Homer gives Marge a koi pond for their anniversary, but an endangered "Screamapillar" takes refuge in the pond. Bound by law to care for it, Homer accidentally injures the loud, annoying larva while reading a bedtime story. For trying to bury the larva to cover up the injury, Homer is sentenced to two weeks of community service for "attempted insecticide and aggravated buggery".

Homer begins delivering Meals on Wheels to an elderly woman, Mrs. Bellamy, who takes a liking to him. She subtly guilt trips Homer, and later Marge, into becoming her personal servants. When Mrs. Bellamy turns up dead, having been stabbed with a pair of scissors, Homer and Marge are the prime suspects in the murder, even though they witnessed a man with braces leaving the murder scene with Mrs. Bellamy's necklace. The people of Springfield are very suspicious of Homer and Marge, and Chief Wiggum does not believe their story. Finally, during an inspection of the house, Maggie is found with Mrs. Bellamy's necklace, and Wiggum arrests Homer and Marge. Bart, Lisa and Maggie are adopted by Cletus Spuckler, who decides to change their names to "Dingus Squatford Jr." and "Pamela E. Lee".

Despite not undergoing lie detector or DNA tests, both are sentenced to death by electric chair. In a bid to spare Marge, Homer confesses to the warden that he acted alone, and Marge is released. As Homer is sitting in the electric chair, it is suddenly revealed that he is on a new Fox reality TV show, ''Frame Up''. Mrs. Bellamy's murder was merely part of an elaborate hidden camera scheme, the man with the braces is the show's host, and Mrs. Bellamy is guest host Carmen Electra in disguise. Chief Wiggum is annoyed that the police department's time and taxpayers' money was wasted on what turned out to not even be a real case, but is excited to learn he will be in the show and has them give Lou and Eddie producer credits. Homer and Marge are reunited with the kids, but Homer is infuriated that he had to suffer just so the show could get higher ratings; as Electra tries to explain, he ends up staring at her breasts.

Dr. Mora Pol, the Bajoran scientist who studied Odo when he was first discovered, arrives on Deep Space Nine and tells Odo that he has picked up DNA signatures similar to Odo's on a planet in the Gamma Quadrant. Mora, Odo, Dax, and Mora's assistant depart for the planet in a runabout to investigate, and while en route, Mora's fatherly attitude toward Odo, including embarrassing stories from their early time together, irritate him. Commander Sisko refers to his own father here in the past tense yet Sisko senior later plays a role in the series.

Upon reaching the planet, the four of them beam to the surface, where they discover a tiny life form that may be a distant relative of Odo. Before they can return to the runabout, however, an earthquake releases volcanic gases into the air. The other three pass out, but Odo, unaffected because he does not have a respiratory system, beams them back to the runabout.

Back on the station, Dax and the others are brought to the infirmary to recover, while the life form is brought to the science lab, where O'Brien tries unsuccessfully to identify it. As it appears to be growing, he puts it into a containment field, but later that night, the crew finds the lab damaged, and the life form gone, apparently having escaped through an air duct. They note that the incident was accompanied by a power drain and a rise in temperature. O'Brien, attempting to track the creature down, hears a strange noise, and then finds a puddle of goo, which they assume is the life form's remains.

Bashir is studying the remains in the infirmary when he is attacked by a strange creature, which he fends off with a laser scalpel. Dax's analysis of a sample reveals the DNA of the life form and the creature are different, and begins a computer search for a match with known life forms. Mora, meanwhile, recognizes the DNA pattern as Odo's and confronts him privately. He points out that the attacks occurred approximately sixteen hours apart, exactly the times when Odo reverts to his natural gelatinous state to regenerate. They surmise that the gas on the Gamma Quadrant planet might have affected Odo somehow. Panicking, Odo begins to head for the infirmary, but Mora claims Bashir will not understand and will treat Odo like a monster. He presses Odo to come back to Bajor with him, and, as he does so, the increasingly agitated Odo again transforms into the creature.

Security picks up a power drain in Odo's office, but, when they arrive to investigate, they find nothing amiss. Having seen Odo's violent reaction to him, Mora explains to Commander Sisko and Major Kira that he is the cause of Odo's metamorphosis. The first time, he explains, the creature was trying to rescue the organism Mora had contained in the science lab; the second time, it appeared in the infirmary, where Mora was a patient; and the third time, Odo and Mora were in the middle of a heated debate. He helps the crew lure Odo in his altered state to the Promenade, where he is contained in a force field and reverts to normal.

Later, the effects of the gas having been removed, Odo apologizes to Mora for attacking him. Mora apologizes to Odo for ignoring his feelings, which he finally realizes what he had done when Odo had felt like a prisoner in his laboratory. Mora says he would like to be a part, however small, of Odo's life, and the two begin to reconcile.

Immediately after the events of the first film, the spirit of Lord Farquaad returns from the dead to capture Princess Fiona and it is up to Shrek and Donkey to rescue her. Upon Shrek and Donkey searching around the local graveyard, Farquaad sends a stone statue of Dragon from his tomb to go after them and kill them. Fortunately, the real Dragon arrives to the rescue, leading to a chase scene (featuring the sound of a TIE fighter's blaster from ''Star Wars'' when Dragon shoots a fireball to create a tunnel in a cliff face), ending with the stone dragon losing its wings against the walls of a hole and falling into the water below. Lord Farquaad sends Fiona on a raft to fall over the waterfall (with Thelonious still on it, not realizing he was supposed to get off). Fiona manages to break the restraints and knees Thelonious in the groin, causing him to fall off the raft. Shrek and Donkey arrive shortly after to rescue her before the raft plunges over the waterfall, but in the end, all four of them fall over the waterfall, only to be saved by Dragon, who then (under Donkey's orders) breathes fire at Farquaad, seemingly destroying him again. Dragon gives Shrek and Fiona a ride to the Honeymoon Hotel, and she and Donkey ride off to have a honeymoon of their own. Shrek and Fiona's honeymoon is interrupted by the Fairy Tale creatures, but they go along with it. Everyone celebrates after Shrek says "Let The Honeymoon Begin!", who then pops the cork off champagne, sending one of the fairies flying with the cork.

Severus Snape, a member of the Order of the Phoenix, meets with Narcissa Malfoy, Draco's mother, and her sister Bellatrix Lestrange, Lord Voldemort's supporter. Narcissa expresses concern that her son may not survive a mission that Voldemort has given him. Snape makes an Unbreakable Vow with Narcissa, swearing to assist Draco.

Dumbledore collects Harry Potter to escort him to the Burrow, home of Harry's best friend Ron Weasley. They detour to the home of Horace Slughorn, former Potions teacher at Hogwarts; Harry unwittingly helps persuade Slughorn to return to teaching.

While traveling to Hogwarts on the Hogwarts Express, Harry says he suspects Draco is a Death Eater. Harry eavesdrops on Draco, who brags to friends about a mission Voldemort has assigned him. Draco catches Harry, petrifying him and breaking his nose. Nymphadora Tonks finds Harry, repairs his nose and escorts him to Hogwarts. Dumbledore announces that Snape is the new Defence Against the Dark Arts instructor, while Slughorn will teach Potions. Harry finds an old potions textbook, once belonging to "The Half-Blood Prince", an individual who wrote numerous spells and tips in the book. Harry, using the tips in the book, excels in Potions class, winning a bottle of Felix Felicis, or "Liquid Luck". Hermione, however, distrusts the book.

Ron and Hermione grow closer, but after learning from his sister Ginny of Hermione's history with Viktor Krum, Ron goes out with Lavender Brown, making Hermione jealous. Harry develops feelings for Ginny, and the two later start a relationship with Ron's approval after a Gryffindor Quidditch victory. Draco grows unhinged throughout the year, acting in increasingly suspicious ways.

Meanwhile, to help Harry in his foretold battle with Voldemort, Dumbledore and Harry use the Pensieve to examine memories of people from Voldemort's past. One of the memories involves Slughorn conversing with a young Tom Riddle, but it has been altered, so Dumbledore asks Harry to obtain the real memory from Slughorn. Harry uses Felix Felicis to retrieve the memory, in which Slughorn tells Riddle about the process of splitting one's soul and hiding it in Horcruxes, making the user virtually immortal. Voldemort created six Horcruxes, which must be destroyed in order to destroy Voldemort himself. Two Horcruxes, Riddle's diary from ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'' and a ring belonging to Voldemort's grandfather, have already been destroyed; four others remain.

Near the end of the year, Harry and Dumbledore journey to a cave to retrieve a Horcrux, Slytherin's locket. The locket is in a potion-filled basin in the middle of a lake. To reach the locket, Dumbledore drinks the potion, severely weakening him. After fighting off Inferi hidden in the lake, Harry and Dumbledore take the locket and return to Hogwarts to find the Dark Mark over a school tower. They ascend the tower and are ambushed by Draco, who reveals his mission is to kill Dumbledore and that he helped Death Eaters enter Hogwarts. However, Draco is unable to go through with the mission. Snape arrives, and he kills Dumbledore. Ignoring the battle raging inside Hogwarts, Harry pursues Snape but is defeated by him. Before escaping, Snape reveals he is the Half-Blood Prince.

After Dumbledore's funeral, Harry breaks up with Ginny to protect her. He discovers the locket is a fake, containing a note from someone named "R. A. B.". Harry announces his intentions to search for Horcruxes the following year rather than return to Hogwarts. Ron and Hermione vow to join him.

In the early 1990s, during the intervening period between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, MI5 combats the Soviet spies within the United Kingdom while facing their own agents' ineptitude, and the ridicule of the sheer fact that the Soviet Union is no longer a threat; but MI5 knows better and indeed the Soviets are intent on making trouble.

In an effort to alleviate their agents' incompetence, MI5 hires local university teacher Peter Chapman, convincing him by getting him sacked from the university, which leaves him no choice. His new bosses, Maurice Drummond and Andrew Maxwell, assign him to the technology division, and he insists on having a codename, to further his identity in the world of spying. The first codenames listed were Panda, then Panther, but those are already in use, they then incorrectly stated that Puma was the next available name before correcting themselves and assigning Peter the next name..."Piglet." Piglet routinely joins the other field agents on missions—mainly to ensure that MI5 gets its equipment back.

Peter "Piglet" Chapman must now face down Soviet assassins and double agents while keeping his identity as an MI5 technician secret from everyone else, including his wife Sarah.

Azriel is telling the story of his transformation into and subsequent existence as an immortal genii who is forced to obey the Master who calls him. Over centuries, Azriel becomes less obedient to the Masters and a warning is placed on the casket of his bones that he is not to be summoned lest his evil be loosed upon the undeserving world.

After many centuries of rest, Azriel finds himself awake and in New York City, a dazed witness to the murder of a young woman, Esther Belkin. He becomes inexplicably obsessed with the desire to avenge her death and to find out who called him into the physical world in time to see Esther die but not in time to save her. This quest leads him to the girl's stepfather, Gregory Belkin, who would pay any price to fulfill his messianic dream via his immense worldwide religious organization, the Temple of the Mind of God.

As his quest approaches its climax, he risks his supernatural powers to forestall an attempt to destroy the world thus redeeming what was denied him for so long: his own eternal human soul.

Set in a shared futuristic universe, the stories' common thread is a genetically-engineered "Unicorn" species created for space travel. Extremely intelligent, with a humanoid appearance, they have difficulty understanding other people and their own emotions.

"A, A Prime"

A research group is attempting to terraform the planet Munzel. Since the mission is dangerous, each member of the group was cloned before departure. The plot revolves around the arrival of the clone of the Unicorn, Adelade Lee. Adelade's clone, with no memory of the three years Adelade lived on Munzel, disturbs Regg Bone, who had a romantic relationship with Adelade. Although he knows she is a clone, the resemblance attracts him and he kisses her to a dispassionate reaction. When Adelade's clone explores the planet Munzel with Regg, they find Adelade's body frozen in a cave. Regg soon asks to be transferred to Space Colony A on the planet Torimann. When Colony A is destroyed in an explosion and Regg dies, Adelade's clone is emotionally shaken; Regg is replaced by his clone, and Adelade's clone weeps when she remembers their kiss.

"4/4"

On Jupiter's moon Io, Mori, a man with telekinetic powers he cannot control, is training with Professor Mia. After he saves a Unicorn descendant named Trill from a free fall, he frequently visits her in the home of Professor Sazzan, the man who adopted her. When Mori discovers that Sazzan is only interested in his telekinetic powers, he runs away with Trill. Mori kisses Trill, but when she says she loves him and Sazzan equally he overheats and burns Mia's aviary. Mia sends Mori to Mars; Trill's repressed feelings are released, and she expresses her hatred for Sazzan and his experiments. When Sazzan tries to assault Trill she breaks a vase on his head and runs to an airlock, where she falls to her death in front of Mori, who is aboard a ship leaving for Mars.

"X+Y"

Unicorn Tacto's mother, Marble, committed suicide in his presence when he was seven. His father, Doctor Moonsault, had developed a sex-change drug with an intended temporary effect; however, when Marble took it she remained a woman for three years. Moonsault and Marble married and one month after Tacto's birth, Marble became a man. Marble wanted to be a woman, but he was resistant to the medicine. This, and Moonsault seeing other women, led Marble to commit suicide. Moonsault erased Tacto's memory before leaving on a space mission; Tacto was raised by Doctor George, who brings him to the Allergy Culture Center. Tacto becomes one of its "brains" who develop the Tako Project, Earth's entry in a contest to raise Mars' atmospheric pressure.

On Mars, Tacto meets Mori (from "4/4"). Mori, stunned at the resemblance between Tacto and Trill, falls in love with him. Tacto does not feel the same way and is engaged to Merimé, the cousin of Tako Project member Zazz. This angers Mori, and after their talk, Tacto loses all memory of him. The project requires bringing water from Jupiter, and the group goes to nearby planet Mimas. To regain Tacto's affection, Mori invites him on a scooter tour across Jupiter's rings and they have an accident. Mori, seriously injured, wakes up in an emergency room and goes to search for Tacto who has been missing for 16 hours. He rescues Tacto, they bond emotionally, and Tacto breaks his engagement to Merimé. Moonsault arrives at the request of George's wife, An-An, to help Tacto (who is genetically a woman) decide whether to use female hormones. The doctor explains that Tacto changed his sex frequently, and says that the decision is Tacto's—who remains a man. When his father reveals what happened to Marble, he regains the ability to understand his feelings and knows that he loves Mori.

A cloned Alice wakes up in a mansion, wanders through its halls, and is forced to escape several security traps, mirroring some events of the first film. During her escape, Alice makes use of new telekinetic powers, killing a security guard. However, she is eventually killed by a bounding mine hidden in the floor. Her body is dumped into a pit filled with dozens of other Alice clones, representing the failed results of the Umbrella Corporation's ongoing Project Alice.

Following Umbrella's attempts to cover up the contamination of Raccoon City, the T-virus spreads around the world, devastating not only the human population, but the entire global environment in the next five years. The real Alice wanders the wasteland that was once the Southwestern U.S., and after fighting off a family of marauders, discovers information in an abandoned notebook referring to an uninfected area in Alaska. Alice realizes that she, like her clones, has developed telekinesis.

Simultaneously, a convoy of survivors led by Claire Redfield and Raccoon City survivors Carlos Oliveira and L.J. Wade travels across the country in search of supplies and safe harbor. While searching a motel, L.J. is bitten by a zombie. Fearing the harsh fate that awaits him, he chooses not to tell the other survivors about the injury. The next morning, the convoy is attacked by a murderous flock of infected crows. With the team nearly overwhelmed, Alice appears and defeats the remaining crows with her newfound telekinesis, though falling unconscious. Awaking shortly thereafter, Alice is introduced to Claire and tells her about the notebook, convincing her to take the convoy to Alaska.

Isaacs' attempts to domesticate the infected lead to the creation of a new zombie breed. Wesker's security officer, Captain Alexander Slater, reports on Isaacs' disregard for Umbrella regulations. Wesker tasks Slater with watching Isaacs, telling him to kill the scientist if he disobeys orders again. Tracing an energy pattern sent out by Alice's telekinesis, Umbrella triangulates her location. Desperate to reclaim Alice for the sake of achieving his goals, Dr. Isaacs sends his new zombies to ambush the convoy against Wesker's specific orders. During the attack, most of the convoy is killed, and L.J. succumbs to his infection, biting Carlos. Umbrella tries to shut Alice down remotely, but she breaks free from Umbrella's programming and continues to fight. She finds Isaacs at the scene, and he is bitten as he flees via helicopter. Alice and K-Mart use Isaacs' computer to track the helicopter's flight path, leading them to Umbrella's underground facility.

Approaching the scene, Alice meets a holograph of the Red Queen's "sister" AI, the White Queen. She informs Alice that her blood can cure the T-virus, defends the Red Queen's prior actions, and reveals what happened to Dr. Isaacs. On her way to the lab's lower levels, Alice encounters one of her clones, which awakens but appears to die from shock soon after. Alice discovers Isaacs/Tyrant, defeating him after leading him to the replica of The Hive's laser corridor featured in the film's opening. Just as Alice is about to meet the same fate, the system is deactivated by the clone, who is still alive.

Later in Tokyo, Wesker informs his fellow Umbrella executives that the North American facility has been lost. Alice appears during the meeting, declaring that she and her "friends" (the other clones) are coming for him.

Giles leads Buffy and the Potential Slayers in a nighttime cemetery tour where he tells how he survived the Bringer attack several weeks before by immediately overpowering and decapitating the Bringer; only to suddenly get attacked himself by Spike, who is surprised that Giles is corporeal and not the First Evil. When Giles is confused at how Spike can no longer feel pain, Buffy admits that she had the chip removed from Spike's head, much to Giles' consternation. The next morning, Giles questions Buffy on her decision, and expresses his worries that Buffy's connection to Spike, platonic or physical, may be clouding her judgement.

At work, Buffy tries to hunt for clues in Principal Wood's office as to whether he is good or evil. When she is about to open a cabinet, Wood finds her in his office and asks her out to dinner. After Buffy leaves, Wood opens the case, displaying a large collection of blade weapons, into which he places a bloody dagger. Back at the house, Buffy expresses mixed feelings about the date, and is unsure over whether she is interested in him. Willow suggests that it would be good for Buffy to move on. Xander enters and reveals that he too has a date that evening, with a young woman he met at a hardware store. Upstairs, Buffy is getting dressed for dinner when Spike appears in the hallway, and tells Buffy that he is fine with her having a date with another man, although Buffy tells him he does not have to be noble.

On Buffy's date with Wood, they are jumped by a group of vampires. Buffy slays most of them, and thinks that Wood has set her up until she sees him take out two of the vampires. At the restaurant, Wood reveals that he is a "freelance" demon hunter, and tells her about his mother — a Vampire Slayer who was killed when he was four years old, after which he was raised by her Watcher. Meanwhile, Xander's date appears to be going well until he learns that she is a demon who is, like other demons, motivated to work for the First.

In the house, the First appears to Andrew in the guise of Jonathan, and attempts to get him to kill the Potentials by trapping them in the basement, using the gun that Willow brought to the house while she was possessed by Warren. Though Andrew says he is committed to helping Buffy and her friends, he reluctantly retrieves the gun for the First and asks why not convince Spike to kill the Potentials; to which the First replies it is not time to use Spike yet for its purposes, hinting that he will be used in the future. When Andrew asks the First questions about its intents and potential weaknesses, the First realises that Andrew is wearing a wire that Willow has set up and that she, Dawn, Amanda and Kennedy are listening to their conversation through Willow's headphones. Angered, the First appears to the girls in the guise of a horribly maimed Jonathan, threatening them before disappearing.

Immediately afterwards, Willow receives a text message with a help code from Xander. Spike goes to fetch Buffy, finds her with Wood at the restaurant in a slightly romantic moment, and they all rush out to rescue Xander, driving in Wood's car. When they get to the seal beneath the school, they fight and kill the demon woman and find Xander not too badly hurt. They prevent the seal from opening again, but during the course of the fight, Wood finds out that Spike is a vampire and that Buffy cares about him deeply, making him uneasy.

Back at the house, Spike tells Buffy that as the First has plans for him that could endanger others, he will leave town to prevent this. Buffy tells Spike not to leave because she is not ready for him not to be there. In Wood's apartment, the First appears to Wood in the guise of his dead mother and, though it does not say so explicitly, leads him to conclude that it was Spike who killed her in 1977.

The story is based on that of the 1989 film of the same name, but the writers took some liberties and expanded on the film's plot. ([https://web.archive.org/web/20120323033136/http://nesgbgg.seesaa.net/article/115080128.html Japanese transcription], [http://www.glitterberri.com/developer-interviews/tokuro-fujiwara/ English translation], [https://web.archive.org/web/20180307054415/http://www.glitterberri.com/developer-interviews/tokuro-fujiwara/ Archived]) Thirty years prior to the story in 1959, famous artist Ichirō Mamiya hid several precious frescos in his huge mansion before he mysteriously disappeared. In the present day, a team of five documentary filmmakers seek to recover the paintings from the abandoned, dilapidated mansion. Upon entering, they are trapped inside by the ghost of an unknown woman, who threatens to kill all trespassers. The team decides to split up and find a way out, but the mansion is both in danger of collapsing and is occupied by countless monsters.

The team find a projection room, where they find a projector that displays an image of a couple and their baby burning. They discover that the ghost is that of Lady Mamiya, Ichirō's wife. It is revealed that thirty years previously, Mamiya's two-year-old son had fallen in the house's incinerator and was burnt alive, and Mamiya attempted to provide playmates for her son by killing several other children. She committed suicide shortly after and her ghost, unable to forgive herself, became trapped in the mansion. The team arrives in the main chamber and confronts Mamiya in a final battle. After defeating her, a rescuer arrives to help them escape from the mansion as it crumbles.

Two Potential Slayers, Rona and Vi, walk alone in the cemetery until Spike knocks Rona out of the way, grabs Vi and leans in for the kill. Buffy and the other Slayers watch and learn from this example and Buffy lectures the girls on how to deal with vampire attacks. Buffy has Spike attack her to continue, but she easily gets the upper hand and pins Spike to the ground, reawakening some of his wounds and some feelings for both of them. In the Summers basement, Buffy reminds the Potentials about the seriousness of death. They believe the First is taking a brief break from them, but it will come back stronger and better than before. While Dawn watches silently from the stairs, Buffy tries to give the girls another pep talk.

At work, Buffy talks with Xander on the phone until a student, Amanda, comes in for counseling. The girl asks about liking a boy who picks on her and seeks Buffy's advice, but Buffy gets a bit distracted with her own similar situation with Spike and rambles about how she is not going to let that problem happen again. Buffy returns home to bickering amongst the Potential Slayers and news from Willow that another Potential Slayer has been found, already in Sunnydale. The Potentials examine weapons and Dawn tries to fit into the group's conversation, but it is a struggle. Spike arrives and then leaves with Buffy and the other girls for some training. Andrew pouts because he is not invited and although silent, Dawn feels left out as well.

Willow prepares the ingredients for a spell that will locate the Potential Slayer and surround her with a glowing aura. The spell is performed at the fireplace, but at first it does not succeed, just creates a horrible smell. Dawn tries to open a door to air out the room, but the light follows her, knocking her into the door and surrounding her. Dawn starts to freak out at the news that she could be the latest Potential Slayer, and is worried that this would mean her sister would have to die first. Dawn does not want to tell Buffy what is going on and goes upstairs to think alone while the rest of the gang debate the pros and cons of the situation and telling Buffy. Dawn overhears the conversation and feeling the weight of their concerns and her potential fate of death, she sneaks out the window.

Buffy and Spike take the girls to a demon bar to explain the art of getting information out of the demonic patrons there. They run into Clem and after a brief happy exchange with him, Buffy secretly asks him to scare the overly confident Potentials. His face expands into a mass of snakelike limbs and such, making the girls scream and Spike laugh. While walking alone outside, Dawn runs into Amanda who has a scratch on her head and claims to have been attacked by a vampire. The girl explains that she got away and locked the vampire in one of the classrooms. Having heard rumors about Buffy, Amanda was going to ask for her help, but Dawn volunteers to take care of the problem.

Dawn and Amanda break back into the school, but when they reach the classroom, they find the door unlocked and do not see the vampire hiding wedged against the ceiling. The vampire falls as the girls try to leave and it chases them out into the halls until they reach locked doors. Trapped, Dawn turns to a fire extinguisher and when she cannot get it to work, she knocks the vampire around with it instead then bolts with Amanda. Buffy and Spike show the girls a crypt and teach them about the living quarters of vampires. While investigating the area, the girls find a dead body, but Buffy shows them that it is a vampire.

At the school, Dawn and Amanda hide in a classroom and push a set of drawers against the door while Dawn prepares for a plan of escape. Buffy tosses the vampire around while lecturing the girls about successful fighting and keeping a straight head during battle. Meanwhile, Dawn puts Buffy's lessons to use and acts resourcefully until the vampire pins her to the ground and goes in for the bite. The Bringers then suddenly break in through the windows and grab Amanda instead of Dawn. After beating up the vampire a bit, Buffy drops her stake and along with Spike, she leaves the girls trapped alone with the vampire. Back at the house, Willow, Xander and Anya find that Dawn has bolted and Willow rushes to do a spell to find her before it is too late.

Dawn uses the room's chemistry supplies to set the Bringers on fire and escape with Amanda. She realizes that Amanda is the true Potential Slayer and willingly hands over the right and her weapon to Amanda. The frightened teen has a hard time grasping these strange realities Dawn explains, but she does not have much time to think about it. Xander arrives at the school with Buffy and Spike as the Bringers attack full force. Amanda keeps the Bringers at bay and stakes the vampire that attacked her earlier while Buffy and Spike finish off the Bringers. As Amanda rambles to Buffy about the strangeness she is dealing with, Dawn reveals that Amanda was standing outside the front door when she was hit by the aura cloud from Willow's spell.

Amanda and the other Potential Slayers talk and bond about their successes with fighting the forces of darkness while Dawn secretly watches from the other room. Buffy checks in with Dawn, but she does not pick up on Dawn's real problem. While Buffy takes the other girls down to the basement for training, Xander catches on to Dawn's disappointment about not being a Potential. Xander confides in her how hard it is for him to be the powerless member of the gang and he relates to Dawn's pain. He reminds her that she does not need to be special with powers as she is "extraordinary" just the way she is. In return, Dawn suggests that he does have a power – his ability to notice what is really going on with the people he loves, despite the barriers.

At the airport, Buffy, Dawn, and Xander wait for Willow to get off her plane and talk about how uncomfortable they feel about the situation. The plane clears, but the three do not see Willow. The scene repeats as Willow gets off the plane, but she does not see her friends waiting for her. A young man spray paints a wall of a construction site as a demon taunts him from the shadows and then attacks the frightened man.

Willow lets herself into the Summers house, which appears to be empty. Going up to what used to be her room, but now has been claimed by Buffy, Willow remembers the last time she was in the room. A door closes and Willow begins to investigate, but still her friends are nowhere to be seen. Alone, Willow curls up on the couch. Buffy, Xander, and Dawn return home and talk about how Willow did leave England and wonder where she may have ended up. They hear a noise upstairs and check it out, but find nothing.

The next morning, Willow visits the damaged magic shop and finds Anya cleaning up. Anya is very cold to her and Willow feels guilty about everything. They talk a bit and Anya fills Willow in on everyone's activities since she has been gone. Willow checks out Xander's construction site and instead of Xander, she finds a skinned body. At the same time, Xander and Buffy are looking at the body and the familiar sight makes them wonder if Willow is back after all. Unbeknownst to them, a disgusted Willow climbs a ladder to exit the site.

Willow walks the halls of Sunnydale High and proceeds down to the basement where she finds Spike acting insanely. He talks to Willow about the dead body, but also carries on a conversation with something else in the room Willow cannot see. Buffy and Xander maneuver through the basement and find Spike seemingly talking to himself. Buffy and Xander try to get information from him, but Spike is simultaneously conversing with Willow, so his words make little sense. Spike suspects they cannot see each other and that Willow is responsible for it. Buffy and Xander interpret some of Spike's comments to mean that he knows about Willow and they suspect she might have something to do with Spike's unstable condition.

Willow goes to Anya at her apartment for help in finding the demon that skinned the man at the construction site. Anya helps Willow cast a spell to locate demons all over Sunnydale, but is unable to teleport Willow to one particular location to a cave just outside the town as punishment for her recently undoing a spell; she also admits to Willow that she is feeling pressured and traumatized by her newfound vengeance work. Willow then decides to take the long way and walk to the cave herself, but when Anya suggests trying another spell to find Buffy, Xander and Dawn, Willow admits she has tried to do so; only to have it backfire on her. At the Summers house, Dawn researches demons that skin people via the computer and finds a demon that meets their specifications named Gnarl. The demon paralyzes his victims with his nails, and then eats strips of skin from the body and drinks the blood.

Realizing they need to search for a trail of blood, Buffy decides to recruit Spike to smell the way. He leads them to a cave where the demon can be found. Willow is already there investigating the cave and Gnarl spots her. The rest of the gang enters the cave as well, but they do not see Willow. The demon scratches Dawn's stomach and paralyzes her. Buffy and Xander take Dawn out of the cave and cover up the entrance, unintentionally trapping Willow with Gnarl. Stuck in the cave, Willow listens to the demon taunt her from the shadows. He slices her abdomen with a nail and, thus paralyzed, Willow is helpless against him as he sucks at the wound and starts to slice away slivers of her skin to eat.

Buffy and Xander carry a completely paralyzed Dawn into the living room while Buffy researches Gnarl and the way to save Dawn. Anya is called to stay with Dawn while they prepare to return to the cave to kill the demon and save Dawn. Anya talks about seeing Willow and reveals that Willow may be at the cave and that she knows about Gnarl. Panicked that Willow is trapped in the cave with Gnarl, Buffy grabs Anya to join them at the cave. Gnarl continues to eat Willow's skin as he tells her that her friends have abandoned her and she is all alone for him to eat. Buffy arrives and attacks Gnarl while Anya tends to a badly injured Willow who still cannot see her friends. While Buffy fights Gnarl, Anya informs Willow that her friends did not leave her alone.

Buffy pokes the demon in the eyes with her thumbs, successfully killing him and ending the paralysis of both Willow and Dawn as well as the spell making Willow and her friends invisible to each other. Willow is relieved to see her friends and glad that they did not abandon her.

In the morning, Willow meditates and uses magic from the earth to re-grow the skin she lost. Buffy stops by and talks with Willow. Willow reveals that her fear of seeing her friends and their judgment of her led to the invisibility problem from which they all were suffering. Buffy confesses that she briefly suspected Willow of the grotesque killing, but Willow does not blame her for that. Willow struggles to start meditating again, so Buffy offers her Slayer strength to her friend and joins in the meditation.

In the opening, Spike is seen digging a grave and buries the woman he has just killed while he hums a tune. Meanwhile Buffy struggles with the possibility that Spike may have begun killing innocent people and "siring" them as vampires. Xander has Anya stay over and watch Spike without tipping him off. Anya sneaks into Spike's room and starts looking for proof that he is killing again, and when he wakes up she tries unsuccessfully to seduce him in an effort to hide what she was actually doing. After Spike leaves she calls Buffy who follows him and sees him hitting on a college girl before she loses sight of them. Meanwhile, Spike takes the girl into a dark alley where an apparition appearing as Buffy encourages him to feed, which he does before running away. When the real Buffy confronts Spike later that night, he denies both killing the girl and siring Holden Webster. He claims that Buffy is the only girl that means anything to him and that he can't kill anyone now that he has a soul.

The Scooby Gang tries to make sense of the strange apparitions of the dead they have been contacted by and wonder whether any or all of the information they gave them was true. Spike discovers a box of cigarettes in his pocket and remembers picking up a girl at the Bronze a couple days ago. He knocks out Xander when he tries to prevent him leaving, claiming that he can prove that he hasn't been killing people, and heads to the Bronze where he tries to find out if anyone remembers seeing the girl. After killing a vampire who claims that Spike sired her, Spike calls Buffy's cell phone from a pay phone and tells her that he is remembering the bad things he has done recently and asks for her help. She agrees to meet with him at a set location. As Spike tries to leave, the duplicate of Spike shows up and tells the real Spike that calling Buffy was not part of the plan, but they will have to improvise.

Spike leads Buffy into a dark basement and tries to show her what he remembers about killing the girls. The fake Spike is there as well, but Buffy cannot see him. While the real Spike tries to show Buffy where he buried the bodies, the fake Spike starts to sing "Early One Morning." This causes Spike to vamp out and attack Buffy, cutting her arm with a piece of broken glass. As the two battle the bodies of those Spike recently killed rise from the ground beneath them as newly turned vampires. Buffy struggles with the fledglings while the fake Spike tells the real Spike to drink her blood. As two vampires hold Buffy still, Spike leans down and tastes Buffy's blood from the cut on her arm. It reawakens all of his memories of killing and he falls to the ground, horrified.

Buffy finishes off dusting the rest of the vampires and turns her attention to Spike. Tearfully Spike offers to be staked. He is confused, scared and hurting because of the lives he has taken. When Spike begs an invisible someone to make him forget again since Spike did what he was told, Buffy realizes something is not right with Spike and something has been messing with his head. Buffy takes Spike back to her house and tells the gang how she needs to keep him close if she intends to get answers they need.

Meanwhile, in London, a man and woman are attacked by cloaked men and Giles receives some troubling information. Giles charges into the room in London and finds the dead woman and the dazed man, Robson, who warns Giles that something has started and that they need to be gathered. As Giles listens, one of the robed figures appears behind him and swings an axe at his head as the episode ends.

Dark Willow tries to resist Giles' attack, rebuffing his attempts to help her. He is forced to bind her physically and magically. He informs Buffy and Anya that he has been endowed with magic from a powerful coven in England, which sent him to combat Willow. Privately, Buffy tells Giles about the difficulties she has endured the past year: she has been sleeping with Spike and working at the Doublemeat Palace to support Dawn amidst financial problems, and Xander left Anya at the altar leading to her becoming a vengeance demon again. Giles apologizes to Buffy for leaving her when she needed help, but she assures him he was right to do so: she had to face up to her responsibilities as an adult. She also confesses her insecurities to Giles on why she was resurrected. As they talk, Willow subordinates Anya telepathically, so that Anya breaks Giles's binding spells. She throws down Buffy and resumes her magical duel with Giles.

Xander and Dawn continue to protect Jonathan and Andrew; Xander becoming overwhelmed by guilt over his failure to act when Warren shot Buffy and murdered Tara. As Willow begins to overpower Giles, she also directs a magical attack at Xander, Dawn, and the others, forcing Buffy to leave to protect them. Willow then defeats Giles and drains his magical strength; the power breaks down her emotional shields. Overwhelmed by her pain and all the pain she senses, she announces she will end it by ending the world. Buffy manages to partially block Willow's attack, but she and Dawn are thrown underground while Xander is knocked unconscious. Andrew and Jonathan flee, planning an escape to Mexico.

At the Magic Box, Anya comes to and finds a critically wounded Giles on the ground. He can feel Dark Willow's presence and knows that she will end the world. Buffy tries to climb out of the hole by pulling coffins out of the surrounding dirt walls to stack and try to escape on. After Xander comes to, Buffy sends him to find some rope to help them get out. When Buffy and Dawn quarrel over Buffy's protective behavior, Anya briefly appears, telling them that Willow is raising a satanic temple of dark magic from underground, and intends to use its artifacts to end the world by draining its life energies. Anya also relays Giles' message that Willow cannot be stopped by any magical or supernatural powers. Overhearing this, Xander leaves to confront Willow. Willow speaks to Buffy telepathically, telling her she deserves the right to die as a warrior, and raises earth-creatures to battle her and Dawn.

As Willow begins her final ritual of destruction, Xander confronts her and physically tries to stop her from completing it. She repels him with magic force, but, wounded, he renews his efforts. He reminds Willow of their friendship and that he loves her no matter what. He tells her that if she destroys the world, she kills him as well and that he will stay with her until she does. Willow's emotional barriers collapse, her dark powers drain away, and her physical transformation is undone. She collapses in tears. Giles revives and tells Anya that the magic Willow stole from him overpowered her emotional shields and gave Xander the chance to reach her. Anya is shocked to learn that Xander saved the world. Buffy and Dawn reconcile as they clamber out of the pit and Buffy vows to be a better sister to Dawn.

In Africa, a severely bruised and bloodied Spike successfully completes his trials and demands his promised reward, his greatest desire. Accordingly, his soul is returned to him.

On a stormy day, two men deliver a large crate to a residence, but when they drop it, a clawed hand breaks through the wood and attacks one of the men.

Giles has Willow start scanning books into a computer so that they can be resources for the gang to use. He then tells her that he is going back to England as he feels like Buffy and the gang no longer need him.

While patrolling, Buffy is confronted by a vampire who condenses from mist: he introduces himself as none other than Count Dracula himself. Buffy is starstruck, but when she tries to stake the legendary vampire, he disappears. Xander and Willow arrive to see Dracula before he turns into a bat and flies away. The women discuss how amazing Dracula is, and Riley and Xander both express their jealousy towards the infamous Dark Prince. Willow attempts to attract attention to Giles and his usefulness, but the gang seems oblivious.

As Xander is walking home alone, he encounters Dracula. Using his mysterious charms, the vampire persuades Xander to be his aide and lure the Slayer to him. Riley asks Spike about Dracula, but the former commando is warned that Dracula is too dangerous for him to take on alone. Buffy awakens to find Dracula in her bedroom, as Joyce had earlier invited him into their home. She is helpless against his powers and unable to stop him from biting her. When she wakes the next morning, she hides the puncture marks in her neck with a scarf.

Later, the gang discusses their plan of attack. Buffy seems distracted and after hearing about the truths of Dracula, she leaves abruptly. Riley follows her and forces her to take off the scarf to show the puncture marks on her neck. Everyone is shocked to see that she has been under the control of Dracula. Since Xander is under Dracula's power, he has a strange hunger for spiders and attempts to defend the powerful vampire to his friends. Xander volunteers to have Buffy stay safely at his place, Willow and Tara use magic to protect the Summers home, and Giles and Riley go after Dracula.

Xander locks Anya in the closet and takes the willing Slayer to his "Master" in hopes of getting immortality in return. After being left alone with Dracula, Buffy tries to take control and stake him, but he is easily able to make her put the stake down, telling her about all the things he will do for her while she struggles to regain control of herself. As Giles and Riley arrive at the castle, Xander tries to stop them from going after Dracula, but Riley knocks him out with one punch, while Giles finds himself seduced by the Three Sisters. Dracula offers his blood to Buffy, and she hesitantly takes a drink. A flash of memories allows Buffy to break his control over her. Riley rescues a reluctant Giles from the vampire sisters, and they go to save Buffy. Buffy and Dracula fight in a vicious battle, and finally Buffy stakes him. After they leave, Dracula comes back from the dust. Buffy is there and stakes him again, knowing he would come back. Dracula attempts to re-form again but is reminded by Buffy that she is "standing right here". He slips away in his mist-form.

Buffy tells Giles that she wants to be the Slayer again, to learn about her duties and her future. She asks him to be her Watcher again, which she accepts. Buffy comes home and announces to her mom that she is going out with Riley. As she enters her room, she finds a strange girl there going through her stuff. Joyce tells Buffy that she should take her sister with her if she goes out, much to both girls' chagrin.

Patrolling at night at a funeral home, Buffy, Xander and Dawn discuss Buffy's nervousness about her new job and the struggle she may face while trying to balance her Slayer job with her duties as a school counselor. At the high school the next day, Buffy talks with various students who all have their own problems, including trouble with bullies and violence, anxiety, homosexuality and plain boredom. Willow and Xander walk together and talk about Buffy's struggles and Willow's worries about her role in dealing with the impending Hellmouth danger. With Xander's support, Willow visits Tara's grave.

Buffy talks with more students, including her own sister, but one girl, Cassie Newton, stuns Buffy when she confesses that she will die next Friday and that there will be many coins. As she leaves for class, Cassie compliments Buffy's shirt and warns her against spilling something on it. Buffy reports Cassie to Principal Wood, but he is not helpful. After spilling coffee onto her white shirt, Buffy is apprehensive and sends Dawn to befriend Cassie. Dawn catches up with Cassie and they talk about Cassie's friend Mike, who has continuously asked Cassie to an upcoming dance and been rejected every time.

Willow investigates Cassie on the computer, and finds Cassie's website filled with sad, morbid poetry. Though Buffy is convinced that Cassie has a precognitive ability and given up hope for survival, Xander and Willow are both skeptical despite all the experiences they had with the paranormal. Dawn returns home from school and thinks the reason for Cassie's problem is Mike, but Buffy and the others do not pay much attention. Willow finds a website on Cassie's father that shows his troubled past with the law and alcohol. Buffy and Xander visit Cassie's father and confront him with their suspicion that he may get drunk and hurt his daughter. Mr. Newton denies the accusation and reveals that his ex-wife only allows him to spend one weekend a month with his daughter. Buffy then finds out that Mr. Newton's weekend with Cassie was the previous one, therefore not only does he not have the chance to hurt Cassie, but if Cassie's prediction is true, then he will not see her again before her death. Satisfied that Mr. Newton is not involved, Buffy and Xander leave and bump into Cassie. She had been waiting for them outside of her father's house, and although she appreciates Buffy's efforts to find the cause, she knows there is nothing Buffy can do. Xander asks her if she is planning to kill herself, but Cassie denies it. Though she admits that she does not want to die, she cannot prevent her own demise.

Meanwhile, a group of guys in red cloaks walk around a circle and burn pictures of Cassie on a tray in the middle. Still motivated to help Cassie, Buffy reads poetry from Cassie's site and continues to investigate with the rest of the gang despite Xander and Willow's skepticism, and Dawn becomes close with Cassie and Mike. Buffy goes to the school basement and asks a still insane Spike if he knows anything about Cassie. He does not. As Buffy turns to leave, Spike asks her to stay, she refuses, worried that her presence will worsen his condition.

Upstairs, Wood and another administrator search through student lockers for anything suspicious. Buffy catches Mike in the halls and stops him to see if he may have intentions of hurting Cassie because she rejected him. He makes it clear he does not mind, and is thinking about asking Dawn to the dance instead. Coins fall from one of the lockers, drawing Buffy's attention. Buffy takes one of the coins and the number of the locker where they came from and talks to the student the locker belongs to. The student confesses that some of his friends want to hurt Cassie. Dawn and Cassie walk away from the school as Cassie reveals how she knows Buffy sent Dawn to befriend Cassie, but appreciates the genuine friendship she made with Dawn. Just then a student named Peter approaches, and Cassie, knowing she will not see Dawn again, tells Dawn that nothing that is about to happen is her fault. Peter asks Dawn about the dance, but not to ask her to go with him. When an irritated Dawn turns back toward Cassie, she is gone.

At the school that night, the cloaked group gathers again around a circle of coins and one of the boys reveals to be Peter. He checks with the others to make sure the school is secure and that no one can get in or out. Then, he pulls a bound, blindfolded and gagged Cassie out to the circle and holds a meat cleaver to her neck. She is to be sacrificed to a demon that will provide the boys with "infinite riches". As Peter starts the ritual, Buffy reveals herself as one of the cloaked people, who is only there to prove the ritual is fake, but a large demon appears behind her, proving her wrong. Buffy fights the demon and Spike shows up with a flaming torch to help, having temporarily regained his sanity. Buffy uses the torch to burn the demon while Spike cuts Cassie free from her bonds. After he rips her gag off, Cassie says that Buffy will one day tell him how she feels about him. Desperately, Peter drags himself toward the fried demon, demanding his money. The burned demon leans up and bites Peter on the shoulder once before exploding into dust. As Buffy and Cassie walk away together, a crossbow booby trap set by one of the cloaked boys nearly kills Cassie, but Buffy stops the bolt. Buffy tells Cassie that one person can make a difference, to which Cassie says Buffy ''will'' make a difference, before gasping and falling to the ground, dead.

The next day, the Scooby Gang solemnly talks about how Cassie died because of a congenital heart defect. She was always going to die, no matter what happened, and Cassie knew that Buffy would be at her side when her prediction came true. Buffy feels that she has failed, but a devastated Dawn corrects her, saying Buffy did not fail since she tried to save Cassie; it was because of her that Dawn and Cassie were friends. The gang are now convinced as Buffy of Cassie's unique gift; they all sadly realize that even though they may be able to avert outcomes, they cannot change fate.

Xander introduces a reluctant Spike to his new living environment: Xander's apartment. Buffy tries to convince an equally reluctant Xander that Spike needs their help and a place better than the school basement to live. Buffy and Dawn talk privately about Buffy's feelings for Spike and why she is helping him in light of the pain he has caused her. Dawn starts to rant about love and relationships and Buffy leaves so she can return to work. An attractive jock on the football field then catches Dawn's attention and she falls off the bleachers while distracted by him.

Buffy fights with and kills a demon at Anya's apartment that was sent by D'Hoffryn. Anya thanks her for the help, but does not want it to seem like she needs help. Buffy explains that the gang needs Anya's help and she wants to protect her friends, Anya included. At the high school, Dawn prepares to talk to her dream guy, named R.J., and once she finds him, she tries to start up a conversation with him. He is with another player, O'Donnell, and two cheerleaders talking about cheerleader tryouts and most of Dawn's awkward comments do not quite fit with the crowd. Later, Dawn tries out for the cheerleading team wearing Buffy's old cheerleading uniform, but she falls and makes a fool out of herself. At home that night, Dawn locks herself in the bathroom and cuts up the cheerleading uniform while Buffy tries to get her to come out.

Buffy tries to offer help and support, but considering Buffy's track record with guys, Dawn is not interested. The next day at school, Dawn overhears O'Donnell inform R.J. that he will not be starting quarterback for the game and she confronts O'Donnell. She yells at him at first, but then in a moment of anger, she shoves him and he falls down a flight of stairs. Dawn has a meeting with Principal Wood and Buffy about the incident and informs them that the jock just tripped and fell down the stairs. Buffy realizes though that Dawn may have been motivated by her love for R.J. and actually pushed O'Donnell down the stairs.

R.J. catches up with Dawn after her meeting and asks her out on a date. At the Bronze, the gang sit around and talk about Spike's progress at Xander's place as they are shocked to see R.J. dancing with a "slutty-looking" Dawn. Buffy confronts her sister and lays down the law about Dawn's clothes and behavior, but Dawn puts up quite a fight for her right to do whatever she wants. Unable to get past Buffy to return to the dance floor, Dawn leaves and encounters one of the cheerleader girls in the alley. They begin to fight over R.J. and have to be broken up by Buffy.

Buffy watches as Wood lectures R.J. about not doing his own homework and then Buffy catches him for another lecture. She gets on his case about the way he is treating girls but, quickly, something comes over Buffy and she is head over heels in love with him. Buffy catches Dawn as she returns home that night and tells her about her meeting with R.J. Buffy offers encouragement to her sister by explaining that she has a chance with R.J. and that he really likes her.

At school the next day, Buffy pulls R.J. out of class and takes him to an empty room. While Dawn walks the halls peeking into rooms in search of R.J., Buffy adoringly listens to R.J. talk about football and his troubles at school and then starts passionately kissing him just as Dawn peeks into the room. Dawn runs outside in tears and into Xander. He tries to comfort her, but realizes that Buffy would possibly be more help and goes to find her. He is surprised to find her on top of R.J. and promptly takes her home for a much-needed intervention with the others. At the Summers house, that night, Buffy and Dawn fight about their love with R.J., while Xander, Willow and Anya try to keep the peace until they can reverse the love spell obviously affecting the sisters.

Willow searches for information on R.J. and instead finds information on R.J.'s older brother, Lance, who Xander remembers from high school. Xander and Spike go to find R.J.'s brother and despite his popular status at high school, he is not quite his attractive, popular self anymore. After some chatting, the guys realize that R.J.'s jacket has been handed down through the family. R.J. shows up at Buffy's house looking for her, but Willow and Anya tell him to leave. As R.J. walks away, Willow and Anya start to look at him lovingly and then argue about which of them he loves more. Buffy and Dawn jump into the fight, and soon Dawn is hurt and depressed that her friends and sister are taking her guy away, while the other three plot to win R.J. Buffy goes to kill Wood (who had disciplined R.J.), Willow works on a spell to make R.J. a woman, Anya takes off to rob banks and Dawn lays herself across the railroad tracks.

Xander stops Willow from completing her spell and then brings her along to stop Buffy from killing Wood with her old rocket launcher. Spike tackles Buffy before she can kill the principal, and although she puts up a fight, he gets the weapon away from her. Using Willow's locator spell, they find Dawn on the railroad tracks just as a train is headed for her. Buffy jumps in and rescues her sister just before the train hits; scared at the thought of losing her sister, Buffy shows that the spell was not that strong, and admits that she is willing to give up R.J. if it means that much to Dawn. Finally, Xander and Spike jump R.J. on the street and steal his jacket, then burn it in the fireplace at the Summers home. All the girls feel terrible about the way they acted and the things they almost did, while Xander remembers an incident he had with a backfired love spell meant for Cordelia. Willow questions what Anya did to prove her love to R.J.; Anya dodges the subject with a quick lie and turns off the radio as a news report is heard about a wanted bank robber on the loose.

Several encounters take place around Sunnydale on one night, which are told in real time. Uniquely among ''Buffy'' episodes, the main characters do not interact with one another. According to the staff writers, this was intended to enforce the idea of "being alone."

On patrol in the Sunnydale cemetery, Buffy encounters a newly-risen vampire. After a brief struggle, he abruptly stops, having recognized her as an old high school classmate. Buffy is surprised to discover that the vampire is Holden "Webs" Webster, a classmate that she barely remembers until he casually begins reminiscing. Webs, a psychology major in life, proceeds to psychoanalyze Buffy, and she opens up to him about her innermost conflicts and feelings of isolation. Webs offers several insights, including that Buffy's problems with commitment and frequent targeting of unavailable men stems from her damaged relationship with her father, and that her emotional distance to her friends results from the isolation she feels as the slayer. While the two sporadically interrupt their discussion with fighting, Buffy ultimately concludes that her only regret in opening up to Webs is that she will have to kill him in their battle. She slays him in the end, but not before he identifies Spike as the vampire who recently sired him, leaving her standing in shock.

Meanwhile, Dawn prepares for a night alone at home. An unnaturally loud banging sets her nerves on edge, the electronics begin to malfunction and the house suffers from heavy wind and earthquakes. Eventually, Dawn comes to believe that her mother is trying to contact her, and the malevolent force is working to prevent her. Dawn manages to exorcise the malevolent force and a vision of Joyce appears to warn her that she cannot trust Buffy.

In a story entirely devoid of dialogue, Spike picks up a woman at a bar, walks her home, and feeds on her, leaving her dead on her own doorstep.

Jonathan and Andrew return from Mexico after several months in hiding. Both are plagued by nightmares and hope to share discoveries about an artifact hidden near the Hellmouth to win favor with Buffy. However, Andrew is secretly in contact with what appears to be the ghost of Warren, while Jonathan is having a personal revelation that he misses high school and still cares for his old friends. After they dig up the artifact, Andrew, on Warren's instructions, insults and kills Jonathan, causing his blood to spill all over a "door" in the dirt.

In the library, Willow is visited by the ghost of Cassie, a girl Buffy once helped, who claims to have been sent by the dead Tara. The ghost relays Tara's message that Willow will end up killing everyone if she ever uses magic again, and recommends suicide as a solution. This tips Willow off that she has not been talking to Cassie, and she demands to know who the being really is. The being reveals itself as the First Evil and threatens Willow and all her friends before vanishing.

In New York 1977, Spike is fighting Nikki Wood, a Slayer whom he will eventually kill, in a park at night in pouring rain while her son Robin watches from his hiding place behind a bench. Spike has the opportunity to kill her but Robin distracts him and he lets her go, vowing that they will meet again. When he leaves, a clearly troubled Nikki finds her son and calms his fears by telling him, "The mission is what matters."

In present-day Sunnydale, Buffy, Principal Robin Wood, and Spike are fighting a bunch of vampires in an alley. Buffy and Spike manage to kill their quarry, but a vampire knocks Wood to the ground, and is about to kill him. Spike saves Wood by killing the vampire from behind, then helps him up, telling him not to hold back with using the stake. Wood thanks him, but he grips onto the stake so hard his hand starts dripping blood.

Previously, the First Evil had programmed Spike with a post-hypnotic suggestion in his mind that allows it to turn Spike violent using an old song, "Early One Morning", as a trigger. This way the First was able to command him to kill again. Buffy wants to find out how to turn it off so that she can fully trust Spike against the First, but Giles opposes Buffy, believing that Spike is still dangerous and must be contained or disposed of.

At the same time, the Scoobies go to Buffy's basement, where Willow makes a spell with the Prokaryote stone, a magical artifact that penetrates Spike's mind and makes him more conscious of how the trigger works. During this process information about Spike's human past is revealed, including how he turned his sick mother into a vampire only to be rejected by her newly vampiric self. The song that his mother used to sing makes him relive the whole episode and switch into his evil, soulless self. He unwittingly hurts Dawn in the process and scares them all, except Buffy. Meanwhile, Willow receives a phone call from a girl named Fred and quickly leaves for Los Angeles, promising Buffy she will be back as soon as she can.

After the previous incident, Wood and Giles privately conspire to get Spike killed. When Giles learns that Spike had killed Wood's mother, Nikki, the two plan for Giles to distract Buffy while Wood takes care of Spike. Giles takes Buffy on patrol and begins asking her indirect questions and making obscure references to her role against the First. In the meantime, Wood takes Spike to his hideout with the promise to protect him, but upon arrival Wood reveals to Spike that he knows Spike murdered his mother and that he is going to kill the monster inside him. Spike says he has no remorse over killing Wood's mother. Wood then plays "Early One Morning", which triggers Spike's violent, monstrous self and the two fight. As the fight progresses, Spike continues to relive the events that transpired between him and his mother, due to the Prokaryote Stone. Wood takes advantage of Spike's flashbacks, and using weapons, knocks Spike around until he cannot stand and he then attempts to stake him.

At this point, Spike regains control of his own mind, having faced his own anger and regret on turning his mother into a vampire and then being forced to kill her. Wood is now almost helpless against the much stronger Spike, who gives him a violent beating, demonstrates that the song has no more power over him and points out the difference between their own mothers – Spike's mother actually loved him back. While Giles and Buffy are talking in the cemetery, they become involved in a fight with another vampire. Buffy realizes that Giles has been trying to distract her while Wood kills Spike. She kills the vampire and rushes to Wood's place, where she finds Spike and a badly injured but alive Wood. Spike tells her that he stopped himself from killing Wood, but only because he already killed Wood's mother. Buffy tells Wood that she needs Spike alive, and that she has no time for personal vendettas. She promises him that if he tries anything like this again, she will let Spike kill him. As she walks away, she says she has a mission to win this war - "The mission is what matters" - echoing Wood's mother's words when he was a child. Once at home, Buffy tells Giles that his and Wood's plan failed, and disowns him as her mentor.

While Spike continues to pass trials in his quest in Africa, Buffy, Xander, and Anya try to pursue Willow, who has killed Warren to avenge his murder of Tara and now plans to execute his two jailed accomplices. They discover that Willow has damaged Xander's car to prevent them from catching her. Buffy continues her pursuit on foot.

Anya teleports into Jonathan and Andrew's cell shortly before Willow arrives. Anya and Buffy manage to evade Willow's attack and slip away with the two men. As Xander drives them away in a stolen police cruiser, Willow attacks them with a truck she is wielding magically; but her overuse of magic has drained her power, and they escape.

Dawn and Clem decide to go to the dark magician Rack's lair, expecting Willow to try to deal with him to recharge her powers. Buffy, Xander and Anya regroup at the Magic Box and debate their course of action. Buffy believes she can convince Willow to relent, but the others disagree; Buffy heads for Rack's, alone. Xander admits to Anya that he might have been able to stop Warren before he fired on Buffy and Tara, but was afraid to intervene, unarmed.

Willow meets with Rack, who attempts to seduce her. She rejects his advances, drains his power and kills him, just as Dawn arrives. Dawn's effort to calm the much more powerful Willow prove futile and serve only to annoy her, but Buffy arrives before she acts against Dawn. Buffy tries to talk with Willow, who replies that nothing in the world matters anymore since Tara's death. Willow teleports the group back to the Magic Shop, where Buffy and Dawn collapse. As Willow attacks, Anya fires up a protection spell to shield Jonathan and Andrew. As Willow intensifies her attack, Buffy tries a physical attack, allowing all but Anya to escape.

Willow subdues Buffy, then disables Anya and negates her protection spells. As she declares her victory, she is struck down by a bolt of energy from an arriving Giles.

A young Potential Slayer, Shannon, is chased through the woods by Bringers. She accepts the assistance of a stranger wearing a priest's collar and driving a truck and is horrified to discover that she has fallen into a trap. The man, who introduces himself as Caleb, terrifies her and burns his mark into her neck. He gives her a message for the Slayer (which the viewer does not hear at this time), stabs her in the stomach, and forces her out of the car. Minutes later, Faith and Willow find the girl on their way back to Sunnydale after re-ensouling Angel in Los Angeles and take her to the hospital, where Faith asks Willow why the Scooby Gang failed to warn her about the threat of the Bringers. Faith subsequently encounters Spike chasing a young woman and mistakenly believes Spike is evil again. The young woman, now in her vampire form, attacks Faith who, borrowing a stake from Buffy, quickly slays her.

Back at the house, Faith encounters a cold reception from both Dawn and Giles, and Spike explains that the tension is not all because of her. Meanwhile, the First Evil reveals Buffy's form to Caleb who is residing in the basement of a winery. The next day, Andrew brings the interested Potentials up to speed on Faith's history, as they watch Faith exercise in the back yard with fascination over this other Slayer. At Sunnydale High School, Principal Wood calls Buffy into his office where he fires her from her school job, emphasizing the need for her to focus on the mission.

Alarmed by the obsession over her at the Summers' home, Faith sneaks down into the basement for a cigarette break, where Spike joins her. The two talk and bond over their respective periods of being dangerous. Faith reveals they met once before years ago when Faith was in Buffy's body, and Spike reveals that he and Buffy had been more than just friends at one point. Buffy, having arrived home after leaving the school, comes down and seems a bit unnerved at seeing the two of them together. Dawn calls down that Willow has reported from the hospital: Shannon is awake. Buffy goes to the hospital, where Shannon tells Buffy of Caleb's message: he has something of Buffy's.

Later at the house, Buffy tries to motivate the terrified Potentials to accompany her when she attacks Caleb (who, meanwhile, is re-enacting scenes of his past murders with the First Evil). Buffy alone is confident in her plan; Giles, Spike, her friends, and the Potentials all question her decision. Buffy and Faith, on a recon mission, follow a Bringer through the woods. They discuss Faith's intentions and her recent experiences with Angel before locating Caleb's stronghold in an old winery.

At the Summers' home, Xander directs the Potentials on the methods of attacking in battle. When Rona criticizes Buffy's intentions, Xander strongly defends his friend. Leaving Willow and Giles to stay behind to protect the more inexperienced girls, Buffy leads Spike, Faith, Xander, and the more experienced Potentials (including Kennedy, Molly, Rona, Chao-Ahn, Amanda, Diane, and several others) to the vineyard; they divide into two groups: an assault team and a back-up team. After an initial clash with the Bringers, Caleb appears. He has super-strength: he quickly knocks aside Buffy and Spike, and breaks Rona's arm. Xander and Faith arrive with the back-up team, but Faith is soon knocked unconscious. Caleb kills Diane and Molly, and Buffy orders a retreat after managing to knock Caleb down. Xander starts to yell that everyone needs to get out, but is then attacked himself by Caleb, who then stabs his thumb into Xander's eye. Spike tackles Caleb, giving them enough time to get Xander and leave the vineyard.

Alone and distraught, Buffy leaves the injured girls and walks through the empty streets as Caleb tells the First, in Buffy's form, that their victory is imminent.

Compulsive gambler Charlie Gordon cons his brother-in-law, widower Herb Sullivan, whose wife Susie was Charlie's sister, into an all expenses-paid luxury Holland America Mexican cruise. The catch, which Charlie does not reveal to Herb until the ship has left port, is that they are required to work as dance hosts. They must sleep in a cramped cabin in the bowels of the ship, and if they do not dance, they will get fired and have to pay nearly $3,000 (later Herb finds out he has over $5,000) for the cruise or get thrown off the ship.

Ruled over by tyrannical, control-freak cruise director Gil Godwyn ("a song and dance man raised on a military base"), they do their best, despite Charlie's failed dance. Each meets a lady of interest. One is the luscious heiress Liz LaBreche, whose wealth attracts Charlie every bit as much as the rest of her does even though her wealth isn't real. The other is lovely widow Vivian who was a successful book editor and who is under the impression that Herb is really a doctor, not a dancer. Vivian came on board on the ship with her daughter and her newlywed husband to help her start dating again. After finally telling her the truth, Herb soon finds himself quite attracted to Vivian, and eventually the feeling becomes mutual. However, Herb is still very much in love with Susie which conflicts his very growing feelings for Vivian, leading him to eventually stand her up on the day that they were supposed to view the rare solar eclipse together. Charlie doesn't know that Liz is broke and came on board the ship to land a rich man.

