to Kiamo Ko, Elphaba finds out that Dorothy and a few friends are heading there to kill her under the Wizard's orders. When Dorothy arrives, she tells Elphaba that while the Wizard sent her to kill the witch, Dorothy came to apologize for killing her sister. Furious that Dorothy is asking for the forgiveness she herself has been denied, Elphaba waves her burning broom in the air and inadvertently sets her skirt on fire. Dorothy throws a bucket of water on her to save her. Instead the water kills her, melting her away to nothing but a puddle.

Dorothy returns to the Wizard with the green potion bottle. He recognizes the bottle as the potion that he used to drug Elphaba's mother Melena, showing that the Wizard is Elphaba's father. The Wizard departs the Emerald City mere hours before a coup would have overthrown and killed him. The book ends with political chaos reigning over most of Oz.

In an editor's note at the beginning of the book, Vonnegut claims to have found hundreds of scraps of paper of varying sizes, from wrapping paper to business cards, sequentially numbered by their author to form a narrative. The breaks between pieces of paper often signal a sort of ironic "punchline".

The main character is Eugene Debs Hartke, a Vietnam War veteran and carillonneur who realizes that he has killed exactly as many people as the number of women he has had sex with. The character's name is an homage to American labor and political leader Eugene V. Debs and anti-war senator Vance Hartke, both from Vonnegut's home state, Indiana. Upon his discharge from the military, Hartke becomes a professor at Tarkington College in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, but is later fired for sexual misconduct.

Hartke then becomes a teacher at a private prison in the nearby town of Scipio. The prison is run by a Japanese corporation and overseen by Hartke's occasional acquaintance, Hiroshi Matsumoto. The prison is populated entirely by black inmates, America having been resegregated by both race and class. Hartke sets about teaching the inmates how to read.

After a massive prison break, the escaped inmates occupy Tarkington College and take the staff hostage. With the old prison destroyed in the breakout, Tarkington becomes a prison with Hartke as its warden. When it becomes known that the breakout was led by one of his former students, Hartke is accused of collaboration and becomes an inmate himself.

The novel's main character, Rudy Waltz, or "Deadeye Dick", commits accidental manslaughter as a child when he shoots a gun out of a window and fatally strikes a pregnant woman. Rudy was so traumatized and guilt-ridden by the incident that he lives life as an asexual "neuter," neither homosexual nor heterosexual. He tells the story of his life as a middle-aged expatriate hotel manager in Haiti, which symbolizes New York City, until the end, when the stream of time of the story catches up with him. At this point, he confronts an event that has been suggested and referred to throughout the novel. The generic Midwestern town of Midland City, Ohio, in which Rudy was raised, is virtually destroyed by a neutron bomb, all the people in the town dying. At the ending of the book, it appears that Rudy, while he may not have fully come to terms with his actions, has at least come to live with them.

Another key theme throughout the book is the relationship between Waltz and his parents and brother, Felix. His father, as a young man, lived in Austria and was one of the few people who was actually friends with Adolf Hitler before his rise to power. His father is also a failed artist, who does his best to protect Rudy, to the point when he insists on going to jail just to effectively make a point. Rudy's brother was the president of NBC, who is fired after his fourth marriage breaks up.

A dog-faced prospector drives to the hills to dig for gold. A local gas station attendant warns him that he is wasting his time, then goes on to tell the story of his own fruitless chase for gold; since 1849, he pursued strikes around the world and never had any success. The cartoon shows the attendant's various stops including the California Gold Rush, the Comstock Lode, and various other efforts globally that never (literally) pan out. Then, as the attendant finishes his story, a fellow rides up with news that there has indeed been gold found in the hills. The attendant steals the prospector's car to chase this rush, telling him he can have the gas station.

Included in the film is a short, farcical musical number, “My Sweetheart Needs Gold for Her Teeth."

Electro wakes up from his three week coma and goes on a rampage before being confronted by Captain America, Iron Man, and Black Widow. After appearing on TV, Kraven the Hunter and his lawyer are confronted by Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Wasp, and Hawkeye to question him about his "enhancements". Hawkeye prevents Kraven from running off while Wasp disables the camera run by Kraven the Hunter's camera operator. The Ultimates detain the two villains in a maximum-security S.H.I.E.L.D. superhuman prison beneath the Triskelion along with Sandman, Doctor Octopus, and Green Goblin. As Hank Pym tries to get information from them during his interrogation on them, Nick Fury informs the five captives that they are detained because they have illegally altered their genetic code. Sharon Carter is having Kraven taken to his cell where he briefly assumes his gruesome and animalistic appearance that included a near lion-like snout with fangs in them, claws, big hands, and big feet before his inhibitor collar activates. Osborn is convinced that "There will be six" prisoners.

Pym continues his interrogation on the criminal. Osborn starts to turn into Green Goblin as Pym grows big to subdue him. Six weeks later, Pym gives a status report on his interrogation to Nick Fury and the rest of the Ultimates. Otto Octavius wants to cooperate with his captors and is granted access to a laboratory, where his metal tentacles are held. He wills his tentacles to attack and then shuts down the prison's power, releasing the others.

Iron Man investigates the ruins where he finds Pym injured and unconscious under some rubble which does not bode well for Wasp who goes to meet up with Iron Man. Nick Fury immediately sends agents to collect Peter Parker just in case Osborn goes after him. Fury introduces him to the Ultimates, who do not believe that Spider-Man is a teenager and reminds them that he has defeated all five escapees on his own. From a secret retreat, Norman Osborn places a call to Chief of Staff Stone in regard to Nick Fury.

Norman Osborn and his fellow villains take refuge in Kingpin's house in The Hamptons. The President chews out Nick Fury in regard to the call from Osborn who blackmails the government or he would publicize his treatment at the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury dispatches the Ultimates. After Doctor Octopus hacks into the Triskelion, the five escapees then attack the Triskelion. Nick Fury asks for the status of Bruce Banner and Magneto. A S.H.I.E.L.D. agent states that Magneto is still locked up.

S.H.I.E.L.D. takes Spider-Man's Aunt May into protective custody while Fury and the Ultimates pick up the pieces at the Triskelion. Nick Fury is informed by Iron Man that Banner fell asleep after reading some magazines where he'll be awake in three days and that Magneto nearly suffocated when his oxygen supply was cut off during the blackout until the back-up systems for it kicked in. The escaped villains have abducted Peter Parker who was in costume and unmasked. They tie him to a chair as Kraven assumes his animalistic form and attacks Peter for costing him his TV show and causing his wife to leave him. Otto subdues Kraven and Osborn humiliates Peter by recounting the accident that created him as he claims that he and Otto were Peter's parents in a way while calling him "my boy". Osborn then tells Peter that they will attack the White House and he wants Peter to join them. Peter refuses and breaks free. Osborn then threatens Aunt May and Mary Jane if Peter does not join them. The six attack the White House, but a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier arrives on the scene.

The six and the Ultimates battle it out on the White House lawn. Captain America tells Parker that his aunt is safe and he turns on the Green Goblin. Iron Man defeats Sandman, Wasp defeats Doctor Octopus, and Thor defeats Electro and Kraven. Goblin attacks Captain America when his son Harry appears on the lawn asking him to stop.

While Harry talks to his father, the Ultimates bring him down. Harry tells Peter that he will kill all of them for what they did to his father. All villains are detained again and Peter Parker is reunited with his Aunt. Electro claims that he was biding his time to attack Osborn, Kraven is strapped to the bed claiming that either Doctor Octopus and Green Goblin mind-controlled him, Sandman is placed in different jars, and Doctor Octopus is told that his tentacles are in a different facility. A doctor tells Wasp the status of her husband and to inform Nick Fury of when Pym wakes from his coma. With Norman Osborn in a cryogenic chamber with half of his face in Green Goblin form, Captain America and Nick Fury talk about how the next war will be a genetic war and that the people in power decide what the wars will be fought over.

Previously, the X-Men defeated Magneto and pronounced him dead. Rather than turning Magneto over to the authorities and virtually ensuring the death penalty for him, Professor X secretly brainwashed his old friend and tried to rehabilitate him. However, the Beast inadvertently leaked this plan to Magneto's Brotherhood, believing that he was chatting with an online girlfriend. The Brotherhood used this to entrap Beast and gained enough knowledge to free their leader.

Meanwhile, Iceman has left the X-Men, forced out by his worried parents after he sustained injuries in the fight against Proteus, while three more X-Men, Wolverine, Cyclops and Kitty Pryde, are on a mission to the Savage Land.

The US government is irate over Magneto's reappearance and demands explanations from Nick Fury. Fury and his Ultimates track down the Xavier Mansion, whose location was hitherto unknown, and find it empty, the X-Men having relocated. Nick Fury comes to the incorrect conclusion that the X-Men have joined forces with Magneto to fight mankind.

In preparing to battle the X-Men, Captain America reveals he knows more about Wolverine; they fought together in World War II, when Logan went under the name James "Lucky Jim" Howlett. The X-Men's plane returns, with only Logan and Kitty on board. Wolverine claims Cyclops has died heroically in the Savage Land. The truth, which Jean later learns, is that Wolverine tried to kill Cyclops and left him for dead so as to be with Jean.

Charles Xavier meets with Magneto to negotiate a truce, intending to use the meeting as a diversion to allow Wolverine to track down Magneto's base. Magneto anticipates Xavier's double-cross, tracks down the X-Men's new base in turn, and anonymously tips off their whereabouts to the Ultimates. The Ultimates track down the X-Men and have an all-out fight.

The Ultimates nearly defeat the X-Men, who are only saved by the timely return of Iceman. All of the X-Men escape except Charles Xavier, who stays behind to delay the Ultimates and is captured by Nick Fury.

In the mid-1920s in a small rural town in the "southernmost section of the Midwest," a man, Jeff Myrtlebank, returns to life at his own funeral, causing the grievers to flee the church. The townspeople believe that the man must be possessed by a haint (country people's pronunciation of haunt, meaning a ghost or demon), even though the town doctor declares it was more than likely a medical condition that imitated death; his heart stopped days prior after fighting influenza. Jeff seems normal enough, yet he has changed: he has suddenly become a hard worker with exceptional strength, yet consistently eats less since his return.

The townsfolk and doctor discuss it further, where the doctor reveals that Jeff's heart had completely stopped, and that he neither reacted to a pinprick nor fogged a mirror with his breath. Everyone seems as interested in what transpired during the days Jeff was dead as in how he came back to life.

When he goes to visit his girlfriend Comfort, he takes a bouquet of roses, but they are all dead by the time he gives them to her. Afraid, Comfort will not let him touch her after she sees them. As he leaves, her older brother confronts him and tells him to never come back, and they fight. Jeff defeats him readily, punching him in his jaw. This is the first time that Jeff has ever done so, after losing many past fights, and that gains Comfort's sympathy.

After the fight, the townsfolk gather and start saying they need to take care of this evil amongst them. Comfort races off to warn Jeff and to avow her love for him. He proposes to her, but before she can respond to his proposal, angry townspeople arrive to confront the demon they believe is possessing Jeff. They demand that he leave. He insists that Comfort answer his proposal first, and she tells him yes, and that she is willing to go anywhere to be with him. Jeff then makes an inspired speech in which he tells them that they are wrong and have nothing to fear from him. He also slyly threatens that if they are right, it might be in their best interests to be nice to him. They nervously accept the wisdom of this, and promise to attend Jeff and Comfort's wedding.

After the mob disperses, Comfort asks Jeff if he could really do the things he threatened them with, to which he replies that he was lying. As he speaks, he pulls out a pipe and a match, which lights by itself. When Comfort asks how he lit the match, he laughs and claims she is imagining things. He puts his arm around her shoulders to take her inside. As they walk toward the house, the fence gate closes behind them on its own.

Eliot Ballade is on vacation off the coast of Dinosaur Island with his friend Tim fishing on a boat. While preparing for a Christmas party on the boat, a meteorite crashes into the island and sends a large barrier out which cuts Eliot's boat in half leaving him inside of the barrier. Just then a mysterious light approaches and takes the form of Tim's good luck charm "Nephilim", shortly afterward several creatures storm toward the boat and destroy it. Eliot swims to shore. On shore, Eliot is assisted by Nephilim and meets Dogs Bower, an original discoverer of the island and a local sea captain. The two team up as they explore the island and confront the monsters and mutations that have taken it over.

Saved by a woman named Janine King, the duo head to the control center of KIMRAs base. There, they meet Janine formally and discuss what to do. Dogs suggests heading into town to find survivors and to head to Rats Bar for more information. With no better plan, the two set off. Conquering the various monsters while exploring a shopping center, freezer, and saving several others the duo eventually arrive at Rats Bar. Meeting Rats, the owner, he gives the duo a Lab Keycard he was holding as collateral. The duo reconvene inside the control center and discuss with Janine what their next plan of action is. Janine attempts to use the keycard to gain access to the secure information inside the computer. However, there is not enough power, and suggests heading to the power station.

Inside the power station, the duo turn the power on after defeating several mutated beetles that were absorbing the power. The duo head back to the control room and Janine uses the keycard to access information involving the "Gigadent". However, most of the information is blocked and can only be accessed inside of the KIMRA labs. Using a jeep, the duo gain access to the labs and enter after crossing through a clean room. After fighting a large gelatinous blob, Eliot accidentally swallows monster vomit and begins to change into a mutant. Dogs assures Eliot he will take care of him. Meeting a doctor, the two eventually meet Dr. Jacob, the lead scientist on the "Gigadent". Already mutated, Eliot kills Jacob and takes his disk. Realizing that the mutation is from a virus KIMRA discovered on the island, the duo make a vaccine to cure Eliot and escape the labs.

Back in the control center, Janine uses the disk from Dr. Jacob to gather more information. The meteor that hit Earth 65 million years ago was actually an egg. Inside the egg is a large dinosaur-like monster that the scientists dubbed "Jascony". The virus and subsequent mutations it caused were side effects to allow "Jascony" to easier absorb the planet and move onto the next. Nephilim is actually revealed to be the spirit of the meteorite that hit the Gigadent in order to destroy Jascony, and the meteor is jammed inside a ventilation shaft within Gigadent. Janine concocts a plan to use the top of a wave tower as a sniping position to unlock the ventilation shaft. She sends Eliot and Dogs to her apartment to get her rifle.

At the apartment, Eliot learns that Dogs is Janine's father, her mother having died of a disease years earlier. Getting the rifle, the duo heads back to the control room. Eliot leaves Dogs and Janine alone where the two have a reconciliation. With the plan set, the group begins to head to the wave tower. Eliot arrives at the tower and climbs the wreckage as the elevator is stuck with Janine and Dogs inside. Janine begins to line up her shot, and asks the duo to protect her while she sets up. After a rough battle with a seeming never ending wave of monsters, Janine shoots the release. Nephilim flies back into the meteor as Jascony wakes up. The meteor pierces Jascony and Nephilim evolves into a similar monster to battle Jascony but loses. The group flees the tower while the two battle, and after arriving on the ground come face to face with Jascony. Utilizing every weapon in their arsenal, Eliot and Dogs manage to defeat Jascony. Nephilim absorbs Jascony, and after a brief moment flies away from Earth. As the barrier around the island fades, Eliot wonders if he will see Nephilim again, while Dogs assures he most likely will not and the trio leave together. Tim is revealed to be alive while floating on debris. He recognizes Nephilim before she flies away.

An after credits scene shows Nephilim in an unknown part of space and transforming into a meteor. Nephilim's meteor is surrounded by more stingers, indicating that these events have been an ongoing cycle.

In this short, the rotund early-1940s version of Elmer Fudd is portrayed as a Mountie, earnestly attempting to arrest Bugs Bunny, who is, according to several posters attached to forest trees, wanted dead or alive (preferably dead). After following the rabbit tracks to a burrow, Elmer tries to lure Bugs out with a carrot; this works, at least with Bugs' hand, and Elmer initially succeeds in getting a handcuff around the rabbit's wrist. Somehow, though, Bugs works his arm free of the cuff – out of sight in his burrow – and attaches a bomb in its place. Elmer, attached to the bomb via the other handcuff, panics when he pulls it from the burrow. He frantically searches for his keys, only to find that Bugs has them and, leaning against a nearby tree, is nonchalantly twirling them around his finger while munching a carrot. He then deliberately takes his time going through each and every key, and does not find the correct one until the moment the bomb explodes offscreen. Elmer, who remains completely unharmed, tells Bugs that he has been found guilty of committing a litany of crimes. The crimes (corrected here for Elmer's rounded-l-and-r speech) are listed below:

"Resisting an officer, assault and battery, trespassing, disturbing the peace, miscellaneous misdemeanors, public nuisance, traffic violations, going through a boulevard stop, jaywalking, triple parking, conduct unbecoming to a rabbit", and (once again) "violating traffic regulations."

As Elmer reads, Bugs takes his Mountie hat and impersonates a superior officer: "Attention! Why, look at you! You call yourself a Mountie! You're a disgrace to the regiment! I'm gonna drum you out of the service!" He then tears off Elmer's uniform, revealing a tightened corset and polka-dot undershorts.

When Elmer realizes he's been tricked, he begins to give chase - after pausing to put his miraculously refurbished uniform back on. The chase eventually involves a path beneath the snow, which ends abruptly when Elmer runs into a pine tree. The impact causes all the snow to fall off the tree, which reveals Christmas decorations, and Elmer emerges from underneath with snow on his face that gives him a Santa Claus appearance. The song ''Jingle Bells'' plays in the background, and Bugs says to the astonished Elmer, "Merry Christmas, Santy!" and burrows his way out of Elmer's path.

Elmer rediscovers Bugs's footprints and follows them; he finds Bugs taunting a snow effigy of Elmer the Mountie. Bugs announces he is going to punch it square in the nose, saying Elmer can't catch ''him'', let alone catch a ''cold''. Elmer has crept up behind Bugs and is tapping his foot, waiting to catch the rabbit by surprise. However, as Bugs finishes his wind-up for the punch, he turns around at the last moment and slugs the real Elmer square in the nose, propelling him backward into an ice-wall and revealing a heart with an arrow through it. Bugs again burrows away.

After some more hijinks and another failed chase, a weeping Elmer gives up and labels himself as a "disgwace to the wegiment" for failing to catch the rabbit (alluding to Bugs' earlier statement), at which point Bugs willingly turns himself in. At headquarters, Bugs is blindfolded and sentenced to death by firing squad (despite the fact that most of his alleged crimes were essentially misdemeanors). As the firing squad prepares to execute Bugs, Elmer tells him that he can make one last wish, which prompts Bugs to say, "I wish, I wish," and to break into the song "Dixie". The scene then, in a ''non sequitur'', transitions into a minstrel show in the south (a commonly censored scene on televised airings of this short), where Elmer, Bugs and the firing squad, now all in blackface, perform the chorus of "Camptown Races", with Bugs on banjo and Elmer on tambourine, to which Bugs asks the audience, "Fantastic, isn't it?"

The story, loosely based on actual events, takes place in March 1943, when the Second World War was at its height. The cryptanalysts at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, have a problem: the Nazi U-boats have changed one of their code reference books used for Enigma machine ciphers, leading to a blackout in the flow of vital naval signals intelligence. The British cryptanalysts have cracked the "Shark" cipher once before, and they need to do it again in order to keep track of U-boat locations.

The film begins with Tom Jericho returning to Bletchley after a month recovering from a nervous breakdown brought on by his failed love affair with a coworker named Claire Romilly. Jericho immediately seeks to see her again and finds that she mysteriously disappeared a few days earlier. He enlists the help of Claire's housemate, Hester Wallace, to follow the trail of clues and learn what has happened to Claire.

Mr. Jericho and Miss Wallace, as they formally address each other, work to decipher intercepts stolen by Claire and determine why she took them. Jericho is closely watched by an MI5 agent, Wigram (Jeremy Northam), who plays cat and mouse with him throughout the film. Meanwhile, U-boats are closing in on a convoy of thirty seven ships from America, giving the code-breakers less than four days to find a solution to reading the changed Shark cipher.

But someone else at Bletchley has a personal interest in the stolen intercepts, and may be responsible for Claire's disappearance.

Captain Charles W. Morgan (William Walcott) is a well-respected businessman who owns a fleet of whaling ships in the Quaker town of New Bedford, Massachusetts. He is very close to his shy, obedient daughter, Patience (Marguerite Courtot), and tells her that she must marry a man who is a whaler and a Quaker, like him. His son and daughter-in-law were lost ten years before while on a whaling expedition; eventually, their baby, his granddaughter Dot (Clara Bow), was found floating near shore on a raft made of branches. He has raised her ever since. Dot is a mischievous, rebellious child, who wants to be a whaler when she grows up, an ambition that is not acceptable for a female among her people.

One day, a childhood friend of Patience's, Allan Dexter (Raymond McKee) arrives in town, recently back from college. He and Patience renew their acquaintance and fall in love. He goes to ask Captain Morgan for permission to marry Patience, but Captain Morgan turns him out of the house, informing him that he is not a suitable husband for her because he is neither a Quaker nor a whaler.

Meanwhile, Samuel Siggs (J. Thornton Baston), an effeminate Chinese man masquerading as a white man, connives to steal Captain Morgan's ships to transport African gold. He dresses up as a Quaker and acquires a position of authority in Morgan's business by pretending to be an experienced whaler. After spying Morgan's pretty daughter Patience, he also plans to finagle his way into marrying her. Learning of Dexter's love for her, he has his fellow con artist Jake Finner (Patrick Hartigan), "fearless, lawless and godless", drug the young man's drink and has him kidnapped, tied up, and placed on the next outgoing whaling vessel, hoping never to see him again. Also on the ship is Dot, who has dressed as a boy and stowed away below deck. Because of their disappearance, it is rumored that Dexter and Dot joined the Oregon Wagon Train and have gone west together.

Miles out to sea, Dexter is untied and immediately put to work. Wanting to prove himself to Morgan, he decides to put all his effort into working long hard hours to win his chance to harpoon a whale, which would make him an accomplished whalesman. Meanwhile, Jake Finner, who has killed the captain and taken over the ship, finds Dot, discovers she is a girl, and attacks her. Because he has been treating the men on board like slaves, they mutiny against Finner, appointing Dexter as captain, while Dot's friend Jimmie, the cabin boy, rescues her from Finner's clutches.

After harpooning a whale and learning why he was abducted, Dexter arranges to have the vessel return to port. Meanwhile, Captain Morgan has fallen ill, fears that he is dying, and commands Patience to marry Siggs as his last wish. She reluctantly agrees. Dexter arrives just in time to save Patience, and the lovers are reunited at the end.

In 1993, Erin Brockovich is an unemployed single mother of three children who has recently been injured in a traffic accident with a doctor and is suing him. Her lawyer, Ed Masry, expects to win, but Erin's confrontational courtroom behavior under cross-examination loses her the case, and Ed will not return her phone calls afterwards. One day, he arrives at work to find her in the office, apparently working. She says that he told her things would work out and they did not, and that she needed a job. She asks Ed for a job, which he reluctantly gives her.

Erin is given files for a real estate case where the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is offering to purchase the home of Donna Jensen, a resident of Hinkley, California. Erin is surprised to see medical records in a real estate file and visits Donna, who explains that she had simply kept all her PG&E correspondence together. Donna appreciates PG&E's help: she has had several tumors and her husband has Hodgkin's lymphoma, but PG&E has always provided a doctor at their own expense. Erin asks why they would do that, and Donna replies, "because of the chromium". Erin begins digging into the case and finds evidence that the groundwater in Hinkley is seriously contaminated with carcinogenic hexavalent chromium, while PG&E has been telling Hinkley residents that they use a safer form of chromium. After several days away from the office investigating, she finds her possessions missing from her desk. She is then informed by Brenda, Mr. Masry's secretary, that she has been fired for missing a week of work. Despite protesting that she has been out conducting research, Erin nevertheless leaves defeated.

Later, Ed visits Erin because he needs the documents she found while investigating, and she takes the chance to request her job back in return. Rehired, she continues her research, and over time, visits many Hinkley residents and gains their trust. Ed and Erin hold a barbecue in order to speak to many of the residents and explain to them what PG&E has been trying to get away with, at which point Erin is awkwardly flirted with by one of the men. Erin and Ed find numerous medical problems in Hinkley, and that virtually everyone has been treated by PG&E's doctors who have led them to believe their issues are unrelated to the "safe" chromium. The Jensens' claim for compensation ultimately becomes a major class action lawsuit. Unfortunately, Ed explains that all direct evidence is linked solely to PG&E Hinkley, rather than PG&E corporate. Until headquarters can be implicated, PG&E corporate can deny any knowledge of what's happening in Hinkley.

Knowing that PG&E could slow any settlement for years through delays and appeals, Ed decides to pursue binding arbitration rather than a trial by jury, but PG&E will only agree to arbitration if 90% of the plaintiffs agree. During a town hall meeting with the Hinkley residents, Ed goes over the plan with everyone feeling unsure. At one point, Erin spots the man who flirted with her at the barbecue. She brushes off the man's looks, as Ed struggles to explain the virtue of arbitration versus a 10–15 year battle in court. Eventually everyone in attendance agrees, and over the next several days Ed and Erin persuade all 634 plaintiffs to go along.

One night Erin stops at a bar to see one of the residents, when she unexpectedly bumps into the man she's seen at the last two Hinkley events. After some uncomfortable conversation the man reveals himself to be named Charles Embry; a former PG&E employee who in his job was ordered to "destroyed documents." Erin realizes Charles has been trying to confide in her, and finally hears his story. Charles tells Erin he and his cousin were both employees with PG&E Hinkley. Heartbroken, he tells her his cousin has just died; dying painfully from the poison he interacted with at PG&E. He goes on to explain that PG&E tasked him with destroying documents, but, "as it turns out, [he] wasn't a very good employee".

Embry gives Erin the documents, including a 1966 memo proving corporate headquarters knew the water was contaminated with hexavalent chromium, and advised PG&E Hinkley to keep this secret. The judge orders PG&E to pay a settlement amount of $333 million to be distributed among the plaintiffs, $5 million of which goes to the Jensens. Erin brings her boyfriend with her when she tells them about it, and he is happy when he understands what it was all for.

In the aftermath, Ed hands Erin her bonus payment for the case, but warns her he has changed the amount. She begins complaining loudly that she deserves more respect, but is astonished to find what he does pay her.

Five thousand years ago, an heroic Pharaoh Atem imprisoned Anubis, the Egyptian lord of the dead, after he tried to destroy the world by persuading the kings to play the mysterious Shadow Games. In the present day, Anubis' tomb is uncovered by archaeologists, amazed with his strongest and most valuable treasure: the Pyramid of Light. At the same time, Yugi Muto completed the Millennium Puzzle which contains Atem's soul releasing dozens of monsters and turns Yugi into a young clone of Atem under alas of Yami Yugi and banishes the monsters back to the shadow realm and a devastating spiritual force unleashes from the relic and liberates the Egyptian sorcerer. Anubis, now free, intends to conclude his plan.

Three years later, the Battle City Finals have recently concluded, and Yugi has achieved international fame by defeating his arch-rival Seto Kaiba and obtaining the three Egyptian God Cards: ''Slifer the Sky Dragon'', ''Obelisk the Tormentor'', and ''the Winged Dragon of Ra''. Kaiba, determined to defeat Yugi once and for all, turns to Maximillion Pegasus, the creator of the Duel Monsters card game, in order to obtain any new cards designed to defeat the almighty God Cards. Pegasus tells Kaiba that he has a card he is looking for, but will only give it to Kaiba if he can beat him in a duel. Kaiba defeats Pegasus and claims two cards, one of which was secretly planted by Anubis.

Meanwhile, Yugi and Téa Gardner after escaping the pro duelists and school principal that about to confiscate Yugi's three Egyptian God Cards go to the local museum where Anubis' corpse and the Pyramid of Light are on display. They meet up with Yugi's grandfather, Solomon, who reads a foreboding prophecy''':'''

:''The eye that sees what's yet to come'' :''Its vision shall be fulfilled'' :''Unless blinded by events predetermined'' :''Thus light and shadows both be killed'' It is then that the vengefully dark spirit of Anubis attacks the group, with Yugi having a vision of Anubis himself manipulating Kaiba and Yami Yugi being hurt in a Shadow Game. He awakens to find Anubis and the Pyramid of Light missing. Kaiba's younger brother Mokuba arrives, and Yugi is taken to Kaiba's duel dome with his friends Joey Wheeler and Tristan Taylor in pursuit. Kaiba arrogantly and ignorantly forces Yami Yugi into a duel, unaware that Anubis is manipulating him into using one of the two new cards, ''Pyramid of Light'', which covers the field in a huge replica of the actual pyramid and destroys the God Cards. Yugi, Joey and Tristan are sucked into the pyramid while Mokuba flees the crumbling building.

Yugi, Joey, and Tristan awaken within the Millennium Puzzle, finding Anubis' tomb within. Anubis reveals that his monsters will destroy the modern world. Yami Yugi and Kaiba continue their duel, each blow to their in-game Life Points draining away their physical energy. To make matters worse, Kaiba's ''Deck Destruction Virus'' sends more than half of Yami's deck to the Graveyard, leaving him with barely any cards, and attacks from his ''Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon'' and ''Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon'' (his second new card), both with 4500 Attack Points, drop Yami's Life Points to 200. Pegasus figures out what is going on and arrives in a helicopter to rescue Téa, Solomon, and Mokuba. Téa sends her soul into the Millennium Puzzle to aid Yugi, Joey and Tristan. Yugi finds the Dagger of Fate within Anubis' tomb, and uses it to destroy the all-seeing eye, as predicted by the prophecy.

When Kaiba deviates from Anubis' plan and attempts to destroy the ''Pyramid of Light'', Anubis materializes, casts him aside, and takes command of the duel. Yami, reunited with Yugi, destroys the ''Pyramid of Light'' card with ''Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon'' and then uses Kaiba's planned strategy to summon the God Cards and end the duel by destroying Anubis.

However, Anubis transforms into a monster and allows any monster to become real when summoned. This proves to be his undoing when Yugi and Yami summon ''Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon'' to beat Anubis with ease, ultimately destroying him for good. An injured Kaiba departs with Mokuba, with the promise to defeat Yugi next time they meet. Yugi thanks the spirit of Yami, and his three best friends for their strong enduring friendship which he claims makes him a true winner.

''Dream Story'' is set in early-20th-century Vienna. The protagonist of the story is Fridolin, a successful 35-year-old doctor who lives with his wife, Albertina (also translated as Albertine), and their young daughter.

One night, Albertina confesses that the previous summer, while they were on vacation in Denmark, she had a sexual fantasy about a young Danish military officer. Fridolin then admits that during that same vacation he had been attracted to a young girl on the beach. Later that night, Fridolin is called to the deathbed of an important patient. Finding the man dead, he is shocked when the man's daughter, Marianne, professes her love to him. Restless, Fridolin leaves and begins to walk the streets. Although tempted, he refuses the offer of a young prostitute named Mizzi.

He encounters his old friend, Nachtigall, who tells Fridolin that he will be playing piano at a secret high-society orgy that night. Intrigued, Fridolin procures a mask and costume and follows Nachtigall to the party at a private residence. Fridolin is shocked to find several men in masks and costumes and naked women with only masks engaged in various sexual activities. When a young woman warns him to leave, Fridolin ignores her plea and is soon exposed as an interloper. The woman then announces to the gathering that she will sacrifice herself for Fridolin, and he is allowed to leave.

Upon his return home, Albertina awakens and describes a dream she has had: While making love to the Danish officer from her sexual fantasies, she had watched without sympathy as Fridolin was tortured and crucified before her eyes. Fridolin is outraged because he believes that this proves his wife wants to betray him. He resolves to pursue his own sexual temptations.

The next day, Fridolin learns that Nachtigall has been taken away by two mysterious men. He then goes to the costume shop to return his costume and discovers that the shop-owner is prostituting his teenage daughter to various men. He finds his way back to where the orgy had taken place the previous night; before he can enter, he is handed a note addressed to him by name that warns him not to pursue the matter. Later, he visits Marianne, but she no longer expresses any interest in him. Fridolin searches for Mizzi, the prostitute, but is unable to find her. He reads that a young woman has been poisoned. Suspecting that she is the woman who sacrificed herself for him, he views the woman's corpse in the morgue but cannot identify her.

Fridolin returns home that night to find Albertina asleep, with his mask from the previous night set on the pillow on his side of the bed. When she wakes up, Fridolin confesses all of his activities. After listening quietly, Albertina comforts him. Fridolin says that it never will happen again, but Albertina tells him not to look too far into the future, and that the important thing is that they survived through their adventures.

The story ends with them greeting the new day with their daughter.

In September 1942, Rommel's Africa Korps is only 90 miles (144 km) from the Suez Canal, but running dangerously low on fuel. The British approve a plan to destroy German fuel bunkers at Tobruk in an attempt to cripple Rommel's attack.

The author of the plan, Canadian-born Major Donald Craig (Rock Hudson) of the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) had been captured by Vichy French forces and is held prisoner, along with captured Italian Army soldiers, on a ship in the port of the French city of Algiers. As his expertise is considered essential to the success of the raid, Craig is rescued by Captain Kurt Bergman (George Peppard) of the Special Identification Group (SIG) and some of his men, German Jews serving with the British. They then join up with commandos of the Long Range Desert Group, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel John Harker (Nigel Green), at Kufra in southeastern Libya.

Colonel Harker explains they have eight days to get to Tobruk and destroy the fuel depot and German fortress artillery pieces protecting the harbour, before a scheduled amphibious landing and a bombing raid on the city by the Royal Air Force (RAF). They are to drive there through enemy territory posing as prisoners of war escorted by the SIG pretending to be guards. Once they reach Tobruk they would then link up with a full British naval and RAF assault on the city and their primary objective, Rommel's underground fuel bunkers.

Craig is highly skeptical of the operation, claiming that "Staff has a genius for sitting on its brains and coming up with perfect hindsight", stating that "When I submitted the plan we could have blown up the fuel bunkers with a handful of men. How in hell are we supposed to get through their defenses now?" While warning Craig not to let personal differences of opinion interfere with the operation, Colonel Harker also reveals that he was the genius with perfect hindsight who convinced Staff to approve Craig's original plan which would now be "maximum effort, land, sea and air".

On the way, they encounter a patrol of Italian tanks, which stops a short distance from where they are resting in a gully. Later that night, Sergeant Major Jack Tyne (Jack Watson) spots a tank column approaching from the opposite direction. After Bergman and three of his men kill the Italian sentries, Colonel Harker, surmising that the approaching column "must be German -- the Italians are too fond of comfort to travel this late", tricks the two units into attacking each other by firing mortars, first at the Germans and then the Italians, enabling the raiders to sneak away.

To avoid detection the next day, Craig safely guides them through a German mine field, before they are attacked by a British Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter. They manage to shoot it down, but eight men are killed and one troop transport truck, their auxiliary fuel supply, and both of their radios are destroyed. The fighting attracts Tuareg tribesmen, who are friendly with the Germans. Craig, who speaks their language, exchanges some guns and ammunition for two prisoners.

The prisoners turn out to be British traitors Henry Portman (Liam Redmond), who has an Irish accent, and his daughter Cheryl (Heidy Hunt), who were shot down while flying from Benghazi to Cairo. They have papers signed by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (Mohammad Amin al-Husayni) and German Field Marshal Albert Kesselring: an agreement for "a group of important" Egyptian army officers to rise up against the British in a "holy war." The belief of the Germans is with Egypt conquered other Muslim, former Ottoman Empire states such as Turkey will then side with the Axis; Cheryl Portman states that the "Turks, alone, could put four million men into the war against the Soviet Union."

That night, the Portmans are told by a mysterious SIG member about the British masquerade and where to find a gun and a map to an underground telephone cable nearby where they can contact German command in Tobruk and alert them to the British column and upcoming attack. When they reach the telephone, however, they are spotted by an Italian patrol. Henry Portman fires at the patrol and is killed, while his daughter is seriously wounded.

Harker sends Bergman and Sergeant Krug (Leo Gordon) after the Portmans where they retrieve Cheryl from the Italians. When Krug asks how they knew about the telephone, Bergman replies, "Very simple. One among us is the enemy". Harker has Bergman and his men disarmed and then gives Bergman two hours to identify his traitor. The traitor kills Cheryl Portman so she cannot reveal his identity. Lieutenant Max Mohnfeld (Guy Stockwell), Bergman's second in command, appears from the tunnel the Portmans used to escape. He states the traitor is down the shaft. They find Corporal Bruckner (Robert Wolders), one of Bergman's closest friends for ten years, stabbed to death. Cheryl Portman had died from cyanide, and Bruckner's suicide tablet is missing. Bergman, however, is not convinced his friend was the traitor.

The group passes through checkpoints just outside Tobruk and after traveling through the city, they discover to their surprise that Rommel has amassed his total reserve strength at Tobruk undetected: two full panzer divisions. The discovery of Rommel's tanks puts the planned Naval assault in jeopardy, though without their radios the group have no way of warning Staff without taking the German transmitter located in the city which would alert the Germans.

The RAF then bomb Tobruk as scheduled. The LRDG blow up two of the harbour guns, and Harker orders Sergeant Major Tyne to signal the ships to abort the landing before the German tanks, which have pinned down Harker's troops, can "cut them to pieces". Harker also orders Lieutenant Boyden (Anthony Ashdown) to capture the German transmitter in the city in order to abort the landing and inform Staff of the Kesselring document. However, Boyden is killed during the bombing raid, as are Privates Alfie (Norman Rossington) and Dolan (Percy Herbert) when they discover millions in English pound notes the Germans had taken after capturing Tobruk from the British and attempt to steal the money (thereby making the German soldiers who kill them mistake them for looters and deserters). Meanwhile Mohnfeld, who volunteered to join them as Lt. Boyden did not speak German, is knocked out.

Bergman and three of his men escape on sidecar motorcycles and manage to destroy a tank and use flame throwers to buy Harker time; however, Bergman and his men are eventually killed. Meanwhile, Craig, Krug, and two other SIG men use the distraction to escape and seize a German tank well inland. After they use the tank to destroy the fuel depot, Harker and his men surrender.

After surrendering, Mohnfeld then appears where he reveals that he is really a German intelligence officer named von Kruger, explaining that he had told the truth the night before, only altering that "The Jew found me in the tunnel" and asks Harker for the Kesselring document. However, upon seeing the destruction of the fuel bunkers, Harker had burned the paper knowing its importance to the Germans. Harker then kills von Kruger with his pistol and is himself shot dead.

Craig, Krug and the two others manage to escape and exhausted after traveling over 70 miles on foot, make it to a scheduled back up rendezvous with a Royal Navy ship at Sallum just over the Egyptian border.

Manon is a precocious 13-year-old girl living with her mother Michelle and intellectually challenged uncle Ti-Guy in the Laurentides. Manon wants to quit school and obtain the true love of her mother, whom she accuses of not loving her. Michelle is pregnant with the child of Maurice, a police officer who tries to convince her to give up caring for Ti-Guy, by placing him in an institution. Ti-Guy is frequently stealing from Michelle, drinking excessively, driving dangerously and stalking the family's wealthy female neighbour. Maurice also pressures Michelle to get an abortion. Michelle is determined to have the child, and insistent on keeping Ti-Guy with her.

Manon strongly dislikes Ti-Guy for his misbehavior and Maurice for being a cop, and when Michelle tells Manon of her pregnancy, Manon becomes upset. Manon prefers Gaetan, Michelle's former lover who gives her marijuana, and also steals the book ''Wuthering Heights'' from their neighbour and starts reading it.

On her birthday, Manon runs away for a time and phones her mother asking for her exclusive love, which Michelle takes as hurtful. After Manon comes back, she tells Michelle that Maurice molested her, at which point Michelle angrily chases Maurice away. Michelle consequently begins dining with Gaetan and Manon, with Manon promising to no longer hurt her. Confronting Ti-Guy in his vehicle, Manon screams at him and convinces him to commit suicide by crashing the vehicle. While sleeping with her mother, Manon receives Maurice's call about the death, but shields Michelle from the news.

Set in modern-day Japan, the series centers on 13-year-old extrovert , who uses astrology to solve crimes, and manages her missing mother's fortune-telling business on the side. Her childhood friend, , assists her, after he returns from the United States, where he studied criminal psychology. As Detective Spica, Lili uses the magical star ring, left to her by her missing mother, to aid her in solving crimes by consulting with one of the twelve astral spirits in the ring and learning the victim's horoscope. Her father, , disapproves of her actions. Periodically, she encounters rival private investigator , who tests her mystery-solving skills.

While solving cases, Lili eventually learns from Hiromi's elder sister, , that Hiromi's allergy to girls resulted from her: ten years ago, he waited in the rain for Lili to show after he left her a love letter. Lili encounters , a fortuneteller and hypnotist who kidnaps her father. After Hiromi rescues him, Zeus takes Hiromi captive and demands the star ring in exchange. Realizing that Sirius is her missing mother, Lili frees her from Zeus's hypnosis. Lili learns that her mother disappeared to protect her family from Zeus, who hates Sirius, as he believes that she kidnapped his girlfriend and caused her to become comatose. Lili uncovers the truth: his girlfriend feared that he desired the star ring more than her love and asked Sirius to stage a kidnapping and have him decide between her or the star ring. When he hesitated, she was devastated and threw herself off the cliff. After learning this, Zeus loses his desire for the star ring and lets Lili, Hiromi, and Lili's mother leave. Lili accepts Hiromi's love for her. In the conclusion, Lili's mother takes over her fortune-telling business, and Lili continues to solve crimes with Hiromi's assistance.

In Los Angeles, 1970, Katie Standon (Tarra Steele), a girl who has been imprisoned in her room (and without any human contact) since the age of one, is now thirteen years old. Her mother Louise (Kim Darby), who has cataracts, has taken enough abuse from her domineering husband Wes (Jack Betts); she gets her son, Billy (Michael Azria), a few years older than Katie, to help her and Katie escape their home.

