In a Danish village in 1623, an old woman known as Herlof's Marte is accused of witchcraft. Anne, a young woman, is married to the aged local pastor, Absalon Pedersson, who is involved with the trials of witches, and they live in a house shared with his strict, domineering mother Meret. Meret does not approve of Anne, who is much younger than her husband, being about the same age as the son from his first marriage. Anne gives Herlof's Marte refuge, but Marte is soon discovered in the house, though she is presumed to have hidden herself there without assistance. Herlof's Marte knows that Anne's mother, already dead at the time of the events depicted, had been accused of witchcraft as well, and had been spared thanks to Absalon's intervention, who aimed at marrying young Anne. Anne is thus informed by Herlof's Marte of her mother's power over people's life and death and becomes intrigued in the matter.

Absalon's son from his first marriage, Martin, returns home from abroad and he and Anne are immediately attracted to each other. She does not love her husband and thinks he does not love her. Under torture, Herlof's Marte confesses to witchcraft, defined among other evidence as wishing for the death of other people. She threatens to expose Anne if Absalon does not rescue her from a guilty verdict, begging him to save her as he saved Anne's mother. Marte, after pleading with Absalon a second time, does not betray his secret and is executed by burning with the villagers looking on. Absalon feels his guilt over having saved Anne's mother, but leaving Marte to burn. Anne and Martin, clandestinely growing closer, are seen as having changed in recent days, fueling Meret's suspicion of Anne's character. Anne is heard laughing in Martin's company by her husband, something which has not occurred in their time together. Absalon regrets that he married Anne without regarding her feelings and true intentions, and tells her so, apologizing for stealing her youth and happiness.

A violent storm erupts while Absalon is away visiting a dying young parishioner, Laurentius. He had been cursed by Herlof's Marte during her interrogation and she foretold an imminent death. Meanwhile, Anne and Martin are discussing the future, and she is forced to admit wishing her husband dead, but only as an "if" rather than it actually happening. At that moment Absalon, on his way home, feels "like the touching of Death itself." On Absalon's return, Anne confesses her love for Martin to her husband and tells him she wishes him dead. He collapses and dies, calling Martin's name. Anne screams. The following morning Martin is overcome by his own doubts. Anne declares that she had nothing to do with his father's death, which she sees as providential help from above to release her from her present misery and unhappy marriage. At Absalon's funeral, Anne is denounced by Meret, her mother-in-law, as a witch. Anne initially denies the charge, but when Martin sides with his grandmother she is faced with the loss of his love and trust, and she confesses on her husband's open coffin that she murdered him and enchanted his son with the Devil's help. Her fate appears sealed.

The story begins as Uncle Fred knocks off Sir Raymond Bastable’s top hat with a Brazil nut fired through the window of the Drones Club from a catapult. Sir Raymond assumes that the culprit was a young Drone, but is unsure how to respond, knowing that a letter to the Times would open him to ridicule, especially as he is about to stand for Parliament. Uncle Fred suggests writing a novel exposing the iniquities of the younger generation. The eventual novel, “Cocktail Time”, which Bastable publishes under a pseudonym, becomes a succès de scandale after being condemned by a bishop. Afraid of being unmasked as the author, Bastable allows his ne’er-do-well nephew Cosmo Wisdom to take the credit, and the royalties, of the book. With his friend Gordon “Oily” Carlisle, and Carlisle's wife Gertie, Cosmo plots to blackmail Bastable, and writes a letter revealing the true author of “Cocktail Time”. Much of the rest of the book is concerned with various characters’ attempts to get hold of the letter.

The action moves to Dovetail Hammer, Berks, where Uncle Fred is staying with his godson Johnny Pearce. Johnny is in love with Belinda Farringdon, but needs £500 in order to marry her. Uncle Fred resolves to help, but for the time being is more concerned with retrieving the letter. It so happens that Sir Raymond Bastable is also living in Dovetail Hammer, with his sister Phoebe Wisdom, Cosmo’s mother, and Sir Raymond’s butler, Albert Peasemarch (who is secretly in love with Phoebe), as tenants of Johnny Pearce.

Oily travels to Dovetail Hammer and attempts to blackmail Sir Raymond, but Uncle Fred manages to extract the letter by posing as Inspector Jervis of the Yard. He then blackmails Bastable into treating Phoebe more kindly by keeping the letter himself. Cosmo and Bastable discover that the movie rights of the book could be worth a fortune. Cosmo changes his mind, deciding that he’d like to be the author of "Cocktail Time" after all. Needing the letter back, Cosmo proceeds to Dovetail Hammer. Oily

Uncle Fred unwisely gives the letter to Albert Peasemarch for safekeeping. However, while drunk, Peasemarch reveals the letter's location to Cosmo. As Cosmo retrieves the letter, Oily and Gertie attack him, knocking him out and steal the letter. She and Oily hide it in an imitation walnut cabinet, which is taken away to be auctioned. However, Uncle Fred finds the letter and removes it, allowing Oily and Cosmo to bid against each other fiercely. Uncle Fred extracts £500 from Sir Raymond in return for the letter, which he gives to Johnny, allowing Johnny to marry Belinda. Sir Raymond gets the movie rights to “Cocktail Time”, and marries his longtime admirer Barbara Crowe, while Albert marries Phoebe.

Nine months after the death of his adoptive father, Jack Davenport, a Chicago journalist, obtains some of his possessions which lead Jack to discover his past. Jack receives an assignment to do a story in Dallas, Texas. Jack leaves days before Christmas Eve and decides to stay in Clearwater, Texas, his birthplace. One of the possessions left by his adoptive father was a mysterious photograph of Clearwater's oldest churches, taken in 1963. The church has a life-sized, wood carven nativity scene, that was carved by Joe Ottolman during the 1950s. He meets several townspeople along his search, such as Michael Curtis (the reverend of the church who has adopted a little girl from China, much like Steven Curtis Chapman did in real life); Naomi Williams, a Clearwater newspaper writer; Vanessa, a County Courthouse employee; Jimmy James, Clearwater's sheriff; the judge; and a maintenance worker at the church. Jack is told by the judge that releasing the identity of an adoptee's parents can cause suffering, as he points out that one adopted girl died three years earlier. Jack goes on to research the story of Joe Ottolman, who was in a car accident in 1945 that killed his wife, but his daughter survived. Joe worked for ten years on the Nativity carving. In 1963, Joe made the same mistake and was in a car accident again. His daughter Carmen Ana Ottolman, gave birth to a boy on December 24, 1963, but Carmen died two days later. Joe set his grandson up for adoption, then he disappeared from the presses and no one knew whether or not he was alive. Naomi, who helped Jack gather information from previous newspapers, tried to get Jack's birth records with the help of her friend, Vanessa, who works there, but they are gone. When Jack finds this out, he discovers that the judge was trying to hide them from him. The judge then reveals that Carmen Ottolman was his mother. On his 40th birthday, Jack is still in shock of hearing this. He sleeps on the bench near the church, in front of the nativity scene. When the maintenance worker discovers him there, he brings him inside the church for some coffee. The maintenance worker then reveals himself to be Joe Ottolman, Jack's grandfather. That night, Jack's wife Megan arrives in Texas, and Jack tells her everything that happened. Megan reveals that they are going to be parents. On Christmas Night, the townspeople of Clearwater gather around the nativity scene while the reverend talks about it. After this, Jack tells his grandfather that he is going to be a great-grandfather.

While playing in a bar in St. Louis, jazz pianist Jigger Pine meets aspiring clarinetist Nickie Haroyen, who tries to convince him to put together a jazz band. After a drunk patron starts a fight, Nickie and Jigger, along with Jigger's drummer and bassist, are thrown in jail. They overhear a prisoner singing a blues song and are inspired to set out for New Orleans, where they hope to learn how to perfect an authentic bluesy sound. There they meet fast-talking trumpeter Leo and his wife, Character, who is a talented singer. Together, the quintet rides the rails, honing their technique in dive bars across the country.

One day, while sheltering in a boxcar they meet a mysterious stranger named Del, who robs them. But when they don't turn him in to the authorities, Del is so impressed by their camaraderie, he offers them a job in a New Jersey roadhouse called The Jungle. The group discovers that the roadhouse is actually owned by Del's former partners in crime - aspiring singer Kay, accomplice Sam, and her disabled sidekick Brad. Del has escaped from jail to retrieve his share of a robbery the three committed; when Kay tells him they have spent all the money, he decides to take over The Jungle and transform it into an illegal gambling club. Kay tries to rekindle her past romance with Del, but he rejects her. She turns her attention to Leo in hopes of making Del jealous.

Although the band is happy playing their brand of jazz each night at the club, Character is worried about Leo and Kay. When Jigger reveals to him that Character is pregnant, Leo decides to give up Kay. She subsequently sets her sights on Jigger, who is secretly in love with her and insists the band take her on as singer while Character is taking time off. Jigger reacts to Brad's warning that the musician should get her out of his system by saying, "I just don't think I can". Sam tries to get Kay to alert the police to Del's whereabouts. She tells Del about this, hoping that the fact that she refused to do it will win her Del's affection; instead, he orders Sam to be killed and Kay to leave The Jungle. She convinces Jigger to quit the band, go with her to New York City, and join a more commercial, mainstream jazz band.

Although successful, Jigger is unhappy in his new life, feeling he is not playing authentic jazz. Kay lives on her own terms in New York, she goes out with different men and is not interested in Jigger's career with the band. One night, he tells her he has quit and wants to go back to his friends. He wants her to go with him but she tells him the only thing she would ever want from The Jungle is Del, that she has never been in love with Jigger.

After Kay leaves him, Jigger descends into alcoholism. His friends find him and try to coax him into playing with them again. He tells them he is busy composing and has many big plans but, as he tries to demonstrate some of his music, he collapses with a mental breakdown. Everybody sticks by him, helping to nurse him back to health, though they are hiding the fact that Character's baby has died. They all return to The Jungle where Jigger plays again and rediscovers happiness.

One night, during a rainstorm, both Jigger and Del notice Kay's return. Jigger speaks with her first. When Del comes in, Kay confronts him and demands he allow her to stay; he refuses so she threatens to turn him in herself. Del pulls a gun and Jigger comes to her defense. During the ensuing fight, Del drops the gun; Kay picks it up, shoots and kills him. Jigger decides to protect Kay and help her escape from the police; he tells her to go wait for him in Del's car. The band shows up; as they angrily assail Jigger with reasons to not leave with Kay, they reveal that Character lost the baby. They compare Jigger, his emotional and mental problems, with Brad being disabled. They try to emphasize that, while Brad has no choice about his pathetic circumstances, Jigger certainly does. Brad overhears all this and joins Kay in the car, claiming that Jigger has asked him to drive her away. He takes off into the violent storm, talking about the two of them being together, and deliberately wrecks the car, killing them both.

Jigger and the band return to their life on the road, happy to be again playing their preferred version of jazz.

The Planet Express crew's latest mission is to deliver a crate to Professor Farnsworth's office at Mars University. While touring the campus, Bender comes across a chapter of his old fraternity, Epsilon Rho Rho (Err). The nerdy fraternity brothers beg Bender for his help in the art of being cool, as "even Hillel has better parties than us!" Fry finds out that his 20th century college dropout status is equivalent to only a 31st-century high school dropout. Knowing this, he vows to enroll, and drop out all over again. In a scene straight from ''Animal House'', Bender and the Robot House boys climb a ladder to peek in a girls' dorm window (in reality, they only try to see one of the girls' computers as it malfunctions, which to Bender and the nerd-bots is a turn-on). A risque mishap happens when Bender's extendable eyes causes them to fall. The accident crushes Snooty House's servants' quarters and presumably the servants themselves.

Fry gets a room in the financial aid dorm, and finds his roommate Günter is an intelligent monkey wearing an undersized hat. The Professor reveals that Günter was the content of the crate that they delivered, and that the electronium hat is the source of Günter's intelligence. Bender and the Robot House members get called before Dean Vernon, who places them on dodecatuple secret probation and have to run out after Fatbot eats the Dean's model ship. At the parents' reception, Fry humiliates Günter by releasing Günter's unintelligent, feral parents from their cage. Later, Günter expresses his unhappiness at his current life. At the 20th century history exam, the stress finally becomes too much for him, and he tosses the hat aside, jumps out the window, and flees into the Martian jungle. While Fry, Leela, and the Professor head off into the jungle to find Günter, Robot House enters the fraternity raft regatta in a bid to lift their probation status. When Günter is found, the Professor offers him the hat, and Fry offers him a banana.

Before Günter can decide, Robot House speeds past with Bender on water skis. The boat's wake drags the humans into the river and towards a waterfall. Günter puts the hat on and rescues them, but falls off a cliff. The Planet Express Crew believe him to be dead, and go to "gather him up". They find however, that the hat broke his fall, and is now only working at half-capacity. Günter announces that he likes the new reduced-capacity hat, and that he has decided to transfer to business school, to the horror of Professor Farnsworth. Robot House wins the regatta, and a parade in their honor is held, led by an unhappy Dean Vernon. The episode ends with a party at Robot House, and an epilogue shown in the style of ''Animal House'' and ''American Graffiti'' where captions explain that Fry successfully dropped out of college and returned to Planet Express, Günter went to business school to get his MBA and became The FOX Network's latest CEO, Fat-Bot caught a virus in Tijuana and had to be rebooted, Leela went on a date with Dean Vernon (and Vernon never called her again), and with his task done, Bender stole everything of value from Robot House and ran off.

The episode opens in the year 1999, with Fry making a pizza delivery to the control booth of WNYW, New York's Fox flagship station. While there, Fry spills beer on the console (later in the episode, Amy did some research, saying it was a Coke), interrupting the broadcast of ''Single Female Lawyer'' (a spoof of ''Ally McBeal''). As the technician panics, Fry ominously states, "Like anyone on Earth cares." The camera pulls back from the broadcast tower, away from Earth, and through the depths of space, settling on Omicron Persei 8, a thousand light-years away and a thousand years later. Incensed that they do not get to see the end of the episode, the Omicronians launch an invasion fleet.

Back on Earth during the year 3000, the off-duty Planet Express crew decides to take a trip to Monument Beach for Labor Day, where most of the world's monuments have stood since the 27th century (thanks to the activities of New New York's supervillain governor), when the Omicronians begin to invade, destroying them all one after another. Lrrr, ruler of Omicron Persei 8, demands that the Earth produce "the one called McNeal". President McNeal, fearing for his own safety, orders Zapp Brannigan to lead an assault against the alien invaders, enlisting the Planet Express crew and thousands of other ships, and turning on the Robot's patriotism circuits, to Bender's annoyance. However, they only succeed in blowing up the Hubble Space Telescope while suffering heavy casualties: the fleet stands no chance against the ''actual'' alien mother ship. After the attack predictably ends in disaster, Earth's government hands over President McNeal. Lrrr announces that he is the wrong McNeal, and vaporizes the President. Lrrr shows the world a photo of the McNeal they want, and Fry recognizes her as Jenny McNeal, the title character of ''Single Female Lawyer''. The Omicronians demand the broadcast of the television show, or they will destroy the Earth. Unfortunately, most videotapes were destroyed in 2443, during the second coming of Jesus. The Planet Express crew decides to fake the show in order to save the world.

Fry's script comes up short (he explains that it took an hour to write, so he assumed it would take an hour to perform), and Leela (as Jenny), is forced to improvise. She proposes marriage to the judge (played by Professor Farnsworth). During a commercial break, an aggravated Fry tells Leela that people do not watch TV for clever and unexpected situations because they get scared and confused by the unfamiliar and the unexpected. Lrrr makes a public statement backing up Fry's assertion. Fry quickly writes an ending where the judge (Farnsworth) dies (even though Farnsworth does not know what was going on and tests his pulse), leaving Jenny McNeal as a single female lawyer again. The Omicronians, satisfied with the ending, give the episode a C+, saying the show was good enough for them to spare the planet, though not good enough for them to give humans their secret to immortality (Fry blames it on Zoidberg "overacting"). The episode ends with the aliens departing Earth to watch a 1000-year-old Jay Leno monologue and Fry stating that the secret to a successful television show is that everything ends up back to normal at the end of each episode. Ironically, the camera pans out to a view of New New York burning in ruins.

The episode opens with an advertisement for Slurm, a popular intergalactic beverage. The makers of Slurm are announcing a contest: whoever finds a golden bottlecap inside a can of Slurm wins a free trip to the Slurm plant, a tour of the Slurm Factory, as well as a party with the popular Slurm mascot, Slurms McKenzie. Fry resolves to find the bottlecap by drinking massive quantities of Slurm. Meanwhile, Bender is sick with a high fever (900 °F); Professor Farnsworth uses this as an excuse to test his experimental "F-ray", a flashlight-like device that enables the user to look through anything, even metal. The Professor is able to find out what is causing Bender's high fever; he reveals a watch that belongs to Amy Wong caught in one of Bender's cogs.

After repairing Bender, the Professor leaves the F-ray in the custody of Fry and Bender. Fry realizes that they could use the F-ray to scan Slurm cans for the golden bottlecap. After checking "90,000" cans, they give up on finding the winning can. Fry settles in to relax with a Slurm and chokes on the winning bottle cap. The Planet Express crew arrives at the Slurm plant on Wormulon. After meeting Slurms McKenzie, the crew takes a tour down a river of Slurm through the factory, and see the Grunka-Lunkas manufacture Slurm. Fry tries to drink the Slurm from the river due to his thirst, but he falls off the boat and remembers he does not know how to swim. Leela dives in to save him, and Bender joins them because "Everybody else was doing it."

The three are sucked into a whirlpool and deposited in a cave under the factory. They discover that the factory they toured was a fake. They enter the real factory and discover Slurm's true nature: it is a secretion from a giant worm, the Slurm Queen. They are discovered and captured by the worms. Bender is placed into a machine designed to turn him into Slurm cans. Leela is lowered by crane into a vat of royal Slurm, which will turn her into a Slurm Queen. Fry is fed ultra-addictive "super-slurm", so that he cannot resist "eating until he explodes". Fortunately, Fry manages to drag the tub of super-slurm to the crane controls, so he can save Leela while continuing to drink the super-slurm.

A freed Leela saves Bender slightly too late, leaving Bender with a hole through the side of his torso. Leela then saves Fry by dumping the super-slurm down a drainage grate. They manage to escape, but are pursued by the Slurm Queen. Slurms McKenzie, exhausted from his years of partying, arrives and sacrifices himself to save Fry, Leela, his two super models, and Bender. When they escape, the Slurm Queen yells that the company is ruined by the discovery of the secret. Professor Farnsworth contacts a government agent to reveal the secret of Slurm. However, Fry is so addicted to Slurm that he tells the government agent that "grampa's making up crazy stories again", so that it can continue to be produced. In the end, the entire Planet Express crew holds a toast to Slurms McKenzie and Slurm itself.

When Nibbler chips his fang, he is taken to a vet, and during the time, is found out to be five years old. Nibbler has a birthday party, and Bender becomes annoyed that Nibbler is getting more attention than him. Having reluctantly made a birthday cake for Nibbler, Bender is aghast to see Nibbler gobble it all up before everybody else can praise Bender for the cake. In extreme annoyance, Bender flushes Nibbler down the toilet. Leela is distraught at the loss of her pet and wishes Bender could understand the emotions of others. Professor Farnsworth proposes a solution: installing an empathy chip in Bender's head that will cause him to feel other people's emotions. After forcibly installing the chip, the chip is tuned to pick up Leela's emotions, so that whatever feelings Leela experiences, Bender automatically experiences them as well.

After a night of experiencing a multitude of Leela's feelings, Bender misses Nibbler so much that he cannot stand it any longer. When Fry tells him that alligators can supposedly live after being flushed, Bender flushes parts of himself down the toilet in pursuit of Nibbler. Fry and Leela enter the sewers and quickly manage to find Bender and a crowd of mutants who live in the sewers. The mutants introduce them to their subterranean civilization. They also reveal that a monster called El Chupanibre has been terrorizing them.

Leela, thinking that Nibbler is the monster, is happy until she is informed that the only way to lure the monster out is to offer a "snackrifice" in the form of a virgin. Although not one herself (because of her run-in with Zapp Brannigan), Leela is chosen anyway to be the sacrifice. At the sacrifice, Nibbler emerges from a pipe: however, the mutants point out Nibbler is not the beast they fear, but the large, reptilian monster behind him, who is the real El Chupanibre. Fry gets entangled in the trap that was meant for El Chupanibre, leaving only Bender to fight the beast; however, Leela is so scared, for herself and the others, that Bender is immobilized by her emotions. He and Fry teach Leela to stop caring about other people and care only about herself, and as a result, Bender is able to fight off the beast, whom he eventually flushes down a giant toilet into the sub-sewers.

Back at Planet Express, the Professor removes Bender's empathy chip when Bender demands that he do so. When the empathy chip is taken out the Professor says in amazement that the chip was actually turned off, so that Bender was actually sympathizing for Leela by himself. He then corrects himself, saying that it was actually at triple capacity. Bender retains his 'in-your-face' interface and has apparently learned nothing, while Leela learns that adopting Bender's attitude is often better than being nice.

The episode opens with Fry and Bender playing a violent, futuristic version of chess, where Bender's bishop and Fry's knight fight. Fry wins, prompting Bender to send all of his chess pieces after Fry.

The Planet Express crew arrives at the ribbon cutting of the new Democratic Order Of Planets (D.O.O.P.) headquarters in orbit around the Neutral Planet, in order to deliver the oversized scissors that will be used for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. After deciding the Neutral Planet is evil and deceptive, Zapp Brannigan captures and interrogates the crew, thinking that they are assassins. Shortly thereafter, he destroys the D.O.O.P. headquarters by attempting to use the ''Nimbus'' laser to cut the ribbon from space.

At the former D.O.O.P. headquarters in Weehawken, New Jersey, Brannigan is court-martialed for his actions. Seeing the lack of proper testimony being given, Leela takes the stand to expose Brannigan as "the sorriest captain I've ever seen", but under cross-examination, Brannigan attempts to discredit her by getting her to confess their one-night stand. After a very short deliberation, the jury finds Brannigan guilty. Brannigan then unjustly claims that it was mostly Kif Kroker's idea. Both are stripped of all their titles and dishonorably discharged from D.O.O.P. service. Unable to find employment, the pair wander the streets until they arrive at the Planet Express building. Leela tries to turn them away, but Professor Farnsworth decides hiring Brannigan would be good for the company's public image.

The augmented crew is sent to deliver pillows to a hotel on Stumbos 4, a high-gravity planet. Despite Leela's order to deliver one at a time, Fry, Bender, and Zapp decide to deliver all the pillows at once, which, in the intense gravity, causes the hover dolly to collapse. As punishment, Leela angrily demands that they deliver the pillows by hand instead of using the backup dolly, which causes resentment among the crew.

Fry, Bender, and Zapp stage a mutiny against Leela, and lock her in the laundry room. Brannigan decides to attack his imagined nemesis, the Neutral Planet, thinking this will make him a hero and get him reinstated as a D.O.O.P. captain. When Fry and Bender discover the plan is a suicide mission, they free Leela and she retakes command. With Fry and Bender's help, she foils Zapp's plan after he jumps ship with Kif.

After returning to Earth, Leela testifies that Brannigan was an amazing hero, and D.O.O.P. reinstates Zapp and Kif, thus keeping them out of her life for a little while longer, since Kif annoys her with his complaints about working under Zapp. Leela also decides to be more lenient with Fry and Bender, but when the Professor overrules this, the three decide to stage a mutiny against him.

''Sansho the Bailiff'' is a ''jidai-geki'' set in the Heian period of feudal Japan, with the story taking place in the latter part of the eleventh century.

A virtuous governor is banished by a feudal lord to a far-off province. His wife, Tamaki, and children, Zushiō and Anju, are sent to live with her brother. Just before they are separated, Zushiō's father tells him, "Without mercy, man is like a beast. Even if you are hard on yourself, be merciful to others." He urges his son to remember his words and gives him a statuette of Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy.

Years later, the wife and children journey to his exiled land but are tricked on the journey by a treacherous priestess. The mother is sold into prostitution in Sado and the children are sold by slave traders to a manorial estate in which slaves are brutalized and branded when they try to escape. The estate, protected under the Minister of the Right, is administered by the eponymous Sanshō. Sanshō's son Tarō, the second-in-charge, is a much more humane master and convinces the children to survive before they can escape to find their mother.

The children grow to young adulthood at the slave camp. Anju still believes in the teachings of her father but Zushiō has repressed his humanity, becoming one of the brutal overseers, believing that this is the only way to survive. At work, Anju hears a song from a new slave girl from Sado which mentions her and her brother in the lyrics, leading her to believe their mother is still alive. She tries to convince Zushiō to escape but he refuses, citing the difficulty and their lack of money.

Zushiō is ordered to take Namiji, an older woman who is acutely ill, out of the slave camp to die in the wilderness. Anju accompanies them and while they break branches to provide covering for the dying woman, they recall a similar act from their earlier childhood. Zushiō changes his mind and asks Anju to escape with him to find their mother. Anju asks him to take Namiji with him, convincing her brother she will stay behind to distract the guards. Zushiō promises to return for Anju. However, after Zushiō's escape, Anju commits suicide by walking into a lake, drowning herself so that she will not be tortured and forced to reveal her brother's whereabouts.

After Zushiō escapes, he finds Tarō at an Imperial temple. Zushiō asks him to care for Namiji so that he can go to Kyoto to appeal to the Chief Advisor regarding the appalling slave conditions. Although initially refusing to see him, the Chief Advisor realizes who Zushiō is after seeing his statuette of Kannon. He then tells Zushiō that his exiled father died the year before and offers him the post of the governor of Tango, the province where Sanshō's manor is situated.

As Governor of Tango, Zushiō issues an edict forbidding slavery on both public and private grounds. No one believes he can do this since governors have no power over private grounds. Although Sanshō offers initial resistance, Zushiō orders him and his men arrested, freeing the slaves. When he looks for Anju among Sanshō's slaves, he learns that his sister sacrificed herself for his freedom. The manor is burned down by the ex-slaves while Sanshō and his family are exiled. Zushiō resigns immediately afterwards, stating that he has done what he intended to do.

Zushiō goes to Sado for his aged mother, whom he believes is still a courtesan. After hearing a man state that she died in a tsunami, he goes to the beach she is supposed to have died on. He finds a decrepit old woman sitting on the beach singing the same song he heard years before. Realizing she is his mother, he reveals his identity to her, but Tamaki, who has gone blind, assumes he is a trickster until he gives her the statuette of Kannon, which she recognizes by touch. Zushiō tells her that both Anju and their father have died and apologizes for not coming for her in the pomp of his governor's post. Instead he followed his father's proverb, choosing mercy toward others by freeing Sanshō's slaves. He tells his mother he has been true to his father's teachings, which she acknowledges poignantly.

The election race for President of Earth is in full swing, with two identical clones as the only candidates. Leela, appalled by the apathy of the Planet Express crew, exhorts them to register to vote. Meanwhile, a mining disaster sends the price of titanium through the roof, and Bender seizes the opportunity to make a quick buck by pawning his 40% titanium body.

As a head with a pile of cash, Bender begins enjoying his new lifestyle. During a trip to the Hall of Presidents in the New New York Head Museum, Richard Nixon's head ruins Bender's illusions about the glamour of a life without a body. The next day Bender heads off to the pawn shop to retrieve his body, but it has been sold. Later, Nixon's head announces its candidacy for President of Earth, using Bender's body to escape a constitutional provision that "no''body'' can be elected more than twice".

Fry, Leela, and Bender take off to Washington, D.C. to stop Nixon and recover Bender's body. Directly confronting Nixon fails to recover Bender's body, so the crew infiltrates Nixon's room at the Watergate Hotel. Leela successfully separates the sleeping head from the robot body, but Fry accidentally wakes Nixon. Confronting the intruders, Nixon begins ranting about his future plans for Earth, such as breaking into people's homes and selling their children's organs to zoos. However, Bender records the conversation and knowing that the tape would ruin his election chances if released, Nixon trades the body for the tape.

On Election Day, Nixon wins by a single vote. He regained the robot vote by replacing Bender's body with a giant war robot. Meanwhile, Leela and Fry forgot to vote against him. The episode ends with Nixon on a rampage and crashing through the exterior walls.

Jean-Louis, a solitary and serious engineer, has taken a job in Clermont-Ferrand where he knows nobody. Attending a Catholic church, he sees a young blonde woman and without knowing anything about her is convinced that she will become his wife. In the cafe he encounters Vidal, an old Marxist friend now a university lecturer, who invites him to a concert that evening. Jean-Louis is at first reluctant but eventually agrees to go. After the concert they dine in a restaurant. Vidal has plans to visit a friend the following evening and invites Jean-Louis to accompany him. However, Jean-Louis plans to attend mass. They agree to attend mass together, as Vidal's friend will not be available until after midnight.

They arrive at the flat of Maud, a paediatrician who is recently divorced. The three talk and drink, until Maud suggests that falling snow has made the drive to Jean-Louis' mountain village unsafe and he should stay. Vidal, who had hoped to stay, leaves. Maud and Jean-Louis discuss religion and their love life. She makes herself comfortable in the double bed in the living room and reveals she divorced her husband because he had an affair with a Catholic woman, all the while she herself had a lover who died in a car crash one year ago. When it is time to sleep she declares the bed she is in is the only bed. She gets naked and suggests that Jean-Louis join her under the covers. He eventually does, keeping his clothes on. In the morning he resists her advances to make love. Initially hurt, Maud gets over the rejection and invites him to join her later for a walk in the snow with friends.

Just before meeting Maud's friends, he sees the blonde girl from the church and, much encouraged in his dealings with women by his night with Maud, boldly introduces himself. Her name is Françoise and she agrees to see him in the church. On the walk with Maud he is much more forward with her, to the point where she has to restrain him. After the walk Jean-Louis tries his luck at the place where he met Françoise and she turns out to be there, about to return home. He offers to give her a ride home and learns that she is a biology postgraduate. He goes back with her to her student house and after a tea he can spend the night in a separate room. In the morning, before they go to church, she refuses to kiss him. After the church service she admits that the cloud between them is because she has been having an affair with a married man.

Five years on, now married and on a beach with their child, the two meet Maud. She says she has remarried, but it is not a success. Afterwards, Jean-Louis confesses to Françoise that he came from Maud's bed on the morning he first met her but gives no specifics about what really happened. Then he realizes that his wife's lover was Maud's husband. As they are now both happy together, they decide not to bring up the subject again. Instead, they go for a swim with their child.

It is set in an anonymous, desolate, isolated small town in Hungary during Communist times.

The film starts with János Valuska, a young newspaper-delivery man, conducting a poem and dance with drunken bar patrons. The dance is of the total eclipse of the sun, which disturbs, then silences the animals. It finishes with the grand return of the warm sunlight.

János is devoted to his uncle György, a composer and musicologist, who is like a father to him. György records his observations about the imperfection and compromise of the musical scale, as defined by Andreas Werckmeister. György proposes changes to the scale to make its harmonies more natural.

János goes to the post office to pick up his newspapers for delivery. The workers are unsettled by the ominous signs of the circus' arrival and are disturbed by the cloud that settles over each town it visits.

A “circus” built around a huge stuffed smelly whale and its star performer, "The Prince", who is never seen, come to town in the silence and darkness of night. János sees them arrive and philosophizes about God and the whale.

György's estranged wife, Tünde, tries to leverage her political and social status by giving György a list of names to recruit for the "Clean Up the Town movement," with the blessing of the police chief, and demands that György become chairman of the movement, or else she will move back in with him that very evening. She sends her suitcase ahead of her with János. György's struggling cobbler brother, Uncle Lajós, gets the list and passes it on to the agitated throbbing masses in the town square who are unhappy with the failing public services. János is accosted by a thug in front of the open truck housing the whale. Tünde sleeps with the drunk gun-toting police chief.

The presence of the whale and the “Prince” stir up the masses. János overhears the circus master losing control of his faceless Prince, who is becoming drunk with his own voice of revolutionary dogma. The circus master disowns him. The Prince, now free, inflames the masses, and the people riot. The rioters are brutal. The rioters, holding clubs, march, then run, into a psychiatric hospital where dissidents opposing the regime are kept, drag them out of their beds and beat them. When the rioters finally find a helpless old naked patient, who is all skin and bones, and who looks like a “musulman” in a Nazi concentration camp, they see their impotent, sad and powerless selves and withdraw silently.

After the riot, János comes across the diary of a rioter. It explains that the rioters did not know what they were angry with; so they were angry at everything. Then it recounts the mob's horrendous rape of two post-office girls.

János comes across his killed cobbler uncle Lajós, who got naively involved in the riot. János is told, by this cobbler's wife, to leave town at once for his own safety, as his name was on a list held by the rioters.

János runs away on the railroad tracks but is intercepted by a helicopter. He finds himself committed to a mental institution with caged beds (a tool of the time for dealing with political dissidents). János appears drugged and broken.

György, his composer uncle, is evicted from their house but gets to live in a shed in the garden whilst György's former wife, Tünde, with her new status as a collaborator, now occupies the big house with the police chief.

György tells a vacant János, in the ward, that if he is released from the mental institution they can live contentedly together in the shed with his piano. György also mentions that he has re-tuned the piano so that is now like any other, a personal capitulation apparently abandoning any present hopes of reform. János just stares.

The film ends with György looking directly into the eye of the whale, then, walking away and looking back at the now sad and disheveled whale, whose “circus” was destroyed by the rioters the night before, its rotting carcass slowly enveloped by the fog which gets whiter and brighter. Warm bright sunlight returns.

Padre Nazario, a Catholic priest living in a poor hostel, is quiet, temperate and distributes his money, even indifferent to being burgled. He demonstrates understanding and compassion to those such as Beatriz, who has psychotic episodes and suicidal thoughts after being cast aside by her lover, Pinto.

A prostitute, Andara, runs into Nazario's room seeking shelter; she has murdered another prostitute and been wounded. Nazario withholds judgement and helps to conceal her. He tries to make her conscious of her guilt in a religious context. Andara hallucinates that a portrait of Jesus Christ is laughing at her. Beatriz warns that someone has informed the authorities. Meanwhile, the proprietress finds out and insists Andara must not be discovered with Nazario, ordering Andara to remove evidence of her stay. After Nazario has left, Andara sets the room ablaze and escapes.

With Nazario now afoul of the law and church, he is warned an investigation could cost him his priesthood. Having no possessions - they have all been stolen or given away - he adopts plain clothes and wanders the country, begging.

Meeting a construction crew, Nazario offers to work for food, but other workers resent him as they are working for money. They make him unwelcome, so Nazario leaves with nothing. But his poor ways are misunderstood, so a fight between the workers and the foreman ensues.

"As if by a miracle," Nazario sees Beatriz in another town. He reveals his possessions have been stolen. She leads him to Andara, who is living with her, and a sick girl whose mother begs Nazario to cure the girl with a miracle. Nazario suggests a doctor, but offers to pray with them. He is perturbed when the woman performs superstitious rites. The girl's fever subsides. Believing Nazario to be a miracle-worker, Andara and Beatriz follow him despite his protests.

Nazario stops to help a party whose horse has a broken leg. The Colonel yells at a peasant who does not acknowledge them, despite the peasant's protestations that he didn't see them. Nazario criticises Colonel for his rudeness. The Colonel tries to pull his gun, but is stopped by the Priest, who excuses Nazario as "a heretic, an erratic preacher" who should be left alone.

Nazario is followed by Beatriz and Andara, whom he reluctantly accepts, although lecturing them about God. In a plague-ridden village, Nazario's help is rejected by one dying woman, who would rather be comforted by her husband (inspired by the Marquis de Sade's ''Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man''). Nazario is overcome by a feeling of failure.

A midget professes love for Andara despite saying she is ugly. Pinto, who is visiting the area, sees Beatriz, accuses her of being "a priest's lover" and demands that she leave with him. Nazario says she is struggling with Satan but should resist temptation. When she asks how he guessed something was wrong, Nazario responds, "It's not guessing, it's knowing."

Andara insists that they must flee. Nazario responds only thieves flee and the divine will not forsake them. Beatriz tells Nazario she trusts him, and quotes from the Bible: "''If I can carry your load on my back, I will.''" Andara accuses Nazario of loving Beatriz more, but he tries to demonstrate a Christian love for both.

Discovered by a search party, Andara and Nazario are arrested: Beatriz begs for his release. Pinto tells Beatriz's mother that Beatriz should go with him. When Beatriz meets her mother, Beatriz sings Nazario's praises and speaks of his miracles. Her mother's response that Beatriz loves Nazario "like a man" sends Beatriz into a psychotic episode.

Nazario's cellmates insult and physically abuse him. Nazario suffers a crisis of faith, shouting, "''For the first time in my life, I find it hard to forgive. But I forgive you. It is my Christian duty. But I also scorn you! And I feel guilty, not knowing how to separate scorn from forgiveness.''" A cellmate intervenes and Nazario gives him his money.

Nazario is accused of insanity and disobedience. As he is led away, Pinto and Beatriz pass by, but without recognition. Nazario passes a fruit seller who offers a pineapple, saying, "Take this charity, and may God be with you." Nazario seems overcome with confusion. He refuses it twice, but then takes it and says, "''May God repay you.''" He is led away, distraught.

Act I

In an old farmhouse on a failed plot of land in Illinois, the characters Dodge (in his 70s) and Halie (in her 60s), an old married couple, are introduced. The scene begins with the couple having a conversation with one another, discussing events of their past. Halie is not visible in the scene as she is yelling from upstairs, while Dodge is sitting on the basement sofa. He occasionally sneaks drinks from a bottle hidden in the couch; it is evident that he is an alcoholic. They talk about their beloved son Ansel, who was purportedly murdered years earlier by his wife on their wedding night. They also talk about another son, Bradley, an amputee who comes to cut Dodge's hair forcefully while he sleeps; Dodge is wearing a baseball cap to ward off this inevitability.

Halie leaves for church dressed in black and tells the oldest son, Tilden, to look after Dodge. Tilden then enters the scene with an armful of corn, which he claims grew in the field outside. Dodge states that nothing has grown in the field since the Dust Bowl, and accuses Tilden of stealing from a neighbor. Dodge and Tilden then begin to discuss Tilden's past; they speak of how he "got into trouble" in New Mexico, and how in failing his attempt to leave the family home for a new life, Tilden was forced to flee following this incident. Tilden is evidently mentally unwell as he sits, shucking corn into a bucket. When Dodge falls asleep at the end of their conversation, Tilden covers him with the corn husks, creating a blanket, before he goes outside into the rain. Bradley enters the room shortly after and shaves Dodge's head while he sleeps.

Act II

The scene begins with the introduction of Vince and Shelly. Vince was headed to meet his father Tilden in New Mexico but has decided to stop over at his grandparents' house on the way there; Shelly is just tagging along for the ride. Vince is surprised when he enters the house as Dodge does not recognize him at all. Shelly then believes they have entered the wrong house and tries to convince Vince to leave, but he does not budge. Tilden then enters the room with a bundle of carrots and is uninterested in Shelly and Vince. Vince then gets Tilden's attention, but Tilden also does not recognize Vince.

Vince tries different methods to convince Tilden and Dodge of his identity, while Shelly helps Tilden with the carrots. Dodge then motions to Vince and tells him to go buy him alcohol, and he does so. While he is gone, Shelly talks to Tilden and asks him questions about Vince. Tilden goes on saying that he does not recognize Vince but he does look familiar. Tilden also talks about the son he had a long time ago with his mother, Halie, but Dodge had killed the baby and buried him in the backyard. Bradley then re-enters the scene and begins to harass Shelly by sticking his hand in her mouth. He then takes her fur coat and places it over Dodge and blacks out.

Act III

The scene begins with Dodge presuming that Vince has run away and left Shelly. He also tells Shelly not to fear Bradley as he only has one leg. After some time, Halie enters the house with Father Dewis, with whom the audience later learns she is having an affair. Halie sees Dodge lying on the ground and Bradley lying shamelessly on the sofa and smiles in embarrassment to Father Dewis. She then starts a yelling match with Dodge and Bradley, and they exchange several words until Shelly intervenes. In frustration, Shelly grabs Bradley's wooden leg and waves off the rest of the family, expressing her anger with them and Vince. Father Dewis tries to calm Shelly down and places the wooden leg onto the table.

Soon after, Vince returns drunk and hurls beer bottles at the house. He then climbs through the door's netting and states that he has to stay at the farmhouse with his family. Halie and Dodge then recognize Vince, and Dodge hands him the ownership of the house and land. With the land now his, Vince decides to stay at the house, while Shelly tries to convince him to leave. Shelly gives up on Vince and leaves, and Vince grabs the wooden leg and throws it outside the house; Bradley goes crawling for it. Father Dewis leaves the house and Halie heads upstairs to her room. Vince realizes that Dodge has died and places a blanket and rose on his body. Halie then begins to yell out that corn has bloomed in the backyard, while Vince sits motionless on the sofa. In the final scene, Tilden walks around the room with the corpse of a baby in his hands.

Since Springfield is "in the grip of lottery fever" with a $130 million jackpot, the Simpsons fail to notice that their pet dog, Santa's Little Helper, is ill. Once Kent Brockman wins the lottery, the Simpsons realize the dog is sick. The family rushes him to the animal hospital, where they learn that he has a twisted stomach and needs a $750 operation. Homer tells Bart and Lisa that the family cannot afford the operation, but after seeing how much they love the dog decides he will find a way to pay for it.

To save money for the operation, the Simpsons must make sacrifices: Homer stops buying beer and Bart gets his hair cut at a barber school. Marge must cook with lower-quality food and forgo her weekly lottery ticket. Lisa can no longer afford volumes of ''Encyclopedia Generica'', and Maggie's tattered clothes must be repaired instead of replaced. The family saves enough money for the operation, which is a success.

The Simpsons are glad that their dog survives, but soon they start to feel the strain of their sacrifices. The family's morale suffers and they direct their anger at Santa's Little Helper. Feeling unwanted, he runs away from home on an adventure, only to be captured, taken to the dog pound and adopted by Mr. Burns, who trains him to be one of his vicious attack hounds. After a brutal brainwashing process, Santa's Little Helper is turned into a bloodthirsty killer.

The family soon regrets mistreating the dog, and Bart goes from house to house to find him. When he arrives at Mr. Burns' mansion, Santa's Little Helper starts to attack him. After recalling all the good times he had with Bart, Santa's Little Helper reverts to his friendly nature toward the boy. He protects Bart from Burns's pack of snarling hounds and returns to the Simpson family, who shower him with love as apologies for their foolishness.

This Korean drama is based on the Korean folktale ''Kongji and Patzzi'', and turns it on its ear. The traditional story is somewhat like a Korean version of ''Cinderella'' where Kongji is the nice girl who in the end gets the prince, and Patzzi (or Patjwi/Patji) is the hot-tempered and nasty girl that everyone detests (like an evil stepsister).

In this take on the story, Patji, though still hot-tempered, is a kind and caring girl deep down, and Kongji, though she appears to be nice and caring, is actually very nasty and constantly plots to make Patji look bad.

The show starts off with the younger versions of Song-yee (Jang Na-ra), Hee-won (Hong Eun-hee) and Hyun-sung (Kim Rae-won) at elementary school. Song-yee quite obviously likes Hyun-sung, and when Hee-won finds out about it, she tells Song-yee that she will not like the same guy Song-yee likes. Later, during a class exercise, when the teacher asks the children to choose a boy to sit with for the new seating arrangement, Song-yee immediately grabs Hyun-sung's hand. Hyun-sung is startled, but it is Song-yee's turn to be surprised when Hee-won walks right up to the two of them and extends her hand to Hyun-sung. She then kindly states that he doesn't have to go with her if he doesn't want to. Hyun-sung takes a moment, looks at Song-yee who forcefully took his hand, then looks to Hee-won who gently proposed to take his. Making his choice, he breaks away from Song-yee and takes Hee-won's hand. Naturally, Song-yee isn't too happy about this. Furious, she throws her shoe at Hee-won and then proceeds to beat her up.

The show then fast forwards to years later, when the children have grown up...

After a somewhat disastrous school play, Song-yee gets fired from her job. Song-yee, a member of the school staff, has the children perform an altered version of Patji and Kongji, where Patji in fact wins the prince's love after he discovers that Kongji (Kim Jaewon), the pretty one, is manipulative and fake. Turning this classic folk tale upside down upsets the school and the parents, resulting in her being fired. Hee-won, seeing that she needs new employment, helps Song-yee to get a job at the amusement park where she works. (This amusement park is very obviously in many respects modeled after Everland.) There, Song-yee is given the job as a mascot, having to wear a hot suit with a huge head (think Mickey Mouse at Disney World). Song-yee, who is naturally hot-tempered, doesn't enjoy this job too much, and is seen by Hyun-sung (who also works at the amusement park) and his friend, Yang Sam-yeol, bullying some kids after they touched her chest. After an initial chase, they catch her and are surprised to find out she's a girl.

The two boys are waiting for Song-yee after she gets changed into her regular clothes, and Hyun-sung and Song-yee get into a verbal fight. It is then that Hee-won comes up to the both of them, calms them down, and walks off with Song-yee. Hyun-sung pauses for a moment, then remembers Hee-won and chases after them. As he talks with Hee-won, Song-yee realizes who Hyun-sung is and is a little hurt he doesn't remember her, but doesn't have time to dwell on it as Hyun-sung and Hee-won go off to catch up with each other.

It isn't only Hyun-sung who likes Hee-won, though. His friend, Sam-yeol, fell for her at first sight and schemes to make Hee-won fall for him by pretending to like Song-yee. Over the next few days, Hyun-sung and Song-yee continue to have confrontations, though he begins to see a somewhat gentler side of her as she really thinks that Sam-yeol likes her. Needless to say, when she finds out that he only pretended to like her because he wanted Hee-won, she doesn't take it very well and once again decides to unleash her wrath.

While planning to merely do a little damage to a float, she inadvertently causes it to catch on fire as Seung-joon is taking it for a spin. Seeing that he needs help, she ends up saving him and causing him to fall in love with the "angel" who rescued him. He doesn't know who she is, but has her coat and so he uses that to look for her. In addition to winning Seung-joon's affection, Hyun-sung begins to see her in a new light as they eventually become friends. Hee-won, seeing that two men have fallen for Song-yee, proceeds to do what she does best, and tries her hardest to steal Seung-joon from her while making Song-yee look bad in the process, though Seung-joon might be harder to steal than she originally expected. And is Seung-joon the one Song-yee really wants to be with?

Sara Crewe, the daughter of wealthy British aristocrat Ralph Crewe, has spent her entire life living in India after the death of her mother. Knowing she needs proper European schooling, her father brings Sara to an elite boarding school in London where her mother had been educated. Crewe spares no expense ensuring Sara will be as comfortable as possible while she is there. Before bringing Sarah to England, Mr. Crewe lends his old friend, Carrisford, a significant amount of his fortune to invest in a diamond mine in Africa.

Sara and her father arrive in London and meet the school's owner and headmistress, Miss Minchin. After a tearful farewell, Sara's father departs and she begins her education. Sara quickly befriends the other students, as well as the school's servant girl, Becky, who is ignored by everyone else. On the return trip, Mr. Crewe catches pneumonia. Arriving back at his estate in India, he receives a letter from Carrisford, telling him the diamond mine was empty, and his fortune has been lost. The stress of this worsens his illness and he dies soon after. In London, Miss Minchin is informed by Crewe's lawyer that she will be receiving no money henceforth due to Crewe's bankruptcy. Minchin has already amassed heavy expenses for Sara's birthday with lavish gifts and decorations, having hoped to extort more money from her father, and is furious when she finds out she'll have to pay for them out of her own pocket. Since Sara has no living relatives, Minchin considers throwing Sara out on the street, but is advised against this by Crewe's lawyer, who reminds her how poorly it would affect her reputation.

She decides to turn Sara into a servant, making her clean and work in the school where she was once a student. Sara is moved out of her luxurious room and sent to live in the attic with Becky. She continues to be sweet, gentle and kind to everyone, even to Miss Minchin, despite her dire circumstances and cruelty. Meanwhile, Mr. Crewe's friend, Carrisford, had received false reports about the diamond mine. It was, in fact, a great investment, making him very wealthy. Knowing that half of the diamond fortune belongs to his friend, he immediately tries to contact him. Upon finding that Crewe has died, Carrisford, distraught, begins searching for Sara. Carrisford has returned to England and actually lives right next door to Miss Minchin's school, but has never met Sara and assumes she is just a servant girl. Crewe never told him exactly where Sara was attending school, only that it was a boarding school in Europe which her mother had attended. Carrisford has his solicitor, Carmichael, whose children have constant interactions with Sara as they live opposite Miss Minchin's, start searching schools all over Europe in hopes of finding her. After searching numerous cities, including Paris, St. Petersburg, Lisbon, and Vienna, Carmichael says he cannot make any more trips himself. Carrisford remains guilt-ridden over what happened to his friend, and vows to keep looking until he finds Sara.

One morning, a monkey climbs into Sara's attic room. The monkey belongs to Ram Dass, Carrisford's Indian servant. Sara brings the monkey next door to return him, and remarks about Ram Dass being a Sikh, and how she met many Sikhs while growing up in India. When Carrisford asks how she came to be a servant at the school, she tells them how she used to be a pupil, but became a servant when a friend lost all of her father's money just before he died. Sara sees a statue of Kali in Carrisford's parlour, and says it looks just like one her father had owned. When Carrisford asks what her father's name was, she tells him, "Crewe...Ralph Crewe." Stunned, Carrisford tells her the statue actually was her father's, and that he is the friend whom it had been thought lost Ralph Crewe's fortune, and he has been searching all over Europe for her. Yet all this time, she had been just next door.

Carrisford tells Sara that half of his large fortune rightfully belongs to her, and that she doesn't have to return to the school. Miss Minchin arrives, assuming her servant to be bothering the neighbours, and demanding that she return to the school. Carmichael explains the situation, and chastises Minchin for her cruelty. Carrisford tells Sara that she is welcome to stay with him as long as she likes and that he will arrange private tutors to finish her schooling. Carrisford also rescues Becky, who becomes Sara's personal maid.

Sara Crewe (Liesel Matthews) is the optimistic, sweet, and kind daughter of Captain Richard Crewe (Liam Cunningham), a wealthy and honest aristocrat living in India. Sara's mother died along with her baby sister when she was very young, and she has to leave her beloved childhood home and friends when her father volunteers to fight for the British Army as an officer in World War I. Richard puts Sara in an all-girls' boarding school in New York City(the same school her mother attended in her youth) and instructs the arrogant and cynical headmistress Miss Maria Minchin (Eleanor Bron) to spare no expense making sure his daughter will be comfortable while he is away. He has reserved her the school's largest suite and gives Sara a special locket of her mother's picture, and a French doll named Emily, telling her that if she wants to talk to him, just speak to Emily and he will hear it. Though she finds the strict rules and Miss Minchin's harsh attitude stifling, Sara becomes popular among the girls, including the scullery maid Becky (Vanessa Lee Chester), for her kindness and powerful sense of imagination.

Due to a body being misidentified, Richard is wrongfully pronounced dead when he is actually seriously injured and amnesiac, while the British government takes his company and assets, putting Richard and Sara in debt. When Miss Minchin hears the news, she is in the middle of throwing a lavish birthday party for Sara, hoping to extort more money from her father. When Richard's solicitor arrives and tells her there will be no more money, Miss Minchin is furious. Since Sara is now penniless and has no known relatives, Miss Minchin decides to move her to the attic with Becky to work as a servant where she will report to the cook Mabel (Peggy Miley) at 5 a.m. Miss Minchin also confiscates all of Sara's personal belongings, including her locket, as compensation for her financial losses, leaving her with only Emily and a book.

Meanwhile, the elderly neighbor Charles Randolph (Arthur Malet) has received word that his son John, who is also fighting in Europe, is missing in action. He is asked to identify a soldier suffering from amnesia, but he is discouraged to discover it is not John. His wise Indian assistant Ram Dass (Errol Sitahal) encourages him to take in the man anyway, reminding him that he may know what happened to his son.

Though her life is bleak, Sara remains kind to others and continues to hold onto her belief that all girls are princesses. Sara and Becky later play a chimney prank on Miss Minchin after she reprimands a young chimney sweep boy (Jonás Cuarón). Sara even shows sympathy toward Miss Minchin's sister Amelia (Rusty Schwimmer). Ram Dass, who lives in the attic of the Randolph house, is brought to notice Sara and Becky by the household's monkey and hears Sara telling imaginative stories to Becky. He mentions the girls to his employer, saying he would like to make some of their imaginings come true.

When the girls later sneak up to visit Sara and are caught by Miss Minchin, Sara protects her friends by saying she invited them. As punishment, Miss Minchin locks Becky in her room and assigns Sara to perform both Becky's and her own chores for the next day without anything to eat for both of them. She even taunts Sara over believing she is still a princess. Sara, having had enough of Miss Minchin's cruelty, stands up to the latter, saying that all girls (including herself) are princesses despite how miserable their lives can be. Angered, Miss Minchin warns Sara that she'll be thrown out on the streets, should she be seen with the girls again. To distract them from their hunger, Sara and Becky imagine a huge banquet, with themselves warmly and attractively dressed, and a pleasant fire burning in the grate. The next day, they wake to find the dream has come true, all having secretly been brought over by Ram Dass.

Later that night, Amelia sneaks out of the school and runs off with the milkman. When Miss Minchin notices Sara's locket is missing (having been stolen back by the other girls as a gift to Sara), she goes to Sara's room and confronts her. After she discovers all the finery left by Ram Dass, an increasingly irate Miss Minchin accuses Sara of stealing everything and summons the police. With Becky's help, Sara narrowly avoids arrest by perilously climbing over to the Randolph house. Having failed to catch Sara, Miss Minchin insists the police arrest Becky for interfering with them. While hiding from the police, Sara comes across the soldier and realizes he is her father. Richard, though sympathetic to Sara, does not recognize her at all. As she tries to make him remember, Miss Minchin and the police arrive with Ram Dass and Mr. Randolph. Though Miss Minchin clearly recognizes Richard, she lies that Sara has no father and commands the police officers to seize her, choosing vengeance over the truth. As the police are about to take Sara away along with Becky, Richard suddenly regains his memory with help from Ram Dass and rescues his daughter. Miss Minchin angrily walks away in defeat in the rain.