Charlie literally drags ship owner Mrs. Carruthers across the dance floor in a clumsy manner, yet this surprisingly greatly pleases Mrs. Carruthers. Charlie sets up Mrs. Carruthers to meet Gil in the latter's room under difference circumstances that neither are true. He being told he's about to get a big promotion and her thinking he's romantically interested in her. This was set in motion to enable Charlie to continue his charade and he and Liz could spend the night together. During the eclipse, Charlie and Liz propose to each other and make plans to get married immediately. Liz's mom is ecstatic to having landed a rich guy, yet Liz has lost interest in how much money Charlie may have and is truly falling in love with him. However, Gil, figuring out that Charlie was in his room busts him in front of Liz and her mother who promptly dumps him and they decide to leave the cruise immediately. They make their getaway with Vivian on a plane.

Herb decides against starting a new relationship with Vivian until Charlie reminds him that Susie was "his" sister long before she was Herb's wife, emphasizing that Susie would never want Herb to spend the rest of his life completely alone and sad. Herb and Charlie, both realizing they are really in love with the women, decide to go after them. Herb and Charlie are preparing to launch a lifeboat to get off the ship. Gil finds them and Herb finally stands up to him and tells him off. This sets off Gil who goes on a total tirade as Herb & Charlie leave. However, Mrs. Carruthers is there with two other dance hosts and hears him say disparaging remarks about her. She promptly fires him, calling him an "asshole" and giving his job to one of the other dance hosts. Herb and Charlie find the plane trying to fly and call out to all to return. They set off a flare that Vivian sees and reminds him of a story he told her. The plane lands and everyone tells the truth about everything. Charlie and Liz continue dating, but Charlie makes some good money winning a poker game from a rich guy that he had originally torn up to impress Liz but later taped back together. Herb and Vivian are together as well.

Angie (Geena Davis) is an office worker who lives in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, New York and dreams of a better life. After learning that she is pregnant by her boyfriend Vinnie (James Gandolfini), she decides that she will have the baby, but not Vinnie as a husband.

This turns the entire neighborhood upside down and starts her on a journey of self-discovery, including a love affair with a man named Noel (Stephen Rea) who she meets at an art museum. Even her best friend Tina (Aida Turturro) has trouble understanding her.

Atsuko Kagami is a childlike, arrogant elementary school girl who has an affinity for mirrors. One day, her favorite mirror which was given to Akko by her mother (or in some versions, by her father, as a present from India) is broken, and she prefers to bury it in her yard rather than throw it to the trash can.

In her dreams, she is contacted by a spirit (or in some cases the Queen of the Mirror Kingdom) who is touched that the girl would treat the mirror so respectfully and not simply throw it away. Akko-chan is then given the gift of a magical mirror and taught enchantments, "tekumaku mayakon, tekumaku mayakon" and "lamipus lamipus lu lu lu lu lu". that will allow her to transform into anything she wishes.

The film centers on the main character Henry Spooner (played by Goorjian), the school nerd who has a crush on Laurie, the prettiest, most popular girl in his high school. After a conversation with his friend, he mutters under his breath that he would sell his soul to the Devil to go out with Laurie. From that point on, he gets his wish to date Laurie, but things don't go according to plan.

It has been seventeen years since Oscar Madison and Felix Ungar have seen one another. Oscar is still hosting a regular poker game and is still an untidy slob, now living in Sarasota, Florida, but still a sportswriter. One day, he is called by his son Brucey with an invitation to California for his wedding the following Sunday. A second shock for Oscar—the woman his son is marrying is Felix's daughter, Hannah.

On the flight from New York to Los Angeles, it becomes clear that Felix has not changed his ways—he is still a fussy, allergy-suffering neat freak nuisance. Oscar and Felix are reunited at the airport and very happy to be together again after 17 years of separation—at least for a couple of minutes. They share a rental car to San Malina for the wedding. however the trip begins with Oscar forgetting Felix's suitcase at the Budget car rental, including wedding gifts and wardrobe inside. On the trip, Felix falls asleep and Oscar takes a wrong turn onto the freeway, then loses the directions to San Malina when his cigar ashes burn them.

He and Felix become hopelessly lost, and cannot remember the name of the town where they are headed, so many California cities sounding alike. They end up in a rural area and argue about Felix's lost suitcase, when the rental car rolls off a cliff and catches fire. If that were not enough, they get arrested several times by the same local police in Santa Menendez, first for catching a ride in a truck carrying illegal Mexican immigrants. They are released after the truck driver confesses, and learn the name of the town where the wedding will take place. At a bar in town, they meet two extroverted women, Thelma and Holly, and buy them drinks. Accepting an offer of a ride from a stranger even older than themselves, Felix and Oscar end up inside a $150,000 vintage Rolls Royce Silver Wraith and trapped on the wrong side of the road when the stranger dies unexpectedly. Felix and Oscar are arrested a second time by the same Santa Menendez police, but again are released when it is discovered that the elderly man died of natural causes. Frustrated that this is second time they have been arrested in Santa Menendez, the police chief advises Oscar and Felix to take a bus to San Malina.

On the bus, they meet Thelma and Holly, who are running away from their redneck husbands. However, the bus gets stopped by the husbands, who take their wives, along with Oscar and Felix, at gunpoint, and in their car tell them that they are going to "cook a couple of fine geezers" in the woods for flirting with their wives.

Somehow the bus driver is able to inform the police of the husbands' use of a gun on a public vehicle, and their car is stopped at a police roadblock before anything happens to Oscar and Felix. Everyone is again taken into custody by the Santa Menendez police.

After meeting with the police chief for the third time, the boys are freed and driven directly to the local airport by the police, who are only too pleased to be rid of them, especially the chief, who tells his deputies not to arrest them again even if they were to commit notorious crimes. A woman boarding the airplane is also en route to the wedding and recognizes them. She is Felice Adams, the sister of Oscar's ex-wife, Blanche. Felix's eyes light up when he learns that her husband died of a heart attack, and they are mutually attracted. He calls her "Lise," which causes Oscar to ask Felix if she calls him "Lix." They arrive at the wedding house, only to find that Brucey is having second thoughts about the wedding due to his parents' bad history with marriage. Felix and Oscar argue with their ex-wives, after which Oscar persuades his son to go through with it. Felix's suitcase is returned and the wedding goes off without a hitch.

The next day, Felix and Felice leave together on one flight to her home in San Francisco, and part ways with Oscar, who returns to Florida. Oscar is telling his poker friends about the wedding when the doorbell rings. It is Felix, who says things with Felice didn't work out. Felix wonders if he could move in with Oscar until he finds his own place. Oscar refuses, but eventually relents, insisting their days of being roommates will be over if Oscar catches Felix matching any of his socks, to which Felix very happily agrees. Before long Felix cleans up the apartment and Oscar is overcome with a sense of having been through all this before.

In the twentieth century, from his castle in the northern part of Tuscany, Vittorio writes the tragic tale of his life.

In 1450, Vittorio di Raniari is a sixteen-year-old Italian nobleman, when his family is murdered by a powerful and ancient coven of vampires. The image of his siblings' severed heads with eyes staring fixedly at him strikes him permanently. Vittorio, however, escapes such a dreadful ending because of a vampire's intervention.

After taking care of his family's burial, Vittorio gathers what riches he can and prepares himself for adventure as he flees towards Florence, away from the perilous crowd of vampires, under the sun's protecting wing.

By nightfall, Vittorio arrives at the most strange of villages, for there are no beggars at the street, no elderly, no sick or dying. Yet his mournful spirit prevents him from taking notice of it. He soon realizes that someone is stalking him, and, worried enough, he seeks shelter at an inn.

Ursula, the vampire who prevented the other members of her coven from killing Vittorio, lurks behind his room's window. She continues to seduce him, all while draining blood from him, and giving him some of her own.

Vittorio is led by Ursula to the coven's lair, as she attempts to make him part of their gatherings. It is an ancient castle, where he discovers its many gardens filled with old people and sick children; he suddenly realizes that some of these people he had met at the village. Vittorio then witnesses an important feast that is carried on as a ritual by the leader of the vampires' group. In it, some people who were selected from the gardens are sacrificed to satisfy their thirst for blood.

After refusing the dark gift, the vampires do not kill him (thanks to Ursula), but rather leave him in a village. As he is walking, he sees two Angels arguing in a doorway, Ramiel and Setheus. The angels are just as surprised as he that Vittorio can see them (he later learns that they are the guiding angels of his idol, Fra Filippo Lippi). With their help, the help of his own angels, and a very powerful armor-wearing angel, Mastema, Vittorio plots his revenge against the vampires, who are invading the lands and killing innocents (incidentally, Vittorio's own guiding angels do not play much of a part; whilst they are often present, they are insubstantial and shadowy, and we do not know their names).

The attack takes place in the day and involves decapitating the vampires as they sleep. The heads are then thrown into the sunlight where they wither and die. When it comes time to behead Ursula, Vittorio finds that he cannot do this even as the angels urge him on. Instead, he frees Ursula in the hopes of saving her soul. Within minutes, Vittorio is tricked into becoming a vampire and a yearning for blood conquers everything he knows.

In the closing pages we find Ursula and Vittorio performing as an age old Bonnie and Clyde, killing and drinking until they had their fill. These two lovers stay with each other for many years to come.

Vittorio is unique in two ways: he can see angels and departing human souls. At the end of the book, he is left with the "gift" to see human souls, which appear from every person as an intense shining light. Mastema tells him that he will never be able to rid himself of this, and that every time he takes a human life he will bear witness to the extinguishing of the soul.

Category:The Vampire Chronicles novels Category:Novels by Anne Rice Category:Alfred A. Knopf books Category:1999 American novels

Trevor Garfield (Samuel L Jackson) is a high school science teacher at Roosevelt Whitney High School, a high school in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. Dennis Broadway (Method Man), a gangster student to whom he had given a failing grade threatens to murder him, writing the number 187 (the California police code for homicide) on every page in a textbook.

Garfield knows that this is a warning and tries to report his concerns to the administration. Garfield realises that Dennis wants to transfer back to his old school but in order to do so he needs to have good grades. The administration ignore Garfield's warning, and eventually Dennis ambushes Garfield in the school hallway, stabbing him in the back and side abdominal area multiple times with a shiv.

Garfield survives, though badly wounded, and is shown resuming his teaching career as a substitute teacher fifteen months later. He is relocated to John Quincy Adams High School in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, but unfortunately he is assigned to another class of unruly students, including a Chicano tag crew by the name of "Kappin' Off Suckers" (K.O.S.). Their leader, Benito "Benny" Chacón (Lobo Sebastian), a felon attending high school as a condition of probation, makes it clear to Garfield that there will be no mutual respect.

Tension mounts when a fellow teacher, Ellen Henry (Kelly Rowan), confides that Benny has also threatened her life, an action against which the administration of the school refuses to take action as they fear the threat of legal action. After Benny murders a rival tagger in cold blood, he disappears, and Benny's unstable tag partner, César Sanchez (Clifton Collins Jr.) takes over as leader. César embarks on a campaign of intimidation against Garfield which is started by the theft of Garfield's watch (which is a family heirloom). Garfield reports this to the principal who backs away taking any action in case César were to sue the school for defamation.

Ellen and Garfield develop a close friendship that approaches the beginnings of a relationship, but is stymied by Garfield's destabilizing behavior and his confrontational approach to dealing with the K.O.S.. Meanwhile, alcoholic dispirited teacher Dave Childress (John Heard) starts to look into Garfield's past and learns of his earlier assault, but rather than report Garfield, he informs him of his admiration while showing him the pistol he carries in the school for defense.

César amps up the conflict between Garfield and the K.O.S. by killing Jack, Ellen's dog. Later after spraying cartoon graffiti depicting a dead dog, César is shot with a syringe filled with morphine attached to the end of an arrow. He passes out, and wakes up to find one of his fingers removed. Upon finding the finger, César finds the letters "R U DUN" ("are you done?") tattooed as a warning.

Later Garfield witnesses a student he is tutoring Rita Martínez (Karina Arroyave), facing abuse from both the K.O.S. and Childress. Rita later drops out of school. Garfield tries to intervene and approaches the school administration but is met with bureaucracy and is prevented from intervening. Later Benny's dead body is discovered in the Los Angeles River, apparently of a drug overdose. However, it is revealed that Garfield took matters into his own hands, killing Benny and severing César's finger. Ellen uncovers Garfield's spiral into violence and being unable to understand his ferocity, she leaves him.

César and the K.O.S. believe Garfield to be responsible for the murder of Benny and plan to retaliate in kind. César, inspired by the film ''The Deer Hunter'' traps Garfield at his home, and, together with his gang, they force Garfield into a contest of Russian roulette with César. César in a machismo mode loads the revolver with two bullets. The gang are shocked at how Garfield doesn't beg for his life but participates without flinching. After each round Garfield talks about the lost-cause lifestyle César has led. Garfield, on the penultimate round, takes his turn and survives; instead of handing the weapon to César, Garfield takes the next turn and the weapon goes off, killing Garfield instantly. Driven by his sense of honor and ignoring the protests of his horrified friends, César insists on taking his rightful turn and ends up killing himself. Stevie Littleton (Jonah Rooney) leaves the house distraught at the senseless loss of both lives.

On graduation day, Rita is shown to have completed her studies and graduated along with the now former K.O.S. member Stevie. Rita offers a tribute to Garfield by reading an essay about him. The essay incorporates the theme of the Pyrrhic victory and Ellen leaves the school.

The closing narration cites a 1994 MetLife-Louis Harris Survey stating one in nine teachers has been attacked in school and 95 percent of those attacks were committed by students, as well as the movie being written by a teacher.

The citizens of Sunnydale flee en masse to escape the Hellmouth and Sunnydale becomes a ghost town. Buffy spots Clem in his car on his way out; he urges her to leaves town for this particular apocalypse.

Giles and Willow go to get information from the police on Caleb, with Willow using some mind control to convince the officer that they are with Interpol. Spike and Andrew leave to pursue a lead. They discover an engraving on a plaque that states that the power they are searching for is to be wielded by "her" alone. At the deserted school, Buffy is confronted by Caleb, who grabs her by the neck and throws her through a window into a wall, rendering her unconscious. After she awakens, Buffy returns home to discover that Faith has taken Dawn and the Potentials to The Bronze for a night of relaxation.

After they run into trouble with the police, who threaten to kill or injure Faith, and briefly hold Dawn and the Potentials hostage at the Bronze, Buffy confronts the group, minus the absent Spike and Andrew, and demands that they make better choices, and reveals her plans for another attack. But at this point, the Potentials, as well as Dawn, Willow, Xander, Anya, Giles and Principal Wood, tell Buffy that they no longer trust her leadership. At Dawn's request, Buffy leaves the house and Faith reluctantly becomes the new leader.

Nick Naylor is a Big Tobacco spokesman using "research" from an institution he's the vice-president of, a tobacco lobby called the "Academy of Tobacco Studies". It claims there is no link between tobacco and lung disease. Naylor and his friends, firearm lobbyist Bobby Jay Bliss and alcohol lobbyist Polly Bailey, meet every week and jokingly call themselves the "Merchants of Death" or "The MOD Squad". As anti-tobacco campaigns mount and numbers of young smokers decline, Naylor's boss, BR, sends Naylor to Los Angeles to bargain for cigarette product placement in upcoming movies. Naylor takes along his young son, Joey, in hopes of bonding with him. The next day, Naylor is sent to meet with Lorne Lutch, the cancer-stricken man who once played the Marlboro Man in cigarette ads and is now campaigning against cigarettes. As his son watches, Naylor successfully offers Lutch a suitcase of money for his silence.

Senator Finistirre, one of Naylor's most vehement critics, promotes a bill to add a skull and crossbones POISON warning to cigarette packaging. As Naylor is about to appear before a U.S. Senate committee to fight the bill, he is kidnapped by a clandestine group and covered in nicotine patches. Awakening in a hospital, he learns he has survived due to his high nicotine tolerance from heavy smoking, but he is now hypersensitive to nicotine and can never smoke again. Meanwhile, Naylor is seduced by a young reporter named Heather Holloway into revealing secret information about his life and career. She makes it public via an exposé, criticizing his business activities and accusing him of training his son Joey to follow his amoral example. This results in negative PR for Naylor, which costs him his job.

Naylor tells the press about his affair with Holloway and promises to clear the names of everyone mentioned in her article. He then appears before the Senate committee, admitting to the dangers of smoking but arguing that public awareness is already high enough without extra warnings. He emphasizes consumer choice and responsibility and claims that if tobacco companies are guilty of tobacco-related deaths, then perhaps Finistirre's state of Vermont, as a major cheese producer, is likewise guilty of cholesterol-related deaths.

Although BR offers Naylor his old job again, Naylor rejects it as Big Tobacco is settling claims of liability. He also mentions Heather was humiliated upon being terminated by the paper for her article and has been reduced to a cub reporter handling weather on a local news station. Naylor supports his son's newfound interest in debating and opens a private lobbying firm. The MOD squad continues to meet with new members that represent the fast-food, oil, and biohazard industries. Now Naylor runs an agency called ''Naylor Strategic Relations'' and consults cellphone industry representatives concerned about claims that cellphones cause brain cancer, he narrates: "Michael Jordan plays ball. Charles Manson kills people. I talk. Everyone has a talent."

The plot of the novel hinges on the actions of a modest technical journalist, Keith Stewart, whose life has been focused on the design and engineering of small and scale-model precision machinery. Stewart writes serial articles about how to build miniature machines in a magazine called the ''Miniature Mechanic'', which are extremely well regarded in the modelling community — as is he.

Keith's sister had married a wealthy naval officer, recently retired from service at the opening of the story. The couple plan a long pleasure cruise in their small yacht before settling in British Columbia, meanwhile leaving their 10-year-old daughter with Keith and his wife. Before leaving, they ask Keith for assistance in hiding a jewelry box in the yacht's concrete ballast. When the couple are killed in a shipwreck in French Polynesia, Keith becomes the permanent guardian and trustee of his niece (hence the title). But, the solicitor handling the estate finds that the money has disappeared; the evidence suggests that Keith's brother-in-law converted his wealth into diamonds to take with him abroad in order to evade export and currency restrictions intended to prevent capital leaving Britain.

Keith infers that the metal box he secreted contained the diamonds, and he starts to investigate how he may retrieve them from the wreck. It is a difficult problem. Keith, while not poor, has chosen to do work he loves in place of better-paying work, and cannot afford to travel to Polynesia. He is able to call on connections in the model engineering world to deadhead his way on a flight as far as Hawaii. Finding no conventional way to get further which is within his means, he takes passage on the hand-built sailing ship of an illiterate half-Polynesian from Oregon, Jack Donelly.

One of the aircrew who took Keith to Hawaii worriedly approaches Keith's editor on his return to England. The editor, somewhat shocked at the risks that Keith is taking, starts trawling the close-knit world of miniature mechanics for someone who could help Keith. Eventually, Mr. Solomon Hirzhorn, who runs a vast timber business near Tacoma, Washington, is informed. Hirzhorn, an inexperienced modeller, has sent lengthy letters asking for elementary clarifications of Keith's modelling articles, which Keith always patiently answered. Hirzhorn is currently building one of Keith's designs, a Congreve clock, and jumps at the chance to help him in return. Hirzhorn arranges for the yacht of a business associate, Chuck Ferris, to proceed to Tahiti to help Keith out. Coincidentally, Keith and Jack had already consulted the yacht's captain for navigation advice in Honolulu.

Keith and Jack arrive safely in Tahiti but are in danger of being thrown into jail due to not having proper ship's papers. The yacht captain smooths over the situation, and brings Keith to the island where the wreck is located. There he meditates on the fate that has brought him so far, takes many pictures, erects a headstone, and salvages the yacht's engine, which he arranges to ship back to Britain to sell.

After an amusing incident where Ferris's much-married daughter, Dawn, runs off with Jack Donelly, the yacht proceeds to Washington State. Keith spends several days visiting Hirzhorn, helping him with his model. After Keith catches an engineering error in the contract between Hirzhorn's company and Ferris's that might have cost a couple of million dollars, Hirzhorn arranges for a large consultancy fee to be paid by Ferris's company and has his own company pay Stewart's airfare home.

The consultancy fee enables Keith's wife to stop working and take care of their niece. The diamonds are "discovered" by Keith in the oil in the engine's sump soon after it arrives, and proceeds from their sale enable them to take care of their niece's education and other needs. The other characters proceed on their lives happily, we are told at the end of what is probably Shute's most villain-free novel.

Jenny is a deaf runaway who arrives in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district searching for her brother Steve. She encounters Stoney and his hippie band Mumblin' Jim in a coffee shop. The boys hide her from the police and help her look for her brother. The band is approached by a promoter who arranges for them to perform at a venue called the Ballroom.

Artist Warren, who designs the psychedelic posters advertising the band, freaks out badly in his gallery. While helping him, Jenny notices a large sculpture resembling abstract flames in a corner and recognizes it as her brother's work. The gallery owner says the artist is known as "The Seeker", an itinerant preacher. Ex-band member Dave may know The Seeker's current whereabouts. Dave's information leads the gang to a junkyard, where Jenny recognizes her brother's car. A group of thugs who frequent the junkyard accost the group and threaten to rape Jenny. Violence ensues, and the group barely escape with their lives.

In Stoney's crowded home, everyday hippie life is less than ideal. The residents are all involved in contemplation, sex, sleeping, dancing or decorating, but with little cleaning or maintenance. Jenny tries to wash the mountain of dishes in the kitchen and finds that the plumbing is broken. Frustrated, she goes for a walk. Stoney goes to find her and ends up at the art gallery, where he hears breaking glass and slips inside. Steve, AKA The Seeker, has returned to the art gallery to pick up his sculpture. He is glad that Jenny is looking for him, but says he is on drugs and wants to be sober when they meet. He tells Stoney that Jenny's deafness is the result of trauma caused by their abusive mother.

The performance at the Ballroom is a success. The Seeker shows up, hoping to see Jenny, but the junkyard thugs chase him back to his home. At an after-show party, Dave offers Jenny a glass of orange juice spiked with STP. Stoney charges in and angrily shouts at Jenny. Heartbroken, Jenny accepts Dave's glass of fruit juice and drinks nearly all of it. Jenny again explains her search for Steve, and Dave pulls a note from his pocket containing an address and the words "God is in the flame." Jenny runs out and takes a streetcar to the address, with Stoney and Dave, now tripping, close behind.

Pursued by the junkyard thugs back to his home, Steve lights a fire inside his shrine. Jenny arrives just in time to see him standing in the middle of the flames, absorbed in prayer; he sees her, but merely smiles and waves. In her grief and confusion, she runs up to the roof, hallucinating wildly, ending up at the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge with cars coming at her from both directions. She holds her hands over her ears, and Dave and Stoney find her. Dave shoves her out of the way of an oncoming car and is struck and killed. As he dies, he murmurs that he hopes this, too, will be a good trip. Sickened and angry, Jenny tries to leave, but Stoney embraces her. The film ends with the two holding each other and crying.

Freddy Gale has been tormented for the five years following the death of his daughter Emily. Once a devoted husband and father, he is now an alcoholic who spends his nights hanging out in strip clubs and sleeping with prostitutes. Now the drunk driver who killed her, John Booth, is released from prison. Freddy immediately reveals to his ex-wife Mary that he is going to kill Booth. She begs him not to, and they get into an altercation that ends with her new husband throwing him out of the house.

John Booth is now living in a trailer outside of his parents' house and merely plans to go on with his life, even as he is haunted by remorse for killing Emily. At night Freddy arrives at the Booth residence, armed with a pistol. He clumsily breaks into the trailer trying to shoot, but he forgot to load a magazine. John calmly tells him he won't call the police and will let Freddy kill him, but asks for some time to savor his freedom. Freddy accepts, and gives John three days to live.

John tries to live his life as best as he can before the third day arrives. He meets an artist named JoJo at a friend's party and he has a brief romance with her before she realizes that he can't let go of the mistake he made. He reveals to her that when he hit Emily, he came to her side as she was dying and she apologized to him for "not having looked both ways." John goes to Emily's grave and leaves flowers, but leaves when he sees Mary there.

On the third day, Freddy calls Mary and breaks down in tears as he tells her of a terrible nightmare he had. In the nightmare, he is driving by his daughter's school and stops at a crosswalk where children (including a living Emily) wait. He sees that John Booth is the crossing guard. Freddy then sees himself run over all of the children, even Emily. They meet at a diner, and Mary tells him that he is beyond her help; Freddy becomes enraged and curses her. After Mary leaves, Freddy gets drunk and starts to drive to John's house. John waits in his trailer. Freddy is pulled over by the police en route to the house and arrested for drunk driving. Before the police can take him in, however, Freddy grabs his pistol and runs away. He breaks into a home and hides in a little girl's room. The girl guides the police away, and Freddy thanks her and leaves.

Freddy arrives at John's trailer and waits before he enters. John abruptly jumps from a corner with a rifle in hand. Freddy tells him since he is on the run, on his property, and armed, John should be able to get away with killing him. There is a standoff as they point guns at each other. John however drops his rifle and runs away; Freddy follows him. After a lengthy chase across the city, Freddy catches John climbing a fence and fires at him. John is only superficially wounded, however, and continues running. Freddy follows him, until he realizes that John has led him to the graveyard where Emily is buried. John talks silently to the grave and finally says "Your daddy's coming". Freddy hands John his pistol and cries over the grave, apologizing to his daughter. John takes Freddy's hand as the sun rises.

:''USAMRIID was created in 1970 to counter the threat of chemical and biological weapons.''

:''Section 44 of the charter permits it to investigate criminal abuses of science.''

—''Text at the beginning of the pilot episode.''

Captain Paul Turner (Tim Guinee) is a doctor for The United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), who suffers from a rare form of aplastic anemia as a result of exposure to chemical weapons during the Persian Gulf War. USAMRIID lures him out of his sickbed with the opportunity to bring justice to others suffering from unethical uses of science and technology. Unknown to his superiors, he is given a temporary cure for the symptoms of his disease by a mysterious woman who is an agent of a shadowy organization that may be trying to thwart the goals of USAMRIID. He requires periodic doses of the cure to remain functional, a weakness that the shadowy organization occasionally uses to control him. Both the machinations of the "shadowy organization" and Turner's dependency on the "cure" are ultimately resolved in the final episode of the series.

Far from earth is a planet which is also a living organism: the Org of Plasm. The Org must constantly be fed. This is accomplished by conquering new planets. Lorca, the Supreme Acquisitor, leads this mission. Lorca soon sets his sights on Earth.

However, he devises an attempt to overthrow the rulers of Plasm. To do so he genetically modifies five humans. When his rebellion is thwarted, he sends them home. These humans gain superpowers and then set themselves in preparation to attempt to defend the Earth from the oncoming alien invasion from Plasm. The humans do not function well together, suffering leadership conflicts and the desire to regain their normal lives.

Two months after the murders at Camp Crystal Lake, sole survivor Alice Hardy is recovering from her traumatic experience. In her apartment, when Alice opens the refrigerator to get her cat some food, she finds the severed head of Pamela Voorhees and is murdered with an ice pick to her temple by an unknown assailant.

Five years later, Paul Holt opens a school for camp counselors on the shore of Crystal Lake. The camp is attended by Sandra, her boyfriend Jeff, Scott, Terry, Mark, Vickie, Ted, and Paul's assistant Ginny, as well as many other trainees. Around the campfire that night, Paul tells the counselors the legend of Jason Voorhees, a boy who drowned at Camp Crystal Lake in 1957, sending his vengeful mother on two killing sprees in 1958 and 1979, until she herself was eventually murdered. According to the legend, Jason survived and is now living in the woods near Crystal Lake; enraged at his mother's death, he will kill anyone he comes across. As Paul finishes the story, a man with a spear scares everyone, but it's revealed to be Ted wearing a mask. Paul reassures everyone that Jason is dead and that Camp Crystal Lake is now condemned and off-limits.

That night, Crazy Ralph wanders onto the property to warn the group but is garroted from behind a tree by an unseen killer. The following day, Jeff and Sandra sneak off to Camp Crystal Lake and find a dog carcass before getting caught by Deputy Winslow and returned to the camp. Later, Winslow spots a man wearing a burlap sack mask running across the road. Winslow chases him into the woods and finds a shack. The man kills Winslow with a hammer claw.

Back at camp, Paul offers the others one last night on the town before the training begins. Six stay behind, including Jeff and Sandra, who are forced to stay as punishment for sneaking off. At the bar, Ginny muses that if Jason were still alive and had witnessed his mother's death, it may have left him with no distinction between life and death, or right and wrong. Paul dismisses the idea, proclaiming that Jason is nothing but an urban legend. Meanwhile, the assailant appears at the camp and kills the counselors, one by one. Scott has his throat slit with a machete while caught in a rope trap, and Terry is killed off-screen upon finding Scott's dead body. Mark has a machete slammed into his face and he falls down a flight of stairs as he dies. The killer then moves upstairs and impales Jeff and Sandra with a spear as they have sex, then stabs Vickie to death with a kitchen knife.

Ted stays behind at the bar while Ginny and Paul return to find the place in disarray. In the dark, the killer ambushes Paul and continues to chase Ginny throughout the camp and into the woods, where she comes across the shack. After barricading herself inside, she finds an altar with Pamela Voorhees' severed head on it, surrounded by a pile of bodies. Realizing that Jason Voorhees is the killer, Ginny puts on Pamela's sweater and tries to psychologically convince Jason that she is his mother. The ruse briefly works, until Jason sees his mother's head on the altar and awakens from the trance. Paul suddenly returns and tries to save Ginny, but Jason incapacitates him. Just as Jason is about to kill Paul with a pickaxe, Ginny picks up a machete and slams it down into Jason's shoulder, seemingly killing him.

Paul and Ginny return to the cabin and hear someone outside. Thinking that Jason has followed them, they open the door, only to find Terry's dog, Muffin. Just as they sigh in relief, an unmasked Jason bursts through the window from behind and grabs Ginny. She then awakens to being loaded into an ambulance, and calls out for Paul, who is nowhere to be seen, leaving his fate ambiguous. Back in the shack, Pamela's head remains on the altar, but Jason is nowhere to be found.

A squad of soldiers find themselves pinned down on a world overrun by Arachnids ("bugs"); even with their new laser gun technology and assistance from psychic soldiers, the bugs overrun them. General Jack Shepherd (Ed Lauter) makes a last stand with four of his best soldiers, allowing the majority of his surviving troops to escape - including Sergeant Dede Rake (Brenda Strong), psychic Lieutenant Pavlov Dill (Lawrence Monoson), Private Jill Sandee (Sandrine Holt), her lover Private Duff Horton (Jason-Shane Scott), Private Billie Otter (Cy Carter) and Private Lei Sahara (Colleen Porch). Despite reaching relative safety, the team is whittled down by deadly storms and arachnid ambushes. Lieutenant Dill is plagued by visions of the Arachnids annihilating humanity, hindering his efforts to lead the team, and he takes his anger out on Private Sahara, who is revealed to be a psychic that lost reliable control of her abilities during puberty.

The survivors take shelter at Hotel Delta 1-8-5 - an abandoned structure containing the disgraced Captain V. J. Dax (Richard Burgi), who killed his commanding officer and was sealed in a furnace as punishment. A deadly dust storm kicks up, leaving the survivors without communications or back-up for a lengthy period of time, and they protect themselves with an electric pulse fence. Dax assumes command from Dill after deeming him an incompetent leader, leaving Dill aggravated as he sees Dax as a traitor to the Federation.

Soon after defenses are set up, the survivors are surprised to be met by a still-living General Shepherd, accompanied by three soldiers who rescued him from his group's slaughter - the comatose private Charlie Soda (Kelly Carlson), the strange-acting technical sergeant Ari Peck (J. P. Manoux), and the medic corporal Joe Griff (Ed Quinn). With the help of the newcomers they solve their technical issues, including lack of communication, and wait for a Fleet dropship to rescue them.

At the base, Soda showers and seduces Horton. Heartbroken, Sandee finds a new significant other in Griff, causing tempers to flare; however, both Horton and Sandee soon act strangely, as do many other survivors. Sahara seems to have become ill, suffering nightmares and waking up vomiting; Later, she accidentally brushes Griff's hand and has a psychic vision. She goes to Rake for advice and Rake suggests that Sahara is pregnant, which can cause visions if either parent or child is psychic - as well as make girls temperamental and think that "they know it all". Eventually Sahara and Dax find themselves facing a new breed of Arachnid; a bug that infests the human body by entering through the mouth and propagating inside the brain. They go to Dill with the news and make amends with him - after which a guilt-ridden Dill confesses to the horiffic visions he suffered having driven his prior poor decisions, which has left Dill haunted by the many deaths under his command during the escape. Sahara tells Dill that she has been receiving parts of the vision as well, and Dill tells Sahara that an occasional side-effect of pregnancy can be a temporary return of the psychic abilities lost at puberty.

Soon after making amends, Dill finds General Shepard has also been seducded and infected by Soda with the mind-controlling bug. Dill attempts to capture Soda along with several infected soldiers to be dissected and studied but, as he rants about the horrors that await them, an infected Otter kills him with a knife that Dax had given him; the murder is blamed on Dax, his name having been inscribed on the knife prior, and he is detained.

After Dax is imprisoned, Rake is ambushed by the infected Horton and Otter, the latter pinning Rake down while the former infects her by forcing the control bug down her throat. Otter then attempts to infect Sahara, but is caught and takes multiple pipe shots to the head. Rake takes multiple adrenaline shots to hamper her control bug long enough to wound Sandee, kill Horton and save both Sahara and Dax; she then kills herself before the bug can take full control of her. Sahara uses her restored psychic abilities to read the mind of the Arachnid that infected Rake and discovers the bugs' plan - to use General Shepherd to infest High Command and sabotage the entire Federation from within, allowing the bugs to wipe out the human race just like in Sahara's vision. Sahara and Dax kill the rest of the infected troops, confronting the infected Shepherd on the roof just as the pulse fences fail. Shepherd is about to be rescued when Dax, dual-wielding rifles, kills him. Dax gets Sahara onto the ship, telling the bewildered crew that she holds information vital to the survival of the Federation, but refuses to get onto the ship himself saying "''Murderers don't go home!''" (referencing his past crimes) and dies in a blaze of glory while fending off the bugs.

One year later on Earth, Sahara - now discharged from the military - attends a recruiting seminar with her newborn infant son to speak about her experience, speaking of Dax's actions and crediting him for saving her life. Although Dax is labeled a Hero of the Federation, his death is shrouded in propaganda as the Federation replaces his actual final words with "Shed no tears for me, my glory lives forever!", hiding his disgraced past and using his end as a means of recruitment. As Sahara leaves, the recruiting officer thanks her for attending and also tells her to raise her son well, as "We need fresh meat for the grinder"; Sahara is visibly alarmed by the implications and flees the recruiting station, while the recruiter smiles callously.

In Evans City, Pennsylvania, a man kills his wife and burns down his farmhouse. Firefighters David and Clank — both Vietnam War veterans — are called to the scene. David's pregnant girlfriend, a nurse named Judy, is called to the office of Dr. Brookmyre, where the two children of the arsonist are being treated for burns.

Heavily armed U.S. troops led by Major Ryder take over Dr. Brookmyre's office. Days earlier, an Army plane carrying a bioweapon had crash-landed near the town, infecting the water supply with a virus code-named "Trixie" which is highly contagious and causes victims to either die or become hysterical and homicidally insane.

Government officials send Colonel Peckem and Dr. Watts, who worked on the creation of the virus, to Evans City to contain the virus and work towards a cure. Martial law is declared in Evans City and a quarantine is placed on the town. Army soldiers forcibly move the townspeople into a high school, rousting many from their homes, and shoot anyone attempting to escape. Bombers armed with nuclear weapons are dispatched to destroy the town if necessary.

David, Judy, Clank, teenager Kathy Fulton and her father Artie, try to find a way to escape the town. After spending the night hiding in a country club, the group attempts to escape through the nearby woods, eluding soldiers both on the ground and in an overhead helicopter. They overpower several soldiers in a house. One of the soldiers discloses what he knows about the virus to David, but when one of the soldiers reaches for his gun, Clank opens fire and kills the soldiers. David confides in Judy what he knows about the virus and tells her that Kathy, Artie, and probably Clank are infected.

After Clank beats him for attempting to have sex with Kathy, Artie hangs himself. Kathy wanders outside and is killed by soldiers. Realizing he is infected, Clank kills several soldiers to give David and Judy time to escape. He is then shot and killed. The next night, Judy, now visibly infected, is killed by armed civilians. Angry and frightened, David surrenders to the military. After being taken into custody, David eventually realizes that he is immune to the virus, but he keeps the knowledge to himself.

Dr. Watts develops a potential cure for the virus. But when he tries to take samples to Peckem and Ryder, he is killed and the samples destroyed in a stampede of infected townspeople breaking free from quarantine. Depressed and distraught by his experiences in Evans City, Colonel Peckem is ordered to relocate to Louisville, where symptoms of the virus have been reported.

In the Astragius Galaxy, the Gilgamesh and Balarant nations had until recently been locked in a century-old galactic war whose cause was long ago forgotten. Now, the war is ending and an uneasy truce has settled. The main weapon of the conflict is the common Armored Trooper, a mass-produced humanoid combat vehicle piloted by a single soldier. Both the Armored Troopers and their pilots are also known as VOTOMS ('''V'''ertical '''O'''ne-man '''T'''ank for '''O'''ffense & '''M'''aneuver'''S'''). However, since Armored Troopers have extremely thin armor, and use a highly combustible liquid in their artificial muscle, their pilots have a very low chance of survival, and are commonly referred to instead as "Bottoms", the lowest of the low ("Votoms" and "Bottoms" are written and pronounced the same way in Japanese).

The series follows a main character named Chirico Cuvie, a special forces Armored Trooper pilot and former member of the Red Shoulder Battalion, an elite force used by the Gilgamesh Confederation in its war against the Balarant Union. Chirico is suddenly transferred to a unit engaged in a suspicious mission, unaware that he is aiding to steal secrets from what appears to be his own side. Chirico is betrayed and left behind to die, but he survives, is arrested by the Gilgamesh military as a traitor, and tortured for information on their homeworld. He escapes, triggering a pursuit extending across the entire series, with Chirico hunted by the army and criminals alike as he seeks the truth behind the operation. He is especially driven to discover the truth of one of the objects he was assigned to retrieve in that operation: a mysterious and beautiful woman who would become his sole clue to unravelling the galactic conspiracy.

O'Brien and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Bashir are sent on a relief mission to Bajor in response to a medical emergency. Meanwhile on the station, Sisko plays mediator in a conflict between two rival Bajoran factions negotiating a border dispute.

The leader of one of the factions, Tetrarch Varis Sul, is a fifteen-year-old girl. She proves unwilling to negotiate, and Sisko is frustrated with her intransigence.

Nog is captivated by the girl. He and Sisko's son, Jake, introduce themselves to her, and she agrees to spend time with them. She is stressed by the negotiations, but Nog suggests that problems can become opportunities.

To cheer her up, the three embark on a prank to steal the bucket in which Security Chief Odo, a shapeshifter, regenerated in a liquid state. Nog fills the bucket with oatmeal and pretends to trip, covering Jake with the contents.

Varis apologises to Sisko for her involvement in the escapade. They discuss the challenges of leadership, and she eventually agrees to propose a compromise resolution to the border dispute.

Responding to the distress call, Bashir and O'Brien find that a man called the Sirah is dying, and the village leader, Faren, claims that a force called the "Dal'Rok" will destroy the village if the Sirah is not able to fend it off.

That night, the Sirah speaks to the entire village as a threatening cloudlike apparition appears in the sky. The Sirah tells a narrative about the village defeating the Dal'Rok. He collapses during his speech, but he whispers the rest of the story to O'Brien, who repeats it; and as the villagers cheer, a beam of light seems to make the apparition disappear. By the time the Dal'Rok is gone the Sirah has died, and Faren declares O'Brien to be his successor.

The next day, the villagers treat O'Brien like a king. The old Sirah's apprentice, Hovath, attempts to kill O'Brien, declaring himself to be the true Sirah. He reveals that the Dal'Rok was created by the first Sirah, using a fragment of a mystical Orb of the Prophets, to solve the internal strife tearing apart the village. When the villagers unite in their thoughts to stop it, the Sirah secretly uses the fragment to channel their thoughts. Hovath had had his chance to lead the village against the Dal'Rok earlier that week, and failed.

That night, O'Brien stands before the village and attempts to tell the story, but the villagers are unmoved by his clumsy narrative, and the Dal'Rok returns in full force. Hovath takes the stage, and eloquently tells of a new voice challenging the Dal'Rok. The villagers follow his lead and defeat the Dal'Rok, embracing him as their new Sirah and relieving O'Brien of the post.

On an alien planet named Pluton, an alien garbage disposal converts a monstrous mutant called a Hungry Beast into energy and beams it into space. Meanwhile, on Earth, the Putterman family is getting satellite television, courtesy of a temperamental DIY satellite antenna. The reception is poor at first, but suddenly strengthens when a bolt of the alien energy hits the dish.

Sherman Putterman and his ex-military, survivalist grandfather set out to enjoy a night of horror films hosted by the buxom Medusa. Meanwhile, Sherman's parents go out to meet some swingers and his sister Suzy goes out with her rocker boyfriend O.D. Sherman and his grandfather eventually fall asleep, but are awakened when the Hungry Beast materializes out of the TV and eats the grandfather. Sherman's parents later arrive along with swingers Cherry and Spiro. Despite Sherman's plea, his mother locks him in the fallout shelter so he will not ruin their evening.

Sherman tries calling the police, but they take him to be a prank caller. He also calls Medusa, but she dismisses him as a psychotic. Later, the Beast travels through the television into the house's sex-themed "Pleasure Dome", eats Cherry, and imitates her to lure Spiro. Sherman's parents also get eaten after they discover the remains of the swingers. Sherman uses some plastic explosive to break out of the bunker as O.D. and his sister arrive.

Sherman's sister doesn't believe his story about a monster, and when they check their parents' room, they find imitations of them, their grandfather and the swingers. Soon after though, they encounter the Beast in another room. It chases after them, but relents at the sight of O.D.'s heavy metal paraphernalia, which he finds appealing due to its resemblance of his caretaker's gloves. They then discover that they can subdue the Beast with food and television, and teach it a few words such as "TV", "music" and their names. They consider using the Beast for profit, and call Medusa in the hope of securing a TV appearance. She is initially dismissive, but shows interest when they promise to hold a party.

However, the Beast becomes enraged and eats O.D. when its alien captor appears on the TV to warn the earthlings that they must destroy their television equipment to prevent the Beast from spreading. A police officer arrives to arrest Sherman for the prank calls only to be eaten by the Beast. Sherman breaks all the TVs he can find, and eventually the Pluton alien captor appears through the television to exterminate the Beast. Medusa arrives at the house and kills the Pluton Alien, mistakenly believing that he is in fact the Beast that Sherman and Suzy have described to her. When the real monster arrives, it sucks the group of three into its mouth with a powerful gust of air.

The next morning, Medusa's chauffeur is woken up by a crude imitation of his employer hiding in the back seat of his car, demanding to be taken to the TV station.

Terror in Topanga

During a routine traffic stop, a highway patrolman is viciously stabbed multiple times by an unseen assailant. The perpetrator is identified by various TV and radio reporters as William Henry Glazier, a murderous escapee of a mental institution who is currently terrorizing the Topanga area.

Meanwhile, Lisa (Raines), a chain smoking housewife, puts her children to bed as a news bulletin warning about Glazier appears on her television. Lisa discovers that she is out of cigarettes, prompting her to rush to the store to buy some more. Her husband Phillip (Joe Lambie) forbids her from leaving the house at such a late hour with a killer on the loose, and advises her to kick her habit instead. Despite this, she writes Phillip a note, then sneaks to her car and drives to the store.

During the drive, Lisa listens to a radio bulletin warning residents about Glazier, before she is startled by a hitchhiker. Lisa reaches the store and buys groceries and cigarettes. She mentions Glazier's reign of terror to the clerk, who claims to be prepared and unveils his gun. During the drive home, Lisa discovers that she is almost out of gas, and with all the local gas stations already closed for the night, she is forced to stop at an out-of-the-way station. The attendant (William Sanderson) who approaches her happens to perfectly match Glazier's physical appearance. Lisa also grows increasingly alarmed as the attendant seems to be studying her car and herself intently. Suddenly, the attendant lunges at the car with the gas nozzle, breaking the window. He drags Lisa out of the car, then draws a pistol and shoots the actual Glazier (Lee Ving), who was revealed to be hiding in Lisa's back seat the entire time. The attendant calms Lisa and offers to call the police.

Later, the police drive the frightened Lisa back home. Phillip asks if Lisa got her cigarettes, and Lisa responds by showing the pack, throwing it away in a trash can, and answering "no" as she and Phillip embrace.

The Bishop of Battle

J.J. Cooney (Estevez) is an immensely talented video game player and arcade game hustler. Accompanied by his best friend Zock Maxwell (Billy Jayne), J.J. heads to an inner-city arcade to challenge a gang of Hispanic players to a few rounds of ''Pleiades'', offering the winner a dollar per game with a five game minimum. After a few games, one of the gang members recognizes J.J. and tells the others that they are getting hustled, prompting J.J. and Zock to hastily retreat.

J.J. and Zock then head to the arcade at the local shopping mall, with J.J. hoping to use the money he got from hustling to try and beat ''The Bishop of Battle'', a notoriously difficult video game that centers on players trying to fight off enemies and escape from a 3-D maze that features thirteen different levels. Zock mentions how no one they know has ever made it to the thirteenth level, to the point that he and many others believe it is just a myth. J.J., however, is convinced that the thirteenth level is indeed real, as he heard about a player in New Jersey who reached it twice. After an argument about J.J.'s obsession with video games, particularly ''The Bishop of Battle'', J.J. gives Zock his cut of the profits as Zock leaves for home. J.J. repeatedly tries and fails to make it to the thirteenth level, but he only manages to make it to level 12. Determined not to give up, even after closing time, J.J. tries to play one more game, only for the owner of the arcade to force him to leave.

At J.J.'s apartment, his father furiously voices his concern with his son's obsession with video games, primarily about how it is affecting his performance in school, leading him to ground J.J. until his grades improve. That night, J.J. sneaks out of the apartment when his parents are asleep and breaks into the mall arcade in an attempt to finish the game. J.J.'s parents are awoken by a call from Zock, who experienced a nightmare and is worried if J.J. made it home or not, leading them to discover J.J. is gone. Back at the arcade, J.J finally manages to reach the thirteenth level. Suddenly, the arcade cabinet's screen begins flickering various colors and shapes, and the cabinet itself begins shuddering violently until it collapses. The Bishop of Battle's voice emanates, commending J.J. for his skill and welcoming him to level 13, before the cabinet releases a wave of energy. When the wave passes, the game's 3-D enemies fly out of the cabinet's wreckage and into the real world. The enemies fire lasers at J.J. that manage to do serious damage to the surrounding arcade machines, but J.J. manages to defend himself with the now-functioning gun from the game's controls. He flees to the parking lot, but drops his gun in the process. The Bishop of Battle itself eventually appears, drawing closer and closer to a terrified J.J.

The next morning, Zock and J.J.'s parents head to the arcade to search for J.J. They discover the damage the arcade sustained during the previous night, as well as the ''Bishop of Battle'' cabinet, having been mysteriously reconstructed. Zock hears J.J.'s voice emanating from the cabinet, reciting the Bishop of Battle's lines from the game. Zock and J.J.'s parents then discover J.J. on the screen, watching as he turns into the sprite of the game's player character, doomed to be controlled by an untold number of players.

The Benediction

Catholic priest Frank MacLeod (Henriksen) is tending a field near the small Hispanic parish where he serves. A doe tentatively approaches him, but it is quickly bitten and killed by a vicious rattlesnake. MacLeod attempts to kill the snake, then manages to throw it away, watching as it disappears into thin air, before discovering that it managed to bite him on the hand. He wakes up in bed, screaming, revealing that the experience was a nightmare.

Later that day, Frank directs the funeral of a young boy, but is unable to provide the mourners with any comfort. Visiting his bishop (Robin Gammell), Frank explains that he witnessed the boy's death first-hand and how the experience has given him a crisis of faith. Ignoring the advice of his fellow priest, Frank resigns and leaves the rectory with some holy water, which he now views as mere tap water. He leaves in his car, in search of a new purpose in life.

He soon encounters a black Chevrolet C-20 Fleetside with tinted windows on the road shortly after he leaves and signals for it to pass, but it goes at the same time he does, nearly causing an accident. A while later, Frank has a traumatic flashback to the death of the young boy mentioned earlier: the child had been senselessly and critically injured during a robbery of the local grocery store, and while the parents wanted him to administer last rites, Frank wanted to call an ambulance in an attempt to save the child. Afterwards, the same truck from earlier appears out of nowhere behind Frank and rams into his car, detaching his rear bumper and forcing him off the road. Frank then has a flashback to his talk with the Bishop, where he mentions that he has been plagued with visions of anarchy, his lost faith convincing him that there is no God who would allow such suffering.

As Frank attempts to fix the bumper, the truck appears again, nearly running him over. Frank attempts to escape, but the truck manages to catch up with him, prompting him to desperately asks its unseen driver what they want, before once again being forced off the road. Soon after, Frank gets back on the road again, keeping a close lookout for the truck. He soon hears an ominous rumbling sound, and discovers a large bulge appearing in the ground. The truck explodes out of the ground and once again turns to Frank, prompting him to drive away. It is during this chase that it is revealed the truck has no driver and is Satanic in origin. The demonic truck destroys Frank's car in a collision that does no damage to the truck, further proving its supernatural properties. Injured from the crash and left with nowhere to run, Frank climbs out of his ruined car as the Satanic truck goes in for the kill. In desperation, Frank tosses the container of holy water he had been carrying at the truck, vaporizing it, before he falls unconscious. Emergency responders arrive at the scene, but they do not find evidence that the truck was ever there. Frank has one final flashback of a talk with his bishop, who mentions that only a very few individuals have been given signs that higher powers exist. He requests that the paramedics take him to the hospital located in his parish, having regained his faith from the experience.

Night of the Rat

On a stormy night, housewife Claire Houston (Cartwright) hears something scurrying in the attic and walls of her house. While she believes it to be rats, her husband Steven (Masur) believes it to just be the wind, advising her to go to sleep. The next morning, Steven discovers that Claire has been browsing the phone book to look for an exterminator, as she believes that the family is suffering a rat infestation. Having planned to put in a swimming pool, Steven does not want to spend any extra money, and simply suggests that Claire set up a few mousetraps. After Steven leaves for work, Claire hears noises coming from the cabinets in her kitchen. When she goes to investigate, she watches as drinking glasses shatter and cans of food are knocked off the shelves.

Later that night, Steven sets up mousetraps in the attic. A rat is soon caught in one of the traps, and Steven throws the dead rat in the garbage. Meanwhile, the family cat, Rosie, investigates the house's crawlspace, where she is mauled to death by an unseen creature. The next day, Claire's daughter, Brooke, discovers that Rosie is missing and becomes worried. At the same time, the kitchen sink is revealed to be clogged with what is revealed to be rat fur. Claire soon sets out to find Rosie, entering the crawlspace to look for her. She finds Rosie's corpse, but also begins hearing ominous noises and sees the silhouette of a large creature with glowing red eyes peering out at her in the darkness. Later that day, Brooke discovers that her room and her toys have been torn to shreds. Entering the room, Claire discovers that the only toy left untouched is a stuffed rat, just as the lights begin flickering on and off.

Eventually, Claire calls an exterminator, Mel Keefer (Albert Hague), who discovers that the creature, which he has identified as a rat, has managed to gnaw through the pipes and the power cables inside, which caused the flickering lights. Keefer also discovers a large, saliva-covered hole behind a cabinet in the kitchen just as Steven comes home. Steven is unhappy that Claire has hired Keefer, and asks him to leave.

That night, Brooke sleeps in the guest room as she wishes for Rosie to come back. Claire then receives a phone call from Mel, who has made a breakthrough: he has looked in an old book he owns for information about a creature known as "The Devil Rodent". According to legend, the Devil Rodent is a large, malevolent rat with a vast amount of strength and intelligence that used to terrorize villainous individuals in 17th century Europe. Mel also mentions that the Devil Rodent cannot be destroyed, just as Steven grabs the phone and tells Keefer not to call again. Suddenly, the family hear the piano downstairs playing jumbled notes. They discover that the keys have been gnawed on as Brooke comes downstairs. Steven manages to save her after a china cabinet nearly falls on her. Discovering more saliva-covered holes in the wall, and hearing the radio suddenly turn on and off, Steven loads a shotgun and goes in search of the creature as Claire and Brooke hide upstairs. The power turns on and off repeatedly as Steven searches the kitchen. Brooke hears the creature in the ceiling, prompting Steven to go up to the attic.

The door to the guest room suddenly slams shut as Brooke begins screaming. Kicking the door open, Steven and Claire come face to face with the Devil Rodent itself. The giant rat proceeds to demonstrate psychokinetic abilities, moving furniture, opening and closing doors and windows, and damaging the room itself with a loud wail. The Devil Rodent manages to telepathically communicate with Brooke, who tells her parents that the creature is a mother that is looking for her baby. Steven rushes into the kitchen, roots through the garbage can, and pulls out the dead rat he originally threw away. He places it in a shoebox and puts the box near the window. The Devil Rodent moves towards the box and reclaims her baby. Steven aims the gun in a final attempt to shoot the Devil Rodent, but he his unable to fire the weapon. The Devil Rodent unleashes one last wail and disappears out the window. The frightened family reunite, shedding tears of relief, as Brooke wonders where the Devil Rodent will go next.

The game takes place in an alternate history in 1906 where the British Empire rules all of Earth and several extrasolar colony worlds, powered by technology brought to the planet by Halley's Comet in 1835. An unknown substance known as Halley's Core was found throughout the world, and certain individuals who came in contact with it and gained superhuman abilities became known as "Halley's Chosen." The first of these was a scientist named Dr. Hebble Gate, who was affected by the comet while in his mother's womb. With his superhuman mind he harnessed the power of Halley's Core and discovered a wide range of scientific breakthroughs, including fusion and nuclear power, genetic engineering, computers, space travel and countless others. With these technologies the British Empire quickly conquered the earth, and Gate is famous as the man responsible. A complete mystery to all, Gate also holds great power over economic, political and military affairs, and is the founder of the Hebble Foundation and the GunValkyrie (GV) Organization, composed of Halley's Chosen throughout the world to prevent the misuse of technology. He suddenly disappears, throwing the world into shock, and has been missing for four years by the time the game begins.

In addition to his disappearance, the residents of the colonized planet of Tir na Nog have also disappeared, with an outbreak of large alien creatures that resemble giant insects in their place. It is also believed that before his disappearance, Gate was conducting research on how to strengthen the colonists through genetic modification, and it is speculated that the insects and colonists are one and the same.

In response, members of an elite military force within the GV organization, known as "Team Dolphin" (established 1887) is sent to investigate Gate's disappearance as well as the situation on Tir na Nog. Leading the investigation is Gate's only daughter, Lieutenant Meridian Poe, who survives on a life support system developed by her father after he surgically removed her head and disappeared with her body. The two playable characters are Kelly O'Lenmey, born in Ballymun, Ireland, a collected idealist who once aided the Irish Republic in their fight for independence until their methods caused her to leave and join the GV, and Saburouta Mishima, born in Kyushu, Japan, an exiled Samurai of the Meiji Restoration who was saved by the GV after he was unjustly sentenced to capital punishment.

Dr. Gate's fate at the end of the game is left ambiguous, as the Poe's Report documents presented throughout the game reveal that a body was eventually discovered, but its identity is not confirmed.

Valancy Stirling is twenty-nine, unmarried (and thus considered an "old maid"), and has lived her entire life with her nagging mother and gossip-minded extended family who actively discourage happiness and treat Valancy like a child. She retreats from her unhappy circumstances with flights of imaginative fantasy, centring on daydreams of her imaginary "Blue Castle," and finding refuge in the books of her favourite author, John Foster, who writes about the great beauty of nature. When Valancy is diagnosed with a terminal heart ailment, she hides it from her family and, at the same time, realizes she has never been happy in her life, so she rebels against the colourless life that her family has always imposed on her. She begins by judging them objectively and, even worse, telling them exactly what she thinks, causing the Stirling clan to conclude that Valancy has suddenly lost her mind.

Valancy decides to move out of her mother's house and take a position as a housekeeper for a friend of hers, Cissy Gay, who is now gravely ill. Cissy and Valancy had known each other as children, but Cissy became ostracized from society for having a child out of wedlock, as well as on account of her father, Roaring Abel, and his reckless, usually-drunken behaviour. Cissy and Valancy share a room and rebuild their friendship. Valancy enjoys being paid a salary and spending her money in ways her family would not approve, such as purchasing a brightly-coloured, low-necked dress. She also begins spending time with Barney Snaith, who visits often as a friend to Roaring Abel and Cissy, but who the townspeople are convinced is a criminal and/or the father of Cissy's illegitimate, now-deceased child.

Just before the end of her life, Cissy confides in Valancy about the man she fell in love with. He had offered to marry her when she told him she was pregnant, but she refused because she saw that he did not love her any more. Her baby compensated for her heartbreak, but when her baby died, she was devastated. Cissy eventually passes away, and Valancy's family expects her to move back home, having magnanimously decided to forgive her recent behaviour. They are momentarily appeased when Valancy agrees that she will not stay with Roaring Abel; however, she does not plan to move back home. Instead, she proposes to Barney, revealing that she is dying and wants to enjoy the remaining time she has left. She confesses that she has fallen in love with him but tells him that she does not expect him to feel the same. Barney agrees to marry her, and they have a quiet ceremony the next day. Valancy's family is horrified upon discovering that she has married such a disreputable man (although there is no real evidence to justify his reputation), and they effectively disown her.

Barney takes Valancy to his home on a wooded island, located on the lake Mistawis, which Valancy comes to see as being very much like the Blue Castle to which she used to escape in her imagination. Together they get along very well, though he forbids her from ever entering a certain room in the house: Bluebeard's Chamber. Barney and Valancy share wonderful conversations and take long walks on the island, and she often quotes to him from books by John Foster. They celebrate Christmas, and he gives her a necklace of pearl beads.

Just when the year she was given to live is almost over, Valancy gets her shoe stuck in a train track and is nearly killed by an oncoming train. Barney saves her in the nick of time, risking his own life to do so. After the shock passes, Valancy realizes that she should have died because the doctor had told her any sudden shock would kill her. Barney is likewise stunned by the experience because he realizes that he has come to love Valancy, who, he believes, must soon die from her heart condition. Instead of telling Valancy how he feels, he retreats to his beloved woods to think. Valancy assumes that he has left because, having married her out of pity, he now realizes he is trapped in a marriage he doesn't want. Valancy goes back to the doctor, who realizes that he sent Valancy a letter with a diagnosis meant for a Miss ''Sterling'', not ''Stirling'', who did have a fatal heart condition; Valancy's condition was never serious.

As she arrives home from the doctor, with Barney still away, she finds a gaudily dressed man waiting near their home. He introduces himself as Barney's father, Dr. Redfern, the millionaire who invented Redfern's Purple Pills and other patent medicines. Dr. Redfern explains that years ago, Barney left town abruptly without word to his father, who had no way of tracking him down until Barney withdrew $15,000 from his bank account to buy Valancy's necklace, alerting his father to his whereabouts. Barney's father wants him to come back to him, as Barney is the only family he has. Thinking that Barney believes she tricked him into marriage, Valancy decides to leave him and return to her mother's house so he can be free. While searching for a pencil to write Barney an explanatory note, she goes into his secret room and discovers that he is also John Foster, the author of her favourite books. She writes the note, explaining the mix-up behind her diagnosis and asking for a divorce, and leaves behind the necklace.

Valancy returns home and reveals to her family that Barney is a millionaire and the son of the famous Dr. Redfern, as well as the noted literary figure John Foster. Barney's millionaire status instantly erases any misgivings her family had about him, and they are determined that Barney and Valancy must stay together. Barney, upon finding Valancy's note, rushes to the house to see Valancy and asks her to come back. At first she refuses, believing that he is only asking her out of pity. When he becomes angry at her, thinking that she is refusing him because she is ashamed of his father's patent medicine business, she realizes he does really love her and agrees to come back to him. Barney tells Valancy how much he has grown to love her and explains that he truly wants to spend the rest of his life with her. The book closes with Valancy and Barney getting ready to leave on a global trip for further adventures while her "own Blue Castle," their home on Barney's small island, will be waiting for their return.

In the first novel in the series, Joe, Beth and Frannie move to the countryside, near a large wood. One day, they go for a walk in the wood and discover an enormous tree whose branches seem to reach into the clouds. This is the Faraway Tree.

When the children climb the Faraway Tree, they discover it is a very strange tree; it grows apples, pears, nuts, acorns, oak leaves and all sorts! Different magical creatures, including Moon-Face, Silky the fairy, The Saucepan Man, Dame Washalot, Mr. Watzisname and the Angry Pixie live there. They become friends with these people, in particular Moon-Face and Silky. At the very top of the tree, they discover a ladder which leads them to magical lands. The land is different on each visit, because each place moves on from the top of the tree to make way for a new land. The children are free to come and go, but they must leave before the land moves on or they will be stuck there until the land returns to the Faraway Tree. In various chapters, one of the children gets stuck in the land.

The lands at the top are sometimes extremely unpleasant – for example the Land of Dame Slap, an aggressive school teacher; and sometimes fantastically enjoyable – notably the Land of Birthdays, the Land of Goodies, the Land of Take-What-You-Want and the Land of Do-As-You-Please.

