After a weekend of emotional honesty at an Esalen-style retreat, Los Angeles sophisticates Bob and Carol Sanders return home determined to embrace complete openness. They share their enthusiasm and excitement over their new-found philosophy with their more conservative friends Ted and Alice Henderson, who remain doubtful. Soon after, filmmaker Bob has an affair with a young production assistant on a film shoot in San Francisco. When he returns home, he admits his liaison to Carol, describing the event as a purely physical act, not an emotional one. To Bob's surprise, Carol is completely accepting of his extramarital behavior. Later, Carol gleefully reveals the affair to Ted and Alice as they are leaving a dinner party. Disturbed by Bob's infidelity and Carol's candor, Alice becomes physically ill on the drive home. She and Ted have a difficult time coping with the news in bed that night. However, as time passes, they grow to accept that Bob and Carol really are fine with the affair. Later, Ted admits to Bob that he was tempted to have an affair once, but did not go through with it; Bob tells Ted he should, rationalizing: "You've got the guilt anyway. Don't waste it."

During another visit to San Francisco, Bob decides to skip a second encounter with the young woman, instead returning home a day early. When he arrives, he discovers Carol having an affair with her tennis instructor. Although initially outraged, Bob quickly realizes that the encounter was purely physical, like his own affair. He settles down and even chats and drinks with the man.

When the two couples travel together to Las Vegas, Bob and Carol reveal Carol's affair to Ted and Alice. Ted then admits to an affair on a recent business trip to Miami. An outraged Alice demands that this new ethos be taken to its obvious conclusion: a mate-sharing foursome. Ted is reluctant, explaining that he loves Carol "like a sister", but eventually acknowledges that he finds her attractive. After discussing it, all four remove their clothes and climb into bed together. Swapping partners, Bob and Alice kiss fervently, as do Ted and Carol, but after a few moments all four simply stop.

The scene cuts to the couples walking to the elevator, riding it down, and walking out of the casino hand-in-hand with their original partners. A crowd of men and women of various cultures and races congregate in the casino parking lot, wherein the four main characters exchange long stares with each other and with strangers, reminiscent of the non-verbal communication shown in the early scene at the retreat.

Mike Vecchio and Susan Henderson are engaged to be married. Mike wants to call off the wedding, arguing that it would be hypocritical for them to get married when they have already been living together for a year and a half. Mike relents on calling off the wedding after learning that Susan went to her first Halloween party dressed as a bride.

Susan's WASP-ish parents, Hal and Bernice, are experiencing their own issues, as Hal has been having an extramarital affair with Bernice's sister, Kathy, who is afraid of ending up a spinster and is using the wedding to get some commitment from Hal. Susan's older sister Wilma and her husband Johnny are parents of two children. Wilma is feeling her age and misses the passion they had at the beginning of their marriage, while Johnny is more interested in watching ''Spellbound'' on TV than giving his wife attention.

Mike's brother Richie and his wife Joan have grown "incompatible" and are considering divorce. Mike's Italian-American parents, Frank and Bea, are relentlessly trying to dissuade Richie and Joan from divorcing. Mike and Susan "fix-up" bridesmaid Brenda and usher Jerry for the wedding, and nebbishy self-imagined playboy Jerry spends most of the weekend trying to "score" with Brenda.

These stories all play out through the rehearsal, wedding, and reception.

A young ne'er-do-well, Lightfoot (Jeff Bridges) steals a car. Elsewhere, an assassin attempts to shoot a preacher (Clint Eastwood) who is delivering a sermon at his pulpit. The preacher escapes on foot. Lightfoot, who happens to be driving by, inadvertently rescues the preacher by running over his pursuer and giving the preacher a lift. They steal a series of cars, patronize prostitutes, and escape another attempt on their lives by two men.

Lightfoot learns that the "minister" is a notorious bank robber (known as "The Thunderbolt" for his use of an Oerlikon 20 mm cannon to break into a safe) who has been hiding out in the guise of a clergyman following the robbery of a Montana bank. Thunderbolt tells Lightfoot that the ones trying to kill him are members of his gang who mistakenly think Thunderbolt double-crossed them. Thunderbolt is the only member of the gang who knows where the loot is hidden. He and Lightfoot journey to Warsaw, Montana, to retrieve the money hidden in an old one-room school. They discover the schoolhouse has been replaced by a brand-new school.

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot are abducted by the men who were pursuing them: the vicious Red Leary (George Kennedy) and the gentle Eddie Goody (Geoffrey Lewis). After being forced to drive to a remote location, Thunderbolt wins a fistfight with Red, after which Thunderbolt explains that he never betrayed the gang. Lightfoot proposes another heist: robbing the same company as before, but without the gang's electronics expert, Dunlop, the man Lightfoot hit with his car. In the city where the bank is located, the men find jobs to raise money for needed equipment while they plan the heist.

When the robbery begins, Thunderbolt and Red hold a guard at gunpoint and force him to reveal the access codes to outer doors of the safe. Lightfoot, dressed as a woman, distracts the Western Union office's security guard, deactivates the ensuing alarm, and is picked up by Goody. Using an anti-tank cannon to breach the vault's wall, the gang escapes with the loot. They flee in the car, with Red and Goody in the trunk, to a nearby drive-in movie in progress. After hearing a sneeze from the trunk and seeing a shirt tail protruding from the trunk lid, the theater manager suspects someone is hiding in the trunk to avoid paying and so goes to investigate. As wailing police cars begin to close in on the drive-in theater and as the theater manager gets nearer, Red becomes increasingly agitated and Thunderbolt drives out of the drive-in, encountering police at the exit. During the ensuing chase, Goody is shot as the police open fire on the vehicle. Red, callous as ever, throws him out of the trunk onto a dirt road, where he dies.

Red then forces Thunderbolt and Lightfoot to stop the car. He pistol-whips them both, knocking them unconscious, and kicks Lightfoot in the head. Red takes off with the loot in the getaway car but is again pursued by police, who shoot Red several times, causing him to lose control of the car and crash through the window of a department store, where he is attacked and killed by the store's vicious watchdog.

Recovered from the beating, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot make their way towards the highway, though Lightfoot has begun to display signs of brain damage. They hitch a ride the next morning and are dropped off near Warsaw, Montana, where they stumble upon the one-room schoolhouse, which is now a historical monument on the side of a highway, having been moved there from its original location after the first heist. As the two men retrieve the stolen money, Lightfoot's behavior becomes erratic as a result of the beating.

Thunderbolt buys a new Cadillac convertible with cash, something Lightfoot said he had always wanted to do, and picks up his waiting partner, who is gradually losing control of the left side of his body. As they drive away celebrating their success with cigars, Lightfoot, in obvious distress, tells Thunderbolt in a slurred voice how proud he is of their accomplishments, then slumps over and dies. Thunderbolt snaps his cigar in half (as it is no longer a celebration) and, with his dead partner beside him, drives off down the interstate and into the distance.

A handbill posted on a burnt tree, dated 1862, announces that anyone interfering with bridges, railroads or tunnels will be summarily executed. Union troops prepare a civilian prisoner, Peyton Farquhar, for death by hanging from a rural railroad bridge. The soundtrack contains only bird noises and brief military orders. As the rope is adjusted about Farquhar's neck, a vision of his home, wife and children flashes before him.

As Farquhar falls, the rope breaks, and he drops into the river. In an underwater sequence he frees himself from his bonds, kicks his boots free and swims downstream as soldiers fire at him. Farquhar is swept through rapids and crawls ashore exhausted but laughing with relief. Glimpses of tree branches, sky and crawling insects are interrupted by a distant cannon shot which sends him running through a forest, then along a linear and orderly lane. Finally arriving at the gates of his home, he pushes his way through foliage. Farquhar reaches open lawn and runs toward his wife as she walks toward him, smiling and weeping.

Just as the couple are about to fall into each other's arms, Farquhar stiffens and gasps, and his head snaps back. The scene cuts back to his body hanging from the bridge, his entire escape and reunion with his wife revealed to be an illusion experienced in the moment of the drop.

Iris Sellin (Potente) is a world-famous pianist and composer who finds out that she is suffering from multiple sclerosis, a degenerative nerve disorder that will gradually stop her being able to perform. She asks a friend, Dr. Martin Fischer (Thomsen), a revolutionary reproductive researcher, to assist her in creating her clone so that she can pass her music onto her daughter. Even though cloning of humans is illegal, Dr. Fischer agrees so that he will forever be known as the first. The procedure is a success and Iris gives birth to Siri (Potente). Siri closely resembles her mother in both facial features and musical talent.

When Siri finds out at the age of thirteen that she is her mother's clone, her whole world falls apart. The once very close and sweet relationship between mother and daughter turns into an emotional struggle. They fight for the same man, compete with their musical careers, and nearly pay with their lives.

In order to escape the disappointment of her own existence, Siri later moves to Canada where she starts a lonely life away from civilization in the woods photographing deer. But fate grants her the possibility of release from her self-imposed isolation when she meets Greg (Hilmir Snær Guðnason), a charming architect who brings love back into Siri's life and even paves the way toward reconciliation between mother and daughter.

Kinki Kwok (Sammi Cheng) is a somewhat scatter-brained office worker at an electronics firm, who is down on her luck with love. Her boyfriend, Dan (Gabriel Harrison), cheats on her and treats her like a doormat. She is given to fits of pathological cleaning under emotional stress. Her workplace is full of gossip-mongers perpetually looking to shirk work.

Andy Lau plays Andy Cheung, her department manager. A womanizing bachelor who has to fight office politicking at the top, he comes to appreciate Kinki's work ethic and good-naturedness as something of a rarity in the company.

After Kinki helped Andy defuse a sticky work situation, Andy offers to help his subordinate in her private love life. He plots with Kinki to get back at Dan, her philandering boyfriend. In the process, the two realize they may harbor romantic feelings for each other.

Andy's old flame, Fiona (Fiona Leung) attempts to intervene, trying to hook Kinki up with young internet billionaire Roger (Raymond Wong). Although Kinki does not fancy Roger, she realizes that Andy is showing fits of unease and jealousy that is pleasing her.

Augustus Melmotte is a financier with a mysterious past. He (or rather his wife) is rumoured to have Jewish origins, and to be connected to some failed businesses in Vienna. When he moves his business and his family to London, the city's upper crust begins buzzing with rumours about him—and a host of people ultimately find their lives changed because of him.

Melmotte sets up his office in the City of London and purchases a fine house in Grosvenor Square. He sets out to woo rich and powerful investors by hosting a lavish party. He finds an appropriate investment vehicle when he is approached by an American entrepreneur, Hamilton K. Fisker, to float a company to construct a new railway line running from Salt Lake City, USA, to Veracruz, Mexico. Melmotte's goal is to ramp up the share price without paying any of his own money into the scheme itself, thus further enriching himself, regardless of whether or not the line gets built.

Amongst the aristocrats on the company's board is Sir Felix Carbury, a dissolute young baronet who is quickly running through his widowed mother's savings. In an attempt to restore their fortunes, as they are being beset by their creditors, his mother, Matilda, Lady Carbury—who is embarking on a writing career—endeavours to have him become engaged to Marie, Melmotte's only child, and thus a considerable heiress. Sir Felix manages to win Marie's heart, but his schemes are blocked by Melmotte, who has no intention of allowing his daughter to marry such a minor penniless aristocrat. Felix's situation is also complicated by his relationship with Ruby Ruggles, a pretty farm girl living with her grandfather on the estate of Roger Carbury, his well-off second cousin. Roger Carbury is an upright and moral squire living at the small, but pretty, family estate of Carbury Hall in Suffolk.

In the South Central Pacific and Mexican Railway Board meetings, chaired and controlled by Melmotte, Fisker's partner, Paul Montague, raises difficult questions. Paul's personal life is also complicated. He falls in love with Lady Carbury's young and beautiful daughter Hetta—much to her mother's displeasure—but has been followed to England by a former American fiancée, Mrs Winifred Hurtle. Mrs Hurtle is determined to make Paul marry her based on the fact that they had lived together in America, and that she offered him "all that a woman can give". It is Lady Carbury's plan, advised by her literary friend Mr Broune, a distinguished London publisher, for Hetta to marry her cousin Roger. Roger has been Paul's mentor, and the two come into conflict over their attentions towards Hetta, who steadfastly refuses to marry her cousin.

Events start to come to a head when Paul finally gets Mrs Hurtle's consent to free him of his obligations towards her, in exchange for agreeing to spend one final weekend with her at the coastal town of Lowestoft. Whilst walking along the sands, they meet Roger Carbury, who, on seeing Paul with another woman, decides to break off all acquaintance with him, believing that Paul is simply playing with Hetta's affections. In the meantime, Felix Carbury is torn between his physical attraction to Ruby and his financial need to pursue Marie Melmotte (he is emotionally indifferent to both of them). Ruby, after being beaten by her grandfather for not marrying a respectable local miller, John Crumb, runs away to London and finds refuge in the boarding house owned by her aunt, Mrs Pipkin—where, as it happens, Mrs Hurtle is lodging. Felix learns from Ruby about Mrs Hurtle's relationship with Paul and, coming into conflict with Mrs Hurtle over his attentions to Ruby, reveals all his new-found knowledge to his mother and sister. Hetta is devastated and breaks off her engagement to Paul. Meanwhile, to keep Paul away from the board meetings, Melmotte attempts to send Paul off to Mexico on a nominal inspection trip of the railway line, but Paul declines to go.

Finding that they cannot get around Melmotte, Felix and Marie decide to elope to America. Marie steals a blank cheque from her father and arranges to meet Felix on the ship at Liverpool. Felix, who has been given money by Marie for his expenses, goes to his club and gambles it all away in card games after his friends resort to playing with ready money and not IOUs. Drunk and penniless, Felix returns to his mother's house, knowing the game is up. Meanwhile, after Melmotte has been alerted by his bank, Marie and her maid, who believe that Felix is already on the ship at Liverpool, are intercepted by the police before they can board the ship, and Marie is brought back to London, while Didon the maid boards the ship and sails to New York.

Melmotte, who by this time has also become Member of Parliament for Westminster and the purchaser of a grand country estate belonging to Mr Longestaffe (whose daughter Georgiana is the heroine of a lengthy satirical subplot), also knows that his financial house of cards is nearing collapse. When Longestaffe and his son demand the purchase money for the estate Melmotte had bought, Melmotte forges his daughter's name to a document that will allow him to get at her money (money that Melmotte had put in her name precisely to protect it from creditors, and which Marie refused to give back to him). He tries to get his clerk, Croll, to witness the forged signature. Croll refuses. Melmotte then also forges Croll's signature, but makes the mistake of leaving the documents with Mr Brehgert, a banker. When Brehgert takes the documents to Croll for one further signature (which Melmotte had omitted to forge), rather than to Melmotte, Croll discovers the forgery and leaves Melmotte's service. With his creditors now knocking at his door, the railway shares nearly worthless, charges of forgery looming in his future, and his political reputation in tatters after a drunken appearance in the House of Commons, Melmotte poisons himself.

The remainder of the novel ties up the loose ends. While Felix is out with Ruby one evening, John Crumb comes upon them and, believing that Felix is forcing his attentions on her, thoroughly beats Felix. Ruby finally realises that Felix will never marry her, and returns home to marry John. Felix is forced to live on a small allowance in the British community in East Prussia, to which he is taken by the Anglican priest who is being sent to minister to them. Lady Carbury marries Mr Broune, who has been a true friend to her throughout her troubles. Hetta and Paul are finally reconciled after he tells her the truth about Mrs Hurtle. Roger forgives Paul and allows the couple to live at Carbury Manor, which he vows to leave to their child. Marie, now financially independent, becomes acquainted with Hamilton K. Fisker, and agrees to go with him to San Francisco, where she eventually marries him. She is accompanied by her stepmother, Madame Melmotte; Croll, who marries Madame Melmotte; and Mrs Hurtle.

A uniformed U.S. Army major wakes up to find himself trapped inside a large metal cylinder, where he meets a hobo, a ballet dancer, a bagpiper, and a clown who, ironically, seems to be the one among them all who reasons the most. All of them have different theories regarding their presence here, although they admit none of them are realistic. They also have no memory of who they are, or how they became trapped, and they do not seem to have any need for food or water. The major, being the newest arrival, is the most determined to escape. He is told there is no way of either breaking through or climbing up the cylinder.

Eventually, the major suggests a plan to escape: forming a tower of people, each person on the other's shoulders. However, the dancer at the top of the tower is still a few inches short of the cylinder's top, and a loud clanging sound shakes the cylinder and sends the five tumbling to the ground. The major demands that they all must make a promise to not leave the cylinder until everyone else has left. Now even more determined, the major fashions a grappling hook out of loose bits of clothing and his sword. By reforming the tower, he manages to grapple onto the edge of the cylinder. As he turns to survey the area surrounding the cylinder, he tumbles to the ground outside. The clown inside the cylinder briefly bemoans the loss, saying how the major left without them and if he comes back, it won’t be to get them out. The clown then admits that the major was right after all: they are all in Hell.

The scene cuts to a little girl picking up a doll from the snow, in the dress of an army major. The cylinder is a Christmas toy collection barrel for a girls' orphanage, and all five characters are nothing more than dolls. The loud clanging was the ringing of a bell, used by a woman to attract donations; she tells the girl to return the doll to the barrel.

The final shot is of the five characters, now seen as dolls with painted faces and glass eyes. The ballet dancer moves to hold the hand of the major as her eyes fill with tears.

It's the 1940s, near the end of World War II in the American West. The setting is a large, fertile valley ideal for grazing cattle. Rancher Jacob W. Ewing's (Jason Robards) family has lived in the valley for generations, and his dream is to control all of it and preserve it from those - farmers and oilmen, for example - who would use the land for other purposes. Visiting J.W. is wealthy oil executive Neil Atkinson, whose late father was J.W.'s good friend and financial backer; the Atkinsons helped J.W. buy out neighboring ranchers, taking advantage of their financial problems (often with some "persuasion" from J.W.'s henchmen). The one remaining holdout is Ella Connors (Jane Fonda), whose family has ranched in the area for the last two generations and who relies on the family's aging but skillful cowhand Dodger (Richard Farnsworth). Another small player is war veteran Frank Athearn (James Caan) to whom Ella has sold a small plot of land to pay her bills. Ella and J.W. have some personal history which Ella prefers to put behind her, but which J.W. keeps bringing up. Although J.W. believes that Ella cannot survive another season financially, Ella and Frank, both of whom are committed to making a living ranching, enter into an uneasy alliance, especially after a dangerous incident precipitated by J.W. involving Frank and Frank's partner, fellow veteran Billy Joe Meynart (Mark Harmon). Neil, meanwhile, wants to explore the entire valley for oil, and uses his family's financial support to pressure J.W. into agreeing. Ella, Frank, and Neil soon discover that J.W. will go to any lengths to get what he wants.

In 1928 in New York State, aspiring author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (Steenburgen) advises her husband that her last book was rejected by a publisher, she has bought an orange grove in Florida, and she is leaving him to go there. She drives to the nearest town alone, and arrives in time for her car to die. Local resident Norton Baskin (Peter Coyote) takes her the rest of the distance to a dilapidated and overgrown cabin attached to an even more overgrown orange grove. Despite Baskin's (and her own) doubts, she stays and begins to fix up the property.

The local residents of "the Creek" begin to interact with her. Marsh Turner (Rip Torn) comes around with his daughter Ellie (Dana Hill), a teenage girl who keeps a deer fawn as a pet named Flag. A black woman, Geechee (Alfre Woodard), arrives and offers to work for her, even though Rawlings insists she cannot pay her much. The grove languishes below her expectations and Rawlings writes another novel, hoping to get it published. A young married couple moves into a cabin on Rawlings's property. The woman is pregnant and they reject Rawlings's attempts to help them.

Rawlings employs the assistance of a few of the Creek residents, Geechee and Baskin, to unblock a vital irrigation vein for her grove, and it begins to improve. The young couple has their child. Ellie's deer grows older and escapes her pen, and Marsh foretells that the deer will have to be killed for eating all their food. Geechee's husband comes to stay with her after being released from prison, and Rawlings offers him a place to work in her grove, but he refuses and Rawlings asks him to leave.

Even though her husband drinks and gambles, Geechee goes to leave with him, and Rawlings admits she will be sad to see Geechee leave, after Geechee demands to know why Rawlings would allow a friend to make such a mistake. Geechee decides to stay after all after telling Rawlings that she should learn how to treat her friends better.

Rawlings submits her novel, a gothic romance, to Max Perkins, and it is rejected again. He writes to ask her to write stories about the people she describes so well in her letters instead of the English governess stories she has been writing. She does so immediately, beginning with the story of the young married couple (which eventually becomes "Jacob's Ladder," published in ''Scribner's Magazine'' in 1931).

During a visit to the Turners' home on Ellie's 14th birthday, Flag escapes his pen once more and Marsh is forced to shoot him after he eats the family's vegetables. Ellie screams at him in hatred, and Marsh goes on a bender, goes into town and attracts the sheriff's attention. The sheriff finds Marsh drinking moonshine with a shotgun across his lap and demands the gun. When Marsh offers it to him, the sheriff shoots him. The story becomes the basis for ''The Yearling''.

At Marsh’s funeral, Ellie blames Marjorie for both her father’s and Flag’s deaths and tells her to leave. Rejected and heartbroken, Rawlings leaves her home in a motorboat and rides down the waterways for several miles. After more than a day in complete isolation and loneliness out in the water, she returns to her home and is happily reunited with Geechee. A few nights later, Marjorie and Geechee find themselves battling to save their orange grove from the autumn frost. Her neighbors arrive to help her out, and among them are Ellie and her younger siblings. Ellie apologizes to Marjorie for her behavior towards her at her father’s funeral, stating that “good friends shouldn’t keep apart,” and they reconcile as friends again.

Max Perkins (Malcolm McDowell) visits and accepts her story "Jacob's Ladder" upon reading it. Baskin asks Rawlings to marry him, and she accepts after much hesitation about her independence. Rawlings realizes her profound attachment to the land at Cross Creek.

John, Lord Clayton, the heir to the 6th Earldom of Greystoke, and his pregnant wife Alice are shipwrecked on the African coast. John builds a home in the trees, and Alice gives birth to a son. Alice later grows ill from malaria and dies. While John is grieving her, the tree house is visited by curious apes, one of whom kills him. One female of the group, Kala, who is carrying her dead infant, hears the cries of the infant human in his crib. She adopts the boy and raises him as a member of the Mangani.

At age one, the boy learns gorilla talk and learns how to walk. At age five, the boy learns how to swing a vine and is still trying to fit in with his ape family. When a Black panther attacks, he learns how to swim to evade it while another ape is killed.

At age 12, the boy discovers the tree-house in which he lived as a baby with his real mother and father. He finds a wooden block, with pictures of both a boy and a chimpanzee painted on it. He sees himself in a mirror and recognizes the physical differences between himself and the rest of his ape family. He also discovers his father's hunting knife and how it works. The objects fascinate the boy, and he takes them with him; but is ambushed by a scarred old ape who savagely beats him before the boy's ape mother and father arrive. The boy is nursed back to health and antagonizes the old ape, learning to evade the stronger opponent than fight him directly. One day his mother is killed by a native hunting party, and he kills one of them in revenge.

Years later, Belgian explorer Phillippe d'Arnot is traveling with a band of British adventurers along the river. He is disgusted by their boorish nature and love of "blood and sport". A band of natives attacks the party, killing everyone except Phillippe, who is injured and conceals himself in the trees. The young man finds Phillippe and nurses him back to health. D'Arnot discovers that the man is a natural mimic and teaches him to speak rudimentary English. D'Arnot deduces that this man is the son of the late Lord John and Lady Alice of Greystoke and calls the man "Jean". Jean agrees to return to England with his benefactor and reunite with his human family.

On arrival at Greystoke, the family's country estate in the Lowlands of Scotland, John is welcomed by his grandfather, the 6th Earl of Greystoke, and his ward, a young American woman called Jane. The Earl still grieves the loss of his son and daughter-in-law years earlier but is very happy to have his grandson home. He displays eccentric behaviour and often confuses John with John's father.

John is treated as a novelty by the local social set, and some of his behavior is seen as threatening and savage. He befriends a young mentally disabled worker on the estate and in his company relaxes into his natural ape-like behaviour. Jane meanwhile teaches John more English, French, and social skills. They become very close and one evening passionately make love in secret.

Lord Greystoke enjoys renewed vigour at the return of his grandson and, reminiscing about his childhood game of using a silver tray as a toboggan on a flight of stairs in the grand house, decides to relive the old pastime. He crashes at the foot of the stairs and slowly dies, apparently from a head injury, in the arms of his grandson. At his passing, John displays similar emotions and a lack of understanding about death as he did in Africa following the death of Kala.

John inherits the title Earl of Greystoke. Jane helps John through his grief, and they become engaged. He is also cheered when his mentor, Phillippe, returns. One day he visits the Natural History Museum in London with Jane. During their visit, John is disturbed by the displays of stuffed animals. He discovers many live, caged apes from Africa, including his adoptive father, Silverbeard. They recognise each other, and John releases Silverbeard and other caged animals. They are pursued by police and museum officials. They reach a woodland park, where Silverbeard is fatally shot. John, devastated, yells to the crowd, "He was my father!"

Unable to assimilate to the human society that he views as cruel, John decides to return to Africa and reunite with his ape family. Phillippe and Jane escort him back to the jungle where Phillippe and John first met. John returns to the world he understands and is reunited with his ape friend, Figs. Jane does not join him, but Phillippe silently expresses his hope that perhaps they may someday be reunited.

A masked intruder breaks into the beach house of San Francisco socialite Paige Forrester, ties her to her bed, rips open her shirt, and kills her with a hunting knife. Her husband Jack, arrested for her murder, tries to hire high-profile lawyer Teddy Barnes to defend him. Barnes is reluctant to take the case since an incident with district attorney Thomas Krasny, her former boss, caused her to quit practicing criminal law.

Krasny tells Barnes that prisoner Henry Styles hanged himself, which distresses her. Barnes visits Sam Ransom, a private detective who also used to work for Krasny and who changed careers at the same time as Barnes. Barnes decides to take the case.

Barnes and Forrester prepare for the trial and eventually sleep together. Ransom warns Barnes that Forrester is just trying to make her care more about his case. Her office begins receiving anonymous letters containing non-public case details and an analysis shows they were typed on a 1942 Corona typewriter.

In a pre-trial meeting, Barnes tells the judge that Krasny has a history of not meeting discovery obligations. The prosecution's case relies on circumstantial evidence and two of its key witnesses are discredited by Barnes.

Krasny calls Eileen Avery, who had an affair with Forrester, to testify. As Avery details her relationship with Forrester, Barnes finds it eerily similar to her own relationship with him. She feels manipulated and now believes Forrester is guilty but continues out of a sense of duty.

Another note arrives at her office saying, "He is innocent. Santa Cruz. January 21, 1984. Ask Julie Jensen." Barnes calls Jensen to testify that she was attacked in the same manner as Paige Forrester. All the details match, but she says her attacker seemed to stop himself from killing her. As Krasny objects that the attack on Jensen is unrelated to the one on Forrester, he lets slip that his office had investigated the attack and not revealed it in discovery. In chambers, the judge threatens to have Krasny disbarred. Krasny insists that Forrester planned Paige's murder for 18 months, he attacked Jensen to create an alibi for himself, and he is the writer of the anonymous letters.

The judge forbids Krasny from presenting his theory to the jury and Forrester is found not guilty. Barnes announces to the media that she left the district attorney's office when Krasny suppressed evidence that proved Henry Styles was innocent. Krasny walks off in disgust.

Barnes goes to Forrester's house to celebrate, and they sleep together again. In the morning, she discovers, in a closet, a 1942 Corona typewriter matching the analysis of the anonymous notes. She takes it and flees.

When Forrester calls, she tells him she found the typewriter. Forrester insists on coming over. Barnes calls Ransom, on the brink of telling him that Forrester is a killer, but instead hangs up. A masked figure breaks in and confronts her in her bedroom. As he starts to attack, Barnes throws back the covers to reveal a handgun. She shoots him several times until he falls to the floor. Ransom comes in and unmasks the attacker: Forrester.

Benni (played by Florian Panzner), Sandra (Anabelle Lachatte), and Jule (Lena Beyerling) are on a camping holiday at a sea. They meet a sinister but charming young man named Marco (Martin Kiefer) while playing at the sea. Later at night, Marco is beaten by two guys for an unknown reason before Sandra comes to the rescue unintentionally.

Soon, the four of them leave the camping site at night thanks to Marco's spontaneous idea. Crossing the Germany border to Poland, they have no idea what they are going to do there.

Kay Harker is returning from boarding school when he finds himself mixed up in a battle to possess a magical box. It allows the owner to shrink in size, to fly swiftly, to go into the past and to experience the magical wonders contained within the box.

The current owner of the box is an old Punch and Judy man called Cole Hawlings whom Kay meets at the railway station. They develop an instant rapport, which leads Cole to confide that he is being chased by a magician called Abner Brown and his gang, which includes Kay's former governess. For safety, Cole (who turns out to be the medieval philosopher and alleged magician Ramon Llull) entrusts the box to Kay. The schoolboy then goes on to have many adventures as he protects the box from those who wish to use it for bad deeds.

Parents Annie and Arthur Pope are on the run as they were responsible for the anti-war protest bombing of a napalm laboratory in the 1971. The incident accidentally blinded and paralyzed a janitor who was not supposed to be there. They have been on the run ever since, relying on an underground network of supporters who help them financially. At the time of the incident, their son Danny was two years old. As the film begins, he is in his late teens, and the family, now with younger son Harry, are again relocating and assuming new identities.

Danny's overwhelming talent as a pianist catches the attention of his music teacher at school. The teacher begins to pry into Danny's personal life, particularly questioning why records from his previous school are unobtainable. While he pushes Danny to audition for Juilliard, Danny also falls in love with Lorna, the teacher's teenage daughter.

As the pressure to have his own life and realize his own dreams intensifies, Danny reveals his family secret to Lorna. Meanwhile, Annie finds out about Danny's audition and begins to come to terms with the fact that she must let her son go and find his own way. This does not sit well with Arthur even as Annie risks their safety to contact her estranged father and arrange a home and life for Danny if they should decide to leave him behind.

When Arthur hears on the radio that one of their underground colleagues has been shot and killed running from the authorities, he realizes that it is better for his son to pursue his dreams than to continue living a dangerous life on the run from crimes for which Danny bears no responsibility. The family leaves Danny behind and heads off for their next identity in a new town.

Detroit engineer Preston Tucker has been interested in building cars since childhood. During World War II he designed an armored car for the military and made money building gun turrets for aircraft in a small shop next to his home in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Tucker is supported by his large extended family, particularly: wife Vera; sons Preston Jr. and Noble; daughter Marilyn Lee.

As the war winds down, Tucker becomes inspired to build the "car of the future". The "Tucker Torpedo" will feature revolutionary safety designs, including disc brakes, seatbelts, a pop-out windshield, and headlights which swivel when you turn. Tucker hires young designer Alex Tremulis to help with the design and enlists New York financier Abe Karatz to arrange financial support. Raising the money through a stock issue, Tucker and Karatz acquire the enormous Dodge Chicago Plant to begin manufacturing. Abe hires Robert Bennington to run the new Tucker Corporation on a day-to-day basis.

Launching "the car of tomorrow" in a spectacular way, the Tucker Corporation is met with enthusiasm from shareholders and the general public. However, the Tucker company board of directors, unsure of his ability to overcome the technical and financial obstacles ahead, send Tucker off on a publicity campaign and attempt to take complete control of the company. While Tucker travels the country, Bennington and directors change the design of Tucker's car to a more conventional design, eliminating the safety and engineering advances Tucker was advertising. At the same time, Tucker faces animosity from the Big Three automakers -- General Motors, Ford and Chrysler—and from the authorities, led by Michigan Senator Homer S. Ferguson.

Tucker returns from his publicity tour and confronts Bennington, who curtly informs him that he no longer has any power in the company to make decisions, that the engine originally planned for the car is not viable. Tucker then receives a call from Howard Hughes, who sends a private plane to bring Tucker to his aircraft manufacturing site. Hughes advises Tucker to purchase the Aircooled Motors Company, which can supply both the steel Tucker needs, as well as a small, powerful helicopter engine that might replace Tucker's original "589" power plant.

Unable to change Bennington's design, Tucker modifies the new engine. He installs it in a test Tucker, in the secrecy of his backyard tool-and-die shop. This prototype proves successful, both in durability and in crash-testing. However, Tucker is confronted with allegations of stock fraud. Ferguson's investigation with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) causes Karatz—once convicted of bank fraud—to resign out of fear that his criminal record will prejudice the hearings. Yellow journalism all but ruins Tucker's public image; yet the ultimate courtroom battle is resolved when he parades his entire production run of 50 Tucker Torpedoes, proving that he has reached production status.

After giving a speech to the jurors on how capitalism in the United States is harmed by efforts of large corporations against small entrepreneurs like himself, Tucker is acquitted on all charges, although his company falls into bankruptcy.

In the film's closing shot, Tucker's entire production line—fifty "cars of the future"—is driven through the streets of downtown Chicago, admired by everyone as they pass.

Epilogue

Although only 50 Tucker Torpedoes were ever produced, 46 of them are still roadworthy and in use today (as of 1988). Many of Tucker's innovations—aerodynamic styling, padded dash, pop-out windows, seatbelts, fuel injection and disc brakes—were gradually adopted by Detroit and are found in the cars produced today. Preston Tucker died of lung cancer six years after the trial.

Angela de Marco is the wife of Long Island mafia up-and-comer "Cucumber" Frank de Marco, who gets violently dispatched by his Don, Tony "The Tiger" Russo, when he is discovered in a compromising situation with the latter's mistress Karen. Angela wants to escape the criminal underworld with her son, but is harassed by Tony who puts the moves on her at Frank's funeral. This clinch earns her the suspicion of FBI agents Mike Downey and Ed Benitez, who are conducting surveillance, and also of Tony's wife Connie, who repeatedly confronts Angela with accusations of stealing her husband. To further complicate things, Downey is assigned to monitor all of Angela's movements as part of an undercover surveillance operation, but cannot resist becoming romantically involved with Angela himself. Angela's attempts to break away from the Mob result in comic mayhem and a climactic showdown in a honeymoon suite in Miami Beach.

In 1976, in South Africa during apartheid, Ben Du Toit (Donald Sutherland) is a South African school teacher at a school for whites only. One day, the son of his gardener, Gordon Ngubene (Winston Ntshona), gets beaten by the white police after he gets caught by the police during a peaceful demonstration for a better education policy for black people in South Africa. Gordon asks Ben for help. After Ben refuses to help because of his trust in the police, Gordon gets caught by the police as well and is tortured by Captain Stolz (Jürgen Prochnow). Against the will of his wife Susan (Janet Suzman) and his daughter Suzette (Susannah Harker), Ben tries to find out more about the disappearance of his gardener by himself. Following the discoveries of the murders of both Gordon and his son by the police, Ben decides to bring this incident up before a court with Ian McKenzie (Marlon Brando) as lawyer but loses. Afterwards, he continues to act by himself and supports a small group of black people, including his driver Stanley Makhaya (Zakes Mokae), to interview others to promote social change.

The white police notice their intentions and detain some responsible persons. To file a civil suit, Ben collects affidavits and hides the information at his house. Ben lets his son in on his plans. His son and his daughter both get to know the hiding spots, and after the police search through Ben's house, there is an explosion next to the hiding spot because the daughter betrayed it to the police, but the son saved the documents. Gordon's wife, Emily (Thoko Ntshinga), is killed when she refuses to be evicted from her home. Ben's wife and daughter leave him. The daughter offers to her father to get the documents to a safer place.

They meet at a restaurant and Ben gives his daughter unbeknownst-to-her fake documents, which she delivers to Captain Stolz. Instead of giving her the documents, Ben passed her a book about art. At the end, Ben is run over by Stolz, who is later shot by Stanley in revenge.

''Longtime Companion'' chronicles the first years of the AIDS epidemic as seen through its impact on several gay men and the straight friend of one of them. The film is split into several sections identified by dates.

July 3, 1981

Willy (Campbell Scott), a personal trainer, and his friend John (Dermot Mulroney) are spending time with affluent gay couple David (Bruce Davison) and Sean (Mark Lamos) at their beach house on Fire Island for the 4th of July. Sean is a screenwriter for the popular daytime soap opera ''Other People'' and David comes from a blue blood background and has a large trust fund. Back in the city, Howard (Patrick Cassidy) is preparing to audition for Sean's soap. His boyfriend is Paul (John Dossett), a business executive and their next-door neighbor is Lisa (Mary-Louise Parker), an antiques dealer, whose brother Fuzzy (Stephen Caffrey) is a lawyer who represents Howard.

That morning, ''The New York Times'' publishes its first article about the rise of a new "gay cancer". The news spreads as friends call each other. Some are immediately concerned, others dismissive. Willy meets Fuzzy at a tea dance later in the afternoon and they begin a relationship. Howard lands the role.

April 30, 1982

John is the first among the group to be diagnosed with the new disease, contracting pneumonia. Howard is given script pages in which his character is slated to become the first openly gay character on daytime television. He is very concerned about typecasting, fearing that by playing gay he will not be offered other sorts of parts. Willy and Fuzzy move in together.

John dies shortly after his admission to the hospital.

June 17, 1983

Willy, Fuzzy, Lisa, David, and Sean gather back on Fire Island with friends Michael and Bob to watch Howard's character come out on the soap opera. The group also discuss a sick neighbor who has become a pariah on the island. That evening, Sean and David argue over Sean's fears that he might be getting sick.

September 7, 1984

Paul is hospitalized with toxoplasmosis. Sean is also hospitalized. Willy visits Sean and is so terrified of becoming infected that he dons a surgical mask and protective gown and, when Sean kisses him on the neck, excuses himself to the bathroom to scrub the spot. Michael (Michael Schoeffling) is also visiting Sean, bringing with him homeopathic preparations and a book by Louise Hay. Howard visits Paul and breaks down sobbing. Paul tries to reassure and comfort him.

March 22, 1985

Sean has deteriorated to the point of dementia. David is helping with his writing and deceiving the studio into thinking that Sean is still able to work. Fuzzy tries to get Howard a movie role but the producer refuses to cast him because of the rumor that he has AIDS. The same rumor got him fired from his role on ''Other People''. Paul is back in the hospital following a seizure. David takes Sean for a walk but has to take him home when Sean urinates in a fountain at a park. That night Willy catches Fuzzy checking himself for swollen glands and they talk about their fear of dying. "What do you think happens when we die?" Fuzzy asks. "We get to have sex again" is Willy's reply.

January 4, 1986

Sean has deteriorated to the point of near-catatonia and is in constant pain. He has to be strapped into his bed and has lost control of his bowels and bladder and has to wear adult diapers as a result. After sending Sean's nurse on an errand, David sits with Sean and tells him that it is all right to let go. Sean dies. Willy and Lisa come by to help David, and they pick out a suit for Sean to wear to be cremated. Fuzzy calls Gay Men's Health Crisis to find a funeral home. In a rare moment of levity, Lisa and Willy stumble across a slinky red dress in Sean's closet and consider giving it to the undertaker. Ultimately they decide against it, since "it needs a hat. A big Bea Lillie thing!"

The four go to a Chinese restaurant to write Sean's obituary and include David as his "longtime companion".

May 16, 1987

David has died in his sleep, and this is the day of his memorial service. Bob (Brian Cousins) and Willy eulogize him. At the following reception, the friends recall a time when David tried on his sister's wedding dress, accidentally tripped, and fell down the stairs, still wearing it.

September 10, 1988

Fuzzy and Lisa are volunteering answering phones at GMHC. Willy is a "buddy" to a GMHC client, Alberto (Michael Carmine).

Howard has been diagnosed with AIDS. Although it is not mentioned, the presumption is that Paul has died. Howard uses his remaining fame to raise money for AIDS causes by hosting a benefit which includes a performance by Finger Lakes Trio of the Village People song "YMCA" performed in a pastiche of chamber music style.

July 19, 1989

Willy, Fuzzy and Lisa walk along the beach. They talk about an upcoming ACT UP demonstration. They talk about remembering a time before AIDS and wonder about finding a cure. The film ends with a momentary fantasy sequence, with the friends and others lost to AIDS appearing with them on the beach, before they vanish again and the three are left to walk off the deserted beach while the song "Post-Mortem Bar", by Zane Campbell, plays on the soundtrack.

Stand-up comedian Buddy Young Jr. became a television star with the help of his brother and manager, Stan, but alienated many of those closest to him once his career began to fade.

Through a series of flashbacks, the brothers are seen during childhood entertaining their family in the living room. The older Buddy continues his career as a comic in the Catskills, where he meets his future wife, Elaine.

As Buddy's fame grows, so does his ego. He hits the big time with his own Saturday night television show. But despite the warnings of his brother, Buddy uses offensive material on the air, costing him his show and causing his career to suffer, officially ending when his stand-up act on the Ed Sullivan Show is scheduled right after the Beatles' first US appearance, leading to his act being ignored and cut short. Furious over being snubbed, he goes into an offensive tirade and quits.

As an older man, long past his prime, Buddy is estranged from Stan as well as from his daughter, Susan. A chance at redemption comes when a young agent named Annie Wells finds him work and even gets Buddy a shot at a role in a top director's new film. Buddy nevertheless gives in to his own self-destructive nature, continuing to hurt his relationships with his family.

Medgar Evers was an African-American civil rights activist in Mississippi murdered on June 12, 1963. It was suspected that Byron De La Beckwith, a white supremacist, was the murderer. He had been tried twice in the 1960s and both trials ended in hung juries. Evers' widow Myrlie Evers had been trying to bring De La Beckwith to justice for over 25 years. In 1989, emboldened by a newspaper article by Jerry Mitchell exposing jury tampering by the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission in the first two trials, Myrlie Evers believed she had what it takes to bring him to trial again. Although most of the evidence from the old trial had disappeared, Bobby DeLaughter, an assistant District Attorney, decided to help her despite being warned that it might hurt his political aspirations and despite the strain that it caused in his marriage. DeLaughter forms a team of investigators from his office, however investigation suffers many setbacks. After learning that several of the key witnesses have died, and the court transcript of their testimony from the 1960s trials is lost, the team is convinced this is a futile effort. This is re-inforced when DeLaughter fails at a desperate strategy of convincing two police officers who provided De La Beckwith with an alibi in the 1960s trials to admit they lied under oath. However, their pessimism fades with two discoveries. The rifle used in the murder, thought to have been lost, was hiding in plain sight. Later, one of the investigators learns of the existence of a witness unknown to the prosecution in the 1960s trials, Delmar Dennis. Dennis was a former member of the Ku Klux Klan who agreed to be an undercover informant for the FBI. Dennis testified against the Klan in the Mississippi Burning case, and once mentioned having met De La Beckwith. The investigation turns to finding Dennis, who was living in hiding since turning state's evidence on the KKK, to see what he knows of the case. Once confirming Dennis indeed had met De La Beckwith, the team is optimistic they have enough to secure a new indictment. As knowledge becomes public that the district attorney's office has re-opened the case and is pursuing a new conviction, white supremacist elements threaten DeLaughter and his children, having by this time separated from his wife. After committing to Myrlie that he will try De La Beckwith again, Myrlie, initially skeptical of DeLaughter, reveals she has a court certified transcript of one of the 1960s trails in her possession. DeLaughter had long sought such a transcript to be able to read testimony from a police officer who investigated the crime scene for the new trial. DeLaughter mostly presents the same case as was presented in the 1960s trial, except using Dennis and two other witnesses to testify as substitutes for deceased witnesses from the 1960s trials, and having Detective Lloyd Bennett read the testimony of his father, Detective LC Bennett, who was the officer who investigated the crime scene, from the 1960s trials to the jury. In 1994, Byron De La Beckwith was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. The film ends with Myrlie tearfully rejoicing to the assembled crowd at the courthouse that she never gave up in the fight for justice for Medger.

Environmental toxicants in the city of Woburn, Massachusetts contaminate the area's water supply and become linked to a number of deaths of local children. Cocky Boston attorney Jan Schlichtmann and his small firm of personal injury lawyers are asked by Woburn resident Anne Anderson to take legal action against those responsible. After originally rejecting a seemingly unprofitable case, Jan finds a major environmental issue involving groundwater contamination that has great legal potential and realizes the local tanneries could be responsible for several deadly cases of leukemia. Jan decides to go forward against two giant corporations which own the tanneries—Beatrice Foods and W. R. Grace and Company—thinking that the case could possibly earn him millions and boost his firm's reputation.

Bringing a class action lawsuit in federal court, Jan represents families who demand an apology and a clean-up of contaminated areas. However, the case develops a life of its own and takes over the lives of Jan and his firm. The lawyers for Beatrice and Grace are not easy to intimidate, a judge makes a key ruling against the plaintiffs, and soon Jan and his partners find themselves in a position where their professional and financial survival has been staked on the outcome of the case. Jan stubbornly declines settlement offers, gradually coming to believe that the case is about more than just money. He allows his pride to take over, making outrageous demands and deciding that he must win at all costs. Pressures take their toll, with Jan and his partners going deeply into debt.

After a lengthy trial, the case is dismissed in favor of Beatrice, after Jan turned down an offer of $20 million from Beatrice attorney Jerry Facher during jury deliberations. The plaintiffs are forced to accept a settlement with Grace that barely covers the expense involved in trying the case, leaving Jan and his partners broke. The families are deeply disappointed, and Jan's partners dissolve their partnership, effectively breaking up the firm. Jan ends up alone, living in a small apartment and running a small-time law practice. He manages to find the last key witness to the case, but lacks resources and courage to appeal the judgement. The files are archived while Jan later files for bankruptcy.

A postscript reveals that the EPA, building on Jan's work on the case, later brought its own enforcement action against Beatrice and Grace, forcing them to pay millions to clean up the land and the groundwater. It takes Jan several years to settle his debts, and he now practices environmental law in New Jersey.

On the Backwards World

The Red Dwarf crew arrive on htraE (a version of Earth in a universe where time is running backwards) in order to rescue Lister, who has returned to life and the age of 25 (following his death at age 61 the end of the previous novel, Better Than Life) as a result of the crew depositing his body on the time-reversed Earth 36 years earlier. After failing to meet Lister at the arranged rendezvous, Kryten learns from the television that Lister and Cat are associated with a murder that, due to the backwards flow of time, has not yet been committed. Lister soon arrives injured and in the custody of the police who, after a backwards fight which restores Lister to health, promptly unarrest him. Lister then takes off in backwards pursuit of one of the officers, explaining to the others that due to the nature of reverse time he is forced to follow the policeman (who if time were running forwards would be chasing him) until he is 'unspotted'. After a harrowing backwards car-chase (especially for Rimmer, who is unable to trust that no harm can befall him while time is running backwards) the policeman unsees them, and the crew retreat to the mountain area where they landed their ship, the Starbug.

When they arrive, the crew examine Starbug to find most of the landing jets missing and the underside a mess of rust and badly-repaired damage. Unable to understand how it happened, but realising that on the backwards Earth they will need the landing jets to perform a take-off, they begin searching for the missing jets. While searching Kryten discovers the body of a hillbilly, who has been killed with a pickaxe. He panics when the corpse begins returning to life and removes the pickaxe from the man's chest. Once the man leaves, Kryten replays the incident 'forwards' and realises he was responsible for killing the man, a serious breach of his programming not to harm humans. Overwhelmed by guilt, Kryten shuts himself down. Upon learning what's happened, Lister realises that this was the murder for which he was imprisoned and is overwhelmed at finally learning that he was not only innocent but Kryten was the one responsible for his lengthy prison sentence. Despite this, Lister forgives him and tries to get him working again.

Having only found one landing jet and that in terrible condition, and with Lister busy repairing Kryten, the crew's attempt at a reverse landing fails and they are trapped on htraE, having missed their window. Kryten is eventually fixed and he informs them they will have to wait 10 years for another opportunity to leave.

Ten years pass and while Kryten and Rimmer are physically unaffected, the reverse time of backwards Earth means Lister and The Cat are now 15. During the wait, The Cat becomes a virgin during a bizarre sexual encounter with a female cousin of the 'un-murdered' hillbilly, and the crew busy themselves reburying the landing jet they found and 'un-repairing' the damage to Starbug, which begins to become less rusted but more damaged as the reverse landing window approaches. When the time arrives, the crew begin the reverse landing, sending the underpowered ship scraping backwards over a nearby mountain, a process which repairs much of the damage as several landing jets leap from the forest and reattach themselves. With the craft still out of control, they are unstruck by a missile from the American 'Star Wars' defence system, which had misidentified Starbug as a threat. With the remainder of the damage repaired, the crew leave for their own universe to rendezvous with Red Dwarf, but find it to be missing without a trace.

The Search for Red Dwarf

Unknown to them, Holly, the Red Dwarf computer, has been reversing the process of his intelligence compression (performed in 'Better Than Life'), reducing his IQ to increase his operational lifespan. Unfortunately he takes the process too far, leaving him so stupid that he is unable to reverse the procedure or prevent Red Dwarf falling into the hands of the Agonoids, who force him to divulge information about the crew. Delighted to discover the one remaining human (Lister) is among them, the Agonoids begin to plan his demise, ripping Holly's components from the ship and jettisoning them before converting the Red Dwarf into a giant torture chamber.

Discovering the remains of Holly, the Dwarf crew learn of the Agonoid threat, but with food and fuel supplies on Starbug severely low, and their power situation made even worse by the energy required to power up Holly's remains even for the brief time they spoke with him, they have no options available but to head for Red Dwarf regardless.

At the same time, in a parallel universe, Ace Rimmer is preparing to test pilot a ship capable of crossing dimensions. The brave, heroic and charismatic Ace (a complete contrast to the neurotic Rimmer) arrives in the Red Dwarf timeline, materialising so close to Starbug as to severely damage both ships. Coming over to Starbug to help with repairs, Ace deduces it may be possible to rig up his ship to take the crew home.

The Agonoids meanwhile are fighting for the right to torture and kill the last remaining human. Djuhn'Keep, the most intelligent Agonoid—having tricked and dismantled another for spare parts due to his own poor physical condition, only having been spared destruction so far due to his technical skills—succeeds in jettisoning the others into space, but notices to his chagrin that one, Pizzak'Rapp, is headed directly for Starbug. Pizzak'Rapp attempts to break into the ship, but Ace sacrifices himself to send the Agonoid into space.

Meanwhile, Djuhn'Keep arrives on Starbug, just as the oxygen supply fails. Horrified at losing the opportunity to torture Lister, Djuhn swiftly repairs the Oxygeneration unit. Kryten bazookoids the freshly repaired hull, causing a breach which sucks the Agonoid into space. The crew then learn that Djuhn has infected the ship's NaviComp with a computer virus (the Armageddon virus), causing them to be locked on course towards a nearby planet. Kryten decides to deliberately contract the virus to create an antidote, cryptically telling the crew to 'watch his dreams' before becoming unresponsive.

Entering Kryten's dream-state through a VR machine, the crew find themselves in a replica of an old Western, with the various characters representing Kryten's characteristics ('Wyatt Memory', 'Billy Belief', etc.), being threatened by 'the Apocalypse boys', representing the virus. Kryten's consciousness is represented by the town lawman, Sheriff Carton, but the recent death of Wyatt Memory has cost Kryten his memory of what he is meant to be doing, although the crew are able to remind him of enough crucial details to finish his work.

In order to buy Kryten time, the crew (Rimmer, Lister and The Cat), adopt personas from a VR Western game, ''Streets of Larado'', and enter the game to assist him. With impeccable skills in fighting, knife-throwing and shooting provided by the VR machine, along with the knowledge that they cannot be injured, they attempt to take on the Apocalypse boys to distract them from destroying the town or killing Sheriff Carton. However, the virus spreads to the VR machine the crew is connected to, sealing them into the artificial reality, removing their 'special skills' and allowing them to feel pain (Fortunately, Lister and Cat cannot be actually ''killed'', although Rimmer's light bee is still potentially vulnerable to the virus). The crew clash with the Apocalypse boys regardless, and are subject to terrible injuries; Lister is even decapitated at one point. However, Kryten has enough time to complete the antidote program just as the Apocalypse boys gun him down.

With the Apocalypse boys vapourised, Lister and The Cat return to reality to find the virus has killed both Kryten and Rimmer, destroying their mechanical components beyond repair. Since the VR machine only simulated their injuries, they find themselves unharmed. With the virus gone, they are able to control the ship, but since it has been accelerating for several hours there is not sufficient fuel left to avoid hitting the planet. Cramming into Ace's one-man ship Wildfire, which he had programmed for another jump, they cross dimensions—their only other option being to go back to an uninhabited and gutted Red Dwarf in this universe—finding themselves in a timeline where Kryten and Rimmer are still alive, but their own counterparts died playing Better Than Life. As they dock with the alternate Red Dwarf, Lister reflects that while this is not home, it might be close enough.

The story begins with the death of a model worker, who is buried with his labor card as a badge of honor. However, his widow is told she needs that card to claim the benefits she is entitled to. The story then takes several surreal turns, as the family of the dead man tries to recover the precious card from the grave. As they succeed to do so, the bureaucracy grows into a formidable enemy: Their wish to re-bury the husband is turned down, because all the official documents show he already has been buried...

A thousand years before the start of the game, two factions — one led by the swordsman Orakio, the other by the sorceress Laya — were engaged in a bitter conflict. An attempt at peace was made when the two leaders met for an armistice, but soon afterwards they both mysteriously vanished. This placed the two factions in a precarious situation, as each blamed the other for their leader's disappearance. All communication between the Orakians and Layans was suspended, travel between their respective worlds was prohibited, and the two groups teetered on the brink of war.

Players take control of Rhys, Crown Prince of the Orakian kingdom of Landen, on the day of his wedding to Maia, a mysterious amnesiac who washed up on Landen's shore two months earlier.

During the ceremony, a dragon (identified as a Layan) suddenly appears and snatches Maia, in what seems to be an overt escalation of the Layan-Orakian conflict. During Rhys's search for Maia, he recruits various characters to his cause. Ultimately, it is revealed that Maia herself is Layan, Princess of the kingdom of Cille, and that her kidnapping was actually a rescue attempt by her people, who believed she had been stolen from them by the "hostile" Orakians.

It is later revealed in-game that both factions are the descendants of survivors from planet Palm of the Algo System — which was destroyed during the events of the previous game — and that their different kingdoms are sections of a massive colonization-spaceship.

After three generations, both factions mix, and their descendants discover that all the conflicts among the different kingdoms were caused by the Dark Force, the main antagonist of the previous games, which is defeated in a final decisive battle that actually takes place 1,000 years after the events from the next game in the series.

British Secret Service agent James Bond, codename 007, must prevent Sir Hugo Drax's plan to murder the entire human race and then restart humanity from outer space.

The Doctor and his companions Ben and Polly arrive in the TARDIS at the South Pole in the year 1986. They find themselves in the Snowcap Base, a space tracking station commanded by General Cutler. The base is supervising the mission of the ''Zeus IV'' spaceship, running a routine probe on the Earth's atmosphere. The spaceship is drawn off-course by an unknown force, and Snowcap monitoring staff discover a new, unknown planet approaching Earth. Recognising identical landmasses to those of Earth, the Doctor reveals that this is Mondas, the Earth's long-lost twin planet, and that its inhabitants will soon be visiting Earth.

A mysterious spaceship lands in the snow and three robotic creatures emerge, kill the guards and infiltrate Snowcap Base, taking control. They reveal that they are Cybermen, a race who, though once like human beings, have gradually replaced their bodies with mechanical parts, and eliminated the "weakness" of emotion from their brains. The Cybermen prevent the base staff from saving the ''Zeus IV'', and it is destroyed by the gravitational pull of Mondas. The emotionless Cybermen state that the lives of the crew are irrelevant to them. The Cybermen explain that Mondas is absorbing energy from Earth and will soon destroy it. They propose to take humans back to Mondas and turn them into Cybermen.

General Cutler, the Snowcap base personnel and the Doctor's companions mount a resistance to the Cybermen, overpowering them and killing them with their own cyberweapons. Cutler plans to destroy Mondas using a Z-bomb, one of a series of powerful nuclear bombs that are placed at strategic points around the world, and contacts Space Command HQ in Geneva. The chief scientist Dr. Barclay expresses concerns that the radiation caused by the exploding planet would cause immense loss of life on Earth, and Ben argues that Mondas might destroy itself anyway when it absorbs too much energy. Suddenly, the Doctor passes out, ill. Faced with dissent, Cutler orders Ben to be imprisoned in a cabin with the Doctor. Ben escapes and, with the help of Polly and Barclay, sabotages the Z-bomb rocket. Cutler attempts to fire the Z-bomb, but the engines fail on the launchpad. As Cutler threatens to kill Ben, Barclay, and the Doctor, who has now regained consciousness, he is killed by a new squadron of Cybermen. The Doctor, who explains to Polly his body is “wearing a bit thin”, and realising that Mondas is approaching destruction, attempts to mediate with the Cybermen, offering them a home on Earth. The Cybermen take Polly and the Doctor back to their spaceship as hostages.

As the Cybermen take over Space Command in Geneva, the Doctor realises that their plan is to destroy the Earth with the remaining Z-bombs, thus saving Mondas. The Cybermen order the humans to disarm the Z-bomb and send Ben, Barclay, Haines and Dyson into the bomb chamber. Ben surmises that the reason the Cybermen send humans to do this work is that the Cybermen are highly susceptible to radiation. Using radioactive rods from the reactor chamber as a weapon against the Cybermen, Ben and the crew regain control of the base. Just as more Cybermen enter the Tracking Room, Mondas explodes. Disconnected from their power source on Mondas, all the remaining Cybermen die. Geneva Space Command contacts the base to announce that the Cyberman threat has ended. Ben frees the Doctor and Polly from the Cybermen's spaceship. The Doctor, who uncharacteristically has lost his sense of humour, says “it’s far from being all over” and abruptly departs for the TARDIS. Though weak, the Doctor gathers enough energy to rescue Polly and Ben. He collapses and transforms into a younger man.

Ben Reilly and Peter bond after Kaine attacks them, and Ben stays in New York as Peter's blond-haired cousin so he can build a life of his own. He adopts the identity of the Scarlet Spider and works at the Daily Grind.

Ben, Peter, and Kaine reach the lair of the shadowy figure responsible for infecting Aunt May and Mary Jane with a genetic virus. The villain is revealed to be the Jackal, who captures all three and reveals that he plans to make an army of Spider-clones and take over the world. Since Ben was the only clone to turn out stable, the Jackal takes a sample of his blood to perfect his cloning technique. A mastermind over the Jackal wants the blood sample as well, for the body of Norman Osborn.

The Jackal intends to clone Gwen Stacy and another unknown figure, and Kaine breaks himself, Ben, and Peter free. During the subsequent fight, the clones dissolve and the Jackal suggests that Ben is the original Peter Parker. Kaine kills the Jackal, Ben and Peter escape with the cure and save Aunt May and Mary Jane, who is revealed to be pregnant. Peter retires, saying Ben is the real one, so Ben creates a new costume.