Sometime later, Richard has cleared things up with Miss Minchin's superiors and the bank. The boarding school is given to Mr. Randolph, and his efforts make it a much happier place for the girls. The Crewe family's wealth is restored to them and they adopt Becky. Richard tells Mr. Randolph that John died in a gas attack, giving the man closure. As retribution for her perfidy and cruelty to Sara and Becky, Miss Minchin loses her current title and high position and is reduced to a chimney sweeper, now working for the chimney sweeper boy she previously mistreated (who appears to be enjoying his revenge on Minchin). The film closes with Sara and Becky waving farewell to their former classmates as their carriage departs from the school and the family begins their return to India.

Captain Crewe, called to fight in the Second Boer War, has to leave his daughter Sara (Shirley Temple) with her pony at Miss Minchin's School for Girls. With all the money Captain Crewe can offer, Miss Minchin gives Sara a fancy, private room.

Although worried about her father, Sara is distracted by riding lessons. It is during these riding lessons that Sara helps contrive meetings between Miss Rose, her teacher, and Mr. Geoffrey, the riding instructor, who is also the grandson of the mean-spirited next door neighbor, Lord Wickham. Sara hears news that Mafeking is free and expects her father will soon come home. Miss Minchin throws Sara a lavish birthday party. During the party, Captain Crewe's solicitor arrives with the sad news that Captain Crewe has died and his real estate, the basis for his wealth, has been confiscated. Miss Minchin ends Sara's party abruptly. Without her father's financial support, Sara becomes a servant, now working at the school she used to attend. Sara gains new solace in a friendship with Ram Dass, Lord Wickham's servant. She also receives support from Miss Minchin's brother Bertie, who does not agree with her treatment. Miss Rose and Mr. Geoffrey are found out and fired. Geoffrey joins the military.

In her new role, Sara gets hungrier and more tired from her arduous duties and sneaks off to veterans' hospitals, convinced her father is not dead. After a string of episodes, including a performance of the film's most well-known song "Knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road", Sara is at her wits end. Things start to worsen, when Sara gets into an argument with Miss Minchin, who cannot tolerate her faith in believing her father is still alive and tries forcing her to face reality. She later receives taunting from Lavinia the next day, eventually causing her to lose her temper and dump ashes on her. Miss Minchin arrives in the attic to punish Sara for "hurting" Lavinia. She discovers blankets that Ram Dass left Sara, assumes they are stolen, and locks her in the attic, calling the police. Sara escapes and runs to the hospital with Minchin in hot pursuit.

Meanwhile, the hospital is preparing to transfer a newly arrived unknown patient, who is unable to communicate except to repeatedly say, "Sara, Sara"; it is Captain Crewe. Sara bursts in upon a visit by Queen Victoria, who grants her permission to search for her father. During her search, she is reunited with a wounded Mr. Geoffrey and Miss Rose. Hiding from Miss Minchin and the police, she happens upon her father.

A staff member announces Sara has found her father, and Miss Minchin exclaims: "Captain Crewe is alive?!" to which her brother retorts, "Of course he's alive! How could she find him if he wasn't alive?" The film ends with Sara helping her father stand as the Queen departs.

As described in a film magazine, Sara Crewe (Pickford) is treated as a little princess at the Minchin boarding school for children until it is learned that her father has lost his entire fortune, and she is made a slave (a household servant). She and Becky (Pitts), another slave, become close friends who share their joys and sorrows. Christmastime draws near and the girls watch the preparations wistfully. Their loneliness arouses the sympathy of a servant of the rich Mr. Carrisford. On the night before Christmas he prepares a spread for the slaveys in their attic. He calls his master Mr. Carrisford (von Seyffertitz) to watch their joy, but both are witness to the slaveys being abused and whipped by Miss Minchin (Griffith). Carrisford interferes and learns that Sara is the daughter of his best friend. He adopts Sara and Becky and in their new home they have a real Christmas.

The film opens with Sarah's father moving back to London after serving in the British Army in India. She is opposed to leaving the luxurious life of an officer's child with a large house and many servants, and is initially shy when enrolled in Miss Minchin's School. Her reputation as "the little princess" precedes her and the other girls are fascinated with her tales of life in India. The girls sneak into Sarah's room at night to listen to her stories. One night, she tells "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" which becomes a story within a story with elaborate exotic sets and costumes.

When Miss Minchin is informed that Sara's father has died and lost his fortune, she is stripped of her possessions and accommodations, forced to work as a servant and live in the attic with Becky, the school's existing servant girl. While the other students and Miss Minchin treat Becky poorly, Sara had always been kind and generous and the two become close friends.

Mr. Carrisford is the school's neighbor; his house is so close it is possible to walk across the cornices from his attic window to Sara and Becky's. Mr. Carrisford's Indian servant loses his pet monkey, which escapes to Sara. Upon their meeting he realizes she had spent time in India in a wealthy family and takes pity on her circumstances. While the girls work tirelessly to prepare a Christmas feast for the students and staff, Mr. Carrisford's servant lays out a banquet for Sara and Becky, with an elaborate tablecloth and silver. Miss Minchin discovers this and accuses them of stealing, but are interrupted by Carrisford and his servant crossing the cornice. Carrisford learns Sara's identity and reveals himself to have been her father's best friend, who had persuaded him to invest his fortune in a risky business venture. He died believing he was destitute and had been betrayed by his friend, while Carrisford had been ill and was unable to arrive in time to tell him that the venture was a success. Sara was the heiress to a million pound fortune.

In the final scene, Becky and Sara are invited to live with Mr. Carrisford and they host a Christmas party for a group of poor children. Sara's parents (as ghosts) look on approvingly.

As described in a film magazine, Anne Shirley (Minter), whose orphan career has been a lively one due to her natural mischievousness, is sent by mistake to the home of Marilla Cuthbert (Harris) and her brother Matthew (Burton). The brother and sister had decided to adopt a boy to help around their farm, but decide to keep Anne anyway. Her early youth is a series of misfortunes or "scrapes." During this time she meets Gilbert Blythe (Kelly) and their love for each other begins. When Anne has graduated from high school and is happily looking forward to college, Matthew dies and Marilla is struck blind. She takes a position in the village as a school teacher. Gilbert has taken up medicine during this time. Despite the ill luck that continues to follow her, Anne manages to save enough and pays for an operation that restores Marilla's vision. Then she and Gilbert are married.

Lucy Maud Montgomery hated the film because of what she called "absurdities." According to Montgomery, the flag of the United States was prominently displayed at Anne's graduation from her Canadian college. At another part, Anne encountered a skunk and mistook it for a kitten. However, skunks did not exist on Prince Edward Island at the time the film took place or came out, and only happened to be introduced by a farmer later. The film also contained a scene where Anne punished a child. Afterward, Anne brandished a shotgun to fend off an angry mob that congregated at her schoolhouse door on the child's behalf.

A summary of the film was published in the April 1920 issue of ''Moving Picture Aid'', including four stills which have survived.

As described in a film magazine, Rebecca Randall (Pickford) is taken into the home of her aunt Hannah (Eddy), a strict New England woman. Rebecca meets Adam Ladd (O'Brien), a young man of the village, and they become great friends. One day Rebecca promises to marry Adam when she becomes of age. Unable to withstand her pranks any longer, her aunt sends her away to a boarding school. She graduates a beautiful young lady. Shortly thereafter, Adam demands a fulfillment of her promise.

Anne Shirley is an orphan who has been adopted by farmer Matthew Cuthbert (O.P. Heggie) and his sister, Marilla (Helen Westley). Although the pair were expecting a young boy to help on their farm, Anne endears herself to them and to the local villagers. She befriends Diana Barry and most of the children at her school except for Gilbert Blythe after he calls her 'carrots' and she smashes her slate over his head. She and Diana have a bet that Anne can flirt with Gilbert, and he will fall head over heels in love with her. Little do they know, Gilbert overheard them and already has fallen in love with her. Anne flirts with him, which becomes unsuccessful, and Diana wins the bet. Anne lies to Gilbert that she has a boyfriend to make him jealous, but she only ends up embarrassing herself.

Shortly after, Anne is playing the Lady of Shalott when she realizes her boat is sinking, and Gilbert sees her and saves her life. She then decides to forgive him and give him a reward for saving her. She will kiss him. Gilbert is surprised. Anne thinks he doesn't want to claim his reward, but he tells her he does and that he wants her to be his girl. For three years they have a secret courtship, but Mrs. Barry spies on them and tells Marilla, who does not want Anne to even talk to Gilbert because his mother broke Matthew's heart. Anne and Gilbert are both devastated, and Matthew is upset with Marilla because it wasn't she who got her heart broken.

Anne goes to college. Diana, who now is married, visits Anne and tells her that Matthew is ill. She returns to Green Gables, finding out it's for sale to save Matthew because he needs the best doctor in Halifax. She remembers Gilbert is studying with this doctor, so she goes to see Gilbert. He tries flirting with her, and she eventually gives in and finds out that Gilbert heard about Matthew and begged the doctor to save him for free, which he did. After Marilla finds out what he had done, she forgives the Blythes and lets Anne and Gilbert see each other again.

Set in the small-town of Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, Canada, elderly siblings Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert agree to adopt an orphan boy to help tackle chores around their family farm. When Matthew arrives at the train station to pick up the boy, he is surprised to confront an 11-year-old orphan girl named Anne Shirley. Anne's enthusiastic personality wins over Matthew's heart who reveals to Marilla he still wants to adopt her even though the circumstances aren't ideal. While Marilla is not keen on the idea, after a period of time, she agrees to keep Anne.

Despite growing up alone as an orphan, Anne finds the simple joys that life has to offer. She has a wild imagination and kind spirit, while her manners lack standard social acceptance. Due to a subpar education, she unintentionally defies proper and polite manners. She makes many mistakes to be expected by an 11-year-old girl.

Anne meets a smart young boy, Gilbert Blythe, at their local school who she builds a rivalry against when he calls her names and makes fun of her natural red hair– a sensitive topic for Anne. A teacher recognizes Anne's talents and intelligence quickly and encourages her to join a school club (designed for exceptional students) to prepare for an entrance exam at the prestigious university, Queen's Academy. She soon earns a scholarship which would pay her four years through school. Anne's foster father Matthew dies of a heart attack while her foster mother Marilla is said to go blind. She then lets go of her dream of a wealthy education and stays in Avonlea to care for her beloved foster mother. Gilbert overhears the news and decides to withdraw from his teaching career at Avonlea school so that Anne can take his position and be closer to her family. This random act of kindness creates a lasting friendship for Anne and Gilbert. Although Anne's dreams may seem as though lost, Anne believes there is much to look forward to in this beautiful thing called life.

Fanny Price, at the age of ten, is sent from her impoverished home in Portsmouth to live with the family at Mansfield Park, the Northamptonshire country estate of Sir Thomas Bertram. Lady Bertram is her aunt. The Bertrams have four children – Tom, Edmund, Maria and Julia – who are all older than Fanny. There she is mistreated by all but Edmund. Her other aunt, Mrs Norris, the wife of the clergyman at the Mansfield parsonage, makes herself particularly unpleasant to Fanny.

When Fanny is fifteen, Aunt Norris is widowed and the frequency of her visits to Mansfield Park increases, as does her mistreatment of Fanny. A year later, Sir Thomas leaves to deal with problems on his plantation in Antigua, taking his spendthrift eldest son Tom. Mrs Norris, looking for a husband for Maria, finds Mr Rushworth, who is rich but weak-willed and considered stupid. Maria accepts his proposal for his money.

The following year, Henry Crawford and his sister, Mary, arrive at the parsonage to stay with their half-sister, the wife of the new incumbent, Dr Grant. With their fashionable London ways, they enliven life in Mansfield. Edmund and Mary then start to show interest in one another.

On a visit to Mr Rushworth's estate, Henry flirts with both Maria and Julia. Maria believes Henry is in love with her and so treats Mr Rushworth dismissively, provoking his jealousy, while Julia struggles with jealousy and resentment towards her sister. Mary is disappointed to learn that Edmund will be a clergyman and tries to undermine his vocation. Fanny fears that Mary's charms are blinding Edmund to her flaws.

After Tom returns, he encourages the young people to begin rehearsals for an amateur performance of the play ''Lovers' Vows''. Edmund objects, believing Sir Thomas would disapprove and feeling that the subject matter of the play is inappropriate for his sisters. But after much pressure, he agrees to take on the role of the lover of the character played by Mary. The play provides further opportunity for Henry and Maria to flirt. When Sir Thomas arrives home unexpectedly, he finds the play still in rehearsal; it is cancelled. Henry departs without explanation and Maria goes ahead with marriage to Mr Rushworth. They then settle in London, taking Julia with them. Sir Thomas sees many improvements in Fanny and Mary Crawford initiates a closer relationship with her.

When Henry returns, he decides to entertain himself by making Fanny fall in love with him. Fanny's brother William visits Mansfield Park, and Sir Thomas holds what is effectively a coming-out ball for her. Although Mary dances with Edmund, she tells him it will be the last time, as she will never dance with a clergyman. Edmund drops his plan to propose and leaves the next day. So do Henry and William.

When Henry next returns, he announces to Mary his intention to marry Fanny. To assist his plan, he uses his family connections to help William achieve promotion. However, when Henry proposes marriage, Fanny rejects him, disapproving of his past treatment of women. Sir Thomas is astonished by her continuing refusal, but she does not explain, afraid of incriminating Maria.

To help Fanny appreciate Henry's offer, Sir Thomas sends her to visit her parents in Portsmouth, where she is taken aback by the contrast between their chaotic household and the harmonious environment at Mansfield. Henry visits, but although she still refuses him, she begins to appreciate his good features.

Later, Fanny learns that Henry and Maria have had an affair that is reported in the newspapers. Mr Rushworth sues Maria for divorce, and the Bertram family is devastated. Tom meanwhile falls gravely ill as a result of a fall from his horse. Edmund takes Fanny back to Mansfield Park, where she is a healing influence. Sir Thomas realises that Fanny was right to reject Henry's proposal and now regards her as a daughter.

During a meeting with Mary Crawford, Edmund discovers that Mary's only regret is that Henry's adultery was discovered, rather than the actual adultery. Devastated, he breaks off the relationship and returns to Mansfield Park, where he confides in Fanny. Eventually the two marry and move to Mansfield parsonage. Meanwhile, those left at Mansfield Park have learned from their mistakes and life becomes pleasanter there.

In 1865, a week before the surrender of Confederate forces of Robert E. Lee, the Confederate Navy ship ''CSS Texas'' is being loaded at a dock with crates supposedly filled with documents. The ship's captain, Mason Tombs, has been ordered to take the ship past a Union blockade and to any neutral harbor where she should dock until summoned by a courier. At the last minute the secretary of the Confederate navy and an admiral arrive and mention that he will be taking a prisoner on board. Tombs is shocked when the prisoner arrives under heavy guard with Confederate soldiers in Union uniforms - a prisoner who appears to be Abraham Lincoln.

The ship gets under way and is battered by the Union navy while trying to run the blockade, until Tombs brings the prisoner onto the deck, and the Union soldiers stop firing and salute.

In 1931, Kitty Mannock is flying over the Sahara in quest of a new aviation record. A sand storm fouls her carburetors and she is forced to land in the desert. She manages to touch down on level ground, but the plane reaches the edge of a ravine and tips over. A search is launched, but she is never found.

In 1996, a convoy of tourists are crossing the Sahara on a fleet of Land Rovers when they reach a scheduled stop at a village in the country of Mali. They find it is unusually deserted, and as they are refreshing themselves at the village well they are attacked by red-eyed savages who kill and eat them. Only the tour guide escapes with his life.

Meanwhile, working in Egypt on an archaeological mapping of the Nile, Dirk Pitt is able to rescue Dr. Eva Rojas, a scientist working for the World Health Organization, from a mysterious attacker. Shortly thereafter, Eva flies to Mali with an international team of scientists to investigate a mysterious disease that has been reported from various desert villages. At the same time, Pitt and his best friend Al Giordino are hurriedly flown to a research vessel outside the coast of Nigeria. There they are informed by their boss, Admiral James Sandecker, of an algal bloom, in this case a red tide, that is growing unnaturally fast, and threatens to consume the world's oxygen supply and extinguish almost all life. The growth speed is suspected to be fueled by some type of pollutant.

Dirk, Al and Rudi Gunn are ordered to cruise up the Niger River to search for the pollutant, and determine where it enters the river. They do this aboard the ''Calliope'', a high-performance super-yacht, equipped with comprehensive scientific laboratories, several weapon systems, and an array of communication equipment. The cruise is all well until reaching Benin, where they are forced to engage the Benin navy, which is completely destroyed. The continued trip is calm. They identify the pollutant, and at last find the spot where it appears in the river—but there is no chemical facility in the vicinity, and in fact no sign of anything entering the river.

By now, the Malian armed forces are on their way, along with the Malian dictator General Zateb Kazim, who wishes to seize the yacht for his own use. After dropping Gunn off to make a run for the Gao airport, Pitt and Giordino let the yacht self-destruct after jumping overboard and swimming to the houseboat of the ruthless French businessman Yves Massarde. On his yacht, they manage to contact Admiral Sandecker about Gunn's escape before being captured by Massarde. A UN rescue team picks Gunn up at the airport.

After some interrogation at the houseboat, Pitt and Giordino manage to steal Mr Massarde's helicopter, which they fly north to Bourem, dumping the chopper in the river. Here they find (and steal) General Kazim's ancient car, an Avions Voisin. They drive the Voisin north, into the desert, toward the chemical waste processing facility Fort Foureau, the only facility that could possibly leak the pollutant into the river. En route to the detoxification facility, Pitt and Giordino run into an American nomad who is searching for a supposed sunken Civil War ironclad. They hide the car and sneak into the facility, only to be captured by Mr. Massarde's security guards, but not before they discover that the processing facility is just a disguise for an underground waste dump sitting right above an underground river, which flows under the sand to the Niger.

Massarde decides to send them to Tebezza, a secret gold mine shared with General Kazim, where prisoners dig for gold under appalling conditions. Here they also find the WHO team, which had been coming too close to the truth about the diseases they were investigating, as well as the French engineers that were contracted to build the processing facility. Dirk and Al manage to escape from the mine, driving 300 km to the east, trying to reach the Trans-Sahara Route. When the gas runs out, they have to walk. They find a cave painting of a Civil War-era monitor, which could not have been drawn in such detail without having seen it. They also find a lost 1930s-era airplane, which they rebuild into a sand yacht. They determine that the crashed airplane had been flown by legendary record-breaking Australian pilot Kitty Mannock, whose disappearance was worldwide news at the time, overshadowed only by that of Amelia Earhart. Mannock's body is lying with the plane, along with her diary, which details her attempts at walking out, her discovery of "an odd ship in the sand", her taking shelter inside the ship, and her eventual return to her plane in a vain hope for rescue. Mannock survived for ten days, and from her diary Pitt and Giordino are able to determine how long she walked from the plane, and in which direction, giving them an area to search for the lost ironclad. Using the sand yacht they built from Mannock's plane, they finally reach the Trans-Sahara Route and are picked up by a passing truck on the way to Adrar, Algeria. They quickly reach Algiers, from where they inform Admiral Sandecker about the appalling situation in Tebezza.

The UN team that rescued Rudi Gunn earlier is dispatched to Alger to pick up Pitt and Giordino, and is then flown to Tebezza. They successfully attack Tebezza and close it for good, but not before an alarm is sent to General Kazim. An aircraft from the Malian air force is sent there to investigate, and destroys the UN aircraft just as the team returns from the mine. They are now stranded, and decide to make a run for the real Fort Foureau, a French Foreign Legion fortress that gave the waste processing plant its name, and plan to later hijack a waste train to carry the team and the rescued prisoners to safety in Mauritania.

While at the fortress their presence is discovered and the trains are stopped. Giordino and a commando use a stripped attack buggy to reach a US Delta unit in Mauritania, while the Malian army attacks the fortress with everything they have. After severe losses for both sides, the Delta unit comes to the rescue aboard a train, quickly defeating the Malian army and killing General Kazim.

Now Pitt and Giordino borrow an attack helicopter and go to take over the Fort Foureau facility. They also force Mr. Massarde to lie out in the desert sun naked for three hours, after which he drinks several litres of water which was secretly polluted from the waste dump. They then let him board his chopper and leave, knowing that he will not survive.

In the end, the waste dump is cleaned up, the water pollutant is removed and the red tide growth rate decreases. The rescued Tebezza prisoners are treated for malnutrition and various injuries. The ironclad, which turns out to be the ''Texas'', is dug up and the lost airplane is restored and placed in a museum. Dirk Pitt also ships general Kazim's Avions Voisin to his own car collection.

It is revealed that the conspiracy theory about Lincoln being on the ''Texas'' was true: Lincoln was abducted during a coach ride by Confederates dressed in Union uniforms, led by a Captain Neville Brown (who claimed he'd kidnapped Lincoln on his deathbed in 1908). It turned out Stanton knew of the kidnapping and, fearing public anger, covered it up by hiring John Wilkes Booth to stage the Lincoln Assassination (with another actor as a double for Lincoln). Jefferson Davis planned to use Lincoln to force the Union to negotiate, but Stanton turned him down. Determined not to make a martyr out of Lincoln, Davis put him on board the ''Texas''. After the ship was lost, Davis never told anyone about the kidnapping of Lincoln, fearing Northern anger. The crates of documents carried by the ''Texas'' were actually the Confederacy's treasury, which was to be smuggled to another country where a government in exile was to be established and the war continued.

The book opens with would-be gigolo Joe Buck leaving Houston to seek his fortune back east, chasing his dream of becoming a hustler for sex-starved rich ladies in New York City. Dim-witted, naïve, but strapping and handsome, Joe has spent the past two years cultivating a cowboy persona and saving up his dishwashing wages for a brand new cowboy wardrobe.

The book recounts the events of his life that lead up to this point. Born out of wedlock, Joe is abandoned by his mother at the age of 7. He is raised in Albuquerque by his grandmother Sally Buck, a flirty blonde hairdresser who takes care of his needs but emotionally neglects him in favor of an endless string of boyfriends. One of those boyfriends, the cowboy Woodsy Niles, is the closest thing Joe has to a father figure, but he too exits Joe's life forever once his relationship with Sally ends. Joe grows up profoundly isolated and lonely, desperately wanting but clueless on how to form connections with other people.

When Joe is 17, he loses his virginity to Anastasia Pratt, a promiscuous schoolgirl who would regularly take on six boys at a time in a movie theater storeroom, each boy patiently waiting in line for his turn. Joe is the first boy she enjoys having sex with, leading to a secret relationship that is squelched when one of the other boys alerts Annie's father to her sexual activities out of jealousy. Annie is swiftly institutionalized, and the unsavory rumors surrounding Joe's involvement only serve to depress and alienate him.

In the following years, he has occasional brief sexual dalliances with both men and women in the hopes of securing their friendship, but they are only ever interested in his body. He drifts aimlessly into his 20s—jobless, friendless, and idle, still living with and supported by his grandmother.

Joe is drafted into the US Army at the age of 23. For the first time in his life he finds camaraderie and acceptance, if not outright friendship. Tragically, Sally Buck dies in a horseback accident towards the end of Joe's enlistment. He suffers a nervous breakdown at the loss of the only real human connection in his life.

Discharged from the army, unmoored and consumed by grief, Joe decides to leave Albuquerque for Houston. There, he attracts the attention of a local male hustler named Perry. Joe's simple delight at having attention paid to him by a cool new friend is misinterpreted by Perry as a reciprocation of sexual attraction. Perry takes Joe to a hotel room, gives him marijuana for the first time, and attempts to initiate a sexual encounter. Instead, the drugs cause Joe to suffer an existential crisis, and he babbles tearfully on the floor about his desire to have a blonde wife to fawn over him and take care of all his needs.

An annoyed Perry takes Joe to a Tex-Mex brothel run by a grotesque madam and her sexually deviant son. Joe is thrilled by this apparent gesture of friendship, though it's implied that Perry intends the trip as a punishment for having been led on. As Joe is having tender and spirited sex with a prostitute, he catches the others spying on him through a hidden room. He attacks Perry, but is then assaulted and raped by the madam's son.

Joe is deeply traumatized by the attack and by Perry's betrayal. He resolves to harness all his anger to reinvent himself and focus on a goal, inspired by an offhand comment made by the whorehouse madam: he will become a hustling cowboy and seek his fortune in New York City, servicing the legions of sex-starved society women waiting for him there.

Joe Buck arrives in New York by bus and checks into a hotel. Initially unsuccessful, he manages to bed a middle-aged woman, Cass, in her posh Park Avenue apartment. But the encounter ends badly—he ends up giving ''her'' money after she is insulted when he requests payment. It's also implied through her phone conversations that Cass herself is a high class call girl.

Afterwards at a bar, Joe meets Enrico Salvatore "Ratso" Rizzo, a crippled young swindler who takes $20 from him for ostensibly introducing him to a pimp. After discovering that the man is actually an unhinged religious fanatic, Joe flees in pursuit of Ratso but cannot find him. Joe spends his days wandering the city and sitting in his hotel. Soon broke, he is locked out of his hotel room and most of his belongings are impounded.

Desperate for money to get back his things, Joe tries to solicit male clients on 42nd street. He receives oral sex from a young man, but learns after the act that the young man has no money. Joe threatens him and asks for his watch, but eventually lets him go unharmed.

Joe wanders homeless and utterly alone for weeks, until by chance he spots Ratso in a diner. Simultaneously overjoyed at the sight of a familiar face and furious over having been conned, Joe angrily shakes him down. Ratso only has a few bits of change in his pockets, but he offers to share with Joe the condemned apartment where he is squatting. Joe reluctantly accepts his offer.

Together, the two of them eke out a marginal existence, their days spent on various schemes to raise funds for their survival. Despite their squalid circumstances, Joe finds himself happier than he has ever been, because in Ratso he has found the friendship and companionship that he has always longed for. Ratso tells Joe about his dream of going to Florida, a splendid paradise where life is always easy and all your needs are met. Time passes, and Ratso's health grows worse.

One day, Joe is scouted by Hansel and Gretel MacAlbertson, a pair of bohemian siblings, and handed an invitation to a Warhol-esque loft party. Joe and Ratso attend. Joe gets high off a pill Gretel gives him, and leaves the party with a socialite who agrees to pay him $20 for the novelty of spending the night with a male hustler. An ailing Ratso falls down the stairs, and makes his own way home. Meanwhile, Joe is aghast to find himself unable to perform in bed, but after reflecting on his wearying experiences in New York City he is able to successfully make wild, raw, violent love to the socialite.

Joe returns to their flat flush with success, carrying new socks and medicine for Ratso. He finds him bedridden and feverish, having lost the ability to walk. Dimly aware that his friend is dying, Joe announces that he is going to take them to Florida that very night.

Joe picks up a middle-aged man in an amusement arcade. The man takes Joe back to his hotel room and wastes the entire evening tediously talking at him before ultimately backing out of the transaction. Desperate, Joe robs him, and brutally beats him when he tries to phone for help. He buys bus tickets with the money and puts himself and Ratso on the next bus to Florida.

Joe resolves to stop hustling, and tells Ratso that he plans to get a regular job in Florida. To his own surprise, he promises Ratso that he means to take care of them both. Joe reflects positively on his journey and his own newfound maturity.

Ratso's health deteriorates over the course of the long bus ride. He becomes incontinent, and eventually unresponsive. Joe buys new clothing for Ratso and himself at a rest stop, and discards his cowboy outfit. Shortly before arrival, Joe wakes up to discover that Ratso has died.

He is unsurprised, and finds himself continuing to make responsible plans for the future—to bury Ratso properly, and to find a job to pay for the burial and headstone. The driver tells Joe there is nothing to do but continue to Miami and asks Joe to close Ratso's eyes. Alone in the world once more, Joe sits with his arm around his dead friend for the last few miles of their journey.

Anita King, Michelle Cheung and Maggie Mui run the "Paper Sisters Detective Company" in Hong Kong. They serve a variety of clients, seeking lost books, pets, and even lost authors! Maggie and Michelle's expansive book budget often causes them to be out of money, and when they are not working they argue with Anita about how to maintain the apartment and eat.

In volume 1, the Paper Sisters help fix a romance by finding a lost book, find the Shangri-la of libraries, convince an alien not to destroy the world, help a girl with a serious illness find the courage to undergo a risky treatment, and battle the greatest horror of all horrors: cleaning their own apartment.

Volume 2 finds Anita on her own trying to help a client, only to discover that the client is a thief known as "Lily the Book Lover Extraordinaire" and Anita must fight her to get back what the thief has stolen; in another chapter, the sisters tell each other ghost stories, and in the final set of chapters, the Detective Company helps an author Yun Fat track down his favorite writer from his childhood.

In volume 3, Maggie finds a book which divides her psyche into 24 different personalities, and Michelle and Anita need to find a way to restore her; in another story, the Sisters argue about how to earn more money, and later, after they become successful, Michelle puts on too much weight, so her sisters try to force her to diet. Anita gets sick and Maggie takes care of her. Finally, Lily returns to threaten young Japanese author Hisami Hishishii, but fortunately Hisami has the Paper Sisters to protect her.

In the final volume, the Paper Sisters are brought to Japan to do more bodyguard work for Hisami, but end up first trying to "stage" a pretend first kiss for Hisami (with Anita as the unwilling "actor" playing Hisami's crush), and later, under her editor's instructions, try to protect Hisami from would-be suitors. The next story flashes back to how the Paper Sisters met: Dokusensha agents Maggie and Michelle were hired to help the company's genetic lab creation, Anita, to bring forth her powers. When Dokusensha tries to take Anita back, Maggie and Michelle take on Dokusensha's Hong Kong branch by themselves to rescue her from the evil corporation. The comic then returns to the present as several supporting characters' arcs are wrapped up, and Anita gets advice on the meaning of loving books from a mysterious spectacle-wearing bibliophile.

Told through flashback, ex-convicts Perry Smith and "Dick" Hickock meet in rural Kansas in the fall of 1959. Together, they concoct a plan to invade the farm home of the wealthy Clutter family, as patriarch Herbert Clutter supposedly keeps a large supply of cash in a wall safe. The two criminals break into the home in the middle of the night but are unable to find any safe, as Herbert uses checks for his personal business and his farm operations. In order to leave no witnesses to their robbery attempt, Smith and Hickock kill Herbert by cutting his throat, and proceed to murder his wife, Bonnie, and their two teenage children, Nancy, 16, and Kenyon, 14, with a shotgun. Their bodies are discovered the next day, and a Finney County sheriff's and Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) investigation is immediately launched, headed by detective Alvin Dewey.

Based on a tip by a former cell mate of Hickock, the two men become the primary suspects for the Clutter murders. The fugitives elude law enforcement by heading to Florida, traveling southwest across the country, and eventually crossing the Mexican border. After two weeks in Mexico, the two return to the United States, and decide to travel to Las Vegas, Nevada, hoping to earn money in gambling winnings. Shortly after their arrival to Las Vegas, Smith and Hickock are arrested for driving a stolen car, violating parole, and passing bad checks.

The Las Vegas Police Department and the KBI later separately interrogate the two men about the Clutter murders. Both Smith and Hickock admit to passing bad checks, but both deny knowing anything about the murders. The KBI attempts to scare the men into confessing, claiming that they left a witness behind who can testify against them. The KBI interrogation, however, is slowed by Smith's refusal to provide answers. Next, the KBI confront the two with evidence, such as a bloody footprint matching the boots worn by Smith. Finally, Hickock relents, confessing that he was present, but that Smith carried out the murders. He begs for immunity from the death penalty. After Smith learns that Hickock has confessed, he recounts how, it was in fact he, not Hickock, who wielded the knife and pulled the trigger in all four killings, but maintains that Hickock was present as an active accomplice.

Both Smith and Hickock are charged with first-degree murder, found guilty on all counts, and each sentenced to death by hanging. After losing multiple appeals both men are hanged for their crimes with law enforcement officials and media representatives in attendance.

L.A. police detectives Cal Bruner and Jack Farnham are partners. After a fleeing suspect is killed, they discover a box filled with money and Bruner pockets $80,000 over Farnham's objections. Farnham reluctantly accepts a key to a safe deposit box so that he can access his half, but he immediately becomes agitated and racked with guilt. Bruner receives a call from the dead man's partner threatening to reveal the cop's deceit unless he gets his money back. Farnham demands that they turn in the money, but Bruner says he intends to murder the blackmailer and claim self-defense. Bruner finally agrees to return the money instead, but he is actually preparing to kill his own partner. When the crook suddenly shows up Bruner wounds Farnham, but Farnham is killed by a shot from the dark. Their boss, Captain Michaels, appears and reveals that the blackmailing crook was just a ruse.

Loosely based on the 1826 novel ''The Last of the Mohicans'' by James Fenimore Cooper, the series was released under several different names, including ''Hawkeye'' and ''The Last of the Mohicans''.

The series was set in New York's Hudson Valley in the 1750s but was filmed in Canada. The end credits state that the series was filmed in Canada with the cooperation of The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

The series had a more realistic view of America than most series of the times. The settlers were rough and dressed in old but suitable clothes for the long hard winters in the small settlements of the new frontier. The Native Americans were more realistically portrayed too, as an intelligent people with good and bad individuals among them. Fights in the film needed more than just the odd blow as the opponents hit hard at each other, and torture was used in a number of episodes. Weapons used were normally single shot rifles and tomahawks (which often ended up in someone's back). Furs were often a motive of crime as they were the currency of the northern settlements.

The film starts where ''L'armata Brancaleone'' has ended. Brancaleone da Norcia (again played by Vittorio Gassman) is a poor but proud Middle Ages knight leading his bizarre and ragtag ''army'' of underdogs. However, he loses all his "warriors" in a battle and therefore meets Death's personification. Having obtained more time to live, he forms a new tattered band. When Brancaleone saves an infant of royal blood, they set on to the Holy Sepulchre to bring him back to his father, Bohemond of Taranto (Adolfo Celi), who is fighting in the Crusades. As in the first film, in his quest he lives a series of grotesque episodes, each a hilarious parody of Middle Ages stereotypes. These include: the saving of a young witch (Stefania Sandrelli) from the stake, the annexion of a leper to the band, and a meeting with Gregory VII, in which Brancaleone has to solve the dispute between the pope and the antipope Clement III. On reaching Palestine, Brancaleone obtains the title of baron from the child's father. He is therefore chosen as a champion in a tournament to solve the dispute between the Christians and the Saracens in the siege of Jerusalem. The award for the winner is the former leper, who is in fact revealed to be a beautiful princess, Berta, who adopted the disguise to travel to the Holy Land in relative safety. After having nearly defeated all the Moor warriors, Brancaleone is however defeated by a spell cast on him by the witch, who, having fallen in love with him, could not stand seeing him married with the princess. He therefore starts to wander in despair through the desert, and again Death comes to claim her credit: Brancaleone, brooding and world weary as he has no qualms about dying but asks to be allowed to die in "knightly" fashion, in a duel with the Grim Reaper itself. Death agrees and the confrontation begins... after a fierce exchange of blows Brancaleone is about to be cleft by Death's scythe but is ultimately saved by the witch, who gives her life for the man she loved.

An elderly woman sits on a bell as it rocks back and forth, while a servant in blackface pulls at a rope. A dandified gentleman appears at the top of a stairway and doffs his hat to the lady; he smiles and courts her attention. She does not respond, but the servant hangs himself. The scene changes to an darkened interior: the gentleman sits at a grand piano and plays, but something is wrong. He opens the piano's lid and finds the woman lying inside, dead. He leafs through a number of tombstone-shaped cards with different inscriptions - "Sleeping", "At Rest", "With The Lord" - and finally chooses one that says "The End".

Allegra Steinberg, daughter of movie producer Simon Steinberg and television writer Blaire Scott, is a successful entertainment lawyer who seems to have the perfect life. She has a satisfying career and is surrounded by people she loves, including her boyfriend, Brandon, her sister Samantha, an aspiring model, and her best friend, Alan Carr, a Hollywood heartthrob.

While on a business trip in New York City, she meets writer Jeff Hamiliton, and although there is chemistry between the pair, Allegra does not pursue the attraction. However, after she discovers that Brandon has been cheating on her, she meets up with Jeff, and before long, the couple is engaged and planning a wedding at her parents Bel Air home.

As their September ceremony looms, Allegra finds herself faced with many business, romantic and personal problems, including a pregnancy in the family, the death of a client and the return of her father. The wedding becomes a chance for forgiveness, hope and reconciliation.

Woodrow "Woody" Wilkins is an imaginative, yet eccentric, comic book writer and illustrator who demands a sense of realism for his comic book hero "Condorman", to the point where he crafts a Condorman flying suit of his own and launches himself off the Eiffel Tower. The test flight fails as his right wing breaks, sending him crashing into the Seine River. Later after the incident, Woody is asked by his friend, CIA file clerk Harry, to perform what appears to be a civilian paper swap in Istanbul. Upon arriving in Istanbul, he meets a beautiful Soviet woman named Natalia Rambova, who poses as the Soviet civilian with whom the exchange is supposed to take place, but it is later revealed that she is in fact a KGB spy. Woody does not tell Natalia his real name, and instead fabricates his identity to her as a top American agent code-named "Condorman". During the encounter, Woody fends off a group of would-be assassins and saves her life by sheer luck before accomplishing the paper trade. Impressed by Woody, and disgusted by how she was treated by her lover/boss Krokov when she returns to Moscow, Natalia decides to defect and asks the CIA to have "Condorman" be the agent that helps her.

Back in Paris, Woody's encounter with Natalia inspires him to create a super heroine patterned after her named "Laser Lady". He is then notified by Harry and his boss Russ that he is to escort a defecting Soviet agent known as "The Bear". Woody refuses to do the job, but when Russ reveals that "The Bear" is Natalia, he agrees to do it on the condition that the CIA provides him with gadgetry based on his designs.

Woody meets up with Natalia in Yugoslavia and protects her from Krokov's henchmen led by the homicidal, glass-eyed assassin Morovich. After joining Harry in Italy, the trio venture to Switzerland, where Natalia discovers the truth about Woody when a group of children recognize her from his comic books. Their journey back to France is compromised when Morovich puts Woody and Harry out of commission and Krokov's men recover Natalia before retreating to their headquarters in Monte Carlo. Woody is told that the mission is a failure and he and Harry are ordered to return to Paris, but Woody asks Harry for two more days to conduct an operation to rescue Natalia.

Disguising themselves as Arab sheiks, Woody and Harry create a diversion at the Monte Carlo Casino to recover Natalia from Krokov and his men. As Harry drives away in a Rolls-Royce, Woody uses an improved version of his Condorman suit to fly himself and Natalia out of the casino and onto the pier, where the trio make their getaway aboard the Condorboat. They manage to destroy Krokov's speedboats following them, but Krokov and Morovich pursue them in their own speedboat. The Condorboat reaches its pick-up point, but Morovich shows his intent on ramming it. When Morovich ignores his commander's orders to return to base, Krokov abandons ship. The Condorboat is lifted by the CIA helicopter in time to prevent a collision, causing Morovich to crash on an island rock.

Days later, Woody, Natalia and Harry are at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, where they see the Goodyear Blimp flash a sign welcoming Natalia to the U.S. Aboard the blimp, Russ contacts Harry and has him ask Woody if he is interested in taking Condorman to another assignment.

The plot involves an alien race losing a precious crystal that contains all of their recorded history, split into nine pieces and hidden throughout Earth's solar system. While out walking Pluto, Mickey Mouse stumbles upon a spaceship sent by the aliens and is charged with searching the planets (and several moons) for the pieces of the crystal.

The girls are cooking Thanksgiving dinner, while the guys watch football. When the girls complain that the guys are not helping, they start discussing the game. Joey suggests the gang play a game of football in the park. Rachel and Phoebe think this is a great idea – even though neither of them have ever played football before. Chandler refuses at first, since he is still distraught over his breakup with Janice. Joey points out that Chandler has not wanted to do anything since the breakup, and this will be an excellent way to start getting over her. Monica and Ross initially refuse too – they had been banned from playing football by their parents. Every year, they used to have a touch football game called the "Geller Bowl". During Geller Bowl VI, Monica broke Ross's nose – thus spurring the banishment, and their father throwing the "trophy" in a lake. They finally decide one game could not hurt, and go to the park to play.

Monica and Ross name themselves team captains – Monica picks Joey and Phoebe; Ross picks Chandler and Rachel, who was upset that she was picked last. Then, she gets upset because Ross keeps telling her to "go long." It does not take long for the Geller siblings' rivalry to come out, and they spend the game at war with each other. Monica reveals that she fished the "Geller Cup" – a Troll doll nailed to a 2x4 – out of the lake while Ross was taken to the emergency room. They decide to play for the "Cup", and Rachel gets even more upset when Ross "trades" her to Monica's team for Joey.

Joey and Chandler meet a pretty Dutch girl named Margha, who is in the park because her roommate is having sex with a businessman. They spend the game competing for her affections. Ross, sick of their fighting, asks her to pick one. She picks Chandler, after it is revealed that Joey does not know where Dutch people come from, but rescinds her choice when Chandler starts gloating.

During the last play of the game, Monica throws it to Rachel – who almost scores a touchdown. Once the gang realizes the ball is still in play, Monica and Ross dive for the ball and refuse to let go. They end up staying there most of the night, while the rest of the gang goes back to the apartment to enjoy dinner. Rachel and Phoebe had so much fun playing football, they wonder if there is a league they can join in their free time away from work. Meanwhile, Ross and Monica briefly stop their fight to admire the snowfall but eventually, continue on their fight again.

Marco del Monte is a young Republican artist living in sixteenth century Renaissance Florence. The city is ruled by the tyrant Duke de Medici. Marco's girlfriend is Angelica, a beautiful former pickpocket. Sandro is Marco's friend and confidant. Machiavelli is the Duke's advisor, and Captain Rodrigo is the head of the Medici forces. The series depicts the struggles of the Republicans to combat the attempts of the Duke to strengthen his position and make himself a dictator.

Sam Whiskey (Burt Reynolds), an adventurer and rogue in the Old West, is seduced by widow Laura Breckenridge (Angie Dickinson) into promising to retrieve $250,000 in gold bars from a riverboat that sank in Colorado's Platte River. The gold had been stolen by Laura's late husband from the Denver Mint and replaced by plated lead fakes. She offers Sam $20,000 to recover and return it before the theft is discovered and her family name is ruined. Sam enlists the help of Jedidiah Hooker (Ossie Davis), a local blacksmith, and O. W. Bandy (Clint Walker), an Army friend turned inventor, offering them shares of the reward.

They locate the sunken riverboat, unaware that they are being watched by Fat Henry Hobson (Rick Davis) and his gang. The gold is fifteen feet below the river's surface, so Bandy fashions a diving helmet for Sam out of a bucket and bellows, but Fat Henry and his gang capture Jed and Bandy. Thinking they have drowned Sam, hiding in the riverboat's smokestack, they recover the gold and prepare to kill their captives. With the help of one of Bandy's homemade machine guns, Sam frees his partners and they start for Denver with the gold. Just as they are tempted at a crossroads to head for Mexico with their haul, Laura shows up to greet them.

Assuming the identity of a government inspector, Sam enters the mint and deliberately damages a gold-plated bronze bust of George Washington displayed in the lobby. He then insists on having it repaired and takes it to a blacksmith's shop, where Jed makes a mold of the bust and recasts the recovered gold. Fat Henry later breaks into the shop and steals the bronze original, thinking that it was made by Sam and his men to disguise the pilfered bars. Sam returns the new bust to the mint, and his men, posing as plumbers, conceal themselves until nightfall when they meltdown the bust and recast it into gold bars. On a train leaving Denver the next morning, Sam splits the $20,000 with Jed and Bandy but keeps Laura for himself.

The TARDIS lands by mistake in London on a parallel Earth. The trip has caused all of the TARDIS apart from a small power cell to die. The Doctor energises the cell with some of his own lifeforce. The cell needs twenty-four hours to fully recharge before the Doctor, Rose, and Mickey can return home, so they decide to explore. Rose is shocked to see a billboard with her father Pete's picture on it, knowing that her real father died when she was an infant. Mickey decides to head off on his own to try to find his grandmother Rita-Anne, who died in his universe years earlier after falling down the stairs. The Doctor and Rose discover that most of the population of London wear EarPod devices that feed information directly into the wearer's brain from Cybus Industries, which owns Pete's health drink company Vitex.

Meanwhile, the head of Cybus Industries, John Lumic, tries and fails to gain approval from the President of Great Britain for his plan to "upgrade" humanity by placing their brains into metal exoskeletons. Unknown to everyone else, Lumic has already been secretly turning homeless people into Cybermen. Cybus is being investigated by a group called the Preachers, who have been receiving secret information about Lumic's technology from "Gemini". Jake Simmonds, one of the Preachers, witnesses a group of homeless people being taken to be converted and goes to collect help. Jake finds Mickey at his grandmother's house, and confuses him with his parallel counterpart, Ricky. Jake takes Mickey to the Preachers' base where Ricky and Mickey meet. After some initial distrust, Mickey decides to join the Preachers as they follow the Cybus vans that kidnapped the homeless to Pete's mansion, which is hosting the birthday party of his wife, Jackie who lives there with their dog named Rose (as in this universe they did not have a child).

The human Rose and the Doctor also investigate the party and disguise themselves as caterers. Suddenly, the party is interrupted by the Cybermen, who smash into the house and surround the guests. Lumic calls the President, who is in attendance, telling him that he is moving forward with his plans and that all of humanity will be upgraded, before telling everyone that upgrading is compulsory. A Cyberman kills the President for refusing to comply, declaring that he is not "compatible". The partygoers panic, try to flee and the Cybermen begin massacring them. The Doctor, Rose Tyler and Pete escape the house and encounter Mickey and the Preachers outside. As the group is surrounded by Cybermen, the Doctor tells everyone to surrender and tells the Cybermen that they are volunteering for the upgrade. The Cybermen tell them that they are "incompatible" and will be deleted.

The game opens with an introduction video sequence of Duke riding his motorbike towards the Bootylicious Strip Club in downtown Los Angeles, only to find the Pig Cops teleporting in to disrupt his fun, turning his motorcycle into a pink child's bicycle. Duke takes out the Pig Cops and the game begins. The video sequence is accompanied by the song "The Thing I Hate" by Stabbing Westward. Apparently, an alien race called the Draks are causing havoc in Earth's timeline, and are aiming to kill Duke. It's up to him now to clean up the timeline.

The first stage of the game is a hub stage. It is an "inner city" composed of the strip club, a subway, an apartment and manufacturing plant. On each visit to the hub stage, the appearance and enemies change slightly, and the dancers in the strip club change from women to mutated pigs and even men, Duke can kill the dancers, which leads to Mutated Pigs teleporting in, resulting in humorous comments from a disgusted Duke. The objectives of the hub stages are to find 3 key crystals (hidden in a different location each time) and use them to operate a Time-Space Warp that Duke must use to travel to the Old West, Medieval Europe, and Ancient Rome. In each scenario, Duke finds evidence of Draks and their pig minions period dress attempting to change history in their favor.

Duke encounters several stages of action before a final confrontation against an enormous end boss. Duke clears out all three time periods, defeating all opposition, including powerful monsters such as "The Reaper", Duke also encounters a dragon referred to as "Wing'd Death". In the end, Duke encounters the Drak leader, Moloch the Gate Keeper and then kills him. With his enemies eliminated, Duke returns to his time. This game was followed up with ''Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes'', and a game was made for the Nintendo 64 called ''Duke Nukem: Zero Hour''.

Duke is relaxing at a strip club when suddenly a portal opens and a woman appears to give Duke his (old) sunglasses, but pigcops follow her and kill her. After killing the pigcops Duke heads through the portal which leads him to an underground bunker in the future. There, a woman named Jane explains to him that the aliens have exterminated all men on earth and the women are captured to be used as slaves and that Silverback (a pigcop, ape hybrid) is leading the assault on UBR (unified babe resistance).

The first levels consist on escaping the underground bunker and shooting down Silverback's ship with the purpose of rescuing a UBR scientist named Houston which was taken to the ship, but the ship crashes in the sunken city ruins. In the following levels Jane sets up Duke with scuba gear to go in after the ship and saving Houston but he only finds one of the captured women without Houston. After the underwater levels Duke finds a hidden entrance into Silverback's base which is in a sewer, and eventually fights Silverback, who uses an armored robotic suit.

After killing Silverback, Duke goes through a portal which leads him to an alien mine and eventually into a factory where the aliens are creating killer robots which are identical to the UBR women. At one point Duke reaches a junkyard where he destroys the main computer that handles the robots and afterwards steals a spacesuit and ship which he uses to get to an alien space station. It is here where Duke finally rescues Houston who tells him that due to his success against the alien captain Silverback, they are planning to use the space station to blow up the earth. After rescuing all the women imprisoned in the space station Duke reaches "the gauntlet" where the alien leader challenges him to conquer all its levels in order to fight him, in the gauntlet Duke fights all enemy types he has faced throughout the game (except the aquatic ones), then finally he fights the alien boss which is like a larger version of the green cyclops soldiers with a hovercraft. In the ending sequence the UBR is running the "operation repopulation" which involves Duke (being the only living male) singlehandedly repopulating the planet.

The story is set on the island of Sicily, where the Saint is confronted with the Italian Mafia. The story shows a slightly older, more mature Saint. Although still a formidable opponent for any criminal, he will not storm into action but choose his moments more carefully.

At the beginning, Simon Templar is on holiday in Naples when a small uproar on a lunch table draws his attention. An English tourist attempts to greet an Italian businessman as an old friend, but the Italian refuses to acknowledge the greeting and claims never to have met him. When the bodyguard of the businessman attacks the Englishman, the Saint intervenes and immobilizes the bodyguard. The Italians make their retreat and the Saint and the Englishman make their introductions to each other. The Englishman, Euston, claims that the Italian Businessman was his old friend Dino Cartelli. When Euston takes his leave, the Saint gives the incident no second thought.

The next morning, the Saint's attention is drawn by an obituary in the local newspaper of an English tourist by the name of Euston. Apparently the man had an unfortunate accident. Remembering the previous day's incident, the Saint is unable to accept this and starts an investigation into the identity of the businessman. He discovers that Dino Cartelli was known as a faithful bank employee, who was brutally murdered by bank robbers. Apparently, his face and hands were mutilated beyond recognition. He also learns that the businessman with the bodyguard goes by the name of Alessandro Destamio.

The next day, a limousine stops at the hotel and the Saint is courteously invited to have a meeting with Mr. Destamio. He is flown to Destamio's private island, and Destamio introduces himself as a businessman with many enemies who takes his privacy very seriously.

When back in Naples, the Saint is attacked by a street robber. He simply neutralizes the man, but both he and the robber are brought to a police station for questioning. The Saint receives an extremely cool reception by the police officials, who ask him why he has mutilated an Italian citizen. Luckily for the Saint, a higher ranked inspector by the name of Ponti shows up, who discards the Saint without hesitation and even recommends him a good restaurant for lunch. After leaving the station, the Saint goes to the indicated restaurant because he realizes the recommendation by Ponti was a hidden invitation. There the two men meet. Ponti reveals to the Saint the true nature of his troubles: he faces war with the notorious Mafia. They will try to hunt him down and the police cannot be trusted. Ponti will be his only ally.

The next move of the Saint is to visit the family of Destamio, including the lovely Gina Destamio. At night, he visits the mausoleum of the Destamio family, but before he can investigate the grave inscriptions he is clubbed unconscious.

The Saint finds himself captured in a castle, at the mercy of the Mafia. Before Destamio can question him he is brought to the head of the Mafia, who is seriously ill. It appears Destamio aims to be his successor, but he has to defeat other candidates who wonder why Destamio has brought the Saint to their headquarters. It appears that Destamio claims to be from a worthy family, which the Saint might dispute.

After being brought back to his cell, the Saint manages to untie his ropes and climbs out of the antique dungeon. Pursued by several gangsters, he descends from the castle hill and starts running through the Italian countryside. During the chase, the Saint has brief encounters with locals who help him, but their fear of the Mafia is all-apparent. A local barber manages to conceal him and tells him to leave as soon as possible. Bus passengers on the Palermo bus stay clear of him, realizing he is on the Mafia's hit list.

The Saint manages to reach Palermo and contacts Ponti. Then the tables can be turned. Ponti has mobilised a secret military strike force, ready for battle and very grateful to learn from the Saint the location of the Mafia headquarters.

The Saint joins the small army when they attack the castle. Although the castle is surrounded, the Mafia succeeds in breaking through the perimeter with a bullet-proof car. The army commander and the Saint and Ponti start the pursuit. When they cross through Palermo, they discover they have chased the car too long and the head men must have sneaked out. When driving back, the Saint leaves the car and sends Ponti to call reinforcements.

The Saint enters the house were the Mafia top men have gathered. He is able to corner them, but before he can thoroughly question Destamio he is again surprised by one of the guards. After that the army troops arrive and although several top men are arrested, Destamio again escapes through a back garage.

The Saint realizes he can only go to one other place and sets off for the Destamio mansion. There he finally confronts Destamio, who is trying to gather his personal belongings before going under. Confronted by the Saint, he admits his real name is Dino Cartelli. He offers the Saint a bribe in return for his freedom. The Saint lets him go, straight into the hands of arriving police troops.