The first land the three children visit is the Roundabout Land, where they give some cake to two rabbits, and the rabbits dig a hole for themselves and the three children. The last land they visit in this book is the Land of Birthdays, where the brownies and the inhabitants of the Faraway Tree celebrate Beth's birthday.

During Labor Day weekend in 1946, young, virginal Ida Parsons innocuously plays as her father hosts a raucous party at his home on Lake Michigan. Amid the festivities, an older, drunken man named Tom Rice staggers outside and propositions Ida. When she refuses, he chases her into the woods and brutally rapes her; her dogs break out of their pen and they attack and fatally maul Ida's rapist.

Thirty-six years later, in 1982, Waspy brothers Eric and Nick are borrowing their father's yacht to take their girlfriends, Sandy and Donna, on a weekend outing along with their sister, Carla, to St. Martin Island. At the outset of the trip. As the tensions rise between Nick and Eric, Donna and Sandy engage in girl-talk, and geeky Carla silently laments that she is the sole member of the cruise who came along without a significant other.

That night, fog settles in; Eric and Nick, hearing cries out on the water, discover and rescue a shipwrecked fisherman named Bert. Bert informs them that he wrecked offshore Dog Island, the home of lumber baroness Ida Parsons, who has used her family fortune to hole herself up on the island for the past thirty-five years; only making two annual voyages onto the mainland for necessary supplies, and never speaking to anyone during these trips. Recovering from the onset of hypothermia, Bert tells the quintet a campfire story about the savagery of the wild dogs which roam Ida's island, acting as her sentries. Wrecking their boat after Nick, in a panic, attempts to steer the boat back to the mainland.

Donna, Eric, Sandy, Nick, and Bert wash up on so-called "Dog Island;" Bert has been seriously wounded, and Carla is nowhere to be found. Nick wanders off into the woods, and is subsequently killed by a hulking figure that breaks down the shed where Nick hides. The next morning, Sandy and Eric go off onto the island, hoping that Ida Parsons will help them get back to the mainland. Shortly after they leave the beach, Bert goes into shock, and Donna desperately tries to warm him. Seconds later, the same figure which killed Nick sneaks up behind Donna and Bert, fatally hurling Donna against a rock wall and decapitating Bert.

At the center of the island, Sandy and Eric discover Ida's fortified cabin, as well as the fact that all of Ida's dogs have died long ago, their mutilated skeletons lying in their pens. In Ida's boathouse, the duo discover Carla alive hiding under a tarp; she apparently washed up at another point on the beach and made it to the compound in the middle of the night.

In the course of exploring Ida's compound, Eric, Sandy and Carla discover a dust-covered nursery full of antique toys, and a cobweb-covered crib; they also discover Ida Parson's diary, which contains insane, rambling passages about giving birth to a sick child, which she intends to keep sinless by secluding him from all the evils of the outside world. As they continue exploring the house, Sandy comes across Ida's skeletal corpse in repose in her bedroom. The group decides to collect supplies and head back to the shore to collect the rest of their party so they can formulate an escape from the island in Ida's old rowboat. While exploring the basement, they discover the corpses of Nick and Donna and flee to the beach in a panic.

Eric and Sandy deduce that Ida Parson's 35-year-old mutant son was the one behind the murders, left insane by his life of solitude under the care of the imbalanced Ida. With nothing to do but learn from Ida and explore the wilderness, he has become immensely strong, a capable tracker and hunter, and is thoroughly convinced that all outsiders are a threat to him and his mother. With the death of Ida, he was left without any basis for reality and ended up eating the dogs to survive.

Eric and Sandy go back to the house and get the matches that Sandy dropped earlier. Ida's son attacks, breaking down the door. Eric attempts to fight using a broken branch, but the mutant grapples with him and fatally breaks his back. He then chases Sandy upstairs into his mother's bedroom, where she wraps a blanket around her head and, playing Ida, convinces the mutant to leave his mother's bedroom. When Sandy leaves, the mutant pursues her to the boathouse, where she runs headlong into Carla. The mutant grabs Carla and fatally crushes her face. Sandy manages to lure the man into Ida's boathouse, which she sets on fire; although severely burned in the blaze, he still manages to attack Sandy, chasing her up a hill where she yanks a sharp signpost from the ground and impales him. As he dies, his burned, deformed face is finally seen.

Traumatized by the deaths of her friends and the killing she has been forced to commit, Sandy sits alone on Ida's dock, strongly resembling a scarred and traumatized Ida.

The story starts out in a small North Carolina town with Carolyne Lovejoy (Carroll), a schoolteacher, singing in the choir at her church. It is later revealed that she is having an intense affair with the church's married pastor, Rev. Henderson (Dick Anthony Williams), who is also the state's senator-elect. Carolyne later comes home from church to find her younger, 20-year-old sister Sissy (Cara), who Carolyne raised after their parents died, with her boyfriend Tommy, much to Carolyne's disapproval. Sissy wants to become a professional ice skater, but Carolyne wants Sissy to be a schoolteacher like her.

Their battle continues throughout the movie. Later, their estranged sister Frieda (Cash), who has been living in inner-city Detroit for the last 13 years, shows up with her 12-year-old son Danny (Kristoff St. John). They decide to stay for a while because Danny has had some trouble with the law in Detroit and Frieda wants to give him a fresh start in a new environment. While the Lovejoy sisters try to co-exist in their family house (which their late father left to all three of them), their lives turn upside down. Frieda suggests selling the house since Sissy will be out on her own soon and Carolyne doesn't need all the extra space by herself.

Frieda emerges as the troubled black sheep of the family, while Carolyne is knocked off her martyr pedestal when Frieda seduces the reverend. Sissy learns that their father never wanted another daughter, but had hoped she would be the son that eluded him (their mother tried to abort her). After Frieda and Carolyne get into a vicious catfight, Frieda and Sissy both decide to leave. The movie ends with Sissy leaving for New York and Frieda deciding to stay in North Carolina and work things out with Carolyne .

When Yuna Lee's mother moves to Germany to pursue a music degree, Yuna is left to stay with her father, a university professor, and her three older brothers, who are overprotective of her. During her summer vacation, she visits her mother in Germany, where she falls off a cliff and is rescued by Rieno, an 18-year-old knight living in the land of Phantasma. Rieno makes a deal with Yuna that, because he has saved her life, she must become his queen. Indebted to him for saving her life, Yuna is torn between her normal world back home and life as Phantasma's Queen.

An animator is seen drawing Porky Pig, after Porky is drawn the animator looks at a clock and realizes that it's time for the studio's lunch break at 12 'o clock. The animator advises all the staff that it is lunch break. Quickly the staff runs out of the building.

The Porky drawing comes to life after a Daffy Duck drawing hanging on a frame wants to talk to Porky. Daffy tells Porky that he wants to be the top star in the studio. To this end, he persuades Porky to resign from the Schlesinger studios to pursue a career in feature films as Bette Davis' co-star . Porky goes to Leon Schlesinger and asks to have his contract torn up. Schlesinger reluctantly agrees, and wishes Porky the best of luck. Once Porky is out of earshot, Schlesinger assures the audience that Porky will be back.

Porky spends the rest of the film trying to get into the lots and sets of an unnamed studio, with little success. After several failures from convincing the security guard (played by Michael Maltese, voiced by Mel Blanc) to let him in, dressing up as Oliver Hardy to gain access, (until the guard realizes the real Hardy already entered the studio) and inadvertently interrupting the shooting of a dance film, he decides to see if Schlesinger will take him back.

He returns to Schlesinger's office after frantically dodging his cartoon car in and out of live-action Los Angeles traffic, only to see Daffy doing a wild audition to become the new star of Warner Bros. cartoons, openly disparaging Porky. Porky then takes Daffy with him to another room, where he beats Daffy up. After this, he hurriedly runs into Schlesinger's office to beg for his job back. Schlesinger, laughing heartily and saying he knew he would return, reveals that he did not really rip up Porky's contract, and happily tells him to get back to work. Porky gladly thanks him and runs back into the animation paper that he was in when the short started. Daffy, wrapped in bandages after being beaten up by Porky but still not quite having learned his lesson, again attempts to persuade Porky to resign and work with Greta Garbo, only to get splattered with a tomato, which irritates him.

In an alternate timeline, three years after defeating Frieza and King Cold, Goku succumbs to a viral heart disease. Goku's death, being the result of natural causes, means that he can no longer be revived with the Dragon Balls. Six months later, Piccolo, Vegeta, Krillin, Tien Shinhan, Yamcha, and Chiaotzu are killed by Android 17 and Android 18. With the death of Piccolo, Earth's guardian, Kami, dies as well and the Dragon Balls are rendered permanently useless - making it impossible for anyone to be revived.

Thirteen years later, the androids terrorize the planet while the sole survivor of the battle, Gohan, unsuccessfully attempts to stop them. He agrees to train Trunks, the teenage son of Vegeta and Bulma, who is eager to help. Gohan attempts to provoke Trunks enough to trigger his transformation into a Super Saiyan so that they will stand a better chance, but all are unsuccessful. The androids attack an amusement park and Gohan challenges them once again. However, Gohan is overwhelmed and Trunks intervenes. Android 18 easily defeats Trunks requiring Gohan to protect him. As Gohan hides with his unconscious pupil in his arms, the androids, unable to find their targets, bombard the entire area with energy blasts and leave. The pair are nearly killed and Gohan gives Trunks his final healing Senzu bean in order to save his life. Trunks awakens to find that Gohan has lost his left arm and brings him home to Bulma who saves his life. Once healed, Gohan resumes Trunks' training.

One day, a huge explosion erupts within a nearby city. Gohan seemingly allows Trunks to join him, but renders him unconscious and departs alone. Gohan fights the androids but he is eventually overwhelmed and killed. Alerted by Gohan's energy signal suddenly vanishing, Trunks awakens and hurries into the city, where he finds Gohan's corpse. In his anger and grief, Trunks finally awakens his Super Saiyan transformation.

Three years pass and Trunks assists Bulma with building a time machine, when a warning on the television indicates that the androids are attacking a nearby city. Despite Bulma's warnings, Trunks confronts them but is easily defeated and nearly killed. He awakens in his house with his mother at his side, and finally decides that the time machine is their best hope to find a way to stop the androids. Once healed, Trunks prepares to depart with medicine to cure Goku's heart disease in hand. He travels twenty years into the past with the hopes of changing his future.

During a field trip to an archeological dig, Cartman discovers a mysterious stone triangle, which he promptly throws away without interest. Shortly after Kyle picks it up, the guide identifies the writing on the triangle as Anasazi. Kyle appears on television to discuss the find, resulting in a jealous Cartman wanting the triangle back. Cartman constantly pesters Kyle until he returns the triangle to him. Meanwhile, Leonard Maltin comes to South Park and asks Chef whether he has seen Barbra Streisand. Maltin, having seen Kyle and the triangle on television, tells Chef the boys are in great danger.

Streisand herself finds the boys at the bus stop and demands the "Triangle of Zinthar", and gets aggravated when they reject her. As they search for Streisand, Maltin tells Chef she is seeking the boys' triangle to complete a powerful and ancient relic, the "Diamond of Pantheos", which will allow her to become an evil and dangerous creature capable of conquering the world. He explains that the diamond was originally split into two pieces and hidden at different points of the world, but Streisand had managed to find the first of the two. Streisand later dons a disguise and visits the boys again, offering them a monetary reward for the triangle. Stan, Kenny and Kyle are suspicious, but Cartman insists they go along for the money.

Streisand takes them to her condo in the mountains, where she chains the boys up and tortures them with her singing voice. Cartman relents and gives up the triangle. Streisand uses the triangle to complete the diamond, transforming herself into a giant mechanical dinosaur version of herself, Mecha-Streisand, and begins to lay waste to South Park with her new form. Maltin and Chef arrive to free the boys, and Maltin asks Chef to call Robert Smith of The Cure for help. Maltin then transforms into a giant robot to battle Mecha-Streisand, but is quickly defeated. The boys evade fiery debris from the fight, but Kenny is killed when he stops to play tetherball and gets strangled by the rope. Actor Sidney Poitier arrives and turns into a giant fanged turtle to fight Mecha-Streisand, but he too is easily defeated. After getting a call from the boys and Chef, Robert Smith arrives and transforms into a giant moth creature.

During the ensuing battle, Smith-Moth manages to punch the Diamond of Pantheos away from Mecha-Streisand before flinging her into outer space, where she explodes and dies. The townspeople, including Jesus, joyfully praise Smith as a hero. As the singer walks off into the sunset, Kyle calls out "''Disintegration'' is the best album ever!". The boys split the diamond again to try to prevent anyone else from getting its power and throw the pieces in the trash can. However, Kyle's little brother Ike finds the pieces of the diamond in the trash, resulting in the episode ending with the boys cowering in the presence of a new foe: Mecha-Ike.

The bumbling bachelor, Rex Nebular, has been hired by Colonel Stone to retrieve a vase that holds some sentimental value for 75,000 galactars. Rex agrees and sets out for the last known location of the vase.

Rex discovers that the planet where the vase was last known to reside has vanished, but his ship's sensors still detect a planetary mass and gravitational field, invisible to the naked eye. Suddenly a large warship decloaks behind him, and fires. His ship is badly damaged and is sent crash landing on the strange planet, seemingly inhabited by women only.

Decades ago, a vicious war between the sexes erupted on the planet. In the end, the females wiped out the male population with bio-weapons. As a result, the females were no longer able to give birth, so they had no way of continuing their species. They invented a machine that would allow them to alter their sex for short periods of time. This machine became known as the Cosmic Gender Bender (or the Gender Bender for short).

The populace of the planet is divided into two classes, Keepers and (breeding) Stock. The Keepers are technologically advanced and reside underground, where they monitor the Stock. The Stock reside above ground and have a primitive culture. Their only purpose is to be impregnated by a gender bent Keeper in order to repopulate the planet.

In February 1988, two pilots in a flight simulator face the challenge of landing a crippled jet that experiences a cabin decompression, an engine fire and a loss of hydraulics. The three simulated emergencies foreshadow the events of Paradise Airlines Flight 243, taking place two months later.

Three crew members: Madeleine "Mimi" Tompkins (Connie Sellecca), Captain Robert "Bob" Schornstheimer (Wayne Rogers) and Flight Attendant Michelle Honda (Ana Alicia) are flying together on Paradise Airlines Flight 243. First Officer pilot Tompkins has been selected for training to become a full Captain in the airline, having been the first female pilot to be hired by Paradise in 1979.

Paradise Airlines 243 is an inter-island flight from Honolulu to Hilo, with a return to Honolulu the same day. The flight takes off over Hilo, and soon beverage service begins. During that time, nothing out of the ordinary occurs, but soon after, David Kornberg (Will Estes), a young boy travelling with his mother (Jane Daly), calls the lead flight attendant, C.B. Lansing (Nancy Kwan) and asks her about the crack appearing in the ceiling.

At that moment, chaos breaks loose and the entire front and top half section of the airliner, apart from the cockpit and cargo hold, blows off in a clean separation. In the chaos, Michelle falls to the floor and clings to a passenger's seat, C.B. is blown from the aircraft off-screen, and passengers are badly injured from debris and decompression. The third flight attendant Jane Sato-Tomita (Patty Toy) is thrown to the cabin floor and sustains serious head injuries, clinging to other passengers to avoid the same fate as C.B. The cockpit crew is unaware of the full scale of the disaster and believe a bomb or decompression has occurred. Soon passengers seated in the section that was not swept away have oxygen masks fall but it is useless as all the lines were destroyed. However, the aircraft was at a low altitude thus it had not affected them as badly. Mimi and Bob contact Kahului Airport to declare an emergency.

Soon, the pilots are faced with the fact they may crash and passengers would die, and both Mimi and Bob have flashbacks to her training days and his US Air Force times, respectively. Michelle has a flashback to walking the shoreline with her father who as a soldier in the Army, has died. Jane's injuries worsen and Michelle struggles to climb to her and help her. Later, she also feels she might lose it from the chaos and picks up the call phone only to find it dead.

Dorothy Hendricks (Herta Ware) leans out of the airliner and appears to be in a state of shock before her husband George (Jack Murdock) notices and pulls her back inside. Michelle then begins to instruct the passengers on a possible crash landing or water landing and passes out life jackets. Gail Kornberg becomes hysterical when she cannot get a life jacket for David, but soon is calmed by Michelle. Roy Wesler (Glenn Cannon) panics when he sees hydraulic fluid leaking from the wings. The tower alerts Kahului Fire and Rescue personnel and they arrive before the crippled jet lands. Finally after several tense minutes, Mimi and Bob are able to figure out a plan for the emergency.

After some time, the airliner lands but with difficulties in the brakes and hydraulics. The pilots were worried that the landing might result in a broken aircraft and fire, but miraculously their landing resulted in no deaths and the emergency notification allowed crews to treat and evacuate passengers immediately.

Rayne is an unholy breed of human and vampire known as a dhampir. Dhampirs are unaffected by crucifixes and do not thirst for human blood but maintain a vampire weakness to holy water. She is the daughter of the Vampire King, Kagan, who has gathered an army of thralls, both vampire and human, in order to annihilate the human race. She was conceived when Kagan raped her mother, and she later witnessed him killing her when she rejected his advances.

Sebastian, Vladimir, and Katarin are three members of the Brimstone Society, a group of warriors sworn to fight vampires. They hear of a carnival freak who may be a dhampir, so Vladimir plans to recruit her in order to kill Kagan. Kagan is also hunting for her, fearing she will interfere with his plans. Rayne escapes captivity at the carnival when her keeper tries to rape her. On the road, she encounters and saves a family being attacked by vampires. A fortune teller reveals to Rayne that Kagan has become the most powerful vampire in the land and resides in a well-protected castle. She tells Rayne that Kagan seeks an ancient talisman, a mystical eye, and if she finds it, it will allow her to gain an audience with him. Rayne sets out to the monastery, where it is hidden, to find it.

Rayne shelters for the night at the monastery and later sneaks away to where the talisman is guarded by a hammer-wielding, deformed monk, who she kills. Booby traps further protect the talisman, and when Rayne lifts it from its pedestal, the chamber floods with holy water. As Rayne hangs from the ceiling to avoid the water, the talisman falls from the box, but she catches the eyeball. Examining it closely, the eye magically becomes absorbed into her own eye, and when she falls into the water, she is somehow unaffected by it.

When she leaves the chamber, the monks explain the artifact is one of three body parts which came from an ancient vampire called Belial, who had found a way to overcome the weaknesses of a vampire. The eye overcomes holy water, the rib overcomes the cross, and the heart overcomes sunlight. When Belial died, the parts of his body were hidden across the land. As Kagan desires all these parts in order to assume Belial's powers, it becomes the heroes' mission to stop him.

Rayne is brought to the headquarters of the Brimstone Society and they agree to work together to kill Kagan. Katarin does not trust Rayne and betrays Brimstone to her father, Elrich, who has fallen in league with Kagan, but seeks to betray him and gain power for himself. The location of the heart talisman is known to Katarin as her grandfather hid it in water-filled caves. She seeks it out but Rayne kills her and takes it. With the talisman, Rayne attempts to gain an audience before Kagan, but he takes the heart and throws her in the dungeon. He plans to extract the eye as part of a ritual. He realizes too late that Rayne had only given him an empty box and not the heart.

Sebastian and Vladimir intervene, battling Kagan and his minions, but both are fatally wounded, leaving Rayne in a final battle against Kagan. As Sebastian dies, he fires a final bolt from his crossbow, but Kagan is too quick and is able to catch it. Rayne is able to summon her last reserves of strength and plunge the bolt into his heart. The battle ends, and Sebastian chooses to die rather than let Rayne save him. Rayne sits on Kagan's throne and reflects on the events that led to her father's death. She then leaves the castle and rides off into the mountains.

Michael Baskin is an average 11-year-old boy. His father, Billy Baskin, is a struggling artist and temporary sole caregiver of the children while his wife attends to the needs of her recently deceased father in Australia. Upon hearing the news that an abandoned mansion has recently burned down, Michael and his friend Connie decide to explore the remains. Outside the mansion, Connie dares Michael to take a look inside, leading to a frightening encounter with the ghosts of its homeless inhabitants who had died in the fire. Michael does not know this yet, but his fearsome run in with the ghosts has given him a mysterious illness simply known as "The Fright". Michael wakes up the next morning to find out that "The Fright" has made him lose all of his hair. After a failed attempt with a wig (his wig was pulled off by an older boy during a fight in a soccer game), the ghosts visit Michael in his sleep and give him the recipe of a magical formula for hair growth, the main ingredient of which is peanut butter. Michael's first attempt to make the formula is thwarted when his father and sister think he is making something to ingest (rather than use topically) and dispose of it.

The ghosts return the following night, giving themselves a second chance to pay him back for giving his money to some homeless people, and also give Michael special instruction not to add too much peanut butter, as it will end in dreadful results. Michael successfully makes the formula this time, but ignores their instructions not to overdo the peanut butter, and wakes up the next morning to find that his new hair has already begun to grow. After only a few minutes, Michael has grown a full head of hair. Suspicious of his fast growing follicles, Connie confronts Michael about his unusual ability. When Michael reveals to him his concoction, Connie decides to apply some to his pubic area, in an attempt to create the illusion that he's going through puberty. Connie soon discovers that the joke is on him. Pretty soon, Michael and Connie's hair grows to such lengths that it has become a nuisance for the school and their classmates, resulting in their suspensions. While Michael frantically searches for a solution, Connie discovers that the hair will stop growing by yelling at it.

The art teacher at Michael's school, simply called the Signor, frightens children and forbids them from using their imagination. After getting fired from the school, the Signor finds out about Michael's condition and kidnaps him (and many other neighborhood children) to make magic paint brushes from Michael's ever-growing hair, in which he subdues Michael with a knockout drug. The kidnapped children are put to work under tough conditions ("We have to make 500 brushes a day, or we don't eat!"). The paintbrushes are so powerful that they paint whatever their user imagines without need for detail or neatness. Connie, and Michael's sister, Suzie, discover the Signor's magical paintbrush factory and try to rescue Michael and the other kids. Connie tries to use force, but he is overpowered by Signor and his dog James. Instead, Connie tricks the Signor into painting a picture of the abandoned mansion. Connie then dares him to investigate inside, leading "The Fright" to be passed on from Michael to the Signor. The Signor, now bald, escapes from the haunted house and chases the children, locking them up. Just as Connie is about to escape with Michael, Susan and their dad find the factory and the Signor is arrested by the local police.

The film ends with the family reunited as the mother has returned home, and Michael's hair has stopped growing out of control. In original copies of the movie, there is an end credits scene where Michael’s sister is shot by the Team Fortress 2 Sniper.

When the galaxy's most skilled hunter is asked to use his skill to protect an important political mission, he realizes that he needs specialized aid. Thus Billy Singer must seek the shape-shifting telepathic creature only known as "Cat", whom he had caught and trapped for a museum. Cat agrees to help on the condition that, once the mission is over, he be given the chance to hunt his former captor. Billy accepts Cat's offer. However, Billy has been growing increasingly fatalistic in the time leading up to the story, and originally offers to let Cat kill him with no struggle. Cat, a hunter, refuses, encouraging Billy to flee. Billy does so, but remains fatalistic, with Cat reading in his mind a wish to die and his foreknowledge of a final location. Billy must reconcile his personal chindi to evade Cat. Billy turns increasingly primitive, away from the technology of the day, and eventually returns to his Navajo roots. Traveling across the world using teleportation technology, he eventually comes to Canyon de Chelly where he regresses to a state where he can, or believes he can, walk in the spirit world. At the same time, a collection of psychics try to pool their powers to help him and to attack Cat. Cat is able to kill one by destroying his mind, but even so the dead man seems to linger as a part of their group consciousness.

Billy is eventually able to kill Cat, but then has to face his ''chindi'', who is his death wish, in a battle that pits him against his own shadow. The novel ends with Billy apparently united with his other self.

The will of Fred Cassidy's cryogenically-frozen uncle provides him with a generous stipend to attend the university until he is awarded an academic degree. By carefully choosing his courses and changing majors, Fred avoids mandatory graduation for thirteen years. He meets with his new academic counselor, Dennis Wexroth, who is infuriated by what he calls Fred's "dronehood" (See text box.) and threatens to send him off into the real world by graduating Fred in the coming semester. Fred, however, finds a way to get enough credits in different majors to avoid graduation.

Fred goes to his apartment and finds it ransacked. He examines the apartment, but finds nothing missing. Paul Byler, Fred's geology teacher comes out of a closet. He slaps Fred around demanding the return of a replica he made of the crystalline star-stone. Byler is a world-renowned expert in crystallography and says he makes copies of the star-stone in order to sell them as novelty items. Fred states that the replica is not in the apartment and maybe his ex-roommate has it. Byler does not believe Fred. After a brief fight Fred escapes through a window to an outside ledge.

Byler visits Hal Sidmore, Fred's ex-roommate, roughs him up and demands the model of the star-stone. Hal insists he does not have it saying that Fred probably has it in their old apartment. Previously, during a poker game, Byler gives the copy of the star-stone to Hal. However, Hal switches it without Byler's knowledge for what he thinks is a better model, but is in fact the star-stone itself. Arriving home Fred sees a news story on television reporting Byler's murder and the odd removal of some of his vital organs.

As part of his study plan Fred goes to the desert in Australia to study ancient carvings on a cliff. Zeemeister and Buckler, two professional criminals, arrive and torture Fred for the location of the star-stone. Two alien law officers, Charv and Ragma, disguised as a wombat and a kangaroo respectively save Fred, and they all go into orbit in their spacecraft.

Later, as he comes slowly into consciousness a voice instructs Fred that he should not permit the aliens to take him to another world where they want to telepathically examine his mind for clues to the whereabouts of the star-stone. Fred convinces them that it would be against their alien field regulations to take him without his consent. They return him to Earth.

After being set down on Earth, Fred goes to visit Hal who reports that he receives phone calls from various people trying find Fred. People break into and ransack his apartment several times. And that Ted Nadler, a State Department employee, is looking for him. Finding himself intoxicated Fred stays the night with Hal and hears the voice, now identifying itself as Speicus, that has been talking to him. It tells him to test the inversion program of the alien Rhennius machine and then get intoxicated. It is easier for Speicus to talk to Fred if he is drunk. Fred breaks into the room with the Rhennius machine and, hanging from a rope from the ceiling, puts a penny through the machine three times. The first time Lincoln is looking backwards and the ONE is also backwards. The second time the penny is incised like an intaglio. The third time returns it to normal.

Fred goes bar-crawling to get drunk as Speicus instructs him. He runs into a shady old school adviser named Doctor Mérimée who tells him he is being followed. He joins Mérimée at a party at his apartment, finishes getting drunk, and falls asleep. On waking Fred remembers a communication with Speicus during the night. According to Speicus, reversing himself through the Rhennius machine will put "everything in proper order."

By subterfuge Fred manages to reverse himself by going through the Rhennius machine. Left is right and vice versa, and letters are read backwards from right to left with the letters turned backwards. He remembers his biochemistry and realizes that this reversal can be dangerous to his health. Meanwhile, Ted Nadler convinces the university to award Fred a Ph.D. in Anthropology. This outrages Fred because he loses his uncle's stipend and has to get a job.

Fred calls Hal and they agree to meet in a secret place. They begin driving, aimlessly Fred thinks. Hal explains that Zeemeister and Buckler have his wife, Mary, and are demanding the star-stone. He has another replica of the stone from Byler's lab and is going to trade it for Mary. Fred agrees to go along with the plan against his better judgment. They go to a beach cottage where they find Zeemeister, Buckler, a cat and Mary. Zeemeister declares the stone to be a fake and threatens to pull Mary's fingernails off until they tell him where the star-stone is. Paul Byler, brought back to life by multiple organ transplants, enters through the back of the cottage with a drawn gun. In the ensuing struggle Buckler shoots Fred in the chest, and he blacks out.

Fred awakens in a hospital. He is alive since his heart was on the right side of his body due to the reversal, and he was shot on the left side where the heart is usually found. Everyone else from the cottage survives with minor injuries. Ted Nadler stops by Fred's hospital room and offers him a position as alien culture specialist for the U.S. legation to the United Nations. Fred says he'll think about it.

Nadler explains the history of the star-stone. The United Nations hires Byler as an expert in synthetics and crystals to make a replica for safety purposes. The loan of the British Crown Jewels to the aliens outrages Byler and some of his fanatical Anglophile friends. Byler and an accomplice exchange the real star-stone for a fake one. Byler hires Zeemeister and Buckler in their capacity as professional criminals to assist in the substitution of the stones, but they really want the original for themselves for a ransom, Nadler believes.

While shaving the next morning Fred remembers a smile that remains with him from his night's dreams. Ted Nadler and Fred travel to New York to meet with a telepath. As Fred enters his hotel room he is seized and raised into the air by the tentacles of an alien telepathic analyst who practices attack therapy. He attempts to reach into Fred's subconscious for information about the star-stone. He is stunned to discover that the star-stone, Speicus, is inside Fred, having entered his body through a wound while Fred was asleep. Since he was reversed by the Rhennius machine Speicus is now fully functional and should be able to communicate telepathically directly and easily with Fred, but because Fred is now reversed it cannot. On the way to the Rhennius machine to have him reversed back to his original state, Speicus warns Fred about an unknown enemy by saying, "Our Snark is a Boojum."

In the building housing the Rhennius machine Doctor M'mrm'mlrr, the alien analyst, supervises the removal of the star-stone from Fred's body. On the wall Fred sees a vision of "massive teeth framed by upward curving lips. . . .Then fading, fading. . . Gone." Fred looks up and sees a black shape and cries out, "The smile." Fred chases a telepathic alien disguised as a black cat up to the roof and over girders of the adjacent building. It attacks Fred and falls to its death. During the fight Fred realizes that Zeemeister and Buckler work for the alien agent called a Whillowhim.

Ragma explains that the Whillowhim are one of the oldest, most powerful and entrenched cultures in the galaxy. However, there is an alliance of younger ones that back common policies in conflict with those of the older blocs. The Whillowhim belong to a faction of the galactic coalition that opposes the policies of younger, newer members on major issues. One way to limit the power of the newer, less developed planets is to limit their number. The Whillowhim seeks to steal the star-stone to embarrass Earth and delay its entrance into the coalition of planets thereby weakening the power of the newer planets' alliance.

Fred's future is as an alien culture expert for the U.S. legation of the United Nations and as a host for Speicus. Speicus will use Fred's nervous system as well as his broad knowledge of many subjects to gather information and process it as a kind of sociological computer. It can produce uniquely accurate and useful reports on anything they study together. In the end, Fred sees a beach with doorways leading to unique experiences in exotic places throughout the galaxy.

Having completed her year and a half interning in the field, Talia returns to Haven as Queen's Own Herald in right. In her absence, the Council of Valdemar has been considering an offer of an alliance marriage between Princess Elspeth and the Prince of Hardorn, a young man named Ancar. While the Council is generally in favor, Queen Selenay has her suspicions about the idea, and she and Talia overrule the Council. Meanwhile, the budding lifebond between Talia and Herald Dirk is frustrated due to a misunderstanding - Dirk thinks Talia is in love with his best friend, the handsome Herald Kris. The problems of the kingdom occupy Talia's time so completely that she cannot speak to him, nor spend as much time with the young Princess as she used to. As a result, Dirk falls into depression (worsened by the death of a young Herald who was his special pupil) and begins drinking heavily. Elspeth, through the work of a trusted Councilor, Lord Orthallen, begins spending time with unsavory young men.

Dirk is falsely accused by Orthallen, and when Kris (Orthallen's nephew) does not immediately believe his innocence, the two have a falling-out. Dirk's slide into depression continues, and he neglects his health until he collapses from pneumonia.

Talia becomes caught up in all of these seemingly unsolvable problems and briefly loses her emotional footing, but her friends reassure her that the lifebond will work itself out in time. Then things fall apart again; Elspeth's new circle of male friends plan to seduce and then disgrace the Princess. Talia arrives just in time; she drives off the young cad, and then she and Elspeth have an argument. Afterwards, Talia confesses what she has done to Queen Selenay, who reassures her that she did the right thing by scolding Elspeth. The Queen then sends Talia and Kris on a mission to Hardorn to investigate Prince Ancar, in case the alliance marriage could be pursued after all.

Talia and Kris (who has resolved his quarrel with Dirk) arrive in Hardorn, and witness Ancar murdering his own father and the Hardornen court. As they themselves are trying to escape, Kris and his Companion are killed, and Talia, wounded, is taken prisoner. Rolan, Talia's Companion, escapes, and Talia is able to use him to deliver a message to Selenay and her retinue, who would otherwise have come into the city. Warned, the Queen stops at the border between Hardorn and Valdemar.

Talia has managed to convey to them that Kris is dead and that there is no hope for her. In desperation, Dirk and Elspeth use their Gifts (she is able to see at great distances, he is able to lift and move objects with his mind) and the strength of the Companion herd to pull her out of Ancar's dungeon. She is severely injured, for Ancar has tortured and raped her, and she drank a large amount of poison as a suicide attempt. The impossible feat leaves both Elspeth and Dirk incapacitated for some time.

Talia revives and remembers some information Ancar has told her; Orthallen is a secret agent who is working for Hardorn because Ancar has promised to give him the throne. Through his manipulations, he has been working in various ways to see to it that Elspeth never becomes Queen. The Princess and Talia set up a trap to reveal his guilt; when he attacks the two women, Elspeth executes him. While still in recovery, Talia makes Dirk understand that she loves him. Ancar's army marches against Selenay, but she defeats them, and the two countries settle into an uneasy standstill. The hostile situation is not completely resolved until the end of the ''Mage Winds'' trilogy.

The conclusion of the book is the wedding between Talia and Dirk.

The story begins in 1968. Logan (Mark Hamill) is walking along a backstreet, when behind him come some agents from the Weapon X program. They try to capture Logan so they can take him to the Weapon X facility. Logan tries to defend himself, but he is shot with a tranquilizer dart and knocked unconscious. Logan is taken to the Facility and subjected to the adamantium bonding process. Soon after, he escapes from the experiment chamber and tries to get outside. The Professor (Don Morrow) calls him an animal, which enrages Logan and helps him escape the Professor's control. Logan tries to get to The Professor to confront him but he is stopped by Sabretooth (Fred Tatasciore). He defeats Sabretooth and he confronts The Professor while telling Dr. Abraham Cornelius (Don Morrow) and Dr. Carol Hines (Jennifer Hale) to take their leave. When Weapon X restrains him at claw-point, The Professor reveals that all Weapon X subjects were implanted with a dormant and deadly virus known as the "Shiva Strain" as a failsafe. The Professor also reveals that the virus would kill a normal human in one year but has no idea how long the virus would kill a human mutant.

Later in the present, Logan, who now goes by "Wolverine", is now a member of the X-Men and he has told Beast (Richard Portnow) what he remembers of his past. Beast tells Wolverine that the Shiva Virus has bypassed his healing factor and will kill him in two days if the cure is not found (ironically, which is on Logan's birthday). Professor X (Patrick Stewart) tells Wolverine to try to find the cure in the Weapon X Facility while Beast provides Wolverine with an implanted wristwatch telling him how much time he has left. After being flown to Edmonton by Cyclops and Jean Grey, Wolverine uses a private plane flown by a female pilot (Mayim Bialik) to get to the Weapon X Facility. However, the plane is shot down. He survives the plane crash and starts making his way towards the Weapon X facility.

Wolverine fights his way to a cavern where the spirit of the Wendigo lives. Wolverine fights with Wendigo and wins. Wendigo gets up and throws Logan out of the cavern where he lands on snow. Logan sees a Weapon X truck and jumps on it. Logan reaches the Weapon X Facility and sneaks in. On the way in, he is ambushed by a group of GIs. The sound of gunfire starts and Wolverine is surprised that he is not shot. He then sees another GI who shot down the ambushers. When Wolverine asks him why he let him live by asking "Am I supposed to thank you, or are you just a lousy shot?", the GI states, "Lets just say it's not your time to die...yet". Wolverine examines him a moment and he asks "You're not quite human, are you?" To which the GI states, "You should talk". As he walks away. After fighting through the base, he accesses a database and finds that the Weapon X scientists are at the Void (a maximum security mutant detention center that's similar to the Vault) so he makes his way there. Leaving, he is attacked by Sabretooth again. Sabretooth is defeated and grudgingly gives Wolverine the Part B of the virus cure after stating that he knew about the Shiva Virus a long time ago.

Later, Logan goes to The Void where he sees Colossus (Ted Nordblum) who lets him enter the facility after he was informed by Professor X about Logan's condition. While Logan is fighting his way on the Facility, Sabretooth comes to the Void and takes out some of its security on his way to get to the Weapon X scientists. Sabretooth then releases Alpha-Class mutants Omega Red, Magneto, and Juggernaut from their prisons. Meanwhile, Logan finds Dr. Abraham Cornelius and Dr. Carol Hines. Abraham Cornelius gives Logan the formula of Part A of the cure. Due to the Void blocking Logan's contact with Professor X, he ends up having to head outside to relay the info to him. Upon leaving, he warns Abraham Cornelius and Carol Hines that Sabretooth is also looking for them. However, when Logan reaches the roof, he is faced by Juggernaut (Fred Tatasciore). When Logan defeats him, Colossus tells Wolverine that Magneto and Omega Red were the other two Alpha-Class mutants that were freed. As Colossus drags the unconscious Juggernaut back to his cell, he points to the device that will help Logan get out. Logan destroys the Void Shield and relays the info of the Part A cure to Professor X after being told that Beast has synthesized the Part B of the Shiva Virus cure. Logan then heads out to find and defeat Magneto after Professor X detects magnetic signatures.

After Logan escapes, May Deuce (Mayim Bialik) the Mutant Hunter Boss comes to the Void to lead the Mutant Hunters into hunting down Wolverine and the other escaped mutants. While looking for Magneto, Logan is contacted by Professor X stating that the Magnetic Flux Limiter Collar on him has suppressed Magneto's magnetic powers long enough for him to become more powerful. Logan comes across a ruined highway and uses a motorcycle which he rides into a ruined town. Logan manages to find Magneto (Fred Tatasciore) in a steel mill. Logan tries to stop Magneto's moves, but he has to kill all the Mutant Hunters at the same time. Logan defeats Magneto and knocks him unconscious. Upon being told by Professor X that too much magnetic interference is preventing Rogue from homing in on him, Logan then makes his way to the city leaving Magneto for any Mutant Hunters sent from the Void.

When Logan is heading to the city to meet up with Rogue, a helicopter comes to him. In the helicopter is May Deuce. She thanks Logan because he defeated Magneto and offers to take him to the top of the Xenon Building. But when the helicopter reaches the top of a building, May Deuce throws Wolverine on the roof. Logan sees Lady Deathstrike (Gwendoline Yeo) and he realizes that the pilot, the Army GI, and May Deuce were some of Lady Deathstrike's robots who were to direct Wolverine to her so she could kill him. She also revealed that she paid Sabretooth to cause him pain. Wolverine defeats Lady Deathstrike and reaches a helicopter land platform where she follows him. Logan throws Lady Deathstrike off the roof and Rogue comes with the virus cure. Wolverine drinks it and goes home. Sabretooth finds Lady Deathstrike. He takes a vial from her and drinks it (most likely the cure for the virus), takes her, and leaves.

Meanwhile, Apocalypse (Christopher Corey Smith) and Mister Sinister (also Christopher Corey Smith) watch every move from Wolverine as they prepare their Horsemen of Apocalypse.

Wolverine lies on his bed and then suddenly realizes that he has not found and defeated Omega Red upon remembering the escaped mutants that Colossus told him about.

Deleted scene

In all versions (except for the Game Boy Advance version) if the player collects all dog tags, a deleted scene is unlocked. As Wolverine visits a ruined town to find and defeat Magneto, he is stalked by a shadowy figure. As the figure gets close, Wolverine nearly kills the figure who is revealed to be Spider-Man (Rino Romano). When Wolverine states that Spider-Man is off his home turf, Spider-Man sarcastically explains that he heard about the big breakout down at the Void and rode a charter bus with other superheroes who could not fly or teleport. When Spider-Man asks if Wolverine needs help battling Magneto, Wolverine tells him to deal with the chaos until Damage Control arrives as he goes to battle Magneto.

World-famous opera singer Alice Alquist has just been murdered at her home, No. 9 Thornton Square, London. The perpetrator leaves behind the valuable jewels he killed her for after Alice's fourteen-year-old niece, Paula, interrupts him. Alice had raised Paula following her mother's death. Paula was later sent to Italy to train as an opera singer.

Years later, an adult Paula meets and marries Gregory Anton after a two-week whirlwind romance. At Gregory's insistence, Paula returns to London, where she has no friends, to live in her late aunt's long-vacant London townhouse. To help calm Paula's anxiety over the memory of her aunt's violent murder, Gregory suggests storing Alice's old furnishings in the attic. Inside a book, Paula discovers a letter addressed to her aunt from a man named Sergis Bauer. Gregory reacts extremely when seeing her reading it. However, he apologizes, saying his outburst was a reaction to seeing Paula affected by bad memories.

After Alice's belongings are locked away in the attic, events become bizarre. At the Tower of London, Paula loses an heirloom brooch that Gregory had given her, despite its having been stored safely in her handbag. A picture disappears from its place on a wall and Gregory says that Paula took it and other items, then returned them. Paula has no recollection of doing this. Paula also hears footsteps coming from the sealed attic, and notices the gaslights dim and brighten for no apparent reason. Gregory suggests it is only her imagination.

Gregory gradually isolates his wife from the outside world, claiming it is beneficial for her nerves. He accuses her of becoming a kleptomaniac. He is also jealous and accusatory whenever others express an interest in her. When Gregory does take her to a party, he shows Paula his watch-chain, saying his watch has mysteriously disappeared. Gregory finds it in her handbag. Paula becomes hysterical in front of the guests and Gregory takes her home. Paula begins to believe she should not go out in public. Their young maid, Nancy, worsens the situation, as Paula becomes convinced that Nancy loathes her. Gregory tells Paula that she is paranoid and is imagining the maid's disdain, while he secretly flirts with her.

Paula does not know that her husband is really Sergis Bauer, her aunt's murderer. He sought out Paula in Italy with the aim of finding Alice's jewels. He has been secretly rummaging through Alice's belongings in the attic to find the jewels which he believes are there. The footsteps Paula heard in the attic were his. The flickering gaslights which he claims she has imagined were caused by his turning on the attic lights, thus reducing the gas to the downstairs lamps. The kleptomania exhibited by Paula is all sleight of hand by Sergis.

"Gregory" employs a cunning strategy to convince his wife that she is going mad, hoping to have her institutionalized, giving him power of attorney over her and allowing him to search unabated for the jewels. The plan almost succeeds. During a trip to the Tower of London, Paula has a chance encounter with Inspector Brian Cameron of Scotland Yard, who admired Alice Alquist since childhood. Seeing Paula, who resembles her aunt, rekindles Cameron's interest in the cold case murder of Alice and her jewels, a royal gift that was never found. With the aid of a police patrolman, Cameron figures out that "Gregory" slips into a vacant house next door and enters his own attic via a skylight. Cameron visits Paula and confirms that the gaslights are indeed flickering. They discover the letter from Bauer that "Gregory" insisted was a figment of her imagination.

That same evening, Sergis at last discovers the jewels hidden in plain sight, disguised as costume jewelry. He returns home to find that Paula has apparently been visited by another man. Though he knows that he has been discovered, he throws Paula into confusion again, telling her that everything is in her imagination. Cameron suddenly appears and confronts Sergis, chasing him to the attic and finally arresting him. Paula follows them and, finally convinced of her own sanity, indulges in a bit of revenge. Alone with him now bound to a chair, he tries to convince her to cut him free so he can escape. She taunts Sergis, musing that the knife in her hand might not be real, before calling in Cameron to take him away. As the police drive Sergis away, Cameron expresses interest in seeing Paula again, hinting at a potential romance.

In Pimlico, London, Alice Barlow (Marie Wright) is murdered by an unknown man, who then ransacks her house, ripping her furniture apart as if desperately searching for something. The house remains empty for many years, until newlyweds Paul and Bella Mallen move in. Bella (Diana Wynyard) soon finds herself misplacing small objects; and, before long, Paul (Anton Walbrook) has her believing she is losing her sanity. B. G. Rough (Frank Pettingell), a former detective involved in the original murder investigation, begins to suspect him of Alice Barlow's murder.

Paul lights the gas lamps to search the closed-off upper floors, which causes the rest of the lamps in the house to dim slightly. When Bella comments on the lights' dimming, he tells her that she is imagining things. Bella is persuaded that she is hearing noises, unaware that Paul enters the upper floors from the house next door. The sinister interpretation of the change in light levels is part of a larger pattern of deception to which Bella is subjected. Rough visits Bella and reveals that Paul is a bigamist; he is the wanted Louis Bauer, who has returned to the house to search for the rubies he was unable to find after the murder of his aunt, Alice Barlow.

Madame Mao is born to a very poor family around 1910 (early enough to have had her feet bound although due to a severe infection the bindings were taken off). She has an abusive father who kicks her and her concubine mother out of the house at an early age. Her mother ends up as a concubine and servant and the young 'Madame Mao' runs away to her grandparents. Anchee Min, the author, seems to attribute a lot of Madame Mao's later actions to her childhood—and that a lot of her incessant claims to power actually come from a need to be desired and to feel close to Mao rather than a deep need for power herself. Madame Mao's dream is to become an actress but she only achieves mediocre success. Using the stage name Lan Ping, she spends a few years in Shandong province (where she becomes a Communist due to a lover of hers) and then Shanghai. In Shanghai she had some success in playing Nora in Henrik Ibsen's ''A Doll's House'', and the author clearly parallels Nora's strength and inability to be controlled with Lan Ping's strong personality and need to be in control and the center of attention. The play is closed down since it is perceived to be too subversive by the authorities. She even ends up in prison for a short time but is released after signing a document denouncing Communism. After what seems like a string of rejections as well as a few serious lovers and two husbands, she travels to Yan'an, Mao's revolutionary base, to become part of his movement. The book does not offer much explanation for the switch from actress to countryside revolutionary except that she certainly had been involved in revolutionary elements (anti-Japanese plays, etc.) and that with the absence of work as an actress she did not have many options. Also, joining the Communist revolution seemed to be a common choice for young discontented students and others in their 20s.

In Yan'an, she soon meets Mao as the leading actress in patriotic plays. They meet frequently and finally become lovers. Mao is still married to his second wife He Zizhen (his first died as a revolutionary), who is in Russia and mentally unstable, but by the time she returns to China, Mao and Lan Ping have married and she is put in a mental hospital. The Communist Party is very much against Mao's affair with Lan Ping, in large part because they have worked hard to build up the image of his second wife as a martyr for the cause and do not want Mao's image to be tarnished in any way as an adulterer. The Party is supposed to emphasize discipline and unity. The affair continues despite (or perhaps is enhanced because of) these odds and the disapproval of many Communists. Finally, Lan becomes pregnant and Mao is allowed to divorce He Zizhen and marry her, under the condition that she stay out of the public eye and is not involved in politics at all. Her name is changed to Jiang Qing.

During the years before Communists gain full control of mainland China, the relationship seems to go well, although the passion is reduced. Jiang follows Mao everywhere, even to the field, and becomes his secretary when he is sick.

However, things change once the Communists triumph. They move to the Forbidden City in Beijing and live in separate quarters. Mao begins to lead a totally separate life with much traveling and entertaining. As she is not allowed by the party to be in the public eye, she is not a part of all of this. She becomes very lonely and depressed. Mao has many affairs, especially bringing young virgins in from the countryside for his pleasure. Things last in this way for 17 years with the majority of Chinese people not even able to name the wife of the great Chairman.

However, Jiang Qing has never lost her ambition to be powerful and loved and noticed. She sees a glimmer of opportunity at Mao's low point—two years after the launch of the Great Leap Forward which proved disastrous. She begins slowly to reemerge from the shadows and spends some time in Shanghai building up a network of actors and producers (her great passion is still opera and theater). Finally, she approaches Mao to reveal that a current popular play is actually subversive against the emperor. She feeds on his paranoia that those closest to him are actually plotting against him. He gives her some permission to carry on her activities and develop some propagandist plays that exalt him. Slowly she builds up her own friends and aides who can be trusted. Finally, in 1966 she is actually allowed to make an important speech and helps Mao develop the concepts behind the Cultural Revolution. Eventually, Mao puts her in charge of the 'ideology side of the business' and she wields an enormous amount of power.

Madame Mao, as she is now called, organizes festivals for revolutionary plays and begins to work closely with the student movements which have always been so important in China. She organizes and speaks to rallies of thousands of people to help launch the Cultural Revolution. Finally, Mao and Jiang decide to launch a student-led army called the Red Guards that she would be in charge of. The Red Guards end up having more power than the official military for a number of years and wreak havoc throughout the country. Her relationship with Mao is no longer romantic in the least but is mutually beneficial: 'For him, it is the security of his empire that she aids and for her, the role of a heroine. In retrospect she not only has broken the Party's restriction, she runs the nation's psyche. She is gripped by the vision that she might eventually carry on Mao's business and rule China after his death.

As Madame Mao's power grows, so does her worry about Mao and his constantly changing allegiances and worries about betrayals. He emphasizes that the public only trusts her because he is backing her. His dementia and paranoia grows as he ages. At one point Mao invites a bunch of the 'old boy's over for a meeting without inviting her. She says: ' I should have known that my husband was doing the two-faced trick. I should have understood that although Mao had been promoting me, my new power unnerves him and he needs to have another force to balance the game.'

In Mao's final months, Madame Mao is desperate for him to name her as his successor or at the very least to give a definitive statement that she represents him. She desperately wants his power after his death but if that's not possible at the very least she needs protection from all the party members who are ready to attack her. She sends investigators to extract forced confessions from her enemies and becomes increasingly paranoid and power-obsessed herself. She forms a power circle called the Gang of Four with herself as the leader, Zhang Chunqiao (whom she found in Shanghai and gave much power to), Wang Hongwen (whom she found as a student and Mao promoted to Vice Chairman of the Communist party) and another disciple, Yao Wenyuan.

In September 1976, Mao dies at the age of 83. When Mao's will is eventually found, he has named Hua Guofeng, a provincial governor from his home province, as his successor. Madame Mao had quickly sensed that her enemies would triumph—at Mao's funeral she was barely acknowledged. A few weeks after Mao's death she is arrested.

Madame Mao remains in prison from 1976 to 1991. Her daughter, Li Na, picks up what Madame Mao disliked and dropped what her mother liked or wanted her to do. Madame Mao has "saved enough handkerchiefs and socks to make a rope." She commits suicide by hanging herself on May 14, 1991. She was on Death Row the whole time, although she was not executed since her captors would have preferred to extract a confession of repentance from her.

With their mission to capture all the experiments and repurpose them on Earth completed, Lilo, Stitch, Jumba and Pleakley are honored as heroes by the Galactic Alliance. Jumba is given the confiscated key to his laboratory again, Pleakley is offered a post as chairman of Earth Studies at G.A.C.C. (Galactic Alliance Community College), and Stitch is made the Captain of the Galactic Armada and commander of the newly commissioned BRB-9000 (Big Red Battleship 9000). Lilo is made the Galactic Federation's ambassador to Earth and sole guardian of the experiments. Before they leave, Lilo gives Jumba her favorite Elvis record, Pleakley a small rock to use as a paperweight, and Stitch a necklace with a Kū tiki.

In his ship, Gantu has decided that since he failed to capture the experiments, except for 625, he will have to break Dr. Hämsterviel out of prison. He takes a two-man space shuttle, leaving 625 alone, and frees Hämsterviel. The duo then burst into Jumba's lab and Hämsterviel forces Jumba to create an evil twin of Stitch, Leroy. Stitch, having been assigned to recapture Hämsterviel, arrives and after a fight, he is defeated when Pleakley appears at an inopportune moment, distracting Stitch long enough for Leroy to detain him in a capsule. Hämsterviel reveals his plans to clone an army of Leroys to conquer the Galactic Alliance. Before leaving for Turo, Hämsterviel locks Stitch, Jumba, and Pleakley in Pleakley's G.A.C.C. vehicle and sends the vessel into a black hole.

On Earth, Lilo decides to contact Stitch. Lilo realizes that the only intergalactic videophone available on the planet is in Gantu's ship. There, she finds 625 and asks to use the videophone, only to find it is not functional. Lilo then names 625 "Reuben", who thereafter consents to help Lilo. Once the videophone is fixed, Lilo contacts the BRB-9000. Leroy impersonates Stitch, using shapeshifting to disguise himself, but the ruse fails when Lilo notices he is not wearing Stitch's necklace. Hämsterviel then commands Leroy to go to Earth and capture all of the other experiments to destroy them. Lilo, realizing Stitch is in danger, asks Reuben for help in fixing Gantu's ship. As the G.A.C.C. vehicle heads towards the black hole, Stitch escapes and frees the others. However, the navigational computer is locked on course for the black hole. When Jumba notes that they can disrupt the event horizon by throwing a small object into the black hole, Stitch takes Pleakley's rock and throws it into the black hole moments before they are sucked in.

On Earth, Leroy obtains Lilo's scrapbook of the experiments and quickly captures all of them, even kidnapping Lilo's rival, Mertle Edmonds, since she is the owner of Experiment 007, Gigi. Lilo and Reuben arrive at Turo, but they are too late, for Hämsterviel has taken over the galaxy, making the Grand Councilwoman his receptionist, and orders Gantu to imprison the duo, but he decides to release them after Hämsterviel fires him for failing to capture any experiments over the past three years. After a close call with several Leroy clones, they are trapped. All seems lost until the G.A.C.C. vehicle suddenly appears. With no time to explain, Lilo, Reuben, and Gantu all climb in and head for Earth. On Earth, Leroy has gathered all the experiments at the Aloha Stadium. The BRB-9000 appears and Hämsterviel prepares to obliterate the experiments, until Lilo, Stitch and the others arrive just in time to destroy the ship's primary cannon. Hämsterviel reveals that he brought along his Leroy army as backup, whereupon an epic battle between them and the experiments begins. Despite some initial victories by the experiments, the Leroys soon gain the upper hand. Jumba remembers that he programmed a secret shutdown command into Leroy: if Elvis Presley's "Aloha 'Oe" is played, he and his clones will deactivate. Stitch appears on stage in his Elvis attire and performs "Aloha 'Oe" with Lilo and Reuben accompanying him, causing the Leroys to have violent seizures and shut down. With his plan foiled again, Hämsterviel is recaptured and sent back to prison.

Back at the Galactic Alliance HQ, the team is honored by the alliance once again. Stitch, Jumba, and Pleakley ask to be allowed to return to Earth with Lilo. The Councilwoman grants this and asks Gantu if he would like to be reinstated as the captain of the armada. Gantu agrees on the condition that Reuben is assigned as his galley officer. Back on Earth, Lilo sets up for one last picture as Mertle arrives with Gigi (during the battle, Mertle was astounded upon discovering Gigi's experiment identity when she revealed her ability to talk). Lilo's last picture in the album is of all of the experiments still on Earth, Mertle, Jumba, Pleakley, Nani, David, and herself. In the film's final scene, Hämsterviel is seen back in prison with Leroy and his clones placed in separate cells surrounding his, who have recovered from their seizures and begin dancing to "Jailhouse Rock". As the credits roll, a full list of Jumba's experiments from 001/Shrink to 626/Stitch with their names as given by Lilo (and other characters in some instances during ''Lilo & Stitch: The Series'') scroll along the left side of the screen.

Francesco Dellamorte (Rupert Everett) is the cemetery caretaker in the small Italian town of Buffalora. He lives in a ramshackle house on the premises, constantly surrounded by death, with only his mentally disabled assistant Gnaghi (François Hadji-Lazaro) for company. Young punks in town spread gossip that Dellamorte is impotent. His hobbies are reading outdated telephone directories, in which he crosses out the names of the deceased, and trying to assemble a puzzle shaped like a human skull. Gnaghi can speak only one word: "Gna."

The Latin inscription over the Buffalora Cemetery gate reads ''RESURRECTURIS'' ("For those who will rise again"), and indeed, Dellamorte has his hands full. Some people rise from their graves within seven nights following their deaths, as aggressive zombies. Dellamorte destroys these creatures, which he calls "Returners", before they overrun the town. Buffalora's mayor (Stefano Masciarelli) is so fixated on his reelection campaign that he doesn't register Dellamorte's pleas for an investigation. Being an outcast in the village and almost illiterate, Dellamorte doesn't want to lose his job. He opens up to his only friend, Franco, a municipal clerk, but doesn't file the paperwork to get assistance. He explains, "It's easier just to shoot them."

At a funeral, Dellamorte falls in love with the unnamed young widow (Anna Falchi) of a rich, elderly man. She is won over when Dellamorte tells her about the ossuary, which she adores. While consummating their relationship by her husband's grave, the undead husband arises and bites her. She seems to die from the bite, but the coroner claims it was a heart attack. Fearing the worst, Dellamorte stays near her corpse, and shoots her when she rises.

Gnaghi becomes infatuated with the mayor's teen daughter, Valentina (Fabiana Formica), but she is tragically decapitated in a motorcycle accident. Undeterred, Gnaghi digs up her reanimated head and begins an innocent romance. The relationship is cut short, however, when the mayor finds out and Valentina rips out his throat with her teeth. Dellamorte is forced to shoot her. The young widow also rises again, causing Dellamorte to believe she was not really a zombie when he first shot her, in which case it was he who killed her. He plummets into a depression and is visited by the leering figure of Death, who tells him to "Stop killing the dead" and suggests shooting the living instead.

Dellamorte encounters two more unnamed women, also played by Falchi. The first is an assistant to the new mayor. She confesses to Dellamorte that she is terrified of sexual penetration, so Dellamorte demands to have his penis removed by the local doctor. Refusing to do so, the doctor instead gives him an injection to induce temporary impotence. Meanwhile, the woman has been raped by and fallen in love with her employer. Having lost her phobia, she plans to marry her rapist and discards the cemetery man.

His grip on reality slipping, Dellamorte heads into town at night and shoots the young men who have made fun of him for years. He meets a third manifestation of the woman he loves but, upon learning she is a prostitute, kills her and two other women by setting their house on fire. His friend Franco (Anton Alexander) is accused of these murders after killing his wife and child, and attempts suicide. Dellamorte goes to visit Franco in the hospital. Sitting by the hospital bed, he casually murders a nun, a nurse, and a doctor. Franco claims to not recognize him. Distraught and confused, Dellamorte screams out a confession, but is ignored.

Gnaghi and Dellamorte pack up their car, and leave Buffalora. Gnaghi's head is injured when Dellamorte slams on the brakes. They get out of the vehicle and walk to the edge of the road, where it drops into a chasm. Gnaghi begins to seize and collapses to the ground. Dellamorte realizes that the rest of the world doesn't exist. Fearing his assistant is dying, he loads a gun with two dumdum bullets to finish them both off. However, Dellamorte cannot bring himself to shoot his friend. Gnaghi wakes up, drops the gun off the cliff, and asks to be taken home, speaking clearly for the first time. Dellamorte replies: "Gna." As the credits roll, the camera zooms out to reveal the two men standing in a snow globe.

In Transylvania in 1804, a lone figure makes his way through the countryside and into the towering Castle Dracula, where he summons Count Dracula. The figure announces, in his own language, that his name is Kah, a Taoist monk and the high priest of the Temple of the Seven Golden Vampires in rural China. He goes on to tell the Count that the Seven Golden Vampires' power is fading and he needs him to restore them to their former glory. Dracula considers the offer and accepts on one condition: that he uses Kah's body to escape his castle, which has become his prison. Despite Kah's pleas for mercy, the vampire displaces himself into Kah's body and then triumphantly leaves the tomb for China.

A century later, Professor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) gives a lecture at a Chungking university on Chinese vampire legends. He speaks of an unknown rural village that has been terrorised by a cult of seven known as the Seven Golden Vampires. A farmer who had lost his wife to the vampires trekked his way to their temple and battled them. He was unsuccessful, as his wife was killed in the fight, but in the chaos he grabbed a medallion from around one of the vampire's necks, which he saw as the vampires' life source. The farmer fled the temple, but the high priest sent the vampires and their turned victims after him. About to be cornered, the farmer placed the medallion around a small jade Buddha statue before the vampires killed him. One of the vampires spied the medallion around the Buddha and went over to collect it. However, the moment that the vampire touched the Buddha, the creature was destroyed in flames.

Van Helsing goes on to say that he is positive that the village still exists and is terrorized by the six remaining vampires; he is only unsure of where the village lies. Most of the professors he has gathered disbelieve the story and leave, but one man, Hsi Ching (David Chiang), informs Van Helsing that the farmer from the story was his grandfather. He proves it by producing the dead vampire's medallion and asks Van Helsing if he would be willing to travel to the village and destroy the vampire menace. Van Helsing agrees and embarks with his son Leyland (Robin Stewart), Hsi Ching, and his seven kung fu-trained siblings on a dangerous journey, funded by a wealthy widow named Vanessa Buren (Julie Ege), whom Leyland and two of Ching's siblings saved from an attack by the tongs.

