The first half of the film, shot on black and white film, follows a man named Edgar who is working on an undefined "project" about what he considers the four stages of love: meeting, physical passion, separation, and reconciliation, involving people at three different stages of life: youth, adulthood, and old age. Edgar keeps flipping through the pages of an empty book, staring intently as if waiting for words to appear. He is unsure whether the project should be a novel, a play, an opera, or a film. In Paris, he interviews potential participants from all walks of life (including those people Victor Hugo dubbed les misérables, whom Edgar considers important to the project), but is continually dissatisfied. The person Edgar really wants is someone he met two years ago, a woman who "dared speak her mind." At the urging of his financial backer Mr. Rosenthal, an art dealer whose father once owned a gallery with Edgar's grandfather, Edgar tracks down the woman, named Berthe, where she is working at night cleaning passenger cars at a railroad depot. Berthe remembers Edgar (and marvels at his memory) but emphatically does not want to be involved in his project. She holds down several jobs and also cares for her three-year-old son. Edgar continues to interview people, to his continuing dissatisfaction. He is able to visualize the stages of youth and old age but keeps having trouble with adulthood.

Edgar runs into Berthe at a lecture at a Parisian bookstore by expatriate American journalist Mark Hunter about the Kosovo War. Edgar makes it a point to tell Berthe that Hunter is an example of a "good American." Afterwards, the two wander the city of signs and monuments, talking through the night and into the next day, eventually stopping at an abandoned Renault plant, where they contemplate the collapse of the workers movement. They part company, and later Berthe speaks with Edgar over the phone; they talk about when they first met and she questions him as to why he has stopped talking about his project. They end the conversation with an air of finality. Edgar visits a homeless shelter and selects a man sleeping in one of the beds. In a tender but brief moment, Edgar directs two young people, to whom he had earlier assigned the roles of Perceval and his love Eglantine, to bathe the man in a shower. Mr. Rosenthal is there to witness the scene, but the status of "the project" is unclear. In the final scene of the black and white section, Edgar goes to meet a man who has some news for him about Berthe.

The second section of the film is shot in DV video with over-saturated color. An intertitle announces that it is two years earlier. Edgar arrives in Brittany and is met by the same man he has just seen at the end of part one. The man, a minister of culture for the area, is there to take Edgar to meet Jean Lacouture, whom Edgar proceeds to interview about the role of Catholics in the French Resistance, in connection with a cantata he is writing for Simone Weil. This encounter leads Edgar to meet an elderly couple who fought in the Resistance and have been together ever since. The couple is meeting with delegates from the American state department who are helping to broker a deal on behalf of "Spielberg Associates." The company wants to purchase the rights to the couple's story for a film written by William Styron and starring Juliette Binoche. The couple's granddaughter, in training to be a lawyer, is attempting to get them out of the contract, as they are afraid they have been shortchanged. The granddaughter is Berthe, and this is when she and Edgar first meet. Berthe attempts to nullify the contract by arguing that the signatories are not members of a defined nation, referring to themselves simply as "Americans," when "America" is a term that encompasses two continents with many countries – but it is a futile effort.

After spending time with Berthe, Edgar takes the train back to Paris, and reflects on his encounters. When you think of something ("de quelque chose"), he muses, you are always thinking of something else. If you see a landscape that is new to you, for example, you are comparing it to a landscape you already know. What Edgar cannot know is what awaits him in the future, about which he is informed at the end of the first part of the film – that Berthe commits suicide.

The film is about a bitter married couple that consists of Ludvík, a senior official of Prague's ruling Communist regime, and his alcoholic wife Anna. They return home after attending a political party dinner and notice their home has been broken into. Several strange occurrences, including the disappearance of their spare house keys and dead phone lines, lead them to believe that they are under surveillance by their own government. As the night progresses, the flaws of their marriage and of each other are exposed.

''No Regret'' begins 46 hours after the events in ''No Remorse''. A WEC freighter headed for the Moon picks up the escape pod, and the Silencer, upon moonfall, makes contact with the local Resistance. The WEC uses the moon as both a mine and prison, where most of the political dissidents and Resistance members are forced to extract a precious radioactive compound, Di-Corellium, the mineral that is the basis of virtually all energy production on Earth. Approximately half of all known reserves are on the Moon, and a shortage of Di-Corellium would cause serious problems for the WEC. For this reason, Chairman Draygan is on the Moon to oversee the Di-Corellium production, which has been lagging recently—possibly due to incursions from the Resistance cell on Moon, at the hidden Dark Side base. On learning of the Silencer's presence, he sends all his forces against him.

Over the course of ''No Regret'''s ten missions, the Silencer works to undermine the WEC presence on the Moon, culminating in a showdown with Chairman Draygan who pilots a mech. The WEC's lunar headquarters are destroyed and the Resistance takes control of mining operations, with the hint of further conflicts with the WEC. The game's story is notably more simplified and straightforward than that of ''No Remorse''.

''Almayer's Folly'' is about a poor businessman who dreams of finding a hidden gold mine and becoming very wealthy. He is a white European, married to a native Malayan; they have one daughter named Nina. They live in the village of 'Sambir', actually Tanjung Redeb in the Berau Regency of the East Kalimantan province, Indonesia. He fails to find the goldmine, and comes home saddened. Previously, he had heard that the British were planning to conquer the Pantai River (Berau River in reality), and he had built a large, lavish house near where he resided at the time, in order to welcome the British, with whom he hopes he could trade. However, the conquest never took place, and the house remained unfinished. Some passing Dutch seamen had called the house "Almayer's Folly". Now, Almayer continually goes out for long trips, but eventually he stops doing so and stays home with his hopeless daydreams of riches and splendor. His native wife loathes him for this.

One day, a Malayan prince from Bali, Dain Maroola, comes to see Almayer about trading, and while there he falls in love with Nina. Mrs. Almayer keeps arranging meetings between Nina and Dain. She wants them to marry so her daughter could stay native, because she is highly distrustful of white men and their ways. Dain leaves but vows to return to help Almayer find the gold mine. When he does return, he goes straight to Lakamba, a Malayan Rajah, and tells him that he found the gold mine and that some Dutchmen had captured his ship. The Rajah tells him to kill Almayer before the Dutch arrive because he is not needed to find the gold now. The following morning, an unidentifiable native corpse is found floating in the river, wearing an ankle bracelet very similar to Dain's. Almayer is distraught because Dain is his only chance to find the mine. The corpse is actually that of his slave, who had died when his canoe overturned. Mrs. Almayer suggests that Dain put his anklet and ring on the body.

Mrs. Almayer plans to smuggle Dain away from the Dutch so he will not be arrested. She sneaks Nina away from her father, who is drinking with the Dutch. When Almayer awakes from his drunken stupor, a native slave girl tells him where Nina has gone, and Almayer tracks her to Dain's hiding place. Nina refuses to go back to avoid the slurs of the white society. During all this arguing, the slave girl informs the Dutch of Dain's whereabouts. Almayer said that he could never forgive Nina but would help them escape by taking them to the mouth of the river, where a canoe will take them from the clutches of the Dutch. After they escape, Almayer erases the lover's footprints, and returns to his house. Mrs. Almayer runs away to the Rajah for protection, taking all of Dain's dowry with her. All alone, Almayer breaks all his furniture in his home office, piles it in the center of the room, and sets fire to it, burning the entire house to the ground along with it. He spends the rest of his days in "[His] Folly", where he smokes opium to forget his daughter. He eventually dies there.

A particularly rough MAT-TRANS jump takes Ryan Cawdor and his friends to a clean, almost immaculate arrival chamber. A cautious exploration of the nearby control room shows it to be similarly clean, free of dust or any form of decay. It is only when Doc Tanner discovers a cup of recently brewed, sweetened coffee that the companions realize the room may have been recently used. Instead of the usual blast doors, the room's exit appears to be some form of airlock; nearby readouts indicate the outside air pressure is very low. Ryan cautiously opens the exterior door in the hopes that the equipment is simply malfunctioning, only to pass out from a sudden drop in oxygen levels. J. B. Dix pulls him to safety before he succumbs, and shuts the airlock door. The demonstrated lack of atmosphere, combined with a lifeless desert view through the airlock portal and mention of "NASA-SEC" on warnings above it, lead all the companions to the same unstated conclusion: they are on another world. Seeing something through the portal that alarms him, Ryan orders his friends into the MAT-TRANS chamber to make another jump. When pressed for what prompted the reaction Ryan can only say he saw something gigantic and alive underneath the desert sand.

The next jump takes them to a partially damaged arrival chamber. Upon examination the redoubt seems ireminiscent of a hidden redoubt the companions previously visited. Numerous earthshifts have blocked of much of this deep-buried redoubt, including the upper reaches of the staircase leading out of it. With no other choice the companions make use of an ancient elevator to reach the exit. Some ten feet from the top it stops functioning as the cables lifting it begin to fray. The companions narrowly escape through the elevator's maintenance hatch, and hang from the snapped cable strands as the elevator drops hundreds of feet to the bottom of the shaft. J. B. blows the door atop the shaft with plas-ex, allowing everyone to swing to safety.

The elevator shaft opens to a destroyed Victorian house in a similarly destroyed city. Ryan guesses it might be the ruins of New York, which is confirmed when the group encounters an armed teen named Dred. Dred explains (at gunpoint) that he is the king of the "turf" the companions are in, which they acknowledge. A truce is established, and Dred takes the group with him to one of his hideouts in the basement of a ruined house. They are later joined by Retha, Dred's "slut". Soon after a small group of mutants - scalies - attack, but are fended off and killed.

A World War II veteran, a former operative for the SOE, seeks revenge on the driver and passenger of a hit-and-run automobile that struck and killed his wife.

Charley Parkes thinks he sees a figure in a museum dollhouse that comes alive. He returns to the museum numerous times and gazes into the dollhouse. He keeps coming back and sees the doll in the house become animated (portrayed by a human actress). A guard tells him that the doll is not mechanical, but merely carved from a single block of wood, but this does not dissuade Charley.

Charley gradually falls in love with the figure, a woman who is in an abusive relationship with a male figure in the dollhouse. There is also a female housekeeper in the dollhouse. Charley is committed to a psychiatric hospital because of his belief that the figures in the dollhouse are alive and because he smashes the glass case of the dollhouse in an attempt to rescue the doll from the abusive male doll. He eventually is "rehabilitated", after some resistance, by pretending to be disabused of the delusion, and is returned to the care of his mother.

On the evening of his return home, his mother, sister, brother-in-law and a friend of his sister (who is interested in dating him) plan to celebrate his release with him, but discover that he has snuck out of the house. They contact the psychiatrist who treated Charley in the hospital and surmise that he has returned to the museum and the dollhouse. At the museum, Charley reveals his feelings for the figure. He relates to her in certain aspects (the woman dealing with an abusive suitor and Charley dealing with his overbearing mother).

The family members, psychiatrist, and museum guards search the museum for Charley but find nothing. Except for one guard, who glances into the dollhouse and sees Charley, now a miniature figure, finally together with his love in the dollhouse, sharing a stereoscope. Smiling, the guard decides never to reveal what he has witnessed.

The movie follows the story of a British diplomat in France whose wife takes a chimpanzee for her lover.

The film is set in the late 18th century, when Jane Austen wrote the novel although it was published after her death in 1817. Northanger Abbey is the story of a young woman, Catherine Morland, who is invited to Bath, Somerset, with family friends, the Allens; they hope that the waters at Bath will help Mr. Allen's gout. Catherine (called "Cathy" by her many younger siblings) is a 17-year-old young lady who has been quite sheltered all her life, escaping only by reading Gothic novels, and so is delighted to go to Bath. Mrs. Allen introduces Catherine to the Thorpe family, including an older girl, Isabella, who befriends Catherine. The girls have bonded over their love of similar novels when their brothers arrive. James (Catherine's brother) falls in love with Isabella, who is a hardened flirt. Likewise, John (Isabella's brother and James's friend) pursues Catherine, who does not like John nearly as much as John likes himself.

Catherine is falling in love with a quirky 26-year-old clergyman, Henry Tilney, whom she met at a dance. She befriends Henry's sister, Eleanor, and goes on many outings with the two of them, after their brother Frederick Tilney comes to Bath. Isabella, having learned that James (to whom she is now engaged) is poor, begins to flirt with Frederick and ultimately ends her engagement with James. Eleanor invites Catherine to stay with her at the Tilneys' home, Northanger Abbey.

Catherine accepts the invitation with pleasure, although she imagines that the Abbey will be rather like one of the gloomy castles in her books. Catherine is at first welcomed by General Tilney (Henry's father), who has been bragged to by John Thorpe that Catherine (whom John thinks is in love with him) is an heiress. When the General realizes that Catherine is not rich, however, he sends her packing. Once back at home, Catherine is unhappy, missing Henry and disillusioned about her precious Gothic novels. Henry appears and proposes, however, and the story ends happily.

Daniella investigates her family's past in the wake of the suicide of her father. The plot gets to involves a sect called the Abrahamites, who sacrifice their first borns following an alternative interpretation of God's Will in the near-sacrifice of Isaac.

Regardless of the player's choice in player character, each of the three healers tries to uncover the source of a strange lethal sickness known as the "sand plague" that has befallen a small town. Although players can play as each of them, there is only one base storyline, which is seen from the three different points of views of the chosen player character. Minor plot details will change depending on the player, and the ability to uncover some secrets depends on which character is being played. The player may also interact with the other two unchosen characters and discuss their progress throughout the game.

The game's fluctuating economy represents the harsh forces of supply and demand in an isolated, disease-ridden town. All districts and major buildings of the town are named after body parts and biology. On the edge of town, there is a great building named Polyhedron, a physically impossible structure used as a fortress by children. On the opposite side lies an ominous cattle-slaughtering Abattoir, with the Apiary (later re-translated as "Termitary") next to it.

Each character has an assigned group of NPCs - their "Bound" - which they are tasked with keeping safe by completing the main quest every day.

There are four endings available. Each playable character has a designated ending, although any of these three endings may be chosen if the player completes the optional task of keeping the other healer's Bound healthy by the meeting time on the 12th day. The Bachelor's ending allows the town to be destroyed, saving the miraculous Polyhedron. The Haruspex's ending destroys the Polyhedron to allow the production of a panacea, saving the town. The Devotress/Changeling's ending allows both the Polyhedron and the town to coexist, at the cost of sacrificing some of the townspeople. If the player is unable to keep all of their Bound safe, however, the town becomes overrun by pestilence in the fourth "Bad Ending".

Ko Yun-ju, an unemployed academic, lives in a large apartment complex with his pregnant wife Eun-sil. He is struggling to become a university professor and grappling with his strained relationship with Eun-sil. Searching for the loudly barking dog of one of his neighbors, which is driving him crazy, he finds an unattended Shih Tzu. He tries to drop the dog from the roof, but hesitates and is stopped when an old woman comes to dry radishes there. He takes the dog into the basement instead and, after being unable to hang it, locks it inside a cabinet.

Park Hyun-nam, the lazy bookkeeper and custodian of the apartment complex, longs to be famous like a bank teller she and her friend Yoon Jang-mi saw on TV who was rewarded for stopping a robbery. A little girl comes to Hyun-nam with flyers she wants to hang up in order to find her missing dog, the Shih Tzu. Yun-ju continues to hear barking, and sees the old woman from the roof with her Min Pin, the actual source of the noise. He reads on the flyer for the missing dog that it was unable to bark because of a throat operation. Realizing his mistake, he goes to the basement at night to free the dog from the cabinet, but hides when a janitor comes in. Yun-ju watches in horror as the janitor pulls out the dead Shih Tzu and prepares to eat it.

The next day, Yun-ju sneaks up on the old woman and steals her dog. Hyun-nam witnesses him throw the dog off the roof. Seeing an opportunity to achieve her dream of gaining fame, she chases Yun-ju, never seeing his face, but is knocked unconscious when she is hit by an opening door, and Yun-ju escapes. The old woman comes to Hyun-nam with lost dog flyers, and when Hyun-nam shows her the Min Pin's body, she faints from shock and is hospitalized. Hyun-nam gets the janitor to bury the Min Pin, but as soon as she leaves, he digs up the body and takes it to the basement to make a stew. When he goes to get some seasoning, a homeless man living in the basement comes out and tastes the janitor's food. The janitor comes back to discover his stew is gone.

As Yun-ju struggles to come up with the money to bribe his way into a professorial position, Eun-sil, who has lost her job, comes home with a Toy Poodle. She shows more affection for the dog, which she names Baby (Soon-Ja), than her husband, and treats Yun-ju like a servant. While in the park, Yun-ju becomes distracted and loses Baby. When Eun-sil scolds him for losing the dog, he snaps and accuses her of wasting money. Eun-sil tearfully tells him she bought the dog with a small portion of her severance pay and planned to give the rest to Yun-ju so he could become a professor. Shocked, Yun-ju makes up missing dog flyers and takes them to Hyun-nam, who offers to help him, but he gives up his search after nobody, not even the dog-eating janitor, seems to have Baby.

While being berated for her sloppiness at work, Hyun-nam learns the old woman died from the shock of losing her dog, her only family, and left a letter bequeathing to Hyun-nam the dried radishes that are still on the roof. When Hyun-nam goes to get them, she discovers Baby with the homeless man, who kidnapped her, having developed a taste for dog meat. Hyun-nam rescues the dog and the man chases her through the apartment building. Jang-mi arrives and knocks out the homeless man, who is arrested by police, and Hyun-nam returns Baby to Yun-ju.

Hyun-nam watches a news broadcast about the missing dogs, but sees no mention of herself, leaving her distraught. Later that night, she finds a drunk Yun-ju on the sidewalk. Overcome with guilt after hearing she got fired for spending time looking for dogs, he confesses he was the man she saw throw the Min Pin off the roof.

Some time later, Yun-ju has succeeded in becoming a professor, though he appears unsatisfied, and Hyun-nam goes on a long-awaited hike in the woods with Jang-mi.

The main setting of the novel is the Central Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths located in an ambiguous and unnamed city. This municipal archive holds the record cards for all of the residents of the city stretching back endlessly into the past.

The protagonist is named Senhor José; the only character in the novel to be given a proper name (all of the others are referred to simply by some unique and defining characteristic). Senhor José is around fifty years old and has worked as a low-level clerk in the Central Registry for more than two decades. Senhor José's residence, where he lives alone, adjoins the municipal building and contains the only side entrance into it. Lost in the tedium of a bureaucratic job, he starts to collect information about various famous people and decides, one evening, to use the side entrance to sneak in and steal their record cards.

On one nocturnal venture Senhor José grabs the record card of an "unknown woman" by mistake and quickly becomes obsessed with finding her. Senhor José uses his power as a registry clerk to gather information about the "unknown woman" from her past neighbors and, when it is suggested to look her up in a phone book, he ignores the advice, choosing instead to keep his distance.

The search for this woman begins to consume him and affects his work enough so to draw attention from the Registrar — head of the Central Registry— who, strangely, begins to regard Senhor José with sympathy. This special attention given to a clerk by the Registrar is unprecedented in the known history of the Central Registry and begins to worry his fellow employees. Senhor José further neglects his duties as a civil servant and risks his career to pursue this "unknown woman" he knows almost nothing about.

The ''Voyager'' crew recovers its shuttlecraft containing Commander Chakotay and Chief of Security Tuvok, who had been exploring a nearby dark matter nebula. Tuvok is unconscious, but Chakotay appears to be brain dead, lacking any neural activity. He is put on life support by the Doctor. The shuttlecraft shows evidence of energy weapon attacks. Captain Kathryn Janeway orders ''Voyager'' towards the nebula to investigate. B'Elanna Torres, a close friend of Chakotay, uses a Healing Wheel, one of Chakotay's spiritual talismans, hoping to guide Chakotay's spirit to his body.

En route to the nebula, the ship suddenly changes course away from it, though Lieutenant Tom Paris, at the helm, denies making the change. When it happens a second time, apparently at Paris's instigation, he is relieved of duty until the cause of the course changes can be determined. As the crew navigates the nebula, the ship's engines are suddenly deactivated, apparently by Torres, who like Paris has no recollection of doing so. The Doctor discovers a common memory pattern between Paris and Torres at the times they acted, indicating that they were possessed by another entity. Kes states that she has felt the presence of such an entity, and Tuvok offers to perform a mind meld to try to help her identify it. However, the two are soon found unconscious, with Kes in a coma. Unsure of the intentions of the entity, Janeway orders the command codes transferred to the Doctor, who cannot be possessed; however, shortly afterwards, they find the Doctor's program deactivated. At the suggestion of Tuvok, Janeway decides to divide all command codes between herself and him, believing the entity can only possess one of them at a time.

Torres and Paris discover evidence that points to Tuvok being responsible for several of the events. When these come to light, Tuvok reveals that he is possessed by a noncorporeal alien known as the Komar, seeking to bring ''Voyager'' s crew to the center of the nebula so that his people can feed on their neural energy; he takes the command crew hostage as he brings the ship about. Suddenly, the warp core is ejected from the ship, halting their progress. Janeway realizes there is a second entity aboard ''Voyager'' and Torres confirms that it appears to be Chakotay. The crew overpower the possessed Tuvok and force the Komar entity away from the ship with a magneton pulse.

Though the hostile entity is gone, the ship is deep within the nebula without a safe means to escape. Chakotay, through Neelix, uses the Healing Wheel to show a series of planetoids to be used as guidance to escape the nebula. The crew follow this, and safely leave the nebula after recovering their warp core. Once the Doctor is back on-line, he is able to restore Chakotay's mind to his body and recover Kes from her coma.

In London, Vivian Vedder (Renee Godfrey) verifies that a carpenter has completed a coffin for her recently deceased mother's body, which she is transporting to Scotland by train. She boards the train that evening, as do Lady Margaret Carstairs (Mary Forbes), who owns and is transporting the famous ''Star of Rhodesia'' diamond; Lady Margaret's son, Roland (Geoffrey Steele); Sherlock Holmes, whom Roland has hired to protect the diamond; Inspector Lestrade (Dennis Hoey), who is also worried about the diamond's safety; and Dr. Watson and Watson's friend Major Duncan-Bleek (Alan Mowbray). Holmes briefly examines the diamond.

Shortly afterward, Roland is murdered and the diamond is allegedly stolen. Lestrade, Holmes, and Watson learn nothing conclusive in questioning the other passengers. At one point during the investigation, Watson believes an elderly couple is guilty of the crime but the only crime that they have committed is stealing a teapot from a hotel. While searching the train, Holmes is pushed out of the train, nearly to his death, but climbs back into the day coach and discovers a secret compartment in the coffin carrying Miss Vedder's mother. He suspects that one of the people on the train is the notorious jewel thief Colonel Sebastian Moran.

Upon further questioning, Miss Vedder admits that a man paid her to transport the coffin. As Watson and Duncan-Bleek join the group, Holmes reveals that he swapped the diamond with an imitation while examining it. Lestrade ostensibly takes possession of the real diamond.

In the luggage compartment, Holmes and Watson find a train guard murdered with a poisoned dart. Meanwhile, a street criminal named Sands (Skelton Knaggs) incapacitates the conductor. Sands was hidden inside the coffin, and is in cahoots with Duncan-Bleek, who is, in fact, Colonel Moran. Sands and Moran go to Lestrade's room, where Sands knocks Lestrade unconscious and steals the diamond from him; but Moran double-crosses Sands, shooting him dead with the same dart gun he used to kill Roland and the guard.

The train makes an unexpected stop to pick up several Scottish policemen, led allegedly by Inspector McDonald (Boyd Davis). Holmes informs McDonald that Duncan-Bleek is really Moran, and McDonald arrests Moran and finds the diamond in his vest, but Moran seizes a policeman's gun and pulls the emergency cord to stop the train. During a scuffle in which the lights are turned off, Holmes subdues and handcuffs Moran, then secretly hides him under a table. When the lights are turned on again, the officers leave the train with Lestrade, his coat covering his face, believing he is Moran. As the train departs, Lestrade captures the thieves in the railway station, and Holmes reveals to Watson and Moran that he recognized McDonald as an impostor and recovered the diamond from him during the fight.

Barbara "Bunny" Blake is a movie star living in Hollywood, California. Her hometown fan club in Howardsville, Virginia sends her a ring, and she tells her manager that her loyalty is still to her town because they all chipped in to help her go to Hollywood to pursue her career. Looking into the stone, she sees her sister Hildy imploring Bunny to come home. Though she has been hired to make a movie in Rome, Bunny makes an impromptu trip to Howardsville to surprise Hildy and her family.

Hildy and her son Bud hope that Bunny will attend the annual founder's day picnic, which coincidentally happens to be that very afternoon. Upon hearing this and after seeing a vision of local television newsreader Ben Braden also asking her to "come home", Bunny suffers a seizure, and Hildy calls over an old friend, the town doctor, who diagnoses that Bunny has been working too hard at her acting career and orders her to rest, despite her claiming that she was faking the seizure as an excuse to call him over. As he is also the chairman/organizer for the annual founder's day picnic, Bunny requests that he postpone the entire event so that she can see her friends in more personal settings, but he refuses and interprets her request as a sign that she has been spoiled by her Hollywood lifestyle.

As she sees a vision of her high school's custodian, Cyrus Gentry, requesting her help for the town, Bunny flees to the bathroom. The doctor gives Bunny's prescription slip to Hildy, but Bunny insists on accompanying Bud to the drugstore. On the way, they stop by her old school to meet Gentry, whom she asks to leave the school gates open. She then goes to the local TV station for an impromptu interview with Braden. In the interview, she announces a one-woman show in the high school gymnasium for the same time as the picnic. When Braden points out the conflict, she flippantly says the people will enjoy her show more.

Hildy accuses Bunny of "showing off" by forcing the town to choose between seeing her or attending the picnic. Bunny insists that she loves the town and its people and that she is using her show as a way of thanking them. Hildy at first says that she and Bud are going to the picnic. When Bunny sees a vision in her ring of a jetliner and its passengers, including herself and her manager, Hildy reconsiders and agrees to attend Bunny's show. As they are about to leave, it begins to rain. As they hear sirens outside, Bunny envisions herself on the jetliner in the rain, and she hugs her slightly bewildered sister. A breaking news flash comes on over the radio, and while Hildy and Bud are listening to the first reports of an airplane crash, Bunny quietly says goodbye, goes outside in the rain and vanishes.

A police officer calls to inform Hildy that Bunny is among the deceased passengers on the plane. The radio news anchor notes conflicting reports from onlookers who said that Bunny was on the plane and several townspeople who had seen her in town that day. The anchorman notes that many of the townspeople were in the auditorium waiting to see Bunny's show and that they would have died had they gone to the picnic because the jetliner crashed on the grounds. Hildy finds Bunny's ring, which had fallen to the floor and is now chipped and charred, and she realizes that Bunny had predicted her impending death in the plane crash and had come in spirit via the ring to save her friends and family.

The film follows the staff of the Army weekly magazine ''Yank'', who are among the first American troops in Tokyo after Japan's surrender. They are given the difficult task of producing an issue of the magazine in three days. Short on ideas and having to meet the deadline, they enter Japan's black market and come across con artist Joe Butterfly. Butterfly shows them the high life, letting them live in a mansion complete with beautiful girls.

Arlo Pear (Pryor) is a transportation engineer living in the New Jersey suburbs. One day he goes to work and meets a new female co-worker, and when both of them attempt to enter their keys in the same office doorknob, Arlo guesses what has happened and confronts his boss, Roy Hendersen. He learns that his company has merged with another, and now Arlo is out of a job. He ends the meeting by telling off his boss and in his state of anger, he flips Roy off using his index finger.

Arlo's wife Monica tries to defuse the situation by telling her husband that she can get him a job at her father's mustard plant, at least until something better comes along. Knowing a job in his own field would better suit him, Arlo refuses. His attempts to find work are futile until he receives a phone call from another engineering firm, due to Roy's influence. The firm all but hires him over the phone, and Arlo is excited – until he finds out that his new job will be in Boise, Idaho. With some hesitation, Arlo takes the job.

Arlo breaks the news to his family first over dinner by telling them he has a new job, but holds off on telling them of the move until towards the end of the conversation, prompting angry responses from both his wife and his daughter Casey. The family uses a "swear jar" to collect cash penalties for the use of obscenities in the house, and Casey puts cash in the jar as she makes her feelings known. Shortly afterwards, Monica retrieves her purse and withdraws a large sum of cash, ordering their twin sons Randy and Marshall to leave the room, implying that her own use of profanity will cost her dearly.

However, Monica calms down later that evening and agrees to the move, but Casey is much less willing to concede, even going so far as to sabotage their attempts to sell their home. Casey relents after offering her parents a solution: she will agree to the move if they let her finish out the school year and graduate at her present school. They agree, the house sells, and they make arrangements for her to stay with family friends until then.

Monica and Arlo find a suitable house owned by retirees in Boise and agree to buy it, even though the retirees jest with the Pears that they are "taking everything with us", when referring to the appliances and fixtures in the house. They hire a moving company, but find the moving team shady and decide to go with another company. To their surprise, the same shady movers from the first company show up, revealing to the Pears that they now work for the second company. They hire the initially squeaky-clean Brad Williams to drive Arlo's black Saab 900 to Boise.

More disaster follows for the Pears. They arrive in Boise to find their new house stripped of not only its cabinetry and appliances, but its doors, stairs, and swimming pool - revealing that the sellers were indeed serious when they said that they were "taking everything with us". The movers made an unscheduled stop in New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Brad reveals himself to have multiple personality disorder and delivers the Saab in a stripped and wrecked heap. Arlo's job is eliminated on his first day in a highly publicized news conference. To top it all off, his new neighbor is revealed to be the twin brother of Frank Crawford, the shell-shocked Vietnam War veteran who lived next door to them in New Jersey. Like Frank, Cornell Crawford has the same anti-social tendencies as his brother, including mowing his grass with a monstrous contraption powered by a V8 engine.

Arlo snaps. He threatens the sellers of his new home with violence if they do not restore it. He tracks down the moving team on the highway and makes short work of them physically after they arrive at his home. He finds his new boss and manages to save his job. He orders Brad to leave after delivering the Saab or face certain death.

And when Cornell Crawford gets ready to mow his grass, he is interrupted by Pear, who tells him to put his contraption back in the garage and invest in a "human-sized mower". As Cornell says "who's going to make me", he is answered with ferocious barking from Flipper, the Pears' normally hopelessly lazy dog, apparently at the end of his own rope from all the moving mess. Cornell immediately backs off, obviously alarmed, and expresses his admiration for his new neighbors. The film ends with Arlo replying to his new neighbor by flipping him his index finger, and the surprise arrival of Casey, who was tired of being separated from her family and joined them out West.

In colonial America, David Harvey (William Holden), a recent widower farming in the wilderness, decides that his young boy Davey (Gary Gray) needs a woman around to help raise him. The following spring, he goes to the nearest settlement and consults Parson Jackson (Tom Tully) and his wife. In view of the dearth of women in the settlement, David is persuaded to buy the contract of an indentured servant named Rachel (Loretta Young). David accepts that he will have to marry her, for the sake of propriety.

Their marriage, however, is in name only. David is still grieving for his dead wife Susan and Davey resents what he sees as an attempt to replace his mother. Despite her hopes, Rachel is treated as a servant and not a wife. She is naturally upset by this but keeps her sorrows to herself. Unlike Susan, she is unskilled in the use of a musket, but resolves to learn to shoot to connect with the boy and through him, with the father. She practices secretly in the cabin's cellar. This will stand her in good stead later.

Jim Fairways (Robert Mitchum), a hunter who is a family friend (and former suitor of Susan's), visits and becomes attracted to Rachel. She blossoms under Jim's attentions and discloses, to David's surprise and embarrassment, that she can play Susan's spinet. They enjoy a pleasant evening of instrumental music and singing. Later, Davey interrupts the beginnings of a mutual understanding between David and Rachel.

On his next visit, ostensibly to retrieve his forgotten guitar, Jim brings presents, including a dress for Rachel. David is disturbed by the easy way in which Jim has become friendly with Rachel and he slowly becomes jealous and irritated as Jim stays weeks longer than expected. He takes the opportunity of a night out hunting foxes with the dogs, to tackle Jim and encourage him to leave. Davey defies Rachel and stays outside the cabin to listen to the sounds of the hunt. A prowling mountain lion threatens Davey and the stock. At the sound of a gunshot the men come running and Rachel admits that she killed the animal. As a result, she rises in Davey's estimation.

When Jim offers to buy her, David's resentments come to the surface and they fight. Rachel has to intervene. She is quietly furious and feels that both men appear to regard her more as a commodity to be traded than as a wife. She decides to leave and walks back to the settlement, daring David to take her to law over the indenture. David is angry but also concerned about her traveling alone in view of the possible presence of Shawnee nearby. It has slowly dawned on him what a fine woman she is and what her loss would mean to him. Jim intends to press his own suit. Taking Davey, they ride after her.

That night, while they are camped, Jim makes an offer to Rachel to come away with him. At Davey's urging, David makes an awkward bid for her to return home. She does not respond to either man. Later, they see a glow in the night sky and fear the Shawnee are attacking settlers. The two men send Rachel and Davey on horseback to the settlement for safety while they run back to the cabin to see what is going on.

Rachel is worried about David and after a while sends Davey on for help while she follows the men. She reaches the cabin to find them besieged. She is dragged from her horse by one of the attackers, but David and Jim make a sally and manage to get her into the cabin where she uses her new-found skill with a musket to aid the defense. The Shawnee set the cabin on fire and the trio retreat to the cellar. Early next morning, Parson Jackson and the local militia arrive to drive off the attackers. David and Rachel survey the burnt-out cabin, making tentative plans for the future. Rachel knows she has been accepted as a wife when David tells his son to "do as your Ma says" and enfolds her in a tender embrace.

The squabbling Bridges family spends a harsh winter on their remote ranch in Northern California in the early years of the 20th century. Crude and quarrelsome middle brother Curt bullies his noble, unselfish eldest brother Arthur, while youngest brother Harold endures Curt's abuse in browbeaten silence. Their mother is a bigoted religious zealot and their father is a loquacious, self-pitying drunk. Bitter old-maid sister Grace is temporarily gladdened by the arrival of Harold’s fiancée, the spirited Gwen.

The family's hired Indian hand Joe Sam alerts the family to a panther prowling the hills; many years before, his family was wiped out by a panther. Joe Sam’s superstitious dread of the cat irritates the domineering Curt, but Curt and Arthur split up to track the panther while the family tensely awaits their return.

Gentle Harold tries to avoid conflict with his parents, while Gwen tenderly encourages him to assert his claim to an equal share of the ranch. Although Grace tries to support her youngest brother and his fiancée, Ma Bridges is hatefully suspicious of Gwen, who ignores the family’s histrionics calmly for Harold’s sake.

By the end of the story, the major conflicts have been resolved, but not without tragedy and loss. The surviving characters seem hopeful that their ordeal may have created the basis for a happier future.

A man identifying himself as Dalton Russell sits in a small, dark space he identifies as a cell. He proclaims he has committed the perfect bank robbery. In New York, masked robbers, dressed in painter coveralls and using variants of the name "Steve" as aliases, seize control of a Manhattan bank, taking patrons and employees hostage. They divide the hostages into groups and hold them in different rooms, forcing them to don coveralls identical to their own, rotating the hostages among various rooms and occasionally inserting themselves covertly into the groups. They also take turns working on an unspecified project involving demolishing the floor in one of the bank's storage rooms.

Police surround the bank, and Detectives Keith Frazier and Bill Mitchell take charge of the negotiations. Russell, the head robber, demands food be provided. The police send pizzas whose boxes have hidden listening devices. The bugs pick up someone speaking Albanian, which is later identified as propaganda recordings of deceased Albanian leader Enver Hoxha, implying that the robbers anticipated the attempted surveillance.

When Arthur Case, chairman of the board of directors and the bank founder, learns about the holdup, he hires "fixer" Madeleine White to try and protect the contents of his safe deposit box within the bank. Russell allows White to enter the bank and inspect the box's contents, which include documents from Nazi Germany. Russell implies that Case started his bank with money that he received from the Nazis for unspecified services, resulting in many Jews dying during World War II. White tells Russell that Case will pay him a substantial sum if he destroys the box's contents.

Frazier demands to inspect the hostages before allowing the robbers to leave and Russell shows him around the bank. As he is being shown out, Frazier attacks Russell, but is restrained by another robber. Afterwards, he explains that he deliberately provoked Russell, and concludes he is not a killer. However, this is seemingly disproven when the robbers stage a hostage execution.

The execution prompts an Emergency Services Unit team into action. They plan to storm the bank, using rubber bullets to knock out those inside. Frazier discovers that the robbers have planted a listening device on the police; aware of the police plans, the robbers detonate smoke grenades, remove their disguises, and exit the bank with the hostages. The police detain and question everyone but cannot distinguish the identically dressed hostages from the robbers. A search of the bank reveals the robbers' weapons were plastic replicas. They find props showing that the hostage execution was faked, and no money or valuables appear to have been stolen. Unable to identify the suspects and unsure if a crime has even been committed, Frazier's superior orders him to drop the case.

Frazier, however, searches the bank's records and finds that safe deposit box number 392 has never appeared on any records since the bank's founding in 1948. He obtains a search warrant to open it. White then confronts him, informs him of Case's Nazi dealings, and attempts to persuade him to drop his investigation, but he refuses, playing a recording he had surreptitiously made of an incriminating conversation that took place earlier between the two. White confronts Case, who admits the box contained loose diamonds and a diamond ring he took from a Jewish friend whom he betrayed to the Nazis.

Russell repeats his opening monologue while hiding behind a fake wall the robbers had constructed inside the bank's supply room. He emerges a week after the robbery with the contents of Case's safe deposit box, including incriminating documents and several bags of diamonds. On his way out, he bumps into Frazier, who does not recognize him. He exits the bank and enters a waiting van filled with his conspirators, some of whom the police had questioned. When Frazier opens the safe deposit box, he finds the ring and a note from Russell reading, "follow the ring." Frazier confronts Case and urges White to contact the Office of War Crimes Issues at the State Department about Case's war crimes. At home, Frazier finds a loose diamond and realizes that Russell slipped it into his pocket during their "collision" while exiting the bank.

Part 1 – ''Iceland's Bell''

The first part tells the story of the farmer Jón Hreggviðsson and his battle with the Icelandic authorities. Jón is sentenced to death for the murder of an executioner, an official of the King of Denmark, but manages to flee from Iceland to Denmark, where he hopes to get an interview with the King to persuade him to grant a pardon.

Part 2 – ''The Bright Jewel'' or ''The Fair Maiden''

Snæfríður Íslandssól (lit. "Snow-Beautiful Iceland's-Sun") is the protagonist in the second part. She is in love with a collector of manuscripts named Arnas Arnaeus but is married to a drunkard. This character is based on an actual historical figure, Thordis Jónsdóttir, who was the daughter of the bishop of Hólar and was widely considered at the time to be the most beautiful woman in southern Iceland. Her husband, squire Magnús Sigurðsson, was wealthy and well-fed, as well as a violent alcoholic.

Part 3 – ''Fire in Copenhagen''

The third part is about Arnas Arnaeus the manuscript-collector and the fate of his collection in Copenhagen. In the end, Arnas does not marry the woman of his heart, Snæfríður, but stays with his rich Danish wife who financed his life's work.

In the game manual the background setting for the game's universe is told. There are two main rivaling empires: Terra and Kaladasia. After the galaxy was nearly destroyed, war battles were replaced with racing competition. The player in the role of Clay Shaw is forced to become a sled pilot for the Terran team, as his girlfriend is held captive by a Terran agent named Dobbs. Terra wants Shaw as a pilot because his father, John Shaw, was a well-known, successful pilot, and Clay is hoped to become equally good.

In the bleak industrial landscape of historical port city of Incheon, five young women struggle to transition from high school to the adult world. Hae-joo pursues a career at a brokerage firm in Seoul, Tae-hee works without pay at her family's sauna and volunteers as a typist for a poet with cerebral palsy, Ji-young struggles to find work while living in a dilapidated house with her elderly grandparents and a kitten named Teetee, and twin sisters Bi-ryu and Ohn-jo live on their own and sell handmade jewellery on the street.

Hae-joo tries to make herself invaluable at work but finds that she is at the bottom of the workplace hierarchy, relegated to running errands like sending faxes and bringing coffee. She is preoccupied with impressing her bosses at work and improving her physical appearance. In contrast, Ji-young has more immediate concerns—finding work to support herself and her grandparents and getting the landlord to fix the roof that is on the verge of collapsing. Unable to find meaningful employment, Ji-young grows increasingly frustrated with her poverty-stricken life with her elderly grandparents. Without parents to vouch for her, and without computer skills or driver's license, she drifts from one low-wage job to another. Tae-hee, who is constantly belittled and ostracized by her comfortably middle-class but oppressively heteropatriarchal family, dreams of escaping the conformity but does not know where she could go. She finds herself drawn to ferry terminals and foreign migrant workers. Bi-ryu and Ohn-jo, whose Chinese-speaking grandparents have disowned their mother and refuse to see them for reasons not discussed in the film, live on their own in an ethnic Chinese enclave in Incheon.

Hae-joo and Ji-young, who used to be best friends in high school, drift apart throughout the film in part due to their divergent socioeconomic status. After a sleepover at the twins' house one night, Ji-young returns home early in the morning to find that the roof of her house has collapsed, killing her grandparents. Refusing to cooperate with the police investigation and without any family support, Ji-young is locked up in juvenile detention though she has committed no crime. Tae-hee, who has grown closer to Ji-young, tracks her down and visits Ji-young in a youth detention facility. Ji-young reveals to Tae-hee that she has nowhere else to go even if she were released.

When Ji-young is released from the detention center, she finds Tae-hee waiting for her with a suitcase packed for a trip. Tae-hee reveals that she has run away from home, having taken the money she was owed from working for her family without pay for a year. She suggests that they travel together, perhaps on Working Holiday, as they had discussed earlier in the film. The film ends with Tae-hee and Ji-young at the Incheon International Airport, about to depart for an unknown destination.

Aria joins the sinister Cult of the Last Circle, an underground dragon community led by the evil Scarn. Scarn worships the Flame, which he believes has been sent to replace the charm lost from the world. After rescuing Aria from the Cult, Fortune escapes with his friends across the sea to Ocea. Scarn gives chase using the power of the Flame to travel great distances as if by magic.

Meanwhile, Aria's son Wyrm (who has no wings) has set out on a pilgrimage around the world. There is a comet in the sky and Wyrm is obsessed with the Day of Creation. Along the way he encounters a tribe of 'natural faeries' who have lost both their magic and their wings - these are actually cavemen. Later Wyrm uncovers some ancient charm that enables him to grow wings, and he sets out for the Last Circle.