At a welfare office a social worker notices something peculiar about Katie and guesses her age to be about seven while, in fact, she is thirteen. Katie is taken to Children's Hospital, and Louise and Wes find themselves being arrested for "what authorities are calling the worst case of child abuse they've ever seen". Shortly before his trial begins, Wes kills himself. The doctors and psycholinguists investigating the case form the "Katie Team", a group of experts dedicated to helping Katie learn to speak and interact with others. One of the team members, Judy Bingham (Sean Young), a special education teacher, sees Katie as a pawn whom she can use to attain international fame. She claims Katie will make her "the next Anne Sullivan." UCLA graduate student Sandra Tannen (Melissa Errico) is one of the people who appear to have Katie's welfare at heart.

Katie comes to live with Dr. Norman Glazer (Joe Regalbuto) who works at Children's Hospital, and his family, where she stays for four years. His family helps Katie become a civilized human being. Although Katie shows outstanding progress in some things (such as learning vocabulary words and sign language, preparing hygiene, showing off anger, and certain other activities), she never really learns grammatical structure. Meanwhile, Louise has surgery to remove her cataracts and visits Katie off and on.

When Katie turns eighteen, the funding for her help is cut off and she returns to Louise's care. Soon, it comes to the point where Louise does not know how to handle Katie herself and Katie gets placed in another foster home. One day, Katie is physically abused for vomiting and responds by never eating or speaking because she was afraid if she opened her mouth she would vomit again and face more abuse.

Sandra does all that she can to make sure that Katie is handled in the proper way and even has Norman help her. Katie is taken back to Children's Hospital, and Sandra is suggested by social services to have Katie live with her. Before any decisions are made about this, Louise takes Katie out of the hospital and puts her in another foster home. Sandra is not allowed to say goodbye to Katie. Louise even threatens to take legal action on Sandra if she ever sees Katie again.

Sandra finally asks Louise why Katie was placed in extreme isolation before her discovery. Louise tells the entire story; Wes loved his mother very much, and when she died due to an accident, he projected his feelings for her onto Katie. After a doctor examined Katie sometime later, she was diagnosed as being retarded and Wes locked her up, afraid that the doctors might take her away, and because Louise was starting to go blind, Wes took care of Katie.

Sandra then leaves the house, running into Judy again. It is now clear that she knew Louise for a long time. Sandra and Judy have a quick argument, after which Judy enters Louise's house, leaving Sandra crying. At this point, different kinds of footage of Katie appear on screen; Sandra looks at tape recordings of Katie on her TV. She then is seen writing something on a typewriter, while her voice addresses the viewers; she's hoping to see Katie once more. The camera then turns to her and her boyfriend, now holding a baby of their own. The screen fades while she sings the "Hush, Little Baby" lullaby. The screen fades, and footage of Katie on the beach can be seen.

Messages appear, saying what has happened to everyone after the movie: Judy continues to harass the "Katie Team" until her death in 1988; Louise, who is now once again blind, resides in a nursing home in Southern California; Sandra Tannen is now a professor of linguistics at UCLA and has two teenage daughters, however, she is still not allowed to have any contact with Katie, who lives in a foster home nearby. The last message before the screen turns black and the credits appear, reads: "Katie's inability to learn a language proved the legitimacy of the Critical Period Hypothesis".

The following synopsis is based on videos of the show as provided by the production manager, Chris Mitchell, and the script he provided to pocketmonsters.net.

Act I

The story begins with a shadowed Giovanni releasing a commercial challenging all Pokémon Trainers to win the one-of-a-kind Diamond Badge by defeating him and his Pokémon in a battle. Ash declines to join his mother Delia, and Professor Oak to a lecture on sleep disorders among Snorlax, because he has decided to accept the mysterious Gym Leader's challenge. As he prepares for the journey, Misty chastises him for not taking her to the movies for her birthday as promised three weeks ago. Ash promises to make it up to her somehow, but adds that Pokémon are his friends too ("You and Me and Pokémon"). Together with Brock, Ash and Misty head off for the Gym using a map downloaded from the Diamond Badge website.

Meanwhile, Jessie, James, and Meowth get a call from Giovanni ordering them to arrive at his headquarters. When they arrive, he gloats about his ultimate creation, MechaMew2. The mechanical monster—based on the powerful Mewtwo he had late in the anime's first season and ''Pokémon: The First Movie''—will soon be unstoppable ("It Will All Be Mine"). He orders Team Rocket to capture Ash's Pikachu, because it has ''Thundershock'' and ''Thunder Attack'', two techniques that MechaMew2 doesn't have. They promise to do as he says after he promises them a good pay. Soon, several trainers face off against MechaMew2, which copies the attack of its challengers and uses it against them to defeat them. Among the moves it learns is ''Self Destruct'', which it is ''not'' ordered to return as doing so would destroy it. Giovanni praises his mechanical Pokémon and gloats that as soon as it learns every Pokémon's attack, nothing will stand in his way ("It Will All Be Mine (Reprise)").

While the team is in the forest, Brock chases cute girls and Misty laments that Ash is ignoring her in favor of his Pokémon. Ash tells his friends that he wants them to travel together forever ("My Best Friends"). Jessie, James and Meowth dig a pitfall trap for Ash and his friends to fall into, but the heroes walk right over it without incident because the Rockets forgot to remove the supports. To their misfortune, Jessie and James only realize the cause when they pull out the supports and fall into their own trap, leaving a frustrated Meowth to run off for a rope to pull them out.

In the meantime, Delia and Professor Oak approach the old, run-down building where the Snorlax lecture is supposed to be held. After Delia confesses that she feels that she is losing touch with her son, the Professor reassures her by saying that things never stay the same for long ("Everything Changes"). Suddenly, several Rocket Grunts rush out of the shadows and surround them, and Giovanni says that the lecture was a trap to lure Professor Oak to them. When the Boss also recognizes Delia, she insists that anything between them was in the past, to which he says that some things don't ''have'' to change. Giovanni orders the Rocket Grunts to take Delia and Oak to an (offstage) helicopter and to his headquarters, where they'll witness something that will change the world forever ("Everything Changes (Reprise 1)").

Back in the forest, the heroes are lost and alone after Brock earlier threw the map in the river while asking a female trainer for directions. They try getting help from a deaf trainer with Brock interpreting his signs, who agrees to share his map on the condition that he and the "guy with the goofy smile" have a battle first. Ash agrees to this, but the deaf trainer sends out Jigglypuff, who instantly starts singing and puts everyone but its trainer to sleep. In spite of this, the deaf trainer leaves his map with the heroes as Jigglypuff draws on their faces. Afterwards, Misty wakes up and starts wiping Jigglypuff's marks off of Ash's face while singing about her secret feelings for him and her fear of rejection ("Misty's Song"). Ash and Brock soon wake up as well, with the former wondering aloud who was singing just now. Misty claims the song to have been an effect of Jigglypuff's song, and the heroes continue on to the next part of the path, this time with Misty carrying the map.

Meanwhile, Meowth gets Jessie and James—who have also fallen asleep from Jigglypuff's song—out of the pit while complaining about their incompetence. Realizing that Meowth is right, Jessie and James lament their status as failures. Meowth cheers them up by telling them that being failures is something at which they're successful ("The Best at Being the Worst"). With that, the Rockets set out to find Pikachu again. Using their Magikarp submarine, they manage to catch up with the trainers at Cerulean Blue Lagoon, where Ash declares that he's going to use Pikachu against the gym leader ("Pikachu (I Choose You)"). While the kids get caught up in the song, Team Rocket captures Pikachu when he dances near them. By the time Ash realizes Pikachu is missing, Team Rocket is long gone.

Act II

After an intermission segment in which Ash's Pokédex Dexter explains his important contribution to Ash's continuing success and gathers data from the audience ("What Kind of Pokémon Are You?"), the heroes return to the forest. Ash is positive that his favorite Pokémon has once again been kidnapped by Team Rocket. Misty, apparently still upset about being ignored on her birthday, suggests that maybe Pikachu has just left Ash of his own will because of the trainer's new habit of ignoring his friends. She runs after Brock, leaving Ash to ponder her words and worry that Pikachu did leave on his own. Ash bids an emotional farewell to Pikachu ("The Time Has Come").

At the Gym, Delia and Professor Oak are in the battle arena and locked inside giant cages. Oak asks Delia why the Boss recognized her. She explains that Giovanni is an old boyfriend from when she was a teenager and used to hang out with a bad crowd, which she put behind her when she met Ash's father. She never told this to Ash, fearing that he would not understand. Delia came to hate Giovanni, which he arrives just in time to hear. Realizing Delia has changed, Giovanni tells them that they're here to witness the final battle, as the only attacks left to be learned are Pikachu's electric moves ("You and Me and Pokémon (Reprise)"). Immediately after, the Rockets arrive with the captured Pikachu ("Double Trouble"). Giovanni orders them to battle MechaMew2 using Pikachu. They attempt to command Pikachu, but Pikachu shocks the Rockets instead, knocking them into the cages and allowing Oak and Delia to escape. Giovanni is unconcerned with his prisoners' escape. He realizes that Pikachu's trainer is necessary to make it battle, so he orders Jessie, James, and Meowth to bring Ash to him. They agree and set off to capture Ash ("Double Trouble (Reprise)").

Meanwhile, as she and Brock search fruitlessly for Pikachu, Misty admits that she just wanted Ash to realize that he's alienating his friends—specifically, her. Brock realizes Misty really likes Ash, and Misty denies it by saying Brock wouldn't know anything about liking someone—after all, he's always chasing Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny ("Two Perfect Girls").

Not far away, Delia and Professor Oak continue their discussion about her past and conflict over whether or not to tell it to Ash. Meanwhile, Misty continues to lament over her feelings for Ash. Elsewhere, Ash tells himself that he may have to go on without Pikachu, even if it hurts ("I've Got a Secret"). Soon, all five of them converge in the forest. Delia tells Ash that Giovanni has Pikachu in his hideout and that Team Rocket kidnapped him. Ash is furious, determined to get his Pokémon back and win the Diamond Badge. Before he can leave, Delia tells Ash of her past with Giovanni. Ash is shocked by the news and is in a hurry to leave. Suddenly, Jessie and James appear on scooters, ordering Ash to come with them. The team is utterly shocked when Ash agrees to join them without a fight. The others try to follow, but Meowth says Giovanni ''only'' wanted Ash. As Ash and Team Rocket leave, Delia laments that she gave Ash even more of a reason to confront Giovanni. ("Everything Changes (Reprise 2)").

At his headquarters, Giovanni tells MechaMew2 that soon, their conquest of the world will begin. Ash runs in and demands that his Pikachu be returned. When Giovanni hears his surname and realizes he's Delia's son, Ash is angered and tells him to leave his mother out of this. Jessie and James enter announcing their capture of Ash, missing that he had already entered the arena, and celebrate having done two things correctly in one day. The Boss grows annoyed with them and orders them to leave, and they crash their scooters upon exiting. Joyfully reunited with Pikachu, Ash prepares to battle Giovanni and is shocked when he reveals himself to be the Gym Leader from the commercial. Giovanni mockingly gives Ash the Diamond Badge, saying he'll retrieve it after Ash loses.

Ash orders Pikachu to Thundershock, then Thunder MechaMew2, but the attacks do not affect it. MechaMew2 then returns the attacks, rendering Pikachu unable to battle. With that, Giovanni proclaims his victory because his Pokémon has now learned every single attack. Undaunted, Ash engages the Boss in a fistfight ("You Just Can't Win"). Tiring of the scuffle, Giovanni orders MechaMew2 to attack Ash with Hyper Beam, but Mewtwo appears to save Ash with a forcefield. He then attacks MechaMew2 with a collection of Ash's happy memories, love for Pokémon, and Misty. MechaMew2 speaks for the first time and rebels against Giovanni, revealing that it learned about love and goodness from Ash. Recognizing that Giovanni is evil, MechaMew2 feels it must stop his plans no matter the cost. MechaMew2 puts Giovanni in a headlock and prepares to Selfdestruct, telling Mewtwo to take an unconscious Ash somewhere safe. Mewtwo exits with Ash and Pikachu, but not before explaining to Giovanni that Ash was the one who defeated MechaMew2. Giovanni breaks free of MechaMew2's grip and runs just before it blows up.

In the forest, Ash's friends ask for an explanation of the recent events, but Ash can't remember Mewtwo's sudden appearance or how the battle ended. He does, however, understand that his mom is still his mom, and he loves her regardless of her past. Reaching into his pocket, Ash pulls out the Diamond Badge, saying that he must have won it after all. He gives the badge to Misty as her birthday present while everybody else celebrates his triumph ("Finale"). Just before curtain call, the entire human and Pokémon cast appear and dance, including Giovanni.

Arthur and George are London sewage workers who discover a tunnel in one of the walls. Arthur starts exploring the tunnel alone, while newbie George stays behind. After a while, George enters and discovers Arthur, injured and in shock. A similarly injured woman jumps out, crying for help, only to be pulled back into the darkness.

A young German woman, Kate, decides to join her friend at a party and heads to Charing Cross Underground station but falls asleep on the platform while waiting for the train. When she awakens, she is alone, and the entire station has been locked up for the night. An empty train arrives, and she boards it; it abruptly stops and the lights go dark. She meets Guy, a coworker who followed her and whose awkward advances, she kept rejecting. Guy attempts to rape her, only to be stopped by an unseen aggressor who drags him out of the train. Guy briefly reemerges, covered in blood, warning Kate to run.

Kate flees and runs into a homeless Scottish couple living in a storeroom, Jimmy and Mandy, and their dog Ray. Jimmy reluctantly agrees to help her by taking her to the night guard after she pays him. They find Guy, horribly maimed but still alive. Mandy, left alone, is attacked and kidnapped, triggering Jimmy's sorrow-fueled escape into a heroin-induced stupor. Kate manages to communicate with the security guard through intercom, but the man gets killed before being able to call for help. Guy also dies of his wounds. Kate and Jimmy decide to walk through the tunnel to the next station. A train stops near them; Jimmy decides to face the killer to avenge Mandy, but he is slaughtered as well.

Fleeing, Kate falls into the sewer system below, where she finds Arthur's body. She also finds a storage facility with hundreds of boxes, where she is captured by the killer, the titular "creep"—a hideously deformed, mentally ill hermit named Craig, who keeps his victims in semi-submerged, rat-infested cages until they are dead, after which he eats them. Kate is put in one of these cages, along with George. They escape and end up in an abandoned medical facility (looking like an illegal abortion clinic with a series of fetuses lined up along a wall). Where they find an unconscious Mandy strapped to a surgical chair. Thinking she is dead, they move on. Craig appears, puts on a surgical gown, and mimics the gestures of a surgeon in front of a terrorized Mandy before he disembowels her with a bone saw, mimicking an abortion procedure.

Kate and George find the disused railcar where Craig lives. The dog, Ray, is there, along with old pictures of a medical doctor with a deformed child. Craig ambushes them and kills George. In a last, desperate effort, Kate sinks a hook and chain into Craig's throat, then has a running train rip it apart, and Craig bleeds to death. Disheveled, she returns to the initial station, by which point it is morning. She collapses on the platform, and Ray curls onto her lap. Mistaking her for a beggar, a man waiting for the train leaves her a coin, and Kate breaks into hysterical giggles and tears.

The series focuses on the major events which occurred during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor in the Qing dynasty. These include the power struggle with Oboi, the Revolt of the Three Feudatories, and the campaign against the Kingdom of Tungning.

In 1840, Loxi Claiborne is running a marine salvage business started by her deceased father. A hurricane is passing through the Key West area, leaving behind at least one wreck on the nearby shoals. The ''Jubilee'' founders, and Loxi and other salvagers race to claim the cargo. Not arriving first, Loxi and her crew rescue the captain, Jack Stuart, but do not share in the salvage rights. Apparently, the first salvager on the scene, King Cutler, may have actually planned the wreck.

Nursing Jack back to health, Loxi falls in love with him. When she visits Charleston with her cousin Drusilla, Loxi schemes to win a plum captain's position for Jack by seducing Steve Tolliver, who is running the sailing ship line for which Jack works. Steve falls for Loxi and returns with her to Key West to investigate the truth about Jack's shipwreck.

Drusilla goes home to Havana when Loxi and Steve return to Key West. Steve has come to rid the Keys of pirates like Cutler (and to be near Loxi). Cutler, in turn, arranges to have Steve shanghaied by the crew of a whaler. Loxi hears of the plot and gets Jack to help her save Steve. Later, they discover that Steve has concealed Jack's appointment to the steamship ''Southern Cross'' on orders from his superior. Angry over a seemingly underhanded act, Jack meets with Cutler. He learns that Steve's boss has just died and that Steve will be taking over the shipping line. Jack realizes that he is unlikely to keep his command with Steve in charge and agrees to work with Cutler to sabotage his new ship; he sails to Havana to take command.

Rumors circulate and prices of the cargo of the ''Southern Cross'' fluctuate wildly, leaving Steve to suspect a wreck is planned. He commandeers the ''Claiborne'' with Loxi on board and heads to Havana to stop Jack. Loxi, believing Jack is innocent, disables her ship, and they sit becalmed in a fog bank as the ''Southern Cross'' piles into a reef and sinks. Unknown to Jack, Drusilla had stowed away to be with her lover, King Cutler's brother Dan, and she drowns.

Jack is put on trial for wrecking his ship. The testimony reveals a woman may have been on board, though none was rescued. To determine if a woman is in the wreck, Steve agrees to dive to the wreck with Jack. While down in the wreck, Jack and Steve discover proof that Drusilla was on board and has been drowned. They are attacked by a giant squid. Jack saves Steve's life, but is lost when the ''Southern Cross'' slips off the continental shelf into deep water. Dan Cutler accuses his brother of murder and is shot dead by him, whereupon, Steve shoots King Cutler, killing him.

Loxi and Steve return to Charleston together.

Between 1980 and 1982, Toronto bank employee Dan Mahowny (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is given access to bigger and bigger accounts with his promotion to assistant branch manager. His boss trusts him, but is unaware that Mahowny is a compulsive gambler. Mahowny is soon skimming larger and larger amounts for his own use and making weekly trips to Atlantic City, where he is treated like a king by the casino manager (John Hurt). Mahowny's girlfriend, fellow bank employee Belinda (Minnie Driver), cannot understand what is happening. Mahowny's criminal acts come to light when Toronto police begin to investigate his longtime bookie Frank (Maury Chaykin).

Workaholic Minneapolis mattress salesman Howard Langston loves his wife, Liz, and nine-year-old son, Jamie, but is unable to find time for his family and often put in a bad light by his neighbor, divorcé Ted Maltin, who harbors unrequited feelings for Liz. After missing Jamie's karate class graduation, Howard resolves to redeem himself by fulfilling Jamie's Christmas wish of an action figure of Turbo-Man, a popular television superhero, despite Liz actually having asked him to buy one two weeks earlier, which Howard forgot about. On Christmas Eve, Howard sets out to buy the toy, but finds that every store has sold out, and in the process develops a rivalry with Myron Larabee, a postal worker father with the same ambition.

In desperation, Howard attempts to buy a figure from a counterfeit toy brand run by con men dressed in Santa suits, which results in a massive fight in the warehouse that is broken up when the police arrive. Howard narrowly escapes arrest by posing as an undercover officer. Exhausted at his failure and out of fuel, Howard goes to Mickey's Diner and calls home, intending to tell his wife the truth. Jamie answers the phone but keeps reminding Howard of his promise to be home in time for the annual Holiday Wintertainment Parade. Losing his patience, Howard yells at Jamie, after which he feels guilty and depressed after Jamie scolds him for not keeping his promises. Howard finds Myron at the diner and they share their experiences over coffee, where Myron tells Howard of his resentment towards his own father for failing to get him a Johnny Seven OMA for Christmas. A radio station advertises a competition for a Turbo-Man doll. The ensuing fight between Howard and Myron results in the diner's phone getting damaged, forcing Howard and Myron to race to the radio station on foot, where the DJ tells them that the competition was actually for a Turbo-Man gift certificate. The police are alerted, but Howard and Myron escape after Myron threatens the officers with a seemingly phony letter bomb. Officer Alexander Hummell, whom Howard has run into twice already, investigates the package only to have it detonate much to the men's shock.

Upon returning to his Suburban, Howard finds it stripped by car thieves, with "Meri xmAS" spray-painted on the windshield. He returns home in a tow truck only to find Ted putting the star on his Christmas tree. In retaliation, Howard attempts to steal the Turbo-Man doll Ted bought for his son, Johnny, but can't bring himself to steal from a child. Unfortunately, he is caught in the act and left alone while his family goes to the Christmas parade with Ted. After letting Jamie and Johnny out of the car, Ted attempts to seduce Liz, but she violently rejects him by hitting him with a thermos of eggnog that Ted offered to her. Meanwhile, remembering his promise to Jamie to go to the parade, Howard decides to attend as well, but runs into Hummell again. The ensuing chase leads to Howard hiding inside a storage room, where he is mistaken for the actor portraying Turbo-Man and dressed in the highly technological costume. As Turbo-Man, Howard uses his chance to present a limited-edition action figure to Jamie, but they are confronted by Myron, dressed as Turbo-Man's enemy, Dementor having bound and gagged the original actor. Despite Howard's pleas for Myron to stop, a long chase ensues, involving a jetpack flight. Myron acquires the toy from Jamie but is cornered by police officers, while Howard saves his son. Howard reveals himself to his family and apologizes for his shortcomings. The police return the toy to Jamie as Myron is arrested, but Jamie decides to give the toy to Myron for his son, proclaiming his father as his true hero. The crowd carries Howard away in celebration, while Myron, Liz and Jamie look on happily.

Later that night, Howard finishes decorating their Christmas tree by putting the star on top. However, when Liz asks Howard what he got for her, he shockingly realizes that he forgot to get her a gift.

The mini-series begins shortly after its predecessor, with Matt Murdock and Elektra Natchios in their freshman year at Columbia University.

Elektra can only stand by as her father makes a deal with his cousins, Paul and Leonder, who are in organized crime, so that he can rebuild the family's laundromat. Paul and Leonder hope to launder the money earned from their criminal life, but their book keeper Kenneth Cullen has turned state's evidence. Elektra Natchios makes a bargain with her cousins, she will recover the evidence in return for her father's financial freedom. She fakes being a call girl so that she can recover the evidence, just in time to see Kenneth Cullen killed by Benjamin Poindexter (Ultimate Bullseye) who was sent by the Kingpin.

Arkady Kirsanov has just graduated from the University of Petersburg. He returns with a friend, Bazarov, to his father's modest estate in an outlying province of Russia. His father, Nikolay, gladly receives the two young men at his estate, called Marino, but Nikolay's brother, Pavel, soon becomes upset by the strange new philosophy called "nihilism" which the young men, especially Bazarov, advocate.

Nikolay, initially delighted to have his son return home, slowly begins to feel uneasy. A certain awkwardness develops in his regard toward his son, as Arkady's radical views, much influenced by Bazarov, make Nikolay’s own beliefs feel dated. Nikolay has always tried to stay as current as possible, by doing things such as visiting his son at school so the two can stay as close as they are, but this in Nikolay's eyes has failed. To complicate this, the father has taken a servant, Fenechka, into his house to live with him and has already had a son by her, named Mitya. Arkady, however, is not troubled by the relationship: to the contrary, he openly celebrates the addition of a younger brother.

The two young men stay over at Marino for some weeks, then decide to visit a relative of Arkady's in a neighboring province. There, they observe the local gentry and meet Madame Anna Sergevna Odintsova, an elegant woman of independent means, who cuts a seductively different figure from the pretentious or humdrum types of her surrounding provincial society of gentry. Both are attracted to her, and she, intrigued by Bazarov's singular manner, invites them to spend a few days at her estate, Nikolskoye. While Bazarov at first feels nothing for Anna, Arkady falls head over heels in love with her.

At Nikolskoye, they also meet Katya, Anna Sergevna's sister. Although they remain for only a short period, both characters undergo significant change: their relationship with each other is especially affected, as Arkady has begun to find himself and drift from the position of Bazarov's follower. Bazarov, in particular, finds falling in love distressing because it runs against his nihilist beliefs. Eventually, prompted by Odintsova's own cautious expressions of attraction to him, he announces that he loves her. She does not respond overtly to his declaration, though she too is deeply drawn to Bazarov while finding his dismissal of feelings and the aesthetic side of existence troublesome. While Anna does have some feelings toward Bazarov, they are not akin to love and Anna cannot open herself to him because she does not see the possibility of a good future with him. After his avowal of love, and her failure to make a similar declaration, Bazarov proceeds to his parents' home, and Arkady decides to accompany him.

At Bazarov's home, they are received enthusiastically by his parents, and the traditional mores of both father and mother, who adulate their son, are portrayed with a nostalgic, idealistic description of humble people and their fast-disappearing world of simple values and virtues. Bazarov's social cynicism, invariably on display with outsiders, is still quite clear as he settles back into his own family's ambience. Interrupting his father as he speaks to Arkady, he proves rather abrupt and still the powerful center of attention despite being around his parents. Arkady, who has delighted Bazarov's father by assuring him that his son has a brilliant future in store, in turn, reproves his friend for his brusqueness. Later, Bazarov almost comes to blows with Arkady after the latter makes a joke about fighting over Bazarov's cynicism. This once again shows the distance and changes within Arkady and Bazarov's relationship, as Arkady becomes more defiant against Bazarov's ideals. After a brief stay, much to the parents' disappointment, they decide to return to Marino, stopping on the way to see Madame Odintsova, who receives them coolly. They leave almost immediately and return to Arkady's home.

Arkady remains for only a few days and makes an excuse to leave in order to go to Nikolskoye again. Once there, he realizes he is not in love with Odintsova, but instead with her sister Katya. Bazarov stays at Marino to do some scientific research, and tension between him and Pavel increases. Bazarov enjoys talking with Fenechka and playing with her child, and one day he kisses her, against her will. Pavel observes this kiss and, secretly in love with Fenechka himself and in protection of both Fenechka and Nikolay's feelings for her, challenges Bazarov to a duel. Pavel is wounded in the leg, and Bazarov must leave Marino. He stops for an hour or so at Madame Odintsova's, then continues on to his parents' home. Meanwhile, Arkady and Katya have fallen in love and have become engaged. Anna Sergevna Odinstova is hesitant to accept Arkady's request to marry her sister, but Bazarov convinces her to allow the marriage.

While back at home, Bazarov changes quite drastically. Instead of focusing on his experiments he turns to help his father in being a country doctor. At home, Bazarov cannot keep his mind on his work and while performing an autopsy fails to take the proper precautions. He cuts himself and contracts blood poisoning. On his deathbed, he sends for Madame Odintsova, who arrives just in time to hear Bazarov tell her how beautiful she is. She kisses him on the forehead and leaves; Bazarov dies from his illness the following day.

Arkady marries Katya and takes over the management of his father's estate. His father marries Fenechka and is delighted to have Arkady home with him. Pavel leaves the country and lives the rest of his life as a "noble" in Dresden, Germany.

As the transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong from the British to the People's Republic of China nears, Bond is given ten days to investigate a series of terrorist attacks that could disrupt the fragile handover and cause the breakout of a large-scale war. Simultaneously a nuclear bomb is test-detonated in the Australian outback. In Hong Kong, Bond suspects a British shipping magnate, Guy Thackeray, who he catches cheating at mahjong at a casino in Macau. Later, after cheating the cheater and winning a large sum of Thackeray's money, Bond attends a press conference where Thackeray announces that he is selling his company, EurAsia Enterprises, to the Chinese; not disclosed to the public is that this is due to a long-forgotten legal document that grants the descendants of Li Wei Tam ownership of the company if the British were to ever lose control of Hong Kong. Because the descendants were believed to have abandoned China, General Wong claims the document on behalf of the Chinese government and forces Thackeray out. Immediately following the announcement, Thackeray is killed by a car bomb planted by an unknown assassin, the latest of a series of assassinations that claimed the lives of the entire EurAsia board of directors, as well as several employees.

Through his Hong Kong contact, T.Y. Woo, Bond also investigates Li Xu Nan, the Triad head of the Dragon Wing society and the rightful descendant of Li Wei Tam. Li's identity as the Triad head is supposed to be a secret, though after Bond involves a hostess, Sunni Pei, 007 is forced to protect her from the Triads for breaking an oath of secrecy. When she is finally captured, Bond makes a deal, off the record, to go to Guangzhou and retrieve the long-forgotten document from General Wong that will give Li Xu Nan ownership of EurAsia Enterprises upon the handover at midnight on 1 July 1997. Through Li's contacts, Bond successfully travels and meets General Wong in Guangzhou under the guise of a solicitor from England. Bond's cover is later blown and T.Y. Woo, who followed Bond, is executed. Bond avenges his friend's death by killing General Wong, stealing the document, which he hand-delivers to Li Xu Nan, and rescuing Sunni Pei.

With Li Xu Nan in Bond's debt, Bond uses Li's contacts to go to Australia to investigate EurAsia Enterprises and find a link between it and the nuclear blast. As it turns out Thackeray is very much alive and has been mining unreported uranium in Australia to make his own nuclear bomb, which he plans to detonate in Hong Kong at the moment the handover takes place in retaliation for the loss of his family's legacy. Returning to Hong Kong, Bond, Li Xu Nan, and a Royal Navy captain track down Thackeray's nuclear bomb and defuse it. The battle claims the lives of Li Xu Nan as well as Thackeray, who is drowned by Bond in the harbour.

Pat Riley is a chubby, whiny, and obnoxious job-hopper of indeterminate gender who is searching for a steady foundation in life. Pat falls in love with Chris (whose sex is also unrevealed to the audience) and the two get engaged. Meanwhile, Pat's neighbor Kyle develops an unhealthy obsession with identifying Pat's sex, and begins stalking them. He sends a tape of Pat performing karaoke to a TV show called ''America's Creepiest People'', bringing them to the attention of the band Ween, who feature Pat in one of their performances, playing the tuba. When Pat learns that Ween intended to only use them for one gig, Pat and Chris break up.

Kyle steals Pat's laptop containing their diary and tries to coerce them into revealing the computer's password, so he can access the files. When Pat only answers that it's a word in the dictionary, Kyle begins manually trying every word in a dictionary. He eventually succeeds with the password "zythum" (an Egyptian malt beer), and reads the diary, but doesn't find the answer to his question, and finally snaps.

Meanwhile, a gang of thugs with the same goal begin harassing Pat, who becomes distraught over the thugs' androgynous nature. Pat complains to Kathy, a friend who is a therapist and host of a radio talk show. When Pat gives acerbic reactions to call-in listeners, the station fires Kathy and replaces her with Pat.

Kyle calls into Pat's radio show saying he has Pat's laptop, and sets up a meeting at the Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum to retrieve it. Pat arrives to find Kyle dressed exactly like Pat. Kyle demands that Pat strip naked, but Pat runs off into a Ween concert. After Kyle corners them on a catwalk, Pat falls. Their pants get torn off by a hook and they are lowered with their genitals exposed to the cheeringconcert audience, but not to Kyle nor those watching the movie. Kyle is subsequently taken away by security guards. Pat then runs to see Chris, just as Chris is leaving on an ocean liner. In an epilogue, Pat and Chris marry.

During the end credits, Kathy is now hosting her radio show again and the first caller is Kyle, whose obsession with Pat has driven him to cross-dressing.

Manuela von Meinhardis, whose mother had died when she was young and whose father serves in the military, is enrolled at an all-girls boarding school headed by the traditional and iron-fisted Fräulein von Nordeck zur Nidden. Manuela is immediately exposed to the strictness of the school when receiving her uniform and having many of her possessions taken from her. While the other girls at the school receive Manuela with open arms, she still feels very out of place, until she meets Fräulein von Bernburg, a teacher at the school. After witnessing Fräulein von Bernburg's compassion for the other girls, Manuela develops a passionate love for her teacher. The first spark of love begins with a goodnight kiss. While the teacher normally gives all the girls a goodnight kiss on the forehead, Manuela receives one on the lips.

There is a meeting asking the teachers in the school and the headmistress. Fräulein von Bernburg advocates using compassion and love when dealing with the students, but is met with disagreement from the headmistress and the other teachers. Fräulein von Bernburg is surprised to learn that Manuela is at the head of every other teachers’ class, but struggles to perform in her own.

During class, the girls are reciting from an assigned reading. The girls who are called upon all know their recitations, except Manuela, who cannot concentrate in Fräulein von Bernburg's presence. After class, Fräulein von Bernburg calls for Manuela to meet her in her room. Manuela expects to be punished for not knowing the assigned material, but Fräulein von Bernburg comments on the state of the clothes the girl came to the school with, noting that there were many holes in them. Fräulein von Bernburg then gives one of her own petticoats to Manuela, at which she begins to weep. After much crying, Manuela confesses her love for Fräulein von Bernburg, and the teacher states that she “thinks often” of Manuela but that she cannot give her special treatment because the other girls will be jealous.

The girls gather around Ilsa von Westhagen, another student, as she reads aloud a letter to her parents complaining about the conditions at the school. She has a worker at the school smuggle the letter out.

The girls are preparing to put on the play ''Don Carlos'' by Friedrich Schiller for the birthday of the headmistress. Manuela plays Don Carlos, the lead male role. Ilsa is to play another major role in the play, but is barred from performing after her letter to her parents denouncing the school is returned because of a wrong address. Ilsa packs up to leave the school, but Fräulein von Bernburg convinces her to stay. The girls put on the play for the headmistress and her guests; it is a great success, with a standout performance by Manuela. Fräulein von Bernburg sits in the front row, clearly moved.

After the play, the girls all meet for dinner and are served punch with alcohol in it by the kitchen workers. Manuela is shown drinking more than her friends. After much dancing and singing, she declares she wants to make a speech and reveals her feelings for Fräulein von Bernburg to the girls. Without knowing that the headmistress's assistant is in the room, Manuela tells them of the petticoat that Fräulein von Bernburg gave her; she says she believes Fräulein von Bernburg wanted her to wear it and think of her. Then, she declares that she is not afraid of anything or anyone—yelling it drunkenly in the direction of the headmistress, who has now entered the room.

After passing out, Manuela is brought to a room, where no-one is allowed to see her. She is scolded by the headmistress. The headmistress is then informed that the princess is on her way to the school to speak to her. The students and teachers all line up for the arrival of the princess. After observing all the students, she asks to see Manuela. The princess tells Manuela that she knew Manuela's mother and respected her as she was a very devout woman. The princess says that Manuela looks a little pale and asks whether she is sick, at which the headmistress rushes her away and denies any paleness.

After the meeting with the princess, the headmistress scolds Fräulein von Bernburg for being too close and compassionate with her students. She also tells her that she is never to speak to Manuela again. When Fräulein von Bernburg leaves the headmistress's office, Manuela is waiting for her. Fräulein von Bernburg tells Manuela to meet her in her room. In her room, Fräulein von Bernburg tells Manuela that while she cares for her, she is to never speak to her again. Manuela responds by saying that she will die. Fräulein von Bernburg tells her not to say such things and sends her away. As Manuela leaves the room, the headmistress arrives to excoriate Fräulein von Bernburg for speaking to Manuela and says that she can no longer be a teacher at the school. Fräulein von Bernburg says that she could not continue there anyway, for she needs to stand for justice and cannot bear to see the girls made into "fearful, helpless creatures."

At this point, the girls and some staff are all looking for Manuela and cannot find her. Manuela has climbed up the main staircase and is ready to jump several stories. Manuela is saved by the other students. The headmistress and Fräulein von Bernburg walk out of Fräulein von Bernburg's room to discover a commotion and are then told that Manuela tried to jump and kill herself. Fräulein von Bernburg observes that the girls stopped a tragedy from occurring, that both she and the headmistress would have regretted the rest of their lives. The movie ends with all the girls watching the headmistress as she slowly walks down the stairwell and down the hall in shaken silence.

Since his last encounter against Batman, Mr. Freeze has found himself a home in the Arctic and started a surrogate family with his still cryogenically-encased wife Nora, his newly adopted Inuit son Koonak, and a pair of polar bear companions, Notchka and Shaka. Then one day, a submarine emerges from underwater through the floor of their cave-turned-home, shattering Nora's containment vessel, after which her condition begins rapidly deteriorating. After punishing the submarine crew, innocently unaware of their mistake, by freezing them with his trusted freeze gun, Freeze returns to Gotham City with his companions to enlist his old colleague Dr. Gregory Belson to help find a cure. Belson determines that Nora needs an organ transplant, but due to her rare blood type there are no suitable donors available to them. Freeze declares they will use a live donor, even if it means killing an innocent person, and bribes Belson into compliance with a promise of gold that will put an end to Belson's own financial problems.

Barbara Gordon (Batgirl) turns out to be a perfect match, and Freeze learns from a telephone conversation with her roommate that she is at a restaurant with her boyfriend, Dick Grayson (Robin). Freeze attacks the restaurant and kidnaps Barbara. Dick and the Gotham City Police Department give chase, but fail to stop Freeze, who takes her to an abandoned oil rig where he and Belson are hiding. Freeze and Belson explain the situation to Barbara, who agrees to helping Nora with the "blood transfusion", but not at the oil rig, prompting Freeze to keep Barbara imprisoned. Back in Gotham, Bruce Wayne (Batman) and Dick investigate Barbara's kidnapping, leading them to figure out Belson is with Freeze. The search for answers leads Batman and Robin to Belson's broker, Dean Arbagast, and find out from a phone conversation between Dean and Belson where Freeze has taken both Barbara and Belson. They also figure out Freeze's plan from a list of supplies used for an organ transplant Belson left behind.

When the time for the operation comes, Barbara realizes Freeze and Belson have been lying to her when they attempt to put her under anesthesia. She escapes with the help of Koonak. Belson gives pursuit and corners her, just before Batman and Robin arrive in the Batwing. Freeze follows, and in the ensuing confrontation, Belson accidentally starts a rapidly spreading fire as Freeze traps Batman and Robin. Freeze orders Belson to perform the operation, despite the oil rig now completely ablaze, falling apart and on the verge of exploding, but Belson betrays Freeze and attempts to escape, only to be killed by falling wreckage. Batman and Robin escape just as Freeze's leg is broken, but he tells Batman to save Nora and Koonak first, along with Barbara. Batman and Barbara get Nora and Koonak to the waiting Batwing with Robin piloting it, and Nora, Koonak and Barbara are all put safely on board, but despite his efforts, Batman is unable to save Freeze from plummeting into the ocean, to his apparent death. Batman makes it back to the Batwing, and they fly away, just before the oil rig finally explodes, although Freeze is revealed to have survived and escapes with his polar bears.

Sometime later, Freeze returns with his polar bears to the Arctic to resume his life alone, having frozen his leg in an ice cast. He sees on a television in a research station that while the world believes him dead, Nora has been revived after an organ transplant operation funded by Wayne Enterprises, moving him to tears of joy; he then walks away peacefully with his polar bears by his side.

In 1794, Captain Walton leads a troubled expedition to reach the North Pole. While their ship is trapped in the ice of the Arctic Sea, the crew hears a frightening noise and witnesses a mysterious figure killing their sled dogs before vanishing. The crew rescues a man, Victor Frankenstein, who had fallen in the Arctic waters. When Walton tells Victor of his determination to continue the expedition, Victor replies, "Do you share my madness?" He proceeds to tell Walton and the crew his life story, presented in flashback.

Victor grows up in Geneva with his adopted sister, Elizabeth Lavenza, the love of his life. Before he leaves for the University of Ingolstadt, Victor's mother dies giving birth to his brother William. Devastated by her loss, Victor vows on his mother's grave that he will find a way to conquer death. Victor and his friend Henry Clerval study under Shmael Augustus Waldman, a professor whose notes contain information on how to create life; Waldman warns Victor not to use them, lest he create an "abomination".

While performing vaccinations, Waldman is murdered by a patient, who is later hanged in the village square. Using the killer's body, a leg from a fellow student who died of cholera, and Waldman's brain, Victor builds a creature based on the professor's notes. He is so obsessed with his work that he drives Elizabeth away when she comes to take him away from Ingolstadt, which is being quarantined amid a cholera epidemic. Victor finally gives his creation life, but he is horrified by the creature's hideous appearance and tries to kill him. Frightened and confused, the creature steals Victor's coat and flees the laboratory, and is later driven away by the townspeople when he tries to steal food.

The creature finds shelter in a family's barn and stays there for months without their knowledge, gradually learning to read and speak by watching them. He attempts to earn their trust by anonymously bringing them food, and eventually converses with the elderly, blind patriarch after murdering an abusive debt collector. When the blind man's family returns, however, they are terrified of the creature and chase him away. The creature finds Victor's journal in his coat and learns of the circumstances of his creation. He burns down the farm and vows revenge on Victor for bringing him into a world that hates him.

Victor returns to Geneva to marry Elizabeth, only to find that his younger brother William has been murdered. The Frankensteins' servant Justine is blamed for the crime and hanged, but Victor knows the creature is responsible. The creature abducts Victor and demands that he make a female companion for him, promising to leave his creator in peace in return. Victor begins gathering the tools he used to create life, but when the creature insists that he use Justine's body to make the companion, a disgusted Victor breaks his promise. The creature exacts his revenge on Victor's wedding night by breaking into Elizabeth's bridal suite and killing her.

Desperate with grief, Victor races home to bring Elizabeth back to life. He stitches Elizabeth's head onto Justine's body and reanimates her as a disfigured, mindless shadow of her former self. The creature appears, demanding Elizabeth as his bride. Victor and the creature fight for Elizabeth's affections, but Elizabeth, horrified by her own reflection, commits suicide by setting herself on fire. Both Victor and the creature escape as the mansion burns down.