After having reached the Maze of the Beast and finding the amethyst, they continue their journey off to the Valley of the Lost to retrieve the seventh and final gem, the diamond. The seven gems are the lost gems from the Belt of Deltora, which had been stolen by the Shadow Lord to overthrow Lief's country, Deltora. The three travel along the river Tor, passing villages that have been raided by pirates. When they stop for a rest, they see a pirate ship. Realizing that it was the ship that a boy named Dain was captured aboard upon, they steal a rowboat in an attempt to rescue him. After Dain and a polypan climb into their boat, the polypan rows against the flooding currents of the river away from the pirates and toward shore. The polypan jumps out of the boat before the boat reaches the shore, and Lief, Barda, Jasmine, and Dain are floating adrift the violently overflowing river. They drift over a sand bar and arrive at the edges of Tora, a great city that Dain had been trying to travel to. They enter the city, and Dain is significantly weakened by the magic of the purifying entrance. They meet two Resistance members, Doom and Neridah after finding the city deserted. Neridah travels with the trio to the Valley of the Lost to find the seventh gem. Upon entering the valley, they meet the Guardian, who doesn't use physical force, but games to protect the diamond. The Guardian enchants them to enter his castle, and asks them to play a game with him for the diamond. The winner of the game will keep the diamond, but the loser will have to be kept in the valley forever. Scared by this, Neridah runs away, leaving the three behind to play the game. Lief, Barda, and Jasmine manage to find all of the clues and guess the name before the time is up, and realize that the Guardian's name is Endon, the king of Deltora. They also find out that Doom had been there before and won the game, but did not take the gem because of his shock when he realized that the Guardian was actually the king. Lief, Jasmine, and Barda find out the gem is not the real diamond, and leave the castle to find Neridah had stolen it. The diamond curses those who gain the gem by theft, and Neridah dies by tripping on a rock and drowning in a stream. After the trio retrieves the gem, the Valley of the Lost disappears and all of the creatures in it are replaced by people, who reveal themselves to be the people of Tora. They had been turned into their form because they broke a vow that they had sealed by magic by turning King Endon away when he sought refuge with them, as they had no wish to draw the Shadow Lord's forces to them but did not consider the consequences of this action. The Guardian turns into Fardeep, a mere man from Rithmere, but not Endon. The name Endon was actually the Shadow Lord's idea, and was intended to trick any winners of the game. Knowing that they have all seven gems, the three travel with Dain back to Del to find the king who will put on the Belt to banish the Shadow Lord from Deltora.

Lief, Barda, and Jasmine had retrieved the emerald from Dread Mountain. They travel along the River Tor to get to the Maze of the Beast, where they will get the amethyst. The gems they are taking are part of a Belt of Deltora, which will defeat the Shadow Lord that has invaded Deltora. During their travel, they encounter a pair of children nearly drowning in a stream. They save the children, but they reveal themselves to be Ols, creatures created by the Shadow Lord that can transform themselves to become another living creature. These creatures overrun the west side of Deltora to keep the gems hidden. Just before Barda is about to die, a boy Dain attacks the Ols and saves them. In the process, Dain injures his arm and several ribs. This causes Lief to sympathize for the boy, and take him to the Resistance, a group of people who rebel against the Shadow Lord. Arriving at the entrance to the Resistance's hideout, Dain faints from the pressure and forces the three to guess the password before they are marked as Ols and killed. Lief finds a note and realizes that the password is the first letter of every word on the note. They enter the Resistance and Doom, a man they have encountered before, tests them by putting them in a prison for three days. The test is supposed to find out if they are Ols because Ols can only hold their shape for three days. As three days pass, Doom does not let up and keeps them imprisoned. Dain frees them from the cave in exchange for their agreeing to take him to Tora. When Lief, Barda, and Jasmine reveal that they are not going to Tora, they split apart to make them less recognizable. Lief, Dain, and Barda take a boat that takes them down the river to the Maze of the Beast. They realize that Jasmine was also on the boat. The boat is raided by pirates, and Dain is taken prisoner. After reaching the Maze, Barda is revealed to be an Ol by the real Barda. Unfortunately, they are captured by pirates and are dumped into the Maze. After finding the location of the gem, Barda and Jasmine separate from Lief to lead the Beast away and Lief stays to carve the gem out of a column. They regroup when Lief was done, and escape the cave through a blowhole. The blowhole blows just after they escape, which takes the life of two pirates. The three then start off their journey to the Valley of the Lost.

The main characters of the book are Barda, Lief and Jasmine, who have retrieved all seven of the magic gems from their perilous Guardians and lairs. They now have the topaz, ruby, emerald, lapis lazuli, diamond, opal and amethyst gems. The Belt is whole and made, but the hardest part of the journey is yet to come—they need to find the heir of Adin, the true heir to Deltora's throne. There is, however, another problem. Lief's father tells him that they would find the heir with the Belt, for it will show the way, but the Belt shows them the way but shows no sign of recognition of the heir.

The party knows there is a problem and they have to do something about it. They also know that they need to recruit a member of each of the seven tribes as well. The seven tribe members are Lief of Del for the topaz, Manus of the Ralad people for the ruby, Steven (and Nevets) of the Plains people for the opal, Fardeep of the Mere for the lapis lazuli, Gla-Thon of the Dread Gnomes for the emerald, Zeean of Tora for the amethyst, and Glock of the Jalis for the diamond.

In addition to this, they now need to awaken the Belt's hidden powers and find the heir to the throne of Deltora. However, along the way, their friend Steven and his brother Nevets tell the three to go across a field of hidden grippers, which are plants composed of deep holes with venomous teeth inside to avoid the Grey Guards positioned in the road searching all the caravans passing by. Lief and Jasmine escaped relatively unharmed, but Barda suffers severe damage. They are forced into a small cabin when they find the remains of a man, woman, and small child bearing a note from King Endon with the royal seal at the bottom.

When the gang finally reaches the Resistance stronghold, Barda wakes up long enough to tell the three that the letter was false and planted there by the Shadow Lord because when Endon escaped with Sharn, he did not have the royal seal with him as it had always been held with Prandine. Barda's condition worsens, until he has almost died when all seven tribes are reunited. Lief realizes that Dain is the heir as the Belt is showing that the heir is somewhere in the room. To help prove this, Lief realized that Dain's name is an anagram of 'Adin'. Dain is then kidnapped by Ichabod just when Lief was supposed to hand over the Belt, and the Belt falls on Barda who then starts to make a recovery.

Everyone heads to Del to rescue Dain and falls into an elaborated trap where the puppet master is revealed at last - no other than Dain himself. Dain is a Grade 3 Ol and he has been fooling them all along. Lief manages to kill him with the Belt and then Lief, Jasmine, Barda, and Doom escape to Lief's old home, where the second secret is revealed - Doom is actually Jasmine's father.

Everyone is then arrested by Grey Guards except for Lief who then, with Kree, goes to the punishment place in the palace to try and save them. When he is there, he suddenly remembers a passage from a book that his father showed him: ''"Only the Belt of Deltora, complete as it was first fashioned by Adin and worn by Adin's true heir, has the power to defeat the Enemy."'' He rearranges the gems in the socketed Belt so that their initials spell Deltora (the order would be Diamond, Emerald, Lapis Lazuli, Topaz, Opal, Ruby, and finally Amethyst), and the Belt's powers flare to life, saving the country. Lief realizes then that he is the heir and the very last secret is shown, that Endon and Jarred switched places because no one could suspect that a king and queen of Deltora could work as a simple blacksmith and wife. Endon, Lief's father, dies a peaceful death now that Deltora has been rid of the Shadow Lord at last.

The special opens with Denver and the Muppets singing "The Twelve Days of Christmas". To add comedic effect, Fozzie Bear forgets his line ("Seven swans a-swimming.") and Miss Piggy overemphasizes hers ("Five gold rings, ba-dum, bum, bum.")

The main plot of the rest of the special is the creation of the special itself and a special musical number for Miss Piggy. During the discussion of her number, Miss Piggy confronts Denver in her dressing room about their presumably mutual attraction. Miss Piggy, as a doll named Fifi, sings "I Will Wait for You" to Denver, who plays a wooden soldier trying to stay in step with a line of marching wooden soldiers.

The program concludes with Denver reciting the story of Jesus' birth and joining the Muppets to sing "Stille Nacht/Silent Night" while the children in the audience join in.

In modern times, an antiques dealer (Henrik Galeen) searching the ruins of a Jewish temple, finds a golem (Paul Wegener), a clay statue that had been brought to life four centuries earlier by a Kabbalist rabbi using a magical amulet to protect the Jewish people from persecution. The dealer resurrects the golem as a servant, but the golem falls in love with Jessica (Lyda Salmonova), the dealer's daughter. When she does not return his love, the golem goes on a rampage and commits a series of murders.

The novel's first-person protagonist, an unnamed vagrant with intellectual leanings, probably in his late twenties, wanders the streets of Norway's capital, Kristiania (Oslo), in pursuit of nourishment. Over four episodes he meets a number of more or less mysterious persons, the most notable being Ylajali, a young woman with whom he engages in a mild degree of physical intimacy.

He exhibits a self-created code of chivalry, giving money and clothes to needy children and vagrants, not eating food given to him, and turning himself in for stealing. Essentially self-destructive, he thus falls into traps of his own making, and with a lack of food, warmth and basic comfort, his body turns slowly to ruin. Overwhelmed by hunger, he scrounges for meals, at one point nearly eating his own (rather precious) pencil and his finger. His social, physical and mental states are in constant decline. However, he has no antagonistic feelings towards 'society' as such, rather he blames his fate on 'God' or a divine world order. He vows not to succumb to this order and remains 'a foreigner in life', haunted by 'nervousness, by irrational details'.

He experiences an artistic and financial triumph when he sells a text to a newspaper, but despite this he finds writing increasingly difficult. At one point in the story, he asks to spend a night in a prison cell, posing as a well-to-do journalist who has lost the keys to his apartment. In the morning he cannot bring himself to reveal his poverty or even partake in the free breakfast provided to the homeless. Finally, as the book comes to a close, when his existence is at an absolute ebb, he signs on to the crew of a ship leaving the city.

The community of a small Norwegian coastal town is shaken by the arrival of eccentric stranger Johan Nagel, who proceeds to shock, bewilder, and beguile its bourgeois inhabitants with his bizarre behavior, feverish rants, and uncompromising self-revelations.Jeffrey Frank, [http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/12/26/in-from-the-cold "In From the Cold,"] ''The New Yorker'', December 26, 2005.

A shipping company employs a team of four people (a journalist, a psychic, a meteorologist, and an oceanographer) to discover the secret of the Bermuda Triangle. With the help of a Greenpeace survivor and a tycoon they ultimately find out the truth about a high-tech underwater facility operated by the United States Navy and its relation to the Philadelphia Experiment, determining that the Triangle is a wormhole. They close the Triangle, destroying it forever, but their efforts at closing the wormhole also disrupt time and cause the Triangle never to have existed in the first place, with everyone who was taken being returned and living out their lives as though nothing had ever happened. In the new Triangle-less timeline the only ones who know the Bermuda Triangle ever existed are the team members who destroyed it.

In Paris in 1893, the dance-hall in Montmartre owned by La Môme Pistache, Bal du Paradis, is being threatened with closing by a self-righteous judge, Aristide Forestier. He is offended by the scandalous but popular dance that the attractive dancers perform at the dance-hall, the "Can-Can." The judge sends the police to harass the owner and dancers, but the police like the dancers so much that they are reluctant to testify against them in court. The judge decides to gather evidence himself, and takes a trip to the club. Once there, he and the owner, La Môme, fall in love. He tries to keep his identity a secret but the girls recognize him. He sees the Can-Can and gets photographic evidence of its scandalousness. La Môme and the dancers are sent to jail.

One of the dancers, Claudine, a laundry girl by day, has been pursued by Hilaire, an art critic, who plans to host an elaborate ball at the club. Claudine, who loves a sculptor, Boris, arranges to have dinner with Hilaire so that her sculptor will receive a favourable review. Now, with the proprietress and dancers locked up, the ball cannot go forward. The judge is struggling with the conflict between his moral scruples and his love for La Môme. Eventually, he concedes that "obscenity is in the eye of the beholder". He urges her to escape, but a journalist gets a photograph of him kissing her – a scandal for him!

Hilaire criticises Boris's sculptures, and the cowardly artist manages to challenge the critic to a duel before fainting. Eventually, Hilaire writes a gushing review of Boris's work. Judge Aristide loses his judgeship and is disbarred, but La Môme and the girls all go to court with him and all win their cases.

Set in and around New York City, the two humanistic mystery-dramas each stars interracial-buddy private detectives Ted Denning and Bob Rainier. ''A Remembrance of Threatening Green'' involves a midwife hiring the investigators to find who killed her lesbian lover. In ''A Terror of Dying Dreams'', a social worker has the duo investigate a wife-beating millionaire.

Seattle Medical Examiner Dr. David Krane (Ray Liotta) arrives at a crime scene, an apparent drug store robbery. He finds a matchbook that reminds him of a similar matchbook found at the scene of his wife Mary's murder. Krane is convinced that the killer is the same man who killed his wife. He approaches Detective Don Bresler (Peter Coyote), insisting that, should he find a suspect, to interrogate them about his wife's murder.

Later, Krane goes to a dinner where Dr. Martha Briggs (Linda Fiorentino) gives a lecture on her experiment to transfer memories. She tells Krane that neuro-peptides are used in forming memories and can be retrieved from Cerebral Spinal Fluid (CSF). She has created a serum designed to facilitate the memory transfer process but an external stimulus similar to the memory must also be present for the memories to successfully imprint on the recipient. When Dr. Krane learns human trials are many years away, he says he would volunteer to try the serum, but Dr. Briggs refuses.

Later that evening Krane retrieves the sample of CSF from his wife's autopsy, and then breaks into Dr. Briggs' office. He then goes back to his house which is filled with crime scene photos. Krane injects himself with the serum, and has a memory flash of the night of his wife's murder, but is unable to see the killer's face. Krane then returns to the lab, retrieves the CSF from the female victim at the drug store. Krane drives to the drug store where he then injects himself, again, with the serum. Krane is finally able to see the killer's face. He then meets with a police sketch artist and tries to create a sketch of the killer. Krane and his friend and colleague, Curtis Avery (David Paymer), enter the sketch into a computer program that generates a searchable photo of the killer.

Dr. Briggs then confronts Krane about the break in and the theft of her serum. He explains that it works and that you experience the memory as if it were happening to you. Dr. Briggs is worried about side effects and gives Krane a physical, noting that there has been "significant" damage to Krane's heart. Curtis says they got a hit on the photo, identifying the suspect as Eddie Dutton. Dutton has a long criminal history, including drugs and several murders for hire. Curtis gives Krane Eddie's last known address.

Krane and Dr. Briggs travel to the seedy motel where Eddie Dutton resides. He soon sees Eddie in the elevator, and has an overreaction to seeing him. Krane runs down the stairs after Eddie. Dr. Briggs yells at Krane to stop as he is straining his heart. Krane pursues Eddie, who pulls out a gun and starts to fire at Krane. Eddie runs into an alley, where the two struggle and Krane ends up with Eddie's gun. Eddie runs into a Catholic church, and grabs a young boy, holding him hostage with a knife. Dr Krane tries to talk Eddie down when the police arrive. Eventually Det. Bresler fatally shoots Eddie, and Dr. Krane is upset because he did not get to question Eddie.

Dr. Krane is confronted about his erratic behavior by his supervisor who fires him. Krane and Dr. Briggs go to the Police station, where Krane sneaks into the autopsy room and steals a sample of Eddie's CSF.

Back at his house, Krane injects himself with the serum, using Eddie's CSF. Krane has a flash of what appears to be Eddie having rough sex with a woman, who may be Mary. In the midst of the memory flashback Krane inadvertently begins to choke Dr. Briggs. During the flashback Dr. Krane sees that Eddie notices Krane returning to the house and Eddie flees, apparently before Mary is actually dead. Dr. Briggs finds Krane at the bottom of the porch stairs and administers the nitroglycerin to him. He explains that Eddie did not kill his wife, and that he had come home drunk that night and passed out in the front yard while his wife was being murdered. Krane opens up about how he was a drunk and the marriage was on the rocks. He mentions that when his wife died she was 5 weeks pregnant.

The next morning Dr. Briggs goes to Curtis and asks him to get a DNA sample from Krane. As Dr. Briggs is running the DNA for a paternity test, Krane walks in and is angry that she would test the paternity without consulting him. The paternity test shows the baby was not Krane's child.

Krane rushes over and confronts Mary's sister Kelly (Kim Cattrall). They argue, and Kelly says that Mary was having an affair with a police detective. While talking to Det. Bresler about this new information, Krane begins to have flashbacks of an interrogation of Eddie. These flashbacks cause a heart attack and Krane is rushed to the hospital. Krane has flashbacks of the night and subsequent events of Mary's murder. While Krane and Dr. Briggs are at the hospital, an explosive device destroys Dr. Briggs office.

After Krane recovers, Detective Stewart Gleick (Christopher McDonald) the original detective on Mary's case, approaches Krane in the hospital saying that a detective named Joseph Bodner may be the man with whom Mary was involved, thus making him the likely father of her unborn child. Detective Bodner tried to commit suicide on the same day Mary was killed, but ended up in a coma instead. Krane and Dr. Briggs go to the hospice where Det. Bodner is, and take a sample of his CSF. Krane and Dr. Briggs argue about who should take the injection. Krane says he is not taking any chances and he tapes Dr. Briggs to the seat and injects himself. He confirms that his wife was in fact having an affair with Bodner. Mary met Detective Bodner who was a witness against Detective Bresler, who is revealed to have been quite corrupt.

As Krane is reliving these memories, Detective Bresler arrives at the house and begins to set the scene to kill Krane and Dr. Briggs by lighting a fire. Kelly arrives at the house with Krane's kids, just as Bresler is about to kill them. Krane fights Bresler, beating him unconscious. Krane then pulls Dr. Briggs out of the house, and then rushes in to save Bresler. He then goes back into the burning house to retrieve the microcassette recorder that recorded Bresler's confession.

The movie ends with Krane in a coma. He imagines he is with his wife. Dr. Briggs explains that his wounds should heal, but he is not responding mentally. Det. Gleick tells Krane that they got Bresler. Dr. Briggs says he could snap out of his coma at any time. The scene then shifts to Krane imagining playing with his kids, he looks back over his shoulder and his wife turns and fades away.

In the year 2025, Earth sends an expedition to Mars in the spaceship ''Izanami''. A huge rock formation is discovered beneath the surface, and is transported back to earth. On the way back, the rock's temperature soars, causing the ''Izanami'' to explode and crash-land in Tokyo, leaving a large crater. The rock hatches into a colossal alien life form, which proceeds to attack Japan with bolts of energy from its many appendages and orifices. Missiles, tanks, and aircraft all attack but fail to destroy Negadon (the name of the creature, although it is never stated on screen), whose thick exoskeleton protects it from conventional weaponry.

At the same time, Ryûichi Narasaki, a downcast robotics constructor, is still devastated by the incident that cost him his left eye and the life of his only child, a young daughter. The incident was caused by the malfunctioning of his masterpiece, the giant prototype super-robot MI-6 2 ''Miroku''. Because of the ominous threat of Negadon, Narasaki faces the painful choice of reactivating (and piloting) ''Miroku'' to destroy Negadon and save the world. After an epic battle, Narasaki (in ''Miroku'') hauls Negadon into the upper atmosphere and destroys the space creature. His mission accomplished, Narasaki allows himself and ''Miroku'' to die when Negadon explodes.

Felicia is a Northern Irish teenager whose boyfriend, Johnny, has left to join the British Army after impregnating her. Taking a ferry to England, she begins a hopeless search for the lawnmower factory in Birmingham where she believes Johnny now works. Instead, she encounters Joseph Hilditch, a catering manager at a factory who is also the son of an eccentric TV chef of decades past. Hilditch regularly watches the old programmes of his presumably-deceased mother while he cooks her recipes and collects material about her. He offers to help Felicia find Johnny; however, his motives for doing so are initially unclear, and it is subsequently suggested through flashback sequences that he has befriended but then turned on vulnerable young women in the past.

Hilditch offers to drive Felicia to what he suggests is the factory she is looking for, which is on the way to the hospital where the unmarried Hilditch claims he is going to visit his wife. Felicia fails to find Johnny at the factory; while she is out of the car, Hilditch goes through her bags and steals her money. Subsequently, Felicia comes across a Jamaican Christian witness who offers Felicia a free overnight stay at a church hostel. While staying at the hostel, Felicia discovers that her money has gone and, after appearing to accuse others at the home of stealing the money, goes to Hilditch's house.

Meanwhile, Hilditch has traced Johnny to the barracks where he is serving, but does not disclose this to Felicia. He tells her that his wife has died and that she suggested that Felicia abort her unborn child. After the abortion, which Hilditch pays for, he takes her back to his house and gives her an overdose of sleeping pills. As she passes out, he explains that he has 'helped' many other vulnerable girls but 'lays them to rest' when they decide it is time to leave him.

While Hilditch is digging out in his garden, the Jamaican witness and a new convert enter his yard and begin to preach. The Christian reveals that Felicia had told her about Hilditch, saying he was a kind but troubled man. Hilditch feels flashes of guilt and confesses that he did, in fact, steal from and cheat Felicia so that she would return to him. He explains that he feels lonely, and the horrified Christians leave. Upstairs in the house, Felicia awakens from her sleep and struggles down the stairs. Hilditch finds her trying to escape but allows her to leave. He later walks to his kitchen, where he hangs himself with a pair of tights.

An assortment of people gather at a countryside inn in preparation for the infamous "Cannonball Run", an illegal three-day cross-country race from Washington, D.C. to Santa Monica where the winner and five runners-up will receive $1 million. However, the hot-headed Washington Chief of Police, Spiro T. Edsel, along with his long-suffering sidekick Whitman, arrest all of the drivers to prevent the race from happening. As a result, sponsors must find replacement drivers by the next day.

Leo Ross, seeing that his old school rival, Charlie Cronan, has driving skills while working as a parking valet, bullies him into driving his BMW. Ross also persuades Charlie to bring along Tiffany, a dimwitted Marilyn Monroe-esque actress.

Vic DeRubis is a hitman-for-hire sent to kill Alec Stewart, an English deadbeat and compulsive gambler who has squandered money that he borrowed from loan sharks. Alec convinces Vic to ride with him, hoping to win the Cannonball Run and pay off the various mobsters. They team up in a Jaguar XJS.

Lea Roberts and Margaret take over a Ferrari Daytona Spyder after the driver they are trying to woo is arrested. MIT graduates into electronics and gadgets, they are tempted by the prize money and the challenge.

When the driver of the Lamborghini is arrested, a skittish Italian porter, Valentino Rosatti is forced to drive it by Flash, a former policeman who wants the money for his own reasons.

Nelson and Randolph Van Sloan, two millionaires and the only drivers not arrested in the police sweep, enter in a Bentley Corniche convertible. They spend most of their time trying to secretly catch a flight to Los Angeles in order to win by cheating. However, the plane is hijacked during take off and the hijacker is subdued by the pilots, resulting in the plane overshooting the runway and going on to the highway.

Following the race are a pair of television reporters, Heather Scott and Jack O'Neill, who get so caught up in the action that they decide to race their Ford news van.

In hot pursuit is Edsel, who grows increasingly insane in his unsuccessful efforts to stop the racers. Edsel and his men manage to arrest Vic and Alec, who quickly escape and steal the police car. Edsel and Whitman chase after them in their Jaguar.

At the race conclusion, Edsel and Whitman themselves win the Cannonball Run by driving the Jaguar across the finish line at Santa Monica Pier first – saving Alec, because as he points out to Vic; the winner is the car, not the driver – followed by Vic and Alec in their stolen police car. Charlie and Tiffany driving the BMW finish third, Lee and Margaret fourth, Heather and Jack fifth, Flash and Valentino sixth, with the Van Sloan brothers coming in last while riding on roller skis.

The ending credits features the cast playfully driving bumper cars.

Early 20th-century Europe was a time and a place rife with conflicting forces, from the battlefields of World War I to the peaceful countryside of rural England. Scientific advances such as electric light and photography appeared magical to some; spiritualism was championed by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle while his friend Harry Houdini decried false mediums who prey upon grieving families. J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan charmed theatergoers of all ages. Young Frances Griffiths, whose father is missing in action, arrives by train to stay with her cousin Elsie Wright in rural Bradford, West Yorkshire.

Polly Wright, Elsie's mother, is deep in mourning for her son Joseph, a gifted artist who died at the age of ten, and she keeps Joseph's room and art works intact. Elsie is not allowed to wear colours or to play with his toys, but she has taken the unfinished fairy-house he built up to her garret bedroom where her doting father, Arthur, regales her with fairy tales. He is a bit of a local hero, responsible for the electrification of the local mill, where children as young as Elsie go to work. He is also an amateur photographer and chess player. When Frances arrives she and Elsie discover a shared fascination with fairies, whom they encounter down at the "beck", a nearby brook. They abscond with Arthur's camera one afternoon to take pictures of the fairies, hoping to give Polly something to believe in. When she comes home after attending a meeting of the Theosophical Society, where she hears stories of angels and all sorts of ethereal beings, she finds Arthur reviewing the prints in disbelief, but she thinks they are real. She takes them to Theosophist lecturer E.L. Gardner, who has them analysed by a professional and then brings them to the attention of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The photos are pronounced genuine, or at least devoid of trickery.

No one except Houdini believes that young children could be capable of photographic fraud, and Conan Doyle himself arrives at the girls' home with Houdini, Gardner and two new cameras. Arthur catches Houdini poking around and tells him point-blank that he doesn't believe that the fairies are real, but that no trickery took place in his darkroom either. Abetted by the buffoonish Gardner, Elsie and Frances soon come up with two more photos and Conan Doyle has the story published in ''The Strand Magazine'', promising everyone's names will be changed. But a newsman soon identifies the beck in Cottingley, tracing the girls through the local school and besieging the family. Hundreds of people invade the village in automobiles and on foot, and the fairies flee the obstreperous mobs. By way of apology to the fairies, the girls finish Joseph's fairy-house and leave it in the forest as a gift.

The girls are invited to London by Conan Doyle, where they embrace their celebrity and see Houdini perform. In a quiet moment backstage Houdini asks Elsie if she wants to know how he does his tricks, and she wisely declines. And when a reporter asks, he declaims, "Masters of illusion never reveal their secrets!" Back in Yorkshire, while the girls and Polly are away, Arthur has a chess match with a local champion reputed to be mute, and the newsman breaks into their house. He discovers a cache of paper dolls in the form of fairies in a portfolio in Joseph's room, but he is frightened away by the apparition of a young boy, leaving the evidence behind. Arthur wins his match, wringing a shout from his opponent, and another myth is debunked. After the children return home, the fairies reappear, and finally, Frances' father comes home as well.

Scott Marshall (Michael J. Pagan) comes from a family of superheroes. His father, Bronze Eagle (Robert Townsend), has the powers of flight, super strength, and invulnerability. His mother, Warrior Woman (Alex Datcher), has the power of super strength and superior hand-to-hand combat skills. His brother, Silver Charge (Kasan Butcher), is gifted with super speed, electrical and magnetism manipulation. His little sister, Molly (Arreale Davis), has both x-ray and heat vision. His grandfather, Steel Condor (Sherman Hemsley), has super strength, invulnerability and flight (though at his old age, he flies slower than cars), and has an ongoing feud with Superman. His grandmother, Doris (Joan Pringle), has the ability to morph. Unfortunately, Scott lacks powers and if none appear before his 14th birthday, he's normal for life. The Marshalls all share the same "superhero weakness", which is aluminum foil.

An activist group known as "Earth Protectors" have been giving out CD-ROMs about the environment to Scott's classmates. The programmer, Nina (Olivia Burnette), wants to use them to educate, but her partner, Malcolm (Kevin Connolly), has greedy plans for the program. When a bank robbery fails, he realizes that the program only works on kids; he experiments, giving the kids chocolate cravings, making them all wear blue, etc. After Scott loses track of time due to being mesmerized by the CD-ROM, Jim gets suspicious about Earth Protectors; he takes his brother Adam to the bank to search for the Earth Protectors program. Unfortunately, Adam overloads the computer, frying the system. Scott pretends to have super strength and flight powers, so as not to disappoint his parents; his grandfather learns the truth, deciding to support him. Malcolm decides to use Nina as a Damsel in Distress for a win-win plan; he'll capture the heroes in the way of his plans, or simply be rid of Nina. This occurs on Scott's birthday; his parents and the guests decide to let Scott try saving her. However, both almost die until Jim saves them, having been told the truth by his father.

Scott loses his mask, which Malcolm matches to him; he visits Scott's school, using an improved CD-ROM to force him to reveal everything about his family. He then has a new CD-ROM given to Scott, telling the teacher that all the children's parents to watch that night's lesson. Unfortunately, Scott accidentally switches CD-ROMs with his friend Amy (Jamie Renée Smith); as result, her mother (Nancy Sorel) subconsciously robs a bank and goes to Earth Protectors' HQ. They use her as bait lure the heroes, and capture them with foil. Scott, along with Amy and his best friend, Randy (Chris Marquette), head to the warehouse to save his family from being brainwashed by Malcolm. They are helped by Nina, who has realized Malcolm's intentions; before they can alter the program, Malcolm's goons capture them. Less than a second remaining before his family is permanently reprogrammed, Scott smashes the main computer with a soccer ball.

Silver Charge uses his powers to (literally) burn away their memories of the heroes' identities. Amy admits she likes Scott and asks him to a dance, but Adam erases her memories of everything that happened. Scott's parents decide to let Randy keep his memories as Scott needs a friend to talk to about his life. When it comes time to pick a soccer team captain, Amy and Scott each pick the other person, resulting in them being co-captains. Randy asks about heroes, learning that the Green Hornet was one of Scott's birthday guests.

Rowland Mallet, a wealthy Bostonian bachelor and art connoisseur, visits his cousin Cecilia in Northampton, Massachusetts, before leaving for Europe. There he sees a Grecian figure he thinks is a remarkable work of art. Cecilia introduces him to the local sculptor, Roderick Hudson, a young law student who sculpts in his spare time. Mallet—who loves art but is without artistic talent himself—sees an opportunity to contribute: he offers to advance Roderick a sum of money against future works which will allow Roderick to join him in moving to Italy for two years. Mallet believes that in Rome, Roderick will be exposed to the kind of artistic influences which will allow his natural talent to fully mature. Roderick is galvanized by the offer, but he fears his highly protective mother's disapproval and urges Mallet to meet with and reassure her. Mallet does so, eventually overcoming the woman's doubts. At the meeting, Mallet is also introduced to Mary Garland, a distant poor cousin of the Hudsons who has been living with them as a companion to Mrs. Hudson. Mallet finds himself unexpectedly attracted to the young woman—to her simplicity, her lack of affectation, her honesty. During a farewell picnic attended by many of the Hudsons' friends and family, Mallet realizes he has fallen in love for the first time in his life. But, because of his natural reserve and imminent departure for two years, he fails to declare his feelings, yet still harbors hopes that something may yet come of the relationship.

That hope is crushed when, on the voyage across the Atlantic, Roderick reveals that just before leaving he asked Miss Garland to marry him and she accepted. "...You came and put me into such ridiculous good-humor," Roderick tells Mallet, "that I felt an extraordinary desire to tell some woman that I adored her." Mallet listens to all this with the feeling that fortune has played an elaborately devised trick on him; that just as he had finally found love, it had been stolen away because of his own act of generosity.

After a rough start in Rome, Roderick begins to flourish in the arts community, building a reputation as an original talent and a charming, if ill-mannered, character. Meanwhile, Mallet attempts to suppress his feelings for Mary Garland by cultivating a relationship with Augusta Blanchard, another expatriate American artist living in Italy. When Roderick decides to visit Switzerland or Germany, Mallet travels with him part way before going on to visit friends in England. There Mallet writes to Mrs Hudson to inform her of the situation. She replies saying she is pleased the situation has gone so well. However, when Rowland finally hears from Roderick, he begs him for money to cover the debts he incurred while gambling at Baden-Baden.

The two men return to Rome where, one fateful day, Christina Light enters Roderick's studio to peruse his artwork. Christina has grown up on the Continent, tended by her ambitious mother and the mother's aging Italian escort, the Cavaliere. She is, by general agreement, one of the most startlingly beautiful young women in Europe, and her mother is determined to marry Christina to a wealthy and titled gentleman. The impoverished Roderick is nonetheless instantly infatuated with Christina, eventually obtaining approval to sculpt her bust and thereby ingratiating himself with the family. Although the prematurely world-weary Christina is slow to show her feelings for Roderick, she comes increasingly to be attracted to him and to his status as an artistic "genius". Mallet finds himself in a wrenching emotional bind – attempting to prevent Roderick from consummating his love with Christina so as to protect Mary Garland from emotional injury; knowing all the while that doing so will foreclose forever any possibility that he himself can marry the only woman he has ever loved.

Later Mallet encounters Christina and Roderick at the Colisseum. He saves Roderick from falling to his death attempting to pick an out-of-reach flower for Christina. Mallet subsequently happens to meet Christina at the church of St. Cecilia, and when he discovers that the relationship between Roderick and Christina is more serious than he had thought, urges her to give up her flirtation with Roderick.

Rowland writes a letter to Cecilia about Roderick's fall. Later Roderick decides not to complete his sculpture for Mr Leavenworth, leading Rowland to be annoyed with him. Rowland visits Madame Grandoni and meets Christina there. He then decides to leave for Florence, but decides to make up with Roderick and bring his mother and his betrothed over to Italy to save him. While doing some sightseeing, Miss Garland admits to being afraid of changing. They walk into Christina and Roderick says she might not marry the Prince after all.

Roderick then does a sculpture of his mother. Mrs Hudson thinks she owes something to Rowland for all he has done. Upon completing the bust, Roderick says he will not marry Miss Garland. Rowland and Gloriani witness another of Roderick's tantrums. Later, Mrs Grandoni says Miss Blanchard is marrying Mr Leavenworth, although she is in love with Rowland. She then throws a party and Christina turns up uninvited to observe Miss Garland and be vituperative. The next day the latter admits she takes Christina to be fake. Later after the Prince has left, the Cavaliere visits Rowland and entreats him to advise Christina, as she has no father to turn to. After checking on Roderick because his mother has received a note from him saying he didn't want to be disturbed, he goes to the Lights' and talks to Christina. She says she doesn't like the Prince but likes Roderick as a friend. She has however married the Prince...

Roderick admits to his mother he is unable to work and is crippled with debts. Upon Rowland's counsel, they move to cheaper accommodation in Florence. When his morale isn't improving, his mother suggests moving back to Northampton, Massachusetts. Instead, Rowland persuades them to move to Switzerland. There, he seems a little closer to Miss Garland; Rowland asks him about Christina, but he avoids the question. Later, they walk into Sam; then Rowland chances upon Christina and the Prince; Roderick comes along and he is stupefied with her beauty. He then wants to join her in Interlaken as she has asked of him. He begs Rowland, his mother, and Miss Garland for money. Rowland admits that he is in love with Miss Garland. Finally, Roderick dies in a storm while on his way to Interlaken; Rowland and Sam find his dead body the next day. Mrs Hudson and Miss Garland return to Massachusetts.

The show focuses on the lives of Maisy Mouse and her friends. A mellow-voiced narrator narrates the action and communicates with the characters while the animals go through their paces without speaking, they instead make unusual weird sounds and noises which sound like speaking since they're meant to be four to nine years old. The narrator, however, can understand them easily because he is the only one who actually speaks. The animated series keeps the two-dimensional visual style of the books.

With the support of the Castle immortals, the Awian king Dunlin Rachiswater leads an assault into the Insect-held Paperlands. However, Dunlin's attack fails and he is killed, leaving his unstable brother Staniel as king. Before Dunlin dies, Jant gives him the drug scolopendium, which allows him to live on in an alternate world known as the Shift. Jant regularly uses the drug to access the Shift and is addicted to it, a fact he tries to hide from the Emperor and other immortals.

Jant and the Archer, Lightning, return to the Castle, leaving the Strongman Tornado and his girlfriend Vireo guarding the front at Lowespass Fortress.

While escorting his brother's body for burial, Staniel's force is attacked by Insects and many of his men are killed. Paranoid, he begins drafting troops from across Awia for his own guard, leaving the country unprotected. In response, several other manors withdraw their troops for defence, leaving the front undermanned. Insects begin to roam unchecked in great numbers, causing towns to be abandoned.

At the Castle, Governor Swallow Awndyn petitions the Emperor to be made immortal on the strength of her musical talents, but he refuses her, unconvinced that music can be used to protect the Fourlands from Insects. Devastated, she leads her troops to the front to prove herself. Though she is desperate to be accepted into the Circle, she consistently refuses Lightning's proposals of marriage, wanting to gain immortality on her own merit.

At the front, Swallow's force observes the Insects building a strange bridge into the sky. Soon after they are attacked and routed with severe losses. They retreat to Rachiswater Palace, but find that Staniel has closed the gates against them. In the ensuing massacre, Swallow is gravely wounded and she, Lightning and Jant barely escape.

Jant receives word from Vireo and Tornado that they are running out of supplies, as the Insects begin to build a wall around Lowespass Fortress. Insects are appearing across Awia and elsewhere, threatening to overrun the Fourlands completely.

Amidst this crisis, a feud develops between the immortal Sailor Shearwater Mist and his wife Ata when she devises a plan to rescue Tornado and Vireo's forces by sailing up river. She issues a challenge for his position of Sailor. In the ensuing conflict, Mist is killed and the Emperor offers Ata his position in the Circle if she is successful in relieving Lowespass.

While under the influence of scolopendium, Jant learns that Dunlin has united the people of the Shift and driven the Insects out of many of their territories, causing their migration in huge numbers to the Fourlands through the sky bridge. Dunlin agrees to halt his attacks for four weeks, in order to give the Castle a chance to save Awia.

Rescuing Lightning and Swallow from being overrun by Insects, Jant and Ata set sail for Lowespass, while the other immortals attempt to rally the people of the Fourlands to hold the Insects at bay. Ata's forces engage the Insects in a desperate battle, holding them off long enough to break out Tornado and destroy the bridge, but Vireo is killed.

As the troops celebrate the rescue of the Fourlands, Lightning assures Jant that, in the life of an immortal, their trials will in time make the best stories.

In July 2001, Rosa Maria, a university teacher, takes her little daughter Maria Joana on a cruise from their home country of Portugal to Bombay, India, to see Rosa's husband who is an airplane pilot. Her motive is to visit the birthplaces of civilization. At each port, a new person boards the ship. A famous businesswoman boards in France, a famous model in Italy, and a famous actress in Athens. The captain of the ship invites the three distinguished women to dinner at his table, and they all speak in their own languages for the better part of the conversation. Later in the movie, Maria Joana and Rosa Maria are also invited to his table, where the captain presents the child with a gift.

At dinner that night, the captain is informed that in Aden terrorists have planted two time bombs aboard the ship. The passengers are then ordered to evacuate. Maria Joana runs back to her and her mother's cabin to get the Arab doll the captain presented her with earlier that evening. Rosa Maria realizes that Maria Joana is missing, runs to the cabin to find her, and takes her back on deck to board a life raft. Unfortunately, it is too late; all the life rafts have left.

The captain sees them on deck and yells for them to jump. As he is struggling to take off his uniform so he can swim to rescue them, there is the sound of two explosions and a bright light lights up the captain's face. The credits are displayed with the face of the distraught captain, lit up from the explosion, in the background.

A young soldier, Wrenn, challenges the immortal Swordsman Gio Serein and defeats him to earn his place in the Circle. Though the Emperor San acknowledges Wrenn's victory, Gio is bitter at again becoming mortal, and has to be ejected from the Castle.

Along with Lightning the Archer and Jant the Messenger, Wrenn is chosen to accompany the Sailor Mist on her voyage to the newly discovered island of Tris, three months' journey from the Fourlands. San hopes that Tris will join the Empire, bringing with it new culture and innovation.

During the journey, Jant discovers a live Insect in the hold, which Mist plans to show to the people of Tris. With the stress of the voyage and worries of his wife's infidelity, Jant begins to use the drug scolopendium again, which allows him access to the bizarre alternate world known as the Shift. There he learns of many strange creatures, including the sea kraits - colossal sea snakes, whose environment is threatened by Insect expansion.

Arriving at Tris, the immortals find an idyllic democracy with a rich culture and history. As the ruling council debates their offer, they trade with the townspeople, finding that gold is plentiful. During the night, the Insect breaks free. Wrenn, armed only with a rapier, is unable to stop it; the Insect kills several Trisians and escapes into the sewers. Horrified, the council rejects membership of the Empire and the immortals sail back to the Fourlands in disgrace.

When they arrive home they find the land in turmoil. The rejected Gio has raised an army which he leads in rebellion against the Castle. With their crew dispersed, the four immortals travel across land to report to the Emperor. They encounter Gio in a forest, but he escapes, badly wounding Lightning in the process.

Gio's forces attack the Castle but are driven off by the Strongman Tornado and the Horse Master Hayl. Jant is sent the spy on Gio and learns that he plans to take his remaining forces to Tris.

Jant, Mist, Wrenn and the wounded Lightning set sail after him. Arriving at Tris they find Gio entrenched with a strong force. Jant attempts to poison him but fails, causing Gio's forces to attack. During the battle, Mist is killed when Gio's men overrun her position. He seeks out Wrenn and in the ensuing duel he is also killed, though Wrenn is severely wounded. Though their leader is dead, Gio's forces continue to fight. Jant, seeing that the situation is desperate, uses scolopendium to enter the Shift. There, he convinces the sea kraits to reside to the seas around the Fourlands; their arrival puts an end to the fighting and Tris is saved.

When the survivors return, the Emperor chides Jant for his unilateral action, but allows him to keep the riches he has gained from the voyage. Reconciling with his wife, Jant vows to give up scolopendium once again.

Shinichi Chiaki, an arrogant, multilingual perfectionist, is the top student at Momogaoka College of Music and has secret ambitions to become a conductor. Born into a musical family, he is talented in piano and violin and once lived abroad in the music capitals of the world as a young boy (namely Prague), but is trapped in Japan because of his childhood phobia of airplanes and the ocean. In contrast, Megumi Noda, or "Nodame", is a piano student at Momogaoka, notorious for messiness and eccentric behavior. Despite being very talented, Nodame prefers to play by ear rather than according to the musical score; thus, she is regarded as sloppy and playful.

When they meet by accident, Nodame quickly falls in love, but it takes much longer for Chiaki to even begin to appreciate Nodame's unusual qualities. Their relationship causes them both to develop and grow. Along the way, they meet some crazy people (like Masumi, Mine, and Stresemann) and make lasting friendships. Because of Nodame, Chiaki gets the opportunity to lead a student orchestra and begins to have a broader appreciation of people's musical abilities. Because of Chiaki, Nodame faces her fears and enters a piano competition. Opportunities open up as both begin taking risks, stretching themselves far more than they ever thought possible.

After graduation, Nodame succeeds in curing Chiaki from his phobias and they both move to Paris, where Nodame continues her piano studies at the Conservatoire de Paris while Chiaki starts a professional career as a conductor. In Europe, they encounter new friends and rivals, as well as keep in touch with their friends from Japan.

A Kurdish family is trying to survive after the death of its parents. ''Ayoub'', the eldest boy in the family, becomes the head of the household and must do whatever work available to survive. ''Madi'', Ayoub's handicapped brother, is in need of a medical operation. ''Ayoub'' goes to great lengths to collect money for the operation by smuggling truck tires with a group of Kurdish villagers near the Iran-Iraq border. Ayoub ultimately falls short of his intended goal and his uncle decides to marry off his sister in return for the groom's family financing Madi's operation on the Iraqi side of the border. When they arrive the mother of the groom refuses to accept Madi and agrees to give Ayoub and his uncle a mule as compensation. Ayoub decides to take the mule to Iraq where it is worth more, and sell it to pay for his brother's surgery. Some smugglers let him come along with him. They use mules to carry goods and feed them whisky allowing them to better survive the harsh mountain winter. But they are ambushed while heading to the border, and the horses are too drunk to carry on. Ayoub narrowly manages to escape, and the last shot is of him and his brother crossing the border.

In 1955 Munich, Veronika Voss is a neurotic, faded UFA film star who is said to have slept with Joseph Goebbels but is now struggling to get roles. While riding the U-Bahn, she meets a sports reporter named Robert Krohn and is impressed that he does not know who she is. The two have lunch together, and Veronika is recognized in a jewelry shop by two older women who ask for her autograph, and comment on the death of Veronika's husband during World War II.

Veronika and Robert soon begin a love affair, even though Robert already lives with his girlfriend Henriette, who nevertheless realizes that Veronika has an irresistible allure. When Veronika arrives at their apartment asking to spend the night with Robert at her large house outside of the city, Henriette passively allows Robert to go with her. During their rendezvous, Veronika awakens in a manic and confused state, which startles Robert.

Veronika's behavior clearly becomes erratic and increasingly desperate, and her faltering career sends her into a further downward spiral, as she finds herself being passed over for roles which are given to younger actresses. Robert decides to write a story about aging movie stars that were once popular and now unnoticed, using Veronika as a case study. As Robert delves into her life he discovers that she is essentially a captive to a corrupt neurologist named Dr. Marianne Katz. Dr. Katz keeps Veronika addicted to opiates and uses her power to give or deny drugs as a means to bleed the actress of her wealth.

To verify his suspicions, Robert has Henriette approach Dr. Katz and pretend to be a rich woman in need of psychiatric care. Dr. Katz writes Henriette a prescription for an opiate but afterward witnesses her making a phone call in the street outside the office. Dr. Katz then has Henriette killed and with Veronika's help covers up the crime when Robert arrives with the police.

The film ends tragically as Dr. Katz and her cohorts have Veronika sign over all that she owns and leave her with a fatal dose of pills. After Veronika's death, Robert observes the villains celebrating their victory and is unable to do a thing.

The Schlegels had briefly met and befriended the Wilcoxes when both families were in Germany. Helen, the younger Schlegel daughter, visits the Wilcoxes at their country house, Howards End. She is attracted to the younger Wilcox son, Paul, and they become engaged in haste but soon regret their decision, breaking off the engagement by mutual consent.

Not long after, the Schlegel sisters attend a concert featuring a performance of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Helen is so entranced by the images the music creates in her mind that she leaves, inadvertently taking an umbrella that belongs to Leonard Bast. Margaret gives Leonard her card and invites him to come with her after the concert to retrieve the umbrella. Once there, Leonard is embarrassed by the shabby quality of his umbrella and quickly departs.

Later that year, the Wilcoxes move to London, taking an apartment close to the Schlegels' house. Margaret befriends the Wilcox matriarch, Ruth. Howards End is Ruth's most prized possession; she feels a strong connection to the old house, which is not shared by her husband and children. Ruth becomes quite ill and, perceiving Margaret as a kindred spirit, on her deathbed writes a note leaving Howards End to Margaret. The note causes great consternation to the widowed Henry Wilcox. He and his children burn it without telling Margaret about her inheritance.

Leonard Bast is living with but not married to Jacky, a vulnerable "fallen" woman for whom he feels responsible. He again encounters the Schlegels after Jacky finds Margaret's card and shows up at the Schlegels in search of her "husband", thoroughly mystifying Helen. The previous evening instead of coming home after work, Leonard had walked all night from the city out through the country, an action Helen looks on as adventurous. Later in the day, after Leonard has come and explained the situation, the Schlegels meet Henry Wilcox, as they are walking and discussing how they could best help the impoverished Basts. On hearing the name of the insurance company where Leonard works, Henry recommends that he quit his job, as the company is bound to "smash". The Schlegels share this information with Leonard.

The friendship between Henry and Margaret blossoms into romance, and Henry proposes to Margaret, who accepts. Henry's children do not look upon the engagement with a friendly eye. But the only real opposition comes from older son Charles and his wife Dolly, who fear that Margaret endangers their inheritance of Howards End.

Sometime later, Helen shows up at the wedding of Evie Wilcox with Leonard Bast and Jacky, now married but desperately poor. Leonard had lost the job he took after leaving his previous employer, which did not go out of business but refused to take him back. Henry recognizes Jacky as his former mistress and thinks that the Schlegels and Basts have concocted a plot to expose him. Ten years previously, when on business in Cyprus, he seduced Jacky and then carelessly abandoned her. Margaret is dreadfully disturbed by this, but Henry thinking is that 'such are the ways of the world'. Realizing that the affair had betrayed Ruth but not her, Margaret wishes to save the relationship and forgives him.

Helen profoundly disapproves how Henry "ruined" the lives of the Basts -- both his behavior to Jacky and his bad advice to Leonard. She spends the evening with Leonard in the Basts' hotel room. While Jacky is asleep in the next room, they talk far into the night. The next day, Helen appears in her brother Tibby's lodgings in Oxford, relaying the previous day's events, telling him she is going to Germany and asking him to send five thousand pounds to the Basts. Leonard returns the first check Tibby sends and declines any further funds.

In the months following their wedding, Margaret becomes concerned because Helen keeps aimlessly moving about Europe. When the sisters' Aunt Juley becomes dangerously ill, Margaret telegraphs Helen, asking her to come home. When Aunt Juley recovers, they notify Helen, who has returned to England but refuses to see anyone in the family. Helen asks to pick up some of her books, which are in storage at Howards End along with the rest of the Schlegels' furniture. Concerned that her sister may be mentally ill, Margaret and Henry travel there to surprise Helen. They see her secret -- she is pregnant. Margaret stands by her sister and tries to convince Henry that, if she can forgive him his sin, he should forgive Helen hers. Henry remains unconvinced.

The next day, Leonard arrives at Howards End, tormented by his affair with Helen, wishing to speak to Margaret, and unaware of Helen's presence. When Charles Wilcox attacks Leonard for "insulting" Helen, Leonard grabs onto a nearby bookcase, which collapses on top of him, causing his death from undiagnosed heart disease. Margaret tells Henry she is going to leave him, but he breaks down, saying that Charles will be charged with manslaughter for the death.

Charles Wilcox is found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison. The shame has a powerful effect on Henry, who tells his children that he will leave Howards End to Margaret, as his first wife Ruth had wished, and stipulates that, after Margaret's death, the property will go to her nephew, the son of Helen and Leonard. Warmly welcomed by Margaret and Henry, Helen brings up her son at Howards End.

In the time of Frederick Barbarossa, in the area of Italy known as Lombardy, Dardo Bartoli (Burt Lancaster) has brought his son Rudi (Gordon Gebert) to the town especially to see Count Ulrich (Frank Allenby), known as "the Hawk", together with his niece, Lady Anne (Virginia Mayo), and his mistress, Dardo's unfaithful wife Francesca (Lynn Baggett). Dardo shows off his skill as an archer by shooting down Ulrich's expensive hunting hawk. In revenge, the count orders that Dardo's son be taken to his castle. Dardo is struck by an arrow while fleeing with Rudi, so the boy allows himself to be captured in order to draw the soldiers away.

At the palace, young Marchese Alessandro de Granazia (Robert Douglas), to whom Ulrich plans to marry Anne's hand for political reasons, refuses to pay Ulrich's taxes; in retaliation, Ulrich orders de Granazia's arrest and confiscation of his lands and property. After his rescue by Dardo, the marchese joins Dardo's band of outlaws. Dardo makes another attempt to free his son. Acting on information provided by his uncle Papa Bartoli (Francis Pierlot), Dardo obtains the help of Anne's maid (one of Dardo's many lovers) to sneak into Ulrich's castle along with his best friend Piccolo (Cravat), but the rescue proves unsuccessful. When they find themselves in Lady Anne's apartment, Piccolo suggests they kidnap her instead. They take her to their secret hideout. She tries several times to escape, but Dardo is too crafty for her.

Dardo sends a message to the count, offering an exchange of prisoners, but Ulrich threatens to execute Bartoli unless Anne is released. Dardo and the others race to the village and rescue Bartoli. Then Dardo learns from his aunt Nonna (Aline MacMahon) that five more prisoners have been taken to hang in Papa's place. Dardo gives himself up to save the others and is hanged in front of his son. Ulrich takes the rest of the rebels prisoner, including the marchese.

The marchese informs Ulrich that the rebels are planning an attack the next day and that Dardo is still alive (the executioner had been replaced by Dardo's friend). As a reward for this betrayal, Ulrich agrees to the marchese's marriage to Anne. When she finds out their plans, she warns Nonna Bartoli, with Dardo and his men hiding around the corner. They decide that they must attack at once.

Piccolo comes up with a plan for getting into the castle by the men posing as some of the acrobats providing entertainment. The ruse works. When they are ready, they remove their disguises and a battle ensues. During the melee, Anne warns Dardo that Ulrich has gone for his son. When Dardo catches up to Ulrich, he is in the company of the marchese. The count leaves Dardo and the marchese to fight. Though Dardo tries to persuade the marchese to stand aside, the marchese refuses, trusting in his swordsmanship, but Dardo manages to plunge the room into darkness, where his hunter's instinct gives him the fatal edge.

Afterwards, Dardo finds his wife dead, killed by a knife in the back while trying to protect Rudi. From the ramparts, he sees the count far below, holding Rudi with a dagger at his throat, using him as a human shield to make his escape. Dardo finds a bow and, aiming carefully, kills Ulrich and frees his son. With the battle won, Dardo embraces his son and Anne together.

As the Nazis invade the Netherlands in 1940, Corrie (Jeannette Clift George) and the rest of her family bravely choose to open their home to Jews as a hiding place, trusting that God would help them to do this. A part of their home is specially remodeled by members of the Dutch resistance to form a hidden room that the Jews can escape to in the event of a Nazi raid. Despite several mistakes on the family's part, such as allowing the Jews to sing so loudly on one occasion that it disturbed the neighbors, the Jews remained safely hidden. However, after the betrayal of a Dutch collaborator, the house is raided by Nazis on the 28th February, 1944, and the entire family and its friends are arrested. But despite thoroughly searching the house, the Jews and the hiding place are never found by authorities.

Corrie's father, Casper, dies before he reaches the concentration camp, and Corrie worries that she will never see her home again. The Nazis send Corrie and her sister, Betsie (Julie Harris), to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, Germany, for hiding Jews in their home. At the concentration camp, Betsie encourages Corrie to remain hopeful that God will rescue them from the brutalities they experience.

With little food, constant work and brutal treatment, the women suffer constantly, and Betsie dies. Ultimately, Corrie leaves the camp in December 1944 through what is discovered years later to have been a clerical error, as everyone else in her group of prisoners was gassed the next month (January 1945). Her life after the ordeal was dedicated to showing that Jesus' love is greater than the deepest pit into which humankind finds itself.

Porter Stoddard (Warren Beatty) is so prosperous an architect, he has New York homes on Park Avenue and in the Hamptons, as well as a vacation lodge out west in Sun Valley, Idaho. He has been married for 25 years to the equally successful Ellie (Diane Keaton), an interior designer, but has been having an affair with Alex (Nastassja Kinski), a beautiful young cellist.

There is trouble brewing in the marriage of their best friends. Mona Morris (Goldie Hawn) wants a divorce from antique-dealer husband Griffin (Garry Shandling), after catching him having a hotel tryst. The part she did not catch is that Griffin's new romantic partner is a cross-dressing man. Mona wants to travel to Mississippi to see her girlhood antebellum home. Ellie is worried about Mona's depression over the state of her marriage and does not feel she should be alone, so Porter is asked to accompany Mona down south. There, they end up having a quick sexual fling.