Eventually, all the dragons meet in a huge crater in Ocea (the Last Circle) where a great battle ensues between Scarn's dragons (mutated by the evil power of the Flame) and Fortune's new allies, the mirror-dragons. At the climax of the battle, Scarn escapes. The comet drops from the sky and hits the crater. Everyone escapes except Wyrm, who is transformed from a single dragon into millions of birds.

Fortune finally defeats Scarn. The dying power of the Flame opens a portal into a strange sideways world. Brace and Ledra go through the portal, which disappears. The sideways world is in fact Amara (Stone trilogy), introduced properly in Stone and Sky.

The survivors from Dragoncharm have established a new dragon community on the island chain of Haven. Dragonstorm opens as Brace, Cumber and an ex-charmed dragon called Thaw lead an expedition to rescue the dragons still trapped in the canyon at Aether's Cross. Fortune and Gossamer remain on Haven, with their new daughter Aria. Fortune and his allies battle to prevent the community being split apart by the renegade Hesper.

Meanwhile, the basilisk Ocher is seeking out his lost companions. Once gathered, the six basilisks - known as the Deathless - plan one last wielding of charm to bring about their own destruction.

Brace and Cumber reach an ancient citadel built by the basilisks and inhabited by a blind ex-charmed dragon called Archan. The citadel's towers are mobile in time, constantly fading in and out of past, present and future. Archan seduces Thaw and imprisons the others. She has learned about the basilisks' plans and is scheming to steal their immortality.

The basilisks are gathering what is left of the world's magic. A giant river of charm forms in the sky, flowing to the north pole, which the dragons call the Crest of the World. Hesper taps into this charm and convinces many of the Haven dragons that the magic is back. The community splits apart as the river of charm causes a great storm. The whole world starts changing shape.

The shifting of the continents transports the whole of Haven island to Archan's citadel. Cumber and the others are rescued, but Fortune's daughter Aria is snatched by Archan and taken to the time-towers. The temporal effects cause Aria to grow to adulthood in the blink of an eye. Archan tricks Thaw into raping Aria, then kills him. Archan wants Aria to bear a perfect infant dragon to accompany Archan into immortality. She takes Aria to the north pole, ready for the ritual that will make her immortal.

Brace and Cumber's party journey to a land of glaciers where they find the skeleton of Aether, the troll after whom the canyon of Aether's Cross was named. All the basilisks meet at the north pole and perform the ceremony of the Gathering of the Deathless. Fortune arrives just in time to save Aria from Archan. The basilisks achieve their goal and Archan becomes immortal, but her body is destroyed. She disappears into an iceberg, where she remains trapped and helpless, yet unable to die.

All the basilisks are dead except Ocher, who is now mortal. Now life is precious, Ocher decides he wants to live a little longer. Brace arrives with the dragons he's just freed from Aether's Cross. Aria's egg brings wingless infant Wyrm into the world. The surviving dragons wonder if Wyrm represents what the future holds for their species, which is hovering on the brink of extinction.

The film stars three real-life juvenile gangsters, all aged 15, giving an accurate depiction of Chinese teenage gang-life in the Singapore suburbs. The 2003 film features two more gangsters as characters as well as a fight sequence with more affluent English-educated Singapore youths. Rather than scripting the movie or employing professional actors, Tan attempted to capture the troubled lives of his characters in realistic fashion, apparently without much prior scripting.

The Chinese believe that during the Seventh Month, the gates of hell are open and the spirits of the dead are allowed to roam the world freely for a month. Hailing from a small village in the Philippines, 18-year-old Rosa arrives in Singapore on the first day of the Seventh Month to work as a domestic maid. She urgently needs money to save her younger brother who is ill back home. Her employers, the elderly Mr and Mrs Teo, appear kindhearted and sympathetic. Their intellectually disabled son, Ah Soon, also takes to Rosa immediately.

Between cleaning house and helping the Teos out at their Teochew opera workplace, things start going seriously amiss. Rosa glimpses strange apparitions at night and also has vivid nightmares. She finds out about Esther, a Filipina maid who worked for the Teos two years before she came. Esther apparently had the same good relationship with Ah Soon as she does now. Rosa begins to suspect that something is fishy.

While Rosa is exploring some of the shady areas of the house, she discovers the burnt corpse of Esther hidden in a concealed drum. Through a vision, Esther's ghost shows Rosa that Ah Soon raped Esther two years ago on the same day of the Seventh Month. When his parents witnessed the incident, they tried to prevent Esther from calling the police. Mr Teo beat her to the ground, bundled her up and poured oil all over her before setting her on fire, burning her to death.

Frightened by the vision, Rosa tries to escape but Ah Soon stops her. She quickly finds out that Ah Soon is also a ghost when she tries to stab him, only to realise that he appears unharmed. It turns out that Ah Soon had committed suicide shortly after Esther's death. Instead of passing to the afterlife, he chose to return to the house to find Esther's ghost, whom he was in love with.

Mr Teo suddenly appears and knocks Rosa unconscious and ties her up. When Rosa awakens, she is told by Mrs Teo that the Teos have long believed that ghosts can also marry and their whole motive for inviting her to Singapore was to sacrifice her so that she would be wed to their dead son. When they try to hang Rosa, Ah Soon's ghost suddenly remembers the way his father brutally murdered Esther the previous year and tells his parents that he does not want to see any more deaths in the house.

In a scuffle, Ah Soon's ghost accidentally pushes his father towards the altar, spilling oil on him. The oil ignites and causes him to be burnt to death. Rosa manages to break free with the help of Esther's ghost and tries to escape. Mrs Teo picks up a knife and tries to finish her off once and for all. Rosa dashes out of the house and crosses the road with Mrs Teo close behind. Rosa stumbles and falls on the other side of the road, but as Mrs Teo approaches her menacingly with the knife in hand, an oncoming truck hits Mrs Teo and kills her instantly. Rosa heaves a sigh of relief.

In the final sequence, Rosa is seen heading to the airport to fly back to her hometown on the last day of the Seventh Month when the gates of hell are closing. She takes with her the urn containing Esther's ashes as she enters the airport while the ghosts of the Teo family watch her disappear beyond the doors.

Jin-a (Lee Ji-eun), a 22-year-old prostitute, arrives at a small seaside motel called the Birdcage Inn to replace the previous one. The inn is run by a couple who have a daughter and a son. They provide Jin-a with room and board and make a living by renting out rooms and taking a cut of the money she earns. Jin-a works at night and spends her daytime drawing and watching the sea.

In addition to her circumstances Jin-a has a hard time because of the family. The well regarded, silent, apparently caring, father providing for his family rapes Jin-a. The mother only sees Jin-a as a source of money to make a living and to fund the education of her college student daughter and high school student son. The son, Hyun-woo (Ahn Jae-mo) begs to be allowed to take naked pictures of Jin-a for a photo contest and to have sex with her. At first, Jin-a turns him down. However, after Hyun-woo's long imploration, Jin-a poses for him on the deck of a ship by the seaside and has sex with him. Afterwards he uses his walkman to tap Jin-a's room to listen in on Jin-a and her guests.

The daughter, Hye-mi (Lee Hye-eun), who is sexually repressed, is the same age as Jin-a, does nothing to hide her contempt towards Jin-a. She expresses her hostility by refusing to use the same toothpaste and hand basin as Jin-a and ignores Jin-a's gestures of friendship, such as sharing an umbrella and buying her a Walkman which she has been dying to have. She emphasizes to Jin-a that she and Jin-a belong to different worlds. The relationship between the two becomes even worse when Hye-mi finds out that her sexually frustrated boyfriend, with whom Hye-mi has refused to have sex with before marriage, has gone to Jin-a and has had sex with her.

One day, rummaging through Jin-a's room and personal possessions Hye-mi gains an insight into Jin-a that allows her to develop an empathy towards Jin-a. That night Hye-mi lies in bed and eavesdrops on Jin-a and a customer.

Meanwhile, a publisher who has seen Hyun-woo's photos of Jin-a goes to him and deceives him into selling them at a low price. After seeing Jin-a's nude in the magazine, Jin-a's former pimp goes to her again demanding money. Supposing that she's been paid a lot for it, he beats Jin-a when she denies it, Hye-mi tries to protect Jin-a from him. That night Jin-a makes an attempt to kill herself by cutting her arm and is found by Hye-mi who has had a nightmare about Jin-a.

Jin-a and Hye-mi sit together, leaning towards each other and reconcile. That night, a customer comes to the inn and Hye-mi spends the night with him instead of the sick Jin-a and loses her virginity.

''Real Fiction'' follows a South Korean artist as he systematically seeks out, and then kills his real or imagined enemies.

The book further covers the adventures of Jonah Lightfoot, a man stolen from his own world when he witnesses the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa. He and his unwitting companions cross the world of Amara, a vertical landscape where to fall from the world's surface is to die, or worse. They find a massive ocean, somehow held in place without the water falling into the abyss, and must then figure out a way to cross it. On their journey they discover the true nature of Amara; meet mermaids, forest spirits and shapeshifting creatures; cross paths with dragons both good and evil; delve into a world built of memory; and stumble across artifacts from Earth's past, present, and future.

The book, as well as its sequels, follows the adventures of British historian and naturalist Jonah Lightfoot, who is caught in the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883. The blast transports him and American runaway Annie West into a vertical world consisting of a seemingly infinite wall populated by crumbling civilisations, weird creatures, and sentient dragons. No one knows where the wall begins or ends, and no one dares to climb to its top or fall to its base.

This world is called Amara, and it is a place deeply entwined with our own world. Throughout the books Jonah and his companions traverse the world and uncover its many mysteries. The true nature of Amara is fully revealed in the second book of the trilogy, Stone and Sea.

In this final tale of Amara, the nineteenth-century historian Jonah meets a man from his own world; one Tom Coyote, who originates from the year 1980. Along with Coyote, the bizarre group of companions (including a wood-spirit inhabiting a flying boat, a once-immortal basilisk, and several others who are mostly human) ascend the world-sized monolith of Amara to find what awaits at the top, and each of them prepare to face their own demons.

A pirate ship, involved in 1588 battles on the side of the Spanish Armada, suffers extensive damage and must put into a village on the British coast for repairs.

The village is small and isolated. The Spanish convince the villagers that the English fleet has been defeated and that they, the Spanish, are now their masters. This results in the villagers' sullen cooperation, but rumours and unrest begin to spread and soon the Spanish pirates find themselves facing a revolt.

Yeong-jin is a student who has become mentally ill after being imprisoned and tortured by the Japanese for his involvement in the 1 March 1919 protest against the Japanese occupation of Korea. After his release, he returns home to live with his father and sister, Yeong-hui, in their village home. His old friend Hyeon-gu is now in love with Yeong-hui. While the villagers are preoccupied with a harvest festival, O Gi-ho, a collaborator with the Japanese police, attempts to rape Yeong-hui. Hyeon-gu fights Gi-ho, while Yeong-jin watches and has a vision of a couple in a desert begging a man for water. When the man in his imagination embraces the woman rather than offering her water, Yeong-jin stabs him with a sickle, actually killing Gi-ho. Yeong-jin regains his senses at this moment. The film ends with the Japanese police taking Yeong-jin back to prison, while the villagers weep.

One day, radio DJ Dong-hyeon (Han Suk-kyu) receives an anonymous package containing a Velvet Underground record. Dong-hyeon hopes that the record was sent by his former lover. He decides to play the song ''Pale Blue Eyes'' off of that record. At the same time, a home shopping telemarketer, Soo-hyeon (Jeon Do-yeon) listens to the radio program while driving her car.

The next day, Soo-hyeon makes a request through the internet for Dong-hyeon to play the song again. Dong-hyeon then contacts Soo-hyeon, hoping she is his former girlfriend or someone he knows.

During the 1960s, in Virginia, while the blacks fight for their civil rights, a young white girl is kidnapped in Baltimore. Little Alice Raleigh, eleven years and blonde like corn, and heiress of an immense fortune, is held for a ransom of a million dollars. Her kidnappers, trying to make her invisible to the police officers and the federal agents searching for her, manage to brown her skin and her hair. They sequester her under an assumed name in a house held by an old black woman, near Norfolk, which turns out to be a house of prostitution.

Slowly, Alice adapts herself to this surprising life amidst the black culture of the time period, completely new for her; at no point in the book is the young Alice made to participate in prostitution, and in fact Alice only has a vague idea of what goes on in behind closed doors in the house.

She eventually discovers that her father is the real instigator of her kidnapping, in essence intending to embezzle money from himself that he can then spend without being traced by government offices. In the end, Alice is freed and returns to her former life, after denying knowledge of her father while still disguised as a black child and seeing him punished for his misdeed.

Setting and characters

The game takes place in the small fictitious harbour town Amami City in Japan. The company Algon Soft has made Amami its headquarters, which has led to the technology in the city quickly being upgraded; Algon Soft has connected every home and business in the city to its new network in order to demonstrate how a "city of tomorrow" could work. The Japanese government is impressed, and grants Algon Soft permission to expand the network across the rest of Japan in the coming years. It also takes place in the virtual world Paradigm X on Algon Soft's servers, where the citizens of Amami can visit virtual attractions.

The player character is a young man who is a member of the hacking group Spookies, which was founded by a man who calls himself Spooky. The other group members are Six, Lunch, Yu-Ichi, and the player character's friend Hitomi Tono. The group mainly hacks the city's network for fun or to play harmless pranks, but Spooky holds a grudge against Algon Soft. Among other recurring characters are the demon Nemissa, who possesses Hitomi, and Kinap, who teaches the player character to enter the souls of people who have recently died.

The film is set in Japan in 1885, alternating largely between Tokyo and Osaka.

Kikunosuke Onoe, generally called Kiku, played (in his movie debut) by the stage actor Shotaro Hanayagi, is the adopted son of a famous Kabuki actor, who is training to succeed his father in an illustrious career. Whilst hypocritically praising Onoe's acting to his face, the rest of his father's troupe deride him behind his back. Otoku (Kakuko Mori), who lives at the father's house as the young wet-nurse of the infant son of the father's natural son, is the only one frank enough to disclose his artistic shortcomings and urge him to improve himself. When Otoku is dismissed by Kiku's family for her over-closeness to the young master, with the potential for scandal, Kiku tracks her down and states that he wishes to marry her. His family is outraged and Kiku is forced to leave Tokyo, taking the train to Nagoya, honing his art away from his father, much to the latter's wrath.

One year later, Kiku is acting alongside his uncle, Tamiro Naritaya in Osaka, but remains dissatisfied and wishes to join a traveling troupe. Then Otoku tracks down Kiku and re-inspires him. She becomes his common law wife and continues to encourage him. When his uncle dies, four years later, he decides to join a travelling troupe and their times together become even harder. A further four years pass and we see Kiku and Otoku on the road, their fellow actors squabbling over small amounts of money. Kiku has changed in character to the point where he even strikes her. She still loves him, but his love has clearly faded. Their position worsens and Otoku becomes very sick.

Otoku goes to meet Kiku's brother to beg that he be given an acting role in Tokyo, re-using the famous family name. He agrees that Kiku can play the part he was due to play on two conditions: one, that his acting has improved; two, that he and Otoku separate, as this is needed to reconcile with their father. Fuku returns with Otoku to fetch Kiku.

We then see Kiku on-stage giving a bravura performance of Sumizome, a difficult and critical female role. He has at last found his niche and the fame he had always sought as a Kabuki actor. Otoku watches sadly from the wings, but she is happy for him. The family agree that Kiku may perform in Tokyo. As Kiku boards the train to Tokyo Otoku cannot be found, and Fuku hands him a letter from her, explaining everything. His companions explain that paradoxically he must continue to Tokyo in order to make Otoku's sacrifice worthwhile. He is a success.

The Tokyo troupe visit Osaka and have a triumphant welcome. Kiku's father says that Kiku may take pride of place in the river parade after the performance. The landlord comes and tells Kiku that Otoku is ill and will die that night. Kiku hesitates as it is his evening of glory, but his father forces him, saying how much Otoku helped him. Ultimately Kiku's father accepts Kiku's marriage to Otoku and Kiku tells her this, but this reconciliation comes only when she is already on her deathbed (due, by implication, to tuberculosis). Proud that he is at last happy, she ushers him to join the river parade because the audience is waiting to see and praise him.

She dies, while the theater's parade led by her husband can be heard in the distance.

The novel tells the story of Christopher Chant's childhood. Although both of his parents are powerful practitioners of magic, the two are constantly at loggerheads; his father (an enchanter, the strongest type of magic-user) is entirely devoted to his work, to such a degree that the young Christopher is afraid that he would not recognise him should the two meet in public. On the other hand, his mother (a sorceress, the second-strongest type of magic-user) is a social climber, and is apparently only married to his father for his social connections.

The only escape that Christopher has is through his dreams, in which he is able to escape to other worlds. While he is not the only person with this ability, seemingly no one is able to do it so easily as he. The fact that he can bring things back from these "spirit trips" makes him immensely valuable to his Uncle Ralph, a scheming silver-tongued businessman. He is soon caught up in a series of "experiments," supposedly to test his talents. In reality, they are to fetch a series of highly illegal goods (from mermaid meat to dragon's blood), for sale at the highest prices on a magical black market. He is accompanied on these trips by Tacroy, a guide arranged by his uncle.

While all this is going on, his father and mother part ways, his father having lost a goodly part of his fortune on the stock market, and Christopher is sent to a boarding school, where he does dismally at magic lessons, and develops an ambition to become a famous cricketer. However, his father has other ideas, and plucks him from the boarding school halfway through the school year, taking him to an irritable and elderly magic expert named Dr. Pawson. He soon unlocks the reason for Christopher's poor grades in magic: silver, specifically the silver coin his uncle gives him which he carries at all times. When Christopher touches silver, he loses his ability to use magic. When not touching silver, his magic surpasses almost every other enchanter in the world. Upon this discovery, he is sent to Chrestomanci Castle to be groomed for the role of the next Chrestomanci.

''Like Water for Chocolate'' is divided into 12 chapters, one for each month of the year, and each chapter comes with a Mexican recipe that correlates to a specific event in the protagonist's life.

Tita de la Garza, the protagonist, is 15 years old at the beginning of the novel. She lives on a ranch near the Mexico-United States border with her domineering mother, Mama Elena, her older sisters Gertrudis and Rosaura; Nacha, the ranch cook; and Chencha, the ranch maid.

Pedro Muzquiz is their neighbor, with whom Tita falls in love at first sight at a family Christmas party. The feeling turns out to be mutual, so Pedro asks Mama Elena for Tita’s hand in marriage. Unfortunately, she forbids it, citing the de la Garza family tradition that the youngest daughter (in this case, Tita) must remain single and take care of her mother until she (Mama Elena) dies. She suggests that Pedro marry Tita's eldest sister, Rosaura, instead. In order to stay close to Tita, Pedro decides to follow this advice.

Tita has a deep connection with food and cooking thanks to Nacha, who was Tita's primary caretaker growing up. Her love for cooking also comes from the fact that she was born in the kitchen.

Mama Elena forces Tita to help Nacha prepare the meal for Rosaura's wedding reception. While preparing the wedding cake, Tita is overcome with sadness, and cries into the cake batter. At the wedding reception, everyone except for Tita gets violently sick after eating the wedding cake, vomiting everywhere. Suspecting that Tita put an emetic into the wedding cake, Mama Elena violently beats Tita. On the day of the wedding, Tita finds Nacha lying dead on her bed, holding a picture of her fiancé.

Later, Rosaura becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son, Roberto, which Tita delivers on her own. Rosaura is unable to nurse Roberto while recovering from pregnancy complications (eclampsia), so Tita brings a hungry Roberto to her breast to stop him from crying since he won't drink tea or cow's milk. Tita begins producing breast milk and is able to nurse Roberto. This brings her and Pedro closer than ever. They begin meeting secretly around the ranch behind the family's backs.

Tita pours her intense emotions into her cooking, unintentionally affecting those around her. After Tita makes quail in rose petal sauce for dinner one evening (flavored with Tita’s erotic thoughts of Pedro), Gertrudis becomes so inflamed with lust that she sweats pink, rose-scented sweat; when she goes to cool off in the shower, her body gives off so much heat that the shower's tank water evaporates before reaching her body and the shower itself catches fire. As Gertrudis runs out of the burning shower naked, she is carried away on horseback by revolutionary captain Juan Alejandrez, who is drawn to her from the battlefield by her rosy scent; they make love atop Juan's horse as they gallop away from the ranch. Gertrudis is later revealed to be working as a prostitute in a brothel on the border and is subsequently disowned by her mother.

Rosaura, Pedro and Roberto are forced to move to San Antonio at Mama Elena's insistence, who suspects a relationship between Tita and Pedro. Roberto dies soon after the move and Rosaura later must undergo a hysterectomy due to complications occurring during the birth of her daughter, Esperanza. Upon hearing of her nephew's death, Tita, who cared for Roberto herself, blames her mother, who responds by smacking Tita across the face with a wooden spoon, thus breaking her nose. Tita, destroyed by the death of her nephew and unwilling to further cope with her mother's controlling ways, secludes herself in the dovecote until John Brown, the widowed family doctor, arrives at Mama Elena's request to have him take Tita to an insane asylum. Instead, John takes Tita back to his home to live with him and his young son, Alex.

Tita and John soon fall in love, and are eventually engaged to be married, but her underlying feelings for Pedro do not waver. While John travels to the United States to retrieve his aunt Mary for the wedding, Tita loses her virginity to Pedro. A month later, Tita is worried she may be pregnant with Pedro’s child. Her mother's ghost haunts her, telling her that she and her unborn child are cursed. Gertrudis, now married to Juan Alejandrez and a general in the army, returns to the ranch with her troops to cut the Three Kings' Day bread and mentions Tita's pregnancy in Pedro's presence, leaving Tita and Pedro to consider running away together. This causes Pedro to get drunk and sing a love song below Tita’s window while she is arguing with Mama Elena’s ghost. Just as she confirms she isn't pregnant (due to a late period) and frees herself of her mother's grasp once and for all, Mama Elena's ghost gets revenge on Tita by setting Pedro on fire, leaving him badly burnt and bedridden. Meanwhile, as Tita is preparing dinner for John and his aunt Mary, she and Rosaura argue over Pedro, Esperanza, and Rosaura's intention to have Esperanza remain single and care for Rosaura until her death, per the family tradition, which Tita detests. She vows not to let the tradition ruin Esperanza's life as it did hers. At dinner, Tita tells John that she cannot marry him because of her affair with Pedro.

Many years later, John's son Alex and Esperanza are engaged, and Tita prepares for their wedding, after Rosaura has died from digestive problems. During the wedding, Pedro proposes to Tita saying that he does not want to “die without making [Tita] [his] wife”. Tita accepts and Pedro dies making love to her in the kitchen storage room right after the wedding. Tita is overcome with sorrow and cold and begins to eat a box of candles. The candles are sparked by the heat of Pedro's memory, creating a spectacular fire that engulfs them both, eventually consuming the entire ranch.

The narrator of the story is Esperanza's daughter, nicknamed Tita after her great-aunt. She describes how, after the fire, the only thing that survived under the smoldering rubble of the ranch was Tita's cookbook, which contained all the recipes described in the preceding chapters.

The film is based on the actual events of the pursuit of American bank robber John Dillinger during the 1930s.

The film begins with Jack Ruby narrating, "Lookin' back at it now. What can you say? It feels like it was a dream. Yeah, that's it, a dream. Maybe none of it never happened. Because when I look back on it today, this is the best sense I can make of it". Then the scene shows a murder; a corpse, dressed in a suit, is being drained of blood, having been hung on a meat hook. It is readily apparent that the corpse has been tortured, and it is implied that the presentation of the body is intended to be a brutal message.

The next scene switches location to the Carousel Club of Dallas, Texas in 1962, a burlesque club owned by Jack Ruby. It is a slow night at the club, with only a sparse audience for the featured performer, and few bar patrons. The featured dancer, named Telephone Trixie, is unprepared for the show, unenthusiastic, and well beyond her glory days. Ruby regretfully watches her lackluster performance and ruefully observes the disappointing state of his business. Near closing, Ruby leaves the Carousel through a rear/side exit in order to make a rendezvous with two corrupt officers from the Dallas Police Department in order to supply them with narcotics. The next scene shows an attractive young blond woman sitting in front of a mirror applying make-up to a facial bruise; the scene strongly suggests that her sleeping husband or significant other has been abusing her.

The next set of scenes follows Ruby as he closes the Carousel Club and makes a stop at an all-night diner which is adjacent to a bus station. Inside the diner, Ruby observes the young blond from the previous scene and stops to speak with her and offer a meal and a place to stay. In the course of discussion between the young woman and Ruby, it is made clear that Jack is not making a sexual advance, and is instead offering lodging in a gesture of platonic friendship. Destitute, desperate, and homeless, the young Sheryl Ann DuJean then accompanies Ruby back to Carousel Club, where Ruby gives her lodging in an apartment in the area above the club.

The next day, Ruby has a conversation on the state of Carousel with his bartender, who is established to be a young Cuban exile named Diego. Ruby's troubles are further amplified by the appearance cancellation of the next featured dancer who was scheduled to appear on stage. Having heard Ruby's conversation about the cancellation, Sheryl Ann offers to perform for Ruby during his police appreciation show that night. Ruby, reluctant to believe that the innocent and demure Sheryl Ann is stripper material, is desperate and left with no other choice than to allow her to dance. Sheryl Ann adopts the stage name Candy Cane and then takes the stage only to wow the law enforcement crowd with her skilled and enthusiastic performance. Even the jaded Jack Ruby is surprised by her expertise, and realizes she is experienced as a stripper. The crowd reacts enthusiastically, and things begin to look up for Jack Ruby as he has a showstopper as a featured dancer, and a chance at revitalizing his business. Ruby and Candy Cane come to understanding that they be truthful, and a friendship develops between the two.

Shortly after the upswing in business, Jack is contacted by one of his former mob associates, named Louie Vitali, about performing a black bag job in Cuba which the murder victim, Action Jackson, seen in the opening scene, was originally assigned to. Ruby confers with Candy Cane and he ends up inviting her to go along with him to communist Cuba. Once in Cuba, Ruby meets with Vitali and they meet with the elderly and imprisoned Sicilian mobster Santos Alicante, who has been in jail in Cuba since the 1959 communist takeover after his casino hotel was closed down. Vitali tells Ruby that they are to spring Santos from Cuba to put him back in place in the US as part of a complex operation plan. However, after their visit, Vitali accompanies Ruby back to his and Candy's hotel room where he secretly tells him the real reason for this assignment; he wants Ruby to kill Santos because the people that Vitali works for feel that Santos has outgrown his usefulness to them. Vitali gives Ruby an 8 mm film camera that has a pistol encased in it to carry out the killing. But that evening, Ruby instead kills Vitali on the dock near the prison and springs Santos from his cell by bribing the guards, and then he, Santos, and Candy flee Cuba aboard Vitali's boat back to America. After arriving in New Orleans, Ruby makes contact with David Ferrie, an old friend from his days in Chicago, to supply him with the necessary papers enabling Santos to re-enter the country. Shortly after, Ruby and Candy return to Dallas, while Santos goes off on his own.

Several months later, Ruby, still managing the Carousel Club in which Candy is now the star attraction, has an encounter one evening when Candy's estranged and abusive husband, Hank, shows up and confronts her after the show in her apartment, wanting her to return to him. Ruby beats up Candy/Sheryl Ann's husband and warns him never to come back to the club.

The next day, a mysterious man who identifies himself only as "Maxwell" pays a visit to Ruby at the currently closed club to talk with him about the killing of Vitali and of the release of Santos from Cuba. With a clearly implied threat of arrest and incarceration, Maxwell wants Ruby to redeem himself to the people that Maxwell works for by being an informant for him on Santos, who has since opened up a new hotel and casino in Las Vegas since his return to the United States as well as Santos' affiliates. Maxwell supplies Ruby with a mini-tape recorder to assist, and Ruby makes the assumption that Maxwell works for the CIA, which Maxwell neither denies or admits.

Ruby and Candy travel to Las Vegas and check into Santos' new hotel, where a gala event is taking place that involves a stage performance by singer Tony Montana. Ruby is also suspicious when a helicopter arrives and drops off the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, who is attending the event. Candy attends the event with David Ferrie, who sits with her at the table where the President is sitting, while Ruby sits with Santos and several like-minded people who are clearly connected to organized crime. Recording the conversation, the men want Ruby to smuggle into Cuba "special cigars" for Fidel Castro to assassinate him for the loss of all their casinos and business since the 1959 takeover. When Ruby excuses himself to go outside, he meets with Maxwell in the hotel parking lot, where he drives Ruby outside the city and reveals another assignment for him to partake in the assassination of a prominent official, implying it to be Castro.

The next day, Candy tells Ruby that the people that Santos works with want her to stay in Las Vegas to perform as a singer in their hotels, thanks to some presidential connections that she managed to get hold of. Ruby returns to Dallas alone, while he makes use of free time by shooting at watermelons and other targets from a distance in preparation for his next assassination assignment.

Sometime later, Ruby talks with Lenny, an old friend of his, about assignments for CIA associates and Lenny tells Ruby that to take out a "target" relies on two or more rifle marksmen and a "patsy" or "fall guy" to be caught in order to place all the blame for the crime to divert suspicion away from the investigating authorities.

Meanwhile, Diego the bartender meets with David Ferrie. They travel to New Orleans and make contact with Lee Harvey Oswald, whom they ask to talk about going in on a job.

Back in Dallas, Ruby meets with Santos, Sam Giancana, and their men at another meeting where Giancana tells Ruby that his assignment to take out Castro has been canceled because another matter has come up. Giancana tells Ruby that the CIA has been having troubles with President Kennedy over the Cuba issue and wanting to reveal the CIA's true nature. After Ruby leaves, Giancana meets with Maxwell for a talk.

Returning to his club, Ruby sees Candy there, who tells him that she quit her career tour which included performances for the President because she felt they were taking advantage of her and her charms. It is implied that Candy had shared some intimate time with Kennedy and possibly others. While Ruby and Candy decide to revise the club with a new classy act as a singing club, he begins to figure out what Maxwell and the mob associates are doing: planning a high-level assassination. Ruby tells his boss, Proby, that from his views and experiences in the past several months, the CIA and the Mafia work together to stage and carry out contract killings, and get away with it by subcontracting third parties to carry out the work. Proby has some doubts, but he tells Ruby to leave the matter alone for he cannot blow the lid on a complex conspiracy such as this.

On November 22, 1963, JFK arrives in Dallas, where Maxwell meets with Oswald, Diego, and two other henchmen, where he tells them their assignments. While Ruby is at a newspaper office to file a new listing for his club, Candy is watching the President's limo convoy ride through the city. It is shown that Diego, with Oswald as the handler, shoots Kennedy from the sixth-floor window of the Dallas Book Depository, while the second assassin, and his handler, fire the fatal shot, killing Kennedy from the grassy knoll section near the building to the building.

After watching the events on a TV set, a distraught Ruby returns to his club, where Proby is rummaging through his desk to look for the audio tape of the recording of the conversation Ruby had in Las Vegas with Santos and his associates, but the tape is gone. Ruby tells Proby, who has not heard about the assassination, that their enemies have won. The following day, David Ferrie pays a visit to Ruby at the club where they watch a TV broadcast about the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald and that he also was arrested for killing Officer Tippit, a regular customer at the club. Ferrie tells Ruby to forget that they ever met and that he shouldn't do anything stupid for he calls Ruby only a "small time hood". Ruby vows he will make the world understand.

The next day, Ruby goes to the Dallas county jail where Oswald is being transferred and fatally shoots him. Ruby is immediately arrested by the police—just as he wanted them to. In jail, Ruby refuses to give a statement to his lawyer about his motivation and demands that he be taken to Washington to testify before a Senate committee about what he knows. At Ruby's trial, he refuses to offer an insanity defense for the murder of Oswald and is convicted and sentenced to death. Ruby sees Maxwell as one of the spectators during the trial and knows that Maxwell had some hand in work behind the scenes that has led to his conviction. Ruby appeals the verdict, but aware that the conspirators are monitoring his visits, continues to demand that he be taken to Washington to testify, but he is refused.

Several months later, while still in prison awaiting an appeal, Candy visits Ruby to offer him moral support for his actions, while he tells her not to visit him again and to move far away so the members of the conspiracy will not find her. After Candy leaves Ruby for good, he remains in jail while over the next several months, he believes that the conspirators are slowly killing him inside when he is forcibly given injections. In a final disclaimer, it is said that Ruby died from cancer in jail in 1967 and that his request to testify before a Senate hearing was never granted.

Los Angeles vice detectives Bill Holt (Chris Penn) and Nin (Jeffrey Wright) have entered the gangster and drug scenes and have allied with drug kingpin Truman Rickhardt (Henry Czerny). As he tries to stop Holt, Nin narrates the events that led Holt to torture Truman's brother Sean (Anthony DeSando) by chaining him inside an iron box that's slowly filling with cement. Cops on the take, missing money, Holt's tempting wife Lyndel (Sherilyn Fenn), dead police officers are implicated in the events.

The ''Delta Flyer'', occupied by Seven of Nine, the Doctor, and Ensign Harry Kim, are intercepted by a ship from the Lokirrin species. The Lokirrin's captain, Ranek, accuses the Doctor of being a "photonic insurgent" and threatens to decompile his program. Ranek has his men board the ''Delta Flyer'' but they only find Seven and Kim; the two are captured and taken to the Lokirrim brig. There, Seven secretly reveals to Kim that she is really the Doctor, Seven having allowed him to download his program into her Borg implants. The Doctor, in control of Seven's body, begins to experience human senses for the first time. Though not immediately taken by what he can smell, he's certainly delighted by what he can taste, quickly indulging in a healthy appetite.

Ranek brings Seven, still possessed by the Doctor, to the ''Delta Flyer'' for her to explain the purpose of the food replicator, fearing it can produce bioweapons. The Doctor, as Seven, uses the replicator to synthesize human delicacies which both he and Ranek greatly enjoy. Eventually, the Doctor is able to get Ranek drunk, allowing him to get the holo-emitter before he is returned to the brig. There, the Doctor transfers himself to the emitter, and Seven, now in possession of herself, bitterly complains to the Doctor about his misuse of her body, with copious amounts of cheesecake and numerous glasses of wine. The Doctor apologizes when it becomes clear that they will need to continue to have the Doctor inhabit Seven's body to engineer their escape.

Ranek begins to allow Seven more leeway on his ship, including helping in their medical bay. Ranek shows signs of affection for the personality Seven displays from the Doctor's influence, including surprising him/her with a kiss, which sends the doc into a panic. A little later, while Seven is being massaged to work out a muscle spasm, the Doctor experience sexual arousal. When Seven is returned to the brig and the Doctor transferred to the mobile emitter, he and Seven get into an argument: Seven is infuriated about how the Doctor is using her body, while the Doctor complains that Seven does not let herself experience these sensations and emotions, telling Seven they are what make life worth living. Kim calms them down, and Seven does reveal that while the Doctor was in control of her body, she still could evaluate the ship's systems towards their escape.

Seven allows the Doctor to use her body again, this time to lure Ranek to the ''Delta Flyer'' for a distracting date. The Doctor is able to sedate Ranek while they are dancing a waltz, and uses the opportunity to contact ''Voyager''. When Ranek wakes, he demands Seven be brought to him, but by then, ''Voyager'' has arrived and Captain Janeway demands the return of her crew. Ranek attempts to use shields to prevent ''Voyager'' from taking its crew back, but injures himself in the process.

The Doctor downloads himself back into his mobile emitter to stay behind to help treat Ranek, telling him it was he all along and that not all photonic beings are villainous. Ranek is visibly rattled when he discovers it was the male doctor he had kissed before. The Doctor is returned safely to ''Voyager'', where later he and Seven enjoy a meal, which he enviously senses vicariously through Seven's descriptions of it. Seven pours a glass of wine and toasts the Doc "to shared experiences".

In a side plot, Tuvok secretly informs Tom Paris that he is suffering from ''pon farr''. Paris suggests he can program the holodeck to recreate Tuvok's wife T'Pel, and though Tuvok is initially wary, agrees it is the best course of action. During this program, the Lorikkin scans disrupt the holodeck, leaving Tuvok still suffering. He manages to regain his senses to help ''Voyager'' recover its missing crew, but later completes his holodeck treatment and thanks Paris for his help.

The film opens with a vicious killer attacking an innocent woman in her apartment. It soon becomes apparent this murderer is a serial killer.

The scene switches to elderly Amos Kyne, a news media mogul, who is on his deathbed (in his office) talking to the men in charge of his company's divisions: wire-service chief Mark Loving, newspaper chief Jon Day Griffith, and television chief "Honest" Harry Kritzer; Edward Mobley, TV anchorman for Kyne Inc., is also present. After Kyne dismisses the others, he talks with Mobley about his concerns regarding his empire after his death; Mobley has refused the top job many times and does so again during this conversation. He is due on the air in four minutes and walks over to turn on Kyne's TV. When he looks back, he sees the old man has died.

After Kyne's death, the corporation goes to his son, Walter Kyne, whom his father resented and has never allowed into the business.

Due to his lack of knowledge, and not wanting to take on all the work at the top by himself, Walter Kyne decides to create a new second-in-command position of Executive Director. He challenges Loving, Griffith and Kritzer to catch the serial killer who has been dubbed the "Lipstick Killer". The man who does will get the new job.

The job is a very lucrative and prestigious prize, and in order to secure it Griffith attempts to ally with his friend Mobley, who agrees to help although not interested in the job himself. Loving manipulates star writer Mildred Donner to cozy up to and get information out of Mobley. Kritzer may have an inside track, as he is having a secret affair with Walter Kyne's wife, Dorothy. She is both his confidante and sweet-talks her husband on his behalf. Their love nest, however, happens to be across the hall from the apartment of Loving's secretary, Nancy Liggett, to whom Mobley becomes engaged.

Mobley receives inside information from his police friend, Lt. Kaufman. After a new murder, the two men devise a plan to set a trap by using Nancy as the bait, with Mobley taunting the Lipstick Killer on TV in order to bring him out into the open.

Taking the bait, the Lipstick Killer follows Nancy to her apartment to attack her, but fails to get in. Mrs. Kyne happens to arrive just then and enters her apartment. The killer takes advantage of the open door and succeeds in attacking her. She fights him off and runs screaming to Nancy's apartment. The killer runs away, and after a chase that includes Mobley the police catch him. Through Kaufman, Mobley provides the scoop to Griffith, who makes sure to release it first in an extra-edition newspaper and only then on the Kyne wire service, but still ahead of any competitors.

In all the commotion, Dorothy is recognized at the secret apartment and the adulterous affair is exposed. "Honest" Harry Kritzer wins the promotion because of the threat of blackmail against Kyne. As Mobley and Griffith discuss the aftermath of these events in a bar, Mobley announces that he has resigned. Kyne comes in and Mobley tells him what he thinks of him.

The movie ends with Mobley and Nancy having married in Florida, and learning from a local paper of an unexpected shakeup in the Kyne organization. Kritzer is out; the promotion has gone to Griffith; and Mobley is to be promoted in turn to replace him. The happy couple kiss, ignoring a ringing telephone.

''Corporation'' is set in a dark future, and centers around the Universal Cybernetics Corporation, or U.C.C., responsible for employing a large percentage of the population of London and is a keystone in the stability of the economy, thus controlling the government's popularity. U.C.C.'s London headquarters' factory is under the government suspicion of illegally producing genetically engineered hostile mutants. The U.C.C. is a successful "corporation" that works with pride on (legal) genetic experiments, cybernetic implants and body modifications. Recently, however, one of the U.C.C.'s experiments has escaped and is wreaking havoc on London, which is where the player comes in, taking control of a national security spy (or a "cyber cop" in the North American Genesis version) working for the agency known as ZODIAC, assigned to infiltrate and expose the illegal activity.

Nine passengers board a commercial flight from Los Angeles to Panama City: wealthy Judson Ellis and Alice Melhorne, eloping because their parents disapprove; an elderly couple, Professor Henry Spengler and his wife Martha; Tommy Mulvaney, the young son of a gangster, and his escort, gunman Pete; Peggy Nolan, a woman with a shady past; and Vasquez, an anarchist being extradited and facing a death sentence for killing a high-ranking politician, and his guard, Crimp. The crew consists of pilot Bill, co-pilot Joe Brooks, and steward Larry.

On their way to Panama, a fierce nighttime storm buffets their airliner, ''The Silver Queen''. A gas cylinder is shaken loose and knocks a door open. Tommy falls near the door; Larry grabs the child and hands him to a passenger, but the plane lurches and Larry falls out the door. An engine fails and the pilots are forced to crash-land in a jungle. In the morning, the professor recognizes plants of the Amazon rainforest: the aircraft has been blown far south of where rescuers will search; the nearest civilization is across the mountains.

Weeks go by while Bill and Joe struggle to repair the damaged airliner. The experience changes everyone. The Spenglers rediscover their love for each other. Bill warms to an appreciative Peggy, although she tells him about her sordid past. Judson falls apart, staying drunk much of the time, while Alice toughens up and begins to feel attracted to Joe. Vasquez, seeing how well most of the group are coping with their situation, reconsiders his radical beliefs.

On the 23rd day, Crimp disappears; Tommy eventually discovers his dead body. When Peggy and Pete go looking for Tommy, he leads them to Crimp, killed by a poison dart. Pete orders Peggy to take Tommy to safety while he covers their retreat. He is killed by the unseen natives. The remaining survivors board the now-repaired airliner, but as the engines turn over, the oil line in one engine starts leaking. Bill and Joe patch it, but inform the others that the patch will fail some time after takeoff, leaving only one running engine. As a result, the aircraft can only carry four adults and Tommy across the mountains. Vasquez suddenly grabs a pistol and announces that he will choose who goes, since he is doomed either way and is therefore the only one without bias. While the repairs are being made, Professor Spengler tells Vasquez that he and his wife volunteer to stay, as they have only a few years left anyway. Judson, on the other hand, tries to bribe Vasquez by offering to pay for a top lawyer.

When the aircraft is ready, Vasquez announces that both pilots, the two young women and Tommy will go. Judson attacks him, and in the struggle Vasquez shoots him dead. The airliner takes off, leaving behind Vasquez and the Spenglers. As the natives approach, Professor Spengler quietly informs Vasquez that they must not be taken alive, as they will be tortured. Vasquez lies to him, telling him that there are three bullets left. He kills the couple with his last two bullets, then awaits his grisly fate.

