Storyline

''Minerva'' takes place in the ''Half-Life'' universe. Part of the first level is played in and around a World War II bunker, placed in an unknown, oceanic location, identified in the mod's blog as the Baltic Sea. The player assumes the role of an unnamed protagonist, hinted to be a renegade member of the Combine Overwatch, infiltrating, exploring, and ultimately destroying the Combine base on the island.

In contrast to ''Half-Life 2'', no non-hostile characters or dialogue ever appear; instead, the player is aided by a mysterious guide, the eponymous "Minerva", whom also serves to relay story information to the player. Though Minerva is never seen, she stylizes herself as a "goddess", with messages indicating she is somewhere in Earth's orbit aboard a satellite.

The plot is progressed through radio messages from Minerva, relayed as text rather than spoken words. Minerva's communications initially are sarcastic and dismissive, and her demeanour brusque, treating the player as a data-gathering tool at her disposal. Information and storyline is revealed in short segments over the course of the chapters, often with no explanation; for example, in Metastasis she reveals that her (and therefore the player's) goal is to discover the Combine's purposes on and underneath the episode's island, but not why she considers this important or how the player became involved in the first place.

As the story progresses the protagonist fights through the base's lower levels, discovering a massive portal by which the Combine are teleporting soldiers. This shocks Minerva, who states that it leads to a world the Combine are sieging. Minerva betrays the protagonist after he sabotages the Combine's defenses, activating an orbital laser and attempting to destroy the base as she declares him a "redeemed traitor." He survives, however, and Minerva becomes apologetic, later admitting she has grown "attached" to him. She explains that the portal, wherever it may lead, could mean the difference between life and death for billions of people, hence her desperation to destroy it. She urges him to escape as she recharges the satellite's laser, as the Combine have become aware of her location and she fears retribution. With the aid of Minerva and a stolen helicopter, the protagonist fights to the surface and escapes the island just as it is annihilated by a second orbital blast.

Minerva's communications are unusual in that each is prefixed by a time/date stamp in International Date Format (ISO 8601), giving an explicit timescale to the plot. These timestamps extend to several written pieces on the series' website that give background to the story. From these and the in-game messages it is possible to construct a partial timeline of events covered in the Minerva series.

A U.S. Air Force command center receives information that an unknown aircraft is approaching from Europe. The alert status of the Strategic Air Command's (SAC) bomber forces is raised, a standard precaution against a sneak attack. The unknown aircraft then disappears from radar, causing the alert status to continue to increase, eventually leading to the bombers being sent into the air to the fail-safe points. From there, they can proceed to their targets only if they receive a special attack code from the on-board "fail-safe box". After a short time, the unknown target is reacquired and identified as an off-course commercial airliner. The S.A.C. threat level is immediately reduced, and the bomber fleet is sent a recall order.

A technical failure at the height of the alert allows the attack code to be accidentally transmitted to Group Six, which consists of six Vindicator supersonic bombers. Colonel Grady, the head of the group, tries to contact S.A.C. Headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska to verify the fail-safe order (called Positive Check), but Soviet radio jamming prevents Grady from hearing them. Concluding that the fail-safe order and the radio jamming could mean only nuclear war, Grady orders Group Six crew toward Moscow.

At meetings in Omaha, at the Pentagon, and in the fallout shelter of the White House, American politicians and scholars debate the implications of the attack. Professor Groteschele, a civilian advisor, suggests that the United States follow this accidental attack with a full-scale attack to force the Soviets to surrender. The President of the United States (unnamed but apparently modeled on John F. Kennedy) refuses to consider such a course of action.

Instead, the President orders the Air Force to shoot down the bombers. Some officers at S.A.C. and in the pursuing fighter jets protest, stating that the fighters cannot easily catch the bombers and will run out of fuel over the Arctic Ocean in the attempt. The President orders them to try anyway, and the six "Skyscrapper" supersonic fighters (F-104 Starfighter-like aircraft) in the area engage their afterburners and, just prior to their fuel running out, fire their rockets in futile attempts to hit the bombers. The fighters fall into the sea, and the pilots are lost.

The President contacts the Premier of the Soviet Union, identified in the book as Nikita Khrushchev, and offers assistance in attacking the group. The Soviets decline at first; however, they soon decide to accept it. At S.A.C. headquarters, a fight breaks out over the very idea of working with the Soviets to shoot down their own aircraft. Air Force General Bogan attempts to stop the attack, but his executive officer, Colonel Cascio, wants it to continue. Cascio attempts to take over command of S.A.C., but is stopped by the Air Police. However, precious time has been wasted.

Meanwhile, the Soviet P.V.O. Strany air defense forces have managed to shoot down only two of the six planes. The Soviets accept American help and shoot down a third plane. Two bombers and a support plane remain on course to Moscow. Bogan tells Marshal Nevsky, the Soviet air defense commander, to ignore Plane #6 (the support plane) because it has no weapons. Nevsky, who mistrusts Bogan, instead orders his Soviet aircraft to attack all three planes. Plane 6's last feint guarantees that the two remaining bombers can successfully attack. Following the failure, Nevsky collapses.

As the two planes approach Moscow, Colonel Grady uses the radio to contact S.A.C. to inform them that they are about to drop their bombs. As a last-ditch effort, the Soviets fire a barrage of nuclear-tipped missiles to form a fireball in an attempt to knock the low-flying Vindicator out of the sky. The Vindicators shoot up one last decoy, which successfully leads the Soviet missiles high in the air. However, one missile explodes earlier than expected; the second bomber blows up, but Colonel Grady's plane survives. With the radio channel still open, the President attempts to persuade Grady that there is no war. Believing that such a late recall attempt must be a Soviet trick, as per his training, Grady ignores them.

The nearby explosion of the Soviet missiles has given the bomber crew a huge radiation dose, and Grady tells his crew, "We're not just walking wounded, we're walking dead men." He intends to fly the aircraft over Moscow and detonate the bombs in the plane. His co-pilot agrees, noting, "There's nothing to go home to" under the belief that the United States has already been devastated by a full-scale nuclear attack from the Soviet Union.

When it becomes apparent that one bomber will get through Soviet defenses and destroy Moscow with their two 20-megaton bombs, the American President states that he will order an American bomber to destroy New York City at the same time, using two 20-megaton bombs, targeting the Empire State Building as ground zero; this also involves a grave personal sacrifice, as the First Lady is visiting New York, and the President decides not to warn her. On hearing the New York attack plan, the supposedly atheist Communist leader bursts out with "Holy Mother of God!" He is appalled but realizes that it is the only way to prevent a worldwide nuclear war which will probably destroy humanity as "others" (presumably the Soviet military) would not accept the unilateral destruction of Moscow, and would depose him and retaliate against The West. Moscow is bombed and immediately thereafter the New York bombs are dropped by a senior general within S.A.C., a long-time friend of the president's who orders his crew to let him handle the entire bombing run by himself, assuming responsibility for the destruction of New York city; he then takes his own life.

In his book "Men Who Play God: The Story of the Hydrogen Bomb", Norman Moss describes both the book and film as flawed due to the way nuclear release orders were actually handled at the time ("not an electronic go signal that could be sent out accidentally"), implying that the authors were not sufficiently aware of these.

In the early-to-mid-1960s, the height of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. An unknown aircraft approaches North America from Europe. U.S. Vindicator bombers of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) are scrambled to their fail safe points near Russia. The bombers have orders not to proceed past their fail safe points without receiving a special attack code. The original "threat" is proven to be innocuous and recall orders are issued. However, due to a technical failure, the attack code, CAP811, is transmitted to Group Six, which consists of six Vindicator supersonic bombers and four escort fighters. Colonel Grady, the commanding pilot of Group Six, tries to contact SAC headquarters in Omaha to verify the fail-safe order (called Positive Check), but due to Soviet radio jamming, Grady cannot hear Omaha. Concluding that the attack order and the radio jamming could only mean war, Grady commands Group Six towards Moscow, their intended destination.

At meetings in Omaha, the Pentagon, and in the fallout shelter of the White House, U.S. politicians and scholars debate the implications of the attack. Professor Groteschele suggests the United States follow this accidental attack with a full-scale attack to force the Soviets to surrender.

The President orders the Air Force to send the four escort fighters after the bombers to shoot down the Vindicators. The attempt is to show that the Vindicator attack is an accident, not a full-scale nuclear assault. After using their afterburners in an attempt to catch the bombers, the fighters run out of fuel and crash, dooming the pilots to die of exposure in the Arctic Sea. The fighters fail to destroy any bombers.

The President of the United States contacts the Premier of the Soviet Union and offers assistance in attacking the group. The Soviets decline at first; then they decide to accept help.

Meanwhile, the Soviet PVO Strany air defense corps has managed to shoot down two of the six planes. After accepting U.S. help they shoot down two more planes. Two bombers remain on course to Moscow. One is a decoy and carries no bombs. The other carries two 20 megaton devices. General Bogan tells Marshal Nevsky, the Soviet commander, to ignore the decoy plane because it is harmless. Nevsky, who mistrusts Bogan, instead orders his Soviet aircraft to pursue the decoy aircraft. The Soviet fighters are then out of position to intercept the final U.S. bomber. The decoy's feint guarantees that the remaining bomber can successfully attack. Following the failure, Nevsky collapses.

As the bomber approaches Moscow, Colonel Grady opens up the radio to contact SAC to inform them that they are about to make the strike. As a last-minute measure, the Soviets fire a barrage of nuclear-tipped missiles to form a fireball in an attempt to knock the low-flying Vindicator out of the sky. The bomber shoots up two decoy missiles, which successfully leads the Soviet missiles high in the air and Colonel Grady's plane survives.

With the radio open, the President attempts to persuade Grady that there is no war. Grady's son also attempts to convince him. Under standing orders that such a late recall attempt must be a Soviet trick, Grady ignores them. Grady tells his crew that "We're not just walking wounded, we're walking dead men," due to radiation from the Soviet missiles. He intends to fly the aircraft over Moscow and detonate the bombs in the plane. His co-pilot notes, "There's nothing to go home to." Meanwhile, the American president has ordered another American bomber to circle over New York with a 40-megaton payload, which should be dropped in case of the bombing of Moscow. The American ambassador in Moscow reports about the final moments of the Soviet capital before being vaporized from the blast.

The American bomber receives an order to drop its bombs over New York in order for the destruction of Moscow to be reciprocated and a Third World War avoided. It was earlier revealed that the American President's wife was in New York while the events of the film transpired, meaning she would be killed in the blast. The pilot of the American bomber, General Black, commits suicide with a lethal injection just after releasing the bombs.

Hiroshi Hada, a Japanese businessman in a troubled marriage, sees a woman being groped in a crowded Tokyo subway. He is fascinated by the fact that she moans silently, involuntarily orgasms, but does not cry out or let people know she is being sexually molested. When Hada is transferred to Los Angeles, he has too much to drink at a business party and tries to imitate what he saw by groping a Caucasian school girl while riding a crowded bus. But unlike the Japanese woman that Hada saw in Japan, the American girl screams. Hada runs away, but is robbed and beaten by a mugger. Meanwhile, several innocent Asian men are beaten by bystanders who suspect that one of them is the man who groped the girl.

The girl happens to be Rita Crowe, the daughter of an LAPD vice-squad detective, Lt. Crowe (Bronson), an officer with a strong sense of justice who is very protective of her. Shortly afterward, Fumiko, Hada's daughter, is kidnapped into a child prostitution ring led by the infamous "Pimp King" Duke. Crowe, who has developed a general dislike of the Japanese due to his daughter's incident, is assigned against his will to find the girl. His feelings about Japanese people start to change when he realizes that the Hadas care about their daughter as intensely as he cares for his daughter.

Crowe and his partner, Eddie Rios, eventually find Fumiko and rescue her from the pimp and his gang. They kill one member of the gang, but the others escape. The Hadas visit Crowe's house with gifts to show their appreciation for his work. Rita recognizes Hiroshi as the man who groped her on the bus—and he recognizes her—but neither one says anything. However, despite this apparently happy ending, Fumiko has been so traumatized by her experiences as a prostitute—she was raped by Duke and his gang members and then sold to customers of both sexes—that she commits suicide by an overdose.

Crowe and Rios decide to find Duke, and locate him on a boat in a harbor. In the ensuing fight, Duke and his remaining gang members kill Rios, but Duke eventually ends up in the harbor. Since Duke can't swim, Crowe has the option to let the gangster drown, but ends up dragging him out. However, as a way of "poetic justice", Crowe has Duke interred in a prison wing inhabited by sexually aggressive inmates; his designated cellmate makes several sexual allusions, leading Duke to realize that he is intent on raping him. As Duke screams in anguish, Crowe walks away in deep satisfaction.

Sammy (Ayub Khan-Din) and Rosie (Frances Barber) are a married couple, both leading a promiscuous bohemian lifestyle until Sammy's father (Shashi Kapoor) comes to visit to escape past issues.

Benjamin Sisko has been studying Bajoran culture, and believes that old legends may hold a grain of truth: ancient Bajorans may have travelled outside their own solar system using solar wind to power small craft—perhaps even reaching as far as the Cardassian homeworld.

Sisko has obtained diagrams of a lightship and decides to build the vessel and retrace the route of the ancient Bajorans. A brief conversation with the Cardassian officer Dukat reveals political undertones to the adventure: a success would mean accepting accomplishments of the ancient Bajorans that the Cardassians have dismissed as "fairy tales". Despite initial reluctance, Sisko's son Jake agrees to accompany him on the voyage.

The trip proves an opportunity for the Siskos to talk. Jake reveals that he has been accepted to the Pennington Institute, a prestigious school in Wellington, New Zealand; but he plans to defer his admission so as not to leave his father alone on Deep Space Nine. He also recommends that his father start dating again.

When the ship flies into a "tachyon eddy", it is accelerated to warp speeds, but the sails and navigation instruments are damaged. Sisko attempts to call for help, but they are unable to contact Deep Space Nine. Soon, however, they are hailed by none other than Dukat, who announces that they have reached Cardassian space. Furthermore, Dukat mentions that their arrival coincides with the discovery of the remains of a similar solar vessel wrecked centuries ago on Cardassia, thus proving the ancient Bajorans made the same voyage. Sisko remarks on the coincidence, intimating that the disclosure may have been a last-minute attempt on the part of the Cardassians to save face. As the travellers soak this information in and celebrate, the Cardassians set off fireworks to celebrate the achievement of Sisko and his son.

A subplot involves Dr. Julian Bashir discovering that his old academic rival from medical school is due to visit Deep Space Nine. Competitive and nervous, Bashir is taken aback by her apparently outright ignoring him at Quark's. After an evening getting drunk with Chief O'Brien, Bashir summons his courage and approaches the rival, who reveals that the envied assignment she took, afforded to her by her superior class rank, turned out uninspiring; furthermore, she failed to recognize Bashir due to thinking he was in fact an Andorian. Meanwhile, she has been following Bashir's work with great enthusiasm.

In Queen Boadicea's Britain, the Ancient Goodies are wearing animal skins, and Graeme's spectacle frames are made from wooden twigs. They live in a small one-room stone house, which is very dark, and, so that they can have extra light in their house, Graeme smashes some of the stones out from a wall with a club to make a hole.

The Romans are gradually taking over Britain, and even Tim states that the Romans' woad is better quality than the British woad is. Graeme and Bill are horrified at Tim's approval of Roman woad and refuse to touch the stuff — but Tim puts the Roman woad onto his face, anyway.

A Roman ambassador arrives at their house on 'foot', and the Goodies hide from him. The ambassador, however, turns out to be a messenger, and he comments that the Emperor wants the Goodies to go to Rome. The Goodies attempt to ride to Rome on their wooden tandem, but they have trouble with the tandem so they travel to Rome on foot, instead. When they come to a crossroad, with three roads diverging from the one they are on, they are undecided as to which road they should take. However, there is a signpost with the word "Rome" pointing to each of the three roads. Also, the Goodies have a map with the words "All roads lead to Rome", so they decide to take different routes from each other — finally ending up at exactly the same spot as each other, at exactly the same time.

In Rome, the Emperor goes onto a balcony to talk to his subjects, but the Romans do not want to listen to him, and throw fruit and vegetables at him (which the Emperor then picks up a cucumber and, looking at the people outside the Palace, he asks them: "Did you throw that? … ''Cheeky''!").

The Emperor meets the Goodies and tells them that he wants them to take over the entertainment. When the Emperor later complains about his life, Tim comments that ''he'' would like to be Emperor — so the Emperor hands over the position to Tim (who immediately sets up vacation areas all over Rome and intends to invite people from all over to come to Rome). Graeme, who is in charge of entertainment, arranges it, including sending out invitations to people from other lands to come to Rome.

Meanwhile, the Vandals, who have also received the Goodies' invitation to go to Rome, are on the move, burning and pillaging everything in moi their wake. The Vandals are led by the ferocious and fearsome "Attila the Hun".

The Goodies go to the Colosseum to entertain the spectators, including throwing hoops onto nails, and, in so doing, inadvertently inventing the five Olympic Rings. The Vandals arrive and the Goodies make a hasty retreat away from the area, with Tim carrying a lit torch so they can see their way. As the Goodies run through the streets of Rome, the flaming torch burns clothes, which are hanging on clotheslines. Emperor Tim also finds a violin in a glass case, with the words "Break glass in case of fire". Following the instructions, Tim opens instead of breaking the glass and removes the violin, which he then plays — while, in the distance, the fire, which was accidentally started by Tim's torch, takes hold and burns Rome.

As they run away, life holds one final surprise for the Ancient Goodies.

Angela is a 10-year-old girl trying to cope with a dysfunctional family and is on a quest to "purify" herself. Her parents, Mae and Andrew, are former performers who have resigned themselves to the loss of their dreams. They are now having problems in their relationship. Mae has drastic mood shifts that bring her from manic happiness to utter misery. Andrew tries to hold everyone together, but Mae's vacillations are becoming more than he can manage.

Angela tries to cope by inventing an imaginary universe of 'order' for herself and her 6 year old little sister, Ellie. Left to figure out everything for themselves, she grabs at scraps of religion, superstition, and fantasy to try to make some sense out of the world and understand the difference between good and evil.

Adrift, she and Ellie concoct magical rituals and have visions of fallen angels and the Virgin Mary; reading signs in the way a towel falls off a chair or a tool falls off a truck, they set off to find their way to heaven. They wander through the neighborhood, meet a lot of strange people, and try to find a way to absolve themselves of whatever 'sins' they may have committed, and 'go to heaven'.

At first, the stories that Angela tells Ellie are mainly meant to scare her into submission. But as time goes on, and her mother succumbs to mental illness, Angela becomes obsessed with the idea that the only way her mother is going to get better is if she and her sister can wash away all of their sins.

Angela may have inherited her mother's mental illness that is now beginning to manifest itself. Angela does appear to display some common attributes of what could be described as religious mania brought on by schizophrenia or a similar mental illness that involves visual and auditory hallucinations.

The residents of the small town of Shallow Valley are preparing to leave as the looming mystery of several disappearances the past year has left nothing but a sense of dread.

While packing up the sheriff's station, Deputies Laura Russell and Stuart Dempsey are horrified by the sight of a naked teenage boy, covered head-to-toe in blood. The boy wanders through the station to the holding cells, tasting the blood of the local drunk named Harvey. As the boy is restrained, Laura notices that at some point, he covered the faces of several specific people in photographs with his bloodied fingertips.

Under pressure and riddled with guilt over the unsolved disappearances, Sheriff Jack Shepherd assumes the bloody boy to be behind it all and sets out into the woods to investigate where he came from. Tracking the boy's bloody footprints, Jack is horrified as the path leads to the same location that he last saw family friend Amy Underhill.

A year earlier, Amy was abducted and Jack found her chained to a tree in the woods. Believing that the culprit was still nearby, Jack freed Amy and left her for just a moment... only to find her gone when he returned. Making contact with dripping blood, Jack relives this moment and experiences the deaths of each person that went missing at the hands of a hooded individual, with him and the bloody boy both convulsing and puking as a result.

Elsewhere, Vet Darby Owens says goodbye to family friend Helen Reedy. Over a year earlier, Helen’s husband and daughter were killed in an accident during construction of the town dam. Since Helen’s daughter was close to Darby, she asks the girl to stay for at least the rest of the day to soothe her loneliness until family arrive for dinner. Darby declines, as she intends to leave town as well before the day’s end. Samples of the blood the boy was drenched in is passed on to Darby to analyze. Not knowing about the situation at the station, Darby is confused as the test results show the blood belongs to several people.

Believing the boy could possibly be a killer, Stuart checks his fingerprints. The boy’s blood strangely travels towards Stuart, and upon contact, reveals to him that Harvey is a serial killer. Experiencing the memories of a young Harvey killing teenage hitchhikers and having sex with their bodies, Stuart immediately guns him down. Jack and the others are further disturbed as not only does the boy’s fingerprints match each of the missing victims, his face seems to be a composite of theirs as well. The boy’s voice changes to that of Amy, and asks Jack if he understands what it feels like be strung up and cut open. Forcing Jack to relive Amy’s memories once again, the boy escapes the station unseen.

As Jack and the others split up to investigate further, the hooded individual strikes again, abducting Darby. Laura soon gets a call from her father Detective Russell, warning her to stay away from the boy, and asks if Stuart is nearby. Before Russell can explain, the signal is cut off.

At night, Russell arrives in Shallow Valley and confronts Stuart about a drug dealer that died a year earlier. The drug dealer had been killed by Stuart and his former partner to keep him quiet about their dealings, and said partner had recently been killed by a naked man covered in blood. Russell explains that all over the world, the dead are rising up and seeking revenge on those that killed them. The dead manifest as blood-covered humans, and if a killer has more than one victim, they all merge into a single composite being. The blood-covered boy is one such being, made up of Amy and those who went missing in Shallow Valley.

Russell continues into town in search of Laura, while Stuart is killed by the once dead drug dealer. Tracking the boy again, Jack arrives at Helen’s house to find that she’s unharmed and unaware of what’s going on. Helen accepts Jack’s request to borrow her car and walks off into a back room to find her keys, while complaining about the increasing number of flies in her house. Turning his back for just a moment, Jack is shot by a blank and falls out onto the front steps of Helen’s house. Regaining his footing, Jack walks back into the house only to be ambushed by a hiding Helen.

Returning to the station, Laura is confronted by Amy’s father Albert, and is forced at gunpoint to look for Jack. After spending the night drinking and watching videos from Amy’s last birthday party, Albert intends to force Jack to find his daughter, or he’ll kill Laura. Jack awakes, only to find himself tied up in a dining room full of people. In horror, Jack realizes that the dining room is populated not by people, but the disfigured bodies of the missing victims, including Amy and Darby.

When Helen’s husband and daughter were killed in the Shallow Valley dam accident, she was driven mad and plotted a twisted revenge on those who built the dam. Helen stalked the spouses and children of those involved and one by one, whenever they were alone, would sedate them with an injection and drag them out into the woods. Helen would strip her victims naked and chain them to a tree, slicing parts of their bodies open once they had regained consciousness. Once they were drained of their blood, Helen would stitch her victims closed, dress their bodies, and take them back to her home to further disfigure them in her dining room.

Distracted by Laura and Albert's sudden arrival, Helen rushes outside and opens fire. Enraged at seeing Amy’s father die, the bloody boy wails and advances towards Helen. As the gun goes off, Helen and the boy's blood connects, revealing to him that she’s the killer. Panicked, Helen fails to take Laura hostage and flees into the woods. Freeing himself from his bindings, Jack rushes outside and gives chase.

Once alone, Helen turns to shoot Jack, only to find the bloody boy standing between them. Jack watches on as the boy slits Helen’s neck vertical, reaches inside and begins strangling her. Jack leaves Helen to suffer her fate, ignoring her feeble attempts at screaming for his help. Just as he did before with Jack, the boy forces Helen to relives the deaths of her victims, mentally and also physically, again and again until she finally dies.

The next morning, Jack, Laura, and Russell bury Amy and the other victims. The three depart from Shallow Valley, unsure of everything that’s happened and what's next. The bloody boy watches on, and walks off into the woods, finally at peace… only to suddenly be attacked and killed by another bloody creature, this one much larger and more demonic-looking.

Two factions have laid claim to the planet Barclow: humans from Metralubit, and the Chelonians. But instead of fighting, for nearly two hundred years, the two sides are the best of friends.

The Doctor, Romana and K-9 arrive to find an important election looming. K-9 begins a career in politics, Romana reunites with an old friend, and the Doctor discovers a plot to alter the war's friendly nature. And what has Galatea, leader of the beautiful Femdroids, got to do with this?

In ''Cirque Du Freak'' two best friends, Darren Shan, and Steve "Leopard" Leonard go to see the Cirque Du Freak, an illegal and mysterious freak show. They see many amazing events and "freaks", along with Larten Crepsley, who has a performing spider as well. Steve recognizes Mr. Crepsley as a vampire, and after telling Darren to go home without him, corners Mr. Crepsley and demands he be turned into a vampire in exchange for keeping Mr. Crepsley's identity a secret. Mr. Crepsley unwillingly tastes Steve's blood, but Mr. Crepsley says it's evil blood, and rejects Steve, who promises when he grows up, he'll kill Mr. Crepsley and become a vampire hunter. Darren, who was watching this, unbeknownst to Steve and Mr. Crepsley, tries to avoid Steve from then on, thinking Steve is really evil. A few days later, Darren goes to the Cirque Du Freak, and steals Madam Octa, Mr. Crepsley's performing spider, because of his love for spiders, and also steals a flute that controls Madam Octa. As long as Darren is playing the flute, he can control the dangerous spider. However, when Steve visits, he and Darren play with Madam Octa, who bites Steve when Darren loses concentration when his sister, Annie, comes into the room. Steve is poisoned and sent to the hospital (Darren told only Annie about Madam Octa and that she's poisonous) and the doctors can do nothing. Darren goes to Mr. Crepsley and begs him for an antidote to save his best friend, and they make a deal: Darren becomes a half vampire, and Mr. Crepsley gives him the antidote. Mr. Crepsley and Darren give Steve the antidote, and later turns Darren into a half vampire. Darren finds living his normal life as a vampire impossible, as he apparently ages much slower than normal kids and cannot control his thirst for blood, as when he accidentally attacks one of his friends and licks the blood off his scraped knee. Darren then tries living with his family, but isn't capable of this, after almost killing Annie. He returns to Mr. Crepsley. In order to avoid explaining his becoming a vampire to his family and friends; as well as not merely running away for that would keep the family in hopes he would return, Darren fakes his death. Mr. Crepsley breaks Darren's neck (which does no harm) and throws Darren off Darren's own house. Later, Mr. Crepsley unburies Darren from his coffin, and takes him to be The Vampire's Assistant, however before this happens, Steve finds out about Darren being a vampire, and tells him he'll kill "Creepy" Crepsley and Darren, along with all other vampires.

In ''The Vampire's Assistant'' Darren Shan and his vampire mentor, Mr. Crepsley, have gone back to the Cirque Du Freak, where Darren makes friends with Evra Von, a freak who has certain snake like traits. Later, Darren and Evra meet and befriend Sam Grest, and later Reggie Veggie (R.V.). R.V. is a nice, earth-loving person. However, Reggie Veggie soon learns that the freaks are feeding on animals. Darren tries to tell Mr. Tall, the circus owner, but is always interrupted and soon forgets. However, he finally tells Mr. Tall, and the Cirque moves the location, when Reggie threatens to call the police. A few days later, the Cirque is performing; Darren, however, is not performing. He goes to investigate, when he hears a noise near the wolfman's cage. Reggie is there trying to free the wolfman, whom he believes to be a trapped animal, when the wolfman bites off Reggie's hands, and kills Sam. Mr. Crepsley tells Darren that if a vampire drains a human of blood, the vampire would keep a part of the person's spirit with them. Darren willingly drinks blood for the first time to keep part of Sam's spirit alive.

In ''Tunnels of Blood'' (set in the month of December), a vampire named Gavner visits Mr. Crepsley, and soon Darren, Evra, and Mr. Crepsley travel to what later is revealed to be Mr. Crepsley's birth city. Mr. Crepsley disappears several times for what Darren and Evra presume to be business, so they act as if they are on holiday. Later, Darren is looking for a Christmas present for Evra when he meets Debbie Hemlock, a girl whom he likes, and the two soon begin dating. Darren and Evra, later, see a news report about dead bodies being found, but dry of blood; they suspect it is Mr. Crepsley and secretly follow him. Believing they are about to stop a murder, they ambush Mr. Crepsley as he was watching a man. However, it turns out the real murderer was a vampaneze (a kind of creature that is like a vampire in every way except they always kill the human they feed on, and have a purple tinge to their skin as a result of the amount of blood they drink) named Murlough, who kidnaps Evra. Mr. Crepsley and Darren set off to the sewers where Darren wanders off in a fit. He is soon kidnapped by Murlough, as a deal is made to trade with Murlough: Debbie for Evra. Later, Darren and Murlough go to Debbie's house, where Murlough mistakenly attacks what he believes to be Debbie, only to find out he was set up. Mr. Crepsley soon appears and, after a short fight, kills Murlough. It is soon revealed that Darren had drugged Debbie and her family and planned all of this with Mr. Crepsley after Murlough's demise. Before departing from Debbie forever, Darren decorates the Christmas tree in her room as he heads back to rescue Evra.

Eight years have passed since Darren Shan was "blooded" by his colleague in blood, Mr. Larten Crepsley. The Vampire Council will be gathering again soon, as it does after every 12 years, and Darren has to accompany Mr. Crepsley to the Vampire Mountain, a mountain where all the vampires share a safe haven in the mountain's caves, to be presented to the ruling committee of the Vampires - the Vampire Princes.

Six years have passed since the events in ''Tunnels of Blood'' and eight years in total in Darren's vampire life. Darren is whisked away by Mr. Crepsley to a perilous and torturous journey to the Vampire Mountain. Whilst Evra Von the Snake-Boy has grown up, and will not be accompanying Darren in his journey, Darren and Crepsley are accompanied by Mr. Desmond Tiny's two of the many workers – the Little People. One of them is Lefty, a Little Person named after his limp by Darren and Evra.

On their journey they encounter a cave which is splattered with a dead vampire's blood, Gavner Purl - a friend of Crepsley's, the blood of a dead vampaneze, and a mad bear who had been infected with vampaneze blood (hence the madness) and thus attacked Darren, who with a little help from the Little People and a pack of wolves whom he had befriended, killed the bear. After the fight, it is then revealed that Lefty, a Little Person, is actually named Harkat Mulds and can speak. He has been given the ability by Mr. Tiny to give the Vampire Princes a message about a person who will lead the vampaneze in a war against the vampires.

The company hurries on even more tensed than ever, and are welcomed into the Vampire Mountain by Seba Nile, Mr. Crepsley's mentor. Soon after, Darren meets a friendly and a soon-to-be Vampire Prince, Kurda Smahlt, a pacifist, a cartographer and probably the only vampire to be invested as a Prince because of his wit; Vanez Blaze, the one-eyed and caring Games Master; and Arra Sails, one of the very few female vampires, with an extraordinary sense of balance.

Soon, Darren and Crepsley attend one of the Vampire Council sessions, and it is decided, that because Larten Crepsley blooded a child for no obvious or logical reason, Darren would have to prove himself that he is worthy of being a part of the Vampire Clan by passing the Trials of Initiation or the Trials of Death - five of many tasks which a vampire must perform to show their physical strength, courage and bravery. Darren agrees to this, out of affection for Crepsley so that he may not be shamed, and also because of his own desire to prove himself. He, however, remains oblivious to the fact that the price for failing a Trial is death on stakes, until it is too late to take back his word.

Young Vera is a girl around twenty who just finished school. Her parents want her to apply for university, but at the moment she prefers going out with her best friend, Lena, dancing, party and nightlife. Vera loves listening to American and Western European rock and pop music and wears clothes and make up inspired by some of her idols such as Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, and Debbie Harry. She lives with her mother and her alcoholic father, Kolya, who are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with her choice of friends and what they consider her ''decadent'' lifestyle. They wonder why she can't be more like her brother Victor, a doctor living in Moscow. At an underground dance party that is broken up by police, she meets Sergei, and they immediately fall in love. It turns out Sergei is an old friend of Victor, who, in town for a visit, calls on his friend only to find him alone with his sister.

Vera and Sergei decide to marry, but her parents object. Vera convinces them to accept the planned marriage by falsely telling her mother she is pregnant. Sergei's first meeting with her parents is disastrous, and he leaves with Vera without finishing dinner, but he soon comes to live with them.

The tension between Sergei and Kolya increases and comes to a climax on Kolya's birthday. Fed up with the drunken Kolya, Sergei locks him in the bathroom, where Kolya breaks the basin. When he is let out of the bathroom, he stabs Sergei in the side with a knife, the wound requiring a long convalescence in the hospital.

Vera's mother tries to convince her to tell the authorities that Sergei accidentally caused the wound to himself, to avoid Kolya being sent to prison. Victor, visiting from Moscow, prescribes tranquilizers to calm the despondent Vera. The family goes to the beach for a picnic, ostensibly to help take Vera's mind off the situation. Vera believes, however, that it is a ruse to persuade her to lie about the stabbing. A storm suddenly comes up, and as the family prepares to leave, Vera is nowhere to be found. Kolya searches for her and the two are seen embracing on the beach.

Vera testifies that her father was not to blame for what happened to Sergei. She visits him in the hospital and explains that the family needed Kolya to survive. Sergei now seems uninterested in her, and tells her to go away.

Back home at her parents, she finds herself alone and starts drinking and taking the pills. Victor arrives and rescues her. Sergei escapes from the hospital and soon arrives on the scene.

When Vera asked Sergei why he came back, he replies, "Because I was scared". As the film ends, Vera asks Sergei if he loves her.

Kolya sits alone in the kitchen once Vera has been put to bed. He slowly collapses and calls out to Victor and then Vera. It is assumed that he dies.

A subplot involves Andrey, a former classmate of Vera, who is infatuated with her and wants her to marry him. At the beginning of the film, Andrey is about to leave for naval training and attempts to persuade Vera to come home with him, but she spurns his advances. Later, she meets him on her way home from the hospital after visiting Sergei. He explains that he is on leave for only one day and again tries to arrange a tryst, only to have Vera resort to physical violence to fend him off when he attempts to force himself on her.

Visiting the British Museum, Nyssa is soon kidnapped leaving the Doctor and Tegan to face the consequences of an ancient Egyptian prophecy.

The plot of the film begins with the pope's visit to Jerusalem, a stop on his 91st trip abroad, which occurred between 20 March and 26 March 2000.

At the Western Wall, he asked God to forgive the sins of the church, before retreating alone to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

In flashbacks to an early age, he lost his mother and his brother Edmund. Later, he lived through the German occupation of his Polish homeland during World War II and postwar communist Polish People's Republic. Through all these hardships, he maintained his love for Jesus of Nazareth and the Virgin Mary.

He became an ordained priest, and eventually Krakow's bishop and archbishop, where he began his fight against Communism and its oppression. On October 16, 1978, Karol Wojtyla became the 264th pope of the Roman Catholic Church, and now called himself John Paul II.

The "Polish Pope" himself made history with the third longest papacy ever. He made his triumphant papal return to Poland in June, 1979, confronted liberation theology, survived the assassination attempt on himself in 1981 by Mehmet Ali Agca (who he later forgave in 1983) and used his influence to help bring both Communist and right-wing totalitarian regimes, such as Alfredo Stroessner's dictatorship in Paraguay, to their knees. Afterwards, he expressed distress over materialism and unprincipled capitalism in his native Poland and denounced the sexual abuse of children that was brought to his attention in 2002, saying that "every sin can be forgiven, but by God, not by me".

On 2 April 2005, Pope John Paul II died.

After the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC, Julius Caesar goes to Egypt, under the pretext of being named the executor of the will of the father of the young Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII and his sister Cleopatra. Ptolemy and Cleopatra are in the midst of a civil war of their own and she has been driven out of the city of Alexandria. Ptolemy rules alone under the care of his three "guardians", the chief eunuch Pothinus, his tutor Theodotus and General Achillas.

Cleopatra convinces Caesar to restore her throne from her younger brother. Caesar, in effective control of the kingdom, sentences Pothinus to death for arranging an assassination attempt on Cleopatra, and banishes Ptolemy to the eastern desert, where he and his outnumbered army would face certain death against Mithridates. Cleopatra is crowned queen of Egypt and begins to develop megalomaniacal dreams of ruling the world with Caesar, who in turn desires to become king of Rome. They marry, and when their son Caesarion is born, Caesar accepts him publicly, which becomes the talk of Rome and the Senate.

After he is made dictator for life, Caesar sends for Cleopatra. She arrives in Rome in a lavish procession and wins the adulation of the Roman people. The Senate grows increasingly discontented amid rumors that Caesar wishes to be made king, which is anathema to the Romans. On the Ides of March in 44 BC, a group of conspirators assassinate Caesar and flee the city, starting a rebellion. An alliance among Octavian (Caesar's adopted son), Mark Antony (Caesar's right-hand man and general) and Marcus Ameilius Lepidus puts down the rebellion and splits the republic. Cleopatra is angered after Caesar's will recognizes Octavian, rather than Caesarion, as his official heir, and she returns to Egypt.

While planning a campaign against Parthia in the east, Antony realizes that he needs money and supplies that only Egypt can sufficiently provide. After refusing several times to leave Egypt, Cleopatra acquiesces and meets him on her royal barge in Tarsus. The two begin a love affair, and Cleopatra assures Antony that he is much more than a pale reflection of Caesar. Octavian's removal of Lepidus forces Antony to return to Rome, where he marries Octavian's sister Octavia to prevent political conflict. This upsets and enrages Cleopatra. Antony and Cleopatra reconcile and marry, with Antony divorcing Octavia. Octavian, incensed, reads Antony's will to the Roman senate, revealing that Antony wishes to be buried in Egypt. Rome turns against Antony, and Octavian's call for war against Egypt receives a rapturous response. The war is decided at the naval Battle of Actium on September 2, 31 BC, where Octavian's fleet, under the command of Agrippa, defeats the lead ships of the Antony-Egyptian fleet. Cleopatra assumes that Antony is dead and orders the Egyptian forces home. Antony follows her, leaving the rest of his fleet leaderless and soon defeated.

Several months later, Cleopatra sends Cesarion under disguise out of Alexandria. She manages to convince Antony to resume command of his troops and fight Octavian's advancing army. However, Antony's soldiers abandon him during the night. Rufio, the last man loyal to Antony, kills himself. Antony tries to goad Octavian into single combat, but is finally forced to flee into the city. When Antony returns to the palace, Apollodorus, in love with Cleopatra himself, tells him she is in her tomb as she had instructed, and lets Antony believe she is dead. Antony falls on his own sword. Apollodorus then confesses that he misled Antony and assists him to the tomb where Cleopatra and two servants have taken refuge. Antony dies in Cleopatra's arms.

Octavian and his army march into Alexandria with Caesarion's dead body in a wagon. He discovers the dead body of Apollodorus, who had poisoned himself. Octavian receives word that Antony is dead and that Cleopatra is holed up in a tomb. There he offers to allow her to rule Egypt as a Roman province if she will accompany him to Rome. Cleopatra, knowing that her son is dead, agrees to Octavian's terms, including an empty pledge on the life of her son not to harm herself. After Octavian departs, she orders her servants in coded language to assist with her suicide. Octavian discovers that she is going to kill herself and he and his guards burst into Cleopatra's chamber to find her dead, dressed in gold, along with her servants and the asp that killed her.

Opening crawl: "Having learned that the revolutionaries were using Shaolin Temple as an undercover, the Manchurian Count ordered Priest Pai Mei and his top disciple Kao Tsin Chung, Governor of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, to raid the shaolin Temple. They surrounded the Temple and set fire to it. In an attempt to rescue his disciples, Priest Chi Shan enter into a crucial duel with Priest Pai Mei."

The title scene is a battle between Pai Mei and Master Chi Shan in an empty red backdrop (this type of opening is a trademark of director Lau Kar-leung). Here we get the first display of Pai Mei's mastery of internal kung-fu techniques that allow him to retract his privates into his groin. After using his body protection techniques to ward off a clawing attack to the face, he traps a kick to the groin from Master Zhishan and delivers his own coup de grâce.

Master Zhishan's vision blurs as the scene changes to a more realistic scene of the aftermath of the temple's destruction. Pai Mei's protégé, area governor Kao Tsin-chung (Kong Do) and his army, chase the fleeing ex-students of Shao Lin. Tung Chin-chin, (Gordon Liu) after watching waves of other students fall to the pursuing army's arrows, makes a heroic last stand to divert their attention. He falls to a hail of arrows, crushing the throats of the soldiers he is closest to. It is left to Hung Hsi-Kuan to lead the remaining students to safety.

They join an itinerant opera group which travels from town to town on iconic red junks as a front for anti-Qing forces. Along the way he encounters the comely Wing Chun (Lily Li), herself a master of the Crane style. Together, they have a son, whom both of them train. When area governor and student of Pai Mei, orders the destruction of the red junks, the couple retreat to a modest home where they raise their son (Wen-Ding) and Hong begins mastering the Tiger style of kung fu in preparation for challenging Pai Mei.

After a decade of training, Hsi-Kuan goes to face Pai Mei, defeating several of his henchmen before retreating from his temple stronghold. Along the way, he discovers Pai Mei's weakness: he's vulnerable between one and three o' clock. Hung trains with renewed zeal on a sophisticated life-size bronze dummy fitted with grooves representing acupuncture meridians along its surface. By releasing a vessel in the head, metal balls cascade along these grooves so that he can snatch them to train his speed and accuracy. Still, he refuses to integrate his wife's Crane style, to his ultimate detriment.

In the final act, Hung goes to confront Pai Mei at his temple once again. He uses his training in vital point striking to catch Pai Mei off-guard. But again, he gets his foot trapped in Pai Mei's groin. Pai Mei tells Hung that he moves his vulnerable point up and down at will. After incapacitating Hung, Pai Mei tells the governor to keep him alive, only for Hung to kill the governor as he comes near. Pai Mei kills him with a swift but powerful blow.

Wen-Ding returns to avenge his father's death having been forced to synthesize his father's Tiger style with the crane style his mother taught him. Once again, he too lands in battle with Pai Mei, getting his foot trapped in Pai Mei's groin. But when Pai Mei goes to break Wen-Ding's leg, he jumps on Pai Mei's shoulders piggyback-style. Wen-Ding rips off Pai Mei's topknot, smashes him on the now unprotected crown of his head and, as his eyes are startled open, blinds him with a brutal dual jab in the eyes. They both tumble down the temple steps as the ending explains, "A combination of Tiger and Crane kung fu is what finally killed Pai Mei."

The story is set in the Depression years of the 1930s, when a rich London financier, Henry Warren, suffering from health problems and a broken marriage, decides to disappear from his old life, and travel ''incognito'' in the industrial North, now plagued with unemployment.

In the fictional town of Sharples, whose only shipyard has just closed, he is taken ill and admitted to hospital, where he is mistaken for one of the unemployed. After a successful operation, and a burgeoning friendship with Alice, the hospital’s almoner, he takes stock of the local situation, and resolves to use his wealth to help the community. Knowing that the shipyard is for sale at a knockdown price, he buys it secretly, but finds that he can only attract business from a dubious oil-rich Balkan state, in need of tankers. To float the new company, Warren must sign a prospectus, declaring falsely that the yard is well-placed to make a profit. But when the oil-state suffers a revolution, its business is lost, and the only way to save the yard is for Warren to take personal responsibility for the deception, earning him two years’ jail.

On his eventual release, he revisits Sharples, to find that the yard has managed to prosper, thanks to new rearmament projects, and the management has erected a bronze plaque, honouring his part in saving the local jobs. When he is recognised, the whole town rushes to greet him, including Alice who has been loyally awaiting his return.

A seemingly mild-mannered teacher, Professor James Anders, is an American working in Rio de Janeiro. Bored with years of teaching, Anders retires and sets about putting together a team to pull off a diamond heist during the Rio Carnival in Brazil.

With the help of a youthhood friend, now a successful criminal, Anders recruits a team of four international experts to carry out the robbery: Gregg an English safecracking specialist, Agostino an Italian mechanical and electronics genius, Jean Paul a French playboy (whose job it is to seduce the only woman with a key to the building holding the diamonds, the lovely Mary Ann), and Erich a German ex-military man (at the movie's ending, it will become clear that Anders' young friend had ordered the German to kill the other members of the team after the job is finished).

The team develops a series of mechanical devices to defeat the layers of protection built within the building in which the diamonds are stored, mainly photocells which crisscross the entry corridor, and the new "Grand Slam 70" safe system: an alarm triggered by any sound detected near the safe room by means of a sensitive microphone listens for sounds while the safe and its environs are secured. Although the presence of the latter system is found by the team only one day in advance and at first this seems to impose a stop to the entire action, Agostino is able to find a genial solution to overcome the problem, so that the action can start.

The team successfully enters the safe using a pneumatic trestle to bypass the photocell beams by crawling over them, accesses to the safe room with the Mary Ann's key stolen by Jean Pauland, move the safe to the corridor using shaving cream to dampen their sounds, and finally open the safe with specific nitroglycerin charges. However, the following day the police are alerted by Mary Ann, who has found that the safe key had been temporarily taken, and all the four members of the team are killed during their escape.

Anders ends up with the diamonds in a small letters case, sitting in an outdoor cafe...but loses them in the film's last scene in Rome to a thief gang on a motorcycle.

Charlie gets by through fleecing suckers with a three-card Monte. He passes himself off as a rich businessman. Miko is a street kid who spends his time with Charlie instead of going to school. His sister tries to raise him on her own, unsuccessfully. The plot follows Charlie's attempt to conquer the heart of Gila, a rich girl whose parents try to matchmake her to an American millionaire somewhat against her will.

The people had long suffered under Det Morson's power. When at last, the wizard Mor joined the fight, Det and his infamous Rondoval castle were destroyed. But the victory was not complete, for the conquerors found a baby amidst the rubble: Det's son, Pol. Unwilling to kill the child, Mor took him to a parallel world where technology ruled and the ways of magic were considered mere legends. He substituted Pol for a baby of the same age, using a spell to persuade the parents to recognize him as their own. In order to retain the balance between the worlds, Mor took the baby from the other world and brought it back to his own, leaving it with a local artisan, Marak.

In the world of magic, the young Mark Marakson is obsessed with devices, building water wheels and later, steam engines. He does not understand why the people on the farms and villages rely on magicians rather than using the machinery he creates. Young Pol, meanwhile, grows up a poet, musician and singer, marked by the white streak in his dark hair. He is a great disappointment to the man he regards as his father, who is an engineer. From time to time he sees glowing strands in the air which he can touch to make things happen.

Mark is ostracised by the people around him and wanders in the hills until he finds a graveyard of machines, left from the ancient war between magic and technology. Able to restart them, he returns in triumph on a flying machine to claim his childhood sweetheart in the village, only to be assaulted by the villagers, losing an eye. Fleeing back to the graveyard he creates an army of machines to take revenge.

Mor, realizing that he has disturbed the balance of the world, goes to retrieve Pol to counter Mark, revealing Pol's heritage and powers to him. To return Pol, the elderly Mor has to remain in the technology world to balance out the transfer. He dies in a park where every tree, bird and insect is artificial.

Pol must find his way around Castle Rondoval. The strands he can use to perform magic are everywhere around him. Soon he finds a thief who was in the castle when Mor cast a sleep spell over it. Revived, the thief becomes his helper. He also discovers Det's dragons asleep in the dungeons. Reviving the mightiest one, who recognizes him as his former master's son, he then has to set out on a quest to find the three segments of his father's magical staff, scattered across the world by Mor. On the journey, he is accompanied by Mark's former sweetheart, thus creating a romantic triangle.

The quest requires him to defeat several magical traps and guardians. Completing it, he is able to take on and defeat Mark Marakson, restoring the balance of his world. In doing so, he loses the affections of the girl. He is left to seek his future in Rondoval, among the old magics left by his father. The next part of his story is told in the novel ''Madwand''.

Three nerdy frat boys, Calvin, Jimmie, and Keith, follow and spy on the Tri-Delta sorority group, which is holding an initiation ceremony. Sorority members Babs, Rhonda, and Frankie prepare for the ritual while newcomers Taffy and Lisa wait. Observed by the frat boys outside their house, the two initiates get spanked from a paddle and are sprayed with whipped cream during the initiation. While the girls clean themselves, the boys enter the house; the girls catch them there. The boys are then sent, with the pledges, on a mission to steal a trophy from a nearby bowling alley. Unbeknownst to them, Babs' father runs the mall where the bowling alley is located and watches the group through security cameras.

The group enters the bowling alley and encounters Spider, a stoic biker burgling the alley with a crowbar. With her help, they break into the trophy room and, upon accidentally dropping the bowling trophy, unleash an imp named Uncle Impie who offers each of them one wish for freeing him. Jimmie is granted his wish of gold stacks, Taffy her wish of being the Prom Queen, and Keith his wish of having sex with Lisa. Suspicious of Uncle Impie, Spider and Calvin decline his offer.