With things awkward at home for both, Porter and Griffin fly by themselves to Sun Valley to get away from their troubles. But it is not long before Porter finds himself in a romantic entanglement with Eugenie Claybourne (Andie MacDowell), a spoiled heiress whose gun-loving father (Charlton Heston) is already loading his shotgun in case Porter does wrong by his daughter. A free spirit named Auburn (Jenna Elfman) also ends up coaxing Porter and Griffin to a Halloween party, where they end up dressed in preposterous costumes.

By the time Porter returns to New York, everything is falling apart, not only his home life but his house. And, once and for all, Griffin finds the nerve to tell his wife that he is leaving her for someone else, but it is not another woman.

On first appearance the book concerns two different characters, both of whom have interior monologues in the book. As the story moves along the two characters are distinguished by name only as their experiences and thoughts are similar. The novel is set in an indeterminate place, most often identified with the Ireland of Beckett's birth.

The majority of Part One is made up of Molloy's inner musings interspersed with the action of the plot. It is split into two paragraphs: the first is less than two pages long; the second paragraph lasts for over eighty pages. In the first we are given a vague idea of the setting Molloy is writing in. We are told that he now lives in his mother's room, though how he arrived there or whether his mother died before or during his stay is apparently forgotten. There is also a man who arrives every Sunday to pick up what Molloy has written and bring back what he had taken last week returning them "marked with signs" though Molloy never cares to read them. He describes that his purpose while writing is to "speak of the things that are left, say [his] goodbyes, finish dying." In the second paragraph he describes a journey he had taken some time earlier, before he came there, to find his mother. He spends much of it on his bicycle, gets arrested for resting on it in a way that is considered lewd, but is unceremoniously released. From town to anonymous town and across anonymous countryside, he encounters a succession of bizarre characters: an elderly man with a stick; a policeman; a charity worker; a woman whose dog he kills running over it with a bike (her name is never completely determined: "a Mrs Loy... or Lousse, I forget, Christian name something like Sophie"), and one whom he falls in love with ("Ruth" or maybe "Edith"); He abandons his bicycle (which he will not call "bike"), walks in no certain direction, meeting "a young old man"; a charcoal-burner living in the woods, whom he attacks and savagely beats.

Part Two is narrated by a private detective by the name of Jacques Moran, who is given the task by his boss, the mysterious Youdi, of tracking down Molloy. This narrative (Part Two) begins:

It is midnight. The rain is beating on the windows.

Then I went back into the house and wrote, It is midnight. The rain is beating on the windows. It was not midnight. It was not raining.

Even though Mark Twain originally wrote the books ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' and ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' as separate units, this series conjures up both literary works as only one story. Therefore, it places greater importance on Huckleberry's character without putting aside Tom Sawyer's.

'''Part 1:''' (4 December 2005)

The miniseries opens in 1981 with the Pope John Paul II assassination attempt, then flashes back to the young Karol "Lolek" Wojtyla who survives World War II by working in Kraków's Zakrzowek quarry and Solvay's chemical plant while secretly embracing the illicit Theatre of Poland to keep Polish culture alive. Wojtyla accepts a calling to study for the priesthood and joins an underground seminary, involving himself in the Polish Resistance movement. In 1945, the war ends with the Soviet occupation and eventual Communist takeover of Poland. In 1946, Wojtyla is ordained a priest while the Communists hunt down and eliminate anybody with any ties to the Home Army and/or Polish government in exile during the war. Wojtyla travels to Rome for his graduate studies and returns to Poland in 1948 for his first pastoral assignment in Niegowic. In 1949, he is transferred St. Florian's church in Krakow, where he also is a counselor to students at Jagiellonian University. In 1956, Wojtyla is appointed ethics professor at the Catholic University of Lublin. In 1958, the Holy See appoints him Kraków's auxiliary bishop—Poland's youngest bishop ever and in 1959, he ends the decade by holding Nowa Huta's first Mass outdoors on Christmas Eve in the Communists' newly completed "city without God".

After leading an unusual procession of the Black Madonna's empty picture frame through Krakow, Wojtyla attends all four Vatican II sessions, where he impresses many influential foreign cardinals with his charisma, multilingualism and viewpoints, both before and during his term as Kraków's archbishop. After becoming a cardinal in 1967 by Pope Paul VI, Wojtyla returns to Poland as Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, and miraculously cures a bone marrow cancer victim by praying to Padre Pio. Paul VI dies in 1978 and Papal conclave, August 1978 convenes, electing Albino Cardinal Luciani as Pope John Paul I, who himself dies only 33 days later. The cardinals then reconvene with Papal conclave, October 1978 and Wojtyla is told by Wyszynski to accept the position if he is elected—for Poland's sake.

'''Part 2:''' (7 December 2005)

Opening on October 16, 1978 with deadlocked balloting, Wojtyla wins the papal election as the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI in 1522, naming himself ''John Paul II''. In his Papal inauguration speech, he says "be not afraid", causing Soviet leaders to decide that Wojtyla is "no friend of Marxism". Afterwards, he performs papal mediation in the Beagle conflict between Argentina and Chile. In 1979, he receives Soviet foreign minister Andrei Gromyko at the Vatican, writes his first papal encyclical—''Redemptor hominis''—and visits Mexico where he is seen by millions. He then visits Poland with audiences also in the millions and afterwards the United States. He supports Polish Solidarity and receives Lech Walesa at the Vatican. The 1981 assassination attempt occurs. After his recovery, Pope John Paul II appoints Cardinal Ratzinger Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, after which he is visited by U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1982 and in December 1983, visits his failed assassin, Mehmet Ali Agca inside Rebibbia prison to personally forgive him. In December 1984, he appoints Joaquin Navarro-Valls director of the Holy See Press Office, announces World Youth Day in 1985 and witnesses the downfall of East bloc Communism in 1989.

During the 1990s, Pope John Paul II fails to stop the Invasion of Kuwait and the following Gulf War. He responds to the abortion debate with his ''Letter to Women'' encyclical. His book, ''Crossing the Threshold of Hope'', becomes a best-seller. John Paul II suffers from increasing symptoms of Parkinson's disease but he keeps a busy schedule. In response to his own suffering, he writes his ''Evangelium Vitae'' encyclical as opposition to a worldwide culture of death. He tries to improve Christian–Jewish reconciliation and Holy See–Israel relations. In 2000, he starts the third millennium by apologizing for the Church's sins committed during its history, watches the 9-11 attacks in 2001 with horror and in 2002, addresses American cardinals about the "appalling" Catholic sex abuse scandal. His last public appearance is shown, then his death is announced, with a voice-over of his last requests and a montage of earlier events amid the closing credits and main film score.

Before the "Phantom-attacks", which occurred about eight months after World War II, Texarkana was pleasant and citizens were preparing for a good future. On the night of Sunday, March 3, 1946, Sammy Fuller and Linda Mae Jenkins park on a lovers' lane. Soon, the hood of the car opens and closes and a man with a bag over his head with holes cut out for his eyes is seen holding wires he had yanked from the engine. While Sammy tries starting the car, the man breaks his window and pulls him out, cutting him on the broken glass. The man then gets inside the car with Linda.

The next morning, Linda is found on the side of the road barely alive. While at the crime scene, Deputy Norman Ramsey reports that both victims are still alive. He leaves a message for Sheriff Barker to meet him at Michael-Meagher Hospital. At the hospital, a doctor tells Sheriff Barker that Linda was not raped but that her back, stomach, and breasts were "heavily bitten; literally chewed." At the police station, Barker suggests to Police Chief Sullivan to warn teens and college students from parking on lonely roads.

On March 24, while investigating a lovers' lane in heavy rain, Ramsey hears gunshots and finds Howard W. "Buddy" Turner dead in a ditch and the corpse of his girlfriend, Emma Lou Cook, tied to a tree. Ramsey spots the hooded man escaping in a car. Panicked, the town sells out of guns and other home safety equipment. Sheriff Barker calls in help and tells Ramsey they are getting the most famous criminal investigator in the country, the "Lone Wolf" of the Texas Rangers, Captain J.D. Morales. After arriving, Morales explains he will be in charge of the investigation and calls the unidentified attacker a Phantom. Ramsey is assigned to assist Morales, and Patrolman A.C. "Sparkplug" Benson is to be his driver.

At the barber shop, Ramsey explains to Morales his theory that the Phantom attacks every 21 days. The next attack falls on the day of a high school prom, and decoys are set up on the edges of town. After the dance, on April 14, trombone player Peggy Loomis leaves with her boyfriend Roy Allen. Despite her worries, they go to Spring Lake Park in the middle of town. When they leave, the Phantom jumps on the driver's door and pulls Roy out of the car, causing Peggy to crash. She flees as the Phantom beats Roy, but he catches her and ties her hands around a tree. Roy awakens, but is shot to death while attempting to escape. The Phantom attaches a pocket knife to the distal end of the slide of Peggy's trombone and kills her while "playing" the instrument by repeatedly projecting the slide-with-knife forward into her back while she is tied to the tree.

Morales and other officers meet with psychiatrist Dr. Kress at a restaurant, where he explains that the Phantom is a highly intelligent sadist with a strong sex drive, between the ages of 35 and 40. As Kress expresses his doubts about their chances of capturing the Phantom, the Phantom's shoes are shown, revealing that he had heard the entire conversation. At the station, a man named Johnson says that he was robbed and forced to drive a man to Lufkin at gunpoint. While on the road, Ramsey receives a report about an armed suspect, and a brief chase ensues. The suspect, Eddie LeDoux, at first denies everything, then confesses to being the Phantom, but Morales is unconvinced. Johnson identifies him as his robber.

On May 3, Helen Reed is seen by the Phantom leaving a grocery store. At home that night, Helen asks her husband Floyd, who is sitting in front of a window in his armchair, if he hears somebody walking outside. After he replies that he does not, the Phantom shoots him through their window. Helen inspects and sees Floyd dying. As she uses the telephone to call police, the Phantom breaks through the screen door and shoots her twice in the face. Despite her wounds, she drags herself out of the house and into a cornfield while the Phantom inspects Floyd's body. The Phantom stalks her with a pickaxe, but leaves when she gets help at a nearby house. News of this attack causes the town to panic, and people begin boarding up their windows.

Later, Morales and Ramsey receive a report about a stolen car that matches the one from the Turner and Cook murders. While investigating a sand pit, they encounter the Phantom. Morales shoots at him but misses, causing him to run into the woods. The Phantom escapes by jumping past a moving train, but is shot in the leg. While the officers are waiting for the train to pass, the Phantom escapes. They continue their search, but never find him.

Years later, during the Christmas season of 1976, the film ''The Town That Dreaded Sundown'' premieres in Texarkana and the shoes of the Phantom are seen on someone standing in line.

The novel picks up several months after the events in the last chapter of ''Dilvish, the Damned''. The Castle Timeless, one of several fortresses belonging to Dilvish's arch-enemy, Jelerak, is currently inhabited by the "mad" Old One Tualua. Tualua is undergoing one of the "changes" common to his kind, which in this case causes the land surrounding the castle to be subject to all sorts of chaotic, unpredictable, and often-deadly effects. A number of wizards, hoping to tap into Tualua's vast power, attempt to pass through this maelstrom and reach the castle. Watching events from the outside are members of the Society of Magic.

Dilvish, determined to avenge himself against Jelerak, appears and attempts to breach the magical barriers, hoping to find his arch-enemy inside. Accompanied by his companion Black, a demon-like being in the shape of a black metal horse, they rescue a wizard, Weleand, from being drowned in an acid pit. Soon after they meet a young Elven girl, Arlata, frozen by one of magical winds. Weleand unfreezes her by transferring the condition to Black, and escapes. Dilvish is then captured by one of the caretakers of the castle, Baran of the Extra Hand, and thrown into the dungeon with several captured wizards.

Escaping the dungeon, Dilvish wanders the castle, eventually finding Semirama, a woman from long ago resurrected by Jelerak to be one of the caretakers (along with Baran). Semirama has managed to build a rapport with the demi-god Tualua, and has caused the demi-god to feign madness to disrupt the lands around the castle with chaos. This is part of Baran's plan to usurp Jelerak's power, the disruption being one of the things preventing outsiders reaching the castle. Baran has also placed magical guards on other entry points, such as a mirror that can act as a portal.

Black manages to sneak into the castle in his human form, and encounters Jelerak, who was disguised as Weleand, about to sacrifice an unconscious Arlata as a means to gain control of Tualua. Meanwhile the escaped wizards manage to disable the maintaining spell which keeps the castle anchored in normal time, causing everyone in the castle to become temporarily unconscious. The entire castle and its inhabitants are rapidly accelerated into the far future, so far that they reach the end of time. Here they encounter the Elder Gods, who appear as gargantuan beings the height of the stars, gambling with dice, apparently for the right to control the outcome of the contest beneath them.

Baran is killed by one of the wizards, and both Jelerak and Tualua are claimed by the Elder Gods, the former as their prisoner and the latter as one of their own. Semirama, her resurrection canceled by the Elder Gods' capture of Jelerak, collapses into dust, her soul now inhabiting the alternate universe of mirrors in the castle, where she meets up with an ancestor of Dilvish's, Selar.

The Elder Gods re-attach Castle Timeless to the flow of time, and it passes through the beginning of the universe, where the magicians have to do battle with the "Hounds of Thandalos". The fortress eventually comes to rest at its original point in history.

Dilvish is initially enraged by the denial of his desire for vengeance, but then realizes that Jelerak will receive justice at the hands of the Gods, whom he has openly defied. Dilvish decides to go back to his homeland with Arlata, who is the granddaughter of one of Dilvish's former loves in that land.

With the help of a Society member, the survivors escape through the mirror portal.

Spoofing the classic ''Beau Geste'' and a number of other desert motion pictures, the film's plotline revolves around the heroic Beau Geste (York) and his "identical twin brother" Digby's (Feldman) misadventures in the French Foreign Legion out in the Sahara, and the disappearance of the family sapphire, sought after by their money-hungry stepmother and the sadistic Sergeant Markov (Ustinov).

The cartoon starts at what seems like a small house in a natural setting. Mickey walks out the door and says, "Oh boy! What a day!" Then, he pulls a lever and walks inside. The house is converted into a trailer (with the natural setting, in the shape of a giant hand fan, revealed to be a city dump) and Goofy's car is released from the side. Then, Goofy starts driving through the countryside while Mickey makes a dinner-like breakfast (corn on the cob, baked potatoes, watermelon, coffee, and milk) and collects water from a passing waterfall with a bucket to use for cooking water. Meanwhile, Donald is sleeping and can't wake up, even when his alarm clock rings and pulls off his blanket. Thanks to a secret control board, Mickey manages to rouse him for a machine-assisted bath, but he sees birds watching him and swats them away with his brush. Later, the bath is converted into a dining area.

When Mickey rings the dinner bell, Goofy foolishly leaves the driver's seat - while the car and trailer are still in motion - for breakfast, in which it drives through a closed road. After several mishaps during the meal (getting hit by nearby drawers and sticking a fork into a power socket), eventually having popcorn for breakfast, Goofy notices that no one is in the driver's seat and accidentally and unknowingly unhitches the trailer in his panic to resume driving and goes on his way. The trailer rolls downhill on an epic runaway adventure, in which the dining table and chairs suddenly fold up into a box. As the trailer is about to go over a cliff, Mickey jumps out from the back of the trailer and pushes on a cliff on the opposite side of the ravine to push the trailer back on the road. The trailer then approaches an oncoming truck driven by Pete (who cameos in this cartoon) and avoids it by driving onto the nearby fence. Donald grabs the phone (connected to an extendable metal arm) and desperately tries to call for help, but finds himself hanging outside of the trailer's open door. When the trailer falls off the road again, Mickey grabs a nearby sign to get it back on the road, pulling Donald back inside the trailer in the process. Donald sees an oncoming train and yells at it to stop, to no avail. Mickey watches in panic while Donald begs for his life. Fortunately, the trailer manages to get past the intersection before the train can (at a dangerously close range). The two are relieved that they survived, but suddenly see another oncoming train (it is unclear if the train is the same one from before or a different one), except this time, the train has reached the intersection first. The train clears the intersection at the last second, allowing the trailer to cross through safely. The trailer reaches the end of the road, causing it to roll down the hill like a boulder. Meanwhile, Goofy, who was singing "''She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain When She Comes''", makes it safely down the hill, but does not see the trailer tumbling down the hill as it miraculously rehitches itself to the car and is a wreck on the inside, but okay on the outside. Unaware of the dramatic events, Goofy says in the end, "Well, I brought you down, safe and sound".

Several years after the events of ''A Better Tomorrow'', Sung Tse-ho (Ti Lung) is offered early parole by the police in exchange for spying on his former boss and mentor, Lung Sei (Dean Shek), who is suspected of heading a counterfeiting operation. Inspector Wu (Lau Siu-ming), the leader of the crime task force, wants to mark his retirement with the capture of a high profile criminal like Lung.

However, Ho, still loyal to Lung, initially declines. He changes his mind when he discovers that his younger brother, Sung Tse-kit (Leslie Cheung), is working undercover on the same case, and agrees to go undercover to protect his brother, who is expecting a child along with his pregnant wife Jackie (Emily Chu). While working the case, the two brothers meet and agree to work together on the investigation.

After being framed for murder, Lung seeks Ho's help. Ho is able to help him escape to New York, but Lung suffers a psychotic break and is institutionalised after receiving news of his daughter's murder and witnessing his friend being killed.

Meanwhile, Ho learns that Mark Lee has a long-lost twin brother, Ken (Chow Yun-fat), a former gang member who went legitimate and left Hong Kong as a teenager to travel across America, eventually settling and opening a restaurant in New York City. However, Ho tracks down Ken and enlists his assistance in freeing Lung and nursing him back to health.

Targeted by both assassins hunting for Lung as well as American mobsters looking to extort Ken's business, Ken and Lung (who is still catatonic) go into hiding in an apartment building, and where Ken arms himself. During a shoot-out with the mobsters, but Ken and Lung find themselves cornered. Seeing Ken wounded and in trouble, Lung regains his sanity and kills the last of the Americans pursuing them.

The two return to Hong Kong and link-up with Ho and Kit. The group discovers that one of Lung's employees, Ko Ying-pui (Kwan Shan), is responsible for trying to kill Lung and has taken over the organisation in Lung's absence. Lung resolves that he would rather destroy his organisation by his own hands than let it fall into dishonor and ruin, and the team starts planning to act against Ko.

After doing some reconnaissance in Ko's mansion alone, Kit is fatally wounded, roughly at the same time his daughter is born. He is rescued by Ken, who attempts to rush him to the hospital. Knowing that he won't make it, Kit persuades Ken to stop at a phone booth to call his wife. He manages, just before he dies, to name his child Sung Ho-yin (in Cantonese, "the Spirit of Righteousness").

After attending Kit's funeral, Ho, Ken, and Lung take revenge on Ko by attacking his mansion during a meeting with a counterfeiting client. An enormous gun battle ensues. The three, assisted by Ho's former boss in the taxi company, kill approximately 90 others (including Ko) but are all severely (perhaps mortally) wounded in the process. After the shootout ends, the three sit down in the mansion and are surrounded by the police, led by Inspector Wu. Upon seeing the condition of the men, Wu motions to the other officers to lower their weapons. Ho remarks that Inspector Wu shouldn't retire yet as there is "much work left for [him] to do."

Clinging to the altar of the sea-goddess Thetis for sanctuary, Andromache delivers the play's prologue, in which she mourns her misfortune (the destruction of Troy, the deaths of her husband Hector and their child Astyanax, and her enslavement to Neoptolemos) and her persecution at the hands of Neoptolemos' new wife Hermione and her father Menelaus, King of Sparta. She reveals that Neoptolemos has left for the oracle at Delphi and that she has hidden the son she bore him (whose name is Molossos) for fear that Menelaus will try to kill him as well as her.

A Maid arrives to warn her that Menelaus knows the location of her son and is on his way to capture him. Andromache persuades her to risk seeking the help of the king, Peleus (husband of Thetis, Achilles' father, and Neoptolemos' grandfather). Andromache laments her misfortunes again and weeps at the feet of the statue of Thetis. The ''párodos'' of the chorus follows, in which they express their desire to help Andromache and try to persuade her to leave the sanctuary. Just at the moment that they express their fearfulness of discovery by Hermione, she arrives, boasting of her wealth, status, and liberty.

Hermione engages in an extended ''agôn'' with Andromache, in which they exchange a long rhetorical speech initially, each accusing the other. Hermione accuses Andromache of practising oriental witchcraft to make her barren and attempting to turn her husband against her and to displace her. "Learn your new-found place," she demands. She condemns the Trojans as barbarians who practise incest and polygamy. Their ''agon'' continues in a series of rapid stichomythic exchanges.

When Menelaus arrives and reveals that he has found her son, Andromache allows herself to be led away. The intervention of the aged Peleus (the grandfather of Neoptolemus) saves them. Orestes, who has contrived the murder of Neoptolemus at Delphi and who arrives unexpectedly, carries off Hermione, to whom he had been betrothed before Neoptolemus had claimed her. The murder of Neoptolemus by Orestes and men of Delphi is described in detail by the Messenger to Peleus. The goddess Thetis appears as a ''deus ex machina'' and divines the future for Neoptolemus' corpse, Peleus, Andromache and Molossus.

Blanche DuBois, a middle-aged high school English teacher, arrives in New Orleans. She takes a streetcar named "Desire" to the French Quarter, where her sister, Stella, and Stella's husband, Stanley Kowalski, live in a dilapidated tenement apartment. Blanche claims to be on leave from her teaching job due to her nerves and wants to stay with Stella and Stanley. Blanche's demure, refined manner is a stark contrast to Stanley's crude, brutish behavior, making them mutually wary and antagonistic. Stella welcomes having her sister as a guest, but Stanley often patronizes and criticizes her.

Blanche reveals that the family estate, Belle Reve, was lost to creditors, and Blanche is broke and had nowhere to go, since she was widowed at a young age after her husband's suicide. When Stanley suspects Blanche may be hiding an inheritance, she shows him proof of the foreclosure. Stanley, looking for further proof, knocks some of Blanche's private papers to the floor. Weeping, she gathers them, saying they are poems from her dead husband. Stanley explains he was only looking out for his family, then announces Stella is pregnant.

Blanche meets Stanley's friend, Mitch, whose courteous manner is a contrast to Stanley's other pals. Mitch is attracted to Blanche's flirtatious charm, and a romance blossoms. During a poker night with his friends, Stanley explodes in a drunken rage, striking Stella and ending the game; Blanche and Stella flee upstairs to neighbor Eunice's apartment. After his anger subsides, Stanley remorsefully bellows for Stella from the courtyard below. Irresistibly drawn by her physical passion for him, she goes to Stanley, who carries her off to bed. The next morning, Blanche urges Stella to leave Stanley, calling him a sub-human animal. Stella disagrees and wants to stay.

As weeks pass into months, tension mounts between Blanche and Stanley. Blanche is hopeful about Mitch, but anxiety and alcoholism have her teetering on mental collapse while anticipating a marriage proposal. Finally, Mitch says they should be together. Meanwhile, Stanley uncovers Blanche's hidden history of mental instability, promiscuity, and being fired for sleeping with an underage student. Stanley then passes this news on to Mitch, in full knowledge this will end Blanche's marriage prospects and leave her with no future. Stella angrily blames Stanley for the catastrophic revelation, but their fight is interrupted when Stella goes into labor.

Later, Mitch arrives and confronts Blanche about Stanley's claims. She initially denies everything, then breaks down confessing. She pleads for forgiveness, but Mitch, hurt and humiliated, roughly ends the relationship. Later that night, while Stella's labor continues, Stanley returns from the hospital to get some sleep. Blanche, dressed in a tattered old gown, pretends she is departing on a trip with an old admirer. She spins tale after tale about her fictitious future plans, and he pitilessly destroys her illusions. They engage in a struggle, and Stanley rapes her.

Weeks later, during another poker game at the Kowalski apartment, doctors arrive to take Blanche to a mental hospital. Blanche has told Stella what happened, but Stella chose not to believe it, which caused Blanche to descend into delusion. On seeing the doctors, Blanche resists at first, but eventually leaves. Mitch, present at the poker game, is visibly upset, and although Stanley denies touching Blanche, Mitch attacks him. Stella, now realizing that Blanche had told her the truth, takes the baby upstairs to Eunice's, ignoring Stanley's calls and vowing not to return.

Teenager Steve Mason awakens in the small American farming town of Harvest in the year 1953, with no memories of his past or who he is. Exploring his home, he discovers that he doesn't recognize his mother or younger brother, both of whom act strangely—his mother seemingly can't stop baking dozens of cookies for a charity event a week away, causing her to throw out each subsequent batch; and his brother obsessively watches an ultra-violent cowboy show that seems to be the only program broadcast on Harvest televisions.

Exploring the town, Steve discovers Harvest is populated by hostile, strange individuals whom he likens to facsimiles or parodies of real people. Steve further learns that no one believes him to genuinely be amnesiac, with every citizen he meets responding to his pleas for help with the canned response "You always were a kidder, Steve." Everyone in town further encourages Steve to join the Lodge, a large building (reminiscent of the Hagia Sophia) located at the center of town that serves as the headquarters of the Order of the Harvest Moon, which seems to be the sociopolitical center of life in Harvest.

Learning that he's set to be married in two weeks, Steve goes to meet his supposed fiancée, Stephanie Pottsdam, the daughter of Mr. Pottsdam, an unemployed man who hopes to get a job alongside Steve's father working in Harvest's meat packing plant and who openly expresses his lust for his own daughter. Meeting Stephanie, Steve finds that she, too, has amnesia, and woke up the same morning as him with no idea of how she got to Harvest. The two form an alliance to figure out their past and escape the town.

Steve visits the Sergeant at Arms at the Lodge, who tells him that all of his questions will be answered inside the building, and sets about giving him a series of tasks that serve as initiation rites. Over the course of the next week, Steve is given a new "task" each day, beginning with petty acts of vandalism that quickly escalate to theft and arson, with each task having unforeseen, tragic circumstances that usually result in someone's accidental death, murder, or suicide. Meanwhile, driven by their mutual fear and reliance on one another, Steve and Stephanie become lovers.

On the final day of his initiation, Steve discovers a mutilated skull and spinal cord in Stephanie's bed, which the Sergeant at Arms tells him is his invitation to the Lodge. Venturing inside, Steve discovers that the Lodge is composed of a series of rooms called "Temples" which serve as mordant burlesques of real civic locations (including a living room with a dead family and a kitchen where a chef prepares human meat) and whose inhabitants challenge him with a series of puzzles ostensibly meant to teach lessons integral to understanding the precepts of the lodge. Each "lesson" turns out to be an inversion of traditional morality, including the futility of charity, the uselessness of the elderly, and the benefits of lust and vanity.

At the highest level of the Lodge, the Sergeant at Arms presents a still-living Stephanie and explains that Harvest is an elaborate virtual reality simulator being operated by a group of scientists in the 1990s to determine if it's possible to turn average humans into serial killers. Steve and Stephanie are the only real people in the simulation, and everything Steve has experienced has been intended to warp his reality and break down his inhibitions to prepare him for life as a serial killer. The Sergeant offers him two options: murder Stephanie, committing his first real crime and accepting a future as a murderer, or refuse, in which case the scientists will render both Steve and Stephanie brain dead in the laboratory. Should Steve choose the second option, the Sergeant informs him he and Stephanie will live an entire lifetime of happiness in the Harvest simulator in the seconds before their death.

If the player chooses to kill Stephanie, Steve beats Stephanie to death and then removes her skull and spinal cord. After the murder is complete, Steve awakens within the virtual reality simulator. Hitchhiking home, he brutally murders the driver who picks him up. Steve returns home, where his mother criticizes him for playing violent video games, telling him that people who consume violent media go on to commit violent acts in real life. Steve laughs in response as the camera enters his throat and stomach, revealing dissolving body parts of the driver he killed earlier.

If the player chooses to spare Stephanie, the Sergeant at Arms performs an impromptu wedding in the chapel before letting the pair go. Steve and Stephanie buy a home, have a child, and grow old together before dying peacefully and being buried in the Harvest cemetery. In real life, the scientists express disappointment at the results of their experiment as they look on at the pair's dead bodies.

An egg belonging to the Mythical Pokémon Manaphy is found floating in the sea by mercenary Phantom the Pirate, but it is subsequently stolen from him by Jack "Jackie" Walker, a Pokémon Ranger disguised as one of Phantom's crew members. Walker escapes Phantom's ship and joins the Marina Group, a traveling circus family that specializes in Water-type Pokémon, to deliver the Manaphy egg to Samiya, an undersea palace built by the People of the Water, whom the Marina Group are descendants of. Pokémon Trainer Ash Ketchum, his Pikachu, and their friends Brock, May, and Max become lost on their journey and encounter the Marina Group in their search for water, inadvertently becoming involved with Walker's mission.

When Phantom leads an assault after the Egg, Manaphy hatches in May's arms, who presumes she is its mother. The group eventually escapes Phantom by running into a network of ruins belonging to the People of the Water, where Ash and his friends learn about Samiya. Walker declines Ash and his friends' further involvement with his mission and departs in a boat with the Marina Group toward Samiya. However, Manaphy shows discomfort and starts crying without May's presence, forcing Ash and his friends along anyway. Manaphy's natural instincts lead the boat toward Samiya, and to Walker's dismay, May and Manaphy bond closer. Walker warns May of Manaphy's destiny to become Samiya's leader and that she will eventually need to part ways with it. May understands, but is distraught nonetheless. Lizabeth, the Marina Group's daughter, comforts May and gives her a bracelet known as the People of the Water's Mark as a memento of her time with Manaphy. One day, May loses her bandanna to the wind and Manaphy embarks far into the ocean to retrieve it. Ash and his friends, board a submarine operated by Lizabeth to search for Manaphy, eventually finding it along with Samiya during the expected lunar eclipse. Unbeknownst to them, Phantom had been in pursuit the whole time.

While exploring Samiya, the group encounters Phantom, who is able to open the chamber to the Sea Crown, the temple's central artifact consisting of numerous large crystals. Phantom begins to remove the crystals, causing Samiya to flood and sink deeper into the ocean. The group escapes to the submarine while Walker confronts Phantom, reconnecting most of the crystals to the crown before he, Phantom, and one of the crystals are washed away by the flood. Determined to save its home, Manaphy returns to the Crown's chamber with Ash, Pikachu and May in tow, while Lizabeth, Brock, and Max are forced to depart in the submarine. Ash and May reconnect the remaining crystals but notice one is missing. While escaping the flood, Ash finds the last crystal in a fountain. He puts Pikachu, May, and Manaphy in an air capsule that used to be part of Phantom's submarine before diving into the completely flooded crown chamber and reconnecting the crystal, causing Samiya to rise to the ocean's surface.

While May and Pikachu mourn Ash's apparent sacrifice, Phantom appears and kidnaps Manaphy. Ash, surrounded by a glowing aura from the newly rebuilt Sea Crown, pursues Phantom and retrieves Manaphy. Phantom returns with his ship, but Manaphy leads an assault with several wild Water-type Pokémon to destroy the ship and subdue Phantom in its rubble. With Phantom defeated, Walker is able to deliver Manaphy safely to Samiya, completing his mission. May and Manaphy share a heartfelt farewell before the group watches Samiya return to depths of the ocean. Ash and his friends separate from Walker and the Marina Group and continue on their journey.

In the credits, it is revealed that Phantom and his first mate Galen were either arrested and put in jail or still subdued in its rubble.

Off the coast of Japan, the environment has been ravaged by poisonous starfish-like creatures called Barem. Meanwhile, the Elias sisters, Moll and Lora, survey the destruction and enlist the help of three children, who had discovered and befriended a strange little creature dubbed "Ghogo" to help find the mysterious treasure of Nirai Kanai, an ancient lost civilization, to save the Earth from the declining environment.

Along the way, the Elias tell the children the source of the Barem is a monster called Dagahra, which Nirai Kanai created to manage pollution, but went wrong. Their ally Mothra Leo, can defeat it, but will need to reach Nirai Kanai's lost castle and find the civilization's treasure first. Meanwhile, the Elias' vengeful sister, Belvera, manipulates two fishermen to help her get the treasure before her sisters. Both parties journey to the castle, which rises from underneath the ocean upon their arrival.

Awakened by an increase in pollution levels, Dagahra releases a swarm of Barem into the sea, killing numerous forms of sea life. Moll and Lora call Leo, who nearly succeeds in defeating Dagahra until the sea monster takes the battle underwater and incapacitates him with Barem. Leo lands on the newly raised Nirai Kanai temple, but before Dagahra can kill him, the structure activates and defends Leo. With its opponent powerless, Dagahra goes on a rampage.

Inside the temple, Moll, Lora, and the children attempt to find the treasure while Belvera and her thralls try to thwart their mission. After stealing jewels they had found, the fishermen inadvertently unlock a gateway and awaken the Princess of Nirai Kanai, who tells the Elias sisters that Earth must be protected and saved, the children are the hope of future generations, and reveals Ghogo is the lost treasure.

Moll and Lora use Ghogo's energy to revive Leo and transform him into Rainbow Mothra, allowing him to destroy the Barem covering his body. Rainbow Mothra engages Dagahra and overpowers him until the latter retreats into the sea, where Rainbow Mothra transforms into Aqua Mothra. His new form allows him to defeat Dagahra by splitting into a swarm of miniature Aqua Mothras and enter the monster's body to destroy the Barem, causing Dagahra to self-destruct. As the temple begins to collapse, Moll and Lora fly to safety on their pet miniature Mothra, Fairy, while Belvera relinquishes control of the fishermen, who help the children escape. The Princess raises Dagahra's body and places it in the temple before lowering it back into the sea while Aqua Mothra reverts to Rainbow Mothra.

Richard Sharpe is a private in the 33rd Regiment of Foot in the British army. The British invade Mysore and advance on Tippoo Sultan's capital city of Seringapatam. Sharpe is contemplating desertion with his paramour, half-caste army widow Mary Bickerstaff, due to his sadistic company sergeant, Obadiah Hakeswill. Hakeswill lusts after Mary, so he provokes Sharpe into hitting him before witnesses, company commander Captain Morris and Ensign Hicks. Sharpe is court-martialled; Lieutenant William Lawford, who is supposed to act as his defender, is absent and Sharpe is given the virtual death sentence of 2,000 lashes. However, the regiment's commander, Colonel Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington), halts the punishment at 202 lashes. Lawford has been offered an extremely dangerous mission and has requested Sharpe. Sharpe agrees to go along if he is made a sergeant if they are successful.

Lawford and Sharpe pose as deserters to try to rescue Colonel Hector McCandless, Lawford's uncle and chief of the British East India Company's intelligence service. Sharpe's flogging inadvertently makes their cover story more plausible. Sharpe quickly takes charge and brings Mary along, to protect her from Hakeswill and because she speaks several of the native languages. They are soon captured by scouts from Tippoo's army and taken to Seringapatam where they meet Colonel Gudin, a French military adviser to Tippoo. During their interrogation, the Tippoo enters and orders them to load muskets. He then orders Sharpe to shoot a British prisoner, Colonel McCandless; he does, having noticed that the "gunpowder" he has been given is fake. The musket does not fire. After covertly telling McCandless that he is a spy, he is told by McCandless that the British must not attack the seemingly weakest portion of the city walls. (It is later revealed that Tippoo has had mines buried there to blow up the British when they enter the trap.)

Lawford and Sharpe join Gudin's troops, while Mary is sent to work as a servant in the household of one of Tippoo's generals, Appah Rao, a Hindu who, unknown to the Muslim Tippoo, is considering switching sides. As they search for their contact, a merchant who can pass along the vital warning to the besieging British forces. Gudin tests the pair further, giving them rifled fowling guns (Sharpe's first exposure to a rifled weapon instead of a smoothbore musket). Sharpe's shot is slightly high, but Lawford, to his mortification, ends up hitting a British scout.

As a further test, Sharpe helps defend a Mysore encampment which is attacked by the British. During the attack, Sharpe encounters Hakeswill and tries to kill him, but is stopped by Gudin, who wants prisoners. Back in Seringapatam, Hakeswill spots Lawford in the crowd, but does not betray him (yet). Sharpe is rewarded for his actions by Tippoo and is allowed to visit Mary. He finds that she is attracted to one of Appah Rao's men, Kunwar Singh, news which Sharpe takes in good grace. Meanwhile, Tippoo orders the prisoners executed by his personal bodyguard, the fearsome Jettis, but spares Hakeswill when the sergeant betrays Lawford and Sharpe. The two are captured and Sharpe is tortured until Lawford reveals their mission. Gudin then tells them that the spy they sought in the city had been killed weeks before and fed to Tippoo's pet tigers. They are then imprisoned with McCandless and Hakeswill. During their imprisonment, Lawford teaches Sharpe to read and write.

After days of bombardment, the British finally breach the wall and prepare to attack. With the assault imminent, Appah Rao orders Kunwar Singh to free McCandless, while Tippoo orders Sharpe, Lawford and McCandless executed as a sacrifice to ensure his victory. Mary accompanies Singh and helps Sharpe escape. Sharpe, accompanied by Lawford, then sets the mine off prematurely. As a result, many of Tippoo's best soldiers are killed or stunned, and the British enter the breach in the walls. Rao decides to abandon Tippoo and withdraws his men. Sharpe returns to Hakeswill and throws him to Tippoo's tigers, though they inexplicably ignore him. Sharpe then encounters Tippoo, who is trying to flee the city, kills him and loots his corpse.

The British capture the city and restore the Hindu rajah to the throne, as a British puppet ruler. Sharpe carefully takes no credit for killing Tippoo to avoid having to surrender the jewels he looted.

Sergeant Richard Sharpe and a small detachment arrive at an isolated East India Company fort to transport 80,000 recovered rounds of stolen ammunition to the armory at Seringapatam. While Sharpe and his men rest, a company of East India Company sepoys arrive under the command of Lieutenant William Dodd. Dodd abruptly has his men massacre the unsuspecting, outnumbered garrison. Sharpe is wounded and feigns death, allowing him to escape Dodd's determination to leave no witnesses.

Back in Seringapatam, Sharpe's friend, Colonel McCandless, whom Sharpe met four years earlier during the siege of Seringapatam (''Sharpe's Tiger''), questions him about Dodd. Dodd deserted the East India Company, taking with him his sepoys, and McCandless has been tasked with bringing him to justice, lest it give others similar ideas. McCandless orders Sharpe to accompany him since he can identify Dodd.

Dodd joins Colonel Anthony Pohlmann, commander of Scindia's army, at the city of Ahmednuggur and is rewarded with a promotion to major and command of his own battalion. Since the Mysore Campaign, the British have been pushing further north into the Maratha Confederacy's territory. Scindia is one of the Maratha rulers who have decided to resist the British advance. Scindia orders Pohlmann to assign a regiment to defend Ahmednuggur, so Pohlmann gives Dodd command of the unit and instructions to inflict casualties on the British, but most importantly, withdraw and keep the regiment intact, as the city cannot be held.

Meanwhile, Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill correctly guesses that Sharpe killed the Tippoo Sultan four years earlier at Seringapatam and looted the corpse. Hakeswill frames him for an attack on his former company commander, Captain Morris. Given a warrant to arrest Sharpe, Hakeswill recruits six cutthroats to help him murder Sharpe, so they can steal the treasure.

Sharpe and McCandless travel to the British army, escorted by Syud Sevajee, the Maratha leader of a band of mercenary cavalrymen working for the East India Company. They reach the army, under the command of Major General Arthur Wellesley, Sharpe's former regimental commander and the future Duke of Wellington. Upon arrival at Ahmednuggur, Wellesley quickly launches a risky escalade without the usual days-long artillery bombardment, in a bid to take the enemy by surprise. He quickly captures the poorly fortified town, to the amazement of Dodd, who has a poor opinion of Wellesley. Despite this, Dodd manages to extract his troops from the rout and retreats to Pohlmann's army. In the chaos of the battle, Sharpe rescues Simone Joubert, the wife of a French captain in Dodd's regiment. Under the pretext of returning Madame Joubert to her husband, McCandless hopes to be able to reconnoitre the Maratha army. They do not leave immediately, however, and Sharpe spends the night with Simone, though she regrets her decision the next day.

The next day, they reach the Maratha army. Pohlmann deduces McCandless's real intentions, but knowing that his army vastly outnumbers the British, allows McCandless to see everything he wants. At the same time, Pohlmann tries to recruit Sharpe, offering to make him a lieutenant. He tells Sharpe of the various successes that other lowly European soldiers have had in India, including his own rise from East India Company sergeant. That evening, Sharpe considers defecting, but, before he can make a decision, his and McCandless's horses are stolen and McCandless is shot in the thigh. Sharpe apprehends one of the thieves, who turns out to be one of Dodd's men. Everyone is certain that Dodd ordered the theft, but Pohlmann only has the thief executed by being trampled by an elephant. Meanwhile, Hakeswill takes his request to arrest Sharpe to Wellesley, who informs him that Sharpe will not return for some time. He assigns Hakeswill to the baggage train in the meantime, infuriating the impatient sergeant.

The Maratha army moves on, leaving McCandless behind at his own request. Sharpe decides to look after the wounded colonel, thereby turning down Pohlmann's offer. Nevertheless, he begins to wonder about how he might become an officer. Recognizing the ambition Pohlmann has stoked in the sergeant, McCandless cautions Sharpe. At the time, almost all of the officers in the British Army come from wealthy families and pay for their commissions. Those exceptional few who rise from the ranks are resented and have little chance of advancement. While McCandless recovers, Syud Sevajee locates them and delivers McCandless's report to Wellesley.

When McCandless is recovered enough, he and Sharpe rejoin the army as it advances towards Borkardan. Using one of the Tippoo's emeralds, Sharpe buys one of Wellesley's horses for McCandless, though he pretends to Wellesley that McCandless is the purchaser. The surprised McCandless learns about Sharpe and the Tippoo's death. The next day, Hakeswill attempts to arrest Sharpe, but McCandless smudges the ink on the warrant so that it reads "Sharp", not "Sharpe", and refuses to let him take Sharpe.

After weeks of aimless marching, the Maratha leaders meet and finally decide to engage the British near Assaye. Pohlmann is given overall command. The British have two forces, one under the command of Wellesley and the other under Colonel Stevenson. Pohlmann plans to fight and defeat them separately, before they can join forces. Wellesley discovers that the enemy is closer than he thought and fully aware of the situation, but is still determined to attack.

Pohlmann sets a trap. He deploys his army at what he is told are the only usable fords of the River Kaitna, but Wellesley deduces that there must be another one between two villages on opposite banks of the river. Using this ford, Wellesley crosses the river to try to launch a flank attack, but Pohlmann redeploys to face him. Wellesley's aide is killed, and Sharpe takes his place. Back with the baggage, McCandless confronts Hakeswill about the warrant and warns Hakeswill that he knows he lied and that he will inform his commander. On the British left, the 78th Highland Regiment and the sepoys advance through heavy artillery fire and rout much of the Pohlmann's infantry. On the right, however, the 74th and some picquets advance too far towards the village of Assaye and are forced to form square against attack from Maratha light cavalry. Dodd's regiment then attacks the two pinned-down units.

Meanwhile, some Maratha gunners retake their guns and fire them into the rear of Wellesley's men, so Wellesley orders a cavalry charge. During the fight, he is unhorsed alone amidst the enemy. Sharpe launches a savage attack, saving his commander and single-handedly killing many men. Friendly troops arrive, and a shaken Wellesley leaves. With the collapse of the Maratha right, Dodd is forced to retreat. During the fighting, Hakeswill finds McCandless alone and kills him.

As the Maratha forces flee in disarray, Sharpe comes across Pohlmann, but does not apprehend him. He also finds Simone Joubert. Dodd killed her husband during the retreat, so Sharpe takes her under his protection again. Eventually, he catches up to Wellesley's staff and is astonished when Wellesley rewards him by giving him a battlefield promotion, making him an ensign in the 74th. Afterward, Hakeswill tries again to arrest Sharpe, but Sharpe's new commanding officer points out that the warrant for Sergeant Sharpe is useless against Ensign Sharpe. Sharpe triumphantly forces Hakeswill, who initially refuses to acknowledge Sharpe's new rank, to address him as "sir".

Cover of the UK paperback edition In 1803, Arthur Wellesley's British and sepoy army is in pursuit of the Mahrattas in western India, having beaten them in the Battle of Assaye. Ensign Richard Sharpe, newly made an officer, is beginning to wish he had remained a sergeant, as most of his fellow officers look down upon him, including Captain Urquhart, his commanding officer. Urquhart suggests he sell his commission if he is not happy.

Manu Bappoo, the younger brother of the Rajah of Berar, decides to turn around and fight the British again, with his best unit, composed of Arab mercenaries, leading the charge, but he is again routed. During the fighting, Sharpe is impressed by the bravery of a teenage Arab boy, Ahmed, and saves his life when the boy is surrounded. Ahmed becomes his servant.

After the battle, Urquhart reassigns Sharpe to the 95th Rifles, an experimental unit, though the transfer cannot be completed while the war rages on. For the moment, Sharpe is sent to manage the baggage train, under the command of Captain Torrance. The army is short of many desperately needed supplies, and Sharpe soon discovers why. Lazy and deeply in debt, Torrance has been selling them to the merchant Naig, with the assistance of Sharpe's old nemesis, Sergeant Hakeswill. When Sharpe finds many of the stolen supplies in Naig's tent, Torrance has his associate hanged immediately to avoid being implicated. Jama, Naig's brother, is not pleased, so Torrance agrees to betray Sharpe into his hands. Hakeswill is only too glad to waylay Sharpe; besides their mutual hatred, he rightly suspects that Sharpe has a fortune in jewels looted from a dead enemy ruler.

Hakeswill ambushes Sharpe and takes him prisoner. He steals all of the jewels Sharpe has hidden on his person, then hands him over to Jama. Fortunately, Ahmed witnesses Sharpe's kidnapping and gets away. He runs into Sharpe's friend, Syud Sevagee, who rescues him. Sharpe decides to let his enemies believe he is dead. Using this ruse, he catches Captain Torrance alone and kills him.

The Mahrattas take refuge in Gawilghur, a seemingly impregnable fortress perched high on cliffs above the Deccan Plain. Wellesley, despite his deep misgivings, has no choice but to attack. Gawilghur is composed of an Outer Fort and an Inner Fort. While the Outer Fort is formidable, the Mahrattas expect the British to take it, though at heavy cost. However, the Inner Fort is so strong, they are confident it cannot fall. Once Wellesley's army has been bled dry trying to capture it, the Mahrattas plan to emerge and destroy the survivors.

When two of Hakeswill's henchmen are killed, Hakeswill realises Sharpe is responsible, so he deserts and finds service with the renegade Englishman William Dodd in Gawilghur. It is said that whoever rules in Gawilghur, rules India, and Dodd intends for it to be him. When the Outer Fort falls, Dodd keeps the gates of the Inner Fort closed, trapping Manu Bappoo outside to be killed by the British. Dodd also has Hakeswill murder Beny Singh, the weak, pleasure-loving commander of Gawilghur.

Sharpe finds a way into the Inner Fort. One section of the wall is weakly defended because it sits atop a steep cliff. The cliff, however, can be scaled. When Captain Morris, Sharpe's commanding officer, refuses to give him men, Sharpe beats him, then takes charge and leads a group of soldiers over the wall and opens the gates. He then finds and duels with Dodd, only to find that Dodd is by far the better swordsman. It is Dodd who gives Sharpe the scar on his right cheek. Ahmed appears unexpectedly and attacks Dodd. Dodd kills him easily, but Sharpe's cavalryman friend shoots him in the shoulder, and then Sharpe is able to kill him.

Hakeswill tries to flee, disguised as a British soldier, but Sharpe finds him. Sharpe retrieves his stolen jewels and other loot, then backs Hakeswill up until he falls into a pit filled with poisonous snakes.

The year is 1807, and Richard Sharpe is at a very low point in his life. His beloved aristocratic lover, Lady Grace Hale, died in childbirth, along with their newborn son. Her family's lawyers then took all of Sharpe's wealth (loot he obtained in India), claiming it was Grace's, so it reverts to her family. Destitute and relegated to the menial job of quartermaster, Sharpe is on the streets of London, contemplating leaving the army.

First though, he revisits the foundling home where he was raised to get his revenge. He robs and kills Jem Hocking, his childhood tormentor.

Then a former commanding officer, Major General David Baird, finds him in a pub. Captain John Lavisser was assigned a bodyguard for a secret mission to Copenhagen, but the bodyguard was killed, supposedly by a common footpad, and a replacement is needed immediately. Baird persuades Sharpe to take the job. Lavisser does not want a bodyguard since he already has a hulking servant and ex-footpad named Barker, but orders are orders. Lord Pumphrey of the Foreign Office gives Sharpe (but not Lavisser) a contact in case he runs into trouble.

Denmark is neutral, but has a powerful fleet. Napoleon wants it to replace the ships France lost at the Battle of Trafalgar, and Britain is equally determined to see to it that does not happen. Lavisser's task is to bribe the Danish crown prince to hand over the fleet for safekeeping. (Lavisser's grandfather is the prince's chamberlain, and they are also related by marriage.) If that fails, the British will have to seize the ships by force.

When they go ashore in Denmark, Sharpe narrowly escapes being killed by Barker. He walks to Copenhagen and goes to see Ole Skovgaard, the emergency contact. Skovgaard turns out to be the main spy for Britain in Denmark. Meanwhile, Lavisser defects to the Danes and "confesses" that the British have sent an assassin to kill the crown prince. Skovgaard reads this lie in the newspaper and locks Sharpe in a room to await Lavisser. Sharpe escapes just in time. Lavisser turns out to be in the employ of the French; he and his men torture Skovgaard for the names of his contacts throughout Europe. Sharpe manages to kill some of Lavisser's henchmen and drive the rest off. During his stay at Skovgaard's house, he and Skovgaard's beautiful widowed daughter, Astrid, become attracted to each other. They eventually sleep together, and Sharpe contemplates settling down in Copenhagen with her.

When the British besiege Copenhagen, Sharpe joins them. The Danes refuse to surrender their fleet, so the British bombard the city. Sharpe, by now knowing the general layout of Copenhagen, sneaks a small force into the city and guides them to the Danish ships, which have been prepared for burning in case the British break in. The men hide aboard the ships and safeguard them against burning. Meanwhile, Sharpe goes to Skovgaard's, only to find he has been captured and tortured again by Lavisser, who obtains the names of the British spies. Sharpe rescues Skovgaard, kills Lavisser and Barker, and gets the list of names. The city surrenders, and the Danish fleet is captured intact.

Skovgaard will no longer work for the British after what they have done to his city. He also orders Astrid to break up with Sharpe, which she reluctantly does. Lord Pumphrey has Sharpe sent back to England as soon as possible, as he does not want the rifleman to learn that he must have the Skovgaards killed; they know too much.

Sharpe's battalion, acting as rearguard to the British Army in its retreat to Corunna, are cut down by a squadron of French regular cavalry. Sharpe takes up Captain Murray's heavy cavalry sword after Murray dies and takes command of the surviving riflemen (from the 95th Rifles). However, the men do not want to follow him. Their leader, Patrick Harper, and Sharpe fight, but they are interrupted by the arrival of Spanish Major Blas Vivar and his men.

Vivar invites the British to travel with him to escort them back to Portugal, but does not reveal his hidden agenda. The Spanish commoners hate the French invaders, but are dispirited and need something to rally around. In the course of the journey, Sharpe begins to gain the respect of his men, especially when his ability as a soldier gets them through a French ambush. Travelling on, they meet the Parkers, a Methodist couple, and their niece Louisa who Sharpe falls in love with, though it does not work out. Sharpe learns from a map the Parkers possess that Vivar was not taking them home at all and after a confrontation falls out with Vivar and takes his men home.

On their way back, they are attacked by a French detachment led by Pierre D'Eclin and Vivar's pro-French brother, who had earlier been pursuing Vivar. Vivar comes to the rescue and helps them escape, though Louisa's aunt and uncle are captured and later sent home, being civilians.

Vivar confesses he lied to Sharpe because he needed Sharpe's help for a crazy mission: taking the gonfalon of Santiago (the biblical saint James) to the city of Santiago de Compostela. According to legend, raising the gonfalon there will summon the saint to Spain's aid; Vivar is certain that the act will rouse his people. However, the city is held by a strong French force. The French are aware of Vivar's goal. Sharpe agrees to help Vivar take the city if Vivar can convince Patrick Harper to become a sergeant, something Sharpe had failed to do, (beginning a lifelong friendship with Harper).

Against all odds, they capture the city and hold it long enough for Vivar to raise the gonfalon. Pierre D'Eclin and Major Vivar's brother are killed in the subsequent retreat from the city afterward. Vivar subsequently takes his brother's title and marries Louisa, who does not wish to leave Spain.

Sharpe finally makes it back to Portugal, where he meets engineer Captain Hogan who reveals that the British have not abandoned the war and offers Sharpe the opportunity to work with him.

In 1805, Richard Sharpe is to sail to England from India aboard the East Indiaman ''Calliope'' to join the 95th Rifles. He is swindled after purchasing supplies for the voyage. After finding out, he gets not only his money back, but also helps fellow victim Royal Navy Captain Joel Chase do the same, saving Chase from great financial embarrassment. Chase wants to show his gratitude, but is under orders to destroy a French 74 named the ''Revenant'' that is raiding the Indian Ocean.

The ''Calliope'' s passengers include the lovely, young Lady Grace Hale and her much older husband, Lord William Hale. Sharpe is also astonished to find aboard Anthony Pohlmann, a renegade and former Maratha warlord (defeated by Arthur Wellesley in ''Sharpe's Triumph''), traveling under a false identity – Baron von Dornberg – but sees no reason to denounce his former foe.

Peculiar Cromwell, captain of the ''Calliope'', spots the jewels (looted from an Indian ruler) Sharpe has sewn into his clothing and insists that Sharpe leave them with him for safekeeping, to avoid tempting his crew.

