In the future, where it's faster to travel by exchanging bodies with someone at the destination, a man's body is hijacked by a ruthless terrorist.

Toffler (Kim Coates), a member of the privileged "Corpie" (corporate) class, accidentally ends up in the body of a terrorist named Fisk (Kyle MacLachlan), who has in turn taken over Toffler's original body. Unable to continue as Fisk, Toffler is forced to use a cloned body (Stephen Baldwin) with a limited lifespan, in order to track down Fisk and get his original body back.

A prophecy tells how one of the children of Mrs. Brisby and her late husband, Jonathan, would save Thorn Valley from NIMH. Brisby's youngest son, Timothy, is chosen, but his older brother, Martin, believes he should have been. Martin decides to prove his worth and goes off to find his own adventure. Jeremy, the long-time acquaintance of the Brisby family, flies Timmy to Thorn Valley and is given a great welcome by its residents and becomes a student to Justin, the leader of the Rats of NIMH, and Mr. Ages. Over the years, Timmy is trained to overcome any challenge by adapting, improvising and thinking on his feet. Timmy hopes to one day become a great hero like his father, but has trouble listening to orders and thinking things through.

During a scavenger mission, Timmy meets a female mouse named Jenny McBride, whose parents were two of the mice that tried to escape from NIMH but were thought to have died; she explains that the mice in fact survived, but have been trapped ever since and also reveals the institute is preparing an unknown plan that will occur on the next full moon. Thorn Valley's council declares it would be too dangerous to save the mice, but Timmy decides to help Jenny after having since learned that Martin had also been captured. They manage escape by piloting a makeshift hot air balloon and begin their rescue mission to NIMH. During the journey, Timmy and Jenny begin to fall in love, but are attacked by a hawk and crash into the forest, where they meet a caterpillar con artist named Cecil, who scares the hawk away.

Seeking help, the group visit the Great Owl but instead find Jeremy posing as the Great Owl. Timmy and Jenny learn that Cecil has teamed up with Jeremy to trick the forest animals into paying them money but when their scheme is exposed, they escape with Timmy and Jenny in tow and travel to NIMH. Timmy and Jenny manage to sneak inside and find that the institute's experiments are worse than ever, turning rats and other creatures into obedient minions and the human scientists becoming animalistic.

Timmy and Jenny are reunited with Justin and the rats, who have come to help. Timmy is tasked to stand guard, but abandons his post to find Martin, causing everyone to be captured by a corrupted pair of stray cats, Muriel and Floyd. Timmy, Jenny and the others are taken to the head scientist, Doctor Valentine, only to find Martin is the true mastermind. Following his capture, Valentine turned Martin insane with his brainwashing device, but with his heightened intelligence, he took control of the lab after brainwashing Valentine and the others. Martin plans to use an army of lab rats riding a flock of pigeons to take over Thorn Valley and asks Timmy to join him, but he refuses. Timmy is detained, while Martin drags Jenny away to make her his queen and has the rats locked away.

Timmy begins to lose hope and blames himself for the situation until Cecil returns and encourages him not to lose hope as everyone makes mistakes. With renewed hope and determination, Timmy finds a way to escape and begins to devise a plan, taking all that he’s learned and finally begins thinking things through. Timmy manages to trap Muriel and Floyd and goes to rescue Jenny while Cecil frees the rats. Timmy saves Jenny, defeats Martin and tricks his army into flying in the wrong direction.

Timmy and Jenny then leave to find the others, only to find that a fire has broken out. The survivors flee, while Timmy goes back to save Martin, but not before he and Jenny profess their love for each other. On the way to Martin, Timmy is attacked by Muriel and Floyd, but he sends them down an elevator shaft to their deaths. Timmy eventually finds Martin and they are able to escape through the lab's skylight with some help from Jeremy, who then takes the group to safety. They return to Thorn Valley, where Martin has regained his sanity as Timmy receives a hero's welcome by its citizens and his family now that the prophecy has been fulfilled.

An evil Archbishop and his followers summon a demon to destroy the world, but the demon's first act is to kill its summoners. It does so in an appropriately unique manner, by turning the bodies of its victims into what appears to be solid shadow, which disintegrates at the first touch of light, any light. Light is in fact the demon's anathema. Unable to stand the slightest glimmer at its creation, the creature gains strength and solidity with each kill, allowing it a greater resistance to the light; and with it the ability to affect and control those around it, including a pack of vicious dogs. As the town is orchestrated towards its own destruction, it proceeds to hunt down a particular child. A pivotal sacrifice, necessary to complete its transition into the light, and unleash its Evil.

Two geological researchers for the American multinational corporation NTI find an ancient alien laboratory on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. In the lab is an egg-like container which is keeping an alien creature alive. The creature emerges and kills the researchers. Two months later, the geologists' spaceship crashes into the space station Concorde in orbit around Earth's Moon, its pilot having died in his seat.

NTI dispatches a new ship, the ''Shenandoah'', to Titan. Its crew, consisting of Captain Mike Davison, Susan Delambre, Jon Fennel, Dr. Wendy H. Oliver, David Perkins and Beth Sladen, is accompanied by the taciturn security officer Melanie Bryce. While in orbit, the crew locate a signal coming from the moon—the distress call of a ship from the rival West German multinational Richter Dynamics. The ground collapses beneath their landing site, dropping the ''Shenandoah'' into a cavern and wrecking it. When radio communication fails, a search party is sent out to contact the Germans.

In the West German ship, they find the egg-like container and the dead bodies of the crew. The creature appears and kills Delambre when she lags behind the escaping group. Fennel goes into shock at the sight and Bryce sedates him. When they return to their own ship, the Americans find that one of the West Germans, Hans Rudy Hofner, has snuck aboard. He tells them his crew was slain by the creature, which was buried with other organisms as part of a galactic menagerie. He proposes returning to his ship to get explosives, but the crew are unwilling to risk it.

The creature's undead victims are controlled by the creature through parasites. Unsupervised in the medbay, Fennel sees the undead Delambre through a porthole and follows her outside. She strips naked, and he stands transfixed while she removes his helmet. He asphyxiates, and then she attaches an alien parasite to his head. Now under alien control, Fennel sends a transmission to his crewmates, inviting them over to the German ship. Hofner and Bryce are sent to get some air tanks for the ''Shenandoah'' and stand guard over it, while the rest of the crew go over to the Richter ship. Hofner and Bryce stop over at the menagerie on their way, and are attacked by Delambre. The rest of the crew find Fennel with a bandage on his head to conceal his parasite. Davison insists that medical officer Oliver examine his head, so Fennel has her accompany him to the engineering quarters to feed her to the creature. Davison and Perkins notice Fennel does not sweat and go check on them. They find Oliver has been decapitated by the creature. Perkins blows up Fennel's head with his pistol.

Sladen runs into an infected Hofner. She escapes the ship, and in her haste, only puts on her helmet after exiting. Perkins spots her outside and opens the airlock. Now unconscious, Sladen is carried in by Hofner to lure the others. They fight, and Davison defeats Hofner by ripping off his parasite. The three survivors formulate a plan to electrocute the creature with the ship's fusion modules, which can only be accessed by going through the engineering quarters.

Alarms sound as a creature makes its way through the ship, committing sabotage. Sladen and Davison construct the electrocution trap, while Perkins goes to the computer room to monitor the creature. The creature arrives, and they apparently electrocute it to death. However, when Davison leaves, it captures Sladen.

Davison and Perkins follow her screaming and find her locked inside engineering. Studying the ship's blueprints, they find another entrance to engineering. Perkins lures away the creature while Davison retrieves Sladen. On the way, Perkins locates one of the bombs Hofner mentioned. The creature jumps him. Dying, Perkins attaches the bomb to the creature and sets a countdown so Davison can jettison it through the airlock. It climbs back aboard, however, so Davison tackles it, throwing himself out the airlock. When the bomb fails to explode, Bryce appears and shoots it, which sets it off and kills the creature. She recovers Davison and reunites with Sladen, who dresses Davison's wounds. The trio leaves Titan aboard the West German ship.

Detective Lincoln Rhyme, the foremost criminal inspector in the Capitol as a Peacekeeper, is put on the trail of the Coffin Dancer, a cunning professional killer who has continually big-brained the police. Rhyme, a quadriplegic since a line-of-duty accident, uses his wits to track this brilliant killer who's been hired to eliminate three witnesses in the last hours before their grand jury testimony. Rhyme works with his arms and legs, New York City cop Amelia Sachs, to gather information from trace evidence at the crime scene to nail him, or at least to predict his next move and head him off.

So far, they have only one clue: the assassin has a tattoo on his arm of the Grim Reaper waltzing with a woman in front of a coffin.

The film concerns the police force of a small fictional Swedish village, Högboträsk. The village is so peaceful that crime has become nonexistent. The police spend their shifts drinking coffee, eating hot dogs and chasing down runaway cows. This is all well and good for the village's own police, but the police management board wants to discontinue the local police force for lack of crime. This would mean the loss of income for the policemen, so they begin to stage crimes in order to preserve their jobs. This includes burning down the local hotdog stand, hiring a drunk to steal a packet of sausages, thrashing a local car, faking a shootout and staging a kidnapping using their friends as actors.

Set during the Second World War the story follows six children living in the fictional town of Garmouth which regularly suffers bombing raids by the German Luftwaffe. When Chas McGill finds a crashed German Heinkel 111 bomber he removes a fully operational machine gun and over 2000 rounds of ammunition. With the help of his friends, Cem, Clogger, Carrot Juice, Audrey and Nicky they set up their own den called "Fortress Caporetto", named after a World War I battle in which Chas's grandfather fought.

Later a bomb lands on Nicky's house and he is presumed dead but actually survives and hides in the fortress, where he is found by the gang. After this, only his friends know he is alive and Clogger leaves his home and joins him.

During an attack by a Bf 110 fighter, the children fire their gun at the plane. They miss but the plane is shot down. The pilot is killed but the rear gunner, Rudi Gerlath, bails out. He discovers the children's hidden fortress and is promptly detained by the children, who take his pistol, even though their machine gun is damaged and inoperable.

The children do not hand the German over to the authorities, but keep him prisoner at their fort. The children bribe the German with the offer of a boat if he will repair their machine gun. He agrees and mends it before being taken to the dock where he rows off. The same night the church bells ring signalling a German invasion. The children hurry to the fortress but do not see anything; it was a false alarm. Out at sea, Rudi finds he does not have the strength to row to German-occupied Norway and is forced back to England and rejoins the children at the fortress.

The next day it is realised that the children are missing, and some Polish soldiers are drafted in to look for them. The children, on hearing troops speak in a foreign language, open fire on them with the gun, believing they are a German invasion force. The children are soon overpowered, however, and forced to surrender. In the chaos, Clogger shoots and wounds Rudi with his own Luger pistol.

The very well-made fortress is surrendered to the Home Guard, then Clogger and Nicky are taken to a children's home while the other children are handed over to their parents.

Jeremy "Powder" Reed (Sean Patrick Flanery) is a young albino man who has incredible intellect and is able to sense the thoughts of the people around him. Jeremy's brain possesses a powerful electromagnetic charge, which causes electrical objects to function abnormally when he is around them, particularly when he becomes emotional. The electromagnetic charge also prevents hair from growing on his body.

Jeremy's mother was struck by lightning while pregnant with him; she died shortly after the strike, but Jeremy survived. His father disowned him shortly after his premature birth, and he was raised by his grandparents. Jeremy lived in the basement and worked on their farm, never leaving their property and learning everything he knew from books. He is taken from his home when his grandfather is found dead of natural causes. Jessie Caldwell (Mary Steenburgen), a child services psychologist, takes him to a boys' home because he is now effectively a ward of the state.

Jessie enrolls him in high school, where Jeremy meets physics teacher Donald Ripley (Jeff Goldblum). Donald finds out that Jeremy has supernatural powers as well as the highest IQ in history. While his abilities mark him as special, they also make him an outcast.

On a hunting trip with his schoolmates, Jeremy is threatened with a gun by John Box (Bradford Tatum), an aggressive student who views him as a freak. Before John can fire, a gun goes off in the distance, and everyone rushes to see that Harley Duncan, a Sheriff's deputy, has shot a doe. Anguished by the animal's death, Jeremy touches both the deer and Harley at the same time, inducing in Harley what the students assume is a seizure. Harley later admits that Jeremy had actually caused him to feel the pain and fear of the dying deer. Because of the experience, Harley removes all of his guns from his house, although Sheriff Doug Barnum (Lance Henriksen) allows him to remain as a sheriff's deputy without a sidearm.

Doug enlists Jeremy to help speak to his dying wife through telepathy. Through Jeremy, the sheriff learns that his wife clings onto life because she did not want to die while not wearing her wedding ring and without him reconciling with his estranged son, Steven. She tells him that Steven found the ring and that it has been sitting in a silver box on her nightstand the entire time. Doug then places the ring on his wife's finger and reconciles with Steven, letting his wife die peacefully.

Jeremy meets Lindsey Kelloway, a romantic interest, but their relationship is broken by Lindsey's father. Before the interruption, he tells Lindsey that he can see the truth about people: that they are scared and feel disconnected from the rest of the world but in truth are all connected to everything that exists.

Jeremy goes back to the juvenile facility and packs away his belongings, planning to run away to his farm. He pauses in the gym to stare at a male student washing, noticing the latter's luxurious head of hair as well as body hair which he himself lacks, and is caught at it by John Box, who accuses him of homosexuality. John steals Jeremy's hat and taunts him, but Jeremy reveals that John's words mimic what his stepfather said before beating him when he was 12, infuriating him. John and the other boys humiliate Jeremy, stripping him naked and taunting him. His powers begin to manifest by pulling at their metal buttons and any piercings. Eventually, a large spherical electromagnetic pulse erupts throwing Jeremy into a mud puddle and everyone else to the ground. John is found still, with his heart stopped. Jeremy uses an electric shock to revive him.

Jeremy returns to the farm where he grew up, now in procession of probate with the bank, and finds that all of his possessions have been removed. He is joined by Jessie, Donald, and Doug, who persuade Jeremy to come with them to find a place where he will not be feared and misunderstood. Instead, he runs into a field where a lightning bolt strikes him, and he disappears in a blinding flash of light. The electrical jolt hits Jessie, Donald, Doug, and Harley.

''Da Capo'' centers around Jun'ichi Asakura, who lives with his adopted sister Nemu on Hatsune, a fictional crescent-shaped island where cherry blossoms bloom all year long, where they attend high school. On this island, people have mysterious powers and attributes, sourced by the unwilting magical cherry tree. Jun'ichi can see other people's dreams. One of his friends, Kotori Shirakawa, is an idol at the school who can "read minds". One day, to Jun'ichi's surprise, his cousin Sakura Yoshino comes back from America all of a sudden, who looks exactly the same girl that moved away six years ago, and has not aged one bit. She returned to remind Jun'ichi of their childhood promise.

James Curtayne (Tracy) was once a highly successful prosecutor as a New York City district attorney, driven from his job and the high pressure field of criminal law by the bottle. After a long "vacation" he’s attempted to settle into less demanding civil law to make it to an overdue but now financially postponed retirement. Johnny O'Hara (Arness), a boy from the old neighborhood, is accused of a murder. His parents head straight for Curtayne. Unable to pay they nonetheless beg "the counselor" to take the case. He accepts - knowing it will be a tough go, both personally and professionally.

Johnny's boss, Bill Sheffield, was shot and robbed during the night on the stairs of his home by two people in an older coupe. The murder is seen from a distance by a man coming out of a saloon. Police trace the car to Johnny. When detectives come to question him, Johnny flees, claiming he believed they were thugs after him. During his questioning, Detective Ricks (O'Brien) and District Attorney Barra (Hodiak), reveals the murder weapon also to have been his. Johnny claims both were stolen. A young punk, Pete Korvac (Campbell), is brought in. He claims he was the driver, and fingers Johnny as the trigger man.

Johnny admits he’d had a beef that day with Sheffield over some overtime pay but insists he was working all night. The night watchman refutes it. Instead, Johnny had been breaking up with his lover, Katrina (Duguay), the young wife of a tough mobster who controls the waterfront, "Knuckles" Lanzetti (Ciannelli). Knowing what would happen to Katrina if he reveals the truth, Johnny lies to both the D.A. and his own attorney.

Curtayne, a widower, is cared for by his doting but over-protective daughter, Ginny (Lynn). She has put her own future with fiance Jeff (Anderson) on hold for two years keeping her father on the wagon. Professing confidence he can handle the strain, Curtayne is forced to do his own leg work. He visits the Korvac family, who stonewall him, loudly proclaiming they have no use for the slippery Pete. Curtayne visits Knuckles, suspicious of his involvement but willing to horse-trade information upon accepting Knuckles' denials...yet unwilling to accept the mobster's offer to pull strings on his behalf.

At trial Johnny's alibi about being at work all night is shattered. Pete's chatty double-talk is convincing and Curtayne proves unable to rattle him. The counselor confides in Ricks, his old friend, that his mind is failing him, the toll of age, drink, the stakes, and a competent younger adversary he cannot better. Desperate, he turns a sip of a "short beer" into shots of straight rye. Approached in the bar by the eyewitness, a Norwegian seaman, Sven Norson (Flippen), with an offer to change his story, Curtayne caves to his demons and writes out a $500 personal check.

D.A. Barra discovers the bribe, reveals it to Curtayne, but holds it sub rosa. He still easily wins the case, leaving Johnny facing the electric chair and Curtayne disbarment. Sensing a frame, Ricks tips his old friend off about Johnny's involvement with Katrina, a relationship that began on the docks before World War II, before Johnny shipped out to the Pacific for the duration and she married Knuckles. Curtayne confronts her. Grief-stricken, she tells the truth in front of the D.A., willing to accept the consequences in hopes of saving her love. Johnny continues to deny being with her, but the men see through it. Knuckles remains clueless.

Upon discovering Johnny had been set up, Curtayne, Ricks, and Barra revisit the crime, trying to tease out a motive. A tale planted by Pete about a "gold bar" the victim was carrying in an empty suitcase found in Johnny’s car again fails scrutiny; instead, lab tests reveal the battered old bag had actually been impregnated with $200,000 worth the narcotics destined for the "Chicago mob". They devise a scheme to plant a lookalike in the home and entrap whomever comes to steal it. Knuckles, who again professes a debt to Curtayne for not sending him to prison - or worse - when Curtayne had the chance before he dissolved in drink, agrees to spread the word about the suitcase's planned return that night around town.

Curtayne, wired for sound, volunteers to be the pigeon to deliver it and lie in wait for whomever was behind the original killing. It turns out to be the eldest Korvac brother, who tells him Knuckles is dead, abducts Curtayne, and marches him suitcase in hand towards the river and certain death.

Barra orders a police dragnet to close in on the area, but it proves too late. Even a last-ditch effort of a police woman who volunteers to intercept the pair fails in a hail of gunfire, with Curtayne felled point-blank by Korvacs. Moved by Curtayne's heroism, Barra tells Ricks he'll have to find someone else to press the bribery indictment against the wounded man, as he won't. Before Ricks can respond the ambulance medic interrupts to tell them he hopes it wasn’t anything important because Curtayne is dead.

Pat Pemberton (Katharine Hepburn) is a brilliant athlete who loses her confidence whenever her charming but overbearing fiancé Collier (William Ching) is around. Women's golf and tennis championships are within her reach; however, she gets flustered by his presence at the contests. He wants her to give up her goal and marry him, but Pat does not give up on herself that easily. She enlists the help of Mike Conovan (Spencer Tracy), a slightly shady sports promoter. Together they face mobsters, a jealous boxer (Aldo Ray), and a growing mutual attraction.

The book is about the peaceful town of Kardemomme and the people there, as well as the only characters which stir up serious trouble. They are the three robbers, Casper, Jasper and Jonathan who live outside the town and regularly enter to steal the things they need. The robbers get arrested and are treated well in jail. In the end they are reformed, and in the final chapter, they become the heroes of the day when they extinguish a fire in the tower of the town. Finally, Casper becomes the town's fireman, Jasper becomes the town's circus manager and Jonathan becomes a baker.

The play is set in 1974, London, in a single room in Ann's flat. There are three characters: Ann, her former boyfriend Dave, and her lover Patrick.

Ann and Patrick are contentedly sitting at home one night, listening to music and talking, when Dave breaks in. His violent temper is clear from the beginning: He punches Patrick on the nose, then refuses to leave, even as Ann threatens to call the police. It soon turns out that Ann used Dave's work trip to Cyprus to break up with him as she had long planned to do. Now a colleague from work—her new boyfriend, Patrick— has moved in with her. Dave refuses to accept the situation and demands an explanation, bullying Ann, and being overly friendly with Patrick. Ann seems determined not to listen to him, particularly when the two men bond against her. Dave tells her she would be bored out of her mind by Patrick, and asks her to marry him. She refuses. Dave, however, is crafty and clever enough to succeed: he wins her back and moves back in at the end, succeeding in making both of them miserable.

Data invites Deanna Troi, Wesley Crusher and Geordi La Forge to his lab and surprises them by introducing a featureless humanoid android, whom he created based on his own structural design and recent advances in Federation cybernetics technology, describing it as his child. He names the android Lal (after the Hindi word for "beloved") and encourages it to select a gender and appearance. With Troi's assistance and considering many of the on-board species as well as the databanks, Lal narrows down to four possibilities, including a Klingon male, which, as Troi points out, would make it "a friend for Worf", but in the end selects the appearance of a young female human becoming a Gynoid.

Data first aids Lal with cognitive and standard behavioral algorithms, as well encourages her to interact with other members of the crew to learn behavioral and social customs. After a failed attempt to place her in school, due to the other children being intimidated by her, he places her under Guinan's care at the ship's lounge, Ten Forward. This leads to some awkward moments, such as Lal misunderstanding the concept of flirting and kissing, which she first interpreted as "attacking" until Guinan makes an effort at explaining the practice. Intrigued by this, Lal engages in suddenly dragging and kissing Commander Riker over the bar, leaving him baffled and earning him a fatherly scolding à la "What are your intentions towards my daughter?" when Data walks in on them. Lal nevertheless adapts very quickly, even, to everyone's amazement, surpassing Data as stated by her ability to use contractions, something Data never achieved.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard, being informed about Lal and her progress, expresses concern to Data for constructing Lal in secrecy, but Data reminds him that he would not express such concern were two human crewmembers to decide to procreate, to which the captain has little argument. Nevertheless, Picard, as per general orders, reports to Starfleet, prompting Admiral Haftel to arrive to evaluate Lal. From the outset, Haftel is determined to transfer Lal to a Starfleet science facility. He interviews Lal, where she reveals her desire to remain on the Enterprise with her father, but Haftel is unmoved.

Upon leaving the meeting, Lal visits Troi in the counselor's quarters. Lal is clearly confused and distraught, and to Troi's amazement, reveals that she is feeling fear. Experiencing an overload of information and emotions, Lal soon stops speaking and wanders off, eventually returning to Data's lab (as she is programmed to do in the event of a malfunction).

In the meantime, Haftel meets with Data and orders him to release Lal into Starfleet's custody. Though Data moves to comply, Picard orders him to stand fast and reminds him and the Admiral that Data is a sentient life form with defined rights and cannot be ordered to turn what is in essence his child over to the state. But before the discussion can get any more tense, they are interrupted by a call from Troi who explains what has happened to Lal and asks everyone to come to Data's lab at once.

Upon arriving, Data's diagnostics find Lal's emotional outburst is a symptom of a cascade failure in her positronic brain, and they must work fast to stop it. Seeing Data's sincerity, Haftel offers to assist Data, who accepts. Some time later, a worn-out Haftel leaves the lab and informs Troi, Wesley, and Geordi that they have failed. Visibly moved at Data's determination to save his child, Haftel explains the failure was irreparable. He is visibly overwhelmed himself, concluding that Lal will not survive for long. Data apologizes to Lal that he could not save her, but Lal thanks Data for her creation. She lets him know she loves him and will feel the emotion for both of them. Data returns to the bridge, and Picard conveys the crew's condolences, but Data reveals that he has downloaded Lal's memories into his own neural net, sustaining Lal's memories and experiences.

Will Carlson is an around-30 loser who lives in a duplex house in a rundown neighborhood in New Jersey, where he ekes out a living as a birthday party clown in order to pay the rent for his abusive mother's nursing home and the rent on his rundown house. Despite the difficulties of the job, clowning is Will's one escape from the realities of his miserable existence: Will genuinely likes kids, and takes great joy from making them happy on their birthdays.

Struggling to make ends meet, but not wanting to give up his dream job, Will comes up with the idea to be a "bachelor party clown." Will's idea is that men throwing bachelor parties can hire him as a stripper; Will enters the room prior to the "real" entertainment, wearing clown makeup and lingerie, tricking the bachelor into thinking that there was a mix-up and a gay clown stripper has been sent in lieu of a female one. Will invents the persona of Vulgar the Clown (after his friend Syd tells him that the entire idea is "vulgar") and solicits himself in the want-ads. Before long, he is hired to appear at a bachelor party being held at a nearby motel.

When Will arrives for the party — wearing stockings, garters, clown makeup, and a trench-coat — he is attacked and brutally beaten by a middle-aged man, Ed, and his sons Gino and Frankie. The three men then proceed to gang rape Will, taking turns videotaping the attack. The trio hold Will hostage in the motel room for an indeterminate amount of time, during which they subject him to a series of violent and humiliating sexual assaults. They also break a bottle over his head and drug him. A tearful Will goes home and spends the remainder of the night and part of the next morning crying while he washes himself clean in the bathtub.

Will spends a considerable amount of time after the attack in a crippling depression, which nearly costs him his home. Eventually, Will fulfills a promise to appear as a clown at one of his past clients' children's party. When he gets to the party, Will discovers a hostage crisis is occurring; the father of one of the children, in the middle of divorce proceedings, has kidnapped his own daughter and is threatening to kill her. In a near-suicidal reaction, Will sneaks past the police barricade, breaks into the house, and subdues the father. News reporters capture some of the event on film, and before long the story makes national headlines. Will becomes known as "the hero clown;" the attention and outpouring of support breaks him out of his depression, and he is eventually given his own syndicated children's television show.

The media coverage attracts the attention of Ed and his sons (who are still raping young men). They threaten Will with a copy of the tape of his being raped (edited to look like amateur porn) and begin to extort him. When Will tries to pay the men off, they attack him in a bathroom stall. Will finally strikes an agreement with the men wherein he will come to a motel room and "perform" for them, allowing himself to be taken advantage of again, and they will give him all of the copies of the tape; secretly, Will plans to ambush and murder them with the help of Syd.

When the time comes, the gun jams and Will finds himself unable to kill his tormentors. Just as Ed and his sons move in to rape and murder Will, Ed's son Frankie accidentally shoots himself in the face. Then, a shootout ensues with a vagrant lowlife at the hotel, who robs Syd and then plots to do the same to the others. Both the man and Ed's other son (Gino) shoot each other to death. Ed panics, and Will chases him through the motel parking lot to a nearby deserted playground. As Will approaches him with gun-in-hand, Ed has a massive heart attack and dies. Will takes off as he hears police sirens coming. His conscience clear, Will retrieves the tape and goes on to live happily ever after, hosting his television show.

In 1989, Ernesto Cruz, a deep-cover DEA agent, leads a troop of DEA agents against a militia in a jungle to take some information on Papa Muerte. After the attack, Ernesto is thrown from a plane and killed: his C.O. Colonel Trust believes it's a drug overdose. Ernesto's son Tommy, a high-ranking DEA agent, goes to Mexico and finds Marco, who is his primary contact with Morales Cartel. Tommy destroys a Virgillo gang convoy and their gas station but is seriously wounded by a grenade explosion. With no alternative, Tommy calls his younger brother Ramiro, an imprisoned criminal, to take the job.

Ramiro saves Marco from a group of Virgillos who want to kill him because he was winning too much in the game of poker and Marco refers him to Cesar Morales, a local gang boss who had bragged of knowing Ernesto's murderer. Morales sends Ramiro to steal the Virgillo's prized car, only to blow it up. Afterwards, Ramiro is enlisted the task of recovering three stolen trucks that will be used for Morales's trafficking deal. Ramiro successfully steals the trucks, as well as blowing up the Virgillos' ship. Morales's chauffeur Angel overhears Ramiro talking to Tommy, and finds out his identity. Ramiro then accompanies the trucks through Virgillo country, enabling the trucks to pass through: he hides in one of the trucks and follows them to Morales' meat factory. Ramiro opens the gate for the DEA agents, but Morales, aware of his plan, ambushes them: Ramiro narrowly escapes with the help of Angel, who is revealed to be a Mexican undercover police officer. Ramiro infiltrates a meeting of the Virgillos in which he finds out that Morales was just a puppet with someone pulling the strings.

Ramiro engages and dispatches Morales' henchmen, finally killing Morales, obtaining a letter from Morales' safe. He finds out that the letter was sent to Morales by a man named PM (probably Papa Muerte). The letter said that PM's DEA informant The Eagle had forewarned him of the DEA ambush. PM had supplied Morales' men with weapons and artillery through Elvez Autos. Ramiro infiltrates Elvez Autos and finds a bunch of papers depicting coffins and enough ammunition for a small army: he infiltrates Elvez's Villa through the sea and finds bodies of DEA agent Pierson and the other agents in coffins. Interrogating Elvez, Ramiro learns that Papa Muerte had ordered him to supply Cesar Morales with guns to get rid of the DEA agents; General Montanez was to deliver the payment and had done so. Ramiro kills Elvez and escapes the villa with the police and the military in pursuit.

Ramiro then goes to the jungle to Montanez's military base, extracting information about Papa Muerte and the DEA spy. Ram engages and kills Montanez, escaping the jungle. Trust finds out that Papa Muerte had planned to sneak into the DEA and steal the contraband cocaine which the DEA had seized, leaving a bomb to cover their tracks. Ramiro waits at Angel's apartment for extraction, only to find Papa Muerte's henchmen trying to kill him: meanwhile, Agent Johnson reveals himself as the Eagle and induces Tommy and Trust with a lethal drug overdose, although Tommy is able to patch Ramiro in to hear that Johnson had kidnapped Angel and killed their father. Ramiro returns to the DEA, fighting through Muerte's henchmen to save Tommy and Trust with an antidote while Johnson escapes on an armored train with Angel. Using a locomotive to carry the bomb away, Ramiro pursues and boards Johnson's train. Johnson, separating the coaches from the engine, battles Ramiro until Trust sends air support to destroy a canyon bridge ahead: Ramiro rescues Angel, and they jump over the broken rail on a dirtbike as the train falls into the canyon, dragging a trapped Johnson to his doom.

On a world called Ovanan, an alien race of immortal and androgynous beings who possess psionic powers is ruled by a corrupt government unit called the Hierarchy. The Hierarchy uses their power to control the Avatar, a singular being who is able to amass all of the psionic power of the Ovanan people and wield that power as a weapon called The Collective. To cement their control over Ovanan and the Avatar, the Hierarchy also uses the Avatar to act as an angelic religious figure who stands in judgment of Ovanan children. The Avatar chooses who lives and dies, supposedly for religious purposes. In actuality, he selectively kills anyone who may mature into a threat to the Hierarchy's power base. Sometimes these undesirables are allowed to live as an Ovanan underclass, who are called Variants.

An Ovanan man, Aeren, who was raised in the Avatar's household, was secretly allowed to live, despite having an undesirable and dangerous ability: he is a Disruptor, the opposite of the Avatar. While the Avatar gathers and magnifies psionic energy, a Disruptor disrupts energy. This ability can be used in many ways: to stop a heart, cause electrical disruptions in machinery, or to open any lock.

Aeren was secretly involved with the Avatar Etan and his young heir Seren. However, after the suspicious death of the Etan, Aeren escaped to Earth, where he married a human woman and fathered five children, of which two survived: Liana and Jason, 15 and 17, who are born with powers they don't understand and can't control.

Incarcerated in a mental hospital where they are the subjects of study, Jason becomes suspicious of the Institute's motives, and urges Liana to run away. During their escape, they become separated.

Liana encounters a group of humans and an Ovanan man, and his companion, D'mer, also Rieken's lover, who hails from another planet called Kimar, which is under Hierarchy rule. Liana learns that she is an Avatar, and has the powers of the Ovanan godhead. However, her powers interfere with the ability of the Avatar, who currently sits on the Ovanan throne, to control the Collective, and if she is not eliminated, Ovanan is vulnerable as the Avatar is their greatest weapon.

Rieken and D'mer go on a quest to find more humans who will help them save Liana, and to prevent Ovanan from exercising power over Earth. In addition to drawing in several humans, they discover a beautiful Ovanan exile named Bast, who was once one of the Avatar's acolytes. Also, they encounter magical beings from Arthurian myth. The implication is that myth and legend is a kind of Earth Collective, a manifestation of human will that has taken a different form than the psionic energy of Ovanan.

Jason, meanwhile, is captured by the Hierarchy and tortured by the beautiful but evil Sere. Believing him to be dead, his captors dispose of his body, but he is actually in a drug-induced coma. He is rescued by the Resistance, which is working with Rieken to try to stage a coup and overthrow the Hierarchy.

Unknown to Jason and his companions, Rieken is really Seren, the Avatar in disguise, who has quietly been working behind the scenes to try to overthrow the shackles of the oppressive Hierarchy. With Liana on one side, and Jason on another, the two groups rush to a confrontation.

Judith Taverner is a beautiful young heiress who comes to London to join high society. She takes an instant dislike to her unwilling guardian, Julian, fifth Earl of Worth, who, having met her earlier in a small town filled with bucks watching a boxing match, treats her with a familiarity reserved for loose women. Judith soon becomes a sensation in London. She gets many offers of marriage (including one from the Duke of Clarence). Worth does not permit her to marry any one of them. This initially makes Judith very angry, but she comes to appreciate it later. Judith has a younger brother named Peregrine (Perry) who is a young handsome boy with very little sense and a lot of money to spare. Hence, he is always getting into trouble. Perry and Judith's cousin Bernard Taverner seems always so kind and attentive, though there is little love lost between him and Worth.

Perry keeps getting into scrapes. He is challenged to a duel, gets held up, and nearly gets poisoned. Worth suspects that Bernard is the villain and he sends his brother, Captain the Hon. Charles Audley to watch over Perry. Meanwhile, Bernard tries to convince Judith that it is Worth who is the real culprit. In the end, after Worth provokes Taverner into acting, the truth comes out and Bernard is shown to be the guilty one.

The sparring and eventual love affair of Judith and Julian, against the backdrop of Judith's brother Peregrine's romance and danger, make up this novel.

Miss Heyer's ''An Infamous Army'' is a sequel to ''Regency Buck.''

The wild young Viscount Sheringham is fast running through his considerable income through gambling and other extravagant pursuits; and he cannot as yet touch the principal, unless he marries. As the lady with whom he currently fancies himself in love, the beautiful Isabella Milborne, is also an heiress, he proposes.

Isabella rejects him unhesitatingly, citing his dissipated lifestyle. A lively quarrel then follows with his obnoxious widowed mother and her brother, who wish to retain control of his father's fortune themselves. The Viscount storms off in a fit of pique, vowing to marry the first female he meets.

This turns out to be the pretty but orphaned and shy Hero Wantage, who has secretly loved him since they were children, and who now lives with one of his neighbours in the position of Cinderella, complete with Ugly Sisters.

The rest of the novel, chronicling the Viscount's gradual transition to maturity and the realisation that the one he really loves is Hero (the "loving and giving" child of the title), is told with Miss Heyer's characteristic wit, and features some of her most memorable dialogue, plot twists and characters (such as the fiery but lovelorn George Wrotham, whose hobby is fighting duels).

The series follows Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's time as a general practitioner in Southsea, solving mysteries with the help of his mentor, Dr Joseph Bell, who is based in Edinburgh. The series stars Ian Richardson as Dr Joseph Bell, alongside Robin Laing and later Charles Edwards as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Gabe is forced by a hysterical girlfriend to descend into New York City's sewers, into which he has just flushed her aborted fetus. Arriving there, he finds that fetuses populate the sewers, astride similarly disposed-of crocodiles, and the word "Croatoan", crudely lettered on a wall near the entrance to the sewer.

Jeffty is a boy who never grows past the age of five — physically, mentally, or chronologically. The narrator, Jeffty's friend from the age of five well into adulthood, discovers that Jeffty has the ability to access current versions of popular culture from the narrator's youth. His radio plays all-new episodes of long-canceled serial programs, broadcast on radio stations that no longer exist. He can buy all-new issues of long-discontinued pulp magazines such as ''The Shadow'' and ''Doc Savage'', with all-new stories by long-dead authors such as Stanley G. Weinbaum, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Robert E. Howard. Jeffty can even watch films that are adaptations of old science fiction novels such as Alfred Bester's ''The Demolished Man''. The narrator is privy to this world because of Jeffty's trust, while the rest of the world (the world that got older as Jeffty did not) is not. While Jeffty is cute and has the sweetness and humor of an actual five-year-old boy, his parents are scared of him, wondering why he is staying a little boy in every way.

While waiting in line at the local movie house, waiting for the narrator to show up, Jeffty borrows a portable radio from some teens and tunes in a radio show from the past. When Jeffty is unable to return the radio to its normal setting, the teenagers beat him badly. Once returned to his home, Jeffty’s mother drowns him in the bathtub.

Jack the Ripper appears inexplicably in a sterile futuristic metropolis, where anyone is free to do what they want however arcane or immoral. He is brought before Juliette, a girl who is named after the Marquis de Sade's Juliette.

Upon killing Juliette (much to the delight of a City denizen who is her grandfather), Jack the Ripper is returned to the London of his own time, where he commits another of his infamous killings. He is surprised to discover that there are other mental presences or personalities coexisting within his own mind, commenting on the brutality of his acts as if they were spectators at a theatrical performance or aesthetes critiquing a work of art in a museum.

Although recognizably human in form, the future City's denizens have powers of matter manipulation, time travel, and telepathy. They can both read and manipulate Jack the Ripper's mind. They proceed for their own malign amusement to mentally expose him to his own subconscious lusts, desires, and petty hatreds; prior to their interference he had suppressed his awareness of these urges. He realizes that he had persuaded himself that his killings were purely moralistic in intent, meant to draw attention to the injustices, inequalities, social wretchedness, and debauchery of industrial Victorian society. To Jack's despair, his actual base motivations are fully revealed to him by the City's denizens, after which they delight in his ensuing psychological anguish.

He is recalled to the City of the future by its inhabitants. Enraged, he kills one of his tormentors. Jack is fooled by the City denizens into believing that this murder has caused a breakdown in their society and that they have lost control of the City's functioning. He is implicitly led to believe that he has all the power and is an uncontrollable, random evil in their presence. He embarks on a killing spree to terrify the City's residents and punish them for their manipulation of him. After brutally murdering scores of City denizens in a veritable frenzy of bloodlust, Jack learns to his horror that the City denizens have only manipulated him again to sate their decadent desire for entertainment. The surviving denizens disarm him, leaving him to roam the City streets aimlessly. He cries aloud that he really is a "bad man", a man to be respected and feared rather than mocked and thrown aside.

''The Gem and the Staff'' is an adventure for a DM and a single player using a provided thief character. The player must search for a magic gem and a staff of power inside an evil wizard's tower.

This module is divided into two separate adventures, which can be played as successive scenarios. The player takes the role of an experienced thief named Eric the Bold, who is pressed in both adventures into special thieving services. In the first adventure, Eric's task is to steal a certain gem from the trap-riddled tower of the wizard Tormaq. The second adventure involves Tormaq hiring Eric to steal a mighty magic wand from his arch-rival Felspel. Both modules are set with a time limit of thirty real-world minutes to complete the task.

The story begins during the Battle of Geonosis with Clone Commando Darman and his team assaulting a Separatist position. However, the entire squad is massacred in the attack, with Darman being the only survivor. After the battle, he is grouped with other clone commandos in incomplete squads and meets Niner, Fi, and Atin. All four commandos must learn how to work together as a team, as they had in their previous squads.

It is not long before the newly formed squad is given another mission. This time, they are to be inserted onto the planet Qiilura, deep in Separatist territory in order to destroy a research facility developing a nanovirus that specifically targets clone troopers. They also must capture the lead scientist, Ovolot Qail Uthan. However, the facility is guarded by Ghez Hokan, a fearsome Mandalorian mercenary who shows little mercy to his enemies or friends, and commands a small army of militia, Trandoshan slavers, and droids.

When the squad attempts to land on the planet, their ship suffers mechanical problems and is forced to crash land, resulting in Darman being separated from the others. Meanwhile, a young Jedi Padawan, Etain Tur-Mukan, is on the run after her master, Jedi Master Kast Fulier, is killed by Hokan. She goes into hiding and is sheltered with the help of a strange woman named Jinart. Meanwhile, Niner, Fi, and Atin run across and defeat several Separatist patrols in an attempt to find Darman and complete their objective. With Jinart's help, Darman and Etain link up but Etain lacks the self-confidence to lead and tells Darman to take charge. They then manage to reunite with the rest of the squad and make their plans to attack the research facility. Jinart reveals herself to be a Gurlanin, shapeshifting native animals of Qiilura, and gives them vital information on how to approach the facility. Etain and the commandos attack the facility and manage to destroy it and take Uthan prisoner, but Hokan does not give up without a fight, nor does his lieutenant, who wounds Atin and, through shrapnel, Uthan. He fights the Republic forces valiantly, but is eventually outsmarted and killed by Etain who decapitates Hokan with her lightsaber. After their victory, Etain gains a little more confidence in herself and her abilities.

As the extraction dropship arrives, Etain desperately wants to leave with the commandos, but Jedi Master Arligan Zey has different ideas. He wants Etain to stay with him on Qiilura to organize an anti-Separatist resistance movement, and that she would be far more valuable to the Republic by staying behind. Etain reluctantly agrees and parts ways with Omega squad, and especially Darman, as they leave. S.S.

Sex, love, lies, bed-hopping and mistaken identities abound in this pop musical-comedy set in Madrid. The gorgeous Paula breaks up with her boyfriend Pedro in order to continue her affair with Javier. The immature Javier however, is unwilling to break up with his current girlfriend Sonia, or confess to their affair to Pedro, who happens to be his best friend.

Set during the Clone Wars, the story follows Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Kit Fisto and their adventures as ambassadors on the planet of Ord Cestus, which has started producing so-called "Jedi Killer" droids. While, Obi-Wan Kenobi takes the diplomatic approach with the leadership, Kit Fisto and a clone trooper squad start recruiting and training fighters from the working class of the planet to incite a rebellion, should Obi-Wan fail. While they deal with the intrigue and politicking of the locals, as well as intervention by the Sith minion Asajj Ventress, a love affair forms between one of their clone trooper bodyguards Nate and a female pilot who is attracted to the clone template Jango Fett.

It is narrated by the Biblical King David of Israel, and purports to be his deathbed memoirs; however, this David does not recount his life in a straightforward fashion, and the storyline is often hilariously fractured. Indeed, it is possible to read the book as Heller's meditation upon his own mortality, and an exploration of the Jewish view of family, life, death, etc.

All of the major touchstones of King David's life are in place: his childhood herding sheep, the prophet Samuel, Goliath, King Saul, Jonathan (and homosexual innuendoes), Bathsheba and Uriah, the Psalms, the treachery of Absalom, Solomon, etc.

At some points, David betrays knowledge of the future (he mentions Michelangelo's ''David'', saying it is ironic that a King of the Jews should stand there uncircumcised), and even of heaven (Moses sits on a rock in the afterworld, working on his stutter) – we are left to guess whether or not this stems from his special relationship with God, as no answers are forthcoming.

Though not nearly as famous as Heller's ''Catch-22'', ''God Knows'' explores many of the same themes.

Category:1984 American novels Category:Novels by Joseph Heller Category:Alfred A. Knopf books Category:Novels based on the Bible Category:Cultural depictions of David Category:Absalom

Gianni (Kim Rossi Stuart) has left his handicapped son Paolo (Andrea Rossi) in the care of others since his birth. He has not been able to cope with Paolo’s mother’s death in childbirth or that Paolo has not developed like other children because of his handicap. Paolo is now fifteen and is about to meet his father for the first time. Gianni has been asked by his son's caretakers to bring him to a Berlin hospital for yearly tests and check-ups. According to their doctor, the "shock" of meeting his father could help Paolo in his treatment.

When Gianni boards the night train on which Paolo is already travelling, it is Gianni who is in for a shock. Paolo does not seem particularly impressed nor disturbed by this first meeting with his biological father. He seems more interested in his Game Boy instead. Gianni and Nicole (Charlotte Rampling) meet accidentally in the Berlin hospital and, even though he feels awkward and almost ashamed at being seen as having fathered "such a child", they connect. Nicole has spent her life caring for her daughter and could teach Gianni something if only he were willing to listen. Through a series of chance encounters aided by a book left behind by Nicole (''Born Twice'' Italian title: ''Nati due volte'', incidentally the book on which the film is based), they meet several times and get talking.

Tom Sawyer and his half-brother Sid are on their way to school when they see Huckleberry Finn fishing. Tom skips school to join Huck, but changes his mind after he sees Becky Thatcher. He tries to sneak into class, but Sid snitches on him to the teacher, Mr. Dobbins. Tom is made to sit with the girls, which he actually likes since he's able to sit next to Becky. He is also sat beside Amy Lawrence, a friend to whom he became "engaged". She still has romantic feelings for him, but he is too transfixed by Becky to notice. Tom's pet frog Rebel then disrupts the class, meaning they are given early dismissals.

On the way home from school, during the musical number "Hook, Line and Sinker", Tom tries multiple times to steal a kiss from Becky, but is thwarted each time by her father, Judge Thatcher. The next day, Tom is about to go fishing with his friends, but Aunt Polly forces him to paint the house as punishment for what happened at school. Tom, however, gets his friends to paint the house for him instead. While everyone is still painting, Becky stops by and Tom offers her to paint along with everyone else, but under one condition; she needs to kiss him. As Tom prepares for the kiss, he gets kissed by Rebel as a prank, making everyone laugh at him.

That night, when Tom and Huck go treasure hunting, they find Injurin' Joe and his sidekick Mutt Potter uncovering a chest of gold. Deputy Bean, who is visiting his wife's grave, discovers Joe and Mutt. As the boys watch from behind a tombstone, Joe brutally murders Bean who tried to hit him with a shovel, frames Mutt and captures Rebel. Tom knows that Joe can track him down through Rebel, so he and Huck make a pact never to tell anyone what they have seen.

The next day, at school Becky accidentally spills ink on test results. Amy is so happy because she wants to cheat Becky, but Tom takes the blame, for which he receives a brutal thrashing with a ruler by Mr. Dobbins. After school, Tom becomes "engaged" to Becky, before a musical number by Becky and Amy, "One Dream", where the two individually express their shared love for Tom. He then admits he did the same with Amy, causing Becky to call off the engagement and then walks away. Tom and Huck visit Mutt, who is on death row. They try to get him to remember Injurin' Joe murdering Bean, but Mutt doesn't remember. Joe meanwhile finds Tom and Huck, but they escape on a raft. They celebrate their survival and friendship with a musical number, "Friends for Life".

When Tom and Huck swims back to town, they learn that the townspeople are mourning their deaths, believing the boys to have drowned. They disrupt the service, showing up at their own funeral, and are welcomed back. Amy, wanting to make Becky more upset at Tom, kisses Tom in front of Becky making her believe that Tom has chosen Amy over her and leaves before Tom can get a chance to explain, leaving him heartbroken. Judge Thatcher sentences Mutt to be hanged, but Huck and Tom testify against Joe at the last minute. Joe goes after Tom and Huck but fails and is pulled away by a river. Mutt was finally freed and his criminal charges were dropped, and the boys are hailed as heroes.

During the celebration, after making up with Tom, Becky talks Tom into exploring a cave. Amy follows them. Tom and Becky go into a cave and Tom says to Becky that she is the prettiest girl who he ever seen. That made Amy very sad and she stopped to follow Tom and Becky. They get lost and Becky begins to lose hope to finding the exit. Tom sings a number, "Light at the End of the Tunnel" to try and reassure her that they will find a way out. Instead of finding an exit, they find treasure - and Joe. Meanwhile, the townspeople notice Tom and Becky missing and Amy, who saw Tom and Becky go into the cave, reveals where they are. The townspeople go to look for them in the cave. With Huck's help, Tom subdues Joe, causing a rockfall which kills Joe, and is reunited with the townspeople and Aunt Polly. In the end Amy becomes Huck's girlfriend (after being impressed with how he assisted Tom against Joe) and Becky finally becomes Tom's girlfriend. Amy is no longer jealous of Becky. The next day, Sid again tries to snitch on Tom, but it backfires, as Aunt Polly makes Sid paint the house instead of Tom. The movie ends with Tom, Becky, Huck and Amy having a picnic, during which Tom shows the others a gold coin and tells them about another treasure hunt.

Jeff Gerber lives in an average suburban neighborhood with his seemingly liberal housewife Althea, who tolerates her husband's character flaws out of love. Every morning when Jeff wakes up, he spends some time under a tanning machine, hits the speedbag, drinks a health drink, and races the bus to work on foot.

Jeff presents himself as happy-go-lucky and quite a joker, but others tend to see him as obnoxious and boorish. Althea, who watches the race riots every night on TV with great interest, chastises Jeff for not having sympathy for the problems of black Americans.

One morning, Jeff wakes up to find that his pigment has changed. He tries to fall back asleep, thinking that it is a dream, but to no avail. He tries taking a shower to wash the "black" off him, but finds it does not work, when Althea walks into the bathroom, and screams. He explains to her that the "Negro in the bathroom" is him.

At first, Jeff believes this to be the result of spending too much time under the tanning machine. He spends almost the entire day at home, afraid to go out of the house, only going out once to venture into the "colored part of town" in order to find a pharmacy to buy "the stuff they use in order to make themselves look white." His attempts to change his skin color fail.

The next day, he is persuaded to get up and go to work. Things start out well at first, until Jeff is accused of robbery while running alongside the bus to work. The policeman assumes that, since he is a black man, he must have stolen something. During his lunch break, he makes an appointment with his doctor who cannot explain Jeff's condition either. After several calls, the doctor suggests that Jeff might be more comfortable with a black doctor.

Returning home, he finds Althea afraid to answer the phone. He does not understand why until he receives a call from a man who uses racial slurs. At work the next day, a secretary who had previously ignored him makes several advances toward him, finding him more attractive as a black man. Jeff's boss suggests that they could drum up extra business with a "Negro" salesman and reassigns him to deal only with black customers.

At home one evening, he finds the people who had made the threatening phone calls are neighbors who offer him $50,000 for his home due to fear of property depreciation. Jeff manages to raise the price to $100,000. Althea sends the children to live with her sister and later leaves her husband. Jeff sleeps with the secretary but is repulsed by her objectification of him afterwards. Finally accepting that he is black, Jeff resigns his regular job, buys an apartment building, and starts his own insurance company. The last scene shows him practicing martial arts with a group of black menial workers.

The novel begins at the end of ''The Other Side of Midnight'', with Catherine Douglas recovering in a convent, knowing only her name. Everyone except Constantin Demiris, known as Costa, thinks she was killed by her husband, Larry Douglas, and his mistress, Noelle Page. Catherine requests to leave the convent to uncover her past, which Costa permits.

In Greece Catherine remembers Larry and Noelle trying to drown her, and tells Costa, her apparent benefactor. Worried that she will realise they were wrongfully convicted, he sends her to London to work in one of his offices.