Uncle Impie then attacks the sorority trio from the camera; Frankie is turned into the Bride of Frankenstein; and Rhonda is turned into a demon minion; Babs flees. After Babs is rendered unconscious from touching the mall's doors (which Uncle Impie has electrified to keep the group from leaving), the group finds out that the wishes requested were not really granted, with Jimmie's gold made out of wood and Taffy's dress disappearing.

The minions kill Jimmie and use his head as a bowling ball, and an enchanted Lisa tries furiously to have sex with Keith. Spider and Calvin hide from Rhonda in a closet, where they find a pistol; they shoot Rhonda, then flee. After escaping Lisa, Rhonda kills Keith by shoving his face into a stove, and the minions pull Taffy apart. Babs awakes and fights Rhonda, shoving her into the alley where she is seemingly killed by Spider, with a bowling ball. With Rhonda dead, Babs is possessed and turned into a demon minion.

Spider and Calvin find the janitor, who reveals that the Imp was summoned to help a lousy bowler become a champion, and the Imp was trapped for 30 years due to the creature killing people (the bowler was blamed and executed for the deaths). Meanwhile, after Babs kills Lisa, no longer under Impie's spell, with a paddle, she is burned to death with a Molotov cocktail tossed by Calvin. After Spider and Calvin find the janitor dead, they are chased by Frankie with an axe. Spider gains the upper hand and decapitates her, and the severed head knocks the doors open. While Calvin starts up a car and is attacked by Rhonda from the backseat, Spider successfully traps Uncle Impie in a box. Calvin struggles to control the car, and ends up crashing upside down. Spider cries out for Calvin and runs to his aid. Calvin survives while Rhonda is killed from the crash.

As day breaks, Spider drives Calvin to her house on her motorcycle while Uncle Impie is seen trapped in the box at the curb, asking someone to let him out, including the audience of the film.

Pol Detson, son of Lord Det, has come home, now a powerful sorcerer of unsurpassed natural ability. But Pol is still an untrained talent, a "madwand". To take control of his powers, to rule in his father's place, he must survive arduous training and a fantastic initiation into the rites of society.

During this process, Pol discovers that he is being monitored by a powerful magician. He has recurrent dreams of opening a portal into another world where a dark bestial erotic magic reigns supreme. Eventually he is drawn to a castle occupied by two magicians who are working to make the dream real, and want him to take his father's place in the scheme, so they can all reinvent themselves as gods in the new world.

Pol's loyalty to the world that he lives in, which will be destroyed by the dark world, causes him to resist and, with the help of a dragon, he stops the portal being opened. One of his enemies is killed and the other flees by flying away. He leaves behind a garment containing a label that says ''"Made in Hong Kong"''.

The story implied that a sequel was necessary to complete the story, but no sequel was ever written.

Set in a drought-ridden rural town in the West in Depression-era America, the play tells the story of a pivotal hot summer day in the life of spinsterish Lizzie Curry. Lizzie keeps house for her father and two brothers on the family cattle ranch. She has just returned from a trip to visit pseudo-cousins (all male), which was undertaken with the failed expectation that she would find a husband. As their farm languishes under the devastating drought, Lizzie's family worries about her marriage prospects more than about their dying cattle. A charming confidence trickster named Starbuck arrives and promises to bring rain in exchange for $100. His arrival sets off a series of events that enable Lizzie to see herself in a new light.

''True Blue'' is a film adaptation of Topolski's book of the same name. Although names and events were changed, it tells the story of the 1987 Oxford Cambridge Boat Race, from the perspective of Topolski and Macdonald. Directed by Ferdinand Fairfax, this low-budget film was made by Film4 Productions, starring Dominic West, and Josh Lucas.

The film opens with a fancied Oxford crew losing by 'almost seven lengths' to Cambridge. Macdonald and Ross (a sobriquet for the real life Chris Clark) are seen in the losing crew. The crew's various reactions are shown, and later Ross pledges to bring some American oarsman over to get one of the famous Oxford Blades.

The film cuts to the next year where the recent world champion Daniel Warren (Dan Lyons) arrives in Oxford with some other Americans. Not all are happy about the new arrivals, however, and are concerned for their seats in the boats. We then see a montage of training sequences before the Fours Head of the River Race, for which the top boat is changed at the last minute at the instigation of Warren, prompting fury from the ejected crew member. The crew goes on to finish 28th, a very unimpressive placing for a Varsity squad boat.

Topolski is then shown berating the squad, and the other coaches share concerns about the form of the athletes, particularly Ross. Topolski decides to look at the results of the Trial Eights race, which initially looks good, but is marred by a clash of blades.

The Americans later rebel against the coaches and say they will walk out if Ross is not selected. In the end none of the Americans row and Topolski goes with a less experienced crew. After initial tensions the crew comes together and trains well for the last few weeks before the race. On race day the crew wins by around four lengths.

Johnny Walker, a student at fictitious Ashcroft High School, is the top high school quarterback prospect in the nation, and is being heavily recruited by many schools. His best friend, Leo Wiggins, thinks he should hold out for the best offer while his girlfriend, Georgia, wants him to go to State University with her and get a solid education.

The various colleges offer him everything he could possibly want — hot girls, cars, cash, free room and board, etc. One school even buys Leo a car, while another offers to provide him with male companions if he isn't interested in women. His coach, Wayne Hisler (whom Johnny hates), even tries to sell him out by striking a deal with one of the interested colleges to become their next head coach, if Johnny signs their scholarship offer.

Although he has all the skills a coach would want in a quarterback, Johnny is unsure where he wants to go. Being tempted by the offers, praise, and attention, his ability to make good decisions is blurred. Johnny begins to get a "big head", which irritates his family. After he returns home dressed in a gaudy outfit, his mother reminds him not to forget about what's important. Johnny visits State University, and asks the head coach what he can do for him in order to convince Johnny to sign with State. The coach tells Johnny he will give him a scholarship, a good education, and a chance to earn the starting QB job, and that's all he'll give him. He tells Johnny that he is headed for a lot of trouble if he signs with the colleges that are giving him gifts and money, which is a violation of NCAA rules. Johnny dismisses him out-of-hand.

Later that night, Johnny and Leo end up in a motel room with three girls. Chief Elkans, the local sheriff (and Georgia's strict father, who has a grudge against Johnny), then turns up after the girls falsely accuse them of rape. Coach Hisler visits the two in the local jail, and tells Johnny that either he can sign with Piermont University, the college that hired Hisler, so they can both prosper, or he can end up in prison on the fake charges for a long time, which would jeopardize Johnny's career. While sitting in jail, Johnny discovers that Leo had something to do with his predicament, and is disappointed in him. Nevertheless, Johnny forgives Leo.

On Signing Day, the entire world watches his press conference with anticipation. Coach Hisler then calls the other four top prospects from Johnny's high school team up onto the stage with him and Johnny, where he announces that they will all be at Piermont that next school year, with Hisler as head coach, and Johnny as quarterback. When Johnny has a chance to speak, he talks about the embarrassment and shame he has put on his family, friends and mostly himself. Johnny then decides that he would rather not play than to be treated special just for being able to throw a football, thus also choosing not to sign with Piermont or any schools. The Walker family and Georgia are pleased with Johnny's decision, but Hisler, refusing to accept this as fact, threatens him. When the other four players refuse to sign with Piermont as well, everyone begins to go crazy. Floyd Gondole, the NCAA recruitment investigator comes on stage, and announces that since day one he's been watching the recruitment of Johnny very closely. He then states several of the worst offending colleges will be under investigation for recruiting violations, including Ol' Tex & UCC (the first two colleges Johnny visited), and Piermont, the latter who framed Johnny and Leo for rape. Afterwards, many of the other schools think they still have a chance to sign him, and beg him to reconsider them. The sports agent causes a huge melee, but Johnny walks away with Leo and Georgia.

He is then seen running down a hallway to the office of an unknown Athletic Director. It turns out to be Ned Sanders, the head coach of State University, who accepts Johnny, and officially offers him a scholarship, after he says that he just wants a good education and a chance to play football. After signing with State, he drives off with Georgia and Leo.

Over the credits, you see Johnny playing the drums while watching the collateral damage for all of the people caught in the recruitment scandal (including his former coach, who is in jail).

Sources

The story is written as if it is an autobiography by Barney Panofsky recounting his life in varying detail. Barney's version of events may be viewed as that of two unreliable narrators, in that his recollections are told from varying mental states and then posthumously edited by his son. Underlying the story of Barney's three marriages is the mysterious disappearance of his friend Boogie. Though there is no body, police suspect murder, and Barney himself is tried but acquitted of murder.

Elebits (a portmanteau of "electronics" and "bits") are small creatures that coexist with humans and are the world's source of electric energy, powering all machines and appliances. Following a thunderstorm, they cease producing energy and go into hiding, causing a blackout. Kai's parents, who are Elebit researchers, leave home to investigate the Elebits' unusual behavior. Meanwhile, Kai, who possesses dislike towards, and jealousy of, Elebits because his parents spent more time researching them than they do on him, decides to use his father's Capture Gun to capture the Elebits and restore the electrical power. He also feels responsible for the Elebits' unusual behaviour because the storm happened right after his wish that all the Elebits would go away.

Kai's adventures lead him through the town and towards the amusement park. He is contacted via phone by his parents, who reveal that a lightning bolt during the thunderstorm created a previously undiscovered type of Elebit, the Zero Elebit, determined to be cause of the blackout. Kai travels deeper into the amusement park and finds that the Zero Elebit is absorbing all other Elebits and dangerously increasing in size. Kai manages to subdue and tame the Zero Elebit, lifting its influence on the Elebits. Discovering the Zero Elebit was causing all the trouble in hopes of making friends, Kai takes pity on the helpless Zero Elebit and decides to adopt it. Kai reunites with his parents and they travel back home together.

Matt Masters (John Wayne), a Wild West circus star in the mold of Buffalo Bill Cody, bought a bankrupt circus in 1885 and successfully rebuilt it into a combination three ring and Wild West extravaganza, mixing Wild West Show acts with conventional circus acts in a winning combination. He has successfully toured the United States for more than a decade. Now that the century is about to turn, he wants to take his show to Europe.

His Circus Boss, Cap Carson (Lloyd Nolan), is against taking the show across the Atlantic. He maintains that Europe is bad luck for American circuses. He also calls Matt on his reason for making a European tour: Masters wants to find the lost great love of his life, Lili Alfredo (Rita Hayworth), and figures that this tour will smoke her out if for no other reason than to see her child, Toni Alfredo (Claudia Cardinale), Masters' adopted daughter. One of his Western stars and wannabe-partner, Steve McCabe (John Smith), also attempts to dissuade Masters, but to no avail. Masters buys a freighter, renames her the ''Circus Maximus'', and the show sails for Europe.

At Barcelona, the first port of call, the ''Circus Maximus'' capsizes at the pier and puts the show out of action. Masters has to release most of his performers, board out his animals, and go back to performing an act for the Ed Purdy Wild West Show, a staple on the European circus circuit. Down but not out, Masters doesn't waste the disaster. "While touring Europe at Ed Purdy's expense," as Masters puts it, he, Cap, Steve and Toni scout acts that will enable Masters to relaunch the Matt Masters Circus bigger and better than ever.

His first new hire is Tojo the Clown and the Wire-Dancing Ballerina (Richard Conte and Katharyna respectively). They have a unique act; Tojo is dressed as a clown but walks the high wire over a cage full of lions while coaching the Ballerina (his niece Giovanna) as she dances on a wire on the ground. Backstage, Masters discovers that Tojo is an old acquaintance — Aldo Alfredo, brother-in-law of his lost love Lili Alfredo. Despite his reservations at hiring a possible enemy Masters takes the act on and neither he nor Aldo admit to Toni, who is Aldo's niece, that they have met before; or that Tojo the Clown is her uncle. Aldo assures Matt that the vendetta is over, and Giovanna begins training for the ballerina act she will perform on the high wire.

His second new act is Emile Schumann, a French animal trainer who has a spectacular act involving lions who lie down on him in the ring. Masters offers to take him on if he will switch from lions to tigers (Masters has many tigers but few lions). The trainer is adamant that he does not want to change to working with tigers; his wife persuades him to do so. By the time the circus is ready to re-launch, Emile has so adapted to working with a different variety of big cat that when a couple become ill, he demands that Masters hire a doctor for "HIS tigers."

The third addition to the performers' roster is Margo Angeli, an artist of the high trapeze, coincidentally where Toni wants to work instead of in the Wild West show or as part of Clown Alley, where Matt has her working. In reality, Margo is the vanished Lili Alfredo, haunted by the guilt of having been caught up in a love triangle, blaming herself for the death of her flyer husband who had fallen — or did he miss Aldo's catch on purpose after learning he was part of a love triangle? She had run away from the world of the circus and kept on running, finding solace first in the Church and then in the bottle.

As Masters had hoped it would, the lure of her daughter brings Lili out of hiding. She speaks to her daughter during a performance of Ed Purdy's Wild West Show without identifying herself, and Masters spots her. The two have an intense confrontation in a bar, ending with Masters slamming a full bottle of brandy down in front of Lili and telling her that she needs to decide whether the booze or her child is more important to her; but that if she doesn't pull herself together, as far as he's concerned she is dead to him. Lili quits drinking and goes into training to seek a position in the new Matt Masters Circus, then in winter quarters near Madrid.

Meanwhile, Toni has fallen for Steve and he for her, despite a difference in their ages of at least a decade. Matt has to come to terms with the fact that his adopted little girl is a grown woman, with a mind of her own. "Margo's" reappearance helps, and she is secretly amused by Toni's attempts to pair her off with Matt. Matt's doing pretty well on his own, as Toni observes with pleasure. She loves her adopted father and wants him to be happy.

Inevitably, the truth comes out. On the afternoon of the rehearsal for the first show of the circus season in Vienna - with Masters demanding of his performers the same show they will put on that evening - Toni finds a poster of The Flying Alfredos in her wagon living quarters with "Suicide" daubed on it in red. She also finds a newspaper clipping of the Flying Alfredos that allows her to identify "Margo" as her mother. There is a stormy confrontation with many passionate, hateful words on Toni's part between her, Lili and Matt; and Matt has to tell her that he was the second man in the love triangle. Toni curses both of them and runs out, just before a bugle call summons the show to Dress Rehearsal.

The rehearsal opens to empty seats with Grand Parade, with the performers marching in behind the flags of the nations whose citizens are in the show: the United States, Great Britain, France, Imperial Germany, Switzerland, Iceland, Sweden, Italy, and many more. Partway through Grand Parade, a fire breaks out in Wardrobe and spreads to the Big Top. Fast action by Lili, Matt, Steve, Toni, Cap and Aldo prevents injury to the circus performers and manages to save about half of the tent from the flames. The one positive thing to come out of the fire is a rapprochement between Toni and Lili.

Matt somehow obtains permission from the Emperor to set up the circus in the grounds of the Imperial Palace. The show is a smash success, with a new act headlining: Lili and Toni Alfredo performing a swing-over routine fifty feet in the air. Ultimately Matt, Lili, Toni, and Matt's new partner and Toni's new fiancé, Steve, are shown taking bows to the applause of the people and the Crown.

Build up

When a Gamma bomb causes the Hulk to lose control and attack Las Vegas, the Illuminati decide the Hulk is too dangerous to remain on Earth. With the help of the Hulk's friend and psychiatrist Doc Samson,''Incredible Hulk'' #106 (July 2007) they trick him into entering orbit to destroy a rogue satellite, and then use a shuttle to jettison him from the solar system. They intended for him to land on a peaceful planet, but the shuttle passes through a wormhole on its way.

Planet Hulk

As Hulk listens to a recording from the Illuminati explaining their actions, his shuttle crashes on the planet Sakaar. Weakened from the crash, Hulk is fixed with an obedience disk and taken into slavery. He is forced to fight gladiator battles for the planet's emperor, the Red King. Hulk forms a "Warbound" pact with his fellow gladiators Miek, No-Name Brood, Elloe Kaifi, Lavin Skee, Hiroim and Korg.

Hulk becomes a popular hero for his actions in the arena, and a group of insurgents try to recruit the Hulk to their cause. The Hulk declines, but Elloe chooses to go with the rebels.

During their next gladiator fight, Lavin Skee is killed. As the others come closer to winning their freedom, the Red King's lieutenant, Caiera, arranges for them to fight the Silver Surfer then destroys all the obedience disks of everyone in the arena. As he leaves Sakaar, he offers to return Hulk to Earth. Hulk chooses to stay behind.

The Hulk and his Warbound, now re-joined by Elloe and on the run from the Red King, are hunted by Caiera. As they travel through villages, Hulk finds followers who believe he is the foretold savior, "Sakaarson". Hulk denies this title. Caiera finally confronts the Hulk, but their battle is interrupted by an invasion of "spikes" that cause monstrous mutations and death to anyone they touch. Caiera calls the Red King for assistance and learns that he ordered the spikes to be deployed there. Horrified at what her king has done, Caiera joins the Hulk.

Hulk leads a raid on the Red King's capital, culminating in a one-on-one battle between the two of them. The Red King is defeated, and Hulk is named the new king. He takes Caiera for his wife, and the two are able to broker peace among the various conflicts which had festered under the Red King. Caiera becomes pregnant with Hulk's child.

Meanwhile, the shuttle that brought Hulk to Sakaar is being turned into a monument. As part of its self-destruct sequence, the antimatter warp core engine detonates in a massive explosion. The whole city is destroyed, and Caiera dies. Enraged and blaming the Avengers who built the shuttle for the damage, Hulk and his Warbound leave Sakaar and head for Earth.

Aftermath

Arriving on Earth, Hulk and the warbound begin World War Hulk.

Sakaar rebuilds after the explosion with the help of Hulk's two surviving sons, Skaar and Hiro-Kala.

A nameless narrator (voiced by Mako Iwamatsu) introduces the conflict. "''In the beginning, there was only darkness. Then light shown in the void, and a new world was born. A realm forged from the elemental forces of earth, wind, water, and fire. The nexus of an eternal war waged between the forces of light and darkness, between chaos and order, which destroyed the world in a mighty cataclysm. Unto this broken realm came the overlords: '''Beautiful Aenna''', Goddess of the Waters. Steadfast purity of crashing waves and thundering waterfalls. '''Fiery Epothos''', Warrior of the Rising Sun. Volatile guardian of the sacred flame. '''Devious Durlock''', Master of Metals, and Lord of Stone! Keeper of the secrets of the earth! And '''Wicked Helamis'''! Queen of Storms and Chaos, mother of hurricanes, leaving havoc and destruction in her wake. Now the mightiest of the overlords prepare for the ultimate confrontation, the time has come for the Wrath of the Gods to be UNLEASHED!''"

The game features campaigns for each of the four characters, at varying difficulties, following their story of achieving domination of the realm.

Lewis Barnavelt, recently an orphan, moves to the town of New Zebedee, Michigan, to live with his mysterious uncle Jonathan Barnavelt. Lewis' uncle turns out to be a mediocre, though well-intentioned, warlock. His next-door neighbor and good friend, Florence Zimmermann, is a far more powerful good witch. Jonathan's house was previously owned by Isaac and Selenna Izard, a sinister couple who had dedicated their lives to black magic, and plotted to bring about the end of the world. Before dying, Isaac constructed the eponymous clock that he hid somewhere inside the walls of the house, where it eternally ticks as it attempts to pull the world into a magical alignment, which would destroy the world.

Lewis befriends a local boy named Tarby Corrigan, who is everything he is not—popular, athletic, thin—but the two soon begin to drift apart. Lewis tries to win Tarby back by demonstrating how to raise the dead in the local cemetery on Halloween but in doing so unwittingly releases Selena Izard from her tomb. An escalating series of encounters with the sorceress' ghost builds to a final confrontation in the basement of Jonathan's house, where Lewis must summon up his courage and prevent the couple from finishing their work and bringing about the end time.

The novel explores the events in the orc world before the Orcish corruption. The story is set before the events of Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. The novel details the union of the orc clans into a single horde under Gul'dan and Blackhand, the corruption of the orcs and the destruction of the Draenei by the orcish horde.

When Lupin attempts to steal a gem, he is interrupted by Pycal, a magician who was considered to have died after facing off with Lupin in the past (chapter 7: "Magician" of the original manga and episode 2: "The Man They Called a Magician" of the first anime series). Pycal, once a trickster, now seems armed with real magical abilities, and seems determined to get his revenge on Lupin.

''Inukami!'' revolves around Keita Kawahira, a descendant of an Inukami-tamer clan and considered a failure by the clan due to his attitude towards his duty and being unable to find an Inukami to bond with. Inukami, literally "dog god", are benevolent creatures that possess spiritual powers. They are a type of demon with the appearance of a dog who can transform into a human form. Along with a partner from the historic Inukami-tamer clan, they act to obliterate evil and proliferate righteousness. Keita is initially unable to find an Inukami to bond with, but eventually finds a beautiful Inukami named Yoko that decided to become his Inukami, causing Keita to become overjoyed. However, his joy is short-lived when he discovers that she is a very problematic and uncontrollable Inukami. At first Yoko is shown to be selfish and just thinks of herself, to help with this problem Keita's cousin Kaoru sends one of his Inukamis, Nadeshiko, over to help. Keita becomes attracted to Nadeshiko. However, Yoko is thrown into a jealous rage, this is subdued when Keita's grandma's Inukami Hake calms Yoko down stating that Nadeshiko's visit was short and was only here to help Yoko. After Nadeshiko leaves, Yoko grows even closer to Keita although she is annoyed by Keita's flirting with the rest of Kaoru's inukamis when they go to visit.

Things later get heated up when Keita fights a shinigami in order to save the last heir of a wealthy family from death. Yoko ends up beating the shinigami. However, Keita sees what appears to be a large fox where Yoko was fighting, but in the end he blacked out. Towards the end everyone is getting ready to celebrate Keita's grandma's birthday, a special guest who is a giant frog appears looking for Keita, Yoko mistakes him for a perverted frog but learns that the frog's name is Hakusan Meikun. Hakusan, a fallen wizard tells Yoko how he was chosen by Keita and thus became free from a sentence he was serving after making a contract with Keita, in return Hakusan gave him magic abilities. After hearing the story, Yoko becomes jealous and worried that she might get replaced something that is noticed by Nadeshiko. Yoko has a secret hidden and feels guilt, to help with this Nadeshiko suggests confessing to her like she would to Keita with her eyes closed, Yoko agrees and as she is confessing; Nadeshiko slips away and is replaced by Keita who overheard Yoko talking to her. Stunned by seeing Keita by her side which Yoko apologizes to Keita that she did not tell him sooner, something Keita does not care about. Keita states he likes Yoko for Yoko, reminds that he chose her and asks to stay by her side. Overjoyed by what Yoko heard, but takes the confession of love to her, she also confesses that she scared away the other Inukamis who were in fact interested in him when he was looking for one in order to have him all to herself and confesses her love to Keita.

In 1999, Lupin the Third and Daisuke Jigen steal a diamond and hide it in a doll. Inspector Zenigata attempts to catch the two, but they escape on an airplane. While on the plane, a girl named Julia steals Lupin's doll. Lupin chases her, leading him to Fujiko Mine, who is chaperoning her. Lupin tries to bargain with Fujiko in an effort to get the doll back, but their conversation is interrupted when the plane is hijacked.

The hijackers land the plane and request transportation and ransom in exchange for the women and children, as well as the Brazil National Football Team, who also boarded the plane. Meanwhile, a man named Chris watches the commotion from a distance and activates the bomb the hijackers have. When the bomb starts counting down, the hijackers become startled and the passengers use this opportunity to fight back and escape from the plane.

As Lupin and Jigen escape, Julia is kidnapped by Chris and his henchmen via helicopter. Fujiko then explains to Lupin and Jigen that Julia is the daughter of Douglas, who is campaigning to become President of the United States in the forecoming election. Meanwhile, a man named Rhisley, the head of a cult known as the Nostradamus Sect, speaks to a crowd of followers. He claims to have a book filled with the lost prophecies of Nostradamus and recites one of the verses which predicted the plane's hijacking.

In actuality, his book is a fake. The real one is in the safe on the top floor of the Earth Building, which belongs to Douglas. Fujiko reveals that she took the job of looking after Julia in order to break into the safe and steal the lost prophecies of Nostradamus. The three travel to the Earth Building and Fujiko meets with Douglas and his wife to tell them that Julia has been kidnapped while Lupin and Jigen try to break into the vault. Chris then makes an appearance on TV and demands that Douglas drop out of the presidential race in exchange for Julia. Douglas refuses, saying that the kidnapping will lead to sympathy for his campaign.

Lupin and Jigen fail to open the vault and Fujiko is kidnapped by Chris. While driving through the city searching for Fujiko, Lupin and Jigen come across Goemon Ishikawa XIII and convince him to join them. Lupin makes a plan to get himself arrested and sent to Execution Island, a prison where Lupin's Uncle Philip, as Philip was the only person who managed to get inside the vault. During Lupin's stay, Chris and the Nostradamus Sect take Uncle Philip and use a machine to extract the information on how to get into the vault, killing him in the process. Lupin takes Philips body and discovers that one of his eyes is fake, which he holds on to.

Jigen and Goemon arrive in a helicopter to help Lupin escape, but Lupin is shot by Chris and falls into the ocean. The next day, Lupin wakes up on an island and is being nursed back to health by a boy named Sergio and his grandmother. While on the island, he discovers that Fujiko is there as well, but Sergio's grandmother says that she's really a handmaiden of the Nostradamus Sect. Lupin follows Fujiko to a cathedral where the sect is located, where he finds out that Julia is being kept prisoner and Fujiko has lost her memory. Lupin is then discovered by the sect and thrown in a cell.

Meanwhile, Jigen and Goemon believe that Lupin is dead and stake out a black market weapons shop, waiting for Chris. He shows up with some henchmen and they partake in a short battle where Chris gets away. After the fight, Lupin contacts Jigen, informing him that the Nostradamus Sect is connected to the kidnapping and that he is being held prisoner by them. While this is taking place, Julia cuts off a wrist band that Fujiko is wearing and her memories return. Chris then meets with Rhisley and their plan is revealed. As more people join the Nostradamus Sect, and their lies become the only truths, they plan to gain enough power to have the entire world bow down to them.

As the sect closes in on them, Jigen and Goemon arrive and help Lupin, Julia, and Sergio escape, but Julia is kidnapped once again. They make their way back to the States and come up with a plan to get into the vault. Lupin recalls the fake eye he got from Uncle Philip and thinks that since the security system only recognizes the eyes of Douglas' immediate family, Philip must have used the eye to get into the vault. Meanwhile, the Brazilian Soccer Team is staying in the Earth Building when Chris uses his watch to activate the same wrist bands they're wearing that Fujiko had on earlier. The bands hypnotize them and they place several bombs throughout the building. Goemon discovers what's going on and informs the others about it.

The next day, Rhisley speaks to a crowd of people in front of the Earth Building and informs them that one of the verses states that the skyscraper will explode, leading to the people inside to evacuate. During the commotion, Lupin, Jigen, Fujiko, and Goemon make another attempt to break into the vault. However, Chris goes against Rhisley's plan and enters the building to steal the lost prophecies of Nostradamus for himself. He gets to the vault first, but the inside of the vault has a defense mechanism which creates the illusion of falling into an endless abyss. When Lupin and Jigen arrive, Julia gives them the prophecies of Nostradamus.

While Chris is still affected by the vault's illusion, he panics and activates the bombs with his watch. The building is severely damaged, but is still able to stand. Jigen, Goemon, and Fujiko are separated from Lupin and Julia, but Douglas gets parachutes to all of them. However, Chris comes to his senses and attacks Lupin and Julia. As the Earth Building continues to break apart, the vault collapses onto Chris, killing him. Lupin and Julia make their escape and Rhisley falls to his death.

When the disaster is over, Julia is reunited with her family. As the gang makes plans to sell the book of lost prophecies, Goemon discovers that Julia had doodled on several of the pages. Realizing, that it's now useless, they destroy the book. Julia returns the diamond to Lupin and they all watch as the Earth Building collapses.

The game's plot is based loosely on that of ''The Castle of Cagliostro'', and follows Cliff (Arsène Lupin III) as he attempts to rescue Clarissa (Lady Clarisse d'Cagliostro) from the evil Count Draco (in some materials called "Dreyco" and in the instruction manual "Dragoe"), who wants to marry her. Cliff is aided in his quest by Jeff (Daisuke Jigen) and Samurai (Goemon Ishikawa XIII).

In the summer of 1953, Canadian bush pilot Charlie Halliday, a brash, former Second World War bomber pilot based in Yellowknife, is flying a routine job in the Queen Maud Gulf on the Arctic Ocean when he encounters a small band of Inuit who plead for his help. They are traveling with a sick young woman, Kanaalaq, and they ask Charlie to fly her to a hospital. Charlie suspects she has tuberculosis. At first he refuses, but when they offer him two valuable walrus tusks for his help, he reluctantly agrees to take her to Yellowknife.

During the flight, his Noorduyn Norseman aircraft develops engine trouble, and they crash land near the shore of a glacial lake. Charlie and Kanaalaq are unharmed, but the aircraft is disabled. They are in the middle of a vast tundra in the Northwest Territories, the radio is broken, and they have a meager amount of supplies. To make matters worse, he is hundreds of miles from the route he submitted in his original flight plan, so any rescue operation would not know where to look. Charlie is overwhelmed with a sense of doom, and he sees his Inuit companion as an unwelcome burden.

Charlie estimates they are about 100 miles from the closest town. Believing their chances of survival are slim if they both wait with the aircraft, Charlie leaves Kanaalaq behind to look for help on his own. He soon learns, however, that he is unprepared for the challenges presented by this harsh and unforgiving land. One morning he awakens surrounded by a swarm of mosquitoes, which cause him to flee shoeless across the jagged rocks before collapsing unconscious. Kanaalaq appears above him and begins treating his wounds and bites with mud and moss. He awakes later, and is startled to find her. She feeds him and continues to care for him. Gradually, Charlie regains his strength and is healed through Kanaalaq's patient care. Charlie comes to appreciate this young woman's gifts, and together they learn to communicate with each other.

After hearing the sound of a distant aircraft, Charlie realizes they never should have abandoned the crash site. He decides they should return to their aircraft, which he believes has surely been discovered by now. They set out together, but this time he is much better equipped with the watertight boots that Kanaalaq made for him. Along the way, the ailing young Inuit woman teaches the hot-tempered pilot the way to live in the tundra, and the two form a bond of respect and friendship. When they discover the ruins of another aircraft crash, Kanaalaq shows Charlie how to prepare a corpse for the afterlife in a stone burial cairn with the person's tools placed inside. She tells him that when a person is called to the afterlife, where there is much wildlife for hunting, they need the appropriate tools.

When Charlie and Kanaalaq arrive back at the crash site, they discover no sign of rescuers, and Charlie becomes deeply depressed, convinced they will not survive the oncoming winter. Kanaalaq, however, understands how to survive in this harsh land, and she prepares a caribou hunt. She places inuksuit — multiple stone structures used by the Inuit to guide caribou into areas where hunters can easily harvest them. She is able to elicit Charlie's help, and together they kill three caribou, which will provide sufficient food and pelts for the winter.

One night, Kanaalaq reveals how her father died in a snowstorm, and how her mother wandered off to die so that her children would have enough food to live. After Kanaalaq uses the pelts to create suitable winter clothing for Charlie, Charlie and Kanaalaq set out together across the tundra hoping to reach an Inuit camp or village to the north. In the coming days, Kanaalaq's condition worsens, and Charlie is forced to carry her on a sleigh he built using the valuable walrus tusks. One morning, Charlie discovers that Kanaalaq too has wandered off so that he might live. He follows her tracks in the snow, which lead to a white owl. He builds a stone burial cairn for Kanaalaq, placing her hunting and fishing tools, and the valuable walrus tusks inside for the afterlife.

In a snowstorm, Charlie approaches a small Inuit village, where he is welcomed.

The story is divided in two story arcs. The "Heian Chapter" takes place in Kyoto during the Heian period and follows Minamoto no Hikaru, the younger sister of Minamoto no Raikō, on a quest to save Japan. The "Tokyo Chapter" follows the reincarnations of Hikaru and her comrades as the ancient evils of days past manifest themselves in present-day Tokyo.

Heian Chapter

The "Heian Chapter" is set in the middle of the Heian period, where the people of the capital of Kyoto are in deep agony, focusing their last hopes on the retrieval of the five magatama that represent the five elements (Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth). Legend has it that when the magatama are laid together, their circle of Affinity will save the capital from suffering and whoever places the last stone is to become the emperor.

Three of the Magatamas are scattered throughout Japan. The Emperor, relying on the prophecies of Abe no Seimei, delegates the task of recovering the three lost Magatamas to Minamoto no Raikō of the Minamoto clan. However, Raikō is struck by an epidemic and barely able to move. Instead his younger sister, Hikaru, secretly takes his place.

Hikaru is joined by Watanabe no Tsuna, Usui Sadamitsu, Urabe no Suetake and Kintarō and manages to collect all but one magatama: the Magatama of Fire.

Hikaru returns to the capital with news that Shutendouji, who possesses the missing magatama, has plans to attack. The court does not believe her, but Hikaru and her party decide to stop Shutendouji and recover the last magatama. With the five magatama in hand, Seimei's true intent is revealed. The onmyoji plans to create a circle of Enmity and bring about the destruction of the capital in order to save it.

Hikaru confronts Abe no Seimei, only to find out that he is none other than Mansairaku, her love. She tries to shoot him with an arrow but she is constantly held back by her feelings. Hikaru keeps demanding that Mansairaku stop his destructive spell, but he does not listen. She charges towards him with her dagger, but fails to pierce his heart, and he continues with the spell.

Just after the final pillar of light appears and the destruction of the capital begins, Hikaru starts to play her flute, a sound that Mansairaku always loved. Hikaru then tries to remove one of the Magatamas and stops the spell. When she tries, her flute falls on the Magatama of Fire and breaks it, causing the spell to end. As a result, Hikaru's and Mansairaku's souls fly to heaven.

As the capital settles from its near destruction, Sadamitsu and Kintaro, the only surviving heroes of Hikaru's group, lay to rest the souls of Hikaru, Tsuna and Urabe. Kintaro asks Sadamitsu, " Where did they go?" To which Sadamitsu answers, "They went off to this place full of flowers, some place far away."

Tokyo Chapter

The "Tokyo Chapter" follows the reincarnations of Hikaru and her comrades in present-day Tokyo. Hikaru is a high school student and the landlady of an apartment housing called Minamoto Heights. While her tenants include the freelance writer Tsuna, the fortuneteller Urabe, Sadamitsu and a little boy named Kintaro.

Hikaru's brother, Raiko, has been missing for a year when she sees him for the first time amidst a crowd of people in Tokyo. While the story evolves, Hikaru is confronted with even stranger events, like the appearance of a ghost train on the Yamanote-Line and the recurring encounters with Mansairaku. Eventually, Hikaru finds out the locations where paranormal phenomena are occurring are related and interacting because of their affinity with the five elements. The Japanese capital is, once again, threatened with destruction. Hikaru, Hikaru's party and Mansairaku join forces to restore the circle of Affinity and save Tokyo. Having put right the ancient wrongs, Mansairaku vanishes and Hikaru's brother returns.

Lars the little polar bear travels to the Galapagos archipelago, accompanied by his friends Robby the seal and Caruso the penguin. In the tropical paradise, they meet all sorts of strange and funny animals: birds, crabs and turtles. But when scientists attempt to catch Lars and his mysterious new friend, he'll need the help of all of his friends in order to thwart their plans.

The Goodies open a restaurant called "Knutters Knoll Knite Spot", on the top of Knutters Knoll. To help with the housework, including washing up, Graeme has built a robot he calls EB-GB (Electronic Brain of Great Britain). Graeme asks: "EB-GB, how do you speak to aliens?" to which EB-GB replies in a Dalek voice: "Exterminate!"

Away from the restaurant, Bill is watching when musicians suddenly and unexpectedly disappear during performances. Graeme tries to determine a common link between the series of recent disappearances, even writing up all the information that he has about the missing persons on the blackboard. Graeme has no idea what could be the common link, and it takes Bill to point out that all the missing persons are trombone players.

In contemplation of this fact, Bill plays the trombone in the park to see if he can find the answer to the riddle and also get taken, but nothing happens to him. Bill rushes back to the restaurant when he sees a weird noisy light approaching, but the weird light turns out to be Graeme who is out doing some UFO spotting with an electronic gadget box. Graeme explains his UFO spotter gadget box to Tim, and they do not notice when Bill and his trombone are kidnapped — Bill is later sent back with a mangled trombone and the word "REJECT" stamped on his forehead.

Later, Graeme becomes aware that there is a moving blip on the television screen, which seems to be attuned to his every thought. Graeme sets about devising an ingenious plot, which includes some "Supermen" and a "Supernun", to get rid of the rapidly approaching spacecraft before it can reach Earth.

Later, when things are beginning to improve, Graeme's device comes back to haunt him — and everyone else. Graeme comments: "That was a five megaton Nun, son ...... I didn't know the Nun was loaded. Boom! Boom!"

After receiving honorable discharges from the British Army in Palestine in 1918, Professor Holly (Peter Cushing), young Leo Vincey (John Richardson) and their orderly Job (Bernard Cribbins) embark on an expedition into a previously unexplored region of central-east Africa. They discover the lost city of Kuma after Leo receives a mysterious map revealing the city's whereabouts.

This lost realm is ruled by Ayesha (Ursula Andress), who is also known as "She-Who-Waits" and "She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed." Ayesha is a beautiful, immortal queen, who believes Leo is the reincarnation of her former lover, the priest Kallikrates, whom she had killed two thousand years before when she found him in the intimate embrace of another woman. It was she, who met with Leo in Palestine, giving him the map to Kuma, and urging him to travel there. Leo is filled with a dogged determination to do so as he sees visions of Ayesha beckoning to him with outstretched arms.

After Leo has recovered from the journey to Kuma, Ayesha persuades him to bathe in the ceremonial fire that she had bathed in 2,000 years before by which she gained her immortality. One can bathe in the flame only when it has turned blue, which it does rarely for short periods of time when astronomical events coincide. Leo would then himself become immortal.

Meanwhile, Ayesha's army is attacked by her enslaved tribesmen, the Amahagger, who live outside Kuma. Ready to rebel against the queen's cruel tyranny they are incited to revolt by their leader, Haumeid (André Morell), a citizen of Kuma, whose daughter Ustane (Rosenda Monteros) dared to fall in love with Leo while nursing him back to health after his perilous journey to the city. The queen in jealousy has her cremated alive in the open molten lava pit before her throne. Her ashes are poured out in front of her outraged father, who cries out to the Amahagger for revenge. Although poorly equipped the Amahagger overcome Ayesha's army.

Leo himself is about to enter the blue ceremonial fire when Billali (Christopher Lee), Ayesha's high priest, demands to be allowed to enter it to gain immortality as well since he has served the queen unselfishly for many years. He is refused, so he pushes Leo aside in a scuffle that leaves Leo knocked out, opening his way to enter the blue flames. Ayesha kills him with a javelin to prevent this.

To overcome Leo's reluctance Ayesha takes him by the hand and leads him into the blue fire. Upon entering, Leo becomes immortal, but Ayesha's immortality is taken away, and she ages 2,000 years in minutes, dies, and crumbles into dust. Holly and Job have managed to get to Leo through the uprising, and Holly urges him to go once again into the fire to remove his immortality since a second time into the flames would do this as it had done to Ayesha. Unfortunately, the flame turns yellow again barring entry. The film ends with a despondent Leo vowing to wait for the fire to turn blue again that he might end the prospect of spending an eternity alone.

Buck Colins heads a group of local ranchers who are trying to prevent the railroad from completing its line through their property. Till now they have been able to charge tolls on herds passing through. Hoppy goes undercover to expose them. February 2022 TCM.com

Agnieszka is a young filmmaker who is making her film thesis on Mateusz Birkut, a bricklayer elevated as a hero in a stunt to increase construction efficiency and brick quotas. However, he has since had a fall from grace of the Party and other officials. His current whereabouts seem to have been lost two decades later, and she attempts to piece together the details of his downfall. Agnieszka has difficulty making the film from archival sources and museum collections, but little work remains outside of official propaganda.

Then Agnieszka goes to successful director Jerzy Burski, who recounts the details from the making of his unfinished film, Building Our Happiness. The truth behind the propaganda film comes to light, revealing how Birkut was selected as an example for demonstrating the progress and efficiency of a new industrial city Nowa Huta. Selected by Jodla, the local Party Secretary, Birkut's fame spread from the bricklaying record of 30,000 bricks in one shift launched him to stardom. Burski does not divulge much about Birkut following his initial rise, but puts her in touch with a man who knew Birkut personally.

Agnieszka then goes to Michalak, an agent of an unnamed state organization who tailed Birkut during his fame. He acted a dual role of security and keeping tabs on Birkut's activities. He shares the details of an accident which stopped Birkut from continuing his bricklaying feats: A heated brick was mixed in with the rest, burning his hands badly. Michalak then sheds light on Birkut's activities after being placed in the inspectorate. A seemingly true believer, Birkut was beloved by the working people and fought for their betterment. Stalled by a lazy and selfish bureaucracy, Birkut loses heart and increasingly butts heads with powerful politicians and officials. At the same time as his own health was failing, Birkut's friend from the bricklaying feats Wincenty Witek is arrested by the state and Birkut fights for his release. Losing hope, Birkut falls into despair and drunkenly attacks a local party building, breaking a window.

Next Agnieszka watches archive newsreels from the trial of Birkut's friend Witek and others in what was known as the trial of the “Skocznia Gang” who sought to reduce worker efficiency and sabotaging construction sites. Witek and Birkut both seem to have been sentenced to prison terms and reeducation.

After the trial and release from reeducation, Witek has successfully turned his career around and is now an important official in Katowice. When interviewed, he recounts Birkut's return from prison, in which Witek has accepted the party line and tries to encourage Birkut to do the same. Throughout Agnieszka's time with him he dodges questions and continuously praises the advances being made at Katowice.

Next the film crew go and interview Hanka, Birkut's wife before his denunciation as a traitor. Yet when she realizes the topic of her interview, she becomes extremely distressed. She recounts the story of how Birkut tracked her down and met with her. Again Birkut is given the opportunity to take advantage of his past and become successful, but again he seems to have turned it down. Hanka has fallen into drunkenness and shame.

Upon reviewing Agniewsza's progress the authorities are displeased, and ultimately rescind support for her movie. Her cameras and film reels she gathered are confiscated. New film of Birkut is found in the archives, but they are not allowed access to editing it and including it in what they have remaining of her film.

Agnieszka's father consoles her about her film and speculates that there must be a single specific reason for the authorities' fear of further disclosure and suggests that she should locate Birkut and talk to him to find out more, even if she is no longer involved in making the film. With this inspiration, Agnieszka tracks down Mateusz's son, Maciej, in the Gdańsk Shipyard. Agnieszka learns from Maciej that his father died years ago. The film ends with Maciej walking into the film office with Agnieszka.

Brian, who is now sixteen years old, is canoeing through the Canadian wilderness. He realizes that the woods are now his home and he will never be happy in modern society with its noise, pollution, and inauthentic people. He now spends his time in the wild hunting, fishing, and home schooling himself. While Brian does not miss human contact, he finds his thoughts frequently turning to Kay-gwa-daush (also known as Susan), the eldest daughter of the Cree family who rescued him at the end of ''Brian's Winter''. Though he has only seen her photograph, her family has described her as an adventurous, self-reliant young woman, and Brian wonders if she might be a kindred spirit.

While canoeing, Brian finds a seriously wounded Malamute dog, which he nurses back to health. The dog is clearly domesticated, and Brian begins to worry that whatever maimed the dog may have done the same to her owners. He remembers his Cree friends, the Smallhorns, and decides to go check on them.

When Brian reaches their cabin, he finds that a bear had killed the parents and apparently chased Susan into hiding. Brian returns her to her home and buries the family while she radios for help. The authorities arrive to take Susan to relatives in Winnipeg. Brian, along with the dog, stays behind in order to hunt down and kill the bear, knowing very well that the hunt could cost him his life.

Brian uses skills he has learned (explained in past books ''Hatchet'', ''Brian's Return'', and ''Brian's Winter'') to search for the bear that killed his friends. He finds bear tracks on an island and begins to follow them. He later realizes that he was walking in a circle. Soon, the hunter becomes the hunted. The bear is actually following Brian. The next day, instead of moving on, he waits for the bear. After a hard-fought battle with the bear, Brian is triumphant.

During the Anglo-French War (1627–29), which involved suppression of the Protestant rebels of La Rochelle, Cardinal Richelieu continues the machinations he began in ''The Three Musketeers'' by ordering the Count de Rochefort to kidnap Constance Bonancieux, dressmaker to the Queen Anne of France. The evil Milady de Winter, who wants revenge on junior musketeer d'Artagnan, seduces him to keep him occupied. He soon discovers her true nature, however, and also that she was once married to his fellow musketeer Athos, who had supposedly killed her after discovering that she was a branded criminal.

The trio of musketeers — Athos, Porthos, and Aramis — rescue Constance from imprisonment in Rochefort's abode of Saint Cloud and take her to safety in the convent of Armentieres. De Winter sends d'Artagnan poisoned wine and a note intended to trick him into thinking that the trio have been imprisoned for drunkenness. On his way to bail them out, d'Artagnan is attacked by Rochefort and his men. The trio join the fight, and Rochefort flees. One of his men is captured and tortured for information, revealing that Richelieu is going to the Dovecote Inn near La Rochelle, but then drinks the poisoned wine and dies, revealing de Winter's trap. The trio then proceed to the inn where they spy on Richelieu. The Cardinal orders de Winter to threaten the Duke of Buckingham with exposure of his affair with the Queen, to discourage him from sending a relief force to aid the rebels; she is to kill the Duke if he does not comply. In return, de Winter asks for a warrant, so she can kill d'Artagnan and Constance. Richelieu reluctantly signs one, wording it in a way that leaves no evidence against himself: "By my order and for the good of the state, the bearer has done what has been done."

After revealing himself to de Winter, Athos takes the death warrant from her and later tells d'Artagnan of the plot. D'Artagnan sends his servant Planchet to warn the Duke. In England, de Winter asks Buckingham not to help the rebels, but he refuses. De Winter tries to assassinate him, but she is captured. Buckingham has his servant John Felton lock her away in the Tower of London, but she seduces Felton and convinces him that Buckingham is his enemy. Felton helps her to escape and return to France, then murders Buckingham before Planchet can warn him. Soon after, La Rochelle surrenders.

Rochefort and de Winter are still intent on killing d'Artagnan and Constance. With a force of guards, they occupy the convent at Armentieres and battle all four musketeers when they arrive. While Rochefort and his men hold the musketeers at bay, de Winter strangles Constance. Athos captures de Winter; D'Artagnan duels Rochefort and apparently kills him with a lunge through the chest (though it is revealed in the sequel ''The Return of the Musketeers'' that he actually survived the wound). The four musketeers sentence de Winter to death by beheading, and they hire an executioner to carry out the punishment. Afterward, they are arrested by the Cardinal's guards.

Richelieu charges d'Artagnan with murder for killing a valuable servant of the State, but d'Artagnan shows him the signed death warrant which, due to its ambiguous phrasing, appears to authorize d'Artagnan's actions. Defeated and quite impressed at d'Artagnan's achievement, the Cardinal offers him a commission for either him or one of his three friends to become an officer. Athos, Porthos, and Aramis all reject it, and d'Artagnan is promoted to Lieutenant of the Musketeers.

After Cartman gets into trouble at school (forcing another student into a ''Saw''-esque situation for mocking his weight), Liane admits that she cannot control her son anymore. She turns to Nanny 911 and Supernanny, but their attempts to change Cartman's behavior are unsuccessful, with Cartman psychologically harassing Nanny Stella about her decision to not have children and Jo Frost ending up in a mental hospital, sobbing and eating her own excrement while shouting "It's from Hell!".

Desperate, Liane turns to Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer. Instead of treating Cartman as a human child, Millan uses dog training techniques which prove highly effective, leaving Cartman intensely frustrated. Cartman's behavior improves after a while, although he feels he cannot control his actions. As Liane enjoys her more flexible lifestyle, Cartman plots to kill his mother, although the changes he underwent prevent him from executing his plan.

With Cartman's behavior in check, Millan returns for a final visit. Liane thanks and invites him on an outing, which he declines because he sees her as a client, not a friend. As her son was previously her friend, Liane asks Cartman to join her on the outing. After he refuses, Liane persuades Cartman to spend time with her, saying he can have anything he wishes, and Cartman returns to normal with an unsettling smile on his face.

Malcolm Anderson is a reporter for a Miami newspaper, who is burned out from years of covering the worst crimes in the city. He promises his girlfriend Christine that they will move away from the city, but he ends up covering a series of grisly murders by a serial killer who calls him telling the reporter that he will kill again. The lines between covering the story and becoming part of it are blurred.