On the journey, the group are ambushed by three of the six remaining vampires in a cave, along with their army of undead. The group are quickly engaged in battle and soon kill the three vampires. The remaining three retreat, taking their army of undead with them. The following morning, the party reaches the village, partly ruined but still populated, and prepares to make their final stand. They use wooden stakes as barriers and dig a large trench around them filled with flammable liquid. In the temple that evening, Dracula, still disguised as Kah, calls on the remaining vampires to kill Van Helsing and his party once and for all. The vampires reach the village, and soon Van Helsing's group once again do battle with the last of the golden vampires and their army of undead, resulting in a brutal fight that kills two vampires, many undead servants, several villagers, and several of Van Helsing's companions. During the fight, Vanessa is bitten by one of the vampires and quickly becomes one herself. She bites Ching, who throws himself and Vanessa onto a wooden stake, impaling them both.

Elsewhere, the last remaining vampire captures Ching's sister Mai Kwei (Shih Szu) and takes her back to the temple in order to be drained of her blood. Leyland steals a horse from one of the dead vampires and pursues. The army of undead defeated, Van Helsing and Mei's remaining brothers follow to help Leyland at the temple. Having reached the temple, the vampire straps Mai Kwei to one of the altars. It is about to drain her blood when Leyland intervenes. Just before Leyland is about to be drained, Van Helsing and Mei's brothers burst in, and Van Helsing destroys the last vampire. The survivors depart from the temple, save for Van Helsing, who feels a familiar presence and comes to face Dracula in Kah's body. Discovered, Dracula reveals his true form and attacks Van Helsing. In the ensuing struggle, Van Helsing succeeds in stabbing Dracula with a silver spear through the heart, causing the Count to turn to dust.

William Adamson (Mark Rylance), a naturalist, returns to Victorian England, staying with his benefactor, Sir Harold Alabaster (Jeremy Kemp), a wealthy Baronet. He has lost his possessions in a shipwreck, returning from an extended expedition to the Amazon. Now dependent upon his patron, William is employed to catalog Sir Harold's specimen collection and teach his younger children the natural sciences, assisting their governess, the unassuming Matty Crompton (Kristin Scott Thomas).

William becomes enamoured of Sir Harold's eldest daughter, Eugenia (Patsy Kensit). Eugenia is softly spoken, anxious, and mourning the recent death of her fiancé. Despite his impoverishment, Eugenia proves receptive and accepts his marriage proposal. Although Sir Harold grants his approval, Eugenia's snobbish and spoilt brother, Edgar, (Douglas Henshall) dislikes William's humble origins.

Soon after the marriage, Eugenia becomes pregnant. Eugenia's behaviour alternates between coldness, locking William out of her room, and intense sexual passion. The couple has four more children. She calls the one son, 'Edgar', in the family tradition, annoying William. He spends much of his time with the Alabaster children and Matty, observing an ant colony in the forest, with a view to writing a book. Returning via the stables from an excursion, William discovers Edgar raping a teenage servant. Edgar tells William that she consented, but she is clearly terrified. William forms a bond with Matty, who encourages his scientific activities and displays a strong intelligence. The book is successfully published.

One day, William is summoned from the hunt to the house by a servant who claims Eugenia wants him. Entering the bedroom, he finds Eugenia and Edgar engaging in incestuous sex. Eugenia confesses that this has occurred since childhood and that her fiancé committed suicide in consequence. She says that when it started she was too young to understand but, after she saw herself through the eyes of her fiancé, she felt guilty. In tears, Eugenia explains that she tried to stop, but that Edgar's will was too strong. William realises that he has been used to conceal the incest and that the children (who bear no resemblance to him) are Edgar's.

Matty reveals her knowledge of the affair to William during a Scrabble-like game. Later, she explains that the servants were also aware and arranged for him to find out. Expressing frustration at her life and dependency on the Alabasters, Matty reveals that she has published her own book on the insects and has bought tickets for a ship for the Amazon. William is reluctant; despite his attraction, he feels that the rain forest is unsuitable for a woman. After she assures him of her strength and love for him, William acquiesces.

Before leaving, William meets Eugenia and tells her he intends never to return but will continue to financially support their children. He also promises to keep her secret, for fear of injuring her ailing father, and hopes she may find a way to live with her guilt. William and Matty depart in a coach for Liverpool, eager to begin their new adventure and leave the past behind.

Four teenagers from mid 1960s Los Angeles are on their way to Tijuana, Mexico: Dave, Woody, Spider, and Dave's brother Wendell. Dave, Spider, and Woody are there to lose their virginity, while Wendell came along to buy fireworks. They end up picking up a woman named Kathy, who goes with them because she wants a fast divorce from her husband, and they get into a series of hijinks and misadventures south of the border.

On an autumn morning, an adult Joe Wenteworth visits the grave of his childhood friend Simon Birch and narrates Simon's story as the film transitions to the 1960s.

In 1964, Simon is the smallest newborn in the history of Gravestown. As a kid, he loves baseball even though he almost never gets to play during Little League, and when he does, it’s only to get a walk from his small strike zone. Joe's mother, Rebecca Wenteworth, got pregnant when she was in high school. The only fact anyone knows about Joe's parentage is that Rebecca met his father on a train. Her refusal to reveal the identity of the father has made Joe a subject of rumors and gossip. Simon is obsessed with how long he can hold his breath underwater, always trying to improve this ability.

One day Rebecca invites drama teacher Ben Goodrich over for dinner. He meets Joe and Simon and brings a stuffed armadillo for Joe. Simon expresses his belief that the niceties of church aren’t necessary. In front of the congregation, he says that if God has made niceties a priority, they are in trouble. Sunday School teacher Leavey belittles Simon, telling him that he doesn't belong in church and his belief that God has a special plan for him is ridiculous.

While playing baseball, Simon Birch is given the perfect pitch, and hits it. It soon becomes a foul ball that hits Rebecca in the head, immediately killing her. Simon gives Joe his most prized possession, his baseball cards, as an apology. Simon and Joe have an argument, with Simon claiming that everything he does is foreordained. Joe disagrees, believing that his mother's death was an accident. Joe's grandmother informs him that there must be a plan should she die, as Rebecca never told anyone who Joe's father was, even in confidence. Joe decides his only hope is to find his real father.

Joe and Simon believe that Joe's father may have taken the baseball. They break into the gym teacher's office to find if he has the baseball that killed Rebecca, as that would implicate him as Joe's father. It isn't there, and Joe vandalizes the office, believing that he will never find his real father. The police chief agrees to let them off if they go to the children's retreat over their winter break. Ben picks them up from the police station and takes them for ice cream. Simon informs Ben of his destiny to be a hero, but admits that he doesn't know what that will imply. However, he fears that it could happen at any time, and he could miss it.

A Christmas pageant with a Nativity play is organized by the Sunday School. Marjorie, the school's prettiest girl, is chosen to play Mary; the acrophobic Howard is chosen as the angel; Simon is cast as the baby Jesus, as he is the only one who fits in the manger. Despite his reluctance, Simon happily accepts when he realizes that he will be able to stay next to Marjorie for the entire play. Simon helps another child tame his fear and mentions that children listen to him because of how he looks. However, the play proves disastrous as the turtle doves look like winged mutant turtles, the wise men cannot remember the words to "We Three Kings", and Howard's acrophobia causes him to forget his lines. It soon escalates to chaos when Simon, incited by seeing Marjorie's cleavage, makes a move on her. When Joe attempts to rescue Marjorie and stop Simon, she hits him, while Howard vomits on the stage.

As a result of the pageant chaos, Simon is not allowed on the retreat and his baseball cards are taken away. However, he breaks into the reverend's office to get them back, inadvertently finding the fateful baseball implicating the man as Joe's father. Simon has Ben drive him to the retreat to inform Joe. At the retreat, Reverend Russell admits to Joe he is his father, just as Simon arrives with the baseball.

While Simon and Joe are riding the bus home, it crashes into a lake. When the bus driver abandons the children and the reverend is knocked unconscious, Simon takes command to get everyone out safely. With the help of Joe, Simon is successful evacuating almost everyone, but he nearly drowns saving the last child. Joe wakes up in the hospital and visits Simon, who is dying. Simon mentions that the children listened to him because of how he looks, that the window he escaped through was "just his size" and that he held his breath for "200 Mississippi", then dies. Joe remarks that he will always remember Simon for the hero that he was.

Joe's grandmother dies that summer, and he is adopted by Ben Goodrich just before his 13th birthday. The film then transitions back to the present day with adult Joe at Simon Birch's grave. Joe's son, who is named after Simon Birch, reminds him he has a soccer game, and they drive away.

Bajor plans to tap the core of one of its moons to provide energy—a process that will render the moon uninhabitable. An elderly farmer, Mullibok, refuses to evacuate, and Major Kira goes to the moon to investigate. Despite (or perhaps because of) Mullibok's stubbornness, Kira grows fond of him. Over dinner, he describes how he escaped to the moon during the Cardassian occupation of Bajor. Mullibok gets Kira to admit that the Bajorans beat the Cardassians because they "hung on like fanatics," drawing a parallel between their struggle and his.

Kira reports her findings to Sisko and to Minister Toran, who is overseeing the project. Toran sends her back with two security guards to remove Mullibok. Kira attempts to reason with Mullibok while he goes about finishing a kiln he has been building. The guards arrest Mullibok's farmhands. Mullibok becomes furious and attacks one of the guards; the other shoots him.

Bashir arrives to treat Mullibok's wound, and the farmhands are evacuated to Bajor. Sisko, knowing Toran will be furious, ''recommends'' that Bashir report that Kira must remain on the moon for several more days for humanitarian reasons, at Bashir's recommendation.

In a parallel story, Jake Sisko and Nog acquire surplus sauce that Quark has been unable to sell. The two make a succession of trades, eventually ending up with a strip of land on Bajor. When they overhear that the government is trying to secure the land for a building project, the pair offer it to Quark for five bars of gold-pressed latinum.

Back on the moon, Kira continues to bond with Mullibok. Sisko visits to remind Kira that her job is in jeopardy for supporting Mullibok. The two talk as Kira works on Mullibok's kiln, and she comes to realize that after years of fighting for the underdog she is now working for the other side. Sisko tells her a runabout is standing by to complete the evacuation.

After a night spent caring for Mullibok, Kira awakens to find him putting the final touches on his kiln. Kira tells him he has finished his work and she must finish hers. As long as his cottage stands, Mullibok says, he will remain on the moon. Kira destroys the kiln with her phaser and sets the cottage ablaze. Mullibok declares that he will die if he leaves. "I won't let you," Kira says, and calls the runabout for "Two to beam up."

Thomas Dagget, a Catholic seminary student, loses his faith when he sees visions of a war between angels. Years later, Thomas is a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. Two angels fall to Earth: Simon briefly enters Thomas' home and warns him of coming events, while Uziel, a lieutenant of the Archangel Gabriel, is killed in an altercation with Simon. Investigating the disturbance, Thomas finds in Simon's apartment the obituary of recently deceased Korean War veteran Colonel Arnold Hawthorne, and a thesis about angels which Thomas himself wrote in seminary. Meanwhile, in Chimney Rock, Arizona, Simon finds Hawthorne awaiting burial and sucks his soul out of his body.

The medical examiner informs Thomas that Uziel's body has no eyes, hermaphroditism, and the blood chemistry of an aborted fetus. His personal effects include an ancient Bible, with an expanded Book of Revelation that describes a second war in Heaven and prophecy that a "dark soul" will be found on Earth and used as a weapon.

Gabriel arrives on Earth. Needing a human helper, Gabriel catches a disappointed Jerry, a suicide, in the moment of his death. Jerry retrieves Uziel's belongings from the police station while Gabriel destroys Uziel's body in the morgue. Finding Hawthorne's obituary, Gabriel and Jerry head for Chimney Rock. Before Gabriel arrives, at the local reservation school Simon hides Hawthorne's soul in a little Native American girl, Mary, who immediately falls ill and is cared for by her teacher, Katherine.

After finding the burnt remains of what was once Uziel's body in the morgue, Thomas hurries to Chimney Rock. When Gabriel realizes Hawthorne's soul is missing, he confronts Simon. Hawthorne's soul will tip the balance to whichever side possesses it, and a win for the rebellious angels would make Heaven like Hell with Earth in its thrall. Gabriel tortures Simon, but he refuses to reveal its location, so Gabriel kills him. Mary shows signs of possession by Hawthorne, recounting an incident from Hawthorne's harrowing war experiences in first-person perspective. Meanwhile, Thomas examines Simon's remains and questions Katherine. In Hawthorne's home, he finds evidence of war crimes. Thomas visits a church to reflect in and is shaken by a verbal confrontation with Gabriel.

At school, Katherine finds Gabriel questioning the children. After he leaves, she rushes to Mary's home and finds Thomas. As Mary's condition worsens, Katherine takes Thomas to an abandoned mine where she had seen Gabriel. They find angelic script and experience together a terrible vision of the angelic war. Returning to Mary, they find Gabriel and Jerry. Thomas kills Jerry, while Katherine distracts Gabriel when her wild gunshot misses him and blows up Mary's trailer home. They take Mary to a Native American site to be exorcised. In a hospital, Gabriel recruits a new unwilling assistant, Rachael, just as she dies of a terminal illness.

Lucifer confronts Katherine and tells her that "other angels" have taken up this war against mankind, and since then, no human souls have been able to enter Heaven. He knows Gabriel plans to use Hawthorne's soul to overthrow the obedient angels. He also knows that if Gabriel wins the war under his influence Heaven will ultimately devolve into another Hell, which Lucifer considers "one Hell too many". Lucifer then appears to Thomas and advises him to use Gabriel's lack of faith against him. When Gabriel arrives and attempts to disrupt the exorcism ritual, Thomas kills Rachael, and he and Katherine fight Gabriel. Gabriel defeats them and moves to kill Katherine.

Lucifer appears, encouraging the Natives to complete the exorcism. Lucifer confronts Gabriel, telling him that his war is based upon arrogance, which is evil, making it Lucifer's territory. Lucifer tells Gabriel he needs to go home and rips out his heart. Simultaneously Mary expels Hawthorne's soul. The "enemy ghost" starts to attack Thomas and Katherine, but a bright light from Heaven appears and destroys it. Lucifer asks Thomas and Katherine to "come home" with him, but they refuse. Lucifer drags Gabriel to Hell. As morning comes, Thomas comments on the nature of faith and what it means to truly be human.

A mouse walks through the wood and encounters predators (first a fox, then an owl, and finally a snake). Each of these animals, clearly intending to eat the mouse, invites him to their home for a meal. The cunning mouse declines each offer and uses clever tricks to evade danger and dissuade further advances. He tells each animal that he plans to dine with his friend, a "Gruffalo"; a monstrous creature whose frightening features he describes. He tells them the Gruffalo's favourite food is the relevant animal. Frightened that the Gruffalo might eat them, each animal flees. Convinced the Gruffalo is fictional, the mouse gloats thus:

: ''Silly old fox/owl/snake, doesn't he know?'' : ''there's no such thing as a Gruffalo!''

However, after getting rid of the last animal, the mouse is shocked to encounter a ''real'' Gruffalo – with all the frightening features the mouse thought that he was inventing. The Gruffalo threatens to eat the mouse, but again the mouse is cunning: he tells the Gruffalo that he, the mouse, is the scariest animal in the wood. Laughing, the Gruffalo agrees to follow the mouse as he demonstrates how feared he is. The two walk through the wood, encountering in turn the animals that had menaced the mouse. Each is terrified by the sight of the pair and escapes to his home – and each time the Gruffalo becomes more impressed with the mouse's apparent toughness. Exploiting this, the mouse threatens to eat the Gruffalo, who flees; leaving the mouse to eat a nut in peace.

The story is based on a Chinese folk tale of a fox that borrows the terror of a tiger. Donaldson was unable to think of rhymes for "tiger" so instead she invented a word that rhymes with "know".

The bartender Quark advises Constable Odo, to lighten up, perhaps in a holosuite. Odo dismisses imagination as inattention to real life. Quark offers to create for him a shapeshifter "playmate", to which Odo retorts, "You're disgusting!" Seeing the station commander's young son, Jake Sisko, approaching a holosuite, Odo warns Quark he had better not have created any ''playmates'' for him. Quark explains that Jake's program includes famous baseball players from Earth.

Dr. Julian Bashir and Lt. Jadzia Dax eat lunch. Julian wants a romantic relationship, but Jadzia politely refuses, pointing out he has also eyed other women. Dax returns to Ops, where she observes elevated emissions in the nearby Denorios Belt. She and Commander Sisko hypothesize this to be due to the high amount of traffic at Deep Space Nine.

Chief O'Brien reads to his daughter Molly the story ''Rumpelstiltskin'' and tucks her into bed. Shortly, she comes out of her room and claims Rumpelstiltskin is inside. O'Brien and his wife Keiko patiently return with her and find that Rumpelstiltskin is indeed in her room. Elsewhere, a duplicate of Jadzia attempts to seduce Bashir in his quarters, and Buck Bokai, a 21st century baseball player who in 2026 broke Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak, has followed Jake from the holosuite.

The characters disappear when rejected or ignored. Unprecedented events, such as snow on the Promenade, occur across the station, apparently instigated by people's imaginations. Quark finds himself escorted by beautiful, adoring women, and hopes the situation will last forever, until he notices his customers are winning at Dabo. He desperately wishes them to lose, but to no effect: as Odo points out, Quark is outnumbered. Odo returns to his office, and discovers he has wished Quark into a holding cell.

The wishing outbreak continues until the emissions detected earlier form into a void near the station. It grows exponentially until Sisko realizes it is part of the wish effect, and will continue growing so long as people believe it exists. He instructs his crew that it does not exist, and to stand down from alert status. The crisis is averted. Later, "Buck Bokai" appears in Sisko's office, where he explains that he and the other fantasy apparitions are members of a mission of exploration that followed a ship through the wormhole. His people wanted to see what imagination is really about, in order to learn more about humanoids. The aliens did nothing themselves: they only observed the effects of humanoid imagination. Before leaving, he suggests they may one day return.

The film begins as an autobiographical look at Shore's early professional successes on MTV and as the star of a series of '90s comedies. Shore's film career leads to his taking a starring role in a vehicle on the Fox Network, in which he plays the slacker son of a millionaire. The pilot of the series turns out to be a commercial and critical failure, and Shore becomes a pariah virtually overnight, with his friends distancing themselves from him for fear that it will tarnish their own careers. Shore is ultimately reduced to living in his mother's attic and watching ''BackDoor Sluts 9'' starring his ex-girlfriend, who will no longer see him. He spends his last $84 on a hooker—who does almost nothing for him and his life simply gets worse and worse.

One night, Shore is visited by the ghost of his mentor, comic Sam Kinison, who encourages Shore to fake his own death as a means of revitalizing popularity in Pauly Shore films and merchandise. Shore decides to go through with the plan, which initially works: Once word of his "death" breaks, celebrities eager for the residual publicity begin appearing on television in large numbers to declare Shore a comic genius and lament his early death. Shore, eager to bask in the publicity, begins appearing in public wearing a disguise; he is quickly outed, arrested, and sent to prison.

In prison, Shore is attacked by one of his former fans, "Bucky from Kentucky," a redneck whose world view was shattered when he learned that Shore had willingly put his own fans through the ordeal of thinking he was dead. Shore survives the attack, which causes him to realize that even though he was no longer as famous as he once was, he still had fans who loved him. Shore and Bucky have a heart-to-heart about the nature of celebrity, and Shore decides to start his career over.

After getting out of prison, Shore sets about making ''Pauly Shore Is Dead'' to chronicle his own rise and fall, using information he has gathered from years in Hollywood to blackmail various B-list celebrities into appearing in cameos; he reserves the information he has on A-list celebrities for the planned sequel.

Dr. Julius Lifflander arrives at his forest home only to get scared inside, a shadowed creature then cuts his phone line and power before killing Lifflander by tearing at his face.

Duane Bradley arrives in New York City with a locked wicker basket. He gets a room at a cheap hotel right down the hall from a sex worker named Casey, he takes some hamburgers and feeds them to a creature in his basket which talks to him telepathically. When Duane is out the next day a man named Brian O'Donovan looks through Duane's keyhole in order to steal Duane's wad of money. Casey scares him off and informs Duane about it. Duane takes his basket to see Dr. Harold Needleman and befriends his assistant Sharon. Needleman contacts Dr. Judith Kutter and tells her about Duane's visit and Lifflander's death but she ignores him. Duane goes back to Neddleman's that night and empties the creature (who is revealed to be his twin brother Belial) onto the floor who goes and kills Needleman by gutting him with his claws.

The next day, Duane goes to meet Sharon at the Statue of Liberty and they kiss. Belial senses this and trashes the hotel room in a temper tantrum before hiding when the hotel manager opens the door to see what the commotion is. O'Donovan sneaks back inside to steal Duane's money but is killed by Belial when he opens the basket. Duane senses the attack telepathically and hurries back and tells Belial that he deserves some time for himself. Duane and his basket run into Casey at a bar and drunkenly tells her that Belial is his twin brother. They were conjoined at birth and their Aunt was the only one who would take care of them, However the twins were surgically separated at an early age by Dr. Lifflander, Dr. Needleman and Dr. Kutter explaining their hatred for the Doctors. They then murdered their father which was ruled an accident and they lived with their Aunt before she died. They had then went out to murder the doctors that had separated them. Belial deeply resents being cut off from his normal-looking brother, & Duane equally resents how heartless everyone acts towards his loving brother.

That night Belial sneaks into Casey's bedroom and scares her out before stealing her panties. The next day, Duane and Belial go to Dr. Kutter's office. She tries to dismiss them, but Duane reveals who he is before Belial kills Kutter by shoving her face into a drawer of sharp objects. Sharon goes to Duane's apartment seeking safety after Needleman's death and they start to make love before a jealous Belial starts screaming and Duane is forced to toss Sharon outside.

That night Belial goes out to find Sharon while Duane has a dream that tells him about it. Belial sneaks into Sharon's apartment and tries to sleep-rape her and attacks and kills her when she wakes up and screams. Enraged at his brother for his actions, Duane takes Belial back to the apartment in a scene that attracts several people to his apartment which exposes the existence of Belial. Belial attacks Duane which results in the two brothers falling from a hotel window getting knocked out as everyone surrounds their unconscious bodies.

At International House, a large hotel in metropolitan Wuhu, China Chinese inventor Dr. Wong (Edmund Breese) is soliciting bids for the rights to his "radioscope", a kind of television. Unlike real television, his contraption does not need a camera; it can look in on events anywhere in the world as if it were a ground-penetrating electronic telescope, complete with audio.

Prof. Henry R. Quail (W. C. Fields) is one of many people from around the world converging on the hotel, though he is one of the few not hoping to buy (or steal) Dr. Wong's invention, as he was intending to land in Kansas City in his autogyro but flew off course. Also converging on the hotel are four-times-divorced American celebrity Peggy Hopkins Joyce (playing herself) avoiding one of her ex-husbands, violently jealous Russian General Petronovich (Bela Lugosi); Tommy (Stuart Erwin), the representative of an American electric company, hoping to buy Wong's invention and finally wed his sweetheart Carol (Sari Maritza); resident physician Dr. Burns (George Burns) and his goofy aide Nurse Allen (Gracie Allen) dealing with a quarantine on the hotel; and the exasperation of the hotel's fussy and frustrated manager (Franklin Pangborn).

Dr. Wong is particularly eager to look in on a six-day indoor bicycle race in New York, but instead somehow brings in performances by popular crooner Rudy Vallée, bandleader-vocalist Cab Calloway, and precocious torch singer Baby Rose Marie, and comedians Stoopnagle and Budd. A floor show (featuring Sterling Holloway and Lona Andre) is also performed in the hotel's rooftop garden restaurant.

Ultimately, Tommy wins both the rights to the radioscope and his sweetheart, and Peggy Hopkins Joyce, having learned that Prof. Quail is a millionaire, quickly attaches herself to her next sugar daddy. Prof. Quail and his new companion are chased as he drives his little American Austin automobile through several public areas of the hotel and down several flights of a fire escape before driving it back into the hold of his autogyro and taking off.

The film begins with prison inmate Luther speaking directly to the camera to an unseen individual, telling the story of Dizzy Gillespie Harrison, an 18-year-old nerdy high school senior in Austin, Texas. Dizzy is friends with Nora, Kirk, and Glen, who together started a funk rock band called "Suburban Funk" and are addicted to video games. They attend Rocky Creek High School, where Dizzy is picked on by everyone, especially star football player Barclay. After Tina Osgood touches his arm, causing him to have an erection and embarrassing him as the jocks belittle him, his briefs are yanked from under his pants and placed around his head. The school librarian "breaks" his penis after Dizzy refuses to "hand" over the "weapon" to her. Dizzy is misdiagnosed with Tourette's syndrome and placed on medication by the school counselor, who advises his father to spend every moment possible with him. While at the mall's food court, the heavily medicated Dizzy makes a fool of himself at a church revival and gets arrested.

In jail, Dizzy meets Luther, who turns out to be a sympathetic ex-victim who makes it his goal to teach him how to be cool. In an attempt to wipe the slate clean, Dizzy gets himself expelled from his old high school, then undergoes a makeover with the help of the prison inmates and guards. Changing his name to "Gil Harris", he enrolls at East Highland High and makes an impression by being dropped off in a prison van in restraints and beating up the school bully, Conner.

The action has the intended effect, and head cheerleader Danielle welcomes the newcomer to school. Her friend Courtney invites Dizzy to a party and through a mishap, Dizzy gives Courtney the impression that he has blown her off. Using a photo given to him by the prison inmates and help from his old friends, Dizzy manages to escape the party with his reputation intact. Upon returning home, however, he finds his father has agreed to sell his house and quit work to supervise him, which results in the pair living in a trailer.

Danielle asks Dizzy to encourage the school to go to see the football team play; Dizzy, referencing General Patton and Braveheart, gives an impassioned speech, inspiring the team to win their first game in years. He is soon enlisted by the coach and principal to plan the school's homecoming dance, and becomes imbued with school spirit, shedding his bad boy image. Danielle breaks up with Conner and starts a relationship with Dizzy.

However, Dizzy and Gil are fast becoming too big for one body. When Nora berates Dizzy for becoming the same person he once hated, he uses his newfound popularity to confront Conner. Dizzy and Danielle spur the students to reunite, and the lines dividing the different cliques are broken. With a new philosophy, the school football team wins more games and bullying becomes a thing of the past. Reaching the state championship, where they play Rocky Creek, Dizzy's antics on the sideline cost Rocky Creek the game. After Rocky Creek's loss to East Highland, Barclay slowly starts realizing who Gil really is. East Highland High celebrates their victory. At school the next day, while East Highland still celebrates, Barclay confronts and attempts to fight Dizzy, but before he can do anything, he is attacked by the entire student body. After the attack, Conner helps up Barclay from the ground, telling him he wants to know what he knows about Dizzy.

The homecoming dance, which Dizzy's funk band is supposed to play, is crashed by the students of Rocky Creek. Barclay and Conner, who have joined forces to set a trap for Dizzy, play an embarrassing video of the librarian incident. However, Luther and the other inmates arrive to save Dizzy, tying up the two bullies. Nora admits longstanding feelings for Glen, and Danielle reveals to Dizzy that she was also a nerd growing up. She forgives him for hiding who he was, and they kiss.

Luther ends the film, and the man he is talking to is revealed to be David Hasselhoff. In a mid-credits scene, Dizzy and Danielle mount a horse and ride off into the sunset together.

''Road to Sunday'' revolves around Blake Doogan, who inherits a pro football team after his father is killed in a suspicious explosion while in Jamaica. Later, Blake learns that his father borrowed large sums of money from a Jamaican kingpin to purchase the professional football team the Los Angeles Show, and Doogan's father's debt is now his debt.

Gameplay

The gameplay follows the Blake, his friend/sidekick Harry and seven football players as they put it all on the line in order to get enough money to pay off the kingpin and win the championship. The on-the-field football experience is best characterized as mission-based football, done through the introduction of a new gameplay experience, Position Specific Gameplay (PSG). Players not only compete on the gridiron, but also gain exposure to an underworld of questionable characters, gambling, and an underground fighting league ran by the corrupt Jamaican kingpin. These off-field exploitations will drive the storyline as well as increase players’ abilities to perform in future missions and impact the outcome of future football games.

Chronologically set 5 years before the events of ''Bubblegum Crisis'', it focuses on AD Police (Advanced Police) inspector Leon McNichol's early days in the AD Police.

''The Saga of Darren Shan'' follows the story of Darren Shan, a normal human boy who is coerced by the vampire Larten Crepsley into becoming his assistant and a half-vampire.

• In the first trilogy, known as ''Vampire Blood'' or ''The Vampire's Assistant'', Darren learns about and comes to accept his vampirism. ** In the first book, ''Cirque du Freak'' (also known as ''Cirque du Freak: A Living Nightmare''), Mr. Crepsley makes Darren a half-vampire in return for saving the life of one of Darren's best friends, Steve Leonard. ** In the second book, ''The Vampire's Assistant'', Crepsley notes that Darren is quite lonely and brings him back to the freak show, where he befriends a snake-boy, Evra Von, and a human, Sam Grest. ** In the third book, ''Tunnels of Blood'', Crepsley brings Darren Shan and Evra Von to his hometown, where one of the vampires' enemies, a Vampaneze named Murlough, is murdering innocent people.
• In the second trilogy, known as ''Vampire Rites'', Darren learns about the vampire clan and seeks their acceptance. ** In the fourth book, ''Vampire Mountain'', Mr. Crepsley and Darren make their ascent up Vampire Mountain and learn about the rites of the vampires. ** In the fifth book, ''Trials of Death'', Darren faces the Trials of Initiation, nicknamed Trials of Death, to gain the recognition of other vampires as one of the youngest vampires to be recruited in decades. ** In the sixth book, ''The Vampire Prince'', Darren finds out about a traitor among them and tries to stop plans to destroy the vampire clan. He himself becomes a Vampire Prince, in this book.
• In the third trilogy, known as ''Vampire War'', Darren learns he may have a larger role to play in the fate of the vampires (and of the world) than he had ever thought. ** In the seventh book, ''Hunters of the Dusk'', the hunt for the Lord of the Vampaneze, who is destined to destroy the vampire clan, begins. ** In the eighth book, ''Allies of the Night'', Darren meets some of his past friends who now fit into his quest. ** In the ninth book, ''Killers of the Dawn'', Darren faces the Lord of the Vampaneze for the second time.
• In the fourth trilogy, known as ''Vampire Destiny'', Darren is forced to make some difficult decisions, finally taking his destiny into his own hands and dealing with the consequences. ** In the tenth book, ''The Lake of Souls'', Darren travels to an unfamiliar land to find out who his best friend, Harkat Mulds, used to be; as a "Little Person", Harkat's mind sans memories was placed into a new body after his death. ** In the eleventh book, ''Lord of the Shadows'', Darren finds out more about the Lord of the Shadows and gets closer to his last confrontation with the Lord of the Vampaneze. **In the twelfth book, ''Sons of Destiny'', Darren faces the Lord of the Vampaneze for a final fight, and changes his destiny forever.

An artifact called the Reseda Cube (pronounced /''Reh-'''kay'''-duh''/) is stolen from the Perplex City Academy and makes its way to Earth. A Cube Retrieval Team (CRT) is formed to search for the Cube. Because citizens of Perplex City are unable to travel to Earth, the Master of Perplex City Academy, Sente Kiteway, asks for help in finding the Cube from the citizens of Earth, offering to share any leads or clues that he or the CRT may get.

Clues to the location of the Cube are periodically left by the person who stole it, known only as Combed Thunderclap. It is discovered that an organization called the Third Power and a Cube-worshipping cult called the Reconstructionists are also looking for the Cube. While the people of Earth are left to search for the Cube on Earth, various citizens of Perplex City, particularly Kurt McAllister and Sente’s two daughters, Scarlett and Violet, attempt to find additional clues in Perplex City and to discover the identity of Combed Thunderclap. The former three discover the lab in which the Cube was made. They find that the Cube was built by Sente and can be used as a weapon and a teleporter. The Cube is finally found by the people of Earth in Northamptonshire, England; they also determine that it was Violet who stole the Cube and hid it on Earth, in an effort to keep it out of the hands of the Third Power.

The story is about Himeko Nonohara (野々原姫子 ''Nonohara Himeko''), also known as Hime-chan (姫ちゃん, using the Chinese character for "princess"), an aloof, childlike, yet boasty thirteen-year-old girl who frets over the fact that she is the biggest tomboy in the school. Himeko would like nothing more than to be a proper, feminine young lady, like her older sister Aiko, so that she could approach her secret crush, Hasekura.

One night, Himeko is unexpectedly approached by a girl, who is a near-mirror image of herself, floating outside of her bedroom window. She discovers that the girl is Princess Erika of the Magical Kingdom. Erika explains that people in the Magical Kingdom have an exact counterpart in the Human World and that, in order to prove herself worthy as a princess, she must give Himeko a magical item that she has created. Himeko is allowed the use of this item, a red hair ribbon, for one year to determine whether it is useful, and consequently, if Erika will inherit the crown.

The ribbon allows Himeko to transform into anyone in the Human World for one hour. If Himeko is unable to recite the magic incantation in reverse before the hour is up, she will be trapped in that person's form for the rest of her life. She is unable to reveal the secret of the ribbon and the existence of the Magical Kingdom to anyone. If she does, her memory will be erased as punishment. Assisting her with this is her stuffed lion, Pokota, whom the ribbon brought to life. Erika will watch her in the Magic Kingdom through her crystal ball for one year, at which point the ribbon will be returned.

''Shining Soul II'' has little connection to the storyline of the rest of the series aside from a reference to the events of ''Shining Soul'' in the introduction. However, an alternate universe version of Boken from ''Shining Force'' appears as a major NPC, traditional Shining mascot Yogurt is hidden in one of the stages, and a number of dungeons from the original ''Shining Soul'' appear as short hidden dungeons.

Centuries after the defeat of Dark Dragon in ''Shining Soul'', light had become too strong, opening the way to a resurgence of darkness. A crystal in the possession of King Marcel and Queen Yvonne of Klantol, which throughout the story reflects the current balance of light and darkness, turns from shining to cloudy. An alchemist named Gillespie, a member of a dark order, the Chaos Knights, worms his way into the friendship of King Marcel's most trusted knight, Deatharte. Gillespie then disappears, leaving something called "the forbidden fruit" with Deatharte. Driven by curiosity, Deatharte eventually eats the fruit and is corrupted by darkness.

Later, a tournament at the Klantol Colosseum is interrupted by news that Princess Camille has been abducted. King Marcel orders Deatharte to search for her. Deatharte pretends to obey, but instead goes to join the Chaos Knights. Since Marcel is also concerned about an army of goblins mustering near the castle, he sends a promising young participant in the tournament (the player character) to investigate. Penetrating the goblin fort, the young hero not only confirms that the goblins were planning an attack on the castle, but learns that they abducted Camille and delivered her to the evil witch Wizari, who plans to sacrifice her to increase her power. The hero defeats the goblins and recovers the key to Camille's prison. Since Deatharte has naturally still not returned, Marcel relies upon the young hero to journey to Wizari's palace and save Camille. He succeeds in doing this and slaying Wizari.

The celebration is short-lived, as normally peaceful beings are driven mad by darkness. The hero's investigations of these incidents takes him to the mainland of Klantol, where he uncovers a plot by the Chaos Knights to conquer the world. Meanwhile, Princess Camille sneaks away to find Gillespie and manages to learn the password to the Chaos Knights' hidden stronghold. She is later trapped in Koldazhek Cave, but is rescued by the hero and tells him the password. Infiltrating the Chaos Knights' stronghold, the hero slays both Gillespie and Deatharte, who had become leader of the Chaos Knights.

The defeat of the Chaos Knights, however, causes a violent shift in balance from darkness to light, awakening a destructive power called Chaos, which even the forces of darkness fear. Marcel, Yvonne, Camille, and the court wizard are spirited away by Chaos. A former knight guides the hero to a passage to Chaos's realm. The hero goes there and defeats Chaos, rescuing the four prisoners and restoring balance to the world.

Lily Powers works for her father, Nick, in a speakeasy in Erie, Pennsylvania during Prohibition. Her father has been making her have sex with many of his customers since she was 14 years old. She accuses him of being “lower than any of them,” suggesting that he also abused her. The only man she trusts is Cragg, a cobbler who admires Friedrich Nietzsche, who advises her to aspire to greater things. Lily's father is killed when his still explodes. Cragg tells Lily to move to a big city and use her power over men. She and her African-American co-worker and best friend Chico hop a freight train to New York City, but are discovered by a railroad worker. He threatens to have them thrown in jail, but Lily says, "Wait ... can't we talk this over?" and seduces him.

In New York, Lily goes inside the Gotham Trust building. She seduces the personnel worker to land a job. Her subsequent rise through the building symbolizes her progress in sleeping her way to the top.

In the filing department, Lily begins an affair with Jimmy McCoy Jr., who recommends her for promotion to his boss, Brody. She seduces Brody, and he transfers her to the mortgage department. Brody and Lily are caught ''in flagrante delicto'' by a rising young executive, Ned Stevens. Brody is fired, and Lily falsely claims that Brody forced himself on her. But Ned believes her, and he gives her a position in his accounting department.

Although Ned is engaged to Ann Carter, the daughter of First Vice President J. P. Carter, Lily quickly seduces him. When Ann calls to say she will be visiting, Lily arranges to have Ann see her embracing Ned. Ann runs crying to her father, who tells Ned to fire Lily. He refuses, so J. P. calls Lily to his office to fire her himself. Lily claims she had no idea Ned was engaged, and that he was her first boyfriend. She seduces J. P., and he installs her in a lavish apartment with Chico as her maid. Ned, in love with Lily, tracks her down on Christmas Day, and she spurns him. He later returns to her apartment to ask her to marry him, but finds J. P. there. He shoots and kills J. P., then himself.

Courtland Trenholm, the grandson of Gotham Trust's founder and a notorious playboy, is elected bank president to handle the resulting scandal. The board of directors, learning that Lily has agreed to sell her diary to the press for $10,000, summon her to a meeting. She tells them she is a victim of circumstance who merely wants to make an honest living. The board offers her $15,000 to withhold her diary, but Courtland, seeing through her and using her claim that she simply wants to restart her life, instead offers her a position at the bank's Paris office. She reluctantly accepts. She also changes her name.

When Courtland travels to Paris on business, he is surprised and impressed to find Lily not only still working there, but promoted to head of the travel bureau. He soon falls under her spell and marries her. Unlike her previous conquests, Courtland knows what she is, but admires her spirit nonetheless. While on their honeymoon, he is called back to New York. The bank has failed due to mismanagement, which the board unfairly pins on Courtland. He is indicted, and tells Lily he must raise a million dollars to finance his defense. He asks her to cash in the bonds, stocks, and to sell her jewelry and the other valuables he gave her. She refuses, and books passage back to Paris.

While waiting for the ship to leave, she changes her mind and rushes back to their apartment. When she arrives, she discovers Courtland has shot himself. She tearfully professes her love for him. On the way to the hospital, the ambulance attendant assures her that he has a good chance. Lily accidentally drops her jewelry case, spilling money and jewels on the floor. When the attendant points this out, she tearfully tells him they do not matter anymore. Courtland opens his eyes, sees Lily, and smiles.

A Parisian detective, Henri Cassin (Steven Geray), falls in love with country innkeeper Pierre Michaud's daughter Nanette (Micheline Cheirel) while on a long overdue vacation. She is a simple girl with a jealous boyfriend, Leon (Paul Marion). Nonetheless, the detective becomes engaged to her. On the night of her engagement party the girl vanishes and later turns up dead. Cassin believes that the obvious suspect is Leon, but soon he is also found killed. Soon after Nanette's mother (Ann Codee) receives a warning that she will be the next to die, then is found strangled.

Pierre, fearing for his safety, decides to sell the inn. Henri returns to Paris, and using his investigative skill produces a rendering of the killer.

To Henri's astonishment, the sketch is of himself. When he fits his shoe into the footprint, he realizes he is the murderer. After making a full confession to the police commissioner, Henri is evaluated by a psychiatrist, who determines that he is schizophrenic. Though placed under watch of a guard, Henri escapes back to St. Margot, where he tries to strangle Pierre. The police commissioner, who has followed the detective to the village, catches him in the act and shoots him dead.

As the Scoobies and the Potential Slayers argue over what to do next after Buffy's departure, Faith tries to get everyone to agree to go to sleep and reconvene in the morning, when the power goes out due to the utility company workers leaving Sunnydale like most of the townspeople. The group continues to argue, and Faith suggests the Bringers are the weakest link among their enemies, so they should capture one and interrogate him. When Spike returns from his mission with Andrew, he is enraged to find that the Scooby Gang have lost faith in Buffy's leadership and evicted her from her home during his absence. He denounces them all as traitors, then storms out in disgust. Spike tracks down and comforts a depressed Buffy, while Faith accepts her role as the newly elected leader of the Potentials.

The Scoobies capture a Bringer and magically interrogate him. Eyeless and tongueless, he speaks through Andrew, who tells them that Bringers are busy forging weapons for the coming apocalypse and do not see Buffy's army as a threat. Later, after saying goodnight to Giles, Faith is approached by the First Evil in the form of the deceased Mayor, who leads her to believe that Buffy only sees her as a killer and will take the first chance she gets to kill her.

That evening, four couples engage in intimacy. Buffy and Spike take refuge in an abandoned house, and Buffy confesses her self-doubt and inability to let anyone become close to her. Spike tries to rally her spirits by describing that he has seen all of her, the good and the bad, but he still stands by her. Buffy asks Spike to spend the night holding her. In the first lesbian sex scene ever on American network TV, Willow and Kennedy have sex for the first time, Faith and Wood engage in a one-night stand, and Xander and Anya rekindle their sexual relationship.

The next morning, Faith gives out her orders. She sends Dawn, Xander, Willow and Anya to go and find Buffy, while she and the Potentials launch a preemptive strike on the First's armory, which turns out to be a trap. Buffy regains her will to fight and brawls with Caleb, evading nearly all of his offensive moves; in the end, she dives into a floor panel in the winery and finds a powerful battle axe that appears to have been hidden there. The episode ends with Kennedy finding a box, which Faith opens and discovers a bomb ready to detonate with only 8 seconds left. Faith yells for everyone to get down as the screen goes black.

;Prologue For 25 years Nils has worked with an iron rod to move stones from the fields of his farm Korpamoen in Ljuder's parish, Småland, Sweden. One day he slips and a big rock rolls onto him, breaking both his hip and femur. As a cripple he cannot work and is forced to sell the farm. His oldest son, Karl Oskar, barely of age, convinces Nils to sell the farm to him, and he buys it for 1700 riksdaler.

;Act I Karl Oskar visits his girlfriend Kristina, who waits for him and pictures him making his way through the familiar surroundings ("Duvemåla Pasture"). Karl Oskar tells her that he has bought his father's farm, and can now marry her ("My Lust For You"). They marry and begin a life together, but times are hard because of bad harvests (King of Stone's Kingdom). Kristina worries that they cannot support their growing family, and suggests to her husband that they take steps to prevent another pregnancy. Karl Oskar says that it would be a betrayal of his love for her.

Karl Oskar's younger brother, Robert, is on his way to begin work as a farm hand on a nearby farm. He stops by a stream and wishes he was as free as the water ("Out Towards a Sea").

Kristina is pregnant again, and she and Karl Oskar worry that they won't be able to feed their children during winter, because of a drought and bad harvest. An angry Karl Oskar tells God that since he took their hay last year, he might as well take the rest. Shortly thereafter lightning strikes the barn, setting it on fire. Kristina tells her husband that he got what he wished for ("Bad Harvest").

Young Arvid, who works as a farmhand beside Robert at the farm of Nybacken, is unjustly punished by his mistress; in desperation, he sets out to kill her with an axe, but Robert stops him. The two boys dream of a better world, a world across the ocean, called North America, which Robert has read about.

Kristina loves her home, and is happy to be married to Karl Oskar and have their three children (Blåklintstäcket/Kristina's Apple Tree). One day Robert returns home, having been beaten by his master. He refuses to go back, and asks for his share of the inheritance so he can leave Sweden and travel to North America. Karl Oskar confesses that he has been considering the same thing; he and Robert try to convince Kristina that she will love America, but she is too afraid ("No"). Kristina asks her beloved Uncle, Danjel, to help her change her husband's mind. In a dream, Danjel has a vision where he is called to fulfill his uncle's work of restoring God's Kingdom on earth and to lead the people away from the false teachings. One night he gathers a group of outcasts to celebrate communion ("Little Group"); the gathering is disrupted by the Provost and the local authorities, who scatter the group and intend to bring them all to justice for breaking the law. One of the persons in the room, Ulrika of Västergöhl, a former prostitute who is now born again through Christ and lives in Danjel's house, is furious over the hypocrisy of their persecutors, one of whom used to be her customer. Ulrika vows that her illegitimate daughter Elin will never have to suffer because her mother was a whore ("Never").

Kristina, and Karl Oskar's parents, try to convince him to stay, pointing out the advantages of home ("Golden Wheat Fields"). When Kristina makes christening porridge for the new baby, their starving oldest daughter (Anna) eats it, but the grain swells in her stomach, and she dies ("Come To Me Everyone"). Realising that the poverty in Sweden is just as dangerous as anything overseas, Kristina agrees to move. They visit the Provost and write down their reasons for emigrating in the church book. The provost warns them of all the horrors waiting in America, saying that God will wipe America off the face of the earth within fifty years. The emigrants begin their journey. Karl Oskar, Kristina, their children and Robert have gained some companions; Danjel and his family are moving to escape religious persecution, along with Ulrika and her daughter, and so is Arvid, who has also been living with Danjel. A group of 16 people leaves Ljuder, never to return ("We Open Up the Gateways.")

The ship turns out to be smaller than they had thought it would be. Karl Oskar must bunk with the bachelors. For the first time in their marriage, Kristina and Karl Oskar are separated ("Farmers at Sea"). One day Kristina discovers lice on her body. She is horrified, since she has never had them before in her life, and blames Ulrika, who has none ("Lice"). An old woman on the ship, Fina-Kajsa, is traveling to find her son in America, carrying a big grindstone because she has heard grindstones are very expensive in America. Fina-Kajsa tells the story of how lice came to be.

One night in the middle of a storm Karl Oskar is woken by his oldest son, Johan, who tells him that his mother is bleeding. Kristina, pregnant with her fifth child, has fallen ill with scurvy. The captain does what he can to help her, and Karl Oskar sits by her side, waking through the longest night of his life ("Stay"). When morning finally comes Kristina is alive, but Danjel's wife, who has been ill for a long time without telling her husband, has died ("Burial at Sea"). Fina-Kajsa has a letter from her son, saying that he has plowed 100 acres of fields with good soil. Karl Oskar asks where this is, and Fina-Kajsa reads: "Taylors Falls, Minnesota." Easy to remember, Karl Oskar points out ("Minne" meaning "memory" in Swedish).

On Midsummer's Eve land is finally spotted, after two and a half months on the ocean. The sight of all the New Yorkers out for a Sunday walk overwhelms the immigrants, and so does the foreign language ("A Sunday in Battery Park"). An apple given by one friendly lady to the children reminds Kristina of home. Johan asks if they can go home now. Kristina remembers her motherland, where they now are celebrating midsummer ("Home"). The group travels by train and steamboat, amazed at how wide America is ("Travel Through America"). At a land grab Karl Oskar's and Kristina's daughter Lill-Märta disappears. At the last moment, when the paddle steamer already started moving, Ulrika finds Märta and returns the girl to her parents.

One night the immigrants are left on a pier in Stillwater. It is dark and rainy, and no one understands what they say; they are completely abandoned, until Baptist pastor Henry O Jackson shows up and offers the immigrants shelter, warmth and food. As Danjel prays, thanking the Lord for the food, they find out that they have a word in common: "Amen." Robert tells his friend Arvid of his plans to go on the California trail and dig for gold and asks him to come along. Karl Oskar is highly skeptical, but his brother is firmly set on leaving ("The Dream of Gold"). The women are amazed by how Pastor Jackson handles household chores, and begin to understand that women are more equal in this country. The immigrants struggle to communicate with Reverend Jackson ("To Think That Men Like Him Can Exist").

Karl Oskar and Kristina continue to Lake Ki-Chi-Saga, where they intend to build their new home. Here, with help from Ulrika, Kristina gives birth to a healthy son. Karl Oskar reads the Christmas Gospel for his little family, and Kristina tells her new-born child about the land where she was born, and of her astrakan apple tree which is still carrying fruit ("My Astrakan").

;Act II A few years have passed by. The settlers gather and celebrate their choice to move to this New World ("The Superiors"). But Kristina lies awake at night, tormented by her longing for Sweden, and begs God to let her return ("Bright Evenings in Springtime"). Karl Oskar tells her that if God tries to move her back he will reach out his hand and keep her by his side. He shows her the boots that belonged to their daughter Anna, and reminds her why they left Sweden. He plans to write to her father and ask for some seeds from her astrakan tree, in the hope that a new tree planted at their new settlement will help her feel at home.

When Christmas comes Karl Oskar has bought Kristina a new stove, called the Queen of the Prairie. Their friends gather at New Duvemåla to celebrate Christmas, and they all marvel at the new stove ("The Queen of the Prairie"). The fun gathering is disrupted when Karl Oskar gets into a fight with Nöjd, a fur hunter, who tells Karl Oskar that he does not own the land he farms, which is stolen from the Indians. Karl Oskar describes his plight back home in Sweden, and tells Nöjd how hard he has worked to turn the wild grass on his property into a home and a farm ("Wild Grass").

One evening in June, a strange man is spotted down at the lake shore. Robert has come back from the gold fields. Arvid is not with him, but Robert has a lot of money, which Karl Oskar deposits at the bank. Kristina finds Arvid's watch and demands to know where Arvid is. Robert tells her that he eventually reconciled to his fate and then tells her the story of how they went searching for gold, but ended up lost in the desert. Arvid drank poisoned water and died ("Robert's Story"). The money Robert gives to Karl Oskar turns out to be counterfeit. Karl Oskar becomes furious ("Wild Cat Money"), believing that his brother knew this. Robert walks out to the woods where he finds a lonely stream, the symbol of the freedom he never found. He has caught yellow fever, and by the stream he dies ("Out Towards a Sea (Reprise)").

Karl Oskar and Kristina plant seeds in their new farmlands, and a great wheat field is grown ("The Field"), along with Kristina's apple tree, planted from seeds from home.

Back in Sweden Ulrika was a whore and no respectable man would look at her twice. Now she tells Kristina she has had several suitors ("Won't You Marry Me?") and has decided to marry Pastor Jackson, with whom she has been in love since they met; she will convert to Baptism. Kristina and Ulrika cherish their friendship ("A Miracle of the Lord"). Kristina comes to watch her friend being baptised by Pastor Jackson ("Down to the Sacred Wave").

Kristina suffers a miscarriage and Ulrika takes her to the doctor, then brings Karl Oskar the bad news that, after her miscarriage, Kristina's body cannot take much more. Another childbirth would mean her death ("Miscarriage"). A devastated Kristina thinks of all the bad things that have happened to her, having to leave her home, losing her child and now her husband's love. She desperately prays to God, not knowing what she will do if he isn't real ("You Have To Be There").

As time passes, Kristina begins to feel better. One day the settlers gather for a big harvest feast ("Harvest Feast"), and she tells Uncle Danjel of her wish to live long enough to see her children grow up. She also tells him about her apple tree, which finally is blooming and will give fruits to the autumn. After the feast Kristina tries to convince Karl Oskar that it is God's meaning that husband and wife should be together, and that if God wants her to live she will live, but if He wants her to die He will take her regardless. Karl Oskar argues, until she repeats the words he said to her so many years ago ("Here You Have Me Again").

During the civil war, the state of Minnesota gets a civil war of its own, an Indian uprising. Chaos, murder and violence begin to spread ("Red Iron/The Sioux uprising") at the same time as Kristina finds out that she is once again carrying a child. She tells Karl Oskar, who is worried. She turns to God and asks for help to comfort him, since she is so weak and tired herself ("Help Me Comfort"). The settlers have to leave their homes as the uprising spreads ("Where Do We Belong?"). Karl Oskar sends the children away with Danjel, but cannot leave himself because Kristina has miscarried again, and lies dying in her bed.

Karl Oskar is the only settler remaining in St. Croix Valley, but the apples on the Astrakan tree have finally matured. Karl Oskar gives Kristina the first of the ripe apples, and she smells it. She tells Karl Oskar not to grieve, saying she will be waiting for him at Duvemåla Pasture, as she used to ("I'll Be Waiting There"). Kristina then dies peacefully in her husband's arms.

In the land of Earthsea, a young wizard named Ged has visions about a girl and doors opening. Meanwhile, King Tygath wants to rule the land and release the Nameless Ones, demons from whom he hopes to learn the secret of immortality. He sends men to attack Ged's village, in search of the wizard of prophecy (Ged). Ged learns his first spell from an elderly woman. When the invasion comes, Ged uses a mist spell and lures the invaders over a cliff, saving the village. However, Ged also falls off the cliff.

Tygath tries to convince High Priestess Thar to release the Nameless Ones, but she refuses. She is poisoned by Rosa, her attendant who has been tricked by the king's lover, Kossil, every time she has tea.

A magus named Ogion arrives at Ged's village and revives Ged. He tells Ged his true name and takes him for training, but Ged is too impatient; he is sent to the magic school on Roke. There he meets the bully, Jasper, and befriends a student named Vetch. Ged shapeshifts into a hawk to show off. Jasper then challenges him to raise a spirit from the dead, leading him to accidentally release a Nameless One. The demon attacks Ged before being driven away by the Archmagus, who tells him that this Nameless One will hunt Ged down and try to possess him, using Ged's power for further destruction. Ged must go somewhere in hiding until he can find its true name and destroy it.

With the help of Jasper, King Tygath takes control of the magic school. He throws a knife at the Archmagus, apparently killing him and making Jasper the new Archmagus.

With the help of Ogion, Ged confronts the Gebbeth and attempts to drown him using a rock, however, it escapes with Ged's likeness and voice. Ged's impersonator becomes a murderer, and Vetch, a magus himself, chases Ged until he realizes Ged is not possessed by the Gebbeth and they decide to hunt it together.

They are attacked by the dragon, Orm Embar, but Ged uses the dragon's true name to bind him and ask three questions. He wastes his first question, but with his second, he learns the Gebbeth's location. The dragon tells him where to find the two pieces of the Amulet of Peace, which when reunited would save Earthsea, but Ged could have asked the true name of the demon.

Meanwhile, Thar appoints a successor, Tenar, and tells her the incantation to release the Nameless Ones. Kossil strangles Rosa and frames Tenar, leading to her imprisonment.

Ged and Vetch return to Roke for help in decoding the dragon's riddle. The Archmagus survived Tygath's attack and made the real Jasper into a village fool as punishment. He sends Ged and Vetch to unseal the Nameless Tombs on Atuan, but Ged is captured and brought before Thar, who mistakes him for an evil wizard.

In the labyrinth, Ged is locked in the cell next to Tenar. They break free and recognize each other from their visions. Thar realizes her mistake right before her death. Kossil tries to force Tenar to reveal the incantation and fails, so Tygath kills Kossil and follows Tenar to the gate of the Nameless Ones.

Vetch finds the tomb first and is taken by the Gebbeth. Ged encounters Tygath in the labyrinth and fights him but then escapes into the tomb. He encounters the Gebbeth and realizes its true name is his own, because it is the darkness in himself. The demon is absorbed into Ged, making him whole again and strengthening him to strike Tygath in the tomb. Tygath threatens Tenar to release the Nameless Ones, but she refuses, remaining true to her faith. Ged then requests Tenar to go ahead and release them. He tells her to look into his eyes, in trust. She recites the incantation, releasing the Nameless Ones. The Nameless Ones, then, take Tygath into the sky before flying off. Ged reveals part of the key is the second half of the amulet. The Amulet of Peace is made whole, dispelling the Nameless Ones with a bright light and restoring peace to Earthsea. Ged is seen victorious with Tenar and they kiss.

An ancient alien life force, after lying dormant for centuries, awakens with a hunger for humans. It is up to an elite SWAT team led by a fierce assassin to save mankind from a fate worse than death. For centuries, the extraterrestrial waited for human knowledge to evolve enough to unlock the source of its deadly potential.

When a mad scientist finally breaks the genetic code, a horde of mutant creatures begins to spawn, each a killing machine. Deep within a top-secret military base, a small army of soldiers attempts to exterminate the bloodthirsty beast, but with each life it takes, the creature grows more powerful. Is it possible that mankind's place on the food chain has finally been challenged?

An orc chief has united all tribes of the orcs and plans to attack the lands of the humans. The player is hired by Hetman Tronde Torbensson, the leader of the Thorwalians, to find the sword ''Grimring'' (the Blade of Destiny) and prevent an orc invasion on Thorwal. However, Grimring has been lost since the death of its bearer, the Hetman Hyggelik the Great. In order to recover the sword, the player must find pieces of a treasure map which shows the location of the sword. Once the sword is recovered the player needs to defeat the orc chief and his minions. If the player does not succeed within about two in-game years, the orcs will attack and the player loses.

After the failed orc invasion on Thorwal, the orcs attacked another region. The player is recruited in the city Kvirasim by an elf ambassador to recover an old artifact, the Salamander Stone, that could unite the elves and the dwarfs for battle against the orcs. Immediately a mysterious third party which seems to be against the uniting of the dwarves and elves counter offers riches and bribery. The quest leads them first to the depths of a long abandoned dwarven mine in the mountains. There they must walk a fine line between taking what they need and taking out of avarice. If successful they meet a master smith, who forges an asthenil sword for them and lets them swap it for the Salamander Stone.

Leaving the mines with the Salamander Stone, they are instructed to take the stone to an orc besieged city of Lowangen. The party is allowed past the orcish blockade, only after they leave behind most of their heavy weapons and armor. Once inside the city, they are robbed of the Salamander Stone. While attempting to locate it the group runs into cultists serving an unknown god. The cult comprises humans and elves. After a bloody fight, the group finds two Salamander Stones, one fake and one genuine. There is a notice of instruction telling the cult to send the real one off to the north to their leader.

The group travels to the northernmost city on the map and finds it completely deserted. Upon entering one house they find a trap door leading below the house to an underground base of the cult. Within its first floor, they find a warrioress frozen in a solid block of ice. She joins the group after the player character thaws her out but leaves as the party moves to the third and final floor.

On the last floor is a temple to the Nameless God. At the very back the party finds the dwarven ambassador, Ingramosch, petrified in stone and the mysterious third party that first tried to offer them riches for the Salamander Stone. He is actually a powerful sorcerer. After taunting the party, he casts a spell that teleports him to the massive cave behind him. A huge dragon comes forth and starts breathing flames at the party. After battling the party for some time, the dragon finds them honorable and allows them to live. As he disappears into his cave, the player character uses the salamander stone to flesh spell upon Ingramosch. They climb out of the dungeon and find the elven ambassador waiting with a horse-drawn carriage. He takes the party to the harbor where a boat is waiting. The elf spends days healing the dwarf with magic. When Ingramosch comes to, they give him the Salamander Stone.

After arriving at the tree city of the elves, the dwarves and elves hammer out an alliance. In celebration, the group is treated to a feast in the tree city, where the rarely seen elf king shows up and thanks the group for all its success and hails them as friends forever to elves everywhere.

''Shadows over Riva'' continues after ''Realms of Arkania: Star Trail''. After uniting the dwarves and elves, the party stops by the harbor city of Riva, which is under siege by the Orcish hordes. The countryside's once-lucrative dwarven mine has been decimated and occupied by the Orcs after a string of well-coordinated attacks. For some unknown reason, the magistrate refuses to recognize the threat the orcs pose just outside the city gates. Meanwhile, rumors abound of traitors in the slum ridden-Hoberkian community and strange corpse disappearances within the city's graveyard, the Field of Boron.

As the party investigates each lead, more questions seem to surface than answers. After investigating the dwarven mines the traps' design suggests that the Orcs have become much smarter and more organized than normally possible; they are no longer fragmented tribes warring among themselves. They speak of a single, wise, all-powerful chieftain with the powers of a wizard. Upon confronting the chieftain deep within the mines, he summons a massive demon from the underworld to fight the party. The party defeats it and sends the demon back to the underworld. When they kill the Orc chieftain, a tiny worm emerges from the chieftain's head and flees.

Returning to the city with this new information, the party still finds the city's magistrate apathetic. They befriend the Holberkians when they save one of them from a mob. As half-elves and half-Orcs, they know of the orcish hordes, but earned the enmity of the citizens, who think they are responsible for the Orcish siege of the city. The Hoberkians noticed a pronounced change in the Orcs' activity, suggesting an outside influence. They reveal a long-absent sorcerer living on an island in the swamp who could have been responsible for the changes in the orcs. The next day, the party is escorted to the sorcerer's tower, where they find experiments and letters pointing to a person known only as Borborad and his shipment of two worm queens. One queen was delivered but a second was lost en route when the urn sank with a cargo ship in Riva's harbor during a storm. Research notes further reveal much information on the worm spawned from the queen. They possess extreme intelligence and could possess hosts by entering their brains through the nose. They are also linked telepathically to the queen who spawned them and could not be killed unless the queen is killed. Queens reside in hives which were invulnerable to attack due to the queen's magic.