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On the surface, Richard and Kathryn Mason appear to be a happily married couple. But on their fifth wedding anniversary, Kathryn accuses Richard of having fallen in love with her younger sister, Evelyn Turner, who is visiting them. He does not deny it, but has resigned himself to leaving things as they are, since Kathryn certainly would not give him a divorce. Kathryn knows he knows it, and derides him further. At a party celebrating the couple's anniversary, hosted by family friend and psychologist Dr. Mark Hamilton, Evelyn meets with Mark's handsome young colleague, Professor Norman Holdsworth. On the way home Kathryn slyly mentions to Evelyn that their mother is lonely, knowing that Evelyn will feel obligated to move back home. Angered, Richard crashes their car and suffers a broken leg.

Richard decides to take desperate action. He pretends to require a wheelchair even after his leg has healed. His puzzled physician, Dr. Grant, diagnoses the problem as psychological, not physical, and suggests exercise, so a car trip to a mountain resort is arranged. At the last minute, Richard contrives to stay home to finish some work.

Going on ahead, Kathryn stops by Hamilton's home and asks him to check in on Richard. Resuming her journey, Kathryn comes upon an abandoned parked car blocking the narrow, deserted mountain road. Unexpectedly, Richard walks threateningly out of the fog. The audience is left to imagine him killing her. Next he pushes her car down a steep slope; it dislodges some logs which crash down and hide it. He returns home in time to set up an alibi by meeting with an employee he had summoned to finish the work. In his presence he twice phones the resort, only to be told she has not arrived. He then notifies the police that she is missing.

Subsequently things happen to make Richard wonder if Kathryn somehow survived. First, the police find a pickpocket in possession of a cameo ring that Richard and Evelyn identify as Kathryn's; the man admits to stealing it from a woman matching Kathryn's description, ''after'' her disappearance. Then Richard smells Kathryn's perfume in their bedroom, finds her key to a home safe, and opens it: her wedding ring is inside.

Mark suggests Richard and Evelyn join him on a fishing vacation to relieve the strain. Mark also invites Holsworth, who takes the opportunity to ask Evelyn to marry him. She is undecided. When she tells Richard, he believes her hesitation is because of him. He tells her he loves her, and that she must feel the same about him, but she strongly denies it. Later, realizing his mistake, he encourages Holsworth to try again.

Then a pawn shop claim ticket is mailed to Richard, addressed in what appears to be his wife's handwriting. At the pawn shop, he finds Kathryn's locket and her signature in the register, but when he returns with the police, the register is different and there is no locket. Finally, he sees a woman on the street who looks and is dressed like his wife. He follows her to an apartment, only to find that it is vacant, with no one inside.

Unable to reconcile these occurrences any longer, Richard returns to the crime scene to see once and for all if Kathryn's body is inside the car. But Hamilton and the police are waiting for him. Kathryn's body had been found and removed long before, and now Richard is arrested. Hamilton reveals that he had been onto Richard since Richard's initial interview with the police. Since Hamilton's suspicion wouldn't be enough to secure a conviction in a court of law, Hamilton and the police worked together to stage the events that made Richard suspect Kathryn was still alive, hoping he would return to look for her body, and thus prove he had known all along what happened to her.

CB and CB's sister have a funeral for their dog, who recently contracted rabies and was put down after killing "a little yellow bird" and nearly biting CB. Unfortunately, the funeral ends in failure as they argue over who should say a prayer for him. CB then goes to see his pothead friend Van, asking where people go when they die. Van, who claims to be Buddhist, says that spirits either dissolve away or get reincarnated. The next day at school CB asks his friend Matt where we go when we die. Matt gives him a more detailed explanation, proposing that when we die we return to a vagina, similar to being born, although the vagina does not belong to our mother. Beethoven walks by and Matt calls him a fag.

At lunch, Marcy and Tricia tell their friends about an upcoming party at Marcy's house. The two are clearly drunk and debate about the "Spork". Matt is disgusted by all the germs. CB goes to Beethoven's practice room to listen to his music. CB then monologues over his dead dog which irritates Beethoven so much that, in return, Beethoven tells CB about how he cannot go through his day without someone bullying him in some sort, and tells CB that "messing around with me" means teasing and other sorts. CB makes a truce with Beethoven to re-establish their friendship. CB sits next to Beethoven while he plays, and then CB kisses Beethoven.

At the party, Beethoven, to everyone's surprise, walks in, and Matt calls Beethoven a fag again. CB comes to Beethoven's defense and kisses him again, this time in front of everyone. After abruptly leaving the party with CB, Beethoven demands an explanation of what happened. CB says he wanted to do that and in return, Beethoven kisses CB, leading to them (implicitly) having sex. The morning after, Matt, Tricia, and Marcy all wake up together, half-naked and wondering what happened between them the night before. CB goes to visit Van's sister, who was institutionalized for setting the Little Red-Haired Girl's hair on fire. CB tells her the whole story, also revealing to her that he and Beethoven had sex after the party.

A few days later, Matt, Tricia, Marcy, and Van eat lunch together and are all stunned at what happened. Matt vows to make Beethoven pay for "fucking with [his] best friend's head." After Matt storms off in a fit of anger, Tricia, Marcy and Van discuss how Matt has repressed homosexual feelings for CB and how Tricia bullies Frieda because she is jealous of Frieda. CB goes to see Beethoven and the two argue over whether or not they should be in a relationship. CB leaves disappointed but hopeful for the future between them. Matt enters and while Beethoven is practicing, Matt comes in and harasses him for being in love with CB. Matt tells him to stay away from CB, or else. Beethoven says no and calls him by his old nickname, Pig-Pen. It is also said that Beethoven realizes Matt's "secret", which may be an implication that Matt is a closeted homosexual. This angers Matt, who slams the piano top, breaking Beethoven's hands. Later on, the group has a talk about Beethoven, who is revealed to have committed suicide (Matt, meanwhile, was suspended from school for a week). CB is angered by this and berates them for pretending that they actually cared about him for all these years.

Later on, CB gets a letter from his pen pal. In the letter he tells him that he must keep strong, even in rough times. The letter mentions a boy "who plays piano just like [CB's] friend" moved in near the pen pal, and mentions that "he's had a tough life, but things are better for him, now.", and that he found a dog who likes to sing along to the piano (like CB's dog did, alluding that Beethoven is now caring for CB's dog in the afterlife). CB cries over the letter, as it meant so much to his friend, his dog, and himself. The letter is signed 'CS', an allusion to Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz.

''The Book Group'' revolved around the life of American Clare Pettengill (Anne Dudek), who, at the start of the series, had recently moved from Cincinnati, Ohio to Glasgow, Scotland. She starts up a book club to try to find friends with similar interests. Those whom she encounters are not what she expected; her new group consists of a drug-addled, egotistical postgraduate student (and subsequently his neurotic and ever-worrying brother), an easy-going disabled man who aims to be a writer, three discontented footballers' wives, and a straggler who hides his homosexuality with an obsession for football. All of the members are brought together not so much by the books that they read (if they read the book at all), but by their own longings for companionship, and their ambitions to better their lives. Some episodes are titled for the book that is discussed in the group.

The company "KVH" (Karel Vita Hudson) develops a tuberculosis drug "Dypraxa" and has drug trials conducted in Kenya by "Three Bees". To get willing test subjects, KVH offers treatment for HIV at no cost. Three Bees discovers that "Dypraxa" is effective, but kills a higher number of people than acceptable. To prevent delay and the need to spend millions on refining the formula, KVH covers up the deaths with the assistance of the British Foreign Office. The inventor of Dypraxa, Dr Lorbeer, upon discovering his trial has killed so many people, runs away and attempts to atone for the deaths by treating villagers in Southern Sudan.

Tessa Quayle, a rich Amnesty International activist, lives in Kenya watching for corruption and waste of foreign aid sent for medicine and hospitals, and becomes aware of the unnecessary tuberculosis treatment while visiting HIV patients with a Kenyan doctor, Arnold Bluhm. Arnold is gay but keeps it a secret since homosexuality is illegal in Kenya. Tessa and Arnold are close, which causes rumors of an affair because Tessa is married to Justin Quayle, a low-level British diplomat and horticultural hobbyist posted in Kenya.

Tessa, who is very pregnant, sees a new mother get very ill who was part of the trial. Tessa and Arnold try to get some attention on the trial by writing up a report for the Foreign Office, but to protect Justin, Tessa takes the report to her husband's coworker, the British High Commissioner, Sandy Woodrow. Sandy sends the report to his boss in London, Sir Bernard Pellegrin, who heads the Africa Desk at the Foreign Office.

Sir Bernard Pellegrin immediately writes an incriminating letter to Sandy saying that by acknowledging that there could be a risk of Dypraxa causing unnecessary deaths, the Foreign Office cannot claim ignorance when Three Bees announces the safety of Dypraxa, so the report must be buried, and Tessa and Arnold need to be kept under surveillance to further block any reporting of problems with Dypraxa. Sandy realizes he made a mistake to send the report but doesn't recognize the danger Tessa is in. When Tessa asks Sandy about the response he deflects that he only got a personal letter in response. Tessa promises she will have sex with him if he shows her the letter. Sandy hands her the letter and tells her to lock it in his drawer after she's read it.

Tessa reads it and realizes the situation is serious. Determined to not have the lives of poor Kenyans sacrificed so KVH and Three Bees can make millions of dollars, she arranges for her and Arnold to go find Dr. Lorbeer in southern Sudan so she can get proof of her theories and turn those in to a German watchdog group. Knowing she is in danger, she ensures her will is set to take care of her husband, including leaving him her house in London so that he can go home to it after she dies. Sandy, still holding out hope that Tess will leave Justin for him, writes her a letter asking for them to run away together. Tess hides this letter in a keepsake box with her will.

Tessa and Arnold go to southern Sudan and find Lorbeer, get the clinical trial data from him and record him on tape admitting to what he knows about the drug trials killing people, and leave the letter that Pellegrin wrote with him as proof that the Foreign Service was also aware of the issue. Sandy informs Pellegrin that Tess and Arnold are on the move, and Pellegrin orders them to be killed, and for it to look like Arnold raped Tessa and beat her to death.

Tessa and Arnold hire a driver to leave to mail the evidence and tape, only to be run off the road by the hit squad. The driver is killed, Tess is raped and beaten to death, and Arnold is abducted, has his tongue cut out, is crucified upside down, and has his penis cut off and shoved into his mouth.

Sandy gets the news, goes to Justin, and tells him they are getting reports of a white woman and black driver found killed in the southern end of Lake Turkana. Sandy says Tess and Arnold spent the night at Lodwar, shared a room, then hired a car, and Arnold's whereabouts are unknown. Justin and Sandy are taken to a Kenyan morgue to Tessa's body. Sandy now understands that a hit was put out on her because of the report she filed and Justin identifies her body.

Tessa's office has all the computers and CDs taken from it in to wipe out any evidence of the crime, but Justin finds Sandy's letter in the keepsake box, where Sandy asks for the letter from Pellegrin. Justin becomes determined to get to the bottom of her murder and notices people tailing him, intimidating him with notes, and eventually beating him up and telling him to stay away. Despite this, he continues to uncover his wife's final days. KVH have made the announcement of a safe Dypraxa and their stock price has soared.

After arriving back in London, Justin has his passport confiscated by the Home Office and meets with his lawyer who is Tessa's first cousin, Ham. Ham lets him know that she took care of Justin in the will in case she died, as little as two weeks before she was murdered. Ham helps Justin get a fake passport, since they know they are both being watched, then sets up Tessa's aunt in Rome as a contact that Justin can call and get a message to Ham.

When Justin finds out about Lorbeer in southern Sudan, he visits him and gets the incriminating letter, which he has mailed to the aunt in Rome. He goes to Lake Turkana, where he says that he knows all of Tessa's secrets, that he understands her now, and he is coming home. To prevent being tortured to death, he removes the bullets from a gun and likely brandishes it to the approaching hit squad so that they kill him.

At Tessa and Justin's London memorial service, Pellegrin speaks of Justin as having committed suicide in the same place where his wife died because he didn't want to bother anyone else with his death. Ham starts speaking as if reading an epistle but instead reads the incriminating letter written by Pellegrin to Sandy. When Pellegrin realizes what's been done in front of a church full of witnesses and reporters, he storms out of the church and into a waiting car.

Austin Spencer (Sidney Blackmer), a newspaper publisher who opposes the death penalty, wants to prove a point about the inadequacy of circumstantial evidence. He talks his daughter's fiancé, Tom Garrett (Dana Andrews), into participating in a hoax, in an attempt to expose the ineptitude of the city's hard-line district attorney. The plan is for Tom to plant clues that will lead to his arrest for the recent murder of a female nightclub dancer, Patty Gray. Once Tom is found guilty, Spencer is to reveal the setup and humiliate the District Attorney.

Tom agrees to the plan, and is convicted on the circumstantial evidence. But Spencer dies in a car accident before he can clear Tom, and the photographic evidence he had intended to use to clear Tom after his trial is burned to an unrecognizable state. Tom remains on death row in prison. However, in time to prove the two men's intentions, written testimony by the dead man is discovered. Because of this, Tom is to be pardoned.

However, while talking to his fiancée Susan (Joan Fontaine), Garrett reveals he knows the late woman's real name; this leads him to confess that the murder victim is actually his estranged wife, Emma Blucher, who had reneged on her promise to divorce him in Mexico. As this was preventing him from marrying Susan, he murdered her. Susan tells the police, and Garrett's pardon is canceled before the double jeopardy rule comes into effect, and the film closes with him being led back to his cell pending execution.

After being dumped by her boyfriend just before their 100-day anniversary, Ha-Yeong (Ha Ji-won) meets a college guy named Hyung-Jun (Kim Jaewon) when she kicks a can that accidentally hits him in the face and causes him to scratch his Lexus. He demands she pay him $3000 on the spot. She escapes from him, accidentally leaving her wallet behind.

Hyung-Jun stalks her, demanding money to pay for his car. Since she is a poor high school student Hyung-Jun writes up an "Enslavement Agreement" for Ha-Yeong in order to pay for the damage to his car. Ha-Yeong is thrown into a nightmarish slave life for 100 days, running his errands, i.e.: cleaning his house, carrying his shopping, and cleaning his car.

By accident she finds out that the damage to Hyung-Jun's car costs only $10. She then takes her revenge by damaging his car and his reputation. But Hyung-Jun takes revenge by becoming her new tutor. This brings them close to each other and they realize they love each another. Hyung-Jun frees Ha-Yeong from "slavery" as the 100 days are over and later even kisses her standing in-front of her house's main gate. Ha-Yeong's mother sees this and threatens Hyung-Jun to stay away from her daughter's life, then brings a new tutor to teach Ha-Yeong. Ha-Yeong tells Hyung-Jun that she wants to marry him but he says that he only toyed with her. Hyung-Jun leaves his apartment which makes Ha-Yeong more vulnerable. She studies hard so she can get into Hyung-Jun's college.

After the exams, when she finds out she was not selected to enter the same college as Hyung-Jun, her tutor takes her to a place where she finds Hyung-Jun telling her that she was selected into his college but he wanted to give her a surprise. After a long time we see Ha-Yeong driving while talking to Hyung-Jun about all the chores that he did not do. A high school kid is shown who kicks a can that accidentally hits her in the face and causes her to scratch her Lexus. She tells him that there is only one way to get out of paying for damages, hinting at working for them and do the chores she was just talking to Hyung-Jun about.

In 1985, Brian Jackson is a first-year university student and information sponge. Since his working-class childhood in Southend-on-Sea, Brian has loved the TV quiz show ''University Challenge'', with its catchphrase, "Your starter for 10...". Soon after arriving at Bristol University, Brian attends a party where he meets left-wing Rebecca, with whom he feels an instant connection. Brian attempts to join the ''University Challenge'' team, but narrowly fails to secure a place when he helps another candidate, Alice, cheat on the qualifying test. Brian falls for the glamorous Alice and tries to date her, despite her signals that she sees him as a friend. As term starts, Brian is invited to join the team after a member falls ill. The captain, Patrick, is a stuck-up post-grad who has remained captain despite never having achieved success on ''University Challenge''. Brian impresses the team with his trivia knowledge and uses his time to get closer to Alice, eventually getting invited to her house for Christmas. Unfortunately, Brian embarrasses himself in front of her family by getting stoned while trying to impress Alice. He returns to Bristol for the rest of the vacation and meets Rebecca again. They again hit it off, but, as they are hooking up, he inadvertently calls her "Alice", offending her and ruining the moment. Following his romantic failures, he talks to Spencer, his friend from Southend, who admits to being in legal trouble. Brian invites Spencer to a party before his court appearance.

During the party, Patrick insults Spencer's upbringing and belittles him. Spencer hits Patrick in the face and disrupts the event. Afterwards, Brian shares a drink with Rebecca and tries to apologise for his own behaviour. However, Rebecca still feels Brian loves Alice and encourages him to follow his heart and tell Alice how he feels. He takes her advice and arrives at Alice's flat to declare his love, but discovers Spencer there. Excited by his violent behaviour at the party, Alice had invited him back. Brian feels betrayed by them both, since he had told Spencer how he felt about Alice. Brian gets depressed and struggles with concentrating during ''University Challenge'' practices and his studies, threatening his university place. Patrick becomes frustrated with Brian, and as they arrive for their ''University Challenge'' match, berates him for his lack of focus. In response, Brian headbutts Patrick, but only succeeds in knocking himself unconscious. He is revived backstage by Rebecca, who has come to watch the show and gives him encouragement before he is escorted to the set. On the way, Brian is briefly left alone with an open envelope containing the quiz questions. He reads one of the cards before putting it back in the envelope, and, inspired by the relative ease of the question, rejoins his team. The match starts off poorly, with nerves clearly getting to Patrick as he fails to answer several questions and puts the team in a hole. Brian slowly but surely digs them out of it, getting into his swing as he answers question after question. As the match is heating up and Brian's team has the momentum, Brian inadvertently gives the answer to the question he had previously seen before quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne has even begun to read it (he has merely introduced it as "an astronomy question"). Realising that Brian has seen the cards, Gascoigne suspends the match and Brian's team is disqualified.

Brian returns home and falls into another depression, sleeping all day and ignoring calls. His mother tries to get him out of the house, but the person who finally reaches him is Spencer. He tells Brian that Gascoigne had gone easy on him, and that he is sorry for his behaviour and proud of Brian for chasing his dreams. Inspired by his friend, Brian returns to Bristol and meets his tutor, promising he is back for good. He then stands Alice up to find Rebecca, who is taking part in a political demonstration. He asks her if she could ever forgive him for his mistakes, and if they can start again. She replies that he already knows the answer, and they kiss.

Adela Quested is sailing from England to British Raj India with Mrs Moore, the mother of Quested’s intended bridegroom, Ronny Heaslop, Mrs Moore's son from her first marriage. Heaslop is the City magistrate in Chandrapore, the anglicized spelling of Chandrapur. Adela intends to see if she can make a go of it.

The ladies are disappointed to find that the British community is very much separated from the Indian population and culture with a growing Indian independence movement in the 1920s. They are encouraged when the local school superintendent Richard Fielding, introduces them to the eccentric elderly Hindu Brahmin scholar Professor Narayan Godbole. Mrs Moore meets by chance another Indian local, Dr Aziz Ahmed, a widower who is surprised by her kindness and lack of prejudice. Aziz offers to host an excursion to the local Marabar Caves.

The initial exploration of the caves shows that the size of the party should be limited when Mrs Moore suffers from claustrophobia and the noise from the large entourage echoes exponentially inside the caves. Mrs Moore encourages Adela and Aziz to continue their exploration of the caves alone with just one guide.

They reach the caves at a higher elevation some distance from the group and, before entering, Aziz steps away to smoke a cigarette. He returns to find Adela has disappeared. Shortly afterwards, he sees her running headlong down the hill, disheveled. She is picked up by the doctor's wife, Mrs Callendar, and taken to the Callendars' home. Adela is bleeding and delirious. Dr Callendar medicates Adela with a hypodermic syringe.

Upon his return to Chandrapore, Dr Aziz is accused of attempting to rape Adela inside the caves, is jailed awaiting trial, and the incident becomes a ''cause célèbre''. Mrs Moore firmly believes Aziz did not commit any offence and departs India for England. Seemingly enjoying her passage at sea, Mrs Moore suddenly suffers an apparent heart attack and dies.

In court, Adela is questioned by the prosecutor, who is stunned when Adela replies that Dr Aziz never entered the cave, where the supposed attempt took place. It becomes clear to Adela that her earlier signed accusation of attempted rape was false, so she recants. Aziz is freed and celebrated for his innocence. Adela is abandoned to her own devices by the British, except for Mr Fielding, who assists her to safety at the college. She plans to return to England at the earliest moment. Aziz rids himself of his western associations and vows to find a new job in another Indian state; he opens a clinic in the lake area near Srinagar, Kashmir.

Meanwhile, through Adela, Fielding has married Stella Moore, Mrs Moore's daughter from her second marriage. Aziz eventually reconciles with Fielding, and Aziz writes to Adela asking her to forgive him for taking so long to come to appreciate the courage she exercised when she withdrew her accusation in court.

Americans Doug and Helen Stilwin and their young son, Bobby, embark on a vacation driving across the border into desolate Baja California in Mexico to a remote fishing spot along the coast that her father used to frequent with his old military buddies.

Upon arrival at the remote beach, young Bobby goes exploring out onto a precarious, rotting jetty high above the water. His foot gets stuck in a crack between boards. After Doug frees him, they start back, but part of the jetty collapses, and a wooden piling falls on Doug's leg, trapping him on the beach just as the tide starts coming in. Helen tries to lift the piling with their car jack, but it breaks. Doug sends her for a rope or help at a deserted gas station they stopped at earlier. He estimates they have four hours before he drowns in the rising surf.

Helen speeds away in the family car. She comes across some Mexicans, but the language barrier proves insurmountable. Helen reaches the gas station and finds rope. A man, Lawson, appears; Helen explains her predicament, and he gets in the car. Hidden out of her sight, however, is a dead man. It soon becomes clear that Lawson has no interest in helping her husband; he is a dangerous escaped convict. He finds Doug's pistol in the glove compartment. When they spot a police car approaching, Lawson makes her drive and pretends to be asleep. He threatens to kill her if she betrays him.

Meanwhile, a fishing boat passes by the beach, but too far away for Doug and Bobby's shouts for help to be understood; a crewman thinks they are just friendly tourists, and the boat sails away.

Lawson runs through a police roadblock, and eventually blows out a tire. As he changes the tire, Helen tries to hit him, but he is too alert. Another police car pursues them, but Lawson drives it off the road, flipping it. Lawson hides out in an abandoned house to wait for the police to pass. While waiting there, Helen tells him she will do "anything" to save her husband. Lawson kisses her several times. Helen points out that he will need to change his clothes; his shirt has a prisoner number on the back, and he left his jacket behind while fleeing the police. She says he is about the same size as her husband; plus, he could also take Doug's identification, and she would go along to corroborate his disguise. Lawson is convinced and drives to the beach. He ties the rope to the fallen piling and the car bumper, and tries to pull it loose, without success. He then decides to leave, but Helen refuses to give up; so, Lawson comes up with another idea. He uses a plank to wedge the piling off Doug, saving his life.

Helen offers to hold up her end of the bargain and leave with Lawson, but he decides to go on alone. Then he sees the car has another flat tire, and a police siren is heard. Helen shakes hands with Lawson, before he flees on foot down the coast. When the police drive up, Helen does not tell them about Lawson.

The game starts in a South Central Los Angeles alley at around 3:00 AM. Carey finds his best friend and ex-partner, Officer Bob Hickman, murdered on the scene, alongside eight-year-old Bobby Washington. The seemingly random string of gang-related murders continues along, providing Carey with clues to find his killer(s).

After five people are murdered, mutilated and found in public places, Carey finally closes in on the killer. He stumbled across the proprietor of a second-rate movie theatre, who has a stuttering problem. The owner offers him some tea and invites him into the theatre to watch a film. Carey passes out and hallucinates that the proprietor is the cross-dresser seen near the body of Hickman. The owner wakes Carey up and throws him out of the theatre. Carey finds the killer's house (led there by his dog), only to find a severed head in a fridge. Carey finds a hidden passage that leads back to the theatre, and finds a woman passed out in the seats. When he returns, he sees the owner dragging the unconscious woman into a back room. Carey is subsequently knocked unconscious. However, Carey manages to scrounge up some hairspray and a lighter, finds the woman covered in blood with the killer looming over her, and torches the killer. Although the woman is limp and covered in blood, we can assume that Carey saved her because the mayor mentions that only five people were killed, as he presents Carey with the Medal of Valor.

In Canton, Mississippi, ten-year-old African American girl Tonya Hailey is abducted, raped, and beaten by two local white men, Billy Ray Cobb and James Willard, while on her way home. The duo dump her in a nearby river after a failed attempt to hang her. Tonya survives, and the two men are arrested by Sheriff Ozzie Walls.

Tonya's father, Carl Lee Hailey, contacts Jake Brigance, a white lawyer who previously defended his brother. Brigance admits the possibility that the rapists will walk free. Carl Lee goes to the county courthouse and opens fire with an automatic rifle, killing both rapists and unintentionally wounding Deputy Dwayne Looney, whose leg is later amputated. Carl Lee is arrested and Brigance agrees to defend him.

As the rape and subsequent revenge killing gain national media attention, district attorney Rufus Buckley decides to seek the death penalty, and presiding Judge Omar Noose denies Brigance a change of venue to a more ethnically diverse county, meaning that Carl Lee will have an all-White jury. Brigance seeks help from his defense team: law student Ellen Roark, close friend Harry Rex Vonner, and former mentor and longtime activist Lucien Wilbanks, a once-great civil rights lawyer. Meanwhile, Billy Ray's brother, Freddie Lee Cobb, plans to avenge his brother's death by joining and enlisting the help of the Mississippi branch of the Ku Klux Klan and its Grand Dragon, Stump Sisson, to ensure Carl Lee's conviction and death sentence by any means necessary.

On the first day of the trial, the Klan rallies, only to be outnumbered by counter-protesters consisting of the area's minority residents and whites who support Carl Lee. The protest erupts into a violent brawl that results in dozens of injuries and the death of Stump Sisson. The Klan also begins to target Brigance, assaulting his elderly secretary and her husband, who dies of a heart attack brought on by the assault. They also burn a cross on his lawn and threaten his wife and daughter. When Brigance refuses to back down, Cobb kidnaps and assaults Roark. The Klan then increases their attacks, including burning Brigance's house.

Dispirited, Brigance tells Carl Lee that there is little hope for an acquittal. Carl Lee replies that he had chosen Brigance as an attorney because he is a white man and has insight into how the jury sees Carl Lee. "When you look at me, you don't see a man, you see a black man. (...) You are my secret weapon because you are one of the bad guys. You don't mean to be, but you are. It's how you was raised. (...) No matter how you see me, you see me different, you see me like that jury sees me, you are them. (...) If you was on that jury, what would it take to convince you to set me free?". During closing arguments, a deeply-shaken Brigance tells the jury to close their eyes and listen to a story. He describes, in slow and painful detail, the entire ordeal of Tonya, in which some of the jurors shed tears. Brigance then asks the jury, in his final comment, to "now imagine she's white."

After deliberation, a black child runs out of the courthouse and screams, "He's innocent!" Jubilation ensues amongst the supporters while the Klan becomes enraged over their defeat. Meanwhile, Sheriff Walls arrests Freddie Lee for his crimes, as well as a corrupt deputy who is also revealed to be a Klan member.

Brigance brings his wife and daughter to a family cookout at Carl Lee's house to celebrate his freedom, challenging Carl Lee’s previous statement that their children would “never play together”.

''Police Quest: SWAT 2'' s story takes place in Los Angeles, California and the surrounding metropolitan area in the game's then-future of 1999, and revolves around a fictional conflict between the Los Angeles Police Department and a fictional emerging left-wing domestic terrorist organization calling themselves the "Five Eyes", led by a mysterious figure named Basho, and his second-in-command, Dante.

As a homage, Sonny Bonds, the protagonist of the original ''Police Quest'' series, is one of the LAPD SWAT officers available for the player to send into missions during the LAPD SWAT campaign. Sonny's high initial stats, some of the best in the game, allow him to become certified as an element leader.

In Episode 1, the Turtles begin saving an old person in New York City from the sadistic Triceratons. After destroying three carriers deploying the Triceraton army, the Turtles go underground to reach Central Park to rescue their friends Casey Jones and April O'Neil. While in the park, Leo, Ralph, Mikey and Don defend against the Triceratons and Professor Honeycutt pegged as the Fugitoid saved from TMNT 2 Battle Nexus assists the turtles in finding where Casey Jones and April O'Neil are held captive. Breaking into the Triceraton's base, Zanramon, commander in chief of the Triceraton's mobilizes a robot in effort of stopping the Turtles and Traximus. Zaranmon's attempt is a failure and Traximus destroys a chair to make change in their clan.

In Episode 2, the turtles discover new technology coming from Baxter Stockman as Mousers infiltrate the sewer causing intense pain to the ears of Master Splinter. While protecting their sensei, the ninja turtles are fending off the Mousers while staying close to him. However, Master Splinter ends up being captured and the turtles use hoverboards to chase down a moving van. They are soon blocked by a tall and small enemy duo for an ambush. Once passed them, the turtles resume in their rescue mission for Master Splinter eventually fighting with Bishop then having to use throwing stars to break a lock to free him.

In Episode 3, the Turtles encounter every member of the Foot Clan through the missions. Hun, Karai, and Oroku Saki, the human identity of Shredder all fall down to the turtles. Towards the final battle with Saki, he is upgraded as Exo Shredder. The ninja turtles defeat him and then are summoned upon the Utrom council for a tribunal. Ch'rell, the Utrom controlling Shredder's body is charged for devious crimes and is exiled to an icy asteroid called Mor Gal Tal while Karai and the others are turned into the authorities as the main game ends.

In the Nightmare chapter, each of the turtles have a dream and encounter various bosses. Clearing most of the missions in this chapter leads to the game's final boss, Ultimate Drako. To use the gembu scrolls to activate the Ultimate Turtle forms, the player must collect scrolls and other content in Free Battle mode.

While having breakfast with her family, Lisa shows them her project for an upcoming science fair, a steroid-enhanced tomato she hopes will cure world hunger. At school, three days before the fair, Lisa leaves her tomato in Bart's care for a moment and he hurls it at Principal Skinner's butt. When Lisa returns, she is furious. She asks Marge for help, who suggests she run a hamster through a maze. Lisa likes the idea, but instead pits a hamster against Bart to find out who is smarter. After two easy tests, the hamster leads two to zero. Bart later discovers her plans to humiliate him at the fair and pre-empts them with a project of his own, "Can hamsters fly planes?", showing her hamster in the cockpit of a miniature plane. Despite Lisa's objection concerning the lack of scientific merit, everyone is distracted by how cute the hamster is, and a proud Skinner hands Bart the winning ribbon.

Meanwhile, Homer sneaks out early at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and accompanies Barney on a tour of the Duff brewery. Afterward, Homer refuses to let a drunk Barney drive home and forces him to hand over his keys. On their way out of the parking lot, their car is pulled over by police Chief Wiggum, along with Eddie and Lou. They administer a breathalyser test to Homer, which he fails. He is arrested, loses his license, and must attend traffic school and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. In bed, Marge gives Homer a magazine quiz about his drinking. Hearing Homer's answers, Marge asks him to give up beer for a month, and he agrees to. He exhibits more positive changes like losing weight, saving over $100 and not sweating while eating. After thirty days of sobriety, despite many temptations, Homer goes back to Moe's for a beer, but leaves after a steady, appraising look at Barney and the other barflies. He and Marge ride a bike into the sunset singing "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head".

Dr. Jeff Cameron (Mitchum) treats a mentally disturbed attempted suicide victim (Domergue). She signs herself out of the hospital, but sends a telegram inviting him to meet her. To his surprise, he finds she lives in a mansion. He breaks a date with his nurse girlfriend, Julie (Maureen O'Sullivan), because he is worried Margo may try to commit suicide again.

The doctor falls in love with Margo and they begin seeing one another. Told she is flying to Nassau with her aged father the next day, a tipsy Jeff shows up unannounced and boldly tells Frederick Lannington (Rains) that he is in love with the man's daughter. Lannington informs him that Margo is his wife. A stunned Jeff leaves despite Margo's pleas. When he hears a scream, he returns and finds her holding an earring ripped from her ear. The naïve Jeff decides to get involved in the domestic dispute. Lannington beats Jeff with a fireplace poker. In the ensuing struggle, Lannington is knocked down and strikes his head on the floor and falls unconscious. Dazed, Jeff goes to the bathroom; when he returns, he finds the man dead.

Jeff wants to call the police, but Margo insists they would believe it was murder. Capitalizing on the fact that Jeff's judgment is impaired by his injuries and naïvety, she persuades him to run away with her. They first try to use the airline tickets, but spot policemen at the ticket desk. They decide to drive to Mexico instead, taking the precaution of trading in Margo's convertible for a pickup truck provided by larcenous used car salesman "Honest Hal." Jeff diagnoses his continuing headaches and mental fog as a concussion, warning Margo that it will lead to first paralysis of the extremities, followed by a coma within 24 to 48 hours.

In Postville, Arizona, they are taken to the sheriff, but only because Jeff is not wearing a beard for the town's "Wild West Whiskers Week." After Margo claims they are on their way to Mexico to get married, the police chief (Charles Kemper) tells them marriages are a Postville specialty and insists they get wed there. In their honeymoon suite, Margo hears a radio broadcast about them that discloses she had been undergoing psychiatric treatment. After the couple sneaks away, the police chief identifies Margo from a photo and alerts the border patrol. It is revealed that Lannington was smothered to death with a pillow.

In a border town, the fugitives sell Margo's $9,000 bracelet to a pawnbroker for $1,000. Seeing they are anxious to avoid the police, he sends them to theatre owner Milo DeLong (Philip Van Zandt), who offers to smuggle them into Mexico for $1,000. As they wait, Jeff's left side becomes paralyzed. He realizes that Margo is mentally unstable and that she killed her husband; and decides not to go to Mexico. When he tries to stop Margo from leaving she knocks him down and then smothers him; however, he is only rendered unconscious. He drags himself downstairs and to the border crossing. When Margo sees him coming she pulls her pistol out of her purse and starts shooting at him. The police return fire, fatally wounding her. The police consider Jeff an accomplice to Lannington's murder, but before she dies she not only says she acted alone, but that Jeff "didn't even have sense enough to know."

While in hospital recovering , Jeff asks his doctor, "can I send flowers to San Francisco". The doctor says "I think so", steps out into the hall and sends Julie in to see him.

From the blurb on the game box:

William J. Feathersmith, the 75-year-old president of a large corporation, is a sadistic man who has made his fortune by financially preying on others. One night, a drunken Feathersmith confesses to the janitor, Mr. Hecate, that having reached the height of success, he is left feeling empty and purposeless, and dreams of returning to his small hometown of Cliffordville, Indiana, to start life anew. Hecate says that Cliffordville happens to be his hometown, as well.

Attempting to go home for the night, Feathersmith is instead taken by the elevator to the 13th floor, where he finds a travel agency that was not there the day before. The agency's head, "Miss Devlin", is revealed to be the Devil, as two horns in her head become increasingly prominent. Devlin offers to fulfill his wish to return to 1910 Cliffordville, agreeing to his terms that he will look the same as he did then, but retain all memories of his first life, in exchange for almost all his liquidated worth, leaving him with $1,412. As he knows which investments have succeeded and which have failed in the last 50 years, Feathersmith agrees.

Back in 1910 Cliffordville, he uses $1,403 to buy 1,403 acres of land which he knows to contain deposits of oil. He forgets, however, that the drill needed to access oil so far beneath the ground will not be invented until 1937. Feathersmith tries to woo the daughter of a bank owner, but is startled that rather than being the charming girl he remembers, she is plain, plays the piano poorly, chatters incessantly, and insists on entertaining guests with her shrill singing. Many of the stocks in which he invests drop in value. He tries to "invent" devices such as a self-starter for automobiles, but does not know how to design them. The townspeople ridicule this, which causes Feathersmith to suffer palpitations. He realizes that following the strict letter of his terms, Devlin has made him ''appear'' 30, but he is still biologically 75. Devlin appears. Feathersmith accuses her of altering the past, but she says that all is as it was; he just chose to remember it differently. She needles him that he has lived off the work of others and is unable to create anything himself.

He pleads with Devlin to send him back to 1963, even after she warns him that his actions in 1910 have changed things, and it can no longer be the 1963 he knew. She agrees to fulfill his wish for just $40. Having no money left, Feathersmith hastily sells the deed to his land to Hecate for the $40, and leaves 1910 Cliffordville in disgrace.

In an altered 1963, Hecate is now the president of the corporation, having founded it with his oil profits earned after 1937. A cold and extremely self-centered man, Hecate mocks Feathersmith for having been a janitor for 44 years, while the now-powerless Feathersmith can only stand there and take the ridicule, just as Hecate did in his place.

Thanks to advances in medical technology, Robert Gu is slowly recovering from Alzheimer's disease. As his faculties return, Robert (who has always been technophobic) must adapt to a different world, where almost every object is networked and mediated-reality technology is commonplace. Robert, formerly a world-renowned poet but with a notoriously mean-spirited personality, must also learn how to change and how to rebuild relationships with his estranged family. At the same time, Robert and his granddaughter Miri are drawn into a complex plot involving a traitorous intelligence officer, an intellect of frightening (and possibly superhuman) competence hiding behind an avatar of an anthropomorphic rabbit, and ominous new mind control technology with profound implications.

Augmented reality

In the novel, augmented reality is dominant, with humans interacting with virtual overlays of reality almost all of the time. This is accomplished by wearing smart clothing providing gesture recognition and contact lenses that can overlay and replace what the eye would normally see with computer graphics, using advanced virtual retinal display (VRD) technology. In addition, haptic feedback is possible by overlaying graphics onto a physical machine such as a robot. This augmentation of reality is used for a variety of purposes:

• Commercial (large gaming areas sell gaming environments mixed with haptics). The Cheapnet, a free entry-level service offered by commercial vendors of gaming solutions, can in principle also be used to coordinate networked augmented reality representations across the globe. However, jitter and latency are considerable problems with this basic network when long distances are involved. In the novel, Robert Gu develops an algorithm that partially compensates for these technical deficiencies, and might ultimately allow the inclusion of haptics.
• Functional (maintenance workers, for example, have access to a blueprint or schematic of practically any location or object in their responsibility area)
• Communication (characters in the novel use live video chat and can send and receive "silent messages", an action known as "sming", through their VRDs). Individuals can be reached through a globally implemented unique personal identifier, the ENUM.
• Medical (doctors have access to a patient's vital signs)

There are characters who choose not to "wear" these virtual overlays, instead using laptops, considered relics in the novel. A user's skill in managing and producing augmented reality manifests itself in the details of the augmentation. For example, a character might project himself into a different room, but the shadows cast by this apparition, or the collision between the character and the furniture in the room might give away the apparition.

Belief circles

There are many realities to choose from in the novel; however, the largest and more robust of them are built by large user bases in the manner of a wiki or Second Life. The confederation of users that contribute to the virtual world is called a belief circle. Several belief circles are presented in the novel, including worlds based on authors such as H. P. Lovecraft, Terry Pratchett, and the fictional Jerzy Hacek. Also mentioned are worlds based on the artwork of M. C. Escher, and fictional entertainment companies such as SpielbergRowling. The Egan Soccer set piece can also be seen as a type of ''subscribed'' Belief Circle.

A television reporter named Maggie Foley investigates the mysterious disappearance of cult rock star Eddie Wilson. Flashbacks dramatize Eddie's life and the rise and fall of his rock and roll band, Eddie and the Cruisers.

The band gets its start at a club in Somers Point, New Jersey named Tony Mart's. Not adept at writing lyrics, Eddie hires Frank Ridgeway aka "Wordman" to be the band's keyboard player and lyricist, over the protests of band manager Doc Robbins and bassist Sal Amato. Rounding out the Cruisers are saxophonist Wendell Newton, background singer and Eddie's girlfriend Joann Carlino, and drummer Kenny Hopkins.

The band's first album, ''Tender Years'', becomes a major hit, but recording their next album, ''A Season in Hell'', turns out to be a nightmare. Inspired by the bleak, fatalistic poetry of Arthur Rimbaud, Eddie pushes his bandmates beyond their limits, musically and personally. Eddie wants to be great, but bassist Sal replies, "We ain't great. We're just some guys from Jersey." Eddie makes it clear that if the band cannot be great, there is no reason to ever play music again. ''A Season in Hell'' is rejected by Satin Records on the grounds that it is "dark and strange". In the early morning hours, Eddie's car crashes through the railing and over the Stainton Memorial Causeway. Eddie vanishes without a trace, his body never found.

Almost 18 years later, Satin re-releases the band's first album, which charts even higher than it did originally. A television documentary is soon in the works, exploring the mystery of the band's second album, which had disappeared from the vaults of Satin Records the day after Eddie's disappearance. All of the original Cruisers are set to participate in it except Eddie and Wendell Newton, who had died of an overdose (reported as a heart attack) in August 1963 at age 37. The others are now living ordinary lives: Sal Amato fronts a Cruisers tribute band. Ridgeway is a high school English teacher in Vineland, New Jersey. Doc works as a radio disc jockey in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Joann is a stage choreographer in Wildwood, New Jersey, and Hopkins works in a casino in Atlantic City.

During the documentary interviews, the band expresses a desire to relive the past, but many of their memories are humiliating. For example, during a concert at Benton College, where Frank was once a student, Eddie ridicules Frank repeatedly by referring to him as "Toby Tyler" after seeing him and Joann kissing before the concert. The other Cruisers members share similar stories.

Joann is able to complete the one piece of the puzzle that Frank could not: revealing what happened to the band's second album. After storming from the studio, Eddie brought her to the Palace of Depression, a makeshift castle made of garbage and junk that he visited often as a child. She reveals it was in fact she who took the master tapes for the album from Satin Records, hiding them in the Palace of Depression, where she felt they belonged.

Frank and Joann go back to the Palace of Depression to retrieve the master tapes. A mystery man driving a blue 1957 Chevy Bel Air convertible identical to Eddie's arrives at the house and calls to Joann. But before she can reach the car, Frank unmasks the impostor, revealing him to be Doc, who was after the master tapes all these years. Moved by his story, Frank and Joann give him the master tapes. Doc drives off into the night vowing that the Cruisers will conquer the world this time, and Joann invites Frank into her house.

In a surprise reveal at the ending, a bearded, much older looking Eddie is shown alive, watching the multiple televisions in the window of an appliance store, where the ending credits of Foley's documentary tribute to him and the band roll. He smiles serenely, proud to know that his work is finally being heard, and then disappears into the night.

