A wedding is meant to be held between Mr Jason Kane and Professor Bernice S. Summerfield in 2010. However chaos erupts as Time Lord associates show up from all over. And someone seems to want to prevent the entire event in the first place.

A group of 42,363 Union humans and azi are dispatched to set up a base on a very rare habitable planet named Gehenna II in the Zeta Reticuli system. Unknown to the settlers, their mission is designed to fail; they are deliberately abandoned in order to create long-term problems for the rival Alliance.

The native calibans are first presented as annoying lizard-like creatures constantly moving earth to make incomprehensible patterns. The humans at first attempt to keep them outside a perimeter or to drive them away. In time, larger and larger calibans are seen, with differences in color, size, and a social structure (gray calibans are subservient to the larger brown calibans). It becomes clear that the creatures are capable of communication, at least at the level of symbology, and of developing empathic or possibly telepathic links to humans. Eventually a symbiosis develops, with some of the calibans pairing off with humans.

Over a period of several generations and cut off from resupply, the colonists lapse into a primitive lifestyle. By necessity, the azi are allowed to raise families. The non-azi humans are in the minority from the beginning and over time, intermarry with the majority. An Alliance mission first seeks to intervene, then withdraws from direct contact, content to watch as two quasi-feudal, fundamentally opposed societies develop, while a third, smaller group called the "Weirds" becomes much more closely associated with the calibans, living with them rather than the other humans and becoming less comprehensible in the process.

The novel follows several generations of descendants of one azi who establish different lines and rise to become the leaders of two rival cultures. Historical moments depict the decline of the colony, the establishment of human-caliban relations, cultural development, and the planetary environment. Finally, the two cultures, one "masculine"-aggressive, the other more "feminine"-receptive, fight for dominance. A Union delegation arrives at the end, to be given short shrift by Elai, the female ruler who has emerged victorious.

The Prologue relates a fable in which a leopard becomes caught in a trap. None of the animals will release the creature because they fear she will eat them, until a woman passes by and makes the leopard promise not to hurt her if she frees her. Once free the leopard goes back on her promise and begins hunting the woman, arguing that her brothers built the trap and that killing is part of her nature. Unable to get help from the other animals, the woman eventually encounters the clever hare Tsuro, who tricks the leopard back into the trap, from where she again begins to shout for help. Tsuro turns to the woman and asks whether or not they should free her.

Following events on Detrios, the Doctor takes his companions on a holiday to the Worldsphere, a Dyson Sphere that is the home of the massively technologically advanced race called the People. The People are an amalgam of several different races that have evolved to an incredibly advanced state where they can change their form and sex at will. The sphere is also home to several different kinds of AI, including the governing computer called God, spherical drones and various starships that orbit the sphere. Even household objects such as tables and baths have their own personalities. The People are so technologically advanced that they have a non-aggression treaty with the Time Lords. The travellers move into a deserted villa that overlooks the town of iSanti Jeni and wake up the following morning to find their every whim and desire catered to. Benny makes friends with local baker saRa!qava and Chris begins a romantic relationship with her daughter Dep. Despite his earlier claims the Doctor has a very serious reason for visiting the Worldsphere—in a nearby wilderness he has hidden Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart under the guard of the drone aM!xitsa. After she disappeared into the Time Vortex the Doctor tracked her down on board a slave ship in the Atlantic, reduced to a feral state where she attacks and kills anyone who approaches her. The Doctor brought her here for safety but fears that she is too dangerous to be kept alive. That night a thunder storm rages across the bay.

The following night saRa!qava invites them to a party at the local power facility which has been made to resemble a set of windmills. Whilst the others mingle, Roz is the only one who feels uncomfortable in the peace and quiet of her surroundings. This is not helped when she accidentally consumes a mood enhancing drink that causes her to relive the death of her partner Martle. She also unwittingly becomes a cult figure when she throws up over an alien creature that resembles a cockroach, something that the People find fascinating. She bumps into another guest feLixi, who claims to understand her feelings. He is a veteran of the war the People recently fought against an insectoid race and witnessed the death of his lover. Meanwhile, Chris and Dep are too busy playing an electronic game to notice a strange electrical discharge for one of the windmills.

The morning after, two agents of the ship !C-mel arrive and inform the group that during the thunderstorm a drone called vi!Cari was killed by a lightning strike which somehow penetrated the drone's shielding. Itself another war veteran, vi!Cari had withdrawn from society and become increasingly unpopular after the death of its partner. Popular opinion blames vi!Cari for causing the micro-tsunami that destroyed local artist beRut's mural on iSenti Jeni's harbour wall. God was busy conducting surveillance and cannot explain what the drone was doing out in a storm. The Doctor volunteers to investigate and discover if vi!Cari was murdered. The Doctor and Chris use a biplane to fly over the crime site and are forced to land on a nearby ocean liner when they run out of fuel. Re-supplied they return to the skies and the Doctor parachutes down to the ground. Meeting up with saRa!qava and Benny, the Doctor outlines his theory that vi!Cari's shields were damaged by specifically designed lightning strikes.

Kadiatu experiences a nightmare in which her creators threaten to put her back in her box and takes shelter in the villa. Benny recognises Kadiatu and realises that the Doctor has brought her here despite his claims to the contrary. The Doctor admits that he is unsure what to do with her and is especially worried that various trans-temporal entities might be attracted to her. There are only two solutions—turn her into a Time Lord, or painlessly kill her. Benny refuses to allow this, so the Doctor decides to make it her choice and gives her two days to make up her mind.

The Doctor's presence disturbs the millions of ships in orbit within the sphere, since they cannot predict his actions. !C-mel nearly convinces the ships to go to war against the Time Lords, but the Doctor manages to talk the ships down. The Doctor questions an intelligent fish Chris has caught, and it confirms that a depth charge caused the micro-tsunami. The Doctor believes that vi!Cari was out in the storm looking for evidence that proved itself innocent of destroying the mural. He dispatches Roz and Chris to interview some of the ships, but Roz loses her patience when the first one, S-Lioness, answers her questions before she asks them. Roz manages to learn that many ships suffered psychological effects from the war, including the ship R-Vene which requested to be dismantled after two of its crew were killed. It was this ship that vi!Cari served on. The Doctor believes that the People would not simply destroy the ship and concludes that the ship was rebuilt and given a new identity to help it recover. Roz shares this information with feLixi, who has begun to write poems for her. He shows her a garden area he has created and the two make love.

Benny finds her decision about Kadiatu harder to make than she thought and she begins to experience bad dreams. saRa!qava takes Benny on a shopping trip, and reveals that she had a reason to kill vi!Cari, since the drone discovered that she had conceived Dep without her partners permission. Such a crime is punishable by social ostracism in the People's culture. She wants to share this information with the Doctor. Unknown to her, Dep commits the same crime. When she and Chris make love, Dep secretly manipulates her own biology so that conceives a child. When the Doctor and Benny arrive for the meeting with saRa!qava, the pair are attacked by a swarm of microscopic drones that attempt to eat anything in their path. The Doctor and Benny survive long enough for God to intervene. saRa!qava protests that she is not responsible. The Doctor reveals he already knows that—only a ship could build such a weapon and monitor her calls.

Back at the glade where he has hidden Kadiatu, aM!xitsa performs a routine brain scan. He is hit by a virus created from Kadiatu's own brain patterns, allowing her to escape. By the time the TARDIS crew learn of this she has reached the town and is apparently attacking beRut. In fact, beRut is the one attacking her as she has graffitied his new mural with the phrase "I AM NOT A NUMBER, I AM A FREE-WHEELING UNICYCLE". Kadiatu has overcome her genetic programming and is not longer compelled to kill. Free at last, she begins dancing on the beach with Roz and the others joining in. As the party ends, the Doctor spots the windmills and realises that they could have been the source of the blast, explaining the energy discharge during the earlier party. It occurs to Roz that vi!Cari might have kept a diary to cope with its isolation. She confronts S-Lioness, who confesses that her behaviour during their earlier encounter was to mask that it has vi!Cari's diary.

As Roz leaves !C-mel moves in and holds her hostage along with the rest of the crew. To prevent God attacking it, !C-mel moves inside the Sphere. It admits that it is the re-engineered R-Vene and threatens to use its weapons against the several trillion inhabitants of the sphere unless the Doctor grants it asylum. The Doctor exchanges himself for all the hostages and then suggests that they link telepathically to save time. In doing so !C-mel unwitting downloads the virus Kadiatu attacked aM!xitsa with and begins to break up. Roz makes it to safety, while the Doctor falls out of the ship, only to be caught by the parachute he befriended earlier.

Having read the diary, Roz confronts feLixi, who reveals that his lover who died in the war was vi!Cari's partner and he blamed the drone for her death. He convinced !C-mel that vi!Cari had found its secret and manipulated the ship into killing the drone. Roz also accuses him of slipping her the flashback drink at the party and faking affection for her in order to get close to the Doctor. He denies this and says that his feelings are genuine, but Roz walks away. feLixi's is punished by being ostracized from society. The Doctor injects Kadiatu with Time Lord DNA that stabilises her genetic code and allows her to travel freely in time. Benny tells the Doctor about her dreams and outlines a theory of her own that she has developed—since all the Doctor's companions are linked through the TARDIS's telepathic circuits, Benny suspects that her agonising over Kadiatu's fate and eventually deciding to let her live filtered through to Kadiatu's mind and helped her overcome her programming. Benny believes this was the Doctor's plan all along, but he says that they just got lucky. The crew remain on the sphere for several more days before leaving in the TARDIS, unaware that Dep is pregnant with Chris's child. Kadiatu leaves for her own travels accompanied by aM!xitsa.

The epilogue relates another fable of Tsuro the hare and his ancient enemy the snake, Danhamakatu. Through his cleverness, Tsuro frees the leopard from her influence and in revenge Danhamakatu promises ''to take the life of one of his friends''. Tsuro however, laughs, thinking that he has tricked her again. By the time she strikes he will have been able to think up a plan to save his friend. But the woman is worried; what if he cannot think up a plan this time?

Marin Asagi is a typical junior high school girl with a loving adoptive family. Her life changes drastically when a mysterious mirage is seen in the sky above the entire Earth. The mirage is actually another world called Brigadoon. Soon, alien creatures called Monomakia descend from the formation in the sky and hunt down Marin, but she is saved by another Monomakia named Melan Blue, a flying, sword-wielding, gun-slinging alien who becomes her protector.

Together, Marin and Melan must save the Earth and deal with family crises, school prejudice and the police, and come to an understanding of Marin's past and Melan's unexplained mission, as well as learn to trust each other.

The film centers around Thane Furrows, who spends the day messing around his apartment and complaining about a number of random subjects like (among other things) flies, popsicles, junk mail, his boss' wife, his upstairs neighbor, smoking, salesmen, and philosophizes on a number of things such as the morality of eating humans and the sensibility of keeping pets.

Furrows has a number of strange philosophies: he wishes his children's books to be instructive for the good of society, such as ''How to Start the Family Car'' (in case "someone chokes on a chicken bone" and "there are no adults around"), and ''Bye Bye Grandma'' which he wants to help accustom children to death. He refuses to keep pets because he feels they would "turn on you" in a food shortage, choosing instead to keep a cardboard cutout of a dog named Pete.

A number of minor annoyances also perturb him throughout the day: a fly lands on his cereal at breakfast, which he inadvertently eats; an insurance salesman named Ray comes to the door, to which Furrows responds by feigning interest and, shortly after promising to take out a number of policies, slams the door in Ray's face with the words "I'd rather be dead"; an automated survey about carpet cleaning calls him repeatedly; his boss' wife comes by to pick up a book he was writing, and he (eventually) tells her off. After the fly incident, Furrows suffers from a number of scares. When closing his eyes, he repeatedly sees a menacing face. He receives numerous messages from phone and mail about "eight o'clock".

Furrows' only friend appears to be a man named Al, who comes by in the afternoon for a visit. They eat cereal and Al tries to dissuade Thane of his cynicism. While Thane attacks the optimism of people like Al, he seems comforted by Al's sympathy over the visit of Melanie, the boss' wife. Later that night, Furrows loses an arm wrestling match to the noisy neighbour upstairs, thereby giving him the right to play metal as loud as he wants whenever he wants. After a day of "messing around", Furrows receives a knock at the door at the dreaded "eight o'clock" and is greeted by a limo driver. When he steps into the limo, the driver (Jim Carrey) turns around and reveals himself to be Death.

Death tells Furrows that he has met his quota of saying "I wish I were dead" and must die, and Furrows complains about the stupidity of the rule until Death, unable to scare Furrows into line, puts him back into his body. Furrows awakes with frightened Al standing over him, trying to wake him. The story ends with the two going out to a restaurant, though Furrows' insistence that they serve him cereal, showing he's willing to try some new things but not all.

After the credits, a short epilogue involves Death stopping the limo in a dark space and looking at the heavens. He claims that he just couldn't stand Thane and had to return him to life. He adds that he isn't ever coming back for Thane, implying that Thane may have just accidentally become immortal.

In the beginning of the movie we see Billy (Robert Huthinson) in his room playing on his computer as his mom (Robin Riker) walks in to bring some CDs from his dad's warehouse. He reads one the CDs that says "Oedekerk" and puts it in his DVD drive. The computer begins to go completely out of control as Billy and his room is sucked into the World Wide Web. Steve Oedekerk as himself introduces himself as well as introduces and tells us about the World Wide Web and where to go for help.

The show begins to feature many of its segments known as 'Glass Booth Guy', in which passersby are harassed by a man in an unbreakable glass booth at a gas station; 'Plane Stalker', in which a man finds himself being followed by a full-size airliner, 'Fat Back Jack', in which a morbidly obese man sings of his need for a woman to 'help him find his shoes', and 'Oedebattle', a ''Mortal Kombat'' style video game where an arrogant warrior mercilessly defeats hopelessly outmatched opponents as well as the "Talking Skeleton" and much more.

In the end, we see Billy back in his room with most of the characters from the segments going crazy and dancing. His mother comes into his room in sudden shock and tells him to go to bed. A face sticks out of the door and the commotion goes on again.

During the end credits we see outtakes and reels by different comedians and the talking skeleton from the segments of the show screaming "Who am I?" twice while Steve Oedekerk is playing his guitar.

Katherine Lewis, having been a dentist since her late father and grandfather had each been one, is killed after being struck by a bike messenger. She awakens to find herself in Limbo, a place between Heaven and Hell. In Limbo Katherine is told that she must perform community service as a mythological being before going to Heaven. Katherine signs a contract to be the Tooth Fairy and is trained by a worker named Raul on how to perform her service.

On her first night on the job, Katherine visits a lonely 12-year-old boy named Bobby Jameson and is accidentally discovered by him. As it turns out, children who have baby teeth can see her, while those who have lost all of theirs cannot, as the loss of baby teeth represents the loss of innocence required to see magical beings and creatures. The next day at school, a bully named Jeff and his gang ambush Bobby, and one of them punches him and knocks out another one of his teeth. Katherine comes to visit Bobby again that night and discovers that his mother had died of cancer and his father is always busy at work. Katherine decides to help Bobby and his friends at his school with their problems, which lands her in trouble with the higher-ups in Limbo, as revealing herself to living humans is a grievous infraction. However, she has an all-time high approval rating as Tooth Fairy and is let off with a warning. Katherine feels that the children's needs are greater than hers and asks for Raul's help in making her visible to the parents and the school principal so she can prove that she is real and Bobby is not insane. Raul is touched that Katherine is willing to sacrifice her chance to go to Heaven to help Bobby and his friends and agrees to help her.

Katherine succeeds in becoming visible to the adults by "letting her guard down" and showing Bobby that she cares for him. She proceeds to tell off the parents and principal, but is sent back to Limbo once again for revealing herself to humans. Once there, Rogers, the supervisor of Limbo, sends Katherine to the Hellavator to be sent to Hell. After saying goodbye to Raul she begins her descent but suddenly finds herself alive and back on Earth. She learns from Raul that not only was she dreaming, but she has been given a second chance at life, as well. She later notices Rogers as a traffic cop who mouths to her that she is watching her. This suggests that Katherine wasn't dreaming after all.

Katherine returns to her job as a dentist with a newfound love of life. She finds Bobby Jameson, a new patient, waiting for his appointment with her. She explains what happened and goes on to live her life to its fullest. After she removes his last baby tooth, though, all of his memories of her as the Tooth Fairy are lost, and she is saddened that he no longer remembers her. However, his father, Thomas, recognizes her from when she turned visible. Katherine asks Thomas and Bobby to go to a baseball game with her, and they accept, which implies the blooming of a romance between Thomas and Katherine which could result in her becoming Bobby's stepmother.

One hundred and fifty years before the present, the wizard Kaedin had opened four portals leading to different planes of existence. He harnessed power of the four planes to create "Planar Gems," each with the same power as the planes they came from. He then created a fifth Gem to control the four Planar Gems and entrusted a beholder to protect it. Beholders are long-lived, and this one still protects it to this day. Kaedin became more powerful and malevolent with the four Planar Gems, and conquered town after town. The Kingdom of Baele called for its best and brightest, and four souls answered the call (your characters in the game). They traveled to Kaedin's castle and killed him. As Kaedin died, he cast a final spell that killed the four heroes. With Kaedin dead, the heroes were buried with full honors and the Gems were banished to the planes where they remain. Castle Baele was built over the site of the four portals and Kaedin's body is thrown into an unmarked grave.

One hundred and fifty years later, a group of evil clerics sought to channel the dead wizard's power, but Kaedin revived and killed them all. Now a group of good clerics revives the four heroes to go after Kaedin. The four go through the crypts and fight the Bulette. After heading out into the swamps, They find a shadowy rogue who gives you information on the castle and whom to contact there. At the end of the swamps, they enter Castle Baele.

Upon arriving at Castle Baele, the four travel to the shoppe and chat with Rik, the shopkeeper. He informs the four that they need to get the Planar Gems. Although, you need to attain certain keys first. The four head to the Dragon's Tankard to talk with the rogues (of which one is Lidda, featured in the ''Dungeons and Dragons'' ''Player's Handbook'', the halfling rogue). She gives the heroes the key to the Great Hall in exchange for killing all of the Trolls in the marketplace, and the heroes go there. After clearing out the Great Hall, the heroes return to Rik and he tells them that they must collect the four Scepters to open the portals to the first plane. After clearing out the Treasury, Barracks, Church of Pelor and the Dungeons, the four return to Rick with the four scepters.

After attaining the scepters, the four kill the beholder guarding the Gem of Winds (the fifth Gem Kaedin made) and take it back to Rik. He explains how to open the first portal, and the heroes go to the Wilds and kill the Yuan-Ti. They fight to the top of the trees and then to a bluff where they fight an Yrthak. After defeating the Yrthak the heroes take the Gem of Nature, which opens the portal to the Forge. This is a hot and fiery level full of clockwork soldiers and workers (with some Fire Elementals and Fire giants as well). The four fight their way to a red dragon and defeat it. They claim the Gem of Fire and open the portal to the Frostbound. Upon arriving, the heroes come to a sorceress who wants some Ice Golems dead. Working their way through barbarians, frost wolves and killing the Ice Golems, the heroes make their way to the Frost Worm's Lair; and they kill the Frost Worm and take the Gem of Ice, which opens the portal to Bone Necropolis. The heroes discover that Rik is missing, and Lidda supposes that he got wise to the situation and moved on. After fighting many undead in the Bone Necropolis, the four come across the Bone Bridge and defeat many more undead foes. In the Bone Temple, the heroes come up against very powerful creatures. The heroes are tested, but come out victorious. In the inner sanctum the four come across a Lich, which they defeat with their upgraded ancestral weapons and claim the Gem of Death.

Upon returning to the Shoppe, the heroes find they now must travel to Kaedin's flying castle. The heroes find out that Rik is actually Kaedin. He laughs and mocks the four, as they decide to follow him and end this once and for all. They fight many beasts and pull many levers until they face Kaedin the first time. He flees further into the castle, where the four find him in another tower and fight him until he leaves a second time. Upon fighting him the third time, he uses the Gems to call upon the power stored in them. Because the four actually possess the real Gems, they can defeat Kaedin and destroy the Gems leaving Baele in peace, and the heroes help to rebuild the Castle and help the surrounding communities.

The first episode, ''Meet the People'', is a comedy-drama dealing with preparations for an official visit to the colliery by Prince Charles. The humour revolves around the expensive and ludicrous preparations required for an official visit from a member of the Royal Family. Some workers recognise this and cannot take it seriously. Management recognises it but has to 'play the game'. Special toilets must be constructed "just in case" and destroyed after the visit. A worker is instructed to paint a brick holding up a window. On the eve of the visit, the slogan "Scargill rules OK" is painted on a wall. The manager comments "When I find out who did that I'll string him up by his knackers". In another scene, an argument takes place in a pub between colliers opposed to the expenditure on the visit and who think the colliery was chosen because its union officials were relatively conservative; and other colliers who are looking forward to the visit.

The second episode, ''Back to Reality'', takes place a month later and deals with an underground explosion that kills several miners and follows the attempts to rescue others that remain trapped.

art design present in much of the film The film starts with the image of a mechanism beginning to work - as the gears move (behind the scenes), the sun slowly rises up over a town and a new day begins. The town, Hamelin, is shown to be one which is full of miserly and petty people, where everything is wasted and money and social rank are the first priority. The waste leads to an enormous rat infestation at night that spills out into the streets the next day. As the town leaders meet to decide on the best course of action, a stranger appears in the doorway - a hooded piper who demonstrates that with the sound of his playing he can entice rats to their deaths. The town leaders are delighted and offer him 1000 gold coins as payment if he would get rid of all of the town's rats. The piper accepts and begins walking through the city, drawing all of the rats behind him. At the same time, a jeweler, who was among the elite group of leaders, walks into a woman's home and tries to seduce her. The woman (who is the only character who does not look grotesque, implying innocence) refuses. The jeweler persists, but before he can do anything the piper passes by her house and at the sound of the music the jeweler is forced to jump out of the window. After all of the rats plunge off a cliff-side tower into a lake, the piper comes back into town, on the way once again preventing the jeweler's advances on the woman. The piper and the woman sit on a bench together as he plays a beautiful melody that is accompanied by paint-on-wood animation (a complete change of style from the rest of the film).

Finally, the piper goes to collect his promised payment. The town leaders (who are in the middle of gorging themselves on food and wine and among whom is the jeweler seen drinking and telling his sad tale of rejection to his friends) give him only a black button. The piper leaves angrily. That night, the jeweler and his drunken friends break into the woman's house as she is praying, and proceed to rape and murder her (this is implied rather than shown). The piper comes, but this time he is too late - all that he can do is close the eyes of her horrified face.

Now the piper climbs up the highest tower in the town, to the top floor where the machinery for the sun that we saw in the introduction is located. At the very top is the god Saturn, holding an hourglass. The piper and Saturn have a silent conversation, and a decision is made. All of the sand in Saturn's hourglass runs out, and the gears that make the sun rise stop working. As the now-silent day begins, the piper begins to play his pipe and leaves the tower. As he walks through the streets and the citizens hear him, they turn into rats and follow the sound, eventually jumping off the tower just as the rats did previously, the transformed jeweler being the last to jump.

The only person left is an old fisherman (who has been seen watching the city from far off earlier in the film) who comes to watch. When he gets close to the piper, however, the piper ceases to exist - his cloak, now empty of a physical being inside it, is blown away with the wind. The fisherman walks through the abandoned city and finds in one of the houses the only survivor remaining - a baby (who is still uncorrupted). He takes the baby away with him and leaves the now-empty town.

Seventh-grader Jason Herkimer narrates the events of his year, from school, hair, and pimples, to mothers, little brothers, and a girl. It is a story about being true to yourself and the nostalgic recollection of adolescent years. Jason has a crush on a cheerleader, Debbie. He also has trouble fitting in at school. He goes through a lot of natural teenage problems and shares the experiences.

Two men inherited a vast fortune as descendants of a French soldier who settled in India and married the immensely rich widow of a native prince – the begum of the title.

One of the inheritors is a French physician, Dr. Sarrasin, who has long been concerned with the unsanitary conditions of European cities. He decides to establish a utopian model city constructed and maintained with public health as its government's primary concern.

The other is a German scientist Prof. Schultze, a militarist and racist. Though having a French grandmother, he is convinced of the superiority of the "Saxon" (i.e., German) over the "Latin" (primarily, the French), which he believes will lead to the eventual destruction of the latter by the former. Schultze had published many articles "proving" the superiority of the German race. Schultze decides to make his own utopia—a city devoted to the production of ever more powerful and destructive weapons—and vows to destroy Sarrasin's city.

They both get the United States to cede its sovereignty over two cities for the creation of their utopian city-states. One is Ville-France (French: France-Ville, also translated as "Frankville") on the western side of the Cascades, and the other is Stahlstadt ("steel city"), on the east side.

Construction of Ville-France begins in January 1872, by Chinese migrant workers - who are sent away once the city is complete. The book justifies the exclusion as needed to avoid the "difficulties created in other places" by the presence of Chinese communities. This might be an oblique reference to the Chinese Massacre of 1871.

Most of the action takes place in Stahlstadt, a vast industrial and mining complex, where ores are made into steel, then made into weapons. Stahlstadt becomes in a few years the world's biggest producer of arms. Schultze is Stahlstadt's dictator, whose very word is law and who makes all significant decisions personally. There is no mention of Stahlstadt precise legal status ''vis-à-vis'' the Oregon or US Federal authorities, but clearly, Schultze behaves as a completely independent head of state.

The strongly fortified city is built in concentric circles, each separated from the next by a high wall, with the "Tower of the Bull" – Schultze's own abode – at its center. The workers are under a semi-military discipline, precisely doing metallurgical jobs. A worker straying into where and what he is not authorized to see and know is punished with immediate expulsion in the outer sectors and with death in the sensitive inner ones.

Dr. Sarrasin, in contrast, is a rather passive figure – a kind of non-hereditary constitutional monarch who, after founding Ville-France, does not take any significant decision in the rest of the book. The book's real protagonist, who actively resists Schultze, is an Alsatian, Marcel Bruckmann, native of the part of France forcibly annexed by Germany in the recent war. As an Alsatian, he is a fluent speaker of German, a requirement for entering Stahlstadt, and is able to pass himself off as being Swiss. He quickly rises high in its hierarchy, gains Schultze's personal confidence, spies out some well-kept secrets, and sends a warning to his French friends. It turns out that Schultze is not content to produce arms, but fully intends to use them first against Ville-France, then establish Germany's worldwide rule. (He casually mentions a plan to seize "some islands off Japan".)

Two weapons are being produced – a super-cannon capable of firing massive incendiary charges to Ville-France, and shells filled with gas. Schultze's gas is designed not only to suffocate its victims but at the same time also freeze them. A special projectile is filled with compressed liquid carbon dioxide that, when released, instantly lowers the surrounding temperature to a hundred degrees Celsius below zero, quick-freezing every living thing in the vicinity.

Schultze, however, meets with poetic justice. Firstly, the incendiary charge fired by the super-cannon at Ville-France not only renders the cannon unusable but also misses its mark. The charge flies over the city and into space. Secondly, as Schultze prepares orders for the final assault, a gas projectile in the office accidentally explodes and kills him.

Stahlstadt collapses since Schultze had kept everything in his own hands and never appointed any deputy. It goes bankrupt and becomes a ghost town. Bruckmann and his friend, Dr. Sarrasin's son, take it over. Schultze would remain forevermore in his self-made tomb, on display as he had planned to do to his foes, while the good Frenchmen take over direction of Stahlstadt in order to let it "serve a good cause from now on.", its arms production being used to defend Ville-France.

In 1916, a group of young Americans go to France to serve in the French Air Service, ''L'Aéronautique militaire'' during World War I. The recruits are under the command of French Captain Georges Thenault, with veteran flying ace Reed Cassidy as their mentor.

The pilots struggle with the demands of flying, preparing for the aerial dogfights that dominate missions to the front lines. Pilot Blaine Rawlings meets a young woman named Lucienne after his plane runs out of fuel and crashes during a practice flight, and over time they grow a relationship despite her hesitations about his risky profession.

On their first mission, escorting bombers to attack a German ammunition depot Jametz, the rookie pilots are ambushed by Germans. Two are killed in the battle (Toddman and Dewitt), and a third (Nunn) successfully makes an emergency landing, but is killed on the ground by "The Black Falcon", a German pilot flying a black aircraft; the more chivalrous German pilot Franz Wolferd shakes his head in disapproval.

During a later battle, Rawlings' machine gun jams; Wolferd – the pilot he was chasing – flies beside him and salutes before banking away, sparing his opponent's life as penance for the unfair killing of Nunn on the ground. Higgins is killed during the battle, and Jensen breaks that night, unable to fly anymore due to shock. Beagle is accused of being a spy due to faked personal information, but comes clean about a crime he committed in the states and is allowed to stay on.

When the Germans attack a column of civilians, the American pilots head off to stop them. Rawlings kills Wolferd during the engagement after sparing him once when the German dives after another American. Beagles plane is brought down over no-mans land, with the plane pinning his hand. Rawlings lands his plane and make his way to Beagle, but can't free him and so is forced to chop his hand off to get him to safety.

Learning that German forces have advanced into Lucienne's village, Rawlings steals a plane in the middle of the night to rescue them, but Lucienne is wounded and taken to a hospital. Returning to base, he is praised by the commander and awarded the Croix de Guerre medal for bravery.

Ordered to attack a German Zeppelin, Porter is killed and Reed Cassidy is mortally wounded by the Black Falcon, but crashes into the Zeppelin, destroying it. Rawlings reunites with Lucienne before she leaves for Paris. Rawlings’ plane is presented with an eagle, Cassidy's insignia, and he is promoted to Squadron Leader.

After escorting another bomber run on the ammunition depot Jametz, in which Lowry is forced to shoot himself when his plane catches fire, Rawlings takes off to exact revenge on the Black Falcon. Rawlings is attacked by multiple enemy planes, but Jensen, who had broken down earlier but decided to keep flying, helps him shoot down all the enemy fighters except the Black Falcon. With the enemy fighters shot down, Rawlings engages in a dogfight with the Falcon. After being bested in combat and wounded, Rawlings comes alongside and fatally shoots the Black Falcon with his pistol. Rawlings and his squadron return to base.

The film ends by showing what the survivors did after the battle. Jensen flies for the rest of the war; returning to Nebraska, he receives a hero's welcome. Skinner enlists in the US Army but is kept from flying due to his race; he later joins the Airmail Service. Beagle marries an Italian woman and starts a flying circus. Rawlings goes to Paris but does not find Lucienne. He builds one of the largest ranches in Texas, but never flies again.

On Hex's first trip into Earth's past, the TARDIS takes him, the Seventh Doctor and Ace to 17th century Ireland where he comes face to face with Oliver Cromwell and his invading army.

The lives of various desperate people intersect at the Hotel Berlin, a hotbed of Nazis, officers, spies and ordinary Germans trying to weather the inevitable defeat. Martin Richter, a leader of the German underground who has escaped from Dachau concentration camp, is hiding there, aided by some of the staff. He is hunted by Joachim Helm, who has his headquarters in the same building. Another hotel guest is Nobel laureate Johannes Koenig, Richter's friend from before the war and in Dachau.

General Arnim von Dahnwitz, the last of the leaders of a plot against Hitler still at large, goes to his friend von Stetten to see if his clique can help him, but is told that nothing can be done. He has at best 24 hours to shoot himself and save the Nazi regime the embarrassment of publicly dealing with him. At the hotel, von Dahnwitz encounters Lisa Dorn, his lover and a famous actress. He asks Dorn to marry him and flee with him to Sweden, but she is aware his situation is hopeless and declines. Later, von Dahnwitz commits suicide.

Meanwhile, von Stetten is arranging for the escape of his group to North America, where they hope to secretly rebuild their strength for another grab at power. He invites Koenig to join them (to provide a cover for their activities).

Hotel "hostess" (and informant) Tillie Weiler warmly greets Major Kauders, a pilot determined to make the fullest use of a short leave. They quarrel and part when he finds her photograph of a man who he thinks looks Jewish. Later, Sarah Baruch comes to her and begs her help in getting medicine for her husband, dying of cancer. The older woman also reveals that her son Max, Tillie's former employer and love, is alive, having been liberated from a labor camp by the Allies. When they take shelter from an air raid in the basement, Sarah is recognized by Hermann Plotke, who orders her to put on the Star of David badge required of all Jews. This is too much for Tillie, who reveals to all that Plotke used to work in the Bauers' department store, until he was caught stealing. Max gave him another chance, only to have Plotke appropriate the business when the Nazis came to power. Plotke orders her arrest, but is himself taken into custody for stealing from the government.

Richter is given a waiter's uniform and sent to serve dinner to Dorn in her suite. When she becomes suspicious, he is forced to reveal his identity. She offers to assist him in exchange for her own passage out of Germany. Later, however, Tillie snoops in Dorn's suite (envious of her extensive wardrobe) and finds a suspicious discarded waiter's jacket, which she reports to Helm. Helm captures Richter by himself, but Richter is able to disarm and overpower him. He throws Helm down the shaft of a disabled elevator. Though the hotel is surrounded, Dorn persuades admirer Major Kauders to escort a seemingly drunk Richter (now in an SS uniform) through the cordon. When Richter sends word where to meet him, however, Dorn betrays him. She is suspected, and her phone call to von Stettin is overheard. As a result, she is taken to the underground headquarters as a prisoner. Despite her desperate attempts to justify herself, Richter shoots her.

The story starts off with a young girl named Nickie who is traveling with her Aunt Crystal to an old house in Yonwood, North Carolina. Nickie's great-grandfather has died, and the house where he lived, in a neighborhood called Greenhaven, is inherited by Crystal, who plans to sell it. Over time, Nickie begins to love the house and finds a girl named Amanda who lives there. She is there because she used to look after Arthur Green, the great grandfather of Nickie. Plus, Amanda has a dog named Otis that she gives to Nickie. In Yonwood, there is a Prophet named Althea Tower who sees the future of the world in burning flames and smoke, and subsequently spends months in a dream-like semi conscious state, in which she mutters phrases and words. A woman in the town calls them instructions from God and requires townspeople to comply with her interpretation of the words, and insists that the entire city quit their "wrong" ways and start to be good people, so God would be with them. She becomes the power that directs the police in the town to enforce the 'war against evil' and slaps buzzing bracelets on offenders who don't comply. The so called instructions gradually become more and more strict and unreasonable, beginning with things like no sinners, no singing, no lights, and eventually no dogs. During the time, verbal conflict between the U.S. and the Phalanx Nations is going on. The U.S. fears that the Phalanx Nations are trying to send terrorist spies to the U.S. and they take immediate action, although the U.S. never really goes to war with them until 50 years later. Nickie meets a boy named Grover who is obsessed with snakes, but has to give them away because Ms. Beeson says that they are sinful. There is also an old, grumpy man named Hoyt McCoy, who is mean. However, he ends up being a kind man; he studies the stars and made contact with aliens. Hoyt McCoy went to Washington and stopped the war. In the end of the book, Nickie writes a journal that she hides behind a rock for someone to read later in the future. In The City of Ember, Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow find the journal when they are escaping/leaving Ember, and in The Diamond of Darkhold, a satellite sent out by Hoyt and other scientists is sent off into space, which later returns to Earth from an Alien planet.

Introduction

''Old Man's War'' is about a soldier named John Perry and his exploits in the Colonial Defense Forces (CDF). The first-person narrative follows Perry's military career from CDF recruit to the rank of captain. It is set in a universe heavily populated with life forms, in which the spacegoing species compete for the scarce planets that are suitable for sustaining life. As a result, Perry must learn to fight a wide variety of aliens. The characters in ''Old Man's War'' have enhanced DNA and nanotechnology, giving them advantages in strength, speed, endurance, and situational awareness.

Synopsis

John Perry, a 75-year-old retired advertising writer, joins the Colonial Defense Forces who protect human interplanetary colonists. Volunteers sign letters of intent and provide DNA samples at age 65, which John and his now deceased wife Kathy had done ten years prior to the beginning of the story. After visiting his wife's grave to say goodbye (as volunteers can never return to Earth), Perry takes a space elevator to the CDF ship ''Henry Hudson'', where he meets Thomas, Jessie, Harry, Alan, Susan and Maggie, fellow retiree volunteers. They dub themselves the "Old Farts".

Following a series of sometimes bizarre psychological and physical tests, Perry's mind is ultimately transferred to a new body based on his genetic material. His new body is a younger version of himself, but genetically engineered with enhanced musculature, green skin, and yellow cat-like eyes. He now possesses enormous strength and dexterity, nanobot-enhanced artificial blood, enhanced eyesight and other senses, and most critically, a BrainPal—a neural interface that, among other capabilities, allows Perry to communicate with other members of the CDF via thought.

After a week of frivolity and orgies in their new bodies, Perry and the other recruits land on Beta Pyxis III for basic training, during which the CDF's heritage in the United States armed forces is made clear when the recruits are taught the Rifleman's Creed. Perry's drill instructor, Master Sergeant Ruiz, adopts a tough and disdainful persona towards the recruits, but later discovers Perry is the creator of an advertising slogan Ruiz adopted as a personal mantra ("Sometimes you just gotta hit the road"). As a dubious gesture of respect, Perry is given the job of platoon leader during the weeks of training before he is shipped out to the CDF ship ''Modesto''. His first engagement is with the Consu, a fierce, incredibly intelligent and religiously zealous alien species. Perry improvises a tactic which enables the CDF to win this first battle quickly. This is soon followed by a number of battles with, among others, the bear-like Whaidians and the tiny Covandu. By the end of this last engagement Perry begins to suffer psychological distress over killing the Liliputian Covandu and accepts that he has transformed both physically and mentally.

Now a veteran, Perry participates in the Battle for Coral. The planet contains coral reefs valuable to the attacking Rraey, as well as a human colony (the Rraey also have a taste for human flesh). The CDF plans to rapidly counterattack with a small force before the Rraey establish their coral strip mining operations, but the Rraey have somehow obtained technology to predict the appearance of a space ship's skip drive (a feat that should not be possible) and use this knowledge to ambush and destroy CDF ships as they arrive in the Coral system. Perry's quick thinking allows him and his fellow soldiers on a transport shuttle to escape the wreckage of the ''Modesto'' and make for the planet's surface, but they are shot down. Everyone but Perry is killed in the crash; Perry is grievously wounded but survives thanks to his artificially enhanced body. Perry is left for dead by a Rraey search party (who find CDF soldiers inedible), but he is rescued by members of the mysterious "Ghost Brigades", the Special Forces units of the CDF. Perry thinks he has died when he sees a younger green version of his dead wife Kathy, who in reality is Jane Sagan, the leader of the Ghost Brigades rescue team.

After being repaired, Perry tracks down Sagan, who turns out to have been grown based on Kathy Perry's DNA sample, as legally allowed by her letter of intent to join the CDF. Unlike John, Jane has no memories of Kathy's life, as she is only six years old, but after learning about Kathy, Jane seeks to learn more from John about being a "realborn" person and what kind of life one can have outside the CDF.

Sagan manipulates her chain of command to promote John to an advisory role (as a lieutenant) to gather information from the Consu during a ritualistic meeting to obtain information. Perry discovers that the Rraey had received the skip-drive detection tachyon technology from the Consu, which was used to set up the ambush at Coral. Perry also manipulates his chain of command to have the last two of his friends from the "Old Farts" transferred out of combat duty to military research. Sagan and Perry then participate in a Special Forces operation in an attempt to capture or destroy the borrowed Consu technology in advance of a major attack to recapture Coral from the Rraey. Perry is instrumental in the successful outcome of the battle by capturing the technical manual for the Consu detection system (which was destroyed in the fighting), and saving Sagan's life after she is severely wounded. However, he never sees her again after delivering her to a shuttle which returns her to the secretive Ghost Brigades.

At the conclusion of the book, Perry is promoted to captain following his deeds at Coral and, despite the separation, holds hope of reuniting with Sagan when their terms of service conclude.

Edith Lavery is a middleclass single woman who feels she has reached a time in her life when the only chance of riches, fame and success is to marry a rich man. Her parents, especially her mother, have spent most of Edith's life trying to make her respectable to the upper classes and are both extremely glad when she announces her courtship and engagement to the bumbling and kind-hearted Charles Broughton, only son and heir of the Marquess of Uckfield.

The engagement is not looked upon favourably by Charles's mother, the Marchioness of Uckfield ("Googie" to her friends), or by many in Charles's "set". His friends and relatives frequently mock Edith and attempt to "catch her out" as an alien to the aristocracy. Her greatest enemy of all is Eric Chase, husband of Charles's sister Lady Caroline Chase, who comes from a similar background to Edith herself.

After the couple marry, they honeymoon in Majorca, but cracks have already begun to form in the marriage. Charles bores Edith while Edith puzzles Charles. Back at the family seat of Broughton Hall, Edith is tempted by Simon Russell, an actor who is filming scenes for a period drama at Broughton with the story's narrator. She embarks on an affair with Russell which leads her to eventually very nearly divorce Charles.

She returns to the Broughton fold upon news of her being pregnant. She accepts Charles for who he is and they live "happily enough".

On Gallifrey, civilization is reaching a crossroads. The venerable Pythia, ruler of Gallifrey, is coming to the end of her reign without a successor. Meanwhile, Rassilon and his Cult of Reason are gaining political influence, as early time travel experiments begin to bear fruit. But during the latest such experiment, the Time Scaphe collides with a strange blue box hurtling through space-time. Both craft are destroyed, leaving the crew of Chronauts stranded on a gray alien world.

Elsewhere (specifically Ealing Broadway in the early 1990s), the Doctor and Ace are enjoying a quiet lunch in a café when the whole of reality suddenly breaks down. They manage to get into the TARDIS, though it now lacks even a door. Convinced there is an intruder, the Doctor leaves Ace in the console room while he goes to look. The console releases a parchment to Ace, then the TARDIS collides with a primitive time ship and is destroyed.

Ace finds herself alone in a barren, grey landscape. Ace sees a far larger version of the creature that infiltrated the TARDIS, and begins to work out what happened. She encounters a young man named Shonnzi who seems to know her and the Doctor already. Shonnzi takes her to meet the Phazels, the former crew of the Gallifreyan Time Scaphe, who were stranded on this world, betrayed by their former comrade Vael, and enslaved by the Process. Now, they work to find the future, which was stolen by the Doctor at the beginning of the World. Right before the Doctor died.

Ace, by interacting with the Phazels, begins to cause changes to the established pattern of time in the World City, a disruption which is detected by the Process in its Watch Tower. The Process sends Vael to investigate. When Vael and the Process’s insect-like guards arrive, the Phazels help Ace to escape. She and Shonnzi get away and discover a ghost-like image of the Doctor. Believing him to be dead, Ace begins to grieve. But Shonnzi tells her that he has been given many of the Doctor’s memories. Ace and Shonnzi are forced to split up as they are discovered by the guards. Vael manages to capture Shonnzi and take him back to the Process, but Ace escapes across a mercury river.

Across the river, Ace realizes that she is in the same place she was before, but at an earlier time. She witnesses the arrival of the Chronauts and the death of the Doctor at the hands of the Process. Believing that she and the Doctor are to blame for their predicament, the Chronauts turn on Ace and hand her over to the Process. Vael betrays his fellow Chronauts, who are enslaved by the Process and sent to search for the Future stolen by the Doctor.

Vael drags Ace back to the Watch Tower, where the Younger Process prepares to eliminate her. But it is interrupted by the arrival of the Older Process, who has come to discover why the past is no longer as it remembers. The Doctor’s ghost appears, which allows Ace to escape. She comes across a silver cat that leads her to the top of the Watch Tower. There, Ace discovers that the World exists on the inner surface of a hollow sphere, and there are three different Cities existing at three discrete moments in time stretching out from the Watch Tower. She also finds Shonnzi imprisoned in a cocoon and releases him. As Vael chases them, the cat trips Ace, causing her to fall from the top of the Watch Tower. She is caught by some sort of force field and begins to slowly descend toward the ground. Shonnzi jumps after her and is also protected. Ace concludes that the TARDIS must still exist, somewhere, and must be protecting them.

Back on Gallifrey, the Pythia's prophetic powers suddenly desert her, and she becomes fanatically obsessed with locating her male successor, who she believes to be Vael. In reality, her promised successor his Rassilon.

The TARDIS key glows in Ace’s hand and leads her to an old attic that she recognizes from the TARDIS. Inside the attic is the Doctor, but he has no memories. Ace and Shonnzi bring him back to the Phazels so that he can help them fight the Process, but he’s not much good in his present condition. When Vael and the guards arrive, one of the Phazels, Reogus, recklessly challenges them. Reogus is killed and one of the guards spontaneously vanishes. The Phazels are all highly disturbed by this. The Doctor issues a challenge to the Process, but privately admits to Ace that there is little he can do.

The cat returns, transforms into the Doctor’s ghost, and restores the Doctor’s memories. The Doctor realizes that the cat was a manifestation of the TARDIS’s Banshee Circuits, a fail-safe measure designed to avert the ultimate destruction of the ship. The TARDIS had used Shonnzi’s mind as a kind of back-up data storage and dumped the Doctor’s memories there. Now that the Doctor is restored, Ace gives him the parchment she had obtained from the TARDIS. It is the TARDIS greyprints, which the Doctor can use to access the ship’s systems through the Banshee Circuits. The Doctor realizes that the entire World City was his TARDIS, invaded, occupied, and distorted by the Process.

The Doctor uses the TARDIS’s architectural configuration systems to trap the Older Process, which is trying to restart the World it remembered from its youth. While the Doctor interrogates the monster, the Phazels receive the psychic summoning they knew was coming, and walk back toward the Watch Tower to become the Process’s insect-like guards. The Older Process tells the Doctor that the Young Process intends to start a new Now, turning the old Phazels into guards, and using them to enslave the young Phazels and immediately turn them into guards as well.

The world begins to collapse as a massive moon-like object approaches from the “sky”. The younger Shonnzi, who remembers things that adults forget, recognizes it as an egg. Vael uses his pyrokinetic powers to destroy the egg before the Process can be born, which in turn destroys the older Processes. Then Vael turns his power against his own mind, where the last Pythia of Ancient Gallifrey is lurking, trying to safeguard the future of her world. Vael is killed as he burns out his own mind in opposition to the Pythia’s domination.

The Phazels, now Chronauts once again, return to Gallifrey where Rassilon’s revolution has been successful. But with her dying breath, the Pythia curses the world of Gallifrey so that no children will ever be born there again. Rassilon suspends the time experiments until he can come up with a way of artificially extending the Gallifreyan lifespan. But Pekkary, Captain of the Chronauts, tells Rassilon about the TARDIS, a time ship bigger on the inside than outside, and the future of Gallifrey is clear. Back on the TARDIS, the Doctor becomes obsessed with the ancient history of his world, but the data banks contain no information other than vague legends. But the TARDIS has been seriously damaged by the ordeal, and the silver cat remains.

In the near future, the Earth is on the point of environmental collapse, and pollution poisons the atmosphere. The point of no return is rapidly approaching, but the Butler Institute has an ingenious solution. Rather than work to restore the environment, the Butler Institute plans to transfer the minds of the super-rich into computers, thus eliminating the need for breathable air and drinkable water.

Many years after he met her on the planet of the Cheetah People (as seen in the televised episode Survival), the Doctor visits Shreela as she's dying in hospital. Shreela, now a science writer, agrees to publish as her own an article the Doctor wrote linking telekinesis to certain blood proteins. Later, the article is seen by Matthew O'Hara, CEO of a massive corporation called the Butler Institute. O'Hara instructs his Biostock Acquisitions division to forward any individuals exhibiting the relevant blood proteins directly to his research facility in upstate New York. In New York City, a police officer named McIlveen is assassinated by a Butler Institute employee, in front of his partner Mancuso.

The Doctor then visits the King Building in New York City, corporate headquarters of the Butler Institute. and gains access to restricted computer files. Next, the Doctor hires a youth gang to track down Bobby Prescott, an insane murderer who preys on video gamers. Prescott tells the Doctor about a dangerous secret being hidden in a nondescript metal drum in Turkey. The Doctor sends Ace to Turkey to retrieve the item. In Turkey, Ace hires a band of Kurdish mercenaries to assist her. The drum is being held on an island by a handful of well-armed but inexperienced kids. Ace manages to neutralize the kids without anyone getting hurt, secures the drum, and makes arrangements to return with it to the Doctor in England.

The Doctor takes Ace to his house in Kent, where he explains that the drum contains a young man by the name of Vincent Wheaton. Vincent's life-functions were totally suspended by a chemical gel inside the drum. Vincent has the power to mentally amplify the emotions of others and release the mental energy through telekinesis. The Doctor plans to use Vincent, along with a specially selected emotional trigger, to work as a two-component telekinetic bomb to destroy the Butler Institute research facility. The trigger is Justine, an emotionally unstable environmental activist, lured to Kent by rumors of a supernatural gateway located within it. After Ace gets Vincent out of the drum and brings him back to consciousness, Justine finds him, touches him, and sets off a powerful psychic explosion.

Relocating everyone to New York City, the Doctor's plan is set into motion. Justine drugs Vincent in Central Park, ensuring that he'll be picked up by the Butler Institute's Biostock Acquisitions division, where his unusual blood proteins will be detected. Justine meets Ace and the Doctor at a drug store which is about to be robbed. Eager to be reunited with Vincent (with whom she is now in love) Justine takes a suicide pill and collapses before the enraged Doctor. Meanwhile, Mancuso arrives in response to the robbery and arrests the Doctor before he can tell her about her unusual new gun. Ace is arrested by Mancuso's new partner Breen. During a shoot out with the gang robbing the drug store, Mancuso's gun swivels on a hidden joint and fires of its own accord, saving Mancuso's life. Ace is taken into custody by Mancuso's new partner Breen, but the Doctor gets away.

Ace's good health is immediately detected by the Butler Institute, who want to farm her organs for the benefit of the rich. Breen intervenes on Ace's behalf and takes her to Mancuso. The Doctor appears and explains to Mancuso that the mind of her old partner, McIlveen, was downloaded into her new gun. This was a test run for the scheme the Butler Institute will use to immunize the very rich against the further degradation of the planet. The Doctor reveals that the pill Justine took did not kill her, but merely simulated death, and that she'll soon wake up in the Biostock Acquisitions division of the Butler Institute. Mancuso, Breen, and McIlveen help the Doctor and Ace to rescue Justine from the King Building.

They all travel to the project site, where Justine and Vincent are reunited. However, the Doctor's weapon fails. Her blossoming relationship with Vincent has quieted the emotional storm raging within Justine, and she is no longer capable of fueling his telekinetic power. O'Hara, gloating over the failure of the Doctor's plan, grabs Vincent angrily by the arm. The emotional coldness within O'Hara is amplified by Vincent's power, and a terrible blast of cold destroys both O'Hara and the project site. The Doctor informs O'Hara's corporate partners that the project has failed, and they agree to redirect their efforts toward reversing the environmental damage done to the planet.

Strange things are happening in the Welsh village of Llanfer Ceirog. The police are investigating a coach crash which killed the driver and all passengers. Only the driver could be identified: Selwyn Hughes, brother of the coach's owner, Emrys Hughes, and resident of Llanfer Ceirog. Stuart Taylor, a veterinarian, tends to a horse with a strange wound in the middle of its forehead, and discovers a tapered horn nearby. When the Doctor and Ace arrive, they are greeted warmly until Ace is shot at by Emrys Hughes. The Doctor is intrigued to hear a legend of a village called Dinorben that vanished hundreds of years ago. Everything seems to be centered on the mysterious stone circle located on Emrys's land. The Doctor and Ace investigate the circle, only to find themselves transported to another world.

The city of Dinorben has become a desperate refuge of humanity. The head of the ruling council, Dryfid, explains that the sun mysteriously disappeared some time ago, and that they are beset by demons. The other people of the world, including unicorns, centaurs, trolls, and short, furry-footed creatures called the Sidhe, have become hostile after learning that the humans have a means of escaping their doomed world: the stone circle gateway to Earth. The Doctor and Ace are sent on a quest to find the living god Goibhnie and persuade him to restore his favor.

Back in Wales, two American hitchhikers stumble upon an injured centaur. Unable to believe what they've found, they seek help from the authorities. Unfortunately, they find the local Constable Hughes, who douses the centaur in gasoline and incinerates the corpse. The hitchhikers, Jack and David, manage to contact Inspector Stevens of Scotland Yard's Paranormal Investigations Division. Stevens is in the area investigating the mysterious coach, and trying to find the missing veterinarian who contacted him about the unicorn. Meanwhile, two figures resembling the Doctor and Ace return to Llanfer Ceirog, but they are really shape-shifting demons who kill and take the forms of two local residents.

The Doctor and Ace set off on their quest. They meet Bathsheba, a young girl with a withered arm, who tells them that her family was killed by demons while she was collecting firewood. They agree to take her with them, and she hopes that the god Goibhnie will see fit to restore her arm. After meeting Herne, a strange creature who apologizes to the Doctor for something that hasn't happened yet, they are captured by the Sidhe, evading execution when the Sidhe are attacked by an unseen force, allowing them to escape. They are next attacked by a demon, but rescued by Chulainn, a human returning to Dinorben for evacuation. Fearing for the safety of his companions, the Doctor asks Chulainn to take Ace and Bathsheba back to Dinorben with him. Bathsheba catches the Doctor trying to leave quietly, and insists on going with him.

Ace reluctantly agrees to return to Dinorben with Chulainn. She is contacted by Bat, a unicorn who can communicate with her telepathically. Chulainn is distrustful of all non-human creatures, so Ace abandons him and his party. She decides to return to Dinorben with Bat and the other unicorns, intending to force their way through the gateway and make themselves known to the Earth authorities, so that the other peoples of the dying world might also be saved. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Bat encounter a group of Firbolg (centaurs) along with veterinarian Stuart Taylor, who was sent on the same quest to reach Goibhnie. The Firbolg take them to Goihbnie's island, but they don't know how to contact the god. When the Firbolg slay a dragon, the Doctor discovers that it is in fact a bio-mechanical creature, technological rather than fantastical in origin.

Ace's assault on Dinorben is successful, and passing through the gateway, she finds the hitchhikers David and Jack along with Inspector Stevens, who were investigating Emrys Hughes's role in everything. When the soldiers of Dinorben overcome the shock of Ace's sudden attack, they regroup and follow her through the gateway, arrest Ace, David, Jack, and Stevens, and bring them all back to Dinorben. The soldiers have overcome the unicorns and forcefully removed their horns, destroying their psychic abilities. The Doctor gets an audience with Goibhnie, who turns out to be an alien scientist whose experiment has been completed. The Doctor appeals to Goibhnie's scientific curiosity to extend the experiment. Goibhnie restores the sun, and agrees to help collect the demons, which are discarded products of his experiments.

Ace discovers that General Nuada, the head of Dinorben's military, is in fact a shape-shifting demon. Nuada summons all of the demons for a final assault on Dinorben. David finds himself summoned by Nuada, since he was attacked by a demon when he came to Llanfer Ceirog as a child. Goibhnie returns to Dinorben, but is mortally wounded in the battle against the demons. David manages to hold on to his self-control and kills Nuada, and eventually with the Doctor's assistance, is restored to human form. Goibhnie gives the Doctor his power source, which the Doctor uses to reprogram the gateway. All of the demons are funneled into the stone circle, and transmatted to the now rejuvenated sun.

The Doctor, Ace, Jack, David, Stevens, and Taylor return to Earth, and the stone circle is destroyed. The unicorns, now trapped on Earth, are beginning to recover. The Doctor promises Ace that UNIT will look after them. The Doctor uses Goibhnie's experimental material to repair his ailing TARDIS, unaware that a fleck of demonic material had contaminated the supply.

Ace returns to Perivale to attend the funeral of her childhood friend Julian. Despite the atmosphere of the funeral, she takes comfort that she still has the Doctor and returns to the TARDIS.

In the 26th century, the planet Heaven has been designated as a cemetery for the dead of various races. In addition to the military presence and various civilian settlements on the planet, there is also a community of Travelers and a group of archeologists, led by Prof. Bernice Summerfield. Bernice (Benny to her friends) is looking for clues to the function of a mysterious arch-shaped monument left by Heaven's long extinct original inhabitants. In the main settlement of Joycetown, there is a religious sect called the Church of the Vacuum, led by brother Phaedrus, who preach that the universe is without meaning and that people should give themselves over to the vacuum of space. In the middle of one of their sacrificial rituals, the victim is taken over by an alien presence that announces it is coming to Heaven and the Church must do its bidding. The Doctor and Ace arrive on the planet looking for a book called the ''Papers of Felsecar'', which he believes he can find in a library of forbidden texts the Earth authorities have stored on Heaven. The librarian claims he hasn't seen the book. Outside Ace bumps into one of the travelers called Jan, whom the Doctor promptly saves from the attentions of Kale, one of the soldiers station on Heaven. Ace goes with Jan back to the camp and meets his friends, including Roisa, Jan's on again off again lover, Maire (a Dalek killer who wears one of their guns as a trophy) and Benny. Ace tells Benny about the TARDIS and her own background. As one of Benny's specialist subjects is 20th-century history, she knows that Ace is telling the truth. Also at the camp is Christopher, the traveler's sexless high priest, who is beginning to sense evil approaching.

The Doctor visits Miller, the man in charge of the IMC military force on Heaven. Miller knows about the Doctor through legends that describe him as the "Oncoming Storm" and tells him that his instruments keep picking up a vast sphere in orbit, but the sphere keeps vanishing before they can identify it. Worried about what this means the Doctor meets Benny at her dig site and helps her access a hidden chamber beneath the arch, where they find the body of one of the long vanished Heavanites and a message written on the walls. Outside a sniper tries to shoot them, but Benny wounds the attacker in the arm and they flee.

At the traveler's camp, Ace joins Jan and the others in the virtual reality realm, known as Puterspace, where the travelers have constructed their own area called the Great Wheel. Jan is greeted by the archetypical god of universal jokes, The Trickster, who torments Jan with a goblet. Jan tells Ace that he once stole such a goblet from the Church of the Vacuum. Jan reveals that long ago when he and Christopher were drafted, they volunteered for experimental drug trials. Jan lost his nerve and Christopher took his for him, with the result that he gained psychic abilities and lost his gender. As the travelers gather at the Wheel, Roisa tells them all that she plans to leave the group, but before she can explain a creature breaks into the Wheel. Christopher holds it off while the others escape, but his body is killed in the process.

The Travelers hold a funeral for Christopher and Ace spends the night with the grieving Jan. That night, Ace experiences a strange dream in which the Doctor meets Death and offers himself as a sacrifice to her instead of Ace. Death reminds the Doctor that he sacrificed his sixth body to become "Time's Champion" and says that instead of Ace, she will take another life. The following morning the Doctor is unsettled to learn Ace has slept with Jan and changes the subject to the book he's looking for. Ace goes to the library and realises that the librarian is being watched, but still manages to locate the book. Miller sends Kale to man an orbiting space station in case of attack.

The Doctor meets Jan and realises that he is really in love with Ace. Seemingly making his mind up about something, the Doctor enters Puterspace, only to be attacked by Phaedrus and members of the Church of the Vacuum and trapped in a recreation of his third regeneration, when he was dying of radiation poisoning alone in the TARDIS. Ace breaks in to rescue him and the scene shifts to a recreation of Ace's home and one of her arguments with her mother. Julian appears and Ace realises that he has been absorbed into the alien's group consciousness. With the help of Christopher, whose mind still lives on inside Puterspace, Julian regains enough of his individuality to help Ace and the Doctor escape. In the confusion, Phaedrus is trapped in his own worst memory, of the time when he performed the mercy killing of his dying mother.