Peter and MJ begin planning for their baby with the support of Aunt May, while Peter focuses on acquiring a research grant. Ben battles Doctor Octopus, who escapes after knocking down debris. After Ben tracks him down, the villain notes that the newly costumed Spider-Man seems to be an impostor. Kaine arrives and attempts to kill Octopus by asphyxiating him with some webbing and then escaping. Ben shreds the webbing off, saving his life.

Informed that Mary Jane is about to give birth, Ben and Peter swing to the hospital in their respective Spider-Man costumes. They come into conflict with Kaine, who escapes and is chased by Ben as Peter goes to the hospital. At the hospital, the baby is born and named May Parker. The nurse takes the baby to ready her for the parents, but actually hands the baby to Kaine at the docks. Kaine tells the mastermind he has the baby, who remarks that it will be raised overseas.

The mastermind, now in control of a Parker blood sample, resurrects Norman. The mastermind, Harry Osborn, gives a Green Goblin mask to Norman and tells him there is work to be done. Moments later, Harry attacks Ben and captures him as bait for Peter. Harry asserts that Ben is just a clone. Kaine speaks with the revived Norman, who is a clone, and discusses baby May's fate.

Kaine tells Norman he feels that May is his family in addition to Ben, Peter, Mary Jane, and the elder May, and she should not be held accountable for the sins of her father. Harry deploys a Goblin signal outside the building (OsCorp), which attracts Peter, who is still searching for his daughter. Peter finds Ben and both are threatened by Harry. Norman blasts Harry and tells him that he cannot continue the cycle of violence. Peter frees Ben, and both help Norman. Peter's shoulder is dislocated, and Ben demands to know where baby May is, as Aunt May and Mary Jane wonder where Peter is. Kaine enters through a window with baby May and gives her to her family.

Back at OsCorp, Harry is restrained by Ben, so he activates his glider to impale Peter from behind. Ben prepares to leap in the path of the flying glider, but Norman jumps in the way, killing himself with it once more. Norman disintegrates due to cellular degeneration. Harry vows to get even. He is put in a sanitarium. Ben leaves the city, but says he will return from time to time. Peter tells Ben that both villains were liars, and it does not matter who is the clone, but they each have a life.

In 2009, the super-wealthy achieve immortality by hiring "bonejackers", mercenaries equipped with time travel devices, to snatch people from the past, just prior to the moment of their deaths, for use as substitute bodies. Those who escape are known as "freejacks" and are considered less than human under the law. In this dystopian future, most people suffer from poor physical health as a result of rampant drug use and environmental pollution, making them unattractive as replacement bodies.

Alex Furlong is a Formula One racer who is about to die in a spectacular 1991 crash when a time machine snatches him from the cockpit and into 21st century New York City, now a futuristic dystopia populated by scavengers and killers. When Furlong's captors are ambushed by a hit squad, Furlong escapes from Victor Vacendak, a hardened mercenary who has snatched him on behalf of the powerful McCandless Corporation. Alex's former fiancée Julie Redlund is now an executive at McCandless, handling high-stakes mineral negotiations with a rival Japanese firm.

Alex spends much time escaping the clutches of Victor, a ruthless pursuer who nevertheless lives by a code of honor, and rekindling his relationship with Julie. Ian McCandless, Julie's boss, is revealed to have died and seeks to install his backed-up personality into Furlong's body. Besides evading Vacendak's army of mercenaries and McCandless police personnel, Alex and Julie also have to deal with fleeing from the private guards of McCandless's corporate X.O., Mark Michelette, who is gunning for McCandless's position. Alex finds he cannot trust his old friends from 1991, who are now eager to sell him out.

After an encounter wherein Furlong spares Vacendak's life, Julie rescues Furlong in one of Vacendak's vehicles. Tired of running, Furlong pretends to take Julie hostage and negotiates with Michelette to arrange a meeting, counting on Michelette's not knowing about their past relationship; however, Michelette has seen the footage of Julie's grief after Alex's 1991 accident. After she slaps Michelette in return for his mockery, the couple flees. They are thwarted when they encounter a gunfight in the lobby between two factions, now in opposition: McCandless's security guards and Vacendak's mercenaries. Julie plans to leave the building through an "escape module" on the hundredth floor, but the elevator takes them automatically to the complex at the very top of the building known as the "Spiritual Switchboard" where McCandless's mind is in storage. In a virtual reality encounter with McCandless's essence, he explains his goal: to use Alex's body to satiate his love for Julie. Apologizing, he offers to die and let Alex run the company under the guise of being McCandless.

As they consider the offer, Vacendak arrives, and McCandless reveals he was merely stalling for time. Alex fights the process as Michelette stumbles in, wounded from fighting Vacendak's soldiers. In the confusion, Julie grabs the gun of the soldier holding her and fires off a shot that disrupts the transfer process. The results are inconclusive as to whether or not it is McCandless or Furlong in Alex's body now. The scientists cannot determine the answer, but Vacendak can, as only Vacendak knows a secret code McCandless gave him.

Alex reads the code, slowly, and Vacendak asks him to continue. Alex finishes the code quickly. Michelette tries to kill Alex but is gunned down by Vacendak's men. Alex remarks about how he feels in his "new" body, before telling Julie that she will be dressed more appropriately so that the two of them can take a drive. Hours later, after the coup is over, Julie and Alex get into one of McCandless's favorite vehicles; Alex tells the driver that he will do the driving today. Vacendak stops them as the car leaves the estate. It turns out that the transfer was not complete after all; Furlong got McCandless's secret number wrong, but Vacendak went along with it. He simply waited until Furlong made a mistake: McCandless did not know how to drive. Vacendak admonishes Julie that "you'll have to coach him better than that", then leaves while Furlong and Julie speed away.

Asimov extrapolates the twin trends towards centralization of academic research and scientific specialization, to portray a world in which state control of scientific research is overseen by a vast bureaucracy, and scholars are effectively forbidden from working outside their narrow field of specialization. Working innocently under these constraints is Arnold Potterley, a professor of ancient history. Potterley, an expert on ancient Carthage, wishes to gain access to the chronoscope, a device which allows direct observation of past events, to establish whether the Carthaginians really sacrificed children by fire.

Pioneered by a neutrino physicist named Sterbinski many years before, the chronoscope is now exclusively controlled by the government. When the government bureaucracy, in the person of bureaucrat Thaddeus Araman, denies Potterley's request for chronoscope access, Potterley sets in motion a clandestine research project to build a chronoscope of his own. Two people assist his quest: a young physics researcher named Jonas Foster and the physicist's uncle, a professional (i.e., licensed by the government) science writer, Ralph Nimmo.

As a result of this work, the team makes a series of discoveries. First, they learn that the government has been suppressing research into chronoscopy; nevertheless, Foster invents a way to construct a chronoscope that is much more compact and energy-efficient than that of its pioneer inventor. Though this discovery delights Potterley, Foster soon proves that no chronoscope can see more than about 120 years into the past. In any attempt to observe an earlier time, the inevitable noise totally drowns out the signal. The government's reports of chronoscope observations of earlier years are thus clear fabrications.

Personality conflicts and clashes of motivation cause the team members to fall out with each other. Potterley and his wife both remain disturbed by the death of their baby daughter in a house fire many years earlier, and there is the suggestion that he is subconsciously trying to exonerate the Carthaginians of child sacrifice as a way of exonerating himself of the possibility that ''he'' accidentally started the fire which killed his daughter. When he sees his wife's reaction to the chronoscope, and realizes that she would use it to obsessively watch their daughter's short life, he alerts the authorities and accepts the blame. His associate, Foster, now in the grip of intellectual pride and zeal for the cause of free inquiry, attempts to publish his breakthrough but is suddenly and unexpectedly apprehended by Thaddeus Araman, the bureaucrat who rejected Potterley's original research request.

As Araman attempts to secure a promise from Foster not to persist in publication, Foster's uncle, Nimmo, is brought in. Nimmo proves just as rebellious and intractable as the other two, and Araman, frustrated by their unwillingness to cooperate, has no alternative but to declare the government's hand. He reveals that Foster has been apprehended through the government's own use of the chronoscope in snooping on the plotters.

Araman reveals that the government chronoscopy agency, far from suppressing scientific research out of blind authoritarianism, was trying to protect the people in the only way they knew how. As Foster and Potterley have learned, the chronoscope is inherently limited to recent times—but what if, instead of focusing it upon the past of a generation earlier, it were tuned to the past of one-hundredth of a second ago? The dead past, Araman says, is only a synonym for "the living present". If the plans for a chronoscope, particularly Foster's new and improved version, ever reached the general public, the resulting plague of voyeurism would effectively eliminate the concept of privacy. Even the government workers now assigned to the chronoscope, Araman says, sometimes transgress regulations and use it to spy for personal purposes.

Nimmo then reveals that in an attempt to take the pressure off Foster, he has already sent the details of Foster's chronoscope to several of his regular publicity outlets. The details of how to build a chronoscope relatively easily and cheaply are now available to everyone.

Araman is resigned to the exposure of the chronoscope, and leaves the three academics with the insightful line: "Happy goldfish bowl to you, to me, to everyone, and may each of you fry in hell forever. Arrest rescinded."

Protagonists Mario Esteban Rioz and Ted Long are Scavengers: Mars-born humans who scour space for the spent lower stages of spacecraft, which are then recycled on the Martian moon Phobos. At the beginning of the story, Rioz scolds Long for wasting power listening to Grounder (Earth-born) politician John Hilder's argument that Earth's settlements on Mars, Venus, and the Moon are useless drains on Earth's economy, and that spaceships are wasting irreplaceable water by using it as reaction mass.

A year later, Hilder has used his campaign against "Wasters" to gain power in Earth's Assembly, and has just reduced shipments of water to Mars, putting the Scavengers out of work. When Hamish Sankov, the head of the Martian colony, learns of Hilder's plan to terminate ''all'' water shipments to Mars, he authorizes Long's plan to travel to Saturn and tow a fragment of ice from the rings to Mars.

A fleet of 25 Scavenger ships makes the trip. Reaching the rings, the Scavengers choose a fragment approximately one cubic mile in volume, carve it into a rough cylinder, embed their spaceships in it, and fly it back to Mars, using the fragment's ice as reaction mass, in five weeks.

On Mars, Hilder's allies are pressing Sankov to terminate all water exports to the Martian colony. When he hears from the returning Scavengers, Sankov signs. Two days later, the Scavengers land their ice-spacecraft in full view of the press, and Sankov announces that the fragment they brought holds 200 times the amount of water that Earth had been sending to Mars annually, and that if Earth cannot afford to lose any more water, the Martians will sell some of theirs. Long takes this situation as confirmation that Martians, instead of Terrestrials, shall colonize the remaining Solar System.

Bobby James and his friends ("Phones", "Hoppy", "Gordo", and several others) skate to work on the Venice, California boardwalk. Meanwhile, in Beverly Hills, Terry Barkley, a genius flautist is also heading towards the beach in her Excalibur Phaeton automobile. She also is joined by her snobbish girlfriend Lana.

Bobby is skating on the boardwalk with a female friend when he encounters Terry. But she remains aloof and spurns his advance. They later meet at a local roller rink called Jammer's. During a near catastrophic skating incident where Bobby saves the day, she gives in. Terry wants to pay him to teach her how to skate for the Roller Disco contest. Even though they share a flirty, romantic couples skate, later on she rebuffs him yet again.

The next day has both Terry and Bobby getting flack from their respected friends and family. She has had enough and goes to the beach. She finds Bobby there, practicing a jump and turns on the charm. He shares with her his dream to become an Olympic Roller Skater. They end up making out on the beach. Bobby asks her if she's going to pay him for sex as well, which garners a mighty slap in return and she takes off.

Terry goes home and has a row with her mother. She wants to give up her dreams of playing Classical Flute at Juilliard School and win a roller disco contest at the beach. Her mother is shocked, enough so she needs a Valium. Terry decided to run away. The next morning, she calls and invites Bobby to breakfast where she apologizes. He wants to skate with her, but on his terms: no money; he calls the shots. Through a series of outdoor scenes, we see them work together to form a routine.

Unfortunately, Jammer's is about to be sold to a ruthless mob developer. Bobby and Terry are clued into this plot and try to get her father, a lawyer, to help. But he refuses. While Terry is performing at a lush outdoor party, some of the young men sneak up, causing chaos. As a result, a group of distinguished guests falls into the swimming pool. This ruins the concert, as well as the party and its ceremonial cake. Terry gets reprimanded and slapped by her father for her running away, as well as for hanging out with her radical friends. The skaters find evidence, in the form of a cassette tape recording of the invalid ordeal, to kill the deal. Through a wild chase on the streets near the canal zone of Venice, they race to get it to the cops on time. They do, the mobsters are hauled off and the Boogie Contest is on. Terry and Bobby skate their routine and win.

Later on, back at the beach Terry and Bobby share a sad goodbye. Both promise to write each other as she heads off to New York City and he heads off to the Olympics.

"Marooned off Vesta" tells the story of three men who survive the wreck of the spaceship ''Silver Queen'' in the asteroid belt and find themselves trapped in orbit around the asteroid of Vesta. They have at their disposal three airtight rooms, one spacesuit, three days' worth of air, a week's supply of food, and a year's supply of water. They are initially despondent about their impending suffocation until one of the men is inspired to melt a hole in the water tank. This begins to propel them towards Vesta, where a small community of humans lives.

The story accurately portrays the physics and experiences involved with being in space, a theme that often re-emerges in Asimov's later works.

During Earth's first interstellar war, a civilian transport traveling to Earth is captured by the '''Kloros''', a chlorine-breathing race of intelligent beings. The ship is commandeered by two Kloros along with six human civilians as prisoners of war. The humans fall into argument and dispute, some coming to blows, with contradictory feelings on what should be done. Opinions range from a violent counteroffensive to a passive acceptance of their situation. Stuart, who has previously spent time as a guest of the Kloros, where he was provided with prosthetic hands when his own were damaged in an accident, posits that the Kloros are masters of chemistry (thus easily able to maintain an atmosphere and provide food for the captives) but less proficient at engineering, hence prefer to steal human ships to use in the war.

Only Mullen, a shy, mild-mannered, short bookkeeper, is willing to make an attempt to take back control of the ship, which he does by exiting via the C-Chute (short for "casualty chute", normally used for launching corpses for burial in space) and entering the control room via the navigational steam-tubes. He successfully kills the two Kloros by spraying them with oxygen.

As an unlikely hero, Mullen admits that he was not motivated by bravery, anger, or fear, but by homesickness for Earth (specifically his hometown, Richmond, Virginia), where he has not returned for 17 years, and that he could not face the prospect of waiting out the war in captivity when on the cusp of returning home.

The Race is a technologically advanced alien society with telepathic abilities that lives underground on a planet with rapidly depleting energy resources. The aliens decide to teleport themselves to a new planet, which happens to be Earth. A sentry sent by The Race to establish a teleport on Earth suffers shock when exposed to unfamiliar aspects of human life, including maternal bonding, weather changes, and the inability to communicate telepathically.

Three astronomers, who have been working on the Moon, Mercury and the asteroid Ceres, meet for the first time in ten years at a convention on Earth. They also meet a former colleague of theirs, Romero Villiers, who had to stay on Earth because of illness. Villiers claims to have invented a mass-transference/teleportation device, but dies under suspicious circumstances before he can demonstrate the device to his friends.

Another scientist who has seen the device demonstrated suspects that Villiers has been murdered by one of his classmates, and he questions them. In the course of his investigation, a photographic record of a research paper by Villiers describing his theory is discovered on a windowsill of the room, but is found to have been ruined through exposure to sunlight.

When none of the suspects admits any guilt, Wendell Urth, an eccentric scientist who has had success in investigating crimes, is brought in. He identifies the guilty astronomer as the one who has been on Mercury. The key lies in the idea (at the time of writing believed to be true) that Mercury has one face always pointing away from the Sun. The guilty party had hidden the film in what he thought was a safe place because he subconsciously expected the night to last forever.

Since the story was written, it has been discovered that Mercury is not tidally locked (a fact Asimov noted when the story appeared in subsequent anthologies printed after this advance in scientific knowledge). A Mercurian sidereal day is 58.6 Earth days long, while its solar day is as much as 176 days, due to a 3:2 spin resonance compared to its year at 88 days.

Warren Moore and Mark Brandon are two of the three survivors of the wreck of the ''Silver Queen'' in the asteroid belt. Every year, they meet on the anniversary of the disaster to celebrate their survival. On the 20th anniversary, Brandon has a surprise: he appears at Moore's house with Michael Shea, the third survivor.

As the three men reminisce, Brandon admits that he is unhappy with the way their fame has faded over the years. Even though the three are still the only people ever to survive a spaceship wreck, the public has forgotten them. The only thing the general public remember about the wreck of the ''Silver Queen'' is that Dr. Horace Quentin, a great scientist, was killed.

When Shea mentions that Trans-space Insurance is still searching for wreckage from the ship, 20 years later, it occurs to Brandon that there must have been something extremely valuable on board, and that Trans-space still hasn't found it. The three men learn via Moore's Multivac terminal that Quentin had a prototype of a revolutionary new invention with him on the ship, and that it is still missing. The only clue is the description of the device as "an opticon", an apparent reference to a light-manipulating device.

Moore realizes that he has had the device all along, having idly picked it up as a souvenir during his spacewalk, and that its actual name is "anopticon", meaning a device without lenses. An apparently useless tube a few inches long, it seems to employ force-fields instead of conventional optics and can be used as a powerful microscope or telescope. The potential applications of the technology could be even broader. With Quentin's device in their possession, the three men will once again become famous.

In the first story, the irony was that the men were in orbit around Vesta with no source of motive power and limited food and air but a year's supply of water. They find a way to use the water as a makeshift rocket in order to reach Vesta, and on the way down they make a toast: "Here's to the year's supply of water we used to have." At the end of this story, they change the toast to "Here's to the ''Silver Queen'' souvenirs we used to have."

An example of what Asimov called his "late style," the story is a journalist's recollection of the events surrounding the discovery of an anti-gravity device in the mid-21st century. Heavy with physics theory, the story describes the relationship between the creator of the device, the billionaire inventor Edward Bloom, and his former classmate James Priss, a Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist who had developed most of the theory that made the device possible. The men are expert billiards players and bitter rivals. Challenged to execute a shot on a table which is equipped with the device, Priss sends a ball on a complicated trajectory, which finishes when it enters the device's field. At that point the ball vanishes and Bloom collapses, dead. There is a mysterious hole drilled completely through his chest.

Central to the story is the concept of a pure anti-gravity machine that turns out to be a perpetual motion machine of the first order. Energy can be freely created in a volume of space time which is pulled "flat," as defined within the Theory of Relativity as determined by Albert Einstein. However, this field possesses remarkable properties, which are the centerpiece of the story: any object which enters the field is reduced to zero mass, and hence must assume the speed of light. There is also the unprovable speculation as to whether Priss knew, from his own theory and the nature of the blue glow produced by the field (possibly due to Cherenkov radiation), what would happen, and if he then directed the ball in such a way as to kill Bloom.

Asimov himself had some reservations about the name of the story, and noted that his friend Frederik Pohl's suggested title of "Dirty Pool" was far better than his own. The story retains its title despite the feeling of its author, as he preferred to remain consistent.

Baley is unexpectedly contacted by Daneel regarding a dispute between two reputable Spacers on board a ship, who have just submitted essentially identical papers about a revolutionary mathematical technique. Each claims they originated the idea, and approached the other for confirmation only to have them steal the concept and pass it off as their own. Neither will admit guilt and it would reflect badly on the ship's captain not to resolve the authorship prior to arrival at the planet where the papers are to be presented. Daneel suggests Baley, an unbiased outsider, to the desperate captain.

Both Spacers have personal robots, who happen to be the same model from the same production batch, and were privy to the discussion between the mathematicians in exactly the same way. The robots' accounts of the dispute are, like their masters' stories, mirror images of each other, apart from the fact that one robot must be telling the truth and one is lying to protect its master's reputation. Being Spacers, neither scientist will speak to an Earthman, but they do allow Baley to unofficially interview their personal robots via telepresence. Both robots respond identically to Baley's questioning, stating they would lie to protect a human's reputation, until he capitalizes on the single difference between the parties: one is elderly and towards the end of his distinguished career, while the other, though brilliant has yet to establish himself fully.

He puts to the younger mathematician's robot that his master could still rebuild his reputation, but the elder's would be completely overshadowed by an indiscretion in his old age. In contrast, he puts to the older mathematician's robot that his master's reputation would remain and speak for itself, but the younger's would be completely ruined by an indiscretion of his youth. The younger's robot switches his story to protect the elder man, while the elder's robot tries to maintain the elder is innocent, but ends up malfunctioning.

Baley has tried to convince both robots to change their stories. He thus surmises that the elder is the plagiarist, because if the younger's robot received no instruction to lie, it could easily switch sides; while if the elder's robot had been instructed to lie, but became convinced that it should now tell the truth, it could not easily countermand the order of its own volition when only a reputation and not a human life was at risk, and this has led to conflict and shutdown.

R. Daneel reports that Baley is correct as the captain has extracted a confession, but points out that Baley not being a robopsychologist, his argument could be applied in reverse – a robot might easily override an instruction to lie if compelled to tell the truth, while a truth-telling robot might malfunction if convinced it should lie. Baley agrees that it could have gone either way, but the result matches his original suspicion that a younger man coming up with a new idea would easily consult someone he had revered and studied, whereas an older man would be unlikely to consult an "upstart" when he was about to arrive at a conference of his peers, and he only used the robot's response and his interpretation of it to force a confession from the elder mathematician.

The film focuses on the conflict between Maximilian I (Brian Aherne), an Austrian archduke who is installed as the ruler of Mexico by the French Napoleon III (Claude Rains), and Benito Juárez (Paul Muni), the country's U.S.-backed president.

In 1863, Napoleon III of France, fearful he will lose Mexico to Juárez, circumvents the Monroe Doctrine by instituting sovereign rule and controlling an election that places Maximilian von Habsburg on the Mexican throne.

Upon his arrival in the country with his wife Carlota (Bette Davis), Maxmilian realizes he is expected to establish French supremacy by confiscating land that Juárez had returned to the native people and penalizing the rebels under his command. Maximilian decides to abdicate his throne but is deterred from doing so by Carlota.

Maximillian offers Juárez the position of prime minister, but Juárez's refusal to compromise democratic self-rule for the Mexican people creates an unbridgeable rift between the two. When the American Civil War comes to an end, the United States warns Napoleon that it intends to enforce the Monroe Doctrine by military force if necessary, sending arms in support of Juárez's army. Their efforts are thwarted by Vice President Alejandro Uradi (Joseph Calleia), who seizes the American ammunition and therefore virtually guarantees victory for Maximilian. However, Napoleon orders all French troops to evacuate Mexico, leaving Maximilian without an army.

Angered by this move, Carlota returns to Paris to appeal to Napoleon, but she suffers a mental breakdown. Juárez and his rebels capture Maxmillian and his men. Although arrangements to set him free are made, he insists on remaining with his supporters. Tried and found guilty, they are sentenced to death by firing squad.

In 3008, the crew of the Intergalactic Space Police cruiser ''Infinity'' is on patrol duty in deep space. The ship is captained by the incompetent Cornelius Butt (Avery Schreiber) and his crewmen: his first officer, Sgt. Thor (Stephen Macht); pilot "space-cowboy" Pvt. Robert "Buzz" McHenry (J.D. Hinton); Maurice (Lionel Mark Smith), a black humanoid alien with pointy ears and bat wings; and Sam (Tad Horino), an Asian man who quotes Confucius. Also aboard is Galaxina (Dorothy Stratten), a voluptuous blonde android servant, and Rock-Eater, a rock-eating alien prisoner confined to the brig.

While the ''Infinity'' hides behind an asteroid, a suspicious-looking, bird-like ship flies by, and Buzz decides to pursue it. They try to question the ship's pilot, a mysterious masked figure who rudely terminates communications. The two ships exchange laser fire, but the bird-ship gets away. After the encounter, Galaxina serves a dinner of chicken-flavored food pills to Captain Butt, Thor, and Buzz. The three men are stunned by her beauty, and Thor receives an electric shock when he slaps her buttocks. Tired of the pill-food, Captain Butt decides to eat an alien egg confiscated from the rock eater prisoner. The egg sickens him, and, on top of the dinner table mimicking the scene from the movie ''Alien'', he coughs up a baby alien creature that quickly scurries away.

Later, the crew receive orders to proceed to the prison planet Altair One to recover a priceless stolen gemstone called the Blue Star; every time the stone is mentioned, an invisible heavenly chorus is heard by the characters. The trip will take the ''Infinity'' 27 years to complete, requiring that the crew enter cryogenic sleep. Before doing so, they make a quick stop at an asteroid brothel.

Galaxina remains in charge of the ship while the crew is in stasis. While alone, she reprograms herself to become more human. She learns to talk and disables her electrical defense mechanism. She visits Thor's sleep chamber periodically, embracing it and telling the sleeping Thor that she loves him. Later, the baby alien visits Butt's chamber and tampers with the controls. When the crew awakens at their destination, Butt emerges from his pod an old man with shaggy gray hair.

Thor is seduced by Galaxina and he falls in love with her. Although she lacks the proper hardware to have sex, she assures Thor that these components can be ordered from the android catalog. Thor can only fantasize about Galaxina until they return home and get her modifications.

The ship reaches Altair One and lands. Knowing that the local aliens are hostile to humans, Galaxina volunteers to go look for the Blue Star while the others stay on the ship. She walks into town and enters a "human restaurant," and discovers that this means the restaurant serves humans as food to alien creatures. There, she finds Ordric, the masked figure the crew encountered earlier. Ordric possesses the Blue Star and Galaxina attacks him. Galaxina discovers Ordric is a robot when she smashes his head open. Ordric is deactivated and Galaxina takes the Star.

As she flees the town, she is captured by a gang of bikers, descendants of the first settlers of Altair One. Their leader announces that he will sacrifice Galaxina to their deity, "Harley-David-Son", and with the power of the Blue Star he will take control of the universe.

Thor and Buzz, who have been looking for Galaxina, rescue her from the bikers and return to the ship. Ordric attacks and boards the ''Infinity'' as soon as they reach space. He takes back the Blue Star and confines everyone in the brig. The baby alien, now fully grown, sneaks onto the bridge and attacks Ordric. The creature, believing Butt to be its mother, goes to the brig and gives Butt the keys to the cell door.

The crew escapes the brig and rushes the bridge, finding that Ordric has been torn to pieces. While contemplating the reward they will receive for returning the Blue Star, they notice that Rock-Eater has eaten it.

Marlon Conrad, a "spoiled rich kid", enters the political arena in a career carefully managed by his wealthy father. He becomes the lieutenant governor of Florida, a plush job he can exploit mercilessly. When the elected governor dies in a plane crash, Marlon automatically assumes the office. At the outset of his tenure, Marlon is apathetic and corrupt, riding in the pockets of special interest groups. However, he is suddenly recruited into active duty during the Kosovo War and a bureaucratic tangle prevents him from ducking his responsibility as expected. His experiences in the military change his outlook, his fundamental character, and even his political views. He returns to Florida, determined to make a difference in the state. But first, Marlon faces a reelection battle against dim-witted Democratic candidate Gomer Tatum, the state House Speaker.

Alternating between manic attentiveness to his official duties and depressed apathy, Marlon eventually becomes disgusted with the inertia of politics in Tallahassee and purchases a second-hand motorhome. Marlon's Chief of Staff, Gottfried Escrow, converts Marlon's road trip into an impromptu campaign tour. Hijinks ensue as Tatum, egged on by his hyper-ambitious fiancee, Jackie, follows Marlon's trail around Florida, doing their best to outshine or sabotage Marlon's popularity.

Along the way, Escrow is alarmed to discover that Marlon's Press Secretary, Jack Pimento, is actually notorious criminal '''Serge A. Storms''', suffering from amnesia; Escrow tries various schemes to have Serge arrested or removed from the campaign without risking public exposure. At the same time, Detective Mahoney, an agent of the FDLE, becomes obsessed with capturing Serge.

Marlon's newfound candor and lack of fealty to Florida's "fat cats" leads to several attempts to assassinate him, several of which are stopped by Jack/Serge. His change of heart also wins over Elizabeth Sinclair, a former aide at the public relations firm owned by Marlon's father's best friend. She and Marlon fall in love, and a potentially messy break-up with Marlon's fiancee, Babs Belvedere, is averted when she ends up falling for Jack/Serge instead.

On election night, Serge regains his memory and tackles Marlon's last would-be assassin, a young Latin American woman who escaped to the U.S. and found the men who had gang-raped and tortured her living well in South Florida under false identities supplied by the CIA (one of several callous acts that Marlon rubber stamped before his reformation). Serge convinces her to direct her wrath at Frank Lloyd Sirocco, a convicted murderer scheduled for execution who faked evidence of his innocence, won a last-minute exoneration from Marlon, then called to rub his guilt in the governor's face.

Marlon loses the election to Tatum by a slim margin, and concedes defeat, departing Tallahassee with Elizabeth. Escrow's efforts on Marlon's behalf end with Escrow being arrested with illicit heroin and bags full of stolen ballots. In the epilogue, Marlon and Elizabeth marry, and continue to tour the country in the motorhome, holding jobs as guest political commentators on CNN; a few months later, a documentary on the campaign wins Best Documentary at the Academy Awards; watching the ceremony on television, Detective Mahoney sees Serge mount the stage to accept the award, and takes off after him once more.

Category:Absurdist fiction Category:2001 American novels Category:Novels by Tim Dorsey Category:Novels set in Florida

The short opens with introductions of Miss Cud (a cow who is the school teacher), Beans (who is caught defiantly eating from a jar of jam), Porky, Oliver Owl (who are both shown at once), and Ham and Ex (twin puppies). Little Kitty is absent from this sequence. A poster is shown explaining that the school children are sponsoring a musical and recital for the benefit of teachers and parents.

The school talent show first features Porky Pig reciting the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem ''Paul Revere's Ride,'' but with his excessive stutter (causing him to recite his part with incredible strain and sweat on some moments). A small gag involves Porky pointing to offstage students to provide sound effects for his next poem ''The Charge of the Light Brigade'' (the underside of a turtle's shell for a drum, and falling light bulbs for gunfire). However, he points to the wrong student, but the intended student takes his cue, and Porky points to the correct one. The class children whistle and cat-call which makes several stray dogs burst into the schoolhouse and chase poor Porky out.

Little Kitty attempts to recite "Mary Had a Little Lamb". She is so nervous that she forgets a couple of lines (even confusing snow for corn flakes) and then proceeds with the rhyme but gradually speeds up her voice to a high pitch. Throughout her performance, she is fidgeting and crossing her legs in a way to suggest that she urgently needs the toilet. She reaches the end of the rhyme as she makes a hasty exit, to a building that may be the school outhouse.

Ham and Ex sing the song "I Haven't Got a Hat", written by Buddy Bernier and Bob Emmerich. During this performance, Oliver Owl haughtily refuses to share a bag of candy with Beans, who is angered by Oliver's snobbery.

When Oliver goes up for his piano recital, Beans decides it is time for payback and sneaks a stray cat and dog into the piano. Their commotion creates a virtuoso performance of Franz von Suppé's ''Poet and Peasant'' overture to riotous applause. When the animals jump out of the piano (with the cat chasing the dog rather than vice versa) the ruse is revealed to the audience's disapproval and Oliver, humbled and vengeful, covers Beans in green ink from his pen, causing Beans to fall off his ladder and launch a pail of red paint onto Oliver. Caught in the same predicament, they shake hands as the cartoon ends. This end scene emphasizes the fact that this was a two-strip Technicolor cartoon, with only red and green hues. At the time (as stated before), the three-strip process (with blue hues added) was exclusive to Disney for use in cartoons. This contract ran out in the fall of 1935, and WB released their first three-strip Technicolor cartoon, ''Flowers for Madame'', in November of that year.

Victor Frank, and his wife Marsha, are unable to have a second child due to Marsha's infertility. They turn to surrogacy as an alternate method of conception. Victor, an obstetrician-gynaecologist and owner of the biochemical company Chimera Inc., injects the egg implanted in his wife with an agent called Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) into chromosome six, which causes the baby to grow more neurons than usual, as a result making them super intelligent. Their son, VJ (Victor Junior), is born a genius. He is able to talk in six months and read in thirteen. Victor wonders if his experiment was a mistake.

Several years later, VJ's brother, David, and nanny, Janice, both die of an unexplainable rare form of liver cancer. At about three, VJ experiences a drop in intelligence, leading Victor to think his experiment is a failure. VJ is not a genius anymore. VJ lives a secluded life from that point, leading his psychiatrist mother to worry, to the annoyance of Victor who believes VJ is fine. When VJ turns eleven, a disastrous chain of events begins. Victor had injected two other eggs with NGF, which were given to two families who work at Chimera through the fertility clinic there. They both inexplicably die at age three because of brain edema. Victor later finds out they had been given the antibiotic Cephaloclor, which causes the nerve cell growth process to begin again. This causes their brains to grow too large for their skulls, killing them. Their parents, however, were told their children had deadly allergies to this antibiotic.

Victor launches an investigation into the children's deaths, and finds no explanation for how they got the antibiotic. He also insists on VJ getting a full neurological work-up, making Marsha suspicious. Victor eventually reveals his experiment to Marsha, horrifying her. She then gives VJ a full psychological work-up as well. Nothing seems out of the ordinary in the results, but Marsha realizes the results don't seem to reflect VJ's real personality. This leads her to believe that he analyzed the tests and beat them. Victor, meanwhile, is having the DNA of the tumors that killed his older son and nanny analyzed. When the DNA in the tumors is sequenced, there is an identical strand of alien DNA in both of them.

Victor then goes looking for VJ, who spends a lot of time at the lab, and sees him head under an old clock tower on the Chimera campus. Victor follows him, and is knocked out by a guard. When he wakes up he is in a laboratory built by VJ, where he has solved many of the biochemical problems Victor had been trying to solve. Victor is amazed by his son's genius, and rushes to show Marsha. Marsha reacts differently and is worried about VJ, especially about the part of the lab he didn't show them. Victor and Marsha come back the next day and insist on VJ showing them the rest of the lab. In one room, VJ is growing fetuses, the five eggs from Marsha that had not been implanted, in artificial wombs. VJ tells them that there is no fifth fetus because of a failed implantation attempt in the artificial womb, and also reveals that he has altered the babies to make them mentally retarded, so they won't be more intelligent than him. After this, he reveals that he killed the other two children who had been injected with NGF for the same reason, so he would be the only super genius. Not only did he kill the two children, he also used a method he had created for injecting cancer into someone to kill David, Janice, and a teacher who was prying into his life.

VJ then leads his horrified parents into another room, where he has tanks full of E. coli genetically altered to produce cocaine, which he sold to Colombian drug dealers to finance his lab. VJ then insists that his parents announce their intent to him. Marsha convinces VJ to leave her and Victor to talk alone, and they decide that they must kill their son. NGF may have made VJ a genius, but at the cost of his conscience. Victor lies to VJ, and VJ agrees to release him on two conditions. One, that Marsha stay in the lab as a hostage, and two, that Victor must have a guard with him at all times. Victor takes the guard back to his house and drugs him. He then rushes to his lab, where he synthesizes nitroglycerin. He makes a bomb with the nitroglycerin, and plants it in a tunnel by VJ's lab. He convinces VJ to release Marsha so she can do her work, and stalls VJ until the bomb goes off, causing the gates redirecting a river under the clock tower to break. VJ rushes for the exit, but Victor stops him discovering that, ironically, despite the fact VJ's mind is beyond his years, he still has the strength of a ten-year-old. Victor holds him down until the lab floods, killing them both.

One year later, a mother brings in her teenage daughter and her daughter's child to her office. Marsha surmises from the fact that the 18-month child is reading a medical journal, something VJ did, and his ice blue eyes, a trait VJ had, that this child is the "failed" zygote. She decides she will have to go through another VJ-like experience, "with Joe's help and end forever the nightmare her husband had begun".

Category:1989 American novels Category:Novels by Robin Cook Category:Novels about genetic engineering

In the Mojave Desert in 1982, a man named William Nix, also calling himself "The Puritan", has gathered a cult of disciples in an old house. Nix wields real magic and plans to sacrifice a girl, telling his followers he will save the world and grant them wisdom. A group of former cult members, including Philip Swann and Caspar Quaid, arrive to stop him. In the confrontation, Nix's assistant, Butterfield, escapes. Swann is attacked magically by Nix but the kidnapped girl shoots Nix through the heart with Swann's gun. Swann fastens an ironwork mask over Nix's head in order to "bind" him and his power. Nix dies.

Thirteen years later, in New York City, occult-specializing private detective Harry D'Amour has been shaken by an exorcism case. He accepts a case of insurance fraud in Los Angeles, hoping the experience will be akin to a paid vacation. During his investigation, D'Amour happens upon Quaid, now working as a fortune teller, being attacked by Butterfield and Ray Miller, a man possessing great strength. Butterfield and Miller escape. As he dies from multiple stab wounds, Quaid reads D'Amour's palm, seeing it is his destiny to "walk the line between Heaven and Hell". He warns that the Puritan is coming, then dies.

Swann, now a famous stage illusionist, lives in a Beverly Hills mansion with his wife, Dorothea. Philip Swann believes Quaid was killed by Nix's loyalists. Before he can leave Los Angeles, D'Amour is hired by Dorothea, who read about him in the newspaper story about Quaid. Dorothea fears for her husband. D'Amour agrees to investigate if Quaid's killers are targeting Phillip, and Dorothea invites him to his next magic show. A new illusion goes wrong and Swann is killed on stage, stabbed by multiple swords. Investigating backstage, D'Amour is attacked by Butterfield and Miller. Defending himself, he inadvertently kills Miller, but Butterfield escapes. The next day, D'Amour goes to the Magic Castle. After getting into the Repository, a room supposedly containing every magic secret known to man, D'Amour discovers Swann's "illusions" involved real magic he learned from Nix.

Dorothea reveals to D'Amour that she was the girl Nix kidnapped years ago, rescued by Swann, and marrying him out of gratitude and obligation. Dorothea and D'Amour make love; afterwards, D'Amour is attacked by supernatural forces. Suspecting a ruse, D'Amour opens Swann's coffin and finds the body is fake. Valentin, Swann's assistant, explains that Swann faked his death to protect himself and Dorothea from Nix, who may return from the dead. D'Amour agrees to allow the ruse to continue. At Swann's funeral, D'Amour follows a suspicious looking man who turns out to be Swann himself. Angered and jealous, Swann attacks D'Amour, then admits he masqueraded as an illusionist so he would be wealthy rather than hunted as a sorcerer. The detective convinces him that together they can defeat the loyal cultists and Nix, if he is resurrected.

Butterfield tortures Valentin for the location of Nix's body, then takes Dorothea hostage. After finding Nix's corpse, Butterfield stabs Valentin and takes the corpse back to the cult's old house in the desert. Nix's loyalists are present to witness his resurrection. Nix, now decayed and monstrous in appearance, promises to share his knowledge and power. Acting on information given by the dying Valentin, Swann and D'Amour arrive. Nix opens a deep chasm in the ground that swallows the cultists, declaring only Swann is worthy of his knowledge.

Nix drops Dorothea into the chasm. D'Amour rescues her. Nix asks Swann to join him again and embraces him. D'Amour and Dorothea are attacked by Butterfield, whom D'Amour kills. Swann agrees to remain with Nix, but admits he still cares for Dorothea. Out of jealousy, Nix attacks with magic, apparently killing Swann. Dorothea finds D'Amour's gun and shoots Nix in his mystical third eye. He retaliates, saying she should not have taken Swann away because he and Nix were meant to be together after humanity was destroyed.

Swann uses his last life energy and magic to help D'Amour deliver a final blow to Nix. Nix falls into the chasm and Swann dies from his wounds. Nix launches a final spell that disintegrates Swann's body to bones, and then seals the chasm. Dorothea and D'Amour escape the house and walk off into the desert together.

The plot of the campaign revolves around a conflict fought between Osea and Yuktobania, the two superpowers of the game universe. In late 2010, Yuktobania unexpectedly declares war against Osea and initially begins with the advantage, though this is slowly chipped away by the Wardog Squadron who are present at several crucial battles. Wardog are also responsible for sinking Yuktobania's two gigantic submersible aircraft carrier and ballistic missile launchers. Not only does this turn the tide of the war in favor of Osea, but the presence of Wardog Squadron at any battle increases the morale of the Osean forces, whilst also striking fear into the Yuktobanian counterparts.

What neither country knows however, is that the war has and is secretly being orchestrated by Belka, a nation bitterly defeated by both countries in a war 15 years prior to the game's events. The unaccounted for successes of Wardog causes Belkan aggressors posing as Osean and Yuktobanian pilots to rely on attacking civilian targets to exploit the hatred between both countries and to also discredit the Wardog Squadron. The war nonetheless continues in Osea's favor thanks to Wardog's interventions, but a staged ambush by the Belkans nearly destroys the Wardog Squadron. Furthermore, upon returning home the pilots are accused of being spies by the base commander and are forced to flee.

Rendezvousing with a friendly Osean aircraft carrier after faking their deaths, the renamed ''Razgriz'' Squadron rescues the Osean and Yuktobanian heads of state from captivity, confirming the Belkan conspiracy. It is learned that the civilians of both countries have become more and more opposed to the war, and that the "Grey Men", a Belkan paramilitary group are ultimately planning on utilising nuclear weapons on Osean and Yuktobanian cities to finally claim vengeance for their defeat in 1995 and to unite Belka once more. The Razgriz successfully hinders such attempts, culminating in the destruction of a ground based control facility for an orbital platform as well as the platform itself when it is deliberately deorbited to impact the Osean capitol. Thanks to the Razgriz Squadron, the war is brought to a close and the peace before is restored.

Henry Morrison assumes a different identity in the attempt to find the perfect family. In the beginning of the movie, he washes off blood in a bathroom after murdering the family he had been living with. He then changes his appearance and puts his belongings into a suitcase. Henry leaves through the front door of his house, nonchalantly passing the butchered remains of his family. Boarding a ferry, Henry throws the suitcase containing the objects from his former life into the ocean. One year later, Henry—now operating as a real estate agent named Jerry Blake in the suburbs of Seattle—has married the widow Susan Maine. Jerry's relationship with Susan's 16-year-old daughter, Stephanie, is strained. Her psychiatrist, Dr. Bondurant, advises her to give Jerry a chance. Stephanie, meanwhile, has a lot of behavioral issues at school and is skeptical of Jerry and his intentions.

Meanwhile, Jim Ogilvie, the brother of Jerry's murdered previous wife, runs an article about his sister's murder in the newspaper and attempts to find the man that killed his sister. While hosting a neighborhood barbecue, Jerry discovers the article and is disturbed by it. Jerry goes into the basement of the house and begins maniacally rambling to himself, unaware that Stephanie has also entered the basement. Discovering his stepdaughter, Jerry brushes off his outbursts by saying that he was simply letting off steam. He tells her not to worry. Stephanie finds the newspaper mentioning Jerry's earlier killings and comes to believe her stepfather is the murderer mentioned in the article. She writes a letter to the newspaper requesting a photo of Henry Morrison, but Jerry finds the photo in the mail and replaces it with a stranger's photo, allaying her suspicions.

Curious about Stephanie's stepfather, who has repeatedly refused to meet him, Dr. Bondurant makes an appointment with Jerry under an assumed name, saying he wants to buy a house. During their meeting, Bondurant asks too many personal questions and Jerry realizes that Bondurant is not who he says he is, and, mistakenly believing he is an undercover cop, beats him to death and puts him in Bondurant's car. He then sets the car on fire. The next day, Jerry informs Stephanie of Bondurant's death, claiming he was in a car accident, and succeeds in bonding with her. Jerry's newfound relationship with his stepdaughter is quickly cut short when he catches Stephanie kissing her boyfriend, Paul. Jerry accuses Paul of attempting to rape Stephanie, which causes an argument with Stephanie and Susan, and drives Paul away. Stephanie runs out on Jerry and Susan because Susan says Jerry is her father, though he is not. The next day, Jerry quits his job and creates a new identity for himself in another town. He begins to court another widow, while planning to get rid of Susan and Stephanie.

Having discovered where Jerry is now living, Jim begins going door to door, in search of his former brother-in-law. After Jim stops by, Susan phones the real estate agency to tell Jerry that someone was looking for him, only to be informed that Jerry quit several days ago. Susan asks Jerry, but, while explaining himself to Susan, Jerry confuses his identities and Susan realizes Stephanie was right about him. Realizing his mistake, Jerry bashes Susan on the head with the phone and knocks her down the basement stairs. Content that Susan is dead, Jerry then sets out to kill Stephanie.

Jim, who has realized Jerry is the man who killed his family, arrives wielding a revolver, but Jerry stabs him to death before Jim can shoot him. After terrorizing Stephanie, he corners her in the attic, only to fall through the weak floor down to the bathroom. Susan shoots Jerry twice when he tries to attack Stephanie, and Stephanie stabs him in the chest. He weakly utters "I love you" and tumbles down the stairs. Stephanie later cuts down a birdhouse she and Jerry had built during the time they bonded.

Gruff American gangster Dickey pushes his broken-down car along a causeway through rising seawater while his eccentric companion Albie lies inside, bleeding from a gunshot wound after a bungled robbery. Cut off by the unexpected rising tide, they are on the only road to a bleak and remote tidal island (Lindisfarne in Northumberland), where, in a dark castle on a hilltop, a deeply neurotic and effeminate middle-aged Englishman named George lives with his second wife, the young and promiscuous Teresa. Dickey breaks into the castle and telephones his underworld boss, Katelbach, to send someone to get him and Albie. He then disconnects the phone lines and proceeds to hold the couple hostage while awaiting the arrival of Katelbach the next day.

When Albie dies from his injuries, Dickey forces Teresa and George to dig his grave. They then hold a wake, with Dickey and George getting drunk together on the beach while Teresa swims nude in the ocean. The next morning, a car approaches the castle – but instead of Katelbach, it turns out to be some of George's obnoxious friends who have showed up at the castle unannounced. Dickey poses as a servant while Teresa begins to flirt with one of the guests, Cecil, and George does his best to get rid of the guests as quickly as possible. Cecil leaves quickly, forgetting his hunting rifle in the hall; however, it is unloaded and there is no ammunition for it, rendering it useless.

Teresa steals Dickey's pistol from his coat pocket and gives it to George. Dickey eventually gets word that his boss Katelbach is not going to come and prepares to take George's car to drive to the mainland by causeway. George refuses, and a fight ensues. George fatally shoots Dickey with his own gun. Before dying, Dickey manages to retrieve his tommy gun from his broken-down car, which he had hidden away in the chicken house. Too weak to fire the gun at George, Dickey collapses to the ground and the automatic discharge from the weapon causes George's car to explode in flames. Fearful of being implicated in the killing (and of possible reprisals from Katelbach's other henchmen), Teresa frantically insists that she and George abandon the castle together. But George is in a state of shock and seems unable to move. Suddenly, they hear a car approaching. Not knowing that Dickey's boss had abandoned him, they assume it is Katelbach. Desperate and afraid, Teresa runs off by herself and hides in a cupboard. The car arrives, and it turns out to be Cecil, who had returned to retrieve his rifle. Cecil offers to take them to the police, but George refuses to go. He watches as Cecil and Teresa drive off into the night, leaving George in his ruined castle with his car still on fire.

Now utterly alone, George goes on a rampage, running out of the castle and down to the beach. As day breaks, he finally sits down on a rock in the fetal position and weeps hysterically, shouting out the name of his first wife, as the early morning tide rises around him.

Simon Templar, alias The Saint, is enjoying a pleasure cruise along the French coast aboard his yacht, the ''Corsair'' when he is awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of gunfire and shouting from another vessel (the ''Falkenberg'') anchored nearby.

The source of the commotion is a group of men pursuing a young woman who is swimming frantically away from the other ship. Templar rescues the woman who, after some considerable hesitation, identifies herself as Loretta Page, a private detective who is investigating the mysterious disappearance of sunken treasure from the Atlantic. When she learns her rescuer is The Saint, she enlists his help in tracking down a group of modern-day pirates. These pirates, led by Kurt Vogel, are using newly developed bathyscape technology to reach the sea floor and scour recent shipwrecks for gold and other booty before officially sanctioned salvage operations arrive. And Vogel is not against committing cold-blooded murder to keep his operation going.

Hampered by Loretta's detective firm superior, who harbors a deep distrust of Templar, as well as Simon's growing love for Loretta, The Saint sets out to stop Vogel's operation. In the process he reunites with some of his colleagues from previous adventures Roger Conway and Peter Quentin. Orace, Templar's longtime manservant, makes his first major appearance since the very first Saint novel, ''Meet - The Tiger!''. And it is Orace who complicates Templar's mission when he accidentally kills one of Vogel's men, which leads to Vogel forcing Templar (on pain of Loretta's possible death) to take the dead man's place on a salvage operation in the Channel Islands.

Notes

• Aside from the return of Peter Quentin, Roger Conway and Orace, this book also features the first reference to Templar's other partner, Hoppy Uniatz since ''The Saint Goes On'' (although Uniatz is not involved in the plot). This is also the first Saint book to suggest a serious relationship between Templar and a woman other than his longtime girlfriend Patricia Holm, who is not mentioned once in this book (she returns in subsequent volumes, however). In the previous novel ''The Saint in New York'' Templar expresses affection for Fay Edwards while ''She Was a Lady'' has Templar partnering with a female thief named Jill Trelawney, however in both cases Templar indicates that he is not "available" due to his relationship with Holm; no such reference is made in ''Saint Overboard''.
• Some editions contain an introduction by Charteris in which he discusses the diving technology used in the book. The 1963 reprint by Fiction Publishing Company includes a modified version of this introduction in which Charteris apologizes for the outdated technology.
• This is one of the few Saint books to include a map showing the locations of the major events in the book.

Haunted by painful memories and a terrible feeling of guilt a sterile young woman named Mathilde (played by Nastassja Kinski) uses extreme cloning methods to give birth to Manon (Audrey DeWilder), and is comforted by her obstetrician husband Thomas (Christopher Lambert). Manon starts off as a very normal child but then suffers from intense nightmares, that we later uncover to be her mother's memories. The child's growth is abnormally rapid and she becomes the splitting image of her mother. Manon becomes determined to destroy her mother's life, even showing affection for Mathilde's husband Thomas. Manon eventually learns what happened to her brother who drowned in the well at the back of their property. Gradually, the relation between them evolves in an odd manner as Manon takes over her mother's role in the family.

A female friend asks the Saint for help and winds up dead. The Saint sets about investigating and discovers the involvement of the River Mob, a gangster organisation involved with a gambling barge. The Saint is helped by Carol Denby, who is being used by the gangster.

Set in London in 1938, the film focuses on highly successful and extremely popular theatre actress Julia Lambert (Annette Bening), whose gradual disillusionment with her career as she approaches middle age has prompted her to ask her husband, stage director Michael Gosselyn (Jeremy Irons), and his financial backer Dolly de Vries (Miriam Margolyes) to close her current production to allow her time to travel abroad. They persuade her to remain with the play throughout the summer. Michael introduces her to Tom Fennel (Shaun Evans), an enterprising American, who confesses his deep appreciation of her work. Seeking the passion missing from her marriage, and anxious to fill the void left when her close friend Lord Charles (Bruce Greenwood) suggested they part ways to avoid scandalous gossip, Julia embarks on a passionate affair with the young man and begins to support him so he may enjoy the glamorous lifestyle to which she has introduced him. Their relationship revives her, sparking a distinct change in her personality. Always hovering in the background and offering counsel is the spirit of her mentor, Jimmie Langton (Michael Gambon), the theatrical manager who gave Julia her start and made her a star, while flesh-and-blood Evie (Juliet Stevenson) serves as her personal maid, dresser, and confidante.

Michael suggests they invite Tom to spend time at their country estate, where he can become better acquainted with their son Roger (Tom Sturridge). At a party there, Tom meets aspiring actress Avice Crichton (Lucy Punch), and, when Julia sees him flirting with the pretty young woman, she becomes jealous and anxious and angrily confronts him. He slowly reveals himself to be a callous, social-climbing, gold-digging gigolo, and Julia is shattered when their affair comes to an end.

Avice, now romantically involved with Tom, asks him to bring Julia to see her perform in a play in the hope the actress will induce her husband to cast her in a supporting role in Julia's upcoming project. The play is dreadful, and Avice is not much better. Backstage, Julia compliments her even-worse co-star and barely acknowledges Avice, although she promises to tell Michael about her. Afterwards, she forces Tom to admit he loves Avice, then - although her heart is broken by his admission - she assures him she will insist the ingenue be cast in her next play.

When Julia's performance in her current play begins to suffer from her personal discontent, Michael closes the production, so Julia visits her mother (Rosemary Harris) and her Aunt Carrie (Rita Tushingham) in Jersey, where Lord Charles comes to visit her. Julia suggests a romantic tryst, and he gently tells her that he's gay. Meanwhile, back in London, Avice auditions for Michael. Although Julia resents it, she is given the role.

Julia returns home to begin rehearsals for the new play. Shortly after, she learns from her son that Avice has been one of Michael's casual trysts. Still, she is uncharacteristically solicitous toward the girl, making suggestions that place her in the spotlight and insisting her own wardrobe be drab to allow Avice to shine. What her director and fellow cast members don't realize is there's a method to her seeming madness - Julia has planned her sweet revenge for the opening night performance, during which she successfully affirms her position as London theatre's foremost diva by upstaging every aspect of Avice's performance.

The game begins when American lawyer Kate Walker is sent by her law firm to the fictional French village of Valadilène to oversee the corporate takeover of a family-owned spring-automaton toy factory. When Kate arrives, she finds that the recently deceased owner, Anna Voralberg, had informed the village notary before her death that her brother Hans is alive, despite her father claiming he was dead and buried. Realising that Hans is now the owner of the factory, Kate learns she must get his approval in order to allow the takeover to proceed. Investigating the Voralberg estate, she learns that Hans not only exists, but was also injured in a cave outside the village during his youth, while attempting to retrieve a prehistoric doll of a man riding a mammoth. The resulting accident stunted his development, leaving him mentally handicapped and causing him to develop an obsession to find mammoths to ride as the doll depicts. Despite proving extremely creative with making automatons, his father disapproved of his obsession, and disowned him as a direct result.

Learning that Hans lies somewhere further east across the continent, Kate discovers that the only way to reach him is via a specially designed clockwork locomotive, built by Anna at her brother's request, and manning it with a special animatronic man named Oscar. Before leaving, Kate is tasked with retrieving items important to Hans, that Oscar requires before he can allow them to depart the mammoth doll and two clockwork music boxes. Acquiring all of them, the pair eventually begin their journey eastwards, stopping at Barrockstadt, a failing university. While Kate seeks a means for them to continue, she explores the establishment and soon learns more about Hans's interests in a mysterious tribe of people known as the Youkol, who lived with and domesticated mammoths that reside on the titular island of Syberia (inspired by the real-life location of Wrangel Island in Siberia, the last place on earth where mammoths survived).

Upon moving on, Kate's journey brings her to Komkolzgrad, a dusty Communist-era industrial mining complex run by the eccentric and somewhat crazy Serguei Borodine. Finding that he stole Oscar's hands for his automaton organist work, she agrees to help him bring Helena Romanski, a washed-up opera singer who he is obsessed with, back to the complex to sing for him in order to get back the hands. Helping out a drunk test pilot named Boris to fix one of Hans inventions a clockwork flying machine Kate gains his assistance in operating an airship that takes her to the Aralbad spa, only to discover that Helena has become disillusioned in believing she is too old to sing, prompting Kate to help her recover.

Returning to the mining complex with Kate, Helena performs for Borodine, only to be imprisoned by him in his desire to keep her at his side as his personal opera singer. Refusing to allow this to happen, Kate rescues Helena, recovers Oscar's hands, and attempts to leave with both via the train. Although Borodine attempts to stop them, Kate makes use of some dynamite to thwart his efforts, killing him in the process, and allowing the train to continue onwards, reaching Aralbad. Upon arriving, Kate finds Hans waiting at the spa, delighted that she has brought him the train and Oscar. Showing little concern for his sister's death, Hans signs the factory release papers without reading them. Before Kate boards a plane that will bring her back to New York, she quickly changes her mind and rushes to rejoin Hans on the train, offering to help him realise his dream, abandoning her job and her unfaithful fiancé back home.

After a young red fox is orphaned, Big Mama the owl and her friends, Dinky the finch and Boomer the woodpecker, arrange for him to be adopted by kindly farmer Widow Tweed, who names him Tod. Meanwhile, her neighbor, hunter Amos Slade, brings home a young hound puppy named Copper and introduces him to his hunting dog Chief, who is at first annoyed by him, but then learns to love him. One day, Tod and Copper meet and become best friends, pledging eternal friendship. Amos grows frustrated at Copper for constantly wandering off to play, and places him on a leash. While playing with Copper outside his barrel, Tod accidentally awakens Chief. Amos and Chief chase Tod until they are stopped by Tweed. After an argument, Amos threatens to kill Tod if the fox trespasses on his farm again. Hunting season comes and Amos takes his dogs into the wilderness for the interim. Meanwhile, Big Mama, Dinky, and Boomer attempt to explain to Tod that Copper will soon become his enemy. However, Tod naively insists that he and Copper will remain friends forever.

The following spring, Tod and Copper reach adulthood. Copper returns as an expert hunting dog, who is expected to track down foxes. Late at night, Tod sneaks over to visit Copper. Their conversation awakens Chief, who alerts Amos. A chase ensues and Copper catches Tod, but lets Tod go while diverting Amos. Chief catches Tod as he attempts an escape on a railroad track, but an oncoming train strikes Chief, resulting in him falling into the river below and breaking his leg. Enraged by this, Copper and Amos blame Tod for the accident and vow vengeance. Realizing Tod is no longer safe with her, Tweed leaves him at a game reserve. After a disastrous night on his own in the woods, Big Mama introduces Tod to Vixey, a female fox who helps Tod adapt to life in the forest.

Meanwhile, Amos and Copper trespass into the reserve and hunt the two foxes. The chase climaxes when Amos and Copper inadvertently provoke an attack from a giant bear. Amos trips and falls into one of his own traps, dropping his gun slightly out of reach. Copper violently fights the bear, but is almost killed by the vicious animal. Tod comes to Copper's rescue and battles the bear until they both fall down a waterfall. As Copper approaches Tod as he lies wounded in the lake below, Amos appears, ready to shoot Tod. Copper positions himself in front of Tod to prevent Amos from shooting him, refusing to move away. Amos, understanding Tod had saved their lives, lowers his gun and leaves with Copper. Tod and Copper reconcile their friendship and share one last smile before parting. At home, Tweed nurses Amos back to health while the dogs rest. Copper, before going to sleep, smiles as he remembers the day when he first met Tod. On a hill, Vixey joins Tod as they look down on Tod's former home and Copper's.