The story returns to the Arctic. Victor tells Walton that he has been pursuing his creation for months to kill him. Soon after relating his story, Victor dies of pneumonia. Walton discovers the creature weeping over Victor's body, having lost the only family he has ever known. The crew prepares a funeral pyre, but the ceremony is interrupted when the ice around the ship cracks. Walton invites the creature to stay with the ship, but the creature insists on remaining with the pyre. He takes the torch and burns himself alive with Victor's body. Walton, having seen the consequences of Victor's obsession, orders the ship to return home.

Christine "Chris" Parker (Linda Blair) is a 14-year-old runaway who, after getting arrested many times, is sentenced to spend time in a girls' juvenile detention center. It is revealed that Chris comes from an abusive home. Her father (Richard Jaeckel) would beat her on a regular basis, which led to her repeated flights from home. Her mother (Kim Hunter) is unfeeling, sitting in her recliner, watching television and smoking cigarettes all day, and in complete denial as to what her husband is doing. Chris' older brother Tom (Mitch Vogel) is aware of the abuse, but he is unable to help Chris, as he is absorbed with the care of his own family.

Chris' social worker Emma Lasko (Allyn Ann McLerie) never realizes that her dysfunctional parents are the cause of her troubles, and the juvenile justice system places the blame for her troubles on Chris herself. With the exception of one dedicated counselor named Barbara Clark (Joanna Miles), the reform school personnel are mostly apathetic and allow an unhealthy, destructive culture to fester. Despite Barbara's attempts to help Christine talk about her problems, Chris refuses to open up to her or anyone else about her abuse.

After Chris is attacked in the shower and sexually assaulted by her fellow inmates, as well as witnessing a pregnant resident whom Chris befriends suffer a miscarriage while in isolation, and the pervasive indifference of the staff, Chris – feeling abandoned by the system in addition to her family – becomes angry, cold and bitter. When an argument between Chris and Ms. Lasko turns physical, a riot ensues. Chris is investigated for causing the riot. She calmly maintains that she had nothing to do with it. In the final shot, Barbara looks on helplessly as she sees Chris, an innocent, intelligent, decent girl, transformed into a violent, pathological, manipulative, vengeful and cold person, devoid of guilt or remorse for her actions, who is destined to become a criminal adult when released upon reaching legal age.

Bill Cosby plays Leonard Parker, a CIA spy-turned-restaurateur. According to the opening sequence of the film, the title refers to the idea that this film is actually the sixth installment of a series of films featuring the adventures of Leonard, as parts one through five were locked up in the interests of world security. In actuality, there are no films preceding this one.

The theatrical release poster points out that Leonard Parker is, at the time of his reluctant return to action, coping with domestic issues:

The film starts with Parker being called out of retirement by his CIA director Snyderburn (Baker) to save the world from evil vegetarian Medusa Johnson (Foster), who brainwashes animals to kill people. The film ends with Leonard infiltrating Johnson's headquarters (an "International Tuna" factory), fending off the vegetarians with magic meat he received from a Gypsy, freeing the captive animals, and flooding the base using Alka-Seltzer. He escapes by riding an ostrich across the roof; the unlikely steed flies him to the ground.

Manfred is a Faustian noble living in the Bernese Alps. Internally tortured by some mysterious guilt, which has to do with the death of his most beloved, Astarte, he uses his mastery of language and spell-casting to summon seven spirits, from whom he seeks forgetfulness. The spirits, who rule the various components of the corporeal world, are unable to control past events and thus cannot grant Manfred's plea. For some time, fate prevents him from escaping his guilt through suicide.

At the end, Manfred dies, defying religious temptations of redemption from sin. Throughout the poem he succeeds in challenging all of the authoritative powers he faces, and chooses death over submitting to the powerful spirits. Manfred directs his final words to the Abbot, remarking, "Old man! 'tis not so difficult to die". "The unconquerable individual to the end, Manfred gives his soul to neither heaven nor hell, only to death."

The story is set in Padua, Italy, in a distant and unspecified past, possibly in the sixteenth century, after the Paduan Botanical Garden had been founded.[https://archive.vcu.edu/english/engweb/eng372/rappcrit.htm Survey of Criticism] of "Rappaccini's Daughter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, by Laura Stallman, VCU, 1995

Giovanni Guasconti, a young student recently arrived from Naples, Southern Italy, to study at the University of Padua, is renting a room in an ancient building that still exhibits the Coat of Arms of the once-great, long since extinct Scrovegni family. Giovanni has studied Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy and remembers that an ancestor of the Scrovegni, Reginaldo degli Scrovegni, appears in Dante's Hell, as a usurer and a sinner against Nature and Art (Canto XVII:64-75).

From his quarters, Giovanni looks at Beatrice, the beautiful daughter of Dr. Giacomo Rappaccini, a botanist who works in isolation. Beatrice is confined to the lush and locked gardens, which are filled with exotic poisonous plants grown by her father.

Having fallen in love, Giovanni enters the garden and secretly meets with Beatrice a number of times, while ignoring his mentor, Professor Pietro Baglioni, who is a rival of Dr. Rappaccini and warns Giovanni that Rappaccini is devious and that he and his work should be avoided.

Giovanni notices Beatrice's strangely intimate relationship with the plants as well as the withering of fresh regular flowers and the death of an insect when exposed to her skin or breath. On one occasion, Beatrice embraces a plant in a way that she seems part of the plant itself; then she talks to the plant, "''Give me thy breath, my sister, for I am faint with common air''."

Giovanni eventually realises that Beatrice, having been raised in the presence of poison, has developed an immunity and has become poisonous herself. A gentle touch of her hand leaves a purple print on his wrist. Beatrice urges Giovanni to look past her poisonous exterior and see her pure and innocent essence, creating great feelings of doubt and confusion in Giovanni.

In the end, Giovanni becomes poisonous himself: insects die when they come into contact with his breath. Giovanni is troubled by this, which he sees as a curse, and he blames Beatrice.

Professor Baglioni gives him an antidote to cure Beatrice and free her from her father's cruel experiment. However, when Beatrice drinks the antidote, she becomes sick and dies.

Before realising that Beatrice is dying, Dr. Rappaccini excitedly welcomes the love between his two creatures, his daughter and her suitor, Giovanni, who has been transformed so that he can now be a true and worthy companion to Beatrice.

While Beatrice is dying, Professor Baglioni looks down from a window into the garden and triumphantly shouts "''Rappaccini! Rappaccini! and is THIS the upshot of your experiment!''"

''Demon City Shinjuku'' begins with a battle between former friends, the evil Rebi Ra (also pronounced Levi Ra) versus the short-lived hero Genichirou. Rebi Ra has allowed himself to be possessed in order to gain the incredible powers of evil and plans to summon demons to conquer the world. Defeating Genichirou and destroying Shinjuku, a part of Tokyo, with a devastating earthquake, the area becomes a demon-haunted wilderness. The novel doesn't have a fight scene between Genichirou and Rebi Ra. It opens with a quiet time in Shinjuku and then in a sudden change the Demon Quake hits only Shinjuku.

Ten years later, the World President, put in place to uphold world peace, is attacked by Rebi Ra with cursed plants indirectly to keep his old master, Aguni Rai, as the protector of the president, occupied. However, Rebi Ra did not know that Genichirou had a son who inherited his powers and more. After an emotional plea from the president's daughter, Sayaka Rama, the unlikely hero Kyoya Izayoi follows her deep into the heart of the evil city, finding new allies and terrifying enemies along the way. In the novel Aguni Rai asks the Information Bureau Japan Section Chief to look for Kyoya as the only one who could stop Rebi Ra.

The Section Chief tests Kyoya with a commando cyborg and then relates to Kyoya that the president is in a life-threatening curse and only has three days to defeat Rebi Ra before the president is killed as the ritual sacrifice to bring the Demon Realm to Earth, which he failed to do years prior, causing the Demon Quake. During the course of explanation Aguni Rai uses a doppelganger to communicate to Kyoya from New York in hopes of convincing him to save the world. Sayaka soon enters and pleads with him to do so as well. Kyoya finally decides to help because of Sayaka's pleas.

Private detective Sam Grunion has been searching for the extremely valuable Royal Romanoff diamonds for eleven years, and his investigation leads him to a troupe of struggling performers, led by Mike Johnson, who are trying to put on a musical revue called ''Love Happy''.

Grunion notes that the impoverished young dancers would starve were it not for the sweet, silent Harpo, at Herbert & Herbert, a gourmet food shop that also trafficks in stolen diamonds. Harpo kindly helps ladies with their shopping bags, all the while pilfering their groceries and stuffing them in the pockets of his long trench coat. When the elegant Madame Egelichi arrives, store manager Lefty Throckmorton tells her that "the sardines" have come in. Harpo sneaks into the basement and watches as Lefty lovingly unpacks a sardine can marked with a Maltese cross, and swipes the can from Lefty's pocket, replacing it with an unmarked one. Madame Egelichi, who has gone through eight husbands in three months in her quest for the Romanoff diamonds, is furious when Lefty produces the wrong can. When Lefty remembers seeing Harpo in the basement, she orders him to call the police and offer a $1,000 reward for his capture.

At the theater, meanwhile, unemployed entertainer Faustino the Great asks Mike for a job as a mind-reader, and when Faustino's clever improvisation stops the show's backer, Mr. Lyons, from repossessing the scenery, Mike gratefully hires him. Harpo, who is secretly in love with dancer Maggie Phillips, Mike's girl friend, gives her the sardine can, and she says she will eat them tomorrow. A policeman sees Harpo inside the theater and brings him to Madame Egelichi, who turns Harpo over to her henchmen, Alphonse and Hannibal Zoto. After three days of interrogation, Harpo still refuses to talk, and when he is left alone, he calls Faustino at the theater, using the bike horn he carries in his pocket to communicate. Madame Egelichi listens on the extension as Faustino declares that there are plenty of sardines at the theater, and she goes there at once.

Meanwhile, Mike has just finished telling the troupe that they do not have enough money to open when Madame Egelichi arrives and offers to finance the show. Mike cancels his plans to take Maggie out for her birthday so that he and his new backer can discuss the arrangements. In the alley outside the theater, Harpo, having escaped from Madame Egelichi's suite, finds the diamonds in the sardine can which had been set out for a cat, and puts them in his pocket. When he finds Maggie crying in her dressing room, Harpo takes her to Central Park, where he plays the harp for her and gives her the diamonds as a birthday gift.

On the opening night of the show, Grunion is visited by an agent of the Romanoff family, who threatens to kill him if he does not produce the diamonds in an hour. At the theater, Lefty and the Zoto brothers spy through a window as Maggie puts on the diamond necklace, but Mike asks her not to wear it, promising to buy her an engagement ring instead. As they kiss, Maggie removes the necklace and drops it on the piano strings. The curtain goes up, and when Harpo sees Lefty and the Zoto brothers menacing Maggie, he distracts them with a piece of costume jewelry and leads them up to the roof. Meanwhile, on stage, Faustino plays the piano, and when he strikes the keys forcefully, the diamond necklace flies into the air, drawing the attention of Madame Egelichi, who is watching from the audience. Faustino pockets the diamonds, then rushes to the roof to help Harpo. Madame Egelichi shows up with a gun and demands the necklace, but Faustino gives her the fake diamonds. After tying up Lefty and the Zotos and recovering the real diamonds, Harpo encounters Grunion, who has been hiding on the roof. Harpo drops the diamonds in Grunion's pocket, but then steals them back as Madame Egelichi begins to lead the detective away.

Later, in his office, Grunion comments that Harpo disappeared with the diamonds, never realizing their true value. Grunion interrupts his story to take a phone call from his wife, who turns out to be the former Madame Egelichi.

The protagonist is a young US Army lieutenant, Philip Nolan, who develops a friendship with the visiting Aaron Burr. When Burr is tried for treason (that historically occurred in 1807), Nolan is tried as an accomplice. During his testimony, he bitterly renounces his nation and, with a foul oath, angrily shouts, "I wish I may never hear of the United States again!" The judge is completely shocked at that announcement and, on convicting him, icily grants him his wish. Nolan is to spend the rest of his life aboard US Navy warships in exile with no right ever to set foot on US soil again and with explicit orders that no one shall ever again mention his country to him.

The sentence is carried out to the letter. For the rest of his life, Nolan is transported from ship to ship, lives out his life as a prisoner on the high seas, and is never allowed back in a home port. Though he is treated according to his former rank, nothing of his country is ever mentioned to him. None of the sailors in whose custody Nolan remains is allowed to speak to him about the US, and his newspapers are censored. Nolan is unrepentant at first, but over the years, he becomes sadder and wiser and desperate for news. One day, as he is being transferred to another ship, he beseeches a young sailor never to make the same mistake that he had: "Remember, boy, that behind all these men... behind officers and government, and people even, there is the Country Herself, your Country, and that you belong to her as you belong to your own mother. Stand by her, boy, as you would stand by your mother...!" On one such ship, he attends a party in which he dances with a young lady he had once known. He then beseeches her to tell him something, anything, about the US, but she quickly withdraws and no longer speaks to him.

Deprived of a homeland, Nolan slowly and painfully learns the true worth of his country. He misses it more than his friends or family, more than art or music or love or nature. Without it, he is nothing. Dying aboard the , he shows his room to an officer, Danforth. It is "a little shrine" of patriotism. The Stars and Stripes are draped around a picture of George Washington. Over his bed, Nolan has painted a bald eagle, with lightning "blazing from his beak" and claws grasping the globe. At the foot of his bed is an outdated map of the United States, showing many of its old territories that had, unbeknownst to him, been admitted to statehood. Nolan smiles, "Here, you see, I have a country!"

The dying man asks desperately to be told the news of American history since 1807, and Danforth finally relates to him almost every major event that has happened to the US since his sentence was imposed; the narrator confesses, however, "I could not make up my mouth to tell him a word about this infernal rebellion" (the Civil War). Nolan then asks him to bring his copy of the Presbyterian ''Book of Public Prayer'' and to read the page at which it automatically opens. Here are the words: "Most heartily we beseech Thee with Thy favor to behold and bless Thy servant, the President of the United States, and all others in authority." Nolan says, "I have repeated those prayers night and morning, it is now fifty-five years." Every day, he had read of the US but only in the form of a prayer to uphold its leaders since the US Navy had neglected to keep that book from him, which is the supreme irony of the story.

Nolan asks him to have them bury him in the sea and have a gravestone placed in memory of him at Fort Adams, Mississippi, or at New Orleans. When he dies later that day, he is found to have drafted a suitably patriotic epitaph for himself: "In memory of PHILIP NOLAN, Lieutenant in the Army of the United States. He loved his country as no other man has loved her; but no man deserved less at her hands."

''Enterprise'' heads to Andoria after Ambassador Soval informs them that the Vulcans believe they have been developing Xindi weapon technology. Soval guides ''Enterprise'' to a nebula where the Andorian fleet is hiding. Commander Shran is dubious, and abducts and tortures Soval. After believing him, ''Enterprise'' joins a fleet of six Andorian ships to intercept the Vulcans. Commander Tucker attempts to buy time by ordering ''Enterprise'' directly between the two fleets — this works for a while until Administrator V'Las orders them to be targeted too.

Meanwhile, at The Forge, Captain Archer, Commander T'Pol, and T'Pau, having found the sacred Kir'Shara (which the Syrrannites believe will usher a Vulcan enlightenment), endeavor to take it to the capital. En route, T'Pol and T'Pau discuss the taboo of mind-melds, and T'Pau offers to mind-meld with T'Pol. She states the meld is safe when performed by those trained in the art, and that Pa'nar Syndrome is merely the by-product of an improperly conducted meld. The trio are then attacked by Major Talok and Vulcan commandos, and T'Pol is captured while the others escape. She tells her captors that they are headed to Mount Seleya in order to mislead them from their true destination.

She is then taken to the capital. Archer and T'Pau also arrive after T'Pol's husband, Koss, provides transporter security codes. They present the Kir'Shara to the High Command and reveal that the embassy bombing was merely a pretext to weaken the pacifist Syrrannites prior to the Andorian strike. Visibly angered, V'Las lunges for the Kir'Shara, but is stunned by High Minister Kuvak, who orders the fleet to stand down. ''Enterprise'' returns to Vulcan, and Koss visits to release T'Pol from their marriage. Meanwhile, the Vulcan High Command is dissolved, granting Earth greater autonomy, and the katra of Surak is transferred to a Vulcan high priest. V'Las, relieved of his post, meets secretly with Talok, revealed to be a Romulan agent, who states that the reunification of their worlds is only a matter of time.

''Killzone'' takes place in a fictional world set in the year 2357. After nuclear war rendered much of the Earth uninhabitable in 2055, world governments formed an international order known as the United Colonial Nations. Partnering with private firms, the UCN moved to establish human colonies in Alpha Centauri, a system occupied by two planets: Vekta, a rich Earth-like world (named after the CEO of the mining conglomerate Helghan, Philip Vekta), and Helghan, a barren wasteland named after the same company. The Helghan Corporation sought to buy ownership of Vekta as well, but when the UCN imposed sanctions against its unfair business practices, a war broke out (known as the First Extrasolar War), which led to the ISA, the military arm of the UCN, driving the company out of Vekta. In response, the exiled colonists established their own civilization on Helghan, built on the principles of militarism and authoritarianism. The harsh environment and atmosphere killed many Helghans, forcing the survivors to use respirators and air tanks just to breathe. Eventually, the population, now known as the Helghast, mutated into pale-skinned hairless humanoids with increased strength, stamina, and intelligence. Violently xenophobic and convinced of their superiority, the Helghan consider humans to be beneath them, and dream of one day reconquering Vekta and expanding their empire to Earth and the neighboring star systems.

Story

Scolar Visari, emperor of Helghan, sends the Helghast Third Army to launch a secret invasion of Vekta. Alerted to the attack, the ISA attempt to prevent it with their SD (Solar Defense) network, but are unable to activate it in time to stop the invaders. With the element of surprise on their side, the Helghast quickly overwhelm the unprepared ISA ground forces and capture several strategic locations, including ISA Central Command.

While taking part in an offensive to slow the Helghast assault, Captain Jan Templar, a veteran ISA officer, is summoned to a meeting by his mentor and close friend, General Bradley Vaughton. Vaughton discloses that the ISA has requested assistance from the UCN and are working to restore the defense network. He also reveals that Colonel Gregor Hakha, a half-Helghan intelligence officer, had, on his orders, infiltrated the inner circle of Third Army commander General Joseph Lente, only to vanish while traveling to an extraction point in Vekta's slums. As Hakha is the only individual with knowledge of how the invasion bypassed SD, he assigns Jan to locate him. After fighting his way through the Helghast occupying the exterior of Central Command, Jan runs into Luger, a former comrade who is now working with an elite ISA division known as the Shadow Marshals. He also recruits the services of Ricardo Velasquez, an ISA gunner seeking revenge for the massacre of his entire platoon.

After rescuing Hakha, the team discovers that General Stuart Adams, the overseer for SD, is secretly working for Lente. He murders Vaughton and takes control of the system, planning to use it to destroy the relief fleet headed to Vekta. Under Jan's leadership, the team destroys several Helghast bases and infrastructure projects, eventually intercepting and killing Lente when he tries to deal with them personally. Adams retreats to the SD control center and tries to reason with the group, explaining that the Helghast will stop at nothing to reclaim Vekta, regardless of how many lives they lose. Nevertheless, the team disables the station and escapes just as the fleet destroys it, killing Adams. Jan and Luger speculate about what the future holds, realizing that the real war is far from over.

Voice cast

• Kal Weber as Captain Jan Templar
• Taylor Lawrence as Shadow Marshal Luger (credit as Jennifer Lawrence)
• Tom Clarke Hill as Sgt. Rico Valasquez
• Sean Pertwee as Colonel Gregor Hakha
• Brian Cox as Scolar Visari
• Steven Berkoff as General Joseph Lente
• Ronny Cox as General Stuart Adams
• Bob Sherman as General Bradley Vaughton
• John Schwab as Additional ISA Voices
• Kenny Andrews as Additional ISA Voices (credit as Kennie Andrews)
• Kerry Shale as Additional ISA Voices
• Eric Meyers as Additional ISA Voices (credit as Eric Myers)
• Larissa Murray as Additional ISA Voices
• Jonathan Keeble as Additional Helghast Voices
• Gary Martin as Additional Helghast Voices

Ambassador Soval is summoned before Administrator V'Las and the High Council to face punishment over his use of a mind meld. Since the act is widely considered to be criminal by the Vulcan authorities, Soval is summarily dismissed from the Ambassadorial service. Meanwhile, Captain Archer and Commander T'Pol are questioned by the Syrrannites. After a short while, T'Pol is taken to see her mother, T'Les, and the two disagree about the tenets of the group — the Vulcan authorities call them extremists, a term T'Les disagrees with. Soon, Archer begins to see visions of an old Vulcan, and the dissidents determine that he had the katra of Surak transferred into him via mind meld.

V'Las, now largely unopposed on the Council, becomes increasingly obsessed with decisively ending the Syrrannite threat once and for all. He postpones his plans to bombard the encampment, after delays in convincing ''Enterprise'' to leave orbit. He contacts Starfleet, and the Admiralty give Commander Tucker direct orders, which he refuses to carry out. He attempts, with assistance from Soval, to send a rescue shuttlepod to "The Forge", but they are intercepted by Vulcan patrol vessels. V'Las then finally orders Vulcan warships to directly engage ''Enterprise'', and Soval suggests that they should retreat before they are severely damaged.

A ritual is performed to transfer the katra into the mind of T'Pau, but the attempt fails. Archer continues to see Surak, who informs him that he must find the relic known as the "Kir'Shara". The Vulcan military begin to bombard the complex. Archer, T'Pol, and T'Pau remain behind to search for the relic, and Archer is able to use his knowledge to unlock a door to reveal it. As they exit, T'Pol finds her mother, but she soon dies after being seriously injured in the attack. On ''Enterprise'', Soval reveals that the Vulcans, despite the recent peace accord, are preparing a pre-emptive strike against the Andorians, and Tucker orders an immediate course at maximum warp.

Gameplay screenshot

Arkos, a former loyal lieutenant of the beautiful but evil galactic empress Queen Gremla, became a rebel dedicated to end her cruel tyranny. The first part of the game takes place on the prison planet Hypsis, from which Arkos must try to escape. In the second part, Arkos arrives in the jungle swamp planet Sckunn to infiltrate the queen's palace, defeat her Giant Guardian robot, and assassinate her.

Set in Tokugawa Japan, this manga begins by following Shiina Yuya, a bounty hunter searching for her brother's murderer. However, Yuya quickly meets a medicine peddler named Mibu Kyoshiro, who turns out to be sharing a body with the feared samurai Demon Eyes Kyo. Over time, Mibu Kyoshiro and, to a lesser extent, Shiina Yuya recede from the story while Demon Eyes Kyo comes to the fore. Kyo's only stated wish is to regain his own body. Following this path leads Kyo, Yuya and a variety of fellow travelers into conflict with both the Tokugawa shogunate and the Mibu tribe, a race of violent superhumans who have run Japan from the shadows for millennia.

Underlying the principal story arc of Kyo's search to reclaim his body, there are many smaller arcs, each leading to the next one. The basis of many later revelations are established many volumes in advance. In the manga, it is revealed that all of the Mibu, except for Kyo, are descendants of "Battle Dolls", creatures created by the Mibu to fight for their amusement. In time, the Battle Dolls come to believe they were the real Mibu, and that the real Mibu eventually became extinct due to in-fighting. The Mibu Battle Dolls are gradually being killed by the "Death Disease". Muramasa's sister was the first to be killed by the disease, but others soon followed. The disease manifests itself when the infected person reaches a certain age. For this reason, the aging process has been stopped in Antera, Tokito, and probably others.

Demon Eyes Kyo ultimately defeats the father and creator of the Mibu, the Former Crimson King, who was also the very first Battle Doll. Originally an extremely beloved and thoroughly benevolent ruler, the King had become totally corrupted by his loss of all faith in humanity, and became an insane tyrant bent on completely eradicating all of mankind. Kyo then goes missing-in-action after the final battle, which blows up the Mibu capital. Kyo shows up at the end of the penultimate chapter being called upon by his sword tenro. In the bonus chapter which contains no dialogue shows Kyo and Yuya living in a house together.

The beginning sees Lusiphur left to die in a desert. He makes use of a lamp, with the subsequent genie, that he received after trading the dead body of a Doppleganger to his ex-wife, Hyena. After a failed attempt to ask for a million wishes, he settles on three: A powerful Elven sword named Cinlach, super speed to get out of the desert, and the "well of souls," an assassin tool.

Genie gives him the wishes. But to give them, she has to take them from somewhere. Cinlach comes from an Elven Warduke named Ailwon Sann Fenlach, who quickly notices it missing. He is a veteran of many long-ago wars against the Orcs even if age and time have worn down his fighting acumen. Sann Fenlach has his mage transport him to Lusiphur's location in the desert where he challenges the elf to a duel for stealing his property. At first the Fenlach is winning, due in part to his mage immediately fixing any wounds Lusiphur can inflict.

The turning point comes when a magician named Tenth steps in. Tenth was quietly reading in his study when he felt a temporary shock. The genie drained his power to accommodate Lusiphur's request for super speed. Tenth also pinpoints where Lusiphur is located and sees that he is currently fighting Sann Fenlach. He also sees the disparity in the fight. Lusiphur is a young but experienced assassin, having to fight for everything he ever had. The High Lord is sedentary, fighting his last significant battle hundreds of years ago. In the meantime he has been sitting on his throne recounting past battles. Tenth sees that he is relying too much on the magical connection and severs it.

After Lushiphur defeats the High Lord when the odds are more even, he starts burying the body. Tenth then arrives to take back the small sliver of power that Lusiphur took from him. Tenth wants it to be a fair contest however. Lusiphur could best Tenth in a physical contest and Tenth could destroy Lusiphur quickly if he chose. The wizard has not had a challenge in a while, and so decides to make a sport of it.

In "Tenth's Game," the Elf is given a fighting chance: Make it across 50 meters through an arch. If he does he will survive. His only weapon is a temporary power of shape-changing into animals given to him by Tenth. The wizard promises to only use his shape-changing powers in return.

The two play a cat-and-mouse game, Lusiphur at one point turning into panther-like creature to fend off Tenth who had become a hawk. Tenth turns to a fly, so Lusiphur turns to a rattle snake, but he cannot figure out how to move a rattlesnake. This was when Tenth turns to a Unicorn, causing Lusiphur to panic and he chose a Nightmare (A black batwinged unicorn that bleeds acid and breathes fire.) Tenth becomes a Drake, where as Lusiphur turns to a black Dragon, knocking Tenth into a mountain. After recovering Tenth becomes a gold dragon, the two fight. Lusiphur gets his teeth on Tenth's throat. Up to this point in his existence Tenth has thoroughly beaten any competitor. Lusiphur has made the wizard fear for his life for the first time in many years. The dragon battle drags on, until Lusiphur disappears. Tenth assumes he is dead and scans the ground for his body. As Tenth searches for Lusiphur's body, he tries to go through the gate as a dragon, but he finds he can't fit. So Tenth becomes a Hell hound and goes through the gate, the moment he crosses it, Lusiphur appears out of nowhere and nearly carves Tenth's heart out. Lusiphur had become a flea and let Tenth carry him through the gate.

While the Simpson family attends a French Canadian circus called "Cirque de Purée", a violent thunderstorm strikes Springfield and forces an early end to the performance. The storm turns into a snowsquall overnight, leading to the closure of nearly every local school and business. Springfield Elementary School remains open, but only a few students and faculty members show up since it is the day before Christmas break. To pass the time, Principal Skinner plays a long, low-budget, poor-quality Christmas film for the children. When class lets out at the end of the day, they discover that they are now trapped in the building by the snow blocking the doors and windows.

With the school's telephone service knocked out by the storm, Skinner tries to keep control over the children and begins to ration the available food. After Nelson tries and fails to escape, Skinner looks through his footlocker of memorabilia from his United States Army service and remembers when he was able to command respect from his subordinates. Hanging Nelson by his vest on a coat hook, Skinner threatens to do the same to the other children and briefly frightens them into submission. However, Bart defies Skinner and tries to tunnel his way out; Skinner stops him, but ends up half-buried in show when the tunnel caves in. The children take Skinner captive and begin to run amok throughout the school.

Meanwhile, Homer and Ned decide to rescue the children, clearing the roads with an improvised snowplow built by attaching a section of Ned's roof to the front end of his car. The car skids out of control and crashes into a fire hydrant, which sprays water that freezes it in place. Homer attempts to break them loose by gunning the engine, with no success, and the car fills with carbon monoxide that causes both men to hallucinate wildly. Skinner sends out a call for help by slipping a note inside the exercise ball of the school hamster, Nibbles, and pushing the animal out a window. Nibbles finds its way to Homer and Ned, jolting them back to reality and alerting them to the situation. They break the car free of the frozen hydrant and speed toward the school, but again lose control and crash into a silo filled with salt on the grounds of a cracker factory. The salt spills out and melts the snow around the school, freeing Skinner and the children. Superintendent Chalmers arrives unexpectedly, ready to chastise Skinner over the crisis, but is mollified by Skinner's claim that there is a good explanation for it and does not ask for any details. The episode closes with Lisa turning into a camel - the product of a fresh round of Homer's hallucinations - and wishing the viewer a merry Christmas.

Setting

''Ultima Underworld'' is set in Britannia, the fantasy world of the ''Ultima'' series. Specifically, the game takes place inside a large, underground dungeon called the Great Stygian Abyss. The dungeon's entrance lies on the Isle of the Avatar, an island ruled by Baron Almric. The Abyss first appeared in ''Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar'', in which it contains the player's final goal, the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom.

''Ultima Underworld'' is set after the events of ''Ultima VI: The False Prophet''; in the time between the two games, a man named Cabirus attempted to create a utopian colony inside the Abyss. The eight settlements of the ''Ultima'' series each embody one of eight virtues, and Cabirus wished to create a ninth that embodied all virtues. To achieve this, he united diverse cultures and races in peaceful co-existence and planned to promote harmony by giving each group one of eight virtue-imbued magical artifacts. However, he died before distributing the artifacts, and left no instructions for doing so. As a result, the colony collapsed into anarchy and war, and the artifacts were lost. At the time of ''Ultima Underworld'', the Abyss contains the remnants of Cabirus's colony, inhabited by fractious groups of humans, goblins, trolls and others.

Story

Before the beginning of the game, the Abyss-dwelling wizard brothers Garamon and Tyball accidentally summon a demon, the Slasher of Veils, while experimenting with inter-dimensional travel. Garamon is used as bait to lure the demon into a room imbued with virtue. However, the demon offers Tyball great power if he betrays Garamon. Tyball agrees, but the betrayal fails; Garamon is killed, but seals the demon inside the room. Because he lacks virtue, Tyball cannot re-enter by himself, and plans to sacrifice Baron Almric's daughter, Arial, at the doorway to gain entrance.

In the game's introduction, the ghost of Garamon haunts the Avatar's dreams with warnings of a great danger in Britannia. The Avatar allows Garamon to take him there, where he watches Tyball kidnap Arial. Tyball escapes, leaving the Avatar to be caught by the Baron's guards. The guards take him to the Baron, who banishes him to the Great Stygian Abyss to rescue Arial. After the introduction, the Avatar explores the dungeon and finds remnants of Cabirus's colony. A few possible scenarios include deciding the fate of two warring goblin tribes, learning a language, and playing an instrument to complete a quest. The Avatar eventually defeats Tyball and frees Arial.

However, as he dies, Tyball reveals that he had decided to contain the Slasher of Veils, whose prison he had been weakening, within Arial as a way to prevent it from destroying the world. Arial asks the Avatar to prevent the Slasher of Veils from being unleashed, and magically teleports back to the surface to evacuate its inhabitants. With help from Garamon's ghost, the Avatar gathers the eight talismans of Cabirus and throws them in the volcano at the base of the Abyss; Garamon uses the energy they release to open a portal and send the Slasher of Veils into another dimension. The Avatar is sucked through the portal into a chaotic alternate dimension, but escapes back to the Isle of the Avatar and makes it on board the Baron's ship as the volcano erupts. As the game ends, Garamon's spirit reveals that he teleported the inhabitants of the Abyss to another cave.

Eddie McDowd (Jason Dohring) is considered to be a schoolyard bully by his peers. McDowd considers himself very attractive and powerful and so he bullies others without mercy. One day, while bullying a kid after school, he is caught by a kind of mystical man. He tells McDowd that due to his bullying he will be punished for his wrongdoings by living life as a dog, and that in order to be restored as a human, he has to do 100 good deeds for others. Besides The Drifter, the only one who can hear him talk is Justin Taylor, the last kid he bullied. At first, the two are firmly against the idea, but McDowd realizes that he must work alongside Justin and his family to finish his good deeds. Every time Eddie performs a good deed, the Drifter appears with a creatively presented number stating the remaining deeds he has left. Occasionally, when Eddie misbehaves the Drifter takes away one of his deeds. The story has no ending, as the series was cancelled before a final resolution could be made.

One day, Marge sees a friend from high school, Chloe Talbot, on TV and is jealous of her success as a news reporter. When they meet, an embarrassed Marge confesses she never left Springfield, but the two are glad to see each other again. Chloe comes to the Simpsons' house for dinner, but her exciting stories annoy Marge and inspire Lisa, who goes out to dinner with Chloe.

Marge reveals that she and Chloe were reporters for their high school newspaper, but after high school Marge stayed with her sweetheart Homer after Bart was born, with Chloe leaving her sweetheart Barney when he proposed. With all of Chloe's success, Marge seems to begin to resent both her decision and her family but receives supporting words from Homer.

On their way back from dinner, Chloe invites Lisa to the United Nations women's conference, with Lisa saying she would need parental permission. Upon arriving at the Simpsons house, a drunk Marge, who is worried that Lisa likes Chloe more, provokes Chloe and the two fight on the lawn. This leaves Marge with a black eye.

After Marge talks with Lisa about what happened, she forbids her to go to the women's conference, but Lisa sneaks out and hides in Chloe's car's trunk. Then, as Chloe drives off, her boss calls her, telling her to cover the story of the eruption of Springfield Volcano. When Lisa pops out of the trunk, Chloe has her be her cameraman after her original one fled at the sight of lava.

When Marge and Homer arrive at the women's conference to find Lisa, they see Chloe's live broadcast from the volcano, crediting Lisa behind the camera and the two trapped by a sea of lava. Marge and Homer race to the volcano and the former leaps from rock to rock to rescue Lisa. Moments later, Barney descends in a helicopter to rescue Chloe, who grants him a half hour of pity sex.

When Marge imagines her life as a reporter, she screams to her family, who shows little interest.

In Montana in 1882, "Boss" Spearman is a seasoned open range cattleman, who, with hired hands Charley Waite, Mose, and Button, is driving a herd cross-country. Charley is a former Union soldier who served in a "special squad" during the Civil War and feels immense guilt over his past as a killer of both enemy soldiers and civilians.

Boss sends Mose to the nearby town of Harmonville for supplies. The town is controlled by ruthless Irish immigrant and rancher Denton Baxter, who hates open-rangers for using his land to feed their herds. Mose is badly beaten and jailed by the town's corrupt marshal, Poole, after defending himself in a fight with some of Baxter's men. The only Harmonville inhabitant willing to openly defy Baxter is Percy, the livery stable owner.

Boss and Charley become concerned when Mose does not return. They retrieve him from the jail but not before Baxter gives them an ultimatum to leave the area before nightfall. Mose's injuries are so severe that Boss and Charley take him to the local physician, Doc Barlow. There they meet his assistant, Sue. Charley is attracted immediately but assumes that Sue is the doctor's wife and chooses not to stay the night even after being invited.

After catching masked riders scouting their cattle, Boss and Charley sneak up on their campsite, disarm, and humiliate them. At the same time, other riders trash their camp and shoot Mose and Charley's dog Tig dead. Button is badly injured after being shot in the chest. Charley and Boss vow to avenge their friend. They leave Button at the doctor's house and go into town; with help from Percy, they capture Poole and his deputies, subdue them with chloroform stolen from the Barlows, and lock them up in their own jail.

Charley learns that Sue is the doctor's sister, not his wife. He declares his feelings for her, and she gives him a locket for luck. Charley leaves a note with Percy, in which he states that if he should die, money from the sale of his saddle and gear are to be used to buy Sue a new tea set, having accidentally destroyed her previous set while suffering a flashback to his war days.

Boss and Charley are pitted against Baxter and his men. Before the fight begins, Charley confesses to Boss that his full name is Charles Postlewaite, and he asks Boss to reciprocate. Boss says his real name is Bluebonnet Spearman, but makes Charley swear not to tell anyone. As Baxter and his men approach, Charley confronts them and shoots Butler, the hired gunman who killed Mose. An intense gun battle erupts in the street, with Boss, Charley and Percy outnumbered before the townspeople begin to openly fight against Baxter. Baxter's men, Poole and his deputies, and the local saloonkeeper are killed off one-by-one and Baxter ends up wounded and alone, trapped in the jailhouse. Boss shoots open the jailhouse door and engages him in a brief close-quarters gunfight which leaves Baxter mortally wounded.

Sue's brother tends to the wounded townspeople while the dead are buried, and the town is cleaned up. Charley speaks to Sue in private, telling her he must leave. She counters that she has a "big idea" about their future together and that she will wait for him to return. He does return, and proposes to Sue, who accepts. After Button has recovered, Charley and Boss decide to retire from the cattle business after delivering their current herd and settle down in Harmonville, taking over the saloon.

The story begins sometime in the 29th century on the planet Wilson (orbiting Arcturus) with a young man named Giraut and his romantic, swashbuckling friends, who are all members of the Nou Occitan culture and residents in the Quartier de Jovents, a sort of playground for teens and twenty-somethings who have not yet moved on to the more "grown-up" lifestyle of their parents.
Technologically safeguarded, these young adults have swordfights in the streets with "neuroducer" épées and frequent the taverns of the Quartier, living in an imaginative recreation of Occitan literature and the ''trobador'' tradition.

However, Giraut is forced to grow up much more quickly than most of his friends, because one day his friend Aimeric, who was, before coming to Wilson and becoming a ''jovent'', an economist in the Caledon culture of the nearest inhabited planet, Nansen (orbiting Mufrid), is called upon by the government to return to his home planet on a mission to regulate the effects of the springer on Caledonian economy. The springer is a method of instantaneous transportation which is quickly reuniting humanity across known space.

Giraut decides to leave when he catches his girlfriend getting into the Interstellar "arts scene" (the art is called "sadoporn") which is an acting out against the exclusive values and code of honor valued by Giraut and his friends. Thus, Aimeric and Giraut advise the rational council of the Caledonians to adjust their economy to that of the rest of the universe so that the springer will have as few adverse effects as possible.

When the Caledonians decide that Aimeric and Giraut, as well as the Interstellar government, are trying to usurp their power, they begin to try to seize back control of everything, and an urban conflict ensues. Giraut discovers among the strife who he really is and begins to see how fake his life back home was, and recognize faults in his home culture.

Having been expelled from previous schools due to the lack of control of his powers, Kyung-soo is determined to graduate and attend Volcano High (the last school who will accept him). On his first day, he doesn't fit in due to him being an outsider and the only friends he makes are Shimma and Golbangi, whom the latter warn him of Chae-yi's reputation as Icy Jade.

In another room, Hak-rim is seen using his powers to make a tea based antidote for the principal. On his way to deliver the antidote, Hak-rim is able to prevent a fight between Kyung-soo and Jang Ryang (after the latter hated the smell of Fujian Tofu). Reminding the latter that he must not start trouble, Ryang leaves in anger.

Meanwhile, trouble ensues with Vice Principal Hak-sa who is determined to be principal of Volcano High from the former headmaster. Despite his fears of Jang Ryang, Hak-sa enlists his help to frame famed martial arts student, Hak-rim, for stealing an ancient manuscript that is believed to help end the 17 years of feuding. However, he soon runs into several problems after successfully framing and imprisoning Hak-rim. The principal is not only alive, but is in a happy induced coma and adding to Hak-sa's problems is that the Dark Oxen gang having taken over the school.

Most students begin to believe Kyung-soo framed Hak-rim, despite his denial and maintaining his innocence. However, Chae-yi believes him and tells her friend, Yo-seon that she suspects Ryang of framing Hak-rim. This is confirmed when Ryang shows up with intentions to make her, his queen so they could rule Volcano High together. Chae-yi refuses the offer and Kyung-soo tries to defend her. During a fight with Ryang, Kyung-soo is able to defeat him, but later is injured temporarily from the whole thing when he becomes distracted with his parents' plea to behave himself.

During visitation to Hak-rim, Chae-yi and Yo-seon tells him about the incident with Ryang's involvement in his framing. He soon begins to sense Kyung-soo is their only chance to restore order to Volcano High and asks them to set up a meeting with him.

Realizing that Ryang could hinder his efforts to take control of Volcano High and prevent him from taking the manuscript, Hak-sa calls forth Mr. Ma and his gang known as the Five Teachers to help him retake control of the school. They succeed and begin punishing the students for minor infractions. Kyung-soo tries to avoid being in trouble at all times, afraid of the shame he could bring to his family if expelled one last time. However, Mr. Ma recognizes him from a previous school and this forces him to fight.

One day, Hak-rim and Kyung-soo meet in visitation. Convinced that he may be the students only chance to bring order into the school once more, Hak-rim trains Kyung-soo to master his powers properly. Although Kyung-soo refuses to be involved, he slowly begins to realize the meaning of Hak-rim's warning that he can't escape his fate and must help restore order in the school by finding the said manuscript. He begins to master his powers in the boys shower room and accidentally gets Chae-yi wet. However, by this time, she begins to have feelings for him and vice versa.