The comic opens with Tintin arriving at the Captain's flat in a fictional estate, somewhere in England, Tintin has recently been sacked for losing his temper and punching his boss and expresses frustration about being "pushed around" and "kicked around like a lump of dogshit." The Captain offers to get Tintin a job on a local building site where he works. As the story progresses, Tintin meets the local residents and his workmates and issues faced by the area, such as racism, gentrification and general apathy from local government, are introduced.

The anger felt by the working-class people of this town boils over when a construction worker, Joe Hill (apparently named after the anarcho-syndicalist labour organiser of the same name) falls to his death due to poor safety standards at the local building site. Faced with insensitivity from their manager ("Had he been drinking?"), as well as apathy and condescension from their trade union official, the construction workers stage an unofficial, wildcat strike. The builders demand better safety standards, improved wages, a change of management for the site and a large sum of money for the family of their dead workmate.

The strike escalates, with management refusing to concede any of the demands, doing under the table deals with union officials to bring in strikebreakers. Meanwhile, the strike begins to spread to other local workplaces, becoming a symbol of class struggle, as well as a struggle for better short-term conditions. The workers become increasingly militant, turning to violent tactics and eventually firebombing the original building site. The strike begins to spread to other areas of the country without any official union involvement. Panicked, the UK government deals with strikers with increasing violence and repression, demonstrations turn into riots, and the Captain is arrested on false charges of conspiracy.

As the story closes, there is a demonstration of half a million people in the town in which the events of the book unfold, several people have brought rifles and references are made to "strike committees" taking power in other areas of the country, the army being sent into Liverpool to "restore order," and similar unrest taking place around the world. The last page features the Captain, Tintin and the Captain's Wife Mary in silhouette. Tintin holds an assault rifle above his head, while the others raise their fists. Below is written: "This Is Not The End / Only the beginning…"

''Jack's Return Home'' tells the story of Jack Carter, an amoral, pitiless London mob enforcer who returns to his home town to investigate the mysterious death of his brother, with whom he had not spoken in many years. Jack's presence in the town causes unease among the local crime families, who fear that his snooping will interfere with their underworld operations. Everything from simple suggestion to brute force is employed to try to get him to leave, but he doggedly refuses, bullying his way through numerous attempts on his life to arrive at the truth, leading to a violent and ambiguous conclusion.

Donald is a plumber fixing pipes in the basement of a house. Donald first has trouble with pulling his hammer off a magnet, which it gets stuck to. When he unscrews the lid covering the pipe, water spurts out and hits Donald in the face, angering him. To stop the flow, Donald uses the magnet to pull a larger hammer toward himself, which he uses to put on another lid to the hole. In doing so he accidentally wakes Pluto and later accidentally pulls Pluto's bone away from him. While Pluto wrestles with the magnet to get his bone back, he swallows the magnet and gets his bone stuck to his bottom. As he fights to get the bone, he tumbles into the pile of furniture Donald is standing on, causing Donald to come crashing to the ground. Pluto eventually runs into the kitchen and the magnet inside him causes many cooking items to be pulled onto his rear.

Pluto's erratic actions eventually cause the dishes to fall off, but his bone continues getting stuck to him and annoying him. As he tries to get it off, he backs into the clock and gets stuck to it. After breaking free of the clock by destroying it, he pulls a much smaller alarm clock to him. He engages in a fight with the clock, soon realizing that if he makes minor movements along the wall rear-end first the clock will not come to him. However, he trips over a rolling pin and the clock sticks to him again, but he loses it in a polar bear rug. His dish sticks to him again and the magnetism causes knives and forks to come out of a drawer and chase him. The chase eventually causes Pluto to end up in the basement again. There, the magnet inside him sucks the nails out of the ladder Donald is standing on, causing it to fall apart under his feet. Donald falls into a tank and is pulled out through a wringer. After an angry outburst he gets stuck to Pluto's bottom and is dragged into the roof of the basement.

Pluto is chased by the angry Donald through the house and onto the roof, where the magnetism causes Donald to be pulled into the roof and along the ceiling with the floor separating the two (it looks as if there is an invisible track Donald is hanging from). Donald is dragged into a ceiling fan, activating it and spinning both Donald and Pluto around. Donald gets an electric shock when he pulls out a lamp and is later bumped across the ceiling when Pluto crawls over a ladder. Pluto eventually makes his way downstairs where Donald falls to the ground and bounces back into the basement when he is pinned to the wall by his own tools. Pluto finds him and begins happily licking him as he squawks angrily.

The film intercuts the stories of two romantic affairs. One is within a Victorian period drama involving a gentleman palaeontologist, Charles Smithson, and the complex and troubled Sarah Woodruff, known as "the French lieutenant's woman". The other affair is between the actors Mike and Anna, playing the lead roles in a modern filming of the story. In both segments, Jeremy Irons and Meryl Streep play the lead roles.

John Fowles's ''The French Lieutenant's Woman'' had multiple endings, and the two parallel stories in the movie have different outcomes. In the Victorian story, Charles enters into an intensely emotional relationship with Sarah, an enigmatic and self-imposed exile he meets just after becoming engaged to Ernestina (Lynsey Baxter), a rich merchant's daughter in Lyme Regis. Charles and Sarah meet secretly in the Lyme Regis Undercliff and eventually have sex in an Exeter hotel.

This leads to Charles's breaking his engagement, but then Sarah disappears. In social disgrace after being sued for breach of promise by Ernestina, Charles searches for Sarah, fearing she has become a prostitute in London. After three years, Sarah, who has a job as a governess in the Lake District, contacts Charles to explain that she needed time to find herself. Despite Charles's initial anger, he forgives her, and the two are reconciled. They are finally seen boating on Windermere.

In the modern story, the American actress Anna and the English actor Mike, both married, are shown as having an extended affair during the making of the Victorian film, in which Anna plays Sarah and Mike portrays Charles. As filming concludes, Mike wishes to continue the relationship, but Anna becomes increasingly cool about the affair and avoids Mike in favour of spending time with her French husband. During the film's wrap party, Anna leaves without saying goodbye to Mike. Mike calls to Anna, using her character's name Sarah, from an upstairs window on the set where Charles and Sarah reconciled, as she drives away.

Donald Duck rides Jenny the donkey through the Mexican desert playing a guitar and wearing a sombrero on his way to the house of his girlfriend, Donna Duck. Donna dances the Mexican Hat Dance and eventually lands on Donald's donkey who throws her off his back. Donald laughs causing Donna to get angry. She knocks Donald into a fountain, breaks his guitar over his head, and storms back inside the house.

Back outside, Jenny laughs at Donald's misfortunes. Donald decides to exchange Jenny for a car at a nearby trading post.

Donna is immediately won back with Donald's car. She lands in the rumble seat and gives Donald a big kiss. Together they speed off through the desert, but eventually the car has engine problems and stops working. Donald confidently tries to fix the problem but the car throws Donald out and speeds off without him. The rumble seat closes on Donna and she is trapped inside with Donald in pursuit. The car crashes, throwing Donna out of the rumble seat, across a waterhole, and into a mud puddle, and Donald laughs at her. Donna furious once again, grabs the car's horn and hits Donald with it, until he lands in some cacti and Donna shoves the horn in his mouth. Donna then rides off on her unicycle which she has conveniently carried with her in her purse, and declares their relationship over.

Donald, alone in the desert with Jenny who has escaped from the trading post, is furious at the car and throws the horn at it in retaliation. This however causes the car's radiator to explode and the hot water lands on Donald's sombrero, shrinking it. Jenny laughs yet again.

The player begins with a party of four characters, who are either "A small band of Roman Soldiers sent to the Shadowvale to complete a mysterious mission", or a "Band of Celtic warriors told by your chief to go to the village of Nethergate for mysterious reasons". Shadowvale is an isolated valley controlled by the Brigantes, and the game's events take place during the time of Boudica's rebellion in AD 60/61. The linear missions of the Romans and the Celts complement each other to a certain extent. The Romans are first faced with retrieving a satchel with vital information for Shadow Valley Fort from a nearby mine infested with Goblins, while the Celts' first mission is to acquire a bronze token from a nearby pit in which Goblins have made their fortification. From there, both sides make their way to the house of the Three Crones, who are very similar to the Three Fates of Greek mythology. The Crones aid the player if they have a Roman party and give tasks to accomplish, but imprison them if the player has a Celtic party.

The next location is a ruined Faerie hall, in which the party acquires a contract between the Sidhe and the village of Nethergate, explaining that the party must retrieve three magical items: a Fomorian's Stone Skull, The Eye of Cathrac, and the Crown of Annwn. Once these items have been acquired, the party journeys to the Spire of Ages, where the Celts aid the Faerie leader in escaping this world, while the Romans attempt to interrupt him. In the "best" ending for both sides, Shadow Valley Fort is destroyed, the village of Nethergate is evacuated, and the enchanted weapons meant for the Celts are destroyed.

Donald visits the "Museum of Modern Marvels" which showcases various futuristic electronic appliances and inventions. He uses a quarter on a line to get in (this allows him to keep his money and get in as well). Once inside, he is confronted with the "Robot Butler", a robotic golden cyclops who takes hats ("Your hat, sir.") After Donald's hat is taken away from him, Donald uses a magic trick to produce another hat (similar to the way he produces flutes in ''The Band Concert''). He says, "So!" and continues on his way. He first encounters a robotic hitch-hiker, which activates when he makes driving noises. However, when he laughs at it, it pokes him in the eyes. Next he goes to a bundle wrapper, with a warning sign which says "Hands off! Do not touch!" but Donald kicks the sign away and hops on. When he pulls a lever, the machine proceeds to grab him in two robotic arms, put transparent wrapping paper around him, and put him in ribbons, like a package. He manages to break out by vigorously shaking, and continues exploring.

All the time, Donald has been losing hat after hat to the Robot Butler, making Donald angrier and angrier. Eventually, the Butler chases him through the museum to an automated baby carriage, which Donald hides inside. Donald changes his current hat to a baby bonnet to wear as is rocked as the song "Rock-a-bye Baby" is played. Donald then begins acting like a baby, sucking his feet, playing with toys offered to him, getting tickled under the chin, and having his toes counted "This Little Piggy went to market." Donald then starts crying about not getting his milk. The machine gets out a bottle of milk but it hits him in the face instead of going into his mouth, making Donald agitated. The machine begins torturing him with toys and more milk in the face. The machine again squirts more milk in face, after which it powders his bottom and pins him a diaper.

The Robot Butler is again attracted by Donald's laughing and yanks the baby bonnet off his head. Donald produces one last hat and goes to one exhibit he has not yet seen: a self-operating barber chair. Using his "cheat" coin, Donald pays to get the works. However, instead of giving him a haircut, it flips him over, gives his bottom a cut, wraps his rear end in a towel, cuts off his tail feathers, cleans his bill, coats his face with shoe polish, sifts through his bottom feathers, applies a wet towel to it, slaps his blackened face with a cloth, combs his bottom with a comb, makes a gap through it, smooths it out and finally, gives him a pig tail design. The Robot Butler appears yet again and he then removes Donald's last hat, which causes Donald to eventually enter an explosive tantrum.

Donald is working along as a custodian at a whistle stop train station and is responsible for loading and unloading luggage. A train passes the station and dumps a large pile of luggage on Donald without stopping. Donald finds that one of the crates contains an ostrich and tied around the ostrich's neck he finds the following note: "My name is HORTENSE. Please see that I am fed and watered. P.S. I eat !"

Hortense begins to eat anything she can find at the station starting with the message. This includes Donald Duck's bottom. She then eats a concertina, a wind-up alarm clock and several balloons. This causes Hortense to have hiccups which Donald tries to cure by scaring her.

Finally Hortense swallows Donald's radio and her body begins to react to what is playing on the radio. Donald realizes Hortense has swallowed the radio and grabs a pair of forceps to try to pull it out (but ends up getting the concertina out instead). But when Hortense starts to react to a broadcast car race, Donald is unable to control her. Hortense finally crashes through a door which at last knocks the radio out of her, but she also gives Donald the hiccups.

Montana Max has built a robot to steal all of the candy in the world for Elmyra Duff. However, the robot wasn't programmed all that well, so they've also cloned Hamton J. Pig, Sweetie Pie, and Gogo Dodo as well as others to retrieve the robot for reprogramming. One obstacle stands in their way: Dizzy Devil.

Dizzy Devil ends up saving the robot and the two team up to find candy and stop Montana Max, facing all of the clones on the way.

The jazz pianist Laurent LeClaire returns to New Orleans from World War II and runs into his old friend Camille Raquin who is a frail man with an overprotective mother. Camille is married to his own cousin, Therese. Laurent falls in love with Therese, they become lovers, and conspire to kill her husband. Laurent murders Camille, who is pushed over the side of a rowboat. The news of his death sends Camille's mourning mother into a crippling stroke. After waiting a year, Laurent marries his friend's widow, but every time he tries to touch her, the ghost of Camille appears and drives them apart. In time, Therese is driven into madness and suicide, and Laurent kills himself.

Salma de la Navidad, a friend of Willow's, is having problems: her brother Nicky has disappeared and is believed to be joining a local Sunnydale gang called the Latin Cobras. Salma's also got a black shadowy nothingness that Buffy can sense but can barely fight. Meanwhile, in LA, Angel is tied down by a case where his client is wrongfully accused of murder by crooked cops while Cordelia discovers a pack of pre-teens who revere vampires and have been promised eternal life by a vampire. Buffy's work takes her to LA along with Willow to the de la Navidad household where the same black shadow continues to attack Salma. When Salma suddenly disappears as does Kayley (one of the vampire lovers) everyone knows that something is up. After an explosion of oil fields, caused by Nicky, in Sunnydale, Riley rushes to LA where himself, Buffy and Angel have to work together to solve the disappearances and to calm down the gang warfare going on in LA.

In Los Angeles, Angel and Buffy compares notes and realize that both of them are dealing with cases of missing teenagers - most of them are children of the rich and powerful. Coincidence? They don't think so. But when Buffy checks in with Giles, she learns that prime time doomsday has hit Sunnydale, taking precedence over the gang warfare in LA.

Back in Sunnydale, Buffy finds the gateway through which the monsters are gaining all access passes to our universe. These gateways are controlled by renegade scientists who have discovered how to manipulate time and dimensional portals from one reality to the next, which could explain where the teens are hidden. But something goes wrong and nothing ever comes out of these gateways the same way that they went in. Now they come out bent and destroyed.

Alina is the only child that can control these portals but either she's lost her control or something in the Hellmouth is breaking these barriers. Buffy and Angel must go into the portal and see if they can salvage any of the children left on the inside.

Buffy and Angel have travelled into the dimensional portals in order to find the missing kids. Unbeknownst to them, Spike took a running leap and dived in after them. They all end up on the same plane but it totally different areas: Angel locates a girl in a forest, Spike ends up in a vampire zoo and Buffy ends up fighting a dragon near an enchanted castle. Their job is to locate the 50 of so kids that have gone missing lately. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Gunn is helping Riley to bust Faith out of jail in order to send her to the alternate planes as well. In Sunnydale, Giles and Xander are trying their best to keep the monsters at a bare minimum level. Once Buffy and co., have located the missing children, the problem becomes how to get them back...

Doyle's pure-blood Brachen demon father Axtius is the General for the Coalition of Purity which believes that all half-blood demons should be banished, leaving only the pure-bloods on Earth. Both Angel and Buffy are dealing with this threat in their respective cities when Buffy's team learns that General Axtius plans to attack a half-blood demon safe haven island near Los Angeles. Uprooting the Scooby Gang, Buffy and the rest of them travel quickly to Los Angeles to help Angel deal with the increasing problem. Unfortunately, the demons on the island who are in need of saving seem to be skeptical about having vampires as well as the Slayer on their island and they must be convinced that it's for their benefit before General Axtius and his troops launch a full-fledged attack on the island.

In their final confrontation on the island, Angel defeats Axtius when unarmed despite Axtius wielding a powerful mystical weapon, taunting the Brachen by saying that he would have been ashamed of Doyle's very human act of sacrifice and redemption. Having been defeated by Angel, Axtius is subsequently incinerated by his former second-in-command for his failure to destroy the island.

Buffy and Angel both battle the same ancient evil, a Possessor who was once Qin, First Emperor of China. As a Possessor, Qin's body loses its temperature fast and he is forced to jump from body to body through the ages, rendering him immortal. In present-day Sunnydale and Los Angeles, Qin is attempting to usher in the Year of the Hot Devil and drive humans out of his dimension by resurrecting an ancient dragon frozen in ice from centuries before.

It is 1940 and for Drusilla's vampiric birthday, Spike decides he will acquire Freyja's Strand for her. The strand, a necklace, has the ability to allow Drusilla to view her reflection. After a dangerous trek, Spike and Drusilla strike a deal with the ice demon Skrymir: should Spike and Drusilla destroy all the current Slayers-in-waiting as well as the current Slayer, he will fork over the necklace. Up to the challenge, Spike and Drusilla acquire a list of the Slayers-in-waiting from the Watcher's Council in London and ravage the Earth, killing girls hideously as they go.

Meanwhile, the current Slayer, Sophie, is alerted to the situation and sent off with her watcher, Yanna, to rescue the remaining Slayers-in-waiting. Unfortunately Yanna has developed an unhealthy obsession with Spike and cannot fight against him when there is a run-in between the two groups. But Sophie rescues a decent numbers of the girls and has them brought to the council headquarters. Sophie leaves to retrieve the last girl and runs into Spike and Drusilla in Denmark who capture her Watcher. While Sophie hunts down the duo, Skrymir has grown impatient and manifests himself inside the Council headquarters where he wreaks havoc on the inhabitants. The Council must find a way to stop Skrymir from killing all the Slayers-in-waiting (which was thought to end the line of Slayers) while the Slayer herself tries to track down her Watcher who may already be dead.

Xander and Willow warn Buffy not to go out on Halloween if it's raining. According to the premise of the book, the rain in Sunnydale is magical on Halloween, and if it lands on a scarecrow it will animate and hunt down the Slayer. While at a Halloween party at the Bronze, Buffy is forced to go to the cemetery to fight vampires. She eventually encounters the reanimated scarecrow.

In 1692, in Salem, Massachusetts, the Despised One was raised from the Otherworld and Samantha Kane, that generation's Slayer, died while defeating it. Now in 1997, the Master is trying to have history repeat itself with a different ending. The spirits of the people responsible for the rise of the Despised One in 1692 are now inhabiting the bodies of Buffy and her friends. Buffy must stop the ritual from happening or the Master will rise from his prison below Sunnydale.

Dust

:''Written by Michelle Sagara West''

Buffy continually sees the death of everyone she touches while she heads out to LA to spend summer vacation with her dad. She must come to terms with her own death before the deaths of others will disappear from her mind.

Absalom Rising

:''Written by Nancy Holder''

Absalom tries to obtain the Master's bones from Giles, who has them kept in his house.

Looks Can Kill

:''Written by Cameron Dokey''

A shapeshifter comes to town. Giles, Angel and Jenny must deal with it before it gets to the Slayer.

No Place Like...

:''Written by Cameron Dokey''

While shopping in LA, Buffy runs into a fortune-teller who tells her that she's the warrior sent to free the spirit of her dead child. Buffy must solve the mystery of the daughter's death and why her spirit isn't free.

Uncle Dead and the Fourth of July

:''Written by Yvonne Navarro''

A newly risen vampire raises the war veteran General Sam from the grave. General Sam, crazy and still sure that World War II rages on, decides to seize Sunnydale since he believes it has been infiltrated by the enemy. Giles, Jenny and Angel must stop the General and his legion of zombie followers.

The Show Must Go On

:''Written by Paul Ruditis''

Willow and Xander are running a play at the local theater, unaware that the stage crew are vampires who have a love for Shakespeare. After several deaths in a Shakespearian fashion, Giles, Jenny and Angel decide to remove the vampire threat on the night of the play.

The series was based on the 1966 television movie ''Fame Is the Name of the Game'', which was directed by Stuart Rosenberg and stars Tony Franciosa. ''The Name of the Game'' rotated among three characters working at Howard Publications, a large magazine publishing company—Jeffrey "Jeff" Dillon (Franciosa), a crusading reporter with ''People'' magazine (not to be confused with the real-life periodical that debuted in 1974); Glenn Howard (Gene Barry, taking over for George Macready, who had originated the role in the earlier film), the sophisticated, well-connected publisher; and Daniel "Dan" Farrell (Robert Stack), the editor of ''Crime'' magazine. Serving as a common connection was then-newcomer Susan Saint James as Peggy Maxwell, the editorial assistant for each.

Chirayoju, an ancient Chinese vampire, and Sanno, a Japanese Mountain King, have been fighting for years. Their spirits were imprisoned in a sword by a curse. The sword arrives in Sunnydale and while viewing the Japanese exhibit at the museum Willow becomes possessed by the spirit of Chirayoju and Xander, later on, becomes possessed by the spirit of Sanno. Buffy must figure out a way to stop the two spirits without killing her own friends. During the final battle, when the fight takes an ugly turn, Buffy must also keep her own spirit alive.

Trapped inside Baroness Toonenstein's (Elmyra Duff) mansion, Furrball with panicky pals Plucky Duck and Hamton J. Pig, must avoid getting their brains swapped with Elmyra's cuddly creation and find the mansion's riches if they are able. In this haunted hide-n-seek, the only chance of escape is to redirect the mansion's "creepy" power and stop Elmyra in her nefarious machinations.

Buffy's old boyfriend from Hemery High in LA, Pike, makes a surprise appearance in Sunnydale, much to the everyone's shock, particularly Buffy's. Only Pike hasn't come to catch up with Buffy; he's being pursued by a rock demon known as Grayhewn. Pike had originally killed the demon's mate after it had killed his friend and now the demon wants Pike dead in the most painful way possible. As soon as Pike makes his appearance though, Buffy struggles to deal with her old feelings for Pike as well as her love for Angel, creating nothing but confusion within herself. Meanwhile, Giles appears to be dating a new teacher named Miss Blaisdell. But since Giles has been seeing her, he seems to waver in and out of consciousness and doesn't appear to care at all about Buffy or her struggles. Miss Blaisdell, as it turns out, is working for a man from Giles' past, a man from his very personal past, who wants nothing more than to painfully torture the Watcher and make him suffer.

Lately Sunnydale, California has been missing kids, some of them have run away while others seem to have been kidnapped. There have also been attacks by little vicious creatures that completely mutilate their victims by simply biting through their prey. Also in town is a Renaissance Faire and the gang decides to pay it a visit. One visit is enough though because something is slightly off about the faire, everything seems evil and this one boy named Roland is continuously picked on, and not for fun either.

After some research and a couple of run-ins with some small attackers, Angel and Rupert Giles discover that a group of mystical beings called the Wild Hunt are in town to claim the souls of humans. Angel warns Buffy Summers not to look at them as if she does they will steal her soul and she will be forced to ride with the Hunt. Buffy hides Roland out in her basement to save him from the nasty Faire people. The next night Buffy comes home to find Roland stolen away by the Wild Hunt. Giles informs Buffy that the Wild Hunt is run by the Erl King, lord of the Wild Hunt, and that Roland is his son and the heir to the Erl King title even though Roland is disgusted by the Hunt. Buffy and the gang rush in to rescue Roland but their attempt to do so is of no use. To free her friend Buffy agrees to be bound by the oath of the Erl King in which she loses all willpower to fight against him.

On the night of the final Hunt in Sunnydale, the gang (without Buffy) assemble and begin an attack on the Wild Hunt before they can clear their magical forest to attack the town. Buffy is ordered to kill Roland by the Erl King and she must learn to fight against her magical oath in order to save her life, Roland's and the lives of her friends as well.

A student named Kevin Sanderson transfers to Sunnydale High and he's extremely lonely until a lecture is given to his class by a man named Daniel that works for Sunnydale's Museum of Natural History. Kevin immediately considers Daniel to be his mentor as they both thoroughly enjoy palaeontology. Unfortunately Daniel's goal is not at all the same as that of Kevin, who is just trying to fit in. Daniel has found some manuscripts which will help him resurrect dinosaur eggs, and Kevin seems to be the only person with the appropriate eggs. Meanwhile, Oz is getting an offer from a woman named Alysa Bardrick to help run their band. She wants to be their manager but the band members of Dingoes Ate My Baby are still unsure as to her intentions. Soon, Daniel and Kevin's ritual goes very badly and prehistoric dangers literally stalk the halls of Sunnydale High.

After a vicious shooting spree by Brian Dellasandro, a straight A student, the town of Sunnydale goes into a state of shock, though not one everyone would expect; they turn on each other and become nasty. At the same time, Helen, an ancient vicious vampire over 1500 years old, has come to Sunnydale. She has hunted and killed every single Slayer she has ever met in her life, and Buffy is next on her list. Helen and her lover, Julian, have come to Sunnydale to raise Meter, a goddess of destruction, and to do that they need the heart of the Slayer and the ashes of the Emperor Caligula from way back when in 47 A.D. The urn, containing his ashes, has arrived in Joyce's gallery, and is later stolen. After a run-in with Helen, Buffy learns that Angelus and Helen used to be paramours in the 19th century, but that it ended when he regained his soul. Angel explains to her about Helen's past and how she came to hunt down Slayers.

Buffy and her friends are captured and suited up on the night of Meter's ascension. They are led onto a battleground where Buffy must stay alive against dozens of opponents as well as her friends who have been infected by the Potion of Madness in order to prevent Meter from rising.

Canonical issues

Buffy novels, such as this one are not considered by most fans as part of canon. They are usually not considered as official Buffyverse reality, but are novels from the authors' imaginations. However unlike fanfic, 'overviews' summarising their story, written early in the writing process, were 'approved' by both Fox and Whedon (or his office), and the books were therefore later published as officially ''Buffy'' merchandise.

Joyce Summers is running a local art show for people from around the United States. A girl named Justine shows up the first day to sign in and Xander is immediately attracted to her. She offers to do a Tarot reading for him which he agrees to. Once Xander has touched her magickal deck he comes under her control and has no will of his own. Justine is building a powerful deck of Tarot cards which will allow her to control the fate of the world with the help of the goddess Kali, who, in return, wants ultimate peace on Earth. Only Justine doesn't realize what ultimate peace is and she's come to Sunnydale to collect the last four people she needs to complete her deck of cards. Once her deck has been completed the four people remaining needed for the deck will die like the other eighteen she's used to make the deck. Buffy must figure out how her friends are being controlled and find a way to fight herself out of the power of Justine's Tarot cards.

Canonical issues

Buffy novels such as this one are not usually considered by fans as canonical. Some fans consider them stories from the imaginations of authors and artists, while other fans consider them as taking place in an alternative fictional reality. However unlike fan fiction, overviews summarising their story, written early in the writing process, were 'approved' by both Fox and Joss Whedon (or his office), and the books were therefore later published as officially Buffy merchandise.

Veronique is an immortal vampire that continues to return in the body of a newly dead person every time she has been staked. However, she wants to become truly immortal by summoning an ancient demon called the Triumvirate. And of course her choice spot to do so would be in Sunnydale, especially with the extra magical vibes emanating from the Hellmouth. Unfortunately, while Buffy is trying to keep Veronique's vampire henchmen at bay, she also has to deal with the fact that her mother is sick in the hospital. There's a chance that she has cancer, but they won't know for sure until they've performed surgery on her. Buffy has to decide where she's needed most: with her mother, or to stop the end of the world. Buffy and her friends battle Veronique and the Triumverate with help from Lucy Hanover and other spirits who possess them as the Triumverate need to drain the life-force of nearby souls. Without being able to do so, they revert into their hatchling forms and are killed. With them dead, Veronique loses her immortality and is killed by the last of the hatchlings before it dies.

Crystal Gregory is a beautiful new teacher at Sunnydale High, who also happens to give Buffy panic fits whenever she's in the same room as her. Buffy can't sense anything unusual about the teacher and begins to wonder if she's losing her mind. But lately, Anya and Michael seem to be getting awfully close to Crystal and would appear to do anything for her. While out for her usual patrol at night, Buffy has two strange encounters; one, a man is completely incinerated by red and lighting and the other being a girl from school who has a burn mark on her neck in the shape of the symbol for infinity. As soon as Giles gets cracking on his books, he finds out that Crystal is in fact Shugra, a powerful primal witch which is trying to activate the source. She needs a coven of 13 willing people to participate in order to draw the proper energy, unfortunately, it seems that Willow is one of those people.

Cordelia is nervous about her father's tax position but does not tell the others. This foreshadows later events. Giles and Joyce are nervous in each other's company

Characters include: Buffy, Joyce, Giles, Xander, Anya, Cordelia, Willow, and Oz

When dead guys start turning up as soon as the Moon family appears in Sunnydale Buffy knows that something is wrong. Mo, the mother, and her two daughters, Calli and Polly, all go to Sunnydale High. Within several days Calli and Polly have attracted a huge crowd of females. The Moons are trying to create a "Womyn Power" group at the school that basically detests guys for even living. Willow gets pulled into the group and Buffy resolves to stop the Moons before they brainwash all the girls and turn all the guys into blithering idiots.

It's midterm exam time at Sunnydale High School and tensions are rising high in the usual group. Particularly between Buffy and Willow who seem to have some sort of unspoken dislike of the other. Meanwhile, horrible murders have been occurring throughout Sunnydale; two close friends end up dead, one kills the other and then the murderer ends up as a pile of bones. The murders also coincide with the arrival of a large group of demons called the Rakshasa who seem to have a sort of wicked control over their victims. As Buffy and Willow become more and more violent towards each other, Giles does some research which indicates that the Rakshasa are in town to help with the resurrection on an ancient Hindu demon called Ravana. And when Giles spots Ethan Rayne in town, he knows that something chaotic is at hand.

Characters include: Buffy, Joyce, Giles, Xander, Angel, Cordelia, Willow, Oz, and Ethan Rayne. Cordelia's web page in the book is www.shrew.com

When four Druids arrive in town everyone knows that something is going on. Three of the Druids are brothers and the other is their uncle. They're in town to try a spell on a certain night to close the gateway in the Hellmouth so that demons would not be allowed to pass through. They'd done it a year before with their father but the spell was not completed and the brothers lost their father in the midst of the spell. Giles is a little put off by the uncle and feels that he's not being told everything that he should know. Also gathering is a large community of vampires run by Eric and his apprentice Naomi, who has been playing nasty tricks with Cordelia's mind by hypnotizing her. Things start to go wrong; magic appears everywhere and the brothers turn against their uncle. On the night of the spell Buffy must manage to fix the spell or deter the uncle from his task as well as figure out what is going on with Eric and his gang.

Characters include: Buffy, Joyce, Giles, Xander, Cordelia, Willow, Oz and Angel. Drusilla is found to be a user of a spell that would explain her ease in killing Kendra.

Buffy notices that, while patrolling, she's being stalked by a demon that emits a high pitched giggle. After discussion and research with Giles, they discover that Buffy's being stalked by a 'Korred'; a nasty hairy beast that feeds on peoples life forces by making them dance to his magical song until they die. The Korred is particularly attracted to Buffy because of her Slayer aura. Buffy must stop the Korred before he makes her dance to her death.

Willow is baby-sitting one night when suddenly the baby she's taking care of changes into an evil faerie and tells her that she needs to work harder to save Weatherly Park from being converted into an amusement park. The faerie then attacks Willow before vanishing. After some research, Giles discovers that the fairy is a Russian variety called the domovoi, apparently hiding out beneath Weatherly Park. The faeries also have plans for Willow; they need the blood of a witch in order to resurrect the Homestone which will renew the faeries' strength.

Characters include: Buffy, Joyce, Giles, Xander, Angel, Cordelia, Willow, and Oz. First original Buffy novel not to feature Sarah Michelle Gellar on the cover.

After an oil spill on a nearby Sunnydale beach, Willow discovers a 'selkie'; that is, a girl that can turn into a seal with her sealskin. The selkie, dubbed Ariel by the gang, cannot return to the ocean because her sealskin was damaged by the oil spill. Willow's trying to find a spell to clean it. At the same time, mermaid-like creatures called merrows have come ashore in search of food and the vampire population gets territorial and try to kill the merrows. Buffy and the gang get stuck in the middle of a turf war while trying to save Ariel.

After Buffy kills twin teenage vampires, their vampire mother steps in to seek revenge for the death of her sons. The mother summons the goddess of Balance and Buffy is faced with a trial in order to save her life as well as her mother's. In this trial, Buffy discovers what she fears most and her love for her mom must triumph over the vampire mother's love for her dead sons.

Taking place during ''Buffy'''s third season, Faith and Buffy are the current Slayers. When mayhem caused by tidal waves and burning forests begin to erupt in Sunnydale as well as vicious attackers appearing with ceremonial axes, the gang knows that something is up. A woman named Cecile Lafitte has sent her Servants to kill the Slayers with special axes, Faith being the Slayer of Fire and Buffy being the Slayer of Air. Each Slayer has a special axe made to destroy the Slayer of that particular element. There are four axes in total; air, fire, water and earth. Should Faith and Buffy both be killed then it's believed that the line of Slayers would die out forever. Cecile wants to bring forth the Gatherer, and the only way to do so is to have the Slayers killed, which would feed the demon enough power to bring him forth into the world. Meanwhile, Willow ends up in the hospital with major brain trauma while Giles figures they need answers from the Watcher of the Slayer that preceded Buffy, India Cohen.

During the final confrontation with the Gatherer, Willow and Cordelia briefly serve as hosts for India (the Slayer of Water) and Kendra (the Slayer of Earth) respectively. Eventually with the help of the spirits of the former Slayers, Lucy Hanover and the spirits that live in the woods where the battle takes place, the group defeats the Gatherer and destroys it by each absorbing parts of its soul. Buffy also decapitates Cecile with the axes.

Determined to find a solution to his lycanthropic problem, Oz sets out to discover the beast within himself, as well as the rest of the world. His journey takes him to LA, Fiji, Australia, China and finally to Tibet in his quest for peace. Oz finds himself running from Gib Cain, the werewolf hunter who wants his skin, battling vampires and all around, just running for his life. His journey takes him to China where he meets a young woman named Jinan, who is something more than human, and the two of them travel to Tibet in search of answers. A monk can guide Oz through his journey, but he can only take him so far into his own self-discovery. During the meantime, Muztag, an evil demon who has been the monk's lifelong enemy, is gathering forces in an attempt to take over a particular valley in Tibet and he must be stopped before he kills the monk, or Oz's hopes for hiding the beast within him will be totally lost.

Even though Buffy decided to drop drama class to concentrate on her slaying and taking care of Dawn, Willow still decided keep the class on her course list. She becomes engrossed in it, especially when the teacher, Professor Addams, begins discussing rituals and chants involved in old dramatic works. Unfortunately, the professor, realizing that Willow has some power of her own, decides to use her for his own ends. He needs to locate a particularly powerful book used to summon the Fates, which he believes is located somewhere in Sunnydale. Spike and Willow realise that the professor is actually the father of Spike's mortal love interest, Cecily, who is attempting to use the power of the fates to resurrect his daughter after he accidentally killed her due to Spike's actions in his early days as a vampire.

A young, vicious and beautiful woman named Celina comes to Sunnydale and there's nothing but an uproar caused by her appearance. She's a deadly fighter that is willing to kill both humans and vampires alike. Upon her arrival in Sunnydale, she scares Anya, demanding to know where the Slayer is. As Buffy becomes involved in a short battle with Celina at sunrise, she realizes that she's in way over her head as Celina's method of fighting is far superior to her own. Meanwhile, Anya wrestles with her humanity and realizes that a lot of pain can come from being human and no longer immortal. D'Hoffryn offers her back her demonhood and she must decide which path is right for her. Buffy, after her encounter with the violent Celina, has Giles research who this mysterious woman is to better prepare her for the next time they meet. Unfortunately, the news of what Celina actually IS, is a lot more shocking than Buffy had expected.

Ever since her mother's death, Buffy has been having problems keeping herself and Dawn living together peacefully, and the lack of money is affecting both of them. When Buffy suddenly develops an acute toothache, with no dental insurance, she can't afford to have it fixed. She must bear through the pain and keep it a secret from her friends while the town of Sunnydale becomes terrorized by miniature vampires. The miniature vampire fairies are led by Queen Mab who has come to Sunnydale with her troop in order to hunt down Anyanka. Back in the day, Anyanka was accidentally involved in turning these fairies into vampires and Queen Mab wants revenge on this act. Unfortunately, Buffy has to figure out how to kill vampires that are smaller than her palm.

While at the theater for a Star Trek marathon with Anya, Xander recognizes a friend of his, from the arcade, enter the theater and begin threatening and beating humans in a very demonic way. Upon further inspection, Xander learns that his friend, Robby, was involved in total immersion VR video game beta testing. But the testing was a little too secretive, according to Robby's girlfriend. Meanwhile, Buffy and Dawn are having issues with one another, and Buffy doesn't know how to deal with being Dawn's new "mom" after the recent death of their own mother. After much research concerning the bizarre video game tests, and the appearance of a man named Bobby Lee Tooker, the group discovers that the video game isn't so much a video game, as much as it is another dimensional portal while the human bodies are being taken over by demons. Buffy needs to find a way to get these beta testers (including a very reluctant Xander) back into the real world and destroy the evil demon who's using the testers to conjure a powerful being.

Buffy has a run-in with a couple demons at store while a gangly blonde girl watches on. Afterwards Buffy tries to talk to her but she runs off, faster than Buffy can catch her. Meanwhile Dawn has befriended a girl named Arianna at her school. Arianna has no friends and an abusive mother and has always longed to become a heroine. After it becomes clear that Arianna is the exceptionally strong girl that Buffy ran into, the gang tries to find out where Arianna's powers are coming from. Meanwhile, a demon called Aurek is searching for his daughter Arianna who is to become the Reaver, a being used for mass destruction of the dimensions. He finally locates her and tries to convince her that all humans are against demons. Just as Arianna starts to befriend Buffy, she then begins to pull away. Fearing that Buffy will just kill her in the end. Arianna has to make a decision on whether or not to keep her humanity.

Two strange breeds of sea creatures are beginning to appear in Sunnydale, and none of them appear to be all too friendly. The Moruach and the Aegeirie are their names, the latter being followers of the immense sea beast Aegir who was once captured by the Moruach but later set free. As soon as Buffy is beginning to discover these creatures, the Watcher's Council steps in with a team with Quentin Travers leading the way. When Buffy does not agree to slay all the demons until she knows more about them and what they're doing in Sunnydale, Travers has Faith released from jail in Los Angeles for a temporary time in order to eradicate the demons in Sunnydale. Buffy begins to question her decision as well as her actions when innocent humans, including some of her friends, begin to transform into Aegir followers.

Willow has arrived back in Sunnydale after spending time with Giles in England. She is terrified of using her magic powers again for fear of a return to dark magic consuming her. However, suddenly Sunnydale once again becomes a center of the weirdness when an angel named Michael brings on signs of the Apocalypse. The angel insists that this is not an artificial one, the type Buffy had stopped before, this is the natural and long-established end of the world.

Willow must find a way to overcome her fear of magic in order to perform one of the most dangerous spells known to mankind; the Belial Siphon, which has not been performed before. Meanwhile, Buffy is trying to stop an Apocalypse of her own accord, yet Buffy cannot seem to fight what is thrown at her.

Something new has swept into the lives of the Scooby Gang, but all through different sources as they try to find acceptance with other people outside their tight knit slayage group; Xander with his co-workers, Willow with her professor at university and Dawn with a new group of not so strait-laced friends. Meanwhile, Buffy is being sent on random missions by a man that goes by the name of Simon. He wants her to retrieve parts of a mystical sword and put them together, but he refuses to say why or who he even is. When her friends suddenly start to turn against her, Buffy has to figure out how the sword and Simon ties into all the odd goings-on in Sunnydale.

With Wrath-Amon vanquished and his family returned to life from living stone, Conan thought that his questing had finished. However, now he has to train and protect the "Chosen Ones", a trio of new young warriors who are in possession of magical "star stones", until the time comes in which they are destined to rule over Hyboria.

Aside from Conan's character design, which is identical to the one in ''Conan the Adventurer'', this series has a few small links to its predecessor. Occasionally, a trumpet line piece of background music mirroring the theme to ''Conan the Adventurer'' is used. At one point, a character uses Zulu's trademark sign of Jhebbal Sag to summon animals to help them. Conan once seeks out a wizard he claims "Grey Wolf of Xanthus" told him about; he also mentions that he once knew a firebird, and jokingly claims that he ate him. The fact that Conan's sword is made of metal from the stars is mentioned several times, a reference to the original series in which a major theme was that Conan's sword was made of a magical star metal.

''Twin Princess of Wonder Planet''

The Wonder Planet is inhabited by seven kingdoms, all of them supported by the Sun's Blessing from the Sunny Kingdom. However, unbeknownst to them, the Sun's Blessing is about to go out soon and the Wonder Planet will soon be covered in darkness. The twin princesses of the Sunny Kingdom, Fine and Rein, learn about the Wonder Planet's decline from Princess Grace, the legendary princess from the Sunny Kingdom who had saved the Sun's Blessing years ago. Grace sends Poomo, a fairy, to guide them as she gives them the power of the Prominence, which allows them to use magic that will allow them to save the Sun's Blessing. Meanwhile, Fine and Rein begin attending Princess Parties, prestigious contests between all of the princesses of each kingdom.

''Twin Princess of Wonder Planet Gyu!''

Fine, Rein, and the other princesses and princes leave the Wonder Planet to attend the Royal Wonder Academy, to earn their certifications to become the kings and queens of their kingdoms. However, Fine and Rein are shocked to discover that the school discourages friendship. During the school orientation, the vice principal presents the Soleil Bell, which will only ring if the chosen Universal Princess touches it. When Fine and Rein accidentally touch it, the Soleil Bell chooses them as the next Universal Princesses, awakening fairies Pyupyu and Kyukyu to aid them and giving them magic that will allow them to stop the power of the Black Crystal Planet threatening the universe.

Part 1

After a 40-year armistice in a war between the Twelve Colonies of Kobol (the homeworlds populated by humans) and the Cylons (human-created robots), the Cylons launch a surprise nuclear attack intended to exterminate the human race. Virtually all of the population of the Twelve Colonies is wiped out. Most of the Colonial military is either rendered ineffective or destroyed due to malware in the military computer network that renders it vulnerable to cyber attack. The malware was introduced by Number Six (Tricia Helfer), a Cylon in the form of a human woman, who seduced the famous scientist Dr. Gaius Baltar (James Callis) and exploited their relationship to gain access codes under the cover of an insider contract bid.