Tony, a disaffected London office clerk (Hancock) catches the train to Waterloo Station each morning as he has done for 14 years. In the city he sits as one of many identical clerks in a dull office. Each worker wears a bowler hat and carries an umbrella. One day his boss (John Le Mesurier) catches him drawing faces instead of working, and he is asked to step into his office. His ledgers are full of poor quality caricatures of fellow workers. He is told to take the afternoon off but does not. He leaves at exactly 5.30pm as does everyone else.

Back at his lodgings, in a mid-terraced brick Victorian house, somewhere in outer London, Tony dons his artist's smock, and resumes work on his masterpiece, "Aphrodite at the Waterhole"... a truly horrendous but huge sculpture. His landlady Mrs Cravat (Irene Handl) complains about the hammering noise. He explains he cannot afford a model and it represents "women as he sees them". She threatens to evict him if he does not remove the statue. As he remonstrates with his copy of Van Gogh's self-portrait on his wall, the floor creaks and the statue falls through, luckily missing his landlady below.

In his office attire he goes to a local cafe seeking a coffee "with no froth". This annoys the owner, who tells Tony he has just bought an expensive froth-making machine. Inspired by a poster on the wall Tony decides to go to Paris. He takes a train to Dover with his Aphrodite on a flat-bed wagon to the rear. She loses her head as the train goes through a tunnel. When, on arrival at the port, Tony sees the headless statue he is furious, but worse is to follow. While being loaded onto a ship it proves too heavy for its net, bursts through the bottom and is lost in the sea. Forced to accept the inevitable, he resolves to start again in Paris. On the ferry he throws his bowler hat and umbrella into the sea. Unfortunately it is raining heavily when he arrives in France.

Arriving in Paris, Tony walks along the River Seine and looks at the artists. In the evening he goes to a cafe in Montmartre and meets a group of English-speaking artists. Here he meets Paul, who speaks passionately about art. He orders a half litre of vin ordinaire and they drink together. Paul invites Tony to share his studio and flat, just up the road. The landlady Madame Laurent hears them enter and demands the rent. Tony loves the atmosphere in the studio. Tony is asked to critique Paul's paintings ... "Your colours are the wrong shape" he says.

Paul admires the childlike style of Tony's work: "infantile art". Josey, a red-haired, blue-lipped beatnik visits and invites Tony and Paul to a very large mansion, filled with artwork. Here the Dalí-esque owner, Jim Smith, is sleeping on the bookcase (because he is writing a book). At a party a group of young people all dressed alike hang on Tony's every word. They all think he is fantastic.

Inspired by Jim Smith, Tony starts sleeping on top of the wardrobe and brings a cow to live in the flat. He then tries his first Action painting. Paul decides to leave, and gifts Tony his art.

As his reputation spreads he is visited by Sir Charles Broward, an art collector and buyer who is attracted to Paul's work. Sir Charles asks Tony if Paul's works are his and Tony says they were "a gift". This is misinterpreted. Tony's own work is labelled awful. After the first exhibition he goes to a posh restaurant with Sir Charles. He orders egg and chips... when pushed to choose something more he orders snails, egg and chips and a cup of tea. Sir Charles takes Tony to Monte Carlo, where he goes to dinner with a number of rich guests. One wife, Mrs Carreras, wishes to be painted by Tony. Her husband, after some debate, commissions a sculpture.

Tony injures his fingers while hammering and later at dinner the wife hand feeds him, much to the embarrassment of all. Carreras offers to buy Tony's entire art collection for £50,000.

On the Carreras yacht, Tony dresses as a bird for the fancy dress party. Mrs Carreras dresses as a cat. She tells him she loves him. He rejects her and she threatens to shoot him. On deck, he unveils the statue to the horror of all - it turns out to be a copy of his Aphrodite - and Mrs Carreras accuses him of assaulting her. The statue drops through the ship and Tony escapes on the yacht's launch.

Still dressed as a bird, Tony goes to the airport and says he wants to fly to Britain. "Wouldn't you rather take a plane?" the attendant quips.

He returns to Mrs Cravat's, now finding Paul living with her and working in an office, though still painting as a hobby. Tony persuades Paul to lend him some new paintings, promising to explain later. Showing these paintings at the London exhibition, Tony reveals that Paul is the true artist and "the rubbish" is Tony's work. Leaving Paul to enjoy his newfound fame and fortune Tony returns to Mrs Cravat's and resumes work on his Aphrodite - with Mrs Cravat as the model.

Elizabeth, bored wife of Lewis, a successful pulp writer in England, leaves husband and child and runs away to the German town of Baden-Baden. There she meets Thomas, who claims to be a poet but whom viewers know to be a petty thief, conman, drug courier, and gigolo. Though the two are briefly attracted to each other, she returns home. He, hunted by gangsters for a drug consignment he has lost, follows her to England. Lewis, highly suspicious of his wife, invites the young man to stay with them and act as his secretary. Initially resenting the presence of the handsome stranger, Elizabeth one night starts an affair and, after being caught together in the conservatory by Lewis, the two run away with no money to the south of France. Lewis follows them, he in turn being followed by the gangsters looking for Thomas. At the end the gangsters reclaim Thomas, presumably for execution, while Lewis reclaims Elizabeth.

In New York City, during the late 21st century, genetically altered humans live side by side with aliens and other beings, with the former lording over the latter and treating them as second class citizens. These beings have come to earth as refugees via the "inclusion zone", a mysterious vortex which appeared mysteriously one day, encompassing Central Park and sealing it off. The forcefield allows the refugees to exit, but anyone who tries to enter is instantly killed.

A strange pyramid appears in the city. Within, the gods of ancient Egypt discuss their fellow god Horus and conclude that his rebellious antics are unacceptable and must be punished, sentencing him to lose his immortality and summarily be executed. They grant Horus seven days to "look upon his creation", and inform him that the only way to save himself is to reincarnate in a new body. However, the only way to do this is to find and mate with a compatible woman capable of carrying a god's child, a trait which is extremely rare.

In the city below, Jill, a young woman with blue hair and a fey countenance, is captured by agents of the all-powerful corrupt eugenics company that controls much of the government and private sector, who kidnap the alien refugees to experiment on them. She is humanoid in appearance, but not quite human; her tears are blue and stain her pure white skin, and upon being examined by the company's scientists, it is discovered that her body's cells are no more than a few weeks old despite looking and acting like a fully grown adult. Unbeknownst to the scientists, Jill is a bioengineered being, explaining her human-like appearance and unusual paranormal abilities. One of these abilities is the aforementioned capacity to procreate with gods, but she is unaware of this, nor is she aware that she was created explicitly for this purpose. Her genome is rapidly adapting and changing into that of a regular human, with the tradeoff being that she will lose all memories of her former self once the transformation is complete. One of the scientists, Dr. Elma Turner, is fascinated by Jill's unique physiology and becomes enamored with her, subsequently helping facilitate her escape.

Elsewhere, Horus begins his search for a mate, but time is short as not only is his execution looming, but Jill herself will lose her unique ability to bear his child once she becomes fully human. He must inhabit a mortal body to perform this task, but quickly finds that anyone he tries to possess self destructs in a gruesome manner. He deduces that humankind has become incompatible due to their genetic modification, and are thus incapable of handling his godly presence within them. Desperate to find a suitable host body, Horus eventually encounters Nikopol, a political rebel condemned to thirty years of hibernation who, due to a mechanical accident, escapes his imprisonment one year early when the wall of the cryo-prison crumbles. Nikopol, having been in cryostasis for several decades, has remained unmodified, and thus is able to be a host body for Horus to inhabit, much to Nikopol's chagrin. Horus possesses Nikopol's body but fails to take full control of him, causing the two to frequently clash with one another. Nikopol, having lost his leg as a result of the prison toppling, is given a replacement by Horus which he fashioned out of some steel railway track, with the comical side effect that it is too heavy for Nikopol to move on his own when he is in control of his body. Together, the two set out to fulfill Horus's quest.

Nikopol and Horus eventually find Jill, and Horus begins to put his plan in motion by seducing her as Nikopol. Nikopol takes umbrage with this, decrying Horus's actions as sexual assault, which Horus thinks is merely a necessity and not wrong, as he is a god and therefore anything he does is, by definition, morally just. Nikopol begins to fall in love with Jill, further complicating matters.

Meanwhile, a police inspector is investigating a series of serial killings in which the bodies of seemingly random individuals appear to have been torn apart from the inside out. The victims are the remains of the previous hosts Horus tried to inhabit, and Nikopol as well as Jill become suspects. Nikopol/Horus must woo Jill while simultaneously trying to keep her safe from the eugenics corporation, as well as staying one step ahead of the police. Eventually, Horus is successful and impregnates her in the nick of time, giving Nikopol's body back and leaving a parting gift by granting him the ability to move his heavy metal leg on his own. A year later, Nikopol bumps into a now fully human Jill in Paris with her new baby, a blue falcon who Jill describes as "cheeky". She does not remember him, but the two strike up a conversation, hinting that they may one day rekindle their romance. As the film ends, the camera pans up to the pyramid ship where Horus is entombed in a sarcophagus, a glimmer of light flashing in his eyes.

Set on a distant planet named Bazoik, the game follows the Chex Warrior, a soldier clad in a Chex-shaped suit of armor, as he foils the invasion of the planet by the 'Flemoids': a species of slimy, green invertebrates, who have infested the planet and captured many helpless colonists, whom the Chex Warrior must save. His main weapons are devices called "zorchers", which teleports his enemies to their home dimension. The game starts at the landing pad of the research center on Bazoik; other levels include the laboratory, the arboretum, and finally, the caverns of Bazoik, where the Flemoids have established their colony. Their principal weapon is the use of mucus as a projectile.

On the planet Amzot (renamed Quasar in the revival), the space barbarian family Zandor, Tara and son Dorno fight alongside their giant pets the Herculoids — laser dragon Zok, space rhinoceros Tundro, rock ape Igoo and the shape-shifting Gloop and his son Gleep — to keep their planet safe from invading robots, mad scientists and mutants. The diverse team fought an endless battle against a stream of villains including, according to ''Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years'', "the Faceless People, Destroyer Ants, Raider Apes, Mutoids, Arnoids, Zorbots, the Mekkano mechanical men and the Ogs, a strange form of vegetable life."

The game's plot revolves around two brothers, Leonard and Bubba, fighting through the fictional town of Hickston, Arkansas to rescue their prized pig Bessie and thwart an alien invasion. The brothers battle through such locales as a meat packing plant and a trailer park, and battle evil clones of their neighbors. There are also male and female alien enemies. The bosses are the Assface and the leader of the alien invasion, the Queen Vixen.

The flu season has come about, and it is Dr. Mario's duty to use his Megavitamins to heal the people of the land. However, Wario, wanting to sell the pills to get rich, attempts to steal the Megavitamins, but to no avail. Afterwards, Mad Scienstein and Rudy the Clown steal the Megavitamins, and both Dr. Mario and Wario give chase. Throughout their adventure, both of them meet up with many creatures from ''Wario Land 3''. Most of the time the fights that emerge are really misunderstandings; for example, the player may accidentally bump into a creature, who gets angry and retaliates. Dr. Mario and Wario follow Mad Scienstein to Rudy's castle, where they fight Rudy to take back the vitamins. If the game is completed on Normal or Hard mode without using a continue, one last battle occurs after defeating Rudy; the opponent is Metal Mario for Wario and Vampire Wario for Dr. Mario.

The film opens with a woman and child, Kelly and Joanne, bursting into a London toilet. Joanne is crying and Kelly has a black eye. Eventually Kelly gets them on a train to Brighton, and it is clear they are running from someone.

Joanne is an eleven-year-old runaway who is procured by a reluctant Kelly into having sex with an old violent mobster who is a paedophile. Kelly's pimp, Derek, bullies her into complying, but it all goes horribly wrong, and the old mobster is killed, presumably by one of the girls. The older man's son, Stuart, then forces Derek to find the girls. The film follows the duo's flight from London in the wake of what has happened.

Arriving initially in Brighton, Kelly visits her friend Karen and tries to earn enough money through prostituting herself to help Joanne afford the train to Devon, where the child's grandmother lives. The two are eventually tracked down by her pimp and his associate and taken to meet Stuart at a secluded field. Upon arrival, Kelly's pimp and associate are made to dig two graves, presumably for the girls. However, Stuart decides that the girls are the victims in this episode and decides instead to kill Kelly's pimp and associate. The film ends with Kelly and Joanne arriving at Joanne's grandma's house in Devon. Kelly watches from a distance as the girl and the grandmother hug, then turns away.

Prologue

Sidney Harris, the Hereditary President of the People's Republic of Haven, discusses the economic and military situation with his cabinet. Secretary of the Economy Walter Frankel presents the latest grim economic projections, blaming the naval budget. Admiral Amos Parnell retorts that the fleet is required to hold on to recently acquired star systems, and blames the bleak economic situation on the increases in the Basic Living Stipend instead. Frankel responds that the BLS increases are the only thing keeping the mob in check. Neither man is willing to budge, and both concede that additional income is required and, per the DuQuesne Plan the source of this income should be new conquests. Moving southwards towards Erewhon is rejected as too dangerous as the Solarian League could see it as a threat. Moving westwards towards the Silesian Confederacy is seen as the better option, but the Basilisk system is in the way, and the Basilisk system contains a terminus of the Manticore Wormhole Junction. The decision is made to take over the Basilisk system and Admiral Parnell is tasked with drawing up plans to that effect.

The story

Commander Honor Harrington, freshly graduated from the Royal Manticoran Navy's Advanced Tactical Course, assumes command of the light cruiser HMS ''Fearless'', as it completes an extensive weapons refit, discovering, to her chagrin, that its normal complement of weapons has been stripped, replaced primarily by a "grav lance" commissioned by Admiral Sonja Hemphill. While Harrington uses it to perform spectacularly in the first round of a series of war games, her ship is summarily crushed in all following ones, and for the same simple reason: the grav lance is devastatingly effective at close range, but ''Fearless'' has neither the armour nor the other weaponry needed to close with an enemy ship.

In order to cover up the embarrassing failure of her experiment, Admiral Hemphill (a cousin of Sir Edward Janáček, First Lord of the Admiralty), has ''Fearless'' reassigned to picket duty on Basilisk Station, a remote outpost of Manticore. At Medusa, Harrington finds Basilisk's picket fleet commanded by Captain Lord Pavel Young, a spoiled noble whose lacklustre career is due in part to his attempt to rape Honor at the Academy several years earlier, and who has set up a ploy to ruin Honor's career. Taking his heavy cruiser ''Warlock'' off to Manticore for a "desperately needed" refit, Young leaves Honor and ''Fearless'' as the sole RMN unit responsible for the Basilisk system's security, a duty almost impossible to perform with a single ship.

With hard work and clever use of resources, Honor soon has revitalised the RMN’s presence in Basilisk, capturing several prizes on charges of smuggling, and turning around the abysmal opinion of the fleet held by system personnel. During this, Honor learns of a long-standing drug ring catering to the Medusan aborigines, a three-legged sentient species at a Bronze Age technology level. The drug, ''mekoha'', has a place in Medusan religion for its hallucinogenic properties, but can also be used to incite them to furious violence. ''Fearless's'' investigations reveal that humans have been synthesizing it on the planet for distribution to the nomadic members of the species. A raid on this drug lab also reveals the presence of further contamination: breech-loading flintlock rifles designed specifically for Medusan use, and crude enough for the Medusans to manufacture themselves.

Whilst embroiled in this plot and trying to uncover who might be behind it, Honor Harrington becomes a figure of political note for the first time. In order to capitalize on Honor's accomplishments and discredit the conservatives in the government who are pushing for the Kingdom's withdrawal from Basilisk, a group of officers and politicians conspire to delay the completion of ''Warlock'' s refit and keep Young away from his post for as long as possible.

Harrington and her crew get to the bottom of the sprawling plot: Haven, intent on conquering Medusa for their own, have arranged for a coup de main against Basilisk. By whipping some of the Medusan nomads into a killing frenzy that will sweep across the planet in a haze of blood, they can claim legal pretext to swoop in and take control of the system before Manticore can respond, as a preamble to invading Manticore itself

The ground force of Medusans is easily dealt with by ''Fearless'' s complement of Marines. However, the other half of the plan is the ''Sirius'', a Havenite Q-ship disguised as a freighter with the task of signalling the Havenite fleet. Harrington cripples the one other Havenite ship in orbit (a diplomatic courier) and sends ''Fearless'' in pursuit of ''Sirius'', notifying Manticore of the impending invasion. What follows is a grueling battle in which ''Fearless'' is crippled, but ''Sirius'' captain is sufficiently vexed by the damage inflicted by the small light cruiser that he turns ''Sirius'' about to ensure that she is destroyed. In doing so, he inadvertently brings ''Sirius'' within range of ''Fearless'' grav lance, and ''Sirius'' is destroyed.

Manticore reinforces the system in time to greet the “visiting” Haven task force, who leave after a suitable interval to inform Haven of failure. After extensive repairs just to get her mauled ship underway, Honor returns to the Star Kingdom to a hero’s welcome. Promoted twice to Captain of the List, Honor is disappointed when the light cruiser is retired from service, but instead, she is given command of a newly constructed ''Star Knight''-class heavy cruiser, re-christened as the new ''Fearless''.

After more than three years in exile on Grayson, several of Honor's old political enemies decide to try to kill two birds with one stone. Klaus Hauptman is able to have Honor appointed as commander of HMAMC ''Wayfarer'', a prototype Q-ship. He believes that Honor will either deal with the piracy problems that are causing him losses in the Silesian Confederacy or die trying. Due to the war consuming the majority of skilled officers and ratings, Honor is forced to take along a large portion of problem personnel and fresh out ratings on their first cruise.

''Wayfarer'' includes space for carrying a squadron of Light Attack Craft (LACs), a large number of missile pods that can be quickly deployed through the ship's rear cargo doors, and unusually heavy energy weaponry for the ship's intended role, but it is essentially still a merchant ship: unarmored, much slower than a regular navy vessel, and with lighter defenses.

Honor's orders are to lead a squadron of four Q-ships to fight piracy in the Silesian Confederacy. Although piracy is a chronic problem in Silesia, the Royal Navy managed to keep it somewhat in check until the war began; with the fleet needed elsewhere piracy has gone completely out of control and the powerful Manticoran merchant cartels demand that the Navy do something. There are other considerations: Silesia is something of a disputed territory between the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the Andermani Empire.

While Honor leads her crew in battles against various pirates, the Havenites are also conducting covert commerce raiding in Silesia, in an attempt to destabilize Manticoran trade in the region and present themselves in a more favorable light to the Andermani.

The Havenite light cruiser PNS ''Vaubon'', under Citizen Commander Warner Caslet, had been pursuing a particularly loathsome group of raiders whose actions were repugnant to most of the Havenite officers involved. When Caslet sees some of these raiders attacking what he thinks is a Manticore merchant ship he decides to attack the raiders, despite being outnumbered. The ''Wayfarer'' destroys the raiders and Caslet is forced to surrender ''Vaubon'' to the superior vessel.

With the additional intelligence gathered by the Havenites, Honor takes the fight to the pirates led by the terrorist Andre Warnecke and with a hostage gambit liberates the planet Sidemore, which had been occupied by the pirates.

A side plot during this is that of Aubrey Wanderman, a rating on his first cruise, who is brutally attacked by another rating, Randy Steilman. Terrified of Steilman's apparent untouchability, Wanderman refuses to report Steilman, and is taken under the wing of Horace Harkness, who trains Wanderman in the coup de vitesse, a form of martial arts. Later, after Steilman attempts to engineer the death of Ginger Lewis, Wanderman beats Steilman into a bloody mess, and Steilman's plot to desert is uncovered.

After her defeat of the pirates Honor goes looking for the Havenite commerce raiders. This leads to a larger-scale conflict with Havenite forces. Klaus Hauptman has traveled on the liner ''Artemis'' to see the piracy situation first hand in Silesia, and Honor encounters them just as the Havenites are closing in on the ''Artemis''. In the ensuing battle ''Wayfarer'' is able to destroy two Havenite battlecruisers but is itself ultimately destroyed. The few surviving members of Honor's crew, along with several Havenite prisoners, are rescued and return to Andermani space. Because of Honor's bravery in saving Hauptman's life during the battle the two are reconciled.

The People's Republic of Haven finds itself teetering at the edge of economic disaster. Unable to maintain its massive welfare state in the face of inflation and deficit and with opposition to the government getting bolder, the leaders of the People's Republic decide to resort to war against Manticore. A short, victorious war, they believe, will both distract the proles from their current economic problems and allow them to use the riches of the Manticore system to prop up their welfare state.

Meanwhile, Honor returns to duty after injuries she sustained in ''The Honor of the Queen'' to command the brand-new battlecruiser HMS ''Nike'', the pride of the Royal Manticoran Navy, with some of her old crew aboard and with her old Academy friend Michelle Henke as executive officer. But on their way to her post, the engineers of the ''Nike'' discover a flaw in one of her fusion reactors, which hampers her first operational deployment to the critical Manticoran base at Hancock Station.

Honor spends the time her ship is in dock by beginning her first real romantic relationship with the senior engineering officer of Hancock Station's maintenance facility, Captain Junior Grade Paul Tankersley.

The Havenites start the war Honor had been struggling to prevent in the previous books. Their plan is to launch probing missions on Manticoran Alliance members to push the Alliance into re-deploying its forces to create weak points and allow them to strike at Manticore directly.

They are aided greatly in this through the use of Project Argus, stealthy sensor platforms purchased from the Solarian League and planted in Alliance systems to watch the movements of Manticore forces. Havenite ships on ballistic courses with no active systems are able to collect the data dumps from the sensor platforms without being detected by Manticore forces. When Admiral Sarnow's superior deploys most of Hancock Station's ships to other star systems to guard against further Havenite provocation, the Argus net allows the Havenites to see this weakness in the Manticore position, and they decide to attack Hancock Station in force.

Honor joins Admiral Mark Sarnow's fleet alongside her old enemy, Pavel Young. With most of the Royal Manticoran Navy deployed elsewhere to prevent the Havenite provocations, Honor and Admiral Sarnow find themselves forced to defend Hancock Station from a vastly superior Havenite armada. With the help of Honor's unorthodox tactics, the task force is able to hold off the Havenites for long enough for reinforcements to arrive. In the final stages of the battle Pavel Young, startled by an impact on his ship and technically in command of the formation, orders the formation to scatter. Honor, realizing the battle can still be won by quickly closing Manticore reinforcements, reassembles the fleet, resulting in a crushing Havenite defeat. At the end of the novel, Young is removed from command, placed under arrest and is to be court-martialed at Manticore. Capt. Tankersley is promoted to Captain of the List and ordered back to Manticore aboard ''Nike'' for reassignment.

After the first disastrous battles of the war, three Havenite revolutionaries—Robert S. Pierre, Oscar Saint-Just, and Cordelia Ransom—lead the overthrow of their "Legislaturalist" government by killing hereditary President Harris and nearly his entire government during his birthday celebration with an air strike by shuttles of the Havenite Navy. They blame the killings on the Navy, and using the fear of a possible military coup form a "Committee of Public Safety" to rule the People's Republic "until a new government can be formed". They begin a purge of senior military officers and political figures to cement their rule.

This novel is much less Honor-centered than the previous two, and the war is depicted from many perspectives.

After the scandal caused by killing Pavel Young in a duel, Honor retreats to Grayson until things settle down on Manticore. She intends to oversee the development of her Steading, and overcome the death of Paul Tankersley.

Honor struggles with the survivor's guilt her many battles have left her with, but soon finds that she cannot afford to dwell on her emotions. With the war between Manticore and Haven still raging, the fast-expanding but still inexperienced Grayson Space Navy needs someone to put it in fighting shape. Honor is eventually given the rank of admiral in the Grayson navy and command of a superdreadnought squadron. She conducts her squadron and the rest of her adoptive nation's fleet through several battle exercises to improve them.

Meanwhile, Haven stages a new operation capturing two planets deep in Alliance territory. A Manticore task force and half the Grayson Navy leave to liberate these planets, but Haven was banking on this and now are sending another task force to destroy Grayson's orbital infrastructure and arm its rival planet, Masada, with modern weapons.

The events surrounding Honor's last adventure on Grayson have caused political turmoil on the reactionary, patriarchal planet. Even though she has the support of Protector Benjamin Mayhew IX and the Grayson government, and the respect and gratitude of the people of Grayson, several of her fellow Steadholders refuse to accept her and plot to bring down Mayhew's reforms by resorting to terrorism. They sabotage a dome which was being built and financed by Honor. The dome collapses mid-construction and kills dozens of young children. When it appears that the government discovered their conspiracy, they attempt to assassinate Honor but this fails as well. Reverend Julius Hanks, the head of the Grayson Church, gives his life to shield Honor from an assassin's fire, and the assassin is so horrified by his act that he surrenders to police custody and makes a full confession as to the conspiracy and its leader. When confronted at an assembly of the Steadholders, the leader invokes his ancient right to trial by combat and Honor herself, acting in her official capacity as Protector Benjamin's Champion, meets him sword-to-sword and kills him.

Shortly thereafter the Havenite task force arrives to destroy Grayson's orbital infrastructure, but underestimating the size of the remaining Grayson Navy they release their contingent destined for Masada before engaging and being defeated by Honor and the ships under her command. The released contingent turns to engage Grayson's now battle-damaged ships, but are bluffed into thinking that Honor's ships are not as badly damaged as they actually are and that reinforcements are in system, so they retreat back to Havenite space.

The other leading member of the conspiracy, desperate to keep himself safe, has most of his co-conspirators assassinated and personally votes for the government to heap even more accolades and titles on Honor.

October 3rd.

Poprishchin records that he rose late from bed and was reluctant to go to the office to face the disapproval of the chief clerk who habitually tells him he is muddle-headed and incompetent. He puts this down to the "long-legged scoundrel's" envy of his position as the mender of pens in the director's office. He had gone, however, because he wanted to see the accountant about obtaining an advance on his salary, though he knew that the accountant would not oblige as he is an inveterate "skinflint". He reflects sourly on other officials and the pointlessness of serving in his department, although he is pleased that the tables are mahogany and everyone is addressed as "sir". On his way to work, he had seen the director's daughter go into a shop. He was completely overcome by her beauty, but he effaced himself, not wanting to be seen in his inferior clothes. To his great astonishment, he overheard her little dog Meggie, who had been left outside, engaging in conversation with another passing dog called Fidel. He quickly reminded himself that such things are not unheard of, and recalled reading about a fish that put its head out of the water and spoke in a strange language and two cows who entered a shop to ask for a pound of tea. He was even more astonished to hear Meggie tell Fidel that she has written him a letter, and he resolves to follow Fidel and her owner home to ascertain their address.

October 4th.

Today he was in the office as usual, mending pens. He reflects on the nobility of his director, and begins to dream about the director's daughter, before abruptly cutting himself off. Instead he contemplates the folly of the French, to whom he would like to administer a thrashing, and his admiration for the landowners of Kursk, who write very elegantly. That morning, the director's daughter had walked in, and he was again overwhelmed by her beauty and splendid clothes. He longed to tell her not to have him executed but to kill him with her own hand, but instead informed her that her father wasn't there. She dropped her handkerchief and he nearly broke his nose trying to retrieve it. When she left, a flunkey told him that he could also leave, as the director wouldn't be in. Although he despises lackeys and their lack of respect for his official status and aristocratic birth, he left regardless. At home he lay on his bed for a long time. In the evening he went to the director's house and waited outside in hopes of seeing his beloved, but she didn't appear.

November 6th.

He is deeply upset: the chief clerk has castigated him in a most insulting manner for running after the director's daughter. He inwardly curses and polemicises with the chief clerk, putting his high-handedness down to envy, and to the conceit that comes with combing his hair a certain way and wearing gold chains and expensive boots. He proclaims his own noble heritage and asserts that his achievements could soon "eclipse" those of the chief clerk, if only he had a fashionable coat like him. But unfortunately, he laments, he has no money.

November 8th.

Poprishchin was at the theatre watching a musical comedy that greatly entertained him. He particularly enjoyed the play's barbs directed at barristers, merchants, critics and others. He expresses contempt for his fellow officials who lack the sophistication needed to enjoy theatre. One actress sang beautifully and reminded him of... he admonishes himself to silence.

November 9th.

He went to the office at 8 o'clock. He and the chief clerk pretended not to notice each other's existence. He left at 4 and passed by the director's house but saw no-one. After dinner he lay on the bed for a long time.

November 11th.

Today he mended 23 pens for His Excellency and 4 more for his daughter. He expresses great admiration for the director's intelligence and quiet dignity, and laments his own inability to communicate his curiosity about the director's social circles. He wishes he could look into the other rooms and observe the elegance and splendour, in particular the daughter's boudoir, with its flowers and scent bottles and "ethereal" clothes. But again he commands himself to be silent. He remembered the conversation between the two dogs and decided that he must get hold of the correspondence between them. He had already once accosted Meggie and demanded information about her mistress, but the cunning animal had quietly left the room without saying anything. He expresses his long-held opinion that dogs are cleverer than men and are extraordinarily observant animals. He resolves to go to Fidel's house to retrieve the letters.

November 12th.

He had returned to Fidel's place of lodging and asked the girl that he be allowed to speak to her dog. The dog had come running and barking, and when he tried to pick it up it attempted to bite his nose. Seeing the animal's sleeping basket, he rushed in, rummaged through it, and succeeded in snatching a bunch of papers before hastily departing, to the dog's chagrin and the girl's extreme alarm.

He is convinced that the letters between the dogs will tell him everything he wishes to know about the character of the director, and also give him information about she who... he silences himself.

November 13th.

Poprishchin records verbatim the contents of Meggie's letters to Fidel. The letters frustrate him because, despite being perfectly legible and grammatically correct, they dwell too much on trivial canine matters, and on those occasions when they do begin to discuss the director or his daughter, they always sidetrack into something peculiarly doggy in nature. However, he does learn from Meggie's anecdotes that the director is ambitious, and that Sophie (the director's daughter) attended a ball and returned at 6 in the morning, excited and exhausted. Meggie describes Sophie's delight the next day when she receives a gentleman visitor called Mr Teploff. The dog adds that she can't understand what her mistress sees in him: Poprishchin likewise becomes somewhat alarmed. Meggie then alludes to the comical official who sits in the director's waiting room mending pens, who is, according to Meggie, an object of ridicule to Sophie. Realizing it is himself being referred to, Poprishchin becomes enraged and accuses the "cursed dog" of lying and of being motivated by envy. He puts it down to treachery on the part of the chief clerk.

He decides to read one more letter and learns that Sophie is now madly in love with the young "chamberlain", that they are engaged, and that the father is very happy.

December 3rd.

Poprishchin cannot accept that the marriage will take place. He expresses dismay at the false status accorded to someone who happens to be a 'chamberlain', pointing out that his nose isn't made of gold and is just like anyone else's. He wonders where such distinctions came from, and why he himself is only a titular councillor. He speculates that he might really be a count or a general, observing that such cases of mistaken identity are not historically infrequent. What would his beloved and her father say if he suddenly appeared in a general's uniform? He expresses contempt for the director's ambition and decides that he must be a freemason.

December 5th.

Poprishchin has discovered from the newspapers that the throne of Spain is vacant, and that there is no heir-apparent. He is mystified that there can be a throne, but no-one to sit on it.

December 8th.

He is still deeply troubled by the Spanish affairs. He doesn't go to the office and spends most of the day lying on his bed pondering the situation.

The year 2000: April 43rd.

Poprishchin triumphantly announces that the King of Spain has been found and that it is in fact himself. He cannot understand how he can have imagined that he was a titular councillor, but he thinks it might have been due to thinking the human brain is in the head when in fact it is carried by the wind from the Caspian Sea. He reports that Mawra (his maidservant) was shocked and frightened when he informed her that he was the King of Spain, but he had hastened to assure her that he was nothing like Phillip II. He didn't go to the office and scornfully rules out ever going there again.

Marchember 86. Between day and night.

Poprishchin records that today he was summoned to the office since he hadn't been in for three weeks. He had sat serenely at his desk, amused at how shocked everyone would be if they knew who was in their presence. Work was put in front of him, but naturally he ignored it. Eventually the director himself appeared and Poprishchin was given a special document to sign: he wrote "Ferdinand VIII" in bold letters and a reverential silence had ensued. He then left and made his way to the director's house, forcing his way in and going straight to Sophie's dressing room where he had told her that at last they would be united, despite their enemies' treachery, and that unimaginable happiness awaited her. He had then departed.

He has discovered that woman loves only one thing: the devil. The devil is behind everything that attracts a woman's attention, and in the end she marries him. He concludes that it is all ambition, and the reason is a tiny worm that lives in a blister under the tongue, which is constructed by a barber in Bean Street, and a midwife, who are seeking to spread the Islamic faith.

No date. The day had no date.

He went for a walk "incognito", feeling it beneath his dignity to be recognized in the world when he had not yet presented at court. He realized that he needed a royal cloak, but since the tailor he consulted proved an incompetent ass, he decides that he will make it himself. He later reports that he has succeeded in making the cloak out of his office uniform and that Mawra cried out when he put it on. He impatiently awaits the arrival of the Spanish deputation so that he may present himself.

The 1st

He is astonished at the delay in the arrival of the Spanish deputies. That morning he had gone to the post office to inquire whether they had arrived yet. The "blockhead" of a postmaster told him that they had not, but that he would be happy to forward a letter to them if desired.

Madrid. February 30th.

He is in Spain. The Spanish deputies had arrived early that morning and, with extraordinary promptness, transported him to the Spanish frontier. Upon entering, he had seen many persons with shaved heads whom he decided must be grandees or soldiers. The State Chancellor had pushed him into a small room and threatened to beat him if he called himself Ferdinand VIII again, but Poprishchin, knowing it was a test, repeated his assertion, whereupon he was dealt two blows with a stick. Though painful, it hadn't troubled him because he knew it was merely an ancient chivalric ceremony for those being inducted into high office. Later, researching state affairs, he discovered that Spain and China are in fact the same country. He also became deeply troubled by an impending event:... to-morrow at seven o'clock the earth is going to sit on the moon. This is foretold by the famous English chemist, Wellington. To tell the truth, I often felt uneasy when I thought of the excessive brittleness and fragility of the moon. The moon is generally repaired in Hamburg, and very imperfectly. It is done by a lame cooper, an obvious blockhead who has no idea how to do it. He took waxed thread and olive-oil—hence that pungent smell over all the earth which compels people to hold their noses. And this makes the moon so fragile that no men can live on it, but only noses. Therefore we cannot see our noses, because they are on the moon. He succeeded in convincing the "grandees with shorn heads" to take urgent action to save the moon, but the Imperial Chancellor responded by beating him and driving him into his room. Such, he concludes, is the power of ancient customs in Spain.

January in the same year, following after February.

He is becoming increasingly astonished at the strangeness of Spanish customs. Today his head was shaved and they poured cold water on him, all the time ignoring his loud protestations. He fears that he might have fallen into the hands of the Inquisition and that the man he took to be the chancellor is in fact the Grand Inquisitor. He speculates that the affair has been arranged by France and England.

The 25th.

Today the Grand Inquisitor came into his room, but he had hidden himself in advance. The Inquisitor called out his old name and official title several times before finally calling out "Ferdinand the Eighth, King of Spain!" and driving him out from under the chair with a stick. Poprishchin is compensated for his pain with the discovery that "every cock has his Spain under his feathers". He feels only contempt for the impotent spite of the Inquisitor whom he knows to be only a machine and a tool of the English.

34 March. February 349.

He can no longer endure the torture and humiliation, and cries out for help. A heartfelt prayer to his mother for the suffering of her orphan son concludes with the words:Mother, mother, have pity on your sick child! And do you know that the Bey of Algiers has a wart under his nose?

In the game, ''Cel Damage'' is a popular animated demolition derby series that airs weekly on the fictional network "'Toon T.V."''Cel Damage'' GameCube Instruction Booklet, p. 7 The characters in ''Cel Damage'' are a select few of cartoon characters who battle every week to achieve fame and glory. The characters use their own vehicles''Cel Damage'' GameCube Instruction Booklet, pp. 13-16 and battle using a variety of deadly weapons.''Cel Damage'' GameCube Instruction Booklet, p. 17 Because the characters in ''Cel Damage'' are cartoons, they cannot be killed and can continuously come back to fight again.

After being lured back to her childhood home of Toronto for a retrospective show of her art, Elaine reminisces about her childhood. At the age of eight she becomes friends with Carol and Grace, and, through their eyes, realises that her atypical background of constant travel with her entomologist father and independent mother has left her ill-equipped for conventional expectations of femininity. Although initially awkward and naive of childhood politics and social structure, Elaine is accepted, even admired by her new friends. Her lifestyle, even now, is exotic to the others. Elaine, after fantasizing about having girl friends during her nomadic brief existence, begins to settle in and enjoy her new life and new school.

After her first full year of attending traditional grade school, during her summer break, her parents return her to their previous life of travel and insect exploration. After a four-month absence, Elaine returns home to her friends for the next school year.

Upon her return, Elaine finds the dynamic of her group has been altered with the addition of the new girl, Cordelia. Elaine is first drawn in by Cordelia but after a period, sensing her inability to recognize the cruelty, Elaine is bullied by the three girls, her supposed "best friends."

After mostly destroying any self-esteem Elaine has developed in her new life, she gradually becomes depressed and feels helpless, unable to stand up to them or rescue herself. She continually complies with the demeaning demands of the group and considers the worst transgression she could ever commit would be to tattle on her "friends," a sick loyalty Cordelia nurtures and feeds. Elaine, despite her parents' concern, even accompanies Grace and her family to their church, which, to her amazement and curiosity, is Elaine's first exposure to mainstream religion. Her newly found faith is tested when she continues to be poorly treated, even by Grace's mother.

The bullying escalates that winter when the girls throw Elaine's hat into a ravine and then abandon her to climb out of the ravine river water, half-frozen. On the brink of panic, Elaine sees a vision of the Virgin Mary, whom she learned about in Grace's church. In a haze, an illusion of the Virgin guides Elaine to safety. Afterward, realizing she allowed herself to be a victim all along, Elaine is finally able to make a break and makes new friends.

Later, now in high school, and earlier events somewhat repressed, Elaine reestablishes a friendship with Cordelia but without Carol or Grace, who have both moved out of the area. Elaine is much tougher now than when she was as a child, and the tables turn as she often taunts Cordelia.

Cordelia, it appears, is experiencing her own crisis and has trouble applying herself to her studies and begins to act out. Elaine feels a mix of triumph, contempt and pity when she realizes she has outgrown Cordelia. She is relieved that she can no longer be manipulated by the girl who essentially was the leader and the number one bully during their childhood.

Her last exchanges with Cordelia in high school are bleak when Elaine sees Cordelia is depressed and her behavior has prevented her from graduating on schedule. After Cordelia is sent to a private school for delinquent girls, the two girls lose touch with one another after high school. Elaine's childhood story is told in the first person narrative in flashbacks with brief snippets from her present adult life.

Elaine, working part-time in a diner and attending university, meets with Cordelia after a period of losing touch. Cordelia appears to have regained her former slyness and tells Elaine that instead of attending university, Cordelia has undertaken acting. She subtly brags about her roles in the Shakespearean Festival and invites Elaine to attend one of her performances.

After a couple of years, Elaine again meets with Cordelia who has completely fallen off the tracks and has been committed to a mental facility by her parents. Overmedicated and desperate, she begs Elaine to help her escape from the hospital. Despite her guilt and latent anger, Elaine refuses to help Cordelia. A few weeks after their meeting, Elaine receives a return-to-sender letter she sent Cordelia in the hospital. It appears Cordelia found a way to escape without Elaine. Not knowing it, this would be Elaine's last time seeing Cordelia.

The narrative describes Elaine through early adulthood as an art student and a burgeoning feminist artist, although Elaine's feminist label is media engineered, not self-proclaimed. She begins to find herself and develop her artistic identity, fumbling her way through her art and personal relationships. However, throughout this time, she continues to be haunted by her childhood and has difficulties forming relationships with other women. Although she increasingly becomes a known and influential artist, Elaine is berefted by anger, guilt, confusion and bewilderment of the lasting effects of Cordelia's behavior and her eventual disappearance from Elaine's life.

Towards the end of the novel, owing to her retrospective exhibition and her return to Toronto, she eventually faces her past and gets closure.

Life in the Iron Mills begins with an omniscient narrator who looks out a window and sees smog and ironworkers. The gender of the narrator is never known, but it is evident that the narrator is a middle-class observer. As the narrator looks out the windowpane, an old story comes to mind; a story of the house that the narrator is living in. The narrator cautions the reader to have an objective mind and to not be quick to judge the character in the story they are about to tell the reader. The narrator begins to introduce Deborah, Wolfe's cousin. She is described as a meek woman who works hard and has a hump on her back. Deborah finds out from Janey, that Hugh did not take lunch to work, and she decides to walk many miles in the rain to take a lunch for Wolfe. As she walks up to the mills, Deborah begins to describe it as if it were hell, but she keeps going for Wolfe. When she arrives Wolfe is talking among friends and he recognizes her. The narrator explains his affection for her, but also describes his affection as loveless and sympathetic. Hugh finds no time to eat his dinner and goes back to do a day of labor in the mills. Deborah, who is exhausted, stays with Hugh and rests until his shift is over. In the meantime, the narrator further explains that Wolfe does not belong in the environment of the iron mill workers. He is known as "Molly Wolfe" by other workers because of his manner and background in education.

When Wolfe is working he spots men that do not look like workers. He sees Clarke, the son of Kirby, Doctor May who is a physician, and another two men that he does not recognize. These men stop by to look at the working men, and as they are talking and observing, they spot a weird object that has the shape of a human. As they get closer, they see that it is an odd-shaped statue built with korl. They begin to analyze it and wonder who created such a statue, one of the workers points at Wolfe and the men go to him. They ask him why he built such a statue and what it represents. All Hugh says is that "She be hungry". The men begin to talk about the injustice of the labor force, and one goes as far as to say that Hugh can get out of the meager job he is in, but that he unfortunately cannot help. The men leave, but not before Deborah steals one of their wallets, which has a check for a substantial amount inside. They go back home and Wolfe feels like he is a failure and feels anger towards his economic situation.

Once home, Deborah confesses to stealing from Mitchell and shamefully gives the money to Wolfe to do with it what he pleases. Wolfe decides to keep the money believing he is deserving of it because after all they are all deserving in God's eyes. The narrator transitions to a different scene with Dr. May reading the newspaper and seeing that Wolfe was put in jail for stealing from Mitchell. The story goes back to Hugh and he is in prison with Deborah. The narrator explains how terrible their situation is, and goes on to give detail of Wolfe's mental disintegration. Hugh ends up losing his mind and killing himself in prison. The story ends with a Quaker woman who comes to bless and help with the body of Hugh. She talks to Deborah and promises her that she will give Hugh a proper burial, and come back for her when she is released from jail.

Forty years after an unfinished occult ritual resulted in the disappearance of six young children, the Rua family has moved from the United States into a new, never-before inhabited house in Spain. The mother, Maria, wants to get the place in order, while the father, Mark, goes to work, and their children, teenager Regina and her younger brother Paul, try to settle into their daily routines.

It helps that Mark's doctor-father, Albert Rua has furnished them with their residence and is nearby, especially when Mark begins to suffer from seizures again due to the progression of his Huntington's disease, which also causes him to become increasingly mentally unstable. Regina is not only worried about him, but also Paul who is now scared of the dark for the first time. The young boy has reason for that, however, as there seems to be some sort of supernatural entity beneath his bed. Furthermore, there are instances when six ghostly figures of children are seen standing in the shadows and darkness, watching the family.

As Paul becomes more scared and their father continues to mentally deteriorate, Regina eventually figures out it must have something to do with their home where the power is lost every day. With the help of her new friend, Carlos, the two eventually meet the man, Villalobos, who designed the house, and learn that it was built for a supernatural ritual requiring the sacrifice of seven children (each sacrificed by "hands that love them") to coincide with an eclipse that only occurs every forty years. With the next one quickly approaching, and now armed with the knowledge that the earlier occult ritual needs one more death to be completed, Regina races to make sure that Paul is not the final victim.

Stopping first at her grandfather Albert's house to warn him as well, Regina finds out that her grandfather is, in fact, a member of the cult which has been performing these satanic rituals. Her grandfather explains that in the ritual forty years ago, there actually ''were'' seven children, the seventh child being none other than Regina's father, Mark. Albert did not sacrifice his son because at the last minute he realized that he did ''not'' love Mark. Waiting 40 years, he has brought Mark and his family to the house with the intention of completing the ritual during this eclipse. Regina also discovers the target is not Paul but still Mark, who is to be sacrificed by "hands that love him." As Regina laments, Albert realizes her true love for her father. He suddenly frees her to return to the house, aware that she will be able to unknowingly carry out the ritual.

Regina races back to her home to find her father in the midst of another attack, choking on pills as the eclipse begins. Maria tries to perform a tracheotomy on him, but is unable to bring herself to make the cut. In a panic, Regina does it instead, but Mark bleeds out and dies when the supernatural forces within the house hide the pen tube needed to complete the procedure. Since Regina genuinely loved Mark, the ritual is finally complete. The darkness then takes the form of Regina and Paul, convincing their mother to turn off the lights. The darkness kills Maria, and then takes the form of Regina's friend Carlos, who picks them up in his car; shortly after they leave, the real Carlos arrives at the house, and is called inside by the darkness, manifesting as Regina's voice. Carlos' doppelgänger drives Regina and Paul into a dark tunnel, implying their doom.

The film's underlying plot is to create the "ultimate brassiere" for a Japanese company specialising in this undergarment, hence the fanciful title. Samantha (Carina Lau), who is managing the Hong Kong subsidiary of the company, is the project leader of this assignment and she appoints two zany but highly creative designers to aid her in that project, Wayne (Louis Koo) and Johnny (Lau Ching-wan). Johnny flirts with Samantha soon enough, being engaged in such a work, which he claims would assist in his creative powers although the story was more engaged in the humorous efforts in creating the bra. However, Samantha snubbed his overtures and their love affair remained in balance.

Meanwhile, during the project various prototypes were tried and tested, but with appalling results. Apparently, Wayne and Johnny being both male were unable to realise the finer points of creating the undergarment. Lena (Gigi Leung), a lover of Wayne and also working on the project then got the inspiration that the "ultimate bra" is the one which incorporates the feeling a woman has when her male lover lovingly supports her breasts. Accordingly, the two designers created just such an undergarment and was approved by their Japanese employers.

The webcomic is set in the fictional land mass known as ''Neo-Monster Island'', populated by the various types of kaiju, mecha, bionicle, comic book and anime characters. The main cast consists of Godzilla and his friends the ''Toxic Pirates'', who are loosely based on Sean McGuinness and his personal circle of friends, all portrayed by Super deformed (''SD'' for short) figurines of Godzilla monsters. The remaining characters stem from a seemingly endless cast of figurines within McGuinness' collection, who make brief or recurring appearances.

The first few seasons revolved around random running gags and toilet humor, the most famous of which revolved around the source of lemon sours received in packaged figurine boxes, which are nothing more than the feces of King Ghidorah. As the comic progressed, longer and more provoking storylines took place, such as ''Legend of the Dark Mask'', ''Epic'' and ''Legends''. Most of the time the plots are vehicles to deliver political, social, racial or religious satire while involving one or two fight scenes. Storylines included countless invasions (such as a takeover by Yahoo!), a quest to reshoot a lost episode, and even a journey into Shin-Goji's urinary tract to destroy his kidney stones akin to ''Fantastic Voyage''.

Due to TKT godzilla being inspired by Sean McGuinness, real life events which occur are sometimes reenacted in ''TKT'', even having one of the characters being shown as the creator of ''Twisted Kaiju Theater'', breaking the fourth wall. Comics such as these range from many different topics, such as playing video games or visiting comic conventions.

On April 24, 2009, a notice went up claiming that Twisted Kaiju Theater's website Neomonsterisland.com was under new ownership, and that the series was apparently coming to an end, though there is a listing for an April 27 update on the site at which time the new management claims it will explain what the change in ownership for the website will entail, both for the website and for TKT. The 1500th update to the series depicted a mock-image complete with non-working hypertext links of a 'page not found' page that often comes up when a website has ceased operations.

A short time later, the website was updated, changing its name to 'Once and Future' and then shortly thereafter to 'The Once and Future Tyrant'.

This turned out to be the latest in a series of epic storylines featured in the webcomic, intended to reintroduce the character of Tyrant, a recurring villain who had first appeared in the strip as the president of Yahoo!, who had returned and hatched an elaborate plan to take control of the island for himself, a recurring mission for the character. In this storyline, it was revealed that Tyrant is actually the elder brother of Shin-Goji, who had once ruled the island, but when their mother the Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu asked him to help end the 'War of the Monsters' and he refused, she set events in motion so that Shin would break away from Tyrant (whom she saw Shin as being too dependent upon) and become the leader of the island. She had expected Tyrant to understand. He did not. Instead, he lost his mind, apparently forgetting his true powers, and went on to become a supposed homosexual individual and later the president of Yahoo! He still harbored a desire to reclaim his birthright even in this insane state, which resulted in his numerous attempts to reclaim the island only to be rebuffed by Shin-Goji and the Toxic Pirates numerous times.

The storyline revealed that a previous epic storyline entitled Final Invasion was set up by Tyrant in order to distract Shin from realizing that Tyrant had managed to con him into essentially signing away the rights to the island by slipping in a falsified service provider document. Tyrant was revealed as Shin's elder brother and forced Shin to relinquish control of Neo Monster Island to Tyrant. As a direct result of the supposed 'change in management', the website itself became part of the storyline, allowing it to break the fourth wall. Many fans were at first fooled by the events, while others- namely those on the online forums for the webcomic- were quick to point out that Sean McGuinness, the creator of the series, was still named on the website as the owner of the website and its copyrights.

Tyrant's plan was revealed to be twofold in its goals. Firstly he would regain what he saw as his birthright, and secondly to humble Shin, briefly exiling him from the island. Tyrant and Shin have since reconciled- for the moment at least- and went on a rescue mission to save the Toxic Pirates, who had gone missing during the storyline.

The strip has once again taken on the name Twisted Kaiju Theater, with Shin once again taking a starring role.

Four teen girls in Manhattan Galleria, Chanel, Aqua, and Dorinda perform at a children's birthday party as The Cheetah Girls. After the performance, Chanel rushes home to tell her mother about the show, but her mother is preoccupied preparing for a date with her new Parisian boyfriend. Galleria comes home to her parents, who chastise her for not taking phone messages for her mother or walking their Bichon Frise dog, Toto. Meanwhile, Dorinda attends to her job, doing janitorial work at a community center.

The girls hope to become the first freshmen to win the talent show in their school's history. After a successful audition for the talent show, a famous alumnus of the school, Jackal Johnson, expresses interest in signing The Cheetah Girls to his record label. Galleria introduces herself as the founder and songwriter of The Cheetah Girls, which is not appreciated by the group's other members. While Galleria's mother, Dorothea, is initially hesitant to let The Cheetah Girls pursue the opportunity with Jackal, she eventually allows the girls to have a meeting after being encouraged by Galleria's father.

The meeting is a success, and despite some ongoing concerns from Galleria, the girls begin to prepare to record their first song. Without asking the group's other members for opinions, Galleria suggests that The Cheetah Girls should not make time for the talent show due to their record deal, and criticizes Dorinda for repeatedly wearing the same dull clothing. Aqua encourages Chanel, Galleria's oldest friend, to speak to Galleria about her behavior. Meanwhile, Dorinda has the opportunity to take a dance audition at the center where she is employed. She is offered a paying role because of her work, but taking on the role would require her to leave the Cheetah Girls.

Later, Chanel becomes distressed after overhearing a voicemail suggesting that her mother was planning to sell their New York City apartment to move to Paris with her boyfriend. Feeling neglected, Chanel takes advantage of having her mother's credit card to go on a shopping spree on Madison Avenue. In an act of kindness, Chanel purchases a cheetah jacket for Dorinda who reveals her financial troubles: She is a poor foster child who lives in a 10-child household with a mother whose husband is a superintendent for the building. Chanel assures Dorinda that they will remain friends and she will always be a Cheetah Girl.

At the next meeting between The Cheetah Girls and Jackal Johnson, Jackal reveals that a marketing team has developed a new image for the group that will require them to wear masks and lip sync. Galleria is devastated by this and declares that the group refuse the offer, but the other girls stay behind due to their frustrations with Galleria's attitude. Galleria leaves under the impression that the other Cheetah Girls have taken the deal. Chanel arrives home where her mother reveals her credit card was declined due to Chanel's shopping spree. Chanel breaks down after thinking about how grateful she is for her mother given Dorinda's current status as a foster child, and Chanel's mother agrees to make more time for her daughter.

Later, Galleria's dog Toto falls into an obstruction on the Manhattan streets. This attracts a great deal of attention, including a live news story, which alerts the other Cheetah Girls members about what is going on and causes them to come to Toto's rescue. Their singing helps calm Toto down and allow for his safe removal from the obstruction. This act of bonding ultimately causes the girls to repair their friendship, and they go on to sing a new song on the news for all of New York to see. Jackal Johnson calls, voicing his regret trying to change The Cheetah Girls, but the girls refuse an offer with him. The Cheetah Girls end up winning the talent show, and the girls renew their commitment to achieving their dreams and maintaining their friendship.

Three years after the events in ''On Basilisk Station'', Captain Honor Harrington returns to the Star Kingdom after a long anti-piracy campaign in the Silesian Confederacy. While her ship, HMS ''Fearless'', has her first refit, new orders arrive. ''Fearless'' is tasked to lead a small Manticoran squadron supporting a diplomatic mission to the planet Grayson, a planet ruled by a heavily sexist and patriarchal society, due in part to its fundamentalist Christian and Luddite history, as well as its brutally hostile environment. The diplomatic mission is to be led by Admiral Raoul Courvosier, Honor's mentor and personal friend. With the long-awaited war with Haven looming close, Manticore is working to form an Alliance with many small nations. Grayson is critical to this effort, as it would close a flank of advance for a possible Havenite invasion fleet. Adding to the pressure, Haven is negotiating its own alliance with Masada, Grayson's historical rival.

The Manticoran ships arrive at Yeltsin's Star, the system where Grayson is located, and are greeted by the small Grayson Navy. However, the welcome is soured by sexism in the Graysons, for whom the notion of a woman in uniform is intolerable. After several hostile confrontations, Honor leaves the system to escort a convoy of freighters, believing her presence is souring the negotiations, even though Courvosier tries to convince her not to do so.

After Honor leaves with three of the four Manticoran warships sent to Grayson, Admiral Courvosier meets with Admiral Bernard Yanakov (the commander of the Grayson Navy), and the officers begin to work their way through their cultural differences, earning some sympathy and respect for each other's point of view. Everything is cut short when a Masadan fleet approaches Grayson and begins attacking space stations throughout the system. Admiral Courvosier accepts Yanakov's offer to join his fleet in chasing the Masadans, not knowing that the Masadans possess two Havenite warships under Captain Alfredo Yu and Cmdr. Thomas Theisman, "bought" from Haven but reporting to Masadan command. This fleet makes quick work of Grayson's outdated defenders, not to mention the Manticoran destroyer ''Madrigal'', leading to the deaths of both Courvosier and Yanakov.

Honor's ships return to Grayson and are attacked by Masadan light attack craft, which damaged one of her ships. After entering Grayson's orbit, they are apprised of the critical situation following the battle and the death of Admiral Courvosier. Honor strong-arms Protector Benjamin into allowing her to take a leading role in the defense of Grayson. She also then defends him against Masadan assassins, losing one of her eyes, earning her a great deal of acclaim from the Grayson people.

Grayson soon learns that Masada has built an advanced base ''within'' Grayson's star system. Leading her ships and the remnants of the Grayson fleet, Honor defeats a group of Masadan warships, as well as the PNS ''Breslau'', now fighting as the MNS ''Principality''. Cmdr. Theisman is able to inflict significant damage on HMS ''Apollo'', under Cmdr. Alice Truman, but is ultimately forced to surrender. Once in confidence, he tells Honor that there are female POWs from ''Madrigal'' at the base and that he suspects they are being ill-treated. An assault by ''Fearless''' Marines follows, and the Masadan base is captured, finding most of the prisoners executed and all the female prisoners horrifically brutalized, with Honor nearly performing an on-the-spot execution of the Masadan commander.

On Masada, the Havenite "advisers" see that Masada's bid to conquer Grayson is doomed and try to pull out. However, the Masadans find out and seize control of the ''Saladin'', which they have renamed ''Thunder of God''. Captain Yu catches wind of the mutiny and pulls as many Havenite crew off the ship as he can, leaving the Masadan fanatics in ownership of a ''Sultan''-class battle cruiser which outguns Honor's remaining ships.

Honor dispatches ''Apollo'' back to Manticore for reinforcements, while her ''Fearless'' and Alistair McKeon's ''Troubadour'' prepare to fight the Masadans. The Manticorans' superior tactical skills, and the Masadans' unfamiliarity with their ship, allow them to inflict much more damage on ''Thunder of God'' than they ought to have done, but ''Thunder of God'' by sheer weight of fire is able to destroy ''Troubadour'' and inflict equal damage on ''Fearless''. Manticoran reinforcements, summoned by ''Apollo'' and led by Admiral Hamish Alexander, Earl White Haven, arrive in-system, but neither ''Fearless'' nor ''Thunder of God'' are able to detect them due to damage to their radar and gravitic detection equipment. Despite knowing the outcome is hopeless, Honor commits ''Fearless'' against ''Thunder of God'' hoping to do enough damage to prevent ''Thunder'' from carpet bombing Grayson. In a desperate gamble, White Haven's fleet launches from beyond maximum range, distracting the Masadan crew at a crucial moment and allowing ''Fearless'' to deliver the killing blow.

With Grayson secured, a joint Manticore-Grayson fleet attacks Masada and occupies the planet. Thomas Theisman is returned to Haven. The Havenite refugees from ''Saladin'', led by Alfredo Yu, surrender to the Graysonites; many defect, including Yu himself. Honor recovers from the wounds sustained during the many battles and the attack on the Mayhew family, receiving a prosthetic eye. Protector Benjamin decorates her with the Star of Grayson and appoints her as Steadholder (governor) of a new fief on Grayson, allowing her to help Benjamin speed up his planned social reforms, a program which comes to be known as the "Mayhew Restoration." Finally, the Manticoran government creates Honor a Countess and names her a Companion of the Knights of King George.

''Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō'' is set in a peaceful, post-cataclysmic world where mankind is in decline after an environmental disaster. Exactly what happened is never explained, but sea levels have risen significantly, inundating coastal cities such as Yokohama, Mount Fuji erupted in living memory, and climate change has occurred. With the seasons being less pronounced, the winters are milder and the summer isn't scorching anymore. The reduced human population has reverted to a simpler life, and the reader is told this is the twilight of the human age. One scene depicts an anti-aircraft missile being used in a firework display. Instead of raging against their fate, humans have quietly accepted it.

Alpha Hatsuseno is an android ("robot person") who runs an out-of-the-way coffee shop, Café Alpha, on the lonely coast of the Miura Peninsula of Japan, while her human "owner" is on a trip of indefinite length. Though she spends much of her time alone, Alpha is cheerful, gregarious, and—unlike the slowly declining humans—immortal.

Most chapters of ''Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō'' are self-contained slice-of-life episodes depicting Alpha in daily activities, either alone, with customers, or on occasional trips through the countryside or into Yokohama for supplies (whence the "shopping log" of the title came). Whole chapters are devoted to brewing coffee, taking photographs, or repairing a tiny model aircraft engine, sometimes with only a few lines of dialogue. Through Alpha's experiences, the author brings out the small wonders of everyday life and makes the reader aware of their passing: the aircraft engine runs out of fuel; her scooter breaks down; the rising ocean encroaches on her coffee shop; the neighborhood children she loves grow up and move away. In evoking a nostalgia for this loss, Ashinano follows the Japanese tradition of ''mono no aware'' (sadness for the transience of things).

Though often self-contained, the stories have continuity—relationships grow and change, and seemingly insignificant details reappear later. Ashinano explains few details of Alpha's world, leaving mysteries that engage the reader as the series unfolds in a meandering progression, by turns funny, touching, and nostalgic.

When ambitious analyst Lincoln Mathers (played by Doug Cockle) relocates his family from New York to London, his wife Sarah (Sara Stewart) discovers a new disturbing power and becomes hostage to an ancient spirit. As Mathers notices that the family is tearing apart and that his wife's behavior becomes more violent and erratic, he accepts that to save the woman he married he must take a leap of faith.

In 1958, Katey Miller (Romola Garai), her parents (Sela Ward and John Slattery), and her younger sister Susie (Mika Boorem) arrive in Cuba during the Cuban revolution. A self-described bookworm, Katey is not very happy about having to move to a different country during her senior year of high school, as she had been planning to attend Radcliffe College, although the rest of her family seem extremely pleased to be in Cuba.

Meeting several other rich American teenagers down by the pool - including James Phelps (Jonathan Jackson), the son of her father's boss - Katey becomes disgusted when one of the teenagers insults a local waiter when he drops their drinks because Katey accidentally bumped into him. Katey attempts to talk to the waiter—Javier (Diego Luna), who works at the hotel to support his family—because she feels awful about what had occurred, but he is not interested.

Katey watches a film of her mother and father dancing and wishes she could dance as well as they did. She and her father dance a bit. The next day in class, Katey is asked to read aloud from the Odyssey - a passage about love and passion. After class, James invites her to a party at the country club the next day and she accepts.

While walking home from school, she sees Javier dancing to street music, and he offers to walk her home. They stop to listen to a street band and police show up, stopping Javier while Katey runs away.

The next day, Katey tries some of the dance moves she saw. Javier sees her and asks her to come see the real dancers Saturday night, but she says she is already going to the country club. Javier gets upset and leaves. Katey wears one of her maid's dresses to the country club party and impresses James. Katey convinces him to take her to the Cuban nightclub ''La Rosa Negra'' (The Black Rose) where Javier is dancing with the ladies.

Javier dances with Katey while James sits at the bar. Soon he is accosted by Javier's brother, Carlos, who tells him that they will eventually kick the Americans out of Cuba. Javier comes over and argues with his brother. James takes Katey back to the car and assaults her after she refuses to kiss him. She slaps him and runs into the club, and Javier agrees to walk her home.

The next day, Katey walks by a dance class. The teacher (Patrick Swayze) asks if anyone wants to enter the big dance contest and then dances with Katey for a bit. She grabs a flyer for the competition.

While walking to the pool, James apologizes to Katey and then tells her that Susie saw Javier with her and got him fired. Katey argues with Susie and goes to find Javier. He is now working at a chop shop with Carlos. She asks him to enter the dance contest with her, but he refuses. Meanwhile, it is becoming apparent that Carlos is helping the revolutionaries.

The next day, Javier shows up at Katey's school and agrees to enter the dance contest with her. They start teaching each other dance moves and Javier convinces her to "feel the music." They practice all the time, and Katey dances some more with the dance teacher, until it is the night of the dance. Katey and Javier dance with the other couples on the floor and are chosen to go on to the next round.

Katey's parents disapprove of her relationship with Javier, but Katey reconciles with them. On the night of the contest's final round, while Katey and Javier are on the dance floor, Javier sees his brother and some revolutionaries disguised as waiters, and the police soon try to arrest them. The contest stops as everyone flees the club, and Javier has to save Carlos from the police. Javier and Carlos talk about how they miss their dad, then they hear that Batista has fled the country and join the celebration.

Later, Javier comes to the hotel and finds Katey. He takes her to the beach and they have sex. The next day, Katey's parents tell her they are leaving Cuba and she has one last night with Javier. They go to the Cuban club where they first danced, and the floor is theirs as they are dubbed King and Queen. Katey's family is there to see her, and Katey narrates that she doesn't know when she will see Javier again, but this will not be their last time to dance together.

The story is narrated by the family's oldest son, Paco. The film begins with the father of the family, José Sanchez, making a journey that lasts one year on foot from Mexico to Los Angeles. He travels to Los Angeles to meet a distant relative known as ''El Californio,'' who was born in the city when it was still part of Mexico. They become fast friends and grow a corn farm together. However, after several years, ''El Californio'' nears death. Shortly before dying, ''El Californio'' says he wants the following written on his tombstone: :When I was born here, this was Mexico, and where my body lies, this is still Mexico.

José meets and marries the love of his life, María, an American citizen. After María is illegally deported to Mexico by the U.S. federal government in a mass roundup, she makes it back to Los Angeles via a long and arduous trip two years later, where she returns home with their new son Chucho.

Twenty years later in 1958 or 1959, eldest daughter Irene is getting married. Chucho and Paco have grown up. New additions to the family include Toni, Guillermo "Memo", and brother Jimmy.

The film begins to gain momentum after the wedding, when a series of events seal Chucho's fate. One night at a dance hall, Chucho is dancing with his girlfriend, when his rival Butch Mejia starts to bother him. This results in a bloody knife fight between the two, and Chucho accidentally kills him. After this event, Chucho becomes a fugitive of the police. One night when Jimmy is playing ball with his friends, Chucho is shot dead by the LAPD right in front of Jimmy. Other members of the family learn of Chucho's death when they hear gunshots and rush to a nearby street. As an ambulance arrives to take Chucho's lifeless body away, Paco narrates how Chucho's whole life had been on borrowed time.

The third generation, which takes place another twenty years later in the 1970s and 80s, faces situations such as acculturation, assimilation, and past problems of the family.

Jimmy completes a stint in prison and returns home. It is revealed that after Chucho's death 20 years back, Jimmy became an angry man following in his footsteps, becoming a fugitive like him. One day, Toni visits the Sanchez home and stuns her parents with the news that she is no longer a nun and has married a priest named David Ronconi. Toni and David become involved in helping political refugees. When they find out that a Salvadoran refugee, Isabel, has become a target for murder and is being held for deportation back to El Salvador, Toni convinces Jimmy to marry her so that she is able to stay in the U.S.

Jimmy is resistant to the idea of being a married man; however, Isabel slowly makes herself at home and Jimmy has no choice but to let her stay with him. As Jimmy works on his car listening to "I'm Your Puppet", Isabel comes up to him and changes the music in the cassette-player. She tries to get him to dance with her on the street. At first he doesn't want to, but she finally succeeds in teaching him some steps. He asks her at the end of the song, "Will you teach me how to salsa?" It is here that Jimmy finally lets Isabel into his heart and where they both understand that although other people don't understand them, they know now who they really are together and they finally consummate their marriage.

Isabel becomes pregnant shortly thereafter but unfortunately dies after giving birth to their son, Carlitos. Enraged, Jimmy attacks the doctor whom he blames for her death, burglarizes a store, and is jailed, leaving his son to be raised by his parents. When Jimmy gets out of prison 4 years later, he initially doesn't want anything to do with his son, who is a spirited, but trouble-making child. When Jimmy finally sees his son, he is filled with joy and immediately wants to care for him. However, his son hates him, who thinks his real father is a cattle rancher who lives in Texas. After Jimmy decides to change his life around for the good of his son, Carlitos accepts him and moves with him to Texas where Jimmy has secured a good-paying manufacturing job in San Antonio.

The film concludes with Jose and Maria, now empty nesters reminiscing about their past as Jose says "God has been good to us, we've been very lucky, and our life it has been very...very good" and the camera pans to a shot of Los Angeles.

Two underachieving potheads, Silas (Method Man) and Jamal (Redman) are visited by the ghost of Silas's recent deceased friend Ivory (Chuck Deezy). Ivory was cremated and Silas used his ashes as fertilizer for a new batch of marijuana. While sitting in the parking lot before taking their "THC" (Testing for Higher Credentials, a parody of the SAT and an allusion to tetrahydrocannabinol) exams for college, Silas has his marijuana but no cigar while Jamal has a cigar but nothing left to smoke, leading them to team up in Silas's car.

They soon discover that smoking Silas's new batch summons the ghost of the recently deceased Ivory, visible to just the two of them. Ivory tells them the test answers as they take the test and they both score perfect scores. Several dubious colleges offer the pair scholarships, but none of them are appealing. Eventually, Chancellor Huntley (Fred Willard) suggests the two apply to Harvard University.

Once there, they meet Bart (Chris Elwood), captain of the rowing team, his girlfriend Lauren (Lark Voorhies), I Need Money (Al Shearer), and their roommates Jeffrey (Justin Urich) and Tuan (Trieu Tran). Once they are settled in, they visit Dean Carl Cain (Obba Babatundé) who tells them that per the terms of their scholarship, they must maintain a minimum grade point average of 2.0 in order to remain, or else face expulsion.

Jamal joins the rowing team hoping to outrank Bart. Silas enrolls in a botany class to develop his "herbal" skills, and they both enroll in black history. Throughout the semester, they pass every test with the help of Ivory. Silas continues to woo and study with Lauren, while Jamal dates the U.S. vice president's (Jeffrey Jones) daughter Jamie (Essence Atkins).

Also during the first half of the semester, they pull pranks and steal, which angers Bart, Jeffrey (who is pledging for a Final Club), and Dean Cain. Things go downhill after Silas and Jamal's raucous Halloween party. At the party, Gerald (T. J. Thyne), the volunteer officer whose bicycle was stolen and crushed by I Need Money, steals and smokes the Ivory plant, leaving the pair without access to Ivory.

Silas begins working on a truth serum for his Botany class, using plant extracts. Silas concludes that, if his experiment works, he will earn an A in Botany, and a guarantee of a next semester. His experiment fails numerous times. Before midterms Jamal suggests they go to a graveyard, dig up a "smart dead guy", and smoke his remains which they attempted to do so with John Quincy Adams. Whereas Silas suggests simply that they study hard for a few hours a day while high. They try Silas's plan, but it does not pan out, as they end up failing almost all of their midterm exams.

Desperate to stay in Harvard, they try Jamal's plan, but it proves fruitless, as well. Meanwhile, Gerald, who has morphed into a complete stoner, sees Ivory during one of his binges, and, at Ivory's behest, returns the remnants of the Ivory plant to Jamal and Silas. Due to Gerald's abuse of the plant very little remains and Jamal and Silas continue to fail their classes, which pleases Dean Cain.

With the last final exam approaching, Jamal and Silas resign themselves to give up. However, Jeffrey reminds Silas of his guarantee of another semester if he can successfully fix his truth serum experiment. Silas ultimately does, having found a solution in which the last of Ivory's leaves could be used to counteract nausea.

Nonetheless, because of their low grades, Jamal and Silas do not receive an invitation to the Harvard Alumni party. Dean Cain, clearly thrilled with this result, tells Bart he does not have to worry about the pair showing up or staying in Harvard. However, that changes when Jamie invites them both as her dates, as her father is an alumnus. At the party, Silas makes things a bit more interesting by testing out his truth serum experiment, which proves successful.

At Lauren's presentation at the alumni party of Benjamin Franklin's artifacts, she shocks everyone with her discovery: the artifacts turn out to be a bong. Ivory even shows up with Benjamin Franklin to confirm the bong's authenticity. Dean Cain is outraged by this finding, but the Chancellor decides that he has had it with the Dean and fires him. Jamal and Silas are proud that the serum worked, a celebration that was almost short-lived, as Dean Cain returns and unsuccessfully attempts to kill them both with an ax as revenge. He is eventually apprehended by Secret Service. At the end, Jamal and Silas are able to stay, Jamal and Jamie get approval of Jamie's father to date, and Lauren leaves Bart for Silas because Bart "can't satisfy her".

Liu Jian (Jet Li), a Chinese intelligence agent, is sent to Paris to help the French authorities apprehend Chinese mob boss Mr. Big (Ric Young), who is involved in heroin smuggling. He meets Inspector Jean-Pierre Richard (Tchéky Karyo), a corrupt and violent police detective, at a hotel. Richard tricks Liu into believing he is simply providing reconnaissance of a meet involving Mr. Big. During the operation, Mr. Big is introduced to two female prostitutes, one being Jessica Kamen (Bridget Fonda), an American woman, who he takes back to his room for sex. While Liu and the rest are watching through the surveillance camera, Mr. Big kicks everyone out except for the two women. After pretending to seduce him, the other prostitute stabs Mr. Big. Overseeing the events from another room, Liu rushes in and subdues the prostitute. He then attempts to call for help to save Mr. Big's life, but Richard enters shortly after, shooting Mr. Big and the woman with Liu's police-issued handgun, framing Liu for both murders. Jessica hides in the bathroom during the commotion.

Realizing he has been set up, Liu manages to escape from the hotel with a surveillance tape showing Richard shooting Mr. Big. After the events, Chinese liaisons are sent to France to investigate the matter, as Richard makes Liu the primary suspect. However, the liaisons do not believe the story Richard provides. Liu meets with one of them on a ferry and passes him the tape, revealing the truth. However, Richard's men spot them, and the liaison is assassinated. Liu is then forced to flee from a horde of cops and GIGN commandos. After Liu escapes, he is forced to maintain a low profile.

While his situation worsens, he meets Jessica, whose daughter was kidnapped by Richard to force her into prostitution. Liu discovers that Jessica was the second prostitute at the hotel during the night of Mr. Big's murder. He realizes she can prove his innocence, but she refuses to go without retrieving her daughter, Isabel (Isabelle Duhauvelle). Liu decides the tape would provide the best evidence, and sends Jessica to Richard's office to steal the tape. Jessica manages to get the tape, then Liu and Jessica head to an orphanage where Isabel is kept. However, Richard anticipates this move, and ambushes the duo at the orphanage. During their escape, Jessica is shot in the chest. Liu manages to get her to the hospital in time and leaves for the police station, driven to retrieve her daughter.

Liu arrives at the police station where Richard is holding Isabel hostage and he fights his way through another horde of policemen. After managing to defeat Richard's personal henchmen, Liu enters his office and finds him holding Isabel at gunpoint. Even though Liu is unarmed, he tells Richard that if he kills Isabel, then he will have all the time he needs to kill him. Richard tries to kill Liu, but he only manages to shoot him in the shoulder. However, the bullet injury fails to prevent Liu from disarming Richard while sticking an acupuncture needle into the back of his neck, in a forbidden location known as the "kiss of the dragon," which stimulates all the body's blood to travel to the brain to cause a painful death by brain aneurysm. Richard suffers and dies from the "kiss of the dragon" just as Liu departs with Isabel. Returning to Jessica's hospital bedside, Liu removes an acupuncture needle from Jessica's neck, promptly waking her. Upon waking up, she happily finds Isabel peacefully sleeping by her side.

Darren Silverman, Wayne LeFessier, and J.D. McNugent, best friends since fifth grade and Neil Diamond fans throughout, form a Neil Diamond tribute band called "Diamonds in the Rough".

Through a chance encounter in a local bar after a band gig, Darren meets Judith Fessbeggler, a beautiful but domineering psychologist who shows signs of being emotionally abusive. Six weeks into their relationship, Darren asks Judith if they could finally have sex, but Judith refuses until marriage. She suggests non-penetrative sex instead, so Darren gets nothing but a sore jaw.

Judith isolates Darren from his friends, demands that he quit the band, receive humiliating medical procedures, and attend relationship counseling under her care. Wayne and J.D. decide to save Darren from her by attempting to bribe her, arm wrestle her, and finally shock her with faked photographs of Darren cheating, all to no avail.

The friends, undaunted, try to reunite Darren with his "one and only", Sandy Perkus, when she returns to Seattle before she takes her final vows as a nun. When Darren and Judith announce their engagement, Wayne and J.D. kidnap her. However, Judith discovers the identity of her captors, and the duo are convinced they cannot let her go.

When they visit Coach Norton in jail (who accidentally killed a referee with a football signal pole in a fit of rage) he suggests they just kill her. The pair attempt to shoot Judith, but end up deciding against it. Sandy's feelings for Darren are reawakened, but their attempted date is ruined by Darren's preoccupation with Judith. Sandy, disheartened, returns to the convent, but Darren snaps out of it and runs the 30 miles there to win her back.

Chained to an engine block in Wayne's garage, Judith helps J.D. realize he is gay. She knocks him unconscious to steal his keys and escape, only to be tranquilized with a dart gun by Wayne. Returned to the garage, Judith seduces him into releasing one of her hands, so she escapes again. She runs to Darren's house in time to see him kiss Sandy, but shames him into confessing his engagement to her. Sandy, disappointed, returns to the convent again.

Darren has Wayne and J.D. arrested. Escaping from jail with Coach Norton's help, J.D. and Wayne rush to the convent on the brink of Sandy's final vows as a nun. Convincing her that Darren still loves her, they then kidnap Neil Diamond to help Darren and Sandy reunite.

At the wedding, Neil stalls the proceedings with the song "Hello Again" while Darren and Sandy reunite. Wayne and Judith (the latter being furious that her wedding is ruined) beat each other up (as love play) and J.D. arrives holding Coach in his arms, who coincidentally reveals to J.D. that he too is gay. The couples then wed on stage at Neil Diamond's concert; Darren to Sandy, Wayne to Judith, and J.D. to Coach.

Attorney Claire Kubik and her woodworker husband Tom find their idyllic life in Marin County, California, shattered when, during a Christmas shopping excursion in San Francisco's Union Square, he is captured by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and charged with the 1988 murders of nine unarmed civilians in a village in El Salvador. Claire learns Tom's real name is Ronald Chapman, and she is shocked to discover he was in a covert military operation, serving in the Marines, and has been on the run for the past 12 years.

Tom admits he was present at the scene of the mass murders but staunchly denies any involvement in the killings. He insists he has been scapegoated to protect the real culprit, Major James Hernandez, who has become the aide of Brigadier General Bill Marks.

First Lieutenant Terence Embry is assigned to defend Tom, but his youth and lack of experience prompt Claire to decide to assist professionally in defending her husband. When she realizes she needs help from someone familiar with the workings of a military court, she hires Charlie Grimes, an embittered former military attorney who has a grudge against the military brass, to assist her. Three of the five key witnesses, who previously testified Tom was guilty, have died under seemingly mysterious circumstances, raising Claire and Charlie's suspicions. As the trial proceeds, they uncover a massive cover-up perpetrated by one of the military's highest-ranking officials. Also creating problems are the sudden appearance of a resident of the village where the mass murder took place, who insists Tom was responsible; Embry's romantic involvement with Claire's irresponsible sister Jackie; Embry's drinking in a bar with the prosecutor, which leads Claire to assume that he leaked details about secrets she has uncovered to the prosecution; and Charlie's falling off the wagon after more than a year of sobriety.

The Salvadorian witness identifies an injured Hernandez as the culprit responsible for a bombing incident prior to the massacre. Claire recovers classified medical files from the FBI as evidence of the cover-up. Claire blackmails Marks by threatening to reveal what she knows about the cover-up and asks him to make the case go away; the next day, the U.S. Defense Department has the case thrown out of court due to "security reasons".

Just as Claire is about to celebrate her victory in court, Charlie discovers the truth: Tom had murdered one of the witnesses in front of his family. The widow who witnessed the act described Tom's having tossed his gun from one hand to the other (a habit Tom displayed with keys and other objects throughout the film) and his shooting his gun first using one hand, then the other (revealing his ambidexterity). The match between these descriptions also indicated that Tom committed the massacre and also murdered two of the other key witnesses years prior to his arrest. After Tom overhears Claire talking to Charlie on the phone, a short scuffle between Claire and Tom ensues, during which Claire fears for her life. The Salvadorian witness shoots Tom through the window, and the film ends with Charlie and Claire partnering a new law firm.

In the 1940s, Xu Fugui (Ge You) is a rich man's son and compulsive gambler, who loses his family property to a man named Long'er. His behavior also causes his long-suffering wife Jiazhen (Gong Li) to leave him, along with their daughter, Fengxia, and their unborn son, Youqing.

Fugui eventually reunites with his wife and children but is forced to start a shadow puppet troupe with a partner named Chunsheng. The Chinese Civil War is occurring at the time, and both Fugui and Chunsheng are conscripted into the Kuomintang's Republic of China armed forces during a performance. Midway through the war, the two are captured by the communist People's Liberation Army and serve by performing their shadow puppet routine for the communist revolutionaries. After the Communist victory, Fugui is able to return home, only to find out that due to a week-long fever, Fengxia has become mute and partially deaf.

Soon after his return, Fugui learns that Long'er did not want to donate any of his wealth to the communist people's government, preferring instead to burn all of his property. No one helps put out the fire because Long'er was a gentry. He is eventually put on trial and is sentenced to execution. As Long'er is pulled away, he recognizes Fugui in the crowd and tries to talk to him as he is dragged towards the execution grounds. Fugui is filled with fear and runs into an alleyway before hearing five gunshots. He runs home to tell Jiazhen what has happened, and they quickly pull out the certificate stating that Fugui served in the communist People's Liberation Army. Jiazhen assures him that they are no longer gentries and will not be killed.

The story moves forward a decade into the future, to the time of the Great Leap Forward. The local town chief enlists everyone to donate all scrap iron to the national drive to produce steel and make weaponry for retaking Taiwan. As an entertainer, Fugui performs for the entire town nightly, and is very smug about his singing abilities.

Soon after, some boys begin picking on Fengxia. Youqing decides to get back at one of the boys by dumping spicy noodles on his head during a communal lunch. Fugui is furious, but Jiazhen stops him and tells him why Youqing acted the way he did. Fugui realizes the love his children have for each other.

The children are exhausted from the hard labor they are doing in the town and try to sleep whenever they can. They eventually get a break during the festivities for meeting the scrap metal quota. The entire village eats dumplings in celebration. In the midst of the family eating, schoolmates of Youqing call for him to come prepare for the District Chief. Jiazhen tries to make Fugui let him sleep but eventually relents and packs her son twenty dumplings for lunch. Fugui carries his son to the school, and tells him to heat the dumplings before eating them, as he will get sick if he eats cold dumplings. He must listen to his father to have a good life.

Later on in the day, the older men and students rush to tell Fugui that his son has been killed by the District Chief. He was sleeping on the other side of a wall that the Chief's Jeep was on, and the car ran into the wall, injuring the Chief and crushing Youqing. Jiazhen, in hysterics, is forbidden to see her son's dead body, and Fugui screams at his son to wake up. Fengxia is silent in the background.

The District Chief visits the family at the grave, only to be revealed as Chunsheng. His attempts to apologize and compensate the family are rejected, particularly by Jiazhen, who tells him he owes her family a life. He returns to his Jeep in a haze, only to see his guard beating Fengxia for breaking the Jeep's windows. He tells the guard to stop, and walks home.

The story moves forward again another decade, to the Cultural Revolution. The village chief advises Fugui's family to burn their puppet drama props, which have been deemed as counter-revolutionary. Fengxia carries out the act, and is oblivious to the Chief's real reason for coming: to discuss a suitor for her. Fengxia is now grown up and her family arranges for her to meet Wan Erxi, a local leader of the Red Guards. Erxi, a man crippled by a workplace accident, fixes her parents' roof and paints depictions of Mao Zedong on their walls with his workmates. He proves to be a kind, gentle man; he and Fengxia fall in love and marry, and she soon becomes pregnant.

Chunsheng, still in the government, visits immediately after the wedding to ask for Jiazhen's forgiveness, but she refuses to acknowledge him. Later, he is branded a reactionary and a capitalist. He comes to tell them his wife has committed suicide and he intends to as well. He has come to give them all his money. Fugui refuses to take it. However, as Chunsheng leaves, Jiazhen commands him to live, reminding him that he still owes them a life.

Months later, during Fengxia's childbirth, her parents and husband accompany her to the county hospital. All doctors have been sent to do hard labor for being over educated, and the students are left as the only ones in charge. Wan Erxi manages to find a doctor to oversee the birth, removing him from confinement, but he is very weak from starvation. Fugui purchases seven steamed buns (mantou) for him and the family decides to name the son Mantou, after the buns. However, Fengxia begins to hemorrhage, and the nurses panic, admitting that they do not know what to do. The family and nurses seek the advice of the doctor, but find that he has overeaten and is semiconscious. The family is helpless, and Fengxia dies from postpartum hemorrhage (severe blood loss). The point is made that the doctor ate 7 buns, but that by drinking too much water at the same time, each bun expanded to the size of 7 buns: therefore Fengxia's death is a result of the doctor's having the equivalent of 49 buns in his belly.

The movie ends six years later, with the family now consisting of Fugui, Jiazhen, their son-in-law Erxi, and grandson Mantou. The family visits the graves of Youqing and Fengxia, where Jiazhen, as per tradition, leaves dumplings for her son. Erxi buys a box full of young chicks for his son, which they decide to keep in the chest formerly used for the shadow puppet props. When Mantou inquires how long it will take for the chicks to grow up, Fugui's response is a more tempered version of something he said earlier in the film. He expresses optimism for his grandson's future, and the film ends with his statement, "and life will get better and better" as the whole family sits down to eat.

Manual Jordan, a man who served nearly 23 years for killing a teenager during an attempted robbery, is released on parole in spite of his objections. After spending his time staring at a clipping of Abner Easley, the boy he killed, he returns to the city he used to live in to find redemption. He ends up living at a community house which is run by Miles Evans, a preacher. He offers Manual work so he can pay for the room, and Manual places Abner's photo in his room to remind himself of his crime.

While staying at the community house, he befriends Sofia Mellinger, a wild young woman with no adult figure in her life. Manual also encounters Adele Easley, the elder sister of Abner. She does not recognize Manual and in his pursuit for forgiveness, he forms a friendship with her, and their relationship begins to develop.

Manual gets his chance for redemption when Adele's rebellious teenage son becomes involved in violence. Manual tries to befriend him and steer him in the right direction, ever mindful of the past.

Chicago newspaper reporter Ernie Souchak (Belushi) is investigating a corrupt alderman. While doing an exposé on some shady land dealings, he is assaulted by two crooked police officers sent by the alderman and ends up in the hospital.

Souchak's editor decides to send him out of town for his own safety. A city boy, Souchak reluctantly travels to the Rockies to interview the reclusive Dr. Nell Porter (Brown), who has been conducting research on the American bald eagles for several years.

The two are at odds at first. After finding out he is a reporter, she is reluctant to let him stay, but realizes he is not able to survive in the mountains without his guide, who is not scheduled to return for two weeks. He is skeptical about her work, but comes to admire Porter for her strong character and dedication. Eventually, they fall in love.

At first, she lets him stay as long as he doesn't write his story. As they learn to respect each other, she agrees to let him write about her. During his adventures, he sprains his back in an accident, is mauled by a cougar, and meets an All-American football player who has left civilization and become a mountain man.

Souchak returns to Chicago with her very much on his mind. When he finds out that one of his sources has been "accidentally" killed, he once again doggedly pursues the investigation until the alderman is forced to flee the country.

The same day, Souchak finds out that Porter is coming to Chicago to present a museum lecture on her work. With some uncertainty, he decides to attend, and they quickly rekindle their relationship. Happy as they are together, they cannot reconcile the different paths each has taken in life, and so they reluctantly decide to part again.

Souchak, seeing her off on the train, ends up traveling with her all the way back to Wyoming. After getting off at her stop, they decide that they cannot live without each other and decide to marry. Souchak catches the next train back to Chicago, but the newlyweds promise to meet again very soon.

In 1864 during the American Civil War, a group of Confederate prisoners held in a Union prison stockade at Plattsburgh, New York, not many miles from the Canada–US border, escape. They head for Montréal, Quebec and then plan a raid across the border into St. Albans, Vermont, to rob its banks to replenish the Confederate treasury and burn buildings as revenge for Sherman's March to the Sea and to tie up the Union forces.

Major Neal Benton (Van Heflin), the leader of the raid, heads into St. Albans as a spy and develops ambiguous feelings about what he is doing when he becomes friends with an attractive young war widow and her friendly son, who he boards with, masquerading as a Canadian businessman. Other raiders stay in an abandoned barn or pose as travelling street peddlers. One drunken member interrupts a church service and is promptly shot dead by Benton, the raid leader, almost giving away the plot. The townspeople shower Benton with gratitude for this, not realizing his own true identity.

On the appointed day, Major Benton in town, and the other raiders at the barn, all don Confederate uniforms, take some citizens hostage, rob the bank's strongbox at gunpoint, burn down the town hall, and gallop north just ahead of an arriving Union force. Burning a bridge behind them, they barely elude the Union forces and make a successful getaway to nearby Canada.

The USS ''Enterprise'' approaches Mab-Bu VI, a moon covered in electromagnetic storms, from where it has detected a distress call. Lt. Commander Data discovers that the distress call is standard for ''Daedalus''-class starships, which went out of service 172 years ago. He then finds that the USS ''Essex'', a ''Daedalus''-class ship, was lost in the region over 200 years ago. After concluding that visiting a ghost ship with an away team in such hazardous conditions is a waste of resources, Picard decides to move on and report the whereabouts of the once-missing ship. However, Troi indicates that she feels a living presence on the surface. Data announces that electromagnetic interference precludes the use of the transporter to the moon; Picard authorizes a shuttlecraft mission, crewed by Riker, Data, and Troi.

As the shuttlecraft travels towards the moon's surface, the crew loses control, and makes a crash landing. By the time the shuttle lands, all communication with the ''Enterprise'' has been cut off by electromagnetic interference. Riker suspects he has a broken arm due to the crash landing and the three crew members emerge from the shuttlecraft to learn about their surroundings. They observe the front of a massive electrical storm. A tricorder scan indicates EM bursts across the entire spectrum.

Back on the ''Enterprise'', the crew discuss rescuing the crew of the shuttle. Ro Laren uses the descent angle of the shuttlecraft to approximate the landing site. Transporter chief Miles O'Brien proposes that he should transport to the surface and use a pattern-enhancing device to allow a reliable transport of the away team. La Forge cautions Picard that O'Brien's chance of surviving the transport is about . O'Brien acknowledges the risk and Picard grants permission.

O'Brien safely transports to Mab-Bu VI and he is greeted with relief by Riker. As O'Brien prepares the transport procedure, the crew is struck by what appear to be bolts of electricity, incapacitating all four members. Three light sources enter the bodies of Data, Troi, and O'Brien, and Riker awakens to finish the pattern buffers. All four are then safely transported back to the ''Enterprise''.

When they awaken, Data, Troi, and O'Brien insist that the ''Enterprise'' conduct a survey of the southern polar region of the moon. The rest of the crew refuse. The three then stage a violent uprising and take command of the ship. They use hostages as leverage to force Picard to change course. Dr. Crusher determines that Riker was not affected because the pain from his broken arm repelled whatever force possessed the others. Troi, the leader of the mutineers, then reveals that she is the captain of the ''Essex''. She claims that their spirits were trapped in the electromagnetic fields of the moon and if the ''Enterprise'' transports their bones back to Earth, they can be set free. However, Picard is skeptical of her claim because of their violent actions.

La Forge, Crusher, and Ro devise a plan to separate the possessive entities from the crew members' bodies by inducing pain, then containing them by flooding the area with a particle field. However the plan fails when Data suddenly moves out of the attack area. After Data threatens to kill everyone in the room, Picard agrees to comply with their demands. He tells Riker to let Data, Troi, and O'Brien move safely to one of the cargo bays. Picard, Worf, and Keiko O'Brien accompany them as hostages.

After they arrive, Picard challenges Troi about her claim to be captain of the ''Essex'' and she reveals that the moon is a penal colony. The prisoners had previously attempted to take over the Essex and her crew to escape the colony, but the ship had crashed during the attempt. O'Brien uses the transporter to beam hundreds of other prisoner entities into the cargo bay. These prisoners are to take over additional crew members' bodies so they can commandeer the ''Enterprise'' and return to their home planet.

The bridge crew activates the particle field, which sequesters the other prisoners. They then prepare to blow the cargo bay hatch, which would kill the six crew members in addition to all the prisoners. Picard, Worf, and Keiko each declare that they are willing to die, which forces the three prisoners to relinquish their hosts. Worf beams all prisoners back to the moon.

Data apologizes to Worf for the way he acted when possessed by a prisoner, adding that Worf must have exercised extreme self-control to not fight back. Worf says "You have no idea."

Immediately following ''The Short Victorious War'', Honor returns to Manticore as a hero following the victory at Hancock Station, her ship undergoing much needed repairs. Captain Pavel Young, Honor's bitterest enemy, is about to face a court-martial for cowardice before the enemy, punishable by death. Under threat from Young's father, Earl North Hollow, Young is instead demoted and dishonorably discharged from the Navy. Despite the reprieve, North Hollow suffers a fatal heart attack and Young becomes the new Earl of North Hollow. The Star Kingdom officially declares war on the People's Republic of Haven.

Seeking revenge on Honor, Pavel Young first tries to discredit her and then hires a professional duelist, former Royal Marine Denver Summervale, to challenge Honor's lover Paul Tankersley to a duel. Paul is killed by Summervale while Honor is on Grayson overseeing her Steading and formally being appointed Steadholder, as promised in ''The Honor of the Queen''.

Paul's death is a severe blow to Honor, and she determines to kill Summervale no matter the cost to herself. Several of Honor's friends and comrades track Summervale to a hidden retreat where they force him to confess to being hired to kill Paul, though this immediately guarantees his immunity to prosecution given the way the confession is extracted.

Honor confronts Summervale and goads him into challenging her by calling him a paid assassin before witnesses. Both Young and Summervale are confidently expecting Honor to be killed, but she slaughters Summervale in the following duel. Honor then proclaims to the assembled media that Summervale was hired to kill Paul Tankersley and herself by Pavel Young.

Young goes into hiding, to deny Honor from an opportunity to challenge him, planning to wait until repairs on the ''Nike'' are completed and Honor is shipped back to the front. Despite being ordered by Earl White Haven to not pursue Young, Honor uses a technicality of the House of Lords chamber rules to demand that she be formally seated with them, and uses the opportunity to denounce Young publicly and challenge him to a duel. Risking total loss of face and political strength, Young is forced to agree.

In the duel, Young panics and turns, shooting Honor in the back, before being cut down by Honor before the Master of the field can even react. The outraged aristocracy removes Honor from the House of Lords and political pressure forces the navy to remove Honor from command and place her on half-pay, with no active assignment. Honor decides to return to Grayson until the crisis subsides.

As the story begins, Honor returns to her Steading on Grayson, having just been promoted to Commodore for her actions in ''Honor Among Enemies''. During a party celebrating her promotion, she engages in a heated debate with Earl White Haven, her superior, and the two realize they have mutual unspoken romantic feelings for each other.

In an attempt to escape her own feelings, Honor goes with Alistair McKeon on a convoy escort mission to the Adler system, which has been captured by Citizen Rear Admiral Lester Tourville of the DuQuesne base, under the orders of Citizen Admiral Thomas Theisman, in order to capture or destroy a large chunk of Manticoran shipping. Spotting the ambush and after salvaging what she can of her convoy from Havenite attack, Honor orders McKeon to surrender.

After learning of Honor's capture Cordelia Ransom, the People's Republic's Secretary for Public Information, who is present at Admiral Theismans' headquarters doing a propaganda piece, demands that the Manticorans be surrendered to her for propaganda uses. Unable to deny Ransom and her StateSec enforcers, Admiral Theisman capitulates. The crew are transferred to the Havenite battlecruiser PNS ''Tepes'', Ransom's personal flagship, bound for the Havenite prison planet of Hades, where Ransom intends to execute Honor for a death sentence handed down by the prior government (on trumped up charges). Ransom gives any crew member serving under Harrington a chance to defect and Senior Chief Petty Officer Harkness takes up the offer claiming that Manticore have never really done anything for him.

Unbeknownst to StateSec, Harkness has no intention of truly defecting, and after fooling his assigned watchdogs, hacks into the security and communication systems, eventually disabling them and causing massive explosions in the boat bays. Freeing the rest of the crew, they manage to destroy the Tepes and land on Cerberus B 2, facing a well-provided for prison camp and unknown amounts of State Security forces.

The game is loosely inspired by its namesake, ''Don Quixote'', and features a heroic young knight named Don on a quest to save his love, the fair princess Isabella, who has been kidnapped by a wicked witch for human sacrifice to a demon. Don is accompanied on his travels by a donkey (based on Rocinante, the original Don Quixote's horse), and a fat little man named Sancho (based on Don Quixote's trusty sidekick Sancho Panza).

The closest parallel to the original tale is a scene in which Don fights a giant at a windmill. However, the rest of the game pits him against a mummy, a dragon, skeletons, demons, giant snakes, flying electric jellyfish, an animated totem pole, the witch's daughter, and other scenarios with no relation to the original story. The game ends when Don kills the witch and rescues Isabella, and they escape the witch's castle as it is destroyed.

Patrick McNulty is a self-important, annoying man in his 40s. One day, he is summoned by his boss, Mr. Cooper. McNulty is delighted, believing that his frequent contributions to the suggestion box have earned him recognition. Cooper, however, says that all of McNulty's suggestions deal with fields of enterprise in which the company is not involved and fires McNulty for wasting his time.

McNulty goes to Joe Palucci's bar, where he drives away the other patrons with his opinions about a sporting event. Palucci requests that McNulty patronize another establishment, but McNulty ignores him and buys a drink for the sole remaining patron, Potts, a drunk who spews various phrases from times long past. In return, Potts gives McNulty his stopwatch. Thinking it an odd gift, McNulty quickly discovers that it pauses time for everyone and everything except for the watch holder.

McNulty tries to show Cooper the power of the stopwatch in the hopes of improving their company, but Cooper does not understand McNulty and dismisses him. Returning to the bar, McNulty tries to demonstrate the power of the watch to the customers, but does it in such a way that they do not understand again.

McNulty steps into a bank with the intention of robbing it, but drops the watch, which breaks and permanently freezes time. With no way to repair it, McNulty frantically begs for help from the frozen people around him.

Annabelle buys her daughter, Christie, a wind-up doll named "Talky Tina" in order to comfort her. When wound, the doll says, "My name is Talky Tina and I love you very much." Annabelle has recently remarried to an infertile man named Erich Streator. Frustrated by his inability to have his own children with Annabelle, Erich directs his hostility toward Christie. Annabelle tries to persuade him that if he gives himself the chance, he will be able to love Christie.

When Erich winds up the doll, it substitutes its catchphrase with antagonisms such as "I don't like you". At first, Erich blames the doll's manufacturer. However, when the doll begins engaging him in a more elaborate conversation, he comes to the conclusion that Annabelle is playing a trick to get back at him for his treatment of Christie. He places the doll in a trash can in the garage, but then receives a phone call and hears the doll's voice threatening to kill him. Checking the trash can, he finds it empty. He confronts Annabelle, but she pleads innocence. It occurs to Erich that since his wife was upstairs putting Christie to bed, she could not possibly have made the phone ring.

He runs upstairs to find the doll in bed with Christie. Erich takes the doll away against Christie's tearful protests and angrily corrects her when she addresses him as "Daddy". He attempts to destroy the doll using a vise, a blow torch and a circular saw, all to no effect. He ties the doll in a burlap sack and returns it to the trash can, weighing the lid with bricks. Annabelle begins packing to leave, unable to tolerate his hostility and irrational behavior any longer. She says that Erich should see a psychiatrist. Erich begins to question whether the doll talking to him was just his imagination, and he offers to return it to Christie if Annabelle will stay. He takes the doll out of the trash and returns it to Christie.

Later that night, Erich is awakened by muffled noises. He tells Annabelle to stay in the bedroom, and leaves to investigate. Christie is in bed, but Tina is gone. Going down the stairs, he trips over Tina, who is lying on one of the treads, and falls, sustaining seemingly fatal injuries. Attracted by the noise, Annabelle finds Erich's body. Beside him is Tina, who opens her eyes and threatens Annabelle by saying, "My name is Talky Tina... and you'd better be nice to me!"

Sheriff Pat Garrett welcomes his old friend Doc Holliday to Lincoln, New Mexico. Doc is looking for his stolen horse and finds it held by Billy the Kid. Despite this, the two gunfighters take a liking to each other, much to Garrett's disgust. Doc still tries to steal his horse back late that night, but Billy is waiting for him outside the barn.

After that, Billy decides to sleep in the barn, and shots are fired at him. He overpowers his ambusher, who turns out to be Rio McDonald, Doc's love-interest. She is out to avenge her dead brother. It is implied that the Kid rapes Rio after ripping off her dress.

The next day, a stranger offers to shoot Garrett in the back while the Kid distracts the lawman. But, he is only setting the Kid up. Billy, suspicious as always, guns the stranger down just before being shot himself. There are no witnesses, and Garrett tries to arrest Billy. Garrett does not understand when Doc sides with the Kid. As the pair start to leave, Garrett shoots Billy. Doc in response shoots the gun out of his hand and also shoots and kills two of Garrett's men.

Doc flees with Billy to the home of Rio and her aunt, Guadalupe. With a posse after them, Doc rides away. Instead of killing the unconscious Kid, Rio instead nurses him to health over the next month. By the time Doc returns, Rio has fallen in love with her patient. Doc is furious that Billy has stolen his girlfriend. After Doc's anger subsides a bit, the Kid gives him a choice: the horse or Rio. To Billy's annoyance, Doc picks the horse. Angered that both men value the animal more than her, Rio fills their canteens with sand. The two ride off without noticing.

On the trail, they are pursued by Garrett and a posse. The pair surmise that Rio tipped the sheriff off. Doc kills a few men from long range, but leaves Garrett unharmed.

When Doc wakes one morning, he finds Billy gone and Garrett waiting to handcuff him and take him back to town. Stopping at Rio's, the two men find that Billy has left Rio tied up in sight of water in revenge. Suspecting that Billy loves Rio (even if he doesn't realize it) and will return to free her, Garrett waits. Billy indeed returns, and he is captured.

On the way back to town, they are surrounded by hostile Mescaleros. Garrett reluctantly frees his prisoners and returns their revolvers, after extracting a promise from Doc that he will give them back and make Billy do the same. They manage to elude the Indians, but Doc refuses to honor his word.

As Doc tries to leave with his horse, Billy stops him. The two men decide to have a duel, which Garrett expects Billy to lose. However, as they await the signal (the end of a clock signalling eight o'clock), Billy realizes that Doc is a true friend, and moves his hands away from his guns. Doc tries to provoke him, inflicting minor wounds in one hand and both ears, but the Kid still will not fire. The two reconcile. Furious, Garrett calls Doc out, despite not having a chance. Doc makes no attempt to shoot his friend and is fatally wounded. Garrett is aghast.

After Doc is buried, Garrett offers to give Billy their friend's revolvers. He also persuades Billy to give him his guns, saying that he can claim that it is Billy in the grave. Billy can leave his past behind him and have a fresh start in life. But, it is a trick. Garrett had removed the firing pins from Doc's revolvers. While comparing the guns, he inadvertently switched one of Doc's for his, so neither of the men's guns fire. Billy pulls out a second, working gun. He handcuffs Garrett, judging that the lawman will say that Billy is dead rather than admit that Billy left him helpless. As he is riding away, Billy stops and looks back; Rio joins him on his horse.

The show generally begins with a new knight coming in to defeat the dragon, and after an amusing "battle" leaving either scared, running or happy.

A gang of violent young neo-Nazi skinheads from Footscray, Victoria, Australia attack three Vietnamese Australian teenagers in a tunnel at Footscray Station, brutally beating two of them. The gang is led by Hando, a violent, reckless, and unpredictable psychopath with strong white nationalist beliefs and homicidal tendencies, with his friend and second-in-command, the quiet, reserved, but similarly violent Davey. At their local pub, Hando and Davey meet Gabrielle, who suffers from random seizures, the day after her sexually abusive, affluent father Martin has her junkie boyfriend arrested. Gabrielle begins a romantic relationship with Hando, which, despite a strong start, quickly becomes dysfunctional as he becomes increasingly abusive towards her.

After the gang vandalizes a shopping mall, friends of the gang visit from Canberra, one of whom has joined the Royal Australian Navy. A party at the warehouse follows. The next day two boys go to the pub, which has just been sold to a Vietnamese businessman by the owner. Upon seeing the new owner and his sons, they inform Hando, who arrives with his gang, and they savagely beat two of the new owner's sons, while the third son escapes and calls for help. Fed up with the gang's antagonism and violence, a large mob of armed and angry Vietnamese men, led by Tiger, arrive and descend upon the skinheads. The Vietnamese outnumber the skinheads by droves, and in the ensuing brawl and chase, several skinheads are beaten by the angry mob, among them Magoo, Luke, Champ, and Brent. The rest of the gang is chased back to their rented warehouse, from which they narrowly escape as the Vietnamese mob breaks in and ransacks the building before burning it down.

The skinheads soon find a new base at a nearby warehouse, after evicting a pair of squatters, and plan retaliation against the Vietnamese. When the gang agrees to acquire firearms, two female friends of the gang depart in disgust. Gabrielle suggests the gang burgle her father's mansion for the guns. After beating and tying up Martin, the gang ransacks the house, smashes one of his cars, and raids his wine collection. The youngest skinhead, Bubs, steals a deactivated revolver from the house during the burglary. Gabrielle tells Martin the burglary is revenge for his years of abuse, then reveals to Davey her plan to take Hando away from his violent life. Martin eventually frees himself and uses a handgun to scare away the gang, who flee in the trashed vehicle and leave behind most of the stolen goods. Due to this incident, Davey begins to question his violent lifestyle.

Agitated by Gabrielle's criticism of the poor outcome of the robbery and their living conditions, Hando abruptly hits, berates, dumps, and then evicts her. Davey, unable to tolerate the excess violence and Hando's cruel and unpredictable nature any further, declares his departure from the gang and gives Gabrielle his German grandmother's address, where he will be staying. Gabrielle informs the police of the gang's location and spends the night with Davey, where they confess their feelings for each other. Davey also reveals his doubts about his violent lifestyle to Gabrielle, having removed the racist patches from his flight jacket out of concern for his grandmother.

The morning after, the police raid the warehouse where the skinhead gang is hiding. Bubs is shot in the head after pointing the stolen deactivated gun at the police, and what remains of the gang is beaten and arrested. Hando, who was returning to the warehouse and fled when he spotted the police, successfully evades capture as the last remaining member of his gang.

Arriving at Davey's granny-flat, Hando finds his friend in bed with Gabrielle. Hando accuses her of informing the police, but Davey says they were together the whole time since leaving the squat. However, Hando convinces Davey and Gabrielle to come with him by claiming the police will soon raid the residence, and the trio go on the run. They rob a service station, where Hando strangles the Asian attendant to death; and, after driving all night, they stop at Point Addis, Bells Beach the next morning. There, Gabrielle overhears a conversation wherein Hando tries to convince Davey to abandon her. Feeling betrayed, Gabrielle sets their car on fire and admits to tipping the police off about the gang's whereabouts. Hando, infuriated beyond sense, immediately attacks her and attempts to asphyxiate her multiple times, first by strangling her and then by drowning her in the surf. Davey attempts to fight Hando several times and successfully disrupts each attempt on Gabrielle's life, but he is quickly fought off and beaten down each time. Eventually, Hando attempts to smother Gabrielle in the sand, before Davey, desperate to save Gabrielle, stabs Hando in the neck with his Hitler Youth knife, who staggers away before finally collapsing. As a busload of Japanese tourists looks on, a weeping Davey attempts to comfort a petrified Gabrielle as Hando's corpse gazes lifelessly out at the ocean.

Harry Palmer (Michael Caine), who has left MI5 to work as a private investigator, is told by a mechanical voice on the phone to take a package to Helsinki. The package contains six virus-laden eggs that have been stolen from the British government's research facility at Porton Down. In Helsinki, he is met by Anya (Françoise Dorléac), who takes him to meet her handler, Harry's old friend Leo Newbigen (Karl Malden). Leo is in love with Anya, but Harry sees that she is only pretending to reciprocate.

After determining that he cannot trust either Leo or Anya, Harry is abducted by his former MI5 superior, Colonel Ross (Guy Doleman), who coerces him into working once more for the British government in pursuing the conspiracy and getting the eggs back.

Leo takes Harry to a secret room where a computer issues daily instructions to the local team, speaking in the same voice that summoned Harry to Helsinki. The computer orders Leo to kill Anya, but he doesn't. All go to meet a scientist who assesses the value of the eggs and Harry is introduced as a new operator.

Harry is ordered to Latvia, in the USSR, where he embeds with rebels to obtain intelligence.

After being captured and left for dead, Harry is set free by Colonel Stok (Oskar Homolka), an old acquaintance from the KGB. Back in Helsinki, Anya tries to kill Harry while seducing him, then confesses that the computer told her to kill him. Harry locks her in a room and waits for Leo at the computer. Leo offers to pay off Harry for his trouble, but Harry insists on half of the money Leo is getting from whatever the conspiracy is all about.

The pair go to Texas, where Harry meets oil tycoon General Midwinter (Ed Begley). Midwinter proudly displays his billion-dollar "brain", a room full of computers dispensing orders to his agents around the world. The General is in the midst of planning a rebellion in Latvia, which he thinks will trigger the fall of Communism worldwide. He thinks Leo has hired hundreds of Latvian agents, but actually there are only a handful, as Leo is pocketing the money. The General plans to begin a rebellion using these agents while his own private army invades to back them, and simultaneously infect the Red Army with the viruses. Meanwhile, Leo subverts Midwinter's computer orders and escapes with the eggs. Midwinter realises Harry is a double agent, but Harry tells him what Leo is doing and convinces him that he can track Leo down.

Back in Helsinki, Leo and Anya board a train for Moscow with the eggs, but Harry, accompanied by two of Midwinter's men, chases the train in a car, intercepts it, and escorts Leo off the train with the eggs. Anya shoots Harry's bodyguards as the train pulls away from a station near the border. Leo runs after the train with the eggs. Anya takes them, but pushes him off the train. "She used me", Leo tells Harry. He then offers to help Harry stop Midwinter's insane plan, which could trigger World War III.

In personnel carriers disguised as his company's oil tanker trucks, Midwinter leads his private army across the frozen Gulf of Finland into Latvia. Harry and Leo attempt to catch up with the General, but he orders their car to be fired upon and Leo is killed. Meanwhile, Stok is fully aware of the invasion and orders bombers to intercept the convoy. Rather than bombing it directly, they simply drop the bombs on the ice in its path. The entire convoy plunges through the ice into the freezing water, and all the vehicles and soldiers—including General Midwinter himself—sink to an icy Baltic grave.

Harry awakes alone on an ice floe. Stok arrives in a helicopter with Anya, introducing her as his agent. He gives the eggs to Harry, explaining, "We don't need them; we have our own ideas."

Back in London, Harry delivers the eggs to Ross, who agrees to reward Harry with a promotion. However, when he opens the package to inspect the eggs, he finds it is now full of baby chicks.

Philip J. Fry learns that the ''Star Trek'' franchise has been forbidden since the series became a worldwide religion in the 2200s; all of its fans were killed during the Star Trek Wars and the "sacred" tapes of its 79 episodes and six movies were burned, with the remaining copies sent to the forbidden planet Omega 3. Outraged, Fry takes Leonard Nimoy's head from the Head Museum and convinces Bender and Leela to join him in a mission to recover the tapes.

On Omega 3, they find several original sets from ''Star Trek'', and most of the original cast with new bodies and eternal youth. An energy being named Melllvar explains that he became a Trekkie after watching the discarded tapes over and over again. Melllvar gives Nimoy a body, and orders the actors and the Planet Express crew to participate in a ''Star Trek'' convention until the end of time, killing Welshie, a supporting character, to ensure their obedience. While Melllvar forces the cast to perform his fan script, Bender, Leela and Fry escape in the ''Planet Express Ship''. Fry convinces the crew to attack Melllvar to save the actors, but Melllvar destroys the ship's engine as he drags it back to the planet.

After seeing the Planet Express crew's attempt to defeat him, Melllvar wonders if they are more worthy of his adoration than the ''Star Trek'' cast, and decides to force them to battle to the death. After several minutes of fighting, Melllvar's mother appears and makes him come home for dinner. While he is gone, the two groups combine the engine of the cast's ship with the hull of the ''Planet Express Ship'' to escape. To lose enough weight to lift off, the cast jettison their bodies. Melllvar follows the crew into space in a Klingon Bird of Prey. Zapp Brannigan boards the ''Planet Express Ship'' and holds a court-martial of the occupants for trespassing on Omega 3. Leela points out that while the court-martial is in progress, Melllvar is still chasing them. Fry convinces Melllvar that he cannot spend his life watching ''Star Trek'', and Melllvar agrees to end the chase, allowing the crew and cast to return to Earth.

The game opens with Waluigi stealing the four Music Keys, which can grant wishes, from Truffle Towers. However, when he tries to open the door to the room containing the Music Keys, three of them scatter across the Mushroom Kingdom, leaving him with only one key. From a distance, Toad watches these events unfold and rushes to tell Mario or Luigi, depending on which character the player chose, who then rushes off to retrieve the missing Music Keys.

The keys are recovered by completing tasks for other characters who have found the scattered keys and then defeating them in a dance challenge. These characters are, in order, Waluigi, Pirate Lakitu, Big Blooper, Hammer Bros., Wario and Freezie. After recovering each key, Toad and the player's character sail the SS Brass, an instrument-themed airship, and head to new world unless all Music Keys are recovered/collected.

After collecting the four Music Keys, Toad and the player's character then return the Music Keys to Truffle Towers. Soon after, Bowser steals the keys, but is followed by Toad and the player's chosen character. They infiltrate Bowser's Castle to recapture the Music Keys while being attacked by Bill Blasters and their Bullet Bills, and are promptly challenged by Bowser. After defeating him in a dance-off, Bowser tells Toad and the player's character that he planned to use the Music Keys to fix his tone deafness. This prompts the player's character to use the Music Keys to turn the area around Bowser's Castle into a green field and induces a feeling to dance in everyone, with Toad realizing that this was how the Music Keys were supposed to be used as the game's ending sequence plays.

Rick Rambis, best friend Luke, and other friends Anthony, "Pig Pen", Jenny, Lance and Stumpy, all live and work at a ski resort on Bull Mountain in Alaska. The mountain and resort were founded by Herbert "Papa" Muntz who loved to drink and ski at the same time until he died doing so. His son, Ted, took over the mountain and plans to sell it to wealthy Colorado ski resort tycoon, John Majors. In addition to being friends, Rick has romantic designs on Jenny, but is held back as he is still getting over his ex, Anna, who mysteriously disappeared after 3 weeks of summer love in Mexico.

After arriving at the mountain, John Majors plans to change the mountain name and turn the ski village into a first class resort but seeks Rick's help in getting his rowdy friends in line so as not to scare off his investors. John brings with him to the mountain his daughters, Inga, a Swiss ski bunny, and Anna, Rick's summer fling. After Anna's arrival, Rick then gets drunk and misses his date with Jenny. Later, Anna explains she left Rick in Mexico because she was already engaged and that Rick was the other man. Majors begins to make major changes to the town and mountain, such as changing the dive bar to an upscale club and removing the statue of Papa Muntz from the center of the town. Majors offers Rick a contract to be his new manager and Rick agrees on the condition that his friends all get to stay, but Majors secretly has Ted fire them behind his back. Rick finds out about the firing of his friends and quits his job and races to stop his friends from leaving.

Rick gives an inspirational speech about how the mountain is their home and not letting Majors ruin the memory of Papa Muntz, they all grab their snowboards and head for the mountain. The group of friends and Inga then cause bedlam at the festivities and Major is outraged at Rick's betrayal. Rick frees Anna from her father and takes her to an airstrip where Barry, her fiancé, waits in his plane. He tells Anna what they had in Mexico was special but that he realized she belongs with Barry and Rick watches Anna fly away. The friends defeat Majors and Ted decides he is no longer selling the mountain. Rick asks Jenny out again after revealing he no longer thinks of Anna.

The USS ''Enterprise'' arrives for shore leave at the paradisiacal, newly discovered planet of Rubicun III. A small advance party from the ship are sent down to meet with the Edo, the native people of the planet. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) sends Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) as part of the away team to evaluate the planet on behalf of the young people on board the ''Enterprise''. Upon their arrival, they are greeted by Rivan (Brenda Bakke) and Liator (Jay Louden) in a very comfortable way, triggering Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn) to determine it a "nice planet", while Wesley leaves the adults to socialize with native teenagers. On the Enterprise, Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) reports something unusual orbiting the planet, but nothing appears on the viewscreen. He sends out a communications signal which reveals another vessel in orbit. A small ball of light enters the bridge and communicates with Picard in a booming voice, warning him not to interfere with the Edo, calling them his "children". The intruder then incapacitates Data.

On Rubicun III, the Edo explain to Lt. Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) and Worf that capital punishment is used to enforce their laws. The away team rush to warn Wesley, only to discover he has accidentally broken a greenhouse while playing catch with the Edo youths. An Edo mediator, or policeman, attempts to give Wesley a lethal injection for this infraction of the law, but Yar and Worf draw their phasers. On the ship, the sphere leaves Data's body and departs. Picard, upon hearing of the situation with Wesley, transports to the surface. He meets with representatives of the Edo in a council chamber and explains that Earth no longer practices capital punishment. Some Edo interpret this stance as an attempt by the Federation to push their superiority and suggest that Picard should mount a rescue effort for the boy. He says he cannot, quoting the Prime Directive.