Ryang is angered by this, but more so with Hak-sa when he discovers what the vice-principal has done in recruiting the Five Teachers. He tries to remind him of their original deal, but Mr. Ma sends him away. Kyung-soo finally fights Mr. Ma during the climax of the film. After a lengthy battle, he is able to defeat Mr. Ma and kill him. Opening the box, Kyung-soo reveals there is no manuscript to the shock of Ryang, Hak-sa and the remaining four teachers. However, the students doesn't care because they realized the meaning Hak-rim's words about the manuscript being a metaphor and that he knew Kyung-soo was the one who is able to restore order in the school. Hak-sa eventually loses it and the remaining four teachers willingly abandons him after the loss of Mr. Ma.

With that, the charges against Hak-rim are dismissed and he is set free. The principal is back to normal and is able to run the school again. When he mentions his dreams of the manuscript, the students reveal that they know the truth of Hak-rim's words of it being a metaphor. The principal asks them about it, the students reveal he knew that Kyung-soo was the one destined to restore order to the school because of his abilities. He able to fight Ryang fairly and win without worry of expulsion. Kyung-soo is able to graduate from high school and make his family proud for once. In the end scenes, Kyung-soo poses with the other clubs in photos. Chae-yi notices Yo-seon writing another letter to Hak-rim and realizes she has feelings for him. She soon advises Yo-seon to tell him of her feelings for him soon. She refuses and continues writing more letters. Hak-sa is seen in the same induced coma after his loss of favor.

The film is based on Nepalese Panchayat system in Nepal while in Nepalese king Birendra of Nepal's times.

Andrzej (Leon Niemczyk) and Krystyna (Jolanta Umecka) are driving to a lake to go sailing when they come upon a young man (Zygmunt Malanowicz) hitchhiking in the middle of the road. After nearly hitting him, Andrzej invites the young man along. When they arrive at the lake, instead of leaving the young man behind, Andrzej invites him to go sailing with them. The young man accepts the offer, and, not knowing much about sailing, must learn many hard lessons from Andrzej.

Meanwhile, tension gradually builds between Andrzej and the hitchhiker as they vie for the attentions of Krystyna. The title refers to the major turning point in the film when Andrzej taunts the young man with the latter's treasured pocket knife, which is accidentally lost overboard. A fight ensues between Andrzej and the hitchhiker and the latter falls into the water. Andrzej and his wife search for him, but cannot find him and assume that he has drowned, since earlier he said that he could not swim. Andrzej and his wife quarrel about what to do, and Andrzej swims to shore to fetch the police. When the young man realizes that Andrzej has gone he comes out from hiding behind a buoy on the lake and swims to the yacht. There he sees Krystyna naked drying off. He boards the yacht and Krystyna tells him he is as bad as Andrzej but sexual attraction wins out and they have sex, off screen.

Krystyna sails back to the dock, the man jumps off and goes on his way before Andrzej appears and takes charge again. He wants to go to the police to report the young man missing. Krystyna tells him that the young man returned and she was unfaithful. Andrzej does not know what to believe and at the road junction, where they would turn one way to return home and another to go to the police station, the car does not move.

Just outside the town of Crescent Cove, Mike Tobacco and his girlfriend Debbie Stone are parked with other couples at the local lovers' lane when they spot a strange glowing object falling to Earth. Nearby, farmer Gene Green, believing it to be Halley's Comet, ventures into the woods to find the impact site. He stumbles upon a large circus tent-like structure, and he and his dog are captured by mysterious clown-like aliens known as "Klowns". Mike and Debbie arrive to investigate for themselves. Entering the structure, they discover a complex interior with bizarre rooms and eventually realize it is the object and a spaceship. They find a gelatinized Green encased in a cotton candy-like cocoon and are spotted by a klown, who shoots popcorn at them from a bazooka-like weapon and then chases them aided by another one who uses a living balloon dog.

Narrowly escaping to the local police station, they report the incident to one of the officers and Debbie's ex-boyfriend, Dave Hanson, and his curmudgeonly partner, Curtis Mooney. Mike takes Dave to the site of the ship, only to find it has disappeared and left a large crater in its place. They travel to the lovers' lane, only to find all the cars abandoned and covered in the cocoon's substance. The klowns begin encasing townspeople in cocoons using toy-like rayguns. Several klowns perform pranks and mock circus acts which result in the deaths of several onlookers.

Mike and Dave witness a klown using shadow puppets to shrink a crowd of people, then dump them into a bag full of popcorn, which are revealed to be klowns in larval form. Back at the police station, another klown arrives and Mooney arrests it, believing it to be a teenage prankster. Dave returns to the station to find the place ransacked and the klown using a deceased Mooney as a ventriloquist's dummy. Dave shoots the alien in the nose, which causes it to spin wildly and explode.

Mike meets with his friends, Rich and Paul Terenzi, and using the PA speaker on their ice cream truck, they drive around town attempting to warn people of the klowns. At Debbie's house, popcorn from her earlier encounter with the klowns evolves into juvenile klowns and attacks her. As she attempts to escape, she is intercepted by the klowns, who trap her in a giant balloon. Mike, Dave, and the Terenzis witness Debbie's capture and give chase, following the klowns to the local amusement park, where they have relocated their ship. Journeying through a funhouse, the Terenzi brothers become separated. After Dave and Mike witness a klown using a drinking straw to drink one of the gelatinized townspeople's blood, they rescue Debbie and flee into a maze full of traps.

The trio then finds themselves surrounded by a legion of klowns. The Terenzis arrive in their ice cream truck and use the PA to distract the aliens. A gargantuan klown marionette, Jojo the Klownzilla, appears and destroys the ice cream truck, seemingly killing the Terenzis, Dave creates a distraction and Mike and Debbie escape before the ship begins to take off. Dave uses his badge to pierce Jojo's nose, causing it to explode and destroy the ship. A klown car drops out of the sky and Dave emerges along with the Terenzi brothers, who miraculously survived by hiding in the ice cream truck's freezer moments before it was destroyed. As the group watches the fireworks created by the ship's destruction, pies fall from the sky and land on their faces.

In 1988 Rome, Salvatore Di Vita, a famous film director, returns home late one evening, where his girlfriend sleepily tells him that his mother called to say someone named Alfredo has died. Salvatore shies from committed relationships and has not been to his home village of Giancaldo, Sicily in thirty years. As his girlfriend asks him who Alfredo was, Salvatore is not able to fall asleep and flashes back to his childhood.

A few years after World War II, eight-year-old Salvatore is the mischievous, intelligent son of a war widow. Nicknamed Toto, he discovers a love for films and spends every free moment at the local movie house, named Cinema Paradiso. Although they initially start off on tense terms, he develops a friendship with the middle-aged projectionist, Alfredo, who often lets him watch movies from the projection booth. During the shows, the audience can be heard booing because there are missing sections, causing the films to suddenly jump, bypassing scenes with romantic kisses or embraces. The local priest, owner of the cinema, had ordered these sections to be censored, and the deleted scenes are cut from the film reels by Alfredo and piled on the projection room floor, where Alfredo keeps them until he can splice them back in for the film to be sent to the next town.

Alfredo eventually teaches Salvatore how to operate the film projector. One day, Cinema Paradiso catches fire as Alfredo is projecting ''The Firemen of Viggiù'' after hours, on the wall of a nearby house. Salvatore saves Alfredo's life, but not before a reel of nitrate film explodes in Alfredo's face, leaving him permanently blind. The movie house is rebuilt by a town citizen, Ciccio Spaccafico, who invests a big football lottery winning. Salvatore, still a child, is hired as the new projectionist, as he is the only person who knows how to run the machines.

About a decade later, Salvatore, now in high school, is still operating the projector at the "Nuovo Cinema Paradiso". His relationship with the blind Alfredo has strengthened, and Salvatore often looks to him for help – advice that Alfredo often dispenses by quoting classic films. Salvatore has been experimenting with filming, using a home movie camera; doing this he has met, and captured on film, a girl named Elena Mendola, daughter of a wealthy banker, and has fallen in love with her. Salvatore woos – and wins – Elena's heart, only to lose her due to her father's disapproval.

As Elena and her family move away, Salvatore leaves town for compulsory military service (even if, as a war orphan, he should be exempted from it). His attempts to write to Elena are fruitless; his letters are returned as undeliverable. Upon his return from the military, Alfredo urges Salvatore to leave Giancaldo permanently, counseling that the town is too small for Salvatore to ever find his dreams. Moreover, the old man tells him, once Salvatore leaves, he must pursue his destiny wholeheartedly, never looking back and never returning, even to visit; he must never give in to nostalgia or even write or think about them. They tearfully embrace, and Salvatore leaves town to pursue his future as a filmmaker.

Once back in present time, Salvatore realizes that he is very satisfied with his life from a professional point of view but not from a personal one, so decides to return home to attend Alfredo's funeral. Though the town has changed greatly, he now understands why Alfredo thought it was important that he leave. Alfredo's widow tells him that the old man followed Salvatore's successes with pride and he left him something: an unlabeled film reel and the old stool that Salvatore once stood on to operate the projector. Salvatore learns that Cinema Paradiso is to be demolished to make way for a parking lot. At the funeral, he recognizes the faces of many people who attended the cinema when he was the projectionist.

Salvatore comes back to Rome, watches Alfredo's reel and discovers it comprises all the romantic scenes that the priest had ordered Alfredo to cut from the movies; Alfredo had spliced the sequences together to form a single unreduced film of aching desire and lustful frenzy. In the final scenes, Salvatore makes peace with his past with tears in his eyes.

The player comes upon a scene of a Greek city being devastated by a huge Aztec army after being summoned from a "pure prayer". After the player saves a certain number of people, their people are transported to a new land with a handful of refugee worshipers, the player must re-establish a power base from which to eventually defeat the Aztec empire. To do so, the player must conquer the Norse, the Japanese and the Aztecs, either by peace or war. Throughout the game there is a theme of "The prophecy", which states that a tribe will be destroyed by the mightiest power in the world but will receive a god who will lead them to glory and dominance of the world.

The eponymous hero undergoes a journey of self-realization. The story centers upon Wilhelm's attempt to escape what he views as the empty life of a bourgeois businessman. After a failed romance with the theater, Wilhelm commits himself to the mysterious Tower Society.

Book One

(1) Barbara is waiting on her mistress, Mariane, to return from her performance at the theater. When Mariane returns she ignores the presents of her suitor, Norberg, who is scheduled to arrive in 14 days. Wilhelm, whom she loves despite his ill-prospects, arrives and they embrace. (2) The next morning Wilhelm argues with his mother about his obsession with the theater. They reminisce about the puppet show that his mother put on twelve years prior at Christmas. On account of the play (David & Goliath) Wilhelm became entranced by the theater. He asks his mother where his old puppets are, wanting to show them to a friend.

(3) One night Wilhelm brings his box of puppets to show Mariane and Barbara. They spend the evening listening to Wilhelm tell stories about the aforementioned puppet show.

"It is pleasant and satisfying to remember the obstacles that we sadly thought were insurmountable, and then compare what we, as mature persons, have now developed into, with what we were then, in our immaturity. I cannot tell you how happy I am now that I can talk to you about the past - now that I gaze out towards the joyous landscape that we shall travel hand in hand." (Trans. Blackall & Lange, 1989)

"...these mysteries disturbed me so much that I wanted to be both among the enchanted and the enchanters, somehow secretly to have a hand in it, and at the same time, as a spectator, be able to enjoy the pleasure of the illusion." (Trans. Blackall & Lange, 1989)

(8) By this point Mariane has fallen asleep, but Wilhelm continues his story, this time about how he and his friends attempted to turn all manner of novels, stories, and histories into plays. By the time he was fourteen he was being groomed for a job in commerce, which his adolescent heart couldn’t bear. He composed a poem where the Muse of Tragedy vied with a figure of Commerce. Wilhelm is so inspired in his speech that he wakes Mariane up.

(9) Wilhelm allows his imagination to run wild in the following days

"Fate, he decided, was extending its helping hand to him, through Mariane, to draw him out of that stifling, draggle-tailed middle-class existence he had so long desired to escape." (Trans. Blackall & Lange, 1989)

(11) It was Wilhelm and Werner’s fathers, described here, who had organized this commercial journey for him. Wilhelm is thrilled at the chance to use this trip as his escape. He visits Mariane in at night and alerts her to the plan. (12) In the morning Mariane is miserable and talks to Barbara about her options. She loves Wilhelm but is awaiting the near arrival of her rich suitor, Norberg.

(13) In the meantime, Wilhelm has arrived at the house of his father’s business associate—only to hear that the man’s daughter has run away with an actor. An uncomfortable Wilhelm stays the night and, after setting out the next morning, sees a wagon bringing the pair of lovers back to town. Wilhelm goes to the courthouse and hears their confessions of love, which inspires him to act as their mediator. (14) Wilhelm talks with Melina (the young male lover) alone and is dismayed to hear that he wants to leave the theater. Nevertheless, he offers to try and convince the girl’s parents to find him a job in the village. Wilhelm fails to secure him a position, and the pair of lovers must leave in a few days.

(15) On his way home Wilhelm recollects his initial romance with Mariane. When he arrives, Werner tries to talk him out of the relationship. Ill at ease, Wilhelm rushes off to see Mariane that evening, and his spirits are revived as they reminisce about past times together. (16) Wilhelm writes to Mariane, detailing his plans to start their new life together.

(17) Wilhelm finds Mariane in a strange mood and decides to hold on to the letter; she tells him not to return that night. He wanders the streets and meets a stranger who reveals his knowledge of Wilhelm’s grandfather’s art collection, which was sold in Wilhelm’s childhood. Wilhelm returns to Mariane’s, and as he waits outside he sees a dark figure emerge from her door. At home he takes out Mariane’s scarf; a concealed note, written by Mariane’s other suitor, falls out.

Book Two

(1-2) Over the next couple years Wilhelm occupies himself with business affairs and agonizes over what happened with Mariane. Werner stokes his anger toward Mariane, but on one occasion attempts to stop Wilhelm from burning all of his old keepsakes and theater manuscripts.

(3) While on another business trip, Wilhelm hears there will be a play put on by factory workers in the small village of Hochdorf; he decides to attend. After more strenuous travels he finally rests in a town where he has no business to conduct. (4) In the town are a traveling group of acrobats and the remnants of a theater troupe. The former includes the androgynous child Mignon, whom Wilhelm buys from the cruel manager of the troupe at the end of the chapter; the latter includes Philine and Laertes, whom Wilhelm befriends and dines with over the next few days. He takes time to watch the performances of the acrobats.

(5-6). After having disappeared Mignon returns and acts as Wilhelm’s servant. He stays in town, practicing his fencing and dancing, until Melina and Madam Melina appear, looking for work. Although they do not get along well with Philine and Laertes, Melina plans to start a new theater company, with Wilhelm footing the bill for scenery and costumes. Wilhelm begins to regret staying so long in the town. (7) Four newcomers arrive in town; one of whom is an “oldish man,” whom Wilhelm recognized from performances with Mariane. Wilhelm finds out from him that three years ago Mariane became pregnant and had been dismissed from her theater company. (8) Still reeling from the news, Wilhelm returns to his room, where Mignon performs her egg dance for him. He is so moved by it that he realizes his wish to take her as his own child.

(9) The next day the whole troupe takes a boat down the river to a new lunch spot. While extemporizing a play, they are joined by a “clergyman,” who later talks to Wilhelm privately about fate, education, and acting.

"'But,' said Wilhelm, 'shouldn't natural talent be all that an actor...needs to enable him to reach the high goal he has set himself?' 'That should certainly be, and continue to be, the alpha and omega, beginning and end; but in between he will be deficient if he does not somehow cultivate what he has, and what he is to be, and that quite early on. It could be that those considered geniuses are worse off than those with ordinary abilities, for a genius can more easily than ordinary men be distorted and go astray.'" (Trans. Blackall & Lange, 1989)

(14) Wilhelm feels he needs a definite goal. He approves Melina’s purchase of the theater equipment with a notary. That evening Friedrich has an outburst about Philine’s rendezvous with the stablemaster, which is settled amicably. Wilhelm returns to his room; in the midst of his indecision Mignon enters. When Wilhelm talks about leaving she starts having convulsions and heart pains. The two commit themselves to each other—as father and child.

Book Three

(1) The following morning Mignon enters Wilhelm’s room, singing a song for the zither (“Kennst du das Land?”), which reveals clues about her background. Meanwhile the count and countess arrive. They meet the entire troupe and agree to hire them on at their castle. (2) Several days later the count sends a baron to settle their contracts. Himself a connoisseur of the German theater, the baron reads his own five-act composition, and the troupe agrees to perform it. (3) Carriages arrive to take the troupe to the castle. They are unable to stop at an inn on the way for want of space. With the bustle around the castle and the heavy rain, they are sent round to the old, unfurnished portion, where no one is waiting to welcome them—the baron had injured himself during the ride. Completely drenched and hungry, they do not receive food and proper furnishings until long past midnight. (4) The count arrives early the next morning, apologizing profusely for their treatment. Wilhelm lays curious eyes on Jarno, a mysterious officer who is known to be the prince’s favorite. Melina struggles to keep the troupe behaved in their new accommodations, but rehearsals begin shortly.

(5) Wilhelm has the chance to perform for the countess one morning. The baroness and Philine are also present, and the busyness of the day keeps him from his recitation. Although disappointed, Wilhelm receives a couple tokens from the countess. (6) Melina tells Wilhelm that they are to prepare a prologue to perform for the prince at his arrival, which Wilhelm writes the next day. However, his piece clashes with the count’s vision, and that evening he meets secretly with the countess and baroness to enlist their help. (7) Wilhelm meets the count for breakfast, and they brainstorm the use of an allegorical Minerva for the prologue. During the rehearsal all the nobles and Jarno work to keep the count satisfied and distracted. (8) The prince arrives, and the prologue goes over well. As the troupe continues to perform daily, those whom Wilhelm respects begin to absent themselves more and more. One day Wilhelm tries to engage the prince in conversation about French drama, but he is roundly ignored. Jarno, who has been slowly encouraging Wilhelm to dissociate himself from the rest of the troupe, recommends he read Shakespeare.

"And in a very short while, he was seized, as one would expect, by the torrent of a great genius which swept toward a limitless ocean in which he completely lost and forgot his own self." (Trans. Blackall & Lange, 1989)

(10) When one day the count rides off to hunt, the baroness and Philine come up with a scheme to bring Wilhelm and the countess together. In the evening Wilhelm disguises himself as the count, and the ladies prepare her for a surprise encounter. The count returns unexpectedly early, however, and sees a disguised Wilhelm sitting in his chair. What the count understands to have happened is left ambiguous, but he becomes quiet and brooding. Later on he asks Wilhelm to read to him. (11) Wilhelm seeks out Jarno to talk about his infatuation with Shakespeare. Jarno tries to persuade Wilhelm to give up acting for the “active life.” The conversation turns sour, however, when Jarno disparages the harper and Mignon. Wilhelm recommits himself to the latter and regrets ever having listened to Jarno. (12) The count continues acting in his strange new manner, as the baroness and Jarno work to reinforce it. The army, prince, and count all intend to move on. Before their departure Wilhelm receives a ring from the countess and notices his initials on her bracelet—which she denies are his. They share a kiss and embrace before the countess screams and they separate.

Book Four

(1) Mignon reminds Wilhelm of his obligation to his family. He writes to them after having grudgingly accepted a purse of money from the count via the baron. The troupe prepares to travel on, and Wilhelm has to convince the harper, who believes he is being pursued by an inexorable fate, to stay with them. (2) In their travels Wilhelm takes inspiration from Shakespeare’s Prince Hal and adjusts his own manner and costume. When the troupe begins to mock their previous patrons Wilhelm rebukes them and gives a speech on the upper and lower classes. Inspired by the speech, Philine suggests they perform an entire play right on the spot. Everyone is satisfied, and after Wilhelm comments on the relation of orchestral music and the theater, the troupe takes on a new republican form of governance—electing Wilhelm as their first director. (3) Wilhelm takes the opportunity to deliver an exegesis on the character, Hamlet. He advocates a studious approach of the entire text in order to reconcile contradictions and penetrate into the author’s mind.

(4) Before they set out, Philine explains to Wilhelm why Laertes is so bitter towards women. The townsfolk warn their troupe of armed partisans spotted along the route they will take. The rest wish to reroute, but Wilhelm persuades them otherwise, and they set out. Finding a wooded hilltop, they break from their journey. (5) The troupe eats and drinks; Wilhelm and Laertes rehearse a swordfight. Suddenly an armed band attacks. After putting up some resistance, Wilhelm falls unconscious after being shot. He wakes up in Philine’s lap with Mignon keeping watch. Everyone else is safe and in town; the harper has gone to fetch a surgeon. (6) Night is approaching when the three hear horses. An “Amazon” with a whole company of attendants is riding up. There is a surgeon with them, who extracts the bullets while the Amazon gives Wilhelm her coat. The impression of her beauty has an extreme effect on Wilhelm as he slips back into unconsciousness.

(7) By the time Wilhelm comes to, the harper has arrived with help. The others are sheltered in an inn, and they try to bar access to Wilhelm and Philine. Having lost their possessions—all except Philine—they vent their anger at Wilhelm. (8) Wilhelm rebukes them all and, as news arrives that Madame Melina’s baby was stillborn, he promises to not abandon them until he has found a way to repay them. (9) One of the Amazon’s men arranged for Wilhelm and Philine, the “married couple,” to stay with a village pastor. Philine ingratiates herself to the hosts while looking after Wilhelm. During his convalescence, Wilhelm replays the encounter with the Amazon in his head over and over. (10) Eventually all the actors come to visit. Laertes asks for a letter of recommendation to join Serlo’s troupe. Wilhelm and Philine have several spats about the money he is spending on others, and she leaves in the night. (11-12) Before going to see Serlo himself, Wilhelm sends the harper to inquire about the Amazon. No information is discovered, but Wilhelm notes a similarity between his Amazon and the countess. He constantly rebukes himself for how he let the troupe down and sets off to join them.

(13) Wilhelm arrives and hears from Serlo that the actors have proven disappointing. Wilhelm gives an exegesis of Hamlet’s character to Serlo and his sister, Aurelie:

"In these words ['the time is out of joint; O cursed spite! That ever I was born to set it right!'], so I believe, lies the key to Hamlet's whole behavior; and it is clear to me what Shakespeare set out to portray: a heavy deed placed on a soul which is not adequate to cope with it." (Trans. Blackall & Lange, 1989)

(17) Wilhelm finally decides to pick up the letters from his father and Werner. Wilhelm is relieved at their mild tone and writes back, promising a detailed travelogue, for which he enlists the help of Laertes. (18) We learn of Serlo’s background: a harsh childhood and early talent for mimicry as well as theatrical roles at a monastery, in a community called the “Children of Joy,” and solo. (19) Serlo offers to take the actors on permanently if Wilhelm himself agrees to act. He is unable to make a decision between joining Serlo’s outfit or resuming his business activities.

"An inner voice impels you to follow one of the other, and there are valid external reasons for choosing either. But you can’t decide….And yet, if you are honest, you must admit that the urge towards a life of business proceeds entirely from external factors, whereas your inner desires are direct toward the development and perfection of your predisposition, both bodily and mental, toward what is good and beautiful." (Trans. Blackall & Lange, 1989)

Book Five

(1) Aurelie’s restlessness affects others, like Felix, who has picked up a number of bad habits (e.g. drinking out of the bottle rather than a glass); Mignon begins to care for him more and more. Wilhelm, pleased with Serlo’s decision to put together a musical group composed of the harper, Mignon, and Laertes, is shattered when he receives news of his father’s death. He is unable to decide his next step, and feels pressure on all sides, when he receives a letter from Werner, the contents of which are: (2) Werner is marrying his sister, and they, along with Wilhelm’s mother, will move into Werner’s family’s house. From the estate sale of the old Meister’s house they will invest in agricultural improvements, which Wilhelm will supervise in six months hence. Wilhelm is very displeased with the plan, and writes back. (3) He he confesses that the impressive travelogue was fictitious, digresses on the difference between nobility and the bourgeoisie, and shares his decision to pursue life in the theater. Assuming a different name, he signs a contract with Serlo.

(4) In order to perform ''Hamlet'', Serlo demands that Wilhelm modify the play. Although reluctant, Wilhelm takes some time and decides to simplify the “external circumstances” of the plot. (5) Wilhelm shares his changes with the group; they are satisfied and divide roles. (6) Some roles still need to be filled. The prompter is to take the Pyrrhus passage. Wilhelm decides to leave the Ghost’s role open after receiving a mysterious note one evening:

"We know full well, o wondrous youth, that you are in a serious predicament. You can hardly find enough living persons for your ''Hamlet'', let alone ghosts....We cannot perform miracles, but...if you have confidence in us, the Ghost will appear at the appointed hour. Take courage, and be not afraid. A reply is not necessary, we will be informed of your decision." (Trans. Blackall & Lange, 1989)

(13) Wilhelm awakens in a blur, unaware of the identity of his midnight visitor. In the veil he notices an embroidered message: “For the first and last time, young man, flee!” Mignon enters with breakfast, seeming somehow different. In daily preparations the company has lost interest in ''Hamlet''. That evening there is a fire. During the commotion, Mignon saves Felix from the bizarre, threatening actions of the harper. No one is hurt, and Wilhelm spends the night outside. They perform the play again the next day.

(14) Wilhelm and the children set up house in the pavilion, and one night Wilhelm forcibly keeps the harper from escaping. (15) The harper is put into the care of a country pastor. Wilhelm grows more frustrated with the audience’s uncultured responses to ''Hamlet''. One evening he spies an unknown guest, dressed as an officer, in Philine’s room. He believes it to be Mariane, but Laertes guesses it is Friedrich. The two abscond during the night, and Wilhelm has them followed. (16) The company faces growing challenges and friction. New actors arrive, Serlo and the others cannot agree about their repertoire. Wilhelm visits the country pastor and harper, and he finds the latter much improved. Serlo and Melina become close partners and begin pushing Wilhelm out. During preparations for Lessing’s ''Emilia Galotti'', Aurelie’s condition worsens. Wilhelm cares for her and reads a manuscript, “Confessions of a Beautiful Soul,” which the same doctor from earlier in the story brings him. After she dies, Wilhelm leaves the troupe, delivering a letter to her faithless lover.

Series one

Essentially a comedy of errors, ''The Worst Week of My Life'' follows the premise that "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong". The story covers the week preceding the marriage of publishing executive Howard Steel and his fiancée Mel, the daughter of a high-court judge, Dick Cook. Humiliating situations ensue: Cassie, a colleague with whom Howard had a drunken one-night stand two years earlier, sets out to snare him and becomes obsessive; Howard accidentally kills his in-laws' dog, puts Mel's granny in hospital and loses the wedding ring (a family heirloom). At the end of the first series, Howard and Mel were wed, despite the many mishaps that had befallen the well-meaning but accident-prone groom.

Series two

The second series takes place in the week leading up to the birth of Howard and Mel's first baby, and Howard has not yet shaken off the fate inexorably attached to him. With his father blowing up granny's cottage, into which the married couple was preparing to move, they are forced to stay with his wife's parents once again. During the course of the week he is accused of sexual harassment at work, and mistakenly arrested for 'dogging'. He also manages to toast his father-in-law's CBE on a barbecue. Despite Howard knocking out the midwife, the series ends with the birth of a baby girl, Emily.

''The Worst Christmas of My Life''

A three-part Christmas special entitled ''The Worst Christmas of My Life'' was shown on BBC One in December 2006.

Episode One

: ''Set: 23 December: (aired 19 December 2006)'' After his office Christmas party, Howard takes his intoxicated boss Nicola in a cab to her home, after realising she's not fit to drive. During the cab ride, she vomits on him and, after taking a shower at her place, he is forced outside naked by Nicola, after she mistakes his nakedness for preparation to rape her. Howard turns up naked on his in-laws' doorstep, and proceeds to urinate on the Christmas goose after the power goes out, leading to a series of events which culminate in his falsely claiming to his wife and mother-in-law that his father-in-law is dead. Later, he crashes into his father-in-law, drags his unconscious body inside, causes his mother-in-law to faint, makes his wife suspicious about his naked escapade the previous night when Nicola apologises and returns his clothes, and finally destroys his wife's childhood dollhouse, which was to be a gift to their newborn daughter, while attempting to fix the damaged fuse that led to him urinating on the goose initially.

Episode Two

: ''Set: 24 December: (aired 21 December 2006)'' With Dick continuing to receive wreaths and read obituaries following his "death", his contempt for Howard deepens further when he discovers Howard bought a new car with the money he was expecting to receive from the will. A freak accident involving a strimmer leads to family friend Felicity's pedigree dog, who is regularly put out to stud, losing a testicle, with Howard once more taking the blame. He then takes baby Emily Christmas shopping in the local shopping centre, where he gets in a fight with a drunken Father Christmas and accidentally ends up pushing around the wrong pushchair. He eventually manages to swap the prams back and return the baby to its black parents and reclaim Emily, but Howard's despair is not over yet as he spills mulled wine over the local Vicar when he visits the house. Howard's visit to church on Christmas Eve sees him get in argument with Fraser over his refusal to publish his memoirs and another fight – this time with Eve's new love, Mitch, who Howard saw kissing another woman at the office Christmas party.

Episode Three

: ''Set: 25 December: (aired 22 December 2006)''

Howard receives a visit from police on Christmas morning following his fight with Mitch, while Eve is attempting suicide in the house and Fraser is accusing him of stealing his bagpipes. Meanwhile, Howard offers to help Dick repair the dollhouse but quickly the pair are glued together as their visitors, the Bledlow family (including Mel's ex-boyfriend, Ed), call in for Christmas lunch. With Howard fretting about a missing condom of his that the family dog took from his room earlier, he spots it and leaves the meal to try and reclaim it. But he ends up setting fire to the front room, damaging the presents that were to be opened after lunch.

The cartoon begins with a mother buzzard instructing her children to go out and catch something for dinner. Three of them take off like jets from an aircraft carrier. One stays behind, his back turned. This is Beaky Buzzard (Killer) who is shy, easily embarrassed, and a little on the slow side. Against his will, his mother kicks him out of the nest with instructions to at least catch a rabbit. Beaky spots Bugs Bunny and, after sneaking around some clouds 'stalking' his prey, soars down to catch him. Bugs makes like an air-traffic controller and "guides" Beaky down, purposely causing him to crash.

Beaky then passes out while landing on the ground, unable to move or speak. Bugs rises out of his hole and says his catchphrase, "What's up, doc?" Beaky then says, to the tune of Blues in the Night, "My mama done told me, bring home something for dinner." Bugs asks Beaky what he is having for dinner, then Beaky grabs Bugs' shoulders and says, "It's a rabbit." Bugs agrees to come along as soon as he “tidies up” and heads back into his rabbit hole to have a shower. Beaky stares at the Fourth wall when he says the line, "I think he's-a-tricking me." Then Beaky pulls Bugs out of his rabbit hole. Bugs, (disguised as a girl) then pops out of his rabbit hole and says, "You naughty naughty boy." in a feminine voice. As a result, Beaky goes all gibberish and embarrassed with a red face going, "Oh no no, oh no." Bugs then proceeds to smack Beaky's bottom with the towel wrapped around him, then as soon as Beaky reaches the ground, Bugs hides behind the rocks. Beaky comes looking for Bugs when he suddenly jumps out from behind the rocks and fiddles with his Adam's Apple to try and annoy him.

After some heckling and trickery from Bugs, a chase ensues. Beaky manages to grab Bugs in his talons and swoops away. Bugs tickles the buzzard with one of his own tail feathers, resulting in Bugs being released and falling. There is the skeleton of a dead animal resting on the ground and, as Bugs' bottom half is actually driven into the earth, he disturbs the bones and the wildflowers around them. They all come to land around his top half, making it appear that the remains are his. Thinking he is dead, Bugs begins to sob ("Gruesome, isn't it?", he briefly confides to the audience in a Jerry Colonna-like aside). As he cries, his feet pop out of the ground; when Bugs can see them, then feels them, he laughs with relief and then suggests he knew all along that he was fine. As Bugs wanders along enjoying a carrot, Beaky leaps out and grabs him. After a struggle, the two start jitterbugging together. Bugs says, "Why don't we do this more often," to which Beaky replies, "Ya mean just what we're doing tonight?" This is a quote of the first line of the song "Why Don't We Do This More Often?" After a 'dip', Bugs releases Beaky into a spin; the buzzard twirls like a top over to the skeleton, spins into the earth and himself ends up in the same position Bugs was earlier. He screams "Oh, MA!" and his mother shows up. At first the mother buzzard thinks Bugs did something to Beaky. Bugs assures her 'the kid' is okay, and pulls Beaky out of the ground. Seeing that Beaky is unharmed, the mother abandons her desire to eat Bugs and declares him her hero and kisses him. A blushing Bugs copies Beaky's shyness and embarrassment.

Bugs is "Experimental Rabbit #46" in the Eureka Hospital Experimental Laboratory, Paul Revere Foundation (which sports the unencouraging slogan 'Hardly a man is now alive' in punning allusion to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Paul Revere's Ride"). Bugs lives a pampered life, oblivious to the fact that a scientist plans on switching his brain (or at least his personality, since no surgery is involved) with that of a chicken.

After giving Bugs an examination (including a joke when Bugs reads the microscopic "Allied Trades Council" union disclaimer on an eye chart when told to read the bottom line), the scientist brings him out to the operating theater, in front of an audience of fellow doctors. Bugs thinks he's been brought out to perform. He pulls out all the stops, including his impression of Lionel Barrymore ("I'm the mayor of the Town!"), a magic act and dancing. Upon finishing each act, he looks around to see the unimpressed, stern-faced doctors in exactly the same frame position each time ("What a tough audience! It ain't like St. Joe!"). The scientist attempts to retrieve Bugs, but is pushed away. He strikes Bugs with a hammer while the rabbit is in the middle of a Danny Kaye-esque scat routine, but Bugs quickly revives and, having failed as the entertainment, becomes a vendor instead, selling hot dogs to the scientists, only to be hammered again. Learning the scientist's intentions, Bugs runs and a chase ensues.

Bugs hides in a closet, not noticing a skeleton in there, and comes out scared when he does see it. Then, when chased into the laboratory, he makes an ostensibly explosive cocktail and threatens the scientist with it, saying: "One more step and I'll blow ya up! This contains manganese, phosphorus, nitrate, lactic acid, and dextrose!" The scientist laughingly dismisses the threat, telling Bugs the aforementioned ingredients are the formula for a chocolate malt and Bugs drinks it, saying: "Yum, yum! I'm a better scientist than I thought." Then Bugs hides near an oxygen tent disguised as a Boy Scout, leading the scientist in the wrong direction and Bugs sits up and salutes: "That was me good deed for the day!".

Finally, Bugs is rendered helpless with laughing gas and placed on the table, with metallic mind-switching caps placed on him and the rather uninterested-looking chicken. At the last minute, he switches the electrodes (though it is revealed at the end that Bugs cut the wire connecting to his electrode instead) and the scientist ends up clucking like a chicken, while the chicken (with the scientist's mind) states in plain English he hopes that the experiment can be reversed. Bugs tells the audience: "Looks like Doc is a victim of '''fowl play'''" and laughs.

In 1880 in County Mayo, during the period of Irish history known as the Land War, Irish tenant farmers agitated for reinstatement of their former lower rents and increased tenants' rights, especially from absentee English landlords. They particularly resented evictions. Some resorted to the gun to achieve justice, but others, inspired by the Irish statesman Charles Stewart Parnell (played in a brief cameo role by Robert Donat), shunned violence and adopted a form of passive resistance.

Parnell advocates the theory that potential new tenants should never bid for farms from which the old or current tenant has been evicted: this is the core of the "boycott" concept. The crowd, containing Davin and his friends, who had thought that Parnell was going to speak in favour of eviction, put their rotten eggs away and are instead impressed.

The farmers are led by Hugh Davin (Stewart Granger) who, with the moral support of the local priest, Father McKeogh (Alastair Sim), encourages his fellow tenants to ostracize their land agent, the bombastic Captain Boycott (Cecil Parker). There is a love interest in the form of Ann Killain (Kathleen Ryan), whose father is also shunned for taking up a farm from which another farmer had been evicted. The resultant stand-off attracts international news coverage and will ultimately introduce a new word – to boycott – to the English language.

Actions begin with Boycott's servants abandoning his house. One final servant, Bridget, is caught as last to leave. She tells him Davin asked them to leave. Everyone refuses to gather Boycott's crops. The situation persists and Boycott asks for the support of the British parliament. The story reaches every newspaper and becomes the subject of music hall jokes. The British press go to the Boycott estate, followed by a squad of troopers to support him.

Things start to get out of hand when the authorities, at the word of Boycott, demolish Davin's farm.

Captain Boycott risks his survival, having lost all other income, on his horse racing at the Curragh. The Captain acts as his own jockey on a horse bought from Davin. However, the crowd will not tolerate it, and despite the number of mounted troopers they block the Captain on his horse as he approaches the finishing line and mob him.

Michael Fagan steals Davin's revolver and tries to kill Killain, who has been signing the eviction notices. A fight ensues and Fagan falls in a river. It is reported that he has been murdered. Davin tries to stop the mob from lynching Killain because he loves his daughter.

Davin rushes to the Killain cottage and finds the priest giving Killain the last rites having been shot by Fagan. When the mob arrive they are pointed to Boycott and the troops leaving: their cause lost. The priest says if anything like this happens again they will be able to "boycott" him.

Michael Cromwell is a self-absorbed commodities broker living in New York City. Wanting to marry his new fiancée, Charlotte, he needs to obtain a divorce from his first wife, Patricia, who left him some years earlier. She now lives with a semi-Westernized tribe in Canaima National Park, Venezuela. He travels there to get her signature on the divorce papers, but upon arriving, she reveals that they had a son together, who is now 13 years old and named Mimi-Siku.

Michael attempts to bond with Mimi in his brief stay with the tribe and promises to take him to New York City "when he is a man". He is also given a new name of "Baboon" as is a custom in the tribe. That night, Mimi undergoes the traditional rite of passage of the tribe, who then considers him to be a man. The tribal elder gives him a special task to bring fire from the Statue of Liberty in order to become the next chief. A reluctant Michael, realizing his promise would have to be honored sooner than he realized, brings Mimi to New York City with him.

Charlotte is less than pleased about Mimi and his primitive ways. As Michael attempts to adapt him to city life, cross-cultural misunderstandings occur when he reverts to customs considered acceptable by his tribe. On climbing the Statue of Liberty to reach the torch, he is disappointed when he sees that the flame is not real. After a brief argument with Michael, Mimi's antics have caused Charlotte to reach her breaking point.

While staying at the home of Michael's business partner Richard Kempster, Mimi falls in love with his daughter, Karen. He paints her face and gives her a new name, Ukume, as is the custom in his tribe. Richard resents Mimi's presence in his home due to his influence over Karen and because he cooked and ate his valuable prize-winning Poecilia latipinna fish. Richard freaks out when he sees Karen and Mimi together in a hammock and threatens to send her to an all-girls summer camp.

The Kempsters and Michael are targeted by Alexei Jovanovic, a Russian mobster and caviar dealer who believes that they have cheated him in a business deal. He arrives at the Kempsters' home and tortures Richard for information, and is prepared to cut off his fingers. By fighting together, utilizing Mimi's hunting skills, and Mimi's pet tarantula Maitika, Michael and Mimi fight off Jovanovic's group.

Before returning to the Amazon jungle, Mimi is given a satellite phone by Michael so they can stay in touch. He also presents him with a Statue of Liberty cigarette lighter, which produces fire from the torch and will fulfill his quest. In return, he gives Michael a blowpipe and poisoned darts, telling him to practice and come to see him when he can hit flies.

Shortly afterward, Michael finds himself disheartened by the rat-race and realizes that his relationship with Charlotte is not working for him anymore. He attempts to kill a fly with his blowpipe on the trading floor of the New York Board of Trade. He hits it, but also his hot-tempered boss Langston (Bob Dishy) who collapses asleep on the trading floor.

Michael returns to Lipo-Lipo to see Mimi and Patricia, bringing the Kempsters with him for a vacation. Karen and Mimi are reunited and it is suggested that Michael and Patricia also resume their relationship.

As the closing credits start rolling, Michael undergoes the rite of passage as Mimi did earlier.

The premise of ''James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007'' is that James Bond is based upon a real MI6 agent. Fleming hinted so in ''You Only Live Twice'', in Bond's obituary, that his adventures were the basis of a series of "sensational novels"; illustrating this contention, that novel's comic strip adaptation used covers from Fleming's James Bond novels.

Writing autobiographically, Pearson begins the story with his own recruitment to MI6. Already, the department had assigned Ian Fleming to write novels based upon the real agent; Fleming was to be truthful about the agent's adventures. The idea was to hide the truth, of Bond's exploits, in plain sight; along the way, Fleming created fictional tales, such as ''Moonraker'', to keep the Soviets guessing what was fact and what was not. Pearson's also incorporates Fleming's flippant claim to not having written ''The Spy Who Loved Me'', but that Vivienne Michel mysteriously sent him the manuscript.

Based upon the success of his Fleming biography, ''The Life of Ian Fleming'' (1966), MI6 instruct Pearson to write 007's biography; he is introduced to a retired James Bond — who is in his fifties, yet healthy, sun-tanned, and married to Honeychile Ryder, the heroine of ''Dr. No''. Most of ''James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007'' is Bond telling his life story, including school and first MI6 missions, referring to most every novel and short story and, briefly, to ''Colonel Sun'', the Robert Markham series-continuation novel. At conclusion, as Bond rushes to another mission (contrary to mandatory retirement), John Pearson is invited to assume Ian Fleming's scribal duties, like Dr. Watson assumed with Sherlock Holmes.