After returning to Riva, the party speaks with the magistrate about their suspicions, who dismisses them. Within the day, they are framed for murder. An underground movement contacts the group and offers them sanctuary and the use of a tunnel system that surfaces in every temple. They are informed of the movement's suspicions that the magistrate is under some unknown influence, possibly a worm spawn. They are tasked to rescue a group of wizards from the magistrate's prison island. The party witnesses an attempt at implanting worms into the wizards. After they are rescued, the wizards inform the group that it was the magistrate who ordered an expedition to recover the sunken ship items from the harbor. One of the urns was brought to him, which released the worm queen when it was opened. It possessed the magistrate, established a hive, and used its spawn to possess various people around the city. The worm queen is able to hear and see everything the possessed townsfolk see and hear. The group is told that the one remaining urn in the sunken ship is required to learn more about the queen and a means to defeat them. After obtaining the urn from the merfolk that lives in the waters near Riva's harbor, the wizards spend a few days studying the queen inside.

When the wizards summon the party, they give them a shrinking spell that reduces them to worm size and allows them to enter the magically reinforced hive. They fight their way through the hive, pick their way through a confusing maze, and fight off telepathic nightmares before confronting the queen. After killing her, they return to their normal size, destroying the hive as they grow, since the magic protecting the hive walls broke with the queen's death. Everywhere in the city, the worm spawn are dying and falling out of their hosts. None of them recall them being under the influence of the spawn, so the party is still considered to be a band of fugitives. They are forced to escape the city, but they go with the knowledge and satisfaction that they saved everyone from the orcish invasion. Without the queen's leadership, the orcish hordes fragment back into their warring tribes. Borborad swears vengeance against the party who foils his plans.

Side-stories

There is a sidequest involving the disappearances of corpses from the city cemetery known as the Field of Boron. The group finds one freshly dug grave to be a fake which leads to a shapeshifter's quarters below ground. After killing the shapeshifter and its demon familiar, they uncover information indicating the presence of a felimia, an elven vampire. The party goes on another side quest to investigate the sewers where they run across a massive humanoid rat, the city's rat catcher, and an old slight hag. The party travels deeper into the sewers and discovers the city's secret underground resistance. The old hag suddenly displays inhuman powers as she grabs an elf, kills him, and changes into a beautiful elven female sporting vampiric canines. The group learns from different citizens that, the last time the city caught the felimia, they imprisoned her in a coffin buried in the Field of Boron. After digging up the coffin, the group finds it empty with a hole in its bottom that leads to the shapeshifter's quarters; the felimia had bypassed the charms placed on the cover of the coffin by breaking through the bottom of the coffin. The resistance contacts the party and tells them that they learned that moonlight can kill the felimia when they last fought her. With the help of the resistance, the group finds the felimia's lair behind a magic mirror. Inside, they find a magically locked trunk that belonged to the resistance and open it with the password given to them. Inside the trunk are a moonlantern, moonstone, a cloak, and a magic dagger. The cloak is revealed to be an invisibility cloak that allows the wearer to turn invisible to normal people and gives them the ability to see the felimia. The resistance member dons the cloak, sees the invisible felimia standing right next to them, and attacks her with the dagger. He chases her into a room of mirrors. The party kills the felimia in the room of mirrors when they light the moonstone and place it into the lantern. After completing the sidequest, the underground resistance is forever grateful to your group and later aids you when you are framed for murder.

Out in the countryside, near the dwarven mines, there is a set of boots embedded in stone. When the party grasps it, they are transported to a mouthless cavern deep in the mountains and are confronted by a nameless warrior who was wearing the set of boots. He acknowledges that the party is after his magical boots, and tells them that he has been seeking death but cannot die by his own hands. As a warrior, he challenges the party to a fight for the boots. Upon killing him, he dies with a relieved smile and the party takes the pair of boots from him.

A sidequest comes up when the party investigates the sunken ship of Riva's harbor. The party is immediately attacked by a group of merpeople with tridents when they enter the water. After fighting them off, they encounter a second group of merpeople. If the party decide not to attack this second group, they are revealed to be friendly and escort the party to see the merking at their palace. The merking tells the party that some of his people have been under some evil influence since another ship sank in the harbor; he asks them to investigate and solve the problem. If the party accepts, the merking will also mention that his daughter feels that one member of the party has an extreme attraction to her and would like to reciprocate the feelings. If her feelings are accepted, the merprincess joins the party, which prevents them from being attacked by merpeople. In the depths of the second sunken ship, the party finds bottles of alcohol that line the supply room. If the alcohol is destroyed, all attacks by enraged merpeople will stop. When the party reports back to the palace, the merking mentions that the merprincess and the party member feel even closer than before. He offers the party member a life under the sea in his court: If the party accepts, the party member with the greatest charisma leaves the group with the merprincess; if they refuse, the party acknowledges that the current quest is more important and bid a fond farewell to the merfolk. In either case, the merprincess leaves the party.

Set in 1955, the novel focuses on the hopes and aspirations of Frank and April Wheeler, self-assured Connecticut suburbanites who see themselves as very different from their neighbors in the Revolutionary Hill Estates. In the opening scene, April stars in an embarrassingly bad amateur dramatic production of ''The Petrified Forest''. After the performance, Frank and April have a fight on the side of the highway, and Frank later begins an affair with his office colleague Maureen Grube.

Seeking to break out of their suburban rut (and consequently blaming herself for all of Frank's "problems"), April convinces Frank they should move to Paris, where she will work and support him while he realizes his vague ambition to be something other than an office worker. The promise of France brings the two together in love and excitement again, and Frank seemingly ends his relationship with Maureen. While April sees the emigration as an opportunity to escape their bland environment, Frank's plans are more driven by vanity of his own intelligence, which April panders to. When the dull and prim neighbor Mrs. Givings begins bringing her "insane" son John around to the Wheelers' house for regular lunches, John's honest and erratic condemnation of his mother's suburban lifestyle strikes a chord with the Wheelers, particularly Frank.

Their plans to leave the United States begin to crumble when April conceives their third child, and Frank begins to identify with his mundane job when the prospect of a promotion arises. After arguing over the possibility of aborting the pregnancy, Frank tries to manipulate April into seeking psychiatric help for her troubled childhood. April, overwhelmed by the situation, suffers something of an identity crisis and sleeps with her neighbor Shep Campbell, while Frank resurrects his relationship with Maureen. April attempts to self-abort her pregnancy, and in doing so is rushed to the hospital and dies from blood loss. Frank, scarred by the ordeal and feeling deep guilt over the outcome, is left a hollow shell of a man. Parenting duties are largely shifted to his brother and sister-in-law, with Frank visiting on weekends. Thus, the Wheeler children's youths begin to mirror the youth of their mother, who was primarily brought up by a slew of relatives while her parents visited infrequently.

The movie follows two female American officers (played by Maria Lease and Kathy Williams) who volunteer to enter a Nazi camp undercover to gain information from, and possibly rescue, an inmate. The camp's female inmates serve as sex slaves for German officers and are subjected to humiliating treatment, torture, and rape. When the two female agents learn that their target is being held in solitary detention, one of them arranges to be punished so that she can make contact. This leads to Lt. Harman (Lease) being stripped and strung up by her wrists. The target uses her body to free Harman, and they attempt their escape. The escape plan ends in a climactic battle. The movie shows female full frontal nudity for the majority of the film.

The film is set in a South American jungle prison during a revolution. Initially, the camp commander and the prison physician, Dr. Costa, wait for a few guards on a truck. On board are six young women. Three of them were arrested on suspicion of revolutionary activities, the other three are made available to the guards to be raped. The three detainees, Karine, Barbara, and Aida, are found shortly thereafter, naked and chained in a standing position, in the notorious Cellblock 9. Gradually, they are presented to the "interrogation", which is supported by the doctor through various tortures. Barbara and Aida resist the torture and remain silent, Karine, however, breaks down under the torture, and some revolutionaries denounced the (unnamed) city.

In the meantime, the young indigenous student Marie also ends up in the cellblock. Allegedly, propaganda material was found on her by the insurgents. Their torture was to spend three days without food and water in a single cell. She was then taken to dinner with the commander of the doctor, where they have oral sex in order to then get a little sip of salty Champagne.

After the four women in Cellblock 9 again are forging among themselves, they devise a plan to contact their contacts in the capital. The quartet manages to distract the guard in order to knock him out and flee with his rifle. Shortly after leaving the cellblock, Aida is killed in a gunfight with another guard who is also killed. The other three flee into the jungle, where Barbara has been shot and they progress slowly. They make it to an old temple, where they feel safe and remove the bullet from Barbara's shoulder. Karine and Marie go into the jungle to look for food, but the guards find their trail and meet them at the temple. As Barbara is killed, the other two, alerted by her screams, run back to the temple and are suddenly confronted by the camp commander and the doctor (surrounded by prison guards). In a last desperate action Karine attempts to steal the commander's pistol. When she fails to pull the trigger, the commander gives the order to fire and the last two prisoners are struck down on the spot. With the desecration of the corpses, the film ends.

Thirteen years before the start of the game, Hommlet was a peaceful town. Due to low taxes and safe roads, the area became prosperous, and the village flourished. This prosperity drew the attention of evil forces, who began slowly trickling into the area. It is not known where these forces came from, but the Dyvers of Nyr Dyv and the inhabitants of the forestlands of the Wild Coast were the chief suspects. As the presence of bandits, kobolds, and goblins increased, a local militia led by Waldgraf of Ostverk was raised to defend Hommlet. This only served to check the evil forces, however.

Six miles from Hommlet, a group of hovels formed a center for the evil activity. The locals ignored this threat since it was in the marshes, and Nulb began growing. A small chapel built to an evil god grew into a stone structure as the evil forces pillaged and robbed the lands around Hommlet. For three years the Temple of Elemental Evil served as a center for the swarms of vile creatures who plagued Hommlet. As the evil grew in power, the land around the Temple suffered from pestilence, famine, and a lack of commerce.

The leaders of the Temple grew too power-hungry, and they were defeated in the Battle of Emridy Meadows after challenging the kingdoms of the north. The evil forces were slaughtered, and their mighty Temple was destroyed and sealed with magic and blessings. In the years that followed, Hommlet became a destination for adventurers, who brought wealth to the city and returned the area to its peaceful origins. Eventually, adventurers stopped coming, and the village went back to life as usual. A year before the start of the game, however, bandits once again began trickling into the region, and the villagers appealed to the Lord the Viscount of Verbobonc for aid. He responded by providing funds for Burne and Rufus, two well-known adventurers from the area, to build a keep just outside Hommlet.

Story

The game begins with an opening vignette that is determined by the alignment of the party. All of these require the player to start in the town of Hommlet. After arriving in town and completing minor quests for the townsfolk, the player is directed to the moathouse, a small, fortified outpost to the east. The moathouse is home to bandits, and the player is asked to clear them out. However, in the dungeons of the moathouse, the player encounters a large force of bugbears led by an ogre named Lubash and a priest of the Temple of Elemental Evil, Lareth the Beautiful.

After defeating Lareth, the player can then go to either the Temple itself, or to Nulb, a town in the swamplands nearby. If the player goes to Nulb, many of the citizens will talk of the Temple. Spies for the Temple are living in the town, and the player can gain passage into the heart of the Temple by pretending to be interested in joining. The Temple is divided into four factions: Earth, Air, Water, and Fire Temples. Each Temple is at war with the other three in a perpetual struggle for supremacy. The player is asked by all four to provide assistance, and can gain access to Hedrak, the leader of the Temple of Elemental Evil, by performing quests for the sub-Temples. Most of the sub-Temples require the player to kill a leader of an opposing Temple to gain access to Hedrak.

Upon meeting Hedrak, the player has two options: kill him, or accept his quest. If the player accepts the quest, which is to kill Scoorp the Hill giant, Hedrak will make the player a part of the Temple of Elemental Evil, thus ending the game. If the player kills Hedrak, the way to four nodes of elemental power will be available. Inside each of these nodes is a gem. These gems can be inserted into the Orb of Golden Death, which is hidden inside the Temple, to form a powerful artifact. Deep inside the Temple, the player must then deal with Zuggtmoy, the Demoness Lady of fungus. The player can, based on choices made, fight Zuggtmoy, fight a weaker version of Zuggtmoy, or avoid a fight altogether. This can lead to one of three endings if the player succeeds: Zuggtmoy is banished for 66 years, Zuggtmoy is destroyed permanently, or Zuggtmoy lives on, but the player is well rewarded.

Ayu Tateishi is a well-adjusted middle-schooler in her second year, until the fateful day when she finds a dejected looking Nina Sakura outside of the school. Nina explains that she lost something very dear to her earlier that day. Ayu offers to help Nina, the annoying girl look for her lost item, but Nina seems reluctant to say what the item is that she lost, and runs off. On her way home Ayu finds what seems to be a mini-computer underneath the bench she knew Nina to be at earlier that day. After returning the item to Nina, Nina struggles to decide whether to let Ayu in on the 'big secret' she keeps.

In order to see if Ayu is trustworthy, she starts to follow Ayu around and eventually decides she can trust Ayu. Nina reveals that she is actually from the Magic Kingdom and is a magic girl. Ayu, however, doesn't believe Nina and thinks she is a bit crazy at first. Ayu herself had always shunned the ideas of magic and fairy tales, even admitting she had never read Harry Potter, so having someone tell her they are a witch truly isn't something she can easily accept. After several mishaps with her magic, Nina proves she is a magic girl, and a failure who came to Earth as her last chance to prove that she can get things right. These first mishaps and the fact that Nina has shared her secret with Ayu, Nina attaches herself to Ayu as a friend and does everything she can to help Ayu with getting the attention of her crush, Tetsushi Kaji. As their adventures continue many friends from the Magic Kingdom come and visit Nina to the chagrin of Ayu.

The anime adaptation has a very different plot starting after Ayu and Nina have first met. Instead of coming as a witch failure who is trying to prove herself to be more than she is said to be, Nina has come to Earth to find the five "Holy Stones". She tells Ayu that whoever collects all five will qualify to marry the prince of the Magic Kingdom. Nina's childhood friend Maya is also on Earth from the start, competing with Nina to find the stones. Though Nina does collect them all first, she learns that the prince and Maya are truly in love with one another, so Nina gives up the stones and her dream, allowing Maya and the prince to be with one another, and Nina stays on Earth with her friends.

A group of Earth's heroes are invited by an apparently benevolent race to participate in a series of contests against one another in exchange for advanced technology. This, however, is a ruse staged by the alien race the Brood. The Brood Queen plans to absorb the powers of the strongest heroes and channel them into the captive mutant heroine Rogue, to whom the Brood Queen has transferred her consciousness using Rogue's mutant power, subsequently using the winning heroes as hosts for Brood embryos for the new invasion of Earth.

Courtesy of microscopic nanites, all the heroes (with the exception of Iron Man, whose armor's automatic life support systems protected him from infection) are drugged, and become indifferent to everything except the contest, unable to process the anomalies in the situation facing them. Although the losing heroes are allegedly returned to Earth, Iron Man's first victory allows him to confirm that the departing teleporters lack the strength to return the subject to Earth. After Iron Man loses his second match against X-Force, he learns that the heroes are actually teleported to a different part of the ship to either destroy each other or be hunted by various animals. After encountering Psylocke, he is able to use his resources to reprogram the nanobots and use them to cure the other losing heroes, he and Psylocke forming a strike force to determine their location and gather the other heroes together to oppose the Brood's scheme. The Brood Queen's plan is eventually disrupted by the hero Hawkeye, who was overlooked in the early stages of the contest, and Iron Man, who leads several defeated heroes against the Brood. The Brood are defeated and Rogue is cured by heroine Ms. Marvel, who makes the Brood Queen withdraw from Rogue's body by convincing the Queen that she will kill Rogue if she does not.

List of conflicts

''Someday's Dreamers''

The story is set in present-day Tokyo. Much of the setting is based upon real areas, the more obvious ones being the Shibuya Crossing and the Tokyo Tower. The main backdrop of the series where all the characters reside is Shimokitazawa, roughly six minutes west of Shibuya on the Keio Inokashira Line. The Bureau of Magic is in Tokyo, which employs Mage Labor for certain special requests by everyday people. However, the mages must only use their magic with special permission, and any unlicensed use results in a penalty. The story is very gentle and centers around the protagonist, a witch named , a second-year senior high school student from Tono in Iwate prefecture. In order to train as a magic user, she travels to Tokyo during her summer break to apprentice under the charming . The story tells of Yume's trials and tribulations as she works toward her eventual graduation as a full-fledged magic user licensed by the Bureau of Magic. There is a strong undercurrent of romance which is never resolved.

''Mahōtsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto: Natsu no Sora''

Sora Suzuki is a cheerful girl with magical abilities who lives with her mother in the small town of Biei, Hokkaido. With the intention to honour a promise made to her late father, she successfully applies for a magic internship in Tokyo and temporarily moves into a boarding house in the city. Over the course of a summer month, she meets other teenagers studying to become accredited mages, including an initially aloof boy who appears to lack magic abilities. Under the guidance of their mentors, the apprentices learn more about magic, each other and life in general as they attend formal classes and work to fulfil contractual assignments for clients.

In the manga, Sora has a strange trait to her magic that manifests itself despite her ire; whenever Sora casts a spell, the end result always involves sunflowers, though otherwise almost always how Sora intended it. This is absent in the anime.

The film is set in 1997. Adrian Tripod, occasional director of a dermatological clinic called the House of Skin, searches for his mentor, insane dermatologist Antoine Rouge, who has disappeared following a catastrophic plague, resulting from cosmetic products, which has killed the entire population of sexually mature women. It has allegedly claimed the life of Rouge himself after the virus mutated to affect men.

Tripod joins a succession of organisations, including Metaphysical Import-Export and the Oceanic Podiatry Group, and meets various individuals and groups of men trying to adjust themselves to a defeminized world. When a House of Skin patient that Tripod had grown close to dies from the plague, Tripod checks into a mental health clinic and engages in foot fetishism and showing off his collection of female underwear to other men.

Tripod aligns with a group of pedophiles who kidnap a five-year-old girl who has been exposed to chemicals intended to force her into puberty in order to impregnate her. However, one of the group is ultimately unable to bring himself to rape the young girl and leaves her untouched. Tripod enters the room where the girl is kept and removes his shirt, before suddenly seeing the girl emit a cream-like white foam from her mouth. Sensing the presence of Rouge in the girl, in the form of the same virus that killed him, Tripod finds his own nipples are producing the same substance. This brings him to the realization that, by artificially inducing puberty in the young child, she has become infected with the plague and that both the girl and Tripod are now going to die.

The setting of the game is a fictional prehistorical Stone Age-era world that is shared by both neanderthals, woolly mammoth, saber-tooth tigers, dinosaurs, and various assorted wild primeval monsters such as prehistoric mammals, giant insects, human-eating plants, and other exotica; thus, the setting is similar to that of films such as ''One Million Years B.C.'', or television shows such as ''The Flintstones'' or ''Dinosaurs''.

The eponymous Chuck Rock is an overweight, square-jawed caveman characterized by loutish and lewd behaviour perhaps influenced by the lad culture of the 1990s. Chuck has a limited vocabulary (his favourite phrase being "Unga Bunga" and not much else), has a balding head cut into a punk-style mohawk, eats whole dinosaur-steaks raw in one bite, and has a penchant for picking up rocks and throwing them at things, hence his name. Chuck is a guitarist and singer (or shouter) in a rock band along with some other cavemen, his attractive wife Ophelia Rock, and a long-haired dinosaur bass player; and whilst on stage he wears a long wig to hide his balding head.

One day, Ophelia Rock is kidnapped by jealous local bully Garry Gritter (a pun on the name of contemporary pop star Gary Glitter) and carried off to Gritter's hang-out in the creepy dinosaur graveyard. Chuck must go to her rescue, searching for her in primeval jungles, swamps, lakes, an ice-capped mountain top, caves, and even the insides of a gigantic dinosaur.

Using elements from both the ''RoboCop'' and ''Terminator'' universes, the comic book series begins with Skynet sending three Terminators back in time to Detroit to protect a troubled RoboCop from a lone human soldier also sent back to destroy him.

Discovering that the technology used to build him is partly responsible for the future development of Skynet, RoboCop sets out to take down Skynet in the post-apocalyptic future single-handedly. Part of the story focuses on his mind, the only part left of him, hiding and moving throughout Skynet's systems, fighting back as best he can.

RoboCop's human consciousness (Alex Murphy) waits for decades in hiding deep within Skynet's "consciousness", avoiding detection as the slaughter of humanity takes place. He waits for the opportunity when Skynet's attention will be focused on other matters with the war against the humans for him to make a move. A human assault allows Murphy to create a Terminator body that resembles his old form. He makes his escape and is nearly destroyed by human resistance fighters. He identifies himself as an ally and, after gaining their confidence, begins to plot to destroy Skynet with them.

Human allies

As the planning continues, the humans devise a final assault on the central location where Skynet is being housed. They realize that they do not have the manpower to complete their assault. One of the humans asks RoboCop how he was able to build his body. Upon explaining how he accomplished this, the human asks him why he could not do the same thing many times over. The group begins their assault on the Skynet compound and it is evident that they will not succeed when a buzzing is heard from behind them. The original RoboCop has succeeded in not only replicating, but improving himself. A swarm of flying RoboCops (in a different fashion than in ''RoboCop 3'') descend upon the battle and turn the tide. While the battle rages on outside the facility, the original RoboCop sneaks into the facility and shuts down Skynet. He then surrounds himself in a blob of the human flesh that covers the Terminators in order to travel back to the past before the appearance of the original Terminators.

Upon the appearance of the strange blob in the present, the people are confused and then terrified as the metal RoboCop tears forth from the mass of flesh and immediately blasts off into space. He finds the earliest iteration of Skynet (which in this story is a spy satellite) and destroys it. Upon the explosion of the satellite, he immediately disappears as the caption explains that this version of RoboCop would never have existed without Skynet.

The story ends with the RoboCop of modern times feeling a sense of peace without any inner turmoil from the beginning of the story, returning to the police headquarters for a much-needed rest.

After several years of having no children, the rulers of a European kingdom King Stefan and Queen Leah welcome the birth of their daughter, the Princess Aurora. They proclaim a holiday for their subjects to pay homage to the princess, and at her christening she is betrothed to Prince Phillip, the son of King Stefan's best friend King Hubert, to unite their kingdoms.

Among the guests are the three good fairies, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather. Flora and Fauna bless Aurora with beauty and song, respectively, but Merryweather's gift is interrupted by the arrival of the evil fairy Maleficent. Told that she was not invited, Maleficent turns to leave, but when Queen Leah asks if she is offended, the evil fairy curses the princess, proclaiming that Aurora will grow in grace and beauty, but before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die. The King and Queen beg the fairies to undo the curse, but they are not powerful enough; Merryweather uses her blessing to weaken the curse so that instead of dying, Aurora will fall into a deep sleep, only broken by true love's kiss. King Stefan orders all spinning wheels throughout the kingdom be burned. At the fairies' urging, the King and Queen reluctantly bring Aurora to a cottage in the forest to live with the fairies in safety.

Sixteen years later, Aurora, renamed Briar Rose, grows into a beautiful young woman. On her sixteenth birthday, the fairies ask her to gather berries while they prepare a surprise party. Aurora befriends the animals of the forest and sings them a song, "Once Upon a Dream". Phillip, now a handsome young man, follows Aurora's voice and is instantly struck by her beauty. She is initially frightened, as she is not allowed to talk to strangers, but she and Phillip fall in love, and she invites him to meet her family at the cottage that night.

Meanwhile, Flora and Merryweather argue over the color of Aurora's gown, attracting the attention of Maleficent's raven who learns Aurora's location. Returning home, Aurora is thrilled to tell her guardians that she has fallen in love. The fairies finally tell Aurora that she is a princess, already betrothed to a prince, and she must never see the man she met again. Heartbroken, Aurora cries in her room. Phillip tells his father of the peasant girl he met and wishes to marry, in spite of his prearranged marriage. King Hubert fails to convince his son otherwise, leaving him devastated.

The fairies take Aurora to the castle to await her birthday celebrations, where she will finally see her parents. Maleficent appears and lures Aurora into a dark tower away from the fairies, and tricks her into touching the spindle of a cursed spinning wheel. Aurora pricks her finger, fulfilling the curse. The three fairies place the sleeping Aurora on a bed in the highest tower and place a powerful spell on all the people in the kingdom, causing them to sleep until the spell on their princess is broken. They overhear a sleepy conversation between the two kings, and realize that Phillip is the man with whom Aurora has fallen in love. They rush to find him, but he is abducted by Maleficent and her minions at the cottage. She reveals to Phillip the enchanted princess and her plan to lock him away for a century until he is on the verge of death, then release him to meet his love, who will not have aged a single day.

The fairies rescue Phillip, arming him with the magical Sword of Truth and the Shield of Virtue. An enraged Maleficent surrounds the castle with thorns but fails to stop Phillip. She teleports in front of him and transforms into a gigantic dragon. They battle, and Phillip throws the sword, blessed by the fairies, directly into Maleficent's heart, causing her to fall to her death.

Phillip awakens Aurora with a kiss, breaking the spell and waking the kingdom. The royal couple descends to the ballroom, where Aurora is reunited with her parents. Flora and Merryweather continue their argument over Aurora's gown while the happy couple dances, living happily ever after.

Richard "Dinky" Earnshaw, a 19-year-old high school dropout, explains that he's got a good job in which he gets his own house, car, and virtually anything he asks for — including CDs that have not been released yet. He also gets a small weekly cash allowance, provided he doesn't look for the people who drop it through his mail slot and that he gets rid of any money left over at the end of the week; he dumps his excess change into the gutter by his house and he puts his bills in the garbage disposal.

It is revealed that Dinky has the ability to mentally influence people by drawing complicated designs or pictures, in a way that he does not completely understand. This is illustrated when he recalls that, as a child, when a dog tormented him on his way home from school, he (semi-knowingly) drove it to suicide. At Dinky's previous job at a convenience store, he was forced to endure humiliating treatment by another employee named Skipper, until the day Dinky used his power to make Skipper kill himself.

Dinky is discovered by a man named Mr. Sharpton, who claims to work for an organization that searches across the world for people with such talents. Dinky is recruited to kill very specific targets by e-mailing them his designs that he creates on an Apple computer. He is, in return, given a life that seems ideal, complete with a house and other benefits. Mr. Sharpton tells Dinky that the people he is ordered to kill are wicked, horrible criminals, and that the world is better off without them.

For a time, Dinky lives his new life in a semi-mindless bliss; however, when he finds an article in the newspaper about one of the individuals whom he has killed (a seemingly innocent old newspaper columnist) he begins to feel guilty for what he has done. After researching more into his other victims, Dinky realizes that the organization has been using him to assassinate political dissidents and alternative thinkers. As the story ends, Dinky plans his escape, but not before sending one final email to Mr. Sharpton, his recruiter, with a nondescript symbol attached.

SpongeBob accidentally receives Squidward's ''Fancy Living Digest'' magazine in the mail, inspiring him and Patrick Star to become entrepreneurs. Per Patrick's suggestion, the pair become door-to-door chocolate bar salesmen, which results in them purchasing large quantities of chocolate bars from the Barg 'n' Mart. Their first customer is a fish who loves to eat chocolate so much, he maniacally and repeatedly screams "Chocolate!", which scares the pair away. Afterwards, SpongeBob and Patrick attempt to sell chocolate to another fish, who cons them into buying chocolate-carrying bags twice in a row. They then try to sell to a woman who wants to buy a chocolate bar, but when SpongeBob is not able to find one because of all of the carrying bags, the customer loses her patience. When SpongeBob finally finds a chocolate bar, he and Patrick are chased away again by the "Chocolate!"-screaming fish.

After their disastrous results in their previous attempts, the two take a break at a diner, and decide to "try being nice". However, this is unsuccessful, ending in Patrick buying pictures of a customer as an overweight child, as is their attempt to "focus" (resulting in Patrick staring at a customer until the customer slams the door on Patrick's eyes). Then, they decide that the only way to sell chocolate is to "stretch the truth", which is successful when they convince a very old woman (to the dismay of her elderly daughter Mary) that it "makes you live forever". The lying continues, but after they attempt to help a seriously injured man (who turns out to be the same man who sold SpongeBob and Patrick the carrying bags in disguise) by buying his chocolate, their profit is lost. However, their maniacal first customer catches up to them, and, in a turn of events, he buys all of the chocolate that SpongeBob and Patrick have. They then use the money to rent out a fancy restaurant, allowing access only to themselves and their dates: Mary and her mother.

Michael Walsh, a husband and father, falls for a girl named Magenta. The difficulty is that Magenta is his wife's underaged sister. Magenta is persistent in pursuing Michael, though, and this provides the drama in the story.

After 4 teenagers mysteriously die simultaneously in Tokyo, Kazuyuki Asakawa, a reporter and uncle to one of the deceased, decides to launch his own personal investigation. His search leads him to "Hakone Pacific Land", a holiday resort where the youths were last seen together exactly one week before their deaths. Once there, he happens upon a mysterious unmarked videotape. Watching the tape, he witnesses a strange sequence of both abstract and realistic footage, including an image of an injured man, which ends with a warning revealing that the viewer has one week to live. Giving a single means of avoiding death, the tape's explanation ends suddenly, having been overwritten by an advertisement. The tape has a horrible mental effect on Asakawa, and he does not doubt for a second that its warning is true.

Returning to Tokyo with no idea how to avert his fate, Asakawa enlists the help of his curious friend Ryūji Takayama, an apparent psychopath who openly jests that he engages in rape. As soon as Asakawa explains the story, Ryūji believes him and insists on seeing the tape. Asakawa shows it to him, and he agrees that there is a powerful aura around it, and asks Asakawa to make him a copy to study at home, which Asakawa does.

Racing against the deadline, both men begin investigating the tape. By following the imagery from the tape, Ryūji deduces that the rapid strobe seen during certain sequences show the recording device was "blinking". The duo then connects this, as well as the significance of certain tape images, and learn of Sadako Yamamura, a young woman capable of technopathic feats (such as projecting mental images onto televisions) who mysteriously vanished 30 years previously. Believing that Sadako is connected to the tape, Asakawa also soon learns that, after carelessly leaving the tape in his home, his wife and infant daughter viewed the tape and now have 1 week to live.

Learning of an isolated sanatorium Sadako frequented when her father contracted tuberculosis, Asakawa arranges a meeting with Nagao Jotaro, a doctor at the now-closed hospital. Recognizing him as the injured man from the tape sequences, Ryūji aggressively presses Dr. Jotaro for answers; the doctor, buckling under pressure, explains that he was infatuated with Sadako and raped her in the woods near the hospital. Infecting her with smallpox that he unknowingly contracted, Jotaro was injured during a struggle (during which he learned Sadako was intersex), resulting in the doctor throwing Sadako into a nearby well before crushing her with rocks.

Believing that Sadako's rage and psychic powers resulted in the images projected onto the tape, Asakawa and Ryūji head for the well where she was killed. Figuring that the well is located beneath the lodge where the tape was located, the duo locates the well. Asakawa lowers himself inside, finding Sadako's remains. Recovering and giving her remains a burial, Asakawa passes his deadline, confirming that his curse has ended. When Ryūji dies of a heart attack the next day, however, the true nature of the tapes are revealed: Sadako's rage caused her psychic powers to combine with the smallpox virus in her body, creating a paranormal phenomenon that is activated when the tape is viewed. Demanding the viewer replicate the tape, the curse is propagated like a virus through tape copies, sparing anyone who copies it; since Asakawa duplicated the tape at Ryūji's request, he now must make his wife and daughter do the same.

David and Jason are brothers, the former a depressive living with his grandfather in Philadelphia where he runs a late-night radio talk show and the latter an extrovert con man working for gang boss Lewis in Atlantic City, where he lives with the manic-depressive Sally, former beauty queen and prostitute, and her stepdaughter Jessica, who entertained men alongside her mother. After no contact for 18 months, Jason asks David to come to Atlantic City for an opportunity to "make our fortune". David arrives and, after he is bailed out of jail, Jason persuades him to stay on in his hotel suite with the two women. He explains his scheme for a casino in Hawaii and tells him that they will share the girls when they go there.

Tensions grow among the four as Jason seeks unsuccessfully to involve a Japanese syndicate of investors in his plans. The skeptical David has no faith in Jason's plan, while Jason chides David for wallowing in his dark, lonely depressed life. Jessica is being groomed for a beauty queen career by Sally in another improbable scheme but develops a mutual attraction with Jason. Sally, increasingly neurotic over losing her looks, burns her glamorous clothes, cuts off her hair and throws away her cosmetics. Jason starts packing to leave for Hawaii and tells Sally that he is going with Jessica and that she cannot come. Sally threatens to shoot David or Jason and, when Jason mocks her, shoots him dead in rage and despair. David escorts his brother's corpse home to Philadelphia by train.

A gang of outlaws led by Blind Dick (Harry Dean Stanton) stop a stagecoach, remove a man and hang him. Another trio of cowboys, Vern (Cameron Mitchell), Wes (Jack Nicholson) and Otis (Tom Filer), come upon the hanged man but nonetheless stop to rest for the night at the gang's remote hideout. Neither group of men trusts the other. In the morning, they all find themselves surrounded by a vigilante hanging party, and a shoot out ensues. The outlaws are burned out of their shed and Blind Dick and Indian Joe are hanged by the vigilante posse. Of the trio Otis is shot and the other two are forced to flee and become fugitives in a case of mistaken identity, as they are thought to be part of the original gang.

Vern and Wes take refuge at a farm belonging to Evan (George Mitchell), who lives alone with his wife and daughter. Although innocent and not villains, the two hold the family hostage until they can make an escape. After a member of the vigilantes passes by and questions Evan, the two try to escape taking Evan's horses. Evan shoots and wounds Vern, and Wes shoots and kills Evan. Wes and Vern ride off together on one horse with the posse in pursuit. Eventually Vern can go no further and falls off the horse. Dying, he tells Wes to ride off alone, and holds off the posse until Wes can ride to safety.

''Virtual Boy Wario Land'' stars Wario on a quest to find treasure in the Awazon. Witnessing strange creatures entering a secret cave behind a waterfall, he decided to follow them. Claiming their treasure vault as his own, he collapses through the floor and must fight his way back to the top.

The ending depends upon whether Wario found all additional treasure in the lower tunnels and the coins he has collected: If Wario has not collected all 10 sigils that unlock the door to the treasure vault, he exits the cave in disappointment and notices that a gang of beavers has vandalized his airplane. Offering him an alternative vehicle in exchange for his coins, the beavers give him a ride depending on the amount he has collected, ranging from two fans to a bike, a dragon, or a new plane. If the player has collected all ten sigils, Wario will be able to open the vault and claim its fortune, along with a magic carpet which flies him home as well as a magic bottle. If certain conditions regarding difficulties and playing time are met, he will be accompanied by a bunny girl and/or the final boss, a genie.

A young Matty Demaret (Barry Pepper) is forced to decide whether to kill or spare the man responsible for his father's arrest by his father's associate Teddy (John Malkovich). Unable to pull the trigger, Teddy tells Matty he is unfit for mob work.

Years later, Matty is unable to find a job because employers fear his mob boss father, Benny Chains (Dennis Hopper). He is unhappy doing menial jobs for his father, who apparently does not trust him with more serious criminal business. With Teddy's help, he convinces his father to let him go to Spokane to retrieve a package, which he sees as his chance to prove he's ready to be a real partner.

Matty commissions his friend Johnny Marbles (Seth Green) to discreetly fly to Spokane, retrieve the package and return immediately, stopping only for gas. When he lands in Wibaux, Montana, he is startled to find police coincidentally checking the office. Fearing he'll be questioned about the bag, he drops it among baggage to be loaded on a departing flight. While inside paying for fuel, baggage handlers notice his bag is not properly tagged. Johnny returns to find the bag gone and calls Matty with the bad news. Matty brings his friends Chris (also the jilted son of a mobster) and Taylor (Vin Diesel) to help find the bag.

The three look for an informant at a local bar and Taylor savagely beats a man who confronts them. Matty enlists his help to find anyone who might be spending a great deal of money (which was in the bag). That night, he finds out the two teenage baggage handlers have been spending rampantly. Matty, Johnny, Taylor and Chris go to the boys' house to confront them, but the sheriff (Tom Noonan), one of the boys' father, and his deputy (Shawn Doyle) arrive first and confiscate the money. The sheriff, against his deputy's wishes, decides to keep the money. Matty and the boys try to confront them amicably, but get run off. Realizing that they have reached a détente, Matty calls Teddy to help. Once he learns Matty's mob identity and fearing federal involvement, the sheriff agrees to meet with Matty for an exchange at midnight in a warehouse.

Fearing they are in too deep, Chris tries to convince Johnny to leave with him. Johnny refuses and Chris leaves. Teddy's associates ask Johnny where Chris is; realizing he has left but wanting to protect him, he says he does not know and is shot. Matty and Taylor are forced to go to the meet alone and encounter the sheriff and his deputy. Teddy and his associates also appear to even the odds, but the local informant, the sheriff's cousin, also arrives. Chris suddenly appears and kills the sheriff's cousin, triggering an all-out gunfight. Everyone but Taylor, Matty and Teddy is killed and Taylor is hit. Realizing Teddy has really come to take the money for himself, Matty confronts him. He admits that he has been stealing from Benny and aimed to take the money and kill Matty. He tries to discreetly reload and shoot Matty, but Matty kills him first.

Matty and Taylor return the money to Benny, who says he's ready for Matty to join the organization, but Matty refuses.

Oliver Cromwell Oglivie (also known as "O.C.") and Mark Stiggs are two ne'er-do-well, middle-class Phoenix, Arizona high school students. Disgusted with what they see as an omnipresent culture of vulgar and vapid suburban consumerism, they spend their days slacking off and committing pranks and outright crimes victimizing their nemeses, the Schwab family. The patriarch of the Schwab family, Randall Schwab, is a wealthy regional insurance salesman responsible for the involuntary commitment of O.C.'s grandfather into a group home. An extreme social conservative, Randall is blinded by greed, ideology, and plain stupidity to his wife Elinore's chronic alcoholism, his daughter Lenore's complicated relationship with business associate Frankie Tang, and the stunted emotional maturation of his son Randall Jr.

The majority of the film is presented as a frame story, narrated by O.C. and Stiggs to President of Gabon Omar Bongo. In it, they loosely retell the story of their ultimate revenge against the Schwab clan, which they had to accomplish before the summer's end forced O.C.'s grandfather to relinquish custody of O.C. to out-of-state relatives. O.C. and Stiggs' first major plan is to ruin Lenore and Frankie's wedding. They acquire an Uzi from deranged Vietnam veteran Sponson and modify a barely-functioning Studebaker Champion into an irregular, hydraulically-suspended car they call the "Gila Monster." Crashing the wedding, they convince Randall Jr. to fire the gun wildly into the wedding presents, cake, and a chandelier. O.C. strikes up a romantic friendship with fellow high school student Michelle.

O.C. and Stiggs' next plot involves the participation of African pop band King Sunny Adé and His African Beats; the two, along with their friend Barney, raft and walk their way to a Mexican fiesta, where they hire Adé (and also find the time to terrorize their drama teacher Garth for his homosexuality). Exhausted by his relentless commitment to juvenile pranks and stunts, Michelle stops seeing O.C. Later, O.C. and Stiggs connect with women's clothing magnate Pat Colletti, to whom they give marketing advice for his latest slumping fashion line. After finding their friend and drinking buddy Wino Bob (who had participated in other pranks targeting the Schwabs) dead, the two resolve to avenge the Schwabs' supposed abuse of the man. They sabotage a kitschy dinner theater performance (directed by Garth) which the Schwabs are attending by substituting Adé's band for the performers. The Schwabs convulse in horror at the unfamiliar music, which is otherwise warmly received.

O.C. and Stiggs finally launch their master plan of revenge against the Schwabs. They infiltrate the Schwab family home while the Schwabs are away and turn it into a homeless shelter. In the process, they also discover an elaborate doomsday bunker under the house, filled with guns, fireworks, and videotapes featuring the political messages of ultraconservative politician Hal Phillip Walker. When the Schwabs return, chaos breaks out as O.C. and Stiggs engage in an underground gunfight with Randall. They are saved by Sponson, who rescues them by helicopter, grabbing Randall and dropping him in a lake in the process. O.C. is happily reunited with Michelle, and the two retire to her bedroom.

At the end of the summer, Colletti informs O.C. and Stiggs that his fashion line has become wildly successful and pays them the first in a series of large royalty checks, which the two use to hire a 24-hour nurse for O.C.'s grandfather (allowing O.C. to remain in Phoenix). O.C. and Stiggs drive the Gila Monster triumphantly through the streets of suburban Phoenix.

The story is set in 1895 France and takes place predominantly in Paris. However, it begins on a farm in rural Provence. The lovely cat Mewsette and the accomplished but shy mouser Jaune Tom are in love ("Mewsette"), until the former is frustrated with his plebeian ways (and those of the farm), to the point of calling him a "clumsy country clod". Inspired by the human Jeanette's stories of glamour and sophistication in Paris ("Take My Hand, Paree"), Mewsette runs away by taking a train to the big city ("Roses Red, Violets Blue"), where she encounters the slick con-cat Meowrice. Taking advantage of the country kitty's naivete, he puts her in the care of the sultry Madame Henrietta Reubens-Chatte, who promises to turn Mewsette into a dainty debutante known as "The Belle of all Paris". Unbeknownst to Mewsette, Meowrice is grooming her to be the mail-order bride of a rich American cat in Pittsburgh known as "Mr. Henry Phtt" ("The Money Cat"). Meanwhile, Jaune Tom and his sidekick Robespierre arrive in Paris, searching for Mewsette.

Training does not go well. Just as Mewsette is about to give up and return to the farm, Meowrice takes her out to see the cat side of Paris, the Eiffel Tower, the Champs-Élysées and the Mewlon Rouge and then take a buggy ride back home ("The Horse Won't Talk"). Reinvigorated, she returns to her studies. Jaune Tom and Robespierre arrive just at that moment but get waylaid by one of Meowrice's shadowy cat henchmen and barely escape drowning in Paris's famous labyrinthine sewers. By coincidence, Jaune Tom displays his incredible mouse-hunting skills in front of Meowrice (known as "Virtue-Mousety"), who sees a money-making opportunity, gets them drunk ("Bubbles"), and sells them as mousers to a ship bound for Alaska. On the ship, Robespierre consoles a depressed Jaune Tom, telling him that any problem, regardless of size, can be broken up into manageable pieces, by remarking that even the mighty ocean is made up of little drops of water. Jaune Tom has a vision of Mewsette singing about how no problem is unconquerable, and the importance of never giving up ("Little Drops of Rain").

Mewsette finishes her training and is now lovely enough to impress even Meowrice, who commissions a series of paintings of her by such famous artists as Claude Monet, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Georges Seurat, Henri Rousseau, Amedeo Modigliani, Vincent van Gogh, Edgar Degas, Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin and Pablo Picasso (an opportunity for the animators to indulge in some artistic parodies), so that he can send them to Mr. Phtt. Meowrice quietly writes a check to pay his "sister", Madame Reubens-Chatte (using disappearing ink, so that the check is worthless), and takes Mewsette to his hideout in Notre Dame. There, he reveals his plan to ship her to America and tries to coerce her to enter a luggage crate, but after seeing a portrait of Mr. Phtt depicting him as fat and old, she manages to escape Meowrice and his sidekicks. In the resulting chase scene, she leads them to a bulldog, who injures Meowrice badly enough to put him out of action for six weeks. Meanwhile, his sycophants (who are nowhere near as intelligent as he is) comb the city without success, searching for Mewsette.

Meanwhile, not long after they reach Alaska (a howling wilderness of snow), Jaune Tom and Robespierre strike gold thanks to the former's mouse-hunting skills. Now wealthy, the two cats hurry back to Paris.

A disillusioned and homeless Mewsette wanders around the streets of Paris and stops atop a bridge over the river, considering ending her misery ("Paris is a Lonely Town"), but she is captured by Meowrice and his sidekicks. She is taken to the Gare du Nord railway station, en route to a boat to America, and all hope seems lost, when Jaune Tom and Robespierre arrive. They have been aided by Madame Reubens-Chatte, who is outraged that her own "brother" double-crossed her and tears up the worthless check. In a humorously over-the-top fight scene inside the boxcar of a moving train, the three heroes defeat Meowrice and pack him into the crate intended for Mewsette instead of kicking him off the train, doubtless that this will be a nasty surprise for Mr. Phtt. The film concludes with Mewsette, Jaune Tom and Robespierre enjoying the high life in Paris that Mewsette was seeking when she left home ("Mewsette Finale").

Repressed teenager Jennifer Stanton (Hart) is constantly at odds with her exceedingly-strict parents, who intensely dislike Jennifer's friends as well as her taste in clothing. Her father William (Baldwin) is an aggressive control-freak; his attitude has an adverse impact upon Jennifer's relationships, particularly with Brad (Lascher) - the captain of her high school football team. Brad ultimately breaks up with Jennifer, ostensibly because William keeps them apart, but also because another girl at school has him interested. Jennifer is shocked and frustrated by all of this.

Jennifer meets Nick Ryan (Jordan) at a gas station and soon forms a close relationship with him, which she keeps secret from her parents. Nick has a reputation for having spent time in jail on an assault charge. When Jennifer's parents spend a weekend away from the house, Jennifer uses the opportunity to get closer with Nick. Not trusting Jennifer, her parents return home early. They catch her in their bed with Nick. William furiously chases Nick out of the house, although Jennifer insists that she's in love with him. She continues dating Nick secretly, and uses makeup to convince him that William gave her a black eye. Concerned, Nick asks Jennifer to stay with him. She is touched by his offer, but declines. Back home, Jennifer's mother Susan (Hoffman) expresses disgust with the girl for having sex behind her parents' backs. She takes William's side against their daughter and her friends. Jennifer is grounded for the rest of the school year.

Nick visits Jennifer's house, and proclaims his love for her. He also states what he thinks of the harsh manner in which William treats Jennifer. William, shocked by Nick's audacity, threatens to sue him for statutory rape. He also threatens Nick with dire physical injury. The next morning, William finds his car vandalized and contacts the police. Nick is questioned, but denies all knowledge of the incident. Jennifer, knowing of her father's determination to have Nick imprisoned, convinces him to get his grandfather's pistol and kill her parents. While he plans out the murder, Jennifer tells her friends at school that she and Nick have broken up. She also presents herself to William and Susan as their idea of a model teenager. Although convinced that Jennifer has reformed and become truthful, her dad and mom couldn't care less. On the night for which they've scheduled her parents' murder, Nick reconsiders the plan at the last moment; with Jennifer's vehement encouragement, however, he goes through with it.

After the killings, which the police presume were done by a burglar, Jennifer is sent to live with her grandmother Rose. Nick, the prime suspect, is harassed by the cops. Jennifer rekindles her relationship with Brad. She calls the police anonymously with information that leads to their discovery of the gun with which Nick murdered her parents. With Nick in custody, the case seems to be closed. However, Detective Daniels (Eric Laneuville) suspects that Jennifer knows more regarding this case than she let on during police interrogation. When confronted, Jennifer claims that Nick was angry at her parents for not letting him see her, thereby explaining Nick's motive. Meanwhile, Jennifer's best friend Karen Winkler (Sisto) finds her diary; it reveals how Jennifer used Nick to do away with her parents so that she could have Brad.

Karen visits Nick in jail, and tells him how he's been set up by Jennifer. When he confronts Jennifer about it, she angrily blows Nick off, blaming him entirely for the murders of her dad and mom. Upset, he admits to the police that he killed William and Susan, but that it was Jennifer's idea. The police claim Jennifer's diary as evidence, only to find that she has rewritten the journal and thus made it useless. Frustrated, Karen sneaks into Jennifer's house to search for additional evidence; she fails to discover anything, and narrowly escapes being caught in the act. At Nick's murder trial, Jennifer falsely testifies that Nick harassed her. When Karen's determination to stop her becomes apparent, Jennifer threatens to implicate her in the murders of William and Susan. Eventually, a wired Brad manipulates Jennifer into admitting responsibility for her parents' deaths. The police pop in to arrest Jennifer for murdering her parents.

An epilogue reveals that Jennifer Stanton was tried as a juvenile; thus, her release from prison at age 21 would be mandatory...while Nick Ryan is now on death row.

Barry Champlain, a Jewish radio personality in Dallas, Texas, is a host with a biting sense of humor and a knack for condescending to his audience with his controversial political views.

Champlain's radio show is about to go nationwide. A former suit salesman (real name: Barry Golden), he achieves his rise to fame through guest shots on the Jeff Fisher radio show (using different pseudonyms, eventually landing on Champlain). Barry begins to steal the show with his acerbic sense of humor and sharp wit, which aggravates Fisher. Barry is subsequently given his own show, which rises to the top of the Arbitron radio ratings. Barry receives calls from people who appreciate him for what he does and how he does it, as well as people who seem to hate him. Attacking everyone from gays to drug addicts to rednecks to African Americans, he has a substantial number of hostile callers, from people who take offense to his attitude to radical right-wingers to hate groups phoning in to harass and intimidate him. He receives threatening fan mail when one caller makes a bomb threat. His rise to fame is accompanied not only by attention from radical far-right elements, but also with the alienation of his wife.

As his show is going through a final audition to go into national syndication, Barry grows increasingly isolated and asks his ex-wife Ellen to come and visit him, saying he needs her input and that she's the only person he trusts. They attempt a return to their relationship. Using a fake name and calling from the radio studio, Ellen talks to Barry on the air—the only place he seems to relate to people openly—in an attempt to reach him, to bring him back from the depression he seems to be suffering from. She begs for him to come back, but Barry refuses, bitterly attacking her as the radio production staff, all friends of Ellen, watch in horror; Ellen walks away. Barry confesses his true intentions, admitting he cares more for personal gain than the societal ills he addresses and refusing to apologize for his hypocrisy. He shouts that the American people scare him because of what has happened to his friends, family, and co-workers. He berates his callers that they have nothing worth saying and that they tolerate his abuse and return for more. He screams at them to go away, seemingly unaware of the apparent fact that he attracts his listeners and most of the ire he receives. Ultimately, he realizes he has made his bed and is as stuck with them as they are with him. Despite Barry's meltdown, his co-workers tell him it's now the highest-rated segment in the show's history, and his boss adds that the show will go national.

While Barry is walking to his car, an apparent fan asks for his autograph. As Barry signs it, the "fan" pulls out a gun and shoots him several times, killing him. As the film ends, callers to Barry's show, his co-workers, and Ellen speak on air about him. They say that Barry was a talented, intelligent and funny man, but none of that mattered; he hated himself, and his death wish was finally granted.

Eric Cartman must go to the local eye doctor, whom he hates because the doctor always makes fun of his obesity by referring to him as "Piggy". Cartman is told that he has bad vision and has his eyes dilated; he is later given a pair of thick-rimmed glasses which are then stapled to his head so that he cannot take them off. Later, he and the other boys discover that Chef has quit his job at South Park Elementary and has been replaced by Mr. Derp, a cliché cartoon character (who may also be a parody of Pauly Shore) , who tries (and fails) to win them over with his poor slapstick comedy gags.

They then find out that Chef has a new girlfriend, Veronica, (voiced by Michael Ann Young) who has caused his life to change from that of a free-spirited, soul-singing cafeteria chef to that of a mediocre office worker. She is also extremely fond of singing the love theme from ''The Poseidon Adventure'', "The Morning After" at inappropriate times. The boys believe that she is trying to steal Chef away from them and are dismayed when they discover that the two are planning to get married.

Not wanting Chef to go too, the boys seek advice from Mr. Garrison, who suggests that Veronica is a succubus: a demoness sent from Hell to prey on and suck the life out of men. The boys go to warn Chef of this, but instead they meet his parents, who tell them about their frequent meetings with the Loch Ness Monster, claiming that the beast is stalking and constantly pestering them for a sum of "about tree fiddy" ($3.50). (This is a take on constant jokes mostly from black comedians, like Richard Pryor, about unusual people asking for money or food during hard times.)

Meanwhile, a botched attempt at laser eye surgery leaves Cartman temporarily blinded. While the others mock him, Veronica comes to visit them. She manages to convince them that she is not a monster but, just as she is about to leave, suddenly takes on a demonic face, laughing maniacally and declaring that they cannot stop her from marrying Chef. The boys try to tell Chef of this at the rehearsal dinner, but he angrily shuts them out. They go back to Cartman's place to formulate a plan to stop the wedding.

The boys discover that a succubus controls the minds of men with a melody and that playing it backwards will vanquish it. They remember that Veronica always sings "The Morning After" and proceed to learn how to sing the song backwards. At the wedding, they play a tape of the song backwards while Stan and Kyle sing the words in reverse order. Veronica begins to lose her hold on her human form. When the tape gets jammed, she peels off her human disguise and reverts to her true shape—a bizarre, red-eyed, bat-winged, witch-like monster—flying around and wrecking the church (and killing Kenny in the process). When the boys finish singing the song, Veronica is sucked back into Hell. Chef, no longer under her evil spell, apologizes to the boys for ignoring them and eventually returns to their school as the chef and as his old self.

Cartman returns to his optometrist, who tells him that, with eyes as bad as his, he will always have to wear glasses. He solves this problem by convincing the doctor to give him an eye transplant, using Kenny's frozen head as a donor. The optometrist then asks for $3.50, suggesting that Chef's parents' tales were not entirely fabricated.

Sam Bissell, a hard-working San Francisco advertising executive, has two young daughters and a loving wife, Min.

An extremely important client, Simon Nurdlinger, is considering taking his business elsewhere when he believes there are no "family men" working at Sam's company. Sam's boss, Mr. Burke, introduces the client to Sam. The client is delighted by Sam and agrees to do business with him and the company. Sam feels his career is now on the way up and he goes home to celebrate with his wife. There, he meets his wife's longtime friend and their new next-door neighbor, Janet, and they all have dinner together to celebrate his promotion and Janet's new home. Sam gets drunk and tumbles down the grand carpeted staircase of the Fairmont Hotel, knocking down a waiter carrying trays of meals.

Janet, a beautiful woman, is recently divorced from her husband Howard and is happier than ever. She has also come into a large inheritance from her grandfather, which carries the stipulation that she must still be married to Howard in order to receive the inheritance. State law dictates that a divorce is not final until a year from final settlement. Since only six months have passed, Janet decides to hide the divorce from her cousins Irene and Jack who stand to inherit if Janet is disqualified.

With Howard unavailable, Sam is pressed to impersonate him when Irene and Jack arrive for a visit. Having never met Howard, Irene and Jack seem convinced but begin watching the couple with a telescopic surveillance camera hidden in a phony workmen's truck nearby. Janet and Sam (with Min's complicity) are thereby forced to continue the charade for several days, with Sam cohabiting and being driven to work by Janet, and sneaking in to occasionally visit Min through the back yard, or hidden in a laundry basket. When caught pretending by Mr. Burke and Mr. Nurdlinger, Sam and Janet are then forced into a double charade in which Janet pretends to be Min. The situation begins to unravel when Irene and Jack hire a private investigator to keep watch on Sam and Janet, and Howard re-enters the picture. Sam panics after noticing new advertising billboards around the city showing his face with Janet's, and so paints clown faces on them late the last night before the attorney is to give Howard and Janet their inheritance.

Carmen and Wayne Colson live a quiet, suburban life. Carmen is a realtor while Wayne is an ironworker. Suddenly everything is violently changed when they stumble upon an extortion plot hatched by two crooks, Armand "Blackbird" Degas and his partner Richie Nix. While Richie is unstable and impatient, the Blackbird is calm and collected. After Wayne forces the two away with a Sleever Bar, the criminals decide to exact vengeance on the Colsons, leading to a tense climax.

After capturing a trio of muggers assaulting Ernie Popchik (an elderly tenant of his Aunt May's), Spider-Man learns that his close friend NYPD Captain Jean DeWolff has been killed in her sleep. Spider-Man confronts the police officer in charge of the investigation, Sergeant Stan Carter. Carter tells him Jean was killed by a close-range double-barreled shotgun blast, and that her badge is missing.

Meanwhile, attorney Matt Murdock (the civilian identity of Daredevil) is assigned to represent Popchik's muggers at their arraignment; he succeeds in getting them released without bail, and through his super-senses also finds out Spider-Man's secret identity as Peter Parker when the latter attends the trial in May's and Popchik's company. However, he is disgusted by his clients' rowdy behavior, and speaks with the judge presiding over the case — his friend and mentor, Horace Rosenthal — about his misgivings with doing pro bono publico work. During their talk he senses an armed and masked intruder in Rosenthal's chamber. After Rosenthal leaves, the intruder introduces himself as the Sin-Eater and tries to shoot Murdock. Hearing the commotion, Rosenthal returns and is shot by the Sin-Eater. The Sin-Eater then escapes through the window.

On the streets outside, Spider-Man responds to the panic aroused by the Sin-Eater's appearance. He opens fire on Spider-Man, who leaps above the scattergun blasts. The bullets hit a crowd of bystanders. During their fight, Spider-Man spots a gavel and a badge on the Sin-Eater's belt, and realizes he must be the one who killed Jean DeWolff. However, when he sees Aunt May lying senseless on the ground, he allows the Sin-Eater to escape so that he can help her.

Spider-Man successfully petitions Carter for unofficial approval to search DeWolff's apartment. Carter also reveals the folklore behind the term sin-eater, and mentions that he is a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Spider-Man is unable to find any clues in DeWolff's apartment, but discovers a collection of news clippings indicating that she was romantically interested in him. While at Rosenthal's funeral, Murdock recognizes Sin-Eater's heartbeat among those attending DeWollf's funeral nearby, but there are too many mourners for him to pick out which one is the Sin-Eater. Later that night, the Sin-Eater approaches the priest who officiated Jean's funeral, Father Bernard Finn, and shoots him.

A media circus breaks out in the city over the Sin-Eater murders, with an opportunistic community leader, Reverend Jackson Tulliver, feeding the flames of public discontent. Spider-Man learns that one of the bystanders hit by the bullets he dodged died from his wounds; Carter assuages Spider-Man's guilt over this. Daredevil and Spider-Man separately comb the underworld, but are unable to find anyone with knowledge of the Sin-Eater.

The Sin-Eater enters the ''Daily Bugle'' building, demanding to see J. Jonah Jameson (who is actually on vacation). ''Bugle'' editor-in-chief Joe Robertson acts as a decoy, and Parker throws a typewriter roller, knocking the Sin-Eater out. The Sin-Eater is identified as Emil Gregg. Gregg has no memory of committing the murders, but claims that voices ordered each one the night before. Convinced that he couldn't resist the voices, he instead went on his mission to kill Jameson early, in the hope that things would then go wrong and he would be caught. However, Daredevil arrives to hear Gregg's confession, and does not recognize Gregg's heartbeat as that of the Sin-Eater he encountered before.

Daredevil tells Spider-Man that Emil Gregg must be a copycat. Spider-Man is skeptical, since Gregg has a history of mental instability and knows details of the murders that weren't released to the public, so Daredevil takes him to Gregg's apartment in hope of finding some proof of his innocence. Once there, Daredevil finds the door to the next apartment has been recently jimmied. Some unopened mail reveals the apartment is Stan Carter's, and Daredevil opens a closet to find shotguns, Sin-Eater costumes, and a tape recorder. He deduces that Gregg's "voices in the night" were actually Carter recording his war journal next door. He also notes that there are two empty gun holsters; Gregg broke into Carter's apartment to take one shotgun, but the other must have been taken by Carter to kill J. Jonah Jameson. Spider-Man realizes Carter is headed to the Jameson house and will most likely kill the only two people there: Jonah's wife Marla and secretary Betty Leeds, who is also the first person Spider-Man fell in love with. He calls the Bugle building and gets the house number from Robertson, then calls there. The phone picks up and he briefly hears Betty's voice, but as he tries to warn her, the only further response he receives is the sound of a shotgun being fired.

Spider-Man races to the Jameson house to avenge Betty. When he arrives, however, he finds that Betty is alive, having fended off the Sin-Eater for the past few minutes. Spider-Man defeats Carter and begins beating him mercilessly, not stopping even after he loses consciousness. Daredevil arrives and pulls him away. Spider-Man refuses to back off, and the two superheroes fight. Daredevil taunts Spider-Man, using his enraged emotional state against him, and finally knocks him unconscious.

Stan Carter is brought to jail, and the news that the Sin-Eater was a policeman shocks the city. Mr. Popchik "snaps" at the news and takes his World War II service pistol into the city, determined to prove he is not defenseless. While riding a New York City Subway train, he is threatened by three teenage muggers. He pulls his gun and shoots them, leaving them wounded, and then turns himself in. The police are informed by agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that Carter was a subject of experiments with modifications of PCP; the experiments greatly increased the subject's physical attributes, but also drove them insane. Plans to transfer Carter to the prison on Riker's Island leak to the press, and an angry mob besieges the police station. With some riot-geared officers working up a distraction, the police try to board Carter onto a truck, but the mob, led by Jean DeWolff's stepfather, forces itself onto the police, threatening to lynch Carter. Daredevil throws himself in between, but is overwhelmed by the mob. When Spider-Man turns his back, Daredevil cries out "Peter!". Realizing the mob will kill Daredevil if he doesn't intervene, Spider-Man swings both Carter and Daredevil to safety. After the crowd is dispersed, Carter is safely loaded onto the police truck. Daredevil then reveals his own secret identity to Spider-Man, and after discussing the latter's recent disillusionment for the criminal justice system, Matt offers to arrange for a lawyer for Mr. Popchik through pro bono publico in order to prove his side of the argument.