Twenty years after the events of ''The Four Musketeers'', Cardinal Mazarin has imprisoned the Duke of Beaufort. Mazarin hires d'Artagnan to bring together Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, to work for him. Porthos accepts, but Athos and Aramis decline. By this time, Athos has a son named Raoul.

Milady de Winter's daughter, Justine, captures and questions the executioner that the musketeers hired to kill her mother. After finding out that "Comte de la Fere" hired him, she kills him. Raoul happens upon the aftermath of this event and chases after Justine, who is disguised as a priest. After a swordfight, when he discovers who she really is and her plan, Raoul leaves and tells d'Artagnan, Porthos, and Athos that Justine wants to kill them.

Comte de Rochefort is unable to prevent Beaufort from escaping from his prison, and he is subsequently arrested by Mazarin. Mazarin sends d'Artagnan and Porthos after Beaufort, but Beaufort escapes them due to interference from Athos and Aramis, who are working for Beaufort. This starts a fight amongst the Musketeers, in which d'Artagnan slices Aramis' hand. Aramis breaks his sword and rides away. d'Artagnan and Porthos are fired by Mazarin for not catching Beaufort.

Rochefort, who has survived his near-fatal clash with d'Artagnan in the previous film and has gone into hiding, finds Justine and tells her the names of d'Artagnan, Porthos, and Aramis, revealing to her that the Comte de la Fere is Athos. King Charles I of England is to be executed, so Queen Anne of Austria sends d'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Raoul to rescue him. They attempt a rescue by knocking out the executioner, but Justine takes his place and beheads Charles.

The Musketeers have several encounters with Justine: in one, Raoul's true allegiance is revealed to her; in another, Justine and Rochefort attempt to kill the Musketeers by blowing up their ship. The Musketeers notice their trap, set their own bomb and escape. Rochefort is killed when the ship explodes, but Justine escapes.

Justine attempts to kill King Louis XIV, but is stopped by the Musketeers, and their battle concludes with Justine jumping out of the window into the water. Aramis rejoins the Musketeers, and they force Mazarin to sign several forms in favour of them, including making Porthos a baron, Aramis a bishop, and Raoul being commissioned into the Guards. The film ends with the Musketeers riding together again.

Joe (Billy Connolly) is a regular guy who runs a flower shop in the Bronx and has never had much in the way of good luck. Things seem to be grim for Joe when he's diagnosed with a brain tumor. He's told he must have an operation soon, within the next two weeks.

Joe goes home early, catching his wife in bed with another man, and she declares she wants a divorce as he's too boring. After saying his goodbyes to his fellow Irishman father-in-law, he hops in his van, seeking adventure.

At a pawn shop, Hush (Sharon Stone), tries to get money for a ring to bet on horses. She needs to pay back a sizeable debt to her bookie. A bit of good fortune appears on Joe's horizon when he wins a 15,000 jackpot at the race track. However Hush, a stripper, sees his big payout, she tries to steal Joe's newly won fortune to pay them off. He signs over the check to nuns for charity.

Later, Joe wanders into a mud wrestling bar where Hush emcees and she convinces him to do it. While he's in the pit, Hush takes his wallet. She gives it to her bookie's henchman, and Joe is in time to scare him off. He gives her a lift home and lets him stay.

The next morning, Joe meets Hush's son and daughter Lee and Vivian, and gets some things from the supermarket to make them breakfast. When Hush gets up, she's initially hostile, but later takes him to the Geek. Joe gets his money back by explaining to the gangsters what happened, but only because they mistake him for Beautiful Joe, the syndicate kingpin they've heard about but never met.

When the gangsters discover that Joe is a florist and not a career criminal, they find the situation less than amusing. Holding Hush and the kids hostage, the Geek and his thugs leave but her ex Elton stays. Vivian goes to the bathroom. He came back, concerned about them. They lock Elton in the bathroom, and head out on the road.

Joe sleeps in his van, and the others a motel room. That night, Joe tells Hush about his impending brain cancer surgery. The next day she leaves them in a park while she goes to Leavenworth to see Vivian's dad. That night, she shares this with Joe and tells him her real name, Alice.

On the road, they stop for horseback riding, and Joe falls down for a moment from a severe headache. That night, Joe takes Alice to dinner and dancing. There, she has altercation with a drunk, which Joe diffuses. Back at the room, they are intimate.

Reaching Vegas, Joe spends time with the kids, while Alice loses the money he gave her. Obsessed, she steals from his wallet again while they are at a show. She goes bust, and then the thugs, led by Elton, catch up to her.

Joe makes a trade, him for Alice. He sends her off with the kids, agreeing on a meeting place and time. The real beautiful Joe appears, his friend Happy. Joe discovers that his father-in-law is head of the whole sindicate.

Joe meets with the family in San Francisco, and then flies home for the operation. As the family gets in the van, Lee bursts out speaking, ashamed of his mom for her taste in men. Joe goes into the operation alone, but Alice and the kids are there to welcome him back.

Book I: ''North and South''

• '''Episode 1''' (summer 1842 – summer 1844) – Young Southerner Orry Main, the second born son of a wealthy South Carolina plantation owner, decides to go to West Point. On his way to the train station, he rescues and falls in love with the beautiful French-Creole southern belle from New Orleans, Madeline Fabray. In New York City, Orry meets Northerner George Hazard, the second son of a wealthy Pennsylvania steel-factory owner, who is also on his way to West Point. They quickly become close friends. At the Academy, they meet classmates George Pickett, George McClellan, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson and a senior student named Ulysses Grant. They also meet the amoral egomaniac Elkanah Bent, a fellow cadet from Georgia. Bent is a handsome, smooth-talking man who hides his evil, twisted nature beneath his charm and good looks. He takes an instant dislike to Orry and George and uses his status as their drillmaster to constantly harass them. Orry constantly writes letters to Madeline, although it seems that she has not been responding to him. After two years of training, the men return home for a summer leave. George's sister, Virgilia, is a passionate abolitionist and immediately takes a dislike to Orry when she finds out that his family keeps slaves. While at home, Orry is devastated to learn that Madeline is marrying his cruel neighbor, plantation owner Justin LaMotte. Orry has an argument with his father over the hiring of the brutal and sadistic Salem Jones as the plantation's overseer. Orry stops Jones from using a bullwhip to "punish" one of the slaves, sparking a tense relationship between the two. After Orry witnesses Madeline's marriage, they privately speak to each other afterwards and find out that Madeline's father has been hiding Orry's letters to ensure that she would marry Justin. That night, Justin hits and rapes Madeline, leaving her broken.
• '''Episode 2''' (autumn 1844 – spring 1848) – Bent continues his cruelty towards George, Orry, and their friends. The men, with some help from other cadets, arrange for Bent to be caught with a prostitute and he is forced to leave the Academy. When Bent learns that Orry and George were involved, he vows revenge. George and Orry graduate from West Point two years later. They leave to fight in the Mexican War. During the Battle of Churubusco, Bent, who has blackmailed his father (Bent is an illegitimate son of a US senator) in order to obtain a superior rank, orders George and Orry to lead a suicidal charge against the Mexican forces. Both men survive, but Orry is shot in his left leg and permanently crippled. Meanwhile, George meets Constance Flynn, the Irish Catholic daughter of an Army surgeon, and falls in love. They plan to marry. Orry drowns his sorrows in alcoholism. With the Mexican War over, George quits the army, finds Bent, and beats him, threatening to kill him if he ever tries to harm him or Orry again. Traumatized by his injuries, Orry temporarily becomes a recluse. When Madeline helps Priam, one of Orry's slaves, escape, one of the other slaves gets whipped for helping Priam.
• '''Episode 3''' (spring 1848 – summer 1854) George marries Constance and Orry is his best man. Orry and Madeline become secret lovers. A terrible fire erupts at Hazard Iron and kills many of the workers due to George's older brother, Stanley, making a greedy decision. All authority over Hazard Iron is handed to George, greatly displeasing Stanley and his wife, Isabel. Orry's father dies five years later, leaving Orry to inherit the family plantation. His first act is to fire the brutal Salem Jones as overseer. Jones vows revenge. Orry's cousin Charles, who does not have good relations with the Main family, is challenged to a pistol duel in a dispute over an engaged woman. Orry, as Charles' second, begrudgingly helps Charles to survive the duel and they become close. The Mains visit the Hazards in Pennsylvania. Billy and Charles plan to attend West Point together, just as Orry and George did. Orry's sister Ashton purposely courts George's younger brother Billy, whom Brett has come to fancy. Orry and George begin a partnership cotton mill at Orry's plantation in South Carolina; they do so on George's condition that Orry not use slave labor in the mill. Virgilia is furious that her family has allowed slave owners into their house and tries to humiliate them, angering the rest of her family.
• '''Episode 4''' (summer 1854 – autumn 1856) – The Hazards visit the Mains in South Carolina. Billy discovers how selfish and seductive Ashton can be and falls in love with Ashton's younger and kinder sister, Brett, much to Ashton's jealousy. George's sister Virgilia enters a passionate relationship with Grady, the proud and aggressive coachman of James Huntoon, an ambitious but easily manipulated South Carolina politician, who is also a strong suitor of Ashton, and helps Grady escape from slavery. Ashton, however, becomes aware of Virgilia's involvement and informs James, as well as announcing it in the Hazard family's presence. On his deathbed, Madeline's father tells her that her maternal great-grandmother was black. Billy and Charles graduate from West Point, and both families attend the graduation. Ashton sleeps with many of Billy's friends, still bitter over his rejection and attraction to Brett, which Charles is furious to discover, but keeps secret for the family's sake. Ashton gets pregnant and begs Madeline for help, who takes her to a local midwife to perform a secret abortion. When Madeline lies to Justin about where she was when she was away helping Ashton, he beats Madeline, locks her in a spare bedroom to starve, and kills Maum Sally for trying to help Madeline escape.
• '''Episode 5''' (spring 1857 – November 1860) – Madeline is drugged by Justin into becoming robotic and submissive and disappears from society, even forgetting her love for Orry. Ashton marries James Huntoon, though she doesn't plan on being a committed wife. Elkanah Bent befriends James Huntoon, and subtly interrogates him at a brothel about the people in his wedding picture, including Orry, Ashton, and Madeline. Bent recognizes the resemblance between Madeline and the painting of a former popular prostitute that worked there. Orry visits George, but Virgilia's views cause a serious argument to ensue over the issue of slavery. Orry does not want Brett to marry Billy because of the growing tensions between the North and South. Virgilia and Grady both join abolitionist leader John Brown. In 1859, Brown makes his famous raid on Harper's Ferry, Virginia, to arm and free the slaves there. The U.S. Army stops the raid, Virgilia's husband Grady and Priam are killed, and Brown is captured. Virgilia escapes, but is more bitter than ever towards Southerners. Abraham Lincoln is elected president; several Southern states make plans to secede from the U.S. and establish themselves as a separate nation.
• '''Episode 6''' (November 6, 1860 – April 1861) – Having argued with Orry, now a bitter drunk, Brett has fled to Ashton's house in Charleston and runs into Billy, who is stationed at Fort Sumter. Ashton, however, still holds a grudge against Billy and conspires with Justin's nephew and her lover, Forbes LaMotte, to harm them both. George visits Orry and the two apologize to each other after years of estrangement. Orry gives Brett his blessing to marry Billy. South Carolina secedes from the Union, infuriating Orry. Ashton schemes to have Billy killed, partly out of jealousy, and partly because Billy is now a "Yankee" enemy in the eyes of the South. She fails, however, due to a drugged Madeline, who overhears Justin and Forbes discussing it. Her memories come back and she runs to inform Orry after slashing Justin's left eye with a sword, blinding and scarring him in the process. After stopping Billy and Brett on their way to the train station, Forbes provokes Billy into a rigged pistol duel, which turns into a full-fledged fight after Charles arrives, resulting in Forbes' death. Orry is enraged at Ashton for her part in trying to destroy the new friendship between the two families with the Hazards as in-laws through Billy and disowns her, with her vowing revenge, seeing Orry as a traitor to the new Confederacy because of his friendship with the "Yankee" Hazards. Justin comes looking for Madeline, as she has taken refuge with Orry at Mont Royal, but is forced to leave with a warning. Now off the drugs and with her memories returned, Madeline plans to divorce Justin and marry Orry. Orry visits the Hazard mansion near Philadelphia to give George his part of their cotton mill money. When he arrives, Orry discovers that George and Constance now have a baby girl named Hope. Virgilia finds out that Orry is present and tries to have him killed by forming a lynch mob which threatens the Hazard estate; the mob's leaders demand that George hand Orry over to them, leaving little doubt that their intentions are to kill him. George and Orry face off against the mob with shotguns and manage to drive them off. In the aftermath, Virgilia, feeling her family will never truly understand who she really is, leaves the Hazard mansion, despite Constance's pleas for her to stay. Orry boards a train to return to South Carolina. The two friends part, unsure if they will ever see each other again. The Civil War begins.

Book II: ''Love and War''

• '''Episode 1''' (June 1861 – July 21, 1861) – Orry and Charles, now officers in the Confederate Army, leave the Main family plantation for the war in Virginia. Orry, despite having been against secession, becomes a general and military aide to Confederate President Jefferson Davis in the Confederate capital of Richmond. Meanwhile, George and Billy are in Washington, D.C., where they are officers in the U.S. Army. Billy joins the U.S. Sharpshooters regiment, while George becomes a military aide to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Charles, a Confederate cavalry officer, meets Augusta Barclay, a Virginia belle who smuggles medicine for the southern soldiers. Virgilia wants to work as a nurse at a Washington, D.C. military hospital and asks Congressman Sam Greene, a fellow abolitionist, for help. Orry's cruel and manipulative sister Ashton meets her match in Elkanah Bent, who sees the Civil War as a great way to get rich by smuggling forbidden luxury goods through the U.S. Navy blockade of the South. Bent and Ashton quickly become lovers, while Ashton's politician husband, James Huntoon, is unaware of his wife's adultery. With Orry and Charles gone to war, Justin kidnaps Madeline from the Main family plantation and burns the cotton barn; Orry's mother is injured trying to stop the fire. The First Battle of Bull Run takes place with George and Constance getting caught up in the panicked aftermath as they reluctantly watch from a distance. The South is the winner.
• '''Episode 2''' (July 1861 – summer 1862) – Hearing about her mother's injury, Brett and one of the Main household servants, Semiramis, make the dangerous trip from Washington, D.C. to the Main plantation in South Carolina. Along the way, Semiramis is captured by Union soldiers, but rescued by Brett. Orry leaves Richmond and returns to South Carolina as well; he finds Madeline at Justin's plantation and kills Justin in a fight. Orry and Madeline finally get married. Orry discovers Bent's illegal smuggling enterprise and stops it by capturing Bent's blockade runners, arresting his men, and destroying most of his merchandise. Bent and Ashton vow revenge. Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, George's older brother Stanley takes over the family's steel factories. His greedy wife Isabel talks him into profiteering from the war by using cheap, low-grade iron to make cannons for the U.S. Army; the cannons often explode and kill Northern soldiers. They forge George's name on the documents, in case the cannons are traced back to Hazard Iron.
• '''Episode 3''' (September 17, 1862 – spring 1864) – At the bloody battle of Antietam, Charles and Billy nearly kill each other, but each allows the other to escape. Charles's friend Ambrose is killed in the battle by one of the poor-quality cannons made by Hazard Iron. Afterwards, President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation frees the slaves in the rebel Southern states. Most of the slaves leave the Main plantation in South Carolina, but Ezra and Semiramis decide to remain until they decide how to move forward with their newfound freedom. Ashton visits her family's plantation, supposedly to see her recovering mother and sister Brett, but in reality to carry out Bent's revenge against Orry. Ashton tells Madeline that she knows that Madeline's mother was a high-priced, part-black prostitute in New Orleans, and that, unless Madeline leaves Orry with no explanation, she will reveal this secret and ruin Orry's public reputation. Madeline flees to Charleston where she is befriended by a suave gambler Rafe Baudeen and begins working for the city's poor and orphans who are suffering from the war. Following the Union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg, Billy, sick of not having seen his wife Brett for nearly two years, goes AWOL from the U.S. Army and makes his way to South Carolina, where he and Brett spend some time together. Ashton discovers Billy's presence and goes to tell the local authorities, but Billy is saved when Brett threatens her sister with a pitchfork long enough for Billy to escape.
• '''Episode 4''' (May 1864 – late autumn 1864) – When Billy returns to his regiment, his commanding officer threatens to court-martial and execute him if he ever leaves again. Billy is also placed in harm's way by being put in charge of the regiment's skirmishers. George, now a general, is captured in a raid by Southern forces and taken to the dreaded Libby Prison in Richmond, where he is tortured by Captain Turner, the prison's psychotic commandant. Orry is shot and taken to the hospital where Virgilia works; despite her hatred of Southerners, she helps him recover and looks the other way, allowing him to escape. Later, Virgilia is accused of allowing a wounded Southern soldier to die and is fired from the hospital. In a fit of rage, Virgilia pushes the elderly chief nurse Mrs. Neal, causing her to lose her balance and tumble to the floor. Believing Mrs. Neal to be dead, Virgilia panics and flees the hospital. Desperate for money and a hiding place, she goes to Congressman Greene for help. He gives her money and protection in exchange for sex. Charles saves Augusta from being raped by Northern soldiers at her farm in Virginia, and the two become lovers.
• '''Episode 5''' (December 1864 – February 1865) – The war has turned against the South. Orry and Charles save George from Libby Prison, kill Turner in a fight, and allow George to return to the North. Madeline helps starving people in Charleston. Returning home, George learns of his brother and sister-in-law's illegal business schemes to use cheap iron to build cannon, and forces Stanley and Isabel to admit guilt. While Isabel remains defiant and spiteful, Stanley expresses remorse to George and vows to atone for his crimes. Bent tries to kill Madeline in Charleston, but she is rescued by her gambler friend Rafe, who saves Madeline but is fatally shot by Bent. Bent enlists James Huntoon for help in his plot to overthrow the Confederate government. Although he is still oblivious to Bent's and Ashton's affair, Huntoon acts as a double agent gathering intelligence on the planned coup d'état and reporting the activities to Jefferson Davis. The Confederate President orders Orry to squash the planned revolution. In a final fight, Orry and Huntoon attack Bent's hideout near Richmond. Bent is (apparently) killed when the ammunition he was hiding in a barn explodes. In a moment of shock and clarity after witnessing the destruction of Bent's munitions and possibly him as well, Ashton confesses her affair to James, conspiring to have Billy killed, her past abortion, and tells Orry that she helped Bent drive Madeline away. Orry once more disowns Ashton in fury for her secrets and actions against both the Main and Hazard families, and tells Huntoon that he never wants to see his sister again, considering her dead to him now. Ashton begs Huntoon's forgiveness, but he tells her that it is too late, hinting that he, also in anger and disappointment for her betrayal of their marriage, plans to divorce her as punishment for her actions.
• '''Episode 6''' (March 1865 – April 1865) – The fighting ends with a Northern victory. Orry and George lead troops against each other in the last major battle at Petersburg; Orry is wounded while trying to fight off Union troops as they overrun his position. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia to U.S. Army General Ulysses Grant and the Army of the Potomac, negotiating the terms of surrender at Appomattox. With the war over, Charles goes to Augusta's farm and finds that she has died giving birth to his child, a son. He goes to Charleston and gets his child from Augusta's uncle's wife. Billy also quits the army and reunites with Brett at her family's plantation. Congressman Greene ends his affair with Virgilia, which he thinks detrimental to his political career. Virgilia learns that Greene had been lying to her about the seriousness of the charges and using Virgilia's dependence for his own gratification; she murders the congressman and is sentenced to death by hanging. She and George have a tearful farewell before her execution. George learns that Orry is wounded and searches for him, finally finding him in a Union hospital. Their reunion is spoiled when both learn that President Lincoln has been shot. George helps Orry find Madeline, who reveals that Orry is now the father of their son. Orry, Madeline, their baby, and George all set out for the Main plantation. Salem Jones, the cruel former overseer of the Main plantation, joins with one of the Mains' former slaves, Cuffey, in an attack on the Main plantation; they burn the mansion before being killed or driven off by Charles, Billy, and Ezra. Orry, George, and Madeline arrive, with the former two helping to fend off the last of the attackers. Οrry's mother is killed in the attack by Cuffey while trying to prevent Semiramis' rape, but Cuffey is shot dead by Charles, while Salem Jones is shot dead by Brett when he is about to shoot Billy. Orry and George pledge to renew their family's friendship, and George agrees to help Orry rebuild his plantation home by reopening the cotton mill and letting Orry take the profits. The two families depart the burned out and collapsed remains of Mont Royal to prepare for the future.

Book III: ''Heaven and Hell''

• '''Episode 1''' (summer 1865–autumn 1865) – Elkanah Bent, having survived the explosion of his hidden ammunition depot near Richmond, becomes obsessed with getting his "final revenge" on Orry Main and George Hazard, whom he blames for his failures in life. Bent travels to Richmond and stabs Orry to death. Ashton visits Madeline with the threat of taking back everything of hers that Orry and Madeline took from her, including Mont Royal, but is horrified to learn that Bent killed Orry. When Bent tells her he has no use for her anymore, a furious Ashton tries unsuccessfully to kill him. Heartbroken at Orry's death, Madeline tries to rebuild the Main family mansion at Mont Royal and helps local freed slaves, to the disapproval of most of her white neighbors. After learning of Orry's death, George goes to Mont Royal and helps Madeline. Charles Main, now a corporal in the U.S. Cavalry in the Old West, meets and romances Willa Parker. Ashton begins working as a prostitute in Santa Fe to earn enough money to buy Mont Royal, unaware of its fate. Carrying out the next part of his plan of revenge, Bent goes to the Hazard mansion near Philadelphia and murders George's wife Constance.
• '''Episode 2''' (autumn 1865–spring 1866) – Devastated by news of his wife's murder, George begins searching for Bent to exact justice. Cooper Main, Orry's older brother, becomes a member of the Ku Klux Klan and begins working to undermine his sister-in-law Madeline's efforts to help local Blacks. Isabel Hazard, George's greedy sister-in-law, wants to buy Mont Royal and evict the Main family. Charles continues to work as a cavalryman in the Old West, and continues to romance Willa. Realizing that she cannot stand against Cooper and Isabel alone, Madeline asks George for help. Charles helps to form a unit of buffalo soldiers. Cavalrymen massacre a Cheyenne village.
• '''Episode 3''' (spring 1866–spring/summer 1866) – George arrives at Mont Royal to help Madeline, and they fall in love. George, with his brother Stanley's help (who has now gone into politics), make Isabel end her plans, and Stanley divorces her, blaming her for all his mistakes. Carrying out the final part of his revenge, Bent kidnaps Charles and Augusta's son Gus. When George learns of this, he goes West and finds Charles. Together the two men rescue Gus, hunt down Bent, and hang him. Ashton returns to Mont Royal and weeps when she sees that it has been destroyed. George and Charles return to Mont Royal to help Madeline and the freed slaves defeat the Ku Klux Klan. Cooper takes Madeline during the fight, and George rides after to save her. When Cooper is told by Gettys LaMotte to kill both Madeline and George, he refuses. Gettys shoots Cooper, and George kills Gettys. Charles says his goodbyes before returning to Willa and Gus, while George and Madeline plan for their future together.

After his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo and surrender to the British Empire, Napoleon Bonaparte is delivered into exile and imprisonment on St. Helena, setting the scene for a psychological character study of the fallen Emperor and those upon the island with him as he rakes over the ashes of his career. After a failed escape attempt, the British Government offers him a chance for a return to limited power in France once again as a buffer against instability there; however, on the point of departure he is afflicted by the symptoms of stomach cancer and the offer is in consequence withdrawn, leaving him entrapped on the island and exiting history's stage.

The lead singer of boy band 'Take 10' vanishes. The band conducts an ''American Idol'' type contest to find a replacement.

On the advice of a bartender familiar with the Wall Street crowd, Jeff Allen (William Gregory Lee) applies to the Wolfe Brothers brokerage firm in New York City for his dream job as a stock broker. What he does not know is that the brokers are werewolves, and he is bitten, thus he "joins the pack". He is forced to abandon his love and values for cunning and instinct during which time he cheats on his girlfriend, Annabella, and brutally kills and eats various humans. After a change of heart, he finds that leaving the brotherhood is harder than joining.

Jeff goes to Annabella's friend's birthday party, and a drunk tries hitting on Annabella. Jeff rips a piece out of the neck of the drunk and then chases his girlfriend back to her apartment and bites her, transforming her into a werewolf too. Annabella had given him a silver pen when he first started as an intern at the Wolfe Brothers firm, and he goes back to the headquarters and he tries to quit, but his mentor, Dyson Keller, refuses to let him go. Jeff leaves anyway, but the werewolves led by Vince, go to Annabelle's apartment and seize her. They force him to return to headquarters, and he stabs the person he thought was the alpha but he was wrong, and a fight ensues during which he and his girlfriend kill all of the werewolves, and then they start walking away. The alpha who they thought they had killed, opens his eyes a split second before the end of the film, showing that they were not successful.

A writer arrives at the Chateau Rousseau, an illustrious Montreal hotel known for its favourable treatment of struggling artists. He has been hired by Lucy Knowlton, the alcoholic owner of the hotel, to research and write a book about its history. She will comp his room and board until the book is written. At the same time, Jenny arrives at the hotel and is hired as a chambermaid.

While the writer researches the hotel's past, Jenny hears a gunshot at the hotel pool and arrives to find a body floating in the pool. She also finds herself face to face with the murder suspect, gun in hand; but she cannot identify him because she is near-sighted and can't see him clearly.

The death may be related to events in the past. It may also be related to an attempt by Jacob Knowlton to have his sister Lucy murdered, leaving him with sole ownership of the hotel. He plans to demolish it, partly to support his son's election campaign, but knows that his sister would never allow it. The body is that of Lucy and Jacob's old friend Peter Miflin, whose daughter was killed when Jacob's son got drunk and drove the car into a river. News of her death was hushed up.

In the meantime, guests come and go at the hotel, each with his or her own story like a cross-section of their lives. Some have affairs, one couple tries to sell a baby, there is even a case of spontaneous human combustion. A young girl whose mother dies at the hotel successfully covers up the death by hiring another guest as her "father." The chambermaids and bellhops also have complex relationship problems, which are made worse for Adelaide and Jeremy by Jeremy's constant scheming to turn an additional illicit buck at the expense of the guests. Jenny's uneasiness over what she has witnessed also factors into many of the vignettes.

In the fifth episode, it becomes apparent that many if not all of these stories are actually the novel the writer has written instead of the history he was supposed to write. The writer blames the closed doors of the hotel, which told him nothing, so he had to make things up. Lucy agrees to read the novel. If it is good enough, she will tear up his bar bill, which was not included under the terms of room and board.

With that, the story plunges back into other guest vignettes, while continuing to follow Jenny and the other hotel staff. The novel does not end with the operatic death and funeral of another guest, because the writer thinks that would be too maudlin. A formerly famous opera singer was overcome with emotion and died when a famed tenor came to serenade her. All the staff and guests at the hotel break into operatic song at her funeral.

Jenny has a knack for being in the right place at the right time. When one of the guests learns of his father's death over the telephone, she is present to console him. It turns out that the guest is now the King of Saudi Arabia, and she will become his queen.

It turns out that Jacob's son is not Jacob's son at all. Instead, he was secretly adopted by Jacob after he was born to Lucy out of wedlock to an unknown father. When the young man finds out, he rejects Jacob and his scheming. Jacob is ruthless and reveals the secret of the accident in revenge against his son's betrayal. Jacob's son saves himself from the disclosure by discovering Christianity. Jacob is arrested for his friend's death in the pool, but turns out to be innocent of that death. He was, however, the person at the 1961 party who killed the chambermaid.

The novel finally ends when Jacob is killed in the halls of the hotel he tried so hard to own. The story told by the miniseries ends when the writer receives an envelope with the torn-up bar bill inside. Lucy never tells him that she thinks the novel is rather bad. However, she has a soft spot for artists.

The film begins with Painty the Pirate about to sing the television series theme as usual, but he instead pops out of the painting and throws the riders into Bikini Bottom. The audience ends up in The Krusty Krab, where SpongeBob SquarePants welcomes them and shows them how to make a Krabby Patty by pointing at the ingredients with his spatula. When preparing the Krabby Patty, SpongeBob accidentally loses a pickle. The pickle then bounces out of the restaurant into Patrick Star's hand, as he rides on a pogo stick. Patrick then steals the pickle, and SpongeBob, not knowing why, tells the riders to find Patrick on his bubble bike, destroying half of Bikini Bottom. While going through Jellyfish Fields, SpongeBob plummets down the vertical road into Rock Bottom, where a fish pops the bubble bike by biting it. The force of the pop hurdles SpongeBob into the air, landing in the Chum Bucket where Plankton is holding the real Patrick hostage, revealing that the pickle thief was a robotic version of Patrick. The robot then pursues SpongeBob, only to be unplugged by Patrick (looking for an electrical outlet for his toaster). Plankton is crushed by his robot, and SpongeBob recovers the pickle. Sandals enters the Chum Bucket to eat his patty; however, he tells SpongeBob that he ordered his Krabby Patty without pickles (which Spongebob disregards) and then abruptly explodes, leaving only his head and feet. He then explains to him that he is allergic to pickles and walks away as SpongeBob quips, "Well, that was pickle-culiar!"

Flashman's expulsion from Rugby for drunkenness leads him to join the British Army in what he hopes will be a sinecure. He joins the 11th Regiment of Light Dragoons commanded by Lord Cardigan, to whom he toadies in his best style. After an affair with a fellow-officer's lover, he is challenged to a duel but wins after promising a large sum of money to the pistol loader to give his opponent a blank load in his gun. He does not kill his opponent but instead delopes and accidentally shoots the top off a bottle thirty yards away, an action that gives him instant fame and the respect of the Duke of Wellington.

Once the reason for fighting emerges, the army stations Flashman in Scotland. He is quartered with the family of textile industrialist Morrison and soon enough takes advantage of one of the daughters, Elspeth. After a forced marriage, Flashman is required to resign the Hussars due to marrying below his station. He is given another option, to make his reputation in India.

By showing off his language and riding skills in India, Flashman is assigned to the staff of Major General William George Keith Elphinstone, who is to command the garrison at the worst frontier of the British Empire at that time, Afghanistan. Upon arrival, he is instructed to undertake various diplomatic missions and thereby increases his knowledge of the contemporary Afghan political situation, local culture and language. During one early diplomatic mission, Flashman makes an enemy of the terrifying Gul Shah and, characteristically, takes false credit for slaying assassins sent by Gul to kill him: in reality he attempted to flee in fear while his companion bravely fought and died to protect him from the assassins.

Meanwhile in Kabul, senior British commanders and diplomats appear unaware or unwilling to accept that the situation in the country is worsening. For his part, Flashman accurately observes the deteriorating situation during his various assignments in the country: his reports are generally ignored.

He is back in Kabul to observe a mob storming the house of Sir Alexander Burnes, one of the senior British political officers. Burnes, his brother and his staff are slain in the street while the ill-led British army does nothing, remaining in their encampment outside of Kabul. Flashman again attempts to flee in midst of the confusion but is captured and tortured by Gul Shah, only to be rescued and then subsequently used as a diplomatic envoy by the duplicitous Afghan leader Akbar Khan.

This tale sets the tone for Flashman's proceeding adventures, including the disastrous 1842 retreat from Kabul and the Battle of Jellalabad, in the First Anglo-Afghan War. Despite being captured, tortured and escaping death numerous times, hiding and shirking his duty as much as possible, he comes through it with a hero's reputation; although his triumph is tempered when he realises his wife might have been unfaithful while he was away.

Part One

Ross is being questioned by his friends about his relationship with Elizabeth, mainly asking if the relationship is going anywhere. Ross quickly claims he and Elizabeth are great together, and his friends are all wrong, until he sees her having a water balloon fight with her buddies. Deciding she ''is'' too young, he breaks off the relationship. Afterward, Ross questions his decision, until Elizabeth confirms her immaturity by dropping water balloons on his head from her upstairs window.

Rachel takes Phoebe and Joey to a charity event helping children, including a silent auction. While Phoebe is obviously over-drinking, Joey has bigger problems; misunderstanding the silent auction process, Joey thought that bidders guessed an object's worth, with the prize going to the person with the closest guess. Joey "guesses" $20,000 and wins a yacht. Rachel and Joey try to convince the next highest bidder to buy the boat, but in the process of persuading the man of the boat's virtues, Joey changes his mind and wants it for himself, although he can barely afford it.

After weeks of preparation, Chandler is ready to propose to Monica. While at a restaurant, Chandler begins his proposal however before he can ask the question Monica's ex-boyfriend Richard walks in and the moment is lost. When the others come home from the charity event, they constantly ask to see Monica's hand, thinking Chandler proposed already. Feeling that Monica will figure out that Chandler plans to propose, Joey suggests that Chandler pretend he does not care about marriage and may never want to get married. Meanwhile, Richard approaches Monica at work and declares his love for her.

Part Two

Richard tells Monica that he has never gotten over her and that he wants to marry and have children with her. Monica is left confused and when Chandler talks about how he hates marriage and cannot see why anyone should get married she starts to feel unsure about their whole relationship. After Joey tells Monica that Chandler seemingly has no interest in getting married, Monica tells him that Richard wants to marry her, leading Joey to tell her that Chandler does love marriage, making Monica even more confused. She decides enough is enough and goes to meet Richard at his apartment. After talking to him about the unfairness of the situation, she soon leaves to think things over.

Feeling envious of Chandler and Monica, Rachel decides to follow Phoebe's lead and secure Ross as her marriage "backup": they will get married if they are both still single at 40. However, she finds that Phoebe had long since made Ross her second backup after Joey. All three confront Phoebe about this, and it is decided that Joey will remain Phoebe's backup, while Ross becomes Rachel's.

Joey tells Chandler how his plan has backfired on him and he is now in serious danger of losing Monica for good, and he leaves on a frantic search intending to propose when he finds her. Chandler comes to Richard's apartment and asks for Monica, only to find that she has left. He tells Richard off for blowing his own chances years ago, and also says that he and Monica are meant to be together, revealing he had intended to propose. Richard advises Chandler to go to Monica, telling him if he succeeds in winning her back, he must never let her go.

After searching for Monica all day, Chandler hurries back to his apartment and when he gets there, Joey meets him in the hall, claiming Monica has left because of his commitment issues, despite Joey trying to convince her otherwise. When Chandler enters their apartment, believing he has destroyed his relationship with Monica, he discovers that it is far from being abandoned, there are candles lit all over and Monica is kneeling to propose. In the midst of proposing to Chandler, she cries from sheer emotion and is unable to continue. Instead, Chandler gets on his knees and proposes to her and Monica accepts. They then open the door to Joey, Rachel, and Phoebe, who have been waiting to celebrate. At first, they hesitate, feeling Ross should be there to share the moment, then decide that after three marriages, Ross can afford to miss one engagement celebration. The end credits play while Monica and Chandler slow dance to Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight".

The story is set in the United States, presumably during the late 1980s or early 1990s. It begins with Yeager driving around Washington D.C with a rifle. In his personal campaign of assassination, he initially shoots racially mixed couples in parking lots. Over 22 days, his campaign leads to 12 victims in 6 shootings. In the narrative, Yeager is depicted as the hero. His campaign escalates to more sophisticated methods against higher-profile targets, including prominent journalists and politicians whom Yeager sees as promoting racial mixing. At the same time, Yeager and his girlfriend are developing connections with a white nationalist group.

After several successful and increasingly ambitious attacks, Yeager is found and confronted by a senior agent of the FBI who himself is disgusted with Jewish control of the FBI and the American social situation. This agent blackmails Yeager into assisting him with his career by assassinating several Jewish FBI agents and targeting Mossad agents in the United States so that the agent can be appointed as the head of a newly formed antiterrorist secret police agency, assume increasing control of the United States and use his power to challenge and remove Jewish control of the government and media.

At the same time, Yeager's white nationalist group achieves growing prominence through the insertion of one of their members into a Christian evangelist television broadcasting ministry, from which he is broadcasting increasingly racist and antisemitic messages. Yeager's campaign of assassination and terrorism, the actions of copycats and imitators, the white nationalist broadcasting effort, the efforts of the antiterrorist official, and a rapid decline of the US economy all work to push the United States towards increasing racial and social violence and fragmentation.

Eventually, Yeager is faced with a dilemma when the government official for whom he has been working finally orders him to kill the undercover evangelist minister, whose efforts oppose the agent's intent to establish order and strike a temporary bargain with the Jews. Yeager attempts to avoid the assignment and then deliberately appears to bungle the assassination. At this point, Yeager is caught between the intentions of his government confederate (who intends to consolidate his own power and control over the government and reform the system from the top down after suppressing upcoming black nationalist riots) and the white-nationalist group who wishes to stir up the chaos even further, draw white Americans into battle, and eventually overthrow the government. Ultimately, Yeager kills the government agent.

Following this, the Jewish-controlled media side with the black rioters, revealing that the government official would have been double-crossed had he attempted to strike his deal. Yeager and the other members of the group, now under increasing government scrutiny, resolve to continue their efforts and to go "underground" to continue the fight against the system.

Members of a college swim team take anabolic steroids to enhance their performance. While on a daytrip to a local lake, a couple of the members pick up some leeches, which feed on the steroids in their blood. The leeches end up washed down a shower drain, where they grow to enormous size and return for more feedings.

Following the deaths of several members of the team and a college administrator, the few surviving team members and one of their girlfriends hatch a plan to kill off the monster leeches. They will draw them to the campus swimming pool by having one of the swimmers act as bait. Then they'll electrify the pool, electrocuting the leeches. Tragically, the team coach, who's been infected by a leech, attacks them, delaying the electrification just long enough to allow the leeches to kill one last swimmer. Finally the coach is subdued and the switch is thrown, frying the leeches.

As the film ends, a surviving swim team member, in true mad scientist fashion, is revealed to have had a hand in creating the leeches and is shown to have breeding stock left.

Young Chris Chandler, a student at Drake University, gets a new roommate, Dan, and becomes friends with him. Meanwhile, the fraternities are pledging and a student said to have been interested in Doma Tau Omega is found dead on the campus.

Chris, who has no high opinion of fraternities, gets to know a student of psychology, Megan, who invites him and Dan to a party of Doma Tau Omega, saying that she does not want to go there alone. However, when they arrive at the party, Chris seems to be interested only in the leader of DTO, Devon Eisley, and approaches him. After waiting for Chris a long time, Megan and Dan leave the party. Chris, meanwhile, is made drunk by Devon, who then makes him a member of DTO by drinking a bit of his blood while, in turn, Chris has to drink a bit of Devon's.

Shortly after that, Chris is introduced to parties in the DTO house, where he and Devon drink blood from a girl called Sandy in a way reminiscent of sexual intercourse. Dan is unsettled by the change in Chris since joining the fraternity, and breaks into the DTO house. Investigating the book of DTO, Dan is shocked to find photos of Devon throughout the decades of the fraternity's history, completely unchanged. He persuades Megan to go with him to Chris' room, which they find totally ravaged. They decide to look for Chris at the fraternity house.

At the DTO house, Devon tells Chris that he lives eternally as long as he transforms his soul into a new body every century, and that this time, Chris would be the one whose body is used. The student found dead on campus was made to commit suicide, as he was afraid to participate in the ceremony and threatened to go public. Chris tries to flee but is knocked out by the other DTO members, Barry and Jordan. Dan and Megan try to enter the fraternity house, but their way is blocked by DTO member Mikhail who threatens them with an axe. Dan grabs the needle used by the fraternity members to get blood from their victims and thrusts in into Mikhail's neck, killing him.

In the house, Dan and Megan meet Berry, Jordan, Devon and Chris, who are already beginning the ceremony. Megan reveals herself as a decoy who has worked for Devon over the last 70 years and was tasked with luring Chris. She threatens Dan with the axe, saying that she will kill him if Chris tries to resist the ritual. Chris stops fighting and kneels down in front of Devon. While everyone is concentrating on Chris, Dan suddenly breaks free of Megan. He takes the axe, and attacks Devon with it. Devon, the other fraternity members and Megan all die, leaving Chris and Dan standing amongst the carnage. Dan asks why Chris did not die, and Chris answers, "I told you I would never join a fraternity." The two leave the house.

In this tragic tale of misunderstanding, obsession, and increasing madness, Eliane ("Elle"), a beautiful young woman (Isabelle Adjani) settles into a small town in the south of France with her introverted mother (Maria Machado) and physically handicapped father, and soon becomes the subject of wild speculation because of her aloofness and at the same time, her obvious sexuality. The young woman is actually caught up in the desire to avenge the long-ago rape of her mother by three men who had arrived at her isolated house in a van which contained an old piano which they were delivering.

A shy car mechanic (Alain Souchon) becomes enamored of her, and the woman suddenly sees him in a different light when she learns that his father, now dead, was an Italian immigrant who had owned and tried unsuccessfully to pawn the piano. Intent on taking action against the mechanic's family to right the wrong suffered by her mother, the daughter begins to lose her grip on sanity when she finds out that the men she suspects of the rape are actually innocent. In fact, her father had long ago exacted his own vengeance on the real culprits. This knowledge pushes her over the edge, and she has to be institutionalized. Meanwhile, the young mechanic misunderstands what happened and that leads to tragedy; he tracks down and kills the innocent men Elle had suspected of raping her mother, believing them to be responsible for Elle's current condition.

The film is built around two main parallel stories, each containing almost identical dialogues. One story line involves Linda Sykes (Gyllenhaal), an American woman detained in the People's Republic of China, being interrogated by a military officer (Leung). In the other storyline, Sharif Bin Said (Lastra), an Arab man detained in New York City, is interrogated by two FBI agents (Winters and Close). Both characters are graduate students detained with no hard evidence and interrogated about unspecified activities which may or may not be related to terrorist plots.

In the course of the increasingly brutal interrogations, both Sykes and Bin Said are strip searched against their will by their interrogators and are subjected to a cavity search. In both cases the protagonists appear to have only tenuous connections with the suspected terrorist plots.

The film ends with the question: "Must security and safety come at the price of freedom?"

Billy Behan is a poor Irish American teenager from the Bronx in the 1920s. One day, he catches the attention of wealthy Jewish mobster Dutch Schultz. Changing his last name to Bathgate after a local street, Billy goes to work for Schultz's organization, serving mostly as a gofer for Schultz himself. Billy is present when Schultz personally commits two brutal murders: his trusted lieutenant, Bo Weinberg, who Schultz believes betrayed him after learning that Weinberg has been secretly meeting with rival bosses, is dumped in the water wearing cement shoes, and his top enforcer, "Big" Julie Martin, is personally shot dead by Dutch for stealing $50,000 from the organization's accounts and defiantly stating that he's "entitled" to it. Despite this, Billy comes to see Schultz as a father figure and the mob as his chance to make it big.

Facing criminal charges of tax evasion in a court in upstate New York, Schultz brings his entourage, including Billy and his mistress Drew Preston (who was previously Bo's mistress), along as he temporarily moves into the local community. He successfully charms the residents, presenting himself as good natured and easygoing while doing many charitable acts. While Dutch is attending his trial, Billy is assigned to watch Drew. His loyalties to Schultz are tested as he begins falling in love with the flirtatious Drew. Realizing that Dutch intends to have Drew murdered for cheating on him, Billy is able to get in contact with her real husband Harvey, who manages to take Drew home and out of harm's way before Schultz's men can make their move.

Despite being acquitted by a sympathetic jury, Dutch is soon indicted again. After running into difficulties paying for his legal defense, he decides to have state prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey assassinated; this request is denied by the mob's governing authority, the Commission, out of fear that killing Dewey will bring too much heat onto the Mafia. Schultz sends Billy to bribe a member of the Commission, but the bribe is rejected. When Billy returns with the bad news, Schultz angrily blames him for not doing enough and Billy is fired by Schultz's right-hand man, Otto Berman, who lets him keep the bribe money as a gift. As Billy leaves, he is ambushed and beaten by gangsters working for Commission head Lucky Luciano and is then forced to watch as Luciano's men storm the restaurant where Dutch is waiting; Dutch, Berman, and the two men accompanying them are swiftly gunned down. Billy is taken to meet Luciano, who tells him that he knows where Billy's family lives if he ever speaks of what happened to Dutch, before letting him go.

Bugs wakes up after a long night to find that a burly construction worker (whom Bugs derisively dubs "Hercules") has just shoveled up his rabbit hole near a highrise building being built. Bugs kindly asks Hercules to put his hole back, and Hercules pretends to comply, before he dumps Bugs and the dirt into the dump truck. Bugs angrily shouts "Hey, you big gorilla! Didn't you ever hear of the sanctity of the American home?" before another mound of earth falls on him and the truck hauls him away.

When Hercules exits the crane, Bugs calls him from the building under construction ("Yoo hoo! Hercules! Here's a message for ya!") dropping a brick on him (along with a telegram labeled "Eastern Onion" reading "Okay Hercules... You asked for it... Bugs Bunny"), then a steel girder, and then plays with the elevator controls while Hercules is inside the elevator. He accidentally breaks the controls, causing the elevator to fly off, and Hercules to fall into a pile of wet concrete.

Bugs then impersonates the project engineer and orders Hercules to make a high brick wall, followed by several attachments. Once done, Hercules is trapped at dizzying heights on a teeterboard. As Bugs removes the bricks from one end, Hercules on the other end strips off his clothes to save weight. This only works temporarily; by the time Bugs removes the last brick, Hercules is down to nothing but his underwear.

Hercules takes the fall, but suddenly manages to knock Bugs out temporarily with a steel girder, causing Bugs to dumbly "sleepwalk" through a harrowing series of moving girders and other objects. He finally regains his senses when he falls into a barrel full of water, then witnesses his nemesis bullying a shy employee, swiping his lunch and ordering him back to work. Infuriated, Bugs decides to put the goon out of commission once and for all ("Action, he says? Action he shall get."). Appropriating a red-hot rivet with pliers, Bugs takes a look at the posted floor plans for the building and finds his mark. He releases the rivet down a hole; it bounces around through an elaborate maze of objects and finally lands and burns through a rope holding up a giant steel casing which falls on top of Hercules (who echoes Candy Candido's radio catchphrase, "''I'm feelin' mighty low''"). Bugs' ultimatum: "Do I get my home back or do I have to get tough?" prompts Hercules to finally wave the white flag in defeat. The next shot is of the finished skyscraper, with a slight indentation in the middle. At the bottom, Bugs sits in his hole - the building has been built around it - and declares: "After all, a man's home ''is'' his castle."

Betsy, Tacy, and Tib are three eight-year-old girls who live in Deep Valley, Minnesota. At a carnival, they are mesmerized by the Flying Lady. When they learn that her act used a see-saw, they put on a show for their neighbors, recreating the act with a see-saw they assemble themselves. The three girls and Tib's brother Freddie build a playhouse in Tib's basement, using her family's store of firewood. Tib's father convinces them to demolish the playhouse by reenacting the fable of The Three Little Pigs with the little girls as the pigs and Freddie as the wolf.

When Betsy's mother allows Betsy, Tacy, and Tib to stay at the house by themselves, they amuse themselves by cooking a dish Betsy calls Everything. They put a little of every ingredient in the kitchen into the pot. After tasting the results, they toss it out, but that night, all three have stomach-aches. Betsy, Tacy, and Tib explore Tib's house by looking into mirrors, calling the rooms that they see in the mirrors part of the Mirror Palace.

After Tacy recovers from a bout of diphtheria, the girls decide to cut off locks of their hair so they each have a keepsake of the others. They cut off one of Betsy's braids, half of Tacy's long red ringlets, and half of Tib's yellow curls, and divide the hair into pillboxes that they can each wear as lockets. Their parents are furious until they hear the girls' reasoning which makes them laugh. Tib's mother cuts of the rest of the girls' hair to even it up.

Annoyed that their older sisters created a club that they were left out of, Betsy, Tacy, and Tib form The Christian Kindness Club. The club is supposed to encourage good behavior by punishing bad behavior. The girls end up competing to do more bad behavior than the others.

While the first two volumes are something like collections of vignettes about Betsy, Tacy, and Tib, this one has a story through the whole volume.

The girls are competing with Betsy's and Tacy's older sisters about having a Queen of Summer. When they go out to collect votes, they find themselves making friends with a surprising little girl their own age in the Little Syria section of Deep Valley, Minnesota.

In this volume in the series, horseless carriages arrive in Deep Valley for the first time when Mr. Poppy, the owner of the Opera House, buys an automobile. Betsy's friend Tib is his first passenger — along with his wife — due simply to her having the boldness to ask for a ride. Although the girls' classmate Winona Root is initially jealous of Tib over this experience, she soon gets over it and invites Betsy, Tacy, and Tib to their first real theatrical experience, a dramatized version of ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' at the Opera House. Betsy befriends the lonely Mrs. Poppy, who welcomes the chance to share the little girls' affection after having lost her only daughter in the years before moving to town. Through this friendship, the girls not only enjoy parties at the Poppy Hotel, but also participate in a theatrical production of ''Rip Van Winkle'' that lets Mrs. Poppy reunite Betsy's mother, Mrs. Ray, with her long-lost brother.