Frederick Stavros begins to feel guilty for sending Larry and Noelle to their death, as he was their lawyer and they were all tricked into pleading guilty by Napoleon Chotas. He dies shortly after confiding in a priest, who then tells an employee of Spyros Lambrou, the brother of Costa's wife Melina. Spyros Lambrou uses this news to destroy Costa, who has been mistreating his sister.

Fearing for his life, Chotas leaves a package with attorney Peter Demonides, and sends a tape to tell Costa this. When Chotas apparently dies in a house-fire the next day, Peter delivers the package to Costa, rather than the authorities, and starts working for him. Meanwhile, Catherine befriends Kirk Reynolds, who falls in love with her. She tells him that her husband and his mistress were executed for her attempted murder. Kirk is doubtful that Greek law would sentence anyone to death for attempted murder, but checks with his acquaintance, Peter Demonides, and dies the next day.

Spyros tries to destroy Costa by convincing drug dealer Tony Rizzoli to trick Costa into taking a drug shipment into the USA. Costa kills Tony, destroys his shipment, and threatens to kill Melina. Melina assures Spyros that she can take care of herself. Spyros's house is attacked but he and his wife survive. Melina finally believes that Costa wants to kill them, so kills herself and frames Costa for the murder. Meanwhile, Costa has ordered the killing of Catherine.

Costa is arrested for Melina’s murder. Only Sypros can give him an alibi for the murder, but he refuses. Chotas reappears, in a wheelchair, having survived the house fire. He defends Costa in court, convincing Spyros into testifying in return for all of Costa’s assets, arguing that forcing him into poverty would be worse than death. Meanwhile, Costa and Chotas arrange for Costa’s assets to be transferred to a firm owned by Chotas, so Spyros will get nothing.

Catherine falls in love with her psychoanalyst, Alan Hamilton. Three strange men arrive in London, and Catherine suspects them, but only at the last minute realizes that in fact it is their office boy who intends to kill her. He locks her in the basement and turns up the thermostat of the boiler, which will explode when it reaches . She survives, learns the truth about Costa and his conviction, and marries Alan.

In the meantime, Costa is being tried for a murder he didn't commit, but Spyros testifies on the last day of the trial, freeing him. On the drive home, Chotas tells Costa that even though he liked Noelle Page, he still helped kill her. He also says he has donated all Costa’s assets to the convent, since he does not wish to continue living after what Costa did to him. Finally, he drives the car off a cliff, killing Costa and himself.

At the beginning of the film, Leo is an adult and learns that his mate, Lyra, has just given birth to twin cubs: Lune (pronounced Lu-Ney) and Lukio. After a grand celebration, the scene changes drastically to a bustling city where a man named Ham Egg is traveling from jeweler to jeweler to try and sell a special stone he found in the Bajalu Jungle. After being turned down at every pawn shop and jeweler he goes to, the jewelers all inform someone of Ham Egg's whereabouts, and soon he is hauled away in a black car by intimidating men in black suits.

As it turns out, the stone that he's been trying to sell is really the "Moonlight Stone", a mineral that could be used as a power source and save the world from an impending energy crisis. A scientific organization led by Dr. Plus and Dr. Minus seek the help of Ham Egg to lead them to the source of the Moonlight Stone so it can be salvaged. However, Ham Egg is only interested in money and is soon persuaded by Dr. Plus, who is well aware of Ham Egg's illegal poaching activities. Ham Egg agrees to work for them, but demands to be put in charge of the search. Accompanying Ham Egg is Mr. Lemonade of the organization and Dr. Moustache, who is already stationed in the jungle.

When they arrive in the jungle, Dr. Moustache and Mr. Lemonade are shocked by Ham Egg and his "friends", who lack concern for any form of animal. Dr. Moustache constantly argues with them over being respectful to nature, as Mr. Lemonade records everything that happens in his journal.

As Leo's son, Lune, becomes more and more curious of the human world, Leo continues to protect the animals of the jungle from which may threaten them, including Ham Egg's barbarous actions, dissent amongst the animals including the African elephant leader Pagoora, and a deadly plague that is affecting the animals. But he is encouraged to go on by Earth Mother, the benevolent mammoth elder from Mount Moon.

Lune leaves the jungle behind and travels by a log in the water to a nearby city. Lune is found by fishers and taken to a circus. An altruistic girl named Mary from the circus decides to take care of him, and he befriends a rat named Jack. Eventually, a stork from the jungle finds Lune, tells him of how the disease is killing off many animals, and she leaves with her flock. Lune is frightened by the idea that his family may be dead. Eventually, there is a fire in the circus, and Lune gets all the animals to help put it out. Lune, Jack, and Mary, who took care of Lune bid their goodbyes, and Lune sneaks onto a boat that will help him get back to Africa. In the jungle, Lyra is affected by the deadly disease and shortly dies. Although Lukio comes down with the same ailment, Dr. Moustache is able to cure her and others, including Pagoora's son thus proving humans can be friends to animals.

Leo decides to lead Dr. Moustache and Dr. Lemonade to the center of the mountain where there are many moonlight stones. They go up the mountain, guided by Earth Mother who helps them fight a pack of dire wolves. Many hunters are lost on the way, but finally, they arrive. As they discover the stones, Ham Egg shoots at the trio. At the last minute, Mr. Lemonade jumps in the way, takes the bullet himself, and dies. They soon discover the stones, and Ham Egg, blinded by greed, steals one of the stones and swallows it so no one else can have it, but dies shortly afterward because the stone poisoned him. Dr. Moustache takes Leo and together they escape back down the mountain. It is then that Moustache suddenly realizes that the lion has gone blind. He rids of the stone they got because he believes it has ruined enough lives.

The film ends with Lune returning from the human world, and Dr. Moustache taking the cub to see his father's pelt. Leo died on the journey by stabbing himself with Dr. Moustache's knife. He did this so Dr. Moustache could eat his flesh, and clothe himself with Leo's fur so he can tell the humans what they need to know. Lune then begins nuzzling his fur. Dr. Moustache tells Lune about what his father did, "Your father was as wise as he was brave, and you should know what he did to save the world. He was the most courageous soul I've ever met, a true king who gave his life to save the land." Then, both of them head out into a meadow and see clouds in the shape of Leo.

The story is set in 1750 during the time of Louis XV. Benjamin (Jacques Brel) is a country doctor in love with the beautiful innkeeper's daughter, Manette (Claude Jade), but she refuses his advances until he produces a marriage contract. After suffering a humiliating practical joke and condemned to prison, Benjamin escapes with Manette, who realizes she prefers happiness to a marriage contract after all.

The novel is of investigative crime fiction genre, entailing the main character of Penn Cage. Cage travels back to his home town of Natchez, Mississippi with his young daughter after the death of his wife. A successful novelist with a legal background, Penn finds that his father is being blackmailed over a long-forgotten murder by a criminal he never turned in to the police. While home, Penn is approached by the widow and daughter of a black Korean War veteran long-believed to have been murdered by the Ku Klux Klan. Cage soon realizes that these two cases are inextricably linked, and have much more profound implications than he imagined. Joining forces with Caitlin Masters, a young newspaper publisher from the north, Penn confronts angry Klansmen, the secretive director of the FBI, a guilt-ridden black policeman, and his old high school love in his quest to penetrate the layers of mystery that hide the truth about a small Southern city.

Gunn discovers a demon gang war is imminent unless the dead leader's head is recovered from Rome, so Angel and Spike travel to Rome to retrieve the head. They find out that Buffy is dating their nemesis "The Immortal". Flashbacks are shown that explain why Angel and Spike hate "The Immortal": he slept with Darla and Drusilla simultaneously while his minions held Angelus and Spike in chains. They discuss the matter and conclude that Buffy must be under some sort of love spell. Spike and Angel visit Buffy's apartment and find Andrew Wells, who is living with Buffy and Dawn. He says that Buffy went to a club with The Immortal. They go to the club and see Buffy from a distance. They get distracted and leave the demon head in a bag on a table, which is snatched by The Immortal's demon butler. Angel and Spike fight the minions and "accidentally" hit each other a few times, too. The demon butler gets away with the head and leaves.

After arguing over how they would be able to find the head "if they had their resources", Angel and Spike go the Rome Wolfram & Hart offices, where they are greeted by the CEO, an ebullient Italian woman. She says the head is being held in a standard ransom situation. Angel and Spike are given money for the drop, which they exchange with the butler for the bag. They open it and in it is actually a bomb, three seconds from detonation. The two both barely survive the ensuing explosion, albeit with their clothing heavily damaged and the street destroyed. The Rome Wolfram & Hart CEO explains that they always use the bomb on first-timers as a prank, and replaces their damaged clothing, including Spike's "irreplaceable" jacket. After being locked out of her office, Spike and Angel return to Buffy's apartment where Andrew tells them to let Buffy move on, saying that although she loves them both, they need to give her some space and move on themselves or they could never again have any chance to reunite with her. Frustrated by their inability to contact Buffy and by the demon butler's chicanery on The Immortal's behalf, they go home, where they find the head on Angel's desk with a note signed by The Immortal. Though outraged that he "distracted" them again while he put the moves on "their" girl, Angel and Spike realize that they do need to move on.

Meanwhile, at Wolfram & Hart in L.A., Fred's parents show up at Wesley's office where he tries to tell them she has been consumed, only to be interrupted by Illyria who looks and acts exactly like Fred. Later, while her parents are being shown Fred's office, Wesley confronts Illyria. She explains because of Fred's past memories she cannot bear to witness their grief in addition to Wesley's, which she experiences as a physical pain. She explains that she can appear in the form that she wishes. After Fred's parents leave, Illyria continues to appear and speak as Fred, which angers Wesley. She states that she wishes to explore the relationship further and does not understand why Wesley is angry when he obviously loved Fred. He replies that she is not Fred and that he is sickened by the sight of her, and orders her to never assume Fred's form again. As she changes back into her usual form, she appears somewhat confused and upset when he leaves the room.

Ted Healy is a salesman for the Schmidt Costume Shop who likes to hang out at the fire station where Moe (billed as "Harry Howard"), Larry, and Shemp (along with Fred Sanborn) work. Old man Schmidt spends more time building crazy inventions (typical of devices by writer/cartoonist Rube Goldberg) than tending to his business; as a consequence he is bankrupt and his business is taken over by his creditors, who send a young man named Carlson to manage the business. Carlson immediately falls for Mr. Schmidt's niece, Louise, but she resists him.

Meanwhile, a certain General Avocado wants to organize a revolution in San Stevedore and comes to the costume shop to order uniforms; sadly his army flees in fright without paying at the sound of a child bursting a toy balloon. Ted also swings a deal with the Fire Department to supply costumes for the fireman's ball. Carlson wants to take Louise, so Ted hatches a plan to take Louise, and have himself and Carlson dressed alike, then switch places at the ball. When Louise learns of the switch, she runs back to the shop and locks herself in her room. Carlson chases her home, and unknowingly starts a fire while trying to persuade her to come out. The firemen (the Stooges) arrive to extinguish the blaze — with the unexpected help of one of Old Man Schmidt's inventions — and at last Louise and Carlson are a couple.

Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy widow Elizabeth Murdock to investigate the theft of a rare coin, the Brasher Doubloon, from her deceased husband's private collection. Believing the case to be a fairly routine one, Marlowe soon finds himself confronted by murder and a succession of shady characters and lethal crooks. The course of his investigation leads Marlowe to realise that the source of the mystery hinges upon Merle Davis, the timid and neurotic secretary of Mrs Murdock.

In the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, three New Yorkers respond to a new tragedy. June Sickles Fiorilli (JoBeth Williams) lost her firefighter son on 9-11 and now lives with her granddaughter Quinn, not far from the very firehouse that her boy called home. Walter Hartwig (Sean Patrick Flanery) is the lieutenant in charge on the night a jumbo jet crashes on final approach into Kennedy Airport, intertwining him to June and music teacher Catrina Hampton (Melina Kanakaredes), who is awaiting the arrival of her twin sister.

The film is divided into 7 sections, each dated and titled. They are presented in the order in which they are presented in the film. Each section is preceded by a 10 to 15 second-long shot from the top of a train as it heads out of a tunnel towards mountains, with variations.

Outdoor Excursion, Spring 1999

A group of friends have gathered by a river for a picnic for the first time in 20 years. A middle-aged Korean man named Kim Young-ho wanders to the group; the members have not heard from him in many years and have limited knowledge of his past 20 years. After causing general mayhem with his deranged antics, he leaves and climbs atop a nearby train track; one of the friends tries to convince him to abandon suicide, but the others ignore him and dance. Facing an oncoming train, he exclaims "I want to go back again!" in a freeze frame.

The Camera, 3 days ago, Spring 1999

While driving, Young-ho hears on the radio about a member of the group announcing their imminent reunion. He spends the last of his money on a pistol and contemplates who he should kill while he takes his own life. After confronting his former business partner and ex-wife Hong-ja, the husband of his old flame Sun-im pays him a surprise visit. Young-ho is taken to visit a comatose Sun-im in a hospital, and presents her some peppermint candies that she used to give him while he was in the military. A tear trickles down Sun-im's face.

Before parting, Sun-im's husband gives Young-ho an old manual camera. He sells it nevertheless.

Life is Beautiful, Summer 1994

At first glance, Young-ho appears to be a rather successful businessman, but the problems in his life become clear when he confronts his wife, who is having an affair with her driving instructor. Young-ho is unable to claim moral high ground, since he is also shown having an affair with an assistant from work. After having sex with his assistant, Young-ho dines with her and coincidentally encounters a man he has not seen in years. Young-ho tells him that he quit the police force two years ago. In an awkward bathroom exchange, Young-ho asks the man if life is beautiful; he agrees. Finally, Young-ho is shown with his wife and daughter at their new house, eating with his colleagues. As Hong-ja's grace becomes a bawl, Young-ho storms out of the house.

Confession, Spring 1987

Young-ho is a police officer, his wife about to deliver their daughter. While getting a haircut, he encounters the man he later meets at the restaurant, apprehends him, and brutally tortures him for information about another man's whereabouts. This leads Young-ho to Kunsan, coincidentally Sun-im's hometown. There, he and his fellow police officers capture the wanted man. While his fellow police officers wait to catch the man in question, Young-ho fruitlessly searches for Sun-im and instead ends up on a one-night stand with a woman. The next morning, they catch the man and return to the police station. The woman Young-ho had a one-night stand with fruitlessly waits for him.

Prayer, Fall 1984

Young-ho is just starting out as a policeman and is pressured by his peers to torture a crime suspect, presumably a student demonstrator. Hong-ja, then a restaurant owner, takes interest in him. One day, Young-ho is visited by Sun-im. She tells him how she had visited him while he was in the military, but was denied a chance to meet him, and gives him a camera he had, reminding him how he always wanted to become a photographer. He coldly and cruelly dismisses her by feigning interest in Hong-ja and returns the camera to Sun-im as she leaves by train. One night, a deranged Young-ho barks military commands at the patrons of Hong-ja's restaurant and wreaks havoc. Later, Young-ho is shown sleeping with Hong-ja, who tries to show him how to pray.

Military Visit, May 1980

While Sun-im is trying to visit Young-ho while he is performing his mandatory military service, his company is ordered to quell the Gwangju Democratization Movement and she doesn't get a chance to be with him. Young-ho gets shot, presumably by friendly fire, in the leg and stays behind. While waiting for help, a harmless and presumably innocent student approaches him, pleading to be allowed to go home despite violating enforced curfew; standing in the darkness, he initially misconstrues her as Sun-im. Just as he is about to let her off, soldiers arrive. Not wanting his comrades to realize he had let a civilian go, he fires randomly, hoping to fool the soldiers into believing he is doing his duty, but accidentally shoots and kills the girl. As the other soldiers gather around, he embraces her and bawls.

Picnic, Fall 1979

Young-ho is a part of the student group gathering at the same river for a picnic, and there, he meets Sun-im, at the time packing peppermint candies for a factory, for the first time. He expresses a clear interest in photography and her, and tells her that while he'd never been at that river before, he had seemingly seen the location in his dreams. While the others gather around to sing, Young-ho wanders off, lies down on the river bank, and stares up at the sky. As the sound of a passing train is heard, a tear trickles out of an eye and the frame freezes.

In Finnmark around AD 1000, a young Sami named Aigin comes home from hunting to find his family massacred by the Tchudes or Chudes. He flees to a place where he can find friends and relatives, and is chased by the Chudes. He is wounded but makes his way to a community of other Samis who live some distance away. Upon reaching the others, Aigin's wound is treated by the shaman of the group. He gets into a debate with them about how to face the Chude attackers: some argue for meeting them in battle, while others maintain they should all run away toward the coast. Aigin and some of the other hunters remain to meet the Chudes, while the remainder of the group flee. The hunters, except Aigin, who hides, are quickly killed by the numerically superior Chudes, but one of the men, the old shaman-leader (''noaidi'' or Pathfinder) Raste is kept alive and tortured. To prevent the torture Aigin reveals himself and offers to act as a pathfinder for the Chudes to the coastal settlement where a large number of Samis live. The old Pathfinder Raste is nevertheless killed by the Chudes.

But Aigin has a plan in mind. He cannot overpower the Chudes, but he can trick them. Leading the Chudes across mountainous terrain, Aigin lures the Chudes into a steep area where they are all forced to tie themselves together with ropes for security. Aigin unties himself and flees, leading the Chudes over a cliff where several of them fall to their deaths when the leaders cut the ropes to save themselves. An avalanche takes most of the Chudes, and the few surviving men give up the pursuit, ensuring Aigin has effectively saved his people. He shows a drum, a symbol of ''noaidi'', given him by Raste, and becomes the new Pathfinder (shaman-leader) of the Sami group by virtue of his wisdom and bravery.

Maya, a young woman, is trying to live the life of a normal citizen. Her background, on the other hand, is anything but normal. She is the daughter of a famous German Harlequin named Thorn, who had been badly injured in an ambush by the Brethren. On a mission she killed two men of the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia. As a consequence Maya had tried to hide and leave her Harlequin past behind until one day her handicapped father calls for her. When visiting him in Prague, she finds him slaughtered by his enemies.

Fulfilling her father's last wish, Maya takes a flight to the States supporting Shepherd, the last American Harlequin. She is determined to help him defend the last two potential Travelers alive. However, Shepherd has become a member of the Brethren. Working for the other side now, he tries to kill Maya. With the help of a young woman named Vikki she is lucky to get away. Vikki is a member of the I. T. Jones Church, a church of followers of the Traveler Isaac T. Jones, who was killed by the Brethren in 1889 with a harlequin. Together they are able to find an ally, Hollis, a Capoeira trainer from Los Angeles and a former member of the Isaac T. Jones Community.

The three of them search for potential Travelers Michael and Gabriel Corrigan. Maya and her companions find Gabriel, but Michael is captured by the Brethren.

The Brethren recently started a new program. They were in contact with a technologically advanced civilization dwelling in another realm who offer the Brethren high technology, weapons and plans for a quantum computer. The Brethren want to use a Traveler that can find this other civilization and guide it to the Earth. By offering Michael power, money and everything else he wants, the Brethren convince him to work for them. With a new drug called 3B3, Michael is able to leave his realm.

While Michael gains his first experiences with other realms, Maya tries to find a Pathfinder for Gabriel. Hollis stays in Los Angeles to place a false track. The Brethren show up at his house and try to kill him with a new weapon called “Splicer," some kind of genetically engineered animal designed to search and destroy, but Hollis defeats them.

Maya and Gabriel find a Pathfinder in the desert in Arizona. While teaching Gabriel how to cross over, she tells him everything she knows about the Travelers and the six realms. There is the first realm of a town like hell, the second realm of a city full of "hungry ghosts", the third is inhabited by animals ignorant of all others, the fourth realm is our own reality, where the sin is desire, the fifth realm is the reality of the "half gods", where the sin is jealousy, and the sixth realm of the "gods" themselves, where the sin is pride. The "gods" and "half-gods" of the fifth and sixth realm are not meant like God as the creator of all life, but like the Tibetans describe them: human beings from parallel worlds.

The realms are separated each by four barriers: one barrier of fire, one of water, one of earth and one of air. A Traveler that is capable of passing these four barriers is then able to enter one of the five other realms. If his body on earth dies, his soul, called the light, is condemned to stay forever in the realm it visits at that time.

Crossing over into other realities, a Traveler can only carry special objects, called talismans, with him. Such an object is the sword Gabriel’s father gave him. Equipped with this sword, he meets his brother in the realm of the hungry ghosts. His brother tries to convince him to join the Brethren. Gabriel resists the temptation, but he tells his brother where he left his body. As a consequence Gabriel is imprisoned by the Brethren within hours and brought to the research centre where Michael is kept.

Maya realizes that an immediate counterstrike is necessary. After a battle in the Brethren's research facility, they free Gabriel but realize that they can not convince Michael to leave the Brethren. Maya and her allies are able to find refuge in a house on a beach in Cape Cod to recover.

Wirāz is chosen for his piety to undertake a journey to the next world in order to prove the truth of Zoroastrian beliefs, after a period when the land of Iran had been troubled by the presence of confused and alien religions. He drinks a mixture of wine, mang, and Haoma, after which his soul travels to the next world. Here he is greeted by a beautiful woman named Dēn, who represents his faith and virtue. Crossing the Chinvat Bridge, he is then conducted by "Srosh, the pious and Adar, the yazad" through the "star track", "moon track" and "sun track" – places outside of heaven reserved for the virtuous who have nevertheless failed to conform to Zoroastrian rules. In heaven, Wirāz meets Ahura Mazda who shows him the souls of the blessed (''ahlaw'', an alternate Middle Persian version of the word ''ardā''). Each person is described living an idealised version of the life he or she lived on earth, as a warrior, agriculturalist, shepherd or other profession.http://www.avesta.org/pahlavi/viraf.html Translation of the Book of Arda Viraf With his guides he then descends into hell to be shown the sufferings of the wicked. Having completed his visionary journey, Wirāz is told by Ahura Mazda that the Zoroastrian faith is the only proper and true way of life and that it should be preserved in both prosperity and adversity.

As the DiNapoli siblings—Antoinette (Anne Bancroft), Dominic (Dom DeLuise), and Frank Jr. (Ron Carey) - are growing up, whenever young Dom was unhappy, the one thing his mother did to comfort him and make him feel cared for was to feed him something scrumptious. One example was Dom's mom giving her older son buttered bread after the boy got urinated on by his baby brother Frankie as the baby's diaper is being changed. Because of this, Dom grew up with a love of food, a trait shared by his equally obese cousin, Salvatore (Sal), who would often share his snacks with Dom.

When Sal suddenly dies at age 39, the family grieves. This prompts Antoinette to urge Dom to visit a diet doctor to avoid his cousin's unhealthy eating habits and not drive himself into an early grave as well. Dom agrees to do so once he recognizes signs that obesity is ruining his health. Dom is deeply disheartened when given his new diet plan, seeing the long list of delectable foods and dishes that he enjoys very much but now must avoid. When the diet fails, Dom's eating habits drive his sister crazy, so she enrolls him in the "Chubby Checkers" support group.

Meanwhile, Dom meets Lydia (Candice Azzara), a thin diabetic who owns the neighborhood antiques shop, and finds they have a lot in common outside of food. But being self-conscious about his body contours, he fears rejection, and can't bring himself to ask her for a date despite her obvious interest in him.

Dom had Frankie padlock the fridge and larder, but that proves to be little help because in the middle of the night, Dom, crazed by cravings for his favorite decadent delights (even having dreamed of marzipan candy), demands the keys from his brother, even threatening him with violence at one point, of which he is extremely ashamed afterward.

Now further depressed, Dom seeks comfort from his support group Chubby Checkers—calling Sonny and Oscar (Richard Karron and Paul Zegler) -- who turn out to be no help at all, as their reminiscing about favorite desserts and delicacies causes the intervention to deteriorate into the pig-out party to end all pig-out parties. Sonny even tears the pantry doors off their hinges.

To help their brother, Antoinette and Frankie bring together Dom and Lydia. While dating, Dom doesn't realize that he has been eating less and less, and is shocked to discover at how loosely his clothes fit in a matter of weeks.

Dom decides to propose to his lovely new sweetheart. When he drops by Lydia's apartment, she is gone. It worries him so much, he ends up eating all of the Chinese takeout food he was supposed to pick up for a family party. Antoinette finds out and attacks Dom with a doll mounted on a stick, and comments how he's hurting the family. Dom admits his acknowledgement of this, and starts to blame his mother for comforting him with food all his life. Antoinette learns this for the first time, and comforts him after a mental breakdown while he curses his mother. Dom notes Antoinette's revelation of his issues, and promises to keep trying. However, he also realizes that he must love himself the way he is, and makes the duo promise to do the same should he die of obesity like Sal. After which, Antoinette and Frank learn to accept him for who he is. Dom then receives a phone call from Lydia, who is at a hospital in Boston visiting her younger brother, who accidentally chopped off a finger. Dom flies in and when the two take a walk through the hospital, watching the newborn babies in the nursery, Dom whispers his marriage proposal into Lydia's ear, and she accepts.

The film ends with a photo montage of now-married Dom and Lydia, then their babies — with each photo showing Lydia holding a new baby, while the previous child grows up. Dom's obesity only slightly declines through the years, but clearly exacts no toll upon the family's happiness.

The story begins with Karl's violent arrival in the Holy Land of AD 28, where his time machine, a womb-like, fluid-filled sphere, cracks open and becomes useless. By interpolating numerous memories and flashbacks, Moorcock tells the parallel story of Karl's troubled past in 20th century London, and tries to explain why he's willing to risk everything to meet Jesus. In the story, Karl has chronic problems with women, homosexual tendencies, an interest in the ideas of Jung, and many neuroses, including a messiah complex.

Karl, badly injured during his journey, crawls halfway out of the time machine, then faints. John the Baptist and a group of Essenes find him there, and take him back to their community, where they care for him for some time. Since the Essenes witnessed his miraculous arrival in the time machine, John decides Karl must be a magus, and asks him to help lead a revolt against the occupying Romans. When he asks Karl to baptise him, however, the latter panics and flees into the desert, where he wanders alone, hallucinating from heat and thirst.

He then makes his way to Nazareth in search of Jesus. When he finds Mary and Joseph, Mary turns out to be little more than a whore, and Joseph, a bitter old man, sneers openly at her claim to have been impregnated by an angel. Worse, their child Jesus is a profoundly intellectually disabled hunchback who incessantly repeats the only word he knows: ''Jesus, Jesus, Jesus''. Karl, however, is so deeply committed to the idea of a real, historical Jesus that, at this point, he himself begins to step into the role, gathering followers - carefully choosing ones whose names are identical with those attested in the Gospels, repeating what parables he can recall, and using psychological tricks to simulate miracles. When there's no food, he shows the people how to pretend to eat to take their minds off their hunger; when he encounters illness caused by hysteria, he cures it. Gradually, it becomes known that his name is Jesus of Nazareth.

In the end, determined to live the story of Jesus to its decidedly bitter end, he orders a puzzled Judas to betray him to the Romans, and dies on the cross. His last, agonized words, however, are not ''Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani'', but the phonetically similar English ''it's a lie ... it's a lie ... it's a lie ...''

After Karl's death on the cross, the body is stolen by a doctor who believed the body had magical properties, leading to rumours that he did not die. The doctor is disappointed when the body begins to rot as any normal human would.

The film takes place over six days, with footage from a fictional pop group "Dessert" opening and closing the film. The story begins with a concert held by Dessert, in which they perform a J-Pop song titled "Mail Me".

In Tokyo on May 27, 54 teenage schoolgirls commit mass suicide by throwing themselves in front of an oncoming train. Shortly after, at a hospital, two nurses commit suicide by jumping out of a window. At both locations, rolls of skin are found, with the skin in the rolls matching that removed from the bodies of the dead. Three detectives—Kuroda (Ryō Ishibashi), Shibusawa (Masatoshi Nagase), and Murata (Akaji Maro)—are notified by a hacker named Kiyoko (Yoko Kamon) of a link between the suicides and a website that shows the number of suicides as red and white circles.

On May 28, at a high school, a group of students jump off the roof during lunch, sending the city in search of a "Suicide Club". By May 29, the suicide boom has spread all over Japan. Mitsuko is on her way home when she gets hit by her boyfriend, Masa, who has thrown himself off a roof. Mitsuko is taken to the police station for questioning, where the police strip-search her and discover that she has a butterfly tattoo.

On May 30, the police receive a call from a boy who warns that on that evening at 7:30, another mass suicide will take place at the same platform. The detectives organize a stake-out in order to prevent the event but there is no suicide. Meanwhile, individual and smaller-scale group suicides continue all over Japan, claiming many lives, including Kuroda's entire family. Kuroda receives a call from the boy who had warned about the 7:30 suicide, and Kuroda shoots himself after.

Kiyoko is captured by a group led by a man named Genesis, whose hideout is a small subterranean bowling alley, where he resides with four glam-rock cohorts. During her capture, Genesis performs a song while a girl in a white sack is brutally raped and killed right in front of them. Kiyoko e-mails the authorities information about Genesis. On May 31, the police arrest Genesis, and it is assumed the leader of the "Suicide Club" has been caught.

On June 1, Mitsuko goes to her boyfriend's home to return his helmet, where she notices pop group Dessert's posters on the wall and recognizes a pattern on the fingers of the group that corresponds to the letters on a telephone keypad spelling out the word "suicide". The boy from earlier calls to tell her there is no "Suicide Club" and invites her to a secret concert.

On June 2, Mitsuko sneaks into the backstage area and sees a group of children in the audience, who ask her questions. Mitsuko impresses the children so they take her to a room where a strip from her skin is shaved off; it is the spot where the butterfly tattoo was.

A new roll of skin ends up with the police, and detective Shibusawa recognizes the strip as the one with Mitsuko's tattoo. That evening, he sees Mitsuko at the train station and grabs her hand but she pulls away. She stares at Shibusawa as the train pulls into the station, and again after boarding the train. As the train pulls out, the ending credits begins, in which Dessert announces their disbandment and offer appreciation toward their fans' support, before performing their final song, "Live as You Please".

The movie is mainly Betty Ting's story with Bruce Lee based on real life events. Opens with Betty and Bruce rolling around in bed around the time he died. Continues with Betty telling her story to a bartender, beginning when she was a loner school girl, she meets Bruce when he saves her from a beating one night and gives her some money. She then attempts to break into show biz and meets Bruce again: from there they become lovers until his death.

Four children capture a Japanese soldier who washes ashore during the Second World War.

Although the horrors of World War II are far removed from the Pacific Coast community where adolescent Duke Cooper (Trevor Morgan) and his three best chums play soldier, experiment with swearing, and earnestly patrol the beach for Japanese submarines, the realities of the war are about to come crashing down around them. Not when a Japanese soldier, stranded and wounded when his sub quickly dived, washes ashore; his capture by the foursome merely allows for more playtime and thoughts of becoming heroes. It's coming because Duke's older brother is on some island awaiting combat and the black sedans with military tags have already begun rolling through town to deliver their grim announcements. And Duke's Japanese American pal Willie Tanaka (Yuki Tokuhiro), all three feet and 55 pounds of him, has suddenly become a threat to national security, so he, his mother, and grandfather are soon to be shipped away to an internment camp.

''Ouendan'' details the plight of several characters in hopeless situations who cry out for help. In response, the Ouendan, an all-male cheer squad or an all-female Cheerleader group appear to help each character work through their problems by cheering them through music. The origin of the Ouendan is unexplained in the game, though they are always nearby when help is needed. The Ouendan appear wearing highly stylized black uniforms (based on gaku-ran Japanese school uniforms) with red armbands (for the Cheergirls, blue cheerleader outfits with long sleeves), a common sight at Japanese school sporting events.

Most of the scenarios are inspired by modern Japanese culture, or are heavily influenced by the Japanese form of print comics, or manga. For instance, the first stage features a high school student distracted from studying for his college entrance exams by his family, while a later stage focuses on a pottery master who has lost the inspiration to create unique works. Most of the stories are presented in a light-hearted or comical fashion, emphasized by absurd storyline twists and the sounds of whistles and cheer shouts as the player progresses through each stage. The one notable exception to this is a love story set to the Hitomi Yaida song "Over the Distance," which is told in a more heartfelt, subdued tone further marked by the gameplay's whistle sound effect being replaced with subtle chimes in the song's first phase and the initial loud countdown not being used.

While the individual stories otherwise have no connecting theme to them, characters from some stories reappear in others as background figures or supporting characters. However, all of the characters reappear in the final story, in which the Ouendan must lead the entire world in a cheer to save Earth from being destroyed by an asteroid.

The action opens upon the musical staff in which Mr. B Natural lives. Mr. B addresses the audience directly, in an effort to appear welcoming, and explains what it means to be a spirit of music. Awaiting a person's call for help, Mr. B evinces sympathy and concern for lonely junior high student Buzz Turner.

Buzz shows an interest in music like the more popular kids at school, but is so shy that he makes excuses to not attend a dance, even when a girl directly invites him. Dejected, Buzz returns home and puts on a record. This magically summons Mr. B into the adolescent boy's bedroom, whereupon the pixie uses magic, music and dance to convince Buzz to take up playing the trumpet.

In visiting the music dealership, Buzz's parents are reassured by the salesman that buying a trumpet is "simply making a small investment in your son's lifetime personality." When Buzz mentions that he didn't care what make his new horn would be, he is reproached by Mr. B Natural, and is treated to a detailed description of the C. G. Conn factory and laboratories.

Through the gift of music and the help of his mysterious friend, Buzz finds the confidence and assertiveness he needs to try out for the school band, impress girls, and play solo at concerts and school dances.

Lou Arrendale is a bioinformatics specialist who has high-functioning autism, and has made a good life for himself working doing pattern recognition. A new manager at the firm where he works puts pressure on his department, where many autistic people work. Lou is pressured to undergo an experimental treatment that might "cure" his autism. Lou does not think he needs curing, but he risks losing his job and other accommodations the company has put in place for its employees with autism if he does not undergo it.

Lou struggles with the idea of going through this "treatment" for his autism while he pursues fencing with his "normal" friends and continues to go to work. His autistic friends, as well as himself, meet together after work and discuss what or what not to do.

The novel follows the story of a modern black American man who is able to mentally project himself back to pre-human Africa, where he meets (and eventually mates) with humanity's prehistoric ancestors.

At less than 1-year old, John Monegal is abandoned by his mother and adopted by USAF officer Hugo Monegal and his wife Jeanette. Since the very beginning of his life, John dreams of an ancient world and becomes an expert of the Pleistocene epoch, the era of the ''Homo habilis'' in Africa. When he is 18, John gets in touch with a paleonthologist, Alistair Patrick Blair, who serves as prime minister in the fictional country of Zarakal (approximately representing Kenya according to the author's preface) and works closely with a US physical scientist, Woodrow Kaprow, who has developed a time machine which brings John back to the era he dreams of. Just before leaving to the past, John discovers his mother wants to publish a book based on voice records of his dreams, and angry and deluded, he leaves her house and changes his name into Joshua Kampa.

Almost lost in the remote past of a world which is the frontier between non-human and human life, John/Joshua feels he has reached the reality he always belonged to, and is accepted by a group of individuals who live in the African savanna. He gives a name to all his new friends, and learns to eat and live like them. Joshua starts thinking he will never get back to the 20th century. After a while he falls in love with a pre-historic woman, Helen, who gets pregnant and dies at the daughter's birth. To save his child and let her survive in a better world, Joshua goes back to the area of the time machine, where he is mysteriously saved by two African astronauts apparently coming from the future. Back to his actual life, Joshua finds he lost his dreaming power and learns that only a month in modern world's time has passed since he left; this is why he struggles in being believed about his daughter. As years pass, Joshua learns his daughter has the same dreaming power he used to have, but she is projected towards the future.

After several years Joshua becomes a minister of the Zarakali government, and his 15-year-old daughter escapes with an agent from Uganda, Dick Aruj, who has convinced her to join a program of time travel to the future.

The non-linear plot, shifting back and forth in time from the 1940s to the 1960s, mainly concerns Andrew Hale, a scholar and occasional operative for a secret British spy organization. Early in World War II, Hale is recruited as part of Operation Declare, an investigation of the true nature of several mysterious beings living on Mount Ararat, and how the Soviet Union has attempted to harness their vast supernatural powers. In this effort he is opposed by real-life communist traitor Kim Philby, a supporting character in the novel, who did travel extensively in the region. The novel proposes that the Great Game, the prolonged geopolitical conflict between the British and Russian empires in the 19th century over domination of Central Asia, was actually part of Operation Declare. The Okhrana, or Tsarist secret police, are cast as the Russian counterpart to Operation Declare.

A sub-plot concerns Hale's on-off romance with Spaniard Elena Teresa Ceniza-Bendiga. A devoted Comintern agent and lapsed Catholic when she first meets Hale, Ceniza-Bendiga eventually rejects communism. While imprisoned in Moscow's notorious Lubyanka prison, she returns to her faith upon discovering the horrible motivation behind the deliberate mass starvation and violent political purges of Stalinist Russia: the placation of an entity called Zat al-Dawahi ("Mistress of Misfortunes") or Machikha Nash ("our stepmother"), a demonic being who demanded human sacrifice in exchange for protecting the nation from foreign invasion.

Bobby Pendragon and Vo Spader, the Traveler from Cloral, arrive on Veelox a few weeks after the death of Bobby's uncle, Press Tilton, only to figure out from Aja Killian, the Traveler from Veelox, that Saint Dane went to First Earth. They flume there (New York City, 1937) to be greeted by bullets from gangsters that Saint Dane has hired. They then met the First Earth Traveler, who saved them from the gangsters. He is a bell captain at the Manhattan Tower Hotel named Vincent Van Dyke, nicknamed "Gunny". Bobby and Spader become employed as bellhops there, and investigate the ties between First Earth's Turning Point, rival crime godfathers Max Rose and Winn Farrow, and the Nazi party.

The critical connection is revealed to be the ''Hindenburg'' zeppelin. To understand its significance, Bobby and Gunny visit Third Earth, in the 51st Century. The Traveler of Third Earth, Patrick, accesses a computer that predicts the future in which they save the ''Hindenburg'': industrial spies working for Max would lead to the Nazis developing an atomic bomb and disastrously winning World War Two.

Bobby and Gunny return to First Earth, only to find that Spader and Rose have gone ahead, seeking to stop Winn Farrow from shooting a firework rocket into ''Hindenburg''. Bobby was flown to the LZ-129's launch site by a female aeroplane pilot called Nancy Olsen (Jinx), who has been his friend and client at the hotel. Once parachuting from the aeroplane, Bobby tracks down Max and Spader, who are seconds from departing to meet Max's airship arrival. Bobby accompanies them, and with Third Earth foresight, manages to save the entire entourage's lives. While on Third Earth, the young Traveler learns that Max Rose was destined to die on the same highway, on the same day, after crashing into a motorcycle cop. With Max unconscious and Spader, convinced stopping the ''Hindenburg'' will save First Earth, heading for the airfield, Bobby uses Max's car to follow them. Spader, misunderstanding, tries to stop the rocket from launching; Gunny holds him back, but fails. Spader tries to save the ''Hindenburg'' on his own, but is stopped by Winn Farrow. Spader begs Bobby to save the ''Hindenburg''. Looking up, Bobby sees the faces of those who will die in the explosion and is reluctant to let them die. Gunny again intervenes, holding him until the rocket launches and the zeppelin burns.

After the whole incident is over, Bobby is upset that Spader's emotions nearly got the better of him which almost lead to the destruction on all three earth territories. Bobby tells Spader to return to Cloral until he learns to control his emotions.

Full of angst over his role in the tragedy, Bobby returns to his home on Second Earth (the 21st-century) for a pause in his Travels. After a week, he receives a call from Gunny, and meets him back at Bobby's old house a few hours later. Gunny arrives in a limousine with an elderly man claiming to know Bobby's great grandfather (unknowingly referring to Bobby when he was on First Earth), and explains how Uncle Press had died, describing how an accomplice (who the Gangster revealed to be Saint Dane) persuaded Tony, the gangster's partner, into shooting a Tommy Gun into the flume. He states clearly that he never fired a bullet. He then gives Bobby his Traveler ring which the gangster took from him on First Earth. Bobby thanks the gangster, and he and Gunny accompany the gangster down town to the flume. This is where ''The Reality Bug'' begins.

Sixteen years after the events of ''Predator's Gold'', the former ice city of Anchorage has settled on an island in North America unaffected by the fallout from the Sixty Minute War and has become a static city named Anchorage-in-Vineland. Most of the inhabitants are happy with their new life, but Wren Natsworthy, the teenage daughter of Tom Natsworthy and Hester Shaw, is bored with her life and seeks adventure.

When she sneaks out one night Wren encounters three Lost Boys, Remora, Fishcake and their older leader Gargle; who have come to Anchorage in search of a mysterious Rasmussen family artifact named the Tin Book. The Book, bearing the insignia of the President of the United States of America, contains the activation codes for the final remaining orbital weapons left over from the Sixty Minute War; potentially with firepower far greater than that of MEDUSA, which destroyed the Traction City of London in ''Mortal Engines''. After meeting former Lost Boy now Anchorage resident Caul, who refuses to help him, Gargle persuades Wren to retrieve the Tin Book for him and to join them on their journeys around the world.

Wren begins her mission by asking the now-adult margravine Freya Rasmussen, knowing that the Book is in the palace's library. Freya tells Wren of the Book's origins but explains that no one knows its purpose or meaning. When Wren reports to Gargle he tells her that Nimrod Pennyroyal's book about the time he spent in Anchorage has revealed the Lost Boys' existence to the raft cities that they previously robbed. As a result, the Lost Boys have been forced to loot cities further afield, but most of the Lost Boys' limpets never return. Gargle explains that raft cities have also begun searching for Grimsby and claims the Tin Book contains information that could get the sunken city moving again; but in actuality he intends to sell it to Stalker Fang for protection.

Unaware of Gargle's true intentions, Wren steals the Book and gives it to him, whilst Caul alerts to Tom and Hester that Wren is missing. Hester finds the limpet and, believing that Wren is in danger, shoots and kills Gargle and Remora. Fishcake, devastated by the death of his comrades, kidnaps Wren with the intention of taking her to Grimsby. En route to the sunken city, Fishcake receives a communication from the raft resort of Brighton, claiming that the parents of kidnapped Lost Boys have united to track down their missing children. Fishcake, believing that he will be reunited with his parents and persuaded by Wren who believes her best chance of escape is there, changes course to Brighton.

Arriving at the raft-city pleasure resort, the pair's limpet is captured and the two are taken in as slaves, the communication being a ruse to stop the Lost Boys. The owner of the slave trade company, Nabisco Shkin, intends to sell the two to Traction Cities in Nuevo Maya, but Wren convinces him to give them to Pennyroyal, who is now Mayor of Brighton; due to Wren's knowledge of Anchorage (and thus can expose Pennyroyal's lies). Shkin interrogates Fishcake, who reveals the location of Grimsby, prompting Brighton to change course and destroy it with depth charges. Shkin takes Wren up to Pennyroyal's floating palace above Brighton, Cloud 9. The slave-owner attempts to extort a hefty sum from Pennyroyal for Wren and to have the truth silenced, but Wren suddenly claims that she is a Lost Girl and has never been to Anchorage. She gives Pennyroyal the Tin Book and is employed in his household, to serve as a handmaiden for his overbearing wife Boo-Boo. Shkin, angered by Wren's lie, employs Fishcake to lead him to Anchorage and to enslave everyone there.

Tom and Hester take an old limpet with Caul and Freya to Grimsby to save Wren. When they arrive, they find the wreckage of the sunk city and the bodies of many Lost Boys. The four meet Uncle in his chamber, who informs them that Gargle's limpet hasn't returned and that Wren is likely in Brighton. Uncle seemingly wins Caul back to the Lost Boys, who locks Tom, Hester and Freya up; but Caul later frees them when Uncle is asleep. Uncle eventually discovers them, but is killed when he shoots the balloon holding his monitoring screens and they collapse on him. Tom and Hester take Caul's old limpet to find Wren, whilst Caul and Freya take the remaining Lost Boys back to Anchorage where the pair marry.

Meanwhile, the Stalker Shrike, who was seemingly killed by Tom in ''Mortal Engines'' is 're-resurrected' to mark the Stalker Fang's birthday by Dr. Oenone Zero; albeit with his previous memories wiped. Zero is promoted to Fang's Surgeon-Mechanic, though she intends to assassinate the Stalker as revenge for her aviator brother Eno being resurrected into a Stalker. Fang has the Green Storm armies extend their borders via bombing and destroying Traction Cities, starting a war with the ''Traktionstadtsgesellschaft''. Zero is followed by Shrike to a Christian chapel, where she confides aloud that she will kill the Stalker Fang with a mysterious weapon. He prepares to kill her, but cannot bring himself to, nor alert the authorities of her treachery. Shrike realises that Zero has implemented a barrier that disables him from betraying her; but he intends to stop her from assassinating Fang.

Wren makes friends with fellow slave Cynthia Twite and another young African slave, Theo Ngoni, who used to be a Green Storm kamikaze aviator that was captured. Wren plots to escape on Pennyroyal's private sky-yacht the ''Peewit'' by enlisting Theo's help, but he refuses. Shkin meets with Pennyroyal's advisor on Old-Tech, Walter Plovery, who explains what the Tin Book contains and orders him to retrieve it for him. The Moon Festival, a time when no city hunts nor eats each other, arrives as Brighton meets a few other cities on the shores of Africa. Plovery is invited to a dinner-party held by Pennyroyal and breaks into the Mayor's office, but is killed by an intruder. Wren and Theo are nearly arrested by Pennyroyal, as she tricked Cloud 9 aviators to refuel the ''Peewit'', but Boo-Boo saves them, falsely believing that Wren and Theo are in love.

Tom and Hester arrive in Brighton, and split up to search for Wren. Hester discovers Pennyroyal's corrupted version of the events of ''Predator's Gold'', including that she sold Anchorage to Arkangel and the renamed exhibited ''Jenny Haniver''. Tom meets with Shkin to negotiate Wren's release but is captured. Shkin plans to use Tom and Wren to expose Pennyroyal as a fraud and retrieve the Tin Book to sell off to the highest bidder. Told by Tom via a note that he was going to the Pepperpot, Shkin's base of operations, Hester plans to release the slaves inside to create a panic.

At the Moon Festival, Shkin confronts Wren and asks her to fetch the Tin Book for him. Wren manages to get Theo's help and discovers a Green Storm Stalker-bird inside the safe. Destroying it and taking the Tin Book, the pair discover that Cloud 9 has been set adrift and that a Green Storm airship is heading toward Brighton. Hester breaks into the Pepperpot and releases the Lost Boy slaves. Fishcake visits Tom in his cell and tells him that Wren is on Cloud 9, and Tom promises to take Fishcake away to live in Anchorage. Tom and Fishcake meet Hester, who kills Shkin's men in the pandemonium.

Zero discovers the Stalker Fang has commanded General Naga, the Green Storm's second-in-command, to destroy Brighton. On board the ''Requiem Vortex'', Fang's personal ship, Shrike finds out that Fang covets the Tin Book, after reading about Anchorage when she wanted to know more about Tom, whom she met at Rogue's Roost in ''Predator's Gold''. Wren discovers that Cynthia is a Green Storm agent, that she killed Plovery, installed the Stalker-bird in the safe and set Cloud 9 adrift; she explains that the Tin Book will help the Green Storm win the war against the ''Traktionstadtsgesellschaft''. Cynthia takes the Tin Book and holds them at gunpoint, but the two are saved by Pennyroyal who knocks Cynthia out. Making their way to the ''Peewit'', they discover Shkin attempting to escape Brighton inside it. Shkin shoots Pennyroyal, seemingly takes the Tin Book and makes off on the ''Peewit'', but the airship is destroyed by Stalker-birds.

Wren and Theo had tricked Shkin into taking a decoy, but are captured by Naga and brought before Fang. Fang takes the Book and memorizes the codes. Zero interrogates the pair, who explain to her what the Book contains. Knowing that Fang will kill thousands with it, Zero commands Shrike to kill Fang; he realises that ''he'' is the weapon she spoke of. Shrike manages to seemingly destroy Fang, scattering her battered pieces across the coastline of Africa. Suddenly remembering Hester, Shrike escapes from Naga. As Cloud 9 begins to burn and descend, the Tin Book's pages begin to blacken.

Tom and Hester recover the ''Jenny Haniver'', but Hester leaves Fishcake behind as revenge for taking Wren, despite Tom's pleas to go back for him. Wren and Theo discover Pennyroyal survived his wounds and take him with them as they try to escape. Zero also attempts to escape but is blocked by Naga. Secretly disgusted by Fang's actions in the war and wasting men, Naga commends Zero for orchestrating the Stalker's demise and takes control of the Green Storm. Naga takes Zero and the passengers from Cloud 9 on board the ''Requiem Vortex'' and leave.

Pennyroyal tells Wren that Hester sold Anchorage to Arkangel, one of the few elements of his book that was true, but she doesn't believe him. Tom and Hester find the three, and Hester attempts to kill Pennyroyal to make sure that her crime to Anchorage isn't discovered, but Wren tells Tom about what she did to stop her. Hester flees into the burning wreckage of Cloud 9 in despair, where Shrike finds her. Tom, Wren, Theo and Pennyroyal escape in the ''Jenny Haniver'' as Cloud 9 finally collapses onto the African shore. As scavenger towns arrive, Shrike takes Hester's unconscious body into the nearby Sahara Desert.

Fishcake, escaping from the Lost Boys, swims to the African coast. Wandering alone on the dunes, he encounters the remains of the Stalker Fang, who asks him to rebuild her, which he agrees to.

''Ladies in Lavender'' is set in picturesque coastal Cornwall, in a tight-knit fishing village in 1936. A gifted young Polish violinist from Kraków, Andrea is sailing to America when he is swept overboard from his ship in a storm. When the Widdington sisters, Janet and Ursula, discover the handsome stranger washed up on the beach below their house, they nurse him back to health. However, the presence of the musically talented young man disrupts the peaceful lives of the sisters and the community in which they live.

Holidaying artist Olga Danilof, the sister of famed violinist Boris Danilof, becomes interested in Andrea after hearing him play the violin. Olga writes a letter to the sisters, telling them who she is and that she would like to introduce her brother to Andrea. Instead of giving him the letter, understanding her sister has feelings for Andrea, Janet burns it. As time progresses, Olga and Andrea grow closer, and one day Andrea angrily confronts the sisters about the letter. Andrea, realizing that Ursula has feelings for him, apologizes for getting angry and they reconcile.

Olga tells her brother of Andrea's talent, and he asks to meet Andrea in London. When Andrea meets with Olga to discuss the letter from her brother, she tells him that they must leave on a train immediately because her brother is only in London for 24 hours. Although Andrea cares deeply for the sisters, he knows this is his chance to start a career, and he leaves with Olga without saying goodbye. The sisters, worried that something has happened to him, call a friend of Andrea's who tells them he saw Andrea and Olga getting on a train. Thinking she'll never see him again, Ursula is heartbroken and Janet consoles her as best she can. Andrea later sends them a letter, along with a portrait of himself painted by Olga, thanking them for saving his life. The sisters travel to London to attend Andrea's first public performance in Britain, while the rest of the village listens in on the radio.