That night the Doctor leads the travelers as they break into the library, but the librarian turns into a fungus-like creature. The Doctor kills the creature by setting it on fire and retrieves the book. The Doctor tells Miller that Kale has also been infected by the creatures and it was him who shot at the Doctor and Benny. He has similarly infected everyone on the space station via fungal spores and the planet is now defenseless.

The Doctor tells Ace to end her relationship with Jan, but she thinks he is jealous and afraid she will abandon him. The ''Papers of Felsecar'' contains a message from a future Doctor, who has left behind the cypher to translate the Heavenite message. Ace spends the night with Jan who reveals that his secret name is Aradath, which means 'big fire', in relation to the prokinetic abilities he gained from the military drugs. A cloud of fungal spores drifts into the camp, but in the confusion it is impossible to tell who was infected. Christopher appears before Ace as a reanimated corpse. He warns her that if she stays with Jan she will be forced to make a sacrifice.

The message on the wall confirms the Doctor's worst fears: Everyone of the billions of dead bodies on Heaven has been infected by the fungus. In orbit Kale tries to crash the station and destroy the dig site. The Doctor and his friends break into the church (where he and Benny disrupt the Churches mantras by singing "Try a Little Tenderness") and demand to speak to their masters. Ace, fearing that she will lose Jan, threatens to kill Phaedrus unless his masters call off the attack. Kale promptly self-destructs the platform.

The Doctor explains that the fungus is an alien life form known as the Hoothi. The Hoothi feed on death and decay, and travel in giant organic spheres filled with toxic gases that are invisible to tracking systems. They are master planners, laying traps for their enemies across time. Everyone infected by the spores is now linked to the Hoothi group mind, and they can use them to gather intelligence or do their bidding, before eventually transforming them into fungus creatures. The Heavanites were a race that the Hoothi regularly harvested and used brainwashing to convince that they were gods. The body at the dig is of a woman who rebelled against them and the archway is a telescope she built to spot the approaching spheres. With no way of getting help the Doctor seemingly gives up hope of beating them. Roisa, realising that she is infected, straps explosives to her body and goes to destroy the Church, but she is unable to pull the trigger and Phaedrus leads her to the crypt to meet her new masters. Jan, furious with the Doctor for doing nothing, decides to take action himself. He thinks that with the help of the telescope, they might be able to attack the sphere in a shuttle with explosives. Although he tries to leave Ace behind, she comes along anyway. Ace leaves a note for the Doctor suggesting that, if she doesn't make it, he should take Benny as his new companion. Approaching the sphere she asks Jan to marry her and he accepts, but at the last moment everyone except Ace explodes into the fungus. In the confusion, Ace falls into an escape pod and returns to the surface.

Realising Ace has gone on the attack, something he expected Jan to stop her from, the Doctor leaps into action. He and Benny take the TARDIS to the sphere, where the Doctor offers the fungi one last chance to surrender, which the giant fungus refuses to do. They have already used Roisa to infect the Doctor and threaten to convert him unless he does what they want. As they leave, Benny sees her traveler friends, including Jan, now no-more than walking corpses. All across Heaven the bodies of the dead rise out of the ground and attack the military bases and towns. Benny finds Ace in the forest, looking for revenge. Christopher appears, and assures Ace that Jan was not manipulated into his death but went of his own free will. Benny is an expert at reading body language and knows that he is lying. Phaedrus enters Puterspace in a last attempt to make peace with his dead mother, but Ace follows hims and attacks him.

Confident of victory the Hoothi sphere lands to pick up the dead and the infected. The Doctor goes to the Church and jacks into Puterspace, ostensibly to pull Ace out so they can escape. But as Ace watches in horror, the Doctor and Christopher use Phaedrus’s link to the Hoothi, their own links to Puterspace, and Christopher’s old friendship, to contact Jan’s remains through the neural link still embedded in his fungus-ridden body. There is still a bit of Jan left in the Hoothi group mind, and the Doctor reminds him of his secret name. Jan uses his pyrokinesis to ignite the gas in the Hoothi sphere, destroying them. Jan realises that the Doctor had always planned to send Jan to his death and did it despite knowing Ace's feelings for him.

In shock, Ace wanders into the basement of the church, only to find Phaedrus and Roisa and a single surviving Hoothi, left behind as a back-up. At the last moment, Maire emerges carrying a Dalek gun and kills Roisa. Ace calls out to Julian inside the Hoothi mind and the creature explodes.

Returning for Ace, the Doctor is confronted by Christopher, who dies in his arms to remind him of what he has done. The Doctor tries to apologise to Ace, but she angrily walks out of the TARDIS resolving to travel with Maire. Although she is also displeased with him, Bernice agrees to travel with the Doctor as she thinks he needs someone to remind him who he is and why he fights evil. Their first journey is back to Earth to release some of the owls that can no longer survive in Heaven's ecosystem. In the distance Ace and Julian are driving towards the beach.

Human engineers are preparing to open a new section of the Sol Transit System (STS), a mass transit system that uses transmat technology to send trains instantly between planets, from the solar system to Arcturus. The system begins to experience power drains, which the technicians, known as "Floozies", cannot determine the cause. At Lunarversity on the moon, Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart is experiencing financial difficulty and agrees to deliver a batch of drugs to Old Sam, one of the Floozies, for a local dealer. Old Sam is a veteran of the Ten-thousand Day War against the Martians and now cannot survive without combat drugs given to him by the army. Having made the drop off and collected a moneypin in payment, Kadiatu joins the Floozies for a wild night out across the Solar System and sleeps with one named Blondie. The following morning, she wakes up in Beijing, without the moneypin she needs to get home and pay her debts. During the opening ceremony of the Arcturus extension, an unknown force blasts through the tunnel, killing everything in its path. Dodging a ticket inspector, Kadiatu makes her way to King's Cross station as the TARDIS materialises. As the Doctor and Bernice exit the TARDIS, the blast wave hits the station—Bernice and the TARDIS are caught in the blast and disappear, but the Doctor pulls Kadiatu to safety.

With the main line shut down till the damage can be repaired, the Doctor cannot retrieve the TARDIS or Benny, and remains with Kadiatu. The pair visit Kadiatu's elderly family friend and blind war veteran, Francine, at her bar on Mars. She agrees to use her underworld contacts to find Blondie (who Kadiatu assumes stole the moneypin while they were making love), and tells Kadiatu that her new friend has two hearts, confirming her suspicions. Long ago, her father told her stories about his grandfather and the mysterious time traveller known as the Doctor. The two go to a cafe in Paris, where the Doctor gets drunk and passes out celebrating the universe's 13500020012th birthday.

Benny arrives at Lowell depot a rundown slum on Pluto and meets two prostitutes, Zamina and Roberta. Unknown to Benny, Roberta is a childhood lover of Blondie who resents him for escaping the slum. Roberta has Kadiatu's moneypin, which she took after having seen her and Blondie making love. Behiaving strangely, Benny demands to be taken to a local gang leader, whom she then encourages to take over the slum. Violence spreads across the slum, killing many including Roberta and eventually leading to military intervention and evacuation of the survivors.

The Doctor awakens in Kadiatu's room at the Lunarversity and, looking through her belongings, realises she has been researching his visits to Earth and that she was genetically engineered. He also discovers that she is close to developing a time machine. Unsure how to act, the Doctor first solves Kadiatu's problem with the drug dealers and then searches for Benny, stowing away on a maintenance train heading to the relief zone on Pluto.

A mysterious train-shaped object begins moving through the tunnels, swallowing passengers and pirate free-surfers (who use special boards to traverse the tunnels illegally). Its victims are re-engineered into mutant soldiers to serve the intelligence that has invaded the tunnels. Francine contacts Old Sam about Blondie, but he convinces them that he knows nothing about the moneypin. Using the tunnel surveillance system, they locate Kadiatu and the Doctor heading for Pluto. Old Sam and Blondie set off to investigate, intending to rescue Kadiatu.

The Doctor finds the TARDIS embedded in a concrete wall at the end of the line. While the Doctor tries to work out a way to free it, the pair are attacked by Benny. The intelligence has possessed her, but it does not recognise the Doctor as a threat. Kadiatu realises that her instinctive response to danger is to kill, and that her punches are capable of causing fatal injuries. Old Sam and Blondie arrive and Benny escapes, joining Zamina on a refugee train heading for Mars. Zamina realises that Benny caused the riots for just this purpose.

Flashbacks reveal that Kadiatu's father, Yembe, is a descendant of Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart and an African woman with whom he had a brief relationship during his service in Africa. Years later Yembe Lethbridge-Stewart had been a soldier in the war against the Martians, where he met Francine. After the war, Francine learnt from a mysterious hacker that a facility outside Leipzig was being used to genetically engineer super-soldiers. Yembe burnt the facility to the ground, but spared a single baby whom he and Francine adopted.

The Doctor, Kadiatu and Blondie return the Doctor's house on Allen Road in Kent. While Kadiatu and Blondie make love, the Doctor constructs a device for hacking into the tunnel network. The Doctor deduces that the intelligence invading the tunnels is from another dimension and operates similarly to a computer virus using a neural computer system. He also learns that the STS system has become self-aware, and communicates with it via a hologram of television anchorman, Yak Harris. The hologram confirms the Doctor's theory, which they then report to the STS executives in London. At the same time, the Floozies identify an energy build up, indicating that the hole between dimensions is about to open again.

On Mars, Benny has gained access to the STS system, but the controlling influence weakens as she gets further from the tunnels. She recovers enough to send Zamina to the Doctor for help. The Doctor and Kadiatu arrive on Mars, in time to see Benny fleeing from the human colony, killing anyone in her way. They follow, and corner her in an Ice Warrior nest. Benny reveals a gun and Kadiatu shoots her. As the sleeping warriors begin to revive, the Doctor realises that this "Benny" is a duplicate created to distract him. Kadiatu summons Francine to fly them back to the settlement. En route, the craft accidentally activates a missile defence system, but Francine's manages to land the craft. Another duplicate of Benny enters a STS reactor and overloads the power, creating enough energy to open the breach. The Doctor sends the Floozies to the end of the line to build a machine to his specifications and connected to the TARDIS. The group—including Benny, who is disguised as one of the station's staff—come under attack by the mutant creatures, and Blondie is among the fatalities.

The Doctor commandeers a freesurf board and heads through the tunnels to the station, picking up a piece of software hitch-hiking in the system along the way. Barely surviving the landing, the Doctor sees the breach open. The virus was an agent laying the groundwork for the real invader to emerge—it is nameless, but the Doctor calls it Fred. The Doctor uses the machine to fire a burst of artron energy from the TARDIS. Fred retreats through the breach, taking Benny with it and the Doctor follows.

In the other dimension, the Doctor appears before its world's ruler to ask for Benny's return. Unlike Fred, the ruler realises how dangerous the Doctor is, and attempts to destroy him. At that moment, Kadiatu appears, distracting Fred long enough for the Doctor to push the hitch-hiker into Benny's mind, forcing Fred out. The Yak Harris software remains in the alternative dimension achieve its full potential, and the Doctor, Benny and Kadiatu return to their reality moments before the gateway collapses. The Doctor visits the Stone Mountain computer archive and erases evidence of his existence, then sends Old Sam to the Ice Warrior nest, suggesting he offer the reviving warriors a gesture of peace. The surviving Floozies cut the TARDIS from the wall and the Doctor and Benny depart.

Some months later, Kadiatu has a job at STS, gaining access to the resources she needs to build her time machine. Her work complete, she destroys her research and sets off through the time vortex to catch up with the Doctor.

The player's character is recruited as a junior officer in Elona's independent guardian force, the Order of the Sunspears - they are led by their Spearmarshal, Kormir. The player quickly earns respect and rank in the Sunspears dealing with unusual occurrences around Istan, where the headquarters of the Sunspears is located.

The strange deaths of a dig team excavating a long abandoned city, information about an event called Nightfall and its ties to the return of a forgotten fallen god, Abaddon, start to cause concern for the Sunspears. Evidence builds that a delegation from the nation of Kourna, which is conveniently visiting the Sunspears, are behind these unusual happenings. When the Kournan General, Kahyet, attempts to strike a deal with the corsairs harassing Istan, the Sunspears intervene. Kahyet is killed, plunging cautious relations with Kourna into strife. During a hearing with the elder council, Kormir - who had temporarily left in order to seek allies in Cantha and Tyria - returns, citing that similar occurrences have happened elsewhere.

Realizing the danger in the activities of Warmarshal Varesh Ossa (the current Kournan leader), Kormir convinces the Istan council to cease diplomatic talks and instead start civil war to prevent Varesh from bringing about Nightfall. Rallying the troops the Sunspears sail from Istan to Gandara, the largest fortress in Kourna and Varesh's seat of power, to confront Varesh and bring her to justice. Upon breaking through their heavy defenses, Varesh plays her trump card, summoning the demons of Abaddon which rout the Sunspear troops. Kormir is left for dead as the remaining Sunspears flee through Kourna province.

The character establishes a hidden base of operations in Kourna, rescuing Sunspear prisoners including the now-blind Kormir from the Kournan forces, freeing the region's local centaur tribe, and preventing one of Abaddon's demons from corrupting Kourna's water supply. However these are only stalling tactics as through Varesh's rites Nightfall continues to come closer. With the help of agents from a mysterious Elonian organization called the Order of Whispers, the Sunspears travel to Vabbi to convince the three Princes of the region that Varesh represents a threat to all of Elona. The task proves difficult, as they all believe her intruding forces will protect them from both the Sunspears and other natural threats to Vabbi.

They are ultimately convinced of Varesh's treachery as her forces destroy a nearby temple. Although the princes use the power of Djinn in conjunction with help from the Order of Whispers to protect their people, she has already summoned Abaddon's demons, the Margonites, to fight alongside her own military. The Sunspear's best efforts seem to simply stall the inevitable, as the signs of Abaddon's coming begin to appear throughout Elona. After a Chaos Rift appears and sucks Kormir into the Realm of Torment, a part of the Underworld where only the most wicked souls go, the Sunspears decide they must pursue Varesh into The Desolation to stop her from completing the rites to return Abaddon to the world.

To pursue Varesh to the northern part of The Desolation, where Abaddon's link to the world is the strongest, the players release the undead lord Palawa Joko, a tyrant who at one point waged war against Elona. He reveals to the Sunspears that the only way to traverse the sulfurous wastes is to tame the Junundu - giant desert wurms, one of the few creatures in Elona that can survive the toxic atmosphere. Unlikely an ally as he is, it is he who aids the Sunspears in crossing The Desolation.

The heroes eventually reach Varesh, who is just about to open a rift to the Realm of Torment, and kill her. Unfortunately, it is too late, as the boundaries between both worlds are weak enough to be breached. The only option is to head into the Realm of Torment itself, find Kormir and face the God of Secrets face-to-face. The players cut off the Margonite source of power, the River of Souls, and discover that Abaddon is seeking aid from Dhuum, the god of death before the current god Grenth overthrew him, and Menzies, half-brother to the god Balthazar. They also discover that two of Abaddon's main generals are none other than the Undead Lich and Shiro Tagachi, the primary antagonists from the previous campaigns.

Battling through Titans and Shiro'ken, the players reach the Temple of the Six Gods, a part of the world taken to the Realm of Torment when Abaddon was imprisoned by the five other gods. Before the heroes can ask for the help of the Gods to defeat Abaddon, they must defeat Abaddon's generals, Shiro and the Lich who defend the Temple. After defeating them, Kormir and the players request assistance. Avatars of the Gods appear to say they will not help but to take their blessing "already within the heart of each human". The Sunspears must face and defeat Abaddon alone.

In the final battle, Abaddon is breaking free from the bindings holding him to the Realm of Torment. The Sunspears renew his bindings long enough to inflict enough damage to defeat him. When defeated Abaddon's power grows out of control and his Realm of Torment threatens to merge with Elona causing Nightfall without him. Thinking quickly, Spearmarshal Kormir sacrifices herself by running into the mouth of Abaddon, hoping to control or stop his energies. Kormir is successful and takes the dying God of Secrets' power and is reborn as the Goddess of Truth. Kormir then sets about undoing the damage done to the world by her predecessor. The player may return to the Chantry of Secrets, base of operations for the Order of Whispers and enter the ''Domain of Anguish''.

A little girl named Ayşecik lives with her parents on a farm, where they often feed the chickens or harvest crops. One day, however, there is a terrible tornado. She rushes back to the house because her dog is locked inside. But at that moment, strong winds blow the cottage off its foundation and into the sky. When the house lands, she opens the front door and peeks outside. Given a protective kiss and a pair of silver shoes by the Northern Sorceress and promised aid by seven munchkins, she sets out to find the Great Wizard. Through the grasslands and forests, she encounters Korkuluk (the Scarecrow) and in the forest she meets Teneke Koruadam (the Tin Woodman), and Korkak Aslan (the Cowardly Lion). Keşkin Zeka demands that they kill the Wicked Witch (Kötü Cadı) of the South (Suna Selen) in order to receive their wishes. But Ayşecik and Korkak Aslan are imprisoned in the witch's jail-house after their friends are destroyed by her army of soldiers. Ayşecik comes into the jail-house, carrying a heavy, tin bucket but the sets it down as the wicked witch orders her to wash the floor. The girl trips over a string and her left shoe lands on the floor, the wicked witch picks up the shoe and teases Ayşecik. Ayesecik picks up her bucket of water and throws it at her, the witch screams as her servants run away but then she begins to tremble, then she finally evaporates into thin air. The witch's former subjects willingly restore Korkuluk and Teneke Koruadam. Back at the Emerald City, Keşkin Zeka admits to being a fraud, delivers trinkets to Ayşecik's friends, and accidentally leaves her behind in his balloon escape, so they set off on their journey again, meeting again the china dolls, the hammer-wielding cavemen (loosely based on Baum's Hammerheads) and then start to dance, then, after the Good Sorceress tells her how to use her shoes, Ayşecik bids farewell to her friends, clicks her heels, and ends up home. Interestingly, for the first time in any adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, we see the reaction of the young heroine's friends after she leaves.

Yoon Jung-sook (Han Ji-hye) is an eighteen-year-old, dreamy, lively school girl. One day, she encounters a mysterious man in traditional Korean clothing on the streets who carries a piece of literature her quite famous grandfather treasured. Despite not seeing his face, she falls head-over-heels in love with him and vows to marry him. Since she is the member of an ancient and noble Korean Clan, the Yun clan, she will marry Kwon Hyuk-joon (Lee Dong-gun), the heir of the Kwon clan. Hyuk-joon is ten years older than Jung-sook and already a prosecutor. Jung-sook finds out that Hyuk-joon is the mysterious man whom she fell in love with and willingly marries him. She becomes a housewife while her friends continue to attend college. Two worlds clash, as Jung-sook is still an immature teenager and Hyuk-joon a grown man. However, slowly, they become attracted to each other and fall in love, despite the fact that Jung-sook is pursued by a school mate and Hyuk-joon meets his first love again, who wants him back. Jung-sook has much to learn about the ancient traditions of the family of her husband and what it means to be married to a first-born son, however in the end, they are deeply in love with each other. Jung-sook gives birth to twins and starts a sewing business. Hyuk-joon continues working as a prosecutor in the police force in Seoul.

A mysterious force breaks through the TARDIS exterior, throwing Bernice into the Vortex and forcing the Doctor to make an emergency landing. At first thinking they've landed in prehistoric times (after a dinosaur knocks the TARDIS into a tar pit), the Doctor soon learns that they have landed on a parallel Earth. On this Earth, the Silurians killed the Doctor in his third incarnation twenty years ago, then went on to kill most of humanity with a plague, and return Earth to its prehistoric state. An embittered alternate version of the Brigadier, along with Liz Shaw and the remnants of UNIT, attempts to destroy the Silurians with nuclear missiles. Ace manages to reactivate the Third Doctor's TARDIS (which had gone into hibernation after his death), which the Doctor then materializes around the entire Earth. He then uses the Architectural Configuration controls to delete the inbound missiles and prevents the massacre of the Silurians. The Doctor then manages to convince the Brigadier and the Silurian leader that the two races can and must live in peace. The happy ending is ruined for Ace and Bernice, however, when the Doctor reveals that this alternate universe cannot survive without destroying the real Universe. In order to save their Universe, the Doctor time rams his old TARDIS in order to start a chain reaction that will destroy the parallel universe after the current inhabitants have lived out the rest of their lives, vowing simultaneously to find whoever created this timeline and bring them to justice. When Ace and Bernice leave the Doctor alone, he pushes a lever, destroying the Alternate Earth automatically.

What seems to be a simple murder investigation in a quiet English village becomes something far more deadly for the Seventh Doctor and his companions when the inhabitants begin to exhibit superhero abilities...

London, while Bernice becomes lead singer in a punk band, the Doctor must face more than one old enemy.

The Doctor is in pursuit of a galactic criminal and the trail leads to Peladon: a desolate world once home to a barbaric, feudal society. Now the Galactic Federation is attempting to bring prosperity and civilisation to the planet. But not all Peladonians support the changes, and when ancient relics are stolen from their Citadel, the representatives of the Federation are blamed. The Doctor suspects the Ice Warrior delegation, but before long the Time Lord himself is arrested for the crime—and sentenced to death.

Elsewhere, interplanetary mercenaries are bringing one of the galaxy's most evil artefacts to Peladon, apparently on the Doctor's instruction. Ace is pursuing a dangerous mission on another world and Bernice is getting friendly—perhaps too friendly—with the Ice Warriors she has studied for so long.

The players are making the final moves in a devious and lethal plan - but for once it isn't the Doctor's...

In recent events , Cory has met a new friend, January, who has an interest in magic, and works in a dentist's office as an office assistant. Kevin has been dating Robin's roommate Dana, who is smarter than Robin and not as attractive. There have been problems, due to Dana's insistence on keeping the relationship under wraps, and also with the appearance of Kevin's high school girlfriend, Lisa. Omar, whom Kevin stays with, has also taken exception to Kevin and Dana's interracial relationship, and has tried to steal Dana behind Kevin's back, even though he doesn't truly like her. This has come to a head in a recent comic , and has yet to be resolved. It has also been revealed that Omar was adopted by a white mother and Asian father, and faced many problems growing up due to his ethnicity. He was once painfully bitten by a little girl classmate who thought he was made of chocolate.

After spending the summer together, Cory and January started dating. Meanwhile, Robin gained a considerable amount of weight due to a break-up with her boyfriend, Steve, after she called all of the girls' numbers on his cell phone.

Also in recent comics, Ericka, Quincy's on-and-off girlfriend, recently told Quincy that she was pregnant with his child. As a result, Quincy decided to take responsibility for this baby and they were almost married, but Ericka confessed that she had faked the pregnancy, and the wedding was called off.

In recent strips, Corey had still not shown affection to January, and was showing interest in Robin, and there were hints that he was going to mess up his budding relationship (in typical Corey fashion). January kissed Cory, finally. This made Cory forget about Robin. It made him re-evaluate his views of Life, the Universe, and himself.

It has been shown in recent comics, that Omar has somehow lost his apartment, and is now the roommate of Jason. The two have been shown butting heads, especially since Omar has killed Jason's "pet" mouse, Edgar. However, unlike Cory, Omar has held his own against Jason. Also, Kevin and Cory have become roommates. There is, however, a potential that Kevin and Cory might clash due to the presence of Dana (a sort of Yoko Ono) in their apartment. It is also mentioned that Quincy's on/off again girlfriend, Erika, was in some type of online relationship with Omar, which caused a fight between Quincy and Omar, which was never fully resolved to this point in the strip. It has also been shown that January has broken up with Cory, who then started to date Robin, but later broke up with Robin after the assumed death of January in late 2012. Quincy had graduated and Omar found out he has a twin sister named LeLani, who Cory has a strong interest in. Dana and Kevin have also gotten married. At the end of the strip, it is shown that Omar, after having an emotional breakdown, and a therapy session with Robin, has taken to "opening himself to the world", and embracing life, and Kevin and Dana leaving for Canada to start a family. Also Jason has forsaken his fake thug imagery for the life of an emerging businessman, reuniting with his friend Peeno after a brief estrangement. Quincy has moved in with his girlfriend and her son to be a responsible adult, and Robin finally acknowledges her love of Corey, at the least on a friendship level.

The story begins by detailing the creation story of Heaven. There is a substance of raw chaos: cacoastrum; and stuff of order: illiaster. From the illiaster came consciousness that resulted in the firstborn angels: Yaweh, Satan, Michael, Lucifer, Raphael, Leviathan and Belial. The firstborn create Heaven in order to protect themselves from the cacoastrum, which threatens to destroy them. This event is later referred to as the 'First Wave.' The walls of heaven have collapsed two times since then, resulting in the Second and Third Waves, creating, respectively, the archangels and angels.

After the third wave Heaven has been divided into four regencies named for the cardinal points of the compass. Belial, half-mad and trapped in the form of a dragon, rules the Northern Regency. Leviathan, a kindly woman in the shape of a sea serpent, oversees the Western Regency. Satan rules the South with his loyal servant Beelzebub, trapped in the body of a golden retriever. Lucifer rules the East, with his consort Lilith, who had previously been briefly involved with Satan. Yaweh oversees all of Heaven from the center, aided by his healer Raphael and warrior Michael.

Other important angels include the blind musician Harut, the poetry-quoting Ariel, the craftsman Asmodai, the smirking Mephistopheles, the dour Uriel, the sneering Abdiel, the somewhat naive Gabriel and the coolly competent Zaphkiel. A mostly independent subplot involving two angels named Kyriel and Sith gives the viewpoints of two low-level angels who get swept up in the story's events.

Trouble arises when Yaweh, worried about the imminent Fourth Wave, devises The Plan: the blueprint for a new, larger Heaven (Earth), with walls that the cacoastrum cannot destroy. Unfortunately, at least a thousand angels will die during the construction of his new Paradise. Yaweh charges Satan with securing the cooperation of every angel in Heaven, and Satan finds himself wondering if they have the ethical right to coerce anyone into participating.

Exacerbating matters is Abdiel, who craves Satan's rank. Abdiel begins playing Satan against Yaweh, telling each of them that the other will no longer discuss matters. Step by step, the factions escalate. Abdiel attempts to wound Beelzebub and accidentally kills the innocent Ariel. When Satan and Beelzebub attempt to avenge this, Raphael and Michael misinterpret this as proof their opponents have abandoned all decency.

Yaweh, attempting to rally his side, convinces his supporters that he is not only the eldest of the Firstborn, he is God. This announcement stuns not only his opponents, but even Michael, his closest supporter. Using the energy of his newfound worshippers, he creates a new angel, Yeshuah, who he proclaims his son and heir.

As the war continues, Zaphkiel intercepts Satan and brings him directly to Yaweh, where the two discover that Abdiel has played them both for fools. However, Satan will not acknowledge Yaweh's dishonest claim to Godhood, and neither will Yaweh abandon it, so the conflict continues.

Abdiel, now on the run from both sides, begins digging a hole in the wall of Heaven, but Mephistopheles finds and strangles him before he can finish the work. Satan's hosts gain the ascendancy in the battle. Seeing that defeat is inevitable, Yaweh decides to destroy Heaven by expanding the hole that Abdiel had been deepening. Yet when the wall of Heaven is breached, flooding Heaven with cacoastrum, Yaweh finds that he cannot allow himself to be destroyed by the cacoastrum; it is not in his nature.

Yeshuah, seeing an opportunity to triumph over Satan's forces, sacrifices his life by leaping into the breach and directing the rupture towards the hosts of Satan, devastating them. Meanwhile, as the rebels fight for Heaven, Satan is captured but with the help of Beelzebub and Mephistopheles leaves Heaven; his followers join him in the abyss and create a third stronghold: Hell.

The plot follows an old-fashioned, nerdy Swede, Stig-Helmer Olsson (Lasse Åberg), who travels to the fictional town of ''Nueva Estocolmo'' in Gran Canaria. Before the trip, he meets with a psychiatrist, Dr. B. A:son Levander (Magnus Härenstam), for treatment of his fear of flying. Levander then cons him into smuggling money for another tourist, Gösta Angerud (Roland Janson), by asking Stig-Helmer to deliver a Christmas present to Levander's aunt in Nueva Estocolmo. At the airport in Sweden, Stig-Helmer meets and befriends a man from Norway, Ole Bramserud (Jon Skolmen). Among the other tourists are Angerud, the single sisters Maj-Britt (Lottie Ejebrant) and Siv (Kim Anderzon), the heavy drinkers Berra (Sven Melander) and Robban (Weiron Holmberg), who throughout the movie search for a liquor store named Pepe's Bodega; and the newlywed and camera-enthusiastic Storch couple.

Ms Cohen is travelling on a starliner that falls through a time rift and is boarded by giant mechanical ants. She wakes up on board a vessel known as The Ship, where the ants and human prisoners they use as slaves are slowly processing the captured humans and storing their minds inside Ship's systems. The human guards, however, have a problem. One prisoner, whom they call the "Gingerbread Man", repeatedly escapes from cold storage despite their best efforts. Ms Cohen witnesses several of these escapes and watches the guards brutally beat him to the point where he seems to be suffering a heart attack. As Ms. Cohen tries to start him breathing again, she realises he has two hearts. Eventually she realises that the "Gingerbread Man's" escapes always go to a different part of Ship, therefore he is looking for someone. In his next escape, he reaches the freezers, where Ace is trapped. The Doctor is finally able to summon Bernice to rescue them. But the attempt fails and the Doctor, Ace and Bernice are thrown out into the rift. Ms Cohen is trapped on Ship and eventually processed like the others.

Some months earlier, the Doctor shows Bernice and Ace a mysterious cafe that manifests itself at different locations in time and space, ranging from Glebe, New South Wales to Argolis. The Doctor says this as a result of a Time Rift, which has punched through the fabric of reality. An unknown force is using the rift to snare passenger ships. The Doctor and Ace plan to get captured and learn what is happening having failed, the three travellers are separated.

Ace falls out of the rift in the Egyptian desert during the Akhenaten period, where she is found by nobleman Sedjet and becomes part of his household body guard. Because she is a woman, she has to constantly prove herself. The only person who seems to accept her is the priest, Sesehaten. Although she can still hear Egyptian as English, she eventually accepts that the Doctor will not be coming to rescue her. When Sedjet tries to take her on as his mistress, Ace realises that he will only ever see her as a curiosity. She leaves his house, abandoning the force field generator she used to travel through the rift. Unable to find work as a soldier, she is reduced to working as a waitress. She encounters Sesehaten again, who tells her that odd lights have been seen in the sky. Ace realises that the rift may be opening and rushes back to Sedjet's house. The building is empty and the ants are there looking for the force field generator. Sesehaten reveals that he is part of the cult of Set (also known as Sutekh), which has been outlawed since Pharaoh forced Egypt to accept a single religion and one god Aten. Sesehaten's cult will help Ace leave through the rift, if she helps them kidnap the Pharaoh. Ace agrees, as she sees Akhenaten as another in the long line of fascists she has fought. Ace breaks into Akhenaten's palace and takes him hostage, but Ace realises through talking to him that he is no better or worse than any other ruler. In the courtyard he reveals the TARDIS, which his army recovered when it fell from the sky, explaining how Ace could understand Egyptian. Using the instruments, Ace discovers that Sesehaten is not human, but a machine built by Ship to control the rift.

Bernice lands in France in 1798 and makes friends with Vivant Denon, a founder of modern Egyptology and one of her heroes. Together they travel to Egypt with Napoleon's army and Bernice attempts to find the Amarna Graffito, a mysterious phrase written on a tomb wall in modern English, which she has a strange feeling can help her find the TARDIS. Searching inside a tomb, she is trapped by survivors of Set's cult, who steal her diary thinking it and the message are key to releasing their god from his prison. Denon rescues her and together they lead French troops to the Cultists camp, where Benny recovers her diary and finds the location of the graffiti.

The Doctor, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, appears in 1871 Paris, as the events of the Paris Commune unfold. He finds himself in the care of Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart, whose time travel experiments created the rift. Now they are both trapped in Paris. The ants have followed them and Kadiatu takes the Doctor to M. Thierry's house for shelter. Despite his confused state of mind, the Doctor still realises that Thierry's young son is not all he seems and suspects Thierry is really in league with the ants. Thierry and Kadiatu have been helping the Doctor recover, playing for time and hoping that he will reveal to them the information that Ship couldn't take from his mind.

Ace has the TARDIS buried in the monument at Amarna and writes a message on the wall, so the Doctor or Bernice will eventually find it. She then uses Sesehaten to open the rift and with the help of the force shield, escapes through it. In 1798, Bernice does indeed find the TARDIS and after saying goodbye to Denon, she too leaves for the Doctor's location. In Paris, Thierry uses the ants' technology with Kadiatu's time machine to stabilise the rift, but unfortunately the Doctor has filled it with explosives, hoping the ants would take it back to Ship. The resulting explosion kills Thierry and tears the rift completely open. A little boy appears and attempts to stabilise the rift as first Ace, then the TARDIS come through. He is a machine built to stabilise the rift like Sesehaten. As the rift widens, Ace shoots the boy, sealing the rift in the process.

The Doctor, his mind recovering, explains to Ace and Benny that Ship is an organic computer, built by a human colony to store their minds in a gestalt entity, but having fallen through Kadiatu's rifts, it is now trying to store all organic matter in the universe and has built the ship and the ants to fulfil its purpose. The travellers return to Paris and Ace watches the chaos around her. Knowing that the Commune will fail and thousands will be killed, she tries to persuade the woman fighters that their attack are pointless, just as Akhenaten's religious reforms were ultimately undone and forgotten. But the fighters believe that fighting for their beliefs is more important than winning.

Bernice finds Kadiatu is giving Ship dead bodies killed in the Commune to process into organic machinery for time travel. Ship has also infected Kadiatu with an organic virus that is slowly taking her over. She has been playing for time hoping to come up with a virus to kill Ship. Ship overcomes her virus and she becomes a part of Ship and goes back for the Doctor, whom his companions now realise has also been infected, which will allow Ship to read his mind and use the knowledge to open more rifts and process more minds.

Refusing to let the Doctor be sacrificed Ace uses one of Kadiatu’s organic time hoppers to follow them to Ship, where she tries to track down the Doctor. All the prisoners and the human guards have been processed and the three people are the only ones aboard. Kadiatu shoots Ace, but she is only badly wounded. The Doctor is connected to the fabric of Ship, but the moment he accesses Ship’s central nervous system, he is able to shut it down directly. As Ship dies, Kadiatu leaps into the rift and disappears. Ace gets the Doctor back to Paris, where he allows himself to die temporarily, thus killing the organic material which Ship had implanted in him.

As the TARDIS is about to leave Ace chooses to stay. She knows she can't change history, but actions maybe able to save some lives. She also plans to use the surviving technology to monitor the rifts and protect Earth from any other threats like Ship. The Doctor reveals that he has known where she would end up since soon after he met her. The Epilogue shows Ace, now using the name Dorothee McShane, meeting Denon and telling him that Bernice is safe. She again meets the Doctor in Sydney, 1993 and helps him fight an alien invasion. In the present of 1871, Ace helps defend a barricade until the last moment, then puts down her gun and disappears into history.

Napoleon having escaped from Elba, Richard Sharpe leaves his farm in Normandy to rejoin the British Army, accompanied by his lover Lucille. He is hired by the Prince of Orange as part of his staff officer and appointed a lieutenant colonel. Sharpe's friend Patrick Harper, despite being a civilian who has ostensibly come to Belgium to trade in horses, resumes his old place at Sharpe's side.

The First Day: 15 June 1815

While patrolling the roads connecting the Anglo-Dutch and Prussian forces, Sharpe sees a large unit of Napoleon's Army of the North crossing the border from France, revealing that Napoleon does not intend to maneuver around the flank of the allied armies via Mons, as the Duke of Wellington expects, but instead to drive into the gap between the British and Prussian armies and defeat them in detail. Sharpe sends an urgent message to General Dornberg, while he stays behind to continue observing the French. Unfortunately, Dornberg thinks it is a French ruse and tears it up.

Later that day, after the French have entered Charleroi, Sharpe returns to the Prince of Orange's headquarters and is aghast to find that the army is ignorant of the French invasion. The Prince's Chief of Staff, Baron Rebecque, despatches a messenger to retrieve the Prince from Brussels, while Sharpe carries orders to the troops nearest to the crossroads at Quatre Bras, commanded by Prince Bernhard Carl of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. Although the French are checked as evening falls, Sharpe knows they will launch a much stronger attack in the morning, and rides to Brussels to warn Wellington.

Sharpe barges into the Duchess of Richmond's ball and informs Wellington. Wellington is dismayed at being "humbugged" by Napoleon. At the ball, Sharpe is outraged to encounter Lord John Rossendale, the lover of his estranged wife Jane. Rossendale flees, but Sharpe catches him in full view of the guests. He insults Rossendale, offers to settle matters with a duel, and demands the return of the money Jane stole from him. Rossendale, knowing full well that he would lose a duel with Sharpe, meekly acquiesces, but Jane obliquely encourages him to use the impending battle as a cover to kill Sharpe.

The Second Day: 16 June 1815

At Quatre Bras, a Belgian unit brought up to reinforce Saxe-Weimar breaks and runs as soon as the first French column appears (the Belgians having recently been French allies). The Prince of Orange twice attempts to lead a charge of his Dutch-Belgian cavalry against an opposing force of French lancers, but his men refuse to follow him.

Wellington arrives at Quatre Bras in time to see the Belgian troops fleeing, and details General Picton to deploy the British reinforcements, while Wellington rides east to confer with the Prussians. The Prince of Orange, humiliated by his own troops' poor performance, becomes outraged at Picton deploying brigades from I Corps, of which the Prince is the nominal commander, without consulting him. The Prince orders General Halkett's brigade to form line and advance. The Prince disregards Sharpe's warning that the French cavalry are lurking nearby and will massacre any infantry in line, and dismisses Sharpe from his staff when Sharpe refuses to deliver the orders to Halkett.

The 69th Regiment obeys and is all but wiped out by cavalry led by General Kellermann. Sharpe and Harper rush to the side of their old regiment, the Prince of Wales' Own Volunteers, and save some of them by urging them to flee to the safety of a forest. The brigade takes heavy casualties, and the French cavalry capture the 69th's King's Colour. Although more reinforcements arrive in time to check the French advance, Sharpe rages at the needless loss of life caused by the Prince.

The Third Day: 17 June 1815

Rebecque attempts to mend fences between Sharpe and the Prince of Orange, saying the Prince needs Sharpe at his side more than ever now that the entire army knows he blundered. As much as he despises the Prince, Sharpe makes a token apology for his "rudeness," not wanting to lose his colonel's pay.

Sharpe learns that the Prussians are retreating after their defeat at Ligny. The British retreat to a defensive position chosen by Wellington: the ridge of Mont St. Jean, just south of the village of Waterloo. While they are preparing to ride away, Sharpe and Harper glimpse across the field Napoleon himself astride a horse.

During the confusion of the retreat from Quatre Bras, Lord John Rossendale becomes separated from the Earl of Uxbridge's staff, and is cornered alone in the woods by Sharpe. Rossendale aims a pistol at Sharpe, but lacks the nerve to pull the trigger, and Sharpe disarms him easily. Sharpe says Rossendale is welcome to Jane, but he makes Rossendale write a promissory note for his stolen money. Sharpe mockingly drops a length of rope into Rossendale's lap, saying that Rossendale has "bought" Jane according to an old English custom.

The Fourth Day: 18 June 1815

Wellington deploys his forces on the ridge south of Waterloo, trusting Prussian commander Field Marshal Blücher's assurance he will march to his aid if he makes a stand. Unknown to him, General Gneisenau, Blücher's chief of staff, does not trust Wellington and secretly mismanages the Prussians' march to slow it down as much as possible.

The Prince of Orange posts Sharpe on the British right to watch for a French flanking attack. Sharpe, however, is certain that Napoleon is so confident of victory that he will instead launch a frontal attack in overwhelming force. Although both armies assemble well before dawn, Napoleon does not commence his attack until close to 11:00 a.m.

Sharpe and Harper, watching the French advance, are drawn into the defence of Hougoumont, and witness Colonel Macdonell's heroic closing of the gates after some Frenchmen get in. During a lull in the fighting, Sharpe offers his assistance, and Macdonell asks him to fetch a wagonload of ammunition.

The Prince of Orange is humiliated further when, again, the Dutch-Belgian troops under his command refuse to advance. Believing that the farm of La Haye Sainte is about to fall to the enemy, the Prince quickly orders a Hanoverian regiment to advance in line, again ignoring one of his officers' warning that he spotted some French cavalry nearby. Again, the allied infantry are slaughtered.

With Hogoumont under siege on Wellington's right, Napoleon believes (incorrectly) that Wellington will weaken his line to deploy reinforcements there, so he orders D'Erlon's infantry corps to assault the British center.

Rossendale, desperate to regain his honor in battle after being humiliated by Sharpe, joins the charge of the British heavy cavalry in sweeping D'Erlon's infantry from the ridge. Rossendale fights bravely, but is swept along with the ill-disciplined English cavalry as they cross the field to the French artillery park. By the time French lancers appear, the Englishmen's horses are exhausted, and they are easily slaughtered. Rossendale is struck from behind by a lance to the spine, blinded by a sword slash to the face, and knocked off his horse.

Sharpe, outraged to learn that the Prince has repeated his mistake and caused yet more needless deaths, gives the Prince the V sign and rides away. He briefly considers riding back to Brussels and collecting Lucille, but changes his mind when Marshal Ney, mistaking movement behind the British ridge as a sign of wavering, unleashes the French cavalry at the ridge, where they encounter British infantry in square. The French stubbornly make fruitless attacks on the squares, though this makes the infantry prime targets for the French artillery, which exact a dreadful toll.

The Prince, for the third time, causes his men (this time from the King's German Legion) to be slaughtered by ordering them forward in line in the proximity of cavalry. Lieutenant Doggett calls the Prince "a silk stocking full of shit," (quoting Harper) and rides off to find Sharpe. Fearing more men will die if the Prince remains in command, Sharpe attempts to kill him under cover of the fighting, but only hits him in the shoulder, though this forces the Prince to retire from the field.

As La Haye Sainte falls and with the French skirmishers and cannon slowly grinding down the British, Colonel Ford, the Prince of Wales' Own Volunteers inexperienced commander, is frightened, confused and indecisive when Napoleon, mistakenly believing the British are wavering, sends forward four massive columns of the his best, most renowned troops, the Imperial Guard, to strike the decisive blow. Two columns are stalled by stiff resistance, Wellington personally orders the volleys that rout the third column, and Sharpe rallies his old regiment and plays a major role in repulsing the last one. Witnessing this, Wellington gives Sharpe official command of the regiment. The sight of the Imperial Guard in retreat shatters French morale, and the rest of the army flees. The Prussians finally arrive on the field, and Wellington orders a general advance.

As night falls, a delirious Rossendale is killed by a peasant woman looter. His friend and fellow officer informs Sharpe that Rossendale is dead and therefore his promissory note has no value, then leaves to break the news to Jane, who is pregnant with Rossendale's child.

A flaw in the structure of the Universe is allowing energy from the Land of Fiction to seep through. The Doctor and his companions must close the gap to save the Universe, but the TARDIS is unable to navigate the crystallised cloud of fictional energy around the gap. The Doctor lands on the crystal's surface, and he, Benny and Chris pass through the crystal, navigating through their individual dreams as the fictional energy gives them form. Once they reach the crystal's interior they must put force-field generators in place around the gap, and Roz, who is waiting by the controls in the TARDIS, will then be able to squeeze the gap shut. But the Doctor has withheld one fact from his companions for fear of alienating them. The gap has opened above the dying planet Detrios, and its inhabitants have unwittingly reshaped the fictional energy into the crystal Miracle which is providing light and power to their world. When the Doctor closes the gap, the Miracle will vanish, and Detrios really will be doomed.

Things get even more complicated when the fictional energy finds a focus in Jason, the young Writer who was returned to Earth by the Time Lords after the Doctor's last encounter with the Land of Fiction. As the fictional energy floods into this Universe, Jason finds that his wishes and dreams are coming true. A fictional double of the Doctor, Dr. Who, appears in the TARDIS, knocks out the real Doctor before he can enter the crystal, and sends him to the fictional Galactic Prison for the crime of trying to wipe out the Detrians. Dr. Who then picks up Jason, his new companion, and they set off to have neat adventures, beat up green monsters, and arrest the evil Doctor's accomplices. Roz, uncertain of the extent of the newcomers’ powers, hides in the TARDIS corridors and waits for an opportunity to make her move.

Jason and Dr. Who try to remove Benny and Chris from the Miracle, but as the TARDIS is unable to materialise within, it is diverted to Detrios. There, Jason agrees to help the hapless Politik Darnak to defeat the green lizard monsters which are about to attack his Citadel. In fact Darnak is just a low-grade civil servant who sees promotion prospects in these helpful aliens, and the lizard people have a rich culture of their own which has suffered under the oppressive rule of the human upper classes. Oblivious to the wider issues, Dr. Who whips up an ACME Lizard Monster Eradicator from spare parts and instantly exterminates ninety percent of the planet's lizard population. Darnak can’t believe that the problem has been solved so easily, but his denial irritates Jason, and moments later the Citadel is attacked by a giant dinosaur. Jason discovers its one weak point and defeats it through a combination of observation, clever thinking and bravery—except of course that he’d created the dinosaur and thus its weakness as well, and in the process of defeating it, a dozen guards have been horribly killed and the Citadel has been destroyed. Jason and Dr. Who depart, leaving Darnak with the unenviable task of explaining the fiasco to the Detrian Superior.

The Detrians detect intruders on the Miracle and transmat Chris to their planet for interrogation, where he's horrified to learn that the Doctor nearly tricked him into committing genocide. He is imprisoned with a young rebel, Kat’lanna, who was arrested after the extermination of the lizard people and has given up her hope for a new world order; talking with Chris, however, restores her hope that things can get better, even when he admits that he and his friends were trying to destroy the Miracle. Kat tricks their guard, steals his keys and helps her fellow prisoners to escape, but back at the rebel stronghold they are betrayed and captured by followers of Enros, the Undying One. Enros believes that he created the Miracle and that his death will mean its destruction; he also believes that one day aliens will descend and worship him. When Chris refuses to do so, Kat is taken to be executed while Enros prepares to sacrifice Chris in public before his followers.

Dr. Who and Jason travel to the decrepit leisure world Avalone, where the Doctor's former companion Mel has been stranded alone for months. At first, she's delighted to see the TARDIS, but then Dr. Who and Jason imprison her in Galactic Prison along with the Doctor. Dr. Who and Jason then land on the Miracle, venture inside and kidnap Benny, but while they’re busy Jason's attention wanders and the fictional Galactic Prison vanishes—leaving Mel and the Doctor at the mercy of the fictional dinosaurs which Jason left to guard the grounds. He eventually forgets about the dinosaurs as well, but by that time many of the planet's primitive natives have been slaughtered. The angry primitives blame the Doctor and Mel and prepare to burn them at the stake, but they are saved at the last moment when Dr. Who and Jason return with Benny, causing the Prison and the dinosaurs to return. The Doctor and Mel are no longer within the confines of the prison, and thus escape as the dinosaurs tear into the fleeing tribesmen. Mel, however, has begun to worry about the Doctor's newly secretive nature and is puzzled by Dr. Who's claim that the Doctor is responsible for the destruction of the Althosian system and the Silurian Earth. Roz emerges from hiding to rescue Benny from Dr. Who and Jason, but when they are reunited with the Doctor, Mel is appalled by his new gun-toting, casually violent companions. Together, they steal a cartoon spaceship from the Prison and attempt to return to the Miracle, but Jason and Dr. Who pursue them in the TARDIS. Jason decides that the TARDIS has weapons, and it therefore does—and Dr. Who shoots down the escaping prisoners’ ship, blowing it up in the vacuum of space...

Dr. Who and Jason then return to Detrios to arrest Chris, and the materialisation of the TARDIS distracts Enros’ followers just as Chris is about to be sacrificed. Still disoriented and confused from the drugs which the cultists gave him, Chris accuses Dr. Who of trying to commit genocide, and Jason and Dr. Who realise that he was unaware of the Doctor's evil plans and welcome him aboard as part of the team. As Chris recovers in the TARDIS, Jason and Dr. Who travel to a cafe in Glebe to try to arrest Ace, but she realises that Dr. Who isn’t the real Doctor and fights back. Unable to defeat her, Jason panics and flees, deciding to forget that she ever existed—and as Ace has no way of finding them by herself, she uses her time-hopper to travel to 2002, in order to conduct research on historical anomalies in the hope of tracking them down.

Jason and Dr. Who then take the puzzled Chris to Earth to right wrongs and topple evil dictatorships, and decide to start in England. Dr. Who gets himself arrested in order to contact rebel elements in prison, but only succeeds in freeing several dangerous criminals who instantly flee into the streets rather than join his rebel army. Jason also tries to contact the “resistance”, but only finds student protestors who think he's out of his mind. He eventually storms Buckingham Palace with a fictional battletank, only to find that the Queen has gone to Sheffield to dedicate a new sports centre. Jason and Dr. Who set off to assassinate her, concluding that since she's the head of the oppressive English dictatorship, then getting rid of her will usher in a new era of peace. The Doctor, Benny, Roz and Mel find themselves on Earth; in Jason's world, the arch-villains are always inexplicably resurrected for the sequel. The Doctor leaves Benny and Roz to watch over Buckingham Palace in case Jason returns, while he sets off for Sheffield with the increasingly hostile Mel. But the Doctor's frustration boils over when their train is delayed by the vagaries of British Rail. The voice of his sixth incarnation shouts at him in his mind, accusing him of horrific crimes, and his guilt forces him to admit to Mel that he deliberately influenced her to leave him so he could go about his mission as Time's Champion without her simplistic morality interfering. She is horrified by this revelation, and realises that he truly is no longer the Doctor she knew.

The Doctor and Mel reach Sheffield moments too late, and Dr. Who guns down the Queen with smart bullets which evade innocent bystanders and smash into the Queen's chest. And yet the Queen survives without a scratch, proof that Jason knows deep down that what he's doing is wrong. Ace has found this odd incident in newspaper reports—and was told of its significance by a future Doctor—but Dr. Who and Jason get away from her again. She is, however, reunited with the Doctor and Mel, who is horrified to see that Ace has become a callous soldier.

Jason and Dr. Who, apparently believing that they’ve assassinated the ruler of Britain, return to Buckingham Palace, drive out the staff and set up a force field to keep them out; however, Benny and Roz join forces with UNIT under Brigadier Winifred Bambera and use Roz's force rifle to bleed energy into the force field until it overloads. Meanwhile, the Doctor finds his TARDIS in Sheffield and travels to the Palace to confront Jason; however, Dr. Who and Chris both confront the Doctor over his past crimes. The Doctor claims that the Detrians’ grim position is their own fault, as the upper classes had plenty of warning that their sun was dying but wasted time in internecine squabbling rather than searching for ways to save their world. The Miracle is a stopgap solution only, and will destroy the Universe as a side effect. And Jason is just as guilty of genocide as is the Doctor; he's already wiped out the lizards of Detrios just because they looked like green monsters, and has decimated the tribal population where he thoughtlessly set down his “Galactic Prison” and guard dinosaurs. At this point, UNIT forces storm the palace, and Jason panics and releases a fireball which kills everyone; fortunately, the Doctor uses the fictional energy surrounding Jason to survive, and convinces him to use his powers to resurrect everyone. Jason finally acknowledges the need to grow up, and Dr. Who vanishes, his work done.

The Doctor takes Jason and his former and current companions back to the Miracle to finish his work, but Mel refuses to help him destroy a world, and Chris insists upon returning to Detrios to rescue Kat’lanna. Roz insists upon helping him, and the Doctor has no choice but to let them go their own way. Jason agrees to help the Doctor, and he, Ace and the Doctor thus venture out onto the Miracle. The Detrians have posted guards to stop them from destroying the Miracle, but Benny emerges from the TARDIS at the last moment to help fight them off; sadly, Mel doesn’t. The Doctor, Ace and Jason then travel through the Miracle, but as the Doctor travels through his own dreams he's confronted by his guilt made manifest in the form of his sixth incarnation. The Sixth Doctor accuses the Seventh of cutting his incarnation short in order to become Time's Champion, of genocide, and of the manipulation and betrayal of his companions. The Seventh Doctor is forced to fight his way past the raving Sixth, and sees him transforming into the Valeyard as they do battle.

Kat’lanna's fellow rebels rescue her from Enros’ followers; meanwhile, Enros decides to legitimise his claim to be Detrios’ true ruler, and sends his followers into the Citadel to assassinate the Superior and seize control of the planet. As this leaves Enros himself relatively unguarded, the remaining rebels decide to take the opportunity to assassinate him, but Kat recalls Chris’ claim that the Miracle was created by the beliefs of the Detrians—which means that if enough people believe the Miracle will vanish when Enros dies, then it will. If this happens, Detrios will never shake off his warped religion. Kat thus tries to stop her fellow rebels, and the delay gives the Doctor, Ace and Jason enough time they need to finish their work. As the Miracle fades away, Enros’ hold over his followers is broken, and thus nobody notices when he is killed. Meanwhile, Chris and Roz are unable to locate Kat’lanna, and when Chris sees the terrible poverty and deprivation in which the ordinary Detrians live he gives in to despair, concluding that it was foolish and pointless to try rescuing just one person. He and Roz return to the TARDIS, unaware that Kat’lanna and her fellow rebels have used the death of the Miracle as a foundation for a new order; now that it's gone the Detrians have no choice but to abandon their illusory hopes, and start looking for real, constructive ways of restoring power to their world. For the first time there is real hope for the future. But Kat’lanna never understands why Chris didn’t try to come back for her as he’d promised.

The Doctor returns Jason, Ace and Mel to their proper times, but he and Mel part on bitter terms. Ace promises to try to talk some sense into Mel—and quietly passes on a message for the Doctor from his future incarnation. As Roz tries to help Chris come to terms with his perceived failure, the Doctor seals off the memory of the Sixth Doctor in his mind, knowing that he must continue to resist the temptation to regenerate into his eighth incarnation; that moment of weakness could give the Valeyard the chance he needs to break free. He then promises Benny that he’ll set the co-ordinates at random so they can have a simple adventure like the ones they used to have, but again, he's lying. According to Ace, the gap which they’ve just closed was scraped into the Universe by Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart's time machine, and the Doctor must deal with her for good before she does any more damage. Once again his duty to the bigger picture must take precedence over the wishes of his companions.

Parker Ballantine is a theatrical critic, busily praising or disparaging the shows of Broadway. His wife Angela is feeling useless and restless, so she writes a play about her mother and sisters.

Angela doesn't believe Parker should review her work, since he will look prejudiced if he does so favorably and it will hurt her feelings if he knocks it. Parker has read it and isn't impressed. A major producer, however, decides to back it.

Handsome Dion Kapakos directs the play and tries to strike up a romantic interest in the playwright. Angela continues to resist, but she's getting more fed up with Parker's negativity by the hour.

Before the play's first out-of-town tryout in Boston, the conflicted Parker goes to see his ex-wife, Ivy, and gets a little tipsy. He decides to go to the opening, then writes a negative review. The trouble gets worse when he gets home.

Stranded on Mars, the Doctor and Roz team up with a group of colonists on a journey to find much-needed supplies at the North Pole. But when their expedition is joined by a party of Ice Warrior pilgrims, tensions are stretched to breaking point. Elsewhere, Chris finds himself on Pluto's moon, trapped with a group of desperate scientists in a deadly race against time.

The year is 2157: the Earth has been invaded, and forces are at work on Mars to ensure that the mysterious invaders are successful. Unless the Doctor can solve the riddle of the GodEngine, the entire course of human history will be changed...

Bernice Summerfield's father disappeared when she was seven years old, but during her honeymoon, a clue leads her to discover him 500 years in his past, in England in 1983.

''Warm Water Under A Red Bridge'' focuses on the troubles of a Japanese "everyman" who finds a new life with an unusual woman in a small fishing village. Imamura's last film contains considerable commentary on the search for happiness.

This romantic comedy tells the story of a salaryman who has been laid off from his job at an architectural firm in Tokyo and is undergoing marital difficulties. When his old friend dies, he travels to the small fishing town of Himi, Toyama to find a treasure that the old man had hidden in a house there decades before. He does not find what he expects, but takes a job with local fishermen and becomes romantically involved with a woman with an exaggerated proclivity towards female ejaculation.

The film focuses on Kinta, a member of the Himori Yakuza, who has been put in charge of the gang's pork distribution and his girlfriend Haruko, who works at a bar. Kinta is shown working with other gangsters, beating up a local shopkeep who caters to Americans and paying the people who work on the hog farm. When Kinta goes to visit Haruko in the afternoon she leaves without speaking to him and Kinta finds out through her sister that Haruko is being paid 30000 yen to go on a date with a sailor (and that her mother has already spent the money). Haruko returns to Kinta later that night, although Kinta is unhappy because of the earlier events. Haruko reveals that she is pregnant and expresses her concerns about Kinta’s work.

Another gangster calls on Kinta early in the morning and they go out on a small boat to a larger boat where the body of a man who ran afoul of the gangsters is loaded on for them to dispose of. One of the other gangsters asks Kinta about being the fall guy, which Kinta reluctantly says he is willing to do. Haruko gets an abortion, and the doctor charges Kinta extra knowing that the Yakuza have money. A few days later, the body from the boat washes up on the wharf and is found by Kinta’s father. Kinta and his boss hide the body before Kinta’s father returns with the police, but Kinta’s father notices that Kinta’s feet are dirty and figures out that Kinta hid the body, leading to a fight. Haruko pushes Kinta to leave the gang and run away with her but Kinta refuses because he does not want to be a “wage slave”.

Meanwhile, one of the gangsters, Ohachi, is tasked with disposing of the body by burying it on the pig farm. Kinta’s boss, Tetsuji, gets mad at the other gangsters when he finds out that they set Kinta up as the fall guy without consulting him, and it is revealed that the “big boss”, Himori, has some doubts about Tetsuji. The boss calls for a celebration, where they drink, play games and cook one of the pigs. As they are eating the pig Ohachi reveals that he was too lazy to bury the body so he simply boiled it and put it into the pig feed, disgusting the other gangsters. Tetsuji, who is ill, becomes so sick that he has to go to the hospital. Kinta finds out that his boss only has 3 days to live, information that Tetsuji forces out of him. Tetsuji is distraught and pays a gangster named Wang to kill him at some point in the future.