Christine Faber (Lynn Bari) awakes one night to the sound of her late husband's voice calling out. She walks outside her beachfront home to investigate. There, she encounters a stranger named Alexis (Turhan Bey), a mysterious spiritualist who seems to know all about her. She hears her late husband's favorite musical composition, Frédéric Chopin's Fourth Prelude from Opus. 28 in E minor, and is unnerved by it. After more nights of eerie vocal manifestations, Christine and her younger sister Janet (Cathy O'Donnell) decide to consult Alexis. Over time, they become enmeshed in Alexis's strange life. One evening, he stages a surprisingly convincing séance for the two women. After they leave, however, he is surprised by the appearance of Christine's dead husband, Paul Faber, alive and well. It turns out that Paul (Donald Curtis) had faked his own death two years earlier. Having now returned, he schemes for ways to dispatch Christine in order to get his hands on her wealth. He begins by blackmailing the crooked Alexis into continuing his con of the two sisters.

One evening, while Alexis romances young Janet just outside the beach house, Christine hears Paul's mysterious voice again. Just as before, she exits her bedroom to search outside but falls partway down a cliff and is ultimately saved by Alexis. Her fiancé, Martin (Richard Carlson), urges Christine to leave her house for safety and stay in a hospital. Christine refuses, helplessly entranced by the recurring voice of Paul. Later, Janet suspects something fishy in Paul's "visitations." And sure enough, when Paul's voice is heard again, Janet searches the beach house and discovers both Alexis and Paul concealed in a small room with microphones, wire recordings, and other tricks of the spiritualist con game. Paul threatens Janet with a pistol, but Alexis tries to protect her from harm. While doing so, he is fatally shot by Paul. The police arrive. Paul shoots at them; but the cops return fire. This time, Paul dies.

Tatsuya Nakadai stars as Genta, a former samurai who became disillusioned with the samurai lifestyle and left it behind to become a wandering yakuza gang member. He meets Hanjirō Tabata (Etsushi Takahashi) a farmer who wants to become a samurai to escape his powerless existence. Genta and Tabata wind up on opposite sides of clan intrigue when seven members of a local clan assassinate their chancellor. Although the seven, led by Tetsutarō Oikawa (Naoko Kubo) rebelled with the support of their superior, Ayuzawa (Shigeru Kōyama), he turns on them and sends members of the clan to kill them as outlaws.

An old ''yakuza'' boss named Kurata decides to retire from his criminal activities and disbands his gang. His fiercely loyal enforcer, Tetsuya "Phoenix Tetsu" Hondo, finds himself unable to enjoy a life outside of organized crime. He is hounded by a rival gang after turning down a recruitment offer by its boss, Otsuka.Berra (2010), 282. Otsuka sees Kurata's retirement as an opportunity to seize his territory via a real estate scam, seeing Tetsu as a threat to his plans. Kurata is eventually forced to convince Tetsu to become a drifter.

Otsuka sends his hitman "Viper" Tatsuzo to kill Tetsu, who evades him and Otsuka's hit squad a number of times with help from a former Otsuka gang member named Kenji. Tetsu later reaches the establishment of Kurata's ally Umetani, who reveals that Kurata joined forces with Otsuka and placed a bounty on Tetsu's head. A betrayed Tetsu returns to Tokyo for a final confrontation with Otsuka, killing everyone but his former girlfriend Chiharu, and Kurata takes his own life to redeem himself. Tetsu rejects Chiharu's plea for her to accompany him on his travels, explaining that he has dedicated himself to the wanderer lifestyle and could not abandon it for another's company.

Newlyweds, Mitch (Kip Pardue) and Julianne (Tara Reid), escape their normal lives and travel to a deserted island for a romantic and adventurous honeymoon, staying for two weeks at an old cottage in the middle of a secluded lake. They discover the area has no electricity or phone coverage, as Julianne tries to settle in despite her fear of water and inability to swim. Mitch enjoys the country life, and when Julianne wants to go into town to call her parents, to confirm her safety, he gets overprotective of her.

While the two weeks go by, Julianne is eager to return home to start their new lives, but Mitch refuses to go back to that life, wanting them to stay put in his ideal setting, even when Julianne cannot find her birth control pills to prevent her pregnancy. When Julianne finds out Mitch had stalked her before they met and got married, she attempts to leave, and she sees a grave in the woods across the lake before Mitch brings her back. To ensure that she does not attempt to escape again, Mitch disposes of their boat.

One night as Mitch is asleep, Julianne takes the key worn around his neck to open his safe box, having grown suspicious of it. She finds a property deed and learns he inherited the land from his deceased father and that he had often visited the property with his dad. Using a raft to head across the lake, she tries to escape again in Mitch's pick-up truck, only for Mitch to find her there, and knock her unconscious. Chained to an anchor and a tree, Julianne realizes how psychotic Mitch is, and that he knew everything about her, including her fear of water, using it to hold her at their location.

Determined to leave, Julianne burns their matches, forcing Mitch to go into town to buy new ones. While he is gone, she gets an axe and breaks free from the chain. He comes back unexpectedly early, and she is almost discovered in her act of escape. When he finds out about it, Mitch begins physically abusing her, before quickly deciding to kill her. A struggle ensues, during which Mitch ends up stepping into a bear trap that she had buried, allowing Julianne to counterattack and eventually use the shotgun he brought back to shoot him in the arm. Mitch remains alive, but he can barely move and is unable to fight back, as Julianne frees herself and leaves a defeated and weeping Mitch for dead, with the shotgun. Overcoming her fear of water, Julianne swims across the lake to the other side and later hears a gunshot, indicating that Mitch has killed himself, seemingly unable to cope with the fact that he has lost Julianne forever due to his own abusive, controlling nature.

The final scene shows Julianne leaving her wedding ring in Mitch's disabled truck and walking away down a country road to an uncertain future, but free.

The novel is primarily written from the perspective of Renisenb, a young widow reacquainting herself with her family when her father Imhotep, a successful but pompous and short-sighted mortuary priest, brings a new "wife", Nofret, into their lives. Nofret soon disrupts and antagonises Imhotep's sons - Yahmose, Sobek and Ipy - as well as their wives. Renisenb realises the housekeeper Henet, while feigning devotion, is full of hatred. She confronts Henet near the end of the story, who in a fit of pique admits she hates Renisenb and hated Renisenb's long-deceased mother.

After Imhotep is called away, Satipy and Kait, the elder sons' wives, try to bully Nofret with tricks, but the plan backfires when Nofret appeals to Imhotep and he threatens to disown his sons and their families upon his return. Suddenly everyone has a motive to kill Nofret and when she is found dead at the foot of a cliff, an accident seems unlikely, although no one will acknowledge anything else.

Next, Satipy falls to her death in terror from the same cliff while walking with Yahmose. Renisenb, and others, wonder if it was Nofret's vengeful spirit that she was looking at over Yahmose's shoulder moments before her death. This theory gathers force when Yahmose and Sobek drink poisoned wine. Sobek dies, but Yahmose lingers on, having drunk less of the wine. A slave boy who says he saw Nofret's ghost poisoning the wine dies of poison shortly afterwards.

The handsome scribe Kameni has fallen in love with Renisenb, and eventually asks her to marry him. Unsure whether she loves him or her father's advisor Hori, whom she has known since she was a child, she leaves the choice effectively in her father's hands and becomes engaged to Kameni. She realises, however, that his relationship with Nofret was closer than she had supposed, and that jealousy may have influenced Nofret's bitter hatred towards the family. Hori and Esa, the elderly mother of Imhotep (a clever woman who although almost completely blind sees things clearer than most others - especially her son) begin to investigate the possibility of a human murderer. Ipy, himself a likely suspect, starts to boast about his new, better position with his father; he plots to get rid of housekeeper Henet and tells her so. The next morning, Ipy is found dead in the lake, drowned.

The field of suspects has been further narrowed. Esa attempts to flush out the murderer by dropping a hint about the death of Satipy, but is herself murdered by means of poisoned unguent, despite the presence of a food taster. Henet - who knows the murderer's identity and is momentarily powerful amid the chaos - is smothered by the linens used to wrap the ever-increasing number of victims.

On the same cliff path where Nofret and Satipy died, Renisenb, apparently summoned by Hori, hears footsteps behind her and turns to see Yahmose. She then sees the look of murderous hatred in her brother's eyes that Satipy saw before she was killed. As Renisenb is about to be killed, however, Hori slays Yahmose with an arrow and saves her. Hori explains to Renisenb that Satipy was not looking in fear at anything ''beyond'' Yahmose — she was looking straight at him. He had consumed a non-lethal dose of poison and pretended to recuperate while committing murders, both to make himself chief heir and to indulge his newfound love of violence. Renisenb's final choice is whom to marry: Kameni, a lively husband not unlike her first, or Hori, an older and more enigmatic figure. She makes her choice and falls into Hori's arms.

In spring 1946, Lynn Marchmont, a Wren during the war, settles again in her mother's home in the village of Warmsley Vale in peacetime, at first happy to be home, then finding life dull. She has been engaged to farmer Rowley Cloade since before the war.

David guards his sister and her fortune. Mrs Marchmont gets up the courage to ask Rosaleen for five hundred pounds when David is away, and Rosaleen writes a check. David angrily turns down a request from Frances Cloade, whose family is in desperate need of money.

A man calling himself Enoch Arden arrives at the village inn The Stag, and attempts to blackmail David by saying he knows how to find Rosaleen's first husband, Robert Underhay. Their conversation is overheard by the landlady, who tells Rowley Cloade. A few days later, a maid finds Arden's body in his room with his head smashed in. That same day, David was down from London. He met Lynn on his dash to catch the last train to London, and evidently telephoned her from the London flat shortly after 11 pm, arguing first that he loves her and then that he cannot be good for her. As the murder is believed to have happened before 9 pm, he had enough opportunity and motive and he is arrested.

Rowley Cloade appeals to the detective Hercule Poirot to find the true identity of the dead man. Poirot asks Major Porter. Rosaleen sees the body and says she does not know the man at all. At the inquest, Porter says that Arden was indeed Robert Underhay, and the coroner's jury votes against advice to believe him, voting wilful murder by David. The estate will revert to the Cloades, if the jury's decision holds, as it means Rosaleen's second marriage was not valid.

Poirot talks to people in the village, including Mrs Leadbetter, a guest at the inn who saw a 'hussy', a heavily made-up woman wearing slacks and an orange scarf, enter the room assigned to the dead man after 10 pm on the fateful evening. As the police believe that David was on the train to London at that time, they let him go, and look more seriously at women. Poirot learns how the death occurred, with a fall on the marble fender of the fireplace. He proposes it was accidental death, not intentional murder.

Lynn is falling in love with David. Major Porter commits suicide in London but leaves no note. Poirot realises from a photo at the home of Frances Cloade that Arden was related to her; she admits Arden was Charles Trenton, her second cousin. She came up with the plan to blackmail Rosaleen after hearing Major Porter's story about Underhay. This explains Arden's true identity, but nothing else. Frances denies bribing Major Porter.

When Poirot and Lynn visit Rosaleen at home, the maid realises she does not respond. Poirot sees that Rosaleen has died in her sleep. The doctor identifies the harmless sleeping powder she took, at her bedside table. Superintendent Spence, the investigating officer, suggests that she was the murderer. Rosaleen died from too much morphine; where did she get it?

Lynn tells Rowley that she wishes to marry David Hunter and he explodes in anger. Rowley is strangling Lynn when Poirot enters the house, and Rowley stops. David arrives shortly, and Poirot explains everything. Rowley visited Arden, and seeing the resemblance to Frances, reacted angrily to the deception. Punched by Rowley, Arden fell against the marble fireplace fender and died. Rowley saw the opportunity to incriminate David. He smashed in Arden's head with fire tongs and left David's lighter at the scene. Rowley persuaded Porter to give the false identification by offering him money. Then Rowley employed Poirot, who would be sure to go to Porter. Porter's guilt led him to commit suicide, leaving a note that Rowley destroyed. David was about to pay the blackmail to Arden; upon discovering Arden's body, David ran for the late train but missed it. David then backtracked to The Stag, disguised himself as a woman, and played out the scene, heard by Mrs Leadbetter, which established the later time of death. Then he called Rosaleen, who placed a call to Lynn that was delivered by the operator but then cut off. A minute later, David called Lynn from the local train station, giving her the impression that he was calling from London. He returned to London on the early morning milk train the next day.

Of the three deaths, Poirot says one is accidental, one is a suicide, and one is murder. The true murder victim was Rosaleen. The woman known as Rosaleen was not David Hunter's sister; his sister was killed and the housemaid Eileen Corrigan had survived the bombing. Poirot sent to Ireland for a photo of Eileen, which explained the truth of what happened during the war. David persuaded her to be Rosaleen. Now he could kill this accomplice with a morphine pill and marry Lynn, whom he loved. Poirot knows all these details but only some of them are known to the police. Rowley feels guilty about the deaths of Trenton and Porter. The police focus on David killing Rosaleen/Eileen, and proving all of that case. After a while, Lynn returns to Rowley, realising she does love him, especially after his show of force. Life will not be dull with him.

A notice appears in the local newspaper for Chipping Cleghorn: "A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, 29 October, at Little Paddocks, at 6.30 pm. Friends accept this, the only intimation." This surprises Letitia Blacklock, owner of Little Paddocks. She prepares for guests that evening. Some villagers appear at the house, showing definite interest. As the clock strikes 6.30, the lights go out, and a door swings open, revealing a man with a blinding torch who demands the guests "Stick 'em up!" The game ends when shots are fired into the room. When the lights turn on, Miss Blacklock is bleeding, and the masked man is dead on the ground. Miss Blacklock's companion, Dora "Bunny" Bunner, recognises the man as Rudi Scherz, a Swiss man who worked for a local hotel and had recently asked Letitia for money.

The crime scene plus interviews with all who witnessed it lead police to drop the case, but Inspector Craddock is not satisfied. He learns that Scherz had a criminal background of petty theft and forgery. Then Craddock meets Miss Jane Marple at lunch with his boss and Sir Henry Clithering, at the hotel where Scherz worked. Craddock brings Miss Marple in to help with the case after her suggestions prove correct. Scherz's girlfriend Myrna Harris tells Craddock that Scherz had been paid to appear as the holdup man — a fall guy, as Miss Marple had said. He had not said who paid him. The police feel the real target is Letitia Blacklock, and that Scherz was killed by his unknown employer to prevent him talking.

Inspector Craddock discovers oil on the hinges of a door into the parlour, thought to be unused. Bunny mentions a table had been placed against the door until recently, further supporting the theory that someone slipped out behind Scherz and shot at Letitia.

The motive for an attack on Miss Blacklock is straightforward, as she will soon inherit great wealth. She worked for the financier Randall Goedler. Randall Goedler's estate passed to his wife Belle, who is near death. When Belle dies, Miss Blacklock will inherit. If she predeceases Belle, the estate goes to "Pip" and "Emma", twin children of Randall's estranged sister, Sonia. Sonia broke with her brother 20 years ago upon her marriage to Dmitri Stamfordis.

Craddock travels to Scotland to meet Belle. He learns that neither Belle nor Letitia knows where Sonia, Dmitri, Emma, or Pip are now. No-one knows what the grown twins look like. Belle tells about Letitia's sister Charlotte with a goitre. Their father, a doctor, did not believe in goitre surgery. Charlotte became a recluse as her goitre worsened. Dr Blacklock died shortly before the Second World War, and Letitia gave up her job with Goedler to take her sister to Switzerland for surgery. The two sisters waited out the war in Switzerland. Charlotte died suddenly of consumption. Letitia returned to England alone.

Miss Marple takes tea with Bunny. Bunny suspects Patrick Simmons; he, his sister Julia, and the young widow named Phillipa Haymes are all staying at Little Paddocks as guests. Bunny mentions that a shepherd lamp and shepherdess lamp in the house have been swapped; their tête-à-tête is interrupted when Letitia arrives.

Letitia holds a birthday party for Bunny, inviting almost everyone who was at the house when Scherz was killed. Mitzi, the cook, makes her special cake, nicknamed "Delicious Death". After the party, Bunny has a headache. She takes some aspirin from a bottle in Letitia's room. The next morning, Bunny is found dead, poisoned.

Craddock finds that the photos of Sonia Goedler have been removed from old albums. Craddock finds old letters by Letitia to Charlotte in the attic at Little Paddocks. Miss Marple compares one to a current letter.

When the vicar's cat shorts out a lamp at the vicarage, the final clue falls into place for Miss Marple.

Miss Blacklock receives a letter from the real Julia Simmons, and she confronts her house guest, who reveals herself to be Emma Stamfordis. She denies attempting to kill Miss Blacklock, and says she has not seen her twin Pip since they were toddlers; their parents separated, each taking a child.

Misses Hinchcliffe and Murgatroyd, present at the Scherz shooting, work out that Miss Murgatroyd stood behind the opened door and was not blinded by the torch. She could see who was in the room. They realise that the person who left the room when the lights went out came around behind Scherz, and shot him and Miss Blacklock. Just as Miss Murgatroyd realises who was the one person not in the room, the phone rings, summoning Miss Hinchcliffe away. As Hinchcliffe drives away, Murgatroyd runs out, shouting, "She wasn't THERE!". On the way back home, Miss Hinchcliffe offers Miss Marple a ride, and together they discover Murgatroyd's body, strangled. Hinchcliffe tells Miss Marple of their discussion.

Inspector Craddock gathers everyone at Little Paddocks, where Mitzi claims to have seen Miss Blacklock shoot Scherz. Craddock dismisses her claim and accuses Edmund Swettenham of being Pip. However, Phillipa Haymes admits that she is Pip. Craddock then accuses Edmund of wanting to marry a rich wife by murdering Miss Blacklock so Phillipa will be wealthy. As Edmund denies this, a scream is heard from the kitchen, where they find Miss Blacklock attempting to drown Mitzi in the sink. When Miss Blacklock hears Dora Bunner's voice telling her to stop, she releases Mitzi, breaks down, and is arrested by Sergeant Fletcher.

Miss Marple explains that Letitia died of pneumonia in Switzerland. Aware that Letitia was in line to inherit a fortune, Charlotte posed as her deceased sister and returned to England a year earlier, in a village where few people knew her. She avoided people who knew Letitia well, like Belle Goedler, and covered her throat with strings of pearls to hide the scars from her surgery. Rudi Scherz had innocently recognized her, having worked at the Swiss hospital where she had her surgery; Charlotte killed him to prevent him talking to anyone. She hired Scherz and had him put in the advertisement to gain witnesses. She oiled the door and frayed a lamp cord, which she later shorted by pouring water on it when everyone was distracted by the clock chiming, so the room would be suddenly dark. She had then come behind Scherz and shot him, cutting her own ear with nail scissors before returning. That night, she replaced the frayed lamp with a new one (shepherd vs. shepherdess, as Bunny said). Bunny knew both sisters from childhood. Charlotte had taken Bunny into her confidence about the inheritance but not about the murder of Scherz. Bunny sometimes called her "Lotty" (Charlotte) instead of "Letty" (Letitia); Charlotte feared that Bunny might thereby reveal the truth, so Charlotte had poisoned some aspirin tablets taken by Bunny. Amy Murgatroyd had realised that Miss Blacklock was the one person whose face was not illuminated by Rudi Scherz's torch; Charlotte had overheard Hinchcliffe and Murgatroyd's conversation, and killed Murgatroyd as soon as Hinchcliffe left.

Miss Marple persuaded Mitzi and Edmund to play parts in tripping up Charlotte Blacklock; Phillipa's admission to being Pip was not expected; Inspector Craddock kept up the act to claim Edmund was after Phillipa's money. Mitzi had agreed to serve as the bait, and Miss Marple imitated Bunny's voice to cause Charlotte to break down and confess.

Ultimately, Mitzi takes up a new post near Southampton. Phillipa and Emma inherit the Goedler fortune. Edmund and Phillipa marry and return to live in Chipping Cleghorn.

A secret summit of superpowers is to be held in Baghdad, but it is no longer secret. A shadowy group (which is both anti-Communist and anti-Capitalist) is plotting to sabotage the event. Things get complicated when enthusiastic young "adventurer" Victoria Jones discovers a dying secret British agent – Henry "Fakir" Carmichael – in her hotel room. His last words – "Lucifer...Basrah...Lefarge" – propel her into investigation. "Lucifer" refers to the mastermind, Victoria's crush, Edward, who is behind the plot. "Basrah" is the city where Carmichael saw Edward and recognised him as an enemy. "Lefarge" turns out to actually be "Defarge" and is a reference to a Charles Dickens character; it is an allusion to the fact that the name of a vital witness has been stitched into a scarf. While Victoria is the central character, the real heroine is Anna Scheele, secretary/executive assistant to an American banker, who has discovered a great deal about finances of the shadowy group. She appears rather sparingly, with a few brief appearances in the early part of the story, then seems to vanish, to the chagrin of the evil organization who fear her financial knowledge and who want to liquidate her, and of her allies who wish to protect her. She reappears unexpectedly at the last moment.

Superintendent Spence visits Poirot to ask him to find evidence that would forestall the execution of James Bentley, who has recently been convicted of killing his elderly landlady, Mrs McGinty, for a meager £30. All evidence points to his guilt, but something about Bentley's surly acceptance of his fate just doesn't sit right with the experienced Spence. Poirot agrees to go to the village of Broadhinny and investigate the matter. Taking a room in the Summerhayes' guest house, Poirot finds that Mrs McGinty often worked as a charwoman at various village houses. No one wants to talk to Poirot, most being satisfied that Bentley is guilty.

During the course of his investigations, Poirot discovers that, three days before the murder, Mrs McGinty took a clipping from a notorious Sunday newspaper, containing an article showing photos of females who had disappeared after being involved in decades-old criminal cases. She then wrote to the paper, claiming to have found a photo like one of the women, proving a villager was one of the missing women in disguise. However, her terrible spelling had caused the paper to dismiss her as a simple fame-seeker. Poirot and Spence, using the ages of people in the town, conclude that someone is either Lily Gamboll, who committed murder with a meat cleaver at only 12 years old, or Eva Kane, a governess who had had an affair with her employer, Mr Craig. Craig was later convicted and executed for killing his wife. After being acquitted as an accessory, a pregnant Eva had changed her surname to "Hope" and left the country. Some sources claim she had a daughter named Evelyn, and several women in the town are the right age to be Evelyn, as well.

Shortly afterwards, Poirot discovers an old sugar cutter with traces of blood on it in the Summerhayes' house; the house was never locked, and the hammer was easily accessible to anyone. In an attempt to flush out the murderer, Poirot claims to know more than he does, and is nearly pushed under an oncoming train, proving that the guilty party is still at large. Having acquired originals of the photos used in the article, Poirot shows them to the villagers at a gathering at wealthy Mrs Laura Upward's house. Mrs Upward claims to have seen the photo of Lily Gamboll, but refuses to say where.

Later, Poirot is contacted by Maude Williams, who had worked at an estate agent's with Bentley in another town before Bentley was laid off. She refuses to believe he is capable of murder, and offers to help Poirot. He accepts, and gets her to pose as a maid in the house of Mrs Wetherby, one of the houses Mrs McGinty cleaned. Poirot notices that Mrs Weatherby's daughter by her first marriage, Deirdre Henderson, is rather sulky and defeated, much like Bentley. Deirdre is also the only villager who, like Maude, believes in Bentley's innocence.

During the maid's night off, Mrs Upward's spoiled artistic son, playwright Robin Upward, goes to the theatre with famed mystery writer Ariadne Oliver, whose novel he is planning to dramatize. When they return home, they find Mrs Upward strangled to death. She has evidently had coffee with her murderer, and the lipstick on a coffee cup and perfume in the air points to a woman having committed the crime. Mrs Upward had invited three people to her house that night: Eve Carpenter, Deirdre Henderson and Shelagh Rendell. Only Henderson came, but she found the house dark, and left without speaking to anyone. Any of the three women could be someone from the photographs. Additionally, the postmistress's assistant, Edna, saw someone with blonde hair enter the house; Carpenter and Rendell (who both refuse to cooperate with the police) are blonde, but Henderson is brunette.

A book is discovered in the Upward house with Evelyn Hope's signature written on the flyleaf, suggesting Mrs Upward was actually Eva Kane, further confusing the situation. Poirot then finds a photo in a drawer in the Summerhayes' house, and realizes it must be the photo Mrs McGinty saw. It is of Eva Kane, and has the inscription "my mother" on the back. Recognizing the handwriting, Poirot gathers the suspects together and abruptly accuses Robin Upward of the murders, startling him into a confession.

Robin Upward is Eva Kane's ''son'', Evelyn Hope (at the time, Evelyn was still often given to male children); the real Robin Upward had died young, while Mrs Upward lived elsewhere. Too proud to be pitied as a childless widow, Mrs Upward took in impoverished young men to take Robin's place, although she treated them more as a patron would a protégé, and dropped them if they turned out less than satisfactory. Evelyn Hope had been the most successful "son", and had been living with her at the time she moved to Broadhinny; he was assumed by most to really be her son Robin, although Mrs Summerhayes, herself an adopted child, deduced the truth. Mrs McGinty found the photo of Eva Kane while working at the Upward house, and assumed the photo was of Mrs Upward as a young woman.

Evelyn/Robin, realizing that any scandal would put an end to his use of Mrs Upward's money, stole the sugar hammer and killed Mrs McGinty before she could tell too many people of her "discovery". He framed Bentley by stealing the £30, correctly assuming Bentley would panic and incriminate himself. The night of the party, Mrs Upward had recognized Eva Kane's photo as that of Evelyn/Robin's mother, whose backstory Evelyn/Robin had falsified to her. She wanted to confront Evelyn/Robin by herself, so she pointed to the photo of Lily Gamboll to put Poirot off the scent.

Evelyn/Robin however, suspected the truth; pretending to forget something the night of the play, he left Mrs Oliver waiting in the car and went back inside, killing Mrs Upward to inherit her money. He planted the evidence, and made the three calls in a disguised voice, to make it appear as if a woman had committed the crime. He later planted the photo at Mrs Summerhayes' house to incriminate her. However, Poirot had gone through the drawer a short time earlier, and the photo had not been in it then; it had been put in afterwards, and only Evelyn/Robin had been free to do so at the time in question.

Further revelations are also made. Eve Carpenter wanted to conceal her true roots from her aristocratic husband, which was why she would not co-operate in the investigation. Spence discovers that Shelagh Rendell has been receiving poison pen letters claiming her husband Dr Rendell murdered his first wife. Poirot heavily suspects that it was Dr Rendell, and not Evelyn Hope, who tried to push him under the oncoming train, afraid of the old scandal being raked up. Maude Williams turns out to be Maude Craig; despite the jury deciding otherwise, both Maude and the police are convinced her mother Mrs Craig was actually murdered by Eva Kane, and that Mr Craig, having gotten Eva pregnant, chivalrously took the blame. Maude was the blonde who came to see Mrs Upward, as she had been trying to trace Eva Kane through Evelyn, whose true identity Maude knew. However, Maude found Mrs Upward's body, realized she might be accused of murder, and left quietly. She admits this to Poirot, who agrees to keep it a secret and wishes her good luck in her life.

Deirdre Henderson is revealed to have been mistreated by her stepfather and forced to care for her hypochondriac mother (who pretends to be an invalid) because Deirdre has money of her own, left to her by her father, that they do not want to lose the use of. She also has some romantic feelings for Bentley, and he for her. Bentley is freed, though he is still too bewildered and sulky over events to show proper gratitude. However, Spence is convinced they have closed the case at last, much to Poirot's relief.

When London businessman Rex Fortescue dies after drinking his morning tea, Scotland Yard Detective Inspector Neele spearheads the investigation. An autopsy reveals the cause of death was poisoning by taxine, a toxic alkaloid obtained from the yew tree, and that Fortescue ingested it with his breakfast, while a search of his clothing reveals a quantity of rye in his jacket pocket.

Rex's wife Adele is the main suspect in the murder. Son Lancelot and his wife Pat are travelling from Kenya to London, at the invitation of his father, according to Lance; at Paris, he wires that he will be home next day, and police meet him at the airport. The day Lance arrives at Yewtree Lodge, leaving his wife in London, Adele dies of cyanide in her tea, and a few hours later the maid Gladys Martin is found strangled in the yard, with a clothes peg put on her nose.

Inspector Neele is working full-time with the aid of Sergeant Hay on these murders, interviewing all at the office and in the home. The older son, Percival, tells the Inspector that his father was erratic and ruining the business. After the story of the three murders is in the newspapers, Miss Marple arrives at Yewtree Lodge to shed light on Gladys Martin, who learned serving and cleaning at Miss Marple's home. Miss Ramsbottom, Rex's sister-in-law, invites her to stay. Inspector Neele agrees to work with Miss Marple, seeing what she can add. Neele learns that the taxine was ingested in marmalade, with a new jar put out at breakfast used by Rex alone; that jar had been tossed in the yard and found by police. When Miss Marple and Inspector Neele discuss the case, she asks him if he has asked about blackbirds, having seen the pattern of the old children's rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence." When he does ask, he learns of dead blackbirds on Rex's desk at home, a pie whose contents were removed and replaced with dead blackbirds, and from Lance, of the Blackbird Mine in east Africa.

The Blackbird Mine was found by a Mr MacKenzie and suspected of containing gold. Rex Fortescue investigated the land after investing capital in it, then left MacKenzie there to die, returning alone and owning the land that he felt was of no value. Mrs MacKenzie had subsequently blamed Rex for her husband's death, promising to teach her children to avenge their father. Both the Inspector and Miss Marple suspect that the daughter is in the household under another name, as the son died in the war. The Inspector suspects Mary Dove, the housekeeper, and tells her so; later, Jennifer Fortescue, wife of Percy, tells Miss Marple that she was the MacKenzies' daughter, and the Inspector confirms it. Jennifer put out the dead blackbirds near Rex to remind him of his past offence; Miss Marple realizes this gave the theme to the murderer. Dove immediately blackmails Jennifer; Inspector Neele says if Dove pays the money back, he will not charge her.

Miss Marple explains to Inspector Neele who killed Rex Fortescue: Gladys, who put the poison in the marmalade believing it was a truth drug, and the rye in his pocket, at the direction of her boyfriend, Albert Evans. The unattractive Gladys was very easy to persuade to assist him, never questioning his motives and flattered by his attentions. Miss Marple explains that Albert Evans is really Lance Fortescue, who wants the deed to the Blackbird Mine, as uranium has been found there. He arranged the murder of his father to stop the loss of cash and to deal only with his brother. He murdered his stepmother because she would inherit a large amount of money, but only if she lived thirty days after her husband, and he killed Gladys so she would not talk, leaving the clothes pin to match the line in the rhyme.

When Miss Marple returns home, a letter from Gladys waylaid in the post awaits her. She explains all she did and begs Miss Marple's help, as she does not know what to do, and encloses a photo of her and her Albert – clearly Lance Fortescue. Inspector Neele's case will be very strong.

An outbreak of apparent kleptomania at a student hostel arouses Hercule Poirot's interest when he sees the bizarre list of stolen and vandalised items. These include a stethoscope, some lightbulbs, some old flannel trousers, a box of chocolates, a slashed rucksack, some boracic powder and a diamond ring later found in a bowl of soup – he congratulates the warden, Mrs Hubbard, on a 'unique and beautiful problem'. Poirot's solution of the petty thefts is unsubtle but effective: once he has threatened to call in the police, Celia Austin quickly confesses to the pettier incidents. She denies, however, the following: stealing Nigel Chapman's green ink and using it to deface Elizabeth Johnston's work; taking the stethoscope, the light bulbs and boracic powder; and cutting up and concealing a rucksack. She committed the lesser thefts to attract the attention of Colin McNabb, a psychology student who then becomes engaged to her. She makes restitution for the crimes and reconciles with her victims. The more important incidents remain unsolved. Celia is discovered dead the following morning from an overdose of morphine. It does not take investigators long to see that her death is murder.

Inspector Sharpe solves the mystery of the stolen stethoscope during his interviews with the inhabitants of the hostel. Nigel Chapman admits to having stolen the stethoscope to pose as a doctor and steal some morphine tartrate from the hospital dispensary as part of a bet to acquire three deadly poisons (the other two being digitalin and hyoscine). He claims the poisons were carefully disposed of, but cannot be sure that the morphine was not stolen from him while it was in his possession. Poirot turns his attention to the reappearance of the diamond ring, and confronts Valerie Hobhouse, in whose soup the ring was found. It seems that the diamond had been replaced with a zircon and that only Valerie could place it in the dish of soup; Poirot accuses her of having stolen the diamond. She admits to having done so, saying that she needed the money to pay off gambling debts. She also admits to having planted in Celia Austin's mind the idea of the thefts.

Mrs Nicoletis is behaving very nervously. She is killed by drinking poisoned brandy. Poirot focuses his attention now on the cutting up of the rucksack. By careful study of the rucksack's design, he identifies an unusual corrugated base, and suggests to the police that the rucksack is part of an international smuggling operation. The rucksacks were sold to innocent students, and then used to transport drugs and gems. Mrs Nicoletis had been bankrolling the organisation, but was not the brain behind it. When the police visited Hickory Road on an unconnected issue, the murderer had cut up the rucksack to avoid its being found and removed light bulbs to avoid being recognised.

Patricia Lane comes to Nigel and admits that she has taken the morphine from the bottle in his drawer and substituted for it bicarbonate of soda. Now the bottle of bicarbonate of soda has been taken from her own drawer. While they are searching for this bottle she mentions that she is intending to write to his father to reconcile the two. Nigel tells her that the reason for his estrangement from his father is that he discovered that his father had poisoned his mother with Medinal, a trade name for barbitone sodium. This is why he changed his name and carries two passports. Nigel goes to Inspector Sharpe and tells him about the missing morphine, but while he is there, Patricia telephones to say that she has discovered something further. By the time that Nigel and Sharpe get to the house, she is dead, killed by a blow to the head. Akibombo comes to Sharpe and says that he had taken Patricia's bicarbonate to ease a stomach complaint; when he took a teaspoonful of the bicarbonate, however, he had stomach pains and later discovered that the white powder was in fact the boracic powder. By the time Patricia had substituted the bicarbonate, the morphine had already been substituted by the stolen boracic powder. Poirot's suspicions about Valerie Hobhouse's role in the smuggling operation are proved correct by a police raid on her beauty shop.

The murderer is Nigel Chapman, who was known to have the morphine in his possession. He killed Celia because she knew about his dual identity and also knew that Valerie travelled abroad on a false passport. He killed Mrs Nicoletis because she was sure to give the smuggling operation away under pressure, and killed Patricia because she was likely to draw his father's attention to the recent events, as she was on the verge of writing a letter to him in the hope of reconciling him with his son before his death. When Poirot outlines to Nigel's father's solicitor the case against Nigel, the solicitor provides final proof. Nigel's mother had been poisoned, not by his father, but by Nigel. When the father discovered this ( is a poison slow to act, and the mother told her husband), he forced him to write a confession and left it with his solicitor together with a letter explaining that it should be presented to the authorities in case of any further wrongdoing by Nigel. Valerie placed the call to the police station, which had apparently come from Patricia, to establish an alibi for Nigel who had already bludgeoned Patricia. The green ink was a double-bluff intended to divert suspicion away from him. Valerie is willing to incriminate Nigel fully because Mrs Nicoletis was actually her mother.

Hilary Craven, a deserted wife and bereaved mother, is planning suicide in a Moroccan hotel. British secret agent Jessop knocks on her door to propose that she undertake a dangerous mission as an alternative to taking an overdose of sleeping pills. The task, which she accepts, is to impersonate the wife of Thomas Betterton, a nuclear scientist who has disappeared and may have defected to the Soviet Union. Soon she finds herself in a group of oddly-assorted travellers being transported to the unknown destination of the title.

The destination is a secret scientific research facility disguised as a modern leper colony and medical research center at a remote location in the Atlas Mountains. The scientists are well-treated and supplied with all equipment needed for their research, but they are not allowed to leave the facility for any reason. They are locked in secret areas deep inside the Mountains whenever government officials and other outsiders visit. Hilary Craven successfully passes herself as Betterton's wife Olive, because he is miserable and wants desperately to escape. He says he cannot do his best work without freedom.

Hilary discovers that the facility was built by the fabulously wealthy and somewhat villainous Mr Aristides, for financial rather than political ends. He has lured many of the world's best young scientists to it with various deceptions so that he can later sell their services back to the world's governments and corporations for a huge profit. She falls in love with Andrew Peters, a handsome young American and a research chemist who travels in the group with her to the facility.

With the help of clues that Hilary has left along the route to the secret facility and local Berbers who find those clues for him, Jessop, with diplomats from nations losing young scientists, locates the facility, tours it, and breaks that wall of separation. Jessop rescues Hilary and the others held there. Peters proves to be Boris Glydr of Poland, using an assumed name and speaking American English. He is on a mission for his late cousin Elsa. He wants Betterton to face justice for the murder of his first wife, Glydr’s cousin Elsa. Betterton is not a creative, world-class scientist, having fraudulently announced the discovery of ZE Fission as his own after plagiarising his wife Elsa's work. Betterton is arrested. Hilary no longer wants to die, rediscovering her desire to live; she and Peters are free to begin their life together.

Mrs Elspeth McGillicuddy is on her way from a shopping expedition to visit her old friend Jane Marple for Christmas. Her train passes another train running parallel and in the same direction as her train. A blind in a compartment on the otehr train flies up, and she sees a man with his back to her strangling a woman. She reports it to a sceptical ticket collector who passes the report for investigation. When arriving at Miss Marple's cottage, she tells her everything. Mrs McGillicuddy describes the dying woman as having blonde hair and wearing a fur coat and the man as tall and dark, though she saw only his back. Miss Marple believes her story, knowing her friend to be trustworthy in description. With no report of a body found in the next day's news, Miss Marple sets out to determine where the body is. With a good map and several rides by train to feel the effect of a sharp curve on standing passengers, she determines that the body is probably in the grounds of Rutherford Hall. Miss Marple sends Lucy Eyelesbarrow, a young professional cook and housekeeper of her acquaintance, to work at Rutherford Hall and find the body.

Luther Crackenthorpe is a semi-invalid widower who lives at Rutherford Hall with his daughter Emma. Luther's father, not liking his son, wrote a will which left his property for his eldest grandson. Luther receives the income for life. After Luther's death, the capital is to be divided equally among Luther's surviving children, not unlike a tontine pension. The share of cash due to the living children rises as each sibling dies before their father.

Edmund, the firstborn son, died during World War II. Youngest daughter Edith ("Edie"), died four years before the novel begins, leaving a son, Alexander. The remaining children are Cedric, an Ibiza-based bohemian painter; Harold, a married businessman in the City of London; Alfred, who engages in shady business dealings; and Emma. Others at the family home include Alexander's father Bryan Eastley, and Alexander's school friend James Stoddart-West. Another character is local physician Dr Quimper, who looks after Luther and is in love with Emma.

Lucy uses golf practice as a cover for searching the grounds. She discovers fur from a woman's coat caught on a bush. Then she finds a cheap compact. Lucy takes these to Miss Marple, who believes the murderer knew all about Rutherford Hall, and had removed the body from the embankment where it had fallen away from the railway, driven a car outside the grounds at night and hidden the body. Lucy finds the woman's body hidden in a sarcophagus in the old stables containing Luther's collection of dubious antiques. Who was she?

The police, led by Inspector Craddock, identify the victim's clothing as purchased in Paris. Emma tells the police of two letters, one from her brother Edmund written shortly before his death in the retreat to Dunkirk, and another received a few weeks before the woman's body is found. Her brother said that he would marry a woman named Martine. The recent letter seemed to be from Martine, wanting to connect with the family of her son's father. There was no second letter, nor a meeting with Martine. The police conclude that the body in the sarcophagus is that of Martine until Lady Stoddart-West, mother of James, reveals her identity. She confirms that Edmund's letter spoke of her, but he died before they could marry. She spoke up only because her son told her of the letter supposedly from Martine.

The whole family, apart from the absent Bryan and Alexander, take ill suddenly, and before long, Alfred is found dead at his residence. Later, the curry made by Lucy on the fateful day is found to contain arsenic. Some days later, Harold, after returning home to London, receives a delivery of tablets from Dr Quimper, who had told him not to take more, yet sends him more. Harold takes them; they are poisoned with aconitine, and he dies whilst being watched taking the tablets by Lady Alice, his wife.

Lucy arranges an afternoon-tea visit to Rutherford Hall for Miss Marple and Mrs McGillicuddy. Miss Marple instructs Mrs McGillicuddy to ask to use the lavatory as soon as they arrive. Miss Marple is eating a fish-paste sandwich when she begins to choke on a fish bone. Dr Quimper moves to assist her. Mrs McGillicuddy enters the room at that moment, sees the doctor's hands at Miss Marple's throat, and cries out, "But that's him – that's the man on the train!"

Miss Marple realised that her friend would recognise the real murderer if she saw him again in a similar pose. The dead woman was Quimper's wife, who would not divorce him, so he killed her to be free to marry Emma. After the Quimpers separated, she had joined a ballet troupe as Anna Stravinska. Quimper's scheme grew to killing Emma's brothers Alfred and Harold, so that the inheritance need not be shared.

He poisoned the cocktail jug, not the dinner, and added arsenic to the sample of curry he took before he gave it in for testing. He added a second dose of arsenic to Alfred's tea. He sent the poisoned tablets to Harold, explaining their deaths. Miss Marple then tells Mrs McGillicuddy and Inspector Craddock that Luther Crackenthorpe may die soon, that Emma will get over the doctor, and that there will be wedding bells for Lucy – though she refuses to be drawn on the identity of the groom (it turns out to be Cedric, as mentioned in 'Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks').

Tommy Collins is an unemployed erotic dancer living at his mother's home in a trailer park while he looks for a decent job. He finds out that his Mother, and her boyfriend Jed, a polystyrene collector, are going to Las Vegas to be married and taking the mobile home with them. Although his mother had arranged for Tommy to stay with the Woodalls, he considers them awful people and decides to look for other living arrangements for him and his chihuahua Peanut (who loves the game show ''Jeopardy!'').

He rummages through the trash and finds his letter for jury duty that he had thrown away and decides to enter. Each of the jurors get their own free accommodation plus $5 a day. After several cases he gets chosen to be a juror for a murder case involving a man named Carl Wayne Bishop, a fast food employee who had been fired and is now accused of murdering several other fast food employees. The evidence against him gets stronger when several employees appear as witnesses saying that he threatened to kill them.

All the jurors are staying at the Holiday Suite in the section that is being remodeled. Tommy seems to be enjoying himself, until he finds he is sharing his room with his former high school principal, who puts motivational tapes on at night to full blast. He makes a deal with the manager of the hotel who says that he will get a different room if he advertises their business during news broadcasts. Tommy agrees and ends up staying in a luxurious suite.

Finally the jurors go to the jury room for deliberation and appoint Tommy as their foreman. The other jurors immediately think that Bishop is guilty and want to vote straight away. Not wanting to lose his suite and luxurious lifestyle, Tommy votes not guilty and stalls and prolongs the deliberations as well as continuously going over the evidence. After many delays, the other jurors become increasingly angry with Tommy, especially Monica, whom Tommy had fallen in love with, and threaten to throw him out of the jury unless he finds a better way to prove Bishop's innocence.

After reading up on the law and further investigating, both of which are activities prohibited under standard instructions to jurors, Tommy finds some evidence after seeing a picture of Carl Wayne Bishop on the window of a store, finally convincing the jurors that Bishop is not guilty; they celebrate. Unfortunately, later on, Monica finds Peanut and follows him up to Tommy's luxury suite, with security guard Murphy following her. Even though Tommy tries to explain that he is now a changed person, she is deeply upset with how he used them and walks out in tears.

Later, the Judge declares a mistrial and arranges another hearing at a later date. Back at the trailer park, Tommy goes mining for polystyrene with Jed at the city dump. After seeing many polystyrene containers with fast food logos on them, Tommy realizes that the murderer was an environmentalist. He calls Monica, who immediately hangs up on him, but he goes looking for Frank, another fellow juror, who was also obsessed with the environment. Later that night, someone meets another man named Frank who thanks him for volunteering to do jury duty on his behalf while he was on vacation, only to be killed with a stun gun. The killer is revealed to be Frank, the man Tommy was seeking. Tommy arrives at the same house and relays his new evidence to Frank, asking him to help find Monica at the library she works at in order to convince her that his evidence is genuine.

When they arrive at the library, Frank reveals to Tommy and Monica that he was the killer. He ties them up and attempts to stab them with a sharp jagged knife. He tells them that he committed the terrible murders and framed Carl Wayne Bishop because he thought there was no truth and justice in the world. With Peanut's help, however, they manage to subdue Frank and knock him unconscious.

Tommy is given a check for his contribution to the case, and Monica starts dating Tommy. He uses his earnings from erotic dancing towards law school and eventually becomes an attorney. Meanwhile, Peanut is shown accomplishing his lifelong dream of becoming a contestant on ''Jeopardy!''.

In a month with two full moons, Austrian petty criminal Johnny Pichler is hired to carry a bag of cash to the Slovakian border and deliver it to a gangster. Johnny arrives late in a battered taxi. He is forced into the car behind the gangster's beautiful but unhappy escort. Shirley, who is no bimbo, squirts the gangster with an incapacitating spray, kicks him out of the car and races away with Johnny and the cash. The pair makes a series of unsuccessful attempts to sell the obviously stolen car. In a Slovak hotel Johnny offers to buy Shirley's share of the car with his share of the cash. She refuses but when he returns from the bar, she is gone.

Lonely Johnny teams up with Ignaz Springer, an East German con man who is having trouble adapting to post-Communist Europe, but claims to have business interests in Ukraine: shoe import-export. Springer introduces Johnny to a couple of Slovak waitresses and then disappears after selling the car without Johnny's knowledge. Johnny hitchhikes to Ukraine looking for Shirley with only the town Lviv stamped on a strip of photographs as a guide. In Lviv he meets a taxi driver who differs from Shirley only in her hair colour. Jana reveals that she is Shirley's twin sister and they soon become lovers. Jana tells him that Shirley's real name is Dana and that she had left Lviv some months ago after a bout of craziness. Johnny soon discovers that Jana is not being entirely honest with him. And the city is hardly welcoming: a gang force him to buy an ordinary brick from them with all the money that he has. He follows Jana to Kyiv and finally to Odessa on the Black Sea, where he is also reunited with Springer. The movie ends on a ferry as the blue moon rises and the final scene explains the enigmatic opening scene on the Odessa Steps (made famous by ''The Battleship Potemkin'').

Dusl sees the love that develops between Johnny and Jana as a metaphor for the relationship between the east and the west. More inspiration for the film may have come from a transatlantic romantic entanglement with an American whom she visited before going into production.[http://www.cineuropa.org/interview.aspx?lang=en&documentID=9345 Chiari, Valeria. 'Interview with Andrea Maria Dusl', ''Cineuropa'' (October 14, 2002)]. Retrieved July 23, 2005.

The charismatic criminal Dobermann (Vincent Cassel), who got his first gun when he was christened, leads a gang of brutal robbers with his beautiful, deaf girlfriend Nat the Gypsy (Monica Bellucci). After a complex and brutal bank robbery, they are being hunted by the Paris police. The hunt is led by the sadistic cop Christini (Tchéky Karyo), who only has one goal: to catch Dobermann at any cost. He manages to catch gang member Olivier, who is also a transvestite named Sonia. Christini threatens to kill Olivier's baby if he does not help him to catch the gang. Olivier has no choice and visits a party in a disco where the other gang members celebrate their robbery. He informs Christini with an alarm transmitter that all gang members are here so the police start a raid. After a gun fight the police arrest several members of the gang but some manage to escape, including Dobermann, who flees into a hidden basement which also has monitoring screens to show what happens in the disco. As Christini kills Pitbull and abducts Nat with a car to rape her, Dobermann leaves his hiding place and follows him in a stolen ambulance. He overtakes Christini and manages to wrestle him down in the car. Dobermann grinds the head of Christini on the road while still driving the car at high speed as revenge for the killed friends. Christini is left heavily disfigured on the road, presumably dying. The surviving gang members are able to escape and bury Sonia (the personage), suggesting that her treason results in Olivier having to drop his transvestite role. As they leave the scene in their cabrio a police helicopter is shown following them, with their car in its sights.

Chris Cody (Steven Seagal) is a top-ranked mercenary who took part in an undercover operation to stop a major terrorist strike on U.S. soil; a strike that the UN refused to believe was about to happen. Cody had to break a number of laws in order to do the job, and he's in a military prison.

At the U.S. Embassy in Montevideo, Uruguay, Secret Service agents are briefing the ambassador on a terrorist base when they suddenly go haywire and kill her, and then themselves. Later, in Washington DC, intelligence analyst Dr. Chappell (Christine Adams) concludes that some sort of mind control device must have been used. A Delta Force commando team is sent to Uruguay to investigate, but they are quickly ambushed and captured. Taken to the terrorist base, they are brainwashed by Dr. Adrian Lehder (Nick Brimble), a scientist who heads a secret CIA experiment in mind control, programming soldiers to become virtually unstoppable killing machines when they're given the right commands.

The Navy recruits Cody and his talented crew to take Chappell and special agent Fletcher (William Hope) with them in an effort to destroy the facility and take down Lehder. Cody is promised that in exchange, he and his crew will be freed and cleared of the alleged misconduct that they were accused of and receive $100,000 each. Suspicious, Cody quickly jettisons Fletcher, who turns out to be in league with Lehder. Fletcher tips off Lehder, and they quickly abandon Lehder's facility, leaving behind a few American prisoners as Trojan horses.

One team of Cody's men commandeers a submarine, while the others secure the base and rescue the prisoners. The team fights its way past a tank, destroys the base, and escapes on the sub. But they end up stuck on the sub with some of the mind-controlled soldiers. After fighting off the soldiers and escaping from the sub, Cody and his crew realize that they must race to bring down Lehder before the rest of his soldiers claim them all.

A pathologist, Dr. Warren Chapin (Price), discovers that the tingling of the spine in states of extreme fear is due to the growth of a creature that every human being seems to have, called a "tingler," a parasite attached to the human spine. It curls up, feeds, and grows stronger when its host is afraid, effectively crushing the person's spine if curled up long enough. The host can weaken the creature and stop its curling by screaming.

Movie theater owner Oliver Higgins (Coolidge), who shows exclusively silent films, is an acquaintance of Dr. Chapin. Higgins' wife, Martha (Evelyn), is deaf and mute and therefore cannot scream. She dies of fright after weird, apparently supernatural events appear in her room. During her autopsy, Chapin removes a tingler from her spine.

After they contain the tingler and return to Higgins' house, it is revealed that Higgins is the murderer; he frightened his wife to death, knowing that she could not scream because she was mute. The centipede-like creature eventually breaks free from the container that held it and is released into Higgins' theater. The tingler latches onto a woman's leg, and she screams until it releases its grip. Chapin controls the situation by shutting off the lights and telling everyone in the theater to scream. When the tingler has left the showing room, they resume the movie and go to the projection room, where they find the tingler and capture it.

Guessing that the only way to neutralize the tingler is to reinsert it inside Martha's body, Chapin does so. After he leaves, Higgins, who has admitted his guilt to Chapin, is alone in the room. As if by supernatural forces, the door slams shut and locks itself, and the window closes, echoing what happened just before Martha was frightened to death. The tingler causes the body of Martha to rise from the bed, staring at her husband. Higgins is so terrified that he is unable to scream. The screen fades, and Dr. Chapin's voice says, "Ladies and gentlemen, just a word of warning. If any of you are not convinced that you have a tingler of your own, the next time you are frightened in the dark... don't scream."

Film prologue

In a similar manner as Universal's ''Frankenstein'' (1931), Castle opened the film with an on-screen warning to the audience: :"I am William Castle, the director of the motion picture you are about to see. I feel obligated to warn you that some of the sensations—some of the physical reactions which the actors on the screen will feel—will also be experienced, for the first time in motion picture history, by certain members of this audience. I say 'certain members' because some people are more sensitive to these mysterious electronic impulses than others. These unfortunate, sensitive people will at times feel a strange, tingling sensation; other people will feel it less strongly. But don't be alarmed—you can protect yourself. At any time you are conscious of a tingling sensation, you may obtain immediate relief by screaming. Don't be embarrassed about opening your mouth and letting rip with all you've got, because the person in the seat right next to you will probably be screaming too. And remember—a scream at the right time may save your life."

The story is the first-person narrative of a fictional character named Michel Renault, a Parisian civil servant who, after the death of his father and thanks to a hefty inheritance, engages in sex tourism in Thailand, where he meets a travel agent named Valérie. Valerie and Renault begin an affair, and, after moving back to France, hatch a plan with Valerie's boss (who works in the travel industry in the ''Aurore'' group, an allusion to the real-life Accor group) to launch a new variety of package holiday called "friendly tourism", implicitly aimed at Europeans looking for a sexual experience whilst on vacation. Single men and women—and even couples—are to be targeted, and would vacation in specially designed "Aphrodite Clubs".

Initially, the name "Venus clubs"—an allusion to the Villa Venus clubs dreamed of by Eric Veen in Vladimir Nabokov's classic ''Ada or Ardor''—is suggested, but is rejected as being too explicit. It is decided that Thailand is the best location for the new clubs, with the advertising making it clear that Thai women would also be easily available. The tours are to be marketed predominantly to German consumers, as it is perceived that there will be less moral outrage in Germany than in France.

Michel, Valerie and her boss Jean-Yves travel to Thailand on one of their company's tours incognito and enjoy an idyllic holiday. They decide that they will move to Thailand permanently, to perpetuate the bliss they experience there. However, towards the end of their holiday, Muslim extremists commit a terrorist act in which Valérie is killed. Michel is left bereft, and at the end of the novel he travels back to Thailand to die. At this point, the reader realizes that the novel is in fact his suicide note.

Prince Wolfram (Byron) is the betrothed of mad Queen Regina V of Kronberg (Owen). As punishment for partying with other women, he is sent on manoeuvres. He sees Kitty Kelly (Swanson) walking with other convent students and flirts with her. She is embarrassed when he makes a comment after seeing that her underwear is visible, so she takes it off and throws it at him, to the horror of the nuns, who punish her for her "indecency".

Enthralled by her beauty, he kidnaps her that night from the convent, takes her to his room and professes his love for her. When the queen finds them together the next morning, she whips Kelly and throws her out of the castle. Regina then puts Wolfram in prison for not wanting to marry her.

Endings

In the original ending, Kelly goes to German East Africa to visit her dying aunt and is forced to marry a repulsive man named Jan. The aunt dies after the wedding and Kelly refuses to live with him, instead becoming the madam of her aunt's brothel. Her extravagances and style earn her the name "Queen Kelly".

In the alternate ending, Kelly dies in despair after her humiliation at the hands of the queen and a contrite Wolfram visits her body.

Cheech and Chong are driving a limo through the desert. Chong, who has decided to stop doing drugs for a while, is talking about rock and roll, and Cheech is falling asleep, but Cheech is narrating over what's happening. He says that "things are tough all over" and that he's going to tell their story.

It's an awful winter in Chicago, and Cheech and Chong are poor, struggling musicians working at a car wash owned by a pair of oil-rich Arabs, Mr. Slyman and Prince Habib. After messing up on the job, the 2 are forced by the Arabs to work and play music at their club. Cheech and Chong also try to get with the Arabs' French girlfriends, who are more in love with the stoners.

The Arabs find themselves with a large sum of illegal money, which they try to get to their other business in Las Vegas. They decide to stash all the money in the seats of a limousine. The Arabs hire the stoners to drive the limousine to Las Vegas, telling them that they're sending them on a "rock tour."

Cheech and Chong at first get gas in Chicago, but when they reveal they're strapped for cash, the man at the gas station takes a piece of the car as payment. With that idea, Cheech and Chong find themselves driving across the country, selling parts and pieces of the car for gas, food, and supplies. Soon, their car becomes a wreck and looks messed up, but Cheech and Chong continue to sell parts to get by. While out in the middle of the deserts, they decide to pick up a hitchhiker, who turns out to be none other than Donna, Cheech's girlfriend. The two decide to take Donna in their messed-up limo to the nearest gas station. However, Donna is traveling with dozens of Mexicans, so the stoners end up driving all the Mexicans and Donna to the nearest gas station. To pay for gas, Cheech and Chong give the old man that runs the place a chair from the limo—which unbeknownst to them the Arab's have hidden money for safe transport on the bottom of the car seat.

Cheech and Chong deliver the messed-up limousine to the Arabs' other oil plant in the desert, to find no one there. With no other transportation or money, Cheech and Chong set out on foot into the desert. They wander into the burning deserts, suffering the Nevada heat, and trying to get cars to stop- they remain unsuccessful. Eating peyote to survive and singing to pass the time, Cheech and Chong do their best to get through the desert, though they believe they'll die from the heat.

Back in Chicago, the Arabs find out that Cheech and Chong have delivered what remains of the car without any money in it. After deciding to kill them, the Arabs fly out to Nevada in their private plane and set out by car into the desert. The Arabs meet the old man at the gas station and learn that Cheech and Chong have been around, and set out into the deserts; their car breaks down, leaving the Arabs to wander through the Nevada deserts and get lost. Meanwhile, while walking through the desert, Cheech and Chong are picked up by the Arab's French girlfriends, who take them to an abandoned motel in the middle of the desert. The French girlfriends have sex with the stoners, and are (unknown to them) on a hidden camera film. Afterwards, the French ladies leave in their car, leaving the stoners stranded in the middle of nowhere yet again. Meanwhile, the Arabs are having the same problem, looking for Cheech and Chong in the middle of the desert, having no idea where to go.

Cheech and Chong wander through the desert again until they're picked up again, this time by comedian Rip Taylor, whose puns and props make Chong cry. The comedian drives the two into Las Vegas and drops them off at a restaurant, and has them dressed up as women to cover up their rags. Cheech and Chong start to dine at the restaurant, before the Arabs show up for dinner as well, having escaped the desert. Before they can eat, all the peyote Chong consumed begins to mess with his mind. Chong becomes emotional and confused, and when the Arabs begin to notice, the stoners try to escape. However, their wigs fall off, and the Arabs realize it's Cheech and Chong. The Arabs chase the stoners out of the restaurant and through the streets of Vegas. Cheech and Chong run into a women's-only porno theater with the murder-happy Arabs on their tail. In the theater, the Arabs see the showing of the hidden camera film of the stoners having sex with the Arabs' girlfriends. While the Arabs watch, inspired, Cheech and Chong escape. The stoners ditch the women's clothes and set out on foot to leave Las Vegas. The next day, as Cheech and Chong walk out of the city, a car pulls up, and Cheech and Chong get in, to find the Arabs and their French girlfriends. At first, Cheech and Chong are terrified and try to escape, but Mr. Slyman reveals that, instead of killing them, the Arabs have decided to cast the duo in porn films and launder the money through the enterprise.

A happy ending, with a narrating Cheech reminding us that "hey, things are tough all over."

The series follows seven young female ponies who live in Ponyland, a society of anthropomorphic ponies. The girl ponies are Starlight, Sweetheart, Melody, Bright Eyes, Patch, Clover and Bon Bon. They live like humans as they attend school, frequent the local ice cream shop, enter talent contests, and even roller skate. This is in contrast to the previous series which involved ponies and humans. Some of the girl ponies begin to show a romantic interest in the male ponies, Teddy, Ace and Lancer; they even go on dates with them. At least one song is performed by the ponies in every episode.

The game features six characters from the film, each voiced by the actors who played them in the film: Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), Dr. Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore), Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn), Eddie Carr (Richard Schiff), Kelly Curtis (Vanessa Lee Chester), and John Hammond (Richard Attenborough). Early in the game, Malcolm, Van Owen and Carr are on Isla Nublar (the island where ''Jurassic Park'' occurred), where they rendezvous with Harding and obtain a DNA serum used to control dinosaurs that they hatch. A freighter then takes them to Isla Sorna (where ''The Lost World: Jurassic Park'' occurs) and crashes there in a storm.

Future missions are largely spent combating hunters, who are on the island to capture the dinosaurs and take them to a theme park. The hunters are hostile to the playable characters and will attack them on foot, using Jeeps, and tanks in later levels. In one mission, the characters must free a baby ''T. Rex'' and other captured dinosaurs from the hunters' camp, then in the next, return it to its nest and free the mother, who has been captured by the hunters.

Later in the game, the hunters blow up the playable characters' communications transmitter. The characters make their way to the InGen Communications Center (as in the film) to contact help. In the game's final level, the characters must all make their way to a helipad where they can be picked up. If these missions are completed, a bonus mission is opened where the player can play as the mother ''T. Rex'' in San Diego making his way to the freighter where her baby is, and combating hunters on the way.

The Doctor's nemesis the Master has taken control of the planet Siralos, which is made of "pure psychic energy". With this planet's power, he plans to mould the universe into his will. To begin, he takes the first seven incarnations of the Doctor out of time and space and puts them in the Determinant, a domain he has created from the conquered will of Siralos. He plans to eradicate any trace of the Doctor from time and space, so he may be free to rebuild the cosmos as he pleases. However, the player's character, the Graak (a psychic being created by the Doctor), pledges to stop the Master's plans, and the game begins.

The Graak is an intelligent, psychic and seemingly altruistic organism, turquoise in colour and resembling a jellyfish. It floats about four feet from the ground, and has no visible organs nor any recognizable features. The Master states that the Graak is protoplasmic. Although it has no limbs, the Graak is dexterous enough to be able to handle items such as a sonic screwdriver and a radio transmitter. It only speaks when it asks the Doctor questions as part of a challenge, and has a high voice varying in tone and inflection (implying that speaking is a strain). When the Master calls the Graak "a good little doggie", it is heard to bark.