While stuck in a traffic jam, Dante and Randal have another philosophical, pop culture-laden conversation — this one sparked when Randal asks Dante what he would hypothetically sacrifice in exchange for marketing rights to a flying car from ''The Jetsons.'' The hypothetical scenarios Randal continues to suggest grow increasingly ridiculous, culminating in Dante agreeing to have his foot cut off with a hacksaw, get knocked out, and get molested by the German inventor and his friends in exchange for the flying car. Randal expresses disgust that Dante would "do it with a bunch of guys just to get a car".

On May 22, 1994, four teenagers—Barry, Heather, Jenny, and Sean—attend their school’s prom. When Heather discovers Barry cheating on her with another girl, she storms out of the dance, followed closely by Barry, who tries to explain himself as they drive away in his car. Their argument is interrupted by Jenny and Sean, who are hiding in the backseat, smoking marijuana. Heather takes a detour off the freeway, and while distracted, collides with another motorist, who passes out in the ensuing confusion. Jenny, Heather, and Barry leave Sean to look after the unconscious motorist, while they search for help.

They stop at an office trailer, where they meet Darla, an insurance agent, who promises to call her boyfriend, a tow truck driver named Vilmer. They leave the office and begin heading back towards the wreck, only for Heather and Barry to become separated from Jenny in the darkness. Vilmer soon shows up at the scene of the wreck, killing the motorist, before chasing Sean in his truck and backing over him repeatedly.

Meanwhile, Heather and Barry become separated from Jenny and discover an old farmhouse in the woods. As Barry looks around, Heather is attacked by Leatherface on the porch swing and subsequently forced into a meat locker. One of Vilmer and Leatherface’s family members, W. E., finds Barry and holds him at gunpoint before forcing him inside. Barry tricks W. E. and locks him out but while using the bathroom, Barry discovers a corpse in the bathtub. He is then killed by Leatherface with a sledgehammer. After killing Barry, Leatherface impales Heather on a meat hook.

Jenny returns to the scene of the wreck, where she is met by Vilmer, who offers her a ride. She accepts, only for Vilmer to threaten her, before showing her the bodies of Sean and the motorist. Jenny jumps out of the truck and runs into the woods. She is soon attacked by Leatherface, resulting in a lengthy chase through the farmhouse, where she finds several preserved corpses in an upstairs bedroom.

After leaping through an upstairs window, Jenny manages to flee the property. She seeks refuge from Darla, who reveals herself to be in league with the killers when W. E. shows up and beats her with a cattle prod. The two put her in Darla’s trunk and she leaves to pick up some pizzas for dinner. After being tormented by Vilmer, Jenny momentarily escapes, attempting to drive off in Darla’s car. She is stopped by Vilmer, who knocks her unconscious. She soon awakens at a dinner table, surrounded by the family, who reveal they are employed by a secret society to terrorize people that may cross their path. A man named Rothman shows up, reprimanding Vilmer for his methods, before revealing an array of scars and piercings on his torso and licking Jenny’s face. Rothman leaves and Vilmer terrorizes his family and Jenny, killing Heather by crushing her skull under his cybernetic leg, and knocking W. E. unconscious with a hammer.

Vilmer and Leatherface prepare to kill Jenny, who breaks free and, using the control to Vilmer’s leg, escapes. Jenny reaches a dirt road, where she is rescued by an elderly couple in an RV. However, Leatherface and Vilmer run them off the road, resulting in the RV falling on its side. Jenny emerges from the vehicle unscathed and continues running, with Leatherface and Vilmer in hot pursuit. A plane swoops down on Vilmer, killing him when one of the wheels grazes his skull. Leatherface screams in anguish, while Jenny looks on. A limousine pulls up and Jenny jumps in the backseat, where she is met by Rothman, who apologizes, explaining her experience was supposed to be spiritual and Vilmer had to be stopped. He offers to take her to a police station or a hospital, dropping her off at a hospital, where she speaks to an officer. Sally Hardesty, being pushed by on a gurney, meets Jenny’s gaze. Back on the dirt road as the sun sets Leatherface continues to flail his chainsaw in despair.

On the eve of the winter solstice, Morbius the Malevolent kidnaps Eleanor, Princess of Arcadia, to sacrifice her ritually and become the Evil Baron of Darkness. Shadax the wizard, after witnessing the kidnapping, heads to Morbius' stronghold, the fortress Kâstleröck, to rescue Eleanor. Once while researching Kâstleröck in the Library of Arcadia to find a way to overthrow Morbius, Shadax learned of a secret entrance into Kâstleröck and the whereabouts of the Staff of Demnos, an ancient weapon with the power to defeat Morbius. The staff was hidden in Kâstleröck because that was where Morbius would least expect to find it. Morbius' spies searched for the Staff but did not find it because it was broken into six pieces and made invisible. However, every one hundred years on the winter solstice, all six pieces become visible. Knowing a way in, Shadax enters Kâstleröck to reassemble the Staff of Demnos, overthrow Morbius' forces of darkness, and save Princess Eleanor. Upon restoring the Staff of Demnos, Shadax seeks out and frees Eleanor from imprisonment and destroys Morbius with the Staff.

Maurice Legrand (Michel Simon), a meek cashier and aspirant painter, is miserably married to Adèle, an abusive woman who mistreats him. After a celebration in the company where he works, Maurice stumbles upon a man called André "Dédé" Jauguin (Georges Flamant) hitting a young woman called Lucienne "Lulu" Pelletier (Janie Marèse) on the street. Maurice protects Lulu and brings her home. Lulu, who is a prostitute, tells the naive Maurice that Dédé is her brother, but Dédé is actually her pimp. Maurice rents an apartment for Lulu and she becomes his mistress. Soon he brings his paintings to the apartment, since his wife Adèle intends to throw them away. But Dédé sells the paintings to an art dealer for a large amount, telling the dealer that Lulu had painted them using the alias Clara Wood. When Maurice stumbles upon Adèle's former husband who was supposedly killed in the War, he plots a scheme to get rid of Adèle. He succeeds in his intent, only to discover Lulu and Dédé in bed during the night. Shocked, he leaves, but returns in the morning to talk to Lulu. She confesses that she loves Dédé and humiliates Maurice, saying that the only reason she stayed with him was his money. Maurice attacks her with a knife and leaves the apartment with no witnesses. Dédé arrives moments later and discovers Lulu's body. Dédé is blamed for Lulu's death owing to his reputation, and he is executed. Maurice becomes a vagrant.

The film tells the story of Turner, a black U.S. Army G.I. stationed in France whose captain gives him a three-day pass just after he promotes him. As Turner gets ready to leave, his reflection in the mirror accuses him of being an Uncle Tom, but this is not the only time his reflection criticizes him or makes him doubt himself.

Turner goes to Paris, where he wanders mostly aimlessly for the first day. He finds himself in a nightclub, where he meets a white French shop clerk named Miriam. The pair spends the rest of the weekend together, enjoying their romance but also struggling with the complexities of racism. Eventually their miscegenation is reported to Turner's captain and Turner is restricted to barracks. After some visiting African-American women convince his commander to lift the restriction, he finds his girlfriend unavailable when he telephones her, and he decides that such amorous adventures are futile.

Trinity and Brother Dave are a pair of devil-bats looking for a party to break up. They come across a party in Harlem. Although Trinity is eager, Dave warns him not to touch it. "When black folks throw a party, they don't play!" Trinity joins the party, already in progress, thrown by Miss Maybell in honor of her niece Earnestine's birthday.

Trinity first tries to break the records ("you can't have a party without music"), but finds that they are unbreakable. He drinks an entire bottle of liquor, thinking he has depleted their supply of alcohol, but finds out that all of the guests have brought their own bottles, and when he tries to eat all of the sandwiches, another plate is brought in.

Trinity finds himself unwilling to continue being mean after he insults Earnestine, making her cry. Trinity apologizes to her, and tells her that he has fallen for her. Three more guests show up, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, and their college-educated son Harold. Earnestine ignores Trinity for Harold. Trinity becomes jealous.

Brother Dave arrives in human form, eager to break up the party, but Trinity is unwilling to. Mr. Johnson tells Harold not to get involved with Earnestine, because her family is too "common," and he can't risk the big future he has ahead of him. Earnestine approaches both Harold and Trinity to dance, but they are pulled back by Mr. Johnson and Dave.

Dave persuades Trinity to try to break up the party before midnight, when they will both be turned into the thing that they pretend to be: human beings. As time runs short, Dave and Trinity find themselves at the dinner table with the rest of the guests. Dave insults Mrs. Johnson, prompting her to leave with her husband and son. The rest of the guests tell Dave that they're glad that they left.

After the dinner, Trinity stands up and announces that he and Earnestine are getting engaged, an announcement which infuriates Dave. Dave makes one last attempt to break up the party by trying to make a move on Miss Maybell. When Dave finds that she is all too willing, he turns himself into a cockroach and tries to sneak out the door before being smashed by Miss Maybell.

Melvin Van Peebles acts as the film's narrator, introducing the film's main characters. Yves Malmaison (Richard Fancy) is a world-famous French fashion designer, a flaming homosexual with a preference for red hair, he once experimented with an American woman, and thus he has a son, Sebastian (Ilan Mitchell-Smith). Chilly D (Mario Van Peebles) is a struggling rapper who has been stealing dresses made by Malmaison to redesign and give to his many girlfriends.

On the night of a big fashion show, Malmaison is poisoned, and Chilly D is chased by the same people who poisoned the fashion designer. Through a turn of events, the souls of both men wind up in Chilly D's body. Several days later, following Malmaison's funeral, he wakes up in a hospital to discover, to his shock, that he is no longer in his own body.

Stumbling the streets, confused, Yves as Chilly tries to piece together elements of his former life, with no such luck. Making things even more difficult is the fact that every time they are struck or hit, they switch between their two personalities, leading to confusion and disorientation for people they bump into.

Yves manages to convince his son Sebastian that it is him, and they try to find out who killed him, finding that drug smugglers are trying to take over the company. At the end of the film, Chilly D manages to have all of Malmaison's memories, but still be himself, and so he and Sebastian go into business together.

Kati and Steffi, inseparable since childhood, are teenagers at school. Kati endures a modest and difficult home life with a neurotic mother but Steffi's family are well off and harmonious. Everything changes when in a night club the two see Steffi's father entwined with another woman. Furious at this treachery, Steffi plots revenge against the woman's daughter Tessa. First she sends the girl to audition for a band, but it emerges that she can sing well and the band like her. That having failed, Steffi sends her to a pornographer, having got the address from a schoolmate Yvonne, who posed to earn some money so that she could leave home. Kati gets worried over Steffi's obsessive behaviour and, tracking down Tessa, rescues her as she is being raped by the pornographer.

Furious, Tessa's mother storms round to the home of Steffi's parents and tells them what's been going on, upon which Steffi's mother leaves home. In the meantime, a nationwide police search has been launched for the missing Yvonne. Suspecting the pornographer, Kati recounts all she knows to the police, who tell her Yvonne has in fact been murdered. Going to see Steffi, she tells her that it was she who saved Tessa and so triggered the crisis in Steffi's family. When Steffi does not appear at school next day, Kati breaks into her home to find she has slashed both wrists. By calling an ambulance, Kati saves her life and at the hospital Steffi's parents turn up, apparently reconciled. Kati's mother at last shows sympathy towards her daughter and in a final shot the recovering Steffi makes it up with Kati.

Southern California teenager Les Anderson (Corey Haim) tries to get his driver's license in order to impress his crush, beautiful Mercedes Lane (Heather Graham). He fails the knowledge portion of the exam, but inadvertently causes a computer surge.

Les' failing marks are thought to be irretrievable, but the Department of Motor Vehicles lets him pass the exam after comparing him to his twin sister's high marks. He eventually passes the road test, but his real test scores are finally retrieved and his license is revoked.

Les tries concealing the truth from his parents, but his mother finds out the truth and his father grounds him for two weeks. Les made plans to drive his grandfather's prized 1972 Cadillac Sedan de Ville prior and decides to sneak away anyway for a joyride with Mercedes.

Mercedes gets drunk and then she and Les accidentally cave in the hood of the car after dancing on it. She passes out; Les panics and goes to his best friend Dean's (Corey Feldman) house to have him fix the dent in the car's hood.

Dean persuades Les to continue the joyride along with their friend Charles (Michael Manasseri), but are unaware Les still does not have his license. The three put Mercedes in the trunk of the car and continue their night on the town, causing even more damage to the Cadillac. Meanwhile, Mrs. Anderson wakes up her husband late in the night announcing she is in labor.

The next day, Les drops off Charles and Dean at their homes. Mercedes wakes up and believes that the night prior was a dream. Les drops her off at her house where they share a kiss. Les gets in trouble with his father Robert after returning home with the damaged Cadillac.

Mrs. Anderson is still in labor, but since the car's transmission will not shift into drive he is forced to drive his family to the hospital in reverse. She is taken into the hospital but a crane fails outside and a falling steel girder crushes the Cadillac, much to the shock of Les and Robert.

The family tries to explain the state of the Cadillac to Les' grandfather, but Grandpa laughs it off as he reveals he has severely damaged his son's own BMW in an accident. Robert gives the BMW to Les and jokingly tells him to take good care of it.

Although Les thanks his father, he has changed his mind and doesn't want it anymore. Mercedes pulls up in a white Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet and picks up Les, who gets in the driver's seat and drives away with her.

The entire game takes place in the town Misthaven on the island Ahkuilon. Locke D'Averam is a revenant who is named after the House of Averam, which raised him from the dead. Immediately after being brought back from Anserak (Hell), Locke is sent on a quest by his new master, Sardok, who is the advisor to Lord Tendrick, ruler of the island. The quest is to locate and rescue the Tendricks' long-missing daughter Andria, who was kidnapped by a mysterious cult calling itself the Children of the Change.

It is revealed Locke was once king of an ancient empire that centered on Ahkuilon. Locke made a pact with a demon god but he could not bear the price, his wife's soul, and refused to sacrifice her. The demon god condemned Locke to an eternity of suffering in Anserak and his mighty empire was destroyed and pulled into the earth.

The cult that Locke finds himself facing is led by the avatar of the demon god he betrayed. As he explores Ahkuilon in pursuit of the missing Andria, Locke must face enemies. Many characters in the game hint there is a "darkness" surrounding Locke and some seem to know of his past. As the story builds to a climax, it become apparent not all is as it seems and that history may repeat itself.

After another failed attempt at stealing a sheep from Sam Sheepdog, Ralph Wolf returns home after his shift to relax and enjoy some television in his chair. Daffy Duck bursts in and declares that Ralph is the newest contestant on the game show "Sheep, Dog, and Wolf" or as Daffy likes to call it, "Who Wants to Be a Sheep Stealer". In this show, Ralph is tasked with successfully stealing sheep from Sam in a variety of environments, though he is not allowed to harm the sheep in any way.

Despite many obstacles and encounters with various characters such as Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Gossamer, Toro and Road Runner, Ralph is finally able to steal Sam's entire flock, but as he is declared the winner, Marvin the Martian gatecrashes the show, angry at Ralph and Daffy because a specific sheep that Ralph was forced to fire into the sky using Yosemite Sam's cannon in order to win actually landed on Planet X while Marvin was experimenting with his instant Martians, causing a serious accident which led to the Martians scattering across the planet. Marvin forcibly takes Ralph to Planet X with the task of recovering the Martians. Ralph eventually completes his task and is returned home by Marvin along with the stranded sheep. However, once inside, the sheep is revealed to be Sam in disguise, who grabs Ralph and prepares to beat him vengefully when Ralph's alarm clock sounds and he wakes up from his sleep, revealing that the game's events were only a dream. Disappointed, Ralph goes outside to start another shift of sheep stealing from Sam.

Late one night at the Russell Square station in the London Underground, university students Patricia and her American exchange student boyfriend Alex find an unconscious man on the stairwell. Fearing that he may be diabetic, Patricia checks his wallet and finds a card that reads James Manford, OBE. They inform a policeman but find that Manfred has vanished. Inspector Calhoun is assigned to look into the disappearance. Calhoun questions Alex and suggests that he and Patricia robbed the man.

Calhoun's colleague tells him about the history of the London Underground, particularly the Victorian railway workers who constructed the tunnels under dire conditions, and an urban legend that a group of descendants who survived an 1892 cave-in still live below ground. Meanwhile, one of the last surviving members of a family of these railway workers watches his pregnant female companion die; they have survived in the underground by resorting to cannibalism of the patrons. In an empty chamber, Manfred's body lies, mutilated. The man, now left in complete solitude, goes into a rage and brutally murders three maintenance workers.

One evening, Alex and Patricia take a train home and get off at Holborn station. Patricia realises she forgot her textbooks on the train. Alex attempts to retrieve them, but the doors close before he can exit; Patricia yells that she will meet him at home. Once the train leaves, however, Patricia is attacked by the cannibal. When she fails to meet him at their flat, Alex seeks help from Calhoun, who is dismissive. Alex returns to Holborn station and enters the tunnel. He breaches an abandoned area of the Underground and finds remnants of the miners who worked there over a century ago. Meanwhile, Patricia awakens in the cannibal's lair. She finds him to be aphasic and unable to communicate with her, although he is capable of uttering one phrase, "mind the doors". She hits him over the head and manages to escape into a tunnel. He corners her and attempts to communicate with her, but becomes frustrated and violent.

Alex finds them and begins fighting with the cannibal, seriously wounding him with a kick to the head. Patricia begs Alex not to hurt him, and they watch as the cannibal stumbles into a passageway. Calhoun and several other detectives discover Alex and Patricia. As they search through the abandoned section, they uncover a room full of corpses laid in bunk beds the generations of survivors from the cave-in that occurred a century before including the cannibal, bleeding profusely, apparently dead. The detectives return to meet Alex and Patricia, and head to the station platform. After they leave, the cannibal is heard screaming "mind the doors!" once more before the credits roll.

While renovating the station's old ore processing unit, Chief O'Brien and Jake Sisko accidentally trip an old Cardassian security program, which was set to put the station on lockdown in the event of a Bajoran uprising during the occupation.

O'Brien, Jake, and Commander Sisko are trapped in the ore processing unit. Fail-safes in the system prevent the rest of the crew from accessing the area or beaming out the trapped people. When Jake enables himself, his father, and O'Brien to escape by crawling through an ore chute, a recording of Gul Dukat, the station's former Cardassian prefect, announces that the rioting Bajorans have escaped, and the entire station locks down. Major Kira, Dr. Bashir, and Lt. Dax are trapped in the operations center. Security chief Odo is dismayed to find himself locked in his office with Quark.

As the crew works to lift the lockdown program, another fail-safe is tripped. The Dukat recording warns the crew that the whole habitat ring will soon be flooded with poisonous gas. Cardassian ex-spy Garak advises the crew to shut off the life support system, which will prevent the release of the poison gas. When they do so, the Dukat program announces that the station will self-destruct in two hours. When Garak tries to hack into the computer, impersonating Gul Dukat's credentials, yet another fail-safe constructs a disruptor that fires random blasts around Ops, requiring the crew to take shelter.

Suddenly, the real Gul Dukat beams into Ops. He teases the crew about their predicament before deactivating the disruptor. Dukat attempts to use his leverage to get Major Kira to agree to having a Cardassian garrison placed on the station, but she refuses. Dukat is prevented from beaming away by a new security program, designed to prevent Dukat from abandoning his post during a worker revolt. Now, no one—not even Dukat—will be allowed to leave the area before the self-destruct.

O'Brien and the Siskos have managed to blast their way out of the ore-processing unit by detonating leftover ore. From Ops, Dax manages to shut down the force fields set up in all the station's halls. With ten minutes left, Sisko makes his way to the computer that controls the station's shielding, and fortifies the shields just enough to absorb the energy of the station's self-destruct system, saving the station.

The film takes place in and around a film production company office, and involves several interweaving plot threads which include a young actress named Rose (Salma Hayek) who tries to score a screen test from her secret boyfriend Alex Green (Stellan Skarsgård), a noted but disillusioned director. Meanwhile, Rose's tryst with him is discovered by her girlfriend Lauren (Jeanne Tripplehorn), an insanely jealous businesswoman who plants a microphone in Rose's purse and spends most of the time in the back of her limousine parked outside the office building listening in on Rose's conversations. Elsewhere, Alex's wife Emma (Saffron Burrows) is seen with a therapist (Glenne Headly) debating about asking him for a divorce. In the meantime, numerous film industry types (played by Xander Berkeley, Golden Brooks, Holly Hunter and Kyle MacLachlan), pitch ideas for the next big hit film.

In 2021 off East Timor, a US-led multinational task force commanded by Admiral Phillip Kolhammer prepares to liberate the Indonesian islands from an Islamic government calling itself the Caliphate, which is slaughtering the Chinese nationals living there. In the book's backstory, the Chinese government was planning to send a task force but was warned by the US government not to do so. The flagship of the task force is the aircraft carrier USS ''Hillary Clinton'', named after "the most uncompromising wartime president in the history of the United States". The task force is made up mainly of US and British units alongside French, Australian, Japanese, and ''Free Indonesians'', along with a few other units like Spetsnaz from Russia and Kommando Spezialkräfte from Germany. Alongside the navy task force is JRV ''Nagoya'', a scientific ship that is experimenting with wormholes; the navy ship protecting it is ordered to join the task force. A new ship from the Royal New Zealand Navy is sent as escort, but prior to its arrival, ''Nagoya'' s project director, Manning Pope, decides to make a trial run. The task force is constantly watched by a Caliphate spy on the mainland.

In 1942, Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance and Lt. Commander Daniel Black are on the bridge of , on their way to face the Japanese sent to invade Midway. A growing commotion outside the bridge prompts them to investigate, only to find a large group of what are, to them, unknown and strangely designed ships. They spot a ship with the Japanese ensign and assume it is the Japanese fleet sent against Midway and they order their own ships to open fire. The multinational task force Combat Intelligence, referred to as CI, takes defensive action; the 21st-century fleet nearly wipes out the US fleet, including and . During the battle, Kolhammer and the rest of the multinational task force commanders learn that not all ships of the task force came through and those that did, did not all end up in the same place.

HJIMS ''Ryūjō'' encounters the Free Indonesian ship KRI ''Sutanto'' and boards it. The Indonesians are taken captive, the Japanese learn of the force sent against them at Midway, and the rest of the Japanese navy is warned and ordered back home.

After the battle between the 1942 US naval force and the 21st-century multinational task force, an unsteady peace starts after they both reach Pearl Harbor. However, murders, rapes, and riots happen as the 21st-century people try to mix with the locals. Kolhammer is flown to California to meet President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Albert Einstein. As time goes by with no sight of JRV ''Nagoya'', more and more 21st-century personnel start to realize they are stuck in 1942.

Captain Karen Halabi and HMS ''Trident'', a ''Trident''-class trimaran stealth destroyer, are ordered back to the Home Island for evaluation and possible transfer of ''Trident''. However, prior the ship's and her departure, they take part in a prisoner of war rescue in Singapore and Luzon. The rescue is carried out by both 21st-century and 1942 personnel.

Through the Japanese, Hitler learns about the results of the invasion of the Soviet Union and sends Ribbentrop to negotiate peace with the Soviet Union.

Grubitsch "Grubbs" Grady, the younger child of chess-obsessed parents, grows increasingly uneasy with the recent strange, nervous behavior of his parents and sister. One night, he finds the mutilated bodies of his family and encounters Lord Loss, a gruesome human-like demon who sets his two familiars, Vein and Artery, on Grubbs. Although Grubbs manages to escape, he is deeply traumatized and is placed in a mental institute. He refuses to respond to treatment until he is visited by his father's younger brother, Dervish Grady, who tells Grubbs that he knows demons exist and convinces Grubbs to finally accept help.

After Grubbs recovers, he lives with the rather eccentric Dervish in his mansion near the village of Carcery Vale. Dervish explains to Grubbs that using magic is possible as Grubbs himself used magic to flee from Lord Loss and his minions. As Grubbs begins to settle down, he meets and befriends Bill-E Spleen, another orphan who visits Dervish often to learn magic. Bill-E tells Grubbs of his belief that Dervish may actually be his father, given how close they were before then, but tells Grubbs to keep it a secret from him, which he agrees. Later, when exploring the cellar, Grubbs comes across a book on demonology, and opens to a page containing an illustration of Lord Loss, which seemingly comes to life and calls to him. Grubbs immediately closes the book and runs out of the cellar.

Time passes, and later, Grubbs and Bill-E discover animal corpses being left in the nearby forest. They also notice Dervish collecting them and disposing of the remains. Fearing for Grubbs’ safety, Bill-E eventually shares his theory that Dervish is a werewolf, as many Gradys were prone to lycanthropy, which manifests itself at puberty. However, Bill-E is later revealed to be the real werewolf, though he doesn't know it himself. Dervish confirms to Grubbs that the Gradys are indeed cursed, only that it has been going on for centuries. Dervish later explains that Bill-E is Grubbs' half-brother from one of his father's affairs. The only way to cure him is by winning three out of five simultaneous chess games with the powerfully magical demon master Lord Loss while another person battles his familiars. Neither one is permitted to fail. This is also revealed to be the reason his family was killed, when his sister Gret also succumbed to the family curse. Meera Flame, a friend of Dervish, who is knocked out while trying to restrain a transformed Bill-E, was supposed to help battle the demons. Dervish convinces an extremely reluctant Grubbs, who is still haunted by nightmares, to take her place. While confronting Lord Loss, Dervish is constantly distracted from his chess match as Grubbs is unable to fight off the two familiars. Dervish finally uses magic to save Grubbs, but Lord Loss sees this as breaking the rules of the game and is about to let his familiars kill Dervish, Grubbs, and Bill-E. However, Dervish is able to convince Lord Loss to let Grubbs finish the chess game, while he battles the familiars. A terrified Grubbs then makes a bad game worse. Then Grubbs realizes that Lord Loss is feeding on his despair and then decides to play with an aloof attitude. This throws Lord Loss' concentration, allowing Grubbs to win the game. Lord Loss then cures Bill-E, but someone must battle him in his realm. Grubbs offers to go, but Dervish refuses to let Grubbs fight and goes instead. Dervish leaves to the Demonata universe, leaving Grubbs behind with Bill-E. Grubbs lies to Bill-E, telling him that Dervish used a calming spell to try to cure his lycanthropy. Grubbs figures that it's better for Bill-E to believe that Dervish is his father, since his real father is dead. Fourteen months later Grubbs has been caring for Dervish in his zombie-like state, also dealing with the fear that he'll turn into a werewolf. One morning, Grubbs wakes up to find blood under his nails and hair in his teeth. Thinking that he has turned, he prepares to call the mysterious Lambs Dervish told him about, to kill him before he does any harm. As Grubbs reaches for the phone he hears someone call his name. Turning to look he sees Dervish, with his senses regained, holding a tin of paint and a woollen scarf. The book ends with Dervish saying, "The look on your face!"

In October 1986, two women are found raped and murdered on the outskirts of a small town. Local detective Park Doo-man, not having dealt with such a serious case before, is overwhelmed—evidence is improperly collected, the police's investigative methods are suspicious, and their forensic technology is near non-existent. Park claims he has a way of determining suspects by eye contact. He decides to first question a scarred mentally handicapped boy, Baek Kwang-ho, because he used to follow one of the victims around town. Park uses his eye contact method, thinking Baek is responsible, and has his partner Cho beat confessions out of Baek.

Seo Tae-yoon, a detective from Seoul, volunteers to assist them. However he and Park's methods clash. Seo deems Baek's hands too weak and scarred to be able to commit such an elaborate crime, clearing his name. After more murders are committed, they realize that the killer waits until a rainy night and only kills women wearing red. Officer Kwon Kwi-ok realizes that a local radio station is always requested to play a particular song during the nights the murders are committed.

At the latest crime scene, Park, Cho and Seo all arrive to investigate in different ways, but a local man there masturbates in a woman's red lingerie. Park and Cho apprehend the man, brutally beating him. Seo finds a survivor of the killer with Kwon's help. Upon learning that the killer's hands were noticeably soft, Seo clears the man, as his hands are rough. Infuriated that they lost their suspect, Park scuffles with Seo until Kwon alerts them that the song on the radio is playing. They realize it's raining but arrive too late, finding another woman murdered. Park, Seo and Cho finally decide to work together.

Upon doing an autopsy of the latest victim, they discover pieces of a peach in the body. Clues lead them to a factory worker, Park Hyeon-gyu. Seo notes that his hands are soft like the survivor had described. Hyeon-gyu begins to show discomfort when Seo presents the peaches and they think they've found the killer. Cho loses control and beats Hyeon-gyu, prompting their superior to ban him from the interrogation room. Park and Seo listen to Baek's earlier confession. Seo points out that he talks as if someone else did it and they realize he knew details of the murder because he witnessed it. They go to Baek's father's restaurant, only to discover a drunken Cho there. As people watch news and ridicule police officers, he beats everyone and Baek joins the fray, swinging a wooden board at Cho's leg and accidentally piercing it with a rusty nail. Park and Seo chase Baek and question him, but he gets frightened and runs into the path of an oncoming train, where he is struck and killed.

Park learns that Cho's leg will have to be amputated because the nail caused tetanus, leaving him feeling guilty. They discover semen on one of the bodies, but because of Korea's lack of DNA analysis technology, the sample is sent to the United States to confirm if suspect Hyeon-gyu is the killer. That night, a young girl is killed. At the crime scene, Seo recognizes the girl as the same schoolgirl he had befriended while investigating. Enraged, he attacks Hyeon-gyu until he is interrupted by Park bringing the results from America. The sample is deemed to be inconclusive in relation to Hyeon-gyu's DNA and Park lets Hyeon-gyu go.

In 2003, the crimes remain unsolved and Park is now a father and businessman. He happens to pass by the first crime scene and decides to visit it, learning from a little girl that the scene had recently been visited by an unknown man who had said that he was reminiscing about something he had done there a long time ago. Park asks the girl what he had looked like, and she tells him that he had a "normal" face, and was someone who looked very ordinary. The film ends as Park looks straight at the camera, seemingly trying to spot the killer amongst the audience by using his eye contact method.

In 1995, the Principality of Belka invades several of its immediate neighbors which were former provinces of Belka itself. Much of Ustio falls to Belka's advance and the might of its air force. The Ustian government hires mercenary pilots to off set the Belkan advantage, and narrowly avoids total defeat by working with the Allied coalition of forces from Osea, Sapin and Yuktobania. With the help of "Galm" Team, Ustio is liberated and the allies begin their counter-offensive into Belka.

Galm Team consists of two pilots: Cipher and "Solo Wing" Pixy (Nicknamed as such after his F-15C's right wing was shot off by enemy fire, yet he returned to base safely. It is a reference to the 1983 Negev mid-air collision.) Cipher successfully destroys a Belkan tactical anti aircraft laser installation, but wingman Pixy becomes disillusioned with the war when a Belkan city is bombed by Allied forces indiscriminately. Unable to stop the Allies' advances, the Belkans detonate seven nuclear bombs on its own soil in an attempt to halt the Allied invasion, though this kills thousands of civilians. Pixy deserts Cipher, nearly killing him in the confusion and as a result of the nuclear blasts a cease-fire is ordered among Allied troops.

Following the detonations, the Belkan government accepts surrender and its resource-rich territory is divided between the coalition forces. Arguments ensue among the allies over territory, resulting in military forces from every country forming ''A World With No Boundaries''; a terrorist organization intent on erasing national borders and unifying the world. Cipher, along with his new wing man PJ are ordered to eliminate the new threat, culminating in the siege of a heavily fortified dam that houses Belkan nuclear weapons. Galm Team successfully destroy the facility and the nuclear threat posed, though PJ is shot down by Pixy, who is subsequently shot down by Cipher in the following duel, ending the terrorist threat.

The plot concerns Michael, a professional violinist, who never forgot his love for Julia, a pianist he met as a student in Vienna. They meet again after a decade, and conduct a secret affair, though she is married and has one child. Their musical careers are affected by this affair and the knowledge that Julia is going deaf.

A recurring element throughout the plot is the pair's performance of Beethoven's Piano Trio Opus 1 No.3, which they first perform in their college days.

Seth together with Philippe Honoré marketed a double CD of the music mentioned in ''An Equal Music'', performed by Honoré. .

Dr. Kay Scarpetta, now freelancing with the National Forensic Academy in Florida, takes charge of a case that stretches from steamy Florida to snowbound Massachusetts, one as unnerving as any she has ever faced. The teasing psychological clues lead Scarpetta and her team—Pete Marino, Benton Wesley, and Lucy Farinelli—to suspect that they are hunting someone with a cunning and malevolent mind whose secrets have kept them in the shadows, until now.

The narrator Egaeus, a studious young man, grows up in a large, gloomy mansion with his cousin Berenice. He suffers from a type of obsessive disorder, a monomania that makes him fixate on objects. Originally beautiful, Berenice suffers from an unspecified degenerative illness, of which periods of catalepsy, are a symptom, which he refers to as a "trance". Nevertheless, they are due to be married.

One afternoon, Egaeus sees Berenice as he sits in the library. When she smiles, he focuses on her teeth. His obsession grips him, and for days he drifts in and out of awareness, constantly thinking about her teeth. He imagines himself holding the teeth and turning them over to examine them from all angles. At one point, a servant tells him that Berenice has died and shall be buried. When he next becomes aware, with an inexplicable terror, he finds a lamp and a small box in front of him. Another servant enters, reporting that a grave has been violated, and a shrouded disfigured body found, still alive. Egaeus finds that his clothes are covered in mud and blood, and he opens the box to find that it contains dental instruments and "thirty-two small, white and ivory-looking substances": Berenice's teeth.

The Latin epigraph, "''Dicebant mihi sodales si sepulchrum amicae visitarem, curas meas aliquantulum fore levatas''" at the head of the text may be translated as: "My companions said to me, if I would visit the grave of my friend, I might somewhat alleviate my worries."''Dicebant mihi sodales si sepulchrum amicae visitarem, curas meas aliquantulum fore levatas.'' From Ibn Zaiat. The second part of the poem is ''Dixi autem, an ideo aliud praeter hoc pectus habet sepulchrum?''

:''My companions said to me, if I would visit the grave of my friend, I might somewhat alleviate my worries. I answered "could she be buried elsewhere than in my heart?"''

From "The Works of Sir William Jones, Vol. 2", London 1799 This quotation is also seen by Egaeus in an open book towards the end of the story.

High school student Brendan Frye discovers a note directing him to a pay phone, where he receives a call from his ex-girlfriend Emily Kostich, begging him for help. She mentions a "bad brick", "the Pin", and "Tug" before abruptly hanging up, apparently afraid of a passing black Ford Mustang, from which a distinctively-branded cigarette is thrown. Unable to locate Emily, Brendan enlists his friend Brain for help. An encounter with another ex-girlfriend, Kara, leads him to a party held by flirtatious upper-class girl Laura Dannon and her boyfriend, Brad Bramish. Laura points Brendan to Dode, Emily's drug-addicted new boyfriend, who arranges a meeting with Emily.

Emily dismisses the phone call as a mistake and tells Brendan to let her go. Brendan steals her notepad and finds a note that leads him to her dead body in a tunnel the following morning. Distraught, Brendan decides to investigate her murder, hiding the body to avoid police involvement. Brendan discovers that "the Pin" refers to a secretive local drug baron. As Brad is a known drug user, Brendan picks a fight with him, hoping to attract the Pin's attention. Later, a man wearing a beanie attacks Brendan.

On his way home, Brendan sees the black Mustang in a parking lot and tries to break into it, but is caught by the beanie-wearing thug, who turns out to be the car owner. The man attacks Brendan, who repeatedly demands to meet the Pin instead of fighting back. The man is Tug, the Pin's main enforcer, who reluctantly takes Brendan to the Pin's house. Brendan asks the Pin for a job, and the Pin says he will investigate Brendan and either hire him or have him hurt; Brendan will find out which by the next day. Laura reveals that she was at the Pin's house the entire time and drives Brendan back to school. She explains that Emily stole a "brick" of heroin after being rejected by the Pin's operation. Laura offers to help Brendan, but he distrusts her.

The next day, Brendan learns that the Pin has hired him. Dode calls Brendan and says he saw Brendan hide Emily's body. Believing Brendan is the murderer, he threatens to ruin him. Brendan meets the Pin, who suspects that Tug is planning to betray him. At the Pin's house, Tug tells Brendan that the Pin recently bought ten bricks of heroin. Eight were quickly sold off wholesale. The ninth was stolen and later returned contaminated, and the final brick remains to be sold. The Pin arrives and says that someone wants to meet to discuss Emily, revealing that Tug was also romantically involved with her.

Brendan intercepts Dode on the way to the meeting and discovers Emily was pregnant when she died; Dode believes the baby was his. Brendan passes out from his accumulated injuries and arrives at the meeting late to find Dode demanding money to reveal who killed Emily. Tug goes berserk and shoots Dode in the head, then threatens the Pin, who walks away as Brendan faints again. Brendan awakens in Tug's bedroom, and Tug tells him they are at war with the Pin.

Brendan arranges a meeting between the two and waits in Tug's bedroom. Laura comforts him as he grieves for Emily, and they kiss. Brendan recognizes her cigarette as the same brand that was dropped from the Mustang during the call with Emily. At the meeting, chaos erupts when it is discovered that the tenth brick is missing. Tug beats the Pin to death while Brendan flees, escaping just as police arrive. As he goes, he passes the partly-open trunk of Tug's car, where he has placed Emily's body to ensure that police blame her murder on Tug.

The next day, Brendan meets Laura at the school. Brendan explains that he knows Laura set Emily up to take the fall for Laura's theft of the ninth brick, then manipulated Emily into meeting Tug, who panicked and killed her after she told him he was the father of her unborn child. Brendan has written a note to the school administration stating that the tenth brick is in Laura's locker. Laura vindictively tells Brendan that Emily did not want to keep the baby because she did not love the father, and that Emily was three months pregnant when she died, meaning the unborn child was his.

The big Three

The opening sentence of the first edition is "The Pushcart War started on the afternoon of March 15, 1976 when a truck ran down a pushcart belonging to a flower peddler." The prefatory material includes introductions by (the fictional) Professor Lyman Cumberly and the author, Jean Merrill, dated ten years after the opening sentence; later editions have changed the years so the dates would continue to be set in the future at the time of publication.

Traffic in New York City has become intolerable. Leaders of the three biggest trucking companies, collectively known as The Three, hold a secret meeting where they plan to take over the streets for themselves by eliminating other traffic, starting with the pushcarts. The Three are Moe Mammoth of Mammoth Moving, Walter Sweet of Tiger Trucking, and Louie Livergreen of LEMA (Lower Eastside Moving Association). Professor Cumberly says, "The truck drivers had gotten together and figured out that in crowded traffic conditions, the only way to get where you wanted was to be so big that you didn't have to get out of the way of anybody." This is known as the Large Object Theory of History.

The combatants

The biggest trucks operated by The Three are respectively the Mighty Mammoth (Mammoth Moving), the Ten-Ton Tiger (Tiger Trucking), and the Leaping Lema (LEMA). Their most prominent driver is Albert P. Mack, a foul-tempered driver operating a Mighty Mammoth. A driver for Tiger Trucking is Joey Kafflis, who is fired for agreeing with public sentiment, saying that traffic is lousy and that there are too many trucks.

Prominent peddlers are Frank the Flower, Morris the Florist, General Anna, Harry the Hot Dog, Mr. Jerusalem, Carlos, Papa Peretz, Eddie Moroney, and the pushcart repair shop owner Maxie Hammerman, also known as the Pushcart King.

Pea-Shooter Campaign

The Three secretly declare war on the pushcarts, calling them obsolete; truck company-funded newspapers began to run editorials calling pushcarts a menace to the streets, poorly constructed and unsanitary. Truck drivers are given ''carte blanche'' to harass pushcart vendors, and the dramatic increase in pushcart "accidents" allow The Three to claim that pushcarts are the real cause of the traffic. Initially, the outlook is bad for the peddlers because the trucking companies have the newspapers and Mayor Emmett P. Cudd on their side. Beset by truck-related "accidental" incidents, damaged carts, and injured fellows, the pushcart peddlers realize they need to fight back. Their response is the Pea-Shooter Campaign, which aims to flatten truck tires using pea shooters with pins in the peas so that everyone can see the trucks are the cause of the traffic problems.

The peddlers start their campaign on the morning of March 23; within five minutes, 97 trucks are disabled with flat tires. By mid-afternoon, traffic has ground to a standstill. One peddler, Harry the Hot Dog, is so proficient that he has caused 23 flat tires just that morning; another, General Anna, despairs of her poor aim and begins placing pins by hand. Six days after the start of the campaign, traffic begins to move briskly again as more trucks are disabled and taken off the streets. Three days after that, another peddler, Frank the Flower, is arrested while shooting a tire; under interrogation, he falsely confesses that he shot all 18,991 of the truck tires (to date), counting by thousands in the style of The Brave Little Tailor, to prevent other peddlers from being arrested. After his arrest, the peddlers give up the Pea-Shooter Campaign.

But soon, inspired by Frank's arrest, children join in the sabotage of truck tires. As there are far more children than pushcart peddlers, even more trucks are disabled. In response, Mayor Cudd imposes a Tacks Tax to discourage the purchase of tacks, but the unpopular tax is promptly repealed under federal pressure; with that option taken away, the Mayor then shuts down all dried pea distribution. During a raid on Posey's Peas, the Police Chief notices an invoice to celebrity film star Wenda Gambling for a ton of peas; because they were delivered to Maxie Hammerman's shop, who he knows is the Pushcart King, the Chief arrests Hammerman.

Resolution

Hammerman is questioned by the Chief, but he gives plausible excuses for the evidence seized from his shop and is released. The Three realize the pushcarts are not easy targets, and make plans to kidnap Hammerman, but their plans are overheard and leaked inadvertently by a janitor practicing shorthand lessons as homework. Hammerman outwits The Three by inviting the Police Commissioner for a friendly game of poker (and as protection) the night of the planned kidnap. Hammerman being aware of their plans unnerves The Three; they play badly and lose a substantial sum of money.

The citizens of New York City, including Gambling, and the members of the press eventually move to the side of the street vendors after the peddlers' Peace March is interrupted by violence from truck drivers led by Mack. On July 4, Big Moe calls Mayor Cudd, seeking peace with Hammerman. The next day, during a celebration which later would be called the Battle of Bleecker Street, citizens spontaneously hurl rotten fruits and vegetables at trucks in celebration.

At the peace conference on July 13, new laws are enacted to limit the size of the trucks to the current smallest size or smaller and to limit the number of trucks to one half of the current number, in what is known as the Flower Formula. The conference includes drafting the Courtesy Act, which passes the City Council a week later, making it a criminal offense for a larger vehicle to take advantage of a smaller vehicle in any way.

After the war, Albert P. Mack is sentenced to life in prison for violating the Courtesy Act nineteen times. Wenda Gambling stars as Wenda Gambling in a movie documenting the Pushcart War, and later marries Joey Kafflis, whose diary was used during the film's production. The city erects a statue of General Anna in Tompkins Square Park to commemorate the struggle.

Chris Brabson is a boy whose family lives in the mountains of eastern Tennessee during the Civil War. His family encounters hard times when cavalry soldiers of the Union Army take most of his family's food and their only plow horse, leaving them little to sustain them through the winter. Chris vows to get even with the Yankees and is determined to fight for the Confederate Army. Chris's brother Jethro, however, has recently joined the Union Army of the Tennessee, forcing Chris to examine his beliefs about war, courage, and tolerance. Jethro's enlistment causes trouble for the Brabson family. Their neighbors, who are Confederate sympathizers, burn down their shed and threaten to do the same to their house.

Though Jethro is a Union soldier, Chris hates the Union troops. When Chris finds out that there is a wagon train in the area, he alerts a friend of his, Silas Agee, who claims to be a Confederate spy. Then he finds out that his brother's job in the Army is as a wagon driver. Chris sets out to warn the wagon train to try to save Jethro's life. When he gets to the wagon train in search of Jethro, he is kindly greeted by Union troops who offer him food and conversation. He begins to change his perspective of the Yankees, having learned that they are not the hateful thieves he once viewed them as.

Upon his release from prison, Hong Jong-du (Sol Kyung-gu) goes looking for his relatives in Seoul. He is back on the streets after serving a two-and-a-half-year prison term for a hit-and-run accident. He discovers that during his absence, his family moved without telling him. Oblivious to society's rules, he again ends up in police custody for non-payment of a restaurant bill. He is bailed out by his younger brother Jong-sae (Ryoo Seung-wan) and reunited with his estranged family, who reluctantly take him back in. Slightly mentally disabled and an incurable social misfit, Jong-du is hired as a delivery boy for a Chinese restaurant on the recommendation of his older brother Jong-il (Ahn Nae-sang).

In an awkward attempt at reconciliation, Jong-du seeks out the family of the man killed in the accident. He finds the man's son, Han Sang-shik (Son Byong-ho) is moving out and leaving behind his cerebral palsy-stricken sister Gong-ju (Moon So-ri) to be cared for by the neighbors while he uses her disability status to get a better subsidized apartment where he pretends she is living. The family is horrified at Jong-du's intrusion, but he becomes intrigued by Gong-ju.

Jong-du decides to woo her by sending flowers and discovers where her house keys are hidden. He lets himself in at a time when he knows she is alone. He awkwardly make conversation and leaves his card for her to call him if she wants. Leaving, he notices and becomes interested in her feet, claiming to have never seen a woman's bare foot before. Gong-ju is startled and distressed at this extremely invasive comment from a complete stranger. Trying to pacify the startled Gong-ju, Jong-du loses control and starts to sexually assault the helpless woman, stopping only when she faints.

Fired from his job after crashing the scooter, Jong-du is given the opportunity to work in his brother's auto repair shop, where he also sleeps at night. A couple of days later to his surprise, Gong-ju calls him in the middle of night. After a number of secret encounters and outings, nearly being discovered by their families or the neighbors, the two misfits become inseparable. Gong-ju tells him how frightened she is of a shadow from a tree outside her window. Jong-du promises her that she no longer has to be afraid because he will make the shadows disappear by magic.

On their adventures outside of the apartment, the couple is faced with the harsh reality of a discriminating society but is comforted by the innocent sanctity of their love. When Jong-du naively brings Gong-ju to his mother's birthday celebration, tempers flare and viewers learn that his older brother was the actual culprit of the hit-and-run: his family was glad when Jong-du volunteered to go to jail in his place.

Wanting to be treated like a woman, Gong-ju invites Jong-du back to her apartment, where they make love. When her brother arrives on a surprise visit, chaos erupts. Jong-du is arrested and charged with raping a handicapped woman. Gong-ju's family and the police ignore Gong-ju who is too overcome with emotion and distress at the misunderstanding to make herself heard or understood. In a final burst of passion, Jong-du escapes from the police and rushes to Gong-ju's apartment. The couple reaffirms their love as Jong-du fulfills his promise of making the shadows disappear by climbing the tree and cutting the branches off. He then falls and is hauled off to prison, having committed several additional crimes in his trip to see Gong-ju whose exoneration can no longer fully protect him. In the last scene, Gong-ju is cleaning her apartment alone, while Jong-du's voice is heard reading a letter to her, promising to come back when he is released.

The Grimoire is passed to Amandine from a mysterious masked stranger. The object's curse it that whoever holds it will find her fate bound to it. So what begins as a walk to a friend's house becomes the first steps of an incredible adventure...

The film starts with a Polaroid photograph of a dead man. As the sequence plays backward, the photo reverts to its undeveloped state, entering the camera before the man is shot in the head. The film then continues, alternating between black-and-white and color sequences.

The black-and-white sequences begin with Leonard Shelby, a former insurance investigator, in a motel room speaking to an unseen and unknown caller. Leonard has anterograde amnesia and is unable to store recent memories, the result of an attack by two men. Leonard explains that he killed the attacker who raped and strangled his wife Catherine, but a second clubbed him and escaped. The police did not accept that there was a second attacker, but Leonard believes the attacker's name is "John G" or "James G". Leonard investigates using notes, Polaroid photos, and tattoos to keep track of information he discovers. Leonard recalls Sammy Jankis, another anterograde amnesiac, from his insurance industry days. After tests confirmed Sammy's inability to learn tasks through repetition, Leonard believed that his condition was at best psychological (and perhaps faked) and turned down his insurance claim. Sammy's distraught wife repeatedly asked Sammy to administer her insulin shots for her diabetes, hoping he would remember and would stop himself from giving her a fatal overdose. However, Sammy continued to administer the injections, and his wife died.

The color sequences are shown reverse-chronologically. In the story's chronology, Leonard self-directively gets a tattoo of John G's license plate. Finding a note in his clothes, he meets Natalie, a bartender who resents Leonard because he wears the clothes and drives the car of her boyfriend, Jimmy Grantz. After understanding Leonard's condition, she uses it to get Leonard to drive a man named Dodd out of town and offers to run the license plate as a favor. Meanwhile, Leonard meets with a contact, Teddy, who helps with Dodd, but warns about Natalie. Leonard finds that he had previously annotated his Polaroid of Teddy, warning himself not to trust him. Natalie provides Leonard with the driver's license for a John Edward Gammell, Teddy's full name. Confirming Leonard's information on "John G" and his warnings, Leonard drives Teddy to an abandoned building, leading to the opening where he shoots him.

In the final black-and-white sequence, prompted by the caller, Leonard meets with Teddy, an undercover officer, who has found Leonard's "John G", Jimmy, and directs Leonard to the abandoned building. When Jimmy arrives, Leonard strangles him fatally and takes a Polaroid photo of the body. As the photo develops, the black-and-white transitions to the final color sequence. Leonard swaps clothes with Jimmy, hearing him whisper "Sammy". As Leonard has only told Sammy's story to those he has met, he suddenly doubts Jimmy's role in his wife's murder. Teddy arrives and asserts that Jimmy was John G, but when Leonard is undeterred, Teddy says that he helped him kill the real attacker a year ago, and he has been using Leonard ever since. Teddy points out that since the name "John G" is common, Leonard will cyclically forget and begin his search again and that even Teddy himself has a "John G" name. Further, Teddy says that Sammy's story is Leonard's own story, a memory Leonard has repressed to escape feelings of guilt.

After hearing Teddy confess all of this, Leonard burns the photograph of dead Jimmy and of himself right after killing the real attacker a year ago, pointing to his chest where he would get a tattoo to document his successful revenge. In a monologue, Leonard explains that he is willing to lie to himself in order to get justice against anyone who has wronged him. He therefore targets Teddy by ordering a tattoo of Teddy's license plate number and writing a note to himself that Teddy is not to be trusted so that he will mistake Teddy for John G and kill him. Leonard drives off in Jimmy's car, confident that, despite this lie, he will retain enough awareness of the world to know that his actions have consequences.

Shot in and around Willis' native Chicago area, the documentary simply shows footage of Willis' daily life with his songs serving as the soundtrack. Willis appears unkempt, obese and mentally unstable.

His songwriting technique is shown as he visits a local Kinko's dressed sloppily and barefoot, and types expletives and repetitive bestiality references on a computer as lyrics and prints the document. His songs deal with subjects such as praise for celebrities that he had met or admired, reports on bands that he had seen, stories about violent confrontations with superheroes, and expletive-packed rants at his mental demons. Willis says music helps him silence the discouraging mental voices, but his fan following comes from people who find his songs humorous. Many of his compositions are very similar, a fact that is highlighted by scenes of him recording songs such as "I Whipped Superman's Ass", "I Whipped Spider-Man's Ass" and "I Whupped Batman's Ass", which are overlaid to highlight their similarities.