Sharpe becomes obsessed with Lady Grace, but his attempts to become better acquainted are unsuccessful, at first. However, she later questions him in private about "Dornberg"; while Cromwell and Dornberg denied knowing each other, she has observed them conversing frequently. Sharpe protects Dornberg as best he can. When Lady Grace gets up to leave, a sudden movement of the ship causes her to stumble, and Sharpe ends up with his arm around her waist. They eventually become secret lovers.

Cromwell leaves the safety of a slow convoy with his fast ship. Lady Grace becomes worried that they are sailing near French-held Mauritius. She ends up spending the first of several nights with Sharpe. Malachi Braithwaite, Lord Hale's secretary, finds out and is angered, as he is attracted to Lady Grace too. Sharpe threatens to kill him if he tells anyone.

The ''Revenant'' appears. Before the ''Calliope'' is captured, Sharpe hurries to retrieve his jewels from Cromwell's safe, but they are not there. Sharpe suspects both Cromwell and Pohlmann aided the French; both men board the ''Revenant''. A prize crew starts sailing the ''Calliope'' to Mauritius. Later, the lieutenant in charge tries to rape Lady Grace; Sharpe goes to her rescue and kills the Frenchman in a swordfight. The French understand and do not punish Sharpe. One day, another ship is spotted. Sharpe manages to cut the tiller ropes controlling the rudder, slowing the ''Calliope''. This enables Captain Chase's ''Pucelle'' to capture the ''Calliope''.

Chase invites Sharpe to transfer to his ship; Sharpe is reluctant to accept, until he discovers that Lord Hale has insisted on switching to the faster ''Pucelle'', along with his wife. Chase confides to Sharpe that a French agent, probably Dornberg's "servant", negotiated a secret treaty with the ablest of the Indian Maratha leaders. If it is delivered to Paris, the French might send arms to the Marathas to start a new war against the British.

Chase does everything in his power to overtake the ''Revenant''. Sharpe trains with the Marines for shipboard fighting and is introduced to a seven-barreled Nock gun (a weapon which future friend Patrick Harper will favour). A ship is spotted. The ''Pucelle'' gives chase, but loses it.

Meanwhile, Lady Grace tells Sharpe that Braithwaite is trying to blackmail her. He ambushes the man. Braithwaite produces a pistol and tries to negotiate, claiming he left a letter describing Sharpe's affair, but Sharpe kills him. When the corpse is found, people assume Braithwaite had a fatal fall.

The ''Revenant'' is spotted, and a long chase commences. One night, Lady Grace hesitantly informs Sharpe that she is pregnant with his child, unsure of his reaction. He is delighted.

Just when it seems that the ''Revenant'' will get away, the combined French and Spanish fleets sortie, with Admiral Horatio Nelson's fleet in pursuit. The ''Revenant'' joins the enemy fleet, while the ''Pucelle'' comes under Nelson's command. When Nelson summons Chase to a meeting, Chase brings Sharpe along and introduces him to his friend the admiral.

When the British attack the enemy fleet, commencing the Battle of Trafalgar, Chase points out the ''Revenant'' to Sharpe. Chase sends the Hales to safety, over Lord Hale's protest, while Sharpe joins the Marines. The ''Pucelle'' and the ''Revenant'' pound each other. The ''Revenant'' is captured. Pohlmann is killed by a cannonball. Sharpe finds the French agent and tosses him into the sea; the man cannot swim. Cromwell survives; Sharpe retrieves his jewels before reluctantly handing him over to Chase.

When Sharpe goes to find Lady Grace, he discovers that she has killed her husband. While the battle was raging, Lord Hale had confronted his wife over Braithwaite's letter. He eventually told her that he would kill her and make it appear a suicide. He also promised to sabotage Sharpe's life secretly. Sharpe sees to it his body is taken up on deck so it will seem that he was killed in the fighting. Upset at first, Lady Grace realises she is now free to do as she pleases.

It is July 1809. During the Talavera Campaign, Sir Arthur Wellesley's army has entered Spain to confront Marshal Victor. Richard Sharpe and his small group of thirty riflemen, separated from their regiment during the retreat from Corunna, are attached to the newly arrived South Essex Regiment. Commanded by the cowardly and bullying Lieutenant Colonel Sir Henry Simmerson, the South Essex is a raw, inexperienced unit that has been drilled mercilessly with frequent use of the lash.

Sharpe takes it upon himself to shape the inexperienced and poorly trained redcoats into soldiers. He comes into conflict with Simmerson; his nephew, the arrogant Lieutenant Christian Gibbons; and Christian's friend, Lieutenant John Berry. The situation is further complicated by the rivalry that emerges between Sharpe and Gibbons for the affections of Josefina Lacosta, a Portuguese noblewoman who ran away from her husband after he took a mistress. Only two of the South Essex officers appear to have any real experience: Captain Lennox, a veteran of the 78th Highlanders' action at the Battle of Assaye, where Sharpe himself won his commission; and Captain Thomas Leroy, an American Loyalist who was forced to flee his homeland after the American War of Independence.

From Talavera, General Wellesley dispatches the South Essex, alongside Sharpe's riflemen and Major Michael Hogan's engineers, to blow up the bridge at Valdelacasa, so as to protect the army's flank as they march. They accompany a Spanish regiment of equal number, the Regimento de la Santa Maria, the seemingly straightforward mission becomes a disaster when both Simmerson and the Spanish unnecessarily cross the bridge due to pride, and then try to engage four squadrons of French dragoons. Due to a combination of arrogance, poor training and incompetence, the two regiments are routed by the French, with hundreds of men killed and wounded, Lennox fatally wounded by the enemy, and the loss of the King's Colours. Sharpe, however, distinguishes himself during the skirmish by saving the South Essex's own colours and capturing a French cannon. As a dying request, Lennox asks Sharpe to take a French Imperial Eagle, "touched by the hand of Napoleon" himself, so as to erase the shame of losing the King's Colours.

Wellesley has Sharpe gazetted captain, and scolds Simmerson for his bad leadership. In an attempt to shift the blame for the fiasco, Sir Henry tries to make Sharpe a scapegoat and intends on ruining Sharpe's career via his connections at Horse Guards. Sharpe concludes that only by capturing an Eagle can he remain in the army and keep his promotion. He also makes enemies of Gibbons and Berry when Josefina falls out with Gibbons, and Sharpe takes her under his protection. They become lovers, although Sharpe is forced to accept sizable loans offered him by Hogan in order to keep Josefina in the manner she is used to. Later, after Josefina is raped by Gibbons and Berry, Sharpe swears vengeance. He murders Berry during a night-time skirmish against the French.

At the height of the Battle of Talavera, Simmerson panics at the approach of a French column, and orders the South Essex to withdraw, despite direct orders from the British 2nd Division commander, General "Daddy" Hill, opening a gap in the lines. Sharpe desperately deploys his men to delay the French from exploiting it.

Sharpe's old friend, Lieutenant Colonel William Lawford, relieves Simmerson of command and orders the South Essex back into position, where their volleys destroy the column's cohesion. Sharpe leads the Light Company and his rifles into the fray and captures a French regiment's Eagle. Returning from the battlefield, Sharpe is ambushed by Gibbons, who attempts to murder Sharpe and take the Eagle for himself, but is killed by Harper. The capture of the Eagle secures Sharpe's promotion and restores the honour of the South Essex, but Sharpe's triumph is soured somewhat by Josefina's return to Lisbon, under the protection of a wealthy and aristocratic British cavalry captain.

Over a celebratory dinner, Wellesley bitterly informs his staff officers that, although the battle was won, the campaign will be accounted a failure, since Spanish General Cuesta has blundered badly, forcing the British to retreat back to Portugal. Wellesley promises that the British will return to Spain, but on their own terms. To Sharpe's surprise and embarrassment, Wellesley concludes his speech by proposing a toast to "Sharpe's Eagle." (This begins Cornwell's practice, in nearly all the Sharpe novels, of ending a book with the use of its title.)

In 1868, Christopher Newman, an American businessman, visits Europe on a Grand Tour. Having worked for a living since age ten (interrupted by service in the Union Army during the American Civil War), he has made a large fortune and retired in his thirties, and is now looking to settle down and get married.

At the Louvre in Paris he watches a painter named Noémie; he offers to buy the copy she is making, and meets her father, M. Nioche. About the same time a mutual friend introduces Newman to Claire de Cintré, a young widow. Newman hires M. Nioche to teach him French and the two become friendly; Newman, learning that M. Nioche worries about his daughter's future since he is poor, says that he will buy enough paintings from Noémie to give her a respectable dowry. Meeting Newman at the Louvre the next day, though, Noémie frankly tells him that she has no talent and her paintings are worthless. She scorns the men she could marry even with a dowry, and hints that she would prefer a more exciting life. Newman either doesn't understand the hint or ignores it, and he leaves her to her work. He pays a visit to the Bellegarde estate, where he meets Claire's two brothers: the cheerful Valentin and the aloof Marquis de Bellegarde, who coldly rebuffs him.

Newman and Valentin become good friends, and eventually he tells Valentin that he wishes to marry Claire; Valentin tells Newman that he has his support but he will find it hard going against the class prejudices of the Marquis and his mother, royalist supporters of the Bourbons. Newman proposes to Claire; after hesitating, because her first husband was abusive, Claire says she will consider it.

Newman and Valentin visit the Louvre and find Noémie at work in a gallery. Noémie tells Newman she has finished none of the work she was to do for him, and in irritation she slashes a large red cross over her painting, obliterating it. Afterwards Valentin tells Newman that Noémie is certain to become the mistress of some rich man, though Newman objects that her respectable father would never allow it.

Claire's mother tells Newman his "commercial" background makes him unfit, but when he tells her how rich he is, she reluctantly agrees not to oppose him. After some months Claire agrees to marry him, and the Bellegardes have a party in honor of the engagement. Newman hears town gossip that Noémie has become a courtesan; he goes to see M. Nioche, and finds him drinking in misery.

While Newman is occupied with arranging the upcoming wedding, Valentin becomes involved with Noémie. At a theater he exchanges insults with a rival and they agree to a duel; he leaves for Switzerland to fight the duel despite Newman's exasperated attempt to talk him out of it. The next day the Bellegardes tell Newman that the engagement is off, and Claire has been ordered to leave for the family's estate in Poitiers. He hardly has time to digest this when he gets a telegram telling him that Valentin, wounded in his duel, is dying. Newman hurries to Geneva where he sits by Valentin's deathbed. Valentin, ashamed of his family's behavior, tells Newman that the Bellegardes have a terrible secret, which he can discover in Poitiers and use against them. Newman goes to Poitiers to attend Valentin's funeral, and afterwards urges Claire to disobey her family and marry him. Claire cannot stand against her mother and intends to become a Carmelite nun.

Newman discovers the family secret: Claire's mother indirectly murdered the old Marquis, Claire's father, by throwing out his medicine during his illness and keeping doctors away from him until he died. At first he plans to use the secret against the family, but soon decides that that would be beneath him, and he leaves Paris. Walking in Hyde Park in London he sees Noémie, now a successful woman of fashion, flirting with wealthy men as M. Nioche sits forlornly nearby, and he walks away from them in disgust. After restlessly traveling to New York and San Francisco, he hears that Claire has become a nun; he returns to Paris to look at the walls of the convent from the street, and then leaves Paris for good, resolving never to think of the Bellegarde family again.

It begins with the birth of Paris, as well as Cassandra's prophecy that he would be the cause of Troy's destruction. Worried, his father, King Priam, leaves him on Mount Ida, where he is found and raised by the shepherd Agelaus. When he is an adult, Paris goes off on a friendly fight with some other shepherds. One of them tells him about his goat named Stubos that got away again and he chases it to a cave where the goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite appear and ask him to judge which of them is the most beautiful. To bribe him, Hera offered him power while Athena offers him victory yet he chooses Aphrodite, who promises him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world.

Meanwhile, in Sparta, Helen sees Paris's judgement in a pool of water and happily accepts his choice of her love. She later meets the Mycenaean King, Agamemnon, who has come to claim her sister, Clytemnestra, as his bride, but is also immediately taken by Helen's attractiveness. During the wedding feast, after she noticed that everyone seems to be staring at her including Agamemnon and Menelaus, his brother, she is kidnapped by two Athenians. Helen learns the truth of her mother's death from Theseus, one of the men who kidnapped her, then they took her to Athens, where she falls for him, before her brother Pollux raids Athens and kills him in order to save her. As he is dying, Theseus stabs Pollux. In Sparta, Helen's father Tyndareus rages at his daughter, blaming her for losing his heir. He presents her to the many suitors who seek her hand, bidding them to do as they wish.

The suitors draw lots after swearing an oath suggested by clever Odysseus that if anyone disrespect her husband's claims to her, they should unite and wage war against him. Odysseus rules himself and Agamemnon out of the lot, since they are both married. They agree to the oath and Agamemnon's brother Menelaus wins. Agamemnon is visibly jealous.

Meanwhile, Paris' favorite bull is taken for the Trojan tribute games. Paris insists on competing, despite his father's protests. After winning in every competition and being recognized by his sister Cassandra, Paris is welcomed by an overjoyed Priam to Troy. Cassandra, a seer, as well as his elder brother Hector are upset at their father's decision.

Paris is sent to Sparta to draw out a peace treaty with Sparta and Menelaus alone, which angers Agamemnon. His treaty is refused and both Menelaus and Agamemnon plot to have him murdered. While there, however, he encounters and recognizes Helen, while Menelaus is showing off his new bride by having her walk naked through one of his feasts. Paris later prevents her from committing suicide. He then gains her love and she helps him flee. Together they sail to Troy.

When Menelaus finds out, he demands that his brother launch war on Troy and the former suitors are gathered to fulfill their oath. But the winds are not in their favor and after a month, it is revealed that the goddess Artemis wants Agamemnon to sacrifice his daughter in return for favorable winds. He carries out the deed, despite a heavy heart.

Helen and Paris arrive at Troy with the Greek army at their heels. The Greeks send an embassy of Menelaus and Odysseus to demand Helen's return. Priam is at first reluctant to allow Helen to remain at Troy until he talks to her alone where she admits her love for Paris. Priam refuses, thus the Greeks plan an attack.

In the morning, the battle is joined on the beach of Troy, with Hector nearly killed by Agamemnon. The battle ends with the Trojan army's crushing defeat and the Greeks camping on the beach.

Ten years pass. Agamemnon agrees to end the war with a single combat, between Menelaus and Paris. If Menelaus wins, Helen will be returned. If Menelaus loses, the Trojans may keep her. Whatever the outcome, the Greeks have to leave Troy.

Agamemnon cheats by poisoning Menelaus' javelin without telling him. During the duel Paris is cut and the poison disorients him. Menelaus, however, does not take advantage; instead, they stop fighting and make peace between each other as a fog obscures them from view.

As the fog lifts, Agamemnon's cheating is exposed. Hector challenges Agamemnon to a duel to the death that will end the war. Achilles takes up the challenge, fighting for Agamemnon, but agrees to fight not for Helen but for his own honor. Achilles easily kills Hector.

That night Helen, fearing for Paris's safety, goes to Cassandra and asks what she can do to protect Paris. Cassandra replies that her only choice is to give herself to the Greeks. Helen agrees, presenting herself in Agamemnon's tent and offering a trade—her for the body of Hector. Agamemnon refuses, as he does not want his daughter's death to be in vain, as well as chases her around the camp, but Paris arrives in time to save her, challenging Agamemnon for the safety of Troy. Achilles charges at him, but Paris seizes a bow and shoots Achilles in the heel, killing him. Afterwards the Greeks attack him, but he is saved by Trojan soldiers and is reunited with Helen. Shortly thereafter, Agamemnon finds and stabs Paris. He dies in Helen's arms.

During Paris' funeral, the Greeks are reported to have sailed away—leaving a Trojan Horse, a massive wooden horse, on the shore. It is taken into the city and Troy celebrates late into the night. Unbeknownst to them though, there are some Greek soldiers inside the wooden horse. When they are all asleep, the Greeks come out and sack the city, slaying Priam and Hecuba. Agamemnon seats himself proudly on Troy's throne as the new emperor of the Aegean and ruler of the World. Agamemnon has his men bring Helen to his throne. Agamemnon strokes Helen's hair, restrains her and then begins to rape her. Menelaus tries to stop him, but is held back by Agamemnon's guards. Odysseus is also shocked at Agamemnon's act, but can do nothing.

The next morning, as the Greek soldiers ravage the ruins of Troy of its riches and take its people as slaves, Clytemnestra arrives in the royal palace, where she ventures into the royal pool. There, she finds Agamemnon and Helen, both naked. Agamemnon relaxes in triumph, while Helen sits near the pool, not saying a word. Clytemnestra covers her sister with a robe and sends her away, leaving her alone with Agamemnon. She tells him she came for their daughter, Iphigenia. Agamemnon replies that she is not here. Clytemnestra replies "I know" then attacks, throwing her net-like shawl over her husband and stabs him repeatedly to death in the pool.

Helen wanders woefully through the ruined city, halting at the spot where Paris was slain. There, she sees an apparition of Paris and they embrace. Helen begs Paris to take her with him to the afterlife and he tells her that he has prepared a place for her, but she must wait until it is her time. He disappears and Menelaus arrives and draws his sword out. Helen prepares for her punishment, but Menelaus puts his sword away and can do nothing but feel sorry for her. Helen tells him she cannot love him, but she "will follow". The two head back to the Greek ships, ready to live the rest of their lives as king and queen of Sparta, leaving Troy, a kingdom that was once the richest of all, in ruins.

Jack is all set to discover the city beyond his small town. He meets a farmer on his way who warns him against going to the city. Jack however turns a deaf ear and continues his journey. The farmer tries to kill him for his meal, but Jack eventually escapes with his horse, leaving the hungry farmer in the pit.

When he reaches the city he realises that it is populated by toys. He meets a wooden chef at a bar, and realises his horse has been stolen. Jack sets out to search for his horse, but he is hit by someone unknown and he faints on the ground. He is awoken by a teddy bear, Eddie, who is a private detective and the assistant of Bill Winkie (Wee Willie Winkie). Eddie offers Jack partnership in his detective firm, as Bill Winkie is missing.

Jack is still shaken by the fact that toys can actually talk and walk and feel like humans, but eventually he comes on terms with it. Eddie informs him that something is wrong in Toy City - someone is killing the rich and famous PPPs: Preadolescent Poetic Personalities.

These PPPs have become rich due to the royalties they receive for their poems, like Humpty Dumpty, Little Miss Muffet, Mary Mary Quite Contrary and Old King Cole. While on their quest to find the murderer, several PPPs are killed. Humpty Dumpty is boiled with a lens above his pool, Bill Winkie – cheated out of the rights to his nursery rhyme by the writer, but a natural detective – simply vanishes while investigating the case, Little Boy Blue is pierced with his crook – the crook impaling him in the rear and exiting through his mouth, Jack Spratt is fried in his ex-wife's diner, Little Tommy Tucker explodes when a bomb is dropped down his throat as he sings a high note, Little Jack Horner is stuffed with jam and Mother Goose is slit open. In all the cases the only clues are hollow chocolate bunnies left at the scene.

In their investigation, Eddie and Jack realise that the killer is an evil twin of God-like figure 'Anders Anders' and is called 'Sredna Sredna'. He is the one who had absconded with 'The Manual' (Holy Scripts) and 'The Maguffin', which lets the person get entry into the Toy City from other dimensions.

When Jack is confronted by the killer, Sredna reveals that he manufactures lifelike toys who do as their owners command. He plans to rule the world, as he feels that God is too busy creating new worlds and has forgotten this one. He has created toys of Hitler and the President of the USA in order to achieve these aims. Sredna almost kills Eddie and Jack. However, they are saved by Jack's lover, Jill.

In the end, Jack is made a prince and paid a hefty sum by the royal PPPs and Eddie is made the Mayor by Anders Anders.

Working in a dystopian 23rd century, William Starling finds a painting, The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke by Richard Dadd from the 19th Century with the image of a digital watch hidden within it. William takes a drug which confers the ability to tap into ancestral memories. After learning of events occurring in the 19th century, William and Tim are attacked by a Babbage robot sent from the past, and William escapes to the past via the robot's time machine.

Stuck in the 19th century in Victorian London, William is greeted by Hugo Rune, who explains to Will that he is his direct descendant. Will learns that 19th Century history is a lie: Charles Babbage's difference engine was a huge success, providing the growing British Empire with robots, digital watches, airships, and even the first rocket to the moon.

After returning to London, Will and Hugo take on a case for Sherlock Holmes - to discover the identity of Jack the Ripper to learn more about the witches' cabal. Hugo becomes the Ripper's next victim. Will finds a box in Hugo's trunk containing Barry, the Sprout Guardian. Will uses Barry to return to the future to enlist the aid of Tim.

Will and Tim return to the past, meeting an invisible H.G. Wells, the Elephant Man, the Brentford Snail Boy, and another Will from an alternate future. After finding Hugo's true residence in the Buttes Estate, Will and Tim set out to save the 19th Century and the future from the influence of the Witches of Chiswick.

Hugo faked his death, not for the first time, and returns to aid Tim and Will. Will discovers that Count Otto is a Babbage robot, controlled by the Will from the alternate future. Driven mad, the alternate Will became evil and committed the Jack the Ripper killings. "Anti-Will" faces Hugo, travels back in time to prevent the Babbage Difference Engine from being recognized, then returns to the circus to finish his goal of controlling the world. When Hugo confesses that 'he' cannot stop the "anti-Will", William realises he can sacrifice himself to defeat his duplicate. Will lunges for "anti-Will" and the pair are destroyed due to the temporal paradox. History is changed, the Victorian era never develops the computer and in the future Will and Tim are born and lead normal lives.

Category:Novels by Robert Rankin Category:2003 British novels Category:British fantasy novels Category:British steampunk novels Category:Novels about time travel Category:Cultural depictions of Jack the Ripper Category:Cultural depictions of H. G. Wells Category:Victor Gollancz Ltd books

Kathleen Conklin, an introverted graduate student of philosophy at New York University, is attacked one night by a woman who calls herself "Casanova". She pushes Kathleen into a stairwell, bites her neck, and drinks her blood. Kathleen soon develops several traditional symptoms of vampirism, including aversion to daylight and distaste for food. She grows aggressive in demeanor, and propositions her dissertation advisor for sex at her apartment, afterward stealing money from his wallet while he sleeps. Jean, a doctoral candidate in Kathleen's cohort, notices a rapid change in Kathleen's personality.

During finals week in the library, Kathleen meets a female anthropology student. The two go to the woman's apartment to study, where Kathleen bites her neck. While the young woman weeps incredulously, Kathleen coldly informs her: "My indifference is not the concern here, it's your astonishment that needs studying". Later, Kathleen runs into an acquaintance, who goes by the street name "Black", at a deli. She propositions him for sex and the two leave, but soon attacks him on an empty street and drinks his blood. Later on campus, Kathleen confronts Jean, rambling about the nature of guilt, before proceeding to bite her neck and drink her blood.

While walking on the street, Kathleen meets Peina, a vampire who claims to have almost conquered his addiction and as a result is almost human. For a time, he keeps her in his home, trying to help her overcome hers, recommending that she read William S. Burroughs' ''Naked Lunch''. Later, Kathleen defends her dissertation to a committee, and is awarded her Doctorate of Philosophy. At the department's graduation party, she and Jean feast on the blood of a waitress in a storage closet. Afterwards, she, Casanova, Jean and some of Kathleen's other victims proceed to attack the other attendees in a bloody, chaotic orgy.

Kathleen, apparently overdosed from the bloody bacchanal and looking wracked with regret, wanders the streets. She ends up in a hospital and asks the nurse to let her die, but the nurse refuses. Kathleen decides to commit suicide by asking the nurse to open the curtains. After the nurse leaves, Casanova appears in Kathleen's hospital room, shuts the curtains, and quotes R. C. Sproul to her. Next, a Catholic priest visits Kathleen's room and agrees to administer Viaticum. In the final scene, Kathleen visits her own grave, in broad daylight. In voice-over, Kathleen quotes: "self-revelation is annihilation of self".

A group of children from a variety of backgrounds form a special friendship, using music as their bond. Ana, an abused child deep in sadness, is taught how to laugh by Pedro. Pedro, a fish out-of-water, refuses to follow the rigid rules of the school and loves to sing. The group includes, Santiago, a little rich kid, spoiled and raised by a maid, Lourdes, a shy girl, who devotes most of her time attending her Down Syndrome brother, Carlitos, Patricia a lonely girl who dreams of becoming rich, at any cost, Gilberto stutters constantly, causing shame to his self-absorbed parents, Renata, tries hard to win the affection of her father, whom believes that girls are worthless, so she tries to become a boy, "El 7 Leguas" a poor boy, who is not allowed to attend a prestigious school, he is loyal and inventive, Carlitos, born with Down Syndrome, tries hard to act normal and show everyone even mentally disabled children have feelings, care for others, and contribute to society, and Rafa, a chubby little boy, in love with Patricia has the brains, and is the songwriter in the group.

There is a wall covered with anti-poaching notices and wanted posters of Robin Hood and Little John. Bugs is trying to silence an alarm attached to a carrot he just pulled out of the King's Carrot Patch. He is caught by the Sheriff of Nottingham and is about to be put to the rack when Little John (depicted as a fat goonish fellow) appears and introduces Robin Hood. However, Robin Hood does not appear. Bugs and the Sheriff continue to converse, and Bugs averts the latter's attention by lying about the king's arrival ("Hail, the king approacheth!"). Bugs clubs the Sheriff while the latter is bowing and runs off.

While examining the garden wall in an attempt to scale it, Bugs is chased by the Sheriff up to the Royal Rose Garden, which the Sheriff regards as "royal ground". Here, Bugs dupes the Sheriff once again by acting as a real estate agent and successfully selling the land to the Sheriff, who plans to turn the garden into a "six-room Tudor". The Sheriff builds the house to half-completion before he realizes that he has been tricked and, now infuriated, declares revenge, all the while hitting himself on the head with a hammer ("Oooooh, I hate myself! I do! I do! I do!").

The Sheriff shoots an arrow which grazes Bugs while he is scaling the garden wall. Bugs falls into Little John's hands, who again attempts to introduce Robin Hood, but again, he does not appear. Bugs then uses the opportunity to introduce Little John and the Sheriff to each other several times over, diverting the Sheriff's attention once again. During the exchange, the Sheriff spies Bugs leaving and angrily shrugs off Little John. Bugs convinces the Sheriff that the King is indeed coming while the Sheriff tries not to be fooled once again. But when the Sheriff turns to prove to himself that Bugs is just lying, he is surprised to see Bugs dressed first as a clarion player and then as a royal crier before reappearing as the King. The Sheriff recognizing Bugs as the King, obligingly bows down. The famous knighting scene ensues, the titles getting progressively more nonsensical. Afterwards, the Sheriff, already dazed from the repeated hits, sings "London Bridge Is Falling Down" and falls on a cake quickly baked by Bugs during the song.

Bugs hears Little John once again introducing Robin Hood, but Bugs interrupts and mocks Little John, remembering Robin's failure to appear the first two times. This time however, Little John tells Bugs not to "talk mean like that", as this time, he ''is'' telling the truth, and Robin indeed appears (played by Errol Flynn, in live-action footage from ''The Adventures of Robin Hood''). But Bugs brushes it off saying "Nah that's silly, it couldn't be him."

The series features Gidget, who is in her late 20s and married to her idol, "Moondoggie" (Dean Butler). The couple live in Santa Monica, California, where Moondoggie works as an architect and Gidget runs the "Gidget Travel Agency" with her long-time best friend, Larue (Jill Jacobson).

Gidget and Moondoggie take care of Gidget's niece, Dani (Sydney Penny), who lives with the couple while her parents (Gidget's sister, Anne and husband John) are overseas. Dani is similar to Gidget when she was a teen and was always getting into trouble with her best friend, Gail (Lili Haydn). Gidget's father, Russ (William Schallert), is on hand to provide advice to the young couple and to remind Gidget that Dani's exploits were similar to the ones she experienced (and sometimes caused) as a teen.

Harold Meadows is a tailor's apprentice for his uncle in Little Bend, California. He is so shy around women that he can barely speak to them (to stop his stuttering, his uncle has to blow a whistle). Despite this, Harold writes a "how to" book for young men entitled ''The Secret of Making Love'', detailing how to woo different types of young women, such as "the vampire" and "the flapper" (in scenes that parodied two other popular films of the time, ''Trifling Women'' and ''Flaming Youth'' ), and takes a train to see a publisher in Los Angeles.

Rich young Mary Buckingham boards the same train after her automobile breaks down. No dogs are allowed aboard, so she hides her Pomeranian under her shawl, but her pet jumps off as the train pulls away. Harold rescues her dog and helps Mary hide it from the conductor. She sees his manuscript, so he starts telling her about his book, overcoming his stuttering in his enthusiasm. They become absorbed in each other. Upon returning home, Mary rejects the latest in a string of marriage proposals from Ronald DeVore, suspecting he is after her large inheritance.

After her car is repaired, Mary intentionally detours through Little Bend repeatedly, hoping to see Harold again. On one such trip, Ronald is also along for the ride, and his unwanted attentions cause Mary get her car stuck near the outskirts of Little Bend. While Ronald walks back to town for a tow, Mary happens to meet Harold. After telling Mary about the remainder of his book, Harold informs her that he is going to see the publisher, Roger Thornby, in a few days to deliver a new chapter that will be about her. They agree to meet again afterward. In Little Bend, Ronald runs into a middle-aged woman who asks if he is finally going to introduce her to his family, but he stalls her, then rides away in the tow-vehicle.

Mr. Thornby's professional readers find Harold's book hilariously absurd, so he rejects it. Without any royalty money, Harold figures he cannot ask Mary to marry him. So, ashamed to admit the truth to Mary, he pretends that he was only using her as part of his research. Heartbroken, Mary impulsively agrees to marry Ronald. Afterward, though, one of Mr. Thornby's senior employees convinces him that, if the staff liked the book so much, there must be a market for it, so Thornby decides to publish it as "The Boob's Diary", a humorous spoof on the many romantic-advice manuals prevalent at the time.

A few days later, a depressed Harold gets a letter from the publisher, but just rips it up without opening it. Fortunately, his uncle notices that one of the scraps is part of an advance royalty check for $3,000; the accompanying letter states that the book will be published as a comedy. At first, Harold is outraged, but then realizes that he can propose to Mary after all. However, when he sees a newspaper headline announcing Mary and Ronald's wedding that same day at her family's estate, he gives up. By chance, the woman whom Ronald had met a few days earlier walks in and, seeing the newspaper story, tearfully exclaims that she is Ronald's wife. As proof, she shows Harold a locket with the couple's wedding portrait and the engraved words "to my wife" that Ronald had given her two years earlier.

Harold takes the locket and embarks on a frenzied dash, involving bootleggers, car chases and multiple changes of vehicle through the countryside and along the crowded streets of Culver City and Los Angeles. Harold bursts in on the wedding ceremony just as Ronald is about to put the wedding ring on Mary's finger, but Harold cannot stop stuttering long enough to expose Ronald's intended bigamy. So he simply carries Mary off. When they are alone, he tells her about Ronald's secret and shows her the locket. Mary gets Harold to propose to her (with an assist from a passing mail carrier's whistle, which Mary blows to stop Harold's stuttering), and she accepts.

Bob "The Nailer" becomes involved in a plot by dirty big-government types. The story is about how he is first approached and used by them, and their subsequent attempts to end his life.

Disenchanted with warfare when invalided out of the U.S. Marine Corps in the 1970s, Bob retreats to a small town in Arkansas, where he lives in a trailer and devotes himself to firearms.

Here he is approached by representatives of RamDyne, a black-bag government organization whose personnel commit off-the-record atrocities as needed. The RamDyne people, masquerading as employees of Accutech, a high-end ammo manufacturer, enlist Bob's help. He detects their untruthfulness and confronts them, at which point they "reveal" to him their true motives: foiling an attempt on the life of the President of the United States at the hand of the same Soviet sniper who ended Bob's military career.

Bob agrees to work for them but in the end, is framed into the crime of attempted assassination. He escapes the frame and finds himself friendless, pursued by every law enforcement agency in the country, pursued by RamDyne, and suffering two nearly fatal bullet wounds.

The major portion of the book details how he escapes the frame, wins absolution for the crime of which he was accused and wins the love of a woman.

Conspiracy hints

As the story progresses, the reader is introduced to the actual shooter who took the shot at the Salvadoran Archbishop: one Lon Scott. Lon is a crippled man, who was once a great competition benchrest shooter. Bob tracks Lon by tracing the .300 H&H Swagger is given at the Accutech shooting range to Lon's father, Art Scott. Art received the .300 H&H, referred to as "The Tenth Black King", as a gift for his shooting for Winchester. In a tragic twist of fate, Art accidentally shot his son, crippling Lon from the waist down. He then proceeded to take his own life, with the same rifle. Bob hunts through some old files, and with Nick Memphis' help manages to track Lon to his home. Bob and Memphis are then ambushed, but escape. Much later in the novel, Lon makes another appearance as Colonel Shreck tries to set Bob up in Hard Bargain Valley, near the end of the book. Nick Memphis ends up taking a thousand yard shot at Lon, subsequently killing him. Bob then goes through legal proceedings, and embarrasses the United States government. The careful reader will then notice, during a description of the distribution of Lon's possessions in accordance with his will, that there was found a "curious collection of fired 162-grain .264-caliber bullets from some bizarre project or other in the early sixties, found in his safe deposit box. After some research, it can be learned that this is an allusion to the assassination of John F. Kennedy, in 1963. The rifle that supposedly fired the bullet that killed Kennedy was alleged to be a Carcano rifle, firing a 162 grain bullet, in 6.5 mm. It can thus be inferred that Bob Lee Swagger is not the only man that Lon Scott has set up, and that Lon Scott actually shot JFK on November 22, 1963, rather than Lee Harvey Oswald. In 2013, Hunter followed up on these hinted at threads and completed the tale in ''The Third Bullet''.

In 1951, Arkansas attorney Sam Vincent is hired by Davis Trugood, a Chicago lawyer, to verify the death of the Trugood's client's manservant in Thebes, Mississippi, a desolate shantytown cut off from civilization and surrounded by swampland and seemingly impenetrable piney woods. While in Thebes, Sam is roughly arrested for challenging the legality and authority of Thebes' law enforcement and is imprisoned by the local Sheriff.

Earl Swagger travels to Thebes with the intent of rescuing Sam after he fails to hear from his friend for several weeks. He succeeds in securing Sam's freedom but is himself captured and incarcerated as the only white man among the inmates of the nearby Thebes penitentiary, a former timber plantation and current forced labor camp for negro convicts and run by ruthless and inhumane white supremacists. The mysterious and unnamed warden instructs his jailers to torture Earl, suspecting him to be a federal investigator interested in the secret workings of the camp. The other inmates apply their acquired hatred of white men to Earl, who must defend himself not only from the guards, but also from his fellow prisoners.

Earl escapes by faking his death with the help of an old prison trusty, promising to return and destroy the prison and the evil it represents. He assembles a group of six legendary gunmen (who are based on Elmer Keith, Jack O'Connor, Audie Murphy, Charles Askins, Bill Jordan, and Ed McGivern) with the promise of real action for a just cause and readies them for an assault on Thebes. (Counting Swagger, that brings the number of gunmen to seven, a probable allusion to both ''The Magnificent Seven'' - a classic Western film - and Aeschylus' play ''Seven Against Thebes''.) While Earl makes his plans, the inmates at Thebes start to pass along the mysterious phrase, "Pale Horse Coming." Seeking to quell the inmates' stirrings and avoid a potential rebellion, the prison's tyrannical captain of the guards systematically tortures the prisoners in an effort to learn the origins of the phrase.

Sam Vincent, ever reluctant to resort to force to settle any matter, including the issue of Thebes, continues to investigate the mysteries surrounding the prison and makes some horrifying discoveries. After narrowly escaping a threat against his and his family's lives, Sam contacts Earl and finally gives Earl his blessing to "fire for effect." It is said that Vincent is never seen without a tie.

As the assault on Thebes begins, Davis Trugood, having arrived undetected in Thebes, enters the old plantation house and confronts the warden. The reader learns that Davis Trugood is the warden's estranged half-brother and that the warden hates Davis for being their father's son by a black woman.

Earl and his team succeed in destroying the prison, vowing to never again mention Thebes or their dealings there to each other or anyone else. They go their separate ways and Earl returns home to Arkansas and his wife and son.

The fictional events of this novel allude to the infamous Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male. However the copyright page of the book bears the boilerplate disclaimer that all events are fictional.

Category:2001 American novels Category:American thriller novels Category:Fiction set in 1951 Category:Novels set in the 1950s Category:Novels set in Arkansas Category:Novels set in Mississippi Category:Simon & Schuster books

Mike and Carol Brady have a savings account, which both spouses planned to use to bankroll a vacation for the other; Carol wanted to take Mike to Greece, while Mike wanted to treat Carol to a trip to Japan. When they realize their ideas collide, they use the money to try to reunite the entire family for Christmas by paying for airline tickets for their children, grandchildren and their in-laws.

However, all of the Brady kids are facing personal obstacles that might keep them from enjoying the festivities: Greg's wife Nora is spending Christmas with her family; Peter is romantically involved with his boss Valerie and his inferior position and salary is affecting his self-confidence; Bobby has dropped out of graduate school to become a race car driver but has not revealed this to his parents; Marcia's husband Wally was fired from his job at a toy company; Jan is separating from her husband Philip and Cindy is fighting for her independence since she is the youngest and still gets treated like the baby of the family. Cindy is currently a college undergraduate and in an issue similar to Bobby's, Cindy lies to her parents about overwhelming college student issues, when in actuality she plans to go skiing in Aspen with her roommates.

Even their former housekeeper Alice is dealing with a serious issue: her husband Sam has recently left her for another woman. Through each child deciding to spend the holiday and eventually opening up about their issues, Mike and Carol are able to help them out. Jan got back together with Philip, Bobby told his family about that NASCAR racing circuit, and Wally got a new job at Mike's friend's toy company. Mike knew that Wally was fired and helped them out. Nora arrives to surprise Greg. However, the family's Christmas dinner is disrupted when Mike learns that a ruthless businessman he designed a building for has cut corners, resulting in the building collapsing and trapping two security guards inside. Mike manages to free the trapped employees, but an aftershock results in Mike getting trapped in rubble himself.

In the end, Mike gets out of the debris after Carol and the entire family sings "O Come, All Ye Faithful" (a nod to Carol singing it in the original series' episode "The Voice of Christmas"). After returning home, the family's dinner is again interrupted, this time by a man at the door dressed as Santa Claus. The kids ask where his bag of presents is, but he tells them that he only has one present, for Alice; it turns out to be Sam, in disguise, who has seen the error of his ways and pleads for Alice's forgiveness. After she takes Sam back, the family invites him to stay for dinner, and everyone ends the film singing a chorus of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".

''The Killers'' is an adaptation of a short story by Ernest Hemingway. The story is divided into three scenes. The first and third scenes were directed by Beiku and Tarkovsky, the second by Gordon.

The first scene shows Nick Adams (Yuli Fait) observing two gangsters (Valentin Vinogradov and Vadim Novikov) in black coats and black hats entering a small-town diner where Adams is eating. They tell the owner, George (Aleksandr Gordon), that they are searching for the boxer Ole Andreson and that they want to kill him. They tie up Nick Adams and Sam the cook, and wait for Ole Andreson to appear. Three customers enter the restaurant and are sent away by George. One of the customers is played by Tarkovsky, who whistles ''Lullaby of Birdland''.

The second scene shows Nick Adams visiting Ole Andreson (Vasily Shukshin) in his hide-out, a small room. He warns Andreson about the two gangsters, but Andreson is resigned to his fate and unwilling to flee.

The third scene shows Adams returning to the diner and informing the owner of Andreson's decision.

Construction workers find an old cache of bombs from World War II in an unnamed Russian town. An army unit is charged with solving this problem. The municipal committee decides that exploding the bombs would inflict too much damage on the town and so the army unit must transport the bombs manually to a safe site.

After the entire town is evacuated, the soldiers carry the bombs one by one to the armored transport truck. The danger of explosion looms. As the army unit concludes its mission the population returns to the town as the bombs are simultaneously destroyed at the safe site.

The story is based on real events and real people and is set in the mid-1950s freehold township of Sophiatown, Johannesburg— one of the few areas in South Africa where blacks could own property and drink alcoholic beverages. ''Drum'' begins with the central character, sportswriter Henry Nxumalo, reporting on a boxing match with Nelson Mandela. Nxumalo leaves his wife Florence at home while going out into his community's night life and has an affair with a female singer. He works for ''Drum'' magazine, which was "the first black lifestyle magazine in Africa." The magazine was financed by whites and had a multiracial staff; it was popular among the black community. ''Drum'''s British editor, Jim Bailey (Jason Flemyng), asks Nxumalo to write on the township crime scene, and Nxumalo, while at first unwilling, finally agrees. While on the job, he encounters Slim (Zola), a gang leader, that he had previously met in illegal township drinking places, and witnesses him kill a man in Sophiatown.

Initially Nxumalo stays away from political articles, but eventually writes about more than entertainment after his wife and Mandela encourage him. When a young man goes missing at a Boer farm and is feared enslaved, Nxumalo decides to investigate undercover. He gets employment as a labourer at the farm, where he is treated like a slave and nearly killed. He becomes a celebrity when his story is published, further reinforced by getting himself in prison and reporting about its conditions. Nxumalo decides that his destiny is to be a muckraker and, with the help of the German photographer Jürgen Schadeberg (Gabriel Mann), ventures on more risky investigations.

Nxumalo frequently fights the racism and apartheid that is beginning to creep into his hometown. He tries to tackle stories important to his society's well-being. However, he is no match to the plan to evict residents and ultimately destroy Sophiatown. Constantly harassed by the government, at the end of the film he is stabbed to death. The attacker has never been identified.

The miniseries details Insane Clown Posse's attempts to stop a demon named Killnor from destroying a priest named Father Jesus, who possesses miraculous healing powers. Killnor summons the undead duo Twiztid, a crazed police SWAT team, and a host of demonic minions to stop the clowns. Insane Clown Posse call upon the assistance of the Joker's Cards to overcome the minions. An all-out showdown takes place at the demon's earthly headquarters with the fate of humanity hanging in the balance of the Pendulum.

When Fella's father dies, he continues to live with his wicked stepmother Emily and her two sons, Maximilian and Rupert. His stepfamily takes over the family mansion, while Fella is reduced to living in an unfinished room at the end of a long hallway. He has essentially become their butler, catering to their every whim.

Fella dreams nightly that his father is trying to relay a message to him about where he has hidden his fortune, but he always awakens before he learns the hiding place. His stepfamily knows of this secret fortune and some go to great lengths to discover its whereabouts, while others pretend to befriend him in order to wrangle Fella's fortune away once it is found.

Princess Charming of the Grand Duchy of Morovia is in town, so the stepmother decides to throw her a lavish ball in order to get her to marry Rupert. Fella is not allowed to go to the ball, but his fairy godfather says he will not remain a "people" much longer, but will blossom into a "person."

Before the ball, Fella is turned into a handsome prince. Count Basie's orchestra is playing at the ball when Fella makes his grand entrance. Fella quickly gains the attention of the princess and they dance. The night is cut short when midnight strikes and Fella flees, losing his shoe along the way.

Back home, one of Fella's stepbrothers realizes that Fella is the supposed "prince." They wind up in a struggle under a tree and discover that the fortune is hidden there. Fella, who had always known where the money was, gives it to his stepfamily, saying that he never needed money to be happy; he only wanted a family. Shamed, his stepmother orders her sons to return the money to Fella.

The princess arrives with Fella's lost shoe, but Fella explains that they could never be together because she is a "person" and he is a "people." She tells him that, underneath the fancy clothes, she is a "people" too.

Powerful relics known as the Precious have started to appear throughout the world. Noticing these relic's power, various Negative Syndicates wish to take the Precious for themselves and utilize them for evil means. To make sure that the Precious does not fall into the hands of the Negative Syndicates, the Search Guard Successor Foundation has developed its own special operations team, the Boukengers, whose mission is to collect the dangerous Precious and also thwart the evil plans of the negative Syndicate.

Based in part on McDougall's experience as an officer with Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, ''Execution'' follows the fictional Canadian 2nd Rifles Brigade during the Italian Campaign of 1943. Led by the flamboyant Brigadier Ian Kildare (a modern miles gloriosus, or braggart soldier), the Canadians invade Sicily where they meet with little resistance from the Italian Army, composed mostly of hapless conscripts who want no part in the war.

Despite Kildare's strict orders for his men to shoot Italian deserters on sight, the Canadians take kindly to a pair of buffoonish Italian deserters, more notable for their culinary skills than military prowess. Impetuously, Kildare orders the Canadians to execute the Italians. The Canadians are caught between the obligation to follow orders and the sense that executing the two Italians in cold blood is ethically unjustifiable—not to mention it being a violation of the Geneva Convention. The brutal execution of the two Italians forces the Canadians to confront the ethics of warfare, now that "the enemy" is no longer a distant and faceless target. Major Bunny Bazin, the most battle-hardened and philosophical of the Canadians, voices the novel's central theme when he states that "execution is... the ultimate degradation of man." Here the term "execution" works both literally (the killing of the Italians as a brutal act) and as a metaphor (war as a form of mass execution).

The novel's main protagonist, Lieutenant (later Major) John Adam (a semi-autobiographical foil for McDougall), is an efficient soldier and leader, who nevertheless finds "the vulture fear" inhabiting his soul after the execution of the Italians. Bound to protect and lead his men as they march through Italy, from Ortona to the Hitler Line near Monte Cassino, Adam finds himself struggling to maintain the composure fitting a commander, as an inner "horror" gnaws at his conscience (Adam's reflections occasionally resemble those of Marlow in Joseph Conrad's ''Heart of Darkness'').

Eventually, Adam and his men stumble on a chance to redeem themselves when one of their own comrades, Rifleman Jones, a mildly retarded but efficient infantryman, is sentenced to be executed for treason by his own army, after he falls in with a ring of corrupt soldiers who murder an American. Although everyone, including a newly promoted General Kildare, knows that "Jonesy" is a scapegoat for the real murderers, the execution must go ahead out of political expediency. Led by Adam, the men wage a tenacious campaign to have Jonesy freed, but all efforts eventually fail. When Jonesy is led out to be executed, the officer in charge of the execution faints, and Adam is forced to command the firing squad himself.

''Execution'' ends with Adam and the other men regaining a measure of their lost confidence, although Major Bazin dies on the battlefield.

Santa Claus (voiced by Tom Kane) grants the wishes of children via letters from ''Operation Santa'' of the United States Postal Service, having the kids' favorite celebrities, such as Clay Aiken, Raven-Symoné, Hilary Duff, and Tony Hawk help grant the wishes. Season two was hosted by Kristen Bell star of Veronica Mars and featured Sarah Chalke, Wilmer Valderrama, Brian McKnight, Matt Dallas and the Los Angeles Galaxy. Dear Santa was created by Darren Mann and produced by Mann Made Productions, City Explorer TV and Lions Gate Television in association with the United States Postal Service. A Dear Santa holiday music CD was produced and sold through over 20,000 United States Post Offices. The CD featured songs performed by Nat King Cole, Nick Lachey, Alicia Keys, Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis, Roland Gift and more.

In the Arizona Territory of the 1880s, struggling rancher Dan Evans and his two sons witness a gang led by notorious outlaw Ben Wade rob a stagecoach. When the stagecoach driver manages to overpower one of the robbers, Wade calmly shoots both men dead. On the way to Mexico, the robbers stop at a saloon in Bisbee for drinks. Evans alerts the town marshal of the robbery and the murders. A posse is assembled and Wade instructs his men to ride across the border to safety until he can rejoin them, while the posse heads back toward the stage. The posse meets up with Dan and the stagecoach company's owner, Mr. Butterfield, who accompany the lawmen as they head to the saloon. Charlie Prince, Wade's second in charge, returns to Bisbee to see what is holding up Wade just before the posse arrives back in town. Evans distracts Wade, allowing the marshal to come up behind Wade and arrest him. Prince is shot in the hand, but escapes on his horse to retrieve the rest of the gang.

The marshal requests two volunteers to escort Wade to Contention City to catch a train, the 3:10 to Yuma, where he can be held for trial. Butterfield offers to pay any volunteer $200, and Dan and a drunkard posse member named Alex Potter volunteer their services. The marshal has a man pretending to be Wade placed on a stagecoach leaving town that evening, hoping to mislead Wade's men and buy Dan and Potter some time. Wade is taken to Dan's ranch, where Alice Evans, his wife, learns of her husband's decision. Wade is subsequently moved to Contention City, where Dan and Potter meet Butterfield in a hotel room to wait for the train. Wade tries to bribe Dan into letting him go; Dan's refusal to do so impresses the outlaw.

The slain stagecoach driver's brother, Bob Moons, arrives and barges into the hotel room seeking revenge. Dan wrestles his gun away, but it goes off. Charlie, having secretly tracked the party to Contention, hears the gunshot and alerts Wade's gang. The local sheriff is out of town, so Butterfield hires five local men to provide security while Wade is taken to the rail station. As the gang surrounds the hotel the locals run off, once again leaving only Dan, Alex, and Butterfield. Alex saves Dan from getting shot by an outlaw on the roof, but Prince shoots him in the back and has the men hang him from the hotel chandelier. Butterfield is horrified and offers to give Dan his money, planning to release Wade. Alice arrives and tries to change her husband's mind, but he is committed to see Wade brought to justice. Dan takes Wade out a back door, skillfully moving him across town as the outlaws fire at them.

The outlaws finally catch up to Dan as the train starts to leave. Prince shouts for Wade to drop down so he can shoot Dan. Instead, Wade tells Dan to jump into the passing car, and they leap to safety together. The gang runs after the train, but Dan shoots Prince dead and the rest give up pursuit. Wade explains that he owed Dan a favor for saving his life earlier, and he claims that he has broken out of the Yuma jail before, meaning Dan will be able to claim his reward honestly. Alice sees Dan leave safely on the train as rain pours down on her, breaking the long drought.

The scenario opens with a narration about superstition and the abilities of vampires. A truck is loaded at the Port of Los Angeles, and as it climbs to a gated mansion in the Southern California hills, the cargo is revealed to be a coffin.

A woman named Donna hosts a séance in hopes of contacting her recently deceased mother. At the party are several of her friends, including Donna's boyfriend, Michael Thompson, Paul, Paul's girlfriend Erica Landers, and close friend and doctor, Jim Hayes. Overseeing the seance is Count Yorga, a mysterious Bulgarian mystic who has recently moved to the states from Europe. Donna becomes hysterical during the proceedings and Yorga uses hypnosis to calm her. After the party is over, Erica and Paul offer to drive the Count home. Not long after they leave, Donna reveals to the others that she knows Yorga because he was her mother's boyfriend. They dated a few weeks shortly before her death. Furthermore, Yorga had insisted that her mother be buried rather than cremated per the deceased's wishes. Donna cannot recall seeing Yorga at her mother's funeral.

Meanwhile, Erica and Paul drop off Yorga at his home. Their van gets stuck in the mud outside of Yorga's mansion, although Paul insists the road was dry a minute ago. They resign themselves to spending the night in their van. After sex they settle in to sleep. Yorga attacks them, knocking out Paul and biting Erica. The following day when Paul and Erica return to the city, Paul tells Michael about the attack. Paul did not see their attacker, and Erica does not remember anything.

Erica visits Dr. Hayes to have the mysterious bite wounds on her neck inspected. In contrast to her exuberant personality on the night before, Erica now seems despondent and listless. Hayes notices she has lost a lot of blood but is unable to diagnose the cause. He recommends rest and a high protein diet. Shortly after, Paul and Michael discuss the strange changes in Erica's behavior. They try to check in on her via phone, but she drops the phone to the floor without answering. The concerned men drive to her home where they find the place in disarray, and a hysterical Erica eating her kitten. She reacts erratically to their presence, first threatening them with violence and then attempting to seduce Paul before coming to her senses and breaking down.

They restrain her and call Hayes, who finds that Erica has suddenly lost a lot of blood and begins an emergency blood transfusion. Erica babbles incoherently, apparently afraid of something. She begs Paul to forgive her and to kill her.

Yorga awakens in his manor and heads to his basement which has been converted into a throne room where his two vampiric brides lie on slabs. One of them is Donna's mother, whom he made into an undead servant. He awakens them and commands them to have sex.

Although Michael is skeptical, the three men consider the possibility of vampirism as an excuse for Erica's behavior and agree to look into it while letting Erica rest. That night, Yorga visits Erica while Paul sleeps downstairs. Promising her immortality, he seduces Erica, drains her of her remaining blood, and takes her body back to his manor. Upon finding Erica missing, Paul rashly goes to Yorga's mansion to rescue her. Yorga quickly kills him by choking him to death, then having his servant, Brudah, break his back.

Michael alerts Hayes that Paul has gone to the mansion, and Hayes confides that Paul's lack of preparation will probably lead to his death. While mulling over his options, Hayes' girlfriend suggests involving the police, citing an eerily similar case of a baby being found in the woods, drained of its blood with bite wounds on the neck. He takes it to heart but is rejected as a deluded prankster following a recent rash of such calls. Hayes, Michael, and Donna go to the mansion themselves to inquire about Paul's whereabouts and keep Yorga active until sunrise. While Hayes distracts Yorga with enthusiastic questions about Yorga's occult experiments, Brudah rebuffs Michael's attempts to explore the mansion. Michael and Hayes switch places to keep Yorga off his guard, but Yorga becomes increasingly insistent that it is late and his guests must leave. Yorga distracts Hayes and strengthens his hypnotic control over Donna.

After leaving the manor, Hayes convinces Michael that killing Yorga will not be easy: vampires have greater strength and the wisdom that comes from living much longer than a "mere mortal". He also grimly adds they might have to kill Paul and Erica too if they have become vampires, since the vampire curse will make them evil and loyal to Yorga. They plan to attack later that afternoon in the hopes of killing Yorga in the daytime. Michael and Donna rest while Hayes studies vampire lore until he, too, falls asleep.