Kidnappers violently take the Secret Service chief M from his house and almost capture James Bond, who is visiting. Intent on rescuing M, Bond follows the clues to Vrakonisi, one of the Aegean Islands. In the process, Bond discovers the complex military-political plans of Colonel Sun of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Sun had been sent to sabotage a Middle East détente conference which the Soviet Union is hosting. He intends to attack the conference venue and use M and Bond's bodies to blame Great Britain for the disaster, leading to a world war. Bond meets Soviet agents in Athens and they realise that not only is a third country behind the kidnap, but that there is a traitor in the organisation. An attack on the Soviet headquarters kills all the agents except Ariadne Alexandrou, a Greek Communist. As he is dying, the Soviet leader encourages Bond and Ariadne to work together to prevent an international incident.

Ariadne persuades Litsas, a former Second World War resistance fighter and friend of her late father, to help them by telling him about the involvement in the plot of former Nazi, Von Richter. Trying to find M and Colonel Sun, Bond is nearly captured by the Russians, but is saved by Litsas. Finally, Bond finds Sun's headquarters, but is knocked out by one of Sun's men; Bond learns that Von Richter will use a mortar to destroy the conference venue and that Bond will be tortured by Sun, before his inevitable demise. Sun tortures him brutally, until one of the girls at the house is ordered by Sun to caress Bond fondly. In the process she cuts one of Bond's hands free and provides him with a knife. She tells Sun that Bond is dead: when examined Bond stabs Sun. He then frees other captives who help Bond stop Von Richter. However Sun survives the stab wound and kills several of the other escapees. Bond tracks down Sun and kills him in the confrontation. The Soviets thank Bond for saving their conference, offering him the Order of the Red Banner for his work, which he politely turns down.

A badger takes up residence in Santa's Little Helper's doghouse. After several failed attempts to lure it out (including sending in Homer, whom the badger attacks), Homer calls animal control. When he is unable to get through, Marge explains that the phone company has introduced a new area code to Springfield. Half of the town keeps the original 636 area code, the other has 939. Homer becomes infuriated when he loses out on winning tickets to see the Who live in concert to Mr. Burns in a radio show's give-away. At a town meeting, after being shown a patronising, deflective film produced by the telephone company, Homer rallies an angry mob to protest the change, noting that the upper class side of town got to keep their area code while the poorer half were forced to switch. Homer proposes that the town split into two halves, and the mob agrees.

Homer is declared mayor of New Springfield and tensions arise between the two towns. Old Springfield businesses discriminate against customers from New Springfield, and condescend to them on the nightly news. Bart and Homer shut off the power to Old Springfield. Old Springfield hijacks a beer truck heading for New Springfield and dumps its contents in the river; Homer and New Springfield then cut off their water supply. When the lack of water reveals gold in the river bed, making Old Springfield even richer and allowing the town to purchase a French water factory, an enraged Homer has a wall built between the two towns. However, a lack of supplies and sanitation drives all of the New Springfield residents over to Old Springfield, leaving the Simpsons alone.

Bitter, Homer attempts to sabotage the Who concert in Old Springfield by convincing them to play in New Springfield instead. When the people of Old Springfield realize this, they confront the Simpsons at the wall. After a brief riot, the members of the Who hear about the area code problem and suggest that the townspeople get speed dial. Pete Townshend's opening riff from "Won't Get Fooled Again" crumbles the wall, and the citizens of Springfield reunite and dance to the music as the badger leads an animal invasion of the town.

Unlike the preceding game, in which the storylines of the three player characters are independent and do not affect one another, the three story lines in ''Aliens versus Predator 2'' intersect each other. The events of each storyline trigger events in the others. The events of the game are set fifty years after the events of the film ''Alien 3''. Following the flight telemetry of the derelict spacecraft found on LV-426 where the ''Nostromo'' crew first encountered the Alien eggs in ''Alien'', the Weyland-Yutani Corporation has discovered a planet with the ruins of an extraterrestrial civilization infested with Aliens. The planet, called LV-1201, and the Weyland-Yutani research station established there are the primary settings of the game. The facility is supervised by Dr. Eisenberg and consists of a Primary Operations Complex and a network of five Forward Observation Pods suspended over a canyon. When the game begins Pod 5 has been destroyed; the cause of its destruction is revealed in the expansion pack ''Aliens versus Predator 2: Primal Hunt''.

When playing as the human character the player assumes the role of Corporal Andrew "Frosty" Harrison of the Colonial Marines, stationed aboard the spaceship USS ''Verloc'' en route to LV-1201. There has been no contact with the research facility there for six weeks and the marines are sent in to investigate. The landing goes awry and the player must battle Aliens, explore the research facility, and rescue the surviving marines. In the process the player causes a security breach which allows the Alien character access to the Forward Observation Pods, becomes temporarily imprisoned, unwittingly releases the Predator character from its cell, and battles an Alien/Predator hybrid creature. The player must then retrieve a data disk containing records of all the illegal activities taking place on the planet, regroup with his squad, battle the Alien queen, and escape the planet.

When playing as the Predator the player arrives on LV-1201 with two other Predators, and all three are soon captured by the human researchers. A former marine turned mercenary general named Rykov recognizes the player Predator as one which injured him twenty years earlier. The Predator is imprisoned for six weeks until being released through the actions of Corporal Harrison. The player must then recover the Predator's weapons and battle humans and Aliens through the research facility in pursuit of Rykov. After a climactic battle with Rykov in the Alien hive the Predator is recovered by others of his species and they pursue the ''Verloc'' into space.

As the Alien character the player first takes control of a facehugger, stalking a guard through the Primary Operations Complex and implanting an Alien embryo in him. The player then controls the resulting chestburster, finding food until it grows into an adult Alien. As the Alien the player battles through the complex, releasing other Aliens which infest the facility and cause it to lose contact with Earth. The game then shifts forward six weeks, when a security failure caused by Corporal Harrison allows the Alien to access the Forward Observation Pods. The player battles through the pods killing guards and scientists, releases an Alien/Predator hybrid, and liberates a captive Alien hive. The player must disable several explosives planted throughout the hive and then pursue Dr. Eisenberg, who is bent on capturing the Alien queen. The player catches up to Eisenberg and the queen, while sabotaging Eisenberg's extraction by dropship and defeating the scientist. Eisenberg is then cocooned in the hive and revealed to be an android.

The events of ''Primal Hunt'' are set on LV-1201, the same setting as the main game, but take place in different time periods. The stories of the Alien and Predator characters begin five hundred years before the events of ''Aliens Versus Predator 2'' and continue in the year 2230. The human campaign begins in September of 2230. ''Primal Hunt'' revisits the Forward Observation Pods of the research facility and explains the destruction of Pod 5.

Marine/Mercenary

Major Dunya, a female member of the Weyland-Yutani private military contractor known as the "Iron Bears", is stationed on LV-1201. She is ordered by her superior officer, General Rykov, to retrieve an artifact from a location known as the "Zeta Site" which houses part of a Xenomorph hive as well as technology from both the Space Jockeys and the Predators. The player battles xenomorphs through the Zeta Site, retrieves the artifact, and returns to find that Aliens have infiltrated Pod 5. A Predator steals the artifact and the player defends the cargo area from Aliens until the pod is evacuated. Rykov then destroys the pod's supports, sending it crashing into the valley floor below.

Predator

Predalien

The Predalien character's story also begins 500 years before The Incident, but after the Predators have established a presence at Zeta Site. The player begins by controlling a facehugger, exploring the Alien hive and Predator camp in search of a host. The facehugger attacks the Predator, but both become trapped in the stasis field. The game then shifts forward five hundred years to the chestburster emerging from the Predator inside Pod 5. The creature is an Alien/Predator hybrid, called the "Predalien" in the game, and the player controls it and searches for food until it grows into an adult. The player then battles human guards in search of the artifact, but is interrupted when Rykov destroys the pod's supports. The player must then battle several android guards in armored exosuits in order to escape the pod with other Aliens before it falls into the valley below.

The film is based on the French play ''The Human Voice'' (''La Voix humaine'', 1930) by Jean Cocteau, in which a desperate woman tries to avoid being left by her lover through a series of phone calls. In the film, television actress Pepa Marcos is depressed because her boyfriend Iván has left her. They are voice actors who dub foreign films, notably ''Johnny Guitar'' with Joan Crawford and Sterling Hayden. Ivan's sweet-talking voice is the same one he uses in his work. About to leave on a trip, he has asked Pepa to pack his things in a suitcase he will pick up later.

Pepa returns home to find her answering machine filled with frantic messages from her friend, Candela; she rips out the phone and throws it out the window onto the balcony. Candela arrives; before she can explain her situation, Carlos (Iván's son with Lucia, his previous lover) arrives with his snobbish fiancée Marisa. They are apartment-hunting, and have chosen Pepa's penthouse to tour. Carlos and Pepa figure out each other's relationship to Iván; Pepa wants to know where Iván is, but Carlos does not know. Candela tries to kill herself by jumping off the balcony.

A bored Marisa decides to drink gazpacho from the fridge, unaware that it has been spiked with sleeping pills. Candela explains that she had an affair with an Arab who later visited her with some friends. Unbeknownst to her, they are a Shiite terrorist cell. When the terrorists leave, Candela flees to Pepa's place; she fears that the police are after her. Pepa goes to see a lawyer whom Carlos has recommended.

The lawyer, Paulina, behaves strangely, and has tickets to Stockholm. Candela tells Carlos that the Shiites plan to hijack a flight to Stockholm that evening and divert it to Beirut, where they have a friend who was arrested. Carlos fixes the phone, calls the police, hangs up before (he believes) they can trace the call, and kisses Candela. Pepa returns; Lucía calls and says that she is coming over to confront her about Iván. Carlos says that Lucía has recently been released from a mental hospital. Pepa, tired of Iván, throws his suitcase out (barely missing him); he leaves Pepa a message.

Pepa returns to her apartment and hears Carlos playing Lola Beltrán's "Soy Infeliz". She throws the record out the window, and it hits Paulina. Pepa hears Iván's message, rips out the phone and throws the answering machine out of the window. Lucía arrives with the telephone repairman and the police, who traced Carlos' call. Candela panics, but Carlos serves the spiked gazpacho. The policemen and repairman are knocked out, and Carlos and Candela fall asleep on the sofa; Lucía aims a policeman's gun at Pepa, who figures out that Iván is going to Stockholm with Paulina and their flight is the one the terrorists are planning to hijack. Lucía says that she faked being sane when she heard Iván's voice dubbed on a foreign film. She throws the gazpacho in Pepa's face, and rushes to the airport to kill Iván.

Pepa chases her in a cab with her neighbour, Ana. At the airport, Lucía sees Iván and Paulina at security and aims her gun at them. Pepa thwarts the murder attempt by rolling a luggage cart at Lucía, before fainting. Iván rushes to Pepa's aid and apologises for the way he has been treating her, offering to talk things out with her. Pepa, however, declares it is now too late and leaves. She returns to her home, which is a mess. Pepa sits on her balcony, where Marisa has just awakened. The women chat, sharing a moment of tranquility, and Pepa finally reveals what she wanted to tell Iván: she is pregnant.

In Tokyo's Shitaya Ryūsenji-chō quarter, a group of youths find themselves assuming their family professions and losing the freedom they enjoyed as children. The main characters include 15-year-old Nobu (also referred to as Shinnyo), son of a buddhist priest whose profiteering he resents, and 14-year-old Midori, daughter of a family who lives in the Daikokuya brothel, where her older sister Ōmaki works as a popular courtesan. Other protagonists are the bullying Chōkichi, leader of the "back-street gang", and Shōta, the well-educated son of the local pawnbroker, leader of the competing "main-street gang" and best friend of Midori. Midori takes an interest in Nobu, who hides his shyness behind a dismissive behaviour towards her, which repels her. Also, after a confrontation between the gangs, during which Midori is humiliated by Chōkichi and a modest neighbourhood boy beaten up, she holds Nobu responsible because Chōkichi looks up to him. At the end of the Ōtori fair days, Midori is prepared to become a courtesan like her sister, and Nobu becomes a novice, following into his father's footsteps.

The tale starts the day after Anodos' twenty-first birthday. He discovers an ancient fairy lady in the desk that he inherited as a birthright from his late father. After the fairy shows him Fairy Land in a vision, Anodos awakes the next day to find that his room is transforming into a forest, which he soon finds to be Fairy Land itself.

Anodos then encounters a woman and her daughter in a cottage who warn him about the evil Ash Tree and the Alder Tree. He is told that the spirits of trees can leave their tree-hosts and wander throughout Fairy Land. He then explores the world of the fairies, which live in flowers. He then has a nightmarish encounter with the spirit of the Ash Tree, escapes, and finds rest in the warmth and love of the Beech Tree's spirit.

After this, he finds a marble statue by Pygmalion. After he sings to it, the statue flees from him. He pursues the Marble Lady, but finds instead the Maid of the Alder Tree in disguise. The Maid deceives Anodos into letting his guard down so the Ash can attack. He narrowly escapes doom, being saved by the knight Sir Percivale. Anodos then meets a woman and her daughter who believe in fairy tales and the magic of Fairy Land, despite the disbelief of the woman's husband. Anodos also finds his shadow, an evil presence that follows and torments Anodos throughout the rest of the story.

Anodos finds a large palace with many rooms, including a bedroom labelled as his own. In the palace library, he reads the story of Cosmo of Prague. Cosmo is a believer in fantasy who sacrifices his life to free the soul of his lover from an enchanted mirror.

Anodos spends much time in the palace. He comes upon corridors filled with still statues. Anodos explores the halls and realises that the statues dance in the halls, and return quickly to their pedestals when he enters. He dreams of the marble lady, that she alone has an empty pedestal among the statues. He later finds this pedestal and sings to it. The marble lady materialises on the pedestal, but flees him. Anodos follows, going into a strange subterranean world with gnome-like Kobolds that mock him.

Anodos escapes this place and finds himself on the beach of a stormy sea. A boat takes him to an "island" with a cottage with four doors which is inhabited by an ancient lady. Anodos enters each door in turn, each containing a different world. In the first he becomes a child again, remembering the death of his brother. In the next door he finds the marble lady and Sir Percivale in love. Here Anodos makes a last outburst of his love for the marble lady. The next door recounts the death of a loved one of Anodos, and he finds his family mausoleum. Finally, Anodos travels through the last door ("the door of the timeless") but is saved by the ancient lady without remembering anything. The ancient lady says that because she saved him, he must leave via an isthmus before the island sinks underwater.

Next Anodos finds himself with two brothers who are forging armour and swords in order to fight three marauding giants living in a fortified stronghold. Anodos joins them in their fight, but they are ambushed by the giants unprepared. The brothers die in the fight, but Anodos lives, killing the giants and becoming a hero of the kingdom. He journeys to tell a woman whom one of the brothers loved of the brothers' death, but along the way is captured by a manifestation of his shadow and imprisoned. Anodos escapes by the song of a woman whom he had met before in Fairy Land, and he is not troubled by his shadow again.

Anodos again encounters Sir Percivale, becoming his squire. They come upon a cult of worshipers doing an unknown evil to a select few. Anodos decides to try to stop the ritual. He destroys the worshippers' idol, exposing a dark opening out of which a monster rushes to attack him. He kills the monster but is killed in the struggle as well. He floats as a spirit for a time before awakening alive on Earth, retaining the memory of his experiences in Fairy Land. His sisters informs him that he had only been gone 21 days, despite his seemingly long journey.

The novel's main protagonist, Arthur Severn, is traveling to the country of Clare to visit friends. He has the desire to improve his Irish knowledge, so he makes a detour to West Ireland. While riding along with the driver, Andy, a severe storm begins. Andy suggests the two men stop traveling for the night and stay in the small town of Carnacliff. Andy takes them to a local bar where a man named Jerry Scanlan tells the legendary story of Shleenanaher.

The story begins with Saint Patrick who drove all the snakes out of Ireland. However, the King of Snakes would remain in the lake residing in Shleenanaher, and he would only leave if he did not have his crown; thus he hid his crown in the mountains of the hills. The King then tells Saint Patrick that he will come in another form so that he will be able to watch his crown closely. The impending fog that occasionally sweeps over the town, along with a nearby swamp or bog, is said to be the form the King has decided to come back in to watch his crown. After Jerry finishes his story, an old, drunk man named Mr. Moynahan speaks up about the hidden treasure that is somewhere in the hills. Arthur learns that Moynahan's father was present in the altercation of the Frenchmen hiding the treasure.

The townspeople in the bar begin to tell Arthur of the evil villain of the town, Black Murdock. They describe him as being helpful when one is in need of money, but will curse them for the rest of their lives if they are not able to pay him back. As the story is coming to a close, Murdock comes into the bar and asks for Phelim Joyce. Murdock announces to the bar that he has decided to keep Joyce's land because Joyce was late in repaying money he had loaned Joyce for his son's schooling. Joyce rushes into the bar begging Murdock to let him pay. Joyce tells Murdock he has the money, but was delayed because he fell into a hole on his way to the bar and injured his arm. Murdock refuses and tells Joyce that he will now own his land and Joyce will now own the land Murdock used to own.

After Murdock has left, Arthur and Andy take Joyce home. It is very dark when they reach Joyce's house and Arthur can hear the sweet sound of his daughter's voice helping him out of the carriage. Arthur is never able to see the face that belongs to the sweet voice but Andy tells him her name is Norah. Arthur decides that he would like to stay in the town for a few days and see this shifting bog in the morning. The next morning, the innkeeper asks Arthur if he will share a car up to the mountain with another man who is working there. The man turns out to be an old classmate of Arthur's, Dick Sutherland. Arthur, Dick and Andy travel up to the hill to see the beautiful view and the bog. Dick explains that he was hired by Murdock as a scientist and geologist to help Murdock with some investigations on his land.

As the novel progresses, Dick, Arthur and Andy advance in their work along the Knocknacar Hills when Arthur comes across what he describes as the most beautiful peasant girl he has ever seen. The two continue to meet in the same spot, but Arthur never learns her name. He describes her being "a beautiful peasant girl had great gifts-a heart of gold, a sweet, pure nature, and a rare intelligence." One day when Arthur goes to their meeting place, she never shows. Everyday Arthur goes to their meeting spot but does not find his unknown girl.

At dinner one evening, Dick tells Arthur of his love for Norah Joyce but fears her father will despise him because he is working on Murdock's land. Arthur tells Dick of his love for this unknown girl that he has not been able to find. The next day, Andy finds Arthur waiting for his peasant girl and asks what Arthur desires in his future wife. When Arthur begins to describe her, he realizes he is describing his unknown girl. Andy tells Arthur that Norah would be the perfect fit for him, but Arthur cannot act upon this because Dick has feelings for her. They later learn she has gone to live in a convent.

The next day, Arthur decides to go to Murdock to try and buy his land from him so that he can, in turn, give it to Dick to help him with Norah and Joyce. Murdock agrees but only after he has finished his investigations which he states will take him about a month. Arthur is excited to tell Dick that he bought Murdock's land but as they are talking, Dick tells Arthur that the bog is becoming more dangerous in Murdock's area because if the bog shifts again there is a deep reservoir right where his house is located. Arthur asks if he has told Murdock about this problem and Dick says yes, last night. Arthur decides to not tell Dick of his purchase. After Arthur has his documents in order to purchase the land, he climbs the hill to see its beauty. He unexpectedly finds his unknown woman. Both are joyful and relieved to finally see each other again, and Arthur finally learns her name: Norah Joyce. He proclaims his love for her and wants her to be his wife, but she tells Arthur that she needs time to think. On his way home, Arthur is struck with the thought of his dear friend Dick and he questions if Dick has also proposed to her. The next day, Norah tells Arthur that she cannot marry him because she must stay with her father but she does admit to being in love with Arthur. Arthur finally meets with Dick and Dick inquiries him about his unknown love. Arthur admits that it is Norah and Dick is very upset. Dick also questions him about buying Murdock's land because Dick does not have as much money as Arthur, was Arthur trying to place Dick in a false position in Norah's eyes? Arthur explains his plan in buying Murdock's land, he even allows Dick to read the deed from his lawyer and Dick forgives him.

Arthur goes to Joyce to ask for his daughters hand in marriage and Joyce tells Arthur that she must have time to think. Joyce tells Arthur that they can be married when the treasure of Knocknacar is found. Arthur believes that Norah is actually the treasure and that her father will never let her go. After Norah speaks to her father alone, Joyce decides to give Norah to Arthur. In the meantime, Dick has discovered that there is iron in the bog and this could be why Murdock wants to know what's in the bog so badly.

After Murdock learns of Arthur and Norah's engagement, Murdock asks for Norah's hand and when she refuses Murdock becomes very angry and makes rude comments about the social class difference between Arthur and Norah. There is an altercation and Murdock fires Dick. After Murdock leaves, Arthur and Norah decide that she should have two years of schooling in Paris before they are married. Arthur decides to buy the land from Joyce so that he will own all of Knocknacar and the hillside and cliffs. Joyce agrees and Arthur names Dick the sole protector of the land until he returns from London where he will be setting up Norah's schooling.

After Arthur returns to London, he finishes his finances with the buying of the land. When Arthur returns to Ireland, he learns that Murdock has taken in Old Moynahan and has kept him very drunk, trying to learn of the location of the treasure. Moynahan takes Murdock to the spot where the Frenchman was last seen with the gun carriage by his father. They are now on Joyce's land and very close to the bog. Murdock gives Moynahan more whiskey and leads him to walk straight into the bog to his death. Murdock leaves and Dick saves Moynahan without Murdock seeing and goes to get help from Joyce and Norah Murdock is already at Joyce's house explaining how he is unable to find Moynahan and that he is worried he mistakenly walked into the bog. Murdock leaves and Dick explains what has really happened. The three of them safely bring Moynahan back to Joyce's and help him to bed but when he awakes the next morning he remembers nothing of the night before. Joyce lies to Murdock and tells him they found Moynahan asleep on the hillside. Dick goes back to the place Murdock marked the night before and strategically moves the stones he used to mark the treasure spot a few yards away, closer to the bog. Dick then marks the spot with his own marking so Murdock will never know. Dick is very worried that Murdock will try to murder Moynahan again and then come after Norah.

In the next couple days leading up to Norah's departure, the rain has become increasingly worse which in turn makes the bog worse. Arthur wakes from a terrible nightmare, sensing something bad is happening in the storm. Andy takes him and Dick to Knocknacar and they find the bog rising faster and faster. They attempt to warn Murdock but he is not in his home, so they go to warn Joyce and Norah who are also missing. They learn that Moynahan came to Norah and said there had been an accident and that Joyce was at Murdock's home. Norah assumed it was some type of trap and pries Moynahan for the truth. Moynahan confesses that her father is not at Murdock's, so Norah decides to go look for her father. Dick and Arthur decide to split up to try to find Joyce and Norah. Arthur searches along the line of the bog while desperately calling out his love's name. As the lightning strikes and lights up the sky, Arthur sees two figures struggling by the edge of the rocks.One figure he discovers is Norah because of her red petticoat. As he gets closer he sees Murdock is holding Norah and strikes her then runs off. Norah is unconscious as Murdock flees to his house. As Arthur attends to Norah, he feels the ground begin to quiver and give way as his feet begin to sink and he realizes the bog is shifting and has him in its clutches. Norah awakens and tries to help Arthur by throwing her coat to him and safely pulling him out of the bog. They are joined by Dick and Joyce while they watch Murdock stand atop his home and sink into the bog. The bog then swoops all the rubbish into the nearby sea. Arthur and Norah are reunited with her father and Dick and safely make it back to Joyce's home where they each retell their story of what happened to them during the storm. After they finish breakfast and warm themselves, the four decide to go out to the hill and examine the damage of the storm. They go to the spot where Moynahan's father had last seen the Frenchman and where Dick had made his own marking. Off behind a rock Joyce finds a wooden chest. Because Joyce technically owns the land until the next day, the chest belongs to him. Joyce replies that the money was given to Ireland, thus it should still belong to Ireland. As they continue to walk along, Dick comes across a cavern where he discovers limestone on the rocks. The group takes a lantern into the cave and discovers strange inscriptions on the walls. Norah walks to the back of the cave where she finds The Lost Crown of Gold. Dick exclaims that there is a scientific basis for the legend. Before the stream cut its way through the limestone, and made the cavern, the waters were forced upwards to the lake at the top of the hill and so kept it supplied. The lake then fell away so once the group found the water of the lake they found the crown.

The novel then begins the two years when Norah has gone to school in Paris. On the land, Dick used the limestone to create possibilities in the way of building waterworks systems and a new house was built. After the two years of Norah's schooling end, she and Arthur are married and leave for their honeymoon in Italy where there is "not a cloud in the sky."

The game starts out with the player standing at the end of a dirt road, but it turns to the surreal when players realize that they are actually walking around inside a Unix system, and teleporting themselves around the Arpanet. There are many subtle jokes in this game, and there are multiple ways of ending the game. Throughout the game the player moves through different areas and rooms trying to collect treasure to earn points.

In 1969, students Martin Brice and Cosmo are computer hackers who use their skills to finance left wing organizations. When Martin leaves for a pizza, Cosmo gets arrested, forcing Martin to become a fugitive.

In present-day San Francisco, Martin, now called Martin Bishop, heads a security specialists team undertaking penetration testing. The team includes Donald Crease, a former CIA officer and family man; Darren "Mother" Roskow, a conspiracy theorist and electronics technician; Carl Arbogast, a young hacking genius; and Irwin "Whistler" Emery, a blind phone phreak.

After performing their services for a bank, Martin is approached by NSA officers Dick Gordon and Buddy Wallace. He is asked to recover a "black box" from mathematician Dr. Gunter Janek, developed under the name "Setec Astronomy" supposedly for the Russian government. Martin is hesitant but agrees when the agents reveal that they are aware of his true identity and offer to clear his past in exchange. With help from his former girlfriend, Liz, Martin and his team secure the box, which is disguised as a telephone answering machine. During their subsequent celebration party, Whistler, Mother, and Carl investigate the box, finding it capable of breaking the encryption of nearly every computer system. Martin works out that "Setec Astronomy" is an anagram of "too many secrets", and issues a lockdown until they can deliver the box the next day.

Martin hands the box to Gordon and Wallace but barely escapes being killed by them after Crease discovers that Janek was killed the night before. His friend, Gregor in the Russian consulate, confirms that the officers were rogue agents and that Janek was working for the NSA. Before Gregor can elaborate further, fake FBI agents kill him and kidnap Martin, taking him to a remote location where he is reunited with Cosmo, who Martin thought had died in prison. While imprisoned, Cosmo developed ties with organized crime, who recognized his talents and later installed him as their money launderer and paymaster. Cosmo plans to use Janek's box to destabilize the world economy and offers Martin the chance to join him. Martin refuses, whereupon Cosmo uses the box to break into the FBI's mainframe and connect Martin's current identity with his former name. Cosmo has Martin knocked out and taken back to the city.

Martin, now a fugitive from the law again, relocates his team to Liz's apartment. They contact NSA agent Abbott, who wants the box but cannot offer safety until it is in Martin's possession. Whistler analyzes the sounds that Martin heard during his kidnapping and can identify the geographic area where Martin was taken, a toy company acting as a front for Cosmo's operation. They research the building's security systems and identify Werner Brandes, an employee whose office is next to Cosmo's. They set Liz up on a fake computer date with Brandes to obtain his keycard and vocal recognition codes, which Martin and the other team members use to initiate the recovery of the box.

Brandes begins to suspect Liz during the date and brings her to Cosmo at his office. Nothing appears amiss, and Cosmo lets Liz go, but when she comments on this being a computer date, Cosmo recognizes Martin's handiwork, and locks down the facility. Martin is apprehended and Cosmo once again tries to convince him to join him. Martin refuses and instead turns over the box. The team escapes before Cosmo realizes that he is holding an empty duplicate.

Back at their own offices, Martin's team is surrounded by Abbott and his agents. After Martin points out how important the secrecy of the box is to the NSA, who could use it to spy on other agencies, Abbott agrees to clear Martin's record and grant the requests of the rest of his team. After Abbott and the agents leave with the box, Martin shows he has rendered the box useless by removing the main processor.

In a postscript, a news report describes the sudden bankruptcy of the Republican National Committee, and the simultaneous receipt of large anonymous donations to Amnesty International, Greenpeace, and the United Negro College Fund.

During a briefing with the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) regarding Godzilla's first attack, Admiral Taizo Tachibana is alerted about an American nuclear submarine that went missing off Guam. Search and rescue units find the sub destroyed and capture footage of a giant creature's fins nearby. Tachibana's daughter, Yuri, films a docudrama with her production crew at Mount Myōkō, where a mysterious earthquake briefly occurs. It occurs again later that night, burying a biker gang and leaving one surviving trucker, who witnesses the monster Baragon, which he misidentifies as Godzilla. The next day, Yuri's colleague Teruaki Takeda supports her theory that a monster may have been the cause of the mysterious earthquakes and gives her a book called ''The Guardian Monsters''.

At Lake Ikeda, a Mothra larva attacks a group of teenagers who disturbed her shrine while in Aokigahara, a suicidal man accidentally encounters a frozen Ghidorah. Yuri interviews Hirotoshi Isayama, an elderly man who explains to her the legend of the Guardian Monsters: Baragon, Mothra, and King Ghidorah, iterating that they must be awakened before Godzilla destroys Japan. Yuri and her team visit the Guardian Monsters' shrine, where she finds a strange stone before returning to interview Isayama. In the process, she discovers that the souls of those who were killed during the Pacific War are embedded within Godzilla and are lashing out due to modern Japan's denial of its past crimes.

Godzilla and Baragon surface and battle in Hakone, with the former emerging victorious. Yuri is injured during the fray and goes on her own after Takeda refuses to take her to Godzilla's location. Mothra's cocoon is discovered in Lake Ikeda. After the jets fail to stop Godzilla, Tachibana sets up a defense line in Yokohama. An imago Mothra and a juvenile Ghidorah awaken and battle Godzilla in Yokohama. Mothra sacrifices herself and imbues her spirit into Ghidorah, transforming him into the 3,000-year-old dragon King Ghidorah, who manages to injure and drag Godzilla underwater. Tachibana and his colleague board miniature submarines to launch missiles into Godzilla's wound. Yuri and Takeda report on the struggle from a bridge that later collapses from Godzilla's atomic breath.

The shrine stone falls from Takeda's pocket and revives King Ghidorah, who saves Yuri and Takeda from their fall before they swim ashore while the monsters continue to fight. Godzilla destroys King Ghidorah, unleashing the spirits of the Guardian Monsters, which drag Godzilla into the sea. After entering Godzilla's body through his mouth, Tachibana fires a missile at his wound. Godzilla attempts to kill Yuri and Takeda, but Tachibana's missile explodes, causing his atomic breath to escape through the gaping wound and build pressure within his body. Tachibana escapes as Godzilla sinks and explodes after attempting to kill Tachibana with his atomic breath. Japan rejoices at their victory, with Tachibana saluting his colleagues and the guardian monsters. On the ocean floor, Godzilla's disembodied heart continues to beat.

In 1999, 45 years after the original Godzilla's attack, maser-cannon technician Lieutenant Akane Yashiro is unable to kill a new member of Godzilla's species during her first fight and accidentally knocks a vehicle down the mountain, where it and its occupants are crushed by Godzilla. As a result, Akane is demoted while scientists, including single father Tokumitsu Yuhara, are gathered to build a bio-mechanical robot from the original Godzilla's skeleton. The cyborg Mechagodzilla, nicknamed Kiryu, is finished and inducted into the Japan Self-Defense Forces along with its human pilots, the Kiryu Squadron, with Akane becoming the primary pilot. However, memories of Akane's actions during the original fight still linger, and one of her squadron mates, Second Lieutenant Susumu Hayama, holds her responsible for the death of his brother.

Four years later, Kiryu is unveiled in a global presentation where its remote systems, use of command aircraft, and Absolute Zero Cannon are shown. Simultaneously, Godzilla returns, and Kiryu is launched into battle. In the midst of this however, Godzilla's roar causes Kiryu to experience memories of the original Godzilla's death and destroy the city while Godzilla retreats. The horrified Kiryu Squadron are powerless to stop the rampaging cyborg until it runs out of energy and is brought back to headquarters for repairs.

Meanwhile, Akane deals with Hayama's attempts to make her leave and Tokumitsu's attempts to get to know her despite her desiring solitude. Later, Godzilla attacks again. Once the repairs are completed, Kiryu is deployed and confronts Godzilla once more. Kiryu gains the upper hand, but as it prepares the Absolute Zero Cannon, Godzilla fires its atomic breath, knocking the cyborg away and diverting the blast. With Kiryu disabled and the remote piloting system taken off-line, Akane orders Hayama to land his command craft so that she can use Kiryu's internal backup cockpit. Before she leaves, Hayama wishes her luck, forgiving her. Piloting Kiryu directly, Akane closes in on Godzilla, hoping to use the Absolute Zero Cannon at point-blank range. The two monsters collide, and Akane uses Kiryu's thrusters to propel them out to sea before firing. In the aftermath, a wounded Godzilla retreats once more while Kiryu is heavily damaged. With the Kiryu Squadron successful in repelling Godzilla, Kiryu is taken back to base for repairs. In a post-credits scene, Akane agrees to have dinner with Tokumitsu and his daughter Sara and salutes Kiryu.

In spring 1740, Peter Palafox, his friend Sean O'Mara and Sean's uncle Liam are riding from Connaught to Cork so that Peter can join the Royal Navy as a midshipman. Sean decides to join, too, so Liam will take the horses back home. They meet Peregrine FitzGerald at the market fair, another boy heading for HMS ''Centurion''. Both lose their money. FitzGerald meets Lord Culmore who loans him ten guineas, solving their money problems. They meet the brig Mary Rose, at Cove of Cork and reach HMS ''Centurion'' at Spithead on time. Peter is wearing all his best clothes, including a green stone given to him as a "luck giver". On board Peter learns he must have a sea chest and a uniform. Mr Walter, the chaplain, recognises the emerald pinned to his neck cloth, which can supply all that Peter needs. The emerald from a Spanish ship of the Armada now helps Peter as England fights Spain. Peter likes the ship HMS ''Centurion'', but takes time to be at ease with naval discipline. Peter knows the Irish names for the parts of a ship, but not yet the English names. At dinner with Commodore Anson he meets officers on his ship and others in the squadron. Neighbour to Peter is Captain Callis, a man who loved Peter's mother long ago and lost her to Peter's father. Anson remarks on the terrible decision by the Admiralty to include the Chelsea pensioners (500 infirm sailors) as part of his crew.

Peter tells the chaplain that he knows the ship's destination, to the golden ocean, the Pacific, to fight the Spanish. Anson is disappointed that his secret mission is common knowledge on the Irish coast. Common knowledge also knows that the Spanish have a squadron of the same number of ships, under Pizarro. The true voyage begins, after the squadron escorts merchant ships heading east. Six weeks of contrary winds keep them in the English Channel, long enough for the landsman to be used to the sea. FitzGerald, wounded in his fight with Ransome, is now ready for duty, assigned to a watch. When sent to the topmast, FitzGerald can barely do it. Ransome helps him down, so FitzGerald apologises to him. Peter is at home up on the masts, with no fear of heights or the motion of the ship. At Funchal in Madeira in November, FitzGerald returns to England, carrying a letter from Peter to his father, and many gifts for his siblings. Mr Elliot, midshipman, teaches Peter the trigonometry, by the example of a stick of known height and its shadow, a tree whose shadow is paced out, thus the height of the tree is calculated; Peter understands it and succeeds in his classes on board. Before the equator, Peter gets a delirious fever, lasting until they land at Saint Catherine's island off Brazil, where they stay past Christmas. Many die of tropical diseases. Mr Ransome is friendlier with him, but still calls him Teague, an insulting name for an Irish boy. Rounding Cape Horn is fierce. They meet with high winds, thick fog, bitter cold and storms, naming several rendezvous points in the Pacific. ''Pearl'' rejoins after having fallen in with five Spanish ships, the fleet Peter described to Anson. In March 1741, they reach 52 degrees 32 minutes south. Peter is glad for the warm clothes from FitzGerald. None agree on the longitude in waters uncharted by the English. Peter's ribs are broken from a rope that froze in this cold, windy weather; he feels lucky he was not tossed into the sea like so many others. Mr Elliot is taken by the scurvy in April, a sore loss to Peter, just after they lose ''Pearl'' and ''Severn''.

''Centurion'', ''Gloucester'', ''Wager'', ''Tryal'' and the pink ''Anna'' think they are west enough to turn north. Hopelessness pervades. Commodore Anson appears to be made of "iron and oak", a little more affable the worse the weather gets. Sean is captain of the foretop, as he performs well, being sure-footed and brave with frozen sails and ropes. ''Centurion'' reaches Juan Fernandez, staying there a few months to fix ships and heal the men with good food there. Peter spends a second birthday as a midshipman, having learned the tone of authority and grown out of his best clothes. Peter computes the losses of crew on ''Centurion'', ''Gloucester'' and ''Tryal'' since leaving England: 961 sailed out, 626 dead after reaching Juan Fernandez. ''Tryal'' takes a prize, a Spanish merchant ship, which vessel replaces the damaged ''Tryal''. Spanish passengers are well-treated, a wise move. ''Wager'' never makes this rendezvous. Reduced squadron sails north, reaching Paita. ''Centurion'' and ''Tryal'' crews take the town, made easier by the fear of the locals, who flee on seeing them. An Irishman living there tells Peter where the huge merchant treasure is. They take the ship with the merchant treasure, truly great wealth. All the crew become experts on the rules of sharing prizes, happy with the share they will see. They keep sailing north, aiming for the Acapulco Galleon, which sails between Manila and Acapulco with treasure. Missing the galleon, the Commodore sails west to Manila. Storm damaged ''Gloucester'' is burned at sea, and her crew taken aboard ''Centurion'', the only ship of the squadron now.

''Centurion'' stops at Tinian Island in September 1742. Peter is carried ashore. His health is improved by the fresh food. ''Centurion'' sails to Macau, next to Canton, to refit the ship. Peter spends two years of pay in less than a month. They lose Mr Walter and some officers, who take a merchant ship on the well-travelled route back to England, to report progress and carry mail and gifts home. Refit and rested, ''Centurion'' is homeward bound. Commodore Anson, once at sea, informs the crew of 227 that they will try again for the Acapulco Galleon, before she reaches Manila. Sailing east, ''Centurion'' waits for the galleon, engaging her in close battle on June 20, 1743, taking her and her cargo of silver and gold. Mr Saumarez sails the prize and both ships stopped in Macau to transfer the treasure to ''Centurion''. Sean is promoted to bosun's mate, guarding the treasure aboard the prize and ''Centurion'' for the year's voyage home. Truly homeward bound, they put in at Prince's Island, Cape Town (gaining Dutch seamen), speeding to England through a fog in the Channel where they pass unseen French ships, now at war with England. Peter and Sean are paid their shares of the prizes. All of his family is on the lookout for him, for a joyous reunion after four years away. Peter gives his father the good round sum of 1,000 pounds, which will lift his family from genteel poverty.

In the early part of the novel, set in London, other members of the expedition are featured. They appear in more detail in ''The Golden Ocean'', another O'Brian novel about the Anson expedition.

The expedition is beset by storms while rounding of Cape Horn, the ''Wager'' is shipwrecked off the coast of Chile as their position could not be determined. The crew rejected the authority of their officers, once the ship was wrecked and left the captain, some officers, and some other crew on the island when they sailed away in a boat built from the wreck. The marooned officers make their way to a Spanish settlement with the help of the native people. The novel is based on the accounts of the survivors. Survivors from the lower deck made their way back to Britain long before the officers. The novel describes the crew members asserting that the officers had no authority over them, once their ship was wrecked.

Jimmy Alto (Pesci) is a failing actor living in Los Angeles. After increasing frustration with his career going nowhere and with crime in the city, Jimmy, along with his "spaced-out" best friend William (Slater), decides to take the law into his own hands.

After losing his job as a waiter, Jimmy transforms himself into "Jericho," leader of a mock-vigilante group that videotapes criminals and then turns them over to the police. Jimmy enjoys the free publicity, anonymously, but eventually the police begin to close in on him, resulting in a tense standoff at the Grauman's Egyptian Theatre.

The book's protagonist is Andrew Horne (nicknamed "Bear"), a Russian-born U.S. scientist, who works at "West Wing" on ''Project Beta'', a secret government mind-control project, which aims to perfect the art of brainwashing until it is possible to completely re-make a person's mind and soul. The Project operates on hopeless cases from psychiatric wards, and "prison-volunteers" who would otherwise be executed.

The Project's first Remake having failed disastrously, it is decided to base the second Remake on the mind of Horne himself. The prison-volunteer chosen for the Remake is a Black soldier, now referred to as ''Prisvol 233/234'', who has killed an officer and been sentenced to death. The project first uses ultrasound to destroy his access to his old memories, and then, having washed the slate clean, exposes him to immersive movie reenactments of Horne's childhood, college days, war service, and entry into the Project. (As this is performed, the reader discovers that Horne himself was on the receiving end of torture and brainwashing in the Korean War, which he fought against by creating a "false self" which he betrays to the enemy, the "Lieutenant Kijé defense"). At the end of the process, 233/234, now known as "Black Bear", ''is'', for all intents and purposes, Andrew Horne in a new body.

However, when Security realizes that Black Bear also has all of Horne's secret knowledge and considers him a security risk, it sets off a chain of events where their mirror image identities will lead both Black Bear and Horne to "East Wing" in Russia.

Edison Crane isn't content being the world's smartest man and most successful businessman – his brilliant mind needs to be constantly challenged. He's a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, a genius composer, an Olympic athlete, and an expert in the occult, and now international governments are calling on him to fix problems they just can't handle.

After the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union planted a number of long-term, deep-cover sleeper agents all over the United States, spies so thoroughly brainwashed that even they did not know they were agents. They can be activated only by a special code phrase - a line from the Robert Frost poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" - followed by the agent's real first name. Their mission was to sabotage crucial parts of the civil and military infrastructure in the event of war.