The Battlestar ''Galactica'', a hybrid battleship/aircraft carrier in space that fought in the earlier war, is in the final stages of being decommissioned and converted to a museum when the attack occurs. During her decades of colonial service the ''Galactica'''s computer systems had never been networked so the ''Galactica'' is unaffected by the Cylon sabotage. Its commander, William Adama (Edward James Olmos), assumes command of the few remaining elements of the human fleet. He heads for the Ragnar Anchorage, a military armory station where the ''Galactica'' can resupply itself with weaponry and essential supplies.

Secretary of Education Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell) is sworn in as President of the Twelve Colonies after it is confirmed that the President and most of the government have been killed (Roslin is 43rd in the line of succession). The government starship carrying her (''Colonial One'') manages to assemble a group of surviving civilian ships.

When a Colonial Raptor shuttle from the ''Galactica'' lands briefly for repairs on the Twelve Colonies' capital world of Caprica, the two-person crew, Sharon Valerii (callsign "Boomer") (Grace Park) and Karl C. Agathon (callsign "Helo") (Tahmoh Penikett), offer to evacuate a small group of survivors. Helo remains on the stricken planet, giving up his seat to evacuate Baltar, whom he recognizes for his celebrity status as a scientific genius.

Part 2

The Cylons locate the human civilian fleet, and Roslin is forced to make the decision to order all of the ships capable of faster-than-light (FTL) travel to jump immediately to escape. Unfortunately this means abandoning many of the survivors who are aboard ships without FTL engines and, as Roslin and the FTL ships jump away, the Cylons launch an attack on the remaining ships.

At the Ragnar Anchorage space station, Adama is attacked by a supposed arms dealer who claims to be simply bootlegging supplies, but who is clearly being affected by the radiation cloud surrounding Ragnar, which humans are immune to. Adama deduces that he is facing a new type of Cylon that looks, sounds, and acts human.

As the civilian fleet joins the ''Galactica'' at Ragnar, President Roslin appoints Dr. Baltar, who has not disclosed his suborning by the Cylons, as one of her scientific advisers to combat the Cylons. Number Six reveals herself to Baltar in hallucinatory form while attempting to direct his behavior. She suggests that she planted a microchip inside Baltar's brain while he slept, allowing her to transmit her image into his conscious mind. Responding to one of her suggestions, he is compelled to identify Aaron Doral, a public relations specialist, as a Cylon agent masquerading as a human. Despite his protests and the lack of any evidence to support the accusation, Doral is left at Ragnar when the ''Galactica'' departs.

As the Cylons blockade Ragnar, the ''Galactica'' and its fleet of Vipers engage the Cylon fleet in order to allow the civilian fleet to escape by "jumping" to a distant, unexplored area outside of their star system. The ''Galactica'' and the colonial fleet make good their escape. Adama then attempts to lift the morale of the surviving humans by announcing plans to reach a legendary thirteenth colony called "Earth", whose existence and location have been closely guarded military secrets. Roslin is skeptical and later confronts Adama and makes him admit that Earth is simply an ancient myth.

Returning to his quarters, Adama finds an anonymous note has been left for him stating "There are only 12 Cylon models." On Ragnar, Doral clearly appears to be suffering from radiation poisoning that has been shown to affect only Cylons. His identity as a Cylon is confirmed when a group of Cylons, including the metallic Cylon Centurions and several humanoid Cylons consisting of multiple copies of the Number Six, Doral, and Ragnar arms-dealer models, come to retrieve Doral. In a twist ending, one of the group appears to be Boomer, indicating that her counterpart on the ''Galactica'' is a Cylon as well.

Donald Duck is enjoying a leisurely day in his hammock sipping lemonade and listening to his radio. Soon Uncle Smiley's radio program comes on. Smiley is described as a "musical philosopher" and uses songs to maintain a positive attitude. Donald insists that he has never lost his temper.

However Donald's temper is soon put to the test first by a fly that lands on his foot, followed by a caterpillar which crawls down the underside of his hammock and tickles him. A chicken comes along and pecks Donald's rear end while trying to grab the caterpillar. Finally Donald antagonizes with a woodpecker for bathing in his bowl of lemonade, who retaliates by causing a huge amount of apples to fall onto the hammock tearing it up before pecking Donald's hat into a riddled rag.

At the end of the film Donald loses his temper and smashes the radio with a shotgun.

Donald is fast asleep in his bed. As he turns in his sleep, his Conscience takes a form of its own beside him. She looks exactly like Donald, but wears a white robe and a golden halo. She also has a kinder and gentler voice than Donald. The Conscience tries to get Donald up and out of bed so he won't be late for school, but Donald's Anti-Conscience appears to keep Donald in bed. He has a different voice than Donald's and has a devil form with horns. He easily convinces Donald to stay in bed, but the Conscience wins out and walks with Donald to school.

Along the way, Donald is tempted by the Anti-Conscience to skip out on school and go fishing instead. At the fishing hole, the Anti-Conscience pressures him to smoke a pipe, which causes him to get sick. Soon the Conscience arrives looking for Donald. She finds him sick, and she gets angry at the Anti-Conscience for Donald's misfortune. The Anti-Conscience soon realizes he's in trouble when he sees the Conscience behind him. "''YOU!'' This is all your fault!" says the Conscience to the Anti-Conscience, who nervously convinces the Conscience not to hurt him. The Conscience refuses, but after the Anti-Conscience deliberately tricks her, proceeds to fight the Anti-Conscience to teach him a lesson. Donald finally learns to do the right thing and go to school rather than give in to temptation.

''The Man of Feeling'' details the fragmentary episodes of the life of Harley which exist within the remains of a manuscript traded to the initial narrator of the novel by a priest. The novel itself begins with these two latter figures hunting, whereas the manuscript is missing the first ten chapters and approximately thirty others at various locations throughout the manuscript's entirety.

As a young boy, Harley loses his parents and is assigned several guardians who constantly disagree with each other. They do however agree that he should make an effort to acquire more wealth, and so they urge him to make an old distant relative amiable towards him to claim some inheritance. Harley fails in this endeavour, as he doesn't cooperate with the relative's attempts to warm to him.

Harley is then advised to acquire a patron; to sell his vote at an election for a lease of land. His neighbour Mr. Walton gives him a letter of introduction, and he leaves home (and Miss Walton) for London. He meets a beggar and his dog on the way, and after donating to them, hears the fortune-telling beggar's story.

In the following (missing) chapters, Harley formally visits the baronet Mr. Walton recommended him to, because when the narrative continues, Harley is calling on him for the second time. The baronet however is away from London, and Harley meets another gentleman named Tom. They go for a stroll and then dine together, discussing pensions and resources with two older men.

Harley proceeds to visit Bedlam, and weeps for an inmate there, before dining with a scorned, cynical man and together they discuss honour and vanity. He then demonstrates his skill (or, as many argue, his lack of skill) in physiognomy by being charitable on behalf of an old gentleman, with whom Harley later plays cards. After losing money to them, Harley is informed the gentleman and his acquaintance are con men.

Approached by a prostitute, Harley takes her to a tavern and feeds her, despite having to hand the waiter his pocket watch as collateral for paying the bill, and then meets again with her the next morning to hear her story. At its conclusion her father arrives, and after a misunderstanding is reconciled with his daughter.

Upon discovering that his claim for the land lease has failed, Harley takes a stage-coach back home, discussing poetry and vice with a fellow passenger until they part ways and the coach reaches the end of its route. Harley continues on foot, and along the way meets Edwards, an old farmer from his village who has fallen on hard times and is returning from his conscription in the army. Together they approach the village, to find the school house destroyed, and two orphans who are actually the grandchildren of Harley's companion. Harley takes the three of them home, and provides some land for them.

After discussing corrupt military commanders with Edwards, Harley is informed to his dismay that Miss Walton is going to be married to Sir Harry Benson.

''The Man of Feeling'' then jumps to an unconnected tale of a man named Mountford, who journeys to Milan as tutor to the young Sedley, where they meet with a count. They visit a debtors' prison to find a man and his family living there at the behest of the count's son, a man who had been so charming to the two gentlemen. Sedley pays the family's debt, and then Mountford and Sedley leave Milan in disgust. Jamie is then renowned as the 'Man of Feeling' and is distressed to find that his entry is no longer there.

The narrative returns to the story of Harley. Miss Walton has not married Benson. She visits an unwell Harley (who has contracted a fever nursing Edwards and his grandchildren), who confesses his love to her. They hold hands and he dies.

After Homer and his coworkers barely escape from a gas leak at the nuclear power plant, Homer's coworker is fired when he asks Mr. Burns to put in a real emergency exit after the one they had turned out to be painted on the wall. When Burns breaks numerous labor laws in hiring a replacement — such as hiring undocumented workers and ducks — the United States Department of Labor demands that he hire at least one female worker. A beautiful woman, Mindy Simmons, is hired and Homer falls in love with her. Barney advises Homer to talk to Mindy because they will most likely have nothing in common. To his horror, Homer finds they have exactly the same interests. Marge gets sick with a bad cold, which makes her unattractive to Homer.

After playing a prank on the teachers where he paints white lines outside the school to make parking spaces 1 foot narrower than supposed to be, resulting in the teachers not being able to get out of their cars, Bart is told that for the rest of the semester that he will be asked to answer every question made first. Bart's first task is to pronounce the word "photosynthesis", but he is unable to pronounce it due to his blurry vision. He is sent to an eye doctor, who finds Bart has a lazy eye and fits him with thick glasses he must wear for two weeks. A dermatologist treats Bart's dry scalp by matting his hair down with a medicated salve, parting his hair to both sides. He receives a pair of oversized shoes from the podiatrist to help his posture, and the otolaryngologist sprays his throat, making him sound like Jerry Lewis from ''The Nutty Professor''. These changes make Bart look and sound like a nerd, causing school bullies to pick on him. Bart eventually returns to school in his normal guise after his treatments end, but the bullies pummel him anyway.

Homer decides to tell Mindy they should avoid each other because of their mutual attraction. However, they are chosen to represent the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant at the National Energy Convention in Capital City. After a romantic dinner as an award for winning the convention, Homer and Mindy return to their hotel room. Mindy tells Homer how she feels about him, but assures him that he can decide how far their relationship will go. Although he is very tempted by her, Homer declares his faithfulness to Marge. Mindy accepts his decision and leaves after they share a kiss. Later, Marge and Homer share a romantic evening together in the same room, where Homer discovers a turkey he and Mindy left behind the bed after ordering room service. However, they are suddenly interrupted by a hotel worker who enters the room and makes suggestive noises at them. Homer silences him by punching him in the eye.

The novel's protagonist, Roy Complain, lives in a culturally-primitive tribe on a massive generation ship which has descended into a uncivilized state. The ship is overgrown by vegetation and the inhabitants have clustered into warring tribes. In Roy's tribe, curiosity is discouraged, and life is solitary, poor, and short. With a small group, he leaves his home and ventures into uncharted territory in the ship. The consequent discoveries will change his perception of the entire universe.

Complain's small tribe roam nomadically through corridors overrun by vegetation. After his wife is kidnapped, a tribal priest, Marapper, encourages Complain to join a furtive expedition into the unexplored corridors. It is Marapper's belief that they are all living on board a moving spacecraft and that if they can reach the control room, they will gain command of the entire gargantuan vessel.

On their journey, the group encounters other tribes of varying levels of sophistication. Complain is also briefly captured by humanoid 'Giants' of legend, who release him with no explanation. Complain's party eventually join the more sophisticated society of the 'Forwards'. Here, they learn that the space-craft is a multi-generational starship returning from a newly colonised planet in the Procyon star system. In a previous generation, the ship's inhabitants had suffered from a pandemic because of an alien amino acid found in the waters of the Procyon planet. Law and order began to collapse, and knowledge of the ship and its purpose was eventually almost entirely lost throughout the vessel. Since the 'Catastrophe', 23 generations have passed so far.

The Forwards have uncertain knowledge of 'Giants', who, though feared, are generally considered to be benevolent. Other mysterious beings, 'Outsiders', are thought to infiltrate the human world from an unknown place and are reviled as enemies. However, when the Giants attack a Forward crew-member, the humans conclude that the Giants and Outsiders are colluding against humanity and prepare to retaliate in force. Meanwhile, Complain and his developing romantic interest Vyann (a Forward officer) learn that the spacecraft should have taken only six generations to return to Earth. Aware that 23 generations have passed since the epidemic, they despairingly deduce that the entire spacecraft is now plummeting into the cold expanse of infinite space. Although they find the ship's control centre, all of its mechanisms have been destroyed.

The Forwards briefly engage the Giants, but the conflict quickly ends. It is then revealed that the ship has been moored outside Earth's atmosphere for a number of years. The 'Giants' are merely normal-sized Earth-humans who have been attempting to improve the conditions of the ship's inhabitants by slowly repairing the vessel. The 'Outsiders' are unusually short humans from Earth who have infiltrated the ship's various societies to study the development of their civilization.

The rulers of Earth have been reluctant to integrate the ship-dwellers into Earth's civilization because the epidemic survivors have mutated to live four times faster than Earth's population. However, the recent battle on board the spacecraft has caused it to begin an emergency split into its composite parts, ensuring that the entire population will now be granted a new start on Earth.

The Dearly family and most of the Dalmatians of the first book still live in Cruella de Vil's old manor house in Suffolk, as do many of the other rescued Dalmatians and a married couple of White Persian cats. Mr. Dearly has allowed some dogs to go to new masters, including giving Cadpig to the Prime Minister.

One morning, the dogs find all other living things besides dogs cannot be wakened. No dog is hungry, thirsty, or weak. Doors, gates, and machines operate on command, and the dogs are able to communicate via "thought waves" to others many miles away. Cadpig, now acting Prime Minister in the humans' absence, orders her parents to come help her in London, where hundreds of dogs are arriving awaiting her advice.

The dogs discover they can "swoosh", or hover at tremendous speed over the ground. Pongo and Missis select a squad of fifty Dalmatians, including their adult sons Patch, Lucky, and Roly Poly. They "swoosh" to London and are escorted by Police Dogs to 10 Downing Street. Cadpig and her Cabinet (the human Cabinet's dogs) hold a meeting with Pongo and Missis to decide what to do next. Roly Poly makes a friend of George, the Foreign Secretary's Boxer, and the two set off to adventure together.

Two Fox Terriers hear the General (the Old English Sheepdog) barking; he reveals he will soon be arriving with his owner's little son Tommy, the farm tabby Mrs. Willow, and the female White Persian Cat. These three are also awake, thanks to being named "honorary dogs" after the events of the first book. Upon arrival in London, the White Persian Cat suggests Cruella, now back in London, must be behind the mysterious sleeping. She leads a group of dogs to Cruella's house to kill her. However, Cruella and her husband are just as fast asleep as anyone else, and the animals see she is now obsessed with metallic plastics instead of fur coats. They spare her life and return to Downing Street, where the television comes on and a strange Voice orders them to make sure all dogs are in open, starlit spaces by midnight. The Dalmatians accomplish this via Twilight Barking and thought waves.

In Trafalgar Square, Tommy, the cats, the Dalmatians, and the General meet with thousands of other dogs to wait. At Midnight, after a strange euphoric moment followed by a moment of terror, Sirius, the Lord of the Dog Star, appears on Nelson's Column. He explains to all the dogs that he is lonely and is offering them the chance to avoid the pain of possible nuclear war in the future. However, they must come with him of their own accord. He assures them the world, when it wakes, will not remember dogs ever existed, and that all dogs will be free and know true bliss in the stars.

Pongo is chosen to make the final decision. He consults with the Cabinet, Missis, and the General. Three stray dogs approach, and tell Pongo that no "lost" dog wants to give up their last chance of finding special humans of their own by leaving Earth. This convinces Pongo and the others to choose their masters over Sirius. While Sirius commends their loyalty to humankind, he is sad that he will have to return to space alone. The dogs promise they will look out for him on nights when the Dog Star is in the sky. Sirius grants them the ability to "swoosh" to their own homes before daybreak, at which time everything will return to normal.

Roly Poly returns from his adventure in Paris with George. He reveals Sirius appeared there as well, and Missis surmises he appeared everywhere at once, as a star is not bound by earthly time. All owned dogs return home, while the "lost" dogs take the opportunity to get in to Battersea Dogs Home, where they will be fed and cared for while awaiting new owners. Pongo talks to Sirius one last time before the dawn and says someday dogs may be ready to leave Earth with him, but for now they will be content to be owned by loving humans, which, for him, is "bliss" enough.

From the game's instructions:

:''The city of Amaurote has been invaded by huge, aggressive insects who have built colonies in each of the city's 25 sectors. As the only uninjured army officer left after the invasion (that'll teach you for hiding!) the job falls to you to destroy all the insect colonies.''

The film takes place in 2079. Forty-five years earlier, Earth was attacked by a hostile and implacable alien civilization from Alpha Centauri. Force field domes are put in place to protect cities, and a totalitarian global military government is established to effect the war and the survival of humans. The Centaurians have never been physically seen.

The film follows Spencer Olham (Gary Sinise), a designer of top-secret government weapons. One day while on his way to work, he is arrested by Major Hathaway (Vincent D'Onofrio) of the Earth Security Administration (ESA), being identified as a replicant created by the aliens. The ESA intercepted an alien transmission which cryptanalysts decoded as programming Olham's target to be the Chancellor, whom he was scheduled to meet. Such replicants are perfect biological copies of existing humans, complete with transplanted memories, and do not know they are replicants. Each has a powerful "U-bomb" in their chest in the exact design of a human heart, which can only be detected by dissection or a high-tech medical scan, since it only arms itself and detonates when it gets in close proximity to its target. Detection via the special scan works by comparing against a previous scan, if there was one.

Major Hathaway begins interrogating Olham. As Hathaway is about to drill out Olham's chest to find the bomb, Olham breaks loose and escapes, accidentally killing his friend Nelson (Tony Shalhoub) in the process. With the help of underground stalker Cale (Mekhi Phifer), Olham avoids capture and sneaks into the hospital where his wife Maya (Madeleine Stowe) is an administrator to get the high-tech scan redone and prove he's not a replicant. But the scan is interrupted by security forces before it can deliver the answer.

That evening, after fleeing from the city, Olham and Maya are eventually captured by Hathaway's troops in a forest near an alien crash site, close to the spot where they spent a romantic weekend just a week or so before Olham's arrest. Inside the ship they discover the corpse of the real Maya, and Hathaway shoots and kills the replicant before she can detonate. Hathaway thinks he has killed the true impostor, but as his men move debris away from the Centauri ship, the real Spencer Olham's body is revealed. At that moment, Olham realizes aloud that both Maya and himself really are alien replicants, and the secondary trigger (his awareness of what he truly is) detonates his U-bomb, destroying himself, Hathaway, his troops, and everything else in a wide area in a fiery nuclear explosion.

In the final scene, the news announces that Hathaway and the Olhams were killed in an alien enemy attack, implying that the government covered up or are unaware of the truth. Cale wonders if he ever really knew Olham's true identity.

World War III begins late in the 21st century. It is fought between the two superpowers, Wes-Dem and Pac-Peop. The fighting is extensive and severe, most of it performed by "leadies", robots built to withstand the most extreme circumstances. The Earth becomes a battlefield. Unable to exist in the atmosphere created by robot war, vast "ant tanks" are constructed underground to save the diminishing human population.

The government and war engine remains on the surface; the elite "Yance-men". Their president, Talbot Yancy, delivers inspirational speeches to the tankers, motivating them to increase their production of leadies and win the war. The war does eventually end. However, the Yance-men design a conspiracy to maintain the wealth of the Earth for themselves. Yancy continues to describe devastation in televised speeches. The tankers continue to produce leadies.

Talbot Yancy is actually a computer generated simulacrum. The Yance-men program him from the "Agency" in New York. They live in immense villas on private parks, called "demesnes". The leadies are actually used by the Yance-men as personal servants and to maintain their estates. The Agency is run by the most vicious and greedy Yance-man, Stanton Brose, who is kept alive by pre-war artificial organs which he hoards.

The story begins in one of the tanks, named Tom Mix (named after the actor Tom Mix). The tank president, Nicholas St. James, is forced to go to the surface to buy an artificial pancreas on the black market. He emerges on David Lantano's property (a Yance-man). When some of Lantano's leadies try to kill St. James, they are destroyed by a mysterious man who looks like Talbot Yancy. St. James wanders around, through the ruins of a war, and eventually ends up at Lantano's mansion.

Simultaneously, Joseph Adams (another Yance-man) is put on a special mission by Brose. He must plant evidence of alien artifacts on land belonging to a real-estate agent (Louis Runcible) so the land can be legitimately seized. The artifacts are buried using a time travel device. One by one, the people attached to this project are killed. Adams fearfully retreats to Lantano's mansion.

Another person to appear in the mansion is Webster Foote, the owner and operator of a private detective corporation. Foote accepts work on a per-case basis from everybody (including Brose, Lantano and Runcible) but wishes to save Runcible from the plot against him.

Lantano then reveals to Foote, Adams and St. James, that he is a Cherokee from the distant past, somehow being given extended life by the time travel device that placed the artifacts back in time. He has lived through history, taking many positions of note under different names, and now he has killed the members of this special project. Lantano, Foote, and Adams together now plot to kill Brose and free the people underground.

However, Adams figures out Lantano was behind the deaths as part of his plot to bring down Brose. In desperation and fear, he joins up with St. James, who discovered a cache of artificial organs, and flees into the Tom Mix tank with him. They discover that Lantano was ultimately successful but contemplate that the biggest lie is yet to come.

U.S. Marshal John Travers becomes the sheriff of a turn-of-the-century western town where several murders have occurred, hoping to flush out an outlaw known only as "The Shadow". He is aided by an Indian friend he asks to come help him. Anita Matlock, daughter of deceased, and niece of current Matlock ranch owner, arrives from back east at the same time.

After watching a stage holdup, Travers and his Indian friend discretely follow the robbers back to the town where the robbers are heard conversing with someone in what seems to be an empty room at the saloon, and later follow them to a hideout close to the Matlock ranch. In town, the "empty" room is found to have secret passages including a secret way to shoot people on the main street of town.

Out at Matlock ranch, Travers gives Anita a gun. Someone at the ranch telephones the robber's hideout to set up a road ambush on Travers and Anita, but Anita foils the plan with the gun given to her.

After arresting the suspected robbers, Travers makes one of them go back to the special room for instructions, where Travers overhears a plot to murder most of the town with a machine gun coming from the hideout on a wagon, and to murder him from the secret outlook onto the street.

He deputizes the townsfolk and they intercept the machine gun before it gets to town, and he shows them the secret outlook before it can be used to murder again.

Travers marries Anita, and his Indian friend plays Indians with their young son.

Randy Bowers rides into town, and upon hearing a grossly off-key rendition of "Sobre las Olas" coming from a saloon, enters to investigate. He walks in to find the patrons and bartender all shot dead, with the song coming from a player piano, along with a note advising the local sheriffs not to investigate. The sheriffs arrive and immediately blame Randy for the massacre. Within the sheriff's posse is Matt the Mute, who cannot speak and writes to communicate—using the same handwriting as was found in the note.

Randy escapes with the help of Sally Rogers, the niece of the dead owner of the bar, who survived the massacre by hiding in a crawlspace. Randy runs from the sheriff and ends up in a cave in which the bandits have their hideout. They kidnap Sally, who escapes with Randy's help. Matt the Mute is eventually exposed as the real killer and is himself killed when he enters the bar, which is filled with explosives.

In the end, Randy and Sally are married, and they live happily ever after.

John Mason chases after his father's killer, an outlaw who remains elusive until he is tricked into revealing himself with a decoy gold shipment. To complicate matters, the killer is the brother of Alice, the woman with whom Mason has fallen in love. Alice begs Mason not to seek vengeance, but a showdown is inevitable.

Professor Farnsworth warns the crew their next mission, to collect honey from giant space bees, was the mission which killed his previous crew. Though Bender and Fry grab at the opportunity to opt out of the mission, Leela takes offense and drags them along.

At the hive, Leela paints Bender like a bee to deceive the real bees while she and Fry collect the honey. The crew discover the remains of the previous Planet Express crew and ship, but Leela insists that they press on. After gathering the honey, Leela decides to bring home a baby queen bee. On the way out, Bender inadvertently insults the hive's queen, causing the bees to attack. The crew escape, but in the ship, the baby queen awakens and attacks Leela. Fry throws himself in front of Leela to protect her, and is impaled by the bee's stinger while Leela is only pricked by the tip. Bender disposes of the bee and Leela awakens with a minor wound, but sees Fry lying dead on the floor.

At Fry's funeral, Leela blames herself for his death. After taking some space honey to calm herself down and help her sleep, Leela experiences a series of dreams in which Fry is alive, all of them ending with Fry telling her to "wake up" and leaving her a souvenir from the dream in the waking world. Leela's insistence that Fry is alive leads the others to conclude that she is going insane.

After awakening from a dream in which she attempts to exhume Fry's corpse, Leela concludes that she is indeed insane. Wracked with guilt and loneliness, Leela resolves to consume enough space honey to fall asleep forever and be with Fry in her dreams, but a portrait of Fry implores her not to do it. Leela tries to fight back, but a small space bee starts flying around the room. Leela throws the jar of space honey at it, causing it to turn into an entire swarm of smaller bees. As Leela clutches her picture of Fry, Fry begs Leela to wake up.

Leela then awakens in a hospital to see a disheveled, crying Fry at her bedside begging her to wake up. Fry explains that she has been in a coma since the queen bee's attack; the bee's stinger pierced cleanly through him, leaving Leela to absorb all the venom. After getting a new spleen at the hospital, he stayed by Leela's side for two weeks, talking to her and waiting for her to wake up. As the two embrace, they each whisper that the other could use a shower.

Tired of having to turn sideways every time he enters or leaves his bedroom or risk getting his clothes ripped, Chandler suggests he and Joey sell the entertainment center. Joey objects at first, because he built it himself — and the chick and duck are living in it. He eventually relents and they place an ad for the entertainment center in the newspaper for $50. Two guys come to look at the entertainment center - but unable to pay the $50, they want to trade it for a handmade canoe, which Joey and Chandler reject. While showing the entertainment center off to another buyer, Joey offers the fact that a grown man can fit inside as a selling point. The buyer does not believe him, so Joey crawls inside. The buyer then locks Joey in the unit and steals the rest of their furniture, including their beloved foosball table and recliners. Chandler is upset with Joey upon finding out what happened, so he calls the guys with the canoe back and they finally make their trade.

Monica runs into someone from high school at the bank — Rachel's senior prom date, Chip Matthews. They get to talking, and Chip fulfills an old high school fantasy of Monica's, simply by asking her out. Rachel is upset that Monica would consider dating Chip, because at their prom Chip disappeared for two hours to have sex with another girl. Monica points out that she was not as popular as Rachel in high school, and the "fat girl" inside of her would love to have a chance to date a popular guy, even if it is ten years late. Rachel relents, and agrees to let her go. Monica finally goes on her big date with Chip and is disappointed to learn he has not changed at all since high school. He still hangs out with all his old buddies, works at the same movie theater, and lives with his parents. Monica then dumps Chip, much to Rachel's delight.

Meanwhile, a cat crawls into Phoebe's guitar case. She tries to shoo it away... until she looks at the cat and becomes convinced that the spirit of her adoptive mother Lily resides in the cat, much to Ross's protests. Rachel later finds a flier for a missing cat named Julio — who looks exactly like the cat Phoebe thinks is her reincarnated mother. Ross makes the rest of the gang promise to tell Phoebe. But the gang finds she is so happy with her cat, so none of them can bring themselves to do it until an annoyed Ross finally tells her. Phoebe is upset that Ross will not at least respect her belief that Julio is her mother and support her as a friend, and Rachel suggests that to fix their friendship he apologize to Mrs. Buffay's spirit, which he does. Phoebe agrees to return the cat.

John Carruthers is an undercover US Marshal. He appears to be in town investigating a string of robberies committed by the Polka Dot Bandit, but when he is a little late in discovering one of the Bandit's thefts, Sheriff Jake thinks Carruthers is the thief. For some reason, instead of arresting him, Jake accompanies him on his journey; after all, as Carruthers says, "It's kind of lonesome trailing alone."

The two stumble upon a gang robbing a pack-mule train; they rescue Betty Mason, whose father has just been killed by the bandits. She and her father were bringing desperately needed provisions to town, but the bandits have successfully cut off any supplies, forcing the townspeople to consider fleeing their homes or starving to death.

It turns out that the local rich man, Malgrove, is behind the robberies. He knows there's a vein of gold underneath the homesteaders' property, and he offers out of the kindness of his heart to purchase their land for a pittance. When the grieving Betty overhears his plans, Malgrove and his henchmen kidnap her. Carruthers and Jake offer to make one last attempt to bring supplies in, and Malgrove and his henchmen make plans to murder them.

Jerry visits his uncle Grandy after finishing college and they decide to look after the ranch. Grandy informs Jerry of the arrival of his grand daughter Betty and they both look forward to her joining them. One day while fixing a horse's hoof they find gold embedded in the hoof. They go to the creek and strike it gold. They bring the gold to the local assayer Mr. Harris who along with his associate Mr. Cole has been stealing Grandy's cattle. They plot to deprive Grandy of his ranch.

Everyone wants to know where Grandy and Jerry are finding their gold but they cannot trace them. One day when Grandy is at the assayer selling his mined gold the assayer cheats him into a signing away his ranch - making him think Grandy is just signing a receipt. Then a few days later they track Grandy down, finding him alone and attempt to kill him. Grandy however is knocked off his horse, suffers a head wound and falls unconscious. Mr. Harris and Mr. Cole then double back to the ranch. , Meanwhile, Grandy's dog and mule find Jerry, he is prompted to find Grandy and they decide to keep his survival a secret. As they are talking, Mr. Harris and Mr. Cole arrive at the ranch and claim to own it.

Jerry goes to town on some legal business when Mr. Harris and Mr. Cole have him arrested for suspicion of murdering Grandy. Jerry is then held for a court summons. When Betty comes to visit him in jail, Jerry tells her to bring Grandy to court in disguise.

The next day Grandy shows up in court and identifies the crooked assayers as attempted murderers. The two jump out of the court house window and escape. Jerry, Grandy and the Sheriff pursue the duo. Jerry captures Cole and Grandy captures Mr. Harris. The movie ends with Betty and Jerry getting married.

San Francisco-based Dashiell Hammett, trying to put his Pinkerton detective days behind him while establishing himself as a writer, finds himself drawn back into his old life one last time by the irresistible call of friendship and to honor a debt. In 1928, Hammett, known to his librarian neighbor Kit and other acquaintances as "Sam" is holed up in a cheap apartment, hard at work at his typewriter each day. He drinks heavily, smokes too much and has coughing fits. One day, a friend and mentor from his Pinkerton days, Jimmy Ryan, turns up with a request, that Hammett help him track down a Chinese prostitute named Crystal Ling in the Chinatown district of San Francisco, an area Hammett is more familiar with than Ryan. Hammett is soon pulled into a multi-layered plot, losing the only copy of his manuscript, wondering how and why Ryan has vanished, being followed by a tough-talking gunsel, discovering a million-dollar blackmail scheme and being deceived by the diabolical Crystal, right up to a final confrontation near the San Francisco wharf.

Five contestants, Matt (Sean Cw Johnson), Emma (Laura Regan), Charlie (Jennifer Sky), Danny (Stephen O'Reilly) and Rex (Kris Lemche), agree to take part in a reality webcast, where they must spend six months in a house to win $1 million. If anyone leaves, then no one wins the money. Nearing the end of the six months, tension between the contestants rises after Emma finds strange messages she believes are from a man from her past and the food packages arrive containing a letter that claims Danny's grandfather has died, and a gun with five bullets.

One night, a man named Travis Patterson (Bradley Cooper) arrives, claiming he is lost in the woods and that his GPS has died. Despite claiming to be an internet programmer, he claims to not recognize any of the contestants or ever having heard of the show. Later that night, Travis has sex with Charlie, and then secretly talks directly into a camera, to communicate with whoever is watching them. The next morning, Travis leaves and Danny discovers his backpack outside covered in blood and shredded to pieces. The contestants assume he was attacked by an animal but Rex believes Travis works for the people running their show and that it is all a trick to make them leave the house and forfeit the prize money.

Emma discovers her underwear among Danny’s belongings and confronts him, unaware that Travis planted them there the previous night. Danny denies it and attempts to make peace by giving her a crudely carved wooden cat, which Emma and Charlie ridicule, while Danny overhears.

The next morning, the group finds Danny has committed suicide by hanging himself from the staircase balcony with a rope. The guests finally decide to leave, but after being unable to contact anyone via radio, decide to wait until the next morning. Rex uses the GPS unit from Travis' bag and his laptop to gain access to the internet to find out more about the show but is unable to find any evidence of their show online.

Rex is only able to find a heavily encrypted beta site, that requires a $50,000 fee to access, and displays a web page with their pictures and betting odds. The group decides they will leave the next morning, though Rex and Emma go up to the roof to set off a flare. While Charlie and Matt remain in the house, Matt asks a camera if he should kill her, before suffocating her with a plastic bag.

Later, while Emma is sleeping, Rex comes downstairs and is decapitated with an axe by Matt. Matt awakens Emma and brings her up to the attic, telling her he is being chased and the others are dead. He then makes advances on Emma, who refuses, and attempts to rape her, before she stabs him in the back and runs off.

Emma runs outside and finds a police officer, who handcuffs her inside the car and enters the house. An injured Matt then crawls out, begging the cop to let him kill Emma, since he spent six months in the house with her. Realizing they are working together, Emma escapes the car and tries to run but is shot in the back with a rifle by the cop.

Matt and the cop sit in the kitchen discussing the setup they created with Travis for their high paying clients who want to witness the murders. When the cop says there are always "five suckers" to play the game with, Matt corrects him to four, and is then shot in the head. The cop then leaves, talking to Travis over the radio, while Emma is seen locked in a small room, unable to escape. As she collapses screaming, the cameras filming all shut off, one by one.

Harold McMurphy (Piven) is a single, 30-year-old, Hollywood-obsessed tour bus driver in Beverly Hills who works for his father's struggling tour company. He dreams of finding a perfect woman that will love him for who he is, despite his father's insistence that he lower his standards.

When two women from a tour ask Harold where they can see Hollywood stars, he directs them to a trendy Hollywood cafe where his best friend, Danny (Jeffrey D. Sams), is a bartender. Harold goes to meet them and overhears a conversation in which a man hits on a woman by telling her that he is a writer represented by Arthur Blake (Shawn). Harold then spots up-and-coming actress Amanda Clark (Fenn) arguing with her agent, Sidney Stone (Williams). Danny encourages Harold to ask Amanda for an autograph. She greets him warmly and asks what he does. He lies and tells her that he is a writer represented by Arthur Blake. Amanda asks for his feedback on a screenplay for a movie she is cast in.

Danny encourages Harold to pursue Amanda romantically, even though she has a movie-star boyfriend, Rich Adams (Costas Mandylor). Harold meets with Amanda to discuss the script and is the only person who sees the same problems with the screenplay that she sees. Amanda takes Harold to a party filled with stars and elites so they can confront Sidney with Harold's opinion of the script. After Sidney dismisses them both, Amanda catches Rich with another woman.

Rich and Sidney set out to stop Harold's budding relationship with Amanda before it embarrasses them both. Meanwhile, Harold's father decides to set him up with an "interesting-looking" psychic named Lulu (Yeardley Smith).

After escaping from Lulu, Harold takes Amanda on a date to a local fair. At the end of their date, Amanda tells Harold that she's arranged for him to rewrite the screenplay, telling Harold that Sidney will call Arther Blake the next day to finalize the details and set the pay. Harold tries to tell Amanda the truth about himself, but can't bring himself to. The next morning, Harold sneaks into Arthur Blake's office and explains the whole situation. Arthur Blake advises Harold to "just write". Despite knowing nothing about writing, Harold buys a stack of books on screenwriting and dedicates himself to rewriting the screenplay. His father convinces him that the key to being a great writer is to be a great drinker, and encourages him to go find a bar and get drunk.

Meanwhile, Amanda realizes she's falling for Harold and begins digging for information about him. Nobody knows anything about him. She calls the tour company looking for him. Harold's father answers, thinking he's talking to Lulu, and tells her to forget about Harold because he's only interested in Hollywood floozies.

Amanda then finds Harold at the bar where they first met, drunk and surrounded by giggling women. She confronts Harold about his obsession with floozies and ends their relationship. He tries, again, to tell her the truth, but she drives away before he can finish explaining it. Dejected, Harold goes back home and finishes rewriting the script. Assuming that his screenwriting career is over before it began, Harold goes back to driving the tour bus.

Harold's father finds out that Amanda accused him of being obsessed with floozies and realizes that he is the reason they broke up. He goes to Amanda's home to explain the mix-up and fix her relationship with Harold.

While driving the tour bus, Harold sees Rich with a bouquet of flowers and realizes that he is on his way to see Amanda. Harold races with Rich to get to Amanda's house first so he can finally explain why he lied about being a writer. Harold arrives at Amanda's house and she tells him that his father already explained everything. She also tells him that she loved the script, except for one thing. She asks if he's ever been in love, because the hero in the movie doesn't respond like a man in love. Then they kiss, serenaded by applause by customers on the tour bus.

One day, Benio has a series of embarrassing encounters with the handsome army lieutenant Shinobu Ijuin (voiced by: Katsuji Mori).

Benio encounters Shinobu again when she arrives home that day, and promptly attacks him with her kendo stick, only to receive a shock when her father (voiced by: Ichiro Nagai) tells her that Shinobu is to be her husband, due to a pact made between the Hanamura and Ijuin families before Benio's birth.

Since Benio's friend Tamaki is in love with Shinobu, Benio also wants out of the engagement to avoid hurting Tamaki.

Moved by this unexpected show of kindness, Benio decides to forget Shinobu and accept Tosei's proposal of marriage.

Lalissa is fatally injured in the quake trying to save Shinobu, and as she lies dying, she tells Shinobu to marry Benio and be happy.

Tosei tries to save Benio, but Benio refuses, preferring to die alongside her beloved rather than face life without him; thus, Tosei rescues both Benio and Shinobu.

In the end, Tosei comes to terms with his feelings about his mother and rededicates himself to his business; Onijima returns to Manchuria, and Tamaki decides to obey her heart and follow him; and Benio and Shinobu are wed at last.

A publisher, Glenn Howard (Gene Barry), while driving and dictating a memo to the President regarding the saving the environment, finds himself suddenly plunged 46 years into the future only to learn that the people of Los Angeles are living underground to escape the pollution which has made living on the surface no longer possible. A fascist America is run like a corporation with a number of vice-presidents. The police department of the subterranean Los Angeles is led/managed by psychiatrists. His identity is discovered and he's asked to join the government by re-starting his publication as propaganda. He considers, then refuses when he discovers that the corporations are still emitting pollutants into the air, further destroying the atmosphere.

At the end, Howard wakes up to discover it was all a dream—apparently he passed out in his car from carbon monoxide inhalation from the dash vents. A police officer had just administered oxygen and after he came to, was asked if he was okay and able to drive. He replied in the affirmative, starting his Chrysler 300 which spews exhaust out the tailpipe. As he drives away there is a chilling final image of a dead bird that hints at a troubled future ahead.

As Christmas break approaches, the dormitories at Billingsley University are restless with sex-crazed students. Although eager to relinquish his burdensome virginity, Booker has thus far failed in this endeavor. His charitable older brother, Styles, does the sensible thing and hires a prostitute to usher Booker into the realm of manhood. Unfortunately, some misunderstandings complicate this procedure, prompting sophomoric shenanigans.

Adolescent Ninah lives in a strict fundamentalist Christian community (The Church of Fire and Brimstone and God's Almighty Baptizing Wind) led by her grandfather Herman. The community is governed by a series of strict rules covering everything from drinking to speaking to people outside of the community, with punishments ranging from sleeping on stinging nettles to spending a night in a grave.

Despite the rules, Ninah cannot stop herself from falling in love with James, a boy a year older who is also her nephew by marriage. The community allows Ninah and James to become "prayer partners" in order that they can spend time with one another in the hopes of a future marriage. James and Ninah pray for Jesus to speak through them in order to help them defeat their attraction for one another, but eventually, their physical attraction is too strong, and Ninah becomes pregnant. James, fearing punishment from the community, commits suicide. Ninah insists that Jesus, rather than James, is the father of the baby.

During her pregnancy, Ninah mulls over her feelings toward God and decides that her experience of God's love is closer to her feelings toward James than to the attitude of her church. However, when the baby is born with its palms attached in an attitude of prayer, the entire community is convinced that baby Canaan is the new Messiah.

The novel begins when Trudi Montag, protagonist, is born to Gertrude Montag, a mentally-tormented woman, and to Leo Montag, a newly-returned veteran of the First World War who runs a pay-library in the fictional river-side town of Burgdorf on July 23, 1915. Until Trudi is four years of age, Gertrude rejects Trudi as her daughter because Trudi is a zwerg, or a dwarf. After a miscarriage and due to increasing levels of insanity, Leo admits Gertrude to an asylum where she catches pneumonia and dies.

At age 5, Trudi begins to hang from doorframes, hoping to grow. She also becomes friends with a boy, George Weiler, whose mother dresses him in girls' clothing; their friendship is short-lived.

At ages 6 through 8, Trudi goes to school and faces severe social ostracization from both her classmates and her nun-teachers. Despite this, she excels in school and develops an aptitude for history. Her father buys her a dog, called Seehund, to provide her with a close companion in the absence of a sibling. Seehund attracts the attention of a classmate, Eva Rosend, and she and Trudi become friends in secret, bonding over their mutual deformities: Trudi's dwarfism and Eva's large port-wine stain. When Eva denounces Trudi, Trudi tells a townsperson of Eva's birth defect; this begins a pattern for Trudi. Having learned the power of secrets, she begins cultivating them in the townspeople and spreading them like seeds for her own benefit and, on occasion, revenge.

At age 13, Trudi attends a carnival. One of the carnival entertainers is Pia, a well-dressed and proud dwarf woman. Exhilarated and feeling as though she is not alone, Trudi has a private discussion with Pia in her fabulous trailer and garners a sense of pride, wonderment, and identity for herself. As a result, Trudi learns to sew her own clothes and Leo, her father, adjusts the household furniture to fit her body. Not much later, four boys, including George Weiler, take and molest Trudi in a barn. When she escapes, Trudi goes to the river and calls out the names of her assailants one by one as she throws stones in to the river.

In the following years, Trudi slowly recovers from the assault and gets revenge by spreading reputation-hurting lies about her assailants.

In 1933, Hitler is named Chancellor and the Nazis come to power. The ever-present anti-Semitism in Burgdorf town begins taking solid forms as the Christian townsfolk begin boycotting Jewish-owned businesses, holding anti-Semitic marches, and targeting their Jewish neighbors through social neglect and severe physical violence. Book burnings begin as some authors are labelled as indecent. Trudi and her father hide these outlawed books in their pay-library.