Haruko, becoming increasingly frustrated with Kinta, goes to a party with sailors to get drunk. Haruko is shown at a hotel with three Americans, all of whom are loud and drunk. In a moment of clarity she tries to leave but is stopped and raped by the sailors. Afterwards, Haruko attempts to escape with the American’s money but gets caught and goes to jail. The next day, her family retrieves her and she agrees to become the mistress of the American according to her mother’s wishes. Meanwhile, the Himori gang is crumbling for financial reasons. Kinta and a few other gangsters agree to load the pigs on trucks that night and take the money for themselves. Kinta goes to wait at the pig farm and finds Haruko, and the two agree to run away together after Kinta sells the pigs. At night, Himori arrives before Kinta’s friends and loads up the pigs on trucks of his own, also beating up Kinta and loading him onto a truck. Kinta’s friends arrive in time to see Himori leaving and follow them into the downtown. Himori and Kinta's friends reach an agreement and decide once again to make Kinta the fall guy. However, Kinta says no this time and uses a rifle he discovered earlier on the truck to ward off the other gangsters. Tetsuji shows up, having discovered earlier that there was a medical mix-up and that he only has a mild ulcer, and Wang arrives, causing Tetsuji to run away, although he is in no danger because Wang discovered that he was paid in counterfeit money and would therefore not kill the boss. Kinta orders the truck drivers to release all of the pigs. Kinta is shot by one of the gangsters, and after Kinta returns fire, the terrified pigs stampede ultimately resulting in the deaths of the remaining Himori members. Haruko, who had agreed to meet Kinta at the train station, overhears that there is Yakuza infighting downtown. She rushes there only to find Kinta’s body, having died from his gunshot wound. In the aftermath, days later, Haruko’s family is convinced that all things American will be of great benefit to her and, by extension, her family because she is vivacious and attractive. Her family helps her to prepare to leave with Gordon, the American military businessman. However, she has decided otherwise and sets off to see her uncle who has a job for her in Kawasaki. Her leave-taking is emotional and she cries. In the final scene, as she wipes the make-up and lipstick off her face and walks away over an open seashore, an American aircraft carrier arrives in the port and a busload of young Japanese women excitedly rushes off the bus and starts waving to the sailors coming onshore. She marches past them and boards her train out of town.

Sadako, a corpulent young woman, lives with her common-law husband Koichi, a librarian who has an ongoing affair with his colleague Yoshiko. Although she looks after Koichi's little son from a previous marriage like a real mother, his family picks on her and denies her being written into the family register. While her husband is away, Sadako is raped by a burglar, Hiraoka, who needs money for his heart medication. During the following weeks, Hiraoka repeatedly attacks Sadako, develops an obsession for her and tries to talk her into living with him in Tokyo. Sadako is reluctant to his plan, and although she lets go of her intention to poison him during their burdensome walk through a snowy landscape, he eventually dies of his heart disease. At the end of the film, Sadako has found the self confidence to file a suit against her husband's family to be included in the family register.

God-like beings have shattered the peace of Dellah, and threaten to spread chaos across the galaxy. Benny and Jason Kane return to the planet in a desperate last attempt to stop them, before the planet is destroyed forever.

The film depicts carnivalesque atmosphere summed up by the cry "Ee ja nai ka" ("Why not?") in Japan in 1867 and 1868 in the days leading to the Meiji Restoration. It examines the effects of the political and social upheaval of the time, and culminates in a revelrous march on the Tokyo Imperial Palace, which turns into a massacre. Characteristically, Imamura focuses not on the leaders of the country, but on characters in the lower classes and on the fringes of society.

Artemis Fowl lures the dwarf, Mulch Diggums, to New York City and then brings him back to Ireland to steal the priceless Fei Fei tiara which contains a one-of-a-kind blue diamond. Artemis claims that he intends to use it for a laser. However, a gang of six dwarves led by Sergei the Significant have already stolen the tiara and plan to sell it at a circus to several European jewellery fences. As the dwarfs perform in the circus, Mulch sneaks in underground and takes the tiara, also knocking out their leader, Sergei.

LEP Captain Holly Short has been relaxing in a luxury resort belonging to the People while waiting for the Council to clear her name after the incident at Fowl Manor. However, Foaly calls her saying that she must track Artemis's plane; the LEP have been alerted by Mulch's stolen catches Artemis and falls in love. Holly takes the fake tiara and wants to wipe Artemis’s memory of the people. However Artemis points out that he merely committed a human crime and did nothing to expose them. Thankfully Holly does not know of Mulch’s involvement so this is accepted. Ultimately, it is discovered that Artemis stole the diamond as the colour reminded him of his father's eyes. He gives the diamond to his mother as a gift and promises her that he will find his father.

The novel follows Erika Kohut, a piano teacher in her late thirties who teaches at the Vienna Conservatory and still lives in an apartment with her very controlling elderly mother, with whom Erika shares her parents' marriage bed, despite having a room of her own. The very strained relationship between Erika and her mother is made clear in the opening scene, in which Erika rips out some of her mother's hair when her mother attempts to take away a new dress that Erika has purchased for herself. Erika's mother wishes the money to be used toward a new, future apartment with her, and resents Erika's spending of her money on possessions distinctly for herself; her mother cannot wear Erika's clothing. Erika herself does not wear it, but merely strokes it admiringly at night.

Erika expresses this latent violence as well and need for control in many other scenes throughout the book. Erika takes large instruments on trains so that she can hit people with them and call it an accident, or kicks or steps on the feet of other passengers so that she can watch them blame someone else. She is a voyeur who frequents peep shows, and on one occasion catches a couple having sex in a park, being so affected that she urinates. Childhood memories are retold throughout the novel and their effects on the present suggested—for instance, the memory of a childhood visit from her cousin, an attractive and athletic young man, whom Erika's mother praised while she makes her daughter practice piano, results in Erika's self-mutilation.

Walter Klemmer, an engineering student, is introduced very early on. He comes early to class and watches Erika perform. He eventually becomes Erika's student and develops a desire for his instructor. Erika sees love as a means of rebellion or escape from her mother and thus seeks complete control in the relationship, always telling Klemmer carefully what he must do to her, although she is a sexual masochist. The tensions build within the relationship as Klemmer finds himself more and more uncomfortable by the control, and eventually Klemmer beats and rapes Erika in her own apartment, her mother in the next room. When Erika visits Klemmer after the rape and finds him laughing and happy, she stabs herself in the shoulder and returns home.

Soap opera actor Timothy Adams plays cop Thomas "Thom" O'Keefe, who is working on the case of a prostitute-murdering serial killer. Thom's father, the police commissioner, Jamie O'Keefe (Marc Macaulay), has been involved in other illegal activities for years. When Thom finds out about his father criminal life, he flips out and tries to kill Roberto Rendon, but everything goes wrong and Thom is shot by Manny Ortega. At the hospital, Thom forgives his mother who left him when he was a child, and he begs Sage to promise that she will leave Macy. Thom then dies. Sage follows through with her promise. She divorces Macy, but helps him to escape from the Russians, Vladimir (Angelo Fierro) and Vega, who are after him for not paying them the money he owes. In the last episode, Sage marries Thom, who mysteriously comes back to life.

It is found later that the psychopath, Manny Ortega, has killed countless people. One of them, Stefan Eriksson, was shot to death in front of his dear son Alex, who blacked out and can not remember the murderer because of amnesia. Alex finally regains his memory and recognizes Manny as his father's killer. Manny then confesses in front of Alex and Elena and tells them he is also behind the explosion at Dev Tech, in Sweden. It is there that Nora, the mother of Chrissy and Alex, died. Manny's plan was to kill Stefan, but he survived until he shot him. Manny also tells Alex and Elena that he was the man who raped Elena's mother, Alicia, and that he then strangled her and planted her car in the water so it looked like she drowned in a car accident. Manny probably strangled Hadley Marx as well, but he never confesses to it. Manny is finally shot to death by his own son, Jimmy Ray, who was sent by Roberto.

The journalist, Crystal Tate (Victoria Jackson), starts her own investigation and finds out many dark secrets about the Devon, O'Keefe, Hamilton, and Rendon families. The secrets date back to 1977 and have to do with the death of bordello girl Jazz De Guise (Heidi Mark). Everybody thinks that Jazz died of a drug overdose but Crystal convinces the police to reopen the Jazz case and the question "Who killed Jazz?" makes the Devons and O'Keefes very nervous.

Later in the series, the Swedish model and actress, Victoria Silvstedt, appears in a few episodes in hopes to boost the ratings. She played a sexy detective sent to Miami to help the police with the serial killer case, but she soon falls victim to the killer herself.

The Doctor, Sam and an allied professor work together to stop alien bodysnatchers, grave-robbers and much worse plaguing London.

The story opens up with the Doctor and Sam in the TARDIS doing some maintenance when they are collected by a ship which holds an escape pod containing Davros. A group of Thals arrive; they want Davros to alter their species so they will be better able to fight the Daleks. A force of Daleks then arrive and take the Doctor and Davros, along with other characters, to Skaro. Before landing on Skaro, the Doctor discovers that the coordinates he believed were Skaro's were actually those of the planet Antalin.

Since Davros's return the Dalek Prime has met considerable resistance with a number of Davros loyalists forming. Initiating a final civil war on Skaro, the Dalek Prime has all the Davros loyalists revealed and exterminated. In the meantime he releases the Doctor to leave Skaro. The Doctor discovers a planted device on board the TARDIS which would allow the Daleks to survive in case the Dalek Prime failed. He jettisons it into the vortex.

With his faction defeated, Davros is sentenced to death by matter dispersal. Prior to his downfall he had implanted a Spider Dalek as a spy amongst the Dalek Prime's forces. Davros is placed in a disintegration chamber and his atoms dispersed. His fate is left open when his data is either erased from the disintegrator or transmatted across space to a safe location.

The film is set on the eve of the Cuban Revolution's victory. On Christmas Eve, 1958, aboard the boat from Miami to Havana, Roberta Duran enlists the aid of Jack Weil in smuggling U.S. Army Signal Corps radios destined for the revolutionaries in the hills. Weil agrees only because he is romantically interested in her. When they rendezvous for the "payoff," Roberta reveals that she is married, dashing Weil's hopes. In Havana, Weil meets up with a Cuban journalist acquaintance and during a night on the town, they run into Roberta and her husband, Dr. Arturo Duran. Duran is a Revolutionary leader. When Roberta points Weil out to him, Duran invites Weil to join them for dinner and asks Weil for further aid to the cause. Weil turns him down, even after Duran outlines the desperate situation confronting the Cuban majority.

The next morning, after a night of debauchery for Weil but one of the police arrests for the revolutionaries, Weil reads a newspaper account of Duran's arrest and death. In shock, he continues with the planned poker game, coincidentally meeting the head of the secret police. He learns that Roberta was also arrested and tortured in custody. He pressures another player in debt to him to obtain her release. Shaken by her husband's death and her own experience in jail, she agrees to let him shelter her in his apartment but disappears that afternoon.

Realizing that he is in love with Roberta and encouraged by an old gambling friend, Weil drives into Cuba's interior to find her at Duran's old estate. He persuades her to return with him to Havana and to leave Cuba with him. When she asks, he explains that a lump on his arm contains a diamond that he had sewn into his arm in his youth as insurance. He makes arrangements for her to leave Cuba via boat, but on his return to the apartment, he is assaulted by two Cubans, who inform him that Duran demands him to get Roberta out of the country. Weil has an acquaintance from CIA, Marion Chigwell, who confirms that Duran is still alive. He intimidates Chigwell to work with him toward freeing Duran.

Pretending to work for the CIA, Weil goes to see Duran, who is held by the chief of the secret police (SIM). He tells the chief that Washington, DC, has new plans for Duran and wants him released, with a payoff of $50,000. He "orders" the chief to have Duran cleaned up and dressed (Duran had been tortured and was in extremely bad shape) and taken to his house. Weil goes to a doctor and then a jeweler to sell the diamond to raise the cash for Duran's release. Back at his apartment, he informs Roberta, who had decided to make a life with him, of her husband is still alive. In shock, she leaves on her own to find her husband. Meanwhile, Weil had blown the big game with high rollers, for whom he had been angling since the day he arrived in Havana. The casino's manager, Joe Volpi, forgives him, knowing he had made rescuing Roberta his priority.

On New Year's Eve, 1959, the insurrection is won by the revolutionaries. The upper class, the government, and the secret police all leave their lavish parties to make a mad dash to the ports and airport to leave the country. The people pour into the streets, celebrating the victory by trashing the casinos and dancing. Weil and Volpi agree that it is time for them to leave. The next morning, Weil is in a restaurant preparing to depart. He sees Chigwell who informs him that he is working on a new book now, "The Cuisine of Indochina." Not long after, Roberta shows up to wish him farewell. She sees the bandage on his arm and discovers it had cost him to save her husband for her. They hug goodbye. She remains with the Revolution, and he has been changed by it.

Four years later in 1963, Jack drives down to the Florida Keys and gazes across the sea toward Havana, hoping to see a boat that might bring Roberta on board. He knows the ferry is no longer running. However, he does this every year in the hopes he might someday see Roberta again. He also realizes that the changes in Cuba were being echoed in the changes of the 1960s happening in the United States. It is a new decade.

The Third Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith use the TARDIS to find Sputnik 2, and retrieve the body of Laika, which the Doctor then buries on the planet Quiescia.

Years later, the Doctor (now in his eighth incarnation) is playing a game of chess with General Tschike of UNISYC, when the general pulls a gun on him. Tschike tells the Doctor that the only reason the various Earth governments he has encountered down the years have never done this before is because they never really believed that the Doctor could be actually killed. Now they have received information from a source in what was once Borneo that suggests differently. Before Tschike can shoot however, the Doctor dives out the window into the TARDIS which has been hovering outside. The Doctor and Sam head to Borneo to investigate.

In Borneo (now referred to as East Indies Revit zone) two other UNISYC soldiers, Colonel Kortez and Lieutenant Bregman arrive at what appears to be the ruins of an ancient city, but it is really a block-transfer computational structure known as the Unthinkable City. The City is a venue for the auction for an artifact, known as the Relic. In addition to the two UNISYC soldiers, other bidders include a dead man named Trask, a conceptual entity referred to as The Shift, a Time Lord called Homunculette and two representatives from Faction Paradox, Cousin Justine and Brother Manjuele. The auction is organised by Mr. Qixotl, who is awaiting the arrival of one more party before the bidding can begin. When the TARDIS materialises at the City, the Doctor and Sam are attacked by leopards that are programmed to attack anyone whose biodata they do not recognise. However, the Doctor locates one of their control pads and adds his own and Sam's biodata to the guest list. Qixotl, horrified, recognises the Doctor and tries to hide his identity from the other quests.

Homunculette is a Time Lord from sometime in the Doctor's future where the Time Lords are entangled in a war with a mysterious "Enemy". The Time Lords want to possess the Relic because they think it will give them an advantage in the war and Homunculette has been pursuing it across history. At some point it fell into the hands of Earth governments and Homunculette attempted to retrieve it after the Dalek invasion, but Qixotl had already claimed it. His companion Marie is actually his TARDIS, disguised as a woman. In the City, Marie's weapons systems are suddenly turned against her and she explodes. Homunculette assumes that Faction Paradox are responsible, since they are natural enemies of Time Lords. Faction Paradox also once possessed the Relic, which they unearthed from the ruins on Dronid, where the first battle between the Time Lords and the Enemy was fought. Its discoverers didn't realise its significance and fired it off into the vortex as part of a ritual (where it eventually came to Earth).

Sam finds Bregman has gone into culture shock at the presence of so many alien beings and wonders why she has never felt such feelings. The pair is drawn into the Faction Paradox shrine, which resembles a TARDIS crossed with a voodoo shrine, where Brother Manjuele attacks them and takes a biodata sample from Bregman. Both Bregman and Sam begin hearing voices in their heads which appear to come from the Relic and follow them into the heart of the City. The Doctor confronts Qixotl and demands to known what the Relic is. Qixotl reveals the truth: the Relic is a coffin containing the Doctor's own future dead body.

Flashbacks reveal Qixotl was once on Dronid just prior to the battle. He was stranded there following the collapse of various criminal activities and learnt from local gossip that the Doctor was on his way to Dronid, but no-one is sure whether he has sided with his own people or the enemy. The current Doctor presses Qixotl for more information, but is appalled when he reveals that the Daleks are the last bidder to arrive. Outside a black spaceship descends, but instead of the Daleks, a Kroton, called E-Kobalt emerges, having killed the Dalek passengers and taken their ship. The Krotons are also aware of the future war from captured Time Lord prisoners and believe they can use the conflict to further their empire.

Sam and Bregman reach the Relic in a vault at the centre of the City, but suddenly the City's internal defenses are activated which use the intruders biodata to create a psychic attack unique to the individual. Bregman is filled with a sense of self-loathing and despair and Sam is attacked by giant babies that appear out of the walls, but the only result is to make her confused. Forced to ignore the auction, the Doctor rushes to shut off the system and rescue them. Finding Sam and the dead embryos, he realises that Sam has two sets of biodata: the Sam he knows and another dark-haired version. This confused the security system and it couldn't generate a proper attack. The Doctor concludes that someone has re-written Sam's biodata to make her the perfect travelling companion for him. His conclusion is confirmed by the dead body in the coffin. Despite being dead, a Timelords mind remains active to some degree and it has been calling out to Sam, Bergman and the current Doctor.

Back in the Faction shrine, Manjuele attempts to take over Bregman's mind while it is in a confused state. The Doctor realises what is happening and touches the dead mind inside the Relic to give himself enough energy to push Manjuele out. Repelled from Bergman, Manjuele realises the Doctor's identity and bursts into the auction to tell the others. The various groups assume they have been set up and turn on each other. As the Doctor intervenes, he suddenly recognises Qixotl from his past and is consumed with a desire for bloody revenge on the man who tried to profit from his death. As he is about to strangle him, he suddenly realises that they are all being manipulated by The Shift, that has got into all their minds and exploited their various insecurities to set them against each other. The Doctor deliberately falls into a catatonic state, trapping The Shift inside his mind. It reveals that it works for the Enemy. It was originally a Gabrielidean soldier who fought on the side of the Time Lords and encountered a future Doctor, before dying and being turned in a conceptual entity for the Enemy. When the Doctor wakes up, it can no longer influence the bidders, so retreats inside E-Kobalt to await another chance.

The chance arrives soon for E-Kobalt has summoned re-enforcements and the Doctor's actions have deactivated the security systems. Abandoning the auction the bidders attempt to flee. In the chaos, Qixotl is mortally wounded, only to be approached by Trask. Trask is an agent of the Celestis, a future version of the Celestial Intervention Agency who have removed themselves from existence and become beings of pure thought who observe the war from outside the universe. They maintain influence through their agents who bear their mark. They brought Trask back from the dead as such an agent and they can save Qixotl in the same way, if he gives them the Relic. The Doctor uses a piece of crystal discharged by the Krotons weaponry as a biodata sample, which he uses to activate the Faction shrine so the bidders can escape. Meanwhile, Marie has been slowly repairing herself and makes contact with the Doctor. He materialises the Shrine around the attacking Krotons, who accidentally destroy themselves attempting to blast their way out of the Shrine. The Doctor seizes the moment and traps The Shift in a mental prison inside his mind. Stepping out to reclaim his own body, he finds Qixotl has surrendered it to the Celestis, who have taken it to their extra-dimensional home, Mictlan.

The Doctor follows Trask and arrives in the castle at the centre of Mictlan where the Celestis watch the universe through a portal in the floor. In addition to the Celestis the world is also populated by their servants, who made deals with them across history and now live a terrible existence as slaves. Just before the battle on Dronid, a future (and possibly the final) Doctor made his own deal with the Celestis to stop them interfering on Dronid. Now they are going to take his body in payment of this debt. The current Doctor makes a counter offer: they can mark his current body and he will be their agent in return for releasing the Relic to him. They agree and place a mark on his hand, however the Doctor has tricked them and they have actually marked The Shift inside his mind.

Returning to the real world the bidders go their separate ways. Qixotl dismantles the City (glad the Doctor never learnt the truth about how he got his hands on the Relic), Marie and Homunculette return to the war, and The Shift is downloaded into the TARDIS memory. Bregman returns to UNISYC, taking comfort from the fact that although humanity is such as small part of the universe, the higher powers still need human beings to define their existence. The Doctor chooses not to tell Sam about the Relic or what he's learnt about her biodata. He takes the Relic to Quiescia and buries it next to the grave his third self dug. He then uses a bomb to destroy his own body forever.

Ron Williamson has returned to his hometown of Ada, Oklahoma, after multiple failed attempts to play for various minor league baseball teams, including the Chicago Cubs and two affiliate teams owned by the Chicago White Sox. A shoulder injury inhibited his chances to progress. His dreams were not enough to overcome the odds of making it to a big league game. His failures led to, or aggravated, his depression and problem drinking.

Early in the morning of December 8, 1982, the body of Debra Sue Carter, a 21-year-old cocktail waitress, was found in the bedroom of her garage apartment in Ada. She had been beaten, raped, and suffocated. After five years of false starts and shoddy police work by the Ada police department, Williamson, along with his "drinking buddy", Dennis Fritz, were charged, tried, and convicted of the rape and murder charges in 1988. Williamson was sentenced to death. Fritz was given a life sentence. Fritz's wife had been murdered seven years earlier and he was raising their only daughter when he was arrested.

Grisham's book describes the aggressive and misguided mission of the Ada police department and Pontotoc County District Attorney Bill Peterson to solve the mystery of Carter's murder. The police and prosecutor used forced "dream" confessions, unreliable witnesses, and flimsy evidence to convict Williamson and Fritz. Since a death penalty conviction automatically sets in motion a series of appeals, the Innocence Project aided Williamson's attorney, Mark Barrett, in exposing several glaring holes in the prosecution's case and the credibility of the prosecution's witnesses. Frank H. Seay, a U.S. District Court judge, ordered a retrial.

After eleven years on death row, Williamson and Fritz were exonerated by DNA evidence and released on April 15, 1999. Williamson was the 78th inmate released from death row since 1973.

Williamson suffered deep and irreversible psychological damage during his incarceration and lengthy stay on death row. For example, on September 22, 1994, he was five days away from being executed when his execution was stayed following the filing of a ''habeas corpus'' petition.

He was intermittently treated for manic depression, personality disorders, alcoholism, and mild schizophrenia. It was later proven that he was mentally ill and therefore was unfit to have been tried or sentenced to death in the first place. The State of Oklahoma, the city of Ada, and Pontotoc County officials never admitted any errors and threatened to re-arrest him.

Another man from Ada, Glen Gore, was eventually convicted of the crime on June 24, 2003. He was sentenced to death, but his sentence was overturned in August 2005. He was convicted at a second trial on June 21, 2006, and sentenced to life in prison without parole. This was required by law due to a jury deadlock on sentencing.

Williamson and Fritz sued and won a settlement of $500,000 in 2003 for wrongful conviction from the City of Ada, and an out-of-court settlement with the State of Oklahoma for an undisclosed amount. By 2004, Williamson was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. He died on December 4, 2004, in a Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, nursing home. Fritz returned to Kansas City, where he lives with his daughter, Elizabeth . In 2006, Fritz published his own account of being wrongly convicted in his book titled ''Journey Toward Justice''.

The book includes accounts (as subplots) of the false conviction, trial and sentencing of Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot in the abduction, rape, and purported murder of Denice Haraway, as well as the false conviction of Greg Wilhoit in the rape and murder of his estranged wife, Kathy. At one time, all the men were incarcerated on the same death row. About two decades before Grisham's book, Ward and Fontenot's wrongful convictions were detailed in the book ''The Dreams of Ada'' (1987) by Robert Mayer.

Daisy Kenyon is a Manhattan commercial artist having an affair with an arrogant, overbearing and successful lawyer named Dan O'Mara, who is married and has two children. He breaks a date with Daisy one night, and she goes out with a widowed war veteran named Peter Lapham.

O'Mara and his wife, Lucille, fight constantly, about his job, the upbringing of their two daughters, and his cheating. That same night, Dan takes his wife and 13-year-old daughter to New York's Stork Club, where Daisy and Peter are waiting to be seated. Daisy and Peter leave immediately. At the end of the date, Peter announces that he loves Daisy and leaves. Peter stands her up for their next date, but he comes by later, unannounced, and proposes. Daisy realizes that he is still in love with his late wife.

Although she is still in love with Dan, Daisy marries Peter after a brief and hesitant courtship. She supports Peter's postwar career. He is moody, sometimes quiet and withholding, sometimes wildly exuberant; he knows that Dan used to be in Daisy's life. Eventually, Daisy feels as if she has gotten over Dan. Finally fed up with Dan's cheating, Lucille wants a divorce, and she uses full custody of the children as leverage to hurt Dan.

Dan asks Peter and Daisy to allow him to reveal the full details of his former relationship with Daisy during the divorce proceedings. Peter says that he will not stand in Daisy's way: When they first met, he needed her, but he no longer does: He leaves. The trial begins, but Dan can see how much it is hurting Daisy, so he stops the proceedings and asks Peter to sign divorce papers, though Daisy did not request them.

Daisy goes to her house on Cape Cod to work. Dan calls from the train station to say he his bringing Peter to settle things. Panicking, Daisy flees. Her car skids on the icy road and rolls over. She walks 2 miles through the snow to the cottage, where Dan and Peter are playing cards. She wants both of them to leave. After a few words, Peter goes out to the waiting cab.

Daisy is appalled to learn that Dan gave up the children to obtain his divorce and admits that she stopped loving him a long time ago. Dan goes out to the cab. Peter steps out, saying that he is going home, to his wife, and returns to the house, where he and Daisy toast their future and embrace.

Helen Ferguson, filled with dread, holds her baby as Bill Harkness reads a book. The phone rings, and police tell Bill that they are on the way to their home. She puts the child to bed, praying that the boy will not suffer for her mistakes and whispering that she was desperate.

A year earlier in New York, Helen is eight months pregnant, unmarried, and broke. She goes to her unfaithful boyfriend Stephen Morley, tearfully pleading for help as she stands in the hallway outside his apartment door. He refuses to answer, but slips under the door an envelope for her, one containing a five-dollar bill and a one-way train ticket to San Francisco. Retrieving the envelope, Helen pulls out the ticket, causing the money to fall to the floor, unseen. Helen, humiliated and exhausted, realizes she has no choice but to go to the station and board the train. Helen's train later crashes during the journey, and when she is found by authorities in the wreckage, she is mistaken for another pregnant woman, Patrice Harkness, who was killed in the crash. Helen gives birth to her child in the hospital and is accepted by the Harknesses, the family of the dead woman's husband, Hugh Harkness, who was also killed in the train crash. Since the family has never seen their son's new wife, they believe Helen to be her and, for the sake of her child, she does not reveal her true identity. The family decides her lapses of memory and uncertain behavior are aftereffects of the train wreck. With a better life provided for her son, Helen continues the ruse while Bill Harkness, who is the elder brother of the deceased Hugh, falls in love with her.

Helen's ex-boyfriend, the father of her child, tracks her down several months after the accident. Stephen was called in to identify the body at the morgue after the train accident, but instead of telling the truth, he said that the dead woman was Helen. After figuring out that she is living under an assumed identity and that she has wealthy in-laws, he blackmails Helen into giving him a check for $500 and marrying him. She gets a gun, goes to Stephen's office, where he is living, and finds him dead on his bed but fires the gun at him. Bill comes to the office and helps Helen dispose of the body and conceal evidence of her relationship with Stephen. Bill and his mother have realized that Helen is in trouble and, because they love her regardless of her past, will do anything they can to protect her.

Bill's mother dies of heart failure, but not before writing a letter that she gives to her maid, making her swear to give it to Helen only if police come for her. In the letter, Mrs. Harkness claims to have killed Stephen, which she could not have done. Three months later, when police find his body and the check Helen gave to him, they do come for her. Helen confesses to shooting him, but she is told that her bullet missed him and was found in his mattress, that a bullet of another caliber was found in his body, and that his girlfriend has confessed to shooting him. Bill and Helen embrace.

Plot outline based on the full synopsis translated by Professor Roland John Wiley:

The beautiful Romani girl Esmeralda marries the poet Pierre Gringoire, to save him from death in the hands of the Romani king. The groom is smitten with his new bride, but she makes it clear that the marriage is strictly one of convenience. Gringoire is not the only one infatuated with Esmeralda, the archdeacon of Notre Dame cathedral, Claude Frollo, is dangerously obsessed with the girl and orders his deformed henchman, Quasimodo, to abduct her. When Quasimodo attacks Esmeralda in the street, she is rescued by the King's Archers, led by their handsome captain Phoebus de Chateaupers, who capture Quasimodo. They plan to torture him, but Esmeralda asks for his release. The hunchback is deeply touched by her kindness. Phoebus is enchanted by the girl and gives her a scarf that was given to him by his fiancée, Fleur de Lys.

The next day, Fleur de Lys and her mother hold a grand celebration for her engagement to Phoebus, who is distracted by thoughts of Esmeralda. She arrives to entertain the guests, but is left heartbroken when she sees that Fleur de Lys' fiancé is none other than her beloved Phoebus. Fleur de Lys notices that Esmeralda is wearing the scarf that she gave to Phoebus and realising that he has fallen in love with another, angrily calls off the engagement. Phoebus leaves with Esmeralda. Alone in a tavern, the two declare their love for each other, unaware that the archdeacon Frollo is also there, eavesdropping on them. Taking a dagger that he stole from Esmeralda's room, Frollo sneaks up behind the lovers and stabs Phoebus, who falls unconscious to the ground. Frollo calls for the authorities, shows them the body of Phoebus and the dagger that was used to stab him, which is identified as Esmeralda's. The poor girl is taken away and sentenced to death.

At dawn the following morning, the Festival of Fools is under way and Esmeralda is due to be hanged for the murder of Phoebus. Her friends and Gringoire are all present and bid her farewell, while Frollo watches in triumph. Just as Esmeralda is led to the gallows, Phoebus arrives alive and well, having survived and recovered from the stabbing. He reveals the true culprit to be Frollo and announces that Esmeralda is innocent of any crime. Frollo takes a dagger and attempts to do away with them, but Quasimodo wrests the dagger from his master and stabs him to death. Esmeralda and Phoebus are happily reunited.

In 2001, there is a new space race, between Pierre Yves-Dudoin and Arthur Tyler III, both competing to be the first privately funded man in space. Eventually Pierre announces that he has succeeded, and will be in space in a week. However, Pierre has been helped by a scout of the Kulan race, who are poised to invade Earth.

In Brussels a man is shot in front of stockbroker Anji Kapoor and her boyfriend Dave. When Dave attempts first aid, he realises the man is not human. The man then slips a package into Dave's pocket and injects a substance into his wrist. Meanwhile, in London, Fitz is dropped off by Compassion two days before he is to meet the Doctor. When he sees Dave in a news report claiming the dead man had two hearts, he fears the worst and travels to Brussels.

After speaking to Dave in Brussels, Fitz discovers that the man wasn't the Doctor, but stays to help investigate. Dave finds the package in his pocket and calls a number written on it, and finds himself speaking to Arthur Tyler III. After meeting Tyler's bodyguard, they bring him back to Dave and Anji's hotel room only to find the killers outside. As the killers drive away, one of them drops his gun which is of alien origin. When Dave leaves the room to contact the police, the dead man's killers kidnap him. Anji then decides to go with Fitz to meet the Doctor.

On 8 February, Anji and Fitz arrive at St. Louis' pub to meet the Doctor. The Doctor reveals that he created the pub to lure Fitz to him. When the Doctor sees Fitz, he still cannot remember any of his past, and his TARDIS is still smaller on the inside than the outside. Despite this, the Doctor agrees to help and sends Fitz back to Brussels to investigate if Pierre is involved, whilst the Doctor and Anji will stay in London to investigate Tyler.

In Brussels Fitz meets a CIA agent called Fisher who is investigating whether Pierre Dudoin's company, ITI, has been in contact with aliens. Together they break into the ITI headquarters and find an alien called Sa'Motta tending to Dave. Sa'Motta explains that he came to Earth in a failed invasion spearhead four years ago and has been stranded which prevents him from stopping their leader, Fray'kon, from reporting that Earth should be invaded by the Kulans. Fray'kon has been helping Dubion's ship near completion to rejoin the invasion fleet. The other Kulans in the spearhead just want to return home and have been helping Tyler's ship. However Kulan ships need telepathy to work, so research has been done to produce a hybrid who can work the ship. The dead man had been giving the genes necessary to Tyler, but injected them into Dave to preserve them. However, the genes injected into Dave are slowly killing him. As guards recapture Dave, Fisher's boss orders a squad to capture Fitz and Sa'Motta.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Anji go to Tyler's base and save his life after a Kulan computer virus planted by Dudoin traps Tyler in a room with a fire. The Doctor puts the virus on a DVD for study. The Doctor offers to help stop Dudoin and Fray'kon's plan, but Tyler's ship is destroyed by an after-effect of the virus. Tyler turns to his former friend and Dudoin's ex-wife Christine Holland to help with adapting the Kulan technology for humans, but before he can contact her, Dudoin kidnaps his daughter Pippa to force her to come to Brussels to help Dave. She does so, but Dudoin reveals he plans to launch the rocket without testing it. Christine sees Fray'kon tamper with the controls, but Dudoin refuses to listen.

Fitz and Sa'Motta attempt to go to London, but realise they are followed by CIA agents. Fitz is captured and taken to the CIA's agent known as Control, but Sa'Motta escapes, and makes the way to the CIA base where Fitz is being held. Control puts a tracer on Fitz and allows Sa'Motta to rescue him to lead the CIA to the other Kulan. While escaping, Fitz realises that his memories of the destruction of Gallifrey are getting blurred and hazy. In space, the invasion fleet moves into its final formation, ready to invade on Fray'kon's command.

Meanwhile, the Doctor rescues Christine's daughter and asks for Tyler's help in stopping Dudoin and Fray'kon getting to space and alerting the invasion fleet, which he agrees to. The Doctor, Tyler, and Anji break into Dudoin's launch pad with ease as Fitz and Sa'Motta are being chased by guards elsewhere in the complex. After rescuing Christine, the Doctor links his mind to Dudoin's ship to shut it down, but he passes out in the process. However, he first raises the oxygen level which causes the Kulan led by Fray'kon to faint, but Fray'kon escapes. Tyler then uses the DVD with the Kulan virus to destroy the systems, and the cabin sets alight, killing the Kulan aboard and Dudoin himself.

Returning to Britain, the Doctor helps Tyler complete his rocket so he can return Sa'Motta to the invasion fleet to order the abortion of the invasion. Dave is recovering, but Christine discovers a small amount of Kulan DNA in Dave which was there before his infection, indicating that humans and Kulan may be genetically related, giving solid evidence against the invasion. However Fray'kon enters, having followed them.

Control's squad enters, to stop Tyler's ship taking Sa'Motta to the fleet, but Tyler attempts to launch anyway. Fray'kon steals the Doctor's spacesuit and forces Dave to drive to the launch platform, whilst holding Anji hostage. After reaching the rocket, he murders Dave and boards the rocket. The CIA withdraw from the complex, but the Doctor can't warn Tyler about Fray'kon being on board the rocket. Fray'kon overpowers the crew and drives the rocket towards the fleet, where he informs the fleet commander that the humans are savages, and should be killed.

The Doctor and Anji go back to St Louis' pub, where the TARDIS has finally regenerated itself. The Doctor pilots the TARDIS onto the Kulan command ship. The Doctor tells Anji to stay in the TARDIS, but she follows him and watches him be captured and put in a holding cell. The Kulan destroy Tyler's ship and put him on trial in front of their war council. Anji releases Fitz and they go to the weapons room. Trying to scare the Kulan by firing an energy beam, she instead fires a barrage of missiles which destroy half the fleet, who turn on each other. The Doctor and Tyler fight Fray'kon, but when Fray'kon gets stunned, Tyler offers to stay and hold off Fray'kon whilst the others escape. Tyler tricks Fray'kon into falling to an airlock and Tyler ejects himself and Fray'kon into space. As the remainder of the fleet blows up as the TARDIS dematerialises. The Doctor, who still cannot remember anything, offers to take Anji home, but the TARDIS materialises onto a prehistoric landscape instead.

The plot of ''The Survival of St. Joan'' was possibly inspired by ''Operation Shepherdess: The Mystery of Joan of Arc'' by André Guérin and Jack Palmer White, a revisionist history alleging that Joan of Arc escaped execution and later married a nobleman named Robert des Armoises. An idea rejected by historians, the notion of a legendary Joan who lived on in secret has persisted. Certainly inspired by the Vietnam War, the opera tells of the government of France and Pierre Cauchon, Archbishop of Beauvais, releasing Joan of Arc and allowing a double, also believed to be a witch, to burn in her place. She is sent to live with a mute farmer, who falls in love with her, as he elucidates in songs performed in soliloquy toward the audience. Realizing that there is no end in sight to the Hundred Years' War, the first act ends with Joan seeking to rejoin the army, despite the fact that she is no longer hearing her voices.

In Act II, Joan learns that she has lost the respect of the army, who attempt to rape her. (The libretto in the concept album has Joan raped about halfway through the act; this was changed when stagings went beyond a band performance to a full-fledged play.) She meets with some deserters who no longer understand the meaning of the war, and reject its former religious purposes, complaining that only their generals and the nobility can live above suffering. Alone and anonymous, Joan is eventually found by villagers who mistakenly decide she has put a hex on their cow, tie her to a tree and immolate her, thus ending her life almost as history would have it. Upon her death, Joan re-establishes contact with her three voices, St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret.

The play script is held in the North Carolina Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and remains unpublished. It contains many scene changes, often depicting how ordinary people's lives are affected by the war, including Joan's brother, Charles — acting as a scribe for his mother — requesting the king to provide them Joan's soldier's wages to live on, and chiding her for some irate informalisms she wants to include in the letter.

Ghosts Inky and Clyde steal a golden power pellet known as the Artifact, under the command of a shadowy creature known as Mollusc. Mollusc smashes the Artifact; the result of the explosion scatters the Artifact's four fragmented pieces across time and space. Professor Pac-Man wakes up Pac-Man from his sleep and alerts him about the crisis. Professor Pac-Man prepares a hastily constructed time machine for Pac-Man that allows him to travel through time and recover the Artifact pieces.

Pac-Man travels through various time periods, including prehistoric times, Ancient Egypt, the Middle Ages, and the Wild West. Pac-Man eventually obtains all the artifact pieces; the time machine malfunctions and sends him to the future; with Professor Pac-Man stating that an alternate power source is needed to correctly power the time machine and bring Pac-Man back to the present. Pac-Man reaches the Reactor Core of a station and is able to harness its energy to be finally transported back to his own time period, with the Artifact reassembled.

Pac-Man returns to the present, arriving directly at the second after Mollusc breaks the original Artifact. Pac-Man uses the repaired Artifact to fire a beam that disintegrates Mollusc.

In the late 19th century, the village of Middleton is on the verge of bankruptcy due to the tin mine running out, when a huge fissure opens in the moorlands. After a visitor called Roger Nepath offers to buy the mine and visits the fissure with the lord of the manor, Lord Urton's personality changes, and allows Nepath to move into his manor house with his sister Patience.

The amnesiac Doctor arrives at the village and befriends Professor Dobbs from The Society of Psychical Research during his research into the fissure. Dobbs's assistant Gaddis claims to have empathic powers, which lead him to point along the fissure, where he is chased off by Urton. The Doctor notices that the water in a dam near the fissure has become warm and acidic, suggesting that it has been heated. Returning to the Fissure they find Gaddis's corpse horribly burnt, which fascinates the Doctor.

Nepath later holds an auction to fund his purchase, and demonstration a metal that returns to its original shape when destroyed, which Nepath gives the Doctor a sample of. The army gives Nepath a large amount of money for him to create self repairing guns for the army, which Nepath uses to buy more mining equipment. Later, the metal turns into molten lava, which causes the remains of TARDIS to grow to normal size, although it is still a featureless blue box. Dobbs and the Doctor break into the manor and discover that Nepath had been making many copies of his artifacts out of the metal, then selling them, as well as a young woman's body in a box, before narrowly escaping the Urtons.

Going into the mines, the Doctor finds that the tremors that caused the fissure opened up a new mine shaft, which is full of pools of molten lava, which is the source of the metal. The lava suddenly forms into creatures which burn Dobbs to death whilst the Doctor escapes. The Doctor explains to Reverend Stobbold that Nepath is helping living magma, with the power to reform itself, which has already replaced the Urtons and mine workers. After an explosion, the Doctor realises that Middleton is located in an ancient volcanic caldera - with a new eruption about to start. The Doctor meets the army on the way to pick up their new guns, where they are attacked by magma creatures and the new guns explode when fired, killing most of the soldiers.

At the manor Nepath explains that the creature has run out of resources in the mine, and he intends to release it into new areas, then take advantage of the resulting chaos. He reveals that the body in the case is his sister Patience's, who died as the result of a building collapsing after a fire, and Nepath believes that the creature can bring her back to life. Escaping the manor, the Doctor pushes Lord Urton into a river, where the cold water cools him into a statue, which crumbles apart. The Doctor returns to the manor and tells him that the woman is not really Patience. When Nepath questions her, she embraces him as the magma leaves her body, leaving him trapped in a statue's arms. The army place explosives near the dam, which the magma accidentally explodes, releasing water that turns the magma into stone. Nepath is freed from the statue, but the Doctor pushes him into the water, causing him to drown. The flood unearths new seams of tin ore, saving the town's economy. The Doctor leaves with the TARDIS's remains to wait for his meeting with Fitz in 2001.

In the 24th century, genetic engineering to produce trees capable of growing in harsh, arid conditions have destroyed the Moon and turned Earth into a plant-strewn wasteland three centuries earlier; Japan has become a dystopia, covered by the Forest, a huge expanse of sapient trees that is ruled by the tree-like Druids, and controls the water supply for both trees and humans. Agito, a young boy, his father Agashi, and his friends Cain and Minka, live in Neutral City, a city at the edge of the Forest carved out of ruined skyscrapers. Neutral City acts as a buffer and bridge between the Forest and the militaristic nation of Ragna, which was established in part of the empty wasteland that, as a result of the Forest's existence, now covers the rest of the planet. While the people of Neutral City work to co-exist peacefully with the trees of the Forest, Ragna aims to destroy the Forest to restore the Earth.

One day, Agito and Cain race each other to see who can get to the water hole at the bottom of the city first. By disturbing the sanctity of the water hole and angering the Druids, the two boys are separated. After stumbling upon a large machine with cryogenic pods, Agito accidentally revives Toola, a young girl who has been asleep in the centuries since the plants arrived on Earth, and brings her to Neutral City. Since Toola carries a Raban, a portable personal electronic device capable of communication and a variety of other tasks, the Forest fears that Shunack, a Ragna soldier awakened from his sleep, will use her Raban to locate an environmental defragmentation system (E.S.T.O.C.) to destroy the Forest.

Learning of Toola's existence, Shunack tries persuading her to join him. The Forest sends a giant plant creature to stop the meeting, but Shunack destroys it and reveals that he has been "enhanced"—he allowed himself to be genetically altered by the Forest to become stronger by using the power of the trees. Convinced that finding E.S.T.O.C. is the only way to restore the Earth back to the world that she once knew, Toola joins Shunack in his quest over Agito's objections. Agito consults his father Agashi, the founder of Neutral City who, as a result of being enhanced and having overused his powers, has turned almost completely into a tree. With few days left before becoming a tree completely, Agashi encourages his son to save the Forest from Shunack's plan, since destroying the trees, as they control the water, would mean the destruction of mankind. Agito journeys to the Forest and allows himself to be enhanced, his hair turning silver as a result.

Agito follows Shunack and Toola to E.S.T.O.C., a giant volcano converted into a mechanized, mobile weapon by Toola's father Dr. Sakul, the doctor who had begun the genetic research on the trees. A hologram of Dr. Sakul explains the story of how the research led to the world's current state, and he created E.S.T.O.C. as the best-possible safeguard against the altered trees. After betraying the Ragna army, Shunack reveals that, as one of the scientists who worked on the original genetic alteration experiments centuries ago, his impatience in speeding up the alteration process resulted in the catastrophic invasion of the mutant trees. Shunack intends to use E.S.T.O.C. to restore Earth and right the guilt that has been plaguing him ever since, and plans to activate E.S.T.O.C. near Neutral City. Realizing this, Toola unsuccessfully tries to stop Shunack from activating E.S.T.O.C. As the Ragna army commences their assault on E.S.T.O.C., Agito duels Shunack. He transforms into a tree to save Toola, absorbing Shunack into his body. Toola shuts down E.S.T.O.C., making it automatically set itself to self-destruct, but having developed strong feelings for Agito, Toola is unable to leave without him.

Meanwhile, Agito's consciousness remains intact on another plane, and there the Forest reveals to him the truth about the relationship between itself and the humans. Agito learns that the genetic admixture that gives humans extraordinary strength and eventually turns them into trees is really a two-way exchange; it also changes the Forest, causing trees to give birth to new humans in giant fruits. Having become one with the Forest, Shunack is now at peace and no longer intends to fight Agito. Realizing that Agito can teach humanity that there is no need for either hostility or separation between themselves and the trees, the Forest returns Agito to his true form, allowing him and Toola to flee E.S.T.O.C.'s destruction. With the humans and the Forest saved, Agito brings peace between humans and the trees. Toola finally lets go of her past by throwing her Raban off a ledge down into the depths of the Forest, learning to live in harmony with the trees at last.

On the first day of a new school term, high school student Akane Motomiya, her classmate Tenma Morimura, and their underclass friend Shimon Nagareyama are sucked into a mysterious old well. When they awake, they are in , another world that resembles Kyoto during the Heian Period. According to the young scion of the , Fujihime, Akane is the who has come to save Kyō from the ambitions of the . In this task, Akane has the help of eight beautiful and single men known as the , and her friends Tenma and Shimon number among them. Initially, Akane is bewildered by her new circumstances, but she gradually comes to face up to her own destiny and understand the world of Kyō.

Director John Woo said in an interview with David Stratton that the film is only 50% factual. Woo decided to alter the story using modern feelings and his own feelings for a more worldly acceptance. According to Woo, historical accuracy was less important than how the audience felt about the battle.

Part I

In the summer of 208 A.D., towards the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, the Chancellor, Cao Cao, leads the imperial army on a campaign to eliminate the southern warlords Sun Quan and Liu Bei, whom he denounces as "rebels". Emperor Xian reluctantly approves the campaign. Cao Cao's mighty army swiftly conquers Jing Province. The Battle of Changban is ignited when Cao Cao's cavalry starts attacking civilians on an exodus led by Liu Bei. During the battle, Liu Bei's followers, including his sworn brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, give an excellent display of their combat skills by holding off the enemy while buying time for the civilians to retreat. The warrior Zhao Yun fights bravely to rescue Liu Bei's entrapped family but only succeeds in rescuing Liu's infant son.

Following the battle, Liu Bei's advisor, Zhuge Liang, goes on a diplomatic mission to Jiangdong to form an alliance between his lord and Sun Quan against Cao Cao. Sun Quan was initially in the midst of a dilemma of whether to surrender or fight back, but his decision to resist Cao Cao hardens after Zhuge Liang's clever persuasion and a subsequent tiger hunt with his viceroy Zhou Yu and his sister Sun Shangxiang. Meanwhile, Cai Mao and Zhang Yun, two naval commanders from Jing Province, pledge allegiance to Cao Cao, who puts them in command of his navy.

After the hasty formation of the Sun–Liu alliance, the forces of Liu Bei and Sun Quan call for a meeting to formulate a plan to counter Cao Cao's army, which is rapidly advancing towards their base at Red Cliff from both land and water. The battle begins with Sun Shangxiang leading some riders to lure Cao Cao's vanguard force into the allies' Bagua Formation. The vanguard force is defeated by the allies but Cao Cao shows no disappointment and proceeds to lead his main army to the riverbank directly opposite Red Cliff, where they make camp. While the allies throw a banquet to celebrate their victory, Zhuge Liang conceives a plan to send Sun Shangxiang on an espionage mission to Cao Cao's camp. They maintain contact by sending messages via a pigeon. The film ends with Zhou Yu lighting his miniaturised battleships on a map based on the battle formation.

Part II

Sun Shangxiang has infiltrated Cao Cao's camp and is secretly noting its details and sending them via a pigeon to Zhuge Liang. Meanwhile, Cao Cao's army is seized with a plague of typhoid fever that kills a number of his troops. Cao Cao orders the corpses to be sent on floating rafts to the allies' camp, in the hope of spreading the plague to his enemies. The allied army's morale is affected when some unsuspecting soldiers let the plague in. Eventually, a disheartened Liu Bei leaves with his forces while Zhuge Liang stays behind to assist Sun Quan. Cao Cao is overjoyed when he hears that the alliance has collapsed. At the same time, Cai Mao and Zhang Yun propose a new tactic of interlocking the battleships with iron beams to minimise rocking when sailing on the river and reduce the chances of the troops falling seasick.

Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang make plans to eliminate Cai Mao and Zhang Yun and produce 100,000 arrows respectively. They agreed that whoever fails to complete his mission shall be executed under military law. Zhuge Liang's strategy of letting the enemy shoot 20 boats covered in straw brings in over 100,000 arrows from the enemy and makes Cao Cao doubt the loyalty of Cai Mao and Zhang Yun. On the other hand, Cao Cao sends Jiang Gan to persuade Zhou Yu to surrender, but Zhou tricks Jiang Gan into believing that Cai Mao and Zhang Yun are planning to assassinate Cao Cao. Both Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu's respective plans complement each other when Cao Cao is convinced, despite having earlier doubts about Jiang Gan's report, that Cai Mao and Zhang Yun were indeed planning to assassinate him by deliberately "donating" arrows to the enemy. Cai Mao and Zhang Yun are executed only for Cao Cao to realize his folly afterwards.

Sun Shangxiang returns to base from Cao Cao's camp with a map of the enemy formation. Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang decide to attack Cao Cao's navy with fire after predicting that a special climatic condition will soon cause the winds to blow from the southeast – a direction to their advantage. Before the battle, Sun Quan's forces feast on rice dumplings to celebrate the Winter Solstice. Meanwhile, Zhou Yu's wife, Xiaoqiao, after over hearing the battle plan heads towards Cao Cao's camp alone secretly in the hope of persuading Cao to give up his ambitious plans. She fails to convince Cao Cao and decides to distract him with an elaborate tea ceremony to buy time for her side.

The battle begins when the southeast wind starts blowing in the middle of the night. Sun Quan's forces launch their attack on Cao Cao's navy by ramming smaller boats that are set aflame into Cao's larger battleships. On the other hand, Liu Bei's forces, whose departure from the alliance was a ruse, start attacking Cao Cao's forts on land. By dawn, Cao Cao's entire navy has been destroyed. The allies launch another offensive on Cao Cao's ground army in his forts and succeed in breaking through using testudo formation despite suffering heavy casualties. Although Cao Cao is besieged in his main camp, he manages to hold Zhou Yu at sword point after ambushing him with the help of Cao Hong. Xiahou Jun also shows up with Xiaoqiao as a hostage and threatens to kill her if the allies do not surrender. Just then, Zhao Yun manages to reverse the situation by rescuing Xiaoqiao with a surprise attack, while Sun Quan fires an arrow that grazes the top of Cao Cao's head and cuts his topknot loose. Cao Cao is now at the mercy of the allies, but they spare his life and leave. In the final scene, Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang have a final conversation before Zhuge walks away into the far distance with the newborn foal Mengmeng.

Abridged version

For the non-Asian releases, the film was shortened from 288 minutes to 148 minutes and was released in some countries under the title ''Battle of Red Cliff''. An opening narration in American English provides the historical background, whereas in the Asian release, a more brief description of the context of the political situation appears in scrolling form ten minutes into the film. Notable cuts include the background and motivations behind Zhuge Liang's plan to obtain 100,000 arrows, including the threat to his life, and the early parts of Sun Shangxiang's infiltration, where she befriended a northern soldier Sun Shucai (though the scene where she mourns Sun's death was not cut). The tiger hunting scene was also cut from the non-Asian releases.

The original two-part 288 minute English version was released as a two-disc set on DVD and Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on 5 October 2009, and in the United States and Canada on 23 March 2010.

A wealthy dying woman's relatives gather, unaware that they have all been cut out of her will.

Wokulski begins his career as a waiter at Hopfer's, a Warsaw restaurant. The scion of an impoverished Polish noble family dreams of a life in science. After taking part in the failed 1863 Uprising against the Russian Empire, he is sentenced to exile in Siberia. On eventual return to Warsaw, he becomes a salesman at Mincel's haberdashery. Marrying the late owner's widow (who eventually dies), he comes into money and uses it to set up a partnership with a Russian merchant he had met while in exile. The two merchants go to Bulgaria during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, and Wokulski makes a fortune supplying the Russian Army.

The enterprising Wokulski now proves a romantic at heart, falling in love with Izabela, daughter of the vacuous, bankrupt aristocrat, Tomasz Łęcki.

The manager of Wokulski's Warsaw store, Ignacy Rzecki, is a man of an earlier generation, a modest bachelor who lives on memories of his youth, which was a heroic chapter in his own life and that of Europe. Through his diary the reader learns about some of Wokulski's adventures, seen through the eyes of an admirer. Rzecki and his friend Katz had gone to Hungary in 1848 to enlist in the revolutionary army. For Rzecki, the cause of freedom in Europe is connected with the name of Napoleon Bonaparte, and the Hungarian revolution had sparked new hopes of abolishing the reactionary system that had triumphed at Napoleon's fall. Later he had reposed his hopes in Napoleon III. Now, as he writes, he places them in Bonaparte's scion, Napoleon III's son, Prince Loulou. At novel's end, when Rzecki hears that Loulou has perished in Africa, fighting in British ranks against rebel tribesmen, he will be overcome by the despondence of old age.

For now, Rzecki lives in constant excitement, preoccupied by ''politics'', which he refers to in his diary by the code-letter "''P''." Everywhere in the press he finds indications that a long-awaited "it" is beginning.

In addition to the two generations represented by Rzecki and Wokulski, the novel provides glimpses of a third, younger one, exemplified in the scientist Julian Ochocki (modeled on Prus' friend, Julian Ochorowicz), some students, and young salesmen at Wokulski's store. The half-starving students inhabit the garret of an apartment house and are in constant conflict with the landlord over their arrears of rent; they are rebels, are inclined to macabre pranks, and are probably socialists. Also of socialist persuasion is a young salesman, whereas some of the latter's colleagues believe first and last in personal gain.

''The Doll'''s plot focuses on Wokulski's infatuation with the superficial Izabela, who sees him only as a plebeian intruder into her rarefied world, a brute with huge red hands; for her, persons below the social standing of aristocrats are hardly human.

Wokulski, in his quest to win Izabela, begins frequenting theaters and aristocratic salons; and, to help her financially distressed father, founds a company and sets the aristocrats up as shareholders in the business.

Wokulski's eventual downfall highlights ''The Doll'''s overarching theme: the inertia of Polish society.

Presenting a vast chronicle of life on the remote Kurage Island, the film centres on the disgraced, superstitious, interbred Futori family and the Tokyo engineer sent to supervise the creation of a new well for a sugar mill on the island – an encounter which leads to both conflict and complicity in strange and powerful ways.

The alien criminal from the first movie is dead, but he left a few eggs which are hatching now. It is explained that on the alien's homeworld, evolution took two parallel paths: half of their race became violent criminals who live only for pleasure (the squid-like alien form briefly glimpsed in the first film), and the other half evolved beyond their base desires and even physical bodies, becoming creatures of pure energy.

The good alien (Lloyd Gallagher), who still inhabits Tom Beck's body (played now by Michael Welden), has been waiting just in case this happened. Unfortunately, his presence in the body has taken a terrible toll on it, draining it of life energy.

Additionally, relations with Beck's daughter Juliet (Kate Hodge), now a cop herself, have deteriorated (possibly due to his bizarre behavior caused by the alien inhabiting his body). But when the killing starts again, both will need to work together - and with a new alien policeman (Raphael Sbarge), who comes to Earth to aid in the struggle - to stop the new generation of aliens.

The film concerns Dr. Akagi, a doctor on an island in the Seto Inland Sea area during World War II. He runs into conflict with the military while trying to combat a hepatitis epidemic. Akagi earns the nickname "Dr. Liver" (カンゾー先生 ''Kanzō-sensei'') because of his work, though the townsfolk use it as a humorous dig at his persistent diagnosis. Though the broad circumstance of Japan slowly losing the war is the setting, many of the interactions and situations tilt into humor, for instance; the very music used for the doctor running from patient to patient has an upbeat and light-hearted tone.

Rocket and his animal companions were genetically manipulated animals with human level intelligence and a bipedal body construction. They were created to be caretakers of the inmates (or "loonies") on the verdant side of halfworld. Rocket was a guard who protected the colony against various threats.

Rocket and his friends ultimately cured the inmates of their mental illnesses and then took off into space for their own adventures.

In a wealthy Chicago suburb during the early 1960s, middle-class Jimmy Reardon hangs out with his upper-class best friend, Fred Roberts, and sleeps with Fred's snobby girlfriend, Denise Hunter. He spends his time writing poetry and drinking coffee while he decides what to do after high school. His parents won't help him pay for tuition unless he attends the same business college as his father did, but Jimmy doesn't want to follow that path. Instead, he focuses on coming up with enough money for a plane ticket to go to Hawaii with his wealthy yet chaste girlfriend, Lisa Bentwright. On the night of a big party, Jimmy is given the task of driving home his mother's divorced friend, Joyce Fickett, who conveniently seduces him. Since he is late picking up Lisa, she goes to the dance with the rich Matthew Hollander, instead. Jimmy crashes the family car and then shares a rapprochement with his father.

In New York City, a stray bolt of lightning strikes the 102-floor, 73-elevator Millennium Building. The three main express elevators begin acting strangely, resulting in a guard's flashlight being crushed. The next day, a group of pregnant women are held up between floors 21 and 22; The elevator overheats rapidly, causing two women to give birth and hospitalizing the rest. Reporter Jennifer Evans is called to write a report on the incident. After an investigation by METEOR elevator company technicians Jeff McClellan and Mark Newman, they determine that nothing is wrong with the elevators, a large part being Jeff's inability to actually admit there is something wrong (he states throughout his scenes that the computer controlling the elevators has absolutely no defects).

A short time later, a blind man and his guide dog disappear in the building. The two guards from the beginning of the film discover the dog's corpse hanging from its collar on a shaft support. The discovering guard's head is caught between the elevator doors. He is decapitated a short while later, his partner too horrified to help him. Once again, the METEOR executives find nothing wrong with the elevators. Evans interviews Newman, who sarcastically states "Nine people out of ten make it out of an elevator alive." Evans places this in her report, causing a large controversy over his statement by his boss, Mitchell, and the police. During the same day, a roller skater is sucked into an elevator in the parking garage and shot from the 86th floor of the building to his death. The roller skater's death is explained to media as suicide.

Evans visits Newman and shows him a tape of the roller skater's death. She points out the time it normally takes for the elevator to go up 87 floors would take about 40 seconds to a minute. However, the elevator ascended the floors in less than two seconds, thus noting that there is definitely something wrong. When they try to show the tape to Jeff, he refuses to watch it and leaves abruptly. Instead, they go to Evans' office and look up a man named Gunther Steinberg, who had been experimenting with organic reproducing computer chips using dolphin brains. However, the project had gone disastrously wrong and Steinberg was fired. Later the next morning Milligan, who remains suspicious of the elevators throughout the film, discovers Jeff's corpse in an elevator shaft. When Jennifer and Mark arrive, they are shocked to hear that the police have concocted a story that has Jeff being a terrorist and being behind the incidents and assure the public that the threat is over. Later during the day, an elevator cab flies to top floor at such a speed that the floor flies off and all the people in it are killed. This event reaches the President and is seen as an act of terrorism.