Willis also visits a zoo, overdubbed with one of his many songs about bestiality.

Towards the end Willis is shown playing with his band, the Wesley Willis Fiasco.

Several of Willis' friends are interviewed, among them recording engineer Steve Albini. They reminisce over how they met Willis and how they feel about him. Generally they are all sympathetic about his plight and it is stated he would likely be dead if he had not cultivated such a network.

One friend describes Willis' poor upbringing (involving forced viewing of his mother having sex in exchange for drugs), and Willis' own despair at his condition:

"I'm already doomed. I can't find a girlfriend, I can't do a goddamned thing."

Following the games' storyline, movie lover Joe and his girlfriend Silvia enjoy a seemingly normal trip to the movies to see an action flick starring Joe's idol, Captain Blue, when suddenly the leader of the evil Jadow force reaches out of the screen and takes Silvia into the movie. Joe is forced to follow her by Captain Blue's mecha, Six Machine (renamed "Machine Six" in the English anime dub), and meets Captain Blue in the flesh who grants Joe the power to become an action movie hero in his own right called Viewtiful Joe.

Mark Thackeray (Sidney Poitier), from British Guiana by way of California, took a teaching position in a London East End school in the 1967 film. He spent twenty years teaching and ten in administrative roles. He has taught the children of his former pupils, and is now retiring.

Thackeray's former students, Pamela Dare and Barbara Pegg (Judy Geeson and Lulu reprising their roles from the original film), come to the farewell party. Thackeray announces that he is leaving for an inner-city school in Chicago where he will teach again. In Chicago, he meets his former colleague Horace Weaver (Daniel J. Travanti), who is the principal of the school. Thackeray learns that there is an A class with good students and an H (for "horror") class for the "no-gooders". He convinces the principal to let him take the H class as, in his own admission, that is what he does best. His new pupils are noisy, unruly and engaged in destructive behaviours. As he did in London, he starts by teaching them respect for others. He addresses the pupils as Mr or Miss and their last names, and expects to be called Mr. Thackeray or Sir by them in return.

Gradually, he learns their personal stories: Wilsie (Christian Payton) is a gang leader who protects his younger brother. A black female battles against double prejudice. Evie (Dana Eskelson) hides growing up without parents to avoid being fostered. A fellow teacher, Louisa Rodriguez (Saundra Santiago), admires him.

It is revealed that as a teenager in British Guiana, Thackeray fell in love with a girl from Chicago. They lost contact and he went to Britain to study, became a teacher, and got married. Now a widower, Thackeray took this teaching opportunity hoping to find his earlier love.

At the new school, he sets out to teach the troubled students their true potential by taking their fates in their hands. He teaches about the non-violent resistance of the historic fighters of civil rights. When he discovers Wilsie smuggling a gun into the school, he confronts him and convinces him to yield the weapon and he delivers it to the police as a found object.

Later, the police pressure him to reveal the identity of the gun owner because the gun had been used to kill a police officer. He refuses and has to leave the school.

Evie, who works at a newspaper, investigates Thackeray's old love, Emily Taylor (Cheryl Lynn Bruce). Evie arranges for him to meet Taylor, and also meets her son. Thackeray learns that Taylor returned his affections, but her father kept Thackeray's letters from her because she was pregnant with Thackeray's son.

Thackeray learns that Wilsie is hiding because he thinks that the police are after him. He convinces Wilsie's brother to take him to the hiding place. Thackeray convinces Wilsie to give up violent gang life. After he confronts a rival gang looking for Wilsie, Wilsie and a friend with access to more firearms turn themselves in to the police.

The pupils stage a "stand in" to force the principal to reinstate their beloved teacher.

The term ends with a graduation ceremony, and a dance like in the original movie, where Thackeray announces that he is not returning to Britain but staying in Chicago to teach the new generation.

The novel opens at the alternate close of the Second Punic War. Hannibal offers terms to the Romans: abandon their city and move north of the Alps, or be destroyed. The Romans, under the dictator Quintus Fabius Maximus, accept the offer and withdraw into Germania, vowing to return. The Carthaginians declare victory and go home.

One chapter and several generations later, the Romans have long since reestablished their republic. These Romans, largely out of need, have adopted a practice of Cultural Romanization more pronounced than the historical Romans did: large numbers of Germans have been adopted into the Roman society, forming a large proportion of both the legions and the Senate. A series of auspicious omens prompt the Senate to send a delegation south into Latium. The expedition leaders are subtly but immediately at cross purposes: the commander, Marcus Scipio, a scion of the ancient patrician Cornelii Scipiones family, is wholly motivated by a desire to reestablish the Republic in the Mediterranean basin. His deputy, Titus Norbanus, one of the newer, Germanic Romans, seeks personal glory, at least in part to ensure that the Germans (particularly his own family) remain as powerful within the expanded Republic as they do under the current scheme.

It quickly becomes clear to the Romans that generations of constant warfare in Germania have strengthened them, whereas the Carthaginians have grown soft in the absence of real opposition. The Republic quickly begins playing the Carthaginians off against the Egyptians, the only other serious power in the Mediterranean, reclaiming Latium in the process. At the close of the novel, the Egyptian army, led by Scipio and armed with fearsome weapons from the School of Archimedes from the Library of Alexandria, outlasts the Carthaginian force, which hurriedly retreats upon hearing the news of the Roman reconquest of Italy. The four Roman legions led by Norbanus, technically Carthaginian auxiliaries, decide to ignore Scipio's offer to join him in Alexandria, and chart their own path to Rome.

Lina is one of six school children in the small fishing village of Shora. When she writes an essay for school that asks why there are no storks in their village, she sets all the others to wondering. Their teacher encourages the class to find out for themselves. The children set out to bring the storks back. They have to overcome many obstacles. They discovered that the roofs on the village's homes are pitched so steeply that the storks cannot find space to nest on the sharp ridges, and placing a wagon wheel on each roof ridge would give storks a place to nest. The task of finding a wagon wheel in the tiny village proves difficult, and the children meet several interesting personalities during their search. This simple, yet compelling plot teaches that if people think and wonder why, things will begin to happen and dreams will come true.

The schoolchildren are: Lina, the only girl in the small school; Jella, the biggest of all the children; Auka, an average boy; Eelka, who is fat and awkward; and Pier and Dirk, the inseparable twins. These six kids are aided by their teacher, Grandmother Sibble III, legless Janus, old Douwa, and the "tin man". Other characters include the fathers of the children, who are all fishermen; Lina's aunt, who lives in Nes; Evert, the man living across from Lina's aunt; Lina and Auka's younger siblings, Linda and Jan; Jana, Janus's wife; and the mothers of the children.

The dedication reads: "To my nieces, Shirley and Beverly, and their flying fingers".

A little boy named Petey takes his big Snoopy doll on his airplane trip, only to lose it after landing at the airport. Petey looks for the doll as it goes on an adventure of its own and is passed around from person to person.

In the film, two young white women (portrayed by Leelee Sobieski and Azura Skye) accuse nine black youths of rape in the segregated South. Timothy Hutton stars as criminal defense attorney Samuel Leibowitz. The film begins after the first trial of the nine in the bustling city of Scottsboro, Alabama. Samuel Leibowitz, a successful Jewish lawyer from New York is called down past the Mason–Dixon line to defend the nine black youths.

The plot consists of a chase of a hijacked MBT-99A tank, designed by the United States Air Force. The hijackers, who appear inside the tank after getting away from a recently committed bank robbery, were hired by a shadowy group backed by a foreign nation seeking an edge in their military. The tank carries six ATGM launchers, three to each side of the turret, and a laser-based machine-gun-esque installment, in addition to its rifled main gun. The tank's treads are dual-mounted (the tread is split in half, making four sets of treads for the tank).

Another tank involved is the MBT-90D, which are dispatched by the Army to take out the tank. Despite having at least a platoon of these, the MBT-99 still evades capture. The M-90Ds are armed with a three-barreled autocannon, three ATGM missile launchers and a main cannon, mounted on the front instead of on a turret.

The MBT-99's hijackers are forced out by Ken and his team. Eleanor then enters to study the tank, and it starts up on its own, having been programmed by the hijackers to head for a pier and drive off its end so as to rendezvous with an enemy submarine. The rest of the movie is made up of the chase through the city, resulting in the destruction of another bank and various collateral damage.

Gideon Oliver Dobbs is a man with a mental disability. He moves into a nursing home known as Lakeview, with many elderly inhabitants. They are all grumpy old men and women. Gideon is much younger than the other residents, which causes confusion when he first introduces himself. His view of life makes the seniors look at their lives in a different way.

Evie Harris (Jack Plotnick) is a washed-up, alcoholic, aging C-List actress (star of kinescope, stage, television, and film in such works as the TV special ''Christmas Evie'', vaudeville-era appearances promoting 'Dr. Vim's Miracle Elixir,' ''Court TV: Celebrities Who Kill'', ''Tabitha'' and the sad 1970s disaster epic ''Asteroid'' [tagline: 'Earth Might Get Crushed!']). She lives in a tackily out-of-style bungalow with Coco (Clinton Leupp), a homely, lonely, doormat of a spinster who carries a torch for the handsome young doctor who performed her abortion years ago.

Evie's life is turned upside-down by the arrival of a new roommate, Varla Simonds (Jeffery Roberson), the voracious, starry-eyed daughter of Evie's rival, late actress Marla Simonds (whose claims to fame included playing Chesty on ''Fill Her Up'', the short-lived but widely acclaimed spinoff of ''C.P.O. Sharkey'', and almost being cast as the lead in "Asteroid" before Evie captured that "breakout" role). Evie acts very competitive around Varla, especially as she recognizes the growing chemistry between the young up-and-comer and her sweet, handsome and microscopically endowed son and "ambulance chasing" lawyer, Stevie (Ron Mathews). When Varla snags a plum starring role in commercials for "Bizzy Gal dinners," tensions and jealousies amongst the three women reach a boiling point and treachery soon rears its ugly head.

Part of what Kerouac considered the 'Duluoz Legend', ''Maggie Cassidy'' tells the tale of Jack Duluoz and his romantic involvement with Irish-American Maggie Cassidy. Duluoz is a high school athletics and football star who meets Maggie Cassidy and begins a devoted, inconstant, tender adolescent love affair.

The novel begins with Jackie Duluoz, based on Kerouac himself, relating a dream in which he finds himself in Lowell, Massachusetts, his childhood home town. Prompted by this dream, he recollects the story of his childhood of warm browns and sepia tones, along with his shrouded childhood fantasies, which have become inextricable from the memories.

The fantasies pertain to a castle in Lowell atop a muted green hill that Jackie calls Snake Hill. Underneath the misty grey castle, the Great World Snake sleeps. Various vampires, monsters, gnomes, werewolves, and dark magicians from all over the world gather to the mansion with the intention of awakening the Snake so that it will devour the entire world (although a small minority of them, derisively called "Dovists," believe that the Snake is merely "a husk of doves," and when it awakens it will burst open, releasing thousands of lace white doves. This myth is also present in a story told by Kerouac's character, Sal Paradise, in ''On the Road'').

The eponymous Doctor Sax, also part of Jackie's fantasy world, is a dark but ultimately friendly figure with a shrouded black cape, an inky black slouch hat, a haunting laugh, and a "disease of the night" called ''Visagus Nightsoil'' that causes his skin to turn mossy green at night. Sax, who also came to Lowell because of the Great World Snake, lives in the forest in the neighboring town of Dracut, where he conducts various alchemical experiments, attempting to concoct a potion to destroy the Snake when it awakens.

When the Snake is finally awakened, Doctor Sax uses his potion on the Snake, but the potion fails to do any damage. Sax, defeated, discards his shadowy black costume and watches the events unfold as an ordinary man. As the Snake prepares to destroy the world, all seems lost until an enormous night colored bird, an ancient counterpart of the Snake, suddenly appears. Seizing the Snake in its beak, the bird flies upward into the heartbreakingly blue sky until it vanishes from view, leading the amazed Sax to muse, "I'll be damned, the universe disposes of its own evil!"

Guy Stone (Matt Letscher) is blissfully closeted, picking up tricks for one-night-stands, while capturing the country's heart as "America's most eligible bachelor" (starring in such films as ''The Love Barrel'' and ''I Married the Ghost''). However, Guy's carefully managed façade collapses when he comes up for the lead in S.R.O. studio's version of ''Ben-Hur''. Things turn sour for the film idol when a fellow actor, Freddie Stevens (Jack Plotnick) (famous in the film for portraying "Captain Astro" in a succession of Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon-type serial films), decides to steal the lead in ''Ben-Hur'' from Guy by taking a picture of Guy exiting a gay bar. Freddie plans to out Guy to the world and ruin his career. Jerry (Veronica Cartwright), Guy's repressed lesbian ball-bustingly ambitious agent, connives to cover up the impending outing and ensure Guy the role in ''Ben-Hur'' by marrying her client off with great fanfare to the studio head's secretary, Sally (Carrie Preston), who just happens to also be a slavishly devoted Guy Stone fan. However, Sally isn't aware the marriage is a sham.

To avoid his adoring new bride as much as possible, Guy has Jerry sign him onto the next available film, which turns out to be 'Blood Mine' — a disastrously arch pro-union film about the corrupt goings on at a coal mine (with lines like 'how can they call this a MINE when everything is THEIRS!?!'). The studio head, in fear of the red-baiting going on in Hollywood at the time, decides — true to Hollywood stereotype — rather than stop production on the film to instead water down the pro-union content wherever possible. The young, idealistic, and terribly handsome writer of the novel that the film is based on, Rick Foster, quickly gets roped into convoluting the plot of this already-bad adaptation of his heartfelt book largely because of a chance meeting between him and the film's star, Guy. The attraction the two men feel for one another is instantaneous and propels the rest of the plot forward.

On May 14, 1989, six-year-old abductee Martin Bristol, whose face has been disfigured by his captor, watches as he butchers a young woman in the basement of a farmhouse.

Ten years later, on September 20, 1999, Julian and his girlfriend Marylin enact a bank heist with Marylin's ex-convict brother, Max, and accomplice Kurt, taking around $500,000. Max, who was shot by a security guard in the melee, dies in the car with Julian and Marylin; Kurt leaves in a separate car with the money, but breaks down en route to their meeting place: An abandoned house in the woods. Kurt takes Samantha Harrison and her adolescent daughter, Courtney, hostage from a gas station, forcing them to drive him to the house.

When they arrive, he binds and gags them, and leaves a large portion of the money stowed in the van. Courtney manages to free herself and flees, stumbling upon a large abandoned farm nearby. In pursuit, Kurt searches a vacant garage on the property before entering a house, which is dilapidated and filled with degraded furnishings. Inside, he is clobbered with a metal pulley and stabbed to death by an unseen assailant.

After burying Max's body in a field, Julian and Marylin drive to the abandoned house to meet with Kurt and divide the money. Arriving at nightfall, they find Samantha tied up and sleeping on the floor, and Kurt nowhere in sight. Julian takes his car to search for Kurt, leaving Marylin alone at the house with Samantha. From the foyer, Samantha watches as a man wearing Kurt's sack mask descends the stairs, but is unable to warn Marylin as her mouth is taped shut. The man drags Marylin into the dining room and stabs her to death. Meanwhile, while driving on backroads, Julian catches the attention of a parked police officer, and quickly retreats to the house, where he finds the entryway floor soaked in blood, and Samantha hiding in a closet. Samantha tells him that Kurt returned to the house and killed Marylin.

Julian and Samantha leave on foot to search for Courtney, and also stumble upon the adjacent farm property. While investigating the house there, they find Courtney locked in an upstairs closet with Kurt's corpse. As Samantha unties Courtney's arms, the man in the sack mask attacks Julian and incapacitates Samantha and Courtney. Samantha awakens in the basement hanging from the ceiling. As the killer approaches her with a knife, she manages to pull down the metal piping from the ceiling, freeing herself, and flees with Courtney. The killer pursues them, and Julian is left alone in the farm, where he discovers numerous corpses in various states of decay, and finds Marylin's body posed against an arrangement of human and animal bones.

Samantha and Courtney return to the adjacent house to retrieve the van keys. As they are about to leave, Samantha sees the killer coming toward the house, and the two retreat to a bedroom upstairs to hide, but the killer finds and attacks them. Julian arrives and shoots him, but he does not die immediately. Samantha smashes a chair over the killer's head, knocking him unconscious. Julian removes his mask, revealing a young man with a scar across his face; the killer is Martin Bristol, now a teenager. The three flee, and the police officer arrives at the house just as Samantha and Courtney exit. Julian stumbles out after them holding a gun, and the officer shoots him to death. When the officer goes upstairs to locate Martin, he has vanished.

The following morning, forensic investigators remove numerous bodies from the farm property, and uncover journals from the serial killer who abducted Martin and groomed him to be a killer himself. The journals suggest that Martin, who gained strength as he grew into adulthood, killed his abductor in the manners in which he was taught. That evening, Samantha prepares to go to bed; on the floor is the duffel bag full of the money that Kurt left in her van. While she and Courtney lie down to sleep, the closet door behind them opens.

On Planet Earth, Superintendent Shan Frankland (A hardened, self-sufficient, and brutally honest female cop) is preparing for retirement when she is confronted by politician Eugenie Perault, who recruits Shan to lead a top-secret mission into outer space on a ship named the ''Thetis''. Her destination is Cavanagh's Star; a planet hundreds of light years away, but with an atmosphere strikingly similar to that of Earth. However, rather than risk exposure of the classified information Shan will need to carry out the unknown mission, Perault gives Shan a Suppressed Briefing (SB), which installs the information into Shan's subconscious mind, only to be brought forth when circumstances call for it. Knowing only that she was preceded on this journey by a colonist group named Constantine (who have never been heard from again), and that the time in speed-of-light travel will amount to 75 years on Earth but only months for her ship, Shan sets off in command of a mix-matched group of specialized civilians (called the "payload") anxious to use the planet for their own gain, and competing for control with Commander Lindsay Neville, the independent leader of a small force of marines.

When Shan and the ''Thetis'' crew reach Cavanagh's Star, however, they have big surprises ahead of them. Not only do they find Constantine alive and thriving as a religious colony within a carefully controlled biosphere designed to grow crops brought from Earth, but they also discover a unique and complex environment of alien plants and animals, including such species as the scavenger ''rock velvets'', and the bog-dwelling predator ''shevens''. The civilian scientists are itching to take samples and compile medical information. But the small band of humans soon learns that the planet isn't theirs to claim.

Two unique alien races inhabit Cavanagh's Star; the water-dwelling, squid-like Bezeri, and the bipedal Wess'har. The Wess'har, who originate from Wess'ej, the planet's moon, are strong environmentalists who see each species as an intelligent race; they are extreme vegans, and take pride in the fact that their architecture is subterranean and unobtrusive. For centuries, they have protected Cavanagh's Star and the Bezeri from the Isenj - a third alien race who once attempted to colonize the planet. When the pollution from Isenj cities which they had built on the planet got so bad that it was killing Bezeri by the millions, the Wess'har stepped in. Now, not a single trace of the enormous Isenj civilization can be found on the planet - a stunning example to Shan's crew of what the Wess'har military is capable of.

On the planet, Shan meets Josh Garrod - the Christian leader of Constantine - who explains to her the ways of the Constantine people. They live in a hardworking, god-oriented society in which crime is almost non-existent and technology is kept to a minimum. Josh is in contact with the Wess'har (mainly through a representative named Aras) and follows their orders compliantly, knowing that the Wess'har could obliterate Constantine at any time, should they so wish.

According to the agreement between Shan and the Wess'har (made through Josh), the ''Thetis'' has been allowed to land and to make camp within the boundaries of Constantine. However, both Constantine and the Wess'har are wary of the ''Thetis'' and its intentions. The crew is permitted to explore the planet (with Wess'har or Constantine guides) but are given one ultimate rule: no samples. The ''Thetis'' must leave nothing and take nothing - and that means no scientific samples. Shan's crew grumbles at the arrangement, and some resolve not to heed the warnings given to them.

Through Josh, Shan eventually comes in contact with Aras, the Wess'har representative and protector of the Constantine colony. However, Aras is not a normal Wess'har, nor does he even look like one, though Shan does not yet know this. He used to be completely Wess'har, but his appearance, along with many of his attributes, had altered since he had been infected with a disease unknown to humankind. This "disease," called ''c'nataat'', is actually a symbiotic creature which uses genetic information from previous hosts and ingested materials to alter its current host's genetics to fit its own needs. Though in many ways it had made Aras more efficient (it gives him an indefinite lifespan, and allows him to hold his breath under water for extended periods of time), the disease, which is transferable by touch, has cut him off from everyone he knows and left him suspended in time as his friends and family slowly die off. When Shan learns about his trouble - and touches Aras for the first time in 170 years - a bond begins to form between the two of them.

In the meantime, within the ''Thetis'' crew, issues are rising. Shan must fight for the power and respect she requires to run her mission; the "payload" scientists are angry at the restrictions placed on them, and Commander Neville is sore at her lack of power as only second in command. However, Shan and Neville learn to work together as the anger of the payload increases and Neville discovers she has yet another issue on her hands - an unplanned pregnancy has occurred from a hookup just days before the launch of the ''Thetis''. Abortion pills are available, but Neville decides to have the baby, despite the fact that medic Hugel tells her it could be complicated. At the same time, Shan begins to get little whispers from her SB, telling her to look for a gene bank that Constantine supposedly possesses. It is a compilation of seeds and embryos from Earthly plants and animals, and rumored to be the largest ever compiled. Also, she keeps thinking the name "Helen," but does not know who this is.

This is the first of a series of 6 books dealing with the complications and consequences of the actions taken in the first book.

The Scooby Gang considers plans to foil Glory, but can only suggest killing Buffy's sister Dawn before Glory uses her in the ritual, which Buffy refuses to consider. Anya suggests using the Dagon Sphere, which repels and confuses Glory, and the hammer of Olaf the troll. They hope to delay Glory until her deadline for completing the ritual has passed, preventing an apocalypse and making Dawn useless to her.

As Buffy trains with Giles, she reveals to him that the First Slayer told her, on her vision quest (in "Intervention"), that death was her gift, an idea she rejects. Buffy also notes that while she survived killing Angel despite loving him, losing Dawn will destroy her.

Meanwhile, Xander proposes to Anya.

As Buffy and Spike gather weapons, she asks him to protect Dawn. Spike tells Buffy he knows she will never love him, but is grateful that she treats him like a man rather than a monster.

Glory's minions build a tower for the ritual to open the gates between dimensions. Buffy and her allies confront Glory just as the ritual is to begin. Willow launches a magic attack, confusing and dazing Glory, while restoring Tara's sanity. Buffy attacks Glory with the Dagon Sphere, but Glory manages to destroy it. As they fight, Glory punches off her head, revealing she is actually fighting Buffy's robot double. Buffy surprises Glory by attacking her with Olaf's hammer, and then races to save Dawn, but Glory slows her down as they battle on the tower. The two of them fall to the ground below and Xander uses a crane to hit Glory with a wrecking ball. Buffy beats Glory with the hammer until she reverts to Ben, but spares his life, telling him that Glory must never return or they will both die. With the others' attention diverted, Giles kills Ben by suffocating him, to prevent Glory's re-emergence.

With the window of time to stop the ritual about to close, the Scoobies spot someone up on the scaffolding with Dawn. Willow telepathically tells Spike to go up to Dawn, and she and Tara magically clear a path for him by throwing aside Glory's minions and guards. Spike finds the demon Doc threatening to start the ritual. A fight ensues, but Doc tosses Spike off the scaffolding and then cuts into Dawn with shallow cuts, starting the apocalyptic ritual. Buffy reaches the top, pushes Doc off and frees the captive Dawn just as the portal between dimensions opens. Dawn is willing to sacrifice herself to seal the portal, but Buffy, realizing the true meaning of the First Slayer's revelation, stops her. Buffy throws herself into the portal, which closes when she dies, leaving the others devastated. She is buried with the epitaph, "She saved the world. A lot."

High school student Brad (Will Friedle) has had an unrequited crush on a classmate named Brooke (Marley Shelton) for years. After she asks him to come over one night to tutor her, she ends up wanting to have sex with him. But she only wants safe sex, and he does not have a condom (the use of Trojan in the title is a pun on the condom brand of the same name). In his quest to buy some condoms, he runs into all sorts of trouble; his dad's Jaguar gets stolen and then wrecked, he has a run-in with a crazy bus driver (Anthony Michael Hall), he is held hostage, he is pursued by a school janitor (Paulo Tocha) who accuses him of drawing graffiti, an odd pair of Hispanic siblings (Christine Deaver and Mike Moroff) who thinks he looks like David Hasselhoff, Brooke's dog, Brooke's jealous boyfriend Kyle (Eric Balfour), and a homeless man (David Patrick Kelly) who wants two dollars from him (and has secretly stolen his wallet), and he is arrested.

After all of this and finally receiving a condom from a police officer (Lee Majors, who played Steve Austin in the 1970s TV series ''The Six Million Dollar Man''; Major's policeman-character here is named "Officer Austin" as a nod to Majors' previous well-known role) who releases him, he realizes that the perfect girl has been there for him all along: his best friend Leah (Jennifer Love Hewitt), who has had feelings for him for a long time unbeknownst to Brad. Finally, Brad realizes his own feelings for Leah while also discovering Brooke is not as great as he thought she was, after he finds out that she only wants a one night stand with him instead of a relationship. Brad runs out to find Leah and professes his feelings to her, and they kiss each other by moonlight.

After the end credits, Brad's parents are shocked by the sight of what is left of their car after the tow truck driver brings it back.

''Megalopolis Expressway Trial'' (1988)

. . Street racers challenge each other to exceed the current speed record held by the F1 racer. However, in order to break the record of the Shuto Expressway, you need to have "luck" in addition to a high-powered street-machine and driving technique. And you must be able to conquer "Devil's Curve". Racers bet their dreams and their lives against one another in a dangerous game of speed. The 1st movie of the series and the only one which involves Police car chase.

This movie was banned from Japanese theaters due to its message, nevertheless the series followed in video releases.

''Megalopolis Expressway Trial 2'' (1990)

. . Keiichi Tsuchiya (Skyline GT-R (R32)) tests tyres on a race track. Yamanaka Takahiro (Silvia K's (S13)) breaks the street course record of his friend Toshiro Junichi (Skyline RS-X (R30)). Junichi has given up racing to get married. The villain Sawaki (Fairlady Z (Z32)) challenges Taka to a race. Junichi intervenes, stopping Taka from accepting. Taka sees Keiichi outside a Nissan showroom and challenges him to a race. Keiichi says he no longer races on the street, and he will only challenge Taka on a track. Junichi later races Sawaki on condition that he leaves Taka alone. Junichi crashes and dies in this race. Junichi's fiancee had bought a Skyline GT-R (R32) as a wedding present, and gives this to Taka, on condition he never street races again. Taka practises in the GT-R, receiving pointers from Keichii Tsuchiya. Breaking his promise to Junichi's fiancee he also races Sawaki, but during the race, having already dominated Sawaki, he decides racing is futile and doesn't bother to finish. The movie ends with the GT-Rs of Keiichi and Taka chasing each other around a race track. Takahiro, overtakes Tsuchiya, in the final corner of the race, with Nozomi, Junichi's widow, waving the checkered flag as they cross the finish line.

Opening theme: ''Me-ga subete'' (目がすべて) by Saori Saitō off her album ''Lady'' (1989). Ending theme: ''Naga-denwa no ballad'' (長電話のバラード) by Saori Saitō off her album ''Lady'' (1989).

''Megalopolis Expressway Trial 3'' (1991)

. . Former Megalopolis Express Freeway record holder Kyōhei has retired from street racing and now belongs to a Keiichi Tsuchiya's racing team. One day while performing mountain time trials, a black Toyota Supra (JZA70) hiding inside a tunnel comes from behind and challenges Yūsuke (S13) to a race, but Yūsuke is no match for the unknown Black Supra. Kyōhei is still haunted by that devastating crash that occurred on the Expressway a few years ago, which caused him to leave street racing. One day while releasing his anger in the snowy mountains, he and Tsuchiya witnessed an accident resulting Tsuchiya (R32) racing down the snowy mountains to get help. After witnessing this, Kyōhei asked Yūsuke to quit street racing in which the later replied that beating his record was the only thing for him. When Kyōhei hears his old rival, Yūsuke has crashed on the freeway while racing the unknown Supra, permanently blinding himself in the process, Kyōhei (R32) returns to the Megalopolis Express Freeway for one last street race to avenge Yūsuke. Towards the end of the race against black Supra, Kyōsuke learn that the casualty in the accident at beginning was the sister of the Supra driver, miyuki and pulls out from the race. Kyōhei waited for the Black Supra and vowed never to races on the streets again, so did the black Supra. After Kyōhei went back to the racing garage, someone gave him a racing helmet, in which was the intention of Tsuchiya. Last scene showing Kyōhei in number 82 Formula 3000 car getting 6th in his debut to the pro racing scene.

• The film's runtime is approximately 1 hour.

• MAHARA's "Crying All Night" is heard during a race in the film.

''Megalopolis Expressway Trial 4'' (1992)

A boy named Keiichi, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. His most favorite car is the Skyline GT-R (BNR32). His only wish, was to become a professional driver, like his idol Keiichi Tsuchiya. His older brother, Toshihiko sells not only his car (Silvia K's (S13)), but also his father's car as well, in order to buy a Red GT-R (BNR32). Toshihiko chose to race on the streets because he knows his brother Keiichi won't be able to see it by the time he went pro. One day while visiting the tracks, the little boy happened to bump into Tsuchiya and was taken for a ride. As the younger brother's condition becomes worse, and on his deathbed, he makes his older brother promise to become a professional driver, and to beat Tsuchiya in a race. During the movie, several side racing action evolves, including a white RX-7 (FC3S) versus a yellow 180SX (RS13), as well as the black Supra Twin Turbo R (JZA70), which was beaten by the red GT-R (BNR32) by a margin in the 0-400m (''Zero-Yon'') street drag race, and making the latest tuning magazine cover. The man who owns white RX-7 (FC3S), Akira, later asked whether he was refused by Takahiro Yamanaka to race on the streets and challenged the Red GT-R (BNR32) to race on Shuto Expressway, saying 0-400m are for kids, asking him to create their own legend. Later the two crashed and ended up in the hospital. Takahiro Yamanaka, from the second film in the series, makes a special guest appearance as the mechanic who tunes the cars for the final race and as the trainer to Toshihiko, preparing him for the upcoming battle against Tsuchiya on the race track.

''Megalopolis Expressway Trial 5: Final Battle'' (1992)

.

The story follows street racer Yusuke (Masaki Nishimori) who beats various racers in his white Mazda RX-7 (FC3S). He then challenges another racer named Miyajima in a yellow R32 Nissan Skyline GTR, the result being Yusuke totaling his vehicle. With his hot headed tendencies and causing a strain in his relationship with both his girlfriend Junko (Saori Tsuchiya) and his friend Kurio (Kou Watanabe), he also tries to get Keiichi Tsuchiya to race him but declines as he would only race on the tracks than on the expressways. Along the way he acquires a new red Mazda RX-7 (FD3S) and later has a rematch with Miyajima who inevitably ends up in a fatal accident before the race could finish. Being blamed for inadvertently killing Miyajima, Yusuke looks to redeem himself against Keiichi Tsuchiya, but pesters him further to race on the expressways which results in an altercation. Yusuke finally decides to change his ways and finally gets a chance to race Keiichi on the race track.

• The ending theme is "Time Is Up" by Genda×Benda from their 1992 album "Heroines".

''Megalopolis Expressway Trial Max'' (1996, not released in Japan)

Shuto Kōsoku champion Shikiba Tatsuya (R33 GT-R) travels to Osaka to challenge Osaka Kanjō (loop) champion Sendō (JZA70 Supra). Sendō crashes during the race, writing off his car, and ending up in hospital. The opening credits roll, featuring Osaka's Tsūtenkaku. Tsuchiya Keiichi (NSX Type R) tells his mechanic Kazuki (also Shikiba's friend) he must give up street racing. Kazuki asks Shikiba to race one last time. Two months pass. Sendō leaves the hospital in his new JZA80 Supra to find Shikiba in Tokyo. Shikiba has given up racing, and spends time looking at the wrecked shell of Kazuki's R33 GT-R. It transpires that Kazuki died during their final race. Sendo finds Shikiba, but Shikiba will not race him, giving him an Akira Sudō ticket as compensation. Akira Sudō's performances are intercut with some of the races/dialogues. Shikiba accepts a final challenge from a Nissan Z32 driver who has also just got out of hospital. When Shikiba passes the spot where Kazuki died he cannot finish the race, and drives to look at Kazuki's GT-R again. He finds Tsuchiya there, who criticises him strongly, and challenges him to race on the track. He races but is no match for Tsuchiya. Tsuchiya tells him street racing is useless, and if he can't make it on the track, he's unfit for the wheel. Shikiba takes to the tōge in anger, and spins. Flashback to Kazuki's death. Shikiba finally returns home two days after the race to find Sendo staying with his sister. They have a fist fight, Shikiba leaves. Flashback showing that Shikiba's R33 GT-R was originally Kazuki's, Shikiba (SW20 MR2) won it from him in a race on their first meeting. Kazuki was so impressed that he asked Shikiba to help him create a legend using the GT-R, defeating all champions on roads across Japan, then moving into professional circuit racing, with Kazuki as the tuner. Flashback ends. Kazuki's bereaved girlfriend Kaoru harasses Shikiba on the docks. Meanwhile, Sendō challenges and defeats the new 300ZX Shuto Kōsoku champion. Tsuchiya and Shikiba's sister independently tell Kaoru that Kazuki's dreams are still important. Kaoru finds Shikiba moping near Kazuki's GT-R and calls him a coward for giving up on Kazuki's dream. She gives him the tuned ROM Kazuki was working on before his death. Shikiba says he will race the Shuto Kousoku one more time. He challenges Sendō. Shikiba and Kaoru prepare the GT-R. Sendo and Shikiba's sister prepare the Supra. During the race, Shikiba finds the car has less power. Eventually he realises the power band has moved higher so adjusts his style and wins. Later he returns to the circuit to find Kaoru and Tsuchiya. While there, Tsuchiya offers Shikiba another race, but declines, saying that he has already raced him, and knows how it's like to race on the track. He then gives Kaoru the GT-R keys saying he will not give up on Kazuki's dream. The GT-R is Kazuki's dream, he feels it should be with Kaoru. Shikiba, is about to leave, but Tsuchiya challenges him for the last time. Sendō and Shikiba's sister turn up to watch. It is evident that Shikiba's sister is now interested in Sendō. Tsuchiya lends Shikiba an NSX, and the movie ends with the NSXs drifting around each other, around the circuit.

• The film's approx. runtime is 1.5 hours.

• Akira Sudou's song "愛が眠れない (Love Can't Sleep)" from her 1996 album "パンドラ (Pandora)" is used midway in the film and during the ending.

The story sees brother and sister Tom and Ellen Bowen as stars of a show ''Every Night at Seven'', a Broadway success. They are persuaded to take the show to London, capitalizing on the imminent royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten.

On the ship, Ellen meets and quickly falls in love with the impoverished but well-connected Lord John Brindale. Whilst casting the show in London, Tom falls in love with a newly engaged dancer, Anne Ashmond. Tom assists Anne in reconciling her estranged parents and also asks his agent to locate Anne's supposed fiancé in Chicago – only to discover that he's married and therefore Anne is free to do what she likes.

Carried away by the emotion of the wedding, the two couples decide that they will also be married that day. Thanks to the resourcefulness of Tom's London agent, Edgar Klinger, who knows someone in the Archbishop's office who can cut through the official red tape and also has a cooperative minister in his pocket, Anne and Tom, and Ellen and John, are in fact married on the royal wedding day.

Various people board a U.S. Army train, the Main Seiner, to Frankfurt.

Dr. Bernhardt tries to become better acquainted with the other passengers, but they all rebuff his overtures because he is a German. When Sterling realises who he is, this immediately changes the atmosphere. After retiring to his compartment, Bernhardt is killed by a bomb. While the others are questioned at the next stop, Frankfurt, they learn that the dead man was actually one of the doctor's bodyguards. Bernhardt had been posing as another passenger, and Lucienne is his secretary.

Bernhardt's deception does not last long. He is kidnapped from the busy train station in broad daylight after he greets Walther, an old, trusted friend. The U.S. Army quickly institutes a search of the city, but when Lucienne begs her fellow travelers to help look for Bernhardt , they at first all decline. One by one, however, they change their minds.

Lucienne suggests they go see Walther, unaware that he has betrayed Bernhardt in return for his missing wife's location. When they get there, they discover only Walther's body, as he has hanged himself after discovering his wife was dead all along.

The group splits up to cover the city. Lindley accompanies Lucienne to various illegal nightclubs. At the last one, Lindley notices a woman smoking an unusually long cigarette, just like the ones Bernhardt likes. He picks up a discarded butt and shows Lucienne that it has a "B" monogram on it. When the woman turns out to be an entertainer, pretending to know the answers of questions posed by the customers, Lindley asks her where Bernhardt is. Her clown assistant impedes Lindley, allowing her to get away. When Lindley and Lucienne question Sergeant Barnes, the American soldier who was sitting with the woman beforehand, he reluctantly agrees to lead them to where she lives.

When they get to an abandoned brewery, Barnes turns out to be working with the kidnappers. Now all three are prisoners. However, an undercover agent had knocked out the clown and taken his place, accompanying the others to the hideout. He is shot when the real clown shows up, but manages to get back to the nightclub and inform the authorities where Bernhardt is being held. American soldiers break in just as Bernhardt and Lucienne are about to be shot and free the three unharmed. Kessler, the ringleader, is killed by Perrot, who turns out to be Bernhardt's would-be assassin.

The passengers board the connecting Berliner 2 train for Berlin. Perrot suggests that each of them take a turn guarding Bernhardt in his compartment. Lindley pieces together various lies Perrot had told and recalls that he knew that the bomb was made from a grenade. The others dismiss his suspicions, but Lindley sees Perrot strangling Bernhardt in the reflection from a passing train and saves the doctor's life. Perrot is shot dead as he tries to flee.

An earthquake strikes Mexico, resulting in the overnight birth of a new volcano. Geologists Dr. Hank Scott and Dr. Arturo Ramos are dispatched to study this crisis at the village of San Lorenzo, the two men finding a destroyed house and a totaled police car en route. They find a dead policeman nearby, and an abandoned and seemingly orphaned infant. They take the infant to San Lorenzo and give it to friends of the child's missing parents, while being welcomed by the village's priest, Father Delgado. Delgado reveals the property damage is caused by something that is slaughtering the livestock, the villagers believing the culprit to be a demon bull and have been pestering Delgado for divine assistance.

Undaunted, Hank and Arturo begin their geological survey as members of the Mexican army under Major Cosio arrive in San Lorenzo to begin disaster-relief efforts. Hank meets and falls in love with local rancher Teresa Alvarez, and makes friends with a young boy named Juanito. When the volcano erupts again, the culprits behind the disappearances and deaths are revealed as giant prehistoric scorpions. After killing a crew of telephone repairmen, the scorpions attack San Lorenzo with the Mexican military unable to harm them. The next morning, the scorpions have returned to their underground lair (which is also home to giant worms and spiders), leaving the authorities to seek the help of renowned entomologist Dr. Velasco. Velasco enlists Hank and Arturo to figure out means of destroying the scorpions or seal off the entrance to the cavern.

Despite collapsing the cave entrance, the giant scorpions took refuge in the caves before resurfacing days later to attack a train. Some of the passengers are killed as in-fighting among the scorpions resolves with the largest of them killing the others before heading for Mexico City. Hank and Arturo come up with a plan to lure it to a stadium with a truckload of meat, with the military distracting it long enough for Hank to kill it by shooting an electric cable attached to a spear into its throat, which is its only vulnerable spot. After destroying several tanks and helicopters, the surviving fighters detonate the electric charge, finally slaying the last scorpion.

Seventeen years after slaughtering all but one member of a family, "The Sandman" (Michael Harris) is pending execution. Before his execution the jailers allow a minister (Michael D. Roberts) to visit him. The minister is a voodoo priest and an ally of the prisoner, which the jailers did not realize. A hex is placed onto The Sandman, so that when his execution is over, his soul can travel to a new body made of sand, but all his blood relatives would need to die. The Sandman then plots to kill a young man named Griffin (Jay Underwood), who is his biological little brother, and additionally, a survivor of the abuse of their birth father. Griffin survived the attempted slaughter, but his adoptive parents did not. The Sandman is then reborn, upon execution, to have a chance to try once again.

The year is 2001. After ten years of construction, the government announces to the world the completion of a top-secret project based in the Pacific Ocean, known as Stiver Island (Capital Island in the Japanese version). In a feat of revolutionary technology, the government used its top engineering talent to transform a minor spur of rock that barely stood above the ocean waves into a thriving man-made island, complete with a state-of-the-art metropolis called Capital City.

In June 2005, Keith Helm (Masayuki Sudō), the protagonist and player character is on his way to Capital City for the first time, to start his dream job as an editor for the prestigious ''Town Crier'' newspaper. Upon his arrival, an earthquake occurs. Soon after regaining consciousness, he comes across another survivor, Karen Morris (Mari Aizawa). They travel together as strong aftershocks continue until they meet a man named Greg Bach (Kōji Jin'nai).

Further on, the group decides to split up. Keith (the player) can either go with Karen to find her dog or go with Greg to help a girl named Kelly Austin (Natsumi Higa) find her brother Jason (Haruhiko). No matter whether the player accompanies Karen or Greg, Keith ends up at the Town Crier building. He meets William (Hideaki Nishiyama), who directs him to the construction company that built the island.

There it is revealed that the disaster was deliberate. After escaping the building Keith can either help a wounded William evacuate or leave him and Karen/Kelly so he can escape. William is evacuated and Keith goes to a stadium, where the player can switch which girl they are escorting.

Keith and Kelly/Karen are chased into an abandoned mall by the construction company's goons. After escaping they meet up with Greg, Kelly/Karen is evacuated, and they meet the man who oversaw Stiver Island's Construction - Terry Stiver (Yoshitaka Shinzaki). Terry tells them that he caused the quake to get revenge on the government because his family was killed in a landslide. Keith reveals to the man that his business partner Albert (Takumi Hatta) caused the landslide to make him want to destroy the island.

After escaping from an attack chopper in a river chase, they are again confronted when their makeshift boat lands on the Capital District. At this point, a mini-tsunami occurs, forcing them into a car showroom and up through it onto the roof.

Upon reaching the top the trio sees the chopper once again, which drops two enemies onto the building. While risking his life to save Karen/Kelly, Greg is shot by an enemy, after which the building "sinks" and the enemy is killed. Greg dies after asking Keith to write an exposé on the government's misdeeds in constructing the island.

Keith and Karen/Kelly then make their way into another skyscraper. Terry dies with Albert and depending on the player's relationship with Karen/Kelly, either ends with the two escaping, or them holding each other as the water rises towards them.

Catherine, a gynaecologist in her forties, accidentally learns that her husband Bernard, a businessman, has cheated on her. She hires an upmarket prostitute, who works as a hairdresser, to seduce her husband and tell her the details of their meetings. She asks the girl to play a character for this and to be called Nathalie. Nathalie accepts and a very ambiguous relationship is created between the two women. Nathalie uses very crude words to describe her meetings with Bernard. Many times the contract between the two women is broken (because it goes too far or because Catherine is no longer sure of what she wants) but each time Catherine relaunches the relationship.

The two women get so close that when Nathalie finds herself homeless, Catherine finds her new accommodation, she also introduces Nathalie to her mother. The relationship is complicated when Nathalie, still playing her role, announces to Catherine that Bernard wants to live with her. Catherine asks for explanations from her husband who swears that he has no other woman in his life. Perplexed, Catherine leads Bernard into the bistro which is her meeting place with Nathalie. When Nathalie enters the establishment and sees the couple, she flees. Nathalie then confides in Catherine that she made everything up and that she never met Bernard. Catherine decides to "forgive and forget".

Barbara Bozenta, a wealthy female socialite intent on reforming capitalism is lured into the Socialist cause by Herman Wolff, a Socialist agitator. Her concerned boyfriend Norman Worth, a World War I veteran wounded in combat, hears her lecture on the virtues of international socialism and is converted to her views. Prompted by Herman, she raises money among her wealthy friends to buy Paradise Island off the Florida coast to establish a collective colony, a society of "happiness and plenty." Norman tries to raise money from his father and is rebuffed. His father expects Norman will benefit from the experience: "He'll get his island and a lesson along with it." When the wealthy colonists settled on their island, they elect Norman their "Chief Comrade." They quickly discover that none of them has any worthwhile skills. Most identify themselves as "assistant managers." Faced with disorganization, the colonists replace Norman with Herman, as the activist had long intended. He establishes a police force, abolishes marriage, and has the state assume ownership of the women and children. He imprisons Norman, which prompts Barbara's epiphany: "The poor deluded people will starve and die as they are in Russia." She rejects Herman's advances and Norman's father arrives at the head of a U.S. Navy fleet to save the day. Norman lowers the red flag and raises the American flag to general cheers.

The narrative follows the course of a man's life from his schoolboy days to his adulthood. The son of a north German merchant and a "Southern" mother (Consuelo) with artistic talents, Tonio inherited qualities from both sides of his family. As a child, he experiences conflicting feelings for the bourgeois people around him. He feels both superior to them in his insights and envious of their innocent vitality. This conflict continues into Tonio's adulthood, when he becomes a famous writer living in southern Germany. "To be an artist," he comes to believe, "one has to die to everyday life." These issues are only partially resolved when Tonio travels north to visit his hometown. While there, Tonio is mistaken for an escaped criminal, thereby reinforcing his inner suspicion that the artist must be an outsider relative to "respectable" society. As Erich Heller –who knew Thomas Mann personally– observed, ''Tonio Kröger'''s theme is that of the "artist as an exile from reality" (with Goethe's ''Torquato Tasso'' (1790) and Grillparzer's ''Sappho'' (1818) for company).Erich Heller, ''The Disinherited Mind: Essays in Modern German Literature and Thought'' (Cambridge, Bowes & Bowes, 1952), p. 167. Cf. ''id.'', ''The Disinherited Mind'' (Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1961), p. 187. Yet it was also Erich Heller who, earlier, in his own youth, had diagnosed the main theme of ''Tonio Kröger'' to be the infatuation and entanglements of a passionate heart, destined to give shape to, intellectualize, its feelings in artistic terms.Erich Heller, ''Flucht aus dem zwanzigsten Jahrhundert: Eine kulturkritische Skizze'' (Vienna, Saturn-Verlag, 1938), p. 9.

Six years after meeting her during an investigation, FBI agent Malcolm Turner is now married to Sherry Pierce and the stepfather of her son Trent, and assumes a desk job to be close to her as they await the arrival of their first child. However, news reaches him that his friend Doug Hudson was killed, while working undercover in Orange County, California. Malcolm learns that Doug was investigating former military intelligence specialist Tom Fuller, who now works for the National Agenda Software corporation, and had discovered he was creating a computer worm that could provide backdoor access to government databases. Although he asks to assist, his boss refuses to let him interfere in the investigation being conducted by agents Liliana Morales and Kevin Keneally. Discovering Morales is sending an agent undercover to secure the job of nanny within Tom's family, Malcolm decides to take advantage of this, lying to Sherry that he must go out-of-state for a conference.

Malcolm reprises his role as Sherry's estranged grandmother Hattie Mae Pierce - known affectionately as Big Momma - and secures the nanny job by exposing flaws in the other candidates. While he keeps his eyes on Tom, Malcolm learns that the Fuller family has problems: Tom's wife Leah is very strict on chores; eldest daughter Molly seeks to be someone she is not; youngest daughter Carrie strives to do well as a cheerleader; and toddler son Andrew has a habit of jumping off of tall objects. Although he finds evidence that Tom is working alongside a notorious hacker, Sherry tracks him down after discovering he lied to her and is heartbroken to discover he is working on a case. The matter is then made worse when Morales discover him interfering in her case, and allows him to assist as long as he maintains his cover and retains Kevin as his partner. After Leah threatens to fire Big Momma for her handling of her chores, Malcolm spends the night cleaning the house to win back her favor.

After an attempt to capture the hacker fails, Malcolm and Kevin recruit assistance from child hacker Stewart to access Fuller's workstation at Agenda. While they secure the means, Malcolm receives a call from a frightened Molly at a nightclub, and goes to find her as Big Momma. Soon after, men working for Agenda's CEO Anthony Bishop take both of them hostage in order to coerce Tom to assist in a business deal involving the computer worm. Malcolm soon frees the pair before going to rescue Tom, while Molly calls for the FBI. Discovering that Bishop plans to kill Tom as part of the deal he made with his customer, Malcolm saves his life and ensures Bishop cannot escape before the FBI arrives. Although shocked to discover Malcolm's real identity, Tom is thankful to him when he informs Morales that he was being coerced by his boss under the threat of having his family killed for refusing.

While the case is ended and he has made amends with Sherry, Malcolm decides stay in California and maintain his cover in order to assist Carrie, after helping her team improve themselves for an upcoming cheerleading championships. Helping them to successfully win, Malcolm eventually departs, leaving behind a letter from Big Momma explaining to the Fullers to enjoy their time together. He returns home to reunite with Sherry, Trent, and their newly born son named Doug.

''The Joiner King''

An insectoid species called the Killik have been expanding beyond their borders, encroaching on Chiss territory. All of the Jedi survivors of the mission to Myrkr in ''Star by Star'', most notably those who were students at the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4 in the ''Young Jedi Knights'' series, are called through the Force to help, and they depart into the Unknown Regions of the Galaxy. The Chiss lodge a formal complaint, accusing the Jedi of interfering in their border dispute with the Killik. The Jedi find that their old friend Raynar Thul, who had been presumed dead after the events of ''Star by Star'', had come upon the Killik and been absorbed into their hive mind as a "Joiner". Thul, now known as UnuThul, has been influencing the hive mind from the top, and is the reason the Jedi have been drawn into the conflict so early. The Jedi find that they, too, are at risk of being absorbed by the collective consciousness of the nest since the collective accepts even non-insectoid species. Meanwhile, Tenel Ka, the Queen Mother of the Hapes Consortium, has become pregnant by Jacen Solo, and delays her pregnancy through use of the Force to reduce the chance of their daughter's paternity being discovered. When the child is born, she is named Allana.

''The Unseen Queen''

One year after the events in ''The Joiner King'' Jaina and Zekk work as a team to track down smugglers. They find evidence indicating that the ''Gorog'', or "Dark Nest", are alive and somehow involved in smuggling. UnuThul explains to Mara Jade that the Dark Nest is after her because it had absorbed the consciousness of the wife and daughter of Daxar Ies, a man she killed back when she was an Emperor's Hand operative.

''The Swarm War''

''The Swarm War'' takes place where ''The Unseen Queen'' ends, and involves a three way war between the Chiss, the Killik, and the Galactic Alliance. Luke Skywalker declares himself Grand Master of the Jedi, and succeeds in unifying them to an extent, and leads an assault on the Dark Nest. Lomi Plo meets her death at Skywalker's hand, and UnuThul is defeated by Luke as well after losing an arm. Thul is taken in by the Jedi for psychological treatment as the Killik revert to their naturally peaceful state, no longer unified by the Hive Mind or driven by the ambitions of the Dark Nest.