Picard asks about the mysterious vessel in orbit and discovers that the Edo worship it as a god. He returns to his ship with Rivan and Counsellor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis). Rivan sees the strange ship from orbit and confirms it is the Edo's god. She is transported back to the surface when the ship threatens the ''Enterprise'' for taking her away from the planet, and that the captain and the rest of the ship must now share Wesley's fate according to the Edo code. Data reveals that, while he was in communication with the entity, it will protect the Edo as if they were its children. After considering their options, Picard returns to the planet's surface and announces that he is willing to risk the wrath of the entity. He orders the transportation of Wesley to the ''Enterprise'', but the entity disables the transporters and threatens to destroy the rest of the ship once again. Picard has had enough, and pleads with the Edo god that laws must allow for exceptions to ensure justice, and after this statement the transporters go back online and allows the away team to return. Upon leaving the planet, Picard communicates with the entity to inform it that they are leaving and that they will remove recently placed colonists at a nearby star system under the entity's claimed jurisdiction, if the entity expresses so. However, the final offer was refused as the entity informs Picard to steer clear of the Edo before disappearing. Picard regrets they did not communicate more, and the ''Enterprise'' departs.

While moving to a new house, Tom and Jerry are left behind by the moving van that Tom's owners are in. Tom chases the van, but is scared away by a bulldog and forced to stay in the house. The next morning, the old house is demolished to the ground, leaving both animals homeless and wandering around the city for shelter until they meet a stray dog named Puggsy and his flea companion, Frankie. Upon introducing themselves, Tom and Jerry, realizing they can both speak, are forced to befriend each other to survive. While Tom and Jerry search for food, Puggsy and Frankie are captured by dogcatchers, and Tom is attacked by a group of volatile singing alley cats until Jerry traps them in the sewer.

Tom and Jerry soon meet Robyn Starling, a runaway 8-year-old girl whose lost her mother as a baby and later her father supposedly in an avalanche during an expedition in Tibet. Robyn and her family's fortune as a result are currently in the custody of her guardian Aunt Pristine Figg and her lawyer Lickboot, who see Robyn only as a way to keep their obtained wealth. A local police officer brings Robyn, Tom, and Jerry home. Figg reluctantly allows Tom and Jerry to stay. However, after a food fight between Tom, Jerry, and Figg's obese dog Ferdinand, Figg suggests taking them to Dr. Applecheek, who is said to love animals. Jerry overhears Figg and Lickboot discussing a telegram confirming Robyn's father is alive and running his company in Tibet. Jerry tells Tom, and they attempt to tell Robyn, but Figg locks Robyn in her room and takes Tom and Jerry to Dr. Applecheek, who is in truth a sadistic animal kidnapper and the dogcatchers' employer. Figg had paid Applecheek to kill Tom and Jerry.

Tom and Jerry reunite with Puggsy and Frankie, who suggest using a nearby control panel to release the cages, freeing numerous captured animals including Droopy. As they inform Robyn of her father's survival, Tom, Jerry and Robyn set out to find Robyn's father on a raft, but the raft is suddenly struck by a ship and they are separated. Meanwhile, in Tibet, Robyn's father becomes aware of his daughter's problems and flies back to America to reconcile with her.

The next day, Figg and Lickboot put a $1,000,000 bounty on Robyn to anyone who can find her, with no promise on paying. Robyn is found and detained by amusement park manager Captain Kiddie. Kiddie is initially accommodating to Robyn until he sees Figg's bounty on a milk carton, whereupon he traps Robyn on a Ferris wheel and contacts Figg, who leaves with Lickboot and Ferdinand while Applecheek and the dogcatchers try to beat them there in order to collect the bounty. Tom and Jerry find and rescue Robyn and trap the dogcatchers on the Ferris wheel just as Figg and Lickboot arrive. They escape in a paddle steamer with Figg, Lickboot, Kiddie, and Applecheek in hot pursuit. Applecheek falls from a bridge and sinks Kiddie's dinghy, while Figg and Lickboot head to "Robyn's Nest" – a small cabin where Robyn and her father spent their summers – predicting she will hide there.

Tom, Jerry and Robyn arrive at the cabin where Robyn is ambushed by Figg and Lickboot, who lock Tom and Jerry outside with Ferdinand. During an altercation, an oil lamp is cracked open and starts a fire that engulfs the cabin. As Figg and Lickboot attempt to escape, Tom and Jerry get Robyn to refuge on the roof. Figg and Lickboot escape the cabin but trip on Ferdinand's skateboard and crash onto the paddle steamer, which sails out of control down the river. Robyn's father then arrives in his helicopter and saves her, but runs out of time to help Tom and Jerry as the cabin collapses, though they miraculously survive. After the rescue, Robyn's father promises to never leave her again, and Tom and Jerry's bravery make the newspaper, which is read by Puggsy and Frankie, who are proud of Tom and Jerry for learning how to be friends. Sometime later, the cat and mouse begin a new life in Robyn's luxurious villa and reignite their never-ending conflict.

The ''Enterprise'' encounters a Ferengi vessel whose captain, DaiMon Bok, requests a meeting with Captain Picard. Picard is suffering from persistent headaches, whose cause Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) is unable to determine. Meanwhile a second vessel approaches and is identified as a Federation ''Constellation''-class starship.

Bok transports to the bridge of the ''Enterprise'', and announces that the newly arrived ship is a gift for "the hero of Maxia." Data (Brent Spiner) reminds Picard that nine years earlier at Maxia he was attacked by an unidentified aggressor which he destroyed. Bok reveals that the ship in question was Ferengi. Bok's gift is identified as the ''Stargazer'', Picard's former command, which Bok found as a derelict. Picard explains that at Maxia, the crew was forced to abandon ship, despite winning the battle by an action that would come to be known as the "Picard Maneuver", a short warp jump that caused the enemy vessel's light-speed limited sensors to detect the ''Stargazer'' in two places at once.

Picard and an away team board the ''Stargazer'', and he orders a chest of his belongings sent to the ''Enterprise''. Hidden in the chest is an orb, apparently under Bok's control, that subjects Picard to a wave of pain. Dr. Crusher orders him back to the ''Enterprise''. Data finds an entry in the ''Stargazer'' s logs stating that the Ferengi were attacked under a flag of truce, but he and La Forge determine that this entry was faked. Wesley detects unusual signals from the Ferengi ship, and the ''Enterprise'' computer informs William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) that Picard has returned to the ''Stargazer''.

Picard finds Bok waiting for him with another orb. Bok explains that his son was in command of the Ferengi vessel at Maxia, and that Bok is taking revenge. He sets the orb down and leaves Picard on the ''Stargazer'' bridge. The orb lights up, and Picard suddenly believes he is once again at the Battle of Maxia, and that the ''Enterprise'' is the attacker. On the ''Enterprise'', Lieutenant Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) and Lieutenant Worf (Michael Dorn) discover the orb brought over from the ''Stargazer'' in Picard's chest. They take it to Riker as the ''Stargazer'' powers up its weapon systems. Riker hails the Ferengi vessel and speaks to Kazago, who reveals that the orb is a banned device, and promises to investigate.

Riker subsequently hails the ''Stargazer'', but Picard continues to believe he is being attacked by the ''Enterprise''. Riker asks Data to devise a countermeasure to the Picard Maneuver. When Picard takes the ''Stargazer'' to warp, Data uses the ''Enterprise'' s tractor beam to seize the ''Stargazer'' and limit its field of fire. Riker tells Picard about the orb; Picard seems to understand and destroys it with his phaser. After a few moments, Picard hails the ''Enterprise'' and requests a transport. Kazago hails Riker to inform him that Bok has been relieved of command "for engaging in this unprofitable venture".

Beowulf Shaeffer, a native of the planet We Made It and unemployed for the last eight months due to a stock market crash, is contracted by a Pierson's Puppeteer, the Regional President of General Products on We Made It, to pilot a General Products-hulled starship, in a close approach about neutron star BVS-1. The Puppeteers want to determine why two previous researchers, Peter and Sonya Laskin, were killed during the previous attempt on a similar mission. Shaeffer has no intention of even attempting the dangerous mission, but agrees anyway – he has other plans.

He has the Puppeteers construct what he dubs the ''Skydiver'' to his precise specifications, supposedly to ensure he survives to return with the relevant data. It includes an advanced sensor package, a high-powered thruster, and a high-powered laser. It is thus the only ''warship'' ever constructed by the cowardly and paranoid alien race – a prize beyond value and a perfect means of escape.

Desiring to maintain human-Puppeteer relations, an operative of the U.N.'s Bureau of Alien Affairs, Sigmund Ausfaller, explains the situation to them, and has them install a bomb on the ship. Ausfaller informs Shaeffer that if he does not attempt the mission he will be sent to debtors' prison, and that if he attempts to escape in the ship the bomb will be detonated within a week – well before he could even reach another planet, let alone find a buyer for the ship. Shaeffer, realizing he is trapped, agrees to fly the mission.

The ''Skydiver'' reaches the neutron star, and the ship's autopilot puts the ''Skydiver'' into a hyperbolic orbit that will take 24 hours to reach periapsis with BVS-1, passing a mile above its surface. During the descent Schaeffer notices many unusual things: the stars ahead of him began to turn blue from Doppler shift as his speed increases enormously; the stars behind him, rather than being red-shifted, were blue too as their light accelerated with him into the gravity well of the neutron star. The nose of the ship is pulled towards the neutron star even when he tries to move the ship to view his surroundings.

As the mysterious pull exceeds one Earth gravity, Shaeffer accelerates the ''Skydiver'' to compensate for the unknown X-force until he is in free fall (though the accelerometer registers 1.2 gees). Shaeffer eventually realizes what the X-force is: the tidal force. The strong tidal pull of the neutron star is trying to force the ends of the ship (and Shaeffer himself) into two separate orbits. Shaeffer programs the autopilot in a thrust pattern that allows him to reach the center of mass of the ship in effective free-fall, though he nearly fails to do so. The ship reaches periapsis where tidal forces nearly pull Shaeffer apart anyway, but he manages to hold himself in the access space at the ship's center of mass and survives.

After returning to We Made It, Shaeffer is hospitalized (he has received a sunburn by starlight blue-shifted into the ultraviolet) for observation at the Puppeteer's insistence. While explaining tidal forces to the Puppeteer, Schaeffer realizes the alien had no knowledge of tides, something that would be elementary for a sentient species living on a world with a moon. The Puppeteers are extremely cautious when dealing with other races, and keep all details about their homeworld secret. When Schaeffer mentions that he can tell reporters the fact that the Puppeteer's world has no moon, the Puppeteer agrees to give Shaeffer a million stars (a fortune in galactic currency) in return for his silence. Shaeffer asks the alien how he likes being blackmailed for a change.

During a thunderstorm, a traveling circus, Circus Sarano, accidentally leaves behind a baby plains zebra (Jansen Panettiere) after replacing a flat tire. The foal is rescued by widower and former racehorse trainer Nolan Walsh (Bruce Greenwood), and is taken to his farm where his 13-year-old daughter, Channing (Hayden Panettiere) names him Stripes. He meets a Shetland pony named Tucker (Dustin Hoffman); a Saanen goat named Franny (Whoopi Goldberg); and a rooster named Reggie (Jeff Foxworthy). The next day, Stripes soon becomes convinced that he is destined for the nearby racetrack, Turfway Park, not realizing that he is a zebra and is not qualified to race. Two foals named Trenton's Pride (Kyle Alcazar) and Ruffshodd (Frankie Ryan Manriquez) decide to race Stripes until they are stopped by Pride's father, three time Kentucky Open champion, Sir Trenton (Fred Dalton Thompson).

Three years later, after racing the mailman again, an adult Stripes (Frankie Muniz) meets an Arabian filly named Sandy (Mandy Moore) and develops a crush on her after losing to the mailman in their usual race. While talking to Sandy, he is approached by Pride (Joshua Jackson) and Ruffshodd (Michael Rosenbaum), Stripes' tormentors since childhood while Channing's bloodhound, Lightning (Snoop Dogg) is lazy and talks while he rests. Pride challenges Stripes to a racing match at a secret race track in the woods called the Blue Moon Races; he accepts, but loses the race.

The following day, Tucker, having secretly watched Stripes, approaches him and suggests that he gets proper training first. Stripes, in need of a rider, chooses 16-year-old Channing and convinces a new farm animal, a pelican named Goose (Joe Pantoliano), to sabotage Channing's motorcycle and ''Old Blue'', Nolan's old pickup truck, so that Channing can ride him to her workplace at Turfway Park. The plan works, and Channing, with Nolan's reluctant approval, rides Stripes to Turfway Park. There, Channing is antagonized by her boss, Clara Dalrymple (Wendie Malick), for bringing Stripes to the racetrack, while Stripes meets a pair of horse-fly brothers, Buzz and Scuzz (Steve Harvey and David Spade).

As night approaches, Channing, remembering her first ride on horseback with her mother, Carolyn, completes a lap around the track with Stripes. They are approached by Woodzie (M. Emmet Walsh), a racetrack gambler and old friend of the family, who encourages Channing to sign her and Stripes up for a tryout race tomorrow. She does, despite Nolan's disapproval stemming from his wife's death in a racing accident six years ago, which discouraged him to continue training horses ever since, but Stripes has a major meltdown after being easily scared by the horse-gate like all the other horses the next morning at the tryouts. Once he calms down, he begins running, but then gets hit in the face by flying dirt while racing, causing Channing to fall off. Though she is uninjured, Nolan chastises and blames her. However, when Dalrymple mocks her riding skills, Nolan defends his daughter. In response, Dalrymple sarcastically signs Stripes up to compete in the Kentucky Open competition.

Meanwhile, Stripes realizes he is a zebra after being told off by Sir Trenton, which severely discourages him. Despite Channing's pleas and Woodzie's encouragement, Nolan refuses to let her race Stripes. Realizing this, the farm animals lure Nolan into the farm to show him a table holding his past accomplishments and he changes his mind. Meanwhile, due to Stripes' misbehavior during training, Franny reveals to Stripes that Tucker helped Nolan train the racehorse champions including Sir Trenton without getting any thanks, which encourages him to begin training.

Refusing to allow Stripes to race, Sir Trenton and several thoroughbreds ambush Stripes and Sandy at a creek as they are talking and making up for their previous argument one night, kidnapping Sandy and threatening to hurt her if he races. The next day, after rescuing Stripes, Tucker, Franny, and Goose agree to rescue Sandy. With a little help from Buzz and Scuzz, the rescue is successful and they get back in time for Stripes to go to the race.

At the race, Nolan bets Dalrymple that if Stripes wins, then he gets Sandy, and if he loses then he will come back to work for her. During the race, Ruffshodd, and even his jockey, try to stop Stripes from winning until Scuzz gets them disqualified by biting Ruffshodd's rear-end. Later, Stripes begins to wear out until he finally remembers what Tucker taught him, "Don't look back. Leave it all on the track," which boosts his confidence. Stripes wins the race and earns respect from the other racehorses, including Pride. In the end, they all pose together in a group photo, which is later shown with the other previous Walsh wins.

Ken Carter lives in Richmond, California. He becomes the coach for Richmond High School’s basketball team, the Richmond Oilers, having played for the team thirty years earlier. Initially, the team is rowdy, rude, and disrespectful. Carter gives the team contracts to sign and obey, requiring them to sit in the front rows of all their classes, and maintain a 2.3 (C+) grade point average. Carter asks the school's staff for progress reports of the players' grades and attendance. Despite anger from the players' parents, most players sign the contracts, though several team members walk out in disagreement, including Timo Cruz, a gifted player who also deals drugs for his cousin Renny. The school's principal, Principal Garrison, questions Carter's contracts, suggesting that the players will be unable to meet his conditions and that he would be better off sticking to coaching basketball.

Carter begins a strict, disciplinary training regime for the team, focused largely on conditioning and teamwork. Carter's son Damian joins the team, switching from the private school St. Francis, to play for his father. Cruz witnesses the team win a game, afterwards asking Carter to let him rejoin the team. Carter agrees, but only if Cruz completes a set number of exercises before that Friday. Cruz commits himself to this, though when it looks like he will fail, the rest of the team supports him and he is able to rejoin.

Kenyon Stone, the team's captain, struggles to come to terms with his girlfriend Kyra being pregnant. The couple have a falling out over Kenyon's inability to commit to fatherhood. Another player, Junior Battle, skips classes, leading Carter to suspend him from the team. Battle's mother Willa visits Carter, asking him to let Battle back on the team and explaining that things have been hard after her older son Antoine was killed. Carter agrees after Battle apologises.

The team continues to train and improve, bonding with Carter and becoming undefeated in the regular season. After winning the Bay Hill holiday tournament, the entire team sneaks out of the motel and attend a party at a nearby mansion while Carter is speaking to his wife on the phone. Carter discovers their absence, crashing the party to round up the team. Carter berates the boys on the way home, though Cruz points out the team are now winners as Carter intended. Later, Carter discovers that some players have not been keeping to their contracts, skipping classes and receiving poor grades.

A livid Carter locks the gym, directing the team to the library where they will study with their teachers until everyone's grades meet their contracts' terms. A disillusioned Cruz quits the team again. Carter enforces his lockdown, garnering media attention after he forfeits several games, and enraging the local community. Carter reasons that the boys have no other options in Richmond aside from crime or sports, and he is hoping their commitment to their studies will give them better options in life.

After a drug deal goes bad, Cruz watches Renny get gunned down in front of him. Distraught, Cruz goes to Carter, begging to be let back on the team. The school board holds a hearing, where Carter explains that sending his players to college and a better life is more important than basketball, and promises to resign if the lockdown is lifted. Though Principal Garrison and the board's chairwoman vote in his favor, every other councillor votes to end the lockdown. Carter prepares to leave, but discovers the team is refusing to play, choosing to continue with their studying and hold to their goal. Cruz, whom Carter had repeatedly asked "what is your deepest fear," answers by quoting from ''A Return to Love''.

Carter decides to stay, and the team soon succeeds in their academic goal. Kenyon reunites with Kyra, learning she had an abortion. She said to him that she had a choice to make and she made it, for herself. They make up, and Kenyon asks Kyra to come with him to college, to which she agrees. The team play in the State Quarterfinals match against St. Francis, but lose by two points. Though they did not win, Carter expresses his pride that the team came together to persevere, give themselves options, and achieve the "ever elusive victory within." The film ends with the team celebrating with the community, and captions telling the fate of several key players who receive scholarships and go on to college.

Daffy Duck lures Elmer Fudd to Bugs Bunny's burrow with fake rabbit footprints, calls down to the rabbit that a "friend" is here to see him, then watches from behind a tree as Elmer shoots at the emerged Bugs, parting his ears. As Elmer prepares to shoot again, Bugs informs him that it is not rabbit season, but rather duck season. Daffy emerges from his hiding spot, furious, and attempts to convince Elmer that Bugs is lying. Their conversation breaks down into Bugs engaging Daffy in a verbal sparring match, which results in Daffy saying it is duck season. Once he says this, he tells Elmer to fire, which he does. After Daffy's beak spins back into place, he tries the verbal game again, this time starting first. It ends the same way. When Daffy is shot for the third time, he walks away, his head now upside down. Elmer goes to shoot him, but it appears the gun is out of bullets. Bugs relays this apparent fact to Daffy and, thrilled, Daffy comes back. He grabs Elmer's gun to make sure, only to be shot with the last bullet.

Daffy then sees a sign that Bugs has nailed to a tree saying, "Duck Season Open.” As he sees Elmer approaching, he disguises himself as Bugs and reminds him that it is duck season. Bugs then appears, disguised as Daffy, complete with webbed feet and fake bill, and asks Daffy why he thinks it is duck season. Daffy points at the tree; however, Bugs has switched the sign to "Rabbit Season Open.” Elmer, of course, shoots Daffy. After Daffy gets blasted, the two shed their costumes as Daffy comments to Bugs how despicable he is. Ignoring Daffy, Bugs then begins to read duck recipes from a cookbook that he pulls from his rabbit hole, and Daffy does the same with a rabbit recipe cookbook that he also pulls from the hole. Elmer tells them that he is a vegetarian and only hunts for the sport of it (although, in previous appearances, it has been stated that he was hunting Bugs for rabbit stew). Outraged, Bugs gets in Elmer's face and tells him there are other sports besides hunting. When Daffy then offers to play tennis, Elmer blasts him again, tells Bugs that he is next, and then begins shooting and chases both of them all the way to the rabbit hole, into which both Daffy and Bugs jump. Bugs come out to accuse Elmer of hunting rabbits with an elephant gun, suggesting that Elmer shoot an elephant instead. Just as Elmer considers it, a huge elephant appears from behind him, threatens him in a Joe Besser voice ("You do and I'll give ya such a pinch!"), and preemptively pounds him into the ground before striding off.

Elmer finally loses patience and decides to take out both Bugs and Daffy. Daffy comes into the scene, disguised as a hunting dog and Bugs comes in as a lady hunter. Elmer is smitten by "lady" Bugs until "dog" Daffy bites Elmer on the ankle, causing him to scream. Elmer then recognizes both of them after one of Bugs' ears pops out from under his disguise and decides to finally finish them both off. Daffy and Bugs dash to a tree, where they begin alternately tearing off an endless row of "Rabbit Season" and "Duck Season" signs until they hit a final one proclaiming it to be "''Elmer'' Season.” They both then turn to Elmer with devious grins on their faces. The tables have now turned, Elmer gets a taste of his own medicine and starts running, avoiding gunshots whilst Bugs and Daffy, dressed as hunters, stalk him with guns in their hands.

Joe Bonaparte, a young Italian-American man and talented violinist, dreams of becoming a professional musician. Joe, however, fights a boxing match for manager Tom Moody, which he wins. Joe's father, Mr. Bonaparte, has scraped up enough money to afford a top-of-the-line violin for Joe's 21st birthday. However, upon learning of Joe's fight from Joe's brother Frank, Mr. Bonaparte decides not to give Joe the violin. Two months later, Joe has become a successful boxer for Moody and Roxy Gottlieb, a prizefight promoter. However, Joe won't throw punches, attempting to protect his hands. Later, Joe prepares to go on a boxing tour, where Mr. Bonaparte presents Joe with the violin. Joe plays it, but tells his father to return it.

Six months later, Joe's career continues to advance. Infamous gangster Eddie Fuseli approaches Moody and Roxy, demanding to be signed on as a partner, which Joe agrees to. Moody, believing Joe to be distracted by his fame, convinces his girlfriend Lorna to talk to Joe. She does so, and the pair profess their love to each other. Despite this, Lorna cannot bring herself to break off her relationship with Moody. Feeling that he has lost Lorna as well as his father's respect, Joe no longer holds back in the ring. In his next match, Joe defeats his opponent, but breaks a hand, thereby ruining any future career he may have had as a violinist.

Six months later, Joe has become a top-ranked prizefighter. He has become disillusioned with his fame and his managers, and has become more vicious in the ring. After learning Lorna is engaged to Moody, Joe confronts her and they argue, where Lorna accuses Joe of being a killer like Fuseli. Disoriented, Joe is unable to stay focused against his opponent, but pulls through with a victory. Before the celebration begins, Joe learns his final blow has killed his opponent. Meanwhile, Joe's managers arrive at the Bonaparte home to wait for Joe and Lorna. Frank receives a call informing him that Joe and Lorna have died in a car accident. Mr. Bonaparte prepares to retrieve the body, saying he will bring Joe "home ... where he belongs."

On 21 January 1968, 31 North Korean commandos of Unit 124 are shown to have infiltrated South Korea in a failed mission to assassinate President Park Chung-hee.

As a means of retaliation, the Republic of Korea Armed Forces assembled a team of 31 social outcasts including criminals on death row and life imprisonment, in a plot to kill Kim Il-sung. The team is designated 'Unit 684'. The recruits are taken to the island of Silmido for training. The mission is offered to the recruits as the only way to redeem themselves and show their loyalty to their country. If they succeed, they will win their freedom and a new life. With this goal in mind, they endure their training. The training is shown over several months, with the recruits enduring various forms of extremely vigorous training and regular physical punishment, including being branded. One recruit is killed after he falls from a ropes course.

At the end of their training, they are dispatched on their mission to North Korea, but are recalled not long after their departure. It is revealed that the project has been called off, as the government attempts a peaceful reconciliation with the North. The recruits return to Silmido discouraged and frustrated. Shortly afterwards two of the Unit 684 members escape from their barracks and rape a female doctor. They are quickly discovered, and believing that they will be executed, decide to commit suicide. One kills the other at his request but is apprehended before he is able to kill himself. The apprehended soldier is then returned to the camp, tied up, and made to watch his fellow Unit 684 members being beaten by the guards for the two men's betrayal. Enraged, one of the Unit 684 members being beaten is able to take his guard's bat and kills the tied up soldier for bringing disgrace to the unit.

To keep the plot to kill Kim Il-sung unknown to the outside world, the South Korean Central Intelligence Agency decide to kill all the members of Unit 684. The unit's commander protests, but is told that if his troops failed to follow this order, they too would be killed alongside Unit 684. Torn between his duty to follow orders and his personal honor, the commander intentionally leaks this information to one of the Unit 684 members. The Unit, realizing they are going to be killed that same night, make plans to mutiny. They attack and kill the majority of their guards, and find out from one of the guards that they legally no longer exist, and never would have received recognition for their mission if it succeeded, nor even be allowed to return to society. They decide to escape from the island and make their story known. The 20 remaining members of Unit 684 capture a bus containing civilians and head to Seoul. An official pronouncement is heard over the radio that 20 "armed communist agents" have infiltrated the country, and a state of emergency is declared. After charging through one army roadblock and winning a firefight they are eventually stopped and surrounded by soldiers in front of the Yuhan Corporation building in Dongjak District, Seoul. A firefight ensues, with the Republic of Korea Army showing no regard for the welfare of the civilians on board the bus. Most of the Unit 684 members are either killed or wounded, and many South Korean soldiers are also killed. To avoid further bloodshed, the surviving Unit 684 members release the civilian hostages, before committing suicide using their own hand grenades. An investigation into the incident is shown to have been carried out; however the report is not read and is seen to be filed away in storage.

The story centers on , an orphan raised by , who is the once thought dead father of Mazinger Z pilot Kouji Kabuto. Kenzo Kabuto is the creator of the new and improved version of Mazinger, which was based on his father's "Chogokin Z" (Super Alloy Z). The new version was designed with a stronger form to fight against humanity's new enemy, the ''Mycenae Empire'', led by the Great General of Darkness and his army of Battle Beasts. Kabuto, then, gives the Great Mazinger to Tetsuya for him to use. Accompanying him is his female companion, Jun Hono, an orphaned half Japanese, half African-American girl, in her feminine robot, "Venus A (Venus Ace)".

Tetsuya's training with Great Mazinger is completed just in time to come to Kabuto's aid as the Mycenae Battle Beasts overwhelm Mazinger Z. With the original Mazinger destroyed, Kabuto went to America to study space travel and left Japan's defense in the hands of Tetsuya and the Fortress of Science. Nevertheless, Tetsuya won against his fight with the Mycenae Battle Beasts, led by their military leader, Ankoku Daishogun (Great General of Darkness) after the Great General of Darkness' defeat, Doctor Hell of ''Mazinger Z'' went into disguise as the Great Marshall of Hell and leads the Mycenae forces.

The story describes the efforts of fictional computer animators to create a "compu-drama" from the second section of Asimov's novel ''The Gods Themselves'', which occurs in a parallel universe with different laws of physics to that within which Earth is situated, amongst a trigendered species of energy-based beings and one triad of narrative protagonists in particular. The story attributes this middle portion to an author named Gregory Laborian, saying it is a stand-alone novel entitled ''Three in One''. Laborian convinces director Jonas Willard, who had won fame for a CGI version of ''King Lear'', to create an animated version of Laborian's story. Laborian says Willard's "Three in One" was better work than his "King Lear" because he only had "my words which aren't great" instead of Shakespeare as a starting point.

As the story begins, Honor is apparently dead, her "execution" being broadcast on holo-disc. State funerals are held on both Grayson and Manticore and an empty coffin is buried in the Royal Cathedral. While the Manticorans are shocked by the news of Honor's death, the Graysons are completely outraged.

However, the footage was faked because Honor is still alive and plotting her return. Having survived the destruction of Cordelia Ransom's ship in the previous book, Honor and her allies hide on the surface of Hades, monitoring StateSec's communications and linking with other prisoners held on the planet. Eventually they launch a surprise attack, defeating the local Havenite garrison and taking control of Hell.

Meanwhile, the Havenite Navy, under the new and aggressive leadership of Admiral Esther McQueen, goes on the offensive and launches a series of simultaneous and devastating attacks on Manticore and her allies, even hitting Manticoran territory for the first time in the war. The Manticorans, however, are testing some new weapon systems which may definitively shift the balance in their favor.

Back on Hell and now in control of the State Security facilities, Honor's party travels across the inhospitable planet and helps the prisoners escape from Camp Charon. When news of the offensive led by McQueen reach Hades, they realize that they cannot count on a Manticoran rescue mission. Still needing to escape from the planet, Honor and her allies hatch a plan to capture as many Havenite ships as possible. With a sizable fleet of captured enemy vessels (the so-called "Elysian Space Navy") under her leadership, the former prisoners defeat a StateSec armada and evacuate the prison planet.

After two years, Honor finally returns home, along with half a million former political prisoners and POWs.

The book begins hours after the end of the previous novel. Honor Harrington and her "Elysian Space Navy" arrive at Manticoran-controlled space, only to discover that she was believed dead, that her mother had given birth to twins (partly to satisfy the Graysons' need for an heir to her Steading), her cousin Devon has inherited her Manticoran title, and that the extent of her injuries will prevent her from returning to active naval duty for a couple of years, since she needs reconstructive surgery.

To put Honor to good use, the Royal Manticoran Navy promotes her to Admiral (having received a battlefield promotion to that rank on Hades) and places her at Saganami Island Naval Academy to teach future generations of naval officers. Queen Elizabeth III elevates Honor to Duchess Harrington. Meanwhile, Honor helps to prove that treecats are as intelligent as humans, and she eventually helps to develop an easy to understand sign language system, making full communication between humans and the treecats possible.

After the daring attacks featured in the previous novel, the People's Republic of Haven seems to have the initiative. However, Manticore has a trump card that has the potential to end the war, in the form of devastatingly effective new technology and weapons fully integrated into a new massive heavy assault force, known as 8th fleet. The Star Kingdom's navy bides time, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

Chaos breaks up in the Havenite ranks, and the ambitious Admiral McQueen stages a coup that succeeds in killing Rob S. Pierre and almost all the members of the Havenite Committee of Public Safety, except for Oscar Saint-Just who manages to crush the coup by detonating a nuclear device secretly hidden within the navy headquarters. With the Committee and the military High Command in ruins, Saint-Just becomes the dictator of the People's Republic, and orders Admiral Thomas Theisman to take over the massive fleet guarding Haven. This proves to be an eventually fatal miscalculation. While Saint-Just believes Theisman is apolitical and trustworthy, in reality Theisman is plotting a coup of his own, with the secret help of the political commissar Saint-Just has assigned to him.

Admiral White Haven launches Manticore's Operation Buttercup. Under his command, 8th Fleet begins a lightning offensive deep into Havenite territory. The new technology developed by Manticore in the prelude to Buttercup allows the fleet to quickly demolish all Havenite resistance, and in a matter of months Manticore becomes poised to invade the Haven system itself. In desperation, Saint-Just attempts to assassinate the Manticoran Alliance leadership. Masadan terrorists in Saint-Just's service succeed in killing the Manticoran Prime Minister, The Duke of Cromarty, along with several major figures of the Manticoran and Grayson governments, despite the efforts of Honor Harrington. Honor's actions save Queen Elizabeth and the Protector of Grayson Benjamin Mayhew IX from dying in the same attack.

On Manticore, Cromarty's death opens an opportunity for former Opposition factions led by Baron High Ridge to seize political control, much to the frustration of Queen Elizabeth. Saint-Just proposes an immediate cease-fire between Manticore and Haven. This is hastily accepted by the new High Ridge government, despite the fact that 8th fleet is poised to invade Haven and force an unconditional surrender. High Ridge and his co-partisans in the military come to believe (wrongly) that Haven has been defeated for good, and that further violence is not necessary. The new Manticoran government institutes programs and policy that will begin a legacy of political greed, selfishness, incompetence, and cronyism that will have far reaching consequences for the entire Star Kingdom.

Now secure from the possibility of a Manticoran attack on the Haven System itself, Saint-Just turns to internal matters and the consolidation of his grip on power. He orders the arrest of Admirals Lester Tourville and Javier Giscard, whom he sees as political dissidents. Theisman launches his coup, the Havenite military wrests control of the government, and Theisman personally executes Saint-Just.

Five years have passed since a truce was reached between Manticore and Haven, but there is still no formal peace treaty. Even though neither side wishes to resume fighting, political circumstances in both nations threaten to plunge them into war.

On Manticore, the administration of Prime Minister High Ridge focuses on strengthening its political position. They are determined to remain at least technically at war with Haven - peace would terminate the special war taxes they are diverting from the Royal Manticoran Navy's budget for their welfare programs and vote-buying schemes, and would end their ability to postpone elections in which they expect to lose their fragile majority. Manticore's allies, most notably Grayson and Erewhon, are infuriated with the new government's carelessness and outright rudeness in foreign affairs. From their seats in the House of Lords, Honor Harrington and Hamish Alexander voice their opposition to the High Ridge Administration's policies, and the government takes actions to discredit the war heroes.

Haven struggles to rebuild after the fall of the People's Republic. President Pritchart's administration faces increasing pressure from certain political factions that demand the Republic to be more assertive in its negotiations with the Star Kingdom. Admiral Thomas Theisman has to restore the Havenite Navy's morale and fighting capabilities after the long war with Manticore and a protracted campaign to conquer the remnants of the old People's Republic.

The Andermani Empire, at the encouragement of the Republic's secretary of state, has adopted a confrontational stance with Manticore over the chaos-ridden Silesian Confederacy, and Honor Harrington is sent to the planet Sidemore, located near Silesian space, with a task force. She is ordered to go to Silesia at the behest of the Royal Navy's new management, who wishes to get her out of the political arena. The intention is to keep a close eye on the Andermani and their activities, and the risk of war between Manticore and the Empire is steadily rising.

Tensions also rise between Haven and Manticore. A new terminus of the Manticore Wormhole Junction has been discovered, and several worlds located near the new terminus request annexation into Manticore, triggering fears amongst the Havenites that Manticore is going to go on an expansionist rampage. The Manticoran government's ineptness and the schemes of some members of the Havenite government compounds an already unstable scenario, and President Pritchart orders the Havenite Navy to launch "Operation Thunderbolt": the resumption of combat operations against Manticore.

War breaks out again. In a series of coordinated attacks the Havenites succeed in conquering every system the Manticorans took out from them (except San Martin, which is recognized as a part of the Star Kingdom) and in devastating a critical Manticoran shipyard. Even Honor's fleet is attacked, despite the long distance between Haven and Sidemore, but, reinforced by the Protector's Own division of the Grayson Navy, she succeeds in defeating the Havenite forces. Baron High Ridge attempts to spread the blame around by forming a coalition government, but the Queen refuses the "request" of the Baron to convene a government. Because of this, High Ridge and all members of his government are left solely responsible for the criminally negligent handling of the military and the peace talks. The High Ridge administration falls in disgrace, and a new government takes over in the Star Kingdom, composed of the remnants of the earlier Cromarty government with Hamish Alexander's brother William as Prime Minister.

Now Haven is almost the technological equal of Manticore and its fleet of modern warships is significantly larger than the Manticoran navy. Erewhon has broken out of the Manticoran Alliance and has sided with Haven, handing them many of the latest technological developments of the Star Kingdom. The Havenites have the initiative and the Star Kingdom is shocked. However, the Andermani Empire joins the Manticoran side in the new war.

Workers at a construction site in Manhattan discover a long-buried tunnel containing the bodies of 36 young people from over a century ago, each with part of their spines removed. Secretive Special Agent Aloysius X. L. Pendergast takes an interest in the case and recruits Dr. Nora Kelly, an archaeologist at New York City's American Museum of Natural History, to quickly investigate the crime scene and collect evidence prior to the intervention of Anthony Fairhaven, the wealthy real estate developer who is directing the construction of a new apartment tower on the property. Fairhaven has the bodies quickly removed and the discovery hushed up, but Dr. Kelly is able to recover a note with the name and address of one of the victims, a poor young girl names Mary Greene. Afraid of losing her job, Dr. Kelly is reluctant to continue the investigation, but Agent Pendergast convinces her to continue in pursuit of what he believes to be the case of a century-old string of brutal murders.

The two soon discover that the tunnel was located underneath a former cabinet of curiosities owned by a man named Shottum, which burned down a century previously. Despite the efforts of Roger C. Brisbane III, a Museum bureaucrat and Dr. Kelly's boss, to curtail their efforts in fear of threatening Fairhaven's contributions to the museum, they are able to locate letters by Shottum in the museum archives detailing Shottum's discovery of the murderous scientific experiments that his renter, Dr. Enoch Leng, was conducting in pursuit of extending the human lifespan. They suspect that Leng abducted his victims from the cabinet of curiosities, and that he murdered Shottum and burned down the building when he was discovered. They have difficulty finding information about the mysterious Leng and his activities after the cabinet was burned down, and are further hindered by the police captain on the case, who assigns an officer named Patrick O'Shaughnessy to follow them. However, O'Shaughnessy takes an interest in the case, and agrees to assist in the investigation.

Meanwhile, Dr. Kelly's boyfriend, New York Times reporter Bill Smithback, attempts to help Dr. Kelly get leverage at the museum by publishing a sensational article about the murders, to the shock of the public and anger of the authorities. A similar string of murders begin to occur around present-day Manhattan, with bodies turning up missing portions of their spine. The police and mayor publicly blame Smithback's article for triggering a copycat murderer, endangering Dr. Kelly's position at the museum and causing her to angrily break off plans to move in together. Pendergast tells Dr. Kelly and O'Shaugnessy that he believes that the original killer may be the perpetrator of the current-day killings as well, having succeeded at extending his own life. Pendergast is subsequently attacked by the killer and nearly dies. While he is hospitalized, Dr. Kelly is lured to the museum's basement archives by the same killer, where she discovers the mutilated corpse of the museum's archive specialist, who had been aiding them in their research, and barely escapes with her life.

Under Agent Pendergast's guidance, Dr. Kelly locates the site of Leng's former laboratory and digs up the basement of the current-day building , discovering more bodies and evidence of medical experiments. O'Shaughnessy tracks one of the medical compounds discovered to an old apothecary, where he is able to retrieve a historical ledger of customers and sales, but is quickly abducted by the killer before he can show it to anyone. Meanwhile, Smithback cons his way into the museum archives and finds Leng's address at the time of the historical killings. He breaks into the old house and discovers that it is still in use, allowing the killer to trap him and prepare to operate on him.

Agent Pendergast and Dr. Kelly also discover Leng's old address, and realize that Smithback is in danger. They enter the house and discover a recently killed corpse, which strongly resembles Pendergast. The killer lures them into a trap with the dying body of O'Shaughnessy, and locks them in a cell while he operates on Smithback. Pendergast escapes to confront the killer, revealing that the current-day murders were committed by Fairhaven, who had discovered the achievements of Leng - Pendergast's great-grand-uncle - and tortured him to death in order to obtain his secrets. Pendergast hints that he knows of Leng's ulterior motives and lures Fairhaven into a secret basement concealed in the house, suffering a gunshot wound in the process, but allowing Dr. Kelly to save Smithback. In the basement, Pendergast and Fairhaven find Leng's real cabinet of curiosities, a vast collection of toxic plants and insects as well as weaponry and artifacts from around the world. Pendergast surmises that Leng's true goal was to perfect a method of global genocide, but that he gave up on his research in 1954 after the Castle Bravo thermonuclear bomb was successfully test-detonated, believing humanity to already be doomed. Fairhaven attempts to execute Pendergast using the ancient weaponry, but inadvertently poisons himself from handling poisoned objects, dying gruesomely.

Pendergast, Dr. Kelly, and Smithback cover up the existence of the secret basement when they report to the police. At the gravesites of the original 36 victims, Pendergast burns the last evidence of Leng's discoveries of the formula to prolong human life, to Smithback's dismay and Dr. Kelly's approval. The Leng house is eventually turned over to Pendergast's ownership, where he enlists the help of a friend and researcher, Wren, to begin cataloguing the contents of the secret cabinet of curiosity, hinting at something else hidden in it.

Michael Lynch is one of Dublin's most notorious criminals. He has two wives, sisters Christine and Lisa, as well as many children. When he is not spending time with his family, he is plotting heists with his gang. His actions make him an iconic figure, and he has a rapport with the general public despite being a criminal.

During his elaborate heists, he concentrates on the showmanship as much as the crime itself. He pulls off a daring art theft, stealing several priceless paintings from Dublin's best art gallery, giving the authorities the slip. The Gardaí become more determined to catch him as time goes on, in particular Noel Quigley, an officer whose ambition to catch Lynch becomes an obsession. His actions also gain the ire of the IRA.

Lynch finds himself in trouble when he is unable to sell a stolen Caravaggio painting, ''The Taking of Christ'', giving Quigley the opportunity he was waiting for to try and catch him. Lynch is forced to go on the run, with his popularity with the public at stake.

Setting

The game takes place in the then-near-future 2011. The end of the Cold War and the Gulf War have triggered a massive rise in global instability, compounded by natural disasters and failed economic policy in the United States. Capitalizing on the growing need for security, the Turkish government allows private security contractors to operate with near-complete freedom from Istanbul provided they register with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a regular fee.

The protagonist is the newest pilot in the Wildcats, a private security company specializing in air combat led by James Stern. Although the Wildcats are a veteran squadron, the company has struggled to keep pilots on its roster as of late, owing primarily to Stern's strict policy against civilian casualties. The Wildcats' biggest rival is the Jackals, led by Stern's former second-in-command Jean-Paul Prideaux.

The eponymous protagonist saves the life of the heroine by directing energy remotely at an approaching avalanche. As the novel goes on, he describes the technological wonders of the modern world, frequently using the phrase "As you know..." The hero finally rescues the heroine by traveling into space on his own "space flyer" to rescue her from the villain's clutches.

At the funeral of photographer and writer Molly Lane, three of Molly's former lovers converge. They include newspaper editor Vernon Halliday and composer Clive Linley who are old friends, and British Foreign Secretary Julian Garmony.

Clive and Vernon muse upon Molly's death from an unspecified rapid-onset brain disease that left her helpless and in the clutches of her husband, George Lane, whom they both despise. Neither man can understand her attraction to Julian Garmony, the right-wing Foreign Secretary who is about to challenge his party's leadership.

Shortly after Molly's death, Clive, who is single, begins to ponder what would happen to him if he began to decline in health. He reaches out to Vernon and asks him to perform euthanasia on him should he ever reach that point. Vernon reluctantly agrees on the condition that Clive do the same for him.

Vernon, whose newspaper is in decline, is given a tip by George, a series of private photographs taken by Molly of Garmony cross-dressing. Vernon decides to use the scandal to unseat Garmony, whose politics he disagrees with. He faces pushback from his editorial staff and the board members of his newspaper about publishing the clearly private pictures. Seeking comfort he brings up the matter to Clive who vehemently disagrees with Vernon's decision to publish.

After their argument, Clive, who has been commissioned to write a symphony for the forthcoming millennium, takes a retreat to the Lake District which has inspired him before. While hiking he comes across a woman being attacked by a man. Rather than intervene, Clive leaves the scene to finish composing the end melody of his symphony. He then returns to his hotel and abruptly leaves for home.

The day that Vernon's paper is due to publish the pictures of Garmony, Vernon reaches out to Clive and the two have a brief conversation where they forgive their differences and Clive tells Vernon what he saw in the Lake District. At work, during an editorial meeting, Vernon realizes that one of his journalists is tracking the story of a rapist in the Lake District and realizes that this is who Clive must have seen. He calls Clive and attempts to force him to go to the police, though Clive declines as he is working on his symphony. Their conversation is interrupted by Garmony's wife holding a press conference where she calls Vernon a flea and calls the pictures a private personal matter, while pretending that she was aware Molly took them. Public opinion turns against Vernon and his paper and he is forced to resign.

Angered by their conversation, Clive sends Vernon a note telling him he should be fired, which Vernon sees after he is fired and views as Clive gloating. He then calls the police to force Clive to give information about the Lake District rapist but is disappointed that Clive will not face criminal charges. Inspired by an article on euthanasia that he sees in his old paper, Vernon decides to lure Clive to Amsterdam and murder him under the grounds he is mentally unwell. Meanwhile, the composition of Clive's symphony is interrupted by the police calling him to the Lake District. With the symphony permanently ruined, Clive also makes the decision to try and lure Vernon to Amsterdam, where he is rehearsing his symphony, to euthanize him on the grounds he is mentally depraved. Both of the murders go through and each man last hallucinates seeing Molly Lane.

Garmony and George Lane are sent out to retrieve the bodies, Garmony on behalf of the government for Clive and George on behalf of Vernon's widow, Mandy. They are under the impression it is a double suicide, caused in part because Clive's symphony was a dud and ends on a heavy plagiarism of "Ode to Joy". Garmony learns it was actually a double murder and informs George, who is pleased. George reflects on the fact that two of Molly's former lovers are dead and Garmony, despite having weathered the scandal, will never be able to rise in the party. He contemplates asking out Vernon's widow Mandy.

The novel concerns the efforts of a poor rural family to become affluent by selling in a timely manner the of unimproved land acquired by their patriarch, Silas "Si" Hawkins. After several adventures in Tennessee, the family fails to sell the land and Si Hawkins dies. The rest of the Hawkins story line focuses on their beautiful adopted daughter Laura. In the early 1870s, she travels to Washington, D.C. to become a lobbyist. With a senator's help, she enters society and attempts to persuade congressmen to require the federal government to purchase the land.

A parallel story written by Warner concerns two young upperclass men, Philip Sterling and Henry Brierly, who seek their fortunes in land in a novel way. They make a journey with a group intent on surveying land in Tennessee in order to acquire it for speculation. Philip is good-natured but plodding. He is in love with Ruth Bolton, an aspiring physician and feminist. Henry is a born salesman, charming but superficial.

The Hawkins sections, including several humorous sketches, were written by Twain. Examples are the steamboat race that leads to a wreck (Chapter IV) and Laura's toying with a clerk in a Washington bookstore (Chapter XXXVI). Notable too is the comic presence throughout the book of the eternally optimistic and eternally broke Colonel Beriah Sellers, a Micawber-like character. The character was named Escol Sellers in the first edition and changed to Beriah when an actual George Escol Sellers of Philadelphia objected. A real Beriah Sellers then turned up, causing Twain to use the name Mulberry Sellers in ''The American Claimant''. The Sellers character was modeled after James Lampton, Twain's maternal cousin, and the land-purchase plot parallels Twain's father's purchase of a Tennessee parcel whose prospective sale, Twain wrote in his autobiography "kept us hoping and hoping, during 40 years, and forsook us at last."

The main action of the story takes place in Washington, D.C., and satirizes the greed and corruption of the governing class. Twain also satirizes the social pretensions of the newly rich. Laura's Washington visitors include "Mrs. Patrique Oreille (pronounced O-relay)", the wife of "a wealthy Frenchman from Cork", indicating the O'Reilly family has altered their last name to hide their Irish origins.

In the end, Laura fails to convince Congress to purchase the Hawkins land. She kills her married lover but is found not guilty of the crime, with the help of a sympathetic jury and a clever lawyer. However, after a failed attempt to pursue a career on the lecture circuit, her spirit is broken, and she dies regretting her fall from innocence. Washington Hawkins, the eldest son, who has drifted through life on his father's early promise that he would be "one of the richest men in the world", finally gives up the family's ownership of the still-unimproved land parcel when he cannot afford to pay its $180 of taxes. He also appears ready to overcome his passivity: "The spell is broken, the life-long curse is ended!" Philip, drawing upon his engineering skills, discovers coal on Mr. Bolton's land, wins Ruth Bolton's heart and appears destined to enjoy a prosperous and conventionally happy marriage. Henry and Sellers, presumably, will continue to live daily by their wits while others pay their bills.

The starship encounters a rift in spacetime. The crippled USS ''Enterprise''-C, a ship believed to have been destroyed more than two decades earlier, emerges. The ''Enterprise''-D undergoes a radical change from its previous timeline: it is now a warship, and the United Federation of Planets is at war with the Klingons. Neither Worf nor Counselor Troi are present, and Tasha Yar – killed years before – is running the tactical station. Only Guinan senses that reality has shifted, and meets with Captain Picard. She suggests that the ''Enterprise''-C does not belong in their time and must return to the past. Picard, knowing this would be a suicide mission, refuses to give such an order based on Guinan's intuition alone.

Captain Rachel Garrett of the ''Enterprise''-C and her crew learn they traveled into the future. Garrett explains that they responded to a distress call from a Klingon outpost on Narendra III, and were attacked by Romulan starships. While his crew repairs the ''Enterprise''-C and tends to the crew's injuries, Picard and his command staff discuss whether the ship should return to the past. Commander Riker argues that their deaths would be meaningless, but Data suggests that it would be considered an honorable act by the Klingons. Picard discusses the situation with Garrett, who tells him that her crew will serve the Federation in the present. Picard reveals to her that the Federation is on the verge of defeat and the presence of one more ship will make no difference, but if the ''Enterprise''-C returns to the past they might prevent the war from starting. Garrett agrees and tells her crew that they will return through the anomaly, but the two ships are ambushed by a Klingon Bird of Prey. Garrett is killed, and her helmsman, Richard Castillo, takes command.

During the repair efforts, Yar becomes close to Castillo, but is unnerved by tense interactions with Guinan. Guinan reveals that she knows Yar dies a meaningless death in the other timeline. Yar requests a transfer to the ''Enterprise''-C, which is granted by Picard. As the ''Enterprise''-C prepares to return through the anomaly, three Klingon battlecruisers attack. With the anomaly becoming unstable, Picard orders the ''Enterprise''-D to cover the ''Enterprise''-C's withdrawal. The ''Enterprise''-D suffers massive systems damage and major crew losses, including the death of Commander Riker. With the ''Enterprise''-D on the brink of destruction, the ''Enterprise''-C traverses the anomaly, triggering the return of ''Enterprise''-D's previous timeline. Guinan – the only one subtly aware of what has transpired – asks Geordi La Forge to tell her about Yar.

Vinnie Antonelli is a former mobster recently inducted into the Witness Protection Program with his wife, Linda. The two are under the watchful eye of federal agent Barney Coopersmith. Vinnie and Barney soon find common ground when both of their wives leave them due to their lifestyles. While he succeeds in getting Vinnie to a suburb in California and a private home, Barney has one more problem: he must make sure the jovial and sometimes mischievous Vinnie conforms to Witness Protection protocol until he testifies against mob kingpins.

Donna Jensen is from a small town in Nevada. She wants to escape her miserable, unhappy life of living in a trailer with her alcoholic mother, a former Las Vegas showgirl, and her abusive, alcoholic stepfather. After graduating high school, Donna struggles to make ends meet working as a clerk in a Big Lots store.

After her boyfriend leaves her, Donna sees a TV interview with Sally Weston, a former flight attendant, who has written a memoir called ''My Life in the Sky''. Donna then becomes a flight attendant for a small, seedy California commuter airline called Sierra. She works with Sherry, a senior attendant, and Christine. During this time she first meets Ted. After several months, Donna applies to Royalty Airlines. Sherry and Christine also apply. While Christine and Donna get in, Sherry does not, and remains with Sierra Airlines.

Donna puts her heart and soul into training, and, after meeting Sally Weston, is determined to be assigned to the top route, "Paris, First Class, International". After training, Donna is shocked and disappointed to be assigned to a commuter route in Cleveland while Christine, who struggled during the training, inexplicably has been assigned the high-priority New York City route.

Although Donna is unhappy being in Cleveland, she meets and begins a relationship with Ted. A few months later, Donna runs into Christine in Cleveland. Donna is shocked when Christine happens to empty her handbag and it has stolen Royalty Air items. Even the smallest theft is strictly prohibited by Royalty Airlines and could result in termination. Donna is suspicious that there was some error in her route assignment. With Weston's help, Donna discovers that Christine had switched their test I.D. numbers as they handed in their final exams to the instructor.

Weston then has airline security spy on Christine's flight to see if she engages in any theft. Christine is caught and fired. Donna re-takes the exam, achieving a perfect score. She is then assigned to a Paris, First Class, International route, though it means breaking off her relationship with Ted.

Donna soon realizes that she is lonely and unhappy and misses Ted. With Weston's encouragement, she returns to Cleveland and the two reconcile. The film ends with Donna wishing her passengers well as they land in Cleveland, though she is now a pilot.

The original stand-up routine by Robin Harris is shown in a brief live-action segment before an animated version of Harris woefully recounts his troubles to a blind bartender. He traces his problems all the way back to Jamika, an attractive woman he met at a funeral.

Outside the premises, Robin approaches Jamika and asks her out. Jamika picks up her mild-mannered son, Leon, from the babysitter and invites Robin to come along with her to the amusement park Fun World, to which Robin agrees. The next day, Jamika introduces Robin to LaShawn, Kahlil and Pee-Wee, a trio of neglected, truant, violent children and the offspring of her absentee hedonistic friend, Bébé, for whom Jamika serves as an obvious enabler. All six travel to Fun World, but are confronted by security at the entrance, and warned they are being watched. Upon entering the park, the kids are set loose and promptly wreak havoc. Robin's disastrous outing is further disrupted by a chance encounter with his ex-wife, Dorothea, and her best friend Vivian.

After going on a couple of rides with the kids, Robin and Jamika let them go off on their own again as they attempt to enjoy a ride through the Tunnel of Love, where Jamika commends Robin for his endurance. While Robin and Jamika spend time together on their own, Leon tries to fit in with Bébé's kids but is at first unsuccessful, although they allow him to tag along. The kids then resume their mischief until they are caught by security. However, they escape and convince a group of other free-range children to spread the chaos. Meanwhile, Dorothea and Vivian attempt to sabotage the growing relationship between Robin and Jamika but are thwarted by Robin.

Elsewhere, in an abandoned building, Leon and Bébé's kids are captured by animatronic robot versions of the Terminator, Abraham Lincoln and Richard Nixon, and are put on trial. The robot "Terminator" acts as judge who decides whether their antics are worth sending to the electric chair, while "Lincoln" acts as the kids' defense attorney with "Nixon" as the prosecutor. Leon proves his courage through a rap that not only wins their freedom but also gains him Bébé's kids' respect. They celebrate their victory by stealing a pirate ship and crashing it into a recreation of the RMS ''Titanic'', taking hostage the crew and passengers, including Dorothea and Vivian.

Robin and Jamika finally leave Fun World, with the park ultimately crumbling in destruction through Robin's rearview mirror. When a cop passes, Robin tries to get his attention, but Bébé's kids scare the officer away. Robin drops the kids off at their apartment, where he sees how they really live. Bébé, as usual, is nowhere to be seen, and has left a note on the empty refrigerator, expecting Jamika to feed the kids. Sad to see Robin go, the kids bid him an emotional goodbye, but not before he gives them what money he has left so they can order themselves a pizza. At the bar, Robin has a change of heart and returns to hang out with the kids a little while longer, despite all the mayhem they've caused. The kids force him to take them all to Las Vegas, where everybody flees in terror when they recognize the kids. Pee-Wee finds and pulls a plug out of a socket, causing a citywide blackout.

Jerry (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and Nick (Horatio Sanz) are two close friends whose love lives have hit rock bottom. Jerry's girlfriend Felicia (Vivica A. Fox) has turned down his marriage proposal after vomiting all over her during a hot air balloon ride during the proposal. After Nick runs into a friend who is marrying a beautiful, younger girl he met on a singles cruise, he decides to take a similar cruise with Jerry.

While on their way to the travel agency, they get into a verbal altercation with a gay man who works at the agency they plan to book the cruise through. The manager (Will Ferrell) attempts to patch things up by handling their booking personally. To Jerry and Nick, the situation appears to be handled well and they leave, not expecting anything to go wrong. After they leave, it is revealed that the agent and manager, both men, are actually gay lovers, and that they have been booked on a cruise for gay men.

During their trip, they come to learn that gay men are less objectionable than they first assumed. However, Jerry falls in love with the cruise's dance instructor Gabriella (Roselyn Sánchez) and in order to win her over, he pretends to be gay so he can get closer to her. Meanwhile, Nick blossoms a romance with a bikini model named Inga (Victoria Silvstedt). After an accidental affair with her mean, sex-obsessed coach Sonya (Lin Shaye), Nick must fend her off, after she has fallen in love with him as well.

In the end, Jerry wins Gabriella while Nick loses out on Inga but sees a potential relationship with her sister instead. However, he is then unwittingly (and unwillingly) reunited with Sonya; much to his disgust and her instant arousal upon seeing him.

The player assumes the role of Anya Romanov, an acrobatic, high-tech professional thief living in the futuristic dark metropolis Forge City. Her initial mission is to infiltrate a high-security museum and steal items therein. Later on, Anya is framed for murder she did not commit. Eventually, she finds out about a sinister conspiracy involving a ruthless corrupt politician Richard Killian and her own deadly female ninja rival known only as Breeze.

Approaching the end of a drug rehabilitation program, Jerry Stahl (Stiller) quits his job at a fast food restaurant on an impulse when an attractive woman named Kitty (Bello) pulls up at the drive-through window. The two check into a motel, where Jerry tells her about his life between bouts of sex. A series of flashbacks, intercut with their conversations, details his working life to this point.

After moving to Los Angeles from New York City, Jerry – already addicted to various prescription medications – becomes friends with another addict, Nicky (Wilson). At the urging of Nicky and his girlfriend Vola (Lourdes Benedicto), Jerry marries Vola's friend Sandra (Hurley) so she can get her green card. Sandra uses her position at a television studio to get Jerry onto the writing staff of the popular comedy series ''Mr. Chompers''. He uses memories from his childhood, including his mother's hysterical grief over his father's death, to fuel his writing.

He juggles his ''Mr. Chompers'' job and regular visits to a heroin dealer, Dita (Liz Torres). However, his drug use eventually gets him fired. Sandra finds him a new job with a different series, ''No Such Luck'', whose star Pamela Verlaine (Cheryl Ladd) – herself a recovering addict – sternly but sympathetically insists that he kick his habit first.

As soon as Jerry starts on a methadone program, he runs across a dealer named Gus (Peter Greene), who introduces him to crack cocaine and later Dilaudid. His increased drug use costs him his new job, and Sandra throws him out, disgusted at his decision to shoot up when she tells him she is pregnant. Her opinion of him falls even further when he shows up high for the birth of his daughter Nina.

While looking after Nina one night, he gets high and is arrested by the police. The incident further strains his relationship with Sandra, who makes it clear that she would prefer to see as little of him as possible.

The flashbacks end at this point, with Jerry returning to Los Angeles in hopes of being part of Nina's life. As he begins to resurrect his stalled writing career, he gets a surprise visit from Kitty. The two have one last sexual encounter before she leaves to move to Anchorage.

In the final scene, Jerry appears on a series of talk shows and news programs, while commenting in voice-over about the damage that his addiction has done to his life. "I got out with a bad liver and enough debt to keep me in hock 'til I'm 90, if I'm still here. And with my luck, I will be."