A terrorism unit is assembled at the building to get any further terrorists out of the building. Meanwhile, Jennifer and Mark discover a recent suicide could be linked to the incidents, as his extremely superstitious widow believes his soul has returned to punish others. Jennifer and Mark enter the building to discover and stop the threat once and for all. During the entry, Jennifer is taken into custody posing as a METEOR executive. During her first attempt to prove this fraud, she receives a phone call from a friend to explains that while Steinberg's time working on the chips has been revoked, Steinberg continued to work on the project except not with dolphin brains. Eventually, Mitchell abandons Steinberg for fear of his own reputation being ruined. Mark manages to get into the Millennium Building and discovers a large bio-chip in the form of a brain in an elevator shaft. It is assumed that this brain is alive and controlling the elevators. He attempts to destroy using a screwdriver, but this attempt fails when it sends a flaming elevator down to kill him. Mark barely escapes while the elevator kills a SWAT officer who was barely out of the elevator shaft before he was sliced in half from his waist down with the upper half of his body sliding across the floor. Mark gets a hold of a stinger missile launcher and is about to destroy the organ when Steinberg intervenes, threatening him. Jennifer appears, having escaped custody and frees Mark. As Mark tries to destroy the organ a third time, the police enter, giving Steinberg the opportunity to hold Jennifer hostage. Jennifer manages to escape thanks to Steinberg being unable to recognize one of his superiors. Steinberg is grabbed by the elevator shaft cables and pulled in, along with Mark. At the last second, Jennifer kicks the stinger launcher to Mark, who proceeds to destroy the organ. Steinberg's mutilated corpse falls seconds later.

Some time later, Mark and Jennifer leave a hospital where they find themselves trapped in an elevator. However, it proves to be a ruse for Mark to make a romantic overture toward Jennifer.

''The Outpost'' is a study of rural Poland under the country's foreign partitions. Its principal character, a peasant surnamed ''Ślimak'' ("Snail", in Polish), typifies his village's inhabitants, nearly all illiterate; there is no school under Russian imperial rule. Religion is naively superficial: when a villager, Orzechowski, buys an engraving of ''Leda and the Swan'' for a mere three roubles at the landowner's moving-out sale, he prays before it with his family, much as other villagers venerate old portraits of noblemen who had been benefactors of the local church.

Changes are, however, coming to the area. A railway line is being built nearby. The owners of a local manor house sell their estate to German settlers . Polish landowners, who speak more French than Polish, are happy to take the money and move to a city or abroad, away from the boring countryside. Ślimak's farm becomes an isolated Polish outpost in an increasingly German-settled neighborhood.

Ślimak suffers a series of adversities as he refuses to sell his plot of land to German settlers (who are described not unsympathetically). The stubborn, conservative peasant is not acting from self-interest, since the money he would have gotten could have bought a better farm elsewhere; he is, rather, acting from inertia and from a principle inculcated in him by his father and grandfather: that when a peasant loses his hereditary plot, he faces the greatest of misfortunes—becoming a mere wage-earner.

Still, Ślimak lacks his wife's strength of will; he hesitates. But on her deathbed she makes him swear that he will never sell their land.

The book's somber picture is relieved by the author's humour and warmth. The local Catholic priest, habitué of dinners and hunting parties at local manors, is not entirely devoid of Christian virtues. Two of the village's humbler denizens turn out to be exemplars of selflessness. Ślimak's half-wit farm hand, on finding an abandoned baby, takes it home to care for it. After Mrs. Ślimak dies and the widower's farm burns down, he is befriended by a poor, empathetic Jewish peddler who comes to his aid and, in the manner of a ''deus ex machina'', saves the day and the farm.

After the end of the Sixth World War, the Earth has been rendered inhospitable and uninhabitable by humanity. The Intergalactic Council ruled that Earth could once again be used by humans and sent people there to restore civilization there. Meanwhile, mutants have prospered in the long-lost wastelands of Earth and were unwilling to allow the humans to have it again. The Intergalactic Council has sent in a lone fighter called ''Aerostar'' to defend the Earth from a second act of total destruction.

The series follows the adventures of Ollie the Ox as he runs the Funny Farm, containing possibly every animal known, with his best friend Jack, a turtle while told by a cynical toucan

In Edgewood, Atlanta, Monty James (Idris Elba) is a mechanic working for Willie (Louis Gossett Jr.) who dreams of owning his own shop. He has three daughters: Sierra (Sierra McClain), Lauryn (Lauryn McClain), and China (China Anne McClain). The children have been cared for by their elderly maternal grandmother Kat (Juanita Jennings) with frequent visits from Monty along with financial support. Before her death from lung cancer, Kat asks Monty to take custody of his daughters since her daughter/Monty's ex-wife Jennifer (Tasha Smith) is both mean-spirited and self-serving. Jennifer has little to no interest in her daughters, having not visited them in several months prior to her mother’s death. She is preferably more involved in the business activity of her live-in boyfriend Joe (Gary Anthony Sturgis), the main drug dealer in the neighborhood who people are afraid of testifying against or else he'll have them killed.

Following Kat's funeral, Jennifer arrives with Joe and his thugs upset that no one notified her of her mother’s death. Jennifer tries to physically take the girls from Monty demanding that they leave with her and Joe, but her aunt Rita (Cassi Davis) steps in and stops her. She leaves, but informs Monty that she intends to seek full custody of the girls.

In an effort to earn extra money, Monty accepts a job as a driver for Julia Rossmore (Gabrielle Union), an attorney, at the recommendation of his next-door neighbor Maya (Malinda Williams) who works as her assistant. When Monty and Julia meet, she insists they refrain from fraternizing and keeps a strict schedule. Monty has to work later than expected one night after Julia’s friends, Brenda (Terri J. Vaughn) and Cynthia (Tracee Ellis Ross), set Julia up on a blind date with Byron (Craig Robinson) who turns out to be an unemployed aspiring rapper. While driving Julia home, Monty receives a call that his children were involved in a house fire. Without explanation to Julia, Monty immediately heads to the hospital against the protest of an uninformed Julia who fires him.

When Monty arrives at the hospital, it is revealed that Sierra accidentally started a fire and that the girls were home alone with no adult supervision until Maya rescued them. Julia follows Monty into the hospital to demand she be driven home in time to hear the Social Services representative Laurie Bell (Donna Biscoe) who was notified by the hospital, make the decision based on the circumstances, to grant immediate temporary custody to their mother, setting a date for a custody hearing. Monty drives Julia home and they part ways. Julia hires a replacement driver and Monty returns to work as a mechanic. Meanwhile, the girls face constant abuse and neglect from Joe and Jennifer.

Monty is called to Sierra's school after she is caught with drugs according to the principal (Bennet Guillory). Sierra explains to Monty that Joe and Jennifer are forcing her to sell drugs under the threat of hurting Monty if she refused. Jennifer and Joe arrive and are enraged that the school contacted Monty. Joe threatens Monty during a brief altercation in the principal's office. Aware that Joe can afford a high-power attorney for the custody hearing, Monty goes to Julia for help. Julia knows that he cannot afford to hire the firm and turns him away, interpreting his actions as an attempt to use her to get custody of the girls solely so he can use them to get government assistance. Feeling Insulted, Monty leaves after telling Julia to get a life and a man.

Julia goes on another blind date with the attorney Christopher (Brian J. White) who she thinks is perfect for her until his wife and kids expose him. On the day of Monty’s custody hearing, Julia is leaving a different courtroom and overhears Monty’s failing attempt to represent himself. After listening to Monty try to inform the judge that the girls are living with a drug dealer, she steps in as his attorney and is able to get the hearing delayed. Julia agrees to represent him provided that case preparation occurs after office hours. Later, while preparing for the hearing, Julia asks Monty if there is anything bad she should know about him so that she is not surprised in court. They are interrupted by a phone call and the question goes unanswered.

Upon discovering it's her birthday and that Julia has no plans, Monty takes her to the jazz club in his neighborhood where they drink with his friends and dance. Julia kisses Monty and asks him to spend the night. Monty obliges, but a drunken Julia vomiting in the bathroom changes her mind and tells him to go home.

Over the next few weeks, they begin to have strong romantic feelings for each other. Monty invites her to meet his daughters at his apartment during his visitation. She continues to spend time with Monty and his girls and they take a trip to the aquarium. Julia runs into Brenda, who met Monty previously when he was Julia’s driver and figures out that they are now a couple. Brenda pulls Julia to the side and berates Monty, stating that he is beneath her status. Monty overhears Julia’s friend and is hurt. Julia later opens up to Monty and tearfully tells him about her last relationship that ended in betrayal. Monty promises that he won’t betray her and they continue dating.

Monty goes to work and finds Willie has been injured in a robbery. Willie is ready to retire and offers to sell the shop to Monty for a $10,000 deposit that can be paid on a payment schedule. Monty accepts his offer.

At the child custody hearing, Julia argues that it would be in the children's best interest for Monty to be awarded custody and provided the court with a written statement from Jennifer’s deceased mother stating the same. Jennifer's lawyer (Mark Oliver) fights back and claims that Monty is not suitable to raise the girls due to a conviction of statutory rape that occurred 16 years prior. Julia is disgusted and feels betrayed as Monty never told her this information. She refuses to provide him further assistance with his case and leaves. Julia is later comforted by her friends.

At 3:00 am, Monty's daughters arrive at his house and inform him that Joe has been hitting them, proving it by revealing that China's back is bruised while Jennifer just watched and did nothing about it when China was crying. While his daughters are asleep, a livid Monty flashes back to his arrest. Then he drives away and crashes into Jennifer and Joe's car after which he gives Joe multiple punches in the face for his abusive treatment toward his daughters. The rest of the neighborhood gathers to watch the assault, as Joe's thugs arrive and begin to attack Monty to get him off Joe. Having had enough of Joe's terrorism, the neighbors attack Joe's thugs to get them off of Monty as he continues attacking Joe. Julia sees a news report about the police having stopped a near-riot while learning Monty was falsely convicted of the supposed rape charges when he was among those arrested. Upon hearing this, Julia rushes to help Monty.

Jennifer and Joe face drug charges in court as the district attorney (Leland L. Jones) stated that crack, cocaine, and marijuana were found in Joe's car and house. All of the neighbors decide to testify against Jennifer, Joe, and his thugs as the judge (Giulia Pagano) has them taken into custody with no bond. Monty is then charged with domestic battery toward Joe. Julia walks in to represent Monty, apologizing for not hearing his side of the story. The witnesses refuse to testify against Monty as the judge dismisses the case. Monty tells Julia that he loves her.

Monty's daughters greet him and Julia at the auto shop that now bears his name, as the rest of the neighborhood celebrates that Monty now owns the auto shop with full custody of his daughters.

The story takes place in Normandy in the winter of 1870, in a fictional chateau which is being used as a headquarters by Prussian officers. The main characters of the story are quickly introduced: the Major, a dignified and cultured German aristocrat; his Captain, a boorish and lecherous minor Prussian landowner; two lieutenants from the Prussian bourgeoisie; and the title character, a handsome but arrogant and extremely unpleasant German sub-lieutenant known to his comrades as "Mademoiselle Fifi" due to his effeminate manner.

The officers have been quartered in the chateau for several weeks, and as they are far away from the fighting and do not want to go out due to the endless rain, the officers are desperately bored. They have been spending their days drinking, gambling, and destroying the chateau's paintings, furniture and other fine objects. After a boring lunch, the aristocratic captain suggest a dinner party, and sends an army transport wagon to the local town to bring back some prostitutes to keep the officers company. In the evening, the party begins, and soon the officers and prostitutes are drunk and in high spirits. The officer known as Fifi, who has taken a Jewish prostitute called Rachel, starts smashing things and making violent sexual advances on Rachel. The party-goers start telling dirty jokes in bad French and the officers make a variety of slurred speeches praising German military prowess, which makes Rachel increasingly angry. When Fifi makes a speech proclaiming that France is crushed and that all of France, including all French women, are now Prussian property, Rachel rebukes him. At this Fifi slaps Rachel, who becomes enraged and stabs Fifi with a cheese knife and jumps out the window. Fifi soon dies, and the major orders a search for Rachel but she is never found. The German officers become curious that the next day, the church bell in the village, which has been silent as a sign of national mourning, is suddenly ringing again. It continues to ring until the day the armistice is signed, when the German officers finally leave the chateau. At the end of the story, it is revealed that Rachel herself has been hiding in the bell tower, ringing the bell as a sign of her personal triumph over the Germans.

As the Doctor prepares to search for Sam, he receives a psychic cry of pain and despair from his granddaughter Susan, and discovers that it was focused through another TARDIS on a distant planet. He decides to materialize on Earth following the Dalek invasion, the same time period in which Sam disappeared; perhaps in hope he can find her as well while preventing whatever caused Susan to send the cry.

Following the invasion, Earth is devastatingly underpopulated, and the survivors (in Britain, at least) have coalesced into city-states which are currently engaged in political infighting. Lord Haldoran supplies most of England with power, but Lord London opposes him and many city-states are flocking to London for power supplies. War seems inevitable, but Haldoran has a secret weapon; his mysterious military advisor, Estro, is supplying him with Dalek guns. Meanwhile, Susan and her husband David are having marital difficulties, as it has become increasingly difficult as the decades pass to hide the fact that Susan isn’t aging while David is. Susan is a Peace Officer, one of the elite who keep the Earth safe from the Dalek Artefacts left behind after the invaders were defeated; when she receives word that someone is tampering with the buried DA-17, she sets off to investigate, but is captured by Estro’s men.

The Doctor materializes on Earth and meets Donna, a knight of Domain London and Lord London’s daughter. He accompanies her back to London, where he learns of the political situation and is disappointed to find that the people of Earth are fighting amongst themselves rather than working together to rebuild the planet. Haldoran launches an attack on London, sending his best man, Tomlin; in a lure to draw London’s troops out into the open, while Haldoran’s officers Barlow and Craddock strike with their Dalek weapons. Tomlin learns of their betrayal, and escapes the battle, vowing revenge.

The Doctor and Donna meet David and learn of Susan’s disappearance, and they set off for DA-17 to investigate themselves. They too are captured, and sent to Haldoran’s castle for questioning; Donna is terrified, as she was once married to Haldoran for political reasons and knows the man to be cruel and sadistic. The Doctor is more concerned with the fact that people are tampering with a Dalek Artefact, as the Daleks always leave behind traps for the unwary. At Haldoran’s castle, they meet Estro, whom the Doctor instantly recognizes as the Master in a former incarnation, the one the Third Doctor fought most often, and the Doctor realizes that, by backtracking Susan’s call, he has broken a law of time and encountered the Master “out of order”. The Master reveals that he has set Haldoran and London against each other to amuse himself while he waits for DA-17 to be opened. Haldoran believes that the Master is getting his Dalek weapons from DA-17, but in fact he is supplying Haldoran from a private cache of his own and intends to open DA-17, since he has learnt of a powerful secret weapon inside which he intends to seize.

Susan manages to escape from her guards and break into the mine workings around DA-17, but is too late to stop the technicians from completing their work. By supplying DA-17 with power the Master was hoping to decode the security locks keeping the Artefact sealed, but in fact he has supplied it with enough power to begin manufacturing new Daleks from its store of raw minerals and Dalek embryos. The Daleks emerge, capture Susan and transform the Master’s guards and technicians into Robomen. Susan is left alive for questioning, but manages to escape from her Roboman guards and get to the heart of the Dalek Artefact. There, the Master materializes in his TARDIS and reveals that the Daleks have created a matter transmuter capable of transforming any element into any other element; he intends to use it as a weapon, holding civilisations hostage to his demands for power.

The Doctor, David and Donna overpower their guards and try to get past Haldoran to destroy his cache of Dalek weapons, but Haldoran sees through them and recaptures them. At that moment Tomlin arrives and tries to kill him, and although Haldoran kills Tomlin, Donna takes advantage of the distraction and shoots Haldoran as well. Barlow returns, having successfully conquered London with his Dalek guns; Lord London’s men killed him when he refused to surrender. The Doctor, learning that all communication has been lost with the Master’s men at DA-17, manages to convince Barlow that something has gone wrong there, where Barlow leads a squad to the pit and learns what has happened. The Daleks are currently confined to the pit area, but are building a power transmitter which will enable them to venture further into the surrounding countryside.

Barlow and his men fight the Daleks and Robomen, while the Doctor, David and Donna break into DA-17 to find out what is really going on. Since the Daleks are no longer receiving power from Haldoran’s stores, the Doctor increases the embryo production in the hatchery, draining power from the Artefact’s reserves; and while the Daleks are busy dealing with this, he also sets the factory production reactors to overload. Meanwhile, the Master seizes the core of the matter transmuter and tries to escape; the Doctor, Donna and David run into him, and when the Master tries to shoot the Doctor, David pushes the Doctor aside and is killed himself.

The Master retreats back to his TARDIS and leaves with Susan as his hostage, and the Doctor and Donna escape from DA-17 moments before its reactors overload and explode, wiping out the Daleks. The Doctor slowly recovers from his injuries, and Donna and Barlow decide to marry; partly for political convenience, but not entirely. Once the Doctor has fully recovered he returns to the TARDIS and tracks the flight of the Master’s, but when he discovers that it materialized briefly on Tersurus and then left again, he recalls the name of the planet and realizes what happened. The Master, not realizing that his hostage was also Gallifreyan, was caught off guard when Susan amplified a shriek of pain and despair through his own TARDIS’ telepathic circuits, incapacitating him; he tried to flee out onto the surface of Tersurus, but was caught in the explosion and nearly killed when Susan turned his own TCE on the matter transmuter. Susan then left Tersurus in the Master’s TARDIS, and the crippled Master remained to be discovered by Chancellor Goth of Gallifrey who was investigating the renegade TARDIS materialization. The Doctor decides to leave Susan her freedom, and sets off once again in search of Sam.

The story opens in Paris in January 1871, at the height of Siege of Paris, and introduces the main character, Monsieur Morissot, a watchmaker who has enrolled in the National Guard. Morissot, who is bored, hungry and depressed, is walking along the boulevard when by chance he bumps into an old friend, Monsieur Sauvage, a draper from the Rue Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, with whom he used to go fishing before the war. The two old friends reminisce over several glasses of absinthe in a café, gained a ''laissez-passer'' from their officer, walk along the river to Argenteuil, a few miles west of the city, in the no man's land between the French and Prussian lines. The two start fishing and when they see the nearby fortress of Mont-Valérien firing at the Prussians, they start discussing the war, which turns into a friendly debate at the end of which they both agree that the war is a tragedy for both France and Prussia, and that as long as there are governments, there will be wars.

At this point, the two friends turn round to see four Prussian soldiers pointing their rifles at them. The two are captured and taken to a nearby island, where a Prussian officer makes them an offer: he explains that he can legally shoot them on the spot as spies, but that he will spare their lives and let them return to Paris if they give him the password they used to get through their own defense lines. The two heroically refuse to give him the password, even when the officer reminds them that their deaths will cripple their families. Realizing that they will not give him the password, the officer lines up his men into a firing squad. The two friends shake hands and exchange a tearful farewell before they are executed. The German officer orders their bodies thrown into the river, and without showing any sign of emotion, orders a soldier to cook the two friends' fish, takes a glance at the bodies floating downstream, and returns to his chair to smoke his pipe.

The Doctor takes Sam to Micawber's World, an artificial planet owned by the Carrington Corporation, to attend the wedding of his friends Stacy Townsend and the Ice Warrior Ssard. Sam is slightly peeved to learn that they travelled with him during the three-year period in which he'd left her at a one-hour Greenpeace rally, but she eventually forgives him. The wedding ceremony is disrupted by followers of the Church of the Way Forward, who believe that interspecies marriage dilutes racial purity and is thus forbidden by their Goddess. Chase Carrington himself apologises for the disruption and pays for the wedding guests’ expenses out of his own pocket. Later, however, he is murdered by Foamasi assassins working for the Dark Peaks Lodge, and an impersonator in a body-suit disguise takes his place...

Micawber's World is hosting the 3999 Olympics, and Ms Sox, the head of security for Carrington Corp, has called in extra Space Security troops for the occasion. A patrol vanishes while lighting the tunnels beneath the surface of the planet, but rather than court-martial Sergeant Dallion for losing her men without an explanation, Commander Ritchie gives her and the remaining members of her squad leeway to investigate. In fact, Ritchie's wife and son have been kidnapped by the Dark Peaks Lodge, who intend to discover what's going on in the tunnels and then kill Dallion.

Rivalry between Dark Peaks and the Twin Suns Lodge leads to the murder of a Foamasi, and when the Doctor notices the body being taken to the Space Security building for an autopsy, he involves himself in the investigation out of curiosity. Ritchie decides that the Doctor might prove to be a useful loose cannon and directs him to the Foamasi ambassador, Green Fingers. The Doctor also speaks with Ms Sox and with Sergeant Dallion, and eventually they all put together their stories and determine that the Dark Peaks Lodge is attempting to infiltrate Carrington Corp through blackmail, murder and impersonation.

Sam investigates the Church of the Way Forward but determines that they're not connected to the mystery; the telepathic Reverend Lukas simply wants to spread the word of his Goddess throughout the galaxy. His young follower Kyle Dale, who has come to compete in the Olympics, becomes intrigued by Sam's intelligent and passionate defense of her own beliefs. After leaving the Church followers, Sam happens across the entourage of the visiting Duchess of Auckland, just as the sycophantic journalist Talon Chalfont learns that he's been snubbed from the Duchess’ itinerary. Chalfont hacks into the Federation computers to search for a better story, learns of the missing troopers and sets off to investigate. Sam follows him, and Kyle, who happens to be passing by, follows them both.

Ms Sox informs the Doctor that her security team has been investigating SSS xenobiologist Miles Mason, who was seen consorting with an unknown alien shortly before arriving on Micawber's World. Ms Sox believes that Mason is involved with drug smugglers who have set up camp in the tunnels; it would seem that the Dark Peaks Lodge learned of her investigation while infiltrating Carrington Corp, and are attempting to find out what's going on so they can get in on the action. But Dark Peaks agents learn of the investigation and send word to Events Co-ordinator Sumner that Ritchie and his associates are conspiring to assassinate the Duchess of Auckland.

What nobody yet realizes is that the creatures in the tunnels are Wirrrn. Dr Mason has been absorbed into the Wirrrn hive mind, and has been using the facilities of the SSS labs to manufacture a mutagenic drug which will transform anyone who takes it into a Wirrrn. He intends to trick the Foamasi into distributing the drugs to the athletes under the impression that they are performance-enhancing; in fact most of them are placebos with the mutagenic tags attached. Some of the drugs contain a time-release formula, so those who take them will not fully transform into a Wirrrn for months, thus spreading the taint throughout the galaxy...

The missing patrol members have been transformed into Wirrrn larvae, and the Queen sends them to the surface to await the start of the games. She sends a telepathic message to Mason, ordering him to arrange a distraction that will provide the larvae with cover for their attack. The signal is also picked up by the Doctor, who faints dead away just as Sumner arrives to arrest the “conspirators”—and by Reverend Lukas, who believes it to be the call of his Goddess, and who leads his followers into the tunnels where most are absorbed by the Wirrrn. Chalfont is also transformed into a Wirrrn, but Sam and Kyle manage to escape.

Sumner realizes he's been deceived, and the recovering Doctor realizes that there's more going on in the tunnels than he'd previously believed. Green Fingers informs the other Lodges about Dark Peaks’ activities and executes the Dark Peaks Patriarch; the remaining Dark Peaks Foamasi are targeted and killed by assassins from the other Lodges, and eventually Ritchie's wife and son are found and rescued. In the process, it becomes clear that many Dark Peaks agents have themselves become infected by the Wirrrn in the course of their criminal activities. The Doctor and Ms Sox obtain a sample of the drugs, analyse them and learn the truth just as Sam and Kyle arrive with their story.

Mason plants a bomb beneath the Duchess of Auckland's podium, and she is killed instantly in the explosion. In the ensuing confusion the Wirrrn larvae emerge and attack, and some of the Olympic athletes spontaneously transform into Wirrrn, spreading confusion and terror. But thanks to their advance warning of the danger, SSS troops are able to contain the attack and drive off the larvae. The Doctor enters the tunnels and confronts the Wirrrn Queen, who has made her nest around the planet's artificial power source; he is able to rewire it and electrocute her, but some of the Wirrrn larvae survive. Acting on instinct, they steal a shuttle and set off back “home”, to the Andromeda Galaxy.

The Doctor synthesizes an antidote to the mutagenic drug, saving the athletes who took them from becoming Wirrrn—although they will never fully recover. Kyle decides to remain on Micawber's World and carry on the good work of the Church despite Lukas’ betrayal of his ideals. Lukas himself has escaped with the body of the Wirrrn Queen and with two of his followers—who are slowly transforming into Wirrrn themselves, ready to spread the word of their Goddess throughout the galaxy...

Angeline Persopolis is extremely intelligent. She knew things, especially related to ocean animals and the ocean, "before she was born," with her first word being "octopus." Even though she is only eight, she is sent to the sixth grade. She wants to be a garbage collector like her father, although he wants her to become famous and is afraid of her intelligence at times. At school, she also faces problems like being bullied by the other students and misunderstood by her teacher, Mrs. Hardlick. Her only two friends are a fifth grade teacher, Miss Turbone (also known as Mr. Bone) and class clown Gary "Goon" Boone (who later gets a book to himself, ''Dogs Don't Tell Jokes'').

Mr. Persopolis wants the best for his daughter, and he often pushes her too hard to achieve. When she is elected Secretary of Trash, he becomes angry and orders her to resign. The next day at school, Mrs. Hardlick does not listen to Angeline when she tries to resign, and Angeline is so frustrated that she messes up the classroom, denouncing everything as "Garbage!" Mrs. Hardlick is furious and tells Angeline to come back with a signed note from her father. For the next week, she goes to an aquarium each day, instead of going to school. Her father gets home after she does, so he does not know.

When Miss Turbone finds out about this, she arranges to talk with Mr. Persopolis (it is implied that the two fall in love when they meet). They decide Angeline will be transferred to Miss Turbone's fifth grade class, and that she will return to Mrs. Hardlick's class for a day or two while the transfer is arranged. They also plan to go on a date the next evening.

However, Mrs. Hardlick succeeds in alienating Angeline one more time, and she once more runs away from school, this time to a beach, where she jumps off its pier (the better to see the fish) and nearly drowns. However, she is saved by a fisherman and later gets completely better.

The novel is a partial sequel to the Virgin New Adventures novel ''Happy Endings''.

The TARDIS is thrown off course by a 'vortex discontinuity'. They materialise in deep space, several hundred light years form Earth in the year 3123 A.D. The discover a derelict, cylinder like ship, over four-thousand meters in length.
There are two other ships in the area as well, from rival star-systems, the Emindarian passenger liner, ''Cirrandaria'', and the Nimosian warship, ''Indomitable''. Both ships claim they have the right to salvage the derelict.
Narrowly avoiding destruction by the ''Indomitable'', the Doctor and Sam land on the ''Cirrandaria''.
The ''Indomitable'' sends a technician in a pod down to the derelict to explore. The technician, after some examining, begins to think that the derelict was grown, not built. He loses contact with ''Indomitable'', and comes to believe he is being followed by a creature. He attempts to escape by climbing up one of the pylons that ring both ends of the ship. He pictures the monsters from his childhood reaching up for him, lets go of the pylon and falls to his death.
The ''Cirrandaria'' sends its own expedition down to the derelict, including the Doctor and Sam, and all hell breaks loose...

In voice over, Shirley Lyner (Waterston) introduces her babysitting service, a cabin with middle-aged men and teenage girls. A flashback takes us to Shirley being picked up by Michael Beltran (Leguizamo) for a babysitting job. After she is finished, they dine together and flirt with each other. Michael is frustrated with his wife and Shirley finds guys her age to be too immature.

Michael and his wife Gail (Nixon) meet with Michael's friend Jerry (Comeau), who has a business offer for Michael. Gail is frustrated that Michael wants to take it, while Michael gets curious about an abandoned train yard behind the restaurant that Gail shows no interest in. When Michael is driving Shirley home that night, they stop at the train yard and explore it, eventually sharing a kiss. They come to the conclusion that they couldn't do that anymore, but Michael pays Shirley extra.

Melissa (Lauren Birkell) discovers the truth about babysitting outings from Shirley and Michael tells Jerry about it. Michael asks Shirley if any of her other friends can "babysit" and her friend Melissa volunteers. Shirley asks her for 20% of the money as her cut to which Melissa agrees. They convince their friend Brenda (Louisa Krause) to take the babysitting job as well and the girls set up a working business, going so far as to have business cards printed up. Michael learns that Shirley is babysitting for others besides him, which makes him uncomfortable and upset.

Problems arise when Brenda invites her rough and aggressive younger stepsister Nadine (Halley Wegryn Gross) into the group without checking with Shirley. She soon starts her own competing business behind Shirley's back, and Shirley starts to lose customers. Shirley confronts Brenda and Brenda agrees to search Nadine's room. She reports back that she found nothing. With Michael 'on watch', Shirley and Melissa search Nadine's locker but find nothing. They trash the school to hide their true motive. The next day everything was destroyed, which called for a mandatory assembly. During the assembly Shirley calls the girls to the band room to discuss the issues. Shirley than tells Nadine to stop going behind her back and doing business without her permission and that she gets twenty percent of all their cuts. Then they all are dismissed.

Melissa presents Shirley with fake permission slips for a trip to Jerry's cabin for a weekend. The girls will be going under the make-believe of a school trip, while the men will be there on a "business retreat". Michael is uncomfortable with Shirley being with other guys at the party. Jerry has supplied drugs at the party and attempts to rape Brenda.

Later at school, Brenda decides she wants to quit and Shirley agrees but Melissa is worried that Brenda will talk. Melissa has several of their customers attack and threaten Brenda's brother. Shirley finds out and confronts Melissa at lunch and gets upset.

Michael's wife confronts him about his distance and that he has been lying about his job situation and Michael finally voices some of his frustrations about the marriage, while Gail responds with hers. Michael tries to encourage Shirley to run away with him, while Shirley reminds him that this is just business and he's cheating himself. She ups the price for him and walks off.

She then tries unsuccessfully to contact Brenda. She hears that Nadine is babysitting without her knowledge and calls Melissa, who is with Jerry, and they go to confront her. They soon arrive and Jerry finds Nadine and gives her to Shirley and Melissa who then threaten to throw her off a building. With Nadine almost falling off, Jerry pulls her back after beating up the man in the vehicle. Shirley then discovers that her own father was having sex with Nadine. She then breaks down and starts to cry.

In another voiceover by Shirley. Shirley talks about how it was a unique moment in an otherwise ordinary life. Shirley watches Michael interacting with his family. He glances over and then walks off, leaving Shirley who then drives off, knowing the relationship is over.

On Earth's first space colony, Proxima II, an expedition to a nearby mountain disappears and only one survivor, Jake Leary, returns, apparently turned insane by the experience, he breaks out of hospital and vanishes. Afterwards mutilated bodies begin appearing on the streets, causing the colony's workers to send a distress signal against the wishes of their leader, Helen Percival.

The Doctor and Sam arrive in response to the signal, causing Percival to become paranoid that she will be overthrown. despite this, she allows The Doctor to investigate. Sam learns that Percival burned the bodies without an autopsy and breaks into Helen's office to investigate and sets off a bomb planted to stop intruders, and is saved by Police Chief Fuller. Meanwhile, the Doctor speaks to xenozoologist Joan Betts, who is studying the native Proximans, who are dying out suddenly. The Doctor theorises that the Proxians have telepathic powers which are focused on the mountain, trapping something in. When The Doctor attempts to contact their group mind, he learns that they are under threat from an ancient evil. When The Doctor follows Joan into the sewers later that day, something attacks them which kills Joan and knocks him unconscious.

Percival begins to oppress the colonists, sparking off riots, whilst Sam and Fuller read Leary's report which explain that the expedition woke an ancient evil which was dormant in the mountains. Later Fuller reveals that he is a shape shifter which has killed the real Fuller. However Sam escapes when a Proximan attacks the creature. The Doctor is brought to the officers, where he explains that an ancient creature called the Face-Eater has been sending out shape shifters to gather life essences for it to eat. Leary enters and explains that this Doctor is a shape shifter - the real one was with him in the mountains, and that it was a shape shifter impersonating him that is responsible for the murders.

The Doctor finds the Face-Eater with a Proximan's help and learns that the Proximans built the Face-Eater as a focal point for their group mind in case of attack, but it soon began to eat all life on the planet until it was subdued, but the colonists have woken it again. The Face-Eater then becomes strong enough to move by itself and attacks the settlement. After Percival fails to launch a nuclear strike to wipe out the colony, she is killed by a worker. The Face-Eater attempts to absorb The Doctor, but is confused by his dormant personalities, allowing the Proximans to attack it. Finding the control unit, the Proximans shut down the Face-Eater, which also shuts down their group mind mentally degenerating them into little more than animals. The Doctor and Sam then leave.

The Doctor tries to stop a mysterious entity called The Revolution Man from spreading mind-altering drugs in the 1960s.

In London during the year 2002, the dark-haired Sam Jones is living a normal life, though struggling with a drug addiction, when the Eighth Doctor arrives in the shop she works in and tells her that she should have blonde hair and be travelling with him. Shocked by this, she runs out onto the street to get away from him and is attacked by a ten-year-old boy, who claims that she shouldn't exist. When the Doctor rescues her, she agrees to go with him to San Francisco. When they arrive, the Doctor finds Fitz and explains that when the TARDIS destroyed the Earth, but reversed time, a scar in space and time was left behind and strange creatures from other dimensions are being attracted to the city by it. The TARDIS has become trapped inside the scar, and will be crushed by the strain of trying to stabilise the scar in three days unless it is removed. When the Doctor originally arrived, blonde Sam fell in the scar, and dark Sam appeared in London.

The Doctor's attempts to contact the Time Lords to obtain new equipment to close the scar fails, and he meets the boy again, who reveals that he is a member of Faction Paradox, but he claims that he isn't here to harm the Doctor, just to observe his actions. Later the Doctor notices a Kraken in the bay, which will destroy the city looking for food if it detects the energy coming from the scar, but the TARDIS is currently blocking it from detecting them. Now under another time limit, the Doctor finds a scientist called Joyce who promises to help repair the equipment needed to close the scar. The Doctor tells Sam that her biodata is vulnerable to change from the pulses coming from the scar.

One of Fitz's contacts kidnaps them and delivers them to a man who fits them with tracking devices and releases them. In Golden Gate Park the Doctor discovers lines of his own biodata lying exposed on the ground, and seeing this removes the tracking devices. The Doctor now realizes that the man who kidnapped them was from the higher dimensions, and has been experimenting with the Doctor's biodata. The Doctor learns that the man's name is Griffin and he wants to collect the unnatural creatures in the city. The Doctor traps Griffin who explains that his ambition is to categorize every creature in the universe. Griffin then escapes and the Doctor returns to his hotel. At the hotel Griffin's henchmen kidnap Fitz, but accidentally leave Sam behind.

The Doctor goes to check Joyce's progress with his equipment, only to discover that Joyce has also been experimenting with his biodata as well, but refuses to explain why. After learning that Fitz has been kidnapped, the Doctor confronts Griffin, who explains that he wants to see the Kraken destroy the city. Griffin decides to simplify the Doctor's biodata and begins experimenting on it. Sam attempts to rescue him, but Griffin takes a sample of her biodata before they both escape. Joyce finishes repairing the Doctor's equipment. Returning to the scar, the Doctor finds his equipment can't close the scar and will only remove the TARDIS from the scar, which will enable the Kraken to destroy the city, so the Doctor decides to sacrifice the TARDIS to seal the scar.

Joyce accidentally tells Griffin that the largest amount of the Doctor's exposed biodata is at the scar. Griffin goes there and tries to edit the Doctor and Sam's biodata, but the Doctor threatens to alter the higher dimensions that Griffin lives in. Griffin releases Fitz, but Fitz then attacks Griffin and traps him in his dimensionally transcendental specimen box. The Doctor pulls the TARDIS out of the scar, causing the Kraken to look for food. The Doctor places a machine to distract the Kraken on the bay, and the boy offers to create a paradox, but the Doctor refuses. Back at the scar, Sam jumps in, turning her into blonde Sam. The Doctor frees Griffin's specimens from the box, who attack Griffin and push him into the scar. Sam throws the specimen box into the scar after him, causing it to close, and which causes dark Sam to cease to exist and the Kraken and the other creatures return to their own dimension.

The boy explains that blonde Sam is a paradox, because blonde Sam was created when dark Sam threw herself in amongst the Doctor’s biodata in the scar, but she was only able to do so because the Doctor brought her to the scar he’d created. Now he has no shadow, like the other Faction members, and the boy tells him that he will soon be a Faction member.

Loosely based on comedian Roseanne Barr's childhood, the series revolved an young 8-year-old Rosey and her two best friends Tess and Buddy. The three would use their imaginations to overcome the obstacles they faced, such as spelling bees, family vacations, and rules that their parents forced upon them.

Among the recurring characters were Rosey's parents, her younger sister Nonnie, and her baby brother Tater, and a pair of nemesis science nerds.

The Doctor investigates an ancient force interfering with the Battle of the Bulge.

Philip Winthrop (Mark Damon) travels to the House of Usher, a desolate mansion surrounded by a murky swamp, to see his fiancée Madeline Usher (Myrna Fahey). Madeline's brother Roderick (Vincent Price) opposes Philip's intentions, telling the young man that the Usher family is afflicted by a cursed bloodline which has driven all their ancestors to madness and even affected the mansion itself, causing the surrounding countryside to become desolate. Roderick foresees the family evils being propagated into future generations with a marriage to Madeline and vehemently discourages the union. Philip becomes increasingly desperate to take Madeline away; desperate to get away from her brother, she agrees to leave with him.

During a heated argument with her brother, Madeline suddenly falls into catalepsy, a condition in which its sufferers appear dead; her brother--who knows that she is still alive--convinces Winthrop that she is dead and rushes to have her entombed in the family crypt beneath the house. As Philip is preparing to leave following the entombment, the butler, Bristol (Harry Ellerbe), lets slip that Madeline suffered from catalepsy.

Philip rips open Madeline's coffin and finds it empty. He desperately searches for her in the winding passages of the crypt but eventually collapses. Madeline revives inside her sealed coffin, goes insane from being buried alive, and breaks free. She confronts her brother and attacks him, throttling him to death. Suddenly the house, already aflame due to fallen coals from the fire, begins to collapse, and the two Ushers and Bristol are consumed by the falling house, ending the Usher bloodline. Philip alone escapes and watches the burning house sink into the swampy land surrounding it. The film ends with the final words of Poe's story: "... and the deep and dank tarn closed sullenly and silently over the fragments of the 'House of Usher'".

Prologue

The prologue tells the story of the creation of the character later known as Merced de Papel, a woman made of paper by Antonio, a former monk who had been famed for his abilities as an origami surgeon, meaning that he performed successful organ transplants using organs made of folded paper. But as medical technology surpassed his skills, he started creating origami animals and, eventually, the origami woman. Merced has "cardboard legs, cellophane appendix, and paper breasts".

I: El Monte Flores

The main storyline of the first seven chapters is the origin of the "war on Saturn" by Federico de la Fe and his group, El Monte Flores (a.k.a. EMF). Having lost his wife due to his bedwetting, Federico de la Fe takes his young daughter Little Merced from their Mexican town near the Las Tortugas river and moves from Mexico to El Monte, California, where he works with the EMF (then a gang) picking carnations for a living. While moving through Mexico to the USA, Federico de la Fe begins to feel that he is being watched by Saturn, and he discovers that only lead can shield him from the omnipresent view of the planet. He convinces the EMF to help him wage this war, which they do first by setting fires around town so that Saturn cannot see through, and second by having lead walls and ceilings put into all their houses. At the end of the section, "Saturn was unhinging from its orbit and slowly moving deeper into the solar system, away from the roofs of El Monte, eventually becoming the farthest planet [sic] from the sun...."

The section is told mostly from the perspectives of Saturn, Federico de la Fe, and Little Merced, but other EMF characters contribute, such as Froggy El Veterano, Federico de la Fe's right-hand man; Sandra, a subcomandante and a woman who was Froggy's lover until Froggy killed her abusive father; and Julieta, a woman whose town in Mexico had self-destructed and who becomes Froggy's lover after Sandra. Non-EMF characters who get sections to themselves include Rita Hayworth (known as "Margarita"); Merced de Papel, who receives her name from Little Merced; Ignacio, the mechanic who provides the lead shields; Apolonio, a curandero who helps Froggy overcome his sadness at losing Sandra; Santos, a saint who has been hiding from the church by living as a popular luchador; and Baby Nostradamus, an infant whose mother tells fortunes.

II: Cloudy skies and lonely mornings

At the beginning of this section, it is revealed that the character/narrator Saturn is a pseudonym for author Salvador Plasciencia, and that he has given up on the novel after his girlfriend Liz leaves him for another man due to his obsessive war with Federico de la Fe and the EMF (a loose parallel to Merced leaving Federico). Much of this section looks at the Saturn/Plasciencia's personal life, including his attempts to communicate with Liz and his later relationship with Cameroon, a woman who gives herself bee-stings (much like Federico de la Fe burns himself). The chapter also discusses Saturn/Plasciencia's great-grandfather Don Victoriano, who is described as also being the ancestor of the people of Las Tortugas and of Antonio the origami surgeon. Other characters include Cameroon's long-lost father, Jonathan Mead, who is nervously preparing to call her for the first time in years; hoteliers Natalia and Quinones Hernandez, who run a honeymooners-only hotel that Saturn/Plasciencia and Cameroon fraudulently check into; and Ralph and Elisa Landin, who are financially supporting the writing of the novel, even though Saturn/Plasciencia uses much of the money for non-authorial expenses.

The section ends with two chapters related to Cameroon and Liz: first, it is revealed that Cameroon has since left Saturn/Plasciencia because of his many lies, such as falsifying Rita Hayworth's biography; second, Liz writes a chapter pointing out that the novel is a public discourse and therefore an unfair site for Saturn/Plasciencia to take out his anger on her, such as by using the false biography of Rita Hayworth as a metaphor for their failed relationship. She also notes that he has now unfairly brought several other people from his life into the story, including his great-grandfather Don Victoriano and Cameroon. She pleads with him, "if you still love me, please leave me out of this story. Start this book over, without me." After this the title page and first dedication page reappear, but not the dedication page for Liz, an absence that suggests the book will start over without reference to Liz. Then the third section begins.

III: The sky is falling

The third book begins with Saturn briefly silent, but eventually returning to his watching over El Monte. Meanwhile, the EMF members have realized that the lead shielding is making them all sick; with the help of Apolonio the curandero, they regain their health and tear down all the lead. Little Merced learns from Baby Nostradamus the secret of how to block her thoughts from Saturn and, eventually, how to extend that block to everyone else; however, she is killed by citrus poisoning and remains dead for five days, until Apolonio finds a way to resurrect her; revived, she has to relearn how to shield thoughts. Federico de la Fe and Froggy realize that a better way to fight Saturn is not to shield their thoughts but to think and speak openly, thus literally crowding Saturn to the margins with their own words; at this section, the pages become crowded with characters narrating, and Saturn's passages shrink to just a corner of the page. Eventually, the sky above the town starts to crumble, and the EMF think they have succeeded. Apolonio's becomes caretaker for the orphaned Baby Nostradamus, his shop is raided by the church, and he is officially excommunicated from the Church. And Merced de Papel is killed in a car accident.

In Plascencia's world, Cameroon discovers to her horror that other people already know her because of Plascencia's book, in which she died and was buried in the ocean to be food for the fish. Her father does not find her, but he does explain why he abandoned her when she was a child. The Landins discover that Plascencia has been misusing their money, and they withdraw their support. Plascencia continues to try to contact Liz, who replies that what she did was not as bad as Plascencia has made it; with this, Plascencia starts to let go of his anger and returns his gaze to the town of El Monte. Watching over the townspeople, he eventually comes to Baby Nostradamus, through whom Plascencia sees a future for all the characters, including one in which Liz, still married to the man she left Plascencia for, thinks fondly of Saturn/Plascencia. While Plascencia/Saturn again drifts into a fantasy of what their life would have been like, Little Merced helps Federico de la Fe to leave El Monte and to walk "off the page, leaving no footprints that Saturn could track".

The story opens with a poor soldier returning home from war. He meets a witch, who asks him to climb into a hollow tree to retrieve a magic tinderbox. The witch gives the man permission to take anything he finds inside the chambers, but he must return the tinderbox. In the tree, he finds three chambers filled with precious coins guarded by three monstrous dogs, "one with eyes the size of teacups", who guards a vault filled with pennies, one with "eyes the size of water wheels", who guards a vault filled with silver, and one with eyes "the size of Round Tower", who guards a vault filled with gold. He fills his pockets with money, finds the tinderbox, and returns to the witch. When she demands the tinderbox without giving a reason, the soldier lops off her head with his sword.

In the following scene, the soldier enters a large city and buys himself splendid clothing and lives in a magnificent apartment. He makes many friends. He learns of a princess kept in a tower after a prophecy foretold her marriage to a common soldier; his interest is piqued and he wants to see her but realizes his whim cannot be satisfied. Eventually, the soldier's money is depleted and he is forced to live in a dark attic. He strikes the tinderbox to light the room, and one of the dogs appears before him. The soldier then discovers he can summon all three dogs and order them to bring him money from their subterranean dwelling. Again, he lives splendidly.

One night, he recalls the story of the princess in the locked tower, and desires to see her. He strikes the tinderbox and sends the dog with eyes the size of teacups to bring her to his apartment. The soldier is overwhelmed with her beauty, kisses her and orders the dog to return her to the tower. The following morning, the princess tells her parents she has had a strange dream and relates the night's adventure. The royal couple then watch her closely. When the princess is carried away again, they unsuccessfully use a trail of flour and chalk marks on neighborhood doors to find where she spends her nights. Eventually, her whereabouts are discovered and the soldier is clapped in prison and sentenced to death. The tinderbox got left behind, so he cannot summon its help.

On the day of execution, the soldier sends a boy for his tinderbox, and, at the scaffold, asks to have a last smoke. He then strikes the tinderbox and the three monstrous dogs appear. They toss the judge and the councillors, the King and Queen into the air. All are dashed to pieces when they fall to earth. The soldier and the princess are united, and the dogs join the wedding feast.

Twenty-two-year-old serial killer Shin Hyun targeted pregnant women and turned himself in after committing several grisly murders. Ten months later a copycat killer became active, and detectives Kang and Kim are put on the case.

They track down the killer by following clues from the first two victims: A pregnant schoolgirl whose fetus the killer removed, and a single mother strangled from behind on a bus. They had tried to pump Shin for information, but without success. They stake out the killer's home, but when the killer comes home, he notices the cops and runs. Kang follows him into a nightclub, where the killer slices off a lesbian's ear and then slits her throat, just like Shin's third victim. Kang fires two rounds into his chest; this puts him in a coma. Despite this, the murders still continue. The police capture the next suspect, but the murders keep occurring.

In the end, it is revealed that Shin's mother had tried to abort him, but he survived. The psychologist Dr. Chu had used post-hypnotic suggestion on the other two killers to make them commit copycat murders. Kang then kills Chu (imitating Shin's murder of an abortion doctor), but Kang is triggered by a CD mailed to him. Kang kills his own mother, who was a prostitute.

In the course of the movie, Shin is executed and his final words are "I killed my mother." This explains the sixth and last unidentified victim, whom he brought in a bag to the police station when he confessed. Kang is about to commit suicide when Kim shows up and kills him instead.

Just before the ending credits, the letter "H" appears and expands into the word "hypnosis", and its definition.

After serving three prison sentences, repeat offender John Lyshitski plots to exact revenge on Judge Nelson Biederman III, a well-respected but harsh judge who presided over each of his trials and passed him stiff sentences. John calls the courthouse under an alias to determine when Judge Biederman will be presiding over his next case, only to discover that he died three days before John's release.

John turns his attention to the late judge's obnoxious son, Nelson Biederman IV. At a dedication ceremony for Judge Biederman, John breaks into Nelson's car and empties his emergency inhaler. After the ceremony, John stalks Nelson in his van and a hyperventilating Nelson stops at a pharmacy and frantically searches through the shelves for a new inhaler. Nelson's erratic behavior horrifies the pharmacy owners, who think he is a junkie seeking a fix. After Nelson finally finds an inhaler, he begins to use it; when he holds it up over his head to prove he means no harm, the pharmacy owners mistake the inhaler for a pistol and call the police. John takes out his real gun and fires a shot into the air. The gunshot sound further terrifies the pharmacy owners, who think Nelson is shooting at them. The police arrive and arrest Nelson. John is ecstatic that Nelson has landed in the criminal justice system which he suffered in for so long at the hands of Nelson's father.

Nelson is charged with felony assault. He demands that the Biederman Foundation do everything possible to have him acquitted. The board nearly complies with Nelson's demands, but, as they are fed up with his behavior, they suddenly realize that this is an opportunity to get rid of him. They purposely conspire to provide him with a grossly incompetent defense team at the trial. Their (and also John's) plan succeeds as an incompetent jury found Nelson guilty and he is sentenced to three to five years in state prison. John, not satisfied with Nelson merely going to prison, decides to join him in prison by purposely selling narcotics to undercover cops. At his trial before the same judge Nelson had, John pleads guilty and successfully convinces the judge that he be sentenced to three to five years in the same prison Nelson will be incarcerated. He manages to become Nelson's cellmate, pretends to be his friend, and gives Nelson terrible advice on surviving life in prison.

Despite being an unhardened and inexperienced prisoner, Nelson manages to get himself out of the many situations that John's misinformation creates. He meets gang leader Barry, an imposing, brawny gay fellow who coerces Nelson into a relationship. Despite his intimidating appearance, Barry is a sensitive romantic, supplying potential romantic partners with his finest toilet-made Merlot.

Nelson gets on the wrong side of the prison's white supremacist gang leader Lynard, who vows to kill him. Nelson gets his hands on a syringe containing deadly chemical, with the intent of using it to commit suicide. Before he can do so, Nelson is attacked by Lynard in his cell. As Lynard attacks Nelson, the syringe falls out of Nelson's pocket. Lynard assumes it to be heroin and injects himself with it, accidentally killing himself and earning Nelson the respect of and authority over his fellow white supremacists, who believe Nelson had done the deed. Nelson reaches his one-year parole hearing not only relatively unharmed, but the new leader of the white supremacist gang for "killing" Lynard, who was violent and spiteful towards all the prisoners including his fellow white supremacists. Nelson, who initially submits to being Barry's partner out of fear, grows to care for Barry and willingly plays along with the "relationship" to keep him happy. Nelson also protects Barry from Lynard's former cronies, who are now loyal to Nelson.

Frustrated with Nelson's newfound respect, John drugs Nelson and tattoos "white power" onto his forehead, causing Nelson's parole to be denied. Enraged, Nelson confronts John, who then confesses to framing him and causing him to end up in jail. The two get into a fight. John quickly realizes that he is now Nelson's target. The guards set up a death match between the two. John and Nelson secretly hatch a plan to inject each other with a coma-inducing drug. The guards and prisoners, believing that they are dead, bury the pair in the graveyard. Just before the death match, Nelson had legally adopted Barry, who has been paroled, to allow him to retake control of the Biederman Foundation. Barry uses the Biederman Foundation's funds to bribe the mortician to skip the autopsy. Barry later digs up John and Nelson. John, Nelson and Barry begin a new chapter of life, starting a winery (the product being "toilet wine").

In 1547 Spain, Englishman Francis Barnard (Kerr) visits the castle of his brother-in-law Nicholas Medina (Price) to investigate the mysterious disappearance of his sister Elizabeth (Steele). Nicholas and his younger sister Catherine (Anders) offer a vague explanation that Elizabeth died from a rare blood disorder six months earlier; Nicholas is evasive when Francis asks for specific details. Francis vows not to leave until he discovers the truth behind his sister's death.

Francis again asks about his sister's death during dinner with the family physician, Dr. Leon (Antony Carbone). Dr. Leon tells him that his sister died of massive heart failure, literally "dying of fright." Francis demands to see where Elizabeth died. Nicholas takes him to the castle's torture chamber. Nicholas reveals that Elizabeth became obsessed with the chamber's torture devices under the influence of the castle's "heavy atmosphere." After becoming progressively unbalanced, she locked herself into an iron maiden, and died after whispering the name "Sebastian" one day. Francis refuses to believe Nicholas's story.

Francis tells Catherine that Nicholas appears to feel "definite guilt" regarding Elizabeth's death. In response, Catherine talks about Nicholas's traumatic childhood. Their father was Sebastian Medina, a notorious agent of the Spanish Inquisition. When Nicholas was a small child, he explored the forbidden torture chamber when his father (also played by Price) entered the room with his mother, Isabella, and Sebastian's brother, Bartolome. Hiding in a corner, Nicholas watched in horror as his father repeatedly hit Bartolome with a red-hot poker, screaming "Adulterer!" at him. After murdering Bartolome, Sebastian began torturing his wife slowly to death in front of Nicholas.

Dr. Leon later informs Catherine and Francis that Isabella was not tortured to death; instead, she was entombed behind a brick wall while still alive. He explains, "The very thought of premature interment is enough to send your brother into convulsions of horror." Nicholas fears that Elizabeth may have been interred prematurely. The doctor tells Nicholas that "if Elizabeth Medina walks the corridors of this castle, it is her spirit, not her living self."

Nicholas believes that his late wife's vengeful ghost is haunting the castle. Elizabeth's room is the source of a loud commotion, now ransacked and her portrait slashed. Her beloved harpsichord plays in the middle of the night. One of Elizabeth's rings shows up on the keyboard. Francis accuses Nicholas of planting the evidence of Elizabeth's "haunting" as an elaborate hoax. Nicholas insists that Francis opens his wife's tomb. They discover Elizabeth's putrefied corpse frozen in a position that suggests she died screaming after failing to claw her way out of her sarcophagus. Nicholas faints.

That night, Nicholas– now on the verge of insanity– hears Elizabeth calling him. He follows her ghostly voice down to her tomb. Elizabeth rises from her coffin and pursues Nicholas into the torture chamber, where he falls down a flight of stairs. As Elizabeth gloats over her husband's unconscious body, her lover and accomplice, Dr. Leon, appears. They had plotted to drive Nicholas mad so that she could inherit his fortune and the castle.

Leon confirms that Nicholas "is gone," his mind destroyed by terror. Elizabeth taunts her insensate husband. Nicholas begins laughing hysterically while his wife and the doctor recoil in horror. Believing himself to be Sebastian, he replays the events of his mother's and uncle's murders. Nicholas seizes Elizabeth, repeats his father's promise to Isabella to torture her, and gags and places her in an iron maiden. He overpowers Dr. Leon, believing him to be Bartolome, and Leon falls to his death in the pit while trying to escape.

Francis, having heard Elizabeth's screams, enters the dungeon. Nicholas also confuses Francis for Bartolome and knocks him unconscious. He straps him to a stone slab located directly beneath a huge razor-sharp pendulum. The pendulum is attached to a clockwork apparatus that causes it to descend fractions of an inch after each swing, closer to Francis' torso. Catherine arrives just in time with Maximillian, one of the servants. After a brief struggle with Maximillian, Nicholas falls to his death. Francis is removed from the torture device, bleeding but still alive. As they leave the torture dungeon, Catherine vows that no one shall enter that room again. They slam and lock the door shut; the last scene shows that a gagged Elizabeth is still alive, trapped in the iron maiden.

Early in the 21st century, the ''Ares'' makes the first landing on Mars, in the Mare Cimmerium. A week later, Dick Jarvis, the ship's American chemist, sets out to photograph the landscape. Eight hundred miles out, the engine on Jarvis' rocket gives out, and he crash-lands. He starts walking back to the ''Ares''. Just after crossing into the Mare Chronium, Jarvis sees a tentacled creature attacking a large birdlike creature. He notices that the latter has a bag around its neck, and recognizing it as an intelligent being, rescues it. The creature refers to itself as Tweel. Tweel accompanies Jarvis on his journey, during which it manages to pick up some English, while Jarvis is unable to make any sense of Tweel's language. At first, Tweel travels in tremendous, city-block-long leaps, but then walks alongside Jarvis.

Upon reaching Xanthus, a desert region outside the Mare Cimmerium, Jarvis and Tweel find a line of small pyramids tens of thousands of years old made of silica bricks, each open at the top. As they follow the line, the pyramids slowly become larger and newer. At the end of the line, they find a pyramid that is not open at the top. Then, a creature with gray scales, one arm, a mouth and a pointed tail pushes its way out of the top of the pyramid, pulls itself several yards along the ground, then plants itself in the ground by the tail. It removes bricks from its mouth at ten-minute intervals and uses them to build another pyramid around itself. Jarvis realizes that the creature is silicon-based rather than carbon-based; neither animal, vegetable nor mineral, but a little of each. The bricks are the creature's waste.

As the two approach a canal cutting across Xanthus, Jarvis is feeling homesick for New York City, thinking about Fancy Long, a woman he knows from the cast of the ''Yerba Mate Hour'' show. When he sees Long standing by the canal, he goes toward her, but is stopped by Tweel. Tweel takes out a gun that fires poisoned glass needles and shoots Long, who vanishes, replaced by one of the tentacled creatures that Jarvis rescued Tweel from. Jarvis realizes that the tentacled creature, which he names a dream-beast, lures in its prey by planting illusions in their minds.

As Jarvis and Tweel approach a city on the canal bank, they are passed by a barrel-like creature with four legs, four arms, and a circle of eyes around its waist. The barrel creature is pushing an empty cart; it ignores them as it goes by. Another goes by. Jarvis stands in front of the third, which stops. Jarvis says, "We are friends," and the cart creature replies, "We are v-r-r-riends," before pushing past him. The cart creatures all repeat the phrase as they go by. The creatures return to the city with their carts full of stones, sand, and chunks of rubbery plants. Jarvis and Tweel follow the cart creatures into a network of tunnels. They get lost, and he and Tweel find themselves in a domed chamber near the surface. There they find the cart creatures depositing their loads beneath a wheel that grinds the stones and plants into dust. Some of the cart creatures also step under the wheel themselves and are pulverized. Beyond the wheel is a shining crystal on a pedestal. When Jarvis approaches it, he feels a tingling in his hands and face, and a wart on his left thumb dries up and falls off. He speculates that the crystal emits some form of radiation that destroys diseased tissue, but leaves healthy tissue unharmed.

The cart creatures suddenly attack Jarvis and Tweel, who retreat up a corridor which leads outside, but the cart creatures corner them. Tweel stays by Jarvis' side rather than escape. Then an auxiliary rocket from the ''Ares'' lands. Jarvis boards the rocket, while Tweel bounds away into the Martian horizon. Back at the ''Ares'', he tells his story to the other three crew members. Captain Harrison expresses regret that they do not have the healing crystal. Jarvis admits that the cart creatures attacked him because he took it; he takes it out and shows it to the others.

''Wake of the Ravager'' takes place in the ''Dungeons & Dragons''' campaign setting of Dark Sun, set on a harsh desert world named Athas. The story is a continuation of the events in its predecessor, ''Dark Sun: Shattered Lands'', and take place in or around the city-state of Tyr. The introductory cut scene introduces us to the mysterious Dragon and his general, the Lord Warrior, who are planning the conquest of Tyr. Upon starting the game, the player witnesses an assassination of a woman who turns out to be a member of a secret society known as the Veiled Alliance. The player eventually becomes involved with the Veiled Alliance and their struggles against the Dragon and the Lord Warrior.

Part one

David Copperfield is a posthumous child. He was born in Blunderstone, Suffolk, three months after the death of his father, who was also called David Copperfield. On the night of David's birth, his great-aunt, Betsey Trotwood, arrives at the the Copperfield family and eagerly anticipates the birth of a baby girl. She insists that Clara Copperfield's baby must be called Betsey Trotwood Copperfield, and that she will be her godmother. However, when the delivered child turns out to be a boy, Betsey is horrified (as her previous experiences with men have all ended tragically) and storms out.