It is a matter of debate as to how the game fits into the continuity of ''Doctor Who''. There are references to the "seven complete incarnations of the Doctor", with no reference made to either the Eighth Doctor, despite the game being released some time after the 1996 TV movie. However, the TARDIS database does vaguely mention the Seventh Doctor's regeneration. It has been speculated that the Master's imprisonment at the end of the game is by the Daleks, which would then lead into the opening of the TV Movie. This could also explain the absence of any mention of the Eighth Doctor (if the events of the game are set before the TV Movie). are one of the alien races featured in the game.

The game starts with Urban Protection Agency agents Carter, Andre, Minoko and Amber heading below city limits to find two technicians missing from the Real Meat Company (a corporation that ironically produces synthetic meat). The suspicions of the team revolve around a local and dangerous gang named The Death Heads. The UPA team tracks the gang down to their base in St. Lucia's Church; but on their way, the gang members and many animals also start mutating into strange creatures. Clearing their way through the Church, battling the mutants, the UPA Team finally get close to the technicians, only to see them being taken far below city limits, possibly to ground zero (the term used for the ground level of the earth itself). The UPA Control instructs the UPA Team to recover a creature, a live one, for analysis; which shows that it has been a regular dog which had been tampered with using an old Gene splicer (this hints at the fact that genetic technology has advanced greatly). The analysis also reveals that the creatures they have been attacked by are being controlled by a signal; which is their next job, to both find and if possible, recover the technicians, and locate the source of the signal.

On their way the UPA Team encounter little girls who are blonde, wear a red dress and call themselves Lucy. After some talk they mutate into dangerous beasts. Minoko, while going to another sector of the city by a high-speed railcar, mentions that she once had a sister named Lucy, but that Lucy had died due to a genetic illness she and their mother suffered from. As they continue, the team starts to question if Minoko's family was involved in their situation. The train crashes before reaching its destination, and leaves Minoko trapped in by a group of cannibals. Upon their arrival, Carter asks Control to check out Minoko's father, Dr. Joseph Molenski, who was once a skilled technician and a biological engineer, and who was sacked from Real Meat for stealing machinery for his own research. As a fugitive, Molenski was never acquired by UPA, nor was Lucy. Minoko was taken to the UPA Recreation Program, and thus became a UPA Agent.

After traversing a former zoo that is now inhabited by cannibals and mutants, the team arrive at Ground Zero, the nominal ground level of the city. The team continues to levels below sea level. During their investigation, they stumble upon a video of Dr. Molenski, saying that he has found a nuclear bunker underneath, and has also rigged up a basic gene splicer. He also mentions that using it, he hopes to cure Lucy.

The UPA Team enter the Eden Bunker, and upon their entrance, they discover that Dr. Molenski was trapped in a time dilation field, a field that which stops time around a given area, or slows it down immensely; similar to the effect of the team's Timeshock weapon. Molenski appears to be reaching out towards a computer. After deactivating the time dilation field, Minoko is kidnapped. Lucy tells Minoko that she has been creating the creatures, and the girls that mutated (in attempt to find a new body for herself) were her failures due to the different DNA of those girl victims that were too much to deal with. Since Minoko is her biological sister, Lucy wishes to take her body.

Meanwhile, Molenski is told that fifteen years have passed, and asked what has happened. The answer is simple; in order to keep Lucy alive, Molenski had linked her mind to the computers, running half of her brain with them, while keeping her body in a time dilation field. However, since the computers were networked, Lucy took them over and tried to solve things her way. The other three UPA Team members rescue Minoko, and they deactivate Lucy's time dilation field causing her death. Molenski removes the computer connected to Lucy's head and inserts it into a robot body he has built for her to try to keep her brain alive. Mission accomplished, the UPA Team returns to the surface.

The game is set in San Francisco where the player assumes the role of Eric Fox (Kevin Breznahan), a psychic who earns his living doing a magic act in a seedy nightclub. One night, he is approached by the exotic Laina Pozok (Beata Pozniak), who senses that Eric is more powerful than he imagines. She trains Eric to "hitch hike" into people's minds. He sees what his subject sees, and hears what his subject hears; meanwhile, his body continues to interact with the world around him in an "automatic pilot-like" state. Laina hires Eric to attend a wake being held in honor of her father, who has died under mysterious circumstances.

The game begins when Eric enters the Pozok household, and is given the choice to remain in his body, or hitch hike aboard any one of a number of characters he encounters. Eric also has the ability to pick up objects and take a psychic reading of them, providing more clues to help solve the Pozok murder case. Before long, Eric is embroiled in a conspiracy involving a powerful religious cult, spies, and family intrigue, and he also has to deal with his growing romantic attachment to Laina. Occasionally throughout the game, Eric obtains access to "psychic collectors" which amplify his abilities and allow him to affect the moods and attitudes of the people around him, but at a cost.

The story centers on the eco-terrorist and head of the League of Assassins, Ra's al Ghul aiding Batman in his quest to solve the murder of Harris Blaine, one of Gotham City's most prominent scientists. Ra's al Ghul and Batman turn out to be searching for the same man, the terrorist known as Qayin. Qayin is a rogue assassin who had murdered Ra's al Ghul's wife Melisande, mother to his favorite daughter and heir-apparent, Talia, by throwing her into an early version of a Lazarus Pit. Batman has shared a stormy, on-again, off-again romance with Talia for many years, despite his ideological conflict with Ra's. During the course of the storyline, Batman has time to properly romance Talia. When Batman asks if there should have been a marriage ceremony of some sort, Talia replies that there already has been: her father had previously, in a bid to stop Batman from interfering with his plans, performed such a ceremony in the tradition of his own country, where only the consent of the bride was needed to constitute a marriage. Talia soon becomes pregnant, and the prospect of a family has a profound effect on Batman's demeanor, making him more risk-averse and softening his typically grim outlook. Batman is nearly killed protecting the recently pregnant (and still very dangerous in her own right) Talia from an attack by the assassin's agents. Observing Batman's dangerous and overly protective behavior, Talia resolves that she cannot allow him to continue to act in such a manner, as he will almost certainly be killed. To that end, Talia claims to have miscarried. Crushed by the news, Batman returns to his typically grim disposition, and he and Talia agree to have the marriage dissolved. Batman returns to Gotham, never knowing Talia is still carrying his child.

The child, a boy, is born and left with an orphanage, and soon adopted by a Western couple. The only hint of his impressive heritage is a jewel-encrusted necklace, a gift Bruce gave to Talia just before Qayin attacked Ra's' HQ.

Mr. and Mrs. Edward Brookenham host an effete, rather corrupt social circle. They are the parents of worthless Harold and sweet but knowledgeable Nanda (age eighteen). Mr. Longdon attends one of their social functions and is amazed at how much Nanda resembles her grandmother, his long-ago love who married another man. Vanderbank, a young civil servant with little money, admires both Mrs. Brookenham (nicknamed "Mrs. Brook") and Nanda. Mrs. Brook seems to want an affair with "Van" but he appears more interested in Nanda. Mr. Longdon promises him a dowry if he marries Nanda.

Mrs. Brook is instead trying to get her daughter married to Mitchy, a very rich but rather naive member of her social circle. But Nanda urges Mitchy to marry Aggie, the supposedly sheltered step-niece of one of Mrs. Brook's friends (the Duchess). Mitchy follows the advice, then watches helplessly as Aggie kicks over the traces and starts playing around on him. Van constantly hesitates about proposing to Nanda. She finally tells him and Mitchy to be kind to her mother, then prepares to stay at Mr. Longdon's country home as a kind of surrogate daughter.

Part 1

Alan Breck Stewart (Armand Assante) returns to his home village, which is already menaced by the highland clearances. His foster father James Stewart of the Glen (Brian McGrath) issues the taxpayers' money for the exiled House of Stuart to him and beseeches him to meet King George's factor, the "Red Fox" Colin Roy Campbell of Glenure (Brendan Gleeson). Alan Stewart only grudgingly complies, because he regards the “Red Fox” as a traitor, for at the Battle of Culloden he had to fight against Loudon's Highlanders, a regiment of Highlanders led by Campbells.

At about the same time David Balfour (Brian McCardie) leaves the fictitious small village Essendean in the Scottish Lowlands. Reverend Campbell tells him he was given a letter in charge by David's late father. It is a letter of introduction addressing a Laird. The reverend informs him that his late mother never wanted him to go to the “House of Shaws” and asks him to stay in Essendean. But David is driven by wanderlust, and therefore resolves to go.

The "Red Fox" receives Alan Stuart with an abettor who holds the guest at gun point. An English officer named William Reid (Michael Kitchen) and his soldiers are in waiting when the "Red Fox" offers to protect James Stewart of The Glen. Alan Stuart asks him twice to swear his kin will be protected indeed but even so he merely receives a mute grin. Alan decides the man cannot be trusted and eludes in order to continue his mission.

David has meanwhile reached the “House of Shaws”. He also finds all of a sudden a gun directed at him. The man who threatens to shoot him turns out to be his uncle Ebenezer (Patrick Malahide). Ebenezer reluctantly invites him in, but later on tries to kill him by an arranged accident. David survives, yet the next day Ebenezer has him kidnapped by a criminal sea captain. David wakes up on a ship going to America, where he shall be sold as a slave.

When David is trapped, William Reid and “the Red Fox” try to assassinate Alan Breck in the woods. They fail because William Reid smokes a pipe with strong tobacco. Alan Breck, who therefore can literally smell the trap, steals a horse and escapes. He leaves a paper with a quote from A Counterblaste to Tobacco written by James I of England. The “Red Fox” relishes this humiliation of Englishman William Reid.

David becomes Captain Forbes' new cabin boy, for the previous cabin boy has been murdered by the sailor Mr. Shuan. Alan Breck, who needs to leave for France in a foggy night, accidentally happens to end up on the same ship. David is supposed to wait on Alan. The criminal sea captain attempts to ambush Alan for his gold but David confounds these plans and helps Alan Breck to stand his ground. A severe storm then causes a wreckage.

Alan and David return as castaways to the Scottish onshore. Alan runs into his friend Ewan of Appin, who was just exposed as a Jacobite spy. As his dying friend informs him, William Reid plans to frame James Stewart of The Glen for a murder he is about to carry out. Alan tries to prevent this but he can only witness how the "Red Fox” is shot dead by a sniper. David gets the impression Alan was the assassin and breaks up with him.

Part 2

David is caught by British soldiers who consider him an accomplice of the murderer. Alan can free him. Once they are safe, Alan refutes David's theories about the murder. Both of them go to James Stewart of The Glen and warn him. Against his will he is defended by them when the Red Coats come to arrest him.

Soon William Reid himself comes to Alan's home village in order to arrest Alan's foster father. James Stewart of The Glen sacrifices himself for his people's sake, but despite that they are driven off the land. Captain Forbes (Adam Blackwood), William Reid's direct subordinate, is appalled.

Alan seeks to prove James Stewart's innocence. He visits gunsmith Angus (David Kelly), who has produced the very gun used for the Appin Murder. This leads to Hamish MacDonald (Jonathan Ryan) as a primary suspect. Alan now goes to the Earl of Dunbrea (Alan Stanford), a former MacDonald clan chief and asks him for support. The Earl's grand daughter Mary guides Alan and David to her cousin Hamish's house.

Hamish does confess the murder but William Reid kills him under the pretence of self-defence. Alan is put in prison and is forced to watch James Stewart of The Glen being executed. David and the Earl of Dunbrea and his granddaughter free Alan Breck. In order to hide, Alan visits his old brother-in-arms Ewen MacPherson of Cluny (Brian Blessed).

William Reid concedes to Captain Forbes that he has indeed paid Hamish MacDonald to kill the “Red Fox”. As Captain Forbes learns, the “Red Fox” was considered too lenient towards his fellow countrymen and now William Reid is his successor as the King's factor. Following that Captain Forbes meets with Alan Breck and condones Reid's looming demise. Even so, before Alan Breck finally confronts William Reid and kills him, he takes care that David can eventually successfully claim his heritage. After he had done for David Balfour, what he failed to achieve for Bonnie Prince Charlie, he puts an end to William Reid's deceptive schemes and then leaves Britain forever.

Young David Balfour arrives at a bleak Scottish house, the House of Shaws, to claim his inheritance. The house and land have been under the custodianship of his father's brother, Ebenezer Balfour, but on reaching adulthood, the land and property become David's. Ebenezer is having none of it, however, so he first tries to murder him, then has him kidnapped by sea captain Hoseason, with whom he has "a venture for trade in the West Indies". David is shipped off to be sold as a slave in the Carolinas. He strikes up a friendship with Alan Breck, escaping from Charles Edward Stuart's defeat at Culloden. Breck is in a coble which is run down in the fog by Hoseason's ship and once aboard, asks Hoseason to take him to France. When Hoseason refuses, Breck offers him 60 guineas to put him down on Loch Linnhe.

On discovering that Breck has a money belt full of Jacobite gold, Hoseason and his crew try to kill Breck, but he is forewarned by David and the two kill half a dozen of the crew before the others retreat. Hoseason offers terms to end the fighting, but the ship runs aground. Only Breck and Balfour appear to survive and they manage to get to land. They set out for Edinburgh, dodging the ruthless Redcoats. Numerous adventures follow as they meet up with Breck's family, friends and foes alike. These include Breck's cousin, James Stewart, and his daughter Catriona, with whom David falls in love. Breck hopes to incite another rebellion for Scottish independence but James Stewart and his clan would have none of it. James felt that the Battle of Culloden was terrible and unnecessary. He also reasoned with Breck that the Redcoats could never be defeated in the future as they had better tactics and cannon. Later on, a Scottish Captain of a Redcoat patrol is killed in a skirmish with the Stewart Clan on a farm. Subsequently Breck, David and Catriona quickly flee the scene, but the seriously injured James, being assumed dead, is abandoned and then captured. He gets the blame for the killing and is imprisoned in the Castle. Later on, David and Catriona part with Breck and meet up with a lawyer to defend James. They are allowed to visit James in the Castle. They explain to the lawyer that James Stewart is innocent of the killing although they do not know who killed the Captain. It is pointed out, however, that Dave is risking his life by giving evidence to the fact. They are visited by the Lord Advocate and his daughter who explain to them that a New Scotland is in the making as part of the Union with England, so therefore rebellions by the Highland Clans in the future are not necessary. The Lord Advocate tells them both that he is a highlander too but would wish Alan Breck to be captured and killed. Unbeknownst to the Lord Advocate, Breck, hiding in a large cupboard, was listening in to their conversation in anger and still wished to carry out a future rebellion. Finally Catriona meets Alan out in the Scottish countryside and pleads with him to reconsider rebelling against England, as Scotland is no longer interested in fighting. Alan Breck is then left to himself, viewing the countryside and has memories of the people being killed in the futile Battle of Culloden. He feels guilty for the young men he sent out to their deaths. He finally realizes that a New Scotland does not need him. It turns out that it was he that killed the Captain. The film ends when he decides to hand himself in to the Castle occupied by the Redcoats in order to save James.

In 1747, David Balfour's evil uncle arranges for him to be kidnapped and sent to sea where he meets exiled Alan Breck. The two make their way back to Scotland and justice.

Two months prior to the events of the episode, three monks, speaking Czech, rushed to perform a ritual while a powerful force of some sort threatened their lives. In the present, Buffy stakes a vampire outside an abandoned building, and then gets caught by the night watchman, who thinks she is a teen looking for a rave. As she turns to leave, he tells her not to forget her glow-ball, an effulgent orb which Buffy does not recognize but takes to investigate.

Buffy makes breakfast for her mom, who is still suffering from unexplained headaches. Dawn takes credit for the breakfast, telling Joyce that Buffy only helped. Joyce and Dawn bond (Joyce calling Dawn "my little pumpkin belly"), which leaves Buffy feeling like an outsider. Giles' big opening at The Magic Box is less than successful at first, but eventually, the magic shop gets to be so popular that he cannot handle it all on his own. Buffy presents the orb to Giles, but Giles cannot explain it right away, though he recognizes it as paranormal in origin.

While picking up a prescription for her mother at the hospital, Buffy runs into Ben (the intern who helped with Joyce's care while in the hospital after her collapse), restraining an agitated patient to a gurney. She recognizes the patient as the night watchman from the previous night. He is unstable, but he manages to warn Buffy that she will be attacked through her family.

A monk works on a blueprint in an empty building just as the Beast smashes through a large steel door, revealing itself to be a supernatural blond female. The Beast ties him up and tortures him for information about "the Key", but he will not tell her anything. She starts to speak crazily until she puts her fingers to the head of a security guard and seems to suck the life force from him.

Buffy assumes that the danger she was warned about is what is causing her mother's headaches. Anya recommends to Buffy that she perform a spell to reveal any spells that may be affecting her family. Buffy does not want Riley to feel unwanted, so she asks him to help her with the spell. He realizes what she is doing, so they talk and agree to take care of each other.

Buffy performs the ritual in her bedroom then walks around her house to look for anything unusual. Nothing appears weird about her mother, but Buffy sees Dawn's image flashing in and out of pictures around the house. When she enters Dawn's room, Buffy sees Dawn's possessions, bed, desk, and decorations also fading in and out, as well as Dawn herself. Buffy confronts Dawn about it, and she concludes that Dawn is not her sister. Buffy physically assaults and threatens Dawn, telling her to stay away from their mother, but Buffy's supposed little sister appears truly confused and does not understand Buffy's sudden change in attitude.

Giles calls to tell Buffy about the orb, a Dagon Sphere, and its purpose of protection from an unnamed evil. Buffy returns to the abandoned building in hopes of finding more information. Buffy encounters Spike lurking outside her home and demands to know what he was doing there. Spike says he was out for a walk, though Buffy nonetheless decides to let him off with a warning, to which Spike gets frustrated and launches a bizarre rant against her before departing, leaving Buffy puzzled. Shaking her head, she proceeds to return to the warehouse as Dawn watches the whole exchange from the window. Buffy comes up against the Beast, who quickly proves to be too strong for Buffy to handle. After taking quite a beating, Buffy is able to escape with the monk. The Beast throws a tantrum, causing the room to collapse on her, which delays her pursuit. Back at The Magic Box, Giles offers Anya a job when he realizes that the job is too much for just one person and sees that she enjoys handling the money.

In his last moments of life, the monk warns Buffy that she must protect the Key. He tells her that the Key is a collection of energy put into a human form: Dawn's form. They sent her to the Slayer to be protected from those looking for her. Before he dies, he tells her that her memories of Dawn were constructed, and that Dawn is now an innocent human who not only needs the protection of the Slayer, but also the love of a sister. When Buffy returns home, she apologizes to Dawn, and the two girls are able to relate on at least one subject - their concern for their mother.

Willet Gashade, a former bounty hunter, returns to his small mining camp after a lengthy absence and finds his slow-witted friend Coley in a state of fear. Coley explains to Gashade that their partner, Leland Drum, had been shot to death two days before by an unseen assassin. The killing was possibly committed in revenge for the accidental trampling death of "a little person" in town, which may have been caused by Gashade's brother, Coigne. Coigne had inexplicably rushed away from their camp moments before the shooting death. Coley becomes increasingly paranoid and Gashade takes his friend's gun away from him.

The following day, a young woman shoots her horse to death immediately outside of the camp. The sound of the gunshot temporarily sends the frightened Coley into hiding. Gashade examines the dead horse and notes that it appeared to be perfectly healthy, though the woman had said its leg was broken. The woman offers Gashade a thousand dollars to lead her to a place called Kingsley. Although openly distrustful of her, he grudgingly accepts the offer. Coley, apparently smitten by the woman, accompanies them.

The young woman is rude and insulting to both Gashade and Coley. She refuses to tell them her name. The three stop briefly in Crosstree. Gashade learns that Coigne was seen there only a day or two before. As they continue traveling slowly through the hot desert, Gashade observes that they are being followed by a stranger dressed in black. He is Billy Spear, who continues to keep his distance from them. Gashade sees that the woman appears to be signaling to the man. Coley makes attempts to talk to the woman, but she continually taunts and insults him. She also repeatedly refuses to answer any of Gashade's questions regarding the purpose of their journey.

At night, having mistaken random gunshots by Coley as a signal from the woman, Spear suddenly walks into their camp and joins them. Hired by the woman as a gunslinger for reasons unknown, Spear is suspicious and hostile toward Gashade and contemptuous of Coley. He repeatedly threatens both of their lives. Gashade advises Coley to keep away from Spear.

The woman rides her horse hard. When it dies of exhaustion, Coley gives his horse to the woman and Gashade allows Coley to ride with him. Later, the woman loses the trail and asks Gashade to lead on. Gashade's horse shows signs of fatigue, so Gashade tells Coley to join the woman on her horse, but Spear forbids him from doing so. The woman says that the journey would be much easier without Coley. Spear and she demand that he be left behind. Gashade, under threat by Spear, reluctantly agrees and tells Coley he will come back for him soon.

The three see a bearded man sitting in the middle of the desert nursing a broken leg. The man tells the woman that the person she is seeking is only one day's ride away. She leaves him a canteen of water. Meanwhile, the bearded man's lost horse is found by Coley. He mounts the horse and rides back to the group. He charges at Spear, who shoots him dead. Gashade buries his friend in the sand.

All of the horses die. The group runs out of water, but they still keep moving. Gashade sees Spear growing weaker, and when the moment is right, attacks him. They fight, and after knocking Spear unconscious, Gashade grabs a large rock and crushes the killer's gun hand. Gashade walks after the woman, who is now closely following a man up the side of a rock formation. The man turns around and Gashade sees that the man is his look-alike brother, Coigne. Gashade attempts to tackle the woman as she pulls out a gun and takes aim at Coigne, but it is too late; Coigne and the woman shoot each other dead. Gashade, lying next to the woman's corpse, whispers, "Coigne". Spear stumbles aimlessly under the hot sun.

U.S. Navy Ensign Frank Pulver (Robert Walker Jr.) feels unappreciated, as usual. Even when he personally aims a sharp object into the hindquarters of the hated Captain Morton (Burl Ives), the happy crew cannot imagine that the all-talk, no-action Pulver could be behind it. A poll to guess at the identity of the "ass-sassin" results in votes for almost everyone except Pulver, which he bitterly resents.

Shipmates like Billings (Larry Hagman), Insigna (James Farentino), Skouras (James Coco) and Dolan (Jack Nicholson) do not take Pulver seriously while despising the captain, who refuses to grant leave to a seaman named Bruno (Tommy Sands) to attend his daughter's funeral back home. Doc (Walter Matthau) is the only one aboard who believes in Pulver's potential at all.

At sea for months at a time, Pulver is unable to indulge his greatest interest, women, until a company of nurses land on a nearby atoll. The head nurse (Kay Medford) is pleased to meet him when Pulver introduces himself as a doctor serving on a destroyer, but young nurse Scotty (Millie Perkins) suspects the truth and a smitten Pulver confesses it to her, that he's no doctor and nothing more than a junior officer on "the worst ship in the Navy."

Bruno becomes so deranged, he attempts to kill the captain. Pulver reluctantly intervenes, but the captain falls overboard, and is about to drown until Pulver lowers a life raft and dives in to save him. Separated from their ship, with the crew unaware for hours that they are missing, Pulver and Morton bicker aboard the raft. The ensign takes notes while the delusional captain reveals dark secrets about his past.

In need of emergency surgery, Morton ends up owing his life yet again to Pulver, who follows Doc's instructions over a radio and removes the captain's appendix. Back aboard ship, Morton's natural tendencies resurface and he tries to return to his martinet ways. Although Pulver has the goods on him now he shows genuine compassion for the captain and convinces him to leave the ship for his own well-being. Morton takes his advice and departs, turning over command to the popular LaSeur (Gerald S. O'Loughlin).

The Angels first take note of "Poet" (Jack Nicholson) after one of them inadvertently damages his motorcycle and breaks its headlight. Poet, with far more guts than brains, challenges the Angel that hit his motorcycle. This is an act that would traditionally result in every Angel present participating in a group beating of the attacker. "When a non-Angel hits an Angel, all Angels retaliate." But the leader of the Angels, Buddy (Adam Roarke), intervenes and tells Poet that the Angels will replace the headlight. In the meantime, he's welcome to ride with them while they take care of business—which turns out to be going to a bar and beating up the members of another club who previously beat an Angel.

Poet is told to wait outside, but ends up helping the Angels. Later that night, the Angels return the favor by hunting down and beating four sailors who beat Poet four-against-one after he parted company with the group. Poet accidentally bumps into one of the sailors and speaks rudely to him before he realizes that the sailor has three other sailors with him. The four sailors then refuse to accept his apology—but the Angels only know that four sailors beat up Poet, and he doesn't tell them how the earlier fight started. One of the sailors pulls a knife on the Angels and is then killed accidentally in the fight that follows.

Poet is allowed to ride with the Angels and is eventually elevated to "prospect" status. He is attracted to Buddy's some-time girlfriend (Sabrina Scharf) who toys with him while remaining hopelessly committed to Buddy.

Much of the story that follows consists of scenes of the Angels partying or being provoked to violence by "squares." Other scenes include running an older man in a car off the road to his death; forcing two cops off the road when freeing their friend, arrested for the death; or entering a bar where they are not welcome.

Eventually, Buddy's girlfriend succeeds in provoking a confrontation between Buddy and Poet, with only one of the men surviving.

Paul Collier searches for Karen, his girl friend who is going to have his child but ran away from him instead of marrying him. As the two attempt to reconcile a small motorcycle gang called the Rebel Rousers comes into the town. Their leader, J.J. Weston went to school and played football with Paul, but rather than catch up with each other, Paul goes to search for Karen and J.J. goes with his gang. The gang's exuberant behaviour in a local diner causes the sheriff to run them out of town.

Outside of the town, Paul and Karen are captured by the gang with Paul beaten up and the gang vying for who will be the first to have their way with Karen. Though J.J. tries to help the couple the gang pull a pistol on him. J.J. seeks to delay Karen's fate by holding a motorcycle drag race to determine who will "win" Paul's pregnant girlfriend.

Paul makes his way to the town where the sheriff is away taking a prisoner to another town to serve his sentence. No one in town will help Paul free his girlfriend until he comes across a group of Mexicans who confront the Rebel Rousers.

Nicky Wilson (Beatty) and Oscar Sullivan (Nicholson) are inept 1920s scam artists in Northeastern United States who see pay dirt in the guise of Fredericka Quintessa "Freddie" Bigard (Stockard Channing), the millionaire heiress to a sanitary napkin fortune. She loves the already married Nicky, but because the Mann Act prohibits him from taking her across state lines and engaging in immoral relations, he proposes that she marry Oscar and then carry on an affair with the man she wants. Oscar, who is wanted for embezzlement and anxious to get out of town, is happy to comply with the plan, although he intends to claim his spousal privileges after they are wed.

Once they reach Los Angeles, the men try everything they can to separate Freddie from her inheritance without success, but with sufficient determination to arouse her suspicions. When she announces her plan to donate her money to charity, Nicky and Oscar conclude that murder might be their only recourse if they're going to get rich quick. Eventually arrested for the murder, Nicky and Oscar confess everything to the Los Angeles Police Department. This leads to unusual complications when the arresting detective meets the very-alive Freddie, who passed out and was oblivious to the entire "murder", and is shocked to hear the story.

Randy O'Brien first encounters David Landers when he is wheeled into the hospital in incredible pain. Landers rages until two dark arms spring from O'Brien's torso that restrain him long enough for O'Brien to give Landers a tranquilizer that renders him unconscious. The two compare their experiences, and O'Brien reads a classified ad for the Clinic for Paranormal Research, a facility designed to help individuals who have acquired strange abilities. He relays the information to Landers and they travel to the clinic under assumed names. They are at first convinced of the clinic staff's sincerity and are enrolled into therapy group C, where they meet Walters, Beck, Cuzinski, Harrington, and Fenzl. Late one night, O'Brien's antibody intrudes on the clinic staff, at least four of whom are paranormals themselves, and learn the clinic has plans to make an army out of them, to be led by Philip Nolan Voigt, the clinic director.''D.P. 7'' #1 (November 1986)

Therapy group C fights off the clinic staff and the paranormal Hackbarth, who can manipulate others' nervous systems. They escape into the night and over the next few months, the paranormals adjust to life with their powers. They are eventually apprehended by bounty hunters and returned to the clinic. O'Brien and Landers, the last two to arrive, find that their friends' memories have been modified not to remember their escape or the ulterior motives of clinic personnel. O'Brien and Landers defeat Voigt and he disappears from the clinic, although he later reappears to successfully run for President of the United States in 1988.

Without Voigt and his senior staff (Hackbarth is in a coma, memory-manipulator Charne was choked to death by an Antibody, and telepathic Speck was shot) to surreptitiously maintain order, paranormals at the clinic soon form their own special interest groups/gangs (such as one composed of teenagers, and another of African Americans). The potential for disaster is soon fulfilled, and law enforcement comes in to shut the clinic down, killing many of the patients in the process.''D.P. 7'' #21 (July 1988) By this time, most of the reformed therapy group C (along with a few other residents of the clinic) left to find Walters, who had run to Pittsburgh where his family had been caught in a major disaster. Except for Scuzz, the Displaced Paranormals begin to work with the government after all male paranormals are drafted into the United States Army after the destruction of Pittsburgh, believed to be caused by a nuclear weapon. Female paranormals become highly sought-after assets for other agencies like the CIA. With the exception of Walters, who continues in the Army, the other paranormals either go AWOL or leave the CIA and many of them move into New York City trying to live normal lives, in the face of the public leeriness of paranormals.

While in the city, some ongoing romances play out, while other paranormals decide to become part of a superhero team.

When the war is over, the paranormals (who had not been cured) return to lives that are as normal as they can be.

Immigration enforcement agent Charlie Smith lives in California with his wife, Marcy, in a trailer. She persuades him to move to a duplex in El Paso shared by her friend and border agent Cat. She opens a charge account and starts to purchase expensive items like a water bed as she tries to build a dream home.

Cat gradually introduces Charlie to the human smuggling operation he runs with their supervisor Red. Though Charlie initially declines to participate, his wife's free-spending ways make him finally take part in the operation. Meanwhile, a young Mexican mother, Maria, that he has observed is detained, and while she is in their custody, one of Cat's drivers abducts her baby for an illegal adoption. Cat warns the driver not to do anything but transport people in trucks, and that if he runs drugs or babies, Cat will hurt him.

Charlie finally realizes that Cat and Red are killing drivers who make money off side ventures or anyone who gets in their way. Charlie makes it clear to Cat that he will not be a party to murder. In the film's climax, he is forced to kill Cat. He tracks down the kidnapped infant and returns it to Maria.

In 1957, the Dollanganger family—father Christopher, mother Corinne, 14-year-old Chris, 12-year-old Cathy, and 5-year-old twins Carrie and Cory—live an idyllic life in Gladstone, Pennsylvania, until Christopher Sr. is killed in a car accident, leaving Corinne deep in debt with no means to support her children.

On the verge of their home being foreclosed, Corinne reveals to the children that as a young woman, her marriage to Christopher so offended her multimillionaire father Malcolm Foxworth that he disinherited her. Now the elderly Malcolm is dying of heart disease, and Corinne intends to return to her childhood home of Foxworth Hall in Virginia to win back her father's affection in time to be reinstated into his will. Because Malcolm is unaware that Corinne had children by her marriage to Christopher, the children must hide in a secluded upstairs room of the enormous Foxworth Hall until Corinne can break the news to her father. She assures the children that they will only be in the room for a few days.

At Foxworth Hall, Corinne's mother (called only "the grandmother") locks the children in a bedroom connected to the house's large attic. The grandmother forces Corinne to reveal to her children that the reason for her disinheritance was that Christopher was Malcolm's younger half-brother, and thus Corinne's half-uncle, and that the children are the products of incest. The grandmother believes the children are "the Devil's spawn" and is obsessed with the idea of incest, forbidding all contact between opposite sexes, while prohibiting the children from making noise or opening the room's windows. Only in the attic are they free to play.

Cathy and Chris attempt to make the best of the situation by decorating the attic with paper flowers to create an imaginary garden for the twins. The grandmother comes every morning with a picnic basket filled with the day's food and interrogates the children about their modesty and piety, questions the children are too innocent to fully understand. Initially their mother visits multiple times per day, bringing toys and gifts, but over time, her visits grow sporadic. After months have passed, Cathy and Chris confront her, as she promised they would be freed in only a few days. Corinne finally confesses that they must remain in the room until their grandfather dies.

A year later, Cathy and Chris have both entered puberty, while the twins are stunted from inadequate nutrition and lack of sunlight. With no other outlets, Cathy and Chris develop a romantic and sexual attraction toward each other, though they do their best to deny their feelings. The grandmother catches Chris staring at a half-dressed Cathy and punishes the children by cutting off their food supply for over two weeks, while the children pray their mother will reappear in time to save them. On the verge of starvation, Cathy and Chris decide to escape with the twins to find help. Before they can go through with the plan, the grandmother begins bringing food again, including a rare treat of powdered sugar doughnuts. Soon afterwards, all the children begin to complain of constant minor illness.

Another year passes. After an absence of several months, Corinne visits the children, explaining that she had been on a European honeymoon with her new husband, Bart Winslow. Cathy and Chris are furious, but fear Corinne will abandon them permanently if they confront her.

Realizing that the twins' health is declining, Chris and Cathy decide to escape. Chris creates a wooden skeleton key. Over the next several months, he and Cathy take turns slipping downstairs to their mother's suite to steal cash and jewelry to fund their lives outside. One night, Cathy discovers her sleeping stepfather and kisses him. When Chris learns of the kiss, he rapes Cathy in a fit of jealousy and rage. Afterwards, he is overcome with remorse, while Cathy feels guilty and conflicted about the act due to her love for Chris.

Cory becomes deathly ill. Cathy begs Corinne to take him to a hospital, but Corinne hesitates. Cathy, enraged, tells her that if she does not act to save Cory's life, Cathy will reveal their existence to the grandfather. Corinne finally takes Cory away, but returns the following morning to inform the children that Cory died of pneumonia. The children are devastated, with Cathy left wondering if Cory's death is God's punishment for her sexual assault from Chris.

Chris resumes stealing from their mother's rooms, only to discover Corinne and Bart have left Foxworth Hall permanently. Eavesdropping on the servants, Chris learns their grandfather died a year ago and that the grandmother has been leaving food contaminated with rat poison in the attic due to a "mouse infestation." Chris connects this with the doughnuts they are being fed and realizes Cory died of arsenic poisoning.

The three remaining children finally leave Foxworth Hall to catch a train to Florida. At the station, Chris reveals he discovered Corinne's inheritance is conditional upon her having no children from her first marriage, and she, rather than the grandmother, was the one who most likely poisoned them. Chris and Cathy decide against contacting the authorities as their main concern is to stay together, but Cathy vows that one day she will make Corinne pay for her crimes.

The story concerns the love and marriage of a young girl, Mashechka (17 years old), and the much older Sergey Mikhaylych (36), an old family friend. The story is narrated by Masha. After a courtship that has the trappings of a mere family friendship, Masha's love grows and expands until she can no longer contain it. She reveals it to Sergey Mikhaylych and discovers that he also is deeply in love. If he has resisted her it was because of his fear that the age difference between them would lead the very young Masha to tire of him. He likes to be still and quiet, he tells her, while she will want to explore and discover more and more about life. Ecstatically and passionately happy, the pair immediately engages to be married. Once married they move to Mikhaylych's home. They are both members of the landed Russian upper class. Masha soon feels impatient with the quiet order of life on the estate, notwithstanding the powerful understanding and love that remains between the two. To assuage her anxiety, they decide to spend a few weeks in St. Petersburg. Sergey Mikhaylych agrees to take Masha to an aristocratic ball. He hates "society" but she is enchanted with it. They go again, and then again. She becomes a regular, the darling of the countesses and princes, with her rural charm and her beauty. Sergey Mikhaylych, at first very pleased with Petersburg society's enthusiasm for his wife, frowns on her passion for "society"; but he does not try to influence Masha. Out of respect for her, Sergey Mikhaylych will scrupulously allow his young wife to discover the truth about the emptiness and ugliness of "society" on her own. But his trust in her is damaged as he watches how dazzled she is by this world. Finally they confront each other about their differences. They argue but do not treat their conflict as something that can be resolved through negotiation. Both are shocked and mortified that their intense love has suddenly been called into question. Something has changed. Because of pride, they both refuse to talk about it. The trust and the closeness are gone. Only courteous friendship remains. Masha yearns to return to the passionate closeness they had known before Petersburg. They go back to the country. Though she gives birth to children and the couple has a good life, she despairs. They can barely be together by themselves. Finally she asks him to explain why he did not try to guide and direct her away from the balls and the parties in Petersburg. Why did they lose their intense love? Why don't they try to bring it back? His answer is not the answer she wants to hear, but it settles her down and prepares her for a long life of comfortable "Family Happiness".

In July 1947, an alien spacecraft crashed near Roswell, New Mexico in the United States. The craft was recovered by the U.S. Air Force and taken to Area 51 in Nevada, where the lone survivor of the crash, a powerful Grey named Edgar (Marilyn Manson), was held captive by the U.S. military. Eventually, the Greys opened a dialogue with the Illuminati led by the ominous Mr. White (Phil Proctor), and struck a deal with them. The Illuminati would give the Greys a research base 3 miles below the surface of Area 51, the use of the base as a landing site, and give them human test subjects where they, along with human scientists, would research a mutagenic virus to use in a war on their homeworld. In return the Greys would give the Illuminati exclusive access to Grey technology. The Illuminati used some of this technology to spy on the population.

The Greys and the human scientists eventually developed a powerful alien being - known as the "Theta", which spread the virus. Unbeknownst to many of the scientists working on the project, the Greys and the Illuminati were also planning to use the virus against the Earth population and dominate the planet. When Dr. Winston Cray (Ian Abercrombie) found out about the plan, he let loose the "Theta" and the mutagenic virus throughout Area 51, in an effort to slow them down. This prompted the military to send in a Quick Reaction Force led by Major Bridges (Powers Boothe) to quarantine and contain the virus. HAZMAT Team Delta, the first team initially sent into Area 51 are ambushed by the "Theta" creature, sustaining casualties, before withdrawing deeper into the base. HAZMAT Team Bravo, composed of team leader Ramirez, McCan, Crispy, and mission specialist Ethan Cole (David Duchovny) is sent to find Delta.

After initially encountering the mutants, McCan is killed when a mutant decapitates him. Deeper into the base, Crispy and Ramirez are both ambushed by the Theta and killed, leaving Cole on his own. Cole manages to locate the rest of Delta, however they are attacked again by the Theta, and all but Cole and Lieutenant Chew are killed. Making their way topside, the Illuminati disables the cargo elevator, killing Chew and leaving Cole bitten by one mutant, partially mutating him. Able to switch between human and mutant form, Cole is guided deeper into the base by Edgar reanimating corpses to deliver information telepathically. Cole is guided to Dr. Cray's bio labs, where Cray claims there is time to decontaminate Cole, and rid him of the virus. Before he can be cured, the Illuminati attack, killing Cray and stopping the process.

Cole proceeds deeper underground into a cave system, where he eventually gets reacquainted with the Theta. He manages to kill the creature, avenging both his team and HazTeam Delta. He meets Edgar miles beneath the surface who reveals the scientists used his DNA to create the virus, and the nature of the experiments at the base, which killed dozens of his species to harvest it. He then tells Cole the history of the Greys and Area 51. Edgar gives Cole the cure to the mutagenic virus, and instructs him to destroy the Grey's ship, that is leaving with dozens of Theta duplicates. Cole locates the vessel and destroys it by overloading its reactor, and uses a teleporter to escape into the Nevada desert. He lands by the "White Mailbox" area and watches Area 51 being destroyed by the exploding ship in a tornado like explosion. Cole watches as a truck drives past, with a green, alien-like container on board with unknown contents inside and walks away from the site. He reflects upon his original purpose at Area 51 and recognizes that while he and Hazmat Team Bravo had failed, their sacrifices may have saved mankind.

Jane and Alan Palmer fortuitously come into possession of a bag filled with cash. They check the bag into Union Station while they determine whether to keep it or turn it over to the authorities. Danny Fuller appears at the Palmer apartment while Alan is at work, asks Jane about the money, and threatens her.

Jane agrees to split the money with Danny, kills Alan, and threatens to blackmail Danny unless he helps her cover up the murder. Soon, Jane faces not only her mistrust of Danny, but also inquiries from Alan's sister, Kathy, and a stranger named Don Blake who suddenly appears claiming to be Alan's old Army buddy. Don and Kathy become attracted to each other.

Jane eventually claims the money bag and locates Danny who tells her the money is a blackmail payoff for an insurance scam. Jane kills Danny and flees to Mexico with the money. Don finds Jane in a hotel room and reveals he is the brother of her first husband, Bob, and suspects her of his "suicide." The police rush into the room and Jane accidentally falls off the balcony to her death. Don finds Kathy in the hotel lobby and it is revealed they are now married and will shorten their honeymoon to return to the U.S.

In 1876, Johnny Jameson (Dan Dailey), a "drummer" (traveling salesman), is the only passenger on the inaugural run of the Tomahawk and Western Railroad's narrow gauge train through the Colorado Rockies. The train is pulled by the Tomahawk and Western's only locomotive, a Baldwin Ten-Wheeler named ''Emma Sweeny''.

During the ride, the conductor tells Johnny that certain people, stagecoach operators for example, would like to see the railroad's franchise fail. Soon afterwards, Dakota (Rory Calhoun), Trancas and Gila, who work for Colonel Dawson, the area stageline operator, cause a giant boulder to fall directly in the path of the train. Engineer Terence Sweeny (Walter Brennan) manages to stop the train in time, and he and the crew then disembark to move the rock.

Johnny decides to walk to the town of Epitaph and hitches a ride with Trancas and Gila. At the sheriff's office, when Johnny tries to report the train's delay to deputy Chuckity Jones (Charles Kemper), he is knocked out by Trancas. U.S. Marshal Dodge, meanwhile, is in the room next door getting ready to welcome the train with help from his tomboyish, knife-wielding granddaughter Kit (Anne Baxter). As they leave for the depot they are surprised by Trancas and Gila. The marshal shoots Trancas but is wounded by Gila. Johnny comes round and Kit suspects that he may also be one of the gang. Despite Chuckity intervening on his behalf she orders him to leave town before sunset.

Kit is deputized as a U.S. Marshal by her grandfather, who now cannot travel because of his wound. She and an Indian companion named Pawnee (Chief Yowlachie) are assigned to escort the train to Tomahawk. Colonel Dawson orders Dakota to join the posse that is escorting the train and also an Indian scout, Black Wolf, to stir up the local Arapahos. Other gang members plot to blow up the engine during a night stop.

Only after he has bought his ticket out of town does Sweeny learn that there is no track laid for the next forty miles. He is informed by local railway entrepreneur, Bishop, that the rails were lost at sea en route from England. Bishop explains that, as the train must reach Tomahawk to fulfill the requirements of the franchise contract, he has arranged for the ''Emma Sweeny'' to be hauled by a team of mules. Another condition is that the train must reach Tomahawk by a rapidly approaching deadline with at least one paying passenger. Kit is not pleased to discover that the passenger assigned to her care is Johnny, who is now reluctant to travel on the train. Johnny is roped to the side of the engine, and the locomotive, minus its passenger car, sets off pulled by the mules and accompanied by assorted wagons. Chinese laundry man Long Time (Victor Sen Yung) joins the group with much delayed laundry for Tomahawk, together with Madame Adelaide (Connie Gilchrist) and her dancing girls, Annie, Ruby, Clara (Marilyn Monroe) and Julie. A musician with pianola accompanies them.

As planned, Dawson's men Bat, Charley and Fargo show up at a night stop claiming to be telegraph men who are there to repair lines cut by the Arapahos. Kit gives them permission to bunk in the camp. Johnny convinces Madame Adelaide and the dancers to put on a show in the camp, and later joins in the musical performance himself. Kit gradually softens her attitude towards Johnny.

When all are asleep, Bat and Charley leave while Fargo tosses sticks of dynamite under the engine. Johnny, sleeping alongside the train, smells the lit fuse and alerts the others. Kit cuts the fuse with a shot and disables Fargo, but before he can talk, Dakota kills him.

Some time later, a few miles beyond where the track restarts, Bat and Charley are placing dynamite charges under a trestle. Johnny, Kit and Pawnee are scouting ahead and stop at the bridge. Bat and Charley consider shooting them, but are then themselves attacked and killed by Indians, and the dynamite is set off prematurely. Kit, Johnny and Pawnee are chased back to the train, which is then attacked by the war party. Johnny identifies the Arapaho chief, Crooked Knife, having previously worked with him in a travelling western show.

After the war party is driven off, Johnny volunteers to talk peace with him. He has learned that Long Time is carrying a load of fireworks and develops a plan. He is welcomed by Crooked Knife, who agrees to allow the train safe passage. However, some of the braves distrust Johnny and ask him to produce a sign that he is "big medicine." Johnny sets off a rocket, signaling Kit and Dakota to set off the rest of the fireworks on a nearby hill, and the Indians are impressed. As the railway bridge is now out, Kit intends to take the locomotive over a mountain by dismantling it and carrying it in pieces. Dawson, meanwhile, thinks he has been double-crossed and shoots Black Wolf. He then rounds up his men for a final showdown.

The ''Emma Sweeny'' is stripped of her cab, smokestack, tender and various other parts, and hauled over the mountain by the mules in several pieces. When they reach the track, the engine is put back together. Kit discovers that the water tower needed to fill the tender has been sabotaged by Dakota, but unknown to Dakota, the tender was already filled with water.

When Kit discovers that he sabotaged the tower, Dakota jumps aboard the train, slugs Johnny and forces the fireman to start the engine moving, leaving Kit and the rest of the party behind. Kit jumps into the cab. Dakota tries to shoot Kit, but is out of ammunition and throws his gun at her instead, knocking her unconscious. Johnny wakes up, and while he and Dakota fight on top of the cabin, Kit comes round and throws her knife at Dakota, causing him to fall off the train and plunge to his death in a ravine.

Dawson and his gang ambush the train but cannot catch up with it. However, they manage to shoot holes the boiler. The ''Emma Sweeny'' loses steam pressure and slows to a halt within sight of Tomahawk. A posse, headed by Marshall Dodge, rides out from the town and, together with the Araphoe, subdue Dawson's gang. Dawson flees but is pursued by Pawnee, who takes him out by throwing a tomahawk at him.

As the train has stopped just short of its goal, Johnny attempts to talk the mayor of Tomahawk into extending the town limits, thereby fulfilling the requirements of the franchise. He succeeds with seconds to spare. Kit has fallen in love with Johnny, but he says he cannot be with her, as he cannot give up his traveling life. She grabs her knife and threatens to cripple him to prevent him from traveling.

Several years later, Johnny is married to Kit and working as the train conductor. As the train sets off, he limps after it, waving to Kit and their five young daughters, all named after Madame Adelaide's dancers.

The story revolves around 11-year-old Jessica Slocum (Juliet Sorci), whose mother died when she was three years old. Her father, Jim (Doug Sheehan), is a workaholic with little time for his daughter and hasn't been able to spend time with her since her mother's death 8 years prior and still seems to be mourning her. Just before the Christmas holiday season, Jessica wins a free wish from a wishing well. Her wish for a mother for Christmas is granted by Philomena (Doris Roberts) and Amy Miller (Olivia Newton-John), a department store mannequin, is brought to life to be a mom for Jessica. However, there is a catch and Amy can only be a mother to her until Christmas Eve.

To clear up any confusion for Jim, Amy claims herself to be a nanny from Australia hired to help care for Jessica while he's at work and she is given a spare room on top of the garage. Amy and Jessica get along until they suffer a brief misunderstanding. Jessica briefly wants to take back the wish and sees Amy go lifeless from her bedroom window. Horrified, she runs out in the rain and stairs to Amy's room, frantically knocking on her door. Amy opens up and Jessica is relieved to see her fine as she is ushered in. The next day, Jessica visits Philomena at the department store to see if she could take back the original wish. She wants Amy to stay forever with them because her father has grown fond of her and she can't bear to lose another mother. Philomena wishes she could help alter the wish, but shows Jessica what Amy will be up against if she isn't there to save her and the other mannequins with faces. The store she works at is planning to replace all the mannequins with faceless ones. Philomena tells Jessica there is only one way to avoid this and if she really wants to save Amy, they must act fast and join hands with her.

That isn't the only thing Amy is up against, an inquisitive store detective suspects her of taking a missing Santa mannequin (needed for Jessica's Christmas pageant) from the store and questions her. However, Amy's mannequin friends come to her aid, especially a male mannequin dressed as a driver who warns him to keep his distance from her. Amy and the Santa mannequin both help Jessica overcome her stage fright and put on a convincing performance that wow's the crowd. Jim takes a photograph of Jessica, his first picture of her since her mother died.

Christmas Eve and Philomena is late to perform the ritual needed to save Amy so she has to return to the store. Jessica recruits Jim to help save her and they head to the store. By the time they reach the store, they see Amy having gone back to being a mannequin and Jessica throws herself at her. She begs her father to grab Amy's hand and he reluctantly does. The ritual works and Amy is brought back before them. They head for home and Amy's mannequin friends wishes her the best of luck in her new life, while the store detective is awakened by Philomena using her magic feather duster. The film ends with a Christmas picture of Jim, Amy and Jessica.

Theresa is one of the twelve jurors who have to decide about a case of assassination. She believes very strongly in the innocence of the young man, but cannot convince the others. During the discussions, she realizes that one member of the jury knows details that he could not know from the trial alone. Since no one believes her suspicions, she investigates on her own.

Bobby Gold is a homicide detective on the trail of Robert Randolph, a drug-dealer and cop-killer on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List. En route to nab an accomplice of Randolph, Gold and his partner Tim Sullivan happen upon a murder scene: the elderly Jewish owner of a candy store in a ghetto has been gunned down, reportedly for a fortune hidden in her basement. The deceased woman's son, a doctor, uses his clout to have Gold assigned to the case in the belief that Gold, himself Jewish, might be empathetic to his plight. Gold, however, seems to disregard his ethnicity and is irritated about being pulled off a much higher-profile case. Ultimately, though, this is offset by interactions with members of the Jewish community that play on Gold's feelings of inadequacy and inability to fit in.

A nighttime survey of the crime scene uncovers an important piece of the woman's past, and Gold's reluctance turns to curiosity, leading to the discovery of a Zionist organization operating in the city. The apparent power and sense of pride these people have is appealing to Gold, and he attempts to become a part of their group. Gold is thrust into a series of circumstances that test not only his loyalty to the badge, but also his newfound Jewish consciousness.

Gold finds the old woman at one time was running guns for a Jewish liberation group. The group is attempting to protect their people from threats within the community. When asked to steal a list from police evidence to protect the group, Gold objects and is rejected by the Jewish group leaders for denying his faith.

Asking the help of a Jewish woman in the group, Gold is led to a toy shop in the city that is a secret stronghold of Nazi sympathizers, filled with anti-Jewish propaganda - proving the Jewish groups fears of danger and antisemitism in were true. Gold erupts in anger, setting one of the Nazi bombs to explode, destroying the stronghold/toy shop.

He is again approached by the Jewish group to retrieve the list from police evidence. When he refuses, the group shows him photographs of his acts at the toy shop, attempting to blackmail him into assisting.

During a raid to apprehend Randolph, where Gold is late to arrive due to the meeting with the Jewish group, Sullivan dies in Golds arms, killed by gunshot. Gold, filled with rage, charges through the building and loses his gun. He wraps a rusty chain around his arm and catches up to Randolph who is attempting to escape through the basement. Randolph shoots him and talks through his last moments. Gold informs him that it was Randolphs mother that turned him in, earning him another gunshot to the arm. Gold gives him a phony passport arranged by his mother, as a police officer turns the corner and shoots Randolph in the chest, killing him.

Gold returns to the precinct to apologetic words from his fellow police officers. He comes to find the old woman was killed by a pair of young black kids, attempting to get the “fortune” hidden in her basement.

Sarah Pierce lives with her husband Richard and daughter Lucy. Their marriage falls apart, however, when she discovers his addiction to internet pornography. One day, she meets Brad Adamson, a law student who brings his 4-year-old son, Aaron, to the park. Brad and Sarah become friendly and, on a dare, kiss in the park. They are instantly attracted to each other, but resolve to keep their relationship platonic.

One day, several parents panic when they see sex offender Ronnie J. McGorvey, who was recently released from prison, swimming in the pool with the children. After he is escorted away by the police, Sarah and Brad take Lucy and Aaron back to her house and put the kids to bed. While Sarah is drying towels in her basement, Brad comes down and they have sex.

Ronnie lives with his mother, May, who believes that meeting a woman his own age would cure him of his pedophilia. Ronnie, reluctantly, agrees to go on a date May has arranged for him with a woman named Sheila, which ends badly when he masturbates next to her in the car by a children's playground.

When Brad skips taking the bar exam again, his wife Kathy grows suspicious and tells Brad to invite Sarah, Richard, and Lucy over for dinner. The intimacy evident between Brad and Sarah confirms her suspicions, and Kathy arranges for her mother to come for an extended visit. When Brad's football team plays its final game, Sarah attends and cheers as Brad scores the winning touchdown. Afterwards, they make out on the field, with Brad convincing her to run away with him.

Larry Hedges, Brad's friend and a former police officer, spends much of his time harassing Ronnie. One night, he arrives into Ronnie's neighborhood and makes a ruckus with his megaphone. May comes out to confront him, suffering a heart attack in the process when Larry pushes her to the ground, causing him to be arrested. May is taken to a hospital, where she dies. When Ronnie returns home from the hospital, he finds a letter written by May saying: "Please be a good boy." Distraught, Ronnie destroys much of his mother's collection of Hummel figurines before grabbing a knife.

That same night, Sarah and Brad agree to meet in the park. As he heads to the park, he is distracted by skateboarding teenagers. Attempting to try a jump himself, he knocks himself out. When he regains consciousness, he asks the paramedics to call his wife to meet him at the hospital.

When Sarah takes Lucy to the park, she sees Ronnie stagger onto one of the swings, revealing to her that his mother died. When Lucy disappears, Sarah panics and rushes to find her, forgetting about Brad. She finds her staring at a street lamp and places her back into her car. Larry arrives to apologize to Ronnie about May, but when he discovers that Ronnie has castrated himself and is bleeding to death, he races him to the hospital, the same time as Kathy meets Brad there.

Stan and Kyle set out to build a clubhouse so they can play Truth or Dare with Wendy and Bebe. Stan believes he will be dared to kiss his girlfriend, Wendy, and Bebe, who has developed a crush on Kyle, plans to dare Kyle to kiss her. Cartman and Kenny learn of Stan and Kyle's plans and set about building their own clubhouse.

Meanwhile, Stan's parents, Randy and Sharon, divorce due to constant bickering. Sharon soon introduces Stan to a new stepfather, Roy, who promptly moves into the family home. Cartman and Kenny complete their clubhouse first, and Kenny manages to get two 16-year-old girls to hang out with them. Cartman attempts to get the girls to play Truth or Dare, but this fails when one of the girls says that Truth or Dare is for children. They instead instigate a massive party in the clubhouse, during which Kenny is inadvertently crushed. Stan and Kyle eventually finish their clubhouse, but it is time for Stan to visit his father. Randy displays insincere interest and is more focused on enjoying single life. The girls visit Stan and Kyle's clubhouse to play Truth or Dare. Kyle and Bebe end up kissing, and before Stan has his turn, Roy interrupts, causing Wendy and Bebe to leave.

Randy and Sharon get back together as Stan sets them up for a meeting in his clubhouse. The next day, Stan and Clyde play Truth or Dare with Wendy and Bebe. Stan asks for a dare, expecting to be asked to kiss Wendy, but is instead told to insert a stick in his urethra ("jam it" up his "peehole").

Campaigns

In Campaign mode, the player is thrust into a series of World War II campaign battles for either the Axis Powers (Germany and Japan) or the Allied Nations (United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union) throughout the years of 1941–1945. There are a total of 24 campaign missions: 12 for the Allied and 12 for the Axis.

Playing as the Allies, the course of history goes the way it actually did with the Battle of Normandy sealing Germany's fate and the capture of Iwo Jima and Okinawa sealing Japan's. The campaigns interchange between the armies of Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States of America as time progresses.

Playing as the Axis leads to an alternate history of WWII, based on what-if scenarios. The campaign begins with a tactical German victory in the Battle of Crete. Having driven out British forces in the Mediterranean, Rommel and his Afrika Korps win the Battle of El Alamein, pushing the British all the way back through the Suez Canal. With the fuel-rich Middle East in Axis hands, Germany wins the decisive Battle of Stalingrad and the following year, the endlessly supplied Panzer units crush the Russians at Kursk, effectively sealing the fate of the Eastern Front. Meanwhile, in the Pacific War, Japan manages an invasion of Australia, leaving the Americans without a staging area in the Pacific (it is also suggested that the attack on Pearl Harbor was more successful, with the fleet being sunk in deep waters rather than in the shallow waters of the base). The Battle of Normandy still happens; however, the landing beaches have unfavorable terrain and the Germans' counterattack is successful. The failed invasion at Normandy not only prevented the Allies from opening a new front in the war, it also oversaw Germany's plans to invade Great Britain. With Rundstedt invading from the south and Rommel invading from the west, Operation Sea Lion proved to be a success, forcing the British to surrender.

While Germany deals with partisan resistance, Japan invades India to crush the last of the British forces under the command of Wingate. With Great Britain defeated, Germany is able to turn its attention back to Stalin and the Soviet Union. Japanese advance units under General Kuribayashi and German Panzer divisions under Field Marshal Manstein surround Moscow, but the battle for control of the city turns into a three way brawl with German and Japanese units each vying for control of the city. The battle ends in a German victory. By now, the United States of America is the only Allied nation left to challenge the Axis. With the defeat of British and Australian forces, Japan quickly eliminates the last remaining ships of the American Pacific Fleet and captures Midway, and later Hawaii. With American naval forces crippled beyond repair, the Allies lose their chances of defeating the Axis powers. In the aftermath, America settles into a new Cold War with Japan in the Pacific and Nazi Germany in Europe.

The player discovers the Eidolon, a strange 19th-century vehicle, in an abandoned laboratory. As the player investigates this device, he is accidentally transported to another dimension and is trapped in a vast, maze-like cave. The creatures in this cave, sensing the energy emanating from the Eidolon, are woken from a long slumber, and the player soon finds that his only chance of survival lies in this mysterious vehicle and its powerful energy weapon.

Will Stronghold is hesitant to start his first year in Sky High, a covert, perpetually airborne school for the children of superheroes. While his parents, Steve and Josie, are the world's premiere superheroes under the aliases of "The Commander" and "Jetstream", respectively, Will himself has not developed any superhuman abilities. This is a source of extreme anxiety for him since powers are often hereditary and he feels the burden to live up to his family's reputation. On his first day at school, Will and his best friend Layla, who possesses powerful plant-controlling abilities, make friends with several new students, including Zach, Ethan and Magenta, as well as friendly bus driver Ron Wilson (who has always dreamed of having super powers), while fending off the hazing by popular seniors, Speed, Lash and Penny. During hero training, their instructor divides the groups into "Hero" or "Sidekick" based on their powers, and Will is quickly humiliated when he cannot manifest any abilities. Layla refuses to take the test, so they and their friends are placed into "Hero Support" (specialized classes for sidekicks) and realize that they are on the bottom of the clique-based social order. Even so, Will finds some comfort with their new teacher, Mr. Boy (formerly the Commander's sidekick, the "All-American Boy"), who shows them that there is honor in working behind the scenes, even if there is little glory.

Will's parents initially assume that he has been accepted into the "hero" courses and welcome him into the family's "secret sanctum", telling Will about their first team-up to stop the villain, "Royal Pain", and his superweapon, "the Pacifier", which is now a prized trophy. When Will confesses that he is in "hero support", his parents suppress their disappointment and do their best to be supportive. Will slowly begins to enjoy his new peer group and "hero support" training.

After several months, Will is manipulated into a fight with pyrokinetic student Warren Peace; the battle is initially one-sided until Warren threatens his friends and Will's latent superhuman strength emerges. While impressing most students, Will and Warren get detention and the two agree to a grudging truce. Due to school policy, the faculty push to move Will into "hero" classes; with Mr. Boy and his peers' encouragement, Will agrees and joins the more powerful and popular students. There, he meets technopath Gwen Grayson, the student body president and the school's most popular girl, becoming distanced and alienated from his former peers. Gwen visits the Stronghold's house, inviting Will's parents to attend the school's Homecoming Dance party, and eventually invites Will as well, wishing to become his girlfriend, which Will accepts. Noticing the growing rift between herself and Will, Layla attempts going out more with Warren in an attempt to arouse jealousy, revealing to him she has been secretly in love with Will for a long time.

Gwen convinces Will to host a pre-Homecoming dance party at his home; there, he attempts to impress her by taking her into the secret sanctum and they kiss, but someone discretely steals the Pacifier. As Layla comes to the house to investigate the noise and discovers the party, she confronts Gwen who manipulates Layla into abandoning Will. Shortly after, Will realizes that he is being used and breaks up with Gwen. Unable to reconcile with Layla, he refuses to attend the dance and chooses to remain at home, even though his parents were invited as honored guests. At the sanctum, he looks at his family's school yearbook and discovers entries for Sue Tenny, a technopath sidekick from science club holding the Pacifier; Will then notices that Tenny strongly resembles Gwen before discovering that the Pacifier itself missing. He deduces that Gwen is related to Tenny and used the party as a ruse to acquire it.