More than 20 years pass, and the Cold War gradually gives way to détente. Nikolai Dalchimsky, a rogue KGB headquarters clerk, travels to America, taking with him the ''Telefon Book'', which contains the names, addresses and telephone numbers of all the sleeper agents. He starts activating them, one by one. American counterintelligence is thrown into confusion when seemingly ordinary citizens start blowing up facilities that were once important, but now have little, if any, value. The agents either commit suicide or die in the act itself.

The KGB does not dare tell its political leaders, much less the Americans, about its negligence in not deactivating the spy network. KGB Major Grigori Borzov, selected in part for his photographic memory, memorizes the contents of the only other copy of the ''Telefon Book'' and is sent to find and stop Dalchimsky quietly, before either side learns what is happening and possibly starts a war. Borzov is given the assistance of only a single agent, Barbara, planted in America years before.

Eventually, Borzov realizes the method behind Dalchimsky's pattern of attacks: he has chosen the agents by the first letters of their American hometowns, "writing" his own name in sabotage across America. Borzov is thus able to anticipate Dalchimsky's next chosen agent and kills Dalchimsky.

However, there are a number of twists. Barbara has orders from the KGB to assassinate Borzov once he succeeds, to get rid of a dangerous loose end. In addition, she is a double agent actually working for America. When she informs her American superior, Sandburg, he also tells her to kill Borzov, so she will retain the confidence of the KGB. However, Barbara has fallen in love with her would-be target. She informs Borzov, and together they blackmail both sides into leaving them alone, holding the threat of the remaining ''Telefon'' agents over their heads.

The plot concerns Tom Birkin, a World War I veteran employed to uncover a mural in a village church that was thought to exist under coats of whitewash. At the same time another veteran is employed to look for a grave beyond the churchyard walls. Though Birkin is an unbeliever, there is prevalent religious symbolism throughout the book, mainly dealing with judgment. The novel explores themes of England's loss of spirituality after the war, and of happiness, melancholy, and nostalgia as Birkin recalls the summer uncovering the mural, when he healed from his wartime experiences and a broken marriage. In an essay for ''Open Letters Monthly'', Ingrid Norton praised the novel's subtlety:

The happiness depicted in ''A Month in the Country'' is wise and wary, aware of its temporality. When he arrives in Oxgodby, Birkin knows very well life is not all ease and intimacy, long summer days with "winter always loitering around the corner." He has experienced emotional cruelty in his failed marriage. As a soldier, he witnessed death: destruction and unending mud. But the edges ''are'' brighter for it. Birkin's idyll in the country is brought into relief by what Birkin has gone through in the past and the disappointments that, it is implied, await him. Carr's great art is to make it clear that joy is inseparable from the pain and oblivion which unmake it.

Many of the incidents in the novel are based on real events in Carr's own life, and some of the characters are modelled on his own Methodist family.

The book describes, in an idealized form, the childhood of Němcová. The plot weaves together a remembrance of the agrarian calendar and customs of the neighborhood with the love stories of several women, which reveal more of the history and customs of that area. The main action of the novel seems to take place during the first one or two years after the Grandmother has come to live at the Old Bleachery with her daughter's family, to help manage the household. The father is frequently absent due to his job as equerry to the local noblewoman, which takes him away to Vienna during the winter. The principal action of the story is to tell the intertwining tales of Viktorka, Kristla, and the Countess. The author is identified with Barunka, the eldest daughter of the Prošek family; however, the novel is not told from her point of view.

On a seaside pier in Los Angeles, friends Jenny Tate and Becky Morton decide to get their fortune told by Zela. Zela foretells that they will suffer a horrible fate warning about a beast that feeds off the moon but they don't believe her. That same night, 16-year-old high-schooler Jimmy Myers is picked up on Mulholland Drive by his older sister Ellie, who has just returned from visiting her boyfriend, Jake Taylor. Jimmy had a run-in with some bullies and his crush, Brooke.

Driving home, Jimmy and Ellie collide with an animal and another car. They attempt to rescue the other driver, Becky, but an unseen creature slashes the siblings before it drags Becky off and rips her in half. When interviewed by police, despite Jimmy's belief that it was a wolf or dog-type animal, the official report credits it to a bear or cougar.

The next day at work, Ellie finds herself attracted to the scent of a coworkers blood, but she dismisses it. At a party, Jenny interrupts a conversation between Ellie and Jake. Annoyed that Jenny is flirting with Jake, Ellie leaves the party early. Soon after this Jenny heads down to the parking garage where she is chased and killed by a wolf like creature. Jimmy does research about wolves in California and starts to believe that the creature was a werewolf, sharing his thoughts with a disbelieving Ellie. To ease Jimmy's concerns, she touches a silver picture frame without getting burned.

Jimmy is becoming much stronger and more aggressive, as shown when a bully named Bo coerces him to join the wrestling team. He easily defeats three wrestlers, including Bo, and calls Bo out for constantly making gay jokes towards him, saying that Bo himself is repressing his own homosexuality.

Ellie starts to believe the werewolf hypothesis when she meets Zela. Zela warns about the effect the coming full moon will have and tells her that the only way to cure herself is to end the line of the werewolf who cursed her. Jimmy proves they have been cursed when he holds a silver cake server and gets burned, discovering that the picture frame Ellie touched earlier was only stainless steel. The siblings dog Zipper, who has become increasingly afraid of his owners, bites Jimmy, becoming infected with the curse, and goes on a rampage. Realizing what's happening, Jimmy goes to warn Ellie with Bo, who showed up at their house to confess that he is gay and has feelings for Jimmy. Bo is flatly rejected by Jimmy who believes the attraction to be his werewolf pheromones, but Bo still helps Jimmy.

Ellie has deduced that Jake is a werewolf and he confirms it. However, he reveals that he didn't attack her and Jimmy as he was born a werewolf and can control his transformations. When another werewolf attacks the two, Bo and Jimmy try to help, but Bo is knocked out. The werewolf turns back into Joanie, who was cursed after a one-night stand with Jake and committed all of the previous murders. She now wants to kill all potential rivals so Jake will be hers.

When Jake offers to let Joanie kill him to protect Ellie, she refuses as she knows killing him would break her curse. After knocking him out she turns into her werewolf form and starts attacking Ellie and Jimmy. The siblings fight her, and when the police arrive, the two draw her out by insulting her. The police open fire eventually killing her when policeman shoots her in the head. Bo is okay, but Jake has disappeared.

Jimmy and Ellie return to a wrecked home. As Jimmy works to restore the power, Jimmy and Ellie begin transforming. Jake arrives, revealing that as he caused Joanie's curse, the only way to cure Ellie is to kill him. He wants to be with her, but also kill Jimmy so only he is the alpha male. She and Jake fight, but he dominates the fight. Werewolf Jimmy joins in, climbing across the ceiling and biting Jake, allowing Ellie to stab and badly injure Jake with the silver cake server. Ellie decapitates Jake with a shovel and breaks the curse on the two siblings (and Zipper). They watch as Jake's body bursts into flames.

Bo, Brooke, and Zipper arrive at the house. Bo and Jimmy are now friends; Jimmy kisses Brooke and walks her home along with Bo. Ellie is stuck with the clean-up of the messy house.

In the early parts of the novel Shaw goes to great lengths to make the point about "Jordache blood" – violent, bitter, resentful. One of the ways he does this is by meticulously describing the hate-filled marriage of the parents, Mary and Axel. The novel is told in the third person omniscient point of view but never wholly objectively, often through the lens of the consciousness of one of the five family members. When told through the POV of either Mary or Axel the view of humanity, and of the Jordache family, is relentlessly bleak and pessimistic.

The tripwire that sets all of the ensuing plot action in motion occurs when Gretchen Jordache begins an affair with the president of the company she works for, Teddy Boylan, a man much older than herself. Eventually her brothers Rudolph and Thomas also become involved with Boylan, in different ways, and it is his influence upon all three that first springs each of them into the world beyond the small upstate New York town where their parents scrape by with their bakery. Boylan constitutes their first true encounters with an adult beyond their parents.

Many people, mainly because of their familiarity with the miniseries rather than the actual source material, thought of the story as a very simplistic juxtaposition of the virtuous, goody two shoes brother (Rudolph) with the black sheep, ne'er-do-well younger sibling (Thomas, whom Shaw seeks to differentiate psychologically by means of a physical symbol – he is the only blond haired member of the family), but the novel is much more complex than this in its demonstrative understructure. For example, Rudolph is constantly developing positive relationships only with people who can help him - his father, Mr. Calderwood, Johnny Heath, Boylan. In stark contrast to this both Gretchen and Thomas consistently entangle themselves with the kinds of people that modern self-help literature calls "drain people" or "toxic people". A couple of examples: Thomas' only friend in the world, Claude, gives him up immediately to the authorities the second his own well-being is threatened, and when Axel Jordache learns of Tom's actions his only impulse is to get rid of him, to send him away to live with family in Ohio. Contrast this with Rudolph's friend, Johnny Heath, who becomes his lifelong friend, attorney, and business partner, and also with what Axel Jordache does when confronted by Rudolph's French teacher over a behavior miscue – he slaps the teacher in the face.

Boylan serves as the MacGuffin that drives the plot for all three of the Jordache siblings. For Gretchen he is an introduction to the world of men and relationships. He awakens in her the realization that she is the kind of woman who reduces men to cowering wimps but who cannot, perhaps somewhat paradoxically, put together a sound, completely fulfilling relationship. Her marriage to Willie Abbott collapses under the weight of his alcoholism and her marriage to Colin Burke ends in tragedy when Burke dies in a car accident. Similarly none of her numerous affairs bear any genuine emotional fruit.

It is because of Boylan that Thomas embarks on a savage act of vandalism (with his friend Claude, who eventually turns him in). When caught, the men of the town present Axel Jordache with a choice – send Thomas away or let him and the family face the consequences with the law. Jordache sends him away to live with his brother in Ohio, thus beginning a pattern that is repeated over and over and over in the novel: Thomas settles somewhere for a while, does OK for a time, then gets into trouble and has to flee.

Finally Boylan offers to pay for Rudolph to go to college. Although on one level Rudolph despises Boylan as a petty vindictive rich pervert of an old man, he sees another side of him as well - the financially independent man of the world who wants for nothing. Shaw uses Rudolph's even, balanced judgment of Boylan as a counterpoint to the wholly negative, wholly one-sided opinion of him both Gretchen and Thomas, in their own separate ways, cling to.

At Starliner Towers, a luxury apartment complex outside of Montreal, Dr. Emil Hobbes murders a young woman named Annabelle. He slices open her stomach, pours acid into the wound and then commits suicide. Nick Tudor, who has been suffering from stomach convulsions, finds their bodies but leaves without calling the police. The two bodies are found by resident doctor Roger St. Luc, who calls the police. Hobbes' medical partner, Rollo Linsky, tells St. Luc that he and Hobbes had been working on a project to create "a parasite that can take over the function of a human organ".

After suffering more convulsions, Nick leaves work early. He vomits a parasite over the railing of his balcony. The parasite slithers back into the apartment, where it attacks a cleaning woman in the basement, attaching itself to her face. His wife Janine tries to care for him, but he ignores her and prefers to talk to the parasites undulating in his abdomen. At the clinic, Roger sees a sexually active middle-aged resident who has been suffering from stomach convulsions. Roger speculates that his condition might be an STD that he caught from Annabelle.

Linsky calls Roger from Hobbes' office downtown to tell him that Hobbes had developed a parasite that was "a combination of aphrodisiac and venereal disease that will, hopefully, turn the world into one beautiful mindless orgy". Hobbes believed modern humans had become over-intellectual and estranged from their primal impulses. Hobbes' ambition with his parasitic invention was to reassert humanity's unbridled, sexually aggressive instincts, and he used Annabelle as his guinea pig. Linsky warns Roger not to approach anyone who is behaving in a strange manner.

Nick tries to force Janine to have sex with him, but she recoils in horror when one of the parasites crawls from his mouth. She rushes to the apartment of her friend Betts, who was infected by one of the parasites while taking a bath. Betts seduces Janine and as they kiss, passes a parasite to her. Meanwhile, other residents, including a little girl in an elevator with her mother, who are assaulted by a deliveryman, become infected with the parasite, attack other residents and continue to spread the infection. Soon the hallways are full of people sexually assaulting or fighting one another. Roger combs the complex looking for the parasites while Forsythe—his nurse and lover—tends to an elderly couple who were attacked by one of the parasites.

Linsky arrives at Starliner Towers and goes to the Tudor apartment, as Roger had identified Nick as someone Annabelle might have infected. He finds Nick lying in bed, parasites crawling on his abdomen. When Linsky examines him more closely, one of the parasites latches onto his cheek. Linsky tries to pull it off with pliers, but Nick kills him and swallows the parasite. Forsythe tries to flee the complex in her car but is attacked by the infected security guard. Before he can rape her, Roger arrives and kills him, and the two hide in the basement. Forsythe tells Roger of a dream that mixed eroticism and death, then vomits up a parasite. Roger knocks her out and tries to carry her to safety, but they are attacked by a horde of infected sex maniacs. Roger is separated from Forsythe and is forced to flee as she is overwhelmed by the infected.

Roger kills Nick in his apartment, then tries to escape the complex, but is thwarted at every turn. He finally makes it to the swimming pool area where he encounters Janine and Betts swimming fully clothed. The two walk to the edge of the pool and smile seductively at him as he finds a door to the outside, but the infected block his path and he is pulled into the pool by Janine and Betts. The rest of the infected, including the little girl from the elevator, plunge into the pool fully dressed or otherwise and swim towards Roger to hold him down. Roger is eventually surrounded and finally infected by Forsythe.

Roger, Forsythe and the other Starliner residents drive out of the building's garage. Early the next morning, news reports encourage listeners not to panic as police investigate an epidemic of sexual assaults in Montreal.

A survey team visits fictional planet Ireta to survey its mineral wealth. Several anomalies are discovered, including some decidedly large animals that resemble prehistoric beings from Earth's history and legend. Before all can be explained, the Heavyworlder "muscle people" mutiny after gaining a taste for flesh and blood.

''The Death of Sleep'' is a prequel to this book, and the fourth section delivers the characters to Ireta, intersecting some of the same plot points.

Siblings Barbara and Johnny visit their mother's grave in a remote Pennsylvania cemetery. During their visit, they are attacked by a zombie. Johnny is killed while Barbara flees the cemetery and discovers what appears to be an abandoned farmhouse. She seeks shelter there, only to find another pack of zombies. Shortly after, a man named Ben arrives, and the two clear the house of the dead and begin the process of barricading the doors and windows.

They discover other survivors hiding in the cellar of the house: Harry Cooper, a selfish and argumentative husband; his wife Helen; their daughter Sarah, who was bitten by a zombie and has fallen seriously ill; and teenage lovers Tom Bitner and Judy Rose Larson. The group is divided over what their next course of action should be. Harry believes everyone should retreat to the cellar and barricade the door to wait for the authorities. Ben thinks the cellar is a "death trap" and that they would be better served fortifying the house, which at least has alternate escape routes, and Barbara suggests that the group should simply leave the house on foot after she notices the zombies' limited mobility. An argument between Ben and Harry leaves the Coopers in the basement to tend to their ailing daughter, while the other survivors go upstairs to continue reinforcing the doors and windows. The loud construction attracts a large mob of zombies to the farmhouse.

The group devises a plan to escape using Ben's truck, which is out of fuel, by refueling at a locked gas pump a few hundred yards away. They find a set of keys within the corpse who lived in the farmhouse. Judy Rose, Tom, and Ben proceed up the hill toward the gas pump, but their plan begins to unravel when Ben falls from the bed of the truck and is left to defend himself. To their horror, the key to the gas pump is not among the set they brought with them. When Tom shoots the lock off, the gasoline gushing forth is ignited by a burning piece of wood in the truck. The resulting explosion kills both Tom and Judy.

Ben returns to the house to find things beginning to dissolve into chaos. Harry has wrestled Barbara's gun away from her and is now armed. Unknown to the survivors upstairs, the Coopers' daughter Sarah has succumbed to the bite on her arm and has transformed into a zombie; she attacks and bites her distraught mother. When Sarah makes her way upstairs, she triggers a shootout between her father, who is trying to protect her, and Ben and Barbara, who are trying to protect themselves. Both Ben and Harry are badly wounded, and Barbara shoots Sarah. Harry retreats upstairs to the attic, while Ben makes his way to the cellar, where he shoots a reanimated Helen. Ben gradually goes into shock, and after realizing the gas key has been in the cellar the entire time, he laughs mindlessly at the irony before succumbing to his injuries and dies.

Meanwhile, Barbara leaves the house alone and attempts to find help. She eventually joins a group of countryside locals who are clearing the area of the undead, and awakens the next day surrounded by the safety of the media and townspeople, led by Sheriff McClelland. Noticing hillbillies playing around with a few zombies, she comments on the similarities between the living and the undead. She returns to the farmhouse to find Ben, who has now been reanimated; he gazes at Barbara before being shot by McClelland. When Harry emerges from the attic alive, Barbara kills him in a fit of rage and retribution for causing Ben's death, and turns to leave the house, telling the vigilantes they have "another one for the fire." Barbara watches as the bodies are burned on a pyre.

On Monday night, Nick, Dallas, and Billy Hill argue with a Los Angeles convenience store cashier, resulting in Dallas shooting her dead. They conceal the killing from a police officer until he sees blood on the floor, at which point they kill him.

Early Thursday morning, in Texas, Casey receives a call from his old drug dealing partner Nick asking to stay a couple of days. Since they parted ways several years previously, Casey has cleaned up, married, and is hoping to adopt a child. Nick borrows Casey's car, and Casey finds Nick's suitcase to be full of heroin. Furious, he calls Nick and gives an ultimatum in which Nick either leaves or Casey calls the cops. Nick promises he'll be along once he has finished some business. Casey puts the heroin down his garbage disposal unit.

At 11:55, Casey answers the door to hitman Ice. Casey asks that they smoke some ganja together before he dies, then takes advantage of a distraction. Ice ends up gagged and bound in Casey's garage just as Dr. Jarvis, the adoption agent, rings the doorbell. Casey, stoned, rushes to clear away the drug paraphernalia before letting Jarvis in to discuss his suitability to adopt. Jarvis expresses curiosity about what Casey did when he lived in Los Angeles, as there is no account of his time there. Casey tries his best to cover up his past as well as his recent encounter with Ice.

During the interview, Dallas shows up at Casey's house, believing that Nick has left some money with Casey along with the heroin. She scares Jarvis away by telling a story about Casey's criminal past. When left alone with Casey, Dallas questions him about the money. Angry that he cannot help her, she decides to kill him, but not before she ties him to a chair, fellates him to force an erection, then proceeds to rape him. Dallas says she will not kill Casey until he orgasms and plans to continue until he does so. She orgasms multiple times, but gets no results from Casey. While Dallas reaches a third orgasm, Billy breaks in and shoots her.

Billy believes Casey when told that he has not taken the heroin, but plans on torturing him anyway with a saw and a blowtorch. Billy is interrupted by cops raiding the house next door. As Billy is distracted, Casey is able to loosen the tape around his wrists and grabs a frying pan before he sits back down. When Billy returns, Casey catches him off guard, overpowers him, and leaves him in the garage.

Nick calls Casey from a payphone, apologizes for everything, and admits he had stolen the heroin and money from the police. After he hangs up, it is revealed that Nick has been shot and is dying from blood loss. Finally, corrupt cop Kasarov arrives with a bag which contains Nick's head. He gives Casey until 7 p.m. to find the money, but says that he does not care about the heroin. Upon seeing Dallas's body and Ice and Billy in the garage, Kasarov unloads his gun into the latter two. He tells Casey to throw them out, as it is garbage day.

Casey calls Ice's boss and tells him that the heroin is being auctioned off at 7 p.m. at his house, setting up a gun battle between a Jamaican gang and Kasarov's corrupt cops. Casey recalls Nick's earlier words, which lead him to find the money and a wedding present in the spare tire of his car. He takes them, puts them in Dallas's Lamborghini, and leaves to pick his wife up at the airport.

The film begins with a flashback to a young Mordechai Jefferson Carver. At school, Mordechai is tormented by his fellow students and his teacher for being a Jewish child in a public school predominantly attended by Christians, and for celebrating Hanukkah while everyone else celebrates Christmas. He feels further alienated as he walks through his neighborhood and sees a seemingly endless number of Christmas decorations and window displays celebrating the holiday and announcing that Jews aren't welcome. As he lies down on the sidewalk in front of a store saying "Jews 'OK' (for about 5 minutes)" and spins his dreidel to cheer himself up, Santa Claus walks by and crushes the toy under his foot, then gives Mordechai the finger.

The scene then changes to the present with Mordechai as the Hebrew Hammer, a certified circumcised "dick" who has dedicated his life to defending Jews. His snappy dress (a cross between that of a pimp and a Hasidic Jew) and tough-guy demeanor have made him a local hero within the Jewish community. Jews and African-Americans have enjoyed a tenuous peace with the White Christians over the previous few decades because the current Santa (the son of the cruel Santa who stomped Mordechai's dreidel years earlier) has pursued a policy of inclusion and tolerance. This Santa is murdered and replaced by his son, Damian, who seeks to destroy Hanukkah and Kwanzaa thus reserving December for Christmas alone. Mordechai is reluctantly recruited to stop Damian, gaining allies along the way, including love interest and daughter of the Chief of the Jewish Justice League Esther Bloomenbergensteinenthal and the Kwanzaa Liberation Front's leader Mohammed Ali Paula Abdul Rahim.

The fight takes them to exotic locales such as Israel, K-Mart, the Jewish Atomic Clock outside Jerusalem and the final battle at the North Pole.

The Vega homeworld has become unstable due to the exploiting of Vegatron, a powerful radioactive ore. Seeking to expand his militaristic empire and find a substitute planet to settle upon, the ruthless King Vega unleashes his armies—composed of flying saucers and giant robotic monsters—and turns first against neighbors such as Fleed, a highly advanced but peaceful world. The once verdant, idyllic Fleed is turned into a radioactive wasteland. Too late, the only known survivor of the royal family, the Crown Prince Duke Fleed, manages to steal the Grendizer, the robotic embodiment of the Fleedian God of War, from the Vegan invaders who plan to use it to spearhead their invasion fleet. Grendizer is a giant monster robot that interfaces with Spacer (Spaizer), a flying saucer that enables the robot to fly.

Fleeing Vegan space by flying at faster than light speed, the Duke enters our solar system and switches course to Earth, making a rough landing in Japan, on the slopes of Mount Fuji. He is befriended by Doctor Umon, a noted scientist who oversees a research laboratory called the Space Science Lab near a small ranch. The kindly Umon takes in the young humanoid alien as his son, under the assumed name of Daisuke, and assists him in hiding Grendizer. Taking the name Daisuke Umon, Duke Fleed works at the ranch run by Danbei Makiba (based on Abashiri Daemon of Go Nagai's manga ''Abashiri Ikka'').

Roughly two years later, Koji Kabuto, after studying abroad, returns to Japan in a flying saucer he personally designed and built, called the TFO. He heads to the Space Science Lab after hearing of multiple sightings of "flying saucers". He plans to contact the aliens if possible and make peace with them. Daisuke, however, scoffs at the notion and fears that these aliens, the Vegans, led by generals Blaki and Gandal, are preparing to attack Earth. Koji ignores his warnings and flies out to meet the incoming saucers, only to discover the horrible truth. In order to save Koji and protect his adoptive homeworld from destruction, Daisuke is forced to return to his true identity as Duke Fleed. He unearths Grendizer from its hiding place under the lab and sets off to fight his enemies.

The Vegans establish a base on the far side of the Moon and start to attack Earth from there. Koji discovers Duke Fleed's true identity and their bitter rivalry soon turns to friendship. The daughter of Danbei Makiba, Hikaru, also discovers Daisuke's secret and becomes a pilot in order to assist him despite his objections. Later on, it is revealed that there were two more survivors from planet Fleed: Duke's younger sister Maria Grace Fleed and a man who had rescued her and fled to Earth, raising her under the guise of her grandfather. Caught in a crossfire between Grendizer and a Vegan beast, he reveals to Maria that she is the last survivor of the royal family of Fleed (under the belief that Duke was killed) before dying from his wounds. Maria swears revenge on Grendizer and its pilot. She tries to ambush Duke, Koji and Hikaru at the Space Science Lab, but the fight is short. Maria's attacks bring Duke's necklace (which is the same as the one she wore) into view and the truth is revealed. The lost siblings are reunited at last and Maria becomes the last addition to the team.

As the conflict nears its end, it is shown that Duke Fleed was engaged to King Vega's daughter, Princess Rubina, prior to the attack on Fleed. When Rubina discovers that planet Fleed is no longer polluted with Vegatron radiation and that her fiancé is alive and well, she rushes to Earth to bring him the good news. Unfortunately, one of King Vega's generals uses this opportunity to ambush Duke Fleed, and Rubina is killed when she takes a shot aimed at Duke. This makes Duke even more determined to wipe out the Vegan menace once and for all.

King Vega decides to gather his remaining forces and make an all-out attack on Earth, destroying the Moon Base to coax his troops into fighting to the end and finally succeed in invading Earth and taking it as their new home planet. Duke and company go out to intercept them in Grendizer and the newly designed space combat Spazers. After a fierce battle, they finally manage to destroy the Vegan mother ship along with King Vega himself. Soon afterwards, Duke and Maria bid a tearful farewell to Earth and their friends and return to help reconstruct planet Fleed.

A young, idealistic American hopes to "show some kindness" to the German people soon after the end of World War II. In US-occupied Germany, he takes on work as a sleeping-car conductor for the Zentropa railway network, falls in love with a ''femme fatale'', and becomes embroiled in a pro-Nazi terrorist conspiracy.

The story opens with an unnamed war correspondent and a young lieutenant surveying the calm of the battlefield and reflecting upon the war between two unidentified armies. The opponents are dug into trenches, each waiting for the other to attack, and the men on the war correspondent's side are confident they will prevail, because they are all strong outdoor-types —men who know how to use a rifle and fight—while their enemies are townspeople, "a crowd of devitalised townsmen . . . They're clerks, they're factory hands, they're students, they're civilised men. They can write, they can talk, they can make and do all sorts of things, but they're poor amateurs at war."''The Land Ironclads'', H. G. Wells, 1909 The men agree that their "open air life" produces men better suited to war than their opponents' "decent civilization."

In the end, however, the "decent civilization," with its men of science and engineers, triumphs over the "better soldiers" who, instead of developing land ironclads of their own, had been practising shooting their rifles from horseback, a tactic rendered obsolete by the land ironclads. Wells foreshadows this eventual outcome in the conversation of the two men in the first part, when the correspondent tells the lieutenant "Civilization has science, you know, it invented and it made the rifles and guns and things you use."

The story ends with the entire army captured by thirteen land ironclads, with the defenders managing to disable only one. In the last scene, the correspondent compares his countrymen's "sturdy proportions with those of their lightly built captors", and thinks of the story he is going to write about the experience, noting both that the captured officers are thinking of ways they will defeat what they call the enemy's "ironmongery" with their already-existing weaponry, rather than developing their own land ironclads to counter the new threat, and also noting that the "half-dozen comparatively slender young men in blue pajamas who were standing about their victorious land ironclad, drinking coffee and eating biscuits, had also in their eyes and carriage something not altogether degraded below the level of a man."

The beginning of the book establishes the framework in which a 17th-century gentleman, mourning the death of his beloved, Lady Mirdath, is given a vision of a far-distant future where their souls will be re-united, and sees the world of that time through the eyes of a future incarnation. The language and style used are intended to resemble those of the 17th century, though the prose has features characteristic of no particular period, such as an almost complete lack of dialogue or proper names. Ian Bell has suggested that John Milton's epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' (1667) was probably a partial inspiration for Hodgson's novel, especially in view of the hellish visions of sombre intensity that mark both works, and the use of massive structures (the Temple of Pandemonium in Milton and the Last Redoubt in ''The Night Land'').

The 17th-century framing becomes inconsequential as the story focuses on the future. The Sun has gone out and the Earth is lit only by the glow of residual vulcanism. The last few millions of the human race are gathered together in the Last Redoubt, a gigantic metal pyramid, nearly eight miles high, which is under siege from unknown forces and Powers outside in the dark. These are held back by a shield known as the "air clog", powered from a subterranean energy source called the "Earth Current". For thousands of years vast living shapes known as the Watchers have waited in the darkness near the pyramid. It is thought that they are waiting for the inevitable time when the Circle's power finally weakens and dies. Other living things have been seen in the darkness, some of unknown origins, and others that may once have been human. Hodgson uses the term "Abhuman" to name several different species of intelligent beings evolved from humans who interbred with alien species or adapted to changed environmental conditions, and are seen as decayed or maligned by those living inside the Last Redoubt.

To leave the protection of the Circle means almost certain death, or, worse, destruction of the soul. The narrator establishes mind contact with an inhabitant of a forgotten Lesser Redoubt. First, one expedition sets off to succour the inhabitants of the Lesser Redoubt, whose own Earth Current has been exhausted, only to meet with disaster. After that the narrator sets off alone into the darkness to find the girl he has made contact with, knowing now that she is the reincarnation of his past love.

At the conclusion of the adventure the narrative does not return to the framework story, but ends with the homecoming of the couple and the narrator's inauguration into the ranks of their most honoured heroes.

The story is told by an unnamed narrator, an agent of an unnamed U.S. intelligence bureau. The agent is tasked with an investigation into an atomic power plant which has been completely drained of power. A Professor of Nuclear Physics, Elmer Tywood, is found dead.

As the investigation progresses, bringing in Tywood's research students and his university colleagues, it is revealed that Tywood had developed a means to send objects back in time via "micro-temporal translation." His plan was to "improve" the world by giving Hellenic Greece advanced knowledge in the form of chemistry.

The investigating agents and their superior, The Boss, gradually realize that the changes introduced into history might, through the butterfly effect, cause the deletion from existence of every human being alive.

The trail eventually leads to the doorstep of Mycroft James Boulder, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, who had been hired by Tywood to translate a textbook of chemistry into Attic Greek. He states that he had figured out Tywood's plan and translated only enough to coincide with historical accounts.

With no clear solution, the investigation is shelved and filed under the heading of "?".

The year is 2070, and the United Republic of America, an authoritarian conservative regime constructed after the second revolution, has built its first starship: the URSS ''Alabama''. The welcoming celebration for Captain Robert E. Lee takes a sudden turn when Lee initiates his plan to steal the ''Alabama''. Working with a handful of conspirators, Lee manages to take the ship by the helm and override the clearance codes. URS soldiers climb aboard to stop Lee, but they are too late. Not wishing to abandon their orders, Colonel Reese and the other soldiers become stowaways.

Captain Lee knew exactly what he was doing. His destination: the 47 Ursae Majoris system, some 46 light years away—far enough to escape the tyrannical United Republic. At a cruise velocity of .2c, ''Alabama'' would not arrive at its destination until 230 earth years have passed. So the crew of 104 soldiers, scientists, and civilians were put in biostasis, to be awakened from their virtual immortality by the ship's AI 226 years into the future. (Four years are sparred due to time dilation.) 47 Ursae Majoris' system has four planets- named Fox, Raven, Bear and Wolf after Native American mythology. Bear has six satellites- Dog, Hawk, Eagle, Coyote, Snake and Goat. Of these six, Coyote is large enough to support its own biosphere.

Just three months into the journey, something goes terribly wrong. Leslie Gillis, the senior communications officer, is awakened from biostasis. Expecting the year to be 2300, Gillis is horrified when he questions the AI. There was a mix up, and now it is inexplicably impossible for Gillis to return to his dreamless sleep. His gruelling options are either suicide or a lonely existence surviving off the ship's supplies. While suicide may be more honorable than devouring his crewmates’ rations, Gillis chooses life.

After a brief chat with the AI, Gillis learns that Eric Gunther was originally scheduled to awake three months into the trip. Gunther is an agent for the URA, and would attempt to contact the president, or destroy the ship. The program was changed at the last minute to wake someone else instead - Les Gillis. Gillis leaves a note for Captain Lee explaining Gunther's plans for treason. Why they were changed at the last minute remains a mystery, but it was a change that would cost Gillis his life.

During Leslie Gillis’ solitary life, he did everything he could to keep from going insane, attempting to eat and sleep at regular hours, reading all of the books which were on board, playing chess against the AI, writing stories, and painting. Using practically all of the ship's art supplies, Gillis created a story about a prince named Rupurt and the fantastic alien world he lived in. He painted scenes of his books on the ship's inside walls. Eventually, Gillis died in his old age after a fall from a ladder while trying to get a better look at an alien ship he had seen. The AI automatically expelled his body into space with the arms of a maintenance bot, and the ship sailed on to 47 Ursae Majoris with no more incidents.

The crew is awakened as planned in the year 2300. The ''Alabama'' has entered the 47 Ursae Majoris system and is approaching its third planet, Bear. Bear (currently known as 47 Ursae Majoris b) is a gas giant that orbits 47 Ursae Majoris at 2.1 AUs and Coyote, its fourth moon, is larger even than Mars. This habitable satellite is lush with green plants and rivers of water. This will be the crew's new home. Captain Lee directs the landing procedures of the two ships docked to the ''Alabama'', the Wallace and the Helms.

The crew finds Coyote to be habitable, but very peculiar nevertheless. Coyote's seasons change at a much slower rate than Earth's. A year for Coyote consists of 1,096 days with 27 hours per day. Life forms on Coyote seem similar to those on Earth at first glance, but behave in unique ways. As described in Gillis’ novel, the world is home to gigantic bird-like creatures which are anything but friendly. The settlers call them "boids", which was Gillis’ term for the beasts in his novel. Boids are common in the grasslands around the new settlement.

The remainder of Coyote tells of the adventures of Carlos Montero and Wendy Gunther along the banks of the equatorial river which stretches around Coyote.

A flying saucer arrives on Earth while searching for planets suitable to raise "Gargons", a lobster-like but air-breathing monster that is a reserve food supply on their home planet. Crewman Thor shows his alien contempt for Earth's creatures, by needlessly vaporizing a dog named Sparky with a disintegrator raygun. Another crew member by the name of Derek, discovers an inscription on Sparky's dog tag and fears the Gargons might destroy Earth's native inhabitants. This makes the other aliens scoff at the thought. Being members of the "supreme race", they disdain "foreign beings", no matter how intelligent; they pride themselves that "families" and "friendships" are forbidden on their world. Derek reveals an ancient book and turns out to be a member of an underground rebellion, that commemorates the more humane periods of their world's history, before they became mechanized slaves.

Asking for the book, the Captain and Thor disarms Derek. Taking him as prisoner, they plan to put Derek on trial and have him executed by the high court. The Gargon they brought with them suddenly falls sick to Earth's atmosphere. While his crew members are distracted, Derek escapes on foot. Eventually, the Gargon revives from being unconscious. When the Captain gives his report, it is revealed that Derek is the son of the Leader of their race, although he is unaware of this. Thor is sent to hunt down Derek, with orders to bring him back alive or kill him and any other intelligent beings to protect their mission to Earth. The rest of the crew return to their home world, leaving the Gargon behind in a nearby cave.

Meanwhile, Derek arrives at the address he found on the dog's tag, where he meets Betty Morgan and her Grandpa. They have a room to rent, and Derek inadvertently becomes a boarder. When Betty's friend, reporter Joe Rogers, cannot make it to their afternoon swim at Alice Woodward's place, Derek tags along with Betty. He shows the tag to Betty, who recognizes it immediately. Derek takes her to the place where the spacecraft landed and shows her Sparky's remains. She does not believe him, so he describes Thor's weapon that can also vaporize humans. Betty takes this surprisingly well and vows to help Derek stop his crew mate.

For the rest of the day Betty and Derek have several run-ins with Thor, who vaporizes several humans, including Alice and Professor Simpson from earlier, and Joe follows up on stories of skeletons popping up all over town. Eventually Thor is wounded in a shoot out with the police. And he then kidnaps both Derek and Betty to help him receive medical attention, in the process revealing Derek's true parentage to them. Two car chases and a gunfight follow, and Thor is finally captured by Earth authorities after plummeting off a cliff in a stolen car.

Shortly after, the Gargon grows immensely large, after killing and devouring a policeman investigating the alien's landing site, and attacking numerous people. Derek and Betty go to the car wreck site to look for Thor's raygun. They kiss, and Derek vows to stay on Earth. The Gargon suddenly appears and ruins their romantic moment, but Derek finds the raygun under a rock just in time for them to escape. Unfortunately, it is damaged and out of power. The giant Gargon begins heading towards the town. They follow and confront it, having used the electricity from the overhead power lines to fuel the raygun's components. Derek eventually kills the monster, but it's too late. The invading fleet appears in Earth's orbit.

Derek retrieves Thor from the police and everyone, including Joe and Grandpa, hurry to the landing site. He then reunites with the Captain and meets his father for the first time. Derek pretends to feel regret for his insubordination and offers to help guide the spaceships to land. Derek then goes into the spacecraft alone and makes the ultimate sacrifice, leading the invasion fleet at full speed directly towards his ground location and causing a massive explosion, killing his father, the Captain and Thor in the process, causing their government structure to collapse in his absence and sparking a revolution by those like Derek. Derek does not survive the blast but is remembered by Betty for declaring, "I shall make the Earth my home. And I shall never, never leave it."

The plot is linear and is mostly provided for the introductory and concluding full-motion video cutscenes. After the "Material Defender" (voiced by George DelHoyo) has destroyed all of the Solar System's mines in the original ''Descent'', he stops in the asteroid belt to dock. He is then contacted by Post-Terran Mining Corporation executive Dravis, who exploits a loophole in a contract to coerce him to accept a new mission or forfeit his reward and face legal action. The Material Defender consents, and as Dravis tries to convince him that he is merely embarking on a reconnaissance mission, his ship is fitted with a prototype warp core. He is then sent to clear out PTMC's deep space mines beyond the Solar System.

The Material Defender teleports to Zeta Aquilae and five other, fictional star systems and destroys their mines. In the sixth system, the last mine seems to run all through a planetoid, which is revealed in the final cutscene to be a large spaceship. After the spaceship breaks apart, the Material Defender alerts Dravis to his return home, but his warp drive malfunctions and he teleports to an unknown location. The camera then fades to that location and the ship appears, heavily damaged and crackling with excess radiation drifting towards the camera, ending with the words "to be continued..." being displayed.

While researching urban legends, University of Illinois Chicago semiotics graduate student Helen Lyle learns of the Candyman, a spirit who kills anyone who says his name five times in front of a mirror. She is inspired to take on the project after learning about a recent murder, and she soon learns of two dozen more attributed to the Candyman. Skeptical, Helen and her friend Bernadette Walsh repeat the Candyman's name to Helen's bathroom mirror, but nothing happens.

Helen and Bernadette work together on a thesis on how Cabrini-Green residents use the Candyman legend to cope with hardship. She and Bernadette visit the scene of a murder, where Helen discovers a room where offerings have been left for the Candyman. Afterwards, they meet the victim's neighbor, Anne-Marie McCoy, a single mother raising her infant son Anthony.

Helen and her husband Trevor have dinner with Professor Philip Purcell, an expert on the Candyman legend, who says that the Candyman, born in the late 1800s as the son of a slave, grew up to become a well-known artist. After he fell in love with and impregnated a white woman, her father sent a lynch mob after him. They cut off his right hand and smeared him with honeycomb stolen from an apiary, attracting bees that stung him to death. His corpse was burned in a pyre, and his ashes were scattered across the land on which Cabrini-Green was eventually built.

When Helen returns to Cabrini-Green, a young boy named Jake tells her of an incident where a mentally-disabled boy got severely castrated by Candyman in the public toilet. She goes to investigate, but finds a swarm of bees in a toilet. Then, a man calling himself the Candyman attacks her. She identifies her attacker, who turns out to be the head of a gang called the Overlords. The police assume he is responsible for the murders. The real Candyman appears to Helen in a parking garage and hypnotizes her. He explains that because she has discredited his legend, he must shed innocent blood to perpetuate it. Helen blacks out and awakens in Anne-Marie's apartment, covered in blood, to find Anne-Marie's pet Rottweiler, Annie, decapitated and her son Anthony stolen. Distraught, Anne-Marie attacks Helen, whom the police arrest while she defends herself.

After Trevor bails her out of jail, Helen finds the Candyman in a photographic slide taken at Cabrini-Green. He appears inside Helen's apartment and cuts her neck, causing her to bleed and pass out. Bernadette arrives at Helen's apartment, and when Helen comes to, she sees that the Candyman has murdered Bernadette. Framed for the crime, Helen is sedated and taken to a psychiatric hospital, and is strapped to a bed. A month later, psychiatrist Dr. Burke interviews Helen to prepare her for her upcoming trial. She attempts to prove her innocence by summoning the Candyman, who appears and murders Dr. Burke, allowing her to escape despite being framed for Burke’s murder. She returns to her apartment to find Trevor now living with a student. Helen confronts him, then flees to Cabrini-Green to rescue Anthony. When she finds the Candyman in his lair, he tells her that surrendering to him will ensure Anthony's safety. Offering Helen immortality, the Candyman opens his coat, revealing a ribcage wreathed in bees. The bees pour out of his mouth as he kisses her and stream down her throat. He vanishes with Anthony, and Helen awakes to discover a mural of the Candyman and his lover, who bears a striking resemblance to her.

The Candyman promises to release Anthony if Helen helps him strike fear into Cabrini-Green's residents. Attempting to feed his legend, the Candyman reneges and attempts to immolate both Helen and Anthony in a bonfire. The flames destroy the Candyman, and Helen dies while saving Anthony. The residents, led by Anne-Marie, pay their respects at Helen's funeral. At home, the grief-stricken and guilt-ridden Trevor looks into the mirror and says Helen's name five times, whereupon Helen's vengeful spirit appears and kills him. A new mural of Helen dressed in white with her hair ablaze appears in the Candyman's lair.