David grows up loved and cared for by Clara and their maid, Peggotty. When David turns eight, Clara meets Edward Murdstone, a stern man who takes an immediate dislike to David. Peggotty offers to take David with her to Yarmouth to visit her brother, Dan, and his family, and he accepts, forming a special bond with Dan's niece, Emily (or Little Em'ly). When they return, David sees, to his horror, that his mother has married Murdstone. Murdstone invites his equally stern, sexist sister, Jane, to live with them, and the two Murdstones quickly dominate the household with their callous personalities. Clara briefly objects to having no say in the affairs of her own house, and Murdstone responds by asserting his authority and disciplining David, while imposing a strict regime upon Clara, David and Peggotty. When Murdstone unfairly canes David for falling behind in his studies, David bites him and, as punishment, is sent to Salem House, a boarding school owned by Murdstone's unpleasant friend, Mr Creakle, who is particularly harsh towards David at Murdstone's request. David's only comfort at the school is his friendship with James Steerforth, an older student from a wealthy family, who first defends him from a gang of bullies and then helps him win the respect of other pupils.

David returns home for the holidays and finds that Murdstone has fathered a baby boy with Clara. After the holidays David returns to Salem House, where he is soon informed by Creakle that his mother and half-brother have died, and he returns home for the funeral. Peggotty is dismissed, but becomes engaged to a family friend, Mr. Barkis.

With the Murdstones now in full control of the Rookery and David's future, Murdstone takes David out of school and sends him to work in his factory in London, arranging for David to live with Wilkins Micawber, who treats David like his own son; Micawber is sent to a debtors' prison shortly afterwards. When he is released, he and his family are forced to move to Plymouth, leaving David homeless. David runs away from London to Dover, to find Betsey Trotwood in the hope that she will take him in. Eventually he finds her, and despite her reluctance to have a boy in her house, she takes him in, and writes to inform the Murdstones of his arrival. Over time, David bonds with Betsey's lodger, Mr. Dick, and Betsey herself begins to feel attachment to her great-nephew. When Edward and Jane Murdstone arrive to take David back, Betsey appoints herself David's legal guardian, giving Murdstone a verbal thrashing for their cruelty and angrily ordering him out of her house. They are not seen or heard from again.

David, now going by the first name "Trotwood" as required by Betsey, soon resumes his education at a school in Canterbury. During his time there he lodges with Betsey's friend, Mr. Wickfield, whose daughter Agnes is of a similar age to David. They grow up together as very close friends. On leaving school, David is apprenticed as a clerk to a lawyer called Mr. Spenlow. David meets Mr. Spenlow's daughter Dora and falls in love with her at first sight.

Part two

David sees Agnes at a party in London, where he also sees Uriah Heep, Mr Wickfield's clerk. David tells Agnes of his love for Dora before running into his old friend, Steerforth. Uriah tells David of his determination to marry Agnes and warns David not to tell Agnes or her father of his intentions. Soon after, David enjoys an unplanned visit with the Micawbers before visiting Steerforth at his mother's home.

David and Steerforth travel to Yarmouth, where they visit Peggotty and the ailing Mr. Barkis, going on to visit the Peggotty family. Dan, Ham, Emily and Mrs. Gummidge are still living in the boat house, and Ham is to marry Emily. Emily confides in David that she does not believe herself to be good enough for Ham, and ignores David's reassurances. David makes one final stop to visit Peggotty and informs her that he plans to marry Dora.

At David's lodgings in London, the Micawbers come for dinner and Micawber reveals that he is now working for Uriah Heep. On returning home that evening, he finds Aunt Trotwood on his doorstep, declaring that she is ruined. David and Dora agree to a secret engagement since he is now without his great aunt's financial support. David returns to Canterbury to see the Wickfields and reveals to Mr. Micawber that he suspects Heep of trying to take control of Wickfield's business. Heep declares his intention to marry Agnes, and Wickfield responds angrily. The next day, Agnes tells David that her father has apologized to Heep, on whom he is now dependent. She reluctantly accepts her potential marriage. Upon David's next visit to Mr. Spenlow, he finds that his engagement to Dora has been discovered and is not welcomed by her family. David refuses to give up Dora and tries once again to convince Mr. Spenlow of his worthiness, but discovers him dead from a heart attack.

David visits Yarmouth again after he receives a letter from Peggotty, informing that Barkis's health is deteriorating and that it is inevitable that he will die soon. Barkis eventually dies and leaves an astronomical £3,000 in his will - the interest on £1,000 to Dan Peggotty and £2,000 to Peggotty, his wife.

Ham then tells David that Emily has run off with Steerforth, who has been lodging somewhere in the area and visiting her in secret. Dan begins a search for them, which stretches to other parts of Europe. They inform Steerforth's mother and her companion, Rosa Dartle, of his disappearance; the women reply that they will not allow Steerforth to marry Emily. David learns that the late Mr Spenlow is bankrupt and comforts Dora.

David then begins to write and starts to sell his stories. He introduces Dora to Agnes, and Dora and David get married. They struggle as a young couple with getting the house in order. David becomes frustrated by Dora's inability to run a household, but decides to adapt himself to her and their marriage is finally as happy as it should have been. Dora becomes pregnant, only to suffer a miscarriage which leaves her badly weakened and bedridden.

David eventually finds Emily in a London slum where she is being confronted by Rosa Dartle. Dan Peggotty also appears on the scene and promises Emily that they can start a new life in Australia. Emily begs David to take a letter of apology to Ham, but on his arrival at Yarmouth the town is deserted, because a fierce storm is raging and a ship is in peril. Ham attempts to rescue a passenger, who turns out to be Steerforth, but both are drowned.

Back in Canterbury, Micawber reveals that he has uncovered Heep's villainous scheme which has ruined both Mr Wickfield and Betsey Trotwood. Wickfield summons the police and Heep is arrested. In thanks, Betsey Trotwood offers to pay for a fresh start for the Micawbers in Australia, but at the harbour they are faced with a policeman who has a warrant for Mr Micawber's arrest - again for unpaid debts. Betsey Trotwood pays off Micawber's debts, leaving him free to board the boat to Australia. Dan and Emily join the Micawbers on the voyage. Peggotty insists that the news of Ham's death be kept from Emily until she is strong enough to cope. Dan invites his sister to join him in Australia, but she chooses to stay in England with David and Dora. Another passenger on the ship is Heep, one of a group of convicts in chains being loaded for penal transportation.

Dora’s health is declining and then she dies with Agnes at her bedside. In his grief David disappears for three years, during which time he continues to write and has his first two books published.

On David's return to Canterbury, he realizes that he loves Agnes Wickfield. After much prodding, Agnes reveals that she has always been in love with David, and even had Dora's dying approval. They are married and within a few years have two sons. David receives a visit from Mr. Peggotty, back from Australia. He brings news that Emily has made a full recovery and that Micawber has established himself as a successful magistrate and bank manager. The story closes with the birth of David and Agnes's third child - a girl. Betsey Trotwood's wish finally comes true after some 30 years, as David decides that the baby will be christened Betsey Trotwood Copperfield, in honour of her godmother.

The story takes place on and around the planet Anutherurth and concerns Space Beaver, a rich kid who, after his best friend Mikey is killed by drug dealers, becomes a vigilante and begins assassinating gangs of drug dealers along with his friends Tog and Rodent. During a raid gone bad, Beaver's girlfriend Jackie ends up falling off a cliff and disappears, fueling his rage further.

Much later, when raiding a cartel run by one Lord Pork, Beaver discovers to his horror that Jackie is alive, and has been brainwashed into becoming Lord Pork's slave. Enraged, he vows to kill Pork and rescue Jackie. To prevent this, Pork hires the best bounty hunter, Stinger, to hunt down and kill Beaver and his friends.

After an ambush set up by Stinger fails to kill Beaver and only wounds his comrades, an angry Pork takes out his frustration on Jackie. When Stinger voices his disapproval of this, Pork attempts to teach him a lesson by sending a horde of drug-altered test subjects after him. Stinger kills the test subjects, and tells Pork he is quitting since he can't trust him. He leaves, but not before one of Pork's right hand men, Sgt. Hobbes, puts a bomb on his ship. However, Hobbes was old friends with Stinger, and thus ensures that the bomb will injure, but not kill him. Now completely betrayed, Stinger decides to join up with Beaver to kill Pork and rescue Jackie. During the raid, Commander Foxx turns coat and murders Pork, and Beaver and Stinger are able to escape with Jackie.

After years of living on the wrong side of the law, Simon Templar has been pardoned for past (perceived) crimes and is now working as an agent of Scotland Yard. His first mission is to investigate a crime ring called the Angels of Doom, which specializes in (among other things) helping convicted felons escape police dragnets and ambushes. The Angels of Doom is run by Jill Trelawney, a young woman who is willing to condone just about any action—including the murder of The Saint, if needs be—in her quest to wreak havoc on Scotland Yard, which she blames for the death of her father. But Templar, in his pursuit of Trelawney, finds within her an unexpected kindred spirit.

The book is divided into three parts and could almost be seen as a trilogy of novellas. The first part details Templar investigating Trelawney and discovering the cause of her criminal actions, ultimately resulting in him allowing Trelawney to kill one of the men responsible for framing her father, which has the effect of dissolving the Angels of Doom. During this part we learn that the Saint lives in Upper Berkeley Mews, Mayfair, "where the Saint had converted a couple of garages, with the rooms above, into the most ingeniously comfortable fortress in London" and that he has a manservant there called Orace.

Subsequently, in the second part, Templar's status as a police agent apparently comes to an end as he and Trelawney go to Paris in pursuit of a second man believed to be connected to the death of Trelawney's father. As the Paris segment of the novel begins, Templar and Trelawney have become partners to the extent that Simon, when leaving his traditional "calling card" consisting of the drawing of a stick figure with a halo, is now compelled to add a female figure to the image.

Meanwhile, Inspector Claud Eustace Teal of Scotland Yard continues to pursue both the Saint and Trelawney, especially when he receives reports that the two have allegedly reactivated the Angels of Doom.

The third segment of the novel sees Templar and Trelawney pursuing the third and final man responsible for framing her father, but in doing so they must first recruit some unexpected help from within Scotland Yard itself.

The book ends with several metafictional references by Templar, who makes references to himself being a storybook character in search of a suitable epilogue for the book. He also makes a direct reference to the title of the American omnibus collection ''Wanted for Murder'' which had preceded this novel. ''She Was a Lady'' is also notable in that no reference is made to any of the Saint's past colleagues, including his girlfriend, Patricia Holm, making this one of the first books in the series to have such an omission. (This is possibly because, as mentioned above, the novel was not originally conceived as a Saint adventure).

Henry Stanley is a fearless newspaper reporter ready to do whatever it takes to get a story, regardless of any danger to his life. Colonel Grimes tells two peace commissioners sent from Washington DC that he cannot permit them to try to contact the Indians of the Wyoming Territory of 1870, as it would be suicidal, only to have Stanley emerge from the wilderness, escorted by a band of the natives and his guide, Jeff Slocum (Walter Brennan).

When Stanley returns to New York City, his employer, ''New York Herald'' publisher James Gordon Bennett, Jr., gives him another near-impossible assignment. The ''London Globe'' has announced that an expedition headed by Gareth Tyce (Richard Greene), the son of the ''Globe'' s publisher, Lord Tyce (Charles Coburn), has verified that world-renowned missionary David Livingstone is dead. Bennett does not believe it, and would relish embarrassing his rival by proving the story wrong. It is a daunting task, searching the mostly unmapped interior of the "dark continent" for one man, but Stanley accepts the challenge.

On the boat trip to Zanzibar, Stanley makes a very unfavorable impression on fellow passenger Lord Tyce. Stanley meets Eve Kingsley (Nancy Kelly) and her father, John Kingsley (Henry Travers), the temporary head of the British authorities in Zanzibar. Eve has been seeing Gareth Tyce, recovering from his ordeal, in the hope of getting him to persuade his father to use his influence to have her father reassigned to a more healthy posting back in England. Eve warns Stanley about the dangers of Africa, but he is undeterred.

He, Slocum and a band of native bearers set out into uncharted territory. Months pass with no sign of hope, and Stanley's resolve begins to waver. He also realizes he is in love with Eve. Finally, however, two hunters tell him of a white man they call "doctor" in a village beside Lake Tanganyika. Though feverish, Stanley gets them to guide him there. He sees a white man waiting to greet him. "Dr. Livingstone ... I presume", Stanley hesitantly inquires. It is indeed he.

For several months, Stanley recuperates and follows Livingstone (Cedric Hardwicke) around on his work. The cynical reporter is greatly changed by the experience. Finally, though, he returns to England, bearing Livingstone's plea for assistance. Upon his arrival in London, he is met by Eve, only to discover she is now happily married to Gareth.

When Lord Tyce openly suggests that Stanley fabricated everything, Stanley presents Livingstone's maps and documents to the British Geographical Society for examination and judgment. Despite his heartfelt speech, it is clear to Stanley that too few of the members believe him. As he is leaving the hall, a messenger arrives with news that another expedition has recovered Livingstone's body, as well as the man's last written message, in which he talks glowingly of Stanley. Vindicated, Stanley decides to return to Africa to carry on the great man's work.

Pooh, Piglet and Tigger literally pop out of the Book of Pooh into Christopher Robin's room, but can't find Christopher there. Tigger decides to search for Christopher's journal, in hopes of finding out where he's gone, but ends up making a real mess. While they're trying to clean up the room, Piglet notices that Christopher Robin had marked some chapters of the Book of Pooh with special bookmarks featuring each of his friends. As the story continues, Rabbit, Kessie and Eeyore each show up too and at one point, they're forced to hide when Christopher Robin's mother comes upstairs after hearing their voices and mistakes them for her son. One by one, the characters ask Mr. Narrator to read the book's stories for them, leading to the following episodes: * "Over the Hill" (Pooh's Story) * "Tigger's Replacement" (Piglet's Story) * "Kessie Wises Up" (Kessie's Story) * "The Green Horn with a Green Thumb" (Rabbit's Story) * "The Night of the Waking Tigger" (Tigger's Story) * "Eeyore's Tailiversary" (Eeyore's Story)

At the end, Pooh and his friends clean up the mess they've made and go into hiding when Christopher Robin returns with his mother and after she leaves, they come out of hiding and Christopher Robin reveals that he had his journal with him all along. He proceeds to read them the stories he marked, but finds out that they had already read them. Tigger suggests that Christopher Robin should read his journal to them instead, in which he agrees.

Act one

The action takes place in the Ballantines’ Washington Square duplex apartment in Manhattan. Act One opens on Parker, Angela, and John Ballantine at the breakfast table. John reports that the downstairs neighbor, Dr. von Hagedorn, is writing a play. This prompts Angela to announce that she has been thinking about writing a play herself. It would be based on her memories of her Uncle Ben, who ran a rooming house.

Parker is skeptical, but Angela insists and goes off to start work on the play. This gives Parker the idea to write an article for ''Harper’s'' magazine entitled "Don’t Write That Play!"—a piece that would discourage amateur playwrights. As Angela begins to write, Parker starts dictating his article into a tape recorder.

Angela completes her play, entitled “The Gingerbread World”, and sends it off to a producer. While awaiting his response, she asks Parker to read it. He does, and tells Angela that the play is horrendous. Angela reacts angrily, but when she phones the producer, S.P. Champlain, she learns that he loves the play and wants to produce it, with Dion Kapakos as director.

Kapakos, however, feels the play needs work. He demands a rewrite, including a change of title, to “A Houseful of Silence.” Among his other artsy and grandiose changes is the addition of a Greek chorus and a new ending: the suicide of Uncle Ben.

The play's first run-through is attended by Parker's son, John. John reports to Parker that the play is the worst thing he's ever seen and questions his father about whether he would really review the play honestly were it to open in New York. John worries that Parker will repeat the mistake he made with the ''first'' Mrs. Ballantine: that he'll write a favorable review of a bad play just because it was written by his wife. John is concerned that this will end Parker's marriage to Angela.

Parker assures John that, unlike his first marriage, his and Angela's is a strong one and secure enough to weather an honest review. Parker explains that were he to lie about Angela's play, he would lose his own self-respect and become angry with Angela and the whole world as a result.

As Angela prepares to depart with Dion to New Haven and Boston for the out-of-town try-outs of “A Houseful of Silence,” they learn that Parker intends to review the play in New York. Angela becomes furious. She storms out of the apartment after recriminating with Parker over writing the ''Harper's'' piece. Parker sits down with his tape recorder and begins to erase the entire tape of his article as the curtain falls on Act One.

Act two

Charlotte, Angela's mother, has been staying in the apartment to cook for Parker and John while Angela is out of town. Charlotte begs Parker to give the play a positive review for the sake of the marriage.

The doorbell rings and Ivy London, Parker's first wife, appears. She has learned, from a phone call to Parker's maid, that Angela is out of town. Angela reports to Parker that she has just come from Boston where she was in the same hotel as Angela and Dion and she believes that the two are having an affair. Ivy also tells Parker that she still love him. Ivy leaves and Charlotte re-enters. Charlotte admits she's been eavesdropping on the conversation with Ivy, and tells Parker she believe what Ivy has reported: that it is likely that Angela and Dion are having an affair. Charlotte calls Parker naïve for not believing the rumor and warns him that if he gives Angela's play a bad review that night, he will lose Angela forever.

Angela and Dion return to the apartment before going to the theater for the opening of the show. Once again, Angela begs Parker not to review the play. She reminds Parker that he lied about Ivy's bad performances six times while Parker was married to Ivy. She tells Parker that Dion loves her. She repeats Parker's words that during the opening of the play they are not husband and wife, but critic and playwright. She asks whether she should even come home after the play that night.

Parker finally backs down, gives his tickets back to Angela, and says he won’t review the play after all. Angela and Dion leave for the theater and Parker begins to drink heavily. John becomes angry at Parker for going back on his word about reviewing the play and about staying honest to himself. Parker continues to drink, calls Ivy, and invites her to the apartment to give him a backrub.

Act Three

Ivy is busy making dinner for Parker as he continues to drink. Ivy again proclaims her love to Parker and tells him they will get back together. Parker becomes increasingly drunk and maudlin about not being true to his word about doing his job as a critic regardless of Angela's connection with the play. Finally, Parker decides he must review the play and he rushes out to catch a cab to the theater. Ivy leaves.

Charlotte and John return from the opening night party discussing how bad the play was. Angela and Dion storm in carrying the newspaper reviews. Angela tells Charlotte that Parker reviewed the play after all and now Angela is moving out and going to live with Dion.

Parker, now sober, returns home and enters with Ivy while John is reading Parker's review, “Opening Night Report”. Angela grabs her suitcase and readies to leave the apartment, but Parker insists that she listen to him. Parker then apologizes for making fun of Angela when she first began to write the play, and for not going to New Haven and Boston to make suggestions to improve it. He tells her that if she did have an affair with Dion in Boston then he, Parker, is to blame for not having traveled there with her. He begs her forgiveness, but goes on to say that “A Houseful of Silence” was an awful play, he was right to give it a bad review, and that Angela should not try to keep Parker from doing his work as a critic. He promises that if Angela writes another play he will help her, and he asks her to stay with him. Angela, charmed, relents. Dion and Ivy leave together. Angela and Parker retreat to the bedroom.

The novel is written in first person, purporting to be the memoirs of '''Chares of Lindos''', the sculptor of the Colossus of Rhodes. It concerns his return to Rhodes, his attempts to set up as a sculptor, his struggles with his family's wishes that he enter their bronze foundry, his experience as a catapult artilleryman during the Siege of Rhodes (305 BC), and his complicated adventures in Ptolemaic Egypt. The Rhodian portions of the story are enlivened by the presence of Celtic foreigner Kavaros, who rises from Chares' slave to fellow soldier, friend, and sculpting assistant, and ultimately saves his former master's life. The atmosphere of the novel is lightened by Kavaros' entertaining, pointed and improbable tales of his supposedly superhuman ancestor Gargantuos (presumably de Camp's nod to the giant Gargantua, a character in the works of François Rabelais). The planning and building of the Colossus in commemoration of the city's successful defense occupies the closing portion of the book.

De Camp brings in numerous other historical personages of the era, notably Chares' sculpting mentor Lyssipos of Sikyon, the mathematician Eukleidēs, Babylonian historian Berossos (initially as a member of the sculptor's catapult crew), Rhodes's antagonists Demetrios Poliorketes and Antigonus, Egyptian historian Manethos, Egyptian king Ptolemaios, and Demetrios of Phalerum, reputed founder of the Library of Alexandria. A number of the book's characters are introduced in a symposion Chares attends early on, conducted by a group dubbed "The Seven Strangers," modeled on de Camp's own real-life social club the Trap Door Spiders.

, 1963

In New York City, during an early evening in May 1963, an unnamed man walks up 3rd Avenue. The sky is just changing color from light blue to violet. The man is wearing a light gray suit. He looks like he is in love. The people around him all seem to perceive and respond to this feeling. He passes an electronics store with a color television on sale; it broadcasts a Mets game.

The man stops at a flower vendor. A transistor radio drones about a war brewing in Vietnam and about a woman's body that was found in the local river and a hammer murderer that was on the loose. The man is buying flowers for a girl named Norma. He eyes the cheaper flowers, saying Norma does not like big spenders. The old man selling flowers promotes the more expensive tea roses, saying, "No woman who gets flowers ever turns into an accountant."

This convinces the young man to buy a half dozen tea roses. He continues up the street, and the people on the street continue to respond to him and the lovestruck look on his face.

He then turns into an alley. By now it is getting darker. Night starts to fall. He is on his way to meet Norma. He sees a woman walking down the alleyway, and he rushes to her. He calls her name, and she looks around.

He says, "I've bought some flowers for you, Norma."

The woman replies, "You must be mistaken, my name is-"

She sees a hammer in his pocket and opens her mouth to scream. The man kills the woman because she isn't Norma, just as he has done five times previously. He leaves the alleyway. "Norma" has been dead for ten years, and the grief drove the man insane. The young man says that his name is Love. He feels optimistic, sure that he will find Norma soon.

He passes a middle-aged couple on the street. The woman turns to her partner and asks, "Why don't you ever look like that anymore?" while thinking that "if there is anything more beautiful than springtime, it's young love".

Inside a penny arcade, Donald inserts a coin to play a Mutoscope entitled "Dance of the Seven Veils". The pictures show dances of a Daisy Duck looking dancer until Donald's viewing is rudely interrupted by a black out. Next Donald tries out a crane machine to win a camera, but he finishes empty handed when he sneezes all the stuff back in the crane machine. Then Donald goes on a coin-operated airplane ride, but his ride is very short. When he tries to get another ride for free, the plane goes out of control, Donald nearly getting caught in the airplane propellers and becoming airsick. With that, Donald leaves the arcade.

Anna Khitrova, a midwife at a London hospital, finds a Russian-language diary on the body of Tatiana, a teenage girl who dies in childbirth, and a calling card for the Trans-Siberian Restaurant owned by Semyon, an old vor in the Russian mafia. Anna sets out to track down Tatiana's family so that she can find a home for the baby, and meets with Semyon, who offers to help. Though Anna's mother Helen is open to the idea, Anna's Russian uncle Stepan, a former KGB officer, urges caution, saying that Tatiana was a prostitute. Anna also gives Semyon a photocopy of the diary.

Semyon's driver, Nikolai Luzhin, serves as the family "cleaner" and bodyguard of Kirill, Semyon's son. Kirill, a drunk who repeatedly disappoints Semyon, authorizes an ill-advised hit on a rival Chechen leader with the help of a Kurdish associate, Azim, and without Semyon's approval. Kirill spits on the dead Chechen's body, calling him a pederast, but Nikolai later tells Semyon that the Chechen had been spreading rumors that Kirill was gay. Nikolai removes identifying evidence from the Chechen's body and dumps it in the River Thames.

When Stepan finishes translating Tatiana's diary, Anna learns that Semyon raped Tatiana after Kirill failed to do so, explaining that he would show Kirill how to "break" her. The diary also states that Semyon gave her pills to induce an abortion, and Anna realizes that the baby was fathered by Semyon. Meanwhile, Semyon realizes that Anna knows the truth about the baby and visits her at the hospital. He strikes a deal wherein he will give the location of the girl's family to Anna if she returns the diary. Later, Anna, Helen and Stepan meet Nikolai in a fast food restaurant, where Nikolai takes the diary but denies knowing anything about the deal. Semyon then orders Nikolai to kill Stepan, saying that a Russian cannot be trusted with the information, and Stepan soon goes missing.

As Nikolai rises in rank, Semyon sponsors him as a full member, due in part to Nikolai's protection of Kirill. Meanwhile, the dead Chechen's brothers arrive in London seeking vengeance, and kill Azim's mentally handicapped nephew, whom Azim had forced to kill the Chechen. Azim confesses his role in the hit to Semyon, and Semyon forgives him in exchange for participating in a plan to fool the Chechens: Azim is to lure Nikolai into a meeting at a bath house where he will be ambushed by the Chechens, who believe that he is Kirill. Though the Chechens seriously wound him, Nikolai manages to kill them both before being taken to Anna's hospital.

Yuri, a high-ranking Scotland Yard officer with responsibility for the Russian mafia, meets Nikolai in the hospital, revealing that Nikolai is actually an undercover FSB agent working under license from the British government. Nikolai tells Yuri to have Semyon arrested for statutory rape, with a paternity test of Tatiana's baby as evidence, which will also allow Nikolai to take over the mafia. Anna confronts Nikolai in his hospital bed, and he tells her that Stepan is safe, in a 5-star hotel in Edinburgh where Nikolai sent him for his own protection. She then spots Kirill entering a lift and finds that Tatiana's baby is gone, replaced with a bouquet of roses. She and Nikolai then rush to the spot on the Thames where Nikolai had previously disposed of the Chechen's body and find Kirill sitting by the river, working up the courage to throw his baby sister. Nikolai and Anna persuade him to give the baby back, and Nikolai embraces Kirill, telling him that Semyon is finished, and that they will now be bosses together. Soon after, Nikolai succeeds Semyon as head of the organization, and Anna gains custody of Tatiana's baby, whom she names Christine.

This novel, set in 1952, reveals Oakes's childhood and educational background, his recruitment into the CIA, and the Agency's procedures for "handling" him. His first assignment sends him to Britain, where he must identify (and deal with) a high-level security leak close to the (fictional) British monarch, Queen Caroline. Also, Rufus, the enigmatic genius behind American intelligence operations, is introduced.

Oakes's second assignment sends him to West Germany. There, he is infiltrated into the inner-circle of a charismatic and heroic nobleman, Count Wintergrin, who intends to run for the West German Chancellorship on platform of immediate re-unification with East Germany. Although this is ultimately in the interest of the Western Powers and NATO, the threat of Soviet invasion of West Europe means that Oakes must prevent Wintergrin's election, by whatever means necessary. Set in 1953.

The story is set during the Georgian era in the 1750s, and follows Lord Jack Carstares, the eldest son of the Earl of Wyncham. Six years ago, Jack took the blame when his younger brother Richard cheated at cards. Jack consequently faced social exile and fled England for the European continent. He has now secretly returned, robbing carriages as a highwayman. In public he calls himself Sir Anthony Ferndale.

Jack discovers his father has died but refuses to take up his role as the new earl of Wyncham, preferring that his brother enjoy the family's privileges in his place. The amiable Richard, who still feels guilty over his role in his brother's social ruin, refuses. This decision displeases Richard's spoiled wife, Lavinia.

A disguised Jack attempts to rob a carriage, but fails when his prey notices Jack's pistol is not loaded. The supposed victim, Miles O’Hara, a Justice of the Peace, arrests Jack. Recognizing Jack is a gentleman, Miles takes him back to his residence to interview him. Miles is delighted to discover the outlaw is actually his old friend, estranged since the gambling incident years earlier.

Lavinia's brother, the Duke of Andover—called the "Devil" among society—is sarcastic, darkly humoured and manipulative. He desires Miss Diana Beauleigh, a young woman he met in Bath, and is almost successful in abducting her when a disguised Jack encounters them. The two duel, and Jack triumphs over Andover and frees Diana. Jack is injured and recovers at Diana's home. He does not reveal his identity, instead referring to himself as Mr. Carr. The two fall in love but Jack cannot allow himself to be with her, as he sees himself as a scoundrel and unworthy of her love. He returns to the O'Hara residence.

Richard becomes upset when Lavinia spends too much time with one of her old suitors, Captain Harold Lovelace. Richard can keep silent no longer and plans to reveal his cheating to a large party, to the dismay of Lavinia. Richard gives her permission to leave him and elope with Lovelace, but she realises she truly loves her husband and sees the error in her spoiled ways. The two reconcile and embrace happily.

The Duke of Andover succeeds in kidnapping Diana, desiring to marry her. He brings her back to Andover Court, his estate. Jack learns of the abduction and arrives in time to duel Andover. Richard, Miles, and Andover's brother Lord Andrew arrive and stop the fight right as Jack collapses from fatigue. Richard confesses his role in the cheating scandal, clearing his brother's name. Jack and Diana embrace and get married. They avoid a scandal with Andover, as the latter persuades them that any news of the abduction will hurt Diana's reputation.

In the winter of 1920, Mary Russell is on the cusp of turning 21 and lives a double life of Oxford University theological scholar as well as a consulting detective and partner of Sherlock Holmes. After events in The Beekeeper's Apprentice, both Holmes and Russell are aware that their relationship and partnership has changed, perhaps romantically, but neither is eager to broach the subject.

A chance encounter unites Russell with Veronica Beaconsfield, an old Oxford acquaintance who is worried about her former fiancé, Miles Fitzwarren, a returned soldier and drug addict. Veronica introduces Russell to the well-financed New Temple in God and its leader, the enigmatic, charismatic Margery Childe, who preaches empowerment of women. Russell believes Margery to be a mystic and begins tutoring Margery in theology and reading Scripture, integrating into their lessons her own current academic work on feminism and Judaism. Russell also witnesses what she believes to be a true miracle, in which Margery is healed of serious physical wounds through prayer. Meanwhile, Holmes takes on Miles's rehabilitation partially as a favor to Russell.

When an attempt is made on Veronica's life, Holmes and Russell discover a mysterious pattern of deaths where fairly wealthy women have left large bequests to the Temple. Coming into her inheritance at age 21, Russell takes on the role of a young heiress to insinuate herself into the Temple's leadership. While learning more about the Temple's operations, Russell also fends off an attacker who threatens Margery.

En route back to Oxford, Russell is kidnapped by a man whom she identifies from descriptions of Margery's husband, Claude. He keeps Russell prisoner and injects her with regular doses of heroin. Against the effects of the drug and solitary confinement, Russell struggles to retain her identity and will to survive, and in the face of possible death, contemplates her love for Holmes. Nine days later, she is rescued by Holmes, who also helps her overcome her reliance on the drug.

Undeterred by her ordeal, Russell breaks into Margery's safe but finds no evidence indicating Margery's complicity in the deaths. The next morning, Holmes and Russell follow Margery, who has gone to confront Claude, disturbed by his actions concerning Mary. In the ensuing chase and fight, Margery is wounded, Claude is killed, and Holmes narrowly survives. The near-death experience pushes both Holmes and Russell to admit their passion for one another. In the ensuing trial, Margery is acquitted of blame, but voluntarily exiles herself from England. Veronica and a recovered Miles finally marry, as do Holmes and Russell.

In August 1923, Mary Russell and husband Sherlock Holmes receive an unexpected visit from Dorothy Ruskin, an elderly amateur archeologist from the Holy Land, who met the couple four and a half years earlier during the events from O Jerusalem (novel). As a gift, Ruskin presents Russell with an inlaid box containing a papyrus scroll, which seems to be a genuine first-century letter by Mary Magdalene. When she returns to London that evening, Ruskin is killed in a hit-and-run accident with only two witnesses.

When Holmes and Russell visit London to identify the body, they discover evidence of foul play. Before her murder, Ruskin had argued with a sponsor of the digs, Colonel Dennis Edwards. A letter from her sister Mrs. Erica Rogers, who cares for their aged mother, reveals that two Middle Eastern visitors were also looking for Ruskin after her visit home. Finally, Holmes and Russell find their Sussex home ransacked by three suspects who were looking for papers, perhaps for Mary’s papyrus scroll. When Russell translates Mary’s letter, she finds that Mary calls herself an apostle of Jesus, and contemplates the theological and historical implications.

Three distinct suspects and possibilities emerge: Colonel Edwards, who did not know he was sponsoring a woman’s project, could have been enraged to violence; the Middle Eastern visitors may have been from a Palestinian family with a grudge against Ruskin; and Rogers was resentful toward her sister, though according to Ruskin’s will, she does not benefit from Ruskin’s early death. To pursue each different line of investigation, the four split their forces: Mycroft Holmes looks into the Middle Eastern visitors, Holmes goes into Erica Rogers’s employ, while Inspector Lestrade directs the efforts of the police, and Russell finds work as Colonel Edwards’s secretary.

In Colonel Edwards’s employ, Russell grows to like the colonel but is repelled by his misogyny as well as Gerald, his lecherous son. She also finds strong evidence of the colonel's antagonism against Ruskin, but nothing more incriminating. After a week of investigations, Russell, Mycroft, and Lestrade have little to show, but Holmes has succeeded in finding parts of the car that killed Ruskin, salvaged from scraps sold by Jason Rogers, Erica Rogers’ grandson. Holmes also produces a letter from Ruskin to Rogers, implying that Erica Rogers is suffering from a mental illness. Building the case, Holmes then persuades Russell to use the hypnotization techniques practiced on her as a child after her family’s death on one of the witnesses to Ruskin’s murder. Russell’s efforts help unlock memories of that evening, and the witness identifies Jason Rogers as the perpetrator. However, when Erica Rogers is brought in, she discerns that the authorities have little solid evidence and no motive, and refuses to cooperate.

Frustrated, Holmes and Russell return home to brood over the case, searching for a hidden motive. Russell recalls that Ruskin had complimented Holmes’s hands and his ability to solve puzzles, bringing both of them to realize the box she left them with may have a hidden compartment. Holmes successfully opens it to reveal another will that Ruskin had drawn up leaving all her money to the archeological digs. Upon hearing of the changed will, Erica Rogers suffers a massive stroke and Jason Rogers commits suicide, while their third accomplice is brought to justice. Holmes deduces that Erica Rogers had masterminded the entire plot to keep most of their family's fortune from going to the archeological digs, and suspected her sister of lodging a will with Holmes, thus precipitating the ransacking of the Sussex home. In the epilogue, Russell states that Mary’s letter will not be published until after her death, and hopes that her heirs will find a world more accepting of the letter and its contents.

Uncle Parker has won a trip to the Caribbean in a caption contest. In typical Bagthorpian style, the rest of the family immediately enter similar competitions in an attempt to better his prize but, much of the time, beating the others to an entry form is a victory in itself. With the Parkers on vacation, manic 4-year-old cousin Daisy comes to stay. Uncle Parker claimed her pyromania has passed, but neglected to mention the nature of her current obsession. As Daisy's activities bring the household to its knees using items such as paint, face powder, water and an invisible friend/entity named Arry Awk, Grandma manages to get herself arrested, Mrs Fosdyke is reduced to serving up dishes such as oxtail trifle, and the children are busy wrapping up unwanted prizes to give each other as Christmas presents. When the Bagthorpes eventually win a chance at fame and happiness, the fates deliver a chance for history to not only repeat but excel itself.

In 1885, ''New York Herald'' publisher James Gordon Bennett assigns novice reporter Horace Miller to find the woman who served as Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi's model for the Statue of Liberty. In the artist's Paris studio, Miller sees a photograph of Monique DuPont and mistakenly believes she was the one. Bennett arranges for her and her grandmother to accompany Horace back to New York City, where she becomes a media darling. When rival publisher Joseph Pulitzer discovers it was Bartholdi's mother who actually posed for him, he exposes Monique as a fraud in his ''New York World''. She faces deportation until a sympathetic Pulitzer comes to her rescue, paving the way for her to plan a future with Horace, who jilts his American girlfriend Maisie Doll in favor of the French beauty.

The novel begins approximately three weeks after the events of the story "The Melancholy Journey of Mr. Teal" from ''The Holy Terror''. Simon Templar, accompanied by his lover/partner Patricia Holm, has departed England on a well-deserved holiday from crime-fighting.

While visiting Innsbruck, Austria with their friend, book editor Monty Hayward (making his first appearance in the series), the trio are out for a late-night walk when they see a man being attacked by thugs. They stop the attack, but the victim is particularly ungrateful, forcing Templar to knock him out, too. Intrigued by the man's attitude—as well as by a steel box attached to his wrist (which later turns out to be a miniature safe filled with recently stolen diamonds), Templar decides to take the unconscious man back to his hotel room. Before long, however, the man is stabbed to death in Templar's bed and Templar finds himself in yet another encounter with Prince Rudolf—one of the men responsible for the death of his friend Norman Kent in ''The Last Hero''.

Simon and Patricia (with very reluctant adventurer Monty in tow) find themselves on a cross-continent race against Rudolf and his minions (who are pursuing the diamonds) and the police (who want Templar and Monty for the murder of the courier). Along the way, the trio picks up a female crime reporter who takes part in the adventure in her quest for a career-making scoop on The Saint.

Whereas the previous book, ''The Holy Terror'', takes place over the course of nearly a year, the events of ''Getaway'' take place over little more than 24 hours. The text indicates that this story takes place about two years after the events of ''The Last Hero''. It is the first Saint story to take place completely outside Great Britain since the novella "The Wonderful War" in ''Featuring the Saint''.

Some editions of the novel (such as the Fiction Publishing Co. edition) omit a prologue that recaps the events of "The Melancholy Journey of Mr. Teal". According to this prologue (and later repeated within the main body of the text), the Saint has been "buccaneering" for 10 years by the time of this novel, during which time he had amassed a personal fortune of approximately 100,000 pounds, which was finally topped up by his absconding with a villain's diamonds at the end of "Melancholy Journey".

Much of the book is told from Monty Hayward's point of view. According to ''The Saint: A Complete History in Print, Radio, Film and Television 1928-1992'' by Burl Barer, the character was based upon Charteris' real-life editor, Monty Haydon.

The novel is set on Mars and draws on previous depictions of the planet in the New Adventures.

An aspiring artist, Paul Sloane, struggles in Paris and wants to return home to America to resume his relationship with his rich fiancee, Laurie. His best friend and roommate, Casey Barnett, tries to talk him out of it. When a beautiful woman, Nikki Donay, suddenly leaps into the river Seine to escape a man's attentions, Paul jumps in to save her. They make it to a barge, but Casey and everyone else is under the mistaken impression that neither survived. Casey gets an idea—a dead artist's paintings could now be very valuable, particularly considering the publicity given Paul's heroic attempt to save the damsel in distress. He begins selling Paul's work, but when the artist himself reappears, very much alive, they hatch a scheme. Paul will pretend to still be dead while continuing to produce paintings for Casey to sell. Matters become further complicated when Laurie comes to Paris. Casey falls in love with her. This infuriates his best friend, resulting in Paul seeking revenge by slipping evidence to the police that Casey actually murdered him to profit from the art. Casey is tried, convicted and sentenced to death, by guillotine. Paul attempts to save Casey at the last minute.

A gorgeous French actress named Didi (Elke Sommer) has become more famous for commercials involving bubble baths than for acting. Fed up with the situation, she winds up running away for a while to Oregon, where she encounters a middle-aged married realtor (Bob Hope) who agrees to secretly assist her and thereby becomes enmeshed in various complications when the realtor and his wacky housekeeper try to hide her from being found by his wife and by the public.

Music student Nancy, the 19-year-old daughter of Frank, real estate broker, and Elaine Benson, wants to marry fellow music student David, the 20-year-old son of Oliver Poe, record producer. What the bride does not know her parents will be divorced. Poe is opposed to marriage and forbids the children from planning their marriage. He exposes the Bensons' secret. Nancy and David decline this unnecessary marriage. They will live together, instead of traveling around the country with a rock band and heeding advice and wisdom of a Persian mystic called the Baba Zeba. Frank and Elaine see other people. He is involved with a divorce, Lois Grey, while she is developing an interest in Phil Fletcher, who is recently divorced. Poe meets LaVerne Baker, his live in girlfriend. One day, Nancy finds out she is pregnant. The Baba Zeba persuades her to put up the baby for adoption, paid off by Oliver. Frank and Elaine conspire behind their daughter's back to adopt their own grandchild. Complications arise, resulting in Frank trying to bribe the guru and disguising himself as one of the Baba Zeba's followers. The Bensons are reunited, David and Nancy have a baby, and Poe and LaVerne are married.

The novel begins with the discovery of the body of Carolyn Polhemus, an assistant prosecuting attorney in fictional Kindle County. She is the victim of what appears to be a sexual bondage encounter gone wrong, killed by a single blow to the skull with an unknown object while tied up.

Rožat "Rusty" Sabich, a Kindle County prosecutor and co-worker of Carolyn, is assigned her case by his boss, district attorney Raymond Horgan. Horgan is currently losing his re-election campaign against Nico Della Guardia, an old protege turned rival, and informs Rusty that his continued employment is entwined with Horgan's victory, which he believes hinges on finding and convicting Carolyn's killer. This is further complicated by the fact that, unknown to everyone else, Rusty had a brief affair with Carolyn that ended months before her murder. She dumped him when he showed little interest in taking Horgan's job for himself, causing him to realize her ambitious, conniving nature.

Despite his obvious conflict of interest, Rusty takes charge of the investigation, but makes clumsy attempts to divert its areas of inquiry away from the DA's office, and by extension himself. He's assisted by his friend Det. Dan "Lip" Lipranzer, whom Rusty replaces the originally assigned officer with. During the investigation, Rusty learns Horgan also had a brief relationship with Carolyn. The only person who knows of Rusty's own affair is his wife, Barbara, and the subsequent strain on their marriage led him to seek psychiatric help. Throughout the novel he discusses various relationships in his life: with his late father, a closed-off, angry man; with Della Guardia, a friendship that soured due to uncontrollable circumstances; with Barbara, a volatile mixture of devotion and disdain; and of course with Carolyn, which he has struggled to define since its end.

Horgan loses the election and, within days of Della Guardia taking office, he charges Rusty with Carolyn's murder, encouraged by his overzealous deputy, Tommy Molto. Rusty hires Alejandro "Sandy" Stern, an Argentinean defense lawyer who has been a frequent opponent over the years, to represent him. The judge assigned to the case is Larren Lyttle, an old friend and colleague of Horgan's who has an acrimonious history with Molto.

The prosecution's case against Rusty, which failed to definitively prove his affair and thus lacks motive, relies on circumstantial evidence: a bar glass with his fingerprints, sperm that might be his in Carolyn's vagina, carpet fabric that might be from his home, and records of a call from his home to Carolyn's apartment on the night of the murder, along with his attempts to seemingly impede the investigation. However, just as the trial begins the prosecution is forced to admit the glass is missing; Larren refuses to delay until it is located. As the trial ensues, Rusty learns through his and Lipranzer's independent investigations that Lyttle also had an affair with Polhemus, and that she acted as a courier in a bribery scheme where Lyttle was paid by defendants to let them off in court. Stern, while subtly threatening Lyttle with his own knowledge of this, is able to discredit a forensic expert's testimony regarding the sperm sample and inconclusive witness statements, persuasively arguing that Molto, who was aware of the bribery scheme but not involved, has fabricated evidence to frame Rusty out of misguided loyalty to Carolyn. Without proof of the affair or that Rusty had been in Carolyn's apartment the night of the murder, Larren sees no reason to continue and dismisses the case.

Time passes and Rusty's relationship with Barbara worsens, after the trial had seemingly repaired it. When she announces her intention to leave him and take their son, Rusty explains his deduction that she killed Carolyn, as revenge on the woman who nearly destroyed her family; she admits that he is correct. During a visit to Rusty's house, Lipranzer reveals that he has the missing bar glass, which came about due to careless mismanagement by Molto and Lip's own disinterest in aiding the prosecution. Rusty talks Lip through how and why Barbara committed the murder while thoroughly cleaning the glass, destroying the only real evidence against him. They speculate whether Barbara left the glass at the scene because she wanted Rusty to know what she had done, or because she wanted him to be convicted. Rusty ultimately decides it doesn't matter, as he cannot bring himself to deprive his son of a mother and, except for Lip, will never admit the truth to anyone.

Della Guardia, his reputation destroyed by the trial, loses a recall election and Rusty is appointed to finish out his term, although his professional prospects beyond that are uncertain. The novel ends as Rusty reflects on Carolyn's murder, which remains officially unsolved nearly a year later. He wonders what led him into the affair which ultimately caused everything to happen, and concludes that it was an attempt to escape the existential crisis that has plagued him most of his adult life, even if what she offered him was never more than a fantasy.

The novel begins on a Family estate at Kethiuy on Cerdin, where the Sul sept of the Meth-maren House is attacked by the rival Ruil sept, with the help of Red and Gold Majats. The Ruil sept is seeking to wrest control of the Blue Majat from the Sul sept. A young Raen a Sul hant Meth-maren is the only survivor, and she seeks refuge in the nearby Blue Majat Hive. There she persuades the Blue Queen to help her regain control of Kethiuy. The Blue Warriors and their azi succeed in destroying the Ruil sept, but the Blue Hive is decimated and Raen is captured and brought before the Kontrin Council. Moth, the second oldest Kontrin, protects Raen from the Kontrin conspirators seeking to destroy her, and Raen is banished from Cerdin.

Raen adopts a low profile and drifts from planet to planet in the Reach. She survives several assassination attempts but never gives up her desire for revenge against the Kontrin Council and those who destroyed her family. After Council Eldest Lian is assassinated, Moth takes control of the Council. She watches Raen's movement but does not interfere. Raen's final move is to board a Beta passenger spaceliner, ''Andra's Jewel'' bound for Istra, the only planet in the Reach accessible from the Outside. Istra has no permanent Kontrin presence, only Betas, who deal with Outsiders and the Majat, who were brought here by the Kontrin hundreds of years previously. To amuse herself on ''Andra's Jewel's'' long voyage, Raen plays Sej, a dicing game, every night with a ship azi named Jim. They agree that at the end of the voyage Raen will buy his contract, and if Jim is the overall winner, he will be a free man, but if he loses, he will become her azi. Jim narrowly loses and serves her for the remainder of the story.

On Istra, Raen and Jim, now her second in command, establish a presence on the planet. She manipulates the Betas and gains control of their affairs. She also allies herself with the local Blue Majat Hive. But the Majat Hives are restless and soon turn on each other. The Blue, Green and Red Queens are killed and the surviving Gold Queen unites all the Hives under her. The Hive revolt spreads to all planets of the Reach and all the Kontrin perish, except for Raen, who now lives with the Majat on Istra. With the Kontrin Company no longer in control, the Betas take charge of the Reach. All the azi are gone, having self-terminated at their maximum age of 40, and no new azi are created. Jim, however, at Raen's request, is given immortality by the Majat and lives with her in the Gold Hive.

in the trailer for the film

Frank Chambers (John Garfield) is an amiable, restless drifter who has hitched a ride with a man we later learn is the local District Attorney, Kyle Sackett (Leon Ames). He drops Frank off at a rural diner/service station named "Twin Oaks" which is on a highway in the hills outside Los Angeles. Frank begins working there. The diner is operated by the stodgy Nick Smith (Cecil Kellaway) and his beautiful, much younger wife, Cora (Lana Turner).

Frank and Cora start to have an affair soon after they meet. Cora is tired of her situation, married to a man she does not love and working at a diner that she wishes to own outright. During an attempt to run away together, Cora concludes that if she divorces Nick, she will end up with nothing; she and Frank will be no further ahead. They return to Twin Oaks in time for her to retrieve the goodbye note she had left in the cash register for Nick. Cora talks Frank into murdering Nick, in order for them to have the diner. The plan involves Cora striking Nick with a sock full of ball-bearings and pretending he had fatally hit his head falling in the bathtub. Things go awry when a police officer stops by and a cat causes a power outage. Cora does manage to knock Nick over the head and, while severely injuring him, he is not mortally wounded.

The couple are thrilled when it is determined that Nick will be all right, since no foul play is suspected, and that he has no recollection of how he was struck. They share a happy week, running the business together and enjoying their relationship. The police officer stops by one day and tells Frank he passed Cora driving Nick back from the hospital. Frank sees there is really no hope for a definite future with her, so he decides to move on before she returns. He goes to L.A.; after a couple of weeks, he starts hanging around the marketplace where Nick and Cora buy most of their produce, hoping to see her. He runs into Nick, who has been looking for him; Nick insists Frank return to Twin Oaks with him, that "something important's gonna happen tonight and you're in on it".

Upon Frank's return, Cora behaves coolly toward him; the three of them have dinner together and Nick announces that he will be selling Twin Oaks and that Cora and he will be moving in with his infirm sister in the town of Kugluktuk in northern Canada. That night, Cora is desperate; Frank finds her in the kitchen with a knife she says she was going to use on herself. Frank agrees to kill Nick. The next day, the three of them are to drive to Santa Barbara to finalize the sale of Twin Oaks. Frank and Cora intend to stage a drunk driving accident. Sackett stops by to air his tire and Frank and Cora stage an argument where she insists on driving due to the men's inebriation. This establishes that Nick is drunk. On a deserted stretch of road, Frank kills Nick with a blow to the head and then sends the car off a cliff. However, Frank is caught in the car too and injured. Sackett, who had been following them, arrives to find Cora crying for help.

The District Attorney files murder charges against only Cora, hoping to divide her and Frank. Although this ploy works temporarily, a clever measure by Cora's lawyer, Arthur Keats, (Hume Cronyn) prevents Cora's full confession from coming into the hands of the prosecutor. Cora secures a plea bargain in which she pleads guilty to manslaughter and receives probation.

Publicity from the murder makes Twin Oaks very successful, but things remain tense between Frank and Cora. They marry in order to protect themselves from being forced to testify against each other. When Cora leaves to take care of her sick mother, Frank has a brief fling with a woman. After Cora returns, a man named Kennedy, who had worked as an investigator for her attorney, shows up and attempts to blackmail her with the confession. Frank beats up Kennedy and his partner and takes the signed confession from them.

Cora tells Frank that she knows about his affair. The two argue, but reconcile and Cora announces that she is pregnant. She speculates that the new life they have created may balance out the one that they took. They go to the beach and swim, realizing that they still love each other. On the way back, Frank accidentally crashes the car and kills Cora.

Frank is tried and convicted for killing Cora. While on death row, he is visited by a priest and by District Attorney Sackett, who confronts him with the evidence of his involvement in Nick's murder and reasons that if he resists his legal fate in Cora's death that he'll only wind up back where he is with a conviction for Nick's murder. Frank accepts that, while he is innocent of Cora's murder, his execution will be fitting punishment for his murder of Nick. Frank muses that, just as the postman always rings a second time to make sure people receive their mail, fate has made sure that he and Cora have both finally paid the price for their crime.

Frank Chambers (Jack Nicholson) a drifter, stops at a Depression-era rural California diner in the hills outside Los Angeles for a meal and ends up working there. The diner is operated by a young, beautiful woman, Cora Smith (Jessica Lange), and her much older husband, Nick Papadakis (John Colicos), a hardworking but unimaginative immigrant from Greece.

Frank and Cora start to have an affair soon after they meet. Cora is tired of her situation, married to an older man she does not love, and working at a diner that she wishes to own and improve. She and Frank scheme to murder Nick to start a new life together without her losing the diner. Their first attempt at the murder is a failure, but they succeed with their second attempt.

The local prosecutor suspects what has actually occurred but does not have enough evidence to prove it. As a tactic intended to get Cora and Frank to turn on one another, he tries only Cora for the crime.

Although they turn against each other, a clever ploy from Cora's lawyer, Katz (Michael Lerner), prevents Cora's full confession from coming into the hands of the prosecutor. With the tactic having failed to generate any new evidence for the prosecution, Cora benefits from a deal in which she pleads guilty to manslaughter and is sentenced to probation.

Months later, Frank has an affair with Madge Gorland (Anjelica Huston) while Cora is out of town. When Cora returns, she tells Frank she is pregnant. That night, Katz's assistant, Kennedy (John P. Ryan), appears at their door and threatens to expose them unless they give him $10,000. Enraged, Frank beats Kennedy up and strong-arms him into giving up the evidence against them.

When Frank returns, he finds that Madge has been to see Cora, who threatens to turn him in. They eventually patch together their tumultuous relationship and now plan for a future together. However, on the way back after having been married, Cora dies in a car accident while Frank is driving. Frank weeps over Cora's body.

The novel concerns the adventures of Leon of Atrax, a Thessalian cavalry commander who has been tasked by Alexander the Great to bring an elephant captured from the Indian ruler Porus, to Athens as a present for Alexander's old tutor, Aristotle. Leading a motley crew that includes an Indian elephantarch to care for the creature, a Persian warrior, a Syrian sutler and a Greek philosopher, Leon sets out to cross the whole of the ancient known world from the Indus River to Athens.

The journey is long and adventurous, involving frequent skirmishes with bandits, unruly noblemen, Macedonian commanders with ideas of their own about who is in charge, and a runaway Persian noblewoman. It doesn't help that the goal of the whole enterprise is essentially a malicious prank concocted by Alexander on his former teacher: he gives Aristotle the elephant but no funds for its upkeep, while sending the funds (but no elephant) to the savant's arch-rival Xenocrates.

The story is founded on the fact that Aristotle's writings include an apparently eye-witness description of an Indian elephant, though the circumstances under which he might have come into contact with such an animal are unknown.

Cover of first paperback edition

Brothers Mac (Radcliff) and Skinny Carter and their best friend Tyler Gage (Tatum) attend a party where they have a fight with their nemesis, PJ. P.J. is involved in car thefts around the city, and Tyler, Mac, and Skinny, have also gotten involved in the crimes. Following the party, the trio break into the Maryland School of Arts and trash the theatre. When a security guard appears, Tyler helps the two escape, accepting full blame for the vandalism himself.

Tyler is sentenced to 200 hours of community service at the school. He works as a custodian, doing everything from mopping to changing light bulbs. While putting in his hours, he watches Nora Clark's (Dewan) dance class preparing for her "senior showcase", an audition performance which will determine if she gets a position with an attending professional dance company.

When Mac and Skinny visit Tyler on the school's lot, Nora watches from a window as Tyler dances with his friends, mockingly a mashup of break-dance and the moves he recently observed. When Andrew, her dance partner sprains an ankle, she finds herself without a partner for her routine.

Auditioning sophomores to replace him, none meet her expectations. Tyler offers to help, but Nora initially refuses. After proving he can handle the routine, she reconsiders, convincing Director Gordon to let him rehearse with her. Initially they clash, but as rehearsals continue they grow closer and learn from each other. Tyler also befriends Miles (Mario), a music student with a crush on Nora's friend, Lucy (Sidora).

Nora's bond with Tyler grows, and one day she takes him to a special spot on the waterfront where she first envisioned her routine. She had always imagined it as an ensemble dance, rather than a duet. Tyler is inspired to help her dream come true, recruiting younger dancers from the school to perform in her number. Brett signs a recording deal with a company, betraying Miles for the opportunity. Disgusted, Nora breaks up with him. Meanwhile, Tyler continues to try to balance his new goals, new friends, and nurturing a troubled relationship with his old ones.

Tyler asks Director Gordon if she will admit him into the school, and is told he must prove he deserves a chance. Nora suggests using the showcase also as his entrance audition. After dancing together at a club where Miles and Lucy perform, Tyler and Nora finally kiss. Rehearsals continue until Andrew returns, seemingly healed from his injury. Feeling angry and no longer needed, Tyler accuses Nora of using him like Brett treated Miles. Leaving the group he returns to his janitorial work.

However, as the choreography is now much too difficult for Andrew, he falls, pulling himself from the routine. Again without a partner, crushed, she considers abandoning her dance career for college after all. Her mother's encouragement inspires her to rewrite the choreography without a partner.

Later during a party night at Omar's, Skinny comes by against his mother's insistence he stay at home and gets kicked out by Mac and Tyler. Frustrated, Skinny walks back home in a huff before spotting PJ arriving at a store with his friend. Skinny steals PJ's unattended car and foolishly drives back to Omar's, wanting to hang out with the girls. Mac and Tyler are trying to get Skinny to abandon the car when PJ and his friends arrive and fatally shoot Skinny. After the funeral, both Mac and Tyler realize that they need to make better life decisions.

Tyler shows up at the last minute on the evening of the showcase. He tries to persuade Nora to let him perform with them, and to forgive him. Initially declining, she suddenly changes her mind as Tyler wishes her luck and walks away. When the curtain opens, the whole ensemble performs the original choreography with Miles' latest musical score. The crowd is blown away.

Backstage, a proud Director Gordon introduces Nora to a director of a professional dance company, hoping to sign Nora. Meanwhile, Mac congratulates Tyler for his performance. Thereafter, Director Gordon introduces Tyler as a "transfer". Nora is elated and embraces him. Repeating her original advice that he'll need to get some tights, the movie ends with them sharing a kiss.

''Date with an Angel'' tells the story of Jim Sanders, an executive at a cosmetics company, about to marry Patty Winston, the spoiled daughter of Jim's employer. Jim unknowingly has a brain tumor, and his headaches have gotten worse. It is suggested that he will die, and an angel arrives on the scene, given the task of bringing Jim's soul back to heaven on the night of his engagement party.

After his three buddies, George, Don and Rex, kidnap Jim to take him to another celebration at his home, Jim decides that he has had enough of partying and goes to sleep. Jim later awakes to see a bright light illuminating from his apartment's swimming pool—and discovers an angel knocked unconscious after one of her wings was broken due to colliding with an orbiting satellite. Not wanting to see her be exploited and unable to get the local priest to listen (he thinks Jim is about to do something lewd when he attempts to disrobe the Angel to reveal her wings), Jim decides to keep her shielded from the world while he helps repair her wings. This proves difficult, as the Angel is unable to speak in human language (though she has no trouble understanding it), and is unaccustomed to the limitations/requirements of life as a mortal. However, she does develop a taste for French fries.

Inevitably, his buddies and his boss both discover her in his house; so does Patty, who—not seeing the Angel's wings—thinks that she is a mortal woman having an affair with Jim. Patty later sees the Angel and Jim together on television—wings still under wraps—as he rescues her from being exposed to the world by his buddies, who had kidnapped her.

They later escape to Jim's former childhood hideaway. In a short time, the Angel's wing is fully healed, allowing her to take flight and return to the pearly gates. However, drunk and delusional, Patty starts chasing Jim with a shotgun; her father, Jim's father, stepmother, and his buddies also arrive to confront him. Amid the chaos, Jim's uncontrollable headaches cause him to collapse to the ground, but the Angel returns to save him, using harmless but frighteningly-placed lightning bolts to drive away Patty and her father, never to return.

Later, in the hospital, Jim's brain tumor gets worse and his situation appears grim. The Angel comes back to see him, finally confirming that it was her original intention to take him to heaven. Instead, she saves him, and in the process is allowed to return to earth as a mortal woman, now able to speak English. She is now a nurse at the hospital. She kisses Jim after assuring him that he will be around and that they will be together for a long time, humorously stating that she has that information "from the highest authority".

Architect Robert Faehmel's secretary, Leonore, describes Robert and the knowledge that something in her routine life is not ordinary. Robert is meticulous in everything he does. An old friend of Robert's arrives at the office but Leonore sends him to the Prince Heinrich Hotel, where Robert can be found every day from 9:30 to 11:00. Trouble is on the horizon for the entire Faehmel family, which includes three generations of architects: Heinrich Faehmel, his son Robert and Robert's son Joseph. The man who wants to see Robert, Nettlinger, is denied entry to the billiard room by the hotel concierge, Jochen, who will not allow Robert to be disturbed.