Betsy and her friends also discover the temptations of dime novels, prompting Betsy to try her hand at writing her own. Eventually, Betsy shares her secret writings with her mother, who successfully encourages her to write fiction of more elevated character. Betsy's parents decide that in order to foster a love of classic literature and make Betsy a better writer, she will be allowed to go alone to the new Carnegie library every two weeks, with spending money for a special mid-day treat to let her stay all day.

The novel begins with the return of Betsy's childhood friend Thelma (Tib) Muller, who had been living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin since her parents were independent and they wanted to return to their old life, and the departure of Betsy's older sister, Julia, for college at the University of Minnesota. Julia's desire to bypass college and begin a musical career cause her to be relatively uninterested in classes and to focus instead on her desire to join a sorority. Excited by her sister's stories of college life, Betsy and her friends Tacy and Tib join with five other girls in establishing a local sorority at the high school level.

Over time, Betsy finds that the social whirl of the sorority distracts her from her studies and also eventually causes a backlash of resentment among the rest of the student body, which leads to her group's being excluded from their usual leading role in school activities. Moreover, the exclusiveness of the sorority concept pushes away others she would like to welcome into her social circle. Julia likewise becomes less interested in sororities after she is temporarily blackballed for having attracted the romantic attentions of a man who had dated other sorority members. By April, both girls have decided against sorority membership — Betsy in order to have a wider circle of friends and Julia to have the long-awaited chance to travel abroad and begin her musical training in earnest.

The novel also revisits a theme from the previous novel in the series, ''Betsy in Spite of Herself''. Having been reunited with her old friends Betsy and Tacy, and re-entering a co-educational setting after years in a girls-only school, Tib is initially very interested in her friends' advice on attracting young men by seeming less practical and knowledgeable than she really is. However, at various points in the novel the narrator portrays this dumbing-down as a silly and unnecessary self-denial that is not very satisfying.

''Betsy and Joe'' details the events of Betsy Ray's senior year (1909-1910) at Deep Valley High School in Deep Valley, Minnesota. Betsy had first met Joe Willard in the fifth book of the series, ''Heaven to Betsy'', at Willard's Emporium, a store in the country owned by Joe's uncle. The two of them did not become close friends initially, as they competed in school for top marks in English class and in the annual high school essay competition. Joe's parents had died earlier, causing him to have to spend his time working to support himself and making him, in Betsy's opinion, proud.

At the end of the previous book, ''Betsy Was a Junior'', Betsy's classmate, Joe Willard, sent her a postcard requesting to correspond over the summer while he was away working in the harvest fields. Joe soon moved to North Dakota to help run a newspaper, and over the summer while Betsy is away on vacation at Murmuring Lake, Betsy and Joe corresponded, Betsy on her "scented, greensealed" stationery replying to Joe's "typewritten letters." While at Murmuring Lake, Betsy is often visited by her good friend, Tony Markham. Tony tends to run with a wild crowd, so Betsy encourages his visits to keep him with the Crowd. In September, school begins, and Joe makes his first visit to Betsy's home and soon he comes every Sunday night for "Sunday Night Lunch." The first dance of the school year is announced, and to Betsy's dismay Tony asks her first. After Betsy explains the situation to Joe, he makes a blanket invitation for her to go to all the rest of the dances with him. Betsy declines because she feels it would be unfair to Tony to shut him out of her life like that, even though she only likes him as a friend.

The fall progresses with Tony and Joe both taking Betsy to various events, and soon it is time for the New Year's Eve dance. Again, Tony asks Betsy first — despite Betsy's having tried to give Joe a chance to invite her first — and Betsy feels she can't say no, so she accepts even though she would rather go with Joe. When Joe finds out, he is angry and says they should stop seeing one another. When school resumes after break, the two of them are no longer friends and scarcely talk to each other. Tony becomes more serious about Betsy. Just before Easter break, Tony tries to kiss Betsy and she tells him she only likes him as a friend. She then goes away for a week to visit friends of her father in the country, the Beidwinkles. At the end of the week, Betsy and the Beidwinkles visit Willard's Emporium, where Betsy and Joe meet again and rekindle their friendship in the place where it began. They spend the day together, and when they both return to Deep Valley they begin "going together." Tony leaves school to go work on Broadway in New York, and Joe and Betsy end the year happily "almost engaged."

Judge Steven Hardin (Michael Douglas) is an idealistic Los Angeles judge who becomes frustrated when the technicalities of the law prevent the prosecution of three criminals. The first is a man who was charged with murdering several elderly women for their welfare money. The second and third are two men who were accused of raping and killing a young boy named Daniel Lewin as part of a suspected child pornography ring.

The suspected child murderers, Lawrence Monk and Arthur Cooms, attracted the attention of two police officers when they were driving slowly late at night. The police officers suspected that the van's occupants might be burglars. After checking the license plate for violations, the officers pulled the van over for expired paperwork. They also claimed to have smelled marijuana, and then saw a bloody shoe inside the van. However, the reason for stopping the van turned out to be spurious: the paperwork was actually submitted on time (it was merely processed late). Since the traffic stop was illegal, based on the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine, Hardin has no choice but to exclude any evidence discovered as a result of the traffic stop, including the bloody shoe. Hardin becomes even more distraught when Daniel's father, Dr. Harold Lewin, attempts to shoot Monk and Cooms in court, but misses and shoots one of the arresting officers instead; Dr. Lewin is arrested.

While on a visit to Dr. Lewin, Hardin learns that another boy had been discovered by the police, raped and murdered in the same manner as Daniel. Outraged, Hardin visits his friend, Judge Caulfield (Hal Holbrook), who tells him of the existence of a modern-day Star Chamber, a group of judges that identifies criminals who cannot be brought to justice through the judicial system, and takes action against them using a hired assassin. As there is a vacancy present (one of the judges, James Culhane, had committed suicide earlier), Hardin participates in two of the Star Chamber proceedings, and the assassin is dispatched to kill two other unrelated murderers who were released on technicalities despite their own confessions. After receiving a phone call that Dr. Lewin has committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills while in jail, Hardin contracts the assassin to murder Monk and Cooms. Police detective Harry Lowes (Yaphet Kotto) learns from a car thief named Stanley Flowers that three men were actually responsible for the crime.

While at a party, Hardin learns about the new evidence. Realizing that he and the Star Chamber have just sentenced Monk and Cooms to die for a crime that they did not commit, Hardin implores the Star Chamber to recall the assassin, but is told by the other judges that the hit cannot be canceled. For the judges' protection, there is a cut-out between them and the assassin; they do not know who he is, and he doesn't know who they are. They tell Hardin that, although an occasional mistake is inevitable and regrettable, what they are doing still serves society's greater good. They argue that Monk and Cooms are clearly criminals who are guilty of numerous other crimes, even if they are not guilty of the specific crime for which the group convicted them.

Hardin makes it clear that he does not accept their reasoning, and Caulfield warns him to back down because the members of the group will do whatever they have to in order to protect themselves. Hardin decides to make an effort to stop Monk and Cooms from being killed, so he tracks down the men in an abandoned warehouse and attempts to warn them. However, Hardin has stumbled across an illegal drug operation, and they don't believe him. They attack Hardin, but the hitman, disguised as a police officer, arrives and kills both of them before they can kill Hardin. The hitman prepares to kill Hardin, but Lowes arrives at the last moment and kills the hitman.

Finally, as the Star Chamber decides another "case" without Hardin, Hardin sits with Lowes outside in a car, recording their conversation.

Olivia (Charlotte Church) is a young girl who is blessed with a beautiful, natural singing voice, although few people know that. She was conceived the night her mother met Paul, a Scottish rock star (Craig Ferguson), but the couple fell out of touch. Paul never knew that he had a daughter. Much later, Paul is "sectioned" after a motorcycle accident is viewed as a suicide attempt, and he meets his now 16-year-old daughter while confined to a psychiatric hospital.

Olivia's mother feels she was betrayed by Paul and failed by her own musician father, so she does not want her daughter to be involved in what she sees as the decadent world of rock music. In spite of her mother's attempts to keep them apart, Olivia and Paul get to know each other and they become the family they should have been all along.

The Goodies have started a bogus holiday service, which is engaged by a Detectives Club for its annual outing. The Goodies arrange a mystery train tour aboard the Orient Express but have no intention of taking the train anywhere. The train is boarded by members of the club dressed as famous detectives. At the station, Bill creates the illusion the train is moving by running along the platform with various props, such as a cow, a tree and deer antlers. Inside the train, Graeme narrates the 'journey', while Tim wears female attire to represent each country the train is supposedly going through. A goat supplies extra verisimilitude.

A real mystery starts when the train starts moving and the detectives begin to disappear. Graeme sniffs a bottle labelled 'Arsenic' and says: "Aha! The characteristic smell of bitter almonds!" Bill asks: "Isn't that cyanide?" to which Graeme replies: "Precisely. This arsenic has been ''poisoned!''"

More detectives disappear or die, prompting Bill to reference the original version of the rhyme from Agatha Christie's novel ''And Then There Were None'': "Ten little s, sitting down to dine, someone cut their cufflinks off, now, there's only nine." He later resumes, commenting: "Nine little s, sitting there in state, someone lit the touchpaper, now, there's only eight."

The train keeps moving, not always on the railway. It transpires a group of badly behaved mimes, originally disguised as the Goodies, have stolen the train as part of an attempt to win the legendary "''Gold Bore''" at the French "Le Boring" competition.

Using wheelchairs, the Goodies and the remaining detectives chase the mimes. The mimes are about to escape on a boat when the goat, also on wheels, butts one of them off a pier and into the boat, which sinks along with them.

Dr. Clitterhouse is a wealthy society physician in New York City who decides to research the medical aspects of the behavior of criminals directly by becoming one. He begins a series of daring jewel robberies, measuring his own blood pressure, temperature and pulse before, during and afterwards, but yearns for a larger sample for his study.

From one of his patients, Police Inspector Lewis Lane, he learns the name of the biggest fence in the city, Joe Keller. He goes to meet Keller to sell what he has stolen, only to find out that "Joe" is actually "Jo". The doctor impresses Jo and a gang of thieves headed by 'Rocks' Valentine with his exploits, so Jo invites him to join them, and he accepts.

Dr. Clitterhouse pretends to take a six-week vacation in Europe. As "The Professor", he proceeds to wrest leadership of the gang (and the admiration of Jo) away from Rocks, making him extremely resentful. When they rob a fur warehouse, Rocks locks his rival in a cold-storage vault, but Clitterhouse is freed by Butch, a gang member that Jo had assigned to keep watch on him. Afterwards, Clitterhouse announces he is quitting; he has enough data from studying the gang during their robberies, and his "vacation" time is up. He returns the gang to Rocks's control.

Rocks learns Dr. Clitterhouse's real identity and shows up at his Park Avenue office. Rocks tries to blackmail the doctor into using his office as a safehouse as they rob the doctor's own wealthy friends. Clitterhouse learns that Rocks will not let him publish his incriminating research, and also realizes that he has not studied the ultimate crime – murder – which will be the final chapter to his book. So, he gives a poisoned drink to Rocks, and he studies his symptoms as he dies. Jo helps dispose of the body in the river, but it is recovered and the poison is detected by the police.

The doctor is ultimately caught by his friend Inspector Lane and placed on trial. He insists that he did everything for purely scientific reasons and claims that his book is a "sane book" and that it is "impossible for an insane man to write a sane book". His determination to show that he is sane, and therefore willing to face the death penalty, convinces the jury to find him not guilty by reason of insanity.

The tropical wonder boy Tom Tom must save his girlfriend Tina from demons and monsters.

''Royal Flash'' is set during the Revolutions of 1848. The story features Lola Montez and Otto von Bismarck as major characters, and fictionalises elements of the Schleswig-Holstein Question, 1843, 1847 and 1848. It is set in the fictional Duchy of Strackenz, making it the only Flashman novel to be set in a fictitious location.

Other characters include: Prince Edward Lola Montez Ludwig I of Bavaria John Gully Nicholas Ward Lord Conyngham Richard Wagner Franz Liszt Oscar Wilde Henry Irving Karl Marx Lord Palmerston Viscount Peel Jefferson Davis

The book is loosely based on the plot of ''The Prisoner of Zenda''. Flashman explains that this is because the story was plagiarised from him by its author, Anthony Hope. In a letter, Fraser wrote that during his researches into an earlier Flashman book he had discovered that in real life Bismarck and Lola Montez had been in London at the same time. He added that it had been too good an opportunity to miss.

The book's plot is anachronistic in depicting Bismarck already in 1848 striving for the unification of Germany. In fact, during the revolutions of 1848 Bismarck was completely opposed to German Unification, which in 1848 was a cause promoted by radical revolutionaries that the conservative Bismarck detested. Unlike his depiction in the book, Bismarck only took up German Unification much later in his career, when he could use it to enhance the power of the Prussian Monarchy and of himself.

Category:1970 British novels Category:Flashman novels Category:Fiction set in 1848 Category:Barrie & Jenkins books Category:Novels set in the 1840s Category:British novels adapted into films Category:Cultural depictions of Lola Montez Category:Cultural depictions of Otto von Bismarck Category:Novels set in fictional countries

From Dahomey to the slave state of Mississippi, Flashman has cause to regret a game of pontoon with Benjamin Disraeli and Lord George Bentinck. From his ambition for a seat in the House of Commons, he has to settle instead for a role in the West African slave trade, under the command of Captain John Charity Spring, a Latin-spouting madman. Captured by the United States Navy, Flashman has to talk his way out of prison by assuming the first of his many false identities in America. After a visit to Washington, D.C., he escapes from his Navy protectors in New Orleans and hides in a brothel run by an amorous madame, Susie Willinck. He is again taken into custody, this time by members of the Underground Railroad. Travelling up the Mississippi River with a fugitive slave ends badly once again, and the rest of the story has Flashman as a slave driver on a plantation, a potential slave himself, and a slave stealer fleeing from vigilantes; on the run, he meets, and is assisted by, Abraham Lincoln (still a junior congressman at the time) who shows his granite-hard underlying opposition to slavery. Eventually he ends up back in New Orleans at the mercy of Spring. This story is continued in ''Flashman and the Redskins''.

At the end of the novel, Flashman claims that his escape with Cassy across the Ohio River was the inspiration for the anti-slavery novel, ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'', with the names altered and the story focusing on the slave Cassy rather than Flashman.

Goody Rickby is impregnated by the wealthy Gilead Wingate, after which he refuses to accept the responsibility of fatherhood. Goody decides to use black magic to get revenge on Wingate. She succeeds in summoning Satan before her, and together they concoct a scheme to punish the man who wronged her. Satan creates a living being from a scarecrow and the creature adopts the human identity of "Lord Ravensbane" so that he can function unsuspected in society. Satan instructs his creature to seduce Wingate's niece Rachel and fool the villagers into believing the Wingates are all witches. Ravensbane develops emotions and a soul, however, and ''genuinely'' falls in love with the young lady, foiling the Devil's plans.

Flashman meets Queen Victoria's cousin, William of Celle, incognito in a billiards hall and, without knowing his true identity, befriends him, before getting him drunk and leaving him in an alley with shoe polish covering his buttocks for the police to find. However, his reputation as a valiant and down-to-earth soldier leads to Prince Albert assigning Flashman as the boy's mentor. Despite every attempt to avoid it, he finds himself in the Crimea showing William what soldiering is all about. The boy's unfortunate death does not allow Flashman to avoid involvement in the most notable actions of the Crimean War, including The Thin Red Line, the Charge of the Heavy Brigade under James Yorke Scarlett, and the Charge of the Light Brigade.

Powered by fear and flatulence, he reaches the Russian guns in front of the other surviving members of the charge and promptly surrenders. He is taken into Russia (now Ukraine) and placed in the custody of Count Pencherjevsky. Here he reunites with Scud East, his old schoolmate, and meets Nicholas Pavlovich Ignatiev, a vicious Russian Captain.

Flashman and East overhear plans by senior Russian officers to invade India and conquer the British Raj. The two men escape from the Count's estate (thanks to a peasant uprising), but Flashman is recaptured by the Russians. Ignatiev takes Flashman with him across central Asia as part of his plans to conquer India. Flashman is rescued from prison by cohorts of Yakub Beg, led by his Chinese paramour. Then the Tajik and Uzbek warriors attack the Russian fleet using Congreve rockets captured from the Russians, which only Flashman knows how to use. Prior to the battle, Flashman was unknowingly drugged with hashish and is utterly fearless as a result, for the only time in his life. The Russian ships are destroyed and Flashman then travels on to British India.

Flashman not only encounters Lord Palmerston at Balmoral, but also his old nemesis Nicholas Pavlovich Ignatiev. He escapes assassination narrowly and journeys to Jhansi in India, where he meets Rani Lakshmi Bai, the beautiful queen. He listens to her grievances against the British Raj and attempts to seduce her. Whether or not he is successful is unclear, but immediately afterwards Flashman is nearly garroted by Thuggees. In disguise as Makarram Khan, a Hasanzai of the Black Mountain, he takes refuge in the native cavalry at Meerut. Meerut is where the Sepoy Mutiny begins.

Flashman survives the Siege of Cawnpore and the Siege of Lucknow but ends up imprisoned in Gwalior after an attempt to deliver Lakshmi into British hands. He is released just in time to witness the death of Lakshmi, but then his appearance after two months in prison leads to his misidentification as a mutineer. After being knocked out during the British attack on the Rani's camp, he awakens to something that makes Hugh Rose later wonder that Flashman did not lose his mind - he is gagged and tied to the muzzle of a cannon, about to be executed with other mutineers. Quick thinking allows him to communicate with gestures his true ethnicity to his British captors. In an uncharacteristically humane act, he orders the Indian mutineers who were going to be blown away alongside him, to be freed saying "the way things are hereabouts, one of 'em's probably Lord Canning." In this book Flashman often behaves heroically, though his interior thoughts are often - but not always - those of a coward and a cad.

Flashman meets Tom Brown at a tavern and is convinced to play cricket at Lord's for a team made up of Old Rugbeians. His impressive play (performing possibly the first ever hat-trick) leads to more matches, and an encounter with Daedalus Tighe, a notorious bookie. He also meets Don Solomon Haslam, a businessman from the East Indies, who has a lot of money, prestige, and a fascination for Elspeth, Flashman's wife. Due to a wager with Haslam, blackmail from Tighe, and threats from an angry, cuckolded duke, Flashman is forced to accompany Haslam, Elspeth, and Morrison (his father-in-law) on a trip to Singapore.

Haslam kidnaps Elspeth and flees east; investigations reveal that "Don Solomon Haslam", Old Etonian and prosperous businessman in London and Singapore, is also "Suleiman Usman", a well-known pirate prince based in Borneo. Flashman must reluctantly chase after them, with the help of James Brooke. This chase takes him to the jungles of Borneo, the nests of pirates, and finally to Madagascar, where the Malagasies enslave him and Queen Ranavalona makes him her military adviser and lover. Escape from the island seems impossible, and with his wife's help he has to overcome his cowardice to evade their minders.

In his haste to leave New Orleans and the threat of imprisonment, Flashman agrees to shepherd Susie Willinck and her company of prostitutes to Sacramento, where she intends to set up shop and make a bundle from gold miners. As wagon captain, Flashman is nominally in charge of his and Susie's (now his wife) collection of women, supplies, sex toys and the other forty-niners and invalids looking for a better life but he depends on the guidance of Richens Lacey Wootton to see them through. Unfortunately, Wootton becomes stricken with cholera. Flashman is left to get everyone to Bent's Fort in safety, which Comanches make difficult for him. Eventually, they reach Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Flashman absconds with two thousand dollars made from selling one of the prostitutes, Cleonie, to Navajos.

For safety in the wilderness, Flashman falls in with a group of travellers but he discovers them to be scalp-hunters, when they attack a band of Apaches. Flashman joins in but refuses to take any scalps or rape captive women, which saves him when the scalp-hunters are killed by the rest of the tribe on their return. He ends up marrying Sonsee-Array, the daughter of chief Mangas Coloradas, and becoming friends with Geronimo. He eventually escapes and is saved by Kit Carson on the Jornada del Muerto.

In 1875 Flashman returns to America with his wife, Elspeth. He meets George Armstrong Custer (whom Flashman had met during the US Civil War) and businesswoman Mrs. Arthur B. Candy, and later travels to Bismarck, North Dakota, to meet with Mrs. Candy and pursue a carnal relationship. However Mrs Candy is revealed to be Cleonie, the former slave girl, who is intent on revenge and at her connivance, he is kidnapped by Sioux and kept captive at Greasy Grass. He escapes just in time to see the defeat and death of Custer—possibly being the one who kills Custer—and to be partly scalped himself by his own illegitimate son from Cleonie, Frank Grouard, who by choice has been living as an Indian. The book ends with Flashman and his son travelling to Deadwood where Flashman meets another former acquaintance, Wild Bill Hickok prior to returning home.

In Hong Kong, Flashman is convinced by Phoebe Carpenter, a lovely minister's wife, to accompany a shipment of opium into Canton, in exchange for a large sum of money and the promise of a later, more pleasant meeting. On the way he discovers that instead of opium he is carrying guns to the Taiping rebels. In Canton, Flashman manages to convince Harry Smith Parkes that he was trying to stop the shipment. However, instead of being able to head for home as he originally intended, he is put on the intelligence staff in Shanghai. From Shanghai he travels to Nanking and meets the leaders of the Taiping rebels, in order to convince them not to march on Shanghai.

Flashman then proceeds to the mouth of the Peiho to join Lord Elgin's staff for his march to Peking. After being captured by the Imperials, he meets Xianfeng Emperor and becomes the prisoner and lover of Yehonala, the imperial concubine. When Lord Elgin's army arrives at Peking, he witnesses the destruction of the Imperial Summer Palace. But after that event, while heading for home, he is drugged and apparently kidnapped (perhaps shanghaied, given the dress of his kidnappers) while attempting to fulfil his promise with Phoebe Carpenter. There the story ends, and it is never revealed in any subsequent volume what then became of him immediately afterwards. However, there are several references in other books to his service in the American Civil War, suggesting that he must have returned to that country before 1864, and we know (from Flashman on the March) that he was in Mexico in 1867.

At the end of events in ''Flashman's Lady'', Flashman is sent to India when the English are anticipating conflict with the Sikh Army, the Khalsa. He is dispatched by Major George Broadfoot to the Punjab, masquerading as a solicitor attempting to settle the Soochet legacy. Flashman becomes entangled in the intrigues of the Punjabi court before being forced to flee at the outbreak of war, then becomes involved in plans by the Punjabi nobility to curb the power of the Khalsa.

Returning to the relative safety of the British forces, Flashman arrives just in time to become an unwilling participant in the attack on Ferozeshah. Injured, he attempts to avoid the rest of the war in a sick bed, but is called personally by the Maharani of the Punjab to attend to an urgent mission: smuggling her son Daleep Singh and the Koh-i-Noor diamond out of the country.

At the start of the novel, Flashman leaves Calcutta before the wrath of a cuckolded husband can find him. He proceeds to South Africa, where by a chance meeting he reunites with John Charity Spring (whom he had worked for as a slaver in ''Flash for Freedom!'' and seen shanghaied in ''Flashman and the Redskins''). Spring uses his daughter, Miranda, and her feminine wiles to have Flashman drugged and sent to the United States, where charges against his old aliases still exist. Flashman manages to avoid the authorities, but Crixus (one of the chiefs of the Underground Railroad from ''Flash for Freedom!'') finds him and tries to convince him to join John Brown's attempt to start a slave rebellion. One of Crixus' followers, a black man named Joe Simmons, actually works for the Kuklos, a possible forerunner of the Ku Klux Klan. They also want Flashman to help Brown, but in order to start a civil war. One last double-cross exists: the wife of the leader of the Kuklos works for Allan Pinkerton, who brings Flashman to meet William H. Seward. Seward, considered by many at that time to be the next President of the United States, also wants Flashman to join with Brown, but to slow him down and prevent the raid into the South from ever happening, and therefore prevent civil war.

Of course Flashman fails at this, and he becomes an eyewitness to the whole event.

"The Road to Charing Cross" begins with Flashman going to Berlin with Henri Blowitz to help him get a copy of the Treaty of Berlin and publish it before anyone else has it. He also meets Caprice, a beautiful member of the French secret service. Five years later, Flashman is looking for an excuse to leave London and avoid being sent to Sudan with Charles George Gordon. Luckily, a letter from Blowitz arrives inviting him to Paris. He rides the maiden voyage of the Orient Express and makes the acquaintance of a princess, Kralta, supposedly so that she can sleep with him. This turns out to be a ruse on the part of the princess and Otto von Bismarck, and Flashman is forced to join with Rupert Willem von Starnberg, son of the villain from ''Royal Flash'', and save Emperor Franz Josef from assassination by Magyar nationalists. It turns out that Starnberg has plans of his own, and Flashman must save both the Emperor and himself.

"The Subtleties of Baccarat" has Flashman at the home of Sir Arthur Wilson with the Prince of Wales, just when the royal baccarat scandal is unfolding. Unlike in most Flashman stories, he is mainly an observer of the event, simply giving bad advice when asked to. However, in a twist, someone he has known for years unexpectedly turns out to be the most important player in the story.

"Flashman and the Tiger" begins in South Africa, with Flashman fleeing from the Battle of Isandlwana in a wagon. After his escape, he meets Tiger Jack Moran about ten miles (16 km) away, and both head to Rorke's Drift and the nightmare that awaits them. Later, at the mention of Flashman's name, Moran says "if I'd only known." Years later, in 1894, Flashman finds out what he meant when Moran blackmails his granddaughter for sex. Moran reveals that he was the cabin boy on Captain John Charity Spring's slave ship ''Balliol College'' (see ''Flash for Freedom!''), who was traded to King Gezo of Dahomey as a white slave and has spent much of his adult life avenging himself on the ship's former crew. To save her, Flashman lies in wait for Moran disguised as a drunken tramp, but finds himself in a scene from "The Adventure of the Empty House", and encounters Sherlock Holmes, who has Moran arrested. Watson recognises him, but is "corrected" by Holmes, who produces an entirely incorrect analysis of who the "tramp" is.

Having fled Mexico aboard the Austrian warship carrying the Emperor Maximilian's body home for burial, Flashman is on the run, after mortally offending Admiral Tegethoff by seducing his great-niece ''en voyage''. Flashman meets an old acquaintance, Jack Speedicut (who appears other Flashman novels), who enlists him to escort a shipment of Maria Theresa thalers to General Robert Napier's forces in Abyssinia, via Suez.

General Napier, overjoyed to find the noted military hero Flashman arrived in Abyssinia, immediately despatches him on a secret undercover mission to recruit Queen Masteeat and her Galla people, who are opposed to Emperor Theodore II of Ethiopia, travelling in the company of her half-sister Uliba-Wark, who is herself scheming to depose Queen Masteeat. Flashman succeeds in enlisting the assistance of Queen Masteeat, but is then captured by Emperor Theodore's forces.

The second half of the novel deals with Flashman's relations with the Emperor and covers the final battle with Napier's forces and their allies, after which Theodore commits suicide. Flashman tells Napier at the conclusion that the British government could have avoided the whole sorry adventure if they had simply given Theodore the respect that a monarch deserves by properly responding to his letters.

Mark Franklin arrives on the ''Mauretania'' at Liverpool in 1909 with a copy of Shakespeare's works, an old Mexican charro saddle and two Remington pistols in his battered luggage. A tall and softly-spoken American prospector, who made his fortune in a silver strike in Nevada, he is visiting the 'old country' to see his roots.

He goes to London where he meets and has a one-night stand with 'Pip' Delys, a music hall performer. She gives him the name which forms the title of the book. He then buys a house in Castle Lancing, the Norfolk village his ancestors came from in the 17th century. A chance event during a fox hunt, when the fox hides in Franklin's picnic basket, leads to an acquaintance with King Edward VII, and the beginning of an enmity with a neighbour (Frank, Lord Lacy) which lasts throughout the book.

Through playing bridge with Edward and his mistress Alice Keppel, Franklin elevates himself greatly in the king's estimation through his easy manners.

When the king invites him to Sandringham, Franklin meets Winston Churchill, Jackie Fisher, and Ernest Cassel. This allows Fraser to depict some of the historical background of the build-up to the First World War. He also meets General Flashman, from Fraser's well-known historical fiction series. Flashman is in his late 80s at the start of the book (as he says, "I'm eighty-eight next May, and I attribute my longevity to an almost total abstinence from tea"), and an important sub-plot involves his grand-niece, Lady Helen Cessford, a suffragette.

An old partner in crime, Kid Curry, tracks him down and demands half of all his wealth. Franklin refuses, and the stage is set for a midnight gunfight, which Franklin wins with the assistance of his manservant Samson. They bury the body in a field.

He falls in love with, and marries, another neighbour, Peggy Clayton. Her brother is an officer in the British Army and is involved in running guns to Ireland during the Curragh Mutiny, using Franklin's money obtained by Peggy from him by deception.

Over the years, Franklin gradually grows apart from his young wife, at first due to the breach of trust over the money, and then when he discovers her sexual infidelity. The novel ends with the outbreak of war in 1914, and Franklin deciding to return to the US, leaving the bulk of his fortune in England for his wife and her family. At the last moment, he changes his mind, and the reader is left unsure whether he intends to return to his unfaithful wife, to possibly accompany Samson who plans to serve in the Legion of Frontiersmen under Frederick Selous, or something else entirely.

Intense young "tough" Thomas Seyr is a 28-year-old real estate broker involved in shady business deals. His business partners, Fabrice and Sami, spend much of their time ruthlessly chasing squatters and illegal immigrants out of the buildings they have procured and trying to work their way around government housing regulations. Thomas is born to this kind of work; his father, Robert, is involved in dodgy endeavors and sometimes calls upon Thomas to beat up people who refuse to pay. Tom shows a protective and defensive attitude toward his father who doesn't always appreciate what his son does for him – so much so that when his father introduces his new girlfriend to Tom, Tom undermines her to her face, and insults her to his father, insisting she is an opportunistic "whore." Later, when he tries to enlist her help to watch over his father, she tells him they broke up due to Robert changing his attitude and she is aware of Tom's backstabbing because Robert told her. Robert by this time is in danger from a Russian gangster, Minskov (Anton Yakovlev) who scammed him out of 300,000 Euros and Tom is worried for his safety.

Tom chances upon his late mother's manager, his mother having been a concert pianist until she died 8 years previously. The manager remembers him playing something when he was 20 years old, and invites him to audition for him. The opportunity rapidly takes over Tom's imagination, becoming an obsession. He finds a teacher newly emigrated to France, virtuoso Miao Lin, to help him prepare for the audition. She speaks only Chinese, Vietnamese and some English, but no French. Tom misses appointments and drops assignments while practicing piano around the clock, and having an affair with the wife of one of his promiscuous business partners. Finally Tom reaches the high standards of his teacher, but he falls apart at the audition, having stayed up all night helping his partners with a business deal. He goes to see his father only to find the apartment destroyed and his father murdered. Tom is devastated.

Two years later: Tom tests a piano onstage and gives directions to the stage manager. He drives Miao Lin to the concert hall and parks the car, when he chances to see Minskov. He follows Minskov, and takes him by surprise waiting for an elevator. They fight in the stairwell, Minskov almost shooting Tom. Tom gains the upper hand and tries to use Minskov's own gun against him, but cannot pull the trigger. Tom washes in the restroom and takes his seat in the concert hall, knuckles and shirt bloody, exchanging affectionate glances with Miao Lin at the piano. He is evidently Miao Lin's manager and partner.

It's 1890. Priest Adolf Daens returns to his hometown, the Belgian municipality Aalst, after a dispute with bishop Antoon Stillemans. Daens moves in with his brother Pieter, publisher of the local newspaper "Land Van Aelst".

Daens is upset when he hears about the bad work conditions in the textile industry. Workmen are abused and exploited by the rich directors only for their own profit. To gain more profit, the companies have just decided to fire all men. They are replaced by women as their wages are much lower. Children need to work day and night, fall asleep and are flattened under the mechanical looms. Industrial accidents happen continuously and the management takes no action.

A new catastrophe will soon happen: Stephane Borremans is about to fire 50% of his employees. His action is supported by Charles Woeste, a foreman of the Catholic-Party fraction in the Chamber of Representatives. Daens resists and wants to stop the atrocity. Pieter helps him in his task by publishing the misbehaviours in the textile industry in his newspaper. Daens becomes a pulpit and, later on, also a member of the Chamber of Representatives.

Nette Scholliers is the eldest daughter of a Catholic family. She is just 17. As her parents have been made redundant, she is the only one who is earning some money to support her whole family. As soon as she hears about Daens's plans, she supports him. Daens is even supported by the liberal party and the socialist party. Jan, a socialist, falls in love with Nette and both start a forbidden romance.

Daens starts to doubt whether he can really change the bad circumstances. Furthermore, as he chooses the side of the poor people, he gets into a conflict with the rich directors, the Catholic party and even the Catholic church. Father Daens is a thorn in their side as he has become a symbol in the hardline freedom struggle of the workmen.

Woeste sets up a plot in which he even involves the Holy See. Daens is summoned by Pope Leo XIII and is put before a dilemma: either he stays a priest or he becomes a politician. Daens just neglects the warnings and continues both of his activities. This leads to his compulsory defrocking.

Eventually, Daens convinces the Belgian politicians that work conditions must improve and workmen must have more rights. Thanks to this action, the directors are forced to invest in better work conditions and to assume a greater responsibility in the prevention of accidents.

After a small town nuclear power plant dumps hazardous waste into a forest surrounding the town, people begin dying in increasingly gruesome ways. No one can pinpoint the source of the deaths until the EPA investigates; the forests' roots were mutated due to the waste, causing them to kill and eat people. The plants attempt to break loose, however the EPA bulldozes the plants, killing them, but leaving the possibility that some plants may have survived.

Rupert Bear decides to head off for a walk on the hills. With his Mother's blessing, he sets off for a jolly trip, encountering his friends Edward Elephant and Bill Badger along the way, who are too busy to join him - Bill needs to look after his baby brother and Edward has to do some shopping. As Rupert reaches a hill, he props himself up against the trunk of an oak tree and enjoys the glory of the countryside. Suddenly, he finds himself enveloped by a rainbow cloud of butterflies previously masquerading as leaves on the oak tree, and all of them swarm away from the leafless tree towards a rocky outcrop; Rupert cannot resist following them. As he leaves, a large white barn owl and two black cats decide to follow him.

Upon the rocks, Rupert finds a large number of multicolored frogs. He walks into a cave behind a waterfall and sees three signs: "Frogs only beyond this point", "Everything except frogs must be kept on a lead", and "Guard frogs operating". He sneaks into the palace, trying to avoid getting caught by the frog guards. There, he witnesses the Frog Song, an event that occurs only once in a few hundred years in which various frogs of all shapes and sizes come together and sing "We All Stand Together". Around the end, the frog King and Queen rise out of the water before the crowd to finish off the song. After a thunderous applause from the frogs, the owl, who had followed Rupert to find out where the frogs were hiding, launches itself for an attack on the royals, but Rupert manages to warn the frogs in time and they all quickly retreat, leaving the owl and the cats empty-handed and the palace completely empty. After hearing his mother call him, Rupert excitedly rushes home to tell his family about what he saw.

The play takes place in a mansion in Chappaqua, New York in December 1940, specifically, the library. The mansion is owned by Elsa Von Grossenknueten, and her maid, Helsa Wenzel.

In the opening scene, we see Helsa is killed by a masked figure. We also see Elsa talking to a police officer, Michael Kelly, about some sort of undercover scheme. Both are unaware of the maid's murder.

The next morning, we see Helsa again, only now her entire personality seems to have changed overnight. The guests Elsa has invited soon begin to arrive. They have been invited for a backer's audition to the Musical ''White House Merry-Go-Round''.

The first of the invited guests is an Irish tenor named Patrick O'Reilly. He's quickly followed by a bombastic theatre director named Ken De La Maize, and a beautiful young singer/dancer named Nikki Crandall. Nikki is followed in by a young (and bad) comedian named Eddie McCuen, who takes an instant liking to Nikki.

While talking with Nikki, Eddie realizes that everyone coming (including Marjorie Baverstock, the producer, and Roger Hopewell and Bernice Roth, the writers) were all part of the creative team that made ''Manhattan Holiday'', in which The Stage Door Slasher murdered three women. Eddie instantly wants to leave, and tells Nikki that she should leave as well, but he decides to stay after Marjorie and Elsa enter and woo him into staying. Roger Hopewell and Bernice Roth arrive and meet the performers, and the group gets started with their work.

After things get underway, Marjorie is murdered and the body of Helsa is discovered. After a series of dizzy conversations, multiple trips through secret doorways leading to a labyrinth of hidden passageways, a power outage in the mansion, multiple crimes, and criminals are revealed. Eventually after much murderous mayhem the Stage Door Slasher is revealed and captured through deciphering Bebe's coded notebook. It is revealed to be Ken the weird director.

A pelican magically changes his appearance into that of a young man. He walks and acts somewhat oddly compared to real humans, and at first he does not know much about humans, but he learns fast. He rents an apartment and gets a job. The 10-year-old boy Emil finds out that he is a pelican, and they become friends.

The pelican man is sent to a zoo, but Emil helps him escape. Then the pelican man changes back to pelican appearance.

The story is set thousands of years in the future. The Lhasinu, a reptilian race native to Vega, rule a third of the galaxy, including Earth. The rest of the galaxy is occupied by a number of independent human planets which are content to maintain the ''status quo''. Earth is, however, the center of a cult called Loarism, whose adherents make an annual pilgrimage there. The Loarists are content to allow the Lhasinu to rule Earth as long as their own cult is not interfered with. When the people of Earth rose up against the Lhasinu five hundred years earlier, the Loarists did not aid them, and the rebellion was crushed.

The story opens with Russell Tymball, a nationalist Earthman, gaining possession of a Lhasinuic dispatch ordering the evacuation of Earth's human population and the planet's destruction. This will deal a death-blow to Loarism, and set the stage for the Second Galactic Drive, a planned Lhasinuic offensive against the disunited human worlds of the galaxy. Tymball uses the dispatch to convince Loara Paul Kane, head of the Loarists, to join in a second Terran rebellion against the Lhasinu. When a young Loarist pilgrim named Filip Sanat discovers two Lhasinu skulking around the Memorial in New York, Earth's most sacred structure, discussing the upcoming destruction of Earth, he rushes out, rouses a crowd, and starts a riot. When the Lhasinu attempt to force their way into the Memorial to arrest Sanat, they are overcome by Tymball's rebels and a human mob. Within a day, the Lhasinu are driven from New York City, and Sanat is sent out of the Solar System to enlist the help of the other human worlds.

Six months later, the Lhasinu are closing in on Earth, while the fleets of several human worlds close in on the Lhasinu. The human alliance is close to breaking up when Sanat betrays Lunar Base to the Lhasinu, forcing the allied human fleets to fight in self-defense. The Lhasinu fleet attacking Earth is defeated. At the same time, a human fleet attacking the Lhasinuic Home Fleet in the Vega system is also victorious, and the Lhasinu are forced to surrender.

A teenager at a personal crossroads finds himself questioning the things that have given his life meaning in this independent coming-of-age drama. Roy Chutney (Gosling) is a high school senior in the fictional Montana town of Blue Springs. Roy does not have an especially close relationship with his mother Evangelline (Kelly Lynch), and he has not seen his father in years. That does not prevent Roy from feeling emotionally devastated when he learns that his father has killed himself, and Roy's self-esteem takes a beating when he is cut from the high school football team shortly afterward. Roy whiles away his time by swilling beer with his best friend, Tracy Two Dogs (Eddie Spears), and falling into a romance with Skyla (Clea DuVall), a barmaid at a local tavern, but Roy's short time on the high school gridiron seems to have impressed Gideon Ferguson (Morse), a local character who coaches an unsanctioned high school six-man football team when he is not delivering newspapers or trying to score a gig singing country songs at nearby honky-tonks.

Gideon thinks that Roy has potential and asks him to join his team; encouraged by Gideon's belief in him, Roy agrees, and he persuades Tracy to tag along. While playing hardscrabble six-man football helps restore Roy's self-confidence, he finds it does not answer his questions about his future or his relationship with Skyla. When Gideon's overwhelming interest in Roy begins to lend credence to the rumors that Gideon is gay, Roy starts to wonder just why he was asked to join the team.

Out on a routine mission, Nanairo Planetary Patrol Officers Rallen and Jeena respond to a strange distress signal and discover the wreckage of an escape capsule in which an old man has been in a cryogenic sleep for over a decade. Once conscious, the man, whose name is Aldous, relays an unbelievable tale of the attack on his home planet by a vicious horde of creatures known as the Krawl. Rallen, Jeena, and Aldous then set out on a mission to save Nanairo from the destructive planet-eating Krawl.

After fighting the Krawl on five of Nanairo's seven planets, Rallen's boss, Commander Grant, reveals that the Krawl had established a base on the seventh planet, Meido; however, their spaceship is incapable of reaching this planet. Aldous reveals that ancient ruins found on one of the planets are actually a spaceship from an earlier civilization, and that it may be able to reach Meido. After gathering a number of Keystones, they are able to resurrect the spaceship and reach the Meido. After fighting through more hordes of Krawl, Rallen fights a large Krawl called Xelles that has the ability to heal whatever comes near it. After defeating it, Rallen fights a final Leader Krawl and kills it, thus ending the invasion - temporarily.

This movie follows the exciting life of a dashing young Ian Fleming (Jason Connery), the mastermind behind the highly successful James Bond books and movies. As a womanizer and a hopeless romantic, Fleming got himself expelled from Eton and other prestigious public schools before his mother, fed up, sent him to work for Reuters, the news bureau. While covering a show-trial of British engineers in Soviet Moscow, Fleming pulled his first Bond-like escapade, almost losing his life in the process. This caught the interest of Britain's dormant yet watchful military intelligence, later to become the highly acclaimed Special Operations Executive (S.O.E.). After Fleming's recruitment into His Majesty's Service, his exploits become increasingly fantastic. It is difficult to believe that this is not fiction. This movie goes to prove, once again, that truth is stranger than fiction.

In the first issue, "Birth of a Dream," six unlikely heroes have to band together as the Cadre to fight the monster known as Monolith in the mountains of Empire City. This issue was created by Mat Nastos (Elfquest, TV's Sliders, First Wave, and others), written by Jorge Vivoni and Nastos, and illustrated by Kenneth Rocafort and Nastos.

Issue two, "Unspeakable Truths," features the Cadre's resident swashbuckler, Lamprey, in a solo story. Lamprey has to face a new evil stalking the city as well as the sins of the past. "Unspeakable Truths" was written by Navik von Bathory and Mat Nastos and illustrated by Jay Jimenez and Mat Nastos.

In the third issue, the Cadre battles against hades as something evil escapes into the sewers of Empire City. A sub-plot follow the twins Skyfire and Thunderbolt as they try on new costumes. The issue was written by Mat Nastos and illustrated by Mat Nastos, Gabe Alberola, and Rob Larsen.

Hazzard County is having a reunion festival. Uncle Jesse faces a lawsuit filed by Mama Josephine Maxx for access across Duke property to the Hazzard swamp, where she intends to build a theme park. Jesse had refused access in order to preserve the swamp and now residents are angry with Jesse, as the theme park would bring jobs and revenue to Hazzard County.

Cooter Davenport, now a Congressman, arrives to meet Jesse at the Duke farm. Bo Duke, now a professional racer, arrives thereafter, followed by Daisy Duke, who has been at Duke University getting a PhD in ecology after a bitter divorce. Luke Duke, now a smokejumper for the forestry service, arrives at the farm. Everyone is surprised to learn that Sheriff Roscoe is now also the county boss after he inherited Boss Hogg's "empire" when he died.

The Dukes get suckered into an overland car race to determine whether or not Maxx gets access to the swamp. Enos Strate arrives from Los Angeles, where he is working as an officer with the LAPD. After 11 years in storage, the Dukes repair the General Lee for the race and take it for a test run, but the car is overturned by an unknown assailant. Cooter repairs the General while the Dukes spend time at the Boar's Nest, now in a new location. Bo recognizes the men who ran them off the road, including a disbarred race driver named Kam Cutler, who they learn was hired by Mama Maxx to win the race.

After a bar fight with Maxx's men, the Dukes return to Cooter, who warns them that the General cannot sustain another attack. When Luke begins considering a few dirty tricks of their own, Jesse tells them that they will run the race fairly, and that no causeway can be built to the Hazzard Swamp because the ground will not support such a thing, due to the lack of supporting bedrock.

At the Hazzard Swamp, Daisy and Enos have a picnic and he confesses the only reason he returned to Hazzard was so he could ask her to marry him, which she accepts. Mama Maxx has her men kidnap Daisy after learning that she spotted gallium arsenide ore in the swamp. Maxx will only release Daisy if Bo and Luke lose the race. Daisy convinces Mama Maxx to have her men run errands for her wedding, stating that the lack of wedding preparations will cause unwanted attention. After a passionate request, Maxx agrees to help with the wedding plans herself. Maxx eventually accepts Daisy's request to be her matron of honor.

The race between Kam and the Dukes begins, with Kam driving in Buzz's "Double Zero", the only car to beat the General Lee in an overland car race. The Dukes win, and Luke pulls Ryker out of the trunk and tells Roscoe he kidnapped Daisy on Maxx's orders so they would lose the race. Roscoe tells Mama Maxx how stupid he believes she is, stating that he conned her into building the theme park. Roscoe had obtained a sample of gallium arsenide ore and put it in the swamp so Maxx would find it. He also reveals that the FBI sent him a list of the country's ten most wanted real estate con artists, with Maxx at number one. Roscoe reveals that his plan was inspired by a quote in Boss Hogg's memoir that offered advice regarding con artists.

Daisy prevents Roscoe from arresting Mama Maxx so she can attend the wedding. Before they are married, a bus pulls up and the driver turns out to be Daisy's ex-husband, L. D., who is lost. After seeing L. D., Daisy realizes she is not ready to get married again. Bubba and Bertha Jo get married instead.

Marie Clifton is set to inherit two beautiful diamonds, called the "mother and daughter", which her late mother bestowed to her. Marie's step-father, Jay Clifton, challenges the will, claiming that Marie isn't ready for the responsibility, but actually wants to take the diamonds for himself. At a sexual education seminar at Marie's school, physician Dr. Chad Johnson and probation officer Kristen Richards discuss sex crimes, and Richards reveals she was a victim of an anonymous rapist many years before.

At Marie's swim-meet, Jay encounters towel girl Elena Sandoval, and invites her to Marie's eighteenth birthday party. Elena attends the party but is assaulted by Marie, who says that Elena is not welcome. Jay comforts Elena, and brings her to the construction site of one of his buildings for privacy. Later, Elena alleges that Jay raped her at the site. Detective Michael Morrison is placed on the case, as is Richards, who is Elena's probation officer. Chad is placed in charge of documenting Elena's injuries, and testifies to the court that Elena was raped.

Marie believes that Elena is doing this for money and tells Jay to pay her off. When Jay admits that he's broke, Marie suggests that they sell the diamonds. Jay agrees, and revokes his claim to the will, giving Marie custody of the diamonds so she can sell them off. However, this was a ploy between Elena, Marie and Chad to get the diamonds, and the trio are in a sexual relationship together.

Jay believes that Elena will recant her accusation after being paid off, but at the next court session Elena testifies that Jay also threatened to kill her. Jay is sent to prison, but Richards is now suspicious of Elena's behavior. Richards and Morrison search Elena's trailer and discover she's gathered information about Kristen's rape, using it to form her testimony. Richards and Morrison discuss their suspicions with Jay, and conclude that Marie, Elena and Chad must be working together.

Chad is questioned by Richards and Morrison, and fears they suspect him. He turns on Marie, drugging her and stealing the diamonds. Marie and Elena give chase, following Chad into the woods, where Marie kills him with a tire iron. Marie then meets the diamond buyer Chad set up, but learns that the diamonds are fake. Elena, who is left to deal with Chad's body, is caught by Richards and Morrison.

Richards and Morrison give Elena a task: wear a wire and get Marie to admit she killed Chad, and the charges against Elena will be lessened. Elena goes to Marie and plays along with her plan to get the real diamonds from Jay's safe at the construction site. Throughout, Elena repeatedly tries to get Marie to confess, but is unsuccessful. When Marie and Elena finally get the diamonds from the safe, Elena pulls a gun on her and flees with the diamonds, prompting Marie to chase her with her own gun. Richards and Morrison, who are listening in from nearby, enter the construction site separately. During the hide-and-seek, Richards finds Marie and shoots her in the chest, killing her. Afterward, Elena claims there were no diamonds, and is escorted from the scene by Richards.