At Homecoming, Gwen reveals that she is Royal Pain to the stunned students and teachers of Sky High. Her "father" (actually her former sidekick, Stitches), Speed, Lash and Penny reveal that they are her henchmen, and proceed to regress all teachers and students into infants. Layla, Warren, Zach, Ethan and Magenta escape and resist; arriving too late, Will makes amends with Layla and the others and the sidekicks effectively engage the henchmen while Will confronts Gwen herself. Gwen explains that she is Sue Tenney and was ostracized in "sidekick" classes for her powers that were ahead of their time; she developed the Pacifier to transform adults into infants with the goal of raising them a second time as villains, but due to the Commander and Jetstream's interference, was subject to the ray herself and forced to relive her childhood as Gwen until she could take her revenge. During the fight, Royal Pain throws Will from the school to fall to his death; however, his flying powers emerge in the process, saving him. She then sabotages the school's anti-gravity device, putting the school in freefall until Will and his friends restore it and restrain her.

Will and his friends de-pacify the teachers and students, who finally recognize the sidekicks and their deeds; Gwen and her gang are sent to detention and later to prison for their crimes. In the closing narration, Will explains that his girlfriend (Gwen) became his archenemy, his archenemy (Warren) became his best friend, and his best friend (Layla) became his girlfriend stating, "but hey, that's high school."

In an end credit scene, it is revealed that Ron fell into a vat of acid and was given super powers.

The film stars Maury Chaykin as Desmond Howl, a former rock star who has lived in seclusion in a seaside mansion since the death of his brother Danny (Paul Gross) in a car accident. Howl spends his time composing a symphonic masterpiece for the whales who congregate in the ocean near his property. His reason for this is revealed in the title of one of his songs, "Have You Seen My Brother?" — Danny died by losing control of his car and driving off a cliff into the ocean.

One day, however, Howl awakens to find Claire (Cyndy Preston), a mysterious young woman, in his living room. Although Howl's world is disrupted, Claire ends up inspiring him to complete the symphony, to write his first great pop song in years, and to begin seeking connections with people again.

The character of Desmond Howl is based largely on Brian Wilson.

The cast also includes Kenneth Welsh, Jennifer Dale, Jim Byrnes, and Quarrington in a cameo appearance as a bartender.

Jenny Bowman (Judy Garland) is a successful concert singer who regularly tours the world. During a stay in London, she visits recently widowed David Donne (Dirk Bogarde), a prominent surgeon. More than a decade ago, the two had an affair that led to the birth of Matt, who is raised by David alone and has been told that he was adopted. Although Jenny and David agreed that Matt would never know the truth, David takes Jenny to Matt's boarding school in Canterbury so that she may meet him just once. Jenny and Matt hit it off and the three spend the whole day together. Jenny invites the two to her concert at the London Palladium, but David is unable to make it because of work in Rome.

With David absent and under the impression that Matt is back at school, Jenny and Matt spend a few days together exploring London. Jenny's manager and assistant try to cover for Matt by calling his school, but word about his absence gets back to David in Rome, who is furious. When David returns to London, he and Jenny have a fight, during which Matt overhears that they are his birth parents. David implores Matt to remain in England and finish his schooling, while Jenny insists that Matt should accompany her on her world tour. Confused, Matt rejects Jenny's invitations and the two agree to see each other again sometime in the future.

Jenny turns to a night of drinking on the town to cope with the heartbreak and ends up twisting her ankle. At a clinic, she demands that David come to treat her. When he arrives, she claims to be quitting singing as she is "stretched too thin and everyone wants a bite," but David insists that she cannot let herself down this way and tells her that he loves her. At her concert that night, Jenny sings marvelously to the crowd. David leaves midway through her first number.

The film centres on a group of office colleagues in downtown Calgary, Alberta, who bet a month's salary on who can last the longest without going outside by using the system of covered walkways that connect the buildings. The film takes place over one lunch hour on day 28 of the month-long competition. Things start to become complicated as the office prepares for the company founder's retirement party.

The film's title is derived from a particular form of suicide where one smashes the (non-openable) window of one's high-rise office and then jumps through. In the movie, one of the characters has accumulated a 2-litre pop bottle full of marbles in the hopes of breaking his window. The dark joke for this is referenced in the film as: "a 15 bus takes you downtown, [but] a bottle of marbles takes you way downtown."

In the late 19th century, Francisco Manoel da Silva (Klaus Kinski) is a debauched Brazilian rancher who has reluctantly gone to work at a gold mining company after his ranch is ruined by drought. When he discovers that he is being financially exploited, he murders his boss and goes on the lam to pursue a career as an outlaw. He becomes the notorious Cobra Verde (Green Snake), the most vicious bandit of the ''sertão''.

In a visit to town, da Silva encounters and subdues by force of character an escaping slave, an act that impresses wealthy sugar baron Dom Octávio Coutinho (José Lewgoy). Dom Coutinho, unaware that he is dealing with the legendary bandit, hires da Silva to oversee the slaves on his sugar plantation. When da Silva subsequently impregnates all three of the Dom's daughters, the sugar baron is furious, but the situation becomes even more complicated when he discovers that da Silva is none other than the infamous Cobra Verde.

As punishment, rather than kill him or have him prosecuted, Dom Coutinho decides to send da Silva on the impossible mission of re-opening the slave trade with Western Africa. The bandit is aware he is likely to be killed in Africa, but accepts anyway. He travels by sea to Dahomey, West Africa (present-day Benin), where he must negotiate with the fearsome King Bossa Ahadee of Dahomey (played by His Honour the Omanhene Nana Agyefi Kwame II of Nsein, a village north of the city of Axim, Ghana).

Amazingly, da Silva succeeds in convincing the King to exchange slaves for new rifles. He takes over Elmina Castle and takes Taparica (King Ampaw), sole survivor of the previous expedition, for a partner. They begin operating the slave trade across the Atlantic to Brazil. Soon, however, the fickle king has them captured and brought before him. The King accuses da Silva of various crimes that he has no knowledge of, including poisoning the King's greyhound, and sentences him to death. He and Taparica are rescued the night prior to da Silva's decapitation by the King's nephew, who negotiates a blood alliance with da Silva, planning to overthrow the King. The ambitious bandit trains an enormous army of native women (who, after learning to use weapons, at first want to kill all men) and leads them on a raid to successfully overthrow King Bossa.

Against all expectations, the slave trade is maintained under the new king, thanks to da Silva's resourcefulness. However, da Silva eventually falls out of favour with the new King, and discovers that in the meantime the Portuguese have outlawed slavery and seized his assets, and the English have placed a price on his head. Despite the adversity, da Silva is glad that finally a change has come and recognises that slavery has been a crime. The exhausted bandit goes onto the beach at Elmina and desperately tries to pull a ship's boat to water, but he collapses in the surf as the tide slowly comes in and a crippled African man walks on all fours toward him along the shore. The film ends with a group of confident young African women laughingly chanting over the credits.

Deep Space Nine is host to a delegation of Federation ambassadors, and Commander Benjamin Sisko gives Bashir the "honor" of welcoming them to the station. While Bashir struggles to please the other three dignitaries, Ambassador Lwaxana Troi exclaims that someone has stolen her brooch. Odo apprehends the thief, and Lwaxana is instantly infatuated with the Constable.

Later, Lwaxana comes to Odo’s office to flirt with him. Odo is uncomfortable with her attention, and escapes on a pretext. In Sisko's office, Odo asks for advice on how to deal with Lwaxana's aggressive behavior, but Sisko is amused and offers no help.

Meanwhile, a mysterious probe-like vessel comes through the Wormhole. Dax and O'Brien attempt to analyze it, downloading its software to Deep Space Nine.

As Lwaxana follows Odo into a turbolift, he tries to rebuff her by telling her that he must revert to a liquid every sixteen hours, but she is undeterred. A system failure strands them together in the turbolift. As Lwaxana talks to keep her mind off the danger, Odo grows less hostile toward her, and soon opens up to her about his past. He is in severe discomfort, as he will soon need to revert to his liquid state.

While trying to repair the station's systems, O'Brien discovers that the computer is less hostile to him than usual, but it seems to break down whenever he is away from it. Dax and Kira infer that the information downloaded from the alien probe is a non-sentient life form, which has attached itself to O'Brien like a puppy.

The crew attempt to transfer the alien life form's files off the station, but something goes awry and a plasma surge creates a fire that endangers Bashir and the ambassadors. O'Brien finally decides to build a "doghouse" within the computer for their little lost "puppy." Containing it solves their problems.

Meanwhile, in the turbolift, Odo begins to lose control of his form. Lwaxana tries to be supportive, but he turns away and says no one has ever seen him this way. She takes off her wig and tells him no one has ever seen her that way either. As they bond over their shared moment of vulnerability, she lets Odo "melt" into her lap.

Bashir saves the ambassadors from the fire by hiding in a crawlspace. Upon emerging, they call him a hero. Odo and Lwaxana are rescued from the turbolift with a newfound appreciation for each other’s company. Sisko agrees to allow O’Brien to “keep the puppy.”

The film is about a young man named Talbot Roe (Phoenix), who has gone insane over the death of his wife. Talbot's father, Prescott Roe (Harris) feels his son's pain and wants to find him a new wife. He goes back to the place where he bought Talbot's first wife, from Eamon McCree (Bates). He finds the dead wife's sister (Arredondo), who is a champion horse rider and Mr. McCree's daughter, which makes her only half-Indian.

Roe asks McCree if he could have his last daughter for his son, but McCree refuses. Then, Roe kidnaps her and tries to get her to help him, and she takes the deal for gold and four horses. But Talbot is not taking any chances for her. He is too afraid that she will try to take his wife's corpse from him. And for the last few nights, he sees the ghost of his dead wife. She wants him to destroy her corpse, but he refuses.

The plot of the game once again involves the protagonist Mega Man trying to thwart the world domination plans of the infamous Dr. Wily. On a seemingly peaceful day in a large city, Wily appears in the sky in his flying saucer and sends out a radio transmission that causes all the robots at the annual Robot Master Exposition to go on a rampage. He then sends eight new rebuilt robots of his own to different parts of the city to lead the destruction. Having resisted this reprogramming signal, Mega Man responds by defeating all four of these previous foes in battle and chases Wily to a large tank. Inside the tank, the hero encounters Ballade, yet another robot specially designed to kill him. Mega Man defeats this new enemy, pursues the remaining enemies in the city, and returns to the tank. There, he has a victorious rematch with Ballade, only to see Wily quickly retreat to his space station. Dr. Light fits Mega Man's companion Rush with a space flight ability, allowing the hero to lead a one-man assault on Wily's new stronghold. Mega Man beats Wily, but is unable to blast his way out of the exploding space station. At the last moment, Ballade arrives and self-destructs in repentance, creating a hole through which Mega Man can safely escape.

The story of ''Mega Man III'' consists of the hero Mega Man battling the evil scientist Dr. Wily, who is using a converted oil platform in the middle of the ocean to draw energy from the Earth's core to power a new machine. After annihilating eight robots whom Wily had previously used, Mega Man makes his way to Wily's lab, where he encounters the mad doctor attempting to escape. A powerful robot designed specifically to destroy the hero, Punk, confronts Mega Man but is defeated. Mega Man chases Wily onto the oil platform (which emerges from the water as Wily's latest fortress) and halts his enemy's plans once again.

The storyline of ''Mega Man II'' involves the hero Mega Man battling his arch-nemesis Dr. Wily as the latter once again attempts to take over the world. This time around the evil genius has stolen an experimental "Time Skimmer" from the world's Chronos Institute and used it to travel 37.426 years into the future. Meanwhile, Mega Man is sent to investigate an underground passageway containing enemy Robot Masters from his previous adventures. Mega Man destroys them again and makes his way to Wily's fortress, which contains four more Robot Masters from his past. Once they are destroyed, Mega Man advances and comes upon Quint, a future version of himself. Wily had captured Quint in the future, remodeled him, and brought him back to the present. After Mega Man beats him, Quint relinquishes his "Sakugarne" jackhammer weapon to the hero. Mega Man follows Wily to a space station and defeats him.

In Britain in the early 1900s, recently widowed Mrs Lucy Muir moves to the seaside village of Whitecliff despite the disapproval of her in-laws. She rents a house there named Gull Cottage, although it has a reputation as being haunted by the spirit of a seaman who accidentally died there.

On the first night after moving in with her young daughter, Anna, and her loyal maid, Martha, Lucy is visited by an apparition of the former owner, a roguish but harmless sea captain named Daniel Gregg. He tells Lucy that his death four years ago was not a suicide but actually the result of accidentally kicking the valve on a gas-fired room heater in his sleep. Daniel explains that he had wanted to turn Gull Cottage into a home for retired seamen and does not appreciate her presence, having personally frightened away previous visitors. However, due to Lucy's headstrong attitude, as well as her appreciation of the house, Daniel reluctantly agrees to allow her to live in Gull Cottage and he promises to make himself visible only to her.

Lucy's poor investment — her only source of income — has dried up, and she considers a move back to London. However, Daniel has warmed up to her and asks her to stay. They decide to write a book, a dictation of his memories from his time at sea, for which she will profit. During the course of writing the book, they fall in love. Both realize it is a hopeless situation, and Daniel tells Lucy that she should find a living man to be with. In London, Lucy goes to meet a publisher and becomes attracted to Miles Fairley, a suave author who writes children's stories under the pen name Uncle Neddy. Daniel's lurid and sensational recollections, titled ''Blood and Swash'', become a bestseller, providing Lucy with royalties which she uses to buy Gull Cottage. Fairley follows her back to Whitecliff and they begin a whirlwind courtship after Fairly claims he fell in love with her at first sight. Though initially jealous of their relationship, Daniel decides to leave, as he considers himself an obstacle to Lucy's chance at happiness. While she is asleep, he places in her mind the suggestion that she alone wrote the book and his presence was merely a dream. He then fades away after declaring his regret that he never had a life with her.

Fairley sends a note cancelling a planned visit to Gull Cottage, saying he will be in London for a few days. Later, Lucy visits London to sign a contract, and obtains Fairley's address in the city from the office clerk with the purpose of paying a surprise visit. However, on this visit she discovers that Fairley (who is not at home) is already married with two children, and his wife tells her that Fairley has romanced other women in the past. Heartbroken, Lucy returns to Whitecliff to spend the rest of her life as a recluse, with Martha looking after her. Anna, now at university, returns with a Royal Navy lieutenant she plans to marry. In the course of a conversation with her mother, Anna reveals that she too had seen Daniel, whom she regarded as a childhood friend, and she knew about her mother's relationship with Fairley. Lucy in turn reveals that Fairley is now an overweight alcoholic, abandoned by his wife and children. Through the conversation, Lucy realizes that the ghost she loved was in fact real.

Many years later, now ailing and under a doctor's care, Lucy receives a letter from Anna, informing her that Anna's daughter - also named Lucy - is engaged to a plane captain. Anna believes that affection for captains runs in their family. Lucy rejects the glass of hot milk Martha has brought for her with a complaint that she is tired. After Martha leaves the room, Lucy takes a sip, but the glass falls to the floor as she dies. Suddenly, Daniel returns and approaches her, whispering that she will never be tired again. Taking his hands, her young spirit leaves her aged body and greets him with a loving smile. Unnoticed by Martha, the couple leave the house and walk arm-in-arm into an ethereal mist.

Set in the 21st century ("200X"), ''Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge'' follows the storyline of the original ''Mega Man'' series. The titular protagonist Mega Man, a super robot created by the benevolent Dr. Light, has restored peace to the world by halting the plans of the evil Dr. Wily and his powerful "Robot Masters". In ''Dr. Wily's Revenge'', the mad scientist returns to send eight of his old robot masters to contend with the hero once again. After vanquishing four of the robot masters, Mega Man heads to Wily's Fortress and deals with the remaining half of them. The protagonist then battles a new robot designed solely for destroying him, the "Mega Man Killer" Enker. As Mega Man defeats Enker and obtains his mirror buster ability, Wily retreats to a space station. Mega Man gives chase and, using the mirror buster, destroys Wily's newly built, final weapon. After putting a stop to his nemesis once again, Mega Man travels back home via space shuttle.

The story follows Luna, a genetically bred super-spy created by the US government. At age 15, Luna is given her toughest assignment yet: after being raised in isolation and only trained as a spy, she must now pose as a normal high school girl. Since she never knew real parents or friends, things quickly become very confusing for her. She makes friends with Oliver, a skater with a crush on her; and Francesca, a nice girl who used to be friends with Luna's rival. But she also has to deal with the emotions and events many teenagers face. To make matters much harder on Luna, the boy she develops a crush on, Jonah, is the son of her main enemy, Count Von Brucken.

The film follows the Beatles through their pre-fame Hamburg days when Stuart Sutcliffe, the band's bassist, meets German photographer Astrid Kirchherr.

After the final defeat of the Dinosaur Empire and the death of Musashi Tomoe in the original ''Getter Robo'' series, Dr. Saotome (Dr. Copernicus in ''Starvengers''), creator of Getter Robo, fears that the peace the Getter Robo team has won will be short lived and that even greater enemies will appear. Dr. Saotome's fears are justified when the Hundred Demon Empire (Hyakki Teikoku, also known as the Pandemonium Empire in ''Starvengers'') appears. Composed of horned, devil-like alien humanoids and possessing a technology advanced enough to build giant demonic robots, this militaristic organization intends to steal Saotome's Getter Generator to fulfill their own goals of world domination.

However, Dr. Saotome is prepared with the creation of an even more powerful Getter Robo, Getter Robo G and a new Getter Robo base. Also, with Musashi dead, Dr. Saotome needs a third pilot, which he finds in baseball player Benkei Kuruma.

In the year 1985, Captain Patterson (Eric Fleming) and his spaceship crew (Dave Willock, Patrick Waltz, and Paul Birch) take their rocketship to an Earth space station. En route, the space station is destroyed by an interstellar energy beam, which also damages their rocketship. The crewman crash land on Venus and are quickly captured. They learn the planet is under the dictatorship of the cruel Queen Yllana (Laurie Mitchell), a masked woman who has most men killed, keeping only male mathematicians and scientists on a prison colony moon orbiting Venus. In the queen's palace, the astronauts are aided by a beautiful courtier named Talleah (Zsa Zsa Gabor) and her Venusian friends (Lisa Davis, Barbara Darrow, and Marilyn Buferd). The women long for the love and attention of men again and plot to overthrow the evil queen to reestablish the "old order".

Once Patterson is alone with the masked queen in her bedchamber, he has the opportunity to remove the mask, revealing her horribly disfigured face. This was caused by radiation burns received during a war between Venus and the men of another planet "10 Earth years ago". Later, in a fury, the queen decides she must destroy Earth in order to protect her world and preserve her power. In the presence of her armed guards, Talleah and the crewmen can only watch as she aims the energy-beam "disintegrator" at Earth. Just after Yllana activates the weapon, Talleah's allies arrive and a struggle begins. The disintegrator immediately begins to malfunction and finally explodes, killing Queen Yllana. Talleah becomes the new leader of Venus. At a subsequent ceremony, she announces that Patterson's rocketship has been repaired and that he and his crew can now return to Earth. Talleah's technicians have also repaired the "electronic televiewer", which allows space command on Earth to contact Patterson. Command orders him not to attempt a return but to remain on Venus for at least a year, until an Earth relief expedition can arrive. Although the crew could return home in their repaired spaceship, they are elated to follow orders and stay. They begin celebrating with the Venusians in a flurry of hugs and passionate kisses.

Volume I

The poem opens with a declaration of the author's intention to relate the events of her life, which introduces the first major theme of female adventure outside of the domestic sphere. She describes her grandfather's plantation in Virginia, and the massacre of settlers by the native Indians, which leaves her grandfather dead and her father, Mr. William Winkfield, captured. As her father is about to be put to death by the Indians, a young Indian princess, named Unca, saves his life and secures his liberty by taking a liking to him and putting him in favor with the king. Unfortunately, his troubles mount when the sister of the young princess grows equally fond of him, and solicits him for marriage. He responds unfavorably, claiming love only for Unca, so she poisons him and leaves him for dead. Unca comes upon him and saves his life yet again, and they remove themselves from the village to live with the settlers. They are not there long before their daughter, Unca Eliza, is born, and they are visited by two Indian men sent from Alluca, the jealous sister of princess Unca. The two men reveal daggers and a skirmish leaves Unca and one of the assassins dead, while Mr. Winkfield escapes death and takes the remaining assassin prisoner. Under the council of the other settlers, he decides to set him free, sending him back to the village with a promise of revenge on Alluca from Mr. Winkfield. She dies of grief before revenge can be had, and sends her heart and a request for forgiveness to Mr. Winkfield.

Overcome with grief for his murdered wife, Mr. Winkfield decides to return to England with his daughter in order to take care of his sick brother. While there, Unca Eliza grows up in the company of her cousins, is educated and exposed to Christianity, under which she was baptized, and notes with what great attention the English attend to her due to the complexion of her skin and her mixed Indian and English dress. Shortly after arriving in England, the grief-stricken Mr. Winkfield desires to return to Virginia, but intends for Unca Eliza to remain in England to finish her education. When she is eighteen years old, she is summoned by her father to return, and she makes the journey alongside her cousin, John Winkfield, who solicits her for marriage. She denies him, claiming she will never marry a man who cannot use a bow and arrow any better than she. Soon after arriving back in Virginia, Unca Eliza's father dies, and she is left alone. She desires to return to England when she is twenty-four, so she purchases a sloop and assembles a crew for the journey. On the way, her chosen captain solicits her for marriage to his son, but she refuses in the same manner as before. He is outraged by this, and threatens to leave her on an uninhabited island - securing all her money to him - if she does not reconsider. An altercation ensues, and the captain is thrown overboard by two slaves. (He is later recovered.) He gives Unca Eliza another opportunity to reconsider, but she does not, and he leaves her on an uninhabited island.

Once on the island, Unca Eliza, realizing she is a castaway grieves, then quickly devotes herself to God realizing how lucky she is to be alive. Unca Eliza finds an abandoned hermitage shortly after, which she takes as her shelter. Inside, she finds a manuscript of the previous occupant telling her how to survive as they have. The manuscript implies the occupant may soon be dead. She begins settling into her new lifestyle. She learns how to fend for herself and begrudgingly eats some goats and roots. After several weeks of this, she realizes the gravity of her situation and is much distressed, and comes down with a debilitating fever. Once she recovers, she consults the manuscript for more information, and learns that there is life on the island after all. She decides to explore her new habitation and understands the hermitage to be a religious temple of the sun, which contains numerous mummies. Upon returning from her explorations, she is startled by the presence of the hermit, who she thought was no longer on the island. The hermit dies overnight, and Unca Eliza makes more explorations and discovers an underground passageway leading to an idol of worship. While she is there she discovers that she can climb inside "the oracle" and it allows her voice to be heard for a great distance. A tempest brews outside, trapping her in the passageway. Afterward, the temple is visited by a group of Indians, as the manuscript predicted, and Unca Eliza hides in the secret passageway. While she is in there, she resolves to convert the Indians to Christianity ("from their idolatry") and develops a plan to hide within the body of the idol and to speak to the Indians when they arrive for their worship on the following year. An earthquake ensues during her practicing of the plan, and upon its conclusion, she discovers it has destroyed her abode. When the Indians arrive for their worship, she converses with the high-priest from within the idol, instructing the Indians in Christian principles. ''''''

Volume II

Chapter I

By the end of Volume I, Unca has instructed the Indians to come back to visit her the following week for further instructions. She takes this time to reconsider what she had said to the Indians and how she should continue on with them. She also explored the island and discovered an extraordinary four footed animal. It was the size of a large dog, with long legs, a slender body, it had uncommonly large eyes which projected far from its head, and two rows of sharp but short teeth. This creature excited Unca's curiosity so she followed it. Other animals who were larger than it, fled at the sight of it. It came to a grassy area and extended itself as if dead, with eyes shut and lips closed. She sat down at some distance to watch it. The hair on his body was thick and long, five or six inches (152 mm), and formed bunches of clusters. A great number of field mice came up to him and began nibbling at the clusters of hair. It continued to lie still until a considerable number of mice had employed themselves among it. He then got up and shook violently, but the mice were stuck on him. He turned around, extended his long neck and began eating the mice greedily. In a few minutes he ate near three hundred of them because his body was almost covered in mice. Unca's curiosity was satisfied.

Chapter II

The day had come when the Indians were instructed to return to the island for further instructions. Unca took her place in the statue and waited. Only seven priest returned so she asked them why they did not bring their people? The high priest responded that it was their business to instruct their people after she has taught them. The priest explained that if she taught everyone, then they no longer had any means of employment. Unca told them that she will not teach them only and that they should not fear. She instructed the priest to go back and return with their people. He agreed and told her that they will return with their people in the morning because it will take up too much time in one day to complete this task. The next morning, the priest returned with a considerable number of people. She lectured for three hours and then told them to break for refreshments. She also instructed them to retire further from her so that she may emerge from the statue and take a refreshment for herself. She encouraged the people to ask her questions but they responded that "our priest know all, teach our priest and they will teach us". She concluded from this answer that the priest had instructed the people in private and then reminded everyone of what she had told them the previous day. Finishing her lecture, she told everyone that she had much more to teach them and that they should return once a week. The high priests being old should come if he pleased and all other could also choose to come if they wished. Unca excused the Indians and soon they all left the island.

Chapter III

Being suspicious of the priest because they would never suffer to be useless to their people, Unca decided that she must live among the Indians. Unca wished to make more progress with her teachings and it would be hard to do so from the statue once a week. It would also be inconvenient for them to come during the rainy season. She also considered her living arrangement. It would be hard for her to live underground during the summer and she would be confined to it also in the winter. After much thought she decided that it would be absolutely necessary to live with the Indians. She planned to introduce herself to the Indians but keep them ignorant of who she was and how she came to them so that she "might preserve a superiority over them". When the Indians returned to the island, she told them that they were ignorant of the true God and that God will send a holy woman to instruct them more fully. She told them to not be fearful or suspicious of that person who will be a woman. She will bring holy writings. They must respect her, do everything she commands, do not ask her where she comes from or when she is leaving, when she wishes to visit the island do not follow her or do anything that she forbids. Unca told them that she does not wish to force this woman upon them. They tell her to "Let her come! We will love and obey her!" She then instructed them to come back three days later, two hours after sunrise, and they will see the woman dressed like a high priest. After the Indians received her instructions and left, Unca began preparing for her departure.

Chapter IV

Unca rises early and begins preparing for the return of the Indians. She dresses herself in white and adorns herself in ornate jewelry of gold and precious stones. She leaves her shelter, locks it, and covers it up. Unca arrives at the statue and awaits the return of the Indians with her a staff, her bow and arrow, and a bundle of treasures. She also remembers to pray to God, that He might take away her fear and guide her on this grand task. The Indians arrive and the high-priest greets Unca respectfully. Unca announces her intentions: she will live with them for some time and instruct them on God's teachings, which she says will make them "happy for ever." Unca does not fail to mention a set of rules which include the following: they must obey her orders, learn her teachings, and never ask where she came from, or when she is leaving. At this, the high-priest responds with bows of acceptance and gratitude but follows with a proposal that surprises Unca. Since their previous king had died recently and left no heirs, he asks Unca to take her place as their queen. She thanks him for the offer but declines saying she will be only their "instructor." They all agree and Unca presents the high-priest and many of the people with rings from her treasures. A few of the Indians come forward and offer Unca some food and drink and Unca stands to say grace. This marks the beginning of her Christian teachings. She then mentions Jesus Christ and explains the Christian understanding that he is the son of God to whom they owe their thanks and praise.

Chapter V

Before embarking with the Indians, Unca prays to God. After the prayer, she sings a hymn in the Indian language to demonstrate the Christian ritual for the Indians. She leaves with the large group by canoe, and is welcomed in the Indian country where she is provided with lodging and 6 Indian servant girls. She is presented with gifts of liquor, dried meat, flowers, and fruit. Unca begins daily instruction for the priests on Scripture, and a weekly public instruction to spread the Christian faith. She reflects upon her surprise at the willingness and enthusiasm of the Indians to learn about Christianity. Unca also begins to translate her prayer books and the Bible from English into the Indian language. She admits that she is not happy living among the Indians, and that she knows she is perceived to be more than mortal and deliberately takes advantage of this. In her spare time, she shoots her bow and arrow, and revisits her old island. Two years pass living with the Indians, and Unca completes her translation of the Bible, the Catechism, and most of her Prayer Book. She is proud to have replaced the Indians religion of idolatry with Christianity.

Chapter VI

Returning on a regular trip to her island, Unca immediately perceives Europeans approaching the Idol. Concerned that they might try and enslave the Indians she ascends into the Oracle. Realizing that her cousin is among them she decides to speak to them through the Idol. Their discussion confirms that it is her cousin Winkfield and Unca assures him - via the Oracle's booming voice - that she is alive. She then asks them to sing a hymn her uncle wrote during which she sets up an Indian instrument to play through the Oracle's mouth and dresses herself in ceremonial robes. Unca sneaks up behind them and holds a sun staff in front of her face, slowly revealing herself, further terrifying the company in the process. While her cousin is relieved to see her alive, the rest of his company has been deeply disturbed by the loud speech of the Oracle, the music which Unca made it play, and her sudden appearance in luxurious robes. Unca tells her cousin that she will explain all these things in good time, but the company is so frightened by her that they are unable to speak.

Chapter VII

The company returns to their ship and Cousin Winkfield explains that the day after Unca was left on the island Captain Shore captured the vessel that she was on. The same Captain brought her cousin here to look for her, but now he is concerned the rest of the party has frightened the crew so much that she might not be able to get on board. Unca needs to leave for a while to settle things in her adopted home, but her cousin does not want her to leave at all. She insists and while she is waiting with her cousin and Captain Shore the crew members send a representative party to meet them. The party states that they are so terrified by Unca that they declare her to be the bride of Satan. Unca's cousin then agrees that she should return to her village and they make plans to meet on her island in the morning to set sail, which should give him time to calm down the crew.

Chapter VIII

As Unca leaves the sailors let out a shout for joy and she returns to the Idol to think about what has happened. She cries over her own folly and worries that her cousin might be murdered until she is exhausted and seeks some refreshment. Walking to her provisions she is immediately met by her cousin who tells her that they will not let him on board the ship. He assures her that Captain Shore will attempt to calm down his crew and will return in the morning to take them both on board. Unca and her cousin sit down to eat and he relates the fantastical claim of the crew: that they had seen her fly, filling the air with the smell of brimstone. Captain Shore challenged their claims saying that they are mutineers, but the crew insists that they are not, they just refuse to have the She-Devil or her friends on board. Unca and Winkfield decide to return to the island in the morning to see what Captain Shore has accomplished with his crew.

Chapter IX

Unca meets up with her canoe and tells the Indians - who had never seen a white man - that he is a relation of hers, which satisfies them. As they return to her village Unca tells her story to her cousin, who wishes to join her on her Christian mission. She discourages him and he proposes to her, which she delays answering as they have arrived on shore. They dine with the priests and return to her island in the morning. They spend most of the day on the island and are about to give up hope of seeing the ship when they find a note that Captain Shore has left for them. In it he states that the crew is resolute in their foolishness and the best he can do is leave Winkfield's effects on the shore and return for him with a new crew. This will take a year at least, but he will tell his family that both he and his cousin are alive, and when he returns he will leave them a means to signal his ship. Winkfield is happy because he can renew his suit of Unca, who only loves him as a friend and relation. She does consider that marriage would give them the chance to be alone together, as being alone with a man she is not married to hurts her modesty.

Chapter X

Winkfield's effects are taken to the village including some clothes for Unca for which she is very grateful. They also introduce chickens to the island along with a gun, telescope, and other goods, the result of which is to make the Indians as impressed with him as they are with Unca. Winkfield and Unca observe the sabbath and preach in English and the native dialect until Winkfield is fluent in the native language. Unca becomes so impressed with Winfkield that they are married within two months of his arrival and have both church and Indian ceremonies. The Indians are now baptized, married, and are "admitted to the Lord's supper." At this point Unca asks her husband Winkfield how his arrival came about. Winkfield recounts how Captain Shore sought out audience with his father and related the story of her abandonment. Captain Shore tells them that he became a pirate out of need, but vowed not to kill anyone, and made his crew promise the same. They were about to simply rob Unca's ship when they saw her Indian servant hanging from the yard-arm and demanded that the captain explain himself. The Indian is taken down and he tells Shore the entire story of the captain's treachery and Unca's abandonment on the island.

Chapter XI

Shore continues to recount his story saying that he found Unca's effects on board the ship, but is resolved to make the captain confess. Shore threatens to hang the captain at the yard-arm upon which the captain immediately admits to everything. Shore is about to hang the captain when he has a religious epiphany and repents, resolving to change his ways, repair his past, and bring the captain to proper justice in England. The captain is restrained and Unca's wounded servants are attended to; the male servant dies within a few days, but the two female servants survive. Shore then tells his crew that he hopes to lead them to repent just as he led them to sin and they all agree not to be pirates anymore. He hopes that Winkfield Sr. will help them procure a pardon so that they may turn in the captain and start their lives anew. He also pledges that whoever can prove that he robbed them will have their stolen effects returned. Shore then asks if Winkfield Sr. will accept this proposal, if he will not, then Captain Shore will leave them unharmed. They agree to the plan and give Shore passage to France so that he may await his pardon in safety.

Chapter XII

Winkfield continues to relate the story to Unca, stating that they received the conditional pardon for Shore and brought the captain and his crew to justice. While Shore was preparing to return to his crew he spent a great deal of time with cousin Winkfield who had hoped to find the island where Unca was abandoned in the hopes of bringing her home or properly mourning her. Winkfield is given permission by his family to search for Unca and Captain Shore is glad to take him to the island he suspects Unca to be upon. Winkfield has thus filled in Unca on all that had happened between her abandonment and her discovery. Their life continues on the island with Winkfield returning to Unca's island every two weeks until he finds a cannon with which to signal Captain Shore's ship. Captain Shore then spends three days in their village, further updating them on events in England. The treacherous captain was brought to trial and hanged along with three of his crew-mates. Captain Shore delivered the pardon to his crew and spent time returning stolen goods to their original owners. Unca and Winkfield then tell Shore what they have been doing and Shore asks to join their village, which they consent to. They then return to Unca's island to collect the gold to pay for their needed purchases and destroy the Idol to prevent the Indians from worshiping it ever again. Winkfield and Shore then return to England to get the family's blessing and to bring back books and other needed items. Shore and Winkfield return to the island and Unca sends back her manuscript whose final passage states that none of them have any intention of returning to Europe ever again.

Major Kira believes a Valerian ship docked at the station is smuggling weapons to the Cardassians, but Commander Sisko refuses to detain the vessel without evidence. Before they can resolve their conflict, a damaged Klingon vessel arrives through the wormhole. One of its crew transports aboard Deep Space Nine as the ship explodes. The bloodied man whispers, "Victory!" and dies within seconds.

While investigating the explosion, Constable Odo suffers a seizure and collapses. When he awakens in the infirmary, Dr. Bashir hints deviously at potential trouble between Kira and Sisko. By now, Kira has found evidence of foul play among the Valerians, and informs Sisko of her intention to confiscate their cargo; he forbids her from doing so.

Meanwhile, Lt. Dax and Chief O'Brien take a runabout to find the Klingons' mission recorder and bring it back to the station. During their trip, O'Brien mentions the mounting tension and makes his loyalty to Sisko clear to a complacent Dax. Later, Kira attempts to win Dax's loyalty; however, Dax appears lethargic and only interested in reminiscing. Kira sees the bartender Quark attempting to eavesdrop, and violently attacks him.

Odo attempts to warn Sisko of parallels between the apparent bloody mutiny on the Klingon ship and what is now happening on the station. Sisko, however, has begun meticulously constructing a clock and cannot be bothered. Soon Kira solicits Odo's help in a plan to eliminate Sisko and O'Brien. He pretends to go along with her. Meanwhile, O'Brien plots with Sisko to escape the station and return with reinforcements to overthrow Kira.

Odo studies the Klingon log further, learning that the Klingons had discovered a collection of energy spheres with telepathic imprints of an ancient power struggle that destroyed a race known as the Saltah'na. Odo realizes that the imprint is affecting Deep Space Nine's senior staff, causing them to re-enact the power struggle that doomed the Saltah'na and the Klingon crew; Odo alone is unaffected. He visits Bashir again and pretends collaboration to coopt him into finding a way to reverse the imprint.

Bashir finds a way to remove the telepathic influence from the crew and Odo plays on the trust of both Kira and Sisko to lure both sides into one of the cargo bays. There, Odo activates Bashir's cure, and a purple gas-like cloud emerges from the officers, who regain their senses. Odo opens the cargo bay doors, venting the cloud into space and removing the telepathic imprint permanently.

This film focuses on Claude (Alison Folland), a tomboy teenage girl who lives with her divorced mother in Hell's Kitchen, New York City, and is the story of her sexual discovery and budding lesbianism during summer vacation. Claude's best friend is Ellen (Tara Subkoff). Her plan to start a band with Ellen is subverted when Ellen begins dating Mark (Cole Hauser).

Claude discovers that Luke (Pat Briggs), a gay musician who has just moved into her apartment building, has been stabbed to death in what might have been a hate crime. Ellen hints at the fact that she was there when Luke was killed, but Claude keeps her mouth shut in order to protect her. Claude then goes to a gay bar and meets Lucy (Leisha Hailey), a pink-haired guitarist who is playing in the house band. Claude goes to Lucy's apartment where they begin to engage in a romantic encounter, but Claude freaks out and leaves, returning to her apartment to find Ellen waiting for her. They have a fight which ends with Claude screaming that she would die without Ellen.

Claude goes out along with Ellen and Mark on one of their dates; Mark gives Ellen downers which make her violently ill. Claude brings her to the bathroom and forces her to vomit, and Ellen refers to Claude as her "Knight in Shining Armor." Mark is visibly furious but manages to contain himself. Claude leaves and goes to Lucy's apartment again, but leaves after a brief make-out session. On the way home, Claude is ambushed in the street by Mark, who questions her relationship with Ellen. Claude threatens to tell the police about Mark's possible involvement in Luke's death due in large part that she is worried that he is leading Ellen down a dark path.

Claude goes home to find Ellen waiting for her. Claude tells her that they need to tell the police about Mark, but Ellen says she would go to jail if they knew about her involvement. Claude says she would never let that happen. Claude kisses Ellen for the first time and tells her that she loves her. Ellen tells Claude not to say that for she is not interested in Claude romantically, and Claude leaves. The next day, Claude cleans out her room, removing all traces of Ellen. She goes to the police before work. Later, the police comes into her workplace and take Mark away for questioning. Ellen tells Claude that she hates her for ratting her boyfriend out to the police. Claude says that she knows, and that she's sorry but had to do it. Ellen ends her friendship with Claude. Claude then starts seeing Lucy and going out on their first date together.

Twelve-year-old Dawn Wiener is a shy and unpopular seventh-grader living in a middle-class suburban community in New Jersey. Her older brother Mark is a nerdy high school student who plays clarinet in a garage band and shuns girls in order to prepare for college. Her younger sister Missy is spoiled and manipulative; she pesters Dawn and dances around the house in a tutu. Her mother Marj is a shrewish woman who dotes on Missy and sides with her in disputes with Dawn. Her father Harv is a meek man who sides with Marj over Dawn. Her only friend is a feminine sixth-grade boy named Ralphy, with whom she shares a dilapidated clubhouse in her backyard.

At school, Dawn is ridiculed and her locker is covered in graffiti. At home, Marj punishes her for calling Missy a "lesbo" and refusing to apologize. Her teacher unfairly keeps her after school after one of her bullies Brandon McCarthy tries to copy her answers on a test. Later, Dawn gets in trouble again after accidentally hitting another teacher in the eye with a spitball in self-defense when Brandon and his friends bully her during an assembly.

Mark's classmate Steve Rodgers, a handsome and charismatic aspiring rock musician, agrees to join the band in exchange for Mark's help in school. Dawn pursues him romantically when they spend time together, though one of Steve's former girlfriends tells her that she has no chance of being with him.

After Dawn calls Brandon a "retard" during a confrontation, he threatens her with rape. His first attempt to assault her after school fails, but shortly afterward, he phones her, ordering her to meet him again the next day. When she complies, he takes her to a junkyard, where he starts an earnest conversation with her and kisses her instead. At dinner that evening, when she refuses to tear down her clubhouse to make room for her parents' 20th anniversary party, Marj tells Mark and Missy to destroy it anyway, and gives them Dawn's share of dessert.

Dawn and Brandon spend time in her clubhouse, but she confesses to him her feelings for Steve, causing him to storm out. Ralphy, who was spying on them, tries to comfort Dawn, but she angrily rejects him when he insults Brandon, leaving her with no friends.

At the anniversary party, Dawn intends to proposition Steve, but gets cold feet and is rebuffed. Steve plays with Missy, who pushes Dawn into a kiddie pool. That evening, the family watches a videotape of the party, laughing when Dawn falls into the water. Later, Dawn smashes the tape and briefly brandishes her hammer over Missy as she sleeps.

A few days later, Brandon is arrested and expelled from school for suspected drug dealing. Meanwhile, Harv's car breaks down and Marj has to pick him up. She instructs Dawn to tell Missy to get a ride home with her ballet teacher, but she chooses not to after arguing with Missy, who is kidnapped as a result.

Dawn visits Brandon's home and meets his mentally challenged brother and aggressive father. She tells Brandon that she wants to be his girlfriend, but he tells her that he is running away to New York City to avoid being sent to a reformatory. After they kiss, an argument about him dealing drugs ensues, with him saying that one of his friends is the real culprit. Regardless, he asks Dawn if she will come with him, but she declines and he leaves through his bedroom window.

When Marj is informed that Missy's tutu was found in Times Square, Dawn goes to New York City to look for her. After a night of searching, she phones home and Mark tells her that Missy was found alive and unharmed by police after being abducted by a pedophilic neighbor. Dawn returns to town and her classmates ridicule her as she delivers a thank-you speech. Mark later tells her that she cannot expect school life to get any better until high school. On a bus ride to Walt Disney World for a concert tour, Dawn sits among her fellow choir members and unenthusiastically joins them in singing the school anthem.

The story starts out with the Battle of the Supernatural Powers, a tournament to decide which Celestial (heavenly being in the original Japanese version) will be the next King of the Celestial World (God in the Japanese version).

Each of the 100 King Candidates (God Candidates in the Japanese version) is required to choose a junior high school student to act as their power user. The student is given a unique power and told to eliminate as many enemies as possible. The winning King Candidate will become the new King of the Celestial World and the winning student will receive the Blank Talent (Black Zai in the Japanese version), a talent that can be anything they choose.

While this leads many students to thoughts of greed and selfishness, Kosuke Ueki decides to take it upon himself to win this tournament to keep that power away from those that would abuse such a gift.

''The Law of Ueki Plus''

Two years after the tournament in ''The Law of Ueki'', Kosuke Ueki is now a 3rd year student in Hinokuni Junior High School. For some reason, everyone in the real world has lost their memory of their most important person, including his friends who participated in the tournament two years ago. Ueki is the only one unaffected, and is fighting in order to restore everyone's memories. He follows a little sheep named U-lu to another world called Hangekai where he meets new companions and gains new abilities.

The narrator, a computer scientist, gets a letter from former colleague Bill Rigley indicating that he has discovered components of an analytical engine which was apparently built in rural New Zealand in the mid 19th century. Traveling to New Zealand, the narrator is shown the machinery, which was discovered under a farm house near Dunedin as well as a book of scientific drawings and a journal. The journal contains entries written by someone with the initials L.D. who is in a romantic relationship with someone else, also with the initials L.D. One of them, a woman, built the analytical engine, the other drew the nature drawings. The narrator begins reading the journal. It is an account written by Luke Derwent who had fled to New Zealand with his half sister Louisa Derwent after the two fell in love and married. While Louisa builds her analytical engine, Luke explores the southern ocean with the help of Maori guides. On one of these explorations, Luke meets beings who the Maori call "the cold loving people". While these beings lack the "outward aspect" of humans, they are clearly intelligent and have amazing machines, including powerful medicine. Louisa takes sick and Luke determines to travel with her to the base of the "cold loving people" so that they may heal her. Bill shows the narrator a picture which Luke drew of the beings, which Louisa had named "Heteromorphs", showing them to be spider-like creatures about three feet tall. The narrator and Bill use information provided in Luke's journal to calculate that the Heteromorphs' base was on South Georgia Island. They begin planning a mission to South Georgia, hoping to beat several other groups which, having heard of the discovery, are planning to make their way to the island.

After spending time in New York City, Billy Hayes returns to his hometown. He wants to get back together with his ex-girlfriend and take her back to America in hopes of opening up a gas station. But everything isn't going Billy's way - the townspeople aren't happy to see him, and his ex-girlfriend is engaged and pregnant. Then, Billy runs into his old friends who are planning a scam.

A single man who writes science fiction books and screenplays for a living, adopts a son who claims he is from Mars. The adoptive father comes to be intrigued by the possibility his son might really be a Martian. Ultimately, the father realizes that he loves his son whether or not he is a Martian. The son uses a magical "Martian wish" to be a human so he can remain with his father.

Mastermind Dave Purvis is a professional criminal who devises a scheme to rob an armored car on its last pickup of the day. He recruits Benny McBride, who brings Mapes & Foster to complete the gang of thieves.

Benny needs money because his wife Yvonne, a striptease dancer, has lost interest in him and is seeing another man. Unbeknownst to Benny, the man she is two-timing him with is Purvis.

The robbery itself, at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, begins as planned but goes wrong when a passing police patrol car intervenes. Purvis kills one of the police officers from the patrol car and he and his fellow robbers make their getaway. Lt. Jim Cordell, the dead policeman's partner, takes it upon himself to bring in his partner's killer and throws himself into the case, assisted by a rookie officer, Danny Ryan.

Meanwhile, Purvis's gang unravels bit by bit as distrust and paranoia begins to build. Benny, wounded by police during the heist, is killed by Purvis as he demands his share of the loot from the robbery and attempts to seek medical help. Foster is killed by the police as the three attempt escape. After Mapes gets away, tries to meet Yvonne at the Burly Q where she works, intending to use her as a means to find Purvis, who has kept all the loot for himself. The waiting police, however, arrest Mapes at the Burly Q and learn Purvis's identity.

Ryan goes undercover disguised as Mapes in order to glean information from Yvonne, who knows of Mapes but has never met him. Purvis interrupts and captures Ryan. He is shot and severely wounded while escaping, but manages to inform Lt. Cordell that Purvis and Yvonne are leaving the country by chartered airplane from Los Angeles Metropolitan Airport.

Lt. Cordell and his team corner Purvis and Yvonne at the airport, and Purvis is crushed by a landing plane as he tries to escape across the runway.

Ariane Emory is one of fourteen "Specials", Union-certified geniuses. In addition to her research on azi, she runs Reseune (founded by her parents) with the assistance of Giraud and Denys Nye.

Emory is also a member of the Council of Nine, the elected, top-level executive body of Union. Two political factions vie for power in Union: the Centrists and the Expansionists. The latter, led by Emory, seek to enlarge Union through exploration, building new stations and continued cloning. Her political enemies, headed by Mikhail Corain, prefer to focus on the existing stations and planets. The Expansionists have held power since the foundation of Union, a situation fostered by "rejuv", which extends lifespans and staves off the effects of old age. Emory herself is 120 years old at the start of the novel – and only just beginning to show signs of aging – and has been the Councillor for Science for five decades.

Emory's former co-worker and now bitter longtime rival, Jordan Warrick, is also a Special. Jordan has created and raised a clone of himself named Justin. Justin has grown up with and is very close to Grant, an experimental azi created by Emory from the slightly modified geneset of another Special. When Justin goes to work for Emory, she threatens to use Grant, who is Reseune property, for research. Using drugs and tape to overcome Justin's remaining resistance, she rapes the inexperienced seventeen-year-old. This trauma causes him to experience periodic debilitating "tape-flashes", similar to the flashbacks that PTSD sufferers experience. Justin does his best to hide the sordid matter from his "father", but Jordan eventually learns of it. He is furious and confronts Emory.

She is found dead later that day. Though it could have been accidental, there is strong suspicion that she was murdered by Jordan. He protests his innocence, but agrees to a confession in order to protect both Justin and Grant. Because of his Special status, he has legal immunity and is only exiled to an isolated research facility far from Reseune. It is later revealed that Emory's rejuv was failing and she was already dying of cancer.

Emory's last project had been the cloning of a promising young chemist to see if it was possible to recreate his abilities. An earlier attempt with Estelle Bok, the inventor of the equation that led to faster-than-light travel, had failed miserably. However, Emory believed this was due to the Bok clone growing up in a different social environment than the original. Emory's ultimate goal was to clone herself, with her successor reliving her life as closely as possible, down to her hormone levels and including two longtime bodyguard azi and companions, Florian and Catlin. Emory also created a sophisticated and powerful computer program to help guide her replacement. With her death and the resulting disruption to both Reseune and Union, the second project is begun immediately.

Ari, the clone of Emory, is raised by Jane Strassen, a top Reseune scientist in her own right and the closest match to Emory's mother Olga. In addition, Florian and Catlin are replicated (a much easier task with azi). When Ari is seven, Strassen is abruptly transferred to another planet to simulate Olga's death. Denys Nye, now Reseune Administrator, takes over Ari's rearing. By this time, it is clear that the experiment has succeeded. Not only is Ari as brilliant as her predecessor, but due to technological advances, knowledge of the original's experiences, and better parenting by Jane Strassen, Ari is several years ahead of Emory's pace and better adjusted socially.

When Ari is nearly nine, the Centrists, in a bid for power, attempt to use a scandal involving Emory – the deliberate abandonment of a secret colony on the planet Gehenna. The Reseune authorities have Ari legally recognized as Emory's clone, entitled to take possession of her predecessor's property, in order to block the release of potentially damaging information. Denys is forced to reveal to his young ward who she is and how much her life has been manipulated.

Because of deep Administration suspicion of his loyalties, Justin is warned to stay away from Ari. However, he cannot avoid bumping into her from time to time as she grows up. She comes to like him and appreciate his skills, particularly since his interests lie in her own area of research. Soon after she gains adult status, she has Justin and Grant transferred to her new department. However, when the sixteen-year-old makes a pass at him, she is shocked by his strong reaction. Justin is forced to reveal the reason. Ari discovers that Emory's rape of Justin had not just been for sex, but also a major "intervention" to free him from his father's domination, so he could work for Emory; it was left unfinished when she died. The younger Ari repairs the damage as best she can.

Ari also comes to terms with the fact that she is much like her predecessor; it is sometimes hard to know where Emory's memories stop and Ari's start. She takes up the original's ultra-secret agenda, revealed to her by Base One, her guiding computer program, and unknown to anyone else. Emory had undertaken to restructure Union society to, in her view, save it from eventual collapse.

Giraud Nye had taken over Emory's seat in the Council of Nine after her death. A major political crisis is precipitated by his death from old age, as well as the Paxers – a terrorist group – manipulating Jordan. An attempt on Ari's life is barely foiled when Justin's just-in-time warning enables Florian and Catlin to deal with an unexpected would-be assassin. Such a major breach in security could only have come from a top-rank Reseune source. Ari suspects Denys Nye. When Denys tries to lure her in for another try by promising to resign, Florian and Catlin kill him, much to Ari's regret.

Buffy is annoyed when her sister Dawn continuously disrupts her training sessions with Giles as well as breakfast at home. Joyce asks Buffy to take Dawn shopping for school supplies, but Riley reminds her they had already made plans. Buffy has to cancel so she can go work with Giles, who has to drive the sisters on their errands in his new BMW convertible. The three spot Willow and Tara heading for the magic shop, and Buffy tells Willow that she is dropping Drama in favor of more Slayer training. At the shop, the gang finds the owner dead, killed by vampires. Buffy sends Dawn outside where she encounters a deranged man. He seems to recognize her, telling her that she does not belong there. She is upset until Tara comforts her. The gang realizes that a pack of vampires raided the shop for books on how to defeat the Slayer, under Harmony's leadership. Giles admires the shop and its potential for a future business.

That night, Xander and Anya arrive at the Summers house to babysit Dawn. Harmony arrives to challenge Buffy but is disappointed when she is not there. Xander taunts Harmony and her minions from the safety of the house until Dawn mistakenly invites Harmony inside. After Harmony puts up a fight, Anya intervenes and Xander kicks the vampire out of the house. Harmony later encounters Spike in the graveyard, and the two talk about Harmony's plans to kill the Slayer. While unpacking in their new place, Tara and Willow discuss how Dawn is having a hard time as the outsider of the Scooby Gang. Tara reveals that she has similar feelings as an outsider.

On patrol, Buffy is fuming about the lecture she received from her mother about allowing Dawn to see a dead body. Riley tries to talk some sense into her, pointing out she and Dawn resent each other for similar reasons. When they return home, Xander tells Buffy about Harmony and - after the Slayer stops laughing - she gets angry that Dawn invited Harmony inside. Buffy complains to Riley and Xander about the trouble Dawn causes and how she cannot always be there to protect her; Dawn listens from the hall and runs outside in tears. Before Anya can bring Dawn back inside, Harmony's vampire minions capture Dawn and attack Anya causing her to be hospitalized. Buffy then runs out to find her sister leaving Xander and Riley to take care of Anya.

Harmony explains to her minions that Dawn is bait, meaning they cannot eat her. Harmony complains to Dawn about her problems until her mutinous minions attempt to kill them both. Buffy – who had threatened Spike until he revealed Harmony's location – arrives and easily kills most of the minions as Harmony escapes. The Slayer frees her sister and, when they get home, they agree not to tell their mother. The next day, Buffy and Giles talk about his decision to take over the magic shop, while Dawn writes in her journal that Buffy still thinks she is a nobody, but she will be in for a surprise.

The gang starts looking for an apartment for Xander so he can move out of his parents' house, though he worries that he may not be able to afford it, upsetting Anya. Giles receives a visit from a demon searching for the Slayer. He later identifies the demon as Toth, the only survivor of the Tothric Clan. The gang checks out the city dump in search of the demon and finds Spike scavenging. The demon hits Xander with light from a rod and knocks him to the ground. He gets to his feet and walks off with the rest of the gang, while there is another Xander still lying in a pile of trash.

The next morning, one Xander awakens at the city dump and then discovers his double upon returning to his house. One of the Xanders is very ambitious and gets a promotion at work, signs a lease for the apartment, and sets up a date with Anya. The unconfident Xander watches as all this happens and finally confronts his double. After the two Xanders see each other, the confident Xander talks to Buffy and she makes this a matter of Slayer business. Soaked by the rain, weak Xander goes to Willow and tries to explain that this double is taking over his life; he then suddenly realizes that his double is going after Anya.

Anya and the confident Xander discuss their future and Anya expresses her fears about not living forever. Giles discovers that the rod Toth used on Xander split him into two Xanders – one with weak qualities and the other with strong qualities. Toph intended to use the rod to split Buffy into two beings. In addition, as the two beings are real and technically one being, the death of one will kill them both. The weak Xander crashes the date between strong Xander and Anya. Both think that the other is a demon and the weak Xander pulls out a handgun he got from Anya's apartment.

Buffy tells the doubles the truth about their situation and tries to convince them not to kill each other. When Toth appears at the apartment, Buffy and Riley fight and kill him. The two Xanders eventually begin to get along, and Willow ends the spell on the Xanders, making them one again. While moving Xander into his new apartment, Xander and Riley talk. Riley confesses that, despite how much he loves Buffy, he realizes that she does not feel the same.

The book is written in the form of a false document. It opens with a foreword by Meyer, who states that the manuscript was brought to his attention by a woman with some familial connection to Horace Vernet, an ancestor of Holmes. The woman had read ''The Seven-Per-Cent Solution'' and thought Meyer might be interested. Although damaged by water, the manuscript proved authentic.

Dr. Watson explains in his own preface that he did not publish the story because of the number of well-known persons who would be affected - persons whose identity would be impossible to disguise. Holmes had for a long time refused Watson permission to write the story on these very grounds, but Watson eventually persuaded him by promising to place the manuscript in Holmes' hands, the only condition being that he not destroy it.

The story involves many well-known people, including George Bernard Shaw, who hires Holmes to look into the death of an unpleasant theatre critic; Sir Arthur Sullivan, one of whose singers at the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was another victim of the murderer; and others including W. S. Gilbert, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, Henry Irving, Ellen Terry and Frank Harris.

In the novel, Holmes clears the name of a shy Parsee Indian wrongfully accused of murder; in real life Conan Doyle played a significant part in helping George Edalji, a Parsee victim of injustice in the English court.

Kakistos and his colleague, Mr. Trick arrive in town, discussing how they will kill the slayer. Having been overruled by the school board, Principal Snyder reluctantly allows Buffy to return to the school on the condition that she make up for the classes she missed. Buffy and Willow go to the library, where Giles questions Buffy about what happened the night she killed Angel and defeated Acathla, ostensibly to help him with a binding spell to prevent the demon from being resurrected.

That night at the Bronze, fellow student Scott Hope attempts to talk to Buffy, but she becomes distracted by a suspected vampire leading a girl outside. Buffy and the rest of the group watch as the girl kills the vampire. The girl introduces herself as Faith, a new vampire slayer. Cordelia realizes that the death of Kendra the Vampire Slayer must have summoned Faith. The group and Buffy's mother Joyce take a liking to Faith, but Buffy remains skeptical. Kakistos and Trick plot revenge on Faith for mutilating Kakistos' face.

That night, while the slayers are patrolling together, they are attacked by vampires. While Buffy struggles with several vampires, Faith focuses only on one, beating the vampire repeatedly instead of helping Buffy. Giles tells Buffy the vampires were working for Kakistos, an ancient vampire with cloven hands and feet. After leaving the library, Buffy runs into Scott, who tries to ask her out on a date. Buffy accepts, but she runs away very disturbed when Scott hands her a Claddagh ring like the one Angel gave her. Giles tells Buffy that Faith's watcher is dead, not at a retreat center as Faith had said.

Buffy goes to see Faith at her motel room and tells her Kakistos is in town. Faith tells Buffy that Kakistos murdered her watcher some weeks earlier in Boston and he swore revenge on her for mutilating him with an axe. As Faith tries to leave, Kakistos and a group of vampires break into the room. Buffy and Faith escape through a window, but are driven into Kakistos' lair. Buffy fights and slays many of the vampires while Kakistos attacks Faith. Eventually, Faith impales Kakistos with a large beam, killing him. Trick flees with another vampire.

Inspired by Faith standing up to her fears and conquering them, Buffy finally reveals to Giles and Willow that Angel was cured when she killed him. Although she is skeptical that the information will help with a binding spell, Buffy feels better for having told them. After Buffy leaves, Willow approaches Giles to offer her help with the spell, but Giles tells her that there is no spell, he wanted Buffy to open up about what happened between her and Angel.

Buffy talks to Scott and, after explaining her reaction to the ring, they make plans to go out. She returns to the mansion where she killed Angel. Buffy places her Claddagh ring on the ground and says goodbye. After she leaves, the ring starts to vibrate and Angel returns from hell.

The day of a full moon, Xander and Giles learn about a brutal murder in the woods the night before. They discover that Xander had slept through his watch of the werewolf Oz, and that the window in the pen is open.

Buffy begins to open up about her life to Mr. Platt, the school psychologist. On patrol that night, Angel attacks her in the woods. Animalistic, he is no match for Buffy, who chains him up in the mansion. She sees the spot on the floor where she left his ring; it was scorched by Angel's body on his return. Willow, Xander and Cordelia enter the morgue to collect hair samples from the body of the mauled boy.

Buffy tells Giles that she had a vivid dream of Angel coming back. Giles explains that time passes differently in demonic dimensions, so any being who manages to return would most likely have been turned into a monster. Buffy wonders if Angel was responsible for the murder; the hair samples were inconclusive. She returns to Platt's office to pour her heart out, then realizes that he has been mauled to death.

When Pete and Debbie sneak into a room to make out, Pete discovers that one of his jars has been emptied and accuses Debbie of drinking its contents. Pete yells at Debbie, then transforms into a monster. He tells her that he used to need the substance to turn into the monster, but now only needs to get mad. He begins beating Debbie, blaming her for making him mad. As he transforms back into his human form, she forgives him.

Oz is no longer suspected, as Platt was killed during the day. He meets up with Debbie and notices her black eye. Buffy and Willow seek out Debbie, and try in vain to talk sense into her. Meanwhile, Angel breaks free from his shackles, and Pete finds Oz in the library. Pete turns into a monster and starts to beat up Oz for talking to Debbie. The sun sets and the tables are turned when Oz transforms into his werewolf form, Oz becoming evenly matched in strength and begins fighting Pete. Buffy tries to tranquilize Oz, but Debbie pushes the gun away and Buffy ends up shooting Giles. Buffy chases after Pete while Willow and Faith pursue Oz.

After a struggle, Faith sedates Oz with a dart. Buffy follows Pete's blood trail, but he finds Debbie first and despite her pleas and attempts to appease him, he kills her. Buffy finds Pete, but he knocks her to the ground and advances threateningly on her. Angel arrives and he and Pete begin fighting; Angel uses the chains that still bind his wrists to kill Pete. Afterwards, he reverts to his human face and calls out Buffy's name before falling to his knees and embracing her in tears. Buffy begins to cry as well, finally accepting that Angel is back.