Upstairs, Robert is telling bellboy Hugo about his life, and we discover that Nettlinger was once a Nazi policeman. Robert and his friend Schrella, both of whom were schoolmates of Nettlinger's, had opposed the Nazis, refusing to take "the Host of the Beast," a reference both to the devil and the Nazis. Schrella had disappeared after being beaten by Nettlinger and Old Wobbly, their gym teacher, also a Nazi policeman. Nettlinger and Old Wobbly had not only beaten Schrella and Robert, but had corrupted one of Robert's three siblings, Otto, who died in 1942 near Kiev. His mother, Johanna Kilb, was committed to a mental institution because she tried to save Jews from the cattle cars going to the extermination camps. It is now Heinrich's 80th birthday. Heinrich and Robert meet in a bar after visiting Johanna, sitting down and talking for the first time in many years. Meanwhile, Schrella has returned to Germany and talks with Nettlinger, who tries to make amends for his past life despite the fact that he has not really changed, and remains an opportunist. Schrella goes to visit his old home.

We meet Joseph Faehmel and his girlfriend Marianne. Joseph has just learned that Robert was the one who destroyed the beautiful abbey his grandfather had built and this greatly upsets him. Marianne tells him the story of her own family: her father was a Nazi who committed suicide at the end of the war. Before taking his own life, he had ordered Marianne's mother to murder the children. She hanged Marianne's little brother but the arrival of some strangers prevented her from doing the same to Marianne.

Johanna, in control of her wits, leaves the sanatorium with a pistol which she intends to use on Old Wobbly for his past sins. The entire family gathers in the Prince Heinrich Hotel for the birthday party and Johanna shoots at a Secretary of State who was watching a military parade from a hotel balcony. This act was intended to signal Johanna's inadaptation in a society ruled by "The Buffalo", whose members already forgot the horrors of the world. At the conclusion, Robert adopts the bellhop Hugo. A birthday cake shaped like the abbey is carried in. Heinrich slices it and hands the first piece to his son.

War Dancer features a storyline that includes many elements of the Aztec culture, including names and places (Quetzalcoatl) as well as Aztec-related armor and jewelry that the Dancer wears on his neck and helmet.

The story follows a prince from another world who uses rain dancing to summon the end of worlds, to speed up the end of all things in order to bring back his one true love. The prince (Dancer) is not a typical 'super hero' in terms of good/evil, and Alan Weiss' character is a unique and original creation.

The character has problems with the heroic super-powered Charles Smith.

On New Years Day, the planets align, allowing alien invaders called ZoS to take over the solar system by extinguishing the sun. The hero Freak Boy has to save the inhabitants of earth by defeating the aliens using his super morphing powers, which allow him to take on the shape and properties of objects he absorbs.

October 17, 1984: It is late morning in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood where a sting operation is taking place. Sergeant Eddie Cusack (Chuck Norris) and his crack team of Chicago Police detectives take their positions, including Lieutenant Kobas (Joseph Kosala), stationed on a rooftop with Detectives Brennan (Ron Dean) and Music (Gene Barge) as lookouts, along with alcoholic Detective Cragie (Ralph Foody) and rookie Nick Kopalas (Joseph Guzaldo) in a cemetery. An undercover informant is about to meet a buyer at an "L" train stop. Cusack and his partner Dorato (Dennis Farina) use a garbage truck to patrol beneath the train tracks.

The carefully orchestrated sting is a basic meet-and-greet exchange set up by cocaine supplier Victor Comacho (Ron Henriquez). Victor is the younger brother of Luis Comacho (Henry Silva), leader of a vicious drug gang known as the Comachos. Everything goes horribly wrong when a rival gang led by mafia drug lord Tony Luna (Mike Genovese) infiltrates the sting as a crew of painters and mercilessly guns down the attendees. After money and cocaine are exchanged, the aftermath is grim; Cusack's informant is dead and Dorato is wounded. Kopalas is also eyewitness as Cragie accidentally guns down a teenager, then plants his backup weapon on the victim.

Kopalas is partnered with Cusack, with Cragie put on desk duty until a department hearing. Commander Kates (Bert Remsen) expresses disgust with the outcome of the sting, while Cusack notes that the Comachos won't take the hit on their gang lightly. Kates agrees. He releases Eddie with one warning: "Find who burned the Comachos before they do."

After learning that one of his gang members was shot by police, and that Victor Comacho survived, Tony Luna decides to leave town. He asks Lou Gamiani (Lou Damiani) to have someone guard his daughter, Diana Luna (Molly Hagan), a young artist. Gamiani feels he has put the entire outfit at risk.

Apart from breaking in a new partner, and the introduction of the new Prowler police three-axle robot, Cusack is shunned by other officers for his refusal to sign a petition to have Cragie cleared. He bluntly tells Brennan: "If Cragie doesn't get off the streets, he's gonna kill somebody else, or get somebody killed."

Tailing Gamiani to the Lincoln Park Zoo, the detectives witness a tense exchange between him and Diana. Cusack discovers who Diana's father is. He and Kopalas stake out the Luna residence as the Comacho funeral procession comes through the neighborhood. They visit Tony Luna's uncle, Felix Scalese (Nathan Davis), to request he stop the imminent conflict.

Responding to a DOA call in Lincoln Park, Brennan and Music identify the victim, who had been given a "Colombian Necktie", as Tony Luna's bag man. Brennan notes another call to Luna's restaurant, where the officers found the mutilated owner hanging from a meat hook. A car lot run by Tony Luna is firebombed and the owner burned alive. A vicious gang war has begun.

Posing as food vendors, the Comachos brutally gun down every member of the Luna household. Cusack, knowing they will go after Diana to bring Luna out of hiding, tries to get to her first. Gamiani is stabbed to death. Cusack and Kopalas arrive on the scene. Cusack takes off after Diana, who is being chased by several Comacho gang members. In an alley. Cusack surprises them at gunpoint. One takes Diana hostage with a knife, but Cusack disarms the three remaining suspects and goes after the one with the girl. He follows them to the Randolph/Wells (CTA) elevated station and boards a train. A standoff ensues, leading to a fight on the roof of the eight-car train. At a bridge crossing, the gang member jumps into the Chicago River, where he is run over by a speedboat.

Cusack then places Diana in a safe house with his old friend Pirelli (Allen Hamilton), a retired Chicago police officer who was the partner of Cusack's father. At a hearing, Kopalas decides to back Cragie's story. Cusack testifies truthfully that he cannot comment on the incident in question because he arrived after the fact. However, it is revealed that Cusack once submitted a transfer order to have Cragie moved out of his unit. Other officers resent Cusack for breaking the unwritten "code of silence" which says officers should never report the errors or misconduct of their colleagues. Only former partner Detective Dorato remains loyal to Cusack.

Pirelli ends up dead and Diana missing. Cusack races toward the Comacho hangout and puts out a radio call for backup, but due to the hearing, other officers refuse to respond. He fights off Luis and other Comacho gang members by himself. Luis tells Cusack he wants Tony Luna, otherwise Diana dies, painfully and slowly.

Dorato tips off Cusack that Tony Luna was lying low in Wisconsin, returning to Chicago that night by train. Cusack waits outside the station, watching as Luna climbs into Scalese's limousine. Scalese chastises his nephew for igniting a gang war. The driver notices Cusack following and a wild chase ensues. The limo strikes a stalled car and overturns onto its roof, with Luna and Scalese killed in the explosion. Cusack, in need of a partner, returns to police headquarters and retrieves the Prowler robot, single-handedly launching a full-scale attack on the Comachos' lair in East Chicago, Indiana.

Other detectives berate Cusack for his actions. Kopalas, fed up, tells everyone off and confronts Cragie, stating that he will no longer lie for him. He reveals to the squad room that Cragie planted the gun on the teen he killed.

Cusack takes down the remaining Comacho members. Luis, wounded, enters a bathroom where Diana is bound. He raises a hammer, but Cusack shoots and kills him.

Backup arrives at last. Cusack places Diana in the care of the CFD ambulance crew. Commander Kates asks will he come in the next day, and Cusack, finally having regained the respect from his fellow officers, agrees. Dorato gives him a ride back to headquarters.

Kasumi Kogen, which translates to "The Village of Mist", is a town somewhere in rural Japan. In this town there is a school, the Shinobi Gakuen, where competent female students gather from all over Japan and train to become kunoichi (female ninja). The people of Kasumi Kogen are alumni of the school, and they run and jump and disappear as if the whole town were a big ninja house.

The story begins as a girl, Himawari Hinata, arrives in Kasumi Kogen. She has transferred to Shinobi Gakuen to train under Ichikawa Raiso and fulfill a dream of becoming a kunoichi that she has fostered since she was saved by one in her childhood. On her first day, she meets Hayato Marikoji, a teacher who is himself just arriving at Shinobi Gakuen, and he saves her life. Hayato does not possess any ninja skills; he is teaching the students about normal Japanese society in order to pay a large debt that was originally his friend's debt but was passed down to him. However, Himawari notices that Hayato bears the same mark on his neck as the ninja who saved her when she was young.

''Himawari!'' is the story of Himawari and her journey to become a kunoichi, and the vow she makes to protect her teacher.

Meek California Fidelity Trust teller Johnny Dalton asks his boss J. L. McKissack for a raise so he can marry fellow teller Mildred "Mibs" Goodhue. Though Johnny is turned down, Mibs wants to get married anyway. Emile J. Keck, a friend and waiter at an Italian restaurant they frequent, also urges Johnny to take a chance, even facetiously suggesting he rob the bank where he works. When he insists on waiting, Mibs storms out.

While returning to work, Johnny intervenes when he spots two men beating up a third in an alley. The victim, "Hot Horse" Harris, turns out to be a bookie. To show his gratitude, Harris gives a stunned Johnny $1000, but Johnny refuses to accept it. To make it easier, Harris changes it to a "loan", then promptly bets the entire amount on a sure thing in a fixed race, making sure to place the bet at the bookie joint run by his competitor (the one who had him beaten up). From the winnings, Harris takes back the loan, and Johnny is left with $5000. Harris then makes two more bets for Johnny, both winners. Johnny now has won $60,000. Harris only has $40,000 on hand, so he tells Johnny he will send him the rest later. Johnny rushes off to share the good news with Emile, but Emile believes he took his advice about bank robbery.

As it turns out, the bank's auditors have discovered that there is $75,000 missing. Fearing that he will be suspected of the crime, Johnny enlists Emile's help in hiding the money. When he tells Mibs about his windfall, she does not believe his story either. She finds $20,000, the remainder of what Harris owes Johnny, and goes to see Bob Pulsifer, Jr., the lazy, lecherous son of the bank's founder. She offers it to him on condition that he not inform the police about Johnny, but he telephones them anyway.

Mibs insists on driving Johnny to Mexico, but they are caught. Much to the couple's surprise, the police know that Johnny won the money; instead, they arrest Mibs, as the auditors tracked the $75,000 to her. However, Johnny discovers by accident that Mibs's adding machine is malfunctioning: according to it, 2+2=5 and 3+3=7. Afterward, Mibs tells a man she thinks is a "reporter" about all the expensive gifts Johnny has given her, only to learn that the man actually works for the IRS.

Himeko Tsubaki bumps into a pair of thieves called Leslie and Karen. She accidentally takes one of their bags containing a magic crown. Placing the crown on her head will magically turn her into a princess, and eventually fulfilling all of her wishes.

Her classmates and teachers believe her to be a princess, but she becomes a target of various people who want the crown for themselves. Tagging along is the true owner of the crown, a child princess named Nana.

The seven children of the title live in 1880s Sydney with their father, an army Captain who has little understanding of his children, and their 20-year-old stepmother Esther, who can exert little discipline on them. Accordingly, they wreak havoc wherever possible, for example by interrupting their parents while they entertain guests and asking for some of their dinner (implying to the guests that the children's own dinner is inadequate).

After a prank by Judy and Pip embarrasses Captain Woolcot at his military barracks, he orders that ringleader Judy be sent away to boarding school in the Blue Mountains.

Meg comes under the influence of an older girl, Aldith, and tries to improve her appearance according to the fashions of the day. She and Aldith make the acquaintance of two young men, but Meg believes she has fallen in love with the older brother of one, Alan. When Aldith and Meg arrange to meet the young men for a walk, Meg is embarrassed after a note goes astray and Alan comes to the meeting instead and reproaches her for becoming 'spoilt', rather than remaining the sweet young girl she was. Meg returns home and later faints, having tight-laced her waist under pressure from Aldith until it affects her health.

Unhappy at being away from her siblings, Judy runs away from school, returns home, and hides in the barn. Despite her ill-health as a result of walking for a week to get home, the other children conceal her presence from their father, but that presence is disclosed after he cruelly whips one of them. He plans to send her back to school, but softens in fear when he sees her coughing up blood. When the doctor reports she has pneumonia and is at risk of tuberculosis, she is allowed to remain at home.

To assist Judy's recuperation, Esther's parents invite her and the children to their sheep station Yarrahappini. One day the children go on a picnic far away from the property's main house. A ringbarked tree falls and threatens to crush 'the General', the youngest sibling and Esther's own child. Judy, who promised 'on her life' not to allow him to be harmed on the picnic, rushes to catch him and her body protects him from the tree. However her back is broken and she dies before help can be fetched.

After burying Judy on the property, the family returns home to Sydney sobered by her death. While ostensibly things remain the same, each character is slightly changed by their experience. In particular Captain Woolcot regrets the fact that he never really understood Judy. His remaining children are now 'dearer to his heart', though he shows it very little more than before.

Anthony "Tony", fifth Earl of Droitwich, lives at his Worcestershire country house Langley End with his brother the Honourable Frederick "Freddie" Chalk-Marshall, their aunt Lady Lydia Bassinger, and her husband Sir Herbert Bassinger. Tony is engaged to Violet Waddington. The match was essentially arranged by Lady Lydia and Violet's father G. G. Waddington, of Waddington's 97 Soups, for Violet's money and Tony's title. Violet likewise views the engagement in a businesslike way, though Tony is unaware Violet does not love him until Freddie tells him. Bella Price, Tony's old nurse and sister of Tony's butler Theodore Slingsby, visits with her son, Socialist barber shop owner Sydney "Syd" Price, and one of Syd's employees, American manicurist Polly Brown. Freddie wants capital to sell Syd's hair regrowth lotion, Price's Derma Vitalis, invented by Syd's grandfather. Tony notices that Syd resembles the portrait of one of Tony's ancestors. Syd is disrespectful and does not get along with Slingsby. Polly explores the house's grounds and pops out of the bushes suddenly in front of Tony's car; he slams on the brakes, though she is still hit. He carries her into the house, but she is not seriously injured and recovers quickly.

Mrs. Price is emotional and reveals the truth about Tony and Syd: she switched them while they were babies. She first confessed twelve years prior, when Tony was sixteen, and at that time, the fourth Earl of Droitwich and Sir Herbert decided to keep it secret. Tony feels Syd is the rightful Lord Droitwich, but his relatives dislike the uncouth Syd and want to keep things as they are. Polly believes Syd is devoted to his business and would not be happy being an earl. Tony and his family try to pay Syd to relinquish any claim to the title, but Syd refuses. Polly suggests they train Syd to become Lord Droitwich because he will hate it and quit. The family agrees and plans to make things uncomfortable for Syd by making him go riding, attend classical concerts, and so on. Tony is impressed with Polly's ingenuity. He gives Syd the keys to Langley End and his London house, and takes the keys to Syd's barber shop.

Two weeks later, Tony's family and Syd are in London. Freddie's friend "Tubby", Lord Bridgnorth, goes to his usual barber shop, Price's Hygienic Toilet Saloon, off the Brompton Road. A barber named George Christopher Meech informs him a man named Anthony is taking over the shop from Syd. Bridgnorth is engaged to a Luella Beamish, whose father is rich and also bald, so Freddie leaves with Bridgnorth to see Mr. Beamish about Price's hair tonic. Syd visits the barber shop. When Freddie returns in need of a shave, Syd is eager to do the job, but is shortly told by Tony's family to go riding, which Syd hates. Tony takes pity on Syd and admits he does not have to do such tasks, but Syd does not believe him. Violet does not wish to marry a barber and will leave Tony if he tells Syd the truth again. Tony and Polly confess their feelings for each other. Syd returns to the shop disheveled from riding, and is ready to take money to give up his claim on the title, but Tony tells him he can be an earl without riding or concerts. Syd now believes Tony. Yet Violet does not end her engagement to Tony, because Mrs. Price, feeling Syd was happier in his shop, has signed a paper for Sir Herbert denying her story about switching Tony and Syd. Tony burns the paper to end his engagement to Violet.

Another two weeks pass. Tony, now engaged to Polly, is summoned to Langley End by Herbert, who has the family solicitor, J. G. Wetherby, interrogate Mrs. Price. Wetherby suggests she has read too many stories involving the changing of one baby for another and nearly convinces her to sign a paper similar to the one Tony burned, but Mrs. Price is superstitious and stops when she sees a magpie. Syd decides to move the painting that resembles him to keep it safe from Tony's plotting family, and tells footman Charles to bring a ladder. A brawl breaks out as Syd and Slingsby fight over the ladder. However, Freddie announces that Mr. Beamish, who has seen results after using Price's Derma Vitalis, wants to sell it. Mr. Price will be very wealthy, with Freddie earning a commission. Mrs. Price now signs the paper at Syd's urging, ensuring Tony will retain his title.

Fifer Pig, Fiddler Pig and Practical Pig are three brothers who build their own houses. All three of them play a different kind of musical instrument – Fifer the flute, Fiddler the violin and Practical is initially seen as working without rest. Fifer and Fiddler build their straw and stick houses with much ease and have fun all day. Practical, on the other hand, "has no chance to sing and dance 'cause work and play don't mix," focusing on building his strong brick house. Fifer and Fiddler poke fun at him, but Practical warns them when the Wolf comes, they won't be able to escape. Fifer and Fiddler ignore him and continue to play, singing the now famous song, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"

As they are singing, the Big Bad Wolf really comes by, at which point Fifer and Fiddler reveal that they are in fact very afraid of the wolf, so the two pigs each retreat to their respective houses. The Wolf first blows Fifer's house down (except for the roof) with little resistance and Fifer manages to escape and hides at Fiddler's house. The wolf pretends to give up and go home, but returns disguised as an innocent sheep. The pigs see through the disguise, whereupon the Wolf blows Fiddler's house down (except for the door). The two pigs manage to escape and hide at Practical's house, who willingly gives his brothers refuge; in Practical's house, it is revealed that his musical instrument is the piano. The Wolf arrives disguised as a Jewish peddler/Fuller Brush man to trick the pigs into letting him in, but fails. The Wolf then tries to blow down the strong brick house (losing his clothing in the process), but is unable, all while a confident Practical plays melodramatic piano music. Finally, he attempts to enter the house through the chimney, but smart Practical Pig takes off the lid of a boiling pot filled with water (to which he adds turpentine) under the chimney, and the Wolf falls right into it. Shrieking in pain, the Wolf runs away frantically, while the pigs sing ''Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?'' again. Practical then plays a trick by knocking on his piano, causing his brothers to think the Wolf has returned and hide under Practical's bed.

The main story arc centered on Capricia and the other Atlanteans efforts to revive the remaining Atlanteans still in stasis and to find out what happened to the human race, and perhaps to a latter extent how to go through 'transition' themselves. The group go through a series of battles with Negation forces who eventually attempt a full-scale invasion of Earth.

During this time the group come across Australia hidden from the outside world due to a gigantic tachyon supercollider and find a 'transition' portal with humans getting ready to go through. They are attacked by a Negation squad leaving Tug blind for a time. Tug and Verityn then come across a 100,000-year-old Atlantean named Aristophanes, a legend they had heard stories about as children. The group also feels the loss of Gammid to the Negation Universe via 'transition' portal which was meant to lead him and the remaining humans found in Australia to a ''"higher plane of existence"'' but instead takes them to the Negation Universe.

They meet a couple of 'cowboys' who aren't who they appear to be during one of Danik's tests and Terra Cognito feature considerably giving information on Earth and the state of the local galaxy. The twins relationship is explored throughout, detailing their rivalry and their relationship with Zephyre. Capricia and Danik come to an eventual understanding and by the end of the series the motives of Danik are evident throughout all of the Sigilverse titles.

The group eventually revive the remaining Atlanteans just in time to mount an offensive against closing Negation forces. The series ends with the defeat of the Negation invasion of Earth, the mustering of Atlanteans by Danik and Capricia impregnated by Samandahl Rey (Sigil).

Set in a rural environs outside the fictional town of Raupo in New Zealand, the film centres on sheep and cattle farmer Wal Footrot (John Clarke) and his border collie sheepdog named Dog (Peter Rowley). Wal is assisted on his farm, Footrot Flats, by his nature-loving neighbour Cooch Windgrass (Peter Hayden), local boy Rangi Jones (Rawiri Paratene) and Wal's niece Pongo Footrot (Fiona Samuel).

Wal and Cooch are menaced by their unpleasant neighbours, the Murphys, comprising patriarch Irish (Peter Hayden) and his two sons Spit (Brian Sergent) and Hunk (Marshall Napier), who attempt to steal Cooch's deer and stag. When the Murphys buzz Wal's shearing shed from their "deer slayer" helicopter, Dog is stampeded into a sheep dip and starts to drown. This prompts a flashback sequence in which Dog recalls being given as a puppy to Wal by Aunt Dolly (Dorothy McKegg), and first meeting his future girlfriend Jess.

Wal's two non-farming preoccupations are his girlfriend, local hairdresser Cheeky Hobson (Fiona Samuel), and impressing a selector for New Zealand's national rugby team, the All Blacks. Dog opposes Wal's relationship with Cheeky, but has problems of his own when Jess is swept away in a flood and ends up at the Murphys' farm, where she is threatened by rats and ferocious "croco-pigs". Dog saves Jess from the rats, but the two dogs are then hunted by Irish Murphy. Meanwhile, Rangi has managed to get Wal away from a rugby game and over to the Murphys' farm. Dog and Jess end up floating out toward the sea on a raft with the fearless cat Horse, who has been shot by Irish. Rangi and Wal rescue Jess, but Dog and Horse are swept out to sea. Wal, Rangi, Pongo, Cooch and Jess rush to the beach but cannot see Dog or Horse. The two are given up for dead, before surfing in on a giant wave that dumps them ashore. The film ends by showing the Dog and Jess as proud parents of a litter of puppies.

Sandusky, Ohio, 1984: Eric Hunter is a Eurythmics-obsessed, musically driven teenager coming to terms with his sexual identity. When Eric and his best friend, Maggie, accept summer jobs in food service at the local amusement park, they befriend their lesbian manager, Angie, and a gay college student named Rod. Sparks fly between the two boys, even as Maggie waits patiently in the wings for Eric's affections. Eric and Rod eventually go on a date that ends at a motel, but then Rod promptly heads back to Ohio State. The encounter leaves Eric to have mixed feelings, but he is now more sure of his sexuality.

After beginning his senior year of high school, Eric starts to change up his appearance by letting Maggie dye the top half of his hair blonde, and wearing edgier and more effeminate clothes. This raises eyebrows with his loving parents, but Eric learns that his mom is going to get a part-time job at a local movie multiplex to help send him to study music in New York. While at a party with Maggie, several guys from their school call Eric gay slurs that cause him to leave. Later that night, Eric ventures out to the local gay disco "The Universal", a hopping joint run by none other than his old boss, Angie, who tells him not to worry about what everyone else thinks. He dances with a guy who takes him out to his car where the guy gives Eric a rim job, but then leaves shortly afterwards. Stung by a meaningless sexual experience, he calls Rod, who at first seems happy to hear from him, but then tells Eric that he probably shouldn't call him anymore. Eric then goes to Maggie's house where he finally tells her that he is gay. Maggie does not seem to be that surprised since she suspected Eric's relationship with Rod, but she comforts him nevertheless.

Eric starts visiting the bar frequently, where he feels accepted by Angie and her close circle of friends. While waiting to meet up with Maggie one night, Eric clicks with a local college student named Jonathan. When Maggie finally comes to the club, she is heckled by Angie's friends for being Eric's "fag hag", and leaves. He follows Maggie, but she is really upset at Eric for previously leading her on. Eric goes back to the club to find Jonathan, only to discover that he is already gone. He goes to the Ohio State dorms in hopes of finding him, but decides to find Rod instead. They go back to Rod's room where they have sex. Eric is shown to be uncomfortable during it, and leaves after Rod falls asleep.

When Eric goes home, he is ambushed by his mother, Bonnie, about his recent behavior and appearance, and says that people are getting the wrong idea about him. Eric leaves, and goes to see Angie. While at her house, Angie explains to Eric that it's difficult to accept yourself for who you really are, and that he should give himself some time. He reconciles with Maggie, but quickly realizes that it was a mistake after sleeping together. Crestfallen at his rejection and his willingness to toy with her affections, Maggie ends the friendship. After she leaves, Eric's mother confronts him about a pair of matches she found in his clothes that were from the bar. He quickly denies ever going to the Universal, and leaves. When Eric finally comes home, he finds his mother playing on the piano. He comes out to her; feeling a weight being lifted off his shoulders.

Eric later goes back to the bar just as Angie begins to sing. The film ends with Eric and Jonathan reunited as they watch Angie perform. It is loosely implied that after high school, he will go off to New York City for college and live the life he wants to live.

Two weeks before the ''Ares'' is scheduled to leave Mars, Captain Harrison sends American chemist Dick Jarvis and French biologist "Frenchy" Leroy to retrieve the film Jarvis took before his auxiliary rocket crashed into the Thyle highlands the week before. Along the way, the Earthmen stop at the city of the cart creatures and the site of the pyramid building creature for Leroy to take some samples. After picking up the film canisters from the crashed rocket at Thyle II, the two men fly east to Thyle I to look for signs of the birdlike Martian, Tweel.

Near a canal, the men find a strange, deserted city thousands of years old. The buildings are inhabited by birdlike Martians of Tweel's species, including Tweel himself, and Jarvis and the Martian enjoy a happy reunion. Jarvis persuades Tweel to guide them through the city.

In one building, they come across a ratlike being hunched over a Martian book (this species recurs in ''The Mad Moon''). Tweel angrily chases the rat-thing away and replaces the book on a shelf, though the Earthmen are not sure whether the rat-thing was reading the book or eating it. Elsewhere in the building, which seems to be a library, Tweel shows the Earthmen a huge mural of a human kneeling before a seated Martian. When Leroy remarks that the Martian in the mural looks like the Egyptian god Thoth, Tweel excitedly repeats the name, pointing to itself and all around them at the city. The Earthmen realize that Tweel's people, the Thoth, had visited ancient Egypt and served as inspiration for the Ibis-headed god. (This is actually anachronistic, since Thoth was the classical Greek version of the god's name.)

Over the next three days, Tweel shows the Earthmen around the city, including a solar-powered pumping station designed to move water down the canal. Finally, a mile south of the ancient Martian city, the Earthmen find a valley filled with dream-beasts. As the dream-beasts mesmerize them, the two Earthmen see everything they have ever desired spread out before them, and rush forward helplessly. Tweel attacks one of the dream-beasts, momentarily freeing Jarvis. The Earthman kills the dream-beast with a pistol shot, then kills another that is attacking Leroy, and the three of them flee the valley. Jarvis and Leroy return to their rocket to recover from their encounter with the dream-beasts.

Before returning to the ''Ares'', as a parting gift, the Earthmen take Tweel to the wreck of the other rocket, and give it the rocket's atomic power plant. In time, the Thoth will be able to master atomic power, and will no longer be dependent on solar power to run their civilization.

Due to a miscalculation by Sergeant Wilson, the platoon are lost in a thunderstorm miles from anywhere. Jones informs Captain Mainwaring that his van only has half a gallon of petrol left (Walker had been unable to get the ink dry on the petrol coupons in time), so Mainwaring decides to shelter in a house nearby. Mainwaring has a slight head cold, so Jones restrains him from going out in the rain fearing he might catch pneumonia. The platoon march to the house holding a tarpaulin sheet above their heads. However, when Pike rings the doorbell, he lets go of his corner and ends up soaked.

Once at the house, they find that the front door is open, the electricity is off and the fire is still burning. Strangely, the house appears to be completely deserted. Frazer starts to get the impression that it is haunted. Pike has to change out of his wet clothes, so ends up wearing the vest of a flag-bearer's uniform and a bear-skin rug (which has a bear's head on it). Suddenly, they hear the sound of hounds howling. Mainwaring tells them not to be worried, and they go upstairs to find somewhere to sleep.

Once in a bedroom, Mainwaring claims a single bed for himself, informing the others to sleep in the main double bed (NCOs at the top, other ranks at the bottom), on the couch and in a chair by the fireplace. However, Jones feels Mainwaring's bed, claims it is damp and refuses to let him sleep there until he has warmed it up. Jones puts a bed warmer in the sheets, but unfortunately sets it on fire. The platoon try to blow it out with pillows, but just end up with feathers everywhere. Mainwaring tips a basin of water over the bed and Sponge tells Pike to get some more. Mainwaring is annoyed at Jones for ruining his bed, and tells Frazer to shut the door. Frazer does so just as Pike is coming through with more water, and he ends up soaked again.

Later, as everybody is asleep, Pike wakes up Wilson (who gets a fright at the sight of the bearskin), and asks him if he can come into bed with him. Wilson says to ask Mainwaring, so Pike wakes up Jones and gets him to ask Mainwaring if he can come into bed; however, Mainwaring refuses because there is no room. Pike then asks Wilson whether he can accompany him to wash his hands and clean his teeth. Wilson reluctantly agrees, but only after Pike threatens to tell his mother if he doesn't come. Meanwhile, Godfrey wakes up Frazer because he needs to visit the bathroom. Frazer refuses to accompany him due to there being too many unnatural causes, so Godfrey wakes up Mainwaring, who also refuses, so he wakes up Jones, who agrees, and they set off and meet Pike and Wilson coming back around a corner, frightening both parties.

Later, Pike, still unable to sleep, is woken up by the sound of heavy boots coming up the stairs. He warns the others, and they turn out the candles. The boots come towards the bedroom. The door opens slowly to reveal an upper-class accented officer, Captain Cadbury, who is surprised to find them in his bedroom.

In the morning, the platoon are having breakfast. It turns out that the house is a dog training school, and that Cadbury, the school's administrator, had left to fix the generator. Pike ends up wearing a German uniform that they use for training purposes as his uniform is still wet. Outside, Cadbury shows them the dogs, pointing out one, Prince 439, who is a troublemaker. The platoon set off to get some petrol, each carrying an empty gin bottle.

While out in the countryside, Cadbury informs them that the dogs are only half-trained and that they have not been taught how not to tear their victim to pieces. Walker then notices that the noise of the hounds is getting louder, and they realise the dogs must have got out. Cadbury then realises that they must be tracking them, because Pike's uniform is covered in aniseed. Thus, after Pike nearly rubs the aniseed on Mainwaring, the platoon make a run for it, carrying Godfrey aboard a sheep hurdle. Once they reach a stream, Mainwaring tells the platoon that dogs cannot follow a scent across water, so Pike is made to cross downstream. Mainwaring refuses to get his feet wet, and is carried across on the hurdle. Meanwhile, Pike falls in the river, once again getting soaked.

Once across, the platoon relax. However, Mainwaring's plan has failed as the hounds have followed them and they continue running. In the end, Mainwaring, Wilson, Frazer and Godfrey hide in a tool shed while the others climb trees. Cadbury suggests that Pike should throw his clothes down to the dogs, meaning that Pike is forced by Mainwaring to strip naked or else he will put him on a charge. Pike subsequently covers his genitals and backside with two small bags. This allows the platoon to escape and they continue their walk, with Pike wearing a potato sack and the German helmet.

Having been fired out of the giant Columbiad space gun, the Baltimore Gun Club's bullet-shaped projectile, along with its three passengers, Barbicane, Nicholl and Michel Ardan, begins the five-day trip to the Moon. A few minutes into the journey, a small, bright asteroid passes within a few hundred yards of them, but does not collide with the projectile. The asteroid had been captured by the Earth's gravity and had become a second moon.

The three travelers undergo a series of adventures and misadventures during the rest of the journey, including disposing of the body of a dog out a window, suffering intoxication by gases, and making calculations leading them, briefly, to believe that they are to fall back to Earth. During the latter part of the voyage, it becomes apparent that the gravitational force of their earlier encounter with the asteroid has caused the projectile to deviate from its course.

The projectile enters lunar orbit, rather than landing on the Moon as originally planned. Barbicane, Ardan and Nicholl begin geographical observations with opera glasses. The projectile then dips over the northern hemisphere of the Moon, into the darkness of its shadow. It is plunged into extreme cold, before emerging into the light and heat again. They then begin to approach the Moon's southern hemisphere. From the safety of their projectile, they gain spectacular views of Tycho, one of the greatest of all craters on the Moon. The three men discuss the possibility of life on the Moon, and conclude that it is barren. The projectile begins to move away from the Moon, towards the 'dead point' (the place at which the gravitational attraction of the Moon and Earth becomes equal). Michel Ardan hits upon the idea of using the rockets fixed to the bottom of the projectile (which they were originally going to use to deaden the shock of landing) to propel the projectile towards the Moon and hopefully cause it to fall onto it, thereby achieving their mission.

When the projectile reaches the point of neutral attraction, the rockets are fired, but it is too late. The projectile begins a fall onto the Earth from a distance of , and it is to strike the Earth at a speed of , the same speed at which it left the mouth of the Columbiad. All hope seems lost for Barbicane, Nicholl and Ardan. Four days later, the crew of a US Navy vessel, ''Susquehanna'', spots a bright meteor fall from the sky into the sea. This turns out to be the returning projectile. A rescue operation is assembled, intending to raise the capsule from a depth of 20,000 feet, using diving bells and steam-powered grappling claws. After several days of fruitless searches, all hope is lost and the rescue party heads home. On the way back, a lookout spots a strange shining buoy. Only then do the rescuers realize that the hollow alluminium projectile had positive buoyancy and thus must have surfaced after impact. The 'buoy' turns out to be the projectile and three men inside are found to be alive and well. They are treated to lavish homecoming celebrations as the first people to leave Earth.

After Simon Templar intercepts a mysterious message intended for a jewel-smuggling ring during a trip to Spain, he and his sidekick Hoppy Uniatz follow the message's trail to Tenerife, Canary Islands where they rescue an elderly Dutch diamond cutter and his daughter from being beaten to death.

Templar learns that the old man is a reluctant member of the smuggling ring and, assisted by the daughter, sets out to bring down the gang. Things become more complicated when Templar learns that the man had been in possession of a lottery ticket worth the equivalent of $2 million, and that this ticket is now missing. So not only does The Saint have to rescue the diamond cutter and his daughter from the smuggling ring, he also has to track down the missing lottery ticket, which has sparked instability within the gang. Soon after, Hoppy and the diamond cutter go missing.

Templar, using his frequent "Sebastian Tombs" cover name, infiltrates the gang, posing as a freelance diamond cutter who is hired to replace the old man. (This despite the fact that Templar hasn't the slightest idea as to how to cut diamonds.) From within the gang, Templar plans to start the members double-crossing each other, but finds his work is already half done thanks to that missing lottery ticket.

Some later editions of this book include an afterword entitled "The Last Word" in which Charteris invites readers to join The Saint Club, a fan club that he founded in the 1930s. The annual dues for the club, Charteris writes, went to support the Arbour Youth Club located in east London, which at the time Charteris composed "The Last Word" was still recovering from the Blitz of World War II.

A gangster who operates a sleazy dance hall uses a sadistic bodyguard to keep his girls afraid and his customers in line. A merchant marine seaman is found murdered and suspicion falls upon the operator of a dime-a-dance honky tonk joint. A federal undercover agent is planted in the place to gather evidence, and he soon learns that the dive is only a cover-up for diamond-smuggling activities, and that one of the operation's henchmen, who is handy with a switch-blade knife, is the killer. Before they can be arrested, the henchman kills his boss and is shot while trying to escape.

Several months after the events in Sercia, V.S.S.E. agent Richard Miller is informed by his superiors that Caruban president Xavier Serrano has been publicly assassinated by a man dressed like him. With no evidence to the contrary, V.S.S.E. is prepared to extradite Miller to Caruba to stand trial in 48 hours. With only that much time to prove his innocence, Miller is alerted to the presence of an undercover agent codenamed Abacus who can help him obtain the information he needs.

Meanwhile, Kantaris, the arms dealer Miller supposedly killed in a previous mission, discovers that her secretary Marisa Soleli is in fact Abacus. Unable to determine the extent of what she knows, Kantaris has Abacus taken on board her private yacht to be interrogated by her new security chief Zeus Bertrand. Miller parachutes aboard and makes his way down to the crew's quarters, where he fights a crazed chef in the kitchen. Locating and dueling Bertrand in the engine room, Miller takes him out and rescues Abacus, who reveals that a Caruban anti-government militant named Ricardo Blanco was the real killer.

Escaping the yacht by chopper just as Kantaris destroys it with explosives, Miller gets Abacus to safety before hopping a flight to Caruba International Airport. There, he fights his way through Blanco's men until he gets picked up by Abacus's contact, who takes him to Blanco's mansion. Blanco and his surviving allies fight Miller in a pitched battle in the back, dying one by one until only Blanco stands. Wounded, he tries to escape, but is immediately gunned down by Wild Dog, who survived his apparent death but lost his left arm, which he replaced with a gatling gun. A dying Blanco reveals Dog's hideout is in an abandoned nuclear research station on Rio Oro island.

Infiltrating Rio Oro and defeating Dog's men, Richard destroys a weaponized drilling machine sent to kill him. He then discovers Serrano is alive and well, having been kept by Dog as a bargaining chip after his death was faked. The president reveals Dog and Kantaris are conspiring to mine his country's rich titanium resources so that they can build mechanized battlesuits, under the name "Project Titan". Serrano gives Miller the project blueprints before making his escape. Richard acquires a speedboat and makes his way to the excavation site.

Engaging the surviving mercenaries in the ruins, Miller is eventually confronted by Dog, who leaves two Titans codenamed Deimos and Neimos to kill him. Defeating them in a thrilling fight, Miller then takes on Dog himself, damaging his gun arm. A defiant Dog activates the majority of his Titan army before making his escape via helicopter. A few well-aimed shots from Miller disable the chopper, causing it to crash into the assembled Titans and destroy them.

His name finally cleared, Miller declines an award from President Serrano in favor of tracking down Kantaris. He is last seen driving down a lone road as the sun sets in the background.

Book One

A larenzu, Rumail Deslucido, arrives at Verdanta Castle, to make an alliance between Verdanta and his brother, Damian Deslucido, the ambitious king of Ambervale and Linn. Rumail tests each of the children for ''laran'', then arranges a proxy marriage between the youngest daughter, Kristlin (who dies about a year later). He sends the youngest son, Coryn, to Tramontana Tower.

At Tramontana, Coryn learns to control his laran, and to put aside his differences with the rival Storn family. The Tower's keeper, Kieran, believes that the Towers should be neutral in the many petty wars of the Hundred Kingdoms, and should not supply ''laran'' weapons to anyone.

Rumail Deslucido and his brother King Damian scheme to control more of the minor kingdoms of the Hellers, hoping eventually to challenge the Hasturs of the lowlands. Rumail reveals his ''laran'' ability – lying under truthspell and twisting the minds of others to do the same. Eventually, Rumail is dismissed from Neskaya Tower for immoral or illegal use of ''laran''.

Book Two

cover of the paperback reprint Taniquel Hastur-Acosta experiences a premonition of danger moments before Deslucido attacks Acosta Castle. The castle falls, but Taniquel escapes. In the forest, she meets Coryn, who gives her some of his supplies. After several days, they separate – she bound for Thendara and he for Neskaya.

Taniquel reaches Thendara, and describes these events to her uncle, King Rafael Hastur II. A month or so later, minor nobles from the Acosta region arrive to request Hastur protection from Deslucido. Taniquel agrees to ride at the head of the army in the name of her unborn son. She foresees that Deslucido will eventually bring his armies to Hastur's doorstep.

Damian Deslucido requests that the Comyn Council return Taniquel to his control. Under the power of his brother's ability to defeat ''truthspell'', he lies convincingly. Taniquel tells her uncle what she has observed (Deslucido says she was allowed to sit vigil with her late husband, but in reality, she was locked in her room). Ultimately, King Rafael believes her and supports her claim. It is clear that Deslucido will declare war on Hastur.

Book Three

Aran, a matrix worker at Tramontana, informs Coryn that war is coming, and that the two towers must cease contact. Coryn urges his Neskaya colleagues to refuse to make laran weapons, such as clingfire.

Belisar Deslucido's forces are defeated in battle by the Hastur forces. Rumail, meanwhile, intends to deploy a ''laran'' weapon, but the Hastur ''laranzu’in'' explode the device early. Belisar deserts his dying men. Rumail survives, owing to compassionate assistance from the Hastur ''laranzu’in'', and makes his way back to his brother.

Coryn leads Rafael Hastur's forces through the mountains at Verdanta, freeing his siblings from Deslucido's men. They gather local men to join the fight. Coryn's sister, Margarida, leaves for Thendara to join the Sisterhood of the Sword.

Book Four

Coryn returns to Neskaya Tower and urges his colleagues to join Hastur's cause.

Damian Deslucido learns that Verdanta Castle has been freed by Hastur. He marches out to meet the Hastur army. Taniquel, as regent queen of Acosta, joins the Hastur forces. They come under laran attack from Tramontana Tower, which Rumail now controls, but are able to throw off the veil of confusion. Taniquel ventures into the Overworld to organizes a counterattack by Hali and Neskaya Towers.

Neskaya and Tramontana attack each other in the Overworld. Rumail believes that a post-hypnotic suggestion he has implanted in Coryn years earlier will prevent Coryn from acting against him. Coryn is able to overcome Rumail, and Tramontana tower crumbles. Neskaya begins to crumble also.

Book Five

In battle, Taniquel takes Belisar Deslucido prisoner. She demands to know if he, also, has the ability to lie under truthspell. He confirms that he does. She learns that his father, Damian, has also been captured. Taniquel recommends to King Rafael that both be executed to wipe out the ''laran'' trait for lying under ''truthspell''. After an audience with both men, Rafael comes to agree with Taniquel, and has them hung.

Taniquel learns that contact with Neskaya has been lost. She and her men ride to Neskaya and learn that the tower has collapsed. The surviving tower workers tell her that Coryn is trapped in the Overworld.

Taniquel enters the Overworld in an attempt to free Coryn. She encounters what's left of Rumail Deslucido, and he tries to kill her, but fails. She finds Coryn but learns that he cannot leave the Overworld with his ''laran'' intact. She asks him to choose, and he chooses to return to the world with her.

Taniquel returns to Acosta, as regent for her infant son, with Coryn at her side as consort and paxman.

Epilogue

A ragged man, apparently Rumail Deslucido, arrives in a small village along the Kadarin River, with vengeance on his mind.

As the film opens, two mysterious white circles are moving about on a solid black background. As they move, a woman's voice says they must obtain human bodies to carry out their mission.

Live action then begins with a man and woman leaving a beach near Cape Canaveral, Florida. The circles descend on them, causing their car to crash. Both are killed. But their bodies suddenly jerk back to life as they're taken over by the white circles, which are actually extraterrestrials. The woman's face is badly cut from smashing into the windshield and the man's left arm has been torn off. When they exit the wrecked car, the male alien, Hauron (Jason Jackson), leaves his severed arm behind. The woman alien, Nadja (Katherine Victor), retrieves it and tells him that she'll sew it back on at the laboratory, in an artificial cave they've built as their headquarters.

When Hauron reconnoiters Cape Canaveral one night, an MP's guard dogs attack him and tear off his recently reattached arm. Nonetheless, he uses his "disruptor ray" to shoot down the rockets as soon as they're launched. The rocket scientists, who don't know about the extraterrestrials, work diligently to try to understand why their rockets are exploding.

Meanwhile, Tom Wright (Scott Peters) and Sally Markham (Linda Connell), who both work at the launch site, go on a double-date with their friends Bob (Gary Travis) and Shirley (Thelaine Williams). Tom says that the static coming in over a transistor radio means that an illegal transmitter is operating nearby and theorizes that it may have something to do with the launch failures. He and Sally search for the transmitter, but can't find it.

The four go back another night to look again, but while Tom and Sally are searching, Bob and Shirley are kidnapped by Hauron and Nadja. Bob dies during his capture, so Nadja removes his arm and grafts it onto Hauron. She says Bob had a handsome chin and replaces Hauron's scarred chin with it. Shirley and Bob are both transmitted to the aliens' planet, even though Bob is dead and the aliens have been admonished about sending dead or otherwise damaged specimens.

Not knowing that Shirley and Bob have already been transmitted, Tom and Sally find the cave and are captured. They're kept intact, although held in place by an electronic device. Tom frees himself after discovering he can disable the device by waving his wristwatch's radium dial at it. He goes for help, but leaves Sally behind, forcing him to return because she is still a captive.

Help arrives in the form of sheriff's deputies, Army personnel and rocket scientists. They demand that Nadja and Hauron surrender themselves, but they're captured en masse. Hauron and Nadja incapacitate them, then revert to circle form to transmit themselves home. But before they're able to, the captives awaken. Tom, and Sally's father, the head rocket scientist, concoct a method to prevent the extraterrestrials from transmitting themselves. The humans escape from the cave just before a powerful explosion destroys it. They congratulate each other because Sally and Tom have been rescued and now the space program is safe.

But just as it appears that all is well, Sally and the chief deputy (Lyle Felisse) get into his patrol car. As they drive out of camera range, the tires screech, there are the sounds of a crash and Sally screams. The two white circles on a black background reappear, exactly as at the start of the film. Are the aliens still here?

A peaceful moonlight drive in the English countryside is interrupted when Simon Templar and Patricia Holm listen to a disturbing radio broadcast from France by a would-be dictator who plans to make it the latest in a growing number of European dictatorships under a ruling party, the Sons of France. This broadcast disturbs Patricia, and Templar makes a dire (and, as it will turn out, accurate) prediction that the future of Europe will be one of invasions and concentration camps.

The two adventurers are interrupted in their worries when they spot a house on fire in the distance. Rushing to help, Templar enters the burning building but is unable to rescue a man trapped inside. Later, he and Patricia learn that one of the occupants of the house is a known war profiteer, who is expected to make millions off both sides if a new European war erupts.

Templar, examining the facts of the fire and the man's death, comes to the conclusion that he was murdered. When he is later called to testify at a coroner's inquest into the death, Templar is disturbed to see an obvious whitewash underway that attempts to label the death as accidental. Templar launches his own investigation into the death, which gets off to a bad start when one of his targets is murdered, and Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Claud Eustace Teal catches Templar leaning over the dead body.

Now firmly intrigued, Templar continues his investigations, which lead him on the trail of an assassination plot designed to spark a Second World War, a clue to which is provided from beyond the grave.

The book's cover indicates this plot element, portraying the Saint as trying to close a door through which armed soldiers are trying to enter.

''Prelude for War'', in retrospect, can be seen as a prelude for Templar's later work on behalf of the war effort, as chronicled in ''The Saint in Miami'' and succeeding books written and set during World War II.

The novel takes place in the respectable, fictional parish of Bowick, Victorian England, with the main plot concerning itself with the renowned Dr. Wortle's Christian seminary academy. The community's morals are outraged and the school's credibility wounded upon the discovery that Mr. and Mrs. Peacocke, a respectable English scholar and an American woman, hired to the academy by Wortle, are indeed improperly married. Their wedlock was rendered asunder by their chance meeting, some years prior, of Mrs. Peacocke's first husband, an abusive drunkard named Colonel Ferdinand Lefroy. Hearing that an ambiguous Colonel Lefroy was killed during the Civil War, the two believed it was Ferdinand, because Ferdinand's brother told them so and they married. Yet it is their strange persistence in living as husband and wife, even after the shocking revelation that Ferdinand was actually alive, that creates a scandal. Wortle, though religious, sympathises with the Peacockes and is understanding of their love for each other and hatred for Colonel Lefroy. The book is thus of the interest in providing multiple stories: that of Wortle's attempt to rebuild his reputation, provide rebuttal for malicious slander and all the while insist he was right in hiring the Peacockes; Mr. Peacocke's journey to America in search of Ferdinand's true status; the sexual concerns of the Wortles' daughter Mary and the insights of the community members who see the intentional bigamy as a sin.

Scientist Phillip Werren's daughter, Gabrielle, is killed in unexplained circumstances, and Phillip is charged with her murder and hanged by Judge Rothenbush. Dr. Frankenstein believes that life is created by a mysterious energy called "Energy L", and that a compound he has discovered called "lifestone" can be used to channel Energy L and reanimate deceased tissue. After several failed attempts at this process, he brings Phillip back to life in his laboratory. His memories hazy, Phillip explores Frankenstein's castle, collecting his notes in order to recreate the process by which he reanimates the dead. During his exploration Phillip unknowingly releases a second Frankenstein monster from captivity and comes across another of the doctor's experiments, a talking reanimated hand called Dirt. Enraged that Phillip has been stealing his notes, Frankenstein throws him in the dungeon and tortures him.

Phillip escapes the dungeon and resumes his exploration, discovering documents which note that before his death, he had developed a protein cream that could regenerate damaged tissue. Frankenstein was funding his research, which served as the foundation for Frankenstein's discovery of Energy L. Phillip also discovers notes that connect Dr. Frankenstein to the corrupt Judge Rothenbush and reveal that Frankenstein was sexually attracted to Phillip's late wife.

Phillip confronts Dr. Frankenstein about his discoveries, but Frankenstein draws his gun and Phillip flees. He is aided in escape by Sara, a woman from a nearby village who has come to the castle to ask Frankenstein for help in finding her sister, one of several children who have gone missing throughout various villages and towns. It is revealed that Vladimir, who has been supplying Frankenstein with illegal materials, has been working with Judge Rothenbush and that the judge is behind the disappearances of the children, though his motives are never explained. Frankenstein is disgusted with this conspiracy and plants a bomb to kill both Vladimir and the judge. Phillip and Sara attempt to stop the bomb, but fail. Gabrielle, who was among the disappeared children, is killed in the explosion.

Phillip attempts to finally recreate Frankenstein's lifestone materials and procedure in order to resurrect Gabrielle. The game has multiple endings depending on whether the player recreates the operation correctly as well as whether Sara is saved from the second monster and from a castle trap.

If the player succeeds in resurrecting Gabrielle, the two escape Frankenstein's castle and start a new life together. If the player fails to save Gabrielle, Phillip is locked in Frankenstein's dungeon forever and Gabrielle's body is put into storage for future experiments. If the player manages to keep Sara alive, she reunites with her sister and tries to expose Judge Rothenbush's corrupt dealings, but nobody believes her. If the player fails to save Sara, she too is placed into storage for future experimentation by Frankenstein. Regardless of the player's actions, Vladimir and Judge Rothenbush survive Frankenstein's bomb and both flee the doctor's wrath.

On December 6, 1941, at Hamilton Field, near San Francisco, the crew of the ''Mary-Ann'', a U.S. Army Air Corps B-17C, are ordered across the Pacific to Hawaii, one of a flight of nine Flying Fortress bombers.

Master Sergeant Robbie White, the ''Mary-Ann'' s crew chief, is a long-time veteran, whose son Danny is an officer and pursuit (fighter) pilot. The navigator, Lieutenant Monk Hauser Jr., is the son of a hero of the World War I Lafayette Escadrille. The pilot is Michael "Irish" Quincannon Sr., the co-pilot is Bill Williams, and the bombardier is Tom McMartin. Sergeant Joe Winocki is a disgruntled gunner who, as an aviation cadet in 1938, washed out of flight school after he caused a mid-air collision in which another cadet was killed. Quincannon was the flight instructor who requested a board of inquiry into the accident.

With the United States still neutral, the ''Mary-Ann'' and the other B-17s fly, fully equipped except for ammunition, to Hickam Field. They arrive on December 7, 1941, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In its aftermath, the tired crew is ordered, with little rest, to fly first to Wake Island, and finally to Clark Field in the Philippines, both also still under Japanese attack. En route, the crew listens to President Franklin D. Roosevelt ask Congress for a declaration of war. They take along two passengers: fighter pilot Lieutenant Thomas "Tex" Rader and a small dog, "Tripoli", the Marines' mascot on Wake Island.

When they land at Clark Field, White learns that his son was killed while trying to lead his squadron into the air during the first attack. Soon after, Quincannon volunteers his bomber (the only one available) to attack a Japanese invasion fleet, but the ''Mary-Ann'' is swarmed by enemy carrier fighters and forced to abort after losing two engines. The fatally wounded Quincannon orders his men to bail out, then he blacks out. Winocki remains aboard and pilots the ''Mary-Ann'' to a successful belly landing when he is unable to lower the landing gear.

Having told the now dying Quincannon that the ''Mary-Ann'' is ready to fly, the crew works feverishly through the night to repair their bomber, scavenging parts from other, damaged B-17s, as the Japanese Army closes in. Chester, the assistant radio operator, volunteers to fly as gunner in a two-seat observation plane. They are caught in an enemy air raid. Chester bails out after the pilot is killed, but is machine-gunned while descending in his parachute, then strafed to death on the ground. Winocki and White shoot down the Zero fighter with .30 caliber machine guns. When the pilot stumbles from the burning wreckage, Winocki shoots him. The crew barely manages to finish the repairs and refueling when the Japanese overrun the airfield. With help from Marines and Army soldiers, ''Mary-Ann'' takes off, her waist machine guns returning fire.

As they head to Australia, with Rader as the reluctant pilot and the wounded Williams as co-pilot, they spot a large Japanese naval invasion task force directly below. The crew radios the enemy's position and circles until reinforcements arrive; the ''Mary-Ann'' then leads the attack that devastates the Japanese fleet (this dramatic sequence mirrors the real events of the Battle of the Coral Sea).

Later in the war, a bombing attack on Tokyo is finally announced to a roomful of bomber crews, among them several familiar faces from the ''Mary-Ann'', including Rader, now a B-17 pilot. As the bombers take off, President Roosevelt offers inspiring words in voice-over, as the air armada heads towards the rising sun.

An accident kills an engineer named Danny McCormack. While repairing a probe, an explosion sends his scout ship out of control and it falls into a nearby black hole. Soon Devlin McCormack arrives to attend the funeral on Cerberus. After the funeral, Devlin receives an anonymous tip that confirms his son was murdered. Devlin vows to kill whoever was responsible for this.

The base is shared by the staff of competing companies - Kobayashi (whom Danny worked for) and Mogami-Hudson. The leader of Kobayashi refuses to let a civilian stay on the station, so Devlin sabotages the navigation computer of one of the shuttles. This forces him to stay until a supply shuttle visits the station sometime in the coming weeks. Unable to gain access to Danny's possessions due to company policy, Devlin instead blackmails a senior officer to get them. He finds some love letters, which to his surprise show his son had a gay lover named Steve Kaufmann. Kaufmann walks in and angrily confronts Devlin over the destructive relationship Devlin had with his son before storming off.

Devlin retires to his quarters for the night but awakes to find out Kaufmann has been murdered. As he was the last person to see him alive, Devlin is arrested and confined to the observatory (as the station lacks a proper brig). He escapes by cutting off the only air vent in the room, which tricks the computer into opening the door to restore the air supply.

After escaping, Devlin discovers unusual eggs on a cargo shuttle. Doctor Chu walks in and reveals herself to be a shape-shifting alien responsible for placing the eggs, with a plan to replace the Cerberus crew and spread themselves throughout the galaxy. Devlin flees, but eventually kills the creature by igniting a fuel tank in the engine room.

Maintenance Officer Meyer arrives after hearing the explosion and, afraid of being fired for incompetence, asks Devlin to keep the engine damage a secret so he can fix the problem without anyone ever knowing. Roland overhears the conversation from outside the room and attempts to escape on the transport, unwittingly carrying the alien eggs with him. Devlin is forced to break into the station's armoury and destroy the ship with Cerberus' laser cannon to prevent the aliens spreading throughout the galaxy.

Devlin is then confronted by an armed and furious Captain Shannon. It turns out Shannon's wife served on Devlin's ship, which was destroyed in the Company Wars, and Shannon believes Devlin left her to die. Shannon arranged Danny's transfer to Cerberus station and sabotaged the probe to kill him, so that Devlin would feel the pain of losing a loved one just as he had. As Shannon is about to kill Devlin, Meyer jumps him from behind and Shannon is shot dead in the struggle.

While this is happening, Ward is in an armed stand-off with the rest of the Kobayashi crew; he witnessed an alien changing from human form and went on a berserk rampage. Brooks impatiently attempts to snatch a grenade from Ward's hand which detonates, making the corridor unstable. Devlin and LaPaz retrieve Brooks' body and seal the corridor from the outside seconds before it de-pressurizes.

The engines on Cerberus need a replacement part which can only be found on the probe which killed Danny. Devlin flies out on a scout shuttle to retrieve the part but while he was out, Mogami-Hudson attempt to kill the aliens by cutting off all life-support on the station. (apart from inside their own labs) Devlin uses the shuttle to bomb Mogami-Hudson's power lines from the outside, returning control of the station to Kobayashi and devastating the Mogami-Hudson lab. Devlin goes looking for survivors and discovers a fatally wounded scientist; before dying, she admits they found the shape-shifting aliens within the asteroid and revived several of them.

Devlin suggests evacuating the station, but Meyer points out the shuttle's navigation computer is still wiped. LaPaz reveals that the pilot (Brooks) has a backup stored in a chip inside her head, which is why LaPaz saved her corpse from being flushed out into space. While Devlin retrieves the chip, Meyer discovers a booby-trap on the shuttle intended for Devlin. Meyer needs time to disarm the trap, so Devlin and LaPaz hunt down and destroy one of the shape-shifters using a corrosive formula developed by Mogami-Hudson. The remaining two return to the shuttle, only for Meyer to tell them Lowe (who disappeared during the hunt) was a shape-shifter whom he had just fought off.

Since Lowe could use the laser cannons to shoot down their craft as they try to leave, the survivors decide to activate the station's self-destruct as it will shut down all systems 30 seconds prior to detonation - including the laser cannons. Devlin sets the self-destruct and booby-traps the switch with a concussion charge. Lowe, attempting to override the self-destruct, is blown up and Devlin races back to the shuttle, which escapes the station as it explodes.

One of Patricia Holm's friends sends an invitation for Patricia and her friend, Simon Templar to visit Miami. Upon arrival, however, The Saint, Patricia and sidekick Hoppy Uniatz discover Pat's friend and her husband are nowhere to be found. The trio take up residence in the friend's house. A few days later, a tanker explodes off the Florida coast, and soon after, Simon discovers the dead body of a sailor washed up on shore; attached to the wrist of the body is a lifebelt from the British submarine H.M.S. ''Triton''. Simon suspects a link between the disappearance of Patricia's friends, the explosion, and a millionaire yachtsman named Randolph March. March's yacht is moored not far from the explosion, and Templar and Hoppy launch the investigation by climbing aboard the yacht, leaving the sailor's corpse in a stateroom for the police to find, and challenging March to give up his secrets. Afterwards, Templar finds himself targeted not only by March, but by an eager local sheriff who proves to be almost as fast-witted as the Saint, himself.

Soon, the Saint uncovers a Nazi ring operating out of Florida.