At the end, it's revealed that Richards and Elena are mother and daughter. Jay was the man that raped Kristen in the past, and Elena is their daughter. They dispose of him by dosing his drink and leaving him to fall to his death. During the credits, scenes are shown explaining how they managed to pull their plan off.

The story opens with the unnamed narrator preparing to commit suicide. Lamenting his fate, he reflects upon the events which led him to this moment.

The narrator and his friend, St. John, are a pair of loners who both have a deranged interest in robbing graves. They constantly defile crypts and often keep souvenirs of their nocturnal expeditions. Since they reside in the same house, they have the opportunity to set up a sort of morbid museum in their basement. Using the objects collected from the various graves they have robbed, the two men organize a private exhibition. The collection consists of headstones, preserved bodies, skulls, and several heads in different phases of decomposition. It also includes statues, frightful paintings, and a locked portfolio bound in tanned human skin.

One day, the two learn of a particular grave, which sparks a profound interest in them: an old grave in a Holland cemetery which holds a legendary tomb raider within, one who is said to have stolen, many years ago, a "potent thing from a mighty sepulchre." They travel to the old cemetery where the man was buried. The thought of exhuming the final resting place of a former grave robber is irresistibly appealing to them. That, and the fact that the body had been buried several centuries before, drives them to travel such long distances to reach the site. Upon reaching the old cemetery, they notice the distant baying of a giant hound. They ignore it and begin their excavation. After some time, they hit a solid object in the ground. Clearing the last of the dirt from it, the two men unearth a strange and elaborately-made casket. Upon opening the casket, they see that several places on the skeletal remains appear torn and shattered, as if attacked by a wild animal, yet the whole of the skeleton is still completely distinguishable. At that moment, they notice a jade amulet hanging from the skeleton's neck. They examine it and, after some observation, they recognize the amulet as one mentioned in "the forbidden Necronomicon of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred." They immediately know they must have the amulet at all cost. They remove it from the skeleton and flee into the night. As they do, they notice once again the continuous sound of a baying hound in the distance.

After they return home to England, strange events begin to occur. Odd sounds can be heard within and around their house, including the distant howling they heard in the cemetery. One night, St. John is violently attacked and killed by a mysterious creature, which the narrator claims the amulet had brought unto him. He destroys the macabre museum he and his friend made, before fleeing from the house and traveling to London. Still plagued by bizarre occurrences, he decides that he must return the amulet to its rightful owner. He travels to Holland, but the amulet is stolen from him before he can return it. The next day, he reads in the newspaper about a band of thieves savagely killed by an unknown creature. Slowly going insane, he returns to the churchyard and exhumes the coffin once more, only to find the skeleton within covered in caked blood and bits of flesh and hair, holding the lost amulet in its hand. Suddenly, the skeleton begins howling, the same howl that had tormented him since he first stole the amulet. The narrator flees the graveyard, succumbing to madness and despair. He states that he intends to kill himself with a revolver, believing death to be his only refuge from the crawling horror which grows within him.

The book tells the story of three women, Claire, Guinea and Deb, who are co-workers in the beauty salon of an exclusive Sydney hotel. The story weaves together these characters with their familial and romantic relationships, as they struggle to manage the realities of working for the privileged upper classes, to whom no rules apply, while their own families cope with wartime deaths and losses, rationing, government manpower recruitment and stiflingly conservative attitudes surrounding the role and perception of the "acceptable" behaviour of women.

''33 Snowfish'' follows the character of Custis, a 10-year-old orphan living with his "owner" Bob Motley, who sexually abuses him, in a dilapidated house in Rockdale, Illinois. After overhearing that he was to star in a snuff movie, Custis steals a small pistol and escapes through a hole in the wall. While hiding from Motley's crew and begging for quarters in a video arcade at the Joliet Mall, Custis spots Boobie (whose real name is Darrin Flowers), a strange boy with black eyes and a single painted fingernail. Custis decides to follow Boobie into Crazy Lou's Woods, a private woodland supposedly owned by an ex-military cat farmer. Custis and Boobie soon become friends.

Custis, having no home, and Boobie, who has an unstable relationship with his parents, set up a makeshift home in the woods with a tent and steal electricity from a nearby paper factory. Soon they are joined by Curl, Boobie's 14-year-old girlfriend who is addicted to drugs and supports herself as a prostitute, and finally Boobie's baby brother, whom Boobie abducts after murdering his parents. The four of them take to the road in a stolen Buick Skylark to flee the police who are searching for Boobie, engaging in dumpster diving, robbery and begging in various Chicago suburbs along the way.

As the Fifth Doctor and his companions vacation in Tasmania they become caught up in a scheme by the Time Lord Ruath to resurrect the vampire Yarven (from ''Blood Harvest''). Ruath sends a vampire baby to attack the Doctor and turn him into a vampire, but the child instead attacks and converts Nyssa. Unable to provide Yarven with the Doctor's Time Lord blood, Ruath gives her own blood to Yarven, causing her to die and regenerate into a vampire Time Lord.

Nyssa, while trying fight her new vampire nature, is drawn to Yarven's castle, where she learns more about Ruath's plan. Ruath has created a genetically enhanced mist that can turn normal humans into vampires, and kill those who use traditional methods (garlic, crosses, etc.) to protect themselves. Ruath has also invented a Time Freeze, a small Time Loop that can hold the Earth in a perpetual night, leaving the vampires free to roam and feed.

The First Emperor searches for the elixir of immortality, and he despatches 500 teenage boys and girls to help him accomplish this task. One of his soldiers, General Meng Tianfang falls in love with one of the despatched maiden by the name Dong'er. When their forbidden love is exposed, the girl reveals she has found the elusive elixir and secretly gives it to Meng. The emperor orders their execution and the soldier is sentenced to death by being encased alive in clay as a terracotta warrior, only to be reawakened in the 1930s when a struggling actress, Zhu Lili, the reincarnation of the girl who remembers nothing of her past life, accidentally stumbles upon the tomb of the First Emperor. The soldier struggles to adapt to a new era while the two are pursued by archeological looters and thugs.

Uuno disguises as an old man and infiltrates a nursing home for rich old people, where his father-in-law also lives. The ever-hungry Uuno is seduced by the table groaning with food, but as it happens, he never manages to be there at dinnertime.

Meanwhile, Sörsselssön enters Uuno for a TV competition named ''This Is My Life'', where contestants tell about their life as viewers vote them either to continue or out of the show. The nursing home elderly watch on TV as Uuno tells the show's host his life story.

Theo is addicted to sadomasochism. He insists on being hurt - whether by one he loves or by a professional dominatrix. Theo is a victim of the child welfare system. Told in reverse chronological order, ''Happy Baby'' begins when 36-year-old Theo returns to Chicago after six years away, to visit an ex-girlfriend called Maria. He knows Maria from their years growing up together in a state institution, where Theo was sent aged thirteen after his abusive father was killed and his mother died from multiple sclerosis. Theo then drifts into relationships with women who are willing to abuse him.

His need for pain stems from the brutal treatment he received as a child in state custody. He recalls the memory of Mr. Gracie, a pedophile caseworker who regularly raped him when he was aged twelve but also protected him from the other boys. Elliott explores the psychology of child sexual abuse and physical abuse.

The narrative deals with the developing relationship between the marine and the nun, especially Allison's growing attraction to Sister Angela.

The novel is set earlier in the war than the film, with Allison escaping from the Battle of Corregidor at the time that the Allies are still on the defensive in the Pacific.

Monte Beragon, the second husband of Mildred Pierce, is murdered. The police tell Mildred her first husband, Bert Pierce, has confessed. Mildred protests that he is too kind to commit murder and reveals her story to the officer in flashback.

Mildred and Bert are unhappily married. After Bert splits with his business partner, Wally Fay, Mildred must sell her baked goods to support the family. Bert accuses Mildred of favoring their two daughters over him. Their quarrel intensifies after a phone call from Bert's mistress, Maggie Biederhof, and they separate.

Mildred retains custody of 16-year-old Veda, a bratty social climber, and 10-year-old Kay, a tomboy. Mildred's principal goal is to provide material possessions for Veda, who longs for high social status and is ashamed of her mother being a baker. Mildred hides her other job as a waitress, but Veda learns the truth and treats her mother with disdain.

Mildred meets Monte Beragon, a Pasadena society playboy with an almost-depleted inheritance. Beragon owns the building that Mildred wants to purchase for a restaurant, and he pursues a romantic interest in her. While the two are at his beach house for a weekend, Kay contracts pneumonia and dies after a trip with Veda and Bert. Mildred channels her grief into work and throws herself into opening a new restaurant. With help from her friend and former supervisor, Ida Corwin, Mildred's restaurant is successful. Wally helps Mildred buy the property, and soon she owns a chain of restaurants throughout Southern California.

Veda secretly marries well-to-do Ted Forrester for his money and position, but his mother objects. Veda agrees to dissolve the marriage but claims she is pregnant and demands $10,000 from the Forresters. Veda smugly confesses her pregnancy is a sham to Mildred, who tears up the check and throws her out of the house.

Bert, too distraught to tell Mildred about Veda's latest escapade, takes her to Wally's nightclub, where Veda performs as a lounge singer. After seeing several sailors in the audience wolf-whistle at Veda in her sexy costume, Mildred begs her to come home. Veda sneers and says her mother can never give her the lifestyle she deserves.

Desperate to reconcile with her daughter, Mildred coaxes Monte into a loveless marriage to improve her social status, with Monte's price being a one-third share of her business to allow him to settle his debts. Veda, eager to live out her dream as a debutante, pretends to reconcile with her mother and moves into Beragon's lavish mansion.

Eventually, the cost of supporting Monte and Veda's affluent lifestyles — and Monte's underhanded ploy to retain his share in the business while causing his wife to forfeit her own — bankrupts Mildred, forcing her to sell the restaurant chain. After driving to his beach house to confront Monte, Mildred finds Veda in his arms. Veda scornfully tells her mother that Monte intends to marry her after divorcing Mildred, who runs to her car in tears. When Monte tells Veda he would never marry her because she is a "rotten little tramp," she shoots him.

Veda begs her mother to help conceal the murder; Mildred reluctantly agrees. Fed up with Wally's misdeeds — helping Veda blackmail the Forresters, hiring her to sing in his seedy nightclub, assenting to Monte's business move against her, and making constant sexual overtures toward her — Mildred tries to pin the murder on Wally by luring him to the beach house. Police officers arrest Wally when he flees in panic after seeing Monte's body. Still, the investigating officer tells Mildred that Wally cannot be the killer because he has no motive.

In the present, the detectives admit they knew all along that Veda committed the murder. Mildred tries to apologize as her daughter is sent to jail, but Veda rebuffs her. Mildred leaves the police station to find Bert waiting for her outside.

The story is set in 1967 in Yasothon Province, Thailand, where Yam is a hard-working, humble, and kind farmer—kind, that is, except when it comes to the attentions of Joei, the homely maid of Soy, who is the girlfriend of Yam's cousin, Tong. Yam nurses stray and injured animals of all kinds, but he never has nice things to say to Joei. Despite this, she persists in flirting with Yam and making unwanted physical advances. Meanwhile, Soy and Tong cuddle, kiss and hug each other at every opportunity.

Soy's aunt, the haughty village moneylender, Dok Toh, disapproves of Soy seeing Tong, whom Dok Toh believes is too low class for her niece. She orders Soy and Joei to stay away from Tong and Yam. The social-climbing Dok Toh additionally arranges for Soy to meet the handsome, yet dull, son of the local sheriff, who has a pair of slow-witted henchmen who will help enforce Dok Toh's orders that Joei and Soy never again see Yam and Tong.

However, on the night of a village temple fair, Tong and Soy and Yam and Joei sneak away and each couple finds a place to spend the night together. Tong and Soy stay up all night talking about their feelings for one another, while Joei takes sexual advantage of Yam.

Dok Toh finds out about Joei and Soy's misadventures and arranges to send them away to Bangkok. Soy will attend a trade school, learning English language and secretarial skills while Joei will learn to be a seamstress and hairdresser. With the money earned while she is in Bangkok, Joei transforms herself by assembling a new wardrobe and undergoing beauty treatments, including having her skin lightened, a prominent mole removed, and her teeth straightened and whitened.

In Joei's absence, Yam begins to long for her, discovering that he cares for her after all. Both Soy and Joei write letters to their men, but they hear nothing in return. It turns out that Dok Toh has bribed the postman to deliver letters addressed to Yam and Tong to her, and she in turn dumps the letters into the river.

Joei and Soy determine that their letters aren't getting through, so they write to the abbot at the local Buddhist temple and ask him to deliver their letters to Yam and Tong.

Yam and Tong, meanwhile, strike out on their own and head for Bangkok to try to find the girls. Neither had ever been to the city before, and did not realize how big the capital was. Discouraged by their lack of success, they return home, but through the efforts of the monk, they finally hear from Soy and Joei.

The girls return to Yasothon for Songkran, and Soy is reunited with Tong. Yam is heartbroken when he does not see Joei on the bus. In fact she was on the bus, but because she had drastically changed her appearance, Yam did not recognize her, and showed no interest in Joei when she approached him.

The engagement of Soy and the sheriff's son is still on, though. Tong falls into despair, starts drinking and becomes a hopeless alcoholic. On the day of the engagement ceremony, Tong's father shows up with shotgun to disrupt the proceedings. He points out that Soy does not love the sheriff's son and he demands that Tong be allowed to marry Soy.

As for Yam, he comes around and sees that Joei is the same woman, even if she's changed on the outside.

Gilbert awakens in 1983 floating in the north Atlantic when all of a sudden a U.S. submarine emerges from the depths and plucks him from certain death. (The book's cover shows Gilbert on the deck of a modern submarine.) Together with some hundred other "Temporally Displaced Persons," or DTIs, the government term for those it’s kidnapped from other times, Gilbert is illegally incarcerated in a secret installation in Horsefield, New Jersey where authorities conduct experiments designed to extract historical and linguistic secrets from the past. Gilbert is forced to live a pathetic existence of living in a prison and must wear a protective suit just to prevent himself from being infected with deadly modern day viruses and bacteria.

Just when hope seems to have run dry Gilbert discovers that he and the other DTIs have developed a telepathic ring, coordinated by the Ancient Egyptian priestess Tari, a follower of the cult of Isis. In this ring they are able to share their dreams, fears and plans for escape. Together with Tari, a Norse giant, a dancer from ancient North America and many others, Gilbert escapes from his illegal confines. This is a deadly plan as the US government is eager, even willing to kill, to keep the scandalous DTIs a secret from the public. Once on the outside Gilbert, Tari and a handful of others find themselves on-the-run and overwhelmed by culture shock.

Dodging murderous government agents and curious laymen Gilbert wanders across the American continent, meeting up with crazed Irish nationalists, an anti-government rock group and even working for a time in a San Francisco S&M parlor, indulging his homosexual desires. One by one Gilbert’s companions are killed off by accident or murder until he alone finally makes an escape back to England, where he again finds himself an outsider and fugitive.

The book, written in the first person, is Gilbert's diary and is intended as proof of the government misdeeds committed against DTI’s. Gilbert makes many sardonic remarks on the life and institutions of the modern world in general and present-day Britain in particular, but also enjoys disabusing moderns who tend to romanticize the Elizabethan Age. Gordon is especially harsh in his mocking of the political paranoia that infected the United States during the Cold War.

Gordon, a Scotsman, does manage to have Gilbert, an Englishman, visit the author’s home town of Buckie on the northeastern coast of Scotland.

Donnerjack is set in a world that has developed a shared, fully immersive virtual reality. This virtual reality, referred to as Virtu, has come to dominate all aspects of society. People work, play, and can lead entire lives in Virtu.

The eponymous John Donnerjack is one of the creators of Virtu, and a peerless engineer, capable of building just about anything in his virtual reality. The story follows John's final adventure, where he saves his lover from Death itself, and continues on through the perspective of his son, Jack. Many aspects of Donnerjack directly parallel famous myths and legends, particularly those conforming to Joseph Campbell's theory of the monomyth.

It is heavily implied throughout the novel that, though humanity experiences it as a virtual reality simulation, Virtu may actually be an unintentional bridge to the magical realms described in mythology.

It is not connected with ''Jack of Shadows'' written by Zelazny years before.

A crafty nightclub owner (Jack) brings together a group of small-time hoods and teams them up in unusual pairs (black man and white racist, Ivy Leaguer and simpleton) for a set of multiple heists which turn out to be an elaborate double cross against a notorious gangster (Dominic). During an extended standoff in a nightclub between Jack and his band of thieves and Dominic's henchman, the hoods discover why Jack brought them all together for what amounts to a suicidal mission.

Two men on a two-week fishing vacation in remote western Ireland are surprised to discover a strange abyss. On a rock spur above this pit they find ruins and buried in them a journal, which they read.

The author of the journal introduces himself as an old man who has lived for years in an ancient house accompanied only by his sister, who serves as housekeeper, and his dog, Pepper. He has no contact with the local inhabitants, who say he is mad. The house is circular in form and its weird appearance includes peculiar decorations that suggest leaping flames. It has had an evil reputation for centuries and had been empty for many years when he purchased it. The diary will record his strange experiences and thoughts.

Late one night, as he was reading in his study, the light suddenly turned green and then red. Pepper hid under his chair and he sat still, frightened. The red light went low, and he was no longer afraid. The far side of the room became a vision of a vast empty plain. He floated like a bubble into space, leaving the earth and sun behind as he traveled into utter darkness and despair. He reached the world of the vast plain, whose sun is a wreath of red flame. He was brought to an arena: an immense green jade copy of his own house, at the center of a circle miles across, circled by mountains containing hundreds of huge idols of Beast-gods and Horrors. As he nears the huge building, a humanoid creature with the repellent head and face of a huge swine is trying to get into the House. The Swine-creature suddenly and horribly moves toward him, but he is borne upward, then reverses his travel through space to return to his study.

Several months later, horrible man-sized creatures with dead-white skin emerge from a nearby Pit and assault the House. The Swine-Things are strong and intelligent but are unable to break in; after a night and day in which the Recluse kills some of them they disappear. He is terrified by the violent creatures and he waits several days before leaving the House with Pepper to search the former gardens outside.

A week later, he and Pepper explore the Pit that appears to be the source of the Swine-Things. A tunnel leads to an immensely deep abyss. Water flows down the tunnel and the struggle of wading against it to get back out is exhausting. Two weeks afterwards the Pit has become a lake. He revisits a trap door in the Cellar, realizing that it opens to the bottomless abyss.

Asleep in his study, the Recluse awakens into a place like a mist of light and meets his lost love. She calls the place the Sea of Sleep, and implores him to leave the evil House, but admits that they would never have met again had he been anywhere else.

The journal starts again, with the passage of time increasing in speed. Days and nights pass more and more quickly, the sun and moon become flickers and years blur. Pepper's body, then his own, crumble into dust. The House falls, the world fades, time slowly grinds to a halt and the solar system ends with his perception of an immense green star, celestial globes, and another timeless meeting in the Sea of Sleep with the lost love. He is brought again to the Arena and into the great House. He is again in his own study, with time running normally.

The malicious Swine-creature from the Arena inflicts a luminous fungal growth on a dog and the Recluse is barely able to stop himself from letting it into the House. He has also contracted the disease, and the manuscript ends with the man in his study as the creature comes through the trap door in the Cellar.

The two men recover from reading the journal and return to fishing, making no attempt to revisit the horrible pit. Their driver interviews an old man in the local village who remembers the evil house that everyone avoided had once been occupied by an unsociable old man and his elderly sister. Once a month, a man who told the villagers nothing took supplies to the house; years went by until suddenly that man excitedly reported that the house had disappeared and there was now a chasm where it had been.

When the mysterious Onyx Island appears out of nowhere, Sonic and Tails fly there to investigate. They confront Doctor Eggman, who reveals his latest device: a camera which can turn people and things into cards, having already done so to Amy. He turns Tails into a card just as Knuckles arrives, angry at Eggman for using his device on the Master Emerald as well. Eggman announces his plan to conquer the world by turning everything to cards, challenging Sonic and Knuckles to stop him as he flees. The two heroes both set out independently to stop his plan. Elsewhere, Shadow receives a distress signal from Eggman, but upon finding him, the doctor denies sending one. He later receives a communication from Rouge warning him she has stumbled upon a dangerous secret about Eggman, but she is turned to a card before she can continue. Suddenly, Silver appears from the future, and tells Shadow he needs to get to Eggman first.

After numerous conflicts, the heroes discover that Dr. Eggman had been imprisoned in a card before everything began, and that the Eggman the heroes have been interacting with is Eggman Nega in disguise. Nega is revealed to have traveled back from the future, plotting to use the camera to remove Eggman's failed schemes from existence and rewrite their family history, with Onyx Island being a future version of Angel Island he brought back to further his plan. His ruse exposed, Nega escapes into space, planning to use his camera to turn the whole planet into a card. The heroes rescue Tails and the real Eggman, who aid them in reaching Nega's space station to stop his plan. After a final battle with the heroes, Nega is defeated and captured in a card. The prisoners of the other cards are restored, and Silver takes Onyx Island and Nega's card with him back to the future.

In the 23000rd century, companies are now surveying distant planets for mining rights. The Syncam Corporation is investigating a relatively new planet and has hired deep-space cruiser Saldes to shuttle company surveyors to investigate. The employees consist of Jiro Takagi of the Japanese division, Dick Berry of the Australian division, the president's daughter Nancy, Farrah Van Dorothy, Morgan W. Scott, Jimmy, and Dr. Harris Mead, while the crew consists of Captain Mike Hamilton, his subordinates Dular, Walt, and Carolyn, and mechanics Guy and Watts. In addition, Nancy has brought her cat, Lily, on board. The ship allows its passengers to go into hypersleep for 20 years and only biologically age one month.

During the voyage, the ship's computer detects debris flying through space and collects a sample, which causes the extraterrestrial matter to become loose in the ship while the crew and the surveyors are in cryogenic sleep. Upon awakening, the crew learns that two of the surveyors are impostors, but a bigger problem emerges when Morgan is found dead from a mysterious infection. Dr. Mead, Lily, Guy, and Watts also perish from what appears to be a bacterial infection, which dissolves the bodies of its victims, but leaves their clothes intact. During this, Berry attempts to discover who the impostors are by checking their backgrounds.

The bacteria quickly evolves into a hostile life-form capable of mimicking the form of its human victims and kills Dorothy in the sickbay. The computer controls are also overrun by an unknown entity, which results in the deaths of Dular and Walt. Back in sickbay, Jiro and Berry are revealed to be the impostors when Jiro gives an explanation for the bacteria; Jiro is a medical student who murdered three drug dealers who he held responsible for his sister's death from an overdose and Berry is a detective determined to bring him in. Berry handcuffs Jiro, though Hamilton warns Berry that because decades have passed since the murders, no one else is interested in Jiro being brought to justice.

The survivors soon confront the bacteria, which results in Berry getting injured from the recoil of his shotgun. Hamilton and Jimmy create flamethrowers to deal with the bacteria, though Jimmy and Carolyn are quickly killed. Hamilton manages to survive and discovers that a robotic replica of Nancy's cat known as "The Master" or Lily-C.A.T., a Computerized Animal-shaped Technological robot, is responsible for taking over the ship. He then realizes that Syncam wanted to study the bacteria with no concern for the lives of the human crew. Meanwhile, Berry holds a grudge against Jiro because the murders prevented the police from shutting down the dealer's drug ring and cost him a promotion.

Hamilton, Jiro, Nancy, and Berry flee to the main bridge, where Berry dies from the infection. In a fit of defeatism, Jiro attempts suicide, until Hamilton reveals a shuttle he stored. Hamilton proceeds to destroy the ship by letting out the hydrogen and setting off a lighter, while Jiro and Nancy escape to the planet below them; the remaining bacteria burns up in the atmosphere.

The book centers on Wanda, a poor and friendless Polish-American girl. Although her grades are very good, she sits in the worst seat in the classroom and does not say anything when her schoolmates tease her. One day, after Wanda's classmates laugh at her funny last name and the faded blue dress she wears to school every day, Wanda claims to own one hundred dresses, all lined up in her closet in her worn-down house. This outrageous and obvious lie becomes a game, and the group of girls in her class, headed by Maddie and Peggy, mock and corner her every day before school demanding that she describe all of her dresses for them. Her father, Jan Petronski, reveals that due to the constant discrimination directed at his family they must leave town.

The teacher holds a drawing contest in which the girls are to draw dresses of their own design. Wanda enters and submits one hundred beautiful designs. Her classmates are in awe of her talent and realize that these were her hundred dresses. The students who teased her feel remorse and want her to know this, but they are not sure how. They decide to write her a kind letter and send it to her old address, hoping the post office can forward it. Unfortunately, she has already moved away and does not realize she won the contest.

Nevertheless, Wanda's lovely nature and kind heart are revealed later when she tells the teacher to give the students the drawings.

Somebody's running a takeover on crime lord King Lathrop's (Owen Watson) operation using bogarts in Hannibal Lecter lookalike masks. Clueless, King Lathrop calls private detective Velvet Smooth (Johnnie Hill) for help. With the help of her friends Ria (Elsie Roman), a lawyer, and Frankie (René Van Clief), she infiltrates the criminal underworld to investigate.

Velvet finds this may be an inside job led by King Lathrop's man Calvin (James Durrah). When Velvet reports this to Lathrop, he denies it at first but the problems come closer to Calvin. Hurt by it all, Lathrop fires Calvin. Although Lathrop thinks Calvin masterminded the take-over on his own, Velvet remains unconvinced and seeks further to find out who was the man behind the man.

''Banana Blitz'' introduces a new pirate-like villain named Captain Crabuchin, previously confused to be Dr. Bad-Boon. He has stolen the Golden Banana Bunch and AiAi and his friends are on an adventure to recover the scattered pieces of it.

The work follows three privates in the British Army and their sergeant, all of whom are deserters from a foreign imperialist war. Serjeant Musgrave and his men, Hurst, Sparky and Attercliffe, come to a northern English coal mining town in 1879, posing as a recruiting party. The community is in the grip of a coal strike and cut off by winter snow. The one means of reaching the town is by canal barge. They arrive in the company of the Bargee, a foul-mouthed, disrespectful individual who teases and abuses everyone, especially those in authority. In the local inn the soldiers meet Mrs Hitchcock, who runs the inn, and the barmaid Annie. The soldiers are greeted by the mayor, parson and constable, who ask them to recruit men in hopes of alleviating some of the town's unemployment as a way to rid the town of their economic dead weight. Musgrave pretends that this is indeed his goal, and asks Mrs Hitchcock about Billy Hicks, a dead fellow soldier from the mining town. It is revealed that Billy was the father of Annie's illegitimate child, but the baby died, and Annie's sanity has suffered from the loss of both Billy and her child.

That night in the churchyard, the soldiers talk among themselves and reveal their real purpose: appalled by a violent incident where five innocent men were killed, to avenge the death of a single soldier, they have come to the town to convince the people that the colonial war and the violence used are wrong. The single soldier was Billy Hicks, and the reason they chose this particular town, where he was born.

Continuing the pretence of recruiting townsmen, Musgrave throws a sort of party in Mrs Hitchcock's inn, with free drink for all. Private Sparky tries to impress Annie, but she prefers the handsome Hurst and promises to come to him that night. However, he later rejects her, and she goes to Sparky. They agree to run away together, but are overheard by Hurst, who tries to stop them. In the following struggle, Sparky is accidentally killed by falling on a bayonet, held by the pacifist Attercliffe. Serjeant Musgrave rushes in and they hide the body, when they are told that the colliers are stealing the soldiers' guns. The mayor arrives to say that the town is no longer cut off by snow and the dragoons have been called for. Musgrave announces he will hold a recruiting meeting the next morning.

Instead of recruiting townsmen, Musgrave takes out a Gatling gun. The gun is loaded and pointed at the audience. Then the soldiers hoist up the skeleton of Billy Hicks on a lamppost, still dressed in uniform. Musgrave dances below it reciting a rhyme:

... Up he goes, and no-one knows, who it was that raised him. ... He sits on your back and you'll never, never lose him....

Musgrave talks about the atrocities that followed the soldier's death, and explains that since this single death caused five on the other side, five times five townsfolk should be killed to avenge their deaths. Attercliffe refuses to take part in any more violence, but Hurst is quite ready to shoot. Annie intervenes and tells everyone of Sparky's death, producing his bloody tunic as evidence. Hurst makes one last desperate attempt to shoot into the crowd but is overpowered by Musgrave and Attercliffe. The dragoons arrive, shoot Hurst and imprison the two remaining soldiers, who will be hanged later. Ever the jester, the Bargee leads the townsfolk in singing "Michael Finnegan" as a way of "beginning again".

In the final scene, Attercliffe and Musgrave sit in their cell and talk about their differing views of life. Musgrave has always lived by rules, regulations and honour. Attercliffe tells how he lost his wife to a greengrocer, who looked like "a rat grinning through a brush", but was a better man because he fed people, as he fed Attercliffe's ex-wife, which Attercliffe himself could not do. In the end, Attercliffe seems to say, it is everyday life that matters, not ideals.

A scientist, Captain Neweyes, wants children of the present day to see real dinosaurs from the Mesozoic era. He and his alien assistant Vorb go back in time to collect dinosaurs, give them the cereal 'Brain Grain' to bestow them sentience, and send them to the present day. The dinosaurs Neweyes has collected include an orange ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' named Rex, a blue ''Triceratops'' named Woog, a purple ''Pteranodon'' named Elsa, and a green ''Parasaurolophus'' named Dweeb. Neweyes welcomes them aboard his ship, explains his plan to take them to Dr. Julia Bleeb, who will guide them to the Museum of Natural History, and warns them to avoid Professor Screweyes, his nefarious twin brother who causes mischief after having lost his left eye several years ago.

Neweyes drops the dinosaurs in the Hudson River in the year 1993 AD, but they are unable to meet up with Dr. Bleeb. They encounter two children willing to help them find the museum – a boy named Louie, who is running away to join the circus, and a girl named Cecilia. To avoid being noticed as real dinosaurs, they disguise themselves as animatronics in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The illusion falls apart, however, when Rex accidentally deflates an ''Apatosaurus'' balloon after singing during the parade thus blowing their cover. The citizens panic and the dinosaurs flee to Central Park while being pursued by the police and the army.

Meanwhile, Louie and Cecilia meet Professor Screweyes, who is running the horror-themed "Eccentric Circus". Unaware of Screweyes' dark nature, the children sign a contract to perform in his troupe. When the dinosaurs arrive to save Louie and Cecilia, Screweyes devolves the children into chimpanzees using "Brain Drain", pills that are the polar opposite of Brain Grain. The dinosaurs consume the pills, which cause them to lose their intelligence and revert to their natural forms, in exchange for Screweyes restoring Louie and Cecilia to humans and releasing them. The next morning, a clown named Stubbs, who works for Professor Screweyes, informs the two kids about Screweyes' plan to exploit the dinosaurs for their scare potential.

That night, Louie and Cecilia sneak into the circus, where the dinosaurs perform their terrifying act – Screweyes hypnotizing Rex – before the trick is hindered by a crow turning on flares. Rex grabs and prepares to eat Screweyes, but Louie steps in and talks the Tyrannosaurus out of his vengeance. His and Cecilia's impassioned pleas and loving touch restore the dinosaurs' sentience. Stubbs resigns from Professor Screweyes' employment, and Captain Neweyes arrives in his ship to lift the kids and the dinosaurs out of the circus, leaving Screweyes to be devoured by crows. The dinosaurs spend the rest of their lives in the museum, fulfilling Neweyes' plan, while Louie and Cecilia reconcile with their respective parents and become a couple.

Rex returns Buster to his family before returning to the Museum of National History, humming the movie's theme song to himself. Buster's siblings continued to tease him for being a "Mama's Little Birdy" but he shoots them a glare, making them stop teasing him while he and his loving mother embrace each other.

Wilde (Nickolas Grace) and his lover Lord Alfred Douglas (Douglas Hodge) arrive late on Guy Fawkes Day in 1892 at their friend's brothel, where they are treated to a surprise staging of Wilde's play, public performances of which have just been banned in England by the Lord Chamberlain's office.

In the play, all the roles are played by prostitutes or their clients, and each actor (except Grace) plays two roles, one in the brothel and the other in the play. King Herod (Stratford Johns) begs his young stepdaughter Salome (Imogen Millais-Scott) to dance for him, promising to give her anything she desires, much to the irritation of her mother, Herodias (Glenda Jackson). Salome ignores him, choosing instead to try to seduce John the Baptist, who is Herod's prisoner.

John responds by loudly condemning both Herod and Salome in the name of God. A spurned and vengeful Salome then agrees to dance for Herod — on the condition that she be given anything she asks for. Herod agrees, but it is only after the dance is over that Salome asks for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Herod is appalled, tries to dissuade her, but finally gives in to her request. The scenes from the play are interwoven with images of Wilde's exploits at the brothel. At the end Wilde is arrested.

The Society of Olive Oil Producers of Baetica is throwing a big dinner party in Rome, trying to drum up business for their product. Falco is invited at the request of Claudius Laeta, Vespasian’s top clerk. The food, the garum and the dancing girl make a big impression on Falco. When two guests at a dinner are assaulted, one fatally, Falco realizes that being at the dinner was just the start of another job.

The surviving victim, Anacrites, is Falco's rival and Vespasian's Chief Spy, a significant position in Vespasian's empire, challenged as it was by constant conspiracies. Falco is asked to investigate the attack on Anacrites and its possible connection to an attempt to corner the market on Spanish olive oil. Trying to keep Anacrites safe, he moves him to the one place where no one will look, and if they do, they will regret it; his mother’s house.

Soon, Falco is on his way to Hispania to track down some of the guests and that memorable dancer. Laeta hints that someone is looking to corner the market on Hispania’s olive oil production. Suspicion immediately falls on Quinctius Attractus, the host of the festivities that fatal evening.

This is an assignment Falco does not take solo; he is bringing his very pregnant companion, Helena Justina. Helena's father Camillus Verus happens to own a small estate in Baetica, and her brother Aelianus has just returned for serving there, so he and Helena have a perfect excuse to show up. And Helena has made it very clear that Falco ''will'' be there for the birth of his child.

Helena becomes friendly with the daughters of two local magnates, Claudia Rufina and Aelia Annaea. Falco gets to know some of the sons, including Claudia’s brother Constans. Also appearing is Attractus’ son Quadratus, the new quaestor of Baetica. That one item alone keeps Falco on guard.

While concluding the interviews of the dinner guests, Falco finally catches up with the dancer, Selia, who promptly tries to kill him with the help of her band. Before she strikes the final blow, she reveals that Laeta sent her too, not to find the killer, but to stop anyone following, a classic double cross. Now Falco knows all, or nearly all.

Falco suspects something, but the obvious suspect is his guest and claiming an injury. Yet Claudia is convinced it was not an accident, and she asks Falco to investigate. Seeing the site of the death, he is convinced someone else was there when Constans died. Now it is just one more thing he has to prove.

Now the chase is on. Falco goes to the Quinctius estate, and finds Selia dead and Quadratus gone. But this death is much more elegant, and soon another Dancer appears; Perella. She is working for the Chief Spy Anacrites, who was still alive when she saw him last, now with the Praetorian guard, but still being nursed by Falco’s mother.

Still not trusting Perella, Falco decides to share his information with her, and they piece together the real plot.

Attractus and Quadratus are part of the plan because Laeta needs some legitimacy, and the Quinctii have enough influence to make it at least appear to be on the up and up. Falco also learns that Quadratus was indeed with Constans when he died. It is now time to act.

Helena is about to burst, but Falco is still fearful of local medical experts, and so he sends her east by land while he rides to catch Quadratus before he kills someone else, and then hopes to catch up.

It’s a girl. Falco makes it before the birth, Helena survives, and only breaks a couple of his fingers.

Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake, commander of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, requests two new surgeons for his unit. Captains Duke Forrest and Hawkeye Pierce share a jeep to the post, in the process discovering that they share a taste for alcohol and similar views about many issues. Blake assigns them to the night shift, billeting them with Major Jonathan Hobson, a Midwestern preacher and surgeon.

Despite their dislike of authority and penchant for making wisecracks and pulling pranks, the new doctors exhibit exceptional surgical skills and commitment to their job, gaining the respect of their colleagues. They become annoyed by Maj. Hobson's religious fervor and insist that Blake have Maj. Hobson rebilleted. Friction mounts between the major and the new captains; when Major Hobson's prayers begin to annoy everyone, Col. Blake arranges to have him sent stateside.

Pierce and Forrest request a chest surgeon for the unit. When the new man, Captain John McIntyre, arrives, he displays exceptional skill, but resists their attempts to draw him into their social circle. During a recreational football game, Hawkeye suddenly remembers playing football against McIntyre in college and introduces McIntyre to everyone as Trapper John.

The Bachelor Officers Quarters (BOQ) tent occupied by the three surgeons, known as The Swamp, becomes a central gathering point. The surgeons enjoy the company of Father Mulcahy, the Catholic chaplain, although they are not strongly religious, but Duke (an avowed Protestant) wants to seek out a Protestant chaplain. A chaplain is found, but the "Swampmen" object to his habit of ghostwriting cheerful letters for soldiers without checking the seriousness of their wounds. After a patient dies the day after a letter saying "Everything is fine and I'll be home soon" is sent, the Swampmen lash him to a wooden cross and make him believe they intend to burn him alive.

Captain Waldowski, nicknamed "The Painless Pole", is prone to regular fits of depression. When he announces his decision to commit suicide, the Swampmen stage a "Last Supper", summon everyone to bid him farewell and then give him a sedative. While he is sedated, they hook him to a harness and drop him from a helicopter, ending the depression.

The Swampmen have frequent conflicts with Captain Frank Burns. Burns, even though he has never had surgical training, nonetheless considers his work to be infallible, and holds himself above the Swampmen. After one of his patients dies, he angrily blames an orderly. First Duke and then Trapper get into a fistfight with Burns.

When the new Chief Nurse, Major Margaret Houlihan arrives, she considers the well-groomed and courtly Burns to be the superior doctor. After Henry Blake names Trapper John as his Chief Surgeon (based on demonstrated ability), Burns and Houlihan get drunk and stay late in her tent, preparing a highly negative report for Gen. Hammond. The next day the Swampmen tease Burns and Houlihan. Trapper John calls Houlihan "Hot Lips"; Hawkeye provokes Burns into a fight. Henry is finally forced to send Burns stateside.

Ho-Jon, the Korean houseboy working in the Swamp, is drafted into the South Korean army. After being wounded, he arrives at the 4077th for treatment. After rehabilitation, he resumes his position as Swampboy and the Swampmen decide to send him to Hawkeye's old college. To raise funds, Trapper poses as Jesus Christ, selling autographed photos and making personal appearances.

A U.S. Congressman whose son is wounded in combat demands that Trapper and Hawkeye fly to Japan to perform an "emergency surgery." The surgery proves to be routine and the doctors spend much of the recovery period playing golf. Hawkeye reconnects with a friend, "Me Lay" Marston, who serves as an anesthesiologist for the Army but also helps a local doctor run a combination pediatric hospital and whorehouse. Me Lay asks the boys to look at a sick baby, who does require emergency surgery. Hawkeye and Trapper blackmail the hospital's commanding officer into permitting the operation and talk Me Lay into adopting the orphan baby.

Trapper and Hawkeye return to find the 4077th overwhelmed by casualties. A continuous flow of wounded pours into the hospital for two weeks. All personnel work around the clock performing operations. Everyone becomes exhausted and irritable; the Swampmen begin harassing Maj. Houlihan. She complains to Gen. Hammond, who begins an investigation of Col. Blake's conduct. The Swampmen intercede, smoothing matters over with the General.

Summer arrives and Col. Blake is sent to Tokyo for three weeks; Colonel DeLong fills in. Col. DeLong is unfamiliar with the type of high-volume, high-speed surgery used at the 4077th; after an angry confrontation with Hawkeye, DeLong gains respect for the work. Eventually the Swampmen get bored and decide to convince DeLong they need psychiatric evaluation. When he sends them to a diagnostic unit, they escape custody and visit a brothel.

General Hammond's unit has a football team. Because he has stocked it with professional players who were drafted, he makes a tidy profit playing other units and betting on the results. The Swampmen organize their own team and tell Col. Blake to ask Hammond to assign neurosurgeon Oliver Wendell Jones to the 4077. Jones, unbeknownst to Hammond, is a former football star nicknamed Spearchucker.

In the game, the Swampmen incapacitate one of Hammond's pros by injecting him with a sedative during a pileup. They use Corporal Radar O'Reilly's ESP abilities to detect upcoming plays and employ a trick play to win the game 28-24 and make an enormous profit.

As Duke and Hawkeye wait for their deployments to expire, they become bored. To keep them busy, Henry Blake has them teach two new doctors their short-cuts. One learns capably, but the other needs to be sent home. On the journey back from Korea, they feign battle fatigue to get favorable treatment and impersonate chaplains to avoid work. They say goodbye when they reach the US; each rejoins his family.

Set in the summer of 2000, Mona (Clara Khoury), a young Druze woman living at Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, is about to marry a successful Syrian actor. Following the hostilities between Israel and Syria there is now a zone occupied by UNDOF in the Golan Heights. Crossing of the zone is extremely rare as it is only granted by both sides under special circumstances. It has taken 6 months to obtain permission from the Israeli administration for Mona to leave the Golan. When Mona crosses she will not be able to return to her family on the Golan even to visit. Mona is a bit hesitant also because she doesn't know her husband-to-be.

Her father Hammed (Makram Khoury) openly supports the reunification with Syria and has just been released on bail from an Israeli prison. For this personal sacrifice he is respected by the elders of the village—yet when there is word that his son Hattem (Eyad Sheety) who has married Evelyna (Evelyn Kaplun), a Russian doctor, breaking with Druze tradition, is returning to see his sister off, they make it clear to the father that they will shun him too if he allows Hattem to come to the wedding.

Mona's sister Amal (Hiam Abbass) is unhappily married and has two daughters who are almost grown up. She is considered a somewhat free spirit as she and her daughters wear trousers. Now she is even considering training as a social worker. Her elder daughter wants to marry the son of a pro-Israeli villager. Amal's husband feels put in an awkward position, as tradition demands that the male head of the family controls the other members of the family to act in a socially acceptable manner. Amal is seen advising her daughter not to give up her studies irrespective of whatever pressures she may face from the family or society. This gives insight into Amal's persona.

The second brother, Marwan (Ashraf Barhom), is a shady merchant doing deals in Italy and obviously a womanizer. Yet nobody seems to object to his slightly unsettled lifestyle—quite a contrast to his brother who is only greeted by his mother and siblings.

Then, after the wedding feast, the bride is escorted to the border where her emigration runs into trouble, as the Israeli government has just decided to stamp the passports of Golan residents bound for Syria as leaving Israel. The Syrian officials still regard the Golan as part of Syria under foreign occupation, and a stamp like that is viewed as an underhanded ploy by the Israelis to force the Syrian side to implicitly acknowledge the annexation.

So the UN liaison officer Jeanne goes back and forth until the Israeli official who put the stamp into the passport in the first place finally agrees to erase it with some correction fluid. Yet just as the problem seems to have been peacefully resolved, the solution is threatened by a change of position on the Syrian side.

In the end when it looks as if the wedding will be delayed at least for some days (which is regarded as a bad omen), the bride takes matters into her own hands. In our final view of her, she is walking with energy and determination toward the Syrian border; at the same time Amal walks away from the group with a determined face as if she would shatter the invisible fences which prevent her from pursuing her dreams.

Jennifer Fung (Gigi Leung) is a spoiled-rotten daughter of a millionaire. When Jennifer's father realizes that she's spending way too much money, he hires Kit (Sean Lau) to pretend to be a Filipino chauffeur named Mario and chaperone her. Then, Jennifer's father decides that he's going to teach her the value of money and hard-work, so he pretends to be ill, leaving all the money to Pamela, his business partner. Pamela kicks Jennifer out into the street to live with Kit/Mario. The two learn to live together and work hard to get back on top.

The reader plays as one of Lone Wolf's Grand Masters. On a visit to the court of Xo-lin, news of an invasion force by the Autarch Sejanoz of Bhanar brought to the palace in Pensei. Xo-lin must be rescued and brought to sanctuary in the distant city of Tazhan across the Lissanian Plain.

The player must help recolonize the human race after the Earth's habitability is critically reduced by an ecological catastrophe. The entire human race is being housed in huge ''Conestoga-class'' colony ships, which are waiting for the player to secure at least one planet with an Earth-like environment and to also acquire enough material resources to ensure that the colony or colonies in question can build a fledgling industrial base as soon as possible.

The player is allowed limited time to accomplish this goal. In addition, the player must contend with the alien races living in the area that the player is exploring. The mission's success requires diplomacy to acquire allies and the elimination of races that may be potentially hostile to humanity. The player may also deem it necessary to destroy a friendly race in order to secure enough resources to successfully complete the objectives.

Part I

Frasier, Daphne, Niles, Mel and Martin return from the funeral of Morrie, the doorman of Elliott Bay Towers. Daphne in particular is very emotional, which everyone attributes to nerves before the wedding. Martin bears a final gift from Morrie; a rare bottle of wine retrieved from France following the Second World War. Simon, Daphne's boorish and obnoxious brother, arrives unexpectedly, and Martin invites him to stay in his Winnebago. Mel leaves to prepare for a mid-week retreat to celebrate her first six months with Niles, while he confesses to Frasier that he feels anxious about their relationship. After Niles denies that he still possesses lingering feelings for Daphne, Frasier urges his brother to seize the moment and move on from his habitual sense of caution.

When Martin gives Daphne the bottle of wine as a wedding gift, Daphne breaks down once more. Frasier is left to comfort Daphne.

Daphne reveals that she knows about Niles' seven-year crush on her. She has tormented herself about her own feelings towards Niles, and believes that she has fallen in love with him in return. Despite her impending marriage, Frasier urges her to confront Niles and discuss this with him before her marriage. When Niles returns, however, he has exciting news: he has, on impulse, eloped with Mel and married her.

Part II

Frasier arrives at the luxurious hotel where Daphne and Donny's wedding will take place, hoping to speak to Daphne about recent events. Daphne brushes the matter off, dismissing her feelings as just nerves, and gives Frasier the bottle of wine to thank him for all his kindness and support. They are interrupted by the arrival of Daphne's overbearing and hypercritical mother, Gertrude.

That night following the rehearsal dinner, Frasier and Martin discuss Daphne and Niles. Frasier confesses that he does not believe either Daphne or Niles when they claim to be happy, leading Martin to warn him about interfering; two marriages are at stake. Meanwhile, Niles and Daphne join each other for a dance, and Frasier watches them as they dance close together. Cornering Niles in a hotel room, Frasier reveals that Daphne knows how he feels towards her, and that there is a possibility she shares his feelings. Niles is tormented, but resolves to talk to Daphne to find out. Managing to get Daphne alone, Niles confesses that Frasier has told him of her feelings towards him, and tells her that he loves her. Before they can discuss anything, they are constantly interrupted, firstly by Martin, then by Donny, then Mel, and finally by Daphne's entire family. Escaping the party to the balcony, the two stand together awkwardly, until Daphne takes action, and the two share their first kiss. She then tells him that they have made too many commitments to others to back out now. Niles is left on the balcony, alone.

The next morning, as the wedding takes place, Niles sits in the front cabin of the Winnebago, unable to watch Daphne be married. Martin and Frasier join him, Frasier bringing with him the rare bottle of wine to honour Niles' bravery in at last opening his heart to Daphne. The three men prepare to enjoy a glass, only to discover that the wine is undrinkable; unfortunately, Morrie kept his wine rack in the boiler room. Frasier and Martin leave to attend the wedding, leaving Niles alone, until a knock at the door rouses him. He turns to see Daphne before him in full wedding dress, asking him if he wants to go on a date. She has chosen him after all, and as the two prepare to flee the wedding, Daphne realises that she can finally call him "Niles".

The film follows one week in the life of 24-year-old Jamie Conway. Originally from Pennsylvania, Jamie works as a fact-checker for a major New York City magazine. His nights partying with his glib best friend Tad and his addiction to cocaine has led Jamie being frequently late to work and not finishing assignments on time. As result, Jamie is on the verge of getting fired by his stern boss, Clara Tillinghast.

His wife Amanda, a fast-rising model, has just left him. He is also still reeling from the death of his mother from cancer a year earlier; and he follows a tabloid story about a pregnant woman in a coma. Jamie's story captures some of the glossy chaos and decadence of New York City nightlife during the 1980s and Jamie also finds himself desperately trying to escape the pain in his life.

After Jamie gets fired from his job, he goes on a further downward spiral with more substance and alcohol abuse. He attempts to go on a date with Tad's cousin Vicky as a favor so Tad could, in turn, have a fling with a woman he claims is a Penthouse Pet. Jamie also avoids phone calls from his younger brother Michael who has come to New York City to look for him.