Yorga awakens Donna telepathically and has her sabotage Michael's alarm clock before having her come to the mansion. On her arrival, Brudah rapes her. When Michael awakens, he finds Donna gone and that it is nearly evening when he calls to awaken Hayes. Despite knowing how dangerous their chances are, they stock up on stakes and makeshift crosses before heading to Yorga's mansion as night falls. The two split up, and Yorga confronts Hayes. Both drop the pretense that Yorga is anything but a vampire, and Yorga leads Hayes into his basement where his vampire brides lie dormant. Hayes finds Erica's body among them, finding no heartbeat or pulse when he examines her. He then attacks Yorga with a cross and stake, while yelling out for Michael (who hears Hayes and begins to run in the direction of his call). Despite being held back by the cross, Yorga taunts Hayes while positioning him in front of his brides, then silently commanding them to awake and attack the unaware Hayes from behind. Hayes is forced to the floor and fed on by the vampire women.

As Yorga reunites Donna with her mother, Michael finds Paul's mutilated body while navigating the crypt. Brudah attacks him, but Michael mortally stabs him and manages to reach the throne room. He finds Hayes as he lays dying from bite wounds and blood loss. With his last breath, Hayes tells Michael where Donna is. Just as he does, Erica, now a vampire and completely under Yorga's control, and an fellow redheaded vampire charge into the room to kill him. Michael fends them off, chasing away the redhead while Erica pauses, giving Michael a chance to stake her. Despite seeing she is no longer the Erica he knows, he cannot bring himself to do so, and proceeds upstairs while she hisses at him.

On the way to the staircase, Michael encounters Brudah in the living room who eventually dies of his wounds. Michael reaches upstairs and confronts Yorga and Donna's mother. Yorga pushes Donna's mother into Michael's stake and flees, when Michael tries to give chase Yorga ambushes him outside the room intending to choke him to death. Michael rams the charging Yorga with his stake, killing him. Donna mourns her mother a second time before Michael collects her. He and Donna watch Yorga turn to dust.

As they start to leave, they are confronted by Erica and the redheaded bride, who remain vampires despite Yorga's death. They chase Michael and Donna downstairs until repelled by Michael's cross. As the vampire women are forced back toward a cellar, Erica glances ominously at Donna. Michael locks them in and drops his cross, believing the danger is over. However, as he turns to leave, Donna hisses and lunges at him, fangs bared, fully transformed into a vampire; he was too late to prevent Yorga from turning her.

In a final voice-over, the narrator sarcastically disputes that vampirism is just superstition as he laughs evilly. The film ends with a shot of Michael's bloodied and lifeless corpse.

A trio of Wayne County, Michigan auto workers, two black— 32-year-old Ezekiel "Zeke" Brown from Detroit, Michigan (Pryor) and two-time ex-convict 35-year-old Sam "Smokey" James (Kotto) from Mississippi who spent time in a Michigan State Prison—and one 33-year-old white— Polish-American from Hamtramck, Michigan, Jerry Bartowski (Keitel)—are fed up with mistreatment at the hands of both management and the union brass. Smokey, a bachelor, is in debt to a loan shark over a numbers game, Jerry, a family man, works a second job as a gas station attendant to get by but still struggles to pay bills, including the orthodontics work that his daughter needs. Zeke, another family man, is in trouble with the IRS for tax evasion by filing false claims in order to improve his family's income.

Coupled with the financial hardships on each man's end, the trio hatch a plan to rob a safe at the American Auto Workers union headquarters. With a few rough bumps, they commit the caper but find only $600 in petty cash. More importantly, they also come away with a ledger which contains evidence of the union's illegal loan operation and ties to organized crime syndicates in Las Vegas, Chicago and New York. They decide to make an attempt to blackmail the union with the information, especially when the union has issued a false statement claiming that $10,000 had been robbed so they can fraudulently collect from the insurance. Meanwhile, Charlie T. Hernandez, a local racketeer & loan shark who is an acquaintance of Smokey was aware of the trio's robbery, pays Smokey a visit, revealing that Smokey received advice from him on how to crack the union's safe in exchange for a percentage of the robbed proceeds. Charlie gets busted by the police for his connection to an unrelated crime and attempts to get a softer conviction in exchange for revealing information about the trio's theft & their blackmailing. This information subsequently gets back to the union and they begin to retaliate strongly by turning the tables on the three friends. Jerry experiences a near-miss one evening when a pair of hired thugs show up at his house to attack his wife, but both get intercepted and roughed up by Smokey. The next day at work, a suspicious accident at the plant results in Smokey's death, but it's investigated as a work accident caused by negligent enforcement of safety rules. Zeke and Jerry realize it was a murder coordinated by the union bosses due to the incriminating knowledge they possess against the union. Jerry sends his family out of town to stay with relatives in Mackinaw City, Michigan to keep them out of harm's way.

An FBI agent, John Burrows, who has been investigating the union, attempts to coerce Jerry into becoming a material witness or cooperating witness against the union's corruption, which would make him an adversary of his co-workers and give him a reputation as a cowardly snitch. At the same time, corrupt union bosses already succeed in coopting Zeke to give back their stolen ledger and work for them with promises of a promotion to shop steward and increased pay. Zeke, happy with his new duties and higher pay, pragmatically prescinds from seeking justice for Smokey's murder, as it would jeopardize his newfound standing within the ranks of the union. Jerry attempts to convince Zeke to take steps to avenge Smokey's death, but Zeke rebukes him, telling Jerry that nothing will bring Smokey back and that they should just move forward. One evening, two gunmen, hired by the mob, follow and try to shoot Jerry in a drive-by shooting while traveling through a tunnel. This evolves into a chase where Jerry attempts to make a desperate break for Canada via the Detroit–Windsor tunnel. However, he ends up crashing his car before he gets there, though he is rescued by the police. Disgusted with Zeke's capitulation and terrified after another attempt on his life, Jerry decides to contact to John Burrows and cooperates with the FBI and a United States Congress Select or special committee (United States Congress).

In the end, as Jerry enters the plant with federal agents, Zeke confronts him. Once friends, Jerry and Zeke now turn on each other as a heated discussion escalates into the two attempting to physically attack each other, confirming the prescient earlier narrative (as heard in Smokey's words) that union corruption divides workers against one another.

Eiko is in the search of the (geisha house) run by the geisha Miyoharu. As she approaches the screen doors, she witnesses an exchange between Miyoharu and a client. The client, greatly indebted and unable to afford Miyoharu's services, is coldly and mockingly berated by Miyoharu for his presumptuousness. Enraged by the sudden demise of her affected desire for him and her mercenary attitude, he tries to assault her but is thwarted and summarily evicted by Miyoharu's servants. As he sees the client off the premises, one of the servants finds Eiko at the door and invites her inside.

In supplication, Eiko reveals that the death of her mother has left her at the mercy of her uncle, who demands that Eiko repay the debt incurred by her mother's funeral expenses by rendering sexual services to him. She pleads with Miyoharu to take her on as an apprentice geisha. Miyoharu attempts to dissuade her, on the grounds that life as a geisha is difficult and the training exceptionally arduous, but in the face of Eiko's determination she finds sympathy for the girl's situation and concedes. She sends her servant to procure the formal consent of Eiko's father, a struggling businessman, but he refuses to grant permission on the grounds that Eiko has shamed him by choosing to enter her mother's profession.

Eiko has achieved the necessary level of training to be formally introduced as a , under her professional name Miyoei. In order to make the arrangements for her debut. Okimi, the proprietor, grudgingly assents to assist her with the money. In Okimi's teahouse, the two geisha are seated with Kusuda and his associate, who are in the process of convincing a manager on the verge of promotion to the directorship of another prosperous company.

Kanzaki is instantly taken with Miyoharu and strokes her arm during a subsequent dance recital performed by other attending geisha. Kusuda preys upon the vulnerable Miyoei, by pouring her consecutive glasses of that she is obliged by etiquette to drink, despite Miyoharu's remonstrations.

Miyoei asks her instructor about her rights as set out under the post-war constitution, and on her rights should a client desire to force himself upon her. The instructor answers that while she does indeed have these rights, it would be unthinkable for her to refuse a client. Miyoharu is extremely resistant to the proposal, although when Okimi reveals that she borrowed the money for Miyoei's debut from Kusuda on the promise that he would be entitled to take her on later, Miyoharu is obliged to take it under consideration. Okimi also suggests that Miyoharu herself take on a patron, to assure her future and Miyoei's.

Later, at the teahouse, Okimi tries to directly persuade the recalcitrant Miyoei to accede to Kusuda's proposal. Miyoei manages to remain aloof and promises to think on it. While Miyoharu entertains Kanzaki, Kusuda forces himself on Miyoei, causing Miyoei to bite him off to defend herself.

They encounter Miyoei's father, who has fallen on extremely hard times and tells Miyoharu that his debts have become so crippling that suicide will soon be his only resort.

Kusuda's associate explains to Okimi that while they are prepared to 'forgive' Miyoei for her treatment of Kusuda, their principal concern is with Miyoharu's reluctance to aid them in seducing Kanzaki, which must be remedied before they can continue to patronise the teahouse. Okimi arranges a meeting with Miyoharu, who she sharply criticises for her insolence in thwarting a client's desires and demeaning her profession. Okimi flaunts her influence over Miyoharu, threatening to cut off her custom, but Miyoharu refuses to relinquish either herself to Kanzaki or Miyoei to Kusuda.

As a consequence of her refusal, all Miyoharu's engagements are called off by teahouse proprietors afraid of Okimi's influence, despite district regulations prohibiting the inhibition of other establishments' custom by any one proprietor. Miyoei's father, in a pathetic state, also pays Miyoharu a visit as his last recourse to secure a loan and save his life from his debtors. While highly critical of his hypocrisy in seeking assistance from the earnings of the daughter he disowned, she offers him her last remaining possessions.

Despite Miyoharu's support for her actions to defend her rights and insistence that she maintain her dignity, Miyoei defies her and presents herself to Okimi to be taken to Kusuda. Okimi is obliged to call Miyoharu to obtain her formal consent, which Miyoharu denies.

Miyoharu returns to the laden with gifts for Miyoei. Wary of the sudden change in their fortunes, Miyoei demands to know whether Miyoharu prostituted herself to Kanzaki and threatens to leave if her suspicions are confirmed. Miyoharu is forced to admit that she did, but it was just to protect Miyoei because she is the closest person she has to family, and the two reconcile.

On a foggy night, Jean (Jean Gabin), an army deserter, catches a ride to the port city of Le Havre. Hoping to start over, Jean finds himself in a lonely bar at the far edge of town. However, while getting a good meal and civilian clothes, Jean meets Nelly (Michèle Morgan), a 17-year-old who has run away from her godfather, Zabel, with whom she lives. Jean and Nelly spend time together over the following days, but they are often interrupted by Zabel, who is also in love with her, and by Lucien, a gangster who is looking for Nelly's ex-boyfriend, Maurice, who has recently gone missing. Jean resents the intrusions of Lucien and twice humiliates him by slapping him. When Nelly finds out that her godfather killed Maurice out of jealousy, she uses the information to blackmail him and prevent him from telling the police that Jean is a deserter. Though the two are in love, Jean plans to leave on a ship for Venezuela. At the last minute Jean leaves the ship to say goodbye to Nelly; he saves her from the hands of Zabel, whom he kills, but when they go out on to the street he is shot in the back by Lucien and dies in her arms.

Factory worker Tom Curtis has two children and his wife, Anna, is pregnant, putting him under financial pressure. Consequently, he refuses to take part in an unofficial strike, meaning a loss of wages, which he is entitled to do. The strike is planned by outside activist Travers and orchestrated by shop steward Bert Connolly, who concocts spurious demands as part of his campaign to pressure the management into agreeing to a closed shop, giving the union greater influence.

Those who continue to work find that their properties are subject to repeated attacks, including bricks through windows and arson, and join the strike out of fear. Curtis alone continues to work in a show of defiance against threats and intimidation.

When the strike ends, Curtis is accused of being a scab and sent to Coventry. Then, when anti-union newspapers interview him and report on his plight, Connolly demands his dismissal, backing his demand with a work to rule and overtime ban. Management fears that continued publicity will mean the loss of a major contract, while some workers take matters into their own hands.

Pierre, an idealistic twenty-year-old man, leaves his home in a remote district of the Pyrenees to travel to Paris, hoping to break away from his restrictive provincial life. Arriving in the French capital, he turns to the only person he knows in the city, Evelyne, a middle aged nurse, whom he had briefly met when working as a stretcher-bearer at Lourdes. She is vague and distracted, being preoccupied by the paralyzed mother with whom she lives. Nevertheless, she manages to get Pierre a job in the kitchen of a hospital. He finds somewhere to stay and, in order to fulfill his childhood dream, buys a book on how to become an actor.

A colleague at work, Said, takes him to dinner with two middle-aged men: they are both gay. The cellist, Dimitri, is Said's lover, and the intellectual television personality, Romain, is fascinated by Pierre but insists his interest is platonic. Pierre is disgusted by the evening and when Romain gives him a ride home and stops in a park that is a pick up point for hustlers, he walks off in a huff, refusing to get back into Romain's car. Evelyne takes Pierre to an expensive restaurant to make up for her earlier indifference. They return to her house and spend the night together. She offers him free accommodation, he moves in and they start an affair.

Pierre begins to attend acting classes but shows little talent. When he has to prepare for "Hamlet", he recites the role with no feelings and even forgets his lines. Humiliated, he flees in abandonment from his tentative ambition to become an actor.

His relationship with Evelyne also comes to an abrupt end. She feels that he does not really love her and breaks away from him. When she leaves him some money, Pierre feels insulted, returns the money, and leaves the place she had offered him. He goes absent from work pleading illness and eventually loses his job. Homeless and forced to sleep on the streets, he falls victim to thieves who steal all his belongings. Now broke and homeless, Pierre returns to the park where Romain took him in, and sees him again. Pierre's offer of sexual favors is refused, but Romain takes him on a trip to Spain. In Seville, the older man takes someone else as a lover and Pierre returns to Paris.

With no job or home, Pierre has to adopt prostitution as his only way to make money. He makes his rules very clear to prospective male clients: "I don't kiss, I don't suck, I don't get fucked". Despite his initial aversion to sex with men, Pierre manages to make a success of his new career. During a police crackdown on streetwalkers, he meets Ingrid, another prostitute. He becomes infatuated with Ingrid, whose dream had been to become a singer. Both are arrested and after a night in jail, they spend an idyllic day together. They make love, but their liaison is discovered by her pimp, who with his gang beats up and rapes Pierre, forcing Ingrid to watch.

Pierre leaves Paris and joins the paratroops; he voices to an interviewing officer a desire for revenge, and also for the "leap into the void" involved in parachuting at night. On a visit home, he tells his brother that he did not hate the city, he just was not ready for it. On release from his service, and about to leave once again for Paris and an open future, Pierre stops off at the beach, takes his clothes off and wanders into the sea.

The film is about two working class women, Isa and Marie. Isa is a drifter and searching for a lover whom she had met during the summer. When she realizes that her search for him is futile and turns elsewhere, she meets Marie, who lives in a small French town near Lille. The two young women instantly find a connection as they both have been treated harshly by life and are living from day to day in short-time jobs, such as working in a textile factory or delivering leaflets in the streets. Marie lives in an apartment that she is looking after because the owners had a car accident in which everyone died, except for Sandrine, a teenager, who is in a coma. Marie invites Isa to live with her. Shortly thereafter Isa and Marie meet up with two bouncers, Fredo and Charly, whom they befriend. The men help them out and they have genuine fun together, although they are not much better off than the women.

Isa is the kind of girl who always lands on her own two feet and has a casual c'est la vie attitude when it comes to life and generally doesn't let the hardships get to her, while Marie finds it hard to express herself emotionally, and gets angry when she feels vulnerable. Marie cannot put up with the way she is tossed around by the world, and so, despite being in a relationship with Charly, she tries to escape through a local playboy, Chriss, a rich nightclub owner, who regularly goes out with girls and views Marie as just another one of his random flings. Isa is tougher in that she can take the beating and stick with what is around her, and does not get carried away by the false possibility of a better life. Significantly, Isa refuses to sleep with her casual boyfriend Fredo, drawing her strength from within, while Marie is emotionally dependent on Chriss, who, it is clear, does not love her. Isa is well aware of Chriss's true intentions and tries to warn Marie, who refuses to listen.

Isa finds Sandrine's diary and reads it to her during visits in the hospital. Meanwhile, Chriss decides to end his fling with Marie. Instead of breaking up with her in person, he asks Isa to tell her for him (she replies "it's not for me to tell her"), clearly afraid Marie would self-destruct in front of him, then leaving Marie's later calls unreturned. Meanwhile, Sandrine comes out of her coma, but Isa, who has visited her so faithfully while she was in a coma, decides not to see her while she is awake. After finally learning about Chriss' decision to end the relationship, Marie jumps out of a window. The film ends with Isa starting to work in a new factory.

David Fowler (Reynolds) is a successful sculptor whose fast and loose lovelife slams him head-on into a mid-life crisis when his insatiable hunger for women begins to render him socially, artistically, and sexually impotent. His quest to end his losing streak leads him to the couch of attractive psychiatrist Marianna (Andrews), to whom David must explain everything—beginning with his first sexual encounter—in an attempt to regain control of his life.

David relates his exploits, including an affair with Louise, a beautiful woman married to a Texas millionaire, who likes to have sex in risky public places. He also has a fling with Agnes, mistaking her for a woman he saw on the street whose legs were all of her that he could view.

David ultimately falls in love with Marianna, his therapist, who must cease seeing him as a patient to indulge their affair. His funeral draws women of all kinds, lining up to pay their last respects.

Montpellier: December 1976. At the funeral of Bertrand Morane, Genevieve (Fossey) observes the other mourners, all women once involved with him. The following is told in flashback.

Morane (Denner), a man in early middle-age, works in a laboratory testing the aerodynamics of aircraft, and pursues women in a compulsive, but casual manner without showing any signs of a capacity for commitment. He goes to extraordinary lengths to locate a woman he had seen, only to discover she was briefly visiting France and lives in Montreal. Bertrand becomes friendly with Hélène (Fontanel), who runs a lingerie shop, but she confesses to being attracted to younger men; she is forty-one, and does not become involved with men older than thirty. He has an affair with Delphine (Borgeaud), the wife of a doctor, who gains arousal from the threat of discovery, but she is imprisoned for the attempted murder of her husband. He recollects his childhood and his relationship with his distant mother, remembering her legs in shots reminiscent of the frequent leg shots of women in the film. He pretends to have a child in need of baby sitting in order to lure a young woman to his apartment. When she discovers the doll he has put in his bed in place of a baby and asks him what this is, he replies, "It's me". After a number of very casual encounters, Bertrand contracts gonorrhea, discovered at a very early stage, but is unable to recollect the names of the six women he has slept with in the previous twelve days.

Eventually, he begins his autobiography only for his typist to find the content too much to continue. Completed, it is submitted to the four leading publishers in Paris. A member of the editorial staff at one of them, Genevieve, stands up for the work against the objections of her (male) colleagues. Rejecting his title for the book, she suggests ''The Man Who Loved Women'', which he finds ideal. Bertrand meets Véra (Caron), a significant old flame, while the book is at the proof stage, and insists on withdrawing the book from publication because he had neglected to mention her. Genevieve though persuades him to make Véra the subject of his second book; he needs to like himself she says. By now, Genevieve has fallen in love with him, in spite of recognizing his personality flaws, but he is hit by a car while rushing to follow two women with attractive legs. Admitted to the hospital and forbidden to move, he sees nurses in his doorway and, attracted by their legs, accidentally severs his drip, falls out of his bed, and dies.

At the funeral, Genevieve speculates on the other women's relationship with Bertrand, she does not speak to them, and reflects that it is only herself who knows the ending.

The Federation starship ''Enterprise'', under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, arrives at the planet Mintaka III to resupply and repair a Federation outpost being used to monitor the Mintakan people, a proto-Vulcan race near a Bronze Age level of cultural development. The outpost is built into the side of a cliff and camouflaged by a holographic projection of a rockface.

As the ''Enterprise'' provides assistance, the projector malfunctions and the outpost becomes fully visible. Liko, a Mintakan, sees it and attempts to approach, but suffers an electrical shock that causes him to fall off the cliff and sustain critical injuries. When Chief Medical Officer Dr. Crusher rushes to provide aid, she realizes the injuries are too severe to treat at the scene and has him transported to the ''Enterprise'' for treatment despite the action violating the Prime Directive. Liko becomes conscious and witnesses everything occurring around him, and focuses on Picard giving instructions. Dr. Crusher is able to heal Liko and attempts to wipe his memory of the incident before returning him to the planet. First Officer Riker suggests that he and Counselor Troi disguise themselves as Mintakans in order to search for Palmer, a missing member of the anthropological team, and to monitor Liko, to make sure the memory wipe worked. They discover to their horror that it did not, as Liko recalls an image of "the Picard", and has convinced other Mintakans that the Picard must be their god.

Troi and Riker subtly try to dispel the myth of the Picard, which gains traction until a hunting party arrives with a delirious Palmer in tow. While Troi provides a diversion, telling the clan that another "like Palmer" is heading for the caves, Riker ties up an elderly man who was left behind to keep an eye on Palmer; he and Palmer flee the area and escape back to the Enterprise. The Mintakans capture Troi and consider killing her to mollify the Picard, leaving Picard to take steps to rectify the situation without further violation of the Prime Directive. He transports Nuria, the leader of the village where Troi is being held, to the ''Enterprise'' and attempts to show her that he and the rest of the crew are mortal, including having her witness the death of a crewman in Sickbay.

Picard returns with Nuria to the surface in the middle of a thunderstorm, which Liko has taken as a sign of the Picard's anger. Nuria attempts to reason with Liko, but he demands first-hand proof of Picard's mortality and aims at him with a bow and arrow. Picard insists that Liko should shoot if the only evidence he will accept is Picard's death. Liko fires, but his daughter shoves him so that he only wounds Picard; seeing him fall and bleed, Liko and the others come to accept that Picard is not a god. Picard and Troi return to the ''Enterprise'', and after he is treated, Picard returns to the surface one last time, and explains to the Mintakans that the Federation will remove the outpost and allow them to develop on their own. Before Picard leaves, Nuria gives him a Mintakan tapestry as a gift.

Three men, previously unknown to each other, are arrested in New Orleans and placed in the same cell. Both Zack (Waits), a disc jockey, and Jack (Lurie), a pimp, have been set up, neither having committed the crime for which they have been arrested. Their cellmate Bob (Benigni, in his first international role), an Italian tourist who understands minimal English, was imprisoned for accidental manslaughter.

Zack and Jack soon come to blows and thereafter avoid speaking to each other. Bob has an irrepressible need for conversation. He hatches a plan to escape, and before long the three are on the run through the swamp surrounding the prison. Hopelessly lost and with a simmering hatred between Jack and Zack almost causing the party to split up, they are brought together by Bob's ability to provide food. The trio eventually chances across a house in the forest, the residence of Nicoletta (Braschi). Bob and Nicoletta instantly fall in love, and Bob decides to stay with her in the forest. Zack and Jack go their separate ways—an unspoken, begrudging friendship hanging between them as they part.

In 1942 the Japanese army is thrusting southwards and Australia fears invasion. Bill Parsons becomes concerned, and leaves his homestead in northern Australia along with his wife and two daughters, Mary and Helen. They join up with a cattle drive heading south led by Dan McAlpine. Others on the drive include the shonky Corky; British former sailor, Sinbad; Aboriginal stockmen, Nipper and Jackie.

The cattle drive is extremely difficult, encountering crocodiles, blazing heat and other dangers. Mary and Sinbad start a romance. Dan speaks out against Corky's plans to develop the Northern Territory.

In 1840s New York City, naive, introverted Catherine Sloper lives with her tyrannical father, Dr. Austin Sloper, in Washington Square, a fashionable neighborhood near Greenwich Village. Embittered by the deaths of his wife and son, Dr. Sloper makes Catherine a constant target for verbal and mental abuse. Catherine finds solace in her idealistic aunt, Lavinia Penniman, who came to live with Dr. Sloper when her own husband died. Aunt Penniman puts herself in charge of Catherine's education.

Catherine's cousin Marian gets engaged to a man named Arthur Townsend. At the engagement party, Marian introduces Catherine to Arthur's cousin Morris, who flirts with her throughout the party. Catherine becomes infatuated with Morris and the two begin a romance. Dr. Sloper vehemently opposes the relationship, pointing out that Catherine cannot reasonably expect a man as desirable as Townsend to find her attractive in her own right. Sloper discovers Townsend had squandered his prior inheritance and now lives with his widowed sister. This convinces him that Townsend only wishes to marry Catherine for her money. At dinner, Sloper informs Townsend he abhors him and will not allow the marriage. Townsend insists he will marry Catherine anyway and, with the encouragement of Aunt Penniman, the two plan to elope.

Sloper takes his daughter to Europe for a year, hoping she will forget Townsend, while Aunt Penniman invites Townsend to live in the Sloper home in their absence. While they are in Switzerland, Sloper attempts once more to talk Catherine out of her engagement, but she stands her ground, surprising Sloper with her tenacity. Once the Slopers arrive back in New York, Townsend breaks off his engagement to Catherine with no explanation.

Thoroughly disappointed, Catherine refuses to consider any other romantic prospects. She spends the next several years doing charity work and caring for her aging father. When Dr. Sloper contracts a fatal case of pneumonia, he discloses to Catherine that, as punishment for her relationship with Townsend, he has severely reduced her inheritance.

Aunt Penniman orchestrates one last meeting between Townsend and Catherine. Now older and wiser, she rebuffs his advances and resigns herself to life as a spinster.

Generations after the events of ''Lost Kingdoms'', Katia of Argwyll is now remembered as a legendary queen. The heroine of this story is Tara Grimface, a reserved member of a guild of thieves, who is trying to find her way in a dangerous world. While she is an outcast even among her allies, they respect and fear her because she possesses a True Runestone that allows Tara to use powerful magic cards in battle. Tara becomes embroiled in events that will eventually shape the lands around her as she travels with the Band of the Scorpion on a mission to steal the runestones crafted in the caverns of Kendaria. It is here that Tara first happens across the monster responsible for creating these runestones to which she later finds to be the body of the god of harmony. Through the journey Tara undertakes she will eventually find herself on a path to discovering her former self. Although, if she is to uncover the secret of her mysterious origins, she will have to overcome her distrust of others.

Glúm's grandfather, Ingjald, was a son of (the Lean), the settler of Eyjafjörður, and farmed at Þverá (later the site of Munkaþverá monastery). Glúmr is the youngest son of his son Eyjólfr, and initially unpromising. After Eyjólfr's death, his second son also dies and soon after that his infant grandson, and the son's wife inherits half the farm; her father, (the Tall), and his son Sigmundr take the half where the house is and start to encroach on the half where Glúmr and his widowed mother Astrid live. Glúmr goes to Norway to visit his maternal grandfather, the chieftain Vigfúss, who warms to him after he defeats a marauding berserker, and presents him with three family heirlooms, a black cloak, a gold-inlaid spear and a sword, saying that he will prosper as long as he keeps them. Meanwhile, Sigmundr has been pressuring Astrid to leave her land, the boundary fence has been moved, and Þorkell and Sigmund have accused two reliable farmhands of Astrid's of slaughtering two of their cattle, and in settlement of a court case about this, deprived her of her right to farm a famously ever-fertile field, Vitazgjafi, which the two halves of the family had been working in alternate years. (The two carcasses are later found trapped under a snowdrift.) When Glúmr returns, he speaks the first of several skaldic verses about the injustice, beats cattle belonging to Þorkell and Sigmund that are loose on his and his mother's land, and laughs uncontrollably, which we are told he was in the habit of doing when the killing mood came on him. He then goes out to Vitazgjafi when Sigmund is mowing hay there, has Sigmund's wife sew him a replacement fastening for his cloak, then kills Sigmund with the spear.

That winter, Glúmr sees in a dream Vigfúss' personal spirit,The word hamingja is here used for what is usually called a fylgja - ''Viga-Glums Saga: With the Tales of Ögmund Bash and Thorvald Chatterbox'', tr. John McKinnell, The New Saga Library / UNESCO Collection of Representative Works, Icelandic Series, Edinburgh: Canongate/UNESCO, 1987, , p. 69, note 1. a giant woman, walking towards Þverá; she is so large that her shoulders brush the mountains on each side of the valley. Þórarinn of Espihóll, another powerful chieftain in the area, is both Sigmund's father-in-law and another descendant of Helgi the Lean; he reluctantly brings a case against Glúmr at the next Althing, but Glúmr's arguments and supporters prevail and Þorkell is forced to sell his half of the farm to Glúmr for less than half its value and to leave after six months. Before he goes he offers an ox to Freyr at his temple nearby, which the god accepts.

For forty years Glúmr is a powerful man in the district. He marries Halldora and has two sons and a daughter. He arranges the marriages between his cousin Arnórr and Þórgrímr Þórrisson and daughters of the chieftain Gizurr the White. (They were rivals for the same woman; their sons grow up as friends but later become enemies and one kills the other. An itinerant wise woman predicts their enmity.) He punishes his foreman, Ingólfr, for neglect of his duties by framing him for a murder, then clears his name by confessing to it himself, and arranges Ingólfr's marriage to the woman he wanted. However, after Víga-Skúta marries his daughter and then deserts her, Glúmr and he are each able to evade the other by trickery but Glúmr does not achieve revenge; and Glúmr's son Vigfúss' quarrel with Bárðr, which ends with Bárðr being killed by two Norwegian associates of Vigfúss', leads to an irreparable breach between Glúmr and the people of Espihóll. Vigfúss is sentenced to the lesser outlawry, but refuses to leave Iceland within the time specified, and his father shelters him; because the location is sacred to him, this is also an offence against Freyr.

In a battle between Glúmr and his allies (including the fugitive Vigfúss, whom his father hails by another name to conceal his presence) and the men of Espihóll and their allies touched off by Þórgrímr's son killing Arnórr's son, Glúmr himself kills Þórarinn's brother Þorvaldr krókr (Hook); however, he persuades Guðbrandr, the twelve-year-old son of Þorvarðr Ǫrnólfsson, who has stirred up matters between the two families, to claim the death. This is the killing that the other side then decide to prosecute; Glúmr succeeds in evading conviction at the regional assembly and at the Althing the case is settled providing he swears an oath in three temples in Eyjafjörður that he did not do it. Glúmr swears an ambiguous oath on the temple ring, first in the local temple of Freyr.The Old Norse "at ek vark at þar, ok vák at þar, ok rauðk at þar odd ok egg" means "that I was at that place, and I struck at that place, and at that place I reddened point and edge" but sounds identical to a poetic usage, "at ek varkat þar, ok vákat þar, ok rauðkat þar odd ok egg", which means "that I was not there, and did not strike there, and there I did not redden point and edge" - McKinnell, pp. 119–20 and note 3.

Glúmr has now given away the cloak and spear given to him by his grandfather Vigfúss, and in a dream he sees his dead kin seeking to intercede for him with Freyr, who however remembers Þorkell's ox and is implacable. He is again prosecuted for the killing of Þorvaldr, and under the settlement reached, is required to give half the Þverá farm to Þorvaldr's son in compensation and to sell the other half and leave once the winter is over. He fails in his attempts to trick the new owner's men, and is finally forced to leave after the new owner's mother informs him that she has carried fire around the land, which constitutes formally claiming it. He farms at Möðruvellir in Hörgárdalur, then in Myrkárdalur, where a landslide destroys part of the farm buildings, and finally at Þverbrekka in Öxnadalur. He is humiliated and thwarted in his attempts to act in a dispute which starts over where a whale carcass should be taken for butchering, and becomes blind in his old age. Three years before his death, he is baptised a Christian. His son Már builds a church at Fornhagi in Hörgárdalur, where he and Glúmr are both buried.

The game takes place in a fictional kingdom called Icia, in which millions of laws have been contrived by its succession of rulers. The senseless law-making began with King Edward I, who found that he could blame the loss of his newborn child on the innocent Orseppro and banish her from the kingdom. Ever since, the monarchs of Icia invented laws to cover up their own mistakes and shortcomings. When King Edward DCCXI (711th) dies prematurely, his twelve-year-old son is left with the impossible task of learning all the rules of the kingdom before he comes of age and inherits it. During this kingless period, it is stated that 'time stops'. The player's goal is to teach Edward that the laws are fuelling suffering and unhappiness in the kingdom, including his own. To do this, the player must complete tasks related to five pleasures of life - art, music, food, love and nature - that were otherwise restricted and shackled by laws.

In the king's residence are the servants to Edward - the cook, Daisy Scraggend; her daughter, Pollyanna; and Olly, a farmhand. The final character in the game is Hope - a personification of hope who provides an optimistic outlook.

There are twenty-eight major locations that the player visits.

When she turns 18, unhappy Lidda Daniels leaves Southern California to look for Charlie, her father, a professional gambler who abandoned her years before. On her way to Las Vegas, she picks up Colonel, a video store clerk who she finds attractive even though they have never spoken.

In the 1970s Midwest, teenaged Bobbie, a methamphetamine addict, attempts to rob several vending machines at a local college, but is confronted by a night guard who brutally attacks and beats him. The fight ends with Bobbie stabbing the guard to death. A severely injured Bobbie returns to the flophouse of his older girlfriend, Rosie, who contacts Mel, a streetwise middle-aged thief and part-time drug dealer, for help. Mel gives Bobbie heroin to ease his pain.

After Bobbie heals, Mel and his heroin-addicted girlfriend Sid take Bobbie and Rosie under their wing. The two commit several drug heists, including one at a small clinic which accrues them a significant amount of money. While on the run, Rosie discovers she is pregnant. The news elates Sid, who Mel later reveals cannot conceive a child.

In a dusty small town, Mel and Bobbie begin to sell off the stolen narcotics out of a rundown motel. A group of armed rednecks attempt to steal their stash, Mel and Bobbie are shot during the altercation, but Bobbie and Sid manage to kill the four men and take their money. The group flee to the home of the Reverend, a preacher and illegal arms dealer from whom Mel acquires his guns. The Reverend allows them to stay at his home, but only in exchange for half of their haul.

After Mel and Bobbie recover, the group continue their illegal exploits, uniting with Jewels, a flamboyant gay criminal with whom Mel has worked in the past. Mel, Bobbie, and Sid agree to commit a robbery with Jewels, but Rosie is reluctant, shaken by Mel and Bobbie's near-death incident. The night before the planned robbery, Rosie commits suicide by overdosing on heroin in their motel. A devastated Bobbie keeps Rosie's death a secret, and goes along with Mel and Sid in the morning to the home of the wealthy couple Jewels has planned for them to rob.

When they arrive, they discover Jewels already inside, beating the male occupant after having tied up his wife. The robbery quickly goes awry, and Bobbie shoots Jewels through the throat, killing him. Mel, angered that Bobbie has killed their cohort, proceeds to murder the homeowners to prevent being identified to police. Bobbie, Mel, and Sid flee with $80,000, but Mel is infuriated by Bobbie's actions.

During the car ride, Bobbie reveals that Rosie is dead and her body is back at the motel, which causes Sid to have a breakdown, as she has developed a maternal relationship with both Rosie and Bobbie. While stopping for gasoline, Mel insists they murder Bobbie to conceal their crime, which Sid reluctantly agrees to when Mel threatens her life as well. Bobbie goes to use the restroom, and Sid follows, tearfully warning him that Mel plans to murder him. She gives him a stack of money and pleads for him to go. The two embrace, and Bobbie flees through a cornfield. When Mel realizes Bobbie has escaped, he fires off shots in Bobbie's direction, but is unable to strike him. Mel punches Sid in the face as punishment for her betrayal, then drives off as Bobbie continues to run.

In a small town of rolling fields and endless skies, isolated 16-year-old Mason Mullich lives in a world where families exist in fragmented silence and love seems to have gone missing. Mason lives with his mother, father and mentally ill uncle. Mason's father is a local politician running for office and is stern, and somewhat abusive towards his family, while his mother is submissive and dutiful, albeit unstable.

While resting in the grass one day Mason is approached by Danny, a sensitive and troubled girl. They strike up a tender friendship and begin to spend more time together. This bond is torn apart when Mason's father kills a man whilst driving and Mason is blamed for the crime. He is sent to prison for two years and upon getting out sees that Danny is now in a relationship. While they are both still attracted to each other, threats from Danny's possessive boyfriend and Danny's own perception of what she deserves pose a conflict.

Through time, they are able to overcome these conflicts and begin some semblance of a relationship. Though Mason's home life is even more unstable and unhappy than before, he find solace in Danny. Eventually on one of their walks they become intimate, solidifying their relationship. Later Mason, Danny and a friend go in a field to drink and have fun. Mason's friend brings narcotics and Danny decides to get high. Later that night she goes into the pond and kills herself. Mason, devastated, is framed for supplying the drugs. In a poignant ending, he makes bail, then escapes by jumping on a freight train.

Roseanne (Monica Keena) is outwardly a perfect and popular teen, who suffers from a dysfunctional home life. Her mother (Ellen Barkin) begins an affair with a local man (Jeffrey Wright) and leaves her to live alone with her alcoholic stepfather (Michael Ironside). One night during an alcohol-fueled rage, he rapes Roseanne. Traumatized, she decides to take things into her own hands. With the participation of her devoted and clueless boyfriend Jimmy (James DeBello) the twosome murder her stepfather in retribution, but Roseanne's conscience quickly begins to unravel afterwards.

The story is narrated by one of Roseanne's classmates, Vincent (Vincent Kartheiser), a boy who is as concerned with Roseanne's well-being as he is obsessed with her. As the plot develops he forges a relationship with her, consoling her and giving her advice while trying to point her toward redemption. In the end it becomes possible that he will be her only salvation.

Jake Barnes is flying a plane over the Alaskan wilderness. While he is flying, he is communicating with a man named Charlie, who works for Quincy Air Service. A polar bear cub and its mother are then shown playing in the snow, not knowing that they are being watched by a pair of poachers, Colin Perry and Mr. Koontz, and the adult bear is then shot, leaving the cub orphaned.

Jake's daughter Jessie and her friend Chip are observing wildlife in their kayaks before her dinner. Jake begins telling her where he is flying from, at what time he left that location, and his air speed. Jessie calculates that her father is passing Devils Thumb. Jake then lands his plane on a lake, where Charlie is waiting to tie the plane up to the dock. His son, Sean scolds his father for moving their family to Alaska after their mother's death. As Jake is making an emergency run, his plane's engines stall, causing him to lose control and crash in the Alaska wilderness. Frustrated by the lack of search effort by the police, Sean and Jessie go out to find their father on their own.

As they kayak through the chilly waters of the Gulf of Alaska, they stop to rest on a beach. They soon realize that the shore is home to a poachers' camp. They then discover the skin of a polar bear and the young polar bear from earlier, that has been locked in a cage. They let the polar bear run free, hoping that it will save itself. After the bear leaves their camp, Colin Perry appears, in hunt of the polar bear that he believes is rightfully his property as he intends to sell the cub to a client in Hong Kong. Koontz then arrives and notices teeth marks on the frying pan, alerting Perry that the bear was there. Colin's beliefs that the children stole the bear from his camp are confirmed when he finds his missing lighter next to their camping gear. Perry orders the kids to tell the bear to "come home" (Perry is referring to the cage at his camp as the bear's home). The next day, Jessie and Sean continue in their search to find their missing father. They leave their kayak and begin searching on foot. They soon discover that the polar bear has once again followed them on their journey. Perry and Koontz, too, have followed the youngsters, and this time, they destroy the oars in their kayak and hide the kayak in the woods just in case someone comes looking for them. Just then, Charlie arrives in a helicopter in search of Jessie and Sean. Perry shows Charlie a piece of the oar and tells him that he found it 25 miles north of their current position. Charlie then departs in his helicopter in hopes of finding the children, who he believes to be in grave danger and eventually discovers the two men were actually poachers after finding their campsite.

Jessie safely reaches the bottom, but Sean slips and tumbles down the mountain, hitting his head on a rock. The two then continue their journey and find a log cabin in the woods. They take shelter and Sean lies down in the bed. While in the cabin, Sean notices a canoe hanging from the ceiling. Jessie and Sean take the canoe and continue on in their search for their father. While they are canoeing down a river, the two kids encounter vicious rapids that send them and their canoe down a waterfall. Jessie is able to escape the raging river but once again, Sean's lack of experience in the wilderness causes him to struggle. He is thrust down the river where he is helped out of the cold water by Jessie's friend Chip and his grandfather Ben. As the kids recover by the riverside, Chip's father wants to send Jessie and Sean home, but Ben and Chip wish to help the two on their journey. The two proceed on their quest with their befriended polar bear, whom they named Cubby, by their side.

Cubby leads them until he is shot with a tranquilizer dart by Colin. He then takes Cubby away in his helicopter, but Koontz didn't load the darts with enough tranquilizer fluids, allowing Cubby to awaken in the helicopter and trying to fight his way free. As Koontz lowers the helicopter, Cubby escapes and bites Perry's right knee, causing Perry to shoot Koontz with a tranquilizer dart and damage the helicopter as well. Meanwhile, the children continue on in their search for their missing father. They stumble upon some wreckage from his plane crash and begin yelling for him to respond. Not able to yell, their father shoots another flare into the air. This time the children see it and run to his rescue. They find the plane hanging on the edge of a cliff, and Jessie lowers Sean down the side of the mountain to reach their father. Just as it looks like Jessie is going to lose control of the rope, Cubby appears and helps Jessie pull the rope. With Cubby's help, Jessie and Sean are able to raise their father up the side of the mountain. Just as the family is reunited, Charlie shows up in his helicopter to take them home and complete the rescue. Perry and Koontz are then shown to be trekking from their now disabled helicopter after their skirmish with Cubby, and Cubby is then introduced to a new polar bear family after saying good-bye to Sean and Jessie.

The story is told in the words of "Hans Josef Wagemueller", a former officer in the Waffen-SS during the Second World War. The story begins with the capitulation of Germany in 1945, while Wagemueller is fighting the Soviets and partisans near Czechoslovakia. Wagemueller escapes the Allied powers in post-war Europe by fighting his way west and using underground connections to reach Switzerland, where he joins the French Foreign Legion. Wagemueller reunites with two former sergeants from his former German unit, Bernard Eisner and Erich Schulze, and is sent to French Indochina.

In Indochina, Wagemueller and his comrades are incorporated into mixed Legion units that included many French territorial troops. However, under the command of French Colonel Simon Houssong, Wagemueller is put in command of an all-German battalion (around 900 troops) composed of former Nazi troops who, like Wagemueller, fled to the Legion. Their mission is to disrupt the Viet Minh in their rear supply areas, far from cities and French-controlled zones.

For more than three years, the battalion runs a highly successful and brutal guerrilla war against the insurgent Viet Minh across northern Indochina, Laos and southern China. In one such case, "the battalion of the Damned" escorts a supply column north through enemy-held territory by forcing Viet Minh prisoners and family members to ride in the column's trucks, tanks and jeeps to ensure safe passage. In other situations, poison, torture and natural resources are used.

According to the 1985 edition publisher's note, "This book is being published to provide the reading public with a clear insight into the mind and personality of an unregenerate Nazi, to show the dehumanization of men in war, and to illustrate the ironies and hypocrisies to which men are driven in defense of their actions. The publication of this book in no way indicates that the publisher agrees with or condones the points of view it expresses."

Teacher John Corntel asks his former Eton schoolmate Lynley for help when the 13 year old schoolboy Matthew Whateley has disappeared. Initially Lynley refuses, until Deborah St James finds the naked body of the boy in a churchyard in Stoke Poges. Lynley and Havers start their investigation at Matthew's school Bredgar Chambers, an elite boarding school in West Sussex.

They find a letter from Matthew to Jeannie Bonnamy, a daughter of Colonel Bonnamy. Matthew has visited them three days before his death to dine and play chess with the colonel. When Jeannie brought Matthew back to school, they saw 6th form student Chas Quilter in a school minibus, returning from a visit to Cecilia Feld, a girl in Stoke Poges. Chas didn't want anyone to find out about his relationship with Cecilia, and the fact that he was the father of Cecilia's child, which has Apert syndrome. Cecilia herself was transferred from Bredgar Chambers to another school when she was pregnant.

Chemistry teacher Emilia Bond tried to burn child pornography photos that belonged to John Corntel; she was in love with Corntel, but found out he was collecting those photos. This explains why Corntel didn't patrol in spite of being duty master. That same evening 6th grader Clive Pritchard nabbed Matthew Whateley to torture him, because Matthew had made a tape recording of Clive bullying schoolboy Harry Morant. When Clive found Matthew dead he felt responsible, unaware that the cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning.

During the investigation there's an attempt to kill Jeannie Bonnamy with a rake. Chas Quilter hangs himself.

The investigators find out that Matthew's biological parents were Mrs Pamela Byrne and Edward Hsu, a Chinese former pupil at Bredgar Hall who killed himself after this scandal. Giles Byrne felt financially responsible for the child of his late wife. As a board member he obtained a scholarship for Matthew at Bredgar Chambers. Giles' 18-year-old son Brian turns out to be the culprit. He killed his half-brother in the fume cupboard in the chemistry lab. He then transported the body to Stoke Poges in the school minibus Chas Quilter was driving. His motive was to win Chas Quilter's lifetime loyalty. Brian also tried to kill Jeannie Bonnamy for the same reason. Brian Byrne and Clive Pritchard are arrested.

In a subplot Barbara Havers visits her demented mother, and finds her father dead. Another theme is Lynley's aristocratic descent (he is sometimes referred to as "Lord Asherton")—shown through his working relationship with his working class colleague Barbara Havers from Acton and his unrequited love for Deborah, his best friend's wife.

In the first issue of this story (which was part of a two-issue framework for the project), the Vigilante gathers together a new Spider (called "I, Spyder" and apparently the son of the original), Gimmix (the estranged daughter of Merry, the Girl of a Thousand Gimmicks), a new Boy Blue, Dyno-Mite Dan (owner of two "working fakes" imitations of the explosive rings of T.N.T. and Dan the Dyna-Mite), and the Whip (granddaughter of the Golden Age Whip). The team sets out to battle the Buffalo Spider (later on, the Sheeda are betrayed by Spyder in ''Seven Soldiers of Victory'' #1 in another nod to the original), only to be killed during an event known as the Harrowing.

The seven miniseries follow seven other characters with indirect connections to the first group, each with their own art styles, genres, and character arcs. A central part of Morrison's idea for the current series is that, although the seven characters in question are each a part of the same struggle, they never actually meet (although there are references to each other in the various titles). Thus, the team is actually not a team.

An explanation for this is presented in ''Manhattan Guardian'' and ''Zatanna''. In the first, a man named Ed Starsgard (Baby Brain) tells Guardian that the Sheeda have been attacking humanity in periodic waves, taking everything of value (physical and mental) and leaving behind just enough for the survivors to rebuild for next time. It is prophesied that the Sheeda will eventually be stopped by seven soldiers, so they target teams of seven, including the Ultramarine Corps and the Justice League of America (''JLA: Classified'' #1–3). However, because the Seven Soldiers have never met, they stand a chance of doing the job.

In ''Zatanna'', a ghost remarks that there are too many coincidences in the story and it feels like there is a "mystery string tying it all together". It eventually emerges that the Seven Unknown Men of Slaughter Swamp are driving the Seven Soldiers to stop the Sheeda.

In an interview, Grant remarked that this series of stories (which he calls a "megaseries", also known as a metaseries), takes place after ''Infinite Crisis''. Dan DiDio has stated that, after careful consultation with Morrison, the series is now considered to take place a week before ''Infinite Crisis''.

The comic ''Seven Soldiers of Victory'' #1 was originally scheduled for release on April 1, 2006, but was delayed and eventually released on October 25.

The last battle

After undergoing various trials and tribulations in their own miniseries, the soldiers eventually take part in the climactic battle against the Queen of the Sheeda in New York, each affecting different parts of the battle without having any idea of the larger picture.

The climactic sequence is initiated by Zatanna casting a spell: "Seven Soldiers Strike!" This is the final push the universe required to move the soldiers into position.

After travelling into the future kingdom where the Sheeda live, Frankenstein takes Castle Revolving, the Queen's time-travelling floating kingdom, to present-day New York so that the Queen can be brought to justice by the paranormal special ops group S.H.A.D.E. Once Castle Revolving arrives, the Shining Knight—who had chased the queen to the future—successfully attacks the Queen, severely injuring her and leaving her open to an attack by supporting character I, Spyder, who shoots an arrow into her and knocks her down to the New York streets below.

There, the Manhattan Guardian has rounded up thousands of New Yorkers into a militia that is successfully fighting off the Sheeda invasion. At approximately the same time, Bulleteer comes tearing down the street in her car, hoping to take her critically ill nemesis, Sally Sonic, to a hospital. Sally, utterly insane, attacks Bulleteer, who loses control of her vehicle and crashes into the Queen. Guardian arrives on the scene, but Bulleteer is the only survivor.

Prior to all of this, Klarion, who had drilled up into New York from hidden caves beneath the city, had stolen a magic die from Misty, Zatanna's sidekick. Together with his own die, the two dice comprise Fatherbox, one of the lost treasures of the ancient superhero Aurakles. Klarion had then traveled up to Castle Revolving. With the Sheeda Queen dead, Klarion uses a binding spell on Frankenstein, forcing him to pilot the ship back into the future. Thus, Klarion becomes the "traitor" that was prophesied. However, by doing so, he also stopped Misty, the Sheeda princess, from becoming the new Queen and being obligated to continue the cycle of destruction to save her people.

Finally, Mister Miracle confronts Dark Side in his club. There, Dark Side explains that he gave Earth to the Sheeda in return for them giving him Aurakles, the primordial superhero. Mister Miracle offers himself in exchange for Aurakles' freedom and Dark Side accepts. Once Aurakles is freed and Mister Miracle is shackled, Dark Side shoots him through the head, thus making him the soldier that was prophesied to die. Mister Miracle is later seen emerging alive from his own grave, "escaping death".

Character endings

• '''Shining Knight''' is shown attending the H.S. Johnson School for Heroes, where Ali Ka-Zoom (Zatanna's ghostly friend) promises that he will give her the advice she needs, and that she can continue to fight evil with Horsefeathers on weekends. He gives her Aurakles' sword and hints that she may yet return to her period of time and become Queen Ystina the Good.
• '''Guardian''' survives the attack on New York, after raising an army to fight off the Sheeda. He wins back the heart of his estranged girlfriend (to whom he had previously proposed).
• '''Bulleteer''' is briefly arrested after the accident, but later told that she is free to go. Although she questions if she really is free, because she played right into what destiny had in store for her.
• '''Klarion''' is shown cackling madly as Sheeda women crawl at his heels. He reappears in ''Countdown to Final Crisis'' where he attempts to absorb Mary Marvel's powers only to be defeated.
• '''Frankenstein''' is last seen under the control of Klarion, although he still seems to have retained his mind. He is then shown in ''Final Crisis'' #3 assisting S.H.A.D.E. in capturing Renee Montoya.
• '''Zatanna''' is almost run over by Guardian's wife and subsequently vanishes. The most famous of the soldiers, she survives, appearing in stories set "One Year Later", though her newly acquired apprentice Misty Kilgore has yet to appear.
• '''Mister Miracle''' is buried in a grave engraved only with his stage name. It is visited by Dark Side, who deposits a black flower on the grave and leaves. Once he is gone, however, Mister Miracle's hands burst out of the ground. He has since turned up in ''Final Crisis'' #2, having escaped death. His escape from the grave is mentioned.

This Canadian World War I narrative begins in Montreal, where an unnamed young soldier is among Canadian troops of a variety of ages preparing to deploy to France and the war. The story follows the soldiers into the Western Front trench lines where they begin to experience the war of attrition being fought there.

While he once thought of war as glorious, the narrator faces the reality of hard combat and his friends begin to die. Later, the narrator finds himself deeply disturbed when he bayonets a German soldier during a raid; this trauma is magnified by the narrator's subsequent camaraderie with the brother of the soldier he killed when together they endure shelling.

The narrator becomes further affected by the death of another friend; it is at this point he begins to become exhausted by the horrors of war. He goes on his leave to England, a 10-day period during which a prostitute does everything in her power to help him forget the war. However, everyday incidents –- such as a burlesque show that marginalizes the cost of war by adapting the imagery of war for public amusement –- remind the anonymous soldier of the separation between the "home front" and the trenches.

Upon his return to the trenches, the Canadians suffer heavy losses in a trench raid; at this point, Broadbent is the lone survivor of the narrator's friends. To motivate the troops for an offensive, a senior officer tells the troops of the Germans sinking a hospital ship; during this bloody confrontation, the narrator receives a wound, and Broadbent dies after his leg is nearly severed from his body. The narrator's wound takes him out of action, although the war continues. At this point, the soldiers learn that the ship sunk by the Germans was, in fact, carrying weapons. The illumination of the truth brings with it the realization that war is a game of strategy fought between generals, and soldiers are the ones who suffer.

''Starship Operators'' is about the 73rd class of the Defense University of the Planet Kibi. As they are returning home after the maiden voyage of the , they find that their home planet, Kibi, has been taken over by one of the Henrietta region's super powers, Henrietta Alliance of Planetary Nations.

The original command crew all abandon ship, as per the conquerors' demands. Left alone on the ship, the cadets decide to keep their command and fight on. To this end, they have decided to ask Galaxy Network to fund the operation of ''Amaterasu'' as a fleeing self-governed nation in exchange for letting them broadcast the ship's adventures live - as a reality TV program.

The novel's storyline also features ''Amaterasu'' finding its way through space to reach the control zone of another super power, the Henrietta Independent Federation, for protection.

In 19th century London, an orphaned boy named Peter and fellow orphans James, Thomas, Prentiss, and Tubby Ted are shipped out on the decrepit ''Never Land'', under the command of First Mate Slank and the extremely incompetent Captain Cyrus Pembridge. A mysterious trunk is on board as well, identical to another that had been escorted by the Royal Guard onto Her Majesty's ''Wasp'', another ship in harbor. Meanwhile, feared pirate Black Stache, captain of the ''Sea Devil'' hears of the trunk on the Wasp containing the greatest treasure of all time, and plots to capture it.

While the Sea Devil dumps much of its weight and water in order to lighten the ship enough to run down The Wasp, Peter and the orphans attempt to adapt to their measly hold and Peter meets Molly Aster, a mysterious passenger of his own age. While scavenging for food one night, Peter finds himself in the hold where the trunk is guarded and is acquainted with a flying rat. Molly rescues him from crew members on their way to check out the commotion caused, and stories of the flying rat begin to travel through the ship, prompting Peter and Alf, a member of the crew, to wonder about the hold's contents.