Luke Wilson appears as good-hearted ex-con Wendell Baker working in a retirement home, with Luke's other brother, Owen Wilson, as the home's head nurse. Eva Mendes co-stars as Luke Wilson's character's love-interest, Doreen. Baker, along with three residents of the home, help him win Doreen back; and, Baker helps them fight the corrupt staff. The film also features Eddie Griffin, Kris Kristofferson, Harry Dean Stanton, Seymour Cassel and Will Ferrell.

College students Rich Stoker and Halley Smith are rock climbing in a remote forest of West Virginia. When Rich reaches the top, he is suddenly murdered before he can help Halley up. Someone begins to yank Halley up the cliff, forcing her to cut the rope and fall to the ground. She attempts to escape but is caught in a line of barbed wire and pulled back into the woods, screaming. She is killed off-screen.

Evan and Francine stay to watch the cars while the others go to find help. Evan disappears after he hears something from the woods, and Francine finds his ear on the ground. As she backs away in horror, barbed wire is forced into her mouth by a mysterious figure, who garrotes her with it. The remaining group find an isolated cabin and go inside to use the phone, horrified to find human body parts in the house. They are forced to hide inside when the occupants return home. Three cannibalistic inbred mountain men Three Finger, Saw Tooth and One Eye enter the cabin with Francine's corpse and the hiding group watch as her body is dismembered and eaten.

After the cannibals fall asleep, the group attempts to escape but their captors awaken and chase them in the forest. The group find cars left from previous victims and try to make up an escape plan. Chris gets shot in the leg while trying to distract the cannibals, and the girls take him to a truck, where Evan's body spills out. Scott attempts another diversion for the other three to escape but gets killed with arrows instead. Jessie, Carly, and Chris stumble upon an old watchtower with an old radio and try to call for help. The cannibals arrive and are alerted when the radio starts responding to the group's call. Unable to get inside, the attackers set the tower on fire. The protagonists escape by jumping out and into the trees, triggering a chase in which Carly is decapitated by Three Finger.

Chris pulls a branch while Jessie lures the attacker for the former to release it, knocking him down. Jessie and Chris flee and hide in a cave until morning. The cannibals find them, pushing Chris down the hill, then kidnapping Jessie and taking her back to their cabin. Chris survives the fall and meets a police officer, but the officer is killed by Saw Tooth, who shoots him in the eye with an arrow. Chris hitches a ride by holding onto the underside of the truck as Saw Tooth drives it back to the cabin, where Jessie has been tied down to a bed in preparation to be eaten and watches fearfully as the cannibals chop up the dead policeman.

Before they can move on to Jessie, Chris sets the building on fire and drives the truck through the wall. He fights off the cannibals and frees Jessie and they escape as Chris kills the cannibals by blowing up the cabin. The pair then drive out of the forest in the cannibals' pickup truck and stumble upon the gas station nearby; Chris takes the map to prevent others from the same wrong turn before he and Jessie leave.

In the credits scene, a deputy sheriff who had received the radio call earlier investigates the remains of the destroyed cabin. Laughing insanely, Three Finger, who survived the explosion, rises and kills the deputy.

Halley Martin is a 17-year-old high school student who is disillusioned with love after seeing many dysfunctional relationships around her. Her parents are now divorced and her father, Len Martin, a radio talk show host, has a new young girlfriend that the entire family despises. Her mother, Lydia, is now always alone while her sister, Ashley, is so overwhelmed by her upcoming wedding with Lewis Warsher that she barely exists in the house. The shallowness of all the teens at her school convinces Halley that finding true love is impossible.

When Halley walks in on her best friend Scarlett having sex with her boyfriend, the high school soccer champ, Michael Sherwood, Halley tries to warn her of the complications that lie ahead. Ignoring her advice, Scarlett embarks on a summer fling with Michael. In the meantime, Halley must deal with Ashley and the rest of the Martins must deal with her soon-to-be in-laws, Lewis' overbearing Southern parents, who have an African American maid. In the meantime, Halley runs into classmate Macon Forrester, a slacker who never shows up for biology and is more interested in having fun than school work. He is Michael Sherwood's best friend.

Then a few weeks later, Michael dies of a heart defect on the soccer field while Halley, Scarlett and other classmates watch helplessly. This event changes the lives of Halley and Scarlett forever. While Scarlett does her best to look beautiful for Michael at his funeral, Macon gives a moving speech about his friend. Struggling with Michael's death, Scarlett, at age sixteen, soon learns that she is pregnant with his child. With Halley at her side, Scarlett reveals the pregnancy to her mother.

Halley's father, Len Martin, marries his mistress, Lorna, in a beach-side ceremony, with guests from all over the world, or "within his radio frequency", as Halley puts it.

Halley and Macon eventually start a relationship. He takes her to his and Michael's favorite hangout and once come close to having sex. Halley and her mother get into an argument and on New Year's Eve that got her punished, Halley sneaks out with Macon to a party. Again, they come very close to having sex but this time Halley stops it and Macon is upset. On their way home, they are both upset and distracted and hit a tree. Halley gets a broken arm, but otherwise they both walk away from it unharmed, but Halley breaks up with Macon saying that she can't wait around for him to grow up. Later things go awry when Halley finds Ashley drunk on the family's front porch. Finding a male stripper's thong around her neck, Halley witnesses the break-up of her sister's engagement. She also learns that her mother sneaks out once a week to have sex with a man she met a couple of weeks previously, Steve. After another make-up, Lewis proposes to Ashley again, this time at a crowded airport: she says yes.

On the day of Ashley and Lewis' wedding, Macon bursts into Len's radio studio, professing his apologies and love to Halley. He then heads to the wedding. On the way, he finds Scarlett, who insisted on walking to the wedding, going into labor on the side of the road. He puts her in the car and walks into the wedding, getting Halley's attention. The three rush to the hospital, leaving Scarlett's mother behind in the rush.

While Scarlett is having her baby, Halley makes a list of all the little things she hates about Macon, the way his hair falls over his face, the way his voice gets low when he's serious, the way he bites his lip when he's nervous and the way his eyebrow twitches. Halley playfully uses Macon's 'Jedi Mind Trick' and they kiss and dance briefly in the hallway. The movie ends as Halley and Macon embrace and viewers see that Scarlett gave birth to a baby girl.

The first scene of the poem describes a banquet at the Tsar's palace. Ivan The Terrible is strictly watching his Boyars and Oprichniki and suddenly notices that the young Oprichnik named Kiribeevich doesn't eat or drink anything and doesn't seem to enjoy the feast. When asked for a reason, Kiribeevich tells the Tsar that he fell in love with a girl named Alyona Dmitrievna. Ivan wants to help his favorite Oprichnik to organize the wedding and gives him expensive jewelry to be gifted to his future bride. But Kiribeevich doesn't mention the fact that Alyona Dmitrievna is already married to a merchant named Stepan Kalashnikov.

Very late in the evening of the same day, Alyona Dmitrievna, bareheaded, her clothes ripped, comes to her house and tells Stepan that Kiribeevich abused her when she was on her way home from the church. Kalashnikov decides to defend the honor of his family and to avenge his wife by fighting the Oprichnik in a fistfight.

The fistfight is held the next morning, with the Tsar attending. Kiribeevich, being considered the best fighter, calls anyone to fight him, but no one dares. Suddenly, Kalashikov comes and accepts the challenge. Allegorically, the merchant makes Oprichnik understand who he is and why he wants to fight Kiribeevich, much to latter's concern.

Before fighting, Kiribeevich bows to Ivan The Terrible. Kalashnikov first bows to the Tsar, then to Kremlin and churches, and finally - to all the Russian people.

The fistfight begins. Kiribeevich strikes his opponent in his chest so hard that merchant's copper crucifix bent and entered Kalashnikov's flesh. But the merchant gets up and strikes back, hitting Oprichnik in his temple and thus killing him. Such actions were prohibited by Russian law, and the violator was to be executed.

Furious, Ivan IV asks Kalashnikov if he has done it accidentally or not. Being a novice fighter, Kalashnikov could refer to his lack of experience, but instead he confesses that he had done it voluntarily and agrees to the death penalty. The Tsar, amazed by the merchant's sincerity, fulfills his last wish: to take care of his family.

The St. Trinian's girls burn down the school building and are, subsequently, put on trial at the Old Bailey in London, found guilty, and await sentencing the next day by Judge Slender (Raymond Huntley). This leads to rejoicing at the Ministry of Education, and in Barset, the school's village home, where Sergeant Ruby Gates (Joyce Grenfell) and Superintendent Samuel Kemp-Bird (Lloyd Lamble) can finally plan their marriage, which is predicated on the end of St. Trinian's. However, beautiful sixth-form pupil Rosalie Dawn (Julie Alexander) has been flirting with Slender during the trial, where she gives him her telephone numbers, and continues flirting at the sentencing session. Consequently, when Professor of Philosophy Canford (Cecil Parker) of the University of Baghdad suggests that, rather than punishment, the girls need sympathy, and explains that he has funds to buy a new school building, and with the help of noted educator Matilda Harker-Packer (Irene Handl), the girls can be rehabilitated, Judge Slender ignores the guilty verdict and gives him a year to accomplish his aims. This causes dismay at the Ministry, where Butters (Thorley Walters), on the advice of his psychiatrist, does a pastoral dance to calm his nerves. The revival of St. Trinian's also means the end of Gates' and Kemp-Bird's marriage plans. The girls, led by Prof. Canford, new Headmistress Harker-Packer, and the new teaching staff, move into the former Hannington Manor, now the new St. Trinian's school building.

To demonstrate the positive effects the sympathetic educational approach is having on the girls Harker-Packer, acknowledging it will be a disaster, suggests the school present a cultural festival in a month, featuring a fashion show, a painting demonstration, and a dramatic presentation. Ministry officials Culpepper Brown (Eric Barker) and Butters are invited and their superior, Under Secretary Gore Blackwood (Dennis Price), encourages them to go and make detailed notes about the show, which they all believe will be a fiasco, in the hope that, with their report, they can convince the Minister of Education (John Le Mesurier) to shut the school. The show is indeed a fiasco: the fashions displayed by the girls are scandalous; the action-painting demonstration turns into a paint-flinging fight; and the dramatic presentation by Rosalie is Hamlet's soliloquy accompanied by a striptease. Certain the Minister will close the school when they present their report, Culpepper Brown, Butters and Blackwood are crushed when the Minister explains that the fashions are due to be shown in London, a reputable gallery will exhibit the art, and the Stratford theatre will present the girls' Hamlet. All three now use the pastoral dance to calm their nerves.

Back at St. Trinian's, the sixth-form girls and Flash Harry Cuthbert Edwards (George Cole) see Alphonse O'Reilly (Sidney James), sporting a cowboy-style hat (and immediately dubbed "Wyatt Earp" by the girls), arrive in a big car, stay for a short time and leave. Harry thinks that something is amiss, but doesn't know what. Now Canford suggests that he take the sixth-form girls on a cultural tour of the Greek Islands, which will be financed by his backer, and the Ministry approves the voyage. Kemp-Bird feels there is something fishy going on and gets Sgt. Gates to stowaway on the yacht. Harry also goes along and, one day while he and the girls are on deck, they find that "Wyatt Earp" is also aboard the yacht. This gives Harry a very uneasy feeling: something ''is'' amiss. That night, someone – obviously a woman – manages to look at the ship's log and finds that they are off the East African coast. Meanwhile, uneasy at not having seen land for days, Canford confronts O'Reilly regarding their destination and money due to him: O'Reilly tells Canford that he will get no more money and, when they did the deal, he was told their destination. Upset by this answer, he goes to see Harry, but someone knocks at Harry's cabin door, and Canford tells Harry to meet him on deck in a half hour. The interruption was caused by the telegraph operator Octavius (Monte Landis), who has been lured away from his post by a message to him as "Lover Boy", asking him to meet "Lavinia" in the cabin actually occupied by Harry. While Octavius is gone, someone sends a telegraph message. Harry meets Canford on deck but, before they can talk, they notice the smell of gravy and discover Gates, cooking her dinner, in the covered lifeboat next to them. When they hear someone coming, they climb into the lifeboat with Gates. While she explains that they are not near Greece, but off the East African coast, O'Reilly and the ship's captain discover them, and O'Reilly has the lifeboat lowered into the sea. The three begin rowing, eventually spot a desert island and land there as castaways.

Back in Barset, Kemp-Bird receives Gates' telegram and contacts the Ministry, who contact the army. The army sends word of the problem to the only unit in the East Arabian area, a mobile bath unit led by Major Hargreaves (Nicholas Phipps) and Captain Thompson (Cyril Chamberlain), and tells them that a plane carrying supplies, liquor and Ministry of Education officials is on the way. Blackwood sends Culpepper Brown and Butters on the mission, as they are the only Ministry officials who can identify the girls. Back at St. Trinian's, the fourth-form girls manage to find out some of this news, then break into the Ministry to find out the rest. After the plane takes off, Culpepper Brown and Butters find that it is loaded with fourth-form girls, who eventually throw them, with parachutes and an inflatable raft, into the East Arabian Sea. They wind up on the same desert island as the other castaways. When the Ministry men mention they could see land when they were pushed from the plane, the whole group packs up and heads for Arabia and the nearest town, Makrab. At the army camp, the girls have been rounded up and confined, surrounded by barbed wire. The captain then receives news that the Ministry officials are in Makrab and is ordered to go there, with a back-up group of soldiers, to find them. When they leave, the girls use the liquor from the plane to get the remaining soldiers so drunk that they pass out, and take over the base. In Makrab, the Captain and Major find the Ministry group at a cafe. Culpepper Brown and Butters go of to find the British consul (Harold Berens), who pairs them with two girls, who get the men so drunk they pass out. When Harry notices "Lover Boy" on the street, he, Canford, Gates, the Captain and the Major follow him to a striptease club, where Harry recognises Rosalie on a poster advertising "Farida". That night they go to the club and find Rosalie who tells them that "Lover Boy" smuggled her off the boat, but the other girls are in danger, imprisoned at the palace of a local Emir (Elwyn Brook-Jones), whose sons want to marry them which, with Canford's collusion, had been O'Reilly's plan all along.

The officers go to muster their forces, while Harry and Canford go to visit the Emir. Gates gets there on her own and enters the palace by helping to carry in the laundry. To the Emir's displeasure, the girls are defending themselves quite well. Harry, Canford and Gates offer to reason with the girls, and are allowed to visit them for five minutes: when they can't provide results, the Emir's men attack again, again with little success. Just as this fight is ending, the army arrives but is promptly captured. Things look bleak, when they hear the St. Trinian's school song in the distance, followed by the arrival of the fourth-form girls in army vehicles, who smash their way into the compound, forcing the Emir and his forces to run away.

Back in Britain, the girls and Sgt. Gates are hailed as heroes. In Barset, Gates, after 16 years of being engaged, is about to get married, when the ceremony is interrupted with news that the girls are again burning down the school, and Kemp-Bird runs off, even as Gates is walking down the aisle. As the film ends, the staff at the Ministry and the officers at the East Arabian army camp are all doing a pastoral dance to calm themselves.

The Sultan of Makyad enrols his daughter Fatima at St. Trinian's - a girl's school in England, run by its headmistress Millicent Fritton. Upon her arrival, she discovers that Millicent runs the school to prepare her students to for a merciless world, by having her students fight against authoritative figures in both the police and the government, as many of the girls are unruly and have criminal relations. As a result, the school's curriculum focuses mainly on lessons in crime and illicit, all while the students thwart efforts by the local police and the Ministry of Education (a fictional British government department) to shut down the school. However, Millicent faces problems as St. Trinian's is on the verge of bankruptcy, and is seeking any means to clear the school's debt.

Millicent's twin brother, gambling bookkeeper Clarence Fritton, visits the school to check in on his sister, and learns about Fatima's enrolment. Knowing that her father owns a racehorse due to take part in a major horse racing event, Clarence decides to enrols his daughter Arabella at the school, with instructions to befriend Fatima and to subtlety extract information from her about the horse. At the same time, local police superintendent Kemp Bird assigns female police sergeant Ruby Gates, whom he is in a relationship with, to infiltrate the school undercover as a games mistress, while the Ministry assigns Manton Bassett to send in a new inspector to St. Trinian's after two others disappeared - unaware that they now work at the school.

Clarence soon learns from Arabella that the Sultan's racehorse is likely to win the horserace, and soon assigns his daughter to abduct it until the race is over. At the same time, several girls report of the horse's performance to Millicent, who becomes convinced to place a sizeable wager on it. When Fatima discovers Arabella leading a contingent of renegade sixth form girls to kidnap the horse, she leads a group of her fourth form classmates to recover the animal and smuggle back it to the racecourse before the race begins. As the police and Ministry are left embarrassed in their failing to prevent trouble, the girls ensure the racehorse wins. As Millicent is berated by the girl's parents over the way she has run the school, Harry arrives with news of the win, which has netted the school the money it needed to stay open, much to her relief.

At St. Trinian's, the students run wild with headmistress Amelia Fritton and its teachers gone, prompting the Ministry of Education to keep them under control with help from the army. In the meantime, the school's business associate Flash Harry sets up a marriage bureau for the sixth form girls, hoping to marry one of them to Prince Bruno. As the prince will only make a decision if the girls are brought to him before July, Harry decides to take advantage of a UNESCO offer to the British government, which will provide an expenses paid tour of various European cities that will end in Rome. To ensure the school is picked, some of the sixth form students break into the Ministry and replace their file, containing negative feedback from inspectors, with one that casts the school in a positive light.

Shortly after the break-in, Harry and the students discover that the Ministry is sending in a new headmistress recruited from Australia, Dame Maud Hackshaw, who they suspect will withdraw their nomination. On the night she is due to arrive, Harry is surprised when one of the sixth form girls, Myrna Mangan, reveals that her father Joe has turned up needing help. Discovering that the local police are searching for him, under orders by Superintendent Kemp-Bird, Harry and Myrna decide to disguise him as Hackshaw, with the students abducting the real Hackshaw and imprisoning her in the school. In the meantime, a forged letter from Hackshaw is sent to the Ministry, advising them to let the girls partake on the UNESCO tour. With no choice, they decide to grant the request, and seeks volunteers to chaperone the girl and act as interpreters.

Superintendent Kemp-Bird, who is berated for his failure to find Mangan – as he is wanted for a jewellery robbery in London – receives word from the Ministry about St. Trinian's plans. He decides to assign Sergeant Ruby Gates to go undercover as an interpreter, while advising the Ministry to secure coaches from a company belonging to Captain Romney Carlton-Ricketts, as its the only coach company that will transport the students mainly out of desperation. As the students prepare to depart, Mangan finds he must remain in disguise and accompany the girls on their tour. Because he still is in possession of the stolen jewels he took, he finds himself forced to hide them in a water polo ball, unaware that a sixth form student witnesses this.

The girls soon cause chaos when visiting the cities on the tour, including Paris and Vienna. During this time, Romney makes a play for Gates due to her cover story, but as they reach Rome, she admits the truth to him, revealing that she has discovered Mangan amongst the students. When the girls prepare to play a water polo match before Bruno, chaos ensues when Mangan loses the ball containing the jewels, and is forced to steal it back. As he escapes with it, he is pursued by the fourth form students, who capture him at the Coliseum. As Prince Bruno announces his plans to marry Myrna, much to the annoyance of one of her sixth form classmates, St. Trinian's is given the reward for Mangan's capture, which Miss Fritton keeps for herself and the school upon her return. Meanwhile, Gates, now back in England, parts way with Romney to be with Kemp-Bird, who was demoted to the ranks after causing embarrassment for his superiors for attempting to arrest Hackshaw.

Gang leader "Alphonse" Askett, who operates under the guise of a hairdresser, is contacted by his anonymous employer, a secret mastermind, on a plan for a major train robbery. The gang are instructed to rob a mail van of £2.5 million, and hide the loot at Hamingwell Grange, a deserted country mansion, until it is safe to reclaim it. Meanwhile, Amber Spottiswood, the headmistress of St Trinian's, has an affair with Sir Horace, the new head of the Ministry of Schools (a fictional government department) and a corrupt politician, who recently took over following a Labour Party election triumph. Much to his department staff's shock, he willingly provides the school a grant in order to relocate following a fire at their previous building. St Trinian's moves into Hamingwell as a result, which subsequently spook Askett's gang when they attempt to return to recover their loot.

Learning of what happened, the gang's mastermind instructs Askett to find a means to retrieve the stolen money without raising suspicions from the school. Askett decides on sending his delinquent daughters into St Trinian's as new pupils, instructing the pair to gather any useful information that the gang can make use of. Unknown to Askett, one of the students at St Trinian's comes across some of the stolen money and brings it to Flash Harry, the school's turf accountant. Discovering it is part of the proceeds from the train robbery reported in the papers, he decides to claim the reward money from Edward Noakes, an insurance assessor. However, Noakes is put off by the secretive manner Harry conducts the meeting under, and decides to keep St Trinian's under observation instead.

The gang soon receive instructions to take advantage of an upcoming Parents' Day at the school, and pose as caterers in order to recover the money. Whilst waiting for the school to be preoccupied with a dance routine in the main hall, the gang lose a camera to one of the students, housing a hidden two-way radio. When the camera is brought to Harry in order to be fenced, he and some of the students intercept a message for Askett from the mastermind and realise the train robbers are in the school. The gang manage to recover the stolen money and escape, just as the school is alerted to what is happening; while Harry and the students chase after the gang, Spottiswood leads the teachers in hopes of claiming the reward money.

A chaotic chase with trains soon ensues. While the gang use a stolen train to make their escape, the students commandeer a passenger train to pursue them, and subsequently seize a van car from them carrying the stolen money. At the same time, police are alerted by Noakes, and commandeer another passenger train to pursue both. The students swiftly manage to evade the robbers and leave them being chased by the police, with the gang cornered at a station. While officers arrest most of the gang, Askett manages to escape in the chaos. Meanwhile, the students bring the stolen money to a station further up the railway line, planning to claim it for themselves, but are prevented from doing so by the arrival of more police. However, the officers applaud the girls for recovering it, causing the students to be awarded with medals, much to the shock of others that know them too well.

During the Second World War, young undergraduate Stanley Windrush (Ian Carmichael), is conscripted into the British Army. Unlike his friend, Egan (Peter Jones), Windrush is a most reluctant soldier and struggles through basic training at Gravestone Barracks under Sgt. Sutton (William Hartnell) (Author Hackney spent the first year of his National Service at Maidstone Barracks). Failing his officer selection board, he is posted to a holding unit, under the command of Major Hitchcock (Terry-Thomas). Most of the soldiers there are malingerers and drop-outs, with one of them Private Cox (Richard Attenborough) becoming his mentor in escaping work details and riding on the railway without a ticket.

Windrush is finally posted to train as a Japanese interpreter, where he becomes the prize pupil. He is then contacted by his uncle, Brigadier Tracepurcel (Dennis Price), who rapidly rose from the rank of Major for facilitating profitable business deals for his superior officers and is now a senior officer in the War Office, to join a secret operation known only as Hatrack. He is quickly commissioned and the operation is launched, Windrush becoming an unwitting participant in a scheme ostensibly to recover looted artworks from the Germans but really to steal them and sell them to two crooked art dealers. All are astounded that Windrush was trained in Japanese, rather than German that initially made him desirable to the operation.

Windrush survives the operation where he is captured by British forces whilst in German uniform. No one believes he is British until he comes across Major Hitchcock who is commanding the prisoner of war camp Windrush is at. After being hospitalised for alleged mental illness, he is discharged from the army. Tracepurcel and his associate, Private Cox, fake their deaths. Windrush returns to university after the war and is surprised to receive a visit from Cox, who brings him an attaché case. Cox is arrested as he leaves by Sergeant Sutton, now a Royal Military Policeman; Windrush and Tracepurcel having been tracked as the source of a counterfeit copy of one of the artworks. Windrush innocently reveals to the military police the contents of the case—a large sum of money—and is also arrested, assumed to be complicit in the fraud.

The closing epilogue and dedication states: "To all those who got away with it, this film is most respectfully dedicated."

In 1901, Joanna arrives from New Orleans at a South American cocoa plantation to meet her new husband (whom she married by proxy), plantation owner Christopher Leiningen. This has been arranged by his brother in New Orleans. Leiningen is upset that she is a widow, as he wished to marry a virgin. She tells him a piano plays better if it has already been played.

Leiningen is cold and remote to her, rebuffing all her attempts to make friends with him. She is beautiful, independent, and arrives ready to be his stalwart helpmate. There is a strong sexual tension, which appears hard to resolve. Although there is mutual softening, he still decides to send her back to the US. Leiningen decides to advance this plan by a month when he hears from the local commissioner of a potential attack by an army of ants (marabunta), as he does not wish her to be harmed.

As she awaits the boat to take her back to the United States, they learn that legions of army ants - the "marabunta" - will strike in a few days' time. Leiningen refuses to give up the home he fought so hard to create. Instead of evacuating, he resolves to make a stand against this indomitable natural predator. The ants take several days to arrive and during that time their joint effort brings them closer and love begins to blossom. Joanna joins the fight to save the plantation.

Leiningen's most drastic action is blowing up a timber dam to flood his own estate, washing the ants away.

The game takes place in the year 2062 (22 years after the events of ''X-COM: Terror from the Deep'' and five years before ''X-COM: Interceptor''), when the research vessel UGS ''Patton'', with a crew of top scientists and engineers and team of X-COM soldiers, travels to a site of the former alien base at Cydonia on the surface of Mars to retrieve alien artifacts and establish an Elerium mining facility. However, the ''Patton'' goes through an unexpected dimensional wormhole gateway and ends up stranded 60 light years from Earth, finding the alien invaders from ''X-COM: UFO Defense'' to be engaged in a war with a new alien race, the Ascidians. The crew of the ''Patton'' joins forces with the Ascidians, and the alliance gives the game its name. Eight other new alien races were going to be introduced too.

Brenda (Julianne Moore) walks through a predominantly African American housing project and enters an emergency room, apparently in shock and with cut and bleeding hands. Police detective Lorenzo Council (Samuel L. Jackson) is sent to take a statement from Brenda, who says that her car has been stolen. When Lorenzo gets there, she reveals that her young son, Cody, was in the back seat of the car. The police frantically begin searching for Cody.

Brenda's brother, Danny (Ron Eldard), a police officer in a neighboring town, calls a massive police presence in to search the housing project for clues. This angers the residents who protest their innocence. Lorenzo begins to suspect that Brenda is holding back details from him and pressures her to tell the truth. She insists that she has told the truth and would never harm her son. With a sketch artist she produces a picture of the man she says stole her car. Danny's white coworkers arrest a man from the housing project who they think matches the picture. Danny flies into a rage and beats him.

Desperate to find Cody, Lorenzo enlists the aid of a volunteer group which helps search for missing children. He suggests that they search Freedomland, an abandoned foundling hospital nearby. As they search, the group's leader Karen Collucci (Edie Falco) talks with Brenda. Collucci had lost her own son years before and convinces Brenda to admit that Cody is dead. She leads them to a nearby park where they find Cody's body in a shallow grave, covered with heavy rocks.

Lorenzo realizes that Brenda could not have moved the rocks herself. Under interrogation Brenda admits to having been engaged in an affair with a man named Billy (Anthony Mackie) who lived in the projects. She would give Cody cough syrup so that he would fall asleep and she could visit Billy. On the night in question she had returned to find Cody dead, having drunk a whole bottle of cough syrup. Billy helped her bury his body. When the police go to arrest Billy, they are confronted by residents angry over previous unfounded police harassment and a riot erupts. Brenda is charged with criminal neglect, and Lorenzo promises to visit her in jail.

Nancy and her friends Bess and George, on their way home from a carnival, discuss a financially struggling Swedish immigrant, Mrs. Swenson, and her daughter, whom the girls have just helped to enjoy the carnival attractions by being their hosts for the evening.

As they are driving, a luxurious roadside estate bursts into flames. The girls park the car and make sure that no one is trapped inside. In doing so, Nancy sees someone fleeing the property, and discovers an anonymous Swedish diary on the ground. She picks up this clue, and as firefighters and gawkers arrive on the scene, she notices an attractive young man moving her car away from the flying embers. At first suspicious of Ned Nickerson, Nancy warms to him when he helps her out of a jam. Ned proves to be a good friend, and is a perennial admirer of Nancy's from then on. Meanwhile, Mrs. Swenson's husband is missing, and she identifies his diary as the one picked up at the fire. To top it all off, the owner of the burned house, Felix Raybolt, is missing, and his wife claims Joe Swenson has murdered her husband. Raybolt, it turns out, swindles inventors like Swenson out of their patents and copyrights, and used one such invention to start the fire.

Fifteen years have passed since the end of the Red Ship War. Since then, Fitz has wandered the world accompanied only by his wolf and Wit-partner, Nighteyes, finally settling in a tiny cottage as isolated from the Farseers and Buckkeep politics as possible. He raises his adopted son, Hap, who was brought to him by Starling, whose visits are Fitz's only connection to his old life. Fitz now goes by the name "Tom Badgerlock."

Chade finds Fitz and asks him to return to Buckkep to instruct Prince Dutiful, Kettricken's son, in the Skill, but Fitz refuses. Later, the Fool finds Fitz. The Fool hints at his adventures in the last fifteen years and reveals that he has now forseen that he must return to Buckkeep, but Fitz declines to join. Shortly after the Fool leaves, Fitz receives an urgent summons from Chade and goes to Buckkeep. Chade reveals that Dutiful has gone missing just before his crucial diplomatic wedding to an Outislander princess. Fitz's assignment to fetch Dutiful back in time for the ceremony, while also keeping the secret that Dutiful is Witted. As Tom Badgerlock, Fitz becomes the servant of Lord Golden's the Fool's new identity at Buckkeep, to track down the Prince.

Three days after the events of the first film and a day after the events of the third film, the Creeper abducts a young Billy Taggart in front of his father Jack Sr. and older brother Jack Jr. in its 22nd day of feeding. The next day, a school bus carrying a high school basketball team and cheerleaders suffers a blowout, after one of the tires is hit by a hand-crafted shuriken made of bone fragments. Later a cheerleader named Minxie Hayes has a vision of Billy Taggart and Darry Jenner who attempt to warn her about the Creeper before it blows out another tire and disables the bus. With the team stranded, the Creeper abducts bus driver Betty Borman and coaches Charlie Hanna and Dwayne Barnes. When the Creeper returns, he singles out six of the students: Dante Belasco, Jake Spencer, Minxie Hayes, Scotty Braddock, Andy "Bucky" Buck, and Deaundre "Double D" Davis. Minxie has another vision in which Darry says the Creeper emerges every 23rd spring for 23 days to eat humans and she tells the other students.

After hearing several police reports, the Taggarts go hunting for the Creeper and soon make radio contact with the school bus. The Creeper attacks Bucky, but Rhonda stabs it through the head with a javelin. Dante begins prodding the Creeper's wing, only for it to grab and decapitate him. The Creeper tears off its injured head and uses Dante's severed head to replace its own. The students decide to leave the bus to find help, but the Creeper returns and chases them into a field, where it kills Jake and takes Scotty.

When the Creeper attacks Jonny, Chelsea, and Bucky on the bus again, the Taggarts and their dog, Mac, arrive and Jack shoots it with a homemade harpoon, which the Creeper fights him off, managing to escape after flipping over the bus. Rhonda, Izzy Cohen, and Double D find a truck and attempt to escape but are chased by the Creeper again. Izzy pushes Rhonda out of the truck before causing the vehicle to crash, injuring both Double D and the Creeper, who loses an arm, a leg, and a wing, although Izzy crawls from the wreckage before the truck explodes. The Creeper continues to pursue Double D by leaping towards him and, when it has Double D pinned down, Jack shows up and shoots the Creeper in the head with the harpoon. He repeatedly stabs the Creeper in the chest but it goes into a hibernation state before it can die.

23 years later, three teenagers drive out to the Taggart farm, where the Creeper is a sideshow attraction called "A Bat Out of Hell" and the middle-aged Jack Jr. is charging entrance fees. They see an elderly Jack Sr. watching it with the harpoon at his side and when they ask him if he is waiting for something, he looks up at the Creeper and says "About three more days, give or take a day or two".

Fitz has succeeded in rescuing Prince Dutiful from the clutches of the Piebald rebels. But once again the cost of protecting the Farseer line has been dear: Nighteyes is dead.

Fitz, though bitter and grieving after the death of his beloved wit-partner, the wolf Nighteyes, reluctantly takes the post of Skillmaster to teach prince Dutiful the Skill. He feels he must since he is almost Dutiful's father. Dutiful, the heir to the throne, was conceived by Verity using Fitz's body fifteen years earlier with the use of the skill, and because of this is both Skilled and Witted. Fitz is not a great teacher and barely has control of his own Skill, but he is the only one left that has been actually taught how to use it. He knows that Dutiful must be protected from the addictive qualities of the Skill, as well as the dangerous temptations of the Wit and the political machinations surrounding both as the Piebalds threaten to throw the Six Duchies into civil war.

At the urging of his old mentor the Master Assassin Chade, now Queen Kettricken's Lord Councillor, he also attempts to seek new Skill users as companions for Dutiful. Maintaining a pose as the servant Tom Badgerlock to the Fool's own pose as the decadent noble Lord Golden, he stays in the castle and teaches his new Skill coterie, including the overeager Chade. His search leads him to a most unlikely candidate; a mentally-challenged young man named Thick, suspicious after years of mistreatment but stronger in the Skill than anyone Fitz has ever encountered.

At the same time, the Six Duchies also faces what may be its salvation in a long-term peace, or a new threat to the fragile peace that has existed since the end of the Red Ship War. Queen Kettricken plans to betrothe Dutiful to the Outislander Narcheska (Princess) Elliania, to forge a lasting alliance between the two lands as her marriage to Verity once did. The task is less simple than it appears, and Fitz becomes aware of wheels within wheels, as different interests war with each other with the stakes higher than anyone has imagined. These finally come to a head as Elliania declares she will not wed Dutiful without his undertaking a quest to slay Icefyre, one of the last true dragons.

Unique among many games of this genre, MOTAS features a plot that changes and evolves as the player advances through the course of the game. MOTAS begins in a relatively formulaic fashion; as is the convention in escape the room games, the player awakens in a bedroom that is locked from the outside with no memory of prior events. As the game progresses, the player discovers several elements throughout the game's environment that suggest the player is a clone, such as a letter left on a table in one of the rooms on the seventh level regarding an escaped clone, and a manual about cloning left on a table in the eleventh level, which leaves the player wondering about their existence afterwards. There are also subtle hints throughout the game suggesting that the player may be an alien, such as at the end of level eight the player puts on what is described as an "Alien Suit". Depictions of aliens can also be found throughout the game: for example, on the ninth level the player sees the dead body of an alien lying outside a crashed UFO in the first room.

Both possibilities are most strongly hinted at on the sixteenth level. On that level, an encrypted mission report, written by an unknown group of persons aboard an "artificial moon" and left on a computer to be discovered and decrypted by the player, mentions clones being trained in a "Logic Training facility" on the artificial moon along with the discovery of a planet that is named by the writers as "Terra Prime", and is reported as being called Earth by its inhabitants. This strongly suggests that the writers may be extraterrestrial aliens; the report also mentions hostilities from the inhabitants of the planet after the writers' presence in the Solar System was uncovered, and of the measures taken against it by the writers of the report, including the creation of a clone to "hopefully save the planet"; this clone is hinted at the end of the report as being the player.

One plot suggestion has been dismissed though: on the eighth level of the game, a figure in a pink alien suit was shown apparently following the player by exiting one of the two doors inside a room after the player has left the level; this figure was revealed in the seventeenth level to be merely the player themselves, the pink colour explained as the result of an accident while attempting to hide behind the door. The version of the player in the pink suit had travelled from the future using the MOTAS device; the item also helps serve to further the game's metafictional elements.

Other elements that serve as plot suggestions include a book named after the game itself, various notes left behind by persons unknown throughout the game (with one reading "No unauthorised time travel"), and the use of portals and teleportation devices to advance between some levels of the game.

On the way to extort money from a widow, the Summoner encounters a yeoman who is dressed in Lincoln green, a costume worn by outlaws and poachers. The two men swear brotherhood to each other and exchange the secrets of their respective trades, the Summoner recounting his various sins in a boastful manner. The yeoman reveals that he is actually a demon, to which the Summoner expresses minimal surprise—he enquires as to various aspects of hell and the forms that demons take. Each makes a vow with the other to take whatever is offered to them and share it between them. During their travels, they come upon a carter whose horses have become temporarily stuck. Frustrated, he says that the devil may take them. Hearing this, the Summoner asks the demon why he isn't holding him to his word and seizing the horses; he replies that the man does not truly mean what he says—that it is not his "entente" (intent)—and therefore he cannot take them. They proceed to the house of the widow. The Summoner claims he will do better than the demon and fabricates a court summons in order that the widow will have to bribe him to dismiss the case. He also demands she give him a new pan in payment for an old debt, falsely claiming he paid a fine to get her off a charge of adultery. Incensed, the old woman damns the summoner to hell unless he repents of his false charges; the devil confirms her "entente"; as the Summoner does not have any inclination to repent, the demon takes his body and soul—as well as the frying pan—to hell.

Young Nevare Burvelle is the second son of a second son in the fantasy nation of Gernia. According to Gernian religious practice, firstborn noble sons are heir to the family fortunes, second sons bear swords as soldiers, and third sons are consecrated to the priesthood. Holy Writ specifies other roles as well for subsequent sons. Nevare will follow his father – newly made a lord by the King – into the Cavalla (cavalry); to the frontier and thence to an advantageous marriage to carry on the Burvelle name. It is a golden future, and Nevare looks forward to it with relish. From the age of eight, Nevare is schooled daily in math, physics, engineering, and of course combat and military strategy. With the help of Sergeant Duril, a man who once served under Nevare's father, he learns to live off the land and survive in the harsh plains environment.

For twenty years King Troven's cavalla have pushed the frontiers of Gernia out across the grasslands by building King's Road, Troven's vision of future trade with the east, and also subduing the fierce tribes of the plain on its way. Now they have driven the frontier as far as the Barrier Mountains, home to the enigmatic Speck people. The specks – a light sensitive, dapple-skinned, forest-dwelling folk – are said to retain vestiges of magic in a world which is becoming progressive and technologised. The 'civilised' peoples base their convictions on a rational philosophy founded on their belief in the good god, who displaced the older deities of their world. To them, the Specks are primeval savages, little better than beasts. Superstitions abound; it is said that they harbour strange diseases and worship trees. Sexual congress with them is regarded as both filthy and foolhardy, though not unheard of; the Speck plague, which has ravaged the frontier, has decimated entire regiments.

During Nevare's youth, his father hires a man named Dewara, a plainsman of the Kidona tribe and a former enemy of Lord Burvelle, to teach Nevare things he cannot learn from a friendly tutor. After a grueling set of lessons, Dewara offers Nevare the chance to "become a Kidona" by participating in a ritual and killing an enemy of the Kidona. During the ritual, Dewara places a dried poisonous toad in Nevare's mouth and Nevare experiences a vision. The vision involves Nevare crossing a strangely constructed series of bridges and culminates in a meeting with Tree Woman. Dewara urges Nevare to kill her, because she is the enemy. However, Nevare falls off the final bridge and only with Tree Woman's aid can he survive. He accepts her assistance and as payment, she claims him as her weapon to halt the destruction of her people.

Nevare awakens at his father's house, nearly dead from beating and exposure and missing a patch of hair and skin from his scalp.

Soon after his 18th birthday, Nevare heads to the King's Cavalla Academy to begin his formal training. His upbringing and tutors' lessons serve him well at the Academy, but his progress there is not as simple as he would wish. He experiences prejudice from the old aristocracy; as the son of a 'new noble' he is segregated into a patrol comprising other new nobles' sons, all of whom will encounter injustice, discrimination and foul play in that hostile and deeply competitive environment. In addition, his world view will be challenged by his unconventional girl-cousin Epiny; and by the bizarre dreams which visit him at night. And then, on Dark Evening, the carnival comes to Old Thares, bringing with it the first Specks Nevare has ever seen...

This first contact proves to be a dramatic one, as the other self of Nevare comes to the fore and instructs the Specks to do the "dust dance". This dance, which consists of the dancers showering the on-lookers with dust, results in a widespread Speck plague both in the Academy of the cavalla and in Old Thares. Seized by a fever, Nevare finds himself once again crossing the bridge sealed by his own sword during the ritual set up by Dewara. He is not alone however, as he finds himself with what appears to be ghostly forms of all the people dying from the plague, including notably Caulder, and Spink. He does not end his crossing, as he is expelled from that realm, as Tree woman still needs him in the physical world.

Joined by Epiny in the infirmary, Nevare finds Spink dying next to him. Aided by his cousin, he journeys once more to the bridge in what ends up to be a climactic battle between him, his other self and the Tree woman. Despite the odds stacked against him, he manages to turn the tide of the battle by retrieving his sword, the "iron magic of his people". The bridge disappears and Nevare manages to slash the Tree woman, allowing Epiny to save his friend, before being once more expelled.

Nevare eventually recovers and this part of the story ends as he finds himself returning to the Academy.

Vampire$, Inc. cleans out a nest of vampires, but has some difficulty collecting their payment and ultimately hosts a wild party at a local motel with all of the team and some townsfolk. The party is interrupted by a "master vampire" who slaughters everyone at the party with the exception of Jack Crow and his second-in-command "Cherry Cat" Catlin.

The shaken Jack begins to plan the formation of a new team, aided by Father Adam, a knowledgeable young priest sent to him by the Vatican. Events at the motel slaughter lead Jack to realize that silver, particularly blessed silver from a cross, can be used as a weapon against vampires. He has his weaponsmith Carl begin creating silver bullets and he recruits a skilled gunman named Felix, that Jack met while working as a government agent in Mexico. Felix proves to be as deadly with a pistol as Jack hoped and they seem to have a new and powerful resource to use against the vampires. In addition to the silver bullets, Carl also develops a "vampire detector" for use by the team, which proves to be a useful tool against the vampires (which are portrayed as fantastically fast and powerful compared to humans, particularly the 'master vampires').

A series of battles ensues, using these silver bullets against the vampires, but key members of Jack's team are killed by the vampires, including Annabelle, the office manager of the team's residence, and the aging Carl. Jack, depressed and beaten, suicidally returns to a known favorite hotel where the vampires are sure to find him. Felix, Cat and Father Adam stage a rescue attempt but it ends with Father Adam dead and Jack spirited away by the vampire.

The novel closes with Felix taking a leadership role within Vampire$ Inc., after thwarting an attempt by the now-vampirized Jack Crow to attack the Pope.

John Beckwith and Jeremy Grey are Washington D.C. divorce mediators who crash weddings to meet and have sex with women. At the end of a season of successful crashes, Jeremy takes John to the wedding of the eldest daughter of the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, William Cleary. Once inside, the pair set their sights on Cleary's other daughters, Gloria and Claire. Jeremy ends up having sex with Gloria on a nearby beach during the reception. Gloria is possessive and quickly becomes obsessed with Jeremy, and Jeremy urges John to escape the reception with him. Meanwhile, John attempts to court Claire, the maid of honor, but is interrupted by her hotheaded boyfriend, Sack Lodge, who is unfaithful and disrespectful behind her back. When Gloria invites Jeremy and John to an extended weekend party at their family compound in Maryland, John overrules Jeremy to accept and get closer to Claire.

John and Jeremy become acquainted with the Clearys: the Secretary's wife harasses John; Gloria's brother, Todd, tries to seduce Jeremy during the night; Gloria continues to lavish unwanted sexual attention on Jeremy and attacks him after tying his wrists and ankles to a bedframe; and Sack repeatedly injures Jeremy during a game of touch football. At dinner, John spikes Sack's wine with eye-drops to make him sick and get more time to connect with Claire.

John and Claire continue to bond the next day on a sailing trip. The suspicious Sack takes the men on a hunting trip and pranks them, resulting in Jeremy getting shot in the buttocks. While Jeremy recovers, John and Claire go on a bike ride to a secluded beach. Claire finally admits she is not sure how she feels about Sack and ends up kissing John passionately. Meanwhile, Gloria tends to Jeremy's wounds and reveals to him that she is not as inexperienced as she initially let on. Jeremy realizes that he himself has been played and that he may be in love with Gloria.

While John is confessing his attraction to Claire, they are interrupted by Jeremy being chased out of the house. Sack, who had been investigating them, reveals John and Jeremy's real identities to the family. Betrayed, Claire turns on John, and the Secretary tells them to leave.

Over the following months, John attempts to reach Claire, but she refuses to see him. He attempts to sneak into her and Sack's engagement party but is caught and beaten by Sack. Confronting Jeremy about abandoning him, he learns that Jeremy has secretly continued his relationship with Gloria. Betrayed and brokenhearted, John spirals into depression, crashing weddings alone and becoming nihilistic. Meanwhile, as Claire and Sack plan their wedding, Claire's doubts grow. Jeremy proposes to Gloria and tries to ask John to be his best man, but John turns him away.

John visits Jeremy's former wedding crashing mentor, Chazz Reinhold, who convinces John to crash a funeral with him. At the funeral, John reconsiders his belief in love and marriage after seeing the grieving widow. He rushes to Jeremy's wedding and joins the wedding mid-ceremony, to Jeremy's delight. Claire is upset by his appearance, prompting John to express regret for his past behavior and profess his love for her in front of the congregation. Sack interrupts, but Claire finally tells him that she cannot marry him. Sack, whom John refers as Ike Turner, tries to attack John, but Jeremy intervenes and knocks him out, and John and Claire kiss. After the wedding, the two couples drive away from the ceremony together and discuss crashing another wedding together.

Vann Siegert (Owen Wilson) is a wandering serial killer who poisons his victims; he explains that he feels he is helping them and that they die without pain. After killing a heroin addict named Casper (Sheryl Crow) he met at a bar, he makes her death look like an overdose and moves to a new town. The next day, he arrives at the home of Doug and Jane Durwin (Brian Cox and Mercedes Ruehl) and rents out the room of their missing daughter. Doug recommends he look for work at the post office, as they are hiring seasonal help for Christmas.

Doug takes Vann to a high school football game, where he meets Gene (Eric Mabius), a star athlete, and his family. A few days later, Vann offers the boy a ride and murders him, burying his body on a beach. While he is digging the grave, Vann has an imaginary conversation with two detectives, Blair and Graves (Dwight Yoakam and Dennis Haysbert), who ask taunting questions about his methods. Later, Vann helps the town search for the missing athlete and even attends his memorial service. He reveals that killing Gene broke two of his personal rules: don't kill anyone you know, and don't kill anyone from your town. Vann's ties to the community grow as he is given more responsibility at the post office.

One of Vann's co-workers, Ferrin (Janeane Garofalo), sheepishly pursues him. Doug drives her to the beach, where the pair exchange an awkward hug directly over the spot where Vann buried Gene. On Christmas Day, Vann goes to a diner and chooses another victim (Meg Foster). She invites him to her home, where he sees that she is a painter. Something about her work disturbs him and he flees. Vann returns to the diner and slips poison into the water of a man (Lew McCreary) eating alone. An autopsy reveals that the death was the result of a rare poison derived from tree bark fungus found in the Pacific Northwest. The poison is then linked to Casper's death, and to Gene's when his body is found. Vann knows that the police will eventually tie the murders to him. While looking in the mirror, he pulls hairs off his jacket and puts them in an envelope on which he writes 'FERRiN'.

Jane is found dead from a blow to the back of the head. The police suspect Doug, but Vann is worried that the increased scrutiny from another murder will lead the police to him. During a date with Ferrin, he tries to initiate sex by assaulting her. She is terrified, and Vann leaves. The next day, the police arrest Doug for Jane's murder. Vann packs his things. Before he leaves town, he puts his postal uniform and the envelope marked "FERRiN", containing the sample of his hair, in a mailbox. The film ends as he drives on the highway, saying that he wants to lead a more regular life once he gets to wherever he is going. He is pursued by a cop who had earlier approached him on the beach. After taking a good look with her spotlight, she smiles at him and takes the right fork in the road, while Vann takes the left.

Setting and characters

''Terra Nova'' is set in a science fictional depiction of the year 2327 and takes place in the Alpha Centauri star system. The setting's early inspirations were the novels ''Starship Troopers'' and ''The Forever War'', and ''PC Gamer UK'' compared it to that of the 1986 action film ''Aliens''. Over two hundred years before the beginning of the game, Earth is subsumed by a world government called the Hegemony, whose "Publicanism" philosophy ''PC Zone'' summarized as "communism without the economic restrictions". The Hegemony annexes colonies throughout the Solar System, but the inhabitants of Jupiter's moons reach an agreement that allows them to relocate to Alpha Centauri, where they settle on the Earth-like NewHope and the frozen Thatcher planets. The settlers divide into twelve "Clans"—each with a military "Strike Force" to defend against bandits—and create the Centauri Council to govern the system. Trade is established with the Hegemony. As the game begins, an elite Strike Force called Strike Force Centauri is formed in response to increasing pirate activity.

The protagonist of ''Terra Nova'' is Nikola ap Io, the squad leader of Strike Force Centauri. His older brother, Brandt ap Io, is one of his subordinates, and the two share a mutual animosity. Other members of the squad include Sarah Walker, the daughter of a Centauri Council member; Ernest Schuyler, who is known for his sense of humor; and the frank and abrasive Simon Ashford. Each member was given a personality so that the player would form connections with the squad. Commander Arlen MacPherson assumes overall charge of the squad, and he has regular dealings with Hegemony ambassador Creon Pentheus. Live-action full-motion video cutscenes depicting character interaction occasionally play between missions.

Story

As the game begins, pirates steal a shipment of highly destructive "Petrovsk grenades". A reconnaissance mission by Nikola identifies the grenades at a heavily defended pirate base, and they are recovered en route to a transport ship. Without the grenades, the base is assaulted by Strike Force Centauri, and Hegemony equipment is found there. When MacPherson confronts Pentheus about the incident, he denies involvement. Proof of the Hegemony's intentions is later found at a Thatcher smuggling base, and Pentheus declares war on the Centauri colonies. Now knowing the pirates are funded by the Hegemony, MacPherson suspects that a previous information leak was in fact the work of a Hegemony spy; Nikola questions Brandt, who responds with indignance. After a series of missions against the Hegemony, Nikola's aircraft is ambushed and shot down, and he is captured by Pentheus. During this time, Pentheus tells him that a traitor within Strike Force Centauri is responsible for the ambush. The squad rescues Nikola, but Schuyler is killed in the assault. At his funeral, Ashford accuses Nikola as the traitor.

It soon becomes clear that MacPherson is being poisoned. Nikola believes that Brandt is responsible, because of his recent disappearances, but is proven wrong. After MacPherson dies, Sarah Walker takes his place as commander of Strike Force Centauri. Walker sends Nikola, disguised as a pirate, on an espionage mission to discover the traitor's identity. Nikola finds information that incriminates Ashford, who, when confronted, boasts of his actions and leaps to his death from a docking bay. The squad continues the war, and the Hegemony is eventually forced to gather its remaining forces at a base on Thatcher. The squad destroys the facility by detonating a highly explosive fuel tank inside it. Following its defeat, the Hegemony denies involvement in the war, declares Pentheus a rogue agent and appoints a new ambassador to the system. While angered by the announcement, Strike Force Centauri celebrates its victory as the game ends.

Part I: Friends of Childhood

In Moonstone, Colorado, Doctor Archie helps Mrs. Kronborg give birth to her son, Thor. The Doctor takes care of their daughter, Thea, who is sick with pneumonia. The next year Thea goes to the Kohlers for piano lessons with Wunsch and practices daily for two hours (or four hours if school is not in session). The doctor goes to Spanish Johnny who is sick. Later, Ray Kennedy goes out to the countryside with Johnny, his wife, Thea, Axel, and Gunner. Although she is only twelve and he is thirty, Ray dreams of marrying her when she is old enough. They tell stories of striking it rich in silver mines in the west.

Before Christmas, Thea plays the piano at a concert, but the town paper praises her rival Lily which upsets Thea, as she wanted to sing rather than perform an instrumental piece. Tillie turns down the local drama club's notion to have Thea play a part in ''The Drummer Boy of Shiloh'', knowing that acting is not her niece's talent. After Christmas, Wunsch tells Thea about a Spanish opera singer who could sing an alto part of Christoph Willibald Gluck. She sings for him. He says she needs to learn German for many of the good songs. Wunsch gets so drunk that he behaves badly and hurts himself. Ten days later, all of his students discontinue their lessons with him, and he leaves the town. Shortly after, Thea drops out of school and takes up his students; at fifteen she begins to work full-time.

Thea and her mother enjoy a trip to Denver on Ray's freight train, riding in the caboose. They stop for lunch with the station agent at a town along the way. That fall, Mr. Kronborg insists that Thea help at the Wednesday prayer meeting by playing the organ and leading the hymns, and she does. At fifteen, religion perplexes Thea, as typhoid kills her schoolmates and a local tramp, the source of the infection, is made to leave town; she wonders if the Bible tells people to help him instead. Dr. Archie tells her that people have to look after themselves. On the way from Moonstone to Saxony, Ray's train has an accident and the next day he bids an emotional goodbye to Thea before he dies. After the funeral, Dr. Archie informs Mr. Kronborg that Ray has bequeathed six hundred dollars to Thea for her to go to Chicago and study music there. Her father agrees to let her go despite her only being seventeen.

Part II: The Song of the Lark

In Chicago, Thea settles close to the parish of a Swedish Reformed Church with two German women. She sings in the choir and in funerals for a stipend, and she takes piano lessons with Mr. Harsanyi. When Mr. Harsanyi learns Thea sings in a church choir, he asks her to sing. He is very impressed by her voice. Later, he meets with the conductor of the Chicago Orchestra and asks him who is the best voice teacher in the area; it is Madison Bowers. He then parts with Thea, explaining that her voice is her true artistic gift, not her playing. After several weeks of singing lessons, she takes a train back to Moonstone for her summer vacation. She has grown. She goes to a Mexican ball with Spanish Johnny and sings for them, feeling the pleasure of the audience for the first time. Back in her house, Anna reproaches her for singing for them and not their father's church. She returns to Chicago in the fall.

Part III: Stupid Faces

In Chicago, Thea moves from one home to another. She takes daily singing lessons, spending the afternoons as accompanist for Bowers' more accomplished students. She grows tired of them, not all people like the warm and intelligent Harsanyis. Fred Ottenburg shows up for lessons, a man who is educated, lively and closer to her age than all her male teachers. He introduces her to the Nathanmeyers, a Jewish family who loves operatic music and her style of singing. They invite her to sing at their musical evenings, helping her with proper dress. Thea catches an infection and does not fully recover; she needs a break in her familiar desert setting but will not return to her family until she has accomplished something. Fred suggests that she spend the summer on a ranch in Arizona where there are some of the cliff homes of the ancient peoples that Thea has longed to see.

Part IV: The Ancient People

Thea gets off the train at Flagstaff, Arizona, seeing the San Francisco Peaks to reach the Bitmer home. She recoups her health, with days in the canyon, resting in one of the ancient cliff dwellings, while sharing the meals of Mr. and Mrs. Bitmer. She comes to know herself better in the moments of isolation. Ottenburg joins her in July. After much direct conversation, they kiss. They take refuge from a severe storm, and then make a daring trek back to the ranch in the dark, met by Bitmer with a lantern. They talk of what is next; Thea thinks she is in love and considers marrying him. Fred suggests a visit to Mexico City, before getting her to Germany, where he feels she belongs, for her singing. Ottenburg does not tell her he married eight years earlier, though he and his wife have been estranged for most of those years, keeping up appearances.

Part V: Doctor Archie's Venture

In Denver, Dr. Archie receives a telegram from Thea summoning him to New York City and asking him to lend her money so that she can study singing in Germany. Fred told Thea about his marriage in Mexico City, and Thea accepts it, but makes it clear the limits his first marriage imposes on them. She tells Archie about this. In New York she tells Fred that she will leave and will not accept his financial help. Archie goes to dinner with Ottenburg and Thea. The next day, Fred leaves to tend his dying mother. Thea ponders the risks of her ambition, realizes she is young, just 20, and heads to Germany.

Part VI: Ten Years Later

Ten years after Thea leaves for Germany, Dr. Archie lives in Denver after his mining investments succeed and his wife has died. His life is better. He was involved in politics but is now tired of it. He wants to go to New York City, as does Fred, where Thea is performing. He has not seen her in ten years. Four years after she left for Germany, Thea's father died of disease and Mrs. Kronborg began to fail without him. Thea ached to go home to her mother, but opportunity opened in the opera company in Dresden for her before she could go home. Dr. Archie tries to keep Mrs. Kronborg's spirits up, but she dies. Thea has paid back the loan to Dr. Archie already.

In New York City, Thea performs at the Metropolitan Opera House. Dr. Archie and Fred are there to attend her performance. The three are good friends. Fred is still tied to his wife, who has been in a sanitarium for the last seven years; but he pines to raise a son. Thea is asked to replace an ill singer at the last minute, and she performs very well. Thea is then announced to sing the entire role of ''Sieglinde'', in the program. This role is well-suited to her voice. Besides Archie and Fred, two other people from her past are in the audience—Harsanyi, her teacher from Chicago, and Spanish Johnny, the Mexican mandolin player from Moonstone, who all deeply enjoy her performance, as does the entire audience. In the epilogue, Tillie Kronborg is in Moonstone, enjoying her niece's successes in the opera. She recalls hearing the famous Kronborg when the opera travelled to Kansas City, and she is happy.

Jennifer Merrick is the feisty daughter of a Scottish laird. Royce Westmoreland, the "Black Wolf", is sent by the King of England to wage war against Scotland. When Royce's brother, Stefan Westmoreland, kidnaps Jennifer and her stepsister, Brenna, and brings them to Royce's camp, the lives of the two become intertwined. Royce and Jennifer must marry by order of the King of England and the King of Scotland after they consummate their keeper-prisoner relationship.

Forced to accept the marriage, Jennifer's family try to make the marriage fail by intending to send her to become a nun in a convent after the wedding reception. Royce beats the family plan by kidnapping her first and takes her to his home. The King of England orders the two families to settle their score in a tournament where Jennifer must choose which family her loyalty lies with.

Dr. Judd Stevens, M.D., is a caring and successful Manhattan psychoanalyst who must face a horrific prospect; someone is trying to kill him. First, John Hanson, a patient trying to overcome his homosexuality, is murdered. Not long after, Carol Roberts, Stevens' secretary, is found tortured to death. Two police officers, Andrew McGreavy and Frank Angeli, are quick to treat Stevens as the prime suspect, partly due to McGreavy's anger over Stevens' testimony in a previous case. Stevens is later run down by a car, and following his recovery, two men in dark try to kill him in his office.