His maternal co-worker Megan attempts to help Jamie out with finding a new job as well as try to open up about his troubled life and the reason why Amanda left him. Michael arrives at his apartment and lets himself in, surprising Jamie. Tad calls Jamie to tell him Amanda is at a party he is attending.

At the party, Tad is so intoxicated that he doesn't seem to realize that a woman he is flirting with is actually a man in drag. Jamie confronts Amanda but retreats to the bathroom when his nose starts to bleed. Jamie finally decides to open up and come clean with himself before he ends up either dead or in jail. Jamie phones Vicky from the party and tells her that he and his brother Michael helped their dying mother kill herself to end her suffering. Jamie then declines Tad's offer to spend more time together and leaves the party.

Jamie wanders the streets until dawn when he decides that today will be a better day to get his life back on track. As the film ends, a news clipping of the newborn "Coma Baby" is shown.

Set in 1960, the story follows the efforts of the Mossad, the Israeli Secret Service, to find former SS Colonel Adolf Eichmann, who fled Germany for Argentina and took the name Ricardo Klement. He was wanted for the mass murder of both Jews and non-Jews in Europe during the Holocaust. Learning of Eichmann's living in Argentina, the Mossad sends a team to capture him, led by agent Peter Malkin. The standing order is to bring Eichmann back alive to Israel for trial.

The film ends with the take-off of the El Al aircraft taking Eichmann to face trial in Jerusalem.

The scoutship ''Ceres'' is assigned to explore the Jovian moon Callisto, outermost of the four Galilean moons. Seven previous ships landed there over a 25-year period and never returned. Two crewmen discover a stowaway in the supply room, a 13-year-old boy named Stanley Fields who believes in the heroic spacemen and villainous pirates of dime novels. The crew adopts Fields as a mascot, even repairing an obsolete rubber space suit for him, and the stowaway's presence distracts others from the death they fear is likely.

When the ''Ceres'' lands on Callisto, the crew find a previous scoutship, the ''Phobos'', still intact. An inspection of the ''Phobos'' reveals it to be covered with dried slime, and the bodies of its crew are discovered. Soon a horde of four-foot-long slugs emerges from a nearby lake and approaches the ''Phobos''. Two of the ''Ceres'' crewmen are overcome by a mysterious affliction, and a third barely makes it back to the ship. The captain of the ''Ceres'' realizes that the slugs are using magnetic fields to stun the crewmen, amplified by their steel space suits. Fields volunteers to retrieve the unconscious crewmen in his rubber space suit. He brings the first back, but while retrieving the second he falls victim to an air leak and barely makes it back to the ship. Fields and the unconscious crewmen survive, and ''Ceres'' safely departs Callisto.

A young woman named Elizabeth (Louise Salter) arrives at an island convent during a heavy rainstorm. Her father has recently died, leaving her an orphan. She has returned to the island of her birth in order to determine whether to continue her father's donations to the convent. She meets the ancient Mother Superior, who is blind. In lieu of a past friend of Elizabeth's, she is instead met by an innocent-seeming novice named Sarah, who will be her guide. Elizabeth tells Sarah that she was born on the island and lived there until she was seven. Her mother had died while giving birth to her.

Elizabeth and Sarah visit a decaying library located in the convent. They look at an illustration of a demon and a painting which shows two young girls and a pagan amulet. They are temporarily separated. Elizabeth is attacked by a nun, who dies by falling out a window. Elizabeth discovers an entrance into a labyrinth of catacomb. Here, a procession of nuns carries a bloody corpse wrapped in a sheet. Elizabeth, who has gotten lost, finds a pit-like room where a blind painter has covered the walls and canvases with enigmatic images. She recognizes one of the faces on the wall as that of her missing friend. The body the nuns were carrying might well have been her corpse.

The next day: Elizabeth has come to distrust Sarah. The former now has strange dreams and visions. Elizabeth goes to her childhood home and questions the old woman who cared for her as a child. Their meeting is interrupted when the nuns set fire to the house. Elizabeth alone escapes. Back at the convent, dead and dying nuns are everywhere. In the catacombs, Elizabeth is approached by Sarah. The latter removes the top of her cassock to reveal that much of her body is not human. Sarah is Elizabeth's sister, who more closely resembles their demon mother. The nuns had attempted to prevent Elizabeth from realizing her heritage and freeing their mother from the crypt.

Sarah and Elizabeth begin the ritual, just as they had as children. The pieces of the shattered amulet are placed on the ground by a nun, who they make into a human sacrifice. Drops of blood restores the broken amulet. Their demon mother begins to break free of her prison. As she had when young, Elizabeth, now afraid, throws the amulet down. It shatters once more into pieces. Sarah goes to the demon mother. Elizabeth escapes.

Elizabeth joins the convent. She wears a necklace made of the central fragment of the shattered amulet, and her eyes, covered in cataracts, now resemble those of the blind Mother Superior.

When Wanda Holloway was a teen, her father forbade her from trying out for her school's cheerleading team. Many years later, when Wanda had a daughter of her own, she was determined that her daughter would fulfill the dream she was denied and become a cheerleader—which would allow Wanda to make up that part of her childhood by reliving it through her daughter. The film takes place in Channelview, Texas.

Wanda enrolls her daughter, Shanna, in various dance and gymnastics classes in order to enhance her prospects of becoming a cheerleader. She forces Shanna to practice for hours on end, despite sickness or injury. Wanda's best friend, Verna Heath, and her daughter, Amber, live next door to the Holloway family. Amber is the same age as Shanna and the two teenagers become friends. Verna had been a successful varsity twirler when she was young and holds the same ambition as Wanda for her own daughter.

Leading up to the cheerleading tryouts, jealousy sparks between Wanda and Verna, despite the fact that their daughters' friendship remains solid. In the months prior to the tryouts, Wanda forces Shanna to concentrate completely on cheer-leading. At the tryouts, Amber impresses the judges but Shanna is unable to, despite all of her training. Amber makes the squad and Shanna does not, disappointing both Shanna and Wanda. The fact that Shanna did not make it onto the team causes Wanda to end the friendship between Shanna and Amber. Wanda does not give up on seeing her daughter become a cheerleader, and decides to try again next year.

Every day until next year's tryouts, Shanna practices frequently at her mother's command. When the time arrives, Amber makes the team and is even promoted to co-captain, but Shanna is disqualified because of her mother's attempts to bribe the judges and other students. The shock of her daughter's failure for the second time puts Wanda into a mad fit of rage, anger and jealousy. Wanda decides that if it wasn't for Amber, Shanna would have definitely been a cheerleader. She becomes obsessed with the notion that living next door to talented Amber had sapped Shanna's confidence and ruined her chances of success.

Wanda meets her brother-in-law Terry to take a hit out on Amber and Verna. Terry is horrified by Wanda's hate for a thirteen-year-old girl, and disagrees with the murder of a young vibrant girl—especially over something as petty as cheerleading. After the rendezvous, Terry decides to turn Wanda in to the police. He meets Wanda again, this time with a tape recorder in order to obtain proof of Wanda's desire to commit homicide. Terry sends the recorded message, along with background information, to the police. Wanda is arrested and sentenced to fifteen years in prison, but is set free when it is discovered that a member of the jury at her trial was on probation. Wanda serves only six months for the attempted murder of Amber.

In the end, Shanna decides it would be best to quit trying out for the cheerleading team. Presently, Shanna and Wanda reside in California, where Shanna is taking classes in modelling, singing and acting. Wanda hopes that one day, her daughter will be a famous Hollywood actress, no matter what it takes.

The movie begins with the UK Hip Hop group "Time Served" getting used to living the high life as rap stars. This all comes crashing down however when one of their members Too Fine is killed in a drive-by because he owes a drug dealer, Temper, money. On returning to her flat after the murder, Too Fine's sister Hope walks in on the same drug dealer looking for his money. After telling her she has two days left to pay or he is going to kill her family, he rapes her and leaves. While this is happening the other two members of the group, Rage and Finny find out that due to being signed as a three-man group, their contract is now void.

Under the premise of paying him back, Hope goes to Temper's house with a sawn-off shotgun. After killing him she goes back to Finny's. Knowing that Temper's two side-kicks, Chosen-one and Chronic, will come hunting for her, Finny, Rage and their friend Pushy decide to finish them off. Turning up at their favourite night-club, they kill the two, catching a waitress in the crossfire.

Hope is then contacted by big time crime lord David Brumby, who wants the money Temper owed him. She instead convinces him to work with her instead, and with Finny, Rage and Pushy, go into the drug dealing business. While this is going on, DS Andy White is on the case looking for the killers of the night club waitress.

White and his cohorts raid a Yardie drug-dealer and find out that Too Fine and Pushy are connected. Knowing this they begin tailing Pushy and his known affiliates, Rage and Finny. Noticing they are being followed on the way to a drug deal, they attempted to give their pursuers the shake. Finny although is captured after their cars rolls off the road and they attempt to get away on foot. In order to avoid going down for multiple offences (White also threatens to have him killed in his cell) he fingers everyone else involved.

The police round up everyone involved, including Rage, Pushy and Brumby, but not Hope. Knowing Finny is the grass, Pushy calls Hope, not fully believing him she hangs up on him. Finny then comes round to Hope's to get her to leave London with him. Now knowing the truth she stabs Finny, dumping his body in a car. With his only witness dead, White has to let Rage, Pushy and Brumby go. Thinking they have gotten off, Rage and Pushy go out to celebrate, but get gunned down in the car park of a pub by Brumby's men, on the orders of DS White, who says he'll turn a "blind eye" to Brumby now.

Dutch Dooley attends a ritzy party with his girlfriend, Natalie Standish. He stands out terribly among the upper-class aristocrats – wearing a cheap suit and making boorish comments. Natalie's relaxed, less rigid personality also does not fit with the rest of the patrons. Dutch also meets Natalie's snobbish, wealthy ex-husband Reed, who tells Natalie that he will have to break his Thanksgiving plans with their son Doyle for an unexpected business trip to London, and that Natalie will have to tell Doyle.

Natalie calls Doyle at his private school in Georgia and invites him home for Thanksgiving, but Doyle refuses the offer, solely blaming his mother for the divorce. Despite this, Dutch sees an opportunity to get to know Doyle and further his relationship with Natalie, so he offers to go to Georgia and bring Doyle back to Chicago for the holidays.

Upon arriving in Georgia, Dutch finds Doyle to be much like his father: snobbish, selfish and elitist. He welcomes Dutch by throwing a book at his face, hitting him with a golf club, kicking him and shooting him in the groin with a BB gun, for which Dutch promises revenge. Dutch ultimately hogties Doyle to a hockey stick and carries him to the car to start on the drive back home.

The pair endures several mishaps, including an impromptu fireworks show that sees Dutch's coat destroyed. Later, after Doyle throws a lit cigar in Dutch's lap, Dutch throws Doyle out of the car and makes him walk to the next motel by himself. Doyle gets even by parking Dutch's car in the middle of the highway, where it is hit and totaled by a truck. They hitch a ride with two prostitutes who steal their luggage and Dutch's wallet, leaving them stranded.

Doyle calls his father, whom he discovers has lied about his trip to London; he instead spent the holidays with a girlfriend. Stunned by his father's betrayal, and wounded by Dutch's accusation that he "hates his mother", Doyle begins to regret his callous attitude. Dutch initially gives up and wants to call Natalie for assistance, but Doyle refuses and insists on getting home on their own. They sneak a ride on the back of a semi-truck and are assaulted by security guards at a trailer drop yard; Doyle brandishes his BB gun and feigns insanity, pretending that voices in his head are telling him to kill the guards, which frightens them enough to allow their escape.

The two enter a restaurant, where they meet a married couple who takes them to a homeless shelter in Hammond, Indiana for the night. At the shelter, Doyle grows fond of a young girl and her family. While getting to know them, he finally realizes that he has been neglecting his mother and indeed wants to be with her for the holidays. It also is eventually revealed that Dutch is a successful contractor and, while not as ostentatious, just as wealthy as Reed and his snobbish crowd.

On Thanksgiving day, the family drives Dutch and Doyle to Natalie's home, where Reed is waiting. Doyle reunites with his mother and reveals to Reed that he knows the truth about his trip to London. When Doyle decides to stay with his mother instead of Reed for Thanksgiving, Reed evicts Natalie from the house, which he owns. Dutch follows Reed outside as he departs and hits Reed in the forehead with his pinky ring. He then demands that Reed show more respect to Natalie and become a better father to Doyle, to which a dazed Reed agrees.

As Natalie, Dutch and Doyle sit down to begin their Thanksgiving feast, Dutch asks Doyle to retrieve Dutch's coat, as it contains a very special gift for Natalie. As Doyle walks away, Dutch pulls the BB gun Doyle originally shot him with and finally gets his revenge by shooting him in the groin.

The player controls Metal Mutant, the ultimate battle machine, which was sent to the heavily protected high-tech planet Kronox to find and destroy the tyrant AROD 7. On the way to this goal, the player needs to solve puzzles and combat hostile lifeforms and enemy robots.

The game's plot has no relations to the original ''Battle Raper'' and is set in the year "20XX". The Story mode follows a young treasure hunter swordsman named Yuuki. The player gets to choose one of the female characters to accompany Yuuki, while he travels the island, fighting undead monsters and other female characters (their competitors) and to lie with her in the end.

The series follows a group of mismatched superheroes and supervillains — Hank Pym, the Wasp, Gravity, Medusa, Firebird, Alyosha Kravinoff, Venom (Mac Gargan), The Hood and the Space Phantom —who have been abducted by a cosmic entity, supposedly The Beyonder, to the alien Battleworld for unknown purposes. Deathlok was later introduced to the roster.

It is the eve of the Iranian New Year. The film opens in a Teheran market where seven-year-old Razieh (Aida Mohammadkhani) and her mother are shopping. Razieh sees a goldfish in a shop and begins to nag her hurrying mother to buy it for the festivities instead of the skinny ones in her family's pond at home. Almost all of the film's major characters are briefly seen in this market scene, though they are not introduced to the viewer until later. On their way home, mother and daughter pass a courtyard where a crowd of men has gathered to watch two snake charmers. Razieh wants to see what is happening but her mother pulls her daughter away, telling her that it is not good for her to watch these things.

Back home, Razieh is upset about her mother's refusal to let her buy a new goldfish, and continues to nag her mother. Her older brother Ali (Mohsen Kalifi) returns from a shopping errand for their father. He complains that he asked Ali to buy shampoo, not soap, then throws the soap at him. Ali sets off to buy the shampoo and when he returns Razieh asks him to help in changing her mother's mind about the goldfish, bribing him with a balloon. Ali thinks that the 100 tomans cost for the goldfish is a waste of money but helps Razieh in petitioning their mother nonetheless. Her mother gives her the family's last 500-toman banknote and asks her to bring back the change. Razieh sets off with an empty glass jar to the fish shop a few blocks away.

Between their home and the fish store, Razieh manages to lose the money twice, first in an encounter with the snake charmer, and then when she drops the money through the grate at the entrance to a store which has been closed for the New Year celebration.

Razieh and Ali make several attempts to retrieve the money and while doing so encounter many people, including a kind older woman at the fish shop, the owners of a nearby shop, and an Iranian soldier. The money, however, is always just out of reach. Finally, the siblings receive help from a young Afghan street vendor selling balloons. He carries all of his balloons on a wooden stick, which has three balloons left. Razieh, Ali, and the Afghan boy are unable to retrieve the note with only the stick, so Ali comes up with the idea of sticking gum to the bottom of the stick to retrieve the bill. Ali leaves to buy gum, but returns without any, and finds that the Afghan boy has left Razieh at the grate. However, the Afghan boy soon returns with his stick, now with only one white balloon, and a pack of chewing gum he bought for the group. The group attaches a piece of gum to one end of the balloon stick, and with it they reach down through the grate and pull the money out.

The film ends, not with Ali and Razieh, but on a still shot of the young Afghan boy, as he sits at the grate watching Ali and Razieh leave for the shop and soon afterwards return home from buying the goldfish. The Afghan boy sits alone with his stick and white balloon for a while, as the Iranian year 1374 begins, then he gets up to walk away.

Josh Framm (Kevin Zegers), now a teenager and a basketball player, becomes angry with his mother, Jackie, when she begins dating Patrick Sullivan, the town's new veterinarian, after a couple of failed dates with other people. Sullivan innocently tosses Josh's basketball-savvy dog, Buddy, a football one day, and Josh discovers that Buddy also has an uncanny ability to play the sport of football. Soon enough, Buddy begins playing on Josh's Junior High football team after Tommy convinces Josh to sign up for football instead of basketball. At first, the team is failing miserably, and the school intends to fire the coach if he does not start winning. However, thanks to Buddy's superior football skills and fast running, the team keeps on winning and makes the playoffs. In addition, they advance to the championship.

Meanwhile, two Russians by the names of Natalya and Popov kidnap Buddy in hopes of having him perform as the special attraction in the Russian circus while Josh runs away when Patrick proposes to his mother. His coach finds him and convinces him that just because Patrick is in his life now, he does not have to stop loving his father and he returns home, but Patrick is gone and Buddy is missing.

The Timberwolves are forced to play the championship game without Buddy and are losing terribly. Buddy, in Natalya's and Popov's hands, knocks his cage over to unlock the hatch on a chimpanzee's cage hence letting the chimpanzee out, who then in return lets Buddy out. Buddy and the chimpanzee release all the other animals and they manage to escape. After the chimpanzee ambushes Natalya and Popov with fish guts and sword fighting, Natalya and Popov are arrested and placed into the custody of the Russian embassy as they collide their van, where they fly out of it and fall into a fishing vessel following a chase sequence involving Buddy as the victim.

Meanwhile, Patrick finds Buddy and takes him to the game. With the help of Buddy, the team catches up, but Buddy is taken out of the game due to a subsequent injury. The Timberwolves are forced to finish the game without him and thanks to Josh and Tommy, they win the championship.

Later, Josh stops Patrick from leaving on a boat and convinces him to stay with the family. The family later goes to a Seattle Seahawks football game and Buddy sneaks onto the field.

Tim and Bill arrive home and are stunned to discover that the door is locked. When they knock on the door, Graeme asks them to tell him the password. Then Bill demands that Graeme let them in, and Graeme opens the door.

Tim and Bill are amazed at the change to their office, which has been set up like a space control centre. Graeme has agreed to do his bit to put Britain into the space race by sending two rabbits (called "Floppsy" and "Spiro") to the moon. Bill and Tim comment that it would be very expensive to get hold of a rocket to do this, but Graeme says that he was able to buy a second-hand Saturn rocket from NASA, and that the rocket was parked outside. Tim looks embarrassed and comments that he had just posted a couple of letters in it. Graeme then demonstrates to Tim and Bill how he trains the rabbits for their space voyage, including giving the rabbits stress and gravity tests. The rabbits then lift off successfully on their trip to the Moon.

Six months later, Graeme is worried because he had lost contact with "Floppsy" and "Spiro" — and Tim intends to send up two more rabbits to the moon to find out what happened to them and Bill agrees. But Graeme does not want to sacrifice two more rabbits because they are like family to him so, when the rocket takes off, it is not Graeme's specially trained rabbits which make up the spaceship crew, but Bill and Tim, who are not at all happy, and do not wish to go. After they have taken off, Tim and Bill get into a bit of banter:

:'''Tim''': "Look, I just need to nip out to the telephone box." :'''Bill''': "WHAT TELEPHONE BOX"? :'''Tim''': "Er, that one there."

The TARDIS from Doctor Who then flies past.

Graeme says "You're looking good", and Tim then looks at his reflection in a compact mirror and thanks Graeme for what he, Tim, mistakenly assumes is a 'compliment' regarding his appearance. Bill asks where the food is, and Graeme tells him where to find it. Tim then asks Graeme where the tea is, and Graeme tells him that the tea is above their heads — commenting that they will need to drink the tea through tubes. Tim objects, saying that he would rather drink tea from a cup, causing Graeme to yell "Don't do that, the weightlessness you fool." Then there is a meteorite shower and Bill opens a window in the rocket to get a better photo. Graeme loses contact briefly, and then says, "Captain's Journal, Stardate: February 18. Time: 10:15. It's all very... 10:15?" After switching on the television to reveal ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'': "Blast. Missed Moira Anderson."

When the rocket eventually lands on the moon it can be seen, from all the American flags planted in the dust, that other people have already been on the moon. Tim and Bill leave the rocket and set about collecting moon dust and sing "By the Light of the Silvery Earth". They become aware of all of the lettuces and carrots which are growing in the soil and Tim comments that it must be to feed all the rabbits. It appeared that "Floppsy" and "Spiro" did not perish after all, and "Floppsy" (who is now called "Big Bunny") comments that he is going to turn Bill and Tim into rabbits using carrots (with Bill and Tim then doing the Bugs Bunny impression of "What's up, Doc"), so that the rabbits can return to Earth and take over the world—with Bill and Tim as the vanguard of the invasion force.

When Tim and Bill return to Earth, they are met by fanfare as the first British astronauts to travel to the moon and safely return. Everyone is then shocked to find that Tim and Bill have been turned into rabbits. Tim and Bill then proceed to wreak havoc wherever they go and Graeme has to find a way to stop them.

In the aftermath of havoc, Tim and Bill appear to lose their bunny habits and crave for Fish n' Chips and other kinds of food like meat, But they're both in denial and clam to be still sworn servants of Big Bunny so Graeme serves them pies, which Tim and Bill find them delicious. Tim asks Graeme what they were eating. Much to their horror, Graeme reveals that he tricked them into eating Rabbit pies (OH NO!, YOU MADE US CANNIBALS!). Then Big Bunny turns up to stop them eating meat but it was too late. Tim And Bill now crave more rabbits to eat and chase their leader for dinner.

Brunt, an agent of the Ferengi Commerce Authority (FCA), serves Quark with a notice that his mother, Ishka, is charged with earning profit – an illegal activity for Ferengi women. As the family's eldest male, Quark is held responsible. He and his brother Rom return to their childhood home on Ferenginar, where they are surprised to find Ishka wearing clothes, which is also illegal for Ferengi women. Brunt gives Quark three days to get his mother to sign a confession.

Later, Ishka confirms that she earned three bars of gold-pressed latinum by investing a portion of the monthly stipend she receives from Quark; but she refuses to confess. Ishka tells Rom that this is a matter of pride, and proof that she is just as capable of earning profit as a man. Quark discovers that Ishka has actually been conducting business transactions under dozens of aliases, earning much more than just three bars of latinum. Even if Quark sells everything he owns, he will be unable to pay back what his mother has earned.

Quark confronts Ishka, who accuses him of being jealous of her financial acumen – just like his deceased father, Keldar. With that, an infuriated Quark decides to turn in Ishka to the FCA. Rom tries to stop him but agrees with Ishka, angering Quark further, and the conversation deteriorates into a brawl. Ishka interrupts the fight and allows Quark to leave to report her transactions.

Quark waits outside Brunt's office when Rom rushes in with the news that Ishka will split her profits with Quark. Quark hurries home to accept Ishka's offer, only to learn that Rom, fed up with Quark and Ishka's bickering, made up the story to force a conversation between them. Realizing that Rom is right and that their bickering has gone too far, Quark and Ishka relent. Ishka tells Quark that he gets his business acumen from her, not his father; but since she loves him and he is her son, she will sign the confession and give back the money. Later, she pays her reparations to Brunt, and a relieved Quark says his goodbyes and leaves. Now alone with Rom, Ishka reveals that she has outsmarted Quark and the Ferengi government yet again – by giving up only a third of her profits.

In a side plot, Deep Space Nine's commander Benjamin Sisko is set up on a date with freighter captain Kasidy Yates by his son Jake.

In Meereen

Missandei continues to teach Grey Worm the Common Tongue, the language of Westeros. Grey Worm and other Unsullied infiltrate the city, arm the slaves and incite a slave uprising that leaves Daenerys in control of the city. Despite Barristan's suggestion to offer mercy, Daenerys orders 163 masters crucified as justice for the 163 slave children crucified along the road to Meereen.

In King's Landing

Jaime visits Tyrion in his cell and tells him that Cersei is still searching for Sansa.

Olenna prepares to return to Highgarden and implies to Margaery that she had a hand in Joffrey's death to protect Margaery from his cruelty. She also suggests that Margaery ingratiate herself with Tommen to curtail Cersei's influence; at night, Margaery visits Tommen in his chambers to discuss their marriage.

Jaime sends Brienne to find and protect Sansa and gives her armor and his Valyrian steel sword, which she names "Oathkeeper", and Podrick as her squire.

In the Narrow Sea

On the way to the Eyrie, Petyr tells Sansa that he plans to marry her aunt Lysa. He tells her that Joffrey's death will help him and his new allies grow strong, referring to House Tyrell, and that the missing stone in her necklace contained the poison used for the murder.

At the Wall

Slynt convinces Thorne to send Jon to kill the group at Craster's Keep, as Jon may be killed and not become Lord Commander. Jon gathers volunteers to join him, including Locke who arrived as a new recruit.

Beyond the Wall

Karl orders Rast to give Craster's last son to the White Walkers. Bran's group hears the baby's cries and are captured by the mutineers when they investigate. A White Walker retrieves Craster's son and brings it to a fortress in the Lands of Always Winter, where their leader, the Night King, transforms the baby into a White Walker.

While wandering around Covent Garden transcribing bits of conversation from passers-by, linguist Professor Higgins is mistaken for a policeman, causing protests from the flower girl Eliza Doolittle. The incident is clarified with the help of Colonel Pickering, also a scholar of languages and dialects, who came from India precisely to meet Higgins. Bragging about Pickering, Higgins argues that by teaching her to speak correctly, Eliza could have a better fate; indeed, he would be able to pass her off as a duchess. Eliza then shows up at Higgins' house to take elocution lessons. Colonel Pickering makes a bet with Higgins: he offers to pay all the expenses if the professor manages to make Eliza pass for an elegant lady in the space of a few weeks.

A first disappointing experiment takes place in the house of Higgins' mother, at a tea during which Eliza, in a perfectly high-bred accent, scandalizes those present with her vulgar, slang-filled conversation. But one of the guests - young Freddy - is fascinated by Eliza.

After a tiring internship to which she is subjected by an inflexible Higgins, and during which Freddy tries in vain to see her again, Eliza is finally led by Higgins and Pickering to an embassy reception. Here Higgins meets his former pupil, Count Aristid Karpathy, who has become famous and in-demand for his ability to identify the origins of high society people from their way of speaking. Higgins and Pickering fear that Eliza will be exposed by him, but she manages to deceive him so successfully that she is mistaken for a princess.

Returning from the reception, Higgins and Pickering congratulate each other on their success, neglecting Eliza's important contribution and commitment. Wounded by the indifference of Higgins, with whom she fell in love, she leaves to take refuge in the home of the professor's mother. Here the teacher and student have a further discussion, at the end of which Eliza abandons Higgins and leaves with Freddy, threatening to offer herself as assistant to Aristid Karpathy.

Back home alone, Professor Higgins destroys some records in a fit of rage and listens to one of the first recordings of Eliza's voice. Then, to his astonishment, Eliza returns, and the film ends (unlike the previous play) with an open and hopeful ending.

Harold Van Pelham (Harold Lloyd) is a young, wealthy American businessman who obsesses constantly about his health, believing he is deathly sick while in reality he is perfectly fine. Determined to improve his physical condition with an extended rest in a "tropical" climate, Harold travels by passenger ship with his valet Mr. Pipps (Wallace Howe) and personal nurse (Jobyna Ralston) from California to "Paradiso", a small South American island off the coast of Chile.Transcribed intertitles from a televised presentation of ''Why Worry?'' broadcast on Turner Classic Movies (TCM), June 10, 2018; Turner Broadcasting System, a subsidiary of Time Warner, Inc., New York, N.Y. Retrieved June 11, 2018. Once in Paradiso, Harold does not find the peace and seclusion he is desperately seeking; instead, he stumbles into the midst of a revolution against the island's republic. The uprising is being organized and incited by Jim Blake (James Mason), a greedy "renegade" from the United States, who wants to overthrow Paradiso's government "to further his own financial interests".

After being separated from his valet and nurse, Harold wanders about the island's main town, oblivious at first to the fact that an armed revolt has occurred. Blake soon arranges to have the bewildered hypochondriac thrown into the local prison. There Harold meets Colosso (John Aasen), a gigantic fellow prisoner who is described by the warden as a "wild hermit" and "half crazy with a terrible toothache". The cellmates quickly engineer an escape together, and Harold subsequently helps Colosso by pulling out his painful tooth. Much relieved, the huge man is eternally grateful and vows to do Harold's will. Harold now insists that the military conflict and social unrest on the island are "bad for my heart" and must be stopped, so he and Colosso, along with Harold's nurse, manage by themselves to defeat Blake and his forces and quell the revolution. Those actions finally convince Harold that he is actually quite fit and that he no longer needs to fret daily about his health or take his array of unneeded medications. With a renewed sense of vitality, he now leaves Paradiso with Colosso and his nurse, and the trio board a ship bound for the United States, presumably reuniting on the vessel with Mr. Pipps (who reappears at the end of the film). Upon their return, Harold and his nurse marry; and Colosso finds employment as a very imposing "traffic cop".

Jerry is unable to remember the name of the woman he is dating. As it would be too awkward given the time they have spent together to simply ask her, he tells her that people made fun of his name in school and asks if kids ever made fun of her name. She affirms that she was relentlessly teased because her name rhymes with a part of the female anatomy. Jerry and George come up with possible candidates, with George suggesting Mulva (for vulva). She presses him to say her name. Jerry guesses Mulva, causing her to storm out of his apartment. Moments after she leaves, in a flash of insight, Jerry runs to the window and yells "Dolores!" (rhyming with a common pronunciation of clitoris).

Elaine goes to the hospital to visit her ex-boyfriend Roy, an artist who she dumped because he was fat. Noticing that he has slimmed down due to depression from her breaking up with him, Elaine becomes interested in dating him again. Kramer and Jerry observe the artist's splenectomy in the hospital's operating theater and accidentally drop a Junior Mint from the viewing gallery into his body. When George hears that Roy has developed an infection, he spends $1,900 (which he collected in interest from a bank account from the sixth grade) to buy some of Roy's art, thinking it will appreciate in value when Roy dies. Roy's condition suddenly turns around and he recovers. Although Roy attributes the change to George buying his art, the doctor attributes the limited effect of the infection to "something from above." As Kramer offers the doctor a Junior Mint, Elaine decides to cancel her date with Roy, whom she observes eating enthusiastically again in his hospital room.

In an alternative United States, beginning in 1939 during the fading Interwar period, a team of costumed crime-fighters is formed – the "Minutemen". The 1960s Vietnam War era through the mid-1980s Cold War sees the rise of the "Watchmen", a team of heroes, whose existence dramatically affects world events. In 1959, after his apparent death in an Intrinsic Field Generator accident, Dr. Jon Osterman remakes his body as a god-like being dubbed "Doctor Manhattan." The U.S. government utilizes his powers to win the Vietnam War and gain a strategic advantage over the Soviet Union which, by 1985, threatens thermonuclear war. The Comedian is responsible for the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the cover up of the Watergate scandal by killing Woodward and Bernstein. As a result, President Richard Nixon wins a third term, apparently after the repeal of the 22nd Amendment.

As anti-vigilante sentiment sweeps the nation, coupled with a nationwide police strike, the Keene Act is passed in 1977, declaring all "costumed adventuring" and "vigilantism" illegal. While most heroes like Daniel Dreiberg (Nite Owl II) and Laurie Jupiter (Silk Spectre II) retire, Doctor Manhattan and the Comedian become government agents, and Rorschach continues to operate outside the law.

In 1985, investigating the murder of Edward Blake, Rorschach discovers Blake was the Comedian. Theorizing that someone is eliminating former costumed heroes, he warns his retired comrades. Doctor Manhattan ignores Rorschach, Dreiberg is skeptical, and vigilante-turned-billionaire Adrian Veidt (Ozymandias) dismisses Rorschach's suspicions.

During a televised interview, a reporter proposes that Doctor Manhattan has given several people close to him cancer. Doctor Manhattan exiles himself to Mars, giving the Soviets the confidence to invade Afghanistan. Rorschach's suspicions appear correct when Veidt survives an assassination attempt, and Rorschach finds himself framed for the murder of former villain Moloch. Arrested and sent to prison, Rorschach is revealed to be Walter Kovacs. He explains his childhood abuse to psychiatrist Dr. Malcolm Long, and a turning point in his career as Rorschach: he discovered a child kidnapper had murdered his victim and fed her to his dogs; killing the kidnapper, Kovacs "became" Rorschach. Jupiter goes to stay with Dreiberg, and they decide to come out of retirement, helping Rorschach break out of prison. Doctor Manhattan probes Jupiter's memories after transporting her to Mars and discovers she is Blake's daughter; he realizes the miracle of her life—created although Blake once attempted to rape her mother, though they later fell in love—and they return to Earth. A gang murders Hollis Mason, the first Nite Owl, mistaking him for Dreiberg.

Rorschach and Dreiberg discover that Veidt is behind the conspiracy. Rorschach records his suspicions in his journal, which he leaves at the office of the ''New Frontiersman'', a right-wing tabloid. Rorschach and Dreiberg confront Veidt at his Antarctic retreat, and he admits to orchestrating Blake's murder, Manhattan's exile, Rorschach's framing, and the attempt on his own life. He explains his plan to unify the U.S. and U.S.S.R. by detonating energy reactors in the world's major cities, generating a radioactive decay signature similar to Doctor Manhattan's. Rorschach and Dreiberg attempt to stop Veidt, but he subdues them and reveals his plan is already in motion: the reactors have exploded, and world leaders believe Doctor Manhattan is responsible for the attack.

Jupiter and Doctor Manhattan return to a devastated New York City and, after determining Veidt is responsible, they teleport to his base. Failing to kill Doctor Manhattan, Veidt shows a televised news report revealing the U.S. and the Soviet Union have united against their "common enemy": Doctor Manhattan. Although his allies agree to conceal the truth to preserve the new global peace, Rorschach refuses. Doctor Manhattan intervenes and complies with Rorschach's demand to kill him to keep him from revealing the truth.

Doctor Manhattan departs permanently to another galaxy, while Dreiberg rejects Veidt's belief that world peace was worth the lives sacrificed. Dreiberg and Jupiter return to New York with plans to continue fighting crime, and Jupiter reveals to her mother that she knows Blake was her father. An editor at the ''New Frontiersman'' gives a young employee permission to choose material for the next issue from a collection of crank submissions, among which is Rorschach's journal.

A young couple awakens in bed after a one-night stand. Edith Alice "Breezy" Breezerman hops out of bed, gets dressed, and steps into the daylight. Breezy lost her parents years before in a car accident; she lived with her aunt until she graduated from high school. A year later, she left for California, where she is a homeless, free-spirited, carefree hippie.

That same morning, Frank Harmon is bidding farewell to his overnight guest, a blonde who is attracted to him, but he only humors her as she leaves. Middle-aged, divorced and wealthy from his work in real estate, Frank lacks for nothing material, but has no joy in his life. He is still somewhat bitter about his divorce.

After escaping a bad hitchhiking experience with an unstable stranger, Breezy loiters near Frank's luxurious post-modern house, the setting for much of the movie. When he leaves for work, she invites herself into his car and happily insists that he give her a ride to her destination, annoying him. She keeps hanging around. Eventually, he reluctantly lets her stay at his home, the first time because it is late and raining heavily, but does not act initially on the sexual opportunities she offers. He is conflicted about his feelings for longtime, close friend Betty Tobin. Finally, when he does awkwardly start to make them known to her, it is too late; Betty gently explains she is marrying a man she very much loves. Frank and Breezy's relationship continues to develop platonically. He protects her from trouble and treats her to some of the finer things in life, though Breezy stays true to herself.

Frank's friend and workout buddy Bob Henderson is grappling with his own mid-life crisis. He is restless, but afraid to end his now-loveless marriage and face loneliness. Frank takes this into consideration, while still growing closer to Breezy. They finally consummate their relationship. After Bob sees the couple at the movies, Bob talks to Frank about it in a sauna after some tennis. Bob reveals that there is no way he himself could embark on such a relationship, as he might feel like a "child molester". He has no intention of being insulting, and is in fact admiring Frank's defiance of society's disapproval, but Frank is not immune to the pressure. All of his shared joys with Breezy, such as their adopted stray dog and "us against the world" mentality, are not enough to enable him to cope with the age difference. He breaks up with her.

When Betty is injured and her new husband killed in a car accident, Frank has a change of heart. He reunites with Breezy.

Bronco Billy McCoy (Clint Eastwood) is a stuntman performing in front of a meager crowd in "Bronco Billy's Wild West Show", a rundown traveling circus reminiscent of Buffalo Bill's Wild West, of which he is the owner and operator. For the show's finale, a blindfolded Bronco Billy shoots balloons around a female assistant on a revolving wooden disc, and for the last balloon, he throws a knife. However, his assistant moves her leg and is cut, which spurs her to quit. Due to low ticket sales, Billy has been unable to pay his employees for six months.

The show moves on to a new town and Bronco Billy goes to city hall to get a permit. He bumps into Antoinette Lily (Sondra Locke) and John Arlington (Geoffrey Lewis), who are there to be married. Antoinette despises her future husband, but has to marry before she is thirty in order to inherit a large fortune. Their car breaks down at the motel opposite the Wild West Show. The next morning, Arlington steals all her money and their repaired car. She is left to fend for herself and asks Billy McCoy for help.

Bronco Billy talks Antoinette into becoming his new assistant, "Miss Lily," though she only agrees to do one show. Her first performance is unusually successful, although Miss Lily irritates Billy by not sticking to the script.

Antoinette discovers that Arlington has been arrested for her murder (framed by Antoinette's stepmother and her scheming lawyer friend, who stand to gain her inheritance). Seizing the chance to get even with Arlington, Antoinette rejoins the Wild West Show.

Antoinette learns that none of Billy's performers are actually cowboys. Billy's crew are largely ex-convicts, alcoholics, or both. Bronco Billy was a shoe salesman from New Jersey who shot his wife for sleeping with his best friend. Nevertheless, Miss Lily begins to warm to the troupe.

Two of the show's performers announce that they are going to have a baby. The crew goes to a bar to celebrate. One gets arrested by police who discover that he is a deserter from the Army. Bronco Billy uses the show's meager savings to bribe the sheriff into letting the man go, swallowing his pride and enduring the sheriff's verbal humiliations for his friend's sake.

One night the circus tent burns down. Everyone blames Miss Lily for their bad luck, but Bronco Billy defends her and proposes that they rob a train. They try to do this in the standard Western way (riding alongside and jumping on), but a modern train proves to be resistant to such an approach and they give up.

Next, the troupe travels to a mental institution at which they have previously performed ''pro bono''. The head of the institution, who is obsessed with the Wild West, agrees to provide them with accommodation and to supply a new tent, with the inmates helping to sew one out of American flags. Miss Lily and Bronco Billy spend the night together. By chance, one inmate turns out to be Arlington (who had been paid by a crooked lawyer to confess to being mentally disturbed when he "murdered" Antoinette). When he sees her, he raises a fuss and gets released. Bronco Billy and the show depart without Miss Lily.

Antoinette returns to her luxurious lifestyle, but she is bored and misses Billy, who drowns his loneliness with alcohol. When Bronco Billy is about to introduce Lefty as his assistant, Miss Lily appears. The show, now a raving success, runs smoothly and Bronco Billy ends it with a positive message for the children in the audience.

Itinerant western singer Red Stovall suffers from tuberculosis but has been given an opportunity to make it big at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. He is accompanied by his young nephew Whit. After a series of adventures which include the nephew's first sexual encounter in a brothel, they finally arrive.

While a fit of coughing in his audition ruins his chances, talent scouts for a record company are impressed enough to arrange a recording session, realizing that he has only days to live. The tuberculosis reaches a critical stage in the middle of this session, where Red's lines are filled in by Smokey, a side guitarist (country singer Marty Robbins in his last film role). Red eventually succumbs while Whit vows to tell his uncle's story. Red's vintage Lincoln Model K touring car, prevalent throughout the movie, finally 'dies' at the cemetery where Red is laid to rest.

Harold Hall, a young man with little or no acting ability, desperately wants to be in the movies.

After a mix-up with his application photograph, he gets an offer to have a screen-test, and goes off to Hollywood. At the studio, he does everything wrong and causes all sorts of trouble. But he catches the fancy of a beautiful actress, and eventually the studio owner recognizes him as a comic genius.

Joe is the son of famous opera singer Caterina Silveri. While he believes that Caterina's husband, Douglas Winter, is his biological father, the truth is that Joe was sired by Caterina's former lover Giuseppe, who is now living in Italy and working as a schoolteacher. Joe, moody and spoiled, needs a strong father figure to guide and discipline him, but Douglas is aloof and largely indifferent to parenting. When Joe witnesses the sudden death of Douglas in New York City, it leaves him angry and distraught. Caterina, unwilling to stay in Manhattan after Douglas' death, decides to move to Italy with her son. There, Joe begins associating with a dangerous crowd and becomes addicted to heroin.

Caterina is heartbroken and hopes to lure her son back to a safer and more healthy lifestyle. She tries in many instances to get closer emotionally to her son hoping that increased contact will prevail over the allure of the drugs. She even contacts his drug dealer to ask for sympathy for her situation. At one point, when Joe is desperate for a fix, his mother masturbates him just to get his mind off drugs temporarily.

Seeing no other alternative, she decides to drive to the location they originally lived, where her estranged lover lives with the hope that some sort of fatherly bond will cure her son. Along the way, tensions, some sexual, derail and prolong the trip. Eventually the son is dropped off at the Giuseppe's home but Joe, rather than telling his father that he is his son, says that he is instead a friend of his son, and that his son overdosed on heroin after lifelong turmoil over the absence of his biological father. With some sort of closure achieved for the boy, he returns to his mother, who is preparing for an opera. Embracing, they reaffirm their love for each other, and together the son and his father, who has come to watch the performance, and who now knows Joe's true identity as his child, hear Caterina sing at her very best.

The film opens in an unnamed African town where Shandurai (Thandiwe Newton) watches with distress as a school teacher is taken away by police.

In Rome, Shandurai is now a housemaid for Jason Kinsky (David Thewlis), an eccentric English pianist and composer, and is also a promising medical student. Kinsky is in love with Shandurai, sending gifts down to her room via the dumbwaiter. One gift is a ring, which leads to an impassioned marriage proposal, which she rejects. Asked how he could make her love him, she shouts, “Get my husband out of jail!” Only then does Kinsky realize that Shandurai is married.

Shandurai notices a tapestry and some figurines she had dusted are now missing. Later, Kinsky begins composing using Shandurai, vacuuming nearby, as his muse. Hearing his piano riffs, she begins to fall in love herself.

Kinsky bargains with an African priest over an undisclosed transaction. Coming home from the school, Shandurai looks up to see Kinsky's piano being lowered into a truck; he has sold it. From a letter, she discovers that Kinsky has raised the money to secure her husband's release. He is coming to Rome. The night before his arrival, Shandurai unbuttons the sleeping Kinsky's shirt and curls up with him in bed. Morning arrives with her husband ringing the doorbell below. Shandurai at first does not react. Then she gets up, and the film ends with her husband still waiting by the door.

In 1968, Frank Lucas is the right-hand man of Harlem mob boss Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson. When Johnson dies of a heart attack, Frank enters the heroin trade, buying directly from producers in Thailand and smuggling it into the U.S. through returning Vietnam War servicemen. Frank sells his heroin under the brand "Blue Magic", whose affordability and purity make it incredibly popular, eliminating much of his competition.

Newark detective and aspiring lawyer Richie Roberts is ostracized in his precinct after handing in almost $1 million that he found in a mobster's car. After his outcasted and addicted partner overdoses on Blue Magic, Captain Lou Toback puts Roberts in charge of a special task force that targets major local drug suppliers. Roberts is also depicted having a bitter divorce battle with his ex-wife over his infidelity.

Frank's heroin racket prospers; he eventually sells Blue Magic wholesale to many dealers in the New York Tri-State Area and expands his distribution through other criminal organisations. With this monopoly, Frank becomes Harlem's top crime lord, opening legitimate business fronts and maintaining a low profile, while befriending politicians and famous celebrities (such as Joe Louis). He buys a mansion for his mother and recruits his five brothers as his lieutenants. Frank eventually falls in love with and marries Eva, a Puerto Rican beauty queen. He attends the Fight of the Century with her, where Roberts spots Frank, notices he has better seats than the Italian mobsters, and begins investigating him. Frank also comes to odds with competing local gangster Nicky Barnes; corrupt NYPD detective Nick Trupo, who is among many people Frank is forced to bribe; and the Corsican mafia, who unsuccessfully attempt to assassinate Frank and his wife for putting them out of business.

One night, Roberts' detectives witness one of Frank's cousins, Jimmy Zee, shoot his girlfriend; he becomes their informant in lieu of being convicted. They make Jimmy wear a wire, through which they learn that Frank has negotiated one final shipment of heroin after the fall of Saigon. They identify and search one of the last planes carrying Lucas' stock, discovering that it is being smuggled through the coffins of dead servicemen. They follow the drugs into Newark's projects and obtain a warrant to raid Frank's heroin processing facility, which results in the arrest of Frank's brother Huey. They then arrest the other four brothers, and finally Frank himself.

During a trial against Frank, Roberts offers him a chance at leniency if he will help him expose corrupt police officers, to which Frank agrees. Following Frank's cooperation, three-quarters of the New York DEA and many NYPD officers are arrested and convicted, while Trupo commits suicide. Roberts becomes a defense attorney and has Frank as his first client. Frank is sentenced to 70 years in prison, of which he serves 15 years and is released in 1991.

Thirteen-year-old Howard Sykes lives in an English town with his parents, Quentin, an author and professor, and Catriona, a music teacher; his sister Anthea, always called "Awful" because of her constant screaming; and Fifi, the family's au pair. Their life is interrupted one afternoon when an unnamed huge person, "somebody's Goon" as Fifi describes him, comes into their home and announces that he has come to collect the two thousand words that Quentin owes somebody called Archer.

It transpires that thirteen years ago, Quentin was suffering dreadfully from writer's block and hadn't been able to write anything for nearly a year after his last book was published, and so Mountjoy, a town official, came up with the idea that Quentin should undertake to write two thousand words of nonsense quarterly and deliver them to him at the town hall. In return, Quentin was promised an exemption from city taxes. The Goon says that the latest two thousand didn't get to Archer. Quentin irritably writes a replacement set and gives them to the Goon, who goes away – but the next afternoon, he is back, as the words were a repeat of what had been done previously, and the agreement specified that they must not be a copy or paraphrase of anything Quentin had done before.

The Goon takes Howard to see Mountjoy, who reveals that the town is secretly run by seven wizard siblings: Archer, Shine, Dillian, Hathaway, Torquil, Erskine, and Venturus. Each one "farms" some aspects of the town's life and industry (for a list, see below). Mountjoy has instructions from an unknown superior to post the words but does not know who the actual recipient is.

Mountjoy's revelation starts the Sykes family on a quest for the sibling who is the actual user of Quentin's words.

Fifi reveals to Howard that she did not deliver the two thousand words as she was busy and gave them to one of Quentin's students at the college, Maisie Potter, to deliver. Howard, Awful and Fifi go to Maisie Potter's house to find out what she did with them. She tries to fob them off with excuses as to why the words were not delivered but they finally get the truth out of her: that she gave them to one of the wizard siblings, Dillian. The trio force her to take them to see Dillian.

Dillian admits that she did ask Maisie Potter to steal the words as she believes, just like the other siblings, that the two thousand words have for the past thirteen years prevented them from leaving the town. Howard informs her that the words have been delivered to Archer for the past thirteen years and this makes Dillian believe that Archer is behind them all being stuck there. She gives back the words to Howard, but as he, Fifi and Awful are walking home they find that the words have magically vanished. When they try to go back to Dillian's house, it too has magically vanished.

The Goon takes the family to meet Archer, who also believes that Quentin's words are restricting him and his siblings from leaving town. His aim is to acquire a sample of the writing so that he can figure out how to lift the restriction, in order to take over the world. On learning of Archer's ambitions, Quentin becomes convinced that the restrictions are a thoroughly good thing, and stubbornly refuses to write them anymore.

Other siblings also want to acquire samples of Quentin's words for the same purpose as Archer and they all start putting pressure on the Sykes family. Gas and electricity are cut off, the shops are closed to them (e.g. when Quentin goes to the supermarket, although there are customers inside shopping, when he tries to enter the doors won't open and the ''CLOSED'' sign is up), their bank accounts are frozen, and all of Catriona's musical instruments play themselves, full blast, as do the radio and TV. Torquil, who farms music and therefore is Catriona's effective boss, threatens that she will lose her job if she does not get Quentin to write him the two thousand words; Fifi, who has fallen in love with Archer, attempts to get the words for him; Shine sends a group of boys known as Hind's Gang, led by one Ginger Hind, to follow Howard and Awful and briefly kidnaps the two to use them as leverage, though the Goon and Torquil quickly come to the rescue. Hathaway (roads and transport, archives and records) sends a messenger to collect the words, but Quentin locks up his typewriter with a length of chain and a padlock and gives it to the messenger, telling him to have Hathaway write the words himself; the street outside the Sykes' house is subsequently dug up and re-paved over and over again as a form of punishment.