Shortly after World War II, in 1945–46, in one of the suburbs of Prague (the film was shot in Michle), Eda Souček attends a boys' elementary school where he belongs to a class with a complete lack of discipline. After the class drives their teacher Maxová to a mental breakdown during one of her classes, the schoolmaster has to implement special measures. Authoritative Igor Hnízdo, who is said to be a great war hero, is hired as their new teacher. He immediately introduces corporal punishment, which, as he explains, is not normally allowed, but the school has received an exception from the Ministry of Education, especially for their class. Whenever he is not satisfied with the boys' behavior, Hnízdo asks them to flex their arms and hits their palms several times with a flexible switch.

Despite his strict methods, the boys soon become charmed by the man. They love his battlefront stories and the fact that he is always armed and wears a uniform. Eda sees him as the very opposite of his own father, whom he considers to be too cowardly. Hnízdo makes the same positive impression on the townspeople (including Eda's mother). Nevertheless, his persona is also surrounded by many controversies. He is a notorious womanizer and is said to have a special weakness for young girls. His war heroism is also disputed as he is unable to provide any accurate information about his military service. There is even an unconfirmed rumor that Hnízdo's role during the war was to guard a herd of goats. But the boys from his class refuse to believe it and even fight those who are spreading these rumors.

Hnízdo's reputation suffers after he is accused of having a sexual relationship with local twins who attend a girls school in the same area. He is forced to leave because this is not the first time he has been involved in a similar scandal. The formerly unmanageable boys begin to defend Hnízdo and call for his return. The accusation is finally withdrawn and Hnízdo is reinstalled as their teacher. He states that the way how they dealt with the accusation is a proof that their relationship is now based on mutual trust and physical punishments are no longer required and breaks his switch in half.

Blaze the Cat is somehow pulled from her native dimension into Sonic's world. Her world had seven Sol Emeralds—similar to the Chaos Emeralds—but they were stolen by Doctor Eggman. She then makes it her goal to retrieve them. While searching, she meets Cream the Rabbit and is surprised by her politeness. Meanwhile, Sonic is searching for the Chaos Emeralds, which have been stolen by Doctor Eggman Nega, Eggman's alternate counterpart from Blaze's dimension.

Sonic briefly encounters Blaze during his search, but she departs before he can question her. His friend Tails learns that the two dimensions are merging somehow, and both will collapse if the process is not stopped. Suspicious of Blaze, Sonic and Tails begin searching for her. Upon finding Blaze and Cream, Sonic questions Blaze about her nature, but she refuses to give any information and leaves with Cream. Sonic follows her to Eggman Nega's base, where it is revealed that Eggman and Eggman Nega are working together to collect both the Chaos Emeralds and the Sol Emeralds. Blaze declares that she is the only one who can save their worlds, without anyone's help. Sonic and Blaze fight each other, until Sonic wins the fight and Blaze realizes the error of her ways.

After Eggman kidnaps Cream, Blaze goes after him while Sonic takes on Nega. Sonic collects the last of the seven Chaos Emeralds and catches up with Blaze, who fails to prevent Eggman and Eggman Nega from draining the Sol Emeralds's power for their Egg Salamander mech. As the world begins to destabilize, Sonic and his friends help Blaze realize the meaning of friendship. This restores the Sol Emeralds, and Sonic and Blaze use both sets of Emeralds to transform into Super Sonic and Burning Blaze. The two destroy the Egg Salamander, restoring the dimensions to normal, and Blaze returns to her world, now better understanding her powers. Cream is saddened by Blaze's departure, but Sonic assures her that Blaze promised to return someday.

In ''The Escape'', humans live in a planetary system millions of light years from Earth. Space travel is common, but hyperdrive research is restricted: any research pertaining to hyperdrive travel is destroyed by the oppressive solar government. However, one group has spent a decade in secret developing a hyperdrive ship and plans to use it to escape the force field encasing their planetary system. The government hires Stone to stop them.

It is eventually revealed that the solar government is conspiring with a race of superior aliens to stop the development of hyperdrive technology. These aliens keep species for study, and push these species toward war. Travel to other planetary systems is barred by invisible force fields around the systems. The aliens and their agents travel by means of fixed, self-made portals, opened with special keys. Ultimately, Stone is able to travel through one of the portals where he is greeted by an alien agitator, who seeks his assistance to bring to an end the cruel treatment of these species.

In ''Universe'', Jake Stone continues his work with these agitators to disrupt the portals. Meanwhile, a human colony fleet from Earth is heading for the force field surrounding the Solar System (Earth's planetary system). Ultimately Stone is able to work for the enemy to get close enough to destroy the Controller that maintains the force fields and portals, thus freeing these worlds.

Peter Evans is a lawyer for a millionaire philanthropist, George Morton. Evans' main duties are managing the legal affairs surrounding Morton's contributions to an environmentalist organization, the National Environmental Resource Fund (NERF) (modeled after the Natural Resources Defense Council).

Morton becomes suspicious of NERF's director, Nicholas Drake, after discovering that Drake has misused some of the funds Morton had donated to the group. Soon afterward, Morton is visited by two men, John Kenner and Sanjong Thapa, who appear on the surface to be researchers at MIT, but, in fact, are international law enforcement agents on the trail of an eco-terrorist group, the Environmental Liberation Front (ELF) (modeled on the Earth Liberation Front). The ELF is attempting to create "natural" disasters to convince the public of the dangers of global warming. All these events are timed to happen during a NERF-sponsored climate conference that will highlight the "catastrophe" of global warming. The eco-terrorists have no qualms about how many people are killed in their manufactured "natural" disasters and ruthlessly assassinate anyone who gets in their way (few would recognize their preferred methods as murder: the venom of a rare Australian blue-ringed octopus which causes paralysis, and "lightning attractors" which cause their victims to get electrocuted during electrical storms). Kenner and Thapa suspect Drake of being involved with the ELF to further his own ends (garnering more donations to NERF from the environmentally-minded public).

Evans joins Kenner, Thapa, and Morton's assistant, Sarah Jones, on a globe-spanning series of adventures to thwart various ELF-manufactured disasters before these disasters kill thousands of people. Kenner's niece, Jennifer Haynes, joins the group for the final leg as they travel to a remote island in the Solomon Islands to stop the ELF's ''pièce de résistance'', a tsunami that will inundate the California coastline just as Drake is winding up the international conference on the "catastrophe" of global warming. Along the way, the group battles man-eating crocodiles and cannibalistic tribesmen (who feast on Ted Bradley, an environmentalist TV actor whom Drake had sent to spy on Kenner and his team). The rest of the group is rescued in the nick of time by Morton, who had previously faked his own death to throw Drake off the trail so that he could keep watch on the ELF's activities on the island while he waited for Kenner and his team to arrive.

The group has a final confrontation with the elite ELF team on the island during which Haynes is almost killed, and Evans kills one of the terrorists who had previously tried to kill both him and Jones in Antarctica. The rest of the ELF team is killed by the backwash from their own tsunami, which Kenner and his team have sabotaged just enough to prevent it from becoming a full-size tsunami and reaching California.

Morton, Evans, and Jones return to Los Angeles. Evans quits his law firm to work for Morton's new, as yet unnamed, organization, which will practice environmental activism as a business, free from potential conflicts of interest. Morton hopes Evans and Jones will take his place in the new organization after his death.

Scene 1: Bernard 2 ("B2" in the script) has discovered that he is one of a number of clones. Salter explains that he agreed to a cloning experiment to try again at parenting his first son, who had died, but, unbeknownst to Salter, the doctors unethically made several more clones. Salter decides that they should sue the doctors, which soothes the shaken Bernard 2.

Scene 2: An angry Bernard 1 ("B1") visits Salter for the first time since his childhood. We learn that Salter sent him to a clinical home after the suicide of his mother had left them both in a constant state of fear and pain. B1 has learned about the clones, and is furious at his father for doing it, as well as for his neglectful and traumatic upbringing. Salter admits that the clones were meant to give him another chance at raising a child without repeating his many parental mistakes. B1 grows increasingly agitated and threatens to murder B2.

Scene 3: B2 speaks to Salter after having met B1 in the park. He has learned the truth about the situation, and now hates Salter for what he has done. B2 decides to leave the country for a while, both to get away from Salter and because he fears that B1 might try to kill him. Salter tries to convince him not to go, or at least to come back soon, but B2 refuses.

Scene 4: B1 tells Salter that when B2 left the country, B1 followed him and killed him. Salter, stricken with grief, demands to know the details, but B1 says little.

Scene 5: Salter is meeting with one of the other clones of his son, Michael Black. We learn that Bernard 1 has killed himself, and Salter is now planning to meet with the other clones. Michael, who never knew Salter, is a happily married maths teacher with three children. He is completely undisturbed that he is a clone, and tells Salter that he does not care. Salter finds this very unsettling. He demands to know more about him, something personal and unique, but Michael can only answer superficially and Salter is left unsatisfied.

The tiny (three miles by five miles) European Duchy of Grand Fenwick, supposedly located in the Alps between Switzerland and France, proudly retains a pre-industrial economy, dependent almost entirely on making Pinot Grand Fenwick wine. However, a California winery makes a knockoff version, "Pinot Grand Enwick", putting the country on the verge of bankruptcy.

The prime minister decides that their only course of action is to declare war on the United States. Expecting a quick and total defeat (since their standing army is tiny and equipped with bows and arrows), the country confidently expects to rebuild itself through the largesse that the United States bestows on all its vanquished enemies (as it did for Germany through the Marshall Plan at the end of World War II).

With the counterfeit wine as a ''casus belli'', they send a formal written declaration of war, but this is misplaced by the State Department. Receiving no response, the Duchy is forced to muster some troops and hire a ship to stage an actual invasion.

Landing in New York City, almost completely deserted above ground because of a citywide disaster drill, the Duchy's invading "army" (composed of the Field Marshal Tully Bascomb, three men-at-arms, and 20 longbowmen) wanders to a top secret government lab and unintentionally captures the "Quadium Bomb" (a prototype doomsday device that could destroy the world if triggered) and its maker, Dr. Kokintz, an absent-minded professor who is working through the drill. This "Q-Bomb" has a theoretical explosive potential greater than all the nuclear weapons of the United States and the Soviet Union combined.

The invaders from Fenwick are sighted by a civil defence squad and are immediately taken to be "men from Mars" when their chain mail is mistaken for reptilian skin. The American Secretary of Defense pieces together what has happened (with help from the five lines in his encyclopedia on The Duchy of Grand Fenwick and the Fenwickian flag left behind on a flagpole) and is both ashamed and astonished that the United States was unaware that it had been at war for two months.

With the most powerful bomb in the world now in the smallest country in the world, other countries are quick to react, with the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom offering their support. With the world at the tiny country's mercy, Duchess Gloriana, the leader of Grand Fenwick, lists her terms: all the nuclear weapons of the powerful nations must go through an inspection by impartial scientists. Continued inspection of the continuing nuclear programs of the world powers will be supervised by Dr. Kokintz, who recalls his identity as a Fenwick-American and accepts repatriation to his ancestral home. Kokintz takes on his new role as scientific director of the "Tiny Twenty", a new superpower of 20 of the world's smallest nations headed by Grand Fenwick. The United States and the other world powers accept these humiliating terms, leading to hope for world peace.

As a celebration of the triumphant outcome of the war, Duchess Gloriana and Tully Bascomb are united in marriage. As a sequel to the marriage, Dr. Kokintz accidentally drops the Q-Bomb onto the stone floor of the Grand Fenwick castle dungeon. As a result of this mishap, the scientific director inadvertently discovers that the Q-bomb is, and always has been, a powerless dud. The book concludes with Kokintz deciding to keep this key fact to himself.

The Sultan, together with the recently-married Prince and Princess, visit the kingdom of his brother Assan. During an entertainment, Assan's guards kill the Sultan's own guard and imprison the Prince. The Sultan had previously promised the Princess's hand to Assan's son Rugnor, a vow the Sultan broke when the Prince married her. The Prince escapes captivity and makes his way to the Sultan, who unsuccessfully attempts to persuade the Prince to give the Princess up. Assan attempts to kill the Prince, but kills the Sultan when he steps between them. The Sultan asks the Prince to save the Princess before he dies, and the Prince flees as Assan accuses the Prince of the Sultan's murder. Rugnor, revealed to be a half-human half-tiger creature, kidnaps the Princess and has multiple run-ins with the Prince. When the Princess refuses to yield to Rugnor, going as far as cutting off his hand with a sword, he decides to kill her by tying her to a large gear machine in his lair to crush her to death. The Prince arrives in time, killing Rugnor by knocking him into the gears and stopping the machine. The Prince then spirits the Princess away to an unknown destination.

Dr. Barbara is a disgraced doctor who forms a small band of environmentalists to attempt to save the albatross from nuclear testing by the French government on the remote Pacific island of St. Esprit. Neil, a naïve 16-year-old, joins the group and the story is told from his perspective.

During an illegal landing on the island, Neil is caught on film being shot in the foot by a French soldier. The subsequent news coverage makes Neil, and their environmental campaign, media celebrities. This allows a return visit to the island with a larger and more eccentric group of campaigners.

Whilst attempting to land, a French navy frigate collides with their boat. This event is broadcast live to the world by the cameraman who dies in the collision. The subsequent adverse news coverage causes the French to leave the campaigners unmolested on the island.

The coverage also leads to a deluge of gifts from well wishers all over the world, a steady stream of visitors and a growing collection of endangered animals which are meant to use the island as sanctuary.

Visitors include a representative from Club Med who investigates whether the island can be turned into a resort.

These excesses cause Dr. Barbara to manipulate Neil and other residents to commit ever greater acts of sabotage to cut themselves off from the outside world. Gradually, the male residents of the island (except Neil) become ill and slowly die under the 'care' of Dr. Barbara. As fewer able bodied residents are left, the endangered animals they are supposed to be saving are killed and eaten.

Slowly, Neil realises that his role is to father as many children as possible from the female residents. As more visitors arrive on the island, the female members stay and the male members disappear. When another young man arrives on the island, Neil's role as stud is in jeopardy and he too becomes ill whilst the new arrival is kept healthy.

Slowly, over the course of the story, the environmentalists change from being the sane ones in an insane world into total insanity as Dr. Barbara's all female 'paradise' is constructed.

Neil and the remaining residents are rescued in the nick of time by the French navy, after a couple who only just manage to escape alert the authorities to what is really happening on the island.

About a year before the beginning of the novel (as chronicled in the preceding short story "Something More"), the Empire of Nilfgaard attacks the Kingdom of Cintra. Queen Calanthe, mortally wounded, commits suicide and her granddaughter, Cirilla, called Ciri and nicknamed the "Lion Cub of Cintra" manages to flee from the burning capital city. Emhyr var Emreis, Emperor of Nilfgaard, sends his spies to find her, as, in addition to her royal lineage, Ciri has elven blood which gives her immense magical potential. The war ends with Nilfgaard's defeat by a coalition of the Northern Kingdoms, though the Empire retains much of its power.

Almost two years after the armistice, the rulers of the Northern Kingdoms meet in secret to discuss the political situation. Peace with Nilfgaard is not what it was supposed to be - the Empire's financial clout is ruining the northern economy, Imperial emissaries agitate aristocrats and merchants against their monarchs, elves and dwarves have formed partisan groups called ''Scoia'tael'' and are conducting acts of terror against humans - and in every major city cultists are prophesying that the world will end, unless the Savior comes from the South. The kings decide to start a war, before the Empire weakens their countries further, and to regain Cintra. They are aware that the Emperor is looking for Ciri to marry her (morganatically) and thus legitimize his continuing occupation of Cintra. To prevent this, the monarchs decide to find and kill Ciri.

Ciri is being protected by the Witcher Geralt of Rivia, a magically and genetically mutated monster-slayer-for-hire, who takes her to the witchers' keep, Kaer Morhen, to be educated and trained by the few remaining witchers. The oldest witcher, Vesemir, asks the sorceress Triss Merigold to come to Kaer Morhen and help with strange and abnormal behavior he had seen in Ciri. Much of what Triss observes is just the normal aspects of a woman's maturation, which the exclusively male Witchers are ignorant of, but she eventually realizes that Ciri is a "Source". She acknowledges that she does not have the power to control Ciri's talent, and advises Geralt to seek help from his former lover Yennefer, a more experienced and powerful sorceress.

At the same time, the wizard Rience is searching for Ciri. Rience is serving a more powerful mage, whose identity remains unknown. He captures Geralt's friend, Dandelion the bard, and tortures him for information about Ciri. Dandelion is saved by the timely arrival of Yennefer, who engages in a magic duel with Rience. Rience escapes through a portal opened by his master, but is scarred from the encounter.

In the spring, Geralt leaves Kaer Morhen with Triss and Ciri, intending to deliver Ciri to the Temple School in Ellander where she would receive a "normal" education from the priestess Nenneke. On the way, Triss falls ill, and they join Yarpen Zigrin's dwarven company who is leading a caravan for King Henselt of Kaedwen. Geralt tells Ciri about the roses of Aelirenn, an elf who died leading elven youths to fight the humans in a hopeless attack. The caravan is attacked by the Scoia'tael, and it is revealed that the escort mission was a trap set by the kings who doubted Yarpen's loyalty.

Ciri's stay in Ellander is still haunted by disturbing dreams until the arrival of Yennefer, who starts educating her in the ways of magic.

Meanwhile, Geralt tracks Rience and his employer. With the help of Dandelion, the medical student Shani, and the sorceress Philippa Eilhart, he forces a confrontation with Rience, during which both are injured. Rience's master intervenes again, opening a portal for him, and Geralt is prevented from pursuing by Eilhart. Geralt is left gravely wounded.

As they are about to leave the Temple School in Ellander, Yennefer asks Ciri whether she did not like her at first, leading to a series of flashbacks detailing Ciri's studies with Yennefer from the day they were introduced and back to the present as they are about to leave the Temple. From an initial antagonism, their relationship developed into a bond like that of a mother and daughter. Ciri admits that she did not like Yennefer, at first, and they leave.

The series follows an 8-year-old pink-haired girl named Stephanie, the newest resident of the LazyTown community. She has moved to LazyTown to live with her uncle, Mayor Milford Meanswell, and is surprised to learn that all of her neighbors lead inactive lifestyles. With the help of an above-average hero named Sportacus, she helps teach the other residents how to partake in more athletic pastimes. Her attempts are often nearly thwarted by Robbie Rotten, who prefers to lead a sluggish life and is agitated by the sudden boom of physical activity. On a regular basis, Robbie devises ill-judged schemes to make LazyTown lazy once again. However, his plans are never foolproof and always end with him losing.

Each of the children that Stephanie befriends embodies negative characteristics. Ziggy, who is kind-hearted and wants to be a superhero when he grows up, has an unbalanced diet devoid of fruits and vegetables. Pixel is a reclusive inventor who spends too much time on his computer. Stingy has a self-centered attitude and is possessive of nearly everything in town. Trixie is a troublemaker with little respect for rules and other people. As the series progresses, the characters become less lazy in favor of a healthier way of living which promotes such lifestyle to the audience watching to help with childhood obesity.

The program features a predominantly Eurodance soundtrack. Each episode features at least one original song and concludes with a different performance of "Bing Bang (Time to Dance)", which is sung by Stephanie. Many tracks are reworked versions of songs from the basis for Icelandic plays.

In early 19th century Russia, a bored St. Petersburg socialite named Onegin inherits his uncle's estate in the country. There, he meets a neighbouring landowner and aspiring poet, Lensky, and a widowed mother and her two daughters. The poet is engaged to the elder daughter Olga. Her sister, Tatiana (Tanya), writes Onegin a passionate love letter but he turns her down because of her youth and inexperience. He instead dances with her sister, which the jealous Lensky interprets as flirtation, and challenges his friend to a duel. The duel is arranged to take place in a secluded place by a local lake, and unknown to the participants, Tatiana secretly witnesses the duel from a safe distance. She observes Lensky taking the first shot and missing, followed by Onegin taking careful aim and disposing of Lensky with a shot to his opponent's head.

Onegin departs from his country estate. Six years later, he returns to St Petersburg, he encounters Tatiana, the woman whom he spurned, who is now a woman of refinement and married to a prince. Onegin immediately sees Tanya as desirable, and falls in love with her. He begs her forgiveness for his past behaviour. Tanya refuses Onegin, explaining to him that he has missed his chance with her; she will be faithful to her husband. He receives her rejection with despair.

The film compresses the events of the novel somewhat; for example, the Naming Day celebrations take place on the same day as Onegin's speech to Tatyana. As a result, Onegin's reasons for dancing with Olga and insulting Lensky are left somewhat confusing. Much like the 1988 film version, ''Onegin'' gives the impression that, during the duel sequence, Onegin shoots to kill.

Wojciechowska's novel covers the trials of young Mott as he tries to find a new mother for himself and his two brothers, Harley and Davidson. Mott sets his father up on dates with a string of women, but each one has at least one personality quirk his brothers just cannot stand.

While working as the companion to a rich American woman on holiday in Monte Carlo, the unnamed narrator, a naïve young woman in her early 20s, becomes acquainted with a wealthy Englishman, Maxim de Winter, a 42-year-old widower. After a fortnight of courtship, she agrees to marry him and, after the wedding and honeymoon, accompanies him to his mansion in Cornwall, the beautiful estate Manderley.

Mrs. Danvers, the sinister housekeeper, was profoundly devoted to the first Mrs de Winter, Rebecca, who died in a sailing accident about a year before Maxim and the second Mrs de Winter met. She continually attempts to undermine the narrator psychologically, subtly suggesting to her that she will never attain the beauty, urbanity, and charm her predecessor possessed. Whenever the narrator attempts to make changes at Manderley, Mrs. Danvers describes how Rebecca ran it when she was alive. Cowed by Mrs. Danvers' imposing manner and the other members of West Country society's unwavering reverence for Rebecca, the narrator becomes isolated.

The narrator is soon convinced that Maxim regrets his impetuous decision to marry her and is still deeply in love with the seemingly perfect Rebecca. In an attempt to please him, she revives the Manderley costume ball, a custom Rebecca had instated, with the help of Mrs. Danvers. On her suggestion, the narrator wears a replica of the dress shown in a portrait of one of the house's former inhabitants, ignorant of the fact that Rebecca had worn the same costume to much acclaim shortly before her death. When the narrator enters the hall and Maxim sees the dress, he angrily orders her to change.

Shortly after the ball, Mrs. Danvers reveals her contempt for the narrator, believing she is trying to replace Rebecca, and reveals her deep, unhealthy obsession with the dead woman. Mrs. Danvers tries to get the narrator to commit suicide by encouraging her to jump out of the window. However, she is interrupted before the narrator does so by the disturbance caused by a nearby shipwreck. A diver investigating the wrecked ship's hull's condition also discovers the remains of Rebecca's sailing boat, with her decomposed body still on board, despite Maxim having identified another body that had washed ashore shortly after Rebecca's death.

This discovery causes Maxim to confess to the narrator that his marriage to Rebecca was a sham. Rebecca, Maxim reveals, was a cruel and selfish woman who manipulated everyone around her into believing her to be the perfect wife and a paragon of virtue. On the night of her death, she told Maxim that she was pregnant with another man's child, which she would raise under the pretense that it was Maxim's, and he would be powerless to stop her. In a rage, Maxim shot her through the heart, then disposed of her body by placing it in her boat and sinking it at sea. The narrator thinks little of Maxim's murder confession but is relieved to hear that Maxim has always loved her and never Rebecca.

Rebecca's boat is raised, and it is discovered to have been deliberately sunk. An inquest brings a verdict of suicide. However, Rebecca's first cousin and lover, Jack Favell, attempts to blackmail Maxim, claiming to have proof that she could not have intended suicide based on a note she sent to him the night she died. It is revealed that Rebecca had had an appointment with a doctor in London shortly before her death, presumably to confirm her pregnancy. When the doctor is found, he reveals that Rebecca had cancer and would have died within a few months. Furthermore, due to the malformation of her uterus, she could never have been pregnant. Maxim assumes that Rebecca, knowing that she would die, manipulated him into killing her quickly. Mrs. Danvers had said after the inquiry that Rebecca feared nothing except dying a lingering death.

Maxim feels a great sense of foreboding and insists on driving through the night to return to Manderley. However, before he comes in sight of the house, it is clear from a glow on the horizon and wind-borne ashes that it is ablaze.

Maxim de Winter stands at a cliff edge and contemplates jumping. A young woman shouts at him and stops him in his tracks, but he rudely asks her to walk on.

Later, at Monte Carlo on the French Riviera, the same young woman is staying with her pompous old travelling companion, Mrs. Van Hopper, and she again encounters the aristocratic widower Maxim de Winter, looking much more debonair. They are attracted to each other, and although Van Hopper tells her he is still obsessed with his dead wife, who we are told drowned in the sea near Manderley, she soon becomes the second Mrs. de Winter.

Maxim takes his new bride back to Manderley, his grand mansion by the sea in southwestern England, dominated by its housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, a chilly individual who had been a confidante of the first Mrs. De Winter, whose death she has not forgotten. She has even preserved Rebecca's grand bedroom suite unchanged, and displays various items that carry her monogram.

Eventually, his constant reminders of Rebecca's glamour and sophistication convince the new Mrs. de Winter that Maxim is still in love with his first wife, which could explain his irrational outbursts of anger. She tries to please her husband by holding a costume party as he and Rebecca used to. Danvers advises her to copy the dress that one of Maxim's ancestors is seen wearing in a portrait. Nevertheless, when she appears in the costume, Maxim is appalled since Rebecca had worn an identical dress at her last ball, just before her death.

Mrs. de Winter confronts Danvers about this, but Danvers tells her she can never take Rebecca's place and tries to persuade her to jump to her death from the second-story window in Rebecca's room. At that moment, however, the alarm is raised because a ship has run aground due to the fog, and in the rescue of its crew, a sunken boat has been discovered with Rebecca's body in it.

Maxim now confesses to his new wife that his first marriage had been a sham from the start when Rebecca had declared that she had no intention of keeping to her vows but would pretend to be the perfect wife and hostess for the sake of appearances. When she claimed she was pregnant by her cousin and lover, Jack Favell, she taunted Maxim that the estate might pass to someone other than Maxim's line. During a heated argument, she fell, struck her head, and died. To conceal the truth, Maxim took the body out in a boat which he then scuttled, and identified another body as Rebecca's.

The crisis causes the second Mrs. de Winter to shed her naïve ways as they both plan to prove Maxim's innocence. When the police claim the possibility of suicide, Favell attempts to blackmail Maxim by threatening to reveal that she had never been suicidal. When Maxim goes to the police, they suspect him of murder. However, further investigation reveals that she was not pregnant but terminally ill due to cancer, so the suicide verdict stands. Maxim realizes Rebecca had been trying to goad him into killing her so Maxim would be ruined.

A free man, Maxim returns home to see Manderley on fire, set ablaze by the deranged Mrs. Danvers. All escape except Danvers, who dies when the ceiling collapses on her.

Act I

A fictional medieval kingdom in 15th-Century Europe is ruled by the devious Queen Aggravain and the mute King Sextimus the Silent. King Sextimus suffers from a curse that can only be reversed "when the mouse devours the hawk." The Minstrel sings of the Princess and the Pea ("Many Moons Ago"), but reveals the story to be fake, though he knows the true tale because he was there when it happened. The princess in the story is not the first princess tested to see if she is worthy of marrying Prince Dauntless the Drab—she is the thirteenth princess. The day the Minstrel arrives, the Queen, alongside her confidante, the Wizard, is testing Princess #12 with an unfair quiz. To the Queen's delight, the princess misses the last question: "What was the middle name of the daughter-in-law of the best friend of the blacksmith who forged the sword that killed the Beast?" and is given a rubber chicken by Sir Studley. The populace of the castle complains about an unjust law levied by Queen Aggravain: "Throughout the land no one may wed, 'till Dauntless shares his wedding bed." However, every petitioning princess is sent away after failing unfair tests devised by the Queen. It seems that no one is good enough to marry Prince Dauntless ("An Opening for a Princess").

The crisis escalates when the leading knight of the realm, Sir Harry, discovers that his girlfriend, Lady Larken, is pregnant. Though Lady Larken says that she will run away so he will never have to face embarrassment and the loss of his station, Sir Harry decides that he will set out to find a princess himself ("In a Little While"). He petitions the Queen who immediately says no, but when Dauntless manages to speak up and beg, she gives in.

The Minstrel tells the audience that in the original story, the princess arrived at the castle on a stormy night ("Many Moons Ago - Reprise"), but it is not night at all-and the princess only ''looked'' as though she went through a storm. Princess Winnifred the Woebegone, a brash and unrefined princess from the marshlands, was so eager to arrive that she swam the castle moat. She immediately charms Dauntless, Studley, and the knights and most of the kingdom ("Shy"). However, she also earns the utter loathing of the evil Queen, who vows to stop her.

The King discovers Larken's pregnancy and pantomimes this to his confidantes, the Minstrel and the Jester. He tells them to not say a word, but they both are more worried about the King letting it slip, because even though he is mute, he can still communicate ("The Minstrel, the Jester, and I"). Later, the Queen, assisted by the Wizard, designs a test for Winnifred based on something they are sure she has not got at all—sensitivity. They will place a tiny pea beneath twenty thick downy mattresses. If Winnifred is unable to sleep due to the pea, then she will be sensitive enough to marry Dauntless ("Sensitivity").

Meanwhile, Winnifred tells Dauntless and the ladies in waiting about her home in the swamp ("The Swamps of Home") and meets the King, and they immediately like each other. Then, after spilling a purple vase filled with fresh new baby's breath, Winnifred is caught cleaning the mess by Lady Larken who mistakes her for a chambermaid. Soon Harry gets mad at Larken for her mistake and they get in a fight. Larken vows that she will run far far away where she will never see him again.

The King, the Minstrel and the Jester catch Larken trying to run away, and they try to stop her but in the end decide to help her escape to Normandy ("Normandy"). Later that night, the Queen throws a ball so Winnifred can dance the most exhausting dance in the world, "The Spanish Panic". The Queen hopes that Winnifred will tire herself, but the plan fails. Winnifred is the last one standing as everyone collapses from exhaustion at the dance's climax. She asks Dauntless to try to give her a clue as to what the test might be, but he's not sure. He brings out a huge barbell that one of the princesses was asked to lift, but even he cannot lift it. Winnifred does easily and Dauntless admits that he loves her. Winnifred mentions that her nickname is Fred and Dauntless sings of his love for her as she practices numerous tasks she might have to do for the test, including singing, dancing, wrestling, acting, playing the Minstrel's lute, pantomiming and drinking herself unconscious ("Song of Love").

Act II

Later that night the Queen leads the knights and ladies as they carry the twenty mattresses to Fred's room ("Quiet"), and she catches the Minstrel, the Jester, the King, and Larken (disguised in Dauntless' clothes) running away. The Minstrel tries to protect Larken by saying he was escaping with Larken against her will. The Queen declares that the Minstrel will be banished by daybreak. Fred and Dauntless study for the test, and Fred convinces Larken to fix things with Harry. Larken leaves to find Harry, Dauntless bids Fred goodnight, and now she is left alone. While studying a fairytale, she complains about how other fairy tale princesses had it easy and how she wants to live happily ever after ("Happily Ever After"). King Sextimus has a man to man talk with Dauntless about the birds and the bees completely in pantomime ("Man to Man Talk"). The Jester and Minstrel trick the Wizard into telling them of the test and the Jester reminisces about his father's dancing days ("Very Soft Shoes").

Sir Harry and Lady Larken run into each other and they confess that their love is stronger than ever ("Yesterday I Loved You"). When Fred is finally ready for bed, the Queen brings in various people, including the Nightingale of Samarkand, to sing her to sleep ("Nightingale Lullaby") but Winnifred is kept wide awake. It seems that there is some "lump" under the mattresses that is keeping her from relaxing. She starts counting sheep.

Dauntless dresses in his finest to see Winnifred pass the test, but the Queen tells him to his great disappointment that the test has already happened and what it was. Dauntless is heartbroken until Winnifred drowsily stumbles into the throne room while still counting sheep. Everyone is ecstatic that Winnifred has passed but the Queen insists that Dauntless should not throw himself away on Winnifred. Dauntless has had enough of his mother's attempts to control his life and finally yells, "I told you to ''shut up''!". The curse on King Sextimus is lifted (the "mouse"- Dauntless, has metaphorically devoured the "hawk"- Queen Aggravain). Aggravain discovers that she cannot talk and the King can, so Dauntless and Winnifred are free to be married. The King forces the Queen to hop, skip, and jump around the room to everyone's amusement, and with this, she is forced to step down.

Finally the real reason why Winnifred passed the test is revealed. After learning about the test, the King, Minstrel, and Jester stuffed the mattresses full of weapons, jousting equipment, and other sharp items. All the items are removed by the Jester in the finale ("Finale"). After the items are removed Winnifred still has trouble sleeping until Dauntless takes the pea out from under the mattress, when she then falls asleep almost immediately. Everyone, in classic fairy-tale tradition, lives happily ever after.

''Student Bodies'' is about a serial killer who stalks students at Lamab High School, while at the same time, voyeuristically watching them. The killer calls himself "the Breather", presumably because the killer is always breathing heavily.

The Breather enjoys stalking victims over the telephone and, much like Jason Voorhees of the ''Friday the 13th'' films, he hates seeing youngsters having sex. The Breather uses many unusual objects to kill his female victims such as a paper clip, a chalkboard eraser and a horsehead bookend.

The film itself ends with several twists: initially, it is revealed that the Principal and his elderly female assistant are working as a duo as "the Breather", even though they are shown at one point in the film in the same room as other characters when the Breather contacts the school in order to threaten to commit further murders. The film then goes to reveal that the entire film was a fevered dream, caused by the main character Toby being sick and consumed by overwhelming sexual repression. In a send-up of the film ''The Wizard of Oz'', many characters are revealed to be much the opposite of what they appeared to be for the bulk of the film: the jock-like shop instructor is really the school's French teacher, the stuck-up would-be prom queen is actually the school nerd (who is given the crown by Toby after she wakes up, due to her kind nature), the two handicapped kids turn out to be ablebodied, and a local ROTC cadet is a hippie.

After being released from the hospital, Toby and her boyfriend are about to have sex, at which point he puts on gloves similar to the ones worn by the Breather and strangles Toby, as he has lost respect for her. However, in a homage to the nightmare-ending of the film ''Carrie,'' Toby's hands rise up from the freshly dug grave after her funeral to attack her killer.

A mysterious "spaceship" floats over a baseball game eventually revealing Stretch, Stinkie, and Fatso, The Ghostly Trio, who cause panic in the ballpark. Their nephew Casper, attempts to settle the terrified crowd, but they are just as scared of him. The park empties, and after watching their effect with satisfaction, Casper's uncles plan a vacation.

Meanwhile, a malevolent warlock named Desmond Spellman believes himself to be the greatest warlock to have existed until he receives an unwelcome message from the Oracle in the Mirror, who tells him that in the future, none other than Wendy the Good Little Witch will surpass him. To avoid this, Desmond plans to get rid of her once and for all with the advised "Mystic Abyss", a dimensional rift that can destroy living beings upon entering. He then creates a pair of spies: Jules and Vincent, and assigns them to bring Wendy to him where she is living in the country with her three mischievous aunts: Gert, Gabby, and Fanny.

Jules and Vincent arrive at Wendy's house to escort the young witch to Desmond, but she narrowly escapes with her aunts. To keep Wendy safe from Desmond, her aunts hide and vacation at a resort hotel which happens to be the same place in which Casper and his uncles are vacationing.

Casper and Wendy meet in a barn and, due to their amiable personalities and having been bossed around by their respective guardians, they become great friends. Unfortunately, they fear that each of their guardians will not get along because ghosts and witches are natural enemies. However, the pair are certain their guardians would get along if they only got to know each other. In order to do that, they devise a plan to make them meet at a party. Casper tricks the Ghostly Trio to break the record for possession and they possess three men who happen to resemble them. Wendy convinces her aunts to go to the party to meet men. Thanks to their plotting, they meet and soon the Trio are flirting with the three witches, who are posing as regular women.

Though everything goes well at first, with the ghosts and witches unwittingly enjoying each other's company and finding that they have a lot in common, the plan is spoiled when the possession wears off and the Trio's real selves are revealed to Wendy's aunts, who, in turn, reveal their real selves and threaten them with magic. However, as Wendy explains to Casper, she and her aunts cannot use any high-level magic or else Desmond will be able to track them down. She begs Casper not to tell anyone about this. Unfortunately, when the Trio suspects that Casper is protecting the witches, they interrogate and pressure him into blurting out that the witches cannot use their powers, prompting the Trio to terrorize Wendy and her aunts. Wendy feels she has no choice but to cast a high-level spell to cover the Trio in plaster, thus alerting Desmond's magic tracker of her location.

Distraught that Casper broke his promise, Wendy ends their friendship. Casper soon confronts his uncles and tells them that Desmond is coming after the witches and they should help. The Trio scoff at first and refuse, but Casper reminded them that at the party the Trio showed that they could get along with the witches if they put their differences aside.

Before the witches can evacuate the resort, Desmond and his spies arrive. After finding and confronting the witches, Desmond explains the Oracle's prediction, and after she tries to resist him, summons the Mystic Abyss and casts Wendy into it to destroy her, with Casper diving inside in an attempt to rescue her. Wendy's aunts attempt to battle Desmond but are no match for him. Before Desmond can turn the witches into fertilizer, a giant three-eyed monster appears and frightens the warlock who, while recoiling in fear, trips over Wendy's broom and falls into the Abyss himself. The monster turns out to be the Ghostly Trio, who have a change of heart and decide to help after they combine their powers to defeat Desmond. While they hold the door to the Abyss open, Wendy's aunts pull her and Casper out.

Both Casper and Wendy are weak and unconscious from being inside the Abyss; but with encouragement and comfort from their guardians, Casper is restored by his uncles, and Wendy is treated by her aunts. After a touching reunion between the witches and an awkward one between the ghosts, the witches thank the Trio for helping them. The Oracle then proclaims that Wendy is the greatest witch because she did something no other witch ever could; she befriended a ghost. Later, Casper, his uncles, Wendy, and her aunts, all bid each other goodbye. Before flying back home with her aunts, Wendy gives Casper a goodbye kiss, causing him to blush.

In a charming Connecticut village, Lloyd and Caroline Chasseur are in marriage counseling on Christmas Eve; the session does not go well. Caroline has had an affair, and Lloyd is miserable and blames the problems with their son, Jesse, on his wife. The marriage counselor, Dr. Wong, tries to get them to open up, but refuses to intercede on either side.

Meanwhile, a criminal named Gus is in the midst of burgling a home. However his getaway car, driven by his bumbling partner Murray, is gone. He runs into Lloyd and Caroline, holds a gun on them and orders the couple to drive him to their house. Along the way Caroline and Lloyd continue to argue, with Gus acting as referee.

While waiting in a subway station, a young man catches a glimpse of a beautiful woman, dressed entirely in orange. Before he can reach her, her subway car speeds off.

The young man repeatedly visits the station, each time failing to make contact with the mysterious woman. Revealing he also wears all orange attire.

He plasters posters along the station's walls, only for them to be torn down minutes later by a janitor.

After finally giving up hope, a paper plane land in front of him. It is one of his posters. He looks up to see his dream girl. They stare at each other, before smiling.

; Season 1 The fairy protagonist is a love fairy named Mirmo (Mirumo in the Japanese version). Katie Minami (Kaede Minami in the Japanese version) is the human protagonist and a cheerful and energetic eighth-grader who is shy around her male classmates, which makes it difficult for her to date. One day, on her way home from school, she walks into a mysterious shop and buys a blue cocoa mug. When she arrives at home, she peeks into the bottom of the mug and discovers an engraved note which says, "If you read this message aloud while pouring hot cocoa into the mug, a love fairy ("muglox") will appear and grant your every wish." The skeptical but curious Kaede follows the directions and announces her wish to date Dylan Yuki (Setsu Yuuki in the Japanese version), her crush. Mirmo arrives. At first, she is afraid of him but later understands that he is a muglox. Kaede soon finds out that Mirmo prefers eating chocolate and creating mischief over helping Katie.

Mirumo is a prince of the muglox world. Horrified at the prospect of having to marry Rima (Rirumu in the Japanese version), his princess bride-to-be, Mirmo escaped the muglox world. Hot on his heels, however, are Rima, Yatch (Yashichi in the Japanese version) the bounty hunter, Mulu (Murumo; Mirmo's brother), and many other muglox as well. The villains of the first season are the Warumo gang, a gang of criminals who plan to overthrow the Marumo kingdom. Though they are villains, they actually aren't evil; they just pull childish pranks and faint after hearing an evil plan. At the end of the season, Akumi gives Warumo Gang a time sphere, which they play around with and accidentally smash, causing the muglox world to freeze. Mirmo, Mulu, Rima, Yatch and their partners save the muglox world by having the fairies dance in front of a magical door (which allows it to open) and having the partners find the magic time bird which flew into the door to escape being captured by them.

; Season 2 In this season, a new transfer student named Saori comes to Katie's school. The villain Darkman, created by the darkness in human hearts, tries to resurrect himself. He influences the minds of Akumi and the Warumo gang. Session magic is introduced for two-person magic, with each person combo producing different magic. Darkman controls Saori and uses her flute to control peoples' emotions. He is then defeated by Golden Mirmo, the outcome of three person session magic. With the help of Nezumi/Rato, he is resurrected until the muglox's four-person session magic gives Saori the power to defeat Darkman. The two worlds are separated until reunited by the muglox and their partners' friendship. Saori goes to Germany to study music with Akumi as her new partner.