From 1934 to 1938, as violence against Jews increases, Trudi and her father begin to seriously consider how they can help their Jewish neighbors in their hour of need. More and more youths join Nazi youth groups such as Hitler-Jugend and Bund Deutscher Mädchen. Complicity, silence, and fear inform the opinions of none-Nazi townsfolk.

In 1942, when Trudi is 27, she and her father begin to smuggle Jews into the basement of their homestead and pay-library with the help of some trustworthy neighbors and a tunnel they dug between their two houses. Eva, Trudi's childhood friend, is arrested by the gestapo and never seen again for the crime of being Jewish.

At a piano concert, Trudi makes a quiet comment about the over-use of the Nazi flag and is arrested shortly thereafter. After three weeks in prison, a guard interrogates Trudi and, after she tells him a story about a man with his heart outside of his chest, he lets her go with a warning.

Around this time, Trudi begins answering dating advertisements with a fabricated persona as a form of self-punishment for and an exploration of her otherness. From there, Trudi shows up at the agreed-upon locations and watches as the men look straight through her in search of their dates. Once, however, she becomes intrigued by the man she watches and, in a dash of anger, speaks to him; his name is Max Rudnik. Months of gentle but consistent interest from Max, an anti-Nazi water colorist and schoolteacher, results in Trudi agreeing to be with him romantically and sexually. In this way, Trudi learns to love herself because of her otherness instead of despite it; this revolutionizes her relationships with herself and others in ways she never imagined possible after a lifetime of ostracization. Max and Trudi confess their love for one another and share moments of happiness amidst the horrors of World War II Germany. When Max goes to Dresden, he dies there in a bombing. Heartbroken, Trudi struggles to ever accept that Max died, instead telling herself stories of him falling in love and running away with another woman.

By 1945, the war has ended. Former Nazi townspeople deny their affiliation with the Nazi Party. Growth and progress replace the destruction of the war day by day, though dishonesty still reigns in Burgdorf.

In 1949, Trudi takes to loving Hanna, the child of other townspeople. When her affection for Hanna borders on parent-like, she ruminates on her grief over Max, wondering if they might have ever had children; on account of this reemergent pain, Trudi distances herself from Hanna.

Leo becomes old and frail, dying the day after his 67th birthday. The novel ends as grief-stricken Trudi walks along the riverside, contemplating her life, and ultimately experiencing the love of the people around her in a way as never before.

Dolores Price is heartbroken when her father leaves her mother, Bernice, and their suburban home for another woman. Dolores and her mother must subsequently move into her overbearing grandmother's house in Easterly, Rhode Island. Here she attends a Catholic high school, and finds herself lonely and unable to fit into the established social hierarchy. After being raped by a neighbor who preys on her vulnerable state, Dolores turns to food and television for comfort.

Following the accidental death of her mother, Dolores decides to attend the academically underwhelming Merton College in Pennsylvania. There Dolores is ridiculed for her weight and cultivates a secret obsession with her roommate's long-distance boyfriend, Dante, who sends love letters and nude photos in the mail. After an ill-conceived one-night stand with Dottie, the university's lesbian custodian, she takes a long cab ride to Cape Cod, where she witnesses a beached whale dying. She feels kinship with the animal and wades into the water to drown herself.

After her suicide attempt, Dolores is institutionalized for seven years in Newport, Rhode Island at Gracewood. Here she begins to work through her issues with the help of her therapist. She loses over 100 pounds, but becomes frustrated with the slow-moving therapy. She decides to move to Vermont upon release from the institution, having located Dante, the former object of her infatuation, there.

Dolores gets a job at a local grocery store and moves into an apartment across the hallway from Dante. He is working as a high school English teacher, but is frustrated with the stagnation in his life after having given up his childhood dream of becoming a priest. The two begin a relationship, and eventually marry. However, Dante continues to dominate Dolores and has affairs with his female students. When Dolores becomes pregnant (something she dearly wanted), Dante pressures her into getting an abortion. After the loss of her baby, Dolores becomes resentful of the control Dante exerts over her life. After her grandmother, Thelma, dies, she admits to Dante that she orchestrated their entire relationship after becoming infatuated with him through his photos. They divorce and Dolores leaves. She moves into her late grandmother's house, which she has inherited.

At her grandmother's funeral, Dolores is able to reconnect with several friends from her past, who form a surrogate family for her in Easterly. They encourage her to pursue her dreams, and she enrolls in some college courses while working. Here she meets Thayer, a single father, who is immediately smitten with her despite her troubled past. Initially Dolores rebuffs his advances, but is charmed when he sends his teenage son to recite a rap about how much he likes her. They begin a tentative romance, predicated on Dolores's desire to have a child. Dolores realizes that for the first time, she has a partner in her life whom she can trust and who will treat her as an equal. Thayer supports her as she receives IVF treatment, but they do not have enough money for a second attempt after the first one fails.

By now, Dolores is in her late 30s and is depressed by the idea that she will never be a mother. Thayer, now her husband, takes her on a whale watching vacation to help her feel better. While on the boat, Dolores muses about her past and future. Dolores decides that her life, as it is now, is wonderful and is enough. The novel ends with her being the only one to see a whale breach the ocean, symbolizing her newfound peace.

This novel opens with Novalee and Willy Jack, her then boyfriend, traveling from Tennessee to California, where Willy Jack claims he was promised by his cousin, J. Paul, a job working at a train yard. Novalee is 17, 7 months pregnant, and superstitious about 7’s. At the age of 7, her mother ran off with a baseball umpire named Fred, her best friend in seventh grade was arrested, and a crazy customer at her cafe job cut her from wrist to elbow, which "took seventy-seven stitches to close her up." Meanwhile, Willy Jack is hiding from Novalee his plan to lose a finger at the trainyard so that he can win a cash settlement, like his cousin did, and not have to work again.

Novalee makes Willy Jack place his hand on her stomach so that he can feel the baby's heartbeat - Willy Jack insists he feels nothing, and continues to treat Novalee and her pregnancy with annoyed indifference. Novalee convinces Willy Jack to stop at a Walmart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, so she can use the restroom and purchase a pair of sandals, as hers fell through the floor of their beat-up car. When Novalee comes out of the Walmart, she realizes Willy Jack has left her with nothing more than her beach bag and the $7.77 she has in change from the purchase of new sandals.

With nowhere else to go, Novalee spends the afternoon at the Walmart and meets Sister Thelma Husband, a kind, spunky, and deeply religious older woman who runs the town's Welcome Wagon, and hands out chapters of the Bible to people she meets. Sister Husband initially "mistakes" Novalee for a girl named Ruth Ann Mott, gives Novalee a Welcome Wagon basket, and invites her to come visit her whenever she likes. Novalee also meets Moses Whitecotton, a photographer who shoots portraits at the Walmart. Moses tells Novalee to give her baby a name "that will mean something" and "withstand a lot of bad times," and gives her a photo album. In addition, she also meets Benny Goodluck, a Native American boy who gives Novalee a buckeye tree for good luck. When the Walmart closes, Novalee initially panics as she is trapped inside of the store, but as it provides her with temporary shelter, takes refuge there.

Meanwhile, Willy Jack continues on his way to California, but quickly runs out of money and gas. He stops at a local dive bar and meets Jolene, the bar owner's teenage daughter. Willy Jack convinces Jolene that he's a musician on his way to Las Vegas who had his wallet and license stolen - she agrees to use her own money to fix up his car, on the condition that he takes her to Vegas with him. Upon their departure, they're almost immediately pulled over by the police, who suspect Willy Jack of being responsible for a theft at a nearby convenience store. The police find fourteen cartons of stolen cigarettes in the trunk of his car. When Willy Jack protests, Jolene, who had committed the theft but is friendly with the police, further accuses him to cover herself. He is subsequently arrested and sent to jail.

As Novalee continues to live in Walmart, she watches as the buckeye tree becomes sick. She takes a walk to the library where she meets Forney Hull, who helps her find books about the buckeye. Forney is from a well-bred family but had to drop out of college to take care of his alcoholic sister, the librarian. Forney comes off as eccentric and standoffish, but agrees to help Novalee as she shows a burgeoning fascination for books and learning. Novalee learns what she needs in order to save her buckeye tree, and takes a walk to Sister Husband's home to ask permission to plant her buckeye on her property, to which Sister agrees.

As the weeks pass, Novalee becomes good friends with Forney, Sister Husband, and Sister's companion Mr. Sprock. Forney, who is beginning to fall in love with Novalee, throws her an intimate 18th birthday party in the library, consisting of gourmet dishes he's cooked himself. The celebration is cut short when Forney's alcoholic sister Mary Elizabeth takes a fall upstairs and Forney is forced to come to her aid.

Two months after she'd been abandoned, Novalee goes into labor in the middle of the night inside of the closed Walmart. She tries to choose a name for her baby before it comes, but the pain of her labor quickly overtakes her. Forney, who had become only recently aware that she had been living in the store, breaks a window and helps her give birth. After she delivers a baby girl, she recalls Moses Whitecotton's advice on picking a strong name for her child, and names her Americus.

At the hospital, she befriends her nurse Lexi Coop who has four children with three different fathers. Novalee soon finds out that she and her baby are famous and in the news, and begins receiving letters and money from strangers in the mail. Sam Walton, the patriarch of the Walton family and owner of the Walmart corporation, comes in to visit Novalee and offer her a job at the store where she gave birth, which Novalee accepts after some hesitation about people's reactions to her. Novalee's mother, Momma Nell, finds out from the television report what had happened and which hospital Novalee is convalescing in, and arrives to offer her support. Novalee is hesitantly grateful to accept the help and hands over the money she'd received from supportive strangers so that her mother can buy what they need for the baby. But the next morning, when Momma Nell doesn't return, Novalee fully accepts that her mother is never coming back.

Sister Husband eventually collects Novalee and Americus after they're discharged and moves them into the trailer in which she lives. After some adjusting, Novalee start work in the Walmart where she used to live, and is relieved that gossip about her is short-lived. Sister eventually becomes a mother figure to Novalee and her daughter and Novalee's relationships with Moses Whitecotton, Lexi Coop, and Forney Hull are deepened as she becomes a staple figure in Sequoyah. Lexi serves as the first real girlfriend that Novalee has ever had and provides advice and support, while Moses mentors Novalee in photography, and Forney brings her books to support her growing love of learning. The community is brought together to rally around Novalee when, at seven months old, Americus is abducted by a couple who baptize her. Americus is safely returned and the couple is arrested by the police.

Meanwhile in prison, Willy Jack suffers at the hands of inmates and guards alike. After suffering a blow to his chest, his heart stops in the middle of the night - while he struggles to restart it, he hears Novalee's voice guiding him to the heartbeat of their unborn baby. He recovers from the ordeal, but is often thereafter plagued by Novalee's voice, especially when he sleeps. He later manages to charm Claire Hudson, the solemn prison librarian mourning her dead son Finny, and uses her grief to his advantage. She eventually gives him Finny's guitar, a Martin. He teaches himself to play and soon writes a song, "The Beat of a Heart."

Three years later, Novalee continues to study photography alongside Moses Whitecotton, and soon begins to take classes in photography at the local college. She maintains strong friendships with Lexi Coop and Forney Hull, who has taken a sort of fatherly role with Americus as a teacher and mentor. Americus thrives under the care of Novalee, Sister, and Forney, and develops into a precocious child with a deep love of learning. Lexi teases Novalee gently about her relationship with Forney, which Novalee insists is platonic, but Lexi is keenly aware that this isn't the case.

During the summer, a massive storm brews in Oklahoma, sending residents scrambling for shelter. Novalee and Americus manage to make it to their storm shelter in time, but Sister Husband, who was visiting a neighbor, is trapped in the trailer by the ensuing tornado. The trailer is destroyed, and to Novalee's tremendous grief, Sister passes away from her injuries several days later in the hospital. The damage from the tornado includes the Walmart, which is leveled to the ground. During her bereavement, Novalee and Americus move in temporarily with Moses and his wife, Certain, as Novalee struggles with the choice of whether to stay in Sequoyah with her family, or to move fifty miles away to Poteau, where the decimated Walmart is being rebuilt in order to keep her job and health insurance. To her great surprise, Novalee learns that Sister left her all of her possessions, property insurance, and life insurance. She decides to remain in Sequoyah and commute to Poteau, and with the insurance money she receives, is able to build a house right where Sister's trailer used to be, and where her buckeye tree is miraculously still standing.

Willy Jack is released from prison after a three-year sentence, during which time he became a talented musician. With Claire Hudson's money and help, he makes his way to Nashville to find an agent, but is quickly dismissed from every reputable agency. He eventually becomes desperate as his money runs out, but finds representation from Ruth Meyers, a no-nonsense agent who agrees to take him on under the condition that he never lie to her. She uses every resource at her disposal to clean up Willy Jack, and gives him the alias "Billy Shadow." Billy Shadow's star rises slowly and steadily, but his only real success is in "The Beat of a Heart," which becomes a hit after it's recorded by another musician. Willy Jack quickly grows frustrated at what he feels is Ruth Meyer's lack of clout, and tries to go behind her back to find a better agent. But Ruth, who has far more clout and connections than Willy Jack realizes, soon finds out about the plot, disbands his group, cancels his cards and gigs, and effectively ends his career.

Novalee continues to struggle with her feelings for Forney, who has become a daily positive presence in her and Americus' life. Lexi, who is pregnant with her fifth child, points out that Forney has been in love with Novalee for years, but Novalee firmly believes that Forney, who is well-educated and born from wealth, deserves someone better than her. Lexi eventually gives birth to her fifth child, and soon after begins dating a handsome and charming banker named Roger Briscoe. The relationship is short-lived after Roger beats Lexi to within an inch of her life after Lexi discovers him sexually assaulting Brownie (Brummett), her oldest son. Brownie calls Novalee for help, and she rushes to the apartment to discover Lexi beaten and bruised on the bed. As Lexi recovers in the hospital, Novalee moves the Coop family into her tiny house, and cares for the children with the help of her neighbors and Mr. Sprock. Lexi is soon released, but she and Brownie become distant and withdrawn as a result of their trauma, and Lexi's guilt over allowing Roger to target her children.

Forney's sister Mary Elizabeth soon dies in a fire that burns down Hull Manor and the library. Novalee goes to visit him and offer her support, and they end up making love before Forney leaves for Maine to bury his sister. After Forney leaves, Novalee fully accepts that she loves him, but shows trepidation when Lexi congratulates her. Novalee's doubts about her self-worth manifest when Forney returns home to the news that the rebuilt library will be headed by someone else, leaving him without a home or job. Faced with the prospect of Forney working at a plastics plant, a job Novalee believes is beneath him, she deliberately breaks his heart by telling him she doesn't love him, so that he no longer has any ties to Oklahoma. Forney, heartbroken, leaves Oklahoma and Novalee behind.

Over the following few months, Forney sends letters intermittently to Americus, who is equally heartbroken with his departure, with little to no mention of Novalee beyond cursory formalities. Novalee struggles to get over Forney and her guilt at sending him away, justifying her decision with the fact that Forney has more opportunities at a better life without her. Lexi berates Novalee for undervaluing herself, and Novalee makes a single attempt to reconnect with him after she finds the bookstore in Chicago where he now works, but cannot bring herself to tell him the truth. Lexi, meanwhile, befriends a coworker, Leon Yoder after she recovers enough to return to her job. Though she is initially adamant that she does not want a relationship because of her previous experience, he demonstrates tremendous kindness to her and her children. After Lexi learns the story of how one of his two children isn't, in fact, his, but a child he saved from his ex-girlfriend, the mother of his biological child, Lexi falls in love with him and they eventually marry, with Novalee photographing their wedding day.

Willy Jack manages to make his way to California after losing his career and spiraling heavily into drugs and alcohol. After failing to get any money from his cousin in Bakersfield, he pawns the Martin, his last possession, in a desperate bid for money. The deal falls through, and Willy Jack is left without his guitar or a penny to his name. He finally drunkenly ditches his current girlfriend and staggers into a nearby trainyard where he falls down across the tracks. Both of his legs are severed at the knee by an oncoming train he failed to notice in his stupor. The last thing he remembers is Novalee's voice.

Americus turns seven years old, and Novalee remains superstitious about sevens and vigilant about what she senses coming. She soon catches, by chance, Willy Jack's name in the newspaper not long after her daughter's birthday, which reported that his wheelchair had been stolen while he was hitchhiking to Oklahoma to find his child. Novalee makes arrangements for her daughter, and makes her way to Alva, where Willy Jack is convalescing. She confronts Willy Jack in his hospital room and demands to know why he was trying to find her. Willy Jack confesses to Novalee that he did feel the baby's heartbeat the last day that they were together, and that he periodically called her home from time to time to hear Americus's voice. When Novalee asks him why he lied about the baby's heartbeat, Willy Jack, in a rare moment of self-reflection, tells her that he doesn't have a good reason to lie, but does it anyway, and out of all the lies he's ever told, that one was the only one to cause him guilt. He remarks that people sometimes tell a lie so big that it eats away a part of them, and that, if given a second chance, most people would do anything to set that lie straight. Novalee realizes that the lie she has told that has changed her life is telling Forney that she didn't love him. Once Willy Jack is released, Novalee makes plans to take him back home to Tennessee, but first, she finally calls Forney and tearfully confesses to him that she lied about loving him and that she thought he deserved someone better. Forney assures her that there is nothing better than she is.

Willy Jack is loaded up into Novalee's car as she prepares to take him home, but she decides to wait out a sudden storm before heading underway. While she waits out the rain, she reflects on her life and the connections she'd made since being abandoned at the Walmart, and the home and happiness she'd created in the seven years since.

On an icy winter night in an isolated house in rural Vermont, a seasoned midwife named Sibyl Danforth takes desperate measures to save a baby's life. She performs an emergency cesarean section on a mother she believes has died of a stroke. But what if Sibyl's patient wasn't dead—and Sibyl inadvertently killed her? Midwives tells the story of Sibyl Danforth from the point of view of her young daughter.

For eighteen years, Fran Benedetto kept her secret. And hid her bruises. And stayed with Bobby because she wanted her son to have a father. And because, in spite of everything, she loved him. Then one night, when she saw the look on her ten-year-old son's face, Fran finally made a choice and ran for both their lives...

Now she is starting over in a city far from home, far from Bobby. And in this place she uses a name that isn't hers, and cradles her son in her arms, and tries to forget. For the woman who now calls herself Beth, every day is a chance to heal, to put together the pieces of her shattered self.

And despite the flawlessness of her escape, Fran Benedetto is certain of one thing: It is only a matter of time...

The book is concerned with how one seemingly inconsequential moment can alter lives forever. Alice Goodwin, mother of two, school nurse and wife of an aspiring dairy farmer in Wisconsin, is getting ready to take her two daughters and her best friend Theresa's two little girls to their farm pond to swim. When she goes upstairs to find her bathing suit, Lizzy, Theresa's 2-year-old, slips away to the pond and drowns. Alice is consumed with guilt while her husband Howard silently distracts himself with the hard work of running their farm. Although Alice had never been entirely comfortable living in their small town, and the townspeople had never been fully accepting of Alice and Howard, who were viewed as hippies trying their hand at farming, she and Howard found their farm to be a comforting refuge. With the drowning, however, the townspeople sharpen their disapproval of Alice which then encourages a woman, whom Alice reprimanded for constantly bringing her sick son to school, to accuse Alice of molesting her child. Several other mothers then also come forward with tales of Alice's "abuse."

Alice's and Howard’s lives are shattered. Alice is imprisoned with a group of younger women whose life circumstances seem vastly different from hers, but for whom Alice develops a respect for their unvarnished honesty. While Alice is in the Racine County Jail, Howard tries to cope with running their farm, visiting Alice in jail, and caring for their girls, but becomes despondent and overwhelmed. He is saved when Theresa, who is still grief-stricken, but has forgiven Alice, offers her help with caring for the girls. Theresa and Howard become close causing both of them to feel gratitude and remorse; they end the relationship before they become romantically involved.

The book is narrated in three parts: Alice narrates the first part looking back a year later to describe their lives immediately before and after Lizzy’s death; Howard narrates the second part describing his struggles while Alice is in jail, and Alice again narrates the third part describing her release on bail and the subsequent trial. In speaking, Alice has a habit of making off-beat, eccentric observations, which Howard finds annoying, but which also lends her narration an air of tragicomedy. Howard describes his increasing desperation that leads him to bond with Theresa, but then to sell their beloved farm to raise funds for Alice’s release on bail. Alice’s trial for molestation highlights the workings of the legal system and especially the hysteria that can arise from accusations of mass child molestations. While Alice is ultimately acquitted, she and Howard know that their lives can never be fully mended. The power of forgiveness is one of the central themes throughout the book. Alice is unable to forgive herself after Lizzy’s drowning even while Theresa finds it in her heart and faith to forgive Alice.

An investigative reporter looks into the murder of a call girl. His investigation unearths her diary, which has the names of many prominent people inscribed within its pages. He sets out to find her killer from among the names contained in the diary.

The novel is about Kathryn Lyons, whose husband, Jack Lyons, dies in a plane crash over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Malin Head, Ireland. As she and her daughter Mattie try to cope with this sudden loss, she finds herself bombarded by the press. While she and the airlines try to find the reason for the crash, she slowly unravels a series of secrets her husband has kept from her until she realizes that he lived a double life she never knew about.

Sam Forstmann is an old man who spends all of his time working on his grandfather clock, upsetting his pregnant granddaughter and her husband, with whom he resides. They press him into speaking with a psychiatrist friend of theirs. Sam confides in the psychiatrist that his father bought the clock on the day he was born, and that he will die if it stops ticking. The psychiatrist thinks this belief is merely a subconscious rationalization of Sam's obsession with the clock and advises him to sell it. In an effort to appease his family, Sam puts the clock up for sale. However, when a neighbor expresses interest in it, he offers to let her have it with payment indefinitely deferred and come by every two days to maintain it.

Two weeks after he sells the clock, the new owners go on vacation for the weekend, so Sam cannot wind the clock. Desperate, he tries breaking into the house, but a passing policeman is alerted by the sound of the window shattering and takes him back home. There he lies weakly in bed and resigns himself to death. The clock stops, and his "spirit" appears, informing him "It's time to go." He chooses to stop believing in the clock's power, declaring instead that he wants to live to see his great-grandchild grow up. He, therefore, continues to live (and the "spirit" vanishes).

The next morning, he tells his expectant granddaughter, "When that clock died, I was born again."

Amanda and Mathilda are two sisters who live in rural Wisconsin. While Mathilda is petite, well-liked, pretty, and adventurous, Amanda is tall, clumsy, awkward, and serious. When Mathilda marries Carl, Amanda feels betrayed and leaves to go to nursing school. Meanwhile, Mathilda and Carl are married and living together on a small island near the family farm. They are happy there, and welcome their child, Ruth, into the world. A short time later, however, Carl begins to feel trapped, enlists in the army and is sent away to France. Mathilda is devastated and angry at his departure and decides to move back to the mainland and into the old house of her late parents.

Amanda begins to feel agitated and upset. She's also frequently ill and has become a nervous wreck. Amanda is persuaded to take a rest from her nursing job, and travels back to the family farm to stay with her sister and niece. The three grow close, and Amanda begins to see Ruth as their child, becoming very protective of her. After living in the farm house for a while, Amanda persuades Mathilda to move back to the island. Hesitant at first, Mathilda soon agrees, and the three of them go to the island.

During the summer, it becomes apparent that Amanda is pregnant and desperate to hide the pregnancy. Mathilda agrees to adopt the child as her own and make up a story about the baby being an orphan from a "hired girl." While Amanda is pleased with this arrangement, she has to hide her pregnancy, so she cannot leave the island until after the baby is born.

Mathilda delivers Amanda's baby girl in the house while Ruth is under the bed. Sometime in the night, Amanda changes her mind about Mathilda raising the baby and tries to leave the island by walking across the ice with the child. Ruth, who is roughly four at the time, follows Amanda out onto the ice. Mathilda runs out after them. Out on the ice, they walk over a thin patch and the ice starts to break. Ruth and Mathilda go under, while Amanda desperately tries to save them. Mathilda pushes Ruth to the surface to save her, but falls back in herself. Amanda tries desperately to pull her out, but can't do it without falling in, so Mathilda bites her sister's finger to force her to let go and leave her to drown in the freezing water. Ruth is half dead and frozen on the ice with the baby, but she is revived.

Amanda takes the baby to a woman in town who has recently had a stillborn child. She tells the woman that a hired girl had the baby and then died during childbirth. She also tells her that the baby's name is Imogene. The woman is so taken with the child, and so amazed at the situation that she doesn't notice that both Ruth and Amanda are frozen and wearing nightgowns. She also doesn't notice the blood on Amanda.

Soon after Mathilda's death, Carl returns home from the war with serious injuries, and is nursed back to health by Amanda. Ruth, traumatized, is behaving oddly and very leery of her father, whom she barely knows. The three of them live together without incident, but after a while, Carl starts to suspect that there might be more to the story of his wife's death than he has been told. As far as he knows, his wife wandered out into the night all alone and disappeared, later to be found under the ice.

Amanda begins to experience severe anxiety again. She is institutionalized in a mental hospital, and Carl is left to take care of Ruth on his own. Worried that he doesn't know enough about children, he asks his cousin Hilda to come to the farm and care for Ruth. Ruth dislikes the strict and humorless Hilda almost instantly. Hilda sees Ruth as a problem child, and seems almost to enjoy punishing her.

Later on, when they are young adults, Ruth and Imogene become friends.

Half-orphan Yasuko, who lives with her uncle Shigematsu and his wife Shigeko in Hiroshima, is in the middle of moving family belongings to the house of an acquaintance in the vicinity, when the atomic bomb is dropped. She returns to the city by boat and gets into a black rain, a fallout resulting from the bombing. After Yasuko is re-united with her uncle and aunt, the trio heads for the factory where her uncle works to escape the spreading fires. Their route is marked by ruins, scattered corpses, and severely burnt survivors.

5 years later, Yasuko lives with her uncle, aunt and her uncle's mother in Fukuyama. As she has long reached the age when a woman should get married by tradition, Shigematsu and Shigeko try to find a husband for her. Yet all prospects' families withdraw their proposal when they hear of Yasuko's presence in Hiroshima on the day of the bombing, fearing that she might become ill or be unable to give birth to healthy children. Yasuko eventually accepts her situation and decides to stay with her uncle's family, even when her father, who re-married, offers her to live in his house.

Shigematsu witnesses his friends, all hibakusha suffering from radiation sickness, die one after another, while also his, his wife's and niece's health is slowly deteriorating. Yasuko starts feeling close to Yuichi, a young man from the neighbourhood who is suffering from a war trauma. When Yuichi's mother asks for Shigematsu's approval of her son marrying Yasuko, he is indignant at first because of Yuichi's mental illness, but later agrees. Shortly after, Yasuko, already suffering from a tumor, starts losing her hair and is sent to the hospital. Shigematsu watches the departing ambulance, hoping for a rainbow to appear which would indicate that she will recover.

Throughout the Japanese film Black Rain, the story of the consequences of the bombing of Hiroshima are portrayed in graphic detail. Journals and first hand accounts of the victims of the Hiroshima atomic bombing can be used to better support the story and imagery used in Black Rain. These first hand accounts are from some of the survivors still alive today who are trying to shed light on how terrible nuclear weapons can be for innocent civilians. One of these victims recollected that he “was three years old at the time of the bombing. remember much, but recall that surroundings turned blindingly white…Then, pitch darkness. was buried alive under the house. face was misshapen. was certain that was dead.” In Black Rain, there was a scene similar to this where bodies were engulfed by a blinding light followed by the insurmountable suffering of the masses. There is another story of a woman’s father who was in the blast and suffered from many of the same long term effects of the bomb shown in Black Rain. In both the account and in the movie, hair falls out of the victims’ heads and they slowly die of radiation poisoning from the bomb. These are but two witness accounts of the bombings that provide evidence of the horrific effects of nuclear weapons as portrayed in the movie Black Rain.
Some of the accounts described the horrors of the surroundings and the conditions of the bodies after the bombing. Yoshiro Yamawaki and his brothers were going to check on their father who was working in a factory. The air quality is described in both the witness’ story and the movie as being horrible, smelling of rotten flesh. They passed many misshapen bodies and some who had their “”skin peeling off just like that of an over - ripe peach, exposing the white fat underneath.’” This is just one example of the horror that Japanese citizens of Hiroshima would have seen and this is also depicted in Black Rain. When the uncle of the main character exits the train station, there are black skinned bodies everywhere and countless others who are so misfigured that their own family could not even recognize them. It is incredible that one action could irrevocably impact the future of so many people long after any war has ceased. Black Rain and the first hand accounts of people who lived through the bombing, reveal in dramatic detail the life long, negative effects of nuclear weapons on a population.

Harley Altmyer should be in college drinking beer and chasing girls. He should be freed from his stifling coal town with its lack of jobs and no sense of humor. Instead he's marooned in the Pennsylvania backwoods caring for his three younger sisters after the shooting death of his physically abusive father and the arrest of his mother.

Life is further complicated when he develops an obsession with the sexy, melancholic mother of two down the road. Family secrets and unspoken truths threaten to consume him as his obsession deepens and she responds unearthing a series of staggering surprises. In the face of each unexpected revelation and through every wrenching ordeal, Harley does the best he can to hold it all together. Violent and disturbing yet touching and darkly funny, Harley's story is ultimately a search for his own self-worth as he slowly comes to realize that survival is a talent.

In Chile during the 1840s, young Chilean Eliza Sommers is raised and educated by English Anglican siblings Rose, Jeremy, and John Sommers. The Victorian-Spinster Rose, strict Jeremy, and sailor John live in the port of Valparaiso after discovering Eliza on their doorstep. Eliza is taught about the art of cooking by the Mapuche Indian, Mama Fresia. Over most of Part I, Eliza's origins and upbringing, and her maturity are told. Eliza falls in love with Joaquin Andieta, a young Chilean man who is concerned about his mother who is living in poverty. The young couple have an affair, ultimately resulting in Eliza getting pregnant. Soon, news of gold being discovered in California reaches Chile, and Joaquin goes out to California in search of a fortune. Wanting to follow her lover, Eliza goes to California, with the help of Chinese ''zhong yi'' (physician), Tao Chi'en, who later becomes her friend, in the bowels of a ship headed by a Dutch Lutheran captain, Vincent Katz.

In the beginning of Part II, Tao's past is revealed, from his early life in poverty, to his apprenticeship to a master acupuncturist, and his ill-fated marriage to Lin, a young and pretty, but frail girl who dies after a brief marriage. Lin's spirit later comes in to help her widowed husband at crucial points for Tao in later parts of the book. During the journey to California, Eliza, due to her pregnancy, is frail and sick, and later suffers a miscarriage. To leave the ship without suspicion, Tao disguises Eliza as a Chinese boy, a disguise that she maintains in San Francisco where they have landed. Eliza earns money by selling some Chilean snacks and Tao becomes a successful ''zhong yi''. Tao, after seeing the greed and brothels in San Francisco, loses most of his faith in America. Eliza sets on her journey to find Joaquin, using a male cowboy's disguise and the moniker Elias Andieta, and claiming to be Joaquin's brother. Meanwhile, in Valparaiso, Rose and Jeremy are shocked to find that Eliza has disappeared. When John comes and asks about her whereabouts, Rose reveals a well-kept, shocking secret to Jeremy, a secret that she and John have concealed from him since Eliza's arrival into their home: John is Eliza's father, having had her with an unnamed Chilean woman. Based on intuition, John Sommers sails for San Francisco, commissioned by his wealthy employer Paulina Rodriguez de Santa Cruz as a steam ship captain, with the additional intent of finding his daughter.

Part III finds Eliza broke after still trying to search for Joaquin; she occasionally sends letters to Tao describing what she sees in her journey. Although she has fallen out of love with Joaquin, she cannot stop journeying. In an outskirt town, Eliza meets up with Joe Bonecrusher's travelling caravan of prostitutes and ends up travelling with them as cook and piano player. The members of the caravan believe Eliza to be a homosexual man, a disguise which she takes up much to the frustration of Babalu, the caravan's bodyguard. Eliza stays with the group during the winter as they settle in a small town. During this time, Tao moves to San Francisco to save up money to move back to China. He surprises himself when he realises that he misses Eliza's company and is consoled when he begins receiving her letters. John Sommers, in his search for Eliza, comes across Jacob Todd, an old suitor of Rose's who is now a journalist known as Jacob Freemont.

Freemont promises that he will look out for any sign of Eliza as he writes articles about the famous bandit Joaquin Murieta, whose description matches Eliza's lover. Meanwhile, as Joe Bonecrusher's business begins to dwindle, Tao finds Eliza and returns to San Francisco with her. They set up a network to help young Chinese prostitutes to escape and rehabilitate with the help of friends. Eventually Jacob Freemont is able to pass word to the Sommers that Eliza, who was previously thought to be dead, is alive. Tao and Eliza live together and eventually form a relationship; she eventually decides to write to Rose to inform her foster mother that she is alive. When Joaquin Murieta is shot dead and his preserved head is showcased in San Francisco, Eliza goes to see if the man was really Joaquin Andieta.

''Gap Creek's'' main character is a young girl, Julie, who does everything she possibly can to help her family and her new husband, Hank. Julie works hard to help her family when they need it, some even say she works as "hard as a man." Her family depends on her to milk the cows, slaughter the hogs, and nurse the dying. As a teenager, Julie witness her young little brother die in her arms from a seizure, a year later he father dies from chest consumption. After the death of the two men her life, 17-year-old Julie marries Hank Richards and moves to Gap Creek in South Carolina where they meet Mr. Pendergast and set up an arrangement so they can live there. Julie has to do the laundry and the housekeeping while Hank works outside of the house. Towards the end of the 19th century, the couple experiences the most complicated scenarios they could have ever imagined through floods, fires, drunks and busybodies who wander around their house and neighborhood. While pregnant, Julie finally sees the true side of Hank, having lost his job, she saw how immature he was and how hot-tempered he was. When the couple was going through a tough time, being short on money and all, Julie goes into labor early giving birth to a premature baby girl who she named Delia. A couple of days later, Delia passes away, leaving Julie depressed and lonely. The couple pulls through towards the end with the help of the church and their religion.

The story focuses on a grown-up Icy Sparks recounting her childhood and adolescence struggling with accusations of Tourette's Syndrome.

The novel begins with Icy Sparks, a 10-year-old girl living in a mountainous region of Eastern Kentucky with her grandparents throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Icy is alienated by her peers and often shunned and pitied by the adults in her town. One day Icy suddenly begins to experience tics, croaks, and physical spasms. Soon after these seemingly uncontrollable "secrets" begin, Icy goes down into her grandparents' root cellar to let out her tics, in an effort to hide the condition from her grandparents. Finally, Icy tells one of her few friends, Miss Emily Tanner, a local store owner who is also an outcast from society at 300 pounds. Icy's elementary school teacher tries putting her in a solitary classroom, but even that doesn't work. Her grandparents have Icy admitted to a mental institution for observation.

Even in the institution, Icy is an outcast. Though she sees herself as less mentally ill in comparison to some of her peers there, she is nonetheless tormented by one of the hospital workers. Icy is able to befriend a second worker, though she really just wants to go home to her grandparents. When she is finally allowed to leave, she stays in her house or on the surrounding property and does not venture out in public very often.

After Icy returns home, the atmosphere is tense. After her grandfather dies, Icy and her grandmother turn to religion for solace. Inspired by a tent-meeting revival where she observes that people touched by the Holy Spirit behave as if they have Tourette's Syndrome, Icy discovers she has a gift for music. Icy proceeds to attend university, where her disorder is officially diagnosed. Later, Icy becomes a therapist, working with children with Tourette's Syndrome and with kids that experience selective mutism.

An awkward midwest girl, Ruth, is growing up in the small town of Honey Creek, Illinois. Elmer, her father, left the family when she was ten, leaving her mother, May, feeling bitter. May is unhappy with and disappointed in Ruth because she is nothing like her shining brother, Matt, who is a mathematical genius with a scholarship to MIT. Their mother is crushed when Matt moves away to Boston after graduation and is left with Ruth, who takes a job at the local dry cleaner shop.

Ruth's one confidant is her mother's sister, and Aunt, who is worldly and kind, and recognizes that Ruth is a sensitive observant young woman. Ruth's Aunt continues a relationship with both Ruth and Matt over the years, and provides Ruth with a glimpse into what life could be like as an independent middle class woman.

One hot night at the local lake, Ruth meets Ruby Dahl, a local ne'er do well. When Ruby later takes Ruth out on a date, he takes advantage of her naiveté, but Ruth continues to see him and after several dates they decide to get married. Ruby moves in with Ruth and May, and May's oppression and Ruby's stubborn laziness frequently clash. Ruth's life is bleak and somber, and even the birth of her son fails to bring the joys Ruth expected. Seasonally, winter brings on bitter cold, both in the weather and in the emotional standoffs in the Grey-Dahl house. Ruby, who has descended into alcoholism and frequent drug use, begins acting more erratically.

At one point, Ruth takes a short holiday to visit her Aunt. When she comes back, May has made a chicken dinner and keeps making odd comments about how tasty the chicken is because it was slaughtered properly. Ruby is silent during the meal and appears to be high. When Ruth finally asks her mother why she keeps talking about the chicken, her mother explodes with the story that Ruby strangled and hung the chicken in the coup for May to find.

The final standoff occurs one night after dinner, as Ruby and his son want to eat cookies. Because the family is so poor, in the months leading up to Christmas, May saves up to buy flour, butter, eggs, and sugar to make Christmas donation cookies for the church. May bakes the cookies throughout the year and freezes them so that when Christmas comes, she can take them to the church and disguise their obvious poverty with generous cookie donations.

Ruby and the son go to the freeze and plunder the stash in an open revolt against May. May becomes engaged, and Ruby snaps. He grabs a fireplace poker, and begins to beat the family with it. He repeatedly hits May with the fireplace poker, eventually killing her.

Ruby almost ends up killing Ruth too. However, Ruth sputters that they have a son together. The mention of the son seems to snap Ruby out of his homicidal rage, and he stops. Later, Ruby is imprisoned, and Ruth and the son go to live with Ruth's Aunt.

The book ends with Ruth starting to attend college, no longer considered remedial after getting out from under her mother's oppressive ignorance, and she mourns the loss of her simple life and connection with Ruby while also looking forward to a different future with her son.

In the spring of the 119th season of Gensokyo, the Spring Snow Incident (春雪異変) occurs. Gensokyo is stuck in an eternal winter, with snowstorms happening in May. The three heroines, each for their own reasons, set out to do something about the winter, and return Gensokyo's spring. As the Hakurei Shrine is old, the winter caused Reimu to be perpetually stuck in the cold, which motivates Reimu to resolve the incident. Upon finding a cherry blossom petal in her home in the Forest of Magic, Marisa is intrigued as to whether the eternal winter is affecting places outside of Gensokyo, and like Reimu, Sakuya has to end the winter, as otherwise she would run out of supplies to keep the Scarlet Devil Mansion warm. Canonically, Reimu is the one that resolves this incident.

After passing a barrier located above the clouds, the heroine enters the gate of the Netherworld (冥界). There she is confronted by half-ghost gardener Youmu Konpaku. Youmu explains that she had been stealing the essence of spring throughout Gensokyo in order to make the Saigyō Ayakashi (西行妖), a youkai cherry blossom tree, bloom perfectly under orders from her mistress, Yuyuko Saigyouji. The heroine defeats Youmu and proceeds to Hakugyokurō (白玉楼) to get Gensokyo's spring back. There the ghost princess of Hakugyokurō, Yuyuko, reveals that she had an interest in a corpse sleeping beneath the Saigyou Ayakashi from before her existence. In order to break the seal, the youkai cherry blossom tree needed to bloom fully. Yuyuko and the heroine fight to get the last "spring" contained in the heroine needed for the Perfect Cherry Blossom, and to reclaim Gensokyo's spring. After the heroine defeats Yuyuko, the Saigyou Ayakashi starts to lose its health. However, the seal has been weakened from the near-complete bloom, and the sealed soul is temporarily unleashed. The soul is revealed to be Yuyuko's, and the heroine fights her a second time, until Yuyuko's soul is finally sealed. As a result of the Spring Snow Incident, since the arrival of spring was late, the hanami season became short, and was also the trigger for the incident orchestrated by Suika Ibuki in ''Immaterial and Missing Power'', the next ''Touhou'' game.

A few days later, Yuyuko asks the heroine for a favour. The magic boundary between Gensokyo and the Netherworld was weakened by Yukari Yakumo, one of Yuyuko's friends, to make stealing Gensokyo's spring easier, which resulted in many yuurei being seen in Gensokyo. Yuyuko asks the heroine to find her friend, who would be preparing for the flower-viewing event during this time, and remind her to repair the boundary.

In the Extra Stage, the heroine searches for Yukari. Instead, the heroine meets Chen. It is revealed that Chen was the shikigami of Ran Yakumo, and Ran comes to fight the heroine after Chen is defeated again. Ran reveals that she is also a shikigami, and that she will not does not want anyone to disturb her master. The heroine fights Ran, knowing it will get her master's attention, and is victorious in battle.

Ran's master, Yukari, does not appear, and Ran tells the heroine that she should try coming back at night, since her master sleeps less often during the night. In the Phantasm Stage, the heroine returns that night and defeats a weakened Ran again, after which Yukari emerges to greet the heroine. Yukari is quite surprised at the heroine's ability and decides to continue where Ran left off. Yukari is defeated, and uses her abilities to fulfill the heroine's request. However, as this was not resolved and continues for a time, Youmu went to Gensokyo and gathered back the yuurei with a hitodama light.

On the eve of Gensokyo's Harvest Moon Festival, the moon has been replaced by a fake moon that can never become full. In order to find the real moon before sunrise, the protagonists search for the person that stole the moon, so they can return it, and prevent the possibility of an imperishable night.

After multiple battles, including one with Reimu or Marisa (depending on who the player character is), who was also searching for the answer, the protagonists reaches Eientei, the mansion of the perpetrator. Once inside, they find that the mansion is guarded by the moon rabbit Reisen Udongein Inaba. From here, the team may either choose the path that leads to the fake moon conjured by Eirin Yagokoro, or the real moon, where the exiled moon princess Kaguya Houraisan is hiding. People from the moon wanted Kaguya to return Reisen to their home planet, and so, she created the fake moon in order to sever the link between the earth and the moon, meaning they would not be able to find either Kaguya or Reisen. The team then accepts Kaguya's "Five Impossible Requests" and fight until daybreak.