When Quentin receives a letter from the town demanding payment of a huge amount in back taxes, Howard and Awful decide that they have to seek help from Hathaway who, they discover, lives 400 years in the past. The children visit Hathaway in his Elizabethan household by going through a white door marked ''CURATOR'' at the back of the museum. Hathaway proves to be very reasonable, stops the street digging, and promises to help about the taxes. Howard suggests that Hathaway could bury some money at the site where their garden will be, so he (Howard) can dig it up tomorrow. However, Hathaway points out that this wouldn't work; he (Hathaway) can't stop someone else from finding the money during the 400 years in between. He also tells Howard that Catriona and Quentin found him (Howard) as an infant and adopted him, which proves only to add more to the boy's troubles.

With Hathaway out of the running, Erskine is the next most likely candidate as the "user of the words". The Goon takes Quentin and the two children through the sewers to Erskine's sewage installation outside the city limits. It would have been only a short walk above ground, and when asked why he took them through the sewers, the Goon admits that he can only leave the town through the sewer or by a rubbish truck. Quentin realizes the Goon is, in fact, Erskine.

Erskine has the three locked up as a way of exerting even more pressure on Quentin, but they manage to escape with the help of the aforementioned Ginger Hind, who insists that he needs Howard's help to be free from Shine. Howard now must find the seventh brother, Venturus, who lives in the future. Howard identifies Venturus's hiding place by going to a half-constructed building, i.e. a place that will exist in the future. As he runs from Erskine's men, he frantically wishes to Hathaway to send him a bus, and lo and behold – one appears. He asks Archer for money for the fare, Shine to cause a distraction, and Dillian for a police car to stop Shine's "distraction", which goes a little over the top; all of these things miraculously appear. Having asked Catriona where she would live if she lived in the future and told "some house that hasn't been built yet", Howard acts on this suggestion and makes for what he guesses is Venturus's hideout – a half-finished building near the Polytechnic where Quentin works (bearing in mind that as well as housing, Venturus also farms education).

Howard's guess is correct, and as he climbs up the stairs of the unfinished building, he discovers that each step ages him and the building completes itself around him as he moves forward in time. On a mirror is scrawled the foreboding message, "THIS IS THE SECOND TIME". Howard eventually realizes that he himself is Venturus, who has been building a fantastic spaceship inside his home in the future. Venturus had twice, to get himself out of design problems with his spaceship, sent the whole town back thirteen years through time, accidentally transforming himself into a small child in the process. That small child was adopted (twice) by Quentin and Catriona, who named him Howard. The six siblings could not leave the town all that time not because of Quentin's words, but because their parents laid it on them to protect Venturus, and as long as Venturus–Howard was too young to realize his magical powers, they had to be close by to protect him.

Torquil, Hathaway, Erskine, and Venturus, who understand that civilization would likely crumble if one of the seven gained ultimate control, evolve a plan to send the other three, eldest siblings (Archer, Shine, and Dillian) off into deep space, never to return, in Venturus's newly constructed spaceship. They do this by convincing each of the three that the rest had plotted against each other and would put their final plan into action that night in Venturus's spaceship. They all board the ship, which Howard–Venturus has programmed to allow them to come aboard but not disembark, for a one-way trip to Alpha Centauri, and the ship takes off. The remaining siblings have no plans to rule the world – but Howard, now Venturus, still worries about what Erskine and Awful may get up to in the future. He decides he will stay with the Sykes family so he can help keep Awful in check and Erskine decides to travel the world, making for a pleasant ending.

Miss Peters is an English teacher at a gang-infested high school where fights between different gangs are the norm. Trying to stop one of these clashes, she sees a gargoyle on the rooftop of the school's main entrance which appears to be watching over her. After this incident, Miss Peters begins to exhibit aggressive behavior, starting physical confrontations with students who misbehave. At home, her dog barks at her for no apparent reason, and she wakes up one morning to find shred marks in her mattress. She suspects there is something wrong with her, but decides against looking into it.

Miss Peters's aggression draws the ire of the gang members. After she crushes the boom box of a gang member nicknamed Wizard with her bare hands, he plans to beat her to death with a baseball bat when the school building is empty. He follows her into a storage room. Miss Peters emerges resembling a gargoyle and throws Wizard to the floor. As she is getting ready to kill him, she sees herself in a mirror and recoils. Lightning repeatedly strikes the gargoyle on the rooftop, destroying it, as Miss Peters backs into a power box, knocking her out cold. Wizard thanks Miss Peters, now returned to her normal self, for sparing his life. The two leave the storeroom.

This drama features a romance between two different teenagers: a young atheist girl, Judith Craig, and the male head of a Christian youth organization, Bob Hathaway. The two leaders and their groups attack each other, starting a riot that kills a young girl. Followed by a goofy boy, Bozo, the three are thrown into a juvenile prison with a cruel head guard and bad living conditions. The film maker makes a point of talking about the truth of prison cruelty in the middle of the movie.

Bob, who is in love with Judy, eventually rescues her and takes shelter in an old farm where Judy, breath-taken by the romance and beauty of the forest, realizes there must be a God. They are found and taken back to prison and held in solitary confinement until a fire breaks out. Mame is Judy's new friend who is trying to get her out before she burns. But the rest of the prison girls escape. Bob, who is trusting in God to help them, finally rescues Judy with the help of Mame and Bozo; they also rescue the cruel head guard who pleads for his life and, as he is dying, sets them free for their kind act and rescue. At the very end, Bozo and Mame seem to end up together while Bob and Judy and their rekindled faith ride off together as the movie ends.

The Creed family—Louis, Rachel, their children Ellie and Gage, and their pet cat Church—move from Chicago to rural Ludlow, Maine, after Louis accepts a job as a physician with the University of Maine. They befriend their neighbor Jud Crandall, who takes them to an isolated pet cemetery (misspelled "sematary") in the forest behind the Creeds' new home.

Louis encounters Victor Pascow, a jogger who is mortally injured after being hit by a truck. He warns Louis about the pet sematary before dying, calling Louis by name though they have never met. That night, Pascow appears to Louis as a ghost and leads him to the sematary, warning him not to cross the barrier because the ground beyond is "sour". Louis awakens, assuming it was a dream, but notices his feet are covered in dirt.

During Thanksgiving while the family is gone, Church is run down on the highway. Realizing Ellie will be devastated, Jud takes Louis beyond the pet sematary and deep into the woods, where they reach an ancient Miꞌkmaq burial ground. Jud instructs Louis to bury the cat and warns him not to tell anyone about what they have done. The next day a reanimated Church returns to the house. He now stinks, moves sluggishly, and is vicious toward Louis. Jud explains that as a boy he revived his pet dog, and that although the cat might be different, it will save Ellie the grief of losing her pet.

Sometime later, Gage is killed by a truck along the same highway. Jud anticipates that Louis is considering burying his son in the Miꞌkmaq ground, although Louis denies it. Jud believes that introducing Louis to the ritual ground aroused the malevolent forces present there, which caused Gage's death. He tells him the story of a local named Bill Baterman who buried his son Timmy in the Miꞌkmaq ground after he was killed in World War II. Timmy returned as a malevolent zombie, terrifying the townsfolk. A group of men including Jud tried destroying Timmy by lighting the Baterman house on fire, only for Bill to perish with his son. Jud insists that the burial ground is evil and Louis must not bury his son there.

After the funeral, Rachel and Ellie leave for Chicago while Louis remains home, ostensibly to take care of loose ends. Despite Pascow and Jud's warnings, Louis exhumes his son's body and buries him at the ritual site. In Chicago, Pascow appears to Ellie in a dream and warns her that Louis is about to do something terrible. Rachel is unnerved by her daughter's dream but can only reach Jud when she calls, who tells her Louis is not home. She decides to return to Maine, much to Jud's alarm.

That night, a reanimated Gage returns home and steals a scalpel from his father's bag. He taunts Jud before slashing his Achilles tendon and his mouth, before biting his throat, killing him. Rachel returns home and is lured into Jud's house by the voice and specter of her dead sister Zelda, only to discover that she is actually seeing Gage, holding a scalpel. In shock and disbelief, Rachel reaches down to hug her son and he kills her.

Waking up from his sleep, Louis notices Gage's muddy footprints in the house and discovers his scalpel is missing. Receiving a phone call from Gage that he has "played" with Jud and Mommy, he fills three syringes with morphine and heads to Jud's house. Encountering Church, he kills the cat with an injection before entering the house. Gage taunts him further and Louis is startled by Rachel's body hanged from the attic before Gage attacks him.

After a brief battle, Louis overpowers Gage and injects him with the morphine syringe. He then lights Jud's house on fire, leaving it to burn as he carries Rachel's body from the fire. Pascow appears and warns Louis not to "make it worse", but dispite his warnings, Louis, grief-stricken to the point of insanity, believes that he waited too long when he buried Gage, but burying Rachel "will work this time" because she had died just hours ago.

That night, Rachel returns to Louis and the couple embrace. Rachel takes a large knife from the counter, before Louis screams.

A mysterious masked villain known as the Wolf Devil tries to drive all of the non-native settlers out of Alaska. Walter Miller plays a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer named Inspector Steele. The Wolf Devil kidnaps the heroine, Miss Moreau.

At the end of class, poorly paid college professor Andrew Griggs begs his unruly students to show more appreciation for his efforts to teach them. Among the most disrespectful are a spoiled trio led by Phil West (Louis Calhern), whose father is the school's wealthiest trustee; Bert Gareth, a congressman's son; and Walt Lucas, a 23-year-old who must graduate to receive his inheritance.

Unbeknownst to his friends, Phil's interest has been piqued by the professor's daughter, Amelia (Claire Windsor). He frequently drops by the public library where she works, just to be able to speak to her. She, however, is unimpressed by him and his wealth.

The Griggs' poverty is contrasted with the prosperity of their next-door neighbors. "Foreign-born" shoemaker Hans Olsen is sympathetic to their plight, as is his eldest son Peter (Amelia's secret admirer), but his wife strongly dislikes what she considers Mrs. Griggs' superior airs.

One day, Phil finally manages to persuade Amelia to let him drive her home after work, as it is raining (and her shoe has a hole in it). He is invited inside. Mrs. Griggs, knowing who he is, decides to spend what little she has on some fancy sandwiches, cakes and tea in an attempt to put up a brave front. She is heartbroken to find when she brings them in that Phil has departed and poor Reverend Gates (another of Amelia's admirers) is to be the recipient of her expensive bounty. As a result, Mrs. Griggs is unable to make the mortgage payment on the house.

Juanita Claredon (Marie Walcamp), another of the country club set, considers herself Phil's girl. Noting a change in the now more thoughtful and considerate man, she follows him one day to the library and sees her rival. Eventually, she realizes that his love for Amelia has matured him, and wishes him well.

When Amelia becomes sick, the doctor recommends she get some nourishing food, such as chicken. Mrs. Griggs tries unsuccessfully to buy one on credit (a scene observed by Phil). In desperation, she steals an uncooked chicken from Mrs. Olsen's open window; this is witnessed by the horrified Amelia. While Amelia does not see her mother change her mind and put it back, Mrs. Olsen and Peter do. When Mrs. Olsen threatens to make this theft known, Peter insists he will leave home if she does. Meanwhile, Phil sends anonymously a basket of food (including a chicken) to the Griggs. However, Amelia refuses to eat it, as she believes it was stolen.

The next day, though she is still ill, she goes to work, as it is payday. Afterward, she goes to apologize to Mrs. Olsen and to pay for the theft. Her teary attempt to make amends moves her neighbor, who denies she lost a chicken. The strain is too much for Amelia; she faints. Phil and Mrs. Griggs rush over and take her home. There, Phil confesses it was he who sent the chicken. Amelia is finally won over.

Phil writes his father about the inadequate salaries paid to the teachers, calling it a "blot on the present day civilization"; impressed, Philip West Sr. comes to see his altered son and agrees that something must be done. In the meantime, Phil dragoons his friends into paying the professor for extra tutoring in the evenings. During that night's session, both Peter and Gates see that Amelia has given her heart to Phil. In the final scene, the saddened reverend congratulates them and makes his way home.

The film loosely follows the events leading up to the surrender of Geronimo in 1886. The Apache Indians have reluctantly agreed to settle on a U.S. government approved reservation. Not all the Apaches are able to adapt to the life of corn farmers, and one in particular, Geronimo, is restless.

Pushed over the edge by broken promises and unnecessary actions by the government. Geronimo becomes enraged when the US army along with Al Sieber slaughter a holy-man and a number of fellow Apache. Geronimo attacks the cavalry and escapes with 30 other warriors, who humiliate the government and army by evading capture time and again. The plot centers upon Lieutenant Charles B. Gatewood, the U.S. cavalry officer charged with capturing the elusive Apache leader with the assistance of a scout leader, Al Sieber, and a young officer, Britton Davis.

Gatewood is torn by a grudging respect for Geronimo and his duty to his people and his country. Brigadier General George Crook, charged with overseeing the forced settlement of the Apaches on reservations, has nothing but admiration for Geronimo. Geronimo eventually surrenders to Crook but later escapes, taking half of the reservation with him (after the earlier slaughter). Crook later resigns from the army in disgrace and is replaced by General Nelson Miles. Miles sets about punishing all of the Apache until Geronimo is captured or surrenders. In response to their ties with General Crook as well as their lack of success in defeating Geronimo Gatewood and the other officers of the 6th Cavalry are removed from the field and replaced with Miles' men.

General Miles realising that in spite of his tactics he too is not any closer to capturing Geronimo, approaches Gatewood with an offer to return him to the field and use his relationship with Geronimo to find the warrior and his fellow Apache and convince them to surrender. He orders Gatewood to offer Geronimo 2 years imprisonment in Florida with the offer of fresh land in Arizona and 2 mules for every warrior who surrenders. Gatewood retorts to Miles that they both know the Government has no intention of honoring this agreement. Miles offers Gatewood 100 men to take into the field, the younger officer counters with a request for 1 Apache scout and 3 men of his choosing.

The next day Gatewood, Sieber, Davis and Apache Chato set off in hunt of Geronimo but encounter a village of slaughtered Indians. Gatewood tasks Sieber and Chato with hunting down the men responsible, who will be selling the scalps for bounty. They stop at a bar where there are Texan bounty hunters with a Commanchero which Sieber quickly determines are the men they are seeking. When the Texans forcibly take Chato hostage and threaten to kill him for his scalp, Gatewood attempts to intervene and offers them money to resolve the issue. The Texans mock Gatewood for being a southerner and a shoot-out ensues resulting in the death of all of the bounty hunters. However, Sieber is shot and mortally wounded, his last words point to his surprise at dying in the act of trying to save an Apache.

Gatewood, Davis and Chato carry on the hunt for Geronimo and finally encounter his camp. Geronimo asks Gatewood if the young officer will break his word and lie to the Apache. Gatewood in turn declines to make General Miles' offer (knowing it to be false) and instead tells Geronimo what Miles will do to the Apache nation, should Geronimo not surrender. Faced with the grave reality, Geronimo makes peace with Gatewood and surrenders along with the remaining 34 Apache to General Miles. Gatewood is adjudged to be an embarrassment to the army for succeeding where they have failed (and doing so with 4 men rather than the countless thousands of troops General Miles has expended). Rather than receiving a medal and being honored for his bravery, he is transferred to a remote garrison in North Wyoming where the army hope he will disappear into anonymity. The final ignominy befalls Chato and the other Apache scouts, who are stripped of their status within the army, disarmed and sentenced to imprisonment in Florida along with the rest of Geronimo's warriors in spite of their service. Davis having become disillusioned with the army's ill treatment of the brave Apache as well as his fellow officers, requests to speak to General Miles. Davis tells the older man what they have done brings shame on the US army, when Miles mocks him for being an idealist who prizes the word of so-called "savages" over his orders, Davis responds stating he is ashamed and resigns immediately from the army.

In the final scene, Chato approaches Geronimo and tells him he was right to fight and that he too was lied to. Geronimo goes on to counsel the remaining renegades to not fall out with one another as there are so few of them remaining. He warns them of what lies ahead. Geronimo lives on for another 22 years and the US government fails to honour their promise (as predicted by Gatewood). He is never allowed to return home.

In the prologue, opening ''in medias res'', shows Gordon Brown (David Morrissey) taking a telephone call from Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) to arrange a meeting at the Granita restaurant in Islington.

The narrative shifts to 1983; in the wake of the Falklands War, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her Conservative government enjoy huge public popularity as the general election approaches, while Labour's left-wing election manifesto loses them key voters. Whilst the Conservatives win a landslide victory, building upon their existing majority, Brown is elected as the new Member of Parliament for Dunfermline East in Scotland. In London, he is shown to his office in the Houses of Parliament. John Smith (Frank Kelly), a senior Labour MP, introduces Brown to Blair, his new office-mate and the new MP for Sedgefield. Blair makes pleasantries with Brown and, though Brown is not initially impressed, the two become friends. Smith soon introduces the pair to Peter Mandelson (Paul Rhys), Neil Kinnock's director of communications. Shortly afterwards, Kinnock appoints Blair to be an assistant Treasury spokesman. Brown turns down a promotion to the Scottish Office, hoping a better position will come along. He and Blair discuss their political futures and both agree that, of the two, Brown would make a better leader of the party.

Labour is unable to make significant dents in the Conservative majority at the 1987 general election, with the Tories dropping by only 0.2% in the national share of the vote compared to 1983. Kinnock promotes Smith to Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, with Brown as his "number two". Three years later, Thatcher resigns as Prime Minister having been toppled from within the Conservative Party, and Brown asserts his view that a Labour victory in the next election will now be possible. Despite contrary predictions, however, the Conservatives led by John Major win the 1992 general election and secure the most votes ever recorded for a single political party in British history. Blair tells Brown that a new approach is needed, and that Brown should stand for the party leadership. Brown refuses to stand against Smith, his friend and mentor. Mandelson privately suggests to Brown that Blair should stand as leader but Brown ridicules the idea. Smith is elected and, over the next two years, Labour gains support as scandals rock the government – but both Blair and Brown are concerned that Smith's "one more heave" strategy of allowing Conservative unpopularity to hand the next election victory to Labour is not radical enough. Blair, as Shadow Home Secretary, pledges to be "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime" in the wake of the murder of James Bulger. During a late-night conversation about the future direction of the party, Smith tells a clearly irritated Brown that he sees Blair as his natural successor.

A year later, Smith suffers a fatal heart attack. Blair, encouraged by his wife Cherie (Elizabeth Berrington), decides to stand in the leadership contest. He later meets with Mandelson to tell him that he has received support from key Labour frontbenchers. Previously a supporter of Brown, Mandelson switches his allegiance to Blair. Brown is furious that Blair has gone back on what he perceives as having been an unwritten understanding between the two that Brown was the more likely candidate for the leadership, but Blair is incredulous – believing that the circumstances have changed enormously in the intervening years. Smith's funeral passes, and Blair's camp is sure that Brown will run. Charlie Whelan (Dexter Fletcher) and Ed Balls (Matt Blair) advise Brown that he will receive support from significant trade unions. Blair decides to arrange a meeting with Brown. At Granita, Blair tells Brown that he will run for the leadership, and in return offers Brown unprecedented power as his Chancellor, should they win the next election, also offering Brown sweeping control of social policy. Brown asks what Blair's plan is should Labour win a second term in office, and Blair responds that he would not make the same mistake as Margaret Thatcher and "go on too long," agreeing to offer his support to Brown as his successor. Brown agrees and Mandelson prepares a statement from him, but discards Brown's alterations. The leadership contest is won by Blair.

The player character is Werner Von Wallenrod, a farm boy who must interact with various characters in a fantasy atmosphere, solve puzzles, and fight enemies. Eventually the protagonist uncovers that he is the orphaned son of the late Axel von Wallenrod, a "Dragon Knight." Werner sets out to uncover his past and reclaim his heritage. Werner's ultimate goal is to earn the favor of enough of the current Dragon Knights so as to be voted into their order. He also has to deal with his rival, Haggen Von Diakkonov.

In the year 2281, the United Earth Government and the Principalities of Raia signed a ceasefire treaty, ending a war that lasted for half a century. One year after the signing of the treaty, the United Earth Government's 18th scouting party reported that the Raian capital, Melkide, has been captured by an army of unknown origin. The United Earth Government decided to dispatch an army to Raia to retake the capital and rescue its citizens. However, unbeknownst to the general public, the true purpose of this operation was to eliminate the unknown enemy and bring Raia under Earth's control.

The Emersons return to Egypt in 1895–96 to excavate at Dahshoor - finally, some real pyramids for Amelia!

In looking for a keeper for Ramses, they find a demoralized Englishman named Donald Fraser. Donald has troubled family relationships and a hashish habit, both of which Amelia means to reform. Enid Debenham, a young lady whose behavior scandalizes Cairo society, also takes a hand when Amelia takes her under her wing.

Meanwhile, the Master Criminal reappears personally, taking an interest not only in illegally obtained antiquities but in the person of Amelia herself.

The story is key in the series because it is the first time the reader learns the pseudonym of the Master Criminal: Sethos. It is the name of a number of Pharaohs, and is tied to Set or Seth, the Egyptian god of the desert. Sethos interacts in a number of ways, including offering gifts and returning the communion set stolen from Mazghuna the previous year. Sethos also appears in a number of guises, only one of which Amelia sees through. She does, however, assume a number of others are either Sethos or in his gang, almost always incorrectly.

Donald and Enid return in a later novel, ''Seeing a Large Cat''.

When Jonathon Raven was twelve years old, his parents were killed by the Black Dragon. He trained with them for many years in the deadly martial arts with the hopes of learning and mastering their lethal skill and then using it against them for vengeance. Although he succeeded in infiltrating them, the Black Dragon are many in number, and are now bent on destroying Raven's bloodline. His one true love, a beautiful Japanese woman named Aki, becomes pregnant with their son at the same time the Black Dragon clan is after Raven's life. Aki unfortunately dies shortly after giving birth to their son, but before she passes away, she realizes that her son's life is in danger. Jonathon learns of his wife's plan of hiding their son from imperilment, but sadly never gets to see him or attain the knowledge of his location. Later on, he joins the U.S. Special Forces and becomes one of their top assassins under a man named Nick Henderson. After many complications and regrets, Raven leaves the Special Forces and continues his search for his long-lost son. His search eventually leads him to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he believes his son may be. Raven is on a lifelong journey in search of his son, and is willing to risk his life along the way to find him and ensure the safety of his life, with the aid of his old military buddy - a private investigator named Herman "Ski" Jablonski.

Primo Spaggiari is a small cheese factory worker from Parma. Primo is of peasant origin and did not go beyond elementary school, so he is considered as a self-made man. His wife Barbara, on the other hand, is a refined woman of French origin. One day, their son Giovanni is kidnapped by a group of terrorists and Primo has to raise a billion of lire for the ransom. Meanwhile, the dairy he owns is hit by a serious economic crisis.

A young worker, Laura, Giovanni's girlfriend, and a worker priest, Adelfo, who know a lot about the kidnapping, intervene in the story. From them, Primo learns that his son has died. Primo, however, continues to collect the money, helped in this by his wife, to save his second creature: the factory, on the verge of bankruptcy.

Following the indications of a false letter, written by Giovanni's girlfriend, the couple deposits the ransom money in the indicated place. The sudden reappearance of Giovanni means that in the end the billion is invested precisely in the dairy, transformed into a cooperative company, under the control of the workers.

The ''Starlight & Shadows'' trilogy covers the adventures of the drow outcast Liriel Baenre and her companion, Fyodor of Rashemen.

Tom is relaxing in a penthouse, while Jerry is struggling to look for food, being forced to tie his tail around his waist to stop his stomach growling. Suddenly Jerry sees a lunchbox at a 125-story skyscraper construction site and jumps into it, eating through to it. However, the steel beam on which the lunchbox is sitting is lifted into the air and the box slides off. Jerry tries to hide in the lunchbox, but it bursts open. The lunchbox then falls onto Tom's head, much to Tom's annoyance, but Tom sees Jerry falling and catches him in a baseball glove in between two pieces of bread.

Tom eats the sandwich, but notices he missed eating Jerry. Tom eats the rest of the sandwich, but Jerry escapes by flicking Tom's middle finger into his eye. Jerry jumps into a rain gutter, but unaware slides back onto the construction site, barely managing to evade a crusher. Jerry jumps into Tom's mouth and closes his ears and eyes, but Tom shakes Jerry out. Tom grabs a flyswatter and splats the mouse with it 4 times, but on the 5th attempt, Jerry angrily stops him. He marches towards Tom and holds out his hand as if to say, "Hand over the flyswatter or I'll call the police." And then he flattens Tom's head to escape.

Jerry runs to the end of a flagpole, with Tom following, but Jerry spins the pole counterclockwise. Tom, running very fast, convinces Jerry to stop. He momentarily sports a halo and points at it as to say "I'm too young to die", but Jerry lets Tom know that he loves him before unscrewing the ball. Tom thinks that Jerry is crazy, but the cat and the flagpole are sent down to the construction site as Jerry, still standing on the ball in mid air, rolls back to the penthouse. Tom eventually ends up rolling on a barrel and encounters the same crusher that almost smashed Jerry. He too evades the crusher and is relieved for a moment, but soon afterwards rolls into a humongous dog show building before the dogs quickly attack, bark at and seemingly maul Tom to death. Finally, Jerry relaxes in Tom's penthouse and drinks some juice but accidentally ends up swallowing a whole ice cube before he decides to lay back and relax.

One early August morning in Harney County, Florida (the most backward-thinking and racist county in the state), the body of professional bass fisherman Robert Clinch is found floating in Lake Jesup shortly after taking his boat out to go bass fishing. Private investigator R.J. Decker is hired by sugar cane tycoon Dennis Gault, another bass fisherman, to prove that celebrity fisherman Richard "Dickie" Lockhart, his main rival on the fishing tournament circuit, is a cheat. Decker is a former newspaper photographer who was fired and briefly sent to prison after assaulting a teenager who tried to steal his camera equipment. In Lockhart's hometown of Harney, Decker looks up an old newspaper friend, a laconic reporter named Ott Pickney. Finding the local bass fishing guides too expensive, Decker takes Ott's advice and meets a reclusive hermit who lives in the woods, calling himself "Skink". While teaching Decker about fishing, he mentions seeing Clinch on the lake, but not fishing, on the morning he died. Attending Clinch's funeral, Decker meets Gault's sister Elaine, or "Lanie," who confides to Decker that she and Clinch were lovers. She tells Decker that Gault hired Clinch to catch Lockhart first, only she believes Lockhart had Clinch killed.

Ott is skeptical of Lanie's suspicions, since the coroner ruled Clinch's death an accident and a murder over fishing is too outlandish to be believed. However, when Ott interviews Clinch's widow, he also discovers clues that Clinch wasn't fishing. Tracking down the junked remains of Clinch's boat, Ott discovers signs of sabotage. Unfortunately, at that moment Ott is tracked down and murdered. After finding the body, Decker and Skink are both committed to nailing Lockhart. They tail him to his latest fishing tournament on Louisiana's Lake Maurepas, but inadvertently photograph the wrong gang of cheaters; Lockhart wins the tournament anyway.

Skink tries to raise Decker's spirits, adding, "Worse comes to worst, I'll just shoot the fucker." Later, Decker returns to their hotel room and finds Lanie waiting for him. After the two sleep together and he drops her off at her hotel, Decker notices lights on at the lakeside. He discovers Lockhart floating in the weigh tank, clubbed to death. Assuming Skink is the culprit, Decker drives back to Florida. Upon returning home, he finds the Miami police, led by Detective Al Garcia, waiting for him. Skink intercepts Decker and tells him Gault's whole assignment was a set-up, allowing Gault to kill his hated rival and put the blame on Decker.

The Outdoor Christian Network, led by televangelist Charlie Weeb, organizes a fishing tournament in Lockhart's memory to promote Weeb's housing development at the edge of the Everglades. Weeb is becoming increasingly desperate to boost sales of the condominia, as his network is so financially dependent on the development that its failure will also ruin Weeb himself. He becomes even more desperate when the bass salted into the condo's lakes die, revealing that the land the development is built on lakes' were excavated ater is toxic. Weeb orders his new spokesman, Eddie Spurling, to cheat by harvesting caged bass from the neighboring stretch of clean water in the Everglades.

While trying to escape Miami, Decker and Skink are stopped by Garcia, who has already found holes in Gault's frame-up story and is more than ready to believe Decker's version of events. Meanwhile, a worried Gault sends his hired thug, Thomas Curl, to kill Decker before Garcia finds him. While researching Lockhart's history, Decker and Skink learn of the housing development, and Skink is determined to stop it by sabotaging the fishing tournament.

With the help of Skink's friend, State Trooper Jim Tile, Decker tracks down Lanie and forces her to confess to helping her brother frame Decker for Lockhart's murder. Lanie admits that she became involved with Decker at Gault's suggestion, to help punish Lockhart for Clinch's murder. After Lockhart was killed, Gault convinced her to falsely tell police that Decker was on his way to see Lockhart when she last saw him. Although Lanie's recorded statement is enough to clear Decker's name, Curl kidnaps Decker's ex-wife Catherine and demands that Decker trade his life for hers. Decker tells Skink to go ahead with his plan to sabotage the tournament while he deals with Curl himself.

Skink's original plan is to have Garcia and Tile enter the tournament, posing as brothers, and win by catching Skink's gargantuan Queenie. With publicity for Weeb's development aimed exclusively at white people, Skink predicts that having an African-American and a Cuban win the tournament will be fatal for sales. However, at the last moment, Skink changes his plan and arranges a "confrontation" between Queenie and Gault. He anonymously tips off Gault as to the location where he will plant Queenie, while sabotaging the motor of Garcia and Tile's boat. Decker rescues Catherine and kills Curl with a booby-trapped camera.

Predictably, the tournament is a fiasco: the latest batch of fish are so sickened by the toxic water that they refuse to eat, while Garcia and Tile are the only participants to catch one (tiny) bass. Spurling refuses to cheat, forcing Weeb to name them the winners and admit that the promised $250,000 grand prize is "not available." Garcia and Tile reveal their badges and arrest Weeb for fraud on live television. Skink sees all the bass floating to the surface and realizes he has put Queenie in mortal danger by slipping her into the toxic water. Decker and Catherine join him on a boat borrowed from Spurling, and they speed to where he put her into the water.

They come upon Gault's boat, where Lanie is sitting alone and Gault's dead body is floating in the water. Gault succeeded in hooking Queenie, but was unprepared for her weight and power, and so tried to use his boat's engine to exhaust her. When she unexpectedly changed direction, Gault was unwilling to let her go, and was pulled overboard onto his own boat's propeller. Skink dives into the water, pulls a barely-alive Queenie out and leaps across a levee to put her in the Everglades. Decker and Catherine, following onto the levee, cannot see either of them, but are sure they hear the sound of both swimming to safety.

On an American Space Shuttle orbiting Earth, the onboard camera malfunctions and the astronauts shut it off. On Earth, technician Gerald Tyson and Crew Chief Simmons work on the shuttle after it lands; Simmons detaches the camera and takes it to be repaired. A blue light flashes and he disintegrates. Tyson calls an emergency alert. The camera is put in an isolation chamber using a robot. As the scientists discuss what happened to Simmons, there is a bright flash in the isolation chamber, and the camera transforms into Simmons. He demands to be let out.

Realizing that "Simmons" is some sort of shape-shifting creature, the scientists insist on holding him for examination. Simmons disappears in another flash of light, turning into Simmons' wife Kathy, who tells them nothing is wrong with Simmons and to release him. After the nonsensicality of this request is pointed out, the creature turns back into Simmons and starts breaking valuable samples stored in the isolation room. The scientists subdue him with sleeping gas. Dr. Vaughn Heilman enters the chamber to give Simmons a sedative so they can restore normal atmosphere for examination procedures. However, Simmons awakes and grabs his hands. They both disappear in a flash of light and are replaced by a nuclear bomb. The scientists realize that while the creature may have assumed only the form of a bomb, it is also possible that it used Dr. Heilman's knowledge as a bomb expert for the U.S. nuclear weapons program to shift into a working bomb.

Dr. Curt Lockridge negotiates with the creature, saying that they will allow it to go free. When the timer reaches one, the creature turns into Heilman and runs through the open door with Lockridge at its heels. Heilman is confronted at a launch platform. Lockridge asks it to let the doctor and Simmons free. The creature claims that they are not prisoners, and stay within him due to their "thirst". The creature asks Lockridge to come with them, but Lockridge declines. He asks why the creature came to Earth. It replies, "Curiosity" before changing into a glowing gaseous cloud that flies away into the sky.

The two lovers live in Northern Ireland. Stokes is a Protestant, and McAliskey is Catholic. Their relationship is complicated by the spying of Stokes' brother Jef, played by Marc O'Shea, and by the attempts of Rohan, played by Gabriel Byrne, to recruit McAliskey into the Republican movement. The film also stars Richard Harris as Old Man Jacobs, an ally to the couple.

At the start of the game, the player controls Alex through a nightmare concerning his younger brother, Josh, before Alex wakes up in the cab of a truck driven by Travis Grady, the protagonist from ''Silent Hill: Origins'', who gives him a ride to his hometown of Shepherd's Glen.'''Travis''': "Bad dream?" '''Alex''': "Yeah." ''[They arrive in Shepherd's Glen.]'' '''Travis''': "Hometown?" '''Alex''': "You could say that." '''Travis''': "Well, good luck, soldier." '''Alex''': "Thanks." The town, named for a distant ancestor who helped found it,'''Alex''': "This is my great, great, great, great, great grandfather, Isaac Shepherd. He was one of the founders, and they named the town after him." is covered in fog and deserted. At home, he finds his mother in a catatonic state, murmuring about his father leaving to find Josh;'''Alex's mother''': "Alex. What are you doing here?" '''Alex''': "I just got discharged. I've been in the hospital for a bit, but I'm all right now." '''Alex's mother''': "You've been gone too long." '''Alex''': "Yeah. Where is everybody? Where's Josh?" '''Alex's mother''': "I don't know. Your father went to look for him. But now he's gone. Everyone's gone." promising to find Josh, Alex leaves.'''Alex's mother''': "I miss your brother, Alex." '''Alex''': "Look, I'll find him. I had this dream... I just have a feeling he's in trouble. Don't worry about it, I'll find Joshua."

Alex soon discovers that many more people have gone missing in Shepherd's Glen since he left, when he finds his childhood friend Elle Holloway pinning "missing" signs to a board outside the police department.''Elle falls off a chair she is using to reach the noticeboard.'' '''Elle''': "Dammit!" '''Alex''': "You always were a klutz. You okay?" '''Elle''': "Alex? Oh, my God, Alex!" '''Alex''': "Hey, Elle. Your mom told me I might find you out here." '''Elle''': "Oh my God, it's so good to see you. Feels like it's been forever. [...]" '''Alex''': "Jesus. What the hell's going on here?" '''Elle''': "I don't know. Every day there are more flyers to put up, every day more people disappear." As Alex explores the town, he witnesses the separate deaths of Mayor Bartlett and Dr. Fitch by monsters in the Otherworld, both of whom have a child who is missing.'''Alex''': "Mayor Bartlett? Mayor Bartlett, I need to talk to you. [...] What about your son? Don't you wanna protect him?" '''Mayor Bartlett''': "My boy? I didn't do much right with him, but I did buy him some nice things... remember, Joey? Remember that nice present I got you?" '''Alex''': "I'm looking for my brother Joshua, and I know he used to be friends with your son. Have you seen either of them?" '''Mayor Bartlett''': "Joey? Er, Joey doesn't want to play with you." '''Alex''': "Doctor, do you need help? You're bleeding bad." '''Dr. Fitch''': "Don't you TOUCH me! I bleed out the sin, but it grows back. So I must let it out every day." '''Alex''': "I can stop the bleeding." '''Dr. Fitch''': "I don't want your help! These wounds cannot heal." '''Alex''': "Why did you come to this place?" '''Dr. Fitch''': "I come here to remind myself. It's the only place I go where she listens to me." '''Alex''': "Who listens to you? Scarlet? Is she here?" '''Dr. Fitch''': "She's here with me, now. My baby... my beautiful child. Daddy forgot to bring you a present today. She loves dollies." Back in Shepherd's Glen, Alex allies himself with Deputy Wheeler in the police department.'''Alex''': "Deputy Wheeler?" '''Wheeler''': "Well, well. Back in the land of the living. [...]" '''Alex''': "Last I saw him he was passed out drunk on the ground. [...] I'm just trying to find my brother, okay? I thought the mayor might know something. His son is missing too. [...]" '''Wheeler''': "So you've seen the creatures too...?" Alex eventually learns that his father was involved in the secrets of the town and had left to attempt to resolve the town's problems,'''Adam's letter''': "I have failed, and they know it. They blame me. They should. I swore to protect this town, but I can't. The streets decay before our eyes. The curse we always feared has come upon us. Worse yet, The Order has returned, kidnapping and killing with impunity [...] But they've taken our people. The only thing left is to face the source of this evil, to fight it, and pray that some hope can be restored." but before Alex is able to get answers from his mother at home, he is knocked unconscious as The Order—a religious cult from Silent Hill which has been taking people from the town— kidnaps his mother.'''Alex's mother''': "You don't know anything about Silent Hill!" '''Alex''': "I know dad went there. He went to go fight something. Did he go to get Joshua? Is that where Josh is? God damn it, tell me!" '''Alex's mother''': "Oh Alex, I'm sorry." '''Alex''': "Stop pretending you care about me! Start telling me what's going on! Joshua is the only one you ever cared about, and I can help him, if you tell me what's going on!" ''[The Order members arrive and kidnap his mother, and knock Alex to the floor in the struggle.]'' '''Order member''': "Forget the Shepherd kid, let's move."

Alex, Elle, and Wheeler take a boat across Toluca Lake to find Alex's father in Silent Hill but are intercepted by the Order.'''Wheeler''': "Alex. There's a light up ahead. I think we might be at the pier." '''Alex''': "What should we do?" '''Wheeler''': "Turn off our light. I don't want anyone to know we're coming." '''Elle''': "Aaah!" '''Alex''': "Elle!" ''Two Order members are holding onto Elle at the back of the boat''. '''Elle''': "Get your hands off me!" ''More Order members grab Wheeler''. '''Alex''': "Wheeler!" ''Another boat crashes into theirs, sending Alex into the water''. Elle and Wheeler are taken to Silent Hill's penitentiary, where Alex attempts to rescue them. He finds his mother bound; the player must make a decision regarding whether to kill her out of mercy or not, which will affect the outcome of the game. After rescuing Elle's mother, Judge Holloway, and separating from Wheeler once more, Alex finds the Order's church, where he secretly listens to his father in the confessional; the player may choose to forgive him, again affecting the outcome of the game. Alex later runs into his father, who reveals that Alex was never a soldier and has been in a mental hospital since "the accident" occurred. He begs forgiveness before he is killed by a monster called the Bogeyman (resembling Pyramid Head from ''Silent Hill 2'').

Continuing to the Order's underground facility, Alex is captured by Judge Holloway, who reveals that everything that has happened is due to a broken pact. 150 years ago, the four founding families broke away from Silent Hill's Order to move to Shepherd's Glen.'''Holloway''': "The founders, they had good intentions. They left the Order to start a new life in Shepherd's Glen. But they feared the wrath of our God, so they made a pact to keep us safe. All that was required was a small sacrifice... our children. Once every 50 years the founding families must make an offering to appease the god. One of our children, our own flesh and blood, struck down by our own hands. I did what was required. I watched the light fade from Nora's eyes as I took her life... Knowing that her death would protect our family, protect Shepherd's Glen." '''Alex''': "My god... Josh..." '''Holloway''': "No Alex, one of us failed—lacked the strength to fulfill his duty. Your father." '''Alex''': "Where's Joshua?!" '''Holloway''': "Don't you see? Because of him, our sacrifices were in vain! The pact with our god was broken, and your father's lack of conviction cursed us all. Our only hope was to revive the Order which our founders abandoned... The true faith." They were allowed to do so on the condition that once every 50 years they would sacrifice one of their children in a preordained fashion. On this occasion, while Joey Bartlett, Scarlett Fitch and Nora Holloway were successfully sacrificed by their parents, the Shepherd sacrifice failed, and as a result, the Order had been reformed to try to appease their god. Judge Holloway tries to kill Alex, who kills her in self-defense.''Judge Holloway reaches for a drill''. '''Alex''': "Don't... look, I can help you with all this. There must be another way." '''Holloway''': "No, Alex. It's time I finished what your father couldn't." ''He screams as she rams the drill through his leg''. '''Alex''': "Ahhh!!!!!" ''Alex breaks through the restraints, and a struggle ensues; gaining the upper hand, he pushes the drill through her head''. Alex rescues Elle from the facility and, after finding Wheeler injured and allowing the player to choose whether to save him—once more affecting the game's ending—continues on alone to find Josh.

Realizing he was the intended sacrifice, Alex experiences a flashback showing Josh's true fate. When Alex was younger, he had taken Josh rowing out on the lake, where Josh showed Alex a ring, which his father had chosen to give to him instead of Alex. Out of jealousy, Alex struggled with Josh to try to take the ring, and as they fought Josh accidentally fell into the lake and drowned. His father retrieved the body and explained that Alex had "ruined it for all of us", since he had chosen Alex, and not Josh; unable to accept Josh's death, Alex was then sent to the mental hospital (and not enlisting to the military as he initially believed), and with Josh instead of Alex sacrificed, the Order's pact was broken. After fighting the final boss, the manifestation of Josh's spirit, Alex finally has the chance to apologize and states that he never wanted Josh's death. Alex leaves the family ring and their father's angle-head army flashlight on Josh's body and exits the chamber.

There are five endings available, which depend on the player's actions during the game, including whether the player kills Alex's mother, forgives Alex's father, and saves Deputy Wheeler. These range from the single positive ending to the game—where Alex comes to terms with his past actions and reunites with Elle to leave Shepherd's Glen—to three other endings: Alex getting drowned by his father, waking up in the hospital and receiving a shock treatment, or being turned into a Bogeyman. There is also a joke ending, where both Alex and Elle are abducted by a UFO while Wheeler witnesses. In addition to these endings, if the player collects all of Josh's pictures or clears the game on the "hard" difficulty, a first-person post-credits scene is played where Alex finds Josh sitting on the bottom bunk of his bed and Josh takes a picture of Alex with a camera.

The film takes place decades after the Falklands War between Argentina and the United Kingdom for the control of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It tells of Fabián Stratas, a magician and stand-up comedian from Buenos Aires, who saves his money from weddings, birthdays, and bar mitzvahs, and uses a hidden camera to document a week-long trip to the Falkland Islands, which he calls "Fuckland". He plans to impregnate an islander, reasoning that if only 500 Argentines did the same each year, the islands would soon be overrun with half-Argentines, and he would be the head of a "sexual invasion."

He sets his eyes on Camilla Heaney, whom he first saw in church. He has initial success, having sex with Camilla twice, first in his hotel room and then on the beach. He manages to impregnate her before leaving for Buenos Aires, cocky and happy for having achieved his goal and duped his lover. However, Heaney gets the last word, making a videotape on Fabian's camera where she denounces him as shallow, condescending and self-centered. After this, the camera shows Stratas, unfazed by Camilla's anger, taking a shower while singing the Charly García cover of the Argentine National Anthem.

In London at the beginning of the twentieth century, Phyllis Allenby is a young and beautiful woman who is soon to be married to barrister and boyfriend Barry Lanfield. Phyllis is living at the Allenby Mansion without the protection of a male, along with her aunt Martha and her cousin Carol and the servant Hannah. As the wedding date approaches, London is shocked by a series of murders at the local park, where the victims are discovered with throats ripped out. Many of the detectives at Scotland Yard begin murmuring about werewolves, while Inspector Pierce believes the opposite and suspects strange activity at the Allenby Mansion (which is near the park), where the "Wolf-Woman" is seen prowling at night and heading for the park.

Phyllis becomes extremely terrified and anxious, since she is convinced that she is the "Wolf-Woman", deeply believing in the legend of the so-called "Curse of the Allenbys". Aunt Martha tries to convince Phyllis how ridiculous the legend sounds, while she (Aunt Martha) and Carol are suspicious in their own ways. Phyllis each day denies Barry visiting her, and when a suspicious detective is murdered soon after he visits the mansion in the same way the other victims perished, Barry begins believing that something else is going on beside the so-called "Werewolf murders", and makes his own investigations both of the park and the mansion. It turns out that Aunt Martha did the attacks to convince Phyllis she was insane, and belonged in an asylum rather than married to Barry, so Martha and her daughter could remain living in the mansion and that she also attacked Dwight, Carol’s green grocer boyfriend, so that he couldn't get in the way of Carol and Barry’s relationship.

However, Hannah hears all of this and Martha chases her down the stairs but falls. The house door opens and Barry, Carol, and the police come in with Hannah telling them that Martha did the attacks and is the 'she-wolf'. Barry then comforts Phyllis and tells her that Martha is dead, with the two hugging one another before the movie ends.

The film follows Fando (Sergio Klainer) and his paraplegic girlfriend Lis (Diana Mariscal) through a barren, postapocalyptic wasteland in search of the mythical city of Tar, a place where one will know the true nature of eternity, and reach enlightenment. On their journey they see many odd and profoundly disturbing characters and events.

The narrative of the film leaves a lot to the audience's interpretation, as the avant-garde and surreal nature in which the events of the film are presented mimic the workings of the subconscious.

Following a wartime excursion undercover, first in Germany and then in Switzerland, George Smiley returns to England and marries Lady Ann Sercombe. Although Smiley is a devout husband, Ann is serially unfaithful, and begins an affair with a Cuban racing driver before absconding the country with him. Smiley, infinitely self-controlled and self-deprecating, does nothing, and instead lets Ann continue to utilise their finances whilst he continues to live at their home in Bywater Street in the London borough of Chelsea, distracting himself with a love of German poetry and his work as a member of the Circus, the headquarters of the SIS named after its location on Cambridge Circus.

Smiley is abruptly summoned in the early hours of the morning by the Circus' advisor, Maston. Unsure about the meeting’s purpose, he travels in via taxi to learn that Foreign Office civil servant Samuel Fennan has killed himself following a routine security check. Smiley, the interviewer, had cleared Fennan, despite only a few days earlier receiving an anonymous letter regarding Fennan's past membership of the Communist Party of Great Britain. Because Fennan did not have a private office, Smiley had suggested the interview take place in an informal manner on a lunchtime walk through London. Maston informs him that an inquiry will be convened, and begins to set Smiley up for the blame for the suicide.

Smiley travels to Fennan's home, where he meets Fennan's wife Elsa. Elsa, like her husband, was a Jewish immigrant from Europe following the end of the Second World War, and had been interned in a concentration camp by the Nazis during the course of the war. While at the Fennans' home, Smiley answers a telephone call, believing it to be for him from the Circus. Instead, he finds it is a requested 8:30 am call from the telephone exchange, which Smiley feels is suspicious.

Smiley meets Inspector Mendel during the course of the interview and investigation. Mendel is on the verge of retirement, and is set to retire once the Fennan case is closed. He obtains information from telephone exchange staff that confirm it was Fennan who had requested the call the night before, furthering Smiley's suspicion around Elsa. Despite this, Maston orders Smiley to refrain from investigating the death any further. Working late at his office the same day, Smiley receives a letter from Fennan from the previous night requesting they meet urgently the next day. Smiley, now believing that Fennan was murdered to prevent a meeting from occurring, writes an abrupt letter of resignation and attaches it to Fennan's letter, leaving it in his out-tray to be forwarded to Maston.

After running some errands, such as going to the dry cleaners, Smiley returns home, but notices movement in the drawing room of his house. He rings his own doorbell, and is met by a tall, fair, handsome stranger. Pretending to be part of a laundrette delivery service, he avoids entering his house, and notes the number plates of the seven cars parked in the road. Now staying with Mendel, who agrees to help him work the case independently, the pair track one car to a dealer called Adam Scarr. Scarr, a semi-professional criminal, tells Mendel that he rents the car out on anonymous agreement to a stranger known as "Blondie", who matches the description of Smiley's intruder. However, whilst Mendel and Scarr are conversing, Smiley is attacked whilst tracking "Blondie's" car and hospitalised, whilst Scarr is murdered after Mendel's departure.