In the laboratory Vivi-Sec UK, a group of six animals are part of the fourth batch of Project S, an experiment designed to create talking animals.

The animals are given a sophisticated lifestyle in order for them to develop their intellect, living a luxurious life run by computers in something similar to a four-star hotel, unaware they are really part of a laboratory experiment. They have human-like personalities and names, wear specially designed clothes, speak in a pseudo-intellectual fashion, eat gourmet food, drink fine wines, read books and magazines and generally live like humans in luxury. Meanwhile, the other animals outside Project S are tortured with horrific experiments.

The animals in the experiment include:

Philip Masterson-Bowie the horse (voiced by Steve Coogan) Winona Matthews the pit bull (voiced by Amelia Bullmore) Hugh Gape the monkey (voiced by Kevin Eldon) Claire Franchetti the rat (voiced by Julia Davis) Mark Andrews (aka Glen Belt) the sparrow (also voiced by Steve Coogan) Kieron the cat (voiced by Simon Pegg)

A group of animal rights activists break into the laboratory to rescue the animals. Kieron is left behind, having his head removed from the rest of his body and being kept alive by machines. As the other animals are boarded into the activists' truck they don't know what's going on, and are joined by Niall (voiced by Arthur Mathews), a rabbit from an earlier batch of Project S which can only speak computer advice.

When one of the animals asks the activists if they will be stopping for a toilet break, they panic and crash the truck into a tree. The animals escape, and go their separate way. After running into humans who are shocked, and other animals who can't speak as they do, they deduce they have somehow been transported into an alternative reality where only humans can speak and the other animals are enslaved by them (a reference to ''Planet of the Apes'').

Meanwhile, Vivi-Sec UK graft Kieron's head onto the body of a gorilla and send him out to assassinate the other animals. Vivi-Sec UK also alerts the media that dangerous talking animals are on the loose.

The animals take shelter in an elderly lady's house, who calls her psychiatrist to tell him that there are talking animals at her house. Believing the elderly lady to have lost her mind, he has medics take her away, leaving the animals to live in her house. During the series the animals try to interact with the world around them, to varying degrees of success or failure. At one point the animals discover that they were created in a lab and attempt to return. Upon breaking into the lab they discover that they have already been replaced and that their replacements are more successful than they, as each replacement has managed to achieve one of the animals' fondest wishes such as Winona's desire for children. Realizing that they have no place left, the animals return to the old woman's home to live out their lives.

Pearl Tull is a rigid perfectionist. She has three children with her husband, traveling salesman Beck, who abandons the family. After Beck leaves, Pearl struggles to maintain a front as if nothing is wrong at all. Cody, the oldest, is wild and adventurous, but is envious of his brother Ezra, whom he believes is Pearl's favorite. As they grow up, this plays out in endless pranks. Ezra is passive, and never tries to get back at Cody. He is nurturing and sweet, traits that often interest Cody's girlfriends, furthering Cody's resentment. Ezra goes to work at a restaurant, which he later manages and ultimately inherits, while Cody becomes a wealthy and successful efficiency expert. When Ezra becomes engaged to Ruth, his star cook, Cody becomes obsessed with luring her away, and ultimately succeeds, but his marriage to Ruth is not easy. Ezra never recovers, and remains at home with Pearl; he is a caregiver, both for Pearl and his customers, but this is underlain by sadness.

Jenny is the third child and the most scholarly of the Tulls, but in college, she marries on an impulse with unhappy results. Only in her third marriage to a man with six children whose wife has abandoned him does she find stability in family life and in her successful, if harried, career as a pediatrician.

A recurring scene in the novel involves Ezra's unsuccessful attempts to bring the family together for a meal at his "Homesick Restaurant", reflecting his desire to unite and mend the family. At Pearl's funeral, Beck returns to the family for the first time. However, they never seem to be able to get through a single dinner without conflict, this time with Cody facing down his father, causing Beck to leave in the middle of the dinner. Ultimately, the entire family searches the town to find Beck, eventually bringing him back to the restaurant to finish their meal together.

The story begins with the idea that the Wizard controls all of the fairy tales and governs the Scales of Good and Evil, an artifact that maintains the balance of all good and evil in Fairy Tale Land. With the help of his assistants, the uptight Munk and the goofy Mambo, the Wizard checks to make sure that all the fairy tales under his care are "on track" to have their traditional happy endings. However, the Wizard announces his leave for Scotland for a little vacation, so he leaves the kingdom in the hands of Munk and Mambo. Though Munk intends to have the stories go by their traditional endings, Mambo desires for the characters to break free of their pre-destined fates and choose different endings.

Right after the Wizard's leave, both Mambo and Munk fulfill their duties by watching over the story of Cinderella taking place. Known as Ella, the character lives as a servant to her evil stepmother, Frieda, and her equally mean stepsisters. Too fearful to stand up for herself, Ella often dreams of the Prince who will rescue her from her life and sweep her off her feet. However, unknown to Ella, she is pined after by her best friend Rick, a servant of the Prince, and the Prince in question is buffoonish and chauvinistic. As a result of Rick's efforts, Ella is invited alongside her stepfamily to the ball, but Frieda refuses to let the girl go. Fortunately, the Fairy Godmother arrives and grants Ella a gorgeous dress, as well as glass slippers, to wear, on the condition she returns home before midnight.

However, the fairy tale suddenly falls off-track during the ball when Frieda gains access to the Wizard's lair and discovers his book of fairy tales. Once she realizes what will happen to her if Ella succeeds in marrying the Prince, Frieda steals the Wizard's staff from Munk and Mambo, and tips the Scales of Good and Evil, causing a series of fairy tales to go wrong and have unhappy endings. She summons an army of Trolls, evil witches, three Big Bad Wolves, the Giant, and Rumpelstiltskin to her castle. Ella finds out and tries to enlist Rick's help, but Rick, frustrated with her affection for the Prince, refuses, so she escapes to the woods where she meets the exiled Munk and Mambo. They both explain the situation to her and decide to find the Prince (who, unaware of Ella's identity, is searching for his "mystery maiden"), in hopes that he will defeat Frieda. Meanwhile, Frieda sets her villainous army out to capture Ella, causing Rick to have a change of heart and go rescue her.

The trio find the Seven Dwarfs' home, only to discover Frieda's army waiting there for an attack. The Seven Dwarfs help the trio defend themselves from the attackers, and they successfully escape with the help of Rick. unfortunately, after the battle, Rick and Ella have another falling-out over the Prince, with Rick insisting the Prince is not the hero they need. Ella refuses to believe his claims and leaves him so she can find the Prince herself, but after listening to Munk and Mambo's retelling of her original story, Ella grows uncertain if that is what she wants in life, suddenly realizing her feelings for Rick. With some encouragement from Mambo, Ella decides to go after Rick. However, Frieda, angered by her army's inability to capture Ella, decides to go after her herself. Frieda succeeds in kidnapping Ella, but Rick, Mambo, and Munk manage to sneak into the castle to rescue Ella, and together the foursome enter a battle with Frieda over the staff. During the struggle, Frieda seemingly kills Rick with a blast from the staff, but she accidentally creates a portal and loses the staff as she struggles to fight against Ella. Ella, finally fed up with Frieda's treatment of her, pushes her in the rift, banishing her from Fairy Tale Land forever and setting the stories back in place. Ella then goes to mourn over Rick, but to her happiness Rick is revealed to have survived, and they both confess their feelings for each other, while the imprisoned fairy tale characters (including the Prince) drive out the villains.

With the Scales tipped back into balance and the kingdom regained, Ella and Rick decide to choose their destinies in a world of happy endings and get married, while a few other fairy tale characters (including the reformed Rumplestiltskin) start to follow suite. Finally, the Wizard returns from vacation, and both Munk and Mambo agree not to tell him about the events that occurred.

In the mid-credits, Frieda is shown trapped in the Arctic surrounded by love-struck elephant seals.

The game's plot is relatively straightforward. Gir Draxon, an evil alien overlord in charge of a powerful interstellar empire has conquered a range of star systems and has now arrived in our solar system on Mars, intending on crushing humanity. The hero of the story has a super-tank that he can use to defeat Draxon's forces, though it was called into service before being finished and thus is protected only by energy shields and has no armor. From a game mechanics perspective, this explains why the tank simply is destroyed when its shields (hit points) run out. The hero fights his way through 7 star systems controlled by Draxon's empire, until arriving on the last planet Arcturus itself to face Gir Draxon. The alien overlord confronts the hero in personal combat in his own super-tank; when defeated, an escape pod is clearly seen rocketing off into space, making it clear that Draxon survived.

Note that the second game in the series (Nova 9) would vastly expand the in-game plot, adding cut scenes, dialog, and more story-related tension. Not much information is provided about the world's background at the time.

Danyael Rosales is a street preacher who thinks God does not care about anyone because of the death of his parents, Valerie Rosales and the angel Danyael from the previous film. He is then forced to face his destiny. As a Nephilim, he has some of the angels' abilities, such as regeneration, and can only be killed if his heart is removed. One night, a blind assassin shoots Danyael as he preaches before a crowd, but the assassin is driven off before he can take out Danyael's heart. The assassin is then compelled to commit suicide by an unseen force. The angel Zophael goes after Danyael himself with a weapon with a blade that can be turned into a three-pronged hook. Danyael is protected by Gabriel, a now-human fallen angel who killed Danyael's father and performed many misdeeds. After being defeated by Danyael's mother, Gabriel was turned into a human as punishment. Having spent years as a human, he now realizes how wrong he was in the past.

Zophael convinces Danyael's girlfriend Maggie to work with him to stop Danyael. When she becomes suspicious of his motives, Maggie shoots Zophael. It has little effect on the angel, who finally tells her what he is. Frightened and confused, Maggie agrees to help him, and the two catch up to Danyael on a Native American reservation. He is on his way to confront Pyriel, another angel who wants to overthrow God. Danyael briefly meets Mary, a Native American woman (first introduced as a child in the first film). Mary informs Danyael that she dreamed of his coming, and that she believes he will be victorious against Pyriel. Danyael is attacked by Zophael, who has purposefully crashed Maggie's truck and badly injured her. He then faces off against Zophael in battle and seemingly defeats him by impaling his chest with a motorcycle tailpipe, but the angel gets back up and uses his weapon to impale Danyael from behind. Before Zophael can remove Danyael's heart, Maggie empties her gun into him. Danyael takes his chance and removes Zophael's heart through the hole he created earlier, finally killing him.

Danyael heads off to face Pyriel, armed with Zophael's weapon while Gabriel watches over Maggie. Danyael is no match for Pyriel, but he does succeed in impaling him with Zophael's weapon. Danyael is about to lose when God sends down a lightning bolt, electrocuting the weapon and, through it, Pyriel. Danyael extends the blade into its prong form and removes Pyriel's heart with it, killing him and apparently ending the war in Heaven. He returns to Gabriel, who through showing compassion and care to a human and helping to stop the war, has regained his angelic status. Redeemed and with his powers restored, he heals Maggie's wounds before returning to Heaven.

Lucifer (Guri Weinberg) ejects Gabriel from Hell, claiming the War of Heaven isn't his to fight and Hell isn't big enough for both of them. Gabriel's new mission is to prevent the birth of a child, a nephilim, the offspring of an angel and a human. The coming of this child, said to precede reconciliation between the warring factions in heaven, has been prophesied by Thomas Daggett, now a monk. The child's conception takes place when Valerie, a nurse, is seduced by an attractive stranger (the angel Danyael) whom she hit with her car. She finds a few days later that she is pregnant.

Gabriel attempts to find the whereabouts of the child from Daggett, but kills him when he refuses to help. When Danyael kills members of Gabriel's army of angels, Gabriel instead employs the assistance of a teenage girl (Izzy) who has just committed suicide with her boyfriend. Gabriel keeps her alive to help him in his search for Valerie (despite his powers as an angel, he is completely naive about technology, and is unable to drive a car or work a computer and has her use her computer skills to find her and drive him around).

Gabriel's war against Danyael and the other angels climaxes in a battle in Eden, now an industrial wasteland. Danyael and Izzy are killed, but Valerie defeats Gabriel by seizing him and jumping from a building, confident that God will protect her as He told her He would (she reveals that Gabriel is unable to hear His voice as he simply does not ''listen''); she is indeed unharmed, but Gabriel is impaled on a spike. As punishment, Gabriel is turned into a human by Michael. Valerie raises the child by herself, accepting the risk that the angels may come for her. The film ends with Gabriel as a derelict; a face in the sky and ominous clouds show that the war in Heaven is not over.

Eccentric and cat-loving counter-terrorism consultant Rufus Excalibur ffolkes is asked by Lloyd's of London to develop a contingency plan, should any of the North Sea oil installations it insures be threatened. Months later, a North Sea supply ship named ''Esther'' takes on board a group of men posing as reporters who are to visit the oil production platform ''Jennifer''. The leader of this group, Lou Kramer, hijacks the ship; the gangsters attach limpet mines to the legs of ''Jennifer'' and its accompanying oil drilling rig, ''Ruth'', then issue a ransom demand for £25 million to the British government. ''Esther'''s crew tries to fight back, but is thwarted by Kramer's vigilance, and two of their number end up dead.

When the British Prime Minister and her staff consult Lloyd's, where both platforms are insured, about providing the ransom, the CEO informs them about ffolkes, and after some initial hesitation he is hired to take out the terrorists and retake the platforms. ffolkes enacts his plan by traveling to ''Jennifer'' as the aide of Admiral Brindsen, who was tasked by the Prime Minister to supervise the operation. With ''Ruth'' out of ''Esther'''s sight, ffolkes first asks the admiralty to prepare a fake explosion in order to distract Kramer from blowing up ''Ruth'' and to buy them more time, then arranges for having Brindsen and himself brought aboard the supply ship to take out the terrorist leaders from within while his men board from underwater. However, Kramer distrusts ffolkes and has him removed from ''Esther''.

With his original plan thus upset, ffolkes persuades the Prime Minister to have the ransom helicopter drop off a bomb on ''Esther'' in case his team fails to take out Kramer's gang in time. Then he approaches the ship from underwater, and despite some mishaps he manages to thwart the activation of the detonators, leaving Kramer for dead, and prevent the bomb drop on ''Esther''. Kramer, mortally wounded, makes one last attempt to blow up ''Jennifer'', but is stopped by ffolkes and dies. Following the successful conclusion of the mission, ffolkes is rewarded for his service with three kittens named after ''Esther'', ''Ruth'' and ''Jennifer''.

The novel tells the story of the Angeluzzi-Corbos family, a family of immigrants living an adopted life in New York City. The head of the family is Lucia Santa, a wife, widow and mother of two families. It is her formidable will that steers them through the Great Depression and the early years of World War II. But she cannot prevent the conflict between Italian and American values.

''Fools Die'' starts in Las Vegas, where a group of close friends, including John Merlyn, Cully Cross, and Jordan Hawley, spend several weeks gambling at the Hotel Xanadu. None of these now close friends have met before meeting in Vegas, and indeed they are not long term friends, but simply people who for their own personal reasons have decided to stay in the hotel to gamble. The trio has adventures both gambling and womanizing in Vegas. One night, after a huge $500,000 baccarat and craps win, a depressed Jordan kills himself in his hotel room. Jordan's suicide was in spite of tying a dramatic winner take all $500,000 hand of baccarat, betting against the casino's owner, Alfred Gronevelt. After Jordan's death, Merlyn returns to his family in New York City and continues his life. Cully Cross decides to stay in Las Vegas permanently, and through his prowess as a gambler and a hustler, he has caught the eye of Alfred Gronevelt, the Xanadu Hotel owner. Gronevelt eventually recruits Cully as a key employee, and as time goes on, he grooms Cully as his second in command, and Cully prospers running the casino, and acting as a casino host.

In New York, John Merlyn, who was an orphan and is now a government worker and moonlighting novel writer, struggles to make ends meet for his family. His father in law had helped him get the job as an administrative officer in a US Army Recruitment Center. One day, because he is near broke, Merlyn is persuaded by a crooked colleague at work to start taking bribery kick backs in return for getting the adult children of wealthy people out of the military draft by having them join the military reserve before their mailed draft notice is filed. Eventually, authorities find out about the draft scam, and Merlyn is put under grand jury investigation. Merlyn narrowly escapes any Federal charges by calling his old friend, the now mob connected casino manager Cully Cross in Las Vegas. Cross is able to use his political and business connections to get Merlyn off the legal hook. Soon thereafter, Merlyn is offered a job writing book reviews for a large magazine. There he meets a world-famous writer named Osano, and they become close friends. During this time, Merlyn has a successful novel published, and Hollywood studios bid on making the novel into a movie. The winning studio flies Merlyn to L.A to help with the novel's movie script, and to work with the movie producers. In California, Merlyn slowly falls in love with Janelle, a film actress. In the meantime, Merlyn becomes estranged from film production as he becomes aware of the subordination of writers to profit and studio drama that dominates in Hollywood. One several years, most of the people Merlyn feels closest to die. His dear friend, Cully Cross had been involved in an elaborate money exchange scheme with a Japanese millionaire customer at the Hotel Xanadu he worked at. While in Japan, in a move ordered by Gronevelt, the Xanadu owner, Cully is murdered. Merlyn's brother, Artie, dies after a sudden heart attack. After many years of partying and carousing with Merlyn, and even sleeping with Merlyn's girlfriend Janelle, Osano finds he suffers from an incurable disease and decides to kill himself. As his business heir, Merlyn is surprised to find out that the manuscript Osano said he had been working on for more than ten years only consists of six completed pages (pages that are used as introduction to "Fools Die"). Eventually, even Janelle also dies, from a brain aneurysm.

In 1950, Michael Corleone, the son of Sicilian-American Mafia Don Vito Corleone, is preparing to return home to America after his exile in Sicily. He meets with Don Croce Malo, the most powerful Sicilian Mafia boss. Don Croce and Michael's father have allied to help the famous bandit Salvatore "Turi" Guiliano escape Sicily and go with Michael to America. Michael learns of a set of documents Guiliano has that would cause the downfall of the current Italian government, to be released upon Guiliano's death or capture, called the Testament. Michael also meets Guiliano's parents and Gaspare "Aspanu" Pisciotta, Guiliano's best friend and second in command.

In 1943, Turi Guiliano and Aspanu Pisciotta are stopped by the ''Carabinieri'', the corrupt Italian police, while smuggling food, but they refuse to give up the food or the name of who they were trading with. Guiliano is shot, but he manages to kill his attacker, a police Sergeant. Turi is carried by Aspanu to a local monastery, where he recovers from his wounds and learns more about the criminal side of Sicily under the care of the Abbot Manfredi. After he recovers, he and Aspanu make their way back to Guiliano's home in Montelepre, where he is still being sought for the murder. While discussing his future with family and friends, the local police attempt to arrest Turi. Turi and Aspanu open fire on the trucks pursuing them and kill some policemen. They flee to the mountains. Innocent citizens of Montelepre are arrested in retaliation.

Turi and Aspanu are met by Turi's godfather, Hector Adonis, who fails to dissuade them from becoming bandits. Turi and Aspanu decide to free the prisoners and break into the local police barracks where they are being held. Turi narrowly escapes death at the hands of the Corporal Canio Silvestro whose pistol fails when he pulls the trigger at Turi's head. The freed prisoners include local bandits Passatempo and Terranova, who join Turi's band. Guiliano begins to become famous throughout Italy after a high-profile robbery, and he becomes a hero in Sicily, as he gives away much of his band's earnings to the poor. Silvestro, disgraced after being spared by Guiliano, asks to join his band. They test his loyalty by asking him to execute Frisella, a barber who informed on Guiliano. Silvestro does so and they attach a note to his body saying "So die all who betray Guiliano".

Guiliano comes to dominate the entire northwest corner of Sicily. Guiliano orchestrates a kidnapping of a Sicilian nobleman, Prince Ollorto. Ollorto's ransom is arranged by Don Croce, who Ollorto had been paying protection money to. The kidnapping causes Guiliano to come into direct conflict with Don Croce and the Mafia for the first time. Don Croce allows Guiliano to be assassinated by the other Dons, but Guiliano manages to avoid them all. Don Croce finally sends assassin Stefan Andolini, a cousin of Don Corleone's, whose life is only spared by Guiliano due to the intervention of the Abbot Manfredi, his father. Andolini joins Guiliano's band and acts as an emissary between Guiliano and Don Croce.

In 1950 Trapani, Michael Corleone is joined by Peter Clemenza, a capo of Don Corleone's, who is helping with the escape. Michael meets Justina, Turi's pregnant wife, and Hector Adonis. She leaves for America. Adonis informs Michael that the Testament is hidden in a gift Guiliano's mother gave him and Michael sends it to his father in America.

In 1947, Don Croce is aligned with the ruling Christian Democratic party, mostly to deny power to the Socialist parties that he believes could destroy the Mafia. Don Croce, along with Italy's Minister of Justice Franco Trezza, draw up plans to mount an offensive against Guiliano, but instead give foreknowledge of the plans to Guiliano in return for his help in swinging the upcoming election for the Christian Democrats. Guiliano accepts these terms, along with a promise of a pardon, and helps the campaign using propaganda and intimidation.

A Socialist parade celebrating recent victories over the Christian Democrats takes place in the towns of Piani dei Greci and San Giuseppe Jato and converge at a plain called the Portella della Ginestra. Guiliano agreed to suppress the parade, giving his two chiefs, Passatempo and Terranova, orders to "shoot over their heads" to get the crowds to disperse. The men end up shooting too low, and massacre many people, including women and children. The massacre proves devastating for Guiliano's image in Sicily and destroys any hope of a pardon. Guiliano discovers that Passatempo had been paid off by Don Croce to shoot the paraders and Guiliano executes him. He also executes six Mafia chiefs who were defending the estate of Prince Ollorto from land claims by the local peasants.

A large force in Sicily assembles under the command of Colonel Luca to take down Guiliano. Guiliano's parents and many citizens of Montelepre are arrested for conspiring with him. In retaliation, Guiliano robs a heavily guarded truck that held the money for paying the ''Carabinieri''. Colonel Luca then calls for the rest of the reserve force to come in. Guiliano's band is falling apart, with Silvestro escaping to England and Andolini and Terranova being killed by police. With Colonel Luca's forces closing in and Don Croce having betrayed him, Guiliano knows he must leave for America or die in Sicily.

Aspanu Pisciotta meets with Michael and tells him where to meet Guiliano. The next day, Clemenza and Michael are heading to the meeting place when they hear that Guiliano has been killed by the ''Carabinieri''. They are arrested by Inspector Velardi, but are released soon after due to the intervention of Don Croce. Michael and Clemenza find out that, having grown increasingly paranoid and resentful of Guiliano, Pisciotta has betrayed Guiliano to Don Croce. Pisciotta had shot and killed Guiliano in a moment of panic, fearing that Guiliano knew of his betrayal. Later, imprisoned for banditry, Pisciotta is poisoned by Hector Adonis with the help of Don Croce. Adonis leaves a note in Pisciotta's pocket reading, "So die all who betray Guiliano". With Guiliano dead, Don Croce and the Mafia enrich themselves more than ever at the expense of the people of Sicily.

Michael returns home to Long Island. Don Corleone tells him that they will not release Guiliano's Testament, under the deal he made with Don Croce to ensure Michael's safety. Michael, shocked, realizes that he had been unknowingly working against Guiliano, and that giving the Testament to his father had allowed Guiliano to be killed. Don Corleone teaches Michael a lesson: it is better to remain alive at whatever costs than to be a dead hero.

Deb DeAngelo (Debi Mazar), a young woman is desperate for a luxurious, cheaply priced New York City apartment. She lies to the landlady about having a job with a temp agency and then hurries to the agency to beg for work before the landlady calls and discovers the lie. The agency is run by Joan (Joanna Gleason), an uptight businesswoman. Joan reluctantly takes on Deb as an employee but sends her out on strange assignments.

In the pilot episode, she is sent to work as a makeup artist at a mortuary. The following episodes generally revolved around Deb's various temporary assignments and how they affected her personal life.

Data experiences a strange dream that begins with him walking a corridor within the ''Enterprise'', then hearing a rotary dial phone sound, and sees three workmen that he says are "dismantling a warp plasma conduit". When he tries to speak to them, he can only emit a high-pitched noise. The workmen turn and rip off Data's appendages, finally tearing off his head, before Data "wakes" from the dream. Though Data is worried about the odd nature of dreams Counselor Troi suggests he continue, as dreaming can be therapeutic.

Captain Picard is invited to a regal Admirals' dinner, an event that Picard has been trying to avoid for several years as it would be rather boring. Unable to provide excuses, he orders the ''Enterprise'' towards Starbase 219 where the banquet is to be held, but they find the new warp drive will not engage. Data and Chief Engineer La Forge attempt to diagnose the problem, but after double checking the new configuration, the engines refuse to engage.

Later, Data finds himself in another dream, now set in Ten-Forward. In addition to the workmen, other members of the crew are present, in particular Troi as part of a large cellular peptide cake with mint frosting according to Lieutenant Worf. The workmen prompt Data to cut into the shoulder of the cake while Troi tries to convince Data to stop. Suddenly Data "wakes", finding other crew members looking for him, as he has been late for his shift. Data has never experienced this before, and tries to understand the meaning of his dreams with a holodeck-simulated Sigmund Freud. Later, while still working with La Forge to repair the engines, he begins to see imagery from his dreams while awake, including seeing crewmen with "small mouths" on their bodies, and an engineering tool appearing briefly as the cake knife. Later, Data attacks Troi on the turbolift, wounding her on her shoulder, where he claimed he saw one of those mouths. Data willingly puts himself under guard in his quarters, fearing what harm he might do to others.

Dr. Crusher takes care of Troi's wound but finds the spot still discolored after her treatment. Investigating further, she discovers the presence of interphasic creatures that are feeding on the ''Enterprise'' crew, which can only be seen under interphasic radiation. The crew realizes the creatures are where Data has been seeing the small mouths, and believes Data may know how to deal with the creatures through the dreams he has been experiencing. They hook up Data to the holodeck and watch as Data's dreams play out, helping Data to understand them. Data realizes that his mind has been telling him that he can adjust his circuitry to an interphasic pulse that will kill the creatures. After using the pulse, La Forge postulates that the new warp drive was infected with the creatures, and after confirming that they've been exterminated, is able to successfully engage warp, though the repairs take long enough that Picard is able to avoid the Admirals' dinner yet again.

Troi later visits Data, who has since apologized for his attack. Troi shows no resentment, but jokingly remarks "Turnabout is fair play": she has made a cake shaped like Data for them to share.

Jack Friar is a police detective who, while doing a friend a favor and searching for a runaway teenager on Turk Street, stumbles upon a bizarre band of criminals about to pull off a bank robbery. Jack finds himself being held hostage while the criminals decide what to do with him, and the leader's beautiful girlfriend Erin is left alone to watch Jack.

Erin, who is a master manipulator of the men in the gang, reveals another side to Jack – a melancholy romantic who could have been a classical cellist. She finds Jack's captivity an irresistible turn-on and he cannot figure out if she is being honest or if she is manipulating him as well. Before the gang returns, Jack and Erin's connection intensifies, leaving the fate of the money in question.

The cyborg Coton from ''Rise of the Robots'' defeated his opponents and faced the Supervisor, who used her morphing ability to defeat him and assimilate him into her own consciousness. Coton's thought patterns were cloned and used to bolster the artificial intelligence of the Supervisor, who used fragments of his consciousness in selected robots to imbue them with the ability to improve upon their own design.

Electrocorp scientists, fearing that Coton had been defeated and that the Supervisor would now target the city, prepared a counter-virus based on EGO from the information Coton had earlier sent them. The Anarchy Virus was released to the main building of Electrocorp, and it infected most of the robots previously under Supervisor's control - the robots waged war against each other, disconnecting from the neuronet, quickly depleting the numbers of the Supervisor's army. Coton used the distraction caused by the malfunctioning robots to upload his consciousness to another robot, and prepared to either escape the Electrocorp building or to attempt another attack on the Supervisor.

At this point, the story ends, and it is left open-ended - and dependent on the player's ability - whether Coton is successful in either attempt. The uploaded Coton's consciousness of any robots who defeats the Supervisor, it will only have one ending, as they destroy the Supervisor, destroy the Anarchy virus and then destroy the Electrocorp buildings.

The film involves a series of interconnected events that converge around two car-related accidents at 11:14 p.m. The connections between the events are not apparent at first, but are gradually revealed by a series of progressively receding flashbacks.

Part 1

'''11:13 - 11:33''' ::Jack, who has been drinking, is seen driving along a road at night talking on his cell phone. The clock on the dashboard reads 11:14 p.m. Suddenly, as he drives under an overpass, something smashes across the windshield, causing him to skid off the road. He stops by a deer crossing sign and gets out to inspect the damage, and finds a human body with a badly mutilated face lying close to his car. When he sees another car approaching, he panics and drags the body out of sight. The car pulls up next to him, and the driver, Norma, assumes that he hit a deer. She offers to call the police over Jack's protests, insisting that it is no trouble because she has a new cell phone that she "never uses" and because she is friends with the Chief of Police. Norma offers Jack a ride to her house to wait for the police, but he declines. When she drives off, Jack decides to hide the body in the trunk of his car. He gets back into the car to pull away, but a police officer pulls up behind him. Officer Hannagan speaks with Jack and, noting his odd behavior, asks him if he would submit to a breathalyzer test. Jack requests a sobriety test instead, which Hannagan administers, getting him to recite the alphabet in reverse from Z to A. When the officer checks with dispatch, he finds that Jack's license has been revoked for driving under the influence. Hannagan tells Jack that he is under arrest and that his car will be impounded. When he finds the body in the trunk, Hannagan handcuffs Jack with a cable tie and tells the two people already in the back of the cruiser, Duffy, and Buzzy, to move over so that Jack will fit. While Hannagan argues with Buzzy, who refuses to move over, Jack is able to pull clippers out of his pocket, cut the cable tie, and escape. Hannagan pursues, leaving the cruiser door open, and Duffy and Buzzy also escape. Jack runs across a property with security lights and a dog, causing the owner, Norma, to come out. She is obviously upset and is looking for her husband, Frank, because she just received a phone call that their daughter, Cheri, was killed in a hit-and-run accident. Hannagan catches up to Jack at this point, and Norma angrily strikes Jack with a flashlight, assuming that he is responsible for her daughter's death. He flees again, into the cemetery where he trips over a bowling ball and is again taken into custody.

Part 2

'''11:09 - 11:29''' ::Tim, Mark, and Eddie are driving around causing trouble by throwing things out of the windows of Mark's mother's van, including a jelly donut, which hits an oncoming car, and a book they have set on fire. Mark, distracted by Eddie urinating out the van's window, runs into and kills Cheri, who was crossing the road while on her cell phone. They stop, but flee the scene when Duffy comes toward the van with a gun. As Duffy fires on the retreating van, Tim realizes that the accident also caused the van's window to snap shut, cutting off Eddie's penis. Eddie insists that they all go back to the site of the crash because he doesn't want to live without his penis; feeling sorry for Eddie, Tim volunteers to go back in an effort to find the penis. Tim is accosted by the paramedics, Leon and Kevin at the scene, but manages to escape and get the severed penis back to Eddie.

Part 3

'''11:04 - 11:24''' ::Frank is walking his dog late at night and discovers his daughter Cheri's car keys next to the dead body of Aaron, in the cemetery. Thinking his daughter is responsible for the death, Frank packs the body in the trunk of Cheri's car, accidentally locking the keys in with the body. He uses a rock to break a window and get into the car, then drives to a bridge. He has to hide from a car driven by Duffy that passes by, but then disposes of the body by dropping it over the side of the bridge, where it lands on Jack's car (as seen at the start of the film). His dog runs off with the blood-soaked jacket. He chases the dog, eventually catching it. He sees the burning book that the people threw on the sidewalk, and uses it to set his jacket on fire. His wife, Norma, sees him and gives him a ride home, where she sends him out to look for the deer that Jack supposedly hit.

Part 4

'''10:59 - 11:19''' ::Buzzy is working at a convenience store late at night. Her friend and co-worker, Duffy, arrives and they begin discussing Cheri's pregnancy and money needed for an abortion. Mark and Eddie arrive after the store is closed but Duffy lets them come in. They are there to buy items to throw out the van windows. After they leave, Duffy tells Buzzy his plan to steal from the store the $500 required to pay for the abortion. Cheri arrives and she and Duffy go into the cooler. Meanwhile Buzzy is playing around with Duffy's revolver (the one he plans to use to rob the store) and she accidentally shoots a bullet through a glass door of a refrigerator, barely missing Duffy and Cheri. Cheri leaves and Duffy asks Buzzy to allow him to steal the money from the convenience store's cash register. Buzzy objects, fearful of losing her job, but relents, while insisting that Duffy shoot her in the arm to make it look like an authentic robbery. He shoots her in the arm and then dials 9-1-1 for her, leaving while she is on the phone. Duffy looks for his keys, barely escaping the police who are arriving more quickly than he thought they would. While driving away, he passes by Aaron's car, where Frank has parked it preparing to dispose of Aaron's body. Duffy then sees Cheri parked and tells her he got the money for her abortion. When she gets out of her car, he witnesses the young people' van knocking down and killing Cheri, and he shoots at the young people. He is then arrested by Officer Hannagan for shooting at the van and for the store robbery, based on the description someone phoned in (later revealed to be Cheri). Buzzy is arrested as an accomplice when she refuses to identify Duffy and admits to conspiring with him.

Part 5

'''10:54 - 11:14''' ::Cheri leaves her house to have sex with Aaron at the cemetery. Aaron is reclining against a tombstone that has a stone angel on top. The angel's neck is damaged and the heavy stone head falls onto Aaron's face, killing him instantly and mutilating his face. Cheri runs away from the scene, not realizing that she has dropped the set of keys that Frank found in the earlier scene. Cheri borrows her father's car and goes to the convenience store to get Duffy's bowling ball, intending to replace the angel head with the bowling ball and implicate Duffy as killing Aaron. As she drives away from the store, she sees the shooting and reports a description of Duffy to the police. When Cheri arrives back at the cemetery, she drops the bowling ball when she sees that Aaron's body is gone. She tries to leave, but her car is again having trouble starting. Her cell phone rings, and she begins talking to Jack. This is the phone conversation the movie begins with, continued to inform the viewer that Cheri's "pregnancy" is actually a scam to get money from both Duffy and Aaron, so that Cheri and Jack can leave town together with the money. In the midst of the call, Duffy calls out Cheri's name from across the street to tell her that he got the $500 she wanted him to get. Cheri hangs up quickly, and while she is crossing the street, the cell phone rings again, and, distracted, she stops in the middle of the road, where she is hit by the van containing Mark, Tim, and Eddie. The camera pans to Cheri's cell phone, which reads 11:14 p.m.

In 2000, Dick Harper gets promoted to Vice President of Communications for the major media corporation Globodyne. He convinces his wife Jane to quit her job as a travel agent to spend more time with their son Billy, as Dick's salary would be able to cover their expenses.

However, during an interview on television on his first day, he discovers his CEO covertly sold 80 percent of his shares in the company and Globodyne is accused of "perverting the American dream" by presidential candidate Ralph Nader. Simultaneously, all of the company's stocks drop to zero, and everyone, including Dick, lose their jobs, savings, and pensions. Dick tries to confront CEO Jack McCallister, but he flies away in the company's helicopter.

Breaking the news to his family that night, Dick tries to assure them he can find another job as vice president. However, he soon finds that Globodyne's collapse has sent the overall economy into a recession, making it next to impossible to find a new vice president position. In addition, the television interview has tarnished his reputation, rendering him unhireable. Even worse, Jane discovers that, because their pension and all their savings and investments were tied up in Globodyne's now-worthless stock, the family now has no assets and face possibly losing their home.

Dick and Jane then accept low paying work, but are unable to keep their jobs. Soon afterwards, their utilities are cut off, forcing them to sell their personal property and take off-the-books work to stay afloat; the latter results in Dick getting wrongfully arrested and deported, necessitating his 'illegal' re-entry. When given a 24-hour eviction notice, a fed-up Dick turns to crime, persuading Jane to follow him. After a few mishaps, they rob a head shop. They go on to have a few nightly robbing sprees, becoming more comfortable and professional, even stealing from people who wronged them during their job search, and eventually retire their entire debt. For their final heist, they come up with a complex scheme to steal from a local bank. All goes as planned until the Petersons – another Globodyne couple – make an amateurish attempt to rob the same bank. The Petersons are quickly arrested and Dick and Jane lose their chance to rob the place, but take advantage of the hysteria to escape.

Watching a news report on the arrests of the Petersons and other former Globodyne employees who desperately turned to crime, the Harpers decide to cease their criminal lifestyle. However, Dick finds that his interview with Ralph Nader has caused him to be indicted for his unwitting role in the company's collapse. Drowning his sorrows at a millionaire's club, he stumbles upon drunk former CFO of the company, Frank Bascombe. When he and Jane confront him, Frank remorsefully admits Jack had planned everything from the beginning: during Dick's television interview, Jack diverted all of Globodyne's assets and then dumped the entire stock, thus ruining the company and its employees and investors, and leaving Dick and Frank to take the blame, while embezzling a $400 million fortune and getting off scot-free. Frank, about to go to prison for 18 months for his role in the scheme after failing to expose Jack's crimes, got $10 million in hush money from him.

Frank tells him Jack plans to transfer the $400 million to an offshore account and creates a plan with Dick and Jane to intercept the transfer, rerouting the funds to an account Frank has established. Things go wrong when Dick accidentally loses the form, so they must print a new one in the bank while Jack is there making the transfer. Jack realizes there are errors on the form and spots Dick. Finally, Dick holds Jack discreetly at gunpoint, demanding he sign a check, which he does. Dick reveals to Jane it was a ruse to get his signature, so Jane, an art major, can forge it.

The next day, Jack is mobbed by reporters and former Globodyne employees, all praising him for his sudden "generosity". Dick shows up as vice president and hands him a prepared statement, which the CEO reads on live television. He is shocked to announce he has transferred $400 million to a trust fund to support Globodyne's defunct pension plan. A news report reveals the company's former employees (including the now-imprisoned Petersons) will get their pension checks from the fund, Dick's reputation is restored and he evades indictment, and Jack's net worth has been reduced to a mere $2,238.04.

A year later, Dick's family drives a Volkswagen Rabbit convertible into the sunset. While Billy is teaching his parents Spanish, Dick's friend Garth drives up in a brand new Bentley Azure, excited to reveal that he has a new job with great benefits, at Enron.

Viola Hastings is a teen girl who plays for Cornwall's soccer team until the team gets cut. Her dream is to play for the North Carolina Tar Heels. Meanwhile, her twin brother, Sebastian (James Kirk), is supposed to enroll in Illyria, an elite boarding school, but he secretly goes to London with his fledgling band instead. Viola agrees to cover for him and decides to pass herself off as Sebastian, in hopes of joining their boys' team and beating Cornwall to prove their coach and her cocky ex-boyfriend, Justin, wrong for suggesting cancellation of the ladies' soccer team. With the help of her stylist friend, Paul, she is transformed into "Sebastian" and attends Illyria in his place.

While moving in, she meets her roommate, Duke Orsino, an attractive soccer player and Illyria's team captain. During tryouts, Viola fails to impress Coach Dinklage and is assigned to second string, much to her dismay. Her teammates, including Duke, initially dislike "Sebastian" due to his awkward and strange behavior. However, with help from Paul once again, they begin to accept him into their social circle. "Sebastian" then gets the popular and beautiful Olivia Lennox (Laura Ramsey) as his lab partner, which frustrates Duke, as he has feelings for her. "Sebastian" agrees to put in a good word for Duke if he promises to train him to be a better soccer player. Coach Dinklage eventually notices "Sebastian's" effort and improvement, thus promoting him to first string.

At the Junior League carnival, where her mother has made her volunteer, Viola works a shift at the kissing booth and kisses Duke. Duke expresses to "Sebastian" that he might move on from Olivia as he is starting to like Viola now. Viola is delighted as she secretly feels the same way.

Olivia who now has a crush on "Sebastian", asks Duke out on a date in hopes that it will make "Sebastian" jealous. Viola, who is unaware of Olivia's true intentions, is enraged instead because Duke has now abandoned his interest in Viola. When Viola finds out the truth, she encourages Olivia to tell "Sebastian" directly about her feelings.

The situation becomes even more complicated when the real Sebastian returns from London a day early, unbeknownst to Viola. As soon as he arrives at Illyria, Olivia confesses her feelings and kisses him. Duke, seeing this, believes his roommate has betrayed him. When "Sebastian" returns to their room, the two have an argument and Duke kicks him out. Viola oversleeps and misses the first half of the game, while the real Sebastian is mistaken for "Sebastian" and winds up poorly playing his sister's game instead. At half-time, Viola explains the situation to Sebastian and they switch places again.

Duke, still furious at "Sebastian", refuses to cooperate with him on the field. Determined to makes amends with Duke, "Sebastian" explains that he is actually Viola. Illyria wins the game when Viola scores a goal, finally humiliating Justin and the rest of the Cornwall boys.

Everyone at Illyria celebrates their victory over Cornwall, except for Duke who is hurt about Viola's deception. Viola introduces Sebastian and Olivia officially, and they begin dating. Viola and Sebastian's divorced parents also make up, exchanging contact information so as to be better parents towards their children. She invites Duke to her debutante ball, with an invitation delivered by Sebastian, now Duke's actual roommate. Still hurt, Duke doesn't respond to Viola's invitation, which devastates her. At the ball, Viola is skeptical that Duke will show up; she distracts herself by assisting Olivia, who is being escorted by Sebastian to the ball, and is touched when Paul asks to be her date. Her mother shows up with a dress that will suit Viola's "no ruffles" policy, but Viola decides to go for a walk instead. She runs into Duke outside, who tells her that he has feelings for her, but that he doesn't want there to be any more deception on her part; Viola promises to be honest with him. Later, Monique (Alex Breckenridge) is escorted by Justin, Olivia is escorted by Sebastian, and Viola and Duke enter the stage late, but together, with Viola in her new dress, much to the joy of her mother. Viola and Duke share a kiss before joining the crowd. At the end of the film, Viola and Duke are shown happily playing on Illyria's soccer team together.

Three prisoners escape from a chain gang, and two of them, Wayne and Harry (Zahn and Northam) run away to Happy, Texas, where they pose as the gay organizers of a beauty pageant. They put on a show with the small girls of the town while hiding from the law and waiting for the opportunity to rob the local bank.

Their scheme is complicated by the fact that the local sheriff (Macy) is gay, and he is attracted to the prisoner Harry. Straight Harry, on the other hand, is attracted to local lady banker Josephine (Walker). Meanwhile, "gay" David, also actually straight, gets it on with the local pageant coordinator, Doreen (Douglas).

By the pageant day, the third convict has appeared, and makes Wayne and Harry organize a break in during the show. Harry calls in more police, and in the process, all three are apprehended. In the last scene, the pageant group that Wayne helped train came to the prison to show them the closing number, in the costumes he made.

The story, written in first-person narrative is Lovecraft's first and only foray into science fiction, and depicts the life and death of a prospector on the planet Venus who, while working for a mining company, becomes trapped in an invisible maze.

The story takes place in the future, when humanity has developed space travel and begun to explore Venus. There, they discover valuable crystal orbs that can be used as a source of electrical power, as well as a race of primitive lizardmen who guard the crystals fervently and who attack any humans who try to take them.

The narrator, Kenton J. Stanfield, is one of many explorers employed to collect the crystals. He is equipped with a breathing apparatus fueled by oxygen cubes (as Venus' atmosphere cannot sustain human life) and has a leather protective suit, as well as a "flame pistol" to use against lizardmen.

While on a routine mission, the narrator encounters a bizarre structure: a maze whose walls are completely invisible, inside of which is a crystal of unusually large size. The prize is held by a dead prospector. The protagonist, feeling confident he can map out the maze, makes his way to the center after collecting the crystal in order to explore the structure. However, he soon discovers that he has misjudged the maze, and is unable to relocate the entrance point.

Trapped in the maze, the narrator's oxygen and water supply steadily begins to run out, and lizardmen soon begin to gather at the outside of the maze to observe and mock him. Realizing the futility of his situation, the narrator begins to grasp the religious significance of the crystals to the lizardmen, and also realizes that the maze's nature as a constructed structure, and as a trap, indicates that the lizardmen are actually more intelligent than the humans are willing to admit. In time he realizes that he will face the same fate as the preceding prospector.

Dying, the narrator writes down his observations on a futuristic form of recording paper. He describes how in his last moments he has developed a feeling of kinship with the lizardmen, and pleads with his superiors to leave Venus, the lizardmen, and the crystals alone, as they hold mysteries humanity cannot begin to grasp, and mankind does not really need to exploit them.

The narrator's testimony, along with his body, are soon recovered by a search party, who discover an additional exit just behind the ground where Stanfield died, which the prospector missed when attempting to map out the maze. However, his dying pleas for humanity to leave Venus alone are dismissed by his employers as unfortunate dementia caused by his desperate situation, and instead the crystal mining company decides to use draconian measures to annihilate the lizardmen completely.

The ''Palm-Wine Drinkard, ''told in the first person, is about an unnamed man who is addicted to palm wine, which is made from the fermented sap of the palm tree and used in ceremonies all over West Africa. The son of a rich man, the narrator can afford his own tapster (a man who taps the palm tree for sap and then prepares the wine). When the tapster dies, cutting off his supply, the desperate narrator sets off for Dead's Town to try to bring the tapster back. He travels through a world of magic and supernatural beings, surviving various tests and finally gains a magic egg with never-ending palm wine.

Architect Sir Alistair Sinclair and his foreman, Dennis McKay, have been slain in the midst of rehabilitating the medieval west tower of the Royal Palace of Holyrood—the very wing where Mary, Queen of Scots, had lived, and where David Rizzio had met his brutal, politically motivated end. Mycroft Holmes fears these murders portend new threats against Britain's present monarch—the elderly Queen Victoria, who occasionally lodges at the palace—by a known assassin, perhaps in nefarious league with the German Kaiser. En route north, Holmes and Watson are menaced aboard their train by a red-bearded bomb thrower (supposedly a rabid Scots nationalist), only to discover that still greater dangers await them, and others, at Holyroodhouse. The plaintive drone of a weeping woman, cruelly punctured and shattered corpses, a pool of blood "that never dries", and a disembodied Italian voice with unexpected musical tastes all imply the wrath of wraiths behind recent atrocities. But Holmes and Watson deduce that greed, rather than ghosts, may be to blame.

The action of the play takes place during the late 1880s, and focuses on the character of Emma Goldman as she grows from a simple textile factory worker to a revolutionary and anarchist. The outspoken advocacy of radical anarchist and populist ideals are followed through persecution and hardship to the beginnings of World War I. The play closes with the words of Goldman during an anti-conscription protest in 1917, just before her arrest on sedition charges.

Joe Yabuki is a young drifter who has a chance encounter with Danpei Tange, a former boxing trainer, while wandering through San'ya. Joe is arrested for fraud and is thrown into a temporary jail where he fights Nishi Kanichi, the leader of a group of hooligans. He and Nishi are then transferred to the , a juvenile detention center miles away from Tokyo. There, Joe meets Tōru Rikiishi, a former boxing prodigy, and a rivalry develops between them after Rikiishi prevents Joe and Nishi from escaping. They attempt to resolve the rivalry by facing each other in a boxing match, during which Rikiishi dominates Joe until the latter hits him with a cross-counter, resulting in a double knockout. Feeling that the outcome of the match did not resolve anything, Joe and Rikiishi vow to fight again. As Rikiishi learns he is due to be released, he challenges Joe to a fight in the future, and the two promise to meet again, this time as professional boxers.

Upon his release from prison, Joe initially has trouble gaining a boxing license due to his lack of formal education, but succeeds in his second attempt with the help of Danpei and Nishi. Joe manages to go up to bantamweight, after provoking champion boxer Wolf Kanagushi. Joe quickly rises in the ranks and gains popularity for his brawling style, and trademark cross-counter KO wins. Joe manages to perform a triple-cross counter on Wolf. Joe then earns the right to fight Rikiishi in the professional ring.

Although Rikiishi is assured a promising career, he is intent in settling his score with Joe, whom he feels stands in his path. Because Rikiishi is three weight classes above Joe, he undergoes an incredibly taxing weight loss program, which includes severe dehydration. Rikiishi knocks Joe out in the 8th round and wins, but dies after from the combined effects of the extreme weight loss on his body and brain hemorrhage that he sustained from Joe during the fight.

Joe is mentally and physically traumatized by Rikiishi's death; during matches, Danpei realizes that Joe is unable to deliver headshots to his opponents. It takes Joe some time to get over it and costs him three straight losses, but he finally conquers his fears when he faces the globally #6-ranked fighter, Carlos Rivera. The fight ends with a draw, yet it gives Joe tremendous fame and respect around the world, especially since Carlos was going to face the World Champion José Mendoza in his next match.

Joe starts to climb up the boxing ladder, but struggles with maintaining bantamweight due to a late growth spurt, forcing him to undergo strenuous training similar to what Rikiishi underwent. He defeats the OPBF Champion, Kim Yong-bi, a South Korean boxer and survivor of the Korean War, dedicating the win to Rikiishi. After winning the title match, Joe defends his title. He wins all defenses, ultimately defending it against the Malaysian fighter Harimau. He is now given the chance to face the World Champion José Mendoza, who defeated Carlos Rivera with a KO punch in the first round, ending his boxing career. It is later revealed that Carlos had developed permanent brain damage from his fight.

The fight is held in a packed stadium, and is attended by many of Joe's friends and former rivals, including Wolf and the now sickly and haggard Carlos. Joe faces Mendoza, even though he is at a disadvantage since it was revealed he was punch-drunk, and has lost vision in one eye. The match is a brutal back-and-forth with Joe able to knock down the Champion more than once. Though originally composed, José starts losing his mind as Joe keeps getting up no matter how much damage he takes, to the point that he wonders if he is trapped in a nightmare. The match goes all of its fifteen rounds, with Mendoza barely gaining a win by points, but much to the shock of the audience, José has seemingly aged decades in minutes from the toll the fight has taken on his body, with his hair turned snow white from the trauma he has experienced. Danpei turns to console Joe only to find him unresponsive, but with a smile on his face. It has been long debated amongst fans whether Joe died or not: Chiba stated that he drew the ending scene at the last minute, and Takamori's original ending was different. Conflicting interpretations have also been given by the manga's authors as a result: Takamori stated in a 1979 biography that Joe died, while Chiba has refused to directly comment, hinting that Joe may have survived.

;Act 1 While Meg prepares to serve her husband Petey breakfast, Stanley, described as a man "in his late thirties" (23), who is dishevelled and unshaven, enters from upstairs. Alternating between maternal and flirtatious affectation toward Stanley, Meg tells him that "two gentlemen", two new "visitors", will be arriving (30–31); Stanley appears concerned and suspicious at this information. At "[a] sudden knock on the front door", Meg goes offstage while Stanley "listens" at a voice coming "through the letter box," but it is just Lulu carrying in a package delivered for Meg. Right after Meg and Lulu exit, Goldberg and McCann arrive, but Stanley immediately "sidles through the kitchen door and out of the back door" to eavesdrop (38), but they speak only vaguely about "this job" they must do with bureaucratic clichés (41), nevertheless rendering McCann "satisfied" (41). After Meg's new "guests" go up to their room, Stanley enters and Meg gives him the package brought by Lulu containing his birthday present. He opens it to reveal a toy drum.