Having completed the Five Impossible Requests, the team is given another challenge by Kaguya in the Extra Mode: defeat her rival, Fujiwara no Mokou. Afterwards, the moon is restored, and Kaguya, Reisen, and Eirin continue to live in Gensokyo peacefully.

In the year 1999, the world has been reduced to an apocalyptic wasteland due to an inexplicable gust of wind that wiped even the most basic memories, such as speech and civility, from the minds of the world's populace. Wataru befriends a young man named Johnny who, prior to the incident, was part of a government experiment designed to expand the memory capacity of the human mind and, therefore, was able to retain his memories. Johnny helps Wataru regain his speech and teaches him other basic functions. However, as a result of the physical toll his body endured due to the government experiments, Johnny dies after encouraging Wataru to travel the world.

Wataru encounters a strange woman named Sophia after she helps him escape from an encounter with an unmanned Police Mech Unit and agrees to take Sophia to New York City. Together the two travel to Los Angeles where they help save Sue and her father, Little John, from a mob. Sue was to be offered as a bride to appease a "god", which in reality is a Construction Mech controlled by a man, but fled to escape her fate. However, upon realizing that if she were not sacrificed another woman would be in her stead, she flees from the group to rejoin her tribe. Wataru destroys the Construction Mech but Sue is killed in the conflict. Little John remains in Los Angeles to keep order of the tribe and rebuild society.

Wataru and Sophia resume their travels only to be attacked once more by the Police Mech. Sophia rescues Wataru and brings him to an advanced city called Eternal Town for medical attention. When Wataru regains consciousness, he discovers that the city is run by a super computer that has brainwashed two of its original citizens into running the day-to-day operations of the city. The super computer attempts to persuade Sophia and Wataru into becoming citizens as well but the two escape with one of the original citizens, Lisa. As they depart from the city, Lisa begins to recall memories from her past including the fact that the other citizen who was brainwashed into running the city was her father. As a result, Lisa decides to remain in Eternal Town. Sophia then explains that she is a member of an alien race that is responsible for the wind that erased Earth's citizens' memories. Sophia makes a wager with Wataru that if he is able to convince another person to join him in his travels, she will return humanity's memory.

Wataru and Sophia are chased across the country by the unrelenting Police Mech until they reach New York City. Upon arriving, Wataru drops Sophia off in order to defeat the Police Mech by himself. After destroying the Police Mech, Sophia saves Wataru as he falls from a building, and later the two kiss and have sex. Sophia leaves in order to rejoin her race and convince them that humanity deserves to have their memories.

Hector Ilario, a young DS9 crewmember, is found dead in his quarters. Dr. Bashir determines that he was killed by a bullet fired at close range from a TR-116, a prototype rifle design discontinued by Starfleet. Security chief Odo notes that a rifle fired at close range would leave powder burns on the victim, but no such marks are found on Ilario. Engineer Miles O'Brien eventually discovers how the killer gave the bullet a close-range trajectory without being in the same room as the victim—a miniature transporter was fitted to the weapon, beaming the bullet directly to the victim's quarters. Using a targeting sensor, the killer could target victims from anywhere on the station.

Ezri Dax is troubled by memories of Joran, a former host of the Dax symbiont who was himself a murderer. In a dream, Joran tells her he can help her find Ilario's killer. When another officer is murdered in the same way, Captain Sisko asks Ezri to try to profile the killer, and Ezri performs a ritual to summon Joran to the foreground of her consciousness. Joran encourages Ezri to get inside the murderer's mind, going as far as to have her aim a TR-116 at unsuspecting people and contemplate the resulting feeling of power. Encouraged by Joran, she nearly stabs a potential suspect who turns out to be innocent. Sisko is ready to take Ezri off the case, but agrees to give her another chance.

After a third officer is killed, Ezri notices that each victim had a photograph in their quarters of people laughing. Joran and Ezri conjecture that the killer hates laughter—most likely a Vulcan, as Vulcans are known for repressing emotions, and perhaps one who has recently suffered intense psychological trauma. During a chance encounter with a Vulcan named Chu'lak, Joran becomes convinced he is the killer. Researching Chu'lak's background, Ezri discovers that he was one of only six survivors of a vessel destroyed during the Dominion War.

As Ezri targets Chu'lak in his quarters with her TR-116, she sees that he intends to kill her next. The two aim their rifles at one another; Ezri fires first, wounding Chu'lak and throwing off his aim so that his shot misses her. Joran urges her to finish him off, but she calls a medical team instead.

Later, as Ezri performs the ritual to return Joran to her subconscious, he reminds her that he will always be part of her.

Ellie Harrison has just moved to Annapolis, Maryland. Her new school, Avalon High, seems like a typical high school with the stereotypical students: Lance the jock, Jennifer the cheerleader, Marco, the bad boy/desperado, and Will, the senior class president, quarterback, the student every girl wants and all around good guy. But not everyone at Avalon High is who they appear to be, not even Ellie herself.

The people inhabit a world of racial paternalism where, partly due to religion, the plantation workers are happy with the status quo. Zeke the plantation boy represents the morally upstanding country boy (the good) against the morally corrupt (due to Hotshot's influence) city girl Chick (the bad) who tempts him from the straight and narrow.

Sharecroppers Zeke and Spunk Johnson sell their family's portion of the cotton crop for $100. They are promptly cheated out of the money by the shill Chick (Nina Mae McKinney), in collusion with her gambling-hustler boyfriend, Hot Shot. Spunk is murdered in the ensuing brawl. Zeke runs away and reforms his life: becoming a Baptist minister, and using his full name - Zekiel. This is the first example of black character development in cinema.

Sometime later, he returns and preaches a rousing revival. After being ridiculed and enticed by Chick, Zekiel becomes engaged to a virtuous maiden named Missy (Victoria Spivey), thinking this will ward off his desires for the sinful Chick. Chick attends a sermon, heckling Zekiel, then asks for baptism but is clearly not truly repentant. During a rousing sermon, Chick seduces Zekiel and he throws away his new life for her. Months later, Zeke has started a new life; he is working at a sawmill and is married to Chick, who is secretly cheating on him with her old flame, Hot Shot (William Fountaine).

Chick and Hot Shot decide to run off together; Zeke finds out about their affair and chases after them. The carriage carrying Hot Shot and Chick loses a wheel and throws Chick out, giving Zeke a chance to catch up to them. Holding her in his arms, he watches Chick die as she apologizes to him for being unable to change her ways. Zeke then chases Hot Shot on foot. He stalks him relentlessly through the woods and swamp while Hot Shot tries to escape, but stumbles until Zeke finally catches and kills him. Zeke spends time in prison for his crime, breaking rocks.

The movie ends with Zeke returning home to his family, just as they are harvesting their crop. Despite the time that has passed and the way Zekiel left, the family joyfully welcomes him back into the flock.

At the last minute, Monica decides to throw a Halloween party; enthusiasm diminishes markedly when she announces that everyone needs to come in costume. Monica dresses up as Catwoman, Phoebe as Supergirl, Chandler as a large pink bunny (Monica's idea), Ross as a potato satellite that looks a lot like feces, which he calls Spud-nik, and Joey as Chandler. On account of her pregnancy, Rachel shows up to the party in an expensive dress she wants to wear because she soon will not be able to fit into it. Rachel's maternal instinct kicks in when the first trick-or-treaters arrive, and she spends the evening handing out candy... most of it to a smart little girl who figures out how to charm her. She is then reduced to handing out cash until Gunther can get them some more. Finally a boy arrives who would rather have money than candy, and she yells at him until he runs away, crying—at which point guilt kicks in and she runs after him. She ends up giving him $50 and going to several houses with him posing as his girlfriend. On her return, she confesses to Joey that she is not entirely cut out for motherhood yet.

Phoebe runs into her twin sister Ursula on the street. Ursula reveals that she is getting married next week and invites Phoebe to the wedding; to return the favor, Phoebe invites her and her fiancé to Monica's Halloween party. Ursula's fiancé Eric (Sean Penn), a 2nd-grade schoolteacher, arrives first and immediately slaps Phoebe's butt; after working through his embarrassment, they begin talking. It becomes clear after some conversation that Ursula has been lying to him, basically returning his own answers to him about her age, pastimes, history and employment, including herself being a teacher at the fictional "Top-Secret Elementary School for the Children of Spies". This, compounded by Eric's sudden urge to be impulsive and romantic, resulted in the two planning to be married barely three weeks after meeting. Phoebe, using Ursula's misplaced purse as evidence, breaks the news to him as gently as she can.

Ross's girlfriend Mona also attends the party and is the first to correctly interpret Ross's costume; Ross is nervous that Joey, who has also shown attraction to her, will steal her from him. Monica and Joey get into a debate over who would win a fight between Ross and Chandler; Monica secretly thinks her brother is stronger than her husband but cannot express her opinion without offending someone. However, Joey lets it slip to Ross and Chandler, who get very competitive at each other. The two take it into their own hands by staging an arm-wrestling competition, which lasts, at total deadlock, for quite some time. Ross, who needs to impress his girlfriend, convinces Chandler to let him win, but refuses to admit it when asked later. Chandler offers to prove it to Monica, and the two find themselves at yet another arm-wrestling stalemate.

In the sleepy suburb of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, a group of neighborhood boys—now grown men—reflect upon their memories of the five Lisbon teenage sisters, ages 13 to 17, in 1974. Unattainable due to their overprotective Catholic parents, math teacher Ronald Lisbon and his homemaker wife Sara, the girls—Therese, Mary, Bonnie, Lux, and Cecilia—are enigmas who fill the boys' conversations and dreams.

During the summer, the youngest sister, Cecilia, slits her wrist in a bathtub, though she survives. Her therapist, Dr. Horniker, suggests to her parents that Cecilia's attempt at suicide was a cry for help, rather than genuine, and she would benefit from wider interaction with her peers, particularly boys. Despite this, Mrs. Lisbon is still extremely unwilling to allow her daughters a normal social life. Mr. Lisbon persuades his wife to allow him to throw a chaperoned basement party intended to make Cecilia feel better. The party, however, is tense and miserable. Cecilia excuses herself and successfully ends her life by leaping from her second story bedroom window and impaling herself onto a spiked iron fencepost below. In the wake of Cecilia's suicide, the Lisbon parents watch over their four remaining daughters even more closely. This further isolates the family from their community and heightens the air of mystery surrounding the girls, particularly to the neighborhood boys.

At the beginning of the new school year in the fall, Lux, the most rebellious of the sisters, forms a secret and short-lived romance with Trip Fontaine, the school heartthrob. In hopes of becoming closer to Lux, Trip comes over to the Lisbon residence and watches television with the family. Trip persuades Mr. Lisbon to allow him to take Lux to the homecoming dance by promising to provide dates for Therese, Mary and Bonnie, and going as a group. After winning homecoming King and Queen, Trip persuades Lux to ditch their group and have sex on the football field. Afterwards, Lux falls asleep and Trip abandons her. At dawn, Lux wakes up alone and has to take a taxi home.

Having broken curfew, Lux and her sisters are punished by a paranoid Mrs. Lisbon by being taken out of school and confined to the house indefinitely. Isolated and increasingly depressed, the sisters contact the boys across the street by using light signals and sharing records over the telephone to express their emotions and share their feelings. During this time, Lux rebels against her parents and becomes overtly promiscuous, having anonymous sexual encounters on the roof of her house late at night with random boys and men; the neighborhood boys spy from across the street. After months of confinement, the sisters begin to leave notes outside for the boys. The girls eventually send a final note to the boys asking them to come over at midnight, ostensibly to escape from their house.

When the boys finally arrive that night, they find Lux alone in the living room, smoking a cigarette. Thinking they're going to help the girls escape, the boys are invited inside by Lux to wait for her sisters, while she goes to start the car. Curious, the boys wander into the basement after hearing a noise and discover Bonnie's body hanging from the ceiling rafters. Horrified, the boys rush back upstairs, only to stumble across the body of Mary in the kitchen who has put her head in the gas oven. The boys then realize that the girls had all killed themselves in an apparent suicide pact moments earlier: Bonnie hanged herself; Mary put her head in the oven; Therese overdosed on sleeping pills upstairs; and Lux died of carbon monoxide poisoning by leaving the car engine running in the garage.

Devastated by the suicides of all their children, Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon quietly flee the neighborhood and are never seen again. Mr. Lisbon has a friend clean out the house and sell the family belongings in a yard sale; family photos and other mementos are put out with the trash and collected by the boys. The house is sold to a young couple from the Boston area.

Unsure of how to react to the events, the adults in the community go about their lives as if nothing traumatic really happened, but the boys cannot stop thinking about the Lisbon sisters and why they killed themselves. Now middle-aged men themselves, they acknowledge that they had always loved the girls, and that the mystery of the Lisbon sisters will never be truly solved.

During a parade honoring ''The Itchy & Scratchy Show'', Bart meets an elderly homeless man, Chester J. Lampwick, who claims to be the creator of Itchy, the mouse. He insists Roger Meyers Sr., the supposed creator of the characters Itchy & Scratchy, stole his idea. He shows Bart his 1919 animated short, ''Manhattan Madness'', to prove he created Itchy, but the nitrate film catches fire and is destroyed by the projector.

Bart lets Lampwick live at the Simpsons' house, but soon Marge wants him gone after he and Grampa fight. To compensate Lampwick for creating Itchy, he and Bart ask Roger Meyers Jr., CEO of Itchy & Scratchy Studios, for $800 billion. Meyers promptly throws them out.

Lampwick sues Itchy & Scratchy Studios with the help of Bart, attorney Lionel Hutz, and Homer as champerter. When Meyers' lawyer demands proof that Lampwick created Itchy, Bart remembers that he saw an original animation cel by Lampwick for sale at the Android's Dungeon. Bart buys the cel from Comic Book Guy and shows the courtroom its inscription, proving that Lampwick is the creator of Itchy. Meyers concedes that his father stole the Itchy character, but contends that most animation is based on plagiarism. The judge rules in favor of Lampwick and orders Meyers to pay him $800 billion. Bart is pleased that Lampwick is no longer poor, but he is sad when he realizes he has inadvertently killed ''The Itchy & Scratchy Show'' because the studio is forced to close after going bankrupt.

After failing to persuade Lampwick to finance Meyers's production of Itchy & Scratchy (for which he would receive royalties), Bart and Lisa find a legal precedent that could help resurrect the cartoon, but they discover that two other kids, Lester and Eliza, have beaten them to it. Lester and Eliza secure a large cash settlement for the studio when they realize that the design of Mr. ZIP, the post office mascot, was stolen from Roger Meyers Sr, in addition to exonerating Apu from a public nudity charge and reuniting Krusty with his estranged wife. Despite being happy that Itchy & Scratchy are back on the air, Bart and Lisa are disturbed that their spotlight has been stolen by two children who closely resemble them. The episode ends with Lester skateboarding past the Simpson's home and ominously staring at Bart through the window.

Wounded and on the run, notorious gunman Quirt Evans gallops onto a farm owned by Quaker Thomas Worth and his family and collapses. When Quirt urgently insists upon sending a telegram, Thomas and his daughter Penelope drive him into town in their wagon. After wiring a claim to the land recorder's office, Quirt passes out, and Penny cradles him. Ignoring the doctor's advice to rid themselves of the gunman, the compassionate Worth family tends to the delirious Quirt, and Penny becomes intrigued by his ravings about past loves.

Days later, when Quirt regains consciousness, Penny patiently explains the family's belief in non-violence. Three weeks later, Laredo Stevens and Hondo Jeffries ride into town looking for Quirt. When Penny's younger brother Johnny rushes home to warn Quirt of his visitors, Quirt quickly prepares to flee. Penny, now smitten with Quirt, offers to run off with him. At the sound of approaching horses, Quirt grabs his gun and discovers that it has been emptied. Training his weapon on the doorway, Quirt calmly greets Hondo and Laredo. Thinking that Quirt has the upper hand, Laredo offers to buy his claim. When Quirt sets the price at $20,000, Laredo hands over $5,000 in gold and challenges him to come for the balance when he is able – if he has the nerve.

Afterward, Quirt saddles his horse, but when Penny begs him to stay, he changes his mind. Later, Quirt learns that cantankerous rancher Frederick Carson has dammed up the stream that runs through the valley, thus draining the Worths' irrigation ditches. Quirt intimidates Carson into opening the dam.

One Sunday, Penny asks Quirt to join the family for a ride. Before they leave, Marshal Wistful McClintock comes to question Quirt about a stagecoach robbery. The family swears that Quirt was with them at the time. The marshal then asks Quirt why he resigned as Wyatt Earp's deputy, sold his ranch and crossed over to the wrong side of the law soon after cattleman Walt Ennis was gunned down in a saloon brawl. When Quirt refuses to answer, the marshal leaves. Penny then begs Quirt to steer clear of Laredo, and he acquiesces because of his love for her.

As Quirt and the Worths ride to the Quaker gathering, Quirt's erstwhile sidekick, Randy McCall, tags along. Randy tells Quirt that Laredo plans to rustle a herd of cattle and suggests that they then steal the herd from Laredo and let him take the blame. Mr. Worth gives Quirt a Bible as a reward for ending the feud with Carson. Fearing that he will never be able to live up to Penny's expectations, Quirt abruptly leaves with Randy.

Quirt and Randy steal the herd from the original rustlers. They then celebrate with showgirls Lila Neal and Christine Taylor. When Lila, sensing a change in her old flame, teases Quirt about his Bible, Quirt becomes angry and rides back to the Worth farm. Overjoyed, Penny throws her arms around him, just as the marshal arrives to question Quirt about the rustling. Quirt states that Lila can provide him with an alibi. Penny is hurt that Quirt was with his old flame. She heard him talk about Lila in his delirium, and thinks that Quirt prefers Lila's fair hair. Quirt realizes the depth of his feelings for Penny, and they kiss hungrily in the barn, while the camera fades out.

The marshal warns Quirt that he is the wrong man for Penny. Quirt decides to propose to her anyway. Instead of replying, Penny invites Quirt to join her picking blackberries. Quirt answers Penny's questions about his early life. Kindly Walt Ennis raised him after his parents were massacred by Indians; then Ennis was murdered.

On their way home, Quirt and Penny are ambushed and chased by Laredo and Hondo. Their wagon plunges over a cliff into the river. Penny develops a dangerous fever after the drenching. When the doctor informs Quirt that there is no hope for her, Quirt straps on his pistol and rides into town to exact revenge. After Quirt leaves, Penny's fever suddenly breaks.

In town, Quirt sends Bradley to tell Laredo and Hondo that he is waiting for them in the street. Penny and her family arrive. She gets Quirt to surrender his gun to her. As Laredo and Hondo draw their guns, Marshal McClintock shoots them both. Quirt rides off in the wagon with Penny. The marshal picks up Quirt's discarded weapon. Bradley comments that Quirt may need it, to which the marshal says, "Only a man who carries a gun ever needs one." The film fades to black.

Rodeo star John Scott and his gambler friend Kansas Charlie are wrongly accused of armed robbery at the Rattlesnake Gulch rodeo (with an admission price of $1) just after John Scott gets his rodeo prize money. The Rodeo Official is robbed and murdered by Pete and Jim a minute after Scott and Kansas Charlie leave. Pete tells authorities he just saw John and his friend Kansas Charlie leaving the office. Now fugitives, John and Charlie flee to another town where they assume new names. There they compete for the affections of a woman who runs a store, Jim's sister Anne Whitaker. Later, John and Charlie interrupt a stagecoach holdup by Pete and Jim. But after John brings the stagecoach and its passengers back to town, Pete shows up and fingers them for the crime. John and Charlie find themselves in jail. Jim, knowing they are innocent and feeling guilty for his part in the crimes, helps bust them out. John and Charlie head after Pete to try to get a confession, with a posse riding hard behind them.

An impoverished saddle tramp from Utah, John Weston, rides into a small town seeking work. He finds himself gunning down a trio of men robbing a local bank. The marshal sees the fearless, quick-drawing, sharp-shooting, hard-riding stranger as the man for the marshal's plan of discovering who is behind a crooked rodeo. A further mystery is that several rodeo riders have died of snakebite. Weston enters the rodeo as part of a plan to uncover the crooks. He manages to win every event he enters while also solving the crime, including the snakebite mystery, and winning the affection of the local judge's daughter.

The game follows the story of Kazuma Kiryu (Darryl Kurylo/Takaya Kuroda), a yakuza whose life changes when his boss, Sohei Dojima, attempts to rape Kiryu's childhood friend, Yumi Sawamura (Eliza Dushku/Miyako Uesaka). When Dojima is murdered by Kiryu's best friend and fellow yakuza, Akira Nishikiyama (Michael Rosenbaum/Kazuhiro Nakaya), Kiryu accepts blame for the murder, and is imprisoned for ten years. During his incarceration, Kiryu is expelled from his organization, the Tojo Clan, and Yumi goes missing. After his release, he learns that ten billion yen has been stolen from the Tojo Clan's private bank, and that the entire Japanese underworld is now searching for the lost wealth.

Kiryu asks his former captain and adopted father, Shintaro Kazama (Roger L. Jackson/Tetsuya Watari), about Yumi's disappearance, but Nishikiyama, who now controls his own gang, shoots Kazama after he reveals that Yumi was connected to the lost money. Kiryu manages to escape from the Tojo, who now regard him as an enemy and put a contract out on his life. His escape is aided by a detective named Makoto Date (Bill Farmer/Kazuhiro Yamaji), who had been investigating Kiryu ever since the death of Dojima, and is now investigating the murder of Third Chairman Masaru Sera (Alan Dale/Ryuji Mizuki), the former Tojo Clan leader whose death has triggered a war between Kazama, Nishikiyama, and an ambitious yakuza boss, Futoshi Shimano (Michael Madsen/Naomi Kusumi).

In his search for Yumi, Kiryu finds an orphan named Haruka Sawamura (Debi Derryberry/Rie Kugimiya) who is searching for her mother, Mizuki, who Date identifies as Yumi's younger sister. Haruka is also targeted by the yakuza, who believe that her pendant, which Yumi gave to her for safekeeping, is the key to the missing ten billion. Kazuma is forced to protect her from not just Shimano and Nishikiyama, but also Goro Majima (Mark Hamill/Hidenari Ugaki), Shimano's sadomasochistic lieutenant, as well as the Omi Alliance, a rival yakuza organization, the Snake Flower Triad, led by Kiryu's old enemy Lau Ka Long (James Horan/Shinichi Takizawa), and the MIA, a mysterious group with ties to the Japanese government.

Eventually, Kiryu learns from Kazama that Haruka is actually Yumi's daughter, and that "Mizuki" is Yumi under an assumed identity. Yumi suffered amnesia after she was attacked by Dojima, but recovered and married Kyohei Jingu (Robin Atkin Downes/Hiroaki Yoshida), an ambitious politician who allied himself with Sera. After accidentally killing a journalist who had tried to blackmail him with evidence that he committed adultery, Jingu asked Sera to have Yumi and Haruka murdered. Kazama saved the pair and persuaded Sera to turn on Jingu, having learned that the latter was using the clan to launder ten billion yen for his own purposes. It is then revealed that Kazama, Yumi and Sera robbed the ten billion yen so that Jingu wouldn't use it to bribe the clan. Shimano ambushes them but Kiryu defeats him; however, Shimano mortally wounds Kazama with a grenade and his ally, Omi Alliance lieutenant Yukio Terada (Gregg Berger/Kenji Nomura), then shoots him dead in revenge. Before dying, Kazama confesses to Kiryu that he killed his parents when he was young and that he in fact operated the Sunflower Orphanage Kiryu grew up in.

Armed with the knowledge of the money's location, Kiryu and Haruka head to Millennium Tower, where they meet Yumi, who has recovered her memories and now intends to destroy the money with a bomb. Jingu arrives with the MIA and the Omi Alliance, revealing that he intends to destroy the Tojo Clan and ally himself with the Alliance to control Japan. Kiryu subdues him and his men, but Nishikiyama, revealed to be cooperating with Jingu after the latter bribed him, arrives to challenge Kiryu and take the money for himself. Kiryu defeats him. Jingu appears and shoots Yumi before a remorseful Nishikiyama stabs him and detonates the bomb by shooting at it, killing them both and destroying the entire floor in the process. Yumi then dies in Kiryu's arms, and with her, Nishiki and Kazama now dead, Kiryu decides to return to prison, but Date talks him out of it by reminding him that he is the only one who can take care of Haruka now. The Tojo Clan asks Kiryu to assume the role of Fourth Chairman in accordance with Sera's will, to which Kiryu complies but he retires instead mere hours later and names Terada as the new Chairman to rebuild the clan. The story ends with Kiryu beginning a new life as a civilian with Haruka as his newly-adopted daughter.

The film is a domestic horror, following the story of an upper-middle-class family falling into destruction due to the introduction of a sexually predatory femme fatale housemaid into the household.

The film begins with a scene of a pianist, Mr. Dong-sik Kim, reading a newspaper story to his wife about a man falling in love with his maid.

Mr. Kim works at a factory of primarily female employees, as the piano accompanist for the factory's extracurricular choir group. This was during the 1960's after the Korean War, where economic strife became more prevalent in a time of national division, and so women were sent away to earn more money for their families. Women would often live in these factories, so many extracurricular activities were offered for time outside of work hours. Mr. Kim is incredibly popular among the women at the factory, due to his 'good looks', which entice Kyeung-Hee 'Miss Cho' Cho. Miss Cho pressures her friend to write a letter to Mr. Kim, pouring over how much she is infatuated by him. This ends poorly, as her friend is subsequently fired from the factory. Miss Cho attempts to further pursue Mr. Kim by taking up his offer of piano lessons, which he had proposed to help earn more income during his wife's pregnancy.

Back at the Kim residence, Mr. Kim's wife is heavily pregnant, and the family have just moved into a two-story house with his wife and two children, much larger than their previous residence. Mrs. Kim, also supporting the family as a sewer, becomes gradually too exhausted to clean the house, and so Mr. Kim asks Miss Cho if she is able to find a woman from work who would be interested in becoming the Kim's housemaid. Miss Cho later returns with Myung-Sook, a cleaner from the factory. She behaves strangely as their new housemaid, catching rats with her hands, teasing the Kim children, and spying on Mr. Kim while he lays with his wife and gives Miss Cho piano lessons.

Back at the factory, Miss Cho learns that her friend has committed suicide after being fired, due to being overcome by pressure of not being able to secure a new job. In an emotional state, Miss Cho confesses later that day to Mr. Kim during their piano lesson that she was actually the one in love with him, not her friend. Miss Cho then attempts to fling herself at Mr. Kim, who rejects her due to being married to Mrs. Kim. Mrs. Kim is away at her parents during the entire ordeal. In the aftermath, Mr. Kim becomes incredibly stressed, and the housemaid Myung-Sook has watched this entire encounter from afar. Myung-Sook then uses this as her opportunity to make a move, seducing him. In his emotional state, Mr. Kim succumbs to her and the two engage in an affair.

Myung-Sook proceeds to feel ill as the weeks pass, revealing her pregnancy by Mr. Kim. Mr. Kim eventually has to come clean to his wife, and despite her initial depression over being cheated on, she devises a plan which requires Myung-Sook to thrust herself down the flight of stairs which lead to the second storey. As their housemaid, Myung-Sook is forced to agree to this, and it successfully results in her having a miscarriage. After this incident, the housemaid's behavior becomes increasingly erratic. She threatens to kill the composer's newborn son. Mr. Kim fights her off as she tries to grab at the baby. Myung-Sook then offers Mr. Kim's other son water, and tells him that she has poured rat poison into it. As she tells him this, he further panics and falls to his death down a flight of stairs. Myung-Sook later states that it was just normal tap water.

Instead of turning her in to the police, Mrs. Kim offers to support Myung-sook in order to keep her from losing her job, telling Myung-Sook she can have anything she wants; Myung-Sook then asks to have Mr. Kim. She forces him to move upstairs into her room while Mrs. Kim labors over her sewing machine, falling asleep at her work every day. Unable to stand their new arrangement, both the wife and daughter attempt to poison Myung-sook, but she outsmarts them. Finally, Myung-sook persuades Mr. Kim to commit suicide with her by swallowing rat poison on the grounds she will not harm anyone else in his family. He crawls downstairs and dies next to his wife, asking her to "Take good care of the children."

The film ends with the composer reading the story from a newspaper with his wife, returning to the very beginning of the film. The film's narrative has apparently been told by the composer, who then smiles and warns the film audience that this is just the sort of thing that could happen to anyone.

An extended family has moved from the city (presumably Seoul) to live in a large house out in the mountains, which they convert into a lodge for hikers. Consisting of a middle aged father Kang Dae-goo (Park In-hwan), mother Jeong Soon-rye (Na Moon-hee), Dae-goo's younger brother Kang Chang-goo (Choi Min-sik), and their adult children Kang Young-min (Song Kang-ho), Kang Mi-soo (Lee Yoon-seong) and Kang Mina (Go Ho-kyung) they suffer a string of misfortunes as various patrons come to stay.

Their first guest, a hiker, asks for a room and three beers. Left to himself, he spends the night forging his room key holder to be sharp enough to stab himself and is found dead the next morning. The father of the family decides on burying the body in the woods, under the assumption that no one would believe this to be a suicide. Later, a young couple drops in for a stay to have sex in the privacy of their room and end up dead together the next morning. A pair of friends from town stop by for drinks until one of the men falls for Mi-soo and subsequently attempts to rape her, but she is saved by Young-min, who accidentally ends up pushing the man off a cliff, while his friend is taken captive by the family to prevent him from calling the police.

Mr. Park, the benefactor of the family (providing them the house) later asks for their lodging for his younger (and illegitimate) half sister to have a hitman check into the neighboring room at midnight and murder her so he can be the only successor to the claim inheritance of the soon profitable land. Uninformed of the plan, Uncle Kang senses foul play and sends the half sister home to Seoul when she is found to be restless. The plan goes further awry when the hitman arrives fifteen minutes late, and the room had been taken by an undercover cop investigating the recent string of missing people, mistaken to be the hitman. The hitman thus ends up killing the cop instead, and is later killed by a suspicious Young-min.

A heavy rainstorm overnight nearly uncovers the buried corpses by morning, leaving the family no choice but to incinerate them. When Uncle returns from the trip to Seoul, he angers Dae-goo who had hoped to settle Mr. Park's plot without any trouble. A fight ensues as Uncle is beaten senseless but is saved from a blow to the head by Young-min who then trips, hitting his head on the stairs, he is whisked to the hospital, leaving the elderly parents the only ones left to finish the job. The local man, having been imprisoned, bound and gagged, tries to make his escape but gets his ropes tangled in several trees as he escapes the lodge.

Soon enough, Mr. Park drops in unannounced to check if his sister-in-law has been terminated as planned, but is in complete shock when he sees Mr. Kang and Mrs. Jeong carrying the corpse of the undercover cop, knowing that he wasn't the hitman. A brief struggle begins when Mr. Park tries to escape without trying to figure out just what exactly has happened, and ends after he accidentally falls to his death down the stairs, adding yet another body to be done away with for the family.

To drive away attention, Mrs. Jeong switches off the circuits throughout the lodge and outside storage where she and her husband are piling the corpses, dousing them in gasoline. Mina, trying to watch TV, asks for Uncle Kang to switch the circuits back on, inadvertently causing a socket in the storage to burst in flames, triggering the cremation fire prematurely, trapping the parents inside. Meanwhile, Young-min is in the hospital recovering from his concussion and laughing insanely over a news report on the shooting of a North Korean agent wandering through the forest.

After an uncertain amount of time later, Uncle Kang, Young-min, Mi-soo, and Mina are preparing to serve dinner, totally unaware of the fire in the storage building. The parents return, in bandages, having survived the fire. Without a single word, the family quietly has dinner until there is a sudden knock at the door. Unsure of what to do, they all stand quietly in the doorway of the dining room, waiting for whoever is at the door to go away. When the dog starts barking at the knocking, the family, in unison hushes the dog; they have become the quiet family.

The film ends with a wide shot of the lodge in winter, with Mina outside, looking at it, and then to the camera with an uncertain look on her face; all to the sound of The Partridge Family's "I Think I Love You".

The novel has been seen as an invitation to a party without end, where the main character comes to see the world as a bottomless pit of debauchery, which she relishes. There is a secret pact with death itself involving the ever more frantic dance of María del Carmen Huerta, the blonde protagonist of the book.

The novel also offers an affectionate view of the Colombian city of Cali as unique, magic, and different. Our introduction starts in the privileged north, with its Sixth Avenue ("la Sexta"), Parque Versalles, and its magical places, continuing to the ghetto in the South with its Caseta Panamericana (built especially for the 1971 Pan American Games), the Pance River, the neighborhoods beyond upper-class Miraflores, the winged Andes mountain range, and the hideouts of sex and salsa in the final stretches of 15th Street ("la Quince").

In a Galway bookshop, Pidge buys a book called ''A Book of Patrick's Writing'' and accidentally frees an evil serpent, Olc-Glas, from inside it. Pidge and his five-year-old sister, Brigit, are then caught up in a battle between good (the Dagda) and evil (the Morrigan). Talking animals and other figures from Celtic mythology help them, and they travel to Tír na nÓg.

The voice-over of a headmaster tells his students that he knows that some of them have been playing on the railway, and that they should know about the dangers. A young boy is sitting on a railway bridge wall. As the boy ponders on his thoughts, he pictures a school Sports Day-style event being held on the railway line. The rest of the film shows his imagined idea of what would happen, with children being split into four competitive teams to take part in different activities often carried out by young people trespassing on the railway.

Four "games" are held, in which the children are challenged to break through the fence surrounding the railway line, play "chicken" with the trains and throw things at passing trains. Each time, the consequences of these activities are shown, such as one scene where a driver and passenger are left badly injured by broken glass after a child throws a brick through the train window. The final task is for the children to run through a tunnel, but after they enter, a train approaches. Only four children cross the end of the tunnel, each of them having sustained serious injuries. One boy who crosses the finish line collapses as the overhead speaker announces the final results.

The film finishes as a group of adults appear and go into the tunnel to carry out the bodies of the dead and injured children, which are then laid out in a long line along the railway track. The camera pans out to show all the dead and bloodied children along the track before returning to the boy sitting on the railway bridge wall, who seems to be reconsidering the idea.

Mike Callahan (Duryea) is an Irish émigré and war veteran working in Singapore as a private detective. He takes on a case from a former flame, now a nightclub singer. She thinks her husband Julian March (Knowles) is involved in criminal activities and asks him to help out.

Callahan learns that a man named Alexis Pederas (Lockhart) has involved Julian in a plot to kidnap a prominent nuclear scientist Sean O'Connor and hold him for ransom to the highest bidder. O'Connor is one of the only four men in the world that knows how to detonate the H-Bomb.

In the near future grad student '''Jake Stern''' and his conscientious objector friends fight against the new RFID-based universal draft by attempting to access the collective unconscious through an experimental combination of the hallucinogenic preparation ayahuasca and shared sensory deprivation tank experiences. The near future story is mirrored through the history-repeats-itself idea as biblical narrative based on Torah, various Jewish and Christian apocrypha, and elements of other mythologies. One major departure from Judeo-Christian tradition in ''Testament'' is the separation of The One True God into two entities who in the story are represented by the God Elijah, who represents the Abrahamic One True God, and a new entity of the author's invention which he calls The One True God. Much of the action in the story is driven by situations and characters being manipulated by the various gods as they battle for dominion over existence.

Story arcs

• ''Abraham of Ur'': Issues #1–5
• ''West of Eden'': Issues #6–7
• ''Down to Egypt'': Issues #8–10
• ''Shit Happens: The Book of Job'': Issue #11
• ''Trip Reset: The Rape of Dinah'': Issue #12
• ''Babel'': Issues #13–16
• ''Blood Brother'': Issues #17–18
• ''Exodus'': Issues #19–22

In 1885 in India, while working late at night in his newspaper office, the journalist Rudyard Kipling is approached by a ragged, seemingly crazed derelict who reveals himself to be Peachy Carnehan, an old acquaintance. Carnehan tells Kipling the story of how he and his comrade-in-arms Danny Dravot, ex-sergeants of the British Army who had become adventurers, travelled far beyond India into the remote land of Kafiristan.

Three years earlier, Dravot and Carnehan had met Kipling under less than auspicious circumstances. After stealing Kipling's pocket-watch, Carnehan found a masonic tag on the chain, and realising he had robbed a fellow Freemason, felt he had to return it. At the time, he and Dravot were working on a plot to blackmail a local raja, which Kipling foiled by getting the British district commissioner to intervene. In a comic relief turn, Carnehan obliquely blackmails the commissioner in order to avoid deportation.

Frustrated at the lack of opportunities for lucrative criminal mischief, in an India becoming more civilised and regulated—partly through their own hard efforts as soldiers—and with little to look forward to in the United Kingdom except dreary, poorly paid jobs, the two turn up at Kipling's office with an audacious plan. Forsaking India, they will head with twenty rifles and ammunition to Kafiristan, a country virtually unknown to Europeans since its conquest by Alexander the Great. There they will offer their services to a ruler and then help him to conquer his neighbours, but proceed to overthrow him and loot the country. Kipling, after first trying to dissuade them, gives Dravot his masonic tag as a token of brotherhood.

After signing a contract pledging mutual loyalty and forswearing women and drink, the two set off on an epic overland journey north beyond the Khyber Pass. Over the next few weeks, they travel through Afghanistan, fighting off bandits, blizzards and avalanches, as they make their way into the unknown land of Kafiristan. They chance upon a Gurkha soldier, Billy Fish, the sole survivor of a years past, British expedition. Speaking English as well as the local language, Billy smooths their way as they begin their rise, first offering their services to the chief of a much-raided village. When a force has been trained in modern weapons and tactics, they lead it out against some hated neighbours. During the battle, an arrow pierces Dravot's jacket but he is unharmed.

Both sides take him to be a god, though in fact the arrowhead was stopped by his leather bandolier. Victory follows victory, with the defeated adding to the ranks of the swelling army. With their enemies vanquished, nobody is left to stand in their way, as they are summoned to the holy city of Sikandergul by the high priest of the region. He sets up a re-enactment of the arrow incident, to determine whether Dravot is a man or a god by seeing whether or not he bleeds. When his shirt is torn open, they are amazed to see the masonic tag around his neck. It contains the sacred symbol left by Sikander, their name for Alexander the Great, who had promised to send a son to rule over them.

Hailing Dravot as king as well as god, they show him the royal treasury, which is full of unimaginable amounts of gold and jewels that are now all his. Carnehan suggests that they leave with as much loot as they can carry as soon as the snows have melted on the mountain passes. Dravot, however, is beginning to enjoy the adulation of the locals, settling their disputes and issuing laws, and even dreams of visiting Queen Victoria as an equal. He is also struck by the beauty of a girl called Roxane, the name of Alexander's wife, and cancels their pact to avoid women, saying he will marry her in order to leave the people an heir. When she is reluctantly brought to him, he tries to kiss her, but she, terrified that the touch of a god means death to a mortal, bites his cheek. Seeing him bleed, the people realise he is only human and try to grab the British impostors.

Outnumbered in the ensuing battle, Dravot is captured and is made to walk onto a rope bridge, where he lustily sings the hymn "The Son of God Goes Forth to War". When the ropes are cut, he falls thousands of feet to his death. Carnehan is crucified between two pine trees, but upon being found still alive the next morning, is freed. Crippled in body and unhinged in mind from his ordeal, he eventually makes his way back to India as a beggar. Finishing his story, he leaves Kipling's office after putting a bundle on the desk. When Kipling opens it, he finds Dravot's skull, still wearing a golden crown.

On the night of Epiphany, after enjoying his piece of Epiphany kingcake and wearing a gold paper crown, Oliver gazes out the window. He is approached by a haunting vision of another boy in the reflection. This mysterious boy is a window wraith, and he mistakes Oliver for the new king. The window wraith boy calls Oliver to wield his sword and reclaim the kingdom, luring him into a journey of self-discovery that could save the world.

The window wraiths are a cadre of France's deceased poets and artists, such as Molière, who claim Oliver as the king who will save them from the evil force dwelling behind the mirrors of the world capturing the souls of those who stare too long. The element of mirrors in the book is also an ode to Lewis Carroll's ''Through the Looking-Glass'' and there is also a pivotal character who is a descendant of Alice Liddell.

One night, Littlefoot's grandfather tells the children stories, the beginning of their world: in the Universe the smoke created the Milky Way Galaxy, and early life on Earth, even a legend about "The Lone Dinosaur", a legendary Longneck (''Diplodocus'') who protected the Great Valley from the most ferocious Sharptooth (T-Rex) to ever live. During the fight, the Sharptooth was killed and the Lone Dinosaur suffered a scar across his right eye. Soon after the battle, a huge monolith resembling a sauropod with life-sized Sharptooth teeth arranged around his neck came out of the ground during an earthquake. The dinosaurs called it "Saurus Rock". The legend also states that if anyone damages the monolith, bad luck would descend upon the Valley.

The next day, while the children are playing, Littlefoot accidentally falls off a cliff and is saved by a mysterious ''Diplodocus'' named Doc. Littlefoot is intrigued by Doc, who is scarred across one eye and displays prior knowledge of the Great Valley's topography. This causes him to assume Doc is the Lone Dinosaur. He tells his friends this, narrating an apparently extemporaneous legend to support his assumption. Inspired, Cera's infant niece and nephew, twins Dinah and Dana, go to Saurus Rock unnoticed. The next day, a worried Cera informs Littlefoot that Dinah and Dana are missing, and the group deduces where they are headed.

When Littlefoot and his friends finally reach Saurus Rock, they see Dinah and Dana on the top. As they climb up to rescue them, Dinah and Dana fall off the top and land on one of the stone teeth on the monolith that Cera is on, and it suddenly breaks off and crumbles upon landing on the ground nearly hitting Spike. Dinah and Dana start to cry. But Cera tells Dinah and Dana that it is not their fault that Saurus Rock was broken; but Littlefoot's since if he had not been talking about it and Doc, then Dinah and Dana would not have run away in the first place. The twins point out that it was she who told them to get lost due to what happened at the Bubbling Goo. Suddenly, an ''Allosaurus'' chases them. The children cross a gorge via a suspended log, but when the Sharptooth tries to follows them, the log breaks under its weight and it falls to its apparent death. On the way home, they are confronted by Cera's father; after Littlefoot tells Cera that the twins are back and says that Cera's father never knew that they ran away. Cera's father comes up and asks Cera if the twins really ran away. Cera says, "Sort of. But they didn't go far". Ducky tells Cera's father that Dinah and Dana went to Saurus Rock. Upon hearing that absurd comment from Ducky, he tells Cera that it was her job to watch the twins but failed. He scolds Cera for not properly caring for the twins. He says that he is very angry and disappointed and tells her to immediately march herself home. Then as Cera marches herself home, he continues with his talk on her that she still must be watched herself. That night, Littlefoot has a nightmare in which he falls off a tooth on Saurus Rock and the entire monolith collapses. Grandpa Longneck comforts his grandson after he wakes up from the nightmare, but Littlefoot asks him of what would happen if Saurus Rock was broken. His Grandpa replies that "bad luck would descend upon the valley".