Now hospitalised, Smiley directs the case direction from bed rest. Mendel discovers that Elsa attended a local theatre twice a month, in which she liaises with someone the theatre staff believe is her husband. Upon further investigation, this turns out to be "Blondie", and Mendel learns that the two always carry music cases to each performance, which they trade. With assistance from fellow Circus agent and Smiley's protégé Peter Guillam, the men learn that "Blondie" is actually called Hans-Dieter Mundt, and is an East German agent working undercover as a diplomatic member of the East German Steel Mission for one Dieter Frey. Smiley becomes concerned at this revelation, as Frey was one his operatives during the war. Fanatically opposed to the Nazis, Frey was repeatedly antagonistic about them at great risk to himself. Not only was he a dissident, but he was physically disabled in one leg and needed a cane for most of his life, at a time where the Nazis euthanised many physically and mentally disabled people. Smiley recommended Frey to the Circus. Frey was later captured by the Nazis and sentenced to a stretch in a political prison camp doing hard labour. Later during the war, Smiley worked directly with Frey as an agent for the Circus. After the war, however, Frey rose through the ranks of East German government service and became one of its most important agents. Smiley also concludes that Frey is likely using a courier service to access only one highly placed domestic agent. Shortly after this revelation, Guillam reports that Mundt has fled to East Germany. He was subsequently identified by cabin crew .

After abruptly discharging himself from hospital, Smiley returns to confront Elsa Fennan. When pushed, she breaks, and confesses that her husband was actually a spy for East Germany, and that she was unwillingly involved in passing secret documents to the East Germans in the music case she took to the theatre. She reveals that Fennan was killed by Mundt after Frey saw him talking to Smiley during their walk through the park, believing that Fennan had cracked under the pressure of passing information to them. When she returned home, she had found Mundt and her husband's corpse, and had typed a suicide note out of fear for her own life.

Guillam, however, adds another turn to the investigation shortly after this. In an attempt to verify Elsa's claims, he examines the files that Fennan had been taking home from the Foreign Office. On closer inspection, in the period before his death he had been taking home only declassified files of little significance to British security. Smiley then realises that Elsa, not Samuel, is the East German spy, and that the accusation about Fennan had been self-composed in order to allow him to meet someone with whom he could discuss his concerns about his wife. Using his knowledge of Frey's tradecraft, Smiley, Guillam, and Mendel stage a trap to inspire a theatre rendezvous between Frey and Elsa, where Frey stealthily kills her. After being trailed by Mendel, Smiley pursues Frey. In the ensuing struggle, Frey falls into the river Thames where he drowns.

Back on bed rest in Mendel's house, Smiley turns down Maston's offer to reinstate him to the Circus with a promotion, and flies to Zürich in the hope that he can repair his relationship with Ann.

Long retired since the war, Ailsa Brimley is now the editor of a small Christian magazine called ''Christian Voice''. The magazine's membership is small but loyal, and many of its readers have been supporters of the magazine since its inception. Unexpectedly, Brimley receives a letter from a reader, Stella Rode, who claims that her husband, a public school junior master in the town of Carne, is plotting to kill her. Fearing for Stella's life, Brimley hunts down her former wartime colleague, the retired Circus spy George Smiley, and asks him to help. Smiley, who knows the brother of school teacher Terence Fielding, agrees to do what he can, but before he is able to intervene, learns that Rode has been murdered. Brimley, feeling a duty of care to Rode on account of her family's long history as magazine subscribers, asks Smiley to go down and see what he can do to help. Smiley agrees and goes down to Carne to find out what he can about Rode's situation.

Upon arrival, Smiley becomes a victim of village gossip, on account of his wife, Ann, and her childhood connection to Carne. Now that they are living apart, Smiley is privately ridiculed by many of the town's occupants. Smiley is introduced to the town's police chief, who shares details about the case with Smiley. Rode was found alone in her house by her husband, and had been killed in a period of time where he claimed to be out of the house, returning to Fielding's house to collect his bag which he had forgotten, and contained many of the students' exams which he needed to mark. Any footprints were lost in the subsequent increased police presence at the house after the body was discovered. The chief's superior believes that the murder was perpetrated by a homeless madwoman who Rode knew, but Smiley remains unconvinced. He also witnesses invidious class division between "town and gown" which is superimposed upon a religious division between adherents of the Church of England and Nonconformists. As the wife of a public school teacher, and as a nonconformist, Stella Rode occupied a low rank in the local social hierarchy, especially in the estimation of Carne's upper crust.

Smiley begins to make contact with the village's occupants. He dines with Fielding, attends the funeral, and makes contact with Rode's husband. Whilst walking home from a visit, he is startled by Mad Janie, the homeless woman being sought in connection with the murder. She tells him that the murderer merely 'flew away on the clouds' after she witnessed it. Despite this, the police still believe her to be the perpetrator, and eventually find and arrest her.

Smiley and Brimley become confused by the lack of any material evidence to the crime scene, and the rather cluttered nature of the Rode's conservatory. Smiley learns that Stella was a volunteer for a refugee charity, and that many of the boxes were processed by her and then sent to a distribution centre. This leads Smiley to believe that the evidence may have been removed from the site via a box, so he has Brimley locate the box, confirming his theory. In the meantime, Tim Perkins, a boy in Fielding's school house, becomes the second victim of the murderer, and is found lying dead at the side of the road after being killed in a hit and run.

Smiley returns to Rode, anxious to obtain any more information about Stella in the hope that he can catch both her and Perkins' murderer, believing both crimes to be linked. Under pressure, Stanley Rode buckles and admits that his wife was severely two-faced. In public, she would present herself as apparently pious and ostentatious, whilst in private, his wife was a pathological liar who emotionally abused him and viciously beat her own dog in order to portray him as mentally insane. Smiley also learns that Stella's social situation in Carne was brought on by her own actions, in which she habitually humiliated, blackmailed, and terrorised the town's residents, unable to be touched on account of her knowledge of intimate details of people's social faux pas and private secrets, as well as her kindly external demeanour.

As a result of this, Smiley is able to follow clues to the real murderer, Terence Fielding. Fielding attempted to frame Stanley for the murder, but failed, and murdered Stella because she had been blackmailing him over his wartime conviction of gross indecency with another male member of the Royal Air Force. Fielding was also blackmailed by the school authorities, who used their knowledge of his conviction in order to force him into remaining at his teaching post but with significantly lower salary than his peers at the school. Tim Perkins had accidentally made a discovery that would have derailed Fielding's attempts to implicate Stanley Rode, and would have reassigned the obvious blame to Fielding, despite Fielding maintaining that whatever Perkins had seen was insignificant.

Fielding fails in his attempt to frame Rode, and consigns himself to arrest. Despite his attempts to misdirect Smiley by saying he loved Perkins, the police arrive and arrest him.

Winnie Barringer is heartbroken over her close friend Iggie's move to Tokyo, Japan. However, she immediately takes an interest in the black family that has relocated in Iggie's old house, the Garbers, who have moved to her neighborhood (in an unspecified location) from Detroit, and prioritizes befriending the family's three children, Glenn, Herbie, and Tina, over all else. Her first meeting with the Garber children is awkward and nearly disastrous as she brings up racist subjects inadvertently, but she tries to overcome this by continuing to bond with them, despite several major bumps in the road along the way — most notably her snobby, prejudiced neighbor Mrs. Landon's callous attempts at running the Garbers out of town because of their race.

After Mrs. Landon and her daughter Clarice leave a sign on the Garbers' lawn telling them they are unwanted and to leave town, Winnie fears that the Garbers will move again, and becomes extremely disappointed in her parents (especially her mother, who appears to demonstrate racism equal to Mrs. Landon's, albeit in more subtle ways) for not standing up for the Garbers. Eventually Mrs. Landon decides to sell her house and move away herself for no reason other than her prejudice, and attempts to pressure her neighbors into doing the same. This proves to be the last straw for Winnie's father, who thoroughly excoriates Mrs. Landon for her intolerance and tells her there will be no blockbusting in their neighborhood. Although she is proud of her father for telling Mrs. Landon off, Winnie fears that her parents will follow Mrs. Landon's lead, and decides to stow away on a ship to Japan to live with Iggie's family as she would be ashamed of having racist parents.

In the end, Winnie's parents decide not to move but only, Winnie's mother tells her, because "moving is too much trouble," not because they wish to befriend the Garbers. Winnie is again disappointed by her mother's attitudes but is glad to see her father is being more receptive to the idea of being a good neighbor to the Garbers. She also realizes that she herself has a long way to go, and decides to work on becoming a real friend to the Garbers.

The book centers on Sheila Tubman, a 10-year-old girl who masks her insecurities with a much more self-assured, confident persona. In truth, she suffers from fears ranging from arachnophobia (fear of spiders and other arachnids), cynophobia (fear of dogs), and aquaphobia (fear of water).

Her family decides to spend the summertime in Tarrytown, New York, where she is enrolled at a day camp and meets Merle "Mouse" Ellis, an easygoing, courageous, and slightly tomboyish girl skilled with deep knowledge of yo-yo tricks. To Sheila's dismay, the family that owns the house in which they are staying owns a dog named Jennifer, who Sheila fears and avoids. Sheila's anxiety escalates when she learns of Jennifer's pregnancy and the desire of Sheila's sister, Libby, to adopt one of the puppies.

Meanwhile, Sheila is enlisted in swimming lessons to her chagrin — though she manages to take the final exam and earn a beginner's certificate. At camp, Sheila single-handedly starts a camp newspaper, which proves difficult. Ultimately, she hands over editorship to two bigger boys after they complete a crossword puzzle she wrote, for which she promised a prize but forgot to name it. Sheila even succeeds in painting the backdrop set for the camp's theatrical production of ''Peter Pan.''

Sheila believes that her fearless masquerade is effective, but her beliefs are proven false after the guests at her sleepover write otherwise in a slam book activity. Despite the brawl that ensues between them, devastated by the insults written in each other's books, their friendship, nevertheless, continues, and Sheila slowly overcomes her fears (albeit not entirely) little by little. As the summer draws to a close with a barbecue, she is unshaken at the thought of her family's adoption of a puppy, and realizes that she enjoyed her vacation after all.

Katherine, in the middle of her senior year in high school, finds herself strongly attracted to Michael, a boy she meets at a New Year's party. As their relationship unfolds, the issue of sex comes up more as an emotional and health issue than as a moral one. Both of them are aware that physical intimacy is both common and complicated.

Their relationship progresses slowly as they begin to go on dates and trips together; they are accompanied on various meetings by Katherine's friend, Erica, who has known Katherine since the 9th grade and believes that sex is a physical act and not very romantic, and believes Katherine should "just get it out of the way." Erica and Katherine are also joined by Michael's friend Artie, who got together with Erica.

Katherine and Michael go on a skiing trip, where they plan to have sex, but Katherine has her period, and they are disappointed. Michael teaches Katherine how to hold his penis (nicknamed "Ralph") and how to rub it correctly. When Katherine and Michael do have sex on Michael's sister's living room floor in her apartment, they are sure it seals a love that will be "forever". Michael buys Katherine a necklace for her birthday that says "Katherine" on one side and "Forever...Michael" on the other. That summer, both sets of parents make plans that will take Katherine and Michael to two different states. Katherine finds herself aware of the limitations of the relationship and is ultimately attracted to a tennis instructor, Theo, who is older than Michael. Theo calls her Kat, even though she is at first highly irritated with the nickname.

Katherine tries to ignore the sexual tension between herself and Theo, but when she is stricken with grief on the death of her grandfather, Theo is the first person she turns to. They kiss, and Theo is the first to pull away ("Not with death for an excuse."). After Katherine is unable to answer Michael's next letters, he shows up at her camp, where his first sight of Katherine is her and Theo hand-in-hand. At a motel room later that night, Katherine is unresponsive, and Michael knows, without her admitting it, that she is involved with someone else. She gives back the necklace, and he drives off in a near-rage. The book ends with one last chance meeting between Michael and Katherine, in which Katherine thinks, and tries to say with her eyes, that she does not regret the relationship, but she's not ready for "forever". At home, Katherine's mother tells her, "Theo called."

Although ''The Unvanquished'' was first published as a whole in 1938, it consists of seven short stories which were originally published separately in ''The Saturday Evening Post'', except where noted: "Ambuscade" (September 29, 1934) "Retreat" (October 13, 1934) "Raid" (November 3, 1934) "The Unvanquished" (namesake for the novel, in which it is titled "Riposte in Tertio") (November 14, 1936) "Vendée" (December 5, 1936) "Drusilla" (titled "Skirmish at Sartoris" in the novel), published in ''Scribner's'' (April 1935) *"An Odor of Verbena" (never published prior to the release of the novel )

''The Unvanquished'' is told in seven episodes—sometimes immediately following one another, other times separated by months or years—spanning the years 1862 to 1873. The book begins with Bayard Sartoris and his slave friend Ringo playing in the dirt on the Sartoris plantation. A slave named Loosh smugly interrupts their game, hinting that Union armies have entered northeastern Mississippi, near their town of Jefferson. The boys do not fully understand, but when Bayard's father, Colonel John Sartoris, returns home from the front that day, they overhear him telling Granny Millard that Vicksburg has fallen. Loosh obviously knows about the defeat, and Bayard decides he and Ringo will keep watch over Loosh. Several days into the watch, the boys spot a Yankee soldier on horseback riding up the road. The boys grab a musket off the wall and shoot at the soldier, then run into the house as a fist pounds on the front door. Granny hides them under her billowing skirts and insists to the angry Union sergeant that there are no children present. Colonel Dick, a Yankee officer, calls off the search but makes it clear that he does so out of pity, not because he believes Granny. Afterward, the boys learn they only hit the horse, not the rider.

The next year, following Colonel Sartoris's instructions, Granny carries a heavy trunk of silver to Memphis for safekeeping. After digging the buried chest out of the ground, she insists that the slaves carry it up to her bedroom so she can watch it during the night. The journey to Memphis carries them through Union-occupied areas. One afternoon, men with guns waylay the travelers, stealing their mules despite Granny's attempts to fend them off. Bayard and Ringo take a horse from a nearby barn and try to pursue the attackers, leaving Granny to fend for herself. They are discovered asleep the next day by Colonel Sartoris's troop. Furious and anxious for Granny's well-being, the colonel sees them back to Jefferson personally; on the way, they accidentally overcome the thieves, a group of Northern soldiers, and capture their supplies, though the colonel allows the men to escape. Granny has arrived home safely, but the next day a Union brigade rides to the house looking for Colonel Sartoris. He escapes, but the Yankees burn the house and take the chest of silver.

Granny decides to personally petition the Yankees to return her silver, slaves and mules. With Bayard and Ringo, she sets off for Alabama and the Union army. They pass an army of freed slaves that is also seeking out the Yankees. On the way, they stop at Hawkhurst, where Bayard's Aunt Louisa lives. Ringo had been looking forward to seeing the railroad that runs nearby. But the railroad has been destroyed and the house burned. At Hawkhurst, Bayard's cousin Drusilla begs him to ask his father to let her join the regiment as a soldier. She accompanies them to the river crossing where the Yankees are encamped, and they are engulfed in a sea of restless slaves. The Northern troops dynamite the bridge over the river, and in the confusion the wagon falls into the water. The Yankees retrieve them, however, and are so overburdened with slaves that Colonel Dick issues Granny an order for more than 100 slaves and mules, as well as for several chests of silver. Granny dismisses most of the slaves, but she and Ringo use the order to get twelve extra horses from a Union encampment.

The scam is quickly repeated, and after a year, Granny and Ringo have built a thriving trade in smuggled mules with the help of Ab Snopes, a poor local white. Ringo forges new orders and Granny uses them to requisition mules. Then, Ab sells the mules back to the clueless Yankees. They deliberate about a particularly risky opportunity and decide to go ahead, though Granny says she is uneasy. Her hesitation is justified: the Union army has issued a memo to be on the lookout for scams, and shortly after they leave camp the soldiers ride back to confront them. Granny has already given the mules to Ab for safekeeping, and when Ringo creates a diversion in the woods, Bayard and Granny simply vanish into the trees. Later that week, it becomes clear that Granny has not kept the profits for herself but has distributed them to keep other members of the community afloat.

At Christmas 1864, Ab tells Granny about a group of bandits led by an ex- Confederate named Grumby who are terrorizing the countryside. Ab convinces Granny to try out her scam one last time on Grumby and his men. Though Bayard tearfully tries to dissuade her, she insists on going, and is shot and killed by Grumby. After the funeral, Bayard sets off to seek revenge, accompanied by Ringo and a friend of his father's, Uncle Buck. Realizing that Ab Snopes has joined Grumby's party, they track them for two months throughout the area. They know they are getting closer when a well-dressed stranger who turns out to be one of Grumby's men shoots at them, wounding Uncle Buck; the next day they find Ab Snopes tied up in the road as a kind of sacrifice. The cowardly Ab begs for mercy, and they decide not to kill him; instead, Uncle Buck carries him back to town. Bayard and Ringo continue their pursuit, and before long, Grumby's associates decide to hand him over to the boys to placate them. Grumby and Bayard wrestle. Bayard is almost trapped, but he prevails and kills Grumby. The boys nail his body to the door of the cotton compress where Granny was killed, then cut off his hand and attach it to Granny's grave marker.

That spring, Drusilla has returned home from the war and is living in Jefferson with the Sartorises, dressing and acting mannish as she did while serving in the troops. Aunt Louisa is scandalized that Drusilla has been living with Colonel Sartoris and determines that they should marry. Aunt Louisa asks several respectable local women to take Drusilla in. The women cruelly offer sympathy for Drusilla's "condition," reducing Drusilla to tears. Before long Louisa arrives and, ignoring her daughter's protests, makes plans for the wedding. However, she has planned the wedding for the same day as a hotly contested election in Jefferson, in which Colonel Sartoris is attempting to stop a carpetbagger victory in the town. The day of the wedding, Drusilla rides into town to get married but ends up helping Colonel Sartoris face off against the two carpetbaggers, whom he shoots and kills. When she learns what has happened, Aunt Louisa is furious that the wedding has not taken place. Drusilla, the colonel and the townspeople ride to the Sartoris plantation to resume the election; not surprisingly, the Republican candidate, an ex-slave, loses.

Eight years later, Bayard is a law student at the University of Mississippi; once in the intervening years he has kissed Drusilla, who seems almost to be in love with him. One night Ringo rides to the university to tell him Colonel Sartoris has been killed by an ex-business partner and rival, Ben Redmond. Bayard will be expected to avenge his father and shoot Redmond. He rushes back to Jefferson, where Drusilla, in her yellow ball gown with a sprig of verbena in her hair, seems almost a priestess of revenge. She hands him a pair of dueling pistols, then breaks down in a hysterical fit of laughter. After Louvinia has led Drusilla to bed, Bayard's Aunt Jenny warns Bayard not to indulge in violence for its own sake. The next morning, Bayard rides into town with Ringo. A crowd gathers as he prepares to enter Redmond's office, but Bayard refuses offers of assistance from Ringo and of a pistol from a friend of his father's, George Wyatt. He enters Redmond's office; Redmond fires two shots at him, then takes his hat, walks across the square and boards a train out of Jefferson forever. The townspeople think Bayard has been killed; in fact, he has chosen to confront Redmond unarmed, breaking the cycle of violence without sacrificing his honor. When he returns home that evening, Drusilla has left for good. The only sign of her is a sprig of verbena she has left on his pillow.

The book starts by detailing a corporation that works to send people to space by booking them on empty seats on Space Shuttle flights. The third such flight is preparing to launch, carrying retired basketball player MJ (a character closely resembling Michael Jordan) into space.

However, during the flight something goes wrong and MJ and a mission specialist die, while the rest of the crew is forced to make an emergency landing. Initially almost everyone in the space industry is sued over MJ's death, although most of the charges are later dropped when it is discovered that the explosion was the result of a Chinese attempt to take down the Space Shuttle. China is also found to be responsible for a high altitude nuclear weapon that Pakistan set off. The purpose of this bomb was to wipe out the current network of satellites, apparently in an attempt to cash in with their new presence in space exploration. The bomb also leaves the International Space Station heavily damaged.

The rest of the book chronicles a daring rescue attempt to save those still on board the ISS, using mostly theoretical prototype vehicles. The rescue is a success, and the whole crew returns as heroes.

Tom (Scott Speedman) and Dan (James Marsden) meet in a bar and then proceed to Tom's apartment together. While there, Dan realizes that he had been in that same apartment before. Five years earlier, Dan and Tom had a one night stand there. According to Tom, that encounter with Dan was his first and only homosexual experience. Some years later, Tom's wife is found to be HIV positive. Despondent after receiving this diagnosis from her doctor, she drives through a red traffic light and is killed in an ensuing collision.

Subsequent to these events, medical tests reveal that Tom is also HIV positive. Tom blames himself for passing HIV on to his wife and, in turn, he blames Dan for passing the virus on to him. Reasoning that Dan, ultimately, is to blame for his wife's death, Tom devises a plan to exact revenge. He holds Dan hostage, keeping him bound and gagged to a chair in his apartment. He draws blood from Dan in order to conduct a test to determine Dan's HIV status. If Dan's test results are positive for HIV, Tom vows to kill Dan. If the results are negative, Tom agrees to release Dan unharmed.

In the end, Tom returns to the apartment and lets Dan go. As Dan is leaving, Tom asks him when he had last been tested. A few moments later, he reveals that Dan's test was, in fact, positive. He decided to let Dan go because he realized that his positive status was the result of his choices which he couldn't blame on anyone else. The screen fades with Dan standing in Tom's doorway in shock.

''Blue Murder'' is about a group of police detectives trying to solve murders in Toronto.

The two lead characters appear as the robotic forms of Daft Punk and are credited as "Hero Robot No. 1" and "Hero Robot No. 2". One wears a silver helmet and the other wears a golden one. An opening scene shows the duo driving in a 1987 Ferrari 412 with its license plate displaying "HUMAN". After passing through a Southwestern United States landscape, the duo arrives by car at a town in Inyo County, California. The town's residents are also shown to be robots physically identical to the two main characters, but at different ages, with different clothing and alternating gender.

The pair drive to a high-tech facility where liquid latex is poured over their heads. The latex is shaped into human-like faces with the aid of prosthetic appliances and wigs. The resulting look caricaturizes the members of Daft Punk, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. When the two leave the facility, the locals of the town are shocked by their human appearance. The townsfolk gradually begin to chase the duo, whose faces eventually melt in the sun. The two take cover in a public restroom where the gold robot discards his ruined mask, then encourages the reluctant silver robot to do the same. Again appearing as robots, the pair then undergo a lengthy hike across desert salt flats.

After walking for an extended period, the silver robot slows down and comes to a stop. Becoming aware of this, the gold robot walks back to the silver one. The silver robot continues to stare at the ground for a moment before removing his own jacket. He then turns away from the other robot, revealing a switch on his back. The gold robot flips the switch, which begins a timer. When the countdown ends, the silver robot is blown to pieces. The remaining robot piles the remains of the silver robot, then continues to walk. The gold robot eventually falls to his knees and attempts to reach the switch on his own back, but to no avail. Another moment passes before the robot removes his helmet and repeatedly slams it into the ground until the helmet shatters. Using one of the shards as a burning-glass, the robot focuses the sunlight to set his hand ablaze. The film ends as the robot, completely on fire, walks in slow motion through darkness.

Set "during the days of the Old Empire", when the peace and prosperity of King Keron's reign have given way to oppression and austerity under King Mordred, the game begins when Mordred's Black Knights attack the village of Thalgrund. The Knights, led by Mordred's senior-most general, Kerberos, have recently been raiding villages in the area, intent on finding something. A young man named Dario drives them off before heading to nearby Ridgewood, his mother's home village, which is also under attack. He again defeats the Knights, but his mother is mortally wounded. As she dies, she gives him an amulet, telling him this is what the Knights were searching for, and explaining that Keron was Dario's father, and the amulet must never fall into the hands of anyone but the legitimate heir to the throne; Dario himself. Joined by his childhood friend, Erec, a knight in the service of the Old Empire, Dario determines to defeat the Black Knights and depose Mordred.

They first head to Crawford to speak to Dario's uncle, Helias. Keron's older brother, Helias relinquished the throne to become a priest, and since the demise of the Old Empire, has served as a negotiator, keeping the peace between the eight princedoms into which the Empire split after Keron's death. He explains the amulet is one of a number of artefacts which together form an orb representing the strength and honour of the king, and which, if reassembled, would legitimise Dario's claim to the throne. The other artefacts were scattered by Keron shortly after Dario's birth; as the Black Knights marched on the Old King's Castle, Keron split the orb up, hanging the largest piece from Dario's neck, before smuggling Dario and his mother out of the castle in the care of Helias. Keron remained behind and was killed when the Knights attacked. After the second artefact is found in Crawford, Helias joins Dario and Erec as they set about finding the remaining artefacts and reuniting the princedoms.

Having secured the allegiance of Crawford, the fellowship aid in local issues throughout the realm, gaining the support of Cleycourt, Barmecia, Folklung, and Norfolk. Along the way, they are joined by Ari (a thief), Pilgrim (a miner and demolitions expert), and Salim (a weapon and trap designer). They next travel to Kaloix. As they work to relieve a plague spreading through the villages, Ari is kidnapped by the princedom's regent, Mary De Mortfichet. The fellowship ultimately discover De Mortfichet herself is behind the plague; as punishment for the people refusing to ally with Mordred, she began to poison local rivers. They storm her keep, arresting her, and rescuing Ari, with whom Dario realises he has fallen in love.

They next head to the ruins of the Old King's Castle, and secure the support of nearby Andala. As the Black Knights attempt to destroy the ruins, the fellowship defeat them, and are surprised when Kerberos willingly surrenders, claiming he was duped by Mordred, and that he can assist Dario. To this end, he gives them an artefact, and tells them the location of another. They are also surprised to learn Kerberos is Helias's son; when Helias relinquished the throne to Keron, depriving Kerberos of what he felt was his birthright, he became bitter and joined Mordred. Finding the artefact where Kerberos said, the fellowship begin to trust him.

They then head to Evelance, Mordred's home. As Mordred remains unaware that Kerberos has joined the fellowship, Kerberos goes on ahead, intending to disrupt Mordred's plans. Meanwhile, Dario gains the allegiance of the nearby city of Tendrel. However, the fellowship discover that Kerberos has double-crossed them, hoping to usurp the throne himself once they defeat Mordred. In one of Evelance's outposts, they find the last artefact, and then set about liberating the villages of the nearby Wastelands, where they learn the more recent attacks from Evelance Fortress were ordered by Kerberos, not Mordred. They storm the fortress, and discover Kerberos has murdered Mordred, desperate to become king himself. When he sees escape is impossible, he throws himself from the battlements into the valley below. Shortly thereafter, Dario marries Ari, and is crowned king.

''Expansion Disc''

The ''Expansion Disc'' begins several years after the main game, with Dario presiding over a now peaceful and flourishing kingdom. As he attends a council meeting, he is interrupted with news that construction work has ceased on a bridge across the River Nhern. As Erec is supposed to be supervising, Dario, Ari and Pilgrim head to investigate. Upon arriving, they learn the builders are afraid to work since an attack by "demons". Erec pursued the so-called demons towards Hen Brugh on the other side of the Nhern, but has not been heard from since. The trio rid the area of the demons (humans wearing animal skins, with claws on their hands, and spikes protruding from their backs), and then follow Erec's trail.

Receiving word that he is awaiting them nearby, as they reach his location, he is shot and killed by a bounty hunter who disappears into the forest. Dario is distraught, but says they must press on. They head to the town of Theley, which they find under attack. Fighting off an army of demons, they are joined on their quest by one of the town's militia, a martial artist named Yuki.

After helping Salim resolve a problem with local trade routes, they then travel to Sharray, the area in which Helias settled after the defeat of Kerberos. However, the bounty hunter has also arrived in Sharray, and is heading for Helias's home town of Karatas. The fellowship race to beat him, but arrive only in time to see him take aim at Helias. Rather than shooting him, however, the bounty hunter shoots a man running towards Helias. He explains it was an assassin, the same one who killed Erec. The bounty hunter, named Drake, had tried to intervene in Hen Brugh, but was unable to do so in time, and Erec was killed. As Erec was an old friend of Drake's, he set out in pursuit of the assassin, and, having saved Helias, now pledges his loyalty to Dario.

Meanwhile, the arrival of Dario in the area has inspired the people, and they have rebelled against a particularly oppressive regent, Kadir. Joining the locals, the fellowship storm Kadir's castle, and learn he planned to overthrow Dario and take over the Empire himself, and, to this end, he hired the assassin. Gloating that if he is unable to defeat the fellowship, it doesn't matter, as someone else will do the job, he tries to shoot Dario with a crossbow, but is killed by Drake. In Kadir's castle, Yuki finds information on the "Tribe of the Bear", known locally as the Shrouded People, an extinct swamp tribe, who, it is told, will return under the guidance of a powerful being, bringing death and destruction.

With this information, the fellowship head to the swamps of Tan-Fleh, ancient home of the Shrouded People, where they find the city of Glen Medden under siege. Driving the besiegers off, Dario decides the only way anyone can be safe is if they find and kill whoever is leading the Shrouded People. Traveling deeper into the swamp, they learn that that person is a supposedly immortal witch named Kala. Reaching a huge expanse of flooded swampland, the locals inform them that Kala resides in the mountains beyond. The fellowship assist in draining the area, and then storm Kala's cave, killing her and defeating the Shrouded People.

The novel deals with the decay of an aristocratic southern family just after the end of World War I. The wealthy Sartoris family of Jefferson, Mississippi, lives under the shadow of its dead patriarch, Colonel John Sartoris. Colonel John was a Confederate cavalry officer during the Civil War, built the local railroad, and is a folk hero. The surviving Sartorises are his younger sister, Virginia Du Pre ("Aunt Jenny" or "Miss Jenny"), his son Bayard Sartoris ("Old Bayard"), and his great-grandson Bayard Sartoris ("Young Bayard").

The novel begins with the return of young Bayard Sartoris to Jefferson from the First World War. Bayard and his twin brother John, who was killed in action, were fighter pilots.

Young Bayard is haunted by the death of his brother. In addition to feeling intense survivor guilt, Bayard senses instinctively that everyone in town liked John better. Both were superb athletes, and fearless fighters, but as Aunt Jenny frequently points out, "Johnny" Sartoris was friendly, cheerful and good-natured to old and young alike, while Bayard was cold, sullen, and moody even before the war. As a result of all this, Bayard secretly feels that he should have been killed in Johnny's place. That and the family disposition for foolhardy acts push him into a pattern of self-destructive behavior, especially reckless driving in a recently purchased automobile.

Eventually young Bayard crashes the car off a bridge. During the convalescence which follows, he establishes a relationship with Narcissa Benbow, whom he marries. Despite promises to Narcissa to stop driving recklessly, he gets into a near wreck with old Bayard in the car, causing old Bayard to die of a heart attack. Young Bayard disappears from Jefferson, leaving his now pregnant wife with Aunt Jenny. He dies test-flying an experimental airplane on the day of his son’s birth.

The book opens with an introduction of characters, and with Trachtenberg, the narrator, describing his complex relationship with his maternal uncle, Benn Crader, a world-renowned botanist. He then discusses the distinctions between himself, and his father, a man who, as he describes him, “[puts] on the kind of sex display you see in nature films, the courting behavior of turkey cocks or any of the leggier birds… Dad was a hit with women.”

This theme continues throughout the book, with Kenneth accepting his difficulties with women. He also introduces his mother, a woman who allowed her husband to step out, and only left after realizing that he did not understand what made her happy. She wanted intellectual stimulation of a literary style, whereas he bought her materialistic goods to make up for his infidelities. To atone for receiving the goods she did not need, Kenneth's mother is now living among refugees in Africa.

Kenneth then embarks on an overview of Benn's recent sexual history. He presents a man who, while appreciative of beauty and women, is not quite rooted enough in human society to understand the sexual pretexts he encounters. One incident is discussed many times during the novel: a middle aged neighbor of Benn's, an attractive professional who has a slight drinking problem, asks Benn to help her change a light bulb, a not too subtle hint which Benn ignores until she makes a move. The next day, when he shows no interest, and expresses regret for the act, she exclaims, “What am I supposed to do with my sexuality?” Benn then attracts the attentions of another older woman, Caroline who is controlling, indifferent, and loving all at the same time.

While Benn, unbeknownst to Kenneth, is dealing with a planned wedding to Caroline, the protagonist is in Seattle to discuss with his ex-girlfriend, Treckie, what they should do about raising their child, now three years old. Treckie, a beautiful, half-sized woman, has been seeing another man, a fact Kenneth knows because of the bruises on her legs - lovemaking injuries he refused to ever give her. Kenneth has discussed this peculiar fetish with his father, who knows women, and received the knowledge that some smaller women must do it to show they are women, and not fully matured girls, the perception they give off.

Benn, escaping from the wedding to Caroline, flies to Kyoto at the expense of a lecture series, inviting Kenneth to join him. The Japanese sense of order and utility appeals to Benn, until a strip show he sees at the insistence of his colleagues upsets him with its overt sexuality, at which point, he and Kenneth return to their home in the Midwest.

Benn's next partner is Matilda Layamon, a beautiful, Midwestern daughter, who wants to settle down with a distinguished, older man who can calm her wild side. Benn, perhaps fearing that Kenneth will convince him that it is a foolhardy idea, weds her without “Kenneth’s permission.”

Matilda's father is a rectangular man with sharp, thin shoulders who is a doctor, and in fact, asks that he be called, “Doctor.” He serves the rich, and because of this, has one-percentage point interests in many businesses around the country - an accidental fortune. He is a scheming man, and other than a few disagreements between Benn, and the man, no conflicts occur until he attempts to take advantage of Benn's uncle, a man who, as executor of the will of the Crader mother, undersold, and unfairly bought the Crader home, selling the land to a company which built a tower there, resulting in millions of dollars of profit for Uncle Vilitzer, and pennies for the Crader children. Because Vilitzer controlled the judge, neither Benn nor Kenneth's mother received their fair share, and the Doctor hopes to correct this, so that Matilda will have a rich husband.

In the end, Vilitzer dies after a heated discussion with Kenneth and Benn, and Benn, attending the funeral, sends his wife ahead to their honeymoon, and changes his ticket for the North Pole. He relays this to Kenneth who now lives in Benn's apartment, and who has recently returned from a successful bid to Treckie that he have his daughter for a part of the year. He is aware of her impending marriage thanks to a self-expedient phone call that revealed this information.

The book ends with a conversation between the two professors in which both stories are relayed to each other.

Jordan and Dr. Cox are preparing to throw a party for their son Jack's first birthday. Dr. Cox advises J.D. not to attend the party because Jordan's sister Danni, with whom J.D. had recently broken up with, is also coming to the party. Jordan and Danni's brother Ben (Brendan Fraser) comes back to visit after 2 years. Ben’s leukemia has gone into remission; however, he has neglected to have routine screenings and Cox advises him to get checked out.

Meanwhile, Turk and Carla argue over removing a mole from Turk's face and Carla taking Turk as her last name after they marry, and one of Ted's band members quits. J.D. is taking care of an elderly man with an irregular heartbeat when Dr. Cox instructs him to run tests on Ben while Cox runs an errand. Twenty minutes later, J.D. is called to resuscitate a patient who has gone into cardiac arrest.

When Dr. Cox returns, J.D. hands him a chart and informs him that the patient died. Dr. Cox angrily blames J.D. and sends him home, despite Ben's efforts to convince Cox that it wasn't J.D.'s fault. Two days later, Cox has been at the hospital for sixty straight hours and it is apparent that Jordan is worried he won't show up for their big event later that day. Ben follows Cox around the hospital, apparently trying to convince him to go, but he claims to have a rule of thumb against attending "parties where the guest of honor has no idea of what's going on".

Meanwhile, Carla is busy annoying everyone as she is looking for advice: first she is upset because she doesn't know what to do to repay Turk for having his mole removed, but when he asks her to agree to take his name (hoping she would say no so he wouldn't have to have the surgery) she gladly accepts his terms. But after that she is angry that Turk is 'forcing her' to take his name. She asks an annoyed Dr. Kelso for advice; he responds that she may end up missing the mole after it's gone, even though she thinks she hates it. She finally decides that Turk shouldn't have to have his mole removed, and Turk respects her wishes to keep her own last name.

Ben finally convinces Dr. Cox to leave the hospital to attend the event, as well as apologize to J.D. for blaming him for the patient's death, and on the way advises him to forgive himself. After Dr. Cox asks why Ben doesn't have his camera with him, J.D. arrives and brings Cox to the realization that not only is he not actually attending his son's birthday party, but also that Ben is not present. Cox and J.D. are revealed to be at a cemetery where they are joined by Jordan, Danni, and many of the hospital staff for what is revealed to be Ben's funeral. In reality, Ben was the patient who died under J.D.'s watch. Cox, unable to accept the death of his best friend, had been seeing Ben's spirit as if he were alive. The episode ends as a devastated Dr. Cox uncharacteristically allows those around to comfort him.

A computer programmer and network engineer Simon J. (Jeremy Sisto) begins finding empty plain paper packages in his apartment. Simon goes to great length to try and secure his apartment, but the packages keep appearing. Simon attempts to find out who is leaving the packages. At the same time, Simon, who works in IT, is under pressure to complete a programming project. Simon has also become obsessed with purchasing Nature Fresh brand milk. One of Simon's friends, a courier named Nile (Eugene Byrd), tells Simon that he needs to remedy his social isolation. During his investigation, Simon becomes acquainted with his eccentric neighbours in the block of apartments where he lives. The lifts within the apartment block have ceased working and the corridors are filled with security cameras. Derrick (Udo Kier), who occupies an apartment across the hall from Simon, has developed an artificial intelligence robot head, which Simon finds intriguing. Derrick suggests that the Neighbour (Bruce Payne), who occupies the apartment next to Simon's, may be responsible for the packages. Simon confronts the Neighbour, in the corridor, and asks him whether he has been leaving him packages. The Neighbour, exuding charisma and macho-ness, simply laughs at him.

Simon follows the Neighbour to and from a nightclub. In the nightclub, Simon sees the Neighbour interacting with a number of women, including Trish (Deborah Kara Unger). Trish notices Simon staring at them. On the way home from the nightclub, the Neighbour soon realises that he is being followed and pulls a knife on Simon. When the Neighbour realises who Simon is, he invites him into his apartment for a drink. Before entering his apartment, the Neighbour smashes the security cameras in the corridor. When Simon enters the Neighbour's apartment, he becomes aware that his refrigerator is filled with cans of cola 500. The Neighbour invites Simon to participate in a virtual reality sex-game that he has developed and which features Trish. Simon immerses himself within the virtual reality game. When he exits the game, he finds the Neighbour bleeding and dying. The Neighbour advises him that he had also been receiving packages, before dying. Simon subsequently develops a romantic relationship with Trish. Trish is obsessed with orange juice.

As Simon continues his investigations, a number of other murders begin happening in the building. Simon becomes aware that the other residents are receiving packages too but were keeping quiet. Simon also learns that the other residents are becoming addicted to certain products. The only person in the apartment who is not affected is the janitor, Howard (Lance Henriksen). Nile tells Simon about a corporate experiment to ‘infuse’ Nanomites into people's brains to make them addicted to certain products. Simon dismisses Nile's claims as a lie, but eventually realises that he is telling the truth.

Teenager Josh Framm's mother, Jackie, has just married her veterinarian boyfriend, Dr. Patrick Sullivan (Dale Midkiff). Josh and his best friend, Tom Stewart (Shayn Solberg), just made their school's soccer team when their coach reveals that their team will become co-ed. Josh meets Emma Putter, an attractive, wealthy girl who just moved to Fernfield from England after her mother's death, who will not only be playing on his soccer team, but also has a golden retriever named Molly, who Buddy also finds attractive. Emma invites Josh to a party at her house and Tom arrives dressed up like a British soldier and looking quite silly wearing a kilt. At the same time, things work out between Buddy and Molly and they become infatuated on the second floor in Emma's house. Josh's sister, Andrea Framm (Caitlin Wachs) and her best friend, Tammy (Chantal Strand), want to scope out what's really going on at the party. Molly quickly has puppies with Buddy. Next, it is discovered that Buddy also has the uncanny ability to play soccer. However, the soccer committee decided on the recommendation of chairman Jack Stearns to ban the Timberwolves from the soccer league all because they had Buddy on their team.

The Timberwolves were given two options: either remove Buddy from their team or remove their team from the league (either way, the Springbrook Spartans, the team Jack serves as coach of, would have rectified their 3-1 loss to the Timberwolves). Knowing Buddy was the star player, they naturally quit the league. When Jack's son, Spartans all-star captain Steve Stearns, learns that the Timberwolves have been banned from the league, he's outraged and confronts his father, leading to Jack calling Timberwolves coach Montoya and informing him that, after careful consideration, the committee had a change of heart and the Timberwolves were back in the league. Buddy has a uniform and is on the roster, leading Josh's soccer team to the state championship against the Spartans. However, trouble ensues when Buddy and Molly's six newborn puppies are kidnapped by a man called Snerbert (Martin Ferrero), who wants to sell them. Once they are caught by Josh, Andrea, Emma, and Snerbert's assistant, Webster (Don McMillan), the butler Emma's father, Geoffrey (Duncan Regehr), hired to help care for Molly during her pregnancy, threw Snerbert under the bus by revealing the motive for the kidnapping: Snerbert wanted to get rich, while Webster just wanted a puppy, something he always wanted since childhood. Webster subsequently offers to drive Andrea, Josh, Emma and Buddy to the stadium, which the Timberwolves were losing because Emma, Josh and Buddy were missing, while an army of dogs stayed behind to make sure Snerbert didn't try to go anywhere. The Timberwolves subsequently win the championship thanks to a game-winning goal by Buddy. Afterwards, Buddy helps the United States women's national soccer team win the FIFA Women's World Cup in a penalty shootout against Norway .

Josh is off to his first year of college and Buddy has stayed behind with Josh's little sister, Andrea, and the rest of the family. Jackie and Patrick have recently welcomed Josh and Andrea's half brother Noah. Andrea, attempting to fit in with her junior high classmates, decides to join the baseball team. Along the way she discovers that Buddy also has the uncanny ability to play baseball. Just as the season is settling in, a terrible discovery is made—Buddy's puppies have mysteriously started disappearing with the help of the kidnappers' little helper, Rocky Raccoon. It turns out the kidnappers were researchers who were dognapping the puppies because they thought they had a special gene that would enable them to play sports. Buddy must find them and make it to the major leagues as he goes to bat for the Anaheim Angels.

Buddy finds that he also has the uncanny ability to play volleyball. Throughout this experience he and a talking parrot stop some crooks named Doug and Gordon. Andrea attempts to earn money to fly out to California to visit Tammy after her family must move there. Josh has decided to play football at college for the summer instead of returning home for summer vacation.

In December 1935, Hercule Poirot, having solved a case for a British Army garrison in Jordan, is due to travel to London on the Orient Express from Istanbul and encounters his old friend Signor Bianchi, a director of the company which owns the line. Other passengers travelling in the same coach as Poirot and Bianchi are American widow Harriet Belinda Hubbard; English governess Mary Debenham; Swedish missionary Greta Ohlsson; American businessman Samuel Ratchett, with his secretary/translator Hector McQueen and English valet Edward Beddoes; Italian-American car salesman Antonio ("Gino") Foscarelli; elderly Russian Princess Natalia Dragomiroff and her German maid Hildegarde Schmidt; Hungarian Count Rudolf Andrenyi and his wife Elena; British Indian Army Colonel John Arbuthnott; and American theatrical agent Cyrus Hardman.

The morning after the train departs, Ratchett tries to secure Poirot's services as a bodyguard for $15,000 as he has received death threats. Poirot declines Ratchett's offer, but curiously questions the motives of his enemies, angering him. That night, Bianchi gives Poirot his compartment as he transfers to another coach. The train is stopped by a snowdrift between Vinkovci and Brod in Yugoslavia, and Poirot is awoken from sleep several times, once by a scream from Ratchett's cabin. The next morning, Ratchett is found stabbed to death, and Bianchi asks Poirot to solve the case. Poirot enlists help from Stavros Constantine, a Greek medical doctor who slept in the same coach as Bianchi. Dr. Constantine ascertains that Ratchett was stabbed 12 times in a distorted pattern and with seemingly varying accuracy and lethality.

Found at the crime scene is a fragment of a letter, revealing that Ratchett was actually Lanfranco Cassetti, a gangster, who five years earlier, planned the kidnapping and murder of Daisy Armstrong, infant daughter of wealthy British Army Colonel Hamish Armstrong and his American wife, Sonia. Cassetti had a mafia colleague help him kidnap and kill Daisy, but then betrayed him and fled the country with the ransom money and was only revealed on the eve of his partner's execution. Overcome with grief, the pregnant Mrs. Armstrong had given premature birth to a stillborn baby and died in the process. Colonel Armstrong, consumed by grief from the loss of his family, committed suicide. A French maidservant named Paulette, wrongly suspected of complicity in the kidnapping, had also committed suicide to avoid being arrested, only to be found innocent afterwards. Further clues are discovered, including a pipe cleaner, a handkerchief with the initial "H," Cassetti's broken watch, and a conductor's suit. Poirot's timeline of passenger activities the night before indicates that Cassetti was murdered at about 1:15 a.m., the time of the smashed watch and the scream. As the coach was isolated through the night, the murderer must be one of its passengers or the train's French conductor, Pierre Michel. Mrs. Hubbard reports that she detected a man in her room, later finding the bloodied knife discarded in her compartment. Foscarelli dramatically hints the murder was most likely part of a Mafia feud.

Poirot interviews the passengers and Pierre. He learns McQueen was the son of the Armstrong case's District Attorney and was very fond of Mrs. Armstrong; Beddoes had been a British Army batman; Greta Ohlsson has limited knowledge of English and has been to America; Countess Andrenyi is of German descent, and her maiden name is Grünwald (German for "Greenwood," Mrs. Armstrong's maiden name); Pierre Michel's daughter died five years earlier of scarlet fever; Colonel Arbuthnott, who displays knowledge of Armstrong's military decorations, reveals his plans to marry Ms. Debenham (which Poirot, suspicious, overheard) once his divorce from his philandering wife is finalized. When Poirot questions Princess Dragomiroff, he discovers she was a friend of Linda Arden, retired actress and Mrs. Armstrong's mother; the Princess was Sonia's godmother. He learns that the Armstrongs had a butler, a secretary, a cook, a chauffeur, and a nursemaid. Poirot flatters Schmidt by saying he knows a good cook. Foscarelli denies having been a chauffeur. Hardman reveals he is, in fact, a Pinkerton detective hired as a bodyguard by Cassetti. When Poirot shows him the photo of Paulette, he is visibly moved.

Poirot gathers the suspects and describes two solutions to the murder. The first suggests Cassetti's murder was simply the result of a Mafia feud, with an undetected assailant escaping from the train through the snow. This is rejected by Bianchi and Dr. Constantine as absurd. The second, more complex solution links all the suspects in the coach to the Armstrong case. In addition to self-incriminating revelations by Hardman, McQueen, Schmidt, and the Princess, Poirot has deduced Countess Elena is actually Mrs. Armstrong's sister, Helena. The Princess claimed the Armstrong's secretary's name as "Miss Freebody;" this is in fact Mary Debenham (freely associated from the well-known British department store (at that time known as 'Debenhams and Freebody'). Beddoes was Armstrong's butler in the Army; Miss Ohlsson was Daisy's nursemaid; Colonel Arbuthnott was a close army friend of Armstrong's; Foscarelli was the family's chauffeur; Pierre was Paulette's father; Hardman was a policeman in love with Paulette and Mrs. Hubbard is in fact Linda Arden, Mrs. Armstrong's mother. McQueen had drugged Cassetti, rendering him unconscious and allowing the conspirators to murder him jointly, (the Andrenyis stabbing together), totaling 12 - the typical number of a jury - wounds of differing damage. The scream and broken watch were provided by McQueen to persuade Poirot the murder had occurred earlier, when the other suspects were in the clear. In fact, the suspects joined to commit the murder once Poirot had returned to sleep, after two o'clock. The only passengers not involved in the murder are Bianchi and Dr. Constantine, both having slept in the other coach, which was locked.

Poirot asks Bianchi to choose one solution before the train is freed from the snowdrift, but admits that the Yugoslavian police will much prefer the simple one. Bianchi, in sympathy with the suspects, and knowing how evil Cassetti was, proposes the simple solution, and Poirot agrees, although he will struggle with his conscience. The relieved passengers and Pierre toast each other as the train is freed from the snowdrift and resumes its journey.

Hercule Poirot is travelling on the ''Orient Express''. While on the journey, Poirot meets a very close friend Bouc, who works for the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. The train is stopped when a landslide blocks the line on the second night out from Istanbul, and American millionaire Samuel Edward Ratchett is found stabbed to death the next morning.

Since no footprints are visible around the train and the doors to the other cars were locked, it seems that the murderer must still be among the passengers in Ratchett's car. Poirot and Bouc work together to solve the case. They are aided by Pierre Michel, the middle-aged French conductor of the car.

A key to the solution is Ratchett's revealed involvement in the Armstrong tragedy in the United States several years earlier, in which a baby was kidnapped and then murdered. (The fictitious Armstrong case, inspired by the real-life kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh's baby boy.)