Category:1940 British novels Category:Simon Templar books Category:Novels by Leslie Charteris Category:Novels set during World War II Category:Novels set in Miami Category:The Crime Club books

The essay chronicles the 1989 season for his son Owen's Little League baseball team, Bangor West. He takes the reader through the ups and downs of the season, giving details of every game, as well as practice sessions and time on the road while focusing on the reactions of the players and the coaches. This builds to the team winning a hard-fought victory in the final game of the tournament to become the Maine State Champions. The team then goes forward to the Eastern Regional Tournament, only to be beaten in the second round. However, the story ends on a high note as the team coach, Dave Mansfield, is honored as amateur coach of the year by the United States Baseball Federation. The team also featured eventual Major League pitcher Matt Kinney.

Following the events of the previous film, a Predator ship leaves Earth carrying Alien facehuggers, and the dead body of Scar, the Yautja that helped Lex defeat the Xenomorph Queen. A chestburster with traits of both species erupts from Scar's body. It quickly matures into an adult Predalien and starts killing the Predators on board (in the extended cut, this happens on a scout ship that has been detached from the mother ship). A Predator's weapon punctures the hull and the ship crashes in the forest outside of Gunnison, Colorado, killing all but one of the Predators, who is severely injured and sends a distress signal before being killed by the Predalien.

The Predalien and several facehuggers escape, implanting embryos into a nearby father and son who are out hunting in the forest, as well as several homeless people who live in the sewers. On the Predator homeworld, a skilled veteran Predator, Wolf, receives the signal and takes it upon himself to travel to Earth to hunt and kill the Xenomorphs. He arrives at the crashed Predator ship, uses a blue acid-like liquid to dissolve and erase evidence of Xenomorphs' presence, and triggers an implosion to completely destroy the vessel.

Meanwhile, ex-convict Dallas Howard has just returned to Gunnison after serving time in prison. He is greeted by Sheriff Eddie Morales and reunites with his younger brother Ricky. Ricky has a romantic interest in his classmate Jesse, but is constantly harassed by her boyfriend Dale and his two friends. Kelly O'Brien has also just returned to Gunnison after serving in the US Army's 101st Airborne Division, and reunites with her husband Tim and daughter Molly. Darcy Benson, the wife of the killed father, begins searching for her missing husband and son. Meanwhile, local waitress Carrie Adams discovers she is pregnant, but her police officer husband, Ray, is killed by Wolf after witnessing Wolf dissolving the bodies of Darcy's husband and son while he was searching for them in the forest. Wolf skins his corpse and hangs him upside down from a tree branch for sport.

Wolf tracks several Xenomorphs in the sewer and defeats two of them, but as the battle reaches the surface, four disperse into the town. Wolf pursues some to the power plant, where collateral damage from his dual plasma-caster weapons causes a citywide power outage. Ricky and Jesse meet at the high school swimming pool but are interrupted by Dale and his cohorts just as the power goes out, and a Xenomorph enters the pool area, killing Dale's friends. Another Xenomorph invades the O'Brien home, killing Tim while Kelly escapes with Molly. After the fry cook at the local diner where Carrie works is attacked by Xenomorphs, Carrie is also attacked after hearing the cook's screams, and is impregnated by the Predalien with multiple chestbursters. Darcy discovers her body in horror, but Sheriff Morales arrives and brings her with him.

Kelly, Molly, Ricky, Jesse, Dale, Dallas, and Sheriff Morales gather at a sporting goods store to collect weapons. Troops from the Colorado Army National Guard arrive but are quickly slaughtered by Xenomorphs. Wolf briefly captures Dallas inside the store to use as bait to lure Xenomorphs, but Dallas escapes. Several Xenomorphs arrive and Wolf handily defeats them. Dale is killed by a Xenomorph during the battle and one of Wolf's shoulder plasma-casters is damaged. He removes his remaining one and modifies it into a hand-held blaster.

As the survivors attempt to escape Gunnison, they make radio contact with Colonel Stevens, and are told that an air evacuation is being staged at the center of town. Dallas and Kelly are skeptical since going there would cause them to become surrounded by Xenomorphs, so they, along with Ricky, Jesse, Molly and a few others go for the helicopter at the hospital to get out of town, while Sheriff Morales and Darcy head to the evacuation zone. However, the hospital has been invaded and overrun by Xenomorphs and the Predalien, who has impregnated some pregnant women to breed more Xenomorphs, by filling each with multiple, fast growing embryos. Wolf soon arrives at the hospital where he dispatches more Xenomorphs and, during the battle, the Predator accidentally impales Jesse with one of his shuriken weapons. Distraught, Ricky rushes Wolf with rifle fire only to be injured by the Predalien. The Predator is attacked by a Xenomorph and both tumble down an elevator shaft. Dallas takes possession of Wolf's plasma blaster.

Dallas, Ricky, Kelly, and Molly reach the roof and fight off several Xenomorphs before escaping in the helicopter, while Wolf, having survived the fall, battles the Predalien on the roof in hand-to-hand combat. Wolf and the Predalien mortally wound each other just as a military jet arrives. Rather than a rescue mission, the F-22 Raptor executes a tactical nuclear strike that levels the entire city to ensure the aliens' deaths, instantly killing Sheriff Morales, Darcy, and everyone else gathered at ground zero. The shock wave causes the fleeing helicopter to crash in a clearing, where the survivors are rescued by the military. Wolf's plasma blaster is confiscated, and Colonel Stevens presents it to Ms. Yutani.

In Washington, D.C., a young woman whose father has invented a new form of synthetic rubber requests Simon Templar's aid when she receives a threatening note. Before long, The Saint is drawn into a web of war-related intrigue involving what appear to be gangsters, but soon turns out to be groups with differing opinions as to what it takes to be patriotic. The book reveals that, instead of enlisting to fight in the war, Templar has instead been working behind the scenes, carrying out quiet missions against enemy agents and, unusually for the character, his efforts in this case are actually supported by law enforcement.

This is the third Saint book in a row to be set in the United States (previously most of Templar's adventures took place in England), following ''The Saint in Miami'' and ''The Saint Goes West'', and direct reference is made to the Miami novel.

Major de Beaujolais leads a French Foreign Legion battalion across the Sahara desert to relieve Fort Zinderneuf, reportedly besieged by Arabs. When he arrives, he receives no response from the Legionnaires manning the walls, only a single shot. He realizes they are dead. The trumpeter volunteers to scale the wall and open the gate, but after waiting 15 minutes, the major climbs inside himself. He finds the dead commandant with a note in his hand addressed to the chief of police of Scotland Yard which states that the writer is solely responsible for the theft of the "Blue Water" sapphire from Lady Patricia Brandon. Soon after, the bodies of the commandant and the man beside him disappear. Then the fort is set afire. The major sends two Americans to fetch reinforcements.

The film then flashes back fifteen years to Kent, England. The three young Geste brothers and a girl named Isobel stage a naval battle with toy ships. When John Geste is accidentally shot in the leg, Michael "Beau" Geste digs the bullet out, then tells John that he is worthy of a Viking's funeral. Beau burns one ship, along with a toy soldier and a "dog" (broken off a vase). Beau then gets Digby, his other brother, to promise to give him a Viking's funeral if he dies first.

Lady Patricia cares for the Gestes, her orphaned nephews, while Isobel is her husband's niece. She introduces them to Rajah Ram Singh and then-Captain Henri de Beaujolais. Lady Patricia is in financial straits; her estranged husband "has taken every penny that comes from the estate."

After the children become adults, she receives a telegram, announcing that her husband intends to sell the "Blue Water", a family jewel. She has it brought to her. Someone turns out the lights and steals it. The next morning, Beau is gone, leaving Digby a note claiming to be the thief. Digby follows, writing to John that he is the culprit. John tells Isobel that he took the jewel and departs too.

John joins the Foreign Legion and is reunited with his brothers. Boldini overhears them joking about the jewel. That night, Boldini is caught stealing Beau's belt. Boldini tells Sergeant Lejaune about the jewel, supposedly hidden in Beau's belt. Lejaune assigns Digby and his American friends Hank and Buddy to Beaujolais, while he, Beau and John join a detachment, commanded by Lieutenant Maurel, marching to Fort Zinderneuf.

After Maurel dies, Lejaune assumes command at the fort. After a fortnight of Lejaune's cruelty, some of the men plot mutiny. Beau, John and three others remain loyal. Boldini tells Beau and John that Lejaune knows about the mutiny and plans to have the men kill each other so there will be no witnesses to his theft of the jewel. Lejaune arms the loyalists, then demands that Beau give him the jewel for "safekeeping", but is rebuffed. Lejaune captures the mutineers, but an Arab attack forces him to release and arm them.

When a Legionnaire is killed, Lejaune props up his body on the battlement and makes it appear he is still alive. Finally, only Lejaune, Beau and John remain. Then Beau is seemingly killed. When John sees Lejaune searching Beau's body, he grabs his bayonet, but Lejaune draws his pistol and sentences him to death. Beau, barely alive, grabs Lejaune's leg, enabling John to stab him. Before dying, Beau tells John to desert and deliver a letter to their aunt. When John spots the relief force, he fires a single shot, then departs.

Digby climbs in and finds Beau. Remembering his childhood promise, he gives his brother a Viking's funeral, with a dog (Lejaune) at his feet. Then he deserts and finds John. They run into Hank and Buddy. Five days later, they are lost, with little water and only one camel left. Digby leaves a letter for the sleeping John (stating that one camel can carry three, but not four) and walks away.

John returns home to his love Isobel and delivers Beau's letter to Lady Patricia. She reads it aloud. Beau tells how he witnessed her selling the Blue Water to Ram Singh. To protect her, Beau stole the imitation.

French Foreign Legionnaires approach an isolated fort in the desert. The French flag is flying, but a closer inspection reveals only dead men propped up behind the parapets. However a pair of shots is fired from inside, so the bugler volunteers to scale the wall to investigate. After waiting a while, the commander follows. The bugler has vanished, and the commander finds two bodies that are not staged like the rest and a note on one confessing to the theft of a valuable sapphire called the "Blue Water". After the officer rejoins his men outside, the fort goes up in flames.

Fifteen years earlier, Lady Brandon, wife of absent spendthrift Sir Hector Brandon, takes care of the three adopted Geste brothers, "Beau", Digby and John; her ward Isobel Rivers; and heir Augustus Brandon. Years pass, and the children become young adults. They learn that Sir Hector intends to sell the "Blue Water", leaving nothing of value for Lady Brandon. At Beau's request, the gem is brought out for one last look when suddenly the lights go out and it is stolen. All present proclaim their innocence, but first Beau and then Digby depart without warning, each leaving a confession that he committed the robbery. John reluctantly parts from his beloved Isobel and goes after his brothers.

John discovers that they have joined the French Foreign Legion, so he enlists as well. They are trained by the sadistic Sergeant Markoff. Legionnaire Rasinoff overhears joking remarks by the Geste brothers, leading him and Markoff to believe that Beau has the gem.

Markoff separates the brothers. Beau and John are assigned to a detachment sent to man isolated Fort Zinderneuf. When Lieutenant Martin dies from a fever, Markoff assumes command. Fearing the sergeant's now-unchecked brutality, Schwartz incites the other men to mutiny the next morning; only Beau, John, and Maris refuse to take part. However, Markoff is tipped off by Voisin and disarms the would-be mutineers while they are sleeping. The next morning, Markoff orders Beau and John to execute the ringleaders, but they refuse.

Before Markoff can react, the fort is attacked by Tuaregs, forcing him to rearm his men. The initial assault is beaten off, but each new attack takes its toll. Markoff props up the corpses at their posts to deceive the enemy. The final assault is repulsed, but Beau is shot, leaving Markoff and John the only men left standing.

Markoff sends John to get bread and wine. He then searches Beau and finds a small pouch and two letters. When John sees what Markoff has done, he draws his bayonet, giving Markoff the excuse to shoot the only witness to his theft. However, Beau is not yet dead and manages to spoil Markoff's aim, allowing John to stab him. John and Beau hear a bugle announcing the arrival of reinforcements, Digby among them. Beau dies in his brother's arms after telling him to take one of the letters to Lady Brandon and leave the other, a confession of the robbery, in Markoff's hand. John escapes unseen.

Digby volunteers to find out why there is no response from the fort. He discovers Beau's body and, remembering his childhood wish, gives him a Viking funeral. He places Beau on a cot, with a "dog" (Markoff) at his feet, and sets fire to the barracks. Then he too deserts. He finds John outside the fort. Later, they encounter two American Legionnaire friends and begin the long journey home. Desperate for water, they find an oasis, but it is occupied by Arabs. Digby tricks them into fleeing by sounding a bugle to signal a charge by non-existent Legionnaires, but is killed by a parting shot.

John returns home, and reunites with Isobel. Lady Brandon reads aloud Beau's letter, which reveals that as a child he was hiding in a suit of armor and witnessed her selling the "Blue Water". Realizing years later she had replaced it with a fake, he had stolen the faux gem to protect her from being found out - his ‘’beau geste’’.

A column of the French Foreign Legion arrives at the remote Fort Zinderneuf, having been assigned to relieve the legionnaires who had been defending the fort. Upon their arrival, they find that the fort has been ravaged by Tuareg attacks and American Beau Graves (Guy Stockwell) is the only survivor. After his badly injured arm is amputated, he is asked what has happened and his story is revealed in flashback.

Beau's column had been serving under Lieutenant De Ruse (Leslie Nielsen) and Sergeant Major Dagineau (Telly Savalas), the latter of whom is notorious for his harsh treatment of the men under his command. He is especially sadistic towards Beau's class of recruits, hoping this will get them to reveal to him which of the men is the author of an anonymous letter Dagineau has received threatening his life. Although he has no proof, he suspects Beau, which earns Beau particularly brutal treatment. To ferret out more information, Dagineau uses the services of the slimy toady Boldini (who has reenlisted in the Legion), promoting him to Corporal as reward for his spying on the men.

Beau's background leads De Ruse to nickname him Beau "Geste". Specifically, Beau had run away and joined the Legion after having falsely confessed to an embezzlement actually committed by his business partner. Beau had taken the blame for the sake of his partner's wife, whom Beau also loved. His noble gesture (French: ''beau geste'') had proven futile, however, as the partner confessed and committed suicide just a few months later. That development prompts the suggestion that Beau might reclaim his lost love upon returning home. But, as he later relates to his younger brother John (Doug McClure), who has finally managed to track him down with the same news, he deems it unfair to ask her to wait for him, as he is now committed to a five-year enlistment, with no guarantee he'll survive it. Over brandy, De Ruse informs Beau of Dagineau's background as a former St. Cyr educated officer who was broken to the ranks when his entire command deserted from his leadership.

De Ruse and his men are assigned to relieve Fort Zinderneuf, but on the way there the Legion detachment is attacked by the Tuaregs where De Ruse is mortally wounded and is infirmed upon the group's arrival. With Dagineau back in charge, the brutality returns and it isn't long before the legionnaires mutiny, with everyone except Beau and John set upon executing the sergeant. Just as they are about to do so, the Tuareg attack. Despite their personal hatred for Dagineau, no one doubts his excellence as a battle commander, so Beau convinces the men to release him that he may lead them in defending the fort.

As legionnaires are killed in relentless waves of Tuareg attacks, Dagineau props up the bodies of the dead men on the fort's ramparts with their rifles pointing at their attackers. Between attacks, De Ruse speaks privately with Beau and confesses to being the author of the letter. He had hoped to frighten Dagineau into showing more humanity toward his troops. As he dies, De Ruse laments that in fact, it only caused Dagineau to treat the men even more harshly.

The legionnaires try to hold out against the attacks, with Dagineau confidently proclaiming that relief is on the way to them. But eventually, the only ones left alive are Dagineau and Beau, who has a seriously wounded arm. When the predicted relief column arrives, Dagineau delays their entry so he can settle things with Beau once and for all. He tells Beau that the Legion is need of heroes, and that all of the dead men around them can be presented as those heroes, so long as no one ever knows that they had mutinied. Therefore, he cannot leave Beau alive to reveal the truth of what had occurred at Fort Zinderneuf. Beau and Dagineau fight, with Beau finally gaining the upper hand and shooting and killing Dagineau.

Beau's flashback ends to reveal that he has not actually been relating this story to the relief commander who had questioned him about what happened at the fort. Still awaiting Beau's response, the commander repeats his query, and Beau tells him only that the men laid down their lives protecting the fort. With no mention of Dagineau's brutality, nor of the mutiny, Beau presents the entire group as heroes — just as Dagineau had wanted.

The commander informs Beau that the Legion's high command has decided that Fort Zinderneuf is no longer worth protecting and they will now abandon it. Having lost his arm, Beau will be discharged, and the commander offers his hope that Beau has someone to whom to return. Beau smiles pensively and replies that he indeed does.

Although minor plot points separate the versions, all of the versions share a common element of a stolen gem, which one of the Geste brothers, Beau Geste, is thought to have stolen from his adoptive family. This version, unlike the Hollywood movies, stays true to the book, in that the three young brothers join the legion, are later commanded by Sergeant Major Lejaune (not Markov, as in one of the Hollywood versions), and this TV adaptation contains the scene from the book where the surrounded Legionnaires defiantly sing ''Le Boudin''. The Legionnaires' equipment is spot-on too, right down to the correct mess-tins and bayonets. Filmed entirely in England, at various locations, with its desert scenes being filmed in a sand pit in Dorset.

The story is of Eugene Pota, a prominent writer who, in his old age, is struggling for that last piece of fiction that could be his magnum opus, or at least on par with his earlier writings. Littered throughout the novel are many of Pota's ideas and drafts of possible stories, such as the sexual biography of his wife, or of Hera's trouble with Zeus.

Larry (Larry the Cable Guy), Bill (Bill Engvall), and Everett (DJ Qualls) are three friends who each have their own shares of misfortune: Larry was a waiter who lost his job after attempting to publicly propose to his girlfriend Karen; who turned out to be cheating and got pregnant by the other man; causing him to insult a customer. Bill is living off a slip and fall lawsuit settlement, but is almost constantly berated by his wife over their living conditions (and implied to be unable to divorce due to his wife having blackmail against him), and Everett is an inept security guard who was fired after only four days as a police officer, after crashing his car at a nail salon. The three are members of the United States Army Reserve, although their duties in the reserve consist mostly of drinking and partying at the reserve center once a month.

However, with manpower shortages from the Iraq War, the three find themselves called to active duty to be deployed to the occupation of Fallujah. The hard-nosed Sergeant Kilgore (Keith David) is assigned to prepare them for activation and deployment. After a very brief period of training, they are loaded on a C-130 transport plane bound for Iraq.

During a thunderstorm over northern Mexico, the transport pilots dump some of their cargo to reduce their load. Unfortunately, the three were asleep in the Humvee that was dropped and Sergeant Kilgore was pulled out along with the cargo as he was seeing where his men had gone. When the three wake up, seeing only desert around them, they believe they have arrived in Iraq. Sergeant Kilgore is knocked unconscious in the landing. The three believe he is dead and bury him in a very shallow grave, then proceed to drive off to search for insurgents and members of Al-Qaeda to attack. Shortly after they leave, Sergeant Kilgore regains consciousness, quickly climbs out of the very shallow grave and pursues his clueless subordinates.

The three soldiers quickly find themselves in the small village of La Miranda, believing they are helping the town fight off terrorists and insurgents. The village of La Miranda is being plagued by the attacks of a bandit gang led by Carlos Santana (Danny Trejo; a source of recurring humor is that he has the same name as the famous guitar player). Chasing away the bandits with a show of firepower, they become heroes to the villagers and capture a bandit to interrogate. Meanwhile, Sergeant Kilgore follows along the path of his subordinates, encountering significant misfortune.

While enjoying the hospitality of La Miranda, the men eventually realize they are in Mexico, not Iraq. Realizing the potential trouble they are in, the three men decide to return the favor to the villagers by helping them improve the village. Later, Bill sneaks away from town to call home and talk to his wife, while Larry and Everett prepare for the bandits to return. Bill is captured by Santana's gang, and in a showdown in La Miranda they recover him and chase Santana and his men away (although Sergeant Kilgore finally catches up, arriving at precisely the wrong moment and is captured by Santana).

The three soldiers then decide to deal with Santana and his men by following them to their hideout, where Santana's men engage in bizarre entertainment like forcing kidnapped comedians to perform for them and holding lucha libre matches. Everett distracts them by posing as a luchador while Larry and Bill rescue Sergeant Kilgore. Sergeant Kilgore and Bill then plant dynamite in their trucks while Larry rescues Everett as his distraction wears off. The group escapes as the trucks of the bandits explode.

Mustering everything they have to destroy the village of La Miranda, Santana's bandits ride into town on horseback, escorting a World War II surplus Sherman tank. The group manages to incapacitate the tank with a vintage cannon and rally the townsfolk to resist the bandits.

At that moment, military helicopters come over the horizon and a large number of American soldiers storm the town. Bill's wife has been calling the Pentagon and telling anyone who would listen about the three being stranded in Mexico, until they finally began searching for the group and found them. The State Department has arranged for a cover-up to call the entire mishap "Operation Sombrero", a U.S. anti-terrorism operation done with the (retroactive) permission of the Mexican government and Santana's gang labeled as terrorists.

In the end, all four receive the Silver Star, and Bill receives the Purple Heart for being shot in the posterior during the final battle. Sergeant Kilgore creates a successful workout program in Miami, Florida, Everett becomes a popular professional wrestler in Mexico, Bill sues the Mexican government for his injuries and uses the money to buy a house in California and Larry founds his own restaurant in Mexico and marries Maria, the daughter of La Miranda's mayor. Carlos is sent into rehab and becomes a comedian.

The series is set many years after a devastating war, which killed 80% of the Earth's population. Earth is being watched by a group of beings known as The Third from a city called Hyperius. They are named after a red jewel-like eye on their forehead (Space Eye) that serves as a port for data access and other types of communication. These beings are committed to protecting the humans from harm. One of the main ways to protect the humans is to control the amount of "technos" or technology that the humans have access to, known as the "technos taboo". Humans found using forbidden technos could be killed by The Third's best "autoenforcer" an AI robot named Bluebreaker.

It follows the adventures of Honoka, a 17-year-old girl who is human, but was born with a third eye as well-(which is blue instead of red), which she keeps concealed with a red bandanna. The Third found that she could not interface with the rest of The Third and so declared her a mutation and left her with her human parents who then sent her to live with her adoptive grandfather Walken-(who is not related by blood) and his caravan in order to give her a chance of a normal life. Her third eye enables her to see Chi and use it to find cloaked enemies and sense the emotions of all living things.

Honoka is a jack-of-all-trades who travels throughout the barren earth with the help of a sand tank operated by Bogie, an AI guardian given to her by her late grandfather. She earns a living by doing various jobs with the tank, like ridding areas of oversized spiders, ants, as well as other creatures, and escorting or transporting clients. One night while traveling through the desert, she comes upon a strange man named Iks (eeks). He arrived on the planet for a purpose which is not clear until the last episode. The Third is also nervous about his arrival and fears he may seek to harm the humans. In order to understand the world more, Iks contracts with Honoka to accompany her for most of her travels. During travel or at night, she recites poems by a writer named "Dona Myfree" (exact spelling unknown at this time).

Various other characters are woven in to bring out more of Honoka's character and virtues. She grows over the episodes into a person whose personality becomes critical to the very survival of the planet.

Due to masturbating to ''Clown Porn'', college student and sex addict Michael Brichums misses a date with his girlfriend, Carrie, prompting Carrie to dump him. Later, Mike goes to a sex shop, where he finds a magazine featuring Andromeda Strange, an alt porn star whose films are so extreme they have been banned in numerous countries. Mike asks the clerk about Andromeda, and is told that obscenity laws prohibit the store from selling her merchandise, but he can probably find her films online. When Mike leaves, the clerk disappears; an employee (who was in the washroom) emerges to find Mike's receipt and wonder "Who the hell rang this up?" implying that the "clerk" was not an actual shop employee.

At home, Mike orders one of Andromeda's DVDs, which is strangely transparent. The video depicts Andromeda masturbating until she bleeds, and cutting her own wrist and throat with a straight razor, something which greatly disturbs Mike. A few days later, Mike decides to give the film another shot, and views a scene in which a now scarred and demonic Andromeda performs fellatio on a bound and gagged man. After the man climaxes, Andromeda slits his throat. The next morning, Mike wakes up late for work, and as he rushes out the door, Andromeda appears on his television, and kisses the screen.

Because of frequent tardiness, Mike is fired from his job, and while watching more of Andromeda's video, he gets a call from his friend, John, asking him to hang out at a bar. Mike goes to the bar, leaving Andromeda to glare at him as he leaves. John does not show up at the bar and will not answer his phone, so Mike gets drunk alone, stumbles home, and vomits repeatedly. Unable to sleep, Mike pops in Andromeda's DVD, which now shows Andromeda with another bound and gagged man, who Mike is shocked to realize is John. Andromeda rapes John, bludgeons him with a hammer, and eats chunks of his brain matter. Mike believes what he saw was fake, until he is led to John's remains by images on his television, and a call from Andromeda.

Mike panics, and calls Carrie, and the police. Carrie does not believe Mike's story, and the 911 operator is doubtful as well, but promises Mike he will send a unit to his apartment. Back home, Mike's television is on, and is showing Andromeda molesting an unconscious Carrie, and slitting her throat. Mike destroys the DVD and unplugs the television, but it will not turn off. Andromeda then appears in the room, and seduces Mike, who asks "Do I have to die? I don't want this to end". Andromeda responds with "You're already dead" as it is revealed the two are on Mike's television, and Mike's mutilated body is lying on his couch. The officers called by Mike arrive at his apartment, but Mike's body is gone. Two detectives find Andromeda's DVD and magazine, and take them as evidence.

In a post-credits scene, a sex shop customer inquires about Andromeda. The clerk turns around, and is shown to be a gaunt Mike, who states "Oh yeah, Andromeda Strange. Yeah, she's hot as hell alright. She's definitely capable of pulling some weird and crazy shit. But hey, I've got to warn you about something... her video is definitely not for the weak hearted."

The movie opens with a young couple, Pat (Grady Vaughn) and Liz (Yolanda Salas), parked in a bleak, rural locale overlooking a ravine. A giant Gila monster attacks the car, sending it into the ravine and killing the couple. Later, several friends of the couple assist the local sheriff (Fred Graham) in his search for the missing teens. Chase Winstead (Sullivan), a young mechanic and hot rod racer, locates the crashed car in the ravine and finds evidence of the giant lizard. However, it is only when the hungry reptile attacks a train that the authorities realize they are dealing with a giant venomous lizard. By this time, emboldened by its attacks and hungry for prey, the creature attacks the town. It heads for the local dance hall, where the town's teenagers are gathered for a sock hop. However, Chase packs his prized hot rod with nitroglycerin and rigs it to speed straight into the Gila monster, killing it in a fiery explosion and heroically saving the town.

Detective Superintendent (''Commissaire Principal'') Pierre Niemans (Jean Reno), a well-known Parisian police investigator, is sent to the small university town of Guernon in the French Alps to investigate a brutal murder. The victim's body was found bound in a foetal position and suspended high on a cliff face, his eyes removed and his hands cut off. Niemans learns that the victim was a professor and the university's librarian, Remy Callois, and he seeks out a local ophthalmologist for an explanation regarding the removal of the eyes. Dr Cherneze (Jean-Pierre Cassel), once on the university staff, explains that the school's isolation led to inbreeding amongst the professors, with increasingly serious genetic disorders. Recently the trend has reversed, with the local village children becoming ill and the college babies remaining healthy, something that the local villagers somehow blame on the unpopular and arrogant faculty members. Cherneze hints that the killer is leaving Niemans clues to their motive by removing the body parts that are unique to each individual – the eyes and hands. Niemans questions the Dean (Didier Flamand) and examines the librarian's apartment, where he finds images of athletic "supermen" juxtaposed with texts on genetic deformities. The Dean's assistant (and son) Hubert (Laurent Lafitte) translates the title of Callois' Ph.D. thesis as, "We are the masters. We are the slaves. We are everywhere. We are nowhere. We control the crimson rivers."

Coincidentally Detective Inspector (''Lieutenant de Police'') Max Kerkerian (Vincent Cassel) is in the nearby town of Sarzac investigating the desecration of the grave of Judith Herault, a girl who died in 1982, and the theft of her photos from the local primary school. Another grave of yet another girl who died of pneumonia in the same year shows signs of an earlier desecration. Judith Herault was killed in a horrific highway accident while travelling with her family and her body only found months later. The mother was the only survivor and was so traumatised that years later she took a vow of darkness in a nunnery. The mother tells Kerkerian that when Judith was ten she broke her wrist, and they went to get help at the faculty's hospital in Guernon where she was born; she claims they were attacked by "demons" on their way back and, when they fled, her husband and her daughter were killed in the road accident. She says the pictures were stolen to erase her daughter from history, and that her face is a threat to the demons who have returned to complete their mission. She tells him it all began in Guernon.

Niemans questions Fanny Ferreira (Nadia Farès), a glaciologist and a faculty child, who is immediately suspect because of her climbing ability and due to the fact that she is the fiancée of the Dean's son, something that she denies. Despite being a faculty child herself, she lives outside the premises and shows contempt for the school and its arrogant professors. She works for the university to steer away frequent avalanches, and is incensed when Niemans implies she might withhold evidence to protect the school. She tells him that anyone with good equipment could've hoisted the body up the cliff, and brushes off his obvious attraction. Niemans breaks into the dead librarian's office and finds details on the faculty history. He discovers that it was founded during the Second World War and financed with Nazi money. The original faculty staff were intellectuals who believed in creating a super-race based not on physical criteria but on intellectuality, and that was the real reason for their original inbreeding problems.

Soon after, the pathologist (François Levantal) reports that it was acid rain in Callois' eye sockets, which has not fallen in the area since the seventies. Niemans enlists Fanny to take him up the glacier to get ice samples to compare with the acid rain in Callois' eyes. On a hunch, Niemans follows a glacial melt tunnel to a cave that contains a second body, frozen into the ice.

Kerkerian traces a car from the 1982 accident to Phillip Sertys in Guernon and meets Niemans while attempting to break into Sertys' apartment. Sertys is the body in the ice, a doctor that worked in the maternity ward at the University hospital. They find the stolen pictures of Judith Herault and evidence that Sertys was breeding and training fighting dogs – and then they find the dogs, and Niemans the "supercop" is momentarily paralysed by fear, until Kerkerian coaxes him through.

Sertys was also mutilated, and his eyes replaced with glass prosthetics, "Like you would find at an eye doctors" remarks the pathologist, leading Niemans to race back to Cherneze's practice. The doctor is already dead, and they almost catch the killer, who fights off Niemans and races away after deliberately emptying Niemans' gun into the wall but not hitting him. Kerkerian gives chase but the killer escapes. Returning to the scene, where the killer has written "I will trace the source of the crimson rivers" in Cherneze's own blood above his body, they learn the prints on Niemans' gun belong to Judith Herault.

Kerkerian goes back to search the grave in Sarzac, which is empty except for a picture of an adult woman with Judith's name, while Niemans goes to Fanny's home. Niemans tells her that although he sees her as physically capable of committing the crimes he doesn't believe her to be guilty. When he returns to the university, the local police captain (Karim Belkhadra) tells him that Callois' thesis is full of Nazi-style eugenics, suggesting perfection can be achieved by breeding athletically gifted and intellectually gifted children together.

Kerkerian returns with the photo from the grave Niemans recognizes as Fanny and, on the way to her house, they narrowly avoid being run off the road by the Dean's son as they piece together the story: Due to the poor bloodlines and genetic mutations in the faculty's inbred offspring, the doctors at the hospital had been swapping healthy village children with the university children and Callois arranged the matches between both types of children in the college's breeding programme. Sertys, they deduce, must have swapped Fanny for one of the dead faculty babies while leaving her identical twin, Judith, with her birth family as a control subject. When Judith was brought to the hospital because of her broken wrist, her mother saw pictures of Fanny and realised that she was her stolen daughter. The family fled the hospital and were pursued by members of the faculty who caused the accident that killed the husband. The mother hid Judith and later on falsely identified the stolen body of the girl who died of pneumonia as her daughter's, keeping Judith inside their house at all times. As the mother slowly descended into madness and took refuge as a nun, Judith sought Fanny and told her the whole story. Fanny now hid Judith, who could go out pretending to be Fanny and it was Judith who left her picture in her desecrated grave as a clue.

Once at Fanny's house they find the missing hands and eyes of the victims in her basement, but Fanny is now gone and so are her grenades. Niemans gives the order to evacuate the university while he and Kerkerian travel up the mountain to find Fanny. The duo confront Fanny only to be set upon by Judith, who is now as mad as their mother and who committed the crimes. Judith tells Fanny to kill Niemans, but she refuses, and instead turns the gun on her sister. At the same time Kerkerian fires at Judith, but hits Fanny in the shoulder and the gunshots trigger an avalanche. Judith is swept away and the rest are buried in the snow until a rescue team arrives with search dogs. Fanny is airlifted to hospital while Kerkerian asks Niemans to explain his fear of dogs.

Johnny is a successful banker who lives in a San Francisco townhouse with his fiancée Lisa, who has become dissatisfied with their relationship. She seduces his best friend, Mark, and the two begin a secret affair. Meanwhile, Johnny, having overheard Lisa confessing her infidelity to her mother, Claudette, attaches a tape recorder to their phone in an attempt to identify her lover by recording their phone conversations.

Denny, a neighboring college student whom Johnny financially and emotionally supports, has a run-in with an armed drug dealer, Chris-R, but Johnny and Mark overpower and detain him. Denny also lusts after Lisa and confesses this to Johnny, who understands and encourages him to instead pursue one of his classmates. Johnny spirals into a mental haze and calls upon Peter – his and Mark's friend and a psychologist – for help. Mark also confides in Peter that he feels guilty about his affair. When Peter asks Mark if the affair is with Lisa, Mark attacks Peter and attempts to kill him, but they quickly reconcile.

At a surprise birthday party for Johnny, his friend Steven catches Lisa kissing Mark while the other guests are outside and confronts them about the affair. Johnny announces that he and Lisa are expecting a child, although Lisa later reveals she lied about it in order to cover up the truth about the affair. At the end of the evening, Lisa flaunts her affair in front of Johnny and Mark starts to attack him.

After the party, Johnny locks himself in the bathroom in despair. When he leaves, he retrieves the cassette recorder that he attached to the phone and listens to an intimate call between Lisa and Mark. Outraged, Johnny berates Lisa for betraying him, prompting her to end their relationship permanently and live with Mark. Johnny then has an emotional breakdown, angrily destroying his apartment and committing suicide by shooting himself in the mouth.

Hearing the commotion, Denny, Mark, and Lisa rush up the stairs to find his dead body with his head on the pillow mostly covered with blood (with blood on the wooden floor as well), Johnny's mouth closed with (some) blood coming out of his mouth, and the gun that he shot himself with in his hand. Mark blames Lisa for Johnny's death, admonishes her for her deceitful behavior, and tells her to get out of his life. Denny tells Lisa and Mark to leave him with Johnny, and they step back to give him a moment, but ultimately they all stay and comfort each other as the police arrive.

Hairdresser Jean Colbasiuc learns from his girlfriend about an unexpected materialization of their child. Not ready to be a father, the young man tries to get rid of the baby left in his care. After a few unsuccessful attempts to place the baby onto unsuspecting citizens, by this time Colbasiuc receives a notice from the People's Court, agrees to the registration of marriage and only then learns from Lisa that the child, who served as a catalyst for the incident, was borrowed by her from her Aunt.

The story is about a Long Islander named Ethan Allen Hawley (played by Donald Sutherland) who works as a clerk in a grocery store he used to own, but which is now owned by an Italian immigrant (played by Michael V. Gazzo). His wife (Teri Garr) and kids want more than what he can give them because of his lowly position.

He finds out that the immigrant that owns his store is an illegal alien, turns him in to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and receives the store by deceiving the immigrant. Ethan continues to have feelings of depression and anxiety brought about by his uneasy relationship with his wife and kids, risky flirtation with Margie Young-Hunt (Tuesday Weld), and a plan to sell his property and a house of a close friend to a banker who wants to build a shopping mall.

In the year of 1774, a hundred-year old bridge leading to the chapel of San Luis Rey in Peru, plunges into the deep chasm it spans, killing the five people who are crossing it. Brother Juniper (Donald Woods) is one of the chapel monks, whose faith is rocked by the unfortunate incident. He travels to Lima to seek answers to his questions why these five were chosen by God to die this violent death.

In Lima, Brother Juniper talks to a well known local theatre figure called Uncle Pio (Akim Tamiroff), and asks him about a famous actress, Micaela Villegas (Lynn Bari). Pio then starts telling the story of his encounter with Micaela and the unfortunate events leading up to the tragic accident.

Years ago, when Micaela was working in Lima, she was in love with the bold, exciting Manuel (Francis Lederer). His twin brother, Esteban, loathed Micaela. When Manuel left for Spain, Pio became Micaela's mentor and helped her become an excellent actress, working for the Comedia Theater.

Her celebrity and beauty attracted the viceroy Don Andre's (Louis Calhern) interest, and he asked her to pay him a private visit at his mansion. Just before Micaela is about to go to the viceroy, Manuel returns from his journey and instead of going to the viceroy, she spends the night with her beloved Manuel.

Tension rises between the twin brothers when Manuel discovers all the letters Micaela has written to him, that Esteban neglected to forward to him. Esteban apologizes and feels guilt over what he has done, to the point that he is about to take his own life, but Manuel stops him from hanging himself.

When Estaban has recovered, Manuel embarks on a new long journey. When Micaela once again is invited to the viceroy, she accepts the invitation. Because of the viceroy's interest in Micaela, the Marquesa Dona Maria (Alla Nazimova) feels threatened and decides to get rid of her. The Marquesa pretends to be Micaela's friend to win her confidence, unlike the other prominent guests of the viceroy. This is the end of Uncle Pio's telling of the story.

Juniper goes on to visit the Abbess (Blanche Yurka). She tells him about the Marquesa, whose daughter eloped to Spain and married a young aristocrat. The Marquesa confided her loneliness to the Abbess, and was recommended a young companion, an orphan named Pepita, whom the Marquesa ended up treating badly because of her own bitterness. Pio was also consulted by the Marquesa, about the viceroy and Micaela, but Pio doesn't have any information to give.

The viceroy falls in love with Micaela, and Esteban warns her that the noblemen are scheming to get rid of her. Micaela is upset and turns to Pio for help, and he gives her a song to use during her performance at the castle. The lyrics tell of a scheme take over the throne, and the aristocrat audience is very offended. The viceroy forces Micaela to apologize, but the Marquesa realizes how stupid she has been and in turn apologizes to Micaela. She starts pondering over the human nature and of peoples ability to transform into something better, like Esteban and the Marquesa.

Manuel returns from his travels as a captain, and asks Micaela to come with him. The viceroy enters when they embrace, and demands to see Manuel at his palace. Manuel is arrested that night, since the viceroy sees him as too much competition for Micaela.

When the viceroy is asked to return to Spain again, he asks Micaela to accompany him. She refuses because of Manuel's incarceration. She begs Pio for help to free Manuel from prison, before going on a trip to the mountains with the viceroy and his following.

Pio manages to set Manuel free, but he is interrogated by the viceroy afterwards. Pio advises the viceroy not to kill Manuel, since it will make him a martyr. Following this advice, Manuel is pardoned, and Pio brings the signed document to where Manuel is hiding, by the bridge to San Luis Rey.

Soon after, the viceroy and his small following, including Micaela, the Marquesa, Pepita and their scribe Esteban, arrive at the bridge. The viceroy crosses the bridge to the other side, and is followed by the others. Just as Micaela is about to start crossing, Manuel turns up, stops and kisses her. She manages to take only one step on the bridge when it collapses, sending the viceroy, the Marquesa, Esteban, Pepita and another man to their deaths. Micaela is pulled away and saved by Manuel.

The film follows the radicalization of Simon, an ordinary student at a fictional urban university in San Francisco, California, much like San Francisco State College (later San Francisco State University), which the actors refer to as "Western". Initially, Simon is indifferent to student protests going on around him. Accidentally walking in while his roommate is having casual sex with a co-ed, Simon protests to the roommate their time should be devoted to study so they can get good jobs and earn money.

Coming back clothed, the co-ed refuses setting another date with the roommate because she'll be busy protesting. She explains the university plans to construct a gymnasium in an African-American neighborhood, causing conflict with the local African American population. She describes how students plan to occupy a university building in protest.

Simon later experiences love at first sight with a co-ed (Linda) and takes advantage of his position as photographer for the college newspaper to photograph her. Following Linda into the university building as the students are taking over, he joins the protest. Linda approaches Simon as he fools around in the bathroom, then asks him to help her rob a grocery store so the strikers can eat.

In a later student protest, Simon is arrested. He confesses to Linda he is not a radical like her, and does not want to "blow up the college building" after going all-out in high school to be admitted to the college in the first place. Linda later avers she can't date someone not equally dedicated to the movement. Nevertheless, she announces temporarily leaving college to decide for sure.

In the shower, a right-wing jock (George) beats up Simon, who decides to take advantage of the situation and use his injuries from to claim police brutality. Gaining attention, a friend tells him "a white version of page 43" of Simon's ''National Geographic'' looks like him.

Alone in a filing room, an attractive coed notices Simon. Seeing his injured lip, she puts his hands on her right breast and asks if it feels better now. She then takes off her sweater, telling Simon "did you know Lenin loved women with big breasts?" After quick flashes of her breasts, Simon confirms liking them, but asks her if she saw ''The Graduate''. Replying no, she takes him between some filing cabinets and takes off his belt. To her surprise, Simon does not want people to see whatever it was she planned to do to with him. Asking her if she would at least lock the door, she unconvincingly confirms she has and immediately opens some filing cabinets to conceal them from the crowd. Simon is worried, but she promises him no one will know. She then says she will give him something a "hero" like him deserves, ducks down and gives him an off-screen blowjob, zooming up on Che Guevara's famous poster staring in the air in its implacable expression.

After Linda returns, she announces her decision to be with Simon. They spend the rest of that day together – and, implicitly, the night. The following day, they make out in a park when a group of African-Americans approaches them. The supposedly anti-racist White rebels fear for their lives. One African-American drops Simon's camera to the ground and stomps it, but the group then leaves. A furious Simon meets the strikers, saying those they help are no different than the cops and the establishment, questioning why they should help those who disrespect and threaten him.

Simon re-thinks his comparison, after visiting George the jock, now a leftist, in the hospital, where he is in traction with his leg in a cast after right-wing jocks beat him up while cops watched. Simon goes to warn the dean's secretary to call off construction of the gymnasium or risk a violence. A group of African American students then show up, proving Simon's previous generalization was wrong.

Eventually, the city police and the National Guard arrive and crush the university building takeover using tear gas. With the strikers choking, the police and guardsmen pull haul the demonstrators from the building, beating them with batons.

With Linda being carried away kicking and screaming, Simon takes on a group of police all by himself and segments of his happier times in college flash before the viewers' eyes.

Bartleby Gaines (Justin Long) is a persuasive senior from William McKinley High School in Wickliffe, Ohio, who, among other pranks, creates fake IDs. His gifts do not extend to grades, however, and he receives rejection letters from all the colleges to which he applies, including those with high acceptance rates.

To gain approval from his demanding father (Mark Derwin), Bartleby creates a fake college, the South Harmon Institute of Technology (SHIT). His best friend, Sherman Schrader III (Jonah Hill), who has been accepted into his father's (Jim O'Heir) prestigious alma mater, Harmon College, aids Bartleby and fellow reject Rory Thayer (Maria Thayer), who only applied to Yale University and was rejected due to legacy preferences; Darryl "Hands" Holloway (Columbus Short), who lost his athletic scholarship after an injury; and Glen (Adam Herschman), who has a low GPA and failed his SAT due to stupidity. To make the "college" seem legitimate, Bartleby convinces Sherman to create a functional website for the school.

When his father insists on meeting the dean, Bartleby hires Sherman's peculiar uncle, Dr. Ben Lewis (Lewis Black), a former philosophy professor at Harmon College, to play that role, and he leases an abandoned psychiatric hospital adjacent to Harmon College and renovates it to look like a college campus. Their plan backfires when the website, which automatically accepts any applicant, enrolls hundreds of other rejected students.

Bartleby realizes that these people have nowhere else to go, so he lets them believe that the school is real, a place where they will finally feel accepted, despite objections from his friends. After a visit to Harmon disenchants him with traditional college life, he decides to let the students create their own curriculum; this ranges from the culinary arts, sculpting, meditation, to unusual courses such as psychokinesis, a subject one eccentric kid (Jeremy Howard) wishes to study.

Bartleby creates a school newspaper (the ''SHIT Rag'') and invents a mascot (the SHIT Sandwiches), while Lewis gives lectures about life; the students primarily spend their time partying. Meanwhile, the narcissistic and corrupt dean of Harmon College, Richard Van Horne (Anthony Heald), makes plans to construct the Van Horne Gateway, a park-like walkway similar to Yale and Harvard's, hoping to make Harmon look more prestigious and increase their number of rejected students. He dispatches Harmon's student body president Hoyt Ambrose (Travis Van Winkle) to free up the nearby properties, but when Bartleby refuses to relinquish the lease for the South Harmon property, Hoyt tries to reveal the college as a fake. The dispute turns personal, as Bartleby has been vying for the affections of Hoyt's ex-girlfriend, Monica Moreland (Blake Lively).

Hoyt exposes South Harmon as a fake institution through Sherman, who is attempting to join Hoyt's fraternity as a legacy but is constantly humiliated and abused by them. After debasing Sherman once more, the fraternity violently forces him to hand over all the files he has created for South Harmon.

Hoyt contacts all the students' parents, and with Van Horne, reveals the school is a sham. Soon after, the school is forced to close, and Bartleby is at risk of prison time for fraud. However, Sherman, who has already discovered much of Harmon College's corruption, files for accreditation for South Harmon, giving Bartleby a chance to make his college legitimate. At the subsequent State of Ohio educational accreditation hearing, Bartleby makes an impassioned speech about the failures of conventional education and the importance of following one's own passions, convincing the board to grant his school a one-year probationary accreditation to test his new system and make the school adequate, thus foiling Van Horne's schemes.

The college reopens, renovated and with more students enrolling, including Sherman and Monica. In addition, Bartleby finally earns the approval of his father, who is proud his son now owns a college. As the film closes, Van Horne walks to his car in the parking lot, only to watch it suddenly explode. Bartleby watches in astonishment (or perhaps fear) as the eccentric student from earlier makes his interest in psychokinetic explosion a reality.

At the beginning of the film, a stranger with a missing arm, leg, and eye sells a grotesque Leprechaun statue to a Las Vegas Pawnshop owner called Gupta. The figure has a golden medallion around its neck, which the shop owner removes despite being warned by the stranger not to.

This action brings the leprechaun to life, and he attacks Gupta, biting his ear and toe before strangling him with a phone cord. As he is running away from the scene, the leprechaun drops one of his wish-granting gold coins.

Meanwhile, a college student, Scott McCoy, has just arrived in Las Vegas and falls for a woman called Tammy. He gives her a ride to het job at the Lucky Shamrock Casino. While in the casino, Scott gambles away all his money, so he goes to the local pawnshop to trade his Rolex watch for some quick cash.

Upon reaching the pawnshop, Scott discovers Gupta's lifeless body on the floor and calls the police. He then unknowingly takes the leprechaun's coin and is granted one wish. A computer on the counter next to him states in Irish folklore that one wish can give a mortal anything and that it remains permanent. When Scott hears this, he jokingly wishes for a winning streak.

After that, Scott is instantly teleported back to the casino by the coin's magic, where he starts having a winning streak and realizes that his wish has come true. The coin later gets stolen by two casino employees, Loretta and Fazio. Scott then gets attacked by the leprechaun, who pursues his gold coin. In the process, their blood mixes and Scott manages to throw the leprechaun out of the hotel window, but he survives the fall. Scott transforms into a leprechaun.

Mitch, the Lucky Shamrock's owner, along with Loretta and Fazio, pass the coin around making wishes. Mitch wishes that he could have sex with Tammy and goes up to her room. While Mitch is kissing her, Loretta steals the golden coin; Tammy is out of its spell and leaves the room.

The leprechaun then enters the room and turns on the television using his magic. A woman who looks like Tammy appears and starts to call Mitch's name. She comes out of the TV and kisses Mitch, who then hears the leprechaun's voice and looks up, discovering the woman is a robot just before she electrocutes him.

While in Fazio's dressing room, Loretta wishes to have her 20-year-old body back, and her wish comes true. The leprechaun then appears and asks her for his coin, but Loretta tells him she doesn’t have it anymore. He becomes infuriated and massively inflates her breasts, lips, and butt.

Loretta hysterically cries as she tries to escape from the leprechaun through an open door. She becomes wedged between its frame due to her blown-up body parts and tries to force herself through. Finally, the doorframe breaks into tiny pieces, which causes her to explode.

Shortly after, Fazio, now in possession of the coin, wishes to be the world's greatest magician. During his show, the leprechaun appears, and the audience thinks he is part of the performance. He restrains Fazio in a box, and everyone in the crowd insists that they want to see the saw trick.

Realizing that the leprechaun has an actual chainsaw and intended to cut him in half, Fazio wishes that he would be at Caesar's Palace. His wish doesn’t come true because he already made his first wish and the coin only grants one. The leprechaun proceeds to saw him in half in front of the horrified crowd.

Scott, who is still in leprechaun form, and Tammy arrive and warn the people to exit for their safety. Once they leave, Scott battles the leprechaun and burns the pot of gold which causes the leprechaun to burst into flames and Scott to revert to his normal body.

The plot tells of the events of autumn 1943 on the southern fronts of the German-Soviet war. The film differs from its peers in that for the first time viewers of the military chronicle heard the "living voices" of soldiers, a huge number of philosophical generalizations written by O. Dovzhenko in the form of lyrical reflections and voiced by Leonid Khmara.

The film includes footage of the trophy German newsreel.

In 2011, a young man named Ranmaru Shindo lives in Tokyo with his younger sister, Saya. They moved from Machida 5 years earlier, after the massacre of their parents in their apartment complex, which was attacked and overrun by unknown assailants who ruthlessly and brutally killed almost everyone in several buildings in the complex. He has been having recurring dreams for some time, of a tattooed girl covered in blood holding a giant sword surrounded by bodies, but they are now growing more frequent. It is the day his class graduates to become investigators for The Special Mobile Investigation Forces, or Tokki, which he joined to learn about his parents' death. Later on the day of his graduation, he sees the girl from his dream wearing a police uniform. She is Sakura Rokujo, who is in the same class as him and a member of Section 2, known officially as Special Public Safety Task Force, or Tokko. Its other main members include the young prodigy Kureha Suzuka, the silent strongman Takeru Inukai and its leader Ryoko Ibuki. There are many rumors about Tokko, one of which is that they use swords to execute criminals and that body parts are often found at the crime scenes Tokko investigates. There are also rumors that they aren't even human.

When Ranmaru's unit investigates another grizzly murder, a witness claims to see a demon, which was also rumored at other bloody scenes. There they encounter humans with talking human faced larva parasites growing out of them, that are impervious to guns. The demons refer to Ranmaru as having the scent of Michida and attack, before he is saved by Sakura and Tokko. She explains that they were just lesser monsters controlled to target survivors of the Michida incident. Afterwards, Ranmaru's team researches previous violent dismemberments and learns that most have witnesses claiming to see demons and that the incidents have been on the rise since Michida. Sakura soon after reveals to Ranmaru that the Machida incident was caused by the monsters, which are demons from the otherworld. Five days before the incident, a box created by ancient philosophers and alchemists was opened that connects to the otherworld, the demons that came through committed the massacre. The stronger demons are called Phantoms and grow stronger by eating humans, these are the ones Tokko are tasked with finding and killing. The holes created by the earthquakes are the gates that allow them to enter the world. It is also confirmed that the main members of Tokko aren't fully human, referring to themselves as hunters.

Ranmaru and his best friend and partner Hanazono sneak into the closed off Machida crime scene to inspect the hole. When Ranmaru disturbs the hole by dropping something in it, a demon comes out an attacks them. Tokko arrives and saves them, and explains they are all survivors of Machida and the only ones that can defeat them as they have "awakened" into symbionts, having Phantoms inside them that protected them during the incident. The Machida hole is getting bigger and in two years will swallow Tokyo. The box that opened the gate was broken into 108 pieces, each of which is inside a Phantom, and Tokko collects the pieces in order to close the gate. The 12th Phantom, the one controlling the human faced larva parasites, then appears. Ranmaru asks Kureha Suzuka to show him how to awaken so he can fight, even after she warns him that he might not remain himself in which case they would have to kill him. To do so she mortally wounds him and throws him into the hole. When he emerges he completes the symbiosis with a giant demon, forming his tattoos and granting him two large swords, and defeats the Phantom in one attack. When he wakes up a week later, he is transferred to Tokko. In the epilogue it is hinted that two years later the hole did in fact swallow Tokyo.

The story then focuses on Itsuto Araragi and his sister Mayu in 2011, who are survivors of Michida and symbiont hunters unaffiliated with Tokko. Together they hunt Phantoms and eat them to get stronger, absorbing their abilities, aiming to eventually kill them all. They accidentally save Yukino Shiraishi from committing suicide and deduce she was being controlled by a Phantom. They learn students have been going missing at her university and that there are rumors of "demons". There they encounter many Phantoms, learning that some humans willing become them. It is revealed this all started when Yukino discovered what she thought to be a mummy hand and took it back the university, it was in fact a Phantom hand from Machida. Her father, who works at the university, began experimenting and learned humans can become a hybrid of human and phantom by eating them and began to turn the students as well. He was the one who planted a larva in Yukino to make her commit suicide, after she saw him kill her mother. Using their newly absorbed abilities from the Phantoms at the school, Itsuto and Mayu defeat her father, with her finishes him off herself by setting their house on fire. Yukino then moves in with Itsuto and Mayu, saying she wants to learn more about the demons to prevent this from happening again.

Billy Lenz is born in 1970, with severe jaundice due to a liver disease, and is constantly abused by his mother, Constance. Five years later, Constance and her lover murder Billy's father Frank on Christmas Eve and bury the body in the house's crawlspace. Billy witnesses their scheme so they lock him in the attic. In 1982, Constance rapes Billy to conceive another child, since her boyfriend is impotent, and gives birth to their daughter, Agnes. On Christmas Day 1991, Billy escapes from the attic and disfigures eight-year-old Agnes by gouging out her eye. He then brutally murders his mother and her lover. He is caught by police eating cookies made out of his mother's flesh and is sent to a mental asylum, while Agnes is taken to a local orphanage.

Fifteen years later, Billy escapes from his cell on Christmas Eve and heads to his former home, now a sorority house for Delta Alpha Kappa at Clement University in New Hampshire. At the house, Clair Crosby, one of the sorority girls, is murdered in her bedroom by an unknown figure. Meanwhile, Megan Helms begins to hear noises and goes up to the attic to investigate. Upon finding Clair's corpse, Megan is attacked and killed by the same assailant. In the living room, the other sorority sisters, Kelli Presley, Melissa Kitt, Heather Fitzgerald, Dana Mathis, and Lauren Hannon, along with their housemother Mrs. Mac, receive a threatening call from the killer. Clair's half-sister Leigh Colvin soon arrives, searching for her. Kelli's boyfriend Kyle Autry arrives as well but is kicked out when Kelli discovers Megan's sex video with him. When the power goes out, Dana goes to the main breaker under the house but encounters the figure in the crawlspace and is killed. When they realized Dana's ambush by the figure, the remaining sorority sisters and Leigh go outside to find her, only to find their fellow sister Eve Agnew killed in her car.

With the police unable to arrive in time due to a snow storm, Kelli, Melissa, and Leigh decide to stay inside the house whilst Heather and Mrs. Mac flee. In the car, Heather is murdered, and Mrs. Mac is impaled by a falling icicle. While Kelli and Leigh descend to the garage to investigate, Melissa is attacked and killed by the assailant. Kelli and Leigh return upstairs and find Lauren's eyeless corpse. Kyle returns to the house, and the three go to investigate the attic; while ascending the ladder, Kyle is dragged into the attic to his death by the assailant, who is revealed to be Agnes, now an adult. As Billy enters the attic, Kelli and Agnes struggle, leading the two of them into the empty space between the walls of the house. As the killers converge toward Kelli, Leigh helps her escape before they start a fire, leaving Billy and Agnes to burn to death.

Later, as Kelli and Leigh recover at the hospital, Billy, who is partially burned, kills the morgue assistant. While Kelli goes for an x-ray, Agnes appears in her hospital room and kills Leigh. When Kelli returns to her room, Agnes appears through the ceiling and attacks her, but Kelli uses a defibrillator to kill Agnes. Moments later, Billy enters through the ceiling and chases Kelli to the stairwell. They briefly fight, ending with Kelli pushing Billy off the railing where he is subsequently impaled on the tip of a Christmas tree, killing him.

Three main heroines are best friends each working in hotel, designing company and graduate student. They boldly talk each other about sex but their characters are definitely different. From this, alteration on their lives come to begin with different-type sexual relationships.

A cold open shows Trey Atwood (Bradley Stryker) and his brother Ryan (Ben McKenzie) stealing a car. The police chase and arrest the boys, resulting in a prison term for Trey and a short stay in juvenile hall for the underage Ryan. A conversation between Ryan and his public defender, Sandy Cohen (Peter Gallagher), establishes Ryan as a smart boy with a rough upbringing; he has three truancies and two suspensions, but his SAT I scores are in the ninety-eighth percentile. When Ryan's mother, Dawn (Daphne Ashbrook), collects Ryan, Sandy gives his business card to the boy. At home in Chino, Dawn asks Ryan to leave, and her boyfriend, A.J. (Ron Del Barrio), expels him from the house. Standing at a payphone with nowhere to go, Ryan calls Sandy for help. As Sandy drives Ryan to his house in Newport Beach, the opening credits and the theme tune play—unlike the other episodes, there is no title sequence.

While Sandy tries to convince his wife, Kirsten (Kelly Rowan) to allow Ryan to stay in the pool house for a night, Ryan meets the girl next door, Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton). When her boyfriend Luke (Chris Carmack) picks her up, Marissa invites Ryan to attend a fashion show fundraiser the following night. On a sailing trip the next day, the Cohens' son, Seth (Adam Brody) reveals to Ryan that he has a crush on Summer (Rachel Bilson) and would like to sail to Tahiti with her, but that she never pays him any attention. Later, Marissa leaves for the fashion show with her mother Julie (Melinda Clarke), her father Jimmy (Tate Donovan), and her younger sister Kaitlin (Shailene Woodley). The Cohens and Ryan also attend the show.

Summer invites Ryan to a party after the show, and Ryan convinces Seth to join him. For the first time, Seth is introduced to the sex-, drug-, and alcohol-fueled side of Newport. He experiences the wildness of a party for the first time, while Ryan flirts with Marissa. Luke takes a girl to the beach. Later at the party, Ryan rebuffs an intoxicated Summer, but Seth misinterprets the encounter and reveals Ryan's real background. Seth walks down the beach, and is bullied by a group of water polo players that includes Luke. Ryan defends Seth by punching Luke, but Luke's friends intervene and beat up Ryan and Seth. After returning to the Cohens, Ryan sees that Marissa's friends left her passed out on her drive; he carries her to the Cohens' pool house to sleep. When Kirsten finds Seth and Ryan asleep in the pool house the next morning, she is unhappy with Ryan's new influence and insists to Sandy that Ryan leaves. Sandy drives Ryan back to Chino, but when they find his home empty, they return to Newport.