The Sea Devil manages to run down and board The Wasp, and Leonard Aster, Molly's father and a safekeeper of the trunk, fruitlessly attempts and fails to escape with the trunk in question. As The Wasp's crew is forced to surrender, Black Stache opens the trunk only to find sand, and both he and Aster realize that a switch had been made at port and the actual treasure is on the Never Land. Aster jumps overboard and escapes with his dolphin allies, who send a dolphin, Ammm, to relay to Molly that Black Stache was on his way. Molly later stops Peter and Alf from carrying out a plan to discover the contents of the trunk, and confides to Peter about the contents of the trunk: Starstuff, dust of extraordinary power that had fallen from the heavens, which had temporarily made the rat fly. Molly's family is revealed to be members of a secret society known as the ''Starcatchers'', who located the Starstuff when it fell from the heavens and kept it out of the wrong hands. The contents of this particular trunk were the result of the largest fall in history, which had been located by a rival group, the Others, before the Starcatchers could acquire it. Molly enlists Peter to assist in throwing the trunk overboard before Black Stache arrived.

Black Stache and his men rechristen the Wasp the ''Jolly Roger'' and race against a monster storm to intercept the Never Land and acquire the treasure. Attempting to dispose of the trunk with Molly, Peter is thrown overboard by Slank right before Black Stache and his men arrive and locate the trunk on the dock just as the storm hits. Having come into contact with Starstuff from the trunk, Peter manages to fly back and hurl the trunk overboard, prompting Black Stache to quickly leave and take Slank, sailor Little Richard, and Molly's governess prisoner. Molly jumps overboard to rescue Peter as his Starstuff wears off as Alf and the orphans escape the Never Land as the storm and nearby reef obliterate it. Both parties and the trunk wash up on a nearby island, with the Jolly Roger close behind.

Alf, James, Prentiss, Thomas, Tubby Ted, and Peter are soon captured by the local natives, while Black Stache and a large posse search the island for the trunk, leaving the ship virtually unguarded while Slank and Little Richard break out of the Jolly Roger, subdue the remaining pirates, and search for the trunk. The natives, known as the Mollusks and led by Fighting Prawn, decide to feed the group to Mister Grin, an abnormally large crocodile who is kept captive in an enclosure, as is their policy when dealing with foreigners. Molly rescues them with some reserve starstuff, enabling the group and Mister Grin to fly out of the enclosure, causing mass panic among the Mollusks and pirate posse. The trunk is eventually found by Slank and Little Richard, who battle Mermaids (lagoon fish who came into contact with starstuff from the leaky trunk), trick the pirates, and knock Peter out, who is shortly rescued by the mermaids for healing one of their own from a wound inflicted by Slank.

With help from Ammm, the group assaults Slank and Little Richard and nearly succeeds in overpowering both of them before Slank restrains Molly and reveals that he is in league with the Others, who are rivals of the Starcatchers and want the Starstuff for their own purposes. He confirms that a switch had been made in port and that the trunk of Starstuff was originally intended for the Wasp, and that both ships had been headed to Rundoon, where the starstuff was to be delivered to the corrupt King Zarboff III and the boys as palace servants. He and Little Richard take Molly hostage on their longboat in order to escape with the trunk, but Peter rescues Molly. It is then revealed that Peter had earlier lifted the box of Starstuff out of the trunk. He and Molly leave Slank and Little Richard to drift out to sea.

Aster and a group of Starcatchers soon arrive on the Island, accompanied by ships of the British Navy, and Aster deduces that Peter should have died when lifting the box of Starstuff, but had an extraordinarily high tolerance to Starstuff and instantly stopped aging forever while permanently retaining the ability to fly. The Mollusks and the pirates converge on the group, and a fight ensures, wherein Fighting Prawn is mortally wounded and Peter manages to sever Black Stache's hand, which is eaten by Mister Grin. As the pirates flee to another part of the island, Peter uses the starstuff in Aster's locket to save Fighting Prawn, who spares the group, allows Molly, Aster, Alf, and the Starcatchers to leave the island with the now-secured box of Starstuff, and lets Peter, James, Thomas, Prentiss, and Tubby Ted stay on the island, as Peter feels that he would not be able to fit in with society. As he and Molly bid farewell to one another, Aster uses starstuff to turn a local bird into a fairy, Tinker Bell, to watch over Peter. Peter promises to come to London in the near future to visit, and he and the boys begin to settle on the island. The story ends with Peter discovering a washed-up plank with the printed name of the Never Land, which he decides to nickname the island (although the sequels still refer to it by its given name, Mollusk Island).

His mind occupied with thoughts of his coming regeneration, the Doctor accidentally returns to Gallifrey and the House of Lungbarrow, where for over 673 years his 44 cousins have been trapped, but mysteriously only six of them are still left. Meanwhile, Chris Cwej is having strange dreams of the past, when the family cast the Doctor out. The Doctor is accused of the murder of the head of the House, but he finds many allies in the form of former companions Ace, Romana, K-9 Mark I, K-9 Mark II and Leela, who have become embroiled in a Celestial Intervention Agency plot to overthrow Romana's presidency. The secrets of the past are catching up to the Doctor—in particular, the secret that links him to a figure from Gallifreyan history known only as the Other.

While Lt Tom Paris is peer-pressuring Ensign Harry Kim to go on a date with the Delaney sisters from stellar cartography, ''Voyager'' is hit by a "polaric" detonation from a nearby planet. On arrival, they find the planet's population has been completely wiped out. An away team, including Captain Kathryn Janeway and Lieutenant Tom Paris, transport to the surface and estimate from the ruins that the explosion only happened a day earlier. Signs of temporal anomalies have been left in its wake. Janeway and Paris become caught in one, finding themselves on the planet the day before the explosion. Quickly integrating themselves into the general population, they learn that the planet's civilization is powered by a volatile form of energy known as "polaric" energy, an option that has been met with some protest. Janeway and Paris become caught up with a group of saboteurs threatening to compromise one of the polaric power plants. Janeway and Paris's strange Starfleet equipment prompt the saboteurs to believe they are infiltrators, so they confiscate the equipment, bring forward their sabotage plan and force Janeway and Paris to accompany them to the power plant.

Meanwhile, a day in the future, Kes's nascent psychic ability allows her to identify that Janeway and Paris have fallen back into the past. The remaining senior ''Voyager'' officers develop a method to create a short-lived rift to the past through which they hope to evacuate Janeway and Paris.

The saboteurs use Janeway and Paris as a diversion to allow them access to the polaric plant, during which Paris is shot and wounded. As they begin their sabotage, the ''Voyager'' crew initiates the rift. Janeway recognizes that it is the rift which, if not closed, will trigger the detonation that kills all life on the planet. The saboteurs allow Janeway to use her phaser to force the rift to close, changing the future.

Events then return to the start of the episode: ''Voyager'' detects the nearby planet, bustling with a pre-warp civilization using polaric energy. Kes appears on the bridge, concerned about a feeling of deja vu, but is relieved to see the planet's civilization is alive and well. In accordance with the Prime Directive, ''Voyager'' refrains from communicating with it and continues on its journey home.

George (Gene Wilder), a former mental patient and pathological liar, is released from the hospital. He is quickly, purposefully mistaken for millionaire brewery heir Abe Fielding by a troupe of actors hired by Rupert Dibbs (Stephen Lang), an unscrupulous business manager. Rupert needs George to believe he is Fielding in order to kill him off and inherit the Fielding Brewery and family fortune.

Eddie Dash (Richard Pryor), a con man, tenuously befriends George due to a community service assignment. He attempts at first to capitalize on George's mistaken identity, but after being pressured by Rupert into killing George for profit, turns the tables on Rupert and helps George fake his death, only to come back to the land of the living and inheriting both the brewery and the Fielding fortune instead.

Along the way, Eddie and George turn two of Rupert's female associates into allies and partners, while getting themselves into plenty of comical chaos.

In the Genesis and Master System versions, Monster World is described as a once peaceful land. One day, peace was shattered by an invading army of monsters, with seemingly no source for their appearance. The Fairy Queen Eleanora headed to the town of Purapril to seek aide from the Princess after her town of Alsedo was attacked, only to discover that the Princess went missing and many other towns across Monster World have been attacked as well. Eleanora offers up a prayer to the gods that someone, perhaps even a hero, would step forward. Her prayers reach a young man named Shion, who vows to defeat the invading monsters and make Monster World peaceful again.

In the Turbografx-16 release, ''The Dynastic Hero'', Monster World is instead named as the land of Tarron, a woodland that was once known as "the peaceful paradise". One day, the evil Drillkor Empire of reptilian monsters attacked Tarron using their advanced technology and space station. Rippen the Beast, Emperor of the Drillko, attacks Tarron Castle and imprisons the Princess in her own castle dungeon. The princess prays to the gods of Tarron for the aide of a hero. The call to adventure is answered by a young warrior named Dyna, setting out to the fairy village Lindor for information from Queen Nora.

Characters

During his travels, Shion will often be joined by a small companion who follows you around. Each companion is bound to the region they belong to, and will return to their respective homes when you leave said region. All travel companions will also temporarily stay out of action during boss fights.

Other characters

Jill Banford and Ellen March struggle to support themselves by raising chickens on an isolated farm in rural Canada. Dependent Jill tends to household chores and finances while the self-sufficient Ellen deals with heavier work, such as chopping wood, repairing fences, and stalking the fox that keeps raiding their coops, although she is hesitant about killing it. Jill seems content with their secluded existence, but the frustrated Ellen is less enchanted by the solitude.

In the dead of winter, merchant seaman Paul Grenfel arrives in search of his grandfather, the former owner of the farm who died one year earlier. With nowhere else to go while on leave, he persuades the women to allow him to stay with them for a few weeks in exchange for helping with the work. Tension among the three slowly escalates when his attention to Ellen arouses Jill's resentment and jealousy. When he proposes marriage to Ellen, Jill is first outraged, then hysterically fearful, even trying to bribe Paul to leave.

Eventually Paul tracks and kills the fox. Just before his departure, he makes love to Ellen and asks her to elope with him, but she confesses she would feel guilty if she abandoned Jill. After Paul returns to his ship, Jill confesses her feelings for Ellen, and the two women make love. Ellen writes to Paul, explaining that her place is with Jill and that she cannot marry him.

Several weeks later, Paul returns unexpectedly as the two women are chopping down a dying oak. He offers to complete the job and warns Jill to move away from the tree's potential path. In a standoff of wills, Jill refuses to move as Paul continues to chop at the tree. The falling tree crushes Jill, and she dies.

As spring begins, Ellen sells the farm, and she and Paul set off to start a new life together. Knowing that she is silently mourning the loss of Jill, Paul assures Ellen that she will be happy in her new life. Sadly and uncertainly, she asks, "Will I?"

Maricruz (Adela Noriega) and Beatriz (Thalía) are classmates and best friends. Maricruz is from a working-class family, while Beatriz's is very wealthy. They are both 14 and excited about their quinceañera parties and becoming women.

Mechanic's apprentice Pancho (Ernesto Laguardia) and gang tough Memo (Sebastián Ligarde) are attracted to Maricruz. Maricruz is immediately disgusted by Memo and eventually accepts Pancho's love. Memo attacks Maricruz; she faints before he can rape her, but he lets her believe he did rape her. She feels violated, defiled, and unworthy of Pancho and believes he won't want her now.

At the same time, Maricruz's brother Gerardo (Rafael Rojas) starts dating Beatriz when their mother pressures her children to raise their social class. When Beatriz becomes pregnant, her family supports her after their initial horror. Both girls realize that the passage to womanhood was not what they expected.

The main protagonist of this story is Kenshiro Kasumi, better known as "Yan Wang" or "The King of Hell". Kenshiro is a laid back and chain-smoking Tokyo professor who is secretly the successor of the deadly Chinese assassin martial art Hokuto Shinken. He travels to Shanghai after hearing that his Triad friend Pan Guang-Lin and love interest Pan Yu-Ling are in trouble.

In Shanghai, Kenshiro fights the three Hokuto families, the Hokuto Sankaken (based on the royal families of ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms''). At the same time he helps Pan's Qīng Bāng triad against their rivals, the immoral Hóng Huá Huì, in gaining territory and influence in Shanghai.

Ramona Quimby is excited because she is starting kindergarten. She is a year older than in ''Beezus and Ramona'' and trouble still seems to follow her. Although Ramona does not mean to be a pest, she still manages to create trouble without trying to. Miss Binney is her teacher, and Ramona likes her a lot, especially when she praises Ramona's interesting drawing and nice fat letter 'Q's. There's a girl in her class named Susan with long, springy curls. Ramona really wants to pull on one of those curls and watch it bounce back and forth, but when she finally does she gets sent to the bench until recess is over. Another new person in her class is Davy. Ramona chases him at recess, trying to catch and kiss him, which she finally manages to accomplish when she participates in the Halloween parade when she is "the baddest witch in the world."

Ramona tries to do her best in kindergarten but it isn't easy, especially during seat work, when she has to sit quietly and keep her eyes on her own work. She's just too interested in seeing what everyone else is doing. Still, kindergarten is going well until the day the substitute teacher arrives. Ramona won't go to class without Miss Binney, so she hides behind the trash cans with Ribsy the dog. When Beezus finds her and takes her to the principal's office Ramona is forced to go to class anyway.

Then one day, Susan calls Ramona a "pest", Ramona retaliates by pulling Susan's curls, and Miss Binney sends her home until she can behave. Ramona decides that Miss Binney doesn't like her any more, and she refuses to go back. Nothing anyone says to her can change her mind until she gets a letter from Miss Binney returning the tooth she lost at school the day she was suspended and Ramona decides Miss Binney must like her and is happy to return to kindergarten.

In the story, a girl called Mai appears before a boy who happens to dislike Christmas. As it turns out he was born on December 24 and thus was named Santa, causing him to hate the holiday. Moreover, as a child, he never had any festive occasions, such as birthday parties. With the power of Christmas, Mai is given the mission to improve his luck and change his views for the better.

The story revolves around the Planet Mischief, where there is a tradition that once someone turns 3-years old, he or she must travel to a planet and learn how to perform "Mischief" and cause panic on that planet. Cosmi, a three-year-old alien, travels to Earth for his mission, in order to impress his father, the Master of Mischief, Cosmi Sr., mostly because Earth is considered the greatest challenge. Cosmi crashes with a TV satellite from a town called Coco Town. When crash landing, he manages to hide in an alley on Coco Town, where he is saved by Earth's Mischief Master, Master Itazura. He takes him to his Dojo to train, and lets Cosmi move on with his mission, on 8 different locations: Coco Town, High Stakes Hill, Pranksylvania, Pharaoh Island, Big Booty Bay, Frontiersville, Raccoon City and finally Cosmopolis. It is revealed that Cosmopolis is a trap for "Anti-Alien-Forces" to capture all of the aliens on Earth by disguising themselves as aliens. Itazura uses their trap as the final challenge for Cosmi, and challenges him personally there. Cosmi wins and travels back to Planet Mischief to celebrate, but crashes into another TV-station and crashlands on Earth again, this time, in the middle of Coco Town square. Of course, panic arises and reporters try to get a snapshot of the little alien, but Cosmi accidentally pushes someones camera around, causing it to take a photo of the crowd, thus revealing that several of them are also aliens.

Lucy, an orphan, marries Oliver, a successful but frustrated businessman. Oliver's ambitions are thwarted when his father dies and Oliver is forced to run the family business. He proves to be a controlling husband. Lucy, who suffers from self-esteem issues, is intimidated by him and gives up her career aspirations.

In the summer of 1937, Oliver leaves Lucy (now age 35) and son Tony (age 13) alone at a lake resort for several weeks while he attends to business. During Oliver's absence Lucy is pursued by Jeffrey, a Dartmouth College undergraduate they have hired to be a companion for Tony. She resists Jeffrey's advances but they eventually begin what Lucy regards as a casual affair. Tony sees them having intercourse and tells his father, who confronts the couple. Lucy and Oliver remain married, but she insists that she will have nothing further to do with her son. Tony becomes embittered and cuts off all contact with his mother. Lucy's deliberate act of infidelity and betrayal leads to the disintegration of her marriage and complete estrangement from her son.

During World War II, Tony is unable to serve in the military due to poor health. Oliver joins the U.S. Army and is away from home for several years. Lucy embarks on a series of affairs with other men during Oliver's absence. Before leaving for combat in Europe, a despondent Oliver attempts to explain his frustrations and unhappiness to his son:

''″You reach a certain age, say twenty-five, thirty, it varies with your intelligence, and you begin to say, “Oh, Christ, this is for nothing. You begin to realize it’s just more of the same, only getting worse every day... I used to have a high opinion of myself... and then, in fifteen minutes in a little stinking summer resort beside a lake, the whole thing collapsed.″''

A decade after the war is over, Lucy (now aged 60) visits Paris and unexpectedly encounters her son. She learns that he is married with a son, is living in Paris and is working as a cartoon artist. She immediately sees through his façade and realizes that, while keeping up appearances, he is leading an unhappy life. She attempts to explain to Tony why her marriage with Oliver failed:

''″Your father was a passionate and disappointed man. When he was young, he had high hopes for himself ...he saw himself as a nobody, a failure and all the passion and disappointment of his life he centered on me. He frightened me and he expected too much from me and he directed every move of my life and a good deal of the time he didn’t satisfy me... I was timid and uncertain and vengeful and I had a low opinion of myself, so I went out looking for a good opinion of myself in the arms of other men. At first I told myself I was looking for love, but it wasn't so. I didn't find love and I didn't find a good opinion. And it wasn't as though I didn't try.″''

Together Lucy and Tony visit the French village where Oliver was killed in combat during the war. This eventually leads to a partial reconciliation of mother and son.

Amanda Pynsent, an impoverished seamstress, has adopted Hyacinth Robinson, the illegitimate son of her old friend Florentine Vivier, a French woman of less than sterling repute, and an English lord. Florentine had stabbed her lover to death several years ago, and Pinnie (as Miss Pynsent is nicknamed) takes Hyacinth to see her as she lies dying at Millbank prison. Hyacinth eventually learns that the dying woman is his mother and that she murdered his father.

Many years pass. Hyacinth, now a young man and a skilled bookbinder, meets revolutionary Paul Muniment and gets involved in radical politics. Hyacinth also has a coarse but lively girlfriend, Millicent Henning, and one night they go to the theatre. There Hyacinth meets the radiantly beautiful Princess Casamassima (Christina Light, from James' earlier novel, ''Roderick Hudson'').

The Princess has become a revolutionary herself and now lives apart from her dull husband. Meanwhile, Hyacinth has committed himself to carrying out a terrorist assassination, though the exact time and place have not yet been specified to him. Hyacinth visits the Princess at her country home and tells her about his parents. When he returns to London, Hyacinth finds Pinnie dying. He comforts her in her final days, then travels to France and Italy on his small inheritance.

This trip completes Hyacinth's conversion to a love for the sinful but beautiful world, and away from violent revolution. Still, he does not attempt to escape his vow to carry out the assassination. But when the order comes, he turns the gun on himself instead of its intended victim.

Space travel has become a dirty way of life dominated by derelicts, grease monkeys, thieves, and hard-boiled interplanetary traders such as Samuel Curtis (Cory McAbee), an astronaut from Earth who deals in rare goods, living or otherwise.

His mission begins with the unlikely delivery of a cat to a small outer-belt asteroid saloon where he meets his former dance partner, and renowned interplanetary fruit thief, the Blueberry Pirate (Joshua Taylor). As payment for his delivery of the cat, Curtis receives a homemade cloning device already in the process of creating a creature most rare in this space quadrant – a Real Live Girl.

At the suggestion of the Blueberry Pirate, Curtis takes the Real Live Girl to Jupiter where women have long been a mystery. There, he proposes a trade with the owner of Jupiter: the Real Live Girl clone for the Boy Who Actually Saw A Woman's Breast (Gregory Russell Cook). The Boy Who Actually Saw A Woman's Breast is regarded as royalty on the all-male mining planet of Jupiter because of his unique and exotic contact with a woman. It is Curtis’ intention to take The Boy to Venus and trade him for the remains of Johnny R., a man who spent his lifetime serving as a human stud for the Southern belles of Venus, a planet populated only by women. Upon returning Johnny R's body to his bereaved family on earth, Curtis will receive a handsome reward.

While hashing out the plan with the Blueberry Pirate, Curtis is spotted by his nemesis, Professor Hess (Rocco Sisto). Possessed by an enigmatic obsession with Curtis, Hess is capable of killing only without reason; that is, there can be no conflict nor unresolved issues with his intended victim. Hess has been pursuing Samuel Curtis throughout the solar system in order that he might forgive him, then kill him. Along the way, Hess has executed each and every individual to come into contact with Curtis.

Unaware of this danger, Curtis sets forth on his mission. After retrieving The Boy Who Actually Saw A Woman's Breast from Jupiter, Curtis is contacted by Professor Hess, who makes his intentions known. Fearful, Curtis and The Boy look for a place to hide. They come across a primitive space station constructed by Nevada State silver miners from the late 1800s. Inside they discover a small group of miners still alive, their bodies crippled and deformed by space atrophy. Unable to return home for fear that Earth's gravity would kill them, two of the miners mated and give birth to a boy known as Body Suit (James Ransone). He has been raised in a suit of hydraulics to simulate Earth's gravity with his parents' intention of him eventually being sent home. In trade for supplies and sanctuary, Curtis agrees to deliver Body Suit to Earth. Once they land on the lush planet of Venus, the terrain dramatically changes, and Curtis is inspired by a plan.

Mississippi lawyer and Civil War veteran, Basil Ransom, visits his cousin Olive Chancellor in Boston. She takes him to a political meeting where Verena Tarrant delivers a feminist speech. Ransom, a strong conservative, is annoyed by the speech but fascinated with the speaker. Olive, who has never before set eyes on Verena, is equally fascinated. She persuades Verena to leave her parents' house, move in with her and study in preparation for a career in the feminist movement. Meanwhile, Ransom returns to his law practice in New York, which is not doing well. He visits Boston again and walks with Verena through the Harvard College grounds, including the impressive Civil War Memorial Hall. Verena finds herself attracted to the charismatic Ransom.

Basil eventually proposes to Verena, much to Olive's dismay. Olive has arranged for Verena to speak at the Boston Music Hall. Ransom shows up at the hall just before Verena is scheduled to begin her speech. He persuades Verena to elope with him, to the discomfiture of Olive and her fellow-feminists. The final sentence of the novel shows Verena in tears – not to be her last, James assures us.

Mae Coleman and Jack Perry are a cohabitating couple who sell marijuana. The unscrupulous Jack sells the drug to teenagers over Mae's objections; she'd rather stick to an adult clientele. Ralph Wiley, a sociopathic college dropout turned dealer, and siren Blanche help Jack recruit new customers. Ralph and Jack lure high school student Bill Harper and college student Jimmy Lane to Mae and Jack's apartment. Jimmy takes Bill to a party where Jack runs out of reefer, and Jimmy, who has a car, drives him to pick up more. When they get to Jack's boss' "headquarters", Jimmy asks for a cigarette as Jack gets out and he gives him a joint. By the time Jack returns, Jimmy is unknowingly high; he drives away recklessly and hits a pedestrian. A few days later, Jack tells Jimmy that the man died of his injuries and agrees to keep Jimmy's name out of the case if Jimmy will agree to "forget he was ever in Mae's apartment." As the police did not have enough specific details to track Jimmy down, he indeed escapes punishment.

Bill, whose once-pristine record at school has rapidly declined, has a fling with Blanche while high. Mary, Jimmy's sister and Bill's girlfriend, goes to Mae's apartment looking for Jimmy and accepts a joint from Ralph, thinking it's a regular cigarette. When she refuses Ralph's advances, he tries to rape her. Bill comes out of the bedroom and, still high, hallucinates that Mary is willingly offering herself to Ralph and attacks the latter. As the two are fighting, Jack knocks Bill unconscious with the butt of his gun, which inadvertently fires, killing Mary. Jack puts the gun in Bill's hand, framing him for Mary's death by claiming he blacked out. The dealers lie low for a while in Blanche's apartment while Bill's trial takes place. Over the objections of a skeptical juror, Bill is found guilty.

By now Ralph is paranoid from both marijuana and his guilty conscience. Blanche is also high; at one memorable point she plays the piano more and more rapidly as Ralph eggs her on. The boss tells Jack to shoot Ralph to prevent him from confessing, but when Jack arrives, Ralph immediately recognizes the threat and beats him to death with a stick as Blanche laughs uncontrollably in terror. The police arrest Ralph, Mae, and Blanche. Mae's confession leads to the boss and other gang members also being arrested. Blanche explains that Bill was innocent and agrees to serve as a material witness for the case against Ralph, but instead, she jumps out of a window and falls to her death, traumatized by her own adultery and its role in Mary's death. Bill's conviction is overturned, and Ralph, now nearly catatonic, is sent to an asylum for the criminally insane for the rest of his natural life.

The film's story is told in bracketing sequences at a lecture given at a PTA meeting by high school principal Dr. Alfred Carroll. At the film's end he tells the parents he has been told that events similar to those he has described are likely to happen again, then points to random parents in the audience and warns that "the next tragedy may be that of your daughter... or your son... or yours or yours..." before pointing straight at the camera and saying emphatically "... or ''yours''!" as the words "TELL YOUR CHILDREN" appear on the screen.

In a small middle-America town in 1936, a group of parents have been gathered by a mysterious Lecturer for an assembly. The ominous Lecturer informs the parents that he has come to warn them about the evils of marijuana on their youth ''("Reefer Madness")'' through the tragic tale of one boy's struggles with the demon weed in a film titled ''"Tell Your Children"''. Throughout the film, the Lecturer stops to detail a political point or to condescend any audience member questioning his credibility.

Jimmy Harper and Mary Lane, a joyful teen couple, blissfully enjoy each other's company ''("Romeo & Juliet")'', unaware of the seedy goings-on in The Reefer Den across town. This is the residence of Mae, who is abused by her boyfriend, Jack, a street tough who supplies her and others with dope ''("The Stuff")''. Mary, Jimmy and their school friends head to Miss Poppy's Five and Dime, ''("Down at the Ol' Five and Dime").'' Jack appears at the hangout, offering Jimmy swing lessons to impress Mary.

Jimmy is taken to the Reefer Den, where Jack, Mae, college dropout Ralph and neighborhood slut Sally pressure him into smoking his first joint, leading him to a hallucination of an insidious bacchanal. ''("Jimmy Takes a Hit/ The Orgy")''. Jimmy turns into a crazed addict and neglects Mary, leading her to pray for him ''("Lonely Pew").'' While breaking into a church to steal collection money, Jimmy has a vision of Jesus Christ in a Vegas-esque Heaven, telling him to change his ways or be sent to eternal damnation ''("Listen to Jesus, Jimmy")''. Jimmy refuses to heed the word of God and continues to spiral into sin.

One night, Jimmy and Sally take a joy ride in Mary's stolen car while buzzed, running over an old man. Jimmy runs to Mary, debating whether to continue being under the influence or repent his ways ''("Mary Jane/ Mary Lane").'' Jimmy returns to Mary romantically, but he realizes that he is putting her in danger and tells her that he must leave town without her. Jack brings him back to the Reefer Den with a pot-brownie, putting him in a cartoonized trip ''("The Brownie Song").'' Mary follows Jimmy to the Den where Ralph seduces her by convincing her that Jimmy has joined his "fraternity". He suggests that they celebrate with a smoke, which turns out to be a toke. This intro to reefer immediately turns Mary into a sadistic dominatrix who terrorizes Ralph for pleasure ''("Little Mary Sunshine)''. Jimmy enters and a fight ensues. Jack stops the fight, knocks out Jimmy and accidentally shoots Mary. He frames an unconscious Jimmy for the crime. Jimmy gives Mary his class ring, and comforts her as she dies in his arms ''("Mary's Death")''.

Jimmy is taken away by police. Racked with guilt, Ralph has pot-induced hallucinations of Jimmy as a ghost, Mary as Satan's sodomy pal and the children who got hooked on the Reefer Gang's dope as the living dead. Ralph gets an extreme case of the munchies and cannibalizes Sally. Jack shoots Ralph to stop him ''("Murder!")''. Seeing similar visions, Mae realizes the error of her ways and tells Jack to do the same. He rejects her pleas and she bludgeons him to death with a garden hoe, gaining her much-needed empowerment ''("The Stuff (Reprise)").

Mae pleads to the visiting President about Jimmy's case, earning the boy a presidential pardon. Jimmy, Mae, the President and Jimmy's fellow prisoners, Ralph, Jack, and Sally (reincarnated as Uncle Sam, George Washington, and Lady Liberty respectively) raise the American justice system and patriotism ''("Tell 'Em the Truth")''. Jimmy burns down the Reefer Den's weed garden, freeing Mary from both Hell and Satan before everyone's eyes. The Lecturer's film ends with Mary entering Heaven, greeted by Jesus and other Holy souls.

The entire audience joins the suddenly real film cast to hold a huge anti-reefer book burning pledging to join the fight against marijuana, sex, racial and ethnic minorities and other things harmful to their dear country ''("Finale")''. The Lecturer drives off, pleased that he has succeeded in exploiting everyone's biases.

Jonathan "Jon" Cold (Steven Seagal) is a former "foreigner", or deep cover operative who now works as a freelance agent who is frequently commissioned to deliver high-risk packages.

As Jon prepares for his father's funeral, Alexander Marquet (Philip Dunbar) asks him to take on an assignment. Jon is keen to leave the business, but he reluctantly accepts the job.

His task is to take a mysterious package from France to a wealthy man in Germany. But Jon will soon find that there are a lot of people who are determined to prevent him from doing so. Jon is accompanied by Dunoir (Max Ryan) to a farmhouse to pick up the package, and they are attacked by assassins.

Jon fights them off and decides to continue with the assignment. Leaving Dunoir behind in France, Jon heads for his father Jackson's memorial service in Warsaw, Poland, and Jon meets up with his brother Sean (Jeffrey Pierce) before continuing on to Germany.

The package turns out to contain a black box flight recorder from an aircraft that had been suspiciously downed, and the recipient – sinister industrialist Jerome Van Aken (Harry Van Gorkum) – has a vested interest in it.

Once he arrives in Germany, Jon discovers that he is being pursued by various agents and assassins, while Van Aken's wife Meredith (Anna-Louise Plowman) and CIA spook Jared Olyphant (Gary Raymond) also seem to want to get hold of the package.

In a city under attack, Gedrin convinces his nervous wife, Jisa, to enter a stasis chamber and then enters one himself.

''Voyager'' is caught in a so called underspace corridor. A vessel of the Turei species helps ''Voyager'' re-enter normal space. When Captain Kathryn Janeway discovers they have traveled more than 200 light years in a few minutes, she requests that the Turei aid them further, but the Turei insist on wiping ''Voyager'' s computers of any information regarding the corridor. When Janeway refuses, the Turei ship attacks and summons reinforcements. Janeway has ''Voyager'' land on a nearby planet, shrouded in radiation that prevents the Turei from following them. The crew begins repairs while the Turei remain in orbit.

The planet contains the remains of a civilization that was destroyed nearly 900 years earlier. Detecting lifesigns, Janeway, Lt. Tuvok, and Seven of Nine discover stasis chambers, containing several hundred alien bodies. Seven, without waiting for Janeway's orders, wakes Gedrin. Jisa's body has decomposed and Gedrin mourns the loss of his wife. Recovering aboard ''Voyager'', Gedrin explains that his race, the Vaadwaur, discovered the subspace corridors and were attacked by other races who wished to seize them. He and hundreds of other Vaadwaur, along with their weapons and ships, entered stasis in caverns below the planet's surface, anticipating being revived five years later, but their control equipment was apparently damaged. Gedrin struggles with how much time has passed. The Vaadwaur were familiar with Neelix's species, the Talaxians; Neelix recognizes the term "Vaadwaur" as an old Talaxian word meaning "foolish."

Janeway and Gedrin plan to fight off the Turei and return to the subspace tunnels, and proceed to waken the other Vaadwaur; Commander Chakotay is reminded of a Greek myth whereby warriors would rise after the teeth of a defeated dragon were buried in the ground. Neelix and Seven research the Vaadwaur in Talaxian folklore and a Borg database, discovering that the Vaadwaur were the aggressors, using their subspace corridors to invade planets; Neelix informs Janeway. Meanwhile, ''Voyager'' s crew are unaware that the Vaadwaur plan to hijack ''Voyager'' in order to conquer a new colony for themselves. Gedrin warns Janeway, siding with ''Voyager'''s crew against his own people.

After the Vaadwaur turn openly hostile, Janeway allies with the Turei. Tuvok and Gedrin return to the planet to jam a satellite, allowing the Turei to use it to target the Vaadwaur ships. After Tuvok returns to the ship, Gedrin stays behind to maintain the signal; he is killed when the chamber collapses. ''Voyager'' escapes and leaves the sector. They detect that 53 Vaadwaur ships escaped the Turei assault and could threaten them in the future. Seven apologizes for causing the new war by waking Gedrin, but Janeway notes she might have done the same.

Eva is a wealthy, snobbish ballerina who is diagnosed with cancer. She is admitted into the youth cancer ward at a hospital where she is forced into humility by her disease. She rooms with fellow cancer patient Claudia, and the majority of the film revolves around their interactions together in their hospital room. She is treated with "concern and compassion" by Dr. Burton.

Ultimately Eva goes into remission and is able to continue her life, but not before witnessing another young woman's death and also assisting Claudia to suicide.

Twelve-year-old Josh Whitney unintentionally brainwashes his younger brother, seven-year-old Sam, making Sam believe that he is a genetically designed child warrior. Josh says that Sam is actually an acronym, and that he is a "Strategically Altered Mutant" that was designed by the government to fight in a secret war in Africa. After a series of various suspicious coincidences in Josh's lies, Sam eventually believes that he is a S.A.M.

Josh says that he can be safely deactivated and turned back into a human if he reaches Canada. After a thunderstorm grounds their flight in Dallas, forcing them to stay in a hotel, Josh grows impatient with his mother and decides to abandon Sam and his life. Blocked at all exits by hotel officials, he heads into a high-school reunion to seek refuge. He lies that his mother was a graduate, and he finds Derek Baxter, a drunken man claiming to be his father. Before Josh has time to clear his lie, Sam appears, and shortly thereafter, Derek drives them to their "grandparents'" house to tell them the good news. Upon entering the house, Derek overreacts to a picture of the real family and goes after Josh. After Sam hits him with a cue ball, Josh reacts defensively and hits Derek on the head with a pool cue, supposedly "killing" him. In panic, the two brothers steal his rental car and begin their trek to Canada.

After a day of Josh and Sam taking turns driving, they encounter Allison, who is an older teen runaway from Hannibal, Missouri. They pick her up due to a resemblance to the Liberty Maid, another lie of Josh's. According to the Liberty Maid's description, she aids fleeing S.A.M.s to Canada, in the similar way of Harriet Tubman. Allison travels with the brothers as their driver, and during the run develops a bond with Josh. After a run-in with a cop outside of Salt Lake City, Sam flees, causing a chase through the desert that nearly kills Sam as he crawls under a train. After Josh and Allison reach the car, they dash to the road to continue their journey.

During a night stop in a motel, Sam decides to leave Josh and Allison, and he steals the car. Later that day, Josh and Alison part ways after she fails to convince him to live in Seattle with her. After a long walk, he discovers the car on the side of the road. Unfortunately, Sam is not there, but he discovers a bus stop nearby and rides it the rest of the way to Canada. On the bus, he sees Sam riding on the back of a tractor-trailer, and after Sam and he reunite, they walk across the border into Canada.

In Calgary, Canada, Josh tries several attempts to return his brother back to "normal". Among these attempts is a trip to a tanning booth explaining that it will "deactivate him." After this, Sam is sent back home to Orlando on a plane. Feeling unwanted at home and considering himself a fugitive, Josh stays behind. When Sam arrives in Orlando, he is picked up by their dad, Thom, who asks about Josh's whereabouts, and tells Sam that he went to Dallas and talked to the police. They told him that Derek was knocked unconscious by Josh. The next morning, Josh arrives home in a taxi and reunites with Sam. As they walk inside, Sam tells Josh that he found a big file in his Dad's office... about Josh.

In 1967 New England, aimless 18-year-old Susanna Kaysen has a nervous breakdown and overdoses on aspirin and alcohol, after which against her wishes she is checked into Claymoore, a local psychiatric hospital. In the psychiatric ward, Susanna befriends Polly Clark, a childlike schizophrenic; Georgina Tuskin, a pathological liar; Daisy Randone, who self-harms and has obsessive–compulsive disorder, as well as being implied to be bulimic; and Janet, a sardonic woman with anorexia. Susanna is particularly drawn to the sociopath Lisa Rowe, who is rebellious but charismatic and encourages Susanna to stop taking her medication and resist therapy.

Lisa helps the girls sneak around at night in the hospital's underground tunnels and continuously provokes them and the staff, including the stern head nurse, Valerie Owens. Through regular therapy sessions with Dr. Melvin Potts, Susanna comes to learn she has borderline personality disorder, a fact Dr. Potts initially conceals from her. On a rare supervised group outing celebrating Daisy's impending release, the women visit an ice cream parlor in town. There, Susanna is confronted by Barbara Gilcrest, the wife of Professor Gilcrest, an English instructor with whom she had an affair, and their daughter, Bonnie. Barbara publicly chastises Susanna for sleeping with her husband; coming to Susanna's defense, Lisa insultingly berates Barbara and the other girls mock her and Bonnie before they both leave, humiliated. This endears Lisa to Susanna even more, though Valerie reprimands Lisa.

In addition to her affair with Dr. Gilchrist, Susanna has had a casual relationship with Toby, a young man who has been drafted to serve in the Vietnam War. He visits Susanna, and begs her to run away with him to Canada. Susanna tells him she has become friends with the other girls and would like to leave someday but not with him. The same night, Polly has a breakdown and is placed in isolation. Susanna and Lisa drug the night watch nurse with a sedative and attempt to comfort Polly by singing to her. Susanna also makes out with John, one of the hospital orderlies who has a crush on her. When Valerie finds the group sleeping in the hallway in the morning, she punishes the two women, particularly Lisa, who is forced to endure electroshock therapy followed by solitary confinement.

Later that night, Lisa manages to break out of confinement and convinces Susanna to escape with her. The women hitchhike to Daisy's newly-rented apartment, supplied by her doting father, and bribe her with valium to spend the night. Daisy, insistent she has been cured of her illness, is confronted by Lisa when Lisa discovers Daisy has been cutting herself. Lisa taunts and mocks Daisy, accusing her of enjoying the incestuous sexual abuse she has long suffered from her father. The next morning, Susanna finds Daisy dead in her bathroom, having slashed her wrists and hanged herself. Susanna is appalled when Lisa searches Daisy's room and body for cash. Realizing she does not want to become like Lisa, Susanna phones for an ambulance and returns to Claymoore while Lisa flees to Florida.

When she gets back to the hospital, Susanna occupies herself with painting and writing, and co-operates with her therapy, including regular sessions with the hospital's head psychologist, Dr. Sonia Wick. Before Susanna is released, Lisa is apprehended and returned to Claymoore. She steals Susanna's diary one night and reads it for the amusement of the patients in the tunnels, turning them against Susanna. After reading an entry in which Susanna feels sympathy for Lisa being a cold, dark person, Lisa attacks Susanna and chases her through the tunnels. Cornered, Susanna confronts Lisa, accusing her of being dead inside, emotionally dependent on Claymoore, and afraid of the world. This confrontation profoundly affects Lisa, who breaks down and contemplates suicide, though the others manage to dissuade her. Before Susanna is released the next day, she goes to visit Lisa, who is restrained to a bed. The two reconcile, and Lisa insists she is not actually heartless. They part ways on good terms and Susanna says her goodbyes to everyone and officially exits Claymoore having the clear.

Near the town of Ennis, Montana, local doctor and former government research immunologist Wesley McClaren (Steven Seagal) who has an interest in herbal medicine and is also a weapons and self-defense expert, is called to a hospital when people start dying from an unknown but very deadly disease. He determines that the cause is a highly dangerous airborne virus and calls in a Biological Response team, who seal off the town while doctors start treating sufferers with a vaccine. Unfortunately for them, several have already died.

The source of the virus is traced to a local self-styled rebel militia leader, Floyd Chisholm (Gailard Sartain), who has given himself up after a long siege and has been arrested on weapons charges. In court, having ingested the virus himself (believing that he also possesses the vaccine) he spits at the judge, and starts the rapid spread of the disease.

Floyd's militia followers, who have been allowed to go free, attack the prison and rescue Floyd. They then proceed to invade and besiege the hospital, with much loss of life, and take medical personnel hostage including Wesley and his daughter Holly (Camilla Belle). But too late, they realize that the vaccine they were seeking at the hospital is the same as the one they possess which only delays the effect of the deadly virus. Working at gunpoint, Wesley takes a sample of Holly's blood; it shows that Holly has been infected, but somehow her body is fighting it off. Wesley and Holly contrive to escape and travel to a farm where Holly's grandfather lives. Wesley takes a blood sample from his friend Dr. Ann White Cloud (Whitney Yellow Robe), and realizes that her body is also fighting off the infection.

Wesley and Ann gain access to a secret underground laboratory where Wesley used to work, where they hope to come up with a cure. Wesley finds out why Ann and Holly are not being affected by the virus: they have been drinking tea made with a specific wild herb that is known to Native American healers.

Back at the hospital, Wesley and Holly are captured by the militia, but he manages to kill Floyd and disable the other soldiers. As soon as the biological protection team learn of the cure, they go out and pick all the flowers they can find and drop them by helicopter over the town, telling the people to boil them and drink the liquid.

In 18th-century Russia, the Tsar, Paul, is surrounded by murderous plots and trusts only Count Pahlen. Pahlen wishes to protect his friend, the mad king, but because of the horror of the king's acts, he feels that he must remove him from the throne. Stefan, whipped by the tsar for not having the correct number of buttons on his gaiters, joins with the count in the plot. The crown prince is horrified by their plans and warns his father, who, having no love for his son, places him under arrest for his foolish accusations. Pahlen uses his mistress, the Countess Ostermann, to lure the tsar into the bedroom, where she tells him of the plot. The tsar summons Pahlen, who reassures him of his loyalty. Later that night the count and Stefan enter his bedroom, and presently the tsar is dead. But moments later Stefan turns a pistol on Pahlen. As the count lies dying on the floor, the countess appears and embraces Pahlen as he says, "I have been a bad friend and lover—but I have been a Patriot."

''The Blackstone Chronicles'' follows the lives of several people in the fictional town of Blackstone, New Hampshire. An uninhabited asylum was set to be demolished for a new shopping mall, only for the funding to be withdrawn at the last moment. The series follows a different character each chapter as they receive a "gift" from an anonymous source and the terrible things that happen to the recipient (or those around them) shortly thereafter. The books also follow the character of Oliver Metcalf, editor of the local paper, who had previously grown up on the asylum's grounds and suspects that a single source is behind each of the tragedies that befall the gifts' recipients. The final novel reveals the connection between the various objects and the identity of the mysterious gift-giver.

The film has four storylines, which run in parallel and interact:

Xixo trying to find his lost children

Two elephant poachers travelling in a truck on which Xixo's children are stuck

A zoologist and a lawyer stranded in a desert

Two soldiers fighting each other

The story starts with two elephant poachers, the chronically mean "Big Ben" Brenner and his affable but not-very-bright assistant George, crossing the area in which Xixo's tribe lives. Curious about their vehicle, Xixo's son Xiri and daughter Xisa climb into the water tank trailer and are taken for an involuntary ride as the poachers continue. Xixo follows on foot, determined to retrieve his children.

Dr. Ann Taylor, a young lawyer from New York City, arrives at a bush resort to give a lecture at a legal conference. Since she has spare time, she accepts the invitation of a young man to take a joyride in a two-seat, twin engine ultralight aircraft. They go to see scientist Dr. Stephen Marshall, who has just been radioed that he must report to the resort where Dr. Taylor just came from to tend to a wounded animal they have found. Leaving the other pilot to watch his truck and equipment, he heads for the resort in the ultralight with Ann aboard, but encounter severe weather and crash, stranding them in the Kalahari desert. In addition, war is brewing, personified by a lost Cuban soldier (Mateo) and his Angolan enemy (Timi), who repeatedly attempt to take each other prisoner.

In the course of the movie, all these people cross paths with Xixo and/or his children. Finally, the plot culminates in the poachers capturing Xixo, Taylor, Marshall, and the two soldiers. Xixo manages to save them, and George, who is actually a nice guy kept under the heel of his boss, gives Xixo directions to his children. The poachers are captured, both soldiers come to somewhat reluctant terms and part without further violence, Taylor and Marshall return to civilization (though not without a last embarrassing accident), entering into a romantic relationship, and Xixo finds his children.

Korgoth is infected with a deadly parasite by Gog-Ma-Gogg and extorted to steal an item known as "The Golden Goblin of the Fourth Age" from the wizard Specules, who Gog believes to have recently died. He journeys with a group of Gog-Ma-Gogg's henchmen to Specules' castle, picking up a girl and killing several things along the way. The group reaches the castle and begin to plunder it. As Korgoth searches for the Golden Goblin, Specules returns, explaining that he was on vacation. Specules uses his magic to kill or incapacitate all but Korgoth, who proves too strong for the ridiculous creatures that the wizard conjures through chewing gum. As a last resort, Specules uses his magic directly against Korgoth; however, he is knocked off-balance and accidentally kills Korgoth's girl. Angered, Korgoth takes a two-pronged candle stick holder and impales Specules through the eyes, only to find that the wizard has magically transferred his head onto the dead girl's body. Specules proceeds to fly out the window. Korgoth returns to Gog-Ma-Gogg with the Golden Goblin (a simple novelty item) and gets the elixir for the deadly parasite, though the elixir takes many seasons to take effect. Korgoth is last seen walking away, pulling a cart full of medicine bottles.

A series promo featured brief introductions for the crew on the use of a subterranean drill module. The team, known as STRATA, included Captain Jim J. James, Lieutenant Jen E. James, Robot, Kiko the Mute Wildboy, and the "rest" of the STRATA action team, which included Saul Malone (Gardner) – and Don Rogers. The main character, Saul, is seen in the background or blocked off by objects like a shovel or a flag during the promo.

Following the promo, the crew is shown aboard STRATA's huge ship, which is burrowing deep under Earth's surface. Saul becomes the sole survivor of the main team when rocks begin pummeling the rest of the STRATA team, and crippling their ship; the only other survivors are a Robot controlled by a human brain, and the vapid pop musician Johnny Tambourine, who is conscious but trapped in a hibernation capsule. Saul soon finds himself in an underground world populated by "Mole Men" and "Bird Bats" as well as unexplained characters like "The Floating Pancake" and "Chinacula", a cape-wearing Chinese vampire. Though cut off from the surface world, Saul is elated, believing he will find evidence beneath the surface for his theory that there are sentient rocks descended from a huge "mother rock". Terrified by the Mole Men, Saul impulsively impales their king using the STRATA transmitter. The king eventually dies, touching off a power struggle between his two sons – the older (but corpulent and corrupt) Bertrum Burrows, and the noble Clancy Burrows. Saul fails to get a proper signal to STRATA before the transmitter is destroyed. However, he does meet a talking rock, one he believes to be the Mother Rock. The intelligent stone inspires Saul to lead the Mole Men, who themselves are turning to a popular vote in search of a new king. Saul is easily defeated by both of the Burrows brothers, who themselves lose to a clueless Johnny Tambourine.

As the series progresses, Saul is alternately challenged and befriended by Mole Men. Saul meets Fallopia, a female and one of the most horribly mutated of the Mole Men (when revealed, she actually appears to be a beautiful human woman). Though Fallopia becomes Saul's love interest, she betrays him when found ''in flagrante delicto'' with Johnny Tambourine. Eventually the plot links the Mother Rock, a war between mole men and bird bats and a prophecy involving magical gemstones, the end of the world and Benjamin Franklin.

In the season 1 finale, Saul, Clancy, and Stromulus Guandor team up to defeat the Rock Assassins, which are actually Jim J. James and Jen. E. James' bodies with rock heads, who then combine to form a giant rock monster. With the combined talents of Stromulus' "Sonar of the Bird-Bats", Bertrum's"Mole Man Burrowing", and Saul's "Rock Master Tumble", they defeat the rock monster, and Saul's old captains die in peace — only for Saul to confront Nathaniel Baltimore — his arch rival from the Tallahassee Geological License Review Board — who inexplicably appears. Suddenly, they find a spaceship, and everybody, including the floating pancake, clambers on. Clancy even allows Bertrum aboard, though how he survived the rock attack in the previous episode is never explained. Before they take off, Otnip – the moss-covered devil of the Mole Men – stops their ship. Clancy goes out in an apparent suicide mission to blow up Otnip and free the ship. The episode ends as the ship flies into outer space, and the team, led by Saul and Fallopia, with Bertrum, Stromulus, Mrs. Burrows, Li'l Burrows, Nathaniel Baltimore, the floating pancake, and Chinacula is renamed "Strata-Team Space". Thus ends the season.

Advertisements began airing on Adult Swim advertising the show as STRATA instead of the original title, making the series appear much like . Subsequent advertisements, however, focus more on Saul and reveal the actual title of the show.

Saul often refers to his home-town of Buffalo, New York and reveals that he studied geology. Saul's presence is largely funny because of his endearing use of Buffalo English. His love interest is introduced as a creature perceived by locals as hideous and nearly beaten to death by the Mole Men. The beating is interrupted and the creature is revealed to be the lovely Fallopia. The Mole Men's perception of Fallopia's appearance is not unlike the ''Twilight Zone'' episode "Eye of the Beholder".

Stephanie Plum, laid off from her job as a lingerie buyer for a Newark department store, applies for a filing job with her cousin Vinnie, a bail bondsman. Vinnie's assistant, Connie, tells her the job is taken, but suggests she works as a bounty hunter, apprehending clients who have failed to appear for their court dates. Stephanie is excited to learn that Joe Morelli, a Trenton vice cop and onetime sexual acquaintance of hers, is FTA and facing charges for murder one. Vinnie initially refuses to give her a job, but Morelli's bounty is $10,000, which Stephanie desperately needs, so she blackmails Vinnie into employing her, by threatening to expose his "addiction to kinky sex" to his unsuspecting wife.

Staking out Morelli's apartment, Stephanie follows his cousin, Mooch, to Morelli's hideout and finds him quickly, but is humiliated when he laughs off her demand that she come with him, pointing out (correctly) that she has neither the equipment nor the training to apprehend an unwilling fugitive. Connie puts her in touch with Vinnie's "star" bounty hunter, Ricardo Manoso, a.k.a. "Ranger", who gives her a crash-course in bounty hunting. He also buys Stephanie her first gun, a compact Smith & Wesson revolver, and fills her in on Morelli's alleged crime: shooting an unarmed man, Ziggy Kuleska, at the apartment of a prostitute, Carmen Sanchez. Morelli claims that Ziggy was armed and Morelli shot him in self-defense, but no gun was recovered at the crime scene. Stephanie's friend, police officer Eddie Gazarra, advises her that Morelli is likely going around Trenton, trying to find witnesses who will clear his name, so her best bet at finding him is to follow the same trail.

Stephanie's first stop is a boxing gym on Stark Street (Trenton's roughest neighborhood) to interview champion boxer Benito Ramirez and his manager Jimmy Alpha, both known associates of Ziggy Kuleska. Her interview with Ramirez quickly turns ugly when he assaults her, but she is rescued by Morelli, who disappears almost as quickly as he appeared.

Exploring Morelli's apartment with Ranger, Stephanie decides to "commandeer" Morelli's Jeep Grand Cherokee, counting on trapping him when he tries to steal it back. Instead, he catches her unaware in the shower and leaves her handcuffed, naked, to the curtain rod, forcing her to call Ranger for help.

She continues to follow the trail of possible witnesses to Morelli's crime, but is shaken when two of the witnesses are later found dead, and Lula, a prostitute working on Stark Street that she spoke with, is hung outside her apartment window, raped and beaten nearly to death. When Stephanie returns home from the hospital, Morelli is there, and offers her a deal: his movements have become too restricted, so if she helps him investigate and clear his name, he will let her bring him into custody and collect the bounty.

While he is hiding in her apartment, Vinnie's regular bounty hunter, Morty Beyers, comes by and requests his case files back, since he's recovered from his appendicitis. He also steals the keys to Morelli's SUV from Stephanie's purse, thinking to lure Morelli to him in the same way. Instead, Morty is killed when a car bomb destroys the SUV, proving that whatever Stephanie is investigating is making someone angry or nervous.

At a butcher shop that Ziggy Kuleska was known to frequent, Stephanie is shocked to recognize the "flat-nose" guy behind the counter as the witness Morelli described at the scene of Ziggy's death. They follow him to a moored boat, and Morelli finds traces of heroin that link the boat to the illegal drug traffic run by a local Jamaican gang. They then follow the trail to a freezer truck, where they find oil drums containing the bodies of Carmen and the witness. Morelli despairs, knowing that this has practically eliminated the chances of him clearing his name. Stephanie advocates calling the police, but Morelli refuses, tossing in a remark about her ineptitude as a bounty hunter that stings her into locking him in the freezer truck and driving it to the police station to hand him over.

Returning home, Stephanie is held at gunpoint by Jimmy Alpha, who she had taken to be a helpless bystander. Ruefully, he tells her that managing a champion boxer like Ramirez is every promoter's dream, but Ramirez has become a sadistic psychopath, and Alpha can't control him any longer. Alpha has tried to "diversify" by using his earnings from Ramirez to buy other businesses, such as the butcher shop, but was lured into using his boat and his businesses to assist in the Jamaicans' drug trade. Carmen was on the verge of telling the truth to Morelli, which is why Ziggy killed her before Morelli arrived, and the now-dead witness took Ziggy's gun after Morelli shot him. Now Stephanie is too close to the truth, which is why Alpha will have to have Ramirez rape and torture her to death, before Alpha shoots him and retires peacefully. Stephanie shoves Alpha to the ground, taking a bullet in her rear end from Alpha's gun, before grabbing her purse and emptying her revolver into Alpha's heart.