Over the next few days, incidents of bad luck plague the Valley, starting with the watering hole drying up. Then a tornado hits the valley, causing damage, but Cera saves the twins and Doc also saves Littlefoot. Dinah and Dana tell Cera's father of her courage for saving them, in which he tells his daughter that he is proud of her. Littlefoot's grandfather finds Doc with his grandson. Doc protected Littlefoot from the worst of the storm and his Grandpa thanks him. The adults, however, blame Doc, as the misfortunes apparently occurred after his arrival, while Littlefoot blames himself and his friends, recalling the breaking of Saurus Rock. Eager to exonerate Doc, Littlefoot attempts to take one of the Sharptooth's teeth to replace the broken stone. In the process, he discovers the ''Allosaurus'' is still alive. After temporarily escaping the ''Allosaurus'', Littlefoot is attacked by a ''Tyrannosaurus'', with his Grandpa intervening, having been led there by Littlefoot's friends. Soon, the ''Allosaurus'' returns and works together with the ''Tyrannosaurus'' to take down Grandpa Longneck and easily overpower him. However, Doc comes to the rescue. The sharpteeth charge through and run into the rock spire and fall down. The two long necks work together to pull down the rock tower to crush the carnivores to death. One of the teeth from the ''Allosaurus'' falls out, and the children use it to repair Saurus Rock.

Doc departs, remarking that Littlefoot already has a hero on whom to depend on, referring to his Grandpa. Littlefoot asks his Grandpa if the bad luck will finally be over. They both agree that while there is no such thing as bad luck, there is also no harm in making sure. Littlefoot and Cera later build a legend of their own based on this new paradigm, portraying Grandpa Longneck as a hero and savior called "The Brave, Great Dinosaur".

A greedy banker by the name of I.M. Tightwad, to whom the Big Top o' Fun circus owes $10,000, arrives on the scene with the intent of demolishing the circus tonight unless it can pay up. He plans to build a set of luxury hotels on the terrain. In a fit of desperation, the ringmaster organises a display of six events to raise money for the doomed circus: diving, juggling, trapeze, knife throwing, tightrope and the human cannonball. The performance in each event is judged by five clown judges, who offer money depending on the quality of the show. Mr. Tightwad has no intention of letting the circus pay up its due though, so he sends his lackey, the evil Fiendish Freddy, to sabotage the acts.

Like the first film, ''Ju-on 2'' is split into six vignettes, the first two being taken from the first. The segments are presented in the following order: Kayako (伽椰子), Kyoko (響子), Tatsuya (達也), Kamio (神尾), Nobuyuki (信之), and Saori (沙織).

Shunsuke Kobayashi, a teacher, visits the Saeki household but finds the young Toshio Saeki alone at home. However, he quickly finds the corpse of Kayako Saeki hidden in the attic and receives a phone call from her husband Takeo Saeki who reveals he has killed Kobayashi's pregnant wife Manami and butchered her unborn child, due to believing Kayako was being unfaithful upon discovering she has an obsessive crush on Kobayashi. Kayako's body rises as an Onryō and kills Kobayashi, before tracking down and killing the rampaging Takeo.

Sometime later, a woman named Kyoko helps her brother Tatsuya, a real estate agent, to examine the Saeki house and put it on the market. However, Kyoko is disturbed by the house and leaves, visiting her nephew Nobuyuki in the apartment once owned by Kobayashi. They witness a vision of Takeo murdering Manami and are affected by the Saeki curse. Tatsuya moves them to his parents' house in the countryside, where Kyoko is seemingly possessed and rocks back and forth, whilst Nobuyuki has become a mute. Tatsuya's father believes the Saeki house's curse is responsible, so Tatsuya heads off to investigate.

The current residents of the Saeki house, Yoshimi and Hiroshi Kitada, become affected by the curse. Yoshimi murders her husband by walloping him with a frying pan, and then kills Tatsuya when he visits. All of Tatsuya's family save Nobuyuki die from the curse. Around a month later, Nobuyuki is still a mute and is observed by police officers Kamio and Iizuka. Both visit another officer, Yoshikawa, who has been driven insane by his attempted investigation of the deaths surrounding the Saeki house. After the visiting detectives leave, Kayako appears in Yoshikawa's home and kills both him and his wife. At the police station, Kamio gets frightened when he sees Kayako, alerting Iizuka and another female officer who go to check his office. Kamio remains outside out of fear and is killed when Kayako reappears.

In the penultimate vignette, Nobuyuki is shown at school. He spots Kayako outside the window, and she suddenly opens and crawls in through it. Nobuyuki flees whilst pursued by the surprisingly agile Kayako. A second Kayako appears, while he makes an attempt to escape through the stairs. Both ghosts corner Nobuyuki in a science lab and kill him - the final shots of the vignette showing there is an army of Kayako replicas outside, scratching the windows, and still making their ominous death rattle, reflecting on the curse's never-ending, spreading effects.

The film closes with a brief final segment consisting of a close-up of the Nerima house from outside, with voice-overs indicating a group of high school girls, one of whom is named Saori, sneaking into the house. They are exploring the second floor and the film ends right after they notice something in the attic. The segment serves as a teaser for the 2003 theatrical film, ''Ju-on: The Grudge''; it is likely a prelude to the "Izumi" segment of that film, as Saori is the name of one of Izumi's friends who went missing in the house.

Like the rest of the ''Ju-On'' series, the film takes place over a period of time, and is told in a non-linear order as six overlapping vignettes. The overarching plot involves the haunted house of the deceased Saeki family, whose brutal murders caused by Kayako Saeki’s crush on another man led to the creation of a vengeful curse. Anyone who enters the house will eventually be consumed by the ghosts of the Saeki family. The vignettes are presented in the following order: Kyoko (京子), Tomoka (朋香), Megumi (恵), Keisuke (圭介), Chiharu (千春), and Kayako (伽椰子). The plot will be told chronologically.

Pregnant film actress Kyoko Harase and her fiancé Masashi Ishikura drive home after Kyoko starred in a paranormal television show. Their car crashes when the ghost of Toshio Saeki appears. Masashi falls into a coma and Kyoko has a miscarriage. Kyoko encounters Toshio, who touches her stomach before disappearing, and she tells her mother that he must have been the spirit of her lost child. Three months later, Kyoko is shocked when a doctor announces she is three months pregnant. Her mother also suddenly dies.

The cause of her pregnancy is revealed in the other vignettes. Kyoko joins the film crew to record an episode of the paranormal show at the Saeki house in Nerima, Tokyo. The crew includes director Keisuke Okuni, ambitious host Tomoka Miura, and hair stylist Megumi Obayashi. The filming goes well aside from some technical glitches caused by Kayako. At their office, Keisuke falls asleep and fails to notice supernatural phenomena on the footage. In the dressing room, Megumi is suddenly pinned to the floor, and a flashback reveals she is mirroring a dying Kayako. Kayako then kills Megumi.

Tomoka hears disturbing noises in her apartment, namely something banging against the wall every night at 12:27am. Her boyfriend Noritaka Yamashita goes to Tomoka’s apartment on the night after filming. When Tomoka arrives home, she finds he has been hanged by a curtain of black hair and is being pushed against the wall by Toshio, creating the banging noise. Kayako hangs Tomoka too, who dies exactly at 12:27am. In the present, Masashi comes out of his coma, mute and using a wheelchair, and seems to react badly at Kyoko’s new pregnancy.

Keisuke drives Kyoko home but they spot Megumi disappearing into the latter’s house. Inside, Keisuke encounters Megumi’s ghost, who offers him Kayako's diary. Keisuke suspects Kyoko surviving the car crash was deliberate. Kyoko and Keisuke are haunted by Kayako and Megumi’s ghosts until Kyoko returns to the house. There, she encounters a teenage girl Chiharu trying to escape, before going into contractions when Kayako claims Chiharu. In her own vignette, Chiharu, who appeared in ''Ju-on: The Grudge'', keeps phasing in and out of the house at different times until she dies in the arms of her friend, claimed by the curse.

Keisuke arrives at the house, witnessing Chiharu inside, but only finds an unconscious Kyoko. She is rushed to hospital and gives birth, only for pandemonium to occur – Masashi is implied to throw himself off the roof, Toshio appears during the delivery, and the delivery team all die of fright. Keisuke enters the delivery room, only to witness Kayako crawl out of Kyoko’s body and kill him. Kyoko awakens and finds her newborn baby waiting for her, which she embraces.

A few years later, a young boy in Nerima encounters a worn-out Kyoko with her daughter, who resembles Kayako. Kyoko is pushed off the bridge by her malevolent daughter, who departs with Kayako's diary.

The player takes control of the knight Apollo, the god of the sun, who sets off on the legendary winged horse Pegasus, to rescue his lover, Artemis, the goddess of the moon, from the Titan, Typhon. The game takes names and little else from Greek mythology in which Apollo, god of the sun, was actually Artemis's brother. The game shows players an Artemis that acts as a princess (but in Greek mythology, she was the goddess of the hunt, and took pride in never being with any man).

In 1980, Congressman Charlie Wilson is more interested in partying than legislating, frequently throwing huge galas and staffing his congressional office with attractive young women. His social life eventually brings about a federal investigation into allegations of his cocaine use, conducted by federal prosecutor Rudy Giuliani as part of a larger investigation into congressional misconduct. The investigation results in no charge against Wilson.

A friend and romantic interest, Joanne Herring, encourages Charlie to do more to help the Afghan people, and persuades him to visit the Pakistani leadership. The Pakistanis complain about the inadequate support of the U.S. to oppose the Soviet Union, and they insist that Wilson visit a major Pakistan-based Afghan refugee camp. The Congressman is deeply moved by their misery and determination to fight, but is frustrated by the regional CIA personnel's insistence on a low key approach against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Wilson returns home to lead an effort to substantially increase funding to the mujahideen.

As part of this effort, Charlie befriends maverick CIA operative Gust Avrakotos and his understaffed Afghanistan group to find a better strategy, especially including a means to counter the Soviets' formidable Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter gunship. This group was composed in part of members of the CIA's Special Activities Division, including a young paramilitary officer named Michael Vickers. As a result, Charlie's deft political bargaining for the necessary funding and Avrakotos' careful planning using those resources, such as supplying the guerrillas with FIM-92 Stinger missile launchers, turns the Soviet occupation into a deadly quagmire with their heavy fighting vehicles being destroyed at a crippling rate. Charlie enlists the support of Israel and Egypt for Soviet weapons and consumables, and Pakistan for distribution of arms. The CIA's anti-communism budget evolves from $5 million to over $500 million (with the same amount matched by Saudi Arabia), startling several congressmen. This effort by Charlie ultimately evolves into a major portion of the U.S. foreign policy known as the Reagan Doctrine, under which the U.S. expanded assistance beyond just the mujahideen and began also supporting other anti-communist resistance movements around the world. Charlie states that senior Pentagon official Michael Pillsbury persuaded President Ronald Reagan to provide the Stingers to the Afghans.

Gust vehemently advises Charlie to seek support for post-Soviet occupation Afghanistan, referencing the "zen master's" story of the lost horse. He also emphasizes that rehabilitating schools in the country will help educate young children before they are influenced by the "crazies". Charlie attempts to appeal this with the government but finds no enthusiasm for even the modest measures he proposes. In the end, Charlie receives a major commendation for his support of the U.S. clandestine services, but his pride is tempered by his fears of the blowback his secret efforts could yield in the future and the implications of U.S. disengagement from Afghanistan.

Baki Hanma is raised by his wealthy mother, Emi Akezawa, who also funds his training in the hopes that he can be a powerful warrior like his father, Yujiro Hanma. Around the start of the series, Baki outgrows traditional training and heads out to follow the path of his ruthless father's training and meets many powerful fighters along the way. Eventually, Baki fights his father and is beaten without a challenge.

After being beaten, Baki travels around the world continuing his training. Years down the road he finds an underground fighting arena where he fights some of the most powerful fighters of various styles of martial arts. It is here he truly begins to hone his martial arts skills. He intends to get stronger, surpass his father and continue to endure and survive the numerous hurdles he encounters in his journey.

The opening titles explain that American corporations are using the North American Free Trade Agreement by opening large ''maquiladoras'' right across the United States–Mexico border. The maquiladoras hire mostly Mexican women to work long hours for little money in order to produce mass quantity products.

Lauren Adrian (Jennifer Lopez), an impassioned American news reporter for the ''Chicago Sentinel'' wants to be assigned to the Iraq front-lines to cover the war. Instead, her editor George Morgan (Martin Sheen) assigns her to investigate a series of slayings involving young ''maquiladora'' factory women in a Mexican bordertown.

Worker Eva (Maya Zapata), originally from the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, takes a bus to go back to her shanty-town home after work. After a while she is the last passenger still in the bus. The driver asks her if she minds if he goes to a gas station to fill up, and Eva agrees. However, he takes her to a remote place and assaults and rapes her, together with another man, who then tries to strangle her. The two men, believing she's dead, bury her alive. With the little energy she has left, Eva escapes.

Adrian heads to Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, on the U.S.–Mexico border to investigate the murders, hoping that if she does well she will be promoted by Morgan to be a foreign correspondent. In Juárez, Adrian meets up with Diaz (Antonio Banderas), whom she had been working with six years before, and who is now the editor for the local newspaper ''El Sol de Juárez''. She also meets Eva.

The three try to find the two killers and have them prosecuted. For this purpose Adrian starts working in the factory in order to act as bait on the bus ride. The driver tries to assault her in the same way he did Eva, and although police assistance has been arranged, they are at the wrong place. She manages to escape her attacker. Later Diaz gets shot and killed in a drive-by shooting. Eva changes her mind and does not want to testify any more for fear of revenge, and tries to flee to the U.S., together with others in the trunk of a car. She gets caught and is sent back. Adrian convinces her to testify after all. For political reasons the ''Chicago Sentinel'' refuses to publish Adrian's story. Adrian quits and becomes the editor for ''El Sol de Juárez''.

A young Jewish doctor is caused by antisemitic pressures to escape his Jewishness, which he seeks to do by submitting himself to violent and painful ethnic plastic surgery. He has stereotypical Jewish features: black curly hair, oily skin, thick lips, a large hooked nose, an effeminate voice, poor posture, and orthopedic impairments. He arranges to have all of his bones straightened out, his hair dyed blonde, and his larynx altered to change his voice. He is then placed in a bathtub and given a blood transfusion by pure Aryan virgins. Having been seemingly cured of his Jewishness, the doctor marries a blonde German woman. However, just as he is about to deliver a speech at his wedding, his voice takes on a high pitch and all of his previous Jewish features resurface. He eventually becomes a gelatinous puddle on the floor.

''Violence Jack''

The series takes place in the ruins of the Kanto region, after a massive earthquake (which in the OVAs was triggered by a Comet strike) dubbed 'The Great Kanto Hellquake'. Cut off from the rest of the world, the survivors of the disaster are divided between the strong and the weak, and the land becomes a haven for criminals and renegades from around the world. Violence Jack is uncovered among the rubble and demolished granite by the inhabitants of a ruined city, asking him to help the weak people and helping them destroy what, in most cases, are the strong groups commanded by killers and rapists (this is the story line of "Violence Jack: Evil Town"). In the three OVAs, Jack is requested to help different groups, such as the Zone A (later he ends up helping Zone C women) or a small town, as shown in "Hell's Wind". As for the manga, the stories change drastically, the first being the story of Violence Jack helping a group of female models in a tropical forest in Kanto by possessing a boy living in said forest in order to fight off a roving tribe of bandits. Although Jack maintains a ruthless facade, he often helps the weak, and expects nothing in return. However, Jack's unpredictable nature means that bystanders get injured or even killed on occasion as a consequence of his vicious fighting style.

When it was originally published there were several hints that pointed out the relationship between ''Devilman'' and ''Violence Jack''. The final chapter reveals that the apocalyptic world in ''Violence Jack'' is in a world re-created by God. Satan (Ryo Asuka) is punished by being constantly humiliated by Slum King, who is the reincarnation of his second-in-command, Zennon. As part of this punishment, Ryo has had all four of his limbs removed, and is forced to walk on the stumps like a dog. Jack is actually Akira Fudo, and is one of three parts that form Devilman, the others being a child Jack and woman Jack, both of which were normally seen as birds around Jack from time to time. Eventually, Ryo regains his memories and identity as Satan, and leads his army of demons into battle alongside Zennon to resume his battle against Devilman. This time, Devilman is victorious.

''Shin Violence Jack''

In ''Shin Violence Jack'', a reboot to the series, the storyline is set out somewhat differently. In this continuity, Jack is an alternate form of Amon, while Akira is now living as an amnesiac warlord known as the Skull King, with the iconic ''Devilman'' demon Jinmen as his chief subordinate. With the help of his child form, his true form as Amon, a young boy named Ushio, and the reborn Sirene (who merges with the heroic Sara, essentially becoming a Devilman), Jack leads the assault on the Skull King's fortress, succeeding in restoring Akira's memories and igniting a rivalry between the duo.

Nick and his girlfriend, Julie, are celebrating Julie's 24th birthday with their friends Trevor and Amanda. Nick and Julie start to discuss their future when Nick is urgently called into work. He has to go to the meeting because he is up against co-worker Dave Bristol for a promotion. As the four friends drive back to the city, their vehicle collides with a semi-truck. Of the four friends, only Nick survives. Later, when looking at a photograph of himself and Julie, everything in the room begins to shudder and shake, while the people in the photograph begin moving.

One year later, while presenting an important sales pitch to investors, Nick suffers a blinding headache and outrageous nosebleed. As a result, he is given a week's suspension. Back home, Nick looks through photographs from Julie's birthday and somehow manages to transport himself back to the moment just before the fatal collision. This time, he knows how to avoid the accident, and he awakens in a new timeline where Julie is living happily with him. However, in this reality, Nick's life is ruined when he is fired for backing up his friend and colleague Trevor.

Later, Nick sees a Christmas photograph of him, his friends and colleagues, and realizes that this was the point at which a crucial deal was made, resulting in Dave's promotion. Nick decides to try to alter this in his favor, so he concentrates on the photo in order to trigger another episode. Sure enough, he finds himself back at the party.

After deliberately spilling a drink on Dave to distract him, he finds the paperwork for the crucial deal. Nick then returns to the present in a new version of reality. In this reality, Nick is the vice-president of the company, but he and Julie have split up and he is living the bachelor lifestyle. Also, Trevor and Nick end up on the wrong side of a shady investor; the company is broken due to failed deals, and the investor, infuriated by a lack of results, kills Trevor, who borrowed money from him. In the course of trying to escape a similar fate, Nick runs into Julie just as one of the investor's armed henchmen tries to shoot him but shoots her instead. Nick is rendered unconscious before he can go back in time once again. He awakes in the bedroom of the investor's business partner, but he manages to kill him and escape. Nick confesses everything to his mother, who tells him that he cannot "control everything". She says his father also tried to control things (implying in the process that his father had the same ability previous to Nick) but ultimately committed suicide.

Nick transports himself to the scene from the start of the movie, hoping to finally fix everything by breaking up with Julie. However, he did not plan on how upset she would be – and she confesses to being pregnant and speeds away in his car. Fearing a similar accident as the original, Nick speeds after her, but while avoiding an oncoming car he opts to save Julie rather than himself by driving off the road and over a cliff.

One year later, Julie lives in New York City with her son, Nick Jr., who seems to have the same affliction as his father.

In a series of flickering flashbacks that run during the end credits, an unidentified man (who is presumably Nick's own father) is shown grappling with mental illness – presumably brought on by the progressive brain damage that the time-traveling causes to its user with each use – and eventually committing suicide. In the last of the flickering images, Nick himself is shown recovering in a hospital bed from serious injuries, but whether this is him recovering from his initial accident shown at the beginning of the movie, or him recovering from his successful effort to save Julie, remains a mystery.

In 180 AD, Hispano-Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius intends to return home after he leads the Roman army to victory against the Germanic tribes near Vindobona on the Limes Germanicus. Emperor Marcus Aurelius tells Maximus that his own son, Commodus, is unfit to rule and that he wishes Maximus to succeed him, as regent, to help save Rome from corruption and restore the republic. Upon hearing this, Commodus murders his father.

Commodus proclaims himself the new emperor, asking Maximus for his loyalty, but the latter refuses. Maximus is arrested by the Praetorian Guard and is told that he and his family will die. He kills his captors and, wounded, he rides for his home near Trujillo, only to find his wife and son crucified. Maximus buries them, then collapses from his injuries. Slavers find him, and take him to the city of Zucchabar in the Roman province of Mauretania Caesariensis, where he is sold to gladiator trainer Proximo.

Maximus reluctantly fights in local tournaments, his combat skills helping him win matches and gain popularity. He befriends two other gladiators: Hagen, a German; and Juba, a Numidian. Proximo reveals to Maximus that he was once a gladiator who was freed by Marcus Aurelius, and advises him to "win the crowd" to win his freedom.

When Commodus organises 150 days of games to commemorate his father's death, Proximo takes his gladiators to Rome to fight in the Colosseum. Disguised in a masked helmet, Maximus debuts in the Colosseum as a Carthaginian in a re-enactment of the Battle of Zama. Unexpectedly, he leads his side to victory, and Commodus enters the Colosseum to offer his congratulations. He orders the disguised Maximus, as leader of the gladiators, to reveal his true identity; Maximus removes his helmet and declares vengeance. Commodus is compelled by the crowd to let the gladiators live, and his guards are held back from striking them down.

Maximus's next fight is against a legendary undefeated gladiator, Tigris of Gaul. Commodus has arranged for several tigers to be set upon Maximus during the duel; Maximus, however, prevails. Commodus orders Maximus to kill Tigris, but Maximus spares his opponent's life; to that crowd chanted "Maximus the Merciful". Angered at this outcome, Commodus taunts Maximus about his family's deaths, but the latter turns and walks away.

Maximus discovers from Cicero, his ex-orderly, that his former legions remain loyal. He meets in secret with Lucilla, Commodus's sister; and Gracchus, an influential senator. They agree to have Maximus escape Rome to join his legions, topple Commodus by force, and hand power back to the Roman Senate. Commodus learns of the plot when Lucilla's son, Lucius, innocently hints at the conspiracy. Commodus threatens Lucilla and Lucius, and has the Praetorian Guard arrest Gracchus and attack the gladiators' barracks. Proximo and his men, including Hagen, sacrifice themselves to enable Maximus to escape. Maximus is captured at the rendezvous with Cicero, where the latter is killed.

In an effort to win back public approval, Commodus challenges Maximus to a duel in the Colosseum. He stabs Maximus in the lung before the match to gain an advantage. Despite his injuries, Maximus disarms Commodus, who demands a sword. Disgusted by his advantageous attitude, the Praetorian Guard refuses to aid him. Commodus produces a hidden knife, but Maximus overpowers him and drives the same knife into Commodus's throat, killing him. Before Maximus succumbs to his wounds, he asks for political reforms, for his gladiator allies to be freed, and for Senator Gracchus to be reinstated. As he dies, he has a vision where he reunites with his wife and son. His friends and allies honor him as "a soldier of Rome", at Lucilla's behest, and carry his body out of the arena, leaving the dead Commodus behind.

That night, Juba visits the Colosseum and buries figurines of Maximus's wife and son at the spot where he died. He promises to see Maximus again, "but not yet".

The novel presents itself as the diary of Mademoiselle Célestine R., a chambermaid. Her first employer fetishizes her boots, and she later discovers the elderly man dead, with one of her boots stuffed into his mouth. Later on, Célestine becomes the maid of an upper class couple, Lanlaire, and is perfectly aware that she is entangled in the power struggles of their marriage. Célestine ends by becoming a café hostess, who mistreats her servants in turn.

Bart gets a stomach ache after accidentally eating a jagged metal Krusty-O prize packed in his breakfast cereal. Thinking Bart is feigning illness to avoid a history test, Homer and Marge send him to school anyway. After Bart struggles through the test, Mrs. Krabappel allows him to visit the school nurse once she sees he actually may be ill. Bart collapses in the nurse's office and is taken to Springfield General Hospital, where he undergoes appendicitis surgery from Dr. Hibbert and Dr. Nick. While visiting Bart in the hospital, Lisa discovers her hero, jazzman Bleeding Gums Murphy, is a patient in another ward. He is destitute after spending all the royalties from his only album, ''Sax on the Beach'', on a $1500-a-day Fabergé egg habit.

Bart's classmates admire his scar and demand to have appendectomies of their own. Lisa spends time with Murphy, who lends her his saxophone for a school recital. With most of the orchestra absent while recovering from appendix surgery, the remaining trio perform and Lisa is a hit with the crowd. She is saddened to learn that Bleeding Gums has died when she returns to the hospital the next day. Lisa is the only person who attends his funeral, where Reverend Lovejoy misidentifies him as a sousaphone player. Lisa vows to make sure that everyone in Springfield appreciates Bleeding Gums' musical legacy. Bart sues Krusty the Clown and is given a $100,000 settlement. After Bart's attorney Lionel Hutz deducts his legal fees, Bart is left with only $500.

Still stricken with grief, Lisa decides that the best way to honor Bleeding Gums' memory is by having his album played on the local jazz station. Lisa spots it at the Android's Dungeon for $250; after hearing that Bleeding Gums is dead, Comic Book Guy doubles the price to $500. As she leaves, Bart arrives with his $500 settlement to buy a pog with Steve Allen's face. After seeing his sister's sad face through the shop window, Bart buys Lisa the album because she was the only one who believed his stomach ache was real. When she says he will never again see $500, Bart shows her a box of new Krusty-Os with flesh-eating bacteria which he intends to eat and sue Krusty again with.

When the radio station plays one of Bleeding Gums' songs, Lisa is disappointed because the station's tiny range prevents anyone from hearing it. Lightning strikes the antenna, giving it extra power and projecting it into every radio in Springfield. She is satisfied and turns to leave, but Bleeding Gums appears from the heavens to tell Lisa that she has made "an old jazz man happy". Mufasa from ''The Lion King'', Darth Vader from the ''Star Wars'' film series, and James Earl Jones then appear in the clouds alongside Bleeding Gums, who tells them to keep quiet. After saying their final goodbyes, Lisa and Bleeding Gums perform "Jazzman" one last time.

Horsemouth, a drummer living in a ghetto of Kingston plans to make some extra money selling and distributing records. He buys a motorcycle to carry them to the sound systems around the island. The film starts as a loose interpretation of Vittorio de Sica’s ''The Bicycle Thief'' and turns into a reggae interpretation of the Robin Hood myth.

When Mrs. Pummelhorst (the school gym teacher) announces that she will be leaving to undergo gender reassignment surgery and will come back as the shop teacher "Mr. Pummelhorst," Coach Krupt, a substitute, takes her place. Every gym class, he has the students play a game called "Bombardment," which consists of him throwing dodgeballs at the students.

When Bart gets sick of the constant bullying, he fills a ball full of water and sticks it in the freezer overnight. The next day, he tries to throw the frozen ball at Coach Krupt, who ducks; the ball crashes through the window and destroys Willie's shack. When Marge picks up Bart from school and sees Willie is homeless, she offers to let him stay at their house, and he eventually accepts. When there, Lisa has Willie realize that his life could be much better, and she decides to turn him into a proper gentleman. Bart, however, does not believe that she can do it, but Lisa bets that she can in time for the school science fair.

Meanwhile, Homer comes home with his last pair of blue pants ripped and torn after his seat breaks at the go-cart track. As he searches through town for a new pair, he finds no store that sells his favorite type of pants. When he goes to the factory that sells them, the manager tells him that they do not make blue pants anymore due to poor sales thanks to a disastrous Super Bowl ad. Homer tells him that he will get more customers. He does this by writing "Buy blue pants" on the back of his head. Homer's advertising campaign pays off and soon everyone is wearing blue pants. However, Marge is annoyed when Homer begins putting other advertisements all over his body.

Lisa struggles to teach Willie how to act sophisticated. On the day before the science fair, he is still his same old self, but when he sees how disappointed Lisa is, he suddenly surprises both Bart and Lisa by correctly (and with a 'proper' accent) saying a sentence she gave him. At the science fair the next day, he impresses everyone with his politeness and verbal dexterity under the guise of G.K. Willington Esq. No one actually knows that it is the old groundskeeper until Lisa announces it to everyone. Once again, she wins the science fair, and the bet along with it.

Even though he is respected by everybody, Willie soon begins to miss his old life and feels out of place working as the maitre d' at a fancy restaurant; unfortunately, both his job and his shack were taken by the music teacher. He explains to Lisa that he wishes to go back to the way things were, and she understands. Soon, he is returned to his restored "crap shack", which Lisa has decorated with a new sign on the inside wall reading "Home Sweet Home." Willie, acting very grateful for the gift, asks to be alone. Lisa understands and promptly exits the shack. Upon her leaving, Willie takes the sign and smashes it on the ground, declaring that he liked his shack "the way it was".

The novel is set in the 11th century at the fortress of Alamut, which was seized by the leader of the Ismailis, Hassan-i Sabbah or ''Sayyiduna'' (سیدنا, "Our Master"). At the start of the story, he is gathering an army for the purpose of attacking the Seljuk Empire, which has taken over possession of Iran. The story opens from the point of view of Halima who was purchased by Hassan to become a houri. The story commences with the journey of young ibn Tahir, who is, according to his family's wish, intending to join the Alamut garrison. There, he is appointed to the squad of the most valiant soldiers, named the ''fedai'' (فدائی). ''Fedai'' are expected to obey orders without demur and forfeit their lives if necessary. During their demanding training, they come to be convinced that they shall go to heaven immediately after their death if they die in the line of duty. Meanwhile, Halima joins the other houris in the garden which Hassan has been building, the young girls are educated in various arts by the leader of the houris and confidant to Hassan, Miriam. Hassan managed to achieve such level of obedience by deceiving his soldiers; he gave them drugs (hashish) to numb them and afterwards ordered that they be carried into the gardens behind the fortress—which were made into a simulacrum of heaven, including ''houris''. Therefore, ''fedayin'' believe that Allah has given Hassan the power to send anybody to Heaven for a certain period. Moreover, some of the ''fedayin'' fall in love with ''houris'', and Hassan unscrupulously uses that to his advantage.

Meanwhile, the Seljuk army besieges Alamut. Some of the soldiers are captured and Hassan decides to demonstrate his power to them. He orders a pair of ''fedayin'' (Yusuf and Suleiman) to kill themselves; Suleiman by stabbing himself, Yusuf by jumping off a tower. They gladly fulfill their master's order since they believe that they will soon rejoice with their beloved in heaven. After the siege, Hassan orders ibn Tahir to go and kill the grand vizier of the Seljuk sultan Nizam al-Mulk. Hassan wants to take revenge for al-Mulk's treachery against him long ago. Ibn Tahir stabs the vizier, but, before he passes away, the vizier reveals the truth of Hassan's deceptions to his murderer. Upon hearing of his success, Hassan informs Miriam that Ibn Tahir is likely dead as a result of discovery, Miriam commits suicide from her disillusionment. Halima also commits suicide when she learn she will never be with Suleiman whom she fell in love with. Ibn Tahir decides to return to Alamut and kill Hassan. When ibn Tahir returns, Hassan receives him and also reveals him his true motto: "Nothing is an absolute reality, all is permitted". Then, he lets ibn Tahir go, to start a long journey around the world. Another ''fedai'' kills the Seljuk Sultan and the Seljuk empire dissolves. The fight for the Seljuk throne begins. Hassan encloses himself in a tower, determined to work until the end of his days. He transfers the power over the Ismaelits to the hands of his faithful ''dai'', military, and religious chiefs.

The story follows various events at a New Zealand ''low-decile'' high school in a low-income area having often poorly-qualified teaching staff and many students with difficult socio-economic backgrounds - mostly belonging to ethnic minorities, Māori and Pacifika.

In October 1991, the commercial swordfishing boat ''Andrea Gail'' returns to port in Gloucester, Massachusetts, with a poor catch. Boat owner Bob Brown ridicules and taunts Captain Billy Tyne over his recent "cold streak". Desperate to redeem himself, Captain Tyne convinces the ''Andrea Gail'' crew to join him for one more late-season fishing expedition. The crew heads out past their usual fishing grounds on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, leaving a developing tropical storm behind them. Initially unsuccessful, they head to the Flemish Cap, where their luck greatly improves. After amassing thousands of pounds of fish, the ice machine breaks down; the only way to sell their catch before it spoils is to hurry back to shore. However, between ''Andrea Gail'' and Gloucester is a confluence of two powerful weather fronts and a hurricane, which the crew underestimates.

As the crew of ''Andrea Gail'' battles the raging sea, a strong wind breaks the ship's radio antenna just as Hurricane ''Grace'' and the northern weather front merge with each other atop them. Rookie fisherman Bobby Shatford attempts to fix it but can only watch helplessly as the antenna breaks off and disappears into the sky. Shortly after, Captain Linda Greenlaw of sister ship ''Hannah Boden'' calls in a Mayday for the ''Andrea Gail''. A New York Air National Guard HH-60 Pave Hawk rescue helicopter responds, but after failing to perform a midair refueling with an HC-130 Hercules, the helicopter crew aborts the mission and ditch their aircraft. All but one of the Air National Guard crew members are rescued by a Coast Guard vessel, the USCGC ''Tamaroa''.

The ''Andrea Gail'' endures various problems including 40 foot waves crashing onto the deck, a broken stabilizer ramming the side of the ship with a loose anchor, and two crew members briefly getting thrown overboard. The ship struggles to sail through pounding waves and shrieking winds, while friends and family worry and wait for news. Billy makes a successful attempt to turn the boat around. However, the vessel encounters an enormous rogue wave. They attempt to drive the boat over the wave, but it crests before it can get to the top and is overturned. Billy elects to go down with his ship, the rest of the crew are trapped inside the living quarters, and only one, Bobby, manages to get out. He surfaces and watches as ''Andrea Gail'' rights herself before sinking stern-first into the depths of the Atlantic. Bobby silently says goodbye to his girlfriend and loved ones as the rapidly rising swell carries him away.

There are no survivors; Linda reads the eulogy at the memorial. Later, as she heads out to sea again, she remembers Billy soliloquizing about what it means to be a sword (fish) boat captain.

Nita, taking refuge in the library from bullies, checks out a book found in the children's section with the provocative title ''So You Want To Be a Wizard''. On the way home, the bullies corner her, beat her up, and take a space pen given to her by her uncle. Before she goes to sleep, she takes the Wizard's Oath. The next morning she looks at her manual and sees her name in its list of Wizards.

While practicing a spell to retrieve the pen, she meets another Wizard Christopher "Kit" Rodriguez, also a new wizard, also making a spell for fearlessness. They create a new spell, which presents a vision of a frightening alternative Manhattan: polluted, lightless, and frightening. A terrible cosmic force (later named as the Lone Power) tries to consume them. They summon a sapient white hole from space, who they call "Fred".

Next day at school, Fred and Nita try to retrieve Nita's pen from her bullies. Fred miscalculates the gravity required to lift the pen from the bullies' possession and swallows it instead and now has a bad case of hiccups. They seek help from local Advisory Wizards. Fred's problem is fixed, but Nita's pen is still gone. They must link Fred to a "worldgate" in Grand Central Station and pull the pen out of him.

Fred also has some alarming news: a crucial book, ''Naming of Lights'' (or ''The Book of Night with Moon'') has gone missing. It describes the true nature of the universe. Its shadow book contains descriptions twisted out of their true patterns. If the Lone Power should acquire the first book, the cosmos would be irreparably skewed. The three Wizards go to the dark alternative New York City via the world gate, in order to retrieve the ''Naming of Lights''. Here the Lone Power rules, as well as his supernatural minions live.

Nita retrieves the pen. The Wizards learn that both of the two Books are here. To return home they will have to read from the Bright Book by moonlight. They eavesdrop on the Lone Power's phone call to the archangel Michael. Michael suspects that his brother stole the bright Book, while the Lone Power suspects him of sending Nita and Kit to steal it back. Nita and Kit have not previously considered this, but it does make sense.

Nita steals the dark Book, and uses it to locate the bright Book in the tunnels under City Hall. In the tunnels, they discover the Book is guarded by the Eldest of the fireworms. The Eldest, a dragon, lies on a vast hoard of varied stolen items ranging from the valuable to the trivial. The Wizards bargain with the Eldest. They exchange the dark book for the bright one.

They flee from the Lone Power, who manifests itself physically to chase them. They return Earth with it still chasing after. It threatens to unmake their universe. In Central Park, and begin to read from the bright Book by moonlight, to undo the changes that the Lone Power has been making during the pursuit. The Lone Power then puts out the Sun, extinguishing the moonlight they need to read the book. Fred sacrifices himself by "blowing his quanta". Reflected by the moon, this becomes moonlight that the Wizards can use to continue reading. As Kit and Nita recite the Lone Power's true name, written in the bright Book, Nita makes a slight modification to the text (the symbol ⎋), giving the Lone Power the option to become a positive rather than negative energy. Renamed and vanquished, the Lone Power withdraws. Nita and Kit go home, their Ordeal complete.

Homer unsuccessfully tries to win tickets for a football game on a radio contest. Ned wins the tickets and invites Homer as his guest. Although he dislikes Ned, Homer accepts because he desperately wants to attend the game. Ned pays for all of the food and persuades the winning quarterback to give the game ball to Homer. Overwhelmed by Ned's generosity, Homer becomes friends with Ned and his family.

Homer begins acting overly grateful and annoys Ned and his family to no end by interrupting their family time together. The Flanders family and the Simpson family go on a camping trip together but do not get along. When the Simpsons start a food fight, Ned tells his wife that he has grown to hate Homer.

Upon returning home, Homer remains oblivious to Ned's animosity. He arrives at the Flanders' house expecting to play golf, but Ned and his family get in their car and race off without him. Pulled over by Chief Wiggum for speeding, Ned takes a sobriety test as disapproving townspeople watch. At church, when the entire congregation bow their heads in prayer, Homer inhales very loudly through his nose, causing Ned to yell at him. This alarms the worshippers, who become even more upset with Ned. But Homer sticks up for Ned and convinces them to give him another chance.

The next week, everything returns to normal as Homer is once again annoyed by Ned. The episode ends with the Simpsons spending the night in Homer's great Uncle Boris' haunted house, which he recently inherited. After turning out the lights, they see something that causes them to scream in terror.

Based on a true story, the film centers on Dan Saxon, a cop with a troubled childhood. He is enlisted by Conroy Price, an agent in Arizona's State Attorney General's office, to go undercover to bust the illegal drugs and arms trafficking. Saxon is unsuccessful until he meets and befriends Virgil, a mechanic who introduces him to the seedy world of criminal bikers.

Virgil tutors Saxon on bikes and customs of the "outlaw motorcycle brotherhood." After many lessons and a major change in appearance Saxon develops an alter ego named Sid and ends up infiltrating the Jackals and earning the trust of Blood, their president. At the same time, he begins a relationship with a photojournalist, Renee Jason, who is aware of his dual life.

As Saxon falls deeper into this world of crime, he becomes more unbalanced. After a violent situation that led to the murder of a 20-year-old convenience store attendant, Saxon is brought back to earth. Saxon's Identity is revealed, by Price, to the local, state, and federal law enforcement, much to their praise for Saxon's undercover skills. Concluding the undercover operation, over 200 arrests are made including Blood. The end of the film shows Saxon walking into the desert. It is revealed in the narrated epilogue that Saxon and Renee are living in California, and Blood is serving 3 consecutive life sentences.

Nine-year-old Evelyn Doyle (Sophie Vavasseur) and her two brothers, Maurice (Hugh MacDonagh) and Dermot (Niall Beagan) are left motherless when their mother leaves their drunkard, out-of-work father Desmond Doyle (Pierce Brosnan). When Desmond's mother-in-law (Claire Mullan) reports the situation to the authorities, a judge decrees that the children are prohibited by law from being left in a broken home; they are placed in Church-run orphanages.

Evelyn's grandfather (Frank Kelly) takes her to the girls' orphanage and explains to her that rays of light created by the sun shining in a specific spot through the clouds are called "angel rays"; they indicate that a guardian angel is watching over her. Evelyn finds when she enters the orphanage that conditions are harsh and many of the girls have been there for years.

Desmond finds little hope in regaining custody of his children because he cannot afford a lawyer, turns to drink, and assaults Father O'Malley—who punches him back. Desmond is helped by the local part-time bartender and chemist, Bernadette (Julianna Margulies), who tells him to see her brother Michael (Stephen Rea), a solicitor. He makes it clear to Desmond that he cannot help him until he gets his act together—regular income and orderly life. Desmond finds decorating jobs and spends nights singing for tips with his father in the pub where Bernadette works.

Desmond gets a letter from Evelyn that says she hasn't been adjusting well and that Sister Bridget (Andrea Irvine) beat her when she questioned the Sister's authority; the Sister had beaten another student when she forgot Bible Scripture, although it stated that "God is merciful" therefore God would not want Sister Bridget to beat the children for forgetting Scripture. While seeking out Evelyn, he finds and shakes the Sister while threatening to "tear her limb from limb" should she ever touch his daughter again.

Desmond returns to drink, and after several rampages Bernadette refuses to continue her relationship with him until he shapes up; Desmond reforms. The American Nick Barron (Aidan Quinn), and the injured rugby player and rebel lawyer Thomas Connolly (Alan Bates) argue Desmond's court plea for regaining custody of his children; it is rejected by the courts leading Desmond and his children heartbroken and separated. But that night, the same night Desmond quits drinking, a gambler rigs Desmond to win copious amounts of money to pay his legal bills. But with nowhere to go, the case seems hopeless until Connolly proposes bringing an entirely new issue to the Supreme Court: that the lack of children's custody by a parent is contrary to the Irish Constitution—an issue never successfully argued before the Court.

It takes public pressure for the case to be heard before the Court. Desmond gives compelling testimony. The following day, Evelyn says in court that she told a false story about her bruised face because Sister Bridget exaggerated her interaction with Desmond. Evelyn works herself into a pickle when angel rays come into the court through the windows—a sign to her that her grandfather was watching over her. She recants her newly-expressed explanation with comebacks that make people chuckle. She concludes with a recitation of a prayer asking to forgive Sister Bridget and ensure the prospering of Ireland and its people. Two of the three judges side with Desmond, the children are returned to him, and he falls in love with Bernadette. They are shown on Christmas Day, celebrating as a family.