The show focused on the life of Norm Henderson (Norm Macdonald), a former NHL hockey player who is banned for life from the league because of gambling and tax evasion. To avoid jail time for these crimes, Norm must perform five years of community service as a full-time social worker. Other characters in the show included fellow social workers Laurie Freeman (Laurie Metcalf), Danny Sanchez (Ian Gomez), and Danny's sometime girlfriend and former prostitute Taylor Clayton (Nikki Cox). Norm's boss on the program for the first several episodes was named Anthony Curtis (Bruce Jarchow). This character was quickly replaced by a new boss, Max Denby (Max Wright), whom Norm frequently antagonized and pranked.

The second season of the show added Artie Lange as Norm's half-brother Artie, and Faith Ford as Shelly Kilmartin, Norm's probation officer and love interest.

Lieutenant James Brody speeds along the ocean surface bound for the G.E.L.F. Colony (also known as "Dagger Island"), returning from a well-deserved vacation. As he arrives, he notices the G.E.L.F. prisoners engaging in their daily exercise in the main yard.

Captain Nathan Bridger speeds along the city streets on his way to the drydock where the new ''seaQuest DSV'' 4600 submarine awaits orders to shove off and roam the seven seas.

As Brody sends out a distress signal to anyone who might be listening, Captain Bridger is introduced to his new chief medical officer, Dr. Wendy Smith.

the crew picks up on Brody's distress call and rescues the lieutenant from the pod.

Ford believes that it was for a higher good, but Brody claims it does not matter, but reveals that Captain Bridger has asked him to sign onto ''seaQuest'' to ensure something similar will not happen again.

After his horrifying trials in the wasteland, Nicolae Carpathia's influence grows in business and politics. However anyone who gets in his way tends to disappear, permanently. He hires kingmaker and soon-to-be False Prophet Leon Fortunato as a deputy and consultant. Over the course of a few years, Carpathia rises to power within the Romanian government, manipulating people and events for his own personal gain and often resorting to murder and blackmailing to achieve his goals. He often calls upon the influence of his "spirit guide" (later revealed to be Satan himself) for advice. Jonathan Stonagal begins to grow regretful with his involvement with Carpathia, fearing the young Antichrist is already out of his control.

Airline pilot Rayford Steele's home life is suffering, but gains a truce-like quality, while his wife is concerned that he has already risen as far his career will take him. Now a born-again Christian, Irene slowly begins to grow in her newfound faith, even leading her son Raymie Steele to salvation. However, Rayford and her daughter, Chloe, reject Irene's religious beliefs, and Irene is desperate to help them find Christ before it is too late.

Abdullah Ababneh, a Jordanian pilot, is shocked when his wife, Yasmine, and his two teenage children become followers of Christianity. After many heated arguments, she leaves him, taking the children with her. This later leads Abdullah to become an alcoholic and have affairs with several women, though it is clear that he is desperate for his family back in place of this destructive new lifestyle. He fears it is the work of Allah as punishment for growing lax in his Muslim faith.

Rayford, meanwhile, is considering pursuing a relationship with Hattie Durham, a young flight attendant and his co-worker. At first it seems impossible for Rayford, though he slowly begins to warm to the idea, often having dinner with her and giving her rides home. He slowly begins to contemplate taking their relationship to a whole new level.

Celebrated journalist Buck Williams becomes a feature writer for the ''Boston Globe'', coming from an Ivy League education at Princeton University. After writing several revered pieces, Buck is hired for Global Weekly, a job that has been his dream for all his life. In Israel, he meets and interviews renowned scientist Chaim Rosenzweig, who has recently developed a formula that makes plant life grow in desert soil. Suddenly, an immense military strike against Israel commences and the entire nation stands on the brink of complete annihilation.

Nicolae Carpathia is returning to Jerusalem to claim as his own the temple there and help begin the loyalty mark program. The Tribulation Force has called in contacts from around the world to help believing Jews in Israel escape to their place of refuge in the wilderness, Petra, in Operation Eagle. Rayford Steele and his assistants meet George Sebastian at their small airstrip at Mizpe Ramon in the Negev Desert, and he tries to give them arms to use against the Global Community (GC). Buck Williams is with Chaim Rosenzweig at a hotel in Jerusalem, leading up to Chaim's taking charge of the operation as a modern Moses. Chaim has an experience similar to the calling of Moses, as God speaks to him through Buck. Carpathia sets out on a mock journey along the Via Dolorosa on a pig, stopping at Golgotha and the Garden Tomb. Hattie publicly confronts him and is burned to death by Leon, the False Prophet.

Nicolae stages a gruesome and evil desecration of the temple. As millions take the Mark of the Beast, the first Bowl Judgment rains down as foul and loathsome sores appear on the bodies of all who have taken the mark, including Nicolae's inner circle. When the temple is defiled, millions of Jews and Gentiles rebel against Nicolae and many of them become believers.

The Tribulation Force launches "Operation Eagle". Leading them is none other than Dr. Chaim Rozensweig turned into a modern-day Moses, who, calling himself Micah, and along with Buck Williams, confronts Nicolae and leads the faithful to refuge. Meanwhile, David Hassid, the first to arrive at Petra, is murdered by two renegade GC soldiers left over from a confrontation between the Trib. Force and the GC. The second Bowl Judgment hits as all the oceans and seas turn into blood. Chang Wong settles into his role as the solitary Trib Force mole in New Babylon.

The prophetic "flood from the serpent's mouth" arrives in the form of a massive land offensive against those at Petra, but it is swallowed by the earth. Carpathia then kills Walter Moon for failing to take Tsion Ben-Judah off the air when Tsion was able to appear on the Global Community television when the Tribulation Force was able to hijack the network.

In Chicago, Chloe wanders off into the night and finds a group of believers (whom she eventually aids) hiding in a basement near the safe house. In Greece, the rescue of the two teenagers that Buck helped escape is attempted by the Trib Force's newest man: George Sebastian. One of the teens is replaced with a look-alike who kills the other teen, along with Lukas "Laslos" Miklos. George is captured and taken away. Returning to Chicago, members of the Force get their disguises together for various missions: Rayford and Abdullah to take Tsion to Petra, and Mac, Chloe, and Hannah heading to Greece to rescue George. Tsion Ben-Judah arrives at Petra to address the throng as the Antichrist launches an all-out attack against them.

The book ends with Nicolae hysterical as he believes he is about to wipe out one million believers, Rayford Steele and Tsion Ben-Judah among them.

World Power, an underwater power plant, led by Dr. Lawrence Wolenczak (Lucas' father), prepares to offer the entire planet free electricity.

Bridger addresses the crew and thanks them for their dedication over the course of the tour of duty.

The ocean floor underneath the massive turbines begins to crack open, causing lava to spill into the water. As Bridger and Kristin sit down to dinner, Secretary General Noyce appears on the vidlink and explains the situation. Bridger claims that Dr. Wolenczak is a smart man and should be able to find a solution to the problem, but Noyce claims that the word is that Wolenczak is dead. Watching from the bridge, Lucas is immediately crushed and slumps back into a chair in shock. Bridger orders Commander Ford to set a course for World Power.

Arriving on the bridge, Bridger finds Lucas and inquires if he's okay. He says that Noyce made a giant assumption claiming that his father was dead and now Lucas is stuck with it. Going to alert on all stations, the ''seaQuest'' is rocked by a lava stream. As it struggles to stabilize, it is hit again. Bridger goes to his console and orders the crew to abandon the ''seaQuest''. Dr. Wolenczak tells Bridger that it'll take an enormous force to plug the lava well. Bridger suggests one-million megatons, to which Wolenczak admits might work, but is unsure where they'd get such a force. Bridger knows though, if ''seaQuest'' was piloted into the heart of the well and detonated its warheads, it would exert such a force.

From the beach, the crew witnesses a massive explosion burst from underwater. They realize the worst, that their home and their captain are dead and gone. However, just as the last vestiges of the ''seaQuest'' burn up and explode within the lava well, the ''Stinger'' piloted by Bridger, makes a quick escape from the boiling inferno.

With the crew reunited and Lucas saying goodbye to his father, he asks Bridger what they're going to do and he points out that there's the small matter of building a new boat.

In a suburban Utah house, Grady Edwards transforms himself in a bathroom. He shaves off his beard, dyes his hair, and removes his brown contact lenses. As he leaves the house, the camera reveals the bodies of his wife and her three children. As the police investigate, it is said that another family was murdered in a similar manner in New Jersey not long ago, which causes them to believe there is a serial killer on the loose.

Susan Harding, a recently divorced Oregon housewife, is shopping in a grocery store with her youngest children where she meets Grady, who introduces himself as David Harris, and claims that his wife and daughter were killed in a car accident. He charms her, and six months later, they are engaged to be married.

Susan's eldest son, Michael returns home from military school and is immediately suspicious of his mother's fiancé. David invites him down to the basement, where he has installed locked cabinets, and tries to befriend him over tequila shots. Michael's suspicions start when David uses the wrong name when mentioning his deceased daughter. After Susan says that Mrs. Cutters warned her that ''America's Most Wanted'' ran a profile on a serial killer who looks like David, David sneaks into Mrs. Cutters' house and throws her down her basement stairs, then suffocates her.

Susan's ex-husband Jay confronts David angrily about laying hands on his younger son, Sean. He warns Susan that she knows nothing about David. Doubts about David mount further when he quits his job working as a real estate agent for Susan's sister, Jackie, to avoid displaying a photo ID and other forms of identification. Later, Jay confronts David about an apparent lie regarding his college history. David clubs him with a vase and suffocates him with a plastic bag. He sends Michael a text with Jay's phone saying that David checked out okay.

When the neighbor's body is discovered two weeks later, David tells the family. Michael is alarmed because he overheard David being told by the mailman, who gave less detail than David. While Michael's girlfriend, Kelly, tries to get him to focus on college applications, he grows more obsessed with the contradictions in David's stories. The situation comes to a head when David intercepts an email from Jackie about hiring an investigator. He then goes to Jackie's house and drowns her in her pool. Determined to discover what was in the locked cabinets, Michael breaks into the basement as Kelly keeps a lookout. In the basement, Michael eventually discovers his dad's body in a freezer. David knocks out Kelly and traps Michael in the basement. The commotion awakens Susan, and he berates her parenting skills and says that he thought she could be "Mrs. Grady Edwards". On Susan's stunned reaction, David grimaces and asks, "Who am I here?" Susan tries to snap him out of it by saying his name, causing him to say, "David! I'm David Harris!"

Susan, realizing the situation after noticing the unconscious Kelly, flees to the bathroom, locking herself in. David kicks the door in, shattering the mirror behind it. Susan picks up a shard of the mirror, holding it behind her. David grabs her, they struggle, and she manages to stab him in the neck with the shard. He falls to the floor, apparently dead. Michael escapes from the basement and finds Kelly. They find Susan in the hallway across from the bathroom, thinking David is dead. Then David approaches from behind and blocks the stairs, chasing all of them into the attic, where he and Michael fight. Both fall onto the roof and then off the edge of the roof to the ground, where they lie unconscious.

When Michael wakes up, he finds out he had been in a coma for just over a month. He learns that David is still alive and fled the scene before the police arrived. The end scene shows David, who has again changed his appearance and his name to Chris Ames. He is working at a hardware store when he meets a woman who is shopping with her two sons.

The Solar System has dived into a belt of cosmic dust; Britain's climate has changed from temperate to arctic.

''Professor Millward'' has stayed with his books, when the country was abandoned more than twenty years ago, and lost track of the others' attempts to colonize the rapidly transforming jungles and deserts of the south, also via the radio, some years later. He is now sheltering from the cold in the edifice of a London university. Over months, he is haunted by a mysterious sound from the north, which he attributes to "mountains on the march", in his dreams. Roaming about the snow-bound familiar roads and houses of the city long after the last stray dogs have disappeared from them, he is surprised by wolves, reindeer, and polar bears, and therefore ponders if the roaring in the north may be caused by an expedition from North America across the frozen-over Atlantic or by efforts to free the land from ice and snow with atomic bombs. When he climbs to his usual look-out, on an especially clear day, he finally detects the real origin of the northern sound, catching sight of the glitter of a threatening mass of ''glacial ice'' that is relentlessly advancing towards him.

The long, bitterly fought Company War between Earth and Union had ended – for everyone, except Conrad Mazian, commander of the Earth Company Fleet. By refusing to accept the peace, he and his loyal Mazianni became outlaws, hunted by all sides.

Elizabeth 'Bet' Yeager had been one of Mazian's marines, a twenty-year veteran. Stranded on Pell Station when the Fleet was forced to pull out abruptly (as told in ''Downbelow Station''), she managed to blend in with the many displaced war refugees. Since then, she survived by taking whatever starship berths she could find. Her luck begins to run out when her latest ship, the freighter ''Ernestine'', is forced to return to Pell for major repairs, a destination too fraught with danger for her. She stays behind on the decrepit, dying Thule Station. Day after day, she goes to the employment office, but there is little work. Few starships call and the ones that do, do not need the skills she can admit to possessing.

Late one night, while trying to sleep in a dockside washroom, she is attacked by a man and, weak from hunger, barely manages to kill him. In desperation, she moves in with a lowlife bartender. When he tries to control her, with threats to go to the authorities about his suspicions about her, she dispatches him too. With time running out before his body is discovered, she signs up with the ship ''Loki'', a barely legitimate 'spook' that survives by gathering intelligence and selling it.

''Loki'' is not a typical merchanter ship; instead of a close-knit family, the crew consists of unrelated hire-ons. As a result, various competing cliques have formed aboard and Bet has to navigate her way among them. She becomes friends with Musa, a universally respected crewman who claims to have served on one of the ancient sublighters, the original nine vessels that predated faster-than-light ships. She is also strongly attracted to Ramey, an ex-merchanter and surly outcast with a nickname of NG (no good). She gradually makes a place for herself and even manages to get the reluctant NG tentatively readmitted back into shipboard society.

Things get complicated when she is forced to reveal her past, especially since ''Loki'' is currently hunting a Mazianni ship. Long overdue for a major overhaul, ''Loki'' limps into Thule, hooks up to the sole starship fuel pump and takes on all the available fuel. While there, the ship they were searching for (Keu's ''India'') shows up. The Mazianni ship had been harried and hunted by Alliance and Union forces to the point that it was blocked from its regular supply bases and is desperately low on fuel. Keu needs to take the precious pump and fuel intact, so he can not just blow ''Loki'' up. Instead, he sends boarding parties of armored marines, but Bet and Fitch between them manage to hold them off. Then the Alliance warship ''Norway'' arrives to close the trap and administer the coup de grâce. Bet's actions during the battle prove to her crewmates that she can be trusted; she has found a (relatively) safe haven.

Sandor ("Sandy") Kreja is the sole survivor of a moderately prosperous merchanter family that had operated in Union space. When he was a young boy, all but two of his relatives were killed or taken by the renegade Mazianni, once soldiers in the service of Earth, who had refused to accept the end of the Company War and turned pirate in order to keep on fighting.

The three remaining Krejas had continued to run their aged freighter, ''Le Cygne'', as best they could, but an accident had killed one and a shady deal gone bad the other, leaving Sandy both impoverished and preposterously wealthy—the sole owner of a starship. By the dangerous expedient of hiring crewmen when possible and running solo when not, the young man had kept his ship running (under constantly changing names), but as unpaid debts piled up, he had begun to run out of safe Union ports.

At Viking station, as Edward Stevens of ''Lucy'', Sandy has a chance sleepover with another merchanter, Allison Reilly, which proves to be pivotal to his future. Allison, one of the powerful Reillys of the superfreighter ''Dublin Again'', lets slip that she is going "across the line" to Pell, the Alliance star system. Having heard rumours that trade between Pell and Earth might be re-established and wanting desperately to see her again, he decides to try his luck in Alliance space.

Sandy races ''Dublin Again'' to her next port, but the only way he can catch the much faster ship is by taking chances. He performs a dangerous double-jump and arrives at Pell groggy, causing a stir when he barely manages to dock. As a result, he is questioned by Alliance security, but is released when the Reillys come to his aid, not for his sake, but to protect their reputation.

At Allison's suggestion, they offer to refit Sandy's ship and provide a crew and cargo as a loan. The Reillys are also interested in the Earth trade, and the small ship would be an ideal conduit. Sandy swallows his pride and accepts the generous deal.

Science Fiction Book Club hardcover edition cover

As it turns out, Allison has an ulterior motive. She is a junior officer in charge of her own small group within the much larger group in command of ''Dublin Again'', but many, many years stand between her and a "posted" position with real responsibility. By transferring with her crew to the smaller ship, she can satisfy her ambition immediately.

Things seem to be going well for once. Then Sandy is called in to meet the head of the Alliance military, the notorious Signy Mallory, who had once been one of the renegade Mazian's captains. She gives him a sealed priority military cargo to be delivered to stations being reopened Earthward.

The trip is tense; Sandy and his new crew do not trust each other. He refuses to release the computer safeguards that have protected him in the past, preferring to size up the Reillys first. Curran, Allison's second in command, tries to force him to give up the security codes, but Sandy refuses to back down and a fight breaks out. The result is an ugly, festering stalemate.

When they arrive at the Venture star system, they are intercepted and boarded by Mazianni from the warship ''Australia''. Sandy orders his crew to hide, while he and Curran try to talk their way out. He is taken to Tom Edger, Mazian's senior captain. Sandy offers to work for him and is then told that his cargo is worthless scrap. Mallory had used him as bait to flush out her enemy. Edger decides he might have a use for Sandy, but Curran is taken away. Fighting to get his crewman back, both Sandy and Curran are shot and left for dead as the Mazianni begin to evacuate.

At that moment, Mallory's ''Norway'', the armed Alliance superfreighter ''Finity's End'', and ''Dublin Again'' rush in to engage the fleeing Edger (although he gets away) and free the station. Sandy and Curran survive the battle.

When the dust settles, Mallory clears Sandy's name and title to his ship in return for having put him in mortal danger. His crew now trust him wholeheartedly and Sandy has the nucleus he needs to revive the Kreja family, returning his ship to its original name, ''Le Cygne''.

Twenty years in the past, merchanter ships ''Sprite'' and ''Corinthian'' were docked at Mariner Station. What started out as a friendly sleepover between the inexperienced Marie Hawkins of ''Sprite'' and Austin Bowe of ''Corinthian'' turned into rape, with Marie becoming pregnant. She elected to raise the child, Thomas Bowe-Hawkins, on ''Sprite'', but was consumed with rage. Her brother becomes captain of the ''Sprite''. Tom grew up with an ambivalent mother and was never fully accepted by his family. When Austin later became senior captain of ''Corinthian'', Marie started tracking ''Corinthian's'' movements in order to expose what she suspected was smuggling.

When the two ships cross paths again, this time at Viking, Marie is ready for her revenge. She and Tom scour the docks for information about ''Corinthian's'' cargo, but Tom is caught snooping and is imprisoned aboard ''Corinthian'', forcing the ship to depart prematurely for Pell Station via Tripoint. At Marie's insistence, ''Sprite'' pursues ''Corinthian''. On ''Corinthian'', Tom meets Austin, his domineering father, and Capella, second chief navigator and night-walker.

When ''Corinthian'' docks at Pell Station, Tom's younger half-brother, Christian Bowe-Perrault tries to solve the problem by shipping him off to Sol Station, but Tom escapes and hides on the docks. Christian and Capella search frantically for him, unaware that Sabrina Perrault-Cadiz, Christian's cousin, has already found and befriended him. When Capella contacts old acquaintances for assistance, it attracts the unwanted attention of a dissident faction within the outlawed Mazianni Fleet. Capella is an ex-Fleet navigator with knowledge of Fleet routes and drop-points, which the dissidents want.

When ''Corinthian'' prepares to depart for Tripoint, Tom returns voluntarily to the ship and is no longer treated as a prisoner. He learns the ship's secret: they are illegally trading with the renegade Fleet. Austin justifies this by maintaining that supplying the Fleet means it won't have to raid merchanter ships.

''Sprite'' arrives at Pell Station shortly after ''Corinthian's'' departure and takes off again in pursuit. During ''Corinthian's'' jump to Tripoint, Capella is aware of ''Sprite'' and a Mazianni spotter following and performs a premature system-drop near an abandoned freighter, causing the other ships to overshoot. ''Corinthian'' immediately starts frantically offloading to the freighter, a Fleet drop-point. As the spotter and ''Sprite'' approach, Tom and Christian activate the freighter's weapons and destroy the spotter.

Tom tells his mother he is staying with ''Corinthian'' because he is more at home on his father's ship than his mother's. Marie, having taken the captaincy of ''Sprite'' from her weak brother, does not expose Corinthian's illegal trade because of Tom and because ''Corinthian'' outguns ''Sprite''. Austin realizes too many people know about his connection with the Fleet and decides to leave Alliance-Union space for good. As amends for the past, Austin offers Marie the access codes to the hulk at Tripoint and the opportunity to take over ''Corinthian'''s profitable trade, but she declines and the ships part company.

During ''Corinthian'''s next jump, Capella tells Tom about a new drop-point she discovered that leads to a habitable planet with forests. The Mazianni are building a new secret colony there and ''Corinthian'' is now part of that future.

It is eighteen years after the end of the Company War, at least as stationers experience time, less for merchanters subject to the effects of time dilation in the course of their travels. Regardless, the threat of the piratical Mazianni is ebbing. The Neiharts and their superfreighter ''Finity's End'' had spent the post-war years assisting the Alliance militia hunt down the renegades. But now the oldest of all existing merchanter families wants to return to trading.

When the ship docks at Pell Station, the heart of the Alliance, the family retrieves one of its own. Fletcher Neihart's mother had been stranded there by the fortunes of war, giving birth to him on the station. Unable to adjust to stationer life, she had committed suicide when he was five years old, leaving him to suffer through a succession of foster homes. The lonely outsider had been befriended by a couple of ''hisa'', the gentle, intelligent natives of Pell's World. Now a young man of seventeen with dreams of working on the planet and no wish to take up the family business, he is furious when he is handed over against his will to his relatives as part of a deal between Elene Quen, Stationmaster of Pell, and senior ''Finity'' Captain James Robert Neihart.

The Neiharts had suffered enormous casualties in the war and afterwards; half the crew died in one catastrophic decompression in combat. Due to this and also because it was impractical to raise children in wartime, the youngest generation consists of only three orphaned "junior-juniors": Jeremy (Fletcher's new roommate), Vince and Linda. Fletcher should have been about the same age, but due to time dilation, he is four or five years older.

''Finity's End'' (first British hard cover edition, 1997)

Fletcher is a surly anomaly; he is as old as the more numerous senior-juniors, but has far less shipboard knowledge and experience than the junior-juniors. JR, the leader of the senior-juniors, finally tries putting him in charge of the three youngsters. Despite a botched, unofficial initiation that results in a fistfight between Fletcher and Chad, a senior-junior cousin, the responsibility (and implied trust), as well as his friendship with Jeremy, gradually reconcile him to his new life. Even the initially hostile Vince and Linda look to him for leadership and approval.

It all comes crashing down when Fletcher's spirit stick, a valuable gift from the ''hisa'' Satin (from ''Downbelow Station''), is stolen. Suspicion and distrust grow on both sides. When Chad provokes another fight with Fletcher, Jeremy finally confesses that he was responsible. To safeguard the artifact from resentful relatives, he had hidden it in his hotel room at their last stop, only to have it stolen. The merchanter ''Champlain'' is a suspect; ''Champlain'' is also believed to be one of those secretly trading with the Mazianni.

Meanwhile, Captain Neihart has vastly more important issues to deal with. He is trying to shut down the smugglers and the black market from which the Mazianni resupply themselves. At every port of call, he forges agreements with merchanters, Union and stationmasters to bring about a transition to peacetime, legitimate trade.

When they find ''Champlain'' docked at their next stop, Jeremy drags Fletcher to shady curio shops, hoping to find the spirit stick. He succeeds, but as the senior captains are locked in vital negotiations, Fletcher is instructed to keep his charges in their hotel room and wait. However, the impatient twelve-year-old Jeremy goes back and tries to shoplift it, only to be caught. Fletcher attempts to rescue Jeremy, and is captured as well. As they are being led away at gunpoint to be quietly disposed of, Fletcher manages to engineer their escape. The resulting investigation pressures the corrupt, reluctant stationmaster into agreeing to Captain Neihart's proposals. Fletcher wins the approval of his family, and he accepts ''Finity's End'' as his new home.

Bonnie and Connie Jones, played by Jane Russell and Jeanne Crain, are two sisters that live in New York working on Broadway. They are known as the second generation of the Jones sisters, taking the name after their mother, Mitzi Jones, who also performed popularly with her sister, Mimi Jones.

Bonnie and Connie are often offered engagements by men. Connie refuses these New Yorkers every time, while her sister Bonnie seemingly cannot say no to all these men’s offerings. This initiates fights between the men outside the sisters’ shows, and these situations embarrass Connie for being related to Bonnie.

The sisters fight about Bonnie’s weakness to refuse these men. Connie wants her sister to promise her to refuse them for the sake of their career. However, the moment the sisters reconcile, a messenger knocks on their door with an offered Paris agreement by David Action to partake shows around France.

The sisters immediately agree, and promise each other to focus on the success of their career rather than focusing on desperate men looking for marriage. When they arrive in Paris, they are welcomed by Charlie Biddle and David Action, played by Alan Young and Scott Brady, who will later become the sisters’ love interests.

The men are surprised by the difference between the first generation and the second generation of the Jones sisters. They notice that Bonnie and Connie lack the lush living style of their mother and act more sophisticated. The sisters claim that they do not own a lot because of financial problems; it took them three months of savings to buy an average looking dress for their shows.

The girls open their luggage to get ready for a cocktail party; however, their only dress is a cheetah printed dress which to Rudy is not appropriate to wear in the afternoon for the press. They want to be able to show off the new Jones sisters properly, and therefore, they remodel the dresses to impress Paris just like the first generation of the Jones sisters. The cocktail party goes extremely well. Men are dancing and the girls have the attention of the whole room. Their popularity and names go all around Paris, which helps their career.

The next day, the Jones sisters want to tour the city of Paris and plead with David and Charlie to show them around. They separate into two groups, Connie leaving with Charlie and Bonnie leaving with David. These quickly turn into dates in the city of Paris, as both couples share kisses and reveal their attraction towards one another. However, Bonnie’s relationship with David complicates because David fears to give himself away to another person. He would rather stay a bachelor, which is what he calls himself.

But as love is growing between the two groups, so are the sisters’ career. Parisian casinos desire to have them perform for their nighttime show. But the girls refuse most of them as the casino provides them with vulgar and lacking attire. For their own dignity, Bonnie and Connie refuse to show their bodies off for the enjoyment of others. Although most of the casinos refuse to give them proper attire, the girls find their way around this and hide their bodies from the audience using a hat with long feathers the casino provided them with. They not only performed and received their well-earned money, but received more attention in France, allowing them to perform in Monte Carlo the next evening.

The girls perform beautifully at their next and unexpectedly last show of the movie. Their mother, Mitzi, is unhappy with the circumstances her daughter are in, and she forces them to come home to New York with her. After her show days, Bonnie and Connie have claimed that their mother has raised them strictly. She especially does not want her daughters to display themselves vulgarly, which is why she forcefully brings them back home.

Grabbing them by the ears, she puts them in a taxi car leaving the Monte Carlo Casino. After seeing the love of their lives leave, David and Charlie know that they cannot bear living the rest of their lives without the sisters and they decide to chase after them. The movie ends with Charlie and David running to the boat taking off for New York looking for the Jones sisters. The moment they meet again, Charlie proposes to Connie, and David pleads to be forgiven by Bonnie for refusing her in the beginning of their relationship. Bonnie, of course, forgives David who then takes action and proposes to her. The movie ends with two newly and happily engaged couples taking off on a boat to New York.

The series followed the adventures of Roger Beckett (aged 10¾) in Troller's Ghyll ("where the rocks are all slightly mad") as King of the Rottentrolls. He was crowned King of the Rotten Trolls after crashing his bike in the valley. As well as ruling over the Rottentrolls, Roger teaches them about things like sport and politics, and, in return, learns a few lessons himself.

Millionairess Mame Carson's (Jane Russell) oil empire spells trouble for her love life. Men are either after her fortune or afraid of it. Her money-shy fiancé Phil Barton (Craig Stevens) has just given her the brush off.

A disappointed Mame heads for Paris on the French Line's ''Liberté'' with friend and fashion designer Annie Farrell (Mary McCarty). She swaps identities with Myrtle Brown (Joyce MacKenzie), one of Annie's models, hoping to find true love incognito.

Aboard ship, she falls in love with French playboy Pierre DuQuesne (Gilbert Roland) who, unbeknownst to Mame, has been hired by her zealous guardian Waco Mosby (Arthur Hunnicutt) to keep the fortune hunters at bay. Pierre professes his love for Mame. Is he sincere or is this just a ploy to gain access to her millions? Silliness ensues interspersed with several musical numbers until Pierre's real intentions are revealed.

Happy (Hoagy Carmichael), is the piano player at the "Last Chance Casino" in Las Vegas. He wonders what split up Linda Rollins (Jane Russell) and Dave Andrews (Victor Mature). He ruminates that "something quick and sudden must have happened to them".

Linda reluctantly returns to Las Vegas by train when her loser husband Lloyd Rollins (Vincent Price) insists on vacationing there. When the couple disembarks, fellow passenger Tom Hubler (Brad Dexter) hurriedly does as well. Upon checking into The Fabulous Hotel & Casino, Rollins requests a line of credit and Linda discovers that her husband is in some kind of financial trouble, possibly criminal as well, and suspects he is trying to raise money by gambling. The first night, Rollins insists she wears her necklace, appraised at $150,000, when they go out.

Later, Linda encounters Dave, now a lieutenant with the Sheriff's Department, who is initially none too pleased to see her again. They heatedly discuss what it had been that ended their relationship.

The next day, Hubler tries to become friendly with Linda at the hotel pool, but she brushes him off. He later informs Lloyd that he has been assigned by his insurance company to watch him and the necklace. Later, Mr. Drucker, The Fabulous' Managing Director, discovers Rollins is a fraud and confronts him and tells him he is no longer welcome at The Fabulous.

Rollins then obtains $10,000 credit with Clayton, owner of the appropriately named Last Chance casino, by putting up Linda's necklace, but inevitably loses it all gambling. He tries to get Clayton to advance him more credit, but Clayton turns him down, telling him he will sell him the necklace back for the $10,000. Early the next morning, Clayton is found stabbed to death, and the necklace is missing. Dave assumes the murderer took the necklace.

Dave arrests Rollins. Rollins tries to get his wife to provide him an alibi but she cannot, as she was with Dave at his home at the time, the two have reconnected.

For unknown reasons, with a suspect in custody, Hubler returns to the scene of the crime with Linda and has her reenact her steps the night before, thereby implicating himself. Dave, figures out the real killer's identity when Happy tells Dave of Hubler's actions with Linda and Dave realizes Hubler slipped up and revealed the actual location of the stabbing. After the murderer left, the dying Clayton had managed to crawl toward a telephone and Hubler didn't know that.

Dave phones Linda to warn her, but Hubler, who has been after the necklace for himself the whole time, deduces the situation and, again, for unknown reasons, kidnaps Linda. With roadblocks set up on all major highways and a description of his rented car, he steals another car, killing the owner. Dave engages a helicopter and spots the speeding vehicle. He and the pilot manage to force Hubler to leave the car at an abandoned base. Hubler wounds the pilot and forces Dave to throw out his gun by threatening to kill Linda but, after a chase and a fight, Dave is able to retrieve a gun and shoot Hubler dead.

Back in Las Vegas, Linda decides to break up with her husband and remain in Las Vegas. Lloyd, who has been released from the murder charge, is quickly re-arrested on embezzlement and other charges.

The film ends with the main surviving characters standing at the piano with Happy singing "My Resistance Is Low".

Peter Gaulke is the host of an unsuccessful nature program called ''Strange Wilderness'' which was originally hosted by Peter's late father.

One day, Peter and his sidekick/soundman Fred Wolf are told by network head Ed Lawson about the negative aspects of ''Strange Wilderness'' since the death of Peter's father like low ratings, poor content, inappropriate footage, referring to all indigenous peoples as pygmies aside from the littering, and bad things happening to people in footage like an alligator attack on someone and a guy at a peace rally who was on fire. Unless something big happens, ''Strange Wilderness'' will be cancelled in two weeks.

Peter brainstorms ideas to keep ''Strange Wilderness'' on the air with Fred, equipment manager Lynn Cooker, driver Danny Gutierrez, camera man Junior, and his father's old friend/original cameraman Milas. Bill Calhoun, his dad's friend, brings him photos of Bigfoot hiding in Ecuador and a map to his cave. Sky Pierson, the host of a more successful wildlife show, has offered $1,000 for the map. Unable to pay this, Peter tells Bill that he will have it in a week at his mountain cabin.

Peter, Fred, Lynn, Danny, and Junior start preparing for the long trip. They also bring in two more people like Whitaker, a former car mechanic now animal handler, and Cheryl, a travel agent.

Stopping to shoot footage of sea lions, Danny dresses up as a seal for better angles, gets attacked by a shark, and ends up hospitalized. Outside the hospital, Peter and Fred get into trouble with a local gang, get their front teeth knocked out, and have to go to a dentist. These incidents cause more funds being drained.

They arrive at Bill's cabin only to learn he already sold the map to Pierson. However, Bill makes a copy of the map from security cameras. He also enlists the help of renowned tracker Gus Hayden, but they are unable to pay him. While urinating in the bushes, Peter is attacked by a mother turkey, ending up with his penis inside its mouth. They rush him to a hospital to remove it from his penis. A wildlife ranger and a conservationist that "own" the turkey stop the doctor from cutting the turkey's head off, offering a $5,000 reward for the bird's return.

Continuing their journey, they eventually reach Ecuador. There, they meet up with Dick, an explorer and a friend of Bill who takes them to Gus Hayden.

The next morning however, they wake up to find that Gus has left, stolen their equipment, and Cheryl is missing. Though hesitant and with Peter not willing to give up, Dick agrees to lead the group through the jungle. During the night, Cheryl catches up with them and explains she saw Gus stealing their equipment and pretended to run off with him so she could get the map back.

The next day while crossing the river, Dick is attacked and eaten by piranhas. Coming across Pierson's camp, they find he and his team have been killed by local pygmies. The group then gathers the equipment and eventually reach Bigfoot's cave. While filming, a confused Bigfoot steps out and gets gunned down by the scared group. Not sure how to end the show in a good way later that night, Cooker comes up with the idea of showing Bigfoot committing suicide.

The surviving members return to the studio to show Lawson their footage where they tried to resuscitate Bigfoot. Lawson berates them for their ridiculousness and cancels ''Strange Wilderness''. This leads to a fight within the group.

One year later, Peter gets a visit from Milas who encourages him to revive ''Strange Wilderness''. Peter gets everyone back together and they make an episode about the shark attack using footage of them vomiting into the shark's mouth at the scene of the incident as well as Danny getting his arm bitten by that shark. Peter and Fred show it to Lawson. Impressed with the footage, Lawson states to Pete that people love shark attacks. With Pierson dead, Lawson puts ''Strange Wilderness'' back on the air.

A postscript states that ''Strange Wilderness'' became successful again and dominated the 3:00 AM slot. Six months later, Peter's group went searching for the Loch Ness Monster where hilarity occurred in Scotland. They remain friends to this day.

Danika Merrick (Marisa Tomei) suffers from increasingly disturbing, paranoid hallucinations. Most of her hallucinations involve threats to her family and media-fuelled fears such as child kidnappings, car accidents, her children lying and terrorism. Danika confides to her husband, Randy (Craig Bierko), and Evelyn (Regina Hall), her psychiatrist.

The movie begins with Danika apologizing for being late, being scolded by her bank manager about incorrect calculations. Her manager leaves the office, instructing Danika to remain there until errors are corrected. Danika then witnesses a bank robbery in progress with two trigger-happy robbers shooting anyone who moves. The alarm activates, and the robbers force Danika's boss to tell them where the security monitors are located. The manager points to her office where a shivering Danika seeks shelter in a corner. As the door opens, she expects to come face to face with a gun-toting bank robber, but is confronted by her manager who wonders what is wrong with her.

The movie continues with increasingly paranoid hallucinations, due to schizophrenia, including seeing a little girl in front of her daughter's school being pulled away by a suspicious-looking man as she asks Danika to help her; Danika does nothing only to watch in horror as the same little girl's mother appears on the news begging for her child's safe return. Danika also finds a human head in a grocery bag as she's putting the groceries in the fridge. She's oblivious as, standing in front of the school looking for her daughter who ran off, her daughter's teacher is killed by falling glass, (it turns out it's the same person's head she found in the grocery bag a day before). She also believes her son's partner for a school assignment is trying to give him AIDS after she imagines the girl crawling into her bed and confessing she is dying from AIDS and is going to give it to Danika's son.

Near the end of the film, the audience learns that Danika was in a car accident years earlier while driving her young children home and she makes a side visit to see Randy. The accident occurred immediately after Danika found out he was having an extramarital affair with the children's nanny, Evelyn, in a motel shower. Danika's vision of the nanny is that of her psychiatrist who's been treating her, revealing they were one and the same. During the confrontation, Evelyn reveals that she shares Randy's concerns over Danika's recent paranoia and her overprotective behavior is dangerous to the children. She also mentions that her family deserves better and that Danika needs to seek professional psychiatric help for her delusions. She responds by attacking Randy with a mirror shard and cutting his face. Before leaving, Danika pushes Evelyn to the bathroom wall and tells her that she's not only fired, but also stay away from her family. She drives away from the motel home with the children in tow. After witnessing Randy's affair with Evelyn, Danika psychologically broke down and ran a red light, causing her car to be hit by a school bus. In the car accident, all of Danika's children died, leaving Danika as the sole survivor. It can be assumed that, when he found out about the tragic deaths of their children, Randy blamed the accident on Danika for having not listened to him and Evelyn when they told her to seek professional help for her delusions. It is also implied that he divorces her and Danika never sees him again.

As the film ends, it reveals Danika's life after the accident. As a homeless woman, she sits on a bench at the scene where the accident occurred, presumably reliving the events of that day every day out of guilt. All the events after the accident—reuniting with her husband and raising her children to adulthood, are an alternate world that Danika created to escape from her reality. They are caused by the tremendous guilt she feels for running the red light that led to her children's deaths. It's also implied that Danika has regrets over having not listened to Randy and Evelyn when they told her to seek psychiatric help that led to where she is now. She dejectedly gets up from the bench and slowly walks away pushing a shopping cart filled with her children's belongings and her rosary.

Eddie Coyle is an aging, low-level gunrunner for a crime organization in Boston, Massachusetts. He is awaiting sentencing after being convicted of driving a hijacked truck in New Hampshire. Eddie had been driving the truck for Dillon, a convicted felon and career criminal who is well connected to the syndicate. Coyle has refused to give Dillon up to the authorities in exchange for leniency. Coyle's last chance to avoid a prison term is a sentencing recommendation from ATF Special Agent Dave Foley, who demands that Coyle become an informer in return.

A gang led by Jimmy Scalisi and Artie Van has been pulling off a series of daring day-time bank robberies with pistols supplied by Coyle. One of Coyle's sources for the pistols is a young gun runner, Jackie Brown, who is involved in a deal to supply military machine guns (M16 assault rifles) for other clients. When taking the delivery of the pistols, Coyle witnesses the rifles in the trunk of Jackie Brown's car and immediately informs Foley. Jackie is apprehended by Foley and his agents. Coyle feels he has fulfilled his end of the deal, but Foley puts the squeeze on Eddie, demanding more information for his cooperation.

Angry at his mis-treatment of her, Scalisi's girlfriend Wanda tips off the police about the next planned bank robbery, leading the state police to arrest Scalisi and Van's gang in the commission of the robbery. During the arrests, the police shoot and kill a young member of the gang who is well-connected (and possibly related) to the head of a powerful crime family.

That same morning, with both men unaware that the bank robbers have been arrested, Coyle suggests that he may be willing to give Foley the names of the bank robbers in exchange for his slate being wiped clean in New Hampshire. Foley agrees to meet Coyle later in the day, with the understanding that if Coyle doesn't show, he opted not to rat on the bank robbers.

The head of the crime family mistakenly believes it was Coyle who informed on Scalisi and Van's gang. The boss, referred to only as "the man," is furious because the state police killed his friend, who was part of the gang, during the arrest. The man hires Dillon to kill Coyle, who begrudgingly takes the contract.

We learn from Foley that Coyle never showed, and thus did not inform. After waiting for Coyle, Foley buys a paper and sees that the information has become useless anyhow, as the robbers have been arrested. Later that afternoon, Coyle enters Dillon's bar in a sour mood, knowing he'll have to serve time in prison. Dillon receives a call confirming the plan to kill Coyle, and subsequently invites him to the Bruins game that evening. At the game, Dillon plies Coyle with liquor and eventually shoots him while an accomplice drives the men after the game. They leave Coyle's body in a car in the West End Bowling Alleys parking lot.

In the final chapter, Jackie Brown is in court being arraigned for possession of machine guns. After pleading not guilty, a trial date is set. The prosecutor and defense counsel discuss options, but both show resignation that whatever happens to Jackie Brown, nothing will change in the world of crime.

The story involves a middle-aged cowboy adventurer (Clark Gable) who learns that a stolen fortune remains buried on a ranch that serves as home to four gorgeous young widows and their battle-axe mother-in-law. The drifter turns on the charm to find the money.

Dan Kehoe, escaping from a posse, finds his way to a small frontier town. In the saloon, he learns of a nearby town, Wagon Mound, that has been deserted, except for one family: the McDades. Some time ago, the four outlaw McCabe sons had returned with the loot from a robbery, but were followed, and were trapped in a burning barn. However, only three burned bodies were recovered from the wreckage of the barn; nobody knows which of the four may have survived, or where their $50,000 in gold is hidden. While treasure-hunters are interested, they are shot at if they approach.

Pretending to be escaping pursuers, Kehoe approaches the McDades, and is shot and slightly wounded. The McDade women, who prove to be the brothers' mother and wives, take him in and bandage him. The presence of a man in their midst provokes the younger women to look to their appearance, but their mother-in-law angrily points out that one of them is still married, and until it is determined which one it is, they must all act married. She also insists that Kehoe must leave the next day. Kehoe tells Ma McDade a story suggesting that he may have met the surviving son in jail, but did not see him well enough to identify him. This piques her interest. Over the course of the next day, all four of the widows are varyingly flirtatious with Kehoe, who learns that the mother keeps a constant lookout for a signal from her surviving son, and will ring the large bell to let him know when it is safe to approach town.

The sheriff arrives with a posse, intending to seize Kehoe, who talks him out of it by agreeing to signal when the last McDade brother arrives by ringing the bell. Ma McDade is sufficiently taken by Kehoe's persuading the sheriff not to arrest him that she allows him to stay a little longer. He seeks to befriend each of the widows enough to learn where the loot might be hidden, but Ma keeps interfering. In time, Kehoe leaves, but as Ma learns, he has figured out where the loot is and has taken it. It also turns out that Sabina McDade was never married to her "husband" (she only pretended to be to get the loot), and is free to leave with him. However, the sheriff's posse discovers them, so Kehoe sends her ahead with $5,000 of the loot and returns the rest to the sheriff, pretending that that was his intention. Arriving at the agreed-upon meeting place, Kehoe learns that Sabina has pretended to be his widow and taken all his money. Chasing her, he finds her waiting with the money and they decide to travel together.

The events of the console and handheld versions of this game differ so greatly, the GBA release should be seen as an alternate retelling of the events in the console version.

Console

Some time after the events of the previous game, the Bunyip Elder Nandu Gili makes contact with Ty the Tasmanian Tiger and his friend Shazza the Dingo, telling them that an ancient evil arrived in the magical dimension of "The Dreaming" just as Ty's nemesis, a cassowary named Boss Cass, was being freed from Currawong Jail. Requesting their assistance, Ty and Shazza are teleported into the Dreaming by the Elder. When the two arrive, the Bunyip Elder explains that evil spirits known as the Quinkan invaded the sacred realm and tainted it with war and violence. Ty agrees to drive off the Quinkan, but the Elder claims that it would be suicidal, as the Quinkan are immune to conventional weapons such as Ty's Boomerangs. Instead, he suggests that Ty and Shazza locate and acquire the Bunyip Gauntlet, which would give Ty the means to fight the Quinkan.

After acquiring the Gauntlet, Shazza remains behind with the Bunyip Guardian Thigana while Ty proceeds deeper into the Dreaming. Using the Gauntlet and the Shadow Bunyip mech, Ty manages to open up a vortex which sucks the Quinkan out of the Dreaming. Congratulating Ty for successfully liberating the Dreaming, the Bunyip Elder offers to train Ty in how to make proper use of the Bunyip Gauntlet for the future, which he accepts. After training with Thigana and the Bunyip Gauntlet's guardian Mallyaan, The Bunyip Elder teleports Ty and Shazza back to Southern Rivers. While in the teleportation conduit, a Quinkan appears and knocks Shazza away from Ty, causing the two to become separated. Although he spends only moments in the conduit, Ty ends up arriving back in Southern Rivers six months after Shazza as a result of the incident.

Handheld

Following the events of the previous game, Ty and Shazza are contacted by the Bunyip Elder, who teleports them both to The Dreaming. Once they arrive, the Elder explains that evil spirits known as the Quinkan invaded The Dreaming and began wreaking havoc across the realm. While Shazza stays behind with the Bunyip Elder, Ty is tasked with driving the Quinkan out of the Dreaming, and is teleported to the Quinkan Castle deep within the realm. Ty makes contact with Julius when he arrives, who provides him with a newly developed Vortex Bomb capable of sucking all the Quinkan out of the Dreaming. After making his way through the castle, Ty plants the bomb at the castle's weak point and activates it. While he is making his escape, Ty is teleported by the Bunyip Elder back to the real world to evade the Bomb's blast. Although he encounters Shazza while in warp transit, Ty ends up arriving in the real world several months after Shazza does due to the two becoming separated while in the conduit.

When Ty makes it back to Southern Rivers, he arrives in a desolate area overrun with Quinkan. Reuniting with Shazza and Sly, the two explain that they are currently in the town of "New Buramudgee", as the old town was destroyed when the Quinkan invaded Southern Rivers. The invasion also lead to the disbandment of Bush Rescue, which was unable to stop the invaders without Ty's assistance. With Ty safe and sound, the three decide to reform Bush Rescue and drive the Quinkan out of Southern Rivers. All but a few of the former Bush Rescue members rejoin the team, along with Shazza's sister Naomi as the team's new Bunyip Suit mechanic. Buramudgee resident Red the Dog also joins the team, believing that an understanding could potentially be reached with the Quinkan through negotiation rather than violence.

With Ty's help, the reformed Bush Rescue manages to liberate a large portion of Southern Rivers. Along the way, Ty manages to rescue Dennis, who had taken charge of the war effort following Bush Rescue's disbandment and had since been captured by the Quinkan, along with convincing Maurie to rejoin, himself becoming a recluse after establishing a watering hole in the mountains. After liberating the area surrounding New Buramudgee, Dennis informs Ty that a powerful Quinkan guardian known as the Hexaquin is blocking Bush Rescue's access to the other parts of Southern Rivers, and tasks Ty with defeating him. After making it to the Hexaquin's blockade, Ty battles and eventually defeats the creature, allowing Bush Rescue's safe passage through the area.

Following the battle, Ty is informed that Red had deserted Bush Rescue and kidnapped Shazza, handing her over to the Quinkan as a hostage for his own protection. Desperate, Ty and the rest of Bush Rescue reluctantly team up with Boss Cass and Fluffy, with Cass making a promise to locate Shazza in exchange for Ty completing various tasks for him. While Ty is busy completing Cass' assignments, Fluffy challenges him to a race up Whataview Mountain, with Fluffy making sure that Cass keeps his word should he win and Ty becoming her personal slave for a day if he loses. With the new Extreme Bunyip provided by Naomi, Ty achieves a narrow victory against Fluffy. Expressing that the two of them are meant for each other, Fluffy assures Ty that she'll make sure Cass keeps his word and locates Shazza for him.

Once his assignments from Cass are complete, Ty is informed by Cass that Shazza is being held hostage by another Quinkan guardian known as the Dragonquin hiding in the skyline of Cassopolis. Using the Gunyip fighter plane, Ty manages to locate the Dragonquin. He defeats the creature, freeing Shazza and causing the parts of the Dragonquin's body to turn to stone and fall into the forest below. Once freed, Shazza informs Ty that while in custody she overheard the Quinkan making preparations for their leader, the Quinking, to arrive in Southern Rivers.

Upon further research, Julius speculates that the parts of the Dragonquin's body that fell to the ground, which he dubbed Shadow Stones, could be used to power a weapon capable of defeating the Quinking. Upon Dennis' suggestion, Ty goes to see the supposed "Quinking Expert" in the Valley of the Lost for advice, who ends up being Gooboo Steve. He explains that the ultimate weapon capable of defeating the Quinking, the Shadowring, was lost somewhere in the forest and would not function properly even if it were found without the Shadow Stones. With this information, Ty, Julius and Ranger Ken manage find the missing Shadowring and Shadow Stones, completing the ultimate weapon.

With the Shadowring in Ty's possession, Boss Cass informs him that the guardian of the Quinking's territory, the Spiderquin, is the final hurdle between Bush Rescue and the Quinkan leader. Ty makes quick work of the guardian with the Shadowring, and flies to the Quinkan Citadel at the heart of the Quinking's territory with Sly, Shazza and Fluffy. After fighting through the Citadel, the group encounters the Quinking, who reveals that it was Boss Cass who let the Quinkan into Southern Rivers and the two had been working together the whole time. Seeking an opportunity to get revenge on Ty for his past defeats and to rule Southern Rivers unopposed, Cass appears and double crosses both Ty and the Quinking, arming himself with a rocket launcher. He fires a rocket at Ty, but it is intercepted before it can reach him by Fluffy, who sacrifices herself by jumping in front of him at the last moment.

Enraged by Fluffy's death, Ty takes on the Quinking in a final battle to decide the fate of Southern Rivers. While initially evenly matched, the Quinking is unable to overcome the power of Ty's Shadowrings. To gain the upper hand, he proceeds to transform into a larger Godzilla-like form, but Ty manages to overcome this more powerful form and defeat the Quinking after a long battle, restoring peace to Southern Rivers. Some time after the Quinkan are defeated, the lives of Ty, his friends and the residents of New Buramudgee return to normal. Boss Cass is sent back to prison for his crimes, and a statue of Fluffy is erected in the town's square in honor of her sacrifice.

Pari is a student of literature at a university in Tehran. She is a confident yet angry girl who is projecting her inner struggle by outwards aggression towards her tutor, her fiancé and her brother and she is on the verge of a nervous breakdown or a mental suicide.

An old Sufi book by the name of "solook" helps take her on a journey to find herself and discover who she really is. Her brother helps her accomplish this goal.

Bunk and McNulty investigate Gant's murder. McNulty believes the Barksdales had him killed as a show of force towards potential witnesses; Bunk is skeptical that anybody would kill a witness after they had already testified. McNulty visits Judge Phelan, who pressures Deputy Commissioner Burrell to have Lieutenant Daniels allow McNulty on the case. Mollified, Phelan agrees not to call the media about the murder.

Daniels and his detail arrive at their new office - a damp basement with little furniture. The rest of the detail is introduced, but Daniels dismisses them all as useless "humps", especially after officer Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski accidentally discharges his weapon indoors. When Daniels visits Assistant State's Attorney Rhonda Pearlman to complain, she tells him that Prez was nearly indicted for shooting his own patrol car. Daniels confides that he feels that Burrell sent him a message by not allowing him to pick his detail. He meets with Lieutenant Cantrell and convinces him to assign Detective Leander Sydnor (Cantrell's best man) to counterbalance Prez (his worst).

Carver, Greggs, and Herc surreptitiously photograph Bubbles as he marks Barksdale dealers by pretending to sell them red hats. When Greggs brings Bubbles in to identify the dealers, McNulty is surprised by the scale of the Barksdale Organization. Bunk and McNulty visit D'Angelo in the Pit to press him on the Gant murder. When D'Angelo refuses to cooperate, they arrest him. Under interrogation, they play upon D'Angelo's conscience; he is moved to begin writing a letter of condolence to Gant's family. Barksdale attorney Maurice Levy arrives and stops D'Angelo from further self-incrimination.

Greggs and McNulty show the letter to Daniels, who is skeptical about its usefulness in building a case. Now free, D'Angelo takes his girlfriend, Donette, and their infant son to a family party, where Avon rebukes him for the letter. While drinking late at night, Herc, Carver, and Prez decide to intimidate the Barksdales. Prez pistol-whips a young man, Kevin Johnston, for leaning on his car and mouthing off, prompting a hail of projectiles and gunshots from the towers. Herc is injured as Carver calls for back-up. The next day, Daniels berates the three and asks who hit Johnston. Prez confesses and Daniels instructs him to lie about his actions and suggests a plausible story. He warns Prez that he must be convincing or he cannot protect him.

Bunk informs McNulty that the Gant murder has made the front page and that Phelan appears to be the source. Major Rawls becomes enraged yet again. McNulty visits Phelan, who denies alerting the media, but quickly leaves. Alone, McNulty drinks heavily and is too inebriated to effectively intervene in a nearby car theft. Daniels dines with his wife Marla, who admonishes him for covering up police brutality. She counsels him to withdraw from the politically charged case. Daniels is later awakened with news that Johnston has permanently lost use of one eye.

U.S. Marshal Johnny Reno is on his way to the town of Stone Junction on personal business. As he rides through the desert, the fugitive Conners brothers see him and believe he is tracking them. They open fire on him from ambush. Reno is able to defeat the pair, wounding Joe and killing his brother Ed. He takes Joe into custody, retrieves Ed's body and rides with them for Stone Junction. On the way, Joe explains that a posse from the town has been after them, along with the local Native American tribe, led by Chief Little Bear. Encountering several warriors from the tribe, Reno refuses to turn over his prisoner and tells them to explain to Chief Little Bear that Reno, who he recognizes as a man of honor, swears to him that he will seek justice.

Arriving in Stone Junction, Reno is immediately accosted by the mayor, Jess Yates, and the town sheriff, Hodges. Hodges tells Reno he won't put the prisoner in his jail and Yates demands that Reno turn Connors over to him. Reno refuses and browbeats Hodges into allowing him to put Conners in his jail, infuriating Yates. A number of the people of the town openly show hostility to Reno, even attempting to shoot Conners in the street, including Yates's daughter. Reno inquires after Nona Williams, a girl he once was in love with whom he left years ago after she helped her brother escape from Reno's jail, thinking he was innocent. It turned out her brother was guilty and ended up killing several people while on the run, including his own father. Reno is told by Sheriff Hodges that Nona now owns and runs the local saloon, and Reno goes there looking for her, only to find Yates and his friends instead. While having a drink, Yates threatens Reno and orders him to leave town without his prisoner. When Reno refuses, Yates attacks him and the two men fight. Reno is able to defeat Yates and goes back to the jail, where he finds out that Sheriff Hodges has passed out rifles to some of the townsfolk on Yates's orders.

Reno is suspicious but asks where Nona would be if not in the saloon, and Hodges sends him to Nona's ranch outside of town. Reno rides off to see her. Meanwhile, Yates gathers his men who are armed with the rifles from the sheriff's office. Reno arrives at the ranch and starts to talk to Nona about their past, but they are interrupted by two of Yates's henchmen and held at gunpoint. Reno grows suspicious and voices a theory—that maybe Conners is in fact innocent and the townsfolk want him silenced. The two henchmen inform him that it doesn't matter, and that they'll just hold him at the ranch until Conners is dead. Reno manages to throw a piece of furniture at the guards, distracting them long enough for him to draw and shoot them both dead. He reconciles with Nona and sets off for the town, where he arrives just in time to prevent Hodges from turning Conners over to the armed mob outside. Reno holds the crowd at gunpoint and has Hodges disarm them. The sheriff, his backbone strengthened by reinforcements, seizes the rifles back. Reno and Hodges hole up in the jail where Reno questions Conners and learns that he and his brothers were strangers in town who were plied with drink by the "friendly" townsfolk. After being called out into the street to check their horses, Chief Little Bears's son rode by and then appeared to be shot down by a hail of bullets from everywhere, after which the Conners brothers were accused of the crime by an angry mob. Taking advantage of a momentary distraction, Joe and Ed fled into the desert. Reno begins to put the pieces together and realizes that the mayor and his friends likely were the ones who actually killed the Chief's son and are framing Conners to appease the chief and the tribe.

After this, Hodges notices a disturbance in the street and they emerge to find the mayor and his men organizing an evacuation of the town under the guise of fear of an Indian attack. All the women but Nona leave the town along with the children and most of the men. Only about a dozen of Yates's confederates stay behind to "defend" the town. Hodges is now convinced of the guilt of the mayor and agrees to follow Reno's lead, but they are barricaded in the jail with no one left in town but the hostile men. Night falls, and Yates takes Nona prisoner and sets up an ambush in the street. He baits Reno by loudly playing a song memorable to Reno and Nona on the player piano. Reno leaves the jail, telling Hodges to cover him. When the men notice Reno is in the street, they leave the saloon and Nona is able to escape. Reno and the rogue townsfolk start shooting at each other in the street. When one man almost shoots Reno in the back, he is killed by Sheriff Hodges, but Hodges is killed in the ensuing shootout.

Reno makes it back into the jail, frees and arms Conners, and tells him to watch the back door. Yates and his men approach with a wagon and torches, intending to burn them out of the jail. Reno sends Nona to get help and sets up on the jail roof with some dynamite. He succeeds in killing several of the attackers and scattering the others and sneaks back inside. Conners kills one man who tried to kill Reno as he returns to the back door of the jail. The situation continues until sunup when one man loses his nerve and deserts Yates, riding into the desert where he is captured and tortured for the truth by Little Bear's tribe: Yates and his friends killed the chief's son because he fell in love with the mayor's daughter, who is half Native American. Yates does not want anyone to know that he was once married to a Native American woman.

At the town, Conners, having had enough, manages to surprise Reno and knock him unconscious. He is unwilling to let Reno die for him and attempts to surrender in exchange for Reno's safety. Instead, Yates takes them both into the street where they are told what really happened and that the story will be that Conners killed Reno trying to escape. Chief Little Bear and his tribe arrive with their prisoner just in time. The prisoner tells Yates he confessed, only to immediately be shot dead by the mayor. The tribe's warriors and the renegades begin exchanging bullets. In the confusion, Reno is able to break free. He and Conners fight along with the tribe, and kill Yates and all his men. Yates is able to be killed because his foot gets caught in a rope laying on the ground, which turns out to be the noose which he had intended for the Conners brothers. Afterwards, Reno rides to the fort and tells the townsfolk and the mayor's daughter what really happened. He encourages the people to go back to the town and rebuild. He and Nona then depart to start their lives together.

A Russian outpost in Eastern Siberia comes under threat of attack by the Japanese in this patriotic film from 1935. Aerograd is a new town with a strategically located airfield of vital interest to the government. Work on the new outpost is complicated when tensions develop between workers and a religious sect. The sect threatens to give their support to a band of marauding samurai warriors who battle for control of the region. Relations between the two countries are further strained in the days before World War II, dating back to the Russo-Japanese War of 1905. In this feature, the Russians are victorious as airplanes throughout the country come to the aid of the beleaguered new town.