;Act 2 Stanley encounters McCann and the two talk. McCann is determined to stop Stanley from leaving the house. Stanley's behaviour and speech start to become erratic. He denies the fact that it is his birthday, insists that Meg is mad for saying so, and asks McCann if Goldberg told him why he has been brought to the house. Goldberg enters and sends McCann out to collect some whiskey that he has ordered for the party. When McCann returns, he and Goldberg interrogate Stanley with a series of ambiguous, rhetorical questions, tormenting him to complete collapse. Meg then enters in her party dress, and the party proceeds with a series of toasts in Stanley's honor. Lulu then arrives and engages with Goldberg in romance. The party culminates with a game of blind man's buff, during which McCann further taunts Stanley by breaking his glasses and trapping his foot in the toy drum. Stanley then attacks Meg and, in the blackout that immediately follows, attacks and attempts to rape Lulu. The act ends with Goldberg and McCann backing the maniacally laughing Stanley against a wall.

;Act 3 Paralleling the first scene of the play, Petey is having breakfast, and Meg asks him innocuous questions, with important differences revealing the aftermath of the party. After Meg leaves to do some shopping, Petey begins to express concern to Goldberg about Stanley's condition and Goldberg's intention to take him to an unseen character called Monty. There then follows an exchange between Goldberg and McCann during which Goldberg's usual confident style temporarily abandons him, though he seems to recover after asking McCann to blow in his mouth. Lulu then confronts Goldberg about the way he was the previous night (during unseen events that occurred after the party) but is driven from the house by McCann making unsavoury comments about her character and demanding that she confess her sins to him. McCann then brings in Stanley, with his broken glasses, and he and Goldberg bombard him with a list of his faults and of all the benefits he will obtain by submitting to their influence. When asked for his opinion of what he has to gain, Stanley is unable to answer. They begin to lead him out of the house toward the car waiting to take him to Monty. Petey confronts them one last time but passively backs down as they take Stanley away, "broken", calling out "Stan, don't let them tell you what to do!" (101). After Meg returns from shopping, she notices that "The car's gone" and as Petey remains silent, he continues to withhold his knowledge of Stanley's departure, allowing her to end the play without knowing the truth about Stanley.

''The events of the original movie take place entirely in Norway; in the English-language version of the movie, the story begins in Britain and ends up in Norway with the travelling Russian circus.''

At night, an animal testing laboratory in grimy downtown Oslo, Norway is broken into by a bumbling group of guerilla vegan animal rights activists called True Warriors Against Animal Torture and Subjugation (TWAATS). They first release some rabbits which refuse to leave. They then set the rats free, then the cats, which to the horror of the activists, eat the rats. Again to their horror, their dog Karma kills the cats. They bury the dead animals, vowing to at some point take revenge on "animal oppressing" society.

Meanwhile, three inept Cockney English stoner habitual criminals named Odd, Gaz and Flea (Odd, Geir and Kælle in the Norwegian version) watch a news story about the lab break-in at a decrepit apartment. Their shady Southern American friend Roy Arnie (a fellow Norwegian childhood friend in the original) arrives and offers them a job opportunity with Circus Stromowski, a travelling Russian circus led by Ringmaster Igor Stromowski. As they are in debt with Roy Arnie, trying to escape a local gangster named Ivan, and believe it is lucrative, they agree. However, upon arriving at the circus, they find Stromowski to be incompetent and deranged, and the entire circus is full of useless, miserable has-beens and tired animals that are forced to perform under the influence of narcotics. They are supposed to work as the animal handlers. The star attraction is "Jimmy", a captive large male elephant who is paranoid of police, missing half his tusk, and addicted to drugs. Roy Arnie gives Jimmy speed so he can perform spiritedly for spectators, and gives him heroin at night to sedate him.

Roy admits to the others that he has stolen seven kilograms of heroin worth over a million pounds from a tanker owned by the Russian Mafias, whom he joined the circus to escape from. The four plan to smuggle the heroin out of Norway by making an incision in Jimmy's buttocks, placing the bags of drugs inside and then sewing it back up. Roy Arnie plans to found his own circus using the money and believes Jimmy to be the key to his dream. However, on the night where they plan to steal the elephant, Jimmy escapes when he is accidentally given speed instead of heroin and bolts out of a door left open by TWAATS. Flea steals a van with no windshield in the ensuing chase of Jimmy which leads them up into the frozen moorland.

Three Lappish Mafia motorbikers dressed in traditional Sámi garb clothes part of the notorious "Laplander motorcycle gang" who have been hired by the Russian Mafias and are looking for the heroin and revenge on Roy Arnie tail the lads. The bikers overhear their conversation and learn the drugs are stored in Jimmy, and decide to pursue him first. Meanwhile, the TWAATS pursue him, intending to make him an animal rights symbol, but two abandon them, tired walking through the moorlands on foot. Jimmy is also hunted by a group of trigger-happy and redneck-type Scottish big game hunters (''trøndere'' in the Norwegian version) who want to shoot a larger animal. The four stoners find a log cabin which is occupied by an elderly Asian-American couple but the three Lappish Mafia motorbikers find them there, kill the couple and torture the four stoners for the information on the whereabouts of Jimmy the elephant.

In the moors, Jimmy is close to death and suffering withdrawal when a benevolent moose befriends him and helps him by leading him to water, bringing him food, and providing shelter. The moose supports Jimmy to stand up on his own. Over the course of a few painful days with the moose's help, Jimmy recovers in nature away from exploiting humans.

When the groups find Jimmy, chaos ensues resulting in many of the people dying mostly violent, bloody deaths. The moose distracts the hunters who accidentally shoot a motorbiker - the other two and activist Marius die when he throws a grenade in the middle of a fall. Roy Arnie tries attract Jimmy with drugs, but he refuses and intimidates them. As Jimmy and the moose try to leave, Jimmy steps on Karma, splatting him. The naive, high-strung, grief-stricken activist Sonia loses her temper and shoots Jimmy in his incision using one of the hunters' rifles, unwittingly bursting the bags of heroin inside that quickly kills Jimmy from the massive drug overdose. Sonia recoils in horror and flees amidst her nervous breakdown with the other only surviving activist.

The stoners attempt to retrieve the heroin from Jimmy's corpse. The moose pushes some rocks which cause a landslide that buries Jimmy's body so his corpse can't be exploited. The stoners leave. At the mound entombing Jimmy, the moose poignantly mourns then gallops away into the sunset alone. Back at their apartment home, the three stoners assault Roy Arnie for leading them to the situation because of his circus dreams. Finally, Roy, full of remorse over his past actions, ventures to the moors alone to search for Jimmy. Roy disappears into a terrible blizzard calling out "Jimmy" in vain.

''Scorchers'' takes place in Cajun Louisiana on the wedding night of a young woman named Splendid (played by Emily Lloyd). Splendid is scared to death of what will happen in the bedroom with her new husband Dolan (James Wilder) and her father, Jumper (Leland Crooke), finds himself having to coax his daughter to submit to the groom.

Meanwhile, Talbot (Jennifer Tilly) comes to terms with the fact that her husband has not been satisfied at home and has been cheating on her, as the town prostitute, Thais (Faye Dunaway) shares her wisdom on the ways of men—all this takes place while the town bartender, Bear (James Earl Jones) and the town drunk, Howler (Denholm Elliott), debate the finer points of music and life.

Inspector Chan Ka-kui has been demoted to highway patrol as the result of his handling of his previous case, which involved the violent arrest of crime lord Chu Tao and heavy property damage. The new duty pleases his girlfriend, May, who is glad that her boyfriend is no longer taking difficult cases and has more time to see her.

However, the happy mood changes when Ka-Kui is greeted by Chu Tao and his bespectacled right-hand man John Ko. It seems Chu Tao is terminally ill with only three months left to live, so he has been released from prison, and while he is still alive he vows to make life difficult for Ka-Kui.

John Ko and some henchmen show up at Ka-Kui's apartment and intimidate him, baiting the policeman to attack. Later, May and her aunt are beaten by John Ko and his men. Ka-Kui can no longer hold back, and he lashes out against John Ko and his men at a restaurant.

Ashamed of his behavior, Ka-Kui resigns from the Royal Hong Kong Police Force. He plans to take a trip to Bali with May, but while he is at a travel agency in a shopping mall, some police officers see him and report that the mall is under a bomb threat.

Unable to resist the urge to get involved in police work, Ka-Kui tells the officers to sound the fire alarm and have the mall cleared, and agrees to take responsibility for the decision. A bomb does indeed explode, and the entire mall is leveled by the blast.

Ka-Kui is praised for his efforts, and he is reinstated and assigned to solve the case of the bombing. Ka-Kui plants a covert listening device in the mall property company's office to try to learn more about the bombers. This leads to a suspect who is a deaf-mute and is a fierce martial artist and explosives expert.

The bombing gang (four men consisting of the leader Tall Pau Hung aka The Polar Bear, Ken, and the two bomb experts, one of them being deaf-mute), also aware that the police are on to them, plan a simultaneous bombing of the property company and the police headquarters. They double their ransom demand to $20 million and kidnap May, luring Ka-Kui into a trap in which he is strapped with an explosive vest and forced to pick up the extortion money from the property company.

After picking up the money, Ka-Kui tells the gang that they are being followed and split up. Ka-kui, still holding the ransom, is able to drive his car into a tunnel so that the bomb he is wearing cannot be activated and he strips it off. He then goes to rescue May, who is being held in a warehouse full of fireworks.

After defeating other gang members, Ka-Kui again faces the deaf-mute man, who throws large bang snaps at him. Ka-Kui is unable to beat him hand-to-hand, but then gains the upper hand with brutally retaliation on the mute man by using his own bang snaps against him, and throwing him off a third story catwalk onto a pile of plastic drums below. Ka-Kui then rescues May and departs the warehouse, just as it explodes in a huge ball of fire.

Santiago Muñez, a Mexican undocumented immigrant living in Los Angeles, is a skilled footballer who plays for his local team and works as a gardener with his father, Hernan, and as a busboy in a Chinese restaurant. During one of his matches, Santiago is approached by Glen Foy, a former player and scout for Newcastle United, who helps arrange a trial with the club. To afford travel to England, Santiago saves his earnings, which is later used by Hernan to buy a truck for the business, being dismissive of Santiago's chances at becoming a professional. Santiago's grandmother, Mercedes, secretly hands him money and urges him to depart for England before Hernan can find out.

Arriving in Newcastle, Santiago stays with Glen and begins his trial. In muddy conditions, Santiago struggles under pressure from Hughie McGowan, a teammate, during a training match. Although unimpressed, Erik Dornhelm, the club's manager, acquiesces to Glen's request that Santiago's trial last for a month. During a medical, Santiago lies about his asthma to club nurse, Roz Harmison, fearing it will damage his chances of being signed; he is then given a one-month contract.

Despite facing some bullying by Hughie, Santiago becomes friends with Jamie Drew, another player on trial. Santiago soon adapts to English conditions and a reserve match is scheduled at the end of his trial to determine his signing on a full-time basis. Before the match, Santiago tries to use his inhaler but Hughie destroys it, leading to an asthma flare-up. After another disappointing performance, Newcastle let Santiago go.

On his way to the airport, Santiago's taxi picks up Gavin Harris, an indisciplined, struggling yet talented player who recently joined Newcastle. Gavin, late for training, finds out about Santiago's asthma, and informs Erik. Erik lets Santiago stay, contingent on him seeking treatment for his asthma. Santiago then moves in with Gavin and they form a friendship. After impressive performances in the reserves, Santiago makes his debut for the first team, coming on as a substitute against Fulham. Santiago earns a penalty, which helps them win the match, a moment proudly seen by Hernan.

Despite the victory, Erik criticizes Santiago's selfishness on the pitch, urging him to pass the ball more. That night, he and Gavin go out partying and their drunken picture winds up in ''The Sun'', enraging Erik. Jamie suffers a career-ending injury as Santiago and Gavin's friendship starts to crumble. Hernan suffers a fatal heart attack and Santiago prepares to return home. At the airport, Santiago abandons his flight, instead training until the early hours at St James' Park after a conversation with Rose, with whom Santiago begins a relationship. Erik then informs Santiago he has been selected to start the season's final game against Liverpool.

On match day, Newcastle score early but Liverpool soon take the lead. In the final minutes of injury time, Santiago assists Gavin for the equalizer, however, a draw will not be enough to earn Newcastle a place in the UEFA Champions League. Minutes before the end of the game, Newcastle earn a free kick, which Gavin hands to Santiago, who scores and Newcastle win 3–2. After the match, Glen relays a call to Santiago from Mercedes, informing Santiago his father watched his match against Fulham.

The play begins with a soliloquy that outlines the basic plot and events that have led up to this point from Electra, who stands next to a sleeping Orestes. Shortly after, Helen comes out of the palace under the pretext that she wishes to make an offering at her sister Clytemnestra’s grave. After Helen leaves, a chorus of Argive women enters to help advance the plot. Then Orestes, still maddened by the Furies, awakes.

Menelaus arrives at the palace, and he and Orestes discuss the murder and the resulting madness. Tyndareus, Orestes’ grandfather and Menelaus’ father-in-law comes onto the scene and roundly chastises Orestes, leading to a conversation with the three men on the role of humans in dispensing divine justice and natural law. As Tyndareus leaves, he warns Menelaus that he will need the old man as an ally. Orestes, in supplication before Menelaus, hopes to gain the compassion that Tyndareus would not grant in an attempt to get him to speak before the assembly of Argive men. However, Menelaus ultimately shuns his nephew, choosing not to compromise his tenuous power among the Greeks, who blame him and his wife for the Trojan War.

Pylades, Orestes’ life-long friend and his accomplice in Clytemnestra’s murder, arrives after Menelaus has exited. He and Orestes begin to formulate a plan, in the process indicting partisan politics and leaders who manipulate the masses for results contrary to the best interest of the state. Orestes and Pylades then exit so that they may state their case before the town assembly in an effort to save Orestes and Electra from execution, which proves unsuccessful. The off-stage assembly-scene (reported by a messenger) is immensely detailed, containing speeches from four different speakers as well as Orestes himself.

Their execution certain, Orestes, Electra, and Pylades formulate a plan of revenge against Menelaus for turning his back on them. To inflict the greatest suffering, they plan to kill Helen and hold her daughter, Hermione, hostage in order to escape harm. However, when they go to kill Helen, she vanishes. In attempting to execute their plan, a Phrygian slave of Helen’s escapes the palace. Orestes asks the slave why he should spare his life, and the slave supplicates himself before Orestes. Orestes is won over by the Phrygian’s argument that, like free men, slaves prefer the light of day to death. Menelaus then enters leading to a standoff between him and Orestes, Electra, and Pylades, who have successfully captured Hermione.

Just as more bloodshed is to occur, Apollo arrives on stage deus ex machina. He sets everything back in order, explaining that he has rescued Helen to place her among the stars, and that Menelaus must go back to Sparta. He tells Orestes to go to Athens to the Areopagus, the Athenian court, in order to stand judgment, where he will later be acquitted. Also, Orestes is to marry Hermione, while Pylades will marry Electra. Finally, Apollo tells the mortals to go and rejoice in Peace, most honored and favored of the gods.

Cliff Spab and his friend Joe Dice go out one evening to buy beer from a convenience store, where a group of masked and heavily armed terrorists take them and three other people hostage. The terrorists, who call themselves S.P.L.I.T. Image, have a video camera with which they tape their hostages' every word and action. During a month-long standoff with the police, S.P.L.I.T. Image's only demand is that their broadcasts be televised live on worldwide television, or else the hostages will be killed. S.P.L.I.T. Image makes good on said threat by killing two of the hostages. Cliff, Joe, and a beautiful teenage girl named Wendy Pfister are the only surviving captives. After 36 days, Cliff becomes indifferent to being killed. He says repeatedly, "So Fucking What?", in reply to his captors' death-threats. The coverage of this makes Cliff a media icon.

The movie skips forward to a hospital. Cliff has shot his way to freedom, taking a bullet in the shoulder while Joe has been killed. Despite his friend's demise, Cliff is branded a hero for saving Wendy and killing the terrorists. He is picked up from the hospital by his brother Scott. He is welcomed awkwardly by his domineering father and weak-willed mother. Cliff soon becomes disenchanted with the reporters camped on his front lawn and moves out.

Back on the street, Cliff finds his life changed forever by the convenience store incident. His line – abbreviated as S.F.W. – is on banners, newspapers, CDs, and billboard advertisements. At Burger Boy, the fast food restaurant where he works, Cliff finds his name and image posted alongside a "Special $.36 ''Spaburger''" (named after him), being marketed in commemoration of his 36 days in captivity.

Cliff visits Joe's older sister Monica. She resents the media idolization directed at Cliff, while her deceased brother has gotten neither sympathy nor attention. Cliff spends a night of empty passion with Monica. He visits another friend, Morrow Streeter, who lets Cliff hide out at the elegant home of his lawyer-sister Janet. She advises Cliff to exploit his notoriety for personal gain. Completely lacking in any sense of purpose, Cliff hitchhikes out of Los Angeles. He gets a ride with a disaffected couple, who confide with him about their marital troubles. Realizing that running from his problems is pointless because they will follow him everywhere, Cliff discovers the inspiration he has been seeking. Using his celebrity status to his advantage, Cliff checks into a fancy hotel; when he offers to promote the establishment, he is given a free suite. Cliff holds press conferences, makes public appearances, holds autograph signings, and generally portrays himself as a rebel.

More than anything, Cliff aspires to reunite with Wendy. She has been featured on the news, but refuses to make any statement regarding her ordeal in the convenience store. Cliff reaches out to her and soon a romantic attraction develops, but their relationship is hampered by the reporters and paparazzi who shamelessly tail them. They evade the media and revisit the convenience store, which has been closed down and boarded up as a crime scene. After reminiscing how he and Joe overpowered and killed their captors in a huge gunfight, Cliff tells Wendy he would like to leave his notoriety behind him, just so the two of them can live out their lives together in a quiet romance.

A few days later, Cliff and Wendy make a public appearance at a local high school. They receive a standing ovation from a crowd of adoring students, who chant Cliff's line: "So Fucking What!" One distraught-looking student, Barbara "Babs" Wyler, does not join in the cheering. After a minute of sitting in angry silence, Babs produces a gun from her book-bag and stands up. With a yell of "EVERYTHING matters!" she fires on Cliff and Wendy, seriously wounding them both. Media attention switches to Babs as she is arrested, booked, and indicted for attempted murder. Her line of "Everything matters" becomes the new public catchphrase, replacing Cliff's "S.F.W.". Reporters and other media people cannot stop talking about Babs' actions. Sharing their own hospital ward, the recovering Cliff and Wendy are elated that their media ordeal is over. They slip away to get married, and to celebrate their newfound privacy.

It all started some years ago when a culinary-confused king asked a question to his chefs. Which would be stronger: tofu surprise or stuffed duck? The king's chefs thought the king had "gone a little too heavy on the nutmeg." One mysterious chef knew what the king was talking about and presented him with magical cards called Meal Tickets which turns the food into monsters called Fighting Foodons. Since that day, regular food recipes have been turned into Foodons when the art of culinary combat is concocted.

One day, King Gorgeous Gorge and his Gluttons cook up a devious plan to rule the world and they sprinkled an extra dash of destruction. They plan to rule the world by kidnapping the best chefs & forcing them to make powerful, evil Foodons. A boy named Chase, a young apprentice chef with an appetite for action, thinks he has what it takes to become an Elite Master Chef like his dad Chef Jack. Chase believes that he, his friends, family, and Foodons can change the world, one at a time, even if it involves going into battle against the Glutton Gormandizers, King Gorge's Big 4, and King Gorge's female cat-like servant Clawdia. Then, he'd have a final showdown with King Gorge.

''The Dark Tide''

An unnaturally long and bitter winter has fallen over all of Mithgar, and there are rumors of Vulg attacks on Warrow farms. So in the Boskydells, all young male Warrows are training to become Thornwalkers and watch over their homeland. Tuck Underbank, Danner Bramblethorn and several others pack up and depart, leaving behind Tuck's (girlfriend/lover) and all their families.

After a lethal encounter with some Vulgs, which kills one of their number, the Warrows and their new leader Patrel Rushlock arrive at the Spindle Ford and take up their guard duties. A messenger arrives from the king's fortress Challerain Keep, revealing that Modru of Gron is attacking the peoples of Mithgar, and asking the Boskydell for some help. Unfortunately he and a friend of Tuck's are killed when a Vulg attacks, knocking them into a frozen river. Tuck is the only one who survives.

Danner, Tuck and Patrel are among the Warrows who go to Challerain Keep, where they become acquainted with High King Aurion Redeye, his son Prince Igon, his future daughter-in-law Princess Laurelin, as well as the elf lord Gildor Goldbranch and Hrosmarshal Vidron. They also are invited to Laurelin's nineteenth birthday party, but during the party a messenger arrives, saying that the fortress is about to be attacked.

Tuck and the Warrows take part in the battle against Modru's Horde, but he becomes lost and ends up inside a crypt with the crown prince, Galen, where Tuck retrieves a small red arrow. He and Galen manage to escape the slaughter as Challerain Keep is destroyed, and end up in an elven village where they are cared for and fed. But then it is revealed that Igon was found unconscious in the snow nearby, and Gildor arrives to say that Aurion is dead.

''Shadows of Doom''

The next book opens with an extended description of Laurelin's capture by Modru's forces. She is alternately treated well and brutally, being carefully bathed and then tossed into a dungeon with a disgusting monster outside. She also witnesses the torture and murder of an Elf named Vanidor, Gildor's twin brother.

Tuck and Galen make the reluctant decision to go rally their allies instead of rescuing Laurelin, and Gildor comes with them. They also pick up a dwarf named Brega, the last of a dwarf brigade who slaughtered and were slaughtered by the Foul Folk. He leads them to the ancient dwarf mine of Kraggen-Cor, where they are almost killed by a monstrous tentacled creature, especially since Gildor collapses when he senses Vanidor's death.

They carefully make their way through Kraggen-Cor, but are confronted by a Gargon at the far end, who petrifies them with fear. Tuck distracts it by stabbing the back of its leg, allowing the others to finish it off and escape. On the other side, they encounter yet more elves, who give them replacement weaponry.

Meanwhile, Danner and Patrel return to the Boskydells, which they find in ruins, and with several dead. With Merrilee's help, they destroy the invading Ghuls and reclaim their homeland. However, they have not managed to reclaim Mithgar from Modru, nor have they succeeded in rescuing Laurelin.

''The Darkest Day''

Merrilee and Tuck are reunited just as the armies march off to Gron to destroy Modru, who is planning to return his master Gyphon from his exile. He is also using the Myrkenstone, a large unexplained meteor, to cover Mithgar in darkness so that his hordes won't be affected by sunlight. Despite this lack of advantage, the good guys attack the fortress and manage to break in, but Danner falls victim to a berserker attack and is killed opening the gates.

Tuck infiltrates the Iron Tower and remembering an old rhyme Laurelin once recited, he shoots his red arrow at the Myrkenstone, killing Modru and trapping Gyphon. However, the blast of light destroys Tuck's vision, both ordinary and "special." He and Laurelin are rescued, but Rael is unable to heal him. The Warrows return to the Boskydells after burying Danner, and help rebuild their homes.

In the years that follow, Tuck marries Merrilee and has one daughter. Galen marries Laurelin, and Patrel becomes a famous bard who composes a lengthy ode about the Iron Tower and what happened there. Gildor and Rael leave Mithgar for Adonar, because of the trauma of Vanidor's death.

Tuck, still blinded, is heralded as a hero for the rest of his life. He dies at a ripe old age, seeing Danner in the afterlife.

In the early 1950s, a four-man squad of LAPD detectives, frustrated with the rules and weaknesses of the legal system stopping them from more aggressively battling crime, commit an extrajudicial execution when they toss Jack Flynn, a powerful gangster from Chicago, off a cliff on Mulholland Drive, nicknamed "Mulholland Falls" for all the criminals they have thrown to their deaths.

The squad leader, Lieutenant Maxwell Hoover, and his partners Ellery Coolidge, Eddie Hall, and Arthur Relyea are brought in to investigate the suspicious death of a young woman whose body was found at a construction site. An examination reveals that every bone in her body is broken and the coroner comments that she looks as though she "jumped off a cliff" even though there are no cliffs nearby. The woman turns out to be someone Hoover knew very well: a prostitute named Allison Pond. The detectives receive a film of Allison having sex in a motel room, taken by a camera hidden behind a two-way mirror. Allison's friend, Jimmy Fields, admits that he and Allison made numerous such films, including one with Hoover in it. Fields is subsequently murdered while being guarded by Hall and Relyea.

Radioactive glass is found in Allison's foot, which leads the detectives to the Nevada Test Site, where they are quickly caught by base security. Their superior, Col. Fitzgerald, threatens to have the squad arrested and prosecuted for trespassing on a secret government facility, but the team is able to escape their predicament when the man in the film is identified as the civilian commander of the base, retired Gen. Thomas Timms. Timms, the head of the Atomic Energy Commission, confirms that he slept with Pond, but has an alibi for the day of her death. An FBI agent visits the LAPD and personally asks the chief to stop the investigation; when his request is denied, Hoover's house is ransacked by federal agents with a search warrant, who fail to recover the film. Hoover brutally assaults the FBI agent, after which another film is delivered to his wife Kate, showing her husband and Allison having sex in the motel.

The blackmailer turns out to be Fitzgerald, who demands the film of Timms with Allison be brought to him. Hoover realizes that Fields' film footage of Allison also includes images of "atomic soldiers", American servicemen who were unwillingly used by Fitzgerald as guinea pigs for A-bomb tests before being transferred to a secure military hospital ward on his orders; the colonel intends to let them die so he can avoid being held accountable. Hoover and Coolidge fly to the base, and secretly deliver the film to Timms, who is terminally ill with cancer himself, so he can expose Fitzgerald's wrongdoing.

For their return trip to Los Angeles, Hoover and Coolidge board a C-47 cargo plane, where they are joined by Fitzgerald and his aide, the Captain. During the flight, Hoover deduces how Pond was murdered and tells Coolidge that Fitzgerald is going to kill them the same way - by throwing them out of the plane in mid-flight. In a vicious struggle, the detectives fight for their lives. Coolidge charges the Captain as gunshots go off. The detectives are finally able to throw the Captain and Fitzgerald out of the plane, both falling to their deaths. The pilot is also accidentally shot, but manages a crash landing before he dies. Coolidge celebrates the landing until realizing that he, too, has been shot, also dying at the scene.

Hoover cannot reconcile with his wife at Coolidge's funeral because she feels betrayed and heartbroken, and afterwards, she leaves him for good. With the news that his unit has been disbanded in order to protect the LAPD's image, Hoover is left with nothing.

Arjin, a young Trill man, arrives on the Deep Space Nine. Jadzia Dax is to evaluate him for suitability to be joined with a symbiont; the prospect makes him ill-at-ease and defensive, since hosts of the Dax symbiont have had a reputation as very harsh mentors, especially Jadzia's predecessor Curzon. When Arjin meets Jadzia he is surprised to find her laid-back and free-spirited.

Arjin's first job is to accompany Dax through the Wormhole in a runabout. An accident occurs and the two Trills bring the runabout back to the station damaged, with a strange mass attached to it. Chief O'Brien removes the mass and contains it securely for further study.

Meanwhile, Dax has been getting to know Arjin. He seems aloof but preoccupied with what other people think of him, and is applying for a symbiont mainly to please his father. He seems to have few interests or goals. Dax is nervous about confronting Arjin about his motivations. Her friend Benjamin Sisko reminds her that during her own training under the notorious Curzon, he was very hard on her, and challenged her confidence in herself.

An infestation of Cardassian voles shorts out various equipment, including the containment-field for the unidentified mass in the lab. Arjin and Dax realize that the matter may actually be a tiny universe. It is expanding quickly and will soon pose a danger to the station. The crew prepares to destroy the universe, but are halted when Dax finds that it holds signs of life.

As Sisko ponders the matter, Dax speaks to Arjin about his performance. She reveals that Curzon's high expectations for her actually helped her become stronger and more ready to become a host. Before she was joined to Dax, Jadzia was shy and sensitive, and Curzon often reduced her to tears. Nonetheless, in the end, she got her symbiont, and she encourages Arjin to strive for more.

Sisko decides the proto-universe must be removed from Deep Space Nine. Dax and Arjin board a runabout to ferry the universe back through the wormhole. She allows Arjin to take the helm, a challenge that he accepts.

As they rush through the wormhole, the expanding proto-universe becomes unstable, making the runabout difficult to fly. Arjin's careful navigation safely brings them out of danger and releases the little universe out into space; thus he proves himself and earns his positive recommendation from Jadzia Dax.

In January 2001, Karl Atwood (Jake Weber) enlists his girlfriend Gia (Michele Hicks) and three others to help plan and execute a major jewelry heist: Carson (Jayce Bartok), fresh out of a Canadian prison; Nathan (Lenny Venito), an expert in phony identification; and a muscular Serbian named Zivkovic. The team of three trick a couple out of their home by sending them on a phony prize trip to Atlantic City, then drill through the empty house into the jewelry store next door. Unfortunately, during the heist, the daughter of the house comes home with her boyfriend to get some private time alone.

Karl kills Carson during the heist, shooting him four times. After leaving the jewelry store, he also shoots the two young lovers and escapes with $300 million in diamonds. Detectives Goren (D'Onofrio) and Eames (Erbe) are called to the case and begin following clues from the dead bodies left behind, specifically the dead body of Carson, which was wearing expensive new clothes. Following the trail of stolen credit cards used to purchase the clothes and equipment, they collect different witness sketches of a single man and a single woman, Karl and Gia. A review of the security tapes from preceding days in the jewelry store produces a clear image of Gia, casing the joint.

Meanwhile, Karl lays down fresh red herrings for the cops to follow by killing a soldier of the Masucci family and leaving diamonds on the body. This briefly distracts Captain Deakins (Jamey Sheridan) into thinking it's a mob show, at least until the diamonds left behind are identified as being the lowest quality and least expensive diamonds in the lot that was stolen.

With the assistance of a heavily tattooed friend, Goren is able to tie the homemade prison tattoo on Carson's body to a prison in Canada. With Carson's identity determined, the detectives are able to pull his record, and learn that he has skipped parole to enter the US, likely by train, which undergo less security. A canvass at Penn Station produces a witness, who is able to identify a mug shot of Nathan, who came to pick him up. A background check of Nathan results in an address, which the detectives raid.

The detectives find the house empty, but do seize a piece of expensive forgery equipment, left behind when the group abandoned the site. Nathan calls Karl to tell him that it is missing, and Karl orders him to buy a new one. Goren and Eames are ready for him, and Nathan is arrested when he goes to make the purchase. With the threat of the death penalty hanging over his head, he cuts a deal to help bring Karl in. He places a telephone call to Karl so that police can trace Karl's location, but Karl catches on and escapes. Goren and Eames arrive just in time to catch Gia, who was doing laundry and was left behind.

Goren convinces Gia during interrogation that Karl is only using her, and that he was having a relationship with Carson in prison. He shows Gia files that Carson had AIDS, and that through Karl, she is also infected. He promises to make sure she gets good medical care in prison if she helps him bring Karl in. With ADA Carver's (Courtney B. Vance) cooperation, he lets her go so she can bring Karl in. She retrieves the diamonds and is met by Karl, who is suspicious about why the police released her, and threatens to kill her. She tells him about Goren's attempt to convince her that he has AIDS, and denies working for the police. To persuade him that she does not believe the police, she is forced to sleep with him.

The buyers for the diamonds arrive at the hotel, examine the goods, and agree to pay Karl. Karl rejoices and goes to the other room to retrieve the rest of the diamonds. When he returns, he finds the police there and everyone already under arrest. Goren and Eames tell Gia that she is not actually infected with HIV, and the criminals are led away.

When songwriter Alex Burke enters the lives of the musical Tuttle family, each of the three daughters falls for him. The family lives in the fictional town of Strafford, Connecticut. Alex's personality is a match for Laurie Tuttle, as both she and Alex are seemingly made for each other.

When a friend of Alex's, Barney Sloan, comes to the Tuttle home to help with some musical arrangements, complications arise. Barney's bleak outlook on life couldn't be any more contradictory to Alex's, and Laurie tries to change his negative attitude. Meanwhile, Laurie's two other sisters, Fran, who is engaged to Bob, and Amy, have feelings for Alex.

The family welcomes Barney into their lives, but a feeling of genuine self-worth escapes him, though he is falling in love with Laurie. Alex proposes to Laurie, and she accepts, which causes Fran to finally marry Bob, and devastates Amy. Aunt Jessie is the only one who knows Amy loves Alex.

When Laurie goes to see Barney about attending the wedding, he tells her he loves her, and that Amy loves Alex, but Laurie doesn't believe him until she goes home and sees Amy crying. She then leaves Alex at the altar, and elopes with Barney. At Christmas, Laurie and Barney go home for the holiday. Laurie tells Amy how much she loves Barney, and that she is pregnant, though she hasn't told Barney yet. Amy has since fallen in love with Ernie. Alex is also there for the holiday, and has found success. With a black cloud perpetually hanging over his head, Barney decides to go with Bob to take Alex to the train. He drops Bob off at the store, and after dropping Alex at the train, he decides to kill himself, feeling that Laurie would be better off with Alex, as he would be a better provider. Barney drives into oncoming traffic during a snowstorm, with his windshield wipers off. Barney lives, and, with a newfound affirmation of life, finally writes the song he had been working on, finding his self-esteem in the arms of Laurie and their new baby.

Blonde bombshell Joyce Bonniwell hires her ex-fiancé and Los Angeles attorney, Simon Lash. Her amnesiatic and wealthy husband Sam Bonniwell has gone missing. Sam is the vice president of the Sheridan National Bank in Los Angeles.

Simon searches out what is going on at the bank. The bank’s president, Vincent Springer, assures all is well with the bank and that Sam is on vacation.

Simon’s legal assistant, Eddie Slocum, is sent to check out Sam’s gentlemen’s club. He uncovers a letter to Sam from a Mrs. James Baker. A beautiful redhead, Evelyn Price, answers the door. She admits to having an affair with Sam but that she has not seen him for several days although he may be taking refuge at the Castleman’s Mink Ranch, a place he owns near Palmdale.

Simon starts to suspect that Joyce might be seeking out hard evidence of Sam’s infidelity, possibly for divorce proceedings. Simon wants to drop the assignment as he does not investigate divorce cases.

Simon enters Joyce's house and a phone call comes through from local sheriff Rucker. He tells Joyce that Sam's body is at Castleman’s Mink Ranch with a gunshot to the head.

Simon accompanies Joyce to the ranch to identify the body. When they arrive together to the crime scene, the sheriff starts to suspect that Simon and Joyce have murdered Sam to get his money from the inheritance.

Castleman, however, believes that Bonniwell committed suicide. Simon determines that there is clear evidence of two shots, and understands that Bonniwell could not have killed himself. Joyce tells the sheriff that Sam had lost all his money. She denies any knowledge of the ranch and of Sam’s relationship with Evelyn.

Simon contacts Eddie by phone, and receives information that both Evelyn and bank president Springer have disappeared without a trace. Simon looks into a hotel that Sam frequented during his visits, and finds out that he used to come visit town in the company of a pretty brunette, whom he claimed to be his wife. Rucker later reports that a brunette that fits the description has been seen driving Sam’s car into the desert. Simon learns from Joyce that the bank president’s fiancé is a brunette, and decides to find the woman.

Before Simon has time to leave, he gets information that both Evelyn and Castleman have been murdered. Simon tries to put the pieces of the puzzle together, and decides to travel to Mesa in New Mexico. When he arrives there he talks to the town marshal, Jeff Bailey, who tells him that a man named Stringer drove through town some time ago, in the direction of Pete Connors’ large estate, known as the Castle.

When Simon comes to the Castle, the owner Pete Connors reveals that Bailey is his nephew. Simon is taken by surprise. He is locked into an old harness room. He sees how Joyce arrives to the house by car and manages to break out of the room. Joyce explains that she headed for the Castle after she found out Springer had telephoned Connors' number.

Joyce then tries to kill Simon, and he understands that she is the one who murdered all three victims. He tells her that he knows what she has done, and that he guessed she wore a brunette wig to masquerade herself as Springer's fiancée, and murdered Springer at the mink ranch because he discovered that Sam was embezzling from the bank.

Simon then continues to explain that Evelyn, who was really Springer's mistress, not Sam’s, and Castleman both were murdered to prevent them from revealing the truth. Sam, who is alive and hiding at the Castle, then appears. There is a gunfight, where Sam accidentally kills both Connors and Joyce, and then is himself killed by Simon.

Nightclub singer Ilona Vance is accused of murder because she was the last person to see crooked attorney Frank Hobart alive. Lt. Hargis attempts to prove her innocence.

''Betrayal''

''Betrayal'' was written by Aaron Allston, and was released as a hardcover novel on May 30, 2006. It reached #10 on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller List on June 18, 2006.

Jacen starts training his young cousin Ben in the ways of the Force. After a successful mission to Adumar that ends in a life-threatening attack, they return for a dinner party at his parents' new home. There, Han voices his concern over Corellia trying to gain independence. Luke orders Jacen and Ben to disable the Centerpoint Station, an ancient artifact that Corellian leader (and Han's cousin) Thrackan Sal-Solo is trying to use to his advantage. Ben disables the station while Jacen keeps Thrackan busy, ensuring the Galactic Alliance's partial victory as another fleet built in secret spoils the main attack.

While traveling to a subterranean base, Ben and Nelani, a Jedi Knight, are forced out of a mining car. Their guide, Brisha Syo creates a dark side phantom of Luke Skywalker, who attacks and very nearly kills Jacen. Eventually, Brisha stops the projections and takes Jacen to an office, where Darth Vectivus, the supposed Sith Lord they are hunting, lives. After fighting Force projections with Ben, Nelani catches up with them. Brisha is revealed to be Lumiya, the Dark Lady of the Sith. She reveals that Vergere is a Sith apprentice, and that Jacen has already received Sith training. Lumiya says that Jacen is going to become the next Sith Lord. Unsure of his next move, Jacen uses the Force to create visions of the future. In each vision in which Lumiya is arrested, the galaxy is consumed in an endless war that eventually places Jacen against Luke. In the vision, Jacen kills his uncle.

Horrified, Jacen spares Lumiya. Nelani then tries to arrest the Sith, but Jacen intervenes. Jacen realizes that Nelani will, if allowed to survive, possibly fulfill the dark vision he had seen. He then fights and kills her, asking her forgiveness before striking the fatal blow. He agrees to consider what Lumiya had said and leaves the asteroid with an unconscious Ben. Jacen then erases Ben's memories of Lumiya and tells him that both she and Nelani had been killed by dark side phantoms. They return to Coruscant; however, after Jacen departs, Lumiya says that she had won.

''Bloodlines''

''Bloodlines'' was written by Karen Traviss, and was released on August 29, 2006.

Fully pledged to Lumiya, Jacen becomes head of the GFFA's newly formed secret police, the Galactic Alliance Guard. With Ben at his side, he begins rounding up Corellians for internment and deportation. During an interrogation of a suspected assassin (who turns out to be Ailyn Vel, Boba Fett's daughter), Jacen tries to use the Force to extract information from her and kills her accidentally in the process.

''Tempest''

''Tempest'' was written by Troy Denning, and was released on November 28, 2006.

Jacen also takes command of Rogue Squadron while it participates in the blockade of Corellia. He shoots down a civilian freighter that was attempting to run the blockade, and had fired on him, then relieves his sister from duty because she had refused to do it. He also uses the ''Anakin Solo'' to fire upon the ''Millennium Falcon'', while both his sister and his parents are on board. He believes his parents to have been involved in a failed attempt to assassinate Tenel Ka; the Solos had in fact been set up by Dur Gejjen, Prime Minister of Corellia.

''Exile''

''Exile'' was written by Aaron Allston, and was released on February 27, 2007. It reached #8 on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller List on March 18, 2007.

Jacen attempts to further his plan for peace against the wishes of his own family.

''Sacrifice''

''Sacrifice'' was written by Karen Traviss, and was released as a hardcover novel on May 29, 2007.

Lumiya says she is pleased by his progress, but instructs him that to truly become a Sith he would have to undergo the Trial of Sacrifice: to kill that which he loves most. Doing this, he believes, would allow him to use the powers of the Sith without becoming evil and would "immortalize his love" for his sacrifice. Jacen decides there is only one way to fulfill this last obstacle: he would have to kill Tenel Ka and their daughter Allana. Nevertheless, after Ben tells Mara that he overheard Jacen communicating with Lumiya, Mara tracks Jacen down in the Hapes Consortium. After a long and heated battle, Jacen kills Mara Jade; the sacrifice necessary to becoming a Sith Lord is not Jacen's love, but Ben's. Ben suspects Jacen almost immediately, upon meeting Jacen at his mother's body. Eventually, Jacen chooses the Sith name Darth Caedus.

''Inferno''

''Inferno'' was written by Troy Denning, and was released on August 28, 2007. It reached #7 on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller List on September 16, 2007.

Jacen, now known as Darth Caedus, fights everyone he once loved to bring his plan for prosperity to the galaxy.

''Fury''

''Fury'' was written by Allston, and was released on November 27, 2007. It reached #3 on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller List on December 16, 2007.

Darth Caedus is now the principal antagonist of the series, and the declared enemy of nearly every other major character: His parents and sister have disowned him, Luke is sworn to redeem him, and Ben is driven to seek justice for his mother. In the novel, Caedus kidnaps Allana so Tenel Ka and the Hapans will not decide to leave the government, but Han, Leia, Luke, Jaina, Ben, and their allies save Allana. After saving Allana, Leia tells Caedus to become a Jedi again, but he refuses. Han and Leia later find out Allana is Caedus and Tenel Ka's child. At the end, Jaina plans to have training from Boba Fett to help her face off against Caedus, despite her parents once being foes with Fett.

''Revelation''

''Revelation'' was written by Traviss, and was released on February 26, 2008.

Caedus takes on a new apprentice, Tahiri Veila, to replace Ben and turns to the task of ending the war. He entices the Imperial Remnant to join him in an attack on the planet Fondor. Although Admiral Niathal wants to offer the planet the chance to surrender, Caedus is determined to make an example of Fondor by crippling the shipyards and its planetary government. After previously sharing military secrets, which leads to hundreds of deaths and compromises the battle plan at Fondor, Niathal arranges a cease-fire without consulting Caedus. Enraged at this treason, Caedus orders the fleet to ignore Niathal's orders and bombard the major cities. Niathal orders all ships loyal to her to attack the ''Anakin Solo''. Two-thirds of the fleet side with Caedus, while the rest ally themselves with Niathal. When the Imperial Remnant refuses to assist Caedus, his new apprentice assassinates Imperial Head of State Gilad Pellaeon and turns control over to the Moffs who then come to aid Jacen. A mysterious fleet led by Admiral Daala, loyal to Pellaeon, appears, accompanied by one hundred Mandalorian mercenaries. and together, owing to Daala's experimental weapons, they send the Galactic Alliance Fleet into retreat.

Caedus then takes control of Coruscant and claims sole control of the Galactic Alliance.

''Invincible''

''Invincible'' was written by Troy Denning, and was released as a hardcover on May 13, 2008. It reached #5 on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller List on June 1, 2008.

Jaina takes it upon herself to defeat her brother. Caedus's meditations are disrupted by Luke Skywalker, in an attempt to hide Jaina's attack. Jaina, accompanied by several Mandalorian commandos, confronts Caedus, who quickly dispatches the Mandalorians, while Jaina acts as a sniper. When she finally runs out of ammunition, she seizes a Mandalorian saber and severs Caedus' arm. Jaina withdraws, however, due to her own injuries. After escaping an attack led by Luke Skywalker on the bridge of the ''Anakin Solo'', Caedus sees a vision of his daughter Allana on a white throne in a time of peace. This vision convinces Caedus that he has won—he would bring peace to the galaxy, and prevent his visions of war and suffering from coming true.

At the book's climax, Caedus and Jaina face off in a final lightsaber duel aboard Caedus' flagship, the ''Anakin Solo''. In the midst of the duel, Caedus comes back to the light and attempts to persuade Jaina of his intentions to protect Tenel Ka and Allana. Jaina refuses to listen, however, and attacks him after he deactivates and holsters his lightsaber. She later slams the door shut in his face when he tries to leave the fight. After a grueling battle in which both are seriously injured, Jacen is defeated when Jaina severs his Achilles tendon and stabs him in the heart. As he dies, Jacen reaches out to both his former lover and his child through the Force, warning them to flee from an approaching bio-warfare attack designed by the Imperial Remnant to kill them. In this act of selflessness, Jaina sees the remnants of the good man her brother had once been. Following Caedus's death and the war's end, the Galactic Alliance emerges victorious over the Confederation and peace is restored to the galaxy, just as Jacen had foreseen through a vision in the Force.

Set in late 1999, the story concerns itself with the interjection of Annabelle, the illegitimate daughter to the now deceased Harry Angstrom, into the life of his middle-aged son Nelson, now separated from his wife Pru. Other key characters from the Rabbit series appear: Janice, Harry's widow, who has married Harry's old nemesis Ronnie Harrison; Judy, Harry's granddaughter, now rebellious at nineteen, who plans to become a flight attendant; and his fourteen-year-old grandson Roy, with whom Nelson communicates via email. Nelson, who has moved back in with Janice and Ronnie, is working as a mental health counselor and is working to help Michael DiLorenzo, a young man with schizophrenia, cope with his mental illness. Nelson struggles with his separation from his family, financial strife, and memories of his father, while Janice grapples with aging, a second marriage, and the old-fashioned lifestyle she grew up with fading into obsolescence as the United States moves into a new age.

Annabelle, a few months after the death of her mother Ruth, appears at Janice's house to introduce herself. She explains that her dying mother revealed the truth of her parentage and encouraged her to seek out her relatives. While Janice is not particularly receptive to her, and Ronnie is hostile, Nelson enthusiastically welcomes the chance to get to know his sister. They have three lunches and get to know one another, and bond quickly. Nelson suspects that she was abused by her stepfather, who died when she was sixteen. As tensions between Annabelle and the family begin to abate, Nelson invites her to Thanksgiving dinner, but it goes badly when the conversation descends into politics and Annabelle clashes with Nelson's stepbrothers. Ronnie, who had an affair with Ruth before Harry did, asks Annabelle how it feels to be "the bastard child of a whore and a bum?" This remark enrages Nelson, who accuses Ronnie of jealousy of Harry, and prompts Nelson to move out of the house. Christmas is then marred by news of Michael's suicide, dispelling with finality the widely shared impression that his condition had been improving. Heartbroken, Nelson blames himself for his client's death.

Nelson's demeanor softens and he forgives Ronnie for his Thanksgiving outbursts. He also meets up again with childhood friend Billy Fosnacht, twice-divorced and plagued by anxiety and depression. As the new millennium approaches, Annabelle reconciles with Nelson's family, who shares with her their memories of Harry. Nelson, Annabelle, Pru, and Billy, see the film ''American Beauty'' on New Year's Eve 1999, but get stuck in traffic as the new millennium dawns. During the discussion that follows the film, Nelson, jealous of Annabelle's flirtations with Billy, pressures Annabelle into revealing that she was sexually abused by her stepfather as a teenager and that this is why she never married. Nelson's display of virtuoso driving in heavy traffic so impresses Pru that she asks to spend the night with him; Nelson moves back to Ohio with her and begins earning a living by counseling drug addicts. The novella ends with the hope that the marriage of Nelson and Pru may recover and that Annabelle may marry Billy.

The show revolved around the spy activities of Benjamin "Beans" Baxter, Jr., a Kansas teenager who had just moved with his parents and younger brother to Washington, DC, as part of his father's (assumed) reassignment as an employee of the U.S. Postal Service.

After Beans witnessed his father's apparent assassination in the explosion of a bomb planted in Benjamin Sr.'s postal freighter, he was recruited by the mysterious "Number Two" (Jerry Wasserman). Number Two was an officer (and, presumably, the Deputy Director) of "the Network", a CIA-styled spy agency; Beans thus learned that his father was actually an agent of the Network, and that the older Baxter's Postal Service employment was his cover assignment. (The Network's main delivery of assignments for its agents was a system similar to what was seen on the spy comedy ''Get Smart!'' in the 1960s.) The main nemesis of the Network was a terror organization that called itself UGLI, for the Underground Government Liberation Intergroup, which was headed by the professional terrorist called Mr. Sue (Kurtwood Smith) and his second-in-command (Taylor Negron). The Network, however, considered Beans himself strictly a "place-holder" agent, and it would only allow him to work in its dangerous service till his father could be found and freed. Viewers were warned, as a result, to expect to see little of Benjamin Sr., since his prime purpose was to stay lost and trapped so the series might continue.

Additional episodes were intended to show Beans's mother Susan, wrongly believing herself to be a widow, re-entering the dating scene. This activity on her part was to have led to complications for Beans, who knew, as she did not, that hers was still a valid, legal marriage to a husband who was still alive, and would thus have had to turn away possible suitors to prevent his mother from accidentally committing bigamy. Moreover, for all Beans or Susan knew, any of those suitors might have been UGLI terrorists planning all manner of nefarious activities, such as possibly assassinating not only Susan, but also Beans. The series was cancelled before any of these developments could be explored.

Beans started a friendship with a classmate nicknamed Woodshop (Stuart Fratkin), and he later became attracted to a beautiful student nicknamed "Cake Lace" (Karen Mistal). In one episode, former Miss Universe Shawn Weatherly appeared as herself. (The opening scene had Beans catching her in the shower naked and trying to escape from UGLI's chief henchman, who wanted to kidnap her as part of an unknown experiment.)

A coming-of-age story about four working-class friends growing up on Long Island, New York, as clam diggers. Their fathers were clam diggers as well as their grandfathers before them.

Mr. and Mrs. Tobias are settling into bed when they notice a message on the ceiling and hear a noise from outside. Mr. Tobias goes to check what the noise was, while Mrs. Tobias calls the police, but she gets dragged under the bed and killed.

Their lazy stoner son Anton hasn't noticed their disappearance in seven days. One morning, Anton runs out of weed and goes to his friend Pnub's house to get some more, but he says he's ran out of weed too. Pnub and his other friend Mick suggest that Anton should go and talk to his neighbour Molly, the girl that he likes. He sees Molly dropped her lyrics book and goes to return it, but he ends up being pretty awkward.

Anton goes home and makes himself a sandwich and he notices the knife he's using is covered in blood and his cat Bones playing with an eyeball. Running in a panic, he trips and finds his parents' corpses. Mick and Pnub show up and Anton shows them the bodies, then they figure out that the killer is Anton. Mick tries to call 911, but Anton pulls out the phone chord and claims that he isn't the killer, but he murders Micks with a glass bottle. Anton promises Pnub that he didn't mean to do it, but they find out Anton's hand is possessed. His hand chases Pnub into the basement and tries to stop his hand so Pnub can escape, but his hand overpowers him and decapitates Pnub. Anton's hand throws Bones out the window and he goes to look for him, but the hand pulls him onto Molly's porch and rings her door bell. Molly takes Anton into her room to make out, but her parents come home so Anton leaves. Anton buries his friends' and parents' corpses in his backyard, but Mick and Pnub come back as zombies and knock him out.