To prove his innocence and track down the real killer, Stevens hires a private investigator by the name of Norman Z. Moody. He also suspects some of his patients: Harrison Burke (a homicidal paranoiac), Anne Blake (a mysterious patient with whom Stevens is in love) and Teri Washburn (a sex addict and former Hollywood actress). Influenced by Angeli (the one who is somewhat friendly and helpful to him), Stevens begins to consider Moody as a suspect.

However, Moody dies but not before giving a hint on the killer: ''Don Vinton''. Another murder is attempted on Stevens, but he outsmarts the attackers. McGreavy, along with his police force tries to catch Stevens but he escapes and eventually realises that ''Don Vinton'', in Italian, means the ''Big Man'', a title given to the leader of a criminal syndicate: ''La Cosa Nostra''.

He contacts Angeli, who lures him to Anthony DeMarco (a ''capo'' of ''La Cosa Nostra'' and a megalomaniac), who is revealed to be Anne's husband. He tries to extract information about Anne's sessions with Stevens and forces him to convince Anne to go with her husband (DeMarco) to Europe. It is revealed that he killed Hanson (mistaking him for Stevens) and Carol (to extract information about Anne).

After a struggle at a factory, Stevens manages to kill DeMarco and is rescued by McGreavy.

The book is the fictional autobiography of Daisy Goodwill Flett, a seemingly ordinary woman whose life is marked by death and loss from the beginning, when her mother dies during childbirth. Through marriage and motherhood, Daisy struggles to find contentment, never truly understanding her life's true purpose. The book is divided into ten chapters detailing each epoch of Daisy's life.

Birth, 1905

Daisy Goodwill is born to Mercy Stone and Cuyler Goodwill in the summer of 1905. Mercy is an obese woman who loves to cook, eat, and keep house. Cuyler is a short, love-starved mason who worships his wife. Mercy dies of eclampsia shortly after giving birth, and Daisy is left to the care of her neighbour, Mrs. Clarentine Flett, for the first eleven years of her life.

Childhood, 1916

Daisy is raised by her neighbour "Aunt Clarentine" and her neighbour's adult son "Uncle Barker" in Winnipeg. Mrs. Flett corresponds regularly with Daisy's father. That year Mrs. Flett is struck and killed by a speeding cyclist, and Daisy eventually goes to live with her estranged father in Indiana while Barker moves to Ottawa.

Marriage, 1927

Daisy marries Harold Hoad, a university dropout and alcoholic. He arrives drunk to their wedding and only stops drinking while seasick on their journey to honeymoon in Paris. Harold indulges in increasingly reckless behaviour before he falls to his death from a second storey window. Their marriage is never consummated.

Love, 1936

Daisy has spent the last nine years living with her father and his new bride, Maria. After revealing to her friends that she feels stifled, Daisy takes the train to Ottawa, stopping to see Niagara Falls and the Dionne quintuplets along the way. Barker eagerly awaits Daisy's arrival, admitting to himself that he has been in love with her for decades. They quickly marry, much to the shock of all their acquaintances.

Motherhood, 1947

Daisy Flett is now the mother of Alice, Warren, and Joan. Barker, now sixty-five, worries what to do with his time after he retires. Brief accounts are made of the children and Daisy's home life. Barker's father moves back to his boyhood home in the Orkney Islands.

Work, 1955-1964

This chapter is composed entirely of letters from other people writing to Daisy. Barker Flett dies of a malignant brain tumor at the age of seventy two. Niece Beverley, a former WREN in World War II, comes to live in Ottawa after getting pregnant. Daisy takes over her late husband's gardening column in the local paper as "Mrs. Green Thumb" and her oldest daughter goes off to college. Cuyler Goodwill dies and his widow Maria disappears. Daisy visits her two childhood friends 'Fraidy' and 'Beans' and dates her editor Jay Dudley until he callously informs her that her gardening column has been taken over by a full-timer.

Sorrow, 1965

After her job is taken over by someone else Daisy falls into a deep depression, punctuated by fits of rage, unable to get out of bed or take care of herself, although she seems to know that this will eventually pass. Every person in Daisy's life posits their own theory of her condition.

Ease, 1977

With all of Daisy's children grown up and starting their own families Daisy moves to Sarasota, Florida to be near her childhood friends. Beverly's daughter, Victoria, has visited her great-aunt at least once a year, and proposes they visit the Orkney Islands with her college instructor. In Orkney they come across Mr. Flett, now 115 years old and barely cognizant.

Illness and Decline, 1985

In her eightieth year Daisy suffers a serious heart attack in her home, the fall shattering her kneecaps beyond repair. Her childhood friends have predeceased her. She is able to maintain a small social circle at the hospital but is eventually moved to a long-term care facility since she can no longer walk. With little to do she spends most of her time reminiscing.

Death (199-)

After multiple strokes and another heart attack Daisy passes away. The year is never revealed, so she could have lived to her nineties. This final chapter is punctuated with lists of things from Daisy's life, as well as brief conversations between her children and other relatives. The book ends with someone remarking there should have been daisies at the funeral.

Samuel is a psychoanalyst. All day long, he sees patients who express grievances, particularly rebellious teenagers who despise their parents. This has led him to have a dim view of the idea of becoming a parent. That's when his girlfriend, Mathilde, tells him she is pregnant. Terrified of having a child and being a parent, Samuel sees Mathilde's pregnancy as a nightmare. The advice of Samuel's friend, Marc, a womanizer and a bachelor, does not help Mathilde's anxiety.

On the other hand, Dominique, Marc's sister, and her husband, Georges, already have three daughters, and when they learn Dominique is pregnant for the fourth time, they take it in stride. The two couples experience the ups and downs of pregnancy and along the way, build strong knots of friendship.

While at the airport, Bart and Homer meet recruiters for the new religious movement, Movementarianism. They invite Homer and many Springfield residents to their compound to watch an orientation film. The film explains that a mysterious man known as "The Leader" will guide Movementarians aboard a spaceship to the planet Blisstonia. The lengthy film brainwashes the attendees into worshipping The Leader, except for Homer. After failing to brainwash Homer through humiliation and starvation, the recruiters succeed after a chant to the tune of the Batman theme tune. Most of the town ends up joining the Movementarians.

After Homer joins the cult, he moves his family to the Movementarian compound. Though defiant at first, all the Simpson children are converted to Movementarianism. Marge is the only family member to resist, and escapes from the heavily guarded compound. Outside, she finds Reverend Lovejoy, Ned Flanders, and Groundskeeper Willie, who have all resisted the Movementarians, and with their help, she tricks her family into leaving the compound with her. At the Flanders' home, Marge deprograms her kids by baiting them with fake hoverbikes and then works on Homer with a glass of beer. However, as a drop of beer lands on his tongue, he is recaptured by the Movementarians' lawyers.

Back at the compound, Homer reveals to a crowd of Movementarians that he is no longer brainwashed and opens the doors of the Forbidden Barn to expose the cult as a fraud, but he and the crowd are surprised to find an actual spaceship. However, the crude spaceship disintegrates as it takes flight, revealing The Leader on a pedal-powered aircraft fleeing with everyone's money. He then crashes into Cletus Spuckler's front yard, where Cletus forces him to give over the money at gunpoint. The Simpsons return home, where Lisa remarks how great it is to be thinking for themselves again. The episode ends with the family watching Fox television and mechanically repeating after the announcer that they "are watching Fox".

Andy Goodman (Brian Dennehy) is a week away from a forced retirement from his position as chief meteorologist at the National Weather Administration's Severe Weather Center. However, tornadoes level Las Vegas, an area normally not prone to the storms. Concerned and upset that the storm system formed unnoticed and that they were unable to warn the people, Goodman begins closely tracking the system. Goodman receives field reports from his friend "Tornado Tommy" (Randy Quaid) and assistance from new intern Sabrina Rogers (Alicia Johnston). As time passes, he realizes the system is heading towards Chicago, joined by an unusual warm storm coming from the south, which is already causing a record-breaking heat wave in the city, and an abnormally early cold front from the Arctic.

Meanwhile, Mitch Benson (Thomas Gibson), the Chief of Operations at Midwest Electric, is struggling to keep power going to the residents because the six-week heat wave is straining the system and residents are refusing to follow power conservation requests. To get more energy, he is working with the company's largest supplier, Lexer, but the company's CEO is trying to find new ways to profit from this crisis. Benson also finds himself caught in a conflict of interest as he is having an affair with the Lexer's public relations representative, Rebecca Kerns (Chandra West).

Ambitious reporter Amy Harkin (Nancy McKeon) is stuck reporting on the heat wave while trying to find proof behind the scenes that Lexer and Midwest are responsible for the lack of sufficient power. The Secretary of Energy, Shirley Abbott (Dianne Wiest), is actively warning various politicians and the president that the power grid is too outdated to handle real natural disasters and that it is too vulnerable to attack. Dan London (Ari Cohen), the chief engineer of Lexer, has also repeatedly warned Lexer that their systems are too vulnerable to hackers, but the company is only interested in going with the cheapest options. He decides to blow the whistle on the company to Harkin, but as he refuses to appear on camera, Harkin's boss will not allow the piece to air.

As the storms approach, early storms knock out the city's primary power generating plant, and Benson is forced to negotiate with Lexer for even more power. Not realizing the devastating nature of the storms coming, London sets out to force Lexer to listen to his warnings by hacking the system and causing a cascading chain reaction that knocks out all of the power in Chicago. Goodman and his team are unable to warn the citizens that the storms have formed into a category 6 hurricane over the Great Lakes and will hit Chicago head on.

Harkin realizes what happened to the power and rushes to find London, while Benson and Secretary Abbott gather energy from a multitude of other companies to get around the breakdown at Lexer. Unaware of what each party is doing, London quickly reverses the hacks at the same time as the energy starts flowing in from other companies. This overloads the system, knocking out the entire Midwest power grid as the storm hits the city and London is killed in the process.

Unable to do anything further, Benson rushes to find his family after he receives word that they are trapped at a mall and that his daughter has been accidentally shot by her ex-boyfriend. "Tornado Tommy" drives around the city filming tornadoes and is oblivious to another tornado that is headed to his direction. He puts his camcorder in a suitcase and throws it out his window and he is sucked in the tornado. Harkin gives Benson a ride to the mall to pick up his family, then they go to rescue her pregnant sister-in-law from an elevator. After Amy's cameraman is injured while rescuing her sister-in-law, Harkin stays behind with him and their neighbor. The others rush to reach the airport during the 15-minute eye of the hurricane, where they are picked up in a plane piloted by Harkin's brother, an air force weather pilot. After the storm passes, Harkin keeps her promise and tells London's story on air.

The first five books are set on the planet Bellevue, previously part of a high-technology galactic civilization (the Federation). Interstellar civilization collapsed during "The Fall", when extensive civil war greatly reduced the planet's technology level. Technology has redeveloped only slowly: the most advanced groups have reached the level of double-expansion steam engines, wrapped-brass-cartridges, breech-loading rifles (Martini-Henry lock or very similar) and lever-action carbines, cast-steel breech-loading cannon, simple revolvers, etc. Progress is slow: the breech-loading rifle design has not changed for over two hundred years, and other groups still use flintlock or percussion cap weapons.

The ''concept'' of computer technology has become the basis of religion throughout the world, the Spirit of Man, with priestly Hierarchs, Sysups, and an Inquisition called the Anti-Viral Cleansers. This religion is split into two competing sects: The Spirit of Man of the Stars, the state religion of the Civil Government, and Spirit of Man of This Earth, which is more popular among the barbarian Military Governments. The people of Bellevue speak various evolved dialects, including Sponglish, Spanjol, Namerique and Paytoiz, with elements of English, French and Spanish apparent. At the time of the Fall the planet had no horses, so now cavalry is mounted on thousand-pound dogs of various breeds.

The books begin in the Year of the Fall 1103, when the protagonist Raj Whitehall and his friend Thom Poplanich stumble on a still-working remnant of the old technology, the quantum supercomputer "Center", which Raj and Thom regard as an angel. Center describes itself as a "sentient artificial entity of photonic subsystems tasked with the politico-military supervision" of Bellevue. Center charges Whitehall with uniting Bellevue and provides him, through a constant mental link, with predictive visions that simulate probable situational outcomes, historical data, eidetic memory, and minor enhancements to physical abilities including accuracy with firearms. Raj couples these assets with his own charisma and skill to become an extremely effective military leader. Meanwhile, his wife Suzette quietly uses her own highly developed court intrigue skills to neutralize Raj's political foes and obstacles behind the scenes, compensating for his more direct tactics.

Center keeps Thom in suspended animation within its sanctum, explaining that he will otherwise probably be the victim of political assassination before long, and begins to educate him in matters more related to civil administration. As Raj acknowledges (and Center's projections confirm), he would not be an effective civilian leader, but Thom—the legitimate heir, with the assistance of Raj and Center—will.

True to their historical model, the campaigns of Belisarius, the books focus on the convoluted "strategic offensive, tactical defensive" campaigns of General Whitehall around the Midworld Sea and his fraught relationships with his paranoid but capable 'emperor' –- Governor Barholm Clerett—and Clerett's avaricious and corrupt chancellor Tzetzas.

Whitehall's nation calls itself the Civil Government, and it is centrally located between the rival nations of the Military Governments—The Brigade and The Squadron—and the Muslim Colonists.

Once assassin to the king, Fitz is now Skillmaster to Prince Dutiful's small band, sailing towards the distant Out Island of Aslevjal. His duty is to help the Prince fulfil the Narcheska Elliania's challenge: Bring her the head of the dragon, Icefyre, whom legends say is buried deep beneath the ice. Only after this task is complete will they be married and bring an end to war between their kingdoms.

It is not a happy ship: the serving boy, Thick, is constantly ill/sea-sick, and his powerful telepathic abilities cause many on the ship to likewise be ill. Fitz tries to calm Thick, but in the end, it is Nettle who is able to do so. Nettle is able to Skill into other people's dreams. She also forms a connection with the female dragon. Fitz, his Skill-dreams plagued by a female dragon, is unhappy at leaving the Fool behind but is determined to keep the White Prophet from his fate, death. Chade's fascination with the Skill is growing to the point of obsession.

Few on the Out Islands welcome the idea of a foreign prince slaying the Aslevjal legend. When the prince's party arrive at the first of Outislands, they stay at the Narcheska's father's stronghouse, the Boar Clan. Fitz and Chade quickly learn that they are not welcome. the Hetguard oppose the Prince's quest and think it was wrong of the Narcheska to offer it. After understanding that the best course of action is to let the Hetguard decide for themselves what needs to be done, the prince and his closer court travel to the Narcheska's motherhouse, while the other nobles remain to form trade deals. Fitz tries to trick Thick into boarding the ship that will take them to their next stop, but Thick lashes out at him. In the end Web is able to coax Thick aboard. While trying to calm Thick within his dreams, Fitz reveals Nettle to Dutiful, who demands to understand her story and in the end, that she be taken to stay with the Queen and be kept safe. Fitz fears the dragon will harm Nettle, and agrees. Nettle is furious with him and refuses to speak to him, though she continues to speak to Thick.

At the Narwhale motherhouse, Dutiful and Elliania are formally betrothed. On condition that Dutiful will slay the dragon. It becomes obvious that others want Elliania's position, that something is amiss concerning her mother (who is not there) and that she and her uncle are concealing something from Dutiful concerning the dragon. In addition, Fitz and Chade learn that there is a certain Black Man involved with the dragon and that in order to reach the dragon, something must be done about him.

A small party finally arrives on the frozen island where the dragon is, greeted by the Fool, who has flown there with the help of a stone dragon he previously rode. His intentions are at odds with Chade, who is determined to slay the dragon to secure peace, whatever the cost. It turns out that the Fool has flown to the island on Girl on a Dragon. The party on the island are split: Web and the wit coterie are opposed to killing the dragon. Swift, Burrich and Molly's son, is part of it and is torn between his loyalty to the prince and his loyalty to the coterie. The Hetguard are, of course, opposed to slaying the dragon. Paeotter gives Fitz "courage cake" that steals his ability to Skill. Fitz is able to keep Thick and the others from eating it too. The band on the island begin digging down to the dragon. Riddle and Hest are sent back to camp to bring supplies and never return. Thick behaves strangely the closer they dig to the dragon and Chade decides to send Fitz, the Fool and Thick back to camp to find out what happened to Riddle and Hest and bring supplies. On the way, Fitz and the Fool fall into a snow chasm and arrive at the realm of the Pale Woman. She is building her own dragon by Forging captives into it. Kebal Rawbread is mostly Forged as well and is with her. The Pale Woman tries to get Fitz to switch to her side and become her Catalyst. He refuses and attacks her. She then has the Fool chained with the rest of her captives and will Forge him as well unless Fitz will kill the dragon. The Fool reveals that Elliania's mother and sister have been Forged and are with the Pale Woman. They are the reason that Elliania wants Dutiful to kill the dragon. If he kills the dragon, the Pale Woman will kill her mother and sister, and save them from their Forged state. Fitz promises to kill the dragon and is thrown out of the Pale Woman's realm. He finds his way back to camp with the help of the Black Man. Burrich is there and he heals Fitz (whose shoulder has been dislocated by the Pale Woman's guards). Fitz informs Chade and Dutiful of everything he has learned. They confront Elliania and her uncle who tell them the entire story: for years the Pale Woman has been stealing their young men and boys and Forging them. She also had Elliania tattooed with the dragon and serpent and this is how she is able to control the Narcheska and her family. Henja has been the Pale Woman's agent. The Pale Woman tried to get the Piebalds to deliver Fitz and the Fool to her, but her plan failed. She also offered Elliania and her uncle to deliver Fitz and the Fool to her in exchange for the bodies of the Narcheska's mother and sister. It is imperative that they be buried near their motherhouse. Fitz convinces everyone that they will use Chade's explosives to blow up the ice around the dragon and then kill it. Dutiful goes with him. As they set up the explosives, Fitz sends Dutiful back to be with Burrich and then is suddenly in contact with Icefire and learns his story. He understands that he should not kill the dragon, even if this means the Fool will die. The entire party, not including Elliania and Peottre, band together to free the dragon with the help of Chade's explosives. While putting the explosives together, Fitz and Burrich talk about the past, including Burrich's use of the wit. Tintaglia understands they are freeing him but also thinks they will harm him and threatens them. Once they free Icefire, the Pale Woman unleashes her own dragon, made of memory stone and embodying Kebal Rawbread. At the same time, Elliania and Peottre free her mother and sister, who are forged and nearly dead. The dragon attacks Icefire and Tintaglia, wounding her. Burrich tries to help her and Swift protects them from the Rawbread dragon's attack. Burrich is gravely hurt. Swift shoots the dragon in the eye with an arrow and kills him. All of the emotions poured into him are released and the Forged Outislanders return to themselves, including Elliania's mother and sister. Icefire and Tintaglia unite. Fitz gathers the coterie to try to heal Burrich but they are unable to due to his being sealed off to the skill. Instead, Thick is able to heal other members of the party injured in the fight. Finally, Fitz is able to remove Elliania's tattoo. Fitz goes back to the Pale Woman's realm to find the Fool. Peottre tells him the Fool is dead, but Fitz goes anyway. Fitz finds the fool dead in the Pale Woman's realm. He also finds the Pale woman who has not died and tries to get Fitz to kill her. She has been deformed since Kebal Rawbread tried to take her with him into the dragon. Fitz concentrates on saving the Fool's body. He finds a room with a map of the Skill Stones and then Skill Stones and takes himself and the Fool to the stone quarry where the Elderling dragons sleep. He is able to bring the Fool back from the dead. They then return to the Black Man and Thick. The Fool and the Black Man turn out to be from the same school. The Black Man is also a White and he explains how he tried to deal with the Pale Woman. The Fool tells Fitz he is going back to his school with the Black Man, although Fitz wants to bring him back to Buckkeep. In the end, Fitz and Thick go back through the memory stones. He meets Patience and Lacey by accident and Lacey recognizes him. Fitz then returns to the Black Man's cave. The Fool removes their Skill bond and it is supposed to be their final parting. Fitz gathers two sacks of Skill writings to return to Chade. He and the Black Man find the Pale Woman who is dead. Fitz returns through the Skill stones but turns out he was lost within them for a month. In the month he was gone, the Fool came to Buckkeep, and was surprised Fitz was not there. He left a gift for him. Fitz arrived in time for Harvestfest and Elliania arrives unannounced to marry Dutiful. Fitz meets Molly and they begin to patch things between them slowly. After much back and forth, Molly and Fitz marry. They move to Withywoods, which Patience has given to Molly in recognition of Burrich's service with understanding it will pass to Nettle, as Chivalry's granddaughter.

Characters

The player assumes the role of Chris, the protagonist of ''Popotan''. Chris is a high school dropout who dislikes the direction of society and refuses to get a job. He wanders the streets making a living as a guitar-playing busker. He feels he cannot play well without an audience, which is hard to find as a drifter. The other main characters include three sisters and their maid who live in a western-style mansion. Ai, 18, is the eldest of the three and communicates with plants. Mai is the middle sister at 14; she is a tomboy and disapproves of Chris's behavior. Mii is the youngest at 11 and the most energetic; she often cosplays as "Magical Girl Mii" and helps people. Their maid Mea appears emotionless at first, but reveals hidden depth later in the story.

Story

''Popotan'' takes place in the distant future within the remnants of Tokyo, destroyed by a cataclysm and since altered by geological transformations. The disaster was caused by a giant dandelion structure resembling a spire that arose in the city atop a hill. The main location of the game is a European-style mansion, seen as completely out-of-place in the city. Much of the daytime is spent outside the mansion wandering around town meeting characters and triggering event sequences.

''Popotan'' follows Chris's lifestyle changes, as well as the mysteries surrounding the spire-like object that caused the destruction of Tokyo in the past. The story opens as Chris desperately considers stealing food from a stand near a shrine entrance. His theft is unsuccessful, and he wanders around town looking for work. He finds a convenience store, where he gets directions leading him to the mansion. He enters without asking permission and runs into the three sisters and their lifelike android maid. Chris asks permission to stay because the rent is cheap and the girls are pretty; they consent, but force him to take a part-time job. The convenience store owner hires him, and as the story progresses, Chris opens up socially and begins caring about others as he interacts with the girls. He also meets new friends, including a classmate Konami, a local shrine maiden named Nono and a mysterious girl named Shizuku.

Johnny and Adam are teenage surfers who live in Los Angeles with their father, Mac. Two weeks before Johnny's 16th birthday, ninjas attack the teenagers, but they are defeated by Zatch, a mysterious warrior with an eye patch. A follow-up attack results in Mac's kidnapping, though Zatch is able to protect the teenagers and their friend Iggy from the ninjas. Adam discovers that the video game on his Sega Game Gear matches the events happening around him and finds he can control some events through his Sega. Zatch reveals to Johnny and Adam that they are actually the sons of the king of Patusan, whose land and monarchy was overthrown by the evil Colonel Chi when the boys were young. It is their destiny to return to Patusan, overthrow Colonel Chi, and free the people. Zatch takes them to the Patusani district of "Little Patusan" in Los Angeles, where Johnny is introduced to a Patusani princess, Ro-May, who has been betrothed to Johnny since they were infants.

Ninjas again attack, but Johnny's abilities as a warrior prince emerge and he defeats several of his foes. Johnny, Adam, Iggy, Zatch, and Ro-May decide to return to Patusan. They are followed by a Los Angeles detective, Lieutenant Spence, who had been investigating the ninja attacks. They reach Patusan and discover what Colonel Chi's rule has wrought, including a burned village and a chain gang of political prisoners. The guards spot them and they are forced to fight. Johnny and Adam defeat them and free the villagers from their captivity.

Zatch leads the crew to a hidden cave in which the ancient weapons of the Patusani monarchy are preserved. Zatch arms Johnny and attacks him to prepare him for future challenges. Johnny is beaten repeatedly, but he is finally able to disarm Zatch. Rallying the villagers, they travel to the coast, opposite from an island that houses the royal city and Colonel Chi's dungeon. Unable to go by boat due to an impassable reef, Johnny and Adam tell the Patusanis to make surfboards. They then paddle to the unguarded side of the island.

Landing on the island, Johnny and Zatch lead the attack on the royal city, taking down Chi's henchmen and freeing Mac. During the battle, Zatch is revealed to be the boys' paternal uncle. Johnny confronts Colonel Chi, successfully defeating him by knocking him into a body of water with the help of Adam and his Game Gear. With Chi's rule undone, peace is restored to Patusan. Johnny is seated as the heralded warrior prince with Ro-May as his princess and Adam as a prince. Johnny declares the monarchy to be dissolved and announces that Patusan will operate as a democracy. His reason for doing this is for the people to finally be free of rule, good or evil.

Captain Ephron Vestrit dies on the Vivacia and she quickens. His daughter, Althea, thought she would be the ship's new captain and is shocked to learn that Ephron has given Vivacia to her sister, Keffria, who in turn gives captainship to Kyle, her Chalcedean husband. Kyle believes he can restore the family fortune by entering the slave trade and banishes Althea from the ship. Althea sets off to prove she is a capable sailor. Amber, a foreign carpenter in Bingtown, aids her before she leaves. Because a blood relative of the Vestrit family must sail with the ship, Kyle forces his son Wintrow, who wants to be a priest of Sa, to serve aboard the ship. Wintrow has a growing bond with Vivacia but finds it hard to adjust to life on the ship and cruel treatment from Kyle and the crew.

The ambitious pirate captain Kennit desires to unite all pirate townships under him as king. He intends to capture and sail a liveship in order to pursue his goal. Kennit's first mate convinces him to capture slaver ships to free the slaves while throwing the slavers overboard. Because of this, Kennit gains support, influence, and legendary status in the pirate townships. Etta, a whore in Divvytown who Kennit has favored and who loves him, is brought on board. Kennit is attacked by a sea serpent; Etta severs his leg in order to rescue him.

In Bingtown, Keffria and her mother, Ronica, attempt to manage the Vestrit family's finances. They bring Malta, Keffria's rebellious daughter, to a meeting between the Bingtown traders and the Rain Wild Traders. Malta inadvertently captures the attention of Reyn Khuprus, the son of an influential Rain Wilder family, and he begins courting her.

Althea works on board a slaughtership, disguised as a young boy, in order to prove her seaworthiness. Brashen Trell, former first mate on the Vivacia and a disowned son of another prominent Bingtown family, is also serving on the ship. Althea is rejected when the captain of the slaughtership discovers her true name. Althea and Brashen separate after a romantic dispute. Brashen takes a position on a pirate's trader ship. Althea joins the crew of the liveship Ophelia, owned by the Tenira family, and heads back to Bingtown to negotiate with her family.

Wintrow attempts to escape Kyle and abandons Vivacia, but he is captured by slavers and is tattooed as a slave. Kyle buys Wintrow and declares him the property of Vivacia. Separation from Wintrow, the violence and suffering of the slaves, and Wintrow's negative emotions cause Vivacia to become unstable. Slaves on the ship revolt, killing the entire crew except for Kyle and Wintrow, forcing Vivacia to feel the suffering of all. Shortly after, Kennit and his crew set their sights on Vivacia and board her. Wintrow bargains with Kennit, offering to treat the pirate's infected leg in exchange for keeping Kyle alive and helping sail Vivacia. Vivacia, intrigued by Kennit, agrees to become his pirate ship.

Part 1

After the deaths of their respective first spouses, Eduard and his childhood sweetheart, Charlotte, were able to marry. The aristocratic couple lives secluded on Eduard’s estate, where Eduard indulges his hobby of landscaping the grounds. The relationship between the two is more of familiarity than of passion. The contemplative togetherness is interrupted when — after Charlotte's initial misgivings — two guests are brought into the household: Eduard's friend, Captain Otto, who is in straitened circumstances, and Charlotte's niece, Ottilie, bereft of both parents and money.

The captain's considerable knowledge and drive motivates a range of improvements to the estate, especially the landscape architecture; Charlotte supports him in this. The young Ottilie is shy, taciturn, empathetic and peaceful, and Charlotte instructs her in household management, a task she soon takes over completely. Gradually, Eduard and Ottilie feel more and more drawn to each other, as do Charlotte and Captain Otto as well. Charlotte and Otto confess their love for each other, but Charlotte asks him to renounce such feelings. Eduard, however, cannot control his lust for Ottilie.

Charlotte, hoping for a return to the status quo ante, asks Eduard to make Ottilie leave; Eduard, however, had anticipated the possibility of a divorce from Charlotte, thinking that she had formed a bond with the captain. Captain Otto leaves the house, and in order to delay giving up Ottilie, Eduard moves away. Left behind, the two women try to carry on with their usual lives, hiring a young architect to continue the landscaping duties. In Eduard's absence, Charlotte finds out that she is pregnant and hopes that Eduard will now return to her, but he is disturbed by the news and resumes his military career. Ottilie, feeling hopeless because of Charlotte's pregnancy, becomes more withdrawn.

Part 2

The beautification work now extends to the village cemetery and the associated church. Ottilie helps the architect with the painting of a side chapel, and Charlotte gives birth to a son, who strongly resembles Otto and, of course, her niece Ottilie — the result, we are told, of the double “spiritual adultery” from which the child arose. Ottilie takes on the child care duties. At this point, Goethe interposes a novella within the framing main story, depicting similar events that resulted in an eventual happy marriage.

After a year's absence, Eduard returns from the war with medals and honours. He invites the captain, now promoted to major, to his house and tries to facilitate a divorce from Charlotte so that she can live with Major Otto and their child on the estate, while Eduard himself can go on a journey with his mistress. On the bank of a lake created by the architect, he meets Ottilie with the child; they hug each other and experience direct, physical passion for the first time. Feeling assured of a divorce from Charlotte, Eduard presents his plans to his beloved; Ottilie leaves the decision to Charlotte. Wanting to row home across the lake and excited by having met Eduard again, she lets the child slip into the water and drown as she climbs onto the boat.

Charlotte, blaming her own hesitation for the accident, finally agrees to a divorce but does not give a definite answer to the major. With the death of the child, Eduard sees the last obstacle to a connection with Ottilie removed, but Ottilie is wracked by guilt and wants to renounce her love. After Eduard manoeuvres her into another meeting, she realizes that their mutual attraction is insurmountable. She stops speaking and eating and dies; Eduard, too, loses his will to live and also dies. Charlotte buries him beside his lover in the chapel that Ottilie had painted.

The year is 1476, and Count Dracula has started to ravage Europe with an army of monsters. The Belmont family of vampire hunters, once exiled from Wallachia, are called into action by the Church. They feared the Belmonts' "super-human" power, but with Dracula menacing to swallow Europe in darkness, they are left with no choice but to call Trevor Belmont (Ralph C. Belmondo in the Japanese version), current wielder of the Vampire Killer whip.

Joining Trevor Belmont in his mission to defeat Dracula are three new playable characters: Sypha Belnades, a young sorceress with poor physical attack power but powerful elemental magic spells at her disposal; Grant Danasty, a pirate with the ability to climb on walls and change direction in mid-jump (a rare ability in earlier games of the series); and Alucard, Dracula's son, a dhampir with the ability to shoot fireballs and transform into a bat. Trevor can be accompanied by only one companion at a time. If he chooses to take on another he must abandon his current companion. The player can "spiritually transform" between Trevor and his ally with the "select" button. Both Trevor and whoever is accompanying him share the same health meter and heart counter. The ending of the game differs depending on which companion Trevor has with him at the time, or if he does not take another character with him at all.

''End of Ages'' takes place in the present day, sometime after the events of ''Uru: Ages Beyond Myst'', and begins as the player responds to a letter from Atrus. Atrus is a writer of special volumes called linking books, which serve as portals or links to worlds known as Ages. A linking book to the Age of Myst, the setting of the original game, lies sealed in the ruins of the ancient D'ni civilization. The D'ni had the ability to craft linking books, but their society crumbled from within; Atrus and his family have been trying to restore the D'ni people and created an Age for the survivors to live on, known as Releeshahn (introduced in ''Exile''). Atrus by this period is an old man, mourning the deaths of his sons Sirrus and Achenar in ''Revelation'', and the death of his wife Catherine in the period after. In his letter, Atrus expresses concern that his daughter, Yeesha, may be lost as well.

The player starts in Atrus' old study on K'veer, an island near the ruins of the main D'ni city; in the antechamber outside the study, there is a strange tablet locked in place on an altar. Yeesha links in and explains that legends state that in order to fully restore D'ni, someone known as the Grower must utilize the tablet. The artifact has the ability to fully control a mysterious enslaved race known as the Bahro. As Yeesha made the wrong decision upon unlocking the tablet, she can no longer use it; Yeesha instead charges the player with uncovering the tablet's power. After leaving Yeesha, the player meets a man named Esher near "the Great Shaft", connecting D'ni to the surface (as detailed in ''Myst: The Book of Ti'ana''). Esher is a survivor of the fall of D'ni and tells the player that Yeesha cannot be trusted, warning the player not to give her the Tablet. Throughout the Great Shaft, the player collects twelve fragments of Yeesha's journal. The writings appear to confirm Esher's warnings, as the narration seemingly indicates that Yeesha has descended into madness, believing herself to be the Grower.

At the urging of both Yeesha and Esher, the player travels across four Ages, collecting four slates that unlock the tablet's power. Esher occasionally appears in the Ages to offer his counsel, or reveal the histories of his people and the worlds the player explores. Once all four slates are collected, Esher requests that the player bring the tablet to him in the now-unlocked Age of Myst. The player is then returned to K'veer, where they have four possible choices. Travelling to Myst without the tablet will cause Esher to angrily abandon the player with no way out. If Esher is given the tablet, he will explain he wishes to use the tablet for domination, and will also leave the player trapped. If the player gives the tablet to Yeesha, the tablet simply slips through her hands and disappears into the ground; she walks away, disappointed, leaving the player trapped in D'ni. The only good ending involves giving the Bahro the tablet, ending their enslavement. Arriving at Releeshahn, the new home Age of the D'ni, Yeesha and Atrus thank the player and speak of a new chapter for the D'ni people; Esher is handed over to the Bahro to be punished for his crimes. The game ends on a visit to Releeshahn.

The Fuma and Koma ninja clans who live mainly in darkness have mastered the secret arts of ninjutsu and black magic. Although they look like normal humans, they have strength and spiritual power beyond normal. Each clan consists of several factions. The Fuma clan is split into factions based on the Chinese zodiac. The Koma clan is split into factions by color; consisting of the white, the gold and the red dragon. In the case of the Fuma clan, members of a given faction know nothing more about any other factions except that they exist and their bloodlines are cut off from the outside world and are destined to decline. The Fuma clan possesses extreme strength and spiritual power. Their duty is to protect the Holy Grail, which is said to possess power that can destroy the world. From long ago, the evil Koma clan had plotted to destroy the world using the destructive power of the Holy Grail.

The Koma clan eventually attacked a faction of the Fuma clan and stole the Holy Grail. However, they failed to notice that among the severely wounded, one man survived. On the verge of death, the barely living man known as Hagane was brought back to life by advanced cyber-technology performed by a mysterious old man named Momochi. However, none of Hagane's body survived except his brain. Already a powerful ninja, he now had the incredible power and speed of a cyborg. With this power, he vowed to take revenge on the Koma clan. At the end of the conflict and having destroyed the Koma clan's complex, Hagane overlooks the scene from a cliff outcropping, satisfied. His purpose fulfilled, Hagane's glowing eyes fade to black and he passes on. As the credits roll, time and nature claim his seated form and rust his katana as a nearby tree grows unhindered by the blackened land.

The book follows the tale of the Badger Lord Urthstripe the Strong and his battle against Ferahgo the Assassin. Mara, Urthstripe's young adopted daughter, and her hare friend, Pikkle, decide to leave the great mountain stronghold, Mara having become tired of the strict ways of Salamandastron.

Meanwhile, two stoats, Dingeye and Thura, have recently deserted Ferahgo's army. They manage to find their way to Redwall Abbey and are taken in by the kind beasts that reside there. While tensions mount as to their presence, the ruling beasts of the Abbey decide they may stay: the two stoats, while rude, have done no harm.

Mara and Pikkle, meanwhile, have escaped Ferahgo's horde and have taken refuge in a cave. Unfortunately, the cave is inhabited by a sand lizard called Swinkee. A fight ensues, and Mara accidentally pulls off Swinkee's tail. After the fight, Mara and Pikkle ask Swinkee if he can take them to Salamandastron. To get Swinkee to do it, they promise him a large bag of live swampflies and marshworms. Swinkee double-crosses them, however, and leads them straight to a tribe of cannibal toads. They are presented to the chieftain, a large, repulsive, fat toad called King Glagweb. He throws them into a pit where 36 young shrews are kept captive as well, one of these is Nordo, son of Log-a-Log of the Guosssom. The shrews explain what the toads are going to do to them and their escape plan. Later, when they are nearing a feast day, a black acorn drops into the pit, signalling the captives to throw whatever they have at the toads. After a few minutes of hard fighting, Log-a-Logs shrews come and free the captives while fighting and killing the toads. Mara attacks Glagweb, only to be stopped by Log-a-Log, who throws Glagweb into the prison pit, along with a large, healthy, young pike. Later, Log-a-Log asks a boon of Pikkle and Mara, asking them help in retrieving the Blackstone, the symbol of leadership among the Guosssom (Guerilla Union Of South Stream Shrews of Mossflower). He explains he had been ruling only through sheer strength, and that a badger ghost had taken the stone. The trip to the island was treacherous because of the appearance of the Deepcoiler, a large monster residing in the lake that terrorises the Guosssom, along with a conspiracy against Log-a-log launched by a shrew named Tubgutt. When Mara and Pikkle and the Guosssom reach the island, they delve into the islands forest, meeting the 'ghost' badger, who is really a living badger named Urthwyte, the long-lost brother of Mara's father, Urthstripe, and Urthstripes' mother and Mara's grandmother, Loambudd.

US cover of ''Salamandastron'' Meanwhile, a young squirrel named Samkim and his good mole friend Arula are wreaking havoc, as will happen with youngbeasts. They start playing with bows and arrows and frighten one of the Redwall abbey dwellers. One night, a lightning bolt strikes the weathervane of Redwall, and the sword of Martin the Warrior falls from its resting place high above the Abbey grounds and falls at the feet of Samkim, who is dumbfounded by his discovery.

Dingeye and Thura's stay is cut short when they are forced to flee the Abbey after accidentally killing one of the Redwallers (Brother Hal) with the same bows and arrows that Samkim and Arula had used. Dingeye and Thura head towards the countryside, with Martin's stolen sword in hand. Samkim and Arula pursue the two beasts, intent on not only rescuing the legendary sword of their Abbey Champion, but exacting vengeance upon the murdering vermin. Thura falls dead from Dryditch fever, and is left behind by Dingeye. His body is discovered by Samkin, Furgle the Hermit, and Arula. Furgle recognises the disease symptoms and goes to warn Redwall. Dingeye, however, is caught by a group of six vermin from Ferahgo's horde, and is beheaded with the Sword of Martin the Warrior. The vermin leader is Dethbrush, and he in turn takes the Sword from Dingeye's headless carcass.

Back at Redwall, a terrible disease has begun ravaging the Abbey. A local woodvole hermit by the name of Furgle determines that it is Dryditch Fever. Mrs. Faith Spinney mentioned that there is an old wives' tale saying that the Flowers of Icetor from the Mountains of the North boiled in springwater can cure Dryditch Fever, so the brave otter Thrugg sets off to find them. With the dormouse babe Dumble along for the ride and an injured falcon whom they meet on the road named Rocangus, the trio eventually makes it to the pines where a group of crows terrorise any passerby. After being rescued by Laird McTalon and a group of falcons, Thrugg succeeds in securing the flowers from the ruler of the mountain: the mighty Golden Eagle, Wild King MacPhearsome.

Mara and Samkin's paths eventually cross when Samkin catches up with Dethbrush in a storm and punches him overboard. He is in turn eaten by the Deepcoiler. Samkin grabs the Sword of Martin the Warrior from the body of Dethbrush before the Deepcoiler can dive. Then, after the Deepcoiler dove, it rose again, attacking Spriggat. Then, when the serpent has Spriggat in its jaws, Samkin stabs the Deepcoiler in the roof of the mouth. The serpent then vanishes. Later, Mara and the Guosim find the body of Deepcoiler and retrieve the Sword from it. Along their way, they meet each other and Mara gives Samkin the Sword. Heading back to Salamandastron, the group arrives to see Salamandastron being sieged by Ferahgo the Assassin, and soon enough in time to find Urthstripe seized by the Bloodwrath, leaping from the towering mountain with Ferahgo in his grasp. After the battle, Ferahgo's son, Klitch, is still trapped within Salamandastron. After wandering some way, he gets thirsty and thinks that it is his 'Lucky Day' when he finds some barrels of water. He has forgotten the fact that the Poisoner, hired by Ferahgo, has poisoned all the food and water he saw while on his last mission before his death. Klitch drinks the dregs, and is eventually beset by lances of pain and numbness. He wedges himself on a mountainside opening, and dies of the powerful poison. After Urthstripe's death, Mara, Pikkle, Samkin, Arula, Urthwyte and Loambudd find the badger treasure that Ferahgo was looking for and bury him there.

Soon after Thrugg, Dumble and MacPhearsome return with the haversack full of the flowers of Icetor, Samkim and Arula, along with Mara and Pikkle, return to Redwall Abbey. The Abbey is cured of the fever and soon, nameday comes upon the abbey. Mara becomes the Badger Mother of Redwall. Urthwyte remains behind as Lord of Salamandastron, along with the surviving members of the Long Patrol.

Wally Gator (voiced by Daws Butler impersonating Ed Wynn) is an anthropomorphic, happy-go-lucky alligator who wears a collar and a pork pie hat. Although his catchy theme song describes him as a "swingin' alligator of the swamp," his home is in the city zoo. Mr. Twiddle (voiced by Don Messick) is the zookeeper who keeps a close watch on Wally, who likes to check out what life is like in the outside world.

Ned Henry is a time traveler in 1940 studying Coventry Cathedral after the Coventry Blitz of World War II. He is specifically searching for the location of the "Bishop's bird stump", a MacGuffin that is not defined by the narrator. The narrator shows confusion explained by "time-lag", the time-travel-induced form of jet lag. He returns, unsuccessful, to his time, 2057, at Oxford University.

The Bishop's bird stump is needed for a restoration of the cathedral funded by Lady Schrapnell, a wealthy American neo-aristocratic woman with a will of iron. She has conscripted most of Oxford's history department to rebuild the cathedral exactly as it was before it was destroyed. Before going on further trips Ned must recuperate from his time lag and is sent to the hospital. Lady Schrapnell, however insists he go back on another trip. Before he can be conscripted by Schrapnell, Professor Dunworthy (who is in charge of the time machine) decides to send him back to the Victorian Era, specifically 1888, for his rest.

Dunworthy has an ulterior motive in sending him to 1888, as another time traveler appears to have violated the laws of the continuum by bringing an object back from then to 2057. Theoretically, nothing may be brought through the time machine in either direction as it might cause time to unravel, and safeguards have been put in place in order to prevent significant objects making the journey. The historians and scientists who invented the time machine believe the object may rip time itself apart if it isn't promptly returned.

Ned, who only knows 20th century history, and still suffering from time lag, is given a crash course on Victorian times while simultaneously being told his mission and destination. The combination of muddled lessons, imprecise instructions, and the jump to 1888 worsening the time lag leaves him confused about where he is supposed to be, who he should meet, where he should go, and no idea at all about the out-of-time object he is carrying.

Time travel has a self-correcting mechanism called slippage, moving time travelers either in time or place from their target in order to protect history. Ned arrives at the correct time, but unknown to him, he is not at the estate where another time traveler should meet him. Instead, he has slipped in destination to a railway station 30 miles away. He meets Terence St. Trewes, a besotted young Oxford undergraduate, mistaking him for his time travel contact. He agrees to share the cost of a hired boat for a trip on the River Thames from Oxford down to Muchings End, where Terence hopes to meet his love, Tocelyn "Tossie" Mering. Ned, Terence, Cyril the bulldog and Professor Peddick (an Oxford don) travel down the Thames navigating locks, beautiful scenery, crowds of languid boaters in no hurry to get anywhere, and the party of Jerome K. Jerome, a homage to the original novel from which ''To Say Nothing of the Dog'' draws its name and themes.

Fortunately, Ned's contact in Muchings End recognizes him when he arrives and identifies herself: she is a young woman named Verity Kindle, who is pretending to be Tossie's cousin. Lady Schrapnell sent Verity to read Tossie's diary because Tossie (an ancestor of Lady Schrapnell) had written about a life-changing event involving the bird stump at the first Coventry Cathedral (St Michael's Cathedral), an event which had caused her to elope with a mysterious "Mr. C" to America. It is only at this point that Ned learns the nature of the object he is to return: Tossie's pet cat, Princess Arjumand. (Cats are extinct in 2057 due to a feline distemper pandemic.)

Ned and Verity continually attempt to fix the time travel incongruity. They must know the histories of the characters around them, and their descendants impact on future history, and also the mystery of Mr. C. Their interloping attempts to fix the known history of the people around them cause ripple effects forward and backward through history from Waterloo to World War II, and even to 2018 (when time travel was invented). After several adventures attempting to correct things themselves, both end up, mistakenly, in different eras attempting to get back to 2057. In their absence, time itself corrects their meddling. On their return to 1888, Mr C has been identified, interrupted relationships between characters have occurred, and clues throughout their experience reveal the location of the Bishop's bird stump in 2057.

Finally, in 2057, just in time for the celebration of the cathedral reconstruction, the location of the Bishop's bird stump proves to the historians and scientists that, in certain scenarios, objects can be brought forward in time which heralds a renaissance in recovery of historically lost, destroyed, or extinct objects.

Taylor Greer sets out to leave home, Kentucky, and travel west, and finds herself in Oklahoma near Cherokee territory. As Taylor stops in the town, a woman suddenly approaches, deposits a small child, and leaves without explanation. Not knowing what else to do, Taylor decides to care for the child. The two travel to Tucson, Arizona, where she meets Lou Ann, a woman with a young son. Lou Ann had been married; her husband abandoned her and their child.

The novel traces the experiences of Taylor and the child, who Taylor names Turtle.

While driving through the Los Angeles hills at night, white actress Julie Sawyer accidentally runs over a stray White Shepherd dog. After the veterinarian treats him, Julie takes him home while trying to find his owners. A rapist breaks into her house and tries to attack her, but the dog protects her. She decides to adopt him, against the wishes of her boyfriend Roland Graele. Unbeknownst to her, the dog was trained by a white racist to attack black people on sight. The dog sneaks out of the house, and kills a black truck driver. Later, Julie takes the dog to work with her, and he mauls a black actress on the set.

Julie takes the dog to a trainer, Carruthers, who tells her to euthanize the dog. Another dog trainer, Keys, who is black, decides to try to retrain the dog. He dons protective gear and keeps the dog in a large enclosure, taking him out on a chain and exposing himself to the dog each day and making sure he is the only one to feed or care for the dog.

The dog escapes and kills an elderly black man in a church. Keys recovers him, and opts not to turn him over to authorities to continue the training, over Julie's protests. He warns her that the training has reached a tipping point, where the dog might be cured or go insane. He believes that curing the dog will discourage white racists from training dogs like this.

Eventually, the dog becomes friendly towards Keys. Julie confronts the dog's original owner, who has come to claim him. She angrily tells him the dog has been cured by a black person in front of his grandchildren who knew the dog to be a loving pet. Just as Julie and Keys celebrate their victory, the dog, without warning, turns its attention to Carruthers and attacks him. To save his employer's life, Keys is forced to shoot and kill the dog.

Aldo Bonnard (played by Jean-Pierre Darroussin) is about to divorce his wife Alice (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) while his new boss, Gérard (Richard Berry), is a hypocritical man. Worse, he discovers that his wife has an affair with his boss. But one day, he wins a lottery of 10 million euros. He decides to leave his job and not to reveal the news to his wife until the day of the divorce.

Christopher Boyce, an expert in the sport of falconry and the son of a former FBI special agent, gets a job at a civilian defense contractor working in the so-called "Black Vault," a secure communication facility through which flows information on some of the most classified U.S. operations in the world. Boyce becomes disillusioned with the U.S. government through his new position, especially after reading a misrouted communiqué dealing with the CIA's plan to depose the Prime Minister of Australia. Frustrated by this duplicity, Boyce decides to repay his government by passing classified secrets to the Soviets.

Andrew Daulton Lee is a drug addict and minor cocaine smuggler, nicknamed "The Snowman," who has frustrated and alienated his family. Lee agrees to contact and deal with the KGB's agents in Mexico on Boyce's behalf, motivated not by idealism but by what he perceives as an opportunity to make money with plans to settle in Costa Rica, a nation that at that time had no extradition treaty with the United States.

As the pair become increasingly involved with espionage, Lee's ambition to create a major espionage business coupled with his excessive drug use begins to strain the two from each other. Alex, their Soviet handler, becomes increasingly reluctant to deal through Lee as the middleman because of Lee's periods of irrationality. Above all, Boyce wants to end the espionage act so that he can resume a normal life with his girlfriend Lana and attend college. Boyce meets with Lee's KGB handler to explain the situation. Meanwhile, Lee is desperate to regain the Soviets' regard after realizing that the KGB no longer needs him as a courier. Lee is observed tossing a note over the fence at the Soviet embassy in Mexico City and is arrested by Mexican police and a U.S. Foreign Service officer accompanies him to the police station.

When the police search his pockets and find film from a Minox camera Boyce used to photograph documents along with a postcard used by the Soviets to show Lee the location of a drop zone, they produce pictures of the same location that was on the postcard, showing officers surrounding a dead man on the street. The Foreign Service officer explains that the Mexican police are trying to implicate him with the murder of a policeman. The police then drag Lee away and interrogate him.

Hours later, Lee reveals that he is a Soviet spy. Told by the Mexican police that he will be deported, Lee is offered a choice of where to be sent. Lee suggests Costa Rica, but the choice is merely between the Soviet Union and the United States. Lee reluctantly agrees to go back to America and is arrested as he walks across the border.

Knowing that he too will soon be captured, Boyce releases his pet falcon, Fawkes, and then sits down to wait. Moments later, U.S. Marshals and FBI agents surround and capture him. As the film ends, Lee and Boyce are seen being escorted to prison.

Cooper Tilson (Dennis Quaid), his wife Leah (Sharon Stone) and their two children, Kristen (Kristen Stewart) and Jesse, move from New York to the country after purchasing a mansion. The previous owner, Dale Massie (Stephen Dorff), convinces Cooper to hire him to help with repairs. Dale, recently released from prison, initially appears to be a good, kind worker.

As Cooper sorts through the mess in the house, he comes across many old documents and photographs, and decides to record the history of the building on film. A series of unusual incidents start to occur; Cooper is pursued by an unknown car, multiple venomous snakes are found in the property, and Kristen's horse is mysteriously killed, leading Cooper to suspect Dale. Cooper also witnesses Dale strike his girlfriend Ruby (Juliette Lewis) in a crowded bar.

To learn the details of the manor's past, Cooper visit's Dale's ageing, demented father who lives in a nearby nursing home. The man's disjointed comments lead Cooper to believe Dale murdered his wife and children who have been missing for several years; Dale claims his wife fled with the children when he was imprisoned. Sheriff Annie Ferguson, Ruby's sister, is initially skeptical about Cooper's accusation but later slowly starts to believe he may be correct.

One afternoon after a heated argument with Dale, Cooper finds a dental retainer along with human teeth in the gravel of his driveway, which he compares to old photos and finds it matches that of Dale's daughter. Afraid for his family's safety, Cooper sends them back to stay in the city while he attempts to gather more evidence to incriminate Dale. Meanwhile, Dale visits his father and smothers him to death when he insults him and reveals his knowledge of Dale's crimes.

Later that night as a storm approaches, Leah returns to the house alone, having been informed by the children the location of a deep well on the property, called the Devil's Throat. She and Cooper lower a video camera into the well and find the rotting corpses of Dale's wife and children. Cooper contacts Sheriff Ferguson, unaware Dale has attacked and disabled her. Dale then punctures Cooper's truck tires and burns Leah's car to prevent their escape. The Tilsons find themselves trapped in the house as Dale cuts the electricity.

After a chase, Dale corners Cooper and Leah atop the roof, and openly declares his intent to kill them and dump their bodies down the Devil's Throat like he did to his family. The couple charge at him with a line of rope, knocking him off his feet, then bind him against a roof lantern. Cooper shatters the skylight, sending Dale to his death.

Dale's wife and children's remains are recovered and then entombed in the family graveyard at Cold Creek Manor, as are his own. The Tilsons continue to live in Cold Creek Manor.

Frances Mayes (Diane Lane) is a San Francisco writer whose seemingly perfect life takes an unexpected turn when she learns that her husband has been cheating on her. The husband, who had been working on his writing and had no income, ironically, was allowed to petition for alimony. As a one time settlement, however, the agreement was for Frances to quit claim her 1/2 ownership of the home. The divorce—and the loss of her house to her ex-husband and his much-younger, pregnant new partner—leaves her depressed and unable to write. Her best friend Patti (Sandra Oh), a lesbian who is expecting a child with her partner Grace (Kate Walsh), is worried that Frances might never recover from the traumatic divorce. She urges Frances to take an Italian vacation to Tuscany using the ticket she purchased before she became pregnant. At first, Frances refuses, but after another depressing day in her gloomy temporary apartment, she decides that it's a good idea to get away for a while.

In Tuscany, her tour group stops in the small town of Cortona. After wandering through the charming streets, she notices a posting for a villa for sale in Cortona. She rejoins her tour group on the bus, and just outside town, the bus stops to allow a flock of sheep to cross the road. While they wait, Frances realizes that they've stopped directly in front of the very villa that she had seen for sale—something she believes is a sign. She asks the driver to stop and she gets off the bus. Through a series of serendipitous events, she becomes the owner of a lovely yet dilapidated villa in beautiful Tuscany.

Frances begins her new life with the help of a variety of interesting characters and unusual but gentle souls. She hires a crew of Polish immigrants to renovate the house. Over time, Frances also befriends her Italian neighbors and develops relationships with her Polish workers, the realtor who sold her the villa, and Katherine (Lindsay Duncan), an eccentric aging British actress who evokes the mystery and beauty of an Italian film star. Later, she is visited by the now very pregnant Patti, whose partner Grace (Kate Walsh) has left her.

Frances meets and has a brief romantic affair with Marcello (Raoul Bova), but their relationship does not last. She is about to give up on happiness when one of her Polish workers, a teenager named Pawel (Pawel Szajda), and a neighbor's young daughter come to her for help. Her father does not approve of him, due to his being Polish and not having a family, yet they are very much in love and want to get married. Frances persuades the girl's family to support their love, by proclaiming that she is Pawel's family, and the young lovers are soon married at the villa. During the wedding celebration, Ed (David Sutcliffe), an American writer appears unexpectedly. The writer, whose novel Frances had previously edited and critiqued harshly, is traveling in Tuscany and heard about her residence there. Their attraction for each other points to a romantic future.

Best friends Jesse and Chester awaken with hangovers and no memory of the previous night. Their television is on, showing a program about animals using twigs and rocks as tools to get food. In the program is a monkey nicknamed Andrew. Their refrigerator is filled with containers of chocolate pudding, and the answering machine contains an angry message from their twin girlfriends Wilma and Wanda as to their whereabouts. The two also learn they have almost been fired from their jobs. They emerge from their home to find Jesse's car missing, and with it their girlfriends' first-anniversary presents. This prompts Jesse to ask the film's titular question: "Dude, where's my car?"

Because the girls have promised them a "special treat", which Jesse and Chester take to mean sexual intercourse, the men are desperate to retrieve their car. The duo begins retracing their steps in an attempt to discover where they left the car. Along the way, they encounter a transgender stripper, a belligerent speaker box operator at a Chinese restaurant's drive-through, two tattoos they discover on each other's backs, UFO cultists led by Zoltan (who later hold the twins hostage), a Cantonese-speaking Chinese tailor, the Zen-minded Nelson and his cannabis-loving dog Jackal, beautiful Christie Boner, her aggressive jock boyfriend Tommy and his friends, a couple of hard-nosed police detectives, and a reclusive French ostrich farmer named Pierre. They also meet two groups of aliens, one group being five gorgeous women, the other being two Norwegian men, searching for the "Continuum Transfunctioner": an extraterrestrial device that the boys accidentally picked up last night.

After Pierre releases the duo for correctly answering a question about ostriches, Jesse and Chester head over to a local arcade named Captain Stu's Space-O-Rama. Once inside, they encounter Zoltan and his cultists who give them Wilma and Wanda in exchange for a toy that Jesse and Chester try to pass off as the Transfunctioner. Tommy, Christie, and the jocks arrive along with Nelson and his dog, whom they release after Tommy snatches the fake Transfunctioner from Zoltan. The two sets of aliens arrive and notify everyone of the real Continuum Transfunctioner: a Rubik's Cube that Chester has been working hard to solve. He then solves it on the spot, causing the device to shapeshift into its true form. The boys are warned that once the five lights stop flashing, the universe will be destroyed.

Jesse and Chester must determine which group of aliens is there to protect the universe and which is there to destroy it. Both claim to be the protectors of the universe, stating that they were with Jesse and Chester the previous night, which Jesse and Chester still cannot remember, and ask for the Transfunctioner. The two correctly choose the men, who answer their question about the previous night by stating they got a hole in one at the 18th hole at the arcade's miniature golf park and won a lifetime supply of pudding. At the last second, they deactivate the Transfunctioner, saving the universe.

Enraged, the five alien women merge to become a beautiful giantess clad in a purple bra and miniskirt. She devours Tommy alive in front of Christie, who reacts with indifference. The giantess then crawls out of the amusement center and chases Jesse and Chester. The cultists tell them to activate the Photon Accelerator Annihilation Beam on the Transfunctioner. However, the button that activates it is too far in to reach. At the last second, Chester remembers the nature show with the tool-using chimpanzees and uses a straw to push the recessed button, thus destroying the alien. Tommy survives, but Christie breaks up with him in favor of Nelson.

The protectors thank Jesse, Chester and the twins for saving the world, and erase their minds concerning the events. The protectors park the duo's car, a Renault Le Car, behind a mail truck for them to find the following morning. Jesse and Chester salvage their relationships with the twins and discover the special treat from the girls turns out to be matching berets with Jesse and Chester's names embroidered in the front. The protectors leave a gift for their girlfriends (and, for the two men): Breast Enhancement Necklaces. The film ends with Jesse, Chester, and the twins going out for Chinese food in Jesse's car, while arguing about what their tattoos say.

In late 19th-century New Mexico, Samuel Jones arrives at the house of his adult daughter Magdalena "Maggie" Gilkeson, hoping to reconcile with her after abandoning her and her mother decades before. She is unable to forgive him, feeling he caused her mother's early death, and turns him away the next morning. But renegade Apache Pesh-Chidin, alias El Brujo and followers raid the area, killing settlers and taking young women and girls to sell into sex slavery in Mexico. Among those abducted is Maggie's eldest daughter, Lilly. Maggie's rancher boyfriend Brake Baldwin was among the settlers killed. Maggie secures her father's release from jail, and the two decide to go after the abducted girls, taking the youngest daughter Dot with them. The sheriff is unwilling to spare men for the mission.