; Season 3 In this season, a robot octopus, Tako, convinces the gang to look for the legendary seven crystals which are drawn out by different emotions. After all are collected, the gang faces seven trials. Mirmo must pass these tests for the crystals to unite and form a pendant. Tako steals it to save his girlfriend and his land. In the end, they succeed and Tako becomes king of crystal land.

; Season 4 Two new characters, Koichi and Haruka, are introduced. Koichi has a crush on Katie, and Haruka is Setsu's childhood friend who wants to be a cartoonist. Her partner Panta is a ghost muglox. Thanks to Azumi, Katie and Koichi kiss. Also, Koichi confessed to Katie after Katie had a whole day of helping him confess to his crush that she didn't know was her. Setsu starts to fall in love with Katie, and Koichi realizes that he is not right for Kaede and gives up on her. After Haruka tells Dylan she loves him, he chooses her over Katie. Haruka realizes Dylan's true love is Katie and gives up on him. Dylan tells Katie he loves her and they become a couple; Katie's wish is fulfilled. Mirmo has to leave in one hour or something terrible will happen, which the Warumo gang make so. Mirmo loses all memories of Katie and turns into a rabbit. Katie brings his memories back and he turns back to normal.

Bronze statue dedicated to "The Dancing Girl of Izu"

The narrator, a twenty-year-old student from Tokyo, travels the Izu Peninsula during the last days of the summer holidays, a journey which he undertook out of a feeling of loneliness and melancholia. His paths repeatedly cross with a troupe of five travelling musicians, one man and four women, while heading for Mount Amagi tunnel. He is impressed by the beauty of the youngest looking woman in the troupe, who carries a heavy drum, and decides to follow them.

After traversing the tunnel, Eikichi, the troupe's male leader, starts a conversation with him, telling him that he and his companions are from Ōshima Island and on a short tour before the cold season sets in. In Yugano, where the group rests for the night, the narrator learns from Eikichi that the young woman, Kaoru, is his 14 year old sister. The other troupe members are Eikichi's wife Chiyoko, his mother-in-law, and a maid. In the evening, the musicians entertain guests in another inn in the village. The student hears Kaoru playing her drum, worrying if she might be harassed by her listeners.

The next day, the narrator witnesses the naked Kaoru coming out of the bath house, waving at him. The sight makes him laugh, realising that she is still a young, innocent girl. Although the day of his return to Tokyo is approaching, he accepts the musicians' offer to keep them company for another day. During a walk, the student overhears Kaoru and Chiyoko saying what a nice person he is, which enlightens him and distracts him both from his melancholia and from the fact that the group are poor, uneducated people. Eikichi's mother-in-law invites him to their home during his winter holidays, but later forbids Kaoru to accompany him to the cinema.

The next morning, the student enters a boat in Shimoda which takes him back to Tokyo, seen off by Eikichi and the grieving Kaoru. On the boat, he starts to cry, saddened by the parting but at the same time sensing a feeling of relief.

George and Harold, American song-and-dance men performing in Melbourne, Australia, leave in a hurry to avoid various marriage proposals. They end up in Darwin, where they take jobs as deep sea divers for a prince. They are taken by boat to an idyllic island on the way to Bali, Indonesia. They vie for the favors of exotic (and half-Scottish) Princess Lala, a cousin of the Prince. A hazardous dive produces a chest of priceless jewels, which the Prince plans to claim as his own.

After escaping from the Prince and his henchmen, the three are shipwrecked and washed up on another island. Lala is now in love with both of the boys and can't decide which to choose. However, once the natives find them, she learns that in their society, a woman may take multiple husbands, and declares she will marry them both. While the boys are prepared for the ceremony, both thinking the other man lost, plans are changed. She's being unwillingly wed to the already much-married King, while the boys end up married to each other.

Displeased with the arrangement, a volcano god initiates a massive eruption. After fleeing, the three end up on yet another beach where Lala chooses George over Harold. An undaunted Harold conjures up Jane Russell from a basket by playing a flute. Alas, she, too, rejects Harold, which means George walks off with both Lala and Jane. A lonesome Harold is left on the beach, demanding that the film shouldn't finish and asking the audience to stick around to see what's going to happen next.

Mary Magdalene is portrayed as a wild courtesan, entertaining many men around her. Upon learning that Judas is with a carpenter she rides out on her chariot drawn by zebras to get him back. Peter is introduced as the Giant apostle, and we see the future gospel writer Mark as a child who is healed by Jesus. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is shown as a beautiful and saintly woman who is a mother to all her son's followers. The first sight of Jesus is through the eyesight of a little girl, whom he heals. He is surrounded by a halo. Mary Magdelene arrives afterwards and talks to Judas, who reveals that he is only staying with Jesus in hopes of being made a high official after Jesus becomes the king of kings. Jesus casts the Seven Deadly Sins out of Mary Magdalene in a multiple exposure sequence.

Jesus is also shown resurrecting Lazarus and healing the little children. Some humor is derived when one girl asks if he can heal broken legs, and, when he says yes, she gives him a legless doll. Jesus smiles and repairs the doll. The crucifixion is foreshadowed when Jesus, having helped a poor family, wanders through the father's carpentry shop, and, himself a carpenter's son, he briefly helps carve a piece of wood. When a sheet covering the object is removed, it is revealed to be a cross towering over Jesus.

Jesus and his apostles enter Jerusalem, where Judas incites the people and rallies them to proclaim Jesus King of the Jews. Jesus, however, renounces all claims of being an Earthly king. Caiaphas the High Priest is also angry at Judas for having led people to a man whom he sees as a false prophet. Meanwhile, Jesus drives away Satan, who had offered him an Earthly kingdom, and he protects a woman caught in adultery. The words he draws in the sand are revealed to be the sins the accusers themselves committed.

Judas, desperate to save himself from Caiaphas, agrees to turn over Jesus. Noticeably at the Last Supper, when Jesus distributes the bread and wine saying that they are his body and blood, Judas refuses to eat or drink. Towards the end, Mary confronts her son and tells him to flee from the danger that is coming. Jesus replies that it must be done for the salvation of all peoples.

Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane where he is soon captured by the Roman soldiers and betrayed by Judas. Judas' life is saved, but, upon seeing that Jesus is going to be killed as a result, he is horrified. Judas takes a rope that the Romans had used to bind Jesus' wrists and runs off. Jesus is beaten and then presented by Pontius Pilate to the crowd. Mary pleads for the life of her son and Mary Magdalene speaks for him but Caiaphas bribes the crowd to shout against Jesus.

Jesus is taken away to be crucified, though he pauses on the Via Dolorosa to heal a group of cripples in an alley, despite his weakened condition. Jesus is crucified and his enemies throw insults at him. (One woman even anachronistically eats popcorn and smiles with glee at Jesus' crucifixion.) When Jesus does die, however, a great earthquake comes up. The tree where Judas had hanged himself, with the rope used to bind Jesus's wrists, is swallowed up amidst bursts of hellfire. The sky turns black, lightning strikes, the wind blows, the people who had mocked Jesus run in terror, and the veil covering the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem Temple is torn in two.

The tumult ends when Mary looks up at heaven and asks God to forgive the world for the death of their son. The chaos ends and the sun shines. Jesus is taken down from the cross and is buried. On the third day, he rises from the dead as promised. To emphasize the importance of the resurrection, this scene from an otherwise black and white film is shot in color. Jesus goes to the Apostles and tells them to spread his message to the world. He tells them "I am with you always" as the scene shifts to a modern city to show that Jesus still watches over his followers.

Many of the film's intertitles are quotes (or paraphrases) from Scripture, often with chapter and verse accompanying.

As the film opens, Henri's father, a chauffeur also named Henri, is falsely accused of having murdered his boss. During his trial and imprisonment, Henri's mother finds a job in a tavern on a Normandy beach. There Henri sees a film adaptation of ''Les Misérables''. His father dies attempting to escape from prison, and upon hearing the news Henri's mother commits suicide. Henri grows up an orphan and learns boxing.

The film next takes up the story of Elisa, a ballerina, and André Ziman, a young Jewish journalist and law student. They meet following a performance of a ballet based on ''Les Misérables''. Later, during World War II, André and Elisa, now married, and their daughter Salomé attempt to cross the Swiss border to escape the Nazis. They encounter Henri, who owns a moving company, and they discuss the Hugo novel. The Zimans entrust Salomé to Henri and enroll her in a Catholic convent school. André and Elisa are ambushed while trying to cross the frontier. Elisa is arrested and André wounded. Farmers who find him give him shelter.

The members of a local gang and Henri join the French Resistance, but the gang members take advantage of their anti-Nazi attacks to steal from local houses. Elisa and other women are forced to entertain the Nazi occupiers. She is sent to a concentration camp for being defiant. After staging an attack on a train transporting funds for the Vichy government, Henri and his mates travel to Normandy to visit the tavern where he lived as a child. The D-Day invasion is launched the next day and Henri supports the Allied forces when they conquer the beach. In the process he saves the life of the tavern owner's son Marius.

At the war's end, Henri accepts an offer to run a seaside camp in Normandy. There he receives a letter from Salomé, who has no way of contacting her family. He takes her with him to the resort, which he names Chez Jean Valjean. Elisa, having survived a Nazi concentration camp in German-occupied Poland, joins them later.

A former Vichy police agent accuses Henri of abetting the gang's activities during the war and of robbing and burning a train. He is imprisoned to await trial. Meanwhile André's one-time rescuer is holding him captive, hoping to live off his bank account. The farmer has told André that the American D-Day invasion failed and the Nazis now rule the world. With evident reluctance, the farmer's wife supports her husband in these lies until he attempts to poison André. Then she shoots her husband before he can feed André the poisoned soup. As she checks to see if her husband is dead, he grabs her and chokes her to death. André escapes from his cellar prison on a bad leg and emerges to find the farmer couple dead and a liberated Europe. He rejoins his wife and daughter at Chez Jean Valjean and then represents Henri at his trial and wins his acquittal.

As the film ends, Henri, now the mayor, presides at the civil marriage of Salomé and Marius in the presence of André and Elisa and the mother superior of the school that sheltered Salomé. André Ziman quotes Victor Hugo: "The best of our lives is yet to come."

The previous volume saw Simon wound a dragon with the mystical sword Thorn, splashing himself in dragon’s blood, leaving himself deeply scarred (physically and emotionally). Now bearing the sobriquet "Snowlock", he and his companions leave the mountains in search of the mysterious "Stone of Farewell".

Meanwhile, Josua "Lackhand", brother to the king, leads a motley band of survivors after the disastrous events at Naglimund.

Princess Miriamele, having escaped before the siege of Naglimund, gets caught up in events that demonstrate the evil powers surrounding her father.

Princess Maegwin of Hernystir leads her people deep underground, where they discover secrets that may help turn the tide in a war thought to be hopeless.

Finally, a power rises in the North, but its true implications may not yet be fully revealed.

Paperback cover for Part 1 of ''To Green Angel Tower''. The story begins with the forces of Prince Josua Lackhand rallied at the Stone of Farewell, where the icy hand of the Storm King Ineluki has yet to take a deathgrip on the land. The remaining members of the League of the Scroll have also gathered at the Stone in hopes of unraveling an ancient prophecy. If deciphered, it could reveal to Josua and his army the only means of striking down the unslayable Storm King.

After Simon/Seoman Snowlock and Binabik have their reunion, they come to the realization that Memory - one of the three Great Swords recognized as being key to defeating the Storm King - is one and the same with Bright-Nail, old King John’s sword that was buried with him not three years previously. The trouble is, the grave of King John Presbyter lies in the shadow of the Hayholt, the stronghold of King Elias, and between the Stone of Farewell and Hayholt marches the army Elias has sent to besiege the defenders.

Meanwhile, Miriamele, Elias’s daughter who has joined Josua’s cause, is an unhappy prisoner on the ship of a lascivious and ambitious lordling to whom she has surrendered her virtue knowing only too late of his true nature. Another princess, Maegwin of Hernystir, falls deeper into madness, leading her people in a seemingly futile resistance against Elias’s allies who have conquered her kingdom, and deep in the ancient forest of Aldheorte, the immortal Sithi are mustering for a final conflict.

While Josua and his army must make a final stand to try to delay the forces of King Elias, Simon embarks upon a quest to Hayholt Castle to try to obtain the last of the three legendary swords and use their hidden magics to defeat The Storm King Ineluki and restore peace to Osten Ard once and for all.

High school student Candy Christian seemingly descends to Earth from space. Following a poetry recital at Candy's school, eccentric Welsh poet MacPhisto offers her a ride home in his limousine. En route, MacPhisto forces himself on her, but is unable to proceed after becoming too inebriated. With the help of her Mexican gardener, Emmanuel, Candy takes MacPhisto inside in order to help him out of his liquor-soaked clothes. In the basement, MacPhisto drunkenly recites poetry while humping a mannequin, inciting Emmanuel to sexually assault Candy. Scandalized upon walking in on the scene, Candy's uptight father (also her high school teacher) decides to send her away to live with his twin brother Jack and his wife Livia in New York City.

At the airport, the family is accosted by Emmanuel's three vengeful sisters, who accuse Candy of corrupting their brother. During the scuffle, Candy's father is rendered unconscious due to a head injury. The Christians escape by boarding a military plane commanded by General Smight, who later orders Candy to undress while expressing a desire to impregnate her. Meanwhile, he accidentally pushes the button that signals his paratroopers to leap from the plane. When General Smight realizes this, he jumps as well, only to slip out of his parachute harness.

Upon landing in New York, Dr. Krankheit meticulously performs surgery on Candy's father in front of an audience. When Uncle Jack attempts to seduce Candy during a post-operative cocktail party, the hospital's executive director, Dr. Dunlap, berates her for her perceived lewd behavior, causing her to faint. Dr. Krankheit takes Candy to another room and tricks her into sex by pretending to examine her. While searching for her father, Candy wanders back into the operating room to find that Dr. Krankeit has branded all the nurses with his initials, as he prepares to do so to Livia. When he attempts to have Candy captured so that she is next, she flees the hospital.

After wandering aimlessly on the streets of New York, Candy ends up in a Sicilian bar, where she is beset by a group of mobsters, until an offbeat underground filmmaker, G3, shows up, taking her into the men's room and shooting her for a film. As the room floods due to broken pipes, two policemen arrive and assault G3, whereupon a drenched Candy escapes. In Central Park, she meets a hunchback who takes her into a deserted mansion later that night. A gang of thieves walks in and proceeds to ransack the place, while the hunchback rapes Candy on top of a grand piano. After arresting Candy, the two policemen maliciously plan to frisk her. However, they lose control of their squad car and crash into a club full of drag queens. As mayhem ensues, Candy escapes again.

The next morning, Candy asks for a ride in the back of a semi-trailer truck, which turns out to be the sanctum of Grindl, a sham guru. He talks Candy into sex by taking her through the "seven stages" of enlightenment. After several days on the road, Grindl informs Candy that a different guru will guide her through the rest of her journey. Upon arrival in California, Candy is chased through the desert by the New York police officers, but she manages to outwit them. Shortly thereafter, Candy finds her new guru—a robed figure sporting a toucan on his shoulder, his face covered with white clay. She follows him into an underground Hindu temple, which then partially collapses due to a cataclysm. As the two proceed to have sex, Candy is shocked to discover the guru is actually her brain-damaged father, after his face is washed clean.

As Candy wanders across a field—surrounded by flapping banners and hippies playing music—she revisits many of the characters she met throughout the film, before finally returning to outer space.

Jota, a failed musician whose girlfriend has recently left him, is about to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge when a girl on a motorcycle, Sofía, crashes off it. Rushing to help her, he discovers she has lost her memory, even forgetting her name. After telling the paramedics and staff at the hospital that she is his girlfriend, he later tells her the same. He invents an entire identity for her, giving her the name Lisa, and a history of their relationship according to his own fantasies. With the hospital psychiatrist starting to become suspicious, he spirits her out of the hospital and away on a trip to the 'Ardilla Roja' campsite, which he claims they have been planning for some while. As their relationship becomes intimate, their behaviour sparks the suspicions of campers Antón and Carmena. It becomes clear that Lisa/Sofía's memory is not entirely missing and she is hiding her own past secrets; notably, the existence of a psychotic ex-boyfriend, Félix, who is rampaging across the country in search of her.

The Clerk's tale is about a marquis of Saluzzo in Piedmont in Italy named Walter, a bachelor who is asked by his subjects to marry to provide an heir. He assents and decides he will marry a peasant, named Griselda. Griselda is a poor girl, used to a life of pain and labour, who promises to honour Walter's wishes in all things.

After Griselda has borne him a daughter, Walter decides to test her loyalty. He sends an officer to take the baby, pretending it will be killed, but actually conveying it in secret to Bologna. Griselda, because of her promise, makes no protest at this but only asks that the child be buried properly. When she bears a son several years later, Walter again has him taken from her under identical circumstances.

Finally, Walter determines one last test. He has a papal bull of annulment forged which enables him to leave Griselda, and informs her that he intends to remarry. As part of his deception, he employs Griselda to prepare the wedding for his new bride. Meanwhile, he has brought the children from Bologna, and he presents his daughter as his intended wife. Eventually, he informs Griselda of the deceit, who is overcome by joy at seeing her children alive, and they live happily ever after.

Annie "Daisy" Miller and Frederick Winterbourne first meet in Vevey, Switzerland, in a garden of the grand hotel, where Winterbourne is allegedly vacationing from his studies (an attachment to an older lady is rumoured). They are introduced by Randolph Miller, Daisy's nine-year-old brother. Randolph considers their hometown of Schenectady, New York, to be absolutely superior to all of Europe. However, Daisy is absolutely delighted with the continent, especially the high society she wishes to enter.

Winterbourne is at first confused by her attitude, and though greatly impressed by her beauty, he soon determines that she is nothing more than a young flirt. He continues his pursuit of Daisy in spite of the disapproval of his aunt, Mrs. Costello, who spurns any family with so close a relationship to their courier as the Millers have with their Eugenio. She also thinks Daisy is a shameless girl for agreeing to visit the Château de Chillon with Winterbourne after they have known each other for only half an hour. Two days later, the two travel to Château de Chillon, and although Winterbourne had paid the janitor for privacy, Daisy is not quite impressed. Winterbourne then informs Daisy that he must go to Geneva the next day. Daisy feels disappointment and chaffs him, eventually asking him to visit her in Rome later that year.

In Rome, Winterbourne and Daisy meet unexpectedly in the parlor of Mrs. Walker, an American expatriate, whose moral values have adapted to those of Italian society. Rumors about Daisy meeting with young Italian gentlemen make her socially exceptionable under these criteria. Winterbourne learns of Daisy's increasing intimacy with a young Italian of questionable society, Giovanelli, as well as the growing scandal caused by the pair's behaviour. Daisy is undeterred by the open disapproval of the other Americans in Rome, and her mother seems quite unaware of the underlying tensions. Winterbourne and Mrs. Walker attempt to persuade Daisy to separate from Giovanelli, but she refuses.

One night, Winterbourne takes a walk through the Colosseum and sees a young couple sitting at its centre. He realises that they are Giovanelli and Daisy. Infuriated with Giovanelli, Winterbourne asks him how he could dare to take Daisy to a place where she runs the risk of catching "Roman fever" (malaria). Daisy says she does not care and Winterbourne leaves them. Daisy falls ill and dies a few days later.

''Ada'' tells the life story of a man named Van Veen, and his lifelong love affair with his sister Ada. They meet when she is eleven (soon to be twelve) and he is fourteen, believing that they are cousins (more precisely: that their fathers are cousins and that their mothers are sisters), and begin a sexual affair. They later discover that Van's father is also Ada's and her mother is also his. The story follows the various interruptions and resumptions of their affair. Both are wealthy, educated, and intelligent. The book itself takes the form of his memoir, written when he is in his nineties, punctuated with his own and Ada's marginalia, and in parts with notes by an unnamed editor, suggesting the manuscript is not complete.

The novel is divided into five parts, each shorter in length than the preceding one (Part Four being the only exception). As they progress chronologically, this structure evokes a sense of a person reflecting on his own memories, with an adolescence stretching out epically, and many later years simply flashing by.

Setting

The story takes place in the late nineteenth century on what appears to be an alternative history of Earth, which is there called Demonia or Antiterra. Antiterra has the same geography and a largely similar history to that of Earth; however, it is crucially different at various points. For example, the United States includes all of the Americas (which were discovered by African navigators). But it was also settled extensively by Russians, so that what we know as western Canada is a Russian-speaking province called "Estoty", and eastern Canada a French-speaking province called "Canady". Russian, English, and French are all in use in North America. The territory which belongs to Russia in our world, and much of Asia, is part of an empire called Tartary, while the word "Russia" is simply a "quaint synonym" for Estoty. The British Empire, which includes most or all of Europe and Africa, is ruled (in the nineteenth century) by a King Victor. A city named Manhattan takes the place of our universe's New York City. Aristocracy is still widespread, but some technology has advanced well into twentieth-century forms. Electricity, however, has been banned since almost the time of its discovery following an event referred to as "the L-disaster". Airplanes and cars exist, but television and telephones do not; their functions are served by similar devices powered by water. The setting is thus a complex mixture of Russia and America in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The belief in a "twin" world, Terra, is widespread on Antiterra as a sort of fringe religion or mass hallucination. (The name "Antiterra" may be a back-formation from this; the planet is "really" called "Demonia".) One of Van's early specialties as a psychologist is researching and working with people who believe that they are somehow in contact with Terra. Terra's alleged history, so far as he states it, appears to be that of our world: that is, the characters in the novel dream, or hallucinate, about the real world.

The central characters are all members of the North American aristocracy, of mostly Russian and Irish descent. Dementiy ("Demon") Veen is first cousins with Daniel Veen. They marry a pair of twin sisters, Aqua and Marina, respectively, who are also their second cousins. Demon and Aqua raise a son, Ivan (Van); Dan and Marina two daughters, Ada and Lucette. The story begins when Van, aged 14, spends a summer with his cousins, then 12 and 8. A rough idea of the years covered by each section is provided in brackets, below, however the narrator's thoughts often stray outside of the periods noted.

Part 1: 43 chapters ''(1863–1888)''

This part, which one critic called "the last 19th-century Russian novel", takes up nearly half the book. Throughout this part of the novel, the many passages depicting the blossoming of Van and Ada's love vary in rhythm, style and vocabulary—ranging from lustrous, deceptively simple yet richly sensual prose to leering and Baroque satire of eighteenth-century pornography—depending on the mood Nabokov wishes to convey.

The first four chapters provide a sort of unofficial prologue, in that they move swiftly back and forth through the chronology of the narrative, but mostly deal with events between 1863 and 1884, when the main thrust of the story commences. They depict Van and Ada discovering their true relationship, Demon and Marina's tempestuous affair, Marina's sister Aqua's descent into madness and obsession with Terra and water, and Van's "first love", a girl he sees in an antique shop but never speaks to. Chapters 4 to 43 mostly deal with Van's adolescence, and his first meetings with his "cousin" Ada—focused on the two summers when he joins her (and her "sister" Lucette) at ''Ardis Hall'', their ancestral home, in 1884 and 1888.

In 1884 Van and Ada, age 14 and 12, fall passionately in love, and their affair is marked by a powerful sense of romantic eroticism. The book opens with their discovery that they are in fact not cousins but brother and sister. The passage is notoriously difficult, more so as neither of them explicitly states the conclusion they have drawn (treating it as obvious), and it is only referred to in passing later in the text. Although Ada's mother keeps a wedding photo dated August 1871, eleven months before her birth, they find in a box in the attic a newspaper announcement dating the wedding to December 1871; and furthermore that Dan had been abroad since that spring, as proved by his extensive filmreels. Hence he is not Ada's father. Furthermore, they find an annotated flower album kept by Marina in 1869–70 which indicates, very obliquely, that she was pregnant and confined to a sanatorium at the same time as Aqua; that 99 orchids were delivered to Marina, from Demon, on Van's birthday; and that Aqua had a miscarriage in a skiing accident. It later transpires that Marina gave the child to her sister to replace the one she had lost—so she is in fact Van's mother—and that her affair with Demon continued until Ada's conception. This makes Lucette (Dan and Marina's child) the uterine half-sister of both of them.

Van returns to Ardis for a second visit in the summer of 1888. The affair has become strained because of Van's suspicions that Ada has had another lover and the increasing intrusion of Lucette (their now-12-year-old half-sister) into their trysts (an intrusion that Van half-welcomes with conflicted feelings). This section ends with Van's discovery that Ada has in fact been unfaithful, and his flight from Ardis to exact revenge upon those "rivals" of whom he is aware: Phillip Rack, Ada's older and weak-charactered music teacher; and Percy de Prey, a rather boorish neighbour. Van is distracted by a chance altercation with a soldier named Tapper, whom he challenges to a duel and by whom he is wounded. In hospital he chances upon Phillip Rack, who is dying, and whom Van cannot bring himself to exact revenge upon. He then receives word that Percy de Prey has been shot and killed in Antiterra's version of the ongoing Crimean War. Van moves to live with Cordula de Prey, Percy's cousin, in her Manhattan apartment, whilst he fully recovers. They have a shallow physical relationship, which provides Van with respite from the emotional strain of his feelings for Ada.

Part 2: 11 chapters ''(1888–1893)''

Van spends his time developing his studies in psychology, and visiting a number of the "Villa Venus" upper-class brothels. In the autumn of 1892, Lucette, now having declared her love for Van, brings him a letter from Ada in which she announces she has received an offer of marriage from a wealthy Russian, Andrey Vinelander. Should Van wish to invite her to live with him she will refuse the marriage offer. Van does so, and they commence living together in an apartment Van has purchased from Ada's old school-friend, and Van's former lover, Cordula de Prey.

In February 1893, their father, Demon, arrives with news that his cousin (Ada's supposed father, but actual stepfather) Dan has died following a period of exposure caused by running naked into the woods near his home during a terrifying hallucinatory episode. Upon grasping the situation regarding Van and Ada, he tells Van that Ada would be happier if he "gave her up"—and that he would disown Van completely if he failed to do so. Van acquiesces, leaves, and attempts suicide, which fails when his gun fails to fire. He then leaves his Manhattan apartment and preoccupies himself with hunting down a former servant at Ardis, Kim Beauharnais, who had been blackmailing them with photographic evidence of their affair, and beating him with an alpenstock until he is blind.

Part 3: 8 chapters ''(1893–1922)''

With Ada having married Andrey Vinelander, Van occupies himself in traveling and his studies until 1901, when Lucette reappears in England. She has herself booked on the same transatlantic liner, the ''Admiral Tobakoff'', that Van is taking back to America. She attempts to seduce him on the crossing and nearly succeeds, but is foiled when Ada appears as an actress in the film, ''Don Juan's Last Fling'', that they are watching together on the onboard cinema. Lucette consumes a number of sleeping pills and commits suicide by throwing herself from the ''Tobakoff'' into the Atlantic. In March 1905, Demon dies in a plane crash.

Later in 1905, Ada and Andrey arrive in Switzerland. Van meets with them, and has an affair with Ada while pretending that they are engaged in uncovering Lucette's fortune, concealed in various hidden bank accounts. They formulate a plan for her to leave her husband and live with him. This is now considered possible due to the death of Demon. During their stay in Switzerland, however, Andrey falls ill with tuberculosis, and Ada decides that she cannot abandon him until he has recovered. Van and Ada part, and Andrey remains ill for 17 years, at which point he dies. Ada then flies back to Switzerland to meet with Van.

Part 4: Not subdivided (i.e. 1 chapter) ''(1922)''

This part consists of Van's lecture on "The Texture of Time", apparently transcribed from his reading it into a tape recorder as he drives across Europe from the Adriatic to meet Ada in Mont Roux, Switzerland, while she is on her way from America via Geneva. The transcription has then been edited to merge into a description of his and Ada's actual meeting, and then out again. This makes this part of the novel notably self-reflexive, and it is sometimes cited as the "difficult" part of the novel, some reviewers even stating that they wished Nabokov had "left it out". It could conversely be argued that it is one of the most potent evocations of one of the novel's central themes, the relation of personal experience of time to one's sense of being in and of the world. At the end of this section, Van and Ada are reunited and begin living together.

Part 5: 6 chapters ''(1922–1967)''

This section of the novel is set in 1967, as Van completes his memoirs as laid out in ''Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle''. He describes his contentment, such as it is, his relationship with his book, and the continuing presence and love of Ada. This is interspersed with remarks on pain and the ravages of time. Van and Ada have a conversation about death, and Van breaks off from correcting what he considers his essentially complete, but not yet fully polished, work. The book becomes increasingly distorted as Van and Ada merge into "Vaniada, Dava or Vada, Vanda and Anda".

A young man wakes up with no memory of who he is, where he is, or anything about his life and is initially unable to move.

After a short period of time, he regains motion, but no memories. Over the next few pages, he is faced with flashing lights, disembodied voices, a cathedral, teddy bears nailed to wooden posts, graveyards, the realization that he is both alone and that his world is impossibly small, and terrifying creatures known as Nightgaunts, before meeting with Jasmine, a 'human' who identifies him as Halloween.

As the book progresses, Halloween realizes where he is. He's in a virtual reality school that his parents have sent him to. Upon completion of the school, each student will receive both a scholarship to go through college and a position in a prestigious medical company called Gedaechtnis Corporation (in German, Gedächtnis means memory, or ability to recall). The ten students are Mercutio (Adam), Pandora (Naomi), Simone, Isaac, Lazarus, Vashti, Tyler, Champagne (Charlotte), Fantasia (Gina), and Halloween (Gabriel) himself. Fan, Merc, Hal, and Ty are considered the "clods" while Simone, Isaac, Laz, Vashti, Cham, and Pan are the "pets". Where pets study and follow all of the rules, clods do the opposite. The digital teacher of the school is named Maestro, but the clods call him Mae$tro (pronounced 'Maeshtro') and do not respect or care for him. Each student is given a digital world that they may edit to their liking; this is where they 'live' while in IVR and where Halloween first finds himself at the beginning of the book. They are also assigned a "Nanny," a digital being that can help a student with anything they need help with. For example, when Halloween realizes that Jasmine is not real, he asks Nanny to bring her back to life (she died in a fight against Fantasia), and Nanny does so. Because of Halloween's suspicions that he may have killed Lazarus, he does not confide in anyone for a long period of time.

Mercutio asks Halloween if he'd like some food, and they decide to dine at the Taj Mahal. Mercutio begins to order a steak, but halfway through his order, the entire world freezes up. Merc has triggered a jammer so that he and Hal can escape IVR, and they both wake up in their beds in the school. They decided to visit their favorite diner, Twain's, and enjoy a nice meal before Merc decides to head back to IVR. Halloween, however, chooses to call his parents and report that he is dropping out. After a tough time with both his parents and Ellison, the school's headmaster (and the man Maestro was modeled after), Halloween is sent back to IVR.

Halloween "graduates" all of the remaining students, waking them up from IVR. They decide to fulfill Gedaechtnis' plans for them to rebuild the world, but Halloween rejects the plan. The book ends with Halloween standing in the woods of Michigan, angry at the world for robbing him of his illusions, the girl he loved and his two best friends.

Gloria Mullins has been sent to her home town of Grimley to determine the profitability of the pit for the management of British Coal. She also plays the flugelhorn, and is allowed to play with the local brass band after playing ''Concierto de Aranjuez'', affectionately known as “Orange Juice” by the characters, with them. The band is made up of miners from whom she must conceal her purpose. She renews a childhood romance with Andy Barrow, which soon leads to complications. Andy is bitter about the programme of pit closures and determined to fight on, but he is also realistic about the circumstances and predicts a 4-to-1 majority for closure and redundancy. When Andy realises that Gloria is working for management, he accuses her of naïvety for thinking that the Coal Board is considering whether the pit has any viable future and argues that the decision to close Grimley would have been taken years earlier. It is later revealed, during a confrontation between Gloria and the management of the colliery, that the decision to close the colliery had been made two years previously, and that this was to have gone ahead regardless of the findings of her report; the report was simply a public relations exercise to placate the miners and members of the public sympathetic to their plight.

The passionate band conductor, Danny Ormondroyd, finds he is fighting a losing battle to keep the rest of the band members committed. His son, Phil, is badly in debt and becomes a clown for children's parties, but this fails to prevent his wife and children walking out on him. In debt, Phil votes for the redundancy money, which he becomes ashamed of. As Danny collapses in the street and is hospitalised, Phil suffers a mental breakdown while entertaining a group of children, as part of a harvest festival in a church. He refers to himself as "Coco the scab"—a name that he had been called by a debt collector who he had asked to wait until the redundancy money had come through. Eventually, he attempts suicide by trying to hang himself, but is taken to the hospital. Phil reveals to Danny that in light of the colliery's closure, the band has decided not to continue playing.

When band member Jim realises that Gloria is working for management, he is unimpressed with Andy's relationship with her. In a pub conversation, the other miners are not particularly concerned and feel that Jim is being too harsh on Andy. When Andy says that he should be old enough to make his own decisions, Jim responds with, "Old enough to be a scab then?" The pub falls silent at the accusation, as the word was an extremely serious insult in a mining community and implies treachery to the working class. Jim then withdraws the insult and says that Andy is just "stupid". Later on in the film, Jim asks Gloria to leave the band and mocks her attempts to fund the band's trip to the National Finals.

With the intention that it will be their last performance, the band, in full uniform, and wearing their miners' helmets and lamps, plays ''Danny Boy'' (the famous Percy Grainger arrangement of ''Londonderry Air'') late at night outside the hospital. Andy, having lost his tenor horn in a bet, whistles along with his hands in his pockets. After they finish, they all switch off their lamps.

Whilst the band is playing in the National Semi-Finals, the outcome of the ballot is announced as 4-to-1 in favour of redundancy, as Andy had predicted.

After Gloria sets up a bank account to fund travel to the National Finals, the band is brought back together to compete. Andy wins his tenor horn back in a game of pool, and having forgiven Gloria, after she gives them the money she was paid to compile the report (saying she does not want it because it's "dirty money"), the band travels to the final at the Royal Albert Hall in London (Birmingham Town Hall was used to film these scenes), where they are amused by the inability of the woman on the dressing room's PA system to pronounce 'colliery'. Before departing, Phil leaves a note for Danny saying that they are going to the finals. Danny arrives just in time to see the band win the competition with a stirring rendition of the finale from ''William Tell Overture,'' during which Phil notices his wife and children are in the audience. Danny refuses to accept the trophy, stating that it is only human beings that matter and not music or the trophy and that "this bloody government has systematically destroyed an entire industry. ''Our'' industry. And not just our industry—our communities, our homes, our lives. All in the name of 'progress'. And for a few lousy bob." However, following this gesture, Jim takes the trophy anyway. The band celebrates their victory as Andy and Gloria kiss on the upper deck of an open-topped bus travelling through London, while the rest of the band play ''Land of Hope and Glory'' conducted by Danny.

''No Crystal Stair'' is a coming-of-age story set in the Little Burgundy district of Montreal during the 1940s.

Widow Marion Willow works at two jobs to raise her three daughters properly. Fighting racism and sexism, Marion schools her girls in manners, English poetry and the need for an education; her elegant neighbour and rival (both women are in love with railway porter Edmund Thompson) teaches the children the ways of the street and their black cultural heritage.

''Volkswagen Blues'' is a road novel, in the tradition of Jack Kerouac, about a middle-aged, formerly successful writer who has adopted the pen-name Jack Waterman (a metonymy playing on Waterman pens) and, as the novel begins, is experiencing a bout of writer's block. Discovering an old postcard, the protagonist embarks on a quest in search of his long-lost, rambling brother, Théo. Early in the narrative, Jack picks up a hitchhiker, a young Métisse woman, nicknamed "La Grande Sauterelle" due her long, grasshopper-like legs, as a travel companion, as well as a cat named Chop Suey.

Together in Jack's Volkswagen Minibus, which through personification becomes a character in the story, they travel from Gaspé to San Francisco, passing through Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis and the American West on their way, exploring the history of European contact with the native people of the Americas. While on the road, they discuss language, literature, American expansion, the Oregon Trail, etc., and their trip becomes an allegory for the history of the French exploration of North America. At the same time, La Grande Sauterelle, who is struggling with her own identity, presents another version of American history, as recounted by the natives, where "discovery" is viewed as "invasion." Throughout the episodic novel a number of interesting and entertaining characters appear, including journalists, museum directors, railroad hoboes and writers such as Saul Bellow and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, as well as the spirit of Ernest Hemingway, John Muir and the Beat Generation.

All in all, Jack's journey through an America that scholar Paul Socken describes as a "lost paradise" is one of disillusionment and self-discovery that allows him to break through the impasse he had met in his writing.

Former L.A. SWAT officer Jeff Talley is a hostage negotiator in Los Angeles. One day, Talley negotiates with a man who has taken his wife and son hostage after learning his wife was cheating on him. Shortly after Talley denies a SWAT commander's request to give snipers the order to open fire, the despondent man kills his wife, son, and himself. Traumatized, Talley moves with his family and becomes police chief in Bristo Camino, a suburban hamlet in nearby Ventura County.

A year later, Talley finds himself in another hostage situation. Two teenagers, Dennis Kelly and his brother Kevin, and their accomplice Marshall "Mars" Krupcheck take hostage Walter Smith and his two children, teenage Jennifer and young Tommy, in Smith's house after a failed robbery attempt. The first officer to respond is shot twice by Mars just before Talley arrives. Talley attempts to rescue the officer, but she dies in front of him. Traumatized and unwilling to put himself through another tragedy, Talley hands authority over to the Ventura County Sheriff's Department and leaves.

Smith has been laundering money for a mysterious criminal syndicate through offshore shell corporations. He was preparing to turn over a batch of important encrypted files recorded on a DVD when he was taken hostage. To prevent the incriminating evidence from being discovered, the syndicate orders someone known only as the Watchman to kidnap Talley's wife and daughter. Talley is instructed to return to the hostage scene, regain authority, and stall for time until the organization can launch its own attack against Smith's house.

Dennis forces Kevin and Mars to tie up the children, while he knocks out Smith and finds a large amount of cash. In an attempt to end the standoff and secure the DVDs himself, Talley meets with Dennis and agrees to provide a helicopter in exchange for half of the money. When the helicopter arrives, Dennis and Kevin bring the money to Talley and prepare to leave, but Mars refuses to leave without Jennifer, with whom he has become infatuated. Talley says the helicopter will only carry three additional people and insists that Jennifer stay behind, but the deal breaks down and the boys return to the house. Talley learns that Mars is a psychopathic killer who could turn on the hostages and his own accomplices at any moment. Mars does, in fact, kill Dennis and Kevin, just as Kevin is about to release the children.

The syndicate sends fake FBI agents to recover the DVD and they storm the house; Talley is instructed to not go near the house. Jennifer stabs Mars and locks herself and Tommy in the panic room. Hearing their screams, Talley breaches the house and is attacked by Mars, who then kills most of the fake agents using his pistol and multiple Molotov cocktails. Mars is then shot in the side by the only surviving agent. The agent tracks down Talley and the children, and demands the encrypted DVD. After Talley gives him the DVD, Mars reappears, distracting the agent long enough to be killed by Talley. Mars then prepares to throw his last Molotov, but collapses to his knees, weakened by his injuries. He makes eye contact with Jennifer, then drops the Molotov and immolates himself.

Talley escapes with the children by shooting the indoor glass waterfall, which extinguishes the fire. He and a recovered Smith then go to a rundown inn where Talley's wife and daughter are being held captive by the Watchman and his crew. Smith, feigning hatred for Talley, is freed in exchange for the family. While demanding that the Watchman kill Talley, Smith shoots the Watchman. This allows Talley to kill the other gunmen and rescue his family.

Bart is taunted by school bullies Nelson, Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney because he does not have a 10-speed bike as they do. In order to get Homer to buy him one, Bart has his current bike run over by Dr. Hibbert's Mercedes-Benz G500. Homer buys the 10-speed for Bart, but refuses to pay the small assembly fee and builds it himself. Bart is happy since it looks great and works perfectly at first, but it falls apart when he moons the bullies. Homer, wanting Bart to be proud of him, tries to build a battle robot for the show ''Robot Rumble''. He fails to construct one, but then decides to build a robot with himself in it, which Bart names "Chief Knock-a Homer". Unaware of Homer's ruse, Bart enters the robot in the Rumble.

Meanwhile, Dr. Hibbert's car runs over and kills the Simpsons' cat Snowball II shortly after crushing Bart's bike. A devastated Lisa recites a poem tearfully at the funeral, where Snowball II is buried next to Snowball I. Lisa adopts a ginger cat, which she names Snowball III, but he drowns in the fish tank. The next cat, Coltrane (Snowball IV), jumps out of a window after hearing Lisa play her saxophone. The owner of the cat sanctuary refuses to give Lisa any more cats, but the Crazy Cat Lady wanders past and throws a cat at Lisa that strongly resembles Snowball II. Although Lisa tries to shoo it off, worried that it will meet the same fate as the others, it survives a near miss on the street when Gil Gunderson swerves to avoid hitting it while driving and crashes into a tree. Lisa decides to keep the cat, officially naming it Snowball V; however, the family will call it Snowball II in order to maintain the status quo. Principal Skinner comments disparagingly on the choice, but relents when Lisa points out that the same had previously been done for him.

Homer defeats numerous opponents and makes it to the finals, despite being injured from the battles with the other robots. In the final match against Professor Frink's undefeated super-robot, an ED-209 look-a-like, Bart finds Homer in the bot after the grueling first round. Caught, Homer apologizes to Bart, but Bart is impressed because of all the pain Homer went through to win his son's admiration. In the second round, ED-209 squeezes Homer out of the robot, but immediately stops as soon as it sees him. Frink explains that the robot follows Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics and has been programmed to serve humans rather than harm them. ED-209 sets out a chair for Homer and pours him a martini. Homer wins the match (although one of the commentators points out that the first rule from the tournament's rulebook disqualified any human combatants) and Bart is proud of him.