Meanwhile, a druidic high priestess named Debi LeCure is hunting the spirit responsible for killings across the country. After his hand kills two cops in his living room, Anton cuts it off with a cleaver. Pnub and Mick seek out a First-Aid Kit while Anton traps the hand in a microwave, burning it. Meanwhile, Debi (now along with Randy, Anton's neighbor) hunts Anton down to put a stop to the possessed hand. After sending Molly to the school dance, Anton returns home to finish off the hand. Unfortunately Pnub and Mick inadvertently release the hand. The three then steal Randy's truck and head to the school. Mick and Pnub go to the Halloween dance to watch over Molly, while Anton looks for the hand. Randy and Debi meet up with Anton. Debi explains that the hand will drag Molly's soul into the netherworld. Anton crashes the dance and tries to warn everyone about his hand, but is ignored.

The hand then scalps the band's lead singer and causes a panic. Molly and her friend Tanya escape through the vents. They attempt to go through a fan, which they have stopped with Tanya's shoe, but Tanya gets hung on the rope, Molly tries to pulls Tanya off the fan and Anton's hand ends up removing Tanya's shoe, allowing her to be pulled to her death in the fan. Molly then runs into the art room, causing her to get knocked out. Anton enters and fights with the hand while it is inside a puppet but it escapes to the auto shop, where Molly is strapped to a car in her bra and panties, being raised toward the ceiling. Anton, Mick, and Pnub fight with the hand over the controls. Mick finds a mechanic's bong and he and Pnub smoke "for strength". Anton blows some smoke into the hand (still inside a hand-puppet) until it drops the controls and they save Molly. Debi throws a ritual knife into the hand, stopping it in a puff of smoke and fire. She and Randy take off for "ritualistic sex." Anton releases Molly from the top of the car, they go under the car and start making out. In the process of lighting the bong for Mick, Pnub accidentally hits the controls for the car, and Anton is crushed by the car.

In the film's conclusion, Anton is in a body-cast in the hospital, having given up heaven to stay with Molly, and Mick and Pnub are now his Guardian Angels. When he is left alone in his room, Anton looks up and sees the message "I am under the bed" written on the ceiling. Mick and Pnub walk down the hall, pondering if they should tell Anton they were the ones that wrote the message, but decide against it, laughing.

When Jimmy's comedy act is snubbed by the townspeople in favor of an inspirational talk by Christopher Reeve, Timmy and Jimmy form a club for those disabled at birth. Timmy and Jimmy start their own club, dubbed "the Crips" unaware of the notorious, real life street gang that shares the same name. Eventually Timmy and Jimmy find out about the Crips, and under the belief that it is a group of disabled people like themselves, the boys want to join the gang. When they tell the four main characters - Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny of their intentions, Stan suggests that "maybe [they] should just stay out of this one". Kyle and Kenny agree and leave immediately, but Cartman is sore for being left out of Jimmy and Timmy's newly founded club.

The Crips leader in Denver tells the boys they have to "pop some punk ass Bloods" if they want to join the gang. The boys do not know that the term actually means kill some Bloods, so they wander the town to find the Bloods while believing that they are supposed to buy treats for them. They find a group of Bloods at a gas station called "Ribs 'n' Gas". While walking across the street, they cause a trucker to swerve violently and smash into the gas station, killing all thirteen Bloods inside. The Crips leader then welcomes Jimmy ("Four Legs") and Timmy ("Roller") as the "baddest ass mo' fo' Crips in town" in their gang, because they killed thirteen Bloods in one night (a new Crips gang record) and brought back marshmallows and ginger ale.

Jimmy's parents ask Jimmy if he is in a gang, which he admits to. It is revealed at this point that the Valmers had made fun of disabled kids in High School and believed that God had made Jimmy disabled to punish them, so they naturally believe that this is part of a punishment. One night the Bloods gang members commit a drive-by shooting (which is based on a scene in the 1988 film ''Colors'') on Jimmy's house as retaliation for the killing of the thirteen Bloods. In order to prevent further reprisals, Jimmy decides to call a meeting at the local recreation center between the two gangs, and lock themselves in for the evening until they can sort out their differences. Expectedly, both gangs initially act hostile to one another, but Jimmy manages to convince them to sort out their differences by saying "I mean, come on!" repeatedly and manages to bring the two gangs together, as they all then participate in various games and activities inside the recreation center as friends.

Meanwhile, Christopher Reeve campaigns for stem cell research for disabled people. By cracking open fetuses and sucking out their juices, he soon regains mobility, and even superpowers like the character he portrayed, Superman. He eventually takes on the role of a supervillain, and is opposed by his nemesis, Gene Hackman. Because Hackman portrayed Lex Luthor, one reporter comments that "if irony were made of strawberries, we'd all be drinking a lot of smoothies right now." Reeve continues to use stem cells even after he is healed and becomes addicted to power, and eventually puts together a Legion of Doom made up of villains from the DC, Marvel and ''South Park'' universes (though Professor Chaos tells General Disarray that they should "stay out of this one", much like the boys and the T-shirt shopkeeper, Mr. McGillicuddy, did in the A-plot.) At the end, Hackman manages to get a law passed to end Reeve's "fetus-sucking days," and traps Reeve in the Phantom Zone.

The episode ends with the four boys — having watched all the events, remarking that they were "so glad [they] stayed out of that one."

Hotshot street-racer Phil Sandifer (Contino) is working as a truck driver when he is harassed by a sports car driving on the highway. He later meets up with the driver, Jana (Giles), in a local club. Jana challenges Phil to a race; Jana runs Phil off the road, and he loses. At the same time, his best friend Sonny is run off the road and killed by an unidentified assailant (VeSota).

Later at the club, Phil is arrested for destruction of city property and trespassing in the area they raced through, reckless driving, and hit-and-run and manslaughter for Sonny's death. The hit-and-run and manslaughter charges are dropped but Phil is found guilty of the other three charges - as a result, Phil is placed on probation and is stripped of his driver's license. Phil quickly launches into an investigation into Sonny's murder, his first suspect being Jana. She denies any involvement, and joins Phil in his investigation. He follows the trail of clues to nightclub owner Sidney Chillas (Sonny's assailant), and Chillas's lackey Bruce, who runs the gym Sonny used to frequent. Chillas hires Phil as a singer under the alias of "Daddy-O".

Not long after being hired, Phil is beaten up by a couple of drug dealers who have mistaken him for Pete Plum, a pseudonym used by Sonny. Phil draws the conclusion that Sonny had been moving money around for Chillas, and that he had stolen some of the money and was killed as a result. Phil confronts Chillas with the information, and they confront one another in a liquor cellar. Phil manages to knock Chillas out, and soon the police arrive and arrest him and Bruce. The movie ends just as Phil is asked to sing.

A husband and wife, Jan and Eva Rosenberg, are former violinists who are living on a farm on a rural island during a civil war. Their radio and telephone do not work, and Eva expresses frustration with Jan's apparent preference of escapism from the conflict, while they debate whether they can have children and if Jan is selfish. The couple visit the town, hear a rumor that troops will soon come, and meet with an older man who has been called to duty.

When they return, their home area is bombed, and they see a parachutist descend on it. Jan and Eva are captured by the invading force and interviewed by a military journalist on camera, for a segment on the viewpoints of the "liberated" population. Eva initially seems indifferent to the conflict, but denies neutrality; Jan declines to speak, and they are released. They are later captured again, and as soldiers interrogate them, the troops play a film of the interview, in which Eva's words have been dubbed over with incriminating speech. This is primarily a scare tactic.

Eventually, they are released by Col. Jacobi, who had formerly served as the mayor. After the couple returns home, their relationship is strained. Jacobi becomes a regular, if not uncomfortably constant, visitor who treats them with gifts but also has the power to send the couple to a work camp. This relationship is manipulative. Jacobi convinces Eva to provide him with sexual favors in exchange for his bank account savings. They go into the green house to have sex while Jan is resting. He wakes, calling Eva's name. Eventually, he goes upstairs and finds Jacobi's savings on the bed and begins to cry. Eva enters, while Jacobi stays outside and turns to leave. She then comments to a weeping Jan that he can continue sobbing if he feels it will help. Soldiers arrive, and Jacobi explains his freedom can be bought, as the side of the war who is here is in desperate need of money. Jacobi, the soldiers, and Eva ask Jan for the money. Jan states he does not know what money they are talking about. The soldiers raid the house to look for it, in vain. They hand Jan a gun to execute Jacobi, and he does. After the soldiers leave, Jan reveals he had the money in his pocket, to Eva's disgust. This has split their relationship irreparably and causes repeated breakdowns. The relationship grows silent and cold. When Jan and Eva meet a young soldier, Eva wants to feed him and allow him to sleep. Jan violently takes him away to shoot and rob him.

Eva follows Jan towards the sea, and he uses the money from Jacobi in order to buy them seats on a fishing boat. While at sea, the boat's motor fails. The man steering the boat kills himself by lowering himself overboard. The boat later finds itself stuck in the middle of floating dead bodies, unable to move forward and continue. As the boat takes away the refugees, Eva tells Jan of her dream: she walks down a beautiful city street with a shaded park, until planes come and set fire to the city and its rose vines. She and Jan have had a daughter, whom she is holding in her arms. They watch the roses burn, which she states "wasn't awful because it was so beautiful". She feels she had to remember something, but could not.

In a little West African village, a boy named Kirikou is born. He is not a normal baby, as he can speak before birth and walk immediately after birth. After Kirikou's mother tells him that an evil sorceress, Karaba, has dried up their spring and eaten all the men of the village except for one, he decides to accompany the last warrior, his uncle, to visit her and use intercourse as a means to stop her. Kirikou manages to trick the sorceress and save his uncle by waiting inside his uncle's hat and pretending that it's magic. Additionally, he saves the village's children from being kidnapped both by the sorceress's boat and tree, and kills the monster who was drinking all the village's water, gaining trust and stature in the eyes of the previously skeptical villagers. With the help of his mother and various animals, Kirikou then evades Karaba's watchmen and travels into a forbidden mountain to ask his wise old grandfather about the sorceress. His grandfather tells him that she is evil because she suffers from a poisoned thorn in her back, which causes her great pain and also gives her great power. After learning this, Kirikou manages to take the sorceress's stolen gold, thus luring her outside to where he can trick her and extract the poisoned thorn. As a result, the sorceress is cured of her suffering, and she kisses Kirikou, who then becomes an adult. When Kirikou and Karaba arrive back at the village, no one believes that the sorceress is cured until a procession of drummers arrive with Kirikou's grandfather. The drummers turn out to be the sorceress's watchmen and henchmen restored to their original human forms, the missing men of the village, whom she hadn't eaten after all.

One morning, Winnie-the-Pooh, a honey-loving bear who lives in the Hundred Acre Wood, does his stoutness exercise to help improve his appetite in order to gain weight, not lose it. He sees the cupboard and notices that there is a honey pot on one of the shelves and is disappointed to find that he is all out of honey pots. He hears a bee fly by and decides to climb a nearby honey tree, but as he reaches the beehive, a branch he is sitting on breaks, causing him to fall into a gorse bush below. Unwilling to give up his quest for honey, Pooh visits his best friend Christopher Robin and obtains a balloon from him, intending to use it to float up to the beehive. Before doing this, Pooh first rolls around in a mud puddle, hoping to trick the bees into believing he is a Little Black Rain Cloud. When he reaches the beehive, Pooh pulls out some honey and eats it without noticing that it is covered in bees who proceed to fly around in his mouth. He spits them out, kicking the queen bee into the mud puddle below. Shortly afterwards, Pooh's disguise starts to drip, and the other bees start to attack him. The queen bee angrily flies up and stings Pooh on the bottom. The sudden hit causes Pooh to swing up and down; his bottom gets stuck in the beehive, amusing the queen bee. The other bees then shove Pooh out of the beehive, before chasing both him and Christopher Robin away.

Still hungry for honey, Pooh decides to visit his friend Rabbit's house. Rabbit reluctantly invites Pooh in for lunch. Pooh greedily helps himself to all the jars of honey available. He then tries to leave, but finds he is too fat to fit through the small front door. When Rabbit finds Pooh stuck in the door, he tries to push Pooh through by himself, but cannot. He rushes off to get help and returns with Christopher Robin; they both try to pull Pooh out, but fail. Christopher Robin suggests that they can get Pooh back inside if he and the others can't pull him out. But Rabbit disagrees, so Christopher Robin decides that Pooh must wait without food until he is thin again (thin enough to slip through Rabbit's front door). In the meantime, Rabbit decides to decorate Pooh's bottom so he will not have to stare at it for months. but when he tries to paint a moose's face, the paint brush tickles Pooh and causes him to chuckle, which messes up the look. Rabbit tries converting it into a shelf instead, but then Kanga and Roo visit Pooh and give him some honeysuckle flowers. These cause Pooh to violently sneeze, completely obliterating the shelf and decorations, much to Rabbit's dismay. Rabbit is also forced to put up a "Don't feed the bear!" sign after Pooh tries to get honey from his friend Gopher late one night.

Several days later, a depressed Rabbit leans against Pooh's bottom and feels him move a bit. Rabbit joyously summons Christopher Robin and his other friends to free Pooh. Everyone except Rabbit pulls from outside while Rabbit pushes from inside, without success. Rabbit finally shoves Pooh with a running start, causing Pooh to be launched into the air. He lands headfirst into the hole of another honey tree, scaring the bees away. Although his friends offer to free him, Pooh does not mind being stuck again, as he can now eat all the honey he likes.

On a very windy day, Winnie the Pooh visits his "thoughtful spot". As Pooh sits thinking, Gopher pops out of the ground and advises him to leave as it is a "Winds-day". Misunderstanding Gopher's warning, Pooh goes across the Hundred Acre Wood to wish everyone a happy Winds-day. He arrives at the beech tree home of his good friend Piglet, who is nearly blown away while trying to rake leaves. Pooh grabs Piglet by his scarf, like the string of a kite. They pass by Kanga and Roo; Eeyore, whose stick house Pooh breaks as he passes; and Rabbit, whose carrots Pooh inadvertently helps harvest as he slides by.

The wind blows Pooh and Piglet to Owl's treehouse, where he invites them in. Pooh wishes Owl a happy Winds-day, as he has everyone else, but Owl informs them that the wind is due to "a mild spring zephyr". As Owl tells Pooh and Piglet some of the adventures of his relatives, the strong wind causes his house to sway and eventually collapse, for which he initially asks Pooh if he did it. Pooh says he doesn't think so. Christopher Robin and the others soon hear of the news and rush to the scene; as Owl's house is wrecked beyond the point of repair, Eeyore volunteers to seek out a new house for Owl, who proceeds to tell the others more stories for quite some time, boring them.

As night falls, the wind is still blowing, and Pooh is kept awake by noises outside. He opens his door for a visitor: Tigger, who introduces himself with his signature song ("The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers") before stating that he has come looking for something to eat. Disgusted by the taste of Pooh's honey, Tigger tells him that there are Heffalumps and Woozles in the forest that steal honey before departing. Frightened by Tigger's words, Pooh stays up to guard his honey but falls asleep as a thunderstorm brews. After he has a nightmare about Heffalumps and Woozles stealing his honey and chasing him around, Pooh wakes up in a flood caused by the storm.

In the flood, Piglet is washed away from his home in a floating chair, but not before he manages to write a message in a bottle for help. Pooh manages to escape to higher ground with ten honey pots, only to also be washed away by the rising waters. Kanga, Roo, Rabbit, and Tigger gather at Christopher Robin's house, the only place in the Hundred Acre Wood that isn't flooded, while Eeyore continues house hunting for Owl. Roo finds Piglet's bottle, and Owl flies off to tell Piglet that help is on the way.

Owl eventually finds Piglet as well as Pooh, but before he can inform them of the impending rescue – and tell another boring story – a waterfall threatens to carry them all over the side. Pooh switches places with Piglet as they take the plunge, and the waterfall washes them right into Christopher Robin's yard. Thinking that Pooh has rescued Piglet, Christopher Robin tells Pooh he is a hero. Once the flood has subsided, Christopher Robin throws a party for Pooh, where Eeyore announces he has found a new home for Owl. He leads everyone to his discovery which, known to everyone except Owl and Eeyore, is Piglet's house. Piglet generously lets Owl have his home, despite having nowhere else to live himself. Pooh then invites Piglet to move into his home, which Piglet happily accepts, and at Pooh's request Christopher Robin declares the occasion a "two hero party".

During the fall, Tigger has been bouncing on anyone he comes across for fun, including Pooh, Piglet, and Rabbit. Rabbit, who is gardening, is particularly angered. Meeting with Pooh and Piglet, he comes up with a plan: the three of them will take Tigger on a long walk in the forest, abandon him, and find him the next day, in the hopes that he will stop bouncing on his friends unexpectedly. Pooh, Piglet, and Rabbit execute the plan the next morning, and it initially appears to work, as they manage to lose Tigger, but things soon go wrong as they get lost and are unable to find their way home. Eventually, Pooh suggests following a sandpit in order to find their way out of the forest. In an attempt to prove Pooh wrong, Rabbit wanders away. Pooh and Piglet then fall asleep, but are awakened by the sound of Pooh's empty stomach rumbling. Pooh explains to Piglet that his twelve honeypots in his cupboard have been calling to his tummy from home and that he couldn't hear them over Rabbit's voice. Pooh and Piglet then find their way out of the forest, but are immediately bounced by Tigger, causing them to realize that Rabbit's plan had failed. They mention to Tigger that Rabbit is still in the forest, and he ventures off to find him. By now, Rabbit is walking through the darkest part of the forest by himself. Scared by numerous noises such as a caterpillar eating a leaf and frogs croaking, Rabbit panics and tries to run away, only to be tackled by Tigger. Tigger explains to Rabbit that "Tiggers never get lost", and they return home, with Rabbit humiliated that his plan had failed.

Eventually, wintertime comes. One day, Roo wants to go play. His mother Kanga is unable to be with him so she calls on Tigger to look after him as long as he comes back in time for his nap. Tigger gladly accepts. As they travel through the forest, Tigger and Roo see Rabbit ice skating. Tigger tries to teach Roo how to ice skate by doing it himself, but unfortunately, he loses his balance and collides with Rabbit while trying to regain it. As Rabbit crashes into his house, Tigger slides into a snowbank and decides that he does not like ice skating, before venturing further into the forest with Roo. Roo asks Tigger if he can climb trees, and Tigger says that that's what he does best, except that he bounces trees instead. With Roo riding on his back, Tigger bounces all the way to the top of a very tall tree, but when he sees how high up they are, he becomes paralyzed with fear and is afraid to climb back down. Tigger gets even more scared when Roo grabs his tail and uses it as a swing, making Tigger think Roo's "rocking the forest".

Meanwhile, Pooh and Piglet are investigating strange animal tracks that are actually Tigger and Roo's. When Pooh and Piglet hear Tigger howling for help and spot him, they hide, mistaking him for a "Jagular". Roo calls out to Pooh and Piglet, alleviating their fears, and Tigger begs for someone to fetch Christopher Robin. Christopher Robin, Rabbit, and Kanga soon hear of Tigger and Roo's situation and rush to help. The gang use Christopher's coat as a net for Tigger and Roo to land in once they jump from the tree. Roo successfully jumps down, but Tigger, who is still too frightened to jump, makes up several excuses to not come down, one of them is that Tigger's tail would get tangled up in the tree branches. Rabbit then decides that the group will just have to leave Tigger in the tree forever, prompting Tigger to promise that he will never bounce again if he ever is released from his predicament. At this moment, the narrator chimes in for help. Tigger begs him to "narrate" him down from the tree, and he tilts the book sideways, allowing Tigger to step onto the text of the page. Tigger starts to feel better that he made it this far but before he can do otherwise, the narrator tilts the book back the other way, causing Tigger to fall into the snow.

Overjoyed to be back on the ground, Tigger attempts to bounce but Rabbit stops him, reminding him of the promise he made. Tigger's joy quickly turns to depression and he slowly walks away. Rabbit feels better that there will be peace, but everyone else feels sad to see Tigger depressed and remind Rabbit of the joy Tigger had brought when he was bouncing. Realizing how selfish he was, Rabbit shows sympathy for Tigger and takes back the promise they had agreed on; Tigger overhears and gives Rabbit a friendly tackle. Tigger then invites everyone to bounce with him and even teaches Rabbit how to do it. For the first time, Rabbit is happy to be bouncing, as is everyone else, as Tigger sings his signature song once more before the short closes.

During WWI, a writer named Ashenden, introduced only by his last name, is enlisted as an agent through threats and promises by "R.", a Colonel with British Intelligence. He is sent to Switzerland where he becomes involved in a number of counter-intelligence operations; these he accomplishes by means of persuasion, bribery, blackmail, or coincidence. He does not use a weapon.

In one, he accompanies a man called the Hairless Mexican to Italy, where they are to intercept important papers carried by an arriving Greek agent of the Germans. The Hairless Mexican meets the only Greek on the incoming ship, and during a search of the Greek's hotel room, the Hairless Mexican and Ashenden do not find any papers. As they prepare to leave the country, Ashenden decodes a cable which tells him that the intended Greek had never boarded the ship; spots of dried blood on the Hairless Mexican's sleeve mean that he had killed the wrong man.

In another, Ashenden must induce an Italian dancer to betray her lover, an anti-British Indian and a German agent, by convincing him to cross the border from neutral Switzerland to see her in allied France, where the Allies can arrest him. The ironic denouement is that after the man is captured by the British, he commits suicide before he can be arrested, tried, and executed. When she finds out of his death, the dancer goes to Ashenden and asks to get back the valuable watch she had given to the man whom she has just betrayed.

After a number of similar operations, Ashenden is sent to Imperial Russia during the 1917 revolution, as an "agent of influence", to do what he can to keep Russia in the war against Germany. He spends eleven days on the train from Vladivostok to Petrograd sharing a cabin with Harrington, an American business man who is a constant conversationalist. A few days after they arrive, the revolution breaks out in earnest. As they try to evacuate, the business man insists on getting back his laundry that had been sent out. During his return with the laundry, Harrington is killed in a street riot.

The stories combine Maugham's talent at character detail with a tragic structure where an affecting and sometimes funny person is damaged in the game of national spying. Some regard these as the forerunner of all the more sceptical spy fiction written by such as Eric Ambler, Graham Greene and books such as ''The Spy Who Came in from the Cold''. Raymond Chandler was a great admirer of ''Ashenden'', writing to the author in January 1950: "There are no other great spy stories - none at all. I have been searching and I know".

Chapters

• R.
• A Domiciliary Visit
• Miss King
• The Hairless Mexican
• The Dark Woman
• The Greek
• A Trip to Paris
• Giulia Lazzari
• Gustav
• The Traitor
• Behind the Scenes
• His Excellency
• The Flip of a Coin
• A Chance Acquaintance
• Love and Russian Literature
• Mr. Harrington's Washing

In later collections, the chapters are combined and collected under different titles, as below.

• "A Domiciliary Visit" & "Miss King" as Miss King
• "The Hairless Mexican", "The Dark Woman", "The Greek" as The Hairless Mexican
• "A Trip to Paris, "Giulia Lazzari" as Giulia Lazzari
• "Gustav", "The Traitor" as The Traitor
• "Behind the Scenes", "His Excellency", as His Excellency
• "A Chance Acquaintance", "Love and Russian Literature", "Mr. Harrington's Washing" as Mr. Harrington's Washing

The story begins in the 1960s with three inmates in a New York prison — Earl (Van Peebles), Rocco (Kelly), and Carlito (Hernandez) — controlling their criminal empire within their cell. Upon their release, they all look to control the drug trade in Harlem, which is currently in a power dispute between the Italian Bottolota crime family and black gangsters led by Hollywood Nicky (Combs). Rocco takes them to Artie Bottolota (Young) who at first is reluctant to work with blacks and Puerto Ricans, but who eventually cuts a deal with them in heroin distribution. The friends also meet Artie's son, Artie Jr. Soon, Earl's troubled younger brother Reggie joins them. It does not take long for Reggie to cause trouble; eventually endangering both himself and Carlito's deal with the Bottolotas.

Artie Jr. attempts to kill Reggie with a straight razor, while Carlito is restrained. Rocco pulls up and tells Artie Jr. to let him go, reasoning they will "take care of him." Carlito also meets a young lady named Leticia and meets her brother Sigfredo. Sigfredo knows who and what Carlito really is, which leads to confrontation. Carlito eventually proves himself to Leticia's family, but Sigfredo leaves.

Reggie, after being kicked off the crew by Carlito, attacks and kidnaps Artie Jr. outside of his house, with the help of two other thugs. After Reggie gets the ransom, Artie Jr. is released by police and returns to his family.

The Bottolotta Family blames Carlito, Rocco, and Earl for assisting Reggie in the kidnapping. Artie Sr. puts out a contract on the trio. The hitman contracted to kill them, Nacho Reyes (Luis Guzmán), and Carlito's accomplice, Colorado help them find the hoodlums with Reggie. Reggie's location is learned.

Carlito and Nacho find Reggie in an apartment, along with Earl. The four men draw guns, Nacho holding two revolvers and Carlito holding a revolver and Reggie threatening Carlito, taking no responsibility for the trouble he has caused. Reggie is killed, and Nacho leaves. Carlito, Earl and Rocco continue working for the Bottolotta Family, dealing heroin.

Carlito and Earl pay off corrupt cops in Harlem to raid and kill the entire Bottolotta Family. Carlito, Rocco and Earl fly to the islands with Earl for his wedding. Earl retires, and Carlito reunites with Leticia, retiring temporarily.

At the center of the narrative are two roommates, Mike Carr and Johnny Dixon.

After many months, Mike returns to his old New York neighbourhood and goes into Tim McGinnis’ bar to wait for Estelle Mitchell, a woman he hasn't seen since soon after her twin sister Linda was murdered. He sits down and starts having flashbacks of the events around Linda's death.

Johnny had been dating Estelle until he discovered that she was seeing other men. He dumped her and began a relationship with her sweet twin, Linda.

Due to a head injury he had suffered during the war, Johnny experienced regular nervous breakdowns. He and Mike served in the army together and, being roommates, Mike nursed him through these.

Johnny and Linda were very much in love, but Estelle wanted him back and was determined to break up the happy couple. In the meantime, she was seeing Mike, who had a hard time resisting her vampy style.

Mike only met Linda once, but he realized she was the sister he wanted to put energy into catching; she was more virtuous and engaging.

But the twins both wanted Johnny, and one night they got into a fight over him, after which Linda went to see Johnny. Estelle tried to intercept and get to Johnny's first.

Mike sees Estelle arrive before Linda and stops her from coming between the two lovers. However, when Mike returns to his apartment alone a couple of hours later, Estelle telephones Mike from her home and at her mother's request, to say that Linda never came home and has been reported missing.

Mike finds Johnny, drunk and distraught. He begs Mike to verify his alibi - that Linda had left his and Mike's place after an argument with Johnny, and that he heard Linda whistle for, and then saw her get into, a taxi.

When the police arrive at the scene they find a buckle from Linda's trench-coat on Johnny's apartment floor and, after finding Linda's body in the apartment building, they take Johnny in for questioning.

Mike passes by McGinnis' bar and finds another buckle outside the bathroom window. He goes to Johnny and mentions the possibility that Johnny's memory might have failed him the night of the murder. While they are talking, the police arrive to arrest Johnny and he panics. Mike helps his friend by letting him escape out the back.

In order to persuade Mike to give Johnny up, Detective Heller takes Mike to the morgue to show him Linda's trashed body. Heller then recounts the horrible details of Linda's death: After being choked, Linda was pushed, still alive, into the chute of the trash incinerator, and when he was unable to fit her in the tight space, the murderer shoved her in and broke her neck. The murderer then pulled her out and put her in a barrel on the roof.

Mike is disgusted by this, but still doesn't believe his friend murdered Linda. He convinces Johnny to come out of hiding and clear his name. As they arrive home, Estelle is waiting for them with a man named Alex Tremholt, who has been renting a room at the Mitchells' since the twins were young.

While they are there, Mike hears a woman whistle for a taxi, and realizes that must be the same woman Johnny heard the night of the murder. When Tremholt sees Johnny, he insists on calling the police to arrest him, but Johnny escapes once more. Detective Heller arrives and suspects Tremholt of having a long-standing, unrequited love for Estelle and of killing the innocent Linda, whom he mistook for Estelle, the object of his desire. With the truth being revealed, Mike hurries off to tell Johnny he is in the clear and just manages to stop him from hanging himself.

Back in the present, Estelle shows up at McGinnis' and Mike drags her to his old apartment and insinuates that she committed the murder. When he enters the flat, however, Heller is waiting to arrest him. The detective reveals that Jake, the apartment janitor, recently found Linda's neck scarf in the incinerator chute with Mike's fingerprints all over it. It turns out that Mike killed Linda, believing she was Estelle. After telling Mike that the accusations he had made against Tremholt were only a trick, Heller accompanies Mike down the stairs, and past Estelle, into the night.

Two dishonest partners in a grocery store, Sam Peck and Steve Jenkins, both run for mayor in Jimtown, USA. They agree that if either wins, he will appoint the other his chief of police. Steve wins with the help of a crooked campaign manager. He keeps his promise and appoints Sam chief of police, but they begin to disagree on petty matters. They resolve their differences in a long, comic fight. As they fight, their opponent for the mayoral position, virtuous Harry Walton, vows to end their corrupt regime ("I'm Just Wild about Harry"). Harry gets the people behind him and wins the next election, as well as the lovely Jessie, and runs Sam and Steve out of town

The U.S. Treasury Department needs to locate the source of a high-grade counterfeit operation. A counterfeiter in prison, Tris Stewart (Lloyd Bridges), agrees to be released on early parole in a pretend jail break, remaining under supervision, in order that he may assist in locating the persons currently doing the forging and the plates which years ago belonged to him.

Although soon Stewart betrays and escapes from the supervising agent, the secret service, anticipating his moves, has located in Los Angeles Stewart's girlfriend Laurie Fredericks and bugged her apartment. In addition, undercover agent John Downey alias Johnny Hackett has become a regular in the restaurant where Fredericks works, pretending to be a moderately wealthy shady character romantically pursuing her.

Stewart arrives to move in with Fredericks and soon learns that his counterfeiting plates had been sold by his old partner, now a bankrupt drunk, to Jack Sylvester. Stewart visits Sylvester and asks to buy $250,000 worth of counterfeit $20 bills, which he figures would go a long way in Mexico. He needs to come up with $25,000 cash in exchange. After an aborted attempt to rob the restaurant where Fredericks works, Stewart turns to Hackett, offering to make him very rich if he will stake the money.

After Sylvester meeting Hackett and a "trial run" exchange involving a box of plain paper, Stewart and Hackett wait for Sylvester to arrange the real transaction. But then Hackett's cover is blown when, in the restaurant, an old acquaintance recognizes his identity and Fredericks overhears the man discussing Hackett's resume.

Upon finding out Hackett is a "cop", Stewart attempts to kill him but fails and lands back in custody. Given this, Hackett decides to push through the sale transaction quickly. He picks up Sylvester and the two set out for Sylvester's printing press location. Sylvester notices they are being tailed, and Hackett is forced to lose his backup agents who were tailing their car. At the location, a large box of bills is handed to Hackett and he must stall, waiting for his backup to locate them. But then Fredericks arrives with Sylvester's employee and Hackett's cover is blown again.

Meanwhile, outside, a motorcycle officer identifies Hackett's car, and his call allows the agents to locate the warehouse. Inside, Sylvester for some reason shoots Fredericks rather than Hackett. Police and agents swarm in, upon which Sylvester flees. A long chase ensues within a nearby subway system, where Sylvester meets his end by electrocution. The case is marked "closed".

A visionary astronomer, Dr. Janos Rukh, has invented a telescope that can look far out into deep space, into the Andromeda Galaxy, and photograph light rays that will show the Earth's past. He has theorized about this being possible for some years, much to his discredit among his fellow scientist-colleagues. Looking at the remote past on a planetarium-like dome in his lab, two of those ardently skeptical scientists, Dr. Benet and Sir Francis Stevens, watch a large meteorite smash into the Earth a billion years ago, in what is now the continent of Africa. Amazed by Rukh's demonstration, the pair invite him to go on an expedition to locate the impact site.

Rukh finds the meteorite, but is exposed to its unknown radiation, now dubbed "Radium X". This causes him to glow in the dark and to make his mere touch instantaneously deadly to any living thing. The exposure also begins to warp his mind. Returning to the base camp, he entreats Dr. Benet to devise a means of neutralizing Radium X's poisoning effect. Benet develops a serum that holds the lethal element's toxicity at bay, but Rukh must take regular doses of the antidote or he will revert to being a luminous killing machine. Rukh returns to his jungle base and learns from Benet that this situation has been complicated by the romantic relationship between Rukh's wife, Diana, and Ronald Drake, the nephew of Lady Arabella Stevens, Dr. Stevens' wife.

Benet takes a piece of the meteorite back to Europe, where he modifies its effects to help people, including curing the blind. Working along similar lines, Rukh cures his mother's blindness, but in spite of her warning, he goes to Paris to confront Benet and the others. There, he pretends to acknowledge his wife's new relationship with Drake, but in reality, it is the first step in his plan for revenge. Rukh murders a Frenchman he closely resembles, making it appear that he has died and been rendered unrecognizable due to an accident with Radium X.

Believing the deception, Diana marries Ronald. Rukh now begins to use his radiation poisoning to kill off the expedition members. He marks each death by disintegrating a single statue on the exterior of a church across from where he is hiding. Each time, he focuses the radiation through a window using a raygun-like device. He manages to kill both Stevenses before the police realize what is happening. Dr. Benet helps them set a trap by convening a scientific conference at his home to discuss Radium X, but Rukh secretly gains access and kills Benet. He has saved his revenge on Ronald and Diana for last but finds himself unable to kill his former wife. This hesitation brings him to a confrontation with his mother, the most important woman in his life. She has foreseen her son's growing madness and smashes the last of his antidote bottles in order to stop him. As the Radium X begins to consume him from within, Rukh jumps from a window. He disappears in an explosive flame, having been vaporized before reaching the ground.

The play is set in an English boarding house. One of the lodgers locks himself in his room, leaving a note stating that he has decided to retire from the world until the world has changed. Other lodgers and his sister try to coax him out and establish what the problem is. The action is punctuated by songs performed by Bob Dylan.

Ankhesenamun has never been safe in all her short life – not even with her beloved husband and half brother Tutankhamun.

Daughter of Pharaoh Akhenaten and the fabled Nefertiti, and married at one time to her father, she is forced to marry Tutankhamun by the powerful General Horemheb at a time of bitter political and religious division. Ankhesenamun is the delicate link between scheming factions.

Left vulnerable by the failure of her plans for the sacred egg of Ra and the death of her young husband, Ankhesenamun is forced into making one last extraordinary and desperate bid for life and happiness...

In Victorian London, the plain Essie Whimple works in the Simpson Sisters Wax Museum, run by her two aunts, Aunt Sarah and Aunt Maude. They show the murder of Ruth LaRue, an American chorus girl, at the museum. They are visited by the murdered women's co-workers and by Inspector White of Scotland Yard. Notable among them is Tom Baxter, a "Strong Man." Essie, attracted to Tom, makes up a story about knowing who the killer is, and fakes an attempt on her life. She hides in Tom's show, and is turned into a "Redhead."

A Betazoid scientist, Lem Faal, claims to have found a way to penetrate the Galactic Barrier. The ''Enterprise'' is sent to offer aid. They return to Delta Vega, where Gary Mitchell was transformed in a god-like being after exposure radiation from the barrier in "Where No Man Has Gone Before". After gaining an understanding of Faal's technology, Capt. Picard orders the ''Enterprise'' to the barrier. Q appears, warning Picard and Faal against breaking the barrier.

When asked why they should stop, Q takes Picard on a journey to the distant past—a young Q's distant past. With Riker in command, the ''Enterprise'' is attacked by the Calamarain, non-corporeal lifeforms introduced in the episode "Deja Q". Faal plots to complete his barrier breaking test, regardless of the consequences, eager to make his mark on the Universe.

While on his journey with Q, Picard discovers the truth: the barrier was constructed to protect the galaxy from a malevolent, near-omnipotent, entity known as 0. The entity had remorselessly ravaged several worlds 600,000 years prior. It had also tortured the Calamarain, almost compressing them all into a single point, before being stopped by the young Q.

A small portion of 0's consciousness had passed through the barrier a few years prior, and merged with Faal. He was promised immortality in exchange for opening the barrier. After 0 entered the galaxy, Q, other members of the Q Continuum, and the Calamarain, join forces to defeat it.

A British bartender, Monte (David Bowie), wishes to marry a waitress at the restaurant he works, ostensibly so he can get his green card. Waitress and aspiring escape artist, Lucy (Rosanna Arquette), and hopeful lingerie designer Vivian (Marlee Matlin), wish to rob Monte's and Lucy's employer in order to fund their ambitions. Monte agrees to help the duo rob the restaurant so long as Lucy marries him. While the robbery does not go precisely according to plan, the trio are successful. However, Lucy accidentally leaves Monte at the altar, causing him to lose a two million dollar bet with the restaurant owners that he could marry a waitress in a week. In a double or nothing scenario, Monte wagers Lucy's skills as an escape artist. He tricks the women into playing along, claiming that the bosses found out about the robbery. The women appear to forgive him for lying about the circumstances of the escape performance. The two women rob the restaurant a second time. The relationship of the women and Monte remains ambiguous in the end.

The book is an account of the memories and legacy of John Ames as he remembers his experiences of his father and grandfather to share with his son. All three men share a vocational lifestyle and profession as Congregationalist ministers in Gilead, Iowa. John Ames describes his vocation as "giving you a good basic sense of what is being asked of you and also what you might as well ignore", explaining that your vocation is something both hard to fulfill and hard to obtain. He writes that this is one of the most important pieces of wisdom he can bestow upon his son. Ames's father was a Christian pacifist, but his grandfather was a radical abolitionist who carried out guerrilla actions with John Brown before the American Civil War, served as a chaplain with the Union forces in that war, and incited his congregation to join up and serve in it; as Ames remarks, his grandfather "preached his people into the war." The grandfather returned from the war maimed with the loss of his right eye. Thereafter he was given the distinction that his right side was holy or sacred in some way, that it was his link to commune with God, and he was notorious for a piercing stare with the one eye he had left.

The grandfather's other eccentricities are recalled in his youth: the practice of giving all and any of the family's possessions to others and preaching with a gun in a bloodied shirt. The true character and intimate details of the father are revealed in context with anecdotes regarding the grandfather, and mainly in the search for the grave of the grandfather. One event that is prevalent in the narrator's orations is the memory of receiving 'communion' from his father at the remains of a Baptist church, burned by lightning (Ames recalls this as an invented memory adapted from his father breaking and sharing an ashy biscuit for lunch). In the course of the novel, it quickly emerges that Ames's first wife, Louisa, died while giving birth to their daughter, Rebecca (a.k.a. Angeline) who also died soon after. Ames reflects on the death of his family as the source of great sorrow for many years, in contrast and with special reference to the growing family of the Rev. Boughton, local Presbyterian minister and Ames's dear and lifelong friend.

Many years later Ames meets his second wife, Lila, a less-educated woman who appears in church one Pentecost Sunday. Eventually Ames baptizes Lila and their relationship develops, culminating in her proposal to him. As Ames writes his memoirs, Boughton's son, John Ames Boughton (Jack), reappears in the town after leaving it in disgrace twenty years earlier, following his seduction and abandonment of a girl from a poverty-stricken family near his university. The daughter of this relationship died poor and uncared-for at the age of three, despite the Boughton family's well-intended but unwelcome efforts to look after the child. Young Boughton, the apple of his parents' eye but deeply disliked by Ames, seeks Ames out; much of the tension in the novel results from Ames's mistrust of Jack Boughton and particularly of his relationship with Lila and their son. In the dénouement, however, it turns out that Jack Boughton is himself suffering from his forced separation from his own common-law wife, an African American from Tennessee, and their son; the family are not allowed to live together because of segregationist laws, and her family utterly rejects Jack Boughton. It is implied that Jack's understanding with Lila lies in their common sense of tragedy as she prepares for the death of Ames, who has given her a security and stability she has never known before.

Although there is action in the story, its mainspring lies in Ames's theological struggles on a whole series of fronts: with his grandfather's engagement in the Civil War, with his own loneliness through much of his life, with his brother's clear and his father's apparent loss of belief, with his father's desertion of the town, with the hardships of people's lives, and above all with his feelings of hostility and jealousy towards young Boughton, whom he knows at some level he has to forgive. Ames's struggles are illustrated by numerous quotations from the Bible, from theologians (especially Calvin's ''Institutes of the Christian Religion''), and from philosophers, especially the atheist Feuerbach, whom Ames greatly respects.

The abstract and theological content of the book is seen through the eyes of Ames, who is presented in a deeply sympathetic manner and who writes his memoir from a position of serenity, despite his suffering and a knowledge of his own limitations and failings. Throughout the novel, Ames details a reverential awe for the transcendental pathos in the small personal moments of happiness and peace with his wife and son and the town of Gilead, despite the loneliness and sorrow he feels for leaving the world with things undone and unsolved. He is able to revel in the beauty of the world around him and takes the time to appreciate and engage with these small wonders at the end of his life. In this way the novel teaches the importance of stepping back and enjoying present realities. Ames marvels in the everyday and commonplace and wishes this attitude for his son, also. He proclaims his desire for his son "to live long and… love this poor perishable world". Ames takes the time to be fully present and intentional in everything that he does, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem. An example of this from the novel is towards the beginning on page 5 when he passes two young men joking around and laughing with one another on the street and Ames is filled with a sense of awe at the beauty of such a simple expression of friendship and joy. In this way Ames sees the allure in both the ordinary and mundane as well as the tragic. He begins to express a viewpoint that the purpose of life is to look for things to appreciate and be thankful for. In the closing pages of the book, Ames learns of Jack Boughton's true situation and is able to offer him the genuine affection and forgiveness he has never before been able to feel for him.

This quasi-detective tale follows an unnamed, chain-smoking narrator and his adventures in Tokyo and Hokkaido in 1978. The story begins when the recently divorced protagonist, an advertisement executive, publishes a photo of a pastoral scene sent to him in a confessional letter by his long-lost friend, 'Rat.' He is contacted by a mysterious man representing 'The Boss,' a central force behind Japan's political and economic elite, who is now slowly dying. The Boss' secretary tells him that his agency must immediately cease publication of the photo. He also explains that a strange sheep with a star-shaped birthmark, pictured in the advertisement, was in some way the secret source of the Boss' power and that he has one month to find that sheep or his career and life will be ruined. The narrator and his girlfriend, who possesses magically seductive and supernaturally perceptive ears, travel to the north of Japan to find the sheep and his vagabond friend.

The biggest clue seems to be the photo of the sheep that the mysterious man wished to cease publishing. Which brings the two to the Hokkaido region, in a cold and mountainous town called Sapporo. There the narrator's girlfriend digs through various texts in the library and they explore the city. The girlfriend's ears help to guide them to the Dolphin Hotel which is a shadow of its former self. It is run by a man who was once a sailor, but, due to an accident at sea, has only the use of one arm. The hotel owner points the pair to his father, the 'Sheep Professor', who is a bitter, eccentric man living upstairs in the hotel, still remembering the sheep from when he encountered them in Manchuria, decades before. The hotel owner and his father have a horrible relationship, and the Sheep Professor is reluctant, at first, to talk to anyone that his son brought, until the narrator mentions the sheep to the Sheep Professor.

The Sheep Professor tells them of his encounter with the star-backed sheep and the obsession he still holds to find it again. It is the tip from the Sheep Professor that leads them to an isolated house and a man that tends to sheep that knows the trail. With his help, the narrator and his girlfriend walk the trail that leads to the house. Inside there is nothing but dust, supplies and a new, but barely used car in the garage. It is there that the narrator prepares to wait until the owner of the house arrives, figuring that it would be the next host of the sheep, or the sheep itself.

While the narrator naps, his girlfriend makes a stew, which is done by the time the narrator awakes. However, his girlfriend abruptly leaves the house while he is asleep. The narrator is tempted to start back to town to look for her but quickly dismisses this.

Throughout the novel, there is a dual storyline concerning the whereabouts of the Rat; who had been moving around the country, doing a variety of odd jobs and exploring whatever town that he had happened to travel to. The Rat held limited correspondence with the narrator through letters.

After over a week of waiting at the manor, the narrator runs out of smokes and decides to quit. He lives an isolated life of waiting, reading, morning jogs and sipping beer and whiskey waiting for the Rat, whom he correctly guesses to be the new host of the sheep. In this time, he encounters the short and weird Sheep Man, who asks for a drink and tells the narrator that his girlfriend is okay and was not harmed when she left.

In darkness, soon after, the narrator encounters a familiar voice, the Rat's. Sharing a beer together, the Rat starts to answer the narrator's various questions. The house had belonged to his father, and had been a vacation home purchased from the US government for cheap, after they failed to turn the land into a radar station. They leased the land and sheep pastures to the town, and still do. The Rat, feeling nostalgia of happier times and feeling estranged from his family, encountered the sheep journeying back to the house, after hearing the Sheep Professor's story of the sheep and seemingly being drawn to the house. The Rat also informs the narrator that he killed himself over a week before the narrator arrived, hanging himself in the garage and the Sheep Man burying him on the property; destroying the sheep (due to the sheep being inside of him) before the sheep could fully control him and preventing the sheep from taking another body. They say their final goodbyes, promising to see each other again.

With the mystery solved and questions answered, the narrator walks away from the house. The Boss' assistant encounters the narrator and pays him a generous sum, telling him that his company has been dissolved as well. The Boss' representative allows the narrator to use his car and its driver to return to town. As the narrator returns to town, the driver informs him that his cat has grown fat and that the number to god's phone doesn't seem to work anymore.

The narrator visits his old friend J's bar. Investing in the business with the condition of returns and that the Rat and he would always be welcomed with drinks in the establishment.

Colonel McNamara discusses with a superior how to get Riley back in the Initiative under his command and how to deal with Buffy. Spike tells Adam that Buffy is going to be difficult to defeat and he should not underestimate her. Spike talks about having already killed two Slayers (Xin Rong and Nikki Wood), yet having been unable to kill Buffy, especially because of the Initiative chip now in his head. The two plan to separate Buffy from her Slayerette friends.

Still upset about what happened between her and Angel during her visit to Los Angeles, Buffy returns from L.A. to her empty dorm room. Xander brings Riley some clothes, and they talk about their mutual distaste for Angel, Riley having been told by Buffy about her previous relationship with him. However, it emerges that she has not told him the whole truth; while Riley was aware that Angel lost his soul and became Angelus, Xander tells Riley that having sex with Buffy was the trigger that set Angelus free.

Spike visits Giles at home and offers him files inside the Initiative. Spike tells Giles that Buffy does not respect her former Watcher anymore, which upsets Giles and causes him to turn to drink. Willow and Tara play with their new kitten, Miss Kitty Fantastico, while planning their class schedule for next year. They also talk about future housing plans, but Willow has not talked with Buffy yet and is unsure what she wants to do now that things have changed so much.

Riley visits Buffy; using a radio, he has tapped into the Initiative and is aware of their actions. She mentions that Angel upset her, but she is focusing on seeking Adam, and Riley leaves. Xander and Anya bring Spike fatigues to wear and a gun. Spike enthusiastically tries to shoot Xander, only for the chip to go off in his head; the chip does not allow Spike to point weapons at people and the gun was fake. Spike makes Xander feel unwanted by convincing him that the rest of the gang does not feel he is useful.

Buffy goes patrolling and runs into Forrest, who is also looking for Adam. They argue as they go into a cave and find Adam, who launches a surprise attack. Buffy and Adam exchange a few punches and kicks: Forrest tries to step in and help, but he is pushed away by Buffy. Adam hurls the Slayer against the cave wall, and Forrest uses the opening to shoot Adam with his stun rifle. Instead of harming him, however, the voltage merely seems to refresh Adam, who then disarms and fatally stabs Forrest with his bone skewer. Her will to fight gone, Buffy flees from the cave, with Adam taking pot shots at her. Running for her life, Buffy trips and tumbles down the side of a hill; she strikes her head on a rock, knocking her unconscious.

Meanwhile, having supposedly sneaked into the Initiative to retrieve some information, Spike charges into Giles's place with the disks. However, Giles is drunk so Willow tries to decrypt the disks. Spike talks to Willow and Tara about their Wicca interest and how her friends do not seem to support it. Willow thinks he means that their friends are not accepting their romantic relationship.

Riley hears of trouble on the streets through his radio. He finds Angel fighting the commandos, and Riley refuses to let Angel go see Buffy. The two have a brutal fight, of which Angel is clearly the victor. Both run off when a military truck arrives.

Buffy returns to her dorm room and Angel shows up. As Angel speaks with Buffy, Riley barges in and raises a gun to Angel. Angel taunts Riley and the two come to blows again. Buffy separates them and wants to talk to Angel alone. Buffy scolds Angel, yet they laugh when Angel confesses he came to make up. Buffy also apologizes for being bossy. The two part on friendly terms, although Angel tells her that he does not like Riley. Riley is worried that Buffy has reunited with Angel and confesses he has learned how Angel can become Angelus. They profess their love to each other, but Buffy must give him the bad news that Forrest is dead. Riley is distraught and leaves.

Spike reports back to Adam, happy to have split up the Scooby Gang, and the damage becomes clear when their meeting at Giles's home turns into a fight. While Tara and Anya hide in the bathroom, Buffy scolds Xander for telling Riley details about her and Angel's relationship and argues that she is going to take on Adam alone. Xander complains that his friends do not need him and Willow complains that Buffy does not accept Tara, revealing their relationship, for the first time, to Xander and Giles. While Giles goes to sleep the alcohol off, Buffy leaves, telling her friends that she does not need them as she has someone else she can depend on – little realizing that Riley has gone to Adam's lair.

Three women who went to the same New York City elementary school, Mary, Ruth, and Vivian, meet again as young adults after some time apart. They each light a cigarette from the same match and discuss the superstition that such an act is unlucky and that Vivian, the last to light her cigarette, will be the first to die.

Mary is a show girl who has established stability in her life after spending some time in a reform school, while Ruth works as a stenographer. Vivian is the best off of the three, married to successful lawyer, Robert Kirkwood, with a young son, Robert Jr., but she has grown dissatisfied with her life and so decides to take a trip to Europe with her little boy.

Just before Vivian and Junior's ship is about to set sail, Mary boards the ocean liner with two men to attend a bon voyage party for some friends. Gambler Michael Loftus, one of the two men, flirts with Vivian. She's smitten with him and he persuades her to run away with him. Minutes before the ship leaves port, Vivian gathers up her son and the three disembark from the boat.

Vivian and Michael Loftus live a very shabby and rather dissolute life, so that Mary, concerned about Vivian's neglect of her son, tells Robert (nearly mad about the disappearance of the boy) where to find him. Both Mary and Ruth are very fond of Junior and Robert has fallen in love with Mary. He proposes to her and hires Ruth to look after the child. Mary and Robert marry the same day his divorce from Vivian becomes final.