Thanks to a microphone hidden on her by Morelli, Alpha's confession was recorded and clears Morelli's name, though Stephanie still receives the capture fee from Vinnie. Morelli visits her apartment with a conciliatory pizza, adding that Ramirez has been arrested and indicted. He also asks if she will continue working for Vinnie, and she says she probably will. The experience has rekindled their attraction for each other, and he tries to make amends by apologizing for writing a lewd poem about her on the stadium wall. Stephanie, who only knew about the poem on the wall of the local delicatessen, gets furious all over again.

Car death(s)

Stephanie's Mazda Miata: repossessed; Morelli's Jeep Grand Cherokee: destroyed by a car bomb.

Failure-to-Appear (FTA) assignments

Joe Morelli: First degree murder Clarence Sampson: DUI Lonnie Dodd: auto theft William Earling: indecent exposure

While Stephanie is looking for Kenny around their Trenton neighborhood, the friend he shot - Moogey Bues - is shot again. This second attack is fatal, which complicates the case against Kenny. At the same time, Stephanie is approached by Spiro Stiva, the stepson of the owner of the local funeral home, who wants to hire her as a private investigator. Spiro purchased twenty-four bargain basement coffins, but they have mysteriously gone missing. Spiro has not reported the loss to the police, out of fear that his stepfather, who is convalescing in the hospital, will find out.

Morelli, who is also looking for Kenny, warns her that something is suspicious about Spiro's offer; any legitimate person would have filed a police report, plus the fact that Spiro, Kenny, and Moogey were best friends in high school.

As the book continues, Stephanie begins receiving embalmed body parts in her apartment along with threatening notes. When she refuses to stop investigating, Kenny attacks her Grandma Mazur on the street, stabbing her through the hand with an icepick, though without doing permanent damage.

Morelli confides to Stephanie that a large shipment of military-grade weapons - armor-piercing bullets, LAWs, and brand-new assault rifles and pistols - went missing from Fort Braddock, and several reappeared on the streets in Philadelphia and around New Jersey. Kenny, who was discharged from the U.S. Army two months ago, had access to the weapons depot, and the gun he used to shoot Moogey also belonged to the missing inventory. Morelli believes that Kenny, Spiro and Moogey stole the guns and were selling them, though he doesn't know who killed Moogey or why.

Eventually, Stephanie and Grandma Mazur find themselves locked in the basement of Stiva's Funeral Home when Spiro and Kenny confront each other. It turns out that an associate of Kenny's, an auto mechanic named Sandeman, overheard enough to figure out what Kenny and Spiro were up to. He killed Moogey and stole the guns, which were hidden in Spiro's caskets. Kenny, believing that Spiro had double-crossed him, went on a rampage, sending body parts and threats to Spiro as well as Stephanie, before tracking down Sandeman and the guns, now hidden in the basement of the Funeral Home. They just have to kill Stephanie and Grandma Mazur to cover their tracks.

However, Spiro and Kenny both underestimated Grandma Mazur. When they open the locked room, Grandma pulls a pistol from her handbag and opens fire, inadvertently hitting one of the caskets and causing an explosion that burns down the funeral home. Stephanie and Grandma Mazur both manage to escape, and Kenny staggers out a moment later, though there is no sign of Spiro. In a rage, Stephanie subdues Kenny - with some help from Morelli - and takes him to jail.

Lula, the prostitute introduced in the previous book, ''One For the Money'', gets a job as a file clerk at Vinnie's Bail Bonds company. She often joins Stephanie as her sidekick in addition to her filing duties.

Car Death

Stephanie's Jeep Wrangler, Sahara model, stolen outside of the Eternal Slumber funeral home on Stark Street, and most likely wound up in a chop shop.

Failure-to-Appear (FTA) assignments

Kenny Mancuso: Shooting his best friend in the knee Eugene Petras: Domestic Violence

Stephanie is on the trail of beloved '''Moses Bedemier''', a mild-mannered man who runs an ice-cream parlor/candy store in the Burg. Mo is an upstanding citizen with ties to almost every family in Trenton. He gets ticketed by an overly-excited, fresh-out-of-the-academy cop for carrying a concealed weapon, and then fails to appear for his court date. No one wants to help Stephanie haul "Uncle Mo" (as he is widely known) to jail, so her apprehension work is frustratingly slow. "Mo would never do anything wrong," is the standard refrain from all the Burg's residents when Stephanie questions them.

Since her neighbors and family refuse to help her, she calls on her mentor Ranger, her sidekick (and aspiring bounty hunter) Lula, and Joe Morelli, vice cop and former lover. As she investigates, Stephanie confides to Morelli that something feels wrong about Mo - everyone loves him for his profession, but no one seems to know anything about his private life, and a concealed weapons charge is not serious enough for him to go on the run.

Lula's friend Jackie, still working as a prostitute on Stark Street, asks Stephanie to help her find her worthless boyfriend, who disappeared with Jackie's almost-new car. A short while later, they find the man's body under the car, shot dead. Even more strange, while snooping through the basement of Mo's ice cream shop, Stephanie finds four dead bodies buried in the dirt, all drug dealers. Stephanie suspects that mild-mannered Mo has become a vigilante.

This suspicion soon circulates around the Burg, and, far from being upset, most of the residents decide Mo is a hero and still refuse to help Stephanie find him. Worse, men in masks are following her around, threatening to kill her if she keeps looking for Mo.

It is Stephanie's slimy cousin Vinnie who provides the final clue. Vinnie had already told her that Mo was secretly homosexual, but she has a theory about his connection with the drug dealers, and Vinnie's investigation confirms it: Mo, under an alias, is actually a renowned director and producer of underground BDSM films. He owns a small rural house outside Trenton under that alias, where he shoots most of his movies.

Stephanie, Lula, and Ranger confront Mo at the house, where he is hiding out. He confesses that one of the drug dealers "procured" young men and women (i.e., drug addicts desperate for money) to perform in Mo's movies, but crossed the line when he asked permission to sell drugs outside Mo's store. Mo pretended to agree, but suggested a "sting operation" to a local church reverend, who embraced the idea. However, Mo did not plan on the scheme "snowballing", and now the reverend and several members of his congregation have become a death squad, privately "cleaning up the streets" of Trenton. Mo was prepared to testify to the authorities, but the vigilantes are now hunting him along with the drug dealers.

Just then, the death squad pulls up outside the house and attacks with heavy weapons, including a rocket launcher that blows up Stephanie's pickup truck. Ranger hunkers down in the house, while telling Stephanie and Lula to take Mo to safety. Stephanie tells Lula to drive away with Mo, then draws her gun to help Ranger, but Morelli and the police arrive with reinforcements before anyone is killed or seriously wounded. The vigilantes are apprehended, and Stephanie returns Mo to court.

As Stephanie attempts to resume her relationship with Morelli, they are constantly interrupted - first by criminals, then by Stephanie's accidental dye job that makes her look like Ronald McDonald.

Car Death

Stephanie's Baby Nissan Pickup, shot by a rocket launcher Ranger's BMW stolen and later returned

Failure-to-Appear (FTA) assignments

Moses "Uncle Mo" Bedemier: Carrying Concealed Stuart Baggett: Shooting up 14 unoccupied cars (including two police cars)

The series follows the adventures of Dr. Peter Brady, a scientist who is attempting to achieve invisibility with light refraction. However, the experiment goes wrong and turns him permanently invisible. He is initially declared a state secret and locked up, but eventually convinces the UK government, represented by Sir Charles Anderson, to allow him to return to his laboratory and search for an antidote ("Secret Experiment"). Almost immediately, British Intelligence recruits him for an assignment ("Crisis in the Desert"), but soon security is breached ("Behind the Mask") and he becomes a celebrity ("Picnic with Death"), consequently also using his invisibility to help people in trouble, as well as solve crimes and defeat spies for his country.

The story follows Sholl, a man living in London soon after a convulsive onslaught by unearthly beings. Through introspective monologue on both sides of the fight, the reader learns of the history of the attacking ''imagos'' and "vampires", and the reasons behind the invasion.

Six years after the events depicted in ''Fury3'', the Bions (an alien race created by Terran scientists which rebelled and became ruthless killing machines) kill all the Coalition's qualified pilots on Sebek. The player's character ("the Councilor") is the last surviving pilot for the Coalition of Independent Planets, the defense group that protects the universe from the Bions. The Bions are now targeting the rest of the Coalition's citizens. The pilot must accomplish various objectives on eight different worlds in order to stop the Bions, save the universe, and win the game.

Centuries ago, the Aztec Empire of Mexico was conquered by the Spanish conquistadors. Horrified by their religious practices, the Spaniards set out to convert the native population to Catholicism, effectively declaring war upon the Aztec religion. According to an ancient prophecy, the Aztecs and their religion will return to dominance in a time known as the Sixth Sun.

While attempting to illegally cross the United States-Mexico border, young orphan boy Juan Diego is singled out by a fellow traveler, a strange old man known only as "Old Indian" claiming to know the way. The old man leads the boy to an old Aztec shrine dedicated to the god of death, Mictlantecuhtli. Explaining that they must give thanks to Tezcatlipoca, the god of sacrifice, Old Indian proceeds to carve a symbol of the god in to Diego's hand. Declaring the boy's blood to be pure, the Old Indian dies in the throes of invocations of Nahuatl, abandoning the boy in the desert.

Ten years later, 21-year-old Diego has made a home for himself in East Los Angeles. He shares an apartment with his best friend Zak and is in love with Maria, niece of Padre Somera of the local mission which dates back to the Cortés era. However, Diego and Maria's relationship is strained both by his haunting encounter with Old Indian and the devout Padre's disapproval of the young man's sympathy towards Aztec beliefs and mythology. Anticipating a local Dia de los Muertos festival, Diego begins to feel the call of something powerful. He dresses as an undead Mariachi, clad in black with the traditional markings to give himself a skeletal appearance.

En route to the celebration, the forces of the Aztec underworld cause Diego's car to crash, ending his life. Diego awakens in the Aztec afterlife of Mictlan where the god of death sacrifices him to Tezcatlipoca in a ritual where his heart is torn from his chest with the aid of an obsidian blade. He is then sent back to the land of the living exactly one year after his death. Diego, selected long ago by the Old Indian, is the sacrificial priest in service to Tezcatlipoca. In order to fulfill the prophecy of the Sixth Sun, Tezcatlipoca requires three human sacrifices, each symbolizing the Catholic Church that wiped out the old gods over five hundred years ago. And Maria, being the direct descendant of the Somera family is at risk. Armed with the power to take life or restore it, Diego must struggle against the very gods who created him in order to save the woman he loves.

In Belleville, Paris, Madame Rosa, an elderly French Jew and Holocaust survivor who worked as a prostitute, now runs a boarding home for the children of prostitutes. One of them is Momo, an Algerian boy who is believed to be 11. Although Madame Rosa is Jewish and sometimes makes racist comments about Momo, she remains aloof from the Arab-Israeli conflict and raises Momo as a Muslim in respect of his heritage, taking him to her friend Mr. Hamil for instruction in religion, French literature, and Arabic at the Grand Mosque. She is in fact concealing the fact that Momo is 14, expressing strong skepticism about official documents and what they can or cannot prove, and, as a result, is unable to send him to a regular primary school.

Momo steals a dog from a pet shop. He later impulsively sells the dog for 500 francs and stuffs the money into the sewer. Rosa, who regards Momo as a troublemaker, takes him to her physician Dr. Katz under the belief that he is syphilitic or mentally ill. Momo later follows her after she has a nightmare about the Auschwitz concentration camp to discover her hidden Jewish space under the staircase, and the two begin to develop a closer bond. Later, after Momo dresses himself up as a prostitute and a real prostitute takes him to a cafe run by a friend of Madame Rosa's believing that he needs help, Madame Rosa makes Momo swear never to prostitute himself or become a procurer. In a park, Momo meets a female film editor, and she tells him he can visit her lab any time he likes.

Madame Rosa is in exceedingly poor health and begins experiencing dementia, at times having flashbacks to the Vel d’Hiv roundup and falling back into the belief that she will be arrested by the French Police and sent back to Auschwitz. Mr. Hamil also begins to have dementia, taking solace in the writings of Victor Hugo. After she has a bad fall on the stairs, Dr. Katz informs Momo that she has many health issues including hypertension. She refuses to be hospitalized. Momo believes she should be euthanized. When told by Dr. Katz that euthanasia contradicts French values, Momo replies he is not French and that Algerians believe in self-determination. Momo's father, who spent time in an asylum after murdering Momo's mother, returns to try to collect Momo, but Madame Rosa tricks him into believing that she raised him as a Jew and he suffers a fatal stroke. Momo is with Madame Rosa when she retreats to her Jewish space under the staircase to die, and is discovered with her body three weeks later. Afterwards, he goes to live with the film editor.

Following on from the events of ''The Banquo Legacy'', the Time Lords have cracked the base code the Eighth Doctor programmed into Compassion's randomiser, and intercept her at her next destination. Threatened with enslavement, Compassion activates her built in weapons system and destroys the approaching WarTARDISes, while the Doctor fights for control of her navigation systems. The resulting "hiccup" expels Fitz and the Doctor into the vortex. The Doctor is captured while escaping from the Edifice, a massive bone structure that has appeared in the skies above Gallifrey, and taken to Gallifrey, where he is accused of being an agent of Faction Paradox. The Doctor is forced to aid the Time Lords in the capture of Compassion to aid in the forthcoming War.

Meanwhile, Fitz appears before a group of disenchanted, young Time Lords who are holding rituals based on the occult texts of Faction Paradox and finds himself unable to escape. Getting further embroiled in the group's activities, Fitz witnesses the creation of a copy of former President Greyjan the Sane and is then the unwitting donor of material used to pull the original Fitz Kreiner, now in the guise of Faction Agent Father Kreiner, from a Klein bottle universe into the modern day Gallifrey.

During her Reaffirmation Ceremony, Lady President Romana is challenged by Greyjan and placed under house arrest, with only Fitz as company. With the aid of Compassion, they are able to escape and witness Faction Paradox corrupting Time Lord history, followed by the Doctor's fall to the Faction.

Travelling to the Edifice with Father Kreiner and a Faction Agent known as Tarra, Kreiner reveals he is not truly working for the Faction and pleads with the Doctor to undo the past so he never becomes Father Kreiner, an act the Doctor cannot agree to. The Doctor reveals that not only has he not fallen to the Faction, but that the Edifice is, in fact, his old TARDIS, which was not actually destroyed at Avalon. Together he and Kreiner are able to dispose of Tarra before Grandfather Paradox appears on the Edifice to confront the Doctor.

The Doctor battles the Grandfather, and decides that the only way to prevent Faction Paradox from destroying Gallifrey's past is a drastic move: he chooses to use the energy that is holding the TARDIS together to destroy Faction Paradox and Grandfather Paradox, but also destroy Gallifrey in the process. With the whole of Time Lord history seemingly being erased from existence, Compassion is able to rescue the Doctor, Fitz and the remains of the Doctor's old TARDIS, placing them on Earth for safekeeping, until the TARDIS can regenerate itself over the course of the next century and the Doctor, now suffering from amnesia, can recover.

At the end of the novel, the Doctor is stranded on Earth for a hundred years; Fitz is left to his own devices in the late 20th century, with only a time and place to meet the Doctor once the TARDIS is once again active; and Compassion is released from her bonds to both the Time Lords and the Faction, free to roam time and space as she sees fit.

Set in Canada, ''Obasan'' centers on the memories and experiences of Naomi Nakane, a 36-year-old schoolteacher living in the rural Canadian town of Cecil, Alberta, when the novel begins. The death of Naomi's uncle, with whom she had lived as a child, leads Naomi to visit and care for her widowed aunt Aya, whom she refers to as Obasan (''obasan'' being the Japanese word for "aunt"). Her brief stay with Obasan in turn becomes an occasion for Naomi to revisit and reconstruct in memory her painful experiences as a child during and after World War II, with the aid of a box of correspondence and journals sent to her by her Aunt Emily, detailing the years of the measures taken by the Canadian government against the Japanese citizens of Canada and their aftereffects. With the aid of Aunt Emily's letters, Naomi learns that her mother, who had been in Japan before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, was severely injured by the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, a finding that changes her perspective of the War in the Pacific, and rekindles the heartbreak she experienced as a child.

Naomi's narration thus interweaves two stories, one of the past and another of the present, mixing experience and recollection, history and memory throughout. Naomi's struggle to come to terms with both past and present confusion and suffering form the core of the novel's plot.

Although ''Obasan'' is fiction, the events, parliamentary legal documents, and overall notion of racism mirror reality. Through the eyes of fictional characters, Kogawa tells the story of Japanese-Canadians during the war.

The Russian soldier Grischa escapes from a German prison camp and attempts to return to the family home. After his escape he becomes involved with a group of outlaws, including a young woman, Babka, who dresses as a man and has been prematurely aged by her traumatic experiences. Grischa and Babka become lovers. When he leaves, she gives him the identity tag of a former lover, Bjuscheff, so that if he gets caught he will be mistaken for a deserter and not be sent back to the prison camp. She follows him at a distance in case he ever needs her help.

Grischa is eventually captured. Being illiterate, he does not realise that calling himself Bjuscheff worsens his plight, as he has been unable to read the notices saying that all deserters must hand themselves in to the occupying German army within three days or face execution as spies. Only when he is condemned to death does he realise what has happened, and he reveals his true identity. The local German authorities send for his former prison guards, and having confirmed his true identity, they send for advice to Schieffenzahn, the chief administrator on the eastern Front. Schieffenzahn orders that the original error must be ignored, for the sake of discipline. Grischa is therefore sentenced to be shot.

There follows a power struggle between the local military authorities and the administrators. The old general sees it as a point of honour not to give in to Schieffenzahn's order. Although he fails to convince Schieffenzahn face to face, the latter thinks better of it afterwards and rescinds the execution order. However, a heavy snowfall has brought down the communication wires, and the telegram of reprieve is never sent. In the meantime, Babka hatches a plan to poison the prison guards, whilst Lieutenant Winfried, the general's nephew, tries to find alternative ways of getting Grischa out of prison. Both plans fail because Grischa himself is tired of the struggle and refuses to leave, preferring to face execution rather than continue as a pawn in the larger game.

A young mother's life is blown apart when her husband and four-year-old son are killed during a bombing at a football match. Following this, the young mother falls into a depression. While the young mother tries to battle her depression, she also must fight the guilt of committing adultery the same day of her son's and husband's death.

The story follows a number of Jewish partisans and resistance fighters as they struggle to survive and sabotage the German war machine behind Nazi lines during World War II, starting in the western Soviet Union (Byelorossiya) and ending in Milan.

The book's chief protagonist, Mendel Nachmanovich Dajcher, worked as a watch repairer before joining the Red Army, where he fought in the artillery. While he is at war, his wife and shtetl are massacred by a German Einsatzgruppe. In the midst of battle, he loses his regiment, becomes disoriented and is overtaken by the front, separated from and unsupported by Soviet forces.

His life thereafter is an odyssey through the "partisanka", the motley partisan movement, which includes Russians, Jews, Lithuanians and Poles. About halfway through the book, Mendel and his companion from the first chapter, Leonid, fall in with a group of Jewish resistance fighters called the gedalistas, after their leader: Gedale.

With them, Mendel traverses Poland and, overtaken by the victorious Soviets, enters defeated Germany. From there, the group aims for Italy, dreaming of making the aliyah to Palestine to take part in the Zionist project of reclaiming a Jewish homeland.

When an undercover detective is shot dead while investigating a string of Porsche 911 thefts, Lieutenant Vincent Bracey assigns 22-year-old San Diego officer Benjamin "Benjy" Taylor to infiltrate a Porsche garage suspected to be a front for the grand theft auto scheme. Benjy is chosen because of his extensive mechanical knowledge of German cars and his rookie status, which dissuades others from suspecting that he is a cop. Bracey wants Benjy to obtain evidence that millionaire playboy Ted Varrick is the mastermind behind the thefts and the murder of the detective.

Using the alias "Billy Ayles", Benjy moves to Los Angeles and gets a job at Technique Porsche as a mechanic. After Benjy fixes Ted's Porsche one night, the two men become close friends, and Benjy becomes romantically attached to Ted's sister Ann. Benjy also discovers the presence of a rival syndicate led by Frank Martin, which leads him to believe that Ted is not the prime suspect despite Bracey's insistence.

Eventually, Ted brings Benjy into his side business of stealing Porsches, with garage manager Malcolm coordinating the operations. Benjy's first few attempts at stealing cars fail miserably, with Frank's syndicate catching on and slashing his hand as a warning. While doing a job at the mall, Benjy and Ted are confronted by Frank and his thugs, but they manage to lose them in a lengthy car chase. Ted rewards Benjy with a red Porsche that night. The next day, Ted goes to Technique Porsche and finds Malcolm has been murdered. In retaliation, he kills Frank at a night club.

During a phone conversation at a party, corrupt police Lieutenant Curtis Loos - who was hired by Ted to take out the detective in the film's opening - tells Ted about Benjy's real identity. The next night, Ted has Benjy meet Loos at a warehouse for a payoff. When Loos tries to kill Benjy, Ted runs him over to save his friend in spite of what he knows. Later, Benjy stops at Bracey's house to inform him of what happened with Loos, and accuses the Lieutenant of conspiring with him. Bracey kicks Benjy out, but tells him to call in the morning so they can work things out. Benji drives off, unaware that Ted is nearby, spying on him.

The next day, Benjy's cover is blown in front of Ann when his uncle Mike pays him a visit at his apartment. He goes to Bracey's house, only to find that Ted has murdered him. Ted is preparing to flee the country when Benjy convinces him to meet up at the mall, where he tries to arrest Ted for the murders. Ted refuses to go quietly and a gunfight breaks out; Benjy is wounded, but manages to shoot and kill Ted.

Accompanying Doctor Cheryl Kimble—the head of Lexcorp's space division—on the investigation of an incoming probe as part of Lexcorp's attempts to improve its public image, Clark is shocked to discover that the pod's transmissions are a Kryptonian distress call. Making contact with the pod, Superman receives a telepathic transmission of a city that survived the destruction of its planet and is now running out of resources. Taking a ship to investigate the city—which is located far from any sun, causing his powers to fade the longer he remains—Superman discovers a small group of unconscious survivors and sends them back to the Lexcorp satellite in his ship. Further exploration puts him against an Alien, but his depleted powers allow the creature to wound him before he is rescued by Kara, another survivor of the city, who explains that the Aliens came from an abandoned freighter containing an Alien Queen that crashed on Argo years ago.

Back on the Lexcorp satellite, the chestbursters (immature Xenomorphs) hatch from the hosts that Superman sent back, leaving Doctor Kimble determined to capture and analyse them while Lois Lane is forced to face an Alien in the hangar, only just managing to force the Alien into space by opening the airlock while she hides in the ship. As Kimble witnesses two of the remaining chestbursters "hatch," Lois torches the infants with a spray can and a match, but she and Kimble are forced together to escape the last, full-grown Alien as it begins to tear the satellite apart.

As Superman and Kara attempt to escape, both of them are captured and "impregnated" with embryos, but this gives them an advantage; since Superman's embryo is that of an Alien Queen, the Aliens will not risk harming him. As they escape, Superman learns that Kara is not from Krypton, but from Odiline, the planet where The Cleric—-the being who originally gave Superman the Eradicator-—laid the bodies of his Kryptonian followers to rest after their demise, with Odiline growing to revere Kryptonians as their spiritual protectors, adopting much of their customs and language. Reaching the freighter that brought the Aliens to Argo originally, the two discover escape pods and transporter booths, but the pods launch mechanisms are jammed; the only way to launch them is to destroy the ship. While Superman preps the coordinates, Kara sets the core to overload before returning to a transporter booth; unfortunately, crucial seconds are lost when Superman uses the booth to teleport the embryo out of her, with Kara being forced out of the booth by an Alien attack moments before the ship is destroyed and the pod launched.

Arriving back in Earth's solar system, Superman's powers are restored just in time to stop the chestburster from emerging, allowing him to "crush" it and regurgitate out of his system before catching the falling satellite, Kimble subsequently killing the last Alien. As Superman departs, however, he is left mourning the loss of Kara-—the closest thing to a sister he might ever know—unaware that she made it to a pod before Argo's destruction and remains lost in space.

In this sequel, Darkseid acquires several Alien eggs, subsequently sending them to New Genesis within several Parademons and unleashing them on his foes. Superman is visiting New Genesis at the time, and is able to advise his friends among the New Gods what to expect, but he is not able to stop an embryo infesting Orion.

Learning that he will die from the embryo within him, Orion accompanies Superman on a mission to Apokolips to destroy the Alien Queen, despite the lack of sunlight on Apokolips weakening Superman's powers and Orion growing ever weaker from the embryo within him. Despite the odds, they manage to destroy the Queen. Darkseid subsequently uses his Omega Beams to destroy the embryo within Orion, claiming that Orion may be Darkseid's enemy, but he is also his son and it would be unfitting for him to die in such a dishonorable manner.

After Superman and Orion's departure, however, Darkseid reveals to DeSaad that, actually, Orion being infested was the central focus of his plan; with Orion having been given some evidence that Darkseid may still think of him as a son, his loyalties to New Genesis may become divided at some crucial future date.

As the comic ends, Darkseid and DeSaad look in at a room filled with facehugger-infected Parademons in stasis, hinting at a possible sequel.

Franklin Bean (Charlie Sheen), an Army private, is sentenced to 90 days in the stockade for drunkenly assaulting a military policeman on his base in West Germany in the 1960s. Master Sergeant McKinney (Martin Sheen) is the stockade commander who takes a dislike to the rebellious Bean.

American criminal profiler and author James McGregor (Sheen), who is trying to escape his past by moving to Scotland where he receives a fax of a stranger's obituary. The next day he is arrested and charged with the stranger's murder, forcing him to collaborate with the local authorities if he wants to clear himself and stop a serial killer.

''Introduction'': The opening scene shows Wile E. Coyote reading a "Western Cookery" recipe book in total peace. Completely unaware that his prey has zoomed up behind him to sneak a peek at his book, he slurps at the prospect of a road-runner banquet featuring "Road Runner Surprise," and gets answered by another slurp. Turning to find himself nose-to-beak with the Road Runner, the Coyote gives himself a real headache responding to a startling "BEEP-BEEP!" from point-blank range.

1. The Coyote places a lasso in the road, and pulls back as soon as he hears his opponent, but he soon realizes that (1) he missed, and (2) there is no room on the cliff behind him to step back. He falls toward the ground, and the end of the lasso latches onto a loose rock on another outcropping as he passes it. Thinking the rock will be heavy enough to support him and prevent the impact, Wile E. ties his end of the lasso around his waist, but doesn't realize that the rope is too long before hitting the ground at full force. Still dazed by his miscalculation and the resulting impact, the Coyote pulls on the lasso and dislodges the rock, which drops on himself, leaving his form coiled up as he walks away.

2. Later on, as the usual chase takes place, the Road Runner goes supersonic and rockets away, causing several cacti to uproot due to his speed. They continue to follow the Road Runner across the landscape, and Wile E. continues chasing until he sees that a bridge has retracted due to the bird's trajectory. Wile E. falls through the ravine, followed by one of the slower cacti that did not make it past the bridge, causing him to leap yelling in pain all the way up to the top of the ravine like a rocket.

3. Not having learned from previous uses of this device, the Coyote attaches a spring to a loose rock and tries to shoot himself toward the Road Runner, but instead the rock is thrown backwards and it continues to pull the Coyote back like a Newton's cradle until the rock hurtles over the edge of a cliff. Wile E. manages to grab onto the brink and stay put, until the rock flies back the way it came, taking out the entire outcropping and throwing the Coyote across the desert. The two rocks finally detach themselves, but this leads to the broken outcropping forming a see-saw, with Wile E. lying on one end and the big rock landing on the other side. This catapults the Coyote even further, until he falls through a narrow canyon with the rock directly on top, leading to the spring retracting and Wile E. being trapped directly underneath. By loosening the harness, the Coyote escapes and sighs with relief, having escaped with only a fall to the ground.

4. Lying in wait for the Road Runner inside a crane, the Coyote pulls up a wrecking ball to drop on the Road Runner when he passes this segment. However, he pulls it up ''too'' far, and the wrecking ball rolls onto the top of the crane and smashes the cockpit.

5. The final segment features six attempts to flatten the Road Runner with a boulder hurled by a catapult. Unfortunately for Wile E., the catapult finds multiple ways to malfunction, resulting in the Coyote getting pancaked each time.

'''Attempt 1:''' Wile E. stands behind the catapult. The boulder simply falls on the Coyote when it is released, due to its weight being too much for the catapult to handle.

'''Attempt 2:''' Wile E. stands in front of the catapult and (predictably) gets smashed due to his location.

'''Attempt 3:''' Having learned from the first two, Wile E. stands well out of the way of the catapult, out of range, to make the first attempt's failure impossible. However, the catapult flips ''itself'' over and squashes its user.

'''Attempt 4:''' The Coyote stands to the side and releases the boulder, which is punched up into the air, and unfortunately falls in the wrong direction - toward the Coyote instead of the Road Runner.

'''Attempt 5:''' Having been smashed every time in some way or another, Wile E. hides underneath the catapult itself when he releases the string, however, the entire catapult comes apart, crushing Wile E. in the bottom.

'''Attempt 6:''' This time, Wile E. hides inside a manhole while he releases the string. However, the catapult jams and the arm does not throw the boulder. The Coyote tries to fix the problem by prodding the catapult's body first, then shaking it violently (and immediately diving back into his manhole after each attempt to avoid injury), but nothing happens. Getting ''very'' impatient, Wile E. lodges himself between the arm and the body and stands up, then climbs up the arm on stomps on it, again to no avail. Sliding down to the rock itself, he tries to pry it free from the arm. Suddenly, the catapult '''finally''' unjams, something that the Coyote initially fails to notice (as he is still trying to pry the rock free) until he sees a large rock formation ahead of him. Coyote is flattened as his rock flies through the formation, having taken a slice of that with it then falling off. A network of power lines captures the Coyote and slings him all the way back to the top of the catapult's arm, which plops him on the ground to be smashed once and for all by the boulder.

After that final disaster, the audience discovers the reason for the catapult's "artificial intelligence." The camera zooms in towards the manufacturer's nameplate and reveals that the catapult had been built, not by ACME, but by the "Road-Runner Manufacturing Company — Phoenix * Taos * Santa Fe * Flagstaff." The Road Runner on the nameplate then comes to life, gives the audience a "Beep-Beep" and then zooms off.

Tex (Woody Allen) is a butcher who kills his unfaithful wife Candy (Sharon Stone). After cutting up the body, Tex buries most of her body parts in the desert in New Mexico. A blind woman accidentally trips over Candy's hand, which has not been buried. Picking it up, her sight is restored, and she proclaims the hand to be the "Hand of the Virgin Mary."

The hand then becomes the talk of the village and people flock there to heal themselves. This ranges from a crippled man growing new legs, a teenager being relieved of his acne and a little person having his manhood enlarged. Tex hears of these miracles, and attempts to retrieve the hand while being pursued by patrol officer Bobo (Kiefer Sutherland) who was one of his wife's lovers.

Eventually, Tex and the officer track down the hand, with Tex's theft of the hand undoing all the miracles that it has performed. While Tex is in prison, he is visited by his wife's spirit, who reveals that, despite her life of whoring and adultery, the suffering she endured with Tex allowed her to get into Heaven, and she arranges for him to get out of his cell so that he can return the hand to the church.

Nick (Woody Allen), a sports lawyer, is married to psychotherapist and author Deborah (Bette Midler). After years of being happily married, Nick reveals to Deborah that he has had an affair. She is soon shocked and requests a divorce, but later admits that she herself has been unfaithful.

Astronomer Shinichi Tachibana has a secret identity as superhero "Iron Sharp" and has many children as friends. When they are attacked by a group of metallic aliens ("Neptune Men" in English), Iron Sharp drives the aliens away. The resourceful Tachibana helps develop an electric barrier to block the aliens from coming to the Earth. After several losses by the aliens, they announce that they will invade the Earth, throwing the world into a state of panic. The aliens destroy entire cities with their mothership and smaller fighters. After Iron Sharp destroys multiple enemy ships, Japan fires nuclear missiles at the mothership, destroying it.

Ex-convicts Emil Slovak and Oleg Razgul arrive in the United States to claim their part of a bank heist in eastern Europe. Oleg steals a video camera from an electronics store. At the rundown apartment of their old partner, they are denied their share of the spoils, so Emil fatally stabs the partner and his wife as Oleg tapes it with the camera. Czech immigrant Daphne Handlova witnesses the murders from the bathroom, then escapes before Emil and Oleg can kill her as well. To hide the crime, Emil burns down the apartment.

Jordy Warsaw is a New York City arson investigator assigned to the case. Also at the scene is Eddie Flemming, is a high-profile detective who is followed by his girlfriend Nicolette Karas, a reporter from the tabloid TV show ''Top Story''. Flemming and Warsaw agree to work the case together. While checking out the crowd, Warsaw spots Daphne trying to get his attention, but she disappears. Meanwhile, Emil calls an escort service and asks for a "Czech girl." Oleg tapes Emil as he kills the escort and learns the address of the escort service. Oleg continually films everything, claiming he wants to be the next Frank Capra.

Flemming and Warsaw investigate this murder and visit the escort service. The madam, Rose Hearn, tells them that the girl Warsaw described doesn't work for her but rather a hairdresser. She mentions a couple of other guys having just asked her the same questions. Flemming and Warsaw arrive at the hair salon just after Emil and Oleg have warned Daphne to keep quiet. Flemming notices Oleg filming them from across the street. In the ensuing foot chase, Flemming's regular partner Leon Jackson is hit with a glass bottle and his wallet and gun are stolen. Emil finds a card with Flemming's name and address. He becomes jealous of Flemming's celebrity status and is convinced that anyone in America can get away with anything.

On the night Flemming plans to propose to his girlfriend Nicolette Karas, Oleg and Emil sneak into his house and bind Flemming to a chair. While Oleg is recording, Emil explains that he plans to kill Flemming and sell the tape to ''Top Story''. After getting himself committed to an insane asylum, Emil will declare that he is actually sane. Since he can't be tried again, he will get off, collecting royalties from books and movies based on his crimes. Flemming attacks them with his chair (while still taped to it), but Emil gets the upper-hand and stabs him in the chest, mortally wounding him. Emil then suffocates and kills Flemming with a pillow.

The entire city is in mourning. Emil sells the tape of Flemming's murder to ''Top Story'' anchor Robert Hawkins in exchange for $1 million, outraging Warsaw and the entire police force. Emil and Oleg watch the tape's broadcast on ''Top Story'' inside a Planet Hollywood; customers realize that Emil and Oleg are sitting with them and panic. Police arrive and arrest Emil, while Oleg escapes. Warsaw takes Emil to an abandoned warehouse to kill him, but other police arrive just in time and take Emil into custody. Everything goes as planned for Emil, now a celebrity who is pleading insanity. His lawyer agrees to work for 30% of the royalties Emil will receive for his story. Meanwhile, in hiding, Oleg becomes jealous of the notoriety that Emil is receiving.

While the lawyer is leading Emil away in court, Warsaw provokes an argument, with the ''Top Story'' crew recording the whole thing. Oleg quietly approaches Hawkins and hands him the tape of Emil explaining his plan to Flemming, proving he was sane the whole time. Hawkins shouts out to Emil about the evidence in his possession. Emil grabs a policeman's gun, shoots Oleg and grabs Nicolette, threatening to shoot her. Against orders, Warsaw shoots Emil a dozen times in the chest to avenge Flemming's murder. Hawkins rushes to Oleg's side as he dies. He attempts to get a comment from Warsaw, who punches him and walks away as the police all smile with approval.

The film is divided into 5 chapters, the first four of which are named after characters in the film: Noriko, Yuka, Kumiko and Tetsuzo, in that order. The plot is told non-linearly and shifts between the perspectives of Noriko, Yuka and Tetsuzo.

A shy and demure 17-year-old girl named Noriko Shimabara (Kazue Fukiishi) lives with her quiet family, formed by her sister Yuka (Yuriko Yoshitaka), her mother Taeko (Sanae Miyata), and her father Tetsuzo (Ken Mitsuishi), in Toyokawa, Japan. Noriko finds her small-town life unsatisfying and craves to move to Tokyo, assuming she would live a more active life there. This sentiment is especially encouraged when she finds that her elementary school friend Tangerine (Yoko Mitsuya) is now working independently as an idol. Noriko's father is strictly against her going to the city, and plans on having her join a local university after school.

Feeling alienated and misunderstood by her parents, Noriko resorts to the internet where she finds Haikyo.com, a website where other teenagers from Japan gather. There, after making new and unknown friends, she feels truly at "home" and eventually, on December 10, 2001, runs away from her unhappy life to Tokyo, where she plans on meeting the website's leader, a mysterious girl who uses the screen name "Ueno Station 54". Once in Tokyo, Noriko logs onto the website and contacts Ueno54. They meet up at Locker #54 in Ueno Train Station, where it is revealed that she is a young woman named Kumiko. Kumiko introduces Noriko to her family and takes her to visit her grandparents. As it turns out, however, Kumiko has no real family, and the people she introduced Noriko to are paid actors working for Kumiko's organisation, I.C. Corp. The organisation offers paid rental family services to interested clients, allowing them to fulfill their fantasy of a happy family life.

Six months later, 54 girls jump in front of a train at Shinjuku station and commit suicide while Noriko and Kumiko look on. It is implied that the 54 were members of the organization acting out their roles. Back in Toyokawa, Yuka, who was also a member of Haikyo.com, wonders if her sister was involved in the mass suicide. She writes a story speculating how her father would react if she were to disappear as well, and deliberately leaves clues before running off to Tokyo to join I.C. Corp.

Tetsuzo attempts to put on a brave face after Yuka's disappearance, but his wife Taeko's mental condition deteriorates rapidly and she eventually commits suicide. Meanwhile, Tetsuzo, a reporter, gathers clues regarding his daughters' disappearances and discovers Yuka's story. He is crushed to find that his daughter could predict his actions and behaviour so accurately while he was completely unaware of his daughters' feelings. His investigations reveal Haikyo.com and taking a cue from sensationalist media tabloids, he concludes that his daughters are part of a cult called the "Suicide Club".

Tetsuzo contacts a member of I.C. Corp, who refutes the existence of a "suicide club" and instead expounds on a concept of social roles that forms the basis of his organisation. Tetsuzo gets an old friend of his, Ikeda (Shirou Namiki) to pose as a client for I.C. Corp and rent Kumiko as his wife, and Noriko and Yuka as his daughters (who go by the aliases Mitsuko and Yoko respectively). Tetsuzo finds a house in Tokyo resembling his own and moves all the furniture from the old house to the new one so that it will resemble it exactly. Mitsuko and Yoko are unsettled when they arrive at the house, but they fall back into their roles when prompted by Kumiko. Ikeda sends Kumiko away on an errand and Tetsuzo reveals himself. The girls, however, treat him as a stranger and insist that they are Mitsuko and Yoko, not Noriko and Yuka.

As the session falls apart, thugs from the organisation arrive on site to beat up Tetsuzo, who attacks them with a knife and kills all of them in the living room. Kumiko arrives from her errand shortly thereafter, playing out her role as if nothing is wrong, but then imploring Tetsuzo to kill her and run away with Noriko and Yuka. Her insistence gravely disturbs Noriko and Yuka, before Yuka interrupts the heated conversation and asks to 'extend the session'.

Finally, Tetsuzo, Kumiko, Mitsuko and Yuka dine together as a happy family and Tetsuzo begins acting as if Kumiko is his wife, calling her Taeko. Yuka does not sleep that night and leaves the home at the crack of dawn, shedding her role and name. Mitsuko awakens shortly thereafter and, speaking to herself, bids goodbye to Yuka, adolescence, Haikyo.com and Mitsuko, before finally declaring that she is Noriko.

By the end of the film, two years have passed, including eighteen months since the mass suicide.

Nick Dormer wants to pursue a career in painting instead of his family's traditional role in British politics. This upsets his family and particularly his lady friend, Julia Dallow, a beautiful but demanding woman deeply involved in political campaigns. But Nick's old Oxford friend Gabriel Nash encourages him to follow his desire to become an artist. Despite his misgivings Nick goes through an election campaign, supported by Julia, and wins a seat in Parliament. He proposes marriage to Julia but they agree to wait.

Meanwhile, Nick's cousin Peter Sherringham, a rising young man in the British diplomatic service, encounters a young actress, Miriam Rooth, in Paris. He falls in love with Miriam, who shows great energy but is a woefully raw talent. Peter introduces Miriam to French acting coach Madame Carre, and Miriam begins to improve her acting technique greatly.

Nick seeks to become an artist and resigns from Parliament. He thus loses a large bequest from his political patron, Mr. Carteret. Nick becomes a full-time painter, and when Miriam comes to London in search of theatrical success, she sits to Nick for her portrait as "the tragic muse." Julia finds the two together in the studio. Although nothing improper is going on, Julia suddenly and bitterly realizes that Nick is dedicated to art and will never return to politics.

Peter proposes marriage to Miriam, but she refuses. Peter accepts a diplomatic assignment in Central America. Miriam eventually triumphs as an actress, especially as Juliet. Peter returns to London to see her debut in this role, and to propose to her again; but she is already married to Basil Dashwood, her fellow actor and business manager. Peter marries Nick's sister Biddie instead, and the novel ends with a suggestion that Nick and Julia may eventually marry, after all.

Number Six is assisting Number Twenty-four ("Alison"), a telepathic young woman, in practising mind reading with Zener cards. In an extremely complex plot of bluff and double bluff, Number Two brings an agent who looks just like Number Six, and is referred to as "Number Twelve", to The Village. Number Twelve is also played by McGoohan, apart from some shots featuring a body double.

The real Number Six is subjected to an intensive course of aversion therapy, altering his tastes and instincts, and training him to do everything left-handed. He is drugged to wipe his memory of the treatment. When he awakes, he is treated as "Number Twelve", while the lookalike assumes the role of Number Six. The real Number Six is informed by Number Two of the plan to break "Number Six" (the impostor) by convincing him that he is not Number Six at all.

Six and Twelve engage in various challenges to prove which is the real Number Six; the aversion therapy allows the impostor to behave more like Number Six than the real Number Six does. In the presence of Number Two and Number Six, Number Twelve is challenged to demonstrate that his fingerprints are Number Six's. They are. He also has his characteristic left wrist mole, which Number Six has lost. Finally, Number Twenty-four is summoned because she supposedly has a unique "mental bond" with the real Number Six, but they fail a test with the Zener cards.

Just as he appears to be "breaking", the real Number Six mentally overcomes his brainwashing when he discovers a bruise on his fingernail that he got when Number Twenty-four tried to get his picture a bruise that, furthermore, has migrated from the base of his fingernail to midway, confirming that days or weeks have passed, not the single day shown on his calendar. He then gives himself an electric shock to reverse the therapy. He also physically overcomes the impostor, who reveals his name as Curtis. After being forced to reveal his password and remove the fake mole from his wrist, Curtis escapes and is then mistakenly killed by Rover.

Pretending to be Curtis, Number Six reports to Number Two that "Number Six is dead". Having "failed", he is to return to report failure. He is put blindfolded onto a helicopter to leave The Village. He believes himself to have duped Number Two into letting him escape, but the helicopter promptly circles back to The Village. Number Two reveals that he deduced the truth when Number Six agreed to give his regards to Number Twelve's wife, who is deceased.

Esperanza Ortega, the daughter of wealthy landowners, lives in Aguascalientes, Mexico, in 1930 on her family's ranch with her mother, father, and grandmother.

The day before Esperanza's 13th birthday, her father is murdered while working on the ranch. On her birthday party she receives a doll from papa. It was her last gift from him. Her uncle Luis reveals that he now owns their land. He offers to continue to care for them and their ranch if Esperanza's mother, Ramona, will marry him. When she refuses, he burns down the ranch. Esperanza's grandmother, Abuelita, is injured during the fire and is sent to a convent where she can recover. Esperanza and the rest of her family decide to travel to the United States.

When Esperanza's family arrives in the United States, which is currently in the grip of the Great Depression, they settle in a farm camp in Arvin, California. Esperanza begins to adjust to her new life but still fantasizes about Abuelita rescuing her from poverty.

Ramona contracts Valley fever, and the doctors are unsure if she will survive. Esperanza, desperate for money to support herself and pay her mother's medical bills, takes work on the farm camp despite being underage. She stockpiles money orders in the hopes of one day sending them to Abuelita and allowing her to travel to the United States.

Tensions rise in the camp as migrants from Oklahoma flee the Dust Bowl and look for work in California. Some workers go on strike to try to improve working conditions. Following a massive demonstration by the strikers, the farm owners call immigration officials to round up and deport the demonstrators. However, many of the people deported were natural-born American citizens who had never been to Mexico. Esperanza has a breakdown and then an argument with her friend, Miguel, because of this event. The next day, they find that Miguel has left to seek work in Northern California.

When Ramona recovers from her illness, Esperanza proudly goes to show her mother the money orders she saved, only to discover that they are missing; Miguel took them when he left. However, Miguel used them to secretly travel to Mexico and retrieve Abuelita.

The book ends on the day of Esperanza's 14th birthday and Esperanza has finally learned to be grateful for what she has: her family reunited, friends who love her, and most of all: hope.

The starship ''T'Kumbra'' docks at Deep Space Nine for repairs. Its captain, Solok, is a longtime rival of Sisko, who believes that his all-Vulcan crew are superior in every respect; he challenges Sisko to a baseball game in the holosuite. Sisko accepts, recruiting his crew and friends on the station to form a team, even though he has only two weeks to get the team into shape, and only his son Jake and his girlfriend Kasidy Yates have played the game before.

Sisko's team trains hard and suffers injuries. When Sisko dismisses the inept Rom from the team, the squad nearly quits in protest. Sisko admits to Yates why he is taking Solok's challenge so seriously: At Starfleet Academy, Sisko drunkenly challenged Solok to a wrestling match after Solok provoked Sisko by mocking humans' illogical emotion-driven behavior. Solok won the match easily, and later used the incident as evidence that Vulcans are superior to humans, publishing multiple papers using the wrestling match as an example. Yates immediately tells the truth to the whole team, making them understand just how much this means to Sisko.

When the game begins, the Logicians (Solok's team) immediately build up a considerable lead. Sisko gets into an altercation with the umpire, security chief Odo, and is thrown out of the game for laying a finger on him.

When Rom's son Nog throws out a runner who failed to touch home plate, Sisko is reminded of why he loves baseball in the first place: its unpredictability. Seeing Rom's pride in his son and dejection at being excluded from the game, Sisko decides to allow him to play. Near the end and down 10-0, the Niners (Sisko's team) are desperate to score a run. Nog makes it to third base, and Rom has his first at-bat. Rom accidentally hits a perfect bunt, which brings Nog home, giving the Niners their only run in a 10-1 loss. The team's celebration confuses Solok, who protests to Odo, but also touches him so Odo ejects him too.

After the game, the crew relax at Quark's bar, toasting the triumph of team spirit over Vulcan superiority. Solok protests their celebration as a "manufactured victory", only to be mocked by the Niners. The team presents Sisko with a souvenir of the game: a baseball that his whole team has signed.

The mirror universe counterpart of Ezri Dax shows up at Quark's quarters on Deep Space Nine with a message: Zek went to the mirror universe in search of business opportunities and was kidnapped by the Alliance, who demand that Quark exchange a cloaking device—a device that can render a starship invisible—for Zek's freedom. Quark and Rom steal a cloaking device from the Klingon General Martok's ship, which they hide by cloaking the device. They get the device to Ezri, and are forced to transport to the mirror universe with her when Martok discovers the theft.

Upon arrival at Terok Nor (the mirror counterpart of Deep Space Nine), now under the control of the human rebellion against the Alliance, the three are arrested, since the Rebellion cannot allow the Alliance to gain such cloaking technology. They are rescued by Ezri's friend, the mirror counterpart of Quark's rival Brunt. Brunt brings them to the Regent of the Alliance, the mirror counterpart of Worf.

They learn that the mirror Kira Nerys—formerly the Alliance's brutal overseer of Terok Nor, now out of favor with the Alliance, and Ezri's lover—planned the entire affair; the Alliance never intended to release Zek. Brunt persuades Worf not to execute the Ferengi immediately, and Rom and Quark are imprisoned with Zek. Kira kills Brunt when he tries to convince her to release them. Ezri, disgusted by Kira's callous murder of her friend, turns against her.

Rom is forced to install the cloaking device on the Regent's ship, but despite his cooperation, he and Quark are still sentenced to die at the hands of mirror Elim Garak. They distract Garak by comparing him to the Garak of their own universe, which delays him long enough for Ezri to arrive and inject him with the poison meant for the Ferengi.

Worf has the cloaking device activated, only to find that Rom has sabotaged the device to drain the ship's power. The powerless Alliance ship is easily overpowered by the Rebels' ''Defiant'', forcing Worf to surrender to the Rebels. The Rebels bring the Ferengi back to Terok Nor, from which they can return to their own universe.

The episode opens with Quark sexually harassing one of his best waitresses. Rom rushes in to declare that, while trying to contact their mother, Ishka, he has lost contact with their home planet of Feringinar. He fears that the Dominion have taken over the planet. When they go and explain the situation to Captain Sisko, sensors pick up an incoming ship which is carrying both Grand Nagus Zek and Ishka.

The Nagus explains that by changing the Ferengi Bill of Opportunities to allow women to wear clothes, he has caused planet-wide upheaval and has been replaced by Former Liquidator Brunt who will be officially installed by the commission at its next meeting.

Quark, Rom and Nog contact all 432 of the Ferengi commissioners to come to DS9 to meet and talk about the situation. Only one commissioner agrees. Brunt finds out about the upcoming meeting and arrives on the station to torment Quark and thwart his plans. After standing up to Brunt and throwing him out of the bar, Quark and his mother return to Quark's quarters. They get into a shouting match, with Quark blaming his mother for everything that has happened to Zek, while Ishka argues that before Zek met her, he was a lonely man. The shouting match causes her to suffer a heart attack, and Dr. Bashir performs a transplant. Without Ishka to stand up and speak for herself at the meeting, Quark poses as a female named Lumba to try and fool the commissioner.

Over dinner Quark/Lumba has to fend off the advances of the commissioner while explaining the benefits of the increase in the workforce and consumer base that Ferengi females would bring. Once in the commissioner's room, the commissioner goes into full assault, chasing Quark around the apartment. Finally Brunt bursts in and tries to unmask Lumba as an impostor and a male. This fails when "she" removes her dress, revealing her female anatomy to Brunt and the commissioner. Convinced, the commissioner pledges his support for Zek. Later Quark's sex change is reversed and Zek and Ishka leave the station anticipating Zek's restoration as Grand Nagus. Quark, still experiencing the hormonal fluctuations from the sex change, apologizes to his mother, who accepts his apology. She tells him that while he was a lousy son, he made a wonderful daughter. After Zek and Ishka leave, Quark apologizes to the waitress he harassed at the start of the episode and gives her a raise.

At their usual lunch, Dr. Bashir confesses to Garak his anxiety over his impending thirtieth birthday, explaining to the Cardassian that, in human culture, age thirty is generally considered, "the end of youth, and the beginning of the long, slow march into middle age." Their conversation is interrupted by Quark and his newest business associate, a Lethean named Altovar, who is looking to buy bio-mimetic gel, a highly restricted substance. Bashir refuses, and Altovar angrily storms off. When Bashir returns to the infirmary later, he finds Altovar has broken in and is stealing bio-mimetic gel from his medical supplies. Altovar attacks Bashir with an electrical field knocking him unconscious. When he awakens, he finds that he has begun to age quickly. Furthermore, the station is dark and deserted, apparently having undergone some catastrophe.

Bashir explores the silent station and walks in on several members of the crew arguing. They barely notice him when he walks in, and seem unfazed by his graying hair and wrinkling skin. Barely audible whispers echo in the background, and when Chief O'Brien begins repairing the communications system, Bashir hears that the whispers are actually the voices of his crewmates, and they are talking about him. They say he is in a coma, and he is dying.

Bashir realizes that the crew and the empty station are all in his head, and he is actually living in a dreamlike state within his comatose mind. Altovar appears, grabs Lt. Dax and drags her away. Bashir feels that he has lost something, and realizes that each member of the crew in this vision represents a different aspect of his personality. When Altovar captures Commander Sisko, it is as though he has taken away the most steady, able part of his psyche, crippling him. Altovar threatens to kill each crew member, chipping away at Bashir's mind until there is nothing left.

Bashir ages quickly, reaching a weakened, elderly state. He and Garak go to Ops, where the last of the crew lie dying. Garak prods Bashir, trying to convince him to just give up and die, but Bashir works hard with the last of his strength to find out what is going on. Garak becomes more insistent, and Bashir figures out that he is actually Altovar. Knowing this, he can shrug off Garak's taunting and make his way back to the infirmary, his home base on the station. This gives him more strength and he uses it to trap and kill Altovar with the infirmary's sterilization field. He wakes from his coma, with his real crewmates keeping vigil over him. They inform him that while he was battling Altovar's psychic illusion, the real Altovar tripped the infirmary's security alarm and was arrested by Odo shortly after the break-in.

Afterward, while Bashir is eating lunch with Garak, he says he cannot help but take it personally that Bashir's mind would present him as someone untrustworthy. He adds, "There is hope for you yet, doctor".

Gunnery Sergeant Burns (Fred Dryer) is in charge of the Marine Security Guard detachment at a United States embassy in the Middle East. When terrorists attack the compound, taking hostages, Burns becomes a one-man Marine Corps in an attempt to rescue the hostages and kill the terrorists.

The film depicts the adventures of the socially incompetent Vic (played by Bowie) as he tries to win the affections of a beautiful girl by claiming to personally know her favourite rock star, Screaming Lord Byron (also played by Bowie). Rightfully disbelieving him, she challenges Vic to introduce her to him. They make a date for a Screaming Lord Byron show, where Vic attempts to sneak backstage to convince a cowering, paranoid Mr. Screaming to come say hello to him and the girl after the show.

Screaming does come to Vic's table after the show and says hello to him and the girl, but the girl and Screaming Lord Byron have already met (in Peru), and she leaves with the rock star instead of Vic. As they drive off, Bowie breaks the fourth wall and asks the director why the story changed from his concept.