The party encounter some U.S. Cavalry soldiers at another ranch that was attacked by El Brujo. These men suspect Jones as having led the raiders, but Maggie eases the situation. The lieutenant in charge evades helping them, as he must lead his unit to carry out the forced relocation of captive Native Americans. Maggie, her father, and her younger daughter Dot are the only ones tracking El Brujo and his warriors.

After the three fail to ambush the raiders, they are rescued by Kayitah, a Chiricahua friend of Jones. Kayitah and his son Honesco are also tracking El Brujo because Honesco's fiancee is among the captives. Kayitah and Honesco agree to join Maggie and her family. Kayitah tells her that her father had traveled for some time with his Chiricahua band, who called him ''Chaa-duu-ba-its-iidan''.

Together the two families find and free the women captives. But Lilly accidentally alerts the bandits, resulting in the death of Kayitah. The survivors steal El Brujo's horses and flee to the mountains. The Mexican gang arrives to buy the women, and the kidnappers murder them and steal their horses to chase the fleeing women. Jones leads the group to a bluff he knows, with a strong defensive position. The kidnappers can only attack up a steep, narrow path. During a standoff, Jones tries to explain to Maggie why he abandoned the family, saying that ''Chaa-duu-ba-its-iidan'' means "shit for luck". Maggie says she does not forgive him.

The group fights off an attack by the remaining kidnappers. Jones and Maggie hold off the attackers, but El Brujo stealthily climbs up the side of the cliff and injures Honesco, whilst his followers begin using fire arrows to spread panic in the camp. Maggie heads into the camp to fight El Brujo, but he ambushes her. Jones lights bushes on fire to slow down the attackers, and confronts El Brujo, who had kidnapped his granddaughter. Despite being stabbed, El Brujo gains the upper hand and tries to kill Maggie. Jones intervenes, and he Brujo fall off a cliff to their deaths. Maggie shoots at the last remaining kidnappers to scare them off.

Maggie returns home with her father's body, her daughters, Honesco, and the other kidnapped girls.

The three women live in a run-down apartment in one of Tbilisi's oldest neighborhoods. They endure the realities of modern Georgian life, such as frequent power blackouts and a dilapidated infrastructure. Eka remains the matriarch. She retains an often fractious relationship with her daughter, Marina, but is close to her granddaughter, Ada. However, it is her son Otar that she is most attached to.

Otar Gogebashvili, although a doctor, has recently moved to France because of newly independent Georgia's difficult economic situation. In Paris, he works illegally in construction in order to support the three women. Eka eagerly awaits Otar's regular calls and the money he sends. The generational difference is apparent: Eka loves French culture, speaks perfect French but remains a Stalinist, even in 2002, whereas Ada is Westernized, and longs to follow her uncle's path to the West. Marina has a degree but, due to high unemployment, sells heirlooms at the market.

Their life changes drastically when Marina receives a call from Otar's friend, Niko, who had accompanied him to France. Niko bears bad news: Otar has been killed in an accident. Eka is elderly and fragile, and Marina and Ada agree that the shock could kill her. In a similar manner to the German film, ''Good Bye Lenin!'', released in the same year, they decide to conceal Otar's death.

In order to maintain the charade, Ada forges letters from Otar. Eka grows worried about the lack of calls and absence of money in the letters, but the pair substitute excuses and initially succeed in allaying her worries. Other complications are dealt with, and Eka remains unaware of Otar's death.

After a while, Ada grows reluctant to continue, as she feels that lying to her grandmother is taking its toll. While Ada and Marina consider telling Eka the truth, the eccentric Eka decides that she wants to visit Otar. Before they can dissuade her, she sells her inherited rare French books to purchase plane tickets for them all. Unable to discourage her, Ada and Marina accompany her.

In France, Eka searches for her son. She finally locates his old apartment, and is told the truth by his neighbors. Eka breaks down with the shock, but recovers and meets Ada and Marina, who they are due to return to Georgia. Instead of confronting them, Eka offers them a gracious way out by pretending that she now believes Otar could not make a living in France and had decided to move to America. She suggests that he did not tell them in order to avoid admitting his failure of in France.

At the airport, Ada tells Eka and Marina to go ahead while she purchases a magazine. While they women pass through security, Ada remains behind, as it becomes clear that Ada intends to stay in France. The film ends with their tearful goodbye through the windows of the departure gate.

After a suicide attempt leaves a man named Roary (John Savage) partially crippled, he finds himself living in a rundown house in Oakland, California. He spends a lot of time at a neighborhood bar, which is full of other disabled people, and becomes best friends with Jerry (David Morse), the barman with a bad leg.

Jerry gains the attention and respect from the Golden State Warriors when he scrimmages a player and loses narrowly. After the bar owner suffers a heart attack, a new waitress named Louise (Diana Scarwid) is hired. Roary develops romantic feelings for Louise.

Jerry's luck turns round when one of the professional basketball players lends him the money for an operation to fix his leg. Once he is fully healed, Jerry goes on to become a basketball star, fulfilling his lifelong dream. However, he abandons his old friends by pretending they never existed.

Later, Jerry's old friends begin to resent him for his negligence, Roary visits Jerry and pressures him to visit the bar. Jerry offers up a half-hearted excuse for his absence, and despite Roary's feelings, begins seeing Louise in secret.

Roary finally confronts Jerry about his behaviour, and offers some final thoughts on their friendship, and what the bar and its patrons meant during his recovery. After Roary leaves, Jerry angrily reflects on his past decisions.

Roary reunites with Louise. Jerry returns to the bar and reveals his insecurities to his old friends, who understand right away.

For the first time in twenty-five years Max closes the bar, so everyone can attend Jerry's basketball game.

The novel continues the events that happened on ''From the Highlands'', and is set over the background of the fight against genetic slavery.

The story begins after the truce between Manticore and Haven. Captain Zilwicki, his adopted daughter Berry, Princess Ruth Winton and the slave-turned-professor W.E.B. Du Havel are sent as Queen Elizabeth III's (not the Manticoran government's) official representatives to the funeral of a notorious Solarian anti-slavery activist, which will take place in Erewhon, a disgruntled member of the Manticoran Alliance.

Erewhon's location between Manticore, Haven and the Solarian League makes it a place where agents from the different star nations can play the intelligence game. From the first moment, Zilwicki, Berry and Ruth get entangled in a complex situation involving Havenite agents, ambitious Solarian Navy officers, violent Masadan mercenaries, the Audubon Ballroom and the powerful Mesan corporation Manpower Incorporated.

Each faction has interests of its own, which collide with those of the others: the Manticorans want to salvage their relation with Erewhon (and upset the Prime Minister who allowed that relationship to sour). The Havenites intend to show support for the anti-slavery cause and improve their own relationship with Erewhon, with the unstated goal of breaking Erewhon away from Manticore. The Erewhonese want someone — ''anyone'' — to help them deal with a Mesan-owned planet which is a threat to their security. The Solarian officers work to further the interests of a powerful political patron who believes that the League is on the verge of collapse and wants to be prepared for that event. The Mesans want to stay out of the limelight and prevent all the other factions from attacking their major industry: slave trading, while the Audubon Ballroom simply wants to hit Mesa anywhere they can. And even the Masadan mercenaries employed by the Mesans have their own agenda: to force Manticore to free several of their imprisoned companions.

The clash of interests comes to a head with an attempted kidnapping on Berry Zilwicki and Ruth Winton (who happens to be the sister of the leader of the Masadan mercenaries) aboard ''The Wages of Sin'', Erewhon's main civilian space station. After Manpower's involvement is discovered, a haphazard alliance between the Manticorans, Solarians, Havenites and the Ballroom is organized to launch an attack on the Mesan-owned planet Verdant Vista, popularly known as "Congo".

The planet is taken from Manpower's hands, and it is decided to transform it into an independent nation of its own for escaped slaves, so that the conflict against Mesa may have a nation sponsoring it. The novel ends with Berry Zilwicki being crowned as Berry I, Queen of the new Kingdom of Torch.

The events of the novel are simultaneous with those of the novel ''At All Costs'', which belongs to the main series of Honorverse novels.

The story focuses on the shakedown cruise of the ''Edward Saganami-C''-class heavy cruiser HMS ''Hexapuma'' (nicknamed ''Nasty Kitty''), commanded by Captain Aivars Terekhov, a war veteran and former prisoner of war who has only recently been cleared for return to active naval service. To the surprise of her new captain and crew, the ''Hexapuma'', one of the Royal Manticoran Navy's most modern and powerful cruisers, is assigned to the Talbott Cluster, an impoverished group of star systems recently incorporated within the Star Kingdom of Manticore, and facing a vote of annexation. With the renewal of brutal war with Haven, and embroiled in the annexation of parts of the Silesian Confederacy, Manticore has no choice (and no other available resources) but to assign a small and clearly insufficient naval force to guard the Cluster, while a Constitutional Convention is taking place which will define the terms of the Cluster's formal annexation.

However, both the Solarian League's Office of Frontier Security (OFS) and corporations (which resents Manticore intervening in its "backyard") and the slaver world of Mesa do not want this to move forward and support indigenous groups violently opposed to annexation. The goal is to launch a terrorist campaign against Manticore, giving the League the excuse to intervene in the Cluster and expel the Star Kingdom.

The annexation is also stalled by the ruling oligarchs of many of the Cluster's systems, who fear that their power, wealth and influence will dilute once their worlds are absorbed within the Star Kingdom. In addition, the annexation is viewed with some distrust by vocal sectors of the Cluster's population, as it was sponsored by a powerful local merchant cartel with a history of strong-arming and abuse for its own purposes.

''Hexapuma'' and her crew must patrol the Cluster's many systems to "show the flag" and assist the planetary governments, thus demonstrating Manticore's goodwill, while dealing politically with the various oligarchs and also supporting the convention efforts. On one side is Westman, a native of Montana, who manages to bomb several government facilities without causing a single casualty, and Nordbrant of Kornati, whose multi bomb attacks slaughter hundreds of civilians. Both groups are supplied by 'Firebrand', an intelligence officer of the OFS, who is attempting to destabilize the region so OFS forces can occupy the Cluster to "preserve regional peace." Eventually, President Tonkovic of Kornati, leader of the Constitutional Convention and one of the main holdouts to maintain her personal power, is impeached by her own government after it comes to light that her stalling almost resulted in Kornati's removal from the annexation effort, and the annexation moves forward.

Initially completely removed from the internal strife in order to avoid looking like invading oppressors, ''Hexapuma'' is tasked with pirate patrol. After stumbling across two pirate cruisers and a captured merchantman and tricking the cruisers into initiating the attack, she crushes the cruisers and manages to liberate the merchantman and its surviving crew, finding the pirates are former State Security personnel of the defunct Peoples Republic of Haven. The action cements Terekhov's abilities in the eyes of his crew and earns him copious goodwill from the people of the Talbott Cluster.

In the course of ''Hexapuma's'' patrolling, evidence begins to pile up indicating that the local terrorists are actually the unwitting pawns of foreign interests. They then stumble across an armed freighter of Mesa's Jessyk Combine in the process of delivering weapons to Westman. When ''Hexapuma'' sends a pinnace over to perform an inspection, one of the freighter's crew members panics and destroys the pinnace. After being decimated by ''Hexapuma's'' missile-defense lasers in response to the destruction of the pinnace, the surviving crew of the freighter surrender and give up the majority of the OFS's plan to occupy the Cluster.

After dealing with the local terrorist groups, Captain Terekhov and ''Hexapuma'' assemble an ad hoc squadron with other Manticoran ships in a mission to prevent the next step of the conspirators' plan: the service entry of a fleet of powerful ex-Solarian battlecruisers which have been transferred to Monica, an OFS proxy system to be used against Manticore. After dropping into the system, Terkhov demands the surrender of the local fleet until Manticore can validate the cruisers' authenticity, and that they're sovereign of Monica and not the OFS. Playing for time, the Monican Navy manages to lure the Manticoran Squadron into weapons range. After a brutal battle, half of Terekhovs squadron is destroyed or crippled, though the Monican Navy is destroyed in the process. After being relieved, and with the formal annexation well under way, Terekhov and ''Hexapuma'' return to Manticore and are greeted with a heroes welcome.

September 1939, World War II is about to begin: The young, brash and inexperienced pilots of Hornet Squadron, a fighter unit of the British Royal Air Force's Fighter Command and equipped with Hawker Hurricane Mk. 1s, are not inclined to take the impending war very seriously. Squadron Leader Ramsey, who has been drilling his men hard, is eager to get into action. Returning from a practise flight, he inadvertently taxis his Hurricane into a slit-trench, upending the aircraft and, too impatient to wait for a ladder, falls from the cockpit and fatally breaks his neck.

His temporary replacement is New Zealander 'Fanny' Barton whose authority is rejected by most of the pilots. Ordered to intercept an incoming group of aircraft, Barton attacks what he believes is a German bomber and shoots it down, only to later realise it was a British Blenheim. He is sent away to face a court of enquiry whilst Squadron Leader Rex, an upper-crust and calmly confident pilot, arrives to take command.

The squadron is despatched to a new airfield in France to await the expected German attack. Billeted in a luxury chateau, the pilots enjoy a comfortable lifestyle. In return, Rex expects strict discipline amongst his pilots and adherence to the textbook tactics of the RAF including close-formation flying and the cumbersome 'fighting area' attacks. The Phoney-War begins as winter sets in. Pilot Officer 'Moggy' Cattermole bullies several of the other pilots, in particularly young Dickie Starr and mentally fragile 'Sticky' Stickwell. Cattermole flies his Hurricane under a low bridge, goading Starr and 'Pip' Patterson to do the same. Starr attempts the stunt and is killed. Cattermole shows no remorse.

A new replacement arrives, an American named Christopher Hart the Third, soon nicknamed 'CH3'. A veteran of the Spanish Civil War, he is unimpressed with the rigid, by-the-book tactics of the RAF and this leads to disagreements and hostility with some of the other pilots. Barton also returns to the squadron. Hornet achieves its first aerial victory when they destroy a German Dornier 17 bomber. CH3 is unimpressed that it takes six pilots to down a single, already crippled bomber, partly due to the poor gunnery skills of many of the pilots. Journalist Jackie Bellamy is keen to portray the war as a glorious adventure against an evil foe and cannot understand CH3's cynicism. Two of the pilots, 'Flash' Gordon and 'Fitz' Fitzgerald, begin respective romances with two local schoolteachers, French woman Nicole and expat Englishwoman Mary. Both couples eventually marry, although Fitzgerald experiences problems with sexual impotency.

Fed up with Cattermole's bullying, Stickwell flies an unauthorised sortie, strafing a Luftwaffe airfield, but his aircraft is damaged and he crash-lands in Belgium. The squadron rescue him but Rex cannot forgive the incident and Stickwell is transferred to another unit. CH3 is increasingly at odds with the other pilots over his refusal to adhere to RAF tactics.

The German Invasion of France and Belgium (Blitzkrieg) begins on 10 May 1940. Hornet Squadron's tactics are soon proved dangerously inadequate, especially to the pilots flying at the rear. In the first days, three inexperienced pilots are killed without the rest of the squadron even seeing the German Me-109 fighters that shoot them down. Whilst escorting a bomber attack against German ground forces, 'Moke' Miller is badly wounded and later dies in hospital. The remaining pilots at first doubt and then despise the outmoded tactics but Rex refuses to alter them. A bombing raid leaves Rex badly injured by shrapnel but he conceals his wounds from the other pilots and strong painkillers leave him euphoric and overconfident. Recklessly ordering Hornet Squadron to attack a much larger German formation, Rex dives down to his death but another pilot orders the others not to follow, several of the pilots deliberately crowding Barton's plane, preventing him from following Rex.

Now acting Squadron Leader, Barton tries to rally his demoralised men, including a terrified Patterson and a cynical CH3. But the German advance is sweeping across France and Hornet Squadron has been reduced to a mere handful of Hurricanes still intact. Fleeing as a refugee, Nicole gets a lift with a motorcyclist but is killed in an accidental crash. Mary manages to reach England as do the survivors of Hornet Squadron.

In August, Hornet Squadron is reformed and made operational again just as the Battle of Britain enters its most intense phase. Of the original pilots, only eight remain: Barton, CH3, Cattermole, Patterson, Fitzgerald, Gordon, 'Mother' Cox and Irishman 'Flip' Moran. Amongst the replacements are Czech pilot 'Haddy' Haducek, Pole 'Zab' Zabarnowski, mild-mannered Englishman Steele-Stebbing, cocky 'Bing' MacFarlane and young 'Nim' Renouf. They are soon seeing heavy action as the German Luftwaffe switches from attacking Channel convoys and begins an offensive against RAF airfields in southeast England. Hornet Squadron is using better tactics: shooting at closer range, flying in pairs, constantly checking the sky above and behind whilst in the air. Gordon has become eccentric and reckless after his wife's death. Cattermole finds a new victim for his bullying in Steele-Stebbing. Cattermole orders a reluctant Renouf to destroy an unarmed German Heinkel-59 rescue plane over the Channel. Moran, now a flight commander, is reluctant to accept Barton's authority.

Intelligence Officer 'Skull' Skelton is sceptical about the numbers of German aircraft that Fighter Command is claiming to shoot down, as is Jackie Bellamy who has become cynical about the conduct of the war. The inadequate training of new pilots and the poor gunnery skills are soon painfully obvious. Skelton becomes very unpopular when he refuses to confirm all of the pilot's victory claims.

The battle continues to intensify and all of the pilots begin to suffer exhaustion and nervous strain. Moran is horribly burnt to death when he is shot down. 'Bing' MacFarlane destroys two German planes and performs a forbidden 'Victory Roll' which causes him to fatally crash. Cattermole meets up with Stickwell, finding out the latter is now a pilot in a two-seater Defiant squadron. Stickwell flies into action as a gunner and is killed. On the same day, Fitzgerald, his aircraft damaged, gets lost in dense fog and vanishes at sea. His wife Mary, now pregnant, refuses to accept that her husband is dead and is soon seen hanging around the aerodrome perimeter, which the other pilots find disturbing. Gordon's eccentricity grows more acute and infuriates the more seriously minded CH3. Zabarnowski is killed in action and several new pilots are also lost, sometimes not even lasting a single day. Cattermole bails out from a defective Hurricane and his unmanned aircraft crashes into a town and kills four civilians. Skelton is appalled at Cattermole's refusal to show any remorse. Steele-Stebbing retaliates against Cattermole with a practical joke and the two appear to declare an unofficial truce. Cattermole angrily forces Mary to cease her vigil and leave the aerodrome.

It is now September 1940 and the Battle of Britain is reaching its height. The survivors of Hornet squadron are exhausted and at breaking point. Haducek is killed and Renouf is badly burned. Gordon is badly wounded and later dies, news of his death hitting a battle-fatigued CH3 particularly hard. Jackie Bellamy discusses with the pilots the possibility of a German Invasion of Britain and she concludes, aided by the expert knowledge and input from a Royal Navy fighter pilot drafted into the squadron that the Germans lack the naval capacity to do so. On 7 September, the Luftwaffe launches a massed attack against London and every available RAF fighter unit is flung into action, including Hornet Squadron. Steele-Stebbing and Cattermole are both killed. Cox bails out and Patterson force-lands but both remain alive. The story ends with Barton and CH3 diving yet again to attack the massed ranks of German bombers.

In 1991, 113 people built a settlement on the desert planet V9-Gamma, hoping to escape the frequent wars on Earth. However, life proved difficult under the perpetual heat and daylight of two suns, so in 2021 the settlers sent out a transmission requesting transport back to Earth. The group's leader, Captain Benteen, was 15 when the expedition left Earth. Through firm authority, ardent faith, and willingness to make tough decisions, he has kept the group of (now) 187 men, women and children from descending into anarchy, giving up hope, or falling victim to the planet's hazards, including overheating, dehydration, and meteor showers. Life is very hard and suicide is not uncommon. Following the discovery of another one, a young woman who has hanged herself, they bury her, and Benteen delivers a stern sermon and lecture. A meteor shower forces them into the main cave, and he's again asked to tell stories about home. The settlers, most of whom were born on V9-Gamma, hang on his every word when he tells them about Earth.

Six months after the transmission, a rescue mission from Earth arrives, led by Colonel Sloane. Sloane tells them they have three days to prepare for their journey home. The settlers are jubilant. However, Benteen and Sloane soon begin butting heads. Benteen is upset to see that his power over the settlers is already dwindling; they are entranced by Sloane's stories of the modern Earth and disregard Benteen's warnings when Sloane encourages them to play an impromptu game of baseball in the extreme heat. Sloane implores Benteen to relax and relinquish command of the settlers, but Benteen stubbornly refuses, insisting that as long as they are on V9-Gamma, he is in command. Sloane seeks to preserve peace by agreeing to Benteen's demand that his crew be isolated from the colonists until the day of departure.

When Benteen tells Sloane that he intends to petition the US government for a land grant so that the colonists can remain together as an intentional community, Sloane is aghast at the idea and says he should discuss it with the colonists rather than assuming their approval. When he does so, Benteen learns the colonists have already made plans to settle in different states, and have no enthusiasm for his plan to stay together. Benteen accuses Sloane of bringing selfishness into the community but Sloane argues that he brought nothing more than a means of escape from V9-Gamma: the settlers have never had any choice but to follow Benteen's leadership and can now act for themselves. Benteen is unfazed by Sloane's words. He attempts to persuade everyone to stay on V9-Gamma by characterizing Earth as a place of violence and hardship, saying none of them belong there. Sloane, finally fed up with Benteen's stubbornness, tells the settlers that while Earth isn't a paradise, it at least will give them the opportunity to think and act for themselves. Everyone, save for Benteen, chooses to return home. Benteen, in desperation, attacks the ship with a length of pipe, only to be stopped physically by Sloane and his men. Having convinced himself of his new negative image of Earth, Benteen says that he will remain behind, alone if he must.

As the colonists board the ship, Sloane and the colony's engineer, Al Baines, search for Benteen to give him one last chance to change his mind, but he hides in the cave that had sheltered his people. As the ship takes off, Benteen tells his stories of Earth to the settlers as if they are still sitting with him. Remembering the beauty of Earth, he realizes that he wants to go home. He rushes out screaming for the ship to come back, but it is too late. Benteen is now stranded on V9-Gamma for the rest of his life, completely alone.

Steve Williams (Craig Robert Young) was once part of boy band "Busboyz", but after surviving a horrific accident which killed the other members of the band, he now finds himself struggling for work, seeking credibility as an actor and the focus of a documentary. After being dropped by his manager for Paul—who was in a boy band rivalling "Busboyz"—Steve tries to make his own way through ever more demeaning auditions until he hears of a casting call for a ''Monkees''-like TV show where he could showcase his acting, dancing and singing talents.

However, Steve then learns that Paul has been passing off as his own a dance contest victory which Paul won, and his nemesis is also trying out for the show. With a dance face-off between them on the cards, who will win out?

Police detective Huang Huo-tu, a ''Waisheng ren'' (Mainland Chinese) in Taiwan, has relegated himself to a mundane job as a Foreign Affairs Officer as self-punishment for blowing the whistle on corruption in the force, and his colleagues have turned their backs on him. His young daughter is left traumatized after being taken hostage in a gun battle, and his wife Ching-fang is filing for divorce. Huang is on the verge of a severe nervous breakdown.

A series of bizarre deaths in Taipei baffle local investigators, including a Christian preacher of foreign nationality found disemboweled. The priest is involved in the Taiwan-US military trade, so FBI agent Kevin Richter is called in to help. Huang, who can speak English, is made his liaison. Kevin, the topmost serial killer expert in the field, was previously investigating a series of murders in US in which all victims appeared willing to die.

The crime scenes imply the involvement of supernatural forces. In one case a businessman froze to death in his office in the middle of a heatwave; in another the mistress of a prominent official called the fire department and was later found burned to death - with no sign of a fire ever occurring in her apartment. Richter is skeptical but Huang, who is more receptive to supernatural possibilities, suggests they investigate a local cult. After consulting a scholar in Academia Sinica, Huang and Kevin find that the killings follows a form of Taoist belief that one must fulfill five types of suffering required to become a Xian, an immortal being. According to legend, having double pupils allows a person to see the sins of another. The scholar tells them that there is a legend of a person who had double pupils, he used his ability to send these sinners to hell, and subsequently acquired immortality through his actions.

They also find that all victims have done something against their conscience, and that a kind of fungus was used to induce hallucination, pleasure and guilt which made the victims kill themselves. An advanced technology was used to spread the fungus, and the Police traced this technology to two bosses of an electronics company in Hsinchu Science Park. The men spent their fortune to move a Taoist temple into their company, where many cultists gather. The police enter the building and finds the temple. They start to arrest everyone but the cultists fight back. There is a massacre and many officers and cultists die. After the massacre Kevin and Huang finds a seemingly innocent girl hidden inside a chamber at the back of the temple. The case is closed.

The next day Huang finds Kevin dead, having pulled out his own tongue, which is the fifth suffering required. Huang finds that both he and Kevin were infected with the fungus. Huang begins to hallucinate, tormented by the guilt he feels for his wife and daughter. He sees the girl survivor beckoning to him so he goes off in search of her. He visits the hospital but is informed that the girl left. He then goes to the temple where the girl is waiting for him. It is revealed that the girl is the actual cult's leader who has the double pupils in her eye and believes that by having Huang kill her, she can complete the final and last requirement to become immortal. The girls puts Huang through a series of hallucinations, his guilt building and eating away at his consciousness, until it finally culminates into Huang killing her.

There are two endings to the film. Both using Buddhist Gatha. The happy ending reveals that "love is immortal" (有愛不死), hinting to us that Huang doesn't die and he is saved because of the love for his family. The other version from the DVD reveals that he dies.

The story follows Elías Contreras, a Zapatista investigator from Chiapas (Marcos' protagonist), and Héctor Belascorán Shayne, a private detective from Mexico City (a recurring protagonist in Taibo's detective novels), as they try to unravel the mystery of a dead man leaving messages on answering machines, finding out who Morales is. During the book, and especially during the chapters written by Marcos, the reader is introduced to many characters, some of whom only appear for a very short time. The book looks at the politics of Mexico and at neo-liberalism.

The Romans having been humiliated many times by the rebel Gauls, Felonius Caucus, advisor to Centurion Nebulus Nimbus, suggests a single combat between Vitalstatistix, chief of Asterix's tribe, and the Gallo-Roman Chief, Cassius Ceramix of Linoleum. According to ancient Gaulish customs, the loser would forfeit his entire tribe to the winner. When Ceramix argues that Vitalstatistix would surely win with Getafix's magic potion of invincibility, Caucus sends a patrol to capture Getafix before the challenge is confirmed. Whilst attempting to scatter the attackers, Obelix accidentally strikes Getafix with a menhir, the impact of which causes amnesia and insanity.

Following Cassius Ceramix's challenge, Asterix and Vitalstatistix attempt to restore Getafix's mind by experimenting in potions; but this produces only a whimsical sub-plot, in which the Roman soldier Infirmofpurpus, captured by Obelix as a test subject, is temporarily rendered weightless. Thereafter Asterix and Obelix consult Psychoanalytix (original French name is ''Amnesix''), a druid who specializes in mental disorders; but when asked to demonstrate what caused the problem, Obelix crushes Psychoanalytix with a menhir, leaving him "in the same state as Getafix". As the two crazed druids concoct a number of skin-coloring potions, Asterix tries to get Vitalstatistix into good physical shape for the fight, mainly by jogging. Meanwhile, the Romans plan to arrest Ceramix after the fight, lest he thereafter challenge their control of Gaul.

As the fight begins, Getafix accidentally makes a potion which restores his mind, and retains sanity despite being hit by another menhir (thrown by Obelix in an attempt to cure Getafix by repeating the cause of the original accident). Getafix quickly proceeds to brew a supply of magic potion. Meanwhile, the fight has turned into a bore: Vitalstatistix, exploiting his superior physical condition, is running circles around the ring while Ceramix tries in vain to catch him. After hearing of Getafix's recovery, Vitalstatistix defeats his exhausted opponent with a single blow. The Romans do not accept this victory, but are crushed by the Gauls, who had drunk Getafix's magic potion. When Ceramix is reduced to amnesia by a third menhir that was thrown by Obelix during the battle, Vitalstatistix declines his right to take over Ceramix's tribe, and sends him home in honour. Psychoanalytix returns to business despite his amnesia, but remains professionally successful despite "side effects" of his medicines. Ceramix, now in the same mental state as Psychoanalytix, becomes "the most courteous chief in Gaul" and the probable originator of French courtesy. His tribe returns to Gaulish ways and the fight against Rome, while Vitalstatistix's tribe celebrate their victories.

Ed and Alice are in love, but not passionate, ripping-clothes-off in love. They do laundry on Saturday, and do small things that make each other happy. At their engagement party, Alice sees a friend hook up with a server and comes to the conclusion that she would like to try more sexual partners before she settles down for the rest of her life.

Ed, initially resistant to the idea of seeing other people, decides to go along with it. Alice takes the lead by making out with a friend's contractor, Donald. When she tells Ed, he is shocked, but incredibly turned on. They have some of the best sex they have had in years. Ed attempts to have sex with an actress at work, but cannot perform. Alice finally psyches herself up to having sex with Donald at his house. She leaves satisfied but hurriedly, while Donald clearly has fallen for her.

That night, Alice tells Ed that she had sex with Donald. Ed never thought she would actually go that far. Upset, he leaves. He tries to hook up with different girls at a house party with his friend Carl, but none of his attempts goes well. He returns home to find Alice trying to call off the whole deal. Ed tells her that she is right and that he overreacted, but he says that they should continue the deal until she is completely satisfied so they have no regrets.

The next day, Ed succeeds in having sex with the actress. When he tells Alice, he expects her to be jealous, but instead she is turned on. They again have sex and believe things to be going well. Having sex outside their relationship is improving their sex life. Carl observes a woman (Penelope) in a stereo store who is being pressured by an overzealous sales clerk. He helps install a new system for Penelope and her son Jake. Jake is angry at his mother because of her recent divorce.

Ed has a date at a restaurant and turns out to be seated next to Alice and Donald; it is uncomfortable. Later, waiting for their cars, Ed and Alice talk. Ed is upset that Alice is seeing Donald, and she is upset that Ed has slept with so many women. Ed says they are supposed to be sleeping with other people, but she is just sleeping with one, as if it is a relationship. She says it is hard to sleep with other people with him living in the house. Ed agrees to move out.

Alice is growing tired of Donald because he is needy. Ed is getting tired of meaningless sex. He eventually starts dating a woman named Sandy and grows to like her more and more.

Breaking it off with Donald after finding out that he dates other women, Alice tries to get back with Ed. Ed, however, has feelings for Sandy at this point, but she is not quite what she seems. After a failed three-way in which the third girl straps on a dildo, Sandy suggests they try crack cocaine.

In a self-destructive impulse, Alice tries to sleep with her sister's husband Peter. Her sister is having an affair with Ed's friend Lou. She shows up and all is revealed. Alice misses how comfortable and happy she used to be.

Ed ends up stranded when Sandy runs off with his car after stealing a bag of crack. He walks all night and arrives at Alice's house just as everyone else is leaving. He pulls out a book of stamps that he bought weeks ago because he knew it to be one of the small things she loves. They sit side by side, not entirely sure where they go from here.

Witold, a Polish writer, embarks on an ocean voyage only to have the war break out while he is visiting Argentina. Finding himself penniless and stranded after the Nazis take over his country, he is taken in by the local Polish emigre community. A fantastical series of twists and turns follow in which the young man finds himself, after a debauched night of drinking, involved as a second in a duel. Witold is constantly confronted with the exasperating contrasts between his love of country and his status as a forced expatriate and the shallow nationalism of his fellow Poles.

Will and Jake Grimm are traveling con artists who utilise Jake's knowledge of folklore to fool people into paying them to kill monsters in French-occupied Germany during the early 19th century. In Karlstadt they "kill" a witch's ghost, after tricking the village. Italian torturer Cavaldi captures the two and takes them to the French General Delatombe. Delatombe forces them to solve a mystery: the girls of the small village of Marbaden are going missing and the villagers are convinced that supernatural forces are responsible. The Brothers are charged with finding out who is responsible, under the assumption that it is the work of con artists like themselves. However, they soon discover that it is in fact the work of a real supernatural force: a 500-year-old, Thuringian Queen stealing young girls to restore her own beauty.

Long ago, King Childeric I came to the forest to build a city while his Queen experiments with black magic stolen from the pagan locals to gain eternal life. The Bubonic plague comes and she builds a high tower to avoid it, while her husband and everyone below her perishes. She did not understand the Plague was carried by wind and soon rotted away as she decayed over the years. Her spell granted her immortal life, but not the youth and beauty to go along with it. Her youthful appearance now only exists in her mirror, the source of her life, as an illusion and nothing more. She needs to drink the blood of 12 young women to regain her beauty, 10 have already been reported missing.

The queen is working an enchantment to regain her beauty with the aid of her werewolf huntsman with a magic axe, crow familiars, and various creatures in the forest. The Brothers Grimm, with the help of Angelika, a knowing huntress from the village and sister to two of the missing girls, and Cavaldi discover her tower in the woods. After another girl goes missing and all his men are killed by the forest, Cavaldi takes the Grimms and Angelika back to Delatombe. Because they have failed, Cavaldi may kill both of the Grimms, but after convincing Delatombe that the magic in the forest is actually caused by German rebels, he sends them back, while Cavaldi stays behind with Angelika in the village. Jake gets into the tower, but another girl named Sasha is captured, despite Angelika and Cavaldi's efforts to save her.

In the tower, Jake notices 12 crypts in which the twelve victims must lay. When Sasha's body comes up from a well, the werewolf takes her to a tomb. After rescuing Sasha and taking the wolfman's magic axe, the Grimms return to the village. The magic axe is the only thing of which the trees in the forest are afraid. Delatombe captures the Brothers and believes them to be frauds. French soldiers begin burning down the forest and Cavaldi represses his sympathy for the brothers, but they are eventually saved by Angelika. The werewolf is revealed to be Angelika's father, who is under the Queen's command by a spell. Angelika is drowned by her father, becoming the 12th victim. The Brothers reach the tower while the Queen breathes an ice wind which puts out the forest fire. Delatombe notices that the Grimms have escaped and goes after them with Cavaldi. When Cavaldi refuses to kill the Grimms, Delatombe shoots him, but is impaled by Will.

The climax ensues with The Mirror Queen's death, caused by Jake shaterring the enchanting mirror in the tower. The werewolf transforms into Angelika's father (the woodsman) and destroys the rest of the mirror by jumping out of the window with it and Will, who was trying to destroy the werewolf at all costs. Outside, Cavaldi seems to have survived, having donned the Grimm's faux-magic armor while the tower falls apart, with Jake surviving by using the Queen's mattresses. Jake awakens Angelika with a kiss of true love at Cavaldi's urging, which in turn resurrects the other 11 girls and Will. With the menace gone and their daughters returned to them, the villagers of Marbaden celebrate and give their heart-felt thanks to the Brothers Grimm. Cavaldi stays in the village and joins the villagers for the feast. The Grimms decide to pursue a new profession, presumably writing fairy tales.

Very similar in theme to both ''The Flintstones'' and ''The Jetsons'', ''The Roman Holidays'' brought a look at "marble age" life in Ancient Rome, as seen through the eyes of Augustus "Gus" Holiday and his family. The opening showed a chariot traffic jam and a TV showing football on Channel "IV". An Ancient Roman setting was one of the ideas that Hanna-Barbera considered when creating ''The Flintstones''.

The Holidays, a Roman family living at the Venus DeMilo Arms Apartments in A.D. 63, dealt with a variety of modern-day problems. Gus Holiday worked at the Forum Construction Company for his demanding boss Mr. Tycoonius who is constantly threatening to fire Gus if an assignment he is given goes awry. He lived with his wife Laurie, children Precocia and Happius, and pet lion Brutus. Their neighbors are good friends Herman, Henrietta, and their daughter: Happy's girlfriend Groovia. Their lives are embittered by their exasperated landlord Mr. Evictus who tries to find proof of Brutus living with the Holidays, has a daughter named Snobbia, and excites Gus's tagline "Evictus will evict us!"

Richard "Richie" Twat (Rik Mayall) and Edward "Eddie" Elizabeth Ndingombaba (Adrian Edmondson) run the worst guest house in the United Kingdom. Their staff include a chef, an idiotic drunkard and an illegal immigrant who is unable to cook, and a waiter, who is implied to have checked into a psychiatric hospital. Both leave because of nonpayment for their employment, with the latter quitting because of the verbal abuse from his boss. The guests, including Mr Johnson (Bill Nighy), who reside in the pair's hotel are thoroughly dissatisfied by the poor service especially Richie's rudeness, and eventually decide to leave, except for the senile Mrs Foxfur (Fenella Fielding), who lives there.

Life seems bleak for Richie and Eddie, until it seemingly improves with the arrival of the "Nice family", headed by Mr Nice (Simon Pegg), and the famous Italian actress Gina Carbonara (Hélène Mahieu). The Nice family are staying as it is the cheapest hotel in the country, and Gina's decision to stay in the grotty house is primarily down to her need to seek safety from her ill-tempered fiancé Gino Bolognese (Vincent Cassel). Without the chef, the duo are forced to cook meals for the guests; luckily, however, Richie comes across some fish which fell off a military lorry, heading away from the nearby nuclear power station. Unknown to both him and Eddie, the fish had been contaminated by a radiation leak due to the power station's poor maintenance and equally poor safety regulations.

Thanks to the pair promoting her stay to attract more guests, Gino eventually finds her, and after an elopement between the two, Gino attempts to rape Gina. Meanwhile, hours after serving the radioactive fish, everybody becomes violently ill, projectile-vomiting at high velocity and in huge quantities – all except for Gina Carbonara, the only guest who did not eat the fish due to Gino eating it all for himself. In a getaway, Richie and Eddie quickly pack their bags, and are serendipitously reunited with Gina, who they escape with. In an act of spontaneous nausea, every guest projectile-vomits on Gino at once, forcing him backwards out through a window and off a cliff into the ocean, killing him. Government agents arrive to hush up the incident and give Eddie and Richie £10 million, first-class tickets to the Caribbean, and new identities for both them and Gina, in exchange for their silence over the leak. The three accept the offer and head to the Caribbean and start a beach bar called "Beach Bar Paradiso". In the film's final scene, Eddie winks to the camera after commenting "How lucky [Gino] was the only fatality. Otherwise there'd be a moral question-mark hanging over our escape."

After leaving a party at a women's dormitory, Matthew (Jonathan Tucker) is trapped in an elevator with an unknown, and unseen, woman when the power goes out. They have sex in the dark and when Matthew wakes up in the elevator the morning after, he finds himself alone with a pair of her panties.

On a mission to find his mystery maiden by looking for a matching bra for the panties, Matthew becomes the maintenance man of the "Virgin Vault", an all-female dormitory. This allows him to investigate without drawing suspicion. His roommate Rod (James DeBello) keeps telling him to give up and introduces him to the "penile power", which involves the use of weights attached to his penis as a means of increasing the organ's size. He does this and insults women to make himself feel better about the problem he has with his manhood; he suffers from hypospadias.

Early on, Matthew watches as a woman named Patty (Emmanuelle Chriqui) and her boyfriend Crick (Johnny Green) fight. Crick is the epitome of the macho man stereotype, with his big pectorals, conceited attitude, and abusiveness. Matthew tries to save Patty, but is hurt by Crick. Crick leaves, and Patty tries to help Matthew, but Matthew can't help but think of Patty's reputation as a "slut".

While searching one room, Matthew finds himself trapped in the bathroom when the occupant returns. Matthew is attacked by Wendy (Larisa Oleynik), until she recognizes him as a high school classmate. Wendy decides to help Matthew in his quest to find his mystery maiden, hoping that, in the process, she may find one of her own, as she is a closeted lesbian.

Matthew is nervous about talking to girls. Arlene (Katherine Heigl) and his teacher Ms. Stern (Aimee Graham) disparage Matthew, asserting that women are more dominant than men are and that women, rather than men, should be in command. Rod tells Matthew that he's a chicken and should just give up on girls, while Matthew tells him that he has never been able to speak to girls, especially Cynthia (Jaime Pressly).

Matthew puts an advertisement in the school newspaper asking the girl he's seeking to meet him in the basement on a Thursday night. He sits in the dark every Thursday night, waiting for her to show up. The door opens one night, and he thinks it's her, but it's Wendy, coming to check up on him. Finally, the mystery maiden does show up, only to tell him to stop looking for her.

Despite this, Matthew isn't deterred, and disguises himself in drag, as Francesca, as a means to continue his search. In drag, he is actually able to talk to Cynthia without being intimidated by her good looks. She then gets injured after two students accidentally drop a couch on her. Rod flirts with Francesca and later brags to Matthew that he had sex with her. This makes Matthew so angry that he adds another weight onto Rod's "penile power" device, hurting him. Crick makes a pass at Matthew in drag while he fights with Patty. Matthew bites off part of Crick's tongue. As a result, Crick is unable to speak without lisping.

Desperation sets in, so Matthew appeals to his mystery maiden by proclaiming his love for her to the whole dormitory. He finally determines his mystery maiden is Patty. She initially rejects him because she thought that he would see her only as a slut. Crick sees that Matthew wants Patty, but Matthew has him arrested for sexually assaulting him (when he was dressed as Francesca).

Matthew introduces Rod and Dora, and Arlene and Wendy hook up. Cynthia shows off her newly found martial art abilities that she discovered as a way to cope with frustration following her injury, and Ms. Stern learns a valuable lesson on gender equality, as Matthew stands up to her in front of the class, to an ovation. Finally, Matthew proclaims his love to Patty, who sees his loving eyes, and they kiss.

During a live fire exercise in the jungles of Panama, a team of Army Rangers trainees is led by the fearsome instructor Master Sergeant Nathan West. Sergeant Ray Dunbar emerges from the jungle carrying wounded Second Lieutenant Levi Kendall. The two men are pursued by Sergeant Mueller, whom Dunbar kills in self-defense. Although no other bodies are found, West's team is presumed dead.

Dunbar refuses to talk to Military Police investigator Captain Julia Osborne and insists on speaking to a fellow Ranger from outside the base, drawing an '8' on a piece of paper. The post commander Colonel Bill Styles calls in his friend: experienced interrogator, ex-Ranger and now DEA agent Tom Hardy, and assigns him to aid Osborne.

During interrogations of the survivors, they learn that West was infamous for being a ruthless, tough-as-nails sergeant. One of the trainees, Jay Pike, earned West's wrath for not following orders, and may have staged the murder.

Kendall, son of a Joint Chiefs of Staff general and a homosexual, claims West hated him and may have ordered a "training accident" on him. He claims West died when hit in the back with a phosphorus grenade. When Pike confessed to the crime, Dunbar wanted to turn him in; a firefight ensued and most of the trainees were killed.

Dunbar claims Kendall is lying and that Mueller and his fellow trainee Castro were illegally selling prescription drugs and West became aware of their drug dealing. Mueller used Pike's grenade to kill West and tried to frame Pike. A firefight broke out and several trainees were killed. Dunbar claims that Dr. Peter Vilmer supplied the drugs and falsified drug tests so that soldiers came out clean. After confessing to the crime, Vilmer is placed under arrest.

Styles orders Osborne and Hardy not to talk to Kendall again. They disobey and interrogate Kendall once more, but he suddenly begins vomiting blood. Before dying, he draws an '8' with his own blood on Osborne's hand. Hardy explains a rumor about a group of ex-Rangers in Panama calling themselves "Section 8". They apparently trained under West, turned rogue and became drug dealers.

Styles is furious; he relieves Osborne of duty and tells Hardy to leave. He considers the investigation closed and a CID transport from Washington arrives to take Vilmer and Dunbar away.

Vilmer accidentally reveals that 'Dunbar' is actually Pike, and Hardy removes Pike from the plane just before takeoff. Pike explains that West learned about the actual operation going on at the base: cocaine smuggling. He confronted the Rangers and threatened to turn them in to authorities. After a brief firefight, West and the other trainees were killed. Pike took Dunbar's dog tags and carried Kendall to the extraction point. He then gives Hardy, Osborne, and Styles the number of a crate where Vilmer had stowed cocaine.

Hardy confronts Styles, determining he was behind the drug-dealing operation the whole time. When West reported the operation to Styles, Styles ordered Mueller and Kendall to kill him in the jungle, then poisoned Kendall to silence him. Styles tries to bribe Hardy before attempting to shoot him; Styles is instead shot and killed by Osborne, who was eavesdropping on their talk.

As the investigation concludes, Osborne suspects that Hardy is somehow involved in the incident; this is confirmed when she watches Pike sneak into Hardy's car. She follows them into Panama City, where they enter a bar with a big eight-ball hanging above. After going inside, she is greeted by West and the missing members of the team — Castro, Dunbar, and Nuñez, who Hardy reveals as his 'colleagues'.

They explain that Section 8 is a covert black-ops anti-drug unit led by Colonel Tom Hardy; the "insane mercenary" story is a cover to spook the cartels. The agents infiltrated the base undercover to investigate cocaine trafficking and discovered Mueller, Kendall and Vilmer were responsible. West, not realizing Styles was also involved, informed him of the drug dealing. The training mission became a covert Section 8 operation to circumvent Mueller and Kendall and fake West's death in order to extract West from leadership and transfer him to Section 8. Hardy was called in to confirm Styles' and Vilmer's involvement.

Impressed by her work, Hardy offers Osborne a job in the unit.

After saving a young boy from drowning and being awarded a "hero sash" when he was himself a 10-year-old, Ned Kelly grows up in the British colony of Victoria where he was born. The son of a Catholic Irish settler, he lives with his widowed mother Ellen, his younger brother Dan, and his two younger sisters Kate and Grace. Ned's best friend Joe and Dan's best friend Steve are also often at the house. One day in 1871, when he's 17-year-old, he sees a white mare grazing alone in the outback. He rides it into town to impress a local girl named Jane, only to be arrested and subsequently imprisoned for supposedly stealing the horse, even though it had actually been stolen by an acquaintance of his, Wild Wright.

He is released and comes home three years later, and starts helping his family with their small horse-breeding farm located near Beechworth. He takes vengeance on Wild Wright by beating him in a prizefight, and befriends Julia Cook, the beautiful wife of an English land owner who lives nearby. One night at a bar, a local constable named Fitzpatrick is abusively courting Kate. Ned intervenes and hostilities erupt with Fitzpatrick and his fellow officers. To get back at Ned, they take the Kellys' horses, but with the help of his brother and their friends, Ned steals them back. Some nights later, while Ned and Julia are consummating their blossoming passion in the Cooks' stables, Fitzpatrick shows up at the Kelly farm and asks to see Kate; when she once more rejects him, he tries to arrest Dan for horse stealing, invoking non-existent warrants for him and Ned. A fight ensues and Fitzpatrick is wounded, and falsely reports that it's Ned Kelly who shot him. In retaliation, the police arrest Ned's mother.

Ned asks Julia to testify he was with her the night Fitzpatrick was at the Kelly's farm, but she refuses, saying that she would be disgraced by the public acknowledgement of their affair and her husband would take her children away. Ned, Dan, Joe and Steve become outlaws on the run. They later meet a patrol in the bushland and kill three officers in a shootout, despite Ned's efforts to have nobody get hurt. During the following months the "Kelly Gang" avoids capture, living in the outback, often without food. On one occasion, Julia gives them shelter at her farm while her husband is away.

A large bounty is placed on their heads, and a decree is passed that allows anybody to shoot them on sight without consequences. They rob two English banks and burn the mortgage documents with which the Crown is starving the selectors. They give the money from their robberies to poor families in need, and soon become acclaimed as folk heroes by the Victorian population as much as the media depict them as violent criminals. To solve a situation in danger of escalating into widespread revolt, the Colonial Government sends in stern Superintendent Francis Hare, who arrests many sympathizers including Joe's childhood friend Aaron. Being promised they won't harm Joe, but only the Kellys, Aaron agrees to work as an informant. During a quick visit back into Beechworth, Joe learns Aaron has been seen talking with cops, so the gang decide to feed him false information about their next heist, to test his loyalty. When they see a large group of constables heading to the bank Aaron was told about, they know Aaron betrayed them, and Joe kills him at his house.

Ned devises a plan to foil Superintendent Hare. The gang lures him in by taking over the town of Glenrowan. They gather everybody the townspeople, most of whom are friendly to their causes, at the Glenrowan Inn, to better protect them in the upcoming fight. In the meantime, they sabotage the railroad tracks leading into town, to derail the train on which Hare and his army of constables are traveling. They've also built metal helmets and plates of body armour to survive bullets. They count on the derailment to kill most of them constables, planning to then capture Hare and exchange him for Ned and Dan's mother. Unfortunately, an escaped hostage stops the train in time to avoid the incident. Hundreds of officers lay siege to the inn late at night. Determined to go out in a blaze of glory, the Kelly Gang emerge from the inn and begin shooting, protected by their armour, but are forced inside again. The police once again raid the inn, killing innocent civilians during the shootout. To buy the time needed for the townspeople to flee from the back, Ned exits and charges forward alone; he is ultimately shot in the arms and legs and falls out of sight. Near dawn, Joe is shot and dies inside the inn. Dan and Steve, down to their last bullets and knowing all is lost, commit suicide. Ned regains consciousness and even though gravely injured, continues to fire at the police. He is finally shot to the ground and taken down. Ned is loaded onto the train to be brought back and face justice; Hare asks if he may have his beloved green-and-gold sash, which he's still wearing 15 years after he saved the drowning child.

In the end, even with a petition of over 32,000 signatures strong asking for a pardon, Kelly is hanged at Old Melbourne Gaol on 11 November 1880.

The residents of the small town of Grover’s Corners in New Hampshire live peacefully and in harmony. Dr. Gibbs, his wife Julie, and their two children George and Rebecca are the neighbors of the Webbs, who have a lovely daughter, Emily. George and Emily fall in love and after three years of courting they get married. Time goes by and Emily becomes very sick with the birth of her second child. While she is dying, she meets all the people who have left this world in the years before. Emily, who remains in a kind of in-between world, remembers her previous life, but in the end the young woman decides to live and she wakes up from her dream.

Paul Morse (Lee) and Karen Cooper (Blair) are about to get married in Seattle. During his bachelor party, Paul has a chat with one of the dancers at the party, Becky Jackson (Stiles), and they find that they have an affinity for each other. Paul wakes up the next morning and is terrified to see Becky in the bed next to him. Assuming they slept together, Paul rushes Becky out of his apartment and hopes never to see her again. He tries to cover up the connection for the few days before the wedding. Unfortunately, Becky unexpectedly shows up around town and turns out to be Karen's cousin. Even worse, Becky's malicious ex-boyfriend cop Ray Donovan (Munro) had Becky followed and photographed. Becky and Paul meet again to steal those pictures from Ray's apartment. Further problems arise with family and friends consistently showing up at the wrong times. Crabs, dirty underwear in the toilet tank, a horny best friend, and a best man/brother who is in love with the bride all provide for a week of wedding preparation hijinks. Through the snowballing of all his implausible lies and half-truths, Paul receives corroboration and support from an unexpected corner; what seems to be a coordinated network of other men, including friends, complete strangers and, to Paul's astonishment, Karen's own father; all who give the same explanation: "It's a guy thing".

Los Angeles, 1992. The film opens ''in medias res'' to LAPD Sergeant Eldon Perry, who is pacing in a motel room with a shotgun and pistol.

Five days earlier, four people are killed and one wounded when two men, Darryl Orchard and Gary Sidwell, rob a convenience store in order to gain access to a safe in the office. Meanwhile, Perry defends his partner, Detective Bobby Keough, before an internal hearing concerning Keough's use of deadly force in a previous case; Keough is later exonerated. Perry and Keough later celebrate the former's impending promotion with their superior, Jack Van Meter, who is also Keough's uncle. Van Meter, a corrupt cop who often encourages his subordinates to fabricate evidence, visits Orchard and Sidwell's house later that night and takes the money stolen from the safe, admonishing them for behaving recklessly during the robbery.

Van Meter assigns Perry and Keough to investigate the robbery, providing a false alibi for Orchard and Sidwell and telling them to pin the crime on someone else. Meanwhile, Assistant Chief Arthur Holland finds Perry's testimony at Keough's hearing suspicious, doubting that Keough killed the suspect as he was charged. His assistant, Beth Williamson, pulls files on the two men and sees that a man she has had anonymous casual sex with is Keough.

After obtaining a search warrant with underhanded techniques, a SWAT team raids the house of the ex-cons who are to be Perry's fall guys. One of the men escapes and goes into a back alley, but is caught by Perry and Keough. Under Perry's orders, Keough reluctantly kills the innocent man and is left visibly shaken. When Perry arrives home later, he learns that his wife is leaving him. Meanwhile, Keough visits Williamson and admits to the killing, offering to testify against Perry on corruption. Seeing both Perry and the robbers as loose ends, Van Meter sets them up to kill each other just as the Los Angeles riots begin.

Believing that Perry was sent by Van Meter to kill Orchard and Sidwell, Keough and Williamson also drive to the robbers' address. While all three eventually meet up in the alleys, Keough is killed by Orchard and Sidwell. Williamson tearfully blames Perry for what happened. Perry calls in the incident, hesitating briefly before pursuing Orchard and Sidwell. As the riots unfold, Sidwell is dragged out of his car and beaten to death while Orchard is captured by Perry. Perry then heads to his promotion ceremony, where he confesses about the corruption, implicates Van Meter, and volunteers himself to be arrested.

The NSA-funded Quantum Tech (QT) Corporation has slated a project to develop Hypertime, a technology which allows the user's molecules to speed up to the point where the world appears in standstill. NSA head Moore ends the project due to the risk of the technology being acquired by hostile powers. QT's CEO Henry Gates plans on using Hypertime to dominate the world, but these plans are now falling apart: The NSA has given him only a weekend before they collect his equipment, his lead scientist Earl Dopler cannot fix a glitch which causes subjects in Hypertime to age rapidly, and after his henchmen prevent Dopler's incognito departure at the airport, Dopler informs Gates that he sent information on Hypertime and a prototype Hypertime wristwatch to his former teacher Dr. George Gibbs in hopes he could find a fix for the glitch.

Gibbs' daughter Kelly accidentally knocks the watch into a box of his son Zak's things. George is away at a convention on applied science, having turned down Zak's appeals to go car shopping with him. Zak repeatedly bombs out with Francesca, the hot new girl at school, first with a condescending offer to show her around and then, after she allows him to help her rake leaves, by bringing a live opossum into her house. However, she is impressed when he shows her the power of the watch, which they use to pull pranks around town, and later help Zak's friend Meeker win a battle of the DJs contest. At the end of the date she gives Zak a goodnight kiss.

Gates sends henchmen, armed with Hypertime watches and solid nitrogen guns for putting other Hypertime users back into normal time, to George's house to recover the prototype. While fleeing from them, Zak discovers Dopler tied up in their van and frees him. A chase ensues, with Zak crashing the van into a river, thus disabling the watch. Zak awakens in a hospital and is charged with stealing the van. He gets the watch working just long enough to steal a policeman's uniform, allowing him to evade both the police and Gates's henchmen. QT Corporation contacts national security agencies and portrays Zak, George and Dopler as fugitives. Zak goes on the run with Francesca, locating the hotel that George is staying at. QT reaches George first and kidnaps him to replace Dopler.

Dopler captures Zak and Francesca with a garbage truck. Francesca knocks Dopler out and she and Zak interrogate Dopler. Dopler reluctantly agrees to help save George. Using components that the three of them steal from the science convention, Dopler mends the broken watch and builds their own set of nitrogen guns.

Zak and Francesca break in. After activating Hypertime, Zak swaps a nonfunctional watch onto his wrist as a backup plan. QT captures Zak and Francesca, confiscates the nonfunctional watch, and throws them in a cell with George. The NSA deadline expires, so Gates puts the whole facility into Hypertime to stop the approaching NSA agents. Using his concealed watch while in Hypertime causes Zak's particles to accelerate to the point of instability, allowing him to pass through the walls of their cell and divert Gates and his henchmen long enough for George to rig a bomb which destroys the machine generating Hypertime. Gates tries to kill Francesca, Zak and George, but Dopler arrives and shoots Gates with nitrogen. The NSA agents take the watches to keep them safe, and arrest Gates and his henchmen, and the charges against Zak are dropped.

Dopler uses the machine he was building to reverse the aging effects of Hypertime, but it inadvertently changes him back into a teenager, meaning he will have to live with the Gibbs family for a few years. George lets Zak get the car he wanted. As Zak speeds off in his car with Kelly, Francesca, and Dopler, the police officer and detective from earlier drive after them to try to stop Zak for speeding. However, it is revealed that Zak has not returned the watch and continues to have fun in Hypertime.

Lieutenant Reed (Dominic Keating) and Ensign Mayweather (Anthony Montgomery) play chess while serving as hosts to non-corporeal aliens known as Organians. Returning from an away mission on the planet below, Commander Tucker (Connor Trinneer) and Ensign Sato (Linda Park) soon exhibit symptoms of a strange disease. Upon examination by Doctor Phlox (John Billingsley), it is found to be a highly contagious silicon-based virus which carbon-based physiology cannot counteract. To pass the time, while isolated in Decontamination, Tucker and Sato try to learn more about each other.

The Organians are keenly interested in examining the human response to this crisis, and compare notes to previous reactions by Klingons and Cardassians. They are members of an advanced species looking to make "first contact". For 800 years, the pair have been passively observing various space-faring species as they react to the pathogen, but no species has yet been deemed ready. Seeking a different view of the crew, they variably shift to the bodies of Captain Archer (Scott Bakula), Commander T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) and Phlox. The two Organians start to disagree: one seems determined to maintain their non-interference protocol, while the other feels the protocol is outdated and unnecessary.

With time running out, Phlox and T'Pol find a way to disrupt the virus using deadly levels of radiation. Archer and Phlox, while wearing environmental suits, escort Tucker and Sato to Sickbay for treatment. Sato soon goes into cardiac arrest, and Archer removes his gloves and helmet to assist her, but she cannot be resuscitated. They then administer a dose of radiation to Tucker, but he dies too.

Suddenly, the Organians possess Tucker and Sato, explaining the situation to a surprised Archer, including the unstoppable spread of the infection. Archer pleads on behalf of his crew, pointing out that the Organians have lost empathy, confusing non-intervention after-the-fact with a harmful choice to not post warnings about the virus. They decide to modify their protocol, choosing to resurrect and cure the infected crew members, when they previously would have left the entire crew to die. They erase the encounter from the crew's memory. Archer orders a warning beacon to be placed above the planet, and the Organians leave to begin planning first contact with humans 5,000 years in the future.