Meanwhile, Vivian has become a hopeless drug addict and has spent all of her money. Additionally, Michael owes $2,000 to gangster Ace, who tells him to pay up or else. Desperate, Michael tries to blackmail Robert by threatening to inform the press about Mary's criminal background. Robert refuses to pay because he is already aware of Mary's checkered past; so instead, Michael kidnaps Junior to demand a ransom to pay his debt. Ace's thugs find the child with Michael and Vivian in their apartment where Junior joins his mother in her bedroom. The thugs are delighted and send a demand for a much larger ransom of $25,000.

Vivian begins having withdrawals. One of the gangsters, while out trying to score a fix for her, sees policemen in the neighborhood going door to door searching for the kidnapped boy. The gangsters decide to kill the child before the police arrive, but Michael balks at the plan, especially since he's the one who's been ordered to do the dirty deed. Enraged, the gangsters kill Michael.

In the meantime, Vivian has overheard the plot to kill Junior and is determined to save her son's life at all costs. She tells Junior to hide under the bed, then scrawls a message in lipstick on the front of her nightgown that relays the boy's whereabouts. Just as the gangsters are coming through her bedroom door, she jumps out of the fourth-floor window, killing herself but resulting in the boy's rescue. Mary and Ruth, at home after all is resolved, symbolically light their cigarettes from the same match and then throw it down onto the hearthstone, where the flame goes out.

The plot starts off on a beach where the team goes over their overall objectives and then go to save a small town, only to find all of the citizens have been either killed or evacuated except a French priest, Father François. He points out that he is "still a man of God", and therefore would only provide help with his knowledge of the enemy. He also tells them that most of the population was massacred in the village church by General Hans von Beck, who answers only to Hitler.

After defending a small village from a German counterattack, François is found missing and is discovered to be a German collaborator, while the Americans find a new ally in Adrienne, a female member of the French resistance. Meanwhile, two high-ranking officers within the German army quarrel over their duties, one being an SS commander and the other a Wehrmacht general.

During a mission, the team raid a U-boat base to find where von Beck is. Upon successfully stealing an Enigma machine, they find von Beck was not responsible for the massacre, which was instead the act of an SS commander, Victor Morder, and that von Beck had been part of the failed 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler. In a mission to a factory, Deuce is fatally wounded by François, but manages to take out all of the German forces in the area, as well as himself, by throwing a lit cigar into an explosives cache. The remaining Americans eventually corner François in a church in a town ironically similar to the village they first met the priest. Mac decides to spare his life, leaving him at the mercy of Morder. As he is leaving the church, however, François takes aim with an M1911, only to be shot and killed by Mac, using Deuce's favorite revolver.

The Americans form an alliance with von Beck during one of their later missions. With his help, the allied forces eventually arrive at the SS tower stronghold where Morder is making his last stand. They capture one of the SS rail cannons and take down the tower with Morder inside.

The ending shows von Beck surrendering to the American forces and formally saluting. Deuce's grave is shown with his favorite pistol at his headstone. Mac is seen after the credits, reunited with Adrienne.

Roughly five years after the events of the first film, Arthur Bach (Dudley Moore) is married to Linda (Liza Minnelli). Arthur's new assistant is a friendly but uptight man named Fairchild (Paul Benedict), and while Arthur enjoys playing practical jokes on Fairchild, he still deeply misses Hobson. Arthur and Linda have a happy marriage, but it is not without its problems. Arthur is still an alcoholic, and Linda is told by a doctor that she cannot have children. The two decide to adopt a child instead from a woman named Mrs. Canby (Kathy Bates), however, Arthur's drinking is a cause for concern.

Shortly after this, Arthur is informed by his father that the family's company has undergone a business merger with Burt Johnson (Stephen Elliott), the vengeful billionaire father of Susan Johnson (Cynthia Sikes), Arthur's ex-fiancee. The Bach family will get to keep their wealth and way of life, but only if Arthur is cut off from his $750,000,000 fortune. Arthur confronts Burt about this, and Burt tells him that he can have his money back on one condition: divorce Linda and marry Susan. Arthur refuses, as he loves Linda more than his lavish lifestyle.

Now broke, Arthur and Linda move in with Linda's father, Ralph (Barney Martin) and Linda gets back her old job as a waitress. Things are going well at first, but Burt is determined to make Susan happy, so he buys the building they are living in and forces Arthur and Linda to leave. Now homeless, Arthur and Linda move into a squalid apartment and Arthur tries to sober up to find a job, knowing that bad finances could ruin any chance they have of adopting a baby. After the owner takes pity on him, Arthur finds work at a hardware store, but Burt buys the store and has Arthur fired.

Susan arrives at Arthur and Linda's apartment and tells Linda that if she really wants what's best for Arthur, then she should leave him. Susan also tells Linda that she can have children, and Linda cannot. Realizing that Arthur is suffering because he is unwilling to let her go, a devastated Linda moves back in with her father and leaves Arthur a note telling him that he should marry Susan and live a comfortable life. Crestfallen at having lost Linda and still unwilling to marry Susan, Arthur begins drinking again and ends up living on the streets. At his lowest point, Arthur sees a vision of Hobson (John Gielgud) and Hobson tells him that he cannot give up, because he knows Arthur will have a son, and Arthur must be there for him.

Determined to get even with the Johnsons, Arthur gets sober again and learns from his grandmother, Martha (Geraldine Fitzgerald), that Burt has made a lot of enemies that have dirt on him. Arthur meets with several people whose lives have been ruined by Burt Johnson, and learns of a fraud and extortion scheme that Burt was responsible for. Arthur sneaks onto Burt's yacht and confronts him, demanding that they leave him and Linda alone. Burt and his friends laugh at Arthur, freely admitting that the allegations are true, but the statute of limitations has expired and the evidence is worthless. Arthur punches Burt in the gut, and Burt attempts to kill Arthur with a revolver. However, realizing that money cannot get her everything, Susan defends Arthur for the first time and tells her father to give Arthur his money back or she will tell her mother about his affairs. Burt reluctantly agrees, and Arthur thanks Susan before leaving to get his life back in order.

Arthur seeks out Linda and tells her that he has not only gotten his money back but also secured the adoption of a child. Linda and Arthur reunite and Mrs. Canby arrives with their adopted child, a baby girl. Arthur is confused because Hobson had told him he would have a son. However, Linda surprises Arthur with the news that she is pregnant, after all. The two return to their home and Fairchild plays a practical joke on Arthur for the first time. Arthur tells Fairchild to pack his things, and Fairchild, assuming he has been fired, does so. However, Arthur tells him that he is not fired, only moving rooms. He shows him to his new room, the room that used to belong to Hobson.

The Hindmost, recently deposed leader of the Puppeteers, abducts the human Louis Wu (who has become a wirehead) and Kzin Chmeee (previously known as "Speaker-to-Animals"). Both had been part of the original Ringworld expedition. The Hindmost hopes to acquire Ringworld technology, specifically matter transmutation, to help him regain his position.

Once they reach the Ringworld, Louis and Chmeee are sent out to explore, while the Hindmost remains safely behind on their starship. Louis and Chmeee secretly plot to try to overthrow the Hindmost so they can go home. In their travels, they meet a number of the hominid species that have evolved on the Ringworld. They also learn more about the full-scale "maps" of various known space worlds, including Earth, Mars and Kzin.

They discover that the Ringworld has become unstable and will collide with its star soon. The Ringworld's builders, revealed to be Pak Protectors, have long since died out, and the attitude jets they installed all around the rim to maintain the Ringworld's position were dismounted to use as starship engines. Chmeee goes to the Kzin map for his own goals, while Louis tries to find some way to save the trillions of inhabitants.

It is on the Map of Mars that the reunited party (and two natives) finds the Ringworld control room Louis is seeking, located in a vast maze of rooms in the hollow space under the map. To create the rarefied atmosphere on Mars, the Map of Mars was built above the main surface, creating a cavity. The control room contains living space and, among other things, the meteor defense system. The defense system uses the superconductor grid embedded in the Ringworld's ''scrith'' floor to manipulate the magnetic field of the Ringworld's sun to trigger stellar flares that power a titanic gas laser. (The first expedition to the Ringworld crashed after being hit by this laser.)

They encounter Teela Brown, a human member of the first expedition who had chosen to remain on Ringworld. She and her lover Seeker had, in the course of their travels, stumbled upon "Tree-of-Life" plants. The smell of the plant drove them to eat its roots; Teela was turned into a Pak Protector, with superhuman intelligence and strength, but Seeker died, being too old to undergo the transformation. As a Pak Protector, Teela has little control of her actions; her protective instincts force her to try to save ''all'' of the Ringworld inhabitants. This causes a dilemma. She knows of a way to save the Ringworld, but it would entail killing 5% of the people. This she cannot do. She manages to lure Louis and the others to where they can save the other 95%. Her instincts make her fight them, but she does so half-heartedly so that they can kill her.

Afterward, Louis figures out what to do. Teela had restored starship engines to their original purpose as attitude jets, but only had enough for 5% of the ring. Louis explains that the meteor defense system can generate a massive stellar flare (normally used to power the laser weapon) to provide twenty times more fuel to the attitude jets to move the Ringworld back into position. However, the radiation from the flare will be fatal to everything and everyone living on that section of the Ringworld. The actual task is carried out by the Hindmost, who is far superior at operating the control systems (and can safely pass through a Tree-of-Life plantation en route to the control center, as Louis cannot).

Having earlier destroyed the hyperdrive to force the Hindmost to cooperate, Louis is stranded. He and the rest of his party look for some place to settle down, while the Hindmost remains aboard the disabled (but very safe) starship to think things over.

This book consists of two main plot threads, which only come together towards the end of the book.

A variety of Ringworld hominid species, led by the Machine woman Valavirgillin (from ''The Ringworld Engineers''), join together to kill a large nest of vampires (the shadow nest) which has been feeding on all of them. With the help of two Ghouls, who know that the nest is located under an abandoned floating factory, they manage to cast out the vampires. The Ghouls find one of the Hindmost's spying devices in the factory and transport it all the way to the rim, to ask for help against the protectors who rule the rim.

Meanwhile, Louis Wu decides to die of old age instead of asking the Hindmost for rejuvenation, as self-punishment for his helping the Hindmost to restabilize the Ringworld at the end of ''The Ringworld Engineers'', killing (as he thinks) a trillion hominids to save the rest. After ten years of wandering around the Ringworld and aging, the Hindmost convinces him that he killed far fewer people than expected. Since there are signs of several Protectors on the Ringworld, Louis returns to the Hindmost to be restored to health in exchange for service, only for the pair of them (along with a Kzin named Acolyte, son of Chmeee) to be enslaved by a vampire Protector ("Bram"). Bram shoots down ARM and Patriarchy ships attacking the Ringworld, and then tries to overthrow the other vampire Protectors who control the rim wall. He manages to kill them all, but returns wounded to the control center, where he fights and is killed by a Ghoul protector Louis has created.

Harry Bogen is an ambitious, unscrupulous young businessman in the 1930s New York City garment industry. He will stop at nothing to get to the top: he lies to his mother and his girlfriend, Ruthie Rivkin, who try to help him become a better person, but he embezzles company funds from Apex Modes and betrays his friends and partners. Harry leaves Ruthie to take up with Martha Mills, a dancer in Club Rio Rhumba, but when he loses his friends and goes bankrupt, his mother and Ruthie stand by him.

Andri is a young man who has been raised by the Teacher (''der Lehrer'') and the Mother (''die Mutter'') as their Jewish adopted son alongside their daughter Barblin; the Teacher claims to have rescued Andri from the anti-Semitic Blacks (''die Schwarzen'') in the neighbouring country. Apart from Andri and Barblin, the other characters are referred to by their occupations or roles (though most do have names). After some of twelve scenes (which are called ''Bilder'', meaning "pictures"), characters come forth to a witness box and talk about Andri's death in the past tense (each additional scene is denoted ''Vordergrund'', which means "foreground"). In this way, information about Andri's parentage and fate is gradually revealed. Each townsperson attempts to rationalise their involvement in Andri's death; only the Priest (''der Pater'') is willing to accept any guilt. Every character alive at the end of the play makes such a statement, except for Barblin, the Mother, and the non-speaking characters.

At the beginning of the play, Andri is engaged to Barblin. The Soldier (''der Soldat'') is interested in her sexually, but she strongly dislikes him. The townspeople hold anti-Semitic views, and there are rumours of a coming invasion by the Blacks. The Teacher sells land to the Landlord (''der Wirt'') so that he can pay the Carpenter (''der Tischler'') to take on Andri as an apprentice. However, Andri is later dismissed from his apprenticeship when the Carpenter thinks that Andri has made a poor-quality chair, which was in fact made by the Journeyman (''der Geselle''), who does not admit to it. The Carpenter instead employs Andri as a salesman.

The Doctor (''der Doktor'') makes anti-Semitic remarks in front of Andri, unaware that Andri believes that he is Jewish. Andri tells the Teacher and the Mother that he and Barblin want to marry, and that they have been in love since childhood. The Teacher forbids the marriage without giving a reason; Andri thinks that it is because he is Jewish. The Teacher says (in an aside) that Andri is in fact his biological son. He tries to tell Andri this, but Andri has embraced his Jewishness and refuses to listen. At the same time, the Soldier rapes Barblin; Andri discovers this fact later.

The Mother, believing Andri to be a Jew, asks the Priest to speak to Andri to help him accept his Jewishness. The Señora (''die Senora'') then arrives in town; the townspeople are prejudiced against her because she is a foreigner. She helps Andri after he is assaulted by the Soldier. It is revealed that the Señora is Andri's real mother, but she leaves the town without telling Andri this (she gives Andri a ring). The Mother learns the truth about Andri's parentage, and the Teacher asks the Priest to explain the truth to Andri. Andri is not at all receptive and believes his fate to be sealed. The Señora is killed after a stone is thrown at her, and the Landlord claims that Andri is responsible (it is heavily implied that the Landlord killed her).

The Blacks invade, and the Soldier defects and joins them. The townspeople search for Andri, believing him to be a murderer; Andri hides outside, where the Teacher tries to persuade him of the truth, and then inside the Teacher's house with Barblin. Andri confronts Barblin about her relationship with the Soldier, and tells her to kiss him; he is not acting rationally at this point. The Soldier enters the house and arrests Andri.

The Blacks conduct a "Jew-Show" (''die Judenschau'') in the town square, led by the "Jew-Inspector" (''der Judenschauer''), to find the Señora's killer. This is shown to be a show trial; despite Barblin and the Mother's attempts to disrupt the process, the other townspeople co-operate. Andri does not defend himself, and is killed by soldiers, who are implied to cut off his finger to take the Señora's ring. Afterwards, the Teacher hangs himself. Barblin has her head shaved (earlier in the play, the Blacks are rumoured to do this to the wives of Jews) and goes mad. She does not fully accept that Andri has died, and leaves his shoes on the stage, stopping people from touching them.

Dr. Maxwell Kirshner (Ray Milland) arrives at a mansion as a passenger in a wheelchair; once inside Kirshner asks if his experiment has been a success, and is told by an orderly that it has been. He is taken to the basement, where the experiment is in fact a two-headed gorilla (Rick Baker) that Dr. Kirshner has created. The experiment is to determine whether two heads can survive on a single body. Dr. Kirshner has done this because he has not much longer to live and wants to transplant his still living head from his lifeless body onto a donor so that he may continue living and continue working as the world's most successful surgeon.

Dr. Kirshner returns to his hospital institute to oversee an operation performed by his close friend and associate doctor, Phillip Desmond (Roger Perry). Dr. Kirshner returns to the basement and his two headed gorilla to remove one of the heads from its body. Kirshner orders his assistants to sedate his creature, but plans go awry when the creature is upset about the needle and knocks Dr. Kirshner out of his wheelchair, hurting him badly. It then proceeds to smash up the lab and escapes. The creature runs away and into a supermarket, chased by the assistants, where he is caught.

Kirshner hires a new doctor, Fred Williams (Don Marshall), to help Desmond but when he discovers that Dr. Williams is African-American he tells Wiliams that he is no longer needed, to which Williams takes great offense.

Dr. Kirshner successfully removes the second head of the creature, and tells Desmond he is ready for his own transplant to a healthy donor. Desmond is not sure, until Kirshner tells him that the head that is now on the gorilla is in fact the second head he put on. He had successfully removed the original gorilla's head and replaced it with the second transplanted one.

Meanwhile, on death row, convicts are told that donating their bodies to science will save them from the electric chair. One convict is led to the chair - an African-American himself, named Jack Moss (Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier) - and he decides to volunteer for the science experiment because he is innocent of the crime he was supposed to have committed. The police, including Sergeant Hacker (Roger Gentry), escort Jack to the transplant center for this experiment they have been told about. The doctors are surprised to see a large African-American being brought before them for this experiment, knowing full well that when Kirshner wakes up, he is not going to like what he sees. However, the doctors work around the clock to transplant Dr Kirshner's head onto Jack's body.

After the operation, Kirshner wakes up, and Desmond tells him that the operation was a success. Desmond tells him that they had no other choice but to transplant his head onto the African-American's body, and that he would not have lived another day if they had not operated when they did.

At that moment, Jack awakens and is angry and disturbed that Kirshner's head is on his body and tries to get up from the table, but Kirshner cries out for someone to sedate Jack, which Desmond does. Desmond tells him that he will keep the 'Jack' side heavily sedated all the time while Kirshner regains the power to move the body. Leaving Kirshner to rest, Desmond meets up with Dr. Williams again and tells him he needs his help. Williams is reluctant at first, but Desmond reassures him that his beliefs are not the same as Dr. Kirshner's and that his help is very much needed.

Meanwhile, a nurse (Britt Nilsson) comes to administer a sedative to Jack's side of the body. Jack tricks the nurse into thinking he is asleep, and then injects her with the sedative instead and escapes, taking Williams with him/them. Williams drives the car under gunpoint by Jack and Desmond chases after them. Jack asks Williams if he can remove Kirshner's head from his body. Jack takes over driving and accidentally crashes the car, resulting in a flat tire. Kirshner then tries to appeal to Williams by offering him the accolades he has received by performing a successful transplant. Williams refuses the offer, as it would mean that he would have to remove Jack's head.

Jack goes to his wife's house; Lila (Chelsea Brown) is not that pleased to see him because of Kirshner's head on his body. While Jack is sleeping, Kirshner finds out that he can now control the body almost fully. Jack, Kirshner, Williams and Lila sit down for dinner. Lila asks what it will take to take Kirshner's head from Jack's body. Kirshner tells her that without a specially crafted surgical team, it is impossible to do the operation and both of them will die. Williams tells Kirshner that he is dead wrong about that, as the removal procedure is easily done without the aid of the surgical team.

Williams drives to a medical warehouse to get what he needs for the operation. Frightened by what Williams has told him, Kirshner manages to take over Jack's body and starts playing around with his face. Jack asks him to stop it and Kirshner knocks out Jack by punching him in the face. Cornered by William, Kirshner calls Desmond for help in removing Jack's head so that he may live. Kirshner manages to get away and drives back to the basement of his house. Before Kirshner can sedate Jack, Williams comes in and stops him. Williams then calls Desmond to get over to Kirshner's house as soon as possible. Desmond arrives with a nurse and an associate, who find Kirshner's detached head lying on the utensil table, hooked up to a heart and lung machine which has his blood constantly pumping through the plastic tubes to keep him alive for a while. Kirshner calls to Desmond and begs for him to bring him another body.

The film ends with Lila, Jack and Dr. Williams driving down the highway singing "Oh Happy Day."

Like the albums of Coheed and Cambria, this album is a concept album that tells a story. It contains many of the same recurring themes as the Coheed and Cambria story, such as love, the importance of children, and death. The album is being told from the point of view of a character known as "The Prise Fighter Inferno" a.k.a. Jesse from the Coheed and Cambria concept. He is also featured in The Amory Wars, Sanchez's comic books about the Coheed and Cambria story.

The name of the album, ''My Brother's Blood Machine'', is a phrase that appears in Coheed and Cambria's ''In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3''. This story is set in the past of the universe from the Amory Wars. In an interview with rock-sound.net in 2005, Claudio Sanchez has said that the two stories "do connect, but not in the most obvious way."

''Long-arm and Butchie Bleam brothers brought together by physical distortion and social seclusion are about to find themselves in the running for the most unusual job in the world.....DEATH! Listen to the story unfold as we follow these two misunderstood yet maniacal minstrels of macabre in a neverending race for ultimate power. Listen to the disturbing details as the songs takes you through the hell that is the Blood Machine. This is a story being told in song......this is hell being unleashed through love and sound...... I am the hitchhiker doomed to tell the tale of Margretville, I am your Guide, I am the Prise Fighter Inferno.''

In an interview posted by MTV News on September 29, 2006, Claudio went into much greater detail about the plot:

"Well, this story actually acts as a prequel to the Amory Wars," the center of the Coheed and Cambria mythology, Sanchez explains. The Inferno character, who appears in the Coheed concept as a man named Jesse, "dies in the ''Good Apollo: Volume One'', and is resurrected on present-day Earth. So he leaves the solar system that the story takes place in, and gets resurrected in the present day. But before he can tell the story of the Amory Wars, he needs to tell the story of the Blood Machine.

"The Blood Machine revolves around three families, one being the Bleam family, who are our horrific sort of 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' family," he continued. "There's the McCloud family — where we have our main character, Cecilia — and the Early family. And [Cecilia's] love interest is the son of that family, Johnny. And there are so many subplots. One, for example, talks about how Cecilia's father happens to molest her, and eventually she can't take it anymore and tries to convince Johnny to leave with her. She steals her two brothers, who happen to be twins, and Johnny decides not to go. So she ends up running away with the twins into the woods, where she meets the Bleam family."

Sanchez said that there are two Bleam brothers — Long-Arm and Butchie — who are horrific monsters. "Their mother happens to be crazy, and she ends up telling these two kids that 'God has come to me with a higher calling for you — you need to be the new Death,' and she tells them that they have to go out and collect souls for God," he explained. "And so, out of their mind, they're like, 'OK, so when a body dies, how do we get the soul out of it?' They construct this Blood Machine, which basically tears a body to shreds, and they think that releases the soul."

Sanchez said there are numerous subplots that will unfold as well, including the elaborate background of the Bleam kith: The family's patriarch, a meth addict, dismembers his wife when he catches her pinching from his stash, and her death sends the Bleam boys on a downward spiral toward complete madness.

Ryan, a good-natured slacker in his twenties, is dumped by his girlfriend and kicked out of their apartment, and, on arriving late to work, is suspended (pending psychological tests) from his job at an anonymous IT corporation. On receiving a phone call from his family saying they have won the jackpot of 4.3 million dollars on the BC lottery, he trashes his office space, and resigns. Unfortunately, when he calls the lottery "Win Line" he discovers they haven't actually won anything. By happy accident, Ryan is offered a job with the lottery bureau interviewing and photographing lottery winners. En route to the job interview he stops to see a beached whale and meets Ming, a set designer in a relationship with golf-course designer and scam artist Bryce.

Ryan is enticed by Bryce into participating in a lucrative money-laundering scheme involving new lottery winners, and after the euphoria of new-found wealth wears off is forced to choose between working with Bryce and winning over an increasingly sceptical Ming. Additional complications arise when Ryan discovers that his parents are operating a marijuana grow-op in the family basement, and when he re-visits lottery winners to discover that they are often worse off than they were before winning.

In 1946 Kure, war veteran Shozo Hirono is sent to prison after shooting a sword-wielding yakuza who assaulted his friend. He befriends and becomes sworn brothers with another prisoner, Doi Family member Hiroshi Wakasugi, who arranges for Yoshio Yamamori, Patriarch of the Yamamori Family, to bribe the prison warden and get him released. Hirono and his gang of fellow ex-soldiers - Tetsuya Sakai, Seiichi Kanbara, Uichi Shinkai, Masakichi Makihara, and Shuji Yano - then join the Yamamori Family by swearing loyalty to the boss and to each other. Wakasugi's boss, Patriarch Doi, serves as an official witness to the ceremony, along with Kenichi Okubo, Patriarch of the powerful Okubo Family.

Three years later, in 1949, Hirono gets into a fight with a man named Toru Ueda at a gambling den. Since Ueda is a blood relative of Okubo's, Hirono commits ''yubitsume'' in apology to Okubo. Okubo accepts, but asks Yamamori to take Ueda into his family and perform a favor for corrupt politician Shigeto Nakahara by eliminating a vote for his rival Shoichi Kanamaru, who is supported by the Doi Family in a political dispute over allotment of public resources. Sakai kidnaps one of Kanamaru's allies before the vote, allowing Nakahara's side to win, and goes into hiding afterwards. Doi finds out due to Kanbara bragging about it while drinking and beats him severely, then goes after Yamamori. However, out of loyalty to Hirono, Wakasugi stops Doi from killing Yamamori and a deal is brokered: Wakasugi will become a guest member of the Yamamori Family while Kanbara takes his place in the Doi Family.

Six months later, Doi starts moving against Yamamori and prepares to form an alliance with the Kaito Family from Hiroshima City. With the other members unwilling to act and Wakasugi forbidden by yakuza traditions to betray his boss, Hirono volunteers to handle the matter after Yamamori agrees to promote him. Hirono successfully assassinates Doi while he's coming out of a meeting with the Kaito Family and escapes. While in hiding, Hirono is visited by Kanbara, who claims Yamamori has a plan to sneak him out of the city. However, it turns out to be a set-up and Hirono, finding himself abandoned by Yamamori and hunted by the Doi Family, turns himself in for murdering Doi. Wakasugi murders Kanbara in revenge, but an anonymous tip to the police (provided by Yamamori) leads them to his girlfriend's house and he is killed trying to escape.

With the Korean War raging in the 1950s, the Yamamori Family thrives thanks to war contracts and expands in the immediate years, but internal strife begins when members start dealing philopon due to the high kickbacks the boss takes off their earnings. Sakai and Shinkai, who are now high-ranking officers in the family, feud when Shinkai's surbordinate, Toshio Arita, deals against Yamamori's orders. Sakai, recognizing that the patriarch's take is too high, offers a plan to have each family member become self-sustaining and limit the kickbacks, which only Shinkai and Yano vote against. Shinkai begins plotting with the surviving Doi Family members to kill Sakai. When it's revealed that Yamamori is selling the drugs he confiscates from the other members for personal profit, Sakai and Ueda threaten him and reveal their intention to take over the family. Yamamori has Arita kill Ueda in a barbershop and war breaks out between the two sides. The conflict ends quickly: Shinkai's men and the Doi Family members are murdered by Sakai's associates, Arita shoots a police officer who tries to arrest him and gets a life sentence, and Shinkai is stabbed to death before he can board a train to escape the city.

Hirono is then paroled due to a commutation of sentence and learns about the strife in the Yamamori Family. He goes to see Sakai, asking his old friend to make peace with Yamamori. Instead, Sakai forces Yamamori to retire, crowns himself the family's new patriarch, forms an investment company with Yamamori's money, and starts negotiating with the Kaito Family. When Makihara informs Sakai that Yano is making a secret trip to persuade the Kaito Family to end the negotiations, Sakai has him gunned down when he arrives. Makihara then contacts Hirono to join him on the supposedly retired Yamamori's side; however, Hirono refuses and instead announces he is breaking off his pledge to Yamamori and leaving his family. He goes to see Sakai and the two men vow to kill each other. After Sakai allows him to leave peacefully, Hirono witnesses his murder at the hands of Makihara's hitmen. At Sakai's funeral, which has Makihara and Yamamori in attendance, Hirono arrives with a gun, shoots up the funeral display, and threatens Yamamori before storming off.

The series revolved around a solicitor Frances Mo (Carol Cheng) and her paralegal advisor Yu Lok-tin (Dayo Wong). The two characters go from loathing to loving each other by the end of the series, and eventually become a couple.

A large part of the series takes place in C.K. Law Firm where Frances and Lok work. Their relationship extends past the office as they both live in the same apartment which gives them more opportunities to cross paths.

Between avoiding the "spinster" label and creatively fighting trivial lawsuits, Frances uses her wit and class to outsmart her main rival, solicitor Alex Pao (Joseph Lee). In addition, Frances also has personal problems to deal with in the homefront such as getting used to her new younger stepmother, Yuen Yuen (Martha Yuan).

There is a play (''Man & Woman In Love'', 男親女愛舞台劇) performed by the original cast as the ending of the series in November to December 2000. A 34 VCD set of the TV series and 3 VCD set of the drama were released for sale.

"Circle of Blood"

Newly imprisoned in Rykers following the events of ''The Spectacular Spider Man'' #78-83, the Punisher is sprung from jail by the Trust, a citizens organization whose purpose is to fight crime using the Punisher’s example by brainwashing criminals and making them part of their "Punishment Squad". This group wears uniforms similar to the Punisher's and kills criminals. A man named Alaric is in charge of this operation.

"Back to the War"

After being rescued by Angela, an operative of the Trust, the Punisher falsely tells Ben Urich that he has killed the Kingpin, who actually staged his own death. The purpose of this is to start a gang war where the criminals will kill themselves. This occurs, but the Punisher then becomes concerned by the large number of innocent people caught in the crossfire.

"Slaughterday"

The Punisher forces mob leaders (at gunpoint) to have a meeting to stop the gang war. Force is necessary, because the Trust had previously used a purported gang meeting to kill a number of criminals.

"Final Solution"

Betrayed by The Trust, The Punisher attacks Alaric's home only to find that Jigsaw has been brainwashed and is made a member of the Punishment Squad. The Punisher defeats Jigsaw, but is captured by Alaric and placed in the conditioning room.

"Final Solution, Part 2"

The Punisher escapes the brainwashing room because his weapons and clothing were not removed when he was put there. The Punisher then forces Alaric to implicate the Trust in his prison break and the Punishment Squad's murders. While leaving the mansion, the Punisher is seen by Angela who sits in a jeep on the mansion bridge waiting for Alaric. Jumping to the conclusion that Frank killed her lover, she guns the jeep towards him. Frank shoots the jeep's grill, forcing Angela off the road, precariously situated on the railing of bridge. Frank walks away as the jeep begins to slip.

The novel opens in the present day, with successful orthodontist Alexander MacDonald visiting his elderly older brother Calum in Toronto, Ontario. The novel explores the emotional bonds of family through flashbacks to their childhood in Cape Breton Island and young adulthood spent in the mines of Northern Ontario, clan history dating back to 1779, and present-day interactions between the two brothers and a sister. Though written primarily in English, Scottish Gaelic and French are used in dialogue and songs.

The novel also mirrors Canadian history as a whole, taking its title from James Wolfe's assertion in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham that Scottish soldiers should be sent into battle because "they are hardy, intrepid, accustomed to a rough country, and no great mischief if they fall." [237] The enduring linguistic and cultural tensions that have defined Canadian society are also reflected in the novel; during their time working in the uranium mines of Elliot Lake, the brothers are frequently in conflict with their francophone co-workers.

The novel explores the themes of brotherhood and the conflict between the rise of individualism and family in the post-modern world. Alex loves his alcoholic brother, Calum, despite his problems because Alex sees the potential in Calum. Alex lets his brother die in peace and with dignity even though he is a convicted murderer and alcoholic. The author uses Alex as an example for all human beings. MacLeod wants the reader to realize that "all of us are better when we're loved" and that forgiveness and love for humanity are the only weapons humans have against the destructive forces of evil.

Calum is posited as a contemporary clan chief of the MacDonalds defending the lost cause of Gaelic culture. His defence of Highland values parallels the devastating consequences of the Highland support for Charles Stuart in 1745. Throughout the book, Calum defends clan values in spite of the personal consequences. His distant Californian nephew, who has no idea of these values, steals from the Quebec miners. Calum's defence leads to murder and hard time, while the nephew blithely returns to California. Calum becomes the beaten alcoholic shell of a formerly strong man due to his reflexive support of the old clan values that have long since vanished as guiding principles, even among his own direct family.

The title, "No great mischief if they fall", is found most easily in Findlay, J.T., "Wolfe in Scotland in the '45 and from 1749 to 1753." London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1928, p. 226. An earlier use of the citation that MacLeod used for his title appears in Gibson, John G. "Traditional Gaelic Bagpiping 1745–1945." Montreal and Kingston: MQUP, and Nat. Mus. Scot., 1998, p. 59.

Peter Kuban is a Hungarian displaced person and survivor of World War II Nazi concentration camps. He stows away in Trieste (at the time of the film's release a city divided between Italy and Yugoslavia) on a ship bound for New York City. However, he is spotted by ship officials and held for American authorities. When the ship arrives in New York City, he claims that he qualifies for entry under an exception for those who helped Allied soldiers during the war, but all he knows about the paratrooper he hid from the enemy is that his name is Tom and he plays clarinet in a jazz band in New York City's Times Square. The immigration authorities, led by Inspector Bailey, say that without better documentation he must be sent back to communist Hungary on the same ship, which departs the next morning.

Kuban escapes by leaping off the ship to the dock below, but breaks some ribs, then begins his search for Tom in Times Square nightclubs. Peter’s picture and a caption of him being wanted as a stowaway who jumped ship is plastered over the entire front page of the city’s tabloids.

He encounters an unemployed factory worker named Maggie in a restaurant. When she steals a coat off a rack she is spotted and flees. Peter follows after her and helps her elude the police. They go to her apartment, where she tends his injury as best she can and learns his story. When her landlady, Mrs. Hinckley, threatens to evict her for being behind on her rent, Peter gives Maggie all the money he has. Eddie, the landlady's bullying son, barges in and tries to have his way with Maggie. Peter bursts out of hiding and starts fighting him, but gets pummeled. Maggie knocks Eddie out with a chair and flees with Peter.

The Hinckleys notify the police, claiming Peter was the attacker. He is subsequently pursued by the authorities for aggravated assault, described as dangerous and possibly armed. Meanwhile, Tom discovers Peter's picture on a discarded newspaper. He wants to go to the immigration department, but his pushy, marriage-bent girlfriend Nancy persuades him to attend an important audition instead. Tom impresses band leader Jack Teagarden, but leaves abruptly to try to help Peter.

The fleeing couple attempt to hide out in the subway, but are recognized. The police grab Maggie, but Peter gets away. While being questioned by authorities she meets up with Tom. After hearing his story, Inspector Bailey believes Peter’s story, but only if they can reach him before the ship departs at 7 am. After that, by law, Peter will be guilty of a felony for jumping ship, deported, and forever ineligible to be admitted to America. The trio drive around searching for him. Gravely suffering from his injuries, Peter slips into an unoccupied taxi and collapses. When burlesque dancer Tanya gets into it after work, she recognizes him from the newspaper photo. She takes him to her apartment for rest and a meal. When he asks why, she explains that her real name is Bella Zakoyla, and that she is a fellow "Hunky". Her immigrant mother approves, but her petty criminal brother fears police becoming involved, saying Peter’s plight is the responsibility of the United Nations. Their loud argument rouses him from fitful sleep in the next room. He slips away, leaving a note apologizing to Tanya for causing her so much trouble.

Acting on Freddie's assertion, Peter heads toward the United Nations building in the early morning hours. He is recognized on the way and the police are put directly on his trail. Maggie, Tom, Bailey, and a pair of officers pursue Peter through the halls of the U.N. Unable to find anyone to help him, he delivers a soliloquy to an empty meeting room with places marked for representatives of the U.N.'s member states. He calls for recognition that peace and freedom for the world require peace and freedom for every individual. After more desperate flight Peter panics and heads to the roof, where he ascends a parapet wall to jump. Maggie and Tom reach him and at the last instant the sound of Tom's voice causes Peter to collapse backwards onto the roof. All reassure Peter that he is now safe.

It tells the story of Peta, who has escaped from Liverpool to London after discovering that she is pregnant. The play all takes place in Peta's London flat and is a series of duologues between Peta and five other characters (Joe, Steven, Chantelle, Marion, and Colin) who all help Peta to reveal something about herself.

Frank Johnson is an unsuccessful painter who is out walking his dog one night when a car stops nearby. Unbeknown to Frank, the passenger in the car, a middle-aged man with an Irish accent, is trying to blackmail the driver. The passenger is about to testify before the grand jury against a criminal named Smiley Freeman. The passenger promises that he will not divulge the driver's ties to Freeman in return for a cash payment. The passenger does all the talking, addressing the driver, whose face is not shown, as "Danny Boy". Frank hears a shot as the would-be blackmailer is pushed out the passenger door. The stricken man begs for his life before the driver finishes him off with a second shot. The killer then sees Frank hiding in the shadows and takes two shots at him before driving away.

The police identify the victim as Joe Gordon. They tell Frank that Gordon was about to give evidence against Freeman. Because Frank clearly saw the shooter's face, Police Inspector Ferris wants to place him in protective custody. Frank has second thoughts and slips away while the police are otherwise occupied. Ferris sends for Frank's wife, Eleanor, to see if she can help him find Frank. When she arrives, the police are taken aback by her seeming lack of concern for her husband. Her flippant remarks indicate an unhappy marriage. It's "just like him, always running away," she tells Ferris. "Running away from what?" Ferris asks. "From everything," she replies. The police stake out her building in case Frank returns home.

Eleanor later tries to sneak out of her building without being spotted by the police and encounters reporter Danny Legget. He offers his help and $1000 for an exclusive story. They go to a club that Frank frequents. Sam, a waiter friend of Frank's, furtively passes a written message to Eleanor. But Legget reads the message too without Eleanor noticing. The message, from Frank, is that he will send her a letter addressed to his co-worker Maibus.

When Eleanor returns to her apartment, Ferris is waiting for her. He informs her that Dr. Hohler, Frank's doctor, has told him that Frank is taking medicine for a bad heart, a fact Frank has kept from Eleanor. Eleanor goes to Dr. Hohler who confirms that Frank's heart condition could be fatal. He gives Eleanor some ampules of Frank's medicine.

Eleanor then goes to the department store where Frank works as a window designer to get the letter he sent to Maibus. But Maibus doesn't have the letter and the mail clerk tells him there was no letter. Legget has managed to get the letter by bribing the mail clerk before Eleanor had arrived. Legget reads it but the letter doesn't tell him where to find Frank. He now has to show the letter to Eleanor, who is the only person in a position to guess where Frank is staying from the hints Frank gives in the letter, but Eleanor can't figure out what Frank is trying to tell her. They speak to Sam again at the club. One of the dancers, Suzie, mentions to Legget that Frank made a sketch that resembles Legget, but Eleanor doesn't hear her conversation with him. Suzie tells Legget that she will keep the sketch for the time being. Legget and Eleanor cross the street to a bar to make further inquiries. Legget leaves Eleanor on the pretense of making a phone call but exits the bar unobserved and returns to the club. He later slips back into the bar, tears up a penciled likeness of himself, and rejoins Eleanor as police cars and an ambulance arrive at the club. Suzie has apparently fallen from the building to her death.

During her search for Frank, Eleanor learns things that she never knew about him, especially that everyone who knows Frank likes and admires him. They all believe that she must be a wonderful person if Frank married her. She tells Legget that she now realizes how much Frank really loves her.

Eleanor finally deduces from the clues in Frank's letter that he is waiting for her on the beach near an amusement park. Eleanor arrives there at night accompanied by the persistent Legget, who has by this time thoroughly insinuated himself into her confidence. Ferris locates the taxi that Legget and Eleanor took to the amusement park and goes after them. Ferris also receives a phone call from Sam, who tells him that the only thing missing from Suzie's possessions is Frank's drawing of Legget. In the meantime, Eleanor finds Frank and they embrace. She then leaves to look for Legget. She and Legget spot Ferris and get on a roller coaster to avoid being spotted in turn. Legget has Eleanor stay on the roller coaster while he goes to meet Frank. But Legget has inadvertently let it slip that the killer had shot at Frank. Eleanor suddenly realizes that the only other person who could know this fact is the gunman himself -- "Danny Boy" Legget. While she is trapped on the ride, Legget tries to put Frank under enough stress to induce a heart attack. The two struggle. Shots ring out. Eleanor runs to the scene to discover that Ferris has shot Legget. For the second time, she and Frank embrace.

When Colin Briggs, a convicted murderer, is placed in an experimental programme to finish off his prison sentence, all he wants is peace and quiet. After his wise, elderly roommate Fergus, imprisoned for killing three wives, introduces him to gardening, Colin uncovers a talent and passion for plants. When he accidentally raises a patch of double-violets, the warden assigns him to cultivate a garden, with other prisoners as his assistants.

Teaming up with his fellow inmates, Colin gets the attention of celebrated gardener Georgina Woodhouse. Soon, the unexpected gardeners are preparing to compete for the Hampton Court Flower Show. When Colin meets Georgina's beautiful daughter Primrose, he discovers another reason to fight for his freedom: true love.

The plot closely follows the original Israeli film ''Eskimo Limon'' (''Lemon Popsicle''), and revolves around protagonist Gary, a typical high school student and pizza delivery boy, and his friends Rick—the slick talking ladies' man—and David.

Most of the plot involves their numerous attempts to have sex, which are usually successful for Rick and David, but never for Gary. Early in the film, the three boys pick up three girls with the promise of cocaine (instead they use Sweet'n Low). They go over to Gary's house where he gets stuck with the homely and overweight Millie, a friend of the other two more attractive girls. But their party is interrupted when Gary's parents return home and pandemonium ensues.

A love triangle develops between Gary, Rick and Karen, a beautiful transfer student to their school who is a virgin that Rick is determined to have sex with. Gary first sees her one night at a party, and asks David to find out where she lives. The next morning, in an attempt to get closer to her, he punctures her bike tires and entices her to ride to school with him. During and after the ride, he makes multiple attempts to woo her, much to her indifference.

One day Gary delivers pizza to Carmela, a woman whose sailor boyfriend is never home, and she tells him she wants more than just pizza. Being too afraid to follow up on it, he goes away and convinces his friends to go along with him. She promptly fornicates with Rick and David, but her boyfriend Paco returns home just as Gary is about to have his turn, prompting them to flee.

Eventually, Rick gets Karen pregnant after they have sex only once, and he leaves her. Gary decides to help Karen pay for her abortion by selling most of his possessions and borrowing money from his boss. After the abortion, Gary and Karen spend the remainder of the weekend alone together in Gary's grandmother's house. While nursing her back to health, Gary tells Karen that he sincerely loves her. Karen appears to reciprocate and they both share a tender kiss. Karen invites Gary to her 18th birthday party the following week. Gary scrapes up a few more dollars and buys Karen a gold locket for her birthday.

When Gary arrives at the party, his dreams of a lasting romance with Karen are shattered when he sees Karen making out with Rick. Despite what Rick had put Karen through, she apparently decided to take him back. Gary sadly leaves the party without saying a word to either of them, taking Karen's gift with him. Tears streaming down his face, Gary drives home alone, emotionally broken and defeated.

The childhood romance between neighbours blossoms into passionate love during adolescence. Majeed's father was rich once, so could send him to a school in the distant town, although he was not very good at studies. Suhra's father on the other hand had trouble making both ends meet. Even then he wanted to send his daughter, who was good at studies to the school. But after her father's death, all her hopes of further studies was ruined. Majeed begs his father to sponsor Suhra's education, but he refuses.

Majeed leaves home after a skirmish with his father, and wanders over distant lands for a long time before returning home. On his return, he finds that his family's former affluence is all gone, and that his beloved Suhra has married someone else. He is grief struck at the loss of love, and this is when Suhra turns up at his home. She is a shadow of her former self. The beautiful, sunshiny, vibrant Suhra of old is now a woman worn out by life, battered hard by a loveless marriage to an abusive husband. Majeed commands her, "Suhra, don't go back!" and she stays.

Majeed leaves home once again, but this time with plans on his mind. He needs to find a job, to ward off poverty, and thus he reaches a North Indian city. He finds work as a salesman but one day he meets with a bicycle accident in which he loses a leg. The day after he is discharged from hospital, he is informed that he's fired from his job. He again sets off on a job quest knocking at every door, wearing off his soles. He finds work as a dish-washer in a hotel. As he scrubs dirty dishes each day, he dreams of Suhra back home waiting for him to return. He must make enough money to return home and repay debts, before he can finally marry the woman of his life. His mother writes to him that Suhra is sick and subsequently of Suhra's death.

Abigail Trent Budell (Ethel Barrymore), a wealthy resident of Philadelphia and patron of the arts, supports her soprano granddaughter Prudence Budell (Kathryn Grayson), just returning from Europe after five years of vocal training. Prudence's grandmother sponsors an opera company run by the famous maestro Jose Iturbi (himself) to give her chance to lead an opera. They hire the also famous tenor Guido Russino Betelli (Thomas Gomez), but Prudence does not feel comfortable with him on the stage.

Prudence happens to see an American-Italian truck driver, Johnny Donnetti (Mario Lanza), singing opera. She soon becomes instrumental in bringing Johnny to public attention by insisting that he replace the opera troupe's defecting star tenor.

From here, Johnny becomes attracted to Prudence. Things get complicated when she encounters Mary (Marjorie Reynolds), one of Johnny's colleagues, whom she assumes is in love with him.

Rick (Zach Galligan) is the apple of his father's eye; smart, handsome, and idolized by his younger siblings (River Phoenix and Heather O'Rourke). By stark contrast, Lonnie (Molly Ringwald) is a troubled and withdrawn girl, struggling to put the painful memory of a suicide attempt behind her. Both teenagers are dealing with loneliness and family pressures when they begin to find solace in each other, and a young romance develops. As Rick and Lonnie's bond begins to grow stronger, and they become increasingly withdrawn from their friends and families, their protective parents begin to worry that the young lovers are becoming too involved and grow increasingly uncomfortable with the teenagers' relationship. Finally, when Rick's parents (Ellen Burstyn and Len Cariou) decide that Lonnie is a bad influence on their son, and Lonnie's parents (Marsha Mason and Paul Sorvino) decide that boarding school would be the best place for their troubled daughter, Rick and Lonnie, desperate not to be separated, make a tragic decision to take their own lives. In the wake of the young lovers' fatal suicide pact, the two devastated families are left to try and pick up the pieces of their shattered lives and must somehow find a way to go on.

The show is about the Bird children (Robin, Snoo and Jay), their mother and Fleur, a rival from Snoo and Jay's school. They are about to go camping, when Mrs. Bird accidentally activates a force field and they are shot off into outer space. They attempt to get back to earth, when a family of four aliens arrives in the kitchen. Then everything goes wrong, when Mrs. Bird accidentally climbs into the aliens' spaceship, and Mr. and Mrs. Krryptyx accidentally activate the engines, thus separating Mrs. Bird's children and Mr. and Mrs. Krryptyx's children. This leads both the children and the adults on a series of mad adventures.

The story of the birth of Christianity and its interaction with the Roman Empire is told largely chronologically by a narrator slowly succumbing to disease during the reign of Domitian.

The story starts where ''Man of Nazareth'' ended, immediately after the crucifixion of Jesus, and covers the work of the apostles, in particular Paul (who himself was not one of the original twelve apostles), the development of Christianity as an Abrahamic religion separate from Judaism, the Great Fire of Rome, the persecution of Christians, the destruction of the Second Temple, and the destruction of Pompeii.

Michael Waits has always dreamed of being a farmer and arranges a home exchange vacation in which he and his family will move into a house in the rural farming community of Nilbog ("goblin" spelled backwards) for a month. The night before the family is scheduled to leave, Michael's son Joshua is contacted by the ghost of his dead grandfather, Seth, warning him that vegetarian goblins want to transform him and his family into plants so that they can eat them. Seth tells Joshua that goblins can transform people into plants by feeding them poisoned food or drink.

Meanwhile, Joshua's sister, Holly, receives a visit from her boyfriend Elliot Cooper. Holly accuses Elliot of being a homosexual since he seems to prefer spending time with his male friends. Elliot promises to show his devotion by accompanying the family on vacation.

The next morning, Elliot fails to arrive and the family leaves without him; they encounter him en route to Nilbog, riding in an RV with his friends Arnold, Drew, and Brent. Outside of Nilbog, Seth appears as a hitchhiker, who warns Joshua that Nilbog is the kingdom of the goblins and that if his family eats anything while they are there, they will be transformed into plants. The family disbelieves Joshua's warnings and continues on to Nilbog, where they meet their strange and aloof exchange family, the Presents. There, Joshua sets about destroying all of the food the family finds or acquires, such as by urinating over a feast prepared for them, with the help of Seth's ghost.

Arnold goes for a walk outside of Nilbog and encounters a girl being chased by goblins. When Arnold approaches them and insults them, they respond by throwing a spear into his chest. They flee to a chapel in the woods, where they encounter the goblins' queen, druid witch Creedence Leonore Gielgud, who uses the "Stonehenge Magic Stone" to give the goblins power. Creedence tricks them into drinking a magic potion that dissolves the girl into vegetable matter which the goblins eat, a horrifying scene witnessed by Arnold that prompts him to scream helplessly only to be transformed into a tree.

The following morning, Michael and Joshua venture into town to buy some food, as there is none in their holiday home. When in town, they find the general store closed, and Michael falls asleep on a bench. Joshua enters the local church and eavesdrops on a goblin church sermon, which bewails the "evils" of eating meat. The parishioners capture him after seeing his skateboard roll into the church and attempt to force-feed him poisonous ice cream; Michael walks in on the scene and becomes suspicious, taking Joshua home.

Later, Drew goes to the town because there is no food or drinks in the RV. The sheriff Gene Freak takes him in his car and gives him a green hamburger. When he arrives in the town, Drew goes to the store and the owner offers him poisonous Nilbog milk. Feeling dizzy, he goes to a chapel and finds Arnold, who has transformed into a tree. Drew drags him out, but Creedence appears. She knocks him out and chainsaws Arnold into pieces. Drew is then killed off-screen.

At the house, the family discovers that the townspeople have prepared them a surprise party to apologize for the events at the church. Joshua attempts to make contact with Seth, only for Creedence to appear in goblin form through the mirror and attack Joshua. Seth's ghost appears and chops her hand off with an ax. Creedence returns to her chapel, where she transforms herself into a beautiful woman in revealing clothes; she then travels to Elliot's RV, where she seduces Brent and drowns him in popcorn.

During the party, Seth and Joshua try to cause a distraction using a molotov cocktail, however, the Priest captures them, takes the cocktail, and recites a spell that banishes Seth's soul to hell. However, before he vanishes, Seth summons a bolt of lightning from the sky, which ignites the cocktail and kills the Priest in a fiery explosion. When Michael extinguishes his burning corpse, his true Goblin form is revealed, and the villagers turn on the Waits, revealing themselves all as Goblins. The Waits and Elliot then retreat to the house, where the villagers surround them and hold them hostage.

Joshua, Elliot, Holly, Michael, and Diana hold a séance to communicate with Seth, who returns from the dead and tells them that he can retain a physical form for exactly ten minutes before he has to return to the afterlife. Seth gives Joshua a paper bag containing a "secret weapon" to use against the goblins. The goblins break into the house and transport Joshua to Creedence's chapel, where Joshua opens the bag, revealing a "double-decker bologna sandwich". He eats the sandwich, making his body poisonous to the goblins; he then touches the Stonehenge Stone, along with his family and Elliot, which destroys Creedence and all of the Goblins present.

The family returns home, where Joshua's mother is seen eating food from the refrigerator. The food, unknown to the family, has been poisoned by the family of goblins which is very likely to be the Presents family, who took over their home during their exchange in the country. Joshua then walks in on a group of goblins eating his now-dead mother's green, bloated torso off of the kitchen counter and offering him a bite. Joshua screams in horror.